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ENVIRONMENT / HLC REPORT ON ENVIRONMENT
Missing the woods and the trees
Ever since the report of the Subramanian Committee, set up to review and amend key environmental legislation, was leaked, several questions have been raised regarding its real implications for the environment. Darryl D’Monte explains some of the most critical concerns.
Environmental Law and Regulation
22 December 2014 -
Some very recent cases highlight how the report of the T.S.R. Subramanian committee, which reviewed six major green laws, has been released in an atmosphere which is opposed, if not downright hostile, to preserving the environment.
The first is the alleged “policy hurdle” under which the environment ministry till today prohibits the construction of factories occupying more than 20,000 sq metres unless these have first obtained environmental clearance. In September, the environment ministry had promised to amend this rule, introduced when Jayanthi Natarajan was the minister under UPA2, but it has still not done so.
The first factory to be hit by this rule was Hyundai Motors India. Another auto company, which was planning to set up a Rs 3,500-crore plant, has been similarly stymied for the last two years. In fact the Haryana government had sought to prosecute Maruti Suzuki for starting work on its large Rohtak R&D unit, the first outside Japan, without such sanction.
Industrial lobbies also point to the confusion caused by environment appraisal committees under the UPA government asking for 80 to 100 per cent land acquisition, before granting green clearance. Most promoters would not like to invest in acquiring land if they were not assured of being given the green signal later.
While there is certainly a case for simplifying and streamlining environmental laws, the implication of the NDA government’s attitude is clear: nothing should stand in the way of pursuit of industrial progress and environmental clearances are merely roadblocks which ought to be speedily removed. It is common sense that any factory with a footprint of 20,000 sq metres will have an environmental impact. How can a factory be built without such clearance?
A second case relates to Maharashtra, whose proactive Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is laying out the red carpet for factories to be set up in the state. The government has decided to amend the Maharashtra Factories Rules of 1963 to enable it to grant a licence to register a factory within just three days. If the licence is not granted in this period, it will be deemed to have been and the copy of the application will be treated as the licence or renewal certificate.
Thirdly, it is in the same vein that Fadnavis has also petitioned the Union environment ministry to clear the much-delayed coastal road straddling Mumbai’s beachfront from Nariman Point in the southernmost tip of the island city to Kandivali in the western suburbs. This road – dubbed a “development” project -- has been opposed by environmentalists because, among other factors, it envisages the reclamation of 110 hectares of land and that too, along the most scenic sites of the metropolis.
Under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules, reclamation of land for road projects is not permitted. On December 15, Fadnavis told the state assembly that Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar had “in principle” cleared the coastal highway on the ground that it will clear the congestion in the city. Within days of the NDA appointing him minister this May, Javadekar had gone on record as saying: “With the Union environment ministry willing to cooperate, we can overcome the coastal regulatory zone hurdle.”
The Bandra Worli Sea Link, Mumbai. Pic: Sourabh Sinha/Wikimedia
Fadnavis had made a pitch for the project on the ground that at Rs 8,000 crores, it would cost only one-sixth of that of a sea link (an extension of the iconic Rs 1,600-crore Bandra-Worli bridge) and the opportunity to create 75 acres of “green” or open space in the reclaimed areas.
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of the environment must realise that far from proving an amenity, such highways, only meant for private motorised transport, only draw more traffic into the congested “old” city. This, at a time when experts the world over are finding ways and means of discouraging motorists from entering central business districts. Traffic jams, already a nuisance in Mumbai, will turn into a nightmare.
Yet another straw in the wind is Maharashtra’s lifting of a ban on sand mining in the Konkan coast’s eco-sensitive zones. Javadekar has told the state that such a ban will only be restricted to 30 per cent of these zones.
It is against such a backdrop that one must view the recommendations of the Subramanian committee. It specifically says that the exercise was to bring laws “in line with current requirements” and “objectives”.
Fix implementation, not the content of the laws
As we have already noted, rules and regulations need to be simplified and procedures hastened. Earlier this year, the Centre for Science & Environment in Delhi brought out a report outlining an agenda for environmental governance in India titled “Strengthen institutions, reform laws and streamline processes”, which speaks for itself.
The most comprehensive reform the committee has recommended is the enactment of the Environmental Laws (Management) Act or ELMA, which will oversee the multiplicity of agencies which process environment and forest clearances and simplify procedures. This will see the creation of the National Environment Management Authority or NEMA with its counterpart in each state – the State Environmental Management Authority or SEMA.
There will be an appellate authority to review the decisions taken on environmental clearances by the environment ministry or SEMAs, as well as special environmental courts in every district to try offences under ELMA. Prima facie, these new laws and agencies seem reasonable enough, but only if one does not see what they will replace.
The Central Pollution Control Board and its similarly named state agencies will be subsumed, as will be existing Supreme Court committees on environment, which include the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA). Also subsumed will be the powers of the Water Act of 1974, the second environmental law in the country, and the Air Act which followed in its wake.
Finding the right reasons for reform
'E' is for efficiency, but what about empathy?
An uncertain future for our fauna
While the Subramanian committee believes that these agencies delayed clearances due to their cumbersome procedures, which is partly true, the fact remains that 99 per cent of the cases brought before them were cleared, albeit belatedly. Thus the question arises: should they be done away with altogether or reformed? In its findings, the committee itself asserted that while the country “has a strong environmental policy and legislative framework, much of the problem relates to weak implementation of various Acts and rules”.
An anonymous member of the committee has told the media that the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 might have minimised the diversion of forest land to industrial or infrastructure projects, but this has not helped to increase forest cover in the country. Once again, therefore, the question arises: is this because of the law or in spite of it? The committee has found the definition of “forest” ambiguous and suggested that it be replaced with “treeland”, which is an entirely novel concept which greens will find difficult to accept.
Forests and wildlife
Fortunately, the flagship UPA law, the Forest Rights Act, was not under review, but that has not deterred the environment ministry from interfering with the legislation. The tribal affairs ministry has objected to the environment ministry’s orders to “rationalise” certain provisions of the act through executive orders, which has forced the latter to hold back its diktat.
The orders permitted district collectors to unilaterally clear diversion of forest land to expedite “development” projects. The tribal affairs ministry pointed out that the act does not provide “any scope for any executive agency for any kind of relaxation”.
On wildlife, the Subramanian committee proposes “no-go” areas as only those which have 70 per cent tree canopy. (By contrast, the Forest Survey of India defines dense forests as those with 40 per cent cover.) This only applies to the minuscule proportion of the country under national parks, sanctuaries and tiger reserves, which are out of bounds anyway. This large-scale dilution of wildlife laws spells danger for the preservation of wildlife.
A forest patch with iron ore, waiting to be extracted. Pic: Kanchi Kohli (India Together files)
Incidentally, “no-go” areas for mining and other projects have also featured in the Madhav Gadgil committee’s recommendations for the Western Ghats, and had been strongly opposed by state governments during UPA2.
Surprisingly, the Subramanian committee endorses “nature and animal worship [as being] part of the national culture”, which smacks of a genuflection towards Hindutva. It cites the practice of Nagpanchami in states over five days in the month of Shravan in this context, ignoring the fact that this is a blatant violation of wildlife protection laws, not excluding feeding milk to snakes.
Elsewhere, religious practices such as the mass pilgrimages during Shivratri in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai cause a great deal of nuisance. The temple there should not have ever been permitted cheek by jowl with the Kanheri caves, an ancient Buddhist archaeological site.
Once again, the committee seeks to legitimise and sanction dilutions of environmental laws that have been prevailing for some years. The National Wildlife Board’s standing committee has cleared most of the 140 stalled projects in around 80 parks and sanctuaries and has only one wildlife expert. Its remit is to scrutinise projects that fall within these as well as a 10-km radius. The fact that there are now two Gujarat representatives on this committee speaks for itself.
Darryl D'Monte
Darryl D'Monte, former Resident Editor of The Times of India in Mumbai, is Chairperson of the Forum of Environmental Journalists of India and founder President of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists.
RECENTLY IN INDIA TOGETHER
G Test art
Vulnerable to more than the virus
Freedom to choose death
Yes, it is a caste issue!
Following the yuan
The road to a green economy
IR faces more than money troubles
Will the SS Code ensure universal social security?
Will splitting Coal India help?
How do Bengaluru's rural courts function?
Children lead the change
The city in question
Our Health, Our Initiative
on similar topics ...
Regulations delayed are regulations denied
The need to reform environment clearance process
Crying out for strong environmental regulator
New regulations welcome, but the proof will be in the eating
Is the Hubli-Ankola Railway line approved?
Where is the forest case headed?
Euphemising forest diversion?
Why shoot the messenger?
Popularity vs Performance
The case of sustainable poverty in rural India
Rethinking food security and hunger
Where are the real tweets in India?
Saving the Malabar Hornbill in the hills of Tamil Nadu
Where leopards await human compassion
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Roman Imprisonment
Roman Imprisonment by Nicola Denzey Lewis
Q. My question has to do with imprisonment of Christians by the Romans. I know that the persecution of Christians was sporadic and geographically isolated. I know that Paul wrote from prison and had visitors. Eusebius' mentor Pamphilus was arrested and tortured for some time during the last great persecution of the Church. He wrote a six-volume work called the Apology of Origen, either with Eusebius who was in prison, or while Eusebius visited him in prison. What is known about the imprisonments of this period?
A. Thanks for your question. As a Roman social historian, I’ve shared your curiosity about ancient prisons. One thing you already noticed: they were apparently quite permeable—people visiting those imprisoned could freely come and go, bringing food and supplies. It’s probably better, then, to think of imprisonment as house arrest rather than incarceration.
Roman sources differ from Christian sources, however, in that Christians tend to allude to a situation that makes little sense from a Roman juridical perspective. If you did something wrong, Roman law demanded quick punishment, from fines or forced exile to execution. The entire city of Rome (with a million inhabitants!) had no prison—its carcer was a temporary holding cell for those on the way to death. And for elites or private citizens, it is difficult to imagine a long period of incarceration such as Eusebius describes.
So I would exercise some suspicion regarding early Christian sources. Some are written well after the fact; some overemphasize the concept of imprisonment for rhetorical reasons; and some have been translated in anachronistic ways such that we impose our own modern ideas onto the text. But that’s just my view! I would recommend my colleague Candida Moss’s important book, The Myth of Persecution, which provides a controversial way of thinking about martyrdom. It doesn’t directly address your question, but it does speak to the way in which imprisonment and martyrdom may be largely constructed rhetorical categories. For a different, more conservative view, you might try Craig Wansink’s Chained in Christ: The Experience and Rhetoric of Paul’s Imprisonments.
Nicola Denzey Lewis, "Roman Imprisonment", n.p. [cited 18 Jan 2021]. Online: http://bibleodyssey.com/en/tools/ask-a-scholar/roman-imprisonment
Nicola Denzey Lewis
Visiting Associate Professor, Brown University
Nicola Denzey Lewis is a visiting associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Brown University. An award-winning teacher and researcher, she is a frequent contributor to Bible Odyssey. She is also featured in documentaries on the Bible and Early Christianity on the History Channel, the BBC, and CNN's new six-part series, Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, and Forgery.
The famous Philippians in the New Testament feature four coworkers of the apostle Paul—three women (Lydia, Euodia, and Syntyche) and one man (Epaphroditus)—all highly valued for their dedicated leadership in the church and staunch commitment to Christ.
Despite the city’s reputation as hostile to Christians, one of the oldest Christian communities thrived in Rome, a major ancient metropolis.
Polytheistic Rome
It is clear that it was Romans' standard operating procedure to be open and tolerating, even accepting, of the religious practices of the inhabitants of their empire
general condition of living away from ones homeland or specifically the Babylonian captivity
an early Christian writer who lived in the second–third centuries CE
Relating to persuasive speech or writing.
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Dorn! “Major League” Actor Corbin Bernsen Set To Appear At Somerset Patriots Game
Mike Ashmore • January 29, 2019
(PR) Bridgewater, NJ- The Somerset Patriots will be hosting a 30th Anniversary of the movie Major League with one of the film’s stars Corbin Bernsen, who played third baseman “Roger Dorn.” The event is scheduled for Sunday, August 11th for the team’s 5:05 pm game against the Sugar Land Skeeters at TD Bank Ballpark.
Released in 1989, Major League is a very popular sports comedy classic that follows the exploits of a fictional version of the Cleveland Indians. The film stars Bernsen, Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, Bob Uecker, and Rene Russo to name a few.
Bernsen’s “Roger Dorn” is the team’s lone star and prima donna who is more concerned with his health and next big contract than he is performing to help his team win.
Bernsen will be participating in a VIP Meet & Greet in the Diamond Club from 4:00 pm to 4:40 pm. Tickets for this special event are $65 and will include an autographed 8”x 10” commemorative photo, one additional item that participants can bring that will be signed, and a posed picture with Bernsen. The VIP Meet and Greet will also include food and beverages (non-alcoholic) with the ticket to enjoy the game from the Diamond Club. To purchase VIP Meet and Greet Tickets, fans can order online by selecting the option called “Diamond Club Corbin Bernsen Meet & Greet” or “Diamond Club.”
Bernsen will then sign autographs for fans on the main concourse for two hours from approximately 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. He will be signing one item per person and will not be taking pictures at that time.
Throughout the game, fans will be able to enjoy music, video clips, and other activities at the ballpark to celebrate the anniversary of the film.
In addition to his role in Major League, Bernsen has had a long film and television career as an actor, writer, and producer. He is widely known for his role as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series L.A. Law. His performance through the entire run of the show from 1986-1994 garnered him two Emmy Award nominations for Best Lead Actor In A Drama Series (1987, 1988) and two Golden Globe nominations for Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series- Drama (1989, 1990).
Bernsen is also known for his popular role of retired police detective “Henry Spencer” in the television comedy-drama Psych for the series run from 2006-2014 (111 episodes).
For more information, or to purchase tickets to the August 11th event, visit www.somersetpatriots.com.
The Somerset Patriots will be back in action on Friday, April 26th for Opening Day at TD Bank Ballpark. Stay up to date on all the team news throughout the offseason online; on all of our social media platforms, and on our mobile app. For more information, visit www.somersetpatriots.com.
Posted in Uncategorized on January 29, 2019 by Mike Ashmore.
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ChiliDipper
Chili Recipes for You!
Pasilla Pepper
Chiltepin Pepper
Tabasco Pepper
Naga Bhut Jolokia Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
Datil Pepper
Kambuzi Pepper
Peter Pepper
Cherry Pepper
Fresno Pepper
Habanero Pepper
All you know about chilli
Chilies: Its History and Uses
Advantages and Disadvantages of Chili
Most Delicious Chili Dishes From Around The World
Are Chili Foods Good For Health?
Naga bhut jolokia is considered the hottest pepper in the world and is also known by many other interesting names in different countries like ghost pepper, red naga chilli, mystery chili, and simply bhut jolokia. It is mostly cultivated in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. The name bhut jolokia refers to “ghost chili” with bhut meaning ghost and jolokia meaning chili pepper in India.
The pepper is recorded to be at approximately 1 million heat units on the Scoville scale. Previously, the habaneros were considered the hottest of all chili peppers rated at 100,000 to 400,000 heat units. But now hotter chilies have been recognized including the bhut jolokia and its sisters, such as naga viper pepper and infinity chilli. These peppers can be purchased in smoked pods or oven dried pods. The powders are a bit different in color and flavor due to different method used to process them.
This pepper has been called by the name ghost pepper probably because of its unique and ghost-like texture. It is mostly found in red variety but orange, yellow, and brown chilies are also quite popular. At maturity, they reach an average length of 2 to 3.5 inches. Fruits with smooth texture are also available that belong to a different variety of bhut jolokia. This chili pepper is also widely used in the making of pepper sprays for self defense. Moreover, they are used for making hand grenades and other types of non-lethal weapons to keep fanatics at bay.
Naga bhut seeds are planted indoors for the first few weeks before shifting them to larger pots and moving them outdoors. These chili peppers have the longest growing period as compared to other chilies in the world taking about 6 to 7 months to mature. Since these peppers are hard to grow, they are rarely found in other regions of the world except where they originated. The seeds require proper light but less heat to thrive. This hottest chili in the world also requires excellent soil conditions to reach the level of maturity without being affected by disease. A very warm climate, a perfect soil temperature, and ample lighting are some of the conditions required for successfully planting naga bhut jolokia peppers.
There are tons of YouTube videos that uploaded by men eating the “hottest pepper in the world” to demonstrate their masculinity to the world. Watching these videos can give you an idea of how the peppers really taste when eaten raw. However, nothing can be said about the authenticity of these videos.
People believe that it is impossible to eat this chili in the raw form and even a small bite can burn your mouth. That is why the daring ones out there challenge each other to eat the pepper and still be alive.
People in India have found many other uses of this chili pepper, such as fighting the summer heat and using it to shoo off animals particularly elephants.
In English, the pepper has also been called by the name the king cobra chili.
Bhut jolokia sauces are the hottest ones available on the market. They are also known as deadly sauces because of the heat. They are meant for people who find other sauces not very spicy or they love to try extremely hot ones. Since ghost chilies are the only peppers in the world that can give these sauces the heat they require, the products are totally natural and free from any preservatives or artificial flavors.
Naga bhut jolokia has been found to be effective against stomach disorders including ulcers despite the amount of heat it contains!
Is it Edible?
Considering the heat, many people might be doubtful about eating or cooking with naga bhut jolokia. However, despite its extreme hotness, this pepper is very much edible and is not poisonous at all. It can be used for making extremely hot sauces and for making utterly spicy dishes. Mostly, it is used in powdered form or by removing the seeds and the inner membrane to cool it up a bit. One must take precautions before eating it in the raw form because it can irritate the mouth and leave it burning for up to 30 minutes. After eating this ghost pepper, a person may sweat profoundly for a couple of hours. That is why it is commonly used in the summer to fight the intense heat particularly in India. The pepper is also known to have laxative effects and is therefore good for constipation.
Bhut jolokia peppers are found in many varieties including red, peach, chocolate, yellow, and caramel. Giant red ghost peppers have also been produced by some gardeners. The white and purple varieties, less common and hence less stable, are found very rarely and therefore not much information is available about their texture and heat units. Dorset naga, which is a variation on the regular naga bhut jolokia produced in Bangladesh, has been rated at over 1,500,000 Scoville heat units. This is the world record as no other chili pepper found in the entire world has come even closer to this rating! The ghost pepper made its entry into the Guinness Book of World Records in the year 2007.
Handling Bhut Jolokia Peppers
Like other hot chili peppers, the ghost chili can burn your skin and harm your eyes. Some people have reported cases of burning sensation in the stomach after eating this chili that doesn’t go away even after several hours. It is therefore considered a dangerous chili because it may cause harm if not handled properly. Always wear rubber gloves when working with the chilies and even while planting the seeds. Fresh peppers are more intense than dried ones and therefore if you want to use these chilies in your dishes, it is advisable to dry them first. Bhut jolokia is best used in small quantities. When working with sauces made from ghost chilies, handle them with care because these processed foods can also cause harm if they come in contact with your skin.
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Albert Bierstadt's Oil Paintings
Albert Bierstadt Museum
Jan 8, 1830 - Feb 18, 1902. German-American painter.
90,680 paintings total now
Bierstadt.org, welcome & enjoy!
Albijn Van den Abeele
Coppice at Sint-Martens-Latem
painted Coppice at Sint-Martens-Latem in 1898 Related Paintings of Albijn Van den Abeele :. | The Vagrants | Two Women Crossing the Fields (nn04) | The Nature as a Symbol of Vanitas | The Stop at the Country Inn | Tochter des Kunstlers |
Zahari Zograf
(1810?C1853), better known as Zahari Zograf (or Zahariy Zograf) is arguably the most famous Bulgarian painter of the Bulgarian National Revival, noted for his church mural paintings and icons and often regarded as the founder of secular art in Bulgaria due to the introduction of everyday life elements in his work. Zahari Zograf was born in the town of Samokov in 1810 and was taught by his brother Dimitar Zograf, with whom he later worked together, as his father died early. A spiritual student of Neophyte of Rila since 1827, he became an equal partner of his brother at the age of 21 in 1831, i.e. he was proclaimed a master. His best known icons are those of the SS Constantine and Helen Church in Plovdiv, the Church of the Theotokos in Koprivshtitsa, as well as a number of monasteries. Zahari Zograf's best known frescoes are those in the main church of the Rila Monastery, in the chapel and the St Nicholas church of the Bachkovo Monastery, the Troyan Monastery and the Monastery of the Transfiguration. He painted three mural portraits of himself in the latter three, a move that was regarded as controversial during the time.
Dandini, Cesare
Italian Baroque Era Painter, 1595-1658
Joseph Severn
(7 December 1793 - 3 August 1879) was an English portrait and subject painter and a personal friend of the famous English poet John Keats. He exhibited portraits, Italian genre, literary and biblical subjects, and a selection of his paintings can today be found in some of the most important museums in London, including the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Tate Britain. The eldest son of a music teacher, Severn was born at Hoxton, near London, and apprenticed at the age of 14 to William Bond, an engraver. Severn was one of seven children; two of his brothers, Thomas (1801-1881) and Charles (1806-1894), became professional musicians, and Severn himself was an adroit pianist. During his early years he practised portraiture as a miniaturist.
All the Albert Bierstadt's Oil Paintings
Supported by oil paintings and picture frames
Copyright Reserved
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Ben Lerner's Leaving the Atocha Station
by Tyson on Friday, February 8, 2013
Leaving the Atocha Station
Leaving the Atocha Station is the title of American writer Ben Lerner’s first novel, a book set in Madrid that has quickly become an American literary sensation. The novel has earned the 33 year old Lerner excited critical praise from The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker (among many other journals) and from writers including Paul Auster and Jonathan Franzen. Lerner’s decision to set his story in Madrid and the book’s success among American readers reflects a growing American interest in the city and in Spain in general.
Leaving the Atocha Station tells the semi-autobiographical tale of Adam Gordon, a young American writer spending a year in Spain’s capital on an unnamed scholarship to work on a poem about the Spanish Civil War (in 2003, Ben Lerner spent time in Madrid on a Fullbright Scholarship). The narrative is introspective, possibly to the point of self-absorption, an endearing and funny characteristic to many critics, annoying to others. Gordon does however have an ambiguous awareness of his surroundings which he uses to paint abstract portraits of the people of Madrid and of the city itself.
A semi-autobiographical tale
Throughout the book, language and cultural barriers veil Gordon’s surroundings with a confusion that creates surprisingly colorful interpretations - although seemingly detached from reality, these indicate that Gordon is wholly engaged with his surroundings, albeit from the distance of his own creative world. We follow the young American poet as he parties and feels his life is filled with a sense of hopeful failure; a type of failure out of which emerges ambiguity and abstraction that promises creative possibility. Failing to fully understand the Spanish Ianguage during what seems like a meaningful conversation, he writes: “I formed several stories out of her speech, formed them at once, so it was less like I failed to understand them than that I understood in chords." He also experiences failed attempts at romance in Madrid, he often fails to tell the truth, and most importantly he fails to understand if the promising ambiguity of his anxieties, contempt and failures can inspire passion in poetry or if they indicate that he should quit writing and go do something else.
Lerner’s skill as a poet and his decidedly flexible style shine in this first novel. Gordon’s voice comes in a variety of writing formats. He drifts around Madrid and we drift through his thoughts in the form of lyrical poetry, essay, insightful prose and even an instant text messenger conversation, perhaps the most memorable moment of this memorable book.
Americans in Spain
Although Gordon seems to fail at everything, lie to everyone and live in a world of lazy privilege, his brutal honesty with himself, and the reader, is what makes his voice so engaging. He feels annoyed with America, even more annoyed by other Americans in Spain attempting to escape American annoyance by fleeing to Europe and pretending they are not a part of, or have ever contributed to what he considers American annoyance. He’s mostly annoyed by Americans pretending not be American, because he himself is one of these pretenders. As he attempts to determine if he’s also a pretend poet, Americans reading Leaving the Atocha Station will likely feel forced to consider their own opinions of themselves and their country, as they view Madrid through this unique new book.
Photo by Antonio Tajuelo
Keywords: madrid,americans in spain,atocha,ben lerner,leaving the atocha station
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Poorly Pronounced Spanish Words
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Categorized | Crime, Hate Crimes, Northwest Bronx, Special Reports
Bronx Hate Crimes: Free but not free
Posted on 17 November 2010. Tags: Anti-gay hate crime, Bronx Hate Crime, Jail, Morris Heights
by Irasema Romero
Two of the four teens cleared of charges in the October anti-gay crime spoke to the BronxInk.
Brian Cepeda and Steven Caraballo found refuge inside their apartment building after being released from jail. Photo by Irasema Romero
The two Morris Heights teenagers had been free from jail for two days, cleared of all charges against them in a brutal, anti-gay attack in early October against three Bronx men. The city had released Brian Cepeda, 16, and Steven Caraballo, 17, along with two others for lack of evidence.
Still, they flanked opposite walls of the second-floor hallway inside a Morris Heights apartment, reluctant to leave the refuge of their building that October 28 afternoon.
More than two weeks earlier on October 9, the two had stood accused along with seven other Bronx young men of such a heinous crime, the police called them “predators,” part of a “wolf pack,” a gang called the Latin King Goonies. Prosecutors charged all of them with robbery, gang assault and unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime, which carried stiffer penalties.
The world outside still felt hostile to the boys. They were free but not free.
“Outside we are in danger,” Cepeda said. “People outside think we were the ones who did those things, but it truly wasn’t us.”
The teens knew their lives would be forever altered, still subject to the suspicions of those who didn’t believe in their innocence, and to possible threats from rival gangs who may believe they were part of the Goonies gang. Caraballo said they want a chance to live a “normal life” by clearing their names.
“I would like to tell them to put up a public notice that we are innocent,” Cepeda said in Spanish, referring to the New York Police Department. “On the streets, people think we are involved with that gang.”
Caraballo, originally from Puerto Rico, said that before he was arrested from his home he had not heard about the neighborhood gang.
“I don’t go around asking, ‘What gang are you with?’” added Cepeda, who emigrated from the Dominican Republic two and a half years ago.
Caraballo’s lawyer said the only way to clear their names would be if the police commissioner and mayor issued a public apology.
“The assistant district attorney evaluated all of the evidence, and as she said, there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him with those horrible crimes,” said defense attorney Paul Horowitz. “She did the right thing by releasing him.”
Police claimed that on the early morning of Sunday, October 3, a 17-year-old boy was beaten and sodomized with a wooden stick in an apartment at 1910 Osborne Place. Later that night, another 17-year-old boy was also beaten and forced to participate in brutalizing a 30-year-old man. The two teens were targeted by the gang for allegedly having sexual relations with the 30-year-old who was known in the neighborhood to be gay. The older man was lured to the apartment at about 8:30 p.m. for what he believed would be a party.
Caraballo and Cepeda told the Bronx Ink.org they were invited to the party as well that Sunday. When they arrived at Osborne Place around 8 p.m., several men pushed them into a separate room along with Denis Peitars, 17 and Bryan Almonte, 16 – all four were the youngest men at the party, all four were eventually cleared of charges.
The boys knew some of the men from other neighborhood parties, but according to Cepeda, the two groups were never really friends. He said they heard men outside the room talking about what they were going to do to the victims, but didn’t think they were serious.
“They put us in there, and they didn’t tell us anything of what was happening,” said Caraballo, claiming that they were also victims. “I thought it was all just joking around.”
Caraballo said all four boys were let out of the room by the older men at around 9:30 p.m. and told to go home.
At a later interview in Caraballo’s apartment, his mother, Mary Kramer, said the gang’s alleged ringleader held a gun to her son’s head and forced him to hit one of the 17-year-olds. According to court documents, Caraballo hit the young man in the face with a closed fist.
“How the hell are they going to say Steven Caraballo is a monster?” said Kramer, who added that the police said her son was being taken in only for questioning on the day he was arrested. “What about the others?”
Cepeda said he believed they were arrested because people in the neighborhood saw them go into the house for what they thought was a party. Caraballo said the teens couldn’t do anything to stop the assaults once they left.
Kramer said her son did not see the sexual acts committed against the two men who were sodomized.
The Bronx district attorney’s office declined to comment on details of Caraballo’s release because the case is still pending against the other seven men involved. Two more Bronx men were arrested after the initial arrests on Oct. 9. “After a thorough investigation, there was not sufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Theresa Gottlieb, Assistant District Attorney.
Now, Caraballo and Cepeda want nothing more than to return to their lives without being linked to such crimes, or becoming part of a gang war.
“I know my mom will die if something happens to me,” said Cepeda.
His mom, Ada, said she lost 12 pounds in the three weeks her son was in jail. When The Bronx Ink visited Cepeda’s son for a follow up interview on Saturday, Oct. 30, she did not want to rehash the past month, nor did she want her son to say anymore. Holding the door halfway open a little after 1 p.m., she said Brian was sleeping.
Cepeda was now traumatized, she said, adding that she wanted to take him to a psychologist because no one should have to go to jail if they are innocent.
Caraballo and Cepeda do have a small support group in their neighborhood.
On Oct. 28, five residents climbing up and down the stairs in their Morris Heights apartment welcomed them back.
The aunt of another suspect who was recently released stopped to hug both men.
“Sometimes things you don’t want happen,” said Rosa Hernandez, Bryan Almonte’s aunt. She advised the boys to rely on God to move forward.
“This is the first and last time,” Cepeda confidently assured her.
The 10th grader at Bronx International High School was supposed to return to school the next Monday. His mother, who works as a hotel housekeeper, said Cepeda needs to regain his routine for the sake of his 12-year-old sister, who does not know her brother was in jail.
Even after returning to school, finding common ground with other students will be difficult for Cepeda. He said his true friends are in the Dominican Republic.
Before joining his mother in the Bronx, he lived with his father who works as a tailor in Santo Domingo. Although Cepeda visited him last summer, his father’s advice resonates after his experience in a small jail cell eating “bread and sugar.”
“I shouldn’t forget that in education there is a future for everyone,” Cepeda said of his father’s words, and added he now understands.
He has learned key life lessons from this experience, he said leaning on the wall with his hands down in front of him.
“A friend is one that makes you cry, not one that makes you laugh,” Cepeda said reflecting on his choice of friends. “Because there are friends that make you laugh for bad reasons, and there are friends that make you cry because they tell you the truth.”
On that Thursday afternoon, Caraballo, the quieter one of the two, agreed with Cepeda that good friends are hard to find.
He too has choices to make about his future. His father, Jose Caraballo, said some have advised him to take his 17-year-old son out of New York City, because “he said this is an ugly case.”
“We’ve got to see how the situation is going to go,” said Caraballo’s mother about the outcome of the charges held against the seven other men. “If they get out most likely I’m going to send him somewhere else. I’m not going to have him here with them.”
Caraballo said he is waiting for things to clear before sending his son back to complete a GED program. His son wants to become a motorcycle mechanic, something he dabbled in before he and the rest of his family joined his father in the Bronx.
“I know a lot, but I want to continue learning more,” Caraballo said that Thursday afternoon of his plans to go to trade school after completing the GED program.
Caraballo said he has until February to get a job and an apartment. That is because his 15-year-old girlfriend, Genesis, is six months pregnant and expecting a boy. The “G” tattooed between his thumb and index finger is for her. Caraballo wants to make sure he gives his son the life his own parents wanted for him. His family moved from Caguas, Puerto Rico in search of more opportunities, and now his father is the superintendent of the gated building where he lives.
Caraballo said he knows his parents were right about not going out too much. One party turned out to be one too many.
Additional reporting by Amara Grautski.
One Response to “Bronx Hate Crimes: Free but not free”
Vi da says:
One of 10 suspects arrested in a series of anti-gay beatings in New York was released on bail Thursday after a hearing in Bronx Criminal Court.
Ruddy Vargas-Perez faces 10 charges in the case, including four counts of robbery, second-degree gang assault, hate crime, harassment, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon. His bond was set at $25,000.
Defense attorneys for the nine other suspects waived bail for their clients, all of whom appeared Thursday in court. Attorneys had been assigned to some of them just moments before.
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Categorized | Bronx Neighborhoods
What Terror Threat?
Posted on 12 September 2011. Tags: 9/11, Bronx, Grand Concourse, September 11, terrorism
by Nigel Chiwaya
Nonfe Garcia gives members of Ladder 17, Engine 60 crosses to thank them on the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Photo: Celia Llopis-Jepsen, Bronx Ink.
Bronx residents attending nine September 11 memorial services across the borough on Sunday said they were unfazed by the “credible, but unconfirmed” Department of Homeland Security reports that al-Qaeda members were planning to use car or truck bombs against targets in New York City and the nation’s capital.
“I’m not scared at all,” said Paul Reverson, 18, who was attending a service at the Bronx Museum of Art on the Grand Concourse. Since terrorists haven’t struck New York since 2001, “they won’t do it today.”
Philipe Gaston, 22, whose cousin escaped from the Twin Towers ten years ago, said he felt secure because the city had ramped up its security operations over the years. “There have been so many changes as far as security is concerned,” said Gaston, who works at the information point of museum. “The security in New York just skyrocketed.”
On Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg informed city residents of the possible threat and urged everyone to be vigilant. “Over the next few days,” Bloomberg said, “we should all keep our eyes wide open.”
In response, Gov. Andrew Cuomo added what he called “a significant increase” in state police officers to the city. The effect was felt in Manhattan, as security checkpoints set up by the New York Police Department brought traffic around midtown to a virtual standstill.
No roads were closed in the Bronx, however.
Amidst the extra security, Suzanne Russell and her husband gathered in Melrose at Engine Company 71, Ladder 55 to honor the nearly 3,000 victims, including 143 Bronxites, who died ten years ago in the World Trade Center attacks. When asked about the possible threat, Russell said that no matter what happened she’d be fine as long her firefighter husband was at her side.
“Terror alerts won’t bother me this morning,” Russell said. “This time I have my husband with me. Waiting for the phone call would’ve been the worst part. But for now, we’re all together.”
Julio Gonzalez, a pastor at Tercera Iglesia Bautista Espanola in Mott Haven, gave a more spiritual response.
“We all carry the fear of another attack like 9/11,” said Rev. Gonzalez. “But we have faith in God.”
Additional reporting by Celia Llopis-Jepsen, Diane Jeantet, and Janet Upadhye contributed to this report.
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Felicity Blunt
Email Felicity Blunt
Email Kate Cooper
Theatre, Film and TV
Joe Phillips
Email Joe Phillips
Jenn Lambert
Email Jenn Lambert
Novelist and playwright
Daphne du Maurier was born in London. She came from an artistic family. Her father was the actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and she was the granddaughter of caricaturist George du Maurier.
Du Maurier grew up in a lively London household where friends like J.M. Barrie and Edgar Wallace visited frequently. In her childhood she was a voracious reader, she was fascinated by imaginary worlds and developed a male alter ego for herself. Du Maurier also had a male narrator in several novels.
Her first book, The Loving Spirit, appeared in 1931. It was followed by Jamaica Inn (1936), a historical tale of smugglers, which was filmed and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Later Hitchcock also used her short story The Birds, a tense tale of nature turning on humanity, to create a movie classic. Frenchman's Creek, a pirate romance, was filmed in 1944. My Cousin Rachel (1951) was made into film in 1952.
Du Maurier is probably best known for her novel Rebecca (1938), filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940 and starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.
Besides popular novels, du Maurier also published short stories, plays and biographies - du Maurier's autobiography, Growing Pains, was published when she was seventy. In the late 1950s, du Maurier began to take interest in the supernatural. During this period she wrote several stories, which explored fears and paranoid fantasies. In 1970 appeared her second collection of short stories, Not After Midnight, which included Don't Look Now, a tale set in Venice, involving a psychic old lady, a man with the sixth sense, and a murderous dwarf. A film version of the story, directed by Nicholas Roeg and starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, was made in 1973.
In 1969 Du Maurier was made a Dame for her literary distinction. She died on 19th April, 1989.
The Daphne du Maurier website can be found at: www.dumaurier.org
The Daphne du Maurier website
by Daphne du Maurier
Frenchman's Creek
My Cousin Rachel
The Rendezvous and Other Stories
The Breaking Point: Short Stories
The Doll: Short Stories
Don't Look Now And Other Stories
'Du Maurier's...novels and stories are fantastically moody and resonant.' - Sarah Waters
Current Publishers
Daphne du Maurier has no rival.
Sunday Telegraph on Hungry Hill
Miss du Maurier creates on the grand scale...
Observer on The Loving Spirit
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#3 Ryan Patterson - Profile
- Team - NORTH Lincoln Sioux City Sioux Falls St Paul SOUTH El Paso Fort Worth Gr Prairie Pensacola Shrev Boss
Stats Videos Spray Chart
Birthday: May 2, 1983
http://wichitawingnuts.com/ryanpatterson.html
AA Playoffs 2011 St Paul 10 43 7 15 2 0 2 9 3 4 0 .349
AA Reg Season 2011 Fort Worth 33 152 31 54 8 0 8 33 11 19 0 .355
AA Reg Season 2011 St Paul 11 48 11 17 5 0 1 13 3 3 4 .354
AA Reg Season 2011 Wichita 55 234 53 70 19 2 11 44 26 24 12 .299
AA Reg Season 2010 Wichita Wingnuts 96 406 63 120 24 3 15 72 28 41 8 .296
Total 205 883 165 276 58 5 37 171 71 91 24 .313
Batting Game Log
Sep 12 @Gr Prairie L 5-8 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.391 0.535 0.349 0.926
Sep 11 @Gr Prairie L 3-10 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.381 0.538 0.333 0.919
Sep 8 Gr Prairie W 5-2 4 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.364 0.594 0.344 0.958
Sep 5 Winnipeg W 5-4 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.333 0.609 0.304 0.942
Sep 4 Winnipeg L 2-5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.350 0.526 0.316 0.876
Sep 2 @Winnipeg W 12-6 6 2 3 0 0 1 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.400 0.700 0.400 1.100
Sep 1 @Winnipeg L 2-3 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.250 0.250 0.250 0.500
Aug 30 @Gary W 9-7 5 1 1 1 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.392 0.521 0.354 0.913
Aug 27 @Gary L 2-5 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.389 0.455 0.333 0.844
Aug 26 S. City L 0-2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.387 0.448 0.345 0.835
Aug 25 S. City W 5-2 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0.429 0.500 0.385 0.929
Aug 23 S. City W 10-9 6 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.368 0.500 0.333 0.868
Aug 21 Fargo W 5-2 4 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.385 0.500 0.333 0.885
Aug 20 Fargo W 10-9 5 2 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.444 0.500 0.375 0.944
Aug 19 Fargo L 1-8 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.250 0.000 0.000 0.250
Aug 16 Gr Prairie W 10-3 4 1 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.396 0.566 0.355 0.962
Aug 15 Gr Prairie W 8-7 5 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.384 0.554 0.345 0.938
Aug 14 Amarillo W 8-5 5 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.390 0.545 0.350 0.935
Aug 13 Amarillo W 11-5 5 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.376 0.536 0.333 0.912
Aug 11 @Shrev Boss W 11-4 6 0 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.381 0.550 0.341 0.931
Aug 10 @Shrev Boss L 3-12 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.368 0.545 0.325 0.913
Aug 9 @Shrev Boss L 4-11 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.359 0.546 0.319 0.905
Aug 7 @El Paso W 9-6 6 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.358 0.557 0.322 0.915
Aug 6 @El Paso L 9-11 5 1 2 1 0 1 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.359 0.569 0.321 0.928
Aug 3 Lincoln L 1-2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.346 0.505 0.303 0.851
Aug 1 Lincoln L 10-13 5 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.343 0.495 0.312 0.838
Jul 30 El Paso L 0-2 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.351 0.477 0.318 0.828
Jul 29 El Paso W 4-3 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.344 0.464 0.310 0.808
Jul 28 El Paso W 10-9 5 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.349 0.475 0.313 0.824
Jul 27 @Amarillo L 4-5 4 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.358 0.493 0.320 0.851
Jul 26 @Amarillo W 17-13 6 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.351 0.479 0.310 0.830
Jul 24 Shrev Boss W 10-0 5 2 2 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.358 0.508 0.311 0.866
Jul 23 Shrev Boss L 3-8 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.355 0.411 0.304 0.766
Jul 20 Gary L 3-5 7 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.352 0.354 0.292 0.706
Jul 17 @El Paso W 14-9 3 3 2 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0.385 0.364 0.303 0.749
Jul 13 @Gr Prairie L 4-11 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.188 0.071 0.071 0.259
Jul 12 @Gr Prairie L 6-7 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.167 0.000 0.000 0.167
Jul 11 @Gr Prairie W 14-1 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.167 0.000 0.000 0.167
Jul 9 Lincoln L 1-6 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.375 0.546 0.301 0.921
Jul 8 Lincoln W 9-1 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.378 0.556 0.307 0.934
Jul 6 K. City L 0-1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.382 0.565 0.310 0.947
Jul 4 @K. City L 3-6 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.388 0.575 0.316 0.963
Jul 3 @K. City W 10-9 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0.396 0.589 0.324 0.985
Jul 2 K. City W 7-6 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0.400 0.601 0.330 1.001
Jul 1 K. City L 8-11 5 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.391 0.600 0.325 0.991
Jun 30 El Paso L 5-10 4 2 4 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.396 0.595 0.328 0.991
Jun 29 El Paso W 6-5 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.382 0.571 0.314 0.953
Jun 27 El Paso W 10-0 5 2 2 1 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.374 0.554 0.310 0.928
Jun 26 @St Paul W 6-4 4 3 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.374 0.553 0.307 0.927
Jun 25 @St Paul L 6-9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.368 0.531 0.303 0.899
Jun 23 Fort Worth W 6-1 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.374 0.547 0.312 0.921
Jun 22 Fort Worth L 3-7 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.377 0.548 0.313 0.925
Jun 19 @Amarillo L 6-11 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0.390 0.567 0.325 0.957
Jun 18 @Amarillo L 4-6 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.395 0.575 0.327 0.970
Jun 17 @Amarillo W 8-6 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.407 0.595 0.338 1.002
Jun 16 @Amarillo L 10-17 6 1 2 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.419 0.615 0.350 1.034
Jun 15 Shrev Boss L 0-8 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.422 0.599 0.350 1.021
Jun 14 Shrev Boss W 6-2 5 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.427 0.612 0.358 1.039
Jun 13 Shrev Boss W 13-7 3 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0.428 0.620 0.357 1.048
Jun 12 S. City L 7-10 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0.415 0.619 0.349 1.034
Jun 11 S. City W 4-0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.423 0.634 0.358 1.057
Jun 10 S. City L 5-8 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0.435 0.655 0.370 1.090
Jun 9 @S. Falls W 9-0 2 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.436 0.672 0.379 1.108
Jun 8 @S. Falls L 3-7 4 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.426 0.667 0.377 1.093
Jun 5 K. City L 6-7 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.408 0.590 0.352 0.998
Jun 3 K. City W 5-0 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0.414 0.622 0.367 1.036
Jun 2 Fort Worth W 9-7 5 3 3 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.415 0.638 0.372 1.053
May 31 Fort Worth W 6-2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.400 0.578 0.349 0.978
May 30 Fort Worth L 6-7 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.418 0.608 0.367 1.026
May 29 @Lincoln W 7-1 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 1 0.419 0.627 0.373 1.046
May 28 @Lincoln L 2-5 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.407 0.597 0.375 1.004
May 25 @Gary L 4-11 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.423 0.597 0.387 1.020
May 24 @Gary L 3-4 6 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.424 0.614 0.386 1.038
May 23 @Gary W 6-5 4 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0.400 0.588 0.353 0.988
May 22 El Paso W 19-2 5 3 2 0 0 0 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.418 0.596 0.362 1.014
May 21 El Paso W 8-5 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.408 0.619 0.357 1.027
May 18 @Fort Worth L 1-8 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.472 0.633 0.400 1.105
May 17 @Fort Worth W 3-1 4 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.531 0.731 0.462 1.262
May 16 @Fort Worth W 12-5 5 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.481 0.727 0.409 1.208
May 15 @Amarillo L 7-8 5 3 3 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.524 0.882 0.471 1.406
May 14 @Amarillo W 17-16 4 2 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0.500 0.583 0.417 1.083
May 12 @Amarillo W 5-3 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.500 0.333 0.333 0.833
Aug 29 El Paso W 4-2 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.344 0.480 0.296 0.824
Aug 28 El Paso W 16-2 5 2 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.343 0.479 0.295 0.822
Aug 27 El Paso L 4-10 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.343 0.475 0.296 0.818
Aug 25 @Fort Worth W 8-5 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.344 0.478 0.298 0.822
Aug 24 @Fort Worth L 7-8 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.344 0.479 0.297 0.823
Aug 22 @El Paso W 1-0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.347 0.483 0.299 0.830
Aug 21 @El Paso L 5-6 6 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.350 0.488 0.302 0.838
Aug 19 Sioux City L 3-15 5 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.350 0.489 0.301 0.839
Aug 18 Sioux City L 3-8 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.352 0.485 0.302 0.837
Aug 17 Sioux City W 2-0 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.356 0.490 0.305 0.846
Aug 16 Sioux Falls W 9-5 5 3 4 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.357 0.491 0.306 0.848
Aug 11 @Lincoln L 3-7 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.345 0.466 0.295 0.811
Aug 9 @Lincoln W 11-7 6 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.352 0.477 0.301 0.829
Aug 7 @Sioux City W 10-0 6 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.352 0.477 0.300 0.829
Aug 6 @Sioux City L 3-7 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.353 0.470 0.300 0.823
Aug 4 @Shrev Boss W 9-7 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.355 0.474 0.301 0.829
Aug 2 @Shrev Boss L 2-4 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.353 0.477 0.303 0.830
Aug 1 @Pensacola W 12-5 5 2 3 0 0 2 7 0 1 1 0 0 0 0.355 0.480 0.303 0.835
Jul 31 @Pensacola W 6-4 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.349 0.458 0.298 0.807
Jul 30 @Pensacola L 6-11 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.351 0.462 0.300 0.813
Jul 25 St Paul W 8-0 4 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.350 0.468 0.301 0.818
Jul 24 St Paul L 2-4 4 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0.344 0.464 0.295 0.808
Jul 22 @Lincoln W 5-4 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.345 0.450 0.294 0.795
Jul 21 @Lincoln L 1-8 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.347 0.455 0.295 0.802
Jul 20 @Lincoln W 10-9 5 1 2 1 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.349 0.454 0.296 0.803
Jul 19 @Sioux Falls L 4-6 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.348 0.439 0.294 0.787
Jul 18 @Sioux Falls W 9-3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.349 0.444 0.298 0.793
Jul 16 @Sioux Falls L 5-11 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.355 0.444 0.305 0.799
Jul 15 Lincoln L 2-3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0.358 0.450 0.307 0.808
Jul 13 Lincoln W 8-7 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.363 0.463 0.316 0.826
Jul 12 Gr Prairie W 3-1 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.362 0.454 0.317 0.816
Jul 10 Gr Prairie W 11-3 5 1 4 1 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.367 0.450 0.321 0.817
Jul 9 Gr Prairie W 8-7 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0.358 0.427 0.310 0.785
Jul 8 @St Paul W 4-2 4 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.367 0.438 0.317 0.805
Jul 6 @St Paul L 3-6 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.361 0.419 0.308 0.780
Jul 3 St Paul W 9-2 5 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.365 0.426 0.311 0.791
Jul 1 St Paul L 5-13 5 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.354 0.426 0.306 0.780
Jun 30 Sioux City L 2-4 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.352 0.421 0.303 0.773
Jun 29 Sioux City W 4-2 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.349 0.414 0.299 0.763
Jun 22 Fort Worth L 4-10 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.369 0.449 0.320 0.818
Jun 16 @Sioux Falls L 0-3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.362 0.421 0.302 0.783
Jun 15 @Sioux Falls W 4-3 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.377 0.441 0.314 0.818
Jun 13 @Sioux City L 0-2 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.381 0.447 0.316 0.828
Jun 10 Sioux Falls L 3-6 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.387 0.460 0.320 0.847
Jun 9 Sioux Falls L 1-2 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0.387 0.469 0.323 0.856
Jun 8 Sioux Falls W 5-3 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.392 0.478 0.326 0.870
Jun 7 Sioux Falls W 11-3 5 3 4 1 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.394 0.449 0.326 0.843
Jun 6 Lincoln L 8-13 6 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.372 0.381 0.298 0.753
Jun 5 Lincoln W 4-0 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.375 0.385 0.295 0.760
Jun 4 Lincoln W 14-1 6 0 3 2 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.357 0.373 0.280 0.730
Jun 3 @Sioux Falls L 4-16 5 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.346 0.333 0.261 0.679
Jun 2 @Sioux Falls W 8-7 5 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.329 0.297 0.234 0.626
Jun 1 @Sioux Falls L 2-5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.324 0.254 0.220 0.578
May 29 Sioux City W 6-2 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.349 0.278 0.241 0.627
May 28 Sioux City L 1-4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.356 0.280 0.240 0.636
May 24 St Paul L 4-7 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.405 0.324 0.265 0.729
May 23 St Paul W 5-0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.421 0.355 0.290 0.776
May 22 St Paul W 10-9 4 2 2 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.412 0.379 0.310 0.791
May 20 Sioux Falls L 3-5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.333 0.318 0.273 0.651
May 20 Sioux Falls W 4-3 3 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.400 0.389 0.333 0.789
May 15 @St Paul L 2-3 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.357 0.250 0.250 0.607
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See German tanker Altmark for the ship named after Altmark and Stary Targ for the Polish village named Altmark in German.
The Altmark (English: Old March[1]) is a historic region in Germany, comprising the northern third of Saxony-Anhalt. As the initial territory of the March of Brandenburg, it is sometimes referred to as the "Cradle of Prussia", as by Otto von Bismarck, a native from Schönhausen near Stendal.
Altmark at Schernikau
3 Rivers and lakes
4.1 Road
4.2 Rail
5 Towns
Topography of the Altmark
The Altmark is located west of the Elbe river between the cities of Hamburg and Magdeburg, mostly included in the present-day[update] districts of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel and Stendal. In the west, the Drawehn hill range and the Drömling depression separate it from the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony; the Altmark also borders the Wendland region in the north and the Magdeburg Börde in the south. Adjacent east of the Elbe is the historical Prignitz region.
The population is small. The cultural landscape within the North European Plain is rural and widely covered with forests and heathlands. The largest towns are Stendal, with a population of 39,000, and Salzwedel (21,500).
Before the Migration Period of 300 to 700 AD, the Lombards had settled the future Altmark. Subsequently, Old Germanic Saxon tribes lived in the northwest and Polabian Slavs in the eastern territories along the Elbe. After the Saxon Wars, waged by Charlemagne from 772 to 804, the lands became part of the Carolingian Empire. They formed part of the Eastphalian territory of the Duchy of Saxony, which, from 843 onwards, constituted the eastern borderlands of East Francia under Louis the German. The bishops of Verden and of Halberstadt promoted the Christianisation of the Saxon population.
In 936 the German king Otto I allotted the territory of the later Altmark to the Saxon Count Gero, in order to subdue the West Slavic Wends settling on the Elbe. Gero thereafter campaigned in the Slavic lands far beyond the river Elbe and thereafter established the Saxon Marca Geronis stretching up to the Oder in the east. Upon Gero's death in 965, his marca was split and the Northern March was granted to Dietrich of Haldensleben, who nevertheless turned out to be an incapable ruler and lost all the territories east of the Elbe in the Slavic Lutici uprising of 983. He retained only his margravial title and the initial land basis of his predecessor Gero's conquests west of the river.
For further one-and-a-half centuries, the lands east of the Elbe defied German control, until in 1134 Emperor Lothair of Supplinburg bestowed the Northern March on the Ascanian count Albert the Bear. Albert signed an inheritance contract with the Slavic Hevelli prince Pribislav and in 1150 succeeded him in his eastern territory around the fortress of Brandenburg an der Havel, which became the nucleus of his newly established Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1157.
Brandenburg under the Ascanians, 1320
As the Brandenburg margraves expanded their territory during the course of the Ostsiedlung, the original western territory of the Northern March became known as the Altmark (literally "Old March") in contrast to the Mittelmark (Middle March) and Neumark (New March) beyond the Oder river; the written record first mentions it in 1304 as Antiqua Marchia.
As part of Brandenburg, from 1415 held by the House of Hohenzollern, the Altmark became part of Brandenburg-Prussia and (from 1701) of the Kingdom of Prussia. After Prussia's defeat at the hands of Napoleon in 1806, the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) assigned the territory of the Altmark to the new Kingdom of Westphalia. Prussia regained the area upon Napoleon's defeat (per Article XXIII of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, 1815); however, it was incorporated into the new Prussian Province of Saxony rather than being attached to the Province of Brandenburg.[1] Within Prussian Saxony, the Altmark was subdivided into the districts of Salzwedel, Gardelegen, Osterburg, and Stendal, all administered within the Regierungsbezirk of Magdeburg.
After World War II the Altmark, lying to the east of the inner German border, became part of the new state of Saxony-Anhalt in the Soviet occupation zone. The regional administration of East Germany saw it administered within Bezirk Magdeburg from 1952 to 1990. With German reunification in 1990, the Altmark became part of a reconstituted Saxony-Anhalt.
Rivers and lakesEdit
Aland floodplain near Wanzer
The region is drained by the Elbe, joined by the Havel at Havelberg, and its left tributaries of the Milde-Biese-Aland system and the Jeetzel river.
The largest natural lake of the Altmark is the Arendsee.
TransportEdit
RoadEdit
The Altmark is located off the main traffic routes. The Bundesautobahn 14 leads to the Bundesautobahn 2 from Hanover to Berlin, it however ends north of Magdeburg. A continuation through the Altmark towards Schwerin is planned. Beside which the Federal roads B71, B107, B188, B189, B190, B248 run through the region.
RailEdit
Stendal station is a stop on the Hanover–Berlin high-speed railway. Other lines include:
Stendal–Salzwedel–Uelzen
Wittenberge–Salzwedel–Oebisfelde
Magdeburg–Stendal–Wittenberge
Bismark–Kalbe (Milde)
Stendal–Tangermünde
TownsEdit
Roland statue at Stendal
Kalbe (Milde)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Altmark.
Altmarkwiki, the regional wiki for the Altmark
Notes and referencesEdit
^ a b Hansard, The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time ..., Volume 32. 1 February to 6 March 1816, T.C. Hansard, 1816. pp. 82. Article XXIII of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna
Coordinates: 52°43′N 11°24′E / 52.717°N 11.400°E / 52.717; 11.400
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Altmark&oldid=897318771"
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PAC-MAN, the Original Video Game Super Star, Celebrates His 40th Birthday Today
Ramping Up Celebrations Starting Today, the Famous 80’s Icon Celebrates 40 Years of Entertaining Millions of Fans Around the World
SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Leading interactive entertainment company BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. today celebrates PAC-MAN’s 40th birthday with upcoming activities and partnerships to commemorate this momentous milestone with fans around the world. The video game and pop culture icon steps into his 40s more relevant than ever as he stars in a bevy of new video game offerings, product partnerships, and brand collaborations.
Born on May 22, 1980, PAC-MAN immediately rose to meteoric popularity, first in video game arcades, then on the pop culture stage with hit song “PAC-MAN Fever” and through an array of branding and entertainment appearances throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s. With a brand recognition rate of 90% around the world, PAC-MAN’s image and brand continues to be one of the most recognized on the planet.
While PAC-MAN has transcended into the world of entertainment, his heart still resides in video games. As part of his 40th birthday celebrations, PAC-MAN will be making a special appearance in a Minecraft® DLC enabling players to enjoy PAC-MAN mazes within the game starting today. In addition to Minecraft, no 40th anniversary celebration would be complete without new PAC-MAN video game offerings from BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment starting with PAC-MAN LIVE STUDIO coming to the Twitch game platform, in partnership with Amazon Games, which will enable four players to compete in one maze in an all-out chomp-fest to see who will eat the most pellets and survive the stage. Players will also be able to create their own PAC-MAN mazes and share them with friends online or play the classic PAC-MAN game if they so choose. For classic arcade experience connoisseurs, a special Tastemakers 40th Anniversary Arcade 1UP machine is available now at Arcade1Up.com for $399, with 40th Anniversary Counter-cade, Party Cade, and Head-to-Head models coming this summer. Lastly, additional new PAC-MAN games are on the way for the latter part of 2020.
On the product partnership, brand collaboration, and technology fronts, PAC-MAN is not slowing down one bit as he started the year by being featured on BANDAI America’s newest Tamagotchi toy. PAC-MAN also returns in PAC-MAN and the Ghostly Snack Attack, the next chapter of his PAC-MAN™ Stories™ series on Amazon’s Alexa platform – available this summer. Never one to shy away from the camera, PAC-MAN will share his personal story in a 40th Anniversary Book, edited by Cook & Becker, which will take a retrospective look at his creation and life leading up to his 40th birthday. PAC-MAN is also the subject of advanced AI research being conducted by NVIDIA. Trained on 50,000 episodes of the game, a powerful new AI model created by NVIDIA Research , called GameGAN, can generate a fully functional version of PAC-MAN — without an underlying game engine. This means that even without understanding a game’s fundamental rules, AI can recreate the game with convincing results.
Music has always been a part of the PAC-MAN brand and after composing the new PAC-MAN 40th Anniversary theme song “JOIN THE PAC”, world-renowned Japanese Techno artist Ken Ishii is back with new tracks in PAC-MAN 40th ANNIVERSARY COLLABORATION vol.1, PAC-MAN 40th ANNIVERSARY COLLABORATION vol.2, and PAC-MAN 40th ANNIVERSARY COLLABORATION vol.3. The PAC-MAN beats will start flowing via Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Qobuz, and Deezer with new tracks being launched every month between May 22, 2020 through July 24, 2020. Once all the tracks are released, a special CD compilation will be issued with album art designed by The Designers RepublicTM known for their designs for Warp Records and Aphex Twin. Fans looking to access game soundtracks will be pleased to learn that the soundtracks from PAC-MAN & GALAGA DIMENSIONS, PAC-MANIA, and PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX will also be available on the music streaming services listed above starting today.
The subject of health and staying fit is more relevant to the PAC-MAN brand today than ever before. As PAC-MAN enters his 40’s, he’s become more aware of living a healthy lifestyle and hopes to inspire his fans to do the same by partnering with Giants Enterprises, the development and entrepreneurial arm of the San Francisco Giants Major League Baseball franchise, on multiple races including a special Virtual Challenge. Fans around the world can register online now for the Virtual Challenge and run or walk a total of 40 miles between now and September to receive a limited-edition PAC-MAN 40th Anniversary Race Kit, featuring a commemorative medal, race bib, and finisher’s sticker to showcase their accomplishment. Lastly, acting as BANDAI NAMCO’s goodwill ambassador, PAC-MAN recently participated in Google’s Stay Home and Play initiative through the inclusion of PAC-MAN’s highly popular 30th Anniversary Google Doodle that featured a fully playable PAC-MAN maze integrated within the Google logo. In 2010, this Google Doodle famously resulted in approximately 4.8 million hours of play around the globe.
“PAC-MAN was truly the first breakout superstar of our industry and his enduring staying power says a lot about the experiences he’s given to fans and the love they’ve given him in return.” said Ross Borden, Vice President of Marketing at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. “While 2020 has been a trying year for everyone, we hope our fans embody PAC-MAN’s drive to always move forward, to never back down from adversity, and come out of any challenge on top!”
To learn more about PAC-MAN’S 40th Anniversary celebration, please visit: https://www.pacman.com/en/. You can also follow PAC-MAN on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pacman/ or on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/officialpacman?lang=en or on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/officialpacman/?hl=en. For more information about PAC-MAN LIVE STUDIO, please visit: www.amazongames.com/games/pac-man-live-studio. To register for the PAC-MAN Virtual Challenge, please visit: https://race-sfgiants.com/PACMAN.
To learn more about BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc.’s other products go to: http://www.bandainamcoent.com/home.html or follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BandaiNamcoUS or join the conversation on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bandainamcous.
PAC-MAN video games are available now across all popular gaming platforms including the PlayStation®4, Xbox One, PCs via STEAM®, Nintendo Switch, as well as iOS devices via the App Store and Android devices via Google Play. Official PAC-MAN apparel and special collectibles are also available on the BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America store.
A new video celebrating PAC-MAN’s 40th Birthday can be found on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/5FP3oKPhoaM
Assets for PAC-MAN’s 40th Anniversary can be found at the BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. press room site at: http://www.bneapressroom.com
About BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc.
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc., part of BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc., is a leading global publisher and developer of interactive entertainment for all major video game consoles, iOS, Android, and online platforms. The company is known for creating and publishing many of the industry’s top video game franchises including PAC-MAN®, GALAGA®, TEKKEN®, SOULCALIBUR®, and ACE COMBAT®. BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. is the premier publisher in the Western hemisphere for anime based video games including NARUTO SHIPPUDEN™, DRAGON BALL Z®, and ONE PIECE®. More information about the company and its products can be found at http://www.bandainamcoent.com or www.facebook.com/BandaiNamcoUS.
About the Giant Race Series:
The Giant Race Run/Walk Series presented by Alaska Airlines represents the perfect combination of running, baseball, and now PAC-MAN! With annual events held in Scottsdale, Sacramento, San Jose and San Francisco, the Giant Race unites an array of San Francisco Giants-inspired themes at every level of professional baseball. After stops in Scottsdale during Spring Training and at Minor League facilities in Sacramento and San Jose, the Series ends on the field at Oracle Park with a 20,000-participant race on the flattest and fastest course in San Francisco. The San Francisco Giants and Giants Enterprises have worked together to give baseball fans and running enthusiasts an unforgettable journey of run, walk, fitness, and training experiences all season long. For more information, visit www.giantrace.com.
Press Release © 2020 BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc.
PAC-MAN® & © BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.
Denny Chiu
dchiu@bnea.com
Lisa Bullard
Giants Enterprises
lbullard@giantsenterprises.com
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It’s Creepy and It’s Kooky…
Are you singing the theme song yet? You will be when you check out this awesome Addams Family pinball machine. This game is in amazing shape and it looks extra beautiful with its full LEDs and custom touches. Someone is going to have a great Christmas!
Bally came out with The Addams Family in 1992, and produced more than 20,000 units. It’s gone on to be one of the most popular games ever made. (IPDB)
The game came out a year after the movie version of everyone’s favorite oddball family, starring Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia, among others.
This game has been fully shopped and fully checked mechanically. Everything works 100% and looks amazing!
This game has new rubber bands, balls, and more, including Super Bands for the flippers.
The machine comes fully outfitted with Cointaker LEDs.
There’s a brand-new topper on this game, too.
Enjoy the game, Travis and family! SOLD!
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Jackie Robinson Facts For Kids | The US Baseball Player
Jackie Robinson was an African-American baseball player. He was the first black-American who played in Major League Baseball (MLB). After Bing Cosby, he stood at second position as the most famous personality of US in 1947. In 2002, he was entered in the listing of 100 Greatest African Americans. The Time magazine awarded him in 1999 by enlisting Robinson among the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Now let’s have a look at some other Jackie Robinson facts for kids.
Jackie Robinson Facts For Kids
Place of Birth: Cairo (Georgia)
Total Average on Batting: .311
Total Number of Hits: 1,518
Total Stolen Bases: 197
Total Home Runs: 137
Name of Major League Baseball: Brooklyn Dodgers
Date of Death: October 24, 1972
Place of Death: Stamford, Connecticut
The names of his parents were Mallie Robinson and Jerry Robinson.
The name of his wife was Rachel Robinson.
He had 4 siblings. He was the youngest of all.
In 1920, the family of Robinson traveled toward the city in California called Pasadena.
He did graduation in Washington Junior High School in 1935.
After Junior High School, he joined John Muir High School.
He played quite a few games in Muir High School namely basketball, baseball, track and football.
In a game of baseball, he used to play catcher as well as shortstop.
In a game of football, he used to play quarterback.
In a game of basketball, he used to play guard.
He achieved quite a number of prizes in broad jump.
He was an affiliate of one of the tennis teams.
In a championship of junior boys, Robinson came first in Pacific Coast Negro Tennis Tournament. It was the annual tournament held in 1936.
After Muir High School, he joined Pasadena Junior College (PJC).
He had 3 kids.
The names of these three children were Jackie Robinson Jr., David and Sharon.
Jackie Robinson Jr. died in a car crash on June 17, 1971. He was just 24 at the time.
Later Years and Death
He was chosen in a baseball team in 1938 for the team named All-Southland Junior College Team. He was also chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the region.
In PJC, he was also a member of the group of students who supervise various actions of school. This group was named Lancers.
He was taken into custody by the police on January 25, 1938.
He completed his graduation from PJC in 1939.
In a team of football of 1939 UCLA Bruins football, Robinson was among 4 African-American players to play for this team.
At UCLA College, he stood first as a sportsperson.
He participated in a Long Jump in 1940, jumped as long as 7.58 meters and came first in the NCAA Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
He signed up for a job as assistant director in National Youth Administration (NYA). It was a governmental organization located in Californian city of Atascadero.
In 1941, he traveled to Honolulu for playing football.
Robinson joined US Army in 1942. He became second lieutenant in 1943.
He was almost court-martialed by not following orders of a bus driver when he told Robinson to go back at the end of the seat. Since he was black, he was not probably allowed to sit at the front with white people but Robinson turned down his order.
He was honorably discharged from military in November 1944.
Robinson received an invitation on playing baseball from Kansas City Monarchs in 1945. The contract offered him 400 dollars per month, which amounts to more than 5,000 dollars of today. He accepted the offer.
Brooklyn Dodgers was the first major league that enrolled black American (Jackie Robinson) for the first time after 1880.
He was the first African-American who played in a minor league against a major league ever since 1880s.
When he was 28 years old, he made a debut for Brooklyn Dodgers in a major league on April 15, 1947 at Ebbets Field.
He was the first baseball player who broke baseball color line, which was drawn in 1880 because of racial segregation.
While playing for Dodgers, Robinson had a batting average of about .297. He played 151 games in total. He scored 125 runs in 175 hits.
During a period of 9 years between 1947 and 1956, Robinson played 10 seasons for Brooklyn Dodgers.
Major portion of his professional career was spent in playing as second baseman.
Robinson took retirement from baseball on January 5, 1957. He was just 37 at the time.
Robinson died at the age of 53 on October 24, 1972. He died at his own residence in Connecticut.
There were 2,500 people on his funeral service.
He is buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in New York.
More Jackie Robinson Facts For Kids
His full name is Jack Roosevelt Robinson. The name ‘Roosevelt’ in the middle of his name was after President Roosevelt. Robinson was born after 25 days from the death of President Roosevelt.
While he was studying at PJC, one of his brothers named Frank Robinson died in an accident when he was riding a bike.
The jersey number of Robinson was 42. This number was withdrawn on April 15, 1997 in Major League Baseball (MLB).
Major League Baseball celebrates April 15 of each year as the Jackie Robinson Day. On this day, all players of the teams put on jersey number 42.
Pee Wee Reese was one of the supporters of Robinson who was against racial segregation. Both were teammates in Dodgers. Reese put his arm around Robinson’s when everybody was shouting against Robinson due to his black color.
A statue was made in 2005 by William Behrends showing Reese putting his arm around Robinson. This statue is now in KeySpan Park.
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Home >> News >> Sports News
Liu Shiwen, Zhu Yuling to lead China at 2020 ITTF Women's World Cup
2020-09-07 15:48:00 Xinhuanet
BEIJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Liu Shiwen and Zhu Yuling will spearhead the Chinese squad as they each bid to win the women's singles title at the 2020 ITTF Women's World Cup.
Liu was victorious in the 2019 Women's World Cup, defeating 2017 winner Zhu in last year's final.
As the COVID-19 pandemic brought the international table tennis calendar to a grinding halt early in the year, many players, coaches and fans were confined to their homes or their local communities.
After months of preparation, the ITTF announced the return of table tennis into the international arena and named it as RESTART.
The RESTART of the ITTF will feature three of the most prestigious events, including the 2020 ITTF Women's World Cup, the 2020 ITTF Men's World Cup and the 2020 ITTF Finals.
The 2020 Women's World Cup is scheduled from November 8 to November 10.
The ITTF Women's World Cup features 20 athletes, including the world champion, qualified players from all completed continental events (Africa, Europe and Pan America) and players selected by world rankings from the other continents (Asia and Oceania). For each World Cup event, there will be maximum of two players per association. Enditem
AFCON 2021 qualifiers to resume in November(08-20 15:56)
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2020 China Badminton Super League to begin in August(08-17 16:00)
Multilingual service by TRANSN
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Live & Learn in Ontario
Durham Catholic District Schools
Special Programs: English as a Second Language, Visual Arts, International Education Language Testing System (IELTS) preparation classes
Educational Programs offered in: English
Total number of schools: 51
High schools for international students: 8
Total Students: 21150
International Students Accepted for Grades: 9-12
Nearest Airport: Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)
The Durham Catholic District School Board welcomes international students to an enriched learning experience in Canada. Our diverse and multi-cultural school board attracts students from around the world. The Board's Passport to Excellence program is the perfect place for one to improve his/her English, make friends, prepare for the future and learn about the Canadian culture. Our schools are located one hour east of Toronto in Durham Region, in the province of Ontario. This area offers students both the charm of urban and small-town communities. Lake Ontario borders our communities to the south and Lake Simcoe to the north. The quality of life is excellent and the recreational opportunities are endless not to mention that the educational and employment opportunities continue to grow.
Keewatin-Patricia District School Board - Kenora
Program Established: 2016
Programs Offered: Academic Programs
International Students Accepted for Grades: K-12
Nearest Airport: Kenora Airport
We are a progressive and proud public school board that serves the communities of beautiful Northwestern Ontario. Students in a KPDSB school always come first and programming options are continually expanding to meet the needs of a diverse student population. Many of the programs offered are the first of their kind in an Ontario school, a testament to the innovation of our staff and their dedication to our students. Our programs and staff have received plenty of attention over the past year with visits from world renowned experts and doctors, including a visit from The Honorable Liz Sandals, Minister of Education, to see firsthand the difference our schools are making for kids in the northwest.
Kenora Catholic District School Board
Special Programs: Northern Studies (elementary), swim and outdoor education program (elementary), outdoor education (secondary), French Immersion (K to 12), Ojibway as a second language (K to 12)
Total number of schools: 5
The Kenora Catholic District School Board (KCDSB) educates more than 1,500 students from diverse cultures and backgrounds in 4 elementary schools and 1 secondary school located in Kenora and Red Lake, Ontario. At the KCDSB we welcome students to experience a quality, inclusive and values-based education in a caring Catholic school community. Faith values are infused in all aspects of the school culture and student's learning with emphasis on student achievement and well-being while creating joy in learning. Our mission goes beyond academics the arts and athletics. Our goal is to provide excellence in Catholic education and grow graduates who become fully engaged citizens able to contribute to their families, communities and society. Our staff is among our greatest resources. The people that we hire have a direct impact on the success of our students. With approximately 180 academic and 60 support staff the KCDSB is one of the largest employers in the region.
Lakehead Public Schools
Programs Offered: Academics, athletics, technology, the arts
Special Programs: French Immersion, International Baccalaureate Programme
Lakehead Public Schools educates, encourages and supports all students to develop a passion for learning, set high personal standards and become active community members. Every student is provided with equal opportunities to learn in safe schools with many learning choices and innovative programming. We offer consistent high quality core programming from Junior Kindergarten through to Grade 12. At Lakehead Public Schools, we work with parents, community partners and employees to make good things happen for our students inside and outside the classroom.
Peel District School Board - Mississauga
Programs Offered: Full Year, 1 Semester, Short Term, Summer Camp
Total number of schools: 245
Total Students: 153000
Total International Students: 200
Nearest Airport: Toronto Pearson International Airport
At the Peel District School Board, we are committed to inspire the smile within each child. Everything we do is designed to help each child achieve to the best of his or her ability. Our collective, daily efforts make a positive difference in the lives of our students, their families and the world. The Peel board serves more than 153,000 kindergarten to grade 12 students in 244 schools throughout Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga. The Peel board has been welcoming international students for more than nine years. Recently, the Peel Academy for International Students was established to enhance the level of support available to international students studying in the Greater Toronto Area.
