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__label__cc	0.590191	0.409809	Can technology revolutionise development finance? Back to all episodes Nimbus Maps was one of the first PropTech businesses in the UK, founded by brothers Paul and Simon Davis. Hear how they translated their own formula for site appraisal as successful property developers, to a leading piece of software, now with over 50,000 active users. They explain how Nimbus Maps allows SMEs to level the playing field through leveraging data, and the defining role data will play in solving the UK’s housing shortage, and the future of the property industry in general. Full transcript of episode here 0:00 Ian: Hi all and welcome to Brick by Brick the podcast of the property development industry. My name is Ian Humphreys and I am a co-founder of Brickflow and one of your hosts. Each week we will be speaking to experts and stakeholders from across the property development sector. We will share ideas and advice on how to get ahead of the game as a developer. As well as trends and insights from across the sector. The series is designed for all experience levels, whether you’re just starting out on your property development journey or you are an industry veteran. We will handpick topics with universal appeal so that we can all continue to learn. We would also love you to share the podcast with your development industry network. Our mission through Brickflow and the podcast is to make development finance better. Every year somewhere between a third and a half of all SME property developers sight the lack of finance as the main reason they don’t build more. Its only through raising awareness of the problems that developers face that we will improve. The more people that hear this, the more the industry will pay attention and the better it will become for all of us. So please share as far and wide as you can. We also really want you to join the conversation if you have any suggestions for future topics or guests or thoughts on any of the podcasts, we would love to hear from you. Get in touch through LinkedIn or Facebook or email us at podcast@brickflow.com. I hope you enjoy the show. This week I am delighted to welcome brothers Paul Davies and Simon Davies from Nimbus Maps. Nimbus Maps is a software service designed to help anyone that wants to invest in property. By giving them access to reams of data, that will help them in their investment decisions. If you haven’t seen it, I will let the guys explain a bit more about how it works. I would highly recommend it to anyone and in fact we do mention it on pretty much every person we have a demo with on Brickflow. Anyway, let’s find out a bit more about them, so welcome to the show Paul and Simon. 2:06 Simon: Thanks for having us on. No problem, good to see you guys, and what we would like to start with is for you guys to introduce yourselves and to tell us a bit more about your background, your careers to date and more importantly what attracted you to the property sector in the first place. Why do you love what you do, do you love what you do? Paul. 2:27 Paul: Yes, so, how did we get here is kind of interesting really, so we started off life as property investors and our model back then was all about high yielding assets, so it was buying some reasonably tatty stuff. Getting a nice high yield out of it, putting a bit of debt in place and getting a bit of arbitrage between the yield coming in and the interest costs we were paying out, fundamentally. That was all fine, worked a dream for us, except that of course with that kind of high yielding stock, the challenge you have is that if you don’t knock it down, it falls down when it hits the end of its useful life, and so we migrated from property investors to kind of, forced property developers, as some of these assets that we had, that were kind of sweating this yield out of, started to fall apart a little bit. And what kind of things did you have? We had all sorts from little local shopping centres right through to kind of big old industrial estates, we had a 1930s industrial estate on the Warwick road in Birmingham, that was very much falling down, the roof was leaking and this sort of stuff, the old northern lights and this sort of thing. So, it was really having to reposition those. In effect, they would have fallen down if we hadn’t knocked them down. So we moved in to development, and after we did that, we had a number of key assets that we had interest from different occupiers. One of those was a little retail parade that we had, that had interest from Sainsburys. With a very small unit that we couldn’t fit them in. So we wrote to the neighbouring owners and we found a pub company, which was punched taverns at the time, that we could fit this requirement onto, cause we couldn’t fit it onto our own side and they couldn’t do it on their own. So we embarked on this journey as development consultants and we supported those big pub companies and some big plc’s and in trying to reposition their assets, doing the same stuff we were doing for ourselves. And what was interesting is that as we continued