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Companies allowed to operate during MCO can go full capacity, says Azmin
>Media & Events > News>Companies allowed to operate during MCO can go full capacity, says Azmin
Economic sectors allowed to operate at half capacity during phases one to three of the movement control order (MCO) are allowed to carry on business at full capacity from Wednesday (April 29).
These companies must, however, comply with the established standard operating procedure (SOP) in their respective sectors, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.
“Those that fail to do so will be terminated and immediate legal action will be taken.
“Companies that have already been approved need not apply to Miti,” he said in a statement on Tuesday (April 28).
“While the government has allowed some leniency, business owners still need to adhere to the ‘new normal’ by following social distancing rules in the workplace and health control guidelines,” he added.
According to Azmin, the Economic Action Council (EAC) held a meeting with the Prime Minister on Monday morning (April 27) to discuss the economic crisis and possible remedies.
He said the National Security Council (NSC) meeting, which included the Prime Minister, Mentris Besar and Chief Ministers, agreed to allow economic sectors that were given permission to operate at full capacity without any time constraints.
The decision comes after the EAC convened on Monday (April 27) to evaluate the latest economic and financial situation, as well as the well-being of Malaysians.
Azmin added that the meeting focused on the need to “restart and revive” the overall economic supply chain that would help businesses to “operate fully, rebuild affected stocks, as well as to enable efficient delivery of services and goods to customers”.
Through this initiative, he said the government hoped to revitalise the supply chain of goods and services to meet both domestic and foreign demands with the positive impact, especially on small-medium enterprises (SMEs).
Posted on : 28 April 2020
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Global semiconductor sales up 4.9% y-o-y in July to US$35.2b, says SIA
>Media & Events > News>Global semiconductor sales up 4.9% y-o-y in July to US$35.2b, says SIA
Global sales of semiconductors rose 4.9% year-on-year in July to US$35.2 billion from US$33.5 billion a year earlier, said the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
In a statement on its website Sept 3, SIA said that on a month-on-month basis, the figure was 2.1% higher than the June 2020 total of US$34.5 billion.
Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.
SIA president and CEO John Neuffer said the global semiconductor market has remained largely resistant to global macroeconomic headwinds through the first seven months of the year, with sales in July increasing on both a year-to-year and month-to-month basis, but substantial market uncertainty remains for the rest of the year.
“Sales into the Americas remained strong in July, increasing 26 percent year-to-year, and year-to-year sales were up globally among both memory and non-memory products,” he said.
SIA said that regionally, sales increased on a year-to-year basis in the Americas (26.3%), China (3.5%), and Asia Pacific/All Other (1.4%), but decreased in Japan (-0.4%) and Europe (-14.7%).
It said that on a month-to-month basis, sales increased across all regions: Asia Pacific/All Other (4.5%), Japan (3.4%), Europe (3.2%), the Americas (0.9%), and China (0.5%).
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Police sergeant from 1 Massachusetts town allegedly shoots officer from another, then himself
Feb. 25, 2012 Updated: Aug. 17, 2017 3:18 a.m.
BEVERLY, Mass. -- An off-duty sergeant shot a police officer from a nearby town Friday night, then returned to the scene and killed himself as authorities closed in, the district attorney said.
Authorities responded to a Starbucks in Beverly after a 911 call at about 5:45 p.m. Friday and found Beverly police Officer Jason Lantych shot multiple times, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. Lantych is in serious condition and undergoing surgery, he said.
Off-duty Hamilton police Sgt. Ken Nagy shot Lantych and fled, the district attorney's office said. A warrant was issued for Nagy's arrest on a charge of assault with intent to murder, and authorities said he was believed to be armed and dangerous.
The 43-year-old Nagy returned to the Starbucks at about 10:30 p.m., and police there began to cordon off the scene. Nagy fatally shot himself in his car as officers approached him, Blodgett said.
Nagy and Lantych knew each other, but the motive for the shooting is unclear, the district attorney's office said. Beverly and Hamilton are towns about 5 miles apart in northeastern Massachusetts.
Nagy was promoted to sergeant last summer after 19 years of service, according to a July 3 story from the Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle. His wife, Katie, smiled as she pinned a badge on Nagy's uniform, and their two young sons clapped, the newspaper reported.
When asked his feelings about the promotion, Nagy told the newspaper, "It feels great. I worked hard over the 19 years to get here."
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The Amazing Romans and Their Navy
The First Punic War began in 262 B.C, after a series of silly diplomatic failures.
The pre-text for the war was the occupation of the Sicilian city of Messana (now Messina) by a tribe of thugs called the Mamertines. The King of the Greek colony of Syracuse, named Hiero, wanted to return Messana to Greek control, so he sent his army north to attack the city. Defeated in the initial battle, he returned the next year (265 B.C.), taking the surrounding territory and laying siege to Messana. The Carthaginians, observing Hiero’s behavior and not wanting him to get too powerful, decided to get in the game. They sent a garrison to occupy the Messana after convincing the Mamertines they needed protection. No fools themselves, the Mamertines didn’t trust the Carthaginians, so they signed a treaty with Rome. The Romans, for their part, saw the value of an alliance designed to counter a Carthaginian threat to Italy.
Hiero promptly made a treaty with the Carthaginians, and they agreed to destroy Messana the next year (264 B.C.). The Romans got two legions to Messana in with great difficulty, after their rented ships had problems with the wind and tides. They raised the siege of Messana, scared Hiero back to Syracuse, and defeated the Carthaginians. Under pressure from Rome, Hiero sued for peace, which was granted, and he was required to pay a fine.
The Carthaginians decided they did not appreciate the aggressiveness of Rome so they prepared an army, placed it in Acragas, and sent their navy in support. Carthage had the best navy in the western Mediterranean at that time -- built out of the requirement to protect its trade routes with outlying colonies. No country was in a position to challenge the Carthaginian Navy.
In 262 B.C, the Romans laid siege to Acragas, officially starting a war that would last twenty-one years. After taking the city, the Romans leveled it. Both armies were exhausted and unable to prepare for battle until the next year, but the Romans now realized that driving the Carthaginians out of Sicily was going to be more difficult than they anticipated. They also knew their success was in doubt without a navy, so the Senate approved he funds for construction of war ships.
Rome had no coastline (60 miles inland), no navy, no merchant marine, and no history of trade or knowledge of sailing practice in the Mediterranean, yet they went ahead and built 500 ships in 60 days!
The new navy did not find a place in the war for five years, because the majority of the conflict was inland and all the navy could do was re-supply the army. Then in 256 B.C, the stage was set for the Battle of Ecnomus, where 330 Roman battleships were opposed by an equal number of Carthaginian vessels. The Romans formed their fleet in two large “Vs” with the second of them shielding transport ships. The Carthaginians formed a long line in an attempt to flank the Roman V, but in the midst of his success, the Punic commander chose to attack the transports rather than encircling the Roman warships. That left the Roman fleet free to counterattack and the Carthaginians were defeated.
The Romans would eventually win the war through a combination of sea and land power, but the initial success of the navy would not be repeated for years. The Romans had to learn how to fight on water, where the weather and wind can determine the outcome.
Posted by Mike Anderson at 8:50 PM
Capitalism in the Roman Republic
Roman Republic/United States Timeline
American Factions
Roman Factions
Hannibal's March Across the Alps
Slavery in the Roman Republic and America
Roman Law and American Law
The Gallic Invasion of 390 B.C.
What is a Republic?
Distribution of Wealth – Ancient times and now
The Roman Tribune - Unique among magistrates
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Ndate Yalla Mbodj, the last queen of the Walo Kingdom in northwest Senegal, fought against French colonialism.
It is quite clear that most African societies fought fiercely and bravely to retain control over their countries and societies against European imperialist designs and military invasions. But the African societies eventually lost out. This was partly for political and technological reasons. The nineteenth century was a period of profound and even revolutionary changes in the political geography of Africa, characterized by the demise of old African kingdoms and empires and their reconfiguration into different political entities. Some of the old societies were reconstructed and new African societies were founded on different ideological and social premises. Consequently, African societies were in a state of flux, and many were organizationally weak and politically unstable. They were therefore unable to put up effective resistance against the European invaders.
The technological factor was expressed in the radical disparity between the technologies of warfare deployed by the contending European and African forces. African forces in general fought with bows, arrows, spears, swords, old rifles, and cavalries; the European forces, beneficiaries of the technical fruits of the Industrial Revolution, fought with more deadly firearms, machines guns, new rifles, and artillery guns. Thus in direct encounters European forces often won the day. But as the length of some resistance struggles amply demonstrates, Africans put up the best resistance with the resources they had.
By 1900 much of Africa had been colonized by seven European powers—Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. After the conquest of African decentralized and centralized states, the European powers set about establishing colonial state systems.
The colonial state was the machinery of administrative domination established to facilitate effective control and exploitation of the colonized societies. Partly as a result of their origins in military conquest and partly because of the racist ideology of the imperialist enterprise, the colonial states were authoritarian, bureaucratic systems. Because they were imposed and maintained by force, without the consent of the governed, the colonial states never had the effective legitimacy of normal governments. Second, they were bureaucratic because they were administered by military officers and civil servants who were appointees of the colonial power. While they were all authoritarian, bureaucratic state systems, their forms of administration varied, partly due to the different national administrative traditions and specific imperialist ideologies of the colonizers and partly because of the political conditions in the various territories that they conquered.
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SpaceX, Lockheed-Boeing Venture to Bid on GPS Launch Next Month
Rocket-maker Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX and headed by billionaire Elon Musk, is expected to challenge a Lockheed Martin Corp.-Boeing Co. joint venture next month on a competition to launch a GPS satellite.
Bids are due Nov. 16 in a contest to launch around May 2018 a GPS III satellite as part of the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, or EELV, program, according to a recently updated notice on the Federal Business Opportunities website. The contract is expected to be announced in March.
The Lockheed-Boeing venture, known as United Launch Alliance LLC, is the sole supplier of the EELV program, which launches military and spy satellites into space. The Pentagon earlier this year certified SpaceX to launch national-security payloads as part of an effort to make the acquisition effort competitive and control rising launch costs. The program is estimated to cost a total of $70 billion through 2030.
While SpaceX has successfully delivered cargo to and from the International Space Station and made gains in developing technology to make boosters reusable, it suffered a setback in June when a Falcon 9 exploded minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on another NASA mission. Musk blamed the incident on a faulty strut and pledged to more closely monitor the company's supply chain.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department on Friday reportedly denied a waiver to ULA that would have allowed the company to continue buying Russian-made RD-180 engines for its Atlas V rocket. ULA only has a few left in the inventory and needs more than a dozen, possibly two dozen, to be able to compete to launch military missions until 2019. At that point, it hopes to have developed a new rocket called the Vulcan, complete with a new BE-4 engine built by Blue Origin LLC
While the Russian engine is relatively cheap and has contributed to ULA's long record of successful launches -- it recently celebrated its 100th successful liftoff -- the propulsion system has become a flash point in the debate over American reliance on Russian technology for national-security programs, particularly amid rising tensions between the two countries over Russia's military involvement in the Ukraine and now Syria.
Blue Origin, the private aerospace company headed by Amazon.com founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos, has spent a significant amount of its own money developing a domestic alternative to the Russian design, called the BE-4, which will be ready to fly in 2019, according to Rob Meyerson, president of the company. (A precursor successfully lifted off earlier this year.)
Aerojet Rocketdyne, the incumbent engine-maker, is some 16 months behind that schedule, an official said. But it plans on having a certified propulsion system, known as the AR-1, around the same time, according to Julie Van Kleeck, vice president of advanced space and launch programs at the company.
Meanwhile, Boeing Co., the world’s largest aerospace company, last month rejected rocket engine-maker Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc.'s $2 billion bid to buy ULA, an executive said. "This bid, we've really not spent much time on it at all because we're focusing on a totally different direction," Chris Chadwick, chief executive officer of the Chicago-based company's defense unit, said at the time. "There was no serious consideration of this and it's not even in our expansive thought at this point in time."
Related Topics: Air Force Topics DoDBuzz DoDBuzz
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Current: Mills & Reeve advises 18 Cambridge colleges on £150 million debt private placementMills & Reeve advises 18 Cambridge colleges on £150 million debt private placement
Mills & Reeve advises 18 Cambridge colleges on £150 million debt private placement
We have advised on our third capital markets fundraising in the higher education sector over the last 14 months, with the latest deal designed mainly to fund capital investment programmes at 18 Cambridge colleges.
The successful placement follows the launch of a £350 million public bond issue by the University of Cambridge in October 2012 and a £300 million public bond issue by the University of Manchester in July this year. It is the first time that an aggregated structure has been used by a higher education institution, and offers a potential route for universities with smaller debt requirements to access the debt capital markets.
The colleges will use the proceeds mainly to help finance on-going capital investment programmes in college buildings. The 18 colleges, in alphabetical order, are:
Christ’s College
Churchill College
Corpus Christi College
Darwin College
Downing College
Girton College
Gonville and Caius College
Homerton College
Lucy Cavendish College
Newnham College
Pembroke College
Robinson College
Sidney Sussex College
St Catharine’s College
Sarah Seed, banking partner at Mills & Reeve who specialises in alternative sources of financing for not-for-profit institutions, said: “The reality is that the higher education sector in the UK, and across the world, is experiencing significant change. This requires new solutions, especially in the area of finance, and we are now combining a greater number of legal disciplines to meet our clients' needs.
“Many universities and institutions within the Higher Education Sector are increasingly looking at alternative forms of financing and we were delighted to have been able to assist this group of Cambridge colleges on aggregating their debt requirements and on successfully raising a substantial amount of capital to help them achieve their long term goals. The appeal of the aggregating funding vehicle to investors offers exciting possibilities to the many universities looking for alternative sources of finance but with debt requirements too small to go it alone.”
The borrowings take the form of debt private placements, issued by two special-purpose companies, Cambridge Colleges Funding plc and Cambridge Colleges Funding II plc. These two companies have issued three private placements to institutional investors, and will on-lend the proceeds to the 18 Colleges on a matched or ‘pass-through’ basis.
Together, they total approximately £150 million, and have a weighted average interest rate of 4.42% and a weighted average maturity of nearly 33 years. All the placements were priced at a credit spread of 0.85% over the relevant reference gilt yield at the time of pricing. The individual amount borrowed by each college ranges from approximately £3 million to approximately £18 million. The on-loans are legally separate and several, and no college is guaranteeing the obligations of any other.
The Mills & Reeve team was led by banking partner Sarah Seed with additional support from partner Claire Clarke and associate Matthew Howling. Mills & Reeve acts for over 120 universities, colleges and education bodies. It is developing a market-leading reputation in the area of alternative financing for the not-for-profit sector and is currently advising a number of higher education institutions and charities on the rapidly increasing range of financial solutions open to them.
Rothschild is providing independent debt advice to the Colleges and RBS and Barclays acted as arrangers. Mills & Reeve advised the issuing vehicles. Bingham McCutcheon acted as legal adviser to the institutional investors.
New Year brings new investment for the world’s first IVF clinic
Bourn Hall, the renowned IVF fertility clinics in the east of England, has secured significant investment from Triangle Capital Corporation, a Canadian-based investment firm.
Mills & Reeve advise Global Graphics on the proposed acquisition of HYBRID Software Group
Mills & Reeve have advised Cambridge-based Global Graphics PLC on their proposed acquisition of HYBRID Software Group from Congra Software for EUR 80 million
Sarah Seed
Contact Sarah
Contact Sarah Seed
Contact us or register for updates to stay up-to-date
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Home General Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with 4K recording unveiled in India
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with 4K recording unveiled in India
Sumit Chauhan
Canon has launched the highly-awaited EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR capable of shooting 4K videos in India. This camera is the first variant in the 5D series that can record 4K movies. It will be available for sale from September.
The EOS 5D Mark IV has a resolution of 30.4MP and a full-frame CMOS sensor. It’s fitted with an in-built digital lens optimizer and Canon’s Digic 6+ image processor. The camera has a 3.2-inch LCD touchscreen display supplemented with Dual Pixel CMOS autofocus. This technology enables faster autofocus even in the video mode.
High-speed continuous shooting in the EOS 5D Mark IV occurs at a rate of 7fps. 4K videos are captured at speeds of up to 30fps in 4096 x 2160p resolution. The device is also hosting a mirror vibration control system for higher speed in continuous shots. The shooter’s ISO ranges from 100 to 32000. It comes with a 150000-pixel RGB + IR metering sensor and EOS iTR (Intelligent Tracking and Recording).
One of the EOS 5D Mark IV’s notable features is the Dual Pixel RAW which makes micro-adjustments to the optical errors seen on the image after clicking. This tool can also be used to make bokeh-shifts and reduce ghosting in pictures.
Also See: Canon EOS 1300D entry-level DSLR unveiled at Rs 29995
Besides the above-mentioned specifications, the EOS 5D Mark IV also supports connectivity options like Wi-Fi, USB 3.0 and GPS. It is the first device in the 5D range to be host to NFC which can be used to pair the camera with supported phones.
The body of the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV is priced at Rs 254995. If buying it with the EF 24-105mm lens, the cost shoots up to Rs 324995. You can also purchase the camera with an EF 24-70mm lens which will set you back by Rs 306995.
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Asus Chromebox 4 Launched With 10th-Gen Intel Core Processors
Amitabh Bachchan all set to be Alexa’s first Indian celebrity voice
Facebook hate content: Vice President, Ajit Mohan summoned by Delhi Assembly panel
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FCC opens applications for its $100M telehealth pilot
Jessica Kim Cohen
Woman sitting on the sofa while making video call over laptop with her doctor.
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday released plans to open applications for a $100 million pilot program to promote telehealth services.
Applications for the FCC's Connected Care Pilot Program open Friday and will close Dec. 7.
The Connected Care program will distribute up to $100 million over three years to not-for-profit and public healthcare providers to help defray broadband costs related to bringing telehealth to low-income Americans and veterans. The program will cover 85% of the cost of select services and network equipment, such as internet access for patients.
The FCC said providers will not be able to use program funds to purchase devices or medical equipment for patients.
"In the past year, connectivity has become an increasingly critical component of delivering healthcare services in our country," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a statement. "With the opening of this application window, the FCC affirms its commitment to driving the future of healthcare delivery and supporting innovative pilot projects across the country."
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr first unveiled plans for the Connected Care program in 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike existing FCC healthcare programs, such as the agency's Rural Health Care Program, the pilot was designed to focus on projects that connect patients with healthcare services outside of a hospital.
Carr previously said that data from the Connected Care program will likely be used to inform future agency policies around telehealth.
Providers have largely expressed excitement about the program; however, some hospital groups had hoped to see the FCC open up the program to for-profit hospitals.
The FCC in less than three months exhausted $200 million that Congress had allocated for the agency to use to help healthcare organizations purchase broadband and telecommunications services for telehealth as part of a separate program focused on COVID-19 response. The $200 million went to more than 500 organizations as part of the program, dubbed the COVID-19 Telehealth Program.
While telehealth soared in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's unclear to what extent that momentum will continue. Recent research has indicated telehealth visits are declining as hospitals reopen for non-emergency care; however, telehealth utilization in the summer still sat at a notably higher rate than before the pandemic.
Allscripts closes $1.3 billion sale of its care coordination business
Traffic crashes Indiana COVID vaccine sign-up site
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Pieris - Forest Flame
A shrub originally from Asia which can grow to 15 feet in height. Has a pretty white flower and spectacular red foliage in spring. Found near the tennis club in the Park.
An acid soil loving plant which is primarily from China and Japan. Again brought over by the Victorians in the 19th Century. It was very popular in Victorian parks and gardens and can grow up to 15 feet in height. Rhododendrons flower once a year with colours ranging from white to deep purple.
A climber or ground cover plant which is evergreen. It comes in either green or variegated colours. It can be very invasive but also can be very attractive. Will climb walls, trees, etc. Native to the UK.
Evergreen and deciduous species. Recently introduced to the park and can grow from a few inches high to over 4 foot tall. Ferns love the shade under the woodland canopy at the Moseley village end of the Park.
Gunnera - Giant Rhubarb
Cannot be eaten. Known for very larges leaves which can grow to be 6 feet across. Originally comes from Asia. Enjoys a boggy environment and humus rich soil.
Kerria - Easter Rose
Deciduous - loses its leaves in the autumn. Has pom-pom yellow flowers in April. Grows well in shady spots. Can grow up to 10 feet in height.
Bluebells are now protectd by law in the wild, after many illegal thefts to sell. They actually come in blue, pink and white colours. They grow vigorously in the park and provide a carpet of colour in May.
Wild Primrose
A British plant which thrives in the woodland. Provides a carpet of yellow in March and April.
Introduced from Japan in the 19th Century in a garden in the south of the UK and has now escaped to most of the country and is considered a pest as it is very difficult to get rid of.
Cyprus Tree
Cyprus trees are evergreens meaning they do not lose their leaves in the winter. They can grow up to 150 feet in height.
Horse chestnut Tree
Famous for providing conkers, a traditional children's game for over a hundred years. The hardest conkers are those that have fallen to the ground because they are the ripest.
Hawthorn Tree
The male of the species has pink coloured blossoms, the female of the species has white coloured blossom. It is known for its medicinal properties.
Acer - Crimson King
An ornamental tree which can grow between 20- 30 feet in height. Foliage used by florists in creating displays because of the colour. Indigenous to Europe.
Grows to over 150 feet. Has been known in England for over 300 years.
Alder - (Dissectum) Tree
This is a hybrid tree. Known as an ornamental tree because of its decorative effect. So called because its leaves look like they've been dissected.
Lime or Linden Tree
Wood from this tree is used in the creation of piano keys because it is highly resistant to warping. Can grow to 100 feet and is indigenous to the UK and Europe.
Weeping Willow Tree
Has naturally drooping branches and leaves. Can grow to 25 feet in height. Willow is used in cricket bats because of its soft and resilient nature.
Black Cherry Tree
The fruits from this tree are inedible despite the name. This is an ornamental tree which can grow up to 25 feet and is known for its dark coloured foliage.
Monkey Puzzle Tree
Can grow up to 50 feet in height. So called because branches look like monkeys' tails. Originally from Chile. Branches fall off lower part of trunk as the tree grows.
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An Updated Lead-Crime Roundup for 2018
A few weeks ago I promised an updated roundup of evidence about the link between lead poisoning and violent crime. Here it is.
It’s in three parts. Part 1 is the basic story. Part 2 is various bits of commentary explaining different details and predictions of the hypothesis. Part 3 is a roundup of all the lead-crime studies that have been done since 2012 that I’m aware of.
1. A Brief Summary of Lead and Crime
The lead-crime hypothesis is pretty simple: lead poisoning degrades the development of childhood brains in ways that increase aggression, reduce impulse control, and impair the executive functions that allow people to understand the consequences of their actions. Because of this, infants who are exposed to high levels of lead are more likely to commit violent crimes later in life. There are three types of research that confirm the connection between lead and crime:
Brain studies. Neurologists have performed MRI scans of adults who were exposed to lead as children. They’ve found that because lead is chemically similar to calcium, it displaces the calcium needed for normal brain development.
Prospective studies. These are studies that begin in childhood and follow a group of children through adulthood. The children are measured along the way and their adult outcomes are catalogued. Several prospective studies have shown that children who are exposed to high levels of lead are more likely to be arrested and incarcerated for violent crimes later in life.
Population studies. These are studies that depend on statistical analysis of groups, rather than individuals. Dozens of population studies have found strong correlations between the exposure of a group to lead and the level of violent crime committed by the group later in life. These groups can be neighborhoods, cities, states, or countries. For the USA, the correlation between lead and crime looks like this:
No single study is proof of the lead-crime hypothesis. However, the accumulated evidence for the hypothesis is pretty overwhelming. I outlined the case for the lead-crime hypothesis in 2012 in a magazine piece called: Lead: America’s Real Criminal Element.
In a nutshell, this article argues that atmospheric lead from gasoline tailpipes rose steadily after World War II, affecting babies born in the late 40s and beyond. The leading edge of this generation became teenagers in the late 60s and was more prone than previous generations to committing violent crime. Every year the population of teenagers with lead poisoning increased, and violent crime increased with it. This is why the 70s and 80s were eras in which crime skyrocketed.
In the early 70s the United States began to phase out leaded gasoline and newborns became steadily less lead poisoned. Like clockwork, as the leading edge of this generation became teenagers in the early 90s, the crime wave started to recede. By 2010, an entire generation of teenagers and young adults—the age group responsible for most crime—had grown up nearly lead free, and the violent crime rate had plummeted to half or less of its high point. This happened across the board: in big and small cities; among blacks and whites; in every state; in every city; and, as it turns out, in every other country that also phased out leaded gasoline.
It’s important to emphasize that the lead-crime hypothesis doesn’t claim that lead is solely responsible for crime. It primarily explains only one thing: the huge rise in crime of the 70s and 80s and the equally huge—and completely unexpected—decline in crime of the 90s and aughts. The lead-crime hypothesis is the answer to the question mark in the stylized chart below:
Since I wrote my article in 2012, researchers have conducted nearly a dozen new studies designed to test the lead-crime hypothesis. All but one of them has supported it, and the single outlier has some serious methodological issues. The only real challenge remaining is from criminologists who examine, say, murder rates in the 80s and find that all age cohorts between 15 and 30 were equally violent. But if lead levels increased over time and therefore affected different age groups differently, shouldn’t we see differences in crime rates by age group too? Does this disprove the lead-crime hypothesis?
The biggest problem here is that no agency tracks crimes by the age of the perpetrator. The data just doesn’t exist. However, we can estimate it for murder because it’s well-known that murderers and their victims tend to be of similar ages. Unfortunately, the number of murders is relatively small compared to the universe of violent crime, which makes it statistically challenging to analyze. What’s more, the 80s are a decade in which virtually every age cohort from 15 to 30 was pretty severely lead poisoned.
For this reason, cohort analysis based on murder rates in the 80s is unlikely to have the statistical power to tell us much. And since age data for other crimes and other eras doesn’t exist, we’ll never get anything better. However, in recent years we’ve gotten some new evidence: once crime began to decline, it was only a matter of time until incarceration began to decline too. That’s started to happen over the past decade, and of course we know the precise age of everyone in prison. What we’ve found is that incarceration rates are dropping almost precisely the way the lead hypothesis predicts: big drops for younger cohorts who are lead free these days, and smaller drops for older cohorts who are still part of Generation Lead. It appears that, in fact, violent crime almost certainly rose and fell by age cohort, just as it should have. There’s more on this below.
In my opinion, the lead-crime hypothesis is by now all but unassailable. The amount of direct research supporting it is massive, and there have even been a few studies done of lead in completely different contexts (lead paint, lead in water pipes) that support the hypothesis in different eras. What’s more, given what we know about how lead affects the brain, none of this should be surprising. What would be surprising is if a powerful neurotoxin like lead didn’t affect violent crime.
2. Commentary on Lead and Crime
The prison population is dropping. Declining exposure to lead starting in the mid-70s reduced the rate of violent crime 20 years later. Twenty years after that, as members of Generation Lead are being released from prison and aren’t being replaced, the prison population has finally started to drop too. The decline is most pronounced among younger cohorts, just as you’d expect from the lead-crime hypothesis.
Lead and murder. We have fairly good data on homicide rates going back for a century, and it turns out the United States has had two epidemics of murder, the first in the 20s and 30s and the second in the 70s and 80s. When you account for both lead paint and gasoline lead, it turns out that lead can explain them both.
Black juveniles. Since 1991, violent crime rates have declined across the board. However, the arrest rate for black juveniles has dropped more sharply than the rate for white juveniles. Why? Because blacks were more affected by lead in the 60s and 70s. Their crime rate went up more than it did for whites, so when lead was removed from gasoline their crime rate went down more than it did for whites. See also here, which looks at incarceration rates for blacks and whites. And also here.
Cop killers. Police killings by young people have dropped staggeringly since 1990. Among the cohort aged 18-24, the rate of police killings has gone down from 33 per year to 4 per year.
Jamaica, man. The country of Jamaica phased out leaded gasoline between 1990 and 2000. Twenty years later, just as you’d expect, the murder rate began a steep decline. (Homicide in Jamaica has stayed generally lower since then, but has spiked up and down in recent years. That’s because although lead is associated with crime, there are lots of other reasons for crime to go up and down too.)
Lead and terrorism. Based on when they banned leaded gasoline, I predict that Middle East terrorism will begin a long decline starting around 2020 or so.
International crime trends. Violent crime began to drop in the United States in the early 90s, about 20 years after we began reducing the lead content of gasoline. But how about other countries? Where can we expect to see crime drops in the future?
George Monbiot and Scott Firestone. Monbiot endorses the lead-crime theory and Firestone criticizes it. I respond, along with a brief summary of the multiple threads of research that support the lead-crime hypothesis. Followup here.
Baselines vs. crime waves. Lots of things contribute to baseline levels of crime. But lead is uniquely able to explain why there was such a huge rise of crime above the baseline during the 60s, 70s, and 80s, followed by an equally huge reduction back to the baseline in the 90s and aughts.
Crime in Japan. Leaded gasoline in Japan was banned completely in 1980. By 2000 the country had an entire cohort of teenagers who had grown up lead free. The lead exposure of Japanese children is now among the lowest in the world, and as a result the Economist reports that crime is so low that police officers are getting bored.
Big cities vs. small cities. Surprisingly, it turns out that once you reduce exposure to gasoline lead, big cities aren’t really all that much more dangerous than small ones after all.
A response to Jim Manzi. This is a wonky post responding to Manzi’s generic critique of econometric analysis of complex social issues.
High school fights. If high lead levels dispose some people to lives of violent crime later in life, it should dispose even more people to lives of moderately higher violent behavior. We don’t have data for schoolyard fights in the 60s and 70s, but we do have data since 1992, and they’ve been declining the whole time, just as the lead-crime hypothesis predicts.
Crime and race. In the postwar era, black children were exposed to much more lead than white children. This explains some of the racial differences in both crime rates and incarceration rates.
Red Barns and Rural Crime. In the 19th century, most American farmers painted their barns red. However, around 1880 better quality white lead paint became cheaply available thanks to railroad expansion and ready-mixed paint available from Sears Roebuck and others. About 20 years later, rural homicides increased dramatically, nearly catching up to murder rates in cities—which, of course, had been using lead paint for decades.
Bill de Blasio. In 2013, I predicted that crime in New York would continue to stay low no matter what Bill de Blasio did as mayor. Why? Because crime declined due to reductions in lead, not because of CompStat or stop-and-frisk or anything that Rudy Giuliani or Mike Bloomberg did. It’s now 2018. I was right.
Cohorts and crime. The arrest rate of young people is down substantially since 1991. This is because young people today grew up with far less lead poisoning than young people a couple of decades ago. But what about older folks? They grew up with a bit more lead poisoning than people who were middle-aged in 1991. And guess what? Their arrest rate is a little higher than the same age cohort in 1991.
More cohorts. Mike Males looks at incarceration rates by age and finds a perfect correlation. Incarceration is down substantially for the youngest cohorts; about the same for middle cohorts; and up for older cohorts. Incarceration rates are down a stunning 60 percent among 18-19 year olds, which is consistent with the lead-crime hypothesis. Young cohorts these days are pretty lead free and far less violent than in the past. Older cohorts, by contrast, are still part of Generation Lead, and they’re committing more crimes compared to older cohorts from the 1990s, who mostly grew up before the lead era. See also here. And here.
Ethanol and São Paulo. In 1975, after the first Arab oil embargo, Brazil started a campaign to replace gasoline with ethanol. Most of the ethanol went to São Paulo, and by the mid-80s half the cars in the province had stopped using gasoline. Sure enough, 18 years later the murder rate started dropping dramatically. Today it’s at one-third the level of 2002, when the decline began.
Violent crime in Britain. The violent crime rate in Britain peaked in 2007 and then dropped sharply. This is consistent with Britain’s experience: They banned leaded gasoline in 1988, and then made the switch to unleaded very quickly.
Criminologists and lead. A criminologist provides a pitch perfect dismissal of the lead-crime hypothesis because, by God, crime is a sociological problem and that’s that.
The politics of lead. Everyone has their own pet theory of why crime rose in the 60s and 70s: guns, poverty, drugs, the counterculture, the breakdown of the family, black “pathologies,” racism, moral decay, the decline of religion, and so forth. This is why so many people dislike the lead-crime hypothesis. If it’s true, it means your pet theory probably isn’t. And nobody wants to give up their pet theories.
3. Studies of Lead and Crime Since 2012
2014, Reyes: A second study from Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, this time using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth. She finds that early childhood lead exposure leads to “an unfolding series of adverse behavioral outcomes: behavior problems as a child, pregnancy and aggression as a teen, and criminal behavior as a young adult.”
2013, Aharoni et al.: Brain scans show that prisoners with lower activity in the anterior cingular cortex (ACC) are twice as likely to return to crime after they’re released. This is consistent with the lead-crime hypothesis: the effect of childhood lead poisoning is permanent loss of tissue in the ACC, which controls emotional regulation, impulse control, attention, verbal reasoning, and mental flexibility.
2017, Aizer and Currie: The authors take advantage of an extremely detailed dataset of children in Rhode Island that allows them to track the effect of lead on individuals, rather than just averages on an entire population. For each child, they measure school suspensions and juvenile detentions along with two measures of lead poisoning: (a) childhood blood lead levels and (b) distance from major roadways, which are associated with a large concentration of lead fumes. In both cases, they find a substantial association of lead poisoning with future juvenile delinquency.
2014, Liu at al.: A prospective study of childhood lead-poisoning in the Jiangsu province of China. The study so far has followed the children only up to age six, but it has already found “significant associations between blood lead concentrations and increased scores for teacher-reported behavioral problems.”
2017, Billings and Schnepel: A very powerful study of two groups of North Carolina two-year-olds born in the 1990s. Both groups tested high for lead poisoning, but one was slightly above 10 μg/dl and one was slightly below. The high group received an intervention that substantially lowered their lead exposure. Later in life, the intervention group had far lower arrest rates for violent crimes.
2017, Grönqvist et al.: A study of lead in Sweden concludes that “early lead exposure may have deleterious effects on the academic performance among children with blood lead at least at levels from 3 μg/dL and above, and criminal behavior from 5 μg/dL.” The researchers also found the lead had strong negative effects on social maturity, emotional stability, and the ability to make and carry out plans. All of these are things related to violent crime.
2016, Feigenbaum and Muller: An entirely different approach to lead and crime. The authors compared cities in the early 20th century that installed lead water pipes vs. iron water pipes. This was a fairly random choice, usually based on whether a lead pipe factory was nearby and could offer a better price than iron pipes. Two decades later, the lead pipe cities had murder rates 14-36 percent higher than the iron pipe cities.
2014, Wolf: An article in Chemical and Engineering News that focuses on recent neuroscience studies showing what lead does to the brain and how this is associated with violent crime.
2016, Boutwell et al.: A team of researchers studied crime at the census tract level in St. Louis. They found “a relatively strong effect of lead on behavior, especially violent behavior.” Statistician Andrew Gelman confirmed that the analysis in the paper was all kosher.
2016, Lauritsen et al.: The authors compare lead poisoning to crime rates, but instead of using the FBI’s numbers for crime (reported by police departments), they used the NCVS survey of crime (as reported by interviews with families). They conclude that if you used the NCVS data the correlation between lead and crime is zero. However, there are some pretty strong reasons to suspect that something is wrong with this study.
2016, Taylor et al.: An Australian team used records of atmospheric lead to compare neighborhoods and states. Lead was a strong predictor of assault rates 21 years later. An increase in atmospheric lead of 1 microgram per cubic meter led to an increase in assault rates of 163 per 100,000 population.
2017, Beckley et al.: A prospective study of children in Dunedin, New Zealand, provides support for the lead-crime hypothesis, but only modestly. This is unsurprising since New Zealand generally had fairly low levels of lead poisoning to begin with.
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Scientists discovered a new species of tiny sharks that glow in the dark
by: James Selby
FILE – This undated image provided by National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center shows a 5.5-inch long rare pocket shark. A pocket-sized pocket shark found in the Gulf of Mexico has turned out to be a new species, and one that squirts little glowing clouds into the ocean.
Researchers from around the Gulf and in New York have named it the American pocket shark, or Mollisquama (mah-lihs-KWAH-muh) mississippiensis (MISS-ih-SIP-ee-EHN-sis). (Mark Grace/National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center via AP, File)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — (7/26/19) A pocket-sized pocket shark found in the Gulf of Mexico has turned out to be a new species.
And the mysterious pouches that it’s named for, up near its front fins? Scientists say they squirt little glowing clouds into the ocean.
Researchers from around the Gulf and in New York have named the species the American pocket shark, or Mollisquama (mah-lihs-KWAH-muh) mississippiensis (MISS-ih-sip-ee-EHN-sis).
It’s only the third out of more than 500 known shark species that may squirt luminous liquid, said R. Dean Grubbs, a Florida State University scientist who was not involved in the research. He said the other two are the previously known pocket shark and the taillight shark , which has a similar gland near its tail.
“You have this tiny little bulbous luminescent shark cruising around in the world’s oceans and we know nothing about them,” said Grubbs, the immediate past president of the American Elasmobranch Society — scientists who study sharks, skates and rays. “It shows us how little we actually know.”
Like the only other pocket shark known to science — a 16-inch (400-millimeter) adult female found in the Pacific Ocean off Peru — this 5.6-inch (142-millimeter) newborn male fished out of the Gulf has a pouch next to each front fin. But with this one, scientists figured out what they’re for.
The muscular glands are lined with pigment-covered fluorescent projections, indicating they squirt luminous liquid, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ichthyologist Mark Grace and his collaborators wrote in the journal “Zootaxa.” The shark also has clusters of light-emitting cells dotted on its belly.
That makes it likely the one caught in 1979 and now in a Russian museum was also a light-squirter with a bioluminescent abdomen, though four decades pickled in formaldehyde probably have made it impossible to tell, Grace said Friday.
The luminescence might conceal the shark from prey or from predators, he said.
Differences between the two specimens include a possible pressure-sensitive organ that the new species could use to detect motion hundreds of feet away and some differences in the teeth, the scientists wrote. The new species may also have as many as 10 fewer vertebrae than the other one, called Mollisquama parini.
Grace, who is based in Pascagoula, Mississippi, said the baby shark was among specimens collected during a 2010 survey to find out what Gulf of Mexico sperm whales eat by trawling in an area and at a depth where tagged whales had been feeding.
He had spent three years identifying the collected specimens, and this one, still showing an umbilical scar, was in the last bag he opened.
“I’ve been in science about 40 years. … I can usually make a pretty good guess” about a marine animal’s identity, he said. “I couldn’t with this one.”
Grace said it took a while to convince himself that he had something unusual: “I figured I was doing something wrong.”
He called Tulane University scientists saying, “Look, I’ve got some really unusual deep-water stuff I want to archive in your collection , including a shark I can’t identify.” Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the University of Florida’s Florida Museum of Natural History also became collaborators.
A 2015 paper identified the shark as the second of its kind. It took years more, including high-resolution scans in the particle accelerator in Grenoble, France, to get more internal detail, to be sure it was a new species. Another European expert, Julien Claes, did cellular dissection of a bit of the pocket tissue to confirm its function.
“He said, ‘Yes, these are the kind of cells that produce luminous fluid.’ So it’s pretty safe to say that’s what the one in Russia does,” Grace said.
The collaborations were exciting, he said.
“I don’t get over it,” he said. “I just remind myself this is one of the great parts of science, to have collaborations like that.”
Stay up to date with the latest news by downloading the KTVE/KARD News App from the App Store or Google Play.
More Science Stories
NASA to test engine for ‘most powerful rocket in the world’
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — NASA is preparing to test-fire engines on Saturday that could send a rocket to the moon in 2022.
The Stennis Space Center will test all four engines on its new Space Launch System. The system is the only rocket that will be able to send the Orion spacecraft, astronauts and cargo to the moon in a single mission.
by Michelle Robertson, Nexstar Media Wire / Jan 14, 2021
(NEXSTAR) - COVID-19 is known to cause life-threatening, and sometimes fatal, outcomes today. But in the future, contracting the virus may be akin to coming down with a common childhood cold.
Using data from other human coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-1, researchers from Emory University and Pennsylvania State University have determined that, eventually, COVID-19 will resemble other common childhood infections. They published their findings Tuesday in the journal Science.
(NEXSTAR) -- Among other trials the world faced in 2020, the year will go down as one of the hottest on record, according to a new NASA analysis.
While the NASA study found 2020 to be the hottest so far, taking into consideration the study's margin of error ties 2020 with 2016 for the warmest year.
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You are here: Home / Blog / Leave a Legacy / Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019 | A Time of Reflection
Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019 | A Time of Reflection
By My Olive Tree | January 16, 2019
Prior to World War II, roughly 9.5 million Jews lived in Europe. At that time, this was approximately 60 percent of the Jewish population worldwide. However, only a few short years later, 6 million of those Jews were murdered—their lives ended simply because of their heritage, being heirs of the biblical patriarch Abraham.
Aside from the 6 death camps that many are familiar with… it took 40,000 camps, prisons, and other facilities located all over the nation of Germany and other occupied lands beyond to accomplish these heinous crimes.
Holocaust Remembrance Day is upon us. It’s a time set aside to reflect on the lives lost and how we will choose to live our own lives moving forward.
Will you take a moment to pause and reflect on January 27 for Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019?
As we prepare our hearts, let’s pause for a moment and hear the stories of some of the families that walked through the trenches of the Holocaust.
Tchiya Perlmutter
Born in Poland in 1925, Tchiya was born to Simcha and Fruna Perlmutter. Simcha, a professor, and Fruna, an active civic leader, raised Tichiya and her younger sister, Shulamit, in Horochow, Poland.
Imagine Tchiya’s life growing up and the influence her parents had on her. She was well cared for and encouraged to explore the world of academia and to make a difference in the community where she lived.
In 1939, Germany invaded Horochow, and their Soviet Union allies occupied the area. Tchiya was just 14 years old at the time. Her family remained in their home despite the occupation and increased anti-Semitism. It wasn’t until 1941, 3 years after the Nazi occupation, when Germany came and built a ghetto in Horochow, ultimately relocating the Perlmutter family within.
Read more about Tchiya’s family’s plan to escape and her tragic story HERE.
Joseph Gani
Joseph Gani was born in 1926 to Greek/Baltic Jews who lived in a small seaside town, Preveza, Greece, which boasted a Jewish population of approximately 300. Joseph’s father was a small textile shop owner, which allowed the Ganis a comfortable existence.
It was in Preveza that Joseph attended a public Greek school, which provided him with a good religious education. Weekly, a rabbi would visit the school for several hours and teach the Jewish students important Jewish tradition, law, and texts. Besides Joseph’s religious and academic interests, Joseph was incredibly fond of sports—particularly soccer and baseball.
Yet, this idyllic life wasn’t to last. Germany invaded Greece in 1941, and by autumn of 1943, the town of Preveza was occupied. Soon after, in March 1944, all known Jews in Preveza were sent to Auschwitz.
Joseph’s life changed in a matter of days. But Joseph didn’t go down without a fight.
Read more about how Joseph’s bravery sounded the trumpet for battle HERE.
Shmuel David Bursztyn
Shmuel David Bursztyn is a wonderful example of a Jewish man who was living a simple, happy life before his world was turned upside down.
Born in 1874, Shmuel David Bursztyn was raised in Pultusk, Poland, by loving Jewish parents. It was in this town where he met Gisha, the woman he would marry before moving to the city of Warsaw.
In Warsaw, Shmuel owned his own bakery for many years. While the living was modest… he, his wife, and their 8 children were eventually afforded the opportunity to move into a larger 2-bedroom apartment in a safe area of the city.
Read more HERE about Shmuel and His wife, Gisha, and how their simple life that was once thought to be free from Nazi war efforts was changed in the blink of an eye.
Franz Anton Ledermann
Born October 16, 1889, in Eastern Germany to Jewish parents, Franz Anton Ledermann had not only a good start but also a good life. He was able to attend Breslau University and attain a law degree, and he even went on to Geneva University in Switzerland, graduating with a Doctor of Jurisprudence. He was a highly intelligent man and successful in his practice.
At the age of 35 he married a Dutch-Jewish woman, Ilse Luise Citroen, and within a few years, they had 2 beautiful daughters, Barbara and Susanne. To look at his life, it was obvious he was prospering. After all, his law practice was flourishing, he had a large house with servants, and he had a happy life with his wife and children… but after the Nazis came to power in 1933, much would change.
Read more HERE about Franz’s successful law practice and how he was robbed of a chance to prosper when he was led to believe otherwise by his enemies.
Jozef Rapaport
Jozef Rapaport was born in 1899 to religious Jewish parents. Early on, his father died, and his mother struggled to provide for him and his 3 older sisters.
Yet, despite the poverty Jozef grew up in, he enrolled in a university in Prague, paying his own way through hard work—rising above his circumstances. After attending that university and obtaining a degree there, Jozef found that he wanted to expand his knowledge further, moving to Vienna temporarily to earn a Ph.D. in economics—a degree that would allow him to become a successful banker.
The Rapaports fled from Warsaw, Germany, only to be forced back there into the hands of the Nazis and survived in a room not much bigger than a closet for 2 years while in hiding.
Read more about Jozef’s life and pushing through trials HERE.
Julius Levin
Julius Levin—commonly called Julo by those who knew him—was born on September 5, 1901, in Stettin, Germany. His Jewish family had hoped that he would become a businessman, thereby having a successful and stable life… but he loved art. It was his gift from God.
By the age of 6, Julo had managed to collect more than 3,000 pictures of varied subject matter. He was enraptured by the call God placed on his life and chose to go to art school despite his family’s disappointment. He graduated from art school in 1926.
Read more about Julo’s amazing artistic gift and his attempt to pass it on to others HERE.
Wilhelm Edelstein
Born July 1, 1914, in Vienna, Austria, Wilhelm was the first of 2 children born to Jewish parents, Josef and Ida Edelstein.
During WWI, just after Wilhelm’s birth, Josef was called to fight. During this time, Ida and Wilhelm went to live with Ida’s relatives in Prague—her hometown—in an effort to protect Wilhelm and avoid massive food shortages.
At the end of the war, Josef returned to his business in Vienna and the family reunited… Not long after, Josef and Ida had a daughter, Alice.
Life was pleasant. Wilhelm began working for his father, and despite growing anti-Semitism, they faced little opposition… but it would not last.
Wilhelm’s existence was filled with trials, but he held on to hope. Read more about his amazing perseverance HERE.
These are only a few stories of the 6 million lost…
Every life deserves to be honored and every story heard. The sad part is that so many lives that were lost during the Holocaust were disgraced, degraded, and dishonored.
Can you identify with any of the lives mentioned above?
Maybe you came from a well-off family or have a baby sister you remember protecting from a bully as a kid. Now imagine your family being ripped from the life you knew, or the bully being so big that your protection alone can’t hold up.
This is what the victims of the Holocaust endured. Something we can only begin to understand as we read their stories.
It isn’t fair. It isn’t just—but we have a chance to sow honor back into their lives and back into history this Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Plant a Tree—Honor Their Memory
Trees hold powerful symbolism in Jewish culture. In Jewish tradition, it is customary to plant a tree every time a child is born. There are numerous reasons to plant trees in Israel, but today it’s about honoring a life.
It is saddening to hear and see the emotional anguish that the Jewish people dealt with daily, for years, during the Holocaust. Many survivors alive today question why they survived when their family and friends were horrifically murdered. They deal with the ever-present battle of remorse and guilt in their minds.
When they hear of you planting trees to honor their loved ones, tears stream down their aged faces. Their eyes have seen horror, but the tears that fill them when they hear of the love you’ve shared are joyful.
We ask you to consider planting a tree in memory of a life lost in the Holocaust today. Let us never forget and always honor.
Go HERE to find out more!
Remembering the Chosen
Unity Found in Yom Kippur – Part 2
The Struggles of Holocaust Survivors | The Pain of Yesterday Burdens Today
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Environmental Health Institute Scientists Begin to Unravel Cause of Blocked Memory in Alzheimer's
Tuesday, January 2, 2001, 12:00 p.m. EDT
Contact: Bill Grigg, NIEHS
Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (http://www.niehs.nih.gov) have found that a protein found in patients with Alzheimer's disease can disrupt brain signals and therefore may contribute to the memory losses of Alzheimer's disease, the scientists reported today in the Journal of Neuroscience (http://www.jneurosci.org/) , 2001, Vol. 21, RC 120, pp. 1-5.
According to the report, the characteristic plaques seen by scientists and physicians in the brains of Alzheimer's patients may not be the result of the disease but a cause. (At autopsy, these characteristic plaques -- first noted in 1906 -- are used to confirm Alzheimer's.)
The NIEHS scientists said they had demonstrated in rat brain that the major protein of these plaques binds to a receptor in the brain, thus blocking the signals, or currents, that are thought to be involved in learning and memory. The protein is called Beta-amyloid peptide and is found in the brains and plaques of humans, as well as animals.
Many researchers have speculated that the protein had such a memory-blocking role but, according to the authors, this work for the first time establishes this functional link between the plaques seen at autopsy and the failure in brain functioning.
The senior NIEHS scientist on the study, Jerrel L. Yakel, Ph.D. (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/atniehs/labs/ln/pi/icp/), said that better drug therapies could result from finding chemicals that prevent the chemical binding and thus keep the brain signals flowing. "Knowing how the disease process works," Dr. Yakel said, "makes it more likely that medical science can find ways to slow, halt or even reverse the process."
Dr. Yakel, Diana L. Pettitt, Ph.D., and Zuoyi Shao, Ph.D., showed that the Beta-amyloid peptide blocks the function of a key signaling receptor, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, in the hippocampus -- the seat of memory, motivation and emotion in the brain. For the text of the scientific report, see the full Yakel/Pettit/Shao report at http://www.jneurosci.org/rapidcomm.shtml.
Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia -- a medical condition that disrupts the way the brain works -- in older people. It is characterized by confusion, profound forgetfulness and, often, anger. Seldom diagnosed a few decades ago, the disease appears to be increasing as the U.S. population ages and currently affects an estimated four million Americans.
In rare cases, the disease begins to develop before age 50 but most cases develop after 65. Alzheimer's Disease, or AD, is named for the German physician Alois Alzheimer. In 1906, he noticed abnormal clumps (now called senile or neuritic plaques) and tangled bundles of fibers in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of a then-unusual mental illness. These plaques and tangles in the brain are now considered to be hallmarks of AD.
Alzheimer's may begin as mild forgetfulness about recent events, activities, and the names of people and things. Simple math may become hard.
As the disease progresses, people may forget how to do such tasks as combing their hair or brushing their teeth. They may no longer think clearly: Speaking, understanding, reading and writing become difficult. Patients may become anxious or aggressive as the disease continues to progress, and they often wander from home. AD patients eventually need total care.
Because such problems may result from other conditions as well, doctors can only make a probable diagnosis of Alzheimer's - though in specialized centers this is correct 80 to 90 percent of the time. Since it is risky to remove brain tissue from a live person, doctors cannot confirm AD with total accuracy unless they do an autopsy after death to determine if there are plaques and tangles in the brain.
Several drugs have been approved for temporarily relieving some symptoms of Alzheimer's but there is no cure or drug that can arrest the disease.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is one of the institutes of the National Institutes of Health (http://www.nih.gov) . NIEHS' headquarters and laboratory, where the Yakel-Pettit-Shao team work, are in Research Triangle Park (http://www.rtp.org) , between Raleigh (http://www.raleigh-nc.org) and Durham (http://www.durham-nc.com) , N.C.
Trans-NIH Collaboration with NIOSH Initiates Studies of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health
PBBs in Fire Retardant Associated with Early Menstruation in Michigan Girls Whose Mothers Were Exposed in 1973
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SIZZILING SUMMER SAVINGS AT SEAWORLD SAN DIEGO
For limited time, guests can save more than 50 percent on single-day admission
and more than 65 percent on a two-day ticket
SAN DIEGO (Aug. 9, 2019) – For a limited time, visitors can take advantage of sizzling summer savings on admission to SeaWorld San Diego. A single-day weekday-only ticket is only $41.99, a savings of more than 50 percent, while guests can save more than 65 percent on a two-day ticket for only $59.99 ($29.99 per visit).
Tickets offered in this end-of-summer sale must be purchased by Aug. 18, and visitation must take place by Sept. 30. These offers are available online. Every visit to SeaWorld helps support the park’s animal rescue efforts. Over that last 55 years, SeaWorld has come to the aid of more than 35,000 ill and injured animals giving them a second chance at life.
There’s still plenty of summer fun left to enjoy at SeaWorld.
Electric Ocean, the award-winning nighttime spectacular that transforms the park after dark into a sea of glowing color and energy, will continue to ignite at SeaWorld on select dates through Sept. 2, 2019.
SeaWorld’s summer concert series continues on weekends through Sept. 1 with a lineup that is hotter than ever including performances from Craig Morgan, Jesse McCartney, Never Stop Believin’ and Jefferson Starship. The live concerts, which are free with park admission, are performed twice daily each Saturday and Sunday at the park’s outdoor Nautilus Amphitheater.
SeaWorld is open 365 days a year and is located on SeaWorld drive off of I-5. For more information visit www.SeaWorldSanDiego.com.
About SeaWorld:
SeaWorld San Diego is one of the most popular marine parks in the world and is a global leader in marine animal care and welfare, education, conservation, research and rescue. Through exciting and educational attractions, shows and exhibits, SeaWorld creates fun and meaningful experiences—experiences that matter—where guests can explore, become inspired to care about animals and wild wonders of the world and to act to help protect them. SeaWorld San Diego, which opened in March of 1964, is one of 12 parks operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.
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The 20 Best Simpsons Characters of All Time
By Chris Morgan | February 24, 2016 | 1:00pm
First things first: The Simpsons is the greatest show of all time. In fact, it is the greatest achievement in the history of humanity. The car? The polio vaccine? Yummy Mummy? All of these pale in comparison to The Simpsons. When a show is this good, and on the air for this long, it is guaranteed to generate some iconic characters. This beloved series is laden with some of the best character in all of television. In fact, it has tertiary characters more beloved than most main characters on other shows. As such, trying to come up with a ranking of its best characters is delightful and difficult in equal measures. A true fan could write a top 100 Simpsons characters list, and still feel like someone was given an unfair shake. Thus, my own attempt to pare it down to 20 almost feels like an act of heresy (like eating space-age, out-of-this-world moon waffles, instead of going to church). And yet, here we are. Here are my picks for the top 20 characters in the history of The Simpsons.
20. Hans Moleman
In a city full of characters with bad luck, Moleman (AKA Ralph Mellish) may have the worst of it. But, in truth, the joy of Moleman lies in the ill-fortune that the world brings upon him, and in his sad-sack voice. This ranking is for all of the times something happened like, say, Mr. Burns confusing him for the Lucky Charms Leprechaun and drilling into his head. “Oh no, my brains,” Moleman lamented. It’s true—nobody may be gay for Moleman, but he’s still fantastic.
19. Mayor Quimby
“Diamond” Joe Quimby may no longer be illiterate, but he is still a profoundly corrupt, philandering mayor who, somehow, always manages to keep his job, and thus his sash. Quimby is one of many incompetent politicians in the world of television, but it’s Quimby’s joie de vivre—which stems from his corruption and apathy—that makes him so much fun. Also, his Kennedy accent.
18. Hank Scorpio
Hank Scorpio only showed up once, in the episode “You Only Move Twice,” but he made such an impact that he absolutely belongs on this list. In part, it is in honor of the many one-off characters voiced by the brilliant Albert Brooks. Scorpio is, of course, a parody of a Bond villain, and, in his one small appearance, he got several classic lines that remain beloved to this day. Other one-off character considered for this list were Frank Grimes, or “Grimey,” as he liked to be called, and the kung fu hippie from Gangster City himself, Poochie.
17. Moe Szyslak
This choice required some mulling over. On the one hand, Moe is an odious character, and not always delightfully so. On the other hand, most of the time, arguably Springfield’s most depraved citizen (which is really saying something) usually mines plenty of humor from his sleaze. But the character has some depth, since, when he isn’t being a total creep, he’s being a suicidal misanthrope. For this reason, you can build whole episodes around Moe. They may not always be the funniest episodes, but you can’t do that with just anybody.
16. Lenny and Carl
Yes, Lenny Leonard and Carl Carlson are technically two characters. But they are, in the minds of many, forever intertwined. To think that, once upon a time, they were just a couple of guys that Homer worked with, lacking any real personality of their own. Now, they’ve done an entire episode about Carl’s Icelandic boyhood. Lenny gets more of the laughs, through his stupidity and propensity for eye injuries, but it’s his friendship (and perhaps something more) with Carl that really makes these two characters sing.
15. Ralph Wiggum
There are those of you who love Ralph Wiggum for one simple reason: he’s a non-sequitur machine. Of all the less-than-bright students at Springfield Elementary, Ralph is the dumbest. He makes a habit of saying strange, weird, and foolish things. A lot of people go wild for this sort of thing, and that’s fine. And he is quite funny, to be sure. But there’s a lack of depth to the character, and a superficiality to his lines, which keeps him from ranking too high on this list. That being said, we are talking about the 15th best character in the history of TV’s top show. Not too shabby for Ralph.
14. Sideshow Bob
It’s almost always a delight when Sideshow Bob stops by The Simpsons, even though he’s usually trying to kill somebody. What makes Bob so great, on top of Kelsey Grammer’s magnificent vocal performance, is that, while he is a violent maniac, he’s also an intellectual elitist, with a penchant for Gilbert and Sullivan musicals. He’s that rare TV villain that’s both fun to watch, and fun to laugh at—especially when he finds himself near a rake.
13. Lionel Hutz
When you needed a lawyer, and any lawyer will do, you call Lionel Hutz… or stop by his office in the mall. Maybe he hasn’t slept for days. Maybe he repeatedly ran over the son of the judge trying your case. But, if you end up losing, your pizza is free. Hutz also tried his hand at real estate, to very amusing results. Of course, Phil Hartman’s voiceover work is part of what made Hutz so great, but we’ve got more from Hartman coming up later.
12. Superintendent Chalmers
Bill Oakley, former Simpsons showrunner, often talks about his love of Chalmers, because he was the reasonable, sane man surrounded by idiots and weirdos. That has become less and less the case as the years have gone on; he remains angry, but less reasonable. But he’s still one of the best bit players in the show’s repertoire. Whenever he shows up to yell at Skinner, you know it’ll probably be a good time. Plus, if you steam a good ham, he’s happy to compliment you on it.
11. Kirk Van Houten
If you think Kirk’s son is a sad-sack, you should get a load of him. Kirk is, perhaps, the most pathetic man in all of Springfield. This would be sad, if he clearly wasn’t partially responsible, and whatever he’s not responsible for is existentially amusing in a cosmic sense. He used to be a superstar at the cracker factory. Then, things started falling apart, and a character who wasn’t especially compelling became one of the best on the show. Look no further than “Can I Borrow a Feeling?” for proof.
10. Bart Simpson
In the early days of the show, Bart was the breakout star. He put the mothballs in the beef stew, and he was this century’s Dennis the Menace. However, and this may be a bit of an unpopular opinion, he’s always felt a little overrated. Obviously, he’s a great character, and maybe, as a kid, you love the wacky antics of Bart. But as an adult, none of it works quite as well. However, over the years, he’s had so many great lines, and hilarious moments, and he’s been the focal point of so many episodes, that he’s definitely earned a top spot on this list. And those rare occasions when they’ve allowed Bart to have more “dramatic” storylines certainly helps, too.
9. Grampa Simpson
Grampa is sort of like an adult version of Ralph. He makes ludicrous statements and spouts nonsense, but he manages to be even funnier than Ralph, especially if you like the old-timey stuff. Essentially, every flashback shows that Abe was a miserable son-of-a-bitch as a younger man. But, as an old coot yelling at clouds and telling meandering stories that go nowhere, he’s almost always good for a memorable line or two.
8. Troy McClure
You might remember Troy McClure from… well, insert your favorite McClure project here. Why a faded actor was living in Springfield, we may never know, but it was certainly to our benefit that he was there. Whenever he showed up, and it was usually in an ad or an educational film, or some other bit of media within the show, we were treated to some of The Simpsons best moments. Troy didn’t show up as often as some of us would have liked, but when he did, he was always funny. For example, “A Fish Called Selma” was an excellent showcase for him as a character, just like the Planet of the Apes musical was an excellent showcase for the actor. And, of course, Hartman was fantastic. There was a tinge of phoniness in almost every line reading he gave, and it worked perfectly. In fact, let’s all queue up Christmas Ape Goes to Summer Camp in his honor.
7. Chief Wiggum
While Ralph just sort of shows up occasionally to spout silly nonsense, his father Chief Wiggum has a little more to do. He’s also a paradigm of both police incompetence and police corruption. He’s an authority figure with little authority, but he’s still willing to make the most of it. His badge reads, naturally, “Cash bribes only.” As a sort of older, more well-defined, and funnier version of Ralph, within the context of an authority figure, Wiggum has done plenty to earn his spot on this list.
6. Marge Simpson
Marge is in Homer’s shadow in many ways. Frankly, she’s probably in Bart’s shadow too. And there’s something unfair about this, because Marge is incredible. She represents a very different flavor of comedy, but she’s a tremendous member of the Simpsons in her own right. There is a subtle desperation and sadness on the fringes of her character that make her frequently sympathetic, and she’s probably the character most capable of carrying a more dramatic, emotionally-driven storyline. The funniest Marge moments come from the mundanity, and a certain defeatedness prevalent in much of what she says. She may not be as quotable as other characters, but even on The Simpsons quotability isn’t everything and Marge excels in every other area.
5. Principal Seymour Skinner
Oh, Skinner. When he’s not dealing with Bart’s antics, he’s dealing with his overbearing mother, or Superintendent Chalmers, or somebody else jumping down his throat. He always seems ready to break into a nervous sweat, and often does. There was also that one time when an elephant ate half his platoon back in Vietnam. The quintessential Skinner quote is probably this one: “If life has taught me one lesson repeatedly, it’s to know when I’m beaten.” It’s a brilliant line of dialogue, and perfectly synthesizes what makes Skinner such a great character. He’s pitiful, but in a wonderful way, and it all makes those moments where things work out for him so much better.
4. Milhouse Van Houten
Milhouse likes Vaseline on toast. Milhouse is everybody’s whipping boy. Milhouse is the best child character on The Simpsons. He’s got a bunch of great lines. How many people quote “Everything’s coming up Milhouse” with great frequency? His pain is our benefit, because, while Milhouse is incredibly put upon, he’s equally funny in these predicaments. Plus, he almost never loses his positive outlook. There’s always the chance things will turn around for him. That he will, truly, become the Thrillhouse he wants to be.
3. Krusty the Clown
Krusty is, as the chyron in “Behind the Laughter” informed us, an embittered comedy legend. Krusty is The Simpsons’ resident showbiz character. So, needless to say, he’s miserable, and angry and vain. He’s foolish with his money and spends most of his time doing drugs with a monkey. Kids love him, but nobody else really seems to respect him… and they probably shouldn’t. Krusty is the focal point of some classic episodes, and he’s incredibly important in one of the best episodes of the entire series, “Homie the Clown.” When Krusty is at his wit’s end, and Dan Castellaneta is wailing in anger, no character is funnier.
2. Mr. Burns
Basically, if you enjoy characters who say archaic things, you enjoy Mr. Burns. And who doesn’t like characters using 19th century insults and other words not heard in most contexts for decades? Sometimes he’s evil, and sometimes he’s just kind of a jerk, but it works well either way. The show’s writers have clearly enjoyed giving him cold, uncaring things to say, and making him a cutthroat businessman. And the fact that this villainous fellow is also incredibly old and enfeebled, makes all of his antics that much funnier. He’s quite out of touch, but that’s why we love him and it’s that cluelessness that makes him the second best character in Simpsons history.
1. Homer Simpson
Come on. Like it could be anybody else. Homer Simpson is the greatest character in the history of storytelling. No character has even been, or ever will be, funnier. There are literally hundreds of great quotes that have been uttered by the patriarch of the Simpson family. He’s done so many hilarious things, and seen so many misfortunes amusingly befall him. There will never be another like him, or anyone better on this great TV show.
Chris Morgan is not the author of THE book on Mystery Science Theater 3000, but he is the author of A book on Mystery Science Theater 3000. He’s also on Twitter.
Cobra Kai: The 13 Best Johnny-vs-Technology Moments, Ranked By Fletcher Peters January 8, 2021 | 1:17pm
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A 1930s house in Albi,
not far from the banks of the Tarn
In a residential area of the city, not far from the banks of the Tarn, L’Autre Rives is distinguished by its slate roof and square corner tower overlooking the surrounding roofs covered with canal tiles. The chaining and framing of the brick window frames remind us, however, that we are indeed in Occitania - land of sun and light, of which Albi is one of the jewels. While the crowds roam the streets of the old town, the house cultivates a peaceful and healthy freshness. The decor exudes a modern and refined spirit that also contributes to the benevolent sense of calm that will seize guests upon arrival. They will only feel more determined to discover all the wonders of the city and its surroundings.
Several criteria led us to choose the city of Albi. The first was that it allowed us to return to our region of origin, the Southwest. Our families are from Toulouse and Pau. We wanted to be in town with a pleasant quality of life. It is a lifestyle choice and allows us to have a longer tourist season than in the countryside. I knew Albi because my parents would come from the Toulouse region from time to time to show their friends around. But I discovered another Albi! As it is now classified as a UNESCO world heritage site, a lot of efforts have been made to enhance the episcopal city and the Sainte-Cécile cathedral. After three stays in Albi, we ended up "meeting" our house. We had found the place where we wanted to settle, live and work.
It is a 1930s house built on four levels with quality materials. It has a sloping roof in slate which is quite remarkable for the region and gives it an imposing character. Inside are spaces to move around, large halls, 3.5m high ceilings and moldings that we were able to keep in the communal areas. The house is very bright because all the rooms have one or more large windows. Many noble materials have been preserved inside including oak for the parquet floors and marble for the fireplaces.
It was built by one of Albi's great families - the Fraysse/Andrieu family - with the help of a Tarn architect, Léon Daures. Particularly prolific, we owe him four historic monuments, three of which are located in Albi and the fourth is in Toulouse. He also built the Ambialet power plant which has some architectural elements in common with the house. The family who built the house included two brothers, entrepreneurs and goods merchants, who at the time acquired many plots of land in Albi and built many houses. They also owned the Tarn gravel pits and quarries in the region. The building adjoining ours was originally a molded concrete factory transformed by the Fraysse/Andrieu family into a repair shop for boats that dredged the Tarn below. The house has stayed in the family from its construction to when we bought it in 2014.
A character house with a large landscaped garden in the city centre equipped with a large salt pool. Our guest house was designed to be an oasis just a ten minute walk from the historic centre, the Sainte-Cécile cathedral and the Toulouse-Lautrec museum. We pay special attention to our rich and varied breakfasts - we serve sweet and savoury dishes that are homemade or from local producers who work with organic or reasoned agriculture, and craftsmen with a passion for taste and quality products. We are always available to help our guests with activities, restaurants, tips.
We really like the Saint-Salvi cloister from the 11th century, it's a good spot to find a little freshness in the summer. It is one of the five edible gardens made available by the City. The fashion museum is a must-see. Dominique, the owner, bought part of the old Annonciades convent which is a historic building with architectural elements from the 12th to the 17th century still visible. He restored it to open a museum in 2012 where he exhibits the most beautiful pieces from his personal collection. Albi's new theatre is the only contemporary building in the city. Designed by architect Dominique Perrault, it is a place of life and culture. The Mappa mundi d'Albi is a medieval map of the world, included in a manuscript from the second half of the 8th century kept in the old collection of the Pierre-Amalric multimedia library in Albi. A few tours take place in August to allow visitors to see the original. Ten minutes from Albi are the Mining Museum and the Tarn Leap Museum. These two museums tell the industrial past of the region and are unpretentious but touching in their humanity. The most famous of the bastides (fortified villages perched on top of hills) Cordes-sur-Ciel, has become a little too touristy. There are many others and our favourites are Puycelsi, Lautrec and Ambialet. The Sorèze Abbey, the Dom Robert tapestry museum and the Canal du Midi for a long, cool walk. The Soulages museum in Rodez, the cathedral and the Bras café. We work with many local producers and artisans. Le château des Plantes in Cambounet-sur-le-Sor is the only pastel producer in the region who cultivates and processes leaves (dye) and flowers (oil) on site. Janie Chocolaterie is our favourite chocolate factory, it is outside the historic centre and well hidden. Les Confitures de ma Douce sells jams prepared with passion by Marion and they are the jams we serve for breakfast. L'Ambroisie is a small restaurant with simple decoration, tasty cuisine and perfect hospitality. The Epicurean is another example of the hospitality dear to the hearts of Albigensians. The Sommelier Table, the closest to us, was awarded a Michelin "bib gourmet" and features one main highlight: wine. Myriam and Arnaud serve travel themed fusion cuisine at Le Cascabar. La Tourelle Saint-Loup is a well-hidden tea room on the Place Saint-Loup. It owes its name to the Gothic chapel that has stood there since the 14th century. "L’épicerie Fauvette" is a grocery store and restaurant for lunch that serves fresh, organic products with flavours from around the world.
The house guests rooms
90 € - 170 € per night
On the ground floor are the living and dining room as well as a bedroom. On the first floor are three bedrooms and a suite. This suite is adaptable and can be transformed into a bedroom and a living room, or two bedrooms that can accommodate up to four people. All the bedrooms have en suites. Two bedrooms are fitted with baths, the other three have showers. Two rooms are on the street side with a view of the Sainte-Cécile cathedral. The other three bedrooms overlook the garden. All rooms are air conditioned.
www.lautrerives.com
swimming pool 70 m2
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Author: Mackenzie Howard
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Howard 1
Mackenzie Howard
Miss Bogner
A Man Before His Time: How Sherlock Holmes Changed the World
Sherlock Holmes, the eccentric sleuth from Victorian London, is perhaps the most famous
character in all of literature. He is “the most portrayed human literary character in film and TV”
and is the second most portrayed character of all time, beat only by Bram Stoker’s Dracula
(Guinness). When “A Study in Scarlet,” the first Holmes story, was published in The Strand
Magazine in November of 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could not have known what a colossal
impact his detective would come to have on the world. Thanks to Doyle (and Holmes,) science,
literature, criminology, forensics, and popular culture have all been revolutionized. Previously
overlooked practices such as the analysis of fingerprints, handwriting, and printed documents
became part of mainstream criminal investigation largely due to the publication of Holmes’
adventures, and the detective genre was transformed forever by the fictional residents of 221B
Baker Street. Television shows such as House, M.D. draw inspiration directly from Doyle (Trivia)
and would never have aired without his stories. Sherlock Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, have shaped the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and have made many aspects of
modern culture what they are today.