Rainbow District School Board
Programs Offered: Academic and cultural experiences for 1 or 2 semesters, accounting, business, law, computer studies, international languages, arts, technical design
Special Programs: International Baccalaureate Program, ESL
Educational Programs offered in: English and French Immersion
Rainbow Schools offer exceptional programs in English and French Immersion from Kindergarten to Grade 12, including the International Baccalaureate Program and the Advanced Placement Program. Our secondary schools prepare students for university, college and the workplace. Support with learning English enables students to build a foundation for success in their overall studies. Location: Located four hours north of Toronto, the City of Greater Sudbury is nestled on the Great Lakes Basin within the Canadian Shield. It is situated in the heart of Northeastern Ontario, an area that stretches from the Quebec border in the west to the eastern shore of Lake Superior, north to the James Bay and Hudson’s Bay coastlines. Greater Sudbury’s vast geographic expanse (3,627 square kilometers) makes it the largest municipality in Ontario and the second largest in Canada. A picturesque place, Greater Sudbury has 330 lakes, including the largest city-contained lake in the world.
Sudbury Catholic Schools
Programs Offered: Math, Science, Social Science, Language
Nearest Airport: Toronto, Pearson International Airport (YYZ)
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board is a leading education provider. Founded on strong Catholic values, the Board is committed to the principles of equity and inclusivity that enable each student to learn and grow to his or her full potential. Our schools continue to rank as the top schools in the region. Our secondary schools ranked the highest for their performance on provincial literacy and mathematics assessments. We will provide you with an authentic Canadian education experience. Location: With its world-renowned attractions, urban comforts and four-season outdoor adventures, Greater Sudbury continues to surprise and impress. It is a bilingual city with the third largest francophone population in Canada outside of Quebec. People of many different ethnic backgrounds shape our multilingual and multicultural fabric. Most predominant are people of Italian, Finnish, Polish, Chinese, Greek and Ukrainian ancestry. Together these influences make Sudbury one of Canada’s most culturally diverse centers. We love to share our history, culture and attractions and look forward to welcoming you and your family.
Programs Offered: Full Year, 1 Semester, Short Term
Special Programs: French Immersion, Advanced Placement, Sports, Fine Arts
High schools for international students: 24
Total International Students: 1400
The TDSB has 580 schools and over 260,000 students making it the largest public school board in Canada and the 4th largest board in North America. Over 200 nationalities and 75 languages are represented in our schools, giving our students the greatest advantage to achieve intercultural awareness and to become effective global citizens. The TDSB welcomes international students from around the world. Our schools provide students with a wide range of worldclass academic, business, technological and other specialized programs taught by highly qualified teachers. When needed, international students will receive ESL support at all levels to facilitate their rapid and smooth integration into the regular curriculum. In Ontario, there are 20 universities and 25 community colleges accepting international students for their post-secondary study.
Upper Grand District School Board - Orangeville
Educational Programs offered in: English, French
Total International Students: 27
The upper Grand District is located 1 hour west of Toronto Ontario in the beautiful community of Guelph. With the Grand River flowing through our district, it provides many outdoor activities to explore. Guelph ranked as the safest community, the 7th smartest city and the 3rd best city to Raise a family in all of Canada. International students have been coming to our district for the past 4 years and are welcome in Elementary and Secondary programs with a variety of academic courses and extracurricular activities. All students will be provided a custom educational plan based on their English assessment when they arrive.
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The Tin Man’s Heart
by Melissa R. Mendelson on Jul 08 2015
Image credit: Rachel Shannon
I remember finding his memoirs. His heart was broken like mine. All he wanted was to live, but for him to live, someone had to die. He wanted to pray for tragedy, and so do I. But how wrong are we to put our lives before those who could change this world for the better? How wrong are we to want their happiness, their love, or their heart?
Long, black wires curled around a slender, thin frame. Hollow beeps were the dim lights shining, looking for sun. An IV dripped, tears no longer left unshed, and fingers reached for the blinds, letting the world spill in. Large, gray windows stretched across the small, four-walled room, and cold, white tile bit into flesh, sending chills up the spine. An empty chair was poised beside the hospital chair, but life would not hold this seat. Instead, death crossed her legs and painted her nails for all the time in the world was hers to give or to take away.
“Morning, Glory.” The doctor smiled at this joke. “How are we today?”
“Still beating.” Glory glanced at the heart monitor. “The blood pressure is down again.”
“I see that, but as you know, we can’t give you any more drugs.” He sat in the empty chair, feeling a slight chill. “You’re in your last hours.”
“Do or die, I guess.” She watched the doctor nod. “So, what’s the verdict? Did I pass?”
“You passed,” he said slowly. “It’s still experimental.”
“I don’t care.” Glory was almost on her knees, but she got tangled up in the long, black wires that stretched out of her chest. “I’m barely sixteen. I don’t want to die.”
“I know.” He took her hand in his. “Your parents are signing the paperwork now.” He rose from the chair. “I just wanted to check in on you.” He stepped toward the door. “It’ll be okay, Glory. It’ll be okay.” He quickly left the room.
Glory. Her parents called her a little miracle, their glory. Hence the name, but she was far from victory. At a young age, she was diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse, and around thirteen years old, her condition worsened. She was in gym class and suddenly went into cardiac arrest. If it weren’t for her coach, she would have died right there on the floor, but he saved her life. He gave her another chance. Why? She was going to die anyway, and she nearly pulled a wire from her chest.
“Ow,” she moaned. “I’m a damn machine.” She moved over to the window to look out at the world. Nobody could see her, but she could see them. She could see them coming and going from the hospital, living their lives, and if she could, she would kill them. She would kill the one to give their heart to her, so that she could live. “It’s not fair,” she cried. “It’s not fair!” Her fist slammed against the window, sending vibrations through the glass. “It’s not fair,” she whispered.
The bathroom was in a separate room. She pulled the cylindrical, gray machine toward it. Her black wires were like spider legs, and she was their queen. Her pale, slender fingers flicked on the light, brushing aside the remote for the nurse. She was in no need of using the toilet, but she wanted the mirror. She wanted to see the monstrosity that she had become, so she slowly opened her gown, revealing an ugly long scar that traveled between her breasts. The black wires stretched outward, kissing her skin, and if she were to pull them out, one by one, she would certainly die. Instead, she closed her gown, hugging her arms around her body as best as she could, but she was ready to fall apart. She was ready to cry, scream, or just fall down and never rise again.
“Why me,” slipped from her lips. “Why me?”
Glory was in her last hours. The sun would be setting soon. The doctor would return to do one of two things. He would pull the plug, or he would give her the Tin Man’s heart. Normally, she would be on a transplant list, but as a cruel joke, she possessed a rare blood type. It didn’t matter, if she had the power to kill.
Nobody could save her. No human could give her what she so desperately needed.
The hospital was against it at first. By law, the machines were there to obey, take care of the patients. They were not meant to surrender their parts, but the tin man fell for her. She broke his heart, and he tore his out to save her. But the hospital said no, and she watched him die instead. His heart, however continued to beat, beat strong.
On her behalf, the doctor spoke to the board and finally persuaded them to grant her the tin man’s dying wish. He ran blood test after blood test. He monitored her heart. She was on death’s bed, and they knew it. And the board finally gave in, granting her his heart, but would the procedure happen soon? Or would they both die in vain?
One concern that the hospital and her parents had was what would become of her. What would she be? Human? Machine? She didn’t care. She would be alive. She could live in the world again and not want to harm another soul. She would know love, his love, and she would never be alone. He would be a part of her, and her to him. No, he didn’t die. He was waiting for her to let him in, cut away these damn, black wires, and she would take his heart in hand. If only they would hurry. If only they would hurry because the sun was setting now.
“Where are they?” The machines grew silent. “Please. Please, hurry. Please.” The beeping slowed to a crawl. “I don’t want to die.”
Glory did not want to go back in the bed either. Getting back in the bed meant defeat. She would rather stand, no matter how drained she was. She would stand, and for a long time, she stared at the door. She awaited the stretcher, the nurse, and the doctor, but death merely laughed. She would take Glory instead, but Glory would not go silently. She would scream, fight, and maybe even survive, at least for another moment longer.
“Here we go.” The stretcher erupted into the room. “The operating room is all set.” Death cursed silently under her breath before leaving a cold chill in her wake. “Let me help you.” The nurse assisted Glory onto the stretcher. She attached the IV to one side of it and the gray cylinder machine to the other. “Are you ready for this?”
“What choice do I have?” Glory lied on her back. “I haven’t seen the world yet. I haven’t tasted life.” The nurse hovered over her, covering her with a white blanket. “At least, one thing will be different.”
“What’s that, dear?”
“I will finally feel love.” Her parents loved her a great deal, but for most of her life, they treated her with a blend of fear and despair. She only caught a glimpse of their love, knowing that it was still there, but that would change now. Everything would change including her. “I will know his love.”
“The tin man.” The nurse watched Glory nod. “Come on, dear. They’re waiting for you, and your time is about up.” She quickly wheeled Glory out into the hallway, disappearing into a brilliant, white light.
Melissa R. Mendelson is a published author and poet, whose writing has been featured in Names in a Jar: A Collection of Poetry by 100 Contemporary American Poets, Espresso Fiction: A Collection of Flash Fiction for the Average Joe, and Antarctica Journal.
This entry was posted in Archive, Featured - Homepage, Fiction, Original Lit. Bookmark the permalink.
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Indian Army admits killing of 3 Rajouri youth
Srinagar, September 19 : In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Chairman of International Forum for Justice and Human Rights, Mohammed Ahsan Untoo, has reacted to the brazen admission by Indian Army of committing cold-blooded murders of three innocent labourers from Rajouri.
Mohammed Ahsan Untoo in a statement in Srinagar said the brutal killing of three innocent martyrs, who were the victims of the Indian state terrorism, is not the first or anything new in IIOJK but there were thousands of such cases perpetrated by Indian forces. He appealed to the United Nations and human rights groups to take serious note of the crime and force India to punish the murderers as per international laws.
He said that the FJHR would soon send a detailed report of the heinous crime to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, Asia Watch and other relevant quarters.
The Vice Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Pir Panjal Freedom Movement, Qazi Mohammad Imran, in a statement issued in Islamabad demanded of the Indian authorities to provide justice to the martyred labourers, Abrar Ahmed, Imtiaz Ahmed and Abrar Ahmed. He said that despite the passage of two months, the Indian Army and the administration of IIOJK had not yet provided the DNA test report of the youth to their families.
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Over 95% youth in IIOJK opposed to removal of Article 370: Study
Srinagar, September 29 : In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, a study conducted by the Kashmir University of Science and Technology has confirmed that more than 95% of youth in the territory are opposed to the removal of Article 370, which granted special status to the disputed Jammu and Kashmir.
Titled as ‘A Study on Jammu and Kashmir Present, Past and Views of Students on Article 370 abrogation’, the study has been published in International Journal of Latest Research on Humanitarian and Social Science.
Conducted by Dr Bilal Ahmad Butt, faculty at the Kashmir University, the research has studied many aspects of the impact of conflict and abrogation of Article 370 on Kashmiri youth. It says 97% of males and 94% of females in Kashmir are against the abrogation of Article 370.
The data in the research reveals, “As per students’ understudy, the main threats due to abrogation of Article 370 is religious identity (39.5%), demographic change (27.5%), cultural identity (25%), and life security (8%). The students, as per the study, feel that life in Kashmir will be tougher in the future than earlier.”
The research also found that 90.5% of male and 77.5% of female respondents feel that abrogation of Article 370 will increase the armed conflict in Kashmir.
The research depicts that 94.5% male and 93.5% female respondents reported that revocation of Article 370 cannot change the status of Kashmir issue. Around 92% male and 90% female respondents reported that there will be no development in Jammu and Kashmir after Article 370 abrogation.
Kashmir political parties also agree with the results of this study and say that no one across Kashmir is in favour of abrogation of Article 370.
Hussnain Masoodi, National Conference and Member of Indian Parliament said, “Everyone in Kashmir is against it because it will have far reaching consequences.”
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HRO.org in English
Rights in Russia: Other Projects
Rights in Russia
Charity Ref. No. XT25453
HRO.org in English >
Andrei Sakharov's 95th birthday marked in Moscow. Report from HRO.org
posted 8 Jun 2016, 07:38 by Rights in Russia [ updated 8 Jun 2016, 08:56 ]
By Vera Vasilieva
Source: HRO.org (info)
Моscow city & Moscow region Human Rights defenders
On 21st May 2016 the traditional “Festival of Freedom” was held in the Moscow Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Centre. As part of this, two anniversaries were marked at the same time. First of all, it was the 95th birthday of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov - scientist, dissident, humanist, and 1975 Nobel Prize winner. Secondly, it’s 20 years since the Sakharov Centre was opened.
For the occasion, the Sakharov Centre’s staff and volunteers prepared a programme including discussions on topical themes, film screenings, musical performances, master classes for children, and many other things. The nearby public square was decorated with white balloons with the slogan “Freedom!” Those wishing to support the Sakharov Centre in a financial way can buy a variety of the Centre’s souvenirs.
But I daresay the central event of the opening of the exhibition in Sakharov’s honour, timed to coincide with the very day of Andrei Dmitrievich’s 95th birthday.
As Bella Koval, the director of the Andrei Sakharov archive, explained, this vast exhibition covers the three main stages of his life: his work on the Soviet Union’s nuclear programme; his participation in the human rights movement; and his activity in his capacity as a USSR people’s deputy. There are documents on show at the exhibition, including those from the “Special File” under the classification of “Top Secret”, photographs, publications – both written by Andrei Dmitrievich and about him. There is a reconstruction of his office, and you can hear audio recordings of his public speeches.
Director of the Sakharov Centre, Sergei Lukashevsky said that the ideas and ideals of Andrei Dmitrievich have entered our lives. Meanwhile, the president of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, Sergei Kovalev added that we must make great efforts not to distort these ideas and ideals, and to develop a keener sense of Sakharov’s way of life.
“We should see this, we should know this and pass it on to our own children and grandchildren,” said Mikhail Fedotov, chair of the Presidential Human Rights Council. “He was a member of the parliament, he was never a politician. Politics is the art of the possible but human rights is the art of the impossible,” Mikhail Fedotov said.
Sakharov’s former colleague, theoretical physicist and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Aleksandr Gurevich shared personal memories about Andrei Sakharov.
“He was a highly original person – both in his thinking, as well as in his scientific approach. He was a particularly complete and independent personality,” Gurevich said. “In Sakharov there was a special something that commanded and maintained respect,” he added.
It is possible to judge this respect for Sakharov from an episode cited by Bella Koval. On the day of his death, people filled two large notebooks with comments at the entrance to his house. Among the comments was a question: “How can we go on living if our conscience has left us?” Now these notebooks are preserved in the Sakharov archive located in his former home – now a museum - opposite the Sakharov Centre in Zemlyanой Val. (No. 486, flat 62)
The exhibition about Sakharov will run until 31 July 2016, from 13:00 to 20:00 every day except Mondays and Tuesdays. Entrance is free.
Photos by Vera Vasilieva
Translated by Frances Robson
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President Bush forgot the corollary
President Bush and visiting Prime Minister Tony Blair did a fair job of damage control today, the day after the release of the Iraq Study Group report. Particularly when it comes to Israel:
The Baker-Hamilton report submitted to President George W. Bush on Wednesday evening proclaimed the urgent need to advance an immediate Israeli-Arab peace but President Bush took the stage Thursday evening in a joint press conference with UK PM Tony Blair and clarified that he cannot impose an agreement on both sides, no matter how much the US wants to impose it.
The Israelis and Palestinians, he said, need to assume responsibility and sign an agreement and the US will help, but not impose. Bush also went on to say that the demands of the Quartet could not be ignored and that State Secretary Condoleezza Rice was working hard on the matter.
The US administration has flat-out rejected the recommendation of direct talks with Iran and Syria.
He added that when (Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert tried to push forward negotiations with the Palestinians, Hizbullah attacked – 'and let there be no mistake - extremists will continue to attack and kill.'
Blair noted that kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit must first be released by his captors before funds are given to the PA. Blair also said that discussions with the Palestinian government were impossible as long as it refused to recognize Israel's right to exist.
Now, now Tony, let's not delude ourselves. It's kind of funny to be saying that Gilad Shalit has to be released before funds are given to the PA when the European Union Eurabia has given the 'Palestinians' $865 million this year - with the Hamas-led government in power.
He said that he was frustrated about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because there is an agreement and a solution that are desired and that is two-states for two peoples, the only question is how that will be achieved.
Tony, if this were about 'two states for two people,' it probably would have been resolved a long time ago. It's not. It's about whether there is going to be a Jewish state in the Middle East, an island of western democracy among twenty-two backwards Islamic states. That's what this is about, and that's why it cannot be resolved no matter how frustrated you get. (On the other hand, based on another statement he made today - see below - Blair does seem to get it. So I don't know where this statement came from).
But Blair is not alone. President Bush also displayed a bit of naivete today:
"Extremists do not want a Palestinian state," said US President George W. Bush during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday.
Come on George, you know better than that. Yes, 'extremists' don't want a 'Palestinian state,' but the corollary is that most 'Palestinians are extremists, and what they want is to destroy the Jewish state.
Blair reiterated Bush's comments, lamenting that it had not been possible to achieve a PA unity government which was committed to the principles of the international community. "The major difficulty is that the Palestinians don't accept Israel's right to exist," added Blair.
Yes, that's right. And note that Blair even said 'the 'Palestinians' don't accept Israel's right to exist.' He got that right too. He didn't limit it to Hamas.
The Washington Post discusses the Syrian and Iranian side of the equation:
Pressed on whether he were willing to engage directly with Iran and Syria as the study group suggests, leaving aside the issues of Iran's nuclear program and other "preconditions," Bush rebuffed that proposal.
"We have made it clear to the Iranians that there is a possible change in U.S. policy," he said. "And that is that, if they would like to engage the United States, that they've got to verifiably suspend their enrichment program." He referred to a demand that Iran give up efforts to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel, activities that Washington believes are intended to produce material for nuclear weapons.
"We've made our choice," Bush said. "Iran now has an opportunity to make its choice. I would hope they would make the choice that most of the free world wants them to make, which is there is no need to have a weapons program. There is no need to isolate your people. There is no need to continue this obstinance when it comes to your stated desires to have a nuclear weapon. It's not in your interests to do so. And should they agree to verifiably suspend their enrichment, the United States will be at the table with our partners."
If Iran and Syria "want to sit down at the table with the United States, it's easy," Bush said. "Just make some decisions that'll lead to peace, not to conflict."
Blair said the issue regarding Iran and Syria "is not a question of being unwilling to sit down with people or not," but of having a clear and accepted basis for the discussions.
"In other words, you support the democratic elected government" of Iraq, he said. "You do not support sectarians, and you do not support, arm or finance terrorists." Britain's own experience in southern Iraq, Blair said, " is that Iran, for example, has been doing that. It's been basically arming, financing, supporting terrorism."
The United States has also accused Iran's ruling Shiite Muslim theocracy of fueling the sectarian violence in Iraq by arming and training Shiite militias involved in death-squad activity against Sunni Muslim Arabs, who form the backbone of Iraq's insurgency.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:22 AM
At 10:52 AM, Michael said...
Bush's typical naivete is not surprising. It's a pity that Blair is a lame duck, though.
Name: Carl in Jerusalem
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
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Sociopolitical Issues
MONTAGE MADRAS – 2 parts of 30 minutes each on Madras city, over three centuries of its history, social and cultural ethos as well as its contemporary problems.
A LOTUS IS BORN – 30 minute film on the philosophy and Building Methodology of the Bahai Temple at New Delhi. Honoured as the best presentation at the International Concrete Conference in USA .
AN IMPROBABLE ACHIEVEMENT – 30 minute film on the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani which is in the forefront of academic institutions of higher learning in India.
DIETICS & NUTRITION – A set of 50 lecture programmes for the University Grants Commission
SAHELI – 10 minute film on the research conducted at the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, for producing the world’s first successful Morning-After pill for birth control.
AKSHARA TAPASMAN – 25 minute film on Adult Education.
BUILDING EXCELLENCE – 20 minute training film on the training centre of TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES at Trivandrum
THYAGARAJA COLLEGE – A film on the quality of education imparted at the college in Madurai.
ARIVIAL ARUVI- (Cascading Science) – A pioneering effort in Science Communication in Tamil, this is a 13 episode TV Serial telecast on Podhigai Channel with a generous splash of graphics and visuals to evoke an interest in Science. This is the story of a few teenagers and a cartoon character on a science trail to know more about their environment. Written Edited and directed by Latha Krishna and produced by Dr. Mohana Krishnaswamy the serial is backed by a scientific team headed by Prof. Balu Venkataraman with the support of a whole lot of institutions like the IIT, CLRI, and TNSTC.
FROM THE LAB TO THE FIELD – A 20 minute film that explains the transfer of technology from the laboratories of CSIR to the industries and agriculture.
© All Rights reserved 2010 – 2015 | Krishnaswamy Associates (P) Ltd | Site Designed by pixel studios
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Enough, already!
This article is based on a presentation I gave to an audience of MBA alumni from ESADE, the Spanish business school, on September 26, 2012. The title is borrowed from that well known phrase New Yorkers use to express their feelings of ‘Enough.’ It’s often spoken with great emotion and a sense of exasperation about whatever it is they want to stop.
I feel a similar sense about the idea of ‘enough’. It’s a big and complex subject and the intractable nature of human behaviour seems to make it unlikely that we will react until we are forced to by some kind of natural or man-made disaster. That said, in this article I set out to make a few observations about ‘enough’ and the role that brands can play, in the hope of influencing the debate and shaping our future behaviour.
Simon Paterson
Paterson AS Ltd.
simon @ patersonas.com
The Journal of the Medinge Group, vol. 6, no. 1, 2013
Today, the political, economic, social and cultural position of growth has never been more challenging. How do we reconcile people’s desire for growth with the increasing pressure on resources, the effects of climate change and our duty of care for life for everyone? Can ‘enough’ be a strategy for growth and both personal and collective fulfilment? In a more interdependent world, enabled by the creative and productive power of technology, can we all succeed together, where more people transact and experience success and the feeling of enough? Or are we condemned by our selfish instincts, desires and addictions to always want more and to crave instant gratification and the need to win? Are we so driven by competitive peer pressure and the need to measure success in terms of material gain, that we unable to escape these addictions and are becoming blind to the downsides of technology? Even though we know that ever more material success doesn’t always make us happy, that giving can feel more fulfilling than getting, and that status updates lead to status anxiety.
Brands and ‘enough’
How do brands relate to the idea of ‘enough’? Brands today are shorthand for choice. They make choosing easier because they are an invitation to want—to want what you need and, more importantly, what you desire. They stimulate and satisfy our desires. They are also an invitation to associate. Like good friends, brands make us feel good about ourselves. They reinforce our sense of who we are and they make us look good amongst our friends and peers. And like good friends, we choose the brands whose values we share, just as we tend to make friends with the people who are like us and who help to shape our lives. We know that our social ties and peer pressure heavily influence much of our behaviour. So, if brands are about desire, then surely they encourage the idea of ‘more’ rather ‘enough’? Or can the associative power of brands encourage us to change our behaviour for the better, together? I first look at what having less than enough feels like; then what more than enough feels like; what enough might feel like; and finally how brands might help us achieve enough.
Less than ‘enough’
We know that less than enough doesn’t feel good to many people. According to the World Bank, in 2008 there were 1,290 million people living in absolute poverty on less than $1·25 per day. In addition there were a total of 4,000 million people earning less than $2 per day. But not all of these people are stuck. Many want to improve their lives and are just beginning to consume. They are enjoying the feeling of having more and want brands that enable them to do this. These are the people the economist C. K. Prahalad famously called the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. Many emerging market multinational companies, as well as those in the developed world, are now creating brands that are designed to meet their needs. For example, Indian multinational Godrej makes the Little Cool Fridge. It is designed on the low cost principles of frugal engineering and sells for $50, matching the consumer’s budget with Godrej’s desire to make a profit.
In Africa, with seven of the world’s fastest-growing economies, it is the mobile phone operators who are driving change, revealing through their rapid expansion that there are more Africans with money to spend than previously thought. In Nigeria, there are now 110 million mobile phone subscriptions out of a total population of 160 million, and 475 million in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. In Kenya, Safaricom have created the mobile phone-based money transfer and micro-financing service M-Pesa. The transformative power of mobile phones in Africa has been well documented. It’s often said that the mobile phone has been more valuable in helping to eliminate poverty than all the foreign aid ever donated. Micro-renewable energy initiatives are now spurring this growth with innovative brands like Indigo, a pay-as-you-go light and mobile phone solar charger, from UK-based Azuri Technologies. Africa also has a fast-growing, young and urban population: four in ten people are under the age of 15 and 37 per cent live in cities. According to Harvard economics professor Ed Glaeser, cities are where we create and collaborate to remarkable effect. Taken together, urban life, internet-savvy young people, the smartphone’s combination of communication and information and micro-renewables, may enable Africa to jump over the industrial revolution and join the knowledge economy. More importantly it’s a combination that drives an entrepreneurial spirit, enabling more people to transact, create and earn their way out of poverty.
Poverty in the midst of plenty
Despite the accelerating growth of Africa and useful and sustainable low cost brands, the world is faced with the problem of growing inequality. In both emerging and developed markets, the rich have raced ahead, capturing most of the fruits of increased productivity. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics has estimated that, in 2011, 14 million people were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. In the USA, the richest 1 per cent now account for 27 per cent of GDP as opposed to 8 per cent in the 1970s. This partly explains the huge rise in debt to compensate for stagnating incomes. And austerity is not working in Europe either. Spain is currently suffering from 53 per cent youth unemployment. Liverpool, one of the UK’s poorest cities, has to shoulder spending cuts amounting to £252 per household when the national average is £60. Austerity will only widen the income gap and it won’t be tolerated forever. So much of the world needs to grow and consume more.
More than ‘enough’ isn’t the answer
When does more growth become too much consumption? When is ‘enough’? In their book, How Much Is Enough? The Love of Money and the Good Life, the economist Robert Skidelsky and his son, Edward, claim that western societies are stuck in the age of consumption—as opposed to the age of abundance and the pursuit of leisure. We are much richer than 100 years ago, but our hours of work have not fallen as much as productivity has risen. We go on consuming more than ever. We are unable to say enough is enough. Why? It can’t be about quantity: ultimately we can only eat so much food, have so many pairs of shoes and drive so many cars. Could it be about better? Better quality stimulates the appetite for serial consumption, so keeps up the hours of work. But real improvements are often negligible and the benefits overestimated—how much better is that retina screen on the Ipad 3? It might be that we go on consuming more because we are insatiable. Having more makes us want more or something different. We are by nature restless and easily bored. We are never satisfied. More importantly our wants are relative. The richer we become, the more we feel our relative poverty. The grass always seems to be greener on the other side and we suffer from status envy. We can’t stop comparing ourselves to our peers, because keeping up with the Joneses (as we say in the UK) counts for a lot. Here, brands are to blame because they fuel our desires and cravings. They make us feel good, however fleetingly, and then they make us want more again.
Can we define ‘enough’?
What to do? Can we define what ‘enough’ means? Might it equate to some definition of the good life and the recognition that money and material gain are just means to it? Can we generalize on behalf of everyone? The Skidelskys have attempted to define it in this way: ‘Human beings need healthy bodies and unfettered minds. They need love, security to plan and innovate, private spaces to “Be themselves”. And time to do as they please, not as they must.’
How might we achieve ‘enough’?
Even if we could agree on the kind of good life that the Skidelskys suggest, which is debatable, who is going to help us achieve it? Who is going to make us change our addictive behaviours: governments, individuals or some form of collective action? The Skidelskys believe that governments should play an important role, at least in the developed world. They suggest measures such as including restoring a full employment guarantee by a gradual reduction of the maximum allowable hours of work for most occupations; and instituting an unconditional basic income for all citizens. They see these measures as a disincentive to work and an incentive to enjoy life more. They also want governments to reduce pressure to consume by placing curbs on advertising and introducing a progressive consumption tax. But how realistic is this? It feels highly idealistic and unlikely.
Are more modest and targeted steps achievable? In New York, for instance, Mayor Bloomberg is trying to introduce a law that will reduce the maximum size of cola people can drink in cinemas. The big corporations object but reframing our choices in this way can help us make better choices, ones that protect us from our worst habits.
In the UK, the government is taking similar measures. David Halpern runs the Behavioural Insights Team, which is a group of academics that are working to subtly alter the ways we act, look after ourselves and obey the law. Their work has drawn inspiration from the influential book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness by Chicago University professor Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. Their premise is that government policy can better be executed by employing small, clever prompts. Combining economics with psychology, these “nudges” not only encourage a more responsible population, but also make us as individuals feel happier and more informed about the choices we make. Much of this is about making life easier for people, because we are inherently lazy and we like short cuts. It’s about using basic common sense and tapping into human instincts: our impulses for embarrassment, pride and the desire to fit in. ‘You make it attractive, you make it social and you make it timely,’ explains Halpern. For example, tax letters in the UK were recently changed to include a headline statistic: a percentage of how many people in the local area had already paid their taxes. Repayment rates increased by 15 per cent. Nudging our behaviour in this way demonstrates the same triggers that brands use to create desire and the need to associate and belong.
The power of habits
David Halpern’s success in the UK highlights the opportunity we have as individuals to change for ourselves. In his book, The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg examines the choices we make every day that may feel like well considered decision making, but are not. They are habits, choices we deliberately make at some point, stop thinking about, and then continue doing, often everyday, effortlessly and efficiently. As Nike might say, we “just do them”. To change “them”, Charles Duhigg says we first need to understand the habit loop, a sequence of cues, routines and rewards that works like this. First there is a cue that tells our brains to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is a routine that can be physical, mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward that helps your brain figure out whether this particular loop is worth remembering for the future. Over time the loop becomes more and more automatic. The cue and the routine become intertwined until a powerful sense of anticipation and craving emerges and a habit is born.
Charles Duhigg used a weight-gaining cookie habit he developed when writing the book to explain how he changed his behaviour. His cue was time: roughly 3.30 p.m. in the afternoon. His routine was to go to the cafeteria, buy a cookie and chat with friends. Through experimentation he realized that it wasn’t really the cookie that he craved, it was a moment of distraction and the opportunity to socialize. He changed his habit by keeping the cue, changing the routine by cutting out the cookie, and keeping the reward of socializing with his friends. Simple really.
Social habits
Charles Duhigg then asks whether understanding the habits of societies and how movements happen can help us change collectively. The habits of societies are the unthinking behaviours of many people, which are hard to see as they emerge, but can coalesce to create unstoppable momentum. He examined one of the most successful movements—the civil rights movement in America in the 1960s and the act of defiance by Rosa Parks—to show how new social habits emerge and how social peer pressure, not competitive peer pressure, turned a social initiative into a world-changing movement.
He describes a three-part process. A movement starts because of the social habits of friendship and the strong ties between close acquaintances. Rosa Parks was arrested for violating the bus segregation law. Her arrest triggered a series of social habits that ignited an initial protest from a much larger and more diverse group of people than might have been expected. This was because she was well liked and a generous person, she gave more than she got. Consequently, she had a large, diverse and connected set of friends. The movement grew because many people who hardly knew her then decided to participate. This was because of social peer pressure. These are the habits of a wider community and the weak ties that hold neighbourhoods and clans together and that make it difficult to avoid joining in.
Unlike close ties, weak ties give people give access to social networks where they don’t otherwise belong. They encourage openness to change and create a sense of obligation that neighbourhoods and communities then apply to themselves. So the civil rights movement gained authority through communal expectations. The movement endured because the movement’s leaders, famously Martin Luther King, gave participants new habits that created a fresh sense of identity (individual and collective) and a feeling of ownership. After his assassination, his followers became self-directed leaders. As individuals, they saw themselves in how others acted—they become part of a vast social enterprise.
This kind of political movement doesn’t happen that often. Could it happen again and can brands be a catalyst for some form of collective action on this scale? I’m not sure but here are two examples that demonstrate the possibility of enough and how it feels. One is a client I have been working with and the other example is last year’s London Olympic Games.
Berry Bros, & Rudd: an example of the shared habits of enough
Berry Bros. & Rudd is the UK’s and possibly the world’s oldest wine and spirit merchant. It is a family-owned and run business that is over 300 years old. I have recently helped them reconfirm who they are and what their brand offers to people. We defined this as the British Art of Good Living, which is the reassuring expertise and way of life of a traditional wine and spirit merchant from St James’s London. The proposition is based on a book entitled In Praise of Good Living, an Anthology for Friends, written by the famous wine and food expert André Simon in 1949, in which he outlined the following ethos:
Good living is the gracious way of life, the unselfish and intelligent way, that which is open to all men and women whose sense are disciplined, whose taste is refined, whose perception of and desire for all that is best are genuine and keen: who also realise that excess is fatal to appreciation and that there is no joy like the joy we share with our friends.
Good living is not a matter of rare fare and wines, gold plate and brilliant company, but of artistic temperament, lively imagination, and a truly charitable disposition.
Good living is not the privilege of the rich and the great ones of this world, but for all who are blessed with the full enjoyment of all their senses, and a sufficient share of common sense to make the best use of them.
The art of good living means bringing the same measure of imagination and interest which is needed to enjoy pictures, music or literature, to the harmony that should exist between … food and drink, flavours and savours, colours and textures.
The reward of good living is the joy of living.
What is striking about this book is that it was written only five years after the end of the Second World War. This was a time of austerity when food rationing was still a fact of life in much of Europe. The ethos of good living demonstrates an essential humanity and the benefits of generosity. It is an ethos that promotes an enlightening and enjoyable approach to alcohol and a way of being that encourages curiosity, a wider sense of appreciation and the use of our imaginations to enhance our lives. Berry Bros. & Rudd first promoted this idea in 1954 when they published a biannual magazine called No. 3, named after their address at 3, St James’s Street, London. The introduction read as follows:
The magazine is designed to promote appreciation of wine and spirits and other aspects of good living against the traditional background of St James, London.
Without knowing it they were promoting their brand—before the idea of companies as brands had become established.
The London 2012 Olympics: ‘All the rules of life were suspended and magic ruled the earth’
This quotation by the writer Giles Coren perfectly captured the feeling of last year’s London Olympics. Like many people I was disengaged before the event. I didn’t feel well disposed to the games beforehand, largely because of an irrational but heartfelt dislike of the London 2012 logo, which shows the power that symbols can have on our emotions. But Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony was both inspirational and transformational. It was a foretaste of two weeks that demonstrated the feeling of enough, personal and collective fulfilment and how movements can create powerful and potentially transformative social habits.
The Olympics gave the United Kingdom a renewed sense self and belief. The opening ceremony enabled us see ourselves anew. The journalist Caitlin Moran described us as, ‘Not Great Britain but Greatest Britain—not titanic or muscular, but multicultural, moral, clever and free’. During the following two weeks, we experienced the collective euphoria of a nation, or nations—a genuinely united kingdom. People everywhere talked spontaneously to each other in the streets, on buses and on the Tube—a normally very un-British trait. Why? There are a number of reasons. First, because of the ethos of the Olympic movement, which promotes the idea of competing with yourself and collaborating with the human race. The athletes’ competitive instincts and the ecstasy of winning combined with their generosity and humility in defeat. Then there was the generosity of the volunteers (the Games’ Makers) who demonstrated the pleasure of giving rather than getting. Finally, we the audience, felt a collective feeling of being part of something bigger than oneself and of believing in something worthwhile—the idea of human achievement through sport, the importance of family ties and friendship, and the pleasure of giving. However short the feelings, the memory lives long in the hearts and the minds of many people.
Choice, desire, association
In conclusion, can we adopt new, shared habits of enough? Charles Duhigg says that the will to believe is the most important ingredient in creating belief in change. The real power of habits is that your habits are what you choose them to be.
I think there are two questions to ask: whose habits will be the most important to influence; and how benign will the impact of technology be on all of our lives? Look at the generation of educated 24-year-olds around the world and there is cause for both optimism and realism. The internet has brought on a new cosmopolitanism whether you are experiencing austerity in the west or new possibilities in emerging markets. But it is also creating a global élite where competition for jobs comes from everywhere and from the growing power of machines. In a recent editorial, the British newspaper, The Observer voices these concerns.
We could be heading for a world of acute and growing inequality that provides untold riches and satisfying lives for technologically adept and educated elites—and lives of demoralising unemployment or underemployment for everyone else. A world in which high streets have been comprehensively hollowed out by online commerce, in which personal privacy has been obliterated and in which young people find occupations only as unpaid sharecroppers on the online estates owned by the feudal lords of cyberspace … This dystopian possibility is not just morally repugnant. It would also be economically catastrophic, for without meaningful employment there is, ultimately, no economy. Robots don’t buy stuff.
This is a pretty bleak view. I think our future behaviour and the choices we make will come down to how our instincts for survival will combine with the power of peer pressure. It seems to me that there is a constant tension between competitive and social peer pressure: the instinct to compete against each other, to acquire more and to win on the one hand; and the opportunity to compete with oneself and to create and collaborate together. My optimistic side would like to believe that our enquiring minds and our better social instincts will harness the benign influence of technology and the urge to explore and innovate that our survival demands. At their best brands have an important role to play in this “dance”. They can shape our future behaviour for good or for bad because they help us choose, they make us feel good about the choices we make and they help us associate with like-minded people. I may be naïve but I want to believe Google’s famous dictum, ‘You can make money without doing evil,’ and that we’re better together. We are social by nature and born for relationships.
1. ‘World Bank Sees Progress against Extreme Poverty, but Flags Vulnerabilities’, press release from the World Bank,
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:23130032~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html.
2. C. K. Prahalad: Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits. Philadelphia: Wharton School Publishing 2004.
3. W. Wallis: ‘Africa calling’, The Financial Times, March 11, 2013.
4. Indigo, http://www.azuri-technologies.com/indigo/.
5. R. Skidelsky and E. Skidelsky: How Much is Enough? The Love of Money and the Case for the Good Life. New York: Other Press 2012.
6. E. Skidelsky: ‘We Need the Good Life, Not Pre-washed Salad Leaves’, The Guardian, July 24, 2012.
7. G. Rachman: ‘The Backlash against the Rich Has Now Gone Global’, The Financial Times, August 7, 2012.
8. Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK and EU, 2005–2011. London: Office for National Statistics 2012.
9. ‘53% Youth Unemployment in Spain’, The Financial Times, July 27, 2012.
10. ‘A little faster, George?’ The Economist, March 9, 2013.
11. C. Duhigg: The Power of Habit. London: William Heinemann 2012.
12. A. Simon (ed.): In Praise of Good Living: an Anthology for Friends. London: Frederick Muller 1949.
13. D. Brooks: The Social Animal. London: Short Books 2011.
14. G. Coren: ‘All the Rules of Life Were Suspended, and Magic Ruled the Earth’, The Times Magazine, August 18, 2012.
15. C. Moran: ‘It Was Top-shelf Old Smoke Pornography for Two Weeks’, The Times Magazine, August 18, 2012.
16. ‘Time to Question Our Love Affair with New Tech’, The Observer, March 10, 2013.
17. J. Ball and T. Clark: ‘Generation Self’, The Guardian, March 12, 2013.
Jul 24, 2013 Simon Paterson Blogposts, The Journal of the Medinge Group, vol. 6, no. 1, 2013
Simon PatersonEnough, already! 07.24.2013
Nicholas Ind, Sep 17, 2020
Out now in Forbes: will Generation Co and conscientious organizations save our world?
Jack Yan, Aug 10, 2020
Medinge Group, Aug 10, 2020
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Depot Days in Ann Arbor
Story: Depot Days in Ann Arbor
By Ray Anderson
Reprinted from the December, 1974 issue of the Inside Track Magazine
Although I have worked off and on for several railroads in my lifetime, railroading was really never my profession. It was my avocation - for my convenience and not the railroad's. My father was the agent at Vermontville on the Michigan Central. I practically grew up in that old depot and the fascination for telegraphy was more than I could resist. Consequently, I could telegraph before I was out of grammar school. When the MCRR installed the manual block signal system on all its branch lines about 1903, all the boomers and bums in the country flocked here for jobs. As I listened to all the stories they told of their experiences as boomer operators, I made up my mind that someday I, too, would be an operator on the railroad.
While I was waiting to be of age to hire out as an operator, Charlie Sayles, the MC's chief dispatcher at Jackson, sent me to Ypsilanti the summer of 1915 to work the night ticket clerk's job. This job was from 7:00 p.m. till 7:00 a.m., seven days a week, with no time off. It paid $50 a month. When I got off the train at Ypsi and walked into the office in the depot, Orie Cummings, the day operator and ticket clerk ($75/month!) said, "Now your job here is not only to sell tickets but to make out the reports for both the MCRR and the NYCRR. Ypsi, you see, was a union station both the Michigan Central and the NYCRR's ex-Lake Shore & Michigan Southern line from Ypsi southwest through Pittsfield, Saline, Bridgewater and Manchester to the west. "The records are up there and you can look them over and learn how it's done," Orie told me, and that was the way I was supposed to learn the job. Anyway, 1915 was the year of the Pan-American Exposition in San Francisco, and the Pan Pacific fair in San Diego, and it was up to me to learn how to sell interline tickets to those points, which I did with the help of Orie. 1915 was also the summer I acquired a good knowledge of the ticket business which stood me in good stead the rest of my railroad days.
Just west of the Ypsilanti depot stood a greenhouse where the MCRR raised all the cut flowers that were used in the dining cars on the whole MC system and the depots in Detroit. The new Michigan Central station [in Detroit] had just been opened, and its dining rooms and restaurants were the height of elegance at the time. The grounds around the Ypsi depot were beautifully landscaped with YPSILANTI outlined in flowers in one huge, lovely flower bed.
In the fall of 1915, Mr. Sayles called me in for an operator's examination and put me to work on the telegrapher's extra list. After a few jobs on the Air Line (from Jackson southwest through Three Rivers to Niles) he sent me to Dexter to relieve Mr. Bostwick, the day operator, who earned $62.50 a month. At Dexter, Frank Sharpey was 2nd trick ($60), Ira Ott was 3rd trick ($60), and a Mr. Clark was the agent at $67.50. Allie and John Reasoner had the Overland auto agency in that village and one evening they asked me to ride to Ann Arbor. It was winter and the Reasoners had a touring car. I nearly froze up! That was the night I had my first and only drink in a saloon, a silver gin fizz, and it was enough for me! Little did I think that I would eventually spend four of the happiest years of my life in Ann Arbor that evening.
In the spring of 1916, the call of the West got the best of me, and I resigned from the MC and worked twice for the CB&Q, and for the D&RGW (one of my favorite roads), the Oregon Short Line, and three times on the Milwaukee Road. In 1917 when the U.S. entered the World War, I returned to Vermontville and went to Grand Rapids and enlisted in the 416th Railroad Telegraph Battalion, U.S. Army Signal Corps. I was sent to France and was a telegrapher on the Paris-Orleans Railroad at St. Aignan Noyers. I returned to the U.S.A. in June of 1919, and in the fall of 1920 I entered the University of Michigan and hired out to the MCRR as an extra operator in the Ann Arbor depot. Did anyone ever have four happier years than I did, what with the University and the railroad combined in my life?
The 3rd trick at Ann Arbor in 1920 was held by George Hanlon, but he was in Detroit every night as Night Chief Dispatcher, so his job was open for years for an extra operator. Carl Aldrich worked it most of the time, but when he didn't, I did. At various times I also worked one of the clerk's jobs in Ann Arbor. The MCRR also used me as their extra towerman at Wayne Junction where John Sievert was the day operator and towerman there for $72.50 a month. I was even sent down to Alexis Tower at Toledo and to the tower at Rochester Junction where the MC's line to Saginaw and Bay City crossed an interurban line.
The personnel at Ann Arbor consisted of Mr. Kepler and a lot of clerks in the freight house. A. J. Wiselogel was depot ticket agent. There was also a ticket clerk with the first name of Lester, plus two baggage men day and night. Frank Leslie was the day operator and ticket clerk, Lizzie Maroney 2nd trick operator and ticket clerk. Miss Maroney was a first-class telegrapher and ticket seller. She lived in Chelsea and commuted to Ann Arbor on the train, arriving about 11 a.m. starting work at 3:00 p.m., and leaving Ann Arbor for Chelsea about 11:00 p.m. We used to just about drive her crazy because we wouldn't show up to relieve her until the very last minute. Of course, she wouldn't dare leave the depot until she was sure someone was there to cover the job. But everyone just loved Lizzie. She put in long hours, waiting from 11:00 a.m. till 3:00 p.m. to go on duty, and then once a week, usually Sunday, she'd close up the office and sit in the waiting room for two hours because there was a state law prohibiting women working more than 54 hours a week. You should know that EVERYONE in those days worked SEVEN days a week. The only way to get time off was to be relieved by an extra man - if they could find one. People simply didn't take time off; the days of leisure time hadn't yet arrived.
1 - Ticket Office and counters
2 - Newsstand
3 - Porch to Carey St.
4 - Entrance from trains
5 - Main waiting room with fireplace on east wall.
6 - Ladies parlor
7 - Ladies restroom
8 - Men's restroom
9 - Employee entrance
10 - Telegraph office
I can remember pretty well the arrangement of the interior of the depot, and elsewhere in this issue, there's a sketch of what I recall. The job at Ann Arbor was fascinating! I can't remember how many passenger trains we had daily, but there were a good many. When the University let out for the holidays and summer vacation, we were swamped, and special trains were added to handle the crowds.
We also arranged all the transportation for the athletic teams from the University, and the football specials. I was on one of those specials to Columbus in 1922 when Michigan played OSU in the first game in the new Ohio Stadium, - and M beat 'em 19-0! I also got passes and went on the train to a Minnesota game. In the summer of 1923 I rode a pass to Florida. The result of that trip is that my wife and I have spent 35 winters in Florida. We sold our Vermontville home two years ago and now live in Boynton Beach.
One of the most thrilling sights at the depot was a passenger train, with a big steam locomotive pulling it, approaching for the station stop. Steam hissing, driving rods slapping against the drivers, and sparks flying from the wheels and brake shoes. The platform was full of people waiting to board the cars, and the crowd quickly increased as they were joined by those getting off. In the 1920's the U.S. Mail went by rail, so the mail handlers rushed to load and unload. And all the express was put on floats - a cart something like a baggage cart. The express room in those days was the small building now the Amtrak depot. The baggage room was the small building at the east of the depot. Baggage trucks, the express floats, the waving and Good Bye-ing, the conductor's final call --- and soon all was quiet until the next train.
Things were quiet until the next group of passengers arrived --- by car, by cab and on the city's trolley car. Then the activity began again as they crowded up to the ticket window to buy tickets and make reservations. Next, off to the baggage room to check the cases. At this time the newsstand came to life at the west end of the waiting room. The ticket office was in the northwest corner of the depot, and the telegraph office occupied the northeast corner of the ticket office. The telegraph instruments and railroad phones were in space in the bay window, which projected out on the platform so the operator could see either way up and down the track. Sometimes business was so brisk that the telegraph operator had to sell tickets - besides going outside to "hoop up" orders to the trains, a job that always fascinated this audience out there. I tell you, what with the instruments clattering away, and the dispatcher's and message phone ringing - plus what we called the "city" phone - it was bedlam at times!
Sometimes passenger representatives would come out from Detroit to help wit the football specials. They'd ride the train to its destination and return as helpers for the conductors. The athletic teams always were accompanied by traveling passenger agents, from the MC and from the connecting lines. They seemed able to settle any confusion with a pocket full of good cigars which they'd freely pass out to the appropriate persons.
The Michigan Central also ran a freight called the "Ann Arbor turn-around". Its conductor was named Riley and he had only one arm. The train did the switching at Ann Arbor, at Ypsilanti, and at the Geddes gravel pits between the Dixboro Road and Superior Road crossings. Those pits were a big operation. The sand and gravel were sent to Detroit every day for use in construction projects. The "turn around" went into the pit area daily to switch cars in the proper order so the through freight could pick them up for Detroit. These pits are no longer used now, but in the 1920's they meant a lot of dollars to the MCRR.
One night while I was working Ann Arbor, an eastbound "Red Ball" fruit and vegetable extra had a blazing hotbox going through town. I saw it and immediately notified the dispatcher and he put the board on them at Wiard, an "OS" and water pan where the locomotives scooped up water on the run a couple of miles east of Ypsilanti. Wouldn't you know that when the train stopped, the blazing car was right on the cross-over between the eastbound and westbound tracks? The fire was so intense that the car couldn't be moved, and the mainline was blocked for hours. Did the Big Boys raise hell about that!
One of the good eating spots near the depot was gus' Restaurant which was just up the hill behind the depot where Broadway meets High, Division and the other streets. All the railroad men ate at Gus's. The trolley line ended right in front of the restaurant.
After graduation, left Ann Arbor, but not the memories of it. I worked for railroads in other parts of the U.S. and came back to Michigan to relieve the ticket sellers at the Grand Trunk depot in Battle creek during the summers of 1958, 1959 and 1960.
Railroad life has been a rewarding experience for me, full of happy remembrances and fine people. Would I do it over again if I had the chance? You bet I would.
About the Author: Ray Anderson worked at the MC depot all during his years at the University, following which he sold real estate and managed a farm in Michigan. Now retired, he lives in Boynton Beach, Florida. Ray and his wife return for visits to Ann Arbor, especially during the football season.
RRHX Editor's Note: This article was printed in the November-December, 1974 edition of the Inside Track magazine. Mr. Anderson would be about 100 years old this year (2003).
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Yunhong CTI Ltd. Announces approximately 40% Year-over-Year increase in Candy Blossom Product Orders for Valentine's Day 2021
By: ACCESSWIRE
LAKE BARRINGTON, IL / ACCESSWIRE / November 18, 2020 / Yunhong CTI Ltd. (NASDAQ:CTIB) ("Yunhong CTI" or the "Company"), a leading manufacturer of custom film products, foil and latex novelty balloons, and flexible packaging products, announced that orders for its Candy Blossom products for Valentine's Day 2021have increased approximately 40% year over year.
"Our strong year over year growth in Candy Blossom orders reflects the underlying quality and reliability of our product offering, combined with our ability to quickly add production capacity to service this increased demand," said Jennifer Connerty, Chief Financial Officer of Yunhong CTI. "Valentine's Day is our single strongest seasonal holiday and typically sets the financial tone for the fiscal year, so we are excited to have such a strong finish for 2020 and an encouraging start for 2021."
"We are very pleased to see strong orders in the pipeline for this upcoming spring and expect to see increased sales for Mother's Day, Father's Day and Graduation in 2021," said Jana M. Schwan, Chief Operating Officer of Yunhong CTI. "Despite the economic uncertainties resulting from the pandemic, we remain steadfast in cementing our position as a supplier of choice for national retailers for many of our product categories. We see increased opportunity in our growing target markets and our team at Yunhong CTI is working relentlessly to deliver growth and to create value for our shareholders."
About Yunhong CTI Ltd.
Yunhong CTI Ltd. is one of the leading manufacturers and marketers of foil balloons and produces laminated and printed films for commercial uses. Yunhong CTI also distributes Candy Blossoms and other gift items and markets its products throughout the United States and in several other countries. For more information about our business, visit our corporate website at www.ctiindustries.com.
Statements made in this release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking" statements (within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) that involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time. These "forward-looking" statements may include, but are not limited to, statements containing words such as "may," "should," "could," "would," "expect," "plan," "goal," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," or similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future results. Although we believe that our opinions and expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements, and our actual results may differ substantially from statements made herein. We cannot anticipate the duration of increased tariffs between the United States and other countries, particularly China. We do not know whether we will be successful in passing such additional costs through to customers. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on our operations, and we do not yet know the depth or duration of that disruption. Our future plans anticipate the successful completion of the financing described above. Any failure to do so would have a negative impact on our financial condition. More information on factors that could affect CTI's business and financial results are included in its public filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
TraDigital IR
Kevin McGrath
kevin@tradigitalir.com
MJ Clyburn
clyburn@tradigitalir.com
SOURCE: Yunhong CTI Ltd.
https://www.accesswire.com/617322/Yunhong-CTI-Ltd-Announces-approximately-40-Year-over-Year-increase-in-Candy-Blossom-Product-Orders-for-Valentines-Day-2021
Cti Inds Corp
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Now Playing: Movies (Moderator: Mac) »
All Things Sci-Fi...
Author Topic: All Things Sci-Fi... (Read 2208 times)
First, homey don't play that SyFy ****. Asshats.
So Riddick is just going jump start this thread for me.
The 3rd installment is coming to reality. Pre-production is at least rolling and that's what is happening now with the Vin Diesel and creator/director David Twohy behind the lens.
Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking
Riddick franchise star Vin Diesel is back once again with more from the pre-production world of The Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking, which is to once again be helmed by David Twohy. While also adding the following storyboard image (and confirming an R-rating), he also writes:
"While I was working on character, the Director and his team of artists have been creating the world and style of this picture. We all know how much I enjoy concept art and storyboards, haha, I am like a kid in a candy shop.
Seeing the early stage of CGI is always fascinating to me, it is a element that usually comes together long after the filming process, so you look forward to seeing it fully realized.
First stop for the Riddick production is Canada, which is where we shot a large part of Chronicles...
P.s. I am grateful to have Universal in such support of this complex character's journey... not many studios would back an "R" rating. Very cool."
Casting is underway although no shoot day is set in stone.
I'm excited. Hope this fully comes about. I didn't care too much for the direction Chronicles of Riddick took after the fresh vision of Pitch Black. But from early discussions, it looks like they learned from their mistakes and will get back to the core thinking like in Pitch Black.
Check out David Twohy's website.
« Last Edit: September 06, 2011, 12:40:30 pm by Mac »
Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
I've only seen the first movie which was pretty good. Never got around to seeing the second film due to poor word of mouth. But now that the Library is my friend, I may give it a shot regardless. I will weigh in on what I think about the news of the third film after watching the second one.
That is all, folks.
Quote from: ChipRawks on September 06, 2011, 11:46:45 am
Naturally I'm going to recommend it. It's not bad... it's just nothing like Pitch Black.
Build Your Own Terminator With Free A.I. Course From Stanford
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ngd6zCeUc
James Cameron might've told us that Judgement Day was on August 29, 1997 in Terminator 2, but since Stanford University's School Of Engineering is offering Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (CS221) as a free online course for everyone this semester, it could be any day now.
Starting October 10th, the class spans 10 weeks and includes two video lectures per week on topics like machine learning, Markov models, robotics and robot motion planning, decision processes and adversarial planning.
Unless you're enrolled as a student at Stanford, you won't get college credit but you will get a statement of accomplishment signed by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig - the two professors - upon completion. For those who aren't looking for something too strenuous (well, I should say MORE strenuous), there's a basic track with includes the lectures and basic quizzes. If you're looking to really get into it and work on a collegiate level, try the advance track which includes homework assignments, tests and deadlines (blah).
Sebastian Thrun is a Research Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, a Google Fellow, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the German Academy of Sciences. He's best known for his research in robotics and machine learning, including his self-driving car which was named one of the 50 best inventions of 2010 by Time Magazine.
Peter Norvig is Director of Research at Google Inc. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and the Association for Computing Machinery, and co-authored Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, which is the world's most popular text book on Artificial Intelligence. He also used to be the head of the Computational Sciences Division at NASA Ames Research Center, making him NASA's senior computer scientist.
There's already over 50,000 people signed up for this course, which means one of us is destined to create Skynet.
Pacific Rim - July 12, 2013
Dir: Guillermo Del Toro
Guillermo del Toro’s monster movie Pacific Rim has quietly booked itself into Pinewood Toronto Studios with the working title Still Seas for a six month shoot through April 2012, writes THR.
Del Toro's monsters vs mechas action movie from Legendary Pictures, which is executive produced by Callum Greene, will start shooting in Toronto on the Pinewood soundstages from October 31, 2011.
Pacific Rim, which stars Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day and Idris Elba, is slated for a July 21, 2013 release date by Warner Bros.
Fantastic. I mean so far, knock on wood, it’s the greatest experience of my life. I’m having a blast, designing like crazy. I’m now hiring actors, which is always a good sign, always a great sign when you’re casting. We’re announcing a release date… The other thing that we’re heading towards is an impeding start date the first week in November, so we have 20 weeks to start shooting the biggest giant monster movie ever made.
Del Toro was earlier set to shoot At the Mountains of Madness in Toronto, but that project has been delayed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8akj5gTOpk
Leaked story... maybe spoiler
Spoiler (hover to show)
Since the first attack, the rim has been “spitting out” a variety of gigantic monsters at an increasing rate, which then stride out of the ocean and begin destroying sea-bordering cities, like Tokyo and Los Angeles. In order to combat these monstrous, otherworldly menaces, the military developed the “Jaeger” program, which trains teams of two pilots to jointly operate massive, building-sized mechanized suits of armor and high-tech weaponry...." Continued inside.
"....Within the first act alone, we are given enough detailed background on the god-like Jaeger systems, its shared neural piloting system (called “pons”), and the relentless beasts. But Beacham is an absolute master at immediately establishing characters and their conflicts.
The central character is Raleigh Antrobus, 23, a skilled Jaeger pilot still wrestling emotionally with the loss of his co-pilot and biological brother, Yance, during a mission a year earlier. The ordeal has wreaked havoc on his mind spirit, leaving him with ghostly nightmares of the battle from the shared “pons” experience. After the initial setup, the damaged hero is recruited to re-join the task force in Tokyo, where pilots are in demand, and team with a fellow “leftover,” 22-year-old female Japanese pilot Mako Mori. Naturally, the language barrier (among other things) presents an issue for the out-of-sync duo, meaning an even steeper learning curve for the unprecedented pairing.
Meanwhile, Felicity “Flick” Kincaid, a journalist and Yance’s former fiancée, circles the globe (ours) to discover answers about this mysterious rift and the origins of its intensifying threat."
« Last Edit: September 14, 2011, 08:19:39 am by Mac »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye9msexYKi0
Chronicle - Feb 2, 2012
This looks interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdn2uP_BNwM
Journey 2: Mysterious Island
Let's get this straight... this is nothing like one of my all time favorite classics Mysterious Island with Michael Craig and Capt Nemo. This is disneyfied sequel to capitalize on 3D. I'm really on the border with this one. It looks just too kiddie for me. I'll check it out one day when it comes on DVD, because it does look like some fun moments. But yea, not plopping down bucks for this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1aNIOIAiUk
Corman's World
Though it's a documentary, it is about Roger Corman. I love B-movies, especially with sci-fi and Roger is the king. I'm sure this will be very entertaining.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngsD17ZAglE
I don't have a clue where to properly put this, but since it involves sci-fi, well, it does, it should go here.
Codependent Lesbian Alien Seeks Same
Three lesbian aliens are sent to Earth. Their mission? To have their hearts broken by earthlings so their overactive emotions won't destroy the ozone of their planet. As the fetching extraterrestrials search for romance on the New York lesbian dating scene, one finds love with Jane, an eager stationery store clerk who is oblivious to the fact that she's dating an alien. The other two, discovering the neediness of earthling women, connect with each other as they reflect on the beauty of a cheesecake in a revolving dessert case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JovMjXPgwrI
« Last Edit: November 14, 2011, 08:47:58 am by Mac »
Quote from: Mac on November 14, 2011, 08:45:21 am
After reading the quote, I'd go with the "What The F*ck Thread".
Thunderstruck (AMC)
I'm going to keep on eye on this one. Hopefully AMC is in a groove with good television
AMC is the home to two of the greatest shows on television, "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad". It's also home to "The Walking Dead". And on all three counts, their new penny pinching paradigm has caused various issues with talent and staff.
Now they've got "Thunderstruck" from the guys who brought you The Excorcism Of Emily Rose along with a former EP of "Battlestar Galactica".
Per Deadline "Thunderstruck" is " an hourlong UFO project from feature writing/directing duo Paul Boardman and Scott Derrickson and former Battlestar Galactica executive producer David Eick. Boardman and Derrickson will write the drama, about powerful and enigmatic entities that begin appearing all over the world. After one shows up in the town of Great Falls, Montana, the local citizens must grapple with the dramatic effects and growing mystery of repeated visitations. Boardman and Derrickson will executive produce Thunderstruck with Eick. Derrickson is set to direct."
Here's hoping they can keep the lights on at all of their shows.
That track record came to an end with Hell On Wheels.
As for Thunderstruck, my interest is piqued.
does it blow?
I'm on the border. I haven't seen it yet, but since it does follow Walking Dead, I was looking to give it a chance despite it being a Western. Hell, I even actually liked Deadwood.
All Things Soda
Started by Chiprocks1 « 1 2 » Food
All Things Science
Started by Mac « 1 2 » Off-Topic
All Things Trailers (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)
Started by Chiprocks1 The Drive-In Theater
All things Health...
ALL things Buckethead
Started by boyinblack80 Music
94 Views September 08, 2018, 01:37:16 pm
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Team profile Coach Staff Schedule Ranking Photos
FIVB World Ranking 9
Best Result1982 3
Last Result2010 9
Runners-up to a powerful Brazil side at the 2013 South American Championship, Argentina will fancy their chances of finally recapturing a place on the podium at a World Championship, for the first time since they won bronze while hosting the tournament in 1982. They need to improve sharply though, after finishing 2nd in Pool D of Group 2 and 13th place overall at the 2014 World League.
The South Americans have gone close since 1982, with sixth-place finishes in 1990 and 2002, seventh in 1986 and ninth last time out. Poland 2014 will be their 10th successive appearance in the competition, and their 11th overall after a debut across the border in Brazil in 1960.
That second place to Brazil in August last year was the fifth successive time – and 12th overall – they had taken the silver medal in South American championships, and they pushed the Brazilians all the way to five sets before succumbing.
In their other matches at the tournament Argentina, who finished third at the Pan American Cup in August, dominated, winning every match 3-0, to show that they have added consistency to their undoubted ability!!
Velasco Julio
As coach of the Italian men’s team, Julio Velasco won the World Championship in 1990 and 1994, and took a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. He also led the team to victory in the World League four times and claimed European Championship titles in 1989, 1993 and 1995 along with a World Cup gold in 1995. He won the men’s Asian Championship with Iran in 2011 and 2013, and steered the Iranians to qualification for the 2013 World League. His other passion is football and during his time in Italy he worked in administrative roles with Lazio and Inter Milan!!
Team Manager Celia Osvaldo
Assistant coach Alvarez Julian
Second Assistant Coach Lopez Martin
Doctor Locaso Fernando
Physiotherapist Crupnik Javier
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Rising Music Artist Ammon Rose Debuts His New Single ‘It’s Over’
Ammon Albert Rose, known as Ammon Rose, released his debut single, It’s Over. The platinum-awarded song, which featured American-rapper Abstract, garnered over 10,500 streams on Spotify alone and reached nearly 80 countries worldwide in 5 months.
He was born on March 20, 1995, and already showed inclination and interest in music when he was still a baby. Ammon Rose would try to copy the noises around him, even the sound of a vacuum or dryer.
He grew up with his dream in a small town of Bountiful, Utah. At the age of eight, he already attempted to write his first song with his close friend and cousin, Andrew Peterson. “I remember trying to write music by reading article after article. I also watched plenty of videos to know how popular artists were able to do it,” Ammon Rose says, as he collected memories of writing music.
Ammon Rose would then go to his piano and daydream about having many songs he had composed. “When I came back to reality, I’d play a couple of chords that sound good together. I realized the difficulty that laid ahead and never thought I’d be able to write a song that everyone would enjoy.”
His passion for making music continued through his elementary and high school years and started with humble beginnings. He participated in various activities that welcomed musicians. He was a tenor in the choir and even played percussion in the band. Ammon Rose decided to self-taught with guitar, ukulele, or anything that he could get his fingers laid on.
“I remember it pretty vividly,” he says, recalling one of his fondest memories as an aspiring musician. “I was asked by a girl that I liked to play guitar for her and her friend, who would be singing a song in front of our choir class!” He admitted that he did not practice that much. As a result, when he strummed the guitar, it only created a noise, knowing that he did not press the strings hard enough. “It was a learning experience. I cringe when I think about it.”
It’s Over singer shared that his debut single was recorded in a living room. This proves that creating greatness does not require fancy places or things. Ammon Rose also shared that he wrote and played all his music, which few of the rising or even popstars can do. He even has a song, which will be released soon; only two chords made that.
“People can always count on my music having meaning, a story or history behind it,” he says. “I create music because it is my passion, and I want the world to make memories that my music can be a part of. That way, when they listen to specific songs, they remember those moments of their life. They can appreciate their past experiences more often, and I would love to help be a part of that through my music.”
Listen to Ammon Rose’s debut song It’s Over on Spotify. For more updates, follow him on his Twitter and Instagram.
Company Name: Ammon Rose
Website: https://ammonrose.com/
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Moanin'
Moanin' (song)
Moanin' is a jazz album by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recorded in 1958.
This was Blakey's first album for Blue Note in several years, after a period of recording for a miscellany of labels, and marked both a homecoming and a fresh start. Originally the LP was self-titled, but the instant popularity of the bluesy opening track "Moanin'" (by pianist Bobby Timmons) led to its becoming known by that title.
The rest of the originals are by saxophonist Benny Golson (who was not with the Jazz Messengers for long; this being the only American album on which he is featured). "Are You Real?" is a propulsive thirty-two-bar piece with a four-bar tag, featuring two-part writing for Golson and trumpeter Lee Morgan. "Along Came Betty" is a more lyrical, long-lined piece, almost serving as the album's ballad. "The Drum Thunder Suite" is a feature for Blakey, in three movements: "Drum Thunder"; "Cry a Blue Tear"; and "Harlem's Disciples". "Blues March" calls on the feeling of the New Orleans marching bands, and the album finishes on its only standard, an unusually brisk reading of "Come Rain or Come Shine". Of the originals on the album, all but the "Drum Thunder Suite" became staples of the Messengers book, even after Timmons and Golson were gone. Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder in his meticulous Hackensack studios, this recording reflects the hallmark precision associated with that engineer – on the reissue there is a brief conversation between Lee Morgan and Rudy Van Gelder going over Morgan's solo.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Moanin'
"Moanin'" is a composition by Bobby Timmons, first recorded by Art Blakey's band on the 1958 album of the same title.
"Moanin'" has a call and response melody. One account of its creation was given by Benny Golson, the tenor saxophonist in Blakey's band: Timmons had the opening eight bars, which he often played between tunes, but formed the complete song only after Golson encouraged him to add a bridge.
Recordings and reception
"Moanin'" has been recorded numerous times and has become a jazz standard.Gary Giddins stated that the song "set the music world on its ear" and that it was "part of the funky, back to roots movement that Horace Silver, [Charles] Mingus, and Ray Charles helped, in different ways, to fan."Jon Hendricks later added lyrics, and the subsequent recording by Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross made the song even more popular.
"Moanin'" at JazzStandards.com
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Moanin'_(song)
Moanin', Hank Snow
Moanin', Killah Priest
Moanin' my life slowly away
Sittin' here waitin' for the new commin' day
They try to cheer me as I trudge on my way moanin' for you
Can't seem to hide it and why should I try
Good Lord he knows it up there in the sky
A million heartaches with your last goodbye left me moanin' for you
Work these poor fingers way down to the bone
When things seemed right my whole world went wrong
Since I found your letter baby sayin' so long I've been moanin' for you
[ steel ]
They find me alone at the close of the day
Counting each petal from your rose bouquet
Guess I'll be here till eternity moanin' for you
This old rocking chair I have rocked it apart
The last spark of flame in my fireplace is dark
But this old flame that's burning deep down in my heart
Keeps me moanin' for you
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Fantasy - Beyond The Beyond Plus... (1974 uk, remarkable prog rock, 2015 remastered edition)
Hailing from Gravesend in Kent, Fantasy formed in 1970 and were originally known as Chapel Farm, after their rehearsal space. The original line-up was Dave Metcalfe (keyboards), Paul Lawrence (guitar / vocals), Bob Vann (guitar), Dave Read (bass) and Brian Chatham (drums). Initially they focused on cover versions, then began to develop their own material, and decided to enter themselves in Melody Maker's annual 'Search' talent contest. On the day of their heat at a hotel in nearby Cliftonville, the band became concerned when they lost sight of Vann, who had been celebrating his 18th birthday with various drinks. To their horror they realized that he had fallen off a cliff and was lying on the beach below. An ambulance was summoned, but he died on the way to hospital.
Following that blow Chatham also departed their ranks, but the band decided to persevere with new members Pete James (guitar) and Jon Webster (drums), both recruited from a local band named Joy. With a new name of Firequeen, they rehearsed hard and scored support slots with bands including
the Pink Fairies and the Edgar Broughton Band. When they sent a demo tape to numerous labels, Polydor expressed an interest, on the understanding that they changed their name to Fantasy – a name they never liked, but decided to put up with.
A contract was duly signed in the spring of 1973, and the band set about recording their LP in Chipping Norton Studios, Oxfordshire, with producer Peter Sames (who'd recently overseen another cult favourite, Bored Civilians by Cross & Ross, as well as collaborating with hitmaker Peter Skellern).
The album they cut was a superb piece of Moody Blues-inspired prog rock, featuring beautifully textured songs with strong melodies and sublime Mellotron flourishes. Especially notable was The Award', a tribute to their late guitarist Vann. Trailed by an equally rare brass-laden 45, 'Politely Insane' / 'I Was Once Aware' (Polydor 2058 405), which appeared in October (and features a non-LP B-side), the album appeared that winter as Polydor 2383 246, clad in a colourful gatefold sleeve. Its working title was Virgin On The Ridiculous, but fortunately they ended up retitling it. It could have done very well, but Polydor chose not to promote it - perhaps because the band had not committed to music full-time (they still had day-jobs).
Following its release they played a few gigs, including one at the Marquee supporting Queen, but momentum failed to build. Nonetheless, they remained upbeat, returning to the studio with Sames in July 1974 The sessions, The tracks finally emerged two however, did not go smoothly, decades later, as Beyond The and when Polydor rejected the Beyond, confirming that justice is tapes, Metcalfe decided to quit, rarely done in the music business...
CD Liner Notes
1. Introduction - 2:12
2. Beyond The Beyond - 5:38
3. Reality - 2:59
4. Alanderie - 9:01
5. Afterthought (David Metcalfe, David Read, Geoff Whitehorn, Paul Petley) - 5:52
6. Worried Man - 2:57
7. Just A Dream - 3:34
8. Winter Rose - 3:29
9. Church Clock - 3:51
10.Fire-Fire (Bonus Track) (Geoff Whitehorn) - 6:47
11.Vacuum (Bonus Track) (David Read) - 4:09
12.Alone (Bonus Track) (David Read) - 4:38
13.Afterthought (Original Version) (David Metcalfe, David Read, Geoff Whitehorn, Paul Petley) - 7:30
14.Church Clock (Original Version) - 3:38
All songs by David Metcalfe, David Read, Paul Lawrence except where stated
*Paul Lawrence - 12 String Guitar, Lead Vocals
*David Read - Bass, Double Bass, Vocals
*David Metcalfe - Keyboards, Clarinet, Vocals
*Peter James - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Jon Webster - Drums, Vocals
*Geoff Whitehorn - Lead Guitar (Tracks 10-13)
*Paul Petley - Lead Vocals (Tracks 10-13)
*Brian Chattam - Drums (Tracks 10-13)
1973 Fantasy - Paint A Picture (2005 remaster with bonus tracks)
Posted by Marios at 8:01 AM 1 comment:
Fantasy - Beyond The Beyond Plus... (1974 uk, rema...
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Canadian Customers click here
When Lou Segal and his family arrived in Canada in the late 1970's he wasn't overly concerned about how he was going to make a living. The tenous political situation that forced him to leave behind much of his wealth he had accumalated through a thriving cosmetic & pharmaceutical company in SouthAfrica left him with a modest amount in his pocket.
In a new country, with little contacts, the future may have seemed pretty bleak. But Segal, a chemist and pharmacist, had something he believed would get him back in business. "I was'nt worried at all," he said. "I had the formula for hair loss, and it worked."
The formula Segal speaks of is a concoction he developed from an east African tribal ritual. And now, more than a decade later the product line he developed, and his son Darryl improved, has grown their Vancouver based company, into one of the leading natural hair loss treatment lines in the market place.
It was during a safari vacation in the early 1970's when the elder Segal made his "discovery". He came upon a number of tribes performing rituals and noticed that one particular group had thick, strong, healthy heads of hair. "I found out that this one group applied a mixture of plants, roots & leaves to their heads and their faces and would wait for the moon to come out," the elder Segals explains. "The reason was that they felt that the moon would absorb & cleanse their souls of all the evil spirits through the medium of this earthy botanical mixture. What they did'nt realize was that they were unknowingly giving themselves the best hair & scalp treatment nature has to offer.
