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Season Review: Blake Austin
Simon McGuinness
Wed 23 Sep 2015, 10:21 AM
Blake Austin arrived in the Nation’s Capital surrounded with plenty of excitement given his form for the Wests Tigers last season and the dashing pivot more than justified this excitement with his best ever season in the NRL.
Austin was simply sensational in his 23 appearances in 2015 and added noticeable flair, energy and creativity to the side’s attack, much to the adoration of the Raiders faithful.
But it wasn’t just the Raiders supporters who were captivated by Austin’s magic, the wider rugby league public soon caught Austin fever.
The entertaining man with the slicked back blonde hair and long bikie goatee was arguably the form player in the competition midway through the year.
Austin’s eye-catching form saw him earn his first senior representative jersey for City in the annual City/Country fixture.
The 2009 Australian Schoolboys representative starred for City scoring a hat-trick of tries and Man of the Match honours which propelled him into the spotlight of State of Origin calculations for the NSW Blues.
Whilst Austin missed out on a Blues jersey, he maintained his outstanding form for the Green Machine for the remainder of the season and almost guiding them to a semi-finals return.
The key to Austin’s game is his scything running game, whether it be taking the line on himself or through his innate support play.
Blessed with pace, a deceptive dummy, instinct and a Brad Fittler-like side step, Austin was Canberra’s top try scorer with 14 touchdowns as well as leading the team in line breaks with 16. Despite his size, he was also second in tackle breaks.
Under the tutelage of Ricky Stuart, one of the finest ball-players of his era, Austin’s composure, creativity for team mates and kicking game also improved. Austin finished the year with seven try assists, the third highest amount in the team.
After a tremendous individual season to date, in which he regularly pleased the crowd, Austin delighted them further in the lead up to the Raiders' final home game of the year when he announced an extension on his contract until the end of the 2018 season.
“Blake took a risk coming down to Canberra and it has paid off for both parties,” CEO Don Furner said. “He has shown a commitment to this Club and we are very happy to return that commitment with an upgraded and extended contract.
“In a very short space of time Blake has become one of our member’s favourite players and a player who people love to come and watch. We are thrilled that Blake will be with the Raiders for another three seasons. His professionalism both on and off the field have been of a very high standard and we see him as a big part of the clubs future.”
Unfortunately, Austin injured his shoulder in the Round 25 fixture which prematurely ended his season, however he still performed well enough during his 23 games to finish at fourth place on the leader board for the Meninga Medal.
Off the field, Austin was just as impressive. He was warm and personable with fans of all ages and would regularly help out at junior league visits and community initiatives. He is a great role model for the younger players despite him being just 23 years of age, and a brilliant ambassador for the club and the game as a whole.
Most Memorable Moment:
As the above video portrays, there were a wide array of highlights from Austin’s 2015 season, however we could not go past his hat-trick of tries in the first half against the Newcastle Knights in Round 18.
Unbelievably, Austin scored his hat-trick within just 11 minutes.
CLICK HERE to re-live the breathtaking hat-trick.
Try Assists
Tackle Breaks
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Rancho Santa Fe resident writes book to help back sufferers with chronic pain
Kamshad Raiszadeh, M.D. is the Medical Director of the Spine Institute of San Diego.
(Gary Payne)
By Stacey Phillips
With a substantial increase in spine surgeries in the United States and more than 80 percent of the general population experiencing chronic back pain, Kam Raiszadeh is taking steps to address this widespread problem.
In addition to opening four SpineZone clinics in San Diego, the Rancho Santa Fe resident and well-respected orthopedic spine surgeon recently wrote a book titled Take Back Control: A Surgeon’s Guide to Healing Your Spine Without Medications or Surgery. It is based on Raiszadeh’s 20 years of experience in the medical field and offers practical tips based on scientific-based principles and real life stories to help patients alleviate their pain without undergoing surgery.
“The main reason that prompted me to write this book was the excessive number of surgeries being done for back or neck pain,” said Raiszadeh. Over the last two decades, he noticed this trend of increased surgeries without a proportionate improvement in outcome as well as an alarming increase in the use of pain medication.
About 12 years ago, Raiszadeh joined forces with a UCSD professor who was a big proponent of strengthening and rehabilitation. As Raiszadeh learned more and saw the successes, he began to incorporate holistic non-operative methods to treat patients in his surgical practice.
He completed a two-year study with one of the large medical groups in San Diego six years ago and found that by using a strengthening-based program, compared to standard physical therapy, there was a 30 percent decrease in surgery rates.
This led him to open the first SpineZone clinic in 2005 in Mission Valley where he and his team teach patients medically-supervised therapeutic exercise. Raiszadeh said by incorporating these methods, he has found that fewer patients have required surgery and those who have undergone surgery had much better long-term results with improved function and health. He said a recent internal study showed that by utilizing these methods, narcotic use was decreased by 75 percent.
There are currently four clinics in San Diego: Escondido, La Mesa, Mission Valley and Vista. In 2015, he teamed up with his brother Kian Raiszadeh, who was a lead physician and orthopedic surgeon at Kaiser Permanente, to help expand the SpineZone vision across the nation. They are currently working on opening a fifth facility in San Diego and plan on expanding to Orange County and Los Angeles as well as to large carriers and employers.
Each location has a team of exercise physiologists, physical therapists, physicians assistants and spine specialists. “The team is multi-tiered for a reason,” said Raiszadeh. “We realize that all of us bring a complementary skills set to bear that enhances the patient’s improvement. Having them all under one roof and accessible to the patient makes this process a lot smoother and more effective.”
There are three large medical groups in San Diego that refer patients to SpineZone. “There is also a lot of interest from all of the big carriers and many large employers who realize that our current system is broken and want a solution,” said Raiszadeh. “In conjunction with the clinics, we have now incorporated an online digital program that helps educate patients regarding their condition and provides customized exercises they can do at home.”
He also decided to write a book to empower a larger population of patients who have chronic pain. “I realized that until SpineZone is more widely available, this is a much bigger message that needs to communicated.” Raiszadeh weaves in his own experience about spine problems in general and gives readers practical advice and tools to better understand their back condition and to recover. The book is currently being sold on www.amazon.com and www.takebackcontrol.com.
Although the book is targeted to those who have chronic back or neck pain, Raiszadeh said he hopes that the information will reach policy makers. “It’s a public health problem,” he said. “The impact of chronic spinal pain is a huge burden on society as far as medical costs, missed days of work, disability, and constitutes a disproportionately large percentage of the overall medical spending. All of these can be improved by a more holistic approach.”
He said one of the biggest factors causing chronic back and neck pain is our current lifestyle. “Now, in the tech age, we often bend to look down at our phones and computers in awkward angles. “Sitting for a long time is a very bad posture for your disk,” said Raiszadeh. “It’s probably the worst thing for your disc on a sustained basis to be sitting.”
Raiszadeh said his next main goal is to continue to expand SpineZone and its message. “I really feel that by educating patients on their condition, having them understand their own body’s amazing ability to heal, and providing the tools for them to tap into this healing capacity, we can empower patients to prevent chronic back or neck pain from affecting their lives,” he said.
LifestyleProfiles
RSF Tennis Club Pro Am Tournament
Mille Fleurs has lighter look and feel after renovation
Mille Fleurs, the legendary Rancho Santa Fe restaurant nestled in the heart of the village, is boasting a new look and feel not only to its décor, but to its menu as well.
Eric Johnson Roof Systems has successfully built hundreds of roofs in RSF
If Eric Johnson Roof Systems sounds familiar, it could be you’ve seen the company’s white trucks with blue signage driving around Ranch Santa Fe.
Local javelin athletes headed to Junior Olympics
Local residents Madeleine Seabolt and Chris White are heading to the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics to be held July 22-28 in Sacramento, Calif., after winning their javelin competitions.
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Entertainment The Best Benjamin Bratt Movies
List Rules Vote for your favorite movies, regardless of critic reviews or how big the role was.
List of the best Benjamin Bratt movies, ranked best to worst with movie trailers when available. Benjamin Bratt's highest grossing movies have received a lot of accolades over the years, earning millions upon millions around the world. The order of these top Benjamin Bratt movies is decided by how many votes they receive, so only highly rated Benjamin Bratt movies will be at the top of the list. Benjamin Bratt has been in a lot of films, so people often debate each other over what the greatest Benjamin Bratt movie of all time is. If you and a friend are arguing about this then use this list of the most entertaining Benjamin Bratt films to end the squabble once and for all.
If you think the best Benjamin Bratt role isn't at the top, then upvote it so it has the chance to become number one. The greatest Benjamin Bratt performances didn't necessarily come from the best movies, but in most cases they go hand in hand.
Examples of films on this list include Juarez and The Next Best Thing.
"This list answers the questions, "What are the best Benjamin Bratt movies?" and "What are the greatest Benjamin Bratt roles of all time?"
Miss Congeniality Sandra Bullock, William Shatner, Michael Caine
Miss Congeniality is a 2000 comedy film directed by Donald Petrie, written by Marc Lawrence, Katie Ford and Caryn Lucas, starring Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt and Candice
Bound by Honor Billy Bob Thornton, Ving Rhames, Benjamin Bratt
Blood In Blood Out is a 1993 American crime-drama film directed by Taylor Hackford. It follows the intertwining lives of the three Chicano relatives, Miklo, Cruz, and Paco from 1972 to 1984. ...more
La Mission Talisa Soto, Benjamin Bratt, Kevin Michael Richardson
"Set in the colorful, seedy streets of the San Francisco district that bears its name, La MISSION is a story of redemption imbued with the curative power of Aztec tradition. Feared, yet ...more
Traffic Salma Hayek, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas
Traffic is a 2000 American drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a ...more
Catwoman Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Missy Peregrym
Catwoman is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Pitof Comar and stars Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt, Lambert Wilson, Frances Conroy and Alex Borstein. The film is loosely ...more
Love in the Time of Cholera Liev Schreiber, Javier Bardem, Laura Harring
Love in the Time of Cholera is a 2007 film directed by Mike Newell. Based on the novel of the same name by Gabriel García Márquez, it tells the story of a love triangle between ...more
The River Wild Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, John C. Reilly
The River Wild is a 1994 adventure thriller film directed by Curtis Hanson and starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, David Strathairn, John C. Reilly, Benjamin Bratt and Joseph Mazzello as Roarke. ...more
Red Planet Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, Simon Baker
Red Planet is a 2000 science fiction thriller film directed by Antony Hoffman, starring Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss and Tom Sizemore. Released on November 10, 2000, it was a critical and ...more
Demolition Man Sandra Bullock, Sylvester Stallone, Jack Black
Demolition Man is a 1993 American science fiction action film directed by Marco Brambilla in his directorial debut. The film stars Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. The film was released in ...more
Clear and Present Danger Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, James Earl Jones
Clear and Present Danger is a 1994 spy action thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce, based on Tom Clancy's book of the same name. It was preceded by the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October and ...more
Shadowhunter Benjamin Bratt, Scott Glenn, Gloria Reuben
The Next Best Thing Madonna, Neil Patrick Harris, Rupert Everett
The Next Best Thing is a 2000 American comedy-drama film, the final film directed by John Schlesinger. It stars Madonna, Rupert Everett, and Benjamin Bratt. It was a critical and commercial
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Anna Faris, Neil Patrick Harris, Lauren Graham
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a 2009 American computer-animated science fiction comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation, distributed by Columbia Pictures, and released on ...more
Abandon Zooey Deschanel, Katie Holmes, Gabrielle Union
Abandon is a 2002 American thriller film released by Paramount Pictures and Touchstone Pictures. It was written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, starring Katie Holmes as a college student whose ...more
The Great Raid James Franco, Sam Worthington, Connie Nielsen
The Great Raid is a 2005 film about the Raid at Cabanatuan on the island of Luzon, Philippines during WWII. It is directed by John Dahl and stars Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, James Franco, ...more
Exiled: A Law & Order Movie Ice-T, Sam Waterston, Jerry Orbach
Exiled: A Law & Order Movie is a 1998 television film that is based on the Law & Order police procedural and legal drama television series; it originally aired on NBC. Written by Charles ...more
Trucker Michelle Monaghan, Nathan Fillion, Joey Lauren Adams
Trucker is a 2008 dramatic independent film by Plum Pictures, starring Michelle Monaghan and Jimmy Bennett. It was written and directed by James Mottern, and produced by Scott Hanson, Galt ...more
Thumbsucker Keanu Reeves, Vince Vaughn, Tilda Swinton
Thumbsucker is a 2005 American independent comedy-drama film directed by Mike Mills and adapted from the Walter Kirn novel of the same name. It stars Lou Taylor Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Vincent ...more
Piñero Mandy Patinkin, Talisa Soto, Benjamin Bratt
Piñero is a 2001 biopic about the troubled life of Nuyorican poet and playwright Miguel Piñero, starring Benjamin Bratt as the titular character. It was written and directed by the ...more
Nasty Boys Melissa Leo, Benjamin Bratt, William Russ
Nasty Boys is a TV drama film aired on NBC in September 1989.
Follow Me Home Salma Hayek, Alfre Woodard, Benjamin Bratt
Follow Me Home is a 1996 film directed by activist and filmmaker Peter Bratt. It explores spiritual and intercultural race relations through the lives of four artists, one African American, one ...more
One Good Cop Michael Keaton, Rene Russo, Benjamin Bratt
One Good Cop is a 1991 American crime drama film written and directed by Heywood Gould and starring Michael Keaton, Rene Russo, Anthony LaPaglia and Benjamin Bratt.
After the Storm Jennifer Beals, Stephen Lang, Benjamin Bratt
After the Storm is a 2000 crime film directed by Guy Ferland.
The Last Producer Ann-Margret, Burt Reynolds, Sean Astin
The Last Producer is a 2000 drama film directed by Burt Reynolds and written by Clyde Hayes.
The Woodsman Kevin Bacon, Mos Def, Kyra Sedgwick
The Woodsman is a 2004 drama film directed and co-written by Nicole Kassell, based on Fechter's play of the same name. The movie stars Kevin Bacon as a convicted child molester who must adjust ...more
Filed Under: Films FilmBenjamin BrattEntertainmenttop 25
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83 LISTS And... Action!Lists about the people behind the cameras of your favorite (and least favorite) movies.
Greatest Directors in Movie History Movies Directed by Famous Actors The Best Living Directors, Ranked Most Overrated Directors Ever The Best Movies by Female Directors Terrible Movies by Great Directors The Funniest Comedy Directors History's Worst Movie Directors History's Greatest Auteurs Best Movies of Alfred Hitchcock Second Films of Famous Directors Directors Who Are Hard to Work With Movies Directed by the Star Best Movies of Steven Spielberg The Greatest Female Directors Best Movies of The Coen Brothers Best Movies of M. Night Shyamalan Best Movies of Christopher Nolan Best Directors of the 1990s Best Movies of John Carpenter
Photo: Milano Reporter
Entertainment The Greatest Directorial Debuts Of All Time
4.6k votes 347 voters 3k views 88 items
List Rules Only feature-length films.
Believe it or not, some of the greatest films of all time were also some of the greatest directorial debuts to date. It's not too often a director's first go at overseeing an entire production ends up on a list of the best movies, but it does happen. Considering this, we've probably all seen an awesome movie and thought, "What a great job by the director" without even realizing it was the director's first movie. Regardless of what thoughts you might have had, below you'll find a list of who are now famous directors' first movies. Just consider that next time you watch one of these top flicks of the past.
From hilarious comedies to full-on thrillers, these debut films from top directors would be impressive even if they weren't the directors first. Just take a look at some of the great movies on the list. Does the classic Reservoir Dogs ring a bell? Yep, that was Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut. How about the 2018 hit Get Out? Sure enough, Jordan Peele of Key & Peele nailed it on his first crack at directing. And that's only the start of a long list of incredible debuts.
While you may find many of them surprising, check out the list of directorial debuts below and vote up the films you find most impressive.
Citizen Kane Orson Welles
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film produced by, co-written by, directed by and starring Orson Welles. The picture was Welles's first feature film. The film was nominated for Academy ...more
The Shawshank Redemption Frank Darabont
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Adapted from the Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and ...more
Reservoir Dogs Quentin Tarantino
Reservoir Dogs is a 1992 American ensemble crime film that depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist. The film was the debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino, and stars ...more
Get Out Jordan Peele
Get Out is a 2017 satirical horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele. A young African American man visits his white girlfriend's family estate where he learns that many of its residents, ...more
daryushshokofo added Seven Servants Daryush Shokof
Seven Servants is a USA — Germany co-production 1996 German drama — comedy film directed by Daryush Shokof. The movie is about a man named Archie, portrayed by Anthony Quinn, who wishes to unite ...more
John Wick Chad Stahelski, David Leitch
John Wick is a 2014 American action thriller film directed by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. Starring Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, Dean ...more
The Maltese Falcon John Huston
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film noir based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. Directed by John Huston, the film stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam ...more
Eraserhead David Lynch
Eraserhead is a 1977 American surrealist body horror film written and directed by filmmaker David Lynch. Shot in black-and-white, Eraserhead is Lynch's first feature-length film, coming after ...more
Boyz n the Hood John Singleton
Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 American hood drama written and directed by John Singleton in his directorial debut, and starring Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Laurence Fishburne, Nia ...more
Duel Steven Spielberg
Duel is a 1971 television thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Richard Matheson, based on Matheson's short story of the same name. It stars Dennis Weaver as a terrified ...more
Ex Machina Alex Garland
Ex Machina is a 2015 independent science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Alex Garland. A young programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) is selected to participate in a ground-breaking ...more
District 9 Neill Blomkamp
District 9 is a 2009 science fiction film directed by Neill Blomkamp, released August 13, 2009. It takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa. District 9 is based on Alive in Joburg, a short film ...more
Breathless Jean-Luc Godard
Breathless is a 1960 French film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard about a wandering wrong doer and his American girlfriend. It was Godard's first feature-length work and represented ...more
Nightcrawler Dan Gilroy
Nightcrawler is a 2014 American neo-noir thriller film written and directed by Dan Gilroy in his directorial debut. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal who starts shooting footage in Los Angeles and ...more
Donnie Darko Richard Kelly
Donnie Darko is a 2001 American supernatural drama film written and directed by Richard Kelly and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Jena ...more
Deadpool Tim MIller
Deadpool is a 2016 American superhero film directed by Tim Miller, based on the Marvel Comics character. After being given mutant abilities with a scarred physical appearance, Wade Wilson (Ryan ...more
Badlands Terrence Malick
Badlands is a 1973 American film written and directed by Terrence Malick, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Warren Oates and Ramon Bieri are also featured. Malick has a small speaking ...more
American Beauty Sam Mendes
American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film, directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, an office worker who has a midlife crisis when he becomes ...more
Play Misty for Me Clint Eastwood
Play Misty for Me is a 1971 American psychological thriller film, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, in his directorial debut. Jessica Walter and Donna Mills co-star. The original music ...more
Night of the Living Dead George A. Romero
Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent zombie horror film directed by George A. Romero, starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea and Karl Hardman. It premiered on October 1, 1968, and ...more
Sex, Lies, and Videotape Steven Soderbergh
This film is a 1989 American independent drama film that brought director Steven Soderbergh to prominence. It tells the story of a man who films women discussing their impact on the ...more
MattGreene1 added Hereditary Ari Aster
Hereditary is a 2018 American horror film directed by Ari Aster. As an overwhelming terror takes over their household, the Graham family's peaceful existence is ripped apart, forcing their ...more
This Is Spinal Tap Rob Reiner
This Is Spinal Tap is an American 1984 rock music mockumentary written, scored by, and starring Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. The film portrays the fictional ...more
Lady Bird Greta Gerwig
Lady Bird is a 2017 American comedy-drama film directed by Greta Gerwig. The adventures of a young woman (Saoirse Ronan) living in Northern California for a year.
MattGreene1 added Toy Story John Lasseter
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated buddy-comedy adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by John Lasseter, Toy Story was the ...more
List Rules: Only feature-length films.
Filed Under: Films FilmFilm DirectorsPeople In FilmEntertainmenttop 50
The Best Directorial Debuts Of 2018, Ranked These Disney Princess Were Absolutely Terrible Role Models 19 Real Springfields and How They Mirror The Simpsons The Best U.S. Presidents in the Past 50 Years Sasha Grey's Top 5 Movies of All Time The Worst A-List Hollywood Actors The Best Teen Romance Movies Child Actors Who Tragically Died Young 30 Celebrities Who Quit Being Famous Movies You Watched Behind Your Parents' Backs As A Kid The Best Movie Theater Snacks The Best Scottish Actors Working Today The Best Actors in Film History The Greatest British Actors of All Time The Best Animated Films Ever The Best, Funniest Comedy Movie Trailers of 2019 The Most Overrated Movies of All Time The Best Movies Based on Books The Best Psychological Thrillers of All Time
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11 LISTS Sugar, Spice & Everything NiceThank Heaven for little girls.
Great Movies for Young Girls Movies That Star a Little Girl The Best Fairy Tale Movies Great Movies About Smart Young Girls The Best Solo Sports for Girls The Best Disney Movies for Girls The Best Team Sports for Girls The Best Girls' Clothing Brands Celeb Moms of All Daughters Great Country Songs for Girls Famous Dads of All Daughters
Photo: lolamedia
Entertainment The Best Movies About Teenage Girl Friendships
They have plenty of boyfriend drama and high school politics, but deep bonds of friendship are at the heart of these outstanding movies about teen girls. The best teen girl movies feature talented young actresses dealing with a variety of heartaches and hilarious challenges as they come of age. This is a list of the best teen friendship movies including everything from Clueless to Pitch Perfect to Ghost World.
What films will you pick to top this list of the top teen friendship movies? High school cliques are often formed by friends who are also rivals – a phenomenon that Tina Fey perfectly captured with her witty and winning screenplay for Mean Girls. Heathers is another darkly entertaining teen girl friendship movie that illustrates the dangerous of being in with the in-crowd. The friendship between Linda and Stacy is one of the cornerstones of the 1982 classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Other good movies featured here include Bend It Like Beckham, Thirteen, and Now and Then.
Do you have a favorite teenage girl friendship movie? Vote your personal picks up to the top of the list, and add any great films that are missing.
Clueless Alicia Silverstone, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd
Clueless is a 1995 American comedy film loosely based on Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma. It stars Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Paul Rudd, and Brittany Murphy. The film is set in Beverly Hills ...more
Mean Girls Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried
Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy film. Mark Waters directed, and Tina Fey wrote the screenplay, which is based in part on Rosalind Wiseman's non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes, ...more
Bring It On Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, Gabrielle Union
Bring It On is a 2000 American teen comedy film that was directed by Peyton Reed and written by Jessica Bendinger. It was followed by four direct-to-video sequels, none of which contain any of ...more
10 Things I Hate About You Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gabrielle Union, Heath Ledger
10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy-drama film. It is directed by Gil Junger and stars Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The romantic comedy ...more
Pitch Perfect Anna Kendrick, Elizabeth Banks, Brittany Snow
Pitch Perfect is a 2012 American musical comedy film directed by Jason Moore. Featuring an ensemble cast, including Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Ester ...more
Now and Then Demi Moore, Christina Ricci, Rosie O'Donnell
Now and Then is a 1995 American coming-of-age film directed by Lesli Linka Glatter and starring Christina Ricci, Rosie O'Donnell, Thora Birch, Melanie Griffith, Gaby Hoffmann, Demi Moore, ...more
Ghost World Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Teri Garr
Ghost World is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by Terry Zwigoff, based on the comic book of the same name by Daniel Clowes, with a screenplay cowritten by Daniel Clowes and Terry ...more
Little Darlings Matt Dillon, Tatum O'Neal, Cynthia Nixon
Little Darlings is a 1980 teen film starring Tatum O'Neal and Kristy McNichol and featuring Armand Assante and Matt Dillon. It was directed by Ronald F. Maxwell. The screenplay was written by ...more
Dick Kirsten Dunst, Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds
Dick is a 1999 American comedy film directed by Andrew Fleming from a script he wrote with Sheryl Longin. It is a parody retelling the events of the Watergate scandal which ended the presidency ...more
Heathers Winona Ryder, Shannen Doherty, Christian Slater
Heathers is a 1988 comedy, drama film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann.
Bend It like Beckham Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anupam Kher
Bend It like Beckham is a 2002 British comedy-drama film starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anupam Kher, Shaznay Lewis and Archie Panjabi, first released in the ...more
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Blake Lively, America Ferrera, Nancy Travis
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a 2005 American drama film, based on the novel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed ...more
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase Sophia Lillis, Zoe Renee, Mackenzie Graham
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is a 2019 American mystery drama film directed by Katt Shea, loosely based on the book by Carolyn Keene AKA Mildred Wirt Benson. A bit of an outsider ...more
The DUFF Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne
The DUFF is a 2015 American teen comedy film directed by Ari Sandel, based on the novel by Kody Keplinger. A high school senior (Mae Whitman) instigates a social pecking order revolution after ...more
Thirteen Vanessa Hudgens, Evan Rachel Wood, Holly Hunter
Thirteen is a 2003 semi-autobiographical American drama film directed by Catherine Hardwicke, and written by Hardwicke and Nikki Reed based on events in Reed's life at age twelve and thirteen. ...more
John Tucker Must Die Jenny McCarthy, Sophia Bush, Brittany Snow
This film is a 2006 American high school comedy romance film, directed by Betty Thomas. The film is about a trio of girls who plot to break the heart of manipulative basketball star John Tucker ...more
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 Blake Lively, Lucy Hale, Alexis Bledel
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is a 2008 sequel to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The original cast return to star in the movie, which was directed by Sanaa Hamri. ...more
House Bunny Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone
House Bunny is a 2010 animation short film directed by Gina Kamentsky.
Sleepover Steve Carell, Summer Glau, Jane Lynch
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Red Line: Robert Gates, Yelena Bonner and Aung San Suu Kyi
Sergei Strokan
Ekaterina Kudashkina
Mira Salganik
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Leon Panetta listens to questions as he testifies at his Senate confirmation hearing to become the U.S. Secretary of Defense on Capitol Hill, Washington June 9, 2011. Source: Reuters
Each week, Voice of Russia hosts Red Line, a discussion about the events of the week, as seen from Moscow. This week, the resignation of Robert Gates, the death of Yelena Bonner, and Aung San Suu Kyi.
Participants: Ekaterina Kudashkina, Sergei Strokan, Mira Salganik, Mark Perry, Alexander Gessen
Ekaterina Kudashkina: This week we will start with the much-discussed resignation of United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; then we will move to Yelena Bonner, human rights activist and widow of Andrei Sakharov, who passed away in Boston; and finally our person in the news this week is Aung San Suu Kyi, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Sakharov Prize for the Freedom of Thought.
Sergei Strokan: All in all, we have three personalities who spent large parts of their lives fighting for freedom as they saw it.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: Now, Beyond the Headlines – our first section in which we will discuss the changes in the Pentagon. Outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates will be replaced by current CIA Chief Leon Panetta. What does it mean for Russia and its relations with the U.S.? Should we expect major changes in U.S. defense policy?
Sergei Strokan: I feel that Gates’s departure is more than just a routine reshuffle; it symbolizes a change in American foreign and defense policy, which will probably lead to its radical transformation, regardless of who wins the next presidential elections – Barack Obama or his Republican rival.
Robert Gates owes his career to his own talent, perseverance, a little bit of luck, and an enormous sense of duty. To me, Robert Gates is a man working for a cause – the good of the United States of America.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: We can see that explanation in Gates’s latest interview with Newsweek magazine: “I’ve spent my entire adult life with the United States as a superpower, and one that had no compunction about spending what it took to sustain that position. It didn’t have to look over its shoulder because our economy was so strong.” He continued: “That’s one of the many reasons it’s time for me to retire, because, frankly, I can’t imagine being part of a nation, part of a government... that’s being forced to dramatically scale back our engagement with the rest of the world.”
Mira Salganik: Gates wants to avoid criticism of President Obama, at the same time he doesn’t conceal his apprehension that president of the United States is either unable or doesn’t want to keep up the U.S.’s superpower status.
Sergei Strokan: I think that Robert Gates’s story is a drama of a Cold Warrior – an old die-hard soldier who is still full of fighting spirit but is too intelligent not to see that his weaponry is outdated and – the battlefield is not what it used to be.
Mira Salganik: Mr. Gates is, of course, an experienced man and an intelligent person, so he is fully aware that in the world there is a new shift of power from West to the East, with the emergence of new centers of power.
Sergei Strokan: I think that we need to look at him through Russian eyes. I think that Russia probably sees the departure of Robert Gates as a wind of change blowing in a new direction. The world once used to be bipolar, then became unipolar and now is becoming multi-polar or non-polar. It was this time of superpower rivalry that largely shaped Mr. Gates’ political vision of the world.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: During the time of Mikhail Gorbachev, unlike many of his colleagues, he didn’t believe in glasnost and perestroika. He insisted that Soviet liberal reforms were aimed to mask the aggressive essence of the Soviet “evil empire.”
However, this doesn’t mean that he was completely unable to accept change when the Cold War was over.
Sergei Strokan: After the war in Georgia broke out, it was Robert Gates who opposed any U.S. action against Russia. I believe that was the reason President Obama chose to retain Gates as the Pentagon chief.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: All in all, it looks like even the most seasoned soldiers of the Cold War are unable to withstand the pressure of changing times. I think it is an old story; accepting change is difficult. Now I suggest we listen to our guest speaker, Mark Perry, a well-known U.S. military and intelligence analyst, who is going to tell us more about Robert Gates and his legacy.
Mr. Perry, how do you see what could Mr. Gates’s major achievements in this position?
Mark Perry: I think when we point to Secretary Gates, it is kind of an irony that we point to what he didn’t do. When he became Secretary of Defense, there was a strong sense in the country that America was on the verge of a wider conflict in the Middle East, perhaps even with Iran, maybe Syria. And we have to remember the time, there was a great fear here, that was the case, and the United States was engaged deeply in Iraq and with no way out. Gates dampened the move towards war and widening of conflict in the region. I think his most significant achievement is that Robert Gates actually kept the United States out of a wider conflict in the region while working diligently to dampen the conflicts that we were then in.
{***}
Ekaterina Kudashkina: What kind of legacy does he leave for his successor?
Mark Perry: It is probably unknown to the wider world, but Robert Gates was the author of the weapons procurement reform in the Pentagon, and this is something he wrestled with outside of the public eye every single day, how to bring the Pentagon’s budget under control and how to make certain that the needs of the armed services were met and not oversubscribed. I think he began a long, slow process in America of breaking up the military-industrial complex.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: Do you think this process is going to continue under the new secretary?
Mark Perry: I think, in fact, that this is why the new secretary was appointed. Leon Panetta is a very capable political thinker, but his background is as a politician, not as a military man. In fact, this is exactly what the Pentagon needs, someone who can wrestle with and gain control of the Pentagon bureaucracy and run it and not to allow it to run him. So actually while it seems that Panetta is cast from a different mold than Gates, actually he is the most appropriate successor.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: If we move a little bit to foreign relations, do you think that the new appointment will make a difference in the current relations between the U.S. and Russia, the U.S. and the rest of the world?
Mark Perry: I think it is obvious to everyone who is in the policy-making establishment in the United States that our country is engaged in a military retreat, which is not the same thing as a strategic retreat. Our relationship with Russia has been rocky; I know that the Russian leadership has tried mildly to maintain stability in the relationship, but it is still fogged with misunderstandings. And I think that one of the reasons that it is fogged with misunderstandings is because of the justified fear on the part of Russia of an expansionist America.
Secretary Gates made it clear to them that while we will always defend our interests in Europe and South Asia, it is not our intention to subvert Russia’s interest and that we can work together.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: Now it’s time to move to our second section – Between the Lines – in which we discuss some of the most interesting articles published in the press this week. This time, I suggest a story in the Boston Globe about Yelena Bonner.
Yelena Bonner was the wife of Russian physicist and human rights activist Dr Andrei Sakharov, and a human rights activist and a prominent Soviet dissident herself. She was well-known and respected in the West, since for many years she served as Dr. Sakharov’s representative in the western community. She spent much of her life fighting for democracy and prisoners’ rights in the Soviet Union, but her ties to Boston ran deep: She split her time between Moscow and an apartment in Brookline from 1989 until her death June 18.
Because of her ties to Boston, the Boston Globe ran a story that was not exactly an obituary, but rather, a selection of interviews and accounts from those who knew her personally, and that is the reason we selected it for this program.
Here is a quote from the story: “Much of Dr. Bonner’s time in the spotlight came at the side of her husband, who was considered the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb before he became one of the leading advocates for disarmament and peace with the West inside the Soviet Union. Yet even before she met Sakharov, and after his death in 1989, she proved to be a voice that demanded to be heard.”
Mira Salganik: I think not only that she demanded to be heard, but she could always make herself be heard.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: Let us go into detail. Yelena Bonner was born in Turkmenistan into a family of staunch revolutionaries. When they got to Moscow, they lived in Hotel Luxe on Gorky Street, which lodged high-profile foreign communists working in Moscow. Her father, Gevork Alikhanov, was a prominent Armenian communist and a secretary of the Comintern, the "general staff of the world revolution." And her mother, Ruth Bonner, was born in Siberia and joined the Communist Party in 1924. In May 1937, her father together with many other Comintern officers was arrested, and the family had to leave Moscow. But upon leaving Moscow, Ruth and her two children moved to her mother's apartment in Leningrad. But later that year she, too, was arrested and sentenced to hard labor as the wife of a traitor. In 1954, Ruth was released, granted a special pension, and an apartment on Chkalov Street in Moscow. This apartment became Yelena's home and in 1971 Andrei Sakharov moved in.
Sergei Strokan: But getting back to the Boston Globe story –what did her American friends say about her?
Ekaterina Kudashkina: Friends and neighbors spoke of Dr. Bonner as a vibrant, intelligent woman who loved reading and writing poetry, spending time with her grandchildren, and chain-smoking acrid Russian cigarettes. Let’s now turn to our next guest speaker, Alexander Gessen, who has known Ms. Bonner for 30 years or even more.
Alexander Gessen: I knew her for more than 35 years, I couldn’t say that I saw her on a regular basis, but I met her many, many times during these years. The first time I met her was in 1985 when she came to the United States for medical treatment. I was friends with her daughter, that is how I met her. Tatiana, her daughter, asked me to drive her from the airport, so we met her at the gate, and we walked very slowly and we carried a chair, because she needed to sit down every few moments. And then quite quickly she had surgery, and it was really amazing how energetic she became very, very quickly after the surgery. The main thing was that with the people she liked, she was just amazingly friendly and outgoing, and she could be really sharp and unfriendly with people she didn’t like. She had to fight them. She could change just like that in a second, depending on the situation.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: Did she make some kind of stark contrast with her husband? I mean Dr. Sakharov used to be so soft-spoken and reserved, and Ms. Bonner was outspoken.
Alexander Gessen: That’s true. I had the honor to meet Andrei Dmitrievich a few times, but I didn’t know him too well. But yes, they were very different. He was very polite, very quiet, very friendly. A funny thing about him I just remembered – I had this photo camera which was really new, it was an autofocus camera, and he saw that, and he took it from me, and it looked like he wanted to take it apart to understand how it works. It was really amazing. He was very interested in everything.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: As far as I understand, Ms. Bonner was the type who was looking for the truth everywhere, so what did she think about, first of all, about perestroika, what did she say about other problems worldwide, was she as active?
Alexander Gessen:I don’t remember all the things she was interested and involved in, but one of them was Israel, she had a very strong opinion on that. She wouldn’t hesitate to air her opinions on anything and she had quite a few of them on many things. She was an avid reader, she loved poetry.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: One thing that struck me in some newspaper account was that even in the United States, in her apartment in Boston, she had her TV set to news from Moscow, news from Russia.
Alexander Gessen: Even though she lived here and spent her last years here, her thoughts were in Russia.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: But her family is in Boston?
Alexander Gessen: She enjoyed her children and grandchildren immensely. But family is one thing and country is different.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: She was a human rights activist. Do you think that it is an in-born quality in people, or is it developed?
Alexander Gessen:I think it is both; it should be in-born in a sense, but then you need a chance for that to develop, I think.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: Now we will move on to Red Line’s final section, Face in the News. This week we are going to speak about Aung San Suu Kyi, the famous fighter for freedom and democracy of Burma.
Sergei Strokan:Why Burma? Has not the country been renamed Myanmar?
Ekaterina Kudashkina: Well, both. Officially, it is Myanmar now, after was renamed by one of its military dictators, but since Aung San Suu Kyi insists on calling her homeland Burma, I think we could honor her preference. There are two basic reasons we decided to talk about her today. One reason is that last Sunday, Aung San Suu Kyi celebrated her 66th birthday.
Mira Salganik: And it was the first birthday in 20 years she celebrated out of detention.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: The other reason we chose this topic is the upcoming international broadcast early next week of her fight-for-freedom manifesto. According to the Guardian, one of her lectures was secretly recorded in Burma and brought to Europe.
Just to remind our listeners who Aung San Suu Kyi is: She has spent 21 years resisting the oppression of her people by a military dictatorship and she has been insisting on peaceful resistance – just like the U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi of India.
Mira Salganik: What happened was that after living many yeas outside Burma, she came back in 1988 because her mother was gravely ill, and she was never let out of Burma again. In 1990, the military junta that was ruling the country decided to stage a kind of election. By that time, Aung San Suu Kyi was the head of a political party called the National League for Democracy. It received 82 percent of the vote, but the vote was nullified by the junta and she was put under house arrest. The next year she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but she wasn’t allowed out of Burma, so her husband Michael Aris received the prize instead of her.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: Just like Dr. Bonner was receiving the Prize instead of Dr. Sakharov. Mira, I remember you telling me that back in 1988 she said her famous phrase: "I cannot, as my father's daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on." Who was her father?
Mira Salganik: She is the daughter of General Aung San, a legendary figure, a general and a nationalist. Aung San headed the revolt against the Japanese occupation of Burma, and triumphed, but he was assassinated six months before Burma got its independence. Nobody knows for sure who killed him. At the time of her father’s assassination, Suu Kyi was barely two years old. After the country became independent, her mother took her to Delhi where she went to the university. In 1961, Burmese diplomat U Thant was elected secretary-general of the United Nations. He brought in a team of Burmese associates and Aung San Suu Kyi was among them.
Ekaterina Kudashkina: The next year, a military junta came to power in Burma in a coup d’etat.
Mira Salganik: It was led by General Ne Win. He called his doctrine “The Burmese way to socialism.”
Sergei Strokan: General Ne Win’s “revolutionary council” nationalized or brought under government control practically everything in Burma, successfully hampering Burma’s development in the process, until it became one of the least developed nations in the world.
Mira Salganik: Ne Win has been at the helm more or less for 26 years. Burma is isolated from its neighbors; the west has imposed sanctions. Burma is a patchwork of various ethnicities, languages, religions, so the general has always had a good pretext to suppress protest movements, saying that they were a threat to the sovereignty of the country.
In 2007, there was a real revolt against the generals in Burma. It was suppressed brutally, but that revolt was joined by Buddhist monks, and that was very serious. Every male in Burma has to serve his time in a Buddhist monastery
Ekaterina Kudashkina: Anyway, I’d like to conclude this piece by quoting a recent speech by Aung San Suu Kyi. She said that whenever she was asked at the end of each stretch of house arrest how it felt to be free, she would answer that she felt no different because her mind had always been free. She said: “I have spoken out often of the inner freedom that comes out from following a course in harmony with one's conscience." And I’m sure, our listeners will find it interesting that in 1990 Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Sakharov prize - for freedom of thought.
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Russia pushes development of tourism
Vladislav Kuzmichev
Source: Itar Tass
The country no longer wants to remain a blank spot on the global tourism map and is taking a new approach to hosting foreign guests.
“Until recently, Russian authorities thought of the average tourist as a guy in sneakers carrying a backpack who smells strongly of the woods and smoke,” said Sergei Voitovich, head of the travel company Svoi TT. “It has started to dawn on the government, however, that tourism could generate a large inflow of foreign currency to the economy comparable to that from export industries.”
In 1985 – the year perestroika began – some 6 million foreigners visited the Soviet Union, although many of them came from Eastern Bloc states, had few other travel destinations to choose from, and often travelled for free on vouchers from various trade unions. Since the dramatic drop in this type of tourist in the 1990s, Russia has been unable to draw even close to number of visitors seen in the Soviet era. In 2009, the number of tourists visiting the country barely topped 2 million – about the same level as in 1970. Official statistics show that 2.4 million people visited Russian in 2010, but privately, travel agents are skeptical. They estimate that the number of tourists is really between 500,000 and 1.2 million, while the rest are visiting the country on tourist visas but traveling for other reasons.
Yet they remain optimistic. Nikolai Kakora, the deputy general director of Intourist – the ubiquitous Soviet travel agency that is now part of a joint venture with the UK’s Thomas Cook – believes that the number of foreign tourists may rise by another 5-10 percent in 2011. Kakora maintains his positive view even despite a difficult winter and spring for tourists in Russia and the market as a whole – such as the terrorist attack in the arrivals hall of Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, the turmoil in the Middle East and the earthquake in Japan. “After the recent earthquake in Japan, many Japanese tourists cancelled their trips to Russia, and we expect a 25 percent drop in the number of visitors from the country as a result,” Kakora explained.
But Europe is responsible for most of Russia’s tourist traffic, although the share of Asian countries is also gradually rising. “The tourist flow from Latin America, especially Brazil, Argentina and Chile, is also increasing, and it’s obvious why: Citizens of these countries have been granted visa-free travel to Russia,” Sergei Voitovich said.
Maria Levchenko, general director of Tari Tour, agrees that 2011 should be a good one for travel to Russia. “This year we will see a slight tourism boom in Russia. The tourist season started half a month earlier than usual, and we expect a 30 percent rise in foreign tourists,” she said.
Blank spot
Russia has recently been frequently referred to as a blank spot on the global tourism map. At the World Economic Forum in March, experts ranked travel markets based on their competitive ability. Russia was ranked 91st in investment in the industry’s development. But when the rankings were made based on such characteristics as the availability of top-level natural and cultural tourist attractions, Russia made the top 10.
Nikolai Kakora thinks that foreign tourists so far have no sustained interest in Russia. “People tend to come to the most popular countries several times, while they visit Russia only once.” And among those who come, only Moscow, St. Petersburg and maybe the Golden Ring cities are tourist destinations. Only a limited number of tourists visit other places of interest.
Even so, experts do not agree that Russia is a “blank spot.” Voitovich believes that both Moscow and St Petersburg – the destination for 90 percent of foreign tourists coming to Russia – have sufficient infrastructure. “There are all kinds of hotels, and you can always find a room. There are enough tour guides, restaurants and sightseeing buses, and although not all the services are high quality, the situation is improving fast,” he said.
Maria Levchenko also thinks that that Russia’s two biggest cities now have better 3-4 star hotels offering reasonable prices, and the product range is changing now that major international hotel chains, known for paying particular attention to service, have come to the market. “I would not call this a blank spot,” Levchenko said.
Additionally, the Moscow authorities recently announced plans to create electronic city tourist guides for iPad, iPhone and other communicators. “If we look at Rosstat’s (Federal State Statistics Service) findings, tourists are mostly unhappy with transport and hotel prices. Moscow also lacks some amenities typical of other megalopolises: street signs in the Latin alphabet, tour bus parking spaces in the city center, public toilets. “We are working in all areas,” said Sergei Shpilko, chairman of the Moscow Tourism Committee, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta. He went on to say that a call center for tourists will be opened in July, while street signs are currently being updated. Over 30 tourist maps have been set up in the city’s main tourist destinations. Stops and parking areas for sightseeing buses in the city center are also being developed. “The 2018 World Cup must also serve to introduce Moscow as a modern tourist hub drawing in millions of visitors from around the world,” Shpilko said.
Meanwhile, the Russian visa system is becoming more favorable to foreign travelers. Voitovich said that a law has been adopted allowing tourists to St. Petersburg arriving on cruise ships and ferries to stay for up to 72 hours without a visa. As a result, Russia has seen a large increase in cruise tourist traffic, and ferries from the city to Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland have resumed operation. Russia is now included in mixed tours called “Russia plus the Baltics” and “Russia plus Scandinavia,” with a week allocated for sightseeing in Russia.
A tourism cluster in the Caucasus
In the mid-2000s, the Caucasus re-emerged as a popular tourist destination, although for a short period of time. Levchenko says the region mostly attracted foreigners interested in sport tourism. Russia’s North Caucasus boasts one of the most beautiful and highest mountains in Europe, Mt. Elbrus, which is popular with downhill skiers and mountain climbers, but the murder of several tourists by terrorists in the region this winter has caused foreigners to lose interest in Elbrus. Levchenko said experts do not expect the area to be a destination again for three to four years.
In 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev released a project for building five downhill ski resorts in the five republics of the North Caucasus – Adygeya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachaevo-Cherkerssia, North Ossetia and Dagestan – worth a total of 451 billion rubles (roughly $15 million). The tourism cluster will then be further expanded with new beach and spa resorts, which will require a twofold increase in the planned private investment – up to 783 billion rubles ($28 billion). A beach resort in Dagestan stretching between Makhachkala and Derbent is slated to become one of the largest ones, according to a report by RIA Novosti. The new cluster may become part of a single recreation space on the Caspian Sea, along with resorts that are already being built in neighbouring Azerbaijan. Another cluster will unite therapeautic health resorts around Mineralnye Vody in the Caucasus to resemble Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic, Kommersant reported.
According to RIA Novosti, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Medvedev agreed to make the North Caucasus tourism cluster project one of the top priorities for the two countries’ strategic partnership.
Economy RIR Tourism
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Russia enters WTO to applause
Olga Denisova
Russia, the world’s sixth largest economy, has joined the World Trade Organization.
Russia applied for membership in the WTO in 1993. Earlier in 2011, President Medvedev expressed hope that Russia would be granted membership in the WTO before the end of the year. As a result, all the agreements to this effect were signed at a WTO ministerial conference in Geneva two weeks before the end of the year.
On December 16th, Russia’s Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina and the WTO’s Director-General Pascal Lamy signed a large package of agreements on Russia’s accession to the WTO. The one-thousand-page document contains reports covering a period starting from the first meeting of the working group on Russia’s accession to the WTO on July 19th, 1995 to its last session held on November 10th, 2011. Now that the agreements have been signed, Russia has 220 days to complete the ratification procedures. It will become a fully fledged member of the WTO 30 days after ratifying the agreements, i.e. by July 2012. Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina comments.
"Given the current economic crisis, Russia is joining the WTO with a clear intention to counteract protectionism. For Russia, the end of WTO talks marks the beginning of work to preserve the existing trade regulations and the need to work out the new principles of trading which would meet the present-day challenges and the requirements of global development. Russia shares the WTO’s agenda aimed at assisting the world’s most vulnerable economies."
Russia entered the WTO to a standing applause. All those present stood up and applauded after the Nigerian trade minister who chaired the 8th Ministerial Conference of the WTO put the protocol on Russia’s accession to vote and announced the conference’s approval of the Russia accession package.
Russia’s accession to the WTO is taking place amid integration trends taking place on the post-Soviet space with Moscow being one of the top players. The Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, originally set up on the basis of WTO principles, provides the 153-member Organization with a market of 165 million people. The WTO’s Director-General Pascal Lamy said that with Russia in, the Organization will control 97 percent of global trade. As he welcomed Russia to the WTO, Lamy made it clear that the WTO is like one big family and that members of this family should abide by its rules. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov read out a message from President Medvedev.
"One of the present-day priorities is to prevent the spread of regional crises, take more steps to liberalize the economy on the basis of clear-cut rules and regulations, develop an efficient and fair trade system and strengthen multilateral international institutions. The vast potential of the WTO should contribute to global economic stability, and Russia is prepared to do its best working in this direction."
As the WTO talks went on, Russia brought its legislation in conformity with the global standards. The country’s Customs Code and the law on the state regulation of foreign trade were adopted on the basis of WTO principles and have been in effect for about 8 years. All in all, more than 300 laws were amended to meet the WTO standards.
WTO negotiators called for harmonizing Russian energy prices with the foreign ones. Russian chief negotiator Maxim Medvedkov explained how domestic prices would be formed as he met with a Voice of Russia correspondent.
"Russia will regulate price formation as it chooses. Rumors that Russia will be forced to raise gas prices or change its domestic regulations have nothing to do with reality. Moscow has never given commitments to this effect and won’t do so in future."
The decision to open its domestic market for foreign commodities and therefore, for tough competition, was largely a political one. By making a choice between protectionism and liberalization in favor of the latter Moscow hopes to attract more investors.
"Not all the countries benefit from a membership in the WTO. China, for example, gained a lot as the volume of foreign investments in the Chinese economy went up several times shortly after the country joined the Organization. At the same time, small countries gained little from joining it. Given the growing investor interest in the Russian market and the rapidly growing Russian economy, Russia can expect an increase in investments and profitability. The Russian economy will then follow the principles of the WTO."
Russia is to cut customs duties on imported goods in several stages within the next eight years, depending on the industry concerned. Russian consumers will be able to feel the advantages of it in 3-4 years. Russian steel and chemicals exporting companies will profit the most.
The WTO's Ministerial Conference convenes once every two years. Obviously, Russia will attend its next session in Geneva in 2013 as a full member.
RIR WTO
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Russian diplomat seeks consistency from UK relations ahead of G8 summit
Russia expects its relations with the United Kingdom will continue to develop consistently in both political and economic areas, a high-ranking Russian diplomat said.
More about UK-Russia relations
"The Northern Ireland will host a G8 meeting in a few days, and the G20 will gather in Russia several months later. Naturally, all of our British partners will be taking part in these events. This is just another opportunity for our leaders to discuss not only international affairs but also bilateral relations, which we hope will continue to develop consistently," Russian Ambassador to London Alexander Yakovenko said in a video address to the guests of a reception the British Embassy in Moscow arranged on the occasion of the Queen's Official Birthday.
"Relations between our countries are developing actively. This also concerns political dialogue. President Putin and Prime Minister Cameron had a very productive meeting in Sochi several weeks ago," he said.
Why Russia will not forget the Iron Lady
"Economic cooperation is also developing actively, we are interacting in the field of high technology, and interaction is also under way on setting up an international financial center in Moscow," he said.
Yakovenko pointed out that 2014 will be the Year of Russian Culture in the United Kingdom and the Year of the United Kingdom's Culture in Russia.
In conclusion of the official part of the reception, British Ambassador to Russia Tim Barrow proposed a toast to Britain, to Russia, and to the Queen.
g8 london Russia-UK relations News G8 Russia-UK relations
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THE LIFE OF A BOOKIE – LOS ANGELES
When you have a city (actually a county) as large as Los Angeles, it is inevitable that for any bookie business that is enterprising, there are going to be endless possibilities.
By its very nature, Los Angeles is a place where sports stars want to be, and therefore the face of the sporting scene is going to be ever-changing, because deals are invariably made to bring these stars into the fold. A recent example was the trade that brought Anthony Davis to the Lakers, to join LeBron James.
So how does this all work out for your benefit as a bookie?
Well one thing to understand right away is that, for the most part, that which makes up the structure of the sports atmosphere in Los Angeles consists of ingredients that came from somewhere else.
Lakers and Clippers
The Lakers’ name isn’t indigenous to the city, but rather to Minneapolis, which is where they originated and became an early NBA power. The franchise became a magnet for some of the league’s best, including Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain. Still, they were largely identified as a team that lost championship finals to the Boston Celtics.
The Lakers finally broke through in 1972, behind an NBA-record 33-game winning streak. Later editions of the team featured the combination of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, led mostly by Pat Riley. The rivalry with the Celtics continued, and the “Bird vs. Magic” showdowns brought the league to a whole new level.
There was yet another era of greatness when Phil Jackson led the team to five titles, as Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant became the superstar combo. In recent years the Lakers have fallen on harder times, but there are hopes of building another “super-team” with LeBron.
The Clippers have always been considered “red-headed step-children” to the Lakers, since arriving from San Diego. And they’ve been through the rather ugly Donald Sterling scandal. But with Microsoft mogul Steve Ballmer taking charge, there could be better days ahead.
When you are taking basketball action as a bookie in Los Angeles, you need to understand that there has always been a bias toward the Lakers in this city. And now, not only with LeBron but with Anthony Davis as well, they are likely going to be overvalued by recreational bettors. So if you know your clientele (and there’s no reason you shouldn’t), you can take advantage of this. That’s what possible with the controls in the PPH software and what they allow you to do.
Baseball – It’s Dodgertown
The Dodgers, of course, came from Brooklyn, and they are one of the three most valuable franchises in Major League Baseball. Since they own and operate their own stadium, they aren’t likely moving anytime soon. The Angels are really not an L.A. entity.
This is a Dodger town, obviously. And they’re winning. As a bookie, baseball is not going to be the most prominent part of your action. But you’ll have to be watching out for a bias in Dodger activity. When you log into your back-end tools you can see who the heaviest bettors on the hometown team are. And if you need to shift the lines, that’s what you should be doing. The software allows you to do that; it is state-of-the-art.
Football – It’s Back in a BIg Way
The Rams and Chargers have just moved back to the area. And they’ll share a state-of-the-art stadium in Inglewood, which is going to be a showcase for the NFL and will host the Super Bowl in 2022.
While it is true that Los Angeles hadn’t had a football team for a long time, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been as much interest in the sport – not by a longshot. You need to capitalize on the action that is not too “sharp.”
It will be interesting for you as a bookie to track what kind of action you get on these “home” teams. Neither of them has established much in the way of roots yet, although the Rams, with their recent Super Bowl appearance, have an inside track.
Players – They’re Around
It may depend on where you live. People in L.A. County tend to be different in they live in the valley than if they live in West Hollywood or West Los Angeles or Beverly Hills. etc.
There is some “roller’ action in places like that, and remember that there is no shortage of networking opportunity. There may not be any city in America with more poker games than Los Angeles, and poker players often like to bet sports.
Sure, in a metropolis such as this, you’re going to find a lot of sharp players, but if they become customers, you have ways to decipher all this with the management tools you have as part of the Real Bookies PPH software.
At the same time, you have a lot of squares who think they’re smart, who like to gamble, go to Vegas and are always looking for an “out.” As long as they can be relied upon to pay their losses (get recommendations), your bookie business can really take off in LaLa Land.
This PPH software has helped me tremendously. At anytime of the day, I know exactly what is happening with my players.
Chris San Francisco
Thanks to Realbookie I now have so much free time to do other stuff. I don’t have to take the bets or do player reports anymore. They do all that for me and much more for only $10 per head.
Johnny P. New York
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Vivien Yap recognised as Ray White’s best in WA
28 March 2019 Tim Neary
The unstoppable Vivien Yap has once again been recognised as Ray White’s top performer in WA, modeling the value of enthusiasm and maintaining an optimistic business attitude.
Ms Yap of Ray White Dalkeith | Claremont has been crowned the Top Selling Principal in Western Australia at the Ray White Western Australia half yearly awards.
She and her team also won accolades for being the Top Office and the Top Marketing Office at the same awards.
Ms Yap said that she was thrilled to have been recognised, lauding her team at the same time.
“What an incredible team I have,” she said.
“It’s wonderful to be recognised by Ray White and it’s also great motivation for us to keep growing stronger and working harder. What an amazing feeling. I feel so blessed to work alongside such talented and hard-working people.”
Ms Yap said the value of having a well-constructed team should not be underestimated.
“My team is like my family. It was really good for my team to get these wins, and it’s a good way for us to fire up to finish the year strongly.
“There is always some doom and gloom around, but I have a fire in my belly and we’ll take it all the way to the finishing line.”
Ray White Group said that Ms Yap, who achieved Chairman’s Elite status in February, is among a very small handful of top Ray White agents across Australasia.
It also said that Ray White Dalkeith | Claremont is a small, young office and not as established as some others, but it is definitely punching above its weight in Western Australia.
Ben Keevers of Ray White North Quays was named as the Top Individual Salesperson in WA at the same event, while Ray White Urban Springs was named as the Top Auction Listing Business and its principal, Andrew Huggins, was crowned as the Top Auction Listing Agent in the west.
Tim Neary
Di Jones recruits Hills District specialist ...
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HomeResearchResearch ExplorerResearchersProf Juanjo Medina
Prof Juanjo Medina
Professor of Quantitative Criminology
Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice, Criminology
Manchester Urban Institute, School of Environment, Education and Development
Blog "De Delitos y Penas"
R for Criminologists (open access learning materials)
Academia edu webpage
Twitter @Euro_Gang
Twitter @Juan_Jose Medina
juanjo.medina@manchester.ac.uk
I received my BA in Public Law and a Postgraduate Degree in Criminology from the University of Seville (Spain). In 1997 I graduated with an MA in Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, receiving the Richard Hughes Award for topping my promotion. I obtained my first PhD from the Department of Criminal Law at the University of Seville in February of 2000 and a second (long story!) PhD in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University in January of 2002. Both thesis focused on gender violence. My Spanish dissertation was the first survey on intimate partner violence in Spain and my US-based dissertation, relying on GIS and spatial econometric tools, explored the social geography of gender violence in New York City.
I was born in Sevila (Spain), the most beautiful city in the world, where I worked as a research fellow of the Andalusian Institute of Criminology, before moving to the USA. I lived and worked in New York working as a research associate at Victim Services (now called Safe Horizon), where I was involved on elder abuse research, and as senior research associate at the Violence Institute of New Jersey (UMDNJ, now part of Rutgers), where I helped to implement public health epidemiological surveillance on violence. I was also a research fellow of the National Consortium on Violence Research (now defunct), as well as a visiting fellow at the Universidade Federal da Bahia (Brazil) and Heuni (Finland).
With all this travelling, it is little surprise I have a strong interest in comparative criminology and criminal justice. I retain an interest in crime and justice in Spain and the Americas. In particular, I am member of a research network based in Catalonya that studies crime and sentencing policy in Spain . I was also the Chief Editor of the official journal of the Spanish Society of Criminology from 2003 to 2005 and continue to collaborate with this journal as an assistant editor. In June 2016 I was elected president of the Spanish Society of Criminology.
Since 2000, however, Manchester is home. My work in the UK has covered domestic violence, homicide, stop and search, and gangs. For ongoing work, you can see details in the research tab of this profile.
Research Networks and Beacons
Manchester Informatics
Data Science Institute
domestic abuse, gangs, geography of crime, environmental criminology, quantitative criminology, comparative criminology, interpersonal violence, data science and criminal justice
The geographies of perceived neighbourhood disorder: A small area estimation approach
Dashing Hopes? The Predictive Accuracy of Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment by Police?
Worry about crime in Europe. A model-based small area estimation from the European Social Survey
Understanding and improving risk assessment on domestic abuse cases
Food fraud: A supply network integrated systems analysis
The alcohol-violence relationship: understanding transitions and change in late adolescence and early adulthood
Individual and structural factors affecting recidivism: The role of prisoners, prisons and place in the Chilean context
Migrant Labour Exploitation and Harm in UK Food Supply Chains
The effect of becoming a parent on disengagement from gangs
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Shashi Tharoor vows to fight bigotry after bid to decriminalise gay sex fails
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Shashi Tharoor campaigning for gay sex to be legalised said on Monday he would continue his fight for the freedom and equality of sexual minorities despite attempts by members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party to thwart his efforts.
Shashi Tharoor, a member of parliament from India's main opposition Congress party, speaks during an interview with Thomson Reuters Foundation at his office in New Delhi, India, January 25, 2016. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee
Opposition lawmaker Tharoor in December introduced a private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha seeking to amend a British colonial era law which punishes homosexual sex with up to 10 years imprisonment.
However the bill was quickly scuppered by members of Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“They opposed my bill at its very introduction stage which is very, very unusual. Normally opposition comes at the discussion stage, you don’t prevent a bill being introduced by a private member, its uncollegial if nothing else,” Tharoor told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.
“But they did that and they succeeded, partly because prejudice sadly is still there in our society.”
Seventy four members voted against the bill, said Tharoor, 21 in favour and one member abstained, making it impossible for him to even attempt a debate on the contents of the bill.