on that journey, we got pushed all-round the UK. It was a nationwide portfolio. Here’s 5000 pubs go tell us what the opportunity is in that. We found that stuff through data and technology and trying to sweat down what local knowledge is and kind of gut feel, what is that. And how can we approximate it, and how can we use that across the industry. And what we managed to do was to create a way of doing this using data and technology. Which allowed us to compete on a scale that perhaps we shouldn’t of been able to, given the size of our organisation, given the relationship those companies had with much bigger organisations, with local knowledge, track records, local offices, all that kind of stuff. And that moves us into building software, cause we started off our journey getting retained by some of the big retailers and we moved into trying to align what we were doing, with what they were doing. To allow that to unlock. So off the back of that, they liked what we did, the companies we were acting for, in terms of trying to sweat their assets. They liked it as well. Can we use the technology you’ve got?. A lot of people get into property development because of the creative side of it, so obviously property is security of income. They know that there is a very good chance that the assets are going to go up in value over the long term because there is more demand then there is supply. But I think changing the building, the creative side of changing a building or shaping it. Even if it’s just an internal redevelopment, something is really quite rewarding isn’t it, when you take your idea and then you put it into the physical world, you put it into the buildings environment and you go well, we did this. And Paul and I often talk about that wet plaster smell when you go around a repurposed building, and they have knocked the walls down, and it’s a completely different space and think that’s always in your mind. Either that smell of stale cigarette and wet plaster that either excites you. You know your naturally born property. If you’re not, then you’re really not. But whenever you go on the sites it was just kind of fun wasn’t it, to go and see what’s happened, what’s progressed, even in a week or a few days’ time, so this wall was here now it’s an open space. Looking at the plans before and going, I wonder what it’s going to feel like once the wall comes down. People want to use your buildings, they want to live in your buildings, its really quite positive to get that buzz around. This was your idea, this is the physical work. And I think to be fair, software development although it’s got its challenges, is very similar, cause your building stuff that people want to use. Your building opportunities for people to improve what they’re trying to do, achieve their goals. And I think although we love building buildings, I think building the software is actually equally rewarding because your actually helping people achieve their goals, which is really super positive, whether their developers, or their agents trying to get more leads for their clients. So it think lots of us have challenges out there, if we can help them and achieve what they’re trying to do, then it’s really very positive and rewarding, in that respect. Totally. I think you have to play to your strengths: are we the best developers in the world, probably not; are we the best at brokering the best deal in the world, probably not. What we are quite good at is understanding how data sets can approximate these things and can really focus you in on an opportunity and really drive value out of sites. And understanding how all that fits together, and what how this data set links with that data set over there and what that actually really means, and how you can leverage that, and how you can then give your customers that cutting-edge advantage. And I suppose, if we know that’s the case, then we should focus our attention obviously. We have often been asked why don’t you just keep it for yourself and not pass it to the outside world. But we took the view that actually we could create impact socially, economically by doing that. Rather than keeping it into a software solution that was just for ourselves. And we took that decision to help the wider industry. Yeah and I think we are similarly minded, the software we’ve created is the same, we could use it for ourselves, but we actually want to share it with a wider audience because we do think it holds much more benefit when used by a wide audience. Okay, so on what you guys just said, the two things I took from that were really, vision and execution, both in the physical buildings and also in the software. Is that fair enough, monica for you both. Innovators, visionaries, yeah quite, tinkerers and things like that. Ask the deputy, we come up with a new idea today. How about we do this? And typically, from pillar to post. But it’s not a bad thing to have on the gravestone? Yeah. You’re really a visionary if you’re right, aren’t you? So you’ve got to, think it up, you’ve then got to make it happen. And then you’re only a visionary once you’ve made it happen, aren’t