Segal asked the tribe's chief to give him a bucket full of the mixture which he took back to Cape Town where he incorporated it into his scalp formulas, shampoos & conditioners.
While the components were all from natural sources, the exact ingredients remains a secret...a valuable one.
His new products met with surprising results with many people reporting drastic reductions in hair loss and even new hair growth. But as increasing political uncertainty grew in South Africa, Segal decided it would be best for his family to leave the country. "I was fortunate to have access to my fathers formula," Darryl says. "And as a pharmacist, and being fascinated with the results people were receiving from the product for so many years, my life long commitment to improve on the formula and make it available to as many people as possible."
"It was very hard at the beginning," Darryl says. "In a new country, we no longer had the status we achieved in South Africa and had to let the product speak for itself." Today these formulas are available in health food stores under the name Herbal Glo & in salons under the name Segals Solutions. Not only are these products sold across North America, they are also distributed in many other countries including Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Singapore & Malaysia.
While the company makes no wild claims that it will grow a new head of hair on its users, it has found that people are getting different degrees of results. "Some people get more dramatic results such as rapid hair growth within 3 to 4 months," says Darryl. "Others notice a drastic reduction in hair loss. even to be able to keep the hair one has means achieving results."
"When there is too much oil secreted, the follicles become clogged up preventing hair growth." he says. "By using our product you will not only clean out the follicles, but also feed the hair roots with natural & essential hair nutrients.
"People are looking for a natural alternative to surgery and drug treatments, and we have adapted our formulas to provide that," Darryl says. If you would like any further information regarding these products please call toll free 1-800-663-2285 or visit www.segalshaircare.com. On this site you can watch their 5 minute convincing presentation.
© 2004-2010 Copyright ProdigalSon Ventures Inc.
Natural Hair Loss Treatment by Segals Inc.
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Palestine Mortgage & Housing Corporation (PMHC) achieved a net income of $0.09 million for H1 2013
According to Palestine Mortgage & Housing Corporation data for the first six months of the year, net profit after taxes reached 87,057 USD, compared with a net profit after taxes of 200,604 USD from the first six months of 2012, a net decrease of 56.6%. Total assets of the company reached 37,199,723 USD as of June 30th, 2013, compared to total assets of 37,530,033 USD as of December 31st, 2012, a net decrease of 0.9%. Total liabilities of the company reached 15,748,493 USD as of June 30th, 2013, compared to total liabilities of 16,057,190 USD as of December 31st, 2012, a net decrease of 1.9%. Net ownership equity of the company reached 21,451,230 USD as of June 30th, 2013, compared with a net ownership equity of 21,472,843 USD as of December 31st, 2012, a net decrease of 0.1% in the last six months.
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New York Yankees MLB $5B 3.
Of the Top 100 are men, a major disparity in the world of pro sports.
TORONTO, CANADA – NOVEMBER 29: Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors and Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors look on during the game on November 29 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
in 2021 to play in the MLB Little League Classic presented by Geico, according to MLB, the Major League Baseball Players Assn.
Philadelphia Eagles NFL $3B 24.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085C1Y82C to your question, it’s always a challenge, but it’s always fun.
Maturation by Lindstrom and McGary on the right side of the line would go a long way towards helping the unit improve, and the Falcons are hoping to find a more permanent solution at left guard after rotating several players at that spot in 2019.
We can’t wait to see all the action in the regular season, which stars emerge post-season in October, and who will share in the biggest MMA prize pool ever on New Year’s Eve.
Our organization and theirs are very close, so we’re all going to have fun doing it.
Boston Red Sox MLB $3B 17.
Oikos Triple Zero was quite honestly right up my alley – not only because of its nutritional benefits, but because it tastes good too.
Spike Lee, whose resume includes directing such films as and , has written and directed an all-new MyCAREER mode that will be part of Lee also takes a lead role in marketing to support the video game’s release, scheduled for Sept.
Boston Celtics NBA $3B 20.
NYSJ: CB: It is important to be authentic with that process.
Williams is then scheduled o host two Chinese New Year celebrations and basketball clinics for a group of Special Olympics athletes in Shanghai in the NBA Playzone and at Shanghai Yumiao migrant school .
And make the reconnection that much easier.
The beer maker said it would have four spots of least three full minutes of ads during the custom basketball uniforms on Feb.
According to Dove Men+Care, research showed that 70% of men want to see everyday athletes better represented in sports media.
Sales of walking shoes were down 32% to $23 million, and multi-sport shoes were down 16% to $171 million, according to NPD.
If you need assistance managing your tickets, please call text 222-WILD.
New York Giants NFL $3B 10.
If it’s slow on Arthur Ashe Stadium, as well, which is what I’m hearing, I think that hurts Federer more than the other two guys.
I believe that this team and everything it represents is what the world needs more of right now.
And to be fair, he can be handful to try and stop.
and Little League International.
Long before he became a household name, Lance Armstrong created a foundation to serve others facing the same fears and challenges he struggled to overcome as a result of his cancer diagnosis, Doug Ulman, LiveStrong president and CEO, said in a statement.
Andreescu tennis $8M 6 garbine muguruza $6M 7 elina
Combined adidas facebook logo 70 new
Bianca andreescu tennis $8M 6 garbine muguruza $6M
Dumb five top he asks the horse
Program they support $5B olympics NFL sevens will advertising
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Beckson
ЗНАЧЕНИЕ: Recorded as Bec, Beck, Beckman, Becks, and occasionally Backson and Beckson, this is an English surname. It is has a number of possible origins. Firstly, it may be topographical for someone who lived beside a stream or brook, from the pre 7th century Norse-Viking word bekkr. Secondly, it may be locational, and originate from any of the places called Bec in Northern France, the name means stream, such as Bec Hellouin in the departement of Eure, and which provided the first recording of the surname (see below). Thirdly, the name may derive from a medieval English nickname for someone with a prominent nose. This is from the word 'beke', meaning the beak of a bird. Finally it can be occupational for a maker or seller of a matlock or pickaxe originally called a becca, and a fearsome weapon. Henry Becks was an early settler in the New England colonies of America who left the Port of London on the ship 'Blessing' in July 1635. Henry Beckman was recorded at St Andrews by the Wardrobe in the city of London on February 14th 1621, and William Becksonne at St Giles Cripplegate in the city of London, on June 5th 1631. The coat of arms most associated with the name is des as Or (gold), two bars dancettee sable (black) in pale proper a chief azure (blue). thereon three annulets argent (silver)'. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Bec. This was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Buckinghamshire, during the reign of King William 1st, known as 'The Conqueror', 1066 - 1087. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to 'develop' often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
Строй дома и сей свой хлеб,
Создавая мир свой, Глеб!
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Currum
ЗНАЧЕНИЕ: This interesting and unusual name is probably a topographic name from the Old French word 'corme', a service tree, a tree which is cultivated for it's white flowers and brown edible apple-like fruits, found in the early modern English language as 'corm(e), hence the name may denote a person who grew these trees or lived by them. The name may have arrived in England relatively late as it first appears in records in the mid 16th Century, (see below). Agnes Estis married William Corne on July 19th 1579, at St. Dunstan, Stepney, London. Mary, daughter of Thomas and Mary Curme was christened at St. Andrews, Holborn in London on September 1st 1755, while a son Thomas was christened there on August 15th 1757. The same Mary Curme is believed to have married Charles Lang at St. Martin in the Fields Westminster, London on February 9th 1779. Robert Curme married Rebecca Barber at St. Anne Soho, London on March 12th 1793. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry Corme, which was dated April 8th 1549, was baptised at St. Margaret's, Westminster, London, during the reign of King Edward V1, known as 'The Boy King', 1547 - 1553. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to 'develop' often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
Старший брат не понимает,
Что его ботинок - это
И машина, и котлета...
Все, что Славка пожелает...
Потому, что подрастая,
Дети волшебство теряют.
А ЖАЛЬ.
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ЗНАЧЕНИЕ: This interesting surname of English origin is either a locational name from places so called in many parts of England, or, a topographical name for someone dwelling in a valley, both deriving from the Middle English 'dene' (Old English pre 7th Century 'denu') meaning 'valley'. It may also be a nickname for someone thought to resemble a dean, an ecclesiastical official who was the head of a chapter of cannons in a cathedral, or more probably an occupational name for a servant of a dean, deriving from the Middle English 'deen' when is a borrowing of the Old French 'D(e)ien', itself coming from the Latin 'decanus', meaning 'a leader of ten men'. The surname dates back to the late 11th Century, (see below). Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Deane, Dean, Deans, Deanes. One Mildred Dean married William Hawkes on November 19th 1585 at Newgate Street, London and Ruth Deane married John White on August 14th 1586 at Finchley. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ralph de Dene, which was dated 1086, The Domesday Book, during the reign of King William 1, 'The Conqueror', 1066 - 1087. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to 'develop' often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
Говорят, ты богом дан,
Будь же ты творцом, Богдан!
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Song Camp Italy
World-Class Songwriting Instruction, Magical Italian Atmosphere, Hospitality & Cuisine
The Experience & Instructors
Getting to San Felice
Italy & The Region Nearby
SCHEDULE: Song Camp Italy 2020
7:30pm - Welcome Dinner
9:00pm - Opening Night Song Circle
9:30am - Community Sing with Ysaÿe M. Barnwell
10:00am - 12:30pm - Song Camp class session: Paul Reisler - Directed Writing 1
1:00pm - Lunch break
2:15pm - 4:15pm - Afternoon Songwriting and Performance classes
4:30pm - 6:00pm - Electives: Instrument instruction, Performance, Music Business topics
9:30am - Noon - Song Camp class session: Paul Reisler - Directed Writing 3
12:30pm - Lunch break
2:00pm - 4:15pm - Listening Sessions & Critiques with Faculty
4:30pm - 5:30pm - Closing Community Sing with Ysaÿe M. Barnwell
8:00pm - Closing Concert
featuring Ysaÿe M. Barnwell of Sweet Honey In The Rock, Paul Reisler, "Chicago" Mike Beck and special guests.
10:00am - Farewell "Arrivederci" Breakfast
1:00pm - Shuttles to Verona Airport & Train Stations
Times, details and instructors are subject to change. The information posted reflects the most up-to-date information currently available.
The Song Camp Italy Experience
Ever wish you could write a song that could change someone’s life, or bring them to tears, or perhaps even change the world?
Songs can do all that. Come to Song Camp Italy to learn and get inspired by some extraordinary teachers and masters of their craft -- Songwriting legend Tom Paxton, celebrated Italian songwriter Gian Piero Alloisio, Dr. Ysaÿe M. Barnwell, formerly of Sweet Honey in the Rock; Paul Reisler, the founder of Trapezoid and Kid Pan Alley; international touring singer-songwriter Chicago Mike Beck.
We’ve selected the San Felice Resort in Illasi as the setting for the inaugural Song Camp Italy for its natural beauty, tranquil harmonious atmosphere and world-class facilities, including a modern fully-equipped conference center, superb restaurants and comfortable affordable lodging options.
San Felice Resort is family-friendly, offering swimming pools, spa services such as massage, jacuzzi and steam room, equestrian stables, horse-drawn carriage rides through the Italian countryside, world-class dining, spectacular hiking and vistas, and a large variety of nearby Italian delights. Learn more about San Felice and the region nearby on our Italy & The Region Nearby page.
The mission of Song Camp Italy is to inspire the creative spark that lies inside each of us and provide you with an unforgettable life experience which includes world-class songwriting instruction with a unique international perspective, performance classes and nuts-and-bolts how-to information to help share your music with the world, all taking place in the beautiful Italian countryside in the vineyard-covered hills just outside of Verona.
Each day, Dr. Barnwell will lead a community sing that will bring us together in a spirit of open-heartedness and courage that will inspire you to discover your most creative self.
While teaching the art of songwriting has not been part of the tradition in Europe, over the past 30 years, that tradition has been fully developed in the USA, ranging from workshops to college curricula. Our teachers are among the leaders of that movement.
The songwriting traditions in the USA are quite different than those found in Italy, and one of the goals of Song Camp Italy is to illuminate the differences as well as shared characteristics of these diverse approaches to the art of song.
Song Camp Italy closes with a starlit concert featuring our faculty and special guests.
Song Camp Italy will galvanize your songwriting, renew your spirit and leave you with an unforgettable once-in-a-lifetime creative international experience you will cherish forever.
Meet the Song Camp Italy Faculty
Songwriting, Performance & Music Career Faculty confirmed for Song Camp Italy 2020 includes:
Tom Paxton
Songwriting Master Classes
Tom Paxton’s impact on the musical world and on songwriters in particular can’t be overstated.
Tom's songs have been recorded by Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, John Denver, Peter, Paul and Mary, Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Sandy Denny, Doc Watson, Harry Belafonte, The Seekers, Marianne Faithfull, Placido Domingo, The Kingston Trio, the Chad Mitchell Trio, Flatt & Scruggs, The Weavers and countless others.
In describing Tom Paxton’s influence on his fellow musicians, Pete Seeger said: “Tom’s songs have a way of sneaking up on you. You find yourself humming them, whistling them, and singing a verse to a friend. Like the songs of Woody Guthrie, they’re becoming part of America.” Guy Clark adds: “Thirty years ago Tom Paxton taught a generation of traditional folksingers that it was noble to write your own songs, and, like a good guitar, he just gets better with age.” Paxton has been an integral part of the songwriting and folk music community since the Greenwich Village scene of the early ’60s, and continues to be a primary influence on today’s “New Folk” performers. The Chicago native came to New York via Oklahoma, which he considers to be his home state.
Tom is renown not only as an influential songwriter and recording artist, but also as a noteworthy music educator as well as an advocate for folk singers to combine traditional songs with new compositions.
Paxton has been honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards from ASCAP, the BBC, Folk Alliance International and he received the rarely bestowed Lifetime Achievement Grammy™ from the Recording Academy. His recordings have received numerous Grammy™ nominations and he was honored with an official Parliamentary tribute at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom at the start of his 2007 UK tour. The Martin Guitar Company introduced the HD-40LSH Tom Paxton Signature Edition acoustic guitar in his honor in 2004, and in May 2008, Paxton was honored with a special lifetime tribute from the World Folk Music Association.
Tom Paxton has become a voice of his generation, addressing issues of injustice and inhumanity, laying bare the absurdities of modern culture and celebrating the tenderest bonds of family, friends, and community.
Brought to New York courtesy of the US Army, Tom remained there following his discharge. His early success in Greenwich Village coffeehouses, such as The Gaslight and The Bitter End, led to an ever-increasing circle of work. Then in 1965 he made his first tour of the United Kingdom — the beginning of a still-thriving professional relationship that has included at least one tour in each of the succeeding years.
His songs have become modern standards, including "The Last Thing on My Mind", "Bottle of Wine", "Whose Garden Was This", "The Marvelous Toy", and "Ramblin' Boy" and over the past 60 years, Tom has performed thousands of concerts around the world in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Scandinavia, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada.
Tom Paxton’s place in folk music is secured not just by hit records and awards, but by the admiration of three generations of fellow musicians. An internationally recognized and loved cultural figure, he has always chosen goodwill over commercial success. His generosity has taken the shape of a benefit concert performance for a little girl fighting leukemia, or a personal note of encouragement to an up-and-coming songwriter. This is the man who wrote and lives the words, “Peace will come, and let it begin with me.”
We are incredibly proud and privileged to include Tom Paxton among the faculty at our inaugural Song Camp Italy. Do not miss this opportunity to learn the art and craft of songwriting at the feet of one of Folk music’s great living legends.
TomPaxton.com
Gian Piero Alloisio’s prolific and extraordinary career has spanned over four decades and multiple artistic forms, including songwriting, theater, television and literary arts. Of the hundreds of songs he has written, a dozen have become evergreens.
He has collaborated with and written songs for numerous luminaries of popular Italian music and theater, including legendary singer-songwriter Francesco Guccini as well as Giorgio Gaber, Claudio Lolli, Tonino Conte, Maurizio Maggiani, Ombretta Colli, Eugenio Finardi, Paolo Graziosi and others. His songs have been recorded by Guccini himself as well as Assemblea Musicale Teatrale (AMT) and other renown Italian recording artists. After writing four albums for AMT, Alloisio released his first solo album in 1981, Dovevo fare del cinema. Since then, his discography has grown to include numerous celebrated albums.
In addition to his expansive songwriting credentials, Alloisio is recognized as a maestro of Italian theater, having written, produced and directed over 60 theatrical productions, including the acclaimed musical comedies Una donna tutta sbagliata, Aiuto! Sono una donna di successo and Donne in amore.
In 1998, he founded l’Associazione Teatro Italiano del Disagio (ATID) and became its artistic director. For three years, Gian Piero was artistic commissioner of the Carnevale di Viareggio, one of the most renowned carnival celebrations in the world.
In 2012, Gian Piero was honored to perform his composition “Every Life Is Great” in an audience with Pope Benedict XVI which was broadcast nationally on Italian television and also aired internationally on television networks worldwide. Famous Italian singer Gianni Morandi recorded this song for his album Bisogna vivere and included it in his historic live performance at Verona's legendary l'Arena amphitheater.
Gian Piero Alloisio is also the producer and artistic director for Genova per Voi, the first national Italian talent competition for songwriters. The songwriters discovered on Genova per Voi currently dominate the top of Italy's popular music charts.
Alloisio continues to write, compose and produce from his home in Ovada, Italy.
Song Camp Italy is very excited to offer this unique opportunity to learn about the Italian songwriting tradition from one of its masters.
GianPieroAlloisio.it
Paul Reisler
Songwriting & Guitar
Paul Reisler has written more songs than the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Stephen Foster combined—somewhere north of 3,500 compositions. Ok, he has had some serious help from some of his co-writers including a handful of Grammy winning songwriters as well as the over 65,000 children he’s written with in his Kid Pan Alley program. Artists including Amy Grant, Sissy Spacek, Suzy Bogguss, Delbert McClinton, Raul Malo, Cracker, Corey Harris, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Jesse Winchester and many others have recorded his songs. Paul has been performing professionally for over 45 years as the leader of Trapezoid, Paul Reisler & A Thousand Questions featuring Howard Levy, and Three Good Reasons.
During that time, he’s been involved in over 3 dozen recordings as a musician, producer, composer and songwriter. He’s taught at workshops and songwriting schools including Rocky Mountain Song School, Utah Song School, Swannanoa Gathering, Blue Ridge Songcamp, Augusta Workshop, University of the Pacific, Hollyhock, Berklee College of Music, Folk Alliance, Kerrville, Nashville Songwriters Association, Omega Institute, Moulin a Nef in S. France, Songcamp in the Mountains, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, and many others.
In addition to all his songs and instrumentals, he wrote the full-length piece Aesop’s Fables for Orchestra and Narrator as well as the script and music for two new musicals--Bouncin’ and The Talented Clementine.
PaulReisler.com
KidPanAlley.org
“Reisler's talents are many and his creativity, vast. Not too many people can do what he can do, bring the spirit of music and creating to new generations, opening up one of the most important doors there is. He is a national treasure." -- Robert Fritz, composer, filmmaker and author of Creating and The Path of Least Resistance
Your words, comments, spirit are fine companions as I walk along and listen for the stories and songs that come from my heart. You have a gift not only for your own art and craft, but also for creating an atmosphere that is safe, nurturing, yet challenging.” -- Michael Cervone, NY
“I have been coming to songwriting camps for some time to gain knowledge, but when I attended Paul Reisler’s classes on ‘Harmony and Chord Substitution’ I received something better than mere knowledge, I received understanding -- where all that accumulated knowledge came together into a useable form. Then I attended his class ‘A Song is a Story is a Song’ and was given something even more significant, and that is wisdom.” -- Cliff Rice, Valparaiso, IN
“The best musical experience I’ve ever had.” -- Eric Eckl, Past President, Songwriters Association of Washington, DC
Dr. Ysaÿe M. Barnwell
Songwriting, Performance & Vocals
Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell toured with the internationally acclaimed singing group Sweet Honey In The Rock for more than 30 years, appearing on more than 30 recordings. She has performed everywhere from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center to concert halls in Africa, Europe and New Guinea. She is a vocalist with a range of over three octaves. Throughout the years, she has spent much of her time off stage working as an actress, composer and arranger, author, songwriter, master teacher and choral leader.
For almost thirty years, and on three continents, she has led the workshop “Building a Vocal Community - Singing in the African American Tradition,” which utilizes oral tradition, an African world view and African American history, values, cultural and vocal traditions to build communities of song among singers and non-singers alike. It’s completely astounding to watch her turn a group of people into a gospel choir in a very short time.
“The magic of finding the pitch amid the many voices, the challenge of remembering the part before the one she’s teaching now, the joy of blending black and white, young and old, talented and mediocre, three piece suits and hippie attire, all this and more makes up the wonder of the Ysaye Barnwell Community Sing. For two blissful hours, I join anywhere from forty to one hundred people in song. It is my church, a place of joy and love and sacred moments, and I come away refreshed, full of light and with an open heart.”
YMBarnwell.com
"Chicago" Mike Beck
Performance & Music Career
“Chicago” Mike Beck is an ASCAP award-winning songwriter and recording artist who has been touring full-time in the USA and Europe since 2001 as a solo performer and with his band Chicago Mike’s InterGalactic Brother & Sisterhood of Big Eyed Beans. Mike holds a residency several weeks each year at the historic Bright Angel Lodge on the south rim of the Grand Canyon and has toured Europe over 25 times, performing in Switzerland, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, Ireland, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Luxembourg.
In December 2015, Mike completed his first tour of Asia, performing shows in Japan and Thailand. He has personally brought over 30 musicians on their first overseas tours and coached hundreds more. His debut CD, released in 2002, has received radio airplay in the USA, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Transylvania, Romania, Macedonia and Japan.
In addition to his performing and recording endeavors, Mike is the founder of Access Film Music, an organization dedicated to helping independent recording artists expose their music to directors, producers and music supervisors working in film, television, videogames and advertising. The 17th annual Access Film Music Showcase will take place during Film Festival Week in Park City, Utah January 27 - February 2, 2020. Access Film Music is also the Official Music Partner of the ÉCU Film Festival in Paris, France each Spring, where Access showcase events have helped further their mission to connect music-makers with filmmakers.
Mike has been on the faculty of the renown Planet Bluegrass Rocky Mountain SongSchool in Lyons, Colorado since 2005 and has been a featured speaker and mentor at numerous music industry events and educational institutions. These include AmericanaFest in Nashville, Tennessee, South-by-Southwest in Austin, Texas, Folk Alliance International, many other songwriting retreats, music conferences and film festivals throughout North America and Europe, as well as UCLA, Berklee College of Music in Boston and Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. He loves empowering and inspiring musicians to pursue their dreams and enjoys sharing practical ideas, methods and information to help make them real.
ChicagoMike.com
AccessFilmMusic.net
'Of the numerous industry conferences I’ve attended, hands down, the top two seminars were both delivered by “Chicago” Mike Beck. Mike is a world-class communicator with a deep well of experience and knowledge in areas of interest to artists who are ready to get serious about the business of music." -- Dick Wells / Singer-Songwriter & Recording Session Singer - Los Angeles CA
"Your class at FAR-West was the best, most useful presentation I attended all weekend. You are great!" -- Ken Krupnik / Singer/Songwriter - Los Angeles CA
Enrollment is very limited and will sell-out quickly.
To reserve your spot, register today.
info@songcampitaly.com
Copyright © 2021 Song Camp Italy — Ascension WordPress theme by GoDaddy
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Redskins Acquire Bro Bowl Cornerback DeAngelo Hall
November 8, 2008 by AlexV · Leave a Comment
In just four and a half seasons, DeAngelo Hall is already on his third NFL team.
The Washington Redskins agreed to a one year deal worth just over $800,000 with cornerback DeAngelo Hall on Friday November 7th, who had just been waived by the Oakland Raiders. It didn’t take too long for the Pro Bowler to find himself a new home. Although there has been a consensus that Hall has been underachieving this past half-season in Oakland, and the previous year in Atlanta, when looked at closely, it is easy to see why Hall can be a good fit for the Redskins.
First of all, Washington has been suffering from injuries in the secondary, and namely at cornerback; starter Shawn Springs, nickel back Fred Smoot, and backup Leigh Torrence. And although none of the three has been injured for extended periods of time, they have all been injured frequently and sporadically enough that the Redskins could not pass up this opportunity.
Aside from the injury bug in Washington, there is also the stable of wide receivers the Redskins have to face twice each year within their division. The New York Giants sport big game and big height, six foot five inch, Plaxico Burress. We all know about Dallas and Terrell Owens, but now with the pickup of big game, and six foot three, Roy Williams, the necessity for a player of Hall’s talents is ever more of the essence. Finally, the Eagles have a budding star in rookie DeSean Jackson, whose 34 receptions for 525 yards have him on pace to reach 1,050 total, and a quarterback in Donovan McNabb who has shown a propensity to do more with less over his career.
As long as DeAngelo Hall can resume the level play during his Pro Bowl garnering seasons, then the Redskins will have made a good choice. If not, they don’t lose much as they only signed him for the remainder of this season.
Filed Under: Football, uncategorized
Tagged: atlanta, COWBOYS, Dallas, deangelo hall, Desean Jackson, Donovan Mcnabb, Eagles, FALCONS, Giants, new team, New York, NFL, Oakland, philadelphia, Plaxico Burress, RAIDERS, Redskins, Roy Williams, Terrell Owens, Trade, waive, Washington
Drunk behind the wheel, Raiders DL Kelly arrested for DUI
September 16, 2008 by sportsroids · Leave a Comment
By Mark M
Tommy Kelly has been arrested for DUI after the Raiders first win of the season. Things just can’t get any better for the Raiders, with the Coaching controversy as well as the Injury to Justin Fargas. Now their 50.5 Million dollar Defensive Lineman is in Jail. The Raiders organization just can’t get a brake. Either way this is just another example that someone else (—NOT–AL DAVIS—) should be behind the Wheel of this organization.
Tommy Kelly, the highest paid DT ever in NFL history, is in Jail on DUI charges
Tagged: 50.5 Million dollar Defensive Lineman, AL DAVIS, arrested for DUI, Defensive Lineman, Football, Jail, Justin Fargas, RAIDERS, Tommy Kelly
Randy Moss Highlight Videos
Tagged: Football, Highlights, Minnesota Vikings, NFL, Patriots, RAIDERS, Randy Moss, VIKINGS
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Work overview
Imago (2014) · Toccata (2018)
Plein-Jeu (2015–2017)
Transit (2009–2015)
Fugen (2000–2009)
Topografien (2004–2010)
Atlas of New Nature (2000–2001)
Suspension (1996–1997)
Stamps (1991–1997)
Serial Spaces III (1997–2000)
Serial Spaces II (1991–1996)
Serial Spaces I (1984–1990)
Windows (1984–1985)
Ute Pleuger
Kathrin Becker: Rear Window
On Ute Pleuger’s works
“He told me that the artist, especially the writer, from time to time is obligated to search out a hospital, whether it is actually a hospital or perhaps a prison or a monastery. That is an unconditional requirement. The artist, especially the writer, who does not search out a hospital from time to time, that is to say, a life-changing thought region absolutely necessary for his existence, in time gets lost in worthlessness, because he is stuck in superficiality.”
— aus: Thomas Bernhard, Breath, Berlin 1983, p. 234
I. Contemporary art criticism is tormenting itself with the attempt to find a justification for the existence of painting, that art form whose death is so frequently pronounced. In spite of all the diagnoses of the imminent death of painting, painting still happens, and it seems that the question of why or even if we need painting nowadays urgently needs clarification. The spectrum of these answers extends from the “l’art pour l’art” type of attempts to categorize painting as the last refuge of “unalienated action” (1) to the other extreme of emphasizing the theme of painting as a medium, which leads to rejecting the notion that the canvas can be considered an isolated aesthetic phenomenon (2). The difficulty in all these strategies for vindication of painting seems to consist in the impossibility of making demands for innovation on it and in its continual undermining of our belief in the progress of art. Nevertheless we seem to be unable to let go definitively of painting, and evidently it is that fact which causes the most concern.
II. Ute Pleuger has been painting images of faςades since the 80s. For her, the faςade is not a stage for events independently happening behind it which need to be described, but the glance looking at the faςade itself is the theme. Therefore, while looking at her images I had to think for a moment about Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rear Window, which also makes a theme out of the glance at the faςade opposite the viewer. Hitchcock’s film draws its vitality from the tension between the absolute absence of anything happening here, where the protagonist is condemned to motionlessness, that is, just looking, and the complicated, extreme events happening over there behind the opposing faςade. The only bridge between the here and the there is that longlasting look, for that faςade opposite the protagonist is essentially related only to the other and has nothing to do with the protagonist’s world as such. Ute Pleuger is also concerned with that “there,” but not with events taking place behind the opposing walls, but rather, with the abstracted quality of the faςade in its own spatial constellation, its relation to the surrounding space, and finally, the continuum between the work’s surface and the space internal to it. Thus it is that there is no indication in her images of faςades of human beings, whose individuality is increasingly erased. The faςades which Pleuger defines are dehumanized and anonymous, and in connection with the principle of the serial nature of her faςades, they reveal to us a brutal reality of the alienation of human beings from their environment.
The fact that Pleuger has devoted herself to one and the same motif for about a decade may seem remarkable in our age of impermanent digital images. The repetition of the motif and the serial nature of her images seem to want to repress this impermanence. Ute Pleuger paints further and further beyond the glance at the faςades, and the peculiarity of painting in comparison with photography consists in this fact, that painting is always already a decisively constructed appropriation of the world.
The reduction of the reproductive aspect, which she achieves through the renunciation of details and the reduced palette in her painting, is hypertrophied in her stamp images on packing paper: the elements that constitute the faςades are transformed into individual “stamps,” that is, geometrical print molds, out of which the faςades are put together. Pleuger is here concerned with the boundary between reproduction and abstraction, which she describes as “illusionism” on the one hand, and “exemplarity” on the other. Here two different modes of perception are intended, that of recognition and that of seeing as an “apperceptive activity” (3). The serial nature of the elements of the images drives forward their abstraction; the faςade is subjected to a systematic ordering which results in the repetition of the individual elements of the image. Pleuger’s immersion in Messiaen’s music is here relevant, which suggested to her the principles of emphasizing the systematic aspect of her images. The projection of a spatial atmosphere, which the organ as an instrument achieves with its wide-ranging spatial embrace and its polyphonic character, is one of her goals in her painting.
The difference specific to painting relative to its appropriation of the world corresponds to how it emerges successively. While Pleuger is asking what modalities of spatial representation painting can offer, at the same time, she is making use of a set of techniques that belong equally to photography and film: the close-up, the enlargement, the detail. Through the impossibility of encompassing the totality of the image and the necessity of seeing into it gradually, through the utilization of different observer’s standpoints within a single work, through pushing forward the boundary between abstraction and recognition, through the apparently asymmetrical shifting of the shapes in the middle of the faςades (in her polyptychs), the resulting perception of her paintings has a certain similarity to the perception of a film, where the eye of the observer is continually in motion (4).
The observer is even more forced to bodily movement in the Rotunda, which seems to actually require being moved around. There, just as earlier in the Hospital and the Parking Garage the visual habit of perspective is disrupted, as the shifting of the vanishing points in the individual faςade elements that constitute the image causes an imaginary turning movement in the observer’s standpoint. There is no longer a fixed standpoint in front of the image, and it is this lack of spatial anchoring that causes such discomfort in viewing Ute Pleuger’s austere spatial representation of the faςades.
III. Ute Pleuger’s works are about the appropriation of reality and therefore are engaged, not with the essence of things in themselves, but with the essence of their appearance. What Pleuger constructs are analogous correspondences with the “illusionism” of reality, in such a way that the substantial nature of reality is emphasized.
Amid the current discussions about the end of painting, which are by no means anything new, as we previously noted, the aspect of thematizing painting as a medium has been somewhat exaggerated and has been brought into relation with the history of a “reflexive and self-analytical enlightenment within painting” (5), which began early in the modern era and was catalyzed particularly by the invention and popularization of photography. But what painting is able to achieve is to create distance as a kind of “filter” by abstracting from reality (6). By involving us in the “there,” as we move into the painted world facing us, we can also look out of it at the world. Today, painting can be used as the “trusted vehicle for camouflage and last refuge for the myth of individuality” in order to “deconstruct the illusions of the present day (7).”
From the catalogue: Ute Pleuger – Serielle Räume – Arbeiten 1982–1996, Museum der Dinge – Werkbund-Archiv im Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-00-011665-6
Translated by Robert Ball, Minneapolis
Back to cataloguesBack to picturesBack to biography
Home Towers · Subway station Alexanderplatz Berlin · 1995
Rotunda · Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin · 1996
(1) Cf. Raimund Stecker in dialog with Martin Henschel und Heinz-Norbert Jocks, in Against the Violence of the New, and the Adventure of Painting, in Kunstforum International, Vol. 131, August/October 1995, pp. 268ff.
(2) Cf. Peter Weibel, ed., catalog Pittura immedia—Painting in the 90s between Mediatized Visuality and Visuality in Context, Klagenfurt, 1995, and Thomas Wulffen, Painting as Medium in the same catalog, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, 1995.
(3) Cf. Wilhelm Worringer, Abstraction and Empathy, a Contribution to the Psychology of Syle, Munich, 1916.
(4) Cf. Paul Virilio, The Negative Horizon, Munich 1989. Virilio establishes that film for the first time “realizes the unity of transportation and media machines,” as film is not just a vehicle for representation, reproduction, and storage of moving objects, but also creates new perceptions through the movement of the observer’s eyes.
(5) Cf. Johannes Meinhardt, The End of Painting and Painting after the End of Painting, in Kunstforum International, Vol. 131, August/October 1995, p. 203.
(6) Cf. Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen in dialog with Heinz-Norbert Jocks, The Filter of Painting, in Kunstforum International, Vol. 131, August/October 1995, p. 278.
(7) Thomas Lawson, Last Exit: Painting, Artforum 20, No. 2, October 1981, pp. 40ff., as quoted in Silvia Eiblmayr, The Eyes of the Night Creatures, in the catalog Marlene Dumas Models, Salzburg, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, 1995-96, p. 8.
© Ute Pleuger · Imprint
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New Valley High School #5
Owner : Los Angeles Unified School District
Contact : Tony Morera | tony@martinezarchitects.com | (310) 306-4708
Year Project Constructed : 2011
Project Cost : $149M
Contract Amount : $283,298.00
Address : 1001 Arroyo Ave., San Fernando, CA 91340
Client : Martinez Architects
8405 Pershing Dr., Ste. 201, Playa Del Rey, CA 90293
This new high school was constructed in an existing business and industrial area in the City of San Fernando. The high school was built on an existing paved flea market area, where the site is bounded on the east by the main entrance street, by the west by a major channel/dam facility, at the north by an industrial building facility, and in the south by the rest of the flea market area. All surface features within the site were demolished and new classroom buildings, auditoriums, cafeterias, lunch shelters, physical education buildings, athletic fields and courts, running track, and synthetic soccer fields, were part of the design.
VCA Engineers provided the complete civil engineering services for both onsite and offsite improvements. VCA set the finish floor elevations of the all the buildings to be compliant with ADA requirements at the same time to properly provide drainage at the site while balancing the cut and fill of this sloping terrain. VCA also designed the underground utilities, potable and fire water, storm drain, and sanitary sewer that will service the new high school. In addition, offsite work around the new high school was required involving the City. Street widening of the public right of way and the installation of parent and bus drop off facilities, street light, traffic signalization, street striping and signage, were part of the offsite improvements.
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Birds and football! What a combination!
May 24, 2014 by Redgannet 2 Comments
On June 12th, FIFA’s Football World Cup will kick off in Brazil, with the home side hosting Croatia for the opening match in Sao Paulo. Anticipation is building as the date approaches and football fans will soon be arriving in the city to pay homage at the birthplace of Brazil’s fabulous version of the beautiful game.
Brazil will play in Gold, blue and green.
Just to be clear, as the main demographic reading here is from North America, this is the Soccer World Cup. Nevertheless, 370,000 ticket applications were received from USA, which shows a real enthusiasm if slight confusion about the event which will be contested in Brazil during June and July 2014 and will likely attract television audiences of more than 3 billion over the course of the tournament. In excess of 100,000 high-spending enthusiasts are expected to travel to Brazil to support their respective countries at the matches which will be held in mini-leagues before the knock-out stages, culminating in the final game in Rio on Sunday 13th July.
If you are planning a visit to see the opening game in Sao Paulo or any of the 5 subsequent games to be played there (England will play Uruguay on June 19. USA may get to play there if they make it to the semi-finals as Group G runner up. Hopefully they will drop out at this stage to England), you will almost certainly be looking around to see if you could fit in a little bit of birdwatching during your stay. Below are a few suggestions of sites within the city that can easily be reached using public transport.
Much has been written about personal safety in Brazil and it is true that Sao Paulo has a high crime rate, but I hope that you will find, as I have, that the huge majority of Paulistas are honest, courteous and sophisticated. Take sensible precautions and be discrete with expensive jewellery, watches and optics, particularly if you intend to use the Metro system. Same as in most cities around the world really.
Ibirapuera Park is a city park with lakes, lawns and wooded areas. It is in the heart of the city with a gated entrance and regular security patrols. Open from dawn to dusk 7 days a week, it has an eBird hotspot list of 79 species from 16 submissions.
Parque Estudial da Cantareira is a forested area in the hills to the north of the city within easy reach of the Metro. It is gated and secure, but is only open at weekends and on public holidays. Timings are 08.00 ‘til 17.00. An employee/guide may be able to gain admittance for a private tour outside of these times (see below). It has an eBird score of 197 species from 25 checklists.
Jardim Botanico can be found to the south of the city near the zoological Gardens. It features lakes lawn and forest. A nice feature is a boardwalk that passes through a section of forest. The gardens are strictly entrance controlled and provides a very safe atmosphere. Open 6 days, 09.00 ‘til 17.00. Closed on Mondays.
Parque Ecologico do Tiete is close to a poor section of town and personal security should be considered if travelling alone or with expensive optics. Nevertheless, it is likely to provide the best list of the featured sites. There is a security presence on the gate and regular patrols, but there are also some remote parts of the park. Dress down.
Ibirapuera Park (Google Earth ref; 23 35 18S 46 39 36W) is the largest city park in Sao Paulo and very popular with the Paulistas who like to jog and walk on the paths and picnic and sunbathe on the lawns. Despite being so busy, it can be very productive for someone with limited time. All taxi drivers know the park and it should be relatively easy to pick up a return taxi from the street.
It features lakes which can usually be relied upon for Neotropic Cormorant and White-faced Whistling Duck on the water with Kiskadees seemingly perched on every bank-side tree. Masked Water-tyrants stalk the edges and Southern Lapwings might be seen on any grassy area close to the water.
An arched metal bridge gives a good view out onto the lake and provides a higher perspective for the surrounding treetops that may contain Saffron Finches, Picazuro Pigeons or Sayaca Tanagers. There is a big sky view from here where the Black Vultures will almost certainly be the first thing you see. Below the bridge, the lower lake dwindles to a small stream and the banks are less manicured than much of the lakeside. Amazon Kingfishers are likely to be seen along here.
The flowering trees are likely to be visited by Plain Parakeets, Swallow-tailed Hummingbirds and Bananaquits while the lawns are always likely to bring a Rufous-bellied Thrush or a Rufous-collared Sparrow.
There is a stand of large eucalypts which can sometimes bring a tanager or two, but there is better mixed forest on the southern edge of the park. Ruby-crowned Tanager and Fawn-breasted Tanager can be seen here and recently a Blonde-crested Woodpecker has taken up residence and seems to like this area.
Most of these are very common birds which are widely distributed throughout Brazil. They should be relatively easy to see in most places, but Ibirapuera Park provides a reasonably safe environment and pleasant surroundings in which to enjoy them.
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Parque Estudial da Cantareira (Google Earth ref; 23 27 17.33S 46 38 8.2W) is a delightful forested area to the north of the city and provides a spectacular viewpoint from which to view the metropolis. Why people come to the forest to look back at the city is beyond me, but it also allows a view across the canopy which may bring Channel-billed Toucans or Red-ruffed Fruitcrows. There are a number of trails that lead off from the main road into the deeper darker forest where the understorey is slightly thinner than along the road.
Brassy-breasted Tanagers or Green-headed Tanagers may be seen higher in the canopy along with Blue Dacnis and any small patch of sky visible through the foliage will probably have a Black Vulture passing across it. Woodcreepers, spinetails and foliage-gleaners are likely to feature strongly in any low or mid-level bird party that you encounter, so mug up on likely candidates ahead of time.
The forest floor is home to tinamous, Dusky-legged Guan and Spot-winged Wood-quail.
With luck, you may encounter a Surucua Trogon. A pair has been nesting by the roadside for some years, but they are not so predictable outside of the breeding season.
The park has two main focus points: Pedra Grande is the big rock that provides the view across the treetops to the city. It can be found on the road which loops off from the main trail. The lower part of this loop often has much less human disturbance than the top half and thus can be more productive.
The other attraction is Lago Das Carpas. There are toilets and picnic facilities here beside the lake which may have Little Grebe and an assortment of South American flycatchers. There is no transport inside the park and all travel must be on foot. A roundtrip to Lago das Carpas via Pedro Grande is a walk of about 6 or 7 miles. A few sections are slightly steep but anyone with a reasonably steady heartbeat should easily manage.
There are three posted trails close to the entrance to help make the most of your time. The gates close at 17.00 and it is not always easy to judge exactly how long it will take to get back, so if you arrive at the gate before 17.00 but are reluctant to leave the forest until the last minute, the trails can soak up the last seconds before you are asked to leave.
It is important to note that the park is only open at weekends and on public holidays from 08.00 to 17.00. It may be possible to plead your case as an international visitor, but do not base your day on the goodwill of the gatekeeper. It is possible to gain access to the forest during the week in the company of a guide employed by the forest authority. The following name was given to me by a guide who once took me around the forest from 06.00 on a weekday. He no longer works in this section of forest, but recommended that I try Daniel. danielsilvaindio@gmail.com
In case you have failed to engage a guide and the gatekeeper turns a deaf ear to your weekday pleading, there is a public park at the bottom of the hill. Alberto Lofgren Park has a small section of forest edge that is easily accessible, but not worth a whole day’s visit.
To reach the park, take the Metro to Tucuruvi Metro Station and use a cab from there. Ask for Rua da Horto, 1799 Tremembe, Parque Estudial da Cantareira – Nucleo da Pedra Grande. If you cannot find a cab for the return journey, bus number 2740 plies between the Metro station at Parada Ingles and the small open area at the bottom of the hill outside Alberto Lofgren Park.
Jardim Botanico do Sao Paulo is the perfect place for those of a timid disposition. Entrance fees are charged, there is a security presence on the gate and ne’er-do-wells are seldom seen. It promotes a very secure atmosphere and one can relax and enjoy the birds in peace.
It is situated beside a chunk of forest and incorporates part of it in the gardens. Woodcreepers and foliage-gleaners are likely in mid and lower levels. Look out for the Howler Monkeys too. At the furthest reach of the garden, a boardwalk has been built to raise visitors above the forest floor. It follows the flow of a tiny stream into the gloom under the canopy and runs for a couple of hundred meters.
Small, ornamental lakes attract Greater Kiskadees, Social Flycatchers and Amazon Kingfishers. A Brazilian Teal may be seen here, but they are more likely on the less manicured lakes to the south of the entrance.
A damp seep provides a place for many birds to come down from the forest to splash in the shallow water. It is worth taking some time to stake this spot out as there is no telling what might come down to bathe. Look for it at the top end of the first lake.
While you wait, keep an eye out on the grass behind you. Thrushes are common in the gardens and if you are lucky, the Slaty-breasted Wood-rail might come out for a tour of the forest edge.
The less manicured lakes to the south of the entrance gate may bring Yellow-billed Teal as well as Brazilian Teal. Egret will probably be seen and Smooth-billed Anis like to scamper through the bank-side vegetation.
The Jardim (Google Earth ref; 23 38 22.02S 46 37 38.58W) can be reached from the Metro station Conceicao on the Blue (Azul) line. A taxi will take 10 minutes from the metro. Ask for Jardim Botanico, Parque do Estado, Cursino. To return, if a taxi is not available, a bus runs from immediately outside the entrance gate and passes the Metro station.A bus ride costs 3 Reas.
Please note that the gardens are closed on Mondays, but are open for the rest of the week between 09.00 and 17.00.
Parque Estudial do Tiete can be seen on the drive into town from the airport. It does not look inviting to the casual visitor, but a seasoned birder will recognise the potential in what looks like a wasteland with a sewer running through it. The revolting Rio Tiete floods over onto riverside marshes providing a lot of great habitat for birds. The area has been slightly sanitised with a kids’ playground, picnic areas, food stalls, a museum, lakes and well maintained paths, but you will never escape the presence of the river on a warm afternoon.
There is plenty of potential for waterbirds here; Wattled Jacana, Blackish Rail and Limpkin are seen on the marshes close to the river. Yellow-chinned Spinetail, White-headed Marsh Tyrant and Masked Yellowthroat are likely in the bank-side scrub. On patches of open water in the marshes White-faced Whistling Ducks, White-cheeked Pintail and Brazilian Teal are all common. It is strange that longer-legged birds are not more common. Great Egret and Snowy Egret will be seen easily, but Cocoi Heron is less often found and eBird makes no mention of storks or ibis. The eBird list for PE Tiete contains only 123 species from 11 checklists submitted. I am convinced that this seriously understates the site’s potential and many more species will be added in the future.
A path describes a 5 km circle around the park taking in the various habitats. If you walk in a counterclockwise direction you will pass through some scrub and forest first. Keep an eye out for Orange-headed Tanager, Chestnut-vented Conebill, Spix’s Spinetail and Southern Beardless Tyrannulet. Banks of Hibiscus bushes provide spectacular red blooms for Bananaquit and hummingbirds. Soon lakes will open out on both sides with Neotropic Cormorant and Amazon Kingfisher featuring strongly.
On the left you will find a small island on which some Black Cappuchin Monkeys have been marooned and rely on handouts from the park workers and visitors. While we are talking of mammals, keep an eye out for the Agouti, Capybara and Coati. Lucky visitors may even spot a Tapir.
You will be travelling northeast to start with and may find the low sun of the morning irritating, but once you turn the corner, you should get a better light direction for the rest of the day.Marshes will start to appear after about a kilometre and open spots give views across them to the right of the path.
There are a couple of access points to the river where the Capybara enter and exit from the rancid waters. Birdlife here is mostly made up of Common Gallinules which pick for food on the islands of solid matter and old tyres.
Take the left turn at the junction after about 2-3 miles. This will lead to a small concession area. Across the lake from here is a picnic area that can often prove to be very productive. If thrushes and Masked Water-tyrants have not yet been seen, this is where they are likely to be. A small section of forest edge might bring some parakeets or a House Wren. Dead snags might hold Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.
Keep an eye to the skies for Snail Kite and Roadside Hawk and Southern Caracara, but mostly it will be the ubiquitous Black Vultures that are seen. The children’s playground has proved to be the most reliable spot for Southern Caracara if you are still looking.
The park is sited close to a poor district of town and I suspect that these areas provide much of the river’s content. Personal security should be a consideration if you visit PE Tiete. Visit as a group and dress down. A scope might be useful here, but it will only attract attention, especially if you have a smart tripod and intend to travel there on public transport.
The CPTM railway runs from platform 7 at Bras Metro Station to Eng Goulart (Google Earth ref; 23 29 54.30S 46 31 14.34W). From here it is necessary to cross under the tracks (400 meters back, west from the station) and walk to the park entrance at Google Earth ref; 22 29 43.14S 46 31 10.86W. A tunnel passes under the main road, Rod. Ayrton Senna da Silva, and the park is accessed through the security gate. There are unlikely to be taxis at the park nor will they be found at the railway station.
Enjoy the football, enjoy the birds.
Brazil Sao Paulo
Written by Redgannet
Redgannet worked for more than 35 years as a flight attendant for an international airline. He came to birding late in his career but, considering the distractions, doesn't regret the missed opportunities. He was paid to visit six continents and took full advantage of the chance to bird the world. He adopted the nom de blog, Redgannet, to avoid remonstrations from his overbearing employer, but secretly hoped that the air of mystery would make him more attractive to women. Now grounded, he is looking forward to seeing the seasons turn from a fixed point.
My Trip to Costa Rica Part 2
Birding Lake Yojoa and Panacam Lodge
Views of the Antisana Ecological Reserve
Wendy Feltham May 24, 2014 at 12:27 pm
Great post, thanks! These are lovely photos of gorgeous birds. I spent a few months in Brazil many years ago, tragically it was before becoming a birder.
Sonja Ross May 24, 2014 at 5:09 pm
That really is an excellent and helpful post, and makes me want to go there!
A Post Chock-full of Bird News
Where Are You Birding This Fourth Weekend of May 2014?
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Creating a Cinematic Cocktail Experience at Bibo Ergo Sum
By thirstyinla On January 14, 2019 · 2 Comments · In Interviews, Stories
Photo: Bibo Ergo Sum
Sipping Martinis and talking movies – it’s a cocktail ritual that’s been repeated for generations at Musso & Frank Grill, which is celebrating its centennial in 2019. On a quiet afternoon over the holidays, Musso’s was an especially appropriate setting to bend an elbow with Tait Forman, who owns one of the best of L.A.’s new generation of bars, Bibo Ergo Sum.
It’s one thing to be a movie fan, but for Tait, movies are his family legacy. His great-grandfather William Forman founded Pacific Theatres in 1946. He’s credited with making drive-ins popular in Southern California and is perhaps best known for opening the landmark Cinerama Dome, located less than a mile from Musso’s.
Tait’s father Christopher Forman founded ArcLight Cinemas when he saw “a shift in the landscape of exhibition. For him, it was really just about building his ideal theater, a place where he knew that people would love the movies.” Built on the former parking lot of the Cinerama Dome, the flagship ArcLight Hollywood opened in March 2002.
I mention to Forman that I saw Apocalypse Now at the Cinerama Dome and he shares a great story about how the movie’s sound editor would be in the projection booth, and during certain scenes – like right before the tiger jumps at Martin Sheen – he would turn down the volume then crank it up and blow out the speakers. “To be around, to have something of meaning like that for 50 years – you tell the story, many people have told [me] stories about seeing movies there.”
Tait Forman | Photo: Bibo Ergo Sum
After studying history and classical studies in Boston, Forman returned to L.A. with “no clue” what he wanted to do. “I knew I wanted to be in hospitality. I ended up going into the family business – there was certainly a draw there, so I’d be the fourth generation to be in the business. I love the movies, but I was looking for something more.”
Forman started on the business and marketing side, and then began “gravitating towards the bar. Not like how I gravitate towards the bar on a Tuesday night or something – but I was trying to find more ways to get involved in the bar operation. Seeing opportunities to impact guest experience through our beverage program. So I started spending more and more time where I finally just moved over to the operations side of things.” That was when the desire for “something more” led him to start working on the business plan for Bibo Ergo Sum (Latin for “I drink, therefore I am”).
Photo: Death & Co
During his time on the East Coast, Forman came of age drinking [“at a legal age,” he emphasizes] on trips down to New York, where he’d visit “some of these now-legendary bars. One of the first bars I ever went to was Death & Company and it changed my mind. The attention to detail on product matched with incredible hospitality. I can still remember sitting at the bar for the first time.”
As he began working on the business plan for Bibo, Forman thought, “If I can bring that experience I had at Death & Co and bring that through with me in what I’m trying to do now, that would be great. ‘Let’s see. Maybe somebody can help me with that. Oh, Dave Kaplan, Alex Day and Devon Tarby own a consulting business. Maybe I’ll go ask them.’ [laughs] And that’s really where it started.”
Forman went to the Arts District office of Proprietors LLC and pitched them on the project. “I was terrified. They’re these industry titans, they run the cocktail world, what do I know? Nicest people in the world – as you know, and many others know. The relationship just flourished from there.”
Initially, Forman wanted Proprietors working on Bibo exclusively. “I tried to keep ArcLight at arm’s length. Ultimately we saw so much potential with what they could do with the ArcLight bar program. Brought them in with that as well and they’ve done incredible work. Looking at what a cocktail at ArcLight would have been ten years ago – it was a Martini menu until four years ago. Some pretty dramatic changes.”
Forman continues, “We’re very much aligned with consistency and setting a certain level of standards. ArcLight holds a certain level of excellence for the moviegoing experience. The bar should be part and parcel of that, and Proprietors continues to bring that expertise to what we’re doing. It couldn’t have worked out any better.”
Bibo Ergo Sum opened on Nov. 17, 2017 – a three-year journey from its inception. Bibo’s discreet location at Robertson Plaza literally brings Forman full circle – he was born at Cedars-Sinai, which is only a block away. “When I started I didn’t necessarily have a specific location in mind. I quickly came to that location for a couple of reasons. One, I live in that neighborhood and two – basically saw an opportunity in that neighborhood. We’re at the intersection of Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and the City of Los Angeles. The amount of communities we can hit at once was kind of a huge opportunity to me.”
“I was a little anxious at first,” he says. “Maybe the neighborhood wouldn’t go for it. Ultimately our focus on a good drink, and just a good experience I think people have found very welcoming. It’s worked out well and [I’m] really happy we’re there. It seems like that whole area is turning over. It’s not a neighborhood I would have stereotypically gone to go hang out – I gravitate to Downtown, Koreatown, Silver Lake. But there are enough people in the neighborhood that want those [kinds of] bars, that I think we’re helping to meet that need.”
Bibo Ergo Sum is flat-out gorgeous, one of the best looking bars to open in L.A. in the last few years. From the custom lighting to the flowing Art Deco lines and showcase horseshoe bar, there’s an undeniable cinematic quality to the intimate 1,800 square-foot space. “I certainly had a couple of inspiration bars in mind. I mentioned Death & Co. Drink in Boston – that industrial, minimalist aesthetic which does not translate at all into what Bibo looks like today.”
The stunning interior was created by Brooklyn-based Home Studios, which had previously created the design for Gwen in Hollywood. “Oliver [Haslegrave] kind of challenged me. ‘What are the real influences?’ For me, it was about creating a space that felt truly present now, but rooted in the history of Los Angeles. A lot of the influence came from the architectural color palette of the neighborhood. Started looking at old school photos of some of the local hotels, and it ended up creating an aesthetic that I didn’t originally have in mind but I think fits the neighborhood perfectly.”
Forman continues, “I’ve said before, the space is very elegant. It’s possibly more elegant than I wanted it to be. But ultimately we try and hold ourselves in an inviting way. So you get this level of elegance while feeling naturally comfortable the moment you walk in. You’ll be met by a member of staff, he greets you with a smile, sits you down, tells you about our story, and hopefully that puts people at ease.”
The horseshoe bar is a unique design feature and wasn’t Forman’s initial intention. “While it’s perfect the way it is, it was a bit of an engineering challenge to put everything right in the middle of the bar.”
He adds, “A lot of the magic to me at a bar is being at the bar, being in the show of the bartender in front of you. In some ways, putting the bar in the center of the room was a natural evolution of that. It gears the entire energy of the room back into what’s going on behind the bar.”
“I always say, Bibo is for whoever and whatever they want. If you’re not necessarily there to focus on somebody making a great drink, that’s great. But the space does gear your mind towards that, so you know instantly this is a place that takes cocktails seriously enough – not too seriously, but takes a certain level of care in the drinks they’re making.
The opening cocktail menu was inspired by Christopher Nolan’s 2006 film, The Prestige – specifically the three parts of a magic trick: The Pledge, The Turn, and The Prestige.
The menu was a collaboration between Devon Tarby of Proprietors and Bibo’s GM, Daniel Zacharczuk. Forman says, “I have no expertise in creating drinks, so I will take no credit for that. But what I wanted to do was essentially create a narrative, something that allowed for three steps. We were going back and forth, how do you tell three steps. I think I was watching The Prestige on cable one night, and Michael Caine starts to go through the spiel, how do you describe a magic trick? I was sitting there, ‘Oh my God, this is it. This is three stages.’ I texted Devon, ‘I think we have our menu.’ So that was about the limit of my influence.” [laughs]
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbiBJLbApxL/
“From there, Daniel and Devon created a killer menu of drinks. Some of those I will always remember. The Grandpa Joe [bourbon, clarified orange & lemon juices, Grand Marnier, Angostura]; the Throw Some C’s [Cimarrón Reposado, lime, Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao, cinnamon] is probably the most approachable yet elevated Margarita variant I’ve ever had – they’re just killer, killer drinks.”
The first year for any bar or restaurant can often be the most difficult, especially in a city as competitive as L.A. “We’ve been very fortunate. We have an incredible staff and they really do own the space. Daniel makes sure it runs exceptionally well.”
Daniel Zacharczuk | Photo: Bibo Ergo Sum
A veteran of the L.A. bar scene, Zacharczuk has worked at or helped open many of the city’s best bars over the last several years, including The Varnish, Bestia, Honeycut, and Playa. “His attention to detail is second to none,” says Forman. “He’s got an encyclopedic knowledge of drinks, and just the way he brings the staff along with that as well. You can just see everybody around him leveling up to where he’s at. That doesn’t happen magically.”
Bibo launched a new cocktail menu and food offerings timed to the one-year anniversary. “We started working conceptually and R&Ding the new menu probably sometime in June, which kind of tells you how long it actually takes us to put pen to paper.” [laughs]
Zacharczuk took the lead on the current menu, which is themed Bibo Through the Ages. Forman says, “Again my input comes from a narrative perspective, trying to find ways to provide variety for our guests, an emotional connection to these sections.”
Nite Lite: Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon, Frangelico Liqueur, Giffard Abricot du Roussillon, Amaro Sfumato Rabarbaro, Angostura Bitters | Photo: Bibo Ergo Sum
“The first [menu] was about three sections pushing an order of drinks – the Pledge, the Turn, the Prestige. This menu is about meeting the drinks where you want to be. What I mean by that is we have three different eras, and depending on how you want to step into that you can have fun with it.” First up is the pre-Prohibition Old Style. “You can nerd out on ’em if you want, some of them are wildly approachable. The Nite Lite is like an autumnal Old Fashioned, it’s just exactly what you want this time of year.”
Pismo Cup: Absolut Elyx Vodka, BES Fruit Cup, Clear Creek Cranberry Liqueur, Extra Dry Vermouth, Citrus Cordial, Cucumber | Photo: Bibo Ergo Sum
“The Neon section is built for Friday and Saturday night. The drinks are bright and vibrant both in color and flavor. You’re chatting with a bunch of friends, you want something that’s long, orange, a little bit of smoke on it.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrB2VxcliHQ/
“Present & Beyond is trying to be thoughtful [about] where we’re at in drinking culture. There are a lot of people around us doing incredible stuff with cocktails, thinking about what is the future of our palate, what’s the future of the drinks we’re making. That’s meant to be where we can express some of our ideas as well and just be part of that conversation.”
“A lot of people certainly had emotional connections to our past menu, which I really appreciate. But I think Daniel hit it out of the park with this menu, there’s some really, really cool stuff on there.”
One of Forman’s favorites is from Present & Beyond, the Spiked Prose: blended Scotch whisky, BES Maraschino Liqueur, Amaro Nonino, Merlot Honey, Peet’s Coffee Cream. “It’s one of the most delicious cocktails I’ve had in a long time. It’s not even a true dessert cocktail – it’s just well, well balanced.
Another standout is the Skip, Hop, an’ a Flip (aged rum, Mosaic-hopped Del Maguey Vida Mezcal, Giffard Crème de Pêche de vigne, lime, demerara, egg). “I’m a huge beer nerd, and Daniel allowed himself to lean into that. We started dry hopping the mezcal with Mosaic hops, and you get this incredible floral note. Hops – you first think of beer, IPAs you think bitterness. Fortunately, I can’t perceive bitterness at all, so I never get that anyway. That’s probably why I love aperitifs and Negronis. The Skip, Hop, an’ a Flip allows those hops to really shine.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq8hcIZlgc4/
“The interesting thing for me is seeing where both our guests and our staff take it. I was saying to someone the other day, sure I spent three years trying to control what this would be. Then we launch it and it’s no longer mine. It belongs to our staff, it belongs to our guests. Part of that is hearing what everybody is asking for. We didn’t open with a food menu. I didn’t want anything to do with food, I had no expertise in food, and everybody said, ‘When are you going to launch a food menu?’ It wasn’t necessarily trying to be something for everyone, but finding a way to do food that met our ethos, that’s excellent and still fit in with the space. Trying to continue to evolve and meet our guests where they’re at.”
Forman continues, “We wanted items that were both very approachable and easy for the space – high brow cocktails, low brow food. We started off with very basic snacks, something to keep the conversation going. Then we started introducing more meal-type items. We’ve got a gruyere grilled cheese which is wildly good.”
The Bibo Dog was tested on New Year’s Eve 2017. “You’re having a full night, maybe you’ve had a few drinks, you need something to tide you over, something of substance.” Forman notes, “Daniel is a HUGE Dodger fan. How do we do something that naturally ties into the Dodgers, L.A., being an L.A. bar? So this hot dog was born out of that. The cool thing is we get to recycle a lot of our products. The pickle spread is made from leftover cucumbers from our garnishes, the aioli is from leftover products as well.”
“It’s certainly an evolution and I don’t think we’re necessarily there yet. I think the bar can continue to ebb and flow, as long as we stay true to why we’re there. Ultimately Bibo is all about providing a great drinking experience for people who value care, connection and creativity. As long as we’re achieving that it can live its own life.”
Bibo Ergo Sum | Photo: Eugene Lee
Forman then connects the dots between the family business and his bar. “Going back to my ‘why’ – creating these spaces for people. The movies are one of the few places where you can go and truly be in community, you have to leave your phone at the door, you have to be in a space with other people. We’ve been so fortunate that we’ve been able to do that for so long. I’m just grateful to be a part of it. It’s really cool. I’m so proud of what my great-grandfather, grandfather and father have done.”
Forman continues, “My great-grandfather moved here from Seattle, since then my family’s always been rooted in L.A. and really part of the Hollywood and Los Angeles landscape. We’re just blessed to be in this city and be a part of it in some way.”
“When it comes to the bar scene, too. [When] new bars open in this city I’m so excited, I feel some sense of emotional connection to our city getting recognized for the cool stuff that people do, whether it’s the Musso & Franks, the Big Bars or the Normandie Clubs. These are incredible bars and we’re lucky to have them.”
Bibo Ergo Sum
116 N. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles 90048
www.biboergosumla.com
Tagged with → bar • bibo ergo sum • cocktails • daniel zacharczuk • devon tarby • proprietors llc • tait forman • west hollywood
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Powerfully redemptive and darkly comedic revenge thriller set in the vicious world of stand-up comedy, starring Stephen McCole and Malcolm Shields.
To Die For (1995)
Susan wants to work in television and will therefore do anything it takes, even if it means killing her husband. A very dark comedy from independent director Gus Van Sant with a brilliant Nicole Kidman in the leading role.
Suicide Kings (1997)
Christopher Walken shines in this cult-favorite dark comedy as Charlie, a former mobster who is abducted by five privileged young men (Sean Patrick Flanery, Johnny Galecki, Jay Mohr, Jeremy Sisto, Henry Thomas) desperate to raise a $2 million ransom to save the sister of a friend. As Charlie plays mind games, however, his captors splinter -- each wondering whether one of their own had a hand in the crime.
The Cable Guy (1996)
When recently single Steven moves into his new apartment, cable guy Chip comes to hook him up -- and doesn't let go. Initially, Chip is just overzealous in his desire to be Steven's pal, but when Steven tries to end the "friendship," Chip shows his dark side. He begins stalking Steven, who's left to fend for himself because no one else can believe Chip's capable of such behavior.
Remake of the classic hitchcock movie. Whilst generally not as good, it is a rather fun movie, and more lighthearted than the original. This is largely due to Kenneth More's acting.
Clay Pigeons (1998)
Clay is a young man in a small town who witnesses his friend, Earl kill himself because of the ongoing affair that Clay was having with the man's wife, Amanda. Feeling guilty, Clay now resists the widow when she presses him to continue with their sexual affairs. Clay inadvertently befriends a serial killer named Lester Long, who murders the widow in an attempt to "help" his "fishing buddy."
The Matador (2005)
The life of Danny Wright, a salesman forever on the road, veers into dangerous and surreal territory when he wanders into a Mexican bar and meets a mysterious stranger, Julian, who's very likely a hit man. Their meeting sets off a chain of events that will change their lives forever, as Wright is suddenly thrust into a far-from-mundane existence that he takes to surprisingly well
once he gets acclimated to it.
Nicotina (2003)
A real-time dark comedy about a science geek who tangles with a clutch of Russian gangsters after he delivers them the wrong computer disk.
Shoot (1976)
When boredom, pride and a mad second of misjudgement leaves a hunter shot dead by one of five combat veterans also hunting in the Canadian hills, it is expected a police investigation will follow, but when the veterans discover the incident has not been reported, the leader of the team, Major Rex (Cliff Robertson) suspects the other party maybe plotting revenge. Convinced that he, his party, and their families will be targets themselves he decides to beat his suspected assailants at their own game, grouping together more army comrades and stocking up an arsenal of weapons for the forthcoming battle.
Henry likes to kill people, in different ways each time. Henry shares an apartment with Otis. When Otis' sister comes to stay, we see both sides of Henry; the "guy-next-door" and the serial killer.
H (2002)
A serial killer named Shin-Hyun gives himself up to police. He is imprisoned, awaiting the death sentence for his crimes. Yet the killings do not stop. They continue with all the same characteristics trademarks of the Shin-Hyun serial killings. Detective Mi Yun, and her newly appointed partner, Detective Kang, are assigned to the case. Mi Yun and Kang have difficulty working with each other. Detective Kang follows a new suspect, Huh, and eventually catches him in the act of brutally murdering a woman in a crowded techno bar. Huh is taken into custody after Kang shoots and wounds him at the scene of the crime. Yet the murders continue in copy-cat style. The police desperately hunt for new leads. They start an in-depth investigation of a Doctor Chu, who is Shin-Hyun's psychiatrist. But progress is frustrated when Dr Chu becomes a victim of the copy-cat killings herself. The murdered psychiatrist's former boyfriend quickly becomes the prime suspect, a fanatical character named Choi.
Mr. Nomura is an eerily handsome, sharply dressed, sociopathic serial killer who preys on the women of Tokyo. In Jakarta, a world-weary journalist named Bayu finds himself unexpectedly falling into vigilantism after brutally killing two sadistic robbers. When each posts videos of their violent sprees online, the pair find one another on the Internet and begin a toxic and competitive duel. While Bayu clings to the hope that he can resume a normal life, Nomura continues to spill blood without remorse. Killing, advises Nomura, is something everyone ought to consider.
When a notorious German serial killer is captured after committing some of the most heinous acts against humanity ever imaginable, a farmer and police officer from a sleepy rural community on the outskirts of Berlin is drawn into the case as he searches for the answers to a murder that has shaken his tight-knit community.
A horror-thriller centered on a woman living with "face-blindness" after surviving a serial killer's attack. As she lives with her condition, one in which facial features change each time she loses sight of them, the killer closes in.
The true story of William Bonin a California serial killer.
L'Affaire SK1 (2015)
The hunt, capture and trial of Guy Georges, one of France's most notorious serial killer.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
This English-language adaptation of the Swedish novel by Stieg Larsson follows a disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, as he investigates the disappearance of a weary patriarch's niece from 40 years ago. He is aided by the pierced, tattooed, punk computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander. As they work together in the investigation, Blomkvist and Salander uncover immense corruption beyond anything they have ever imagined.
Man on a Tightrope (1953)
Elia Kazan's 1953 film stars Fredric March as the owner of an impoverished circus in Communist-ruled Czechoslovokia who plots to flee across the border to freedom, taking his entire troupe of performers and wild animals with him. The cast also includes Gloria Grahame, Terry Moore, Cameron Mitchell, Richard Boone and Adolphe Menjou.
In 1902 London, unhappily married Philip Marshall meets young Mary Gray, who is unemployed and depressed. Their deepening friendship, though physically innocent, is discovered by Philip's wife who threatens him with exposure and scandal, driving him to kill her. Thereafter, fortune seems to smile on Philip Marshall; but does fate have a surprise in store?
Marty is the ideal fifth grader. He gets good grades, listens to his teachers, and doesn't start trouble in class. But a darkness is beginning to fall over Marty's life. The kids at school won't stop picking on him, his parents just don't seem to understand him, and now Marty must grapple with a terrible secret that threatens to destroy life as he knows it -- his big brother is a serial killer! Brotherly love is put to the ultimate test in this emotional coming-of-age story that descends into full-blown horror.
Skull: A Night of Terror! (1987)
A gang of escaped convicts take over a farmhouse and hold the woman living there hostage. It turns out that her husband is a cop, who among other things is in trouble because he has accidentally killed an innocent girl.
Judas Kiss (1998)
The shooting of a U.S. senator's wife raises the stakes for kidnappers seeking a hefty ransom for a computer magnate.
The January Man (1989)
Nick and Frank Starkey were both policemen. A scandal forced Nick to leave the force, now a serial killer has driven the police to take him back. A web that includes Frank's wife, bribery, and corruption all are in the background as Nick tries to uncover the secret of where the killer will strike next, and finally must lay a trap without the police.
Curdled (1996)
Gabriella, a Columbian immigrant, is obsessed with understanding violent crime. The current string of murders by "The Blue Blood Killer" of affluent Miami socialites provides her with fodder for her scrapbook of death. She lands a job with a post-murder cleaning service and during a Blue-Blood clean-up job, discovers evidence that police have overlooked.
Scarfies (1999)
This dark comedy is set in Dunedin, New Zealand. A university student finds an old "abandoned" house and proceeds to invite other students to share. It even has running electricity. But what is the catch?
Family Plot (1976)
Lighthearted suspense film about a phony psychic/con artist and her taxi driver/private investigator boyfriend who encounter a pair of serial kidnappers while trailing a missing heir in California.
Get the Girl (2017)
A wealthy young man is conned into staging a fake kidnapping in order to be a hero and win the affection of a girl he's madly in love with. But when one of the hired kidnappers is accidentally killed during the charade, he's forced to actually save her life while not revealing that it's been a ruse all along.
A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996)
Nightclub manager Darnell Wright is a perpetual playboy who is almost as devoted to his job as he is to the pursuit of beautiful women. After he sets his sights on the ultra-classy Brandi Web, he launches an all-out assault to win her heart. Ultimately, charm, lust and passion prevail, but Darnell learns the hard way that when you play, you pay. Brandi is much harder to get rid of than she was to get--especially when she realizes that she has a rival vying for Darnell's affection. When he finally decides to call it quits, Brandi becomes an obsessed femme fatale stalking the new love of her life.
One murdered man, eight women, each seeming to be more eager than the others to know the truth. Gimme, gimme, gimme some clues to make up my mind. And eventually enter the truth. Oh, thou cruel woman!
Get Shorty (1995)
A mobster travels to Hollywood to collect a debt and discovers that the movie business is much the same as his current job.
Serial Mom (1994)
A picture perfect middle class family is shocked when they find out that one of their neighbors is receiving obscene phone calls. The mom takes slights against her family very personally, and it turns out she is indeed the one harassing the neighbor. As other slights befall her beloved family, the body count begins to increase.
Jack is a children's author turned crime novelist whose detailed research into the lives of Victorian serial killers has turned him into a paranoid wreck, persecuted by the irrational fear of being murdered. When Jack is thrown a life-line by his long-suffering agent and a mysterious Hollywood executive takes a sudden and inexplicable interest in his script, what should be his big break rapidly turns into his big breakdown, as Jack is forced to confront his worst demons; among them his love life, his laundry and the origin of all fear.
Series 7: The Contenders (2001)
A TV program selects people at random to kill one another for fame and their freedom. Ever seen the show "Survivor" and wished they would just start killing each other?? Series 7 literally gives its contestants the guns. The film is not merely a satire on reality TV. It is an example of just how far people will shamelessly go for fame. 6 contenders are pitted against each other in a no holds barred, kill or be killed contest. The reigning champ is Dawn, a hard-nosed, mother-to-be. We go back and forth between Dawn and the other 5 contenders to see if someone can dethrone Dawn and become the new Champion. What is the prize? How are the contestants picked? These questions are not as important as asking yourself how shameless has our society become?