India’s top court reinstated a ban on gay sex in 2013, ending four years of decriminalisation that had helped bring homosexuality into the open in the conservative country.
The Supreme Court threw out a 2009 ruling by the Delhi High Court and said that only parliament could change Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, widely interpreted to refer to homosexual sex.
The law, which dates back to 1860, prohibits “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal.”
Activists say that since the ban on gay sex was reinstated, there has been a surge in reports of gangs, as well as police, intimidating, harassing, raping, blackmailing and extorting money from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
There are no official figures on the number of cases. Most go unreported, say activists, as victims are too scared to report crimes to the police fearing Section 377 will be used against them. Tharoor said 578 people have been arrested since homosexuality was recriminalised.
While the previous Congress-led government had pledged to repeal the law if it came to power again, it was crushed by the BJP in general elections in May 2014.
The BJP which has an overwhelming majority in parliament has so far been silent on the issue of homosexuality.
Senior BJP leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said he personally believes gay sex should be decriminalised, but lawmakers are fearful of losing support in their largely conservative and religious constituencies.
Tharoor, who was a minister in the former Congress-led government and also a former United Nations diplomat, said he was not giving up his fight for India’s LGBT community.
A petition requesting Modi to amend the law has amassed around 25,000 signatures on change.org, said Tharoor, adding that he planned to reach out to sympathisers from the BJP and resubmit the bill in the next session of parliament in February.
“I think a debate will help actually sensitise the nation to the issue at stake. I have long argued that this is not about sex but about freedom. It’s about our constitutional values,” said Tharoor.
“It is indeed about getting the government out of people’s bedrooms.”
Reporting by Nita Bhalla. Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org
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June 13, 2013 / 4:35 PM / 6 years ago
Small U.S. insurers fill gaps for weakest state health exchanges
Caroline Humer
NEW YORK (Reuters) - When the state of Mississippi begins offering subsidized health insurance under President Barack Obama’s reform law this year, residents will have only one choice - Magnolia Health Plan - a small insurer little known in most of the country.
The Obama administration hoped to attract robust competition in creating the exchanges, and it is counting on millions of Americans without coverage to sign up for these plans in the program’s first year.
But the nation’s biggest insurers have decided against joining the exchanges on a large scale, professing uncertainty about the roll-out and how much the uninsured would participate. Most are sticking to states where they already sell insurance directly to individuals, leaving at least half a dozen states with only one or two health plans to choose from.
That gives Magnolia, part of Centene Corp, and other small insurers like Molina Healthcare Inc that specialize in serving the poor through state Medicaid programs, a major role in the push to expand U.S. health coverage.
“They are going to be important players in the exchanges that are going to attract a significant low income and modest income population,” said Linda Blumberg, a health economist at the Urban Institute, a research firm in Washington D.C.
A similar scenario is playing out in Alaska, Vermont, Rhode Island and Maine, where one small insurer - typically a regional insurer - will have an equal shot at the market against one larger player. These states, and others like Mississippi where competition has traditionally been slim, are a land grab opportunity for these small companies.
The Obama plan had envisioned competition keeping prices low and drawing the uninsured into the exchanges. The federal government aims to get 7 million Americans to sign up for health plans on the exchanges in their first year, and 24 million by 2016, aided by subsidies to purchase coverage. Enrollment begins October 1 for plans that take effect in January.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Brian Cook said the department was working hard to create competitive marketplaces across the country.
But in states like Mississippi where there is no real competition, residents will have a hard time judging whether they are getting a good price. Consumers who prefer a certain doctor or hospital may not have access.
MISSISSIPPI BLUES
Mississippi, already one of the nation’s toughest healthcare markets because of poverty and the relative poor health of its residents, appears to be in the weakest position among all 50 states as the reforms kick in.
It is a piece of the large growth market that Centene, Magnolia’s St. Louis-based parent, is eyeing. At a conference last month, Ed Kroll, its senior vice president of finance, estimated annual spending on exchanges in the 19 states where Centene will operate by 2016 will reach $50 billion.
The company, which generated $8.7 billion in revenue last year, had about 2.6 million members at the end of 2012 and focused on the under-insured and uninsured. Centene declined to comment for this story.
Figuring out the right premiums to charge when serving the poor is not an easy business. Centene sued to exit its Medicaid contract in Kentucky last year after higher utilization in the state ate its profits there and then some.
Last year, shares of companies like Molina Healthcare and Centene were trading at a premium because of acquisition interest as companies such as Aetna and WellPoint acquired small players with government business.
Centene’s shares have risen 15 percent so far this year, underperforming the 23 percent gain for the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index.
Molina’s shares have risen 35 percent so far this year, outpacing its peers. Based in Long Beach, California, it had about 1.8 million members at the end of 2012 and generated $6 billion in revenue last year.
Molina has applied to sell plans in all nine states where it provides Medicaid services: California, Washington, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida. Some of those states, such as California, Ohio and Florida, have competition, while Utah and New Mexico - states with fewer insurers now - are expected to draw just a handful of competitors. Like many states, they have not announced which insurers have applied.
“We are really targeting patients up to about 200 and 250 percent of the federal poverty level,” Dr J. Mario Molina, Molina’s chief executive, said in an interview. The federal poverty level for a family of four is $23,550 in annual income, and 250 percent of that is $58,875 per year.
The insurer is targeting the parents of children who receive services through the government’s Children’s Health Insurance Program. Molina also sees an advantage in being able to price low compared to a commercial insurer like WellPoint or Aetna.
“Since we don’t offer commercial products, we aren’t paying the providers at commercial rates,” Molina said. “The products look a lot like the Medicaid plans that we are currently administering. We have worked hard to get providers to contract with us at rates that make products affordable.”
BIG COMPANIES STAY AWAY
Mike Chaney, Mississippi’s commissioner of insurance, had hoped the state’s exchange would attract the big companies already active in the region, such as BlueCross BlueShield of Mississippi, UnitedHealth Group Inc and Cigna.
HHS officials are still trying to persuade other insurers to sign on. “So far, they are beating their heads against the wall,” Chaney said.
UnitedHealth, which plans to be on a dozen state exchanges and Cigna, which has targeted five, each said that Mississippi was not part of their respective strategies. UnitedHealth did not rule out entering the state at some point in the future.
BCBS of Mississippi, which has 64 percent of the commercial market in that state, declined comment.
A state that faces challenges treating chronic diseases in a rural population, about 20 percent or more than 500,000 Mississippi residents are uninsured. It has had a tough time planning for Obamacare.
Mississippi was the only state to have its application to build an exchange rejected by HHS, which argued the Republican governor did not support it. The governor, Phil Bryant, also refused to expand the state’s Medicaid program for the poor under Obama’s reform.
HHS took over building the marketplace, one of 33 it will operate nationwide after many states, particularly ones led by Republicans, refused to run them.
Editing by Michele Gershberg, Edward Tobin, Frank McGurty and Leslie Gevirtz
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Tajik President Receives 'Leader' Title, Lifelong Immunity
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon (file photo)
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has signed into law a bill that gives him the title "Leader of the Nation" and grants him lifelong immunity from prosecution.
The bill, passed unanimously by the upper and lower houses of the parliament earlier this month, officially designates Rahmon as "the founder of peace and national unity of Tajikistan" and states that he cannot be prosecuted for anything he has done while in office.
The bill also protects relatives of the authoritarian Rahmon, 63, a former collective farm chief who has been in power in Tajikistan since the year after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Members of his family and their property will enjoy immunity.
The bill has drawn sharp criticism from opponents and activists who called it a new step away from democracy.
Based on reporting by Interfax and news.tj
Teflon Rahmon: Tajik President Getting 'Leader' Title, Lifelong Immunity
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Rimbey Lions Club receives funding to build new playground
Thanks to the generous donation of an anonymous donor Rimbey Lions Club has plans to build their fourth playground in the community.
By Treena Mielke
Laverne Oberhammer and Steffen Olsen from the Lions Club were given the green light from council at its Dec. 12 meeting to go ahead with the project.
Mayor Rick Pankiw said the Lions club needs to provide council with a formal, written request, but the process is simply a formality that needs to be followed.
Oberhammer explained that he was approached by the donor recently who stated the family would like to provide the approximately $30,000 needed for the purpose of constructing a playground.
The playground is to be built inside the loop at the Rimbey Lions Nesting Place and will be completed in June of next year.
The structure is to be painted in Lions colours and will be named in honour of the donor and the name will be revealed when the playground is opened.
“It will be really beautiful,” said Oberhammer.
Oberhammer said the Lions Club has already been in contact with the company who will construct the playground.
“It will be done in one weekend and (the construction) will be completely supervised by professionals. All our playgrounds are certified,” he added.
The Rimbey Lions Club was organized in 1946 under the banner of Lions International.
Its first project was the construction of a playground close to downtown. Since that time the club has built two more playgrounds.
Playgrounds are only one of the many projects the club undertakes to improve the quality of life in the community.
The club has helped people of all ages and from all walks of life through providing funding and support for a variety of projects and activities.
The Lions playground, the food booth at the rodeo grounds, ball diamonds, Project 84, the skate park, walking trails, soccer parks and youth centre are among several of the projects the club has been involved with.
The club also held the Lions rodeo from 1955 to 1965, pancake breakfasts, blood donor clinics, provided scholarships, supported the handi van and the RV campground.
The club has lent financial support to arena expansion and the installation of artificial ice.
The club has helped out with the, Old Timers Association, Rimbey and District Volunteer Supper, Camp He Ho Ha, Royal Canadian Legion History Book and the Blindman Youth Action Society. Most recently, they lent financial support to Rimbey Wellness Group to provide counseling services.
Ongoing projects include the cattle round up, Heart and Stroke Fund, Lions Eye Research, Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides, Lions of Alberta Foundation, Outreach School Scholarship and lunch program, Rimbey Food Bank, Rimbey Victim Services, Royal Canadian Legion, Stars Ambulance, Central Alberta Raceways, Canadian Institute for the Blind, Lions Question, West Blind Curlers, Western Blind Golfers and Cavalcade for Diabetes.
The club has plans to help with the overlay for the walking trails which are now under construction due to earthwork on the property for the new senior’s lodge.
Lions clubs are recognized for their service to the blind and visually impaired.
This service began when Helen Keller challenged Lions to become knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.
Since 1917 Lions clubs have offered people the opportunity to give something back to their communities.
The clubs have now expanded their focus in keeping with the ever-changing global needs.
How Rimbey got its name
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Watch hurricane Florence make landfall in the U.S.
Five people have died due to the storm, according to latest reports
Hurricane Florence has pounded the Carolinas with powerful winds and heavy rainfall, submerging homes and flooding roads.
Five people have died due to the storm, according to U.S. State officials. A mother and baby were killed when a tree fell on a house, according to a tweet from Wilmington police. The governor’s office said a third person was killed while plugging in a generator.
More than 700,000 are currently without power.
“Hurricane Florence is powerful, slow and relentless,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said. “It’s an uninvited brute who doesn’t want to leave.”
Cooper said the hurricane was “wreaking havoc” on the coast and could wipe out entire communities as it makes its “violent grind across our state for days.” He said parts of North Carolina had seen storm surges — the bulge of seawater pushed ashore by the hurricane — as high as 10 feet.
According to the National Hurricane Centre, Florence is expected to move into the mid-Atlantic states by the middle of next week, starting late Sunday.
Minor injuries in car versus semi tractor collision near Ponoka
Rimbey RCMP respond
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Concerns raised in Fiji over U.S. push against International Criminal Court
5:37 pm on 3 June 2003
There's opposition in Fiji to government plans to sign an agreement with the United States which undermines international obligations and the International Criminal Court, the ICC.
Mick Beddoes, the leader of the United General Party, says he's writing to the Foreign Minister to ask why they're considering signing a bilateral agreement with the U.S. not to hand over each others' nationals to the ICC.
Mr Beddoes says Fiji has ratified the Rome Treaty setting up the ICC so this appears to be an attempt to get out of its obligations.
"I'm seeking clarification on this bilateral agreement with the US... what exactly is the nature of this bilateral agreement....What is Fiji getting in return for this.... And of course it's a known fact that the US has not ratified the Rome statute and that they've been trying to undermine the ICC's inception so Im wondering why Fiji is trying to get involved in this area and putting its obligation under the Rome statute at risk."
The U.S. is reported to have signed non-surrender agreements with 38 countries, including Tonga, Tuvalu and Nauru in the Pacific.
Meanwhile, Tuvalu says it has signed a deal with the U.S. over the ICC, but it wasn't pressured to do so.
The secretary to government, Panapasi Nelesoni, says Tuvalu isn't a signatory to the Rome statute which set up the ICC and it had concerns about some of its provisions.
Mr Nelesoni says it was these concerns that both countries had, which led to Tuvalu exchanging notes with the U.S.
there were provisions there that do not allow countries to exhaust what they need to do first to their nationals before they give them up to the international criminal court, and we thought of that provision and feel that yes, I think we should be given more time to exhaust our domestic arrangements in dealing with our criminals before we give them up.
The secretary to government, Panapasi Nelesoni.
Call for US to do more to address nuclear legacy in Marshall Islands
Samoa's Attorney General tags onto cryptocurrency probe
Small win for Hawaii protests, but no end in sight
Top New Zealand Stories
Pacific RSS
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Robertson Languages > Language > Regional language > Endangered language? Hooray!
Endangered language? Hooray!
Mar 02 in News, Regional language
Welcome to a language that's now only "mostly dead".
“Critically endangered” doesn’t sound like anything much to boast about – but if you’re talking about the Cornish language, then it’s time to break out the bunting and uncork the champers. Up until December 2010, it was listed by UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger as “extinct”, so this would appear to be a rare linguistic example of switching the life support system back on again after the patient has been pronounced dead.
To be fair, Unesco had only just invented the “critically endangered” category in its classification system, and was happy to state for the record that the previous categorisation of “extinct” wasn’t a true reflection of the Cornish language’s status. There may have been no actual native speakers for centuries, but the fact remains that Cornish has experienced an upswing in interest of late: the number of speakers is now in the thousands and rising, due in part to the teaching of the language in Cornwall schools. It also can’t hurt that, after decades of squabbling, there’s now an agreed Standard Written Form of Cornish, so at least everyone is now singing (or at least speaking) from the same page, as it were.
However, if you want a real linguistic success story, how about a language which became extinct over a hundred years ago before lurching, Frankenstein-like, back from the grave? That language is… ah, but we’re out of space for now. Tune in again next week for more…
Leigh Halfpenny’s close shave (or not) «
Signguy becomes the message »
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Magic in `Moulin Rouge'
CANNES, France -- "With money like this, think what could be done with the Chicago Film Festival!" declared a Cannes Film Festival visitor Wednesday night. I think the visitor was me. I was not referring to the cost of the Cannes festival, but to the cost of the party after the opening night premiere of "Moulin Rouge." There has never been a Cannes party like it - and take it from me, I've seen plenty, including the bash on Roman Polanski's pirate ship.
Nicole Kidman reigned like the queen of cinema over a celebration inside a series of vast circus tents that suggested the Moulin Rouge nightclub in Paris. With authentically worn floorboards, lush velvet walls, revolving stages and disco balls, this was an extravaganza to awe the most decadent festivalgoer. Chefs in toques labored over freshly made omelets and crepes, waiters circled with champagne, and when the can-can girls bounced onto the center stage, even Rupert Murdoch, Lord of All Media, stood on his chair for a better look.
Murdoch owns 20th Century Fox, which produced the movie and paid for this largess. To have your film open the Cannes festival is an honor so unimaginably grand that normally only French films are considered adequate. "Moulin Rouge" tells a story set entirely in Paris in 1900 - but every foot of the film was shot in Murdoch's native Australia, and both Kidman, the star, and Baz Luhrmann, the director, are Aussies. This is like Canada winning the Olympics.
"We have been working on this party for months!" Christian Garcon Funnily Enough shouted in my ear. He advised me to grab a table in the center area, although there would be action everywhere else, too. "I am from Los Angeles," he said, "although I am a Frenchman, funnily enough. My company plans parties like this."
And what is your name? I shouted.
"Christian Garcon Funnily Enough," he shouted back, handing me a card that read "Christian Garcon." (Ask a friend who speaks French to explain this paragraph, which contains a joke, funnily enough.)
The movie struck just the right note to kick off this 54th festival. The post-screening buzz, confirmed by most of the reviews Thursday morning, was that "Moulin Rouge" hit a home run. The hyperkinetic musical tells the story of a doomed romance between a Parisian dance hall girl (Kidman) and a starving writer (Ewan McGregor), who must compete for her charms with a venal duke (Richard Roxburgh). John Leguizamo, using artificial braces to look shorter, plays the dwarfish artist Toulouse-Lautrec, and Jim Broadbent is Zigler, the impresario who knows the dancer's sad secret.
The movie is a tour of a century of style. It has the luridly melodramatic plot of a 19th century opera, the lush color and art direction of a 1950s Hollywood musical, and the frenetic energy of a brand-new music video. On Thursday morning, I motored out to the Hotel du Cap d'Antibes, the expensively inconvenient home of the biggest stars at the festival, to interview the principals. They were arrayed in a series of cabanas staggering down toward the sea, and as I marched from one to another I learned:
From Baz Luhrmann, the film's director: "We develop a new cinematic language every 10 years, and today, when every kid has a digital camera and is familiar with the conventions of naturalism, it is time to return to the grander styles of the cinema's past."
From Ewan McGregor, who plays the writer: "It was important that, in the middle of the whirlwind, his character and Kidman's remain focused on the truth of their relationship."
From John Leguizamo, who plays Toulouse-Lautrec: "I walked on artificial legs that were fitted to my knees, to make me 4 feet 11 inches tall, exactly his height. Because Toulouse was born to first cousins, there were a lot of things wrong with him. His tongue was very thick, and he had a high-pitched lisp. His legs were very short. He was, however, unusually well-endowed, which is why his nickname was the Tripod."
An interview with Nicole Kidman was scheduled for after lunch. At the hotel's Eden Roc Restaurant, where Miramax's Harvey Weinstein was table-hopping, there was much talk about whether "middle America" would go for the movie. Also some gloom.
"Do they know what a musical is?" asked one studio rep.
"Do they know where Paris is?" asked another.
"Do they know what Paris is?" asked a third.
My answer to all three questions: They will not have found out from the movies you have been making for them.
After lunch, a seance with the tall and regal Nicole Kidman. "What a party that was," she said. "We partied all night."
You look fresh and relaxed, I said.
"I am an actress."
Soon I was back at my beloved Hotel Splendid. For the price of lunch at the du Cap, one can stay for a week at the Splendid, breakfast included. The hotel, alas, is not in a serene location, but located directly across the street from the beach with the giant party tents. On the stairs I ran into Ken Turan, film critic of the Los Angeles Times.
"Grumble, grumble," he said.
Are you grumbling?
"Do you know how late that 'Moulin Rouge' party lasted last night?" he asked. "I'll tell you. It lasted until 4 a.m."
You were there until the end?
"I never left my room."
It was loud, we agreed, but not as loud as three years ago, when an Austin Powers billboard was erected directly beneath our windows, and broadcast the cackles of a sneering villain 24 hours a day. It takes men of steel to cover the festival. You can't just sit around on your tripod.
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Let's Talk About Men
Let's Talk About Men (1976)
Nino Manfredi as The Man
Luciana Paluzzi as First Woman
Milena Vukotic as Second Woman
Margaret Lee as Third Woman
Patrizia DeClara as Fourth Woman
| Roger Ebert
No directorial debut of the 1970s has been more sensational than Lina Wertmuller's. After "Seven Beauties" and "The Seduction of Mimi" and the breathlessly titled "Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August," Ms. Wertmuller was hailed on all sides as the latest Great Director. Perhaps she was even destined (as John Simon fearlessly speculated in New York magazine) to become the greatest since Bergman. But not all great directors were always great. While some were apparently born that way (as Fellini seems to have been,) others became great only after the most difficult trials for themselves (and their audiences.) Bergman spent nearly 10 years delivering himself of dreary neo-realist melodramas before producing his first masterpiece; on the basis of Ms. Wertmuller's "Let's Talk About Men," her development was also tentative.
The movie was made in the late 1960s, but seems to have been made in the early 1960s - and badly made at that. It's one of those episodic sex farces the Italians occasionally do well and, the rest of the times do relentlessly. The best of the genre was Vittorio De Sica's 1964 Oscar-winner "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," in which Sophia Loren quickened the pulse of a generation. Wertmuller commits the tactical error of having two of her characters admire a poster of the De Sica film, inspiring our vague yearnings to be watching it instead. If a movie's to be divided into several parts, it needs a star with a strong personality to hold it together; we land feet first in a new situation, and its comic possibilities have to be obvious at once. That's not so with "Let's Talk About Men." Ms. Wertmuller's star is Nino Manfredi, who looks like an Identikit reconstruction of Marcello Mastroianni and talks as if he were reading the weekend scores. He's provided with four leading ladies, but he's no leader. Three minutes into the first of Ms. Wertmuller's four sketches, we know we're in trouble. That's because of the musical score. All during the 1960s, European directors held the notion that comedies were funnier with wall-to-wall music. And so we got peppy little tunes that drained the dialog of any comic tension.
The music in this case plays over an innocuous marital crisis. Manfredi and his wife enjoy a luxurious life-style that's threatened when the bottom falls out of his investments. He discovers that his wife has an amusing little hobby - stealing the jewelry of her friends - and they decide to throw an elegant party so she can steal more jewels. Ho, ho. Two of the other sketches are as bad. One's about a husband who invites his wife to "murder" him for kinky reasons of his own. The other involves men who make a profession of unemployment. The best sketch, with echoes of Fellini's "La Strada," involves a retired circus couple asked to go back to work: He's the knife thrower, not very accurate, and she's missing a leg and an ear, among other necessities, because of his bad aim. All four sketches involve men and women at war with one another, with little hope of a truce. That's been the theme of Lina Wertmuller's inspired recent work - but here she's still feeling her way.
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October 30, 2017 2:00PM ET
‘Rolling Stone: Stories From the Edge’: Inside Magazine’s Pages
Alex Gibney’s four-hour HBO documentary examines the stories behind some of the magazine’s biggest scoops
Andy Greene
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Early in the new documentary Rolling Stone: Stories From the Edge, a 22-year-old Jann Wenner is seen sitting at his desk in the cramped San Francisco loft where he started the magazine 50 years ago. The Berkeley dropout is surrounded by a bulging Rolodex, a rotary telephone and a photo of the Beatles, discussing why he started the new publication. “Rock & roll is a particular form [of music] that’s changed tremendously, has changed, keeps changing,” he tells a local TV reporter. “There was no publication that covered it the way it should be covered, that treated it the way it deserved to be treated.”
Wenner had forgotten about that interview until he saw a rough cut of the film recently. “I’d never seen it,” he says, before talking about watching his younger self onscreen: “He was a kid on a mission. He was so self-confident, full of himself, and wrong about a lot of things. He could talk anybody into anything.” The lost footage is just a fraction of the revelatory material in the new four-hour documentary, directed by Alex Gibney and Blair Foster, which airs on HBO on November 6th and 7th. The film covers how Rolling Stone went from small counterculture rock outlet in San Francisco to glossy New York-based magazine with a circulation in the millions, defining music and politics along the way. “It’s a love letter to the magazine,” says Wenner. “They did a fantastic job.”
50th Anniversary Flashback: Inside John Lennon's Long History With Rolling Stone
Gibney, the man behind definitive docs on James Brown, Scientology and more, met Wenner in 2007, when Gibney interviewed him for Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. “In the course of talking about my relationship with Hunter, he made me cry,” says Wenner. “I thought, ‘Jesus, this guy knows what he’s doing.’ ”
After deciding to go deeper into Rolling Stone, Gibney recruited Foster, his longtime co-producer, and combed through nearly 1,300 back issues. They interviewed former writers and editors, and scoured the globe for archival videos. Tasked with tackling 50 years of journalism in one movie, Gibney and Foster focused on a few stories Gibney calls “uniquely Rolling Stone.” Music segments include Baron Wolman documenting the dark world of rock groupies in 1969, and Ben Fong-Torres’ 1971 Ike and Tina Turner cover story, which revealed Ike as a taskmaster who once forced Tina to perform with a temperature of 104. It also highlights Alan Light’s 1992 feature on Ice-T, just as “Cop Killer” was becoming a flashpoint of controversy. Ice-T reflects on how he was turned into a political football as the police were coming under fire around the time of the L.A. riots. “Everyone got mad at me and stopped looking at what they were doing,” he says. “They used me.”
The film pays much attention to the magazine’s political reporting, including Wenner and William Greider’s 1993 interview with President Clinton after his first year in office. It includes audio of the famous moment when Clinton screamed at his interlocutors over a question that implied he didn’t have true convictions. “You get no credit around here for fighting and bleeding,” Clinton says. “That’s why . . . the right-wingers always win.”
Gibney walked away from the project with a deeper appreciation for the magazine’s history. “There was always something unique about it,” he says. “I also learned that Jann was a pretty good editor. Cameron Crowe tells a great story about Jann handing him Joan Didion’s book Slouching Towards Bethlehem. He’d push people to do better and at the same time was trying to nurture them.”
In This Article: Documentary, HBO
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The Notre Dame de Paris fire put out after 8 hours: Roof, one of the towers collapse, interior less affected
TOP NEWSWORLD
By Romania Journal Last updated Apr 16, 2019
A strong fire has started in the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, one of France’s symbols, on Monday evening. The cause of the fire is not clear, but officials suspect that it might be related to the revamping works that the cathedral was currently undergoing. One of the towers and the roof collapsed, but the interior was not so affected. Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo, quoted by Le Monde said that there is a huge hole in the vault, where the tower has collapsed over the aisle, however, the altar and the cross are in one piece.
The tragedy occurred right on the World Day of Art, with French and world historians saying that we are witnessing the collapse “of the most visited historical monument in the world”, a Gothic monument watching over the past 850 years.
The firefighters have managed to put out the fire that started around 7 p.m. after eight hours of exhausting fight with the flame. A fireman was seriously injured. The workers involved in the rehabilitation works have been heard all night long.
A pair of bell towers immortalized in Victor Hugo’s tale “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” survived, along with the cathedral’s elaborate stonework facade. Officials said invaluable artifacts were saved, including the Crown of Thorns, believed to be a relic of the passion of Christ.
French President Emmanuel Macron who, faced with the Yellow Vests social crisis, was supposed to present his reform plan, has cancelled his speech and arrived on the scene, lamenting the destruction of an awe-inspiring building and wanting to see if there are victims or how much can be saved.
Macron pledged to rebuild, starting with the launch of an international fundraising campaign. “Notre Dame is our history, it’s our literature, it’s our imagery. It’s the place where we live our greatest moments, from wars to pandemics to liberations,” he said. “This history is ours. And it burns. It burns and I know the sadness so many of our fellow French feel.“
Shortly after the fire, France’s luxury billionaire pledged EUR 300 million for the reconstruction of the cathedral, Bloomberg reports.
French billionaire François-Henri Pinault, CEO of Kering group that owns the Gucci brand, has announced a EUR 100 M donation to reconstruct the cathedral.
Their rivals, the Arnault family, also came out few minutes later announcing they will give EUR 200 M and will also provide the expertise and the design and architectural resources they have through their luxury group LVMH, comprising such brands as Louis Vuitton and Moet.
The Vatican said the Holy See lamented the devastation of a “symbol of Christianity” in France and beyond. The fire, just days before Easter, was met with horror by Parisians and tourists. As firefighters battled the blaze, Parisians gathered outside the church Monday night, raising their voices in prayer.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has also reacted on Twitter, calling Notre Dame “a historical symbol of the European culture” and saying that Romania sympathetic to France in these moments and that it stands beside France.
An iconic monument
Notre Dame’s foundation stone was laid in 1163 by Pope Alexander III, and the cathedral was completed in the 13th century. Today, with its towers, spire, flying buttresses and stained glass, Notre Dame is considered a feat of architecture as well as a major religious and cultural symbol of France.
Located in Île de la Cité, a small island in the middle of the city, the cathedral is one of Paris’ most popular attractions, luring around 13 million visitors a year.
Even as it fell into disrepair over the centuries, it was the site of Napoleon Bonaparte’s coronation as emperor in 1804. The central spire was vuilt in the 19th century amid a broad restoration effort, partly buoyed by the success of “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” in 1831.
In addition to the Crown of Thorns, the cathedral also houses the grand organ, one of the world’s most famous musical instruments, and numerous artworks.
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[…] The tragedy occurred right on the World Day of Art, with French and world historians saying that we are witnessing the collapse “of the most visited historical monument in the world”, a Gothic monument watching over the past 850 years, reports the Romania Journal […]
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Facts vs Interpretation:Understanding Islam & Evolution
Lanham Retreat 2019
By Yamina Bougueneya Mermer
In Islam the “testimony” (shahaada) to the truth of the unity of divinity ( tawhid ), [1] i.e. to bear witness that “There is no deity save God,” is central to faith. In the definition of islam (surrender to the divine Will as it is conveyed by the divine Word), the shahaada is the first act required of muslims. It also defines the content of faith, whose primary element is faith in God. The one who surrenders ( muslim ) [2] himself to the truth is supposed to actually observe [3] how every thing in the observable world, the world of testifying (‘alam al-shahaada ), indicates this truth of tawhid, and consequently testifies to the truthfulness of the Qur’anic message. The Qur’an [4] refers very often to the universe and to the things and events in it and describes them as symbols, indicators or signs (ayat). [5] It invites the addressee to ponder [6] over the meaning of those signs in order to testify to the veracity of the teachings of the Qur’an. But it also mentions stories of prophets and of their miracles, which are obviously not observable. What is their significance? How is it possible to “testify” to the truth of something that cannot possibly be observed? In order to answer these questions we need some indispensable knowledge of the principles of Qur’anic hermeneutics. After setting up some basic rules, I will briefly apply them to a few examples. It turns out that those stories of the prophets and their miracles are particular events but they are signs that point to universally observed principles. They are like the tips to general laws that can be observed and experienced here and now . Hence, although those events themselves cannot possibly be observed, their truth can nevertheless be confirmed.
According to the Qur’an, the verses of the Qur’an as well as things and events are signs ( ayat ). God speaks through Qur’anic signs as well as cosmic signs. The cosmos with all its activities is a kind of speech. Each being, each event, each change is like a word and their being in constant motion is like speech. It is as though the universe has been made to speak with constant change and renewal. [7] In the words of the Qur’an, ? They will reply: God, Who gives speech to all things, has given speech to us (as well).? (41:21) That is, just as the Qur’an is God?s speech with words, the cosmos is God?s speech with act. This situation led the Muslim scholar Said Nursi to define the Qur’an as ?the eternal translator of the mighty book of the universe and the interpreter of the various tongues reciting the verses of creations.” [8] He explains that from one point of view the Qur’anic signs translate the cosmic signs according to our understanding and make them speak; i.e. the meaning of the Qur’an unfolds in the cosmic signs. The Qur’an actually explains how every being or event is a sign pointing to the existence of God and making Him known with all His names and attributes of perfection. Nursi asserts that each Qur’anic verse encompasses all the other verses and contains all of the aims of the Qur’an because it is the word of One Who encompasses all. [9] God, in His infinite mercy has included the whole in the parts, like a hologram, so that man with his limited capacity may grasp the meaning of the whole Qur’an in each of its parts. The same is true for the cosmic signs: each being, each thing or event is related to all the others and has meaning only within that web of relationships. For instance, an eye is an ?eye? and sees only when it is in the head, which is part of the body, which is ultimately part of the cosmos. Hence the maker of the eye can only be the maker of the head, the body, and the whole cosmos because the eye can only exist together with all of them. [10] The crucial point is that the Qur’anic ayat (verses/signs) and the cosmic ayat (signs/verses) are accessible to human understanding precisely because of their aforementioned characteristic. Accordingly, although man cannot comprehend the whole, he can reach universal understanding by focusing on universal particulars.
From another perspective, it can be said that the cosmic signs disclose the reality of Qur’anic signs. That is, God creates as he ?speaks? the Qur’an. For instance, He creates food and at the same time, He says in the Qur’an that He is the merciful and generous sustainer. He describes His acts of creation to both ?eye and ear?; He describes His act while performing it, and explains his gifts of mercy as He bestows them. [11] Thus, with the Qur’an, word and act are combined: the creation is made to speak through the Qur’an. That is, just as God makes His existence and presence known and perceptible through deeds, He also communicates His presence through speech. [12] The response of muslims to God?s speech is to learn by listening. [13] Accordingly, in order to understand and confirm the truth of Qur’anic signs we need to ?keep an eye? on the cosmic signs, i.e. on things and events, and if we want to comprehend the cosmic signs we should ?keep an ear? on the Qur’an. In other words, we are supposed to observe the universe while listening to the Qur’an and vice versa, for just as the universe is the Creator?s speech through deed; the Qur’an is His speech through word.
Another rule of usul al-tafsir (methodology of Qur’anic exegesis) is that speech derives its power of meaning from four sources: the speaker, the form of the speech, the addressee, and the purpose of the speech. [14] If for instance, speech is in the form of command or prohibition, it looks to the speaker?s will and authority, in accordance to his position. Consider a commander who utters the words ?Forward, march.? These words represent a command and are binding if the addressees are subject to the authority of the speaker. If the same words are uttered by a soldier for example, we may conjure that he is joking; in any case, no one would take his words as a command. So although the two statements are the same in form and content, they are different in meaning. That is both the speaker and the addressee are crucial in determining the meaning of speech.. In the case of the Qur’an, since the claim is that it is the word of God, then I need to consider it as the word of God if I don?t want to alter its meaning. Indeed, ?who the speaker is? determines the meaning of the content. It would be methodologically inappropriate to assume that the Qur’an is the word of a man while it claims to be the word of God, because that assumption would modify the alleged meaning. For instance the Qur’an says, Whenever We will anything to be, We but say unto it Our word ?Be!? and it is? (16:40). [15] In order to understand this ?verse? it is important to know who the speaker is and who he is addressing and what its purpose is. The Qur’an says that it is the Creator of all things speaking to created human beings in order to teach them the cosmic reality of tawhid and its relevance to the human condition.. Now if I read it as the word of the messenger who brought it, i.e. Muhammad, then I would be reading something other than the Qur’an, a product of my own imagination. Yes, the content would be the same, but it would not be the same message.
Methodologically, we [16] are supposed to consider a document as it claims to be unless proved otherwise and read it accordingly. Now the messenger who brought the Qur’an never claimed to be its author; he asserted that it was revealed to him by God. The Qur’an itself professes to be an address of the Creator of the heavens and the Earth. [17] Consequently, we will regard each verse of the Qur’an as the word of God. But if after that it does not make sense; if it is inconsistent in itself or in relation to the universe to which it often refers, then we will have the right to suspect its claim. If however from the beginning we reject the claim that the Qur’an is God’s word, then what we will read will not be the “Qur’an” [18] , anymore, but some text allegedly written by Muhammad. And Muhammad would no longer be the messenger of God but an impostor who lied in the name of God. [19]
In addition, it should be noted that the Qur’an condemns blind imitation. It repeatedly condemns the blind following of the tradition of forefathers, But when they are told, ‘Follow what God has bestowed from on high,’ some answer, ‘Nay, we shall follow that which we found our forefathers believing in and doing.’ Why, even if their forefathers did not use their reason at all, and were devoid of guidance? Deaf are they, and dumb, and blind: for they do not use their reason (2: 170-171) The Qur’an persistently says, “So will you not think” and refers what it says to reason. It invites those who refuse to consider its proposition as reasonable on its merits to “produce an evidence for what they claim.” [20] The believer is over and over invited to think and ponder over the evidences in the universe in order to confirm his iman (belief) in the truth of the Qur’anic message.
It is also important to realize that the messenger Muhammad, who was also the first teacher of the Qur’an, taught that God speaks to everybody, at all times through the Qur’an. [21] It addresses the most common people and the elite; all may listen and benefit from its teachings. Nursi likens it to “a repast at which thousands of different levels of minds, intellects, and spirits find their nourishment. Their desires are fulfilled and their appetites are satisfied.” [22] Surely, if the Qur’an is God’s universal address to all humanity as it claims to be, it should transcend time and space and it should make sense to everyone, at all time. It should speak to its addressee here and now . As to the main goal of the Qur’an, according to the consensus of the scholars of Qur’anic exegesis, it is the major pillar of faith, i.e. tawhid (divine unity). In other words, the Qur’an?s most important aim is to teach its addressee how to “translate” the language of the cosmic signs in order to testify to the truthfulness of divine unity. Tawhid does not simply refer to belief in one God as opposed to two or three. The Qur’an asserts that human beings have been created in such a way that they innately recognize the existence of one Creator. [23] It narrates the Prophet [24] Abraham’s search for his Lord in celestial bodies (stars, moon, and sun), his recognition that transient created things could not be gods and eventually his seeking for God’s guidance; Then when he beheld the moon rising, he (i.e. Abraham) said, “This is my sustainer!”- But when it went down, he said, “Indeed, if my Sustainer does not guide me, I will most certainly become one of the people who go astray!” (6:77). As he understood and admitted his limitations, he was made to realize the transcendent and comprehensive existence of God. By doing so he became the locus of God’s love, and ” a good paradigm ” (60:4) for the believers as the Qur’an states, And who could be of better faith than he who surrenders his whole being unto God and is doer of good withal, and follows the creed of Abraham, who turned away from all that is false – seeing that God exalted Abraham with His love? (4:125). [25] Because Abraham surrendered himself wholeheartedly, he attained a state of receptivity to revelation and hence revelation was bestowed unto him.
According to the Qur’an, man knows intuitively that there must be a Creator and he understands what the Creator is not, but in order to know Him, he needs revelation. The Muslim scholar Ibn ‘Arabi (1165-1240) explains that the only knowledge about God that we can acquire through rational means is the knowledge of the existence of God and of what God is not. That is, we can grasp God’s incomparability as illustrated in the story of Abraham, but we cannot gain affirmative knowledge of God. Only revelation can inform us about what God is rather than what he is not. [26] Furthermore since the Qur’an instructs man to strive to know God when he already knows His existence, it must be referring to another kind of knowledge that exceeds man’s acquired knowledge. [27] That is, revelation does not just state the obvious; it teaches what cannot be learned without having recourse to its teachings. If, for instance we understand divine unity as meaning no more than ‘there is only one God,’ then we can rightly conclude that Divine revelation is superfluous and unnecessary. The point however, is that the Qur’an teaches who that God is and what his purposes in creation are; it teaches how to know God with all his names and attributes of perfection and hence to love and worship nothing beside Him. [28] In other words the purpose of the Qur’an is to teach that all that is lovable and valued in things and beings proceeds from the Divine attributes of perfection; they all belong to their Enduring Creator alone and not to the transient created things themselves by means of which they are made manifest in this world. In other words, all created things point, beyond themselves, to the meanings of the divine attributes of perfection. They are signs speaking of their Maker.
When we reflect upon this reality of the created world and testify to its truth in our life (as the Qur’an bids us do), then our love for the world and the things in it is transformed into love for their creator, [29] and that is the core of tawhid (divine unity) as it is expressed in the Qur’anic verse, God, there is no deity (i.e. there is nothing worth worshipping and loving) save Him, indeed to Him alone belong the attributes of perfection (20:8). The Muslim scholar Said Nursi (1886-1960) compares beings in the universe to a huge orchestra celebrating the Divine names. With their very mode of existence, they act as mirrors to the Divine attributes of perfection in many respects: they declare their maker’s power though their intrinsic weakness, His riches and grace through their inherent neediness and poverty, and His everlastingness through their ephemerality. Each being, each event proclaims that nothing possesses deity but He, and attest that the Qur’anic truths are not mere metaphysical ideals but cosmic realities. [30] Every thing is like a mirror reflecting the divine attributes of perfection and thus making its Maker known and glorifying Him. [31]
In order to participate in this glorifying, one needs to acknowledge that his existence is dependent on a “wholly other” and that the continuance of his existence is due solely to the creativity of that other. Then he realizes that everything else also owes its existence to that same creator. That is, he sees the weakness and neediness of all things to the extent he admits his own weakness and neediness; and as a result he becomes aware that all grace and mercy, all attributes of perfection – reflected on himself or on beings – belongs to that creator alone. This awareness is the beginning of “glorifying” God and concurrently the beginning of “understanding” the reality of existence, for they are related in accordance with the Prophet Muhammad’s saying, act upon what you know and God will teach you what you do not know. That is, as he purifies his ego following the teachings of the Qur’an and realizes that he is not the real master in his sphere of disposal, i.e. as he gives up the illusion that his existence is essential and independent, the meaning of revelation starts unfolding itself to him as it is alluded in the following verses, Behold, it is a truly noble discourse (Lit. Qur’an) (conveyed unto man) in a well-guarded writ (kitab) which none but the pure can touch (56:77-79). [32] That is to say, to testify to the truth of tawhid, the foremost aim of the Qur’an, entails the authentication of its reality in the universe, [33] a task that can be accomplished to the extent one participates in that cosmic reality and experiences tawhid in his own life.
Let us consider the following Qur’anic verse, He taught Adam the Names, all of them (2:31). According to the above rules of exegesis, this verse addresses us here and now and teaches us how to testify to the cosmic reality of tawhid and as a result to the truth of the Qur’anic message. It is not just narrating the story of a prophet called Adam, for the Qur’an does not claim to be a book of history and the Prophet Muhammad did not read it as such. In fact the Qur’an reduces the stories of the prophets to their essential features precisely because it does not want the addressee to get drowned in unnecessary information and deviate from the aim of the message taught in those verses. But how is the teaching of the names to Adam mentioned in this verse relevant to my situation here and now? Moreover, given that the Qur’an instructs the readers to use their reason, how is it possible to understand this incident rationally? And lastly, what is the wisdom in the Qur’an’s mentioning particular events like this? The answer is in the Qur’an itself, in accordance with a very fundamental principle that I have applied so far but without spelling it explicitly. This is that all of the Qur’anic statements and ordinances are mutually complementary and cannot therefore be correctly understood unless they are considered as parts of one integral whole.? [34] Hence in order to understand what “Adam” and “names” refer to, we need to consider them within the Qur’anic context. [35]
???? In verse 2:31, ?Adam? refers to the whole human race as is clear from the preceding verse 2:30, where Adam is referred to as ?one who shall inherit the earth? and as one ?who will spread corruption on earth and will shed blood.? More important, however, is verse 7:11. In the verses following 2:30, the Qur’an mentions how all the angels prostrated before Adam except Iblis (Satan). [36] In 7:11, it recounts the same event but with definite reference to all mankind as the preceding verses clearly demonstrate, O( people) We have given you a (bountiful) place on earth, and appointed thereon means of ivelihood for you: (yet) how seldom are you grateful! (7:10). We have created you, and then formed you, and then we said unto the angels, ?prostrate yourselves before Adam!?- Whereupon they prostrated themselves, except Iblis (7:11). From this aya , it is obvious that the name Adam symbolizes the whole human race as all commentators on the Qur’an have unanimously agreed. So when the Qur’an says that He taught Adam the Names (al-asma’), all of them, it is actually saying that all human beings have been taught all the Names. But what are these names? The Arabic for ?names? is asma? , and its singular form is ism . The term ism primarily denotes the intrinsic attributes of a thing under consideration. In other verses (7:180; 17:110; 20:8 and 59:24), the term asma? has been combined with the term al-husna which is the plural form of al-ahsan (that which is best or most goodly). The combination al-asma al-husna , a term reserved in the Qur’an for God alone, is often rendered as “the attributes of perfection,” [37] e.g. And God?s (alone) are the attributes of perfection (al-asma’ al-husna); invoke Him, then, by these, and stand aloof from those who distort the meaning of His attributes ( asma’ ) (7:180).
Thus the names refer to the divine attributes of perfection that constitute the reality of all things as indicated above. The “teaching of the names” alludes to man’s comprehensive disposition in learning countless sciences and acquiring knowledge about the Creator’s attributes and qualities through those sciences, all of which are signs to the Divine Names. Nursi writes that “All attainments and perfections, all learning, all progress, and all sciences, each have an elevated reality which is based on one of the divine Names. On being based on the Name the sciences and the arts find their perfection and become reality. Otherwise they remain incomplete and deficient.” [38] Accordingly, medicine for instance, finds its perfection and becomes reality when it relies on the divine name Healer and sees “its compassionate manifestation in the vast pharmacy of the earth.”
So in fact, the minor event of the teaching of the names to Adam is actually the tip of a universal observed principle namely the teaching of all the attainments with which mankind has been inspired. Nursi asserts that ?through this minor event, the Qur’an expounds a universal principle which is essential instruction in wisdom for everyone at all times. [39] This verse teaches that this ability and the resulting attainments are to be consciously used to ascend to the divine Names, which are the realities and sources of those attainments. In Nursi’s view, the verse says:
Come on, step forward, adhere to each of the names, and rise! But your forefather was deceived one time by Satan, and temporarily fell to the earth from a position like Paradise, Beware! In your progress, do not follow Satan and make it the means of falling into the misguidance of “Nature” from the heavens of the divine wisdom. Continuously raising your head and studying carefully my attributes of perfection (or My divine Names), make your sciences and your progress steps by which to ascend to those heavens. Then you may rise to my Names, which are the realities and sources of your science and attainments, and you may look to your sustainer with your hearts through the telescope of the names. [40]
Therefore although verse 2:31 mentions the miracle of Adam, an event that the addressee has not seen, it is possible for him to testify to its truthfulness and confirm it because it refers to a universal truth that he can observe in the universe and experience in his life. This is how the cosmic signs help the Qur’an?s addressee witness to the truthfulness of the Qur’anic verses (signs), which interpret and expound the cosmic signs. The same analysis may be applied to different verses of the Qur’an related to the stories of the prophets.
R.W.J. Austin states that “the Koran places the prophets outside history, within the framework of the Unitarian message of Islam; it speaks in both general and universal terms, as it were.” [41] The central theme in the Qur’anic reference to the stories of the prophets is the teaching of the reality of tawhid . In accordance with the Prophetic tradition, the different prophets correspond to various spiritual types and consequently, to different ways to reach knowledge and love of God. [42] For instance, the miracle of the staff of Moses, is referred to in the verse 2:60, And We said, strike the rock with your staff. Nursi reminds us that the roots of plants and trees spread through hard rock and earth just as easily as branches spread in the air. He says, “Like the Staff of Moses, each of those silken rootless conform to the command of, And We said, strike the rock with your staff, and split the rock.” [43] This way Nursi plays off the fact that revelation and creation witness to each other: the observed facts show that the miracle of the Staff of Moses points to a universal law, and the verse tells us that those observed facts are not “natural” events that happen haphazardly but rather “miracles” [44] of Divine power and mercy. Nursi also mentions how delicate and fine green leaves retain their moisture for months even when it is extremely hot, as in the summer. It is as though those leaves recite the verse, O fire be coolness and peace for Abraham! (21:69) against the heat of the sun, like the limbs of Abraham did against fire. Again the cosmic signs are juxtaposed to the Qur’anic signs/ verses. [45]
From the above principles of Qur’anic exegesis, it is clear that understanding the Qur’an entails that the interpreter engages the Qur’anic signs as well as the cosmic ones. Understanding is given to him to the extent he succeeds in internalizing the meaning those signs convey. This process however is not arbitrary. It has been taught by the messenger Muhammad to whom the Qur’an was first revealed and as a matter of fact by all the prophets as the Qur’an teaches. [46] In the Qur’anic context, the messenger Muhammad epitomizes the excellent Man ( al-insan al-kamil ) in the sense that he realized his createdness at the highest level and admitted his inherent weakness and neediness before His Creator and consequently became receptive to Divine revelation . He evinced a tawhid journey that reaches its apogee through purification of the ego from its false claims of existing by itself and from itself, and of conceiving of itself as a source of perfection including true understanding of the world. As one purifies one’s ego and surrenders himself to the reality of his createdness, he can share in the cosmic reality of tawhid and therefore testify to its reality in his own life.
Subsequently, the muslim (the one who surrenders himself) may say like the prophet of islam (surrendering), “I only follow whatever is being revealed to me by my Sustainer: this (revelation) is a means of insight from your Sustainer, and a guidance and grace unto people who believe. Hence, when the Qur’an is read, hearken unto it, and listen in silence, so that you might be graced with (God’s) mercy” (7:203-204). “Silence” has been traditionally understood to refer to the fact that none other than the Creator knows the reality of creation, hence when God speaks in the Qur’an, the wisest stand is to give up prejudices and preconceptions as much as possible and listen so that “true understanding” “which is also mercy” may be bestowed upon one. The Sustainer’s favor and mercy dwells in the purification of the ego that yields proper listening and relying on the dynamic of gift of everything including understanding of the true meaning of the divine speech. The same law of ihsan (munificence and gift) is at work in the domain of divine creativity i.e. both in nature and in revelation. Divine mercy and all other attributes of perfection manifest themselves in the form of a beautiful fruit or a drop of water and also in meaningful words. All are divine speech, all are signs and symbols whose meanings are disclosed to us when we listen rather than merely project our “understanding” onto them. It seems therefore that listening is an important rule of Qur’anic reasoning (QR). In order to practice QR one needs to trust the Qur’anic text, listen to it, and allow it to disclose its reasoning to him. Otherwise if he simply “plays” with the text he may end up reading himself rather than the Qur’an. QR is certainly not merely cogitation but a living interaction with the scripture for it has a fundamental ontological element that makes it more than just experiential or historical in the sense that it can at least be generalized if not universalized.
[1] The term tawhid is a verbal noun, the gerund form of the root w-ḥ-d (to unite). It carries the connotation of a continuous, dynamic process rather than to a static state of being. Thus, although it is usually translated as ?unity,? it is better rendered as ?unification.? (NB: Most Arabic words stem from roots that consist of three or less often four consonants. Thus the meaning of any one word is related at its root to many other words.)
[2] The term muslim is the active participle of the verb aslama (to surrender). Aslama is the fourth derived form of the root s-l-m (to be safe, secure ). Note that theverbal noun i.e. gerund of the first form salima is salaam (peace, peacefulness).
[3] In Arabic the words ?observe? or shaahada and ?testimony, testifying, witnessing? or shahaada are semantically related. Shaahada (to observe) is the third derived form of the root sh-h-d , while shahaada is the verbal noun (gerund) of the first form i.e. shahida (to witness).
[4] The Arabic term Qur’an is a verbal noun, the gerund form of the root q-r-’. It thus carries the meaning of a continuous reading, a message that is repeatedly recounted. It may be translated as ?recitation? or even ?teaching.?
[5] In lisan al-’Arab (the Tongues of the Arabs),the lexicographer Ibn Manzur (d.1311), defines aya as ?alama (sign), a term which is etymologically related to the verb ‘allama (to teach). This corresponds to the teaching of the Qur’an that the purpose of these divine signs, whether Qur’anic signs or cosmic signs, is to teach the nature of the divine reality.
[6] The verb ‘aqala (to use one’s reason/intellect) appears 47 times in the Qur’an, e.g.
And He has made the night and the day and the sun and the moon subservient (to His laws, so that they be of use) to you; and all the stars are subservient to His command; in this behold, there are signs (ayat) indeed for people who use their reason! (16:12)
And in the succession of night and day, and in the means of subsistence which God sends down from the skies, giving life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless, and in the change of the wind; (in allthis) there are signs (ayat) for people who use their reason (45:5).
The verbs fakkara and tafakkara (2 nd and 5 th forms of the root f-k-r ) both meaning to ponder, reflect, and think, appear 18 times in the Qur’an; e.g.
Verily, in the creating (creation) of the heavens and the earth, and in the succession of night and day, there are indeed signs (ayat) for all who are endowed with insight (and) who remember God when they stand and when they sit and when they lie down, and (thus) reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth : ?O our Sustainer! You have not created this without meaning and purpose. Limitless are You in Your glory!” (3:190-191)
And it is He who has spread the earth wide and placed on it firm mountains and running waters, and created tereon two sexes of every (kind of ) plant; ; (and it is who) causes the night to cover the day. Verily, in all this are signs (ayat) indeed for people who think ! (13:4)
[7] Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, The Letters, in Risale-i-Nur Collection (Istanbul: Sozler Publications, 1994), 339-340; Risale-i Nur Kuliyati , 481.
[8] Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, The Words in R isale-i- Nur Collection (Istanbul: Sozler Publications, 2002), 376- 377.
[9] Nursi, The Words , 454.
[10] Nursi, Th e Words , 577.
[11] Nursi, The Words , 444.
[12] Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, The Supreme Sign (Berkley; Risale-i-Nur Institute of America, 1979) Trans. H. Algar, 49-50.
[13] The Qur’an encourages its addresses to “listen to God’s ayat (verses/signs) when they are recited, and to not “become arrogant, as though (they) had not heard them.” (45:8)
[14] Nursi, The Words , 443-444; Risale-i-Nur Kuliyati , (Istanbul: Nesil basim yayin, 1996), 2019.
[15] Note again the close relationship between speech and deed: “We say Be? and it is?!” Deeds are a manifestation of speech.
[16] ?We? here refers to those interpreters of the text who do not wish to impose their understanding on the text but rather to allow it “to speak for itself” as Toshihiko Isutzu says. (T.Isutzu, Concepts in the Qur’an , (Montreal: McGill Unversity Press, 1966), 3.
In the modern academic study of religion, there are two dominant positions: The so-called hermeneutics of charity, which in the social sciences is identified with Max Weber, and the hermeneutics of suspicion which is identified with the tradition of Emile Durkheim. Here “we” refers to none of them because in either of these two approaches a choice needs to be made whether to listen to the self-description of the object of study (here the Qur’anic text) or to ignore it in favor of models provided by academic theory. The hermeneutics of charity is not, as it is often assumed, inherently aligned with emic discourse. Often it appropriates the other as material for modern Western academic theories. The attempt to understand often turns into colonial eisegesis. [See K. Patton, A Magic Still Dwells : Comparative Religion in the postmodern Age (Berkeley: Univ. California Press, 2000), 2.] Also the bracketing of the subjective required in the hermeneutics of suspicion does not necessarily challenge emic discourse.
[17] The Qur’an says, ” Or do they say: He himself has composed this (message)”Nay, but they are not willing to believe! But then,(if they deem it the work of a mere mortal,) let them produce another discourse like if- if what they say is true! (52:33-34).
[18] See footnote 34.
[19] And who could be more wicked than he who attributes his own lying inventions to God or gives the lie to His signs? Verily such evildoers will never attain to a happy state (6:21).
[20] And yet they choose to worship (imaginary) deities instead of Him! Say: “Produce an evidence for what you are claiming: this is a reminder (unceasingly voiced) by those who are with me, just as it was a reminder (voiced) by those who came before me.” But nay, most of them don’t know the truth, and so they stubbornly turn away (from it) (21:24).
[21] Hundreds of verses of the Qur’an point to this fact; they start with “o people” or end with “these are examples for people who think.” For instance,
O people! Worship your Sustainer, who has created you and those who lived before you, so that you might remain conscious of Him, who has made you the earth a resting place for you and the sky a canopy, and haas sent down water from the sky and thereby brought forth for you sustenance: do not, then, claim that there is any power that could rival God, when you know (2:21-22).
And among His wonders is this: he displays before you the lightning, giving rise to (both) fear and hope, and sends down water form the skies, giving life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless: in this, behold, there are signs indeed for people who use their reason ! (30:24).
Also in the hadith, the prophet Muhammad is reported to have said that ?Every prophet was sent to his own people; but I am sent to all mankind? ( bu?ithtu li?l-nasi kaffa ). See Bukhari, Tayammum , 1.
[23] Verse 30:30 says, And so, surrender your whole being steadfastly to the ever-true faith, turning away from all that is false, in accordance with the disposition (fitra) which God has instilled into people: for not to allow any change to corrupt what god has thus created this is the (purpose of the) ever-true faith; but most people know it not.
“The term fitra rendered by me here as “natural disposition,” connotes in this context man’s inborn, intuitive ability to discern between right and wrong, true and false, and thus, to sense God’s existence and oneness (it) consists in man’s instinctive cognition of God and self-surrender (islam ) to Him.” (M. Asad, The Message of the Qur’an (Gibraltar:Dar al-Andalus, 1980), 621).
[24] “We should point here that the words ‘prophet’ and ‘Prophecy’ may not convey precisely the same ideas in the three monotheistic religions. “According to the Koran, each prophet, including Christ, is a messenger sent by god to a particular people. This view presumes that the prophet has reached the spiritual heights of human nature and that he is, like Adam, “God’s representative on earth.” The Koran places the prophets outside history, within the framework of the Unitarian message of Islam; it speaks in both general and universal terms, as it were. Its prophets run the gamut from Adam to Mohammad and include not only the prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament, but also an indefinite number of messengers sent by God to ancient Arabic and non-Arabic nations. The Bible stories linked to various prophets reappear in part in the Koran , but reduced to their essential features and, as it were, crystallized into symbolic accounts” (R. W. J.Austin in the introduction to his translation of Ibn’Arabi’s The Bezels of Wisdom (NJ: Paulist Press, 1980), xii).
[25] Literally, “God chose Abraham to be His beloved friend ( khalil ).”
[26] W.C. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-’Arabi’s Metaphysics of Imagination ( Albany: SUNY Press, 1989), 159.
The Qur’an points to this fact, How could it be that He who has created all should not know all when He alone is unfathomable in His wisdom, all-aware! 67:14. The Qur’an also says, Hence, place your trust in the Living One who dies not, and extol His limitless glory and praise: for none is aware of His creatures?s sinsas He- He who has created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six aeons, and is established on the throne of His almightiness: the Most Gracious! Ask, then, about Him, the One who is truly aware (25:59). That is, ask God Himself since He alone is aware of the mysteries of the universe. This is usually understood that it is only by observing His creation and listening to His revealed messages that man can obtain a glimpse, however distant, of God’s Own reality. Asad, The Message of The Qur’an , 557.
[27] S.Hakim, “Knowledge of God in Ibn ‘Arabi” Ed. S. Hirtenstein and M. Tierman, Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi: A Commemorative Volume (USA: Elements, Inc, 1993), 270.
[28] Nursi, The Words , 299-300.
Nursi explains that only revelation can teach true unity of God ( tawhid), “which is to see the stamp of His power, the seal of His Lordship ( rububiya ); it is to open a window directly onto His light from everything and to confirm and believe with the certainty of seeing it that every thing emerges from the hand of His power and in no way has He any partner or assistant in His Godhead or in His Lordship or in His sovereignty, and thus to attain a sort of perpetual awareness of the divine presence.” Nursi, The Words , 300.
[29] “The heart loves whatever the source of loveliness is.” B. S. Nursi, Risale-i-Nur Kulliyati , 611.
[31] The Qur’an says , He is God, the Creator, The Maker who shapes all forms and appearances! His alone are the attributes of perfection; all that is in the heavens and on earth extols His limitless glory: for He alone is almighty, truly wise! (59:24) There are many other verses that teach that all beings glorify their Maker with praise. See for instance, 17:44; 58:1; 59:1 etc.
[32] The commentators understood that from one perspective, this verse means that ?only the pure of heart can truly understand and derive benefit from the Qur’anic revelation.? Note also that the word ?Qur’an? refers to God?s address to humanity and cannot be confined between the folds of a scroll or the covers of a codex. As Daniel Madigan explains in his work, The Qur’an’s Self-Image: Writing and Authority in Islam’s Scripture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), from the Qur’an’s refutation of the proof value of written texts, as well as from the absence of a significant role for written material in the early history of the Qur’an and in Islamic ritual, it can be inferred that scrolls and codices were not perceived as evidently important, and certainly not as constitutive of the authority of scripture. Madigan construes that the notion of kitab (scripture or writ) as evidenced in the Qur’anic discourse exhibits an extraordinary elusiveness, which makes it impossible to understand scripture as a fixed, closed corpus. For once a book is produced, it exist independently of its author. The Muslim community however, has always had a lively sense that the Qur’an?s author remains engaged with his audience. The appeal of tradition to kalam Allah (speech of God) as the key to understanding revelation is probably a means to avoid the term scripture , which is often associated with the mushaf (codex). It is significant to note that although scripture occupies a central position in the faith and practice of Muslims, their approach to scripture is almost totally oral. Furthermore, the evidence indicates that they coalesced around the Qur’an while it was still oral, still in process as the pledge of God?s relationship of guidance to them rather than as a clearly defined and already closed text.