Science is one of the major fields that has faced reform after the publication of Sherlock
Holmes. In many ways, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was ahead of his time, as proven in his
condemnation of drug use. “Count the cost! … Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk
the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed?” (Doyle, “The Sign of Four”)
Around the time of publication, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, cocaine use was
widely accepted as a customary practice and was even considered beneficial to an individual’s
health. In 1887, a successful physician in New York named William A. Hammond (who served
as Surgeon General during the Civil War) “announced that cocaine was a harmless tonic that
cheered the melancholy while having no adverse side effects” (O’Brien 134). In this regard, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle was clearly ahead of his own time, most likely due to his medical training.
However, not all that Doyle wrote should be accepted as gospel truth; in his story A Study in
Scarlet, Holmes says, “Why, the height of a man, in nine cases out of ten, can be told from the
length of his stride” (Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”). However, in his 1995 book Hard Evidence,
David Fisher (qtd. in O’Brien) says:
Contrary to the plotting of detective fiction, it isn’t possible to estimate someone’s
height by the distance between steps- his gait- because during the commission of a
crime, a suspect is usually moving very fast; he is running or backing up or moving
sideways or struggling … The thing he isn’t doing is moving normally. (O’Brien
Although he may not have been an expert in all areas of science, Holmes was certainly
more than proficient in criminal investigation; in fact, many of the practices he employed were
adopted by criminal investigators after the publication of his stories. One such practice was
fingerprint analysis, which was mentioned no less than seven times by the detective and served as
the main clue in Doyle’s story “The Norwood Builder”. Arthur Conan Doyle was likely the first
writer to include a falsely planted fingerprint in a story; in fact, he was one of the first authors to
use fingerprints at all. In fact, not even police had begun the practice of using fingerprints; “The
publication of [“The Norwood Builder”] in 1903 preceded by two years the first successful use of
fingerprints by the police” (O’Brien 55). Another area of criminal investigation Doyle contributed
to was handwriting analysis, used in several of his stories including “The Valley of Fear”: “‘It is
Porlock’s writing,’ said he thoughtfully. ‘I can hardly doubt that it is Porlock’s writing, though I
have seen it only twice before. The Greek e with the peculiar top flourish is distinctive. But if it is
Porlock, then it must be something of the very first importance’” (Doyle, “The Valley of Fear”).
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself became involved in a real-life case where handwriting was a
major factor, proving that the accused man, George Edalji, did not commit the crime (O’Brien
Yet another example of how revolutionary Sherlock Holmes was comes from Doyle’s “A
Case of Identity”, published in 1891. In the case, Holmes identifies the perpetrator due to the
idiosyncrasies of his typewriter: “I had already noticed the peculiarities of the typewriter, and I
wrote to the man himself at his business address asking him if he would come here. As I expected,
his reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but characteristic defects” (Doyle, “A Case
of Identity”). This story was published more than thirty years before the Federal Bureau of
Investigation first used typewriter analysis to solve a case (O’Brien 73). Printed document analysis
was used in many famous cases throughout the twentieth century, including the case of Alger Hiss
in 1950 and the Unabomber in the 1990s. Keeping all this in mind, it is clear that Doyle (and
Holmes) were ahead of their time and played a part in the revolutionization of criminal
investigation.
While some of his contributions to science may be debatable, the fact that Doyle changed
literature forever remains uncontested. Although his inspiration for his detective stems from Edgar
Allen Poe’s lesser-known detective C. Auguste Dupin, Doyle receives credit for shaping detective
stories into what they are today. In his 1987 book The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes, R. L. Green
(qtd. in O’Brien) notes:
Perhaps the explanation for the immediate and lasting success is that Conan Doyle
added humor and drama, both of which are lacking in Poe.
It is impossible to read them (the three Dupin stories) without appreciating how
much Conan Doyle improved on the original formula. (O’Brien 10)
As O’Brien summarizes regarding the Poe/Doyle debate,
Several conclusions are warranted. First, Sherlock Holmes was based on Poe’s
Dupin. Second, although Poe is generally considered the greater author, Conan
Doyle’s detective fiction surpasses that of Poe. Third, Poe’s non-detective writings
are very highly regarded; Conan Doyle’s are not. (O’Brien 11)
Another change brought about by Doyle’s stories were the characters; in earlier detective stories,
especially Poe’s, the detectives were often brooding and serious as opposed to the spirited and
occasionally jovial Holmes. The sidekick, too, was an idea that Doyle brought to the genre; Dr.
John Watson, Holmes’ friend and chronicler, serves as a foil to Holmes, outlining the detective’s
genius to the average man and often inspiring Holmes to solve the case. Watson has become one
of fiction’s most prominent examples of a literary foil; the Encyclopedia Britannica’s page on
literary foils states:
Foil, in literature, a [sic] character who is presented as a contrast to a second
character so as to point to or show to advantage some aspect of the second character.
An obvious example is the character of Dr. Watson in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s
Sherlock Holmes stories. Watson is a perfect foil for Holmes because his relative
obtuseness makes Holmes’s deductions seem more brilliant. (Encyclopedia
Britannica)
Watson also serves as the ‘idiot friend’, as explained by John Sutherland: “Doyle introduced three
devices into detective fiction narrative which have become major conventions in the genre. One is
the so-called ‘idiot friend’, who must have everything explained to him (thus informing, as well,
the idiot reader)” (Sutherland).
Another character that revolutionized the detective genre was Professor Moriarty, Holmes’
rival: “Another of Doyle’s innovations was the arch criminal, or ‘Napoleon of Crime’, who is far
too clever for the clod-hopping, uniformed, agents of law and order (‘flatfoots’), such as Inspector
Lestrade” (Sutherland). Before Sherlock Holmes was published, detective stories were rather cutand-dry; solve the murder, catch the bad guy. Every villain had his one hurrah and was never
mentioned again except for in passing. Moriarty, however, is mentioned in several Holmes stories
but never actually makes an appearance. He is often the ‘mastermind’ behind the crime
perpetrated, working behind the scenes to ensure everything goes well, which is a trope that has
been used numerous times throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, such as Lord
Voldemort in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic
The arch enemy is only one of the countless ways Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock
Holmes impacted popular culture. As stated in the introductory paragraph, Holmes is the secondmost portrayed literary character in history. One of the earliest portrayers (and perhaps the most
well-known) was Basil Rathbone, who made his debut as Sherlock Holmes in 1939’s The Hound
of the Baskervilles. Rathbone, along with Nigel Bruce as Doctor John Watson, performed in
fourteen Sherlock Holmes movies over seven years, the first two being produced by Fox and the
latter twelve by Universal (Jessen). In 1942, the first Universal-produced Holmes adaptation,
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, was released. This adaptation was groundbreaking
insomuch as it modernized the Victorian detective, putting him in 1940s London, where he fought
Nazis and drove automobiles. However, Rathbone was not the only actor portraying Sherlock
Holmes at this time- supposedly, the Allied Forces found two movies in Adolf Hitler’s bunker,
both of which were German Sherlock Holmes stories (Other).
Another of the more popular Holmes adaptations was that starring Jeremy Brett and David
Burke, who played Doctor Watson in the first season, followed by Edward Hardwicke (portraying
Watson from 1985 until the show’s end in 1994.) This version of Holmes, produced by Granada
Television and affectionately referred to as ‘Granada Holmes’ by the fans, remains one of the most
well-loved adaptations of the famous detective. The first major revival of Sherlock Holmes to take
place in the twenty-first century was that by Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law. As one critic put
it, “Those never exposed to Sherlock … will discover an energetic and exciting spin on the
character. Those who have forgotten the books may want to take another glance at Doyle’s stories
because behind [the director’s] modern visualization … [this movie] is mostly true to the original
characters” (Goldberg).
The following year, the British Broadcasting Corporation aired a three-episode season of
Sherlock Holmes stories, but with a twist: like the Rathbone and Bruce version, BBC’s “Sherlock”
was set in modern times. Since its pilot aired in 2010, three more seasons and one Christmas special
have been released, and the stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have become two of
the most popular actors in the world, starring in Hollywood movies such as Dr. Strange (2016,)
Black Panther (2018,) and the Hobbit movies directed by Peter Jackson. A new generation of fans
have arisen due to this adaptation: “the BBC series Sherlock, in particular, has stoked the most
passionate strand of Holmes fandom in some time … Over years and years of accumulating various
versions and Victoriana, people had slightly lost sight of the fact that they’re enormous fun!”
(Armstrong)
Over the last hundred years, Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle have accrued a
number of dedicated fans, some of whom dedicate their entire lives to studying the detective stories
and their creator. Holmes has sparked an interest in Victorian literature for many who never would
have thought to pick up a book written before 1990 had it not been for Holmes. Doyle inspired
generations of creators, popularizing many literary devices and even criminal investigation
practices. Although Sherlock Holmes may fade into the background of popular culture in the
coming years, there will always be a core group of individuals who admire Arthur Conan Doyle
and his detective, and not undeservedly.
1. Armstrong, Jennifer Keishin. “How Sherlock Holmes changed the world.” BBC, 6 January
2016. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160106-how-sherlock-holmes-changed-theworld.
2. Doyle, Arthur Conan. “A Case of Identity.” The Strand Magazine, September 1891.
3. Doyle, Arthur Conan. “A Study in Scarlet.” The Strand Magazine, November 1887.
4. Doyle, Arthur Conan. “The Norwood Builder.” The Strand Magazine, October 1903.
5. Doyle, Arthur Conan. “The Sign of Four.” The Strand Magazine, February 1890.
6. Doyle, Arthur Conan. “The Valley of Fear.” The Strand Magazine, 1915.
7. Guinness World Record News. “Sherlock Holmes Awarded Title for Most Portrayed
Literary Human Character in Film & TV.” Guinness World Records, Guinness World
Records, 14 May 2012, www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2012/5/sherlock-holmesawarded-title-for-most-portrayed-literary-human-character-in-film-tv-41743/.
8. Goldberg, Matt. “SHERLOCK HOLMES Review.” Collider, Complex Media, Inc., 24
December 2009. http://collider.com/sherlock-holmes-review/.
9. Jessen, Marcia. “The Films of Basil Rathbone.” 2011.
http://www.basilrathbone.net/films/#Sherlock
10. O'Brien, James F. The Scientific Sherlock Holmes: Cracking the Case with Science and
Forensics. Oxford Univ. Press, 2013.
6. “Other Memorable Hounds.” Discovering Arthur Conan Doyle, Stanford University, 2006.
http://sherlockholmes.stanford.edu/issue9_4.html.
7. Sutherland, John. “Sherlock Holmes, the World's Most Famous Literary Detective.” The
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PDF Day | Washington DC
January 29 2018 is PDF Day in Washington
Registration | Program Information | Sponsors
The National Archives Building in Washington, DC.
This PDF Association event brings industry experts, vendors and managers together to discuss the importance and utility of the Portable Document Format, its various ISO standards, and the wide-ranging technologies available to government workflows.
NARA's new Draft Strategic Guidance targets 2022 as the date on which the federal government's formal records-keeping agency will no longer accept paper documents.
PDF is the world's default electronic document technology. With 18 informative sessions across a wide range of topics, PDF Day Washington, DC is thus especially relevant as we look into the future of records-keeping and electronic document technology in and around government.
It's a do-not-miss event for government and business professionals, managers and executives dealing with document management technology and policy.
PDF Day is hosted by the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA), which has generously donated space for the PDF Day at the National Archives Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, in the heart of the nation's capital. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW.
PDF Day DC is sold out! Sessions on Section 508 Management, Archiving and PDF Accessibility will be streamed live by the National Archives. All sessions will be posted on pdfa.org within a few weeks. Sign up for our newsletter to learn more.
All educational sessions are strictly reviewed by a Program Committee, and will not include vendor "pitches".
There are no booths, and there is no trade-show. Event sponsors may showcase their commercial offerings via 4-minute presentations in "Relevant products" sessions as indicated. Gold sponsors have tables at which they may offer demos, or other content or materials.
PDF Day is Monday, January 29th in Washington DC
Introduction to PDF Day: Duff Johnson, PDF Association Executive Director
Welcome: David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States
Jefferson Room
McGowan Theater
Electronic document workflows
Section 508 for documents
Artificial Intelligence and PDF document processing
Henry Sal, Jr. Computing Systems Innovations Section 508 for Managers
Bevi Chagnon, PubCom
Coffee break and networking
Everything you want to know about eSignatures & Digital Signatures in PDF
Jonathan Rhyne, PSPDFKit Successful implementation strategies for government wide PDF accessibility
Adam Spencer, Accessibil-IT
How blockchain could revolutionize documents
George Allen, iText Planning for PDF accessibility within your organization
Paul Rayius, Commonlook
Relevant products Relevant products
Leveraging PDF 2.0 for High Volume Invoices, Statements and other Personalized Communication
Drew Sprague, Solimar Systems A brief introduction to archiving information with PDF
Matt Kuznicki, Datalogics
Managing the transition: Legacy Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) to PDF/UA
John Lynch, Compart What is PDF/A-3 good for?
Dietrich von Seggern, callas software
Collecting business intelligence on your documents
Dan Morris, Foxit NARA's Strategic Direction
John Martinez, National Archives and Records AdministrationPDF for Newspaper eDeposit at the Library of CongressMelissa Hire, Library of Congress
PDF in Engineering
Creating Accessible PDF
Secure collaboration on engineering documents
Aaron Gravesdale, PDFTron Accessible PDF Authoring: Breaking Through the Limits of Adobe InDesign
Damian Sian, consultant for axaio
Use of 3D Technical Data for Sustainment: DLA 3D PDF Operational Demonstration
Tom Parks, LMI and Dick Tiano, ATI Best Practices For Converting Paper to Digital Documents
Carsten Heiermann, Foxit Europe
Archiving Engineering Documents using PDF
Phil Spreier, 3D PDF Consortium Accessible PDF Usability for the Blind & Partially Sighted
Dennis Quon, Crawford Technologies
Refreshments and networking
End of the event
All educational sessions will be recorded. The PDF Association retains the right to post any such video for public access.
The Archivist of the United States, David Ferriero.
PDF Day Washington DC will begin with opening remarks from the Archivist of the United States (AOTUS), David S. Ferriero.
David S. Ferriero was confirmed as 10th Archivist of the United States on November 6, 2009. Early in 2010 he committed the National Archives and Records Administration to the principles of Open Government—transparency, participation, and collaboration.
Previously, Mr. Ferriero served as the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries (NYPL). He was part of the leadership team responsible for integrating the four research libraries and 87 branch libraries into one seamless service for users, creating the largest public library system in the United States and one of the largest research libraries in the world.
Before joining the NYPL in 2004, Mr. Ferriero served in top positions at two of the nation's major academic libraries, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA, and Duke University in Durham, NC. In those positions, he led major initiatives including the expansion of facilities, the adoption of digital technologies, and a reengineering of printing and publications.
Session Description: Tesla makes self-driving cars, Amazon can predict what you are interested in purchasing, Starbucks now even knows what your coffee order will be when you walk into their store, all possible due to artificial intelligence technology.
Artificial intelligence software can automate your PDF document workflows, review and validate PDF document contents, and perform automatic data entry using virtual employee software bots to provide “lights out processing” for the majority of your documents.
This session is focused on educating you on what is currently possible with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence software and how correct application of such provides quantum leaps in efficiency, and 24x7x365 lights out PDF document processing. Any system, any document and any workflow can be easily automated, and doesn’t require data scientist expertise to accomplish.
Presenter: Henry Sal, Computing System Innovations
Henry Sal is the president of Computing System Innovations. His software development career spans 40 years, 30 of which have been at CSI. The past 15 of those have been spent making CSI into one of America’s leading redaction software vendors, with the last 3 years spent leading CSI’s transition to state-of-the-art artificial intelligence for document classification, data extraction, FOIA and redaction. Software the CSI team invented has processed over 7 billion pages of unstructured data. Mr. Sal has been a guest speaker at the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), the Property Records Industry Association (PRIA).
Session description: What is an eSignature? What is a Digital Signature? Will they hold up in court? In this session, Jonathan will run through the current state of the different types of signatures possible in PDFs and their legality.
Presenter: Jonathan Rhyne, PSPDFKit
Jonathan is the COO and co-founder of PSPDFKit GmbH, a company focused on increasing productivity around the globe by providing robust PDF solutions to companies and end-users. He handles everything from project management, sales, marketing, HR to managing the finances and legal affairs of the company. Prior to founding PSPDFKit, Jonathan practiced at a well respected law firm in the US, guiding software companies in the mobile software industry through the proverbial jungle of their business and legal needs. Outside of work, you can find him spending time with his wife and two young kids, playing soccer, or taking photos.
Session Description: For almost 25 years, many different companies have joined forces to establish a paperless world. When we look at the adoption of standards such as ZUGFeRD in more and more countries, when we see that NARA will stop accepting non-electronic records in 2022, when we hear that digitization is a #1 priority for many governments, we know that the "dematerialization of paper" is progressing fast.
However, when we look around, we also see signs of the "dematerialization of documents." Many transactions don't require documents anymore: people use an app to check into a flight, to order food, even to process payments. Underneath it all, blockchain will emerge as the underlying technology to keep track of all these transactions without involving a central authority. Blockchain is a form of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), a distributed database that serves as an irreversible and incorruptible repository for permanent records.
In this session, we will highlight the benefits of combining the qualities of PDF with Distributed Ledger Technology. Learn how this combination caters to many new and innovative use cases
Presenter: George Allen, iText
George Allen is the Director of Sales for the Americas with iText. He is passionate about PDF technology and finding ways to automate daily tasks to save time and money. When he is not out selling the benefits of iText, you can find George spending time with his family.
Section 508 for managers
Session description: This session examines the workflow issues for government publishers, gives best practices and explains blending accessibility with cross-media publishing for a full overview of how to get accessibility throughout all forms of publishing.
Presenter: Bevi Chagnon, PubCom
Bevi Chagnon heads up PubCom, one of Washington’s leading consultancies for government publishing in cross-media — print, web, digital, Acrobat PDF, and accessibility. Many in government know her from classes at the US Government Publishing Office where she’s a senior instructor for digital media and accessibility.
Chagnon specializes in helping government publishers streamline their workflows and incorporate accessibility across their media. Through her firm, she provides training, consulting, development, accessibility remediation services, and accessible templates for Word, PowerPoint, and Adobe InDesign.
She knows first-hand that accessible documents are possible without the need for agencies to incur immense budgets or labor to meet Sec. 508 requirements. It’s “doable” with targeting training, easy-to-use templates, and workflow management.
Bevi Chagnon is a member of several professional publishing-related associations, including the PDF Association.
Successful implementation strategies for government wide PDF accessibility
Session Description: A detailed examination of how the Provincial Government of Ontario has implemented a cross-Ministry approach to ensuring all digital communications are accessible and compliant with PDF/UA. This will explore not only the challenges that were encountered, but also the successes historically, currently and the direction they're heading in the future.
Presenter: Adam Spencer, Accessibil-IT
Adam Spencer is the Head of Accessibility Services for Accessibil-IT Inc, the global leader in PDF accessibility services. As an active member on a number of ISO Committees for PDF and PDF Accessibility, as well as the Canadian Vice-Chair of the Standards Council of Canada for PDF related technologies. Adam continues to be an active contributor to the development of the new international standards known as PDF/UA to ensure the accessibility and usability of PDF and adaptive technologies.
Planning for PDF accessibility within your organization
Session description: In this session we will discuss what PDF accessibility is, what's driving the need, and what regulations and standards are applicable. We'll also propose a multi-phase plan to help your organization achieve document accessibility, identify some tools that may be helpful in your efforts, and offer tips and suggestions for success.
Presenter: Paul Rayius, Commonlook
As CommonLook’s Accessibility Training Manager, since 2013 Paul Rayius has worked with a variety of health care organizations, local, state, and federal government agencies, financial institutions, colleges and universities, and more, to assist them in meeting their PDF accessibility needs. In addition to his expertise with the CommonLook suite of tools for testing, creating, and remediating PDFs, Mr. Rayius is also well versed in accessibility standards including Section 508 (including the recent “refresh”), Health and Human Services (HHS), WCAG 2.0 and PDF/UA.
Session description: While PDF is widely recognized as a critical content format for publishing, office, marketing and other forms of low volume and impersonal content, PDF plays an essential role in high value, high volume personalized content generation and distribution. This presentation discusses applications and benefits of PDF 2.0 in transactional content workflows, including accessible and secure delivery.
Presenter: Drew Sprague, Solimar Systems
Drew Sprague is President of Solimar Systems, Inc., a leading global provider of production printing and electronic document delivery solutions. A co-founder of the company, Mr. Sprague has nearly 30 years of experience in designing and developing innovative output management solutions. Mr. Sprague holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University.
Session description: When considering Accessibility and legacy documents, do you start from scratch or do you work with what you’ve got to migrate?
In this presentation Compart’s VP of Technology John Lynch examines the transition from a trusted legacy print stream (AFP) when planning your accessibility migration. He discusses the gaps in AFP, the strategy to fill the gaps by the AFP Consortium, and how agencies, service-providers and companies others can manage the transition while vendors work to implement the standards.
Presenter: John Lynch, Compart
Since 1984 John Lynch has been involved with high-speed production print and the management of documents. He has been on both the customer and vendor sides of the industry. He holds 5 U.S. Patents and has worked with companies and government agencies facilitating the production of documents. He currently is the Vice President of Technology for Compart North America, Inc. Compart is a leading global provider of Multi-Channel Document Management Solutions. Headquartered in Germany, with subsidiaries throughout Europe and America, Compart has been a member of the PDF Association since 2006.
Session Description: Do you ever wonder what happens to your documents after you share them, who is reading what, how long are they spending on pages, what is being edited? And if you don’t see something right, wouldn’t it be great to make it self-destruct? Welcome to the new world of collaboration.
Presenter: Dan Morris, Foxit
Dan is a technology solutions expert, a designer, and a musician. He has worked in fields ranging from geographic information systems to web development to mobile marketing. Dan has designed solutions on multimillion dollar projects for companies such as Fidelity, Microsoft and P&G.
Session description: As PDFs move from the desktop to the job site, stakeholders throughout AEC organizations need to work together securely. In this session, you will get actionable tips for using the latest PDF collaboration tools to lower costs, strengthen security, reduce risk, and shorten timelines.
Presenter: Aaron Gravesdale, PDFTron
Aaron Gravesdale is a Solution Engineer for PDFTron Systems, Inc. He has total of 15 years' experience developing and architecting solutions in document management and PDF technologies. Aaron has worked directly with a multitude of customers to design solutions within the unique constraints of engineering sectors..
This presentation will describe Defense Logistics Agency’s recent operational pilot to test the use of 3D data in procurement of legacy weapon system parts.
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is America’s combat logistics support agency, responsible for buying spare parts for more than 2000 weapon systems used by our military. Most of those weapon systems were designed decades ago, and the technical data used to design and build them was two-dimensional (2D) drawings. DLA still uses that old 2D technical data to buy parts for these legacy systems.
However, the state of the art today is to build parts using three-dimensional (3D) models. It’s the way new weapon systems are designed and manufactured. In fact, much of the manufacturing in the private sector is accomplished by small specialized firms that expect to receive 3D models from their clients. In the case of DLA, some manufacturers choose not to bid on parts without 3D models, while others convert DLA’s 2D drawings into 3D models to drive their machines.
Presenters: Mr. Tom Parks, LMI Senior Fellow and Mr. Dick Tiano, ATI Senior Program Manager
Mr. Parks is a senior fellow at LMI assigned to the Acquisition and Product Support business unit. He has more than 44 years of experience supporting senior leaders of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Department of the Navy, Department of the Air Force, Department of the Army, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Strategic Defense Initiative Office, and Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, in logistics analysis, system development, technology assessment, and maintenance planning. He is a retired US Navy submarine officer (nuclear power) and a Project Management Professional.
Session Description: PDF is the most popular format for sharing engineering documents. Join us to explore the various PDF standards (PDF, PDF/A, PDF/E) and how they can be applied to archive engineering data.
Presenter: Phil Spreier, 3D PDF Consortium
Phil is an expert in 3D PDF and is chairman of the US TAG for ISO TC 171/SC 2. Phil also project leader for ISO 21757 (ECMAScript for PDF 2.0 – Part 1: Core PDF Support) and ISO 21757-2 (ECMAScript for PDF 2.0 – Part 2: Extensions for use in 3D annotations).
Phil is an Adobe Certified Expert for the Acrobat software and is a frequent speaker regarding 3D PDF at industry events. He is also the founder and President of Dimension PDF, a software developer of plug-ins for publishing 3D PDF documents from Autodesk AutoCAD models.
A brief introduction to archiving information with PDF
Session description: Learn about what makes PDF the ideal document format for long-term information preservation, including best practices for creating archival documents, and how PDF is used to facilitate reliable information interchange and helps ensure future usability.
Presenter: Matt Kuznicki, Datalogics and Chairman of the PDF Association
Matt Kuznicki is the CTO of Datalogics and the Chairman of the PDF Association. He serves as a recognized expert in document applications, eBooks, electronic documents, and the PDF file format, and is active in the PDF standards and technical communities.
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The Peace Chronicle
The Magazine of the Peace and Justice Studies Association
Burying Seeds on the Anniversary of the Tree of Life Shooting
By Michael Loadenthal
As a Jew, I have never cried in response to an act of anti-semitism. I was raised to know that anti-semitism permeates, that there is a fear and hatred of Jews, but from afar. It was something that occurred elsewhere, in Europe, in years before my time. It was something other Jewish people experienced. In my reality, in a Philadelphia suburb, we were just “White people” who didn’t celebrate Christmas, packed matzoh in our lunch boxes once a year, and had B’nai Mitzvahs. My experience followed a generation of assimilation. I thought I grew up feeling average, with an average 1990s childhood. Although I can remember hearing anti-semitic jokes, I never felt an existential threat because of my Jewish heritage.
Image 1: The author’s four children enjoying their new Hanukkah pajamas
I did, though, internalize the subtle rejection and unspoken threat of anti-semitism when my mother would insist I tuck my Jewish star necklace underneath my shirt before walking into a space she judged concerning. Though my grandmother never gave us detailed context for her economic boycott of the ice cream man on the Ventor, New Jersey, shore, I noticed when she called him an “anti-shemi.” My parents never corrected the cashiers who wished us a Merry Christmas, they never raised a fuss when the teacher scheduled a test on Yom Kippur, and they made no mention of the added security fee to cover the cost of cops guarding the doors of our synagogue. But it was part of our lives and we noticed.
This was the way I came to internalize anti-semitism: as subtle, omnipresent, unchanging. My experiences, I now see, shaped my political and professional path as an anarchist working in critical terrorism studies and occasionally acting as a securitization consultant. As a father of four young children, I see the manifestations of contemporary anti-semitism, and it is unfamiliar in profound ways. In the “United States,” devoid of scripture and practice, Jews are not “White people” in the traditional sense. After shooting Jews at a synagogue in Poway, California, on April 27, 2019—the last day of Passover and also Shabbat—the gunman told a 911 dispatcher, “I’m defending our nation against the Jewish people, who are trying to destroy all White people.”
Image 2: Flyer from neo-Nazi accelerationist group Feuerkrieg Division
It seems I had forgotten the lessons of pre-assimilated Jewry, namely that for a sizable portion of individuals, Jews were never White people. A childhood of microaggressions and deep-seated lessons summoned a great sadness when I finally came to connect them to the contemporary. Johnathan Weisman spoke of this moment is his book (((Semitism))), remarking:
For an assimilated Jew, that moment—the ‘Who, me? Why me [as a target of anti-Semitism]?’ shock is indelible. We live lives of unstudied ordinariness, not particularly proud or aware of our assimilation, unconscious of the conformity that has meshed us with American society over the decades. Jews don’t live in ghettos anymore; most don’t live in particularly Jewish neighborhoods….Then, in this odd moment, we are singled out for the one trait we have stopped thinking about: being Jewish.
Hearing of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue massacre and later of the shooting at a syngogue in Poway, California, my heart hurt. My heart, which I used to believe was spared the anti-semitic pain that my European ancestors endured, has broken into fragments. I managed to avoid the pogroms, the blacklists, internment, and mass extermination, but I was not spared the splintering of my heart. I had endured plenty of pain over the years, but the shattering following the Tree of Life shooting cracked open an articulation of anti-semitism I did not realize I carried with me.
White privilege allowed me to forget I was a Jew
In his description of identity as formative of ideology, terrorism scholar J.M. Berger explains:
…in-groups and out-groups each represent an identity—a set of qualities that are understood to make a person or group distinct from other persons or groups. People who share a common identity may form an identity collective, a group of people who are defined by nation, religion, race, or some other shared trait, interest or concern.
Berger goes on to explain that extremist ideology is a “collection of texts that describe who is part of the in-group, who is part of the out-group, and how the in-group should interact with the out-group.” Reflecting on this simple point, I am reminded that the recent shootings, grave desecrations, assaults, synagogue fires, and coded slurs directed at Jews collectively formulate the textual ideology of today. These texts are written with bullets and fire and marked with kaddish and candles.
I am reminded that for those that wish us harm—the White nationalists, neo-Nazis, accelerationist fascists, Idenitarians, and the broader alt-right—my White skin which turns olive in the sun, my black hair and eyes and my circumcision are all unavoidable, embodied marks of otherness, of out-groupness, of Jewishness.
In retrospect, all of the othering experiences I lived through as a youth were minor. Sure, they identified who I was vis-a-vis others, but it could end there, right? They were not a source of sadness or fear, and while I felt a strong pull towards supporting social movements related to Jewishness—anti–White supremacy organizing, reproductive justice, and Palestinian solidarity—my identity as a Jew was hardly ever prominent in my consciousness.
Fast forward to 2019 and I feel like it’s plastered on my forehead, a yellow star on my black hoodie. I never felt myself to be the subject of an existential, genocidal, structural hatred of Jews as a kid. Then came the rise in right-wing populism, White nationalism, and the outright neo-fascism seen today. Suddenly I was reminded that for a growing portion of White, Anglo-Saxon Christians, Jews are not, nor have we ever been, White or American. To some, we are double agents with dual allegiance to the state of Israel, while for others, we are part of a global conspiratorial cabal that controls various combinations of the media, banking system, and government bureaucracy.
Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman described the Nazi drive to eradicate Jews as the zeal of a gardener seeking to curate a perfect green space, noting that Jews’ transience, non-Aryanness, and resistance to assimilation allowed our people to be seen as “the weeds that spoil their design.” Bauman continues:
Modern genocide, like modern culture in general, is a gardener’s job. It is just one of the many chores that people who treat society as a garden need to undertake. If garden design defines its weeds, there are weeds wherever there is a garden. And weeds are to be exterminated. Weeding out is a creative, not a destructive activity…Like all other weeds, [human weeds] must be segregated, contained, prevented from spreading, removed and kept outside the society boundaries; if all these means prove insufficient, they must be killed.
Robert Bowers, the Tree of Life shooter, likely saw us as weeds; a barrier to his perfect garden—suitable for exclusion, removal and extermination. For many, we remain the permanent wanderers who can never be truly a part of the nation; a distinguishable, non-assimilable, interconnected network forming the diaspora.
Despite the efforts of men like Bowers and the many who quietly ally with him, we are still here. Despite assimilation, discrimination and outright genocide, we are still here.
As the refrain goes, “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.”
Alain F. Corcos, The Myth of the Jewish Race (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2005).
Cheryl Greenberg, “‘I’m Not White–I’m Jewish’: The Racial Politics of American Jews,” in Race, Color, Identity:
Rethinking Discourses about “Jews” in the Twenty-First Century, ed. Efraim Sicher (New York, NY: Berghahn Books, 2013), 35–55.
Elliot Spagat, “Recording Details Synagogue Shooting Suspect’s 911 Call,” AP NEWS, Online edition, September 19, 2019.
J. M. Berger, Extremism, Essential Knowledge Series (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2018), 24, 26.
Jonathan Weisman, (((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump (New York, NY: St Martins Press, 2018), 11.
Todd Endelman, “Jewish Self-Identification and West European Categories of Belonging: From the Enlightenment to World War II,” in Religion or Ethnicity?: Jewish Identities in Evolution, ed. Zvi Gitelman (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2009).
Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 2001), 91, 92.
Michael Loadenthal, Ph.D. is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Justice Studies at Miami University of Oxford, Ohio where he also serves as the founding Director of the Prosecution Project, a long-term data science collaborative examining how political violence, terrorism and extremism are prosecuted in US courts. Michael also serves as the Executive Director of the Peace and Justice Studies Association. Outside the classroom Michael organizes with a variety of local, national, and international networks to support liberatory social movements, and to investigate and disrupt against the far-right. His latest books include The Politics of Attack (Manchester University Press, 2017), The Routledge History of World Peace Since 1750 (2018), and From Environmental Loss to Resistance (UMass Press, 2020).
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Home » Website » National » Bodies Of Uttarakhand Climbers To Be Retrieved From 20,000 Feet By ITBP
Bodies Of Uttarakhand Climbers To Be Retrieved From 20,000 Feet By ITBP
'This is possibly the first time that bodies will be retrieved from a height of about 20,000 feet from a mountain peak in India,' ITBP spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey said.
Outlook Web Bureau 05 June 2019
Outlook Web Bureau 2019-06-05T13:26:59+05:30 Bodies Of Uttarakhand Climbers To Be Retrieved From 20,000 Feet By ITBP
ITBP troops will undertake a first-of-its-kind daring rescue operation to retrieve the mortal remains of at least eight mountaineers suspected to have been killed in an avalanche near an unscaled peak adjoining Nanda Devi East in Uttarakhand, a senior official said Tuesday.
The Pithoragarh district administration has sought the services of the mountain-warfare trained troops of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to undertake the mission under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act of 2005.
"A team comprising the best ITBP mountaineers has been formed. This is a high-risk mission as the only way to retrieve the bodies is through a heliborne operation. This is possibly the first time that bodies will be retrieved from a height of about 20,000 feet from a mountain peak in India," ITBP spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey told PTI in Pithoragarh.
He said the ITBP climbers will be lowered down from the helicopter to fetch the bodies and the operation is expected to be launched on Wednesday on board an Indian Air Force helicopter.
It will be very difficult to launch a trekking rescue mission at this height and as it is, will take a very long time, Pandey said.
The spokesperson added that the ITBP headquarters is in constant touch with its 14th battalion based in Pithoragarh and adjoining units to undertake the operation.
All the required gadgets and equipment have been provided to the special rescue team and the district administration is being informed about it, he said.
Eight mountaineers, including from the US, the UK and Australia, were reported missing after they left Munsiyari on May 13 to scale the peak, but did not return to the base camp on the scheduled date of May 25.
The team was led by British mountaineer Martin Moran to the 7,434-metre peak.
It was a twelve-member group and four of them were rescued on Sunday.
IAF choppers spotted five bodies on Monday during their second day of aerial search.
The missing mountaineers comprised seven from the UK, the US and Australia, and a liaison officer from Delhi's Indian Mountaineering Foundation.
They have been identified as team leader Martin Moran, members John McLaren, Richard Payne, Rupert Havel (from the UK); Anthony Sudekum and Rachel Bimmel (from the US); Ruth Macrain (from Australia); and liaison officer Chetan Pandey.
The route to the peak begins from Munsiyari, about 132 km from the district headquarters.
(PTI)
Unseemly Controversy Erupts Over Mid-Day Meals Served To School Kids By Akshaya Patra
Outlook Web Bureau Uttarakhand Trekking Mountains & Mountaineering National
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The butterfly effect – In memory and in gratitude
It is said that the flutter of a butterfly’s wings can cause a cyclone on the other side of the world.
In the same way, your individual donations to Oxfam are like the fluttering of thousands of wings that are having an incredible impact all around the world.
We would like to take a moment to reflect on the powerful legacies left to Oxfam New Zealand, and to celebrate those who have left them. Many of our wonderful supporters have not only given generously during their lifetimes, but have also chosen to continue their impact, by leaving behind a precious gift.
With the permission of her loved ones, we wanted to celebrate the life of one of these supporters. Last year, we received a life changing bequest from Eileen, who had joined Oxfam after the Nepal earthquake in 2015. Eileen was born and grew up in Oxfordshire, and immigrated to Aotearoa when she was 21 years old.
Her dearest friend told us that Eileen was a very independent lady and that she loved exploring the world. As well as travelling to England to visit her family and friends, she also visited some exotic and far flung countries, the most recent being Antarctica. Amongst the delights of travelling, she also witnessed the deprivation that exists around the world. These experiences sparked her passion to make positive changes for our planet and those living on it. Oxfam happened to be one of the three charities fortunate enough to receive that generosity, and we are told that our objectives of working against poverty and injustice were especially important to her.
Eileen’s generosity and commitment to social justice is both incredibly humbling and inspiring. The passion of Eileen and many others; to create a fairer, safer and more just world for all, will live on through their legacy for a very long time. Bequest donations start a butterfly effect that lasts generations, they allow us to us to fund unique and innovative projects and research that we often would not otherwise be able to implement. For this special support we are deeply grateful and extremely proud to pass that legacy forward.
Click here to find out more about leaving a gift in your will and read more stories from our bequest pledgers Pauline, Mary and Diana.
Alternatively, get in touch with Bryony via email at bryony.greenhalgh@oxfam.org.nz or call 09 355 7415.
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"Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)" lyrics - GREG KIHN BAND
GREG KIHN BAND
"Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)"
We had broken up for good
Just an hour before
Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah, aaah
And now I'm staring at the bodies
As they're dancing 'cross the floor
And then the band slowed the tempo
And the music gets you down
It was the same old song
With a melancholy sound
They just don't write 'em like that anymore
We'd been living together for a million years
But now it feels so strange out of the atmospheres
And then the jukebox plays a song I used to know
As they're dancing so slow
[Instrumental Interlude]
Mmmm, now I wind up staring at an empty glass
'Cos it's so easy to say
That she'll forget your past
No, they just don't write 'em like that anymore
They just don't, no, they don't, no no, uh-uh
They just don't
GREG KIHN BAND videos - Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)
Home > K > GREG KIHN BAND > Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em) lyrics
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Discipline of
Competitions held
17 (Venues)
Distinct events
Fédération internationale de natation
Synchronized swimming is one of the few sports or disciplines that are contested only by women (rhythmic gymnastics and softball are the others). It is not considered a separate sport but rather a discipline of swimming, or technically aquatics, and as such is governed by the Fédération internationale de natation (FINA).
Synchronized swimming is a relatively new sport with its origins dating to the beginning of the 20th century. Water show activities first received notice in the United States when Annette Kellerman (1886-1975), an Australian swimmer who toured the United States, performed her water acrobatics in a glass tank. Katherine Curtis was responsible for developing the sport in the United States, when she began to experiment around 1915 with water figures and had the figures performed to musical accompaniment. Her students performed at the 1933-34 Chicago “Century of Progress” Fair, where the announcer, former Olympic swimming gold medalist Norman Ross, coined the term “synchronized swimming”.
American film star Esther Williams later popularized synchronized swimming when she performed water ballet in several American movies. The competitive aspect was developed about the same time when Frank Havlicek, a student of Curtis, drew up a set of rules.
Synchronized swimming was recognized as a separate discipline of swimming by FINA in 1952. World Championships in synchronized swimming have been held since 1973, when FINA first established swimming world championships. Synchronized swimmers compete at the World Championships in solo, duet, and team competition. Men are not allowed to compete at the international level, although they occasionally appear in national events.
At the Olympics, synchronized swimming was first held in 1984 with solo and duet events, and these events were also contested in 1988 and 1992. However, both events were discontinued in 1996 at Atlanta, replaced by an 8-person team event. Since 2000, the program has consisted of a duet and team event. Initially, the Olympic synchronized swimming events were dominated by the United States and Canada (winning all golds), but since 2000, all golds have been won by Russian swimmers. Two of them, Anastasiya Davydova has won five golds, while Anastasiya Yermakova has won four.
All-time medal table
Russian Federation RUS 10 0 0 10
United States USA 5 2 2 9
Canada CAN 3 4 1 8
Japan JPN 0 4 10 14
People's Republic of China CHN 0 3 2 5
Spain ESP 0 3 1 4
France FRA 0 0 1 1
Most successful competitors
Anastasiya Davydova RUS 5 0 0 5
Nataliya Ishchenko RUS 5 0 0 5
Svetlana Romashina RUS 5 0 0 5
Anastasiya Yermakova RUS 4 0 0 4
Olga Brusnikina RUS 3 0 0 3
Mariya Kiselyova RUS 3 0 0 3
Mariya Gromova RUS 3 0 0 3
Elvira Khasyanova RUS 3 0 0 3
Carolyn Waldo CAN 2 1 0 3
Tracie Ruiz-Conforto USA 2 1 0 3
Still contested?
Times held?
Duet Women 8
Team Women 6
Solo Women 3
Norwegian figure skating star Sonia Henie won her third consecutive figure skating gold at the 1936 Winter Olympics. She placed last at her first Olympic appearance in 1924, when she was just 11 years old.
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Rents are late, and ‘it’s only going to get worse’
By Conor Dougherty
The New York Times |
First it was the waitress whose restaurant closed. Then the waiter, the bartender, the substitute teacher, the hairdresser, the tattoo artist and the Walgreens manager.
One after the other, the tenants called and emailed their landlord, Bruce Brunner, to say they were out of work and the rent was going to be late. A week after the bill was due, some two dozen of Brunner’s 130 tenants had lost their jobs or had their hours reduced. He’s working out payment plans and using security deposits as a stopgap while directing tenants to the emerging patchwork of local, state and federal assistance programs.
“Six weeks ago, you could name your price and you’d have multiple people applying,” said Brunner, who lives in Minneapolis, where he owns and manages 20 duplexes and triplexes. “Now you’re deferring and working out payment plans, and it’s only going to get worse.”
One week after the first of the month, tenants nationwide are already struggling with rents. In interviews with two dozen landlords — including companies with tens of thousands of units, nonprofit developers who house the working poor, and mom-and-pop operators living next door to their tenants — property owners say their collections have plunged as much of the economy has shut down to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Daryl Carter, chief executive of Avanath Capital, a Southern California company with 10,000 units across the country, said his buildings reduced April rents by 10%. Deidre Schmidt, chief executive of CommonBond Properties, a nonprofit affordable-housing provider with about 6,000 apartments in the Midwest, expects as many as 40% of her tenants, most of them hourly workers with low incomes, to fall behind on their monthly bills. Joseph Razavian, a part-time landlord in Atlanta who works at a software company but owns a duplex and a triplex as investments, is bolstering his reserve fund by putting off nonessential maintenance like fresh paint and new rain gutters.
“The whole market just changed,” said Gustavo Lopez, a property manager in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Nearly 10 million people have filed unemployment claims over the past two weeks. It’s too early to gauge how broadly these numbers will translate to the loss of rent: Many tenants are within the grace period before their rent is declared late. Some can stitch things together for a while by getting deferrals, applying their security deposits or paying with credit cards.
Still, early findings suggest that April is looking bad and lend credence to Brunner’s opinion that May will be much worse. The National Multifamily Housing Council, a trade group for big apartment owners and developers, compiled data tracking rent payments across some 13.4 million units nationwide. It showed that through the first five days of April, 31% of tenants had so far failed to pay their rent, compared with 18% in the same period a year ago.
That lined up with surveys released by Apartment List, a rental listing service; Mynd Property Management; and Avail, a platform that helps small landlords manage rentals. All showed the share of partial or unpaid rent surging to as much as a quarter of billings, compared with March or last April.
Some tenants are simply moving out. College students are breaking leases to move home. Laid-off workers are showing up at rental offices to exchange their keys for their deposits, saying they are moving in with family members.
And there is Terra Thomas, a florist in Oakland, California, who could pay her April rent with savings if she wanted but has decided to withhold the $833 she pays for her studio. With her usually busy wedding season shaping up to be grim, she’d rather conserve her money than pay bills now.
“This could last a long time and be really, really serious, so I don’t want to be asking myself in a few months, ‘Why did I give away my last few paychecks to rent?’” she said. “I need to know that I can eat and pay for health care.”
The $2 trillion CARES Act, signed by President Donald Trump on March 27, should in theory help laid-off tenants keep up with the rent through a combination of expanded unemployment insurance and one-time stimulus payments. The act also included aid to public-housing providers and grants to state governments that could be used for rental assistance.
But only a sliver of the money deals with housing directly. About $12 billion in grants will mostly be given to cities, homeless shelters, affordable-housing providers and states to support people who are homeless and sustain or increase housing assistance. There are big gaps in assistance for tenants as well as landlords, because almost all of it is directed to renters and owners already attached to some sort of government program.
For instance, much of the aid to tenants is earmarked for those living in subsidized and public housing, and much of the mortgage forbearance will benefit landlords whose loans are backed by the government through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is little help to most moderate- and low-income tenants who live in market-rate developments, or small landlords whose loans are often held by private lenders and not backed by the federal government.
Cities and states have tried to address housing troubles by passing eviction moratoriums, which should prevent an immediate rise in homelessness but doesn’t resolve what happens in three or four months when tenants who have had little or no income are billed for months of back rent.
“Eventually the moratoriums will be lifted, and we don’t want to create an environment where low-income renters fall off a financial cliff and we have a rash of evictions,” said Diane Yentel, chief executive of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, an advocacy group in Washington.
After lobbying for grants to homeless providers in the CARES Act, her group is pushing for $100 billion in direct subsidies to tenants. The National Multifamily Housing Council has called for similar aid. Yentel, in an interview, cited two objectives: to relieve tenants of rent burden but also to support small landlords at risk of foreclosure.
For several decades, the nation’s affordable-housing stock has fallen sharply, particularly “naturally occurring affordable housing” — rundown buildings that offer low rents without government subsidy. Since much of this housing is operated by smaller landlords, Yentel fears that without any aid to landlords, the buildings could go into default and be picked up by investors who will renovate them for higher-paying tenants after the crisis subsides.
“One way or the other, we have to get aid to smaller landlords so that the precious affordable-housing stock we have still exists on the other end of this crisis,” she said.
According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, a quarter of the nation’s 44 million renter households paid more than half their income in rent in 2018. Separate research from the Federal Reserve showed 4 in 10 Americans would have difficulty covering a sudden $400 expense, suggesting that tens of millions of tenants are just a week of missed work away from falling behind on their housing bills.
For the past four years, rent increases have helped stir a nationwide tenant uprising that led to the biggest expansion of tenants’ rights in decades. Rent control laws were enacted in New York, Oregon and California, and tenants organized mass actions, like a group of mothers in Oakland who occupied an empty house for two months to protest house flipping.
Now, after years of coordination, organizers see the coronavirus pandemic as a galvanizing force. Last week, the Right to the City Alliance, a national coalition of tenant and racial-justice organizations, held a digital #CancelRent rally to call for rents to be eliminated as long as people can’t work. Homes Guarantee, a national tenants’ campaign, has been holding weekly strategy calls.
The Health Report: Florida Coronavirus Newsletter
A daily update on the coronavirus crisis in Florida.
“This is a moment of clarity about a broken system in which 11 million people were already paying over 50% of their income on rent,” said Tara Raghuveer, a tenant organizer in Kansas City and director of Homes Guarantee.
Thomas, the renter refusing to pay in Oakland, is a member of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, an activist group associated with the house-occupying mothers. For weeks she has been trying to organize her building in a rent strike, and has gotten tenants in three other units to join her.
One is her upstairs neighbor Andrew Yen, a data scientist at an agriculture company who still has a job and isn’t worried about making his $2,500 monthly rent. He and Thomas had been discussing some sort of coordinated action, but after weeks of job losses, and walking around his neighborhood seeing “rent strike” posted on telephone poles or spray-painted on utility boxes, he decided the time was now, so he is striking in solidarity.
“I feel like rent striking is the least somebody like me can do,” he said. “I’m the tenant the landlord wants to keep, so the worst-case scenario is eviction, but I probably have a lot more wiggle room than that.”
Latest Coronavirus
Florida reports 12,119 new COVID-19 cases, 205 more resident deaths
Polk County registers thousands through vaccination website, phone
c.2020 The New York Times Company
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Downloads – Stickers Posters
The Anti-Jerusalem Declaration
Nationalist Alternative Manifesto 1 Westgate Bridge Cleanup
Nationalist Alternative Manifesto 2
On December 8, 2008, in Manifesto, by admin
NATIONALIST ALTERNATIVE MANIFESTO PART II
by Steve Wood
1. Introduction: Nationalist Alternative tactics
This section of the Nationalist Alternative Manifesto shall examine the question of political tactics – that is, how to go about achieving one’s political goals. Ultimately, the goal of all politics is the gaining of power. Power for nationalists is the ability of a people to exercise self determination on all levels, complete unhindered independence including the right and ability to defend and maintain it. This may occur through democratic elections, through civil war, through a revolutionary uprising, through peaceful separatist aspirations, through a coup d’état…
Politics comes without a manual, without a set procedure. One has to discover how politics works – how one goes about getting, and keeping, power – through practice, through trial and error, and through the study of the past. We need to learn from mistakes made in that past and move forward, in a positive and determined manner.
Here we shall be studying some of the techniques of Communist organisation – in particular, democratic centralism. (It should go without saying that Nationalist Alternative is not endorsing Communism, Bolshevism, of any kind, and actively opposes it. If anything, we are an Anti-Communist group as much as we are an Anti-Globalist group and therefore against any Imperialistic ideology).
Now, isn’t Communism dead and buried, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the turn away from socialism by China after 1979? Yes and no: certainly, Marx’s theory of history, which is at the core of Communist ideology, has been disproved. But, on the level of street politics, the Communist groups are very much alive. (One could point out that, electorally, Communists are still successful in some countries: Communists have won office, through elections, in countries such as Nepal and Rumania. But it is examples pertinent to Australia which shall concern us here). The anti-globalist and anti-capitalist street movements are dominated by the Communists; and the two main Communist factions in Australia, Socialist Alliance and Socialist Alternative, dwarf Australian nationalist groups in terms of size, organisation, funds and in sheer street power.
Finally, the Communist groups in Australia constitute a radical extra-parliamentary opposition, which is something many Australian nationalists aspire to. And, like Australian nationalists, they have been, and continue to, suffer persecution and harassment at the hands of the liberal democratic state, and, moreover, have done a good job of surviving.
These are the reasons why the Communist example is worthy of study and emulation.
2. Democratic Centralism
Lenin, in his classic, “What is to be done” (1902), outlined the key tenets of democratic centralism. I shall list some of them here:
a) A party must develop an ideological position through vigorous debate, adopt it through a binding vote, and then stick to it, through thick and thin. In a congress held over a number of days, the membership of a political party (or rather, the delegates sent to the congress to represent the membership) debate amongst themselves and adopt a constitution, a program (which sketches out the aims of the group over the long-term) and a resolution (which considers political developments in the recent past and prospects for the near future). In future congresses, constitutions and programs are amended by votes from the delegates – paragraphs are struck out, new ones added – and new resolutions adopted.
After that, the membership agrees to abide by the program and resolution, when representing the party’s position to non-members. ‘We believe that…’. The membership does this even if an individual member does not agree with it. (This is a common enough phenomenon in mainstream, liberal democratic political parties: the MP in the Labor or Liberal Party has to support the position adopted by the party membership at the time, even if he does not agree with it, and refrain from criticising it in the public eye).
b) Only paid-up, card-carrying members are truly members. Often, in politics, a member of a political group falls into the habit of saying such-and-such a group of people are ‘with us’, are ‘part of our organisation’. At the time Lenin wrote “What is to be done”, Russian socialists were inclined to view certain factory workers and trade unionists they had encountered as ‘members’ – simply because a Russian socialist activist had handed out a pamphlet to that factory worker (who had some good words to say about it), or had managed to get that worker to come to one or two meetings. Lenin took the view, through, that the real test of one’s conviction was membership: was the factory worker, trade unionist, intellectual, willing to join the party, take out a party membership card, abide by the party rules (as outlined in the constitution) and pay dues – promptly, and in full? If not, that worker could be regarded as a sympathiser, perhaps even a supporter – but not a member. Only a party member is willing to put his money where his mouth is.
c) Conducting of meetings in an efficient, orderly way. Most formal organisations – whether they be bowling clubs, corporations, Rotary clubs, town councils, political parties – conduct their meetings according to a set procedure. That procedure is formally known as ‘parliamentary procedure’ (even the meetings are not, of course, held in parliament). These rules may specify that meetings must have a chairperson, a secretary, minutes, an agenda, a set hierarchy for certain motions (e.g., a motion to adjourn a meeting, to debate a certain position, to bring up an item of unfinished business from the last meeting, etc.). The set of rules known as ‘Robert’s rules’ is the most famous, and well-used, parliamentary procedure.
The rationale for this is as follows. Politics is time-consuming business, and consists mainly of chores undertaken to support the functioning of the political organisation, such as fund raising, the creation and distribution of literature and work into obtaining and maintaining facilities. In order to prevent a meeting from degenerating into a purely social event, one has to organise – take care of the chores and get them out of the way as quickly as possible. Which is why Lenin stressed formal organisation. While holding a meeting with minutes, a secretary, a chairperson, is dull, it is the only way of organising large numbers of people and get those chores done in a reasonable amount of time so that most of the efforts are directed to actual beneficial activities. Conducting meetings in a formalised and structured manner are necessary step in ensuring that items which require discussion and analysis are addressed thoroughly and timely. A successful political organisation will find the right balance between the formalised organisation necessary to make effective use of available resources, and the flexibility necessary to change where necessary and take into account changing and extenuating circumstances.
On top of that, formal meetings are democratic: each of the members has an opportunity to speak freely. Records of meetings (in the minutes) help work out what was decided at a past meeting, what actions, future events or positions of ideology or organisational arrangement were agreed upon, thereby avoiding time wasting disagreements in the future.
This ensures accountability in individuals who can be honestly measured post agreement on what actions they take that have differed from what the group decided upon. This further prevents individuals who may carry a particular critical skill or possession of a critical piece of infrastructure like ‘the website’ from simply flouting the group decision and acting inline with their own wishes. This has occurred numerous times in groups that prefer next to no organisation. That is why it is very important to try and work together as a team for the greater good of the group.
Minutes or the like, are especially helpful when particularly bitter individuals who came out on the minority side of a group vote on a controversial topic want to continue the arguing over and over again. Further, it should be obvious to the reader, when considering our arguments for at least ‘some’ formal organisation, that troublemakers or plants much prefer a cloudy working environment where nothing is ever ‘locked in’ – in terms of positions on ideology, how recruits are vetted, procedures, public image to be adopted at a particular event etc. Such lack of clear and sometimes explicit agreement and rules is exactly what troublemakers require to undermine the entire organisation’s efforts.
Clarity and accountability are especially important in regards to the question of handling money – which is probably the greatest potential source of dissension and conflict in an organisation. This is why there must always be total transparency in relation to money matters and there also needs to be strict rules and procedures that need to be adhered to.
The exact nature and level of detail in said minutes will of course be determined by the group concerned and security issues around personally identifiable information. Security and privacy should always be a priority and group members need to be selected to handle those aspects for the group. Those selected for security roles must obviously be trustworthy and constantly vigilant to any threats that may occur.
d) An organisation needs a formal structure. Not only do meetings need to be structured formally, so does the organisation itself. The smallest unit of organisation in a Communist party is a cell, which is made up three people, in a trade union, university, professional association or whatever. Then comes the party branch, then the district organisation, then the equivalent of a state and federal organisation. The district, state and federal organisations have their congresses every few years, when they adopt resolutions and make amendments to the constitution and party program; the branches and cells meet more regularly. As in a liberal democratic party, the rank-and-file membership elects delegates to the district, state and party conferences. So the structure of a Communist party is, in its way, genuinely democratic.
(For a small, fledgling organisation, the act of setting up organisations at the district, state and federal level seems presumptuous, grandiose. But one has to start somewhere. At the first Bolshevik party conference, nine delegates showed up, and a central committee of five was elected. Those five were arrested the next month by the Russian secret police).
3. How nationalists can apply Democratic Centralism
These are the tenets of democratic centralism. At the time, critics of Lenin accused him of being too authoritarian and bureaucratic, too obsessed by control. But Lenin was contesting the notion that revolutions are spontaneous and happen by themselves, without conscious direction, or organisation, from political activists. The two main ‘spontaneous’ groups were the anarchists, of course, and (surprisingly enough) certain of the Marxists, who happened to believe that revolution, the overthrow of capitalism, and the dictatorship of the proletariat was inevitable, and so not much needed to be done.
Marxists are still debating whether or not Lenin was right. The point is, though, the same criticisms Lenin made of Russian socialism could be made of nationalism in Australia today. There is too much disorganisation, too little activism directed towards a particular political goal or in fact any goals (social, financial, organisational objectives), too little agreement on what those political goals should be, and too much of a feeling that ‘being nationalist’, ‘being racialist’ and just gracing internet forums and pub meets only (pure socialisers) suffices – one does not have to join a political organisation devoted to actual politics.
A partial remedy is to adopt a version of Lenin’s democratic centralism and apply the four points listed above to nationalist organisation and practice. That way, nationalists shall deploy themselves with professionalism and most importantly purpose. Not only of the Communist groups, but the mainstream political parties (such as Liberal and Labour) as well.
The application of democratic centralism is, in fact, a simple procedure: meetings among branches need to be held regularly, and conducted according to Robert’s rules (of which a good summary can be found in the book “Robert’s rules for dummies”). Because branch meeting are small, one can adapt these guidelines and rules to ones own situation). A constitution can be written up fairly quickly by simply adapting the constitution of existing political organisations. The core tenants of the members can be incorporated, and safeguards put in place to ensure the foundation stones for the groups creation can never be removed. A small, even paltry, monthly membership fee needs to be charged to those who wish to move from Nationalist Alternative supporters to members, simply because people value what they pay for and consider it an investment in their personal, family and unborn offspring’s future by way of enabling the range of activities and capabilities of an organisation dedicated to such goals. And, finally, recruitment needs to be done on a ‘quality, not quantity’ basis. Building a core of competent and capable activists across the working, small business, middle and ‘professional ‘classes’, with skill-sets that can be leveraged towards organisational goals, is imperative.
Furthermore, one can start building a movement – a parallel society where any one individual can go for his needs, personal, economic, educational, social or otherwise is achieved by networks of capable skilled people, not hordes of drunken thugs. As a means of giving people incentive to join something they may put considerable time and effort into, such practices help provide clarity. It is a given that people naturally contribute to activities they feel are worthy pursuits. If their heart is not in it they will eventually leave. No amount of glossy coverings, charismatic individuals or constantly repeated slogans alone will keep them despite an initial honeymoon period.
Communism, historically, has always recognised that a committed member, of good quality, is worth twenty or thirty uncommitted members: the good member will turn up to every demo, every meeting, etc., and so small but determined group of activists will have an effect out of proportion to their numbers.
Finally, there is ideological purity. Nationalism is not a political movement driven by constructed ideologies, but rather a political movement which recognises innate human needs, desires: unlike other political ideologies, which are based on the intellectual constructions and seek to dogmatically follow words, nationalism is based upon observation and recognition of the nature of humanity. All the same, a nationalist group has to maintain a democratically set party line less it simply becomes a friction ridden mess with no direction, much like today’s multicultural society. Amongst nationalists, debates can occur as to what the composition of a nation is, and the relationship and importance of culture, ethnicity and religion to a nation. For instance, in the Netherlands some Dutch nationalists may agree that Muslim immigrants who will not, for various reasons assimilate are not suitable candidates for future immigration, but may disagree on whether relatively more assimilable Chinese immigrants make suitable immigration candidates.
If such an ideological dispute is allowed to fester, the organisation may break into two: which is why the party leadership must give a firm ruling from the start, and make sure that members comply to that ruling. (The point comes when members who continue to disagree with that ruling, and go out of their way to tear down the party by publishing criticisms of the ruling on the Internet, have to be disciplined or expelled, or of course people can choose to depart in the same way they joined – voluntarily). This is all unfortunate, and the nationalist activist hopes that such disputes do not occur within his organisation. But disputes like that will crop up, and so the organisation must have the mechanisms (as outlined in its constitutions) for resolving them.
Then there is the problem of entryism. Most people associate entryism with Communism, particularly Trotskyism, which historically has relied on the tactic. But entryism occurs within nationalist circles as well. According to rumour, activists from the National Party (an agrarian socialist party) infiltrated One Nation in the 1990s, with the intention of wrecking it from within. A purge of the infiltrators would have solved the problem. This is not Stalinist paranoia: it is reality. A party has to struggle to survive, and often politics is the survival of the fittest. The better organised groups (like the National Party) overpower, and eventually destroy, the lesser organised (like One Nation).
We would add that conviction in the rightness of a nationalist ideology is measured by the passage of time and association, whereby the interested individual has participated in various events and by their having undergone some reading on the organisation’s viewpoints and structure. Also, they have demonstrated behaviour consistent with an agreement with said viewpoints and structure.
For instance merely the upfront providing by a member of, say, a ready supply of cash and face value enthusiasm on its own is not enough. A genuine commitment free of hidden agendas, whether for their own ego or to further the plans of another group, is what is required. This is not only to avoid the possibility of state based penetration. Many an organisation or group in Australia has been twisted, thwarted, led down time wasting directions or simply been grabbed hold of by ego-led men purportedly from the same movement. Entryism by such people or persons, to either cause an organisation to fold or become absorbed into another entity, may be for money or quite often simply to forward their individualist sense of ‘pride’ and power measured through metrics like ‘how many members my group has versus yours’, ‘to prove their ideology is superior’ or to ‘to prove their method of organising is superior’. Such individuals always reveal themselves over time, even if only by small slip-ups in speech here and there. Such people should be exposed and kicked out of a strong, self-respecting political organisation, regardless of money input, pseudo-enthusiasm and participation in many events which seemingly made them an ideal member.
4. Movement and Party OR Movement versus Party
It is often said, in nationalist politics, that ‘We need a movement, not a party’ – that, in other words, we need to do what the NPD and the BNP are doing, which is grassroots activism, community activism, community building, and that sort of thing. The proponents of ‘movement-ism’ seem to be basing their thinking on a New Left-ish understanding of politics – that is, that politics is the work of the masses, of the people, of special-interest and pressure groups, who go out and form mass-based, loose, spontaneous organisations (which are not really organisations, but clusters of people) that go out and engage in grass-roots activism. Others take the contrary view, seeming to state that ‘We need a party not a movement’ or ‘The party (as in politically registered one to contest elections) builds the movement’.
The truth is that both approaches are needed. For some people, reading press releases, platforms and hearing speeches output by a party may be enough to inspire them to at least register with your group and vote for you every three to four years. These people are excited by visions, concepts and plans for the future that have not yet (at least on the grand scale) been implemented. They identify because the party’s visions and concepts, which to them are put forward encapsulate their own opinions, values , dreams and hopes. They feel empowered, a voice has been given to their values and opinions, which previously had been absent from liberal politically correct discourse. Then there are those for whom seemingly abstract debates mean little and who start to identify with your group only when they see concrete evidence that your extra parliamentary work , support networks and activities are representing and directly aiding them, and the interests of their community and families.
Community projects of the kind the NPD and the BNP engage – helping the elderly carry their shopping, cleaning up graffiti and so on – are excellent propaganda, which also benefits the party; they are ‘propaganda of the deed’. They show the indigenous German and British communities that the NPD and the BNP are people who genuinely are concerned about the communities they live in. And the community pays those parties back – by voting for them at election time, because the positive word of mouth about the political organisation has circulated through the community, cutting through the negative image presented by the media. In turn, the hard won political representation is used to enact legislation which further enables the community to proper and foster its identity and survival and to repeal harmful legislation that hinders and disadvantages its work.
It is not for us to say whether it is a movement or political party that comes first, in fact a lot of social research merely raises the point that ‘discontent’ of some sort exists (comes first) amongst individuals or a population and that then leads to actions to attempt to correct the real or perceived injustice. So people who form parties or movements are acting from the same source but choosing different organisational methods to achieve it.
Social movement entrepreneurs, think tanks and protest organizations are the catalysts which transform collective discontent into social movements; social movement organizations form the backbone of social movements. Nationalist Alternative seeks to be such a catalyst, a vanguard organisation for the Australian nation (people) both in activism and in intellectualism (Think-Tank) and hence part of the ‘nationalist’ movement. In an attempt to further professionalism and goal driven purpose it is constituted like a political party but is not a ‘party’. Once the formal structure akin to a political party is in place, the organisation for community projects can get underway. After all, community projects requires discipline and co-operation – and a political party-like organisation confers an almost military-type discipline upon its members. Hence, the ‘party’ works together to help create the ‘movement’. Assuming conditions of discontent (always present in the unjust liberal democracy), a think-tank (or plural) provides the ‘spark’ of solutions/critique/deconstruction that illuminates possible pathways to solving the issues at hand. The associated (or not) organisations, informal networks and/or party are the ‘seeding’ vehicles to help the greater nationalist movement to grow. Together they are the roots of the plant, and the movement and party both grow together as the plant becomes a sapling and grows taller and then sprouts branches and leaves.
It is our belief that a broad three-pillar strategy encompassing the below is an effective combination to proceed with.
Struggle for the ‘street’: extra parliamentary action, grassroots community work that engenders a positive image, local issues, working ‘outside’ the liberal democratic state;
Struggle for the ‘mind’, acting as a ‘Think-Tank’: insightful cutting articles, and the dissemination of material in any form that de-institutionalizes and breaks the chains of existing liberal/Marxist/Imperialist/Neocon/universalist beliefs, norms, and values, and establish new forms that spearhead nationalist, particularist and ethnic identity;
Struggle for the ‘parliament’: an eventual participation (once progress in the previous two areas has been achieved) in elections and the current political process in order to leverage the effectiveness of the first two elements and struggle for self determination.
Finally if we are serious about a sustainable future for European and the Australian people, we must continuously and objectively critique and compare our various methods, ideology, organising arrangements, goals (or lack of), behaviour, relations with fellow groups, public image and everything we project to the public.
Tagged with: 3 pillar strategy • Activism • community. local • Manifesto • Nationalist Alternative • networks • Organisation • think tank
Foreign Commentary
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Ed Snowden's magic thumb drive and other NSA fantasies
Sunday, June 16, 2013 by: Jon Rappoport
Tags: NSA, Ed Snowden, thumb drive
https://www.naturalnews.com/040793_NSA_Ed_Snowden_thumb_drive.html
(NaturalNews) Well, they've solved the riddle. Ed Snowden was able to steal thousands of highly protected NSA documents because...he had a thumb drive.
This is the weapon that breached the inner sanctum of the most sophisticated information agency in the world.
This is the weapon to which the NSA, with all its resources, remains utterly vulnerable. Can't defeat it.
NSA bans thumb drives, but certain special employees are allowed to use them.
Would Snowden have been in that elite circle? He was an outside contractor who'd been assigned to the NSA, and he was only there for four weeks, on his latest tour, when he did the infamous deed and then departed, never to return.
Not only did Snowden stroll into NSA with a thumb drive, he knew how to navigate all the security layers put in place to stop people from stealing classified documents.
Far more likely? As I described in my prior article, Snowden was really working for his former employer, the CIA. People at the CIA were able to steal those NSA documents, and they handed them to Snowden. All part of the endless turf war between the CIA, NSA, and other intelligence agencies.
Moving right along, Barbara Honegger, a former analyst at the White House during the Reagan years, makes a crucial point: US intelligence agencies can get around domestic spying laws by allowing other countries to spy on US citizens.
England, for example. This scandal is sitting there ready to explode.
NSA works out a deal whereby British agencies can access electronic communications in the US. Then, the Brits give the tons of data to NSA. Therefore, NSA didn't directly steal.
It's "sharing."
"Oh no, we didn't steal. We allowed other people to steal. Then they gave us what they stole. Of course, we are also, in fact, stealing and spying in the US, 24/7, but that's another story for another time..."
It's called redundancy. NSA spies on Americans, the Brits spy on Americans, and NSA stores everything, just to make sure they've covered all the bases. Twice.
Taking this one step further, NSA would be spying on British citizens, too. That's "reciprocity."
Here's a fantasy for you. Terrorists all over the world were just shocked into a panic, because Ed Snowden "told them" the NSA has been spying on the Internet.
Therefore, all those emails, photos, and videos the terrorists have been sending to each other online for years? Spied on. Intercepted. Wow. What a revelation.
The terrorists never considered that possibility before. This is what Pentagon, NSA, CIA chiefs, and incensed Congresspeople would have us believe.
Let's see. Terrorists just realized the Internet isn't safe. Jack and the Beanstalk. Two fairy tales. Hold one in each hand. Weigh them. I'd believe Jack and the Beanstalk over the other fantasy, if I had to choose.
Author John Loftus, several years ago, pointed out that there already existed miles of incriminating data on the Muslim Brotherhood in US intelligence-agency files. Yet nothing was being done about it.
In other words, tons of NSA data on innocent Americans were being collected. And the valuable stuff on guilty parties was being ignored. A real laugher.
Imagine the sub voce reaction of the Muslim Brotherhood:
Brotherhood spokesman, Mr. Cash On Delivery, Jr., stated, "We in the Brotherhood have nothing to fear. We're all proxies. We fight for Western shadow elites. They pay us to destabilize countries to advance a Globalist-controlled planet. Internet spying? Who cares? We're doing just fine. In fact, there's a mile of incriminating data on us in NSA computers. Nobody does anything with it. Guess why."
Then there is China. Snowden's most recent leak reveals the NSA has been hacking Chinese government computers. Another walloping shocker. Can you even remain standing in the face of this one? Feeling dizzy with surprise? Sit down. Drink a glass of water.
The spy-vs.-spy scenario between China and the US has been playing out for decades. By now, it's so complicated probably no one on either side understands it fully.
Yes, major thefts of vital info have occurred. But, aware of the ongoing hacking war, China and US have undoubtedly been cooking up whole databases of false and misleading information to be stolen.
It's basically a jobs program. And Snowden's revelation about it is about as stunning as sunny weather in Palm Springs.
John Young, at Cryptome, correctly indicates that the overriding issue in the Snowden affair is "architecture." The actual structure of spying, the whole machine. If Snowden comprehends that, then we're talking about something worth revealing.
Not just the US machine, but the global apparatus. The interconnected spying system collectively employed by many nations.
Snowden seems to be saying he has this knowledge.