you really. It’s all in the execution? Yeah, we have 101 ideas that we think are brilliant. Some of them are, some of them aren’t. Lots of them aren’t. You’re only a visionary where it’s right. So we keep working hard, don’t we. 9:39 Simon: It’s a good job we’re brothers, we can hold each other to account, a bit more, as the others we can’t. 9:43 Paul: Perhaps his ideas rather than mine. 9:47 Ian: Probably safer being a bit more honest with each other, than regular business partner as well. 9:51 Simon: There are two calibres, Pauls ideas and Simons ideas and all the rubbish ones. 9:58 Ian: Okay, so thanks, guys. For someone that hasn’t seen Nimbus before, in a minute, how would you explain it? 10:08 Paul: So what it does is it encapsulates all the stuff that we’ve learnt in development consultancy, piece it together, in effect this is a more efficient way that allows you to compete on a big stage that you wouldn’t be able to compete otherwise. And in effect, that’s the efficiency, it’s the scale and the volume you can get from that kind of approach with technology. We do that by bringing a load of information together, that is all, put to your fingertips, where you can search and filter it. And find stuff that really is exactly what you want. And then what it does is allows you to assess, whether the site works, you assess whether they work, give you a load of ways of accessing the industry black book, so you can connect with owners really quickly, and then you can check as you’re trying to put stuff forward. You can benchmark that and make sure you’re transforming that asset into the most valuable use that it could be, so you’re getting every last penny out of it. In essence, that’s really kind of it in a nutshell. 11:03 Ian: Right? So analysis, appraisal, connecting people as well. 11:13 Paul: Absolutely. Yeah. It’s that whole lifecycle, really finding stuff, checking that it works, what you want to do with it, connecting with the owners, and then maximising the outcome. 11:21 Ian: Perfect. And in terms of, user numbers, how many people do you have on the platform? 11:30 Paul: We have just broken 50 thousand Simon? Something like that wasn’t it. 11:30 Simon: Yeah, it’s remarkable actually, across all of our products, that we’ve had 50,000 people use it at different varying degrees, but it depends whether they’re really in their, cycle investment development. So, there’s some fairly well known, developers’, investors, that have been in it a long, long time. 11:52 Ian: So yeah, that’s amazing and a compliment to you guys that people like that, want to use it. And then you’ve got a free version, and then you also scale up right. So, more functionality. 12:03 Paul: Yes. Yeah, totally. I think there’s lots of free data out there, lots of free stuff that the government’s releasing. And actually, we wanted to support that as well, because the free stuff that governments releasing is quite hard to deal with. We’ve created something where you can, use some of those data sets and get some understanding of this stuff, for free. It’s there, and hence the pencil, we did that. 12:28 Ian: Great. We understand a bit about how it works and what it does, but you talked before about how you got started, it was actually really an extension of what you were doing already. But to go from what you were doing, to software development. I mean, that’s quite a quite a change in-tact, what prompted it? Whose idea was it? 12:54 Well it was my idea of course. It kind of grew organically. As I said, but what I think really opened our eyes was we did all this work for the pub industry. And they were basically selling a lot of their sites to developers quite cheap. And then the developer five minutes later was flipping it and there we go, hang on a minute. Now we’re losing money here, we became more of a gatekeeper than a, traditional poacher. But it was just part of that work, that our eyes got opened up to a lot of the big corporate. So a lot of the big retailers had whole planning teams not planning for, built environment, but location planning teams, and some of them had like 60 70 people. And they were doing an enormous amount of work on predicting what takings might be in a certain location. And they were using this sort of data. But what we found, was a real surprise. That they were putting so much effort into data analytics. Down to what they thought that sight was going to take per week, and the variance analysis around that. But it opened up our eyes to what you could do. But the challenge was that they were still very, in terms of the property side of it, they find out what the locations, they should be, probably just a postcode or a region. And then shove it across to the property teams, go find me sites that meet these criteria, and they go back and appraise it. And there’s nothing linking that granular property level, to the site analysis or the location analysis that the guys were doing. So, I will try and link the two together. And in effect, we did that with a landowner’s site. And we had one of our original YouTube videos talking about a dating website for property, because