Illusive Tracks (2003)
Christmas 1945. In a train from Stockholm to Berlin are a motley collection. It is the failure of the author Gunnar who wants to leave his old life and make a contribution in Berlin; physician Henry who plan to marry Marie and likewise Henry's current wife Karin, who he plans to kill during the journey, the middle-aged gay couple Pompe and Sixten, a soldier going to Uppsala but is on the wrong train: the cheerful and cynical old Margaret, and a dressed elf and a surly conductor. With the train are also a number of Baltic refugees accompanied by two nuns to be sent to Germany.
You Move You Die (2007)
Mike has the girl, the time and the place.The problem is he doesn't have the ring, Before Mike has an opportunity to propose his engagement ring is stolen.Mike is desperate to recover it. He and his friends have one hour to get the ring back and make the date with his "beloved" Emma before all is lost. It is not long before it is revealed that Mike and his friends are not all that they seem.You move you die is a dark comedy filmed with a real time story. Get ready for a film with a unique dose of reality
On a stormy Saturday afternoon, six students from Crestview Academy begin to meet horrible fates as they serve out their detentions. Is a fellow student to blame, or perhaps Crestview's alleged ghosts are behind the terrible acts?
Johnny Gaddaar (2007)
Vikram decides to elope with his girlfriend Mini for a better life. For this purpose he decides to steal the money collected by his business partners for a drug deal. Everything goes horribly wrong when the partner carrying the money, Shiva, is accidentally killed.
Office Killer (1997)
When Dorine Douglas' job as proofreader for Constant Consumer magazine is turned into an at-home position during a downsizing, she doesn't know how to cope. But after accidentally killing one of her co-workers, she discovers that murder can quench the loneliness of her home life, as a macabre office place forms in her basement, populated by dead co-workers.
You're Killing Me... (2003)
Jamie is a successful novelist trapped in a bad relationship with her possessive boyfriend. But when things get out of control and Jamie accidentally kills him, Jamie's best friend Laura along with a third friend, Arlene convince Jamie to cover if up knowing she will not receive fair treatment by the court system. But when things get more complicated, the three women join forces to commit more murders of abusive, cheating and lying men.
Snowman's Land (2010)
When the wife of a crime boss is accidentally killed, the hit man who was hired to protect the remote house in which she was living tries to keep her death under wraps. Fearing vengeance from the gangster, he's soon locked in a fight for survival.
After being sent to the electric chair, a serial killer uses electricity to come back from the dead and carry out his vengeance on the football player who turned him in to the police.
After serving 28 years in prison for accidentally killing the son of a crime boss, newly paroled gangster Val (Al Pacino) reunites with his former partners in crime, Doc (Christopher Walken) and Hirsch (Alan Arkin), for a night on the town. As the three men revisit old haunts, reflect on their glory days and try to make up for lost time, one wrestles with a terrible quandary: Doc has orders to kill Val, and time is running out for him to figure out a way out of his dilemma.
Two Pigeons (2017)
An oily, amoral estate agent is preyed upon by one of his victims, who quietly moves into his flat and, unseen, begins a deliciously malicious campaign of revenge. Two Pigeons is a dark comedy with a sinister streak.
White Dog (1982)
A trainer attempts to retrain a vicious dog that's been raised to kill black people.
Copycat (1995)
An agoraphobic psychologist and a female detective must work together to take down a serial killer who copies serial killers from the past.
FBI trainee Clarice Starling ventures into a maximum-security asylum to pick the diseased brain of Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist turned homicidal cannibal. Starling needs clues to help her capture a serial killer. Unfortunately, her Faustian relationship with Lecter soon leads to his escape, and now two deranged killers are on the loose.
An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.
Stripped Down (2006)
A surreal dark comedy where revenge becomes redemptive.
Hard Luck (2006)
Three converging story lines involving bootleggers, a serial killer and drug dealers are followed. A former drug dealer tries to go straight, but comes across a stash of stolen drugs. Meanwhile, a middle-aged suburban housewife hides a sadistic and vicious streak.
In an innocent heartland city, five are shot dead by an expert sniper. The police quickly identify and arrest the culprit, and build a slam-dunk case. But the accused man claims he's innocent and says "Get Jack Reacher." Reacher himself sees the news report and turns up in the city. The defense is immensely relieved, but Reacher has come to bury the guy. Shocked at the accused's request, Reacher sets out to confirm for himself the absolute certainty of the man's guilt, but comes up with more than he bargained for.
Bad Ronald (1974)
A shy teenager accidentally kills a mocking peer, and his mother helps him hide in a spare room in their house. Problems arise when the mother goes for an operation and dies, and the house is sold to a new family, with the teen still living inside.
Mr. Brooks (2007)
A psychological thriller about a man who is sometimes controlled by his murder-and-mayhem-loving alter ego.
The Velvet Touch (1948)
After accidentally killing her lecherous producer, a famous actress tries to hide her guilt.
A Texas Ranger hunts for a hooded serial killer terrorizing the residents of a small town, set in 1946 Arkansas. Loosely based on a true story.
In 1984, in Kiev, the communist teacher Andrej Romanovic Evilenko is dismissed from his position after a pedophilic act against a student. On 15 May 1984, the pedophile Evilenko begins to rape children, and then slashing the victims in pieces and eating them. The magistrate family man Vadim Timurouvic Lesiev is assigned to catch the serial killer and almost eight years later he finally captures the monster that killed fifty-five persons, most of them children and young women. On 22 May 1992, Evilenko goes to the court and on 14 February 1994 he is finally executed.
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally. Based on the Dennis Lehane novel.
An elusive serial killer known as the Zodiac terrorizes the San Francisco Bay in the late 1960s, while detectives aim to stop him before he claims more victims. Based on a true story.
Frenzy is the penultimate film from Hitchcock and at the same time the first film that brought his emigration to the USA back to Great Britain.
The Quiet Earth (1985)
After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.
The Aura (2005)
In neo-noir fashion El Aura narrates in the first person the hallucinating voyage of Espinoza, a quiet, cynical taxidermist, who suffers epilepsy attacks, and is obsessed with committing the perfect crime.
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Wednesday, 13 January 2021, 09:55 HKT/SGT
Source: Fujitsu Ltd
Fujitsu Leverages Deep Learning to Achieve World's Most Accurate Recognition of Complex Actions and Behaviors Based on Skeleton Data
TOKYO, Jan 13, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. has announced the development of a technology that utilizes deep learning to recognize the positions and connections of adjacent joints in complex movements or behavior in which multiple joints move in tandem. This makes it possible to achieve greater accuracy in recognizing, for instance, when a person performs a task like removing objects from a box. This technology successfully achieved the world's highest accuracy(1) against the world standard benchmark(2) in the field of behavior recognition, with significant gains over the results achieved using conventional technologies, which don't make use of information on neighboring joints.
Fig. 1 Outline of the newly developed technology compared with conventional technologies
Fig. 2 Improvement of accuracy with new technology
By leveraging this technology to perform checks of manufacturing procedures or unsafe behavior in public spaces, Fujitsu aims to contribute to significant improvements in public safety and in the work place, helping to deliver on the promise of a safer and more secure society for all.
Fujitsu will present the details of this technology at the 25th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR 2020), which is being held online from January 10th, 2021 (Sunday) to January 15th, 2021 (Friday).
In recent years, advances in AI technology have made it possible to recognize human behavior from video images using deep learning. This technology offers a variety of promising applications in a wide range of real-world scenarios, for example, in performing checks of manufacturing procedures in factories or detecting unsafe behavior in public spaces. In general, human behavior recognition utilizing AI relies on temporal changes in the position of each of the skeletal joints, including in the hands, elbows, and shoulders, as identifying features, which are then linked to simple movement patterns such as standing or sitting.
With time series behavior-recognition technology developed by Fujitsu Labs, Fujitsu has successfully realized highly-accurate image recognition using a deep learning model that can operate with high-accuracy even for complex behaviors in which multiple joints change in conjunction with each other, such as removing objects from a box during unpacking.
About the Newly Developed Technology
Complex movements like unpacking involve hand, elbow, and shoulder joints moving in tandem with the arm bending and stretching. Fujitsu has developed a new AI model for a graph convolutional neural networks(3) that performs convolution operation of the graph structure by adopting a graph consisting of edges connecting adjacent joints based on the structure of the human body with the joint position as a node (Vertex). By training this model in advance using the time series data of joints, the connection strength (Weight) with neighboring joints can be optimized, and effective connection relationships for behavior recognition can be acquired. With conventional technologies, it was necessary to accurately grasp the individual characteristics of each joint. With an AI model that has already been trained, the combined features of the adjacent joints that are linked can be extracted, making it possible to achieve highly-accurate recognition for complex movements.
This technology was evaluated against the world standard benchmark in the field of behavior recognition using skeleton data, and in the case of simple behaviors such as standing and sitting in the open data set, the accuracy rate was maintained at the same level as that of conventional technology(4) that does not use information on neighboring joints. In the case of complex behaviors like a person unpacking a box or throwing an object, however, the accuracy rate improved greatly, to achieve an overall improvement of more than 7% over the conventional alternative to reach the world's highest recognition accuracy.
By adding the newly developed AI model for recognizing complex behaviors obtained with this technology to the 100 basic behavior already accommodated by Fujitsu's behavioral analysis technology "Actlyzer,"(5), it will become possible rapidly deploy new, highly-accurate recognition models. Fujitsu ultimately aims to leverage this new capability to roll out the system in fiscal year 2021, and contribute to the resolution of real-world issues to deliver a safer and more secure society.
(1) World's highest accuracy: As of January 13th, 2021. In the Kinetics-Skeleton category.
(2) World standard benchmark: Kinetics-Skeleton dataset benchmarks.
(3) graph convolutional neural networks: Deep neural network for convolutional operation on graph structure.
(4) Same level as that of conventional technology
Using the Kinetics-Skeleton dataset released by Chinese University of Hong Kong, an evaluation was made with the technology released by the same university in 2018. The correct answer rate is the rate at which the predicted result matches the correct answer.
(5) Behavioral analysis technology "Actlyzer"
Deep learning technology that can recognize a variety of subtle and complex human movements without relying on large amounts of training data. (Press Release: 2019/11/25)
About Fujitsu
Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 130,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.9 trillion yen (US$35 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. For more information, please see www.fujitsu.com.
About Fujitsu Laboratories
Founded in 1968 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. is one of the premier research centers in the world. With a global network of laboratories in Japan, China, the United States and Europe, the organization conducts a wide range of basic and applied research in the areas of Next-generation Services, Computer Servers, Networks, Electronic Devices and Advanced Materials. For more information, please see: http://www.fujitsu.com/jp/group/labs/en/.
Sectors: Cloud & Enterprise
Fujitsu Ltd Links
http://www.fujitsu.com
https://plus.google.com/+Fujitsu
https://www.facebook.com/FujitsuJapan
https://twitter.com/Fujitsu_Global
https://www.youtube.com/user/FujitsuOfficial
https://www.linkedin.com/company/fujitsu/
Fujitsu Ltd Releated News
富士通、興味分野や度合いを可視化できる新サービス「Finplex eXgrow」を提供開始
光洋と富士通、生体認証を使った日本初の一般向けレジなし店舗の実証実験を開始
富士通研究所、人の複雑な行動を、連動する各関節の位置や接続関係から高精度に認識できるAI技術を開発 世界最高精度を達成
富士通、執行役員人事を発表
富士通、サブスクリプション型のサーバ・ストレージ・運用サービスを販売開始
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All Saints C.E. First School – Church Leigh
"You have created a safe and nurturing environment that pupils feel safe" Ofsted September 2016
Catch-Up Premium Report
Friends of Leigh School Association
01889 502289office@allsaints-leigh.staffs.sch.uk
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01889 502289 office@allsaints-leigh.staffs.sch.uk
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Guantánamo: Who Are The Two Uighurs Freed in El Salvador, and Why Are 87 Men Cleared for Release Still Held?
As published on the “Close Guantánamo” website. Please join us — just an email address required.
With no fanfare — just an announcement on its website — the Pentagon informed the world on Thursday that two Uighur prisoners at Guantánamo, held for over ten years but recognized as innocent almost from the moment of their capture, had been freed in El Salvador. As the Pentagon helpfully explained, the two men “were subject to release from Guantánamo as a result of a court order issued on October 7, 2008 by the US District Court for the District of Columbia,” and it was also noted that they “are voluntarily resettling in El Salvador.”
The Pentagon also noted, “As directed by the President’s January 22, 2009, executive order, the interagency Guantánamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of these cases,” and, as a result, they “were designated for transfer by unanimous consent among all six agencies on the task force.”
The release of these men is most welcome, because, primarily as a result of deliberate Congressional obstruction, no living prisoner has left Guantánamo for 15 months — the longest period without any releases in the prison’s ten-year history. The last living prisoner to leave Guantánamo was an Algerian, Farhi Saeed bin Mohammed, who won his habeas corpus petition and was repatriated, against his will, in January 2011, but the last two men to leave the prison had actually left in coffins, having died in the prison in February and May last year.
In addition, to say that the release of these two men was long overdue would be an understatement. Twenty-two Uighurs (Turkic Muslims from China’s Xinjiang province) were initially held in Guantánamo — refugees from oppression, who had been living in a rundown settlement in Afghanistan’s mountains, and who were swept up in the “war on terror” and had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Five were freed in Albania in 2006, while George W. Bush was still President, and the administration accepted that it was unsafe to return them to China, but the 17 other men — including the two released in El Salvador — had to wait until 2008 for the Bush administration to drop its claims that any of them were “enemy combatants.”
When Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered their release on October 7, 2008, after granting their habeas corpus petitions, he intended for them to be resettled in the U.S., but the Bush administration appealed, the D.C. Circuit Court issued a stay, and the full court, backed by President Obama’s Justice Department, ruled against Judge Urbina — and the Uighurs — in February 2009, claiming that immigration issues could not be decided by the courts. White House Counsel Greg Craig then initiated a plan to resettle some of the men on the US mainland, but this was shot down by President Obama when Republicans got wind of it, and threatened to cause him political difficulties.
While the Uighurs appealed to the Supreme Court, the Obama administration pulled out all the stops to find other countries that would take them. Four went to Bermuda in June 2009, six more went to the Pacific island of Palau in October 2009, and two others went to Switzerland in March 2010. However, the five who remained were let down by the Supreme Court, and seemed to be stranded permanently in Guantánamo, because they had turned down offers of resettlement in other countries, fearing that they would not be safe from the reach of the Chinese government.
Although the Pentagon did not release the names of the two men, Sabin Willett, a Boston-based attorney who “helped represent both men at various stages of their habeas corpus lawsuits,” told the New York Times that they were Ahmed Mohamed (also identified as Hammad Memet and Hammad Mohammed) and Abdul Razak (whose full name is Abdul Razak Qadir). He added that Mohamed “wants to become a salesman or merchant in El Salvador.”
Willett also said that “Salvadoran officials visited Guantánamo and interviewed both men more than a year ago,” and explained that although at one point the two men “grew frustrated and fired their legal team,” the lawyers “continued to help informally in interactions between them and the government.”
The two men had both been in the settlement in the Afghan mountains when it was bombed by US forces following the US-led invasion in October 2001, and had then fled, eventually ending up in Pakistan, where villagers welcomed them, but then sold them to US forces.
Abdul Razak Qadir, a former businessman, who had sold fabrics and animal skins in his homeland, is in his mid-thirties, and was single at the time of his capture. He was recently profiled for “Close Guantánamo” by his lawyer, Seema Saifee, who explained that, when his business proved too difficult to sustain, and he fell into debt, he was told about the settlement in Afghanistan, and traveled there. Saifee explained that he was “paid a monthly salary if he purchased food and clothing in the markets of Jalalabad and delivered them” to the settlement. In Guantánamo, Yusef Abbas, one of the three Uighurs still held, stated that Abdul Razak had also worked at the hospital in Jalalabad and took care of him after he was wounded when the settlement was bombed, until “there was a riot in the city” and he returned to the other Uighurs in the mountains, taking Abdul Razak with him, and then fleeing to Pakistan.
In Guantánamo, he found the isolation and the lack of care difficult to endure, and as one of his compatriots explained in a letter in December 2007:
My countryman Abdulrazaq used to have rheumatism for a while, and since he came to Camp 6 it got worse. Sometime in early August, the US army told Abdulrazaq that he was cleared to be released, and also issued the release form to him in writing. As a result, Abdulrazaq requested to move to a camp that had better conditions, for health reasons. When his request was ignored he embarked on a hunger strike, which has lasted for over a month now.
Currently, he is on punishment and his situation is even worse. He is shackled to the restraint chair and force-fed twice a day by the guards, who wear glass shields on their faces. This has taken place for the past 20 days. For someone who has not eaten for a long time, such treatment is not humane. Abdulrazaq would never want to go on hunger strike. However, the circumstances here forced him to do so, as he had no other choice. If the oppression was not unbearable, who would want to throw himself on a burning fire? In the US constitution, is it a crime for someone to ask to protect his health and to ask for his rights? If it does count as a crime, then what is the difference between the US constitution and the Communist constitution? What is the difference between this and Hitler’s policies during the Second World War?
Ahmed Mohamed, born in 1978, had left his homeland because of the discrimination against Uighurs in 1994, and had lived in Kyrgyzstan, and, for nearly two years, in Egypt, before returning to Kyrgyzstan in 1997, where a neighbor eventually told him about the settlement in the Afghan mountains. At Guantánamo, he explained, as did many of his compatriots, that he had only one enemy — the Chinese government. “The Chinese people have tortured and pressured the Uighur people really bad,” he said. “The Uighur people are trying to go all over the world now. One sixth of the world’s population is in China. They are a threat to the whole world. If I have such a large enemy, why would I go and fight with another enemy?”
The US authorities alleged that he was a weapons instructor, but in his tribunal he called one of his compatriots as a witness, who explained, “I saw that he was sick during that time. He has a stomach problem and he was helping with the kitchen work and helping the cook. He was also studying the language.” Although his tribunal cleared him for release in 2004, concluding that he was not an “enemy combatant,” he was one of an unknown number of prisoners subjected to “do-over” tribunals. These were convened in secret in Washington D.C. with different military officers — often on more than one occasion — until they delivered the desired verdict, and in Mohammed’s case he was not finally vindicated until 2008.
Nevertheless, although the release of these two men is to be welcomed unconditionally, the three Uighurs who are still held must not be forgotten, and nor must the other 84 men, of the 169 still held, who were also cleared for release by the Guantánamo Review Task Force.
Although the identities of the cleared men have not been officially released, it appears that they also include Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison, who should be returned to his family in the UK without further delay, and other men in need of resettlement, like the Uighurs. One of these is Djamel Ameziane, profiled last week, an Algerian whose case has been taken up by the the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Other candidates — not cleared, or not necessarily cleared — include Afghans like Shawali Khan and Abdul Ghani, whose pointless detention should have been highlighted in recent discussions about releasing a handful of Taliban leaders as part of the peace process in Afghanistan, and Fayiz al-Kandari and Fawzi al-Odah, the last two Kuwaitis, whose ongoing detention only confirms the distortions of justice still in force at Guantánamo, and whose return would be welcomed by the Kuwaiti government, a strong ally of the US in the Gulf, but one whose Parliamentarians have been unafraid to speak out recently, and to call for the return from Guantánamo of their remaining citizens.
In addition, we know from the Task Force’s report that 58 of these men are Yemenis, and at some point the moratorium on releasing any Yemenis — announced by President Obama in January 2010, in the heat of the hysteria that greeted the news that the failed plane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had been recruited in Yemen — must be lifted, or Obama’s legacy will be one in which, for long years, if not forever, decisions to release prisoners meant nothing, and everyone was actually subjected to arbitrary detention.
Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed (and I can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and YouTube). Also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, updated in June 2011, “The Complete Guantánamo Files,” a 70-part, million-word series drawing on files released by WikiLeaks in April 2011, and details about the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, and available on DVD here — or here for the US). Also see my definitive Guantánamo habeas list and the chronological list of all my articles, and please also consider joining the new “Close Guantánamo campaign,” and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.
See the following for articles about the 142 prisoners released from Guantánamo from June 2007 to January 2009, and the 67 prisoners released from February 2009 to January 2011, whose stories are covered in more detail than is available anywhere else –- either in print or on the Internet –- although many of them, of course, are also covered in The Guantánamo Files: June 2007 –- 2 Tunisians, 4 Yemenis (here, here and here); July 2007 –- 16 Saudis; August 2007 –- 1 Bahraini, 5 Afghans; September 2007 –- 16 Saudis; September 2007 –- 1 Mauritanian; September 2007 –- 1 Libyan, 1 Yemeni, 6 Afghans; November 2007 –- 3 Jordanians, 8 Afghans; November 2007 –- 14 Saudis; December 2007 –- 2 Sudanese; December 2007 –- 13 Afghans (here and here); December 2007 –- 3 British residents; December 2007 –- 10 Saudis; May 2008 –- 3 Sudanese, 1 Moroccan, 5 Afghans (here, here and here); July 2008 –- 2 Algerians; July 2008 –- 1 Qatari, 1 United Arab Emirati, 1 Afghan; August 2008 –- 2 Algerians; September 2008 –- 1 Pakistani, 2 Afghans (here and here); September 2008 –- 1 Sudanese, 1 Algerian; November 2008 –- 1 Kazakh, 1 Somali, 1 Tajik; November 2008 –- 2 Algerians; November 2008 –- 1 Yemeni (Salim Hamdan) repatriated to serve out the last month of his sentence; December 2008 –- 3 Bosnian Algerians; January 2009 –- 1 Afghan, 1 Algerian, 4 Iraqis; February 2009 — 1 British resident (Binyam Mohamed); May 2009 —1 Bosnian Algerian (Lakhdar Boumediene); June 2009 — 1 Chadian (Mohammed El-Gharani), 4 Uighurs to Bermuda, 1 Iraqi, 3 Saudis (here and here); August 2009 — 1 Afghan (Mohamed Jawad), 2 Syrians to Portugal; September 2009 — 1 Yemeni, 2 Uzbeks to Ireland (here and here); October 2009 — 1 Kuwaiti, 1 prisoner of undisclosed nationality to Belgium; October 2009 — 6 Uighurs to Palau; November 2009 — 1 Bosnian Algerian to France, 1 unidentified Palestinian to Hungary, 2 Tunisians to Italian custody; December 2009 — 1 Kuwaiti (Fouad al-Rabiah); December 2009 — 2 Somalis, 4 Afghans, 6 Yemenis; January 2010 — 2 Algerians, 1 Uzbek to Switzerland, 1 Egyptian, 1 Azerbaijani and 1 Tunisian to Slovakia; February 2010 — 1 Egyptian, 1 Libyan, 1 Tunisian to Albania, 1 Palestinian to Spain; March 2010 — 1 Libyan, 2 unidentified prisoners to Georgia, 2 Uighurs to Switzerland; May 2010 — 1 Syrian to Bulgaria, 1 Yemeni to Spain; July 2010 — 1 Yemeni (Mohammed Hassan Odaini); July 2010 — 1 Algerian, 1 Syrian to Cape Verde, 1 Uzbek to Latvia, 1 unidentified Afghan to Spain; September 2010 — 1 Palestinian, 1 Syrian to Germany; January 2011 — 1 Algerian.
Posted in Closing Guantanamo, Guantanamo, Guantanamo and habeas corpus, Hunger strikes in Guantanamo, Prisoners released from Guantanamo, Uighurs in Guantanamo Tagged Abdul Razak Qadir, Ahmed Mohamed, Close Guantanamo, El Salvador, Guantanamo, Uighurs, US courts
Andy Worthington says...
These are comments from Facebook on Thursday evening, when I first posted the news about the release of the men, and also from Friday:
Mary Shepard wrote:
Wonderful news, but sad that it took so long to release these two men.
...on April 21st, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Amy Reger wrote:
such a shame that they have to be transferred to El Salvador and not the U.S.
Elise Hendrick wrote:
That’s how much a court order in the US is worth – you can defy it for three years and still not be held in contempt.
Hekmat Hasanoff wrote:
Great news, I am also Uighur, I feel really happy to hear this news.
Martin Gugino wrote:
It is a miracle.
Mui JS wrote:
Hallelulah. It’s about time.
Zilma Nunes wrote:
finally..namaste.
Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts and contributions.
Beverly Hendricks wrote:
I’m happy for them, but how horrible those lost years.
Yes, indeed, Beverly. Good to hear from you.
Thanks, Andy. It’s been a while (since I’ve commented). I’m still appreciating all your work, including your filling us in on what’s been happening to NHS in the UK. It fills me with horror to think that the nasty, US health insurers are setting their sights on a potential British market, and fills me with self-disgust that I once urged British friends to vote Liberal Democrat.
You and your work came up at the table I sat at at the NCPCF (National Committee to Protect Civil Freedoms) banquet in Springfield, Virginia last Sunday. It was great to discuss your work with people who knew exactly who you are and the significance of the work you are doing documenting the individual cases of Guantanamo prisoners and advocating on their behalf.
Thanks again, Beverly. To be honest, no one knew what would happen to the Lib Dems when they were presented with the opportunity to be in government with the Tories. Obviously, they’re dead as a political force as a result of capitulating over the university funding issue, and failing to ditch the NHS bill, and, most of all, through Nick Clegg appearing to be Cameron’s poodle.
And I’m very glad indeed to hear about your banquet last week, and about people knowing about my work. It’s great to know that the message is getting out!
While in London I knew people with the Lib Dems who were absolutely sincere in their wish to provide a truly liberal, alternative to the hugely compromised Labour party. A friend, back then, a LD councilman in one of the London boroughs, described their political ideal to me as a “George McGovern type”, which resonated with me as GM was, from my childhood, the favorite Presidential candidate of my lifetime. (Not electable though, sadly). Since then I’ve lost all faith in traditional American parties, which makes me all the sadder to think how betrayed many LD members must now feel, and the tremendous setback to the concept of a third party in the UK.
I agree, but, beyond the Lib Dem capitulation demonstrating so clearly how power corrupts, I think that we need a whole new political movement – one that involves socialist ideals reengineered for a new era.
Josie Setzler wrote:
El Salvador? It has been the moral responsibility of the United States to accept these innocent men into the United States and prevent many years of unjust and needless suffering.
...on April 22nd, 2012 at 1:29 am
I agree about the moral responsibility, Josie, although shamefully the Obama Justice Department and the DC Circuit Court disagreed. As it happens, though, without further investigation, I couldn’t say whether or not the men would have wanted to be resettled in the country that abused them so horribly. Certainly, some of the Uighurs didn’t want to live in the US after all that happened to them.
tony says...
Thankx Andy, Pakistan is not in the list, I think you don’t consider Pakistanis worthwhile. Why is Pakistan left out, Include pakistan in the list.
...on April 23rd, 2012 at 5:44 am
I didn’t mention a lot of countries, so I wasn’t ignoring Pakistan in particular. There are only a few Pakistanis still held, and they’re all regarded as significant – or “high-value” – prisoners, so there seems to be little chance that any of them are on the list of prisoners eligible (theoretically at least) for release.
...on April 23rd, 2012 at 11:53 am
U.S. transfers two Uighur detainees to El Salvador | What The Folly?! says...
[…] a result, 87 of the 169 detainees that remain at Guantanamo continue to languish at the detention center years after they have been […]
...on April 23rd, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Andy, baby you misunderstood me, i am talking about the petition “As published on the “Close Guantánamo” website. Please join us — just an email address required”. Pakistan is not in this list. 😀
...on April 24th, 2012 at 7:50 am
Now it is in the list, people from pakistan can sign too, but they are not too sympathetic to this issue.
...on April 24th, 2012 at 10:06 am
Tony, anyone from Pakistan — or anywhere else in the world — can sign the petition on the Care 2 Petition Site calling for the release from Guantanamo of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/shaker-aamerguantanamo-bay/
I hope we will be launching a general worldwide petition to close Guantanamo in the not too distant future.
Ayub says...
God helps you guys, i’m happy to hear that you came out that black cage.
Allah with you guys.
...on June 14th, 2012 at 8:08 pm
Thanks for the comments, Ayub.
Eloquent but Unconvincing: President Obama’s Response to the Guantánamo Hunger Strike | IWDTV says...
[…] Just four prisoners have been released since Congress first imposed restrictions 16 months ago — two Uighurs through the court order back in 2008, and two others because of plea deals negotiated in their […]
...on May 4th, 2013 at 5:47 am
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Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker. Also, photo-journalist (The State of London), and singer and songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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Home / Country Profiles / Singapore
Population: 5.312 million (2012)
Area: 716.1 sq km
GDP: $274.7 billion (2012)
Climate Change and Development Context
Singapore is one of the world’s most competitive economies and greenest countries. However, as a low-lying island with high population density, the country has inevitably been affected by the impacts of climate change. The sea level in the Straits of Singapore has increased by 3 mm per year since 1998, while the island lies only 15 m above the mean sea level.[i] Due to a high rate of urbanization, the urban mean temperature has increased 1°C, causing an “urban heat island” effect.[ii] Weather variability also creates challenges for water management, where natural resources are already limited.
The Government of Singapore is very responsive to climate change issues, providing long-term planning, policies, and actions through integrated land use planning, water management, and investment in research and infrastructure. The government announced a goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 7-11 percent from 2020 business-as-usual levels or by 16 percent if there is a legally binding global agreement. The main thrust is the improvement of energy efficiency by developing resource efficient technologies that can be used domestically as well as exported, aligning with the national green growth strategy.[iii] A recent national public perception survey (2011) shows that 86 percent of Singaporean residents felt responsible for helping to address climate change and 58 percent expressed the view that the country should take steps to work on climate change even if the works involve significant cost.[iv]
Key National Institutions, Policies and Initiatives
Key institutions: The Singapore National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS), a dedicated unit under the Prime Minister’s Office, was established in 2010 to lead and coordinate national climate change strategies with relevant agencies and partners. It adopts a whole-of-government approach and works with the people, and the public and private (3P) sectors, to devise and implement cost-effective mitigation and adaptation solutions.[v] The NCCS also supports the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change to coordinate with government agencies on climate change policies.[vi]
Policies and initiatives: The National Climate Change Strategy (2012) outlines Singapore’s plans to address climate change challenges and achieve the country’s vision to be “a climate-resilient city state that is well positioned for green growth”. The core strategies are to reduce GHG emissions in all sectors (e.g., by increasing energy efficiency and minimizing energy waste), improve readiness to adapt to climate change effects, harness green growth opportunities (e.g., by developing, deploying, and exporting innovative climate-friendly technologies, also creating high value jobs and business opportunities), and forge partnerships.
Examples of sectoral mitigation measures highlighted in the National Climate Change Strategy include: a switch in fuel mix away from fuel oil to natural gas for power generation; incinerate sludge rather than dispose in landfills; tighten Minimum Energy Performance Standards for household air-conditioners and refrigerators; require Green Mark Certification for all new buildings and retrofitted existing buildings; achieve 70:30 modal split between public and private transport; and develop and support energy efficiency financing pilot schemes for industry.[vii] The national strategy also focuses on enhancing knowledge and expertise in climate science to achieve a deeper understanding of vulnerabilities and develop appropriate adaptation solutions. The Meteorological Service Singapore has set up the Centre for Climate Research Singapore to build in-house capability in climate science and climate modeling.[viii]
The Sustainable Singapore Blueprint (SSB) (2009) presents key national goals and initiatives on environmentally sustainable development for the next 20 years. A four-pronged strategy includes: boosting resource efficiency, enhancing the urban environment, building capabilities, and fostering community action. [ix] The achievements of the works of the SSB are anticipated to reduce emissions growth by 7 to 11 percent below 2020 business-as-usual levels.
[i] “Impact of Climate Change on Singapore.” National Climate Change Secretariat website (accessed 26 Nov 2013). http://app.nccs.gov.sg/page.aspx?pageid=160&secid=157
[ii] Dr. Wong Nyuk Hien. “A Study of Urban Heat Island in Singapore.” National University of Singapore. http://www.sde.nus.edu.sg/rsh/SDE_rsh_highlights_B01.html
[iii] National Climate Change Strategy (2012). National Climate Change Secretariat website (accessed 27 Nov 2013). http://app-stg.nccs.gov.sg/data/resources/docs/Documents/NCCS-2012.pdf
[iv] http://app.nccs.gov.sg/data/resources/docs/AnnexB.pdf
[v] “Organization Chart.” National Climate Change Secretariat website (accessed 26 Nov 2013). http://app.nccs.gov.sg/page.aspx?pageid=46&secid=7
[vi] “Inter-ministerial Committee on Climate Change.: National Climate Change Secretariat website (accessed 26 Nov 2013). http://app.nccs.gov.sg/page.aspx?pageid=47&secid=7
[vii] National Climate Change Strategy (2012)
[viii] National Climate Change Strategy (2012)
[ix] Sustainable Singapore Blueprint (2009). National Climate Change Secretariat website (accessed 27 Nov 2013).http://app.nccs.gov.sg/%28X%281%29S%28ha0a0bi1jazno25542mtbama%29%29/page.aspx?pageid=123&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Notes on the Country Profiles
Information contained in this country profile has been drawn from existing publicly available sources, and inputs volunteered by Asia LEDS Partnership members and other experts. Please help us keep this profile up-to-date! Send an email to secretariat@asialeds.org to suggest corrections and/or new infromation to reflect the latest developments.
Although efforts are made to provide up-to-date, accurate information, the information in the country profiles should not, unless otherwise mentioned, be attributed to the Secretariat or members of the Asia LEDS Partnership, nor considered as official policy of governments or other official bodies. The Secretariat of the Asia LEDS Partnership cannot be held responsible for the content of the sites to which it provides links or for the availability of servers or links. These links are provided only as a service, and the inclusion of a link or reference does not imply the endorsement of the linked site by the Asia LEDS Partnership.
If you have questions about his page, please send an email to: Secretariat@asialeds.org.
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KISSING CANDICE Release onto Streaming and Download Their Single "Ghosted"!
Long Island, New York - Kissing Candice fans no longer have to wait. The Long Island group has heard their pleas and is set to satiate their metal demands. Kissing Candice's highly requested live and well-beloved music video, "Ghosted" is now available for streaming and download: anywhere, anytime. The moment has now arrived as their fans' yearning desires are being fulfilled. Kissing Candice along with The Label Group via INgrooves has now made "Ghosted" available for streaming/download.
' 'Ghosted" has been a staple in our live set for years now. However, fans consider it a 'lost track' as it never received a proper release. We never put it out on an album and people always ask where they can hear it other than on YouTube. We are beyond excited to finally introduce "Ghosted" into the streaming universe so it can continue to crush skulls as it does live. We figured this would be a great thing to do while our fans eagerly await the release of our new full-length album!"' - Kissing Candice
" Ghosted" was Produced, Engineered, Mixed by J Jeremy Comitas at Speederbikes Studios in New Jersey in 2014.
Kissing Candice is a masked metal band hailing from the state of New York. Combining elements of industrial, nu-metal, and hardcore, they have created their own unique sound that matches their horror-inspired aesthetic; where live shows consist of insane light shows, disgusting theatrics, and A LOT of raw energy. Kissing Candice is a package... One that you have to see to believe.
Kissing Candice Band Members:
Joey Simpson
Tom Sciro
Mike Grippo
Louis Suffront
DOWNLOAD/STREAM KISSING CANDICE - SINGLE "GHOSTED"
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Up Close & Personal with Sam Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet
By Contributing writer and photographer Song River The land of Michigan has given the world a deluge of multiple necessities and sheer pleasures outside of what at one time was the auto industry mecca. Like its heart and soul of the blue collared working person that breeds an indelible, almost pioneer spirit, the music from here reflects its surroundings as once again this 26th state, added to the Union in January of 1837, is having a rebirth. The possibility of this land known warmly for its industrial explosion in the region of the Great Lakes is now standing at possibly a new dawn... the creation of being a strong contender for the music scene, much like Nashville is today. With this in mind, the resonating rock and blues plus more yet to be revealed have begun with the band, Greta Van Fleet. They are poised and ready to bring the elements of rock n' roll up to the next level. Recently bassist Sam Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet took some time out while they are on tour to
Stryper Brings Home Their Metal Sound: Concert Review "To Hell With the Devil"
Stryper Brings Metal Stings with Their 30 th Anniversary Album Celebration Tour: To Hell With the Devil with Song River Michael Sweet of Stryper Brings His Powerful Vocals and Faith On Their "To Hell With the Devil Tour." It was a 'sweet' celebration Stryper brought with them everything a 30th-anniversary celebration should bring and then some! The strength and heart as the yellow and black brought the hard rock attack back to Arizona, as the Nile Theatre was packed with die hard fans that came from some sort of faith background so it seemed and included a wide age group range. Stryper really was the premiere heavy metal Christian rock band that came onto the scene back in the 80's and pioneered the way and without a doubt still brings the best of it all today. Still working with the original lineup of vocalist Michael Sweet, drummer Robert Sweet, bassist Timothy Gaines and guitarist Oz Fox hitting the 30th-anniversary release, 1986's album,
Interview with Michael Sweet of Stryper A Man of Few Regrets
with Song River Michael Sweet of Stryper Whether it is the challenge of growing up too fast, playing in a band that he loves, flying solo, working on music projects, the loss of a loved one, or just kicking back at home musician/singer-songwriter Michael Sweet greets each day as if it were to be his first and his last. With an eagerness to say yes and come what may. His faith in God has carried him to say, " I am not a man of many regrets." Song River: Being on tour for a band must be an almighty passion. What is it though that most bands do when they have a 'day off' while they are out touring? Michael Sweet: To be honest, aside from interviews and social media, it is a day we finally get to do our laundry! [laughed] I am so OCD about doing laundry. You got to be the first one up if you want to get it done. Song River: Laundry day has to be a good day! When you are on the road and away from home what are some of the things you miss?
Concert Review: Adam Ant 'Vive le Rock and le Dandy'
Adam Ant at the Celebrity Theatre by H. Reavis How does one categorize a man who is one part rock star, several parts romantic highwayman, a dash of the peculiar gentleman, and a whole lot of British? One doesn’t. He must be christened and his name yelled in revered abandon: it’s Adam Ant. With a career spanning more than thirty years, the charismatic Adam has enjoyed chart success, awards (particularly the Q Music Icon Award in 2008), movie roles including Drop Dead Rock with Debbie Harry, and sold out concert performances worldwide. His music videos revolutionized the visual aid for musicians with storytelling in lieu of the standard promo. Drawing from his experience in art school his videos chronicled the adventures of his romantic pirate alter ego in “Stand and Deliver” and “Prince Charming.” Currently in the throes of another tour called Anthems, which is a follow-up to his successful Kings of the Wild Frontier Tour, Adam, and the band are bringing his exte
Theme images by rami_ba
CowGirlZen Entertainment 2015 Publisher of BANGS! Music & Entertainment.
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The Last Whaler, J.S. Giguere, Retires
After 16 NHL seasons, a Conn Smythe Trophy and a Stanley Cup championship, former Colorado Avalanche goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere is calling it a career. Giguere played his first three games with the Hartford Whalers in 1996-97.
Giguere, 37, announced Thursday he is retiring from the NHL, ending a career that saw him win 262 games in 597 regular-season contests. He made the announcement in Quebec with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada hockey team, where he is a part owner of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League franchise.
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by Abbey Fleming / September 6th 2014 / No Comment
Starring Nicole Kidman and directed by British screenwriter Rowan Joffé, this psychological thriller is set to be a hit. Based on the 2011 novel of the same name, the film depicts life through the eyes of 47 year old Christine (Kidman), who after a car crash, loses her memory and has to rely on her husband (played by Colin Firth) and Doctor (Mark Strong) to help her fill in the blanks, but Christine soon finds herself questioning everything and everyone around her . . .
The Hundred Foot Journey
This American comedy-drama stars Dame Helen Mirren and Om Puri as two rival restaurant owners in a French village. Sabotage, conflict and hilarity are bound together in this “this town ain’t big enough for the both of us” tasty tale.
Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel play a married couple who, after a decade of marriage and two kids, find their sex-life has dwindled from non-stop to non-existent. In a bid to salvage their relationship, they try to recapture the magic with a private video, VERY private . . . Unfortunately for them, their intimate bedroom antics don’t stay secret for long! Cue a mad dash to stop their private affairs becoming extremely public!
Catch A Classic
American Graffiti @ The Grosvenor
This special screening of this Academy Award nominated classic takes place on Thursday 11th September. A must-see for movie fans, this coming of age film is packed with a stellar cast including Harrison Ford and Ron Howard, and has been dubbed as one of director George Lucas’ best. With a distinctive soundtrack featuring the most memorable rock ‘n’ roll classics of the era, American Graffiti comes in the form of a flashback to the early 1960s.
The Craft @ The GFT
The Mean Girls of the 1990s with less lipgloss and more candles. The Craft stars Robin Tunney, Skeet Ulrich and Fairuza Balk in a twisted tale of spells, black magic and what can go really wrong when egos run riot in a group of girlfriends. The Craft plays on Tuesday 9th September.
DC’s forthcoming film adaptation of Shazam has been shrouded by speculation as to who will play the part of the villain, Black Adam. Finally, this week it was confirmed by Dwayne Johnson that he will be take on the role that he had once described as his favourite comic book character. The release date for the film has yet to be disclosed, but expect more details very soon.
Scottish Artist Lola Nicol In Glasgow Exhibit
Live review: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Curtain Up : February 2016
in Gutter UK tags: Cinema Film Movies GFT Grosvenor
« New Music : Out This Week (1/9/14)
Gig Guide, Glasgow : 05/09/14 »
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JCTD South Sudan
One Trade Africa
ITC's 50th anniversary - Staff remembers
1 July 2014 - By Robert Smith-Gillespie, Former Chief of ITC's Section on International Purchasing and Supply Chain Management and Member, Advisory Board of ITC's MLS-SCM Programme
Buying into Competitiveness
Effective, efficient purchasing and supply chain management are key drivers of competitiveness and export performance. ITC’s modular training initiative, Buying into Competitiveness, aims to meet the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises to develop skills in this increasingly critical area.
In 2000, under this initiative ITC rolled out its Modular Learning System in International Purchasing and Supply Management (MLS-IPSM) covering all stages of the purchasing and supply process from identifying and planning requirements to evalsuating performance...
15 Apr. 2014 - By Raju Makil, Acting Executive Director (1992-1994)
ITC: The first thirty years
ITC’s growth during its first thirty years was phenomenal. When the GATT created ITC in 1964, it had four staff members and a total annual budget of US$ 50,000. By the time ITC was established as the joint body of UNCTAD and the GATT in 1968, its total budget increased to about a million dollars.
Thirty years later, the resources at the disposal of ITC amounted to almost $58 million, with a staff of 385 at headquarters and in the field. In addition, the organization recruited consultants for about 700 assignments in some 300 projects covering all developing regions. The lion’s share of the increase in resources came from extra-budgetary funds put at its disposal for technical cooperation activities. The striking increase in resources was a testimony to the relevance and usefulness of ITC’s programmes and activities...
16 Apr. 2014 - By Abdelkim Ben Fadhl, Programme Coordinator (ITC, 1982 - 2008)
Joint Technical Assistance Programme: an effective answer to trade-related capacity building
One of ITC’s main technical assistance initiatives in the mid-nineties was the Joint Technical Assistance Programme (JITAP), a US$ 28 million-initiative that assisted 16 countries over a decade. The inception of JITAP was a response to the African Trade Ministers’ conference held in Tunis in 1996 that requested intense technical assistance from developing partners, to help African countries and their institutions and business communities (i) to better understand the WTO agreements, (ii) to more efficiently participate in the upcoming trade negotiations; (iii) to adapt to the legal exigencies of the emerging Multilateral Trading System, and (iv) to effectively reap due benefits from the then expected liberalization of international markets...
10 June 2014ITC 50th Celebration
12 June 2014Ethical Fashion show during ITC 50th
12 June 2014The Power of Empowered Women 2014
Share an ITC story
Do you have an ITC story that you would like to share? In celebration of our 50th anniversary, we’re collecting stories about ITC’s work.
The Coffee Exporter’s Guide - Third Edition
Model Contracts for Small Firms
Business Guide to the World Trading System
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*MEET* 79DA383 Conrad
– December 4, 2020Posted in: Meet the Members
The Republic of the Philippines, in South-East Asia, is home to Dx Adventure Radio Club member 79DA383 Conrad who connects with the DA-RC in December 2020.
A well respected and highly knowledgeable hobbyist, Conrad is a 20-year ham radio operator who resides in this fascinating, bustling western Pacific DXCC; a professional person with a strong interest in chasing DX on 26-27 MHz frequencies in which he’s committed for the upcoming solar cycle.
There’s said to be almost 8000 island dxstinations scattered across the Philippines archipelago and 79DA383 Conrad (Pictured below right) can be found on the main island of Luzon.
The DA-RC’s resident population of keen island chasers will confirm that this island possess the reference OC-042 in accordance with the IOTA World Program (See: IOTA Groups & Islands (iota-world.org).
Here, in the Calabarzon region (formally known as the Southern Tagalog Mainland), the province of Laguna is Conrad’s home.
The country’s third largest province, Laguna lies on the southern shores of Laguna de Bay, the largest freshwater lake in the country.
Interestingly, the lake contains a number of ATNO Inland Water Islands (IWI), the largest of which is Talim Island, and these are sure to be on 79DA383 Conrad’s agenda in the not so distant future.
Somewhat of a SOTA dx adventurer’s dream also, 79DA383 Conrad’s province is refuge to 24 mountains — most of which are inactive volcanoes.
According to Wikipedia, the highest peak is Mt. Banahaw (See pictured above), which has an elevation of 2170 m.
In addition to its spectacular mountain-scapes, Laguna is also famous for a number of other attractions.
Some of these include Pagsanjan Falls, the hot spring resorts of Calamba on the slopes of Mt Makiling, Pila historic town plaza, Taytay Falls in Majayjay, the wood carvings and papier-mâché created by the people of Paeté, the annual Sampaguita Festival in San Pedro, the turumba of Pakil, the tsinelas footwears from Liliw, the Pandan Festival of Luisiana, the Seven Lakes of San Pablo, and the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery in Nagcarlan.
According to 79DA383 Conrad, Paete is known as the Woodcarving Capital of the Philippines for the murals found in the Saint James the Apostle Parish Church.
The church houses three murals created by Luciano Dans depicting images of Heaven, Earth, and Hell, as well as other murals of Saint Christopher.
Much like the rest of the country, Laguna celebrates multiple feasts and festivals throughout the year.
In fact, each barangay has their own fiesta in homage to a patron saint.
Some of Laguna’s famous festivals include the Turumba Festival in Pakil, the Pinya Festival in Calauan, and the Tsinelas Festival in Liliw.
Owing to its long history, Laguna has a host of sites that highlight the different periods of history in Laguna.
Pictured right, the Rizal Shrine in Calamba is the ancestral home of the Philippines’ national hero, Jose Rizal.
Other historical sites include the Alberto House in Biñan, the Cuartel de Santo Domingo in Santa Rosa, the Pagsanjan Municipal Hall, the Pagsanjan Arch, the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery, the ancestral homes and Pinagbayanan crematorium in Pila, Emilio Jacinto Shrine in Santa Cruz, the Baker Memorial Hall in UP Los Baños, and the Tipakan in Luisiana.
Due to its proximity to Laguna de Bay (See pictured above), Laguna is home to a large number of its tributaries.
One of the most famous rivers in the province is the Bumbungan River, also known as the Pagsanjan River, named after the town of Pagsanjan and its falls.
The amazing Pagsanjan Falls lie at the end of the river and have an incredible drop of 120m.
79DA383 Conrad’s city is known as Biñan and, according to Google Maps, it’s located 35km south of Manila, the nation’s capital.
Biñan is bounded on the north by San Pedro City, on the south by Santa Rosa City, and on the west by Carmona, Cavite.
The city is well-known for its popular summer destination, Splash Island.
Given the 79 Division has a tropical maritime WX that’s usually hot and humid, it’s not surprising that Splash Island is regarded as the country’s premiere water recreation theme park.
Pictured above, 79DA383 Conrad’s island station consists of an Anytone AT-555N transceiver with coverage from 25.615 – 30.105 MHz, numerous DXcessories and a 20-foot long vertical, omnidirectional, antenna, on a 12-foot mast.
Although simple, this set-up — coupled with his sublime equatorial location — ensures he’s one of the loudest RX signals in the archipelago.
Outside of the shack, when he’s not QRV on Freeband frequencies or any one of the ham bands (including 10m, 40m, 2m & 70cm), 79DA383 Conrad enjoys tinkering with electronic homebrews in the company of friends in the local Calabarzon Radio Communicators Club.
In fact, he’s a proud DX1PRS (Pyramid Radio Society) Associate Member and DX1CRC Member/ experienced Net Controller with the Calabarzon Radio Communicators (CRC) Group.
When he’s not enmeshed in his favourite hobby, 79DA383 Conrad lists bike riding, strumming a guitar, board games and puzzles as favourite leisure pursuits.
On 27 MHz frequencies, 79DA383 Conrad can be found on the International call frequency 27.555 MHz USB, calling “CQ” or listening for rare DX.
He enjoys ragchew ops with other DA-RC members in the South China Sea, too, and is always available for a QSO.
79DA383 Conrad has also committed to participating in the 11m Oceania Contest in January!
QSL INFOS
Blk.22 Lot 2 Juana 1 Complex, Biñan, Laguna Philippines 4024
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After the prorogation coup, what’s left of the British constitution?
The contemptuous ease with which the Johnson-Cummings regime has attempted to cripple parliamentary consideration of alternatives to a no-deal Brexit by proroguing parliament raises serious issues about the remaining value of the UK’s ‘unfixed constitution’. This controversy comes after a prolonged period in which the executive under Theresa May used every micro-institutional weapon to blackmail MPs into accepting its deal. Patrick Dunleavy argues that the UK has slipped into having a failed constitution, where core democratic institutions are contaminated by rigged micro-institutions. The control of power has become dominated by a bunch of executive tricks, and an uncodified ‘constitution’ no longer provides any predictable or worthwhile constraints on government action. Yet it may be only a small step from creating a failed constitution to becoming some version of a failed state.
Photo by Nomadic Julien on Unsplash
How do we recognise government attempts to deform a liberal democracy so as to get their way? As Putin, Erdogan and a host of others have demonstrated, there must be 50 ways to lose your constitution as any kind of constraint on incumbents exercising raw power as they wish. Perhaps the majority party calls the legislature to consider new laws at 5.30am (without informing the opposition). Or perhaps the opposition is notified but opposing MPs are intimidated by an induced deadline crisis and media blackguarding in every lobby. Perhaps a president suspends the legislature for a lengthy period and governs alone using decree powers supposedly reserved for an emergency, as many a Latin American banana republic did before the transition from authoritarian rule.
The constitutional thinkers of the Conservative party used to regard the prospects of any such developments in the UK as both anathema to the gradual evolution of the UK’s constitution on which they laid such stress, and almost impossible to happen here, except through socialist assaults. Ian Gilmour wrote in 1977 (Inside Right, p. 226):
In my view, a two-party system and an unfixed constitution is the highest form of political development yet seen. Unfortunately owing to the current political infantilism of the Labour Party it seems at present too high for Britain. It depends upon informal checks and balance and the self-restraint of politicians.
All the ‘British constitution’ texts have long reiterated the same message. The lack of codification of the UK’s constitution presented no substantial dangers, but instead gifted the country with a set of legal and constitutional arrangements that could easily flex and adapt for changing times and situations. The UK would have none of the irresolvable legacy problems of written constitutions gone obsolescent, such as the USA’s current enduring problems over the Second Amendment on the carrying of firearms. A great deal of faith was also placed in British elites’ developed respect for Parliament, for public opinion and for legality. A range of constitutional conventions were ascribed central importance. Sometimes they were presented as ‘tripwires’ effective enough to block executive malfeasance. Alternatively, perhaps they were only constitutional ‘rumble strips’ that could be driven over, but not without the executive noticing and experiencing discomfort – and with voters standing as the ultimate arbiters of acceptable conduct.
Precious little now remains of such glib and overly optimistic voices – and ironically the coup de grace has come from both ‘moderate’ Conservatives and the warped Euroscepticism of right-wing ideologues who never recovered from the ‘stab in the back’ that brought down Thatcher in 1990. Theresa May’s government demonstrated not an elite responsiveness to MPs after 2017, but instead an increasingly frenzied exploitation of a host of parliamentary micro-institutions to bulldoze the May-Whitehall compromise Brexit deal through a reluctant Commons where government policies had no majority. This was the curtain raiser for the Johnson government’s more grand-scale effort to unilaterally rework the UK constitution so as to give the PM ‘governance by decree’ powers.
The corrosive role of micro-institutions
‘Micro-institutions’ are small-scale rules, regulations, minor organisational norms and cultural practices, scattered across a range of institutional settings and often pretty obscure. They none the less can frequently govern how macro-institutions work out in practice. Some of them may switch on or off the effects of macro-institutions, and others can modify them in fundamental ways. Arguably, one of the key factors that separates core democracies from semi-democracies like Putin’s Russia is that in liberal democracies micro-institutions work to support democratic macro-institutions, while in semi-democracies they are subverted (subtly or flagrantly) so as to privilege incumbents.
In Theresa May’s repeated efforts to push her government’s negotiated Brexit deal through the Commons from late 2018 to May 2019 there were already multiple warning signs of micro-institutions being used in ways that were corrosive of any genuine responsiveness to Parliament. An obscure set of micro-institutions playing a key role were ‘business motions accessible only to the Crown’, on which was founded the executive’s capacity to ‘run down the clock’ on the supposedly fixed exit deadline of 29 March 2019. A key Commons vote was planned for mid-December 2018, but then cancelled at the last minute when it looked likely to be lost. Postponed for another month (of the three supposedly remaining), it was eventually held and lost two to one.
The government then returned to the Commons with a very lightly altered set of proposals for essentially the same deal, overturning the convention that Parliament does not re-vote on the same rejected law. Only when the Speaker finally rejected another effort to re-vote did the government admit defeat. May also kept in play a ‘no deal’ Brexit (and even a limited amount of ‘hostage-taking’ of EU citizens’ rights and livelihoods) as a reversionary option to try and compel her dissident MPs to still back her deal, despite the Commons repeatedly voting to show its rejection of any no-deal outcome.
In the same line, the Johnson government (advised by Cummings who is openly contemptuous of parliamentary government) has now sculpted from the equally obscure prerogative powers surrounding the prorogation of parliament a superficially bland but deeply toxic disabling of the Commons for 35 of the 61 days remaining to avoid a no-deal Brexit. The timings involved are clearly tailored to frustrate any efforts of a fragmented opposition to concert an effective counter-action before September 10 or after 14 October, while yet bringing a Commons tied hand and foot back in time to witness but almost certainly unable to prevent a ‘no deal’ outcome on the 31st. That the Queen and her constitutional advisors accepted this proposal at its face value is yet another nail in the coffin of the old constitution, with the monarch’s vestigial capacity even to ‘advise and warn’ now obliterated and shown up as a fiction, for the meanest of partisan exigencies.
Above all, the ruthless exploitation of micro-institutions by the incumbent regime in the grossest manner, at whatever cost to the public values previously binding the British polity together, has culminated in the creation of a constitutional status quo that is bafflingly complicated and indeterminate. Instead of great decisions resting on the clearly expressed will of Parliament, or the consultation of voters via a second referendum or a general election, a minority government and a PM that no one has elected are apparently set on achieving their will by converting to their purposes a swarm of micro-institutions of which almost all voters, and most constitutional ‘experts’ have little or no knowledge. The unfixed constitution has been exploited until it has failed to have any credibility as a guarantor of democratically responsive government or constraint on the executive’s power whatsoever.
It remains just possible still that parliamentary control of the Brexit process may be reasserted, by one (or even two) of the four mechanisms set out by David Howarth. Perhaps there may even be a more striking (if temporary) change away from previous partisan practices at Westminster, leading to a general election, as sketched by Jonathan Boston. The Brexit story has already had more unlikely twists in the last three years. But it seemed unlikely back in July, and even more so now.
An alternative narrative may also develop where in response to one or more counter-actions in the Commons the Johnson government can represent itself as forced to hold an election. In such a poll the PM might be able to rely on voters’ anxiety to get shot of Brexit and to talk about something else at long last, using issue fatigue to smooth over whatever Machiavellian manoeuvres preceded the electorate’s involvement. There is a bleak precedent here, from Australia in 1975 when a partisan governor-general, Sir John Kerr (representing the Queen) abruptly terminated the Gough Whitlam government, and installed a Liberal PM. The new premier called a general election and won – thereby burying under the weight of a popular endorsement the skullduggery that had preceded it. The equivalent outcome here could yet see a Johnson victory (perhaps even a landslide) against a still hopeless fragmented ‘remainer’ opposition.
A third and final possibility, though, is that the government lives on, Brexit happens, but the current constitutional failure deepens further into the UK becoming a ‘failed state’ in multiple dimensions, as even some liberal conservative voices have suggested. The management of a liberal democratic state is a delicate business. Coming after prolonged austerity Brexit has already wrought significant damage to the UK governing apparatus, with policy inertia exerting a pall for more than three years. We’ve known since the London and city riots in August 2011 that the UK state is in a fragile and not resilient condition. It is more than ever reliant on the quasi-voluntary compliance of almost all its citizens to carry on working. Johnson’s manoeuvre must cause a further delegitimisation of government, risking a spectrum of severely adverse developments that might include significant civil disobedience, some public order turmoil, a weakening of ‘tax discipline’ (‘no taxation without representation’), and in short order the break-up of the UK.
It was first published on LSE’s British Politics and Policy blog.
Patrick Dunleavy is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the London School of Economics, and Centenary Professor at the University of Canberra. He is co-director of Democratic Audit, and the lead editor of The UK’S Changing Democracy (LSE Press, 2018), published free and open access.
The rule of law, not the rule of politics
Brexit shows both the importance of the British Political Tradition and the extent to which it is under threat
Losing the ‘Europeanisation’ meta-narrative for modernising British democracy
Micro-institutions in liberal democracies: what they are and why they matter
Audit 2017: How democratic and effective are the UK’s core executive and government system?
Posted in: Parliament
The use of the word coup in the opening title gives a clue to the bias of this article. I actually think the whole Brexit process will in the end prove how robust the over-lapping systems of the three countries of the UK, the parliament and the courts actually is. Sure there’s stress being applies to the system – but it’s about as from any “coup” as one could hope to get. Even the small fact of live streaming of the Supreme court hearing over Prorogation (18/9) proves that.
Whitlam was dismissed in 1975, not 1973. The Centenary Professor at the University of Canberra might want to fix this up.
Democratic Audit UK replied:
Thanks, corrected now.
Richard Hancock
I think this article is severely overblown — the inclusion of “coup”, unquoted, in the headline was a warning sign. As always, we need to find the sweet spot between complacency (“get away, it could never happen here!”) and panic (“we’re doomed, I tell ya!”).
Brexit is a massive test of the political system because of the tension between direct democracy (i.e. the referendum) and representative democracy. I don’t know if it will fracture the political system or lead to its eventual reinforcement. While it does feel like at least some people have gone (or been driven) mad, I don’t think everyone (e.g. MPs, voters) has, so I’m hopeful.
Oh, and for anyone wishing for a “speedy” conclusion to Brexit by a no deal exit at the end of October, it strikes me that leaving the EU without a deal will be merely “the end of the beginning”, with much left still to sort out.
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PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, it’s wonderful to welcome President Santos back to the White House. This is not his first visit, but it is the first time that I’m able to return the favor for the extraordinary hospitality that he and the Colombian people and his family showed me when I had a chance to travel there for the very successful Summit of the Americas.
We have had an excellent conversation I think reflecting on the deepening of what have already been very strong bilateral ties between our two countries. Not only do we continue to excel in security cooperation that has I think helped to facilitate the tremendous progress that’s taken place in Colombia over the last decade, but precisely because of the success on the security front, we’ve also been able to widen our discussion to a whole host of issues: how we can improve education and economic opportunity in Colombia; how we can work together on energy projects that are vital to the region; how we can take advantage of new technologies to expand the ability for a rural child to be exposed to the world; and how we can work in partnership together on many of the key regional challenges that take place.
We also had an opportunity to talk about the success so far of the Free Trade Agreement and its implementation. There’s still some details that are being worked on. Nevertheless, what we’ve seen is a 20 percent increase in trade between our two countries since its signing. And that creates jobs in Colombia, it creates jobs here in the United States of America.
I congratulated President Santos on his bold and brave efforts to bring about a lasting and just peace inside of Colombia in his negotiations with the FARC. Obviously, this has been a longstanding conflict within Colombia. It is not easy; there are many challenges ahead. But the fact that he has taken this step I think is right, because it sends a signal to the people of Colombia that it is possible to unleash the enormous potential if we can move beyond this conflict. But obviously, there are going to be some very challenging questions moving forward. I’m pleased to see the President’s strong commitment on that front. The United States is supportive of those efforts.
And finally, I think what we’ve increasingly seen is Colombia’s influence on the world stage. We supported Colombia’s membership in the OECD because it’s reflective of Colombia’s rights. It continues to have a strong influence regionally. I emphasized to President Santos that the work and the efforts that he’s made on issues like human rights and labor rights inside of Colombia are not only good for the Colombian people and we want to encourage them, but they also show a path for countries that have had in some cases a difficult history moving forward into a 21st century that promises greater opportunity and prosperity and peace.
And the influence that President Santos personally as well as Colombia as a nation has is only growing. And we think that’s a positive because we consider Colombia a great friend and a great success.
Finally, I think it’s worth mentioning that both Colombia and the United States have qualified for the World Cup. Obviously, we wish both teams well. I think it’s fair to say that we will be rooting for our teams, so we don’t know if they’ll play each other, but I think it’s a great sign of the excellent sportsmen that we have in our countries and that the World Cup I think signifies also the bonds that all people have. So we’re very excited to see how that event goes in Brazil, and we congratulate Brazil on hosting the World Cup.
So, Mr. President, welcome. And thank you again for your great hospitality and, more importantly, thank you for your friendship and your leadership.
PRESIDENT SANTOS: (As interpreted.) Thank you so much, President Obama for your welcome, and thank you again for this invitation. As you well said, this is not the first time that I’ve been in the White House, and this time my visit comes under very special circumstances.
The relations of our two countries find themselves at their best moment ever. And as a result, the agenda that we have discussed this morning is much broader than it’s ever been. We have gone well beyond the usual items that we used to discuss, like security, like drug trafficking, and we are now expanding it to topics like education, energy, and mutual cooperation — what we can do regionally.
And I want to thank you especially, President Obama, for all the support that you have shown us in the process towards peace in Colombia. It’s a process that is doing very well, and it is my hope that this is a conflict that will come to an end. We have been shedding blood for over 50 years, and the support of the United States and the entire world is decisive in reaching that peace we all want.
And I was telling President Obama that just as 50 years ago President Kennedy visited Colombia and launched the Alliance for Progress, we should think of something similar that we could do today: Work together to launch a new alliance — an alliance for progress and peace, one that will help the entire region.
Circumstances are very different today, opportunities are different, and the technology we have at our disposal is very different, and therefore, there are many fronts in which we can work together. There are many synergies that we can generate as a result that will lead to positive results.
And we also talked about the cooperation that we have been carrying out together to benefit third countries, in particular countries of Central America and the Caribbean. We will be tripling the joint operations we’re going to be carrying out jointly. For example, just one case, we have 17,000 officers who have been trained in Colombia, officers who come from these countries. And this is the kind of thing we will continue doing together.
And finally, I also want to wish the United States all success in the World Cup. It is my hope, however, that our teams are not going to be playing each other very soon. I certainly hope they won’t meet in the first round. But we can maybe eliminate the U.S. team later on. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: All right, we’ll have to make a wager on that. (Laughter.) We’ll see if the actual game comes up.
Thank you so much everybody.
END 12:25 P.M. EST
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Background Information Village Hall Questionnaire
Updated! for the results of the questionnaire click here
The village hall is now 100 years old and, not surprisingly, is becoming rather run down and potentially costly to maintain. Not least, it has continuing condensation problems and in the next few years the ceiling and part of the flooring may need replacing. The costs of doing so are likely to exceed the funds the GVI has or is likely to accumulate. The hall is also being used much less than it used to be. So we have to make some decisions as to what we do. The GVI committee have been considering this over the last few months and there has been a village meeting to discuss the situation.
We could continue to try to maintain the hall within the financial limits we have. It will probably continue to be useable for some years, but sooner or later it will not and its deterioration is inevitable. We have therefore looked at the possibility of building a new village hall.
The recent circular sent round then village is intended to get the views of the community on how to go forward. If the view is that we should sell land, there will then need to be a village meeting to make the final decision on whether to proceed.
THE CASES FOR AND AGAINST NEW VILLAGE HALL
The main arguments for building a new hall are these:
The current hall will become more and more run down and increasingly expensive to maintain. If we do not build a new hall the eventual inevitability is that the hall will not be useable.
A new hall would provide a modern building, more likely to attract people to events. more likely to be let so as to generate funds and less costly to maintain.
A new hall could be designed so as to have multiple/flexible uses: eg including a stage, a bar area, a meeting room, a patio/ bbq area.
If the pub was to close again and we did not have a village hall, we would have no community facility. A village hall guarantees such a facility.
A new village hall also provides a legacy for future generations in the village.
The main arguments against building a new hall are these:
The current hall can still be used and may have many years of life in it yet.
To raise funds for a new hall, we may need to sell GVI land for development (see the explanation of costs and options below).
The usage of village halls in general is declining and ours is no exception. Does such reduced usage justify the building of a new hall?
PRE-PLANNING APPLICATION AND HARROGATE BOROUGH COUNCIL
A pre-planning enquiry has been made to Harrogate Borough Council to ascertain if the sale of land is a possibility. This received a positive, if qualified, response from the Council (click here to see their response). A site visit by North Yorkshire Council has also indicated that vehicular access would be permitted.
The response from the Council does indicate that a stone built structure would be preferred. However a telephone discussion with the planner has ascertained that the Council would consider a wooden building. Click here to view a summary of that discussion.
It is important to emphasize that a positive response to a pre-planning application does not mean that planning permission would be eventually granted.
APPLYING FOR PLANNING PERMISSION
If we go ahead with the idea of a selling land the first step would be to apply for outline planning permission.
The cost of such an application, assuming building of 225-250 sq mts would be £1155-£1300. However, if the application is made by the parish council that fee is halved and would therefore be around £600 plus the cost of any architect’s drawings. We estimate that the overall cost may be around £800. This is a significant percentage (30-40%) of the funds the GVI currently have.
In the event of the eventual sale of land and the building of a new hall, the GVI would then need to apply for full planning permission for that hall. That, too, would incur costs.
THE PLOT OF LAND
An outline plan of the plot of land can be found by clicking here. That outline shows the part of the plot (800 sq yds or 669 sq mts) that might be sold for development and the likely vehicular access required. The size and shape of both the house and new village hall are purely indicative.
ESTIMATE OF POTENTIAL REVENUES FROM THE SALE OF LAND
To raise funds to build a new hall we could sell about a third of the land for the building of a house. We have investigated this possibility in consultation with a number of bodies. We have also received estimates of the value of such a sale: local estate agent Dacre Son and Hartley have suggested we might raise as much as £250,000 (click here to view their letter) and this has been supported in discussions with surveyors. A verbal estimate from Vinden Estates has, however, suggested a more likely sale value in the region of £150-175,000.
Another way of estimating possible sale value is on the basis of what a house on the site would be worth. Assuming a four bedroom house current market indications suggest, maybe £450,000- £500,000. A developer would base a value on one third of what he could sell a property for, thus suggesting a sale value of £150,000- £167,000.
Taking these estimates into consideration, the GVI committee has taken the view that a conservative estimate of the value of the sale of the land would be in the region of £175,000.
All of these are, of course, estimates and we could only find the real value by obtaining outline planning permission and inviting tenders.
…….AND LIKLEY BUILDING COSTS
Again estimates for the cost of building a village hall vary. We have received indications of the cost of building; from Rural Action Yorkshire as follows:
‘The few case studies or reports that (they) have seen suggest the cost of a good-to-high quality build with good environmental credentials at anywhere between £1,400 and £1,750 per square metre.’
‘….a new hall that has been built in Ashurst, Hampshire, a “small timber-frame hall with no wet facilities”, costing £1806 per square metre’
John Witherick, a local architect, responsible for the new Grewelthorpe hall, has suggested that we should budget for £1800 per square metre allowing for landscaping, car parking etc.
However the cost of a wooden structure is likely to be less. Estimates here vary from £1000 to £1400 per square metre.
THE PURPOSE AND CONSTITUTION OF THE GVI
In all our considerations we need to bear in mind that the GVI is a registered charity. Its constitution states that the object of the GVI is to apply its income ‘for the purposes of a village hall and recreation for the use of the inhabitants of Galphay and neighbouring communities.’
OPTIONS AVAILABLE AND RATIONALES
The options set out in the circular which has been distributed to all on the Galphay electoral roll are now summarized, with the arguments for and against each of them.
In considering these options it is worth bearing in mind that our current village hall is around 180 sq metres including the ‘snooker room’ at the back. It should also be borne in mind that options 1 and 2, involving the sale of land, would mean that we would lose the tennis court area, though this has been very little used in the past few years.
Sale of land to build a stone built hall of 250 sq metres
A stone built hall would be in line with the preferred building style indicated by Harrogate Borough Council as being in keeping with the rest of the village. It is, however, an option that would likely mean having to raise external funding of £200,000 – £300,000 as building costs for a stone hall of 250 sq mts could reach £350,000 to £450,000. A stone built hall of the same size as the current hall would cost in the region of £300-320,000 and would therefore still require the raising of external funds. It should be borne in mind that funders typically expect a community to show that they can contribute to such funding, at least in part, by their own efforts.
Sale of land to build a smaller wooden hall of between 150 – 200 sq metres
This option means building a new modern wooden village hall of a similar size to the existing hall. The cost of such a building is likely to be £150- 200,000; so it may be possible to cover this cost from the proceeds from the land sale if we could realise £150,000 -£200,000 for that and thus avoid the need to attract external funding. External funding could then be sought for other amenities eg a children’s playground. A smaller building would also allow more space for developing other facilities such as a children’s play area, though external funding may be needed for this. It would, however, again mean losing the current tennis court area. A wooden building is, however, not the preferred option indicated by Harrogate Borough Council.
Replace the existing hall with a new hall of around 150 – 200 sq metres without selling land
This option means that we avoid selling any land. We could retain the tennis court with this option and retain all the space we currently have to utilise for a variety of purposes eg a childrens’ play area. However, as we would not be selling any land we would have to raise funds for the cost of the new hall and any other amenities. These required funds could be expected to be around £150,000 – £200,000 for a new wooden building and over £270,000 for a stone built hall. Funders typically expect a community to show that they can contribute to such funding, at least in part, by their own efforts.
Retain the existing hall and ‘make do’ as long as we can
We could carry on as we are, realizing the village hall is past its best days, but trying to keep it going as long as possible. However, unless we are able to attract renewed interest in the village hall or new funding, it is possible that a large repair bill could wipe out all of our funds and the hall will have to be closed down. Estimates of the cost of maintaining the current hall over the next 10 years vary from £20,000 to £50,000, sums which exceed the current funds being generated by the GVI.
← December Newsletter
Special Meeting GVI held on Jan 7th →
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Jonathan cast in The Rising: 1916
15 September 2015 | New Project, The Rising | No Comments
Jonathan has been cast in a new project “The Rising”. He’s set to portray Padraig Pearse, one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916, who was later tried and executed. The film is still seeking financing and distribution and is scheduled to go into production in 2016. More details from Anglo Celt:
Rhys Meyers cast in The Rising
Friday, 4th September, 2015 12:59pm
Belturbet filmmaker Kevin McCann has just announced the casting of Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Padraig Pearse and Fiona Shaw as Countess Markievicz in their feature moving ‘The Rising’ to be released next year as part of the centenary celebrations.
He told the Celt today: “It’s an exciting time as we launch the rebranding of the movie this weekend in the closing days of pre-production.”
The team behind upcoming 1916 movie, set to be filmed at locations across the Border region, was in London in recent weeks selecting a studio distributor to take the film forward.
The latest step in the pre-production process, producer McCann of Belturbet-based Macanna Teoranta has returned to Europe to seal the deal following the conclusion of a successful six-city US tour, during which the historical drama garnered backing from international investors.