I have doubts. I'd bet against it. I think he's inventing script.
Still waiting to be uncovered? NSA spying to collect elite financial data, spying on the people who have that data: the major investment banks. NSA scooping up that data to predict, manipulate, and profit from trading markets all over the world.
A trillion-dollar operation.
Snowden worked for Booz Allen, which is owned by the Carlyle Group ($170 billion in assets). Carlyle, the infamous. Their money is making money in 160 investment funds.
A few of Carlyle's famous front men in its history: George HW Bush, James Baker (US Secretary of State), Frank Carlucci (US Secretary of Defense and CIA Deputy Director), John Major (British Prime Minister), Arthur Levitt (Chairman of the SEC).
Suppose you're one of the princes in the NSA castle, and Ed Snowden has just gone public with your documents. You're saying, "Let's see, this kid worked for Booz Allen, which is owned by the Carlyle Group. We've been spying over Carlyle's shoulder, stealing their proprietary financial data. What are the chances they're getting a little revenge on us now?"
Yes, you're thinking about that. You're looking into it.
Scandals, and how they're presented to the public through the press, are rarely what they seem.
The players are different, their motives are different, and they're trading blows in a different arena.
They're accessing the Matrix and manipulating it at levels invisible to the general public, who are trained by mass media to look in the wrong direction.
The NSA, CIA, and Carlyle would be settling their differences behind the curtain.
The author of two explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED and EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at www.nomorefakenews.com
The author of an explosive new collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, Jon
was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of
California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an
investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics,
medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine,
Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon
has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic,
and creative power to audiences around the world.
www.nomorefakenews.com
NSA at FETCH.news
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StemCells, Inc. Reports Third Quarter Financial Results and Recent Highlights
PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 3, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StemCells, Inc. (Nasdaq:STEM), a leading stem cell company developing and commercializing novel cell-based therapeutics and tools for use in stem cell-based research and drug discovery, today reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2010 and recent business highlights.
"Over the past few months, we have continued to make significant progress on a number of fronts," said Martin McGlynn, President and CEO of StemCells, Inc. "We are building considerable momentum in the clinical development of our HuCNS-SC® cells, with our PMD trial expected to complete enrollment in early 2011, and the recent initiation of our second clinical trial in Batten disease. In addition, we continue to advance toward our goal of initiating clinical trials in spinal cord injury in 2011 and in age-related macular degeneration in 2012.
"At the same time, the economic and financial environment remains difficult. We are therefore carefully prioritizing expenditures while pursuing initiatives to control costs and cash burn. We have taken recent steps to meaningfully reduce our overhead, such as our facilities expenses and general and administrative expenses, and we have also selectively reduced our overall headcount. Additionally, we continue to pursue a growing number of opportunities to expand product sales and to monetize some of our investments through partnering and licensing activities."
Recent Business Highlights
In August 2010, we published new preclinical data demonstrating that our proprietary human neural stem cells restore lost motor function in mice with chronic spinal cord injury. This was the first published study to show that human neural stem cells can restore mobility even when administered at time points beyond the acute phase of trauma, suggesting the prospect of treating a much broader population of injured patients than previously demonstrated. This study, entitled "Human Neural Stem Cells Differentiate and Promote Locomotor Recovery in an Early Chronic Spinal Cord Injury NOD-scid Mouse Model," was published in the international peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.
In August 2010, independent researchers used our technology to achieve the first-ever genetically engineered rat derived from rat embryonic stem (ES) cells. This work demonstrates the potential for the types of genetic manipulations previously only possible in mice, and for modeling a broader range of human diseases with the rat. While both mice and rats are used as models of human disease, the rat is the preferred species because certain aspects of its physiology, behavior and metabolism are closer to the human. This study, published in the international peer-reviewed journal Nature, validates intellectual property owned by us, including patents covering both rat ES and rat induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells as well as genetically engineered rats derived from these cells.
In August 2010, we were notified by Nasdaq that the closing bid price for our shares had been below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days, and therefore we did not meet the requirements for continued listing on the Nasdaq Global Market. In accordance with Nasdaq listing rules, we have 180 calendar days, or until February 8, 2011, to regain compliance with this requirement. To do so, the closing bid price for our shares must be $1.00 per share or higher for a minimum of ten consecutive business days. If compliance is not achieved by February 8, 2011, Nasdaq will notify us that our shares are subject to delisting from the Nasdaq Global Market.
In October 2010, we announced that two of four planned patients in our Phase I clinical trial in Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease (PMD) had been enrolled and transplanted with our HuCNS-SC product candidate (purified human neural stem cells). PMD is a fatal myelination disorder that afflicts male children and this trial is the first to evaluate purified neural stem cells as a potential treatment for a myelination disorder. This trial is being conducted at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital.
In October 2010, we initiated a second clinical trial of HuCNS-SC cells in neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL, also often referred to as Batten disease), a fatal neurodegenerative disorder in children. This Phase 1b trial is designed to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of the cells in patients with either infantile or late infantile NCL. The trial will enroll six patients with less advanced stages of the disease than those who enrolled in our Phase 1 NCL trial. This second trial is being conducted at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Doernbecher Children's Hospital.
In October 2010, we were awarded cash grants by the U.S. government totaling $977,917 for projects related to our development of cell-based therapeutics targeting the central nervous system (CNS) and the liver. The funds will be used to advance the preclinical and clinical development of our HuCNS-SC product candidate for diseases and disorders affecting the brain, the spinal cord and the eye, as well as the further development of our hLEC™ human liver engrafting cells. These grants were certified under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project program, which was created as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.
Third Quarter Financial Results
For the third quarter of 2010, the Company reported a net loss of $5,552,000, or $(0.04) per share, compared with a net loss of $5,145,000, or $(0.05) per share, for the third quarter of 2009.
Total revenue in the third quarter of 2010 was $254,000, compared to total revenue of $253,000 in the third quarter of 2009. Total revenue includes licensing and grant revenues as well as product sales revenue from the Company's SC Proven® line of specialty cell culture products.
Loss from operations in the third quarter of 2010 was $7,001,000, which was essentially flat compared to the third quarter of 2009. On a sequential basis, loss from operations declined for the third straight quarter. Selling, general and administrative expenses also declined for the third straight quarter, accounting for much of the decline in loss from operations. Selling, general and administrative expenses of $2,018,000 in the third quarter of 2010 were also 4% lower than the third quarter of 2009. Research and development expenses in the third quarter of 2010 were $5,201,000, a 4% increase compared to $4,989,000 in the third quarter of 2009.
Other income in the third quarter of 2010 was $1,449,000 compared to $1,838,000 in the third quarter of 2009. This included a $1,228,000 decrease in the estimated fair value of warrant liability in the third quarter of 2010, compared to a $1,830,000 decrease in the third quarter of 2009.
Cash and cash equivalents at September 30, 2010 totaled $24,555,000, compared with $38,618,000 at December 31, 2009. For the first nine months of 2010, cash used in operations totaled $19,655,000, and the Company raised $7,015,000 in net proceeds through sales of common stock.
About StemCells, Inc.
StemCells, Inc. is engaged in the research, development, and commercialization of stem cell therapeutics and tools for use in stem cell-based research and drug discovery. In its therapeutic product development programs, StemCells is targeting diseases of the central nervous system and liver. StemCells' lead product candidate, HuCNS-SC® cells (purified human neural stem cells), is in clinical development for the treatment of two fatal neurodegenerative disorders that primarily affect young children. StemCells also markets specialty cell culture products under the SC Proven®brand, and is developing stem cell-based assay platforms for use in pharmaceutical research, drug discovery and drug development. Further information about StemCells is available at .
The StemCells, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7014
Apart from statements of historical fact, the text of this press release constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. securities laws, and is subject to the safe harbors created therein. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the future business operations of StemCells, Inc. (the "Company"); the prospects and timing associated with completing enrollment in the PMD trial, and initiating clinical trials in spinal cord injury and age-related macular degeneration; the prospect for continued clinical development of the Company's HuCNS-SC cells in NCL, PMD and in other CNS disorders; the prospect for growth in the Company's product sales; and the Company's ability to commercialize drug discovery tools and license certain of its key assets. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company does not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. Such statements reflect management's current views and are based on certain assumptions that may or may not ultimately prove valid. The Company's actual results may vary materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties to which the Company is subject, including uncertainties with respect to the fact that additional trials will be required to confirm the safety and demonstrate the efficacy of the Company's HuCNS-SC cells for the treatment of NCL, PMD or any other disease;risks whether the FDA or other applicable regulatory agencies will permit the Company to continue clinical testing in NCL, PMD or in future clinical trials of proposed therapies for other diseases or conditions; uncertainties about the design of future clinical trials and whether the Company will receive the necessary support of a clinical trial site and its institutional review board to pursue future clinical trials in NCL, PMD or in proposed therapies for other diseases or conditions; uncertainties regarding the potential for the Company to grow its SC Proven business and to advance the development and commercialization of stem cell-based assays for drug discovery and development; uncertainties regarding the Company's ability to obtain the increased capital resources needed to continue its current and planned research and development operations, including such operations of the Company for non-therapeutic applications, and to conduct the research, preclinical development and clinical trials necessary for regulatory approvals; uncertainty as to whether HuCNS-SC cells and any products that may be generated in the future in the Company's cell-based programs will prove safe and clinically effective and not cause tumors or other adverse side effects; uncertainties regarding whether results in preclinical research in animals will be indicative of future clinical results in humans; uncertainties regarding the Company's manufacturing capabilities given its increasing preclinical and clinical commitments; uncertainties regarding the validity and enforceability of the Company's patents; uncertainties as to whether the Company will become profitable; and other factors that are described under the heading "Risk Factors" disclosed in Part I, Item 1A in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009.
CONTACT: StemCells, Inc. Investor Inquiries Megan Meloni (650) 475-3105 Russo Partners Ian Stone (619) 528-2220 David Schull (212) 845-4271
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Apple Hill Farm Spreads Alpaca Love
Apple Hill Farm; Photo by Justin Kase Conder
It was 2000, and Lee Rankin was taking her then 1-year-old son through the Kentucky State Fair when she saw her first alpaca. “I looked into its eyes and fell in love,” she recalls.
Right then and there, Rankin decided she wanted to move to the mountains and raise alpacas. It took until 2003 for the pieces to fall into place, but she made that dream a reality. Today her Apple Hill Farm offers others the opportunity to share the alpaca love with a robust agritourism business.
See more: Go Wild at These North Carolina Exotic Animal Farms
Photo by Justin Kase Conder
“We offered 700 tours last year,” she says. “We are at the top of a mountain. It is really cool; you feel like you found something special.”
When Rankin found her scenic mountaintop property in Banner Elk, the plan was to raise alpacas to breed, show and sell. But in 2004, disaster struck: a wild animal attacked the herd, killing four of her five alpacas.
“It was terrifying,” she says. “We had insurance, but the emotional hit was terrible. I got these animals because I love them. One of them had been a bottle-fed baby.”
Rankin believes the predator was a mountain lion, but experts didn’t agree on what killed the animals. They did agree, however, that the predator would likely come back, so Rankin set out to protect her alpacas differently. She consulted farmers in other parts of the country, reworked her fencing and added other animals, including meat goats, donkeys, goats, llamas and even a rescued pregnant horse, placing them in protective rings around the mountaintop farm.
“That’s when we became a story,” Rankin says. “Everyone wanted to come see what we were doing and see the animals.”
She and her staff enjoyed the visitors and loved stopping to talk, but it wasn’t the most efficient way to run a farm. By 2006, they shifted to an agritourism model, offering tours as often as seven days a week in high season (see sidebar). Now with 43 acres (about 15 acres of which are being farmed), locals and tourists alike come to see the animals, which now include pigs, cows, angora goats, 20 alpacas and livestock dogs.
See more: 3 Places to Celebrate National Alpaca Farm Days
The tours, which last between 45 minutes and an hour, are educational, guided walking tours. “We do not just let people wander around,” Rankin says.
Guests learn about raising the animals and sending the fiber off to be made into yarn. The alpacas are sheared on the first Saturday in June, which is always open to the public.
A small gift shop carries products made (off site, by a fiber pool) from alpaca, llama and angora goat fiber, including socks, gloves, yarn for DIYers and more. If guests have a connection with a specific animal, they can buy yarn that came from those animals. Apple Hill Farm animals have distinctive names, like Tequila or Bambi, making them even more memorable.
See more: Why You Should Visit a North Carolina Agritourism Destination
“I think that people are feeling out of touch with what is real,” says Rankin, who is Vice President of Watauga County Farm Bureau. “Agritourism is a chance to put our feet on the ground. We’re at a point in time where people don’t know where things come from. Many people have never been on a farm before. Her guests run the gamut from families who want to show their kids what farm life is like to adults escaping work pressures for a weekend to those simply wanting to take in the mountain air at 4,300 feet.
“Alpacas date back to ancient times,” Rankin says. “They are different animals energetically. They are unique, mystical animals, peaceful and powerful.”
– Margaret Littman
If You Go...
Banner Elk, NC
applehillfarmnc.com
Mid-May through Oct. 18:
Tour at 2 p.m. 7 days a week; 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays
Store open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 12 to 4 p.m. on Sunday
Closed Saturday, Oct. 19
Oct. 20 through Dec. 31:
Tour at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday
Store open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday
Open by appointment only Sunday to Tuesday
Open Saturdays only
Tour at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Store open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Feb. through mid-May:
Tour at 2 p.m. Wednesday; 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday
Check the website for seasonal changes or reach out to schedule an appointment on another day.
Tagsalpacasattractionsfarmfeaturedlivestock
← Previous Story First-Generation Farmers Produce Fresh Pork Products
Next Story → Farm Families Find Hope After Hurricane Florence
8 Reasons to Visit the First Peak of the Blue Ridge This Fall
Ask a Farmer: How Does Trade Affect Your Farm?
6 Farm Facts About Pork
10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Alpacas
Celebrate National Alpaca Farm Days at Apple Hill Farm
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Swine Flu Arizona: Two More Schools Closed; Four Cases Confirmed, None Serious
Ray Stern
Ray Stern | April 30, 2009 | 1:19pm
Image: Wikicommons
Two more Valley schools will close for seven days after students were found to have swine flu, but health officials say all four known Arizona swine flu cases have been mild.
(Note: This article was updated at 3:40 p.m.)
The two schools are Tarwater Elementary and Hartford Sylvia Encinas Elementary schools, both in Chandler.
Health facilities have seen the biggest impact from the virus as fearful people swamp emergency rooms and doctors' offices.
"They're really getting slammed right now," said Dr. Bob England, director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. "Don't go clogging the health care system if it's not necessary."
England and other officials continued to downplay the severity of the virus, pointing out that it hasn't been worse than the regular flu. Officials say there's no reason to go to the doctor unless symptoms turn severe. If you contract swine flu, you'll get over it "just like you would any case of the flu," says England.
Most of the concerned people flocking to health care facilities show minimal symptoms and are sent home without even being tested for the flu, says Dr. Jeffery Schultz of John C. Lincoln Hospital. But in the meantime, regular emergency room patients are still coming in. The masses of people worried they have swine flu could affect the level of care of the patients who actually need care, Schultz said.
England said officials will release the name of the school that is closing later this afternoon, once all the parents have been notified. Yesterday, some parents of Moon Mountain Elementary found out their kids' school was closing on their car radio as they drove to pick up their kids, England said.
"It wasn't a good scene," he said.
Full text of afternoon news release from county health:
MARICOPA COUNTY IDENTIFIES 3 MORE CASES OF SWINE FLU; DISMISSES TWO MORE SCHOOLS
PHOENIX (April 30, 2009) - The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) learned today that The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 3 additional cases of the Swine Flu in Arizona. Three school aged children, all residing in Maricopa County, has been identified as having contracted Swine Flu and all are recovering.
In response and in accordance with CDC guidelines, Maricopa County Department of Public Health director, Bob England has decided to dismiss students from Tarwater Elementary and Hartford Sylvia Encinas Elementary School, both in the Chandler Unified School District for 7 calendar days. There is no known relationship between these students.
One of the cases had been home during the infectious period and could not have infected anyone in his/her school.
"Swine Flu is here in Arizona and we will continue to see cases," said Dr. Bob England, director of Maricopa Department of Public Health. "Again, this flu continues to behave like our regular influenza season. The ONLY reason I continue to take such aggressive measures is to limit its spread and in accordance state and federal guidance."
State and county officials are asking residents to use common sense when visiting the emergency rooms, urgent cares and community health centers.
"We are all in this together and our healthcare system needs to be available to take care of those who are most sick in our community whether it be from the flu or from a heart attack," said England.
He added, "If you are feeling sick and under normal circumstances, you would not have gone to the emergency room, than you should not go now. We are asking our clinicians here in Maricopa County not to give antivirals to people that that they believe do not need it.
That being said, if you are experiencing shortness of breath, chest pain or serious symptoms than by all means, got the emergency room."
The Swine Flu virus is a new type of virus never seen in people until it was discovered last week. It is a combination of swine, avian, and human influenza and responds well when treated with anti-virals. The Swine Influenza has the same symptoms as regular or seasonal influenza: sudden onset of high fever, runny nose, body aches and exhaustion. Some people with the Swine Flu have nausea and diarrhea.
"Today's cases do not change our public health message," said Will Humble, acting director of the Arizona Department of Health Services. "Cough or sneeze into you sleeve, wash your hands frequently and above all, stay home when you are sick."
For preparedness information, http://www.wearepublichealth.org
For more information about Swine Flu, http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/
For Statewide Information, http://www.azdhs.gov-
Follow us on Twitter - http://twitter.com/Maricopahealth
Ray Stern has worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.
Facebook: Ray Stern
Twitter: @raystern
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For instant access to the printable sheet music of Consolations by Liszt and thousands of other classical piano pieces, sign up for a Piano Street Gold Membership!
Franz Liszt: Consolations
The six Consolations were inspired by a set of poems of the same name by the French author and literary critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve.
They were composed in 1849-1850, in the beginning of Liszt’s most productive period, when he had only recently abandoned the concert stage, persuaded by his lover Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein to concentrate on composition.
The most well-known piece in the set is No. 3, clearly inspired by the Nocturnes of Chopin, who had died in October 1849.
Consolation No. 1 E Major 1850 Piece 6
Consolation No. 3 D-flat Major 1850 Piece 7
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Handwriting expert says author stole her JonBenet Ramsey work
A man drove to Virginia Beach to kill his wife. He ended up paralyzed and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Virginia Zoo welcomes newborn giraffe
Searchers hope sonar will help locate driver still missing after truck plunged into Chesapeake Bay
No more Lee-Jackson Day: Virginia sheds its Confederate symbols
The 10 best winter hikes in Hampton Roads, according to a longtime hiker
A person told the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office he killed someone. The sheriff’s office says the call was a hoax.
By Jessica Nolte
Daily Press |
Someone called 911 Friday afternoon to say they’d killed someone in Gloucester County, but after investigating the sheriff’s office believes the call was a hoax.
Around 3:45 p.m., the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a homicide in the Woods Crossroads area of Gloucester.
The sheriff’s office did not provide the details of the call, saying only that it was placed by an unknown male claiming he’d killed someone. It’s not clear whether the caller was an adult or juvenile.
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In a news release, the sheriff’s office said it appeared the caller wanted a “large response” from law enforcement. After investigating, the sheriff’s office said the call is believed to be a hoax, but the office did not say how it made this determination.
This type of phone call is often referred to as “swatting.” Some swatting calls are placed as pranks, but other times they’re done with the intention that the target will be harassed or even harmed in the process.
“The Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office wants to be clear that we will investigate and prosecute this and any future attempts of soliciting law enforcement responses for fictitious purposes,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the sheriff’s office at 804-693-3890.
Jessica Nolte, 757-247-4513, jnolte@dailypress.com
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Where do you want to play?
More Home Football Grassroots sport More
Defining Moments London
Defining Moment: Chelsea Win The Champions League
19 May 2015 • By - Owen Holland
On this day 3 years ago, Chelsea faced the formidable Bayern Munich in the Champions League final. It was the moment all Chelsea fans had been waiting for. Another shot at winning Europe’s most prestigious prize after their heartbreak in Moscow in 2008. This was a defining moment for English football in Europe. An English side has not reached a final since and many argue that they now face a real struggle to compete with the rest of Europe’s elite.
This week we take a look at what made Chelsea’s campaign so successful and relive some of the greatest moments from their campaign.
Didier Drogba with Champions League Trophy
Chelsea managed to take a lot of big scalps on their route to Munich, the most memorable of them being their enthralling tie against Barcelona. Didier Drogba scored the only goal in the first leg at Stamford Bridge, giving the blues a slim 1-0 advantage when they went to the Nou Camp. Barcelona opened the scoring through Sergio Busquets after 35 minutes. The tie was now even, but things were about to get a lot worse for Chelsea just minutes after Busquet’s goal, as their captain was sent off for a bad tackle on Alexis Sanchez. As if losing John Terry wasn’t bad enough, just 6 minutes later Barcelona scored again, with Iniesta grabbing the goal.
It was looking extremely bleak for the London club at this point but against all odds Chelsea managed to pull a goal back on the stroke of half time, as Lampard assisted Ramires in scoring a sensational chip to give his side the aggregate lead on away goals. The second half began and Chelsea faced an onslaught from a strong Barcelona side. Even though they were down to 10 men, they defended valiantly and as time was almost up, Barcelona were caught short at the back. Ashley Cole cleared the ball up field and Fernando Torres had the entire half to himself to cooly take the ball past Victor Valdes and slot it into an empty net. Chelsea were heading to the final in Munich.
Drogba in Champions League Final
When the final came around, the game was, in truth, rather disappointing as Bayern Munich struggled to break down a resolute Chelsea defence. 7 minutes from time, however, Chelsea could keep Bayern out no more and Thomas Mueller broke the deadlock a powerful headed effort. Chelsea had fielded numerous players with a wealth of experience in big games and this ultimately contributed to their success. The squad included veterans such as Petr Cech, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard. John Terry was not able to feature as he was suspended following his sending off against Barcelona. Chelsea’s saviour was one of their most reliable and consistent performers over the years: the one and only Drogba. As if Didier Drogba wasn’t already a Chelsea legend, he elevated himself even further when he scored a thumping equalising header in the 88th minute of the game, just minutes before their Champions League dream was about to be over.
Lahm Penalty
The game went to extra time and things were about to get even more dramatic. Munich were awarded a penalty in extra time as Didier Drogba fouled Franck Ribery. He had gone from hero to villain in a matter of minutes and it looked as though Chelsea were about to have yet another mountain to climb. Petr Cech had other ideas however, as he saved the penalty from Arjen Robben and saved his team from having a come from a goal behind yet again. Extra time played out in an expected nervy fashion until there was no other choice but penalties. Chelsea edged Bayern in the shootout and it was again Chelsea’s veteran’s who were the standout performers. Lampard and Cole both scored penalties, with Cech crucially saving two penalties from the German team. To cap off their efforts, Drogba scored the winning penalty to finally bring the Champion’s League trophy back to Stamford Bridge. The trophy that had eluded Roman Abramovich for so many years was finally his. Suddenly the heartbreak of Moscow in 2008 didn’t matter anymore. John Terry’s slip was just a distant memory.
It seems Chelsea’s old guard continually helped them throughout the tournament. With such a great wealth of big game experience from the likes of Terry, Lampard, Cole, Drogba and Cech, they managed to drag their team over the line to get their hands on the Champions League trophy. Chelsea’s never say die attitude also helped them in both the semi final and the final as extremely late goals were scored, with Drogba’s late goal going down in Chelsea’s history. The question has to be ask then – why have we not seen an English club be successful since? Are English clubs no experienced enough? Do they have the wrong attitude?
Chelsea vs PSG
If we take Chelsea’s most recent campaign as an example, they were knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 round of the competition. Their squad has changed quite a bit. They no longer have Lampard or Cole, Drogba is a little past his best, and Cech has seen his first team place be taken by Thibaut Courtois. Now there is no denying Chelsea are a team of the highest quality – just look at their league campaign – but they have lost a lot of experienced older players who have that extra bit of composure and nerve when it comes to the big occasions. Also in their game against PSG, they were the ones who conceded late goals, one in normal time as well as one in extra time.
It seems as though Chelsea’s never say die attitude is not as strong as it was 3 years ago, with PSG being the team who don’t give up until the final whistle. Many also argue that Mourinho, as a manager, plays far too defensively, even at home. This means that Chelsea almost invite teams onto them rather than relentlessly attacking the opposition. It’s also important to remember that PSG were down to 10 men for the majority of the game, yet Chelsea still struggled.
Diego Costa scores a hat trick against Swansea in premier league
Hopefully Chelsea’s domination in the Premier League will give them confidence to flourish in Europe next season. Although Barcelona and Juventus look a cut above the rest in Europe, the plight of English teams should not be pitied. With Arsenal looking stronger than they have in a long time this season, and Manchester City and Chelsea guaranteed to spend big in the summer, there is a lot to be hopeful for in next season’s Champion’s League.
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$500,000 for coronavirus-affected Port Stephens tourism and business
Publish Date 11/03/2020
The embattled Port Stephens tourism and business sectors are breathing a little easier today after Council last night endorsed up to $500,000 funding for initiatives to support these industries which have taken an economic hit in the wake of the coronavirus or COVID-19.
In a notice of motion brought forward by Port Stephens Mayor Ryan Palmer, Council endorsed the Port Stephens Tourism and Business Support Fund, which pledges to allocate up to $500,000 from the Holiday Parks and Property Reserves.
Council acknowledged that local tourism and business communities are being greatly affected by the worldwide spread of coronavirus and the virus’s unfolding impacts will have a significant effect on the broader economy.
“The tourism industry is worth $621 million to Port Stephens every year and it is estimated that up to 20% of the workforce could be lost over the next 12 months,” Mayor Palmer said.
“The impact the coronavirus will have on the Port Stephens economy and our whole community is significant. The Port Stephens Tourism and Business Support Fund will allow Council to respond with agility during this volatile time to provide support to these industries as they need it.
“We’ll work with Destination Port Stephens to support and fund destination marketing. We’ll also work in partnership with the business community to implement additional strategies required to reduce the impact of this unfolding crisis.” Mayor Palmer said.
Destination Port Stephens (DPS) Chairman Andrew Macdonald has backed Council’s decision.
“The announcement of the $500,000 fund by Port Stephens Council is decisive, timely and much needed support for the local tourism and hospitality industry, which is being impacted significantly by decreased visitation due to coronavirus,” he said.
“DPS has recently developed new marketing material which is ready to launch, and access to marketing funds would dramatically enhance our ability to maintain visitation to the region, with the aim to protect businesses, jobs and our local economy,” said Mr Macdonald.
The resolution also committed to an increase investment in attracting and supporting events in Port Stephens.
“We will actively pursue Government grants available to support the tourism industry now and into the future,” Mayor Palmer said.
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Home » Vox Amplifiers: The JMI Years
more... Gear History • Vox • January 2009
Vox Amplifiers: The JMI Years
The History for Hire Press has just published Vox Amplifiers: The JMI Years by Jim Elyea. Twelve years in the making, it is a very big book, and I’m not just talking about its physical size—although at 9.5 x 12 inches and 682 pages, it’s no slight thing in that regard either. In terms of what this book achieves, it may be even bigger than its outsized proportions can convey. In these pages is a seemingly endless array of pictures detailing every aspect of Vox history, familiar and unfamiliar, along with an engrossing narrative and meticulous documentation. Interspersed throughout are charts, sidebars and illustrations, and a running item called “Setting the Record Straight,” in which Elyea clears up many popular myths with the information he dug up in his years of searching. Laudably, he is never reticent about what he could not verify. Oh yes, there’s also plenty of gear porn.
Certain to become the definitive book on the subject, Vox Amplifiers also sets a new standard by which other books on the history of our most beloved gear might be judged. It’s not just that the text and the photography are equally edifying, organized and easy to navigate, or even just that it covers so much territory, from history to field guide, to reference manual, to nostalgic coffee table book. What sets it apart is its depth of detail. It must have been Elyea’s obsession with Vox amps that started it, but his quest to find out everything that could be found out about Vox Amplifiers in the early years can only be described as relentless.
He began his gear collecting with a general interest, but as he got more interested in Vox amps he decided to focus solely on them, foregoing guitars, effects, and other amplifiers alike. “As much as I loved the different guitars and amps,” he says, “when a potential new addition to the Vox collection would appear, another guitar would go on the block: 360/12, 370, 6120, ES-5, SJ-200, TV Junior, pre-CBS Strats, black guard Teles—they all were sold to buy more Vox.” Though just the thought of parting with such a bevy of great guitars is enough to make any gearhead rueful, the end result of all this trading-off was the Vox Museum, so the story is a bittersweet one, rather than just bitter. Elyea continues, “I remember the day I sold a complete set of Fender Reverb units, all with covers, and I never looked back. As a result, the Vox Museum has become a repository of some of the rarest amplifiers around, and with the book, I am able to share it with everyone.”
Starting with that collection, which spawned an expanding database of amplifiers, Elyea also put in years of tracking down manuals; data sheets, log books and other documents, made many trips to the UK to talk to everyone he could find who’d ever worked there; did scores of interviews… you get the idea. This guy is thorough, and when he went out to find something, he went all out to find it, every detail. Elyea informs me that there are “some other things” that he would’ve liked to include in the book, but it’s hard to imagine what could’ve been left out.
Just a glance at the book makes it clear that an obsession has been at work here, but reading it reveals a depth that could not have been inspired by obsession alone. This book was concieved with great ambition. Elyea says that after years of waiting for the next great book on Vox to hit the stores, it dawned on him one day that he would be the one to write it. “At that moment, there was no question,” he tells me. From there the obsession began to find a focus—or perhaps, more accurately, a purpose. The painstaking attention to detail recorded in these pages is extraordinary; it is the product of a keen appetite for knowledge.
Describing the way the plan of the book took shape over time, Elyea says, “Like a fool, I thought it would be easy. The original idea was to have a thirty-five-page field guide with seven or eight charts, some basic info, and photos of some of my collection. Simple.” He started a database (which has since grown to over two thousand amps).
Recalling how organizing the data from all the amps he’d collected changed his approach, Elyea says, “at one point, I could see that instead of one large series of numbers that all the amps shared, each model had its own, distinctive sequence. This was a major revelation, to be able to demonstrate that there was a logic behind the Vox numbering scheme.”
The obsession resurfaced, and Elyea decided that the book should be as complete as possible. The scope of the book grew wider and wider, from the low powered amps to the larger 50 and 100 watt models. “Then, I realized I had to do all the amps,” he says, “not just my favorites. As I began to research the other models, I began to see that they were all cool, just in different ways, and they were all my favorites.” But it wasn’t just the details of Vox’s product output during the JMI years that captured the author’s attention.
The historical scope of the book began to take on life of its own, as well. “My wife Pam suggested I put an ad in the local Dartford newspapers asking to talk to people that had worked at JMI/Vox or their suppliers,” he recounts. “About a week later, the floodgates opened. I was deluged with calls from former JMI workers who were anxious to tell their tales. At this point, I realized there was much more than a field guide—there was a story.”
It is quite a story, too—at least it is the way Elyea tells it—and a story not without its touches of pathos. There is, for example, the account of “The Shed.” One of the byproducts of Vox’s revolutionary Artist’s Loan program, which had been responsible for the ubiquitous presence of Vox equipment on the stages of the most celebrated acts of the era, was the growing collection of worn and wellused amps that were being stored in a shed behind the factory in Dartford. When the shed got full and something was needed to fill up a hole that had been dug at a nearby construction site, the decision was made to kill two birds with one stone. Elyea writes simply, and without sentimentality, “The petrol station (a new version of it, anyway) is still at the corner, and underneath it are the rotting remains of dozens of the most historically significant Vox amplifiers ever made.”
There are other such stories, as Elyea relates: “I recall Jack Jennings, Tom’s brother, telling me about his saving the ledgers in which he logged out every amplifier that was shipped from JMI. I then listened in horror as he told me of saving them for so long, only to give up and throw them away a half dozen years before I met him.”
When I asked Elyea to describe how he was able to get so much information from former JMI employees, his response was, “back to back sessions in a corner table at the Bull and Vic pub in Dartford. There was one trip in the late ‘90s where everyone I talked to had fantastic stories, and every tidbit was golden. With so much great information coming so fast and furious, I barely had a chance to grab a bite to eat before the next interview started. I was in heaven.”
Most of them were glad, he told me, that someone was finally interested in something that they had spent so much of their time with. Quite a few of them had never been interviewed about their Vox experiences before, and many of them had very much to say. Since so many years had passed, Elyea informed me, it took him a lot of time and multiple interviews to get the story, with all of its details, straight. Dick Denney avoided being interviewed for years, but Elyea didn’t quit. “I was finally about to set up a minireunion of him, two other JMI engineers, and two friends of mine, Robert Stamps and Brian Kehew, at Dick’s daughter’s house,” he says. “After just a few minutes, he realized he was among friends, and warmed up. Before I knew it, we had been talking for 15 hours.”
He adds, “It was amazing how proprietary many of the engineers were. Some stories ‘evolved’ as a level of trust was built up. Everyone was very gracious about working their schedules around mine, and also in sharing their photos and other materials. The biggest problem was that so many of them had lost their photo scrapbooks in fires years ago.”
Somehow in all those travels, Elyea still ended up receiving a great deal of technical information, and copies of schematics from former engineers and salespeople who were eager to share them. “Most of the rest came from the attic at 119 Dartford Road,” he says. “It took me two years to talk my way up there, and when I finally went up there, I was able to come back with some fantastic information.” As plenty of afficionados (who’ve had to rely on their own resources to dig them up for decades) can tell you, many vintage Vox schematics are now rare, and quite hard to find. Often extremely poor copies, unreadable in some places, have circulated for lack of anything to replace them. Elyea wanted to publish the schematics he’d uncovered, and his tech-saavy friends encouraged it, but the book had already become so expansive that to include them would’ve made it unmanageable, so the decision was made to offer them in a separate portfolio with the Deluxe edition, so enthusiasts could get the whole batch.
Here’s a summary of the book’s contents:
In 12 chapters, Section 1 details the history of JMI and Vox in pictures, and in the words of those who were there.
In 18 chapters, Section 2 investigates every physical aspect of the amplifiers themselves, from cabinets and control knobs to valves and vent covers, and all elements in between—this section features loads of charts and timelines.
In 4 chapters, Section 3 treats the design, manufacturing and promotional history the amplifiers.
In 12 chapters, Section 4 covers each of the Vox amp designs, with the more famous among them receiving their own chapters.
Section 5 is a short reference guide to dating your Vox amplifier.
In 4 chapters, Section 6 discusses The Shadows, The Beatles, and the other groups that made Vox a name heard everywhere.
Finally, Section 7 contains as appendices all of the additional material and organization that makes the book such a useful reference manual: a list of JMI people, a chronology, a glossary, notes and indexes, etc.
The portfolio has its own index and comes with no less than 70 pristine schematics for everything from small tube amp designs to hybrid amps to powerful solid-state circuits, including effects and the Top Boost circuit. “To restore them,” Elyea says, “we had three artists going full-time for several months. They didn’t re-draw anything, but instead, just cleaned up what was already there on a previous version. I am very proud of how the restored schematics look. They are actually usable once again. Korg was also very kind to allow the use of what are their designs.” The treasure trove of technical data and know-how the book accumulates and organizes has already found a hungry audience. “We’ve had people following the progress of this book literally for years,” Elyea informs me. “Now that it is actually published and released, I am very pleased with the reception. I think as word spreads, more and more people will become excited about something I am very proud of.”
When I asked him how he was going to top such an achievment, Elyea said, “part of me is so anxious to start another project I can practically taste it. There are, of course, several good ideas ready. The more rational side is going to make me enjoy this moment, at least for a few months.”
The next book might take a while, but that’s okay. We’re going to take our time with this one. The stand-alone, 682-page Standard edition is published by the History for Hire Press, and retails for $85. The Deluxe Edition, which comes with the Vox Schematic Portfolio and a slipcase designed to look like a Fawn AC30 Twin in a green, Vinyde cover, retails for $150. The first thousand of these are numbered and signed by the author.
historyforhire.com
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Updated January 6
Leonard Pitts: On John Lennon, war and Christmas during a pandemic
Despite 2020, or maybe because of it, the humanity of the season endures.
By Leonard Pitts Jr.The Miami Herald
And so this is Christmas.
Photos, flowers and candles at Strawberry Fields in New York’s Central Park remember John Lennon on Tuesday, the 40th anniversary of the day he was killed by a fan outside his apartment building. Lennon and Yoko Ono wanted to write a Christmas standard, and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” became that song because, Lennon told a BBC interviewer, people are always fighting, so it would never be irrelevant. Mark Lennihan/Associated Press
So sang John Lennon in 1971. The Vietnam War took 2,414 American lives that year, so the song was a prayer of harmony and peace with a scrim of irony. Nor did the irony end there. Lennon was shot to death nine years later, 40 years ago Tuesday.
And if the events of 1971 seemed sharply at odds with the hope of the holiday, the same can surely be said of 2020. On the surface, things seem much the same as they ever were, the same crush of manufactured joy and consumer avarice Charlie Brown’s been complaining about for 55 years. On TV, the same photogenic families stand in the driveways of the same upscale homes, beckoning you to buy a luxury car to celebrate the night when, Christians believe, heaven touched Earth.
But this Christmas is not the same. It is a pandemic Christmas where death is already setting new records. Nearly 2,900 lives were lost in a single day last week, roughly equivalent to a 9/11 every 24 hours. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that COVID-19 may have claimed nearly 330,000 of us by Dec. 26. Health care workers are physically and emotionally spent; the system is cracking under the strain.
But what is Christmas when you can’t – or at least, shouldn’t – travel? To go over the river and through the woods to Grandma’s house this year is to risk exposing her to a deadly virus. Yet any year that denies you the ability to go home, to gather in a place of memory with those you love, is a year that steals something irreplaceable. That’s why carols written during World War II brim with such palpable yearning.
“I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams …”
“Next year, all our troubles will be out of sight …”
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know …”
How those words must have felt to some man sweltering in the jungles of Guadalcanal. Small wonder the Christmas that came at war’s end – 75 years ago – was “the greatest celebration in American history,” in the words of Matthew Litt, author of “Christmas 1945.” It’s a book one is hard-pressed to read without smiling, tales of soldiers, sailors and Marines rushing on crowded roads and rails to get home for Christmas and people doing for one another with cheerful, thankful hearts.
Americans seemed moved by something deeper than manufactured joy and consumer avarice that year. When sailors stepped off their train for a Christmas Day layover in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, the 1,200 residents met them with turkey dinners and gift-wrapped presents from beneath their own trees. A British mother wrote the only American whose name and address she knew – New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia – pleading for something impossible to find in war-ravaged Europe: a doll for her daughter. It was booked on a Pan Am flight and reached London on Dec. 23.
This year there is, again, a need for something deeper. Something like they found in North Little Rock, Arkansas, last month after a Black family put up a Black Santa Claus in their yard only to receive an anonymous note demanding removal of the “negro” elf. Iddy Kennedy said it made her wonder “if this was the right environment to raise our daughter.”
Then her neighbors learned of the harassment. There are now Black Santas up and down the street. People also sent money, over $1,000, which the family has redirected to the Arkansas branch of Ronald McDonald House Charities. Speaking to The Washington Post, Executive Director Janell Mason called it “humanity doing good things.” And so it is.
And so, this is Christmas.
Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for The Miami Herald. He can be contacted at:
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Commentary: The Pentagon needs more civilian control over the military now, not less
christmas 2020, coronavirus, history, Leonard Pitts, opinion, racism
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News / Koreas
South Korea confirms first cases of swine African fever outbreak
Tuesday, 17 September 2019 6:13 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 17 September 2019 6:13 AM ]
South Korean quarantine officials set a barricade on a road to block people from entering an area where pigs were confirmed to have been infected with African swine fever, in Paju, South Korea, on September 17, 2019. (Photo by AFP)
South Korea on Tuesday reported its first cases of African swine fever, becoming the latest country hit by the disease that has killed pigs from China to North Korea, pushing up pork prices worldwide.
Five pigs found dead at a farm in Paju, a city near the inter-Korean border, were confirmed to have been infected with the virus, an official with Seoul's agriculture ministry told AFP.
"At this point, it's too early to confirm if the case stemmed from the North," the official added.
Seoul's Agriculture Minister Kim Hyun-soo said 3,950 pigs from three farms in Paju were to be culled.
The country has raised its animal disease alert to the highest level and a nationwide 48-hour ban on the movement of pigs was issued, he added.
The virus is not harmful to humans but causes haemorrhagic fever in pigs that is almost always fatal.
There is no antidote or vaccine and the only known way to prevent the disease from spreading is a mass cull of affected livestock.
Although this was the first confirmed outbreak of African swine fever in the South, the country has battled a number of animal diseases in the past.
This picture, taken on September 3, 2019, shows pigs in a private farm in the village of Bezmer, southeastern Bulgaria. (By AFP)
In 2014, outbreaks of avian flu in poultry farms resulted in the culling of more than 500,000 birds.
A 2011 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease resulted in the culling of nearly 3.5 million cattle, pigs, and other animals.
The confirmed cases in the South came around three months after Pyongyang told the World Organisation for Animal Health that dozens of pigs had died from the disease at a farm near the Chinese border, according to the South's agriculture ministry.
In June, Seoul said the disease was "highly likely" to enter the country from the North and ordered fences to be erected at farms along the border to prevent possible contact between pigs and wild boar.
There are around 6,700 pig farms across South Korea and pig farming accounts for 40 percent of the total livestock industry.
In May, the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization said pork prices had risen by up to 50 percent both in China and on the Chicago futures exchange as a result of the outbreak.
Last month, it said almost five million pigs in Asia had died or been culled because of the spread of the disease.
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—Literary Magazine Review
Auroras & Blossoms
Launched in 2019, Auroras & Blossoms is dedicated to promoting positive, uplifting, and inspirational art; and giving artists of all levels a platform where they can showcase their work and build their publishing credits.
The Awakenings Review
Established in 2000, The Awakenings Review is one of the nation’s leading literary reviews entirely committed to publishing the works of artists, writers, and poets with mental illness. The AR is a facet of The Awakenings Project, a Wheaton, Illinois-based group devoted to nurturing and advancing the creative works of artists with mental illness in all the arts, especially fine arts, music, drama, and literature.
AzonaL poetry, translations
Bacopa Literary Review fiction, nonfiction, poetry
Balloons Lit. Journal poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, cross-genre, photography, art
The Baltimore Review
Publishing since 1996, The Baltimore Review is an online and print journal of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, as well as visual and video arts.
Barrow Street poetry
Bear Review
Bear Review is a biannual journal of poetry and micro prose that makes the old new and showcases aesthetic competence and a knowledge of genre and literary tradition. We do admire experimentation and blurred genres, so long as the piece brings the heat.
Bellevue Literary Review
Bellevue Literary Review is a unique literary magazine featuring short stories, essays, and poems that examine human existence through the prism of health and healing, illness and disease. Now approaching its 20th anniversary, BLR continues to highlight the creative connections between literature and medicine.
The Bellingham Review
Bellingham Review publishes “literature of palpable quality.” We showcase poetry, fiction, nonfiction, hybrid work, and we’re dedicated to offering continual support to our authors.
Beloit Fiction Journal
The Beloit Fiction Journal publishes the best in contemporary short fiction. Traditional and experimental narratives find a home in our pages. We publish new writers alongside established writers.
Bending Genres
We publish thrilling, oddball, unusual, stunning fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction pieces. Think Olympics on a case of Red Bull. Think October in April. Think Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey. A world not quite right? Yes, this is Bending Genres.
Bennington Review
Bennington Review is a national biannual print journal of innovative, intelligent, and moving poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and film writing.
Better Than Starbucks
Our goal is inclusiveness. We publish multiple genres of poetry: free verse, formal poetry, haiku, experimental poetry, poetry for children, African and International poetry, and poetry translations. In every issue we have a poetry interview and welcome guest interviewers. We also publish fiction, flash fiction, micro fiction, and creative nonfiction.
Multidisciplinary issues and events, especially but not solely concerning the 10-state area that borders the Mississippi River, from the Canadian border to the Gulf Coast.
bioStories
bioStories is conceived in the belief that every life can prove instructive, inspiring, or compelling, that every life holds moments of grace.
The Bitter Oleander
The Bitter Oleander endeavors to publish imaginative poetry, short fiction, interviews, essays & translations of living poets from every corner of the world.
Black Warrior Review fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art
Blink Ink
Blink Ink is a quarterly, print-only literary magazine publishing the best in prose fiction of approximately 50 words. We look for exceptional quality storytelling and innovation. Issues are themed and subscribers receive several bonus publications throughout the year. 2019 marks our 10th year of publication.
Blue Mountain Review
The Blue Mountain Review is a journal of culture. Our passion is to represent all people from all walks of life. Stories are vital to our survival. We’d love a chance to preserve and promote yours. We feature original poetry, short stories, cross-genre, and visual art.
The Boiler is a journal founded in 2011 by a group of writers at Sarah Lawrence College. We publish poetry, essays, and fiction by emerging and establish authors. We like work that whistles, turns up the heat, and puts literary and social matters under pressure.
Publishing the finest fiction, poetry, and essays since 1985. As Poet Laureate Daniel Hoffman said, "One of the half-dozen best literary journals."
Boxcar Poetry Review poetry, reviews, interviews, photography, art
For more than two decades, Brevity has published well-known and emerging writers working in the extremely brief essay form. Brevity has been fortunate to include the work of three Pulitzer prize finalists, numerous NEA fellows, Pushcart winners, Best American authors, and writers from India, Egypt, Ireland, Spain, Malaysia, and Japan.
The Briar Cliff Review
Founded in 1989, The Briar Cliff Review is an eclectic literary, cultural and art magazine. Its full-size format and elegantly simple design provide an aesthetically pleasing venue for the work of contributors.
Bridge: The Bluffton University Literary Journal
Bridge is a bold initiative to establish a national literary journal for young writers ages 14 through 24, edited by young writers.
Founded in 2014, Brilliant Flash Fiction is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that publishes vibrant stories from around the world, illustrated with dazzling photography. Offering writing contests and writers’ tips through social media, this online journal never charges a fee for any of its services.
Brush Talks nonfiction, photography, poetry
Burnside Review poetry
Cæsura fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, interviews, reviews
The Cape Rock: A Gathering of Poets
Our mission is to print the best poetry: any style, format, or subject matter.
The Capra Review fiction, nonfiction, art
The Caribbean Writer fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama
Carve Magazine
Carve publishes HONEST FICTION, poetry, nonfiction, interviews, illustrations, and more in quarterly print and digital issues and hosts the annual Raymond Carver Short Story Contest. Our mission is to foster a sense of camaraderie among all writers and readers and celebrate great literature with our borderless, inclusive, and diverse community.
Cave Wall
Cave Wall publishes the finest poetry written by today's established and emerging poets. Each issue publishes black and white art by one artist, as well.
The Chattahoochee Review
The Chattahoochee Review is ceasing production. New subscriptions are not being taken. The Lamar York Prizes will not be held, and submissions are closed.
Cherry Tree is an annual print journal that publishes the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and literary shade. Produced by the Literary House Press.
Chestnut Review
Chestnut Review features poetry, short fiction, flash fiction, art, and photography from around the world. We are a writer-centered, selective publication with online quarterly and annual print publication. We pay our artists and staff and respond to all submissions within 30 days.
Chinese Literature Today
Chinese Literature Today grants the world direct access to China through high-quality translations of the most important modern literature of China—fictional works that have sold millions of copies, poems that have found resonance in many souls, and literary essays that illuminate the many facets of Chinese literature and culture.
Cimarron Review
One of the oldest quarterlies in the nation, Cimarron Review publishes work with a wide-ranging aesthetic: the bold and ruminative, the sensitive and shocking, imaginative and truth-telling. Cimarron seeks the finest stories, poems, and essays from working writers across the country and around the world.
Cleaver Magazine
Cleaver Magazine shares cutting-edge art and literary work from a mix of established and emerging voices.
Club Plum Literary Journal
Club Plum Literary Journal publishes flash fiction and prose poetry by emerging and established authors whose absorbing tales and imagery unravels in voices either understated or lyrical but always powerful.
Coal Hill Review
Coal Hill publishes an online, multi-genre literary journal in February, June, and November of each year. Each issue features 8-10 poets, 4-5 prose writers, and 2 in-depth book reviews. At least 30% of the journal is comprised of Pittsburgh writers. (Our definition of Pittsburgh writer is simply that you live or have spent significant time in the city.)
Collateral Literary Journal
Collateral showcases literary and visual art that reveals the impact of military service and violent conflict beyond the combat zone.
Colorado Review
Founded in 1956 and published three times a year, Colorado Review features contemporary short fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction (memoir, personal essays) by both new and established writers. CR additionally sponsors the annual Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction.
The Common publishes fiction, essays, poetry, and images that evoke a modern sense of place.
Concho River Review
Since 1987, Concho River Review has been publishing established and emerging writers from all over the country while keeping a focus on the Southwest.
Conduit poetry, art, fiction, nonfiction
The Conium Review fiction, reviews, interviews
Consequence Magazine
CONSEQUENCE is an international literary journal that addresses the effects and realities of war and geopolitical violence using literature and visual art to offer emotional as well as intellectual access to the experiences of victims, combatants, and witnesses of these conflicts.
Court Green
Court Green is a space where all kinds of poems are welcome!
The Courtship of Winds
The Courtship of Winds is a semiannual online journal that publishes poetry, prose poetry, fiction, essays, art, and short pieces of drama and music.
CRAFT Literary
We explore the art of fiction with a focus on the elements of craft. We feature new and republished fiction, critical pieces on craft, interviews, book annotations, and more.
Crazyhorse has been publishing the best emerging and established writers for over fifty years. We are open to all styles and forms, and are always on the lookout for something we haven't seen before. Send us writing we won't be able to forget.
Creative Nonfiction is true stories, well told.
Cumberland River Review
"Every issue is a revelation." —Davis McCombs, National Book Critics Circle Award finalist for Ultima Thule
CUTTHROAT poetry, fiction, nonfiction
december is published twice a year and features fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction (including essays, memoir, and literary journalism), and visual art.
Deep Wild Journal fiction, nonfiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting
Diode Poetry Journal
The home of electropositive poetry since 2007.
Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose is an award-winning annual print journal founded in 2001—also available via LitRagger—publishing fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
Driftwood Press
Driftwood Press is a literary organization that offers an editing service, online seminars, and publishes poetry collections, novellas, graphic novels, and a biannual print and digital magazine. Inside the magazine, we feature fiction, poetry, comics, art, photography, and interviews. We pay for everything we publish.
Ecotone published at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, features writing and art that reimagine place. The editors interpret this charge expansively, with poetry, fiction, essays, comics, maps, and art at the intersections of landscape, identity, and genre.
Edify Fiction
Edify Fiction showcases positive and edifying fiction writing as well as digital art content by new and established authors.
The Ekphrastic Review is an online literary journal exclusively devoted to writing inspired by visual art. We are proud to show off incredible talent from around the globe. We also feature biweekly art prompt writing challenges open to all.
elsewhere: prose poetry magazine
elsewhere cares only about the line / no line. Every quarter, we publish six prose works at the crossroads of flash fiction, nonfiction, and prose poetry. And every year we host an annual chapbook contest and print the winning book through elsewhere press.
Emerald City is an online literary magazine established in 2019 by members of the Creative Writing program at Pittsburg State University. We publish fiction and creative nonfiction by emerging and established writers. By focusing on these genres, we aim to provide our readers with stories that resonate.
Epoch poetry, fiction, nonfiction, screenplay, comics
A home for writers. A destination for readers. EVENT is an award-winning magazine that inspires and nurtures writers, showcasing the best contemporary writing from Canada and abroad since 1971, serving up fiction, poetry, essays, notes on writing, and reviews three times a year—with stunning cover art and illustration.
F(r)iction
F(r)iction is a collection of art and literature that seeks to unwind conventions, pairing contemporary prose and poetry with vibrant, full-color illustrations.
Feels Blind Literary
Feels Blind celebrates artists and writers who identify as women. Inspired by a Bikini Kill song, we publish work with a punk aesthetic. This doesn’t necessarily mean punk in the traditional sense, however. We love reading about what you love. We want you to push boundaries and teach us something.
The Festival Review
Quarterly publication of new and diverse voices across literature and cultural criticism. Based in Los Angeles, California.
The Fictional Cafe fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography, reviews, interviews
Fiction Southeast
Fiction Southeast is an online literary journal dedicated to flash fiction. The mission of Fiction Southeast is to showcase fiction from today's most promising writers and to create an online literary journal that allows readers to quickly and easily access quality writing from their laptops, iPads, and cell phones.
Fictive Dream is an online magazine for short stories that give an insight into the human condition. We feature stories with a distinctive voice, clarity of thought, and precision of language. They may be on any subject. They may be challenging, dramatic, playful, exhilarating, or cryptic. Above all, they are well-crafted and compelling.
The Fiddlehead
The Fiddlehead, Atlantic Canada's international literary journal, is entertainment for the thoughtful with its mix of poetry and stories by established and new writers.
The First Line
The First Line is unaffiliated, unfunded, unassuming, and far from uninspiring, and as we enter our third decade, we want to continue to encourage writers to entertain and even enlighten. So, if you are ever stuck staring at the blank page, give our starters a shot. We are a writer’s journal for readers.
FishFood
FishFood Magazine is an independent, free-spirited literary and arts magazine dedicated to all forms of creative expression and talent.
Fleas on the Dog
Fleas on the Dog. Bad boy kick-ass no frills online quarterly publishing QUALITY fiction/nonfiction from traditional to extreme and everything in between. Bad writing drives us insane, but we’re crazy about the good stuff! Scratch our itch, we’ll give your story a pitch.
The Florida Review
The Florida Review publishes innovative fiction, nonfiction, poetry, reviews, graphic narrative, digital stories, and visual art by established and emerging writers in print and online.
Flying South fiction, nonfiction, poetry
Foglifter Journal fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, cross-genre, interviews, translations, art, photography
Published twice annually by Michigan State University Press, Fourth Genre is a literary journal that explores the boundaries of contemporary literary nonfiction. We're interested in all forms of the essay: personal, nature, environmental, graphic, lyric, travel, cultural, political, occasional, traditional, and pretty much anything else that plays with the long tradition of the nonfiction essay.
Fourth River
The Fourth River is a journal of nature and place published by the MFA program in creative writing at Chatham University. The Fourth River publishes works that are richly situated at the confluence of place, space, and identity.
Francis House poetry, cross-genre
Free State Review is a biannual print journal. We favor “totally limited omniscience.” In addition to traditional genres, we have several beats which re-appear in each issue. We have published the usual suspects (Spires, Fenza, Campbell, etc.) but the ones who excite us are the emerging ones.
From the Depths
From the Depths is a publication of Haunted Waters Press showcasing works of fiction and poetry from new, emerging, and established writers.
Frontier Poetry
Offering more than a byline, Frontier Poetry strives to be a resource for new poets, agents, and other writers to discover new work and emerging poets.
Managed and edited entirely by University of Idaho graduate students, Fugue biannually publishes poetry, fiction, essays, and visual-text hybrids from established and emerging writers. Each year, we publish one print issue and one online issue, and hold an annual contest in prose and poetry, judged by two nationally recognized writers.
Full Bleed fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre, reviews, translations, art, photography
Gargoyle Magazine
Gargoyle Magazine has always been a scallywag magazine, a maverick magazine, a bit too academic for the underground and way too underground for the academics.
The Georgia Review
Each issue of The Georgia Review features some 200 pages of fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews—as well as a visual art portfolio, usually in color.
The Gettysburg Review
The Gettysburg Review publishes poetry, prose, and visual art by established and emerging talents in issues that are as handsome as they are stimulating. Now available in digital, also.
Girls Right the World fiction, nonfiction, poetry
Glass Mountain
Glass Mountain, an international student-run literary magazine, accepts submissions all year. We publish an online journal, twice annually. We feature work by emerging writers only—not writers who have attended graduate courses in creative writing. Each May we host Boldface: A Conference for Emerging Writers, at the University of Houston.
Gold Man Review
The aim of Gold Man Review, an annual literary journal, is to serve and support our community of authors residing on the West Coast.
Grand Little Things
Grand Little Things is a journal that embraces versification, lyricism, and formal poetry that focuses on anything, be it the expanse between the minutia of everyday life, to revelations on how we got here or why we use a thing called language.
The Greensboro Review
We publish fiction and poetry twice a year, each fall and spring. Work from the journal is consistently cited in collections honoring the finest new writing.
Hamilton Arts & Letters
Hamilton Arts & Letters magazine is a biannual online publication featuring artwork, interviews, reviews, essays, poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, film, and sound.
The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review
One of the longest-running poetry journals in the country. "I like the look of it, the feel of it—the taste of it." —William Stafford
Hanging Loose
Hanging Loose, first published in 1966, has consistently published fresh, lively writing by new and older authors who deserve a wider audience. Among them Joan Larkin, Sherman Alexie, David Lehman, Hettie Jones, Yolanda Wisher, Kimiko Hahn, Maggie Nelson, Charles North, Tony Towle, David Kirby, Wang Ping, and many more.
HEART magazine is published annually by Nostalgia Press, established in 1986. A small magazine of prose poetry. Its all about heart. Because the heart has reasons, reason does not understand.
Heron Tree
Heron Tree is an online poetry journal. We publish poems individually and collect them in ebook volumes and special issues. We look for clarity, efficiency, momentum, and trajectory. We gravitate toward poetry that creates an integrated whole of language, form, and meaning.
High Desert Journal
HDJ is a literary and visual arts magazine dedicated to further understanding the people, places and issues of the interior West.
High Plains Register
The High Plains Register is a student-produced literary and arts journal that juxtaposes the work of emerging and established writers and artists from Laramie County Community College, the United States, and around the world. HPR publishes original poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, music, visual art, hybrid, and experimental texts.
Hippocampus Magazine
Hippocampus Magazine is an online publication dedicated to educating and engaging writers and readers of creative nonfiction. Issues feature memoir excerpts, personal essays, reviews, interviews, and craft articles. We also have a books division and bring our mission to life with an annual writing conference.
Hiram Poetry Review
The Hiram Poetry Review has been publishing witty, distinctive and heroic poetry since 1966.
The HitchLit Review fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, screenplays, cross-genre, comics, reviews, art
Hole In The Head Review
One reader described us this way: “I found it terrifically gratifying: all the poems sassy, demotic, smart, gritty, crackling with energy. I thought: I want to be with them.” We take editorial direction from Emily Dickinson, “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that it is poetry.”
House Mountain Review
House Mountain Review is an online literary journal that publishes innovative, aesthetically-diverse poetry and visual art. HMR showcases works that explore various forms of difference, broadly defined, and that interrogate aesthetic conventions. We particularly encourage submissions by writers and artists from underrepresented perspectives and backgrounds.
Humana Obscura
Humana Obscura is an independent, biannual literary magazine publishing the best new, emerging, and established writers and artists in the “nature space.” As our name suggests—”obscured human”—we focus on work where the human element is concealed but not entirely absent, aiming to revive the genre of nature-centric poetry and artwork in today’s modern world.
The Hunger poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, cross-genre, photography, art
Hypertext Magazine
An independent publisher, Hypertext has been publishing short stories, essays, poetry, and interviews in print and online since 2010. We publish established writers next to emerging writers—and unsolicited submissions make up approximately 60% of our publication. We now pay writers for their work.
I-70 Review is an annual literary magazine that publishes short fiction, poetry, and art from new and emerging writers and artists. The journal holds constant to work that is surprising and fresh believing original voice is essential in poetry and fiction.
Into the Void Magazine
Into the Void is an award-winning print and online literary magazine and small press publisher dedicated to providing a platform for world-class fiction, flash, creative nonfiction, poetry, and visual art from people of all kinds all over the world.
Inverted Syntax
Experimental art & literary journal published annually in print and monthly in Fissured Tongue. Past contributors: Rae Armantrout, Kiki Petrosino, Philip Metres, Kathy Fish, and more! Our Sublingua Prize for Poetry for emerging writers awards $1000. Contest judges: Dorothea Lasky (2019), Khadijah Queen (2020). Send us your best genre-bending work.
IO Literary Journal fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography, screenplays, reviews
The Iowa Review
Edited by faculty, students, and staff from the renowned writing and literature programs at the University of Iowa, the Iowa Review—now approaching its 50th year of publication—takes advantage of this rich environment for literary collaboration to create a worldwide conversation among those who read and write contemporary literature.
Iron City Magazine: Creative Expressions By and For the Incarcerated
Iron City Magazine: Creative Expressions By and For the Incarcerated celebrates writing and art from the prison world—regardless of topic. Our primary goal is to give voice to formerly/currently incarcerated authors and artists. We also publish work by others—but only when that work clearly treats themes of incarceration.
Jelly Bucket
Print annual of Bluegrass Writer Studio, the low-res MFA program at Eastern Kentucky University. Work from Jelly Bucket has been shortlisted in the Best American anthology series, and we nominate for The Pushcart Prize and PEN America Literary Awards. First-time and emerging authors have appeared alongside Eileen Casey, Ted Cooser, Stuart Dybek, Rigoberto Gonzalez, Sonja Livingston, Frank X. Walker, and Kevin Wilson. And we read in summer!
Jewish Fiction .net
Jewish Fiction .net is currently the only English-language journal, either print or online, devoted exclusively to publishing Jewish fiction. We proudly showcase the finest contemporary Jewish-themed fiction from around the world (either written in, or translated into, English). Stories and novel excerpts are both welcome.
Kaleidoscope magazine creatively focuses on the experiences of disability through literature and the fine arts publishing personal essays, creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and book reviews.
The Kenyon Review
Building on a long tradition of excellence, the Kenyon Review has evolved from a distinguished literary magazine to a pre-eminent arts organization. KR is devoted to nurturing, publishing, and celebrating the best in contemporary writing in its flagship bimonthly print magazine and in KROnline, its distinct digital journal.
Kestrel: A Journal of Literature and Art fiction, nonfiction, poetry, reviews, translations, art, photography
Kissing Dynamite: A Journal of Poetry poetry, reviews, art
The LaHave Review
The LaHave Review is an online poetry magazine in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. Each issue presents one poem, an interview, and notes about the poet.
The Lake is an online poetry magazine publishing the best contemporary poetry and reviews monthly.
Lake Effect fiction, nonfiction, poetry
Lalitamba
Lalitamba is an international journal of writings for liberation.
Leaping Clear
Leaping Clear features work of worldwide artists and writers with dedicated meditation and contemplation practices. Our contributors are accomplished whether they are established or emerging. We invite you to spend some time at our website for your enjoyment and to see if your work might find a place there.
The Light Ekphrastic fiction, poetry, audio, video, photography, art
Lily Poetry Review
Lily Poetry Review is a print journal interested in promoting contemporary poets, poetry, flash fiction, and literary citizenship. We also publish chapbook and book-length poetry collections. We promise that each writer will be proud of all of the work published here.
The Literary Review (TLR)
TLR is a community of writers and readers brought together through an elegant, robust, and thoroughly unexpected print publication. TLR's website republishes favorite pieces of writing from sister publications as well as weekly book reviews of new poetry, translation, and fiction from independent publishers.
little somethings press poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art
The Louisville Review
Since 1976, The Louisville Review has published the best of contemporary writing in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, drama, and writing by children (K-12).
The MacGuffin, a national literary magazine from Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan, is a collection of the best poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction.
The Main Street Rag
The Main Street Rag is an independent literary magazine. Our support comes from subscribers, contributors, and readers. Are we a little rough around the edges? Depends on the stodginess of your perspective. We’re not seeking perfection, but freedom of expression. Send us your best. The rest will sort itself out.
The Malahat Review
One of Canada's most admired journals, publishing contemporary poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction by emerging and established writers from across the country and around the world.
The Mantle is an online journal founded in 2017 dedicated to compelling, contemporary poetry. We are committed to publishing the most memorable poetry we receive, whether raw or refined.
Manzano Mountain Review fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre, interviews, art, photography
The Massachusetts Review
The Massachusetts Review promotes social justice and equality, along with great art. Committed to aesthetic excellence as well as public engagement, MR publishes literature and art that provokes debate, inspires action, and expands our understanding of the world around us.
The Masters Review
Always a free way to submit. Always paid for your work. The Masters Review offers a quality platform for emerging writers.
The Meadow is the annual print and online literary journal of Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada.
Meat for Tea fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography, comics
Memoir Magazine
Memoir Magazine features artwork, creative nonfiction and personal essays, interviews, and book reviews, and aims to support storytellers through publication, education, and advocacy.
The Mercurian: A Theatrical Translation Review nonfiction, translations, drama, reviews
The Midwest Quarterly nonfiction, poetry
Midwest Review
Midwest Review is a handsome, sturdy venue for thoughtful, and thought-provoking writing and visual art that examines, interprets, and redefines the full spectrum of life, past and present, in the Midwest.
Minerva Rising Literary Journal
Minerva Rising Literary Journal publishes thought-provoking and insightful fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry.
One of the premier publishers of the best new stories, essays, and poems from Pulitzer Prize winners to unpublished emerging writers.
Mistake House fiction, poetry
Mizmor Anthology poetry
Molecule - A Tiny Lit Mag poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, screenplays, cross-genre, comics, reviews, interviews, translations, photography, art
Mom Egg Review
Mom Egg Review is an annual print literary journal focused on motherhood. MER Vox is a quarterly online journal spotlighting women writers and artists.
Months To Years
Our mission is to cultivate a beautifully designed online space to share compelling and original nonfiction, poetry, art, and photography that explores mortality and terminal illness.
Mount Island fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, cross-genre
The Moving Force Journal fiction, nonfiction, poetry, photography, art
Mud Season Review fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography
Mudfish
In Mudfish, the poet is seen as a storyteller. The art and poetry interlock, one enhancing the other. The journal is highly acclaimed, full of daring and resonant work.
The National Poetry Review poetry
New England Review
New England Review distinguishes itself with a fine blend of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction that is both challenging and inviting to the general reader.
New Letters fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography, reviews
New Orleans Review
New Orleans Review, publishing contemporary poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and film and book reviews, is engaging, challenging, surprising, and always good looking.
New Plains Review fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, short plays
Nimrod International Journal, founded at The University of Tulsa in 1956, has been a leader in the publication of established writers and the discovery of emerging writers for over 60 years. Each issue contains an engaging and diverse selection of poetry, short fiction, and short creative nonfiction.
North Dakota Quarterly
NDQ is one of the famous “little magazines” that are traditional seed beds for writers and contributed to the nation’s cultural life. An international spectrum of writers and artists comes together in NDQ. For over 100 years the Quarterly has stood as an important landmark in the global literary landscape.
Nunum fiction, art
Nzuri
Published at Coastline College, Nzuri is an online literary magazine devoted to promoting artistic, creative, and scholarly work consistent with the values of the Umoja community and seeks to be responsive to experiences related to the legacy and kindredship of the African and African American diasporas.
Obsidian:Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora
Obsidian supports—through publication and critical inquiry—contemporary poetry, fiction, drama/performance, visual, and media art by Africans globally. Recognized by the NEA as one of the premier journals dedicated to Africa and African Diaspora Literatures, Obsidian is published biannually in print and year round at obsidianlit.org.
The Ocotillo Review is eclectic, evocative, effervescent, and essential. One of the fastest growing international literary journals, giving word artists from all communities and cultures a platform for developing their voice. Supported by Kallisto Gaia Press, a nonprofit, independent, writer-focused organization. We Pay all contributors upon publication!
Off the Coast
At Off the Coast, our mission is to be Maine's international poetry magazine. We believe small presses and literary magazines are the lifeblood and testing ground for all writers. We aim to provide space for diverse voices, particularly poetry in translation. We are a biannual journal publishing in June and November.
OffCourse Literary Journal
Since 1998, a quarterly journal for poetry, criticism, reviews, stories and essays edited by Ricardo Nirenberg.
Award-winning literary magazine publishing work by winners and finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, MacArthur Genius Grant, and National Book Award, as well as first timers and mid-career poets. Featuring writers from six continents. Winner and Honorable Mention awards from Best of the Net. Editors' nominations for the Pushcart Prize.
Otis Nebula
Otis Nebula publishes incandescent, substantial writing that operates on its own terms.
Oyster River Pages fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography
Palette Poetry
Palette Poetry endeavors to uplift and engage emerging and established poets. We strive to paint our small part of the world with truth through poetry, as hopeful and eviscerating as truth can be.
Palooka fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography, comics
Pangyrus LitMag fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, reviews, interviews, translations, art
PANK poetry, fiction, nonfiction
Parhelion Literary Magazine
Parhelion Literary Magazine delights our readers with some of the best creative writing and photography online today. We publish three issues a year, in the winter, summer, and spring, while also providing regular features like interviews, book reviews, and shorter essays/stories.
Paterson Literary Review
The Paterson Literary Review (PLR) is a multicultural literary review established in 1979. PLR features work by well-known writers as well as by writers whose work is so good, they should be well-known.
Permafrost Magazine
Permafrost is a biannual literary journal run by the MFA program in Creative Writing at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, with one print and one online issue each year. We feature the highest quality fiction, poetry, nonfiction, hybrid, and artwork, from both established and emerging writers and artists.
Persephone's Daughters
Persephone’s Daughters is a literary and arts journal for abuse survivors of all gender identities, named for Persephone, Greek goddess of vegetation and queen of the Underworld. PD seeks to uplift the voices of those pursuing peace after trauma, and to provide community and calm through healing art and storytelling.
The Petigru Review fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography
petrichor poetry, art
Since 2004, Philadelphia Stories has published writers and artists of all ages from the Greater Delaware Valley in its free quarterly magazine, reaching more than 25,000 readers every year.
Pinyon fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, art
Plume publishes the very best contemporary poetry: national and international voices presented in monthly issues with twelve poets contributing one poem each.
The oldest, boldest, and most distinguished monthly for and about poetry in the English-speaking world.
Poor Yorick Literary Journal
Poor Yorick publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, digital art, and photography inspired by "rediscovery” through the MFA program in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University.
Posit provides an aesthetically beautiful showcase for carefully curated, highly innovative contemporary poetry, short fiction, and visual art. We showcase accomplished, challenging work that leans towards the experimental. We are committed to supporting writers and artists of all races, ages, gender identifications, and sexual preferences.
An annual journal of the best poetry informed by the Catholic faith, also featuring book reviews and interviews.