it’s the same kind of principles. You’ve got these people, want the site and these people own the site kind of thing. We’ve tried to link the datasets together, but there was nothing out there. So they were firing off to their acquisitions team of 15 strong, they were doing the traditional, very manual process of driving the streets. Seeing what’s available, because the location planning team was fairly burgeoning, about 60 people tell me where they should be, but they couldn’t find the size. So we will build this. But we’ll attempt to build this thing that links that the physical environment with the data environment. And that’s how we got into, that journey with it. And as an example, we had one bomb climb on the acquisition trail, was looking to do some work on 8000 sites, they were interested in mine. And I think the original plan, they were considering, basically getting a team of students, he wasn’t going to use his son, an 18 year old, to go to measure 8000 sites, for the whole summer holiday. We think we can do this with data and technology, and it took about probably less than a week, or wasn’t it, to be able to do this appraisal form. So of those 8000 sites, this many work for you, compared to probably three or four months of a team, of students out of a-levels. I think that really showed people the true power of what you could do through data and technology. 16:01 Ian: And did you, surprise yourself on these early days? 16:06 Paul: I mean, it’s cool, isn’t it? like if someone sends you a list of 6000 pub names, and you have to tell them how big they are you know. Where do you start, text? 16:15 Simon: Yeah, I think it was just the pub name. And there’s 8000 sites, and sort of how do we that find out. 16:22 Paul: Yeah, with your hands. So it’s really interesting problems that were being thrown at us. And we love that kind of, getting thrown a question that is just really difficult. The short answer is no we can’t, it’s, that’s not acceptable. We’ve got to fix that. So you think of cool ways of doing it. And before you know it, there’s your answer. 16:40 Simon: Well part of that journey was also to throw those problems at the university wasn’t it. We thought we’d sponsor some PhDs and we could see the value of it. So we basically moved into their Science Park, so we could get links to the university and, because they’re all about the RND and then trying to find real world, solutions using the latest science techniques and real world problems, if we could be the bridge between that, I think we were quite fascinated about what they could do. And they were quite fascinated about how this could impact the real world. So we sponsored some PhDs, we still sponsor a PhD, and for things like that we work a lot with the university that, have MFC projects and stuff constantly running in the background to try and improve the data and the quality of what we’re offering and the outside world. 17:27 Ian: And how does it work with the two of you, who is responsible for what day to day, who’s the data geek, if either of you are data geeks. 17:37 Paul: I’m the geek. Yeah, yeah, data and what the data sets mean and how they interrelate, interlink and what that means and how we can leverage that to help and all that sort of stuff. That’s, I think it’s fair to say, is me, isn’t it Really? 17:49 Simon: Yeah. But then somebody’s got to translate that through to the business to the outside world. I’ve got a bit of business today. I could talk to people about it and keep people up to speed. Yeah, it’s fascinating. It really is. I think that wills change, more so like the lockdown, is now how people have adapted. I think that the human race is very adaptable, isn’t it? So things when needs must. I think that’s what’s happening now with technology. 18:15 Ian: Yeah, actually, how have you guys found the June lockdown? What impact has that had on your business and your users here? Give us some ideas of what’s changed? 18:28 Paul: It’s been really interesting for us actually. I think as lockdown hit, everyone had a worrying moment of awkwardness, what’s, coming. And what’s happened really well for us is that it’s meant that people have more time, they’re at their desk, they’re prepared to listen, we’ve done some really interesting webinar series where we’ve, brought lots of people together and we’ve had some really interesting insights at the back of that. The marketplace set the damage very quickly for us, and I think people saw being online as being really important. If we’re at home or in front of our computers, we’re online. This is a big productivity tool, in that time has been, obviously a positive thing for us. 19:10 Simon: It’s been like a retest gone on online, hasn’t it, massively over the lockdown period for Amazon and stuff like that. But, people are realising that searching and analysing property can actually be an online activity more than the traditional, which is going out and seeing the buildings and doing that sorts of stuff. 19:25 Ian: Have you seen the spike in numbers? 