It follows the recent announcements of the involvement of screen stars Brendan Coyle from Downton Abbey, who will take on the role of British politician Augustine Birrell and Scottish actor David O’Hara, who will play James Connolly.
Michael Neeson will, meanwhile, follow in his father’s footsteps by taking on the role of Michael Collins with Colin Morgan cast as Sean MacDiarmada, the Leitrim-born revolutionary around whom the events of ‘The Rising’ film are centred.
“Distribution is a key aspect to any film,” McCann explains. “We should be in a position to announce that side of things in the coming weeks.
“Things are very much on track. The team and myself are very confident about the film and where we are with it.”
The Irish Film Board has, thus, far allocated a development fund of €14,200, while Northern Ireland Screen also provided partial funding, with an online Kickstarter campaign bringing in more than €45,000 from 35 countries.
“We need people to get behind this project. We’re making history here. I’ve known it since the day I started researching in 2012. Other countries and cultures rightly celebrate their heroes in cinema over and over again. Can you imagine Americans not wanting to talk about 1776?
“What is most pleasing is the script itself has been received positively. Other 1916 scripts had been bandied about for years and one of the reasons they didn’t get made is because the support wasn’t there. When you get people like David O’Hara and Liam Neeson, the likes of Fiona Shaw reading your script and saying they love it, you’ve achieved something, and you at least hope you’re on the right track,” he says.
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eLaws | Code of Federal Regulations | United States Code |
All Courts
Arkansas Supreme Court
Feight v. Feight , 490 S.W.2d 140 ( 1973 )
490 S.W.2d 140 (1973)
Merle FEIGHT et al., Appellants,
Alice Gay FEIGHT, Appellee.
No. 5-6106.
Supreme Court of Arkansas.
Phillip H. Loh, Morrilton, for appellants.
Gordon & Gordon, Morrilton, for appellee.
GEORGE ROSE SMITH, Justice.
This case involves the custody of two boys, Jeff and Eric Feight, who were respectively nine and seven years old when the appellee's petition was filed in the court below. The principal appellants are the children's paternal grandparents, who appeal from an order confirming the mother's previously adjudicated right to the custody of her sons.
The parents, Richard and Alice Gay Feight, were divorced in Arkansas in June, 1969, custody of the children then being in the mother. In September of that year the matter of custody was litigated in Arizona, where the parties were then living. The court awarded custody of the children to the mother and ordered the father to pay $100 a month for their support. Thereafter the mother moved with the children to Mason City, Iowa, where she obtained employment.
Richard Feight, the father, still lives in Arizona and is actually a bystander in this dispute. In late December, 1971, the paternal grandparents, Merle Feight and his wife, went to Iowa and, with the mother's permission, brought the two boys back to their farm in Conway county, Arkansas, for a stipulated one week's visit. At the expiration of that week, however, the elder Feights went back on their agreement, by refusing to return the children to their mother. Some four months later the appellee filed the present habeas corpus action to recover the actual custody of her sons. The decree, as we have said, was in her favor.
*141 The chancellor was right, under either of the two settled principles that control a dispute of this kind. First, a judicial award of custody will not be modified unless it is shown that there are changed conditions which demonstrate that a modification of the decree will be to the best interest of the children. Wilkins v. Davis, 244 Ark. 304, 424 S.W.2d 530 (1968); Keneipp v. Phillips, 210 Ark. 264, 196 S.W.2d 220 (1946); Myers v. Myers, 207 Ark. 169, 179 S.W.2d 865 (1944).
Here there is no such showing. In fact, there is no proof at all of the conditions that existed when the Arizona court entered its order in 1969. In the present proceedings the appellants have proved nothing, essentially, except that the appellee is a strict disciplinarian in the matter of bringing up her sons. It is not shown, however, that she was not equally strict when custody was awarded to her in the first place. Consequently the necessary proof of changed conditions is wanting.
Secondly, it is firmly settled that, as between a parent and a grandparent (or anyone else), the law awards custody to the parent unless he or she is incompetent or unfit to have the custody of the child. Keneipp v. Phillips, supra; Baker v. Durham, 95 Ark. 355, 129 S.W. 789 (1910). Thus the pivotal issue here is the fitness of the appellee to have the care of her own sons.
Even if the question of the appellee's fitness were the only issue before us, we could not say that the chancellor was wrong in deciding the case as he did. All the evidence unfavorable to the appellee comes either from her own lips or, directly or indirectly, from the lips of her sons, who not only testified but also were quoted extensively by their grandparents. No witness except the mother and the two youngsters purported to have first-hand information about what went on while the boys were living with their mother in Iowa.
We need not read very deeply between the lines in the record to understand why the two boys, after having been in the unlawful care of their grandparents for four months preceding the trial, preferred to remain there. They testified that their mother, who worked during the day, required them to make up their own beds, to scrub floors, to wash dishes, and to do their own laundry. Their mother punished them for failing to do their chores. They also complained about the food they were given, though we have our doubts about the ability of little children to pass upon the sufficiency of their diet.
From the boys' point of view, conditions upon their grandparents' farm were ideal. They were apparently given no chores to perform. They had a Shetland pony, a television set, and free access to a radio. They could eat whenever, and apparently whatever, they wanted to. The only indication of discipline during the four months is a statement that the younger boy was spanked once with a switch.
The appellee testified positively, without apology, that she is strict with her children. She gives them chores to perform and punishes them for misconduct. When the younger boy had a tantrum and refused to stop screaming she held his head under a water faucet for about ten seconds. There had been one or two previous incidents of the same kind. Upon another occasion, when Eric refused to do anything that he was required to do, she locked him in a basement room (which had a window) for about half an hour.
The record does reflect one disinterested point of view. The appellee testified that her husband employed a lawyer to have "the social services department" investigate conditions in her home. In the appellee's words, "they came at their leisure one evening to see my home and my situation and said they were very much impressed with the children, my home and myself. And offered to go to court for me *142 if I had any trouble whatsoever in the future." It is immaterial that the quoted testimony was hearsay, for no objection was made either to the appellee's testimony or to that of the grandparents, whose evidence was almost entirely a narration of what the two children had told them.
In conclusion, we should make it clear that it is not the courts' responsibility to weigh this mother's strictness against the grandparents' permissiveness. Not even Solomon could make that decision with the assurance of being right. The only questions before us are whether the appellants have shown a change of conditions since the Arizona court entered its decree and whether the appellee is so unfit to bring up her own children that she should be permanently deprived of their custody. We cannot say upon either issue that the chancellor's decision is against the weight of the evidence.
HARRIS, C. J., dissents.
HARRIS, Chief Justice (dissenting).
It is somewhat with reluctance that I write these dissenting remarks for I have always been a strong believer in home discipline, and am of the view that many a delinquent boy or girl has acquired that deplorable status because of a lack of discipline at home. In other words, I sometimes think that as many, or more, delinquents are created by being overprivileged, as by being underprivileged. Nonetheless, I cannot bring myself to approve of the disciplinary methods used by this mother on her two sons.
In making these remarks, I shall not depend on the testimony of the grandparents (who acquired their information from the boys) since this is hearsay (though not objected to) and shall only relate some of the incidents testified to by the boys themselves, or incidents admitted by the mother.
The four most notable examples in my view are (1) the breaking and giving away of the boys' toys and presents, (2) the incarceration of the younger in what the boys and mother referred to as the "devil's room", (3) sending the children to school without breakfast, and (4) holding the younger boy's head under a water faucet. In discussing these instances, let us look to the record, though the occurrences will not be discussed in the order listed. The two boys, Jeffery and Eric, are nine and seven years of age respectively. The mother admitted holding Eric's head under a water faucet several times, stating that she did this because he was having a "tantrum, screaming and yelling". Another punishment, which I consider extreme, was administered on occasions when the mother stated Eric was misbehaving. She took him to the basement (referred to as the "devil's room") and locked him in by himself. There were no lights in the basement and he would be kept there for some period of time as his punishment. From the record:
"Q. What other kind of punishment have you used other than putting him underneath the water?
A. And spanking him.
Q. What else?
A. And there was a time when he decided he just would not do anything he was required to do. I said fine, if you've separated yourself from the family, you go down in the basement and stay in the room down there.
Q. How long did he stay in that room down there?
A. Half an hour maybe.
Q. How many times did you leave him down there all day?
A. I never shut him anywhere all day. I never shut him away anywhere. Perhaps thirty minutes or less.
*143 Q. Go ahead, what other punishments have you used?
A. That's it.
Q. Do you know about this devil's room?
A. That's the little room I was telling you about.
Q. And you put him in this room? Did it have any lights in it?
A. Lights in it?
Q. Yes.
A. No, it didn't.
Q. Did you lock the door?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. What was in the room?
A. Just a bunch of little old suitcases and things like that.
Q. Just a bunch of junk?
A. Uh-huh.
Q. How long would you keep him locked in a room like that?
A. Maybe a half an hour.
Q. No window light or electric lights?
A. There was a window and there was light in the room that came in around the door. The door is not a tight door at all."
I cannot agree that proper discipline includes inducing a child to fear the dark.
According to the nine-year-old son, Jeffery, the two boys were assigned various tasks, scrubbing floors, mopping, washing dishes every night and the next morning, making their own beds, etc. (and certainly I have no objection to the assigning of tasks or jobs). However, Jeffery testified that if the tasks were not performed by the time the mother returned home from work, the boys went to bed without supper, and if they did not complete the morning chores by 7:00 A.M., they didn't get any breakfast. I cannot approve sending these boys to school without breakfast since it could well be detrimental to their health.
More inhumane than these facts, in my opinion, was the action of this mother in destroying and giving away the toys and presents given to the children. Eric testified that if he didn't get his work done on time, appellee would pick up a toy and say "You're not going to enjoy having this toy" and would stomp on it. He also said that she had given some of his toys and clothes to the "Goodwill", including a pair of boots that he had received as a present, and was never permitted to wear.[1]
The breaking of the toys was not denied by the mother and she also admitted giving them away. From the record:
"Q. Whattell us about the toys they have. A few toys? Lot of toys?
A. Since I have been divorced they have been provided a great amount of toys through their grandparents and through their father. There was very little left that I could give them.
Q. Is your closet like the one in my house, it's overflowing with toys?
A. That's right.
Q. And
A. I saw fit to get rid of most of their toys and injurious things so I could provide these myself."
Q. Did you from time to time give away the boys' presents like bicycles?
*144 Q. Did you replace them?
A. I have replaced most of them.
Q. Did you replace the bicycles?
A. I have not."
This breaking and giving away of toys and presents seems to me to be utterly senseless, and I can only conclude that this is occasioned by hatred of the father and his parents, not a desirable sentiment or trait to impart to one's children.
Not only that, but the mother only receives $300.00 per month take-home pay, and she can hardly afford to spend a portion of this money replacing toys and presents.
I have not mentioned several other matters[2] testified to by the children since the ones already mentioned, in my opinion, should preclude the mother from being given custody at the present time.
The majority mention that there has been no showing of a change in circumstances since the original decree. The evidence does not reflect the testimony given at the time the divorce was granted, but the things that I have mentioned took place after the awarding of the divorce and custody. Of course, there actually has been a change in that the children are living with their grandparents, and do not desire to return to their mother. Also, other women friends lived with the mother and her children for a period of time, the children complaining that these women whipped them with a board, called the "board of education".
The majority also mention that the evidence denotes that the home was investigated by the Social Services Department. Appellee testified:
"I assume my husband had hired a lawyer to have my situation of communal living investigated and they came at their leisure one evening to see my home and my situation and said they were very much impressed with the children, my home and myself. And offered to go to court for me if I had any trouble whatsoever in the future."
The fact remains that, though the present litigation shows a full-scale custody action, no testimony, through deposition or otherwise, was given by employees of the department.
It might be that if appellee presently lost custody by virtue of the actions mentioned, she would recognize that the law does not condone the acts of a person, even a parent, in going beyond the realm of reason in administering disciplinary action.
I, therefore, respectfully dissent.
[1] These boots were given by the grandparents who, at the time of the trial, were keeping these children.
[2] For instance, Jeffery testified that he and his brother slept in the basement on beds "made for camping. We called them camping bunk beds." The bunks contained no mattresses or springs. "All they had was the cloth on them. Just like a cot."
DocketNumber： 5-6106
Citation Numbers： 490 S.W.2d 140
Judges： George Rose Smith
Filed Date： 2/12/1973
Precedential Status： Precedential
Modified Date： 4/9/2017
Myers v. Myers , 207 Ark. 169 ( 1944 )
Keneipp v. Phillips , 210 Ark. 264 ( 1946 )
View All Authorities »
Stamps v. Rawlins , 297 Ark. 270 ( 1988 )
Mason v. Mason , 111 S.W.3d 855 ( 2003 )
Ideker v. Short , 892 S.W.2d 278 ( 1995 )
Freshour v. West , 962 S.W.2d 840 ( 1998 )
Jones v. Strauser , 585 S.W.2d 931 ( 1979 )
Campbell v. Campbell , 336 Ark. 379 ( 1999 )
View All Citing Opinions »
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New World View
Lee Stillwell
Revolutionary implant can be adjusted for perfect vision after cataract surgery.
From journalist to press secretary to lobbyist for the American Medical Association, Lee Stillwell experienced first-hand the world of national politics from just about every possible angle during his long and distinguished career.
“I started out as a journalist in the Air Force, and after I got out, I slowly worked my way up to the national staff covering politics for the Scripps Howard News Service,’’ Lee says. “I then went over to the dark side and got into politics myself as a press secretary.
“I worked both sides of the House, first for Abe Ribicoff, a Democratic senator from Connecticut, and later for Bill Armstrong, a Republican from Colorado. From there, I got recruited by the American Medical Association.
“I was the AMA’s senior vice president for advocacy and had staff in Washington, DC and Chicago and spent a lot of time traveling back and forth between the two. As my wife put it, I was an influence peddler for doctors and patients.”
Now retired and living on the beach in Clearwater, Lee and his wife spend as much time as they can traveling. Lee says “the entire world” is on their bucket list, and they plan to scratch the Seychelles and South Africa off that list in 2020.
“There’s always something new to see,’’ says Lee, who will be seeing those new destinations better than he’s seen any before, thanks to the expert work recently performed by Robert J. Weinstock, MD, at The Eye Institute of West Florida.
Lee sought out Dr. Weinstock last summer after he noticed a discernible change in his vision. Thinking the decreased sharpness was the result of cataracts, Lee first visited an optometrist who confirmed his suspicion.
“He said the cataracts had to come out, and because I wanted to get this done before our next big excursion, I immediately started looking for a specialist to do the surgery,’’ Lee says. “That’s how I found Dr. Weinstock.
“While reading about Dr. Weinstock, I learned that he does a lot of research and is tied with the FDA; that is important to me. After reading about him, it was just a matter of meeting him and deciding what kind of replacement lens I was going to get.
“I’m a guy who likes to get the latest and the best, and when I mentioned that to Dr. Weinstock, he suggested that I might want to go with this new thing called LALs that he and his technicians were all talking about.
“So, I went back and read up on these LALs, looked at all the data and studies and realized the FDA had just approved them and that The Eye Institute of West Florida was going to be the first in the Southeast to use them. I liked what I read and decided that’s what I wanted to do.”
Groundbreaking Lens Option
“I see everything perfectly,” Lee enthuses
LAL stands for light-adjustable lens. It is a revolutionary lens replacement option for people having cataract surgery that is implanted just like any other intraocular lens, except that it can be adjusted for better vision following surgery.
Those adjustments are made about a month after the surgery during a relatively routine vision exam during which the lens power can be customized and locked into place by shining an ultraviolet light onto the exterior of the lens.
“This lens has been in development for almost ten years, and it’s allowing us to do a better job of reaching the goal of modern-day cataract surgery, which is to get the patient completely out of glasses,’’ Dr. Weinstock educates.
“Typically, when picking a replacement lens for a patient and later implanting that lens, there are some inherent inaccuracies and healing factors that we can’t control. These factors can result in the patient’s post-op vision being close but not quite perfect.
“It’s never far off, but sometimes, we have to go back and either give the patient glasses, which we hate to do if we’re trying to get them out of glasses, or do another procedure afterward that is not super invasive but still, it’s another procedure with healing.
“With this light-adjustable lens, you take the best numbers and measurements before and during surgery. Then, you put the lens in the eye. You let the eye heal and review the results at the patient’s follow-up appointment.”
Lock in Perfect Sight
“If the patient’s vision is not perfect, you can adjust the lens inside the eye. To do that, all you need to do is dilate the patient’s eyes, they look at this blue light and the new prescription is programmed into a laser, which makes the adjustment. When the vision is where the patient wants it, the final lens power is locked in.
“The adjustment is made in about thirty seconds to a minute, and you can do it up to two or three times over the course of the first couple months after surgery. It’s a much more customizable approach than we’ve ever been able to do before.”
Dr. Weinstock says the only drawback to being fit with light-adjustable lenses is that, prior to receiving the final adjustment, the patient must wear special glasses that protect their eyes from ultraviolet light.
“That’s done to keep the lenses in the stage where it is still adjustable,’’ Dr. Weinstock notes. “So you’re wearing those glasses for a month or two, but do you want to wear glasses for a month or forever? Most people will say they’ll wear them for a month.”
Dr. Weinstock warns that the light-adjustable lens is not a good fit for every cataract patient. He says it’s best for those who prefer a correction called monovision, where one eye is corrected for distance vision while the other is corrected for nearer vision.
“This is the best lens I’ve seen for monovision patients,” Dr. Weinstock enthuses. “It’s also an amazing lens for people who have had LASIK, PRK or radial keratotomy surgery, because those throw another curveball into measuring the eye and picking the right lens.
“In Lee’s case, he wanted his distance vision to be 20/20 or 20/15, so what we did was make one eye outrageously sharp in the distance. The other, we set for intermediate use, such as looking at a computer.
“Now, when he’s using both eyes, he has almost a full range of vision. That’s because we set the second eye in such a way that he would be able to read most anything without glasses, so he is pretty much glasses free.”
Lee, who had his cataract surgery done in early October and had the adjustments made about a month later, confirms that he is indeed glasses free. He says the freedom the new lenses have given him is nothing short of fantastic.
“I can sit at the breakfast table in my home and read texts on my iPhone® and read my iPad®, which is right in front of me, and also look out at the TV in the other room and see it all clearly, without glasses,’’ Lee exudes.
“I see everything perfectly. I can even read menus in restaurants without glasses. This is perfect for my lifestyle, and I thank Dr. Weinstock for recommending it and for guiding me through it.
“As you might suspect, I’ve been around a lot of doctors, and his background really impressed me. Then I got around him, and I found him to be very personable. He’s a very engaging guy, and he stays on top of things.
“I’ve already recommended him to others because his recommendations have sure worked out for me. I am more than satisfied and happy, and I can’t wait to see all those wild animals up close in Africa.”
About Roy Cummings
Roy Cummings is a native of Chicago, Illinois who grew up in the suburb of Lombard. He and his family later moved to Lakeland, Florida, where Roy attended high school at Kathleen High. He graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor's Degree in Mass Communications in 1983 and immediately went to work for the Tampa Tribune. After five years working in a Polk County bureau covering everything from high school sports to college football to the Orlando Magic of the NBA, Roy moved back to Tampa and became the Tribune's first beat writer for the Tampa Bay Lightning, covering the team from its inception through the first eight years on the ice. He was then moved to the Buccaneers beat, where he stayed until the paper was folded in May, 2016. A two-time Florida Sports Writer of the Year, Roy has extensive experience covering all Tampa professional sports teams, including the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Eye Institute of West Florida
Stephen M. Weinstock, MD, FACS
Robert J. Weinstock, MD
Neel R. Desai, MD
The Eye Institute of West Florida was founded by Stephen Weinstock, MD, in 1974. For more than forty years, the practice has provided excellence in eye care in a warm, personal environment combined with a tradition of service and devotion to th... Read More
Stephen M. Weinstock, MD, FACS, is a cataract specialist. He founded The Eye Institute of West Florida in 1974, pioneering sub-specialty eye care in Pinellas County. Today, as President and Medical Director, Dr. Weinstock is recognized as a worl... Read More
Robert J. Weinstock, MD, is a board-certified ophthalmologist and is fellowship trained in cataract and refractive surgery. Dr. Weinstock joined the practice in 2001 after completing his residency at the St. Louis University School of Me... Read More
Neel R. Desai, MD, is a fellowship-trained ophthalmologist specializing in LASIK, cataract, and corneal diseases. Dr. Desai is a top graduate of the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and completed his fellowship in cornea, ... Read More
1225 West Bay Drive
http://www.eyespecialist.com/
3200 McMullen Booth Rd. Clearwater, FL 33761
6133 Central Ave. St. Petersburg, FL 33710
501 N. Howard Ave., Suite 100 Tampa, Florida 33606
11925 Sheldon Road Tampa, Florida 33626
This article was published in the following editions:
North/Central Pinellas County
West Pasco County
ARTICLES ABOUT THIS DOCTOR
Patient safety comes ahead of all else during COVID-19 crisis. New York native Bill Venter made good on his plan to retire early and... Read More
Laser correction procedure eliminates glasses, prevents cataracts. The roots of Cornelia Logan’s fascination with China can be fou... Read More
Sight Adjustment
Revolutionary replacement lens brings world into greater focus. An incredibly positive turn of events has occurred for patients wit... Read More
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Birth: 09-12-1981 , Hyderabad, India
Dia Mirza Handrich nicknamed Dee and more popularly known as Dia Mirza, is an Indian model and actress who appears in Bollywood films. She was the second runner up at Femina Miss India, 2000 and represented India at the Miss Asia Pacific, 2000 pageant, where she won the title.
She completed the hat-trick of India winning international pageants in the year 2000 (Lara Dutta won the Miss Universe title and Priyanka Chopra won the Miss World title in the same year) when she won the Miss Asia Pacific title on 3 December 2000 in Manila, Philippines, also making her the first Indian contestant to win this title in 29 years.
Mirza made her cinematic debut with 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein' alongside R. Madhavan, for which she received a nomination for Best Female Debut at the Zee Cine Awards. In 2005, Mirza appeared in 'Parineeta', a Vidhu Vinod Chopra production. She also starred in the music video, 'Kajara Mohabbat Wala' alongside Sonu Nigam from his album Kajara Nite.
Dia starred in the films 'Dus' and 'Fight Club'. She was the only female actor among the six key characters in the film, 'Acid Factory' in which she played a femme fatale who is also a gangster. Along with her boyfriend Sahil Sangha, and good friend Zayed Khan, she has started her own production house, Born Free Entertainment and made their first film 'Love, Breakups, Zindagi'.
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Investing in Election 2012 Winning Dividend Stocks
Companies / Dividends Oct 10, 2012 - 06:25 AM GMT
Martin Hutchinson writes: With Mitt Romney's debate performance last week, Election 2012 has begun to swing Republican on the presidential side.
According to a recent poll by Rasmussen, in the 11 swing states Romney now leads President Obama by a slim 49% to 47% margin. Collectively, these states hold 146 Electoral College votes, or enough to determine the outcome.
Yet with two more debates still left on the slate, the truth is the fortunes of both candidates will likely swing back and forth right up to the wire.
With 27 days until voters head to the polls it's shaping up to be a photo finish.
For investors, that means next month should be volatile as traders attempt to guess the outcome.
However, the long-term results are what's really important, not only for the "big picture" economy, but for particular companies and sectors that can be expected to benefit from either an Obama win or a Romney win.
After all, there are considerable differences between the two candidates' policy prescriptions.
And as long-term dividend stock investors it is going to be crucial that we take advantage of these differences, repositioning our portfolio when we know the election result so we can optimize its performance through the new administration.
With the race still in doubt, here are 10 dividend stock suggestions from the Standard and Poor's 500 Index -- five for each candidate. The selections for each candidate can be expected to do better if he wins, and should therefore be bought when the election result is known --or perhaps before the election as a hedge against your least favorite candidate winning!
If Obama Wins Election 2012, Buy These Dividend Stocks
The following stocks should benefit should President Obama win re-election:
•H&R Block (NYSE: HRB). If President Obama wins election 2012, it seems almost certain that taxes will rise, at least for those with incomes above $250,000 and probably for many people poorer than that. In addition, there's likely to be a mass reshuffling of allowances and tax rates, changing the best tax strategies for everyone with any complexity at all in their tax returns.
This has to be good news for tax preparers, the largest of which is HRB, both directly through their network of offices and indirectly through their TaxCut tax software. HRB has a dividend yield of 4.5%, and a historic dividend payout ratio of 60%.
•Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF). If Obama wins, Ben Bernanke is likely to stay in office as Fed chairman, and be replaced by a like-minded successor when his term of office ends in January 2014. That means interest rates should stay low -- good news for commodity stocks like CLF, an iron ore and coal producer. CLF has been generous on the dividend front, and now pays $2.50 per share, giving it a yield of 6.3%. Its historic payout ratio is about 25%, but that will increase as 2012 has been a tough year.
•People's United Financial Corp (Nasdaq: PBCT). Banks make money on the differential between short-term and long-term rates. With Bernanke at the Fed helm, this differential has been high, swelling profits for the likes of PBCT, a retail-oriented bank in New England - good Obama country.
Unlike most banks, PBCT is still paying decent dividends, and yields 5.1%. Its earnings payout ratio is high, but expected to drop going forward as the losses from 2008 recede.
•Health Care REIT Inc. (NYSE: HCN). The president's Obamacare healthcare plan will greatly increase the healthcare provision to a large percentage of the currently uninsured, which will in turn increase the demand for healthcare services.
That will benefit healthcare REITs such as HCN, which specializes in senior living and healthcare properties. HCN yields 5.0% and pays out more than 100% of its earnings, which are artificially depressed by real estate depreciation charges. •Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) This Chicago-based utility has excellent connections with the Obama administration and a large business in renewable energy. As a result, it can expect to do well from both policy and connections if the president is re-elected. EXC pays dividends of $2.10 per year, yields 5.8% and its dividends are about 88% of historic earnings.
If Romney Wins Election 2012, Buy These Dividend Stocks
On the other side of the coin, the following stocks should benefit if Mitt Romney wins:
•Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) Candidate Romney has indicated that he wants to rebuild the U.S. defense capability and has outlined a fairly aggressive foreign policy. LMT is a major military aircraft and defense systems manufacturer well placed to take advantage of this. It pays $4.60 per annum in dividends, yields 4.9% and its dividend payout ratio is about 45% of earnings.
•Federated Investors Inc. (NYSE: FII) Romney has indicated that he will not reappoint Ben Bernanke, which presumably means interest rates will generally rise. That's good news for the mutual fund business, whose money market funds will once again become viable, attractive investments and whose stock funds will once again attract long-term holders seeking to fund their retirement. Federated is a major mutual fund provider that should benefit from this, and with a dividend of 96 cents/share annually yields 4.6%. Its payout ratio is about 63% of historic earnings.
•Conoco Philips (NYSE: COP) Romney has indicated that U.S. energy independence is a major goal, and COP has a large shale and tar sands business, which should benefit substantially. With a dividend of $2.64 per share it yields 4.6%. However, it pays out only about a third of historic earnings, so there's room for major dividend growth as earnings rise.
•Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX). President Obama's healthcare legislation includes a substantial tax on medical devices, which Romney has promised to repeal. BAX is the highest yielding among the major medical device manufacturers, although its $1.80 annual dividend still gives it a yield of only 2.9%. However with a payout ratio of only 45% that dividend has lots of room to grow.
•Staples Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) Mitt Romney helped to found this office supplies chain when he was at Bain Capital; it was his first big deal. You'd better believe it would find ways to do well from a Romney presidency. With a $.044 annual dividend it yields 3.8%, but pays out only a third of earnings.
So you see, whether Romney or President Obama wins election 2012, there is always an upside to be found in the markets-especially if you know this double your money strategy.
Source :http://moneymorning.com/2012/10/10/these-dividend-stocks-will-be-the-real-winners-of-election-2012/
Money Morning/The Money Map Report
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LT World
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Pages of Note
Oggy's Statement
Meet The Van
Santa Rosa Rose
Words by Jeff Branan
Music Lyons & Yosco
Key: Bb Major
I may or may not simply record all the songs in order. As long as there is a moderate chance of me playing it at a good tempo then It's possible to record the entire dusty music box.
Santa Rosa Rose reminded me of the city north of San Francisco that was the gateway to Humboldt County when I was bumbling through my music degree. Humboldt is isolated by distance and the last civilized city one passes through before entering the Redwood Marijuana Kingdom is Santa Rosa. Because a bus trip took about 8 hours and reduced me to tears, I hitchhiked this Route 101 numerous times when I visited San Francisco for Mozart operas and Beethoven symphonies and Red Sox playoffs games against Oakland. Trivially, 1918 is the last year of the Red Sox first dynasty. It would've been a cruel thing to find a song from No, No, Nanette in this Dusty Music Box because the legend is that Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Red Sox pitcher Babe Ruth to the Yankees to fund that musical. Well, No, No, Nanette was actually a musical based on a non-musical play called My Lady Friends which was really the play that Harry Frazee needed money to produce in 1919. No, No, Nanette took another 6 years to develop. Furthermore, it was Red Sox management in general, a lackadaisical approach to baseball talent, poor pitching and some bad luck that led to an 86 year championship drought, not the singular loss of Babe Ruth, although the balance of power definitely shifted to New York as the Bronx Bombers collected a roster of players whose dominance was unequaled. By 1927, The Yankees would have the greatest team ever in baseball, they won 110 games en route to a world Championship, Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs while the Red Sox won 51 game, not even half as many games as the Yankees won. And the Championship drought was far from over. Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago would all get a piece of the action. There were 8 teams in the American League and 8 teams in the National League at that time and there were no divisions. Win leaders in each League would face one another in the World Series so it was very hard to fake your way into the World Series, or win miraculous wild card playoff games like is common today. You could say the playoffs started in April and ended in October and the best team would advance. But enough about baseball as the season is about to start again.
Again, Oggy must write in the chords to play it fakebook style
As far as I know there is no "Saint Rose", which is what Santa Rosa means in Spanish, though it could refer to Rose of Lima's sainthood.. I think the city was named after a nearby ranch. Roses grow all over California and this city was on the El Camino Real, "The Royal Street" connecting New Spain and the heathen Pomo and Ohlone Indians living along the coast of what would become California. It might be the northern-most city on that road. There was no Golden Gate Bridge until 1937, which raises an Oggy eyebrow because there's a lyric in the song, "You told me you would wait out there near the Golden Gate." Well, how is she waiting near the Golden Gate in 1918 when that bridge wouldn't exist for another 20 years? Because, dear reader, the bridge is named for the two points of land that almost touch between S.F. and Marin county. The "Gate" existed before the "Bridge". Before the bridge, folks took ferries, and some commuters still take ferries today. This area is not only the location of the lengthy meeting of the Pacific Oceanic plate and the North American continental plates, but it was once subjected to geologic forces from the subduction of the Juan De Fuca plate ( an independent miniature plate creating volcanoes in the North West) which has crept north for a few hundred million years and now spans the distance from the S.F. Bay to Vancouver as it is being pushed by the continental creep of the Pacific plate. Furthermore, the most recent ice age caused intense scouring of all the terrain of this area either from glacial drift (creating Yosemite Valley) or from runoff erosion (creating San Francisco Bay). So, the heroine of the song was going to wait some 60 miles south because meeting this songwriter is so important on a global scale.
1918 illustration on torn newsprint sheet music
Jeff Branen had a modest career in the years around WWI writing polyanna tunes like Santa Rosa Rose. He didn't write anything as magnificent as Tiptoe Through The Tulips, but he produced some respectable songs. Many of Branen's songs are in the library of congress as they are in the public domain now. What I like about this specific song is that it features the west coast though is not a cowboy song, not idealizing gold or westward expansion. This song is historical evidence in the cultural shifts of The United States because a western city is being treated no differently than an eastern city. Santa Rosa, California is no longer an exotic place. What I like is that a California city is being represented almost casually as a place that was no different than Philadelphia or St. Louis. Normal things happened in this far away city that even today is not a travel hub and most Californians don't really have a reason to drive through Santa Rosa. Its pretty name, I expect, is why it was used. Branen appears to be a farmboy from west of Chicago, Illinois who dreams were too big for that city so he went directly to New York to write for the theater. That's my conclusion after finding mention of Branen in a digitized 1915 Illinois newspaper article from the town of Sycamore. Even in 1915, three years before Santa Rosa Rose, Branen was being celebrated for his success in New York and with popular songs such as In The Valley of The Moon (which he also composed) and You're An Indian. All the songs on the Library of Congress predate Santa Rosa Rose. The little research I could do on Branen led me to a web site dedicated to parlor songs (that interestingly started with a dusty box of music). This designation of parlor songs is one that appeals to me as there's no other way to describe songs that would neither be performed on stage or played on the radio. Either you played them live on a parlor piano or you had a cranking Victrola record player, which was also in the parlor. So either way, this was a parlor song.
Woolworth, Kresege, Krees, McCrory are stores that have faded into the past
I also like sharing pictures of advertising featured on the sheet music itself. It's all music related, usually saying "Hey Music Lover! Send us a quarter for every song you want then we'll send it to you."
Looks like J.J. Newberry
George Lyons (harpist) and Bob Yosco (mandolin player) were responsible for the music of Santa Rosa Rose and there isn't much I can find about these cats either. The problem with researching songwriters from a century ago is that it's not easy. Whatever music survived for 100 years doesn't mean biographies will also survive. Lyons & Yosco were such a team that they are the only composers in this box who don't even publish their first names. I have a hard time imagining an era when a vaudeville harpist and mandolin player would not be immediately arrested for playing music, let alone have some success. If I traveled across North America in my van today with another gypsy playing mandolin and strummed dulcimer, tap dancing on the sidewalk, we would instantly be imprisoned. The police would do anything it took to get us out of town or in jail for whatever murder they couldn't solve. But in 1907 vaudeville music was entirely permitted.
The interesting thing about public domain music is that there will be a slow revival of parlor songs and ragtime as the songs become available to re-record for free. Lyons & Yosco are not going to rise from the dead to sue Pharrell and Thicke for stealing their harmonies. Heck, I could write different lyrics for Santa Rosa Rose and even list Jeff Branen as cowriter, and it wouldn't matter. He still isn't going to share the royalties. Lyons & Yosco had a handful of compositions that survive today. They appear to have been popular from the turn of the century, mid Ragtime era up until WWI, when the popularity of harps and mandolins fell as fast as anyone with a slightly foreign sounding name.
The composition itself is, in a word, charming. I found myself humming this song even after I was done with it. I like the rhyme scheme of the chorus,
"Santa Rosa Rose, you're waiting, I suppose,
You're alone tonight, I know.
I miss you so, Oh, I want to go,
strolling the valley...where the river flows
There I'll carve your name, my hear is all aflame,
you're the sweetest rose that grows
Soon I'll trail trail trail, through the lonesome vale
with my Santa Rosa Rose.
The lines flow into one another effortlessly and there's a classic crescendo on the word "Grows" where I know singers had everyone getting ready for the finish. If I could sing like Al Jolson everything would be much easier in life. This rhyming scheme is characteristic of this era, with lots of long vowels and the words "aflame" which is seldom used. And the repetitive 'trail, trail, trial' which isn't even a verb, but it rhymes with 'vale' so it works. I don't recognize any previous or future song here. It's wholly original.
This song is one of the few in this box that recognizes a world west of the Mississippi. Other than the war songs, the localities of the songwriters dramatically limited their world view so even through I suspect none of the three writers involved ever visited Santa Rosa, CA, I'm relieved to encounter a song from 1918 that treats this western region so casually. I think the line, "Santa Rosa Rose, you're waiting I suppose..." started the whole song off and the city itself is a coincidental device that involved forcing the term "Golden Gate" into the song although it makes no sense that someone from Santa Rosa would wait near San Francisco in 1918 for any reason. It's a generic topic but the lilt and lyrics are a step above the monotony of a waltz 'down by the old orange orchard'. I'd like to say that the subject was chosen to lift the spirits of a war weary audience but these three songwriters, Branen and Lyons & Yosco were writing identical songs before the war so my suspicion is that the war didn't influence this song topic much.
Some geographic details
I also want to point out that the book East of Eden, by John Steinbeck is based in the Salinas valley near the Monterrey Bay on the California coast, but the time period is this exact moment in history, 1918. Recall that the Caleb, the son of Adam Trask planted beans and sold them on the futures market for a big profit because the war spiked food values. Music is not featured in that book but Santa Rosa Rose would fit perfectly in the parlor of the Hamilton's urban folk.
Posted by Oggy Bleacher at 3/22/2015
Labels: dusty music box
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Comedy & Variety Festival
Zelienople PA | May 5, 2017
York PA | May 6, 2017
Johnstown native bringing comedy act back to town | Our Town
One Night Only / April 28, 2014
By KAYLA PONGRAC Our Town Correspondent
Johnstown native Jonathan Burns and his friend Mark Hayward sold out three separate performances at Bottle Works Arts on Third two summers ago.
“Originally we planned on having one show, which sold out quickly,” said Burns, a comedian and contortionist. “Then (we) added a second and that sold out, so we planned a third, which was packed as well. It was great to know that the people in my hometown were still interested in what I was doing.”
Burns and Hayward are returning to the nonprofit arts center’s Art Works building to present a comedy and variety festival. The festival is to feature acts that Burns and Hayward have performed on “America’s Got Talent,” “Late Night with David Letterman” and “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno.
In addition to eating some Coney Island hot dogs, Burns said he’s also looking forward to seeing some familiar faces in the audiences — just like last time.
“I started learning some magic tricks when I was about 12 years old,” said the Richland School District graduate. “I’d perform tricks for friends, family, complete strangers and anyone who’d watch. So when I come back all these years later and those same people are in the audience, that’s an awesome experience.”
This time around, Burns and Hayward will have some friends in tow: stand-up comedian and magician Harrison Greenbaum, comedy dog act Mutts Gone Nuts and improvisational music duo Missy Moreno and Jesse LE.
“It’s unlike any other comedy show you’ve ever seen. The festival features nationally touring stand-ups and world-renowned variety performers and mixes them into a show that is sure to amuse and amaze,” Burns said. “I’ve worked with all of these acts for years, but never at the same time. I’ve wanted to put a show like this together for a long time, and in May it will finally become a reality. It’s going to be an amazing night of laughs!”
Performances are scheduled for May 9 at 8 p.m. and May 10 at 11 a.m. The May 9 show is recommended for those ages 16 and older. The Saturday matinee, however, is for all ages.
“Performances like this one rarely happen in Johnstown, or even in the whole country for that matter,” Burns said. “I would say don’t miss your chance to be part of a unique experience that I know you’ll enjoy. You can see a comedy special on TV at home and enjoy it, but it’s a whole different experience with a large group of people live.”
They’ll perform nine shows in the span of six days; Johnstown is the first stop on their Pennsylvania tour.
Link to the article
April 28, 2014 in 2014, Press.
Doogie Horner on Fox43
Jonathan Burns on Around the Wood Stove Podcast
Mark Hayward on Fox43
← Sneak Preview
The Colonial Theatre Last Stop for Comedy Festival | Around Phoenixville →
Tweets by @ONOComedy
© 2014 ONE NIGHT ONLY Comedy & Variety Festival
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Gay Football Player Kicked Off Team For Kissing His Boyfriend
Jamie Kuntz: kicked off the football team for being gay?
Jamie Kuntz isn’t like most of the other players on the North Dakota State College of Sciences. The 18-year-old linebacker was in the press box during the team’s Labor Day game versus Snow College in Pueblo, Colorado, running the video tape as his team would go on to lose 63-17, when he gave a kiss to his significant other. That significant other happens to be a 65-year-old man. Jamie Kuntz believes his inter-generational gay kiss got him kicked off his college football team.
However, North Dakota State College of Sciences coach Chuck Parsons says Kuntz’s dismissal has nothing to do with the gay aspects of the kiss, or the disturbing age difference, but other factors. When Parsons asked Kuntz about the kiss, Kuntz lied and said he was kissing his grandfather; a few days after the lie, Kuntz came clean and confessed he was kissing his boyfriend. That earned Kuntz a one-way ticket off the football team thanks to the “conduct deemed detrimental to the team” guideline in the team rulebook. Specifically, Parsons noted the section outlining penalties for lying to coaches, teachers, or other school staff.
“This decision was arrived at solely on the basis of your conduct during the football game; and because you chose not to be truthful with me when I confronted you about whom else was in the box with you,” indicated Parsons. “Any conduct by any member of the program that would cause such a distraction during a game would warrant the same consequences.”
Kuntz, for his part, believes that if the kiss wasn’t a gay kiss that he’d still be on the team. Then again, he was kissing someone old enough to be his grandparent, which would no doubt be frowned upon by any self-respecting college football team, gay or straight. Without his football scholarship, Kuntz has left North Dakota State College of Sciences in Wahpeton. He is planning on enrolling elsewhere, and is looking to make a return to football.
Tags: jamie kuntz, chuck parsons, North Dakota State College of Sciences, Wahpeton, North Dakota, football player kicked off team for gay kiss, gay football player kicked off team, discrimination, team rules, gay football player kicked off team for lying about kiss, snow college, pueblo, colorado, sports, college sports, college football, gays in college sports
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of Daniel
with Mark McMillion
Daniel’s Dreams and Visions
In dreams and visions the prophet Daniel saw amazing scenes of the future of the world. In these videos on the prophecies of Daniel, I’ve tried to recreate visually what Daniel saw and to explain it in a way which has been broadly accepted by students of Bible prophecy for many centuries.
“The Wrath” and “the Trib”: what’s the difference?
Feb 15, 2013 · by Mark McMillion · In: Insights, The Future and Endtime Tagged: great tribulation, post tribulation, pre tribulation, rapture, the last 7 years, the return of Jesus, the wrath of God
(Warning.This is “wonkish”. That means this post isn’t written for those who are new to the subject of Bible prophecy and the endtime.)
When I wrote the post I called “Introducing ‘Pre’ and ‘Post’ ”, I was aimed at those who are new to the whole subject. In that post I was explaining some of the basic concepts and terms in the study of the times leading up to the second coming of Jesus. And I explained how the Scriptures point to this time to be, in the words that Jesus used, a time of “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21).
But there are many people, especially here in the States, who are more familiar with this subject and already have a pretty good idea of what some say is going to be the scenario leading up to the Lord’s return. On the other hand, my contact with friends recently at church has led me to feel that there’s still quite a lot that is not clear for many people.
Last Sunday I shared a class in adult Sunday school on Daniel chapter 7. Afterwards a friend came up to me and said, “I’m a pre-Triber”. I knew what he meant. But I wondered how many of the folks who read these posts know what that means.
Some of you know the phrases “pre-tribulation rapture” and “post tribulation rapture”. In modern times, the vast majority of the evangelical believers are strong believers in pre-tribulation rapture. This is the doctrine that Christ will have a “rapture” before “the Great Tribulation” for one set of believers, generally considered to be the Gentile church. And then, at the end of the Tribulation, He will return and gather together the Jewish Christians that have had to go through the Great Tribulation.
I’m sure alarm bells will go off with some of you in my generalization there. But, broadly speaking, that’s the idea. The most famous, far reaching publication that postulates this position is “The Left Behind series”. These are a series of fictitious books, written by Tim LeHaye, about the endtime and are based on the preTribulation rapture view of Jesus’ second coming. Over 70 million copies of the books have been sold. Generally, if you’re in an evangelical or charismatic church, chances are you’ve never heard anything other than this “pre-Tribulation” teaching on the return of Jesus and the Rapture of believers.
But there’s a lot more to it than that. I could start by telling you that for 1800 years the view of Christian teachers almost universally was not the “pre-Trib” view but the “post-Trib” view. That is, there were not going to be two gatherings of the people of God, but one. And that the believers of the endtime would go through the Great Tribulation.
Around 11 years ago here in Austin one of the leading pastors in the city talked with me about this and recommended a book for me to read, which I did. (By the way, I’ve written more about this conversation and experience in a blog post called “Sound Doctrine?” or Speculation.)
The book that my pastor recommended is called “The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church”, written by Marvin Rosenthal. Basically Mr. Rosenthal came to believe, from reading God’s Word, that the believers of the endtime would be raptured or gathered together before the Wrath of God is poured out but that they will go through the time of Great Tribulation.
So I just think of you reading this and how some will know totally what I am talking about. But quite a few won’t. This is getting down to intricacies that my study on the book of Daniel will hardly be able to touch on, even if we go through all the prophetic chapters in Daniel.
These things that Marvin Rosenthal is speaking of have to do with the time immediately after the Great Tribulation. The clearest place this is spoken of is in Revelations 11. In verse 15 it is speaking of the seventh trumpet, “the last trump”, the one that signals the return of Jesus. It says “The seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.’”
But what happens next? Revelations 11:18, three verses later says: “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”
What happens next is the reward of the saints in heaven while down on earth begins the period of the Wrath of God, spoken of most plainly in Revelations 16.
I Thessalonians 5:9 says, “God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Romans 5:9 says something similar, “…we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
I strongly agree with what Mr. Rosenthal saw in the Word of God, that the believers of the endtime will not go through the period of the wrath of God on earth, which immediately follows the Lord’s gathering of the saved at the end of the Great Tribulation. So there is a clear distinction between the Wrath and the Tribulation that many believers who study these things don’t always see clearly.
And even more than this, the whole term “the Tribulation” is often just not clearly defined by many I meet who study these things. In my classes and videos, the term “the Great Tribulation” will mean the 3½ year period immediately before the Lord’s gathers His saved. This is the second half of what is called “The Last 7 Years”, referring to Daniel’s 70th week, found in Daniel 9:27.
I don’t teach or believe that this entire 7 year period, Daniel’s 70th week, is a time of great tribulation, only the second half. From my interaction with Christians here over the last 6 months or so, it seems many, if not most, don’t know or understand these different periods of time and don’t see them clearly and distinctly. I hope that I can bring the light of Scripture more clearly onto these subjects, as my blog posts and videos continue.
[If you have questions, comments or even disagreements, I’d love to hear from you. You can use the reply box at the bottom of this page.]
“Did he really say that?”
Feb 12, 2013 · by Mark McMillion · In: Basic Christianity, The Future and Endtime Tagged: Bible prophecy, the return of Jesus, unbelief
When you start talking about the possibility of a spiritual world, life after death, and prophecies fulfilled, some people just have a sudden shut down of their mind or emotions. It’s a real wrench because it just goes counter to almost everything they’ve generally held to be true.
I know this because I went through that exact experience and it was not easy. It was really difficult. But also it was a real liberation. I wanted the truth, no matter what, even if it meant there actually was a real God, just like I’d always been told, ha!
And if you’re here, reading part 3 of this series, then maybe you’re willing to “give this an ear”, as they say in English. Maybe there have been a few true prophets, right? Maybe there is some kind of world other than the one we can see and feel and move around in daily. Maybe Jesus of Nazareth was more than just some carpenter from Israel that the Romans killed 2000 years ago.
Did Jesus say he would return to this world?
So you might wonder, “Did he really say that? Did Jesus say he would return to this world?”
Yes, he did. The night before he was arrested, he was in Jerusalem with his most trusted followers, privately celebrating with them the Jewish Passover. Here’s one of the things Jesus is recorded as telling his closest friends that night. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.” 1
Jesus was telling them that he was about to leave them and go “somewhere else.” But he told them he would return so that they could be where he was. And it wasn’t like all of them totally understood what he was telling them. Far from it. In fact, he’d already told them repeatedly some months earlier that
The Son of Man [this is how Jesus referred to himself] will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.2
Did his followers understand that when he told them? No. The next thing the Bible says is “But they did not understand that saying and were afraid to ask Him.” 3
Even the closest followers of Jesus during his life on earth often just didn’t totally get what he was saying. It was not until after his death and resurrection, when he appeared to them again, repeatedly, that they began to get the full picture of what he truly was and what he taught.
But after he began to appear to them, after he rose from the dead… (Yes, I know, I’m asking you to believe another preposterous thing: Jesus rising from the dead!) Well, that’s what he told his followers would happen, that he’d be crucified and rise again, even though they didn’t understand it.
So after he rose from the dead, the followers were asking him if he was at that time going to establish his kingdom on earth4. It’s clear they were aware that something was still left to happen.
Jesus was with them for 40 days after his resurrection. Then the Bible says, He was taken up. And a cloud received Him out of their sight. 5
His followers were there and saw this happen. It goes on to say, And while they were looking intently into the heaven after Jesus had gone up, two men in white clothing [angels!] stood beside them, who said, “Why do you stand gazing up into the heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up into Heaven, will come in the way you have seen Him going into Heaven.” 6
So there it is again. He is going to come again. He was “taken up into Heaven”. But he is destined to return again to this world.
Maybe that’s a lot to swallow. Or at least a lot to think about. I know when I first read all this, or was taught it by someone who knew the Bible, it radically changed my whole outlook of life, reality and the world I lived in. Either this is all just completely crazy or it’s true. And I just didn’t feel inside of me that it was crazy. There was too much that I’d already experienced or seen that pointed towards these things being the actual experiences of people who saw all this and recorded it for everyone then and from then on.
And I guess it wasn’t just one time only when my viewpoints and earlier views of life were fundamentally challenged. There were a number of times when I was just left in shock and awe at what I read in the Bible. It took some time to digest it all, to ponder the significance of it for myself personally and for what it also meant to every person living in this world.
In the next post in this series, we’re going to look further at this whole concept of Jesus’ return to this world. What would it mean to all of us? What will the conditions be like when it happens? How would it change things? When will it happen? Our next class is called “Who is Armageddon anyway?”
Talk to you soon, Mark
1 Gospel of John, chapter 14, verses 2 and 3
2 Gospel of Mark, chapter 9, verse 31
4 See Acts chapter 1, verse 6
5 Acts chapter 1, verse 9
6 Acts chapter 1, verses 10 and 11
“When you die, you die like a dog, right?”
Feb 8, 2013 · by Mark McMillion · In: Angels, Miracles and the spirit world, Basic Christianity, Current events Tagged: Bible prophecy, unbelief, atheism, life after death, spiritual world
Someone told me that when I was young and it really stuck with me. “When you die, you die like a dog.” It’s a real simple way of expressing one of the most prevalent ideologies on earth: atheism and unbelief. If you look at things that way (and I did for years), then you just have to laugh and smirk at anyone who says something about Jesus returning to this world. It’s just ludicrous.
Because, when you look at things that way, there’s just no life after you die. You usually think of yourself as not much more than a complex nexus of neurons, a composite of carbon, calcium and water, the highest form of life on this obscure little planet. And how many millions of people look at our existence this way? Many.
What can you say to them? They hold a fierce, entrenched view of the life we have. So what do I say when I meet someone who has those views and challenges my faith in God? I usually just say something simple like, “Well, there is a spiritual world.”
There is a spiritual world
I’ve found that many, if not most people will sooner or later admit that “perhaps” there’s “something” more than what we can see and feel and measure with instruments. So many people have had personal experiences, or their relatives have, where someone from the past, a relative who’s passed on, has appeared to them in a dream or in their minds to speak to them, sometimes even to warn them of a danger or to speak words of comfort. This is such an often-experienced event that many people will candidly admit, if they are honest, that it’s happened to them or someone they know.
And of course, that’s the truth. There really is a spiritual world. And if there is, that means that we’re not just a collection of atoms. We’re more than that. As the famous atheist-turned-Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis said, “You don’t have a soul, you are a soul. You have a body.”
I can honestly say that the biggest turnaround in my life occurred when I very reluctantly had to admit that there is a world beyond my mind and politics and shopping and all the little things I was caught up in.
Naturally we find that this is what the famous characters from ancient times were saying all along. Ancient prophecy had some very major things to say about this, especially when it came to that unique king that would come one day to the world.
Like we saw in that verse from Micah that we’ve read, “But you, Bethlehem, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth He which is to rule my people Israel, whose going forth is from old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5: 2)
It not only predicted that the king to come would be from Bethlehem, but it also said this ruler to come was “…from old, from everlasting.” In other words, he was pre-existent, even before he was born in this world.
But what about life after death? King David, the greatest of ancient Israel’s kings, prophesied of the unique king that was to come. In one of his writings, speaking to God, he said, “…you will not leave my soul in hell, neither will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.” (Psalm 16:10)
David foresaw that the king that God would send to the world would not “see corruption.” In other words, the king to come would not suffer the fate of every other human being, in finally being laid to rest in a grave and their flesh decaying.
This was one of the most unique things about the life of Jesus. After his crucifixion, he was laid in a grave outside Jerusalem. But, according to the Bible, on the third day after his death, he rose from the dead, just as he’d told his disciples he would.
Now you may not believe that. I certainly didn’t when I first heard it. But I didn’t know it had been prophesied centuries before that there would be a king to come who would not “see corruption.” I didn’t know there were prophecies that he would be “born in Bethlehem”, that he would be “born of a virgin”, and so many more.
Usually, at some point, it comes down to a matter of the truth, and how much you want it. Many people like facts, I always have. But when you’re faced with truth that challenges much of what you’ve believed till then, there comes what is called “the moment of truth.” It’s sort of funny it’s called that.
But if there’s a phenomenon of prophecy which has been foretelling the future for thousands of years, if there’s a spiritual world greater and more real than the physical one we live in, if there’s a life of the soul that goes beyond the physical life of our bodies, then this could lead us to a very different view of our existence.
It would mean that we don’t just die like a dog. We go on. Our soul will go on, after our body ceases to work. And in this reality, realm and existence, that unique king came and died and rose from the dead. If there’s a spiritual world, if there’s prophecy that foretells the future, then this is all utterly possible.
And that king that was to come, Jesus of Nazareth, said that he would come to this world again.
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Iftikhar Chaudhry Speaks to New York Bar
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is currently on a US visit for a speaking tour, including a visit to the Harvard Law School to receive their Medal of Freedom.
Here's the text of his Speech at the New York Bar Association
It is a pleasure and an honor for me to be addressing the members of one of the largest Bar Associations in the world. I am extremely touched and moved by the honor that you have conferred upon me today. In actual fact this honor is being showered on the teeming millions of Pakistanis who have dared to stand for, , struggle for and dream for those values and principles which developed societies such as yours value , cherish and I am sure at times take for granted. I stand here as in solidarity of all those Pakistanis who continue to defy autocracy and repression and have risen against despotism, dictatorship, tyranny and injustice.
My learned friends, in an ideal world I should not be standing here today giving this speech. In an ideal world where all nations bow to the rule of law, for the Chief Justice of a Supreme Court to take a principled stand against subversion of the Constitution and to and to warn against the erosion of the Rule of Law and Independence of the Judiciary, should be the norm rather than the exception. It is extremely unfortunate for us as a nation to have to fight for and struggle for something which should be the birth right of every human being. Sir Winston Churchill's statement at the end of the war about his war torn country was a deliberated comment. He said that as long as the judiciary was independent and functioning then nothing was lost. And how true that observation was, because there is an irresistible bond between an independent judiciary and a nation's capacity to resist an adversary, whether internal or external.
In any war the most effective weapon is a population with enforceable rights. Such a nation has a stake in the system and will fight to protect it. The key word here is 'enforceable'. A nation who are promised rights, even if they are enshrined in a document as sacred as the Constitution, but are denied the enforcement of those rights, then for all practical purposes they remain deprived of those rights. A system that does not enforce and protect rights alienates the people. And what good is that judiciary that is remiss in guarding a Constitution given by the people to themselves? Without an independent judiciary people lose faith and commitment to their chosen Constitutional system. They become indifferent to its survival and soon
become apathetic, cynical and resigned. They then choose to follow those who challenge it, even those who oppose it with military force. And this then leads to the inevitable loss of crucial battles.
Ladies and gentlemen, no democracy can survive without an independent judiciary. No strong and stable Parliament can be constructed on the ruins of an independent judicial edifice. An independent judiciary is, in fact, the most significant protection available to Parliament. It covers the flanks of Parliament, resisting attacks from any adventurer in the wings. The entire argument that Parliament must prevail over justice and law is therefore flawed. There can be no democracy without law. Without an independent justice system even the best democratic system remains in jeopardy, and eventually degrades into lawlessness and anarchy.
My friends, we live in times of great peril and in times of great challenge to the human spirit of resilience. No battle in modern war or battles for peace can be won in lands that lack justice. Lack of justice produces economic and social inequities, which in turn churn out disaffected elements that will destroy the fabric of the one just world that is our shared goal. Only justice for all can beat terrorism and tyranny. Only an independent judiciary can checkmate extremism. Rule of law is the most effective obstacle to repression, oppression and all their offshoots. There is no doubt about the fact that Parliamentary sovereignty is sacred. But only the Constitution is supreme, and it is for the legitimately constituted courts to interpret the constitution. Parliament and Parliamentarians cannot be exempted from judicial scrutiny by installing a feeble and timid judiciary in the name of the sovereignty of Parliament. Both Parliament and the Executive must be restrained and kept within the boundaries of the rule of law.
My fellow jurists, permit me to emphasize one additional point. Just as an independent judiciary is vital to sustain democracy, the independence of the judiciary itself is dependent entirely on "independent judges". For a truly independent judiciary the judges must be independent and fearless. If judges are afraid of being arrested, of being manhandled, of being imprisoned along with their families, and that too because they had the courage to take a principled stand against a dictator and refused to be party to the mutilation of the Constitution, then we might as well forget about any judge ever being independent or fearless. If society turns a blind eye and condones the illegal acts of the dictator, then we might as well bury the hope of ever having free judges with free minds and a free conscience. Ladies and gentlemen, this is why Pakistan is going through a decisive and definitive moment in our history.
The Lawyers' Movement in Pakistan is a unique and historic struggle against all those forces which are trying to stifle the rule of law and are hacking away at the foundations of our judiciary. They are trying to suffocate and bury the concept of an independent judiciary once and for all, and once that happens then the very fabric of society is destroyed resulting in a domino effect, with all the other organs and pillars of the state falling one by one. This movement is being led by the young lawyers of Pakistan, who seek neither office nor power. For the last 18 months these champions of freedom have risked life and limb in the face of all odds. The lawyers' movement triggered a wave of patriotism and mixed emotions in the civil society of Pakistan – both of resentment against the forces working against the wellbeing of our beloved country, as well as the urge and desire to come out and do whatever they could within their capacity to assist the lawyers in achieving their goal. The media has also played a remarkable role, and in a country where nothing is free or independent, they have carved a place for themselves in history .There is no doubt about the fact that the media has attained the status of a fourth pillar of the state, and in the case of Pakistan, it has proved to be both powerful as well as bold and courageous.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure all of you are fully aware of the link between economic growth and an independent judiciary. Investment shies away from economies or countries that do not have an independent judiciary. There is a report in the June 5th 2008 edition of the Economist based on the findings of a commission on the legal empowerment of the poor released on 3rd June at the United Nations. It asserts that "one of the main reasons why so much of humanity remains mired in poverty is that it is outside the rule of law." Such economies are less productive and less attractive to capital. The term 'Legal Empowerment' is therefore likely to become a part of policy making vocabulary just as the term 'sustainable development has after it appeared in a similar report 3 decades ago. After all, what capital and investment, both domestic and foreign, primarily need is security. Inflation and rising prices are also part of the same phenomenon and revolve around the question of supply and demand. Without investment there can be no increase in production and opportunities of employment. Without increase in production, supplies cannot increase and meet the
demands of an increasing and more demanding population. Net employment decreases and unemployment goes up, resulting in more competition for the same number of jobs .As a result salaries and wages go down, purchasing power falls and prices go up because productive capacity and production does not rise. Inflation, unemployment and an increase in crimes are natural consequences. As the Economist says, it is now widely understood that a vibrant, independent and fearless mechanism for imparting justice is crucial to the health of the economy.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Bar, it is not the province of the courts to step into areas that are exclusively within the domain of the Executive or the Parliament. But, if these two institutions remain indifferent to the duties entrusted to them under the Constitution, or if they have acted contrary to the principles enshrined therein, or if their acts discriminate between the rich and the poor, or on religious, class, regional or ethnic grounds, then judges are called upon by the Constitution, their oath and their office to act. We do not seek to deprive any other Constitutional pillar of its authority or strength. In fact we seek to bolster and strengthen that authority. And above all, we owe it to the citizens of Pakistan to do our duty according to our original oath, the Constitution, the law and our conscience.
Parliament is no doubt supreme but the judiciary must be equally independent and authoritative. That is how the state and its institutions retain the confidence of the people. This is how nations develop and people prosper. People must not only have rights but MUST also have the means to enforce those rights. And that is only possible through an independent judiciary, comprising of independent judges. Nations with independent judges develop fast as they attract and maintain investment, whereas a weak and compliant judiciary may benefit some individuals, but it breaks the back
of the economy, the people and the country.
Finally, ladies and gentlemen, permit me to part with this ending note. In the months that remained incarcerated with my family at the house atop the Margalla Hills, I drew strength for the light that shined through the international brotherhood of all students and men and women of law who made common cause with the lawyers of Pakistan in shared ideal of establishing the supremacy of the Rule of Law. And to the American lawyers who attired themselves in black coats and marched on the streets of New York, Washington DC and many a towns and cities though out your land in support of the thousands of lawyers who marched thought the length and breadth of my land, I say thank you and remain certain that we shall overcome.
Posted by Riaz Haq at 9:57 AM
Labels: Harvard, Iftikhar Chaudhry, New York Bar, Speech, US
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has unanimously declared NRO null and void ab initio, according to Dawn News:
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has declared the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) null and void in a short order.
In a landmark decision, the apex court unanimously decided that the ordinance was unconstitutional.
All old cases that had been dismissed under the NRO stand revived and can now be reopened as per the court orders.
The court said that all orders that were passed and all acquittals under the NRO were illegal and never existed.
The apex court in its order also said that all convictions that were held prior to the enactment of the NRO stand revived as well.
Now the Zar dari camp is expected to argue that, under the constitution of Pakistan, President Zardari is immune from prosecution as long as he is in office.
While the final outcome of the cases and the fate of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats remains uncertain, I welcome the fact that the Supreme Court of Pakistan's verdict has refused to legitimize corruption in Pakistan. It is a giant step toward strengthening rule of law and restore confidence in the judiciary.
Here is a NY Times Op Ed by Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman on questions about rule of law in US foreclosures crisis:
The accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom dispelled the myth of effective corporate governance. These days, the idea that our banks were well capitalized and supervised sounds like a sick joke. And now the mortgage mess is making nonsense of claims that we have effective contract enforcement — in fact, the question is whether our economy is governed by any kind of rule of law.
The story so far: An epic housing bust and sustained high unemployment have led to an epidemic of default, with millions of homeowners falling behind on mortgage payments. So servicers — the companies that collect payments on behalf of mortgage owners — have been foreclosing on many mortgages, seizing many homes.
But do they actually have the right to seize these homes? Horror stories have been proliferating, like the case of the Florida man whose home was taken even though he had no mortgage. More significantly, certain players have been ignoring the law. Courts have been approving foreclosures without requiring that mortgage servicers produce appropriate documentation; instead, they have relied on affidavits asserting that the papers are in order. And these affidavits were often produced by “robo-signers,” or low-level employees who had no idea whether their assertions were true.
Now an awful truth is becoming apparent: In many cases, the documentation doesn’t exist. In the frenzy of the bubble, much home lending was undertaken by fly-by-night companies trying to generate as much volume as possible. These loans were sold off to mortgage “trusts,” which, in turn, sliced and diced them into mortgage-backed securities. The trusts were legally required to obtain and hold the mortgage notes that specified the borrowers’ obligations. But it’s now apparent that such niceties were frequently neglected. And this means that many of the foreclosures now taking place are, in fact, illegal.
This is very, very bad. For one thing, it’s a near certainty that significant numbers of borrowers are being defrauded — charged fees they don’t actually owe, declared in default when, by the terms of their loan agreements, they aren’t.
Beyond that, if trusts can’t produce proof that they actually own the mortgages against which they have been selling claims, the sponsors of these trusts will face lawsuits from investors who bought these claims — claims that are now, in many cases, worth only a small fraction of their face value.
And who are these sponsors? Major financial institutions — the same institutions supposedly rescued by government programs last year. So the mortgage mess threatens to produce another financial crisis.
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Image conscious: how Australians view different department stores
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), July 2015-June 2016, n=14,314. Base: Australians 14+
Whether they’re at the higher end of the spectrum like Myer and David Jones, or more budget-focused like Kmart, Target and BigW, Australia’s department stores share a common goal: as many customers as possible. To achieve this, they need to ensure they’re projecting the right image for their target market: that they have good quality products, for example, or low prices, or a good range of brands. So how do Australians perceive our biggest department stores? Having measured the image of these stores for many years, Roy Morgan Research reveals the latest public perceptions.
When it comes to customer volume, bragging rights go to discount department store giants, Kmart, Target and Big W. In an average four-week period, 22.6% of the population (or 3.6 million people) buy non-food merchandise** at Kmart, just ahead of 19.5% (3.1 million) at Target. Despite Big W’s well-publicised decline, 18.9% of Australians (3 million people) still shop there per four weeks. Clearly, these retailers are projecting an appealing image to attract so many customers.
Image of store: Target, Kmart and Big W compared
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), July 2015-June 2016, n=14,314. ** Note: Roy Morgan collects purchasing information from an extensive range of consumer non-food categories in stores. While the list of monitored categories is large, general grocery categories such as food, confectionery and drinks are not covered. Similarly, in-store services, gift card purchase and other non-merchandise activities are not covered.
One common denominator shared by the three stores is the perception that each ‘has a wide choice of products’. Almost 42% of Australians think Target fits this description, 45.1% feel the same way about Kmart and 49.2% think Big W has a wide choice of products.
Big W and Kmart are also associated with having ‘low prices’ and ‘products that are good value for money’, while Target has the edge over the other two for having ‘good quality products’.
It’s worth noting here that, in the 12 months to June 2016 (the period from which the data in this finding is taken) Target was leading the pack in the Discount Department Store category of Roy Morgan’s Customer Satisfaction Awards – and still is. Retail customer satisfaction is a complex formula, influenced by multiple factors beyond being seen to have low prices.
Myer and David Jones
Compared with the discount players, higher-end retailers Myer and David Jones see fewer shoppers through their doors, with 10.0% of Australians (or 1.6 million people) making a purchase at Myer and 4.7% (760,000) buying something at DJs in an average four weeks. The most commonly held perception of these stores is less about low prices and more about quality, which evidently impacts on customer volume.
Just over four in every 10 Australians believe that both stores have ‘good quality products’, while 34.2% of the population perceives Myer as having ‘a wide choice of products’ (compared with 27.7% who see David Jones in the same way). The proportion who think either store has ‘low prices’, on the other hand, is negligible.
Image of store: David Jones and Myer compared
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), July 2015-June 2016, n=14,314
Nearly 22% of Australians feel that Myer’s ‘products cost a little more, but they’re worth it’, a smidgeon more than the 21.3% who think this statement applies to DJs; but Myer is more commonly associated with having ‘a good range of brands’ than the latter (28.3% vs 23.4%).
Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director, Roy Morgan Research, says:
“With Australians set to spend more than $48.1 billion in retail stores in the lead-up to Christmas this year (as forecast by Roy Morgan Research and the Australian Retailers’ Association), department stores stand to benefit from this festive-season shopping frenzy. In fact, we’re expecting a pre-Christmas spend of over $3 billion at department stores alone.
“Widely perceived as having low prices and products that are good value for money, Kmart and BigW are probably on the Christmas shopping itineraries of Aussie consumers keen not to break the bank this festive season. Although Big W has lost ground to Kmart in recent years, consumers still see it as a budget-friendly, one-stop shopping experience, which is ideal for those keen to knock off their Christmas-gift list in one hit. Meanwhile, people looking for high-quality, brand-name gifts no matter what the cost will more likely head to Myer or DJs.
“It’s interesting to see how public perception of these stores has evolved over the last few years. For one thing, the proportion of Aussies who’d consider shopping at each retailer has increased, with some age groups showing particularly striking changes in this respect. Whereas 43.7% of 18-24 year-olds said they’d consider shopping at Target back in 2014, that figure has shot up since then to 52.5%; this age group has also shown a growing interest in shopping at David Jones (40.1%, up from 33.2%). Meanwhile, Kmart’s appeal for teenagers 14-17 has risen from 44.7% saying they’d consider shopping there to 49.3%.
“These figures are just the tip of the iceberg. Roy Morgan’s in-depth retail data measures 15 ‘image of store’ statements for each department store, which can be analysed over time, by consumer demographics, shopping attitudes and so much more. This allows retailers to ascertain whether their marketing strategies are aligned with, conflicting with, or even changing public perception of them.”
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Who shops at David Jones? This profile contains data to help you understand DJs customers in terms of demographics, their attitudes to various important issues, how they spend their leisure time and what media they use.
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Find out everything you wanted to know but where afraid to ask about Australians who shop at Kmart. This profile contains in-depth data on everything from their demographics to their attitudes, their leisure activities and what media they consume.
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Page 27 of A Lowcountry Wedding (Lowcountry Summer 4)
“What was your mother’s name?”
“Zora Green.”
“Another literary name,” she noted, seemingly pleased by the fact. “You know, my son, Parker, named his daughters after his favorite southern authors—Eudora Welty, Carson McCullers, and Harper Lee.”
“He must’ve loved books. My mother did.”
“Oh, he did.” Her face softened in memory. “He was a writer, you know.”
“Yes, that’s how he got to know my mother. She was an editor. They met while she was helping him with his novel.”
“Zora . . .” Marietta paused to think back, then regretfully shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t recall Parker ever mentioning your mother’s name.”
That rankled. “Oh.”
“We rarely discussed his friends or personal life. So that’s not to be taken as a slight in any way. You see, my son and I had a serious falling out after his first divorce. Later we reconciled, but from that point on it was tacitly understood that his personal life was not up for discussion. And, to be honest, I was more comfortable being kept in the dark. Let’s just say Parker was a very handsome and charming man. He had three wives, you see.”
“And you have three granddaughters.”
“Tell me about your mother,” she said.
This was a subject he could speak about readily. A small smile crossed his face as he pictured his mother in his mind. “She was lovely in every way. And bright. She was the publisher of Atlanta magazine until she died.”
“It’s a very good magazine. Small world.”
He nodded in agreement, then looked idly around the room in the heavy silence.
“Reverend . . . Atticus, do you have something in particular you’d like to ask me?”
Atticus felt the heat of her searching stare. “Not particularly. As I said, my mother was a friend of Parker’s and I was curious to see where he grew up.”
Mrs. Muir looked at her hands. “I think, perhaps, an intimate friend.” She lifted her eyes.
He met her gaze sharply. “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
As they stared at each other, his blue eyes searching into hers, Atticus knew without a doubt the game was up. This was a wise old bird, biding her time.
To her credit, she released a knowing smile that revealed more compassion and wisdom than he felt he deserved, under the circumstances.
“Atticus, you are the very image of my dear son, Parker. Tell me, child. Did you come here, to Parker’s home, searching for answers? If so, I have a burning question of my own.” She closed her eyes as though to gather her strength, then, opening them, she held his gaze and said with heart, “Are you my grandson?”
Atticus’s defenses were shattered. The vague responses he’d meant to give melted away under the heat of her gaze. Open and vulnerable, she looked at him. She’d laid her cards on the table and now waited for his response.
He blinked slowly. “Yes.”
Her hand flew to her lips as her composure fled. Tears filled her eyes, appearing as two deep lakes about to overflow. With the truth out, Atticus felt her stare intensify as she examined him with open curiosity, even hunger, clearly searching for signs of her son in his son.
Atticus felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny. “Are we really that much alike?”
She smiled with self-effacing charm. “Enough that I thought you were him when I first saw you. Scared the living daylights out of me, I must say.”
“Alike, except with a different skin color,” Atticus said wryly.
“Well, yes.” Marietta leaned forward and peered into his face. “Now that I look at you more calmly, there are differences, of course. The nose isn’t his. Your forehead might be a bit broader. And though he was tall, he wasn’t as tall as you. But overall the resemblance is absolutely profound. Your facial structure, slender frame, and of course your eyes. It’s the Muir blue color,” she said with a hint of pride.
Atticus listened, soaking in the information like a dry sponge. He’d not looked like Tyrone and only somewhat like his mother. “I had always wondered where I got my blue eyes from.”
Marietta shook her head, seemingly dazed. “But this is extraordinary! I wonder why he never told me. You’re his only son. My only grandson.”
“My mother asked him not to tell anyone. I have to respect him for keeping his promise. He never met me. I didn’t know about him, either.”