According to Madigan, the Qur’an refuses resolutely to behave as an already closed and codified text since its role is to address people and situations as they arise. It insists on remaining open and responsive and makes it clear in its form and statements that it prefers to function as the voice of God?s continuing address to humanity. Madigan presents a compelling semantic analysis of the Qur’an?s self-awareness. He argues that the Qur’an views itself not as a completed book, but as an ongoing process of divine writing and re-writing; as God?s active engagement with humanity. In fact the Qur’an does not identify itself with the kitab (scripture or book) , to which it refers in the third person when proclaiming, defending, and defining it. Yet it does not speak of the kitab as something already fixed and separate but primarily as a symbol, for the Qur’an (discourse) is the very mode by which the kitab is made manifest and engages with humanity.
The Qur’an presents itself and is conscious of itself in a distinctive manner: it is not so much interested in writing as a mere description of the form of the divine word as in the source of its composition, authority and veracity. The Qur’an’s claim to being a kitab is a symbol for God?s knowledge and authority rather than a simple statement about its eventual mode of storage. As kitab , it intended to be the locus of continued guidance. The Qur’an’s kitab cannot be mistaken for a book since it has no fixed boundaries: it is not made completely clear whether this text, i.e. the Qur’an, is the whole kitab or part of it, one of several kutub (plural form of kitab ) or the only one. As a matter of fact, the implicit claim to totality and completeness contained in the word “book” may lead to the identification of the limits of the God’s kitab with the boundaries of the text. Such understanding may become perilous for it opens the possibility of “possessing” the kitab and claiming hegemony over understanding it rather than listening to it and relying on the givenness of understanding.
[33] The antithesis of tawhid is shirk or ascribing partners to God not only in His godhead but in all His attributes of perfection. Shirk is defined in another verse as ascribing the attributes of perfection to things and beings themselves, And God?s alone are the attributes of perfection; invoke Him, then, by these and stand aloof of those who distort the meaning of His attributes (by applying them to others); they shall be requited for all that they were wont to do! (7:180). Hence to ascribe power and creativity to causes, to Nature, etc is, by the Qur’anic criterion of tawhid, shirk and idolatry.
[34] Asad, The Message of the Qur’an , 261.
[35] Nursi says, “Seek the meanings of the Qur’an in its luminous words, rather than those gimmicks and artifices you sneak in the back-pocket of your mind.” Nursi, Risale-i Nur Kulliyati , 1989.
[36] And When We told the angels, ?Prostrate yourselves before Adam!?- they prostrated themselves except Iblis . 2:34.
[37] M.Asad, The Message of the Qur’an , 231
[40] Nursi, The Words , 270
[41] R.W.J. Austin, Introduction to Ibn ‘Arabi’s Bezels of Wisdom (NJ: Paulist Press, 1980), xii.
[43] Nursi, The Words , 17.
[44] The Arabic word for “miracle” is “mu’jiza” . It does not refer to a marvelous event that is attributed to a supernatural cause. Mu’jiza is derived from the root ‘a-j-z , which means “to be incapable.” Something is a mu?jiza in the sense that all causes, all things are incapable (‘ajiz ) of making it. Thus it is not used only for the miracles of the prophets. Since, the Qur’an holds that for one single thing to be, the whole universe must be there, i.e. it exist only within the universe and therefore to make one thing is equivalent to making everything. The creator of one thing can only be the creator of all the universe. Causes themselves are being made and they cannot create. As far as creatorship is concerned, they are all ‘ajiz, but as far as being made is concerned they are all mu’jiza or miracle.
[46] The Qur’an refers to all prophets as paradigms to be followed in reaching knowledge of God. Each one of them represents a different aspect of divine wisdom and as such their paths are relevant to man in different situations of his life. He can identify with their ways at various moments of his life. See also note 11.
God is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth (Quran, Nur/Light, 24:35)
info@receivingnur.org
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Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski: 'I knew what I signed up for.'
TOM WITHERS AP Sports Writer
By Tom Withers | Associated Press
BEREA -- Even before it started, Browns coach Rob Chudzinski recognized his first season wouldn't be without challenges. His dream job would require hard work and grueling hours.
Maybe more than he bargained for.
Turning around a perpetual loser -- especially the team closest to his heart -- wasn't going to happen overnight. It never does in Cleveland. There were going to be tough days, and Monday was yet another one.
For the sixth straight week, Chudzinski, his dark, sunken eyes showing the season's wear and tear, was forced to explain what went wrong after the Browns (4-11) lost 24-13 on Sunday to the New York Jets. The latest loss followed a familiar script: get an early lead, give up points late in the first half, break down defensively in the second half and collapse.
Chudzinski's rookie year has been rocky. Still, he's undaunted by the task.
"I understood the challenges that we had," he said. "I know what it takes here, specifically. I think, again, I'll go back to the plan that we have overall as an organization to establish the type of success long term that we want and that that would take some time to get to.
"I know what I signed up for."
Chudzinski is keenly aware of the frustration felt by Cleveland fans, who have endured more than their share of losing. The Browns have lost at least 11 games in each of the past six seasons and have 12 double-digit loss seasons since their expansion re-start in 1999.
They've lost 162 games since '99, tied with Detroit for the most in the NFL.
Chudzinski, too, bears the scars of losing. He knows firsthand the pain and suffering that comes with rooting for the Browns.
"I grew up as a Browns fan," he said. "I know the frustration, I understand the frustration. I've lived it. I can only say that there's nothing more that I want than for this place to be a winner and for us to turn it around, and we'll get that done."
Chudzinski has plenty of excuses he could use, but he's not about to start trotting out any of them.
The Browns' quarterback carousel has spun all season; the team traded running back Trent Richardson and didn't adequately replace him; and the front office has spent much of the year tinkering with the bottom of the roster.
Does part of him want to say, "What did you expect?"
"I don't think that way," said Chudzinski, Cleveland's sixth full-time coach since '99. "I don't function that way. I've always felt like whatever situation you're in, whatever you're doing, whoever you have, you have to figure out a way to make it work. It's a puzzle that you have to figure out how you can put that puzzle together. And obviously we haven't been able to do that this year well enough."
A recurring problem for the Browns has been their inability to protect a lead. Cleveland has led at some point in eight of 11 losses, and blown fourth-quarter leads in three of the past four games.
The Browns have lost five games in which they've entered the fourth quarter with the lead or tied.
"We've played well coming into games and starting games and have had good starts and started fast, and we haven't been able to maintain those leads," Chudzinski said. "Each week, it's for different reasons. So that's the difficult thing is to pin one thing down. When you can pin it down to one thing, you can fix it. Sometimes you fix one thing and something else pops up."
NOTES: Chudzinski said he has reached out to WR Davone Bess, who was placed on the reserve/non-football illness list on Saturday. "He's going through a family, personal matter, personal issue," Chudzinski said of Bess, who had a disappointing first season with Cleveland. "We're going to give him all the support we can through this." ... Browns NT Phil Taylor and G Jason Pinkston both sustained concussions in Sunday's loss. The pair joins TE Jordan Cameron, who missed the Jets game with a concussion and is following NFL protocol on head injuries. ... Browns CB Joe Haden aggravated a hip injury during the game. ... Chudzinski said DBs coach Louie Cioffi will need surgery on his right knee after he was injured on the sideline when Jets quarterback Geno Smith was pushed into the Browns' bench by Barkevious Mingo.
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RED BANK: CRIMES AND ARRESTS
The crime and arrest reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for the month of August, 2018. This information is unedited. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Criminal Mischief: A Traffic cone was reported to be thrown into a window causing it to break in the area of Shrewsbury Ave on 08/02/18.
Theft: A parked vehicle whose windows were slightly open was reported to be broken into in the area of W Bergen Pl on 08/17/18. Items missing from the vehicle are a Black Wallet containing $7.00 cash, bank cards and a driver’s license, Insurance card, $100.00 cash from the console and a pack of Newport Cigarettes. Ptl. Michael Baron.
Theft: A men’s Blue K-2 bicycle was reported stolen on 08/20/18 in the area of W Bergen Pl. The bike was locked to a bike rack and only the wheel was left. Ptl. Ashon Lovick.
Theft: A white male approximately in his late 30’s early 40’s with dark hair and a mustache wearing a baseball cap and checkered shirt was seen taking a carton of Newport 100’s from behind the register of a business on 08/22/18 in the area of N Bridge Ave. Ptl. Shane Dengel.
Theft: A locked Envy brand charcoal colored bicycle with the word “Dallas” engraved on its frame with rainbow colored pegs was reported stolen from a bicycle rack in the area of Monmouth St on 08/22/18. Ptl. Frank Metta.
Criminal Mischief: Nails were reported to be placed underneath both passenger side tires and a green substance placed under the door handles of a parked car in the area of Morford Pl on 08/25/18. Ptl. Sean Hauschildt.
Theft: A multi colored cloth wallet containing two Bank of America cards, one Capitol One card, one Medicare card, one snap card, a NJ driver’s license and Red Bank Library card and approximately $20.00 in cash was reported stolen on 08/26/18 in the area of Shrewsbury Ave. Ptl. Stanley Balmer.
Darryl Edwards, age 20 of Red Bank was arrested on 08/01/18 in the area of Monmouth Street for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Frank Metta.
Russell Cote, age 41 of Hazlet was arrested on 08/03/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Gary Watson.
Mark Lamana, age 18 of Shrewsbury was arrested on 08/03/18 in the area of Maple Ave for Possession of Marijuana and Drug Paraphernalia by Ptl. Sean Hauschildt.
Anna Yablon, age 46 of Hightstown was arrested on 08/05/18 in the area of Bridge Ave for Simple Assault by Ptl. Frank Metta.
Barak Peretz, age 26 of Red Bank was arrested on 08/05/18 in the area of South St for Simple Assault by Ptl. Shane Dengel.
Jimel Jaafar, age 31 of Eatontown was arrested on 08/09/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Criminal Mischief and Defiant Trespass by Sgt. Robert Campanella.
Jeremy Grey, age 23 of Cranford was arrested on 08/11/18 in the area of N. Bridge Ave for DWI by Ptl. Ashon Lovick.
Michael Ortiz, age 22 of Red Bank was arrested on 08/11/18 in the area of W. Front St for Contempt of Court by Ptl. George Travostino.
Rafael Valladares-Aparicio, age 51 of Red Bank was arrested on 08/12/18 in the area of Catherine St for Criminal Mischief by Ptl. Sean Hauschildt.
Mohit Sood, age 39 of Howell was arrested on 08-12-18 in the area of Monmouth St for Aggravated Assault and Disorderly Conduct by Ptl. Ashon Lovick.
Jesse J. Morris, age 53 of North Middletown was arrested on 08/13/18 in the area of Bridge Ave for DWI, Manufacture/Distribute CDS or Intent to Distribute, Possession of CDS, CDS on or near School Property, Under the Influence of CDS, Possession of Prescription Legend Drugs, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia by Ptl. Sean Hauschildt.
Katherine Merges, age 24 of Red Bank was arrested on 08/15/18 in the area of Shrewsbury Ave for Possession of Marijuana and Drug Paraphernalia by Ptl. Stanley Balmer.
Simone Moultrie-Pierre Paul, age 47 of Neptune was arrested on 08/16/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Darren M. McConnell.
Ismael Campos-Galindo, age 30 of Red Bank was arrested on 08/17/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Contempt of Court by Lt. Robert Kennedy.
Thomas Armstrong, age 36 of Red Bank was arrested on 08/18/18 in the area of Newman Springs Rd for Receiving Stolen Property and Theft by Det. John Camarca.
Catherine Rosenbaum, age 29 of Ocean Township was arrested on 08/18/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Kristin Altimari.
Lora Cimiluca, age 34 of Sayreville was arrested on 08/19/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Milton Gray IV.
Gregory Philemond, age 34 of Roselle was arrested on 08/19/18 in the area of Pearl St for Possession of Marijuana by Ptl. Shane Dengel.
Kim Lelchuk, age 67, Homeless was arrested on 08/19/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Kristin Altimari.
Lawrence DeSimone, age 55 of Tinton Falls was arrested on 08/21/18 in the area of Harding Rd for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Darren M. McConnell.
Anthony Forgione-Russo, age 21 of Red Bank was arrested on 08/22/18 in the area of Linden Pl for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Frank Metta.
Porfirio Perez-Rosas, age 29 of Red Bank was arrested on 08/23/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Criminal Mischief by Ptl. Thomas Doremus.
Steven Marston, age 42 of Wall was arrested on 08/25/18 in the area of Rt. 35 for DWI by Ptl. Ashon Lovick.
Donald Pleitez-Ruano, age 18 of Tinton Falls was arrested on 08/25/18 for Driving While Suspended by Ptl. Stanley Balmer.
John Cross, age 29 of Tinton Falls was arrested on 05/26/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Michael Zadlock.
David Foggy, age 47 of Keansburg was arrested on 08/26/18 in the area of S. Bridge Ave for Burglary and Theft by Ptl. Darren M. McConnell.
Michael Fish, age 28 of Middletown was arrested on 08/26/18 in the area of Rector Pl for Contempt of Court and DWI by Ptl. Darren M. McConnell.
Ezperanza Minyeti, age 18 of Long Branch was arrested on 08/27/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Invasion of Privacy by Det. James DePonte.
Antonio Palacios-Castro, age 37 of Long Branch was arrested on 08/27/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Disorderly Conduct and Contempt of Court by Ptl. Stanley Balmer.
Vinicio Adams-Pimentel, age 39 of Ocean was arrested on 08/28/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Michael Baron.
Frank Parisi, age 54 of Freehold was arrested on 08/28/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Frank Metta.
Justin Aquino, age 27 of Red Bank was arrested on 08/29/18 in the area of Shrewsbury Ave for Contempt of Court by Ptl. Stanley Balmer.
Josephine Centeno, age 18 of Brielle was arrested on 08/31/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Disorderly Conduct by Ptl. Shane Dengel.
Stephen Gerra, age 18 of Brielle was arrested on 08/31/18 in the area of Monmouth St for Disorderly Conduct by Sleo Luke Cahill.
Publisher’s Note: This compilation of crime and arrest reports was provided to redbankgreen by police, and appears here without any changes except for formatting.
An arrest is not a finding of guilt: that’s something for a court to decide. redbankgreen publishes this information in continuation of a great American newspaper tradition because we believe it has community value.
If there is a factual error in this post, please let us know at redbankgreen@redbankgreen.com. But if this post is in itself accurate, please do not plead your case to us. Again, that’s for the court to decide.
If the charges against you are dismissed or you are found not guilty, please send us a copy of the case disposition report, obtainable from the municipal court clerk, and we will update the post to include that information.
redbankgreen does not under any circumstances remove arrest reports or other posts from its archive.
Posted on September 4, 2018 at 11:30 am, filed under Crime, Featured, Law & Justice, red bank, Security and tagged arrests, contempt, Crime, dwi, marijuana, mischief, nj, police, red bank, theft. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment. Email this story.
PREVIOUS: RED BANK: HEAT INDEX TO TOP 100 AGAIN NEXT: SHREWSBURY: CRIMES AND ARRESTS
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Unions encouraged to see pharmacare on Parliament’s agenda today
Canada's unions will be watching the House of Commons today as MPs discuss an NDP motion calling for a universal pharmacare plan for Canada.
“We are pleased that the NDP under its new leader Jagmeet Singh is continuing to make pharmacare such a priority, and we hope all political parties respond by making this much-needed program a reality as soon as possible,” said Canadian Labour Congress President Hassan Yussuff.
Last week, the Parliamentary Budget Officer issued a report using the Quebec government’s public prescription drug plan formulary to estimate universal pharmacare would yield annual savings of $4.2 billion.
A second report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Canadian Doctors for Medicare used a more efficient model to estimate net annual savings of $11 billion.
Canada is the only developed country in the world with a universal health care program that doesn’t include a universal prescription drug plan.
Instead, our multiple-payer system has resulted in the second highest prescription drug costs in the world next to the United States. That’s left 3.5 million Canadians unable to afford their prescriptions.
This Labour Day, on the heels of a successful bid to expand the Canada Pension Plan, Canada’s unions launched a campaign calling for a national pharmacare plan.
“We are proud that we’ve won health insurance coverage for many of our members, but we believe all Canadians should have prescription drug coverage, regardless of their income, age or where they work or live,” said Yussuff.
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How Jane The Virgin Showed Adult Virginity
Story from Health & Wellness
Why Jane The Virgin’s Portrayal Of Adult Virginity Was So Revolutionary
Photo: Courtesy of the CW.
This article contains spoilers for Jane the Virgin through the end of season 4.
From the cluelessness of Steve Carrell's Andy in The 40-Year-Old Virgin to all the virgin jokes in the most recent season of The Bachelor, movies and TV tend to treat adult virgins as a punchline. But from the very beginning, the CW series Jane the Virgin treated Jane's virginity with nuance — just one part of her multifaceted character. As Jane the Virgin enters its fifth and final season, we're looking back at how revolutionary this portrayal of adult virginity really was.
First, let's talk about adult virgins. According to a CDC report, the average age that Americans have sex for the first time is 17. But twenty-somethings who have never had sex are more common than you might think — another CDC report shows that 12.3% of straight women age 20 to 24 and 3.4% of straight women age 25 to 29 have had zero sexual partners. And new research suggests that twenty-something virgins are becoming more common — a 2018 study of 16,000 millennials found that around 13% of 26-year-olds have never had sex. Yet TV has yet to catch up with how normal adult virginity really is (just look at the recent promotion for the Bachelor, which featured a 40-Year-Old Virgin parody poster and the tagline "What does he have to lose?")
Jane the Virgin upended stereotypes about virginity from the very first episode, which aired back in October 2014. The pilot begins with a flashback to the origin of Jane’s virginity — when Jane was 13, her devout Catholic grandmother told her she needed to wait to have sex until marriage. The very next scene shows the now-24-year-old Jane enthusiastically making out in bed with her boyfriend, Michael — she might be a virgin, but she definitely has a sex drive (and later in the episode, it’s implied that she and Michael regularly have phone sex). The rest of the pilot shows us that Jane is very close with her mother and grandmother; loves grilled cheese sandwiches and telenovelas; works as a waitress, but wants to be a writer; and once kissed her jerky new boss, Rafael. By the time she gets accidentally artificially inseminated with Rafael's sperm during a routine Pap smear, Jane’s virginity is the least interesting thing about her.
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Compare Jane to other examples of twenty-something virgin women on TV. On HBO’s Girls, Shoshanna’s virginity is presented as a character-defining trait, as well as a problem to overcome. "I'm like, the least virgin-y virgin ever," she memorably says in one episode — a statement no other characters (or viewers) believe. One love interest tells Shoshanna he won’t have sex with her because she’s a virgin — even though she’s only 20, an age at which around a quarter of American women are virgins. On Glee, guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury’s virginity is presented as being connected to her hypochondria and OCD — "the show has combined Emma’s germ-phobia and virginity into some sort of terrifying psychosexual pathology that doesn’t make much sense," as the AV Club put it. At one point, Emma's love interest Will Schuster literally sings Coldplay’s “Fix You" to her.
While Jane's virginity is discussed frequently during the earlier seasons of Jane the Virgin, there are many other plot points, both focusing on Jane and on other characters, that have nothing to do with Jane's sex life — such as Jane discovering her father is an international telenovela star. And the plot points that do centre on Jane's virginity — such as Jane's new stepsisters starting a viral blog called "Jane the Pregnant Virgin" — showcase other aspects of Jane's character, such as how she handles the newfound fame. And while, in other shows, virginity loss is often saved for a Very Special Episode or season-finale moment, Jane's first time having sex happens in the third episode of Season 3. She loses her virginity after marriage (and after Michael’s recovery from a post-wedding gunshot wound), just as she intended. The actual sex scene is true to the show’s combination of relatability and over-the-top, telenovela-inspired drama: it’s an awkward experience involving a faked orgasm and an accidental sex tape sent to Jane’s college advisor.
The episode also acknowledges that having sex, even within marriage, can bring up complicated feelings for people who promised sexual "purity" at a young age. “I don’t know, I feel weird, like I lost something. Like a part of my identity,” Jane tells her mother, Xo, through tears. (“You just gained something. A whole new dimension of your life, your relationship,” Xo responds.) And then the episode continues with its usual rapid-fire pace — Jane and Michael have better sex, Jane makes some edits on her romance novel, Jane’s abuela reveals a shocking family secret, Rogelio’s girlfriend dumps him, Lucia comes clean about what she knows about the crime lord (and her ex-girlfriend) Sin Rostro, and Rafael's estranged mother is murdered.
Because Jane’s virginity wasn’t the sole focus of the show, Jane the Virgin itself didn’t have an identity crisis after Jane was no longer a virgin. It simply replaced “the Virgin” in the title cards with new phrases — “Jane the Helicopter Mom,” “Jane the Long-Lost Friend,” and even “Jane the Horndog.” Now, as its fifth season begins, the show continues to treat Jane’s sex life with the same nuance it did her virginity. The end of Season 3 shows us Jane's emotions as she begins to date and have sex again after Michael's (apparent) death, and Season 4 shows Jane reckoning with her misconceptions about bisexuality when she dates a bisexual man, Adam.
Jane the Virgin isn’t alone in rethinking adult virginity. On the British comedy Chewing Gum, lead character Tracey is a sexually frustrated, 24-year-old evangelical Christian who decides she’s done with waiting to have sex — another twenty-something virgin with a sex drive and agency. And although Game of Thrones’ portrayal of Jon Snow as the inventor of cunnilingus is eye-roll-inducing, he’s such a complicated character that his virginity doesn’t even come close to the top 5 things that define him.
Portraying nuanced, complicated adult characters who are also virgins should be easy. And as Jane the Virgin leaves our TV screens, hopefully other shows will take up the mantle. As showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman told the Hollywood Reporter about Jane’s first time having sex, "She is a person with so many different identities and so many different things that make her character interesting.”
'Jane The Virgin' Showed Adult Virgins In A New Way
written by Erika W. Smith
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What's new from The New York Times Book Review
Feb 10, 2019 at 12:01 AM Feb 10, 2019 at 9:17 AM
A selection of summaries from The New York Times Book Review:
"Force of Nature," by Jane Harper. (Flatiron, $16.99.) In this thriller from the hugely popular Australian crime novelist, five colleagues set out for a hike in the bush, but only four return. Aaron Falk, a federal agent, investigates the missing hiker — a woman who was widely disliked and secretly looking into her firm’s dodgy finances. He turns up a web of betrayals and secrets, and acts as the book’s moral compass.
"Feel Free: Essays," by Zadie Smith. (Penguin, $18.) A joyful current guides these selections, which touch on everything from a philosophical consideration of Justin Bieber’s appeal to the thrill of public parks in Italy. As Times reviewer Amanda Fortini put it, “It is exquisitely pleasurable to observe Smith thinking on the page, not least because we have no idea where she’s headed.”
"Anatomy of a Miracle," by Jonathan Miles. (Hogarth, $16.) When an Army veteran who has been paralyzed from the waist down suddenly can walk again, his recovery raises a number of questions: Was it divine intervention? A medical breakthrough? And, above all, why him? Miles’ novel mimics a New Journalism narrative style, and Times reviewer Christopher R. Beha called the book “a highly entertaining literary performance.”
"Daughters of the Winter Queen: Four Remarkable Sisters, the Crown of Bohemia, and the Enduring Legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots," by Nancy Goldstone. (Back Bay/Little, Brown, $18.99.) Goldstone is known for her histories of royals, and this one charts the stormy life of Elizabeth Stuart. The daughter of Charles I and known as “the most charming princess of Europe,” she schemed for her children in 17th-century England. The book doubles as a useful introduction to a time when Britain’s relations with Europe were strained.
"The Essex Serpent," by Sarah Perry. (Custom House/William Morrow, $16.99.) In this romance-meets-ghost-story, it’s 1893, and Cora, recently widowed, heads to the coast of England with her son. There, she finds a town racked with worry that a fearsome monster has returned. As Cora investigates the phenomenon, she is drawn to a local pastor, and their dialogues about faith and science help create a richly satisfying relationship.
"The Line Becomes a River," by Francisco Cantú. (Riverhead, $17.) To better understand immigration in the United States, Cantú joined the Border Patrol. He writes of his time with the agency, where he witnessed casual cruelty toward migrants. A later section, which tells the story of a friend who was deported, makes a meaningful contribution to literature of the border.
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Oregon State Beavers get back on track with win against California
BERKELEY, Calif. — One of the nation's best perimeter shooting teams found a way to win on a day when its 3-point shots weren't falling.
Destiny Slocum scored 26 points and No. 7 Oregon State overcame an 11-point deficit to beat California 82-74 on Sunday.
Aleah Goodman added 15 points, and Mikayla Pivec had 14 to help Oregon State (20-4, 10-2 Pac-12) win for the 12th time in 14 games.
Oregon State, which led the nation in 3-point shooting percentage before going 4 for 21 from beyond the arc in Friday's 61-44 loss to Stanford in, connected on five 3-pointers on 17 attempts (29.4 percent) on Sunday. The Beavers were 2 for 8 from beyond the arc in the first half and 1 for 7 to start the third quarter.
That they were able to grind out a comeback win without one of the team's most important weapons points to growth, Goodman said.
"Preseason especially, we would've not crumbled but kind of fell apart a little when shots aren't falling, so I think we definitely see our growth in these last Pac-12 games," Goodman said. "When our shots are not falling, we're able to create. We're able to get to the rim and score."
Kristine Anigwe led the Golden Bears (14-9, 5-7) with 31 points and 18 rebounds. She became the program's career leading rebounder, passing Gennifer Brandon. Asha Thomas added 15 points, and Jaelyn Brown had 11.
Oregon State trailed 35-24 midway through the second quarter. Goodman scored five points during a 7-0 run, helping send the Beavers into halftime trailing 37-35. Goodman completed a three-point play that capped a 10-run late in the third quarter that gave the Beavers a 56-48 lead.
"I was proud of our team for being resilient, shaking off a little bit of doubt that creeps in after each loss," Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said. "There's really no way around that, and they worked through that and then they played with so much grit and toughness. Destiny did her thing but we had great performances across the board."
Anigwe scored on a layup with just under two minutes left pull California to 76-74, but Joanna Grymek scored on Oregon State's next possession, starting a 6-0 run to close out the game.
"People aren't just `up' by (11) to Oregon State," Anigwe said. "They're a Top 10 team for a reason. We were up by (11) but we lost it because we lacked urgency. I guess that's what this game really taught us. Staying urgent ... just keep going and don't be satisfied and don't give up."
The Golden Bears lost for the fourth time in six games, They were facing their fourth straight Top 10 opponent. They went 1-3 over that stretch, with an 81-80 victory over Stanford on Jan. 31.
"We're not happy that we got one out of four," California coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. "We lost a really tough game today and that's not taking anything away from Oregon State. that's saying we know how good they are and yet we had a chance to win a game at home and that's what our goal was. We fell short of that."
ALSO SUNDAY
UCLA 100, Utah 90: Kennedy Burke scored 26 points, Michaela Onyenwere added 25 points for the sophomore's 11th 20-plus game of the season and the visiting Bruins upset the Utes. Japreece Dean added 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists for UCLA (15-9, 8-4 Pac-12), which has won six straight. Megan Huff had 23 points and 13 rebounds for Utah (18-5, 7-5). Freshman Dre'Una Edwards added 21 points.
Colorado 81, USC 76: Mya Hollingshed scored 21 points and Alexis Robinson's 3-pointer with 33 seconds left helped the Buffaloes fight off the visiting Trojans to end their 12-game Pac-12 Conference losing streak. Colorado (11-12, 1-11) hadn't beaten a conference opponent since March 1 in an opening-round game of the Pac-12 Conference tournament. Mariya Moore led the Trojans (14-9, 4-8) with 22 points and Minyon Moore scored 19.
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Assignment of Copyright in India
August 22, 2017 Registrationwala
Copyright is a unique kind of intellectual property right.� In India, the copyright act has been passed in the year 1914. A copyright helps the originator of the creative idea, expression, process and a concept to shield his uniqueness. Copyright is an exclusive right to reproduce or authorize another to reproduce artistic, dramatic, literary or musical works. In order to obtain a copyright, it is essential that a work must show a minimum level of creativity and originality.�
The work for which copyright has been obtained by the owner cannot be copied reproduced, published without the permission of the creator. Thus, the owner of the copyright has an exclusive right to assign the copyright of the work created wholly or partially to any person.
Crucial points related to Copyright Assignment��
The ownership of the copyright may be transferred wholly or partially.
While assigning the copyright to the third party the owner must specify the amount of copyright. The creator shall not assign or waive the right to receive royalties to be shared on an equal basis with the assignee of copyright, subject to certain conditions.
In case the assignment of copyright will take place in future, then the assignment shall take effect only when the work comes into existence. In this regard, �assignee� includes the legal representatives of the assignee, if he dies before the work comes into existence.
The assignment of copyright will be valid only when it is in writing and signed by the assignor or his authorized agent.
The rights of the assignor in the copyright shall be diluted to the extent of the rights assigned to the third party.
The assignment deed shall specify the territorial extent of such assignment. In case the assignment deed is silent, it shall be presumed to extend within India.
The assignment shall further specify the assigned rights and the amount of royalty paid.
The assignment agreement shall be subject to revision, extension, or termination on terms mutually agreed upon by the parties.
In case the assignee fails to exercise his rights within one year from the date of assignment, the assignment in respect of such right shall be deemed to have lapsed, unless otherwise specified in the assignment deed. Further, if the period of assignment is not specified then it shall be deemed to be 5 years from the date of assignment.
In case the assignment undertaken is in contrary to the terms and conditions of the rights already assigned to a copyright society to which the creator is a member, it shall be deemed void.
In the case of a manuscript, the copyright is a personal property of the owner that can be transmitted by testamentary disposition.
The equitable assignment is just the agreement to assign and not the assignment.
After the assignment, the assignee will get the rights of- translation, abridgment, adaptation, dramatic and filmmaking in the work.
To repeal the work the creator is required to give notice of the same in prescribed form to the Registrar of Copyrights or by way of public notice. As soon as the registrar will receive this notice he is required to publish it in the Official Gazette. Within 14 days of the publication, the Registrar shall post the notice on the official website of Copyright Office, so that such notice remains in the public domain for not less than three years. Such right shall cease to exist from the date of the notice.
The basic motive behind the introduction of copyright assignment is to give the benefits of ownership and distribution to the creator of the work. However, the copyright assignment cannot be used to deprive the original creator of his original creation.��
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Copyright for Online Environment
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More West Nile virus detected throughout Savannah area
Mary Landers @MaryLandersSMN
More mosquitoes collected in multiple locations across Chatham County have tested positive for West Nile virus, Chatham County Mosquito Control confirmed Friday.
The announcement came after several samples of mosquitoes from a midtown location —defined as the area from Victory to DeRenne and from Interstate 516 to Wilmington Island — tested positive for the virus last week.
"Once the virus is present in our local mosquito population, we know it’s just a matter of time before the activity becomes more widespread,” said Dr. Lawton Davis, Health Director of the Coastal Health District in a press release.
Chatham County Mosquito Control Director Ture Carlson told the Chatham County Commission Friday that the 27 positive samples collected by the end of June far outstripped the 10 positives seen at the same time in 2011, which was a very active year that resulted in 10 human cases of the virus in Chatham County.
"It's pretty widespread from north to south, east to west," Carlson said in a subsequent phone interview. "Everybody needs to take precautions now."
Mosquito Control will continue treating all areas of Chatham County for mosquitoes. West Nile virus is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected mosquitoes and can cause mild to serious illness.
No human cases of the virus have been confirmed this year in Georgia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. West Nile virus infections in humans have been reported this year to the CDC from the following states: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wyoming.
About 80% of the people who get West Nile virus never develop symptoms. About one in five people who are infected will develop a fever with other symptoms such as headache, body aches, joint pain, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash. A very small number of people who become sick can develop swelling of the brain or tissue around the spinal cord, which can be deadly.
The last human case of West Nile Virus in Chatham County was in 2017, and that was also the last year someone died from the virus in Chatham, said Ginger Heidel, risk communicator for the Coastal Health District.
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Brian Monteith: Brexit Party MEPs were right to turn their back
Outrage over a simple act of defiance shows that nuance and balance are gone in politics, writes Brian Monteith.
A week does not seem to pass without someone appealing for a gentler, kinder style of politics. Well, if my own experience this week is anything to go by it will be a long time coming. Indeed it is probably a forlorn hope.
Brexit Party MEPs turn their backs as the EU's 'national anthem' ' Beethoven's Ode to Joy ' was played at the European parliament in Strasbourg. Picture: Getty
I am just back from attending the first meeting of the ninth session of the European Parliament held in Strasbourg. It was an eventful experience and one that, unlike my colleagues, I am able to contrast and compare against the eight years I served in the Scottish Parliament. While the parliaments are different in a variety of ways (Holyrood can initiate its own legislation and repeal its laws that have failed or proven unremittingly unpopular) there was enough in my first week to give me a taste of what to expect.
Sadly I can testify the nature of political discourse has deteriorated significantly. Thus far it is not the behaviour of the parliamentarians that is especially different, but the relationship between politicians and the public that has changed. Politicians the world over and from all political colours can be pompous, ignorant, divisive and rude – and courteous, inspiring, witty and magnanimous – or a combination of both – but that has always been the case. What I found this week was that in my 12 years away from professional politics as an elected servant of the people, the mood of the public appears to have changed dramatically for the worse.
• READ MORE: Outrage after new MEP Anne Widdecombe compares Brexit to emancipation of slaves
In my past life as a Tory MSP, I witnessed all sorts of stunts by opponents and colleagues, and took part intentionally or inadvertently in a few myself, but I cannot recall anything other than a handful of letters of complaint, never mind abusive language, in that time. Now there is an instant reaction that, courtesy of the internet, reaches elected members in a wide variety of forms – from text messages, emails,tweets and presumably Facebook posts (I suggest “presumably” because I don’t do Facebook). Some of it is vile, and the quantity surprised even an old dog like me.
One particular example was the opening of the European Parliament itself, where the 700-plus members were told to stand for its “national anthem” before proceedings officially began. The Brexit Party MEPs had been sitting down at that point but had agreed amongst ourselves that if asked to stand we would do so with our backs to the dais. For us it was a quiet and dignified way of showing our rejection of the idea of a European superstate with its own flag, embassies, diplomatic corps, army – and an anthem that had already been rejected by prime minister TonyBlair and in referendums on the proposed EU constitution by the French and Dutch.
As a statement, it did not require brightly coloured T-shirts with offensive slogans rejecting the UK’s democratic choice, or placards for MEPs to hold up in chamber (those both took place) – or causing a commotion or storming out in protest. It was just a silent rejection of an example of empire-building that has caused Europeans of all nations, but especially the British, to say we’ve had enough. After this short moment we then turned, sat down and participated in the remaining proceedings.
Within minutes the messages were pinging into our phones, the emails were arriving and the media, receiving and witnessing the same, only wanted to talk about that one “disrespectful” event. For all but a few exceptions the Liberal Democrats’ “Bollocks to Brexit” t-shirts were ignored unless we made a point of asking why.
• READ MORE: MPs step up plans to block no-deal Brexit amid leadership contest
Emails calling me a variety of epithets that would peel the varnish of my mother’s front door soon reached my inbox. A suspicious swarm of similarly worded emails then flew in – berating me in emotional terms that would make those of a gentler disposition wish to seek solitude in a dark room.
Former BBC politics journalist Gavin Esler tweeted we “shamelessly copied” the Nazi Party in 30s Germany who turned their backs on a Jewish speaker in the Reichstag – insinuating we share some political DNA them. This was somewhat ironic given the anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy was one of Hitler’s favourites and played to him on his birthday. More importantly Esler’s reaction completely ignored the lineage that turning one’s back is a form of political protest and signalled the double standards of so many of those criticising it on this occasion.
As City lawyer Alex Deane pointed out, British POWs turned their backs on Japan’s Emperor Akihito in 1998 as he passed down the Mall with Her Majesty the Queen. In 2010 and 2013 members of the public – co-ordinated by campaign groups including Hope Not Hate and Prayers for Peace – turned their backs on English Democratic League rallies held in Bradford city centre. In 2014 some members of the public turned their backs on the funeral cortege of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher as it passed on its way to St Paul’s Cathedral. Likewise, later that same year hundreds of NYPD officers turned their backs on a speech by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at a funeral of two officers killed on duty. More recently women turned their backs on Canadian premier Justin Trudeau protesting against his “fake feminism” and the same protest has been used against President Trump.
Here’s how you can say ‘No to Boris, Yes to Europe’ – Stephen Gethins
Were those people borrowing their form of protest from the Nazis, did those protests receive condemnation from our liberal intelligentsia or be ridiculed by BBC staff, past and present, as my colleagues and I were?
As the week moved on so did the media attention – but not the faux-outrage of social media victims. Quite correctly the media wanted to know what we thought of the EU’s backroom dealing to agree the candidates for various positions including the parliament’s own president, president of the European Commission, the president of the Council of Ministers and president of the European Central Bank. While we pointed to the democratic shortcomings of that process, that is just one symptom of the EUs centralised and secretive government, the communications parading the personal upset over our back-turning just kept coming – without any reference to the EU elite’s disrespect to their own people.
A gentler, kinder style of politics? If it ever existed I don’t think it’s returning soon. Social media’s anonymity has undoubtedly allowed greater guerrilla tactics and binary referenda have divided the country like never before. Politics has to return to meat and two veg issues again. Until then I’ll keep my thick skin.
• Brian Monteith is an MEP for the Brexit Party
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Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon, prior to testifying before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Jan. 13, 2010. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Toxic bankers, captive regulators: Everything you think about the housing market is wrong
We know what caused the housing crash: Reckless banks, shoddy regulation, rampant greed. Let's lay out the truth
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com/2014/05/25/toxic_bankers_captive_regulators_everything_you_think_about_the_housing_market_is_wrong/
Jennifer Taub
May 25, 2014 2:58PM (UTC)
Excerpted from "Other People’s Houses: How Decades of Bailouts, Captive Regulators, and Toxic Bankers Made Home Mortgages a Thrilling Business"
The news cameras kept recording after the power failed. Complete darkness. Then a heavy red curtain was swept aside, allowing a bit of sunlight to stream into the woodpaneled hearing room. This natural illumination had a strange effect on Alan Greenspan, the day’s first witness. He was seated before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), a ten-member panel of private citizens appointed by Congress to examine the causes of the financial and economic crisis. By that day, in April 2010, the FCIC had already conducted several hearings and public meetings. Greenspan had spent much of the morning before the power outage in a defensive mode, denying that, as chairman of the Fed for nearly two decades, he had the tools to predict or prevent the subprime mortgage meltdown and the connected global financial crisis.
Yet he had admitted to the panel: “I was right 70 percent of the time, but I was wrong 30 percent of the time. And there are an awful lot of mistakes” over the years. Now, in the semidarkness, Greenspan retreated a bit. He responded to a question about whether he believed there still was excessive debt in the banking system with a nod, a gesture not captured on the official record. The commissioner who posed the question remarked that he saw Greenspan nod. An audience member said he had not nodded. Greenspan sat silently, not offering to clarify. Minutes later, the hearing adjourned and the witness departed.
That was classic Greenspan: bright moments of clarity followed by obfuscation and retreat. Eighteen months earlier in October 2008, in his most candid moment, he told a congressional subcommittee that he had found “a flaw” in his entire system of thought. He had adhered for decades to a particular view of how markets operated, only to discover several decades later he’d been very wrong. Yet the question for the panel that April morning was whether the crisis could have been avoided.
At the hearing, Greenspan explained that the origination of subprime mortgages had posed no problems between 1990 and 2002. In that early era, he said, it was a contained market, but then things changed. It was the expansive sale of adjustable rate subprime mortgages, followed by the securitization of these mortgages, and the transformation of those securities into collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that caused problems. There was a huge demand from Europe for CDOs backed by such mortgages, thus fueling increasingly higher-risk originations. Greenspan also made it clear that without “adequate capital and liquidity,” the “system will fail to function.” He called for additional equity capital (less borrowing relative to assets held). He said he now realized that our banking system had been undercapitalized for forty to fifty years. But in 2011, when it came time to require banks to have greater equity capital, he publicly denounced “an excess of buffers” in an op-ed in the Financial Times. Seeming to forget the savings and loan (S&L) crisis of just twenty years earlier, he asked: “How much of its ongoing output should a society wish to devote to fending off once-in-50 or 100-year crises?” This was Greenspan, light and dark.
While he admitted in the abstract to being wrong 30 percent of the time, the FCIC found it impossible to pin him down on particular acts or omissions. Instead, he pointed toward many others who contributed to the problem. His view was supported by the evidence but was nevertheless incomplete. He asserted that effective markets depended on enforcement against fraud and misrepresentation. When asked by FCIC chairman Phil Angelides what the Fed had done to combat fraud, Greenspan admitted that between 2000 and 2006, it had made only two criminal referrals to the Justice Department. In contrast, in 2005, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had 22,000 cases of mortgage fraud under investigation. Greenspan dismissed this figure, contending that out of 55 million outstanding residential mortgages, 22,000 did not indicate a systemic problem. Angelides then asked him to explain why the Fed had made only two referrals. Greenspan explained that in all other cases of concern, they had been able to achieve compliance without the need for criminal enforcement. He said, “[a] goodly part of supervision and regulation is to get things solved so that if somebody is in violation of something and you can get them to adjust so that the regulators are satisfied, it never gets to the point where it’s a referral for enforcement in some form or another.” This non-enforcement policy created an incentive for misbehavior. Cracking down both through criminal and civil enforcement is not just about compliance, but also a vital part of deterrence.
Brooksley Born, Again
One of the appointees to the FCIC was Brooksley Born, who had resigned from her position as commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 1999. It was appropriate for her to at last face Alan Greenspan, who with others in the Clinton administration had deregulated derivatives and helped create the conditions for the meltdown.
While Angelides questioned Greenspan about his record on combating fraud, perhaps on Born’s mind was a lunchtime conversation she’d had with him in 1996. She had just become chairman of the CFTC but was not new to Washington. She had been a partner at the Arnold & Porter law firm for many years and, before her appointment to lead the agency, had briefly served as a commissioner. In her new leadership role, Born was already concerned about risks associated with derivatives, a key area of the CFTC’s jurisdiction.
Over lunch, Greenspan had shared with Born his view of market fraud. As she later recalled: “He explained there wasn’t a need for a law against fraud because if a floor broker was committing fraud, the customer would figure it out and stop doing business with him.” Born challenged him on this view, contending that as an attorney, she believed that prohibitions on fraud were essential. At Arnold & Porter, for instance, she had represented clients entangled in the Hunt brothers’ conspiracy to manipulate the price of silver and defraud investors. After hearing her out, Greenspan replied: “Well, Brooksley, I guess you and I will never agree about fraud.” The exchange was so unsettling that she shared the conversation with her top aides, Michael Greenberger and Daniel Waldman, who confirmed her account of the discussion. This encounter was particularly disturbing given Greenspan’s influence, not just over the economy but over President Clinton and the other banking regulators. This conversation would not be the last or the most contentious of their encounters.
Today, she asked him this question: “In your view, did credit default swaps, which are a type of over-the-counter derivatives contract, play any role in causing or exacerbating the financial crisis?” Greenspan did not answer directly, although he knew what she was getting at. He said that to his knowledge, they had not been discussed at the President’s Working Group; they were “not on the agenda” at the time. That may have been his recollection, but the report that he signed in 1999 did include “credit swaps.” Born reminded him that in 1996, the Fed had issued supervisory guidance on them.
Next, Born asked him about his libertarian views and whether he thought the Fed was to blame for the crisis. Specifically she asked whether the Fed had
fail[ed] to carry out its mandates, . . . [in that] . . . the Fed and the banking regulators failed to prevent the housing bubble; they failed to prevent the predatory lending scandal; they failed to prevent our biggest banks and bank holding companies from engaging in activities that would bring them to the verge of collapse without massive taxpayer bailouts; they failed to recognize the systemic risk posed by an unregulated over- the- counter derivatives market; and they permitted the financial system and the economy to reach the brink of disaster.
Greenspan never answered that question. But he did deny that his “views on regulation” interfered with his performance: “I took an oath of office to support the laws of the land,” he said, and he insisted that he had enforced the laws, including those he “would not have constructed in the way they were constructed,” as “that was my job.” Born had a limited amount of time to ask her questions and Greenspan to answer. It was the next commissioner’s turn. Greenspan concluded by informing her: “So I know my time has run out, but I really fundamentally disagree with your point of view.”
After the long day, as after many others at the FCIC, it was difficult to fully understand the truth about the crisis. When a single witness can equivocate over a period of hours and then over a period of years, it is easy to think there is no there, there.
Truth about the Financial Crisis
After the crisis, many expected that the blameworthy would be punished or at the least be required to return their ill-gotten gains—but they weren’t, and they didn’t. Many thought that those who were injured would be made whole, but most weren’t. And many hoped that there would be a restoration of the financial safety rules to ensure that industry leaders could no longer gamble the equity of their firms to the point of ruin. This didn’t happen, but it’s not too late. It is useful, then, to identify the persistent myths about the causes of the financial crisis and the resulting Dodd-Frank reform legislation and related implementation.
There has been no official bipartisan consensus on the causes of the financial crisis: An official government report was produced in April 2011 by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R-OK), titled Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse. The “Levin-Coburn Report,” a 639-page document, including 2,849 footnotes unanimously and unambiguously concluded that “the [2008] crisis was not a natural disaster, but the result of high risk, complex financial products; undisclosed conflicts of interest; and the failure of regulators, the credit rating agencies, and the market itself to rein in the excesses of Wall Street.”
This myth got traction in January 2011, when after conducting over five hundred interviews and holding twelve days of hearings, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) failed to produce a unified report. The 545-page book the panel did publish, titled The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report: Final Report of the National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States, had three sections. The first part was a lengthy majority report endorsed by the six Democratic appointees. This was followed by two much shorter dissents. Reading the three parts together, it is clear that all ten commissioners agreed that the collapse of the U.S. housing bubble was the proximate cause of the crisis.
In addition, there was substantial consensus among nine of the commissioners. For these nine—including three of the four Republican appointees—the centerpiece of the consensus was that poor risk management at U.S. financial institutions was a chief contributor to the crisis. For example, all nine agreed that risk management failures at financial institutions led to insufficient capital and a reliance on short-term borrowing.
The financial crisis was an accident without human causes: The Levin-Coburn Report clearly concludes that the crisis was not a natural disaster. In the FCIC Report, the Majority, Primary Dissent, and Solo Dissent also agree on this point. Without question, the crisis was caused by people. The Primary Dissent identifies a list of “ten essential causes” that point to human decisions and actions, yet it suggests that the outcome could not have been prevented. The Majority is clear in its contention that the disaster, at least in the magnitude we experienced, was preventable: “The crisis was the result of human action and inaction, not of Mother Nature or computer models gone haywire.” The Solo Dissent also points to human causes: “To avoid the next financial crisis, we must understand what caused the one from which we are now slowly emerging, and take action to avoid the same mistakes in the future.” In addition to these official reports, experts have renounced this false narrative.
The financial crisis was brought about because the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 forced banks to lend to people with low incomes who could not afford to pay back their mortgages: The FCIC Majority and Primary Dissent roundly reject this myth, leaving the Solo Dissent as the lone proponent of this shaky story. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) was enacted to prevent banks from refusing to extend loans to creditworthy borrowers in particular neighborhoods, a practice known as “redlining.” The FCIC Majority notes that “the CRA requires banks and savings and loans to lend, invest, and provide services to the communities from which they take deposits, consistent with bank safety and soundness.” Further,
it states that
the CRA was not a significant factor in subprime lending or the crisis. Many subprime lenders were not subject to the CRA. Research indicates only 6% of high-cost loans—a proxy for subprime loans—had any connection to the law. Loans made by CRA-regulated lenders in the neighborhoods in which they were required to lend were half as likely to default as similar loans made in the same neighborhoods by independent mortgage originators not subject to the law.
Similarly, the Primary Dissent explicitly states that the Community Reinvestment Act was not a “significant cause.” Many government officials and scholars have also rejected this myth. In contrast, the Solo Dissent singles out U.S. government housing policy, including the CRA, as the sine qua non of the financial crisis.
The giant government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, caused the financial crisis because the government pushed them to guarantee mortgage loans to people with low incomes as part of their public housing mission: Not exactly—both the FCIC Majority Report and the Primary Dissent agree that Fannie and Freddie on their own did not cause the financial crisis. They focus blame largely on the private-label mortgage market. Fannie and Freddie did not originate any loans; the “exotic” and high-risk loans were designed by and extended to borrowers through the private-label pipeline. While the Majority and the Primary Dissent concur that Fannie and Freddie’s business model was flawed, they also agree that affordable housing goals neither drove Fannie and Freddie to ruin nor caused them to create the overwhelming demand for predatory, high-risk, mortgages.
The Majority Report stated that the affordable housing goals that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gave to the GSEs “did contribute marginally” to their purchase of risky mortgages. But it was the desire to gain market share and increase executive compensation that drove the management teams at Fannie and Freddie to fill their portfolios with high-risk private-label mortgage-backed securities. It was the growth of their portfolio business for profit coupled with a 75– 1 leverage ratio—not their public housing mission—that caused them to fail. Fannie and Freddie “had a deeply flawed business model as publicly traded corporations with the implicit backing of and subsidies from the federal government and with a public mission.”
Similarly, the Primary Dissent concluded that “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not by themselves cause the crisis, but they contributed significantly in a number of ways.” It noted that U.S. housing policy does not itself explain the housing bubble. The Primary Dissent echoed the Majority in contending that “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s failures were the result of policymakers using the power of government to blend public purpose with private gains and then socializing the losses.” In his Solo Dissent, Peter Wallison blamed housing policy and the GSEs for the crisis.
Mistakes were made, but there was not widespread fraud and abuse throughout the financial system: There is evidence of widespread fraud and abuse throughout the private mortgage market. Examples exist across the mortgage supply chain, beginning with fraud in mortgage documentation and ending with the peddling of worthless synthetic mortgage-related bonds to guileless institutional investors. From borrowers, to brokers, to lenders, to bank securitizers, to credit-rating agencies, to investment bankers, the Majority Report found evidence of either fraud or corrupt and abusive behavior across each link. It describes FBI agents warning of mortgage fraud in 2004 and 2005 and housing advocates early and consistently trying to get the attention of regulators to crack down on predatory lending. As for abuse, the bipartisan Levin-Coburn Report and the FCIC Majority provided many instances of lenders making loans they clearly knew borrowers could not afford.
The Primary Dissent agreed that the industry’s conduct went well beyond mistakes and errors: “Securitizers lowered credit quality standards and Mortgage originators took advantage of this to create junk mortgages.” Although Wallison’s Solo Dissent rejected the notion that fraud was an “essential cause” of the crisis, he agreed that it was a “contributing factor and a deplorable effect of the bubble.” He acknowledged that “mortgage fraud increased substantially” beginning in the 1990s “during the housing bubble” and that “this fraud did tremendous harm.” But unlike the Majority and Primary Dissent, Wallison blamed “predatory borrowers” as the ones who “engaged in mortgage fraud.”
The financial crisis was caused by too much government regulation: Deregulation and regulatory forbearance—too little regulation, rather than too much—contributed to the crisis. The entire toxic- mortgage supply chain was enabled by decades of deregulation and desupervision. The Levin-Coburn Report included more than eighty pages focused exclusively on the regulatory failure at one agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). It also made recommendations for further reform beyond Dodd-Frank’s changes. The FCIC Majority stated that more than three decades of:
deregulation and reliance on self- regulation by financial institutions, championed by former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and others, supported by successive administrations and Congresses, and actively pushed by the powerful financial industry at every turn, had stripped away key safeguards, which could have helped avoid catastrophe. This approach had opened up gaps in oversight of critical areas with trillions of dollars at risk, such as the shadow banking system and over-the-counter derivatives markets. In addition, the government permitted financial firms to pick their preferred regulators in what became a race to the weakest supervisor.
Similarly, the Primary Dissent identified “in effective regulatory regimes” for nonbank mortgage lenders as an important “causal factor.” It faulted “lenient regulatory oversight on mortgage origination” at the federally regulated bank and thrift lenders Wachovia, Washington Mutual, and Countrywide.
In the Solo Dissent, Wallison claimed the Majority had “completely ignored” solid evidence that there were not thirty years of deregulation. He pointed to the FDIC Improvement Act of 1991 (FDICIA), a law that he said “was celebrated at the time of its enactment as finally giving the regulators the power to put an end to bank crises.”
Contrary to his assertion, the Majority did discuss FDICIA; it has nothing to do with the deregulation that enabled high-risk mortgage lending and securitizing. This law requires the FDIC to shut down or sell a failing bank or thrift. This part of the law did not apply to independent investment banks like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers; for them the choice was bailout or bankruptcy. And, there were loopholes in FDICIA. If the regulators determined that the firm posed a “systemic risk” to the financial system, the FDIC did not have to pursue a resolution of “least cost” to the deposit insurance fund. Also, the Fed was permitted to make emergency loans to failing banks. Given these loopholes, the Majority explained that FDICIA sent a “mixed message: you are not too big to fail—until and unless you are too big to fail. So the possibility of bailouts for the biggest, most centrally placed institutions—in the commercial and shadow banking industries—remained an open question until the next crisis, 16 years later.” Indeed, the “systemic risk” exception would be invoked several times during the bailouts.
Nobody saw it coming: Plenty of people saw it coming, and said so. The problem wasn’t seeing, it was listening. As both the Levin-Coburn Report and the FCIC Majority showed, financial sector insiders, consumer advocates, regulators, economists, and other experts saw the warning signs. They spoke out frequently about the housing bubble and the mortgage underwriting practices that fueled it. Yet most whistleblowers were ignored or ridiculed at best, and fired and blacklisted at worst.
The Primary Dissent emphasized that some players in the market saw what was ahead: “Managers of many large and midsize financial institutions in the United States and Eu rope amassed enormous concentrations of highly correlated housing risk on their balance sheets. In doing so they turned a building housing crisis into a subsequent crisis of failing financial institutions. Some did this knowingly; others, unknowingly.”
The Solo Dissent stated that the housing bubble was clearly growing but also claimed that the “number of defaults and delinquencies among these mortgages far exceeded anything that even the most sophisticated market participants expected.”
The financial crisis was unavoidable. And financial crises of this magnitude are inevitable: The Majority Report unequivocally stated that “this financial crisis was avoidable. . . . The captains of finance and the public stewards of our financial system ignored warnings and failed to question, understand, and manage evolving risks within a system essential to the well-being of the American public.” The Solo Dissent contended that. “No financial system . . . could have survived the failure of large numbers of high risk mortgages once the bubble began to deflate.” However, it blamed housing policy, not bankers, for the creation of the high-risk mortgages.
This myth that we cannot avoid large-scale financial crises is particularly corrosive, as those who are in its thrall reason that since crashes are inevitable, regulation is fruitless. But this is not the necessary conclusion. There were no major financial crises between the New Deal and the S&L crisis, a span of fifty years when each type of firm was protected in its own niche and limited in their activities. Deregulation delivered the S&L debacle and the related 2008 financial crisis. This inevitability myth also distorts the view of Hyman Minsky, the economist who advanced the theory in 1986 that markets are prone to instability. The sensible reaction to this recognition is not to let the system keep running up risk and collapsing, but instead to create countercyclical buffers. This could involve doubling equity capital requirements in good times when it appears an asset bubble is inflating, so as to slow down its growth and create a better cushion on the downturn. It might also require higher capital to finance those assets the prices of which tend to rise and fall with the business cycle.
The Dodd-Frank Act has ended “too big to fail”: In 2009 Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke defended the multi-trillion-dollar bailouts, explaining that “it wasn’t to help the big firms that we intervened. . . . [W]hen the elephant falls down, all the grass gets crushed as well.” Today, the elephants are larger than ever, and the grass is still crushed. The conditions that brought the financial system to the brink of failure in 2008 persist. The top banks are bigger, and they still borrow trillions of dollars in the short-term and overnight repo markets, leaving them vulnerable to runs.
Because they are perceived as “too big to fail,” the largest banks borrow money more cheaply, receiving an $83 billion annual subsidy according to a Bloomberg News study, which also suggests that the profits earned by these top banks are “almost entirely a gift from Dispelling Myths about the Crisis 281 U.S. taxpayers.” Regulatory proposals have been made to modestly raise equity capital for giant banks, but the permitted leverage ratio is still just 3 percent (equity to total assets). This means borrowing $97 for every $100 in assets, or a 33- 1 leverage ratio. This level of leverage was a key factor in the 2008 crisis.
The law pins most of its hopes on new powers granted to the FDIC to dismantle failing bank holding companies and “systemically important” nonbank financial institutions. This is an alternative to the terrible choice between the chaos of a Lehman- like bankruptcy and taxpayer- funded bailouts. Many question whether regulators will have the courage to pull the plug on a dying financial firm and others worry that this won’t work in cross- border insolvencies. However, the FDIC is confident that its experience resolving large banks and thrifts will translate well. During the contentious legislative process, the requirement that banks finance an orderly resolution fund to be used by the FDIC during the resolution process was taken out. Politicians, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, actually contended that bank pre-funding would be a taxpayer-funded bailout. This Orwellian argument carried the day, so under Dodd-Frank, upon the takeover of a failing firm, taxpayers will front the money the FDIC needs via a line of credit from the Treasury. If the proceeds from selling pieces of the failed institution are not sufficient to pay back the Treasury, the surviving banks will be assessed.
There are strong tools in Dodd- Frank, and time may tell if they are used effectively. The law called for nearly four hundred rulemakings by regulators already struggling with insufficient funding. Fewer than half of the rules have been issued, and more than a hundred deadlines have been missed. Among the delays is the implementation of Section 619 of Dodd-Frank, often referred to as the “Volcker Rule.” This provision bans banking entities (that have access to FDIC insurance and loans from the Fed) from engaging in proprietary trading—buying and selling securities for profit. The Volcker Rule also limits how much such banking entities can invest in hedge funds and private equity funds. It was meant to be a modern day Glass-Steagall, creating a separation between firms that have access to the public safety net from those that make high-risk bets. The provision was drafted and shepherded through the legislative process by Senator Jeff Merkley and Senator Carl Levin. However, it was named for former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, who initially recommended these restrictions to President Obama.
Myth 10
The bankers are the victims of greedy homeowners who borrowed money and did not pay it back: Some homeowners participated in fraud, and others were simply unrealistic or were speculating that housing prices would continue to rise. But a much larger number were victims either of abusive lending practices or of the housing bubble and burst that diminished their home values and retirement savings.
Even the hopeful and the speculators were no different from some apparently naive bank executives like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who told the FCIC: “In mortgage underwriting, somehow we just missed, you know, that home prices don’t go up forever and that it’s not sufficient to have stated income.” Even if we accept this at face value, it does not follow that bankers are victims of homeowners. Many homeowners made the same error. The difference is that the banks got trillions of dollars in bailouts and backstops, and their employees kept their billions in bonuses. Meanwhile, since the burst of the housing bubble, there have been about five million home foreclosures, with millions more underway. Ten million homes are underwater—approximately one- fifth of all mortgaged properties. Unemployment remains high and home prices low. The gains of the post-crisis recovery have been uneven. The net worth for the top 7 percent of Americans increased by 28 percent while the net worth for the bottom 93 percent declined by approximately 4 percent.
In addition, blaming subprime borrowers doesn’t hold up mathematically. According to former Goldman Sachs executive Nomi Prins, even if every single subprime mortgage defaulted, the total money lost would have been $1.4 trillion. Yet much more was committed by the Fed, Treasury, and FDIC in the financial crisis. It is not credible to blame subprime mortgage borrowers alone for the crisis.