19:27 Simon: Massively. Yeah, I think last week, we had a 28% growth in revenue and new business. So today, we just had five new people start actually, we’re building the team rapidly because of the numbers of people coming on board and the rest of it. So what we don’t want to be is victims of our success that we can’t speak to and give people the demos and can’t speak to them because the user numbers have gone up, exponentially in a very short period of time, which is great, but we will make sure you can service those customers at the same level that you always want to service them, so yes. Social distancing reengagement with the office to try and onboard five people to build them up and understand the platform and what’s going on, to get them on the phone and helping people on the chat stuff and that sort of thing. So, yeah, we’ve been very lucky in terms of that growth over the last few weeks. 20:20 Ian: Probably not quite as many as Zoom in terms of huge numbers, but pretty good. 20:28 Paul: Yeah, similar sort of thing, isn’t it? It’s an online kind of business when you’ve got people in lock downs, very positive things and it really, it’s kind of fun. Challenge is how you help isn’t it and widen that support scale and things like that? 20:41 Simon: I think that the users, are finding that people will engage with them as well. So, I think a lot of our, SME developers have historically struggled to get people to engage with them. Well, people in lock down will take that phone call now, the agent acting for that person will take that phone call or a letter goes in, the post is still working that they’ve got the time to actually consider some of this stuff. So I think, from their point of view that activity is, growing because people are prepared to talk and listen, have a conversation about those opportunities that perhaps they were too busy to before, but they’ve got the time now. So as long as they’re not home schooling the rest of it, which is always a challenge. 21:21 Paul: But generally, because of the length of lockdown. I think certainly I was speaking to one of our bigger clients last week, and what they were saying is, as they went into lockdown, there was a huge amount of communications, they’re an international company, they’ve got loads of offices all over the world. And so you’ve got, your little team that’s communicating with you, you’ve got the offices communicate in the office. It’s part of the of the UK, that’s communicating. The International one’s kind of communicating as well. So, you have all this communication coming at you at the same time. And actually, you ask in the first week does working from home in lockdown work, they’re all going to say. No, it doesn’t. It’s just too much. But of course, because it’s three months in now, all of us have Settled down, they’ve got the right kind of sequence of the meetings and the webinars and this sort of stuff internally. Now it’s all settled down the world has moved because it’s long enough. And they couldn’t just say, Oh, actually, we’re going to set this off and do something different is. So, I think it’s actually very interesting now, how does, the marketplace come out of lockdown and what does it take with it? And what stuff does it like, when it’s sort of been through that? Because it’s starting to settle in a little bit now, isn’t it? 22:30 Ian: Yeah, I’d echo that as well. We would try to speak to people pre lockdown and giving them demos was a challenge. Whereas now, people are all ears, they’re at home, they’re happy to listen, they’ve got more time. And I think exactly what you guys are saying is, is that? No, it’s been a massive learn for everyone. I think it would have been a brave bank or law firm that would have told any of their staff, we’ve got to work at home full time now. Whereas now I think because it’s been forced on people, which actually is a reality that people can imagine. And in some cases, people want. Some people I speak to are in a massive hurry to go back to work. But I think what’s really good is, as you guys touched on is that you’ve actually demonstrated proof of concept that you don’t need to go and perhaps to some of the older guard that you don’t need to go and see that property to get a really good feel for it. And in fact, in some cases, it might be better to run, the analysis remotely, so you don’t get, emotionally attached to it or anything like that, as its purely on the numbers. I think that that’s very valuable. 