Prime Number Magazine
Prime Number Magazine (a Press 53 publication) is an online quarterly journal that publishes poetry and short fiction from new, emerging, and established writers of all ages from around the world. New guest editors for each issue, with submissions open year-round.
PRISM International
PRISM international is a quarterly magazine based out of Vancouver, British Columbia. We strive to uplift and shine a light on emerging and established voices across Canada and internationally, and are especially committed to providing a platform for folks who have been systematically marginalized in the literary community. We waive all entry fees for Black and Indigenous writers.
Prospectus: A Literary Offering fiction, poetry, reviews, art
Puerto Del Sol fiction, nonfiction, poetry
Qu Literary Magazine publishes fiction, poetry, essays, and script excerpts. Payment: $100 per prose piece, $50 per poem.
Radar Poetry
Radar Poetry is an electronic journal of poetry and artwork. We publish poems from established and emerging writers. Each issue features pairings of poetry and visual art, selected by the editors and contributors. Radar Poetry also offers an annual award, the Coniston Prize, for the best group of poems submitted by a woman poet writing in English.
Rain Taxi Review of Books
An award-winning print quarterly connecting readers to books of merit that might otherwise get overlooked. With coverage of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, graphic novels, translations, and more, Rain Taxi exists for readers and writers, literary publishers of all shapes and sizes, booksellers, educators, and kindred spirits who want books to keep flourishing in a distracted society.
Raleigh Review
Raleigh Review is a national non-profit magazine of poetry, short fiction, and art, offering accessible works of experience that are emotionally and intellectually complex.
Rathalla Review
Rathalla Review is the literary magazine of Rosemont College in Rosemont PA. We publish fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and art twice a year online and once in print.
RATTLE is the journal for people who love poetry—whether they realize it yet, or not.
The RavensPerch
TRP is an exciting award-winning literary magazine that publishes writers from around the world. We accept new and established writers whose work simply cannot be ignored.
Red Wheelbarrow fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography, comics
The Red Wheelbarrow Review fiction, nonfiction, poetry
Reunion: The Dallas Review
For over two decades, Reunion: The Dallas Review (formerly Sojourn) has been dedicated to publishing exceptional short fiction, drama, visual art, poetry, translation work, nonfiction, and interviews. Published annually each fall, our mission remains cultivating the arts community in Dallas, Texas, and promoting the work of talented writers and artists both locally and across the globe.
The Revolution (Relaunch) fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art
RHINO publishes some of modern poetry's best and most innovative poetry, short shorts, and translations. We invite traditional or experimental work reflecting passion, originality, artistic conviction, and a love affair with language. Literary Magazine Review believes RHINO is “an annual that anyone interested in American poetry should attend to.”
River Styx
River Styx is a multicultural literary and arts magazine that has been publishing thoughtful yet accessible literature and art since 1975.
River Teeth
River Teeth is a biannual print journal publishing the best of creative nonfiction, including narrative reportage, essays, and memoir. We are also home to Beautiful Things, a weekly online magazine of micro-essays.
riverSedge
Since 1977, riverSedge has published the very best art and literature from the South Texas region and beyond.
Rockvale Review
Rockvale Review believes language is power, and poetry unleashes that power. Poets have a unique way of seeing the world. Their voices raise awareness, challenge stereotypes, create beauty, pose questions, speak personal truths, and spark imagination. We exist to celebrate the poetic voice and support the journey of poets.
Rogue Agent
What is it like to live in your body? We want your skin, your liver, your viscera. We want your joy and your frustration, your vulnerable poems and art. Rogue Agent is interested in amplifying voices that are traditionally marginalized, including queer, POC, and dis/abled voices.
Ruminate is a reader-supported, contemplative literary arts magazine. We invite slowing down and paying attention. We love laughter. And we delight in deep reading, telling stories, staying astonished, and doing “small things with great love,” as Mother Teresa said.
Runestone Journal
We’re an award-winning, national online literary annual, compiled and edited by BFA students in the Creative Writing Programs at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
S/tick fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art
Specializes in publishing highly accomplished poetry, fiction, and memoirs by writers who deserve a wider audience for their work.
San Pedro River Review poetry, art, photography
The Santa Clara Review
The Santa Clara Review is a student-edited literary/arts magazine that publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, short plays, art, and photography by students and professionals from around the world. We release issues in February and May each year in a full-color, perfect-bound run of 1500 copies, as well as online.
Scribble is an exciting online venue for exceptional flash and short fiction. Our eclectic journal publishes literary fiction and all fiction genres with a literary approach. We publish 3-5 short stories bimonthly (every two months).
Serotonin publishes poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction on mental illness, neurodivergence, and suicide prevention. We focus on Depression, Trauma, Anxiety, Autism, OCD, ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, and more from a first-person point of view. We’re proud to pay neurodiverse writers for their work and strive to publish marginalized voices.
Sheila-Na-Gig Online
Sheila-Na-Gig online supports work of established/emerging poets in a crisp, uncluttered space. Free poetry submissions and fee-based quarterly contests and annual full manuscript contest.
Great literature since 1950. Supporting poets, fiction writers, nonfiction writers, comic artists, and translators.
Shift: A Journal of Literary Oddities
An international student-run journal published by the Ringling College of Art and Design, Shift features fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, book reviews, graphic texts, or other text-based work in English or in translation by new, emerging, and established writers of all identities. We especially love literary oddities—language-based creations that push boundaries, challenge expectations, and defy easy categorization.
Shooter Literary Magazine
Shooter Literary Magazine is a UK-based print journal showcasing short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by writers from around the world. We seek elegant, insightful, imaginative work that appeals to both head and heart. Publishes themed summer/winter issues, runs annual competitions, and pays writers for their work.
The Shore Poetry
The Shore publishes poems exploring the worlds of things and ideas, recognizing the liminality, the shifting of everything, our ability to name a thing whole.
Publishes vibrant, well-crafted fiction, nonfiction, essays, poetry, one-act plays, translations, first chapters, and artwork that explore human dynamics and social transformations that occur in any story-rich location in the world.
Sink Review
Sink Review publishes poetry and criticism. We are excited by experimental and conceptual work. It is our goal to create a space that is inclusive and radical.
Sinister Wisdom fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art
Sky Island Journal
Sky Island Journal is an independent international literary journal; we discover and publish the finest poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction. Always free-access and advertising-free, we publish accomplished authors—side by side—with emerging voices for over 70,000 readers in 145 countries. Every submission receives a prompt, respectful, individualized response.
Slag Glass City: Nonfiction for Living Cities
Slag Glass City is an international journal of urban essay arts. We publish city-focused nonfiction as well as visual-and-media work that considers the rubble and the green, the imaginative and the corporeal, the disregarded and the restored. The living city is broken and blooming. How will our roof gardens grow?
Sleet Magazine
We present extraordinary fiction, poetry, irregulars, and CNF. Sleet: intelligent, sexy, writer-friendly. “Sleet is so f***ing cool.” –writer/professor Suzanne Nielsen. Sleet will always be free to submit to, free to read.
Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre, photography, art
Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing
We are an online journal publishing poetry, creative nonfiction, and photography with a healing bent from across the globe. We are extending the conversation on art and healing believing art is a catalyst for wellbeing.
The Society of Classical Poets website receives millions of views every year. Visitors read engaging, beautiful, topical verse that enlivens Western Civilization's great conversation. The SCP continues the formal tradition of using meter and other time-honored techniques. We are dedicated to the continuation of Beauty, Goodness, Truth, and excellent poetry.
Solstice has a Best of the Net award & Notable Essay Citations in Best American Essays 2015. We promote diversity in literature and photography.
The Sonder Review
We are a biannual publication of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and art. We also accept book reviews and author interviews for publication on our blog.
South 85 Journal
"South 85 Journal promises and delivers strong setting and characters, all written by a carefully curated selection of strong creative writers."—NewPages
South Dakota Review
Founded in 1963, South Dakota Review is a literary print journal published quarterly at The University of South Dakota.
Southern Humanities Review
Southern Humanities Review publishes fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction—as well as the occasional translation—by new and established writers.
Southwest Review poetry, fiction, nonfiction
Sou'wester
Since 1960, Sou'wester has published literary works of imagination, merit, and moment from writers at all stages of their careers. We have recommitted to investing in and encouraging the words/stories/voices of all writers, prioritizing those belonging to marginalized communities.
Speckled Trout Review poetry
Split Rock Review
Split Rock Review is a not-for-profit publication featuring literature and art that explore place, environment, and the relationship between humans and nature.
SRPR (Spoon River Poetry Review)
Contemporary poetry in English from the U.S. and around the world in English translation.
St. Petersburg Review poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama
Stickman Review
Founded in 2001, Stickman Review publishes literary fiction, poetry, essays, and artwork for a discerning audience.
Still Point Arts Quarterly
Focuses on nature, art, and spirit; a feast for the eyes and the soul. Includes art of all periods and genres, along with fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Intended for artists, nature lovers, seekers, and enthusiasts. Each issue focuses on a topic, with more information found at our submissions page.
Storm Cellar
Independent since 2011, Storm Cellar is a journal of safety and danger in every sense. Emphasizing the Midwest, and showcasing surprising, amazing writing and art by marginalized voices including Indigenous, Black, POC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, poor, neurodivergent, and border-straddling creators, it is not a distraction from boredom but a cure.
Story fiction, nonfiction
StoryQuarterly fiction, nonfiction
Sukoon: Arab-themed Art & Literature
Sukoon is an independent online literary journal publishing Arab-themed art and literature in English, including poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, art, interviews, book reviews, and translations. The aim is to showcase the diversity of ‘Arab’ identity and experience within the Anglophone literary landscape. Now considering original work in Arabic for Sukoon bil 3arabi segment.
Superstition Review is the online literary magazine produced by creative writing and web design students at Arizona State University.
Swamp Ape Review
A literary and visual arts journal out of Florida Atlantic University. We encourage hybrid or non-traditional pieces that unsettle our assumptions of what is possible.
SWWIM Every Day
SWWIM Every Day publishes a poem every weekday from women-identifying/femme-presenting poets, both established and emerging. SWWIM Every Day strives to present a diverse range of voices, ages, cultures, styles, and experiences. The editors embrace their writers and continue to celebrate them and raise their voices long after publication.
Terrain.org
Terrain.org publishes place-based editorials, poetry, essays, fiction, hybrid forms, articles, videos, reviews, interviews, the ARTerrain gallery, the Unsprawl case study, and critically-acclaimed series such as Letter to America on a rolling basis.
THEMA is a journal of short stories, poetry, photography and art, each issue based on a unique theme. What do the themes mean? We don't know! You tell us. Let each theme roll around in your head and see what unique ideas emerge. One premise—many interpretations.
Thriller Magazine
Thriller Magazine is an online literary magazine that publishes creative works in the thriller/suspense/mystery genre along with book reviews and author interviews. We also offer editing services for short stories and novels, and we are proud to host the International Thriller Award.
Tiferet is a literary magazine and global writing community at the nexus of literature and spirituality. We publish high-quality poetry, prose, and art that further meaningful dialogue about what it is to be humane and conscious in today’s often divisive world. Past contributors include well-known and new writers.
The Tiger Moth Review
The Tiger Moth Review is a new, independent art + literature online journal that publishes poetry, prose, art, and photography engaging with nature, culture, the environment and ecology. We champion minority, marginalised, and underrepresented voices, and publish works in translation.
Tint Journal
Tint Journal, the online literary magazine for non-native English creative writing, publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by non-native English or ESL writers in biannual issues. Interview and review submissions on ESL writers or books are accepted year-round by contributors of any linguistic background. #showyourtint
the tiny journal fiction, nonfiction, poetry
Tipton Poetry Journal
Tipton Poetry Journal, located in the heart of the Midwest, publishes quality poetry from Indiana and around the world. TPJ is published quarterly, both online and in print. We feature quality free verse which evokes a shared sense of common humanity. We also publish prose poetry and other poetic forms.
trampset fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre, reviews, interviews, translations
Transference poetry, translations
Two Hawks Quarterly
Two Hawks Quarterly publishes fiction, CNF, poetry, genre X, and art. We feature work that is exquisitely crafted, takes chances, and has something original to say. We especially love fiction that reaches beyond the standard tropes and diverse voices. We are currently closed to submissions until January 2021.
U.S. 1 Worksheets poetry
Under A Warm Green Linden
Excellence in poetry publishing since 2008: chapbooks, broadsides, interviews, reviews, and a biannual digital journal.
Under the Gum Tree
Under the Gum Tree is an independent literary arts micro-magazine. Because we strive for authentic connections through vulnerability, we exclusively publish creative nonfiction and visual art.
Understorey Magazine
Understorey Magazine publishes stories of women's lives and experiences told through literary writing and visual art. We define women to include all who identify as such. Issues are themed and submissions are open to writers and artists in Canada and Canadians living abroad.
upstreet
An award-winning literary annual containing quality, cutting-edge fiction, cnf and poetry, with an author interview in each issue. "...rampant with talent."—Berkshire Bright Focus
Utopia Science Fiction
Utopia Science Fiction is a small, independent literary science fiction magazine offering a unique combination of entertaining and thought provoking stories, stunning artwork, and educational science trivia and facts. We work with optimistic stories which feature a future we might want to live in.
Valley Voices
Valley Voices: A Literary Review is a biannual publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, interviews, criticism, and reviews from writers and scholars from the Mississippi Delta and anywhere in the world. Works published in Valley Voices have been selected for republications in anthologies, scholarly books, and The Best American Poetry.
Established in January 2020, Variety Pack's mission is to feature work of all kinds by establishing a bedrock of diverse content by and for diverse voices. A broad aesthetic with an affinity for literary fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, humor, micro-fiction, flash fiction, form poetry, prose poetry, haikus, and more.
The Virginia Normal fiction, nonfiction, poetry
The Vitni Review fiction, nonfiction, poetry, reviews, interviews
The Voices Project poetry
Volney Road Review poetry, fiction, nonfiction, cross-genre, comics, interviews, photography, art
Walloon Writers Review
Walloon Writers Review is an independent regional literary magazine that shares original creative writing and nature photography inspired by Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Call for Submissions in August or September annually.
Watershed Review
Our mission is to publish literature and visual art illustrating diversity in thought and experience, capturing the crucial narratives and images of our current cultural moment, as well as awareness of the shifting edges of genre. We aim to create a multifaceted gathering of voices.
Water~Stone Review
"Water~Stone Review is one of the most elegant, substantial literary journals anywhere on the American scene....It will nourish and uplift you."—Naomi Shihab Nye
Waterwheel Review fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, cross-genre, translations
Waxing & Waning fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, screenplays, cross-genre, comics, translations, art, photography, video
Weber—The Contemporary West has been published since 1983. We seek work that speak to the preservation of and access to the wilderness, to environmental cooperation, and to the insight derived from an enlarged understanding of both the new and old West.
West Marin Review
The West Marin Review features 140 pages of previously unpublished prose, poetry, and art. It is a volunteer effort published by professional designers and editors, in collaboration with Commonweal and Point Reyes Books.
Willawaw Journal
Willawaw Journal is an online magazine for poetry and art, published three times a year. Each issue features the poem prompt of a northwest poet laureate with a model response from the editor, and may also promote a theme. Our mission is to support and encourage creativity, community, and diversity.
Willow Springs is a national literary journal featuring the best of new and established writers of contemporary poetry and prose, as well as interviews with authors of note, including Stuart Dybek, Marilynne Robinson, Joyce Carol Oates, Maggie Smith, Rebecca Brown, D. Nurkse, Jericho Brown, Ramona Ausubel, and Laura Kasischke.
Wordrunner eChapbooks
Wordrunner eChapbooks is a hybrid of literary journal and online chapbook, the latter featuring mini-fiction collections by one author that are also available as ebooks. Our annual online journals are themed anthologies of fiction, CNF or memoir, and poetry.
World Literature Today
The award-winning World Literature Today, your passport to world literature and culture for over ninety years.
The Woven Tale Press
The Woven Tale Press regularly features a rich and resonate roster of the literary and visual arts, by both established and emerging writers and artists.
Wraparound South
Wraparound South is a journal of contemporary literature focusing on Southern writers and themes, especially those that challenge or subvert stereotypes about the region as well as writing that challenges genre and form. We like to accompany Southern themes alongside experimental, international, or non-regional literary works for a "wraparound view" of contemporary literature.
Wrath-Bearing Tree
Established in 2013 and maintained by a board of civilians, veterans, and military spouses, Wrath-Bearing Tree publishes work on themes of military, economic, and social violence, justice, and human resilience. While we do not often draw lines in the sand, we'd place ourselves to the left of that line.
The Write Place at the Write Time
We are about the synchronistic convergences of time, place, readers, and writers that create unforgettable moments where lives change course and dreams are born.
The Writing Disorder: A Literary Journal
Writing Disorder is a quarterly literary journal. We publish new fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art. We also feature interviews and reviews. Our mission is to showcase new and emerging writers—particularly those in writing programs—as well as established writers. We welcome original and experimental work.
Zone 3 publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction from beginning and established writers.
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Friday, September 21 2007
DuPont partners with Iowa State to enhance biofuels production
DuPont today announced a pledge of $1 million to the Iowa State University New Century Farm, the first research effort in the United States to focus on producing cellulosic ethanol on the farm.
AP, Gannett journalists make Iowa Caucuses subject of first Chamberlin Lecture
Washington Bureau Chief Sandy Johnson of The Associated Press and Political Editor Chuck Raasch of Gannett News Service will be the first speakers in the Gene and Margaret Chamberlin Lecture Series, sponsored by ISU's Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. "Covering the Caucuses" will be the topic of their talk, which will be held Tuesday, Oct. 2, at 8 p.m. in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.
Design college addition to be named for Steven and Barbara King
The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, approved naming the College of Design Foundations Pavilion the King Pavilion. The name recognizes alumni Steven and Barbara King who provided the lead commitment of $1.5 million for the new $6.25 million facility.
Iowa State University conference examines developing bioeconomy
The 2007 Biobased Industry Outlook Conference, "Growing the Bioeconomy," will be Nov. 5 and 6 at the Iowa State Center on the Iowa State University campus. The conference will include speakers such as venture capitalist and ethanol supporter Vinod Khosla and genomics researcher J. Craig Venter.
Cyclones FWAA National Team of the Week
With their 15-13 win over Iowa Saturday, the Iowa State Cyclones (1-2) are the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week for games the weekend of Sept. 15.
Dubuque attorney Jim Heckmann to direct Iowa Small Business Development Centers
Jim Heckmann, principal of James M. Heckmann Law Offices of Dubuque, and president of the consulting firm Aligned Resources, LC, has been named the new state director of the Iowa Small Business Development Centers.
Vilsack named distinguished fellow in Iowa State's Biosafety Institute
Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has been named a Distinguished Fellow in Iowa State University's Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products.
ISU Design West grand opening is Sept. 22 in Sioux City
The College of Design and Sioux City Great Places Committee will host a grand opening celebration for the ISU Design West Studio, 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, in Sioux City. The ISU Design West studio is the college's new satellite program. It expands regional educational opportunities in the design disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, urban and regional planning, graphic design and interior design.
ISU-Toledo game will be web cast
Iowa State's football matchup at Toledo Sept. 22 will be web cast live in the Clone Zone section of cyclones.com. Monthly subscriptions to the Clone Zone are $8.95.
Iowa State astronomer helps discover planet that offers clues to Earth's future
Iowa State University's Steve Kawaler helped an international team of astronomers make the first discovery of a planet orbiting a star near the end of its life. The news provides a preliminary picture of what could be the Earth's destiny in four to five billion years. The discovery will be announced in the Sept. 13 issue of the journal Nature.
ISU sociologist studies social construction of 9-11 and its use as political, social resource
Brian Monahan, an assistant professor of sociology at Iowa State, has been researching the social construction of 9-11 and is working on a future book on its media coverage. Even though yesterday's sixth anniversary may not have the same exposure as a year ago, Monahan says remembrance of 9-11 has not faded.
Southwestern Community College and ISU partner
Iowa State University President Gregory Geoffroy and Southwestern Community College President Barbara Crittenden announce the establishment of an admissions partnership agreement that will make it more convenient for SWCC students to transfer to ISU. The announcement was made today at the SWCC campus in Creston.
ISU prof is taking people to school on the Iowa caucuses with online class in October
University Professor of Political Science Steffen Schmidt is teaching Political Science 312: The Iowa Presidential Caucuses, during the fall semester's second seven weeks. The two-credit course will begin on Monday, Oct. 15, and covers the history and future of the Iowa caucuses.
Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi set for free comedy performance Sept. 28 at ISU
Aasif Mandvi, Baghdad bureau chief on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," will give a free comedy performance at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28 at Stephens Auditorium.
Elwood Drive becomes University Boulevard
Ames mayor Ann Campbell and ISU president Gregory Geoffroy unveiled a new sign for University Boulevard in a ceremony Monday, Sept. 17, marking the name change from Elwood Drive.
ISU astronaut in space
See Iowa State's first astronaut Clayton Anderson at the International Space Station. Anderson earned his master's degree in aerospace engineering at Iowa State in 1983.
Battling bacteria at the grocery store
When you're out running errands, hit the grocery store last, says Sam Beattie, ISU assistant professor and Extension food safety specialist. Avoiding exposure to warmer temperatures helps to prevent contamination of perishable meat, dairy and produce.
White House hopefuls: 'I love ethanol'
At a time when demand for ethanol is soaring, support for the corn-based fuel among presidential candidates is nearly unanimous. Bruce Babcock, director of ISU's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, says the "lip service" still translates to farm support.
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Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Published: July 1, 2019, 6:40 pm
Tags: Florida, Environment, Weather, News
Solutions sought for algae woes
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Experts looking into toxic algae outbreaks that have exploded in state waterways want to know if anyone has a proven, innovative cleanup strategy that can be used.
And they want to know quickly.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is formally accepting information through July 15 on ways to prevent, combat or clean up harmful algal blooms in freshwater bodies and estuaries.
Thomas Frazer, Florida’s chief science officer, said Monday during a state Blue-Green Algae Task Force meeting in Fort Myers that he and other officials at the state department have already been fielding calls from people with ideas about fighting the algae.
“I wouldn’t want to limit the people who have expressed interest,” Frazer said. “There are times that people may not have a ton of preliminary data … but sometimes there are really good ideas.”
The better ideas will go before the task force at its Aug. 1 meeting, Frazer said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order in January to create the task force in response to outbreaks of toxic algae and red tide across the state last year.
The source of outbreaks in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico is blooms of a single-celled organism called Karenia brevis algae, which produces toxins that kill fish, birds, sea turtles, manatees and dolphins and can cause shellfish poisoning in humans.
The problems particularly drew attention in Southeast and Southwest Florida, as algae plagued water bodies such as the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and red tide caused fish kills.
Frazer said the task force won’t be asked to pick proposals or vendors but to determine if projects have merit to move forward for potential state grant funding.
Frazer said officials are open to “all different kinds of potential solutions,” which could mean chemical, biological, mechanical ideas or any combination of those methods.
As part of a request for information, more than 35 questions are asked, from potential environmental impacts to the size of water bodies that could be effectively treated.
“With regard to cleanup, specifically, we want to make sure the technology provides near-term ecological and human health relief,” Frazer said.
Some people making proposals could be asked to appear before the task force to answer questions about their proposals.
Frazer said additional people may even be needed to review the viability of proposals.
Part of the grant-making process will be determining who is behind proposals because some information could come from more than one person.
The focus of the task force is Lake Okeechobee and waters on both sides of the lake, but the state is also looking at possible algae impacts as far north as the St. Johns River.
As part of the $90.98 billion budget for the fiscal year that began on Monday, $4 million is slated to go to expanding “statewide water quality analytics for the nutrient over-enrichment analytics assessment and water quality public information portal.”
Separately, a new law (SB 1552) provides $3 million a year for the next five years to the Florida Red Tide Mitigation and Technology Development Initiative to research the causes and impacts of red tide.
The initiative was created between the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute and Sarasota-based Mote Marine Laboratory.
News Service of Florida
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Ex-Goldman Exec Cohn Yet to Return Pay in 1MDB Scandal
When Goldman Sachs declared its intent to reclaim $67 million from five former top executives over the sprawling 1MDB corruption scandal, it made clear it had already pocketed the money from all but one of them.
The lone holdout — Gary Cohn. Six weeks later, Goldman is still waiting on its former president to pony up the cash.
The bank has failed to persuade Cohn to part with over $10 million in pay he’s already received, according to people with knowledge of the matter. And there’s little the firm can do if he simply refuses or offers up a discounted sum, they said.
Cohn declined to comment on whether he intends to repay the amount in full, saying only in an interview that he is “having very constructive conversations with Goldman Sachs on that.” A representative for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. declined to comment.
Cohn’s resistance stands to sully the bank’s public effort to atone for its criminal role in the plundering of Malaysian investment fund 1MDB. The bank’s board opted to attach accountability to its senior executives, even though they hadn’t been directly implicated by the U.S. Justice Department’s findings. The board called it a way to repair the reputational damage for what was an “institutional failure.”
In the October announcement, Goldman disclosed plans to keep or recoup $67 million it had awarded to former executives and deduct another $31 million from Chief Executive Officer David Solomon and his three top deputies’ pay in 2020. The move came after the Wall Street firm admitted to its role in the biggest foreign bribery case in U.S. enforcement history and agreed to pay about $5 billion in penalties to break free from a slew of probes across continents.
Cohn, who was president for more than a decade, was one of two leaders the bank had to ask to return the money. David Viniar, its former chief financial officer and current board member, has already surrendered his payment, one of the people said. The remaining executives, including former CEO Lloyd Blankfein, were docked from payments still owed to them.
“It goes with the responsibility of leadership to accept some consequences for things that go wrong on your watch,” Blankfein had said of the forfeiture.
Goldman’s plan called for executives to forfeit compensation including most or all of a long-term incentive created in 2011. For Cohn, that reward alone was likely worth more than $10 million at the end of 2016, based on metrics the firm said would determine the ultimate payout.
Cohn had been one of the most fabulously paid executives after a lucrative Wall Street career. When he joined President Donald Trump’s White House in 2017 as director of the National Economic Council, the 60-year-old was able to immediately collect about $65 million in cash and stock tied to future Goldman performance, another $220 million of Goldman equity and stakes in company-run investment funds.
While Cohn had to liquidate his stock to avoid a conflict of interest, it proved fortuitous as the bank’s shares still trade below the mark set three years ago.
© Copyright 2020 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.
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Robotriks works on affordable farm robot
The Robotriks Traction Unit (RTU) is described by its makers as an affordable autonomous platform that is ready to work within a few hours.
Developed by Robotriks, the device comprises a large drive wheel, suspension and computer, held together by galvanised pipe on which a variety of implements can be towed or attached, including soil probes, robotic harvesting arms or depth cameras for 3D crop rendering.
“The aim is to create a system which is affordable and reliable,” says Robotriks director Jake Shaw-Sutton. “The RTU costs just £7,000 - almost a tenth of the cost of most others on the market.”
Mr Shaw-Sutton, and his co-founder Khaian Marsh both grew up on farms, and the RTU has been put through its paces in real life situations, including soil compaction testing. “It can be used for a range of things from crop monitoring to harvesting crops like cauliflowers,” adds Mr Shaw-Sutton, who is also a senior robotics technician at the University of Plymouth.
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All data is processed locally, on board the RTU. “That was a decision we made after speaking with farmers; they wanted to know that only they had access to their data and it wasn’t going off to the cloud.”
The battery-powered vehicle can carry several hundred kilos and is restricted to run at a maximum speed of 16km/hr (10mph).
The batteries last for up to 24 hours. “Currently you just plug in to charge it, but we are considering having a docking station, because all of the power can be harvested from a single solar panel.”
Fully adjustable to any height and width, the RTU works either by remote control or autonomously using drones. There are emergency stop buttons on the unit and a remote kill switch.
Robotriks is one of a cluster of new technology companies at the University of Plymouth. Funded by Agri-tech Cornwall and an innovation grant from the Cornwall Development Company, while still in the test phase, the first commercial machines could be available within a year.
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Bill in Congress would ban use of federal money on ads that attack legal, American-made products
McClatchy-Tribune
Feb. 8, 2012 Updated: Aug. 28, 2017 1:05 p.m.
In this 2011 file photo illustration, cases of Coca-Cola are seen on a counter at a local store in West Bath, Maine. Associated PressAP
WASHINGTON -- Taxpayer-funded anti-obesity ads targeting soda aren't going down well with a Tennessee congressman, who has introduced legislation to prohibit federal spending on any campaigns targeting legal American-made products.
Republican Rep. Scott DesJarlais's "Protecting Foods and Beverages from Government Attack Act" would prohibit the use of federal dollars for "scare campaigns" against products lawfully marketed under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
He introduced the measure in response to ads, funded with federal economic stimulus funds, that target soda. A New York ad, for example, shows blobs of fat being poured out of a soda can and admonishing, "Don't drink yourself fat."
"When I see stimulus money being used to attack American companies and American workers, I think it would be very unsettling to be working on the assembly line of Coca-Cola, look up and see an ad that's trying to hurt the very job that you make your wages and pay taxes from," DesJarlais said in an interview outside the House chamber.
"These advertisements strike at the heart of personal responsibility," DesJarlais added in a letter to congressional colleagues seeking their support for the measure. Food and beverage companies, he added, "should not have to be concerned that their very own tax dollars are being used against them."
The congressman, who is a physician, added: "Dietary choices should be a personal decision, or they should be made by individuals in consultation with a doctor or dietitian."
But Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County's director of public health, said in an interview, "We need to educate people about what's in the food that they eat." A Los Angeles County website features a bottle of soda pouring packs of sugar into a glass and says, "You wouldn't eat 22 packs of sugar. Why are you drinking them?"
"Tobacco is a legal product, but if we hadn't had government help in sponsoring ads that help people understand the harm from tobacco, where would we be today?" Fielding added. "Obesity is our biggest epidemic, so trying to attack it with both hands tied behind our back would make it very difficult."
A DesJarlais spokesman said that while it is appropriate for government to require companies to post the nutritional value of their products, it's not Washington's job to try to persuade people in what they should or should not eat.
A Seattle anti-obesity campaign shows a mother pouring sugar out of soda bottle into a glass and handing it to her child. "You'd never serve your kid a glass of sugar," it says. "Those extra calories can bring on obesity, diabetes and heart disease."
The American Beverage Association supports the legislation, which has been sent to the House Energy and Commerce Committee for consideration.
The panel's top Democrat, Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles, said: "Childhood obesity is a serious health issue, especially when considering that one-third of our nation's children are overweight or obese. ... We should be promoting proven and promising interventions to address the childhood obesity epidemic and not putting arbitrary or ill-conceived limitations on campaigns and other initiatives that will help improve the health of our youth."
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Litchfield schools to weigh taking Thomaston students
Daniela Forte
Jan. 24, 2013 Updated: Aug. 27, 2017 1:24 p.m.
LITCHFIELD--The Board of Education has authorized Superintendent Dr. Deborah Wheeler to begin discussions with Thomaston officials about the possibility of Thomaston students attending high school in Litchfield on a tuition basis in future years.
"We are not the only district that they are talking to, but I was approached and asked if we would be interested," Dr. Wheeler told the school board in a meeting Wednesday. "My response to Superintendent [Lynda] Mitchell was that we would like to have a conversation with them based on the feeling of the board."
According to Ms. Mitchell, Thomaston has approached the Litchfield and Terryville school districts. She said a consolidation committee is studying the pros and cons of no longer having a local high school--a discussion prompted largely by Thomaston's declining public school enrollment.
The discussions began roughly two months ago, and the consolidation committee has met a couple of times after the Board of Education and Board of Finance decided to research the town's options.
"We are doing the research [necessary] if we would be going with other districts ... ," said Ms. Mitchell. "Certainly ... across the state we have seen the schools in other districts have had similar discussions."
The Litchfield school board, meanwhile, agreed to have Dr. Wheeler, Director of Business Operations Jason Lathrop and board chairman Frank Simone engage in an initial conversation with the Thomaston officials.
"They were looking at several different options, and we would have to review those and decide whether or not any would be of interest to us," said Dr. Wheeler.
During Dr. Wheeler's report at Wednesday's board meeting, she discussed the Finance, Facilities and Technology Committee's meeting Tuesday and whether the district would like to conduct a building utilization study as part of its strategic plan.
"We have the option on an annual basis to re-visit that--whether or not the community would like that to happen or not," said Dr. Wheeler.
Vice-Chairman Wayne Shuhi said that when the strategic plan was begun, there was talk of taking a look annually to see if it made sense to move grades around.
More drastic measure, Mr. Shuhi said, would involve the closing of a building or part of a building, as Litchfield is also dealing with enrollment declines.
According to Mr. Shuhi, given the discussion with Thomaston, the district would need to have a building utilization study done to gather information and have questions answered.
"I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at it at least at a basic level and see where we want to go," said Mr. Shuhi.
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Editorial: State pardons board should meet in public
Sep. 29, 2013 Updated: Aug. 27, 2017 1:15 p.m.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy. AP Photo/J. Scott ApplewhiteJournal Register Co.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s words about open government and secrecy at the Board of Pardons and Paroles sound reasonable at first, but his administration’s actions have not matched the words.
Malloy said Friday that the state pardons board should meet in public, with limited exceptions made for the privacy of crime victims. And that it’s a “balancing act, but more often than not, err on the side of transparency.”
Great, but the Board of Pardons and Paroles twice violated state law last year by holding closed-door sessions to consider and vote on pardons, the Freedom of Information Commission concluded recently. The finding stemmed from a complaint by the Journal Inquirer newspaper of Manchester.
The paper points out that the assistant state attorney general representing the board, Steven R. Strom, said after the commission’s decision that he would appeal to Superior Court. Board Chairwoman Erika Tindill, meanwhile, is a Malloy appointee.
More reasons to be concerned?
The Malloy administration in 2013 proposed legislation that would have made pardon documents secret.
Sen. John A Kissel, R-Enfield, on Thursday wrote a letter to Attorney General George Jepsen urging his office not to appeal the FOI ruling.
In that letter, he noted that “transparency discourages corruption and political favoritism.” On Sunday he told the Register that “it’s really a clear issue. This process needs to be open and transparent because God forbid a case of political influence happens down the road...”
As for the governor’s comments, Kissel said, “He seemed to indicate that he supports transparency. He’s concerned for victims and I understand that. But nonetheless, these (board officials) are people who work at his pleasure. He could pick up the phone and say, ‘Listen, this is my policy. Stick to it.’”
The concern is that the pardons board is not operating in an open and public way, Kissel said, despite the FOI ruling and “the most important reason, the safety of the public and the public good.”
Kissel called Jepsen a “straight-up guy” but “if he obfuscates, where do we stand?”
Arguments for state secrecy are seldom about protecting crime victims or a vulnerable young person. More often, they look to protect the whims and wishes of the powerful.
We’re having trouble seeing how the victims argument has much relevance either. If a convict is being considered for parole or pardon and a victim’s name wasn’t used publicly during the trial, then it need not be used in covering the pardon or parole. If a victim chooses not to take part, fine. But we would expect the victim of a violent crime, for example, to want a parole or pardon hearing to be public either way.
Critics say Malloy and his top officials have a record of trying to control right-to-know groups and ethics units, moving for budget-office authority over accountability agencies. Twice Malloy proposed cutting funding for the commissions that oversee freedom of information, ethics and elections enforcement. Just as bad, he wanted to merge their legal staffs under an office with a governor-appointed leader having authority to hire and fire people in the agencies.
Critics also mention the Newtown cases (with photos kept private), but even if you grant that one as a rare exception, you still have other moves to shroud information, such as the governor’s office refusing to release the personnel files of state employees in the food stamp debacle after the 2011 October snowstorm.
We agree with Kissel’s advice for the Malloy administration: “Don’t just talk transparency, but actually be open. Don’t act behind closed doors.”
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To Atheism – And Beyond! Where Nonbelievers Go
|Humanism
|Nonreligion
|Secularization
Many of the religious “nones,” the term used to describe those who do not identify with a religion, have deeply held spiritual, mystical, or New Age beliefs that are antithetical to the values of Secular Humanism The motto of the Council for Secular Humanism is “Beyond atheism. Beyond agnosticism. Secular Humanism.” Yet, the Council for Secular Humanism is just one place beyond nonbelief that atheists and agnostics can go to explore what it means to be a nonbeliever.
Share this response
By David Bradley
David Bradley, M.A., is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, where he lives with his wife and cat. He holds a B.A. in history and M.A. in mental health counseling, both from Boston College. His current research interests include the within-group differences among nonbelievers. His current daydreams include what his home office would look like as a Star Trek-themed baby bedroom.
David Bradley
In response to:
‘Secular Humanism’
In Thomas Coleman’s interview for the RSP with Tom Flynn, secular humanism is described as a “complete and balanced life stance” rejecting supernaturalism. Recorded at the Center For Inquiry’s 2013 Student Leadership Conference, Tom argues that secular humanism offers more than agnosticism and atheism.
https://media.blubrry.com/the_religious_studies_project/p/www.religiousstudiesproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/RSP88-flynn1.mp3
The motto of the Council for Secular Humanism is “Beyond atheism. Beyond agnosticism. Secular Humanism.” Yet, the Council for Secular Humanism is just one place beyond nonbelief that atheists and agnostics can go to explore what it means to be a nonbeliever. Indeed, as Mr. Flynn notes in his RSP interview, despite the increase in the number of people not identifying with a religion, the ranks of the Council for Secular Humanism have not grown. The newly nonreligious are not going to Secular Humanism for community or intellectual stimulation after exiting from religious belief. What, then, do the nonreligious find unappealing about Secular Humanism?
Mr. Flynn describes Secular Humanism as a “comprehensive life stance.” At its core, however, it is simply the exhortation to be good as judged by reason instead of God or gods. Perhaps the fact that I can use the word “simply” in this context is evidence that the Council for Secular Humanism has been incredibly effective, historically, at changing the conversation around morality, even if it is no longer attracting the nonreligious as members.
One reason that the Council for Secular Humanism has not been effective at gaining new members is that Secular Humanism speaks of process rather than conclusion. People may be more likely to join a group that has a reached a specific conclusion regarding ethics with which they agree than one which endorses a broad process for reaching ethical decisions. For example, both atheist libertarian Penn Jillette and atheist liberal P.Z. Meyers probably could agree that reason, science, and free inquiry should be the motivating force behind ethics, but I would be hard pressed to lump their ethical systems together. Instead, atheists concerned with ethical life seem to join other groups organized around more specific stances, such as the nascent Atheism+ group. The Council for Secular Humanism produces some excellent material in their magazine Free Inquiry, and they have a significant place in the history of ethical approaches within nonbelief, but it is not obvious what they add to the discussion of morality today.
If nonbelievers aren’t going to the Council for Secular Humanism, where are the nonreligious going? What nonbelief communities are they joining? Where do they express and explore their nonbelief? Well, they have plenty of choices.
It could be that the nonreligious are going to aggressively nonreligious organizations. In his interview with Mr. Coleman, Mr. Flynn identified one organization that has seen its ranks grow over the past several years: American Atheists. This organization, with Dave Silverman as President, is the “bad cop” in the nonbeliever ecosystem. Mr. Silverman aggressively took on Bill O’Reilly and became an Internet meme. They place controversial billboards across the country. They are loud and proud and get a lot of media attention. They have a great name, and a significant media presence, so it is no wonder that they have been growing as the nonbeliever population grows.
It could be that the nonreligious are “going” to science, by which I mean that the nonreligious may be organizing around dedication to a scientific outlook on life, the universe, and everything. A thriving international network of blogs and podcasts focusing on science and skepticism exists, covering topics from medicine to Bigfoot. This may reflect a trend in the broader culture. The idea of science has quite a bit of pop culture cachet – indeed, “science” was just named “2013 Word of the Year” by Merriam-Webster! Groups dedicated to promoting scientific skepticism, such as the James Randi Educational Foundation, have also experienced some growth. The JREF’s annual convention has grown year over year in the past decade. Skepticon, a free convention for skeptics, has also experienced significant growth in its five-year history. It makes sense that atheists would be drawn to scientific skepticism: my own research suggests that atheists are far more likely to report intellectual reasons for nonbelief than any other emotional, social, intuitive, or experiential reasons for nonbelief. If this self-report is accurate, then it makes sense that the process that drives people to nonbelief would serve as a source of commonality between nonbelievers. However, if there’s one thing we know in psychology, it’s that self-report is not always accurate. It can be hard for individuals to recognize the unconscious factors that lead to their beliefs and actions. But even if we doubt the veracity of nonbelievers’ self-report, and assume that nonbelief is largely or exclusively due to intuitive, social, emotional, or experiential factors, rather than intellectual factors, the very fact that they perceive themselves (or wish to be perceived) as being influenced by the intellect makes “science” a natural rallying point for nonbelievers.
It could be that the nonreligious are going to the bar. Much of Mr. Flynn’s analysis focused on large national organizations, but as the stigma of nonbelief begins to subside (though not disappear), more and more nonbelievers may gather together in small local communities. One manifestation of this is that the nonbeliever could head down to the local bar once a month and enjoy fellowship over a pint of beer. Or, a nonbeliever could join the atheist church movement, where avowed atheists gather together to sing songs, hear messages of hope and guidance, and build communities much in the same way churches do.
It could be that the nonreligious are going to college. The Secular Student Alliance, an organization of nonbelief groups on college and high school campuses, has experienced growth, as have other organizations such as Center for Inquiry on Campus. This makes sense, given that younger cohorts are more likely to be nonreligious than older cohorts (PDF) – 26% of Millennials are nonreligious, compared to only 13% of the Baby Boomer generation. College is one area, along with the military chaplaincy corps, where Humanism is trying to provide a sense of community and informal counseling that is so appealing to many people about religion. While on campus, the nonreligious at a handful of colleges may be able to make use of a professional Humanist chaplain just as a Catholic student might be able to make use of a Catholic chaplain for guidance and community.
It could be that the nonreligious are going forward. I am writing this in the immediate aftermath of the Christmas (er, “holiday”) season. This was my eighth Christmas as an atheist, after two decades of observance of the holiday as a Christian. The Christmas season, for me, is about friends, family, reflection, presents, charity, respite from classes – and Handel’s The Messiah (time for another listen – just to make sure I’m linking to a good recording, of course. I’ll be back in 2 hours, 30 minutes). I’m not the only atheist who sees beauty and pleasure in religious music: there is a group of atheists who perform Renaissance-era Christian hymns on the streets of New York City on a regular basis over the past 50 years.
Last – but certainly not least – it could be that the nonreligious are not going anywhere. Disaffiliation with religion does not imply affiliation with nonbelief. Many of the religious “nones,” the term used to describe those who do not identify with a religion, have deeply held spiritual, mystical, or New Age beliefs that are antithetical to the values of Secular Humanism and most of the explicitly nonreligious institutions I mentioned above. It may be no surprise, then, that the steep rise in religious non-affiliation has not resulted in a similarly steep rise in the number of people identifying as explicitly atheist or agnostic. Others are happy to remain apathetic toward religion – the “apatheists.”
Understanding the diversity of the nonbelief community is where my nascent research focuses. I am not alone. The Council for Secular Humanism’s Free Inquiry magazine published an article by Dr. Luke Galen detailing significant differences among nonbelievers. Dr. Christopher Silver has conducted research exploring the existence of six types of nonbelievers. As more research is conducted in this area, a clearer picture should start to emerge about who the nonbelievers are and how to meet their different, individual needs. This information should be useful in helping therapists, policy makers, and nonbelief leaders such as Mr. Flynn understand the people they aim to help serve.
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The views expressed in podcasts, features and responses are the views of the individual contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Religious Studies Project or our sponsors. The Religious Studies Project is produced by the Religious Studies Project Association (SCIO), a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (charity number SC047750).
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India's protesters cheered on by actors, artists and singers
By Zarir Hussain
GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - With a voice known to millions of Indian movie goers, Zubeen Garg crooned one of his old songs with patriotic fervor, but he is protesting against the government, not singing its praises.
FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), that seeks to give citizenship to religious minorities persecuted in neighbouring Muslim countries, in Guwahati, India, December 11, 2019. REUTERS/Anuwar Hazarika/File Photo
Like many people from India’s northeastern state of Assam, he’s angry with the Hindu nationalist government’s new citizenship law making it easier for non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who settled in India prior to 2015 to obtain Indian citizenship.
“I have a voice that resonates with people” Garg told Reuters next to a makeshift stage at a college in Guwahati. “I will keep singing in public forums till the government withdraws the law.”
He was there with around 40 other leading Assamese figures from the world of arts, including actors, writers and poets, who had come together in the state capital to galvanize opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Citizenship Amendment Act.
“We will be defeated if we don’t take to the streets each and every day,” Barsha Rani, an Assamese actor who has worked in over 30 movies, told Reuters.
In most of the rest of India anger with the law stems from it being seen as discriminating against Muslims, and from making religion a criteria for citizenship in a country that has taken pride in its secular constitution.
In Assam those are secondary considerations. Resentment against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh has simmered for years in Assam, one of India’s poorest states, with residents blaming outsiders, Hindus or Muslims, for stealing their jobs and land.
In August, the state government left nearly 2 million people living in Assam off a list of citizens, though they can apply through tribunals provided their documents are in order.
While students have been at the forefront of protests across the country, and opposition party activists have lent political muscle, artists and performers have provided inspiration.
Several artists told Reuters that they had painted placards carried during mass protests, delivering messages against the government in New Delhi.
Since Modi came to power in 2014 several playwrights, filmmakers, musicians, and comedians have complained that their work has been censored or canceled following pressure, sometimes backed up by physical threats, from Hindu hardline groups affiliated with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
An artist who goes by the pseudonym Tyler has built a reputation as “Mumbai’s Banksy” for the street art on the walls of the city’s financial district.
“My recent painting on our prime minister was whitewashed within five days,” he said.
Since the protests erupted he has turned his attention to satirizing the citizenship law, and teaching fellow artists how to use stencils so that politicized art appears on more streets in cities across the country.
“During times of unrest a picture speaks a thousand words,” he said.
Additional reporting Nupur Anand in Mumbai; Writing by Rupam Jain; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
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Brazilian telecom Tim Participacoes third-quarter net profit jumps 61%
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian wireless carrier TIM Participações SA TIMP3.SA reported on Tuesday a 61.4% rise in third-quarter net income, compared with the same period a year ago when results were affected by one-off factors.
In a securities filing, the local subsidiary of Telecom Italia SpA TLIT.MI said its quarterly net profit hit 619 million reais ($155 million), compared with a consensus estimate of 607.87 million reais compiled by Refinitiv.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a gauge of operating performance known as EBITDA, grew by 6.8% year-on-year to 1.7 billion reais. Analysts on average expected EBITDA of 1.88 billion reais, according to Refinitiv data.
Brazil’s third-largest wireless carrier reported a net revenue of 127 million reais in the quarter ended on Sept. 30, up 31.5% from a year ago.
Operational expenses fell by 0.6% to 2.62 billion reais.
TIM's shares have risen over 4 percent so far this year, underperforming rival Telefonica Brasil SA TIMP3.SA, whose shares have climbed approximately 24% in the same period.
Earlier this week, Telefonica Brasil announced a decline in quarterly net income of almost 70% year-on-year, as non-recurring effects offset better mobile revenues.
Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Sandra Malerand Leslie Adler
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KTM Sportmotocycle AG
Ready to Test
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG
Building motorcycles that can withstand the most grueling environments - and competing globally with some of the largest and richest manufacturing companies, are all in a day’s work for KTM. To maintain its lead, the winning builder of twowheeled off-road, high-performance and racing machines relies on prototype and production parts supplied by Protolabs rapid injection moulding service.
Austria based KTM Sportmotorcycle AG builds just 110,000 motorcycles a year. By contrast, industry leader Honda usually pumps-out more than a million units every month, on average. So, how does a relatively small, niche builder like KTM compete in a market dominated by a Japanese manufacturing giant?
First and foremost, KTM produces only high performance bikes, which are, famously, ‘race-ready’ the moment they leave the factory. Motorsport is without question the toughest test of man and machine – it’s the quickest way to find a weakness in either. For many off-road races in certain categories, a typical starting grid consists largely of KTM bikes. Over the years, the company has accrued more than 130 world titles and is perhaps the best-known competitor in the annual Dakar Rally. A part-failure due to a material or design defect can have serious implications not just for the competitor, but also for the company and its hardwon reputation.
Helmut Gröbner is KTM group leader for plastic components, and heads-up a team of 10 designers. “The pressure on the product development team is enormous,” he says. "If a plastic part is approved for production it has to be 100% right. We leave nothing to chance. Our customers trust us implicitly.”
A new part is initially developed as a 3D CAD model in ProEngineer Wildfire and is immediately subjected to extensive static and dynamic finite element stress analysis. When the CAD design is finalised, the company uses Moldflow to simulate the injectionmoulding process, and only then can a prototype part be made for physical real-world testing.
In the case of KTM, ‘real-world’ is shorthand for conditions most people and most motorcycles would never encounter. But, KTM customers have very high expectations, and test-conditions for a new part need to be considerably worse than they are likely to come across.
No amount of virtual testing will guarantee a durable prototype. The only way to test the part is to make it and subject it to extremes of stress, temperature, load, etc. A prototype should be as close to the final production version as possible, both in terms of mechanical qualities and also material.
"Our first project with Protolabs’ rapid injection moulding service was a cover for a silencer on the exhaust,” says Mr. Gröbner. “Our budget for tooling was only €25 - 30,000 and we couldn’t risk going straight to production with a new design.” Size of development budgets is also another way in which KTM differs to Honda and other big manufacturers.
“Time was also short, but a colleague remembered seeing an advertisement for Protolabs. So, we gave it a go, took delivery of the prototype and in testing quickly discovered that the part we had designed in plastic wasn’t durable enough. Eventually, we decided to make the part from metal, but had we not made the prototype with the help of Protolabs, we would have wasted a great deal of time and money and we may well have ended up with a sub-standard part on the bike.”
Using conventional additive-prototyping methods to create the test part would have been inappropriate. "We have a 3D printer in-house, but clearly, these parts wouldn’t have given us any useful information other than visual. Other prototype methods such as vacuum casting and machining from solid plastic are useful, but the process of inquiry, quotation and delivery would have taken much longer than using Protolabs."
Happy with its first experience, KTM’s second opportunity to work with Protolabs came soon after.
"Our tight deadline was only met because of Protolabs."
"We were optimising the design of a filter compartment cover, which had been previously made of metal,” says Mr. Gröbner. “The goal was to design a cover that would open quickly without the need for a tool, but would also provide secure closing, so that strong vibrations couldn’t loosen it. We already had ideas how we would make the part in plastic, but time was very short indeed and series production was imminent. We had to find a solution, quickly.“
“Happily, Protolabs’ service came to our rescue again. We made our first part, which immediately showed up problems with the fit and the securing mechanism. We made some design revisions and the second part, everything was perfect. In just five weeks, we had tried two versions, finalised the design and taken delivery of 5,000 finished parts of production quality. Protolabs even had sufficient material in stock, so there was no delay. Our production launch was flawless and the solution to the filter box cover was found to be perfect."
KTMs may be race ready, but most also have to be road ready, which means parts must meet high standards for TÜV certification. “We designed a new grab handle for pillion passengers. The fundamental question was whether to use plastic or metal, and if we did use plastic, would the part achieve the required strength. Of course TÜV tests only finished, production parts, which we were able to submit by making them with Protolabs. The parts passed the rigorous tests and are now in full production."
The next challenge for Mr. Gröbner and his team came just a few months ahead of INTERMOT, Cologne, one of the most important trade shows on the motorcycle industry’s calendar.
“Just three months before the show, we set ourselves the task of creating our latest idea for a new rear-view mirror for the KTM 1190 Adventure, a full year ahead of schedule.”
As all bike enthusiasts know, a mirror is a prominent part on the machine, in direct line-of-sight of the rider. What’s more, the flagship KTM Adventure bike would attract a great deal of attention from customers, dealers and the world’s press. The new part would have to be flawless.
"Usually, you need a full year for a design process from concept to production,” says Mr. Gröbner, “including technical inspection. In this case, our tight deadline was only met because of Protolabs. We designed and took delivery of parts that were inspected and passed by TÜV before being fitted to the bike at INTERMOT. Only a few eagle-eyed visitors to the booth noticed that the mirrors on the bike present and those shown in the photo on the promotional poster were different. Incredibly, we redesigned and made the new part quicker than the printer could produce an updated illustration.”
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Power Tool Industry
Distribution May 2020
Retail Sales Fall 8.7%
Retail sales fell 8.7% in March after falling 0.5% in February and were down 6.2% from March 2019. Control group retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gasoline and sales at building and supply stores and factor into calculations for GDP, actually posted a modest 1.7% gain. Sales at building and supply stores rose 1.3%. It was the best monthly gain on record for grocery stores (+26.9%) and general merchandise stores. In addition, online sale rose 3.1%. April retail numbers will likely plummet further with panic buying subsiding and millions of American out of work.
The CV19 Retail Landscape
Several states took steps down the road to the new normal in late April, with some allowing non-essential retailers to re-open with social distancing guidelines that limit the number of customers allowed in a store to 25% to 50% of capacity. Some retailers reported that everyone who came in bought something, perhaps an indication of pent-up demand. In other states restrictions continued and, in some cases, became more strict, limiting the number of customers per square foot and further restricting hours. Bankruptcy filings are soaring, with retailers large and small filing for protection.
THD updated their CV19 response guidelines in mid-April, announcing that all stores would close at 6 p.m. daily in order to give associates enough time to clean and restock. Opening hours remain the same.
They have installed social distancing captains in the stores to reinforce social distancing and continue to limit the number of customers allowed in the store at any one time to 100. Floor distancing markers and additional signage have been added to encourage customers to follow guidelines. They’ve also posted hand washing and social distancing information in stores and warehouses.
THD expanded benefits for all hourly employees and created a special time off policy for associates who are 65 years of age or older or at special risk.
They’ve voluntarily frozen prices of high-demand products nationwide, redirected shipments of N95 masks to be donated to essential workers and donated millions of dollars’ worth of PPE to hospitals, health care providers and first responders.
They are limiting installed services to those that are essential for maintenance or repairs.
Lowe’s closed all their stores and distribution centers in the US and Canada on Easter Sunday in order to give their 300,000 associates a much needed day off. They also assured employees that no one would lose any scheduled hours or pay as a result. Lowe’s increased wages throughout the month of April, provided a special payment for hourly associates and made sure there were masks and gloves available for associates who wanted to wear them.
Jennifer Weber resigned from her post as EVP human resources in early April. She’d been EVP since March 2016. Janice Little, Lowe’s SVP talent management and diversity, is assuming Weber’s role while Lowe’s searches for a permanent successor. Weber was responsible for several initiatives, including the Tracks to the Trades program, which helps employees work toward certification in a range of trades. She will remain in her position of chair of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. She’s getting more than $2.5 million in severance over 24 months and has an 18-month non-compete agreement.
Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison’s compensation fell 19% to $11.6 million in 2019. His 2019 package included a base amount of $1.45 million, plus stock and options awards and compensation tied to performance goals.
Walmart named former Target senior vice president William White as chief marketing officer, concluding an eight-month search. White spent seven years at Target, and is replacing Walmart’s previous CMO, Barbara Messing, who left the company last August.
Menards banned children under 16 and pets other than service animals from stores in order to help prevent the spread of CV19. Menards also changed their hours to allow extra time for cleaning and sanitizing.
Ace Hardware and their independent retailers plan to hire a total of more than 30,000 people to better serve their communities during the CV19 crisis.
An Ace Hardware store in Winston-Salem, North Carolina is offering virtual home maintenance assistance to customers. They are partnering with North Carolina based home repair technology startup Patch. Customers can share details about their project with an Ace associate at the location or a remote home assistant. Homeowners can then use the app’s chat or video function to get assistance in making repairs, recommendations on the types of tools and supplies they need and connect with a professional if they want a contractor to handle the job.
CEO John Hartmann left True Value in mid-April. He took True Value through their dramatic transition from a hardware co-op to a privately held distributor. Former Grainger exec Chris Kempa, who recently joined True Value in the newly created role of chief commercial officer, will move up into the CEO spot. Current CFO Deborah O’Connor will become president and CFO. Hartmann will remain into May to aid with the transition and will continue to serve on the board. Hartmann and Kempa appeared together in a video, with both men observing six-feet of social distancing, to announce the news. Hartmann stated that he knew he was leaving True Value in a position to thrive. Kempa said he was very excited to lead the business into the next phase of growth.
Former CEO John Hartmann accepted a job as the new COO of Bed Bath & Beyond; he was also named president of the company’s buybuyBaby unit. He’ll report to CEO Mark Tritton.
True Value stores across the country are participating in the co-op’s Shine-A-Light campaign by hanging decorative lights in their store fronts to show goodwill, hope and solidarity. True Value says Shine-A-Light tells communities True Value stores are open and ready to help however they can.
True Value will defer making principal payments to former members as they focus on supporting current True Value retailers. They will continue to pay interest to former members. However, some of the retailers entitled to receive payments noted that they were owed payments on December 31, 2019, and instead received a letter in January saying they would be paid in Spring 2020.
Q1 sales increased 7.2% to $3.0 billion. On a daily basis, sales were up 5.5%. The first quarter had one more selling day than the prior year period. Sales were composed of volume increases of approximately 7% and price and mix headwinds of around 2%. Foreign exchange contributed a 0.2% unfavorable impact. Grainger suspended their previously issued guidance for the year and paused share repurchases due to uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.
Q1 Revenue rose 26.5% to $75.5 billion. Total revenue for North America was $46.1 billion. AWS revenue rose to $10.2 billion.
They plan a major investment in Q2. They expect to invest their entire anticipated operating profit of $4 billion, and possibly more, on COVID-related expenses getting products to customers and keeping employees safe. That will include investments in personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning of facilities, less efficient process paths that better allow for effective social distancing, higher wages for hourly teams and hundreds of millions to develop their own COVID-19 testing capabilities.
Amazon will halt their Amazon shipping program in June in order to move workers towards fulfilling Amazon orders. Amazon Shipping was launched in 2018 to compete with FedEx and UPS, delivering non-Amazon products across several major US cities.
Amazon is extending their higher hourly pay and double overtime pay, and offering warehouse employees in the US and Canada an extra $2 per hour through mid-May. However, Amazon asked warehouse employees who have stayed away from work during the pandemic to return to scheduled shifts beginning May 1, or request a leave of absence.
Amazon is looking for an additional 75,000 workers on top of the 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers they began hiring in March. As of the end of March they’d hired 80,000 new workers. Amazon has had to change how they operate, with CV19 panic buying causing many items to run low and delivery slots to take longer than allotted. They have also had to close several facilities after workers tested positive.
Amazon is developing their own lab to screen workers, saying that being able to tell who is infected is essential to return to some sort of normal business model. Amazon acknowledged that they might not be ready before the current outbreak subsides, but they believe it is worth the investment, and are willing to share everything they learn with others. They are working on antigen testing, which is a diagnostic test to determine whether a person is infected. Amazon stated that regular testing on a global scale across all industries would both help keep people safe and help the economy get back up and running.
Amazon lifted the ban imposed in March that prevented sellers on the Amazon marketplace from shipping nonessential items to Amazon warehouses. While delivery demand has continued to soar, Amazon now has more workers to pick up the slack. Amazon also announced they’d expand their temporary $2 hourly raise to more workers. They reached out and invited people who have lost their jobs or been temporarily furloughed to come work for Amazon until things return to normal and they can go back to their former jobs.
Amazon notified sellers on the marketplace that N95 masks, face shields, surgical gowns and some other items would be made available exclusively to hospitals and government organizations. Amazon has also stepped up safety precautions at warehouses and sites around the world.
Amazon stopped accepting new online grocery customers. Instead, new customers will be added to a wait list as Amazon adds capacity. They plan to launch a feature that will help customers secure a virtual place in line to distribute delivery windows on a first come, first served basis. Amazon also offered higher pay to encourage warehouse workers to work for the grocery delivery window.
© Robert Bosch Tool Corporation. All rights reserved, no copying or reproducing is permitted without prior written approval.
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A Teenage BLM Organizer Was Targeted By A Gun Business Owner. Now What?
Home News A Teenage BLM Organizer Was Targeted By A Gun Business Owner. Now What?
News Categories: Politics and Regional News
article by Kanchan, News Team Contributor
Weeks before a youth-led Black Lives Matter protest that took place outside the Dublin Civic Center, owner of local gun business Mike Grant posted a picture of the 17-year old organizer Denel McMahan on his Facebook page. The caption read, “Please bring your vests and helmets in case these BLM people start trouble.. Remember this group is known as a left wing anti-government group. Take Dublin back!” Within days, the veiled threat garnered a swift and strong backlash from the Dublin community and beyond. From city residents to Congressman Eric Swalwell, people came together to defend “these BLM people” and the cause they champion.
When I first learned about the situation, I was curious to know who “these BLM people” were, and how Grant’s social media targeting has affected them in this increasingly polarized climate. I had a chat with high school senior Denel McMahan, the president of Dublin High’s Black Student Union and member of the Tri-Valley Black Lives Matter movement. Denel was inspired by the string of protests that captured the heart of America this past summer, and wanted to bring peaceful advocacy to his city. Here are his thoughts on the Facebook controversy, our recent presidential elections, and his plans for the future:
1) You’re a staunch supporter of racial equality and a member of the Black Lives Matter movement. As a Gen Z activist, how do you think social media and the Internet Age have affected both racism and social advocacy?
I think that social media has been a great resource throughout this period of COVID-19 and quarantine. The thing that I love about it is that social media has no boundary when it comes to education. People are free to post about whatever in its true form. This includes history. In school, history is heavily censored and manipulated in order to make students comfortable. However, to make real change we need to stop desiring comfortability. We learn about history to avoid repeating it, but we are right now due to sheltering students from traumatic concepts. The same goes for the internet too. I’ve learned more Black history myself through Google than I have in my 11 and a half years of schooling. My parents are also a great resource, but not everyone has parents who understand Black history in its entirety or are Black in general. So, if you want to learn more about truthful history, I recommend looking through Social Media and researching through Google.
2) At school, you’re the president of the Black Student Union. How has this experience shaped your journey of raising awareness and initiating change in your community as a whole?
My presidency has allowed me to earn a platform that is being taken seriously by our administration. For 3 years, I sat and watched the past presidents and how they ran the BSU. Through that, I began to shape my leading style and figured out what I wanted to do with my position. With it, I wanted to do the best I could. I not only wanted to improve our BSU and increase its presence on campus, but I wanted to make sure that we were involved in the Black Lives Matter movement efforts in Dublin. A protest was held in Dublin and there was so much support. Eventually, the other BSU officers and I drafted plans for school change, and our admin engaged heavily with us and is even making more opportunities for us to help the community out more.
3) As the 2020 election comes to a close, we find ourselves at the precipice of extraordinary political change. What legislative changes do you hope our new administration will bring to address racism, criminal justice, and police brutality?
I just hope that there’s some sense of accountability that comes with a new president. Of course, the President doesn’t have all the power in the federal government, but I feel that at least when incidents of brutality happen, we will have his support. The other big thing that I would want to see is national reparations. Those have been promised to Black Americans since the end of Slavery, but they haven’t been done. They are currently planning a reparations task force in California, so that would be interesting to see what they try to implement. However, they need to be done at the national level since slavery was pretty much a national thing before it ended.
4) If you’re comfortable speaking about this, what was the experience of seeing Mr. Grant’s Facebook post like? Was this kind of backlash something you’ve experienced in the past?
It was very worrying for me. When I saw the post, I was in Las Vegas for my sister’s 21st birthday. When I got word of the post, I was physically shaking. My face had been posted in a public, alt-right Facebook group for many conservatives to see. I saw that it had 29 shares, so that was 30 people who saw me as some thug trying to destroy Dublin, which in no case I was. The event was passed unanimously and was city-sponsored. A huge part of my nervousness was also because this was the first time I received public backlash. I knew I would eventually get some, but never that quick and never by a grown man.
5) In a conversation with ABC News, you mentioned that you’re willing to have a conversation with Mr. Grant. Do you feel like conversations like this are possible at a larger scale, where protestors and counter-protestors can reach middle ground in constructive, innocuous ways?
Honestly, I believe that the political climate has destroyed any possibility of large-scale, constructive conversations. I think the best way to have them is in private so that all you need to do is to listen. A simple one-on-one conversation to get to a middle ground is the most effective way to do so. However, I hope that one day, groups of people from different beliefs can come together and conversate without it becoming ineffective or violent.
6) What advice do you have for other young people who want to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement?
My advice is to be vocal. In this time, silence also means compliance. Take the time to understand it and bring it close to you. Even in this time of COVID, there are social media platforms. Making and sharing posts are still great ways to advocate for the movement. If you find yourself wanting to protest, don’t be scared. The supporters will always outweigh the opposition.
These are wise words, especially coming from an individual who helped organize a Black Lives Matter protest on November 15th. The demonstration was both peaceful and successful, with Denel and his peers giving speeches about racism, their participation in the Black Student Union, and the harsh realities of police brutality in America. In a creative display of solidarity, this protest featured a ‘Sign Garden’, where signs and posters supporting the Black Lives Matter were placed everywhere from City Hall to the Civic Plaza. These signs were both positive and united, some of them including messages like, “Fear and hate have no place here” and “Color is not a crime”.
Personally, I’m both relieved and overjoyed that this demonstration, despite the initial conflict, remained peaceful and constructive. It was interesting to see this single cause bring together different generations, ethnicities, and cities to reflect on racial justice. But I can’t help but harken back to Denel’s comment about initiating a conversation with Grant. What does the exchange between these two political antipodes suggest about the future of race relations in America?
In a flash of optimism, I’d like to believe that recorded displays of police brutality, such as the tragic murder of George Floyd, will bring different ends of the socio-political spectrum together. As said by Will Smith, “Racism is not getting worse; it’s getting recorded.” Before videos of racism had the opportunity to go viral on social media and mainstream news outlets, it was far easier for American citizens to exist within an ideological bubble, where systemic oppression did not exist. That’s much harder to do, when they’re being confronted by a live video of police brutality and racial profiling at its worst.
Furthermore, I do think that the coronavirus outbreak may offer a moment for the public to self-reflect, and consider how racial and socio-economic privilege has ravaged the very ideals we consider the ‘soul’ of America. After the strong online response to his incendiary post, Grant discussed how he became ‘educated’ about what it means to be a person of color in the United States in a phone interview with ABC.
“I never thought a 17-year old-boy could teach a 65-year-old man something, but he did,” said Grant. “For the last four and-a-half days I’ve lived it. Just with phone calls, and texts and hate mail and stuff. Now I think I understand why this young man is doing this, to try to educate people.”
The First Amendment of the American Constitution offers each one of us a voice, but these voices are muffled or confined in echo chambers due political polarization. And personally, I can attest to subscribing to certain echo chambers as well. My social media feed is primarily consumed by individuals who shared the same political views that I do. My choices in mainstream media are a reflection of my opinions as well. During the 2020 election, I found myself isolating from certain subsets of the Indian-American population who identified as Trump supporters. And while these tendencies may be very normal on both ends of the spectrum in our heated political climate, they also contribute to an ideological myopia. Men like Mike Grant have no idea what it’s like to be a young black man, constantly targeted and unjustly policed. They read and watch media which feeds them highly distorted narratives on race in this country, and it shows. Prior to this incident, I can’t help but wonder if Grant has ever had a constructive, honest conversation with a supporter of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Could this gap be bridged? Perhaps the path to an educated America — an America willing to recognize its racism for what it is — requires a space where these conversations can take place.
©Ptownlife.org
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A Small Family Business
Ranked #4 on the list Best Books by Alan Ayckbourn
About A Small Family Business
A Small Family Business is a play by Alan Ayckbourn, based around the business of the title and dealing with the Thatcherism of the time. It premiered at the Olivier stage of the Royal National Theatre on 20 May 1987, where it won the Evening Standard Award for Best Play for that year. Its Broadway premiere occurred on 27 April 1992. A radio adaptation directed by Martin Jarvis was broadcast at 8pm on Sunday 12 April 2009 on BBC Radio 3 as part of the celebrations of its author's 70th birthday that day. Its cast included:
Ranked #4 in Best Books by Alan Ayckbourn
By Listnerd
Best Books by Alan Ayckbourn
in Education & Books
on October 3rd 2013
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Alumna donates $5M to Pacific’s pharmacy school
Cassie Dickman
cdickman@recordnet.com
STOCKTON — A University of the Pacific alumna has donated millions of dollars to fund drug development at the university’s Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy in Stockton.
The $5 million will go to creating the Jie Du Center for Innovation and Excellence for Drug Development, according to a university news release sent out last week. Du graduated in 1993 with a PhD in pharmaceutics from Pacific before later serving as founder, president and CEO of JDP Therapeutics Inc. until 2019.
Du said in the statement she’d wanted to do something for the university’s students that would make a “meaningful difference.”
“When I started my American life as a young student at Pacific who barely spoke English, I never dreamed that one day I could contribute to the success of the university’s School of Pharmacy,” Du said. “I’m deeply grateful for the education I received and this opportunity to prepare Pacific students as they embark on careers in pharmaceutical drug development and business.”
Du’s contribution will be matched by the Powell Fund Match, a $125 million fund set up from the estate of the late university Regents Robert C. Powell and Jeannette Powell, resulting in an overall $10 million endowment to Pacific’s pharmacy school, university officials said.
The new center will be available to university alumni and scientists currently working in the industry, as well as Pacific students, university officials said. The center will promote innovation in drug development through education, training and mentorship, while also fostering collaboration between students and industrial scientists and allowing students to learn how to navigate current challenges in the industry.
“Innovation is a precious commodity for the cutting-edge, highly competitive pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries,” Bhaskara R. Jasti, a professor of pharmaceutics and medicinal chemistry at Pacific, said in the statement. “We are excited the center will provide a platform for entrepreneurial innovators to translate their ideas into products that improve the well-being of patients.”
Phillip R. Oppenheimer, dean of the School of Pharmacy, also said in the statement the donation allows the school to create a distinctive academic center.
“The center’s key initiatives are focused on student success, including support for research, student travel for presentations and funding of innovative research equipment,” Oppenheimer said. “These opportunities will play a crucial role in transforming our students into practice-ready scientists and professionals.”
Contact reporter Cassie Dickman at (209) 546-8299 or cdickman@recordnet.com. Follow her on Twitter @byCassieDickman.