It was additionally the desire of banks to make profitable trades and the desire of hedge funds to speculate on mortgage- backed securities that brought down the system. It was the billions upon billions of side bets that put far more at risk than the total value of all the subprime mortgages.
As for banks being the victims, this myth is typically not propagated by bankers but by service providers, those who stand to gain from maintaining friendly relationships with banks. For example, Steve Eckhaus, an attorney who negotiates executive compensation packages, is one such denier. Over his career, Eckhaus claims to have helped bankers secure more than $5 billion in pay. Among his clients were executives from Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley. Defending his clients and the financial sector in general, Eckhaus has said: “To blame Wall Street for the financial meltdown is absurd.”
Notwithstanding this pay negotiator’s assertion that Wall Street was not to blame, when put under oath, bankers do not concur. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told the FCIC: “Over the course of the crisis, we, as an industry, caused a lot of damage. Never has it been clearer how poor business judgments we have made have affected Main Street.” At an FCIC hearing in January 2010, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told the Commission, “I blame the management teams 100% . . . and no one else.”
Excerpted from "Other People’s Houses: How Decades of Bailouts, Captive Regulators, and Toxic Bankers Made Home Mortgages a Thrilling Business" by Jennifer Taub, published May 2014 by Yale University Press. Copyright ©2014 by Jennifer Taub. Reprinted by permission of Yale University Press. All rights reserved.
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Greenpeace buys land to foil London runway plans
Greenpeace Climate Campaigner Anna Jones poses for photographs in front of letters of their slogan ‘Our Climate Our Land’, partially seen, on a plot of land in Sipson, north of Heathrow Airport, in west London,Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009. Greenpeace revealed that it had bought a section of land on the proposed site of a third runway for Heathrow Airport, and was planning to divide it into tiny pieces in a bid to gridlock the planning process with hundreds of legal challenges. (AP Photo/Akira Suemori)
By GREGORY KATZ, The Associated Press
nepal —
An environmental coalition led by Greenpeace has thrown a monkey wrench into expansion plans for London’s chronically congested Heathrow Airport.
The group, which includes Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson and prominent comedian Alistair McGowan, announced Tuesday it had purchased a plot of land on ground earmarked for a proposed third runway at Europe’s busiest airport.
Greenpeace director John Sauven said the new owners will never sell the property, roughly half the size of a football field, to the government or the airport operator.
“The legal owners of the site will block the runway at every stage through the planning process and in the courts,” he said. “They will never sell the land to Spanish-owned airport operator BAA, and if it comes to it many thousands of people will be prepared to peacefully defend their field in person, standing in front of bulldozers and blocking construction.”
The land was purchased for less than 25,000 pounds ($36,500) in the village of Sipson, where hundreds of family houses will be destroyed if the runway project goes forward. Campaigners wrote “Our Climate Our Land” on the property in giant letters Tuesday.
The surprise delaying tactic came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Cabinet were wrangling over whether to support plans for a multibillion pound third runway project.
Brown’s spokesman, Michael Ellam, said a much-delayed decision on the runway plan would be announced this month.
He said the government had already agreed in principle to add capacity at Heathrow if it does not lead to Britain violating European air pollution targets.
“The decision when it comes will not only be about Heathrow, but include announcements on wider transport and infrastructure projects,” Ellam said.
The Cabinet appears divided over the issue, which pits environmental concerns – and Britain’s commitment to controlling climate change by reducing carbon emissions – against economic growth and job creation.
Some supporters believe the runway would help create 65,000 new jobs.
Advocates say the new project would allow Heathrow to maintain its prominence as an international hub while opponents say it would scuttle Britain’s ambitious plans to cut carbon emissions.
Some opponents within the government, including some Labour Party legislators, say Heathrow needs money spent on linking it to a high speed rail network rather than another runway.
Thompson, one of Britain’s best-known actress, said she had joined the group that purchased the land because it was “hypocritical” for the government to promise to reduce greenhouse gases while greatly increasing air traffic capacity.
“I don’t understand how any government remotely serious about committing to reversing climate change can even consider these ridiculous plans,” she said, vowing that the new owners would move to the property and defend it if necessary.
The expansion plan has also sparked fierce opposition from legislators representing towns and villages that would be adversely affected by the increased air traffic.
One of the new land owners, Conservative Party environmental adviser Zac Goldsmith, said the coalition hopes to use the land to slow down and ultimately kill Heathrow expansion.
“Eventually the government will probably be able to buy the land through compulsory purchase, but the question is how long it will take them,” said Goldsmith, who plans to run for Parliament from Richmond Park, one of the affected districts. “I think this one single act will prevent anything from happening before the next election.”
He said that could effectively end the expansion plan since the Conservative Party, which enjoys a healthy lead in opinion polls, opposes construction of a third runway. Britain’s next general election must be held by the middle of next year.
The third-party Liberal Democrats are also against the expansion plan, as is London Mayor Boris Johnson.
“I’d like to see any decisions, or any kind of work, delayed until after the election,” said Goldsmith. “We’re telling any contractors or workers to be very careful about getting involved because the Conservative Party will end this project if it wins.”
Greenpeace posted a notice on its Web site Tuesday urging supporters to sign up to become legal owners of the property on the deeds in a bid to make it more complicated for the British government to take the property or negotiate its purchase.
Authorities in Venezuela have released from prison a young musician who was jailed six weeks ago after taking to social media to vent her frustration against President Nicolás Maduro’s government Karen Palacios blasted the government in a message that went viral after losing her job as top clarinetist in the National Philharmonic.
The leader of Mexican megachurch La Luz del Mundo was ordered held without bail Tuesday on charges of child rape and human trafficking after a historically high $50 million bail was set earlier in the case.
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Unknown Woolard hits jackpot with ‘Notorious’
Jamal Woolard is photographed at The Palm Restaurant in New York on Monday, Jan. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Jim Cooper)
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, The Associated Press
NEW YORK —
When novice thespian Jamal Woolard was picked out of a sea of unknowns to depict one of rap’s most iconic figures – The Notorious B.I.G. – he knew few people had faith in his ability to pull off such a critical role in his first attempt at acting.
“‘He’s a rapper; He ain’t never acted; What are they doing?’” Woolard – a former rapper who went by the name of “Gravy” – recalls hearing when he was cast as the lead in “Notorious.” “But that’s the game. You can’t enter the game without the haters. That’s what drives you to prove them wrong.”
So the 33-year-old embarked on an ambitious and intense boot camp to prepare himself to play the legendary rapper. Woolard put cotton balls in his mouth to affect B.I.G.'s slow, semi-slurred speech; despite being a diabetic, he bulked up his already heft frame of 270 pounds until he tipped the scales at more than 300; he enlisted an acting coach; and he watched acclaimed biopics like “Ray!” “X,” and “Walk the Line” to learn how actors like Jamie Foxx, Denzel Washington and Joaquin Phoenix deftly inhabited the very famous personas they portrayed.
But it wasn’t until he watched the tragic life of delicate French singer Edith Piaf unfold in 2007’s French film “La Vie En Rose” that he felt completely ready to tackle his role as burly Biggie Smalls.
“That right there sent me into my Biggie zone,” says an awe-struck Woolard. “When she called for Marcel – when she cried for the love of her life – That right there? That girl wore that movie out, that’s what really got me on my A-game. I was crying and everything.”
Marion Cotillard’s performance in “La Vie en Rose” not only made her a breakout star but also earned her an Academy Award last year for best actress. While it’s too soon to say if Woolard might follow in Cotillard’s Oscar-winning footsteps, his stunning, spot-on depiction has certainly heralded the arrival of an enthralling new face on the acting scene.
“I hope he continues acting, because he’s got a huge future in it,” says George Tillman Jr., the director of “Notorious.” “His instincts for being in the moment, being there, being in the scene and really feeling it ... right off the bat, he really earned everybody’s respect.”
Woolard hopes to win over not only Hollywood, but fans of the Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie Smalls, when “Notorious” debuts nationally on Friday. The rapper – born Christopher Wallace – is considered to be among the greatest (or the greatest, depending on who you ask) rappers who ever picked up a mic. Wallace was only 24 and was preparing to release just his second album when he was shot to death in Los Angeles in 1997. But in his short career, the Brooklyn-born lyricist changed the rap landscape. A rapper who left behind a life of drug dealing for music, Biggie’s clever wordplay depicted the harsh streets of his Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood and the seemingly hopeless struggles of the streets.
But he was more than a gangsta rapper; though admittedly unattractive with a lazy eye and an oversized frame, he had sex appeal and charisma that oozed into his songs, which appealed to the ladies and club-goers, and also imparted a party vibe into an otherwise bleak world he conveyed on record.
Perhaps Woolard is able to convey the many facets of Biggie because he knew all about the world he came from, growing up not far from the streets where Biggie once hustled. Woolard once dreamed about becoming the next Biggie, and had a promising rap career. He even had a record deal, until he was involved in a 2006 shooting at a New York City radio station that garnered more negative publicity than interest in his career.
“I don’t think that derailed it, I don’t think it was my time,” he said of the incident, which wounded him slightly. “I think that God wanted me to do the acting thing.”
But back when he was struggling in rap, Woolard hadn’t yet had that epiphany. He was spending time in Charlotte, N.C., and while he won’t go into details, says he was headed down the wrong path.
“I was pretty lost. ... Not understanding which way to go,” says Woolard. “That’s the blueprint of the whole movie, to not make the same mistakes that B.I.G. made, and I was really living proof of making those mistakes, I was going down that way.”
But then friends and family heard about Fox Searchlight’s plan to make a Wallace biopic – and cast an unknown as the lead. Though Woolard is hardly a twin of Biggie, his burly frame, his rap skills and the fact that he was from Bed-Stuy made him more qualified than most for the part – with the exception of his lack of acting experience.
That’s what really concerned Tillman when Woolard came in to audition for the role.
But he saw a likability and charm in Woolard that he didn’t find in so many others, and most importantly that swagger that B.I.G. had that made him such a commanding figure. Still, he wasn’t convinced.
Voletta Wallace, on the other hand, was. The mother of Biggie and a producer of the movie, she remarked when he finished his audition, “That’s my son.”
“He walked into this room – he had a certain assurance,” Wallace recalls. “It was an attitude. ... (He had) that mannerism, that whole personality, that Christopher – that smile, that love.”
Woolard felt intense pressure to do Biggie and Ms. Wallace proud, and immersed himself into the role so much that he barely left character, even at home.
“My wife would be like, ‘Who are you right now? Can you turn back into yourself please?’” the affable Woolard recalled during a lunch interview, where he was nattily dressed in a black and white dress shirt and lambs wool black coat.
Woolard was also cognizant of the amazing fortune in winning the role, which kept him focused and hungry: “It’s like winning the Powerball for $374 million. What are the odds?”
And now that he’s got his winning ticket, he doesn’t plan on squandering his fortune. He won’t reveal what his next project is, but says with a smile: “Some big things is comin’.”
And as far as his once fledgling rap career, he’s gotten offers to finally record that CD now that he’s shown his rapping skills in “Notorious.” But he’s ready to let that dream go, for now.
“I think that God wanted me to do the acting thing. That’s why acting is my newfound love. I’ll get to music later. It’s not important to me now.”
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Many Wichita leaders would like another aircraft manufacturer to fill the void, given the suitability of the 2-million-square-foot Boeing site and the skillset of its 2,100 workers.
"We have other companies with needs for a workforce similar to what Boeing has," said Gary Plummer, the president of the Wichita Chamber of Commerce. "There's a good possibility that talent could be absorbed by other companies."
But another potential answer for Wichita is energy, a solution that both Charlotte and Fremont have embraced. And Kansas has one form of energy in abundance: wind.
"It's in the broader national interest to address energy issues, and to create employment," said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who advises policymakers on trade and labor issues. "The ripples of this are quite significant."
The wind energy industry has grown in Kansas in recent years, driven by a desire for energy independence and environmental protection. It has the support of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
"We, as a nation, have been waiting for the moment when a true balance between environmental concerns, economic benefits and energy needs is in view," Brownback wrote in an op-ed in the Wichita Eagle in September. "I believe that moment has arrived."
In October, BP revealed plans to build the state's largest wind farm, an $800 million, 419-megawatt operation that will stretch across four counties.
Wind turbines are made of the same composite materials as aircraft, and the skillsets needed to manufacture them are very similar. "That's one of the targeted industries for south-central Kansas," Plummer said.
Charlotte and Fremont might offer some lessons for a post-Boeing Wichita.
After the 2008 financial crisis nearly took down the banking sector, Charlotte watched one of its hometown banking companies, Wachovia, get swallowed up by San Francisco-based Wells Fargo. Another Charlotte-based company, Bank of America, has struggled with its large exposure to subprime mortgages, and the company is cutting tens of thousands of jobs.
Now, in a fittingly symbolic sign of the change, a gleaming 48-story skyscraper that Wachovia built for itself in Charlotte now is the home of Duke Energy, one of the nation's largest electric utilities.
While Duke may be a traditional energy company, it owns solar and wind projects, including two wind farms in Kansas. And it's surrounded in Charlotte by other companies, such as Siemens and General Electric, that are on the cutting edge of advanced energy technologies, including solar, wind and nuclear.
About 2,500 miles away, on the east side of San Francisco Bay, Fremont's largest employer for a quarter century was NUMMI — New United Motor Manufacturing, a joint operation between General Motors and Toyota that assembled cars and trucks for both companies.
But when GM entered bankruptcy and Toyota faced product recalls and depressed auto sales, they ended their Fremont partnership, closing the last auto assembly plant on the West Coast. Suddenly, almost 5,000 well-paid employees were out of work, and the plant's closure affected thousands more supporting jobs in the region. It couldn't have come at a worse time for California, struggling with high unemployment and a real-estate collapse.
"You have to find the lemonade in the lemons, I guess, but that's not always easy to do," said Nina Moore, the director of government and community affairs for the Fremont Chamber of Commerce.
Two years later, NUMMI will produce cars again — but not Corollas or Tacomas. By mid-2012, it will build luxury electric vehicles for Tesla, a startup founded in 2003 by a group of engineers in Silicon Valley. Although the plant employs less than 500 now, a fraction of what it did under Toyota and GM, it could add more workers if the cars are successful.
"We're working hard to make sure we have a diversified energy base," Moore said. "We think that's a great direction to go in."
But Fremont's transition also illustrates what can go wrong. In August, Solyndra, a solar energy company based in Fremont, went bankrupt, and 1,100 people were laid off. It dealt a big setback to the Obama administration's efforts to promote renewable energy: The Energy Department had backed Solyndra with a $535 million loan guarantee.
While Shaiken thinks more scrutiny should have been applied to Solyndra's business plan, he said the notion of government supporting new technology isn't a bad one if it helps create new jobs.
"You can't minimize risk, but all of the great economic successes tend to have that risk," Shaiken said.
Janet Twomey, an engineering professor at Wichita State University, said more wind energy jobs won't come to Wichita without support from the state. Despite the similarity in materials and manufacturing between aircraft parts and wind turbines, she said, aircraft manufacturers have been reluctant to get into the business because turbines are not as profitable.
"They don't want to commit themselves to the state unless the state is committed to them," Twomey said. "There are lots of opportunities, but is the state willing to put more money into it?"
Also, new industries may not create enough jobs to replace what was lost, and they often don't pay as well. That's true for the laid-off workers in Fremont, Shaiken said.
"Many of them have yet to be re-employed," he said. "Many of those who have found new jobs, it's been at significantly lower pay scales."
It's also true in Charlotte, Plath said, because the banking jobs paid very well, and the city is having to adjust to the lower incomes of the new positions in the energy sector.
"The quality of the jobs you lose is almost always greater than what you gain," he said. "An electrical engineer or nuclear engineer makes a good salary, but not as good as an investment banker."
Whatever the future holds for Wichita, Plummer said that Boeing's departure won't diminish the role of aviation in the city. The industry still employs 25,000 workers in the area at other companies, including Bombardier Learjet, Hawker Beechcraft and Cessna.
But Plummer said the city will "leave no stone unturned" to fill Boeing's void.
"This is a setback, but we'll bounce back," he said.
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Emails show Trump advisers waged covert…
Emails show Trump advisers waged covert influence campaign for pro-Russian Ukraine government
In this file photo, Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort talks to reporters on the floor of the Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena, Sunday, in Cleveland. Emails obtained by The Associated Press shed new light on the activities of a firm run by Donald Trump’s campaign chairman. They show it directly orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine’s ruling political party, attempting to sway American public opinion in favor of the country’s pro-Russian government. Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, never disclosed their work as foreign agents as required under federal law.
By Associated Press, Chad Day and Jeff Horwitz |
WASHINGTON >> Emails obtained by The Associated Press shed new light on the activities of a firm run by Donald Trump’s campaign chairman. They show it directly orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine’s ruling political party, attempting to sway American public opinion in favor of the country’s pro-Russian government.
Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, never disclosed their work as foreign agents between 2012 and 2014 as required under federal law.
The lobbying included attempts to gain positive press coverage of Ukrainian officials in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and AP. Another goal: undercutting American public sympathy for the imprisoned rival of Ukraine’s president.
The men have said they were not doing work that required them to register as foreign agents. Neither commented Thursday.
Chad Day
Jeff Horwitz
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Endonovo Therapeutics Provides Corporate Update and 2018 Outlook >
Endonovo Therapeutics Provides Corporate Update and 2018 Outlook
- Announces Series C Preferred Stock Offering
- Updates Status of Clinical Pipeline in Central Nervous System Disorders
LOS ANGELES, CA, Jan. 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- - Endonovo Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB: ENDV) ("Endonovo" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage developer of non-invasive electroceutical devices for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, has provided a corporate update and outlook for 2018.
Plans to Complete Clinical Trial to Study Effects of tPEMF in Patients with Brain Injury
Endonovo plans to complete a single center, prospective, controlled, clinical trial of tPEMF to evaluate the effects of tPEMF in patients with brain injury and external ventricular drain (EVD) in an intensive care unit (ICU) setting. This clinical study is an extension of a safety trial and will be open to all patients who have or are fitted with an external ventricular drain (EVD) to remove excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
Redesign tPEMF Products for Use in Central Nervous System Disorders
Endonovo plans to redesign tPEMF products for use in CNS disorders in order to make its tPEMF therapy easier to use and increase patient compliance. Endonovo believes that industrial design and engineering of non-invasive electroceutical devices will be a critical component to the precise stimulation of areas in the CNS that require treatment and allow patients to use the therapy in an in-home setting.
Initiate Previously Planned Studies of tPEMF in Post-Concussion Syndrome and Acute Concussions
Endonovo plans to initiate previously planned clinical trials to study the effects of tPEMF in patients with Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS) and Acute Sports-related Concussions upon the redesign of its tPEMF devices for use in CNS disorders.
Initiate Previously Planned Feasibility Study for Use of tPEMF In Patients with Multiple Sclerosis
Endonovo plans to initiate an open-label study of tPEMF treatment in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) that will be used to assess feasibility and tolerability of tPEMF therapy and to generate preliminary data on clinically relevant outcomes.
Pursuing Licensing, Distribution, and Partnership Opportunities for FDA-Cleared Devices
Endonovo plans to commercialize its CE-Marked and FDA-Cleared Electroceutical™ therapy in China, Japan, Korea and other international markets. Endonovo has already initiated dialogue with potential licensees, distributors and joint venture partners in Asia. Endonovo will further look to establish distribution agreements and licenses in the Unites States for cosmetic surgery and orthopedic indications or explore the establishment of its own sales and marketing channels.
Announces Series C Preferred Stock Offering
Endonovo has announced a Senior Secured Series C Preferred Stock Offering (the "Series C Stock") to raise up to $8 million in funding. The Series C Stock is a fixed-price redeemable preferred stock that accrues an 8% dividend per annum paid in quarterly installments. The Series C Stock contains two year warrants to purchase common shares, the number of warrants will be such number as to have an aggregate exercise price equal to 20% of the purchase price of the Series C Stock. The exercise price of the warrants will be the closing price of Endonovo's common stock on the date Endonovo receives fully executed closing documents from purchasers of the Series C Stock and the subscription amount. To date, Endonovo has raised approximately $1 million of the Series C Stock. For more information on the Series C Stock, interested parties can find the Company contact information below.
Management Commentary
"2017 was a pivotal year for Endonovo, which saw the company position itself as a clinical stage developer of non-invasive Electroceutical therapies by acquiring a portfolio of intellectual property, a clinical pipeline in central nervous system disorders, and FDA-Cleared and CE Marked products," said Alan Collier, Co-Founder and CEO of Endonovo Therapeutics.
"Now having completed this acquisition, we are looking to position the company for continued growth by redeeming our outstanding convertible notes and uplisting the company onto a national stock exchange where we can increase shareholder value."
"As we prepare restarting and completing a previously on-going clinical trial to evaluate our non-invasive medical devices in brain injury, we will also work to initiate several previously planned clinical trials to evaluate our Electroceuticals in other CNS disorders."
"The market for CNS therapies currently lacks effective treatments for many CNS disorders, such as traumatic brain injuries and stroke because of the difficulty in delivering efficacious amounts of drugs to the brain. However, our highly differentiated and non-invasive approach is not limited by the blood-brain barrier to deliver our therapy to the central nervous system, which presents a significant opportunity for Endonovo to capture a significant share of the CNS therapeutics market estimated to be worth $128.9 billion by 2025."
2018 Expected Milestones
· Restart clinical trial for tPEMF treatment in patients with brain injury and external ventricular drain (EVD)
· Initiate clinical trial for tPEMF treatment in patients with Post-Concussion Syndrome
· Initiate clinical trial for tPEMF treatment in patients with acute sports-related concussions
· Initiate pilot clinical trial for tPEMF treatment in patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis
· 1-2 license agreements to be signed by the end of 2018
· Uplist the Company's common stock onto a national stock exchange
About Targeted-Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (tPEMF)
Targeted-Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (tPEMF) use radiofrequency waves at 27.12 MHz to deliver electromagnetic energy to tissues. The Company's tPEMF technology works by restoring key electrochemical process that initiate the anti-inflammatory and growth factor cascades necessary for healing to occur. tPEMF technology has been shown to accelerate the production of the endogenous constitutive nitric oxide synthase systems (cNOS): the anti-inflammatory system, resulting in increased blood and lymph flow, and decreased pain and edema.
The Company's tPEMF technology has been evaluated in 5 randomized controlled clinical trials and has demonstrated significant reductions in pain, edema and use of pain medication.
In pre-clinical studies of neuroinflammation and brain injury, the Company's tPEMF technology has demonstrated significant reduction of neuroinflammation, including a 5-fold reduction of IL-1 beta, a master regulator of neuroinflammation, when compared to untreated animals. Furthermore, in pre-clinical studies of angiogenesis (promotion of new blood vessels), the Company's tPEMF technology demonstrated a 500 percent increase in angiogenesis at 8 weeks.
An Overview of the Company's tPEMF Technology can be found in the presentations page on the Investor Section of the Company's website.
About Endonovo Therapeutics
Endonovo Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage developer of non-invasive electroceuticals for the treatment of Central Nervous System (CNS) Disorders, including traumatic brain injury and multiple sclerosis. The Company's non-invasive electroceuticals use targeted-Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (tPEMF) to induce micro-currents in tissues to target proinflammatory, fibrogenic and regenerative signaling pathways for the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, as well as for the treatment of chronic kidney and liver disease. Endonovo Therapeutics' is developing a pipeline of electroceutical-based therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral artery disease, chronic kidney disease, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The Company's tPEMF technology using short wave radiofrequency at 27.12 MHz has been FDA-cleared and has a CE Mark for the treatment of soft tissue injuries and post-operative pain and edema, as well as CMS National Coverage for the treatment of chronic wounds. Endonovo is developing a clinical pipeline using tPEMF for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, including post-concussion syndrome, mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), acute sports-related concussions and multiple sclerosis.
This press release contains information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, trends, analysis, and other information contained in this press release including words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," and other similar expressions of opinion, constitute forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results described within the forward-looking statements. Risk factors that could contribute to such differences include those matters more fully disclosed in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking information provided herein represents the Company's estimates as of the date of the press release, and subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's estimates to change. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking information in the future. Therefore, this forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing the Company's estimates of its future financial performance as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
CONTACT: Endonovo Therapeutics, Inc.
Mr. Michael Mann
mmann@endonovo.com
www.endonovo.com
Endonovo Therapeutics, Inc.
Mr. Steven Barnes
Senior Vice President of Investor Relations
Sbarnes@endonovo.com
Source: Endonovo Therapeutics, Inc.
Investors: Sign Up for Email Alerts on Endonovo
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Syria hotbed of major geopolitical game
Syrian regime supporters carry pictures of President Bashar al-Assad during a protest in the Nabaa neighborhood of Beirut on October 2, 2011 (AFP Photo / Anwar Amro) © AFP
Syria has become caught in the center of a giant geopolitical game that involves the Western powers, Israel, Iran, Lebanon and other global powers. Pushing for the ouster of Bashar Assad, the US is trying to remodel the entire region, observers say.
The West could have used the resolution on Syria as a legal cover for it actions in the Middle East, John Laughland from the Paris-based Institute for Democracy and Co-operation told RT.
“The interest of Syria for the Western powers is great proximity to Israel,” the author and journalist claims, underlining the importance of the geopolitical factor in this case rather than energy interests.
“It [Syria] has been a party in the war against Israel, it’s one of the big opponents of Israeli state,” he explains. “There is an arch Lebanon-Syria-Iran of geopolitical opposition to Israel and to America’s role in the Middle East.”
The regimes that the US and other Western powers are hoping will come to power as a result of the Arab Spring are obviously friendly ones. They want the Middle East to be remodeled along the lines which make the region safe for Israel, Laughland claims.
According to the journalist, Moscow vetoed the resolution on Syria because it “has been very annoyed with NATO, with Britain, France and America for the way they exploited the Libyan resolution on Libya, the one which Russia abstained on and therefore allowed to pass.”
“Russia suffered a defeat over Libya because [it] opposed the policy of regime change but ultimately had to recognize the new regime in Libya,” he argues, explaining that now Moscow feels that “Russia was taken for a ride over Libya and won’t be taken for a ride over Syria.”
On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that two Syrian opposition delegations will come for talks to Moscow in October.
"The veto cast by Russia and China on the UN resolution on Syria reflects the gravity of the situation," Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, the President of the International Movement for a Just World., told RT. "Both Russia and China know that a resolution by the Security Council opens door for military intervention by NATO," he says.
“It would be another attempt to oust an Arab government and replace it with a government which is sympathetic to the larger geopolitical aims of Washington, London, Paris, and other Western countries.”
"Washington is pressing Syrian regime because Bashar Assad’s ouster would allow it change the geopolitics of the entire region," states Dr. Muzaffar.
"First of all, the US views Bashar Assad as a “leader of a resistance state, resisting Israeli agenda in the region,” he explains.
Secondly, Washington wants Assad’s ouster because of his very close ties with Hezbollah, labeled as a terrorist organization by the US.
Thirdly, as the Syrian government has very close ties with Tehran, the removal of Assad would impact Iran, leaving it without a key ally.
Meanwhile, the Russian fact-finding team sent to Syria has discovered that Bashar Assad has been trying to implement some of the reforms," Dr. Muzaffar notes. “But in the situation where there is an armed insurrection against the state it’s difficult to carry out only reforms.”
Dr. Muzaffar underlines that the protest against Bashar Assad comes from two or three cities and not from the two principle cities, Damascus and Aleppo. The majority of population in fact supports Bashar Assad, he concludes.
Russia introduces counter-resolution on Syria
Russia to Syria: Stop violence now!
With Libya still smoldering, Russia rejects UN resolution on Syria
Russia and China veto UN resolution on Syria
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SRF makes two acquisitions
NEW DELHI (Sept. 9, 2008) — Polyester maker SRF Ltd. said it has bought Thai Baroda Industries Ltd. and the belting fabrics business of South Africa-based Industex Technical Textiles (Pty.) Ltd.
Thai Baroda makes dipped nylon cord aimed mainly at the tire industry. It has a capacity of about 12,000 metric tons per year and brings SRF's total tire cord capacity to 65,000 metric tons per year. The firm said this makes it the second largest Nylon 6 tire cord fabric manufacturer in the world. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
SRF acquired the belting fabrics business of Industex for $4.4 million. The South Africa-based company has an annual production capacity of about 3,500 metric tons of belting fabrics with annual sales of about $16 million. With this deal, SRF said it improves its world ranking from the third largest to second largest player in the belting fabrics industry.
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Three GOP Strategeries to Stop Trump
RUSH: So here are the three different strategies that are being bandied about on the Republican side, all focused on stopping Trump. Plan A, sit tight, let things go on as they are and don’t try to influence anything. Rubio sinks or swims on his own, Cruz ditto. They hope that Kasich gets out and Carson, nonfactors, get ’em out soon as they can, but other than that, sit on everything and wait for Trump to implode. Wait for Trump to collapse.
Now, before you Trumpists get all mad at me, I’m just telling you what the establishment strategy is. And I can detect it because I listened to ’em talk last night. You know who’s speaking and where they’re coming from you can put two and two together and get four easily. And when you hear these establishment types say, “Well, you know, Trump is underperforming. Well, you know, Trump’s not nearly as far ahead as what he thought it would be. Well, you know, with every one of these victories, Trump is not expanding his momentum.”
Now, very little of that is actually true. But truth is not what any of this is about, just like truth is very rarely about the outcome in court. This is all about perceptions. It’s all about momentum. It’s all about feelings combined with perceptions and so forth. Because there are still a lot of votes to happen. There’s still a lot of states yet to have their primaries. And so creating impressions and mind-sets — and that’s what strategy A is all about. And, believe me, there are a lot of people in the establishment that are still in complete denial.
They still believe that Trump’s not gonna be in Cleveland. They still think that something’s gonna happen, either he is going to cross a threshold that even his supporters will not stick with him on. Or that he’s gonna quit. Something’s gonna happen and he’s gonna realize he’s not gonna win, he’s gonna quit. Or he’s got some other objective that nobody knows and at some point he’s gonna have met that objective and then quit. I mean, it’s silly, but that’s part and parcel of the first part of the three pronged strategy.
Plan B is to clear the field of everybody but Rubio. They do not want to unify behind Cruz. That would be their smartest move, but they will not do that. Plan B is oriented around getting everybody to drop out and then the party unifying behind a guy who has won one state and did not reach the 20% threshold in a couple of states, meaning he didn’t get any delegates in those states last night. That would be Rubio. And Rubio is the desired candidate because that’s where the moneyed people want to go. He’s closer to the establishment, this whole Gang of Eight business.
Trumpsters think Trump owns this outsider business. Cruz is more of an outsider than you know in terms of the way the Republican establishment disdains him, doesn’t like him, fears him, hates him. He’s so much of what they don’t want. They don’t want conservatism in the party. They don’t want evangelicals prominent in the party. They don’t want anybody talking about Judeo-Christian ethics and morality and conservatism. They’re trying to sweep that out of the party ever since Goldwater.
The third prong of the strategy, keep everybody in so that Trump does not accrue the minimum requirement of 1,237 delegates going into Cleveland. The way that would work is, if that happens, if nobody has 1,237 on the first vote delegates are pledged and pretty much would have to vote the way everybody knows they’re gonna vote because of the primary results. But after that then it’s wide open.
And that point wouldn’t be brokered. Brokered means that powerful people in smoke-filled rooms are denying delegates the right to participate in the process. That wouldn’t be the case. There would be all kinds of horse trading going on and bickering and arguing, Trump included. And if Trump, let’s say he shows up and his 15 or 20 delegates short or 30, he’s gonna say, “I can find those, I can find those, I can get those away from somebody easily.”
But those are the three strategies that the GOP establishment is relying on now. And I don’t know which one they’re gonna decide on. They may decide different factions of all three. And more will become clear as future primaries — there’s another slew of states on Saturday, and then on the 15th of March we have Florida and Ohio. Those are the biggies.
Now, another interesting point about all of this as it relates to delegates, folks, I think after Saturday — I could maybe need to be corrected on this, but at some point very soon all of the remaining primaries are closed, which means Democrats and independents cannot cross over and vote in the Republican primaries. And that is also a factor in the Republican establishment strategy because they are realizing or theorizing that Trump is picking up a lot of votes from leftist, progressive Democrats, liberals, and independents.
They did so in South Carolina, some other states yesterday and last night. But when you get to the closed primaries, one of the examples given of a closed primary is Oklahoma. Oklahoma last night was a closed primary, and Trump lost, so the establishment, “See? See? When it’s just Republicans voting, we can beat Trump.” So they’re realizing on all kinds of hopeful analyses to tell themselves that there are ways to stop Trump here.
RUSH: Now, wait. Before everybody goes and blows a gasket out there, I am gonna be talking about the Cruz victory in Texas and the Cruz victory in Oklahoma. There’s three hours here. So don’t jump to any conclusions. Let me tell you about this closed primary. The next four GOP primaries are closed. There are four of ’em on Saturday, March the 5th. I think it’s 4. Anyway, these four are closed: Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Maine. And remember the establishment theory. Oklahoma: closed primary. Cruz wins; Trump loses.
The establishment theory is that in closed primaries, Republicans only, Trump will not win. This is what they’re telling themselves. Remember their three-pronged strategy here that they’re scratching their own backs with to try to tell themselves they’re still in this and that they haven’t lost anything and they can still prevent Trump from running away with it.
RUSH: This delegate stuff? I have spent… While doing this program, I’ve spent the last 30 minutes going back and forth with people on the delegate count, and they still can’t make me understand it. And I still don’t know what numbers to give you. The New York Times Nate Silver say one thing, but over here something totally different. Politico’s got another… (interruption) Politico what? (interruption) Same as the New York Times? Well, I hate that the New York Times may have it right. Oh, no.
RUSH: By the way, a big, big, big announcement moments ago that Mitt Romney is going to have a big, big, big, big, big announcement tomorrow. And Mitt Romney gonna make a big, big, big, big, major speech tomorrow. However, we’re also told that Mitt Romney is not going to enter the race. Mitt Romney is not gonna announce himself as a candidate. By the way, one of the strategies, the three-pronged strategies that I mentioned to you is just wait it out and hope that Trump doesn’t get to 1,237. There’s another part of that strategy, and that is Romney, if it looks like that might happen, Romney enter the race at the end, like before the California primary, and go in there and actually having contested as a candidate and then the party unites and coalesces around Romney.
I kid you not. This is an establishment dream. There are some in the Republican Party to whom that is the solution. It boggles the mind. They’re gonna send Romney out there to ring the warning bell? These guys are saying, “We’re all in danger of losing the Republican Party, Rush. Do you realize what’s happening here? The party gonna be blown up if we don’t stop Trump, the party’s over, we gotta stop Trump.”
I watch this, I say, “Well, you guys are the ones that tell your base that they’re not wanted, not needed or whatever. But of all people to send out this warning?” You know, they make this job tough. To describe what they’re doing, you can’t avoid sounding mean, unbelieving, whatever. It’s really hard. Why don’t they send McCain out? Why don’t they send Dole out? Why don’t they send Christine Todd Whitman? Who else have they got? I’m joking. I’m trying to make a point here. It doesn’t matter who they send out. If they send somebody out from the establishment warning we’re about to lose the party everybody’s gonna shout, “No, no, ‘you’ are losing the party, and you may have already lost it. Don’t blame us.”
RushLimbaugh.com: Trump Schools the Political Professionals - 02.22.16
RushLimbaugh.com: The Elites Won't Figure Out the Trump Phenomenon Until They're Honest with Themselves About What They've Done - 03.01.16
Politico: The Media's Trump Reckoning: 'Everyone Was Wrong'
Washington Times: TrumpÂ’s Winning Streak Baffles GOP Losing Club for Losers
CBS: Mitt Romney to Speak on State of 2016 Race Thursday
RushLimbaugh.com: Trump's Running a General Election Campaign He's Been Planning for Years - 03.02.16
RushLimbaugh.com: Mitt Tries to Talk America Out of Trump - 03.03.16
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Alana Beard details who’s toughest in WNBA to guard
One WNBA team has the toughest duo to guard
Alana Beard details who’s toughest in WNBA to guard One WNBA team has the toughest duo to guard Check out this story on shreveporttimes.com: https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/sports/2018/11/24/alana-beard-details-whos-toughest-wnba-guard/2101139002/
Jimmy Watson, Shreveport Times Published 12:16 p.m. CT Nov. 24, 2018 | Updated 4:36 p.m. CT Nov. 24, 2018
Los Angeles Sparks guard Alana Beard takes a break during a team workout.(Photo: Los Angeles Sparks)
Throughout her 14-year WNBA career, Los Angeles Sparks guard/forward Alana Beard has been her team’s defensive stopper. It’s due to some crafty elements learned from former Southwood coach Steve McDowell enhanced by some God-given talents.
Now 36 years old and in the twilight of her basketball career, Beard is still earning accolades for her ability to shut down high scoring opponents. Just a couple of months ago, she was named the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year for a second consecutive season.
“Nothing makes me madder than someone scoring on me,” Beard told The Times in a recent interview. “But if they do, I want them taking the toughest shot possible.”
So, who does the best defender in the country find as the toughest offensive standouts to guard?
WNBA guard Alana Beard talks about why she's at the Shreveport YMCA. Jimmy Watson, jwatson@shreveporttimes.com
“Of course, the top players in the league -- Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore. And Dallas always gives me a tough time,” Beard said. “All of their guards because they play unconsciously.”
Beard said that with Taurasi and Moore, she knows exactly what they’re gonna do.
“It’s just a matter of making it hard for them to do it. And being in a mindset you can’t give them any space or make mistakes defending them. There’s no room for error,” she said. “With the Dallas guards, you don’t know what they’re gonna do – they just like to score. I can watch film on them all day – whether it’s going left or right – you just don’t know.”
WNBA’s Alana Beard overcomes ‘most insane experience of my life’
Taurasi likes to come off a curl and put up a shot.
“If she doesn’t have a shot, you want to put her into congestion,” Beard said. “With Maya Moore, you want to force her left because everything she does is coming off her right hand. She takes one or two dribbles max.''
But with the Dallas guards: “These kids, they dribble between their legs 10 times.”
Currently a free agent for what seems like the umpteenth time, Beard hasn’t committed to returning to the Sparks, although that’s one of her options. Winning the DPOY award gives her more fodder for an incredible resume.
“I’m super honored to be recognized as the best defender,” she said. “As we all know, it’s based on media and what they see.”
The WNBA's Alana Beard talks with a reporter at the Shreveport YMCA during a recent visit to Shreveport. (Photo: Jimmy Watson/The Times)
Naturally, Beard attributes her success to being surrounded by one of the best talent groups in the WNBA. And she’s fortunate that she’s allowed to be a defender first.
“I have one true goal or assignment, and that’s to play defense. I don’t to have to necessarily focus on the offensive end as much as other players do,” Beard said. “With that, I take pride in it. I understand my job is to defend the best player and that’s what I get up for every single night. That motivates me.”
With Beard leading the way, the Sparks finished first in points allowed (77.0) each game, were first in steals per game (7.94) and were second in defensive rating at 98.7 points per 100 possessions. Beard was fourth in both steals per game (1.47 and steal percentage despite routinely guarding the opponent’s top scorer.
She held the majority of her opponents to season lows in scoring and shooting percentage, according to a WNBA release.
Twitter: @JimmyWatson6
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Cowboys to host Seahawks in prime-time playoff affair
With opening-round bye, New Orleans Saints will wait for one of three teams to visit the Dome.
Cowboys to host Seahawks in prime-time playoff affair With opening-round bye, New Orleans Saints will wait for one of three teams to visit the Dome. Check out this story on shreveporttimes.com: https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2018/12/30/cowboys-host-seahawks-prime-time-playoff-affair/2447292002/
Roy Lang III, Shreveport Times Published 8:44 p.m. CT Dec. 30, 2018 | Updated 10:31 p.m. CT Dec. 30, 2018
Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott and the Cowboys won six of seven games to earn the NFC East title. Roy Lang III
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott looks to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants Sunday, Dec. 30, 2018, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)(Photo: Frank Franklin II, AP)
The NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys (10-6) will host the Seattle Seahawks (10-6) on Saturday night (7:15 p.m.) at AT&T Stadium as part of Wild-Card Weekend.
In Week 3, the Seahawks defeated the Cowboys, 24-13, in Seattle.
The New Orleans Saints (13-3), the No. 1 seed in the NFC, will have a bye in Round 1, but know they will play one of three teams in the divisional round (Jan. 13, 3:40 p.m.).
Should third-seeded Chicago Bears (12-4) defeat the Philadelphia Eagles (9-7), the Saints will play the winner of the Cowboys-Seahawks game. An Eagles victory in Chicago would earn a trip to New Orleans for the defending Super Bowl champions.
3:35 p.m. -- Indianapolis at Houston (ESPN)
7:15 p.m. – Seattle at Dallas (FOX)
12:05 p.m. – Los Angeles Chargers at Baltimore (CBS)
3:40 p.m. – Philadelphia at Chicago (NBC)
Twitter: @RoyLangIII
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2014 OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR AWARD
Honoring Aristotle Georgiades
<<< Return to Educator Award page
On May 15, 2014, Aristotle Georgiades, Professor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was awarded the prestigious International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Educator Award for 2014. The ceremony presentation was held in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts Institute annual Awards in the Creative Arts reception, which recognizes deserving individuals in the field of student achievement, outreach, faculty research, alumni achievement, and faculty achievement.
Many of Aristotle’s friends, colleagues, former students, and fellow award recipients were there to support and witness him receive the award and congratulate him on his many exceptional achievements of his career as both educator and artist.
Presentation of the award was given by the ISC Executive Director, Johannah Hutchison, who spoke about the importance of the Outstanding Educator Award program and recognizing deserving educator-artists. After the ceremony, guests enjoyed refreshments and reconnected with friends and colleagues who have all had the privilege of working with Aristotle. Upon reflecting on receiving the award, Aristotle later mentioned “I am so humbled to receive the educator award. Although many of us work hard to keep a professional career going for me I consider it my job and my responsibility as an artist citizen to help my students”
Aristotle Georgiades was nominated for the Outstanding Educator Award by colleague and former student Dave Beck, who wrote “I take great pride in writing this letter of nomination for Aris Georgiades, who I have had as a mentor, friend, and colleague for the last nine years. I was a studio art graduate student at UW-Madison from 2004-2007, and studied extensively under Aris…What Aris has done with the sculpture department at UW-Madison is nothing short of phenomenal. Due largely in part to his hard work and dedication to the students, the sculpture area continues to be without a doubt the most successful in the UW-Madison Art Department…”
Mr. Georgiades has been a faculty member in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Art since 1999, and has been teaching sculpture since 1993. Professor Georgiades is originally from Pittsburgh, PA. He is a sculptor and public artist who works on projects individually and as part of Actual Size Artworks, a collaborative team. He has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from University of Michigan. He has exhibited his sculptural works nationally and internationally for over twenty years including a recent solo show at Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago. Professor Georgiades has had many reviews of his work in various publications including Art In America, Sculpture Magazine and The Chicago Tribune.
The ISC established the Outstanding Educator Award program in 1996 to recognize individual artist-educators who have excelled at teaching sculpture in institutions of higher learning. An exemplary career combining personal studio practice and measurable academic performance form the evaluative basis of this award. The 2014 Outstanding Educator Award program resulted in an exceptional number of faculty nominations from thirty-three (33) institutions of higher learning from six (6) countries. The unanimous selection of Aristotle Georgiades as the award recipient was made from this large pool of applicants and is a testament to the dedication and excellence demonstrated by this artist/educator.
For more information about the Outstanding Educator Award click here.
To read an article about Aristotle Georgiades in the October 2014 issue of Sculpture magazine, click here
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Joanne Ward elected to leadership role
STRATHAM — At the 21st Annual State Directors’ and 11th Biennial First Term Legislators’ Conference in St. Pete Beach, Fla., Women In Government congratulated newly-reelected state representative Joanne Ward R-Stratham, who was in attendance.
“Women In Government congratulates Joanne Ward on her recent inauguration to the New Hampshire state legislature. Women legislators play a critical role in effecting sound policy within their communities and beyond,” said Dyan Alexander, Executive Director of Women In Government. “ Joanne Ward is a recognized leader in her state, and we are excited that she was able to attend and share her leadership skills with other women policymakers throughout the country.”
“Being able to participate with legislators from around the country was an invaluable experience. The policy presentations will serve as a basis for important legislation in this term. Trending issues across the country, are similar in many states, for example, energy costs, substance addiction, job creation, the ever increasing costs of health care and the cost of government. As a member of the Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs I would particularly like to keep working around the issues of substance addiction. Our state is losing too many young people to addictions,” Representative Ward said.
At the 21st Annual State Directors’ Conference, women state legislators heard from expert speakers on a variety of public policy topics and their impact on states. Topics included developing energy diversity, the role of nutrition in healthy aging, methods for creating opportunities for families, diabetes prevention and awareness, and many others. This meeting also provided attendees with the opportunity to network with colleagues across state borders and share best practices to advance successful public policies.
For more information, visit www.womeningovernment.org.
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Alaska gears up for new round of Pebble Mine fight
Steve Bittenbender
As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers removing limitations against a proposed mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, opponents of the measure are making their stances known.
With less than a week before the EPA’s 17 October deadline for public comment, more than 40 Democratic House and Senate members sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to maintain Clean Water Act restrictions against the proposed copper and gold mine in the southeastern part of the state. In addition, a group of business leaders formed a coalition that pledges to defend the fishing industry it says would be harmed by the mine.
“Bristol Bay’s sustainable salmon resource is the foundation of our region’s economy, food security, and culture,” said Norm Van Vactor, president of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation in a statement released by Businesses for Bristol Bay. “The proposed Pebble Mine threatens all of this and would only provide a limited number of jobs for a limited number of years. It’s not worth the risk to the people, fishermen, and businesses of Bristol Bay. Our region has said it before and we’ll keep saying it – the Pebble Mine is the wrong mine in the wrong place."
In July 2014, the Obama administration imposed regulations against the proposed mining project. Developers filed suit in response. Now, with a new administration in place, the EPA announced it is reconsidering the matter after the two sides announced a settlement agreement on 11 May.
“The agreement will not guarantee or prejudge a particular outcome, but will provide Pebble a fair process for their permit application and help steer EPA away from costly and time-consuming litigation,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said. “We are committed to listening to all voices as this process unfolds.”
While developers tout the mine’s economic impact and say it would cover about one percent of the bay region’s watershed area, opponents point to the USD 1.5 billion (EUR 1.3 billion) economic impact and the 20,000 jobs created by the fishing industry there. The region is home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery and one of the largest Chinook fisheries.
“The Pebble Mine directly threatens our maritime economy and thousands of American jobs that rely on this world class fishery,” wrote the Democratic lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) and U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California). “We ask you to listen to America’s fishermen and businesses and reverse EPA’s decision to undo strong protections and clean water safeguards in Bristol Bay.”
The last of two public hearings in Alaska is scheduled for today. After the public comment ends, the EPA will decide whether to rescind the regulations.
Tom Collier, CEO for the Pebble Partnership, has stated he believes the EPA will overturn the previous decision.
“We are very pleased with this positive step from the EPA in its return to fair and normal process for making regulatory decisions,” Collier said in July statement.
@freelancehack
Alaska Superior Court dismisses lawsuit against BBRSDA
Patagonia, Whole Foods, and others speak out against Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay
Pebble Mine developer finances lawsuit against BBRSDA
Proposed environmental rule changes threaten fish spawning areas in Alaska
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And his friend causing cellulitis
Evolution (Core) by Stephen Taylor 75878 views
Classification (IB Biology) by Stephen Taylor 192260 views
Manipulative Skills Assessment by Stephen Taylor 23862 views
Reproduction (Core) by Stephen Taylor 100911 views
Essential Biology 03.2 Carbohydrate... by Stephen Taylor 103118 views
Organic or Inorganic? by Stephen Taylor 160763 views
And his friend causing cellulitis Development of resistant Staphylococcus aureus over time
Tim Plante
And his friend causing cellulitis died!
License: CC Attribution-NonCommercial License
desenomofi
2 days ago Reply
ADUWARD at ADUWARD
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JoyWairimu1
JasiJasiya
Dr Saikat Saha , Maxillofacial Surgeon at Maxfac
Prasad Wawre
DrPoojaPanchal
Development of antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus over time Attacks and Defenses Course University of Vermont College of Medicine January 2011 Timothy Plante, MS-IV
About This is a presentation that I made my senior year in medical school for an infectious disease course at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. It was picked up by BoingBoing.net and was viewed by quite a few folks on the internet.
About This is a presentation that I made my senior year in medical school for an infectious disease course at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. It was picked up by BoingBoing.net and was viewed by quite a few folks on the internet. I had a lot of fun making this. Enjoy!
Once upon a time there was a bacterium. All of his bacteria friends thought he was pretty good looking.
They would comment on how nice his gold color was. Once upon a time there was a bacterium. All of his bacteria friends thought he was pretty good looking.
Once upon a time there was a bacterium. All of his bacteria friends thought he was pretty good looking. And because of that, he was named staph aureus as auro is the Latin word for gold. They would comment on how nice his gold color was.
Here’s staph aureus’ nice thick peptidoglycan wall!
Here he is in his towel returning from the Gram Stain water park! His peptidoglycan layer got darkly stained.
Look! He’s all purple! That’s why he’s called gram positive. Here he is in his towel returning from the Gram Stain water park! His peptidoglycan layer got darkly stained.
Staph aureus likes to live on your body with his friends. The best way is in clusters! Skin! In your nares!
He has a kitty named Catalase.
Catalase is a little strange
as she only eats hydrogen peroxide H2O2
and only pees out H2O and O2. H2O2
H2O2 O2
H2O2 O2 Good kitty.
One day, staph aureus went for a hike and came across some fungus. It was called Penicillum.
As he got close, he started feeling funny. Lets find out why…
O COOH R
membrane Peptidoglycan layer O COOH R Penicillin! Transpeptidase (penicillin binding protein)
membrane Peptidoglycan layer O COOH R Penicillin!
membrane O COOH R Penicillin!
And then he died.
But for other staph aureus bacteria, this wasn’t much of a problem because they didn’t run into penicillium when they were hanging out in the skin or nares. They had a pretty fun life!
Sometimes they had a little too much fun and would cause infections Like crusty superficial infections of the skin in kids called impetigo
Sometimes they would hang out in food and release cytolytic toxins that make people sick. Food
Or would sneak into places where they shouldn’t by breaking down a component of collagen and the extracellular matrix, hyaluronic acid, with hyaluronidase!
hyaluronidase Or would sneak into places where they shouldn’t by breaking down a component of collagen and the extracellular matrix, hyaluronic acid, with hyaluronidase!
He was very good at hide and seek whenever red blood cells were around.
He’d just release coagulase and they form a clot around him
And with just a little staphylokinase, the clot would break up!
And then just for fun, he’d blow up the red blood cells.
Researchers one day would find that he and his friends strep pyogenes and strep agalactidae did this so well on a blood agar plate that they would be able to be identified by their complete hemolysis, a pattern we call beta hemolysis!
Beta’s the best! Researchers one day would find that he and his friends strep pyogenes and strep agalactidae did this so well on a blood agar plate that they would be able to be identified by their complete hemolysis, a pattern we call beta hemolysis!
Every once and a while a white blood cell would try to pick on him
And would try to eat him
But he’d prevent being phagocytosed
With his nice polysaccharide slime layer and protein-A on his surface.
Then he’d blow up the white blood cell with leukocidin!
T S S When he was feeling really mean, he’d release a superantigen toxin T S S
When he was feeling really mean, he’d release a superantigen toxin Like TSS-1 and cause toxic shock syndrome!
When he was feeling really mean, he’d release a superantigen toxin Like TSS-1 and cause toxic shock syndrome! All of the lymphocytes would cause inflammation even though TSS-1 isn’t the antigen they’re supposed to react to!
When he was feeling really mean, he’d release a superantigen toxin And people would get fever, low blood pressure, and a blanching rash that looked like a sunburn! Like TSS-1 and cause toxic shock syndrome! All of the lymphocytes would cause inflammation even though TSS-1 isn’t the antigen they’re supposed to react to!
But all in all, as long as he stayed away from the Penicillum fungus, there wasn’t too much to worry about!
Until one day when he was innocently hanging out in a joint having a bit of fun…
Until one day when he was innocently hanging out in a joint having a bit of fun… When he started feeling funny.
And he died.
But not just him! His friend causing endocarditis died!
And his friends causing impetigo died!
Penicillin! How could this be?
Penicillin! How could this be? It seems someone figured out how to extract the active compound from the penicillum fungus and make it to a drug! O COOH R
So now staph aureus was dying left and right! Anytime they got out of control, they were taken down with some penicillin.
Until one day...
Until one day… One staph aureus didn’t seem bothered by the penicillin!
Let’s see why…
Well those are new! What do they do?
membrane Peptidoglycan layer O Uh oh, here comes Penicillin!
membrane Peptidoglycan layer O What’s going on here?
membrane Peptidoglycan layer O The beta lactam ring is broken! This is a beta- lactamase.
membrane Peptidoglycan layer O
membrane Peptidoglycan layer And since the lactamase has been used, more is produced.
So this little staph aureus is resistant to beta lactam drugs like penicillin and amoxicillin!
But what about the others?
aah-CHOO!
A virus that infects bacteria, a bacteriophage!
A virus that infects bacteria, a bacteriophage! And it’s injecting its genome.
A virus that infects bacteria, a bacteriophage! And it’s injecting its genome. Along with the beta- lactamase gene from the resistant staph aureus!
Now he’s resistant too!
And pretty soon the bacteriophage spread the resistance to almost all of the staph aureus all over the developed world!
Resistant staph aureus can be around with penicillum without worry.
Resistant staph aureus can be around with penicillum without worry. He lives wherever he pleases! The penicillin does nothing anymore.
Until one day…
membrane O COOH
membrane O COOH It’s clavulanate, a beta lactamase inhibitor!
membrane O COOH It’s clavulanate, a beta lactamase inhibitor! It destroys the beta lactamase with its suicide beta lactam ring. It does not trigger increased production of beta lactamase!
membrane O COOH It destroys the beta lactamase with its suicide beta lactam ring. It does not trigger increased production of beta lactamase! COOH And now a penicillin analogue like amoxicillin can come in and do its job. It’s clavulanate, a beta lactamase inhibitor!
O COOH It destroys the beta lactamase with its suicide beta lactam ring. It does not trigger increased production of beta lactamase! COOH And now a penicillin analogue like amoxicillin can come in and do its job. It’s clavulanate, a beta lactamase inhibitor!
But as long as there are no beta-lactamase inhibitors, they’ll still be resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics, right?
Wrong. But as long as there are no beta-lactamase inhibitors, they’ll still be resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics, right?
membrane O COOH What’s this? It looks like penicillin except with a funny new side chain.
membrane O COOH What’s this? It looks like penicillin except with a funny new side chain. It’s a synthetic penicillin, methicillin (we learned about its cousin nafcillin in class).
membrane O COOH What’s this? It looks like penicillin except with a funny new side chain. And now the beta lactamase can’t reach the beta lactam ring to do its job. It’s a synthetic penicillin, methicillin (we learned about its cousin nafcillin in class).
membrane O COOH What’s this? It looks like penicillin except with a funny new side chain. It’s a synthetic penicillin, methicillin (we learned about its cousin nafcillin in class). And now the beta lactamase can’t reach the beta lactam ring to do its job.
O COOH What’s this? It looks like penicillin except with a funny new side chain. It’s a synthetic penicillin, methicillin (we learned about its cousin nafcillin in class). And now the beta lactamase can’t reach the beta lactam ring to do its job.
This staph aureus was taken out by a different drug entirely!
membrane O COOH Look! A celphalosporin! It’s a new drug with the structure of a penicillin except...
membrane O COOH Look! A celphalosporin! It’s a new drug with the structure of a penicillin except... It has one more carbon. Look, a six- carbon ring!
membrane O COOH Look! A celphalosporin! It’s a new drug with the structure of a penicillin except... Along with its hydrogen atoms. It has one more carbon. Look, a six- carbon ring! HH
membrane O COOH Look! A celphalosporin! It’s a new drug with the structure of a penicillin except... It has one more carbon. Look, a six- carbon ring! HH Along with its hydrogen atoms.
membrane O COOH Look! A celphalosporin! It’s a new drug with the structure of a penicillin except... It has one more carbon. Look, a six- carbon ring! The beta lactamase no longer fits. The cephalosporin will chop up the wall just like penicillin! HH Along with its hydrogen atoms.
membrane O COOH Look! A celphalosporin! It’s a new drug with the structure of a penicillin except... It has one more carbon. Look, a six- carbon ring! The beta lactamase no longer fits. The cephalosporin will chop up the wall just like penicillin! Along with its hydrogen atoms.
O COOH The beta lactamase no longer fits. The cephalosporin will chop up the wall just like penicillin! Look! A celphalosporin! It’s a new drug with the structure of a penicillin except... It has one more carbon. Look, a six- carbon ring! Along with its hydrogen atoms.
Over time some staph aureus bacteria have developed new things like the beta lactamases that will chop up synthetic penicillins like methicillin or nafcillin O COO
Over time some staph aureus bacteria have developed new things like the beta lactamases that will chop up synthetic penicillins like methicillin or nafcillin or the cephalosporins. O COO O COO
So researchers will add more modifications to make the bacterial weaponry no longer work. O COO O COO
And bacteria will again come up with ways to chop up these drugs. And so on. O COO O COO
After a long enough time, one particular staph aureus underwent a very strange mutation.
Let’s take a closer look… After a long enough time, one particular staph aureus underwent a very strange mutation.
membrane It looks like the transpeptidase, also known as the penicillin binding protein, has changed!
membrane It looks like the transpeptidase, also known as the penicillin binding protein, has changed! O O COOH Now cephalosporins and synthetic penicillins like methicillin have nothing to attack.
membrane It looks like the transpeptidase, also known as the penicillin binding protein, has changed! O O COOH Now cephalosporins and synthetic penicillins like methicillin have nothing to attack. And because of that, it’s a methicillin resistant staph aureus or MRSA.
If we were to look at his DNA, we’d find that he has something called the MecA gene. DNA MecA It means that all of his offspring will also have this gene.
If we were to look at his DNA, we’d find that he has something called the MecA gene. It means that all of his offspring will also have this gene.
But the MecA gene slows him down! He’ll be outgrown every time by plain-old methicillin susceptible staph aureus (MSSA).
O O COOH
O O COOH Unless there are antibiotics like methicillin or cephalosporins around.
Just for that reason, MRSA loves to live in hospitals!
So if people are in the hospital for long enough, they’ll often get colonized by MRSA. For that, he is known as hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA).
But as soon after they get home, they get recolonized by MSSA.
And up until recently HA-MRSA stayed in and around hospitals.
And up until recently HA-MRSA stayed in and around hospitals. Until one day…
DNA MecA One particular MRSA developed a smaller and more efficient MecA gene.
And can now compete with MSSA out in the community.
O O COOH But is still resistant to the beta lactam drugs!
Now a good amount of the population in the community is colonized with this new, competitive MRSA, known as community- acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA).
Now a good amount of the population in the community is colonized with this new, competitive MRSA, known as community- acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA). There are a few classes of other antibiotics out there which work on other bacterial targets to beat HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA. Resistance against these drugs is slowly but surely emerging.
One thing’s for sure, Staph aureus and Catalase will be around for a long, long time.
The end. One thing’s for sure, Staph aureus and Catalase will be around for a long, long time.
Test Prep: PSAT
Common Core: Exploring K-12 Standards
Evolution (Core)
Stephen Taylor
Classification (IB Biology)
Manipulative Skills Assessment
Reproduction (Core)
Essential Biology 03.2 Carbohydrates, Lipids and Proteins
Organic or Inorganic?
Command Terms in IB Biology
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Global Partnerships and Alliances Key to Industrial Biotechnology Futures
Key drivers behind new partnerships and alliances in industrial biotechnology will be the need to access raw materials and technology at the required cost and amount and exposure to diversified markets.