23:38 Simon: Well they say about lockdown, the biggest winner is the environment. And it’s to say, we’ve been trying to push this and so I don’t, go and drive the streets up and down and stuff like that. And one of our early users who won the retailer said he saved about 15,000 miles a year out to 45,000. Historically, by finding the site, shortlisting them, and then going to have a look at them rather than traditionally just driving up and down and see if there’s a to let board or a for sale board, how can you tell the size of a plot of land from the pavement if it’s boarded up? It’s impossible. So, I think changing those habits generally will stop having meetings with people that they need to drive to when they could do it through a, web show and stuff like that. 24:19 Ian: I think it’s similar for us as well, because what we’ve tended to find how people use the software is, let’s say they’ve got 10 sites. And in the past, they might have gone to see all 10 of them, but like you said, Simon, whereas now they’re running 10 through the software and realise actually, only two of them probably work from a financing point of view. So then they’re the two they go and see, rather than the other eight that just don’t work. So, I think your right there is helping the environment is a by-product, but it really will just save people time. 24:55 Paul: I think you also touched on that and the really big point in there, which is that if you spend too much time on a property you get emotionally attached to it. And then you don’t want to lose it. And even when the numbers start moving away, always a good site to buy is the one we’re it all converges. And you come to the point of exchange, and it’s all come together. And sometimes you find those sites just diverge apart, you suddenly find there’s this, bit of whatever in the ground, this bit of asbestos, that’s a nightmare. Or, this week, some knotweed at the back or something. And then two or three of those things all kind of come together. And that’s where you’re, whoa, hang on a minute. But if you’ve done a lot of work on that, you’re like, well. 25:33 Simon: I’ve invested four months of my life in this. 25:35 Paul: Perhaps just check the price a bit. And it’s like, you try and force it and that’s then when it goes wrong, and that’s where you, can’t help yourself, but do it. And that’s when you shouldn’t be doing it. That’s when you start losing money. 25:46 Ian: Whereas when nobody says developers, they make a profit on the purchase on the land. So yeah, that makes sense. Okay, guys, what would be good, to come back to coronavirus in a bit. But, in terms of long, term impacts of that, but just as some examples of people who use your technology, benefits they get, how they engage with it. And the value adds. We’ve talked about value added as a proposition, but it had some specific examples. 26:21 Paul: Yeah. So where it all started, was aligning what we were doing with what those big companies were doing those the retailers and all those kind of things and, looking at how do you find bits of land for infill residential and all this kind of stuff, you know, that was kind of typically the user case. So we have a whole host of companies doing exactly that. So we have, from those big retail, they have an awful lot of retailers that use the platform after an acre plus of space or whatever it is, or point 2 of an acre to an acre or whatever, picking out those sites and using all of those and we have a whole team of people in, with different companies doing all of this, through to a whole bunch of companies that perhaps have big estates. So, like that pub example, I’ve got a big estate of assets and I kind of need to understand what all of those assets are. There’s too many of them for me to understand myself. So I have to go and research, sometimes having somewhere Central, I can understand that. So, track the planning applications that are going on and affect what I’m doing. We have all the people doing that to the SME developers, residential or commercial, understanding whether they’re getting the right deal where they’re getting, the right rent out of occupiers, when they’re getting the right terms there, lots of lots of that, that time we spent advising pub companies and call the other companies working for was around knowing the terms that that particular retailer would take just a single, you know, a lease to a retailer could be 7%, or it could be 6%, depending on the terms that you agree. Yeah, actually, there’s a 20 30% difference in the value of those two buildings, same building, could be the same rent fundamentaly. But I suppose terms of around what they try to negotiate out of it in their best interest, letting those owners understand all of that and getting the right terms in their leases can make a huge difference to those exit values fundamentally and so it’s doing all of that sort of stuff right way down then to, finding a backyard side garden infill plot, buy a house with a gap, the other side garden and put a house in there, refurbish the house, sell it off, and put another one in the side and then sell that one, please build up all that kind of stuff. So, we have kind of a whole spectrum of users doing all those different things and on the platform in reality. 