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Home » The Incredible Regions of Scotland » Glorious Glasgow and Clyde Valley » Discover the Delightful Town of Greenock
Discover the Delightful Town of Greenock
Greenock can be found standing proudly on the southern bank of the Clyde River as it becomes the Firth of Clyde. Constituting a section of the Inverclyde Council Area, this burgh is home to over 45,000 people. With a history extending back many years, a number of interesting attractions and a very busy harbor, Greenock is a great place to spend a few days whilst in Scotland.
The history of Scotland’s Greenock is said to have begun sometime in the latter part of the 1500s. At first it was just a small village focused on fishing. In the following century a pier and breakwater were created on the banks of the Clyde. Greenock became largely involved in shipbuilding. The small harbor was converted into a main port in the very early 1700s. Greenock flourished as many trade ships from the Caribbean came to the port bearing sugar. Records show that by the year 1850 there were some 400 sugar ships docking at Greenock, which had set up some 14 sugar refineries. As the town grew in prestige, so did its buildings, for example the auspicious Municipal Buildings with an impressive 245 foot tower.
Unfortunately, Greenock was badly hit by World War Two. Industry helped build up the town again, but unemployment became a problem in the 1970s and 80s. Efforts have been made in the last few years to redevelop this large burgh and tourism has certainly assisted in this. Several cruise ships stop at the port of Greenock which has a number of interesting tourist attractions.
As Greenock is not a terribly big town, it offers visitors a chance to stroll around and take in the various sights. Friendly residents are always on hand to assist you in finding your destination. As previously mentioned, in its opulent days Greenock built a number of excellent structures. Whilst walking around the town you can look out for the Town Hall, Custom House, churches, Sheriff Court, various mansions and the Watt Monument Library. The Esplanade is a wonderful saunter, which leads to the sparkling waters of the River Clyde. From this fine walkway, you can enjoy spectacular views right out to Kilcreggan and Helensburgh. For more stunning panoramas, make your way to Craig’s Top at the apex of Lyle Hill.
Visitors to Greenock will not want to miss out on Underheugh Cottage. This brilliant attraction is actually a working smallholding that is completely self-reliant. The owners organize various activities such as pig-keeping lessons, nature walks, gardening courses and the opportunity to dress up like an ancient Scot and experience what life was like back then. Further cultural experiences are available at the McLean Museum and Art Gallery. Here you can learn all about shipbuilding in Greenock, as well as view a number of stuffed animals. Take time out at the Waterfront Leisure Center with its swimming pool, ice rink and gym. Alternatively, you can engage in some retail therapy at Oak Mall, which boasts some 85 stores.
Those who take the time to visit Greenock with be delighted with this vacation decision. This wonderful town has so much to offer that you will likely want to return for more.
back to Glasgow and Clyde Valley
The ruins of Ballinbreich Castle can be seen almost three miles east of Newburgh on a steep bank on the southern shore overhanging the Firth of Tay. The ruins stand on private property but it was originally with the ancient Abernathy family before it passed by marriage to the Earls of Rothes. The Earls of Rothes took from it the title Baron Ballinbreich. Ballinbreich is a Celtic word which ...
Be careful if you admit not to have heard of Ardmore, for it is a common ingredient of many top whiskey blends! Ardmore uses barley with such extreme peat qualities that only the discerning can appreciate its characteristic pungency. Most of the production from the stills of Ardmore is used by independent brand owners, but aficionados can locate the company’s original brands on occasion. You ...
The Incredible Regions of Scotland
Glorious Glasgow and Clyde Valley
Enjoy Your Stay in Motherwell
Leadhills – Brimming With History
Lanark – Home to Many Historical Attractions
Explore the Town of Paisley
Include Hamilton on Your Itinerary
Visit the Historical Town of Biggar
Glorious Glasgow
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"LITTLE BOY"
(2015) (Jakob Salvati, Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa) (PG-13)
Drama: An eight-year-old boy follows a local priest's advice about how to strengthen his faith all in hopes of bringing his father back home from World War II.
It's the 1940s, and the small coastal town of Ohaire, California seems idyllic in its Norman Rockwell type setting. There, James Busbee (MICHAEL RAPAPORT) runs the local auto shop with his son, London (DAVID HENRIE), who's set to join the Army to fight in World War II. But when he's rejected due to his flat feet, his father decides to take his place, much to the chagrin and worry of his wife, Emma (EMILY WATSON), and especially their young son, Pepper (JAKOB SALVATI).
He's an eight-year-old boy who doesn't really have any friends outside of his father with whom he shares various flights of fancy, including imagining himself as comic book hero/movie star/magician Ben Eagle (BEN CHAPLIN). Unlike the hulking local simpleton, Teacup (ABRAHAM BENRUBI), Pepper is very small for his age, and thus is often subject to bullying by various kids, including Freddy (MATTHEW SCOTT MILLER), the son of the local widowed physician, Dr. Fox (KEVIN JAMES).
Another person who is harassed by others is Hashimoto (CARY-HIROYUKI TAGAWA), a Japanese-American who's lived in the U.S. for decades but was recently incarcerated in an internment camp due to his ethnicity. Now released, he must contend with the likes of locals such as Sam (TED LEVINE) and others who don't like him living there.
Hashimoto's only ally is Father Oliver (TOM WILKINSON), the local priest who determines that pairing him up with Pepper will do the boy good. He add that to the list of things Pepper needs to do in order to strengthen his faith. Father Oliver wants to give the boy hope all while putting his faith in God to bring James back home from the war. Believing that will work, Pepper sets out to accomplish all of those things on the list, including reluctantly becoming friends with Hashimoto.
It's possible some might be interested since it features a young boy as the protagonist, but the subject matter and storyline might not sound that enticing to others.
For some mature thematic material and violence.
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Individual Studies Major
The Individual Studies (IS) Major in the Leavey School of Business has been established to meet the needs of students who wish to design their own major in Business with a multidisciplinary perspective.
If you are considering proposing an Individual Studies major in Business, please read the requirements (below) carefully to make sure that you qualify and that the major is right for you. Then visit the following pages for more details and links to the downloadable forms:
Steps for Declaring an IS major in the School of Business »
Frequently Asked Questions »
Requirements for the major
A student majoring in Individual Studies in the Business School must be enrolled in the Leavey School of Business. In addition to fulfilling the University Undergraduate Core Curriculum and the core requirements for the bachelor of science in commerce (BSC) in the School of Business, the student must complete the requirements in her or his approved plan of study.
To declare the IS major, the student must submit and obtain approval of a Petition for an Individual Studies major in the Leavey School.
Requirements for the petition and approval
At the time of application, the student must:
have been a full-time student at Santa Clara for at least one year, and
have a minimum 3.0 overall grade point average
The petition must include:
A clear description of the proposed program, including its unifying theme(s) and overall learning objectives;
A well-developed argument, supported by appropriate evidence, showing that (1) no existing academic major(s) and/or minor(s) can meet the student's educational objectives, and (2) the proposed major is not merely a combination of existing programs that could feasibly be completed by the student;
A plan of study listing the courses or menus of courses, seminars, internships, etc., that meet the student's educational objectives, which should include a minimum of eight (8) upper-division courses in addition to those required by the Undergraduate Core Curriculum and the School of Business Undergraduate Core, at least four (4) of which should be courses offered in the Business School (IS major courses may also count toward a student's selected Pathway);
The signed approval of a designated faculty advisor for the IS major, normally a tenured or tenure-track member of the Leavey School of Business.
The petition must be reviewed and approved by the Faculty Director of Undergraduate Programs in the Leavey School of Business, in consultation with faculty in affected departments and programs if necessary. Reasonable modifications of the above guidelines may be approved by the Faculty Director.
Undergraduates Sections Undergraduates
Community & Campus Involvement
Contact Undergraduate Business
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This Student Got Kicked Out of Her College Gym for Wearing Workout Clothes
She was wearing a crop top, leggings, and sneakers.
By Lindsey Lanquist
Facebook/Sarah Villafañe
When one College of Charleston student got kicked out of the university's gym over dress code concerns, she wasn't going down without a fight.
Last week, Sarah Villafañe showed up to the student fitness center wearing workout clothes: a crop top, leggings, and sneakers. In a Facebook post, the student explained she'd specifically bought the athleisure outfit so she'd have something to wear to the gym. So Villafañe was surprised when gym employees asked her to cover up, change her shirt, or leave.
"When I walked into the gym, they asked me to put on a different shirt," Villafañe wrote in the post. "Obviously I didn't bring an extra shirt to the gym and wasn't about to wear my flannel while working out." But she went on with her workout, feeling "pretty pissed off" that they'd brought up her outfit at all.
As she was doing an abs circuit in the corner of the gym, another staff member approached her and asked her to "put her shirt back on." "I said, 'I have a shirt on,'" Villafañe recounted. "They say, 'No, that's not a shirt.' " When the employee threatened to get the fitness center manager, Villafañe laughed and said, "Bring him over here if he has a problem."
The manager then approached her, asking her to put a shirt on. Again, Villafañe simply replied, "I am wearing a shirt." He repeated himself and said if she didn't put a shirt on, she'd need to leave. She responded, "But I have a shirt on." Once more, he asked, "Are you going to put a shirt on?" And Villafañe replied, "Well if this isn't a shirt, no—I'm not going to put a shirt on." So she was kicked out of the fitness center, mid-workout, all over a crop top.
What Villafañe found the most shocking was that she'd been wearing that exact outfit all day. "[I] went to three classes and spoke personally with each of my professors today, and they didn't have a problem," she said. "I bought this outfit to work out in because it's COMFORTABLE…I'm forced to leave, WHY? Honestly I'm so floored that I just got kicked out for this. DO BETTER COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON."
Villafañe later updated her post after the gym told her they asked her to leave over sanitation concerns. "However, they never made those sanitary concerns clear when they asked me to change," she said. "They told me I need 'more coverage' and nothing more." Villafañe added that the fitness center has no official dress code. A sign at the front of the gym reads, "Athletic wear must be worn," and that's it.
The school responded with a brief statement. "This practice of wearing a T-shirt is for sanitary reasons," College of Charleston spokesman Mike Robertson told ABC News 4. "We want to reduce skin contact with facility equipment. These rules are applied to both males and females."
ABC News 4 reported that the fitness center's dress code states: "Athletic attire is to be worn. This includes T-shirts, running shoes, sneakers, shorts, or pants. Footwear must be worn."
Villafañe's story has really resonated with the online world. Her Facebook post received 1,100 reactions, 498 shares, and 373 comments—with some social media users defending her choice of gym wear and others supporting the fitness center's sanitary concerns.
No matter what side you're on, I think we can all agree that having to leave the gym mid-workout is never fun. And it's even worse when you’re not clearly told why you’re being kicked out. Hopefully Villafañe will have more luck the next time she hits the gym, and maybe the College of Charleston gym will be a little bit more straightforward about their dress code from now on.
See Villafañe's workout clothes Facebook post in full below.
This 11-Year-Old Girl Was Pulled Out of Class for Wearing Leggings, and That's Not OK
Six Flags Said This Woman’s Shirt Was "Inappropriate" on Her, But Not on Her Guy Friend
Here's the Amazing Way These Middle Schoolers Are Protesting Their School's Sexist Dress Code
You might also like: Fitness Trainer Zehra Allibhai Proves That You Can Totally Wear a Hijab While Working Out
Lindsey Lanquist joined SELF as Culture Reporter in February 2016. From there, she became Associate Culture Editor and eventually Staff Writer. At SELF, Lindsey has specialized in culture, love, and sex, but also written about health, food, fitness, and beauty. Prior to SELF, Lindsey wrote about fashion and entertainment for... Read more
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Partnership for health in Ethiopia
The way that charities like Save the Children work in a country is more complex than people think. It is understandable that members of the public donate money and assume that we’re delivering services. Sometimes we perpetuate this by saying things like “we save lives” and “we have immunised children”. But actually, what we’re always doing is supporting long-term, sustainable solutions through government systems. If we do it right, ideally we should not even be involved in the future!
In Ethiopia, I was able to visit some excellent examples of this way of working: health system strengthening which supports government systems, not undermines them. Save the Children has recruited, developed and supported Community Health Promotors, volunteers who promote awareness of health services and healthy practices in the community and support the work of the (paid) Community Health Extension Workers. They visit homes in their remote mountain community to talk about health needs, and can represent the community and advocate for their health needs.
In Amhara, we have developed a very positive partnership with the government. The extent of this is visible in the sign on the left – the main sign for the health centre in Sayint in Amhara region which carried the national flag and Save the Children’s logo. We are certainly not interfering in the job of the government which pays the salaries and the running costs of this excellent health centre.
Mr Buzayehu, the very dynamic director of the health centre, was clear that he values the way that Save the Children supports his health centre. We support it through funding and running additional services, including youth-friendly services such as “Stepping Stones” groups of young people, women and men who discuss HIV and gender, and renovating toilets and washing facilities. He and the official from the Woreda (local government) were emphatic that we support their priorities and do not impose our own.
The balance for an international NGO and the communities we work with is to help to support government systems as (the only long-term solution), as well as to encourage the government to invest more and target the poorest people better. When we get that right, it is good partnership and good advocacy.
It was very inspiring to meet the Save the Children team in Amhara Region: Mickey, Mulugeta, Bella, Brooke, Mulugeta, Alana, Mesle, Tiqist and Seifu who (together with Genet from the Addis office) really helped me understand our way of working and inspired me with their commitment and passion. I have probably spelt some names wrong but wanted to thank them all!
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Negotiators work on tax deal as House holds vote
Written by silvercitydailypress on December 2, 2010
WASHINGTON (AP) — Negotiators worked on a deal today that would extend expiring tax cuts for everyone even as House Democrats moved toward a vote to show their commitment to letting taxes on the wealthy go up.
The vote is a political maneuver to satisfy Democratic supporters who oppose extending tax cuts for the wealthy. Even if the bill passes the House, it has no chance in the Senate, where Democrats need Republican support to pass a tax bill.
Sweeping income tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush are set to expire at the end of the year. If Congress does not act, taxpayers at every income level would be hit with a significant tax increase.
President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress want to extend the tax cuts only for individuals making less than $200,000 and married couples making less than $250,000. The bill being voted on in the House would do that.
Republicans and some rankand- file Democrats want to extend the tax cuts for everyone, and the White House has left open the door for a compromise that would extend all the tax cuts for up to three years, including those for the wealthy.
Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina said today he believes Obama is ready to embrace the notion of keeping Bush-era tax rates in place for everyone, at least temporarily.
DeMint told CBS’s “The Early Show’ that he believes Obama “has come around to the idea that taxes can’t be raised in a recession.’
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House Budget Director Jacob Lew began holding closed-door meetings Wednesday with a group of four lawmakers from both parties to negotiate a deal on tax cuts. Those talks continuetoday, even as the House votes on the Democratic plan.
Reps. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Dave Camp, R-Mich., two of the lawmakers involved in the tax negotiations, gave no indication today that they were making any progress on a deal.
“We’ve just begun the discussion,’ said Camp. “But I think it’s so important that we prevent a tax hike, so we can get the economy moving again and get job creation going again.’
Van Hollen argued it’s also important to pass an extensionof unemployment benefits for people who are about to run out. “You have to pay for about $13 billion in emergency unemployment compensation for people out of work through no fault of their own,’ he said. “But (Republicans) want a permanent extension of tax cuts for the folks at the very top, which adds $700 billion.’
Van Hollen added, “This is the kind of conversation we’ve been having up here.’
Both men appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America.’
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs reiterated on Wednesday that Obama’s main goal is to prevent a middle-class tax increase. Obama’s “other line in the sand’ is that he won’t support a permanent extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.
Obama has specifically voiced his objection to a permanent extension “to the wealthiest Americans.’
“Having said that, we agreed that there must be some sensible common ground,’ Obama said.
ePopulate · Main
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Aldo Leopold Charter School jumps up a grade
Written by C.P. Thompson" title=" C.P. Thompson" class="author-link" rel="author"> C.P. Thompson on September 2, 2017
The New Mexico Public Education Department released the annual grades last week, and Aldo Leopold Charter School moved up a spot, from a C to a B.
“We are pleased, of course,” said Dave Chandler, director of community outreach and development for Aldo. “We feel like the school grade is an important indicator, but it is not everything about the school.”
In the category of college and career readiness, Aldo earned an A, which Chandler attributed to the school’s higher credit requirements for graduation. Students need a minimum of 27 credit hours to graduate, which is more than the state requirement of 24 and a half or 25 credit hours.
Aldo received an F in graduation, however. Because of the low numbers in the graduating class — 16 last year — Chandler said, if one or two students don’t graduate, that brings their entire grade down.
Another category the school fell short in was improvement of lower-performing students, with another F.
Chandler explained that was due to the number of special needs students.
“We have an unusually high rate of special needs students,” he said. “They traditionally test very poorly year after year. We are not being neglectful to the special needs students, it’s just a hard group to test. They might need language interpreters or questions repeated to understand what is being asked.”
The grades are determined by a school’s performance on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test. Chandler said that PARCC grades are accurate but limited.
“PARCC is relatively an accurate assessment,” he said. “Teachers use the data to inform them about what they can focus on and put more emphasis on, like language arts and math skills. We feel testing is important. It’s nice to compare schools, but it is just one snapshot of the school.”
Two years ago, Chandler said Aldo was the third-highest ranked school in the state in academics, but received a grade of C.
“Grades are important, but there are other ways to evaluate schools and teachers,” he said.
Aldo Leopold, which is a middle school and high school, received B’s in 2014 and 2015. In the bonus category, which is based on extracurricular activities, Aldo earned five points, for their family involvement and the use of technology.
“We continue to look forward to working with other schools,” Chandler said, “and to collaborating with students and teachers. We can all learn from each other. Every school can learn from another school.”
—C.P. Thompson
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State revokes permit, but Jalisco Cafe remains open
Written by Silver City Daily Press on May 23, 2020
Silver City’s Jalisco Cafe remained open Saturday, despite suspension of its food permit Friday afternoon by the New Mexico Environment Department.
“Until they take me out in handcuffs or whatever, yeah, I’m coming in,” said Michael Mesa, owner of the cafe. “We’re going to work.”
The state’s move came after the downtown restaurant reopened for dine-in service last Monday morning, in defiance of the N.M. Health Department’s public health orders enacted to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the state. After initial orders issued March 13 limited restaurants to 50 percent capacity, the state moved a week later to limit restaurant operation to carryout and delivery service only — restrictions which have permanently closed at least two Silver City restaurants, and temporarily shuttered others.
“When any business presents an imminent risk to public health or the environment, the Department will not hesitate to use all of its authorities to protect New Mexicans,” Environment Department Secretary James Kenney said in a news release issued Friday. “[T]he vast majority of restaurants are operating in compliance and protecting public health from the threat of COVID-19.”
The restaurateur disagreed with the state’s interpretation of its Food Service and Sanitation Act, which, according to the state’s press release, authorizes NMED to immediately suspend a permit if “conditions within a food service establishment present a substantial danger of illness, serious physical harm or death to consumers who might patronize the food service establishment.” Mesa said the state’s revocation abused the law
“It’s like saying something egregious — like you did something really dirty in the back and caused someone to get ill, like you have rodents, or you caused food poisoning, or something really bad,” Mesa said.
The Governor’s Office, however, sees the situation differently, according to an email to the Daily Press from Tripp Stelnicki, director of communications for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
“It’s actually a lot more egregious than that,” Stelnicki wrote. “On top of violating the law, on top of putting customers and employees health at risk, it is extremely unjust — every single other restaurant in the state is suffering just as much as this owner would claim to be, but is playing by the rules, because they understand the need to help keep people safe and healthy.”
“But with this … virus, you can’t prove that anybody got sick here,” Mesa said. “Where did they get the virus? Where did it come from? It could be — there’s no way to prove that. … It’s ambiguous, at best. You can’t even prove it, but they’re making a case for it. They’re using that statute to say, ‘We’re going to take your license, we’re going to shut you down.’”
“We could absolutely ‘prove’ if someone got sick at that restaurant, there is nothing ‘ambiguous’ about it,” Stelnicki responded in the email. “That’s what contact tracing is. That happens every single day with scores of businesses and services all across the state. Ninety-five percent of them understand the risk to people, their customers and employees, and are obeying the law — and when they do have a positive, they shut down, they cooperate with the Department of Health to get everyone tested and clear.”
Mesa pointed out that despite disagreeing with the state’s health orders, he had complied with them completely — until last Monday. Even after defying the rules by reinstating dine-in service Monday, he said the restaurant continues to follow the prior limitations of reduced capacity, increased sanitation and protective gear for staff.
“We’re wearing masks, we do gloves, we’re sanitizing … everything,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of backlash, and we’ve had a lot of support.”
Mesa said that without the federal Paycheck Protection Program the restaurant received, he likely would have had to take action even sooner.
“Without PPP, we would be dead,” he said. And despite the assistance, “I have other costs, and other overhead. [But] without the PPP, we would have been forced to — you know, we would have stayed open, period, because we couldn’t navigate the cost.”
Mesa expressed frustration that business owners were not, in his view, being allowed flexibility to look out for their customers in ways that make sense for them and their community.
“It’s important for us to take care of our customers and make sure they’re safe and that they’re getting a good product. We’re doing everything we can. What good does it do for me to jeopardize that?” he said. “I tell my daughter, you know, what made us a success all these years is we’ve always adapted to whatever came our way. We came up with a rule. We came up with a method. We did something to make it better, faster and more efficient. That’s the way we’ve stayed alive, stayed in business and stayed successful, is because we just didn’t say, ‘You know what? We’re just going to do it the same old same way every single time.’”
The statewide approach taken by the state in battling the coronavirus is counterproductive, Mesa said, treating Silver City in the same way as hard-hit areas like Albuquerque and northwestern New Mexico.
“Why are you doing the whole state with one draconian rule, instead of having a nuanced approach, that is to say, ‘Hey, you know what, these areas are in different situations?’ And I understand why they’re doing that up there, but we’re not in the same situation here,” he said. “You get, what was it, 16 cases just in this Grant County area, but they don’t take the figures down. People are all recovered. We don’t have any new cases. So you have the population of Grant County, with 16 cases — that comes up to zero-point-zero-zero-zero-zero-five. So, you see, nothing’s happening [here]. So why are we being shut down, when you can go to Arizona and eat at a restaurant, no problem?”
“Protecting New Mexicans is not draconian,” Stelnicki said. “Sixteen cases becomes 160 becomes 1,600 very quickly — we’ve seen that all over the state, the country, the world. Also, it’s 16 known cases. Unless this restaurant owner knows something I don’t, not every individual in this county or in this community has been tested. And we know a sizable percentage of virus transmission is through asymptomatic individuals — i.e., those who don’t even know they are sick.”
Both the state and Mesa said they expect the issue will ultimately be resolved by a judge.
“We have to petition the court to get our license reinstated, to show that we haven’t done anything illegal. In other words, we haven’t done anything,” Mesa said. “The inspector didn’t come in and talk to me — he just left the paperwork. I didn’t get inspected. They didn’t come in, look at my building. I’ve never, I’ve never failed a health inspection. Ever. Never.”
According to the state release, Jalisco “must cease providing food service immediately. Failing to do so may result in legal action from the Department. If these establishments correct the violations, they may request that NMED reinstate their food service permit.”
Since they’re staying open for now, Mesa said he expects fines — although he’s unclear how they will be calculated.
“It’s something like a $500 fine per incident, I guess,” he said. “But I don’t know what’s an incident. What’s — what does that mean? I have no idea. None whatsoever.”
A spokeswoman for the N.M. Environment Department said the restaurant could incur multiple offenses, as well as separate fines for each day the restaurant violates state orders — a decision that will be made in district court.
“In addition to granting injunctive relief (i.e., ordering the restaurant to cease food service operations), the district court may impose a civil penalty not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) on any person who violates any provision of the Food Service Sanitation Act,” Maddy Hayden, public information officer for the Environment Department, wrote in an email to the Daily Press. “Each and every violation of the provisions of that act shall constitute a separate offense. Separate offenses could compile on a daily basis.
“Ultimately, NMED may request a permit be permanently revoked through district court,” Hayden wrote — and regardless, “The facility is required to request an on-site reopening inspection prior to reopening the facility and request the permit be reinstated.”
Jalisco was one of two restaurants in the state that had its state permit revoked Friday, with the other being Anaheim Jack’s in Ruidoso. That restaurant had also begun serving diners, but on an outdoor patio.
The two restaurants aren’t receiving public support from most other restaurant owners so far, however.
“The New Mexico Restaurant Association does not support restaurants opening against the governor’s orders,” Carol Wight, CEO of the New Mexico Restaurant Association, was quoted as saying in the state press release.
Two Silver City restaurant owners contacted by the Daily Press on Saturday expressed disappointment that Mesa was being allowed to operate in violation of the state order, particularly when all the other restaurants were limiting their own businesses to comply. Neither would agree to comment on the record for this story, however.
While Jalisco Cafe opened for business Saturday morning, the restaurant is generally not open Sundays, and was also closed Monday in observance of Memorial Day, and to “give the guys a break,” Mesa said.
This post was updated at 12:15 p.m. May 26 to include minor copy edits.
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Shattered dishes, broken windows: Atomic bomb test shook Silver City 75 years ago — but that wasn’t the story at first
Written by Makayla Grijalva on July 17, 2020
(Photo Courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory)
The test of the first atomic bomb took place at the Trinity test site on July 16, 1945, more than 100 miles from Silver City. Windows in downtown Silver City broke from the force, according to Daily Press reporting at the time and other first-person accounts.
“The big question was, what was that? That’s what everybody wanted to know.”
Hal Cladcleugh was only 5 years old and living in Bayard when a large, then-unidentified blast woke him up during the early morning hours of July 16, 1945. Although he was young, he said that he remembers the event vividly.
“We all woke up, because the house was shaking, and I remember walking in the kitchen, and the dishes and cabinets were shaking and rattling,” Cladcleugh said. “Everybody went, ‘What is going on?’”
Mimbres resident Gene Stailey, although stationed away from New Mexico during his time in the U.S Navy, said his mother, Ethlyn, sent him a letter recalling the same event from her home in Gila.
“She said her whole hall of dishes were rattled and shook,” Stailey said. “It shook everything in that little house we lived in.”
They were not alone, as many residents of Silver City and surrounding areas were literally shaken by the event, with some windows downtown even shattered from the source of the blast.
“The test sent a ball of fire many times brighter than the noonday sun billowing skyward and set off a blast which rattled windows 250 miles away,” said an Aug. 6, 1945, Daily Press article, published after the true source of the explosion became known.
According to the individuals present at the test site, the bomb flattened the ground within a 10-mile distance of the blast.
“Rocking the countryside, an explosion skyrocketed a multi-colored cloud 40,000 feet into the stratosphere within five minutes. The steel tower holding the test bomb disappeared into vapor. A gaping crater marked where the tower had stood,” an Aug. 7, 1945, Daily Press article recalled.
With New Mexicans confused about the source of the blast, the Army came out with an announcement the afternoon of July 16, 1945, claiming it came from “a remotely located ammunition magazine containing a considerable amount of high explosive and pyrotechnics” that exploded at the air base in Alamogordo, according to Col. William O. Eareckson.
They were not informed of the true source of the blast until nearly three weeks later.
After gathering testimonials from Silver City residents recalling their experiences that morning, the Daily Press reported they were “prepared to give the local slant to the story that kept the telephone jingling all day long.” However, they were subsequently silenced by the Army, and prevented from speculating on the event any further.
“It seems more likely the Army, as so often happened, has taken too serious a view of what information might aid the enemy,” said the article, titled “Blast highlights funny censorship,” published July 17, 1945. “It wouldn’t do much good to suppress news the enemy could not help but get, whether or not it might be useful to him.”
It was not until Aug. 6, 1945, after Fat Boy was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, that the true source of the unusual event that morning was revealed — a test of the first atomic bomb.
A spokesperson from the War Department expressed in an Aug. 6 Daily Press article that “the feeling among Army authorities is that they now possess the means for a speedy termination of the war with Japan, thus saving many thousands of lives.”
When the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and, three days later, on Nagasaki, Japan, tens of thousands of individuals lost their lives, with many more killed from fallout and radiation. Even in the words of newspapers in 1945, the cities were “obliterated.”
President Harry Truman’s administration saw this feat of technology as a great accomplishment for the United States, with most Americans agreeing with the sentiment. According to a 1945 Gallup poll, 85 percent of Americans approved of the use of the atomic bomb on Japan.
“It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brot [as the Daily Press spelled the word then] war to the far east,” Truman said following the bombing of Hiroshima.
A 2015 Pew research survey, taken 70 years after the bombing, found the approval among Americans of the use of atomic weapons had fallen to 56 percent.
Seventy-five years ago, the United States ushered itself into the atomic age, with the $2 billion project that created a weapon that harnessed more power than 20,000 tons of TNT and created a blast 2,000 times larger than the largest bomb known at the time of its creation.
Makayla Grijalva may be reached at [email protected] lypress.com.
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Suspiria new posters give their souls to the dance
These new quote posters for the Suspiria remake tease what’s the come
You can read the synopsis for Suspiria here:
Suspiria is set in 1977 Berlin and follows a young American woman who joins a prestigious dance company. She arrives just as one of the members mysteriously disappears. As her stock in the company rises, she begins to suspect that the dance troupe is harbouring a disturbing secret.
The film is being directed by Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash, Call Me By Your Name) from a screenplay by David Kajganich. It stars Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia Goth and Jessica Harper. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke is writing the score.
Suspiria doesn’t yet have a release date. Get all the latest horror news with every issue of SciFiNow.
Suspiria new character poster gives its soul to dance Suspiria new location posters are weirdly chilling Suspiria new character posters introduce the cast Suspiria remake first poster is all about mystery Suspiria new UK trailer decides what it wants to be Suspiria new trailer features Thom Yorke’s creepy score
Tags: Suspiria
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Linkin Park – The Hunting Party
By Royfuss | June 25, 2014 - 9:46 pm | June 25, 2014 blog, Uncategorized
Linkin Park – The Hunting Party Album Cover
[source: Warner Bros.]
I remember when Linkin Park first teased The Hunting Party; before we even knew the name of the album. All it was, was a heavy guitar riff. This was somewhat unexpected after the more eletronic vibe of Living Things, and it’s electronic dance music remix album, Recharged. Most people were sure it would be an EDM album. Living Things was good, but it is by far my least favorite of Linkin Park’s albums. The riff brought intrigue and excitement to my worrisome mind.
I’ve written in the past about my experience with Linkin Park in the post “Linkin Park – Not A Robot.” That post was written before Living Things, but my thoughts on Linkin Park still remain true; I think they are awesome. The Hunting Party bares it teeth, lunges into my ear canal, and rips apart my perception of Linkin Park.
The Hunting Party has a personality of its own. It wants the hunt. It eagerly awaits its prey. Prey that needs to be rocked apart. Prey that thinks rock is too “poppy.” The guitars are in the spotlight, and the drums are strong. The album demands the volume to be cranked up. The album has 12 tracks, with two of the tracks instrumentals. But this doesn’t make the album a mere snack; the extended instrumentals at the beginning, thrown in the middle, or bringing up the end of songs turn this into a full, red blooded meal. The album clocks in at a satisfying 45 minutes, and each minute satisfies your soul.
The album kicks off with “Keys to the Kingdom.” Chester’s distorted screaming greets your ears and the song begins. The instruments kick their way in, and then Mike’s beautiful singing comes in to contradict Chester’s screaming and the loud drums. At first you might think Mike went soft. After the second chorus, however, Mike begins to craft a rap with a sharpened edge to it; that rap makes me crave more (and more I shall get). We get a nice instrumental near the end of the song. The first of many instrumentals you rarely see in modern rock music. The song ends with some “oh’s” thrown in, as Chester screams the chorus. It’s lovely, in a twisted way. Starting an album with this song is a bold choice. I can see why they did it, but coming in with no expectations, it can be a bit overwhelming. At the same time, Linkin Park displays the fact they mean business, and it sets the tone for the remainder of the album. I’m not sure why the kid says “I’m not allowed to say certain things;” I fear this will remain a mystery.
“All For Nothing” features Page Hamilton (Helmet). I don’t know much about him, but he provides vocals for the chorus, and does some guitar at the end of the song. I’ll get back to him. Guitars and drums are a running theme in this album. “All For Nothing” has those in full force, and starts out with Mike’s rapping, flowing from word to word in the verses. The chorus hypnotizes you with Tom Hamilton’s vocals, with the effect strengthened by Chester echoing “You say.” Chester’s yelling rallies you to join, but you aren’t 100% sure you should. Another instrumental near the end of the song with the guitars being sung by Page. A transition occurs at the end of the song with Mike saying, “Put the heavy shit there.” We are two songs in, and they are not light by any definition of the word. What could it mean…
It means “Guilty All The Same,” which was the first song debuted from the album. The beginning guitar riff was the riff teased before. It is “the heavy shit.” You are greeted by drums and guitars blasting, and then piano is added, and it just builds into an earful of bliss… again in a twisted sort of way. It turns down a little (very little) when Chester sings the verses, and yells the chorus. In between the vocals, the music jumps back up. About 2/3 through the song, Rakim surprises you mostly because you are expecting Mike. I didn’t know much about Rakim, but I can hear his influence on Mike. Rakim’s rapping has a similar flow and bite as Mike’s. Looking at the lyric book, Rakim’s rap has more content than the rest of the song. I like that.
“The Summoning” is almost a palate cleanser. It’s coming off the hard hitting “Guilty All The Same;” your ears receive a methodical white noise, with seemingly random, quiet drums and piano, with a guitar burst added in for good measure. It slowly builds, becoming louder, until it stops. Silence. Little league baseball game… again, I don’t know why. Possibly, because, they hit a home run with “Guilty All The Same.”
From the deafening silence at the end of “The Summoning,” “War” mauls us with the power of punk. I’m not a big fan of punk music, so “War” is my least favorite song on the album. But it is sooooooo good. The punk format of the song abides perfectly with the lyrical content. The complete and utter pause of the music right before the chorus is amazing. After the silence, Chester yells a single word: war. Respect and reverence ease out during the silence, while disdain emotionally jumps out from the yelling. It’s a contradiction I love. “War” ends just as suddenly as it began.
With the sudden stop of “War,” “Wastelands” slowly emerges from the ruins. I’m thinking that’s on purpose (although I don’t think war stops suddenly, and the lyrics of “War” supports the philosophy… I’m digging too deep again). Some drums build up to the rhythm of the guitar. Mike raps upon this stage of drums and guitar. The cadence of the song feels like a march on a war path; even though the song “War” is over. I love the huge climax at the end; it just falls to Chester singing the chorus. He’s singing with a different emotion from the previous iteration of the chorus. Then it slowly builds up by adding drums, and then the other instruments come back up, and the rhythm is back. It’s awe inspiring, actually. And with that, we come to the end of the song, and some light percussion playing us into the next song.
That light percussion continues into the heart of “Until It’s Gone.” Some Linkin Park electronics are added for good measure. I’m not really sure how to describe it, but it’s present in “Numb” from Meteora and “Burn It Down” from Living Things. Front and center, the drums grab your attention. This is actually a really interesting song, and it’s placement on the album is paramount. This is the first “palate cleanser,” as “The Summoning” was not. It’s the Linkin Park we all know and love, except it has claws. The synthetic sounds is what separates this song from the songs that came before. Another thing about this song is the lyrical content. Listening to the lyrics, we know the message is “You don’t know what you’ve got, until it’s gone.” Chester is singing about something specific, as conveyed through the emotional depth of his voice, but he doesn’t betray exactly what he’s missing. The lyrics are very general, but the vocals describe something personal. The music only adds to that emotion. The song winds down with a bassy, video game beat, and a baby sound. I don’t know how else to describe it. That’s what happens. Again, I’m confused.
After being distracted by the adorable baby noise, “Rebellion” attacks us with its guitars. These guitars are alien to Linkin Park. These guitars call Daron Malakian their master master. The guitarist from System of the Down makes his guest appearance on the album, and it creates a lasting impact. After an intro to harshly push you into it, a Linkin Park sound is added to the mix. The rugged guitar continues, while something unexpected happens. Mike begins to sing over it. I love the dichotomy. The expectation would have been Chester’s screaming. Right after the first verse, Chester is eased into singing the chorus. This gets me excited. You don’t get to hear both of the singers singing one after the other very often. It’s beautiful. On top of that, you get to hear both of the singers singing with their voices going over each others voices. Mike’s voice will be prominent, but you can barely hear Chester’s voice in the background. Then it transitions to the other way around with Chester’s voice being prominent and Mike’s voice barely audible. It sounds amazing. Oh, and don’t worry. Chester does some screaming in “Rebellion” as well. It wouldn’t be right if he didn’t.
Reading the title of the song, “Mark The Graves” creates an image of something heavy. In actuality, light drums and guitars begin the song. The build up is slow, but when then it finally hits some heavy guitars, flashing some of its teeth. The first verse arrives with light guitars, and Chester singing in a melancholy state. Skipping a chorus, it moves onto the second verse, adding a bit of drums to it. One of my favorite lyrics from the album is in this song: “But the scars will never fade / At least I know somehow I made a mark.” The chorus is composed of four short lines and Chester emotionally yells each line. The tone of the song is different from the rest of the album, but its unique addition leaves a lasting impression.
“Drawbar” is the second instrumental track on the album. It features guitarist Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine). Bridging “Mark The Graves” and “Final Masquerade,” it serves more of an extended intro to the latter. Piano and guitar dance around each other at the very beginning. Slowly the guitar gains traction, as the piano joins the waltz. The piano starts to fade to the back, and the snare drum cuts in. The piano objects, but the drum and guitar continue. Finally, all the players come together, and the sound begins to slowly rise. As they reach their climax, the piano begins to dance alone. The last key is pressed, and the note fades to silence. At first I wished it would have went directly into “Final Masquerade,” but I’ve learned to appreciate the silence.
Drums push us out of the silence and into “Final Masquerade.” A familiar melody joins the drums. Chester sings the entire song. His voice stirs emotion into my thoughts. Much like “Until Its Gone,” “Final Masquerade” has a recognizable Linkin Park sound. I don’t have a lot to say, except it is a beautiful song. The power of the music mixes with Chester’s emotional voice in an elegant way. It feels like the last song of the album. But it’s not.
“Final Masquerade” fades, and “A Line In The Sand” slowly builds. A thunderstorm approaches. White noise and a tiny guitar is heard. Finally, Mike begins to eerily sing over the white noise. The storm begins to build while he sings. He finishes the first verse, and the storm bangs, starting with the drums. Guitars are added for effect, of course. The storm stabilizes, and Mike sings verse two, but this time with the power of the storm behind his voice. Chester even adds his voice to Mike’s to strengthen the verse. The storm rises again, and Chester yells the chorus; he is determined to overpower the storm. During the eye of the storm, it cycles down. Demanding to be heard, Mike begins to rap. The storm starts up again after his rap, and we are left to fend for ourselves against the heavy instrumentals. The storm comes to an end, and Mike begins to sing the first verse again. Hauntingly, Mike’s voice finishes the song and the album. I wish my music player didn’t loop the album back to “Keys To The Kingdom.” You need a few more seconds of silence to feel the impact from the song.
I could spend a few thousand more words on the lyrical content of each song, but I won’t. I will say The Hunting Party is impressive in that department. Each and every lyric is packed with emotion, and Mike and Chester amplify the emotion of the words with their voices. The guitars and drums are front and center, further adding depth to the lyrics. The magnitude of the impact hasn’t been felt on any other Linkin Park album, making this my personal favorite.
That’s the end of my thoughts on the album. I’m just going to type up a little bit about the process behind this review, so feel free to skip the next few paragraphs. I wanted to type this up in one setting, but it took longer than expected. I’ve listened to the album so many times. Tuesday, I sat down and listened to the entire album while following along with the lyric book. I made some minor notes. Afterwards, I started writing the introduction to this post. I started to play through the album again, and pausing while writing the paragraph for the song. After I had a good paragraph that described how I felt about the song, I continued on to the next song. I finished through “Until It’s Gone” on Tuesday, so if there’s a disconnect in the writing after that, I apologize. I finished writing on Wednesday, so I didn’t have to wait too long. Hopefully my editing will smooth things over, but if it doesn’t, now you know.
I listen to my music mostly in the car while I’m driving somewhere. Over the past few months, I listened to a playlist consisting of all of Linkin Park’s main studio albums (Hybrid Theory EP, Hybrid Theory, Meteora, Minutes to Midnight, A Thousand Suns, and Living Things). After a few times of going through that, I added the rest of their songs (a few singles like “New Divide” and their remix albums, Reanimation and Recharged) and turned on the shuffle. I listened to the singles from The Hunting Party as they were released, and listened to the album on iTunes Radio when it was streaming before the release. I was typing up the E3 blog post while doing that, so my mind wasn’t really listening to it. I got The Hunting Party the Monday before it was released (preordered it from Linkin Park’s website, and it just happened to get here before Tuesday). I popped it on my iPod, and I listened to it exclusively in the car. I fell in love with the album, but I didn’t examine it this closely until Tuesday (which I described in the last paragraph). I want to do that with their previous albums sometime, but it’s difficult for me to find the time. It’s took me four hours to write the review, and I spent an hour or so listening to it the first time through to just listen to it (keep in mind, it’s only a 45 minute record). That’s about five hours of just examining an album, which felt longer actually. Don’t take that the wrong way; I enjoyed it. I’m going to end my rambling.
E3 is an interesting time of year for gamers. The Electric Entertainment Expo is usually in June, a time of year known by gamers as “The Games Drought.” E3 is basically a press event, where games are announced, demonstrated, and played. It makes gamers salivate, and wish they would jump into the future where these games are available (for the most part). The expo took place last week, and I watched/read from the comfort of my own home. Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Sony all took the stage at their press conferences and gave us a peek at what developers have been cooking up. Nintendo also revealed a few new games. Here’s some of my favorites.
[image source: http://www.superbwallpapers.com/games/assassins-creed-unity-29667/ – Superb Wallpapers]
The biggest surprise from Assassin’s Creed Unity’s E3 cinematic trailer was four player coop. Of course multilayer has been done before in Assassin’s Creed, but never during the story. I love coop, but it’s not the main reason I’m excited for Unity. Unity takes place during the French Revolution, which should be fun. Plus, it looks like we’ll be back to a crowded city setting. The main reasons I’ve loved the Assassin’s Creed series is for the interesting assassination methods, and the freerunning on the rooftops. I missed it in Assassin’s Creed 3 and I skipped Blackflag for several reasons. I’m looking forward to jumping and stabbing again this October.
[image source: http://static1.gamespot.com/uploads/original/78/787590/2488138-bak_sshot057.jpg – Gamespot]
Seeing the Batmobile in action in the gameplay trailer for Batman: Arkham Knight made me giddy with excitement. The trailer makes the game look shiney. I’m glad to see Rocksteady back at the helm for this installment. I played Arkham Asylum, but I haven’t played Arkham City yet. I own it, but I haven’t found the time to play it. I’ll have to play it before Arkham Knight‘s release date in 2015.
[image source: http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/assets/4261863/2K_Borderlands_ThePre-Sequel_InGameArt_moonMechs_1stPerson.jpg – Polygon]
Here’s the trailer for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The trailer is standard as far as Borderland’s trailers go. You got claptrap, dub step, and bazillions of guns. I’m not sure about the game. It’s a “pre-sequel” because it takes place between the first game, and the second game. I want to learn more about the characters in the universe, but at the same time I’m burned out on the gameplay of Borderlands 2. It doesn’t look like the changed any of the gameplay, except a few added weapon variants, and the oxygen mechanic. I’ll see how reviews go, and maybe I’ll want to play it when it comes out in October.
[image source: http://www.bungie.net/pubassets/25156/E3_2014_4.jpg – Bungie]
I’ve been looking forward to Destiny for a long time. This trailer from Sony’s E3 press conference doesn’t really show off much more, but it still makes me hyped. Plus I got into the alpha for the game. I played a bit, and it’s a lot of fun. The guns feel good, and traversing the world is fun. I’m really anticipating this game’s release in September.
[image source: http://ps4vitanews.blogspot.com/2014/06/tom-clancys-division-e3-2014-gameplay.html – PS4VitaNews]
The Division has been on my radar ever since it was announced last year. It’s an interesting take on the apocalypse. Instead of fighting mutants or zombies, you are fighting for your life against other human beings. You still have access to technology as you struggle for survival. This trailer demonstrates it well. As with Assassin’s Creed, this also has an emphasis on coop. It looks great, and it’s too bad that we have to wait until 2015 to play this game.
[image source: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2014-we-released-the-kraken-in-evolve-and-it-ate-everybody/1100-6420377/ – Gamespot]
Evolve is being developed by the crew that brought the world Left 4 Dead. Check out this trailer from E3. It’s going to be a multiplayer game, pitting four players against one monster controlled by a fifth player. It’s called Evolve, because you can make the monster evolve into a bigger, more badass monster throughout the match. I’m not big on multiplayer games, but this sounds like a fun game. It comes out October 21, 2014.
[image source: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2014-i-piloted-a-gyrocopter-in-far-cry-4/1100-6420374/ – Gamespot
I really liked Far Cry 3, as I mentioned in my “Games of 2013” post. So when Far Cry 4 was announced at E3, I had to check out the gameplay trailer. Looks like the same old fun times, and Ubisoft even added coop! I’m looking forward to conquering more outposts in interesting ways when this game comes out. Just have to wait until November 18, 2014.
[image source: http://www.giantbomb.com/grim-fandango/3030-13230/ – Giant Bomb]
I got lucky, and was able to play Monkey Island (which is also a Tim Schafer game) from back in the day, but missed out on Grim Fandango. So when Sony revealed a letter from a “little kid” at their press conference asking about a Tim Schafer game, I got excited. At first I was like “PSYCHONAUTS 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” but then I listened some more, and realized that it wasn’t talking about Psychonauts 2. Instead, it was asking about Grim Fandango which a lot of gamers missed out on. And Double Fine, Tim Schafer’s studio, is making a remastered version of Grim Fandango. I’m excited to get a chance to play this gem from the past.
[image source: https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/halo-the-master-chief-collection – Halo Waypoint]
Halo: Master Chief Collection was announced at the Microsoft press conference. Check it out. This is jammed packed with content. It includes Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, which is the remastered version of the first Halo. It also includes a remastered version of Halo 2, much like what they did with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. Additionally, it includes Halo 3 and Halo 4. On top of all that, online multiplayer will be available for all four games, including the first game, which did not have online multiplayer. As a frugal gamer, this collection just screams “Take my money!” This deal comes out November 11, 2014.
[image source: http://www.polygon.com/a/e3-2014/homefront-the-revolution – Polygon]
Homefront: Revolution was actually shown off before E3. One of Crytek’s studios was developing the sequel for THQ. After THQ went bankrupt, they bought the rights, and decided to take the game in a different direction. They added a Crytek spin to it. Homefront: Revolution will give the player options on how to complete an objective, like Far Cry or Crysis. It’s looking really pretty, as you can see in this trailer. All we got for a release date is 2015.
Infamous: Last Light
[image source: http://www.gameinformer.com/games/infamous_second_son/m/infamous_second_son_media/6848264.aspx – Game Informer]
I just finished up Infamous: Second Son, so it was cool to see Infamous: Last Light at Sony’s press conference. It’s a standalone DLC, and it allows you to play as one of the NPC’s from Second Son, Fetch. Fetch is an awesome character, and I’m excited to see her story fleshed out in this DLC. Her powers are incredibly fun as well. This will be released in August.
Legend of Zelda Wii U
[image source: http://www.spawnfirst.com/news/e3-2014-nintendo-press-conference-review/ – Spawn First
Nintendo teased a new Legend of Zelda for the Wii U. Have a peek at the trailer. It looks like it’s going be an open world Zelda game, and that can only be good. We just got a short glimpse of the game, and not much is known about it. I’m a Zelda fanboy though, so I’m excited. Release date is sometime in 2015.
Middle-earth: Shadows Of Mordor
[image source: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2014-middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-is-the-assassin-s-creed-game-i-always-wanted/1100-6420384/ – Gamespot]
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor intrigues me. First, you got some Assassin’s Creed elements, which is cool. Then you have the fantasy world created by Tolkien, which is doubly cool. This gameplay trailer is pretty triply cool. I’m going to wait for reviews, but I think it’ll be good. It’s coming out October 7, 2014.
Mirror’s Edge 2
[image source: http://www.itsartmag.com/features/e3-creating-mirrors-edge-2/ – It’s Art]
Mirror’s Edge 2 was announced. Well, it was announced before E3, but this is our first look. EA did something weird. Instead of making a CG trailer that’s suppose to represent the game, it just showed off concept art, and had the developers talk about it. It was an interesting move, but there’s not much to say about the game. It’s fairly early in development. Anyways, I’m looking forward to it. Sometime in 2016 is the release date, so they have lots of time to tease us.
[image source: http://games.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/No-Man-s-Sky-E3-2014-Gameplay-Trailer-Screenshot-143763.html – Softpedia]
I don’t know much about No Man’s Sky, but it looks cool. Each person starts on a brand new, uninhabited planet. It’s procedurally generated, so not even the developers know how big the universe will be. No release date for it.
[image source: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2013/10/22/exclusive-the-order-1886-screens.aspx – Game Informer]
When The Order: 1886 was announced last year, it sounded cool. Plus it was being developed by Ready At Dawn, which has a pretty good track record. I’m a little bit disappointed with what they showed off this year. It really doesn’t look like it’s doing anything new, but if it is a solid game, it shouldn’t matter. We’ll see February 20, 2015.
[image source: http://www.incgamers.com/2014/06/five-rainbow-six-siege-screens-are-bizarrely-huge – Inc Gamers]
Ubisoft may have canceled Rainbow Six Patriots, but Rainbow Six Siege looks really good. Ubisoft showed off a gameplay trailer for it. The player chat is a bit cheesy, but I do have to say, the game looks fun. The destruction is my favorite part of this. The fact that the game lets me blow a hole in the floor to gain access to a room on a lower level is happy fun times in my book. We can expect to play this in 2015, unless they cancel it.
[image source: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=836222 – Neogaf]
A trailer for Rise of the Tomb Raider made an appearance. It was just a teaser trailer, but it’s showing Lara Croft’s emotional side, which is great. I loved the Tomb Raider reboot, as I mentioned here, and I’ll be picking this one up. The release date is suppose to be Holiday 2015, so we have awhile to wait.
[image source: http://www.wallpaperseries.com/games/scalebound-game-hd-wallpaper.html – Wallpaper Series]
Scalebound was announced the Microsoft conference. The only reason this made my ears perk up, is because it’s made by Platinum Games. They’ve made some fun games in the past. I’m curious to see some gameplay, but the trailer was cool. No release date yet.
[image source: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2014-how-sunset-overdrive-returns-to-the-golden-age-of-video-games/1100-6420383/ – Gamespot]
Sunset Overdrive has been on my radar for awhile. I like Insomniac Games. They know how to make some cool weapons, and Sunset Overdrive has some cool weapons. The gameplay they showed off looks like an over-the-top version of Horde mode from Gears of War. You are in an open world area, and you fight off enemies. Of course, you go around grinding on rooftops, and wires. It sparks my curiousity, but I’m going to wait until reviews are out. October 28, 2014 is the release date.
[image source: http://www.gamespot.com/borderlands-a-telltale-game-series/images/ – Gamespot]
I haven’t played any Telltale Games games, but Tales From The Borderlands looks good. It has a nice voice cast, including Chris Hardwick. I like the Borderlands universe, and this sounds like it’ll be heavy with lore. Telltale is known for their story telling. Tales From The Borderlands tells its story from the perspective of two different people, so that should be interesting. The first episode should be released sometime this year.
Uncharted 4: Thief’s End
[image source: http://cromeyellow.com/first-teaser-for-uncharted-4-a-thiefs-end/ – Chrome Yellow]
Sony brought a teaser trailer for Uncharted 4: Thief’s End. Do I need to say anything about it? It looks shiny, and it’s more Uncharted. The trailer gives off a vibe similar to the first game, which took place in a jungle. It was a teaser trailer, so there’s really not much to say about it. It should be out sometime in 2015, and I look forward to anymore information Sony wants to share between now and then.
That’s my thoughts on the games of E3 this year. I want to thank you for reading. I put a lot of time and effort into this post. It took me a week to get this together. Twenty two games are featured and over 2000 words written by me. I’ll be back next week with a review of Linkin Park’s album, The Hunting Party.
A full moon on Friday the 13th isn’t all that impressive when clouds blanket the sky. What is impressive is being out at 5:00 in the morning the very next day and seeing the night’s sky lit up by a full moon in one direction, and the aura of the sun emerging from the other; the clouds dissipating long enough for me to enjoy this spectacle. It may be because I was up for almost 24 hours, but I thought it was lovely. Lovely enough for me to prolong my lack of slumber for a few more minutes by driving around the outskirts of town. I got a few hours of sleep, and here I am.
In the previous post I mentioned I wanted to publish posts more often; every week. It’s been a month. I have an excuse. I injured a tendon in my hand, because I’m stupid. You don’t need to know the details, but I was unable to play video games, or do excessive typing for a week. If you look at my Raptr history, you would notice a time gap.
I haven’t played much of video games lately. I’ve been powering through a few television shows. I did finish Infamous: Second Son. Fun game. I don’t think I’ll type up a post about it, but I do recommend it if you have a Playstation 4. E3 was going on this past week. I’ll type up a post on some of my favorite highlights. I somehow got into the Destiny alpha on PS4. I think I got in, because I downloaded the E3 app on the PS4, but I’m not sure. I still owe you a Diablo 3 post.
I’m pumped for Linkin Park’s new album, The Hunting Party. I’m listening to it on iTunes Radio right now. I have no idea how to link iTunes Radio stuff, so you’ll just have to check yourself. Really digging the predator vibe the album puts out. Again, I’ll have a post written up for you once the album is officially released.
On a personal note, I’ve been going to the gym more often. I was going three days a week, now I’ve upped it to five days. On Monday, I hit a major milestone for myself. I was able to run a 5K in 30 minutes and 5 seconds. It’s not all that impressive, but I’m proud of myself.
That’s all I got for now. My next post will either be E3 related, or Linkin Park related. Hell, it might be tomorrow, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
Thank you for reading,
– Royfuss
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Franklin Resources Inc. Q1 Income Rises
Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN) announced a profit for its first quarter that rose from the same period last year.
The company's bottom line came in at $350.5 million, or $0.70 per share. This compares with $275.9M, or $0.54 per share, in last year's first quarter.
Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.66 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenue came in at $1.41 billion, equal to the mark posted in the same period last year.
Franklin Resources Inc. earnings at a glance:
-Earnings (Q1): $350.5 Mln. vs. $275.9M. last year.
-EPS (Q1): $0.70 vs. $0.54 last year.
-Analysts Estimate: $0.66
-Revenue (Q1): $1.41 Bln vs. $1.41 Bln last year.
Franklin Resources Q4 20 Earnings Conference Call 11:00 AM ET
Franklin Resources Inc. Q4 adjusted earnings Beat Estimates
Franklin Resources Q4 Profit Falls, Revenue Rises - Quick Facts
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Catherine Stone Borkowski
Age Group Ace
By Mike Tymn
As a standout high school runner a quarter-century ago, Catherine Stone Borkowski relied on her father’s guidance and her own natural ability, guts, and "innocent trust." It’s not quite the same these days. "Now I have to work really hard, run strategically, and listen to my body to tell me how it feels," says Stone Borkowski, a 42-year-old fitness studio owner and model. "In order to win now, I have to dedicate my mind to the workouts as well as my body." And it’s her husband, Doug, who now gives guidance.
At the USATF National Indoor Championships in Boston last March, Stone Borkowski won both the 800m (2:25:26) and the mile (5:18.85) in the 40–44 division. In 2003, she won the 5K cross country national championship in 19:14 over a tough course. She’s also recorded road times of 18:10 for 5K, 29:15 for 5M, and 1:22:30 for the half marathon since joining the masters ranks.
"My focus right now is on track, and so I’m not doing much road racing," Stone Borkowski says. "My goal for next year is to run a 2:15 [800m] to break the national masters indoor record. I’d also like to get under 18 minutes for 5K."
In high school, Stone Borkowski took second in the New Jersey state meet in the mile and third in cross country. At the University of Arkansas, she earned All-America honors in the 4x800m, and had PRs of 4:34 for 1500m and 17:32 for 5,000m. She continued to run after graduating college in 1984, then gave it up from 1987 until 1995, during which time she took up bodybuilding and won some titles. She also modeled for several publications, including Cosmopolitan, Mademoiselle, and Longevity.
"I was sick of lifting weights and got the passion for running again," Stone Borkowski says of her return to the sport. Initially, she ran the roads and then returned to the track last year. "Everything’s pretty intense," she says of her training, mentioning a recent series of 31- to 32-second 200s and quarters in the low 70s. "My mileage isn’t much, 35 a week at most, but it’s high quality. I don’t have time for more than that."
In her Butler, NJ, fitness studio, Stone Borkowski works primarily with people who struggle with their weight, giving lectures, classes, and personal advice. "I try to turn them on to how great exercising in any capacity can be once they stop fighting it," she says.
How has aging affected her? "It’s made my recovery time much longer," she responds. "And that’s meant lower mileage. But I don’t feel I’ve lost much, if any, speed. I try to find time to be soulful, envisioning the race in my head so I can get back to that place that used to be a given. My life is not just about me anymore, so I have to sneak in those mental workouts to stay on top while I multitask."
Catherine Ndereba
Aug. 17: My Lunch with Hendrick and Catherine and Deena
Chat: Catherine Ndereba and Coach
Beijing Notebook: Catherine Ndereba's Slow, Steady Temperament Wins Many Marathons
Boston 'Didn't Have Space,' So Catherine Ndereba Is Doing London Marathon
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Dr Adrian Hall BSc, PhD, FHEA
Principal Lecturer
Adrian attained a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Sheffield, followed by a PhD in Molecular Genetics from the Medical School. After a postdoctoral post in the University Medical Centre Leiden in The Netherlands he re-joined the University of Sheffield Medical School to undertake a joint project with the Amsterdam Medical Centre. Adrian joined Sheffield Hallam University in 2001 to teach molecular biology and genetics.
Adrian has had a number of roles within the Department of Biosciences and Chemistry and is currently the Professional Lead in Molecular and Cell Biology. He teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate level in the areas of molecular biology and genetics in both theoretical knowledge and practical application.
Adrian teaches molecular biology and genetics.
Transcriptional regulatory mechanisms
Winship, P.R., Haridas, S., Wragg, M.M., Prasad, S., & Hall, A. (2013). Functional Analysis of A -13 G/A Dimorphism at the Major Transcription Initiation Site of the Protein Z Gene. Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 3 (S1), 1259. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1538-7836.2005.0300c.x
Laird, S.L., Widdowson, R., El-Sheikhi, M., Hall, A., & Li, T.C. (2011). Expression of CXCL12 and CXCR4 in human endometrium; effects of CXCL12 on MMP production by human endometrial cells. Human Reproduction, 26 (5), 1144-1152. http://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/der043
Taylor, D., Dalton, C., Hall, A., Woodroofe, M.N., & Gardiner, P. (2009). Recent developments in selenium research. British journal of biomedical science, 66 (2), 107-116. http://doi.org/10.1080/09674845.2009.11730256
Di Bitondo, R., Hall, A., Peake, I.R., Lacoviello, L., & Winship, P.R. (2002). Oestrogenic repression of human coagulation factor VII expression mediated through an oestrogen response element sequence motif in the promoter region. Human molecular genetics, 11 (7), 723-731. http://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/11.7.723
Bunn, L.J., Reynolds, G.P., Hall, A., & Dalton, C.F. (2005). Expression of 5-HT1A receptor mRNA is influenced by a common promoter region polymorphism. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 19 (5).
Theses / Dissertations
Ben-Hasan, M.H.A. (2011). Characterisation of the potentially diverse transcriptional regulatory mechanisms of human coagulation PZ gene. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Hall, A., Winship, P., & Dalton, C.
Widdowson, R. (2011). The molecular basis of chemokine action in human endometrium. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Hall, A., & Laird, S.
Bunn, L.J. (2008). 5-HT1A receptor expression : Studies in postmortem tissue and characterisation of a model system. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Dalton, C., Hall, A., & Reynolds, G.
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Ellicott's Commentary
XXVIII.
This psalm gives no distinct indication of its authorship or date of composition. The writer appears to be in a critical condition of health (Psalms 28:1), and fears death as a mark of Divine punishment, involving him, though innocent, with the wicked. If the psalm is the product of one pen and time, and is really the expression of individual feeling, the writer was a king (Psalms 28:8). But the last two verses seem, both in rhythm and tone, to be from another hand, and to be the expression of national, not individual, confidence and hope. In the first seven verses the parallelism is hardly marked at all.
(1) My rock.—Heb., tsûr, from a root implying “bind together” (Deuteronomy 14:25), not necessarily therefore with sense of height, but with that of strength and solidity. Thus Tyre (or Tsûr) is built on a broad shelf of rock. We see from Deuteronomy 32:30-31; 1 Samuel 2:2, that “rock” was a common metaphor for a tutelary deity, and it is adopted frequently for Jehovah in the Psalms and poetical books. Sometimes in the Authorised Version it is rendered “strong” (Psalms 60:9; Psalms 71:3; see margin). The LXX. (followed by Vulg.) here, as generally, apparently through timidity, suppresses the metaphor, and renders “my God.” In the song of Moses in Deuteronomy, the metaphor occurs nine times, and Stanley thinks it was derived from the granite peaks of Sinai (Jewish Church, p. 195).
Be not silent to me.—Vulg. and margin, rightly, “from me.” The word rendered “silent” appears, like κωφὸς in Greek, to have the double meaning of deaf and dumb, and is apparently from an analogous derivation. (See Gesenius, Lex., sub voce.) Hence we might render, “turn not a deaf ear to me,” or “turn not from me in silence.”
Them that go down into the pit—i.e., the dead, or those just about to die (Psalms 30:3). In Psalms 88:4, the expression is parallel to “My life draweth nigh unto the grave;” pit (bôr) is either the sepulchre (as Isaiah 14:19), or the world of the dead (Psalms 88:4). The two significations pass one into the other. This expression suggests that the psalmist was on a bed of sickness.
(2) Lift up my hands.—For interesting illustrations of this Oriental custom see Exodus 9:29; 1 Kings 8:22, &c. Compare the well-known line:—
“If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer.”
TENNYSON: Morte d’Arthur.
Holy oracle.—Better, the shrine of thy sanctuary (see margin)—i.e., the holy of holies, the adytum, or inner recess of the Temple in which the ark was placed, as we see from 1 Kings 6:19-22. The Hebrew word, which is of doubtful derivation, is, with the exception of this place, only found in Kings and Chronicles. The margin, “the oracle of thy sanctuary,” is a better rendering than the text.
(3) Draw me not.—Better, Drag me not. In Ezekiel 32:18 seq., we have a magnificent vision of judgment, in which the wicked nations are represented as being dragged to death and destruction. In the person of the poet, Israel prays not to be involved in such a punishment. The words “which speak peace “may refer to some overture of alliance from such, or it may be generally those who “hide hatred with lying lips” (Proverbs 10:18).
(4) Give them according to their deeds.—The justice of the lex talionis was deeply impressed on the mind of Israel, and we need not wonder to find its enforcement made the subject of prayer. A general notice of the imprecations of the Psalms will be found in the General Introduction (VI.). Here it is enough to remark that there is no indication of personal animosity or vindictiveness. The poet, even if expressing his own feelings, was identified with devout Israel, to whom it was natural not only to expect from Jehovah the manifestation of judgment which could alone remove the conditions that were so unfavourable to the true religion, but also to pray that He would at the same time vindicate Himself and justify those faithful to Him. (Comp. for the general thought Isaiah 3:8-11.) In the actual course of God’s providence, the retribution is often very accurately apportioned to the evil deed, and the Bible contains many strong instances—e.g., that of Adonibezek (Judges 1:5; Judges 1:7).
(5) The works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands—i.e., His strict and even-handed justice, which the wicked forget or, deceived by appearances (Isaiah 5:19), ignore. For the contrast between “build up” and “pull down,” compare Jeremiah 42:10. This verse is in that prophet’s style (Jeremiah 1:10; Jeremiah 18:9).
(6) This burst of thanksgiving, breaking in on the poet’s prayer, has led to the supposition that an interval elapsed between the composition of the former part of the psalm and this verse, and that the writer takes up his pen to record the answer his supplications have received. Others regard the psalm as composed by the union of two distinct pieces. Others again treat Psalms 28:6 as an interpolation. It certainly seems discordant with the rhythm as well as with the sense of the rest.
(7) Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth.—Better, danceth for joy, as in the Prayer Book. Another possible translation is, “And when I have been helped my heart will dance for joy.”
With my song.—Literally, from my song, but the reading is doubtful. The LXX. have “my flesh has flourished,” which is probably correct.
(8) Their strength—i.e., the strength of His people, who are throughout in the poet’s thought, even if it is the individual and not the community that speaks. The LXX. and Vulg. read (comp. Psalms 29:11) “to his people.”
Saving strength.—Better, stronghold of salvation. (See margin.)
(9) Feed . . . lift them up.—These words suggest comparison with Isaiah 40:11; Isaiah 63:9. The incorporation of this petition in the Te Deum is one of those interesting facts that link the Christian worship with the Jewish.
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Psalms 28". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/ebc/psalms-28.html. 1905.
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Concrete Steps to a Feminist Foreign Policy
Under : Foreign Policy , Gender Equality , Security
In order to increase the prospects for peace, stability, and security, and to demonstrate American leadership and commitment to human rights, foreign policy must integrate the goal of gender equality into national security strategies and approaches. The principles of women’s rights, human security, and cooperation, and the need for the actions of the U.S. government to be aligned domestically and around the world are central to a feminist approach to foreign policy. This paper seeks to do one thing: to make recommendations about how a feminist foreign policy could be operationalized within the institutions and policy-making processes of the U.S. government, through the implementation of existing policy and legislation, most notably the Women, Peace and Security Act of 2017 (WPS Act). Feminist foreign policy can also be furthered with new policy and legislation.
The Women, Peace and Security policy framework and its implementation globally over the last 20 years are key drivers of any feminist foreign policy, as witnessed by the origination and development of feminist foreign policy agendas in other countries. This policy framework builds on earlier human rights and women’s movements as well as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. It widens the aperture beyond conflict prevention and resolution and supports a “rebalancing” of our approach to global engagement, so that the full range of diplomatic, development, and defense strategies are used to meet U.S. goals and objectives. Women, Peace and Security is a feminist approach to foreign policy because it broadens the definition of security to include human security and address overarching issues such as global health, climate change, and food security.
Since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000, the Women, Peace and Security agenda has challenged gendered assumptions about power and conflict resolution. These assumptions include the belief that the use of military force, or hard power, alone makes us more secure than the use of diplomacy, development, and other levers of soft power; and that human dimensions of security are less critical than geopolitics, which should mostly guide foreign policy and national security decisions. The Women, Peace and Security agenda and feminist lens on foreign policy fundamentally question these assumptions.
The recommendations made here for instituting a feminist foreign policy in the U.S. and fully implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda are not possible without strong leadership and political will.
To better advance U.S. national security objectives and to ensure lasting change, a focus on gender equality must be integrated into a broader approach to foreign policy, with regular senior-level attention and the capacity to coordinate different parts of the government with relevant areas of responsibility. As mentioned previously, these recommendations align with feminist approaches to foreign policy and international development agendas of other countries including Sweden, Norway, Canada, France, Luxembourg, and Mexico.
Summary of Recommendations:
Diversify Representation
Prioritize Gender in Information Collection and Analysis
Ensure Input From Those Affected
Reform the Institutional Structure
Increase Accountability of Individuals and Transparency of Institutions
Increase Resources
Utilize Technology
The full paper can be found on the Our Secure Future website HERE.
Reviving the US Commitment to Women’s Rights and Gender Equality: The UN Commission on the Status of Women
Under : Gender Equality , Women
President-elect Joe Biden has a history of advocating on behalf of women and girls in the United States and around the world. In 1994, then-Senator Biden co-authored and advocated for the passage of the Violence Against Women Act, landmark legislation to strengthen legal and community-based responses to domestic violence. Further, he introduced the International Violence Against Women Act, which provided a framework for the United States to address gender-based violence globally. During the campaign, the Biden/Harris ticket made strong and substantive commitments to gender equality and to the role of women as leaders. In the first 100 days, we urge the new administration to showcase this leadership at the next annual session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
What is CSW?
CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Established in 1946, CSW meets each March in New York, and brings together representatives of the U.N. and member governments as well as civil society to promote women’s rights. CSW is an important opportunity for governments to speak to their commitments on women’s empowerment and gender equality. At CSW, governments set out their overall approach to addressing gender gaps, outline relevant accomplishments, and make commitments to future policy initiatives. For example, in 2012, the U.S. government highlighted the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), the first comprehensive and standardized gauge to directly measure women’s empowerment and inclusion in the agricultural sector.
At each session’s conclusion, CSW issues a set of non-binding “agreed conclusions” related to pressing issues facing women and girls. Member States also submit reports tracking their progress toward the goals set out in the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Current and emerging issues of women’s political, economic, and social rights are raised at CSW, and as such, that influences U.N. policy and national policies. CSW has provided a gender lens on many U.N. programs, including those focused on increasing property rights, ending sexual violence in conflict, and increasing access to education, health, and self-determination.
History of U.S. Participation with the Commission
Both Democratic and Republican administrations have used CSW as a platform to signal their approach to gender policies and programs and to announce new initiatives for women and girls. In addition, the U.S. delegation has highlighted individuals and organizations from outside government whom the administration sees as important allies in shaping those initiatives.
At the CSW annual meeting in 2010, for example, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaffirmed U.S. leadership on women’s rights and gave a major address on gender equality and women’s rights, with examples of how this approach would be incorporated into Obama administration initiatives on global health, food security, and climate change. In addition to Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, and senior White House and administration officials, the U.S. delegation included leaders from the private sector and civil society.
The Trump administration, however, utilized CSW to step back from global leadership on gender equality, which otherwise would ensure that everyone has equal opportunity and access to resources. In 2019, for example, acting Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Cherith Norman Chalet led the delegation and stated, “Let’s be clear – we are not about gender jargon. Today, here at the Commission on the Status of Women, we are about women. Women and girls.” According to news reports, during negotiations on the agreed conclusions, the U.S. sought to prevent the word “gender” being used as a substitute for “women and girls,” haggled over the definition of the word “family,” and tried to restrict wording on migration, technology, and climate change. The U.S. delegation included administration officials from the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Department of Health and Human Services, but no list of public delegates was released.