The Future of Alliances and Partnerships in Industrial Biotechnology to 2023 contains details of the competitive biotechnology landscape and quantitative forecasts until 2023, as well as details of emerging markets. It includes extensive primary research, and reveals what will be essential for the dynamic biotechnology industry in years to come.
Access to raw materials and technology will require an international market to be established, with material flows between large producers in developing countries and end users in both developed and developing countries. The countries and regions with the highest production potential, mainly tropical countries in South America, East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, do not coincide with those where demand exists, which is primarily concentrated in more developed countries. Distant industries will have to be integrated and learn how to utilize new value chains of global dimensions. One of the major existing challenges of industrial biotechnology is the formation of these new value chains connecting the production of biomass, energy and chemicals.
According to Smithers Rapra, the value chain involves a number of contract relationships, such as contracts with feedstock growers, supply contracts of biorefineries with biomass suppliers, contracts of producers of bio-based products with transforming industries or end-users. These relationships will be dependent on the development of new technologies and processes, and intersect throughout the supply chain, from research and development to commercialization.
The unprecedented dynamism in the development of innovative biotechnologies and their potential to meet unfulfilled market demands is also pushing large companies to fill the gaps in their IP-portfolio. This is providing emerging projects and companies with the opportunities for earlier involvement with large companies that may share the financial investment of technology development, help in product development, and provide the means to carry out the required industrial scale demonstration.
Access to the necessary amounts of raw material is increasingly triggering partnerships between the agro-industry and the chemical industry. Since globalization is allowing the flow of raw materials to be almost as dynamic as the flow of knowledge, alliances will increasingly involve companies from different continents.
Smithers Rapra predicts that the industrial biotech markets will grow on average around 20% per year until 2020, as industrial biotechnology is regarded as being more predictable and less risky from an investment point of view than pharmaceutical biotechnology.
The Future of Alliances and Partnerships in Industrial Biotechnology to 2023 is available to purchase online, and access immediately. It is £3950/$6300, but is discounted 10% by ordering before September 27. The report will also be available onsite at EFIB 2013, September 30-October 2 in Brussels.
To find out more about the report and how your company can benefit, please contact: Bill Allen ballen@smithers.com +44 (0) 1372802086 and Brian Santos bsantos@smithers.com +1 207-781-9618
The Future of Alliances and Partnerships in Industrial Biotechnology to 2023
This Industrial Biotechnology partnerships market study maps the competitive landscape, examines alliances and forecasts developments to 2023.
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Moti Extradition Referred to as "Abduction"
Julian Moti, during his arrest in Honiara.
Source: smh.com.au
Thursday, 04 August 2011 08:54 AM
The Australian High Court has been told that the removal of former Solomon Islands attorney-general Julian Moti to Australia to face sex abuse charges was effectively an abduction.
Julian Moti, who is an Australian citizen, is alleged to have committed the offences in Vanuatu and New Caledonia in 1997.
Early attempts to extradite him from the Solomons failed, and he was eventually deported in 2007 accompanied by two Solomon Islands officials.
But when he faced the charges in Australia he was granted a stay on the basis that Australian authorities had given the complainant and her family financial support.
That was later overturned and Moti has asked the High Court to intervene.
His lawyers have told the court the original ruling should stand.
The court has also heard evidence that an email about the removal of Moti shows coordination between authorities of the two countries to get Moti to Brisbane so he could be charged.
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Local leaders pleased by Jordan’s cabinet position
Published: Jan 29 at 3:04 p.m.
South Shore-St. Margarets MP Bernadette Jordan was named minister of rural economic development during the most recent cabinet shuffle.
MP named minister of rural economic development
South Shore-St. Margarets MP Bernadette Jordan is Nova Scotia’s newest federal minister.
The appointment is one that has been met by enthusiasm amongst municipal leaders across the South Shore; Jordan was named minister of rural economic development during the most recent cabinet shuffle.
David Dagley, mayor for the Region of Queens Municipality, said he is pleased by the results of the federal shuffle.
“It should be much to the benefit of the South Shore,” he said. “Bernadette has been very supportive of our activities in the Region of Queens and has done, in cooperation with her staff, all that we could ask in our area.”
Dagley added that Jordan will have a greater accessibility to other ministers and as a minister herself, will be able to help tackle issues like rural internet for her constituents.
“Rural internet is a major concern,” he said, noting that the municipality is working on improving connectivity throughout the region.
Penny Smith, warden for the Municipality of the District of Shelburne, said Jordan brings a wealth of experience to her new department.
“She has a deep appreciation and understanding of the challenges faced by rural municipalities and we are confident she will continue to be a strong voice for the development and growth of rural Nova Scotia and rural Canada,” said Smith.
Smith also noted that Jordan has been a trailblazer in politics, having been the first woman federally elected in her riding and the first minister of her new department.
Moving forward, Smith said she hopes to work with Jordan on improving internet and negotiating funds for a new municipal building.
“In her new role, Minister Jordan can support our efforts, remove and eliminate the red tape and make funds available so that we can move forward with our broadband internet projects,” she said.
Lastly, Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell also expressed his excitement at the announcement.
The move, he said, would benefit both Jordan’s riding and rural communities across the country.
“Bernadette understands rural communities and the challenges they face,” explained Mitchell.
“I believe her community involvement, including her time at the local paper and the health services foundation over many years is a huge asset in her new role.”
Mitchell noted that the challenges in Jordan’s riding are the same challenges she will attempt to address as minister of rural economic development.
“I believe it’s good to have a minister in your riding be it at the provincial or federal level,” he said.
Funding for beautification program in Shelburne helping to make a difference
Published Jul 09, 2019 at 12:48 p.m.
The apple wave: new cidery opening in Lunenburg
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White House Extends Transition Relief for Non-Compliant Plans through 2018
Blog post • February 27, 2017
On February 23, 2017, the White House announced a one-year extension to the transition policy (originally announced November 14, 2013 and extended several times since) for individual and small group health plans that allows issuers to continue policies that do not meet ACA standards. This transition policy has now been extended to policy years beginning on or before October 1, 2018, provided that all policies end by December 31, 2018. This means individuals and small businesses may be able to keep their non-ACA compliant coverage through the end of 2018, depending on the policy year. Carriers may have the option to implement policy years that are shorter than 12 months or allow early renewals with a January 1, 2018 start date in order to take full advantage of the extension.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes key reforms that create new coverage standards for health insurance policies. For example, the ACA imposes modified community rating standards and requires individual and small group policies to cover a comprehensive set of benefits.
Millions of Americans received notices in late 2013 informing them that their health insurance plans were being canceled because they did not comply with the ACA’s reforms. Responding to pressure from consumers and Congress, on Nov. 14, 2013, President Obama announced a transition relief policy for 2014 for non-grandfathered coverage in the small group and individual health insurance markets. If permitted by their states, the transition policy gives health insurance issuers the option of renewing current policies for current enrollees without adopting all of the ACA’s market reforms.
Transition Relief Policy
Under the original transitional policy, health insurance coverage in the individual or small group market that is renewed for a policy year starting between Jan. 1, 2014, and Oct. 1, 2014 (and associated group health plans of small businesses), will not be out of compliance with specified ACA reforms. These plans are referred to as “grandmothered” plans.
Also, to qualify for the transition relief, issuers must send a notice to all individuals and small businesses that received a cancellation or termination notice with respect to the coverage (or to all individuals and small businesses that would otherwise receive a cancellation or termination notice with respect to the coverage).
The transition relief only applies with respect to individuals and small businesses with coverage that was in effect since 2014. It does not apply with respect to individuals and small businesses that obtain new coverage after 2014. All new plans must comply with the full set of ACA reforms.
One-year Extension
According to HHS, the extension will ensure that consumers have multiple health insurance coverage options, and that states continue to have flexibility in their markets. Also, like the original transition relief, issuers that renew coverage under the extended transition relief must, for each policy year, provide a notice to affected individuals and small businesses.
Under the transition relief extension, at the option of the states, issuers that have issued policies under the transitional relief in 2014 may renew these policies at any time through October 1, 2018, and affected individuals and small businesses may choose to re-enroll in the coverage through October 1, 2018. Policies that are renewed under the extended transition relief will not be considered to be out of compliance with the following ACA reforms:
community premium rating standards, so consumers might be charged more based on factors such as gender or a pre-existing medical condition, and it might not comply with rules limiting age banding (PHS Act section 2701);
guaranteed availability and renewability (PHS Act sections 2702 & 2703);
if the coverage is an individual market policy, the ban on preexisting medical conditions for adults, so it might exclude coverage for treatment of an adult’s pre-existing medical condition such as diabetes or cancer (PHS Act section 2704);
if the coverage is an individual market policy, discrimination based on health status, so consumers may have premium increases based on claims experience or receipt of health care (PHS Act section 2705);
coverage of essential health benefits or limit on annual out-of-pocket spending, so it might not cover benefits such as prescription drugs or maternity care, or might have unlimited cost-sharing (PHS Act section 2707); and
standards for participation in clinical trials, so consumers might not have coverage for services related to a clinical trial for a life-threatening or other serious disease (PHS Act section 2709).
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Tag Archives: STN
Stantec planning to do more deals outside of North America
Following the $1-billion acquisition of water engineering giant MWH Global, Stantec Inc. (TSE:STN, Mkt cap 3.09B, P/E 19.90, Div/yield 0.11/1.37, EPS 1.65, Shares 93.88M) plans to seek out deal opportunities outside of North America, the Financial Post reports.
Stantec president and CEO Bob Gomes explained how the purchase of MWH Global gives the firm some leverage in additional overseas markets, and it plans to make full use of it.
The deal with MWH is expected to close sometime in May, which will see Stantec grow the proportion of its business it conducts outside of North America to 30%, from 3% currently.
Last week, the Edmonton-based firm confirmed the closing of its previously announced $604 million bought deal, which Gomes says gives it the flexibility to pursue additional deals in international markets, as well as fund the deal for MWH.
“We did that on the anticipation that we can go out with our integration strategy right away,” Gomes said of the financing, which priced Stantec shares at $30.25 each.
Gomes said the company is keeping its ear to the ground for similar “bolt-on” acquisitions in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and South America, swelling MWH’s presence in the respective regions.
The strategy is in keeping with Stantec’s existing approach to growth – it closes many small acquisitions every year within North America – adapting it to markets where MWH has a presence.
The MWH deal also prevents Stantec from becoming overly dependent on revenues from the oil and gas industry, as some analysts have noted.
Edmonton based Stantec provides planning, engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics. Stantec has 3 business operating units: Buildings, Energy & Resources, and Infrastructure. The Company’s Buildings business operating unit consists of services in architecture, buildings engineering, project management, interior design, and functional planning for vertical infrastructure. The Energy & Resources business operating unit is composed of environmental services, industrial engineering services, project management, and construction management services, primarily for private sector clients. Its Infrastructure business operating unit is engaged in the design and engineering services, and also project and construction management. More from Reuters »
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Posted in Stock Reports | Tagged Stantec, STN
Stantec to acquire water resources infrastructure firm for $793-million
Posted on Mar 30, 2016 by Michael Sprung
Stantec Inc. (TSE:STN, Mkt cap 3.04B, P/E 19.21, Div/yield 0.11/1.42, EPS 1.65, Shares 93.88M) believes its purchase of MWH Global, a Colorado-based global engineering, consulting and construction management firm, will position it as a global leader in water resources infrastructure.
The Canadian engineering firm announced on Tuesday (29 March) that it had come to an agreement on an all-cash deal with MWH at a price of US$793 million.
Stantec says the acquisition of MWH, which has 6,800 employees worldwide, will increase its presence in “key targeted geographies” such as Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South and Central America, Europe and the Middle East.
“MWH brings a global presence and reputation in water infrastructure that will advance Stantec’s position as a top-tier design firm within the highly attractive global water market,” Stantec chief executive officer Bob Gomes is quoted in the official release.
For MWH, meanwhile, it hopes the transaction will enable it to thrive and grow amidst an increasingly complex industry landscape “by strengthening our combined ability to solve the most pressing water, transportation and infrastructure challenges today.”
“Our highly complementary cultures, shared approach to client service and extended global reach should yield multiple benefits for our clients, employees and the communities we serve,” added Alan Krause, MWH chairman and CEO.
Stantec said the acquisition would be financed by a combination of an equity financing and new credit facilities and is expected to generate annual cost savings of about US$25 million.
The deal is subject to the approval of at least two-thirds of MWH shareholders at a special meeting to be held this month.
Stantec Inc revises growth forecast in light of declining oil & gas investment
Posted on Sep 24, 2015 by Michael Sprung
Little more than a month after it said it could grow its revenues organically this year, Stantec Inc (TSE:STN, Mkt cap 2.92B, P/E 17.47, Div/yield 0.10/1.35, EPS 1.77, Shares 94.26M) has performed something of a U-turn, now stating that it is “clearly impossible” to grow given the dramatic collapse in oil prices, the Financial Post reports.
Stantec revises growth forecast in light of declining oil & gas investment
Speaking at a CIBC investor conference last week, Stantec president and CEO Bob Gomes said the engineering giant is expecting “maybe zero to maybe a small retraction of our organic growth by the end of the year.”
Previously, Stantec had told investors to expect the company’s revenues to grow organically by 2% by the end of 2015. That announcement was surprising due to the fact that a significant decrease in oil prices had served to disrupt the Edmonton-based consulting firm’s energy and resources business – the company’s largest division – prompting it to lay off between 700 and 800 people in Alberta this year.
“With what’s happened in the oil and gas business in the last two months, since the end of the second quarter, it has just made it clearly impossible [to grow] when you do the math,” said Gomes last week.
Gomes was hopeful that new business from Stantec’s buildings and infrastructure division would offset the drop from oil and gas prices, but his latest comments suggests otherwise.
However, the 15,000-strong organisation still anticipates overall revenue growth, having acquired four companies so far this year.
AltaCorp Capital analyst Chris Murray expressed his surprise at the original 2%-growth target, but added that the economy in the U.S. has helped soften the blow of coming up short.
“They also benefit from the fact that, for the first time ever, U.S. revenues now represent the largest percentage of where their revenues originate from,” he said.
Stantec Inc is an Edmonton Alberta based consulting engineering firm. The company provides planning, engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics. Stantec has three business operating units: Buildings, Energy & Resources, and Infrastructure.
Stantec’s buildings business operating unit consists of services in architecture, buildings engineering, project management, interior design, and functional planning for vertical infrastructure. Its Energy & Resources business operating unit is composed of environmental services, industrial engineering services, project management, and construction management services, primarily for private sector clients. The Infrastructure business operating unit is engaged in the design and engineering services, and also project and construction management.
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Stantec Remains Cautious Despite Solid 2014
Posted on Mar 4, 2015 by Michael Sprung
Stantec Inc. (TSE:STN, Mkt cap 3.00B, P/E 18.53, Div/yield 0.10/1.32, EPS 1.72, Shares 93.84M) has announced solid results for 2014, but was quick to caution that shifting market conditions might paint a slightly different picture in 2015, with the continuing impact of lower oil prices expected to affect revenue.
As the Edmonton Journal reports, net income climbed 12.5% year-over-year to $164.5 million, with gross revenue up 13.1% to $2.53 billion. Diluted earnings per share increased 10.8% to $1.74.
Stantec president and CEO Bob Gomes credits the double-digit growth to the firm’s “diversified business model” and “consistent, disciplined strategy”, which have meant it was able to push on in the face of fluctuating market conditions.
A contraction in the engineering giant’s business related to the energy sector was offset by growth in its building and infrastructure business operating units.
For the 12 months ended December 31, 2014, Stantec’s oil and gas business enjoyed 2.9% growth, but things took a predictable turn in the final quarter, shrinking by 6.6% compared to the same period in 2013.
This prompted the Edmonton-based company into cutting around 300 jobs, with more jobs likely to be lost in the coming months, Gomes said.
“That is always a hard thing to do when you’re just a people business,” he stressed. “We understand, and I think our staff understand, that that is one of the ramifications of the oil and gas business.”
Stantec, which currently has more than 15,000 employees in more than 250 locations, expects overall 2015 gross organic revenue growth — excluding growth through acquisitions — to come in at around the 3% mark. But its Canadian business may see growth of 2% or less, with fewer big projects likely to get off the ground.
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Michael Sprung Interviewed by Mark Thorburn of SmallCapPower
Posted on May 21, 2013 by Michael Sprung
Mark Thorburn: Founded in 2005, Sprung Investment Management helps clients moderate swings and market volatility through a value investing approach aimed at preserving wealth and providing a real rate of return after fees and inflation. They are known for employing philosophies that frequently run contrary to current investment trends. SmallCapPower met CEO Michael Sprung in May 2013 where he told us more about his investment strategy, current market use, and favorite stock mix. Can you tell our viewers briefly about your fund?
Michael Sprung: Well we don’t really manage as a fund. All of our clients are separately managed accounts. They tend to be for the most part individuals and families. A lot of what we manage is family trusts.
Mark Thorburn: Can you tell us about the investment strategy at Sprung Investment Management?
Michael Sprung: Well, we’re basically value investors. What does that mean? It means that we don’t think we’re smart enough to know what’s going to happen next week, next month, or next year but if you understand the company and if you analyze it properly over a business cycle, you should get some reasonable expectation of what company can earn.
And then after that it becomes a function of what do you pay for it. Generally speaking then, we’re looking for companies that are better capitalized than typical in the industry. We try to find a diversity of companies across different spectrums and we try to tie that all together when we are putting it in to a portfolio as to what that particular investor’s objectives are.
Mark Thorburn: What is your current overall view of stock markets in Canada and that United States?
Michael Sprung: Well certainly going into this quarter, we were quite concerned that the markets were quite a bit overvalued. Well, not quite a bit but somewhat overvalued, I guess is a better term. I mean, when we look at the fundamentals, the P/E of the TSX for instance is hovering around 15 times, which is not far off its long-term average. But when we look at price to book values for instance, we’re about two and a half times which is considerably above the long-term average and the mean.
We thought that going into the year, markets particularly in the US for tracing quite well ahead of the underlying fundamentals supporting the market. We thought that for a number of reasons. The private economy is growing relatively slowly. We’re seeing employment gains but they’re very, very meager at this point in time.
On the positive side in the US we have seen somewhat of a correction in the housing market, a little bit more stability there. Also the consumer there has deleveraged themselves to a much greater extent than they have, say, in Canada. So there are some positive fundamentals occurring in the US but then you’re looking at the political intransient on the other side of the large deficit problems that they’re dealing with there.
So when we look at the sort of longer term earnings projections that we could see, we thought that the market was somewhat vulnerable to a bit of a correction here. Certainly, that has been the case in Canada where we’ve had the commodities correction, and commodities being such a big part of the Canadian market. They have pulled the Canadian market down quite sharply with that.
Mark Thorburn: Are you surprised by the strength shown by the stock markets in the US despite the fact that the US economy still seems to be growing below the long-term average?
Michael Sprung: Yes, we have been somewhat surprised by that. As I’ve said before, the US is up over 11% year to date. And yet, despite the problems they have in Europe, we’ve seen some gains in the European markets as well. The world index largely is the result of the strength of the US is up close to 10% so far. When we look at EAFE as a region which includes Europe, that pulls it down to around 8.5% and then if you look at the emerging markets, the indicator is there, the index is there just slightly in negative territory.
So the US has been bounding ahead over the rest of the world, particularly Canada and we think that that is somewhat of a vulnerable position.
Mark Thorburn: So what are your views on Canadian stock markets?
Michael Sprung: Well, we think this is an opportune time for value investors like ourselves, people that have a three to five year time horizon to be looking for opportunities in the market. The commodities correction has certainly hurt the TSX which the material section and the energy section combined comprise a large part of the Toronto market.
We think that there are opportunities in both of those areas. Over the longer term, it’s our belief that commodities will be in demand again.
Mark Thorburn: What do you make of six years of cheap money in the western world without any meaningful economic growth to speak for? What should investors do to secure a decent return from their investments in the coming years?
Michael Sprung: Well, I think you’ve raised a couple of points there. We don’t believe this is necessarily a new paradigm, but we do believe that it is certainly the modus operandi of today. With the economies as weak as they have been, governments are loath to allow interest rates to go up too much.
But on the other hand, we’ve seen governments issuing a great deal of debt and eventually the day has to come when investors want to be paid for the risk their taking in buying that debt. I think longer term, we’re building some longer term inflationary fears into the market that will also could cause investors to worry somewhat.
So, from our view the dangers probably lie more in the fixed income market than they do in the equity market. As we were saying earlier, the underlying economy itself seems to be somewhat moving ahead.
Mark Thorburn: What types of investment options are you finding attractive in the current markets?
Michael Sprung: Well, as we are noting, there has been quite a correction in the resource side of the market, both in energy and materials. Again, you want to look for stronger companies that have the wherewithal to last out a period, however long it may be, and seize opportunities that will come up. I think over the next year, you’re going to see a lot of M&A activity both in the energy and the materials area where the weaker companies are forced to sell assets or in fact are absorbed by the stronger companies. But as demand for those commodities begins to build momentum as the recovery hopefully takes hold, then I think you’re going to see quite a good potential return in both of those sectors.
Mark Thorburn: There are experts that are holding a dim view of the Canadian economy. Are we looking into a real banking and debt crisis in Canada?
Michael Sprung: Well, I don’t think that we’re necessarily looking into a banking crisis. It is true that the large proportion of loans by Canadian banks are in the mortgage sector, and yes, the Canadian consumer certainly has overextended if you look at debt loads relative to disposable income. We have far surpassed where the U.S. consumer was several years ago, but we have not had the correction or the deleveraging that they have seen south of the border yet.
So therefore, there is some vulnerability, I think, in the macro sense, in real estate. However, we think that this is going to be quite confined to particular pockets.
Mark Thorburn: The last time we spoke, you mentioned that you had exposure to precious metals through investments and large cap gold producers like Barrick Gold and Goldcorp. What are your views on gold currently, and do you still believe in holding some of these gold producers?
Michael Sprung: Our exposure to gold, generally, has been restricted to 5% of the portfolio approximately, and yes, we did and do have exposure still to Barrick and Goldcorop. Barrick in particular has been hard hit by a number of events, not just the decline in the price of gold, but also the problems at Pascua-Lama, which is probably one of their largest developments in Chile and Argentina and also by some threats from the government of Dominican Republic to demand a greater share of the proceeds from the mining that takes place there.
The latter one is not necessarily unique to Barrick. A lot of companies face this when they deal with governments but once the mine is developed, they get a little bit hungry for a little bit greater share and over time, the ongoing profitability of those mines becomes more important than allowing them to close or go into hibernation.
The problem in Chile is a little bit more troubling, but nonetheless, our view is that Barrick has been so hard hit that, basically even if they were to lose Pascua-Lama, the net asset value of the company is greater than the market value reflects today.
Mark Thorburn: As a value investor, is it possible to find value plays in the smaller end of the market? If so, what would you look for in such securities and can you share any that you may like?
Michael Sprung: We from time to time have dipped our toe into the small cap or micro cap sector of the market, and I guess to us, that would be looking at companies probably with market caps of $200 million or less. We still have today some exposure in that area, but again, often what you want to do is balance something that you’re buying in that sector that perhaps has a lot more potential on the upside but maybe with something more stable within the same industry group.
Let me give you a couple of examples. Within the infrastructure area, we own Churchill Corp. To stabilize that, I guess that volatility to some extent, the other company owned in that sector is Stantec.
Mark Thorburn: What advice do you have for viewers for the remainder of 2013 and beyond?
Michael Sprung: Well I think the most important thing for investors today is to have a discipline and a philosophy and stick to it. Where I think retail investors get whipsawed the most is being scared out of their own stocks and that can happen quite easily. You buy a stock, you see it go down, you worry about whether you did it for the right reasons or not. Well, we do that too, but we re-evaluate. What were our assumptions going in? How have they’ve changed? Is there anything fundamentally different in this business than before? Is this a buying opportunity to add more? In most cases, it’s either that or we decide to stick with our guns because we’re looking through the cycle. As long as you have a diversified enough portfolio that not all of your eggs are in one basket that’s not all going down together, that’s something that I think investors really have to keep in mind.
SmallCapPower is the leading resource for small cap investors. Their website gives visitors unparalleled engagement and access to smallcap companies, research analysts, subject matter experts, investment professionals as well as fellow site visitors. Please visit their site: SmallCapPower.com
Posted in Market Outlook, Stock Reports | Tagged ABX, Barrick Gold, Churchill Corporation, CUQ, G, Goldcorp, Stantec, STN
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Positive thinker has high hopes for Illini
John Supini
New coach from Rutgers staff vows to guide Illinois to NCAA championship
Former Rutgers associate coach Jolette Law will start from the beginning when it comes to building a talent pipeline to the Illinois women's basketball program.
"I want to keep the players in state, get everyone before they come out of their mother's womb thinking and breathing Illini basketball,'' Law said.
Law, 39, is a Florence, S.C., native who recruited Chicago hard during her 12 years as a Rutgers assistant.
Law agreed to a five-year contract that will pay her $300,000 before performance-based incentives similar to other Illini head coaches.
"This is truly, truly a dream come true,'' Law said. "I've worked so hard to do the right things and hope hard work pays off. Today, I knew it had paid off.''
Law replaced Theresa Grentz, a Women's Basketball Hall of Fame member who resigned in April after compiling a 210-156 record in 12 seasons.
Evidently, Law is a recruiter and promoter who believes in positive thinking.
"We will win the Big Ten championship,'' she said. "We will go to the NCAAs. We will win the national championship. That's what I believe. Quote me on this.''
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How the Voting Rights Act Hurts Democrats and Minorities
By Steven Hill Published June 17, 2013 Uncategorized
By Steven Hill, The Atlantic, June 17, 2013
Though conservatives hope the Supreme Court will strike part of the law this month, the 1965 act has become central to GOP control of the House.
Civil rights are on the nation’s docket in a major way. Sometime this month, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide an important voting-rights case, Shelby County v. Holder, in addition to another case involving racial discrimination in higher education and two potentially landmark cases on gay marriage. By the end of June, the nation’s civil-rights profile may look quite different.
In Shelby County, the justices are weighing whether the 1965 Voting Rights Act should continue to apply specially to designated regions of the country with ugly histories of racial discrimination. These regions, including the entire state of Alabama as well as eight other states and more than 60 counties, currently must seek “preclearance” from the Department of Justice for any changes to their voting laws and practices (changes can still be challenged after enactment). Officials in Shelby County, Alabama, say “times have changed,” that Shelby County is no longer the cesspool of Jim Crow racism it once was, and so the high court should overturn the preclearance requirement, known in legal parlance as Section 5.
Despite the protestations of Shelby County and other jurisdictions, mountains of evidence show that there is little doubt that Section 5 is still needed, including in Shelby County. If anything, preclearance requirements should probably be extended to more parts of the country. Every election reveals new and deviously crafted efforts at voter suppression, from voter-ID laws to intimidation and long lines at the polls that by coincidence seem to afflict minority precincts more than others. Republican legislators in various states continue to push laws that will clearly have a disproportionate impact on minority voters. Section 5’s preclearance has been a powerful disincentive against discrimination in elections that, sadly, is still very present today. If the Supreme Court guts Section 5 — as voting-rights advocates fear will happen, given the Court’s conservative majority — the nation will be jumping off a cliff into unknown territory.
But it would be a mistake to think that, though many Republicans want to see Section 5 struck down, they oppose other sections of the Voting Rights Act. Quite the contrary: The GOP has found the VRA to be a great ally. It turns out the act, as traditionally applied, has helped the party win a great number of legislative races. It also has become a potent obstacle to the Democrats retaking the U.S. House of Representatives.
Beginning in the civil-rights era in the 1960s, the Republican Party — the party of Lincoln — became the loudest opponent of race-based remedies to discrimination, whether in school admissions, hiring, or minority representation. The Democrats, once the party of segregation (some people forget that segregationists George Wallace and Strom Thurmond were elected governors of Alabama and South Carolina, respectively, as Democrats) did a dramatic about-face in the 1960s and became the party of civil rights. Acting under the legal strength and moral authority of the Voting Rights Act, the Democrats led the charge to draw so-called “majority-minority districts” — ones packed so full of minority voters that they usually resulted in electing a minority representative, as intended. The number of minority representatives jumped exponentially from the 1960s through the 1980s, with the number of black House members increasing from five to 24 by 1989.
But just in time for the redistricting in 1990, some enterprising Republicans began noticing a rather curious fact: The drawing of majority-minority districts not only elected more minorities, it also had the effect of bleeding minority voters out of all the surrounding districts. Given that minority voters were the most reliably Democratic voters, that made all of the neighboring districts more Republican. The black, Latino, and Asian representatives mostly were replacing white Democrats, and the increase in minority representation was coming at the expense of electing fewer Democrats. The Democrats had been tripped up by a classic Catch-22, as had minority voters: Even as legislatures were becoming more diverse, they were ironically becoming less friendly to the agenda of racial minorities.
Newt Gingrich embraced this strategy of drawing majority-minority districts for GOP advantage, as did the Bush Administration Justice Department prior to the 1991 redistricting, even as GOP activists like now-Chief Justice John Roberts campaigned against the VRA because they opposed any race-based remedies. The tipping point was the 1994 midterm elections, when the GOP captured the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in 35 years and Gingrich because speaker. Many experts on both the left and the right, from The Nation‘s Ari Berman and prominent GOP election lawyer Ben Ginsberg (who spearheaded the 1991 effort to maximize the number of majority-minority districts), attribute the Republican success that year to the drawing of majority-minority districts; indeed, African-American membership in the House reached its highest level ever, at 40.
VRA districts undoubtedly played a role in the GOP takeover, but they were not the only factor, since Republicans made big gains that year in lots of places outside the South. But in the hardscrabble battles of the 50-50 nation, any advantage at all was embraced, and prominent Republicans like Ginsberg and Gingrich became the loudest proponents of drawing majority-minority districts. Many Republicans still promote this strategy today, and it’s the only race-based remedy the GOP has supported in the modern era. The party has been more than willing to shelve its ideology when it suited their naked political interests.
So in Shelby County, many Republicans are trying to have their cake and eat it too. They want the Supreme Court to gut Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which prevents them from enacting various voter-suppression laws. But they want to preserve the other parts of the VRA that provide the legal impetus for drawing majority-minority districts. One can’t help but admire their cleverness.
Meanwhile, it’s only going to get worse for the Democrats. Not only has the drawing of majority-minority districts led to fewer elected Democrats, but today single-seat districts themselves have become a huge barrier to Democrats retaking the House. That’s because shifting partisan demographics have left Democratic voters more geographically concentrated than Republican voters. The problem is easy to see in urban areas, where Democratic votes are heavily concentrated. Urban Democrat House members — a large number of whom are minority — win with huge majorities, but winning a district with 80 percent doesn’t help the party gain any more seats than winning with 60 percent. It just bleeds more Democratic voters out of the surrounding districts.
Yet it’s not just urban districts that reflect the tilted partisan landscape. Election simulations have shown that partisan demographics — even more than the gerrymandering of district lines — give the GOP a natural, built-in edge in a majority of House districts. Those simulations predict that in 2014 the GOP will maintain control of the House even if Democrats win the nationwide House vote by nearly 10 percentage points. This dynamic was illustrated in the 2012 election, when President Obama defeated Mitt Romney by nearly five million votes nationwide, but Romney’s vote was more efficiently dispersed — he won 226 House districts to Obama’s 209. That means Democrats can win a House majority only if their candidates win numerous districts won by Romney, a steep uphill climb. This explains the oddity of 2012, when the Democrats won the most votes nationwide in House races but still ended up with a minority of seats.
Many analysts incorrectly blame this partisan tilt on the extreme gerrymandering of legislative districts for partisan advantage. While gerrymandering contributes a bit to this bias, its impact is marginal — the big culprit is single-seat, winner-take-all districts themselves, combined with the over-concentration of Democratic voters. These partisan demographics have made it far easier for GOP map drawers in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere not only to pack Democratic voters into fewer districts but also to pick off many white Democratic House members and “racialize” the Democratic Party. In 1991, white Democrats held 81 of 133 House seats in the South, but today that number has dwindled to 18 out of 145. This is why some zealous GOP activists have mounted a campaign to award presidential electors by congressional districts instead of on a statewide basis. Doing so would have resulted in Romney winning the presidency, even though he lost the national popular vote by a sizable margin.
This Republican edge also exists in most state legislatures, and it has been consistent for decades. But it was masked by the previous success of Southern Democrats in conservative districts, which was a legacy of Jim Crow and of Democrats being the party of segregation. Today, it’s like having a footrace in which one side (the Republicans) starts out 10 yards ahead of the other (the Democrats).
Democratic leaders have tried to address this asymmetrical battlefield by controlling redistricting wherever and whenever they can, but they’ve had decreasing success as these partisan demographics have become more deeply rooted into the political landscape. Unfortunately for the Democrats, this fundamental dilemma over majority-minority districts strikes at the heart of its identity as a political party. It’s to the party’s credit that it walked away from its segregationist past and became the party of civil rights, but in 2013 the reality is that majority-minority districts and the continued use of one-seat, winner-take-all districts have painted the Democrats into a corner.
The most mutually beneficial arrangement for the Democrats and racial minorities would be for the electoral system to evolve from the current single-seat blueprint to a multi-seat system elected by proportional representation. With proportional voting, parties win seats in proportion to their vote share — in a five-seat district, a party winning 40 percent of the vote wins two seats instead of nothing, and a party with 60 percent of the vote wins three seats instead of everything.
That would allow minorities to win their fair share of representation without gerrymandering any districts, and to do so without hurting the electoral chances of other Democratic Party candidates. In the South, such a plan would elect more black and white Democrats; it also would enfranchise more minority voters, since in every southern state a majority of the state’s black voters continue to live in white majority districts where they have little to no influence. A proportional system would make these voters influential no matter where they live.
Interestingly, the U.S. has not always used single-seat districts to elect House members. In 1967 the Democrats controlling Congress passed a law that mandated the use of single-seat districts for federal House races, both to prevent some recalcitrant southern Democrats from going to statewide winner-take-all elections to dilute the black vote and also as a way to facilitate the gerrymandering of majority-minority districts. Ironically, now it’s that very same district-based system that is dragging the Democrats underwater. Passing a proportional representation method looks unlikely in the short term, but it can be done by mere statute without a constitutional change. Rep. Mel Watt, a North Carolina Democrat, introduced legislation to allow states this option not that long ago. Democrats could partially outfox the GOP by embracing Watt’s approach and pushing for a “home-rule” option within the 50 states for the use of proportional systems in U.S. House races as a voting-rights remedy.
In the meantime, the GOP must be cackling with glee at the Democrats’ dilemmas, even as Republicans champion more majority-minority districts while fighting against every other race-based remedy to historical discrimination. Politics is often like a game of chess — a very down and dirty version — and one can’t help but conclude that the Republicans are outsmarting the Democrats in this gambit.
Obama, NSA and Edward Snowden: Steven Hill comments on Austrian radio
Political Europe: A Blueprint to Close the “Democracy Gap”
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Should Big Tech own our personal data?
By Steven Hill Published February 13, 2019 Uncategorized
By Steven Hill, Wired, February 13, 2019
Or should consumers sell their data — receive a “data dividend”?
FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND Google seem to take turns making the wrong kinds of headlines. Last month it was Google’s turn. The company was fined $57 million by a French regulatory agency, the first time a large Silicon Valley company has been penalized for violating the European Union’s new privacy rules known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
According to the ruling, Google failed to act transparently to obtain valid consent for the personalization of its ads. Among other things, Google checked off some hidden consent boxes, which violated the GDPR principle that users must OK each specific use of their data. European privacy campaigner Max Schrems, one of the plaintiffs in the French complaint, maintains that corporations such as Google and Facebook “have often only superficially adapted their products” to the requirements of the GDPR.
Even a $57 million fine may not compel compliance, since that amount is pocket change for a company valued at three-quarters of a trillion dollars. The constant stream of data privacy scandals from Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and others gives the unmistakable impression that trying to rein in these abuses is like trying to stop water with a net. The US is one of the few developed nations that has no basic consumer privacy law, leaving the Federal Trade Commission with little institutional mandate for enforcement.
So, what to do? A historical perspective provides insight into this puzzle. Ever since retailer Aaron Montgomery Ward launched his catalog and mail-order business in the 1870s, Americans have made an uneasy peace with the idea of being “tracked.” Initially, Ward mailed unsolicited advertising flyers and one-page catalogs to targeted potential customers living in rural areas and small towns. The business grew and competitors adopted his direct mail tactics.
By the mid-1890s the Sears Roebuck catalog featured hundreds of products and was distributed to over 300,000 addresses in the US. The new direct marketing and sales methods used in the mail-order business took advantage of advances in the technology of the times, including improvements in railways and shipping, better postal service delivery, and cheaper printing costs.
Over the ensuing decades, direct mail to targeted customers was followed by telemarketing, broadcast faxing, demographically targeted infomercials, and email spam. Most recently, the mad science has been transformed by web-based display ads, search engine optimization, and social media targeting. Each technological iteration has allowed ever more gathering of our personal data, as well as more scientific targeting and delivery of advertising, news, and information.
Now, internet-based companies like Google and Facebook have added an entirely new wrinkle to this business model: Instead of charging for their products, they give them away in exchange for vacuuming up our personal data and monetizing it in various ways. Initially this business model seemed benign—beneficial even—because it provided some useful services for free.
Increasingly, though, the public has become aware of the numerous downsides and hidden costs. Some are mere annoyances, like being constantly tracked by online advertisers (which keep showing you the same pair of shoes you purchased three weeks ago). Others—such as facilitating hate speech, allowing leaks of personal data, facilitating Cambridge Analytica-style political targeting, and skewing public discourse through the amplification of fake news—strike at the very heart of personal privacy, societal health, and democratic governance. Such complaints were never leveled at the Sears Roebuck catalog. A fundamental shift has occurred.
European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who has emerged as a key global regulator, recently stated, “This idea of services for free is a fiction… people pay quite a lot with their data for the services they get.” She says, “I would like to have a Facebook in which I pay a fee each month. But I would have no tracking and advertising and the full benefits of privacy.”
In June 2018, California became the first US state to pass a form of GDPR-lite. The California law provides new rights to consumers and aims for more transparency in the murky commerce of people’s personal data. For example, consumers can request that data be deleted and initiate civil action if they believe that an organization has failed to protect their personal information. But the GDPR requires explicit consent from consumers, while California still allows implicit consent, which companies can exploit. Nevertheless, Silicon Valley’s new business model appears to be in the crosshairs.
But we have been here before, too. In 2003 the National Do Not Call Registry was created to offer consumers a choice whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. That year, Congress also enacted a law to curb unwanted email spam. In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Junk Fax Prevention Act, which allowed opting-out of receiving spam faxes. In 2013 the federal government made it illegal to use an automatic telephone dialer or a prerecorded message to deliver telemarketing messages.
Previous governments have acted to provide relief from abusive practices. What might regulation for internet-based companies look like?
Some Silicon Valley leaders have proposed that individuals should become “data shareholders,” able to sell their data to companies which then would have unlimited access to mine our personal information. That’s market-friendly and sounds innovative, but, in fact, each individual would receive a pittance for their data. Facebook’s 2 billion monthly users would each receive about $9 a year if the company proportionally distributed its profits. Given that, economist Glen Weyl’s concept of “data-labor unions,” which would negotiate on behalf of individuals—with the companies holding our personal data—is not a solution.
Others have proposed a “privacy as paid service” business model, in which companies like Facebook and Google would create a second, premium service that charges for a privacy-friendly, ad-free user experience, similar to the online subscription model of Netflix and Amazon Prime.
But this dodges the real question: whether these companies should continue to control the personal data of their billions of users at all. Silicon Valley’s “service for data” model is a devil’s bargain that seems unworkable in any scenario.
That’s because our personal data is not merely a form of individual property. Increasingly, it’s a core part of our personhood, following us throughout our lives. Personal control over our own data ought to be regarded as a human right that cannot be taken or given away. Selling that information amounts to “a kind of digital prostitution,” according to tech entrepreneur Andrew Keen.
A more salutary alternative vision would be to reconceptualize our private information as an important digital resource that is protected as part of a “data commons.” That would be overseen by an independent watchdog agency and guided by sensible regulations on privacy and the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The US has entered into a technological race with China to see who will lead in harnessing the power of AI. To develop AI applications, algorithms have to be trained to plow through massive data feeds, identifying patterns and images. The efforts by Google and Facebook to amass a data-opoly, in order to maximize their advertising profit, does little to help solve the big challenges of the 21st century.
Just as the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s was able to harness power generation and regional economic development, a Data Oversight Agency could ensure the availability of open-source data sets. This would allow smaller companies and university labs to have as much access as large Silicon Valley and Chinese companies, spurring competition and better ensuring that more AI research will be conducted on behalf of the public interest.
There is an innovative alternative to the Frankenstein future that Facebook and Google are pushing. These companies have demonstrated repeatedly that they cannot be trusted to self-regulate. It is time for the government to step up, as it has in the past.
[Steven Hill is a Silicon Valley–based journalist and author of the books Raw Deal: How the Uber Economy and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers and Startup Illusion: How the Internet Economy Ruins Our Welfare.]
Co-determination takes the spotlight in the US
Gov. Newsom’s California data dividend idea is a dead end
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Keppel Offshore & Marine secures $153 million worth of contracts
Oct 7, 2014, 9:02 pm SGT
http://str.sg/ZeMR
Cheryl Ong
SINGAPORE - Keppel Corporation has secured $153 million worth of contracts for its offshore and marine unit, the firm said on Tuesday.
Keppel Shipyard, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel, will convert a floating production storage and offloading vessel for Malaysian-owned Armada Cabaca.
The vessel is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2016, and will be deployed in Angola.
Keppel Shipyard's work scope for this project includes refurbishment work and upgrading of living quarters for 100 staff.
Separately, Keppel Nantong won a deal to build a barge for Smit Shipping, a unit of the Royal Boskalis Westminster Group. The barge will be deployed to the Pilbara coast in Western Australia, where two other barges constructed by Keppel are being built now.
The new barge is expected to be completed in the second half next year.
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By Jeffrey M. Anderson, Freelance contributor, TechHive | PT
The best in streaming entertainment, from the experts.
Heart Works: 12 Valentine's Day movie treats
Essential movies to watch with the one you love this week in celebration of Valentine’s Day.
Blue Is the Warmest Color (Netflix)
Destination Wedding (Amazon Prime)
Funny Face (Kanopy)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Hulu)
In the Mood for Love (Kanopy)
Let the Sunshine In (Hulu)
Love & Friendship (Amazon Prime)
Serendipity (Hoopla, Roku)
13 Going on 30 (Hoopla)
True Romance (Crackle, IMDB Freedive)
Valentine's Day is a persnickety holiday. It's great for some people and a little bitter for others. Realizing that, we have scoured the various streaming services and come up with a dozen great love stories that range from cheerful to anguished, from gooey to cynical, and from Jane Austen to zombies. Break out the popcorn, chocolate, and champagne and enjoy!
Adèle Exarchopoulos falls in love with the mysterious Léa Seydoux in Blue Is the Warmest Color.
In Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013), newcomer Adèle Exarchopoulos gives a memorable performance as a young woman who becomes aware that she desires female companionship, and specifically the companionship of a mysterious, sexy blue-haired girl called Emma (Léa Seydoux, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Spectre). The movie threatens at one point to collapse into stereotype, but then it recovers, passing through many years, charting the ups and downs of their relationship.
Yet it's a sensual movie, not just in its depiction of the sex scenes, but also in its depiction of food, friends, and thoughtful discussions. Kechiche cleverly mirrors certain sequences and images (a parade, the color blue, etc.) so that scenes contain extra emotional tones. You might watch it for the steamy NC-17 scenes, but you'll stay because it's an outstanding movie.
[ Further reading: The best streaming TV services ]
Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder are two cynics who form a bond in Destination Wedding.
A wry, cynical romantic comedy with a good heart, Destination Wedding (2018) pairs Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder, who have already proven their chemistry in several movies, dating back to Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1992. They play Lindsay (Winona Ryder) and Frank (Keanu Reeves), strangers on their way to a "destination wedding" in San Luis Obispo; they instantly dislike each other, and argue in witty, barbed dialogue. Of course, they will eventually become irresistibly drawn to one another, and they relentlessly analyze their options even as fate takes a different course.
Possibly inspired by masters like Eric Rohmer and Yasujiro Ozu, writer/director Victor Levin frames the characters in sustained, chapter-like sequences, featuring the ridiculous planned events of the wedding, and breaks them up with lovely "pillow shots" to underscore the beauty of the scenery. It's an unsung gem.
Audrey Hepburn is a philosopher-turned model in Funny Face.
If one can forgive the 30 year-difference between romantic leads Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn (Hepburn was so sophisticated and regal that she never seemed right with co-stars closer to her own age), then Stanley Donen's Funny Face (1957) is one of the latter's most delightful films, a colorful, kaleidoscopic musical decorated with the art of photography. Astaire plays a Richard Avedon-like photographer who discovers a brainy, philosophy-loving bookshop clerk and makes her into his latest model. Thus begins a conflict of intelligence versus emotions, brains versus beauty, but veering towards doe-eyed romance.
It's heightened by a fine collection of George and Ira Gershwin songs as well as Ray June's deep, expansive Oscar-nominated cinematography. The film received additional nominations for writing, art direction/set decoration, and costume design.
Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell go husband-hunting on a cruise ship in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
One of the greatest of all Hollywood directors, Howard Hawks was known for being able to tell a great story, usually about group dynamics and codes of honor, in any genre—from screwball comedy to Westerns and detective stories. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) was one of his only musicals, and true to form, it's a treat. Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe star as Dorothy Shaw and Lorelei Lee, a couple of lovely ladies who board a ship for Paris to potentially find husbands.
Lorelei is drawn to men with money (Monroe sings the iconic "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"), while Dorothy loves chiseled physiques (Russell sings "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?" with an entire team of U.S. Olympic athletes). But fate, of course, has other plans. Even for its time, and even in its broad, cartoonish way, the movie is quite sophisticated, getting away with plenty of sly playfulness in terms of sexual desire, gender roles, and empowerment. The hapless males in the film include Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid, Tommy Noonan, and Taylor Holmes.
Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai discover that their spouses are cheating with each other in In the Mood for Love.
The Hong Kong-based filmmaker Wong Kar-wai has dabbled, like his contemporaries, in crime and action and martial arts films, but he also had broader ambitions. He reached arguably the pinnacle of his career with the achingly unfulfilled romance In the Mood for Love (2001). Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai (who had both appeared in Wong's earlier films Days of Being Wild and Ashes of Time) play neighbors in a restrained, ornate 1960s-era Hong Kong.
Spending time together, they come to realize that their respective spouses—never actually seen in the film—are having an affair. The two begin to see each other frequently, trying to decide what happened and how, and attempting to understand their feelings. Not unexpectedly, they begin to become attracted to one another, but are unable, or unwilling to act. The fierce, aching emotions under the clamped-down surface provide the movie's immense power, while the deceptively still visuals belie Wong's fluid, dynamic style.
Sundance Selects
Juliette Binoche looks for her soulmate in Let the Sunshine In.
One of the best films of 2018 by one of the world's best filmmakers, Claire Denis's Let the Sunshine In (2018) is rather unlike her earlier films (Beau Travail, White Material), paying less attention to characters with a certain space and more attention to a character's state of mind. Juliette Binoche gives a dense, subtle performance as Isabelle, a woman who is involved with many different men, but continually hopes to find her one true soulmate.
The men are poor lovers, married men, an ex-husband, or simply men with whom she doesn't connect (or do not connect with her). The movie brilliantly plays with movie-influenced notions of what love means; there is a movie-ready romantic moment on a dance floor that doesn't quite go where she hopes. It ends with a quite long, tour-de-force sequence wherein a fortune teller (Gérard Depardieu) keeps Isabelle's hopes alive; this audacious sequence even continues while the credits roll!
Chloë Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale discuss a Jane Austen-style romantic tangle in Love & Friendship.
Writer/director Whit Stillman made his career with sophisticated, erudite comedies about educated, well-to-do urbanites, so it makes perfect sense that he could transfer his talents to the adaptation of a Jane Austen novella; the result is more bracingly personal and human that most dry costume dramas. Love & Friendship (2016) stars Kate Beckinsale—at her very best—as one of Austen's most acidly funny characters, Lady Susan.
She visits her brother's estate in the hopes of landing a wealthy husband and begins flirting with her sister-in-law's younger brother (Xavier Samuel). But her grown daughter (Morfydd Clark) turns up, complicating things, so Susan tries to fix her up with the blathering, nitwit Sir James (a scene-stealing Tom Bennett). As a highlight, Susan sometimes reports her progress to her American friend (Chloe Sevigny). Stillman gets playful behind the camera, introducing characters with freeze-frames, and opening up the genre's usual stuffiness with a fresh airiness.
Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack attempt to leave their blossoming relationship to fate in Serendipity.
This one's a sweet, charming, lightweight love story that received mixed reviews at the time of its release, but still has its admirers. Jonathan (John Cusack) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) meet, reaching for the last pair of gloves while Christmas shopping at Bloomingdale's. They spend the evening together and feel a strong bond—and a strong sense of destiny—but Sara insists that if it's really meant to be, they will find each other once again. She writes her number in a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera, and it's up to Jonathan to find it in one of the city's used bookstores.
Serendipity (2001) was a victim of fate during the time of the 9/11 attacks, and it was one of the movies whose images of the twin towers were digitally erased. But its romantic takes on both New York and San Francisco, as well as its funny supporting cast (Molly Shannon, Jeremy Piven, Eugene Levy, etc.), make it worth a look.
Jennifer Garner finds her thirteen year-old self suddenly in the body of a thirty year-old magazine editor in 13 Going on 30.
A selection from my own significant other, 13 Going on 30 (2004) is a fantasy romantic comedy in that it relies on magical or supernatural elements to get it going. At age 13, Jenna is humiliated by a clique of powerful schoolgirls, and wishes she were older. The wish is granted. She wakes up, just shy of age 30 (and played by Jennifer Garner), but with her 13-year-old brain intact. She has no idea how to be an adult or what has happened in the world in the intervening years. Fortunately, sweet, handsome doofus Mark Ruffalo is on hand to help.
It's pretty shopworn and predictable, but it's also a nice, gentle example of female empowerment, and Garner gives 100 percent to her performance, pulling off precisely what Tom Hanks did previously in the similar Big. And it's hard not to smile when Jenna starts up a group "Thriller" dance to liven up a dull party. Judy Greer, Andy Serkis, and Kathy Baker co-star, and the late Gary Winick directed.
After the arthouse success of Reservoir Dogs, and before the phenomenon of Pulp Fiction, this early Quentin Tarantino screenplay was sold to a big studio and directed by Tony Scott. Scott seemed to realize what he had and didn't do much damage to it. True Romance (1993) is an exciting, extremely clever crime story filled with movie love, great dialog, and—amazingly—a heartfelt love story that works.
Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) goes to a Sonny Chiba triple-feature on his birthday and meets Alabama (Patricia Arquette). Even though she was a call girl hired by Clarence's boss, the two fall immediately in love, and Clarence vows to get her things back from her pimp, the vicious Drexl Spivey (Gary Oldman). Unfortunately, he accidentally grabs a case of cocaine instead. The incredible cast includes Michael Rapaport, James Gandolfini, Brad Pitt (hilarious as a stoned pothead), Val Kilmer (as Clarence's conscience-like vision of Elvis), Bronson Pinchot, Samuel L. Jackson, and Saul Rubinek. There’s also an astonishing face-off between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken.
Warm Bodies (Tubi)
Zombie Nicholas Hoult falls for human Teresa Palmer in Warm Bodies.
Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, 50/50) adapts the novel by Isaac Marion and directs the warm, hopeful Warm Bodies (2013) a zombie comedy that is actually a sweetly effective romance. Nicholas Hoult plays a zombie called "R," who can't speak, but who narrates in his head; Hoult's expressive eyes help convey his thoughts even when his words can't. He shambles around an airport with his pal "M" (Rob Corddry), looking for brains. He dines on Perry (Dave Franco), finds himself absorbing Perry's memories, and even begins developing feelings for a human girl Julie (Teresa Palmer). He convinces her to seek safety in his hideout, an abandoned airplane filled with things he's collected, and Julie weirdly begins to see something human in the zombie.
But don't worry, zombie fans, more brain-eating is on the way. Inspired by Romeo and Juliet, this one is remarkably free of cynicism, a genre mashup that somehow finds something new. The delightful Analeigh Tipton co-stars as Julie's friend Nora.
Witness (Kanopy)
Harrison Ford must protect Lukas Haas and his family from dirty cops in Witness.
Another lovers-on-the-wrong-sides-of-the-tracks story, Witness (1985) throws together a hard-boiled big city cop, John Book (Harrison Ford), and a proud, inexperienced Amish woman, Rachel (Kelly McGillis) for romantic sparks. On a visit to the city, Rachel's son Samuel (Lukas Haas) witnesses a murder. Book interviews him, and discovers that the killer is a cop. Book is attacked, realizes that he's compromised, and takes mother and son back to Amish country to hide. While his wounds are healing, Book begins to learn the simple Amish ways and, despite being from two different worlds, becomes smitten with Rachel. (The sequence with Sam Cooke's "[What a] Wonderful World" is a keeper.)
The Oscar-winning screenplay is pretty simple, but director Peter Weir gives the movie a dreamy slowness, aided by Maurice Jarre's haunted, aching score, immersing us in two of his favorite themes: out-of-place characters, and clashing cultures. Danny Glover co-stars, and Viggo Mortensen appears in an early role. The move won a second Oscar for Best Editing, and was nominated for Best Picture, Director, Actor (Ford), Cinematography, Score, and Art Direction.
Jeffrey has been a working film critic for more than 14 years. He first fell in love with the movies at age six while watching "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" and served as staff critic for the San Francisco Examiner from 2000 through 2003.
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The debt generation
By John McKee in Career Management , in Tech & Work on November 22, 2006, 6:39 AM PST
Watching NBC National News the other night, there was an article about money which caught my attention. The story discussed the amount of debt that the average person in their 20s is carrying, why they've got such a load to carry, and the outlook for them going forward. I was again reminded about how tough it is going to be for this group of individuals as a whole, and the fact that their parents set them up for it.
Disclosure: My children are 28, 25, and 24. I'm a baby boomer. The NBC story resonated with me.
The United States of America is richest nation in the history of the world, and, at the same time it's the world's largest debtor nation.
US citizens throw away more 'old stuff' per capita than almost any other nation in the world and yet the average individual in the country is carrying a debt of about $9000.
When one looks at personal satisfaction indexes, almost every country in the world rates themselves as being considerably happier in 2005 than was the case in the 1950s. But that's not so for Americans. We showed no significant increase in satisfaction at all. And that's despite the fact that we earn 3 times as much now, live in bigger homes, and have more toys than other nations. There are actually more registered cars in the US than citizens.
The 'parental units' of the 20somethings created an environment and promoted 'values' which fostered debt both nationally and personally. The 50somethings created false hopes for our children. The dreams which for most people in their 20s today are unlikely to manifest as expected.
When I see young adults entering the workplace after college carrying 50, 75, or 100,000 dollars worth of debt, I hate it. Those are very heavy yokes around their necks. I think it foretells a strong possibility for a reduced standard of living with each passing year. And that's not what this generation was told they could expect once they graduated. But they were set up by parents who, for the most part, are bad at managing - or even understanding - money themselves.
We need to do better at teaching everyone how to understand money and what connection it has to real personal satisfaction. Otherwise, the once called GenXers are going to be the first generation of the new, lower standard of living ahead.
By John McKee
John M. McKee is the founder and CEO of BusinessSuccessCoach.net, an international consulting and coaching practice with subscribers in 43 countries. One of the founding senior executives of DIRECTV, his hands-on experience includes leading billion d...
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John M. McKee is the founder and CEO of BusinessSuccessCoach.net, an international consulting and coaching practice with subscribers in 43 countries. One of the founding senior executives of DIRECTV, his hands-on experience includes leading billion dollar organizations and launching start-ups in both the U.S. and Canada. The author of two published books, he is frequently seen providing advice on TV, in magazines, and newspapers.
Tech & Work Tech Industry CXO SMBs Innovation Developer Tech & Work on ZDNet
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Would You Lay Your Pet to Rest in a Funeral Home?
Grieving humans who’ve lost their animal counterparts are getting more options for memorializing their pets in style.
By Laura RiceSeptember 22, 2015 8:49 amArts & Culture, Business & Your Money
Image via Flickr/ Mark Robinson (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Pet "parents" have a new place to say goodbye to their furry loved ones.
If it seems like everywhere you go these days, you see services for pets and pet owners – you’re not imagining things. From pet sweaters to pet spas, the American pet industry is a $60 billion business – that’s almost double what it was just over a decade ago.
The Wag-A-Matic K-9 Kiosk vends dog treats, toys and grooming supplies to eager pets – and their owners at the Doghouse Drinkery and Dog Park in Leander – just north of Austin. But that’s not the business trend we’re talking about, it’s this one:
The Pet Loss Center in Austin is having its grand opening today.
“This is one of our viewing and visitation rooms and there’s a lot of families that may want to have the opportunity to say a final goodbye or want to come in and see their pet out of a clinical setting,” co-founder Coleen Ellis says. “So this is one of two viewing rooms that we have.”
On the day we met, Ellis was wearing a bright pink dress and matching lipstick and – fair warning – she’s a hugger. She says she had been working in the human funeral service industry when she lost her own pet – Miko.
“She was an absolute little mutt I got out of the shelter right after I got my first big-girl house,” Ellis says. “And she became, not just like, she became my family. And when she died, I had been looking around to find those pet loss operations that handled her much like I knew we handled people when we lost a loved one and I didn’t find that. I didn’t find what I expected it to be or what I was wanting if you will.”
So she created what she wanted – which is basically a pet funeral home. Besides the visitation rooms, there’s a wall of urns and memorial jewelry and decorative stones. Then there’s what goes on in the back area – which isn’t beautiful – but Ellis says it’s just as important.
“As you can see up on the top of all of the chambers – which is what the proper name is for the area where the pets will be cremated – you’ll see a barcode,” she says. “So that every step of the way our veterinary partners and our pet parents know exactly where their pets are in this process.”
You may have noticed a little twist on vocabulary here – not pet owners but “pet parents.” And often “fur kids” or “babies” rather than animals or pets.
Nick Padlo is Ellis’s business partner.
“My wife and I, we’ve been married for five years and no human children yet – no real plans to – but we love our little Porsche and Eleanor,” he says.
Porsche and Eleanor are his dogs.
Padlo’s story is increasingly common among millennials – as well as more and more baby boomers – who are replacing kids and grandkids with pups and grandpuppies. But it’s now been close to a decade since this trend began and, unfortunately, that’s the end of the lifespan for some of these pets.
“Gosh, if you really think about it, what our pet parents have done today with the elevation of doggie facials or those high-end doggie bakeries or whatever it may be – kitty cafes – but from all of those, it really kind of segues then into if they’re doing all that in life, then they’re going to want to do something in death as well,” Ellis says.
And the demand does seem to be there. The Pet Loss Center has a couple of locations now – including one in Florida – but Padlo says they want to focus on Texas.
“With two locations in Dallas-Fort Worth and then one here in Austin, Houston is kind of the next logical step for us,” Padlo says. “It’s obviously a big city with a lot of people and I don’t think anyone is doing what we’re doing.”
So in this growing corner of the $60 billion American pet industry, perhaps you’re wondering what all this costs?
“When you say, gosh, I don’t know if any of that’s for me, the question that I would have is ‘what’s that’ and from the price aspect, again, it’s the question of what do you want to do,” Ellis says. “And then let’s see what we can do and work within what your means are.”
Just as not every pet parent will spend $20 on a bottle of blueberry facial scrub for their mutt, or $70 on a piped blazer and dress shirt set for their cat, not everyone will wish to have their pet’s ashes in a decorative urn or a nose print memorialized on a necklace.
But there are those options now and, particularly when grief is involved, Ellis says there’s no room for judgment.