28:39 Simon: I think it’s fair to say most SME developers, certainly those that have been doing it a while, know, what they’re looking for, and what their business model is, whether it’s, infill plots, or is repurposing now retail units to use in the upper floors which are undervalued and stuff like that and converted into HMOs or residential and stuff. But I think the challenge for the moment or historically has been is finding, enough of new sites and a consistent pipeline. It’s the same old challenges not one I’m completing on currently working but I need to build a pipeline for my next project because I’m only as good as my next my last project. So it’s always a challenge for them to build that consistent pipeline, but they do know, so often that means that they probably know their local area very well. They’ve probably got relationships or know local agents incredibly well and stuff like that. They’ve got a proven model of, retail or infill plots. So the maps have to move outside their patch a little bit and of course, as soon as you start moving outside your patch, your confidence goes down in terms of the residential values, am I buying in the right location compared to, because we all know residential values can vary by streets, especially some areas in London. One side of the streets gets five times the rent, than the value of the other side of the street. So am I getting in the right location, who’s doing what, what’s the paid price, who is paying for stuff, what’s the price for land and also, even the local planning authorities can have different attitudes towards you know, different article for directives and they have different interpretations of, legislation. So they’ve got a proven model, they may have to move outside their patch. But building those relationships with that local authority over those agents outside the patch can be incredibly time consuming, if almost impossible sometimes. So, ultimately, what we’re trying to do is give them, a transparent, open data set, so that they can say, well, they can move around different locations with confidence to be able to turn on a go, yes, I can go and do that up the road, or, you know, into that different county because I know I can see the planning, see what they’re going to say, I know they’re going to say about my ideas, I know what the residential values are. So, it just allows them to have a broader spectrum of which they can go and build that pipeline so they can maintain it. Most people will travel at least, an hour, an hour and a half to go and build a project out because they’ve got their teams, so if we can give them that diversity of information, they can go be out there, they don’t have to rely on just waiting for stuff to appear in a local area they’re familiar with. And I think that’s, the challenge a lot of our SME developers have got is they want just a nice continuous pipeline of projects, not trying to buy it super cheap. They’re not trying to get a super deal on a consistent point on a project so they can do they turn their money over, and they do the next one, they need to turn away for tax reasons and the rest of it. So that’s what a major part of what Nimbus is about. 31:27 Ian: So you’re giving them that ability to cookie cutter, you’ve got a model, it works in this area, go to a similar town or similar city, look for similar projects, that’s gonna work. 31:43 Paul: On an active market that’s part of the trick, is different ways in which you connect with those owners. Build that credibility with them really quickly, depending on who, you’re going to approach these different ways, in which you could build that credibility, talk about the stuff they’ve been up to, to demonstrate your knowledge, demonstrate your ability. It’s kind of making sure that you can piece all that together. But of course, that can be a life’s work. If you try and do that in a patch, an hour’s drive from where you are, then when you get to that kind of half an hour away, you know very little about those areas, you have spent all this time trying to put it all together, but actually, a lot of the history in the track, just knowing where to go and pull it out from and, and how to pack that up and how to present that to people and, that’s kind of what Nimbus started as. It’s kind of understanding which of these key bits of information you’ve linked together to then give you it’s been really interesting for the person you’re speaking to. So how can you capture that engagement? How can you capture that person to want to talk to you or kind of answer your phone call when you ring up the office line and say, well, I want to speak to x, if you even know who x is, how do you get them to engage with you? Well, it’s all there, the information is all there. To pull out, you’ve just got to know where to look and then present that to them. Then you get straight through, and you’re in. 33:04 Simon: Simple as that. 33:04 Ian: Yeah, yeah it’s that. Very easy. 33:08 Simon: That’s why its taken us 6 years. 