“Then how . . . ?”
“My mother died a few months ago. After her estate was settled, her lawyer sent me, per her instructions, a letter she’d written to me before she died.” He steepled his hands. “It was a shock.”
“My dear boy, I can’t imagine.”
“I didn’t see it coming.” He paused at the understatement. “My parents were separated when she met Parker. My father was working as a lawyer in Atlanta. My mother went to New York to work as an editor for a major publishing house. According to the letter, it was there she met your son. I gather she was helping him with his book, they spent a lot of time together, and one thing led to another.” Atticus shrugged. “She says they fell in love.”
Marietta’s eyes widened with a sudden realization. “Did your mother work for Georgiana James?”
“Yes, I believe that was her name. She was, according to my mother, a cruel woman.”
Marietta’s eyes narrowed. “It was Georgiana,” she said with certainty.
“In any case, once her boss found out about their affair, she fired my mother and divorced your son. Only, by this time my mother was pregnant. She returned to her husband in Atlanta, where they reconciled. He raised me as his own son.”
“When did Parker find out he had a son?”
“My mother wrote to tell him before I was born. You should know, he offered to marry her.”
Marietta’s face was somber. “It was the honorable thing to do.”
“For a white man to marry a black woman in your society here in Charleston almost thirty years ago, it would have meant a scandal. In New York? It might have brought a few raised brows, but they could have done it. My mother loved your son, and he loved her. But she didn’t want to marry him. She chose to go back to her husband. My real father.”
Mrs. Muir didn’t respond.
Tags: Mary Alice Monroe Lowcountry Summer Romance
Fighting For You (Danvers 4) By Sydney Landon
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Oakland California based Trumpet Player / Producer / Ethnomusicologist / DJ Will Magid's music is always a joyous affair. His unique style of live performance and electronic sampling seamlessly blends original music with sounds from across the globe.
Will, who studied Ethnomusicology at UCLA, has gathered inspiration from playing music on every continent except Antarctica.
His newest project is Balkan Bump, which is signed to Gramatik's Lowtemp Label. The project currently touring in Theaters across the U.S and Canada.
Will Magid’s trumpet will take you to Havana in the summertime. It will take you to a West African wedding and, simultaneously, a Serbian dance club. It will take you to soul music in New Orleans, a 1920's speakeasy, then to the cusp of the end of the world, where everyone’s dancing because they have nothing to lose. The trumpet will holler vibrantly no matter what. And it’s a flexible instrument, well suited for his music production style with victorious leaps among sounds from the past, sounds from here and sounds from elsewhere. While he’s devoted to his trumpet, Will is truly a multi-instrumentalist/producer. The resulting pieces are buoyant jams packed with rich layers of celebratory horns, bouncing percussion, classical strings and even a bit of ambient noise.
He’s had the honor to tour and collaborate with many talented artists from diverse genres of music, such as Gramatik, Poldoore, Bonobo, CloZee, Beats Antique, Solomon Burke, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, Afrolicious, Pretty Lights, Kenny Burrell, Zigaboo Modeliste, Baba' Ken Okulolo, Jeremy Sole, J-Boogie.
A collector of sounds, Will layers the familiar with the curious, building imaginary worlds somehow both strange and close to home.
Will's new project "Balkan Bump" recently signed with Gramatik's label Lowtemp. Check out the music https://soundcloud.com/balkanbump
Will is also a founding member of Golden Bell Music, bringing the energy of a live band and the flexibility and freedom of a DJ to corporate events, private parties and weddings around the world.
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Nearly 385 million children living in extreme poverty
5 October Oct 2016 1226 05 October 2016
Children are more than twice as likely as adults to live in extreme poverty, according to a new analysis from the World Bank Group and UNICEF.
The report "Ending Extreme Poverty: A Focus on Children", finds that in 2013 19.5 per cent of children in developing countries were living in households that survived on an average of US$1.90 a day or less per person, compared to just 9.2 per cent of adults. Globally, almost 385 million children were living in extreme poverty.
Children are disproportionately affected, as they make up around a third of the population studied, but half of the extreme poor. The youngest children are the most at risk – with more than one-fifth of children under the age of five in the developing world living in extremely poor households.
Children are not only more likely to be living in extreme poverty; the effects of poverty are most damaging to children. They are the worst off of the worst off – and the youngest children are the worst off of all, because the deprivations they suffer affect the development of their bodies and their minds. It is shocking that half of all children in sub-Saharan Africa and one in five children in developing countries are growing up in extreme poverty. This not only limits their futures, it drags down their societies.
Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director
The new analysis comes on the heels of the release of the World Bank Group’s new flagship study, Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016: Taking on Inequality, which found that some 767 million people globally were living on less than $1.90 per day in 2013, half of them under the age of 18.
The sheer number of children in extreme poverty points to a real need to invest specifically in the early years—in services such as pre-natal care for pregnant mothers, early childhood development programs, quality schooling, clean water, good sanitation, and universal health care. Improving these services, and ensuring that today’s children can access quality job opportunities when the time comes, is the only way to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty that is so widespread today.
Ana Revenga, Senior Director, Poverty and Equity at the World Bank Group
The global estimate of extreme child poverty is based on data from 89 countries, representing 83 per cent of the developing world’s population. Sub-Saharan Africa has both the highest rates of children living in extreme poverty at just under 50 per cent, and the largest share of the world’s extremely poor children, at just over 50 per cent. South Asia has the second highest share at nearly 36 per cent—with over 30 per cent of extremely poor children living in India alone. More than four out of five children in extreme poverty live in rural areas.
In addition, the report reveals that even at higher thresholds, poverty also affects children disproportionately. About 45 per cent of children are living in households subsisting on less than $3.10 a day per person, compared with nearly 27 per cent of adults.
UNICEF and the World Bank Group are calling on governments to:
Routinely measure child poverty at the national and subnational level and focus on children in national poverty reduction plans as part of efforts to end extreme poverty by 2030.
Strengthen child-sensitive social protection systems, including cash transfer programs that directly help poor families to pay for food, health care, education and other services that protect children from the impact of poverty and improve their chances of breaking the cycle in their own lives.
Prioritize investments in education, health, clean water, sanitation and infrastructure that benefit the poorest children, as well as those that help prevent people from falling back into poverty after setbacks like droughts, disease or economic instability.
Shape policy decisions so that economic growth benefits the poorest children.
UNICEF and the World Bank Group are working with partners to interrupt cycles of poverty and to promote early childhood development - with programs ranging from cash transfers, to nutrition, healthcare and education.
Cover Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Stepping up
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals? This is how I honour my pledge
Vanda Gatti
Vanda, an Italian Youth Ambassador for The ONE Campaign, shares her achievements and hopes on the anniversary of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Myth vs Fact
Most people ignore the progress in the global poverty fight
According to the "Towards 2030 without poverty" report, 87% of people around the world believes that global poverty has either stayed the same or gotten worse over the past 20 years, when the exact opposite is true – it has more than halved.
Club of Rome: One percent growth is enough
Monica Straniero
The latest Report to the Club of Rome focuses on three endemic social challenges – inequality, unemployment, and climate change – and offers 13 radical policy solutions for industrialized countries to address these problems without the need for faster economic growth.
One Data Report 2016
Europe spent more aid within its own borders than overseas
ONE launches its Data Report 2016, which every year tracks official development assistance (ODA) flows and trends for the world’s major donors.
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News Hotline
CMP videos expose some long-held lies
August 10, 2015 7:00 am·
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Iowa Statesman.
By Jon the Southern Baptist
On the Front Lines of the Culture War
Unless you’ve had your head stuck in the sand for the past month, you’re probably well aware of the barrage of videos exposing the barbarism of Planned Parenthood. And, even if you haven’t watched any of them, you know they’re pretty gruesome.
So, there’s a new push to “defund” Planned Parenthood. In essence, the organization receives billions of dollars a year in donations and government subsidies to offset its expenses. And sadly, that’s the narrative that has dominated all discussion on the topic of abortion.
In Iowa, it’s an effective strategy because all but two abortion providers in the state are Planned Parenthood clinics. But, as The Iowa Statesman pointed out previously, it’s not the only baby butcher in the state. So, even if Planned Parenthood disappeared tomorrow, the scourge of abortion — taxpayer-funded abortion, no less — would remain.
Defunding Planned Parenthood is certainly an admirable goal, but it is yet another incremental approach to a problem that demands an abolitionist solution.
The videos, produced by the Center for Medical Progress, expose a number of lies that have been long-held as facts with regard to abortion. And right now, I’d like to divert from the “defund” narrative and talk about these lies, one at a time.
Lie No. 1: Prior to the 20th week of gestation, the baby isn’t “viable.”
If the child isn’t “viable” prior to the 20th week of gestation, then why are his or her body parts? Planned Parenthood has taken the concept that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole to an entirely new, sick, and twisted low. Yet, we know in the Bible that God knew each of us before we were formed in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5).
Lie No. 2: These women don’t know they’re killing babies.
Really? Even basic science requirements of Common Core cover human reproduction in junior high, and most states require ultrasounds and informed consent that requires the mother to know she is ending another human life prior to an abortion procedure. They know, and so does God. If they didn’t know, they wouldn’t have given their consent to “donate” their babies’ body parts.
Lie No. 3: Planned Parenthood ensures that abortions are rare.
From the videos, we learn that a single abortion doctor may perform as many as a dozen procedures in a single day. In. A. Day. We’ve sent serial killers to Death Row for committing half as many murders in their entire lifetimes. Planned Parenthood is a multi-billion-dollar business with more than 90 percent of its revenue coming from abortion services. That’s how 55 million lives — plus or minus 5 million — have been snuffed out over the course of 42 years.
Lie No. 4: Planned Parenthood ensures abortions are safe.
Wrong again. The videos prove, in Planned Parenthood officials’ own words, that abortion procedures are altered from their “safe” methods to more dangerous ways in order to ensure more salable “tissue” is available for sale. So, it’s Planned Parenthood’s profit margin that comes before the “health” of the women they’re supposedly helping.
Lie No. 5: Without Planned Parenthood, women would have to resort to unsafe, backstreet abortions.
As others have already noted, any secular or state-funded medical facility must perform an abortion upon a woman’s demand, except as restricted by the federal late-term abortion ban. Medicare and Medicaid may both pay for them, and all insurance policies, including those purchased through ObamaCare, must provide coverage for abortion.
Now, any one of these, alone, would be sufficient grounds to shut it all down. But by “shut it down,” I don’t just mean Planned Parenthood. The whole abortion industry needs to end. Right now.
Jonathan Montgomery Harrington is the pseudonym for the anonymous author of Jon the Southern Baptist, who is fighting on the front lines of the culture war on a daily basis. If you have a suggestion for his contributions to The Iowa Statesman, write to him at jonsouthernbaptist@outlook.com.
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FESTAC robbery: Police blame navy, Air Force
Lagos Commissioner of Police- Fatai Owoseni
The police in Lagos have said their calls for help from the Navy and the Air Force during Tuesday’s robbery at FESTAC Town were ignored, the NATION gathered.
Some senior police officers said they contacted the navy when the robbers arrived on the scene.
It was learnt that the navy told the police that even their smallest vessel was too big to enter the canal.
The police were reportedly asked to seek help from the Air Force.
The Air Force was also said to have been contacted to trail the robbers on the canal but failed to take action.
The senior police officers said the Air Force directed the police to contact its headquarters in Abuja for clearance.
Navy’s Director of Information Commodore Aliyu Kabiru said the outfit would not engage the police in a blame game or controversy.
The Area Commander, Area E in Lagos State, Frank Mba, has been redeployed.
His redeployment, which was reportedly sent by Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase, directed the ACP to resume in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.
A query was reportedly issued on Wednesday to the mobile policemen guarding the banks but there were no indications that Mba was queried.
The police were said to have recovered N27 million from the robbers as they fled.
Police spokesman Jospeh Offor said he was not aware of the allegation against the navy and the Air Force.
The police spokesman also said he was not aware of Mba’s transfer.
The Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone II, Bala Hassan, yesterday decried the lack of an intelligence gathering system in the service.
The police chief blamed civilians for not providing the police with information. He said some people would have been aware of the criminals’ plans before they struck.
Hassan spoke during his inspection visit to FESTAC Town.
The AIG, who said there would have been more disaster if the police had not engaged the criminals, assured that the Force would arrest and prosecute the hoodlums.
Hassan said: “It is our duty to ensure that the criminals are brought to justice within the shortest possible time. That is the only way the hearts of Lagosians will be at peace. We must do our best to stop a repeat.
“You can equip them (Marine Police), but there is no way you can cover the vulnerable areas. Therefore, there is need for us to be on guard and ensure that we cooperate with other security agencies and the public to get information that could stop their operations.”
“They (criminals) must have gone to a drinking joint; somebody would have seen them. If you had reported to the Commissioner of Police that you saw some people in suspicious manner, drinking and planning a robbery operation, they would have been arrested.
“We must increase our level of intelligence to make sure that this thing does not happen again. That the robbers were in military uniform does not mean they were uniform men; the purpose of that was to create an atmosphere of intimidation so that they would carry out their operation.
“If we had followed the way they (robbers) did, there would have been a lot of causalities, because this is a built-up area – from the bank and the neighbouring community. “The important thing now is for the robbers to be arrested and brought to justice.
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In Moot Member Blogs Armenian Genocide Entry Tools Rate This Entry
#210 April 26th, 2020 08:30 PM
A couple of days ago was the commemorative day for the Armenian Genocide attempted by the Turks during World War One. While the Turks fiercely deny that anything took place, the evidence is overwhelming that it did. Just put Armenia into the search of Project Gutenberg, and look at the results. Then do the same at archive.org. There are quite a few people of Armenian descent in my area, including the orthodontist that worked with my two children.
The thing that struck me in going through the material is that the massacres in World War One were nothing new. The Turks, with the assistance of the Kurds, had been slaughtering Armenians dating back into the late 1800s, where there is documentation. How much before that is a good question, but the attempted genocide in World War One was simply the most massive and organized effort. The following are some quotes from a book written by an American women who was in Turkey prior to World War One, which can be found on Project Gutenberg, Red Rugs of Tarsus.
But recent events in Armenia brought it all back again. My indignation, and a sense of duty and of pity, transcended all personal feelings. I lived again that night in Tarsus, when we—seven defenseless women, our one foreign man a brave young Swiss teacher of French, and 4,800 Armenians waited our turn at the hands of the Kurds.
In Tarsus we went through the massacres of April, 1909, when thirty thousand Armenians were slaughtered by the Turks in Adana Province alone. My first baby was born on May 5th that year, under martial law, in a little Armenian town that was only saved from similar experiences by the protecting guns of the warships of seven nations.
Then there is this from the book, Germany, Turkey, and Armenia, published in 1917, also to be found on Project Gutenberg. This was written by a German teacher in Aleppo.
On my return in September, 1915, from Beirut to Aleppo, after a three months’ holiday, I heard, to my horror, that a new period of Armenian massacres had been initiated. I was told that they were far more terrible than those under Abdul Hamid; and that their object was to exterminate, root and branch, the intelligent, prosperous and progressive nation of the Armenians and to transfer their property to Turkish hands. (Emphasis Added)
Opposite to the German Technical School at Aleppo in which we do our work as teachers, a remnant of some of these convoys is lying in one of the hans; there are about 400 emaciated forms; about 100 boys and girls, from five to seven years old, are among them. Most of them are suffering from typhoid and dysentery.
How can we teachers read German fairy tales with our pupils, or, indeed, the story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible? How can we ask them to decline and conjugate indifferent words, while round about in the neighbouring yards the starving brothers and sisters of our Armenian pupils are succumbing to a lingering death? In these circumstances our educational work flies in the face of all true morality and becomes a mockery of human feeling.
(Emphasis Added)
There are no pictures or photos in these accounts, which might be a good thing. I suspect if there were, they would resemble the photos taken by the U.S. 7th Army when it liberated the Dachau Concentration Camp. That report can be found online at the Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library, https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/. It might take you a while to find it as the URL keeps changing as more World War 2 documents are added, but it is under World War 2. Once I get my website running better, I will start posting some of the reports there for free download.
However, spend a little while during the lockdown reading this material, and then consider the evil which men can do, of their own free will, and in some cases, with great enthusiasm and enjoyment.
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The TRS-80 Pocket Computer 2
The TRS-80 Pocket Computer 2 (catalog number 26-3601), better known as the PC-2 (and even the Pocket Computer II in some early articles), was the most powerful member of Radio Shack’s family of Pocket Computers. The PC-2 wasn’t a replacement for the original Pocket Computer (known as the PC-1), but served as a more advanced (and more expensive) alternative.
The PC-2 cost $279.95 when it was introduced in 1982, but that price dropped to $199.95 by the following year. It was the only Pocket Computer that had speed and memory capacity that was competitive with a contemporary desktop computer. The PC-2 wasn’t manufactured by Radio Shack, but was a rebadged Sharp PC-1500. It wasn’t compatible with any of the hardware or software Radio Shack sold for the PC-1.
The PC-2 from a 1982 Radio Shack catalog
The PC-2 was larger and heavier than the PC-1. It measured 7 11/16" by 3 1/8" by 1 1/16", nearly one inch bigger in each dimension than the PC-11. It weighed 16 ounces (with batteries) compared to the six ounces of a PC-1. The extra width of the PC-2 meant that it could use ordinary AA batteries instead of the thin mercury coin cells of the PC-1. The PC-2 could run for 75 hours2 on four AA batteries and could also be powered by an optional DC adaptor.
The PC-2 had much better hardware specifications than the PC-1:
a LH5801 processor operating at 1.3MHz
a 26-character LCD display, with a resolution of 156 by 7
a miniature 65-key QWERTY keyboard
a speaker for generating tones
a real time clock
a 16K ROM BASIC, known as “Extended Pocket BASIC”
a “2640-character program and data memory,” which meant slightly over 2K for BASIC programs
a 60-pin Input/Output Interface Connector for connecting peripherals
a plug-in slot for memory expansion, capable of accepting up to a 16K module
For the memory expansion slot, Radio Shack sold a 4K RAM module (catalog number 26-3615) for $69.95 and an 8K RAM module (catalog number 26-3616) for $139.95. In a 1982 article in the TRS-80 Microcomputer News, a 16K module was described as being “a minimum of one to two years away.” Radio Shack never sold a 16K memory module, although Sharp did later sell one for their PC-15003.
The PC-2 Printer/Plotter/Dual Cassette Interface from a 1983 Radio Shack catalog
Probably the most common PC-2 accessory was the PC-2 Cassette/Printer Interface (catalog number 26-3605), later renamed the PC-2 Printer/Plotter/Dual Cassette Interface. It originally cost $239.95 but that price was soon reduced to $219.95. The Printer/Plotter/Dual Cassette Interface was larger than the PC-2 and contained its own rechargeable batteries. The PC-2 fit into it and was powered by its batteries while connected.
The Printer/Plotter/Dual Cassette Interface added 25 commands to PC-2 Extended Pocket BASIC to control the cassette and printer. As the name suggested, it supported two cassette recorders. This allowed (according to a Radio Shack catalog) “data to be read in from one cassette, updated and stored on a second cassette — all automatically under program control.” The plotter printer could print “graphics and alphanumerics in green, red, blue, and black.” Also according to the catalog:
You can plot superbly detailed 256 x 2096 XY four-color graphics, and print upper and lower case characters in nine different sizes using easily replaceable ballpoint mini-pens.
Radio Shack sold three replacement pens in red, blue, and green (catalog number 26-1481) for $2.95. Three black replacement pens (catalog number 26-1489) also cost $2.95. Radio Shack sold packages of 2 1/4" wide printer paper (catalog number 26-3606) of six rolls for $2.49.
Another PC-2 accessory was the RS-232C Interface (catalog number 26-3612), which cost $199.95. The RS-232C Interface added commands to Extended Pocket BASIC to allow the PC-2 to connect to most RS-232 devices. Amazingly, along with a modem it could be used to connect the PC-2 to online services such as Dow Jones and CompuServe.
The 16K Extended Pocket BASIC contained in the PC-2 was a very powerful version of BASIC, more comparable to Level II BASIC on a Model I. It offered arrays of two dimensions, strings of up to 80 characters, GCURSOR, GPRINT, and POINT for bitmapped graphics, BEEP (with parameters) for sound generation, and a TIME command to read the current time. It also had all of the mathematical commands of the earlier PC-1 BASIC.
The LH5801 processor used by the PC-2 was similar to processors used on desktop computers. Extended Pocket BASIC contained PEEK and POKE commands and the PC-2 was the sole Pocket Computer that could be programmed directly in assembly language. The only available source of programming information4 was “PC-2 Assembly Language,” a series of articles written by Bruce Elliot for the TRS-80 Microcomputer News. This was stated in the introduction to the first article:
Please understand that the information provided in these articles is the only information which is available. We will try to clarify any ambiguities which occur in the articles, but can not reply to questions outside the scope of these articles. Further, published copies of TRS-80 Microcomputer News are the only source of this information, and we will not be maintaining back issues.
None of the Radio Shack’s PC-1 software was compatible with the PC-2, but Radio Shack sold a number of new PC-2 software packages. Some of these included Math Pak I (catalog number 26-3709) and Math Pak II (catalog number 26-3710) for $14.95, Statistics (catalog number 26-3704) for $29.95, Chemistry/Math (catalog number 26-3708) for $14.95, and Personal Finance (catalog number 26-3700) for $14.95. They also sold some games, such as Invasion Force (catalog number 26-3705) for $9.95 and PC-2 Games Pak (catalog number 26-3702) for $14.95.
Discontinuation and the PC-1600
In late 1984, Radio Shack ran a final half-price sale on the PC-2 and its peripherals. The PC-2, the Printer/Plotter/Dual Cassette Interface, and the RS232C Interface all sold for $99.95 each. Radio Shack discontinued the PC-2 and peripherals soon after, presumably after they had sold out. Sharp continued to sell the PC-1500 until at least 1985 and introduced a more powerful successor, the PC-1600, in 1986. Radio Shack never sold a rebadged version of the PC-1600.
I suspect the high price of the PC-2, especially when combined with the price of the Printer/Plotter/Dual Cassette Interface, had a lot to do with its short lifespan. The PC-2 was very well liked by its owners, but a fully-equipped PC-2 cost hundreds of dollars more than an equivalent PC-1. This might have been one of the reasons Radio Shack’s Pocket Computer sales dropped dramatically (by over 40%) in 1983, the year after the PC-2 was introduced.
Radio Shack introduced six more Pocket Computers (including the excellent PC-4), but all were smaller, less expensive, and less powerful than the PC-2.
The larger size of the PC-2 (in particular the depth) meant that it was more difficult to fit in a pocket than the PC-1. ↩︎
75 hours is much less than the 300 hours of the PC-1, even though an AA battery has more energy than a coin cell. The faster processor speed of the PC-2 and resulting increased power demand was to blame for the difference. ↩︎
Sharp also sold a 32K memory module, with two switchable 16K banks, for the PC-1500 and PC-1600. ↩︎
There was also a technical reference manual for the PC-1500 from Sharp, but that wasn’t commonly known by PC-2 users at the time. ↩︎
The TRS-80 Model II
Categories:Computers
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"Move Ya Hips (feat. Nicki Minaj & MadeinTYO)"
Valence: 0.0763
"Intermission"
"Marilyn Manson (feat. Marilyn Manson)"
"Value"
"Pups (feat. A$AP Rocky)"
Floor Seats
"Purity (feat. Frank Ocean)"
A$AP Rocky Played at 17:26
"SOHO"
The Sunset Tapes: A Cool Tape Story
Jaden Played at 17:29
"Norf Norf"
Summertime '06
Vince Staples Played at 17:32
"Fell In Luv (feat. Bryson Tiller)"
Die Lit
Playboi Carti Played at 17:36
"10 Freaky Girls (with 21 Savage)"
NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES (Deluxe)
Metro Boomin Played at 17:39
"Butt Naked (feat. Rico Nasty)"
"Kids Turned Out Fine"
"Bad Connection"
CTV3: Cool Tape Vol. 3
"Lancaster Nights"
Lancaster Nights
Charlie Burg Played at 19:07
"Idaho"
Slow Pulp Played at 19:13
"Puppy Dog"
Dreamer Boy Played at 19:16
"Want Me Back"
FIRE ON MARZZ
BENEE Played at 19:20
"Freezing"
Bren Joy Played at 19:23
"In the Heat"
In the Heat
PAPER TAPES Played at 20:31
"Wake Up Call"
Mel Blue Played at 20:35
Husbands Played at 20:38
"Shadows"
Found Space Played at 20:41
"Know You"
"Bedrooms"
Cape Francis Played at 20:46
"Happiness!?"
Happiness!?
Harrison Lipton Played at 20:50
"Out of My Body"
Out of My Body
Brain Tan Played at 20:54
"that's us"
that's us
Golden Vessel Played at 20:57
"Check In"
JWestern Played at 21:01
"I Love You Why Would I Ever Leave? (Oh Right, and I'm Pretty High)"
I Love You Why Would I Ever Leave? (Oh Right, and I'm Pretty High)
Wa'el Played at 21:07
"BS"
Still Woozy Played at 21:09
"& Cry!"
& Cry!
Middle Part Played at 21:12
"Beacon (Single Version)"
Beacon (Single Version)
Most Akin Played at 21:15
"Residue"
Jesse Biggio Played at 21:19
"When She's Gone"
When She's Gone
Josh Fudge Played at 21:22
"Actin' Dumb"
Actin' Dumb
Koney Played at 21:25
"Divine"
Jordana Played at 21:28
"Mustang"
Starman Jr. Played at 21:31
"CALL ME (Freestyle)"
CALL ME (Freestyle)
Blood Orange Played at 21:34
Energy: 0.564 MOOD AVG: 0.6
"Agreeable"
Cautious Clay Played at 21:36
Average Valence: 0.48
327.2 195.6 274.4 241.6 236.4 212.8 174.4 194.0 206.4 194.8 169.6 251.6 122.0 299.2 273.6 194.4 235.2 213.6 257.6 171.6 312.0 290.8 231.2 195.6 256.0 308.0 288.8 245.6 283.6 195.2 220.0 203.2 166.0 136.8 295.2 200.8 298.0 124.0 240.0 270.4
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(Oh Right, and I'm Pretty High)", "Wa'el", "0xcjBAYwz75CgkMeHxN3o9", "21:07", "0.21", "0.647", "0.725", "0.488"], ["https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273ea3e63aad8c2dad14b08abeb", "BS", "BS", "Still Woozy", "1qxZswAdBvM0JMUoV83J1b", "21:09", "0.53", "0.616", "0.458", "0.55"], ["https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2730b8d847fe91ad05e618278a1", "& Cry!", "& Cry!", "Middle Part", "1Kz558WodSH2k1RI3QRBfz", "21:12", "0.441", "0.452", "0.753", "0.508"], ["https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2737c7783e071ea9a4494ad7b2e", "Beacon (Single Version)", "Beacon (Single Version)", "Most Akin", "5NbvOR6bzEoWsq13aGufFA", "21:15", "0.29", "0.559", "0.378", "0.415"], ["https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273b57b53a227471baf734f8625", "Residue", "Residue", "Jesse Biggio", "4Jnxoe4gFgkCwdod2D0T2g", "21:19", "0.0852", "0.592", "0.354", "0.342"], ["https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273c6c56a115ffbf1f36e2b8d88", "When She's Gone", "When She's Gone", "Josh Fudge", "4fvHJ4yr2ZRtzKTc9xWzkH", "21:22", "0.825", "0.728", "0.582", "0.738"], ["https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273b6620bfa66a6f3baa915a219", "Actin' Dumb", "Actin' Dumb", "Koney", "094EKA6pkdXWo1orMS8GFK", "21:25", "0.498", "0.565", "0.385", "0.502"], ["https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273b1d360ad8ebf273189094ab2", "Divine", "Divine", "Jordana", "5U25nUQWd1byF2xxbdaLQ4", "21:28", "0.887", "0.747", "0.455", "0.745"], ["https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27366fdb9549627e4c9d7312474", "Mustang", "Mustang", "Starman Jr.", "0OMSJxmREIt0fqwAkXnYiP", "21:31", "0.11", "0.564", "0.202", "0.31"], ["https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273428f0c9bee39cd8298f31718", "CALL ME (Freestyle)", "CALL ME (Freestyle)", "Blood Orange", "1awc3w3LUJOK8TwD17bQLZ", "21:34", "0.47", "0.749", "0.564", "0.6"], ["https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27381d58359a621242b62c43e6c", "Agreeable", "Agreeable", "Cautious Clay", "0yeDzSWRH7HDeWMcXvgUaA", "21:36", "0.673", "0.678", "0.68", "0.676"]]
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Cabin Air Filter-Charcoal DENSO 454-4068
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Atieno Odhiambo
Member (Kenya)
Atieno Odhiambo is a lawyer whose work focuses on human rights, democracy and governance. She is currently the Technical Lead – Africa for the Center for Reproductive Rights, a global legal advocacy organization
dedicated to advancing reproductive rights. She is the past Chief of Party (Kenya) for Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG) a global pro bono law firm that that provides legal assistance to states, governments and civil society organizations. Before taking up her position at PILPG, Atieno worked for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya.
Prior to joining the Supreme Court of Kenya, Atieno worked on immigrant and human rights issues in Washington State at Microsoft Corporation, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Columbia Legal Services. Atieno received her undergraduate degree in History from Rice University in Houston, Texas and her law degree from Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Rosettee Nanyanjo
Learning, Monitoring & Evaluation Associate
Rosette is a Ugandan national, passionate about women’s human rights with a focus on the adolescent girls and young women. She has experience in Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning and holds a Masters Degree in Monitoring and Evaluation from Uganda Management institute.
Her thesis focused on data utilisation for decision making in non-governmental organisations. Prior to joining UAF-Africa, Rosette worked as an M&E Specialist
for various donor funded programs including USAID and DFID. She has experience in setting up M&E systems, Performance based financing for grantees, capacity building,
and reporting writing among others.
Njoki Njoroge Njehu
Board Secretary (Kenya)
Njoki is the Director of Solidarity Africa Network in Action and the Daughters of Mumbi Resource Center in Kenya. Prior to this, Njoki was the Executive Director of the 50 Years is Enough Network in… Washington DC. Njoki is a Kenyan national who worked with women’s groups and the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya for over a decade. She serves on the board of the Quixote Center and Jobs with Justice. She also serves on the coordinating committee of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, which organized and facilitated the participation of U.S. community-based, people of colour, youth, and grassroots organizations in the World Social Forums in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2003 and Mumbai, India in 2004. She is a founding member of the International Coordinating Council of the World Social Forum and the Africa Social Forum.
Korto Reeves Williams
Board Chairlady (Liberia)
Korto is the Country Director of ActionAid (AA) in Liberia.She has vast development experience working on post-conflict reconstruction and development issues in Liberia.She has had numerous short term experience in programme development and assessments in Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Burundi, Haiti, Sierra Leone and the Middle East (Jordan and Palestine).Before joining ActionAid, she worked with a variety of development institutions, including the US Agency for International Development, the UN Development Programme and the International Foundation for Education and Self-Help. She is a strategic civil society leader in Liberia and works on women organising on the issues of women’s rights, feminism, aid effectiveness and youth development. Her academic research on feminism in Liberia: Beyond Mass Action: A Study of Collective Organising among Liberian Women Using Feminist Movement Perspectives has provided the opportunity to shift power dynamics and coalition building within the women movement and with key populations in Liberia. In 2010, Korto served as a contributor and guest editor (Liberia Sea Breeze Online Magazine), placing a special focus on women’s rights. She also served as a regular contributor to ActionAid International’s magazine; Common Cause, and a book; Voice, Power and Soul: A Portrait of African Feminists. Korto holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Development from the School of International Training (now the SIT Graduate Institute) in Vermont, USA; and has a certificate on Mobilizing Your Non-Profit Board (Harvard University ExEd training, 2014).
Ndanatsei Bofu-Tawamba
Ex-Official Member (Zimbabwe)
Ndanatsei Bofu-Tawamba, an African citizen and Zimbabwean national, is the CEO & Executive Director at Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa) in Kenya. UAF-Africa is a feminist and pan-African rapid response grant making organisation that invests in African women’s power to change the status quo. Ndana is a seasoned feminist and women’s rights advocate, a social entrepreneur with philanthropic expertise spanning 20 years. Prior to leading at UAF-Africa, Ndana was in charge of the UN Women Office in Zimbabwe where she led in the execution of the multi-million-dollar funded EC, DFID & DANIDA Gender Support Programme. Ndana has leveraged over USD100 million directed towards strengthening African women’s movements and achieving women and girls’ rights. She has lectured at the Women’s University in Africa, been invited as guest lecturer and speaker at several high-level platforms across Africa, Europe, South and North America. She is a renowned speaker and published writer on topics of African women’s leadership in conflict transformation, Regenerative African & feminist philanthropy, and the nexus between Ebola, HIV&AIDS, women and culture. In the global human rights community, Ndana is a staunch figure and voice for enhanced women’s rights investments Ndana is an Executive Education alumnus of INSEAD Business Schools in France and Singapore. She is a Senior International Fellow at the Centre on Philanthropy and Civil Society at CUNY, USA. She earned her Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies from Lancaster University, UK, obtained her Bachelor of Science Honors Degree in Social Psychology from the University of Zimbabwe and holds a Diploma in Personnel Management. Ndana serves on the Board of the African Philanthropy Network. She represents African Women’s Funds on the Governance Board of the International Network of Women’s Funds (Prospera), in Mexico. Her leadership at UAF-Africa, the UN, academia, international boards, regional consultancies on philanthropy, human rights, social movements & governance has meant extensive engagements across the world, thereby presenting her the opportunity to weave her commitment to social justice with an opportunity to further explore women and girl’s realities throughout the world. Twitter: @NdanaTawamba & @UAFAfrica.
Amel Gorani
Member (Sudan)
Amel Gorani is an international development specialist with a focus on countries in and emerging from conflict. Amel is the Director for the Center for Community and Civic Engagement at Carleton College in . Minnesota. Before joining Carleton, she served as Inclusion Coordinator for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue – a peace mediation organization based in Switzerland. She has also worked for international development agencies, non-profit organizations and philanthropic foundations in Africa, Europe and the United States.She has served as Senior Advisor for Vulnerable and Marginalized Groups at the USAID- Sudan Mission and as Program Officer at the Open Society Foundations’ International Women’s Program and the Swedish International Development Agency Somalia and Sudan programs. She also served as Executive Director for Sudan Future Care – Amal Trust, an NGO working in war-affected areas in Eastern Sudan. Amel has worked on several countries across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, most extensively on her native Sudan and the countries of the Horn of Africa. Her work has focused on peace and security, political engagement, social justice and women’s rights. She has also worked on migration, integration and anti-discrimination issues, mostly in Sweden where she lived for many years.
Shinaz Rehema Ali
Feminist Republik Culture Curator
Prior to joining UAF-Africa, Shinaz worked as a social worker, theatre trainer and a project officer within different projects of AMREF’s Children In Need Programme. She has extensive experience and expertise in women’s rights, development and implementation of legal policies
and community oriented capacity development on psychosocial issues. She is passionate about women’s human rights and keen on the intersectionalities between women’s rights and religion with emphasis on fundamentalisms, women and natural resources governance, policy reforms and has specific interest on Young Women and Girls in Africa.Shinaz’s rare skills set in legal, social work and the arts has been greatly valued at UAF-Africa’s grant making portfolio where intersectional strategies in the provision of grants is of huge priority. Her analytical, inquisitive and curious nature has afforded her the opportunity to conduct instructive grant making due diligence thereby ensuring provision of sound and innovative grants that have gone on to change women’s realities on the ground.
She holds an LLB from the University of Nairobi School of Law and Diplomas in Project Management and Social Work and Development. She is currently completing her studies in French and finalizing her Master of Arts Degree in International Relations and Political Science from the University of Nairobi. She enjoys fashion, art, reading, sewing, cooking and working out during her spare time.
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Susan Asio
Grantmaking Programme Officer – Anglophone
Susan is a Ugandan National, with over 10 years’ experience championing gender equality and women’s rights. She is currently pursuing a Master’s of Science Degree in Development Management at the Open University-United Kingdom, she holds a post-graduate diploma in gender equality studies from University of Iceland, a bachelors’ degree in social work and social administration from Uganda Christian University, and a certificate in gender statistics from statistics Sweden.
Prior to joining Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-A), Susan served as Uganda’s National Mentor/Gender Advisor at the Swedish International Center for Local Democracy (ICLD), where she coordinated projects on Gender Mainstreaming Local Democracy in Municipal Council structures. As Program Manager at the National Association of Women’s Organizations in Uganda (NAWOU), Susan drafted a gender statistics publication for Uganda, to be used as a national tool for evidence-based advocacy, in addition to a gender barometer for advocacy to East Africa’s heads of state. Her program management competence has also been acknowledged, earning her the role of Uganda’s Ambassador to UN Women Singapore for her work empowering rural women with economic skills for self-sustenance. Susan has also worked as Head of Department – Gender and Economic Policy at Action for Development (ACFODE), she also served as Program Officer with Isis-Women’s International Cross-Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE). While at Isis-WICCE, Susancoordinated the women’s task force which advocated for women’s specific needs to take priority in the National Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for war affected Northern Uganda.
Through consolidated advocacy for gender responsive policies, research and documentation, capacity building, coalition building, mobilization and sensitization, Susan has worked to empower women and influence legislation and policy for gender equality in Uganda and across the globe. Susan enjoys jogging, travelling and singing.
Chiedza Muchena
Chiedza Muchena is a Zimbabwean national with a wealth of experience in administration, having worked as an executive administrator in different capacities over a period spanning 6 years. During this time, she managed offices and operations of senior executives in various companies in the hospitality industry.
Chiedza is very strategic and intentional in her execution of tasks and her experience working in sensitive offices has honed her ability to plan, multi-task and be extremely organised. She has amassed a wealth of experience working with high profile personalities from various spheres of
life including industry and commerce, politics, religion and entertainment. Her interactions with people of different nationalities, cultural and religious backgrounds has helped her appreciate the power of diversity.
She is passionate about her own personal development and that of those around her and has a soft spot for environmental issues and human rights – particularly the rights of the girl child and minority groups. Her other interests include reading and travelling.
She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing Management from the Institute of Marketing Management (South Africa), a Diploma in Marketing (LCCI), and a Diploma in Executive Secretarial (LCCI) and a Certificate in Management Development Skills for Executive and Personal Assistants (Zimbabwe Institute of Management).
Edmond Mugisha
Grantmaking Programmes Associate – Francophone
Edmond is a Burundian national. Prior to officially joining Urgent Action Fund-Africa in January 2016, Edmond had been working intermittently at the Fund in various capacities since May 2010 under the Grantmaking Programme. Edmond is instrumental in facilitating
the Fund’s outreach to and learning from Francophone women’s rights organisations and activists and in translation of English materials to French and vice versa thereby enabling Francophone grantees, advisors and partners to benefit from the Fund’s technical and financial support for the advancement of women’s human rights across the continent. He plays a major role in organizing UAF-Africa’s conferences/webinars in/for Francophone countries. His work experience at UAF-Africa has grounded his global perspective and developed his interest and awareness on different cultural, political, social and economic contexts.
His self-motivated spirit has made him set a target of speaking ten languages. Edmond is now fluent in French, English, Korean, Swahili, Kirundi, and Kinyarwanda and is currently learning Deutsch. He has enriched his language and translation skills by providing interpretation and translation services to various organisations including Fahamu, New Mark Group, and Elloca. Edmond holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Integrated Community Development from Daystar University-Kenya and a certificate of Korean Language efficiency from Kosin University-South Korea. He is currently finalizing his Master’s Degree Programme in Leadership and Organisational Management.
In his spare time, Edmond enjoys reading novels, jogging, cycling, watching detective and spy movies, making new friends, and of course learning new languages!
Joanne Mahinda
ICT & Database Associate
Joanne Mahinda is a Kenyan national. Before joining UAF-Africa, she worked for International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) providing technical support, diagnosing and resolving hardware and software incidents.She has a vast experience providing support for users of different software applications.Joanne also worked for the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) where she offered administrative support to system users where she served as the first point of contact for service providers, suppliers, partners, and visitors.
Joanne holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from The Catholic University of Eastern Africa. She has more than five years’ experience in ICT customer support,the configuration of applications, infrastructure management, and information technology service management. She also has a professional certificate in Cisco Certified
Networks Associate (CCNA), Business intelligence and Data analytics Foundation. She is currently pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Information Security and Ethical Hacking.
In her spare time, Joanne enjoys reading, jogging and providing life and career mentorship to young women.
Vongai Tinarwo
Research Attachee
Vongai is a journalist by profession, she holds a B.Sc Honours Degree in Media and Society Studies. Prior to joining UAF- Africa, she worked with Chengeto Zimbabwe Trust, a media-based organisation, as a Programmes Officer. In her role as Programmes Officer she explored, investigated and unpacked issues around rape, child sexual exploitation, child labour, gender-based violence, gender inequality and child marriages.
She also worked at Musasa project as Assistant Programmes Officer, a post she held for more than three years. Among other duties, she ran a programme on promoting a culture of active citizen engagement in governance and development processes using ICT and other more conventional modes of communication.
This programme gave voice to communities, and in particular young women in Zimbabwe using the communication for development approach. Vongai is compassionate and enthusiastic about women’s advancement, she firmly believes in a society where women and girls are not only seen but are heard.
She also believes that when women and girls are empowered, they can realise that they have power within themselves to bring change in their lives and
communities they live in. Realising that girls and women in Africa always find themselves on the periphery of discussions and development processes,
she is very ardent about using media to develop communities.
Vongai is currently working towards a Master’s Degree in Gender and Development studies with National University of Science & Technology, Zimbabwe.
Onyinyechi Okechukwu
Communications & Media Coordinator
Onyinyechi Okechukwu is a Nigerian national, a communication for development specialist with over 15 years’ experience of developing and implementing programmes that promote human rights in Africa with a strong interest in women’s rights.
She has worked in several international development and feminist organisations including Alliances for Africa, Media for Development Nigeria, WaterAid and ActionAid leading communications, advocacy and campaigns initiatives across Africa and Europe. She has a strong media relations experience having worked as a radio and television producer promoting women’s rights and advocating for women equal opportunity for women in governance and the economy. She has led several media networks across West Africa advocating for public policies that advances women’s rights in Nigeria’s Delta region and other parts of the sub-region.
Onyinyechi is using her work to create innovative digital and traditional media activities that influence policies, attitudes and public behaviour towards advancing women’s rights across the world.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Lagos State University, a Masters’ degree in Humanitarian and Refugee Studies from University of Lagos as well as certificate in Communications in Emergency
Masa Amir
Research & Protection Coordinator
Masa is an Egyptian national. Masa has a passion for women’s human rights and is particularly interested in women’s economic rights, and strengthening the protection mechanisms and effective responses to women human rights defenders (WHRDs) at risk,
with special focus on WHRDs in North Africa. Prior to joining UAF-Africa, Masa worked with Nazra for Feminist Studies, as a researcher for the Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) Programme. Masa has experience in the documentation of violations faced by women human rights defenders and conducting advocacy at the Human Rights Council and African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Masa holds a Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law from the American University in Cairo (AUC), Arab Republic of Egypt, the focus of her thesis being on the manner in which violations of the right to social security contribute to poverty among women in Egypt; and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, with a minor in philosophy, from the American University of Sharjah (AUS), United Arab Emirates. In her spare time, Masa enjoys diving, baking, and sometimes Zumba dancing!
Oumy Ndour
Communications & Media Engagement Associate
Oumy is from Senegal. She’s a multi-graduate from the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar. At an early age, sensitive to the issue of children’s rights, she decided to work for her graduation thesis validating her degree in journalism, on the issue of child mechanics in Dakar with a film entitled “Children’s sweat”. Prior to joining Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-A), she was the Head of The Culture Desk of Senegalese National TV.
After graduating in Senegal, she moved to Montreal, Canada, where she went back to advance her studies while working at Vues d’Afrique, the African and Creole film festival. In 2007, she directed her first documentary “Njakhass” (Patchwork), which will be followed by several others for television. After her return to Senegal, she joined RTS, the Senegalese National Television where, in addition to reporting, she presented the mid-day and evening news. Then she created and anchored the film section of the morning program «Kenkelibaa».
Oumy Ndour has covered for RTS many cultural events in the world. Over the last ten years, she has coordinated and hosted on the national channel, all the major cultural events that took place in Senegal, which gave her the opportunity to interview world celebrities such as Germaine Jackson, Charles Aznavour, Randy Weston, Akon, Angelique Kidjo, Danny Glover, former french President François Hollande, Youssou Ndour, etc. With her training in documentation, journalism, video technology, experiences in documentary production and press relations, she masters the entire information production chain, from newsgathering to broadcasting, not to mention documentary research, popularization, and archiving. She directed, coordinated and hosted many productions in her private capacity for other organizations. She has been a jury member of several international film festivals and competitions. She often anchors prestigious events in Senegal and elsewhere in the world. Oumy Ndour is also an activist for children and women’s rights. In 2016, she co-founded with a friend “Ladies Club Senegal”, a Facebook platform that brings together nearly 60,000 women, monitoring, promoting women’s rights and freedoms, women’s leadership and entrepreneurship. Her commitment to this segment of the population has gone stronger. She is one of the founding members of the collective “Dafadoy” fighting violence against women and girls which launched in 2019 the mobilization for the criminalisation of rape in Senegal. Along with other activists, she’s at the forefront of all struggles for women’s rights in Senegal. Alongside the World Food Programme, she has made a commitment as a volunteer to provide quality food for all children in Senegal through the Group of Friends of School Food. She is passionate about travel, cinema, reading and fashion.
Nyasha Chibanda
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Nyasha is a Zimbabwean national. She works as the hygienist, hospitality, staff and office orderly assistant in the Zimbabwe office where she runs the day to day office errands.She is highly motivated and is excited to learn and grow with the Fund.
She is a women’s human rights activist, and strong advocate for social and economic justice.
During her spare time, she loves going to church and enjoys morning jogs
Nancy Chitiza
Head, People & Culture
Nancy has worked in conflict and post-conflict African countries with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, (UNDPKO). Her career with the UN spans for 8 years, where she worked with the UN Mission in Liberia,
UNMIL, and UN Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). Nancy holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Zimbabwe and BA in Sociology and Economics from Africa University. She is a Certified HR Generalist Professional, with membership to the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), which is the main professional body to accredit and award professional human resources (HR) qualifications. Nancy loves the field of Human Resources Administration and Management; she has worked in the field for over 14 years and is very excited about the endless possibilities at UAF-Africa. Nancy works from Harare, Zimbabwe.
Faye Macheke
Member (South Africa)
Faye has over 20 years of finance, operations and development experience. She is currently responsible for the strategic operations function at AWID where she upholds feminist principles and values.
Faye previously held a Head of Finance and Operations role at Paediatric Adolescent Treatment for Africa and Just Associates Incorporated Southern Africa. She also held Directorship roles for international Computer Driving License (ICDL) in Central and Southern Africa.
She also held Directorship roles for international Computer Driving License (ICDL) in Central and Southern Africa. Faye is a board member for ICDL in South Africa and P World Link Trust. She also holds a B.Compt in Accounting Science from University of South Africa and is a member of the Southern African Institute for Business Accountants.
Jean Kemitare
Programmes Director
Jean is a Ugandan national, a passionate African feminist with over 15 years’ experience in the development sector in women’s rights programming. She has expertise and experience on gender equality & women’s empowerment with a focus on prevention and response to violence against women across the Sub-Saharan Africa context including program strategy development, capacity building for NGOs, advocacy and research.
Jean has been a practitioner at senior management level over the past 8 years leading strategy development for the regional GBV Prevention Network at Raising Voices from information
sharing to a comprehensive feminist movement building programme. Over the years this work has contributed to a rapid increase, interest and investment in addressing violence against women within the region and building a critical mass of GBV prevention network membership. She initiated a range of partnerships with regional feminist networks like FEMNET, INGOs like the IRC, Sexual Violence Research Center, UN Agencies, including UN Women in Uganda and at regional level and coordinated collaborations with feminist movement building organisations like Just Associates (South East Asia) and Intercambios Allianz (Latin America). She has served in advisory capacity on committees like the African Integrated
Response initiated by the Stephen Lewis Foundation and hosted by African Women’s Development Fund.
She believes in agency of African women to not only innovate solutions of pertinent issues affecting their lives but also generate knowledge for a global audience.
Jean is co-author of among other publications, Get Moving! curriculum a feminist organization transformation tool for addressing GBV and led a its adaptation to address sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse in humanitarian settings in partnership with the IRC. Previously her work revolved around chronic poverty research, policy advocacy, and community-based HIV awareness and response.
She was instrumental in civil society advocacy for a social protection policy in Uganda. Jean completed a Masters Degree in Social Sector Planning and Management and Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and Social Administration from Makerere University Kampala Uganda.
Sharon Ngeno
Sharon Ng’eno, is the first born in her family, a feminist, lover of people and believer in girls and young women potential to change their society. Her life has been greatly influenced by women who have positively mentored her throughout her life.
She appreciates and applauds girls and women’s leadership, strength, wisdom, courage and resilience. Education opened doors for her, and she wants all girls to get an education. She believes in Maya Angelou’s words in knowing better is doing better.
Before joining UAF-Africa, she worked at Akili Dada, an award-winning leadership incubator for girls and young women as the Finance Associate and Grants and Executive Associate. She enjoys working in the development space because she has the opportunity to serve humanity in meaningful ways. She loves Finance and its role in realizing the vision of an organisation.
Sharon has a degree in Bachelor of Commerce, Finance option from Kenyatta University. She is also a certified Public Accountant Kenya (CPA (K)) and an alumnus of Moi Girls High School, Eldoret. She is passionate about her work as it directly touches and transforms the lives of girls and young women. Sharon is motivated by women who are breaking the glass ceiling and paving way for future generation of girls and young women leaders. She aspires to be the best version of herself every day and to thrive with others in the different spaces she occupies.
She loves reading, swimming and engaging in rich conversations with friends, especially her grandmother.
Pamela Mudhune
Director of Finance & Operations
Pamela is a qualified accountant with several years of experience in financial management, implementation of internal controls and financial reporting. She has been with the Fund since 2004 and heads the Finance and Administrative roles of UAF-Africa.
Her prior work experience includes working as a Financial Accountant at General Motors Ltd where she was exposed to various financial management roles within the Finance Department.She was awarded a Masters in Accounting from the Bowling Green State University, USA and earned her Bachelor of Commerce degree from Kenyatta University, Kenya. She is also a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya –ICPAK, and has undertaken short courses in audit, taxation and resource mobilization. Pamela serves on the Kenya Advisory Board of Global Education Fund.
Roseline Kamdem
Grantmaking Programme Officer – Francophone
Roseline has over 13 years of experience working on various projects to support women and girls empowerment at the grassroots level. She is passionate about the empowerment of women and the education of children. She worked in Cameroon as Finance Manager for a local NGO for 6 years and for a Swiss NGO for 10 years as Programmes & Finance Manager.
She volunteered as Advisor for the Young Feminist Fund (FRIDA) for 4 years and worked as a Transformation Support Consultant for the same organization.
She cofounded a youth female led organization working to improve girls and women’s rights in rural remote areas of Cameroon. She designed and implemented educational,
income generating, micro credit and environmental activities for women in Cameroon.
During her stay with FRIDA, she had the opportunity to work with various young feminist groups grantee partners for FRIDA in Sub Saharan Africa, assisting them in
capacity development, communication and conducting outreach. She facilitated FRIDA’s annual participatory grant making processes by screening applications,
reviewing final results, and supporting due diligence.
Roseline is fluent in French and English. She holds a master’s degree in commerce and Distribution from the Catholic University of Central Africa in Cameroon.
Roseline is very excited to be part of the team at UAF – Africa. She looks forward to engaging with women’s rights activists and organisations, especially those
from Francophone Africa with whom she hopes to learn and collaborate to advance the rights of women.
Tariro Tandi
Head, Partnerships & Development
Prior to joining UAF-Africa, Tariro lectured in Gender, HIV&AIDS and the Law at Great Zimbabwe University. She worked at Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) as the Transformative Justice Manager as well as at Plan International and Musasa Project
in various coordination and advisory capacities. Her core expertise is in the areas of gender based violence, human rights and the law as it impacts on women. Tariro is a seasoned gender legal researcher and analyst who has spearheaded several cutting edge women-centred partnership initiatives in Zimbabwe and within Africa.
Tariro holds a Master’s degree in Women’s Law (MSWL) attained from Southern and East African Regional Centre for Women’s Law (University of Zimbabwe), a Bachelor of Laws Honours Degree (LLBS) from the University of Zimbabwe and an Executive Certificate in Community Development and Humanitarian Project Management.She recently participated in the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) in the US.
In 2015 she was nominated for the Female Youth Human Rights Defender Zimbabwe Award.Tariro enjoys mentoring young women leaders. She is an avid legal and social justice journals reader and a keen blogger who writes about socio-political, legal and gender justice issues. Tariro is a fitness-cum-wellness enthusiast; a runner who has actively participated in the 2 Oceans (56 Km) Marathon in South Africa.
Hiwot Tedla
Learning, Monitoring & Evaluation Officer
Hiwot is an Ethiopian; learning, monitoring, evaluation and accountability professional. Hiwot’s passion for Women’s human rights and feminism is deeply influenced by the strong women in her life.
She has a combined experience of working both for humanitarian and development organisation. She has designed LM&E systems and tools and managed data intensive programs. Hiwot has spent over 13 years working in learning, monitoring and evaluation with community level organizations, volunteers and donors.
Prior to joining Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-A), Hiwot served as Monitoring and Evaluation coordinator for Population Services International, where she coordinated LM &E activities for a multiyear USAID funded Transform WASH Project, implemented in 40 districts all over Ethiopia.
She has also designed the M &E plan, the M &E Scope of work and lead in the operationalization of the M &E system for more than 40 projects in Ethiopia and Djibouti. Hiwot has expertise in training and capacity building, program monitoring and evaluation. Hiwot while working
for the Danish refugee Council, she spearheaded the development and roll-out of a successful M&E system from scratch.
She holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Indihar Gandhi National Open university and a bachelor’s degree in Business Management
from university of Gondar.
She is grateful to be a part of the UAF-Africa team and support the work of empowering Women’s human right’s defenders. In her spare time,she likes reading, cooking and traveling.
Vanessa Luendo Bwale
Grantmaking & Programme Attaché
Vanessa Luendo Bwale is a Congolese national from DRC and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications graduate from Daystar University Kenya. In Vanessa has worked with NewMark Group as PR account manager.
She is currently undertaking her Masters Degree in Diplomacy, Development and International Security and is well versed in issues pertaining to women’s rights and development.
Through the different countries she’s lived and worked in, Vanessa developed over the years unparalleled abilities in contextual and critical analysis that will support UAF Africa in advancing women’s human rights across Africa.
She previously taught English in India through AIESEC and is fluent in French, English, Kiswahili and is currently learning Spanish. She acquired interpretation and translation skills through her work with Oxfam GB and African Voices. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, cooking, travelling and reading motivational books.
Zanele Mbugua
Feminist Republik Champion
Zanele is a feminist who is passionate about women’s rights advocacy,with a focus on lgbtiqa+ rights and sexual reproductive health rights. She holds a BA degree in Psychology and Sociology from Rhodes University (South Africa) and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Gender Studies and Development at the University of Nairobi.
Zanele is a Kenyan national who has lived and completed her schooling in South Africa before re-locating back to Kenya in 2018. She is excited about being part of the UAF-Africa team in contributing towards women’s empowerment and advocacy.
In her spare time, Zanele enjoys reading, hiking and travelling.
Miriam Wanjira
Miriam is a Kenyan national. She works as a hospitality focal person in the Kenyan office where she runs the day to day office care services. She has a keen eye for details and is a very cheerful person. Miriam is passionate about promoting the rights
of vulnerable grassroots women. She volunteers some of her time to local women empowerment initiatives in her community. She appreciates the need to provide support towards women’s human rights. In her free time, Miriam a mother of two children, loves to cook and take care of people around her.
Daphne Jena
Partnerships & Development Associate
Daphne is a feminist who is passionate about women’s rights advocacy, with a special focus on Gender Based Violence, child marriages and Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR). She has over four years’ experience in feminist organising and women’s rights advocacy. Her advocacy and activism work prior to joining UAF-Africa centred on content creation using online alternative media for activism and human rights advocacy, with Childline Zimbabwe. She has been awarded various fellowships particularly focusing on Sexual Reproductive and Health Rights.
Her experience in strategic communications is evident in the work she has done with various online advocacy platforms including those focusing on women’s rights, children’s rights and human rights law. Daphne holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Media and Society Studies from the Midlands State University (MSU) and a Master of Science in Development studies from Women’s University in Africa. She also has qualifications in Project Management, Project Monitoring and Evaluation and Public Relations. In her spare time, Daphne enjoys reading, writing and travelling.
Melissa Wainaina
Feminist Republik Creative Facilitator
Melissa Wainaina is an African queer feminist based in Kenya heavily involved in African feminist spaces that advance women and girls’ holistic security and safety, collective care and healing justice. She has over 12 years’ experience in the non-profit sector
Having worked since 2006 mainly focusing on sexuality, gender and sexual rights.
Melissa also has experience in strengthening capacities for more rights-based approaches in transformative social change work. Before joining UAF-Africa, she worked at CREA, a feminist organization based in New Delhi, India where she led their programmatic work in East Africa. In this role, she had the honour to work with women’s and LGBTI rights collectives to strengthen feministleadership and movement building in global South.With an education background on gender and development, Melissa has a keen interest on the inter-relation between art and activism.She explores the use of art for body positivity, self-expression, resistance and self-care.As an artist herself, she enjoys writing, poetry, designing jewelry, crafts and photography. She has authored work using pen names Sikiliza and Kamanzi Wainaina and runs a personal blog called Sikiliza Speaks for over 14 years. Her photography has been featured in the Global Fund for Women online exhibition called MAMA: Motherhood Around the Globe.
She sits on the Board of Women Spaces Africa, a community based organization that promotes the sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities in Kenya. During her free time, Melissa enjoys trying out a variety of recreational hobbies and activities, she is an experienced landscaper and gardener, practices yoga, cycling and swimming and is now aspiring on how to learn river fishing.
Christine Ruguaru
Grantmaking Programme Attaché
Christine Ruguaru is a Kenyan National and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Sociology graduate from Egerton University Kenya. Christine has worked with Hand in Hand Eastern Africa as a Business Relationship Office which focused on social mobilization and training on entrepreneurship for the rural women groups and at NCBA bank PLC Kenya as a customer experience officer.
She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Public Policy and Administration and is passionate about advocacy on women human rights. She has continued interest in seeing continuous improvement and advocacy on women. In her spare time Christine enjoys watching movies, hiking and reading.
Carol Werunga
Grantmaking Programmes Coordinator
Carol is a human rights activist who is not afraid of challenging the status quo when it comes to the representation and the participation of women and other minorities in the governance sphere. Carol is strong believer of human rights, and feminist principles and she is constantly working towards ensuring that these principles are respected and promoted.
For 10 years, Carol has worked in the human rights and governance space to ensure that marginalized groups such as women have equally opportunities both economically and politically to engage in decision making processes and live a dignified life. Carol has created spaces where women issues are openly discussed. She has a wealth of experience in capacity building, community organizing, coalition building and strengthening, creation of citizen agency through movement building, development and maintenance of strategic partnership, legislative and policy analysis, and evidence based advocacy at local and regional levels. Additionally, Carol has immense experience in grant management. She had managed grants from Ford Foundation, DANIDA, Swedish Embassy (Kenya), state bureau of Democracy for Human rights and Labor (DRL), Open Society Institute of East Africa (OSIEA), and United States Agency for International Development (DANIDA).
Over the years, Carol has been able to monitor and advocate for women participation in politics. For example in 2010, Carol trained women on their gains as espoused in the Constitution of Kenya that was promulgated the same year. In 2017, she developed a gender sensitive election monitoring tool that was utilized by the Kenya Human Rights Commission and its partners to monitor the participation of women during 2017 political primaries, voter registration and Elections Day.
Carol holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the United States International University- Africa (USIU-A) and a Masters of Business Administration from the same university.
In her spare time, Carol enjoys watching movies, hanging out with family and friends, shopping and travelling.
Melizah Memena
Grantmaking Programme Assistant
Melizah holds a Master’s Degree in Marketing with a specialization in Communication. After her studies in Communication, she deepened her knowledge in community development and has more than 6 years of experience in several
international organizations. Melizah has been on the line of young girls’ rights advocates and activists at UNFPA in Madagascar, her home country. She has advocated for youth from Madagascar to South Africa. She then contributed to the improvement and protection of children’s rights in Benin Republic. Melizah is currently involved in advancing women’s rights in Africa with UAF-Africa, and is keen to make a difference.
Francoise Mukuku
Member (DRC)
Francoise Mukuku is a human rights activist and an independent consultant on women and sexual minorities’ issues. She has 20 years of activism. She is currently the Executive Director of Amazone Consultancy- a gender justice and communications firm based in Kinshasa, in Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC). Francoise works mainly in the Great Lakes Region (Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania) as well as francophone Africa (Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Benin, Togo and Senegal) where she has specialized in research and communications. In her consultancy work, Francoise has worked with organisations such as; Akina Mama wa Africa , APC, UHAI, UNECA and the University of Sussex, UK. Francoise is an engaged activist who founded SJS, a DRCongo inclusive young feminist group in 2001. She regularly organises trainings in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Agency and Voice, and is passionate particularly on the intersections that exist between development, human rights and social justice. Prior to being an independent consultant, she worked for renowned organisations such as Oxfam GB, MONUC/MONUSCO (UN Peacekeeping Mission in DRCONGO) and International Music Council (IMC). Francoise has good language skills; she speaks Lingala, Kiluba, Kibembe, Kiswahili, French, English and working knowledge of Spanish. She holds a BA in public law from the Université Protestante au Congo (2005) and a MA from Mercure International (2012). Francoise is a storyteller who enjoys traveling, reading books and the performing arts.
WARRANTYWarranty Duration: Other, Pallet Layer Maximum : 19,Key Search Words - 2000 : Cabin Air Filter, Part Number: 454-4068, Reusable : No, Remanufactured Part : N, Emission Code : 1, Country of Origin (Primary) : DE, Great prices, huge selection Leisure Shopping Here are your unexpected goods Free shipping Delivery Buy an official website online is here!
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Students Unable to Anonymise Exams Submitted Via Turnitin
Extra College Places Here to Stay, Says Harris
For Universities, Brexit’s Risks Aren’t Just Concerning – They May be Irreversible
The government this week announced that fee arrangements between Ireland, the UK and Northern Ireland will be maintained for another year.
Léigh as Gaeilge an t-Eagarfhocal (Read Editorial in Irish) »
Last week, the government reassured Irish students travelling to study in Northern Ireland and the UK – and those coming in the opposite direction – that existing fee arrangements would be maintained for another year.
In January of last year, 364 days ago and three weeks before the February CAO deadline, students starting in September 2019 got the same assurance.
Then, this Editorial Board wrote that the one-year fee pledge was “less a solution and more a deferral”. A year later, it’s depressingly clear that very little has changed – and that universities are likely to continue suffering the consequences of Brexit’s enduring instability.
In Trinity, the last few years have seen a persistent contraction in the number of students from the UK and Northern Ireland applying to study here, after years of increases amid a concerted effort from the College to become a university for the whole island.
More broadly, it was obvious a year ago that the links between UK and Irish higher education institutes were coming under increasing strain, at a time when universities everywhere are attempting to cultivate global connections.
But 12 months ago there was at least some hope of an end point to the uncertainty deterring students from crossing borders to study, with promises by the government to bring “longer term clarity” on the issue. Now it seems year-on-year commitments are the norm.
Receiving assurances three weeks before a CAO deadline clearly isn’t an ideal situation if you’re planning your third-level education. But what hasn’t been discussed – explicitly, at least – is the potential irrevocability of the damage continuing uncertainty could wreak.
It takes both time and hard work to create a culture in which, for instance, students in Northern Ireland see coming to Trinity as a realistic option. But it takes far less time to begin the process that could see these links ruptured – it’s arguably happening already. And, for the Irish government, there is precious little they can do to halt a dangerous trend.
To be blunt, the absence of a long-term agreement between the UK and Ireland is doing long-term – possibly irreversible – damage to the links between the countries’ universities. We need to have a serious conversation about it.
Doyle, Hogan and Ohlmeyer Confirm Eligibility for Provost Election
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Cynthia Nixon at the 22nd Annual Critics' Choice Awards held at Barker Hangar, Critics' Choice Awards - Santa Monica, California,...
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Cynthia Nixon - Shots from the Opening night after party for Broadway's new play 'The Real Thing' The party was...
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Cynthia Nixon and Sarah Jessica Parker on the film set for 'Sex And The City: The Movie' New York...
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Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis on the film set for 'Sex And The City: The Movie'...
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The Path to Success as a Mediator
On March 6, 2019, ADRIA held a panel discussion with five Alberta-based mediators to discuss their views on mediation and what the path to mediation success might look like for newcomers to the field. Below is an edited transcript of the 2-hour panel discussion.
Read Full Transcript
Panelist Bios
Resources Mentioned
How do you use ADR in your work? What was your journey to becoming an ADR practitioner? And what ADR opportunities are there in your organization or area of practice?
What skills or qualities you think it takes to succeed either in your particular organization, in your area of practice, or just to succeed in general?
What do you see in new mediators or ADR practitioners that you think will make them successful?
How do you balance being self-reflective and only taking on what you can handle and challenging yourself to be a little uncomfortable and learn?
What do you notice is missing from new practitioners or from people that you interview?
When you consider the people that are just coming out of their training, where are they in terms of handling real clients? Their ability to handle real clients?
What recommendations do you have for people wanting to enter this field?
What would you note as the criteria that leads you to say yes, this is why I love mediating?
Do you ever get people who say things like, don't mediate me?
What's the one skill that you're still reaching for and trying to master that makes you uncomfortable?
Click to read bios.
Michelle Phaneuf - Partner Workplace Fairness West
Joanne Munro - Private Practitioner, Silver Lining Mediation and Consulting
Ali Ansell - ADR, Indigenous and Stakeholder Engagement, Alberta Energy Regulator
Mark Donovan - Mediator & Instructor
Michael Scheidl - Manager, Intermunicipal Relations, Government of Alberta
Tammy Borowiecki
ADRIA Panel Facilitator:
If you're here, you're probably interested in finding out how to break into the mediation world. What opportunities are there? How do mediators get the work that they get? Or, what are they looking for when hiring mediators?
Each of the panelists will share who they are, their journey to becoming a mediator and what it took in terms of their ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) training and practice to get where they are today. Following that, we will have a series of four questions for the panelists to discuss and finally, there will be an opportunity for questions.
Panelists: How do you use ADR in your work? What was your journey to becoming an ADR practitioner? And what ADR opportunities are there in your organization or area of practice?
Michael Scheidl
Manager, Intermunicipal Relations, Government of Alberta:
Thanks very much for having me. I'll just give you a brief background in terms of where I'm coming from. I'm a manager of Inter-municipal Relations with Alberta Municipal Affairs. We manage a mediation and collaboration program that provides services to municipalities, when they want to work together and when they're fighting over different issues like services, land use plans that sort of thing. In terms of how do you use ADR in your work? Specifically, for me as a government staff person I use it in doing some of the case building or what we call convening the parties. Meaning that we help two municipalities get together to figure out how to do the negotiations.
We do coaching with municipal elected officials and staff. They'll phone and talk to us and say, “We have this situation. How can we deal with it?” This results in a lot of coaching. Primarily convening and coaching are the areas where we use our mediation and dispute resolution design skills the most. That is because we also have a separate roster of private mediators that actually do the mediation between the municipalities. We also do a lot of training in negotiation and public input with municipalities. I would call this interest-based negotiation and public input training complementary skills to mediation.
We also do a lot of direct facilitation of large public policy issues where we use our mediation and process design skills. This is especially true when it's very controversial or it has some sort of provincial interest. When this happens, we get called in because we're the “mediators”, to deal with and facilitate some of these more contentious public policy issues. An example of this is intensive Agriculture working with municipalities. In this particular situation we worked with the Farmers Advocate and ourselves and facilitated some of those meetings.
The journey? I think everybody's journey will be a little bit different. From Michelle to Mark and myself we all come from different places and so do you. I was involved in sport and I used to do a lot of training with Hockey Alberta and Hockey Canada, teaching coaches how to coach. There's a lot of conflict in hockey between parents, coaches and players. Knowing how to deal with conflict was part of my instructing and coaching in hockey. I developed an ability to deal with it. I also did a lot of facilitating with Alberta Community Development to nonprofit organizations and other government departments in the areas of team building, board governance, strategic planning and a lot of public policy issues.
I got really interested when I worked for the province facilitating, because I was doing some team building work with some organizations and it really wasn't team building where they had a positive culture and they wanted to do better. They had full-on conflict and I got myself involved in some situations where I don't think I helped them out. I thought to myself, I think I need work on handling conflict better. So, I got interested in improving my skills in dealing with conflict. I heard about this thing called interest-based mediation. Then I got a job with Municipal Affairs where I got to use mediation skills when facilitating amalgamation of municipalities. I then moved over to doing Intermunicipal Mediation work for the department and then became the manager. I've also done some volunteering with civil claims mediation and some parent teen.
Opportunities for ADR? In terms of the Government of Alberta, we have a network called the Dispute Resolution Network which is a network of staff from all the different government departments that do ADR. We come together and talk about common issues. I've emailed ADRIA some of the information and links about the network. The information might be dated on there so check the link because they're updating the web site. This information gives you a flavor of all the different departments that do ADR and I know some of my colleagues on the panel here have worked with some of those departments.
But I'll give you an idea of the different departments and some of the types of ADR that they do. This is not an exhaustive list but a sampling. Agriculture has some work through the Farmers Advocate, Alberta Energy Regulator, Environmental Appeals Board, Children's Services. We also have Labour and Employment and Immigration that do a bunch of ADR work. So there's lots of different departments that offer what I'd say are a spectrum of ADR. Anywhere from doing some casework, helping folks figure out disputes in a little more directive manner to interest-based mediation to arbitration. So there's lots of different opportunities out there. In each department, they either have staff that deliver directly or they'll have roster people or contractors. So, I'd encourage you if you're interested in any of those fields or if you have background in any of those fields just to check those out and see what they're looking for. Because each roster is run a little bit differently, because each field has different needs and wants.
Tammy:
Thank you, Michael. Joanne you’re up next.
Joanne Munro
Private practitioner, Silver Lining Mediation and Consulting:
Well good evening everyone and thank you for inviting me to be a part of this panel. How I use ADR in my work. Well I'm a mediator. I'm a Restorative Justice facilitator, a coach, and an instructor. I facilitate large groups. Sometimes workplace facilitation, developing group norms. So I'm using ADR skills constantly. I've been on nonprofit boards of directors and lots of conflict there, and lots of opportunity to be skilled in conversation. I've said to students in the past, you will never regret taking these courses because what you learn and how you can apply it in your life is limitless. It really is.
And I've certainly applied it. Five children, and I was especially luckily I had my training before they became teenagers. That was very helpful. It's just every aspect of life really, you can use this work. Alberta Justice Resolution Services has a sub-program called Family Mediation and I'm on that roster, as well. Working with families, working with parents who are separating. I'm also on a number of different rosters but I'll talk about that when I talk about my ADR journey.
So how did I get here? I was on a nonprofit board of directors and there was a lot of conflict and I was chair of that board. And there was a lot of expectation around me solving the problems. I, like Michael, was convinced that I was making things worse and that there had to be a better way. A friend of mine, recently deceased Mel Hizinga, had taken some mediation courses so he suggested that I take some. So, I started taking the first couple of courses. The program was structured very differently back then and it just felt like the right fit for me. I went on to complete 220 hours of training. And that was in 2006. In 2007, after having practiced twice a week, with two different role play practice groups for eight months, I passed my negotiation assessment and then my mediation assessment. And then the next day I waited for the phone to ring and the phone didn't ring.
So then I realized I had to actually hustle. I started networking. I went to Lunch and Learns. I went to things like this. I was fortunate to be offered a coaching position. I was in the Alberta Arbitration Mediation Society in their level 2 Negotiation course, which was totally over my head. It forced me to jump in feet first. From that I started doing some instructing. Yes, and always taking courses along the way. One of my passions is restorative justice. I have taken a lot of training in restorative justice.