“Whether it’s a boa constrictor or a goldfish or a gerbil or whatever it may be, people form relationships with all sorts of animals and we honor all of that here,” she says.
Which is to say, it’s a place for the dearly departed, as much as their owners, to find some comfort and rest.
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Families’ Weird Holiday Traditions, Illustrated
The silliest, most unique winter holiday rituals submitted by The Atlantic’s readers.
Dan Bransfield
A Potential Hidden Factor in Why People Have So Much Trouble Losing Weight
Amanda Mull
Barbara Bradley Hagerty
Trump’s Greatest Contribution to American Politics
Todd S. Purdum
The Supreme Court’s Worst Decision of My Tenure
Your Smart Toaster Can’t Hold a Candle to the Apollo Computer
Alexis C. Madrigal
Julie Beck, Saahil Desai, and Natalie Escobar
Part of the allure of the holidays is all the traditions: A turkey-and-mashed-potatoes feast on Thanksgiving, wrapped presents nestled under the bedazzled tree for Christmas, the lighting of the menorah during Hanukkah. It’s these iconic moments that Norman Rockwell captured in his popular illustrations of families’ snowy holiday revelry.
But, then again, how Americans actually celebrate the holidays doesn’t always resemble a picture-perfect Rockwell painting. Families conjure up their own traditions to attach to the holidays, from the heartwarming to the gross to the downright silly. So, this year, we had readers send in stories and photos of their families’ unique and quirky holiday traditions. And in a modern twist on the Rockwell prints of yesteryear, we had Dan Bransfield, an artist in San Francisco, illustrate eight of our favorites based on the photos the families sent.
‘Throwing Pop Away’
When I was little, 15 to 30 family members would gather at my grandparents’ house on Christmas Day. Everyone got presents from at least one person in each of the families (my mom is one of five, and sometimes even more extended family would show up with gifts for the 15 grandchildren).
This produced a lot of torn wrapping paper, ribbons, packing material, product packaging, and Sears toy catalogs used to weigh down gifts so the kids couldn't guess what was in them. All this went in a giant trash can, but it would still be overflowing. So, my grandfather would always climb into the trash can to push everything down so the rest of it could fit. Then we would drape ribbons and stick bows on him while he was in there. We called it “Throwing Pop Away.”
Even when he got older and sick from cancer, we still filled a smaller cardboard box with some of the wrapping paper, and he would climb in.
Now that he’s gone, several family members have kept the tradition going.
LaRae LaBouff
Wearing Doilies on Our Heads
My great-grandmother, Nana Evelyn, was born in 1912. When she was 4 or 5 years old, her prim-and-proper, traditional “Irish matriarch” of a mother hosted a big Thanksgiving dinner for friends and family in their little home in North Jersey. My great-great-grandmother had prepared small bowls of fresh fruit as a first course, and under each bowl she placed one of those little white-lace doilies to complete each perfect, proper placement. That night, her guest of honor was a man my family knows only as Judge Hubert. (My Grandpa Doug, Nana Evelyn’s middle son, claims Judge Hubert was the guy who invented those chains that secure pens to the counter at the bank. I don’t know how fact-checkable that is.) Judge Hubert politely finished his fruit, then quietly leaned over to 4-year-old Nana Evelyn and said, “Look—this is what you’re supposed to do with these,” before fastening the doily to the top of his head with a toothpick. To my great-great-grandmother’s horror, Nana Evelyn roared with laughter and followed Judge Hubert’s lead. Before she knew it, everyone in the room had a doily on their head.
Now, more than 100 years later, my family still wears doilies on our heads every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. It’s a small, silly tradition, but one that has lasted for generations!
A Purposefully Unappetizing Christmas Breakfast
My wife’s grandfather said that Christmas was too good, and so there should be at least one thing you don’t look forward to. So he cooked a Christmas breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and orange juice, put it in a blender, and served it to his kids as a smoothie. My father-in-law heard this story about his father-in-law and thought it was hilarious, so he made it a tradition with my wife and her sisters. But instead of doing the same thing every year, certain family members come up with an idea with which to surprise everyone else. There is always a theme to it: It could be food from The Grinch (Who pudding, rare Who roast beast, triple-decker toadstool sandwiches with arsenic sauce, and of course banana with a greasy black peel) or Elf (spaghetti, crumbled Pop-Tarts, and maple syrup) or poop (cat box filled with Cocoa Krispies topped with plops of undercooked pumpkin-pie filling, refried beans served in diapers, etc.) or oatmeal (oatmeal bread, oatmeal muffins, oatmeal cookies, oatmeal soup—busy day for the bathroom after that one). Last year, my son and my brother-in-law teamed up to create a science lab: dissected frog legs, lychee fruit “eyeballs” floating in a big jar with dry ice smoking out the top, brains made of Jell-O, and bowls of worms. We laugh a lot, and I always think, I bet nobody else in the world is eating the same thing we are right now ...
Nate Ransil
Celebrating New Year’s Eve With Video Games and Cheap Pizza
My husband and I have been together since high school. When we were 16, in 2010, we started the tradition of playing SSX Tricky on a PlayStation 2 and eating frozen pizza while our parents were out on New Year’s Eve. (That game came out in 2001 and was already dated when we started the tradition!) We always meant to watch the ball drop, but we would get caught up with playing or making out and would forget to go hunting for the right channel until the last minute. Now we’re in our mid-20s, but we still just play video games and intentionally “forget” to turn on the TV until the last minute. We get invited to New Year’s Eve parties, but there is something really special about starting every year with just the guy I fell in love with at 16, some cheap pizza, and a quiet home.
Alyssa Mars Hakanson
A Speedo-Clad George Michael Made of Marzipan
Since 2007, my youngest daughter has baked a gingerbread house and/or a Yule log cake, which her best friend, a sculptor, has decorated with marzipan figures, always including George Michael. The first included a Speedo-clad George in a melted sugar pool outside the gingerbread house—a tribute to “Club Tropicana.” (Since we live in Houston, our holiday tends to include a tropical theme.) Beginning in 2009, the year Michael Jackson died, George began to straddle the log at the head of a marzipan procession of tributes to cultural figures who have left us during that year, starting with a silver glove, but now including lovingly molded figures ranging from Amy Winehouse to Nelson Mandela. Christmas 2016 was a somewhat somber affair for many reasons, culminating with George’s shocking death on Christmas Day. But George still rode the log that year—with a gorgeous set of angel wings—and the tiniest Speedo yet. George rode again last year, and God willing will continue to do so as long as writers write, singers sing, and bakers bake—and the marzipan doesn’t run out.
Craig Murrin
Feeding the Cows Hay on Christmas Eve
We follow an old-world, European tradition of giving our cows hay on Christmas Eve.
The origin of the tradition is that because cows protected and kept Baby Jesus warm when he was born in a stable, we need to honor them by feeding them the best hay that we have. If you have spent time with cows, you know that they are very protective of their babies. A mother cow will talk to her calf in a low, soft voice. That is what the verse “the cattle were lowing” refers to.
We feed the cows their hay, tell the Christmas story, and sing carols. If you have never had the chance to experience it, cows chewing hay is one of the most relaxing sounds I know.
After we are done, we open presents; growing up on a dairy farm, this wasn’t unusual, because early morning milking makes Christmas-gift opening complicated. After presents, we have homemade egg noodles with butter, garlic, and anchovies.
Steve Schwanebeck
Camping Out Beneath the Christmas Tree
In my family, we have a tradition of camping out and having a slumber party under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve every year. It involves the kids in the family and not usually the parents. We all get decked out in our most festive pajamas and bring down sleeping bags or mattresses and plenty of bedding and then make a camp under the tree. We’re not sure how this started, but it’s possible that we wanted to be closer to the tree and the presents on Christmas morning and probably didn’t want the festivities to end. Now my siblings and I are adults, but we share this sleepover tradition with our nieces and nephews.
Amanda Hopkins
A Superstitious New Year’s With Coal and Whiskey
I come from a Scottish background that marries superstition with religion: not good bedfellows. Before the new year, all debts to family or friends must be paid. The house must be thoroughly cleaned with no dirty laundry. That’s the precursor. There’s not much time for partying with the duties that must be completed before midnight—plus a bowlful of peas must be consumed to ensure there is money in the new year. A soldering iron is used to drop bits of solder into cold water, and it will form globs that are then translated to the man or woman you will marry or the luck you will have that year. By 11:30, we are exhausted and perhaps feeling the painful effects of all those peas.
And then it’s on to mission impossible: the first footer. The first footer is the person who will take the first step over your threshold on New Year’s morning. This is quite specific. It must be a man, and he needs to be tall and very dark-haired and brown-eyed. He must carry a slice of bread, a flask of whiskey, a measure of milk, and a lump of coal—and then he must bless all the rooms in the house. All to ensure heat, food, and whiskey for whatever occasion it’s needed. I married a handsome but blue-eyed, red-haired man who by custom carries the worst possible luck as a first footer. Red hair is highest on the scale of bad luck, and of course most Scots are of that coloring. One year my husband could not leave the house in the event he would be the first one back in. We waited three days before we coerced a work colleague to gather the necessities and enter our house. I now collect the items and leave them outside on New Year’s Eve so that my son can enter with blessings and thus free me for the year. Do I believe this works? No. I have had some very bad years. But can I release myself from the superstition? Absolutely not. It’s time for me to look for a lump of coal already. Not easy to find in this century.
Bev MacLeod
A Time Capsule of the Moon Landing
NASA employees and civilians remember the 1969 lunar landing.
Emily Buder
Julie Beck is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where she covers family and education.
Saahil Desai is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where he covers politics and policy.
Natalie Escobar is an editorial fellow at The Atlantic.
Melissa Ross / Getty
A new study in mice points to how cell biology, not willpower, might be the root of yo-yo dieting.
The American conventional wisdom about weight loss is simple: A calorie deficit is all that’s required to drop excess pounds, and moderating future calorie consumption is all that’s required to maintain it. To the idea’s adherents, the infinite complexity of human biology acts as one big nutritional piggy bank. Anyone who gains too much weight or loses weight and gains it back has simply failed to balance the caloric checkbook, which can be corrected by forswearing fatty food or carbs.
Endocrinologists have known for decades that the science of weight is far more complicated than calorie deficits and energy expenditures. And in 2016, the fickle complexity of weight came to broad national attention. In a study of former contestants on a season of the weight-loss reality show The Biggest Loser, scientists found that years later, the contestants not only had gained back much or all of the weight they’d lost on the show, but also had far weaker metabolisms than most people their size. The contestants’ bodies had fought for years to regain the weight, contrary to the contestants’ efforts and wishes. No one was sure why.
Paul Spella / Katie Martin
What new research reveals about sexual predators, and why police fail to catch them
Robert Spada walked into the decrepit warehouse in Detroit and surveyed the chaos: Thousands of cardboard boxes and large plastic bags were piled haphazardly throughout the cavernous space. The air inside was hot and musty. Spada, an assistant prosecutor, saw that some of the windows were open, others broken, exposing the room to the summer heat. Above the boxes, birds glided in slow, swooping circles.
It was August 17, 2009, and this brick fortress of a building housed evidence that had been collected by the Detroit Police Department. Spada’s visit had been prompted by a question: Why were police sometimes unable to locate crucial evidence? The answer lay in the disarray before him.
Patrick Semansky / AP
The fight on the House floor about Trump’s racist tweets illustrates, yet again, how singularly unprepared Washington is for a president like him.
In his racist attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color, Donald Trump violated the norms of civilized public discourse in ways no modern president has come close to doing. And in their effort to condemn the president’s virulent remarks, the House Democratic majority dispensed—by raw party-line vote—with parliamentary niceties dating to the pen of Thomas Jefferson himself.
Welcome to another great moment in Washington 2019, where the 45th president seems more determined than ever to keep defining deviancy down, and to encourage everyone else to see the moral high ground as just another slippery and shifting partisan slope.
The day began normally enough for this non-normal age, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi determined to pass a non-binding resolution rebuking Trump’s series of tweets attacking the four Democratic members as America-hating socialists who should “go back” to where they came from, even though all but one of them were born in the United States.
District of Columbia v. Heller recognized an individual right to possess a firearm under the Constitution. Here’s why the case was wrongly decided.
District of Columbia v. Heller, which recognized an individual right to possess a firearm under the Constitution, is unquestionably the most clearly incorrect decision that the Supreme Court announced during my tenure on the bench.
The text of the Second Amendment unambiguously explains its purpose: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” When it was adopted, the country was concerned that the power of Congress to disarm the state militias and create a national standing army posed an intolerable threat to the sovereignty of the several states.
Despite what everyone says about the power of modern devices, they’re nowhere near as capable as the landmark early NASA system.
Editor's Note: This article is part of a series reflecting on the Apollo 11 mission, 50 years later.
Without the computers on board the Apollo spacecraft, there would have been no moon landing, no triumphant first step, no high-water mark for human space travel. A pilot could never have navigated the way to the moon, as if a spaceship were simply a more powerful airplane. The calculations required to make in-flight adjustments and the complexity of the thrust controls outstripped human capacities.
The Apollo Guidance Computer, in both its guises—one on board the core spacecraft, and the other on the lunar module—was a triumph of engineering. Computers had been the size of rooms and filled with vacuum tubes, and if the Apollo computer, at 70 pounds, was not exactly miniature yet, it began “the transition between people bragging about how big their computers are … and bragging about how small their computers are,” the MIT aerospace and computing historian David Mindell once joked in a lecture.
An Oral History of Trump’s Bigotry
David A. Graham, Adrienne Green, Cullen Murphy, and Parker Richards
His racism and intolerance have always been in evidence; only slowly did he begin to understand how to use them to his advantage.
The first quotation from Donald Trump ever to appear in The New York Times came on October 16, 1973. Trump was responding to charges filed by the Justice Department alleging racial bias at his family’s real-estate company. “They are absolutely ridiculous,” Trump said of the charges. “We have never discriminated, and we never would.”
In the years since then, Trump has assembled a long record of comment on issues involving African Americans as well as Mexicans, Hispanics more broadly, Native Americans, Muslims, Jews, immigrants, women, and people with disabilities.
Justyna Stasik
Elementary Education Has Gone Terribly Wrong
Natalie Wexler
In the early grades, U.S. schools value reading-comprehension skills over knowledge. The results are devastating, especially for poor kids.
At first glance, the classroom I was visiting at a high-poverty school in Washington, D.C., seemed like a model of industriousness. The teacher sat at a desk in the corner, going over student work, while the first graders quietly filled out a worksheet intended to develop their reading skills.
As I looked around, I noticed a small girl drawing on a piece of paper. Ten minutes later, she had sketched a string of human figures, and was busy coloring them yellow.
I knelt next to her and asked, “What are you drawing?”
“Clowns,” she answered confidently.
“Why are you drawing clowns?”
“Because it says right here, ‘Draw clowns,’ ” she explained.
Running down the left side of the worksheet was a list of reading-comprehension skills: finding the main idea, making inferences, making predictions. The girl was pointing to the phrase draw conclusions. She was supposed to be making inferences and drawing conclusions about a dense article describing Brazil, which was lying facedown on her desk. But she was unaware that the text was there until I turned it over. More to the point, she had never heard of Brazil and was unable to read the word.
Erin Scott / Reuters
Am I an American?
Ibram X. Kendi
President Trump’s tirade against four minority congresswomen prompts the question: Whom does he consider to be American?
I live in envy. I envy the people who know their nationality. All the people whose nationality has never been a question in their mind.
I can imagine the woman staring at her reflection in the Volta River who knows she’s Ghanaian, like her ancestors who liberated their people in 1957 and chose the mighty pre-colonial Ghana as the name of their new nation. I can imagine the woman flying into Frankfurt who knows she’s German, who knows she’s arriving back home. I can imagine the man working on his antique car outside his home in Biloxi, forehead covered by the prized blood-red baseball cap he purchased at a rally back in November, a man who has never been told, “Go back to your country!” If somehow someone did tell him, it would confuse him as much as it would the Ghanaian or German woman. It would be like someone driving by his house and shouting at him, “Go back to your home!”
Leah Millis / Reuters
Leave Jews Out of It
Trump erred by bringing Israel into his Twitter attack against the “squad.”
President Donald Trump obviously has no boundaries, let alone any understanding of historical tropes, but he really should not have roped the Jewish state into his latest Twitter tirade against four Democratic congresswomen (or, as he put it in his Joe McCarthy–inflected English, “Democrat Congresswomen”). “When will the Radical Left Congresswomen apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said,” wrote the leader of the free world. “I can tell you that they have made Israel feel abandoned by the U.S.”
Trump’s ire was directed at the “squad,” the quartet of outspoken female Democratic legislators whose ranks include Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. For the past two weeks, the women have been embroiled in a very public spat with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom they consider insufficiently left-wing and overly solicitous toward the president. Trump, unable to let an intra–Democratic Party tussle play out to his own electoral advantage, chose to intervene, with what can only be described as a racist attack on four ethnic-minority women. The lawmakers, “who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe,” he wrote, ought to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Trump Tells America What Kind of Nationalist He Is
In a series of tweets attacking four Democratic congresswomen, the president reiterated his belief that only white people can truly be American.
When President Donald Trump declared himself a “nationalist,” he was telling the truth, but he was inadequately specific.
On Sunday morning, the president told four members of Congress to “go back” to the countries “from which they came.” The remark, a racist taunt with a historic pedigree, inspired a flurry of fact-checking from mainstream journalists who were quick to note that Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar are American citizens, and that only Omar was born abroad, in Somalia. It was a rather remarkable exercise in missing the point.
Read: The nationalist’s delusion
When Trump told these women to “go back,” he was not making a factual claim about where they were born. He was stating his ideological belief that American citizenship is fundamentally racial, that only white people can truly be citizens, and that people of color, immigrants in particular, are only conditionally American. This is a cornerstone of white nationalism, and one of the president’s few closely held ideological beliefs. It is a moral conviction, not a statement of fact. If these women could all trace their family line back to 1776, it would not make them more American than Trump, a descendant of German immigrants whose ancestors arrived relatively recently, because he is white and they are not.
The Horrors of ICE’s ‘Trans Pod’
A woman who spent two months in solitary confinement in a “transgender pod” tells her story.
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Guatemalan migrants describe what they endured before and after asking for asylum in the United States.
More Popular Stories
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David Benedict: It’s not just shows, theatres thrive on imaginative reworkings too
The Queen's Theatre in London's West End is to be renamed after Stephen Sondheim. Photo: Shutterstock
by David Benedict - Jul 10, 2019
While some musical theatre aficionados, myself included, know more than our fair share about queens, we know rather less about the Queen’s. I’m not talking about Six, the cheeky, mock-Tudor musical at the Arts Theatre. I mean Cameron Mackintosh’s theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue (he also owns the Gielgud next door), which is about to close for refurbishment, reopening in December as the Sondheim.
To save you the bother of looking her up, the queen in question when the theatre was built (1907) was Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Empress Consort of India as wife of Edward VII, also known as Queen Alexandra of Denmark, the present queen’s great-grandmother.
The very good news is that, unlike the small but noisy old guard who attempted to hold back time when Indhu Rubasingham rebuilt, repositioned and renamed the Tricycle theatre as the Kiln, the royal family doesn’t seem in the least miffed by the renaming.
Indeed, the only faintly controversial thing about the story is that when Les Misérables returns to reopen the building, it will be in Mackintosh’s newer incarnation of the show, a fact that hasn’t gone down well with some of the original’s more staunch fans who believe John Napier’s design and, principally, the revolve are fundamental to appreciation of the musical.
Les Mis designer John Napier criticises plans to replace West End production with ‘fudged’ update
I have no horse in this race and concede that there are arguments on both sides, especially when the original production, as much as the work of its writers, has contributed to a work’s uninterrupted success.
Yet I do, where appropriate, tend to favour imaginative reworkings, which is why I am crossing every available digit for the announced 2020 Broadway production of West Side Story choreographed by the unexpected choice of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and directed by Ivo van Hove, who is chief among those directors of whom it can be said that when he’s good he’s very, very good (A View from the Bridge) and when he’s bad he’s All About Eve.
Back in the present, chief among the musical classics currently in revival is the transfer of the Menier Chocolate Factory production of the imperishable Fiddler on the Roof, now boasting a fresh cast alongside Andy Nyman continuing as Tevye.
Okay, cards on the table: I’m as big a fan of the musicals of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick as the next person (actually, more) but, for me, their masterpiece is not the beloved Fiddler, it’s their lesser-known jewel She Loves Me. The latter pulls off the seriously rare trick of being a masterpiece adapted from a masterpiece – Lubitsch’s tender, touching and terrific romantic comedy The Shop Around the Corner (1940) starring Margaret Sullavan and a never-better James Stewart. The late, great Nora Ephron loved that movie so much she remade it with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks as You’ve Got Mail.
Fiddler has had a more than healthy London life. The original production, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, ran for just shy of five years at Her Majesty’s Theatre and has reappeared, for better – and worse – in every decade since. Two years ago, Daniel Evans directed a remarkable new production at Chichester with a notably ethnically diverse cast led by Omid Djalili as Tevye the hardworking milkman in the Russian shtetl of Anatevka facing up to the marrying off of his five daughters: it’s Jewish Jane Austen or, as I like to think of it, Pride and Prejyiddish.
Evans’ atypical yet trenchant and passionate production was scouring the West End for a theatre when Trevor Nunn’s Menier production was announced, so it’s small wonder that the latter made its way to the Playhouse complete with a superb environmental design by Robert Jones steeped in evocative colour by lighting designer Tim Lutkin. The design as a whole conveys the cramped village at the musical’s considerable heart and, better yet, pulls the audience into it. Yet with the outstanding exception of Nyman’s rigorously authentic, wonderfully vivid central performance, there’s a sentimentality to Nunn’s handling of the material that Evans’ production eschewed to far more winning effect.
Where Nunn’s production succeeds most is in its sense of community. And at the very opposite end of the scale, a different community simply glows in Sam Harrison’s tiny and deeply touching paean of praise to the hidden power of Hello, Dolly! – and all musical theatre – in Love Is Only Love.
Scrupulous direction by Jason Morell elicits knockout performances from the calmly beguiling Harrison and a dazzling, emotionally precise David Seadon-Young. The show is as elegantly witty as it is touching (very), crisply avoiding every cliché of the coming-of-age/coming-out genre. It was at the Other Palace as part of the Pride celebrations but deserves a far bigger life.
West End’s Queen’s Theatre to be renamed after Stephen Sondheim
Read David Benedict’s columns every Wednesday at thestage.co.uk/author/david-benedict
Cameron Mackintosh
Obituary: William Simons – In-demand child actor who became an admired and reliable character actor
Lea Salonga: ‘The physical demands on musical theatre performers are crazy’
Sam Harrison: Musicals helped me embrace my sexuality, but we need...
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Somewhere, deep out in the California desert, a group of surly men is gathering. And, as the sun beats relentlessly down, the scene unfolds: a biker gang ranged menacingly on one side, two cowering Mexican immigrants on the other. “Illegals!” cries the lead biker – “Job-stealing, good-for-nothing illegals” – raising his gun to deliver the final dispatch of justice.
Suddenly, out of nowhere it seems, comes the hero of the hour: the lonely American man to defend the Mexican cause. Now there is a body in the way, and a choice to be made. We hear the shot, and down goes the unknown defender, clutching at his bleeding chest. Our protagonist has just made the ultimate sacrifice.
Or has he? In fact, the scene comes straight from mentalist and illusionist Derren Brown’s new Netflix special Sacrifice – nothing more than an elaborately staged performance to demonstrate the mechanisms of sacrifice. What makes it all the more remarkable is that the man who put himself in front of the (fake) bullet had no idea that it was a set-up – and, more than that, just one year previously, he had been an immigrant-hating xenophobe who would never have associated with that particular grouping.
Personally, I found it a thought-provoking watch (do check it out on Netflix if you’re curious), which really got me thinking about stories of sacrifice, and the role that sacrifice plays in our own lives. You see, stories of sacrifice really are everywhere when you start looking for them. Think of the Christian stories that underpin our culture to this day: not just Jesus Christ, the archetypal sacrifice, but Cain and Abel in the Old Testament, for instance, or the summation found in John’s Gospel: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Remarkably, the stories are much the same in a secular context, tales of self-sacrifice and predominantly military heroics embodied in stories such as the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, The Alamo, and in our remembrance for the fallen in all the wars of history. The amount of films that have been made to commemorate such sacrifice goes to show how much these stories capture the human imagination. Clearly, sacrifice is a part of the human narrative.
Everyday sacrifice
What does it mean for us in our everyday lives, however, away, we hope, from those utmost situations of life and death?
Well, the first point to make is that sacrifice is required of us all sooner or later. You want to switch career? Sure, but you’re going to have to sacrifice money, status and stability to start from the bottom all over again. You want to overhaul your finances? Good, let’s start by sacrificing all those meals out and holidays abroad. You want to get in the shape of your life? Absolutely, but you’re going to be spending your Saturday nights at the bar(bell) from now on.
These might seem like trivial examples, but these are the sacrifices we contend with on a daily basis, in addition to the greater sacrifices we may be called to make as partners, as parents, as individuals with people who depend on us and people we care about.
Coming to terms with sacrifice
Despite all this, I believe that this need for sacrifice comes as a surprise to many of us (and I by no means exclude myself from that bracket). My generation, by which I mean the so-called millennial generation, has grown up being told we can have it all: a well-paid job – and meaningful work; a glittering career – and the perfect family; success – and no work put in.
There is an entitlement and height of expectation, a desire to have it all, and now, that – when it is inevitably disappointed – results in extraordinary feelings of unhappiness, disappointment, resentment, jealousy and guilt. This is what I’ve been told I can have, this is what everyone else seems to have, why don’t I have it too?
It is, of course, a false image, a mirage: nothing achieved comes without sacrifice, and one thing generally comes at the expense of another. A far healthier attitude, in my opinion, is to accept that sacrifice is a part of our life, and be prepared to make that sacrifice with decisiveness, courage and empathy when the time comes. Because a sacrifice, when willingly made, is one of the things that makes us human.
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Cambridge graduate. Writer and thinker. Life enthusiast.
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HomeEntertainmentMichael Jackson estate hits back at ‘Leaving Neverland’
Michael Jackson estate hits back at ‘Leaving Neverland’
April 16, 2019 Staff Reporter Entertainment 0
FILE - In this April 18, 1995, file photo, pop star Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley, behind him at left, walk with children that were invited guests at his Neverland Ranch home in Santa Ynez, Calif. The co-executor of Jackson's estate says he's confident the late superstar's supporters will be able to protect his legacy and brand in the wake of HBO’s "Leaving Neverland," a documentary detailing allegations of sexual abuse. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
BOSTON (AP) — The co-executor of Michael Jackson’s estate said Tuesday that he’s confident the late superstar’s supporters will be able to protect his legacy in the wake of an HBO documentary featuring the disturbing stories of two men who say Jackson sexually abused them as boys.
Longtime entertainment attorney John Branca called the documentary a one-sided “made-for-TV-movie” and accused the film’s subjects of being motivated by money. Branca acknowledged that Jackson’s estate has faced “challenges” since the documentary’s release, but said he doesn’t believe there will be a long-term impact.
“People love Michael. They love Michael’s music for sure. And if the investigation is effective, which I think it will be, in showing that there is severe doubt about what may or may not have happened, we will be back to people feeling ‘It’s OK to say I like Michael,’” Branca said on a panel hosted by the Harvard Institute of Politics.
It’s the latest attack by Jackson’s estate against “Leaving Neverland,” featuring Wade Robson and James Safechuck. The estate has slammed filmmakers for not interviewing any of Jackson’s family members or other defenders, who insist the singer never molested a child.
The film’s director, Dan Reed, has repeatedly defended the film. Robson and Safechucks’s accusations are not new, but have put Jackson’s legacy under fresh scrutiny amid the #MeToo movement.
A lawyer for the men said Tuesday that Branca and lawyers for Jackson’s estate are seeking to discredit the singer’s accusers out of their own financial interest.
“Their recent comments are just part and parcel of the same thing they’ve been doing for years, which is protect the estate so they can continue to profit off of it,” attorney Vince Finaldi said.
The men first came forward with their stories years earlier in lawsuits. Both of them had previously denied the singer sexually abused them, but said having their own children and Jackson’s 2009 death forced them to face the truth. Their lawsuits were dismissed for technical reasons and their appeals are expected to be argued this summer.
Jackson, who was cleared in 2005 of charges that he molested another boy, acknowledged that he befriended numerous children, including some he invited into his bed, but denied molesting any.
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Biography of Andy Warhol, Icon of Pop Art
Fads & Fashions
Ancient History and Culture
Humanities › History & Culture
Jack Mitchell/Getty Images
by Jennifer Rosenberg
Jennifer Rosenberg is a historian, history fact-checker, and freelance writer who writes about 20th-century history topics.
Andy Warhol (born Andrew Warhola; Aug. 6, 1928–Feb. 22, 1987) was one of the most important artists of pop art, a genre that became popular in the second half of the 20th century. Though he is best remembered for his mass-produced paintings of Campbell's soup cans, he created hundreds of other works ranging from commercial advertisements to films. His best-known work, including the soup cans, reflected his views on the banality that he saw in the commercial culture of America.
Fast Facts; Andy Warhol
Known For: Pop art
Also Known As: Andrew Warhola
Born: Aug. 6, 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Parents: Andrej and Julia Warhola
Died: Feb. 22, 1987 in New York, New York
Education: Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University)
Published Works: Commercial illustrations, paintings, films
Notable Quote: "I just happen to like ordinary things. When I paint them, I don't try to make them extraordinary. I just try to paint them ordinary-ordinary."
Andy Warhol was born on Aug. 6, 1928, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up there with his older brothers, Paul and John, and his parents, Andrej and Julia Warhola, both of whom had emigrated from Czechoslovakia (now called Slovakia). Devout Byzantine Catholics, the family regularly attended Mass and observed their Eastern European heritage.
Even as a young boy, Warhol liked to draw, color, and cut and paste pictures. His mother, who was also artistic, encouraged him by giving him a chocolate bar every time he finished a page in his coloring book.
Elementary school was traumatic for Warhol, especially once he contracted Sydenham's chorea, also known as St. Vitus' dance, a disease that attacks the nervous system and makes the sufferer shake uncontrollably. Warhol missed a lot of school during several month-long periods of bed rest. Additionally, large, pink blotches on Warhol's skin, also from the disorder, didn't help his self-esteem or acceptance by other students. This led to nicknames such as “Spot” and “Andy the Red-Nosed Warhola” and a lifelong interest in clothing, wigs, cosmetics, and, later, plastic surgery in response to what he perceived as his flaws.
During high school, Warhol took art classes there and at the Carnegie Institute (now the Carnegie Museum of Art). He was somewhat of an outcast because he was quiet, could always be found with a sketchbook in his hands, and had shockingly pale skin and white-blond hair. Warhol also loved to go to movies and started a collection of celebrity memorabilia, particularly autographed photos. A number of these pictures appeared in Warhol's later artwork.
Warhol graduated from high school and then went to the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1945, graduating in 1949 with a major in pictorial design.
Blotted-Line Technique
During college, Warhol developed the blotted-line technique, which involved taping two pieces of blank paper together at an edge and then drawing in ink on one page. Before the ink dried, he pressed the two pieces of paper together. The resulting image was a picture with irregular lines that he could fill in with watercolor.
Warhol moved to New York right after college and worked there for a decade as a commercial illustrator. He quickly earned a reputation in the 1950s for using his blotted-line technique in commercial advertisements. Some of Warhol's most famous ads were for shoes for I. Miller, but he also drew Christmas cards for Tiffany & Co., created book and album covers, and illustrated Amy Vanderbilt's "Complete Book of Etiquette."
Around 1960, Warhol decided to make a name for himself in pop art, a new style of art that had begun in England in the mid-1950s and consisted of realistic renditions of popular, everyday items. Warhol had turned away from the blotted-line technique and had decided to use paint and canvas, but he was having trouble deciding what to paint.
Warhol began with Coke bottles and comic strips, but his work wasn't getting the attention he wanted. In December 1961, a friend gave Warhol an idea: he should paint what he liked most in the world, perhaps something such as money or a can of soup. Warhol painted both.
Warhol's first exhibition in an art gallery came in 1962 at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles. He displayed his canvases of Campbell's soup, one for each of the 32 types of soup made by the company. He sold all the paintings as a set for $1,000. Before long, Warhol's work was known all over the world and he was in the vanguard of the new pop art movement.
Silk-Screening
Unfortunately for Warhol, he found that he couldn't make his paintings fast enough on canvas. In July 1962, he discovered the process of silk screening, which uses a specially prepared section of silk as a stencil, allowing one silk-screen image to create similar patterns multiple times.
He immediately began making paintings of political and Hollywood celebrities, most notably a large collection of paintings of Marilyn Monroe. Warhol would use this style for the rest of his life. Mass production not only spread his art; it became his art form.
In the 1960s as Warhol continued to paint, he also made films, which were known for creative eroticism, lack of plots, and extreme length—up to 25 hours. From 1963 to 1968, he made nearly 60 movies. One of his movies, "Sleep," is a five-and-a-half-hour film of a nude man sleeping. “We were shooting so many, we never even bothered to give titles to a lot of them,” Warhol later recalled.
On July 3, 1968, disgruntled actress Valerie Solanas, one of the hangers-on at Warhol's studio known as The Factory, shot him in the chest. Less than 30 minutes later, Warhol was pronounced clinically dead. The doctor then cut Warhol's chest open and massaged his heart for a final effort to get it started again. It worked. Though his life was saved, it took a long time for him to recover.
Warhol continued to paint during the 1970s and 1980s. He also began publishing a magazine called Interview and several books about himself and pop art. He even dabbled in television, producing two shows—"Andy Warhol’s TV" and "Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes,"—for MTV and appearing on "The Love Boat" and "Saturday Night Live."
On Feb. 21, 1987, Warhol underwent routine gallbladder surgery. Though the operation went well, Warhol unexpectedly passed away the following morning from complications. He was 58.
Warhol’s work is featured in an enormous collection at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, which the website describes as "one of the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world and the largest in North America." It includes paintings, drawings, commercial illustrations, sculptures, prints, photographs, wallpapers, sketchbooks, and books covering Warhol’s career, from his student work to pop art paintings and collaborations.
In his will, the artist directed that his entire estate be used to create a foundation for the advancement of the visual arts. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts was established in 1987.
"Andy Warhol: American Artist." Encyclopedia Britannica.
"Andy Warhol's Life." Warhol.org.
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The Patterson Interview
By Sue Patterson | November 11, 2011 - 2:54 pm | November 18, 2015 Uncategorized
Debbie Harbeson, from Indiana, runs a blog that interviews homeschooling families: Homeschooling: Freedom and Fun For Your Family Catch a glimpse inside the lives of families living in educational freedom! This blog is a showcase of short, fun interviews of homeschooling families of all types from all over the United States and the world. These festive, frisky, friendly and frolicsome interviews focus on freedom, flexibility and fun for families, for I feel this is what makes homeschooling flourish. That, and I just like f-words. So I thumbed a few recent interviews, just to see who she’d already interviewed. Unbeknownst to me, Debbie’s been interviewing people for years! Her blog shows that she’s interviewed 98 people, but I think there are more than that. I was scrolling back through and I’m so excited! I’ll be reading about these for some time now! Some of the interviewees are people I know, and some are just people I WANT to know! I feel like I’m in a nice little circle of folks. Grab a cup of tea and peruse Debbie’s interviews. I’ll be over there finding out things I didn’t know about people I do know, and people I don’t…. yet! And if you want to know more about MY family…here’s a copy of Debbie’s interview.
No Boring Lecture-Style Learning: Sue Patterson’s Interview
Today’s interview from Sue is great in so many ways. For one thing, her family homeschooled in Texas, California and Alaska and as you read her answers you can see that, no matter where you are, you’ll likely find other homeschoolers to share good times. Another bonus from Sue is a little update she gave on what her kids are up to currently. I have added that at the end. Sue lives in Texas now and she has a blog A Life Full of Days where she writes about her current life as well as sharing “what we did, how we did it, what we learned, where we’re headed.” She has also been a board member for the National Home Education Network for over 11 years. I encourage you to check out their site, loads of good information! But before you do, you really must hear about this family who didn’t need boring lectures because they were too busy having fun learning in other ways – like mummifying Barbies…
1. How long have you been homeschooling?
We officially started homeschooling in 1996. Alyssa was 2, Katie 5, and Michael 7. We weren’t one of those families who always knew they’d homeschool. I was a typical stay-at-home mom from the suburbs. But after Michael went to to Kindergarten and 1st grade, we noticed such a marked change in attitude. Our happy-go-lucky kid simply wasn’t that anymore. Plus, he said things like, “You don’t know, Mom. My teacher says to bring our questions to her, not our parents.” Great. The building of the wedge starts early! Like I wouldn’t know the answer to a question by a 1st grader? Sheesh. The whole 2 years Michael was there, they kept pushing for me to take him to a doctor and be diagnosed with ADD. He was just rambunctious and didn’t get enough physical activity there! It happened that the military relocated us from San Antonio to Alaska. So I packed up Michael’s school records and simply didn’t reenroll him in school at our new home. We did send Katie to school that year, because I was so under-confident. She went to 1/2 day kindergarten, while we dangled our toes in the homeschooling waters. But that was it for her. Alyssa went to preschool 3 days a week, because she wanted to ride in the neighborhood carpool. Then years later, she wanted to be on a drill team that danced at football half time shows. So she went to high school for a year and a half and did that. She was glad for the experience but quickly learned she didn’t want to stay there. She really felt it was a waste of time and kept her from “getting on with her real life!” So..you asked how long we homeschooled – since 1996.
2. One of the main benefits of homeschooling is the freedom and flexibility it allows.
Can you give us a few examples of how this freedom and flexibility benefited you (your family)?
Well, homeschooling certainly gave us schedule flexibility over the years. We only had to work around my husband’s work schedule if we wanted to plan road trips or vacations. And, as others have said, being able to plan these trips during the school year meant cheaper off-season rates and way shorter lines! We bought science and museum memberships and were able to go when there were no crowds, because most of them were in school at the time. We also enjoyed flexibility in our day to day activities. Katie was able to participate in community theatre projects without having to worry about staying up late on school nights. She’d simply sleep in the next day. I felt badly for her fellow actors who were cramming math homework in between scenes at 11 p.m.! Flexibility meant that Alyssa could spend hours wandering through horse stables with her dad and then later in California, hanging out there doing whatever ranch chores needed to be done. This ultimately led to riding lessons, owning a horse and taking care of it full time. Later, because of Alyssa’s flexible schedule, she was able to take on a make-up internship with a natural make-up company in Austin. She was available to work back stage at fashion shows and learn all about the industry that she loves. Michael’s flexible hours enabled him to work so he could save up enough money to go to Japan as an exchange student. For me, freedom and flexibility are the most important advantages about homeschooling. Freedom meant we were able to decide the best for our children without others (with their own agendas) making those decisions for us. The kids were free to learn about their own interests and strengthen their passions. Our lives were flexible enough that when we stumbled upon some gem we wanted to explore further, we were free to do just that. When park days lasted into the evening – we didn’t have to rush off and get some scheduled learning completed. Life in general kept bringing learning opportunities. And our flexible schedule allows us to take advantage of all of it!
3. Another benefit of homeschooling is the fun factor.
Can you give us a few examples of some especially fun times you had as a result of homeschooling?
We went to some great homeschool conferences (HSC’s Home+Education, Live and Learn, Rethinking Education) where the kids could meet kids from all over the state or the country. They were able to hang out usually for at least a whole weekend with each other. Many stayed in touch afterwards. In Alaska, we banded together with other families to create regular park days, nature center excursions, museum field trips. We had days of sledding on hills that would have normally been packed – but the other kids were in school. We went berry-picking and whale-watching; we even spent the night in a penguin room at a museum in Seward. We had friends over throughout the week for hours on end. Moms created book clubs, shared ideas, or just chatted while kids played together. In California, we joined groups that already existed. They had weekly park days at huge playscapes, and then we’d move to friends houses for potluck dinners. We had themed “Make & Takes” – families brought supplies for a small craft or food assembly and then the kids went from table to table making stuff and having fun. My husband Ron volunteered to take Katie & Michael along with 20 other kids and chaperones on the Gaslight, a 108-foot square rigger, in the San Francisco Bay. They spent the day sailing around Sausalito and Alcatraz. He also helped with an overnight Civil War reenactment at Angel Island that the kids were invited to attend.We had various “co-op” style learning activities with 20+ families usually. Some kids participated, others played along at the periphery. Each time we got together for these activities, they were completely engaging and fun. We didn’t do boring lecture-style learning! We mummified Barbies, staged a Civil War battle, hired people to teach Improv, created musicals in our backyards…just to name a few! In Texas, we did a lot with 4H. We helped grow a small homeschool 4H club. By being homeschoolers, we were able to work on most of the projects during the day – we did community service projects, theatre productions, nutrition quiz bowl, speech and vocal competitions – not what you’d think of initially when a person mentions 4H. But they had all kinds of things we could tap into if we were interested.
4. We all have funny experiences while homeschooling. Can you share one of yours with us?
One quirky thing that we do is quote movie lines. We’ve done it for years – usually throughout the entire dinnertime, but sometimes just when someone simply passes by. One person shares a somewhat obscure movie line and the others have to guess which movie it comes from. But here’s one funny story for each kid… When Alyssa was about 5, she had joined a soccer team. One night, we were reading The Indian in the Cupboard, and the kids were all piled on my bed. Alyssa had fallen asleep wedged between Michael and Katie. We came to an exciting part in the story that read, “He knocked some more!” With that, Alyssa sat straight up , threw her arms in the air and shouted, “She shoots, she SCORES!” Never opening her eyes, she smiled and nestled back down into the covers. We laughed hysterically – and repeated, “He knocked some more – she shoots, she scores!” for years. When the kids were in Alaska, they were part of a performing group called The Sunshine Generation. They sang and danced in parades, at shopping malls, in performance halls, and nursing homes. Katie, especially, loved the stage! At her first big performance, maybe there were a couple hundred people in the audience. She was up on stage getting into position. She was about 6. She scanned the audience looking for us and finally found her dad. It was as if she were playing her own private game of charades: she put her hands up to her face and motioned as if taking a snapshot with a camera, and then pointed to herself. She continued to repeat this over and over – as if we were going to forget to take her picture! Ron just grinned and lifted the camera up so she could see he had it and was ready. She planted her bejeweled tap shoes firmly on the stage and gave him a double thumbs up. The crowd chuckled and a few of the audience members close to us whispered, “Good job, Dad!” Michael played on a volleyball team in Texas. During one game, he missed the ball and the crowd fell silent. He turned to look up at his dad and me and shouted, “I lost it in the sun!” The crowd laughed, because we were playing INDOORS!. But Ron leaned over to me and whispered, you know he just gave us a movie line, right? We have so much fun with our kids – and still do! Life’s always an adventure!
Here’s a bit about what Sue’s kids are up to now:
Michael loved doing community service and learning about other cultures…now he’s in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua.
Katie loved acting and did tons of it. She ended up getting an agent, did some commercials and a movie, and is now studying in NYC at the New York Film Academy. And
Alyssa who loved fashion and make-up is now going to a Vidal Sassoon Cosmetology School and will have her license to do hair and make-up at 18. Just some of the things that happen when kids are allowed to follow their interests.
One Response to The Patterson Interview
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Now Reading: Only The Good Die Young: 30 Iconic Stars Who Left Us Way Too Soon Share
Top5 » Trending » Entertainment » Movies » Actors » Only The Good Die Young: 30 Iconic Stars Who Left Us Way Too Soon
Only The Good Die Young: 30 Iconic Stars Who Left Us Way Too Soon
By Nikki Ndukwe July 24, 2018 View all posts (116)
Every so often the death of celebrity sends shockwaves through the media. Celebrities are already immortalized through social media, tabloids and cult followings while they are alive. Whether it is a world famous rockstar or a beloved child actor, a famous person’s death has a way of affecting us, especially when it is sudden. There is really no such thing as “too soon” when it comes to our favorite stars. Unfortunately, there have been many celebrities who died young.
The death of major icons like David Bowie, Prince and Robin Williams were just as gut wrenching even if they did live to see past 60. However, nothing compares to the shock of losing a star in the height of their career, at a young age or to suicide. Celebrities who died young remind us that even the most famous and fabulous of us are not invincible or immortal.
30.) Paul Walker
September 23, 1973- November 30, 2013
Cause of death: Fatal car accident
Walker was famous for his reoccurring role in the popular car racing franchise Fast and Furious, which he starred in alongside Tyrese Gibson, Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Fast and Furious star Paul Walker shook headlines when news broke of a fatal car accident involving the actor and Randy Rodas.
Walker’s tragic death occurred while he was still filming Furious 7, the seventh installment of the nine-movie franchise. The collision occurred when the car crashed into a concrete lamp post and two trees caught on fire, ultimately burning the two alive.
The film Furious 7 was released posthumously with Walker’s scenes and his two brothers standing in as doubles for his remaining scenes.
29.) Amy Winehouse
September 14, 1983- July 23, 2011
Cause of death: Alcohol poisoning
Amy Winehouse was most famous for two things: her soulful, sultry vocals that swept you away when she sang, and her ongoing public struggles with drugs and alcohol. Winehouse went through extreme highs and lows in the media. She won a collection of 5 Grammy awards and a number of other awards for her studio album Back to Black.
But her public image was riddled with her reputation of drug issues, alcohol addictions and a troubled marriage issues. On July 23, 2011, Winehouse was found dead by her bodyguard at her residence in Camden, London. She had apparently been drinking over the course of a few days and died of accidental alcohol poisoning due to her physical weakness from her health issues.
Amy Winehouse lives on through her music and her fans, and is considered a member of the 27 club.
28.) Heath Ledger
April 4, 1979 – January 22, 2008
Cause of death: Accidental intoxication from prescription drugs
After one of the most iconic renditions of The Joker, actor Heath Ledger broke headlines with news of his tragic death in 2008. Heath Ledger, an Australian-born actor who became a famous actor in the United States with roles in popular films like 10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot, Brokeback Mountain and finally The Dark Knight. Ledger’s work inBrokeback Mountain earned him an Oscar nod.
Ledger’s death was a tragic loss for Hollywood and a complete shock to his fans worldwide. After the toxicology report, it was found that Ledger died due to intoxication from 6 different prescription drugs. The death of Heath Ledger remained one of the most-talked about stories of 2008.
27.) Whitney Houston
August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012
Cause of death: Drowning due to coronary artery disease and cocaine intoxication
Amy music fan can tell you that there was a collective cloud of mourning around the world. Fans, musicians, and other celebrities alike were in complete shock and sadness after the death of iconic pop diva Whitney Houston broke out.
Houston was found submerged in her hotel bathtub in Beverly Hills, California. Later that day she was pronounced dead, and the toxicology report showed evidence of cocaine usage shortly before her death.
Houston’s death sent shockwaves throughout the world, and sparked many reactions and tributes from other music legends including Clive Davis, Tony Bennett and Chaka Khan.
26.) Cory Monteith
May 11, 1982 to July 13, 2013
Cause of death: Drug overdose
Breakout star Cory Monteith stole hearts every week with his role as Finn Hudson in popular TV musical drama series Glee. The British Columbian actor had a history of drug abuse including periods of addiction and rehabilitation while he was a teenager.
Months before Monteith’s death, he checked into drug rehabilitation center seeking treatment for his drug addiction. On July 13th, he was found unconscious and pronounced dead of an overdose of heroin and alcohol. Fans and actors of the show, including girlfriend Lea Michele, mourned his tragic and sudden death, and the show never was the same without him.
25.) Aaliyah
January 16, 1979 to August 25, 2001
Cause of death: Plane crash
Aaliyah was one of contemporary R&B’s biggest stars in the late 90s. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Aaliyah broke through the music scene with her popular hits that are still played today. Aaliyah’s career was backed by several industry greats like Timbaland and Missy Elliot, and she even had a movie deal with Jet Li. Her life was cut short on August 25, 2001 when she died in a plane crash leaving the Bahamas.
After her death, she was posthumously recognized as one of the pioneers of 90s R&B and is credited for inspiring many of the famous urban singers we know today.
24.) Selena Quintanilla
April 16, 1971 to March 31, 1995
Cause of death: murder
The queen of Tejano music was beloved across the country for her vocals, her bright smile, and her numerous hits that are still loved today. The singer, which hailed from Texas, broke records as a break out star in 90s. She is known as one of the biggest entertainers to represent Mexican-Americans in the world, and is credited for bringing forth Tejano music to the spotlight.
Selena’s tragic death is perhaps one of the biggest celebrity deaths of the 90s. On March 31, 1995, the manager of Selena’s boutiques and fan club shot and killed the singer after a dispute in a hotel room. The singer was pronounced dead on arrival to the hospital. Her tragic and untimely death rocked headlines for days and months to come, and many compared her murder to that of John Lennon and Elvis Presley.
Today, her music lives on for many of her fans, and her story is remembered through the film Selena, starring Jennifer Lopez.
23.) Brittany Murphy
November 10, 1977 to December 20, 2009
Cause of death: pneumonia
The death of BrittanyMurphy is probably still one of the most mysterious deaths in Hollywood. The American actress who is best known for her role in Clueless died in December 2009 of pneumonia. After multiple reports and autopsy tests, the cause of her death seemed to be “natural” as coroners reported. Later on it was discovered that Murphy was on a number of drugs to treat her pneumonia, but that the death was an “accident”. Months later her widower strangely died of the same thing.
22.) Tupac Shakur
June 16, 1971 to September 13, 1996
Cause of death: Drive-by shooting
While the “best rapper alive” debates will forever live on, Tupac remains one of the undisputed names when it comes to the best and most influential rappers to have ever lived. A poetic lyricist, intellectual and actor, Tupac made and continues to make a huge impact on the world of hip hop music and culture.
After his death in a drive by shooting in Las Vegas, he left a legacy behind of one of the world’s most visionary musicians out there.
21.) The Notorious B.I.G.
May 21, 1972 to March 9, 1997
Cause of death: gunshot wound in a drive-by shooting
Biggie is still praised as one of the greatest rappers of all time, even 21 years after his death. The rapper was notorious for his smooth lyrics and ability to tell stories through his songs that were often dark and raw. The mystery surrounding his death is still a topic of conversation today and is speculated to be inexplicably linked to the death of Tupac Shakur.
After leaving a party in Los Angeles, the rapper was shot by an unknown man in the driver’s seat at the red light. The world of hip hop gathered to mourn the rapper, who was seen as a master of lyrics. Although no one knows exactly who shot Biggie, he is still one of the most famous of celebrities who died young and is still loved by hip hop fans worldwide today.
20.) Ryan Dunn
June 11, 1977 to June 20, 2011
Cause of death: Traffic collision
Ryan Dunn was a very successful American stunts actor and comedian most well known for being apart of the CKY crew with Bam Margera. Together, Dunn and Margera would perform extreme stunts and hilarious pranks and record them, which eventually led to the popular MTV show Jackass.
In 2011, Dunn died in car accident hours after he posted a video of him and his production assistant Zachary Hartwell drinking at a bar. News of Dunn’s death broke fans hearts everywhere and fellow Jackass cast members. Fans mourned Dunn’s comedic spirit and daring entertainment.
19.) Anton Yelchin
March 11, 1989 to June 19, 2016
Anton Yelchin was most known and beloved by the Star Trek fandom for his role as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond. His untimely and tragic death in 2016 devastated Yelchin’s fans and Hollywood. Yelchin died in a freak accident, he was found in between his SUV and brick pillar. It seems that Yelchin’s car rolled back while on a steep incline and trapped him behind it and crushed his lungs. He died shortly after impact.
Star Trek Beyond was released in theaters posthumously and the producers of Star Trek agreed to not recast Pavel Chekov in future Star Trek films.
18.) Bruce Lee
November 27, 1940 to July 20, 1973
Cause of death: Cerebral Edema
Bruce Lee was a martial artist and actor who rose to fame both in his home country of China and in theUnited States. People knew him for his roles in several major feature films and his expertise in Chinese martial arts. Lee’s fame sparked a huge American interest in Kung Fu and other martial arts movies.
On July 20, 1973, Bruce Lee collapsed and suffered from extreme headaches and seizures. Doctors discovered that his brain has swelled due to an allergic reaction to a painkiller that he had been taking. Despite his untimely death, Lee is still remembered as one of the most influential martial artists in the world.
17.) Brandon Lee
February 1, 1965 to March 31, 1993
Cause of death: Gunshot wound
Two members of the Lee family have made these celebrities who died young list. Martial Arts icon Bruce Lee’s son is also another celebrity who died too young. Brandon Lee was an actor and following in his fathers footsteps, a martial artist. Lee was the only son of the late actor Bruce Lee.
Brandon Lee kicked off his acting career in a several Kung Fu films until he landed his breakout role in The Crow. Unfortunately, filming this movie would mark the end of his life. While filming a scene in The Crow, Lee died in an accident involving a prop gun that was accidentally fired and killed fatally wounded him. His death sparked a lot of confusion and speculation in regards to the on-set accident and left fans and family of both Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee devastated.
16.) Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes
May 27, 1971 to April 25, 2002
TLC was a widely successful hip hop and r&b group in the 90s that had hits all across the radio and television. Lisa Lopes was one of the three members of the group and did mostly background vocals and rapping on the groups records, she was a huge creative force behind the group in general.
Left Eye’s death was a tragedy that occurred while she was on a trip with friends and family in Honduras. While driving, Left Eye swerved off the road to avoid an oncoming car then the car flipped several times and she was thrown from the car. She immediately died upon impact from severe trauma to the head and neck.
While she was alive, Left Eye dedicated much of her time to charity work and spirituality. After she passed away, her family set up a foundation in her name that devoted to the lives of abandoned and neglected children.
15.) Lee Thompson Young
February 1, 1984 to August 19, 2013
Cause of death: Multiple gunshot suicide
Fans of the early 2000s Disney Channel Hit series The Famous Jett Jackson were shocked to hear that news that the star actor Lee Thompson Young was found dead in his apartment after an apparent suicide. The actor had been suffering from depression and bipolar disorder leading up to his death in August 2013, he tragically lost the battle to it.
Fans of Lee Thompson Young poured out their condolences and tributes through memories of the hit Disney Channel show. His life ended at a mere 29 years old, in the middle of his acting career, which has him remembered as one of the celebrities who died too young. In the wake of his suicide, his family urged discussion on ending the stigma of mental illness.
14.) Natasha Richardson
May 11, 1963 to March 18, 2009
Cause of death: Epidural Hematoma after Ski accident
The name Natasha Richardson brings up memories of a bright smile, a British accent and a short blonde bob from the hit movie The ParentTrap. Richardson had a long career in acting in theatre, film and television in both the UK and the US. She had a successful acting career, starring in movies like Wild Child, Maid in Manhattan, and the 1990 movie adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale.
While taking a skiing lesson in Quebec, Richardson fell on her head and was rushed to the hospital in New York City. Two days later she died of a serious epidural hematoma, or a bleeding between the brain and the skull. Her husband, Liam Neeson and her two sons grieved the sudden loss of their loved one and tributes spread across the world in remembrance of her.
13.) Kurt Cobain
Esquire.uk
February 20, 1967 to April 5, 1994
Kurt Cobain is probably one of the first names when the topic of celebrities who died young comes up. The lead singer of Nirvana left behind one of the biggest legacies when it comes to grunge music, pain and tragedy expressed through art and lives taken too soon.
Cobain experienced huge success with his band Nirvana and was integral in establishing the Seattle grunge scene. His ongoing struggle with heroin and mental illness was a large topic in the tabloids before and after his death in 1994. After going missing in Seattle and being found dead in April 1994, fellow rock musicians and fans mourned the death of the rock star. To this day, Cobain is known as being one of the members of the 27 club and one of the most iconic musicians of all time.
12.) Jim Morrison
December 8, 1943 to July 3, 1971
Cause of death: heart failure/unknown
Another member of the darkly famous 27 club, Jim Morrison makes the tragic list of the celebrities who died young. Morrison was the lead singer of the famous band the Doors but also known for his work as a poet. Morrison and the Doors recorded six albums together and all of them were well-received by fans. In 1993, Morrison was inducted to the Rock Hall of Fame.
Morrison’s death remains one of the most mysterious celebrity deaths out there. He was found dead in a bathtub and the cause of death was labeled “heart failure”. Unfortunately, there was no autopsy performed so there is still speculation surrounding what exactly caused him to die.
11.) Michael Jackson
Cause of death: intoxication of pills
The King of Pop left behind his incredible library of hits for us to forever jam to. But no one will forget where they were on June 25, 2009 when the news broke out that the King of Pop had passed away. Tribute after tribute after mourning after memorial poured out from fans across the world.
A true musical legend of a lifetime had passed away and the world will never forget one of the most famous celebrities who died too young.
10.) John Belushi
January 24, 1949- March 5, 1982
Cause of death: Overdose of heroin and cocaine
John Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and singer. The fans knew Belushi for his “intense energy and raucous attitude.” He was one of the seven original cast members of Saturday Night Live. Throughout his career, Belushi had a close personal and artistic partnership with his fellow SNL star Dan Aykroyd.
In his personal life, Belushi struggled with heavy drug use that affected his comedy career. Lorne Michaels, the creator of SNL, dismissed and rehired Belushi on several occasions due to his behavior. In 1982, Belushi died from combined drug intoxication caused by an injection of a heroin and cocaine mixture, known as a speedball.
9.) Chris Farley
February 15, 1964- December 18, 1997
Cause of death: Overdose of cocaine and morphine
Chris Farley was an American actor and comedian. Farley was known for his loud, energetic comedic style. He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live between 1990 and 1995. He then went on to pursue a film career, starring in films such as Tommy Boy, Black Sheep and Beverly Hills Ninja.
In the final years of his life, Farley had sought treatment for obesity and drug abuse on 17 occasions. In December 1997, Farley was found dead by his younger brother, John, in his apartment in Chicago. An autopsy revealed that Farley had died of an overdose of cocaine and morphine. Farley’s death is often compared to that of his SNL idol John Belushi, who also died at the same age of the same cause.
8.) Marilyn Monroe
June 1, 1926- August 5, 1962
During her all-too-brief life, Marilyn Monroe overcame a difficult childhood to become one of the world’s biggest and most enduring sex symbols. During her career, Monroe’s films grossed more than $200 million.
Her housekeeper discovered her lying nude on her bed, face down, with a telephone in one hand. There was empty bottles of pills, prescribed to treat her depression, littered around the room. After a brief investigation, Los Angeles police concluded that her death was “caused by a self-administered overdose of sedative drugs and that the mode of death is probable suicide.”
7.) Avicii
September 8, 1989- April 20, 2018
Cause of death: Suicide
Avicii was a Grammy award-nominated Swedish DJ and remixer who became known for international hits such as “Levels,” “Hey Brother,” and “Wake Me Up.” His debut album True peaked within the top ten in more than 15 countries. He worked with notable artists such as Madonna and Chris Martin during his career. In January 2012, he was hospitalized for 11 days in New York City with acute pancreatitis caused by excessive alcohol use. Avicii underwent surgery and had both his appendix and gallbladder removed in 2014. Later in 2016, his health went downhill and he retired from performing live.
On April 20, 2018, Avicii was found dead. TMZ reported that the cause of death was a suicide On April 26, 2018, his family released an open letter stating that the DJ “really struggled with thoughts about meaning, life, happiness. He could not go on any longer. He wanted to find peace.”
6.) Steve Irwin
February 22, 1962- September 4, 2006
Cause of death: Stingray injury to the heart
Steve Irwin, nicknamed “The Crocodile Hunter,” was an Australian zookeeper, conservationist and television personality. Irwin got famous worldwide from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, Croc Files, and The Crocodile Hunter Diaries. Irwin and his wife Terri also owned and operated Australia Zoo.
In September 2006, Irwin decided to snorkel in shallow waters while being filmed in an effort to provide footage for his daughter’s television program. While swimming in chest-deep water, Irwin approached a short-tail stingray from the rear, in order to film it swimming away. According to the incident’s only witness, “All of a sudden [the stingray] propped on its front and started stabbing wildly with its tail. Hundreds of strikes in a few seconds”.