The Biden Administration
The Biden administration should use CSW65 this March to reaffirm the importance of women’s leadership and gender equality to its foreign policy agenda. According to incoming National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Biden has asked his national security team to “reimagine” national security to address global crises, including inequality in all forms.
As a first step, the 2020 U.S. delegation to CSW should be led by senior administration officials, such as Vice President Kamala Harris or the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield (assuming she has been confirmed). The delegation should also include executive and legislative leaders, and representatives of like-minded partners from the private sector and civil society.
CSW speeches and events should be used to highlight policy or program announcements that reflect a commitment to gender equality at home and abroad. Such announcements should include the creation of a White House Council on Gender Equality, as the Biden-Harris campaign pledged to do, and the designation of key appointments across the government with responsibility for integrating a focus on gender equality into policymaking.
This includes the ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues at the State Department and the senior gender coordinator at USAID. These are more than personnel announcements. These individuals spearhead and guide the work to embed and advance gender equality and women’s leadership across U.S. foreign and development policy. At the Department of State, the Office of the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues has a mandate to promote the rights and empowerment of women and girls through U.S. foreign policy and leads these efforts in U.S. diplomacy, partnerships, and programs. At USAID, the senior gender coordinator provides guidance on a range of complex government programs and policies to the USAID administrator and other leadership, serves as a liaison internally between the Office of the Administrator and USAID bureaus, missions, and independent offices, and represents the agency both internally and externally regarding gender issues.
CSW is also an ideal backdrop for the United States to reaffirm Biden’s commitment to pursue ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which has been ratified by 189 countries. CEDAW is often described as the international bill of rights for women, but while President Jimmy Carter signed CEDAW in 1980, the U.S. Senate did not ratify it. Only the United States, the Holy See, Iran, Palau, Somalia, Sudan, and Tonga have not ratified CEDAW.
In the U.S., ratification requires consideration and recommendation of the document by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and the support of two-thirds of the full U.S. Senate. The last time CEDAW’s ratification was recommended to the full Senate in 2002, then-Senator Biden chaired the SFRC. While ratification is likely an uphill battle, the landscape of women’s political and economic participation (and the U.S. Senate) has changed a great deal since 2002.
Taken together with campaign statements and recent Cabinet-level and senior staff appointments, these actions will demonstrate the U.S. government’s renewed commitment to meaningfully engage with other governments, multilateral institutions, and civil society organizations to further gender equality and women’s leadership.
Gender Advisors Key to Effective Policy
Posted By : Stephenie Foster/
Under : Development , Diplomacy , Foreign Policy , Gender Equality
The proposed revisions to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy have received a lot of attention since being released for public comment in mid-August. The revisions raise many issues, one of which is the important role that gender advisors play at USAID missions, regional missions, and country offices as well as DC-based offices and bureaus. Gender advisors also play critical roles at embassies and combatant commands. From my experience, it is essential to effective policy and program development that each embassy, USAID mission, or combatant command have at least one dedicated, full-time gender advisor, with relevant expertise.
From 2012 to 2013, I served as a women and civil society officer at the U.S. Embassy, Kabul, where I focused on women and civil society, and traveled extensively to work with individuals and organizations advancing the role of women in Afghan society. This position was a full-time gender advisor position. I worked across the embassy and the USAID mission to coordinate the U.S. government’s work on women’s leadership and gender equality.
I met women all over the country, working to build a stronger and more equitable society. They were teachers, businesswomen, journalists, civil society activists, health care workers, students, and government employees. I took what I learned from them about their needs, what worked and what didn’t work, and made sure others, both at the embassy and at the State Department, knew about these women and their work. We were able to use their experience as we drafted a mission-wide Gender Strategy.
Because of my contacts with them, we were able to develop a narrative that reflected both the harsh reality of women’s lives in Afghanistan, but also the glimmers of hope and change as women developed institutions and businesses that made a difference. When senior officials visited—both from the State Department and the U.S. Congress—we ensured that these policymakers met with women and heard directly from them.
Based on that experience, here are some key points:
Gender advisors are more effective when they have gender expertise, including the technical skills, competencies, and experience necessary to provide appropriate, in-depth guidance to integrate a gender lens, and a gender analysis, throughout the process of policy formulation and program development. It is critical that these advisors have this expertise before being either deployed to post, or assigned to, the gender advisor position. I firmly believe that my effectiveness was predicated on having substantial expertise and many years of background in the field.
Understanding that it may not be possible for every gender advisor to have extensive expertise and experience when hired, in those circumstances, it is essential that gender advisors have the opportunity to develop and deepen that expertise early in their time on the job. Gender advisors must be given the opportunity and resources (such as time away and funds to travel to the training) to develop this expertise, and their supervisors must justify not providing them with that training opportunity.
From my vantage point, having gender advisors who are not technical experts can actually be harmful to the provision of gender expertise. As we all know, these issues can be complex and thorny, and advice that does not take into account this complexity can be ineffective or even harmful to beneficiaries.
It is also critical that a gender advisor is a full-time position, and not one of many job responsibilities. Again, I believe that being a full-time gender staff person provided me with the ability to focus solely on this broad and cross-cutting set of issues. It was my responsibility to bring a gender lens to what I saw, to the meetings I attended, and to the development of strategies and tactics to support Afghan women and girls.
Gender advisors are a critical bridge to what is happening on the ground and important to informing an effective foreign policy and national security policy. But, they are not the only steps to take. In addition to the work they do, the U.S. government must also invest in training to ensure that all employees in foreign policy and national security understand the importance of a gender lens, and be trained on how to conduct a gender analysis.
Taking Steps Toward Gender Equality
Under : Democracy , Diversity and Inclusion , Foreign Policy , Gender Equality , Uncategorized
After The Hill published our piece about the need to increase the number of women experts testifying on foreign policy, we received questions about what other concrete steps Members of Congress and their staffs can take to promote gender inequality.
As we noted, gender equality is not just about women. It’s about changing the gender norms and roles that affect us all at work home, and in public life. We need both men and women, on Capitol Hill and elsewhere, to actively address these norms, gender biases and systemic structural causes to make sustainable change.
On Capitol Hill, concrete steps include 1) co-sponsoring, supporting and advancing legislation that supports gender equality and women’s empowerment in the U.S. and abroad, 2) requesting a gender analysis of every piece of legislation introduced and considered, and 3) ensuring a gender balance of experts called to testify before committees.
There are Members of Congress and staff who lead on women’s rights. But, there are times when having another Member introduce or lead on a bill or amendment is more effective. Members should consider where they can lead and where they can support others’ efforts. Key questions are: What is needed to move a legislative agenda item or policy? Is it more strategic to lead or support another Member’s effort? How can I amplify, rather than replace or usurp, existing gender equality and women’s empowerment efforts?
In addition to being a legislative champion for women and girls, Members of Congress can actively address gender inequities every day at work and in society, speak up for their colleagues, treat everyone fairly, and understand the social privilege they hold.
Here are four other specific actions to take:
Listen and learn from colleagues, staff, constituents, and experts about gender issues or the gendered aspects of other issues you work on, such as veterans affairs, education reform, transportation, agriculture or international development assistance. There is a gender dimension shaping virtually every issue, and understanding it will ensure that policy is more effective. Issues around gender, equality, and rights, as well as gender aspects of other issues can be complicated. Gender is not just about women and it affects all aspects of life.
Use a gender lens when planning every visit to your state or district and/or Congressional delegation abroad. Plan to meet with women leaders of all kinds of organizations (public, private, for- and not-for-profit). Visit organizations that provide services to women constituents or can speak to the gender aspects of other issues. Make sure that there are women invited to every meeting you hold, no matter what the topic. Ask to see lists of meeting attendees.
Question speaking on a panel that is composed of all men or all women. When receiving an invitation to speak, ask who else is speaking. If you are asked to speak on a panel, and the only person of another sex is a moderator, ask if it possible to change the mix of speakers. As we noted in our earlier piece, there are women and men capable of speaking to every issue.
Run a diverse and gender equal office with equitable numbers of female and male staff, pay equity, zero tolerance of sexual harassment, and family leave. Members need to understand the gender aspects of everyday life for the people, men and women, who work in their offices, and address them.
Taken together, these steps will make a difference in addressing gender equality. The process for creating policy and legislation on the Hill – whether in Members’ offices, in committee hearings or in public – impacts the lives of women and girls in the U.S. and around the world. Everyone has a role to play.
Foreign policy congressional committees need to call more women experts
Under : Democracy , Diversity and Inclusion , Foreign Policy , Uncategorized , Women
It is imperative that those who make U.S. foreign policy reflect who we are as Americans. Today, most foreign policy and national security decisions are made in centralized and closely held processes. This is true across institutions. We recently reviewed the list of experts called to testify in Congress on foreign policy from 2017-2020 and found that most of them are men.
There are now discussions about what a feminist foreign policy would look like in the United States. Most recommendations have focused on the executive branch and, among other things, call for greater representation of women in the relevant institutions and decision-making processes. Yet, the legislative branch has a key role to play. As part of its constitutional responsibility, Congress holds hearings that include both government officials and outside experts.
In order to ascertain who is called upon for foreign policy expertise, we looked at 1,143 witnesses who testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) in the 115th and 116th Congresses (between January 2017 and June 2020).
Overall, more men than women are called as non-government witnesses to testify about foreign policy. However, we are heartened by recent HFAC numbers outlined below and we expect that HFAC will continue to call witnesses at this rate. Further, SFRC should call at least this percentage of women to testify as experts going forward.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee: During both the 115th and 116th Congresses, the SFRC consisted of 22 men (96 percent) and one woman (4 percent). Of the 352 witnesses the committee called, 77 percent were men. Of the non-government witnesses, 75 percent of the experts were men and 25 percent were women.
House Foreign Affairs Committee: In the 115th Congress (2017-2019), the House of Representatives was controlled by the Republican Party; HFAC consisted of 38 men (81 percent) and nine women (19 percent). Since control of the House changed in January 2019, HFAC consists of 40 men (85 percent) and seven women (15 percent).
From January 2017 to June 2020, HFAC called 791 witnesses; 68 percent were men and 32 percent women. Of the non-government witnesses, 69 percent of the experts were men and 31 percent women. In the 115th Congress (2017-19), 76 percent of HFAC non-governmental witnesses were men and 24 percent were women. To date in the 116th Congress (2019-20), 58 percent of HFAC non-governmental witnesses were men and 42 percent were women.
In an effort to close this clear gap in representation, we recommend that the Senate and House leadership require a gender balance in witnesses called to testify. Informally, committee leaders should call equal numbers of male and female witnesses. At the same time, foreign policy experts who are often called to testify could pledge not to serve on a panel of three or more witnesses when no women are included.
Further, these committees must examine hearing topics with a gender lens and choose witnesses to include that point of view. Such an analysis will broaden and deepen an understanding of the policy landscape and the solutions considered. The committees must call more women to testify as foreign policy experts, on all subjects not just those related to gender. Policymakers need to understand that even “traditional” security issues, like force readiness, can be analyzed with a gender lens. Such an analysis will show how men and women are impacted differently by U.S. foreign policy interventions.
While increasing the number of women experts testifying doesn’t ensure a full gender analysis on foreign policy topics, it would be a great start to better ensure that policy is formulated and debated by a more diverse group of experts and policymakers with a broader range of expertise.
Molly Opinsky is an intern at Smash Strategies and a rising senior at Tulane University studying international relations and economics. She contributed to the research of this piece.
COVID-19 Demands We Rethink Gender Roles
Under : Gender Equality , Leadership , Sexual and Gender-Based Violence , Women
Analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic is bringing the role of gender in society sharply into focus. As we look at the impact of the pandemic in subjects as diverse as political leadership, violence in the home, caregiving and what constitutes “essential” work, we are confronting the role that gender plays across the world. As a point of reference, gender is the socially defined set of roles, rights, responsibilities, entitlements, and obligations of females and males in societies. While many gender norms have shifted, these norms still inform our actions and roles every day. These norms translate into women being viewed primarily as caregivers, while men are viewed as leaders. In most of our societies, we see family violence is a private matter, but COVID-19 is bringing these issues to the forefront as our public and private lives have become more intertwined.
We’re able to discuss gender differently during this global crisis because gender impacts are being discussed in “real time”—as they are happening—rather than analyzed months or years after the fact. Advocates and practitioners have been working to include this type of gender analysis for years but topics like foreign policy, crisis response, and trade have traditionally—and wrongly—been seen as gender blind or gender neutral. This new focus on real-time analysis of gender impacts provides us an opportunity to create lasting change.
Women’s Unseen, Essential Role in Labor
According to a recent New York Times article, one in three jobs held by women has been designated as essential, and nonwhite women are more likely to be doing essential jobs than anyone else. These women are core to a part of the labor force which keeps the country running and takes care of those most in need, pandemic or not. In health care, 77% of essential workers are women and in essential retail, 53% are women. According to the New York Times, 83% of those in health care jobs paying under $30,000 are women. We know that women are paid less than men, and this is more pronounced for women of color. In the U.S., women overall earn 81 cents for every dollar a white man earns, while African American, Hispanic and Native American women earn 75 cents. We must use this window to address the twin issues of pay disparity and how we value certain jobs and types of work.
Successful Women’s Leadership During Catastrophe
Women leaders like Prime Minister Jacinda Arden of New Zealand, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan are taking bold action to stem the impact of COVID-19. They are praised as “voices of reason” for their clear and effective communication, decisiveness and empathy in the face of this pandemic. We need more leaders like them. As of January 2020, women serve as heads of state in only 10 out of 152 countries (6.6%) and women serve as heads of government in 12 out of 193 countries (6.2%). Women hold about 25% of the seats in parliaments globally and 24% of those in the U.S. Congress. This is a time to rethink the way we view leadership and the traits we value in leaders. These women demonstrate that a leader should be both decisive and empathetic.
Domestic Violence Spikes Amid the Pandemic
With 90 countries in lockdown because of COVID-19, billions of people are now sheltering at home. While this has kept many people safe from the virus, it has put many women at risk of violent behavior behind closed doors. Stay-at-home orders put those in violent relationships in close proximity of their abusers, with little ability to leave home or reach out for help. In Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., sharp spikes in the incidence of domestic violence and concurrent heightened demand for emergency shelter have been raised by government authorities, women’s rights activists and civil society organizations. It is critical that countries make the prevention and redress of gender-based violence a key part of national response plans.
Shelter-at-Home Highlights Need for Caregiving Infrastructure
Finally, COVID-19 has laid bare the reality that most caregiving is still done by women. Even when both parents work full-time, women do the majority of the childcare and housework. Recent calls to build an infrastructure of care in the U.S. have gone unanswered. But now, with schools closed and large numbers of family members at home, or when people with school-aged kids or dependent parents have to go to work, it is clearer how much care and household work is needed and who does that work. Before COVID-19, many families relied on others (often women) to formally or informally care for children or other dependents, clean their homes or cook meals. Now, many of those workers are unable to continue these roles. Once again, it is important that organizations and governments recognize that many workers have a full-time job outside the office.
Make no mistake, we are facing a global crisis. But, we can use this as an opportunity to reimagine a different future, one that values gender equality, women’s participation and women’s leadership. Women must be part of COVID-19 response and recovery planning and decision making. We must value work the unseen work done by women. We must use every tool possible to restructure caregiving systems and address the causes of domestic violence. We can do this, using everyone’s talent, skill and experience to inform our choices.
What’s important to know about women, gender norms, and terrorism
Under : Foreign Policy , Gender Equality , Security , Uncategorized
Effective counterterrorism depends on understanding the unique relationships among women, gender norms, and violent extremism. Those who develop counterterrorism plans and strategies must have an informed view of women’s varied roles in the “terrorism landscape” and the gender dynamics of recruitment, or their work will be less effective.
That women and girls are targets of extremist violence and terrorism, including the use of sexual violence and slavery to terrorize, suppress, and demoralize entire communities, has become well known by the international community. Common examples include the Islamic State’s terror campaign against Yazidis, particularly women, as well as Boko Haram’s kidnapping of girls in northern Nigeria.
Women also play a key role in peace and security. Peace agreements are 35 percent more likely to succeed in the long term when women are at the peace table. Yet women remain underrepresented in such settings: only three percent of mediators, four percent of signatories to agreements, and 13 percent of negotiators are women. To build stronger and more peaceful societies and fight terrorism, we must promote inclusive political processes and empower women and youth. This is reflected in UN Security Council Resolution 1325, subsequent resolutions, and 83 country-specific National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security.
In addition to the roles women play in peace and security, women can play a role in deradicalization and, conversely, serve as supporters and active members of terrorist and violent extremist groups. In the latter context, as discussed below, women recruit others to provide logistical support, raise money, spread violent extremist ideologies, and participate in violent extremist acts. Recognizing the various and nuanced roles women play is critical to stemming terrorism and extremism.
Women’s and Men’s Participation in Extremist Groups
While men are more visible in groups such as the Islamic State, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and alt-right groups, women do join and play important roles. Overall, at least ten to fifteen percent of members of terrorist groups are women. Based on data from 2014 and 2015, 10 to 20 percent of Westerners traveling to join the Islamic State were women and 13 percent of fighters were women. Up to 40 percent of FARC members were women, serving in a broad range of roles as spies, armed fighters, and logistical support staff.
In general, women in these organizations or movements play a combination of three overarching roles:
Agents of state building: Women are partners, wives, and mothers of potential members. Women keep the organization running by, e.g., conducting logistics, raising money, and enforcing gender roles in these groups through formal and informal means.
Recruiters: Women recruiters appeal to other women, and sometimes men, to join the group or organization. This often takes place in online conversations that are geared towards identifying potential recruits, developing relationships with them, spreading propaganda, and feeding extremist narratives. Women play this role in groups across political and geographical spectrums. But in ISIS, for example, women from the United States. and Europe most often played this role.
Militants: Women militants encourage and participate in terrorist acts, including suicide bombings. Women were responsible for 15 percent of all suicide acts between 1985 and 2006, including those by the Chechen Black Widows and the Tamil Tigers. In 1991, for example, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a suicide attack by Thenmuli Rajaratnam when she activated a bomb killing herself, him, and 16 others. Shamina Begum, a British teenager who joined the Islamic State, was allegedly a member of the ISIS morality police. She carried a Kalashnikov, was reputedly strict, and “stitched suicide bombers into explosive vests.”
Countering the Conventional Narrative About Women
The conventional narrative is that women are forced or coerced to join groups like the Islamic State, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), or any extremist group, and that when they join it is based on emotion, not reason. There are also those who argue women mainly join right-wing extremist groups because of coercion by family members or join ISIS for the romance of being a jihadi bride.
These narratives paint only part of the picture. They miss the complexity of women’s motivation and are based on the idea that women are inherently, and always, peaceful and conflict averse. From a policy perspective, these narratives underestimate the role of women as active members of these groups and women’s agency to make, in this case, bad decisions. Such a view limits effective response.
Over the last several years, there has been a growing recognition that women, like men, are driven by a complex mix of cultural, political, economic, ideological, and personal reasons for joining extremist groups. These include the need for recognition, as well as the grievances they see and experience in their communities or hear about online and in the news.
For both men and women, the drivers of radicalization include ideological conviction and righteousness, past or ongoing human rights violations by state actors and law enforcement, being a repeat subject of discrimination or learning about community members who are the subjects of discrimination, endemic inequality and poverty, and a desire for belonging. Many young men and women are alienated, unsure how to navigate modern life.
While the drivers of radicalization do not differ substantially for men and women, there is a gender dimension to recruitment, and it is important to understand the role of masculinity and gender dynamics. Men are often driven by a feeling of emasculation. Extremist groups across the ideological spectrum provide a way for men to “reclaim” their manhood and use that as part of their recruitment technique.
Using Traditional Gender Norms as a Tool in Recruitment
Policymakers and those charged with preventing and countering violent extremism and terrorism may not prioritize an understanding of gender norms, but extremists do. In addition to ideology, extremist groups appeal to potential recruits’ unease with evolving norms of gender equality by elevating traditional forms of masculinity, privileging men’s rights, and regulating women’s conduct. These gendered messages are also aimed at men. For example, Islamic State recruiting messages for men focus in part on the importance of sex segregation and access to women as a “spoil of war.”
The propaganda targeting women living in Western countries focuses on how these societies “disrespect” Muslim women and see them as victims and/or terrorists. Some of the recruiting propaganda for these groups stress the importance of liberating faithful women who are imprisoned by “infidel governments.” Propaganda in English and French uses “women’s empowerment” messages to attract women. It speaks to motherhood obligations, portrays being part of building a Caliphate as empowering, and highlights opportunities available to women in the Islamic State and their role in state building. The ISIS Women’s Manifesto sets out these traditional gendered roles for women as part of a long-term recruitment strategy to recruit Muslim women.
The Islamic State is not alone in this approach. At the same time, both Islamist and far-right groups use a rejection of Western, secular gender roles to recruit women who are questioning, and often rejecting, evolving values about women’s roles, whether those values are seen as Western, secular, or non-traditional. Notably, in some far-right groups women’s roles have expanded from activists to gang leaders and other positions of leadership.
Women: A Force for Counterterrorism and Deradicalization
Those developing counterterrorism plans must use a gender lens and analysis in their work and understand the gender dynamics in the specific situation they face. Every situation is different, but effective counterterrorism must be informed by an understanding of women’s varied roles in the “terrorism landscape” and the gender dynamics at play.
Further, women must be engaged in the development of counterterrorism plans, both at the community and programmatic levels. Governments and civil society must empower women overall to build strong and vibrant societies. Local officials, including local police, must take women seriously. Women have unique vantage points to detect early signs of radicalization. Women are on the front line of extremism and notice its call signs; they see a decrease in their rights, an increase in harassment, changing dress code requirements, and attacks on girls in school. For example, in a southern Afghan village, women noticed an influx of suspicious men claiming to be Uzbek businessmen and taking interest in the village’s young men. The women suspected the men were targeting boys for recruitment into terrorist forces and presented their concerns to a government official, who “laughed them out of his office.” A month later, the new recruits abducted 32 passengers from a public bus and killed them.
Finally, there must be meaningful representation of women in the security sector, at both the policy and operational levels. The security sector, like all other sectors of society, must ensure that women participate in equal numbers to men. Governments must increase the number of women in law enforcement and the military, where the number of women is dreadfully low, hovering between 10 and 25 percent. (Globally, women comprise between 7-29% of police forces in select countries, and average 11% of military forces in NATO countries.) Women are able to increase/diversify the type of information gathered by interacting with other women and children, at locations sometimes inaccessible to all-male teams, and by improving how communities view law enforcement.
It is critical that those involved in developing counter-terrorism plans and strategies understand the various and nuanced roles that women play in the terrorism landscape. Plans and strategies that ignore a gendered analysis and the data supporting such analyses are destined to be less effective.
While the social, economic, and political drivers that lead to radicalization do not differ substantially between men and women, there is an undeniable gender dimension to the recruitment and retention of both women and men. This, in turn, necessitates an appreciation of the ways that masculinity and discomfort with changing gender norms are used for recruitment.
Understanding and addressing gender dynamics can help ensure that policymakers and practitioners are more effective in combatting terrorism and building stronger, safer societies. Interventions based on this gendered perspective can make us all safer by preventing recruitment and increasing effective reintegration for those who disavow these groups.
COVID-19 and Gender
Like almost everything, the current coronavirus pandemic has a gender angle. Why? Because the gender roles that each of us play – the socially defined set of roles, rights, responsibilities, entitlements, and obligations of females and males – impact and are impacted by this crisis.
While it seems that men are more likely to die of this and other viruses because of genetics and chromosomes. But men may also be more susceptible because of gender norms that cause greater stress, higher rates of tobacco consumption and a reluctance to seek medical care. When we look back, research will give us a better picture of the outcomes for all of those affected and how it was divided by sex, gender, age and race.
At the same time, women are also bearing the brunt of much of the crisis. An April 3 U.S. Department of Labor report, shows the same unemployment rate (4 percent) for adult men and women. But, according to the National Restaurant Association, women account for 71 percent of all servers nationwide. Restaurants have been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus. We will see in the coming weeks if a gender gap appears in the numbers due to the different kinds of jobs men and women hold.
The combination of economic and social stresses brought on by COVID-19, as well as restrictions on movement, have dramatically increased the numbers of women and girls facing gender-based violence, in almost all countries. United Nations chief António Guterres put out a video statement on April 6 focused on the worldwide issue and the strains that institutions that often mitigate GBV – healthcare workers, police and support groups – are under.
Importantly, issues that are rarely part of a mainstream conversation, such as the issue of caregiving (for older family members and children) are being discussed. While women have traditionally taken care of the majority of care and other chores within the home, it has remained largely invisible. Calls from some like Anne-Marie Slaughter to build an infrastructure of care in the U.S. have gone unanswered. But now, with schools closed and large numbers of family members at home, or when people with school-aged kids or dependent parents have to go to work, it is becoming clearer how much care and household work is needed and who does that work. Once again, we will see how U.S. companies respond to the realization that many workers carry a full-time job away from the office.
COVID-19 has caused many parts of the U.S. and the world to slow down and take a look at our society. It has allowed us to examine what we value and what we have forgotten to value in our lives. After we get through the next uncertain and unhappy weeks and months, I hope the business, academic and advocacy communities, as well as individuals, take the opportunity to rebuild our institutions, like work and healthcare, in a way that is more equitable and remembers those things we valued during these dark days.
Is U.S. Foreign Policy Feminist?
Under : Democracy , Development , Diplomacy , Foreign Policy , Gender Equality , Leadership , Peace , Security , Uncategorized
This is a year of milestones for women: the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Conference on Women, the 20th Anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and the 100th Anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States. In this context, Our Secure Future commissioned a poll of 1,500 registered voters in the U.S. to get a sense of how they view foreign policy decision-makers, whether they see themselves represented in that arena, and whether they consider themselves to be a feminist. The results illuminate some thinking on these issues and are useful to decision-makers and advocates alike as they develop and debate foreign and national security policy.
According to the poll, almost 60 percent of respondents do NOT think that those who have made U.S. foreign policy and national security decisions over the last decade generally share their beliefs and interests. 22 percent were unsure. Here are some more details:
There was a gap between women (55%) and men (64%).
There was a wider gap between Democrats (50%) and Republicans (67%)/Independents (64%).
There was an even wider gap between those who frequently watch MSNBC (44%) and Fox News (68%).
Surprisingly, a greater percentage of white respondents (62%) do not feel represented in U.S. foreign policy and national security institutions than black (49%) or Hispanic (51%) respondents.
The same poll showed that less than half (48%) of those surveyed think that women are sufficiently represented in the U.S. government when it comes to making decisions about foreign policy and national security. Additional details:
The largest gap was based on political party affiliation with 10 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of Republicans believing that women are sufficiently represented. Independents were split (42% yes/41% no)
There was also a gap between women (35%) and men (44%).
The widest gap was between those who frequently watch MSNBC (5%) and Fox News (74%).
The survey also found that party affiliation and age were affiliated with whether a respondent thinks of her/himself as a “feminist”.
59 percent of Democrats said they consider themselves a feminist (62% for frequent MSNBC viewers), but just 7 percent of Republicans and frequent Fox News viewers did.
50 percent of 18-34 year-olds said “yes” to the feminist label while 29 percent of those over 65 years did.
Black (47%) and Hispanic (49%) respondents were more likely to think of themselves as feminists than white ones (30%).
This information — while preliminary — can help guide discussions and provide background for work being done to advance policy proposals around Women, Peace and Security, and a more inclusive foreign policy.
UNSCR 1325: Lessons from Practitioners
Under : Peace , Security , Women
This year is the 20th Anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which reflects the global commitment to the importance of women in building peace and security, and strong, inclusive societies. UNSCR 1325, and the nine UN resolutions that follow, recognize women’s central role in peace, security and stability; women’s right to be included in negotiations around war, peace and conflict resolution; and the importance of addressing the different needs of women and men in relief, recovery and post-conflict efforts.
Over the last several weeks, I met with several groups of international leaders visiting the U.S., all working in post-conflict countries to build peace and strengthen their countries’ institutions. Some of the participants were from urban areas; some from rural areas. Some are in government; some in civil society. These women and men — and many more like them — are key to efforts across the globe to make peace and security real in communities. Every day, they translate the rhetoric of the U.N. and governments to the lives of women, men, girls and boys. Their work defines and reflects the on-the-ground reality of this work.
Here are some key takeaways:
Every issue is relevant to women’s lives: Despite the global commitment of UNSCR 1325, we often hear that “women’s issues” will be dealt with once there is a peace agreement. That approach doesn’t work.When women are included in discussions and peace talks, women bring a broad set of issues and solutions to the table, and agreements last longer. The women I met over brought both policy expertise and knowledge of their communities. They were experts in criminal justice reform, environment and sustainability, and election systems. Their expertise, and the perspectives they bring, matters in terms of strong policy solutions and ensuring that everyone’s views are being considered.
Bringing women together who work on these issues is critically important. There are many lessons that women can learn from each other, from how to be an effective negotiator, how to represent community interests without being seen as partisan in peace negotiations, and how to engage men as part of these processes. It’s important that from various parts of the women, peace and security “ecosystem” understand how they complement each other’s roles: women in civil society raising issues and women in government drafting policies that bring those concerns and proposals to life.
Women doing this work to build peace don’t always see the connections to work elsewhere. The UNSCR resolutions around women, peace and security provide a global and local framework for thinking about these complex issues and for analyzing progress. But women on the ground don’t always see their work as connected to that framework, or see what they do as part of a global movement. Ensuring that their work is chronicled and captured helps them see these connections and helps international actors understand the connections as well.
Supporting peace builders is essential and we must listen to what these peace builders need from us. Local context and local leadership matters. It’s critical to listen to, and support, local leaders. Women and men engaged in peacebuilding and conflict resolution take many risks. They live in conflict zones and communities that have often been torn apart. They put their lives on the line, and they also push boundaries around about what is possible to resolve a conflict. Members of the international community need to support what they do, in whatever ways peacebuilders identify. In some cases, it may be highlighting their work publicly; in some cases not.
We ignore engaging men at our peril. Just as women are central to peace building and building strong post-conflict institutions, so are men. Many of the women I met with talked about what contributions they were making, but also how they work with men in their communities and countries to support women’s inclusion. Men need to be engaged so that they understand how communities can be rebuilt in a more equitable way following conflict.
As we mark these last 20 years, and recommit to engaging women in peace and security, we need to keep learning from those who make this work real every day. They bring international commitments and resolutions to life.
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Forerunners in the Drive for Sustainability in Solidarity
Monday, Oct 8, 2018
(08 October 2018. Pasay City, Philippines) Forerunners in the drive for sustainability reporting are in solidarity during the first Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Summit in the country held at the Conrad Manila in Pasay.
In the photo are (from left) Mat Kimberly, Deputy Head of Mission of the Australian Embassy of the Philippines; Timothy Mohin, GRI Chief Executive; Sunny Verghese, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Olam International Limited and the Chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development; Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, President and CEO of Ayala Corporation; Hans T. Sy, Chairman of the Executive Committee of SM Prime Holdings; Teresita Sy-Coson, SM Investments Corporation Vice Chair and concurrently Chairperson of BDO Unibank; Roberto de Ocampo, Board Director of GRI ; Irwin Lee, President and CEO of Universal Robina Corporation; Vincent S. Perez, Jr., Co-Founder and Chairman of Alternergy; Justo Ortiz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Union Bank of the Philippines; and multi-awarded journalist Karen Davila of ABS-CBN Corporation.
The GRI Summit gathered key private and public sector leaders to help promote sustainability reporting in the Philippines. GRI, the lead convenor, has partnered with the SM group of companies led by SM Investments Corporation as well as with the Australian Embassy in the Philippines, the Philippine Business for Environment, and the Makati Business Club in launching this summit in the country.
Know more about SM’s Sustainability Stories here:
https://www.sminvestments.com/company-releases/sm-gather-private-sector-landmark-sustainability-summit
Sustainability Reports: https://www.sminvestments.com/sustainability/sustainability-report
About SM Investments Corporation
SM Investments Corporation is a leading Philippine company that is invested in market leading businesses in retail, banking and property. It also invests in ventures that capture high growth opportunities in the emerging Philippine economy.
SM’s retail operations are the country’s largest and most diversified with its food, non-food and specialty retail stores. SM’s property arm, SM Prime Holdings, Inc., is the largest integrated property developer in the Philippines with interests in malls, residences, offices, hotels and convention centers as well as tourism-related property developments. SM’s interests in banking are in BDO Unibank, Inc., the country’s largest bank and China Banking Corporation, the 7th largest bank.
For more about SM, visit www.sminvestments.com
For further inquiries, please contact:
Paul Arcenas
VP, Planning and Corporate Communications
SM Investments Corporation
E-mail: paul.arcenas@sminvestments.com
Tel. No. (632) 857-0100 local 1039
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2020
SM Prime opens New Mall in Zamboanga City
Friday, Nov 13, 2020
SM malls in Luzon extend immediate assistance to Typhoon Ulysses victims
SM City Butuan: SM Prime’s Newest Mall in Mindanao
Friday, Nov 6, 2020
SM Investments cited as among best managed companies in the Philippines
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2020
SM Q3 revenues improve, nets PHP15 billion in consolidated earnings in nine months
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2020
SM malls provide immediate assistance to families affected by Typhoon Rolly
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Windows 7 end of life: Security risks and what you should do next
Microsoft Windows 7 will no longer receive security patches - and cyber criminals will be looking to exploit it to target businesses that still haven't upgraded from Windows 7. Getting your security strategy right is vital.
Windows 7 has reached end of life and now isn't supported by Microsoft. It means businesses and consumers with PCs running on Windows 7 – which was introduced in 2009 – will no longer receive technical assistance, software patches and security updates from Microsoft, unless they want to pay extra.
Microsoft has urged users still running Windows 7 to upgrade to Windows 10 to continue to receive technical support. But despite these warnings coming over a number of years, it's estimated that 200 million PC users are still running Windows 7.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-7-end-of-life-security-risks-and-what-you-should-do-next/
#cybersecurity #cybercriminals #securitypatches #malware #cyberattacks #SWTsecurity
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Iran announces progress on long-range SAMs
Iran’s air defence commander, Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, claimed in a series of announcements made on 28 August and 1 September that the Islamic Republic is making progress on two indigenous long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) programmes.
He said on 28 August that the Bavar-373 SAM had been successfully test-fired for the first time. This announcement came almost three years after he revealed the system was being developed to replace the S-300 mobile, long-range SAM systems that Iran ordered from Russia, but which were cancelled after the UN imposed an arms embargo in 2010.
Although no imagery of the test was released, the Bavar-373 missile appears to have been shown for the first time in Iranian television footage of a military exhibition in Tehran on 28 August. The footage fleetingly showed a white missile with ‘373’ written on it that appeared to be roughly the same size and shape as the ones used with the S-300P series.
It was displayed next to another previously unseen missile and a vehicle-mounted, rotating, planar-array radar that could be part of a mobile SAM system.
Brig Gen Esmaili said that Iran was working on another long-range SAM based on the old Russian S-200 system called the Talash-3, which he said had been successfully tested and would be unveiled on 22 September during Sacred Defence Week.
“Talash-1 and -2 were designed and unveiled in 2012 and 2013 with a short- and medium-range capability,” the Iranian news agency Mehr quoted him as saying. “Talash-3, which is a combination of the S-200 and localised technology, has been designed and produced in 2014.”
The only previous reference to an air defence system called Talash appears to have been made by Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan in November 2013, when he suggested it was a radar and/or command-and-control system for the Sayyad-2 SAM he was unveiling at that time.
“The Talash defence system was designed and built to detect and intercept targets for the Sayyad-2 missile,” he said.
The Sayyad-2 is a land-based version of the RIM-66 (SM-1) naval SAM, while the Sayyad-1 is a copy of the Chinese HQ-2/Russian S-75 SAM.
Brig Gen Esmaili unveiled two new radar systems on 1 September: the Arash-2 and Keihan (or Keyhan).
Iranian television footage suggested the Arash-2 is a development of the ‘Square Pair’ target engagement radar used with the S-200 SAM.
“In the past, Arash-1 radar was designed and produced by Iran’s army, but needed to be upgraded to be capable of quickly discovering micro air vehicles,” Mehr quoted Esmaili as saying. “Arash-2 radar greatly facilitates the air defence and is compatible with the world’s modern technology.”
Read More:Iran announces progress on long-range SAMs – IHS Jane’s 360.
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The Feminist Internet Podcast
Listen to a podcast series by Somerset House Studios associates Feminist Internet exploring the theme of Recoding Spaces.
Feminist Internet is a group of artists and designers working to advance internet equalities for women and other marginalised groups through critical practice. In this podcast series, the group explore the theme of Recoding Spaces, both online and offline, with the aim of diversifying internet spaces metaphorically, physically and digitally, intercepting homogenous zones and breaking the filter bubble. The podcast aims to not only expose these spaces, but to regenerate them in new and inclusive ways.
RECODING UTOPIAS
The importance of Queer spaces
Since 2006 London alone has lost more than half of its LGBTQIA+ spaces. In this episode we explore what it means to be queer and the act of queering itself. Speaking to creatives and activists who are finding new ways of transforming and performing in Queer spaces, and why these spaces are so vital to the city and its future.
Amy Lamé
Amy Lamé is the night Czar of London, appointed in 2016 by Sadiq Khan. She is co-founder of the Olivier Award-winning arts company and club night Duckie, and co-founded RVT Future, a voluntary LGBT+ community group campaigning to preserve the iconic Royal Vauxhall Tavern. She broadcasted for a decade on BBC Radio London, and now hosts Sunday afternoons on BBC6 Music.
Lucas LaRochelle
Lucas LaRochelle is a multidisciplinary designer and researcher examining queerness, technology, and architecture. They are the founder of Queering The Map, a community generated counter-mapping project that archives queer moments, memories, and histories in relation to physical space. Queering The Map received an Honorary Mention for the 2018 Prix Ars Electronica, was longlisted for the Lumen Prize for Digital Art and the Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards, and is included in the Library of Congress LGBTQ+ Studies Web Archive.
Nadine Artois of Pxssy Palace
Nadine Artois is a queer, femme, Desi DJ, community leader and cultural consultant based in London who has been working at the intersection of nightlife and activism since 2015. They co-founded Pxssy Palace, a collective that creates spaces which prioritise QTIPOC as well as educating wider audiences so that queer, trans & intersex people of colour can live their lives with more authenticity and acceptance .
Jim MacSweeney
Jim MacSweeney is the manager of London’s only LGBTQ+ bookshop, Gays the Word and has been for nearly 30 years. Located in Bloomsbury and founded in 1979, Gays the Word has been an iconic venue selling a wide range of books and serving as a meeting point for communities and organisations - including Lesbians and Gays Support the miners in the early 80s, and most recently TransLondon.
Ingo Cando
Ingo Cando is the founder & creator of Wotever World, which includes Bar Wotever a Queer cabaret hosted every Tuesday by the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, the Queer Fayre, FMAS, Non Binary Cabaret and much more. Ingo is also a LGBTQIA+ Social Consult for venues and organisations.
Hosted by Clara Finnigan & Conor Rigby
RECODING MUSIC
Has the internet truly brought autonomy to musicians?
The Internet has changed the way we make, share and listen to music. Now, more than ever, female and non binary artists should have the opportunity to be heard on their own terms. But what are the effects of algorithm led streaming sites on artist autonomy, our listening habits and the value of music? In this episode we speak to those in and around the music industry who are challenging the way we make and consume music in the age of streaming.
Liz Pelly
Liz Pelly writes about music, culture, streaming and the internet. She is a contributing editor at The Baffler, where she writes a column about how the world of music is being reshaped by the platform economy. Her byline has also recently appeared in the pages of Bitch, Frieze, and Logic Magazine. In 2018, she received a Reeperbahn Festival International Music Journalism Award for The Year's Best Work of Music Journalism. She lives in New York.
Terry Tyldesley
Terry Tyldesley is chair of the board of new ethical music streaming platform Resonate. Resonate is a co-operative platform on a mission to rewire the music industry so that everyone has a voice, not just corporations. Terry is also a songwriter and producer, and frontrunner of electro-punk band Feral Five. She produced and curated Music Tech Festival Berlin.
Moonbow of SIREN Collective
SIREN is a collective focused on challenging and re-defining current preconceptions within dance music. Their parties, zine, mix series, monthly NTS Radio show and workshops are musical and political platforms for women & non-binary people, and prioritise accessibility. Expanding upon this work is their recent video series project "The Shape Of Sound" which was created in collaboration with Somerset House Studios.
Mick Grierson
Mick Grierson is Research Leader at UAL Creative Computing Institute. His research explores new approaches to the creation of sounds, images, video and interactions through signal processing, machine learning and information retrieval techniques. He is working on an AI sound project in collaboration with Massive Attack, to be unveiled as part of the unprecedented Barbican exhibition AI: More Than Human in May 2019.
Clara Finnigan
Clara is a writer, podcaster and founding member of the Feminist Internet. Clara’s work is focused on facilitating alternative and under represented dialogues in new and accessible ways. She is also the co-founder and editor of a new music journalism platform, Hook - which explores how music is made, how it is consumed, and what it does to us emotionally, socially and physically.
Rhiannon Williams
Rhiannon is a poet and writer, and a founding member of Feminist Internet. She is a researcher with Arup’s Foresight Department, and her first poetry collection, Saturnine/Saturnalia, was published last year. She writes about gender, technology, sexuality, music, and conflicted space.
Recoding Anger
Shaking off the shame of womxn's rage
It has been argued that 2018 was the year womxn’s rage filled our screens, and a pivotal time for womxn freely expressing their anger. In this episode, we talk about whether as womxn we are beginning to shake off the shame that comes with being angry, explore different types of anger but crucially, question who in our society is allowed to be angry, and who is not.
Charlie Craggs
Charlie Craggs is a trans activist and author of the book “To My Trans Sisters”. She is the founder of Nail Transphobia, an organisation and campaign which aims to educate people on trans issues and make new allies through giving manicures. Charlie is #1 on the Guardian New Radicals List of British Social Innovators, and a brand ambassador for the London Trans Clinic.
Seyi Akiwowo
Seyi Akiwowo is the Founder and Executive Director of Glitch, a growing not-for-profit advocacy, campaigning and training organisation that aims to end online abuse. She has spoken all over the world, including in Washington DC, Istanbul and Geneva. Seyi was invited back to Geneva to present at the 38th United Nations Human Rights Council on online-gender based violence.
Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning writer and media critic whose writing appears regularly in national and international media including The Atlantic, Quartz, TIME, the Guardian and the New Statesman. She speaks frequently on topics related to inclusivity, free speech, sexualized violence, data and technology. She recently published the book “Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger”.
Kate Durbin is a Los-Angeles based artist, writer and filmmaker. Her work explores popular culture, gender and digital media. We spoke to her about her latest piece, a short film called ‘Unfriend Me Now!’ that examines the role how Facebook’s algorithm has spurred increasing political polarisation, and how that polarisation - and namely, rage - has been co-opted by corporate interests.
Sabrina Faramarzi
Sabrina Faramarzi is a journalist, futures researcher and trend analyst, as well as one of the founding members of Feminist Internet. Her work explores patterns across lifestyle and society, as well as women’s issues and internet culture. She has written for The Guardian, Wired and VICE, amongst others and has spoken at conferences and events across Europe, Middle East and Asia.
Recoding Voice Technology
Is a Feminist Alexa possible?
The voice of Alexa is everywhere. It is estimated that 70% of recorded voices in the UK are female or female sounding. But what are the consequences of having such gendered voices encoded into our space? And what is the potential of voice technology outside of commercial contexts? In this episode, we speak to the learning partners and students of the UAL Feminist Alexa workshop to explore what voice technology could be, and why we need an alternative to the default Alexa.
Alex Fefegha
Alex is the co-founder & head creative technologist at Comuzi, a future focused creative technology agency, working at the intersection of emerging technology and humans. Some of Comuzi's clients include Nike, ASOS, Uber, BBC, University of Arts London, Ustwo, Moramma and the NHS.
Josie Young
Josie Young advocates for designing Artificial Intelligence (AI) products and systems using ethical and feminist principles. In 2017, she developed and tested a design process for building feminist chatbots. Josie works in London at Methods, leading work to understand the most ethical and appropriate ways to deploy AI in the public sector.
Charlotte Webb
Dr Charlotte Webb is co-founder of Feminist Internet and acting course leader at the Creative Computing Institute, UAL. Recently nominated by the Evening Standard as one of the most influential people in Technology and Science in London, she is passionate about making the internet a more equal place through creative, critical practice.
Eden Clark
Eden is a digital collage artist, performer, and a founding member of feminist internet. Her practice uses a character (@femminancybitch69) to parody [post] feminist narratives that infiltrate popular culture and capitalist marketing strategies. Her interests lie in high-femme pop culture, memes, and how to make the internet a fairer place for all!
The Feminist Internet Podcast was commissioned and produced by Somerset House Studios with the support of the UAL Creative Computing Institute.
Here is the re-launch of the first Feminist Internet podcast episode, Recoding Voice Technology. Following its initial launch, we were made aware that one contributor has separately expressed views we do not align ourselves with. After much discussion and in recognition that this inclusion has upset some in our networks, we support the decision to remove this contributor’s segment from the episode. Enjoy!
Amplify Residency
Somerset House Studios partners with Mutek & British Council hosting 10 female identifying artists & producers working across digital arts in Canada, Argentina, Peru & UK. →
10 games to play at Now Play This
Festival director Holly Gramazio selects highlights of this year's festival of games and play. →
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323-unit apartment project planned for Austin’s East Riverside area
Shonda Novak
Aspen Heights Partners has started construction on an apartment project that will bring more than 320 units to the rapidly redeveloping East Riverside Drive corridor just east of downtown Austin.
The 323-unit development will add to an area that is transforming in large part to its proximity to downtown and to the nearby Oracle campus that has helped spur residential and commercial development in the area, including hundreds of new apartment units.
The new four-story building at 1700 Willow Creek Drive will join the expanding retail, restaurant and other entertainment options in the area.
The complex, due to be completed in May 2020, will have one- and two-bedroom units at market rates, Aspen Heights said, along with a four-story parking garage. The development also will include two courtyards and a rooftop amenity deck with a swimming pool and fitness center.
“We see tremendous potential in Riverside, which benefits from its access to arts, entertainment, restaurants, shops and everything that the greater Austin area has to offer,” Greg Henry, founder and CEO at Aspen Heights, said in a written statement. “It’s our top priority to continue to deliver best-in-class projects, and we are actively seeking new development opportunities to strategically grow our portfolio of multifamily, student housing and active adult housing projects.”
Aspen Heights’ new development is 1 mile from Oracle’s corporate campus, and less than 5 miles from the University of Texas campus. Leasing is expected to begin in November.
“The East Riverside corridor has seen an exciting influx of new businesses, restaurants, residential and mixed-use development that has energized the area,” Todd Gaines, division president at Aspen Heights Partners, said in a written statement. “We look forward to delivering an exceptional community with a quality-of-life that exceeds the typical apartment rental experience.”
In 2019, Aspen Heights completed the Independent, a 363-unit condominium tower in downtown Austin that has been nicknamed the “Jenga Tower” for its offset design. The 58-story high-rise is the tallest building in Austin.
Other Aspen Heights properties in the Austin area include: Concord, a garden-style apartment property in South Austin; Rise on 8th, a 22-story apartment building in downtown Austin; and Aspen West Campus, a 17-story student-housing property near UT.
Founded in 2006, Austin-based Aspen Heights has developed more than 50 student and multifamily housing projects, totaling more than $2.8 billion in value. The company builds, leases and manages its own projects and also provides third-party leasing and management services. It has an additional $1.9 billion in projects in its pipeline.
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Tigers prepping for loaded slate
Jim Irish
Smithville football coach Cyril Adkins has had to scramble to complete his schedule for the upcoming season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Tigers (7-5 last season) were originally scheduled to face non-district opponents Cedar Creek and Crockett, but both were eliminated because they’re Class 5A schools that now will begin the season later.
Adkins said he lost non-district opponent Gatesville on Tuesday but then added Shiner on Wednesday.
“It’s a different year,” Adkins said. “You have to take whatever. You’re either going to travel 900 miles or you’ve got to play whoever is available.”
Eight of Smithville’s 10 opponents advanced to the playoffs last year. The toughest on the schedule may be Shiner, ranked No. 1 in Class 2A Division I in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine’s preseason poll. The Comanches (12-1) lost their only game in the third round of the playoffs last season to eventual state champion Refugio, 45-43.
Smithville plays Shiner on Sept. 11, but the site has not been decided.
Smithville also competes against Class 3A Yoakum (4-7) and Class 4A Jarrell (5-5) in non-district contests on Sept. 4 and Sept. 18, respectively. The sites have yet to be determined.
The Tigers’ season opener is against Columbia (9-2) at home on Aug. 28. Brothers Jordan and Jamaurion Woodard led the Columbia offense last season, rushing for 741 and 658 yards, respectively.
Smithville tackles Columbus (12-3) in its fifth non-district contest at home on Sept. 25. Columbus hammered the Tigers 33-14 last season.
Smithville’s scrimmage is against Bellville at home on Aug. 20.
The district schedule consists of Navasota (7-5) at home on Oct. 9, Gonzales (8-3) on the road on Oct. 16, Giddings (7-6) at home on Oct. 23, Cuerro (3-7) at home on Oct. 30, and La Grange (8-4) on the road on Nov. 6. Only Cuero missed the playoffs last season.
“I would argue that this is probably the toughest district in the state,” Adkins said. “All these teams go deep in the playoffs.”
Smithville has to replace starting quarterback Lane Otto, who threw for more than 2,000 yards and 23 touchdowns, as well as two-way players Clay Padgett and Kirt Hawkins.
“We’re hoping to make up for it on defense,” Adkins said.
Nine return on defense, and the best may be 6-2, 230-pound senior linebacker Chris Sanders, a first-team selection in District 12-4A. Sanders may see time at running back, too, because of his quickness.
“He can move,” Adkins said. “He could possibly be one of the best linebackers, if not the best, in the state. He’s been underestimated.”
Smithville has begun practicing.
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Spots France EN
Spots Bordeaux FR
Spots France
Home Art, Design & Architecture Extraordinary mosaic art in the Basilicas of Ravenna
Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo - Photo Asgeir Pedersen
Extraordinary mosaic art in the Basilicas of Ravenna
Asgeir Pedersen
Ravenna is a small town south of Venice on the Adriatic coast, about an hour’s drive from Bologna
The historic centre of Ravenna is a quiet little haven with a perfect blend of the things many visitors have come to expect from an Italian town: stunning works of art and architecture, good food and wine from the region as well as seaside resorts and endless sandy beaches on the Adriatic coast just minutes away.
Once upon a time the capital of the Western Roman Empire, ruled by an empress by the name of Galla Placidia, Ravenna alone has eight individual monuments listed as World Heritage. One of them is a mausoleum the empress had made for herself, although she was never actually buried there. With the exception of another mausoleum, the massive tomb of the Ostrogoth King Theodoric, each of these monuments contain superb mosaic art of Roman-Byzantine origin, created in the 5th and 6th centuries.
Although mosaic art did not originate in Ravenna, the town is justifiably called the City of Mosaics in Italy, thanks to these truly outstanding Byzantine mosaic artworks in Galla Placidia’s mausoleum and in the basilicas here and in the nearby village of Classe.
Header photo: Mosaics in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo
On Piazza del Popolo in Ravenna
The early Christian monuments of Ravenna, eight in total, were inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1996 for their; “…outstanding significance by virtue of the supreme artistry of the mosaic art that they contain, and also because of the crucial evidence that they provide of artistic and religious relationships and contacts at an important period of European cultural history”. (UNESCO)
Basilica of San Vitale
“You find yourself immersed in a colourful and intricate design that seems to extend endlessly in the space around and above you…”
The Basilica of San Vitale captures the essence of the Byzantine period in 5th century under Emperor Justinian’s rule. In the 4th century, the strategically important town of Ravenna had been the capital of the Western Roman Empire, then capital of the Ostrogoths under King Theodoric, before it was conquered by the Byzantine general Belizarius.
Emperor Justinian soon designated Ravenna the capital of the Prefecture of Italy, and although he never visited the town himself, both he and his wife Theodora are very much present in the large panels on either sides of the apse (see photos below).
Basilica of San Vitale, courtyard view
The basilica construction has an octagonal plan with both Roman elements such as the dome, the shape of doorways and the stepped towers, as well as Byzantine elements apparent in the polygonal apse, the capitals and the use of narrow bricks.
Detail of the apse
The apse
The absidal area is dominated by a scene depicting Christ sitting on a globe flanked by two angels. To the right of Christ is San Vitale receiving a martyrs crown.
Empress Theodora (Teodora), the wife of Justinian (Giustiniano) is making an offering as she extends a gold goblet towards the right, to Christ as depicted in the scene in the apse (see photo above). A similar panel on the left side of the apse depicts Emperor Justinian and his retinue.
The procession of Theodora and her retinue
It is also worth noting that the San Vitale basilica is modeled on the much grander Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. It was built only two decades later, while Emperor Justinian ruled the Byzantine Empire from Constantinople. About three centuries later, Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, built his famous cathedral in Aachen in Germany, greatly inspired by San Vitale’s octagonal floor plan and soaring structure.
Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo
The Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo was originally built under Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, in the early 6th century CE as his own palace chapel.
The entire length of the walls on both sides of the nave are covered in resplendent scenes of golden mosaics. The 26 panels depicting the life of Christ, the large portrait of Christ enthroned, the ones of Theodoric’s palace in Ravenna and the port in Classe date from the Arian period under Theodoric.The basilica was converted into a Catholic church and reconsecrated later in the 6th century, and subsequently, some of the original artworks depicting scenes from Theodoric’s court were replaced, most notably the image with the hand sticking out from behind a curtain.
Balthassar, Melchior and Gaspar (west wall)
Detail on west wall – Port of Classis (Classe)
In the mid 9th century the relics of Saint Apollinaris were taken from the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe and placed here instead. “Nuovo” (new) was then added in order to differentiate it from the church in Classe.
Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe
The basilica is situated in the village of Classe about four km from Ravenna
Built in the early 6th century, the basilica is contemporary with the Basilica of San Vitale but its layout is similar to the Byzantine style basilicas of San Giovanni Evangelista and Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna. As you enter the spacious nave you are immediately drawn towards the magnificent mosaics in the apse. 58 wide windows, including five in the apse, flood the interior with light. The overall interior design is exquisite, understated yet grand.
Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna
The nave is supported by slender marble columns topped with beautifully carved Byzantine capitals depicting acanthus leaves. Above the columns are a series of fresco portraits of archbishops of Ravenna, dating from the 18th century. Saint Apollinaris – one of the first bishops of Ravenna – is said to be buried here.
The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
Inspired by the starry sky, the famous jazz singer Cole Porter wrote the song “Night and Day” after his honeymoon visit here…
The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is situated in a the corner of the garden of the Basilica of San Vitale. Built in the years before 450 CE as Galla Placidia’s own resting place, it is one of the oldest buildings in Ravenna.
Galla Placidia was born in 392 in Constantinople, a daughter of a Roman Emperor. She lived in Rome when the Visigoths came and sacked the city in 410, led by King Ataulf. She marries the Visigoth king in Narbonne. Ataulf gets murdered and the next king trades Galla Placidia back to the Romans in exchange for grain. She unwillingly marries Constantius, a Roman general who is co-emperor with Gallas Placidia’s brother Honorius.
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
In 402, Emperor Honorius had transferred the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Milan to Ravenna. After both Constantius’ and her brother Honorius’ death, Galla Placidia becomes regent of the Western Roman Empire, with Ravenna as the capital. She reigned from 425 until her son Valentinian’s 18th birthday in 437.
The mausoleum was built in the shape of a cross, and from each arm, a soft light filters through golden alabaster windows. This marvellous little gem was never used as Galla Placidia’s final resting place. The Empress died and was buried in Rome in 450.
Vault detail, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
All photos by Asgeir Pedersen, Spots France
This is a revised version of the article first published in 2015.
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Cumulative Update Package for SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM
Microsoft had recently released Cumulative update package 8 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1.
This week the Cumulative Update package 1 for SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM was released. This package is for SQL Server 2008 SP1 customers who want to upgrade to the latest version of SQL Server 2008 R2 and still keep the hotfixes from Cumulative Update 5 to 7 for the release version of SQL Server 2008 SP1
Microsoft said “Cumulative Update 1 for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM contains only hotfixes that were released in Cumulative Update 5, 6, and 7 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Cumulative Update 1 for SQL 2008 R2 RTM is only intended as a post-RTM rollup for Cumulative Update 5-7 for the release version of SQL Server 2008 SP1 customers who plan to upgrade to SQL Server 2008 R2 and still keep the hotfixes from Cumulative Update 5-7 for the release version of SQL Server 2008 SP1. No new hotfixes have been included in this cumulative update”
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77 Mass Ave
Building a Better Lightbulb
MIT invention could make incandescent lightbulbs as efficient as LEDs.
David L. Chandler archive page
Incandescent bulbs are already banned by many nations, but rumors of their death may, to paraphrase Mark Twain, be grossly exaggerated. An innovation from MIT could give them a new lease on life.
The bulbs, one of Thomas Edison’s most famous inventions, are a technology more than 130 years old. They work by heating a thin wire to around 2,700 °C, causing it to emit black body radiation, a broad spectrum of light that provides a warm look and a faithful rendering of all colors in a scene. But about 95 percent of the energy that goes into these bulbs is wasted, most of it as heat. The new research could finally change that.
This story was part of our March 2016 issue
Physics professor Marin Soljacic ’96, PhD ’00, postdoc Ognjen Ilic, PhD ’15, mechanical engineering department head Gang Chen, and three others published their solution early this year. The key, they say, is to create a two-stage process.
First, a conventional metal filament is heated. But the waste heat isn’t allowed to dissipate as infrared radiation, as usual. Instead, secondary structures surrounding the filament capture this radiation and reflect it back to the filament to be reabsorbed. These structures, a form of photonic crystal, are made of earth-abundant elements and can be made using conventional material deposition technology.
The desired visible wavelengths of light pass right through this material and out of the bulb, but the infrared wavelengths get reflected as if from a mirror. They then travel back to the filament, adding more heat that gets converted to more light. Since only the visible light ever gets out, the heat just keeps bouncing back toward the filament until it finally ends up as light.
That second step dramatically improves how efficiently electricity is converted into light. Measurements of luminous efficiency, which factor in the response of the human eye, are 2 to 3 percent for conventional incandescent bulbs, between 7 and 15 percent for fluorescents (including CFLs), and between 5 and 15 percent for most compact LEDs. The new two-stage incandescents could reach efficiencies as high as 40 percent.
The team’s first proof-of-concept units already reach about 6.6 percent luminous efficiency, a result that approaches the efficiency of some of today’s CFLs and compact LEDs and is a threefold improvement over today’s incandescents.
The researchers refer to their approach as “light recycling,” says Ilic, since their material in effect fishes “junk”—the unwanted, useless wavelengths of energy—out of the wastebasket and converts it into pleasing, useful visible light.
David L. Chandler
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How can machine learning help with maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) processes?
Machine learning can help with both predictive and regular maintenance, and the general maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) processes that companies use to support and preserve their assets, such as vehicles, equipment and other useful items.
In general, structured maintenance, repair and overhaul plans benefit from all sorts of data aggregation and analysis practices. Machine learning is driving many of the new tools and platforms that work on specific MRO problems to help companies to innovate and make overall maintenance more efficient and effective.
Free Download: Machine Learning and Why It Matters
One key way that machine learning is helping with MRO is in building predictive accuracy.
A Forbes article, "10 Ways Machine Learning Is Revolutionizing Manufacturing," talks about improving maintenance through more predictive precision in regard to parts and components. The idea is that by integrating data from databases and other sources, machine learning systems can offer companies more business intelligence in the maintenance arena. That in turn will add capability to maintenance, repair and overhaul processes, and foster more proactive predictive maintenance, as well as better regular scheduled maintenance and operational efficiencies – for instance, having the right processes in place to do the scheduled maintenance, and having a more robust reporting system for what's already been done.
Machine learning can also be applied to a maintenance, repair and overhaul inventory. MRO processes rely on inventories of parts and products that will support effective maintenance. For example, companies will keep certain amounts and numbers of parts and pieces on hand for a vehicle fleet, such as bulk orders of brake pads and brake shoes, oil filters, or anything else that's commonly applied to regular or predictive maintenance.
Handling these inventories is, as anyone could imagine, a complex affair. Where the inventories are, how they are labeled, and when they are applied to a maintenance, repair and overhaul system makes a difference. So does the application of machine learning processes that can enhance the handling of MRO inventories or solve problems related to those inventories. Missing data can throw a wrench in a business process. Machine learning can seek to secure that data and bring more consistent analysis and processes to the table. It can also help to determine factors such as labor costs, or add intelligence on mean time between failures, or work with any number of other metrics, benchmarks and indicators to streamline a maintenance, repair and overhaul process and make it work better.
At a very basic and fundamental level, a machine learning approach adds certain advantages – the advantage of handling larger numbers of predictive variables to create better business intelligence. Its strength is in its agility and the capability of handling the complex data that provides transparency on all sorts of maintenance elements, from parts inventories to labor management to long-term design and engineering analysis.
Have a question? Ask us here.
View all questions from Justin Stoltzfus.
Written by Justin Stoltzfus
Justin Stoltzfus is a freelance writer for various Web and print publications. His work has appeared in online magazines including Preservation Online, a project of the National Historic Trust, and many other venues.
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Woking man jailed after stealing from employer
A Woking man has been sentenced to nine months behind bars after being found guilty of theft, escaping lawful custody and possession of cannabis.
Ciaran Edwards, 31, of Old Woking Road, Woking, was arrested after concerns were raised on 2 November 2019 that he had come into possession of a large sum of money. When challenged, Edwards said he had stolen it from work and that he was planning to take more money and flee to Barcelona. He had even booked an e-ticket for his flight.
Officers contacted Edwards’ company, where he was employed as a manager, and discovered that he was the only member of staff with access to the cash safes. They waited outside to arrest him after he finished work but he made off from police. However, he was located at his home address later that night.
Following a search of his rucksack, officers found £5,546.99 in cash, which was confirmed as being the amount stolen from his company. He was also found to be in possession of cannabis.
He was subsequently charged with two counts of theft, escaping lawful custody and possession of class B drugs.
PC Tom Gorys, who investigated the case: “This is a great result due to a thorough and prompt investigation by officers, which resulted in the recovery of a large quantity of cash and prevented further thefts from the company which had employed Edwards in good faith and trusted him with significant responsibilities. The fact that he was given a prison sentence shows that this sort of pre-meditated criminal behaviour will not be tolerated and should act as a deterrent to anyone planning similar offences and thinking they will get away with it.”
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Home Local News Airport receives award for business excellence
Airport receives award for business excellence
AIRPORT–Princess Juliana International Airport Operating Company N.V. recently received a 2016 Bizz Award in Washington, D.C., from the World Confederation of Businesses Worldcob.
The Bizz Award “recognizes the business excellence” of companies from around the world and their promotion of “corporate social responsibility,” according to Worldcob.
“It is an honour to accept the 2016 Bizz Award on behalf of St. Maarten. This award is for the work that is carried out daily at the Airport, as a team consisting of management, personnel, stakeholders, and because of the international scope of the award, our hub partners as well,” said Airport Deputy Managing Director Larry Donker.
“The obtained recognition will allow St. Maarten’s Airport to grow at the business level because it increases the capacity for business relationship, generates more businesses and revitalizes the Airport’s corporate image,” according to Worldcob.
The 2016 gala award ceremony, which was attended by Donker, was held at The Willard Intercontinental in Washington on July 31.
The Award means that St. Maarten’s Airport “has been considered as an elite member of Worldcob,” according to the organization.
Worldcob is based in Houston, Texas, and membership also allows for the management of companies receiving the Bizz Award “to generate business among the members of Worldcob and promote the socially responsible corporate culture,” stated the organization.
Worldcob members and Bizz Award recipients include banking, media, insurance, medical, and energy corporations located in United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Nigeria, Turkey, India, China, Indonesia, Jordan, Angola, Peru, and the Dominican Republic, among other countries, according to the business organisation.
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Ten Parmalat bosses are sentenced to jail
By Tom Nicholls
Updated: 07:35 EST, 28 June 2005
A JUDGE in Milan has sentenced 10 former Parmalat executives and a lawyer to jail for their involvement in the financial scandal that brought down Italy's biggest food group.
Judge Cesare Tacconi handed out sentences of up to two-and-a-half years for crimes that included market-rigging and obstructing regulators.
Among those convicted was former chief financial officer Fausto Tonna who, in his first public statement on the affair 18 months ago, wished journalists and their families 'a slow and painful death' as he was led to the prosecutor's office.
Tonna, one of Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi's closest associates, spent several months in detention last year. He was jailed for two-and-a-half years. None of the convicted are expected to serve time as they are first-time offenders.
Still one of Italy's main milk producers, Parmalat went bust in 2003 after revealing a €4bn (£2.7bn) hole in its accounts. It will relist on the Milan stock exchange later this year if a €12bn debt-for-equity swap is approved.
Tanzi and other defendants, including former auditors, are to face trial in September on charges related to misleading investors and regulators.
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Destinations > Spain
Welcome to Spain
Welcome to Spain - The Country of Sun, Flamenco and Paella
Spain is situated on the Iberian Peninsula in the South West of Europe. It also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and two small cities in North Africa.
The best time to visit Spain is from May to October, when the weather is warm and sunny. Moreover, Spain is known for its passion to dance as temperamental flamenco, tango and national merengue has charmed the whole world. Spain is also appreciated for its exquisite art, especially noted in the fine art. El Greco, Diego Velazquez, Francisco de Goya are just a few to name. Spain impresses with its idyllic climate, friendly locals, a popular dynamic nightlife, and well-known excellent food. The most popular dishes are Paella, Spanish omelette and Tapas, as well as products like dry-cured Spanish ham or Sangria.
Spain has 52 international airports. The largest airport in Spain is Madrid-Barajas, it is a symbol of modernity and progress and has consolidated its leading position among world airports, being the fifth in Europe in numbers of passengers. In addition the important airports are Barcelona-El Prat or Palma de Mallorca Airport. There are trains connecting the big cities and local busses in all towns.
There are no health risks associated with traveling to Spain. Spain has a health agreement with most EU countries, providing emergency health care for EU travellers on the same terms as Spanish nationals, but EU travellers must take a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).
In case of an emergency there are different numbers to dial:
112 (general emergency)
061 (medical emergency)
091 (police)
The official language is Spanish, but English is well understood in tourist areas. Galician, Catalan and Basque are spoken in some regions.
The official currency of Spain is the Euro. Most of the credit cards are accepted at hotels, restaurants, and shops.
http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Portal/en/ServiciosAlCiudadano/InformacionParaExtranjeros/Paginas/RequisitosDeEntrada.aspx
Law Issues
Smoking is prohibited in all public places.
Sensitive Topics
In Spain, you should avoid talking about politics and economy.
Fuerteventura (Canary)
La Coruna
Naveda
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20,000 Articles on Everything Green
News Treehugger Voices
Less Than Half of Germans Identify as Full-Time Meat Eaters
Many are eager to embrace cultured meat as an alternative.
Katherine Martinko is a writer and expert in sustainable living. She holds a degree in English Literature and History from the University of Toronto.
Katherine Martinko
Published September 28, 2020 12:54PM EDT
A woman eats currywurst near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany.
Sean Gallup / Getty Images
Germany is now one of the most vegetarian nations in Europe. This may come as a surprise to the many people who think of Germany as the land of sausages, schnitzel, and pork knuckles, but a new study published in the journal Foods found that only 45% of Germans says they eat meat full-time, with 31% trying to reduce the amount of meat that they eat.
The study took a fascinating delve into how traditionally meat-centric European countries view their consumption of a now-fraught food. Researchers interviewed 1,000 people in both Germany and France, asking them about their personal dietary habits, their reasons for wanting to reduce meat (if that was mentioned), and their views on eventually eating more cultured (lab-grown) meat.
They found that respondents in Germany were more inclined toward vegetarianism and reducetarianism than in France, where a majority (69%) of those interviewed said they still eat meat full-time and only 26% are striving to reduce it. As for curiosity about cultured meat, a majority in both countries had not heard of it, but Germans were more receptive.
Interestingly, support for cultured meat was strongest in agricultural communities, where people have the closest contact with livestock. This sounds counterintuitive, but the researchers suggest that it's because these people understand (and possibly dislike) more about the current meat production system than the average urban grocery shopper. From the study:
"This indicates farmers may see cultured meat as a way to address the mass demand for affordable meat, enabling them to move away from intensive industrial production systems and return to more traditional systems, which are more harmonious with environmental and animal welfare outcomes."
There's also some evidence that pro-cultured meat messaging emphasizes benefits such as no need for antibiotics and improved food safety; these are reasons that resonate more with the general public than messaging about animal cruelty, welfare, and the environment.
Christopher Bryant, a psychologist from Bath University who was lead researcher for this study, says this bodes well for the future. Passing that halfway mark of Germans who don't eat meat full-time means a tipping point has been reached. He told the Guardian,
"The social implications here are potentially quite profound. The view that being a carnivore is ‘normal’ is part of the lay moral reasoning for continuing to eat meat. But once that is a minority view, and meat replacement options become cheaper and tastier, the trend is likely to continue in one direction."
Furthermore, France and Germany have significant political clout when it comes to agricultural reform. Historically, Germany has always had an agricultural deficit, while France has a surplus, which makes them both staunch supporters of the Common Agricultural Policy. This program is responsible for 40% of the European Union's agriculture budget and grants subsidies to farmers, including livestock providers. Reform has been difficult in years gone by, due to the strong influence of livestock farmers in France; but after studying the shifting dietary habits of these countries' residents, it's apparent that change could be coming in the near future.
The time is ripe for it. Particularly in light of COVID-19, when transmission of zoonotic disease from animals to humans has shaken the entire world, people are reexamining their relationships to food and questioning more closely what they should and should not be eating. Similarly, concern about antibiotic resistance is higher than ever, and people are starting to realize that farmed animals should not be receiving antibiotics in large quantities for no reason other than to offset the risks of cramped, disease-ridden conditions and to spur on abnormally fast growth. As Jens Tuider, director of ProVeg International, said in a press release,
"Globally, more than 70% of antibiotics are used on animals in intensive farming, dramatically decreasing the efficacy of antibiotics intended for humans. This represents a serious threat to global public health, with a projected death toll from antibiotic-resistant diseases of 10 million per year by 2050. Since cellular [cultured] agriculture has no need for antibiotics, it could significantly mitigate against this major risk to public health."