I also had the opportunity to develop some materials for AAMS and then ADRIA. I really enjoyed putting together customized training. Some of you may know Cecile Schulz and she teaches a course at the University SMO 411. I was a coach for her for a number of years. It's just through these little contracts, little bits of work that eventually you grow. You grow your reputation you grow your network. And you start getting referrals and the phone starts to ring.
I also had a website put together for me, which was good as well. In fact, back in 2007 there were more opportunities for new mediators to get some experience. Mediation and Restorative Justice Center was in existence and thriving. Catholic Social Services had a parent teen mediation program. Both those are gone now pretty much. So it's harder for you to find opportunities. I think that means it's good to network and attend things like this, as well as constantly practicing, upgrading, and training; these will be very important for you. Every so often there are opportunities to get on rosters. Civil Claims is probably one of the ones that opens up.
There are several locations for Civil Claims around the province. Edmonton, I think opened up just about a year ago and accepted more people, so that's something to keep your eye open for. ADRIA will always post job opportunities so just keep watching the newsletters. The other thing that I was able to do at some point, one of my colleagues recommended that I work for or get a contract with Homewood Health, which is an employee benefit program. So I get a lot of workplace stuff from Homewood Health.
What opportunities are there in your area of practice?
Joanne:
That's tricky because I'm in private practice. I have on occasion, brought people in to co-facilitate. Heather, you observed some family mediations. Peg's going to have the opportunity to do that as well. So there's limited amounts of exposure that way. But because I have my own business it's just not as much. Sometimes I bring in other mediators when I'm doing private training as coaches to co-facilitate. Sometimes if I do a large circle, I need another set of eyes on the group but that's probably pretty much it.
And what would you see for other mediators that are entering a similar type of practice as you. What opportunities are there for those individuals?
I think there are opportunities out there. I think that more and more people seem to be aware of mediation. I get phone calls and inquiries, way more now than I did before. And so I think that there are more opportunities.
Thank you Joanne. We'll stay with Edmonton and go to Ali then we'll go online to our Calgary panelists.
Ali Ansell
ADR, Indigenous and Stakeholder Engagement, Alberta Energy Regulator:
Hi everybody. Glad to be here. Thanks for coming. Nice to see a couple of you that I haven't seen in a while. My name is Ali Ansell and I work at the Alberta Energy Regulator right now in an ADR specialist role, as they call it. I think that's because we mediate and we also facilitate and instruct some communication, conflict resolution courses, do coaching one on one with oil and gas companies, landowners, and Indigenous communities. So it is disputes usually revolving around a project that's in the works and folks living nearby have concerns about it.
They have the opportunity to request to go into a hearing process but before that we reach out to them and say, do you want to try sitting down to work that out amongst yourselves before going to a hearing? So for me MY JOURNEY. I started about five, a little over five years ago I think. And I learned, I remembered that a person that's close to me was a mediator after I had an experience where a couple of other close family members were dealing with an issue and having a really hard time working it through. And so having no skills at all I said OK well we should make a list of things we want to say. And we should maybe let them talk first in case there's anything they really want to say to us. And I kind of mashed this idea of what I thought a good conversation would look like together. And then we showed up and we got everybody together and we talked about it.
And it was clunky and awkward and felt strange but it also worked a lot better than I think it would have if we didn't think through and prepare. And so reflecting on that afterwards I actually felt really great. I felt empowered by being able to improve that circumstance even if it was to a small degree. And so after that I went to this close person in my life and said, so you mediate right? What is that exactly? And can you tell me how you got into that field? And so she shared that if I wanted to get started, I could take a course through ADRIA and see how I felt. Back then they had a one-day introductory mediation course and I think Joanne taught that actually. So you're my first instructor.
And you came back.
Ali:
And I came back, so it must have been good. And I did because what's great about those courses is you can take one and then you go from there. You take the next one which is three days or six days. And I took it chunk by chunk which was wonderful. I had just gotten out of a four-year degree at the U of A and I did not want to do that. So it was wonderful to take it piece by piece. And in a year or so I had all the training that I needed to start, as Joanne was saying, practicing like crazy. So I glommed on to every other person in my classes who was interested in doing that. And we role played and we role played. And we created schedules for ourselves, and we also connected with as many of the instructors as we could, who were available to answer our questions or sit down with us and coach us through what we needed to know to move on to the next level.
Then we all took turns training for our designation and then going for our designation. And then there are some people actually from the beginning that I still am in contact with and connect with regularly. And I would say for me at least, those connections that I made at the beginning, mostly because that was the messaging from the instructors, is if you stick around in this field you're going to need allies and people to help you get through all of the different things that you need to navigate in this field. So that was really, really useful. And so some of them I still connect with today and a few of them including myself started a private practice. And so I did that for a couple of years. But before then, before I really got my teeth into that, I was volunteering like crazy.
And so that's when Catholic Social Services was still up and running, their parent teen mediation group. But I was so new and so green and also so young. You'll notice, just I think statistically, the majority of mediators out there don't get started in this field until their 40s or 50s. And so I was looking around feeling inexperienced in every way not just in mediation but because of how much our life experience plays into the work we do. I was feeling inexperienced that way too. So with that in mind getting as much exposure as I could was really important. So I started at Catholic Social Services but I wasn't mediating, by all means. I wasn't even working with mediators. I was working with the mediation coordinator, Rochelle Charles, volunteering to do admin work, because that's what was available at the time.
And I was more than willing because I knew that that would give me the opportunity to be aware of the opportunities when they came up, and be around so that I might be thought of when they did come up. And so that happened. So I did admin there and then I received Circle Facilitation training. Because they had a circle facilitation program for youth. And so I was helping to coordinate that after a while. And then we were facilitating sharing circles with youth. And then after a while I was on the parent teen mediation roster and so bit by bit I began to just gain more experience.
That roster as well is a co-mediation model which is wonderful. To start mediating in a co-mediation model is a really great learning experience. So I did work there. I also was on the mediation and Restorative Justice Center roster. And they are still there but just not at the same capacity as they were when I started. So less work there for mediators, but similarly just volunteering there, where I could not necessarily mediation but what was available. And so I worked in private practice for a while, mostly with families and communities, because that was my experience. And applying for things as they came up. And I applied for this job at the Alberta Energy Regulator AER two and a half years ago. And it was in Bonnyville, so I moved when I got the job which sounds worse than it is because I'm from Bonnyville.
It wasn't a shocking scary move because my parents lived there and all that stuff. But it was still a big change and so when I started there, I started full time. Still had my private practice but it's in the background until I have more time to focus on it. And so that's what I'm doing primarily and I can get more into that as we go into the next questions.
Are there any opportunities in your current area of practice or organization?
There definitely are roles out there and I think Michael touched on a few actually. The AER where I work, there are six of us, six mediators. And three of them were hired in the last two or three years. So similarly I think this field is expanding and folks in all fields are realizing there's a real need. So keep an eye on the AER website because they post those positions. The NEB (National Energy Board) also has a small group of mediators on their team. And so I would keep an eye on their website for that and the Farmers Advocate Office also does some mediation work and although it's focused on farmers with concerns in general, a lot of those concerns tend to be oil and gas related, or some of them anyway. So those are a few of the opportunities that I see.
Thanks Ali. And just as a reminder ADRIA is usually connected to these opportunities. For the most part, when there is a job posting for a mediator or other ADR role in Alberta, we are asked to share it in our newsletter and on our website. Now I'm going to move to Michelle and Mark online from Calgary. We’ll start with you Michelle.
Michelle Phaneuf
Partner, Workplace Fairness West:
Sure, thanks for having me Tammy and everyone. It's great to hear all these amazing journeys and to hear from everyone and where they're at.
I'm working as a partner with Workplace Fairness West which is my own consulting company and I'm using these skills every day in my work. I'm working with organizations to support their employees with conflict. And that can look like facilitating teams in conflict, facilitating interpersonal conflicts between just two people - mediating. I try to steer away from that word in the workplace because it has a pretty strong connotation for people, so I don't often use that word. I do a lot of coaching, more focused around conflict coaching, and providing training for organizations around conflict resolution skills for their employees, and some of the bigger picture assessing conflict management systems and work environments. As a business person I'm really using these skills every day in the work that I do with my clients and negotiating contracts with my clients. Really asking the right questions of clients to help them understand how we can support their goals as businesses.
So, as everyone knows after taking these classes, this skill set is very important and very usable in work and at home. I also play a role as an Organizational Ombuds with various organizations so I'm using those skills in that same way. An Organizational Ombuds is an independent neutral third party that can act as a support for employees to call out to confidentially and anonymously sort through their workplace concerns. In that role I'm doing a lot of coaching. I'm doing some mediation and also facilitations and training, learning sessions for those clients. So that's what that looks like.
Another place where we've been focusing is what we're referring to as workplace restorations. That allows us to come in and support employees who have been through some difficult situations like investigations or other crisis type of situations, and really bring people together, groups together. Normally it's in a group setting, and just restore some harmony to those workplaces and restore working relationships. I think Joanne was and Ali were also talking about restorative justice techniques. Using some of that facilitation, mediation, bringing that all together and using a process for workplaces, because workplaces really right now are focusing a lot on psychological health and safety. This has now become part of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in Alberta. Employers are really tasked now with creating a safe workplace for everyone and they have a duty to step into that. This is where a lot of the restoration work and that focus is coming from employers recognizing that they have to create safe workplaces for people, looking for support on how they undertake that.
MY JOURNEY. I've kind of had a winding journey probably similar to lots of other people. I have an engineering background and early on worked through my own consulting company in the engineering world. More as a third-party negotiating energy contracts. I became interested in mediation not just because of the work I was doing at that time but because it was around me in different ways, shapes and forms. And so, I started taking classes. And of course, loved the classes. Really grabbed onto them. It was really some skill sets that I was looking for and interest based really resonated with how I thought negotiation should work instead of the pounding your fist on the table and demanding things.
I really grabbed on to the classes and thoroughly enjoyed them. Finished in about 2008 with a mediation and negotiation certificate. And you know, kind of went on from there. I thought I would, with my engineering background, I would use that more on the oil and gas side. But I didn't want to have a job, because I was a consultant for a long time already. I didn't think I could do a job. But I was looking for consulting opportunities and that wasn't as prevalent in the oil and gas engineering world. So, I got more and more involved in the workplace side. Like Joanne mentioned I connected with some employee assistance providers. Was doing some work through them. Doing a lot of networking to try to make connections in that world because it was totally not my background or my world.
It was more the HR world and the leadership world and that sort of thing. It took a lot of connecting, networking. And in that time, I was also, like Ali and others mentioned, doing a lot of volunteering with community mediation, with the ADR Institute. Really just learning a lot. There's a lot to learn with all of these skills and also in the workplace these complementary skill sets of facilitating and coaching and training. So that was a very long journey to be able to undertake all of that training and get some strong skills in all of those different areas along with restorative justice. And also the Ombuds. They provide training also.
I was starting out and I connected with Blaine Donais who is president of the Workplace Fairness Institute in Toronto and I really appreciated his theories and tools. He's a labour lawyer and a mediator also, and had been writing some books and had some really good science around workplace fairness which really resonated with me. Likely coming from my analytical background. And along with Marjorie Monroe who I'm sure many of you know. We began working together with Blaine and kind of spreading the word about workplace fairness in Alberta and what that looked like. And we formalized our own partnership in about 2014 and had the opportunity to work together a lot and learn together a lot which was very helpful. And of course, a lot of fun.
Marjorie is now full time with the City of Calgary and their Respectful Workplace office. Doing some good work there and I'm really lucky to be able to continue my journey through Workplace Fairness, blessed with other really skilled and experienced associates. So that's kind of been my journey. Now to ADR opportunities kind of in my area of practice. As a business owner and independent consultant, I see many opportunities for people who are wanting to step into that. Especially in the workplace and especially now with the focus on psychological health and safety and that tie in with conflict in the workplace. The impact of conflict, that conflict has on the psychological safety of an organization. There are such close ties to that. And being proactive, of course, is where we always want to be and where workplaces hopefully want to be also. But unfortunately, we often get called in on that kind of reactive side where conflict has escalated substantially. And organizations need help but we're always trying to shift things to help organizations look through that more proactive lens.
But you know there's so many different pieces of this in workplaces around change management, organizational effectiveness, the human resources field, conflict management systems, the organizational Ombuds, and even around the respectful workplace, bullying, harassment. There's a lot of opportunities I think in workplaces that might not be called specifically mediator, but could. Certainly the skill set that mediators have can be very required in workplaces.
Thank you so much, Michelle. Mark, do you want to share?
Mark Donovan
Mediator & Instructor:
Yes, absolutely. Lovely to be here even if electronically. And thank you Tammy for the invitation. I guess normally it would be challenging to come on after all these strong acts; all my compatriots on the panel. Fortunately, I completely concur with all their general remarks. And so you can all imagine that I've just made these remarks myself because I totally agree with them. I'd like to start chronologically which is often a good place to start with my journey which was like Mike suggested and Paul indicated. Everyone has a unique path to this area. I did my original training academically. And I did two degrees in Religious Studies basically in Buddhist thought. I anticipated that I'd go on when I finished my Masters to get a doctorate and be a university instructor. That was interrupted by the birth of our first daughter and we ended up having four kids. That for me changed everything in the sense that I needed to stay home with my kids. That's what I absolutely wanted to do. So I was a house father basically looking after my kids for about 20 years. And then casting about after that for what to do next. Once the kids were old enough to sort of be on their own and didn't need me to volunteer in the classroom and those sorts of things anymore, I was wondering what to do. It was too late to go back, I thought, to Asian studies. Because I'd forgotten all my Sanskrit and my Tibetan and so on. And by chance I met a woman who had worked as a mediator and was a friend of a friend. And she had seen my children in a couple of social circumstances and she remarked to me one time, “Well Mark it's something strange about your children. They get along so well and never seem to fight”. And of course they do fight from time to time but that was her impression anyway.
She said “it can't be a coincidence. It must have had something to do with you. You'd probably make a good mediator”. So I said well what's a mediator? And so she told me what it was. And it sounded appealing, although I found it dubious in that the theory she was telling me about seemed unlikely to work. And I guess part of why I thought that way was because I was at the time going through a divorce. Which was, you know, grotesquely conflictual. Which I think probably most of them are. And I was really looking for a lifeline too because I recognized that I just didn't have the skills to manage a difficult and highly emotional process like that. So with that inspiration I started the program at Mount Royal University--which was then college. And finished it as quickly as I could because I needed the skills immediately. They were of immediate application and tremendously helpful in getting through that.
And as I went through the program, I realized wow this is really appealing and it seems very congenial to me. One of the things that made mediation, especially interest-based mediation, congenial was that I thought I saw immediately a connection to the practice of Buddhist mindfulness. Which everybody by now has heard of. Just in the sense that as mediators we need to be completely present in the situation. In a non-judging way. And just completely present so we can bring whatever skills we have to the benefit of the parties there. Anyway, that to me formed a very vital connection which remains alive today.
So, I completed the program there. The next year I was coaching in the program. And my approach, I think like a lot of my compatriots here, was to really try to get my feet as wet as possible. Like Michelle--and in fact we kind of paralleled each other in our training--I got on with Calgary Community Mediation Society. This is a non-profit mediation society that does mediations for people who are in neighbourhood disputes, that kind of thing. We joined the board at the same time if I remember correctly Michelle.
So, I just really jumped in with both feet. And my approach in that respect and in the sort of normal steps that a new ADR practitioner will take, which is for example to get on as many rosters as you can, was to do that. So, starting with Community Mediation I got to the level where I could take part in mediations. I could be a co-mediator either as mediator or lead mediator. And basically, I said yes to every mediation that was offered. Because the process there was to mail out to the whole list of roster mediators. ‘You know we've got a mediation coming up’. And I always said yes. And that was my approach when I joined the civil roster in Calgary as well. I just let them know ‘you know if you ever have somebody who calls in sick or you need somebody-- If I'm not absolutely doing something else, I'm your man’.
So, my approach was really to just dive in entirely and that's worked very well for me. One of our other colleagues, Janice Tye, made a comment about being on rosters that I thought was very apt. She said that it's a tremendous credibility booster. I think that's true. When you serve on one of the government rosters you get a tremendous amount of experience which is probably the key thing. But also, when you can tell potential clients that you are on a government roster it's an immediate credibility booster as Janice said. So, carrying on from there within a couple years, two or three years into being on the Calgary roster, I was asked to help set up an experimental or trial program with mediation in Fort McMurray.
So, myself and another mediator have done that and that program continues. I'm still mediating there. As I mentioned I’m coaching with Mount Royal. Through good fortune--I think basically the recommendation of one of the instructors who was moving to Australia--I had the opportunity to teach the Negotiation Skills class at Mount Royal University, which I still teach. And basically, I think like some of my colleagues here have said, I just looked for every possible opportunity. You know you're always watching for the rosters to open up, for instruction positions opening up. For example, a year or so ago ADRIA put out the call, you know, who among our coaches is interested in instructing?
So, I made my application there and it has been very rewarding for me to start teaching for ADRIA as well. So that's been the path in general. And once again like my fellows have said here, everything kind of connects. The more work you do the more work you get. For me I do a lot of my work, of course, I'm certainly on these rosters and doing some instruction, but privately I mediate. I do conflict coaching. I do a lot of facilitation. And I do facilitation for all kinds of groups. Often for boards of directors. I'll do strategic planning sessions. And often the sessions for the groups that I facilitate have a kind of a dual purpose. There's a facilitation where the group is trying to figure out what it is they want to do, where do we want to go. They're getting a strategic plan. Those sorts of things.
And also, they want to have a little bit of a component of instruction and want some coaching in ADR. So, they have discovered as we all have discovered at some points in our life, that we may not have all the skills that we would like. And so there's an opportunity working with those groups. Not just to facilitate but also to do some instruction and to kind of bring them up so they have the skills. That they can work in a more integrated manner with less conflict. And in general help them move forward to achieve their goals. I also work as a supervisor in a hospital department here in Calgary.
The skills are very useful for me there. There's lots of conflict in the hospital between patients and staff, staff and staff and doctors and nurses and so on. And something that hasn't been mentioned I don't think up to now, but I'm just exploring now. Only now because I've been doing all this other stuff. It is that if you happen to be associated with a union environment there's a lot of application of these skills in a union environment. So, you could have the opportunity to train as a, for example, a shop steward and or move through the union in the various roles they have that deal with conflict. So that's something that might be worth looking into.
We want to talk about opportunities. What I've really found is that the skills that we learn and as Michelle most recently pointed out are so useful both at home and at work--really everywhere-- they are transformational for your life. And the beautiful thing about them from my perspective is that they all connect. So, the mediation of course helps the coaching. Together they help the facilitation. Altogether they help the instruction. And they all can kind of form a lattice that builds up so that you develop skills in a whole range of things. And kind of a raft of competencies that you can then offer to your clients. And that has been the most successful thing for me. I maybe, I probably am-- I almost certainly am the least entrepreneurial of all of us here. And yet a lot of work comes because if you're really focused on the client, on helping people, on giving them what they really need in terms of ADR communication and conflict resolution and so on, the word will spread and people will speak of you to others. And that has certainly worked for me. I also of course have a business card which I pass out all the time. Every time I meet somebody else. So, it's like Ali said it's about networking, making yourself available and just letting people know that you have those competencies.
Thank you, Mark. Now we have a series of four round robin questions and we're going to allocate about 15 minutes each. Each question will be open to the group to answer, whoever wants to start and the others can build upon it. The first question is: For people looking to enter this field, share what skills or qualities you think it takes to succeed either in your particular organization, in your area of practice, or just to succeed in general.
I'd like to speak to three qualities just quickly. The first is self-care. Because the work we do in ADR can have a strong emotional component. You're dealing often with people who are in very difficult places and emotions are strongly felt and sometimes strongly expressed. It's very important to care for ourselves properly, to resource ourselves properly so that we can do this work without being torn down or burning out. And so that we can be resourceful for our clients. So, I think that's an ongoing challenge for a lot of people. For example, it's well known that most people these days are sleep deprived. I would just ask new people to the field to think about, how am I caring for myself so that I can work properly for the people that I'm serving?
Another quality is persistence and I've spoken to that as well. In terms of just keep working. Work as much as you can. And that doesn't mean just formal mediations on a roster or privately or mediation or something like that. But use the skills every day. Find a way to make yourself aware. To remind yourself of micro skills or the process skills and look for those opportunities persistently. Plan to do that every day in some way. And the last quality that I think is super important to cultivate is curiosity. My feeling is that a lot of us have a lot of our curiosity sort of beaten out of us from teachers and families. People say ‘well no we don't ask about that’ and so on. We really want to cultivate our natural curiosity. And there's a good body of social science research that shows that the quality of curiosity is very highly correlated with a meaningful life and living a satisfying life. It's certainly highly correlated with being an effective ADR practitioner.
I think you've hit most of my points Mark. I had kind of made a note on persistence, of course, as a business practitioner being high on that list, and curiosity. And the self-awareness piece. I think also within that is transparency. I know I'm always working on that myself to be able to get what's in my brain, what I'm thinking, and putting that on the table. I find that has such a huge impact on facilitated conversations. When you're really able to say what you're noticing and put things out there. That's what I'd add to that.
I agree 100 percent with what has been said. That tenaciousness is very, very important. But I think too that a lot has to be said about the mediator's presence in the room. So that calm presence. That unflappable presence. That ability to not get rattled as people around you are losing their minds. I think that that is something that's so very important as well. As is a sense of humor and being able to walk out of a room and shake your head and laugh.
It's hard to pull off a sense of humor in mediations I find Joanne, it often falls flat for me I'm not very good at that.
Yeah, don't be funny if you're not. J
Yeah I'll add just one other thing and I agree with all of you. But one that came up right away from me was humility. There's an interesting piece to what we do. We have control over the process but we really have control over nothing else. And I think it could be easy over time especially, to start to think that if parties are resolving and are coming up with great agreements, that we did that somehow. That we're the cause of that. And although we may have assisted and set up the space, the success or the failure has so much more to do with them. I think it's really important to keep that in mind. Especially since it'll help with the constant learning that I think Joanne mentioned too. That we need to continue to take courses and to learn from each other. You know a year in or three decades in I think that's really important just to keep it fresh. And to keep that presence that you're talking about and never let it get stale. And never forget just how, even if we've been doing this again and again and again, it's new - it's oftentimes very new space for the parties to be in. So just remembering what we're asking of them each time is really important.
I'll take a little different tack because I'm thinking the folks that are listening, you're looking at how do I get success in the organization. So, the organization I work with is with the Government of Alberta. I think one of the skills is to really understand, and I think you talked about it Mark, is to really understand the people that you want to work with. So, Government of Alberta, there's lots of different rosters that are available and there's also opportunities to be part of the GOA as a staff member. Try to understand that particular department or that board. What are they, what do those clients need? So, the example, I work with municipalities for Alberta Municipal Affairs. For my area, what they're looking for is people that do training, facilitation, public input, mediation and project management.
To get on to some of the rosters, it's kind of a catch 22. So, for ours in Municipal Affairs, we just did a call out. We only do it every three or four years. We look for mediators, arbitrators, and folks that do Med-Arb. We're looking for people that have specifically experience in that field of municipal business or organizations and can show that. But it's tough to get on the roster if you don't have that experience. It's kind of a catch 22. Same if you're going to get on other rosters. So Environmental Appeals Board has board members. You’ll need to try to understand that organization, what they're looking for. And how to get that experience. To get on our roster then having experience working with or in a municipality will give you some of the understanding of how municipalities work and what their needs are. This experience would then make you more competitive to get on the roster as a mediator or arbitrator.
Michelle you reminded me, we also do work where we provide a grant for municipalities to figure out how to work better within themselves. Usually between council or staff. In these instances, the municipalities send out a RFP (request for proposal) for a particular project that is requiring a consultant to help deal with a conflictual situation or help them collaborate more effectively. So, if you have that expertise in the HR area or governance, then you might have an in with municipalities. And each roster is done differently. Our roster is a list of private mediators that the municipalities can freely choose to use those mediators or not. If you are not on that list that doesn't mean that you can't get selected by a municipality. You just have to be aware of those opportunities if they do a call out for it. I think it also behooves anyone interested to get into the field to find out how the other rosters and various RFPs work.
Our roster is very difficult to get on because it's hard to get that Inter-municipal mediation experience, but other rosters are different. If you're looking to get that experience, talk to the department or board staff and find out what they're looking for. I think having that aptitude or that understanding, curiosity and understanding of the field that you're in will help you be competitive. For example, if you are working with politicians it is very specialized and it's very interesting. We are looking for people that have some emotional intelligence and can read the room. We are looking for people who are going to understand various political sensitivities and not say anything that is politically incorrect or get us in trouble in the public. This is important because government is risk adverse.
So those are some of the skills. But every department's looking for something different. Or each cadre of, if you're working with family mediators, they're looking for something more specific than what we're looking for. I would say if you're interested in that field or you have a background in that field. Like if you've been a farmer before, talk to Farmers Advocate and see what opportunities are there and what they're looking for. If you've been involved in energy or environment see what opportunities there are. And I really liked your example Ali. I did administrative work or I did this. I got involved in it because I worked with a municipality before and I was already working for the Municipal Affairs. I got the job because I understood municipal business and I was interested in mediation.
Mike can I just hinge on that.
I very much appreciate your comments. And to me it speaks to, and you used the word I think customer service. The customer service mentality. And just sort of open the box a little bit. In my experience look inside the box. The experience that you have in learning interest-based mediation and practicing interest-based mediation. The experience I've had was very helpful when I turned to something like, OK, now here's a board of directors who need a facilitation. I was able to directly use those skills of understanding people at the level of their interests, so that those interests could be met in the course of the facilitation. These processes are very helpful and as I mentioned earlier, you use your skills and training in order to build processes for your clients.
And you've talked about the importance of understanding the specific client that you're dealing which is of course I think super important.
And also, within that Mark, helping clients understand or get some clarity on what they're actually looking for. Right. What is it that they want? And what's their goal with this?
And Joanne, are you comfortable sharing a little bit of what skills you think for the family mediation side since that is one of the areas that you work in? And what skills people look for in that area?
Sure, and maybe I'll just start by saying that there was a debate back when I took my training about whether or not mediators needed to be content experts or have content knowledge. And the feeling back then was that no, if you can mediate you can go in and mediate in any situation. I don't believe that for a second. If you want to do family work then you probably need to take some courses on separation and divorce mediation. Because it's a very specific field. And the qualities and the skills that you bring to the table there, would be of course your interest-based background. But also, that you are able to understand and empathize with what these parents are going through. Or what this couple is going through as they are restructuring their lives. It's a huge thing, right. And so that ability to empathize. That ability to remain neutral, not take sides.
You mentioned a little bit on the separation and divorce training. What kind of subject matter expertise? Can you expand just a little bit more on that, what that might look like?
You need to know what the legislation is that governs divorces or separations. You don't have to memorize the legislation but you have to know where to find things. You need to be able to work with high conflict people. For example, I worked with these two parents. They're living in different parts of Alberta and fighting over the kids for seven years. He's into his lawyer for two hundred thousand. She's into her lawyer for 140 and they get ordered into mediation by the judge and they pick me.
But it's about again being unflappable. Just saying OK they're dealing with all this stuff; they've got all this background and they were able to come up with a parenting plan. It’s just doing the job, getting the job done.
Related to that, Michelle you do a lot of workplace mediation. What specific skills do you see in the workplace work that you do that are maybe a little bit different?
I don't know if necessarily the skills are any different. I mean it's the background of psychological health and safety. And some of the regulations that are in place in the workplace are helpful. Again, you're not giving advice or stepping into that. But just that knowledge base I think is very helpful. But I think as skill sets that we're talking about that's what mediators need. The empathy. The curiosity. The self-awareness. All of that.
Any final thoughts on this round of questions from the panel?
Definitely from our perspective, it’s important that mediators or staff members have the subject matter expertise in that area. So, I work with municipalities, so if you have organizational development experience, governance experience. Understanding if you dealt with Inter organizational conflict. For us that's directly relatable to, you could probably do the job. If you've got experience with municipalities that would be helpful. I think some of the other government departments, when they're hiring, they want to make sure that you understand the context. So, you can make those connections. And it also shows that you're self-aware and you know what they're looking for. And you can also customize the processes that you use to fit the circumstance. So, there is some jargon that we use in mediation training. I don't say that to politicians. I use language that connects with them. Or if I'm working with different groups, sometimes I will work with some Indigenous communities and municipalities. Well how I work with them might be different than others. I think having some good self-awareness and what they're looking for is really important. I think that will help if you're looking at being marketable. Understand what they need as well, from government perspective, we just changed our legislation to mandate that municipalities have to work together.
That's a pretty big shift. So that means there's a lot of demand for facilitation. They don't call it mediation because they don't have conflicts. So, you don't tell them you're a mediator. They're saying, I don't need a mediator, I just need a facilitator. But they might run in some conflict down the road. So having those transferable skills is important. Also, in our world doing public input and those related pieces like facilitation, governance and organizational development are really important. Really being self-aware and the context that you're in, is vitally important.
And I just want to ask you one other question Mike because you use the consensus decision making model as well. Can you share with everybody what that looks like and what opportunities might be in that area?
Consensus decision making model. So that might be the more facilitation work. And that's probably a lot of what our team does at Municipal Affairs. We call it convening because you're getting two or more different governing bodies, that can't force each other to do something, to try to agree by consensus. It's a different model. It's multi-party. That's where you really have to understand the political dynamics. The history of what's going on. But then you're trying to get them to willfully agree to something that they can't force each other to do. There’s a lot going on. And each one we customize to fit the situation using a lot of mediation type of principles and processes. But you have to put it in context. And that's where it really ... And this is my viewpoint on it ... You really have to understand the organizations and what's going to work for them to ensure they buy into the whole process. It's very facilitative but you definitely use your mediation skills when you're doing it. It's contextual depending on if they are providing input, recommendations, making a decision or forced to make a decision. As you can see depending on the scenario, it's really important to understand the context.
Our context with Municipal Affairs is that now municipalities are mandated to work together to create collaboration frameworks. To do this work to help build consensus you have to understand the legislation, what these frameworks are like and how they need to come together.
Thank you. The next question for our panelists: You notice a new mediator or ADR practitioner and they seem to really stand out… they're new but you see something in them that makes you think oh, yeah, I could see them being successful. What is it that you are noticing?
They have committed to practice. And they've committed to lifelong learning would be two things that would cause a new mediator to stand out for me. Self-awareness. A sense of being humble. And aware of their limitations. Mediators that scare me the most, new mediators, are the ones that think that they are way better than they actually are. They haven't put in the hours of practice and they're hanging up a shingle and dealing with people at a time in their lives which can be the most difficult. The opposite of that is what causes them to stand out for me.
For me, what stands out and what stood out and helped me connect as I was going through my training with the other folks that made me say I think I could learn something from this person that I'm going through training with or now when people reach out looking for advice is, they're interested in knowing all of the little, the best way I can describe it, is the space between the rules that we're given. If we get the foundational pieces and we learn it in the training there are so many, Yeah but what if this? And what if that? And let's talk through this scenario. And the people who really have a passion for digging into that and kind of philosophizing about it a bit, stand out for me, because for me that means they're really interested in what they can offer the work and how they can best understand this and serve in the room versus what branching out into this new field is going to offer them.
I think for me that self-awareness is really important and knowing what you're really good at. And also, be able to flex to the situation. So, what does the situation need and understanding the context that you're working in. Because people appreciate that. They don't want to have to get you up to speed to what their world is. You're there to help them. Understand what your ability is and be humble. The people that scared me the most in interviews over the years has been people who say oh I know exactly what to do or that there is only one way to do this work. And then you watch them do it and it's like a train wreck. You could just see it coming.
The other thing that I appreciate in the work that we do is to be able to read the room and really be observant, because we deal with a lot of multi-party dynamics and there's so many things going on. We often work in twos or threes because they're such large rooms.
Just the appreciation and valuing what people are bringing to the table. Honoring their knowledge and strengths and applying it appropriately.
Also being able to observe and see what those folks need in the situation to help them move forward. That's what stands out for me. You can usually tell their awareness when you debrief. They’ll say hey did you see that or did you notice this. And I really appreciate those debriefs when I didn't notice or was oblivious to a particular dynamic or behavior. It’s those catches that help improve your work. Those are the things that stand out for me when I'm working with people.
Can I just add one piece to that? Because I wrote this down and I forgot to say it. There is this really wonderful quote that I think about a lot. That's “trust those who seek the truth and doubt those who claim to have found it”. Like a little bit of a snarky quote, but it's so true.
Very Zen.
Do you have some thoughts on this question Joanne?
I just think that mediators are dealing with people's lives and you have to have a strong sense of ethics. Recognizing that all of us are going to make mistakes at times.
Totally onboard with what you folks in Edmonton have said. For me when I was making notes for this conversation, I noted enthusiasm. And an apparent taste for continuous learning. And I think you folks there nailed it when you talked about the debriefing and basically reflective practice. I think the inclination to philosophize about it: I think that it's a key quality of someone who is a good mediator and also someone who's the new mediator who looks like they're probably going to be really good, is that they're prepared to debrief extensively. I think it was Roger Fisher who said your own experience is the least expensive education you'll ever get. And that experience that you have in any ADR process that you are a part or if you're facilitating or doing mediation, if you're willing to, as a new entrant to the field, if you're willing to debrief, to really think about what happened there. What worked? What would I change? Ask yourself all those reflective questions. That is a rocket ship to quick improvement.
I think I totally concur with all of that and I think along with that I would say, being able to be accepting of failure because, in my experience, that's happened fairly often. And that reflective piece is that opportunity to do that. And when you're working with other people, which I've been lucky to be able to do, I always have a good opportunity to do that. To kind of debrief and reflect and so that emotional intelligence, that awareness, insight. And also, I think you were talking about overconfidence, but I might look at that maybe the other way and kind of look at that willingness for people to step up and step into situations where they might not feel totally comfortable. Because when as a mediator really do you ever feel that way? I know I don't. So being able to step into that. Having the courage maybe to step into that.
Michelle I'd like to just share very quickly an anecdote that I think touches on that. How we deal with failure or what feels like failure. Once when I was doing the Fort McMurray mediations, we would typically fly up there and work four or five days and do typically two mediations a day. One month when I went up there for that week, I had eight mediations and seven of them did not resolve. Despite everything, the full deployment of my skills, and my team, the whole Fort McMurray team, and also my family when they heard about it, said stuff like, ‘Oh my God how terrible for you. You must feel awful’.
And my response was, this is amazing. How many times as a mediator do you get to have seven non-resolutions in such a short period of time. There's so much to think about. There's so much feedback. It's a very rich vein to mine, to mine out, to get understanding. I thought it was a great benefit to have that. In a sense if you consider non-resolution a kind of failure, and some do and some don't. You may not, but if you have seven in a row you start to think something's amiss here. Right. And it forces you to go deep and it's a real benefit I find. So failure maybe is just more feedback. And if somebody new to the field can develop that…for a lot of people, it needs to be developed. To develop that attitude, very beneficial.
And I'll just add on that. You talk about the train wreck. I think sometimes when I have learned the most…I’m the engineer. And I'm the one that caused the train wreck. That’s how I got interested in the field. I had a situation where I thought geez, I know how to work with this group. We're going to do team building. It's going to be awesome. And it wasn't, it was far from. So that was a great learning to go, whoa I need to do something different, because I didn't have the right skills or use the right process for those people. And I don't think it helped them out at all. I remember telling them you need somebody else … you really need a mediator. And I was not a mediator at that time. I think that's, when we talk about what we're looking for in a mediator is being able to reflect. When we're doing interviews, they go “geez” we tried this and it didn't work. It shows a willingness and humbleness and flexibility to adapt … to be honest about what didn't work so you can improve for the next time. Because if people think they're always right, then I don't know if this field would be the right one for you.
Everybody talked a lot about being self-reflective. You have to have that awareness and that self-reflection and that balance between, what Joanne you said is, not taking on too much that you can't handle, because you can cause harm. Especially in separation and divorce. But in other fields too, even a workplace. You're dealing with a contentious workplace issue and you've bitten off more than you can chew, you can cause harm. And at the same time, challenging yourself to be that little uncomfortable and learn from your failures. So how do you balance that?
Yeah there's been times when I've taken on cases and I thought oh I don't know about this. It's more complex than I had realized. I've brought in other people to assist so that we have two brains in the room four eyes in the room. That works well. And the reality is that I think often we learn more from our mistakes than we do our successes. And so right now I'm actually quite brilliant.
And I think, I can't remember who talked about transparency on the panel here.
Michelle.
Michelle. And I know the work that we do is I just go hey folks I don't know. With municipalities, you want to do this. Here's what I see. Tell me what you see. Talk to your other professional and professional people in the room because they want to make it work and they'll go. OK. Well if we do this and this, this might work. OK. Because I think you've got to be honest with them. If you don't know. I think this might work but it might not. So, how are we? How are you going to deal with that situation if it doesn't work? Well ok then let's try this. If you have that ability to be that transparent.
That's always my line. I'm not here to fix anything, that's up to you guys.
I think it's so helpful to be as explicit as we can, for example, about process. Kind of reminding the parties whether it's mediation, facilitation or whatever, where we are in the process. And always turning it back to them. You know those skills that we have of paraphrasing and especially summarizing. Here's kind of what's happened that I see. You know characterize it for folks and then put it to them. So, what do you want to do? Where would you like to move? We co-mediate a lot; I think probably all of us. And sometimes co-mediate with people who say to the parties ‘this is your process’. And I never say that because I'm kind of running the process, but I'm always conferring with the parties to see, Is this working? What do you need now? Based on what's happening. So even if it's a train wreck, I think that you can characterize it and say, you know some people might say, based on what's happened so far in the conversation, it's a bit of a train wreck. And maybe one of the parties has. So, in as much as it feels like a train wreck if it does to everybody, what do you want to do about it? Where should we go?
Two things are coming up and I hope I remember them both. One is just I'm so still just on a high from having a team to bounce things off of in my group. Going from private practice, which can be quite lonely, into working with a team. It's wonderful to get off the phone in a conversation that's really tough and just go OK there are three different things I could do from here and I'm in a fog right now, and feeling overwhelmed. And just to be able to go ok out of the five people I work with, who is appropriate to talk this through with. Is it the guy who's been here 50 years and knows all the ropes and all the tech stuff? Is it the super empathetic one who's been here for 20 years and really is great at giving it back to the parties? Is it being the one who's newer like me and you're bouncing off potentially innovative ideas from a course we just took together? So, I'm able to call the person that's going to work for that situation and just say it out loud to a mediator who knows the lens that I'm looking through. And by the end I've often talked myself into the direction I'm going to go with their guidance, which is wonderful to just use that process to become more sure than I was. And I forget the other one, if it comes up later, I'll share it.
So the third round question is: What do you notice is missing from new practitioners or from people that you interview? So either students you encounter when you are instructing, new mediators that are coming to you and asking you questions, or people you're interviewing for an ADR role. What do you think they are missing?
I struggled with this question Tammy. I'm not sure necessarily anything is missing. I think tying back to what Joanne said earlier is that, and like myself at that time when I finished my classes, I was in a rush right. I wanted to get out there and mediate and just to recognize that it takes time to learn and to grow and to bring in these other skill sets that can make a difference in the work that we do. The facilitation, the coaching, the training, all of that. So just that patience I guess which is not probably what people want to hear.
What I find most commonly missing, sort of a fundamental quality that hasn't been well-developed in a lot of new mediators, is the quality of equanimity, or sort of non-judging. Whatever you call it, an aptitude or skill or whatever. The ability to be present in a situation and be balanced. Keep the balance of your mind. Judgments will naturally arise. And when parties speak in mediation or in a conflict conversation, whatever. But just to have the quality to recognize that that is something we don't need to deal with. Whatever my judgments are, I set those off to the side and just be present and help this party, these parties express whatever they need to express and so on. So, I think that's something, working with new mediators. They'll often say, if we debrief, ‘wow I couldn't believe that guy said that’ or you know ‘what a jerk’. You know that sort of thing. These are natural judgments that we're sort of hardwired to have. It's something that I find really needing to be developed in a lot of new mediators. It does come of course, like any skill, like any aptitude.
I'll say, I agree with what Michelle was saying. I feel a bit more like it's what's missing from the field. And I get the sense that maybe that is gaining momentum and more opportunities are showing themselves. And there is more of an understanding of what mediation is and how it can benefit any organization or any field. But if I'm looking for something that is needed, to deal with that current climate, it's that drive and independent momentum and initiative to keep going. Even when you know you're spending a year doing a ton of training and not getting very far and then the next year doing mediations but it's all for free. And you know maybe four more years like that. It takes a lot of doing it anyway. And a lot of seeing that work as free education. And seeing it as an opportunity instead of seeing it as a sacrifice. The people who are framing that in their mind that way, I think last longer and are ultimately more successful.
So, the question is, what do you notice is missing from new practitioners you encounter or interview? So, I'm going to talk about two things. We have a roster and we interview for staff positions that come up, not very often, because we have a team that stays in the positions for quite a while. But when we do interviews, things that are missing is that lack of demonstration for passion for what you're doing. Because we like what we do. Also, a lack of demonstration that you understand how to apply that skill in the context of where we're at. I work in municipal affairs. So, if folks think that it's easy to do, and don’t understand municipalities or working for government then I don't think they fit. What’s missing is that they don't understand the context and how their skills are applied in that context. If I was going to interview with AER, I'd better understand what the energy field is looking for and their context, and how that applies. And if I haven't worked in that field, I'd better show that it's similar to what I've done before and how that works. If that makes sense.
For our roster, we have a roster of arbitrators, Med-Arbs now, which is new, and the arbitrators and mediators. There we have a committee that's looking at it. We have criteria. And it's very hard to get on because we're looking for people specifically with that experience. Or can demonstrate that they've worked on something similar. So what's missing is that lack of demonstration. What's good, on the flip side, is persistence. And I think somebody talked about persistence. If somebody is coming back to reapply a number of times or interview a number of times. We've hired at least one of our staff members, when it was the second time and they got hired on. Their persistence demonstrates that they're interested and they want to get in the field. I've applied on rosters too and not got on them. Given my background in sport I’ve applied to be on a national sport roster and haven't got on because I don't have as much experience mediating in the sport world.
I just share that, because if you're interested in being on a roster or becoming a staff member it really helps to demonstrate how your skills and all of your other complementary skills can contribute to doing the job and that you understand the context. There's a lot of other folks that we may hire, that may not have finished all the mediation training, but can demonstrate they understand the context that we're in and they are willing to take the mediation training and have an aptitude for it. If that makes sense. Because a department wants the right person for the right fit who understands their clients and business. And it's different all over the different agencies. So make sure you understand the various departments’ needs, and if you're curious … phone one of the staff members up. I sit down and go for coffee with folks on a regular basis because they're interested in the field. Or they're interested in something in GOA.
I will sit down with anybody that's interested in the field and have a chat. Because it kind of goes two ways … you need to make sure that you're comfortable working in that field or department and we have to be comfortable with you.
I also struggled with this question. And I don't want to say that this is something that is missing from all new practitioners because there are some new practitioners who are just doing some amazing things. I say one thing that might be missing is that commitment to practice. There is no shortcut to practice. That's the only way you're going to get better. Maybe about a year ago, Alberta Justice’s Family Mediation program was advertising for a job as a staff mediator, and there was something like 90 mediators who applied and several were shortlisted and they had to do a role play. And the feedback that I heard afterwards was that these mediators didn't even know what an interest-based mediation was. And nobody got hired that time. So, make sure you stay true to interest-based mediation and don't lose that.
And I'll maybe add to that as well because I do know that separation and divorce is a unique category. You deal with emotions in workplace and you deal with emotions probably on counsels and AER with what you're doing. But when you're dealing with individuals that are divorcing, and there are the assets, and the children and where the kids are going to go to school and all of those things - the knowledge that you have to have and the depth of your mediation integration needs to be really quite high. So, if these new mediators are going in there and they're doing a basic mediation, just after they’ve finished their training, that's not even 10 percent of what you need to do in a real separation and divorce mediation. You know when you're just finishing your classes you probably have enough to be dangerous. Definitely not enough to truly take care of your parties in a safe way. What are your thoughts from the rest of the panel on that? When you consider the people that are just coming out of their training, where are they in terms of handling real clients? Their ability to handle real clients?
Well as the newest person here I'll say every instructor I ever had told me and everyone else in the class, you will not be ready by the time you leave these classes. You will need a lot, a lot of work. And so that was the direction. Get to know the people beside you. Get to know anyone else who's doing this and start practicing right away. Because it's not enough just to know the theory and have a day of practice. Much more than that.
I would … I'll just say for folks that we work with, our team specifically, it takes a good two to three years to understand the context and the nuances to it. It's quite specialized. We hire the person that has the aptitude and the willingness to do it and can demonstrate their experience is going to add to our team. For our roster, we're looking for folks that have that experience specifically. That's what I would share from our perspective.
I’ll just add to that Michael. So I did some work for an institution because there was conflict within the work group. So it was a group facilitation on group norms. That kind of morphed into several mediations between certain individuals. That morphed into two days of training on conflict resolution. So it was nice that I was able to offer those various processes. They didn't have to go shopping around.
And I completed my classes in 2008 so, 10, 11 years ago and I'm just starting to feel comfortable now walking into difficult workplace situations. It takes time and all the other skills that go along with that. I can't stress that enough to support the mediation classes.
You mentioned Cecile Schultz. She's another instructor close to my heart that I've had multiple times, and we were talking about her practice specifically and she said, in private practice after a decade you kind of feel like you don't have to hustle as much. You still have to, and there's still work to be done. But after 10 years, and this is after practice mind you, doing the work and getting clients and then that leads you to other clients and other clients. Then you start to build a momentum that you're not worried is going to fall apart at any moment. So, every message I've ever heard has been, it's a slow process, and so just know that going in. There should be no rose-colored glasses on about that.
That's exactly my answer to the next question.
A good lead in. Did anybody else have any final thoughts on this question before we go to the next one? OK so let's go to the final round robin question. What recommendations do you have for people wanting to enter this field?
OK. I wrote it down here. Practice, Network, volunteer, and when you're starting, co-facilitate.
I actually have four too. I don't even think there's an overlap. Although I agree with all of yours. My first one is take time to reflect the whole time. Like right now is the perfect time and six months from now will be the perfect time. Just keep doing it. And ask yourself what's brought you to the field? Why are you pursuing it? And I think that's really important, because during the tougher times, if the reason is deep enough and connected to something that's real, you'll find a way to make it happen. You'll be more open to the opportunities.
The second one is build a support system which you heard me say a bunch of times, and practice together. For example, there's a group called MMM which I joined a few years ago. Mediators mentoring mediators. And a lovely instructor Paula Drouin, a bunch of you've probably heard of her, took it upon herself to start the group and open herself up, with a couple of other veterans, to the newer folks. We were able to sit down with her and two other mediators, Nancy Love and Cecile Schultz, and a group of us just pelted them with questions and made structure for ourselves, connected as a community. We ended up building a book of role plays together that we could use, as well as creating a list of rosters that were in the Edmonton and the surrounding area that we could tap into. Sometimes we would just get together and agree about how tough it was. And that was really useful as well. So that's the second one.
Ask for help from the instructors and people who are doing the work in the way that you want to do it. And try to approach, if you can with something to offer them, whether it's just can we go for coffee, I'll buy you a coffee. Or if it's their time. I've seen new folks offer to do sort of like the paperwork end of some files for mediators as they're getting started. Not to do any of the mediation but just to help on the back end to get into the field, to be around when they're doing stuff. So, don't be afraid to ask because there are a bunch of instructors and practitioners out there who are eager to share all of the knowledge that they've been collecting and think a little bit about what you might be able to offer them.
And the fourth one speaks to the comment earlier about self-care. It's just, do some hard work to build up your boundaries and do what you need to do to maintain them. My biggest question when I got started, after I learned some of the more tough trainings like Circle facilitation or for restorative justice, was just how have you been doing this for 30 years and you haven't let it deplete you or exhaust you? How do you bounce back from those tricky files without taking them on? In various different ways, the response was always, you need to be very aware of what you can handle and what you can't. And take the time that you need to take. And if we don't do that, then we aren't able to show up in that present way.
All of these pieces really just intertwine. So, if you start with one it'll lead you into the other skills and into the other suggestions, I think that we've heard today. And that self-care one is really important because the parties and the work are going to continue to ask things of you. And at the beginning it's all about saying yes to get opportunities. And that's not going to stop until you start saying no, and building protections for yourself so that you can keep doing it for years and years.
And I guess from my perspective as a business owner, it's about if people are wanting to go that route and that's what Ali was talking about earlier, is having that patience to be able to grow your business. And that those ups and downs will be pretty persistent for the first few years and now at the 10-year mark I'm fairly comfortable with the amount of business. And as a business person to really look at how can you collaborate with others. What other partnerships can you create with others, so that both businesses can be successful. And there's lots of business out there for all sorts of ADR practitioners. There's no reason to hoard business or not share, there's very much work.
Well first I just want to say what a delight and how inspiring to hear my colleagues! Thank you all for the conversation. It's really great. I've been listening to the Three Musketeers in the car when driving around, and seems to me this conversation is all about success, right? How are you going to find success in this field? And just yesterday there's the scene where the young D'Artagnan is being sent by his father to make his success in Paris. His father says to him I've taught you sportsmanship. You have arms of iron and wrists of steel, fight, therefore, as often as you can. So, I thought you know in terms of this conversation, you folks have got, or will soon have, the attitude, the skills and the process for this. Mediate therefore, as often as you can! Facilitate, instruct, teach. Use the skills as often as you can. Every day, every day do something. And I think I'm underlining what my colleagues here have said, practice. There's no substitute for practice.
All right. So, any other thoughts on recommendations for people entering this field?
I'll just say that there, and maybe this was mentioned, but for those of you who don't know, there was an ADR symposium that happened in May of 2018. And there was a panel session similar to this called Opportunities for Practitioners. And they had a PowerPoint. And it's actually on the ADRIA website still. And it's loaded with resources and options and ideas and places to look for upcoming jobs, maybe not necessarily in mediation always, but just places to keep an eye on. So, if you just google ADR symposium Alberta it'll come up. It's also on ADRIA's website. And just click on speaker handouts and it'll be there. I really would recommend taking a look at that.
And I think I'll just finish up kind of reiterating. All you folks have lots of really good experience, so make sure you highlight that. And then how does the experience that you've taken with mediation fill in that gap if you will. And then when you start, and I'll say this from experience I was a facilitator. I facilitated a lot. I did a lot of facilitations, I thought, oh I really know facilitation. Then I took mediation training and thought I would give that a go. After taking the training and getting feedback I thought I don't know what I'm doing anymore. And then you start to try it out and you go … “oh!” well these skills that I had before kind of compliment this. How can I take what I know and my strength and apply that?
This came from freeing myself from thinking I was incompetent to following every step in the exact sequence. I freed myself by going to one of these advanced mediator workshops and people say well I don't follow the model exactly like this, but I customize it to the context. For me that was a game changer and I applied my strengths to the mediation and the situation I was in a way that worked for me and the participants and I didn’t feel hemmed in by the “Model”
Given my sport background I’ll give you a similar example of when you're first learning how to play hockey … you have to learn how to skate. Well you don't learn how to play hockey first. You first learn how to skate, puck handle, shoot and then eventually play in a hockey game. You practice a lot and then try it in a game and then refine your integration of the skills. The same analogy here. When you first start learning the skills of mediation you're going “geeze, I have a four-stage model … I've got to do all these skills and then I've got to put it all together and then to get good at it you have to practice, practice, practice.
Don't forget all of those skills and strengths that you bring, because those are the marketable skills that somebody is going to hire you on. Keep practicing and hopefully you can work with some other people that will help you learn and grow along the way. Also know and understand what you bring to the table. Because every time I've worked with somebody, they have brought some skill or knowledge that I appreciated. I often find myself saying “I like how you did that … How do you do that?” So, don't forget your own strengths. And integrate it to what you do and practice.
Are there any questions online? Any questions in the room.
Ok the questions is – you offered two qualities accepting failure and to do reflective practice. In doing reflection what would you note as the criteria that leads you to say yes, this is why I love mediating?
Well sometimes I hate mediating.
I think for me it's just that opportunity to build understanding between two parties or more. So it's not necessarily what solution they come up with or how they resolve it, but it's about oh, well I didn't realize that. Or you know that opportunity to build some insight and awareness and understanding and see how that changes people or changes the situation. Yeah.
How it changes the situation. I like to use a phrase that I learned from one of my instructors, Cari Patterson. “Have you moved the conversation forward?” And it's not necessarily about getting a resolution in a conflict conversation or in mediation or any situation like that. It's about, have you moved the conversation forward? So, I find mediation incredibly rewarding when I'm going to mediate, I have a big grin on my face because I'm thinking ‘wow, you get to go and help these people in conflict. You know, ‘I've got the skills to help them have this conversation and move them forward’. So that even if they don't resolve today, they are further ahead than they were before. And as well, I spoke earlier, I think warmly, about the quality of curiosity, and I find mediation incredibly rewarding because it's so interesting.
Every human being we meet is full of experience and wisdom and they have the opportunity to share that in the mediation. And so, to me, I see the mediation room is like the Matrix movie where they have all the information coming down. It's like the room is full of information. And the more that I can pay attention to, the more value I can give these parties. Because I can potentially make a skillful intervention of some kind that will help them move forward. My colleagues, I'll put this out to you. I don't think we've spoken, perhaps enough, about the rewards of the work. We'll talk about the value in family and home life and so on. But at least to me it's very rewarding because it connects directly to my deep value of helping people. I just love to help people. And that's why I'm grinning when I go to mediation because hey, I get to help people.
And it really is a helping profession. We think of nurses as being in the helping profession and some more black and white. But it really is, at the end of the day, a helping profession. And I think that maybe that's number one. But it's hard to tell someone what their why should be. That's so individual. I think it really depends on that person. I think for me, when I reflect on what, what motivates me and has me euphoric at the end of a mediation, is one of my deeper values, is about connection. And experiencing that, but also watching other people experience it. And so, to go into a situation where there is so much disconnect; to inch that a bit closer is so satisfying for me. And so, I think I would suggest doing reflection on what those deeper values are for you, in work or in your personal life. When is it, when are you at your happiest? And when are you your most satisfied? And then go ok, what values are really being satisfied in those times. And if those values can be satisfied by this work then I think that's a bonus. And it's a sign that you're in the right direction.
And I was joking about hating mediation.
I knew it, I knew it.
What I did before I was a mediator is, I was a reporter for the Edmonton journal. One of the things I loved about that job was meeting people, interviewing people, and hearing their stories. And there's a real correlation with mediation. I get to meet really interesting people. I get brought into their lives often at a time when they're at their lowest, but they still have a story. And it's my job to bring that story out and I get a lot of satisfaction from that.
I think it's really individual for folks. But I know for me, I really want to make a difference for those people in the room. I know it's up to them to make a resolution. I really care that they make it, that they can do it. I’m there to help them have a fair safe respectful conversation.
Often, I get to do some work where they don't reach consensus. It's like the likelihood of success of them to come to consensus is zero because there's a really polarized public issue, but they like the process. They thought it was fair and they compliment the team. When I reflect is it because you helped them have that difficult conversation and hopefully, they have learned something about the situation and each other and resolved the issue. It is those really contentious and difficult situations where you may or may not get an agreement and people come up to you and still sincerely thank you for mediating or facilitating their conversation and compliment you … that's pretty good.
I was reflecting on the specific work I do and I’m thinking “geez”, they're not really mediations, they're really consensus building using mediation skills. Regardless of what you call it, for me it making a difference for those people we serve.
The success of the mediation program that we administer is also pretty good at 90 percent. When we get down to do it, I'm just talking about personally, the value is that I want to try and make a difference. And I was able to do that. That's when I go, “This is the right job for me”.
Paul (ADRIA Executive Director):
I wanted to add to the joy piece. Because many of you teach in your profession and there's great joy in that as well. I had a workplace ADR program in the military and I used to love watching these folks sent to training. Two or three days for training. Crusty old sergeant majors shuffling into the room thinking that we're going to teach them how to hug and sing Kumbaya and looking quite nervous about the whole situation. And so, it was always a great joy for all of us that we're in the training environment, and you have shared this as well, is to see the light go on and realize that this is a great skill to have. You know, sure they're teaching it from a workplace, getting along with each other kind of perspective and team building and that kind of thing. But it's a leadership skill. It's going to help me get promoted. It's going to help me with my kids. My church group, my wife, you know, my ex-wife. You know it's going to help in all those environments. So seeing that light go on and realize that this is not just about hugs and kisses and playing nice with each other, this is actually a leadership skill that's going to advance my career.
Another question from the room. Do you ever get people who say things like, don't mediate me? Especially when it comes to working with teens.
So when I was doing my training, my kids of course knew what I was doing. You know how far in, not very far in. And I had a conflict with my daughter Mollie who of all my children is the most determined. And I tried some skill or the other. I can’t now remember what it was. And she said “Dad don't give me that mediation bullshit”. That's exactly what she said, but that's the only time she ever said it. That's meaningful to me because, the skills when you first try them are clunky, and I think maybe Ali used that term. They quickly become integrated. The more you practice, they become integrated and people don't feel mediated anymore. They feel like they're in a situation where somebody is present with them. Very interested in having them be understood and in understanding.
That's funny Mark, I have the same experience, but with my husband. He says don't use that shit on me. He doesn't say that anymore. In fact, I hear him using all the skills himself a lot of times.
Ali do you have anything to add from your parent teen experience?
Just that with parent teen, it's interesting being in a co-mediation model, often I would be co-mediating with a much older person. Either female or male. And so I think the teen would identify with me and take my lead a little bit, which I think helped a lot of times. But the hindrance a lot of times was that the parent would try to tell the teen that they should act more like me. How old are you, aren't you young like my, you should act more like... Gosh that's not helping. So anyway less of that actually and more trying to, for once use my youth to my benefit in this field.
And so final question from Paul.
Yeah just a lightning question perhaps. There's been a lot of talk about continuous learning, professional development, staying engaged, and always learning, and almost making yourself uncomfortable. Because that's actually where we learn new things. So, for each of you I just wondered if you could tell us, what's that one skill that's still elusive. What's the one thing that you're still reaching for and trying to master that makes you uncomfortable?
Ok so in my work in the restorative justice field. I still need more training in trauma informed restorative justice. So, when you're working with a victim or an offender, often there is so much trauma in their lives and how to deal with that in a way that they're not re-traumatized. And so, I've had some training in that but I need more.
Mine I have a ton, but the ones that I'm working on that relate to the field I'm in now. Having a better understanding of the power dynamics in the room and being able to address that. And more quickly realizing that the good faith meter may be off a little bit. My BS meter otherwise known as just having, with a landowner for example, automatically the company has a lot more knowledge and manpower and resources. And say that they're there to have a good conversation and the landowner says that too, and how quickly am I able to realize that there may be other stuff going on behind there. So, the quicker I can do that, the better I can call that out.
Trying to think where to begin. I think some of the work that we do is a lot of convening work. And since I'm the manager, they look to me to be speaking a lot. So, I have to remind myself that there's somebody else there, that needs to have a voice, and make sure to include them. As well as not being aware of there's some other political dynamics going on, or something else going on. And it's just doing that research over and over again. What situation am I going into? What's the background? What do they need to hear? And ensure there's balance. Because a lot of times from a government perspective, they want to hear from whoever's the manager at the top. So, it's to be conscious of making sure that my co-mediator or staff or team are chiming in. So, it's to be aware of that, because you get caught up in, oh I'm supposed to be the lead. So, making sure things are balanced. And I think also balance in the room. But the work that I do, balance doesn't mean that you speak and then you speak, but making sure everybody has a voice at some point. I think those would be the skills I constantly have to work on is to have that balance.
Michelle or Mark?
I think for me it's probably still the anger, those explosive outbursts. I'm always trying to self-manage my own fight flight freeze in those situations. I'm certainly a lot better at it than I used to be. But it still kind of triggers me some times.
I had to think about this one and I now know what it is. As we have more experience thing and sort of feel more skilled, it's harder to keep that beginner's mind and just be really fresh in the uniqueness of every interaction. And the other thing that I'm working on is, because once again, I think as we have more experience and we've used all the skills and we've become "competent" with them, I'm really trying to do more with less. I'm trying to have fewer interactions that are more skillful. Just little interjections of some energy to the conversation so the parties, speaking about mediation here, can have that conversation. So really doing more with less.
I just want to thank all of my panelists for giving up their time today. Thank you all for staying and participating. Really great perspectives and great range of experience.
Some ADRIA information related to today’s discussion. Joanne is teaching a restorative practice and circles course here in Edmonton in June. Some of you have talked about using circle process in your work. So that's something that's coming up. Consensus decision making relates to Michael's field working with municipalities and we do have a Consensus Decision Making course in May in Edmonton. And Michelle Phaneuf with her partnership in Workplace Fairness, is offering a workplace course. I took that course here in Edmonton last fall it was an excellent course. Paul took it as well. So you're interested in workplace assessments and workplace mediation, that's going to be in Calgary in the first week of May. And then of course we have all of our other training - high conflict courses, separation and divorce mediation and other specialized training. So this field is a is a lifelong learning journey. And it's self-reflective and it is everything that everyone else has shared. So again thank you again for participating and thank you to the audience for being here.
Of course, I'd like to add my personal thanks to the panelists. You know I've known all of you, well learning to know pretty much all of you. And it's always been a pleasure to work with you. I do also want to take a second to thank Tammy and her team for putting this together because it's been really well received. There was a lot of mention of getting to know your community, networking, taking opportunities to meet other mediators and practitioners. So do remember that we have ADR luncheons in both Calgary and Edmonton. Pretty much on a monthly basis except for the summer. It's a great opportunity to meet others and network and enjoy a great lunch. So take a look online to see those and again my thanks to the panelists and to Tammy and her team and really great to have you all here and here online.
Panelist Biographies:
Michael Scheidl is the Manager of Intermunicipal Relations with Alberta Municipal Affairs and manages the Municipal Dispute Resolution Initiative which has been recognized as one of the most comprehensive municipal dispute resolution programs in North America and provides a spectrum of services from mediation, collaboration and education to help municipalities work better together and resolve conflict. Michael was an instructor with Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Alberta and has extensive experience in organizational development with non-profit groups through his work with Alberta Community Development. Michael also has a certificate in Conflict Management and is a Chartered Mediator.
Ali Ansell a nationally Qualified Mediator working at the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) as an ADR Specialist. In this role she mediates disputes with oil and gas companies, landowners, and Indigenous communities. Ali’s role also includes facilitating multi-party conversations and projects, instructing communication courses, and participating on various conflict resolution committees.
Ali started her ADR career volunteering in co-mediation and facilitation roles with organizations like the Mediation and Restorative Justice Centre and Catholic Social Services’ Parent-Teen Mediation Program. From there she built a private practice, which she still maintains, mediating family and community disputes and facilitates sharing circles with youth.
Michelle Phaneuf is a Chartered Mediator, Certified Coach and trained workplace Ombudsman. She has worked as an entrepreneur in the conflict resolution field since 2009 and been a partner with Workplace Fairness West since 2014. She has extensive experience supplying conflict management and conflict resolution services to all types and sizes of organizations. This includes providing workplace assessments to shift cultures, facilitating teams to reach innovative solutions, and coaching individuals to gain insight and awareness when in conflict.
Joanne Munro is a nationally chartered mediator, a restorative justice facilitator and an instructor in the fields of mediation, restorative justice, restorative practices, peacemaking circles, conflict resolution, and negotiation. She mediates for Alberta Justice's family mediation and civil claims programs, and is a member of the provincial police complaints mediation roster. Joanne also volunteers as a mediator and restorative justice facilitator with local community mediation programs. In private practice Joanne specializes in workplace, faith group, non-profit and separation and divorce mediation. Joanne has extensive experience in organizational/workplace assessment and mediation, and a rich background in facilitating meetings, public involvement processes (for government) and helping organizations restore their workplaces. She was a member of the ADR Institute of Alberta’s Board of Directors for several years.
On numerous occasions Joanne was a coach and guest lecturer in the School of Business SMO 411 course.
Prior to entering the fascinating world of peace making, Joanne was a journalist with the Edmonton Journal, reporting in a variety of areas and then working as a columnist and editorial writer.
Mark Donovan, C. Med., has been in the ADR field for about 12 years. He holds a BA and MA in Religious Studies from the University of Calgary where his field of study was Buddhism. After staying at home to raise his four children he trained and certified in Mediation and Negotiation at Mount Royal University. Mark serves on several mediation rosters including the Calgary and Fort McMurray Civil rosters and conducts mediations, facilitations and conflict coaching sessions for private clients. He also mentors and coaches people new to the field. Mark is a part-time instructor for ADRIA and for Mount Royal University.
International Ombudsman Association
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Dispute Resolution Network Programs
Agriculture Operations Practice Act Nuisance Complaints
The Practice Review Committee may use mediation to achieve resolution for nuisance complaints directed to the Minister under the Nuisance of the Agricultural Operations Practices Act if both parties are agreeable 310-FARM (3276).
Alberta Energy Regulator (AER)
The ADR program was developed in response to the desire of AER stakeholders (the public, companies, government agencies, First Nations, Métis, and special interest groups) to be more directly involved and have more control in resolving energy-related disputes. Most typically, ADR is used to resolve public-to-company and company-to-company disputes; it is a company’s responsibility to inform potentially impacted stakeholders of the nature of proposed energy developments as well as any significant changes to existing operations.
Alberta Environmental Appeals Board
An independent Board that gives Albertans on opportunity to appeal certain decisions made by Alberta Environment and Parks under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, the Water Act and the Climate Change and Emissions Management Act.
The Board places a high value on its mediation program and encourages participants to use mediation as the primary way to resolve matters that come before the Board.
For more information, contact us at 780-427-6207.
Mediation Video: "More Ice Time"
The Board and Alberta Municipal Affairs and Housing collaborated to create this short video to provide an introduction to mediation. The video uses a fictional hockey/figure skating dispute as an example of how the mediation process would work in developing a resolution. Although every mediation is different, this video provides a basic understanding about the process and goals of mediation.
More Ice Time - Part 1
Dispute Resolution Process for Recreational Access to Agricultural Lease Land
Alberta Environment and Parks
Recreational users and leaseholders can contact their local rangeland agrologist to raise disputes over recreational access on agriculture dispositions. To contact a local Agrologist in the relevant region, visit the Land Area Management contacts list.
For more information on recreation on agricultural public land visit the Recreation on Agricultural Public Land website.
Farmers’ Advocate
Assists farmers and ranchers in negotiating and mediating disputes related to such things as seismic activity, surface rights, mineral leasing, trespassing, farm machinery, confined feeding operations and nuisance complaints 310-FARM (3276).
Labour Tribunals
Employment and Immigration
Unions and employers negotiate collective agreements which set out the terms and conditions of employment. Sometimes, the parties cannot reach an agreement.
Assists labour and management to resolve disputes in collective bargaining negotiations 780-427-8301.
Municipal Dispute Resolution Initiative
Municipal Affairs
Offers a range of programs and services assisting municipalities in dealing with conflicts effectively through conflict assessments, assisted facilitation, mediation, training and dispute resolution system design to enhance relationships with their municipal neighbours and stakeholders 780-427-2225.
Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service
Service Alberta
Designed so that landlords and tenants can resolve disputes more quickly, with less formality and at a lower cost 780-644-3000.
Resolution and Court Administration Services
Justice and Solicitor General
Brief Conflict Intervention
Meet with a Brief Conflict Intervention specialist to better understand your child's needs during a separation or divorce and resolve parenting disputes.
Children's Services Mediation Program
Meet with a mediator to resolve family disputes involving a child or youth.
Civil Claims Mediation
Let mediators help you and the other party negotiate a resolution to your dispute instead of going to trial.
Family Mediation Program
Meet with a mediator to resolve family-related issues, reach an agreement that focuses on your child and avoid going to court.
Resolving child support disputes
Meet with a Child Support Resolution or Dispute Resolution Officer to reach a child support agreement for the welfare of your child.
Requires the involvement of the victim, the offender and community in a voluntary process that involves dialogue and reconciliation 780-427-3457.
Surface Rights and Land Compensation Board
Pre-Hearing Dispute Resolution Conference.
Mediation Program.
To be connected toll-free in Alberta to any Alberta government office, dial 310-0000 followed by the area code and phone number of the office you wish to reach.
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February 20, 2012 No comments Views: 0
MetLife Releases 4Q and FY 2011 Earnings
Proquest LLC
MetLife has reported fourth quarter 2011 net income of $1.1 billion, or $1.06 per share, and operating earnings of $1.4 billion, or $1.31 per share.
MetLife also reported full year 2011 net income of $6.7 billion, or $6.29 per share, and operating earnings of $5.4 billion, or $5.02 per share.
"MetLife had a solid year and a strong fourth quarter, even in the face of some significant market pressures," said Steven Kandarian, chairman, president and chief executive officer of MetLife. "We delivered higher earnings per share over 2010. Our capital position is strong and getting stronger. And our ability to grow operating earnings in the face of low interest rates remains intact. In short, we think we're the best-positioned company in the life insurance sector to deliver shareholder value."
In a release on February 14, the Company noted:
Full Year 2011 Summary
-Operating earnings of $5.4 billion, or $5.02 per share, up 40 percent over 2010
-Premiums, fees and other revenues of $45.7 billion, up 32 percent over 2010
-Total assets of nearly $800 billion, up 9 percent from year-end 2010
Fourth Quarter 2011 Summary
-Operating earnings of $1.4 billion, or $1.31 per share, up 17 percent over the fourth quarter of 2010
–Total International sales up 12 percent compared with combined MetLife and Alico fourth quarter 2010 results
-Premiums, fees and other revenues of $11.5 billion, up 23 percent over the fourth quarter of 2010, largely due to the acquisition of Alico as well as growth in the U.S.
-Book value per share of $54.59, up 24 percent from year-end 2010
Business Discussions
On Nov. 21, 2011, MetLife announced it was reorganizing into three broad geographic regions – The Americas, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and Asia – to better reflect the company's global reach. MetLife expects to report financial results under this new structure beginning with the first quarter of 2012.
During the fourth quarter of 2011, MetLife began reporting certain operations of MetLife Bank and insurance operations in the Caribbean Region, Panama and Costa Rica as divested businesses. These operations are excluded from operating earnings as well as investment portfolio and derivative gains and losses. Prior periods have been reclassified to conform with the current period segment presentation.
U.S. Business
-U.S. Business operating earnings of $932 million, up 4 percent; the annual review of deferred policy acquisition costs assumptions and other adjustments resulted in a net $27 million, or $0.03 per share, after tax, increase in U.S. Business operating earnings
-Favorable underwriting results in group life and continued improvement in non-medical health underwriting, particularly in the dental business
-Variable annuity sales of $7.2 billion
-Premiums, fees and other revenues of $7.6 billion, up 7 percent primarily due to growth in Retirement Products and Corporate Benefit Funding
Operating earnings for Insurance Products – which includes group life, individual life and non-medical health insurance – were $411 million, up 33 percent largely due to the positive impact of DAC and other adjustments in individual life as well as favorable underwriting results in group life and non-medical health. Premiums, fees and other revenues for Insurance Products were $5.1 billion, relatively unchanged.
Operating earnings for Retirement Products – which includes the company's U.S. annuity products – were $216 million, down 5 percent due to the negative impact of DAC and other adjustments as well as lower variable investment income, offset by growth from strong positive net flows and higher core spreads. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2010 and the third quarter of 2011, total annuity sales increased 41 percent and declined 15 percent, respectively, primarily due to a change in the level of variable annuity sales. Premiums, fees and other revenues for Retirement Products were $1.0 billion, up 35 percent due to increased sales of immediate annuities and higher fee income.
Corporate Benefit Funding
Operating earnings for Corporate Benefit Funding – which includes the U.S. and U.K. pension closeout businesses, structured settlements and other benefit funding products – were $224 million, down 21 percent primarily due to lower variable investment income. Premiums, fees and other revenues for Corporate Benefit Funding were $739 million, up 44 percent largely due to higher pension closeout sales (which often fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter).