Irwin initially believed he only had a punctured lung. However, the stingray’s barb pierced his heart, causing him to bleed to death. The stingray’s behaviour appeared to have been a defensive response to being boxed in. Irwin’s death is believed to be the only fatality from a stingray ever captured on video.
5.) Anna Nicole Smith
November 28, 1967- February 8, 2007
Anna Nicole Smith was an American model, actress and television personality. Smith first gained popularity in Playboy, when she won the title of 1993 Playmate of the Year. She modeled for fashion companies including Guess, H&M, Heatherette, and Lane Bryant.
During the final 6 months of her life, Smith was the focus of renewed press coverage surrounding the death of her son, Daniel Wayne Smith, and the paternity and custody battle over her newborn daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead. The housekeeper found her dead in a hotel room as a result of an overdose of prescription drugs.
4.) Bob Marley
February 6, 1945- May 11, 1981
Cause of death: Skin cancer
Bob Marley was a Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter, musician, and guitarist who achieved international fame and acclaim. People say he popularized reggae music around the world and served as a symbol of Jamaican culture and identity. Marley has also evolved into a global symbol and has inspired a significant merchandise industry.
In July 1977, a doctor diagnosed Marley with a type of skin cancer under the nail of a toe. He ignored his doctor’s advice to amputate the toe, and he ignored it. In September 1980, he had collapsed during a jogging tour in Central Park. His friend took him to hospital where he learned that the cancer had spread to his brain.
Shortly afterwards, Marley’s health deteriorated as the cancer had spread throughout his body.
3.) John Lennon
October 9, 1940- December 8, 1980
Cause of death: Murdered
John Lennon was an English singer, songwriter, and peace activist who co-founded the Beatles. He and fellow member Paul McCartney formed a much-celebrated songwriting partnership. Along with George Harrison and Ringo Starr, the group would ascend to worldwide fame during the 1960s.
Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, writing, drawings, on film and in interviews. Controversial through his political and peace activism, he moved from London to Manhattan in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by the Nixon administration to deport him.
One gunman Mark David Chapman shot Lennon four times in the back at close range. The police rushed Lennon to the emergency room. Doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
2.) Chester Bennington
InTouch Weekly
March 20, 1976- July 20, 2017
Chester Bennington was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He served as lead singer for the band, Linkin Park. The blockbuster reception of the band’s debut album, ‘Hybrid Theory’ catapulted Bennington’s position as a musician and gave him the much-needed and deserved recognition as one of the most iconic figures of music in the 21st century.
His housekeeper found Bennington dead at his home. Authorities ruled his death a suicide. On July 21, 2017, Brian Elias, the chief of operations for the office of the medical examiner-coroner, confirmed that a half-empty bottle of alcohol was found at the scene, but no other drugs were present. Linkin Park announced that they had canceled the North American tour following his death.
1.) Janis Joplin
Wikpedia
January 19, 1943- October 4, 1970
Cause of death: Heroin overdose
Janis Joplin was an American singer-songwriter who first rose to fame in the late 1960s. Joplin was the lead singer of the psychedelic-acid rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company. She later went solo with her own group, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band.
Her road manager, John Cooke, found Joplin dead on the floor beside her bed. The official cause of death was a heroin overdose, possibly compounded by alcohol. Cooke believes Joplin had been given heroin that was much more potent than normal, as several of her dealer’s other customers also overdosed that week. The coroner’s office ruled her death as accidental.
Goodness Gracious, These Hollywood Male Actors Over 40 Have Aged Like Fine Wine
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MGN Emperor Bank begins operations in Phnom Penh
08 Jul 2019 46 | Business & Trade Fairs
MGN Emperor Bank launched in Phnom Penh on Sunday aiming to become a leading digital bank in the Kingdom.
Om Visal, MGN Emperor Bank CEO, said the bank is dedicated to providing innovative digital banking products and services to SMEs in Cambodia.
Speaking at the opening ceremony on Sunday, Mr Visal said the bank will provide the best possible service to customers through state-of-the-art financial and banking technology.
He highlighted three areas of work that will be prioritised in the first few months.
“First, we will equip ATMs with facial recognition technology that provides convenience, speed and safety to customers.
“Second, we will create an Emperor Bank Centre to serve customers with innovated one-stop service that creates new experiences for them.
“Finally, the bank will continue to invest in its people as well as cooperating with fintech companies to create digital data and build a solid foundation for credit risks assessment and business advice for targeted customers,” Mr Visal said.
The governor of the National Bank of Cambodia, Chea Chanto, present at the ceremony, welcomed the addition of MGN to the local banking sector.
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The Majc family: Three generations help to grow the Church in Slovenia
A mountain landscape in Slovenia. The Church was established as a legal entity in Yugoslavia, which later became Slovenia, in 1975.
Ivan and Rosana Majcs' home in Kranj, Slovenia, has been in the family for generations. Young Women camp was held in their backyard last year. Photo: Laurie Williams Sowby
Ivan and Rosana Majc with their two youngest, Sameul, 17, and Rebeka, 12, at their home in Kranj, Slovenia.
Ljubljana Slovenia DIstrict President Davor Majc and his wife, Stanka, are raising a third generation in the Church in Slovenia.
Rosana and Ivan Majc, some of Slovenia's longtime members, were baptized in the nearby Sava River in July 1993. Photo: Laurie Williams Sowby
ADD CAPTION Photo: Courtesy Ivan Majc
By Laurie Williams Sowby
For the Deseret News
Ivan and Rosana Majc relax on the sofa of their living room, surrounded by pictures of their family, familiar LDS art and a view of the verdant hills and Julian Alps in the distance.
It’s the same room where, as they sat visiting with family on a cold, moonless night three days before Christmas 1992, they spotted the frozen faces of two elders through the big window and invited them in.
Ivan had been awaiting a visit ever since being approached by missionaries near Ljubljana’s famed Three Bridges in the newly independent Slovenia. He had excitedly told his wife about that meeting when he got home that night, but it was weeks before the elders located their home in the village of Kranj.
He recalled the palpable feeling in the room when the two elders shared a message that December night. “When they went out the door, the Spirit went with them.”
But they returned, and after being taught for eight months, Ivan and Rosana Majc were baptized, “as Jesus was,” said Ivan, in the nearby Sava River on July 25, 1993. For the next 20 years they attended church meetings a 40-minute drive away in Ljubljana. They now meet with other members of the Kranj Branch in a rented space where, Rosana said, “We’re truly like a family.”
Married 30 years in August, Ivan and Rosana Majc recalled their sealing in the Salt Lake Temple in August 1995, when their two oldest children were sealed to them. “It was a really special day,” Rosana said.
Eventually, the family grew to five children — son Davor, currently district president, living a few miles away with his family in Blejska Dobrava; daughter Barbara Swenson, married and living in Utah; daughter Sarah, currently serving in the England Leeds Mission; son Samuel, 17, who plans on a mission when his four years of high school are complete; and Rebeka, 12, who attended her first Young Women camp this summer — in her own back yard. There are five grandchildren.
The Kranj Branch — part of the Ljubljana Slovenia District of the Adriatic North Mission — has about 30 regular attendees but swells in the summertime, thanks to nearby tourist draws like Lake Bled and Slovenia’s alpine forests. (The country borders Austria on the north, Croatia on the south and Italy on the west.)
Ivan, who creates 360-degree shots of Slovenia’s stunning scenery, has served in various leadership callings, including branch president and counselor in the mission presidency. Rosana, currently Relief Society president, has a genealogy business and has worked with a team to help translate scriptures and other Church materials into Slovene, the national language (although many people here also speak English).
Ivan said both he and his wife were religious before meeting the elders but couldn’t agree on whether to christen their first children. “When the missionaries were here that first time [in December 1992], I felt that would change my life forever,” Ivan said. “I have felt that spirit from every missionary who’s been in our home.”
They agree they can’t imagine what their lives would have been without the gospel and the Church. Rosana said, “I know there is a path that leads back to Heavenly Father, and I know Jesus is also there for me — no matter what happens, no matter how hard it is.”
Their son Davor Majc has spent his Saturdays of late constructing a closet for the entryway of an old home purchased two and a half years ago in the village of Blejska Dobrava, not far from Lake Bled and its fairy tale scenery. During the week, he works at home as a programmer and web developer, with frequent breaks to play with and help care for three children, ages 6, 4, and 15 months. Those three constitute the entire Primary in their branch.
President Majc met his wife, Stanka, when she joined the Church at 18. She continued her studies and served in the branch while he served a mission to Barcelona, Spain, and in 2010, they married according to civil law and were sealed three days later in the Frankfurt Germany Temple.
As the 29-year-old president of the Ljubljana Slovenia District, Davor Majc is over more than 400 members in five units spread across the country. (The chapel in Ljubljana, the capital, is the only meetinghouse in Slovenia.) Stanka is first counselor in the district Relief Society and has been teaching online seminary for years.
Growing up, Stanka said, she’d always felt there was a God and is grateful for meeting the missionaries in an English class they offered. “Now I have a personal relationship with Him, and I wish for my children to have it, too.” She finds “peace of mind and help in everyday things” through the gospel, and a sense of divine worth: “You know you’re somebody.”
President Majc said, “When kids grow up in the Church, it becomes a way of life.” That longevity blesses the growth of the Church as the second generation is serving missions — three full-time missionaries are out at the moment from a single branch in Slovenia and seven are serving from the district.
“The first generation didn’t have a chance to serve a mission,” he explained. “Priesthood leaders who’ve served a mission add a lot of value. They understand because of their experience what’s needed and how the Church works. Now, children [the third generation] understand from the start and are growing up to serve missions.”
Davor and Stanka Majc plan to remain in Slovenia, despite what may appear to be more lucrative opportunities elsewhere. “With the opportunity for free education through university and a growing economy in our country,” President Majc said, “we see that we can live here, we belong here.”
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Bournemouth & Poole College engineering department celebrates industry accreditation
The engineering team at Bournemouth & Poole College are celebrating after achieving two industry accreditations. Following a visit from a panel of industry experts from the Institution of Engineering Designers (IED), which involved speaking to lecturers and current students, the College received the IED’s accreditation, which can be awarded to colleges and universities which run higher education courses to train professional engineers.
As part of the review process, the IED also carried out a thorough assessment of the engineering department’s course documents, assessment procedures and teaching facilities. In the accreditation visit report, the institution praised the ‘enthusiastic’ staff and ‘switched on, highly motivated’ students, who ‘spoke very highly of the staff and the courses offered’ and show ‘a keen attitude to help with the development of the programmes’. The IED went on to highlight the ‘excellent workshop facilities’ and the ‘excellent links with employers and excellent input from local employers to make the courses relevant and up-to-date’.
Bournemouth & Poole College also received the seal of approval from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) for the range of engineering courses it offers to students. The accreditation visit report noted that the facilities at Bournemouth & Poole College were ‘well equipped and provided a range of opportunities for the students to work on the necessary practical skills for their courses.’ The IMechE also commended the ‘exceptional enthusiasm and dedication’ of the engineering department’s staff, which was noted by the team’s College colleagues.
Matthew White, HE Engineering Framework Leader at Bournemouth & Poole College, said: “We are exceptionally proud to have received the accreditations from the IED and IMechE, which have recognised the level of hard work we put into offering our students the most valuable experience and education during their time at the College. It is great to hear that both the IED and IMechE recognised the quality of teaching and the fact that we provide the students with the most recent, industry-relevant skills.”
Bournemouth & Poole College offers a range of courses in engineering including marine technologies, mechanical design, manufacturing management and electronic design. All courses have a high level of practical training to enable students to gain hands-on experience, while the workshops are equipped with industry standard machinery. The College also boasts links with many local engineering companies, which enables a host of opportunities for aspiring engineers to progress into their chosen career.
For more information about the range of engineering courses available at Bournemouth & Poole College, go to thecollege.co.uk or call 01202 205205.
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Film - Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Open the door, get on the floor, Kraig Taylor-Bryant walks the dinosaur and looks at Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (slight spoilers)...
So weirdly enough, I haven't actually seen the Jurassic Park films. I know, crazy, isn't it? However I have seen enough of Spielberg's work through the Indiana Jones franchise to get me to watch both Jurassic World films so far but, to be perfectly honest, I really didn’t like the first Jurassic World film. Of course, I cared about the kids in the film because, at the time, I felt like I could kind of relate to at least one of them, but there was just nothing to keep the tension throughout it, maybe a few nameless characters killed off-screen, but that was it really.
What excited me and kept me engaged throughout Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the sequel to the 2015 film Jurassic World, was the tension from the organisation that supposedly wanted to "save the dinosaurs". I mean, sure we knew it was coming, because that was pretty much given away with the little too revealing trailers we were shown in the build up to its release. But, regardless, we still felt on edge for the main characters, because each threat seemed ridiculously close to killing the main characters. And, unlike the first film, by the end of this one, we start to care about the dinosaurs more because they're not the real threat like they seem to be in every other Jurassic movie (to my knowledge). This made it particularly interesting because one of the main members of the team that was sent out to help recover the dinosaurs, Claire (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), cared about the dinosaurs because they were living things and yet there were many moments (in the first Jurassic World film at least) that made us believe that these were simply mindless creatures, with the possible exception of Blue. But this film has a great way of shifting our opinions of them to match Claire's view on dinosaurs. It's almost like the way the audience is made to feel sympathy for these dinosaurs, has made them seem more like actual beings, making us forget that this version of the dinosaurs in the Jurassic series, are mostly (if not entirely) CGI.
One of the moments that you really feel a connection with these creatures is when one of the dinosaurs is left on the island to be killed by the lava flowing over the island. It's almost as if it was smart enough to know that the boat was the only way off the island and it was moaning, in a way, to try and call the boat back because it was scared to die. It was in this moment, I felt as if there were actual stakes to this story, because a character/dinosaur that I had a connection with was killed off, which I really didn’t feel in the first Jurassic World film. And it's also in those moments, like when we see Blue as a young dinosaur starting to feel empathy for Chris Pratt’s character of Owen whenever he would pretend to be sad and Blue would, over time, start to feel the desire to comfort him, helping us to believe that these animals are capable of feeling proper emotion, already making them more intelligent than a number of creatures on our planet.
It also felt as if the first Jurassic film was really just a weirdly similar version of the first Jurassic Park film (I know roughly what happens in that film), the fact that they go to a park, the dinosaurs are loose, they attack the people, and it's all very scary (except for me it wasn’t in the first Jurassic World, because it looked very CGI), before they somehow eventually survive the ordeal and everyone's happy. But in this film, even at the end, you feel genuine concern for the dinosaurs in this world that was created and you feel a different kind of fear, one of concern for this cohabitation between humans and dinosaurs. This would, in my opinion, make a very interesting sequel because the dinosaurs tend to be confined to one small area, such as an island, or a park, or a big mansion, which would not be the case in this literal Jurassic world that was created in this film.
Anyway, through the whole of Fallen Kingdom, we experience a sense of urgency, and the unfamiliarity that makes this film feel very unpredictable because, instead of people coming to the dinosaurs, the dinosaurs are coming to them and that’s even scarier, leaving some to believe that they can be monstrous beasts if intimidated. But this film shows the human race that if you show kindness towards most of these dinosaurs, then they won't harm you.
It's interesting that these dinosaurs also seem to be going through natural issues that we suffer today as human beings, which kind of helps us relate, not to them per se, but to their situation. The fact that they are in danger of going extinct due to global warming, that being a natural cause, is very similar to the dinosaurs in Jurassic World being threatened to extinction by a natural cause, that is the volcano on their island, erupting and killing them. I could almost picture us being in similar shoes to these dinosaurs in 10/20 years' time where, possibly, we have the ability to live on Mars to try and save our species from having global warming take a more harmful turn on our world, and if, in some way we were to encounter life, we may rely on their acceptance of us to survive, much like the dinosaurs had to in this film, making us, in a lot of ways, embody situations that may encounter in the future.
As well as all this, the film seems to have some actual themes to it, almost having it have its own morals, such as the dangers of possessing so much money, and the fact that it can even drive a person to kill another, if there is enough money involved. Thankfully it's no gruesome death, so it's still the kind of film that a kid could watch and, I think, they could enjoy this film very much. It also seems to show us that a man would be willing to sell these beings to militaries of different countries almost as slaves, showing the pure evil that the corruption of money can have on a person. We kind of see a moral also in the fact that we need to feel empathy for any living creature that is nearing extinction, regardless of its danger to our species, even finding an isolated place to keep them would be acceptable, as long as they have a comfortable quality of living, and that’s a great message to give to kids of the next generation.
It's also different that in this film, we see a way more intense fight between the dinosaurs, because it's one between a dinosaur that we have grown to like across these two films. In the first film, it was really just a fight between two dinosaurs that they team creating the film, and didn’t give us enough time to grow to care about the dinosaur defending the humans, making it feel way less intense for me. In any CGI fight, you really need to make the audience believe the character to be real, otherwise it's just a CGI mess (in my opinion) and that was the biggest issue for the first Jurassic world film in my opinion. But in this film, it was a character that we grew to like because it helped Owen to survive through the first film, and we start to care about her/him. We also have the fact that we get to see some footage of when Blue is little, and the fact that Blue cares about how Owen is feeling at one point in the film. This is what really helped me to buy into the character, and really hope that Blue did not get killed in the final fight sequence.
And then we have a plot twist that makes the film even more interesting that helps to develop a few characters in particular in this film. And that’s another thing that this film does very well; They choose characters that even an older audience can relate to. Of course kids can still relate to the adults, in the same way that kids still want to believe that they're Batman or Superman. And the fact that these characters are making the odd joke and that there is a real dynamic between this nerdy group of friends really makes us root for them. The only issue I had with this was that it would have been perfect to see one of these people die, because it would almost help to seal the connection between all of them, and possibly bring them closer together as friends, in the realisation that they need to trust each other or that this is serious now.
So, I think overall, this story is much more compelling that the previous instalment of the Jurassic World series because of the attachment that grows within us, towards the dinosaurs, and I would personally love to see a situation where the humans are portrayed to be almost the villains of the film because the government has chosen to hunt them to extinction, this could make for a very devise and interesting film (a similar concept was done with the game Detroit become human). And the characters from the previous film have developed that little bit more, and the film even manages to make us care about the newer characters, as well as sending positive messages to kids, and limiting the blood to also make it appropriate for them.
That’s not to say that the film doesn’t have its darker moments, because it really does. In the final moments, when the dinosaurs are suffering, and the main characters have to decide to either let them suffer or release them into the real world, the fact that most of them want to leave the dinosaurs in there because they're afraid for humanity shows almost the dark side in everyone that is needed to make the safest decisions. But, of course, you could alternatively follow your heart, which often has greater risk attached to it.
Follow Kraig on Twitter @kraigandhismac
Images - IMDb/Getty Images
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The Real Reason Behind the End of Kylie and Tyga
Writer: Keonna Burnett
Ever since Kylie and Tyga’s mysterious split in April, fans have been dying know ‘what the heck happened?’ The truth was finally unveiled in the latest episode of Life of Kylie, the brand new spin off of Keeping up with the Kardashians.
In an interview, Kylie starts by mentioning how difficult it was to maintain a normal relationship, considering how big of a fan base she has, the lifestyle she lives, and constantly being in the media.
“The hardest part about having a relationship for me, me is just that it's blasted all over the Internet.”
Jenner continued by suggesting that the Internet is full of unnecessary negativity, and that she sometimes felt as if she was in a relationship with the world.
However, she revealed that the main reason for ending things with T was the noticeable age difference:
“I decided that I'm really young. I don't want to look back five years from now and feel like he took something from me,” says Jenner. “He’s really not that type of person.”
Meanwhile... rumor has it things have been a bit uneasy between the two after a few reported awkward run in’s. Best friend of the reality star, Jordyn Woods, spoke out on the ex’s Coachella encounter:
“It’s like, you go from being so close with someone… to seeing them and then acting like you don’t know each other. It’s hard to be normal.”
Though, Kylie concludes her argument by suggesting that there was nothing wrong with her and Tyga, and that they’ll always have a bond.
Blushing, Kylie lightheartedly shifts the mood by asking, “Did you guys see my flowers?” referring to the countless bundles of roses all over the room. When the producer jokingly says, “looks like someone’s obsessed with you,” Kylie agrees with, “I hope the person I’m dating is obsessed with me…” obviously leading everyone to believe it’s Travis Scott.
POP CULTUREThe Drive August 28, 2017 Breakups, Gossip, Kylie, Relationships, TygaComment
Poetry Today
POP CULTUREThe Drive August 28, 2017 Poetry, Writing
MUSIC, SOUNDCLOUD ARTIST OF T...The Drive August 27, 2017 Rappers, SCAW, Soundcloud, underground
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Video: The NFL Triage Room-Week 1
Selene Parekh, M.D.
Related Topics:FeaturedNFL Today
Video: Jon Halapio and Mike Wallace injuries
Video: Greg Olsen suffers foot injury
Selene Parekh, M.D. (also known as the “Fantasy Doctor”) is an orthopaedic surgeon and foremost expert on sports injuries who’s fast becoming the go-to expert for the multibillion dollar fantasy sports industry. His data-driven insights and medical expertise make for powerfully accurate predictions of how anything from common sprains to devastating season-ending injuries will affect players’ careers and the success of millions of fantasy teams. Fantasy sports for Parekh is far more than a hobby: He authored and published two foundational research papers using Fantasy football data to track the epidemiology and outcomes of tendon and ligament ruptures in the NFL. Dr. Parekh joined the North Carolina Orthopaedic Clinic and Duke Orthopaedics in 2009, where he is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Prior to his tenure at Duke, Dr. Parekh was a Foot and Ankle Surgeon at the University of North Carolina (UNC). While there, he was integrally involved in the teaching of medical students and residents. Furthermore, he served as the foot and ankle consultant to the Athletic Department, treating many of the well-known UNC athletes. In his current practice, he continues to treat competitive athletes of all levels. A graduate of the Boston University School of Medicine, Dr. Parekh completed his internship and residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and his fellowship in foot and ankle surgery under the direction of some of the leading global authorities at the University of Pennsylvania. The Fantasy Doctor is an avid runner and has completed the Boston Marathon, and in his former life as a high school athletic star, was offered football scholarships from several Ivy League schools and was the recipient of the Brian Piccolo Award. Dr. Parekh is married and he and his wife are the proud parents of three kids.
TFD Draft Guide-Why you need it
Jesse Morse M.D.
Video: Todd Gurley battling arthritis-Dr. Parekh
The Todd Gurley health questions answered
Q: Can Todd Gurley’s knee pain and arthritis be managed?
So look at this model can you get an idea of how arthritis affects the knee. On the far left is a normal healthy knee, however as the arthritis starts to take affect it gradually worsens as you get to the right of the model. There are two main types of cartilage in the knee, the meniscus which is what I like to call the ‘shocks for the knee,’ like the shocks for the car. Meniscal tear are what most athletes eventually have a knee scope to clean up, where the surgeon will go in and ‘smooth out the edges of the mensicus’ after a tear. Meniscal injuries are typically secondary to twisting mechanisms, and if you remember running back Sony Michele had one earlier in 2018 season. The other type of Cartilage in the knee is articular cartilage, shown as light blue on the model, and this is what I like to describe as the protective layer on bones. Almost like paint on wood to help to protect the surface area, the articular cartilage protects the edge of the bone. When meniscal injuries happen, the two lower leg bones start to rub against one another starting to cause articular cartilage injuries.
This is what leads to pain, recurrent swelling and these are very challenging to treat, with only about a 30 to 40% surgical success rate (see Boston Red Sox Dustin Pedroia). For Gurley, this will be more about management and prevention of worsening as opposed to true treatment. A combination of PRP/ stem cell injections, appropriate physical therapy, and possibly viscosupplementation injections can be helpful. Although given Gurley’s age avoiding, he should try to avoid anything besides PRP/stem cell and physical therapy would be in his best interest. Think about Gurley’s lower extremity/knees and the cartilage as the wear and tear of car tires. Unlike most people his age, Gurley’s knees have already seen thousands of miles, given how much he has run and his past history of injuries. At this point he is running on ‘balder tires’ than most athletes his age, along with worsening articular cartilage, which has been described as almost like driving on a flat or spare tire. Unfortunately there is no good/safe/legal fix that allows an athlete of his caliber to return to his effectiveness. This will be more about rep management and injury prevention than it will be about true treatment of his knees.
Q: How worried should he and the Rams be? Isthis to be the beginning of a rapid decline? Can treatment and rep management create the necessary balance?
Dr. Morse:
See here’s the concern that all NFL teams inevitably face. We know that the half-life of an NFL running back is short, about three years, and only a few RBs to have long careers, like Adrian Peterson who is a genetic freak. Can he reverse his arthritis? No. Can he use different treatment modalities to prevent the progression of osteoarthritis? Yes. Such things as glucosamine/chondroitin, physical therapy, appropriate weight loss, PRP/stem cell injections have all been proven to be effective in this nature. Without personally examining him my answers will obviously be very generalized, but unfortunately I believe Gurley has peaked and will not be able to repeat his record breaking effectiveness. He could possibly have 1 to 2 more years of elite top-five RB talent, but he will likely “lose a step.” With the amount of talent and resources that NFL teams have they should be able to prevent a rapid decline for a Gurley-type talent, especially with as much money as they have invested in him. They will likely decrease his workload and strive for something like 150 to 200 rushing attempts, or possibly increase his route running abilities. Optimizing Gurley will require finding a happy balance between running and receiving but I do not think he will be able to repeat the volume he has been able to over the past couple of years. Top, and effective running backs are seemingly ubiquitous in the NFL. Guys like the Chiefs Damien Williams can burst onto the scene and become instantly effective because they are younger and have less wear and tear on their knees. Veteran guys like Adrian Peterson & LeSean McCoy are few and far between. The goal is to prevent Gurley’s knees from becoming what happened to Jay Ajayi, as he had reportedly severe osteoarthritis and will likely never be the same.
NFL Draft Guide 2019-A.J. Green
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THE HISTORY OF HOODSPORT is steeped in distilling
Much of this history of Hoodsport is taken from the book, History of Hoodsport, Gateway to the Olympics–Ida’s Story by Jean L. Bearden, 1987, Fourth revised edition 1994.
Photos are from the Mason County Historical Society.
Hoodsport seems very tame today compared to the history in Jean L. Bearden’s book.
Ms. Bearden has a little information about the hardware building itself, but it’s the great adventures from the days of bootlegging that are fascinating. If history repeats itself, we will have a grand adventure with our distillery, but without the shoot-outs, car chases, and boating adventures.
Washington State preceded the Federal Government at both ends of prohibition.
Prohibition began in Washington on November 3, 1914, when voters approved Initiative 3, which prohibited the manufacture and sale of liquor. In November 1918, Washington became bone dry.
On the Federal level, the 18th Amendment was ratified in 1919, and went into effect in January, 1920.
By 1924, Prohibition had become big business on the Hood Canal. It was at this time that Clarence Shively, also known as Dick Shively, a former policeman, was arrested for participating in a bank robbery. He escaped, was caught, posted bond, and returned to the Canal.
In 1926 Shively’s ranch at Shelton was invaded by Federal men and the local sheriff, who found the largest cache of moonshine they had ever seen. Shively escaped under gun-fire and hid out for a time. Shortly afterward, his wife Edna was arrested. Dick’s freedom was short-lived when he was arrested after a wild car chase. He posted bail, forfeited and started his next whiskey still. He was arrested again in 1927, with the same result.
In 1928 the government was more determined. This is Ms. Bearden’s account from testimony at the trial of Dick Shively:
These officers went to Shively’s ranch at Hammersly Inlet at night, lying in wait from 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., when they saw a car coming from the Shively place at high speed. They tried to flag the car down, and when it didn’t stop, they opened fire at the car and gave chase. They finally located the car on the upper part of the ranch, abandoned, with a bullet hole in the gas tank. Seventy-five gallons of moonshine were found in the car, and a number of kegs had been thrown out of the car along the way. They spotted a man running toward the waterfront and grabbed him just as he was taking off in a boat with one hundred gallons of whiskey.
The jury failed to reach a verdict after 23 hours of deliberation. A mistrial was declared, and Shively was free.
In 1928 bootlegging was a hobby on the canal with stills at several homes. By 1929, bootlegging had become a major business in Hoodsport.
Others joined Shively in the manufacture and distribution of spirits, and they often used the Hood Canal to transport their products across the water at night. They opened dance halls and taverns, were often arrested, and considered the forfeiture of bail as part of the cost of business.
Washington acted more quickly than the federal government in abolishing prohibition, doing so three months before the 21st Amendment repealed prohibition in February, 1933. The first legal alcohol in Hoodsport was served by Rose Millo. She served beer in her soda fountain, which was next door to the Hardware Distillery building.
THE HARDWARE DISTILLERY BUILDING
In 1930 E. H. Harris built a new structure that was divided to provide two business spaces. One half was rented to Mr. and Mrs. Guhr, who started a grocery business named the Canal Table Supply. The other half was an electric shop run by George ‘Scotty’ Lavender and his wife, Harriet.
In 1935 the Canal Table Supply store was sold to the Johnsons. The Johnsons sold it to Blanche and Archie Callahan, who shortened the name to Canal Supply. The Canal Supply sold clothing, fishing tackle, and notions, and a Washington State Liquor Store was included.
The property was sold in 1957, and remodeled to become Nickels’ Mercantile and V&S Variety.
Raymond and Karen Nelson purchased the property in 1990 and sold it in 1996 to Marjorie S. Davis, dba G & M True Value Hardware. In 2010, she sold to the Hoodsport Diner, LLC, and it remained dormant until purchased by us in 2012 and named The Hardware Distillery Company.
CHARACTERS OF HOODSPORT
Ms. Bearden’s book includes some items of great amusement. Here are two of the stories of the characters of Hoodsport.
The Rydeens
Oscar Rydeen, a quiet man of few words, was a Swede from the old country. According to Jean Bearden’s history, he went to Alaska in 1925, where he met his bride Pauline, who was “engaged in the oldest profession known to man, until Oscar made an honest woman of her.”
Oscar was a self-taught barber, and he and Pauline built a home combined with a barber shop and shower room, so the loggers who came from camp at the end of the week could be refreshed with a haircut and a bath. Their shop and home were always spotlessly neat and clean, and it was papered and painted so often, it would be impossible to get to the original wood. Sometimes, the showers included assistance from Pauline at no extra charge.
Before getting a haircut, customers usually called the neighbors to see whether or not Oscar was sober, a reasonable precaution as he would cut hair for just as long as he could stand up, no matter how inebriated at the time. Some unlucky customers were dismayed when they received what could mildly be described as uneven haircuts — chunks of hair missing here and there, and an occasional nick in the scalp. As Oscar was the only barber in his area, his state of sobriety was of great concern to the male population. Oscar had been known to use a straight edge razor to shave a customer while holding on the poor man’s nose to steady himself for the wielding of the razor.
The Rydeens lived in Hoodsport for more than 30 years, living a quiet life, at times, and then ogong on long drinking binges, livening up the town.
In 1926 the town especially enjoyed their mail delivery.
Ms. Bearden reports:
Hoodsport patrons began showing a little more enthusiasm for the mail deliveries, as it was being delivered by a lovely young lady who had been the last year’s “Miss Washington State.”
Miss Washington State delivered the mail all over the canal on a fourteen-foot outboard motor boat, missing only one day all year because of bad weather.
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Home » Company counselors: In-house positions become more demanding
Company counselors: In-house positions become more demanding
Marilyn Odendahl
KEYWORDS Business Law / Law Firms / Features / In-house counsel/corporate counsel
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(IL Illustration/Brad Turner)
In years past, corporate counsel jobs were viewed as less — less challenging, less stressful and less robust than the work attorneys in law firms were doing.
Zurek
Tom Zurek, of counsel at Schiff Hardin LLP in Chicago, knows well that perception. Forty-five years as a lawyer, Zurek left private practice to serve as general counsel a couple of times, the longest tenure being his just-concluded 17 years at OneAmerica in Indianapolis.
In-house lawyers, just like those in private practice, have to handle a variety of matters and must maintain a rigor and discipline in honing their expertise. In addition, general counsel now need to understand their company from a business standpoint.
“It’s not law or business,” Zurek said. “It’s become law and business.”
The days of a corporate counsel sitting in the legal department and waiting to solve the next legal problem that was presented to the office are over. Companies are more sophisticated. Supply chains stretch around the world, operations are expanding, markets are opening and technology is transforming just about everything. Plus, a seemingly steady stream of new laws and changing regulations touches on many aspects of doing business.
General counsel have to keep up, said Michael Sachs, partner at the Chicago office of Major Lindsey & Africa. They are expected to get out of their offices and collaborate with other parts of the company.
Indeed, for at least the 10 years, Sachs and his colleagues have heard executives place business acumen among the top attributes they want in general counsel. In-house attorneys must be good lawyers, but they also must have a sense of the business and be able to help the company achieve its strategic goals.
Zurek believes that corresponding to these changes in the corporate counsel role, the reputation and respect for in-house positions also have grown. He pointed to the applications that would quickly arrive from Indianapolis attorneys in private practice when OneAmerica “let it be known” there was an opening in the legal department.
The work, he said, is stimulating, offering the ability to explore all aspects of the law without having to build a book of business or worry about billable hours. Zurek wanted his legal team to develop a deep knowledge of the law so he “allowed people the luxury” of opening the books and taking the time to study the law.
“We had people inside (the company) become the experts,” he said.
Responsibilities bring satisfaction
In 2018, the corporate law recruiting firm Evers Legal conducted a job satisfaction survey of in-house attorneys. The results showed 59 percent of corporate counsel found the intellectual stimulation to be among the most rewarding part of their jobs while 53 percent liked the responsibility. However, 67 percent said among the best rewards was working with a great team.
When asked what would make their jobs more satisfying, 48 percent said a promotion and 44 percent said expanded responsibilities.
The opportunity to change her duties lured Barbara McNutt from the public sector to a nonprofit. McNutt left her position as chief counsel of the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency in 2009 to join the Indiana Optometric Association.
Initially, McNutt served as interim executive director for 15 months while the organization’s leader, Jim Zieba, served a tour in Afghanistan. When that term was over, she was asked to stay on and become the association’s first general counsel.
The main difference between representing the association and representing the state is that McNutt is now advocating for optometrists rather than regulating health and non-health care professionals. But echoing Sachs, she said GCs cannot take a narrow view of their jobs.
“I think it’s incumbent on you to know who your client is and understand what they are doing and what they are interested in doing in the future,” she said. Then you need to know “how federal and state laws impact those goals.”
Stephen Wilson, general counsel and compliance director for First Farmers Bank & Trust in Converse, saw his responsibilities shift as the country recovered from the Great Recession. The financial institution did not suffer great losses, Wilson said, because it did not dive into the mortgage market before the downturn.
Still, the economic upheaval brought new legislation and regulations that made compliance more demanding. Wilson grew his compliance department from one-and-a-half to five people and took on more managerial tasks.
In building the compliance office, Wilson looked for individuals who understood the banking process and could quickly grasp the material when reviewing documents. The goal was to assist the bank in doing what it wanted while ensuring it was in compliance.
“I’m still involved in the day-to-day activities in terms of law and compliance,” Wilson said. “I have been fortunate to get … competent people who are motivated.”
Trusted adviser
Once they go in-house, the attorneys’ careers can take many different paths. Lawyers in law firms generally follow a straighter track from associate to partner then equity partner, but Sachs said corporate attorneys can progress up the ranks to become general counsel, switch to another company, step back into private practice or, as some have done, become CEO.
Alongside business acumen, Sachs said, corporate counsel are also expected to have excellent judgment, making smart decisions quickly, and possess a high emotional intelligence, being able to connect with people and read a room.
Marisol Sanchez, vice president of legal affairs and general counsel for the North American operations of Endress + Hauser, Inc., has often joked with her nonattorney colleagues in the company, “We’ll make a lawyer out of you yet.”
After 10 years at Bose McKinney & Evans, Sanchez moved in-house, wanting to have a larger and more proactive role as the company formulated its global strategy. She was the first in-house counsel for the North American division, but when the CEO asked her what the company could do to prevent her from being bombarded with legal questions when she arrived, she turned down the assistance.
“Bring it on,” Sanchez told the CEO. “Let them come to me. That’s the only way I can understand the business.”
In the nearly eight years since, Sanchez has expanded the legal knowledge of her colleagues and built relationships across the company. She has made the effort to become a trusted adviser who provides solutions rather than being seen as someone who is a roadblock. At the same time, she has worked to educate personnel in other departments about legal matters.
The legal department, she explained, does not know what is happening everywhere in the company every day. So, the attorneys have equipped their nonlawyer co-workers to be able to think about things from a legal perspective and spot issues.
Her approach has created efficiencies as the business has grown more complex. Her role has expanded to include oversight of procurement, and quality and safety compliance.
“I want to be part of the company’s overall business goals and strategies,” she said, adding she wants to “be part of something bigger than just the legal side.”•
Marilyn Odendahl covers the Indiana General Assembly as well as law schools and bar associations across the state for the Indiana Lawyer. Prior to joining the Indiana Lawyer, she was a reporter for nearly eight years at The Elkhart Truth, in Elkhart, Ind., where she primarily covered business. She holds degrees from Ball State University and the University of Louisville.
Recent Articles by Marilyn Odendahl
Justices reverse conviction over incomplete advisement forms
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Album review: 'Live! London and Paris,' by Otis Redding
Patrick Varine
Sep 30, 2008 at 12:01 AM Sep 30, 2008 at 7:03 AM
If you only know Otis Redding from hearing "Dock of the Bay" on the local oldies station, you're in for a whole new beast on "Live!" as one of the true giants of soul music destroys audiences across the pond and takes his rightful place as one of the '60s greatest entertainers.
People who are only familiar with Aretha Franklin’s infinitely-more-famous cover of “Respect” may find Otis Redding’s original a little jarring.
It’s a high-energy blast of screaming soul, and it was just one of the many tremendous numbers that won Redding a whole new hippie audience, beginning with his incendiary performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, where he killed an audience that had originally come to see Jimi Hendrix and the Who, but left as freshly-devoted Otis-heads.
Culled from that same ’67 tour, "Live!" compiles two performances from the London and Paris legs of Redding’s tour with Stax Records’ killer house band, and it holds up just as well today as it did more than 40 years ago.
In fact, it’s hard to believe these concerts haven’t been released before now.
Despite songs appearing twice over the course of the two shows, things never drag. From his uptempo reading of the Temptations’ “My Girl” to the throat-ripping pleading in ballads like “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” and “These Arms of Mine,” oldies fans that only know Redding for “Dock of the Bay” will find a completely different beast at work on "Live!"
Even the covers are excellent, from “Satisfaction” to a chugging version of the Beatles’ “Day Tripper,” which practically causes a nuclear meltdown at the London show.
If you’ve seen Redding’s Monterey performance, you already know what to expect from "Live!" But if you haven’t, it’s essential listening, the sound of one of America’s soul giants taking his rightful place in the pantheon.
Listen to samples from "Live!" at Amazon.com.
Sussex Countian
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Combate Americas Announces Six New Bouts For June Event
Posted By Dana Becker On June 7, 2019 @ 4:00 pm In Fightline,MMA,Sports | No Comments
Combate Americas announced six new bouts for its first-ever featherweight (145 pounds) world championship event that will headline the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sports franchise’s debut in the state of New Mexico, live on television in Spanish in the U.S. on both Univision (12 a.m. ET/PT) and UDN (12 a.m. ET/9 p.m. PT), and in English in the U.S. and Canada on DAZN (11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT) from Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho on Friday, June 28.
Priced from $19.75, tickets for the Combate Americas world championship event are on sale at CombateAmericas.com/NewMexico [1].
In the previously announced world championship main event and much-anticipated rematch, 2018 “COPA COMBATE” tournament winner Andres “The Bullet” Quintana (18-2) of Roswell, N.M. will square off with Bruno “Aquiles” Cannetti (8-6) of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Among the new matchups announced today for the show was a women’s bantamweight (135 pounds) co-main event contest between Brenda “Boom Boom” Gonzales (9-4) and Marilia “Tigress” Fanta (3-0).
The world-ranked Gonzales of Moriarty, N.M. will compete for the first time this year, and will look to earn her second consecutive victory after scoring a first round (3:55) TKO (punches) on Tamikka Brents last October 5.
Fighting out of Miami, Fla. via Fortaleza, Brazil, Morais is a decorated, two-time Muay Thai champion who crossed over to MMA in 2017, and has since secured all three of her professional MMA victories by (T)KO or submission.
In a featured flyweight (125 pounds) bout, Jaime Alvarez (8-1) will take on Joby Sanchez (12-5).
Alvarez of Miami, Fla. is riding a four-fight win streak that he extended on January 25 with a second round (4:57) knockout of Jorge Calvo Martin.
Fighting out of Albuquerque, Sanchez is an 11-year veteran of the sport. He has earned 8 of his 12 career victories by way of (T)KO or submission.
The preliminary bout card will be highlighted by a middleweight (185 pounds) showdown between Roman “La Bestia” Alcantar (6-1) of Albuquerque via Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, Mexico and Juan Ramon “Tyson” Grano Medina (6-4-1) of Albuquerque via Parral, Chihuahua.
Elsewhere on the preliminary bout card, unbeaten Javier Cepeda (1-0) of Roswell will face off with Jesus Villegas (0-0) of Des Plaines, Ill. at flyweight.
Two welterweight (170 pounds) upstarts – Daniel Martinez (0-0) of Rio Rancho and Patrick Ayala (0-0) of Albuquerque – will make their respective professional debuts against one another.
Shyann Farmer (0-2) of Alamogordo, N.M. will return to Combate Americas action for the third time and look for her first professional victory against Criszaida Adames (0-0) of Philadelphia, Pa. in a strawweight (115 pounds) battle.
Article printed from TheMix.net: https://www.themix.net
URL to article: https://www.themix.net/2019/06/combate-americas-announces-six-new-bouts-for-june-event/
[1] CombateAmericas.com/NewMexico: http://combateamercias.com/newmexico
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Home National News
New England Pride Guide: Aging in the LGBT Community, A Look at Trans Elders
TOPICS:aging in the lgbt communityelders of colorseniorstrans elders
Posted By: TRT Editor June 1, 2017
SeniorAdvice.com, one of the nation’s top senior housing referral services, released an article on the challenges and progress of the aging transgender community. The company recognizes that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) senior community is currently a very important part of the American population, and that the struggle for acceptance and safety among the transgender community has finally reached the national conversation.
There is generally less acceptance of the trans community among older generations, which can make it very difficult to find a supportive community within the senior demographic. According to a recent study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA Law School, 14% of those identifying as transgender are over the age of 65. The senior transgender community often faces many difficulties. SeniorAdvice.com has identified three of these challenges and has researched ways to combat these issues, including current public and private efforts to improve upon the lives of transgender seniors.
The three challenges of transgender seniors explored by SeniorAdvice.com are:
1) Isolation and a Negative Social Stigma
In addition to the rampant discrimination, loneliness, and violence that all transgender people often encounter, older individuals in this community can face particular challenges in dealing with long-standing familial roles. There can be difficulties when families and friends have to consider modifying deeply established roles and there may be a period of adjustment for all involved. There is also a lack of availability of social groups for seniors, particularly outside of large metropolitan areas, and this can worsen the isolation.
2) Senior Housing Issues
There is a serious lack of availability in LGBT-friendly senior housing and the problem is most severe for those who are transgender. Because there are no legal protections at the national level for transgender people, those seeking nursing home or assisted living care often face discrimination and lack of acceptable living conditions.
3) Health Concerns
Transgender people of all ages frequently lack access to properly-trained healthcare providers who understand their unique medical and psychological challenges. Many within the community even report facing harassment, ridicule, and rough treatment by medical professionals, or are refused treatment altogether. Individuals who are older often face additional complications due to requirements for longer-term and sometimes more intense hormone therapy that require a closer level of attention from their healthcare providers.
To further investigate these challenges, SeniorAdvice.com conducted an in-depth interview with a retired transgender woman. Cynthia, whose name was changed to protect her identity, is a parent, a decorated military veteran, and a Purple Heart recipient. She recently began her transition and is the happiest she’s ever been, though she has faced many obstacles along her journey.
“SeniorAdvice.com continues to be dedicated to the challenges and needs of elder people of all backgrounds. The transgender senior community is a particularly vulnerable group and has been largely ignored for far too long. It’s time to bring their story into the public conversation,” says Ryan Patterson, SeniorAdvice.com CEO and Founder.
SeniorAdvice.com has previously released articles on the “Americas Best Cities for Gay Friendly Retirement” and “LGBT Assisted Living Communities – Finding a Gay-Friendly Facility.”
Read the full article on “Transitioning After Retirement: The Struggles and Triumphs of Transgender Seniors.”
About SeniorAdvice.com
Launched in 2016, SeniorAdvice.com connects older people and their support systems to more than 50,000 housing options. The free senior living search engine contains comprehensive information on providers nationwide, including assisted living, nursing homes, memory care, home healthcare, independent living, adult day services, retirement homes, respite care, and hospice.
[From a News Release]
Fenway: Under Senate Plan Among 22 Million Would Lose Health Insurance
“Mitt Gets Worse” Slams Leaked RNC Marriage Platform as Hypocritical & Antiquated
Fact Sheet: The Affordable Care Act: Secure Health Coverage for the Middle Class
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Deep Inside Hollywood: Anderson Cooper the new Oprah?
Posted By: TRT Editor October 25, 2010
The Mississippi Hate Prom is coming to TV
You may remember earlier this year when Mississippi high school student Constance McMillen sued for the right to take her girlfriend to her prom. You may also remember that not only was she subjected to intense bullying but that her school canceled the prom rather than allow her to come as she was, then turned around and set up two proms, one for the “normals” and one for McMillen and the special ed kids. You couldn’t really ask for a more dramatic and insane scenario, so it was only a matter of time before the TV movie about the subject went into production. And that TV movie will be produced by cool Hollywood power-gays Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. No title, no cast, no nothing just yet. But it’s happening. And when it finally airs, the creepy, anti-gay people can just sit around wondering why they didn’t get more flattering screen time.
Anderson Cooper wants to be the new Oprah
The version of silver fox Anderson Cooper you see on Anderson Cooper 360 is the all-news, all-the-time guy. But watch him interact with Kathy Griffin or talk Real Housewives with Ellen and you’ll see a fluffier side of the CNN anchor. It’s clearly a side of himself he wants to indulge on the air. And why not get paid to do it? In other words, somebody wants to fill Oprah’s empty chair. That’s why in fall 2011 you’ll get even more Cooper than you ever thought you wanted. He’s going to host his own, as-yet-unnamed daytime talk show that will focus on social issues but also celebrities and other soft topics. Now, the real news is will he officially come out to help promote it? Will he just live the openly-not-talking-about-sexual-orientation life he’s perfected instead? And will any of that matter when he’s got NeNe from Real Housewives of Atlanta on his couch and they’re gushing about how much they love each other? Stay tuned.
Sara Rue Learns The _Rules_
Anyone out there watching the CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement? –Anyone? Well, it may not be must-see viewing for a lot of the lesbian and gay TV audiences out there, but someone is certainly tuning in. They’re halfway to a hundred episodes at this point, which means the inclusion of a new gay character is nothing to sniff about. And that’s what’s about to happen. Sara Rue, former star of Less Than Perfect andPopular, will join the cast as a lesbian surrogate mother. Does that mean she’ll be carrying a fertilized egg for stars Patrick Warburton or David Spade? Or someone else? Who knows. Romeo just learned that this show even existed, OK.
Rampart full of lesbian crushes
The new film Rampart, currently in pre-production from director Oren Moverman, has a serious pedigree. It’s about the LAPD’s notorious Rampart division in the 1990s, the same one that served as inspiration for Training Day, and it has a script form L.A. Confidential’s James Ellroy and Moverman. Moverman is also responsible for the Oscar-nominatedThe Messenger and is currently working on an adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novel Queer. So this is no TV movie. It’ll star Steve Buscemi, Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster and Ice Cube. But what the lesbians are going to like is that it also stars Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon, two of whom are formerly or currently in same-sex relationships and all of whom have more than a few lesbian fans. Actually, the fact that there are even going to be four women starring in a dude movie like this is news that should make anyone happy.
* Romeo San Vicente was always on Team Heche. He can be reached care of this publication or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.
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Messe Frankfurt Scores Highest Year-end Sales in Group's History
Rachel Wimberly
Driven by strong sales at home and abroad in 2012, Messe Frankfurt will be the first German trade show organizer to pass the €500 million sales mark, according to company officials.
“We expect to generate sales of around €538 million – the highest ever in the history of our group to date,” said Wolfgang Marzin, Messe Frankfurt’s president and CEO.
He added, “Thanks to hard work and a little luck, we were able to better our planned levels by almost €40 million.”
The 2012 sales are a 15-percent increase, compared with last year, with new record levels of sales being achieved in both Germany and in foreign markets.
“With €169 million, we succeeded once again in increasing our operating business outside Germany by a substantial 28 percent, compared with 2011, which was the previous record year,” Marzin said.
For 2012, Messe Frankfurt generated an estimated 31 percent of its group sales abroad.
With an extensive global portfolio, Messe Frankfurt’s international events also performed well.
New records were set this year, with some 33,000 exhibitors and more than 1.2 million visitors at Messe Frankfurt’s international events. The 68 foreign events that were held included 12 new trade shows making their debut, including in Russia, China and India.
“In 2012, we built on our international competitive position by means of our strategy of concentrating on Frankfurt and key world markets,” Marzin said.
Messe Frankfurt’s home-based 2012 shows, a total of 35 trade fairs and exhibitions, attracting more than 41,800 exhibitors and around 1.6 million visitors.
The number of visitors is lower than in the previous year because the IAA International Motor Show, which is held at Messe Frankfurt every two years, was not scheduled to take place in 2012.
Messe Frankfurt also expanded its service and convention business with the launch of the Dexperty, which unifies all of the company’s digital offerings under one brand.
“In the coming years, our digital services and products will move away from the role of primarily supporting analog trade fair business and come into the spotlight as event-independent products”, said Klaus Reinke who, as a member of the Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH management, is responsible for the business segment New Business, among other things.
Messe Frankfurt is pursuing a "forward-looking strategy of operating successfully in the digital market, alongside its core competence," company officials added.
Digital products, such as exhibitors’ online presentations on the event Web sites, as well as groundbreaking apps and other offerings, are provided as support to the trade shows.
“But we are going far beyond this,” said Kai Hattendorf, who is building up and leading the independent Digital Business segment as division manager.
He added, “With our Business Matching portals, we are creating, for instance, year-round platforms for product presentation, communication and networking.”
A key goal moving forward into 2013 is optimizing the company’s brand strategy and business practices, according to Marzin, which includes concentrating personnel, financial resources and capital on Frankfurt and on growth regions with selected key markets.
“In spite of our good market position – and also becauseof it – we need to work on efficiency and integration within the Messe Frankfurt Group,” he added.
IMTS 2016 Snags Highest Number of Exhibiting Companies in Show’s History
The 31st edition of the IMTS 2016 (International Manufacturing Technology Show), which was held Sept. 12-17 at Chicago’s McCormick Place, drew the highest number of…
HITEC Houston Boasts Highest Attended Event in Its Association’s History
The Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) recently wrapped up its highest-attended North American event in its association’s 65-year history. The…
ASAE Great Ideas Conference Scores Highest Attendance in Orlando
The American Society of Association Executives’ Great Ideas Conference, held March 8-10 at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, scored its highest attendance ever, with…
Hospitality Management Group, Messe Frankfurt, UBM All Make Trade Show Acquisitions
After a relatively quiet period, the global exhibitions market has heated up in the mergers and acquisitions sector, with Hospitality Management Group, UBM and Messe…
Messe Frankfurt Highlights Growth in India
Messe Frankfurt recently highlighted growth in its portfolio in India. Its subsidiary Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India has grown from a small office in Mumbai ten years into…
Messe Frankfurt Forms New Subsidiary in China
With the establishment of Guangzhou Li Tong Messe Frankfurt Co Ltd., Messe Frankfurt has further increased its presence in China. The new subsidiary is a joint venture…
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cpr-promotions.com
Revisiting The Promotional Genius of MTV
There’s no doubt that there’s a generation of Radio People who the significance of the first decade of MTV, would be totally lost on them. MTV was basically Radio. But with a visual. The programming was based on Radio. The people who created it and 4 of the five first VJ’s were all from Radio. Bob Pittman and the rest took great, classic radio promotional concepts that we will still do, and add a visual to them. The methodology was usually the same: send in a post card. And that’s fine. Great prizes are usually bigger than the way we award them.
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Illinois Payday Loans Online Info
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Illinois (/ˌɪləˈnɔɪ/ (listen) IL-ə-NOY) is a state in the Midwestern and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It has the fifth largest gross domestic product (GDP),
the sixth largest population, and the 25th largest land area of all U.S. states. Illinois has been noted as a microcosm of the entire United States.[6] With Chicago in northeastern Illinois, small industrial cities and immense agricultural productivity in the north and center of the state, and natural resources such as coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a diverse economic base, and is a major transportation hub. Chicagoland, Chicago’s metropolitan area, encompasses over 65% of the state’s population. The Port of Chicago connects the state to international ports via two main routes: from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois Waterway to the Illinois River. The Mississippi River, the Ohio River, and the Wabash River form parts of the boundaries of Illinois. For decades, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport has been ranked as one of the world’s busiest airports. Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms[6] and, through the 1980s, in politics.
The capital of Illinois is Springfield, which is located in the central part of the state. Although today’s Illinois’ largest population center is in its northeast, the state’s European population grew first in the west as the French settled the vast Mississippi of the Illinois Country of New France. Following the American Revolutionary War, American settlers began arriving from Kentucky in the 1780s via the Ohio River, and the population grew from south to north. In 1818, Illinois achieved statehood. Following increased commercial activity in the Great Lakes after the construction of the Erie Canal, Chicago was founded in the 1830s on the banks of the Chicago River at one of the few natural harbors on the southern section of Lake Michigan.[7]John Deere’s invention of the self-scouring steel plow turned Illinois’s rich prairie into some of the world’s most productive and valuable farmland, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. The Illinois and Michigan Canal (1848) made transportation between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River valley faster and cheaper, and new railroads carried immigrants to new homes in the country’s west and shipped commodity crops to the nation’s east. The state became a transportation hub for the nation.[8]
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Wagner Performances in the US and Canada
Wagner Performances in Europe
Other Opera and Musical Performances in North Carolina
Opera Tours in North America and Europe
Audio Guides, Video Guides, Opera Translations and More
Other Useful Learning Websites
Wagner Societies in North America
Adorno, Theodor (1981). In Search of Wagner.
Bartlett, Rosamund (2007). Wagner and Russia.
Berger, William (1998). Wagner without Fear.
Burbidge, Peter and Sutton, Richard, eds. (1979). The Wagner Companion.
Cabaud, Judith (2017). Mathilde Wesendonck: Isolde’s Dream.
Cambridge Wagner Encyclopedia (2014).
Conrad, Peter (2011). Verdi and/or Wagner.
Dahlhaus, Carl (1979). Richard Wagner’s Music Dramas. Mary Whittall.
DiGaetani, John (2009). Outside the Ring (Essays).
DiGaetani, John (2006). Inside the Ring (Essays).
Furness, Raymond (2013) Richard Wagner.
Gregor-Dellin, Martin (1983). Richard Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century. J. Maxwell Brownjohn.
Grey, Thomas ed. (2009). Richard Wagner and His World (Bard Music Festival Series).
Grey, Thomas (1995). Wagner’s Musical Prose.
Gutman, Robert (1968). Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
Holman, James (2007). Wagner Moments.
Horowitz, Joseph (1994). Wagner Nights: An American History.
Karnes, Kevin C. (2013). A Kingdom Not of this World: Wagner, the Arts and Utopian Visions in Fin-de-Siecle Vienna.
Katz, Jacob, (1986). The Darker Side of Genius: Richard Wagner’s Anti-Semitism.
Kerman, Joseph (1988). Opera as Drama.
Kreuzer, Gundula (2018). Curtain, Gong, Steam: Wagnerian Technologies of Nineteenth-Century Opera.
Lloyd-Jones, Hugh. (1983). Blood for the Ghosts: Classical Influences in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.
Magee, Bryan (2001). The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy.
Magee, Bryan, (1988). Aspects of Wagner.
Mann, Thomas, (1985). Pro and Contra Wagner.
May, Thomas (2004). Decoding Wagner.
Millington, Barry (2012). The Sorcerer of Bayreuth.
Millington, Barry, (1997). Articles on Richard Wagner . . . and on specific operas in New Grove Dictionary of Opera.
Millington, Barry (1984). The Master Musicians: Wagner.
Newman, Ernest, (1976). The Life of Richard Wagner. 4 volumes.
Newman, Ernest (1949). The Wagner Operas.
Osborne, Charles (2004). The Opera Lover’s Companion.
Quinn, Richard (2013). Richard Wagner: The Lighter Side.
Spotts, Frederic (1994). A History of the Wagner Festival.
Steinberg, Michael (2018). The Trouble with Wagner.
Syer, Katherine (2014). Wagner’s Visions.
Tanner, Michael (1995). Wagner.
Taruskin, Richard (2009). Music in the Nineteenth Century: The Oxford History of Western Music.
Taylor, Ronald (1979). Richard Wagner: His Life, Art and Thought.
Watson, Derek (1981). Richard Wagner: A Biography.
Young, Julian (2005). Schopenhauer.
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Midwifery's Renaissance
Dismissed, disrespected, and hunted like witches, midwives are finally being recognized-but misunderstandings and myths endure
Marsden Wagner, Born in the USA
| Utne Reader March / April 2007
Because the midwives feared God, they did not do as commanded by the king.
-Exodus 1:17
A midwife is lectured at by committees, scolded by matrons, sworn at by surgeons, bullied by surgical dressers, talked flippantly to if middle aged and good humored, seduced if young.
-London Times, 1857
After working as a practicing physician for several years, I became a perinatologist and perinatal scientist, as well as a full-time faculty member at the Schools of Medicine and Public Health at UCLA. Then I became a director of maternal and child health for the California state health department. In that capacity, I learned that in the rural town of Madera, California, doctors had decided that they no longer wanted to attend births in the Madera County Hospital. They complained that it took too much of their time and didn't pay enough. So in 1968 the county recruited two midwives to fill the gap. After two years, the rate of babies dying around the time of birth in the hospital was cut in half. Alarmed that their style of maternity care was being made to look bad, the doctors in town agreed that they would once again attend births in the hospital if the two midwives were fired. The hospital fired the midwives, the doctors returned, and soon the rate of babies dying around birth rose to its earlier higher levels.
This natural experiment comparing the safety of doctors and midwives left me confused and full of questions, because, in spite of my years of experience as a physician, I had no real knowledge of midwifery. What are these midwives? How are they trained? Could it be that, as seen in Madera County, they are generally safer birth attendants than doctors? Through no fault of their own, Americans, including obstetricians, have little understanding of midwifery. In the early years of the 20th century, a witch hunt against midwives in the United States and Canada eliminated midwifery as a legitimate health profession. The profession has gained ground in the past two decades, but most people today have no personal experience with midwives and have been exposed to considerable misinformation about midwifery.
From California I left for Europe, where I joined the staff of the World Health Organization. There I was exposed to the essential role midwives play in maternity care in other highly industrialized countries and in developing countries.
Throughout history, there have always been women in the community to whom other women can turn for support with concerns-not just about reproductive health care but also issues such as spousal abuse. The word midwife is early English for 'with woman.' The French term for midwife, sage femme (wise woman), goes back thousands of years, as do the words in Danish, jordmor (earth mother), and in Icelandic, ljosmodir (mother of light).