We're not out of the woods yet. Even if developed countries are slowly moving away from heavy meat consumption, there are many developing countries that are starting to eat more of it, as their wealth and access to it increases. But it doesn't hurt to set an example, to show that there are other ways of living and eating that do not involve consuming large quantities of cheap meat, nor contribute to upholding the heavily-industrialized farming systems that are causing so many damage to our already-overtaxed planet.
Are There Problems with Lab-Grown Meat?
'How to Be a Conscious Eater' Will Help You Make Smart, Ethical Food Choices
German Politicians Propose Much Higher Meat Tax
8 Guidelines for Buying Better Meat and Dairy
Our Soaring Love of Meat Is Bad News for the Planet
Why Do American Men Eat Far More Meat Than Women Do?
Why Meat Consumption Isn't Sustainable
People are Eating Less Meat and Doing More Home Cooking
Germany Launched the Most Vegan Food Products Last Year
Greenpeace Wants Us to Eat 50% Less Meat and Dairy by 2050
What Does a Renowned Nutritional Scientist Eat?
Arguments for and Against Humane Meat
You Can Thank Antibiotics for All the Cheap Meat
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Easter Sunday B: Christ is Risen! Alleluia
Yesterday we came to celebrate death. Today we have come to celebrate life; life beyond death; life beyond the grave.
They left 42 years ago Vietnam. But Vietnam never left them. The horror, violence of those days walked their days and haunted their nights, until they decided to go back to Vietnam. So six of them went back to the old battlefields with new purpose. They spent 10 days scouring the fields for mines they had planted to protect American lives, which killed thousands of innocent farmers. When they came back, their tombs were empty. The tombs they had sealed and kept with the stinking experiences of the past were now freed and there was fresh air.
Empty tomb is the mystery of the Resurrection and the centre of our faith. Resurrection is possible only, i.e. new life, by emptying the old tomb.
Then comes the second component: The good news does not get to the heart until it gets to the feet. A series of foot races. Mary, Peter, John. Like the marines who went to Vietnam.
Therefore to rise with Christ means raise others to Christ. That's what Acts of the Apostles is all about. It is "Acts". If the first was an interior journey, the second is an exterior journey; if one was personal, the other was communal.
The Gospels do not explain the Resurrection. But the resurrection explains the gospels - J.S. Whale.
Our religion is not a way of looking at certain things, but it is a certain way of looking at everything - Robert Segel
War shatters thousands of lives in Yemen
Bird flu breaks out in a Chinese town
Communal riots affect thousands in Orissa
Ferry sinks in Bangladesh, a hundred drown
Why was I here and not there?
Robbers break‑in at the home next door
Neighbors out of work for weeks
Hunger plagues the local poor
House fire caused by gas-stove leaks
Why am I held in His care?
Deep depression dogs her still
Constant pain has made him lame
Daily drink consumes his will
She has sullied her good name
Why don't I collect my share?
Time will bring the rocky way
But for now my prayer will be
Thank you, Lord, for this holy day
Praise to you for sparing me
Praise to you for your resurrection and new life
Why, again I've slipped the snare!
(adapted from Fr. Roger Swenson)
If I, limping, steady you, our step is surer.
If I, weeping, comfort you, our loss decreases.
If I, failing, strengthen you, our weakness conquers.
If I, dying, rescue you, our life has meaning.
Why, have you called us to new life in you?
God of peace, your presence in the world often goes undetected, unnoticed. You pass through the locked doors that our fear and anxiety erects, and you call forth the life that exists on the other side just like you called forth your son, Jesus Christ from the sealed tomb. Penetrate the locked doors of our minds and hearts, remove our fears and anxieties, inspire us to rejoice at the sight of new life in your resurrection, and bring us into the peace of your Kingdom, where you...
Gospel reading Mark 16:1-7
General Textual Reflection
The gospels all tell us that Jesus rose from the dead. They give us, however, two different accounts of this central moment of his life. – In St Mark 9:19, St Luke (gospel and Acts of the Apostles), and St John, the apparitions of Jesus after his resurrection take place in Jerusalem. This was the place where he had recently been crucified and put to death.- In St Matthew and in this section of St Mark, Jesus is said to return to Galilee after his death. It is there that the later apparitions take place. Each of the two accounts has its own greatness and richness. In our meditation then, we should concentrate on the text before us; for the time being we ignore the other accounts, even though we may be more familiar with them.
St Mark tells his story from the perspective of the women who went to the tomb. We naturally follow them and interpret the story from their point of view. This also happens to be ours at certain moments in our lives. We can also read it from another point of view – from the perspective of the disciples who, in contrast to the women, remained indoors. They happened to be there at this time and they received the good news about the risen Jesus from the women who spoke from their experience.
Textual Comments
Verses 1 and 2. The women in the story are all three symbols of people who know how to go out and watch faithfully over someone who has died. The text tells us that they “brought spices with which to anoint him”; they did not, therefore, expect any resurrection from the dead. This is important for us as very often we too have no indication that we can expect a dead person to start a new life. We do
not expect them to give rise to a fresh beginning. The text gives us three expressions symbolizing new life: “very early in the morning”, “on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb”, “and the sun was rising.” All three remind us that the day of great darkness mentioned in St Mark’s gospel did not last “forever”. The events on this morning, very early the next day, brought a new dawn. It was truly a time of new light.
Verses 3 and 4. The stone in front of the tomb is symbolic. It symbolizes the many obstacles which we know can lie between us here and now and the working out of the new story of grace.
We think of examples:
– persons who hold us back because they do not want us to go forward with some kind of newness;
– objects which we know will stand in our way unless we take active steps to get rid of them and move to a new kind of relationship;
– God himself is often experienced as someone who distracts us from giving ourselves fully to others. We think for example of people we feel naturally attached to – a spouse, children, friends, fellow-workers, people who share in our political platform. We react to them as if our being close to God means that we should love them less.
Verse 5 and 6. The words of the young man in the white robe express the heart of the mystery of the empty tomb. With him, therefore, we enter into the dramatic contrast between the two attitudes of the women:
– a fear of things or objects that we know still stand in the way of our future progress;
– the reality of the risen Jesus; he is now totally free of what limits us to the here and now.
Verse 7. This text gives us the striking commission given to the women. It tells us to remember that we need to go back to the place where we started our great adventure. After the loss of some glorious person, we need to return to that place. When we go back to our first search, we will truly understand the significance of the seemingly dead Jesus who has risen again.
Lord, we thank you for faithful people:
– friends who stay with us when we let them down;
– members of our parish who persevere in the community in times of discord;
– those in our movement who are not discouraged by corruption and betrayal within it;
– people in the Middle East and in Northern Ireland who continue to work for peace.
While most of us looked on past hopes as dead and gone,
they, like the women at the tomb of Jesus,
continued to mourn for what they had lost.
So they were there very early in the morning,
when a new day had dawned and the sun had started rising again.
They were able to announce to us who had lost hope
the good news that it was the first day of a new beginning.
Lord, we remember a time when we were in some bondage:
– we were in the grip of some addiction;
– our family life was in deep crisis;
– unemployment had us totally discouraged.
Now, looking back, we remember how we worried
about something that turned out to be no problem at all:
– what our friends would say;
– how one particular child would react;
– whether our health would stand up to work.
We were the women on Easter morning asking themselves
Who would toll away the great stone from the entrance to the tomb,
when the moment of grace had already come
and the stone was quite irrelevant to their situation. Thank you, Lord.
“Walk the dark ways of faith and you will attain the vision of God.” …St Augustine
Lord, forgive us for continuing to focus on the past:
– we harp on wrongs done to us by parents or teachers;
– we regret mistakes we made, opportunities we missed;
– we want to prove we are better than others;
– we try to rebuild relationships that have ended;
– we resent getting old or sickly.
Send us someone like the young man in the white robe
who spoke to the women at the tomb of Jesus
to tell us that crucifixion is not the end,
we must not look for Jesus in a tomb, because he has risen, he is not there.
Your will is that we go back to Galilee to resume our lives
because he is going before us there
and it is there that we will see him, just as he told us.
“All nations have opportunities which they may grasp if only they can summon up the courage and the will.” …Sir Arthur Lewis, West Indian economist
Lord, there are nations today that are trapped
In an endless cycle of racial, ethnic or religious conflict
– the Middle East, Northern Ireland, the Basque Country, Sudan.
We thank you for the women of these nations who,
like Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Salome,
have seen with their own eyes that life cannot be contained in a tomb,
And have gone to tell their leaders that they must move forward to a new place
Where they will find life, just as you told them.
Lord, sometimes the good news of resurrection from the dead
Is so overpowering that all we can do is to run away,
Frightened out of our wits.
Even though we have a wonderful message to transmit,
for a long time we can say nothing to a soul.
Genearal remarks
This vigil is the centre of the liturgical year. The fact that it is peripheral to many normally active in the liturgy indicates how little the renewal of theology and liturgy begun in the 1960s has sunk into our consciousness. The Missal describes it as ‘the mother of all vigils’ (n 20, p. 202) and sees the readings as its core: ‘it must always be borne in mind that the reading of the word of God is the fundamental element of the Easter Vigil’ (n 21). In practice, it is almost the exact reverse. The readings get squeezed (almost squeezed out) between the opening drama of the paschal fire, and the excitement of the baptism liturgy.
The assumption of the liturgy is that all nine readings are used: they are not offered as options from which to make a selection. An individual community can reduce the number ‘for special reasons’ (Lectionary, vol 1, p. 399) to five; and ‘more serious reasons’ are needed if only four are used (Missal, n 21). However, if the reason for dropping any reading is the time factor, then the question must be asked as to why bother with the vigil at all? If any of the readings are dropped, then the purpose of the whole sequence becomes invisible: the idea is that there is a long sequence of texts and that we ’listen … to the word of God, recalling how he saved his people throughout history, and in the fullness of time sent his Son to be our Redeemer’ (Missal). The notion of a long sequence of steps, ‘again and again you offered covenant to us,’ cannot be conveyed with just two or three readings as that number is simply not large enough to give a sense of God’s continual steadfast love.
Given that people have come out specially and on this night are more closely attuned to the liturgy than usual, it is worth taking the extra time (it takes 10-15 minutes max.) to read all nine passages. Doing this well, with a variety of readers, and styles of music for the psalms, can let the vigil’s message sink home better that any homily.
Unlike Christmas Midnight Mass, after almost fifty years this vigil has failed to capture the Christian imagination. Indeed, the introduction of the Saturday vigil Mass has often meant that this night has just become an ordinary vigil Mass with ‘bits’ tacked on. The liturgy tonight uses four great signs in succession (fire, word, water, and food) to convey the message that we have been remade as a people through the resurrection.
Fire breaks out in darkness – so it useless to begin before nightfall – and becomes ‘our light our joy.’ The great candle is the beacon of the risen Christ.
‘Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’ (Jn 3:5); we rise in Christ through being buried with him in baptism (Col 2:12) so water and baptisms are central to this night. This is the ideal time for the community to welcome new members and, in doing so, to remember that we are there because we are the baptised.
Lastly, there is the Lord’s banquet. We encounter the Lord in food and we thank the Father through a food ritual. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed and, therefore, we now celebrate the feast (cf 1 Cor 5:7f) and ‘the cup of blessing which we bless is … a participation in the blood of Christ, the bread we break is … a participation in the body of Christ’ — we are made into a new people through this sharing (1 Cor 10:16f).
Giving real ritual significance – the opposite of tokenism – to the various parts of this liturgy may be the key to establishing this as ‘the night’ with all its associations, as listed in the Exultet.
In the original form of Mark, this passage (with v. 8 which has been omitted as jarring with the liturgy’s theme of surprise-joy while Mark has surprise-fear) was the gospel’s concluding scene and the sole reference to the risen Jesus. Its force is that a sealed tomb has been opened, a tomb that should contain someone waiting for the resurrection at the end is already empty.
Mark’s stark ending has troubled readers down the centuries — hence the addition of other endings such as the one commonly found in our editions (vv. 9-20) — but it is the dramatic riposte to the long passion narrative. All that intrigue and wickedness to inflict death, destroy Jesus, his message, and his movement has ended in failure: only hours later the tomb is empty, his promises are being fulfilled.
Gospel Commentary : John 20:1-9
This account of the first Easter Sunday morning is significant in that it highlights how each of us as believers must come to terms with the mystery of the resurrection. Mary reports to Peter and the beloved disciple that the tomb is empty. They in turn run to investigate and, while the disciple reaches the tomb first, he holds back in deference to Peter, the leader of the twelve. It is only when the beloved disciple enters the tomb that we are told an appropriate response to the event –’He saw and he believed.’ The beloved disciple is unnamed but in John’s gospel he is present and close to Jesus at all the key moments: the Last Supper, Calvary and now the tomb. In a sense he symbolises where all true believers should be, for each of us is called to be a beloved disciple who accompanies Jesus on his way: ‘Where I am there also my servant will be.’ Jn 12:26
Our readings today bring home to us with tremendous enthusiasm and fervour how our faith life is meaningless if not rooted in the resurrection of Jesus. The gospel is not merely a story in which we are offered the good example of a man who lived a life of love. It is much more, for it shows us that God has renewed our life totally from within through the Spirit of the Risen Christ who now lives in us. In the world of the New Testament many doubted the resurrection and poured scorn on the idea. The same is true today and perhaps this is not an unreasonable response when confronted with the apparent finality of death. Yet the entire New Testament is a witness to the faith of those who affirmed the resurrection as much more than an historical fact. For them it was the ultimate transforming truth and it remains so for those who celebrate it today. This explains why, ‘We are an Easter people and alleluia is our song.’ (St Augustine)
Donal Neary SJ
Our Celebration
If we have a look around the Church we notice colour, nature, ions, water and oil. We hear joyful music and uplifting prayer. This is our Easter – our celebration.
The next bit of Easter is to go and tell. Like he appeared in an ordinary garden.he appeared to unexpected ones, the women. Who would of thought he would do that? He would still do the same!
The divine Jesus also looks ordinary. They take a while to recognise it is the same Jesus, the one they knew and loved. We sometimes meet people who got a promotion (or something big happened to them) and deep down thy are still the same person. Jesus was new but then they realised that for now and forever he would still be the same, finding us and loving us in the ordinary, on our good days and bad days, in goodness and weakness.
On our bad days he can bring out the best out in us. Like his bad days brought out the best in him. When we can say little he sings Alleluia in us. He is doing us a world of good in us so that we can do the world a world of good.
His words of resurrection echo today in all that is in this church, its colour, sounds, and above all in the humanity here. We will always have the echo of Jesus, he is risen today: alleluia, alleluia
Allow the joy of Jesus to fill your heart
as your breath fills your body.
Risen Jesus, be joyful in me, in all.
(2) EASTER SUNDAY MORNING MASS
Gospel Reading: John 20:1-10
We have three commentators available from whom you may wish to choose . Click on the name of the commentator required.
****************************************Michel DeVerteuil
John’s account of the resurrection is in two stages:
– verses 1-2 are about Mary of Magdala’s experience;
– verses 3 to 10 tell us about the experience of the two disciples.
In verses 1 and 2 you might like to focus on the symbolism of it being “still dark” and yet a “first day” of a new time. The large stone symbolizes all the forces, human and other, that keep God’s grace in the bondage of the tomb.
Your experience will help you interpret how Mary responded. Did she run in confusion? Or in fear?
The story of Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved can be read from various points of view. You can take them together as experiencing the resurrection, focusing on the details, especially the cloths lying on the ground, useless now since Jesus was alive, but also on the fact that until they saw the empty tomb they did not believe the teaching of the scriptures.
St John makes a point of contrasting the two apostles. If you would like to meditate on this aspect of the story, see Peter as symbol of the Church leader, while “the other disciple” is the one who, while having no position of authority, is specially loved by Jesus and, perhaps as a result, is first in faith.
Lord, we thank you for moment of grace.
We had been in a situation of death
– a relationship that meant a lot to us seemed dead
– an addiction held us in its grip
– our country was locked in civil strife.
Then the day came that would turn out to be the first of a new era.
We were mourning as usual,
Like Mary of Magdala making a routine visit to the tomb of Jesus,
But saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb.
Naturally, we looked for some simple explanation,
“they have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have put him,”
but it wasn’t anything like that,
it was what the scriptures teach us, that your work must always rise again.
“They can kill a bishop, but they cannot kill the Church which is the people.” ….Archbishop Romero, some days before he was martyred
Lord we thank you for people of faith.
They believe the teaching of the scriptures
That your work may lie in the tomb for some days
But it must rise again.
“When the underprivileged unite and struggle for justice, is that not a sign
of the presence and action of God in our time?” …Musumi Kanyaro, Committee of Women in Church and Society, Lutheran World Federation
Lord as we look around the world today
we see what Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved saw
as they entered his tomb.
Cloths are lying on the ground that we can recognize for what they are
– attitudes of passivity that look like fine linen
but in fact kept your chosen ones in the tomb.
Whereas you have once more fulfilled what you taught us in all the scriptures
and we had not really believed until this moment:
that you will always raise up your chosen ones
when the world imprisons them in a tomb.
Lord we pray today for those who were baptized last night:
today they have enthusiasm, for them you are alive and present;
but there will certainly come a time when they will experience you absent,
when prayer will be like Mary of Magdala going in the gloom of early morning
to visit the tomb of Jesus.
In fact, they will be like people who mourn for a spouse or a child
without even having the comfort of the dead body to look at.
This is the way they will have to pass
because until they have had experiences like this they will not really believe
the teaching of the scriptures that your grace cannot be overpowered by evil
and that your presence within us must always, like Jesus,
rise again from the tomb.
Lord, we like to feel that we have you within our grasp:
– that our prayers are always answered;
– that we are living in a way that is pleasing to you;
– that the times, gestures and words of our prayers are just right.
Teach us that we must be prepared to lose that security
and experience being abandoned, until we live in trust only
and see all those things that we considered important
like the cloths in the empty tomb of Jesus –
fine linen cloths, but they were keeping him in the tomb.
Now we see them on the ground and also the cloth that had been over his headnot with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself.
1. The resurrection is the source of Christian hope: our lives are not circumscribed by life as we know it now, but can open onto a new life in the presence of God. This is the mystery beyond words, yet somehow today it has to be the subject of our preaching.
However, there are two widely held misconceptions which prevent people hearing what the liturgy says about the resurrection today in its symbols, prayers, and readings. A useful task in the homily is to draw attention to these mistaken ideas.
The first is that it was some sort of resuscitation, a trick to prove that Jesus was right, an event which you either believe happened or did not happen back then. This misconception distracts from a hope in our resurrection in the future. The resurrection is not about resuscitation, but our future transformation.
The second, and far more widespread notion, is that resurrection is just a fancy terms for a belief in an afterlife of some sort or other — the number of practising Christians who think that re-incarnation can be squared with Christian faith is an indication of this confusion’s prevalence. Our faith is not about some kind of postmortem survival, but in God’s gift of the fullness of life.
2. So, the first point is to avoid ‘explaining ‘ the mystery as if it were a series of ‘facts’ that can just be acknowledged as having happened so-and-so many years ago. In earlier times each item in the resurrection accounts was studied like the clues in a detective story with the aim of building an apologetic that would explain the ‘how’ of the resurrection and the ‘what’ of the risen body of Jesus. But the kerygma of the resurrection lies not in the details of ‘the first Easter,’ but in the reality that those who join their lives with the Christ shall share a fuller, glorious, transformed life as the gift of the Father. We can inherit the Father’s gift of glory as the final fulfilment of human life. It is worth pointing out that the disciple today must not be distracted by the ‘how’ and ‘what’ questions of ‘the first Easter’ from remembering that Christian faith strains onward to the future: the cost of discipleship now and tomorrow is worth it for the path of righteousness does not end with a grave. Many wonder whether or not they ‘can believe’ in the empty tomb, but this misses the point. Belief in the resurrection is seen when someone, even in the face of death, still follows the path of love with the confidence that the Father will ‘not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let his Holy One see corruption’ (Acts 2:27 [Ps 16:10]).
3. Second, belief in the resurrection is not some christianised version of a belief in the immortality of the soul. A belief in immortality is a human sense that a bit, some sort of spiritual residue, can survive without a body. The belief in the resurrection is that we are each creatures willed by God, in whose histories God is interested as the loving Father, and into whose history he has sent his Son sharing our humanity, and therefore whose whole existence ‘spirit, soul, and body’ can be transformed to become part of his Son’s glorious body. Easter is not a celebration of a ‘survival factor’ in humanity, but of the Father’s love so that nothing good shall perish, but be given even fuller life.
4. To believe in the message of Easter is not a matter of tombs long ago in Palestine, but having the conviction that it is worthwhile to seek to bring light in darkness, to oppose lies with truth, to work for justice in the face of human corruption, and to say that death does not have the last word.
5. When we profess our faith in the resurrection of Jesus we are not setting out something with the intention that our understandings should grasp it and comprehend it. Jesus has been transformed to a new kind of existence by the Father beyond our understanding and we can only express it in symbols such as that of the empty tomb — tombs, after all, are designed to hold their remains indefinitely. By contrast, the proclamation Jesus is Risen’ is an invitation to share in a new way of seeing God and the universe, and it is only from within this new vision (faith) that it makes sense. Hence, the ancient theological dictum, based in Isaiah 7:9, ‘unless you believe, you will not understand.’ The message of Acts and the gospel is that we are invited to live, to live in a new way, to live in Christ — and that in living in this way we discover in the midst of suffering and death that the Father will raise us as he raised the Christ.
6. If we join with those who accept the invitation to new life in Christ, which is what we say we are doing in accepting baptism commits us to a way of living. The early followers were referred to as being on ‘The Way’ (see Acts 9:2; 18:26; 19:9 and 23; 22:4,14 and 22) and our oldest extant teaching manual (The Didache) begins by contrasting ‘The Way of Life’ (to be followed by disciples) with’The Way of Death.’
7. The thought of resurrection may fill us with joy, but the life-demands that accepting it makes on us can be great: we must do as we would be done to (cf Didache 1:2; Mt 7:12; Lk 6:31), we must practice the forgiveness we desire from the Father (cf the ‘Our Father’), and we must act with gentleness. Only in constant effort to live life in this way can we glimpse the truth of the empty tomb.
8. To live this life demands patience, a waiting for the good things to be revealed — the practice of the virtue of hope: we must always be of good courage … for we walk by faith, not by sight (cf 2 Cor 5:6f). Today is our day for rejoicing in the risen Christ, for thanking the Father for his love, and for reminding ourselves of that to which we have committed ourselves: The Way. Death has contended with Life, yet despite tombs and symbols of death all around us, we proceed to commit ourselves to life, confident that as the Father transformed the existence of Jesus, so he will transform the whole creation.
The first reading from the Acts, is part of an early sermon of St. Peter on the feast of Pentecost, his very first after the resurrection. He tells us how he is a witness of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Without the resurrection Jesus’ life and ours would be a total failure, with the resurrection every moment of His ministry has new meaning and every moment of our own can take on new significance. Peter in this sermon reminds his listeners that Jesus is Lord of all and that his message is a message of hope and peace. He emphasizes that every believer is called to be a witness of the Lord’s life, death and resurrection. We are called to be witnesses of the resurrection, but the glory of the resurrection is realized in us only when we have accepted the many crosses that come our way leading us to new life.
Unfinished Till Broken
A story is told of an Eastern village that, through the centuries, was known for its exquisite pottery. Especially striking were its urns; high as tables, wide as chairs, they were admired around the globe for their strong form and delicate beauty. Legend has it that when each urn was apparently finished, there was one final step. The artist broke it – and then put it back together with gold filigree. An ordinary urn was then transformed into a priceless work of art. What seemed finished wasn't, until it was broken.
Steve Goodier
The Gospel begins with Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. She knows the stone has to be rolled away, and she also knows that she cannot do it by herself. Maybe she believes that the Lord will provide and he will take care of it all - and he does! “She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.” Maybe Mary’s attitude should be a great encouragement for us all. We can’t remove the boulder that blocks us and prevents us from bursting forth into new life. But the Lord is there and He will do it for us! She saw but she did not believe. The Apostles would not accept the conclusion, so obvious to us, that Jesus must have risen from the dead. Peter and John did not believe but ran to the tomb to check out for themselves and remained baffled in their unbelief. Finally they both went into the tomb, they began to understand the scriptures, they saw and they believed. The Gospel tells us that Mary stood outside the tomb, weeping and looking into the tomb to see, not the risen Jesus but where they had laid his body. She was looking for Jesus in the wrong place, looking for the risen among the dead! She sees Jesus but still does not recognize him. This narrative of the resurrection reminds us that left on our own we look for the Lord in the wrong places, among the dead rather than among the living. But the good news is that the Lord does not give up on us. He will reveal himself to us and call us by name so that like Mary we can say: “I have seen the Lord!” and once we have seen him and experienced the power of the resurrection nothing will ever be the same again.
Witness to the Resurrection
In the darkest days of Stalinist Russia a special League of the Godless was established to stamp out the last vestiges of religion from peoples’ lives. One Easter morning the Commissar of this League addressed a huge rally in Moscow’s Red Square. He ranted along his usual lines that religion was the instrument of the bourgeoisie and the opium of the proletariat. At the end of his harangue he generously offered the mike to anyone who wished to debate with him. Nobody wanted a one-way ticket to Siberia until one old man made his way forward. He surveyed his huge audience, cleared his throat and began to sing: “The Lord has risen.” It was the traditional Orthodox Easter greeting. Moved by the old man’s courage, voices from the square swelled up in reply: “He has truly risen.” Religion in Russia was not dead as long as belief in the resurrection of Christ was not dead in people.
Sylvester O’Flynn in ‘The Good News of Mark’s Gospel’
Easter celebrations lead us to an empty tomb! The coffin of President Abraham Lincoln has been opened twice since his death. The first time it was opened in 1887, twenty years after his death. Why was it opened? Because of the rumour that the coffin did not contain Lincoln’s body. It was opened and the body in it was proven to be Lincoln’s. Fourteen years later, the same rumours circulated again. Again the coffin was opened and again the body was proved to be Abraham Lincoln’s. Similar rumours circulated about the body of Jesus after his death. The only difference was that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb. Now the rumours concerned about what happened to Jesus’ body. Today’s gospel does not present us with the risen Christ. Instead it presents us with the empty tomb! The angel asks: “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” Unfortunately, we humans are still looking for the living among the dead.
John Pichappilly in ‘The Table of the Word’
Lord of Life Dr. Jayant Patel, an Indo-American was dubbed ‘doctor of death’ because he faced charges of manslaughter in over 800 cases in the USA and Australia. Dr. Patel allegedly lied about his medical qualifications and performed operations causing innumerable deaths. Similarly, Dr. Amit Kumar performed illegal kidney operations on about 500 poor unsuspecting victims and sold their kidneys to rich recipients from the West. History abounds with such ‘doctors of death’ besides leaders like Hitler and the so-called ‘butcher of the Balkans’ Slobodan Milosevic. Besides these killers, we too consciously or unconsciously – promote death rather than life. Conversely, Easter exhorts everyone to celebrate the Lord of Life and defy death.
Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds’
Do Not Be Amazed
The Fourth Wise Man is a movie made for television and based on Henry Van Dyke’s 1895 classic. It begins like a Christmas story but ends as an Easter story. Martin Sheen stars as the fourth wise man, Artaban, who was late for the journey the three wise men made it to Bethlehem because he stopped along the way to help someone in trouble. For the next 33 years, he tries to find the promised Messiah, only to miss him at every turn because he is constantly getting sidetracked to help people. In his last efforts to find Jesus, Artaban arrives late one more time at the crucifixion. Jesus has just died on the cross. At that moment the earthquake occurs and Artaban is struck by a falling tile. As he lies there dying he is broken-hearted because his quest to find the Messiah was never realized. Suddenly, the Risen Lord appears to him. Jesus tells him that for the past 33 years he had, in fact, been found by the fourth wise man in the person of all the people this wise man had helped. Whatever Artaban had done to the least of the Lord’s people, that he had done to Jesus himself. This Easter story is retold in another form in today’s gospel. Instead of three wise men seeking the Lord, with the fourth wise man coming along late, we have three women coming to the tomb, seeking the Lord who has been crucified.
Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’
All That God Does He Does Well
Rabbi Moshe took a trip to a strange land. He took a donkey, a rooster, and a lamp. Since he was a Jew, he was refused hospitality in the village inns, so he decided to sleep in the woods. He lit his lamp to study the holy books before going to sleep, but a fierce wind came up, knocking over the lamp and breaking it. The rabbi decided to turn in, saying, “All that God does, he does well.” During the night some wild animals came along and drove away the rooster and thieves stole the donkey. Moshe woke up, saw the loss, but still proclaimed easily, “All that God does, he does well.” The rabbi then went back to the village where he was refused lodging, only to learn that enemy soldiers had invaded it during the night and killed all the inhabitants. He also learned that these soldiers had traveled through the same part of the woods where he lay asleep. Had his lamp not been broken he would have been discovered. Had not the rooster been chased, it would have crowed, giving him away. Had not the donkey been stolen, it would have brayed. So once more Rabbi Moshe declared, “All that God does, He does well!”
People themselves can be the most effective of all sermon illustrations. All of us can point to people who are and have been lights in the surrounding darkness. One such person was Dr. Brackett. He practiced in a small town in America. He was known as the poor man’s friend because of the hours he spent sitting by the bedsides of the less privileged members of the community and the fact that he never took a fee from them. He lived in two rooms over a shop in the middle of town. At the ground entrance was a brass plate which read: DOC. BRACKETT – OFFICE UPSTAIRS. At one time in his life he was to have married but the day of the wedding he was called to a poor Mexican family to assist with a difficult childbirth. He stayed with the mother until her child was delivered safe and well. He returned to find that his fiancée had called off the wedding and would have nothing more to do with him. The remainder of his life was one of selfless dedication to the sick, the poor, the old, and the lonely. When he died his funeral was the biggest ever seen. Then the townspeople came together to discuss ways and means of perpetuating his memory in town. Various proposals and suggestions were made but as often happens in situations like this nothing was done by anyone except the Mexican couple whose child he delivered on what should have been his wedding day. On the way home from the meeting they removed the sign from his door and the following day it reappeared over his grave surrounded by flowers. It read: DOC. BRACKETT – OFFICE UPSTAIRS.
From Sermons.com
You probably do not remember the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin. During his day he was as powerful a man as there was on earth. A Russian Communist leader he took part in the Bolshevik Revolution 1917, was editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda (which by the way means truth), and was a full member of the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read today. There is a story told about a journey he took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly on the subject of atheism. Addressing the crowd he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity hurling insult, argument, and proof against it.
An hour later he was finished. He looked out at what seemed to be the smoldering ashes of men's faith. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded. Deafening silence filled the auditorium but then one man approached the platform and mounted the lectern standing near the communist leader. He surveyed the crowd first to the left then to the right. Finally he shouted the ancient greeting known well in the Russian Orthodox Church: "CHRIST IS RISEN!" En masse the crowd arose as one man and the response came crashing like the sound of thunder: "HE IS RISEN INDEED!"
I say to you this morning: CHRIST IS RISEN! (congregational response should be: HE IS RISEN INDEED!). I am convinced! I have faith that Christ was dead and he was buried. That I believe. But, this too I accept as true: He rose from the dead and will come again in glory.
This is Easter. And to stand here on this day in this pulpit and proclaim this word. . . I cannot begin to tell you how this defines all that I am.
But, you will say to me, how do you know that the resurrection is real? How do you know that it is really valid?...
Christ is Alive!
He has Risen Indeed!
He has Risen from the Dead, Hallelujah!
If I were to change the end of that last statement by only two letters, a "th" for a "s" so it would be "I know that my Redeemer liveth," you have immediately thought of a song, perhaps the most famous Easter song of all time.
What is it? . . . . Handel's "Messiah."
We may know nothing about George Frederic Handel, but we know the "Messiah" (1741).
Oh, we may know that next door to where Handel lived and composed for 36 years almost three centuries ago, a more recent musician called home. George Frederic Handel lived at No.25 Brook Street, Mayfair, London (from 1723 to 1749). His neighbor to the left, at No.23 Brook Street? Jimi Hendrix.
Oh, we may be aware that most of the pieces Handel composed expressly for Christian worship no choir ever sings and no congregation ever hears. But we know the "Messiah."
In the Victorian era, "Messiahs" performed at Hyde Park, London's Crystal Palace at its three yearly Handel Festivals had 3000 performers and tens of thousands in the audience. As the English music historian (Charles Burney) wrote even earlier of Handel's majestic "Messiah:" "It has fed the hungry, clothed the naked, fostered the orphan, and enriched succeeding managers off the oratorios, more than any single production in this or any other country." Some say it is the best known choral work in Western music.
But as well as we think we know Handel's defining Easter sound, "The Messiah," do we really?...
Always a Duet: A Reflection for Holy Week
From A Winter Night
The night is calm in our rooms,
where the echoes of all footsteps rest
like sunken leaves in a pond,
but the night outside is wild.
A darker storm stands over the world.
It puts its mouth to our soul
and blows to get a tone. We are afraid
the storm will blow us empty.
This expert of a poem by Tomas Transtromer brings to mind the challenges of Holy Week and the reflections of our Lenten journey. We look out into the world and we are tested, we are pushed, we are brought to reflect on our own isolation, our own limitations and our own temptations. But the message of Easter is to fear not! We do not have to fear that the storm will blow us empty because we are not alone. When the storm tries to get a tone from the soul of a Christian, it should be a song of resilient hope, comfort, joy, and love because it is always a duet with Christ.
Staff, www.Sermons.com, A Winter Night, from The Deleted World: Poems by Tomas Transtromer, version by Robin Robertson. Tomas Transtromer passed away on March 26, 2015.
The Easter Choice
When faced with new realities, you have at least three options for how to respond (and it is nearly certain that you will opt for one of these three possibilities). First, you can stay bewildered. You can let this event knock you flat on your back and then stay there. Second, you can engage in world-class denial. You can look at the facts and ignore them. Or third, you can, slowly perhaps, assimilate this new information. You may get knocked as flat on your back as the next person by this new realization, but eventually you pick yourself up. You embrace this new truth and then go through the long, sometimes painful, process of re-assessing life in the light of this new evidence.
This is the Easter choice. When faced with the incredible proclamation that Jesus rose again from the dead, you can be agnostic and cynical by saying that you don't know what to make of this but then neither are you going to try. Who cares anyway? Or you can deny it. The whole thing is fiction, fantasy, a pious wish but something that never really happened. Or you can move past the shock toward acceptance. But let me caution you: if you are going to accept the truth of the bodily resurrection, you need to let it change you totally.
That's the Easter choice. The problem for most of us is that we are not surprised enough by Easter to realize we face a choice. Easter is a part of the background scenery of our lives. We've never been afraid of Easter, never been bewildered by it. Believing that Jesus rose again from the dead becomes a little like believing the earth is round and that it orbits the sun. Once upon a time people didn't know that. They thought the earth was flat and that the sun orbited the earth. It caused quite a stir when this view had to be revised. But that was a long time ago and now we accept that picture of our solar system without much thought. Sure the world is round and we orbit the sun, but what does that have to do with anything? It doesn't change what I have to do at work tomorrow, does it?
Is that what Easter becomes for us? We believe it happened but then, we've always believed that. Even Easter has somehow become part of the "routines" of this world. So why would it have much of an effect on what we do tomorrow? Easter is no longer shocking for us -- it surely does not make us re-evaluate everything else we think we know. And anyway, we're not sure we want to have everything in our lives changed.
Of course, if we can believe in the resurrection at all, it is a gift of faith granted to us by the prior gift of grace. But if we have received that grace and accept the truth that gets proclaimed from every Christian pulpit in the world each Easter Sunday morning, then we have to know that this truth changes everything. This is not some fact we can ponder just once every twelve months. This changes everything.... and on EVERY day.
Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observatio
Sooner Than You Think
My mother died three years ago. I had the honor of speaking at her graveside service where we buried her next to my father. While I was standing there, I had a surreal personal experience. Perhaps it happened partly because I was a bit under the weather, perhaps it was seeing so many old friends after three decades, perhaps it was because we were burying my mother and my father side by side. It was as if there was a "wrinkle in time" and the 29 years since my father died had suddenly been swallowed up. They just disappeared for a moment. I was in my early 20s when Dad died; I'm in my early 50s now. Most of the family friends who came to the graveside service had been at my father's funeral 29 years earlier. Most of them were in their early 50s then; most are in their late 70s or early 80s now. It seemed as if the three decades in between had just disappeared. All this passed through my mind in a flash while I was speaking. I could reach out and touch my mother's coffin. I was standing three feet from where we buried my father. It was as if we buried my father last week, we were burying my mother this week, and next week someone would bury me. I had a tremendous sense of my own mortality, of the quickly passing years. It seemed as if the Lord whispered in my ear, "Ray, take a good look. This is where you will be someday." And that day will probably come sooner than I think.
Ray Pritchard, Christ and the Problem of Death
What You Love Will Not Be Spared
In recent weeks, I have been reading a powerful book of poetry by Louise Glück, entitled Averno. The title Averno takes its name from a crater lake in southern Italy that during the time of ancient Rome was thought to be the entrance to the underworld. In one of Glück's most haunting poems in this collection, called October, she contemplates the season of autumn and the gradual, day-by-day dimming of light that goes along with that time of the year. Her poem is about cold winds and changing leaves, but is also, of course, about us, for we cannot escape the eventual fading of the light. In stark terms, she writes, "You will not be spared, nor will what you love be spared." When I first read those words, I had a physical reaction to them. A sharp pain squeezed my forehead, and I began to weep. I wept because these words are undeniably true, and I wept because I hate their truth. Sure, there are times when I grapple with the fact of my own mortality, but I don't ever want to be told that the people who I love will not be spared. Don't tell me that they won't survive this life--not one of them. I imagine that the sight of the empty tomb hit the three visiting women like that...what you love will not be spared.
Easter begins with fear. At least that's the way Mark tells it. It's not that Easter begins with wild panic--no, not that. Easter begins with the kind of fear that feels a lot like heart-break. It begins with the twist in your stomach that comes when the phone rings and you hear the voice of your sister. "Are you sitting down?" she asks--that kind of fear.
Early in the morning, three women approach the tomb bearing precious herbs and oils to wash the body of their Lord. They have come to comb out Jesus' hair, to sponge away the dried blood, to massage precious myrrh into his skin. They hope to engage in the ritual act (the act of care) that is traditionally done before sealing a body in the tomb. They have come to anoint the crucified one. Yet, even as they discuss how they will gain access to the cave (after all, it is closed by a massive boulder), they find that the stone has been rolled away. The tomb is empty--vacant, except for some young guy who is definitely not Jesus; and suddenly, they are afraid. They fear that their last chance to pour a little compassion on the broken body of Jesus has escaped. They fear that they are witnessing the final insult of this whole horrible affair. First, Jesus' life is stolen, and now, even his body has been taken. And, perhaps, they also fear... no, they simply must fear that death has won. Death, the ever-ravenous monster, has finally, and utterly, swallowed up their beloved friend.
Scott Black Johnston, Deadly Things
Ongoing Easter
Ongoing Easter gets us finally home at last, for life is not an endless circle but life is moving to an end point. The crowning achievement of the risen Lord is to bring us finally home together with the whole family of God in that transition from time into eternity. It is a great privilege to witness that transition in the lives of people and I think of one this Easter day. Her name was Augusta. She lived 100 years, raised in the prairies of South Dakota, faced every manner of hardship and heartache, but was buoyant and lived on the resurrection side of the cross, raised a family. In the last hour of her life standing with her daughters around her in the hospital room, I heard her bless her daughters. Being a mother to the very end and with a twinkle in her eye, looked at the faces of her daughters around her and pointed to them each one and said, "Too much lipstick," and then closed her eyes in peaceful death.
That is the goal toward which the ongoing Easter draws us and transforms our dark, gloomy mornings into a shining doxology. We say with all the faithful of all of the ages, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By His great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, unfailing and undefiled, kept in heaven for you. Though you must go through various trials, all this is so that your faith may redound to the praise, glory and honor of Jesus Christ. Without having seen Him, we love Him, and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. The outcome of your faith is the salvation of your souls.
F. Dean Lueking, Ongoing Easter
Recently, Billy Graham responded to someone who shouted out "God is dead! God is dead!" Dr. Graham with tenderness replied, "That's strange because I just talked to Him in prayer a few minutes ago." Yes, the day you believe in the resurrection is the day you change the universe, and most importantly, you can reflect that transforming truth.
Eric S. Ritz, www.Sermons.com
The Legend of the Touchstone
o you remember the Legend of the Touchstone? It's a great story to recall on Easter Sunday morning. According to that ancient legend, if you could find the touchstone on the coast of the Black Sea and hold it in your hand, everything you touched would turn to gold. You could recognize the touchstone by its warmth. The other stones would feel cold, but when you picked up the touchstone, it would turn warm in your hand.
Once a man sold everything he had and went to the coast of the Black Sea in search of the touchstone. He began immediately to walk along the shoreline picking up one stone after another in his diligent and intentional search for the touchstone. He was consumed with this dream. He wanted desperately to find this miraculous stone. However, after several days had passed, he suddenly realized that he was picking up the same stones again and again. So he devised a plan... pick up a stone; if it's cold, throw it into the sea. This he did for weeks and weeks.
Then one morning he went out to continue his search for the touchstone. He picked up a stone; it was cold... he threw it into the sea. He picked up another stone - cold! He threw it into the sea. He picked up another stone... it turned warm in his hand, and before he realized what he was doing... he threw it into the sea!
That's a good parable for Easter, isn't it? Because that can so easily happen to us. We can come upon a miraculous moment like Easter... we can feel it turn warm in our hands... but then (so dulled by the routine) before we realize what we are doing... we throw it away. Absentmindedly, mechanically, nonchalantly... we toss it aside and miss the miracle of Easter.
James W. Moore, Lenten Series on Mark, www.Sermons.com
Humor: The Gospel Has Been Proclaimed
A first year student in a Catholic seminary was told by the dean that he should plan to preach the sermon in chapel the following day. He had never preached a sermon before, he was nervous and afraid, and he stayed up all night, but in the morning, he didn't have a sermon. He stood in the pulpit, looked out at his classmates and said "Do you know what I am going to say?" All of them shook their heads "no" and he said "Neither do I. The service has ended. Go in peace."
The dean was not happy. "I'll give you another chance tomorrow, and you had better have a sermon." Again he stayed up all night; and again he couldn't come up with a sermon. Next morning, he stood in the pulpit and asked "Do you know what I am going to say?" The students all nodded their heads "yes." "Then there is no reason to tell you" he said. "The service has ended. Go in peace."
Now the dean was angry. "I'll give you one more chance; if you don't have a sermon tomorrow, you will be asked to leave the seminary." Again, no sermon came. He stood in the pulpit the next day and asked "Do you know what I am going to say?" Half of the students nodded "yes" and the other half shook their heads "no." The student preacher then announced "Those who know, tell those who don't know. The service has ended. Go in peace."
The seminary dean walked over to the student, put his arm over the student's shoulders, and said "Those who know, tell those who don't know. Today, the gospel has been proclaimed!"
Steven Molin, Four Truths and a Lie.
Fr. Tony Kadavil:
Anecdote 1: Incredible, not impossible: Those who visit Seattle, Washington never miss Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. They have many oddities there. Would you believe that they actually have a pin with the Lord’s Prayer carved on the head of that pin? It is incredible, not impossible, just incredible. They have a piece of hair with the name “Ripley” written on it. The Guinness Book of World Records mentions a little four-year old boy in Korea who spoke four languages: Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English. There are many things that seem to be impossible but they are only incredible. Did you know that Mrs. Vasalay in Russia gave birth to 69 children? That’s incredible! Did you know that there was a healthy baby born in Turkey that weighed 24 pounds? That is painfully incredible! Did you know that there was man who grew a mustache that was a 102 inches long? That is incredible! One gymnast from the Cirque De Sole climbed up a rope sideways with his arms and his body perfectly perpendicular 90 degrees to that rope. There was a woman juggler with hands so fast you couldn’t even see the speed of the nine balls or knives. There are many things in life that are absolutely and wonderfully incredible, but they are not impossible. It was Jesus who said: “With God, all things are possible!” The women came to the tomb and noticed that the big stone had been rolled away. They wondered what had happened. They looked inside, and incredibly, a young man was sitting there and he was dressed in white. He said to them, “Jesus is not here. He has been raised from the dead by the Power of God.” “Incredible, absolutely incredible!” they thought. Today we celebrate this incredible fact of Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead.
Anecdote 2: El Dorado: The Spanish conquistadors were exotic explorers of the 1500s. These Spanish sailors were brave, daring men of adventure, searching for gold and silver, jasper and emeralds, braving the insecurities of their little bobbing boats in the seismic swells of ocean waves, not knowing what was out there before them in the uncharted seas of a strange new world. These Spanish conquistadors were adventurous people like Hernando de Soto, Francisco Coronado, and Ponce de Leon. It was in 1513 that Ponce de Leon began his search for the legendary El Dorado, a land where gold nuggets were as plentiful as the pebbles found on ocean beaches. Near that legendary El Dorado was the one thing that everybody was looking for. It was more valuable than gold and silver, more valuable than precious jewels. All of his life, Ponce de Leon and everybody else had wanted to find it. He was looking for the legendary “fountain of youth.” He had sailed half way across the world, wanting to taste the waters from that fountain of immortality. He wanted to drink from those waters and be eternally young, eternally vibrant, and eternally energetic. He wanted to drink from those waters of eternal youth and never grow old and die. He searched and searched and, like every person who wanted to find the legendary El Dorado on this side of the grave, he did not find it. But the Risen Jesus is our guarantee that we will have a real fountain of youth when we begin our life after death with him sharing in his heavenly glory.
Anecdote 3: The phoenix bird: The late Catholic Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, who had undergone cancer surgery resulting in a permanent colostomy, wrote these very personal words in one of his last Easter messages: "I am now a member of an association of people who have been wounded by cancer. That association has as its symbol the phoenix bird of Egyptian mythology. When the bird felt its death was near, every 500 to 1,461 years, it would fly off to Phoenicia, build a nest of aromatic wood and set itself on fire. When the bird was consumed by the flames, a new phoenix sprang forth from the ashes. Thus the phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection, and life after death. It was one of the earliest symbols of the risen Christ. In the same way, any person who has survived a struggle with cancer is considered phoenix-like, having risen from the ashes of disease and been given a new lease on life. Suddenly life becomes more precious to that person. Each hour is lived more fully. Each friend seems much more real. The sky seems more blue, the sunshine more beautiful, and the colors more vivid. Even dull and ordinary things are causes for gratitude to God.” Archbishop John Whealon could have lived in a gloomy tomb of self-pity, hopeless defeat, and chronic sadness, but his faith in the resurrected Lord opened his eyes to new visions of life.
Significance of Easter: Easter is the greatest and the most important feast in the Church. "Easter" literally means "the feast of fresh flowers." We celebrate it with pride and jubilation for three reasons.
1. The resurrection of Christ is the basis of our Christian faith. It is the greatest of the miracles--it proves that Jesus is God. That is why St. Paul writes:” If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your faith is in vain… And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is a delusion and you are still lost in your sins… But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (I Cor 15/14, 17, 20). Without the Resurrection, Jesus would have remained for ever a good person who met a tragic end. People would remember some of his teachings and a handful of people might try to live according to them. All the basic doctrines of Christianity are founded on the truth of the Resurrection. “Jesus is Lord, he is risen” (Rom.10: 9) was the central theme of the kerygma (or 'preaching') of the apostles. There is a story of two women who stood before Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. One asked, "Why can't we build structures like this anymore?" Her friend answered, "The people who built this had faith. Today we have only opinions. And you can't build a cathedral with opinions."
2. Easter is the guarantee of our own resurrection. Jesus assured Martha at the tomb of Lazarus: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will live even though he dies” (Jn 11/25-26). Christ will raise us up on the last day, but it is also true, in a sense, that we have already risen with Christ. By virtue of the Holy Spirit, Christian life is already a participation in the death and Resurrection of Christ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1002, #1003).
3. Easter is a feast which gives us hope and encouragement in this world of pain, sorrows and tears. It reminds us that life is worth living. It is our belief in the real presence of the risen Jesus that gives meaning to our personal, as well as to our common, prayers. Our trust in the all-pervading presence of the risen Lord gives us strength to fight against temptations, and freedom from unnecessary worries and fears. The prayer of St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland reads: “Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ within me, never to part.”
The resurrection of Jesus had certain special features. First, Jesus prophesied it as a sign of his divinity. “Tear down this temple and in three days I will build it again” (Jn. 2: 19). Second, the founder of no other religion has an empty tomb as Jesus has. We see the fulfillment of Christ's promise in the empty cross and in the empty tomb. The angel said to the women at Jesus’ tomb: “Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? He is not here: he has been raised” (Luke 24: 5-6). The third special feature is the initial disbelief of Jesus’ own disciples in his resurrection in spite of his repeated apparitions. This serves as a strong proof of his resurrection. It explains why the apostles started preaching the resurrected Christ only after receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the day of the Pentecost.
1. We are to be a resurrection people: Easter, the feast of the resurrection, gives us the joyful message that we are a ‘resurrection people.' This means that we are not supposed to lie buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits and dangerous addictions. It gives us the good news that no tomb can hold us down anymore - neither the tomb of despair, discouragement, doubt nor death. Instead, we are expected to live a joyful and peaceful life, constantly experiencing the real presence of the resurrected Lord in all the events of our lives. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad” (Psalm 118:24).
2. Source of lasting peace and celestial joy: The living presence of the resurrected Lord gives us lasting peace and celestial joy amid the boredom, suffering, pain and tensions of our day-to-day life. “Peace be with you” was his salutation to his disciples on all post-resurrection appearances.
3. Be transparent Christians: We are called to be transparent Christians, showing others through our lives of love, mercy and compassion and through our spirit of self-sacrificing service that the risen Jesus is living in our hearts and is an integral part of our lives.
4. Inspiration for self-control and selfless service: The awareness of the all-pervading presence of the risen Lord in and around us, and the strong conviction of our own resurrection, help us control our thoughts, desires, words and behaviour. This salutary thought inspires us to honour our bodies, keeping them holy, pure and free from evil habits and addictions. Our conviction about the presence of the risen Lord in our neighbours, and in all those with whom we come into contact, should encourage us to respect them, and to render them loving, humble and selfless service.
5. Easter gives us the assurance that Good Friday is not the end: Easter reminds us that every Good Friday in our lives will have an Easter Sunday, and that Jesus will let us share the power of his resurrection. Each time we display our love of others, we share in the resurrection. Each time we face a betrayal of trust, we share in the resurrection of Jesus. Each time we fail in our attempts to ward off temptations – but keep on trying to overcome them – we share in the resurrection. Each time we continue to hope – even when our hope seems unanswered – we share in the power of Jesus’ resurrection. In short, the message of Easter is that nothing can destroy us – pain, sin, rejection, death – because Christ has conquered all these, and we too can conquer them if we put our faith in Him.
6. Be bearers of the good news of resurrection power. Resurrection is good news, but at the same time, it’s sometimes painful because it involves death. Before the power of the resurrection can take hold in our own lives, we’re called to die to sin, to die to self. We may even have to die to our own dreams, so that God can do what He wants to do with our lives. Resurrection is about seeing our world in a new way. Early that Easter morning, Mary did not find what she was looking for, the dead body of Jesus. But she found something better than she could have imagined: the risen Jesus. Sometimes, the things we think we want most are not granted to us. What we get instead is an experience of God’s new ways of working in the world. That’s the power of the resurrection. When those moments come, we must spread the news--just as Mary did: We have seen the Lord!
Humour of the Week
1 . See what happens: One lady wrote in to a question and answer forum. "Dear Sirs, Our preacher said on Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think? Sincerely, Bewildered.
Dear Bewildered, Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear through his side...put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens." Sincerely, Charles.
2 . Rented for a week end: Joseph of Arimathea was a very wealthy Pharisee, a member of the council, and a secret follower of Jesus. It was Joseph who went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. And it was Joseph who supplied the tomb for Jesus’ burial. I wonder if someone pulled him aside and said, "Joseph that was such beautiful, costly, hand-hewn tomb. Why on earth did you give it to someone to be buried in?" "Why not?" Joseph might have answered. “He only needed it for the weekend."
Additional anecdotes From the Collection of Fr. Tony Kadavil & Others
1: Egyptian Pyramids
They are world-famous as one of the “seven Wonders” of the ancient world. But they are actually gigantic tombs containing the mummified bodies of Egyptian Pharaohs. Westminster Abby is famous, and thousands visit it, because the dead bodies of famous writers, philosophers and politicians are entombed there. But there is a Shrine of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and pilgrims from all over the world visit a tomb there which is empty with a note at its entrance which says, “He is not here.” It is famous because Jesus Christ, who was once buried there, rose from the dead, leaving an empty tomb, as he had told his disciples he would. Thus, he worked the most important miracle in his life, defying the laws of nature and proving that he is God. We rejoice at this great and unique event by celebrating Easter. (Fr. J P)
2: He is risen indeed:
You probably do not remember the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin. Many years ago he was one of the most powerful men on earth. A Russian Communist leader, he took part in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. He was the editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda, and was a full member of the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read today. There is a story told about a journey he took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly of Communists. The subject was atheism. Addressing the crowd, he attacked Christianity, hurling insults and arguments against it. When he had finished, he looked out at the audience. "Are there any questions?" he demanded. Deafening silence filled the auditorium, but then one man approached the platform and mounted the lectern. After surveying the crowd, he shouted the ancient greeting of the Russian Orthodox Church: "CHRIST IS RISEN!" The crowd stood up and shouted in a thundering voice: "HE IS RISEN INDEED!" Amazed and dejected, Bukharin left the stage in silence. Perhaps he had learned the lesson that faith in Christ’s resurrection was deeply rooted in his Russian Orthodox communist followers!
3: The phoenix bird:
The late Catholic Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, who had undergone cancer surgery resulting in a permanent colostomy, wrote these very personal words in one of his last Easter messages: "I am now a member of an association of people who have been wounded by cancer. That association has as its symbol the phoenix, a bird of Egyptian mythology. When the bird felt its death was near, every 500 to 1,461 years, it would fly off to Phoenicia, build a nest of aromatic wood and set itself on fire. When the bird was consumed by the flames, a new phoenix sprang forth from the ashes. Thus, the phoenix symbolizes immortality, resurrection, and life after death. It was one of the earliest symbols of the risen Christ. In the same way, any person who has survived a struggle with cancer is considered phoenix-like, having risen from the ashes of disease and been given a new lease on life. Suddenly life becomes more precious to that person. Each hour is lived more fully. Each friend seems much more real. The sky seems more blue, the sunshine more beautiful, and the colors more vivid. Even dull and ordinary things are causes for gratitude to God.” Archbishop John Whealon could have lived in a gloomy tomb of self-pity, hopeless defeat, and chronic sadness, but his faith in the resurrected Lord opened his eyes to new visions of life.
4. "TA-DA!"
A Sunday school teacher had just finished telling her third graders about how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb with a great stone sealing the opening. Then, wanting to share the excitement of the resurrection, she asked: "And what do you think were Jesus’ first words when He came bursting out of that tomb alive?" A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom. Attached to it was the arm of a little girl. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out excitedly "I know, I know!" "Good" said the teacher, "Tell us, what were Jesus first words?" And extending her arms high into the air she said: "TA-DA!"
5. Mother-in-law in Jerusalem:
George went on a vacation to the Middle East with most of his family including his mother-in-law. During their vacation and while they were visiting Jerusalem, George's mother-in-law died. With the death certificate in hand, George went to the American Consulate to make arrangements to send the body back to the States for proper burial.
The Consul, after hearing of the death of the mother-in-law, told George that the sending of a body back to the States for burial is very, very expensive. It could cost as much as $5,000. The Consul continued, “In most cases the person responsible for the remains normally decides to bury the body here. This would only cost $150.” George thought for some time and answered, "I don't care how much it will cost to send the body back; that's what I want to do."
The Consul, after hearing this, said, "You must have loved your mother-in-law very much, considering the difference in price." "No, it's not that!" said George. "You see, I know of a case many years ago of a person, by name Jesus, who was buried here in Jerusalem. On the third day he arose from the dead. I just can't take that chance."
6. See what happens.
One lady wrote in to a question and answer forum. "Dear Sirs, Our preacher said on Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think? Sincerely, Bewildered.
3) Rented for a week end: Joseph of Arimathea was a very wealthy Pharisee, a member of the council, and a secret follower of Jesus. It was Joseph who went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. And it was Joseph who supplied the tomb for Jesus’ burial. I wonder if someone pulled him aside and said, "Joseph that was such beautiful, costly, hand-hewn tomb. Why on earth did you give it to someone to be buried in?" "Why not?" Joseph may have answered. He only needed it for the weekend."
7. Resurrection in election:
Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was once asked if he believed in the resurrection. “Of course I do,” said Huckabee. “Dead people vote in every election we have in Arkansas. Resurrection is very real to us.”
26- Additional anecdotes:
1) "The Godfather of Fitness.” You may recall years ago when fitness legend Jack LaLanne celebrated his seventieth birthday by towing 70 boats containing 70 people for a mile across Long Beach Harbor. Amazing! But wait. He did it by holding the rope in his teeth. Why? Well, he was handcuffed and wearing leg shackles! Unbelievable! LaLanne was still going strong in his nineties. But friends, this "The Godfather of Fitness” died on Jan 24, 2011, proving that this world is not our final destination. It is but a prelude to a grander production. This world is a preparatory school. Without the Resurrection, it is simply impossible to explain a world in which people suffer and die. But the Resurrection is real. Christ rose from the dead. Christ is still alive and He is available in our world today
2) Bright light in the “black holes” of life: Have you ever heard of a "black hole"? If you have ever watched movies or TV programs about travelling in outer space, like the TV series Star Trek, you will know what a black hole is. Roughly speaking, it is a spot in the vastness of space which astronomers believe is like a giant vacuum or whirlpool sucking everything around it into the hole. Using Newton’s laws, scientists first theorized black holes in the 1790s but it wasn't until 1994 that the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a massive supersized black hole – fortunately a long way from our own galaxy. There is also a black hole in our galaxy, the Milky Way. What if scientists said that it was not beyond the realms of possibility that one day our sun and everything around it would be sucked into this "black hole," and everything would be gone? "Black holes" are symbols of hopelessness, and the message of Easter tells us that there is something beyond those "black holes". Maybe this "black hole" includes grief for a loved one, anxiety over a work situation or what is happening in our family. Maybe it is a "black hole" of depression and stress, and we feel there is nothing we can do to change what is happening. Maybe it’s the "black hole" of sickness and pain. Maybe it’s the "black hole" of guilt and failure. Whether those "black holes" are right here and now or show up at some time in the future, Easter tells us there is hope, there is a living Saviour and Friend who will help us when we feel as if we have been sucked into the deepest darkness. Easter tells us that there is nothing to fear. We have a risen Saviour who promises never to leave us, to love us always, always to brighten our darkest paths, and to guide us from death to eternal life in Heaven. Even when we are in the middle of something deep and dark, our risen Saviour will always be there with us. “I am the Living One! I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I have authority over death and the world of the dead" (Revelation 1:8). http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/black-holes-article/
# 3: “He is not here.” Egyptian pyramids are world-famous as one of the “seven Wonders” of the ancient world. But they are actually gigantic tombs containing the mummified bodies of Egyptian Pharaohs. Westminster Abby is famous, and thousands visit it because the dead bodies of famous writers, philosophers and politicians are entombed there. But there is a Shrine of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and pilgrims from all over the world visit a tomb there which is empty with a note at its entrance which says, “He is not here.” It is famous because Jesus Christ Who was once buried there rose from the dead, leaving an empty tomb, as He had told his disciples he would. Thus, He worked the most important miracle in His life, defying the laws of nature and proving that He is God. We rejoice at this great and unique event by celebrating Easter. (Fr. J P)
4) “We believe you.” There is a beautiful story told recently about a woman named Rosemary who works in the Alzheimer’s Unit of a nursing home. Rosemary and a colleague named Arlene brought the residents of the home together one Good Friday afternoon to view Franco Zeffirelli’s acclaimed production, Jesus of Nazareth. They wondered whether these elderly Alzheimer’s patients would even know what was going on, but they thought it might be worth the effort. When they finally succeeded in getting everyone into position, they started the video. Rosemary was pleasantly surprised at the quiet attention being paid to the screen. At last came the scene where Mary Magdalene comes upon the empty tomb and sees Jesus’ body not there. An unknown man, in reality the risen Christ, asks Mary why she is looking for the living among the dead. Mary runs as fast as she can back to the disciples and tells Peter and the rest with breathless excitement, “He’s alive! I saw Him, I tell you! He’s alive.” The doubt in their eyes causes Mary to pull back. “You don’t believe me . . . You don’t believe me!” From somewhere in the crowd of Alzheimer’s patients came the clear, resolute voice of Esther, one of the patients. “WE BELIEVE YOU,” she said, “WE BELIEVE YOU!” [Rosemary Kadrmas in Jeff Cavins, et.al, Amazing Grace for the Catholic Heart (West Chester, PA: Ascension Press, LLC, 2003), pp. 211-212.]
5) The killers asked her if there was anyone [in the classroom] who had faith in Christ. A day after the terrible tragedy at Columbine High, CNN journalist Larry King did a live interview with a teenage girl named Mickie Cain, a student who had witnessed the massacre. Mickie was having a difficult time maintaining her composure and was able to blurt out only a few words before lapsing into uncontrollable sobs. Larry King was patient and gave her plenty of time to regain her composure. Mickie recounted the chilling story: “Let me tell you about my friend Cassie,” she said. “[Cassie] was amazing . . . She completely stood up for God when the killers asked her if there was anyone [in the classroom] who had faith in Christ. She spoke up [and said she did] and they shot her for it.” [Franklin Graham, The Name (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2002), pp. 14-15]. Such a testimony as Cassie made that day makes our witness look pretty pathetic, doesn’t it? The critical question is, would you make such a sacrifice for something that you knew was patently untrue? Of course not. And neither would those early disciples of Christ. They had met Christ, Risen from the grave, and they would not testify otherwise, even while being tortured. The witnesses are so credible, the change in their lives so dramatic, that their testimony cannot be disregarded.
6) Cape of Good Hope: You may remember a geography lesson from elementary school in which you learned that the southernmost point of Africa is a point which for centuries has experienced tremendous storms. For many years no one knew what lay beyond that cape, for no ship attempting to round that point had ever returned to tell the tale. Among the ancients it was known as the "Cape of Storms," and for good reason. But then a Portuguese explorer in the sixteenth century, Vasco De Gama, successfully sailed East around that very point and found beyond the wild raging storms, a great calm sea, and beyond that, the shores of India. The name of that cape was changed from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good Hope. Until Jesus Christ rose from the dead, death had been the "cape of storms" on which all hopes of life beyond had been wrecked. No one knew what lay beyond that point until, on Easter morning, Jesus arose. The ancient visions of Isaiah became the victory of Jesus over our last great enemy. Like those sixteenth century explorers, we can see beyond human death to the hope of Heaven and eternal life with the Father. More than that, we dare to believe that we shall experience in our own human lives exactly what the Son of God experienced in His, for the Risen Christ says to us, "Because I live, you shall live also." This is the heart of our Faith.
7) “I choose death....by old age." Long ago, there was an exceedingly clever court jester at the court of the Caliph of Baghdad. For years he'd never failed to amuse the court whenever they called him. But one day, in a split second of carelessness, he offended the caliph who ordered him put to death. "However," said the caliph, "in consideration of your many years of fine and faithful service, I'll let you choose how you wish to die." "Oh mighty Caliph," replied the jester. "I thank you for your great kindness. I choose death....by old age." Wouldn't we all! But that just delays the big question: Then what? What comes after you finally die at the age of 110 on the tennis court? Only Jesus has the answer. He says, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, even though he die, will live with Me forever." (Msgr. D. Clarke)
8) He always whistled: Have you heard the story of the man whose hobby was growing roses? When he worked in his rose garden, he always whistled. It seemed to everyone that he was whistling much louder than was needed for his own enjoyment. One day a neighbor asked him why it was that he always whistled so loudly. The man then took the neighbor into his home to meet his wife. The woman was not only an invalid but was completely blind as well. The man, you see, was whistling, not for his benefit, but rather for the benefit of his wife. He wanted his blind wife to know that he was nearby, and that she was not alone. That story is a wonderful illustration of the significance of Easter Day. The affirmation, "Christ is risen!" reminds us that God is near, and the experiencing of His presence strengthens us in our weakness. (Living the Easter Faith, Donald William Dotterer).
9) And so the Iron Lady wept. In 1984, when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of Britain, a terrorist's bomb exploded in the conference room where many of the government meetings were held. Margaret Thatcher survived this blast, but some of her cabinet members were killed. The following Sunday, Margaret Thatcher went to church as she always did. But that particular Sunday seemed different. As Margaret Thatcher sang the hymns, listened to the message, saw the candles upon the altar and the sunshine streaming through the stained-glass windows, she began to weep. She wept because everything around her had been changed by the loss of her friends. The familiar had now become strange. The goodness and beauty of the world around her seemed almost too much to bear. She knew she would not only miss her friends, but also the wonderful times they had had together. And so the Iron Lady wept. If we can relate to Maggie Thatcher's grief, maybe we can relate to the grief of Jesus' disciples and friends on that first Easter morning.
10) “I want to see your Resurrection!” Father Basil Pennington, a Catholic monk, tells of an encounter he once had with a teacher of Zen. Pennington was at a retreat. As part of the retreat, each person met privately with this Zen teacher. Pennington says that at his meeting the Zen teacher sat there before him smiling from ear to ear and rocking gleefully back and forth. Finally, the teacher said: “I like Christianity. But I would not like Christianity without the Resurrection. I want to see your Resurrection!” Pennington notes that, “With his directness, the teacher was saying what everyone else implicitly says to Christians: You are a Christian. You are risen with Christ. Show me (what this means for you in your life) and I will believe.” (http://www.stjohnslaverne.org/SermonReadingArchive/OmernickEasterSundaySermon20 06.rtf.) Marilyn Omernick.] That is how people know if the Resurrection is true or not. Does it affect how we live?
11) “Do you mean like Elvis?” A father was explaining to his five-year-old son how Jesus died and then, on the third day, rose from the dead. “That’s what we believe,” the father said. “That’s how we know Jesus is the Son of God, because He came back from the dead just as He said He would.” “Do you mean like Elvis?” the boy replied. Well, no. Not exactly like Elvis. This is a new world. People nowadays believe just about everything, except that which is most true. We have to work a little bit harder in this new world to help people
12) From the empty tomb: It was a hot summer afternoon. The famous Hollywood film director Cecil B. DeMille was drifting in a canoe on a lake in Maine, reading a book. He looked away from the book momentarily, down to the lake. There a bunch of water beetles were at play. Suddenly one of the beetles began to crawl up the side of the canoe. When it got halfway up, it attached the talons of its legs to the wooden side of the canoe and died. DeMille watched for a minute; then he turned back to his book. About three hours later, DeMille looked down at the dead beetle again. What he saw amazed him. The beetle had dried up, and its back was starting to crack open. As he watched, something began to emerge from the opening: first a moist head, then wings. It was a beautiful dragonfly. DeMille sat there in awe. Then the dragonfly began to move its wings. It hovered gracefully over the water where the other beetles were at play. But they didn’t recognize the dragonfly. They didn’t realize that it was the same beetle they had played with three hours earlier. DeMille took his finger and nudged the dried-out shell of the beetle. It was like an empty tomb (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies)
13) Easter: surprising or amazing? There is an old story about Noah Webster, who wrote the famous dictionary that bears his name. As you can imagine, he was a stickler for the precise use of language. He was also something of a womanizer. One day he was in the pantry kissing the maid when Mrs. Webster walked in on them. Mrs. Webster said, "Why, Noah, I'm surprised." Noah said, "No, my dear. We're surprised. You're amazed." (Mark Trotter, "Do You Amaze Anybody?", May 22, 1988). I think the story is apocryphal. I'm sure Mr. Webster was a stickler for the right word, but when you look in his own Webster's Dictionary he says surprise is a synonym for amaze. Amaze is the stronger word. Easter is both surprising and amazing. Here is God's ultimate act of love and power. It is an act of love that has gone to its limit in Jesus' gift of Himself on the cross. It is an act of power that burst the tomb, and announced to the world that Love is stronger than hate, Good prevails over evil, and Life is triumphant over death.
14)“Suppose he isn't in there!" Two famous Broadway producers were pallbearers at the funeral of the great escape artist, Harry Houdini. As they lifted the beautiful and heavy casket to their shoulders, one of them turned and whispered to the other, "Suppose he isn't in there!" He was, of course. Only one man in human history has conquered the grave, and it is He Whom we call Lord. "Christ has been raised from the dead," writes St. Paul, "the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep" (I Corinthians 15:20). What deliriously good news that is! No wonder our Church is full on Easter Sunday! That is news that turns the world upside down. Jesus Christ is risen!
15) Resurrection Bay: In the movie The Hunt for Red October, the opening scene was filmed in Resurrection Bay, Alaska. This dramatic setting received its name in 1792 when the Russian trader and explorer Alexandr Baranov was forced to find refuge there during a vicious storm on Easter Sunday. Resurrection Bay has the distinction of remaining ice-free even in the dead of winter. Even in squalls and storms, it provides safe harbor. As Christians, we anchor our souls in Resurrection Bay. The world may be caught in a thousand tempests, and storms may arise from all directions. But the empty tomb assures us of tranquility and a passageway to Heaven that will never ice over. Jesus died and rose again to give us peace with God and the peace of God -- life both eternal and abundant. We anchor our souls in the haven of rest. (Turning Point)
16) Many infallible proofs: Albert L. Roper was a prominent Virginia attorney, a graduate of the University of Virginia and its law school, who eventually became mayor of the city of Norfolk. He once began a thorough legal investigation into the evidence for the Resurrection of Christ, asking himself the question: "Can any intelligent person accept the Resurrection story?" After examining the evidence at length, he came away asking a different question: "Can any intelligent person deny the weight of this evidence?" Even those who traveled for three years with Jesus experienced disbelief over His Resurrection, but Jesus showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs. We don't base our Faith on legends, myths, or fairy tales. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is well-documented, and many critics have been silenced (and even converted) when they've carefully investigated the evidence [Albert L. Roper, Did Jesus Rise From the Dead (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1965), foreword.] We have a Risen Savior! He offers Himself to us today with many infallible proofs. (Turning Point- 3/29/13)
17) Joke Saturday: According to an ancient Russian Orthodox tradition, the day before Easter was devoted to telling jokes. Priests would join the people in telling their best jokes to one another (presumably “clean” jokes!!) The reason was to reflect the joke God pulled on the devil in the Resurrection. Satan thought he won on Friday, but God had the last laugh on Easter Sunday.