Auto and Home
Operating earnings for Auto and Home were $81 million, up 9 percent due mainly to lower catastrophes. In addition, favorable non- catastrophe claim development related to prior accident years was $14 million, or $0.01 per share, after tax, compared with $16 million, after tax, in the fourth quarter of 2010. Excluding catastrophes, Auto and Home's combined ratio remained strong at 90.2 percent, compared with 90.0 percent. Net written premiums were $740 million, up 2 percent.
-International operating earnings of $570 million, up 89 percent largely due to the acquisition of Alico
-Premiums, fees and other revenues of $3.8 billion, reflecting growth in Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East as well as the negative impact of foreign currency exchange rates
Operating earnings in Japan were $326 million, up 3 percent over the third quarter of 2011 largely due to higher net investment income and both solid underwriting results and improved persistency in accident and health insurance. Compared with combined MetLife and Alico results in the fourth quarter of 2010, sales grew 16 percent. Premiums, fees and other revenues in Japan were $1.8 billion, higher than in the fourth quarter of 2010 (which reflected only one month of Alico results) and relatively unchanged from the third quarter of 2011.
Other International Regions
Operating earnings in the Other International Regions were $244 million, up 17 percent, while premiums, fees and other revenues grew to $2.0 billion. The increases, which were largely due to the Alico acquisition, were partially offset by the negative impact of foreign currency exchange rates. In addition, in Latin America, premiums, fees and other revenues grew due to premium increases in Mexico, Chile and Argentina. Premiums, fees and other revenues also benefited from strong performance in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
2MetLife acquired Alico on Nov. 1, 2010. Accordingly, Alico's financial results prior to that date are not reflected in MetLife's historical financial statements.
Corporate and Other
Corporate and Other had an operating loss of $104 million, compared with an operating loss of $2 million. Results in the fourth quarter of 2010 benefited from several one-time items, while the fourth quarter of 2011 was impacted by higher expenses.
Net investment income was $4.9 billion, up 11 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010 and down slightly from the third quarter of 2011. During the fourth quarter of 2011, variable investment income was within the plan range at $247 million ($162 million, after tax and the impact of DAC). In the fourth quarter of 2010, variable investment income was $423 million ($268 million, after tax and the impact of DAC).
For the fourth quarter of 2011, MetLife reported a $213 million, after tax, investment portfolio net loss compared with an investment portfolio net gain of $6 million, after tax.
Separately, MetLife reported derivative net gains of $351 million, after tax, which were largely due to declines in interest rates and gains in the company's variable annuity hedging program. In the fourth quarter of 2010, MetLife reported $1.1 billion, after tax, in derivative net losses. MetLife uses derivatives in connection with its broader portfolio management strategy to hedge a number of risks, including changes in interest rates and fluctuations in foreign currencies. Movement in interest rates, foreign currencies and MetLife's credit spreads – which impact the valuation of certain insurance liabilities – can generate derivative gains or losses. Derivative gains or losses related to MetLife's credit spreads do not have an economic impact on the company.
MetLife is a provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs.
((Comments on this story may be sent to health@closeupmedia.com))
Copyright: (c) 2012 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.
Wordcount: 1327
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Hope Reborn of War: The Story of a World War II Military Hospital, A World Famous Rehabilitation Center, and a Unique Educational Community in Fishersville, Virginia by Nancy T. Sorrells
New - Sold Out
Construction began in 1942 of a comprehensive Army hospital near Staunton, Virginia, on 650 acres of land, 394 of which were purchased from unwilling sellers through eminent domain proceedings. 135 brick buildings were erected including dorms, a brig, a theater, a chapel, a morgue and other facilities. Officially it was named for the U. S. President from Staunton, the Woodrow Wilson General Hospital. Local people called it “The Post.” It has evolved over the years in many ways, while retaining the Woodrow Wilson name, perhaps most importantly, with the inclusion of a high school and vocational school, but it still exists today as a civilian rehabilitation center. There is no longer a brig, but a bowling alley. Classrooms have replaced Officer’s Clubs. But it remains a place where a dedicated staff helps challenged individuals do the hard work of learning self-sufficiency. The author, Nancy Sorrells, edits not only the Augusta County Historical Society Journal but also the Virginia Native Plant Society Newsletter. She has been a research historian for three museums. Connie Doebele is the producer of American Forum on PBS and has worked for C-SPAN.
Staunton, Virginia: Augusta County Historical Society, 2016. 334 pages with a documentary DVD by Connie J. Doebele, and Index, Endnotes, and lots of photos. Oversized trade paperback
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Siddhesh Home
Siddhesh Joshi (Editor)
I enjoy creating and spreading knowledgeable content for everyone around the world and try my best not to leave even the smallest of mistakes go unnoticed.
Updated on Aug 27, 2018
Position Point guard
Listed weight 220 lb (100 kg)
Salary 3.431 million USD (2015)
Listed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Role Basketball player
League NBA
Name Marcus Smart
Born March 6, 1994 (age 21) Flower Mound, Texas (1994-03-06)
High school Marcus (Flower Mound, Texas)
Current team Boston Celtics (#36 / Point guard)
School Oklahoma State University–Stillwater
Siblings Michael Smart, Todd Westbrook, Jeff Westbrook
Similar People Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, James Young, Kelly Olynyk, Isiah Thomas
Marcus smart born to do mix hd
Marcus Osmond Smart (born March 6, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Oklahoma State University before being drafted with the sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft.
Marcus smart oklahoma state guard pushes shoves a tech fan must see
Smart is the son of Camellia Smart and Billy Frank Smart. He has three older brothers: Todd Westbrook (deceased), Jeff Westbrook, and Michael Smart. He attended Edward S. Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas, along with one of his former Oklahoma State teammates, Phillip Forte. During his senior year, Smart averaged 15.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5 assists. In his high school career, he achieved a record of 115–6 through three seasons and was a two-time 5A state champion. He was also named a McDonald's All-American and was an ESPNHS first team All-American. Smart played competitive football until the sixth grade and enjoys playing tennis in his spare time.
Considered a five-star recruit by ESPN.com, Smart was listed as the No. 1 shooting guard and the No. 10 player in the nation in 2012.
During his freshman year at Oklahoma State, Smart led the Cowboys to a 24–8 record and finished third place in the Big 12 behind Kansas and Kansas State. Smart averaged 15.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game and led the Big 12 in steals, where he recorded 99 and averaged 3.0 per game. Smart and the Cowboys earned a trip to the NCAA bracket that year, clinching a #5 seed in the Midwest Region. During the first round of the tournament though, the Cowboys were eliminated by the #12 seed Oregon. On April 17, 2013, Smart held a press conference in the student union at OSU and announced that he would not declare for the NBA draft and instead, return to OSU for his sophomore season.
On November 19, 2013, Smart tied an OSU single game scoring record with 39 points leading his #7 Oklahoma State Cowboys past #11 Memphis. On February 8, 2014, during a game at Texas Tech, Smart shoved a fan in the stands after a verbal altercation in the closing minutes of the game, and received a technical foul. Reports after the game stated that Smart claimed the fan yelled a racial slur at him. At a press conference the following afternoon, Smart would not comment on that element of the altercation, and coach Travis Ford chose not to address it. It was soon discovered that the fan had not used a racial slur, but even though Smart was deceptive in his original comments, the fan did admit to having spoken inappropriately to Smart by calling him "a piece of crap". Smart was subsequently suspended for three games and the fan agreed not to attend any further Texas Tech games during the 2013–14 season. Five days later, Smart was named one of the 30 finalists for the Naismith College Player of the Year. In the first game of the 2014 NCAA tournament, the Cowboys lost to Gonzaga. He finished with 23 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 6 steals, becoming the first player in tournament history to record 20 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals.
On April 7, 2014, Smart declared for the NBA draft, forgoing his final two years of college eligibility.
On June 26, 2014, Smart was selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. He joined the Celtics for the 2014 NBA Summer League, and signed with the team on July 10. In just his fifth NBA game, Smart sprained his left ankle in the Celtics' 101–98 win over the Indiana Pacers on November 7. He underwent an MRI following the game and was ruled out for two to three weeks. After missing ten games with the injury, Smart returned to action on December 3 against the Detroit Pistons. On December 4, he was assigned to the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League. He was recalled the next day after playing in Maine's win over the Erie BayHawks. On March 18, 2015, he scored a season-high 25 points in a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. On March 21, he was suspended for one game without pay for hitting San Antonio Spurs forward Matt Bonner in the groin the previous night. On May 18, Smart was named to the NBA's All-Rookie Second Team, garnering 142 points in the voting process.
On July 16, 2015, while playing for the Celtics at the 2015 Las Vegas Summer League, Smart dislocated two fingers on his right hand. On November 15, 2015, he scored a career-high 26 points in a 100–85 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Between November 22 and December 26, Smart missed 18 games with a lower left leg injury. He returned to action on December 27 against the New York Knicks, scoring six points in 13 minutes off the bench. On January 15, 2016, in a win over the Phoenix Suns, Smart recorded his first career triple-double with 10 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds, becoming the first Celtics player to record a triple-double off the bench since Art Williams did so in 1971. On January 31, he tied his career high of 26 points in a loss to the Orlando Magic.
On November 9, 2016, Smart scored a then season-high 20 points in a 118–93 loss to the Washington Wizards. On December 25, he scored 15 points and made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 47 seconds left to help the Celtics claim a 119–114 win over the New York Knicks. On January 7, 2017, he scored a season-high 22 points in a 117–108 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on May 21, Smart, who started in place of the injured Isaiah Thomas, made seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points to help the Celtics defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 111–108. Boston were blown out in the first two games of the series and came back from a 21-point deficit in the third quarter of Game 3. They went on to lose the series in five games.
Marcus Smart Wikipedia
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Sneha Home
Sneha Girap (Editor)
I Love to read n write about Things that I find Interesting
Rick Barrio Dill
Birth name Richard Andrew Dill
Name Rick Dill
Labels Independent
Years active 1989–present
Origin Tampa, Florida, US
Role Musician
Genres Soul, Rock, Funk, R&B, Pop
Occupation(s) musician, bass guitarist, producer, recording engineer, multi-instrumentalist, writer
Education University of South Florida
Music group Vintage Trouble (Since 2010)
Similar People Richard Danielson, Nalle Colt, Ty Taylor
Rick barrio dill vintage trouble modern soul
Rick Barrio Dill is an American musician. He has performed, engineered and produced under the names Rick Dill, Keylow D, RBD and Rick Barrio Dill. Currently, he is an active member of the band Vintage Trouble. He has also been a member of 2nd Day Crush and The Ty Taylor Review. Barrio Dill is also a frequent freelance contributing writer for Recording Magazine. He lives in Los Angeles.
Vintage trouble s rick barrio dill and his tb 4p bass by traveler guitar
Musical interests
Tampa to Los Angeles
Current bands
Former bands
Born Richard Andrew Dill in Tampa, Florida, he spent his formative years in the nearby town of Brandon, Florida but also spent a great deal of time in Miami. Dill attended both Bloomingdale Senior High School and Brandon High School, graduating from the latter. He went on to graduate from the University of South Florida, majoring in Business Marketing with an emphasis on Music Theory.
Dill took music as an interest early on in life and Dill's parents recall that he picked up his first guitar when he was 7 and taught himself the chords to The Beatles' "Let It Be". His musical growth was supported by a home filled with the sounds of records, and Dill remembers being influenced by his parents music collection. This collection included early rock such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as well as Tom Jones, the Bee Gees and southern rock from the likes of Bob Seger and Lynyrd Skynyrd. His first musical instrument was a recorder, then a violin, and was soon followed by the electric guitar. He immediately started imitating legends Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai. At age 16, Dill was exposed to Sly & The Family Stone, particularly the heavyweight bass guitar sounds of Larry Graham and shortly after, he became a bass player. At age 17, he discovered Prince, Motown Records and vintage soul. It was this early rhythm and blues and 70's funk music that served as the catalyst for his growth as a bass guitarist. This is best reflected by his current musical project Vintage Trouble. He is the adopted godson of Jerry Martini, the founding member and tenor saxophone player of Sly & The Family Stone, who nicknamed him "Barely White" in reference to his deep soulful voice much akin to Barry White. Martini made live cameo appearances in early incarnations of Barrio Dill's rock/funk band Starbaby, as well as contributed tenor sax to the song "Lines Out" from an early Starbaby EP "Star Candy". Dill cites a myriad of influences on his musical style stating, "Prince, Bob Marley, and Motown created the air I breathe, the rest is just by-products" . He primarily plays the bass guitar, but is a skilled producer, composer, arranger, and recording engineer and is proficient on guitar and piano.
Dill played in the local Tampa bands, Line-9 and Ramona Ramonster. After deciding to form his own band, he recruited Ramona Ramonster drummer Hugh Joe Murphy and Line-9 singer Mike Dornberger, and guitarist Kris Hawkins to form the rock/funk band Starbaby. With the band ready, Dill moved his recording studio to the unused side of Audio Lab Studios in Tampa. Here, he was reunited with whom he claims is his biggest studio and music mentor, Greg Marchak (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Savatage). Marchak, an engineering and producing local, had actually recorded Dill's first ever demo many years before. The two then began working together in different capacities on a variety of local death metal, punk, hip-hop, rock and gospel projects. Dill also assisted Greg in the editing and engineering on many of the early writing sessions for Trans-Siberian Orchestra recordings and the Jon Oliva (Savatage, Jon Oliva's Pain) solo records. This union led to Marchak helping Barrio Dill co-produce and mix the Starbaby LP "Welcome to the Planet".
Upon the release of the LP, Barrio Dill, Dornberger, and Hawkins relocated to Los Angeles in 2003. Shortly thereafter, Dill met Christopher Drizen and the two formed the pop/rock band 2nd Day Crush. This band resulted in higher profile work with Jim Wirt (Incubus, Hoobastank, Nelly Furtado), as well as Michael Urbano (Smash Mouth), Jeff Saltzman (The Killers, Green Day, Nirvana) and Jason Carmer (The Donnas, Third Eye Blind). In the end, Dill decided to record and produce the 2nd Day Crush full-length record "From the Nights You Lost Your Voice" on his own. On September 6, 2007, while finishing the album, Barrio Dill learned his friend and mentor, Greg Marchak, had died suddenly of a brain aneurism. The album was dedicated to the memory of Marchak. A portion of each album sale goes to the Conservation International and Invisible Children charities.
Barrio Dill has remained active in the music community and has been involved in The Existents, an experimental musical theatre work-in-progress where he worked with Ty Taylor (Rock Star: INXS, Dakota Moon) and Broadway vocalist Eden Espinosa. Subsequently, he joined The Ty Taylor Revue before the project was put on hold while Ty joined The Ghosthounds (recorded with Nile Rodgers and Bob Clearmountain). In the meantime, Dill joined Interscope Records developmental band The Zodiac Show, where he played with Ty Taylor again, as well as, Adam Lambert (American Idol) and Carmit Bachar (Pussycat Dolls).
In the spring of 2010, Barrio Dill, Ty Taylor, Nalle Colt, and Richard Danielson joined forces to create the synergistic soul-rock anomaly known as Vintage Trouble. VT has since recorded 2 albums and recently signed with Doc McGhee (Mötley Crüe, KISS, Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses) Management. Additionally, their music was featured in a Honda commercial.
Vintage Trouble (2010–present)
Ty Taylor (vocals)
Nalle Colt (guitar)
Richard Danielson (drums)
2nd Day Crush (2004–2010)
Chris Drizen (vocals, guitars)
Rami Jrade (guitars)
George Lind (drums)
Jeremy Aric (guitars, vocals)
The Ty Taylor Review (2008–2010)
Nalle Colt (guitars)
Nick Hughes (drums)
The Zodiac Show/Band (Interscope) (2008–2010)
Adam Lambert (American Idol)
Ty Taylor (Rock Star: INXS, Dakota Moon)
Carmit Bachar (The Pussycat Dolls)
Brian Friedman (choreographer for Britney Spears, Prince)
Alisan Porter
Rebel (rapper)
Ameenah Kaplan (drums)
Brian "London" Wiggins (keys)
Adam Rapa (trumpet)
Billy Jayne (lead guitar)
Zandro Lotterte (Trumpet Player of the Banda Dose, Singalong, Salbag butu)
Ramona Hates Pink (1999–2001)
Wes Styles (keyboard player for Coheed & Cambria)
Hugh Joe Murphy (drums)
Starbaby (2001–2004)
Mike Dornberger (vocals)
Kris Hawkins (guitars)
RBD contributed significantly to Duff Ferguson's 2005 debut release "400 Miles" as an engineer, bass guitar player, and also sang harmony vocals. On Ferguson's 2007 album “Good Things” he is a credited bass guitarist as well on 3 songs.
RBD appeared on Boston LegalSeason 2 Episode 16 "Live Big" as a sideline musician/band leader on guitar. Original air date February 21, 2006.
Co-produced and engineered Tampa hip-hop group The Villanz with The Great LP, Episode One and Neighborhood Heroes (in development as of May 2009).
RBD has played bass in numerous shows with the Los Angeles based Troubador Theatre Orchestra directed by Matt Walker. These shows have included, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Hamlet of Denmark, Little Drummer Bowie, Its A Charlie James Brown Christmas, Much A Doobie Brothers About Nothing, Alice in One-Hit Wonderland, and OthE.L.O.
Producer, mixer and co-writer of electronic hip-hop project The Hi-Fidelity with Bradley Keys.
Dill is endorsed by Aguilar Amplification and Black Diamond Strings . He plays Sadowsky and Fender bass guitars.
Rick Barrio Dill Wikipedia
Nalle Colt
Unfriended
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Prepping for 2016, Jindal Leads GOP Pack to Flay Common Core
Mark Stricherz - published on 02/10/15
Louisiana governor contrasts education policies to those of Jeb Bush, another likely presidential candidate.
WASHINGTON — Governor Bobby Jindal sought to raise his political profile as a leader of decentralized school reform Monday. Hopscotching around the nation’s capital, the Louisiana Republican drew an implicit contrast with his education policies to those of Jeb Bush, another likely GOP presidential candidate.
"It boils down to this question: Do you want moms—and essentially it’s moms who make this decision—to make these decisions? Or do you think bureaucrats in D.C. or Baton Rouge know best?" Jindal said at a daylong forum that Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina hosted at the Hart Senate Office Building.
Earlier in the day, Jindal attacked the education standards movement known as Common Core. "If I were to run, it would be not only on this issue, and I’m all for getting rid of Common Core, but for block grants to the states and tying funding to students," Jindal said at a breakfast briefing The Christian Science Monitor hosted Monday morning.
In the afternoon, at a lunch briefing, the conservative think the Heritage Foundation hosted Jindal called for a "bottom-up approach that trusts parents." Also, he released details of his education proposals in a 42-page white paper, "K-12 Education Reform: A Roadmap." The blueprint called for eliminating teacher tenure, withdrawal from Common Core, and greater school choice.
Reporters asked Jindal if he would run for president in 2016. At both the Christian Science Monitor and Senate events, Jindal did not deny interest and repeated that he thinks it is more important “what a president does in office” than who is in office.
Jindal was elected to the first of two four-year terms as governor in 2008. After Obama won his first term in office, Jindal was seen by party leaders as a politician who could give the Republican Party a fresh image. A first-generation Indian American, the 43-year-old Jindal was a young, non-white face in a party identified with older whites. He delivered the Republican Party’s rebuttal to the State of the Union in 2009. Although pundits criticized his performance as inartful, Jindal has recaptured interest from close political observers by talking about a White House bid.
Jindal’s opposition to Common Core contrasts with Jeb Bush’s support for the state-by-state standards. Although Bush did not carry out the K-12 guidelines as governor of Florida from 2003 to 2011, he promoted them through a non-profit, Foundation for Excellence in Education. “The net result after 10 years of struggle, and believe me, the tire marks are on my forehead for this reason, is that we moved the needle in student learning,” Bush said at the Detroit Economic Club on Feb. 4.
As both governor of Texas and president, George W. Bush, Jeb’s older brother, helped lead the drive for national standards for elementary and secondary education. Congress approved the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. States were given federal funding in exchange for raising student test scores.
The law was designed to help poor states such as Louisiana. And Jindal, too, supported Common Core. But last June, he signed an executive order to withdraw Louisiana from the standards. Jindal’s about-face attracted media attention. Yet Louisiana has ranked at the bottom on student achievement with and without the standards. More than two-thirds of the state’s 4th and 8th graders failed to reach proficiency in 2013, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
A handful of other states have withdrawn from the standards too. But Jindal is the first likely Republican presidential candidate to make opposition to the two-decade old accountability program a centerpiece of his bid for the White House. His stand runs the risk of alienating general election voters. As recently as 1996,
EducationPolitics
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Taking time to discover time ... and the eternal
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston | CC BY ND 2.0
Peach Smith - published on 01/14/18
There are moments, especially in the life of the spirit and the liturgy, where time has stopped; there is no time.
“What is time?” That was the wrong question for a 3-year-old to ask a father who had worked for NASA and who hung a gigantic periodic table over his children’s bunk bed. A measured, careful explanation followed of time being a thing that moved forward but that could still change in space and movement. Puzzled, the terms were tucked away for future exploration.
Some years later, we began attending a church built around 1100. The most fascinating aspect was the baptismal font which had not been spared the ravages of Cromwell’s men. The stone apostles still stood at the base, but their heads had been chiseled off. It fascinated me. Running my fingers over those gnarled marks I marveled at being able to touch time – touch something that had been made so many hundreds of years earlier. The smooth folds of the cloaks vs the jagged edges of the severed tops – it provided a physical connection to those eras. I still wondered – “Just what exactly is time?”
In college, the answers of the Physics professor on time were simple, and yet completely unsatisfying. In the Theology department we discussed Kant, Descartes and Leibnitz — the debate descending into whether we even existed, never mind understanding Time. But one day, in passing a rehearsal, the words of the conductor drifted out. “Breathe! You must suspend time!” I slipped inside to listen, and time truly stood still as the choir filled the high, echoing halls of the ancient university.
At the synagogue, searching for Truth, the deep, sonorous chant of the men opened an entirely new dimension of space. “Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu …” As I probed the faithful, eager to understand this ancient faith, one young man explained that time was simply a mechanism for us to understand where we are in space. That said, however, the Shabbat is a day of complete rest, and time stands still on the sabbath. God rests, and so does time. “This is why,” continued the young man, “one can forget time in the synagogue, one can just be here and forget that there is time. There is no time when one is with God.”
There is no time when one is with God.
A year later, on a bitterly cold Christmas in the north of England, at a Benedictine Cistercian convent, the Father who had come to say Mass spoke about these still, cold convent walls as a place of refuge. A place where there was no rushing around, where one could leave the world for a while and get lost in the True Presence. “Time ceases, and all that matters is that you are in His presence.” He pointed out how, at Mass, the only thing that matters is remembering that Christ is with us, fully present in the Eucharist. We genuflect deeply. We never rush the words. The priest pauses at the Elevation. We all pause. There is no time. The organ would not play as it was so cold, so a sister played the hymns on a violin. When the sweet notes ended, the priest just stood at the altar for a moment, and once again, asked us all to lose ourselves in Christ.
In the United States, for many years, we attended Anglican services. They were said with the greatest reverence. The music was glorious and took you out of this world to a dimension almost hard to describe. But there was Something missing. An old priest gently helped me understand the emptiness and we came into the Church. But at the very first Mass, I wept bitterly. Between the irreverence at the altar, the chatting, the appalling music, what disturbed the most was the rush. Quickly, quickly, let’s get this over with! The hymns ended abruptly, the psalm shortened, the moment the music ended the priest jumped in without even a second delay. Here, Time was more important than God. I just wept.
Eventually, we came to a beautiful church where love for the Mass prevails, where one can get lost in the Adoration Chapel, and where the music reminds you how close the heavenly spheres are. Last Sunday, I had to attend a local Mass that my children have nicknamed the Fast-Food Mass. The music is played at top speeds, the homilies are very short. On that day, the priest took just one minute longer than usual to convey his message. But the moment he ended, the lady in front of me leaned forward and complained, “He always takes too long!” She flew out of the pew before the final hymn had even commenced.
St. Therese of Lisieux wrote, “Jesus, because He is Eternal, regards not the time but only the love.”
Time remains a mystery to me. But one thing has become clear – the absence of time is when in the presence of God, at a Mass said with reverence, when those notes of the Ave Maria wash down over the congregation. Then, there is no time at all. Perhaps that 3-year-old, when asking what Time was, just really wanted to know what timeless Love was.
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This Christmas, ACN donors bring smiles to 19,000 children in Syria
Aid to the Church in Need - published on 12/27/19
For the eighth year running, ACN is providing Christmas packages for displaced children, including warm clothes, shoes, toys, devotional items and other essentials.
Thousands of Syrian Children were smiling this Christmas, thanks to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
In a recorded message to ACN, the organization’s project partner Sister Annie Demerjian thanked the charity’s donors for supporting children suffering in the ongoing Syrian crisis.
She said: “[ACN] brings smiles to more than 19,000 children all over Syria because of your Christmas gifts.”
Sister Annie also praised ACN’s work with the elderly and disabled Christians in Aleppo, providing food, soap and other washing items, medicine, clothes and shoes.
She said: “You can’t imagine, when the old receive the aid, how they cry. They open their hands and they thank you and they told us that they pray for you. Really you are in their prayers daily. They are grateful for all that you are offering us.”
ACN supported a project in Aleppo, at the request of the city’s Latin-rite Bishop George Abou Khazen, to provide food packages for the poorest Christian families, which also includes financial aid for fuel and heating oil.
Sister Annie said: “I can’t express my feeling for how you will help to warm so many houses because of the fuel you are providing.”
During the civil war, more than 1,700 Christians were killed and more than 600 were abducted. The Christian population of Syria has declined by up to two-thirds within the last decade. In Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city, the Christian population has declined by more than 80 percent since 2010, falling from 180,000 to 29,000.
Throughout Syria, ACN has provided educational scholarships, medicine, rent subsidies, repairs to homes and churches, and support for women religious and priests. Last year, the charity supported 185 projects humanitarian and pastoral projects in Syria.
Sister Annie said: “I am very happy to have this opportunity to send you a message to thank you for all that you are doing for our people and our families, especially those who are suffering from the consequences of the war.”
This article was published by Aid to the Church in Need and is republished here with kind permission. To learn more or to help, visit www.churchinneed.org
Christians in the Middle East
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This patroness of married couples found happiness in accepting God's will over her own
Billion Photos | Shutterstock
Larry Peterson - published on 01/14/21
As a girl Blessed Helena wanted to be a nun, but she saw her parents' wishes as God's choice for her.
Helena Duglioli was born in Bologna, Italy, in 1472. Her parents, Silverio Duglioli and Pentisilea Boccaferri, were part of the aristocracy, but that did not tarnish Helena’s natural humility. From an early age, she expressed her desire to enter the religious life. She wanted to join the Poor Clares at their nearby convent.
Her parents, however, would have none of that. Helena was introduced to a man named Benedict Duglioli and, when she turned 17, they were married. Helena accepted this as God’s will, desiring to please her parents. Her husband, who was much older than Helena, worked as a notary and assisted the priests at the nearby monastery.
Benedict and Helena were devout and lived the faith to the best of their ability. Benedict loved his wife very much and Helena came to love him too. She spent her married years very happy with the man she did not want to marry in the first place.
They had been married 30 years when Benedict passed away. They never had any children and once widowed, Helena began to devote all of her energies toward helping the needy.
The known facts about Helena’s life are few. She died on September 23, 1520, and a popular devotion to her quickly developed. History has recorded how Helena was instrumental in having a chapel built in honor of St. Cecilia, whom Helena greatly admired. The image of St. Cecilia was painted in the chapel by none other than the Renaissance painter, Raphael.
The people of her day, especially those who knew her, already regarded Helena as a saint. Her model Christian life, the example she set for everyone, and her social teachings inspired many. Devotion spontaneously expanded after her death.
Is your marriage in trouble? Turn to St. Joseph!
A close friend of Helena’s was a man by the name of Antonio Pucci. He was the nephew of Cardinal Lorenzo Pucci in Bologna. Antonio kept telling his uncle about the marvelous works and words that came from this woman. Cardinal Pucci informed Pope Julius II and his successor, Pope Leo X, about Helena. She became known throughout the Church.
The people of Bologna had proclaimed her as a saint. During the reign of Pope Benedict XIV, 1740-1758, she was recognized. Approximately 70 years later, Pope Leo XII approved the devotion, giving the official confirmation for Helena’s beatification. She was beatified on March 26, 1828. Since then she has been known as Blessed Helena of Bologna.
Her example of how to live happily within the Sacrament of Matrimony saw her become a Patroness of Married Couples.
Blessed Helena of Bologna, pray for us.
12 Saints who were married
MarriageSaints
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Home News National & World
Smoke from the US West Coast wildfires has reached Europe
9:51 PM EDT, Thu September 17, 2020
CNN — Thick smoke from the fires that have been devastating California and other parts of the western United States have reached Northern Europe, scientists said Wednesday.
The fires, which began in mid-August in California and Colorado, are are “significantly more intense than the 2003-2019 average for the whole country and the affected states,” according to data from Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).
Oregon and Washington have also seen serious wildfires break out since the beginning of September, after a spell of hot, dry and windy conditions.
While the heaviest smoke remained off the West Coast over the Pacific Ocean for several days, according to CAMS data and satellite images, it began to blow back across the United States and Canada in recent days.
Smoke traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to Northern Europe at the end of last week, and is forecast to do so again in the coming days, CAMS said.
Parts of the West Coast now have the worst air quality in the world, according to the air quality monitoring group IQAir.
At least 25 people have died in the California wildfires since August. Ten people were dead and 22 missing in Oregon as of Tuesday.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2020 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
Cape Coral drivers who block roads during school pick-up could face fines
Big Ten reverses decision, will play fall football
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We need to notice who immigrates and why — they’re people we need (books that matter to me)
Ann H. Logan Uncategorized August 23, 2018 March 29, 2020 3 Minutes
I’ll be posting occasionally about books that have made an impact on me, usually by presenting new ideas, but other times by their luscious writing. Here’s one:
Arrival City: How the Largest Migration in History Is Reshaping Our World Kindle Edition
by Doug Saunders
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004FGMCTM/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title
There are plenty of reviews of the book as a whole. What I want to leave with you is why the book matters to me. The key point that stuck was the description of many of the people who flock to the edges (and sometimes slums) of these megacities and the vitality that they add to the economy, cultural life, and more. Immigrants, by definition, have decided not to settle for what was at home. Rather, they’re willing to undergo the potential dangers of travel and to struggle in a highly competitive environment for their future and for those of their families. Since my government is now doing its best to exile immigrants already in the United States and make it almost impossible for those not born here to come, I think this book is worth a reread for yet one more proof of the value of fresh blood from ambitious and driven individuals. We need these people, even perhaps somewhat desperately.
And, also on this topic, this short, but pithy, article from Axios:
https://www.axios.com/population-of-world-cities-growing-urbanization-14703668-bab5-4b42-b28b-2dd8c5abe3f2.html
Dave Lawler
Aug 16, 2018 A world of boomtowns
As of 2000, the population of Lagos, Nigeria, was roughly 7.2 million, somewhere between those of greater Philadelphia and Chicago. By 2030 it will be 24 million, nearly as large as metropolitan New York and London — combined.
https://graphics.axios.com/2018-08-16-world-cities/index.html?initialWidth=848&childId=av-2018-08-16-world-cities-93XA8&parentTitle=How%20the%20world%27s%20biggest%20cities%20have%20kept%20getting%20bigger%20-%C2%A0Axios&parentUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.axios.com%2Fpopulation-of-world-cities-growing-urbanization-14703668-bab5-4b42-b28b-2dd8c5abe3f2.html
Data: United Nations World Urbanization Prospects; Map: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
Why it matters: We’re in the midst of a global megacity boom, and nowhere are cities growing faster than in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of citydwellers will triple by 2050 to 1.3 billion. Rapid urbanization and everything that comes with it — economic opportunity, social turmoil, environmental upheaval — is reaching nearly every corner of the globe.
In 1950, 750 million people worldwide lived in cities — most of them in Europe or North America. The majority of the global population lived in rural areas until 2008.
Now, 55% of the world’s population (4.3 billion people) lives in urban areas. That will jump to 68% (6.6 billion people) by 2050.
Asia added 1 billion urban residents between 1950 and 2000, and another 900 million since. The continent is home to more than half of the world’s urban population and 17 of the 31 global megacities of 10 million or more people.
Africa’s urbanization boom is just beginning. A decade ago, it had about half as many urban residents as Europe. A decade from now, it will have more. Two decades after that, in 2048, it will have twice as many.
Zoom in: Nigeria’s population is growing, and urbanizing, with staggering speed. It’s set to surpass the U.S. to become the third most populous on earth by 2050.
There are already 8 times more Nigerians living in cities than there were in 1975. All of the country’s five largest cities are expected to roughly match Lagos’ breathtaking growth, meaning they’ll have to accommodate at least 70% more people by 2030.
Zoom out: Urbanization is also yielding cities of unprecedented size.
As of 1975, there were three metro areas with at least 10 million people — Tokyo, New York and Mexico City. A list of the 10 largest cities at that time would have included Paris (now 25th), Moscow (22nd) and Los Angeles (21st).
Now there are 31 such megacities, and the UN projects 10 more will join the list by 2030. All but one (Bogotá) are in Africa or Asia.
We may soon need a new definition of megacity. There will be 14 cities with at least 20 million people — including Lagos and Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — by 2030.
Why it matters: Urbanization can be a massive engine for economic growth — supplying labor, cutting transport costs and encouraging competition and collaboration. It can also put a massive strain on resources like water and housing.
Note: All population estimates and projections via the UN.
Published August 23, 2018 March 29, 2020
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Screenings – Current
BUY DVD/DIGITAL
Joao Texeira de Faria, also known as John of God, is a world famous spiritual healer from Brazil who has been attributed to many miracles that science cannot explain. His work attracts both controversy and acclaim. For the past 30 years, thousands of people from all over the world have been flocking to his remote village in Brazil in search of cures for illnesses Western medicine offers little hope. This compelling documentary follows Lya from Australia with terminal cancer, and Fred from USA with HIV, on a healing odyssey to Brazil. Will they be lucky enough to receive a miracle? This is an intimate human story that explores the healing powers of the heart.
The story of the film by Michelle Mahrer
I have always been interested in the use of energy for healing. When my friend Lya with terminal breast and bone cancer decided to go to see John of God, I asked if I could document her experience. When I told another friend Fred Porter from Los Angeles that I was going to Brazil he decided to come too. He had been living with HIV for many years and wanted to try a different approach than western medicine. This film is the story of their journey.
When you first arrive at the healing centre called the Casa Dom Ignacio in the town of Abadiania, some would say it looks like a cult. Hundreds of people dressed in white are immersed in meditation and prayer where John of God sits and receives people queuing in long lines. John of God is known as a trance medium. He is said to work with spirits who do the healing through him. He always says “I am just a man, it is God who heals”. His work draws as many critics as supporters, and has been studied by many doctors, scientists and experts in paranormal phenomena. Like many spiritual traditions, the belief system here describes our physical existence as temporary, our soul as eternal, and our spiritual evolution as primary.
We follow Lya and Fred through the healing processes at the Casa. Most of the work takes place in the main healing room called the Current Room, where energy is the modality through which the healing occurs, similar to many eastern medical practices popular today such as acupuncture or reiki. The primary treatment is meditation and prayer as well as invisible spiritual surgery which from the outside looks more like a focused meditation. While John of God is known for his bizarre physical spiritual operations that appear to be outside the realms of western medical understanding, they are actually a very small part of the treatment here and are rarely performed. My camera captures some of them when a few brave souls put up their hand and ask for these treatments. He cuts skin and scrapes an eyeball with a kitchen knife, all without anesthetic, with little bleeding or resulting infection. While skeptics dismiss these as magic tricks they are said to be signs of spiritual intervention. Interviews with people having these operations describe intense experiences of increased energy and wellbeing.
While initially many come here with the hope that John of God will cure them, as I gain a deeper understanding of what is really happening here, healing is actually considered a collaborative process. The individual is asked to contribute to their healing through looking within for answers. To open the heart, forgive and have gratitude, common in many spiritual traditions, are seen to be a source of healing, that can also influence healing on a physical level. Many scientific studies now show that how we think and feel affect our physiology.
While Lya and Fred’s journey are central to the film, I meet many others on their healing journey, with a range of experiences and reasons for coming here, not just physical illness. Some have extraordinary stories of physical healing; others have no result at all. Some have no physical improvements but are experiencing transformation on an emotional level. Some come to experience spiritual connection or to assist a loved one preparing for death. Like all spiritual traditions death is considered a doorway into the spirit world, and a natural part of life to be embraced.
A Quest To Heal - Beyond The Physical is a journey of discovery into what it means to heal. It offers audiences new ways of looking at the healing journey beyond the western medical model of curing the physical body. I hope this film will help people on their healing journey offering ways they can help themselves, whether they are suffering from a physical illness, a mental or emotional crises or preparing for death.
A Quest To Heal – Beyond The Physical shows us that healing can be a self-empowering journey that begins from within, encompassing our mind, body and soul. It inspires us to consider a healing of the future that integrates both western medicine and spirituality.
Dr Marc Cohen (Australia)
Prof Marc Cohen is one of Australia’s pioneers of integrative and holistic medicine. He is a registered medical practitioner with degrees in western medicine, physiology and psychological medicine and PhDs in Chinese medicine and biomedical engineering. He is currently President of the Australasian Wellness Association and Professor of Health Sciences at RMIT University where he leads postgraduate Wellness Programs and supervises research into wellness and holistic health including research on yoga, meditation, nutrition, herbal medicine, saunas, hot springs, lifestyle, elite athletic performance and the health impact of pesticides, organic food and detoxification. In addition to major textbooks on herbs and natural supplements, and the global spa industry, Professor Cohen has published more than 90 academic papers and written multiple books, chapters and articles on holistic health. His impact on the field has been recognised by multiple RMIT Media Star Awards as well as the inaugural Award for Leadership and Collaboration from the National Institute of Complementary Medicine.
Dr Craig Hassed (Australia)
Dr. Craig Hassed is a general practitioner and senior lecturer in the Monash University Department of General Practice in Melbourne Australia where he has been teaching at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels since 1989. He has been instrumental in introducing a variety of innovations into medical education and practice with an emphasis on the application of holistic, integrative and mind-body medicine in medical practice, and reconnecting different knowledge systems, in a way which is grounded, balanced, scientifically valid and clinically effective. He is an internationally recognized expert in mindfulness who has published extensively in the areas of mind-body medicine and mindfulness. He is a regular speaker in Australia and internationally on these topics and is regularly invited to contribute to a variety of community and professional groups.
Dr Rick Sheff (USA)
Rick Sheff, MD is a family physician with over thirty years of experience in medicine. Known as a doctor’s doctor, his career has taken him from practicing family medicine to serving as a physician executive, to helping integrate complementary and alternative medicine with conventional medicine. He now chief medical officer of The Greeley Company, a highly respected healthcare solutions company dedicatalso the authroed to helping physicians and hospitals provide outstanding care to the communities they serve. In addition to his lifelong commitment to help heal healthcare, he is dedicated to building the coming new paradigm that integrates science with spirituality. He is the author of several books including Joyfully Shattered A Physicians Awakening at the Crossroads of Science and Spirituality, and Doctor confidential: Secrets Behind the Veil.
Caterina Pellegrino (Australia)
Caterina Pellegrino was born with profound knowledge of energetics and has worked as an intuitive healer, spiritual counselor and color therapist for the last 30 years. She has treated many for their illnesses, and has practiced in clinics in Florence, Italy, Chicago and Sydney, Australia. She was the first westerner to visit John of God 25 years ago, and worked alongside him for many years. She brought his work to the world through publication of the book “The Miracle Man”.
Peter Rule (Australia)
Peter is a Clinical Naturopath, and Natural Therapist of 25 years which crosses science based holistic health with vibrational medicine to achieve optimum outcome. He currently occupies the role of Holistic Health Services Manager at The Golden Door, a leading Health Retreat in Australia of which he introduced and facilitates the Casa crystal light bed, the first of its kind to be utilized as a healing modality in a Health Retreat within Australia.
About the Director - Michelle Mahrer
Michelle Mahrer is an award winning filmmaker with a dance background, who specialises in films about dance and spirituality encompassing documentaries and short films. Her most well known documentaries are DANCES OF ECSTASY, a sensory journey into the world of ecstasy experienced through dance and rhythm, and KURTAL – SNAKE SPIRIT, which follows the journey of Aboriginal elder Spider Snell and his family back to their traditional lands. Other television documentaries include URBAN CLAN a portrait of the Bangarra dance theatre, THE BLACK SWAN a portrait of choreographer Meryl Tankard and THE THREE BALLERINAS a portrait of stars of the Australian ballerinas Lucette Aldous, Marilyn Jones and Marilyn Rowe.
Michelle Mahrer began her career directing award winning music videos in New York where she was based for 8 years and worked with several well known artists such as Jo Cocker, Grace Jones, and Michelle Shocked. Here she met ecstatic dance pioneer Gabrielle Roth who commissioned several teaching videos of her pioneering movement meditation work called 5Rhythms dance.
Her early films explored the genre of Dance Film - short films using dance specifically choreographed for the screen. These featured collaborations with Australian choreographers including DVOID a collaboration with Gravity Feed performance group, XIDU a dance film about rhythm, HORIZON featuring the work of choreographer Eva Karczag, and RIVER WOMAN, a collaboration with indigenous choreographer Bernadette Walong. Michelle is passionate about making films that uplift humanity and enhance our quality of life. She is also a Dance therapist and 5Rhythms Dance teacher working with dance as a healing tool. She leads a vibrant dance community in Sydney called RadianceDance5Rhythms.
www.michellemahrerfilms.com
www.michellemahrerdance.com
Keep up to date with our news & screenings
A Quest To Heal – Beyond The Physical
Copyright MichelleMahrerfilms © 2021 All Rights Reserved.
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Remember When Garth Brooks Honored Billy Joel at the Kennedy Center Honors?
Taste of Country Staff
Garth Brooks was among the artists who took the stage at the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors to pay musical tribute to Billy Joel.
An enthusiastic crowd, including Joel himself, welcomed Brooks to the hallowed stage for the third time on Dec. 29, 2013. The country superstar had previously honored George Jones and Loretta Lynn at the Kennedy Center. Brooks wore all black as he closed out 2013, sporting a black cowboy hat to sing Joel's "Allentown" and "Goodnight Saigon."
“I’ve been very, very lucky that the three times I’ve done it now, with Billy being the third, these were all epic, iconic heroes that influenced my life and my music,” Brooks said.
The country singer was just one of the many talented performers who were on hand to honor Joel. Rufus Wainwright, Don Henley and Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco also performed some of Joel's most famous and iconic music.
Brooks is a longtime fan of Joel's, and he scored a No. 1 hit in 1991 with his cover of Joel's "Shameless," which he released as the second single from his Ropin' the Wind album. In 2008, Brooks actually got to team up with Joel to perform "Shameless" live at Shea Stadium when Joel played a sold-out two-night stand at the legendary venue, marking the last live performances at Shea Stadium before it was torn down to make way for Citi Field.
"His catalog is so deep, you could have taken the six or seven songs that we did for a tribute to him, wipe them out and put six or seven more Billy Joel songs in there, and I don’t think you would notice a difference,” Brooks marveled at the Kennedy Center. “You’ll be stunned if you look up and actually see how many Billy Joel songs you know and that you really loved.”
The 2013 Kennedy Center Honors also recognized the cultural contributions of Shirley MacLaine, Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock, Martina Arroyo and Teresa Heinz Kerry.
Garth Brooks Reveals His Favorite '90s Country Song
Next: Are These Garth Brooks' Best Rock Covers?
See 50 Essential '90s Country Songs
Source: Remember When Garth Brooks Honored Billy Joel at the Kennedy Center Honors?
Filed Under: garth brooks
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Christopher Leebrick
New Storytelling Book!
Telling an Appalachian folk tale at age 13.
Christopher Leebrick began performing as a Storyteller at the age of 13. As a member of Robert Rubenstein’s nationally recognized “Troupe of Tellers” (Roosevelt Jr. High, Eugene, OR), Chris spent his 8th grade year performing at elementary schools, libraries, nursing homes, and on local television. He became a professional storyteller in 1986 while he was a theatre student at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Since then he has given over 2,000 storytelling performances from coast to coast at festivals, theatres, conference halls, schools, libraries, churches, at an ancient Roman ampitheatre in France, and on a boat in the Sea of Galilee.
Utilizing a rich flexible voice, a dynamic stage presence, and powerful acting, Chris brings the ancient art of storytelling alive for each and every audience member. Carefully tailoring each performance to suit the audience and the event, he also sets the mood for many of his tales with instruments such as the harmonica and the eastern cedar flute. Chris is also a teaching artist and a professional actor. As a teaching artist, he offers residencies, workshops and private instruction for children and adults. Subjects include storytelling, acting, and Shakespeare. He has served on the roster for arts councils across the state (including the Regional Arts & Culture Council, Young Audiences of Oregon, Lane Arts Council, Columbia Gorge Arts Council, and the Salem Arts Association). As an actor, some of Chris’ stage roles include Fagin in “Oliver!”, the title roles in “Macbeth” and “Dracula”, and a one-man performance of the story of Jesus entitled “Dawn of the Messiah”. Chris is also the former artistic director and co-founder of the Lord Leebrick Theatre Company in Eugene, OR (now called Oregon Contemporary Theatre ), currently in its 26th season.
Christopher’s CD’s:
All three of Chris’ CD’s, “Good Stories From All Over”, “Critters, Kids, and Cowboys”, and “Spoooky!” have received national Storytelling World Awards. When he isn’t on the road sharing stories, Chris resides in Oregon’s beautiful Willamette Valley with his wife and two children.
“Storytelling may be the world’s oldest art form. The need to hear and tell stories is inherent, and through the power of story we can grow in our understanding of what it means to be human.” — Christopher Leebrick
Past Performances:
Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem Temple Steps (Israel); Roman amphitheatre (Theatre Antique d’Orange, France), Australian National Storytelling Festival (Perth, Western Australia), OMSI–Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (Portland, Or), Wordstock Festival (Portland, OR), World Forestry Center (Portland, OR), Dallas Storyteller Festival (Dallas, OR), Tell Me A Story-Storytelling Festival (Lake Oswego, OR), One World-Many Stories Festival (Bend, OR), Hearing Voices Storytelling Festival (Beaverton, OR), StoryKeepers Festival (Missoula, MT), John Brown University (Siloam Springs, Arkansas), St. Louis Storytelling Festival (St. Louis, MO), Hans Christian Andersen Statue (Central Park, NYC), Arts NW Conference (Boise, ID), Western Montana Storytelling Conference (Dillon, MT), Word-Of-Mouth Storytelling Festival (Portland, OR), Tapestry of Tales Storytelling Festival Portland, OR), LINCC Conference for Oregon Librarians (Wilsonville, OR), The Art Project (Eugene, OR), Estacada Storytelling Festival (Estacada, OR), Cascades Camp & Conference Center (WA), Borders Bookstore (Brentwood, MO), Borders Bookstore (Corvallis, OR), Benton County Fair (OR), Mount Hood Community College (OR), Lane Community College (OR), King’s Academy (San Jose, CA), Foothills Covenant Church (San Jose, CA), University of Oregon Art Museum, as well as hundreds of schools, libraries, and churches throughout the U.S. and in Western Australia.
Chris has given performances in: Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, New York, Wisconsin, Montana, as well as in Europe (Orange, France), Australia (Perth, Kalamunda, and Joondalup), and Israel (Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem)
What Folks Are Saying About Chris:
Performances for Children:
“The best storyteller I have ever seen . . . . Chris made our celebration of literacy one to remember.”
— Larry Soberman, Principal, Twin Oaks Elementary, Eugene, OR
“Chris amazed our primary school children and transformed our little cafeteria into a different world. He performed two fantastic shows for children K-2nd and 3rd-5th.”
— Stacie Erdahl, Teacher, Bolton Primary, West Linn, OR
“The children of Harney County are still raving about your performance! . . . . They think of you as their new friend . . . . . Come again soon!”
— Suzanne Yeakey, Librarian, Harney Co. Library
“That was the best assembly we’ve had in a long time!”
— Wayne Osborn, Librarian, Hillside Elementary, Ft. Lewis, WA
“Fabulous show . . . Great interaction between Chris and the audience . . the kids were truly engrossed.”
— Michelle Green, Librarian, Eugene Public Library
“It was a great assembly, one which our kids won’t soon forget . . . . it took the imagination of our students to higher levels.”
— Mr. Potter, Teacher, Oakgrove Elementary, Milwaukie, OR
“He is the best storyteller I’ve seen when it comes to performing for elementary kids . . . . Our kids were mesmerized.”
— Kimbre Chapman, Librarian, Caldwell Library, Idaho
Performances for Adults:
“It is wonderful to see a master storyteller like you capture the imagination of everyone in the conference.”
— Mike Schulz, Director, Western Montana Storytelling Conference
“He is of the same caliber and comparable to many of the fine artists I observed at the National Storytelling Festival in Tennessee.”
— Susie Risho, StoryKeepers Festival, Missoula Montana
“As a storyteller he commands a powerful presence. His nuances and gestures are extraordinary!”
— Mabel Kaplan, Festival Coordinator, Australian National Storytelling Festival
“This fine performer would be absolutely ideal for college and university arts programs . . . .”
— Professor Paul Smith, John Brown University, Arkansas
“I really enjoy Chris’ storytelling style. . . . he really believes in the stories he tells and I admire that.”
— Edward Faraci, Storyteller & Teacher, Queensland, Australia
“Chris redefines the whole art of storytelling into a wonderful evening of fine acting and a sense of flow that exhibits a keen sense of drama, comedy, and even pathos….” — Prof. Paul Smith, John Brown University, Arkansas
“Christopher Leebrick was a delightful addition to the lineup of master storytellers at the St. Louis Storytelling Festival.”
— Jackie Wright, Storyteller/Educator, St. Louis Festival Committee
Performances for All Ages:
“Leebrick’s style is very expressive, lively, and quite enjoyable for young and old alike.”
— River Reflections Newspaper, McKenzie Valley, OR
“ Chris totally captivated the children, but what was even more amazing was our parents reaction . . ‘not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse (or a parent)’ . . . All of the audience was enthralled!”
— Block Graphics, Xmas Party, Portland, OR
“Wow! What great performances Chris gave. Teachers were raving and so were the kids.”
— Greta Simonson, Librarian, Davis Elementary, Portland
“Chris’ tales appealed to ‘kids of all ages’ . . . there was something for everyone. . . . it was probably the single most well attended program we’ve had here at the library.”
— Nancy Angelesco, Librarian, Langlois Library, OR
“You gripped the audience from start to finish . . . . You held both the children and their parents enthralled.”
—Perii Owen, Librarian, Ashland Library, OR
“Have stories, will travel.”
Lord Leebrick Theatre, Eugene, Oregon
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How to sell staffers on change, big and small
By — Posted Oct. 8, 2012.
Change. Nobody likes it, but managing it has become an even more important issue for medical practices in the age of health system reform.
“Even people who don’t like the status quo still don’t like change,” said Michael Abrams, a health care consultant and managing partner with Numerof & Associates in St. Louis. “But you need staffers to buy in to get it done.”
The potential chaos of making a change, however, does not have to irritate employees, reduce productivity or increase turnover. Consultants who work with practices say change can occur with little disruption, whether it’s a big shift such as converting to a patient-centered medical home or something as small as switching the brand of coffee served in the break room.
Making a change with minimal disruption requires extensive communication at the beginning, middle and end of the process.
Opportunities for employees to influence how the change plays out should be identified. And staffers should be able to voice their concerns.
“You cannot assume that because you understand and embrace the change that other people are going to do the same,” said Marian Thier, a business coach based in Boulder, Colo., who works with medical practices. “You have to bring in people. The worst thing for a practice is if everyone shuts down because they don’t understand what is going on and they’re scared.”
After practice leaders pick a potential direction, the first step is to start communicating with employees as early as possible, human resource experts say. The discussions can take place in face-to-face meetings or by email and should include the rationale for the change.
Communication is critical because what seems like a relatively minor switch to some, such as the brand of coffee, may be extremely important to others. Understanding the reasons for change can make it go over more easily.
For something as complicated as shifting to a patient-centered medical home, communication should go beyond the rationale and include how it will benefit patients and affect staffers. The medical home model can be a better way for some practices to provide care. It also can lead to bonuses from insurers.
Practices should ask how will change affect the people at the front desk? What will be different about the work of the nurses? What kind of questions will staffers have to answer from patients?
“You need to develop a communication strategy,” Thier said. “What is the change? Why are we going to do it? You need to state who and what it will entail, how we will implement it, what it might mean to you and the difference it will make to patients. I tell practices to understand all of the ramifications to every stakeholder and over-communicate.”
Practices also may want to identify employees who are well-respected among staff members and can help colleagues embrace change.
“You need to know who is trusted,” said Christina Stovall, director of the human resource service center at Odyssey OneSource in Euless, Texas, who consults for medical practices. “They can be your champions.”
Seeking employee feedback
The next step is to consider how employees can contribute to a needed change. Allowing them to provide input may reduce the chance of simmering resentments that can negatively affect productivity.
For example, a practice may need to cut costs. Cheaper coffee may seem an easy place to start. Can a staffer for whom coffee is an important part of his or her day help make the decision?
“A change in the coffee can be really important to some people,” Stovall said. “Getting them involved is crucial.”
If a practice is becoming a patient-centered medical home, staffers can provide insights that may improve the chance of achieving the model’s core characteristics of increased access and care coordination.
“This doesn’t mean you ask for consensus,” said Peggy L. Naas, MD, vice president of physician strategies with VHA, a network of nonprofit health entities. “There are some changes that have to happen, but you can allow input when appropriate.”
The third step is to hear out employees. Suggestions or feedback may not alter the change process, but consultants say those who feel they have at least been listened to are more likely to accept change than resist it or hunt for a new job.
“It’s important to have an open door, hear their perspectives and address their concerns,” Stovall said. “Let them voice any fears that they may have.”
Consultants say practices should communicate to staffers the effect of a change after it has been implemented.
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Site of a bus bombing in Jerusalem in 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Abbas Increases Terror Salary for Palestinians Involved in Murder of 16 Israelis
Palestinian terror
Terror Stipends
The Palestinian Authority declared that it’s raising the salaries of terrorists involved in a 2003 bombing that killed 16 Israelis.
By TPS
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has recently announced it will raise the salaries of the two terrorists who prepared the suicide belts which were used in the 2003 Tzrifin and Café Hillel terror attacks which killed 16 Israelis.
The two terrorists will receive NIS 7,000 per month, after having served 15 years in Israeli prisons. For the last five years, the PA paid them NIS 6,000 per month.
Monday marks 16 years since the two suicide bombing attacks, which murdered 16 people and injured 75. The first attack at a bus stop near the Assaf Harofeh Hospital and the Tzrifin military base in the center of Israel killed nine people and injured 18. The second attack in Jerusalem’s Café Hillel resulted in the murder of seven Israelis and injuries to 57 others.
Among the victims of the Café Hillel attack were Dr. David Applebaum and his daughter Nava, who was to be married the day after the attack.
Alon Mizrachi, the security guard at Café Hillel who was killed when he identified the suicide bomber and shoved him out of the eatery as he exploded, saving many other lives, was the uncle of Ziv Mizrachi, an IDF soldier who was murdered by a terrorist in November 2015.
Maurice Hirsch, head of legal strategies at Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), which compiled a report on the subject, noted that “according to PMW’s calculations following the PA’s own pay scale, the PA has, to date, paid the six terrorists who were arrested and imprisoned for their roles in the attacks, a total of 2,892,500 shekels.”
“In addition to the monthly salaries it pays to the imprisoned terrorists, the PA has also paid the families of the two suicide bombers – so-called ‘martyrs’ – a total of 356,400 shekels since the attacks. Simply because the terrorists blew themselves up to kill Jews, each family has so far received 178,200 shekels,” he said.
Millions of Shekels for Murder
The PA has paid NIS 3,248,900 (approx. $930,000) in financial rewards to the Hamas terrorists who carried out the two consecutive suicide attacks, according to the PMW’s report.
“While the PA will continue to pay monthly salaries to all of the terrorists, the PA just raised the salaries of the two terrorists who prepared the suicide belts to 7,000 shekels per month. Similar to employees who receive raises after a certain period of employment, the PA – following PA law – is giving these two terrorists a salary increase for having completed 15 years in prison” he added.
PMW further noted that in 18 months, the PA will also raise the salary of mass murderer Ibrahim Hamed, who is serving 54 life sentences for planning several terror attacks in which 54 people were murdered.
The law guaranteeing the terrorist prisoners a monthly salary was adopted by the PA in 2004. PA head Mahmoud Abbas has twice approved considerable salary hikes for the terrorist prisoners. In 2006, Abbas approved the regulations that codified the monthly salary payments paid by the PA, and also a rise in the salaries paid.
In 2010, he approved an additional salary hike for the terrorist prisoners, including a 300% rise, from NIS 4,000 a month to 12,000 for prisoners who served more than 30 years in prison.
In addition to granting the terrorist prisoners a monthly salary, the 2004 PA Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners prohibits the PA from signing any peace agreement that does not include the release of all terrorists, including the murderers who carried out these attacks.
PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh stated Thursday that the PA leadership, headed by Abbas, is “committed to paying the full allowances of martyrs’ and prisoners’ families.”
Responding to his statement, US Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt said that “this isn’t how you achieve peace.”
“Rewarding terrorists to kill Israelis – ‘pay to slay’ – is horrific. It shows the true colors of some and a total lack of understanding of how to achieve peace,” he charged.
He called on donor countries that support the PA to “think twice before offering to mitigate this PA self-generated [financial] crisis.”
I found a very interesting article on Americans United with Israel! Click to read this: --> https://americaunitedwithisrael.org/abbas-increases-terror-salary-for-palestinians-involved-in-murder-of-16-israelis/
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South Korean Crypto Exchange Bithumb Reactivates Withdrawals and Deposits
South Korean Crypto Exchange Bithumb reactivates withdrawals and deposits option on its platform following the suspension related to the June hack attack.
6 August, AtoZ Markets – South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has reopened withdrawals and deposits option on its platform. The company has made an announcement on its website concerning this news.
The exchange has informed the public that its withdrawals and deposits services have been reactivated on Saturday. Bithumb has highlighted that it had initially planned to re-launch its services at 11 AM local time but eventually had to reschedule the event until 7 PM. According to the additional announcement from the company, the services would be first made available for nine cryptocurrencies. In addition, Bithumb noted that the delay has taken place due to efforts “to provide a more stable environment.”
Bithumb has also stated that it has been carrying out a number of security checks and improvements aimed at the protection of its users’ assets. It also explained that those digital currencies that have a disparity in price between Bithumb and the standard markets of around 10% would not be relaunched at the moment.
Some of the cryptos that can be traded on Bihumb as of now include Bitcoin Cash (BCH), BTC, Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC), Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Qtum (QTUM), and Mithril (MITH). The exchange has changed its wallet addresses for making deposits – thus, users will need to request the new addresses. The company stated that any deposits sent to the old addresses will not be reversed.
Bithumb June Hack
The company has further stated that deposits and withdrawals that are tied to IOS (EOS) and TRON (TRX) and that were transferred to the company’s primary net during the suspension of services are now “scheduled to open after the conversion work is completed.”
Looking back, the services at Bithumb have been suspended after the exchange has been hacked at the end of June. That time, cybercriminals have stolen around $30 million worth of crypto. However, Bithumb has later stated that only $17 million was lost thanks to “ongoing participation, support, and cooperation of the cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrencies foundations across the world.”
Tags Bithumb Cryptocurrency Exchange Bithumb Cryptocurrency News
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Austcham ChinaBusinessesAustralian National University
The Australian National University is a world-leading university in Australia’s capital city, Canberra, founded in 1946. The only Australian university to be established by an Act of the Australian Federal Parliament, ANU has a unique history, close ties to the Australian Government and special standing as a resource for the Australian people. The university’s focus on research as both an asset, and an approach to teaching and learning, ensures its graduates are in demand the world-over for their abilities to understand and apply vision and creativity to addressing complex contemporary challenges. Consistently ranked among the top universities in the world, students and staff have access to state-of-the-art facilities, Australia’s best resources and some of the world’s leading academics. The ANU is ranked 22nd in the world and first amongst Australian universities (QS rankings 2016). Further, graduates from The Australian National University (ANU) have been rated as Australia’s most employable graduates and among the most sought after by employers worldwide (THE rankings 2016).
In China, the university’s relationships and partnerships are deep, multi-faceted and long standing. The ANU itself is one of world’s largest centres for research on China, outside China. The university’s China Liaison Office in Beijing supports and furthers the university’s relationships in China across institutional partnerships, research collaboration, mobility and exchange and alumni engagement, and strategic partnerships with China’s top universities. The Office is also developing an internships program in Beijing: interested current students or alumni of the ANU, or students from its Chinese partner institutions, should contact the Director, Dr Amanda Barry, for further information.
Room 1005, U-Town Office Building, 1 Sanfengbeili, Chaoyang
Contact Name: Dr. Amanda Barry
Position: Director, China Liaison Office
Industry: Education
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First Pilatus PC-24 leaves the production hangars
PC-24 | Pilatus
A world premiere took place today, on Swiss National Day, when Pilatus Aircraft officially unveiled its first ever PC-24 prototype.
Some 25,000 spectators watched as the show took place at Buochs airfield in central Switzerland.
The show got underway at 12.35 when a team of 24 horses, chosen to symbolise the number appearing in the PC-24 product name and its future mission profile as a ‘workhorse’, pulled the first prototype out of the production halls. The new jet sports an eye-catchingly elegant design in Swiss style, featuring chrome and gold-coloured Alpine flowers.
The rollout was preceded by a fly-by of all the aircraft which have ever reached series production in the company’s 75 year history. Over 120 performers and more than 160 children of company employees made the rollout an unforgettable event for high-ranking guests, customers and fans of Pilatus.
Oscar J. Schwenk, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pilatus, is enthusiastic about the new PC-24 and the event:
“Today’s celebration is a clear sign of our commitment to Switzerland as a centre of vision and action. Our company was established here in Stans exactly 75 years ago. We have seen our activities grow and expand here in Stans, and this is where we want to be in the future: in Stans, producing our aircraft for sale to customers around the world.
It’s wonderful that so many thousands of guests from Switzerland, and also from countries nearby and further afield, have made the effort to be with us here today, to celebrate this event together. The PC-24 marks a really important milestone in our 75-year history“.
Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer, who attended the event, paid tribute to the success of Pilatus in his speech, remarking on the new Swiss business jet with great pride. He also announced that the members of the Federal Council have voted to buy a PC-24, a further sign of the confidence placed in the new Pilatus-produced jet.
The 100% newly developed PC-24 is the first time that traditional Pilatus values such as versatility, efficiency and Swiss precision have been combined in a jet. The PC-24 is the world’s first ever business jet to come equipped as standard with a cargo door, with the kind of performance specification that allows it to operate in and out of very short runways or even unmade strips.
A total of three prototypes will be produced for the PC-24 test flight programme. The maiden flight of the first prototype, which was presented at the rollout, will go ahead in spring 2015. Final certification and start of deliveries to customers are planned from 2017.
Pilatus sold 84 PC-24s at the European Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (EBACE) in May this year.
Related Items:Pilatus
Pilatus Delivers 1,700th PC-12 to Jetfly Aviation
Pilatus Unveils the New PC-12 NGX
First Pilatus PC-24 to Enter Service in South America Delivered
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The Great Animorphs Re-Read: The Invasion
By Josh Gunderson in Animorphs, The Millennial Agenda on September 4, 2020
You might recall back in July when I decided to re-read the Animorphs books for the first time in over 20 years. Kevin had sent me a link to download them all for free on PDF, which sounds shady but is actually sanctioned by the author. K.A. Applegate actually said back in 2011 that she’s on board with the books being available to audiences that still want to read them.
“We do not take them down. Or ask for them to be taken down. I think once the books are available to buy—paper or e—it would be nice if people who could afford it would buy. (our kids have very expensive tastes. You know: food and whatnot.) But for years they’ve been unavailable except by ‘pirated’ means. These men and women kept the series alive. They kept the books available. So no, we did NOT take these books down.”
I can honestly say that if there is a way to purchased and own the full collection in print- I’m going to be on board to buy them. Every once and a while I check ebay but authors don’t see residuals from resold books so I’d rather support the author when I can. That said, Animorphs are being rereleased as graphic novels and the first one comes out NEXT MONTH!!! Check it out on Amazon here!
My goal is to get as many people hooked as possible because we also have a movie coming out. I’d much rather have a TV series but I’m going to take what I can get and I want everyone to go see it.
When I first started re-reading the books, I had imagined that I would write about them here and there. If you look back at that first post, I had gone through the first five books in the series and was going to dig into more. Then I got to talking to Kevin about it and thought it would be fun to record an episode of The Millennial Agenda about it and we did.
The plan from there was to read in chunks and talk about them but that also quickly changed. I realized that to do the series justice we’d have to dive in book by book because some of them just have SO MUCH to talk about.
So there was one logical thing to do.
BONUS EPISODES!
Every Friday, starting today, there will be a bonus episode of The Millennial Agenda where we recap and discuss each book in the series. Today we started on Book One: The Invasion which is the kick-off to the entire series.
Here’s some info on the book:
Sometimes weird things happen to people. Ask Jake. He may tell you about the night he and his friends saw the strange light in the sky. He may even tell you about what happened when they realized the “light” was only a plane — from another planet.
Here’s where Jake’s story gets a little weird. He and his friends are told the human race is under attack, but they’re given the chance to fight back.
Now Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias and Marco have the power to morph into any animal they choose. And they must use that power to outsmart an evil that is greater than anything the world has ever seen…
So if you would like to join us you can CLICK HERE to download the series on PDF to read along. Each book is a quick read, it typically takes me about 90 minutes to get through one but I’m also taking notes along the way so it might be faster for you to read through.
I hope ya’ll enjoy and have been listening along to the podcast! More to come soon!
Flying High in Covid Times – The Millennial Agenda
We're nearly a year into the COVID-19 Pandemic and then ends seems to be nowhere in sight. One of the biggest industries hit has been the arts. Josh sits down with Aerial Performer and Coach Dan Saab to talk about what it's been like to try to live and work as a performer in these crazy times. We are also starting a kickstarter to buy Dan a shirt. Special Guest: Dan Saab ************* Stalk Dan: Dan's Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/dan_saab Dan's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dan_saab Stalk Josh: Josh's Book- You're Doing It Wrong: A Mixtape Memoir: https://amzn.to/3ijOLyV Josh's Blog: http://www.avoidingneverland.com Josh's Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/avoidingneverland Josh's Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/joshgunderson Stalk the Podcast: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/TheMillennialAgenda Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/TheMillennialAgenda Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MillennialAGPod Support the Podcast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/joshgunderson15 Want to collaborate or sponsor? themillennialagenda15@gmail.com Music: http://www.bensound.com
Flying High in Covid Times 33:58
Animorphs Edition: The Reaction 34:38
The Gaslighting of the Millennial Generation 47:55
Animorphs Edition: The Forgotten 35:14
New Year, Same Nonsense, Less Pie 43:26
Tags: Andalites, Animorphs, Hork-Bajir, KA Applegate, Podcast, Taxxons, The Invasion, The Millennial Agenda, Yeerks
Published by Josh Gunderson
Josh Gunderson is a comedian and professional actor in educational theatre who firmly believes that learning does not have to be boring. Specializing in issues surrounding Internet Safety and Cyber Bullying. View all posts by Josh Gunderson
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The Praying Surgeon: 'Lord...We Need You to Do a Miracle'
SHANNON WOODLAND & CHERYL WILCOX & DANIELLE THOMPSON
Do a search on the internet for prayer and medicine, and you'll find plenty of scientific studies that confirm what the Christian community has known for thousands of years…that prayer works.
"The anesthesiologist comes in the room and says, 'Mike, we're not going to be able to do the surgery,'" says Mike. "Why?" questions Mike. "'Cause his blood pressure is like 220/120. We can't put someone to sleep with that kind of blood pressure,'" says the anesthesiologist. "Well, at least let me pray for him before you cancel,'" says Mike. "He goes, 'Okay, fine, whatever.'"
Doctor Michael Haglund of Duke University is considered one of the top cervical surgeons in the country. He also enjoys another distinction—the praying doctor.
"So, I go on, and I pray for him, and he calms down a little bit. It went from 220 down to like 170," says Mike. "We do his surgery, he does great, pain's gone, gets back to work in two weeks, I see him at six weeks, and he comes in. He goes, 'You know that prayer you prayed for me?' And I go, 'Yeah,'" says Mike. "He goes 'Something changed. Something's different.'" And so like right there in the clinic we like prayed, and he accepted Christ and, you know, that's what it's all about," says Mike.
Dr. Haglund remembers the first time he witnessed the healing power of prayer. It wasn't long after he and his wife gave their lives to Christ, and he was on-call at a Seattle hospital.
"A young kid ten years old, bad snowboard accident, got air-flighted into Harborview Medical Center with a big epidural hematoma on his brain," says Mike. "If you can get it out quickly, they do really well, and they wake-up like right away after surgery, which is great, not like when you're in a bad car accident," says Mike. "So, we took him to the O.R. right away, we took it out, and he didn't wake-up, still in a coma. So I went to lay down and like I couldn't get to sleep, and I really felt the Lord put on my heart, I never felt this before, like this impression like, 'You need to go—you need to pray for him,'" says Mike. "And I go, 'Okay.' So, I rolled over in bed and started praying," says Mike. "And it was like, 'No, you need to GO pray for him.' So, I just went up and laid hands on him and said, 'Lord, you know we've done everything we can do, we need you to do a miracle. Amen,'" says Mike.
Fifteen minutes later, the nurse called him back into the ICU. After checking on his patient, Dr. Haglund ran and found the boy's father, an associate pastor of a church in Seattle.
"So, I go running out there, it's three in the morning and I say, 'You won't believe this!! Adam's awake!!'" says Mike. "And, I'm like grabbing him by the shoulders, and he goes, 'What?' I go, 'Yeah, he's awake! I prayed for him, and he woke up,'" says Mike. "And he goes, 'Mike,' and I go, 'What?' He goes, 'A lot of people are praying for him.' Oh-oh, yeah? He goes, 'Look over there,'" says Mike. "And he showed me in the waiting room, you could see these shadowy little figures, there was 30 people from his church all on their knees praying for him. I go, 'Oh, you're right. Everybody's praying for him, that's good,'" says Mike. "And it made such an impression on me that you know, from then on, that it's like, you're just looking for opportunities where God's moving," says Mike.
And for more than three decades, Dr. Haglund's practice, and prayers have been changing lives. But his influence has reached beyond the bedside. As a renowned surgeon, Dr. Haglund has not only been able to talk about prayer with his peers on a scientific level but on a personal, spiritual level as well. Like Kimberly Stanley, a pharmaceutical professional, who met Dr. Haglund at a medical conference.
"I was really actually not wanting to go to this meeting, I just wanted to be at home. But, just really kind of lost and just knew that something was missing in my life," says Kimberly. "He began to help me connect those dots and just putting words to the gospel in a conversation was just so critical for me that somebody who didn't even know me would care to share that truth with me. It was just—it was life-changing, and I knew I needed to do something," says Kimberly.
What Kimberly did was give her life to Christ.
"He just led me in a prayer that was very simple," says Kimberly. "I can't remember the exact words, but it was just a very simple prayer, and I just immediately knew it was right. And I had heard that as a child and so I knew that's what had happened to me, that I had been born again, I had been saved from death to life," says Kimberly. "I think that that's the sweetness of our Lord is to send someone that I could look to and say, 'He believes. He believes.'"
As the top in his field, Dr. Haglund is well aware of the millions who've been helped through modern medical science. He also knows that it's the undeniable power of prayer that truly changes lives.
"Once you see how much God moves, you build that faith that He's there, He's ever-present, and He's walking through life with you. And you don't realize how many things He does if you kinda' look back a little bit," says Mike. "And, I think that builds your faith, right?"
AUTHOR: SHANNON WOODLAND & CHERYL WILCOX & DANIELLE THOMPSON
BIO: All - 700 Club Producers
For He says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
Your #1 source christian faith themed independent alternative news, views, & videos to jumpstart your spirit & mind together. Challenging the way we read the headline news of today! Cheerfully brought to you by d23 Copyright © 2021 all rights reserved AWFSM
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