In the fifth century B.C. Hippocrates formalized a midwifery training program in Greece. Phaenarete, the mother of Socrates, was a midwife. In the Bible, the Book of Exodus recognized the strength and independence of midwives who defied the pharaoh's command that they kill all sons born to Hebrew women. The first law to regulate midwifery in Europe was passed in Germany in 1452 and required that a midwife attend all births. Since then, every little girl in Europe has grown up with the understanding that if she has a baby, a midwife will assist her.
When Europeans migrated to the New World, midwives were among them. Midwives were a valued part of the developing health care system in colonial times, and by the mid-1880s they were teaching medical students in at least one university.
As the number of physicians increased in the United States, medical doctors attempted to monopolize health care through state medical practice acts that defined health care parameters, including who can practice. By the end of the 19th century, it was common for midwives to be accused of witchcraft and tried in court, and midwifery practice began to disappear. The case of Hanna Porn was one of the most famous and had far-reaching consequences. In Gardner, Massachusetts, in 1909, a judge sentenced Porn to three months in prison. Her crime? She was a practicing midwife. Fewer than half as many of the babies whose births she attended died as babies whose births were attended by local physicians. But the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court used her case to rule that midwifery was illegal in Massachusetts, based on the testimony of physicians who said that midwives were incompetent. Other states followed suit and made midwifery illegal, and it remained illegal in nearly all states for more than 50 years, until nurse-midwifery began to be legalized.
Despite this attempt to dismantle the profession in the United States and Canada, midwifery continued to thrive in Europe and other parts of the world. And while the profession was severely hampered in the United States for decades, it was not stamped out. Throughout history, every attempt at ending the practice has failed. It seems that there will always be women who want to be midwives and women who want midwives to attend them when they give birth.
When officially sanctioned midwifery was attacked in the United States, midwives went underground. Women who became known as 'granny midwives' (because they tended to be older) continued to practice, especially in poor communities. In the 1920s Mary Breckinridge, a public health nurse and midwife, formed the Frontier Nursing Service to provide maternity care to families in rural areas of Appalachia. Some of the staff members formed an organization that later became the American Association of Nurse-Midwives, as well as the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing, which trained hundreds of women in what became a new profession in America, nurse-midwifery.
The number of nurse-midwives grew, and by 1977 the profession was licensed in every state. After nursing school, a nurse can elect to go on to midwifery school for about two years and become a nurse-midwife. This is not the same as becoming a labor and delivery nurse, a nursing specialization that has no training requirement and usually involves about six weeks of on-the-job training.
Women can also train as 'direct-entry' midwives, going directly to midwifery school without training first in nursing. Direct-entry midwives have grown steadily in numbers and recognition. In 2006 direct-entry midwifery was legal in 24 states, 'alegal' (allowed without legal interference) in 17 states, and explicitly illegal in only nine states. In the past decade, more and more states have been legalizing direct-entry midwifery. The U.S. government recognizes the training for both nurse-midwives and direct-entry midwives and has authorized the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council to accredit midwifery schools and programs.
Despite the current resurgence of midwifery in the United States, the fact that midwives were harshly persecuted for more than a century has left the profession with a legacy of public reticence and confusion that must be overcome. Many myths surround midwives, myths that are often reinforced by obstetricians who view them as competition. One is that midwives are not trained but are 'hippy-dippy' lay women who attend only home births. Another is that midwives are religious zealots or witches who use magical potions. That nurse-midwives attend births only in hospitals is a common misconception, as is the idea that a midwife is a second-class doctor for women who can't afford a real obstetrician. None of these ideas is remotely true. Science has proven that for attending low-risk births (that is, births without complications), midwives are not second-class obstetricians, but rather obstetricians are second-class midwives.
Generally speaking, a fundamental difference between midwifery care and physician care at birth has to do with control. Childbirth is a complicated physiological process regulated by the woman's nervous system. Childbirth is not under the conscious control of the woman giving birth, but rather is directed by hormones and the parasympathetic portion of the autonomic nervous system. Anything that causes fear or alarm shuts down the parasympathetic system and fires up the sympathetic nervous system (adrenaline). Any intervention that increases a laboring woman's fear or anxiety will interfere with, slow down, or even stop the birth processes. A wise birth assistant, be it midwife, nurse, or doctor, knows how to facilitate these autonomic responses and not interfere with them. The key elements in the midwifery model of birth are normality, facilitation of natural processes (with minimal intervention), and the empowerment of the birthing woman.
Taking on the role of facilitator, midwives typically will reassure, calm, and encourage birthing women. Obstetricians, on the other hand, typically try to get the birth under their own control by overriding the natural processes with drugs and medical procedures and giving orders. The medical model and the midwifery model are essentially different ways of looking at women and birth. Doctors 'deliver' babies and believe that having a baby is something that happens to a woman. Midwives assist at birth and believe that giving birth is something that a woman does.
Midwives tend to believe that a woman giving birth needs to be the one making decisions about her birth experience. The woman giving birth needs to believe in her own body and feel responsible for her body, while at the same time letting go of the need to control what is happening, since she cannot.
Another fundamental difference between midwives and doctors is how they view pregnancy and birth. Midwives understand that pregnancy is not an illness. They typically call the women in their care 'clients,' not 'patients,' since they are not sick and are not getting medical treatment. Though midwives know what can go wrong during pregnancy and birth and know how to identify problems early and to cooperate with doctors in managing complications, their focus is on birth as a life-enhancing experience. Although they believe it is essential to have medical assistance available when it is needed, they are trained to go beyond medical care and empower women to achieve their goals for themselves and their babies. Midwives trust in women's bodies and their capacity to give birth successfully with little or no intervention in most cases.
Obstetricians, on the other hand, tend to focus on what can go wrong during pregnancy and birth. All doctors have been trained to look for trouble (diagnose a problem) and decide what to do about it (decide on a treatment), and that is what comes naturally to obstetricians. In prenatal care they take the same approach, focusing on what can go wrong.
Another important difference between midwife-attended low-risk birth and obstetrician-attended low-risk birth is the quality of the experience for the woman. Many surveys have shown that women who have midwives as their attendants have far higher levels of satisfaction with their birth experience than women who have obstetricians attending their births. This is not hard to understand. Midwives give great attention to building close relationships with their clients and their clients' families.
Generally speaking, midwives are direct, open, and honest in their dealings with clients and take an egalitarian, intimate, woman-to-woman approach. Midwives do not guarantee a good outcome, and their honesty about their role and its limitations contributes to the level of satisfaction women feel with their services. On the other hand, in a doctor-patient relationship, there is no egalitarian tradition. Rather, the doctor's superior knowledge and status are for the most part unquestioned and there is a belief (or hope) that the doctor can perform miracles.
Midwives, like doctors, are human. They have bad days and they make mistakes. Science now tells us, however, that overall, midwives are safer than doctors for low-risk births. If a woman is among the 80 to 90 percent of all women who have normal pregnancies, the safest attendant for her hospital birth is not a doctor but a midwife.
In the past two decades we've seen a renaissance of midwifery in the United States. Each year, the number or births attended by midwives increases.
The more the practice of midwifery grows and succeeds, the more threatening midwives are to the obstetric monopoly, so, predictably, there has been an obstetric backlash. Now, a hundred years after Hanna Porn was persecuted, we have another American witch hunt against midwives. In many states, doctors are reporting midwives to various authorities as dangerous.
In many cases, these attacks are simply attempts by doctors to eliminate the competition. Cases against midwives are, with very rare exceptions, not initiated by the families the midwives serve, as is typical of litigation against obstetricians. Instead, they are initiated by physicians. In the past several years in many states, including Illinois, Utah, California, Vermont, Virginia, Nevada, Oregon, Indiana, and Ohio, police have arrested direct-entry midwives for practicing nursing or medicine without a license.
Maternity care in the United States is changing, and one of the most important changes still in progress involves who will catch the 3.5 million babies a year whose mothers have had normal pregnancies. That is, who will be the primary birth attendant for low-risk births? In the past decade, the percentage of births attended by midwives has gone from 5 percent to 10 percent, and there are a few places where it is closer to 25 percent. HMOs are hiring more and more midwives. Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest HMOs in the country, has many midwives on its staff. There are several reasons for the growth of midwifery in the United States, and a big one is money.
Midwifery is far cheaper than obstetrics for two reasons. On average, obstetricians take home a net income in the neighborhood of $200,000 a year, whereas midwives earn about one-quarter of that. Equally important, the cost of the obstetric interventions, such as induction and C-section, performed unnecessarily can easily be cut in half by having midwives, rather than obstetricians, assist at normal births. Health care in the United States is very much driven by the bottom line, and slowly but surely the insurance companies, managed health care organizations, HMOs, and even state and federal government agencies are realizing that the obstetric monopoly is wasting enormous amounts of money. The day that truth fully sinks in will be the day the obstetric monopoly is on its way out.
As midwifery becomes better established in the United States, it becomes more difficult for the obstetric establishment to perpetuate the myth that midwives are not as safe as doctors. Pushing the 'safety' issue has backfired as a way for obstetricians to protect their territory. As more state legislatures look carefully at the data and realize that they have been denying families a safe maternity care option, momentum will grow and laws that support and protect midwives will spread to other states.
Another reason midwifery is going to grow: Americans believe in a free market economy with open competition. Obstetricians and midwives both offer primary maternity care.
Finally, midwifery will continue to grow as more women come to appreciate that maternity care is not primarily a health issue but a women's issue. Midwifery plays an important role in strengthening women's control over their own bodies and reproductive systems.
Excerpted from Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First (University of California, 2006).
midwifelynda
Thank you for this timely piece (although the book is already three years old). As I have said over and over, re: serving women during pregnancy and childbirth: what we need is for women to have the safe and satisfying options, and THEN we need a smooth transition into the medical world if their care warrants it. I hope I live to see it in every state and territory for every woman and baby.
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Boost in A-Level Grades in 2015 for Uxbridge College Students
Uxbridge College is celebrating a boost in both overall achievement and higher grades in 2015’s A-level results, continuing a trend of very strong results above the national average.
Results at grades A*-C are up by 5%, and higher grade successes - where students achieve A*-B grades - by 9%.
This year’s results see students taking up degree courses at top universities such as the LSE, Imperial College London and UCL in competitive subject areas including physics and maths.
Facts and figures for A levels (A2) for Uxbridge College for 2015 included:
* A*-B grade passes 43%
* A*-C grade passes 69%
* Overall pass rate (grades A*-E), up 2% at 98%
Amanda Washbrook, Head of the Academy at Uxbridge College, which teaches A levels, GCSEs and vocational science, said: “We are very pleased to see results improved in 2015, particularly with Uxbridge College’s strong history of achievement which has seen our students consistently performing above the national average. With such good results in both overall and higher grades, our students are able to choose from a range of highly competitive degree courses at prestigious universities. So many of our students have made really exceptional progress at Uxbridge College. Our learners come from a wide range of different backgrounds and often do extremely well despite initial challenges in areas of their basic education or language.”
Among the individual success stories are:
Svitlana Lubko (18), (pictured centre above) who achieved A* grades in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and a grade A in Law at Uxbridge College. Svitlana, from Hayes, who also did her GCSEs at Uxbridge College after coming to the UK from the Ukraine, will study Statistics, Economics and Finance at UCL. Svitlana did her Maths A-level at Uxbridge College a year early in 2014.
Sachin Kannangara (18), who achieved A grades in Biology, Chemistry and Physics and a B in Maths. He will be going to Queen Mary’s College to do a degree in Genetics.
Ryan Porter (18), who achieved an A* in Maths, and A grades in Biology and Chemistry, and is going on to Surrey University to study Maths.
Kate Nightingale (20), came to Uxbridge College to study A-levels after spending two years studying theatrical hair and make-up. She achieved an A* in Psychology and A grades in Business Studies and Sociology. She is now going to Oxford Brookes University to do a degree in Psychology and Business Management.
Anand Dari (18), who got an A* in Business Studies, an A* in Maths and a B in ICT, and is going on to study Maths at Surrey University.
Charlotte Harland (18), who achieved A grades in Chemistry and Physics and a B in Maths. Charlotte, who was home schooled to GCSE level, is going on to study Physics at Hertfordshire University after taking a year out to work on a project with her church.
Dr Alastair Mullins, Curriculum Director, said: “It is good to see how well our students have done this year with so many going on to university through either the A-level route or via BTEC Level 3 qualifications and the HND. We would like to encourage all young people to consider the whole range of options because we know how much difference it can make for them to have the choice of either an academic or vocational route to university.”
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United Nations Treaty Series
Treaty Series 2210
No. 2937. Multilateral
2003 Treaty Series 2210
In accordance with Article 102 of the Charter and the relevant General Assembly Resolutions, every treaty and international agreement registered or filed and recorded with the Secretariat since 1946 is published in the United Nations Treaty Series. At present, the collection includes about 30,000 treaties reproduced in their authentic languages, together with translations into English and French, as necessary. The Treaty Series, where treaties are published in the chronological order of registration, also provides details about their subsequent history (i.e., participation in a treaty, reservations, amendments, termination, etc.). Comprehensive Indices covering 50-volume-lots are published separately. A Standing Order service is available for the Series and out-of-print volumes are available on microfiche.
https://doi.org/10.18356/81fbd0e3-en-fr
Universal copyright convention. Geneva, 6 September 1952
Click to download PDF - 20.60KB
CITE THIS CHAPTER
https://doi.org/10.18356/10b2e84a-en-fr
Pages: 19 - 19
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/component/10b2e84a-en-fr
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O'Reilly vs. Bono -- but with velvet gloves and at least one ego in check
Note to readers: Bill O'Reilly says he'll be interviewing Barack Obama on the last night of the Republican convention in St. Paul. Four years ago, at the GOP summit in New York, he had another odd couple O'Reilly Factor encounter -- with Bono. Here's how that one played out, as reported in an article first published on Sept. 3, 2004. O'Reilly also opines on Ben Affleck, Michael Moore and "Stuart Smalley."
By ED BARK
NEW YORK -- Bill O'Reilly figures they'll all eventually play ball with him. His latest "Big Get" -- U2's Bono -- got the ultimate O'Reilly accolade this week. It wasn't so much for what he is, but for what he's not.
"He's not a bomb-thrower," O'Reilly said after he and Bono met for the first time on Wednesday's Republican convention edition of Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor. "He was certainly articulate, and he made his points. We researched him pretty heavily, and he's been pretty reasonable for the past four or five years. So it wouldn't have been fair for me to drag up old things."
Bono braved The Factor's oft-ballyhooed "No Spin Zone" in support of AIDS-ravaged Africa, which desperately needs America's and Europe's financial aid, he told O'Reilly. The Irish rocker will take anyone's money on the country's behalf.
"I'm a nonpartisan guy," Bono said. "I'm rooting for people that don't have a vote and for people whose faces we don't see."
Bono's onerous "handlers" were no help at all in their zeal to shield him from any and all questioners except O'Reilly. But the 44-year-old rock deity did take one query from yours truly while being whisked down the convention center's "skybox" corridor.
"Oh, I think it worked well," he said, stopping briefly. "You know, I asked him (O'Reilly) to take off the gloves -- if he ever puts them on. It was really great. We don't want to soft-soap these issues. You've got to get to the nitty-gritty. That's why I'm here."
O'Reilly, whose weeknightly show long has been Fox News Channel's No. 1 attraction, said his 5-year-old daughter "loves this guy. I had to get a CD signed. I think he's OK, but I'm not humming his songs all day long. I'm more of a Beach Boys guy."
The host always talks with a swagger, and was entitled to on a day when Nielsen Media Research said Fox's Tuesday night convention coverage for the first time beat all competitors -- including NBC, CBS and ABC.
"It sends a message that there are a lot of traditional and conservative people in this country that feel they're getting hosed by the other networks," he said. "I don't think any network is liberal or conservative. We just do news in a more interesting way. That's the key. Certainly Fox takes a more traditional approach, and voices and opinions heard here will never be heard on the Jennings, Rather or Brokaw shows. But that's not it. We're more fun to watch and our information is solid. Period."
He's still goading Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson to appear on The Factor, which landed actor Ben Affleck and filmmaker Michael Moore at the Democratic convention and had Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Bill Maher on Thursday's show from the Republican gathering.
"I'm making a little progress with everybody," said O'Reilly, who briefly worked at WFAA-TV (Channel 8) in the 1970s. "The show's taken on a different kind of cachet. People know if they want to get their message out to a vast audience that they need to do this."
Affleck won him over by being properly "respectful."
"He got a lot of currency for doing the show," O'Reilly said. "I think his picture price went up a million bucks. He held his own with me."
He wasn't as charmed by Moore, a "dishonest guy" who "deserved to be scorned" by Arizona Sen. John McCain at Monday night's convention session.
"But ya know, I don't dislike him like I do Stuart Smalley, who I think is evil," O'Reilly said, referring to liberal author and radio talk show host Al Franken. "I don't think Moore is evil. I just think he's irresponsible."
O'Reilly's provocative persona and hard-punching interviewing style is the future of TV news, in his opinion.
"You have to engage people now," he said. "What they want is strong opinions about the news they already know. They don't need a feature about people making candy canes in Wisconsin. You guys are old-fashioned dinosaurs. You guys are petrified forests."
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Stadium Committee Meets
Written by a STAFF REPORT
Fayetteville City Council has until Aug. 19 to decide whether it wants a local minor league baseball team to affiliate with the Houston Astros. Consultant Daniel Barrett of Barrett Sports Group has repeatedly urged the Council to decide if it’s prepared to meet what he calls the “yes or no” date. But the four members of the Council’s stadium subcommittee say that may not be enough time to weigh all the considerations, including cost. The Astros want a formal memorandum of understanding from the city. BSG has proposed a $47 million ballpark on city-owned property behind the Prince Charles Hotel. Most Single-A stadiums on the east coast were built for far less than that. Council members who have spoken up, including Mayor Nat Robertson, want to keep the cost at no more than $30 million. Committee membe,r Jim Arp, seems to be the most reluctant to be hurried, saying the city must do its due diligence. Barrett told the committee he isn’t sure if there are other major league teams that might be interested in locating a minor league affiliate in Fayetteville. Committee members include Arp, Kirk deViere, Larry Wright and Mayor Pro Tem Mitch Colvin who serves as chairman.
Building Business Rally Planned
The Fayetteville Public Works Commission, City of Fayetteville and Cumberland County are co-hosting a Building Business Rally that will present upcoming business opportunities for utility contractors. Water, wastewater and stormwater utility contractors are invited to attend the free event as are other businesses that support utility construction. PWC, the city’s stormwater division and Cumberland County Public Utilities will provide information about projects that are planned over the next five years. Breakout sessions will be held to review bidding requirements and opportunities for minorities, women and veterans who may want to register for the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program. The Building Business Rally will be held Thursday, July 21, from 9 – 11 a.m. at PWC’s Administration Building, 955 Old Wilmington Rd. To register, call 223-4337 or visit http://www.faypwc.com/purchasing .
President on Opioid Abuse
President Barack Obama has made combatting prescription pain medication abuse and heroin addiction a top priority for his administration. Fayetteville has the unenviable distinction of having the 18th-highest rate of opioid abuse in the country. It has joined with the VA to form an Opioid Reduction Task Force, which is designed to allow different agencies to share ideas and resources to better attack the opioid epidemic. The White House has asked Congress for $1.1 billion in new funding to expand access to lifesaving treatment, particularly the drug buprenorphine. He also wants to strengthen prescription drug monitoring and accelerate research on pain and opioid misuse and overdose. Buprenorphine and the combination of buprenorphine and naloxone are used to treat addiction to opioid drugs, including heroin and narcotic painkillers. Buprenorphine alone and the combination of buprenorphine and naloxone work to prevent withdrawal symptoms when someone stops taking opioid drugs by producing similar effects to these drugs. “More people die of drug overdoses in the U.S. than in car crashes,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia M. Burwell. Government funds earmarked for treatment would be funneled directly to states.
Pine Forest H.S. Teachers Honored
Pine Forest High School teachers Linwood Starling and Pierre Cobb have been selected to participate in the North Carolina Business Committee for Education’s Teachers@Work® program this summer. It’s a joint initiative of the NCBCE and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. “Teachers know the hard skills to teach their students, but they also need to see first-hand how those skills are being used in their local businesses,” said Sue Breckenridge, executive director of NCBCE. Starling and Cobb are science teachers and are paired with employees of Lenovo to learn the various aspects of the business.
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Oct. 30, 2018 / 12:43 PM
Flames first up in Sabres' sudden schedule crunch
Larry Millson, The Sports Xchange
Mike Smith and the Calgary Flames take on the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo
The Buffalo Sabres begin a busy part of their schedule Tuesday night when they are home to the Calgary Flames.
The Sabres, who lost 5-4 overtime to the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Saturday, will follow the game against the Flames with a home-and-home set Thursday and Saturday against the Ottawa Senators before visiting the New York Rangers.
The Sabres (6-4-1) will be facing a team that will be playing its second game in two nights after defeating the Maple Leafs 3-1 in Toronto on Monday night with a well-structured, tight effort.
The Flames (6-5-1) were coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals at home on Saturday, a game that coach Bill Peters felt was encouraging after the humiliation of a 9-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. Peters was not disappointed Monday.
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"We're taking some steps," coach Bill Peters said. "We're learning how to play hard for each other, learning how to manage the puck and taking some risk out of our game. If we can continue to do that, we can have a good team by the time it's all said and done. We're going in the right direction, but there is still work to be done."
All the scoring took place in the third period Monday with the Flames breaking through with two goals 55 seconds apart by Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm.
Sabres coach Phil Housley took encouragement in the way his team overcame a two-goal deficit.
RELATED Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews out at least 4 weeks
"We can take forward here being on the road, being down two against a good hockey team, we found a way to earn a point," Housley said. "We'll learn from the mistakes we made but we have to take credit where it's due. We did a terrific job battling on the road to get a point."
On the other hand, Housley feels the Sabres must tighten their game. Backup goaltender Linus Ullmark faced 37 shots in the game against Columbus, his third start of the season, as well as some odd-man rushes.
"Linus made some big saves during the game," Housley said. "He saw too many Grade-A chances and situations we need to clean up. We were way too loose. We're not going to win a lot of hockey games playing like that and we know that."
Ullmark is 2-0-1 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage and he figures to see more action during the busy stretch. Starting goaltender Carter Hutton played all four games on a recent homestand. He is 4-4, 3.07 GAA and a .905 save percentage.
"I feel good. I'm really happy every time I get the chance to go in there and play," Ullmark said. "Whenever I get the chance, I want to seize the moment, do what I do best and just go out there and enjoy it."
"He's been very square to the puck," Housley said. "He's not fighting things. He's letting the puck hit him and he's been really good challenging. When the moment is there, he'll get out and challenge the shooters. All of those things, and his puck-handling ability have helped our defense out."
Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe did not practice Monday and is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, Housley said. He missed time in the second period Saturday but played in the third period.
The Flames will be visiting Buffalo in a good frame of mind.
"I thought we worked hard," Monahan said. "We had a good start to the game, which we haven't had in some of the past few. I think we stepped it up. Tonight, was a big win and we've got to keep it rolling."
Flames goaltender Mike Smith stopped 24 shots.
"We just played together as a team," Smith said. " We have a standard now that we've set, and hopefully we can continue that."
Phil Housley
Olympic boxing legend Pernell 'Sweet Pea' Whitaker dies in crash
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Pete Alonso of the New York Mets wins MLB Home Run Derby
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Though the Senate immigration reform bill may not satisfy everyone, it would benefit DREAMers, agricultural workers, high skilled foreign workers and undocumented immigrants. Likewise, the bill would stiffen border security and mandate E-verify.
Senate immigration bill Has A Path To Citizenship
The Senate immigration reform bill would permit eligible undocumented immigrants to obtain US citizenship within 13 years. Initially, undocumented immigrants would be required to submit biometrics information, undergo background checks, pay a $500 penalty, pay the back taxes and apply for Registered Provisional Immigrant status. They can apply for lawful permanent resident status after ten years and for US citizenship after three years and the DREAMers can apply for lawful status within five years.
Pathway To Citizenship only after Strengthening Border Security
The immigration reform bill focuses on border security and the undocumented immigrants would be permitted to file applications for lawful status only after the US Department of Homeland Security(DHS) takes steps strengthen border security. Immigrants would be able to file for Registered Provisional Immigrant status only after the DHS develops plans and they would be permitted to apply for lawful permanent resident status only after all the plans are implemented and after the DHS achieves the border security goals.
Border Enforcement
The bill would allocate around $3 billion to plan and implement border security measures and the focus would be on high-risk areas. According to the immigration reform bill, 90 percent border effectiveness must be achieved within the next five years.
All the DREAMers can Apply for Lawful Status
The Senate immigration reform bill would permit all the DREAMers to apply for lawful status and there is no age limit and the bill would permit them to become Green Card holders within five years. Even the undocumented youth who are ineligible for deferred action status, would become eligible for lawful status, if the Senate immigration reform bill is passed. These DREAMers would become eligible for US citizenship after they become permanent residents and they can apply for US citizenship three years after becoming Green Card holders. This applies to the DREAMers who arrived in the country under age 16 and prior to 31st December, 2011. To qualify, they must be high school graduates or honorably discharged veterans.
Deported Immediate Relatives can Return to the United States
Some deportees would be permitted to return to the United States and reunite with their family members. Immediate relatives of US citizens who were living in the United States prior to 31st December, 2011 and who were deported due to unlawful presence, would be allowed to apply for Registered Provisional Immigrant status and return to America. DREAMers who were deported and who do not have relatives in the country would also be allowed to re-enter America.
Visas For for Foreign Workers
This bill would expand the H-1B visa program and create a guest worker program for the low skilled foreign workers and an agricultural visa program for agricultural workers. Likewise, merit based immigrant visas would be issued to some foreign nationals based on their education and employment and other considerations. Programs that would attract investors, entrepreneurs and high skilled foreign workers would be created. Moreover, all the US employers would be required to use E-verify and the country might design and implement a new E-verify system.
2 thoughts on “What You Need to Know About the Senate Immigration Reform Bill?”
Associations in Salem
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Frontier Circus
Frontier Circus is an American Western television series about a traveling circus roaming the American West in the 1880s. Filmed by Revue Productions, the program aired on the CBS from…
Zorro and Son
Zorro and Son is an American short-lived television Western based on the legendary character Zorro that aired on CBS. Created by Walt Disney Pictures, the series stars Henry Darrow as…
Genre: Komedi, Västern
Beulah Land is a three-part American television miniseries adaptation of Lonnie Coleman’s novels that aired on NBC from October 7 to 9, 1980.
Gun Shy
Gun Shy is an American western comedy television series that aired from March 15 until April 19, 1983.
Queen of Swords is an action–adventure television series set in California during the early 19th century that ran for one season, from 2000 to 2001.
Genre: Aktion & Äventyr, Västern
Dundee and the Culhane
Dundee and the Culhane is an American Western television series starring John Mills and Sean Garrison that aired on the CBS television network from September 7 to December 13, 1967.
Genre: Drama, Västern
Der Traum von der Neuen Welt
Recounts the largest migration movement in history in which 55 million Europeans left their home countries and set off to America.
Genre: Dokumentär
Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers
Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers is a television series broadcast in the United States by NBC during its 1956-57 season.
Genre: Aktion & Äventyr
Les Chevaux du soleil
De Stille Kracht
Based on the novel by Louis Couperus, De Stille Kracht is set at the end of the nineteenth century and concerns the cultural gap between East and West, that is…
The Awakening Land is a 1978 television miniseries based on Conrad Richter’s trilogy of novels: The Trees; The Fields; and The Town. The series originally aired on NBC in three…
Les Filles de Caleb is a Quebec TV series of 20 one-hour episodes, created by Jean Beaudin, based on the eponymous novel of Arlette Cousture, broadcast in 1990 on Radio-Canada…
Call of the Wild is an adventure television series based on the best-selling novel of the same title by author Jack London. It was shown on Animal Planet. The thirteen…
Genre: Aktion & Äventyr, Familj
In the summer of 1891, Oscar Wilde first met Lord Alfred Douglas — an encounter that will dramatically and tragically change both of their lives.
At the start of the Civil War, a prominent Virginia family makes the controversial decision to defend the South while freeing all of their slaves, pitting the family against one…
Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series starring Dale Robertson that ran from March 18, 1957, to June 2, 1962, on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the…
Raskens
Handlingen tar sin början 1872. Efter ett fylleslag slår drängen Gustav Karlsson sin husbonde på käften. För att slippa straff tar han värvning som soldat och tar sig namnet Rask….
Charismatic adventurer Franklin Blake is on the most important quest of his life – to solve the disappearance of the priceless Moonstone and win back Rachel Verinder, his one true…
The Irish R.M.
The Irish R.M. refers to a series of books by the Anglo-Irish novelists Somerville and Ross, and the television comedy-drama series based on them. They are set in turn of…
Genre: Drama, Komedi
Scarlet and Black
Scarlet and Black is a British four-part television drama series first aired in 1993 by the BBC with a cast including Ewan McGregor and Rachel Weisz. The series was adapted…
Children of the Dust
Gypsy Smith, is a gunfighter and a bounty hunter. When he leads the US army into a Cheyenne camp to capture a suspected Indian renegade, a long train of events…
The adventures of fictitious gunfighter Ethan Allen Cord, whose sister left her four children in his custody when she died.
Lonesome Dove: The Series
Set in the small western town of Curtis Wells, Lonesome Dove: The Series follows first the romance and later the marriage of Newt Call and Hannah Peale, and the obsession…
Gunslinger was a Western television series starring Tony Young that aired on the CBS television network from February 9 until May 18, 1961 on Thursdays from 9 to 10 p.m….
Young Dan’l Boone
Young Dan’l Boone is a short-lived TV series broadcast on CBS for only four episodes from September 12 to October 10, 1977. The series followed Daniel Boone on his adventures…
Genre: Aktion & Äventyr, Drama
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Baldur’s Gate Series Announced For PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
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If you’re a fan of Dungeons & Dragons, you are probably familiar with the fact that over the years, several games based on D&D have been made. Baldur’s Gate is one of those games that has held a special place in many hearts of gamers, and the good news is that it looks like the series and other D&D titles will be making its way onto consoles.
This was announced by Skybound Games and Beamdog where titles such as Baldur’s Gate, the Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear expansion, Baldur’s Gate II, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights have been announced for the PS4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch.
Previously, some of these titles were remastered for the PC and mobile, but it was largely left out of consoles, at least until now. According to Trent Oster, Beamdog CEO, “It’s been nearly two decades since Baldur’s Gate was born from a D&D campaign between me and the game’s co-creators. The longevity of this series and the games that followed has been both humbling and rewarding. Our team is thrilled to continue that tradition by finally making this wealth of amazing storytelling and gameplay available to everyone on modern consoles.”
The games are currently set for a release this coming fall and there will also be both physical and digital editions available. In the meantime, it has been suggested that Larian could be working on a Baldur’s Gate 3.
Filed in Gaming. Read more about Baldur's Gate, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. Source: skybound
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Chernihiv Oblast
Chernihiv – Explore Archeological Sites and Historical Murals
It is believed that Chernihiv, the capital of the Chernihiv Oblast, first existed in the ninth century according to archaeological evidence excavated in the area, which included unearthed settlements and artifacts from the immensely powerful state, Khazar Khaganate. However, the first formal mention of Chernihiv came in the 907 Rus’-Byzantine Treaty. By the end of the 10th century, Chernihiv was believed to be under its own rulership from the findings made in the 19th century of one of the earliest royal mounds to be excavated in Eastern Europe, referred to as the ‘black grave’.
Chernihiv was greatly respected as the second in power and general wealth accumulated in the whole of the southern area of Kievan Rus. During the 11th century it became the seat of the great ‘Grand Principality of Chernigov’, considered the largest in Kievan Rus due to its influence and support by those in the Severian towns all the way to Murom, Tmutarakan and Ryazan, some of the remotest regions. Population numbers in the city soared, reaching 25 000 by 1239, but in that same year it was crushed under the power of Batu Khan. In turn a variety of powers dominated the region. Sadly Chernihiv was razed on two occasions in 1482 and 1497.
By 1623 Chernihiv was granted Magdeburg rights, allowing it to govern itself, and by 1635 it became the seat of the Czernihow Voivodship. Once again Chernihiv grew in power during the seventeenth century whilst the Khmelnytsky uprising was taking place. During 1667 the members of the ‘Treaty of Andrusovo’ became the main controllers of the area before surrendering it to Muscovite Russia. Chernigov still remained the self-governing centre of ‘Cossack Hetmanate’ until it was abolished, reducing it to a common administrative center belonging to the Russian Empire. However, it did become the capital of the local administrative units.
It must be noted that through most of the trying periods of Chernihiv’s history, it still managed to keep its ecclesiastical importance, being the seat of the archbishopric. To this day, standing on the outskirts of the city are the ancient caves of the Eletsky monasteries, the original residence of the bishop. Its astounding 6 pillar cathedrals were constructed between the periods ranging from the 11th to the 12th century, with traces of some of the most historical murals still seen today.
cathedrals chernihiv chernihiv oblast history kievan rus monasteries
Ukraine.com will soon be introducing a new feature to the website. Visitors to Ukraine.com will be able to download fascinating videos related to the country. This is a fantastic way for you to become better acquainted with this marvelous land and its people. From views of the stunning landscape to a closer look at local events and tourist attractions, you will find the videos on ...
Mukachevsky Palanok
There are only six extremely well preserved castles in Europe at present, and one of them is the Mukachevsky “Palanok” Castle in Ukraine. It is located in the Zakarpattia Oblast on a hill which stands at a height of 68 meters. The hill is known as the Zamkova or Castle Mount, and it is from here that the castle presents a formidable image to the surrounding landscape. Mukachevsky Castle is ...
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it's all fun and games until it becomes reality
i've already whined here about how much i hate election season. it's all so over the top, so full of insults and hatred and brings out the worst in so many. and the endless commercials on the radio and on tv...bah. the entire house was just looking forward to election day so that it could be over and done with, along with the rest of the country.
now, while i was a bazillion percent sure that i didn't want to vote for the republican candidate, i'd spent a lot of time wrestling with my thoughts about hillary clinton. but then i thought back to months ago when i'd visited isidewith.com, which guided me through a series of questions and showed me that she was the candidate whose views most aligned with my own. and so i embraced her as my choice, read posts on the pantsuit nation facebook page, let myself get a little caught up in the excitement and anticipation.
i woke up yesterday full of hope. i was a little anxious but excited for what the day would bring, and of course my first stop of the day was barre class.
back at home, while the bean got ready for school, the rest of us gathered around the table to go over our sample ballots and talk about the various measures and propositions. we had an extra one, and the bean decided to join in and fill in some bubbles.
the hub was the first to head to the polls on his way to work. he reported that there were no lines and zero wait - which is what i'd expected, in our sleepy little suburb.
although we live in the same house, all three of us have different polling locations. it's so weird. the old lady went to the elementary school around the corner, while i headed to a local fire station to cast my vote.
it was nice to do our thing without having to wait in any crazy lines, but it was the middle of the day and again...sleepy suburb. done, done and done.
with the hub out for the evening at the laker game, the old lady and i picked up some snacks and supplies to make some pink champagne cocktails. now you know neither of us is much of a drinker, so don't make fun of what we popped open:
at least it didn't come in a box, amirite??
later, we tucked the bean in bed, we sat down in the living room and finally turned the tv on. we'd been watching election coverage on twitter, with the anxiety growing as the results started coming in. i tried to tell myself that it was going to be fine, despite the fact that the republican had taken an early lead. after all, there were a lot of states still to account for and tons of votes to be tallied. right?
well, you know what happened. as hard as it is to believe, this candidate who not only admitted to but bragged about sexually assaulting women, who is openly racist and hateful, and is endorsed by none other than the KKK is officially the president-elect of our country. more than half of the people in the united states chose to vote for this man, even though his entire campaign has seemed like the biggest joke that was never actually funny at all. it's just all mind-boggling, and incredible in the worst way possible.
but this morning, as we're faced with the reality of last night's events, i'm trying my damnedest to put a positive spin on my thoughts. it's so much easier to let ourselves be frightened, be worried, consider this a nightmare come true. but i have to believe that everything will be all right. it has to. i remember that there have been previous leaders who made lots of promises and statements and pledged to do things that never actually came to fruition. i think of all the hope and promise and love that so many people expressed through the last few months, and realize that one man cannot break all of that down. there are a lot of hoops for him to jump through before a lot of his more outrageous statements can become reality, and there are even more good people with good intentions who will fight for what is right. and i have to believe that there is some good in this man somewhere. while i couldn't bring myself to watch his victory speech last night, i read parts of it - and all i can do is hope that he truly does want to do what he can to unite the country rather than incite its citizens to turn on each other even more than they already have.
tomorrow has come. the sun is shining, the world is turning. it's a new day, and as terrible as yesterday was, it's all on us to make it a great one. after all..."when they go low, we go high." let's focus on that.
rambled on and on by wan at 7:06 AM
tags: election day, politics suck
Niki November 9, 2016 at 11:36:00 AM PST
Not to quibble, but "more than half of the people in the united states chose to vote for this man" isn't accurate. It makes me feel a tiny bit better that more people voted for her than for him.
231,556,622 eligible voters
46.9% didn't vote
25.6% voted Clinton
25.5% voted Trump
i heart comments. i wan-na hear what you have to say.
um, i think.
looking for awesome fabric?
some of my favorite patterns!
even more of my favorite patterns!
support the hub!
sparkle skirts for everyone!
all about the wans
wan: the basics
the old lady
the bean's grand entrance
wan-derful love story
wan-na read more?
hosting friendsgiving for a change
run now, gobble later
sewing machine number...four
one day, two parks
back to my running roots
starting thanksgiving early
hard work pays off
cookie dump time
random photos time!
ready or not, the holidays are a-comin'
i literally can't even
purple and gold 4 lyfe
let's do it for our country...the red, white and t...
if you can't beat 'em, join 'em
one last halloween-y recap
they see me rollin'
halloween costumes galore
wan-na reach me?
e-mail me anytime. i won't think you're a stalker, i promise.
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Unemployment Claims From the Shutdown Are Skyrocketing
DC reports 5,431 new cases. But economists say the damage will impact the private sector nationwide.
Written by Benjamin Wofford
| Published on January 11, 2019
Air traffic and pilot unions protest the government shutdown on Capitol Hill Thursday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Hayley Solak has never been on government assistance before. “This was my first shutdown,” says Solak, an IT contractor for the Department of Agriculture. It was the evening of the 18th day of the shutdown, and the 14th day Solak has gone without pay as she stood in front of the White House, clad in a dark nylon jacket and blue jeans, looking on at a gathering protest on Pennsylvania Avenue. “I really didn’t think it was going to last this long. I had no idea if our contracts had a failsafe in place. I thought they did.”
They didn’t. On December 24, her company received a “stop work” order. Solak and her colleagues pored over a company email, which described two options: Burn through their paid vacation time and receive a paycheck or take an indefinite leave without pay. About that time, Solak heard from her grandmother, who offered to send cash—but “she’s 88,” laughs Solak, “and I would rather not take her money.” Expenses for Solak, who lives in Adams Morgan, are a little more than $2,000 each month.
So, on Monday, at age 30, Solak applied for unemployment insurance benefits for the first time. She’s hoping to receive the maximum weekly check one can receive in the United States: $425, though “that’s not going to be enough,” she says. She’ll find out on Friday what she’s eligible for.
As the shutdown approaches its fourth week, regional economists have pointed to the skyrocketing number of Washington area residents who are applying for unemployment benefits. In the past week, budget specialists in the DC government reported growing numbers of federal workers claiming unemployment benefits: First 300, then 700, then 1,700. It’s now estimated at 5,431, including 4,429 federal workers and an estimated 1,002 federal contractors. The number already equals 15 percent of the typical benefits caseload in a single year, according to figures provided by the Department of Employment Services, where District employees have been working overtime to manage the deluge of incoming calls and applications.
In Maryland, federal workers have filed more than 1,300 claims, not counting contractors. And in Virginia, “There has been definitely been an increase in volume of activity,” says Bill Walton, who leads the unemployment insurance program at the Virginia Employment Commission. Virginia has seen 368 claims so far, Walton said, “with every indication that more are coming.”
If the shutdown continues to Friday, it will be the longest in American history. Also on Friday, a new wave of federal workers will officially miss their first paycheck, and the number of unemployment claims is likely to balloon. “We got a message yesterday, which included a letter to give to the unemployment office,” says Becca, a lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission, who gave only her first name to discuss her personal financial straits. Because her Friday paycheck still withholds benefits and taxes, “I expect to get nothing,” she says.
But the economic plight is hardly limited to government workers like Becca and contractors like Solak. Federal workers and contractors are large enough contributors to the economy that their abrupt absence from the market can spur an increase in all unemployment claims nationwide.
According to figures from the Department of Labor, more than 130,000 federal workers were forced to claim unemployment benefits during the last major shutdown in October 2013. The uptick in private sector workers was nearly double that when compared to the September average. Stephen Fuller, a professor at George Mason University who closely studies the area’s economy, says this rise is partly explained by “collateral services” such as the janitors who service closed federal buildings, the staff at the McDonalds inside the Air and Space Museum, and people at food trucks or restaurants that specifically cater to federal workers or buildings.
“Then there’s the ‘induced effect,’” Fuller says. “Those are the workers tied to the spending of the payroll that’s been lost. It could be a grocery store person, or a limousine driver—somebody further away from the obvious.”
At the shutdown’s end in 2013, claims indexed to government employees snapped back to near-zero. But private sector claims took weeks to fall to their pre-shutdown numbers. “The non-federal workforce impact continues well beyond the shutdown, and appears to accelerate,” Fuller wrote in an email. “This lag in workforce impact…may not be appreciated.”
Charts show the steep rise in unemployment benefit claims: In the Washington metro area (middle); among federal workers nationally (middle) and among the total workforce nationally (bottom). General population mark includes federal workers (UCFE). (Source: Department of Labor.)
Federal workers are expected to receive back pay, alleviating some of the hardship. Contractors or private sector employees are not. And many losses simply can’t be made up: “Nobody eats two lunches tomorrow to make up for them,” says Fuller. “If this keeps going on for two weeks—certainly for a month—at some point it could put those people permanently out of business.”
“We’re hearing from companies every day that there’s more ‘stop work’ orders being issued,” says David Berteau, who represents government contractors through the DC-based Professional Services Council. “They’ve exhausted all possibilities, and are going to have to start laying people off.”
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A daily dose of DC life, politics, and culture—not just another political news roundup.
Unemployment benefits are just one of the reasons why it typically costs taxpayers more to shut down the government than to simply leave it open. If federal workers do eventually receive back pay, the law requires that they repay their unemployment benefits to the state. But Maryland, for instance, is still waiting to receive $215,000 in unemployment benefits for federal workers during the 2013 shutdown.
Another potential consequence: Contractors and federal employees giving up. Berteau says his fear is that people put out of work by the shutdown “will say, ‘To heck with public service, I’m going to go take another job.’ And then they won’t come back.”
Solak says she’s considering taking that advice, erasing government work from her future career plans. For now, though, she’s more concerned about her colleagues. “I’m in a better position than others,” she says. “There’s a woman on my team who’s a single mom. I don’t know what she’s going to do.”
For her own part, Solak says, “I’m just kind of floating in a cloud of uncertainty. I can’t plan for anything”—at least not on $425 a week.
Especially, she added, “when you don’t know how long it’s going to last.”
More: Government ShutdownStephen FullerUnemployment
Benjamin Wofford
Benjamin Wofford is a staff writer at Washingtonian. He has been a contributing editor at Politico Magazine, and a regular contributor to the magazines Glamour, Vox and Rolling Stone. His work has been included in Longform, The Sunday Longread and The Atlantic’s annual “Exceptional Journalism” review.
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Georgia girl, 11, dies as Michael hurls debris through roof
Hurricane Michael in the Caribbean Sea, Photo Date: 10/8/2018 / Photo: NASA / EOSDIS / (MGN)
By KATE BRUMBACK, Associated Press |
Updated: Fri 8:42 AM, Oct 12, 2018
ATLANTA (AP) — By all accounts, Sarah Radney was safe inside her grandparents' home when Hurricane Michael roared into southwest Georgia.
If the family feared anything, it was probably falling trees — not a carport next to the house.
In what could only be described as a freak accident, authorities say Michael's powerful winds lifted the portable structure high into the air and slammed it back down on the house. When it landed, one of the legs tore through the roof, fatally striking the 11-year-old girl in the head.
Michael dropped from a Category 4 hurricane to a Category 1 as it arrived in Georgia, and later weakened to a tropical storm. Still, it caused havoc in parts of the state, spinning off tornadoes and leaving downed trees, damaged buildings and power outages behind as it marched toward the Carolinas.
Sarah had the week off from school for fall break and she and her 12-year-old brother had been staying at their grandparents' house near a lake in Seminole County since Monday. They were supposed to return home Thursday morning.
At home in Cairo about 45 miles (70 kilometers) away, Sarah's father and stepmother, Roy and Amber Radney, kept in touch with her grandparents through frequent phone calls as the storm winds gusted around them.
Roy Radney was outside Wednesday evening when the call came that something had come through the roof and hit Sarah and his mother. Sarah had been struck in the face, couldn't breathe and quickly fell unconscious.
About 45 minutes later, Amber Radney called her father-in-law and learned Sarah was gone.
Emergency responders weren't able to reach the home until after midnight because power lines and trees blocked the roads. When they finally made it, they took Sarah's grandmother to a hospital, where she was treated for a punctured lung, a broken rib and flesh wounds, Amber Radney said.
The youngest of four until her father remarried and had two more daughters, Sarah loved being around her big family and made everything more fun, Roy and Amber Radney said in phone interviews with The Associated Press on Thursday.
"We couldn't ever get her to spend the night nowhere because she always wanted to be home with her family," Roy Radney said. "She was 11 years old, but she liked to have fun like a 5-year-old."
Sarah loved to perform, her father said. When she started sixth grade this year, she began playing the trumpet in the school band and had recently been in a play with the drama club.
Amber Radney said one of her favorite memories is of making a video of Sarah dancing to Outkast's "Hey Ya!" in a park about two years ago.
"She was so beautiful and she smiled so much that day," Amber Radney said. "She lit up everything."
Other parts of Georgia also were hit hard by the storm. National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Willis said there were two confirmed tornado touchdowns in the state: one in southwest Atlanta and another in Crawford County in central Georgia.
Willis said the Atlanta-area tornado was an EF0, the lowest intensity rating for a tornado, with sustained winds of 65 to 85 mph (105 to 137 kph). The damage there consisted mostly of fallen trees.
Willis said that a team was still working in Crawford County to assess the damage and intensity of the tornado.
In Roberta, in Crawford County, Hill Bentley said he saw spinning clouds that looked like a tornado Wednesday.
"I told my wife, Judy, 'Come on out, you want to see what a tornado looks like?'"
Bentley's home wasn't hit, but his friend Bradley Lewis wasn't so lucky. Dozens of fallen pines littered Lewis' front and back yards, and his roof and back porch were damaged. Luckily, he was not injured.
"Kaboom! Like the world moved or something," Lewis said of the moment when the trees snapped while he sheltered inside.
Associated Press writers Jeff Martin in Roberta, Georgia, and Ben Nadler in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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‘Julian Paints Before He Even Starts to Paint’: Max Hollein and Julian Schnabel Open Monumental Show in San Francisco
Cynthia Durcanin, ARTNEWS
Max Hollein and Julian Schnabel with a painting by Schnabel at the Legion of Honor.
Courtesy Legion of Honor
Julian Schnabel’s first major West Coast show in 30 years, which opened on Thursday at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, begins outside the building, with a site-specific installation of six new monumentally sized abstract paintings. Each measuring 24 feet square, they are on display in the museum’s open-air courtyard alongside three of Schnabel’s sculptures from 1982 and a permanent museum resident, Rodin’s Thinker. The overall effect transforms the quintessential Neo-Classical structure into a work of contemporary art itself.
“The whole exhibition started with an invitation to come here, to help me with an idea—how to artistically interact not so much with a white cube gallery space, but with a building, with something that’s already charged with a certain history,” said Max Hollein, the director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, who curated the show, and who was just hired to be director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Titled “Symbols of Actual Life,” the exhibition continues in the museum’s Rodin galleries, with three rarely seen series of paintings that span the past 30 years. The works, according to the museum, represent Schnabel’s response to the physical space and (this is an artist who never thinks small) the themes of desire, love, suffering, death, and redemption that pervade the Legion of Honor’s collection.
“They seem to have a surprise to them,” Schnabel said, while ambling about, examining some of his pieces, which include all sorts of unusual materials. “There’s something in them that you can’t get any other way. The surface is already a receiver, they’re just waiting for paintings to be made on them.” He was wearing jaunty nautical attire and his trademark tinted glasses, and he seemed pleased.
While traveling in the Lagunillas area of southern Mexico, he said, he was drawn to a type of sack linen used to cover market stalls that had been altered by hours of exposure to the sun. Standing in an empty gallery minutes before the opening, he pointed to the three paintings that grew out of his find. “This beautiful lavender color with this curve was made before I even touched it,” he said. “Ellsworth Kelly would have to do that and it wouldn’t look like that either because he’d do it in a very clean way.” He added, wryly, “My mother once said to Andy Warhol, ‘Your paintings are so neat, I wish Julian’s paintings could be neat like yours.’ And Andy said, ‘Oh, I’m trying to get mine more messy.’ ”
Describing the interplay between his paintings and the Rodin galleries, Schnabel motioned toward a large amorphous shape he applied with gesso onto found canvas and said, “That’s a very idiosyncratic piece of material and shape with a bunch of torn scars on it and drawing that’s kind of hermetic. It looks really nice in this pristine room with these beautiful Rodin sculptures. You start looking at that painting and you see all these white shapes and it takes you to some other place. There’s a marriage going on here, and that’s cool.”
Later that evening at the museum, Schnabel chatted onstage with Hollein about the inspiration for The Sky of Illimitableness, a series of three large-format inkjet and oil pieces on polyester that prominently feature images of a goat. He began them in 2012 as a tribute to the late artist Mike Kelley, who used stuffed animals in many of his best-known works.
“The starting point was a piece of Dufour wallpaper from the 1850s that depicted George Washington and his soldiers,” he said. “I took him out and put the stuffed goat in.” He later added a stuffed rabbit to represent misshapen horns, and then superimposed the image on the wallpaper. The larger-than-life goat, he said, is a rather surreal nod to Velázquez’s A White Horse (1635).
“I like to engage in the dissonance or dyslexia between those two things,” Schnabel said, of the dynamic between the wallpaper and the goat.
For paintings from his “Jane Birkin” series (1990), he used sailcloth that he acquired from sailors in Egypt and shaped into felucca sails. Their boat’s name happened to be Jane, which brought to mind for him the famed singer and actress, and he was moved to paint her name onto the sail along with abstract marks.
Interviewed before the opening, Hollein spoke of how such found materials play a critical role in Schnabel’s artistic process. “Julian paints before he even starts to paint,” he said.
The two have known each other for a long time, having met in the late 1990s, when Hollein was an assistant curator at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and Schnabel was preparing an exhibition for the Guggenheim Bilbao. The curator was struck by the artist’s openness. “He talked to me. He wanted to share his thoughts,” he said. “At the time I was a young guy and I was impressed to be taken seriously by him.”
Hollein’s star continued to rise, and in 2001 he was named director of the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, where he curated a Schnabel retrospective in 2004.
For Hollein, the current show is one of the final chapters in his brief but impressive two-year tenure in San Francisco. He will preside over one more opening in June, “Truth and Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelites and the Old Masters,” before taking up his new job in New York.
“I think he’s really prepared,” Schnabel said. “I have this special relationship with him, but I don’t think I’m the only one that does. I think a lot of artists do. I think he has a deep relationship with antiquity and with living, working artists. And he’s not just an administrator—he has a love for art and artists and you feel it.”
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TERENCE KOH
JENNIFER CROLL, THE BLOCK MAGAZINE
Photo by Hugh Lippe
The Asia Song Society, Terence Koh’s notorious, Factory-esque three-storey art gallery-cum-studio-cum-living space is almost entirely packed up the day The Block arrives to photograph the New York-based, Canada-raised art provocateur. He’s in the process of relocating from the Lower East Side to Chinatown, “where the snow fairies are,” he says, in the typically cryptic, frequently bizarre, yet good-natured way anybody familiar with Koh is used to him communicating. “I feel comfortable living amongst my people.”
Though Koh can be enigmatic, he’s also very cooperative, and is noticeably pleased to work with a magazine that’s Canadian. In response to my question about whether he’d ever consider moving to L.A., where a lot of the art world’s focus seems to be shifting, he declares that he can only fathom living in New York or Vancouver (where he went to art school at Emily Carr: “I remember when you get off the airplane how fresh and crisp the air always is and how kind the hearts of the spirits are there,” he says). He won’t tell me which fashion designers he loves at the moment, only saying, “Canadian designers have a special loving touch.” It might be pandering, but it’s flattering nonetheless.
Koh’s come a long way from Vancouver art school student to New York art world darling, and he’s known almost as much for his flamboyant lifestyle (he once proclaimed himself “The Naomi Campbell of the art world”), fashion choices (all-white designer ensembles, frequently topped off with his infamous monkey-fur coat), and celebrity friends (Lady Gaga), as he is for his daring, experimental, frequently pornographic and — let’s not forget — expensive art (he once sold his own gold-plated feces for $500,000). But these days, Koh appears to have entered a period of self-restraint. After the photo shoot, he explains to me via email (his refusal to talk on the phone is well-known; in this case, he tells me that he doesn’t even own one after throwing it into the East River several months ago), “I am in archival mode, so that all I have in my closet is two pairs of pants, two pairs of shirts, two jackets, two T-shirts, two sweaters and two pairs of underwear. Everyting else goes into storage. I am trying to simplify life choices as much as possible.” A few days later, images of a Terence Koh estate sale, featuring a table of white bunny and cat sculptures, polished leather shoes, rubber duckies, and a rack full of white furs, show up on Twitter. Koh wasn’t kidding about scaling down.
Not that his living space was ever cluttered. The A.S.S. is immaculate. It’s all white at every level, complete with white walls, white floors, white art, and even two white cats, Gilbert and Hans-Maya, whom Koh has doted on for 12 and 6 years, respectively. (Koh’s graphic designer husband, Garrick Gott, also lives on-site.) The place is effectively hermetically sealed. Koh has blocked out sunshine with white-out curtains, explaining, if you can really call it an explanation, “Sometimes I tink I am a vampire and I can feel the light burning the iridescent skin cells on my surface.” In this environment, even the tiniest speck of dirt would show. I ask him how he manages to keep the place clean. “With discipline and precision and need. The first ting I do when I wake up after brushing my teeth is get down on my knees with a paper towel and a natural spray cleaner and clean all the spots left on surfaces. This is repeated once more in the afternoon and again at midnight.” When I comment that there’s something monklike about this kind of ritualistic, self-effacing behaviour, he goes into further detail: “I am reading this book, Peace Is Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh, and it made me appreciate that cleaning is a source of happiness in yourself. This is wonderful, because cleaning is no longer a means to finish a chore, but a celebration of dirt and water and hands and soap bubbles coming together as one in our universe.” And then, a typical Koh-ism: “A cup in a saucer is much as a saucer in a cup even in a The Block magazine soap bubble.”
In the move to his new Chinatown studio, Koh hopes to create “a space that is more for solitude and introspection. I am reaching a different age of honesty, goodness and beauty.” These were also themes in his most recent large-scale piece of performance art,nothingtoodoo, held at the Mary Boone Gallery from February through March, where a solitary Koh walked for 36 days on his knees around a 45-tonne pile of salt. Critics were amazed by his stoicism, but he shrugs off my assessment that it might have been painful. “I felt it was a very peaceful act, almost like going to a spa for eight hours a day. It’s all in your mind, and when you make up your mind, you can change the world to make it more beautiful.”
It all smacks of a grand transformation: the art world’s bad boy turned ascetic. But since Koh’s not one for being particularly straightforward, it’s difficult to determine whether this calm, meditative version of the artist is really going to stick around. Asked what he’s working on now, he’ll only say the following: “Whispers. The world needs more people to whisper.”
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Car Rental » United States » Rhode Island » East Providence
East Providence Car Rental Comparison: More choices and savings too!
East Providence Car Rental
East Providence Guide
Discover and compare the cheapest car rental in East Providence..
Did you know that East Providence is the fifth largest city in the state of Rhode Island?
Best Way to Travel: Car
#1 Thing to Do: Looff Carousel at Crescent Park
#2 Thing to Do: Cape Verdean Museum
#3 Thing to Do: Twin Rivers Beach East
Fun Fact: The Theodore Francis Green State Airport is the nearest airport to East Providence.
#1 Car Rental Company: Enterprise
East Providence is a lovely city located in the state of Rhode Island, more exactly in Providence County. The history of East Providence goes back to 1641. In 1812, East Providence was incorporated as a town, and later in 1958, it became a city. Since then, East Providence has developed a lot.
East Providence has a total land area of 43.02sq.km and is located in Providence County, Rhode Island. Now, there are 47.037 people living in East Providence, according to the 2010 census, making it the fifth largest city in the state. It comes as no surprise, thus, that the tourism industry has blossomed, as well. People come to East Providence because they want to enjoy the numerous cultural and recreational possibilities that the city offers.
Top Attractions within East Providence
The Bicknell-Armington Lighting Splitter House is one of the oldest buildings in East Providence. This historic house dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. This is why the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in 1980.
The Boston and Providence Railroad Bridge spans on the Ten Mile River, as well as on Roger Williams Avenue. The bridge was built in 1884, and it was added on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, as it is a true landmark of East Providence.
The Bridgham Farm is a colonial farmhouse which dates back to 1767 and it should be visited if you want to see how did people live back them. As the farmhouse offers a great insight on the history of the United States, it was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Looff Carousel at Crescent Park is a great place to go with your family, as you will have a lovely time here. This amusement park may also be considered a historic site, as it was built in the late 1800s. The main symbol of the park is the carousel, which is fascinating. Children will particularly love it. The carousal was built by Charles I.D. Looff in 1895 and is recognized, nationally, as a masterpiece of wooden sculpture. It contains 62 hand carved models and 4 beautiful chariots and is an excellent example of Looff's work.
The Cape Verdean Museum is the cultural institution where you will get the chance to learn more about the culture, history and traditions of East Providence. You will be able to witness a wide collection of artefacts, from all the historical periods of the area.
Explore the Cape Verdean Museum: The museum opened on 25th May 2006 and has already attracted tourists from many parts of the country. A large collection of historic pictures of the Cape Verdean is displayed here, making it possible to learn something of their history, geography and culture.
Visit the Floristic Picture Museum: The museum houses a wide collection of flowers and herbs. There is a large playground for children, in addition to a gym and other sports amenities. Many people come to spend the entire day and have a picnic.
See the Pookie Duke and Duchess of Windsor's dog grave: The dog is buried in front of the kennel known as Bow Wow Villa. A small British flag was kept in front of the grave, which is located against a stone wall.
Miraculous Jesus Tree: This tree is made from lobster buoys and depicts the face of Jesus, which is not carved, but appears naturally on the bark.
United States, Rhode Island, United States
Top depots in East Providence
Avis Providence, Ri - 1 Dorrance Street, Providence, .
Budget Providence - 17 Eddy Street, Shoppers Parkade, Providence, .
Enterprise Seekonk - 62 Taunton Ave, Seekonk, .
Enterprise Providence - 1 Sabin St, Providence, .
Hertz E Providence Taunton Hle - 630 Taunton Ave, Providence, .
Other locations near East Providence
Miles/km to East Providence
Directions to East Providence
Providence 2/4 Directions 41.82399 -71.41283
Cranston 4/7 Directions 41.77982 -71.43728
Pawtucket 5/7 Directions 41.87871 -71.38256
North Providence 6/9 Directions 41.8501 -71.46617
Johnston 6/9 Directions 41.816745 -71.483428
Warwick - TF Green Airport 7/11 Directions 41.724181 -71.428054
Warwick 8/13 Directions 41.7001 -71.41617
Bristol 11/17 Directions 41.67617 -71.2733
Woonsocket 15/24 Directions 42.00288 -71.51478
East Providence Map
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