18) He is no longer in the grave: In 1887, twenty-two years after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, his coffin was dug up and opened because there were constant rumors that his body was not in the grave. So they dug it up and the body was there. The rumors continued so 14 years later they had to dig it up again. Both times witnesses were present who testified that Lincoln was still in the grave. Three days after the death of Jesus Christ, similar rumors began to spread throughout the land of Israel. Only this time there were no witnesses who could say that they had seen His body. In fact, to the contrary, many witnesses claimed to have seen him out of His grave and even talked with Him after the Resurrection. As great a man as Lincoln was, there were witnesses to prove he was still in the grave. If one of our Presidents or another leader in our government were to cry out today to Lincoln for help, there would be no response. If a scientist were to cry out to Einstein for help today there would only be empty silence. If someone were to call out to Mohammed or Buddha or Gandhi today there would be no help. But if you and I call out to Jesus Christ there is instant power available to us... power to change lives ...why? Because He lives! (Rev. David Henderson).
19) The parable of the butterfly: As a butterfly soared overhead, one caterpillar said to the other, "You'll never get me up in one of those things!" Yet for every caterpillar the time comes when the urge to eat and grow subsides and he instinctively begins to form a chrysalis around himself. The chrysalis hardens and you'd think for all the world that the caterpillar was dead. But one spring morning the life inside the chrysalis will begin to writhe, the top will crack open, and a beautifully-formed butterfly will emerge. For hours it will stand stretching and drying its wings, moving them slowly up and down, up and down. And then, before you know it, the butterfly will glide aloft, effortlessly riding the currents of the air, alighting on flower after gorgeous flower, as if to show off its vivid colors to the bright blossoms. Somehow, the miracle of the butterfly never loses its fascination for us. Perhaps that is because the butterfly is a living parable of the promise of Resurrection. On Easter morning, the disciples saw Jesus' grave-clothes lying on the cold slab -- empty, but still lying in the wrapped folds that had gone round and round the corpse. Only the corpse was gone, leaving the grave-clothes much like an empty chrysalis deserted by a butterfly, which has left to soar free. "He is risen as He said," an angel told the incredulous disciples.
20) “Which one would you ask which way to go?'" Dr. Seamands tells of a Muslim who became a Christian in Africa. "Some of his friends asked him, 'Why have you become a Christian?' He answered, 'Well, it's like this. Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn't know which way to go, and there at the fork in the road were two men, one dead and one alive--which one would you ask which way to go?'"
21) A real Easter egg: A small chick begins the long journey to birth. The not-yet-a-bird weighs little more than air; its beak and claws are barely pin pricks. The bird-to-be is in its own little world: protected by the rigid shell, warmed by the mother hen’s body, nourished by the nutrients within the egg’s membrane. But then the chick begins the work of life. Over several days the chick keeps picking and picking until it can break out from its narrow world — and into an incomparably wider one. But for this to happen, the egg has to go to pieces. New life demands shattering the old. That is the real Easter egg. Not a complete egg dyed and painted with so many designs and colors. Not an egg that has been hardboiled, impossible to shatter. Not an egg made of chocolate. The real Easter egg is shattered and destroyed. The real Easter egg exists in broken pieces. The real Easter egg is cracked and opened, revealing the new life that has emerged. For centuries, the world has marked the Resurrection of the Lord with eggs. But the Easter meaning of the egg is found in the struggle of the chick to free itself from its confines so as to begin life in a much bigger world beyond it. We struggle to break out of a world that we perceive is going to pieces; we pick away at an existence that leaves us dissatisfied and unfulfilled. The promise of the Easter Christ is that we can break out of our self-contained little worlds and begin to live in a world where peace and justice reign, a world illuminated by hope and warmed by love, a world that extends beyond time and place into the forever of God’s dwelling place. [From a meditation by Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B.].
22) “Yes, There Is Hope” (Rev. Bill Self): In the early part of World War II, a Navy submarine was stuck on the bottom of the harbor in New York City. It seemed that all was lost. There was no electricity and the oxygen was quickly running out. In one last attempt to rescue the sailors from the steel coffin, the U.S. Navy sent a ship equipped with Navy divers to the spot on the surface, directly above the wounded submarine. A Navy diver went over the side of the ship to the dangerous depths in one last rescue attempt. The trapped sailors heard the metal boots of the diver land on the exterior surface, and they moved to where they thought the rescuer would be. In the darkness they tapped in Morse code, "Is there any hope?" The diver on the outside, recognizing the message, signaled by tapping on the exterior of the sub, "Yes, there is hope." This is the picture of our dilemma as we worship on this glad Easter Day. Humankind is trapped in a dreadful situation. All around we are running low on hope, and we look for a word from beyond offering it to us. This world in which we live is plagued with war and famine, mounting debt and continual destruction. The more we try to rescue ourselves the more we seem to fall behind. We wonder.
22) “Is there hope?” On December 17, 1927, a Navy Submarine, USS S-4, off Provincetown, MA, was accidentally rammed by a US Coast Guard cutter as the sub was surfacing, following a “series submerged runs over a measured mile course to facilitate calibration of her of speed- and distance measuring equipments.” The cutter had tried unsuccessfully to avoid the collision, but tore two holes in the side of the sub, “one four feet long and two feet high in the ruptured ballast tank and the other 2-and-a-half feet long by a foot high in the battery compartment pressure hull.” The sub sank, bow first and settled on her keel in 102 feet on mud. There were heavy seas, gale winds and freezing temperatures.
Portsmouth Navy yard called in naval and civilian personnel to begin salvage on the sub. They readied the USS Bushnell, a tender, which arrive the next morning, joining other rescue ships, some of them local fishing boats. Captain Ernest J. King took command. (Robert Loys Sminkey, Commander USN Retired) http://www.subvetpaul.com/USS-S-4.htm
With him was Signalman Joe Dawson who had just completed a temporary assignment on the S-4 (and was replaced there by his best friend, Walter Tolson). Dawson had come from the USS Camden where he had been preparing for his Christmas leave.
In 1997, at 90, as the last survivor of the USS-S-4, Dawson related the story of the rescue attempt:
The first diver to go down, Commander Ellsberg, returned, reporting the hole and “no sign of life.” The next morning “divers Edie and Carr heard tappings in the forward torpedo room. They found out there were six men living. Their message to Edi and Carr was, ‘Is there hope? Please hurry, please!’”
“The divers were then ordered to connect oxygen hoses to the S-4. Three or four time the sea tore the hoses from the S-4, endangering the lives of the divers. They decided to wait until the weather subsided. The men could only live 72 hours without the oxygen we were trying to get to them The last message sent y the submariners was hard to decipher. It said, ‘We understand’… and that was the last we heard from them.” (ibid., Dawson letter)
This is the picture of our dilemma as we worship on this glad Easter Day. Humankind is trapped in a dreadful situation. All around we are running low on hope, and we look for a word from beyond offering it to us. This world in which we live is plagued with war and famine, mounting debt and continual destruction. The more we try to rescue ourselves the more we seem to fall behind. We wonder. (Rev. Bill Self)
With the Apostles, we are locked securely in our upper room, trembling in fear of the forces of evil – secularism, materialism, atheism, selfishness -- which assail us and our world. With the submariners we ask, “Is there hope? Please hurry, please.
And we are answered. Here He stands, in our midst though the room is still locked. He says, “Peace be with you!” showing us His wounded hands and side, and letting us rejoice that it is truly He, Alive! Then He says to us again, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” Then we understand that He is our hope, now and forever. Alleluia! HE IS RISEN!
23) Unfinished Till Broken
A story is told of an Eastern village that, through the centuries, was known for its exquisite pottery. Especially striking were its urns; high as tables, wide as chairs, they were admired around the globe for their strong form and delicate beauty. Legend has it that when each urn was apparently finished, there was one final step. The artist broke it – and then put it back together with gold filigree. An ordinary urn was then transformed into a priceless work of art. What seemed finished wasn't, until it was broken. In the same way, Jesus allowed his body to be broken for us and thus attained the glory of his resurrections. Steve Goodier (Fr. Botelho).
24) Empty Tomb: Easter celebrations lead us to an empty tomb! The coffin of President Abraham Lincoln has been opened twice since his death. The first time it was opened in 1887, twenty years after his death. Why was it opened? Because of the rumour that the coffin did not contain Lincoln’s body. It was opened and the body in it was proven to be Lincoln’s. Fourteen years later, the same rumors circulated again. Again the coffin was opened and again the body was proved to be Abraham Lincoln’s. Similar rumors circulated about the body of Jesus after his death. The only difference was that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb. Now the rumors concerned about what happened to Jesus’ body. Today’s gospel does not present us with the risen Christ. Instead it presents us with the empty tomb! The angel asks: “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” Unfortunately, we humans are still looking for the living among the dead.
(John Pichappilly in The Table of the Word; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
25) Lord of Life: Dr. Jayant Patel, an Indo-American was dubbed ‘doctor of death’ because he faced charges of manslaughter in over 800 cases in the USA and Australia. Dr. Patel allegedly lied about his medical qualifications and performed operations causing innumerable deaths. Similarly, Dr. Amit Kumar performed illegal kidney operations on about 500 poor unsuspecting victims and sold their kidneys to rich recipients from the West. History abounds with such ‘doctors of death’ besides leaders like Hitler and the so-called ‘butcher of the Balkans’ Slobodan Milosevic. Besides these killers, we too consciously or unconsciously – promote death rather than life. Conversely, Easter exhorts everyone to celebrate the Lord of Life and defy death. (Francis Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
26) Do Not Be Amazed: The Fourth Wise Man is a movie made for television and based on Henry Van Dyke’s 1895 classic. It begins like a Christmas story but ends as an Easter story. Martin Sheen stars as the fourth wise man, Artaban, who was late for the journey the three wise men made it to Bethlehem because he stopped along the way to help someone in trouble. For the next 33 years, he tries to find the promised Messiah, only to miss him at every turn because he is constantly getting sidetracked to help people. In his last efforts to find Jesus, Artaban arrives late one more time at the crucifixion. Jesus has just died on the cross. At that moment the earthquake occurs and Artaban is struck by a falling tile. As he lies there dying he is broken-hearted because his quest to find the Messiah was never realized. Suddenly, the Risen Lord appears to him. Jesus tells him that for the past 33 years he had, in fact, been found by the fourth wise man in the person of all the people this wise man had helped. Whatever Artaban had done to the least of the Lord’s people, that he had done to Jesus himself. This Easter story is retold in another form in today’s Gospel. Instead of three wise men seeking the Lord, with the fourth wise man coming along late, we have three women coming to the tomb, seeking the Lord who has been crucified. (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho)
Andrew Greeley:
8. Homilists are reluctant to cope with the implications of Easter and substitute high flown and empty rhetoric. Or perhaps they are unwilling to deal with the hints of resurrection which are part of daily life, promises and foretastes of the ultimate resurrection.
Easter did not happen just once in the past. It happens every day. Easter is not merely a harbinger of ultimate resurrection when life triumphs completely over death. It happens every day. Each of its experiences death and rebirth often. Today is the festival when all those “little” resurrections are brought together and integrated with the overarching resurrections, once and future, which are at the core of our faith..
Once upon a time there was a terrible fight in a certain family. The father and the mother had slipped into the habit of low level nastiness with one another and were drifting apart. The children (teenagers) were routinely snarling at one another and at their parents. Sometimes they joined in the mean-spirited exchanges between the parents. No one left the house, there was no divorce nor even the talk of divorce -–but there were lots of thoughts about it.
What was once a happy and loving family, as families go, had turned into a battleground in which four armies were fighting, and not taking any prisoners.
Then, the girl teen was in an auto accident in which her car was totally by a drunken driver. The other three rushed to the hospital and found her in bed, covered with bandages, but able to smile weakly. I had one of those near death experiences, she informed them (what self-respecting teen in an auto accident doesn’t have one of them) and God told me we’re a bunch of geeks and we should stop fighting with each other. Now. So they all hugged one another and cried and promised they’d start over again. Now the family had new life and it was Easter. (Andrew Greeley)
An hour later he was finished. He looked out at what seemed to be the smoldering ashes of men's faith. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded. Deafening silence filled the auditorium but then one man approached the platform and mounted the lectern standing near the communist leader. He surveyed the crowd first to the left then to the right. Finally he shouted the ancient greeting known well in the Russian Orthodox Church: "CHRIST IS RISEN!" En masse the crowd arose as one man and the response came crashing like the sound of thunder:
"HE IS RISEN INDEED!"
But, you will say to me, how do you know that the resurrection is real? How do you know that it is really valid?
1. Because someone told me about the Resurrection
2. Because the Resurrection as stood the test of time
3. Because I have experienced the Resurrection
Happy Easter, Church. Christ Is Risen. He Is Risen Indeed.
The resurrection of Jesus is God's final word spoken in the face of sin, suffering, evil and death. Thanks Be to God.
Easter egg hunts have been in the news all week, both because of the controversy in the White House over the invitations that went out warning that the one on the White House lawn might need to be cancelled, as well as the refusal of some school districts to refer to "Easter eggs," only "Spring eggs."
Come on. Easter egg hunts? They are part of our most beloved childhood memories, even though they have very little to do with the real Easter. Or do they?
Coloring eggs; that sweet smell of vinegar; getting those same six colors all over fingers, clothes, and countertops year after year. Then getting up early enough to compete against brothers and sisters to find the most baskets of eggs and goodies.
As parents we have different memories of the same event. Easter egg hunts mean bleaching out those Easter egg-colored clothes and counter tops; getting up even earlier than the kids; making lots of egg salad sandwiches (with strange colors staining the bread); and finding Easter grass still lurking in corners of the house on the Fourth of July.
But while some of the traditions behind Easter egg hunts have remained the same, there has been one big change that has transformed large community-wide egg hunts, Sunday school class quests, and our own living room look-fors.
Let's get real: we might still color and decorate real eggs. But how many of those actual hard-boiled eggs get taken out of the fridge and hidden in nooks and crannies anymore? Real eggs have been replaced with plastic eggs. The realities of lurking bacteria and potential lawsuits have banished actual eggs from almost every "egg hunt." Instead, plastic eggs filled with store-bought candies have, for the sake of sanity and sanitation, replaced the hand-colored hard-boiled real egg.
In other words rather than searching for an egg, a symbol of new life, we have a petroleum based plastic shell filled with candies made of artificial colors and sweetness. Not a very life-affirming symbol. Not a very Easter-y symbol...
More Hope than We Can Handle
Earlier this week, an old couple received a phone call from their son who lives far away. The son said he was sorry, but he wouldn't be able to come for a visit over the holidays after all. "The grandkids say hello." They assured him that they understood, but when they hung up the phone they didn't dare look at each other.
Earlier this week, a woman was called into her supervisor's office to hear that times are hard for the company and they had to let her go. "So sorry." She cleaned out her desk, packed away her hopes for getting ahead, and wondered what she would tell her kids.
Earlier this week, someone received terrible news from a physician. Someone else heard the words, "I don't love you any more." Earlier this week, someone's hope was crucified. And the darkness is overwhelming.
No one is ever ready to encounter Easter until he or she has spent time in the dark place where hope cannot be seen. Easter is the last thing we are expecting. And that is why it terrifies us. This day is not about bunnies, springtime and girls in cute new dresses. It's about more hope than we can handle.
Craig Barnes, Savior at Large
Yes, There Is Hope
In the early part of World War II, a Navy submarine was stuck on the bottom of the harbor in New York City. It seemed that all was lost. There was no electricity and the oxygen was quickly running out. In one last attempt to rescue the sailors from the steel coffin, the U.S. Navy sent a ship equipped with Navy divers to the spot on the surface, directly above the wounded submarine. A Navy diver went over the side of the ship to the dangerous depths in one last rescue attempt. The trapped sailors heard the metal boots of the diver land on the exterior surface, and they moved to where they thought the rescuer would be. In the darkness they tapped in Morse code, "Is there any hope?" The diver on the outside, recognizing the message, signaled by tapping on the exterior of the sub, "Yes, there is hope."
This is the picture of our dilemma as we worship this glad Easter Day. Humankind is trapped in a dreadful situation. All around we are running low on hope, and we look for a word from beyond offering it to us. This world in which we live is plagued with war and famine, mounting debt and continual destruction. The more we try to rescue ourselves the more we seem to fall behind. We wonder: Is there any hope?
Bill Self, Is There Any Hope?
It Opens on the Dawn
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb while it was still dark. But the darkness was soon overcome with light. Maybe that's the message you need to hear this day. Perhaps for whatever reason you are in darkness right now. Family concerns. Problems at work. Anxiety about your health and your future. The loss of someone you love. Easter promises us more than the stars in our darkness. Easter promises us that in the midst of our deepest darkness the Son rises to overwhelm the darkness forever.
Victor Hugo once put it like this, "For half a century I have been writing my thoughts in prose and verse and history and philosophy . . . But I feel I have not said the thousandth part of what is in me. When I go down to the grave I can say, I have finished my day's work,' but I cannot say, I have finished my life.' My day's work will begin again the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes on the twilight; it opens on the dawn." Mary Magdalene came to the tomb while it was still dark "but the darkness did not remain. The dawn broke. God's Son had risen.
King Duncan
Is that what Easter becomes for us? We believe it happened but then, we've always believed that. Even Easter has somehow become part of the "routines" of this world. So why would it have much of an effect on what we do tomorrow? Easter is no longer shocking for us--it surely does not make us re-evaluate everything else we think we know. And anyway, we're not sure we want to have everything in our lives changed.
Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
The Cape of Good Hope
I can still recall a geography lesson from elementary school in which we learned that the southernmost point of Africa is a point which for centuries has experienced tremendous storms. For many years no one even knew what lay beyond that cape, for no ship attempting to round that point had ever returned to tell the tale. Among the ancients it was known as the "Cape of Storms," and for good reason. But then a Portuguese explorer in the sixteenth century, Vasco De Gama, successfully sailed around that very point and found beyond the wild raging storms, a great calm sea, and beyond that, the shores of India. The name of that cape was changed from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of
Good Hope.
Until Jesus Christ rose from the dead, death had been the cape of storms on which all hopes of life beyond had been wrecked. No one knew what lay beyond that point until, on Easter morning, those ancient visions of Isaiah became the victory of Jesus over our last great enemy. Suddenly, like those ancient explorers, we can see beyond the storm to the hope of heaven and eternal life with the Father. More than that, we dare to believe that we shall experience in our own human lives exactly what the Son of God experienced in his, for the risen Christ says to us, "Because I live, you shall live also." This is the heart of the Easter faith.
Robert Beringer, Easter People, CSS Publishing Company
Billy Graham responded to someone who shouted out "God is dead! God is dead!" Dr. Graham with tenderness replied, "That's strange because I just talked to Him in prayer a few minutes ago." Yes, the day you believe in the resurrection is the day you change the universe, and most importantly, you can reflect that transforming truth.
Eric S. Ritz
Do you remember the Legend of the Touchstone? It's a great story to recall on Easter Sunday morning. According to that ancient legend, if you could find the touchstone on the coast of the Black Sea and hold it in your hand, everything you touched would turn to gold. You could recognize the touchstone by its warmth. The other stones would feel cold, but when you picked up the touchstone, it would turn warm in your hand.
Then one morning he went out to continue his search for the touchstone. He picked up a stone; it was cold... he threw it into the sea. He picked up another stone - cold! He threw it into the sea. He picked up another stone... it turned warm in his hand, and before he realized what he was doing...
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Azish Filabi
HOME > OUR PEOPLE > FACULTY > AZISH FILABI
Associate Professor of Ethics
Executive Director for the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services
Ethics, Leadership, Organizational Development and Behavior, Research, Strategic Management, Training and Development
BA in Echols Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Virginia
MA in International Affairs, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
JD in Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Azish Filabi, JD, is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Executive Director of the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services at The American College of Financial Services. She joined The College in June 2020, and previously worked in the private sector helping manage, study, and regulate social and ethical business behaviors. She most recently worked at BlackRock as Vice President for Investment Stewardship, where she was responsible for corporate governance practices and execution of industry-specific proxy voting and engagement on topics such as executive compensation, board quality, diversity and composition, and disclosure of environmental and social risks. Before joining BlackRock, she was the Executive Director of Ethical Systems, an organization housed at NYU’s Stern School of Business where, through research and collaboration with leading social and behavioral scientists, she helped businesses distill findings from academic research, and develop strategies to measure and promote ethical culture in their companies. She also served as an Adjunct Professor, teaching professional responsibility and business and society classes in both their MBA and undergraduate curriculum.
Filabi previously worked as an Assistant Vice President, Ethics Officer, and Counsel in the Legal Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY, where she, among other initiatives, helped assemble the response to the 2008 financial crisis. She was also an Associate at the NYC-based law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle, LLP. She is active in the NY State Bar Association as an Officer in the International Section and co-founded The Committee on Social Finance and Enterprise.
A published researcher, Filabi is frequently called to present on business ethics and culture at various forums, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Ethics and Compliance Initiative, the Conference Board, and the Good Work Institute. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree as an Echols Interdisciplinary Scholar from the University of Virginia (UVA), a Juris Doctor degree from the UVA School of Law, and a Master of Arts degree in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
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Evangelical Family Wants Religious Exemption for Teaching Their Kids
Caught up in the Rapture
A Texas family and their radical lawyer claim they shouldn't have to prove to the state what is being ‘taught’ at home school.
Jay Michaelson
Updated Apr. 13, 2017 6:17PM ET / Published Nov. 02, 2015 6:15PM ET
Photo Illustration by Emil Lendof/The Daily Beast
Nearly one hundred years ago, the state of Texas required children to attend school, whether in public school, private school, or at home. Now, a state supreme court case may carve out a religious exemption to that requirement.
An activist lawsuit funded by the Home School Legal Defense Association, the case is part of a flood of religious-exemption lawsuits filed in the last few years. Since 2010, doctors have refused to treat the children of same-sex couples; pharmacists have refused to fill prescriptions for HIV medications; nurses have refused to provide “morning after” pills to rape victims; multimillion-dollar corporations have refused to provide insurance coverage that might be used for contraception.
Indeed, while mainstream media has focused on wedding cakes and Kim Davis, religious exemptions have turned the American legal system into Swiss cheese.
This latest example is about the parameters of Texas’s home-school program, already one of the nation’s most permissive. Some 300,000 students are home-schooled in Texas. No specific curriculum is required, no registration is required, no testing is required, and no standards are set. Parents must only provide a “bona fide” education, whatever that means.
But they do have to provide something, which, it is alleged, the McIntyre family did not do for their five children (of nine total), who for two years were home-schooled in the back of a motorcycle dealership. “Our faith is foremost in our lives,” said Laura McIntyre in an affidavit. “And we find it very important that our children receive a faith-based education.”
This is probably the place to add some of the colorful, particular details that one only gets from reading court documents. According to the McIntyres, you see, this entire suit is a personal vendetta by the kids’ uncle Tracy, their father Michael’s twin brother who co-owned the motorcycle dealership until things went sour. Specifically, the McIntyres’ lawyers saw fit to inform the Texas Supreme Court, “On August 22, 2005, Tracy became infuriated with Laura at work and began screaming obscenities at her. When Michael intervened, Tracy assaulted him. Michael filed a criminal assault charge against Tracy that day. The McIntyre family war had begun.”
Good Christians all, no doubt.
According to the El Paso School District, however, this is a case of neglect. The McIntyres refused to “comply with Texas Education Agency standards” or certify that they were teaching “reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, and a study of good citizenship.” That is the full level of detail the school district sought. No home visits, no curriculum requirements. And yet the McIntyres refused to provide it.
Why? Either because they weren’t providing any education at all, or their far-right lawyers told them it wasn’t any of the government’s business.
Meanwhile, one child ran away from home—to get an education, she said—and enrolled in public school, where she was placed two grades below her age level. Then the estranged Uncle Tracy provided some colorful details: All the kids were doing was singing songs. They never had homework. And the kicker, which has led media coverage of the case: They said they didn’t have to learn because they were about to be raptured anyway.
That was enough for the school district, which investigated the children for truancy. Because under the law, if they’re not getting home-schooled, they’re playing hooky. That’s when the McIntyres filed suit.
We don’t know if everything Tracy said is true, and the rapture claim is not in front of the Texas Supreme Court, which is instead reviewing an assortment of administrative questions and the controlling precedent on what, if anything, home-schoolers have to teach their kids.
What we do know is that the McIntyres and their activist lawyers have been radicalized. The Home School Legal Defense Association has stonewalled, simply stating that their clients are “in full compliance” with the law and refusing to provide any details. At one point, Laura McIntyre said it wouldn’t be “right” to submit any documentation at all.
In other words, whatever is going on with the quiverfull of McIntyre children and their obscenity-spouting uncle, their lives have been turned into a test case for the religious-exemptions movement.
Which makes sense, if you look at who’s running the Home School Legal Defense Association. Its leader is Michael Farris, who is not just a home-school advocate but a longtime conservative activist, the chancellor of Patrick Henry College, an evangelical college (motto: “For Christ and For Liberty”), and head of the “Convention of States,” which is calling for a new constitutional convention to restore home rule and scale back the federal government.
Patrick Henry College, you may recall, was the subject of a damning 2014 article in The New Republic alleging widespread coverups of sexual assault. It is also the subject of the 2006 film God’s Next Army, which described how it draws on home-schooled students, eschews any federal standards, and is only accredited by an organization created by the “Institute for Creation Research.” And it requires all students to sign a statement affirming, among other things, that “Satan exists as a personal, malevolent being who acts as tempter and accuser, for whom Hell, the place of eternal punishment, was prepared, where all who die outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious torment for eternity.”
So you can see why he took the case. The McIntyre family is just one small blip in a nationwide campaign to create a parallel educational system free from oversight, standards, or, for that matter, science.
It’s also easy to see how this case, and religious exemptions in general, fit into a much broader vision, one shared by Christian Reconstructionism, Dominionism, and the New Apostolic Reformation, of a hopelessly fallen society and the need to build an entirely separate Christian counterculture to it—until such time as the “Christian nation” is restored, or raptured, or both.
This is radical stuff, and it is not fiction. Whether or not the McIntyres exempted their children from education because the rapture is imminent, 77 percent of American evangelicals believe we’re living in the End Times. A significant percentage of them believe that the secular government is oppressing Christians and is soon to be destroyed in the coming tribulations. And with evangelicals comprising about 40 percent of the U.S. population, they’re a majority in the Republican Party.
Meanwhile, about 1.7 million children are home-schooled in the United States today, up more than 30 percent in the last decade.
To be sure, not all evangelicals are end-timers, and not all home-schoolers are evangelicals. Mainstream home-school advocates have already distanced themselves from the position that parents should have a blanket religious exemption from providing any education at all. And the Texas Appeals Court decision (PDF) from which the McIntyres are now appealing made clear that the right to home-school is not unlimited, even in Texas.
But these kinds of gray areas are not the final objective of the religious-exemptions movement. Convinced that the secular world is literally going to hell, it seeks to create a separate world entirely, one not bound by the laws that govern you and me. And it is winning victory after victory in pharmacies, corporate boardrooms… and maybe, soon, the back of a motorcycle shop.
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Japanese Man Who Used Twitter to Lure Nine Murder Victims Sentenced to Death
‘HOUSE OF HORRORS’
Takahiro Shiraishi’s crimes were exposed on Halloween 2017, when police found nine heads and arm and leg bones stashed away in coolers.
Jamie Ross
Barbie Latza Nadeau
Correspondent-At-Large
A 30-year-old Japanese man dubbed the “Twitter killer” after he lured suicidal women to his home and then drugged, robbed, raped, murdered and dismembered them has been sentenced to death by the Tokyo District Court Tachikawa.
Takahiro Shiraishi, a former scout for the sex industry, was arrested in the city of Zama on Halloween 2017 by police investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who posted about suicide on Twitter. At his home, dubbed the “house of horrors,” police found nine heads and 240 bones with the flesh scraped off stashed away in coolers and toolboxes in his bedroom.
Shiraishi confessed to all nine murders. “There is no doubt that I sliced up the bodies in my bathroom with the intention of destroying evidence,” he told investigators, according to the Japanese Straits Times. “I disposed of their flesh and internal organs like garbage, but kept their bones out of fear that I would be caught.”
Investigators also found a trail of Twitter DMs in which Shiraishi, using the handle “hangman,” persuaded suicidal women to visit his apartment on the promise he would help them die. His nine victims, between the ages of 15 and 26, include eight women and one man who was a friend of one of his victims, who police say likely discovered his crimes.
All of the victims showed signs of strangulation before they were decapitated, according to Japan's Kyodo news agency.
During a high-profile trial that captivated Japan, Shiraishi’s lawyers argued his victims had consented to their murders, adding that any signs of struggle were simply “conditional reflexes.”
Shiraishi later admitted that in fact, he had killed without asking his victims. “I killed them for financial reasons and to satisfy my sexual desires,” he said in court. “There was no consent.”
Shiraishi testified in court over the course of the lengthy trial. “I am sorry for having killed some of the victims, with whom I spent a lot of time, and would like to apologize to these families,” he said. “But for the others, I don’t really feel a deep sense of regret. In any case, I am sorry only because I failed when I got caught. If I wasn’t arrested, I will not be regretting anything.”
“I am sorry only because I failed when I got caught.”
Judge Naokuni Yano, who delivered the verdict Tuesday, said that “none of the victims agreed to be killed” and added, “All the murders were well-planned and the modus operandi makes it one of the most malicious murders ever in the history of crime. It caused massive shock and anxiety to a society where the use of social media is commonplace.”
The father of a 25-year-0ld victim testified last month that he will “never forgive Shiraishi even if he dies,” according to Japanese broadcaster NHK. “Even now, when I see a woman of my daughter’s age, I mistake her for my daughter. This pain will never go away. Give her back to me.”
The high-profile serial murder case has opened a debate in Japan about whether social media and websites that encourage suicide should be regulated. Twitter amended its rules to Japanese users after Shiraishi’s arrest, adding that users should “not promote or encourage suicide or self-harm.”
In Japan, the death penalty is carried out by hanging. A date has not been set yet for Shiraishi’s death.
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Khalifa issues Emiri Decree on President’s Private Department
Front, Headlines, GCC
(Abu Dhabi) – President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in his capacity as Ruler of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, has issued an Emiri Decree retiring Mubarak Saad Mohammed Saad bin Qathla Al Ahbabi, Chairman of the Private Department of the President, and Ahmed Ali Mohammed Musabbah Al Shamsi, Assistant Undersecretary of the Private Department of the President.
(Courtesy WAM)
May 10, 2015 /by Asiya Mahar
Tags: Diplomat Magazine, International Diplomat Magazine, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, Emiri decree
https://www.thediplomatmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Decision-to-unify-UAEs-Armed-Forces-was-wise-President.jpeg 480 640 Asiya Mahar https://www.thediplomatmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/diplomat-logo-v5.jpg Asiya Mahar2015-05-10 19:04:582015-05-10 19:04:58Khalifa issues Emiri Decree on President's Private Department
FM hosts banquet in honour of former Arab officials
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed welcomes Al Sisi
HM King praises Bahraini-Russian relations
Abu Dhabi launches second satellite
Adele to be Waxed at Madame Tussauds
Gulf states to close embassies in Syria
UAE Leaders congratulate Cameron Ruler of Sharjah arrives in Cairo
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Confidence Slipping…I wonder why
According to a new poll, the American people think we are heading in the wrong direction as a country.
Public Opinion Strategies just released results of a new survey that can’t be very comforting to the Obama Administration: “Just 31% of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction, while 55% say it’s off on the wrong track. That’s a dramatic change from last month when a slight plurality of Americans said the nation was headed in the right direction – 45%-43%, and it’s also the first slippage in mood since Obama was elected.”
Let’s see. The CIA Director just announced that he was stopping a secret program that was set up to kill the bastards who planned and supported the September 11 attacks and who have declared Holy war against the United States of America.
Democrats are outraged, but not for the reason you might think. They seem to be against the program. Amazing. I thought killing people who want to kill a lot of Americans was one of the things the CIA was supposed to do.
Democrats are outraged that the program was top-secret. Huh? Don’t you think that the only way this program would succeed was if it were top-secret? I sure as Hell don’t want Congress spilling the beans on secret plans to kill the top terrorists in the country. What are these guys thinking?
In the meantime, House Democrats are busy trying to pass much higher taxes on people who create most of the jobs in this country. Small business owners are facing an 8% tax to help pay for the new government-run health care plan. They are also planning a new surcharge on the so-called rich, many of whom are small business owners. And they are making plans to tax people for what they drink and what they eat. They have already taxed folks on what they smoke.
This is on top of a cap-and-trade vote, which, if implemented, will put a tax on how much energy people use. So, if you want to turn on the air-conditioner, get ready to pay more for the privilege.
The Senate has passed a health care bill that is every bit as bad as the House version, except they haven’t paid for it yet. That comes in the Finance Committee, where all eyes on Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley. Since they are the ones who have to find a way to pay for all the dreams of Chris Dodd, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, expect them to come up with a much more modest proposal.
In any event, the mood is souring in the country because jobs are not coming back. The President’s so-called stimulus bill has proven to be a complete bust. The Fed is now predicting that unemployment will hit 10 percent and beyond sometime this year. At every turn, the President’s party is making it harder for small-businesses (or big business for that matter) to hire new workers. If we do have an economic recovery, expect it to be a jobless one.
That will only make the mood darker for voters come next year.
The President’s poor form in throwing out the first pitch didn’t inspire much confidence either. I am glad he wore a White Sox jacket, but no self-respecting White Sox fan would throw the ball as weakly as Mr. Obama did at the All-Star game.
Say what you will about W. At least he could throw a fastball.
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NBC Inks $2 Billion Sports Deal–But It’s Not for Football, Baseball or Basketball
NBC Sports Group has won a 10-year rights deal with a major sports league, but it’s not for one of the so-called “big three” sports in the U.S.–football, baseball and basketball.
The deal is with the National Hockey League, and is believed to be worth $2 billion, reports Jon Lafayette at B&C.
NBC and league officials declined to reveal the amount, although they said that NBC is paying a rights fee instead of continuing a revenue-sharing arrangement, the story says.
Versus has been paying $77 million per year for the cable rights to NHL games, while NBC has held the broadcast rights with a revenue-sharing agreement. Under the new deal, the NHL is receiving at least double what it received under the previous agreement, the article says.
Versus and NBC became part of the same family when Versus’ owner, Comcast, closed its majority purchase of NBCUniversal earlier this year.
VH1 Has Another Reality Hit on Its Hands
Tracy Morgan, Who Got in Trouble Over Comment About Sarah Palin, Aims His Latest Saucy Remarks at Michelle Obama
Digital Guy
It is only $200 million a year. That is going to look really cheap when Comcast is broadcasting Hockey across a number of channels; especialy in the last five years.
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Andrew Craig" width="300px" height="NaN" align="right" />Not top 15, not top 10. Ferreira is shooting for title contention, and if he gets the four fights he wants and wins them all impressively, he could reach that goal by the time Christmas comes around. But there are immediate tasks to tend to, namely a Sunday bout with Sam Alvey.
“I know he's a very tough guy, but I am very confident and know that I'm able to beat him in any area,” Ferreira said, and as a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with knockout power in his hands, he may be right. But no one tuning in to FOX Sports 1 this weekend wants to see Ferreira wrestle or play the ground game with the former TUF 16 cast member.
Alvey can crack, he likes to swing for the fences, and if “Mutante” wants to put to rest any questions about his chin following his March 2014 KO loss to CB Dollaway, this is a good place to start. And considering that he has had the likes of Vitor Belfort, Anthony Johnson and Tyrone Spong, just to name a few, in the Blackzilians camp with him in South Florida, it’s safe to say that he’s gotten dinged a few times. It’s that ol’ steel sharpens steel mentality that has the team from Boca Raton soaring again, with Ferreira one of the key cogs in the machine.
“It (training camp) has been very good because we are pushing each other, and I usually say that here in the gym, we have the UFC every day. We are all training hard.”
Teammate Michael Johnson will join Ferreira on the trip to Porto Alegre, and “The Menace” is a good example of the three-year rule, as it was the TUF 12 alum’s December 2013 knockout of Gleison Tibau that showed the consistency he was lacking earlier in his UFC run.
Now it’s Ferreira’s turn, and while he has fluctuated between devastating and hesitant – sometimes within the same bout – the Belo Horizonte product is getting to the point where he’s putting everything together at the highest level of the sport, despite only 12 pro fights. It’s something he says he owes to his time on TUF Brazil.
“The Ultimate Fighter changed my life,” he said. “I remember before TUF my life was so hard. I had to do many things at the same time - a job, college, training and I had to take care of my family. I had to wake up at 5am and go to sleep at midnight after going to college. Now I'm able to live like a professional fighter - I just train and go to rest.”
He makes it sound easy these days, but there’s no way it can be, not with the best fighters in the world, and even his friends, trying to take his head off his shoulders. But for Ferreira, that’s the life he chose and the life he wants, and now he’s on the verge of making it all pay off.
“My focus is the belt and I know that this fight can put me in the top 10 in my category,” he said. “I want fights that will take me to the belt and I am well-prepared for this fight. I'm ready to get in the Octagon and give my best.”
Mir vs. Duffee to Headline in San Diego
Green Out, Gil In for Iaquinta Bout in July
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Mon., March 07, 2016
Iowa's Jarrod Uthoff tabbed first team all-B1G
Hawkeye forward scored 18.8 points a game this year
Iowa Hawkeyes forward Jarrod Uthoff (20) is introduced during a NCAA basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. (Adam Wesley/The Gazette)
Scott Dochterman
All articles by Scott
IOWA CITY — Iowa senior Jarrod Uthoff’s journey from two-year practice player to all-Big Ten performer was paved in both talent and work ethic.
Uthoff, a 6-foot-9 forward, boasts a rare blend of inside-outside proficiency that made him one of the Big Ten’s most difficult match-ups. He averaged nearly 19 points, more than two blocks and two 3-pointers a game and was unanimously named first-team all-Big Ten by both media and coaches on Monday.
Few players spend the time on his craft as Uthoff. Friday, he didn’t like how his shot was falling in practice. He kept working at it. Ultimately, that paid off on Saturday night when he scored 29 points, grabbed seven rebounds, pulled away four steals and blocked three shots in 38 minutes. He joined LSU forward Ben Simmons as one of only two players with that statistical line this season.
“I wasn’t making anything (Friday), so I stayed after and worked on my form,” Uthoff said. “I shot a lot, even when the other guys were stretching. I got a feel for the ball again and a good feel for my shot.”
Among Big Ten players, Uthoff finished second in scoring (18.8), tied for 10th in rebounding (6.5), first in blocked shots (81) and eighth in free-throw percentage (81.8). In league games, Uthoff was second in scoring (19.2), 11th in rebounding (6.6), first in blocked shots (46) and ninth in free-throw percentage (81.4). He also was named to the all-defensive team.
He’s such a difficult match-up, even the league’s best defensive coaches struggled to find ways to defend him. In two wins against Purdue, Uthoff combined for 47 points, including 25 at Mackey Arena. Purdue Coach Matt Painter used 2015 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Rapheal Davis (6-5) on Uthoff in the first game, then switched to power forward Caleb Swanigan (6-9) for the second. Neither player could contain Uthoff.
“No matter who guards Uthoff, I thought he had the upper hand on them,” Painter said after the second loss. “He’s a tough cover. He’s put them at another level.”
Uthoff has helped elevate No. 18 Iowa (21-9, 12-6 Big Ten) to consecutive 12-win seasons in league play for only the third time in school history. In only three seasons, Uthoff ranks 20th in Iowa career scoring (1,238) and fourth in blocked shots (172). He’s one of only three players to total more than 1,000 points and 150 blocks. Nationally, he’s the first player since Duke’s Shane Battier (2000-01) to average two blocks and two 3-pointers a game.
“I’m just thrilled for him because he’s had an interesting journey,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “You talk about accomplishment and we all know that you just don’t end up there. You work your way to get there. He’s one of the most incredible workers I’ve ever been around.”
Uthoff was the state’s Mr. Basketball at Cedar Rapids Jefferson after the 2011 season when he averaged 26.2 points. He signed with Wisconsin but red-shirted. Uthoff then left and transferred, where he sat out another year and paid his own way. As a sophomore, Uthoff averaged 7.6 points off the bench. Last year he put up 12.4 points and was named third team all-Big Ten.
“In the beginning he had some bumps in the road but really stayed true to who he was, continued to work and continue to believe in himself and he made it happen,” McCaffery said. "I’m just thrilled to be a part of it. But I’m just happy for him.”
Iowa now has had first-team all-Big Ten performers in three consecutive years. Uthoff joins Devyn Marble (2014) and Aaron White (2015).
Iowa junior guard Peter Jok was named to the Big Ten’s second team by coaches and media. Jok averaged 15.8 points a game, an 8.8-point improvement from last season. Among Big Ten players, Jok ranks 10th in scoring, fourth in steals (1.4 per game), seventh in 3-pointers (2.4) and third in free-throw percentage (85.6). Jok scored 20 or more points 10 times this year and has hit his last 21 free throws.
Iowa center Adam Woodbury and point guard Mike Gesell were named honorable mention.
Here are the all-Big Ten teams (Both coaches and media unless noted):
Denzel Valentine, G, Michigan State (player of the year); Jarrod Uthoff, F, Iowa (unanimous); Yogi Ferrell, G, Indiana (unanimous); A.J. Hammons, C, Purdue; Nigel Hayes, F, Wisconsin
ANF Hawkeye Trucker Hat
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Melo Trimble, G, Maryland; Peter Jok, G, Iowa; Malcolm Hill, G, Illinois; Bryn Forbes, G, Michigan State; Matt Costello, C, Michigan State (media); Shavon Shields, F, Nebraska (coaches)
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Ethan Happ, F, Wisconsin (freshman of the year); Diamond Stone, F, Maryland; Thomas Bryant, C, Indiana; Jordan Murphy, F, Minnesota; Caleb Swanigan, F, Purdue
ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM (Coaches only)
A.J. Hammons, C, Purdue (player of the year); Jarrod Uthoff, F, Iowa; Rapheal Davis, G, Purdue; Yogi Ferrell, G, Indiana; Ethan Happ, F, Wisconsin
SIXTH-MAN OF THE YEAR (Coaches only)
Max Bielfeldt, F, Indiana
COACH OF THE YEAR (Coaches and media): Tom Crean, Indiana
l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com
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'Poor art' pioneer Michelangelo Pistoletto set for Bleinheim Palace show
Italian artist will bring work including his Venus of the Rags sculpture to the World Heritage site in September, following in footsteps of Ai Weiwei
New context: Blenheim Palace, where Michelangelo Pistoletto will be exhibiting work from September. Photograph: PR
Maev Kennedy
Wed 8 Jun 2016 12.48 EDT
An Italian artist acclaimed as a founding father of 1960s Arte Povera – the “poor art” movement that only used worthless everyday materials – will be next to colonise the stupendously grand halls of Blenheim Palace.
Michelangel Pistoletto at Blenheim Palace. Photograph: Edd Horder
Michelangelo Pistoletto, whose career was celebrated in recent solo exhibitions at the Serpentine and the Louvre, will be creating new work for Blenheim’s towering double-height great hall, as well as installing a retrospective covering more than half a century of his art throughout the palace and its grounds.
The 18th-century building is now a World Heritage site covering seven acres, including a 55 metre-long library and a Capability Brown designed landscape. This will be the third major contemporary art exhibition at Blenheim, following Ai Weiwei in 2014 and Lawrence Weiner last year., and Pistoletto’s most comprehensive UK show to date.
“Pistoletto’s powerful career has been a major influence on contemporary art and modern thought,” said Michael Frahm, curator and director of the Blenheim Art Foundation, who described the artist as “a counter-cultural figure who questions society and explores philosophy through a body of work which is witty, poetic and always unexpected,.”
Michelangelo Pistoletto’s sculpture Venus of the Rags. Photograph: Tate Modern/PA
The art on show will include some of Pistoletto’s mirror works, photographic images silkscreened on to polished steel that also reflect the viewer – and his Venus of the Rags, a cast of the sort of beautiful classical nude statue ubiquitous in his native Italy as well as Blenheim’s own corridors, posing with a huge heap of scrap fabric.
Portrait of the artist: Michelangelo Pistoletto, artist
There will also be works from his Third Paradise project, Pistoletto’s vision of a society living in harmony with nature, on which he has been working for more than a decade.
Blenheim was conceived in 1705 as a gift from the grateful nation to the first Duke of Marlborough for his success in battle, but funding for Sir John Vanbrugh grandiose designs came to a halt when the formidable duchess fell out with her former friend Queen Anne. She finally had the building finished by Nicholas Hawksmoor, long after the duke’s death, insisting on cheaper materials and lower wages.
“I am very pleased to be presenting a comprehensive show of my work within a place brimming with history, tradition, and craft,” said Pistoletto of the show in September. “I look forward to seeing my art in an entirely new context.”
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Ghana Wins 19 Medals In Weightlifting Champoinship
The flag of Ghana has once again being lifted high by Ghana’s national weightlifting team, the Black Cranes in the just ended African Youth Junior and Senior Weightlifting Championship.
The Black Cranes who arrived in Accra, last Wednesday after an impressive outing at the African Weightlifting Championships in Morocco from October 28 to November 5, 2013, won a total of 19 medals.
At a breakfast meeting hosted to welcome the team at Alisa Hotel, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports commended the handlers and the team for a yeoman’s job. Mr. Joseph Yammin was full of praise for the team and assured the Ghana Weightlifting Association of government’s continued support going forward since “this is the highest medal haul by Ghana in any international competition from one discipline”.
The Deputy Minister also expressed the Ministry of Youth and Sports’ satisfaction for all past handlers of the Black Cranes and particularly showed appreciation to Mr. Nii Lantey Vanderpuje (Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry and MP for Odododiodio) and Ben Nunoo Mensah (President of Ghana Weightlifting Association)
Ghana placed 6th in terms of medals won out of fifteen (15) participating African countries. The team comprised of 6 lifters with ace sports presenter Mr. Charles Osei Asibey leading the delegation.
Ruth Baffoe of the Ghana Immigration Service began the medal swoop by winning six (6) bronze medals on the opening day of the competition, and Juliana Arkoh continued Ghana’s impressive showing by sweeping six (6) silver medals and two (2) bronze medals the next day in the 63-kilogramme category.
Dora Afi Abotsi, the captain of the women’s team, added two (2) bronze medals, while Theophilus Tackie completed the haul with three bronze medals.
As a mark of good sportsmanship, the Black Crane was judged the most disciplined side at the Championship.
Speaking to the media after the event, Mr Yammin expressed the Ministry’s gratitude to Goil Ghana Limited and Techno Mobile for their supporting the team’s travel to Morocco and encouraged other corporate entities to join in the support to the development of sports in Ghana, most
especially, lesser known sports.
He also appealed to the media to spend some air time in promoting lesser known sports as they give to football on their sports programs
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ED JONES IS EXCITED TO EXPERIENCE THE MONTH OF MAY
Posted by Patrick Stephan on Thursday, May 7th 2015
Source: Ed Jones PR:
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – May 7, 2015 – Ed Jones is looking forward to seeing what the month of May has in store for him when he returns to the track this weekend for the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Mazda Grand Prix of Indianapolis, May 8-9.
Jones has started the weekend off well and had no problems learning the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He finished the first session P1 (75.7096 seconds / 115.975 mph) and then ended up third in the second session (75.6558 seconds / 116.057 mph).
“I have been looking forward to this month for a long time,” said Jones. “Now it’s finally here it’s been amazing to drive the GP track at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Carlin has given me a great car again and practice today went well so f I feel confident heading into qualifying and the races this weekend.”
The 20-year-old slipped to second in the championship standings two weeks ago after illness and bad luck saw him lose his 100% race win streak. Driving the No. 11 Toys for Boys Miami/United Rivers – Carlin machine, Jones has every intention of reclaiming the lead back when he starts Race 1 tomorrow, just seven points behind the leader, Spencer Pigot.
Jones, who was born and still resides in Dubai, has had a fantastic start to his American racing career. He dominated the season-opener at St. Petersburg by winning both races from pole, setting a new qualifying lap record and finishing the second race over nine seconds ahead of second place Jack Harvey. He skillfully avoided an accident on the first lap at Long Beach, took the lead and never looked back, earning his third victory in as many races. Jones was unfortunate in Barber two weeks ago, making a mistake in race one on the first lap, which cost him the podium and in race two, he got hit from behind on the first lap and was forced to return to the pits to change tires.
The Mazda Grand Prix of Indianapolis commences tomorrow with qualifying at 12 p.m. ET and the first of two races will be at 4:30 p.m. ET. Race two will start at 1:25 p.m. on Saturday, May 9. Live timing and commentary for all session will be available on the Mazda Road to Indy app and at indylights.com.
category: Carlin Racing PR
« GRAND PRIX OF INDIANAPOLIS: INDY LIGHTS PRACTICE, PRO MAZDA RACE ONE REPORT
Tan Controls Rescheduled Mazda Road to Indy Pro Mazda Race »
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9 Stadiums to explore in India
©Gopal Aggarwal ,This file...
Burlton Park (Gandhi stadium )Gulab Devi Rd, opposite Gulab Devi Hospital, Bultern park, Arya Nagar, Jalandhar, Punjab 144008, India
This is a famous stadium of Punjab state and is used for cricket matches . The stadium was built in 1955 and serves as the home ground for two Indian domestic cricket teams: Punjab and North Zone.
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©Devleen ,This file is lic...
Chilarai Indoor StadiumNear, Main Rd, Borpara, Mayapuri, Bongaigaon, Assam 783380, India
This is an indoor stadium located in the Bongaigaon district of Assam state.
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©Mathankumar , This file i...
Eden GardensMaidan, B.B.D. Bagh, Kolkata, West Bengal 700021, India
Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata established in 1864. It is also called as the Mecca of Indian Cricket. Home venue of the Bengal cricket team and the Kolkata Knight Riders. The stadium currently has a capacity of 66,000.
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©Godric ki Kothri ,This ...
Green park stadiumKan chember at Green Park stadium, Green Park, Permat, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208001, India
Green Park Stadium is a 32,000 capacity floodlit cricket stadium located in Kanpur, India, and home to the Uttar Pradesh cricket team The stadium is under the control of the Sports Department Uttar Pradesh. It is the only international cricket stadium in Uttar Pradesh that has regularly hosted international cricket matches in both Test and One Day format.
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©Sarbjit Bahga ,This file ...
Guru Nanak StadiumSultanpur Lodhi, Punjab 144626, India
A huge multi sports stadium with Facilities such as indoor and outdoor games with a great playing surface and all other amenities. This stadium is an ideal place for sports such as cricket, hockey match ,athletic, basketball game tennis etc.
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©PP Yoonus , This file is ...
Indoor StadiumMasimpur, Silchar, Assam 788118, India
Satindra Mohan Dev Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium situated at Silchar, Assam. It was earlier known as the District Sports Association Stadium. After extensive upgrade of facilities, it was renamed after the father of Sri Santosh Mohan Dev. The stadium is used for football and cricket and has a capacity of around 30,000
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©Ramit.mukherjee.1994 ,Thi...
Nehru Stadium, GuwahatiNeheru stadium, Gandhi Basti, Sarania Hills, Guwahati, Assam 781007, India
Kamrup Metropolitan
Nehru Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Guwahati, Assam, India and managed by the Board of Sports, Government of Assam. Radha Govinda Baruah supervised, constructed and named the stadium as Nehru Stadium. It is used both for football and cricket matches. The stadium holds 15,000 people at most and was built in 1962. So far it hosted 13 One Day Internationals matches and many matches of top domestic cricket tournaments like Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Deodhar Trophy. In football it regul
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©The original uploader was ...
Punjab Cricket Association StadiumI.S. Bindra Stadium, Sector 63, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Chandigarh 160062, India
Also called as Bindra stadium is a cricket ground located in Mohali. The stadium has an official capacity of 26,950. This stadium is home of Punjab cricket team and Kings XI Punjab (IPL franchisee).
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©Arindam Ghosh - Rana - Dim...
Salt Lake StadiumJB Block, Sector III, Bidhannagar, Kolkata, West Bengal 700098, India
Officially known as Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan is a multipurpose stadium in Kolkata with a capacity of 85000. it is the largest stadium in India By seating Capacity. Now it was the second-largest football stadium in the world.
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Local Businesses Recognized for Their Generosity at United Way of the Midlands’ Annual Meeting
by Brayton Hagge | Oct 18, 2019 | Press Release
During its Annual Meeting and Luncheon today, United Way of the Midlands (UWM) was proud to present its second annual “Campaign Recognition Awards:” “Volunteer Organization of the Year,” “New Business Partner of the Year” and “Corporate Partner of the Year.” UWM created the “Campaign Recognition Awards” to honor the organizations that invest in our community through the UWM campaign.
During the event, UWM also reported back to the community, shared goals for future impact and celebrated its 2019 “Citizens of the Year” – Barbara and Wally Weitz. Annette and Paul Smith, the 2018 “Citizens of the Year,” presented the award to the Weitz’s.
More than 500 people were in attendance at the meeting.
The winners of the “Campaign Recognition Awards” were as follows:
Volunteer Organization of the Year: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska (BCBSNE) has generously supported UWM through volunteerism for many years. During the 2018 campaign year, 430 of their employees participated in UWM volunteer events.
351 of these employees participated in volunteer projects during UWM’s signature volunteer event in the fall, Day of Caring. An additional 79 volunteers read to local children during UWM’s signature volunteer event in the summer, Day of Action.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield has been serving Nebraskans for over 80 years and is committed to providing stability and security to Nebraska families and is leading the way in supporting patient-focused care. Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the state’s largest health insurance company, and the only one headquartered in Nebraska.
New Business Partner of the Year: Midwest Maintenance, Co. Inc.
Midwest Maintenance held an engaging first-year campaign, raising an impressive sum for UWM.
Midwest Maintenance is a building services contractor company that provides commercial cleaning services, janitorial services and floor care.
Corporate Partner of the Year – Under 100 Employees: IBEW Local 22
The IBEW Local 22 labor union has been a dedicated UWM partner for more than 25 years. During the 2018 campaign year, they exceeded the amount raised through their 2017 campaign by an impressive twelve times over.
Local 22 is one of 2,376 local electrical unions across the United States and has been Omaha’s Electrical Construction Union since 1892. The union is designed to provide assistance and a voice for the local electrical worker in all matters and issues that affect their lives.
Corporate Partner of the Year – 100-199 Employees: Lindsay Corporation
Lindsay Corporation has been a proud partner of UWM for 13 years. During the 2018 campaign year, they exceeded the amount raised through their 2017 campaign by more than five times. UNITED WAY OF THE MIDLANDS CONTACT: Brayton Hagge (bhagge@uwmidllands.org) Office: 402.522.7963 | Mobile: 605.661.2137 Jill Samuelson (jsamuelson@uwmidlands.org) Office: 402.522.7922 | Mobile: 402.319.8213
With its Global Headquarters in Omaha, Lindsay Corporation is a leading global manufacturer and distributor of irrigation and infrastructure equipment and technology. Established in 1955, the company has been at the forefront of research and development of innovative solutions to meet the food, fuel, fiber and transportation needs of the world’s rapidly growing population.
Corporate Partner of the Year – 200-799 Employees: SCHEELS
SCHEELS has generously donated to the community through UWM for 12 years. During the 2018 campaign year, they doubled the amount they raised for UWM in the previous year.
SCHEELS is an employee-owned, privately held all sports retailer and entertainment destination with stores in 12 states including North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Nevada, Illinois, Utah, Kansas and Colorado.
Corporate Partner of the Year – 800+ Employees: Valmont Industries, Inc.
Valmont has generously supported UWM for 10 years. During the 2018 campaign year, they exceeded the amount raised through their 2016 campaign by more than 7%.
Headquartered in Omaha, Valmont Industries is a leading, global producer and distributor of products and services for the infrastructure and agricultural markets. They have 87 manufacturing facilities in 23 countries, operate across 6 continents and do business in more than 100 countries.
About the United Way of the Midlands United Way of the Midlands (UWM) has served the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro for more than 95 years. Guided by best practices and community input, it approaches poverty in a specific way – a “united” way. With the support of volunteers, community partners and donors, UWM invests 92 cents of every donated dollar in our local community. These dollars fund basic needs, education and financial stability programs at local nonprofits, creating a circle of support for people in need. Please visit unitedwaymidlands.org for more information.
Download full press release HERE
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YOUR GUIDE TO A CHARTER BUS TRIP TO NASHVILLE
Make Memories in Music City
When you think of Nashville, you think of music—it's long been one of the music capitals of the world. But Tennessee's capital and largest city offers much more—world-class Broadway productions, tours of historic plantations, great dining and shopping experiences, and opportunities to taste some of Tennessee's finest whiskey.
But Nashville's a big and sprawling urban area, with nearly three quarters of a million residents spread out over more than 500 square miles. You don't want to spend your time there navigating its winding streets, looking for a place to park, battling traffic. With a charter bus rental from US Coachways, you can do what you're supposed to do in Nashville—have a great time while someone else handles all the details.
A Charter Bus Rental—Ideal for Any Occasion
The many features and benefits of charter buses make them an outstanding option for any trip to Nashville, including:
Special events — Whether it's a trip to the Grand Ole Opry, a Titan's game or Broadway in Nashville, there's no better way to get there and back than on a charter bus rental.
Family gatherings — With a charter bus, you can take the whole family there in safety, comfort and luxury. It's perfect for a graduation party, family reunion, wedding, engagement party, rehearsal dinner, or birthday/anniversary/retirement celebration.
Business travel — A charter bus makes it easy to get employees to and from a conference, convention, business meeting, training, team-building exercise or company party/event. You can use your travel time productively, prepping employees, debriefing or building esprit de corps.
School Outings — A charter bus is well-suited for K-12 or college trips, offering safety, comfort and accountability. It's an excellent choice for athletic team travel, class or club events or arts and cultural offerings.
Church excursions — Mission trips, community volunteer efforts, youth/choir outings and general fellowship are all easier when you travel by charter bus.
At US Coachways, we have been industry leaders in the charter bus rental business for more than three decades. Use our convenient online cost calculator to get a free estimate on the cost of a charter bus trip to Nashville, or call us at 1-855-287-2427 to learn how we can assist you with group travel.
A Charter Bus—The Smart Way to Travel to and from Nashville
When you're taking a bunch of folks to Music City, you have options for getting there and back. When you consider the features and benefits of a charter bus rental, though, it's an easy decision:
Charter buses offer unmatched flexibility — There's no other mode of transportation that compares. You won't have to choose from a limited number of itineraries or travel on someone else's schedule. With a charter bus, you decide where you want to go, when you want to go there and how long you want to stay. In addition, you can often make changes to your itinerary on the fly.
Charter buses are more reliable than other modes of transportation — Ever had a flight that canceled or arrived late? You're not alone. One study found that nearly a million air travelers experience delays every single day! With a charter bus rental, because of the extensive network of service providers, it's much easier to get a replacement vehicle if there are mechanical problems. Furthermore, your bus driver has the technology and resources to proactively determine potential traffic problems and find alternate routes that get you to Nashville on time.
Charter buses let everyone enjoy the trip — With a charter bus rental, you won't have to take charge, watching the clock or checking the map/GPS. You can relax with friends and family while your driver handles all the details. You won't have concerns about missing a connection or losing your luggage—you'll be on the same coach for the entire trip and your bags will always travel with you. There's no TSA line, so you won't have to take off your shoes or empty your pockets, and you can bring your own shampoo or a favorite beverage. There's no "bus mode" setting on any of your devices, either, so you can stay connected at all times.
Charter buses offer safety and security — You'll have a trained professional operating the bus at all times. In addition, because there's only one way on and off the bus, you won't have unwanted guests. You and your personal items will be safe and secure.
Charter buses are highly cost - effective—On a charter bus, you'll share many of the costs of travel with your fellow passengers. That typically makes charter a more affordable mode of travel. With the money you save, you can bring back some terrific mementos from Nashville.
Charter buses offer unparalleled comfort — The seats are larger than you'll find with any type of travel and there's no middle seat! Charter buses offer more leg room than any other mode of transportation. The aisles are wide and you can get up and move about at any time.
Charter buses let you use the HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes — If you've ever been to Nashville, you know what a difference that can make.
Charter buses let you go green — In a charter bus, you'll share the ride, so you'll take a number of vehicles off the roads. That's good for the planet. Just take a look at the positive impact US Coachways had on the environment in 2018.
Nashville — The Music
Let's face it—it's pretty hard to go to Nashville and not experience the amazing music scene. It may be the beating heart of country music, but it's also a mecca for musicians from many other genres. Don't be misled by names—you won't find a lot of music on Music Row—that's home to the business side of the Nashville music industry. Head downtown instead and take a stroll down Broadway. You'll find everything from honky-tonks and lounges to the Bridgestone Arena, with seating for up to 20,000. You can't make the pilgrimage to Nashville, though, without catching the Grand Ole Opry or taking in a show at the Ryman. The Ryman's downtown, but the Grand Ole Opry is located in Opryland, on the north side of town.
Of course, you can also experience a lot of the history of music in Nashville. Among the top attractions are:
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum — Located a couple blocks from Broadway, this museum traces the origins of a uniquely American style of music, but also pays homage to the many great musicians of the last 100 years. Its collection exceeds 2.5 million artifacts.
The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum — Housed in the historic Nashville Municipal Auditorium, the MHFM pays tribute to musicians of all genres, featuring instruments played by Hendrix, as well as tributes to some of the all-time great studio musicians.
The Johnny Cash Museum and Café — This attraction features the largest collection of artifacts in the world associated with the "Man in Black."
RCA Studio B — Here's where some of the most iconic music in the world was recorded. Elvis, Dolly, Willie and Roy Orbison all recorded here. It's under the auspices of the Country Music Hall of Fame now and tours are available.
While music runs through just about everything in Nashville, there's plenty more to see and do:
Historic landmarks and attractions — Take a trip to the Belle Meade Plantation, built in 1853 in the Greek Revival Style. You'll see bullet holes in its columns—a vestige of its role in the American Civil War. Visit the Hermitage, home to Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States. Tour the Civil War House Museum at the Lotz House or walk around Carnton, which served as a field hospital for wounded Confederate soldiers.
Dining and shopping — Don't leave Nashville without trying its famous hot chicken, found at a number of restaurants across the city. Another tradition in Nashville and throughout the South—the meat and three. Of course, it's nearly impossible to eat a meal in Nashville without a plate of biscuits on the table.
Nashville is also a popular destination for shoppers, whether you're looking for antiques, artwork, western wear or high-end merchandise. You'll find just about anything along Lower Broadway, from boutiques to used guitar shops. Other local favorites include SoBro, Marathon Village, the Gulch and Opry Mills.
A taste of Tennessee spirits — Visit Nelson's Green Brier Distillery, more popular than Tennessee legend Jack Daniels before prohibition. You can also tour the Nashville Craft Distillery or Prichard's. Nashville also boasts a number of craft beer breweries, including Yazoo, Jackalope and the Tennessee Brew Works.
Let Us Help You Find the Right Coach for Your Group
The first step toward a great group outing to Nashville? Choose a charter bus rental for all your travel needs. But you have options as far as your coach is concerned—you want the right bus, one with enough room to ensure that your people are comfortable, but without too much empty space. You also want the confidence that your coach has all the amenities your group needs.
At US Coachways, we have access to a vast network of charter bus service providers. We'll carefully consider all the important aspects of your trip—how many people are going, how long you'll be on the road, how long you'll be gone, and what you're bringing or taking home. Then we'll work with our partners in the charter bus industry to find the coach that best fits your needs.
If you're traveling with a mid-sized group, the mini-bus is ideal, with room for 24 to 35 passengers and ample space for luggage and souvenirs. For larger groups, the full-sized bus is a great choice, accommodating up to 57 participants. Multiple bus rentals are always an option.
Most charter buses offer certain modern conveniences as standard items, including Wifi, charging ports for your devices, DVD players and PA/stereo systems. Other features, such as on-board bathrooms, may also be available. Check with your booking agent to make certain your coach has the features you need.
Book Your Charter Bus Excursion to Nashville Today
Make your reservation with US Coachways, an industry leader in the charter bus rental business for more than 30 years. For a free quote on a charter bus trip to Music City, go to our easy-to-use, online Cost Calculator. To learn about the many ways we can help you with group travel, call us at 1-855-287-2427 to talk with an experienced customer service agent.
CALL 24/7 FOR A FREE QUOTE 1-855-287-2427
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Home Artists América USA LALO GUERRERO
Para Você Ouvir E Dançar, Ángela María
Homenaje a Roberto Kennedy, Lalo Guerrero
La Inmortal, Lucha Reyes
Los Panchos, Los Panchos
Trío Calaveras, Trío Calaveras
Elvis Pérez" (To Elvis Presley), Luis Pérez Meza
Puerto Rico, Los Panchos
Ponle un Bolero a la Noche, Boleros
Corridos Y Rancheras
Nuestros Boleros Vol 2, Varios Artistas
Lalo Guerrero, Eduardo “Lalo” Guerrero (December 24, 1916 – March 17, 2005) was a Mexican-American guitarist, singer and farm labor activist best known for his strong influence on today’s Latin musical artists.
Lalo Guerrero was born in Tucson, Arizona, one of 21 siblings (although only nine survived). His father worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Guerrero left his hometown to pursue his dream in music. He says that he gives his mother all the credit for his musical talent, and Guerrero said she taught him to “embrace the spirit of being Chicano”.Lalo Guerrero, in time exceeded even his wildest dreams as a musician, writer and performer for more than six decades, gaining worldwide recognition as the father of “Chicano Music”. His first group, Los Carlistas (the trio included Chole Salaz and Joe Salaz), represented Arizona at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, and performed on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour on radio.
He moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s, and had a few uncredited roles in movies, including Boots and Saddles and His Kind of Woman. He recorded for Imperial Records and fronted the Trio Imperial. He also formed his own orchestra and toured throughout the Southwest. He performed at the La Bamba club in Hollywood, a place frequented by the biggest stars in the movie business. In the 1960s, he bought a night club in Los Angeles and renamed it “Lalo’s”.
Lalo Guerrero is known as the Father of the Chicano Music. He recorded and wrote many songs in all sorts of genre. He also wrote children songs and songs about Cesar Chavez, other farm workers and braceros. Lalo Guerrero wrote songs for El Trio los Panchos, Lola Beltran and many other famous artists. His Pachuco music of the 1940s and 1950s provided the sound track to loui Valdez’ late 70s play and movie “Zoot Suit.” He recorded over 700 songs since his first record in 1939 with Los Carlistas on Vocalion Record.
Lalo Guerrero in 1992 at a tribute in Palm Desert, California: “Lalo has chronicled the events of the Hispanic in this country a lot better than anyone.”[citation needed] He worked closely with Chavez for farm workers’ rights and lent voice to the movement with the song, “No Chicanos On TV.”
In the 1940s he became a friend of the Ronstadt family of Arizona, in particular Gilbert Ronstadt, father of popular vocalist Linda Ronstadt. Linda recalls childhood memories of Guerrero serenading her. At his funeral, Linda sang a traditional Mexican song in tribute.
Guerrero’s earliest Pachuco compositions were the basis of the Luis Valdez stage musical, Zoot Suit. He even wrote children’s songs presented via his “Las Ardillitas,” or “Three Little Squirrels”, a Latin-American version of Ross Bagdasarian’s “Alvin and the Chipmunks”.
His first American hit was “Pancho López”, a parody of the popular 1950s hit “The Ballad Of Davy Crockett”. Lalo Guerrero used the Davy Crockett melody and wrote his own lyrics, telling the story of a legendary Mexican character. The song was popular in both Spanish and English[citation needed]. However, due to criticism Guerrero received over this song, he never performed it publicly, not wanting to contribute to an inappropriate stereotype. Guerrero went on to record several more parody songs, including “Pancho Claus,” “Elvis Perez,” “Tacos For Two” (to the tune of “Cocktails For Two”), and “There’s No Tortillas” (to the tune of “O Sole Mio”).
In 2005, Lalo Guerrero was one of several Chicano musicians who collaborated with Ry Cooder on Cooder’s “Chavez Ravine” album, for which he provided vocals on three songs (“Corrido de Boxeo”, “Los Chucos Suaves”, and “Barrio Viejo”) which helped bring him, at the twilight of his life, to the attention of a wider Anglo audience. Guerrero recorded his last full CD on Break Records, a Los Angeles based record label, this at age 83. This would become his last music CD. The recording are a collection of Guerrero’s best “Zoot Suit” compositions of Latin swing “Pachuco” music. The music CD was produced by music producer Benjamin Esparza who would became Guerrero’s trusted friend during his last years.
Lalo Guerrero was married for over 34 years to his wife Lidia Guerrero. They both lived in Cathedral City, California for over 28 years. The Musical CD contained new recordings of his 1940’s “Pachuco” swing music which was used in the Broadway play and Universal Pictures movie “Zoot Suit”. The play was written and directed by Luis Valdez. The CD “Vamos A Bailar-Otra Vez” was produced by Esparza and Justo Almario of Break Records.
Lalo Guerrero was officially declared a national folk treasure by the Smithsonian Institution in 1980 and was presented with the National Medal of Arts in 1996 by then United States President Bill Clinton. In 1992 Guerrero received the National Heritage Award from the [National Endowment of the Arts]. In late 2005 Guerrero was posthumously inducted into the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. Along with that he was also inducted into the Tejano Hall of Fame and the Mariachi Hall of Fame.
Lalo Guerrero died on March 17, 2005, in Rancho Mirage, California.
Guerrero’s contributions have resulted in Las Glorias, a restaurant in central Phoenix, displaying a poster of him with his signature on it on the wall for everyone to see in loving memory of him. He also has a blown-up,candid photograph of him as a young man on the wall of a major underpass in Tucson.
In 1994 a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated to him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP57oapEdGQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhEhC4PypUQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEMGRpbFTNM
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