33:13 Ian: Okay, so that’s good to know, the scope of the tech and that’s gratifications and the benefits that it brings to users. I mean, you touched on it Paul the lease information there, the ability to know what a retailer or tenant is going to ask for, or what covenants they will bend on and what they won’t, I think is hugely valuable. I was actually speaking to one of our users the other day, who is doing commercial uppers. And he and I was talking about the importance of a pre lap in terms of finance, and it’ll make it a lot more attractive. And, that put him in touch with one of the guys in the team to do a demo because I just said that, especially in the current climate with you Imagine if you are in that retail space, the blue chip tenants really are, able to ride roughshod over, landlords, sorry. I can imagine having that little inside information on what they might be willing to bend on, is hugely valuable this time. 34:23 Simon: They can have a material impact on the values obviously, in terms of the leases and stuff like that. 34:29 Paul: We’ve built a whole load of convenience, we’ve got 100 convenience stores, something like that. And the key things around those kind of small format, the Sainsburys locals the Tesco express, that small little convenient shops you go to, to top up with and there are a few tricks within those that obviously of course, building hundred and you kind of learn, for example do you get a parent company guaranteed, do you get caught with CPI rather than RPI uplifts, you get upward and downward reviews rather than upward only with a link to RPI, and all of that just flows straight through to your bottom line. If you know that occupiers will accept those things, then you make sure you get the height, you get the lowest yield the highest price for the for the building, and if you know they’ll accept it, especially in today’s market where if you push too hard they’ll go to the building next door because that’s on the market as well, if you ask for the right stuff knowing full well that they can say. Yes, yes, it’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine. And you don’t ask for stuff you never get away with. Then. Happy Days. 35:28 Ian: Yeah, it’s knowing which buttons to press. 35:29 Paul: Absolutely. 35:30 Ian: Okay, cool. So talking about Coronavirus, how’s it affected the markets that your users are in? We touched on it just then, but in more expansive terms. 35:47 Paul: Yeah, totally. So I think what’s, we’re seeing is that there’s obviously pressure on, companies that haven’t been open for a while or perhaps working in a percentage of their maximum capacity. And what we’re finding then it’s those kind of commercial buildings to convert either, some other uses higher value or getting very hot. So I think like office, there’s office PD, rights. It’s the office with developments that people are keen on. This, and it’s interesting questions generally around that, the retail sector, the pub sector, obviously, those pub companies haven’t sold a pint, haven’t sold a glass of beer for three months. And it wasn’t looking particularly promising for them for a while too. So actually, kind of where does that leave them? And actually, some of those opportunities, perhaps to unlock some extra value out of those sites, perhaps they can use to sort of fill some of the gaps on the rent they haven’t had or the barrels they haven’t sold. I think becomes kind of quite interesting, really. 36:49 Simon: I think there’s no short term, there’s a short term thing, a long term thing is, we talked earlier about if our new processes are hard coded into us about working from home being less, maybe getting to the office for just creative time and a few meetings and the rest of your working week is, as opposed to working from home two days a week, you may work the office to, you know, to sort of flip over. But what does that mean to the local economies, in terms of people perhaps wanting to get out for walks, get out the house, because they’re not actually going to an office, less travelling. But what about those offices? And so I think there’s a longer term which we obviously don’t know where that’s going to go. There’s a lot of speculation. I think short term. At the moment, the banks, for example, I think, are holding back they’ve given lots of people, repayment holidays, tenants are getting a lot of, support on the government and things like that. So, at the moment, nobody’s under any tearing great pressure, are they to be forced to sell stuff? There’s nobody pushing them or anything like that? So I think, that will perhaps start to change in the. 37:51 Ian: There is a lag, there is definitely a big lag this time around. 37:54 Simon: Yeah, because there’s lots of protections for the tenants as protections for the landlords so a bit of a Mexican standoff. You have these construction sites that have basically been mothballed for three months. So, is it force majeure? I mean, what the contract said is going to pay for these liquidation assess damages that the developer is going to pay for them? Or is it going to be a gentleman’s agreement is going to be in the middle, where they’re going to get the money from the bank and lend them more money than the original project? Or is the contractor. The contractors live off cash flow, so who’s actually ultimately going to pay for these things when they get it back on site? So I think there’s a lot, of this idea of turning the key and the economy’s gonna start going again, but there’s going to be some activity or some changes. So, I think, activity, the property industry, the thing is, it’s an incredibly entrepreneurial industry, and they will find solutions for what’s in front of them. And I think if that’s them, changing buildings from where there’s a demand, as opposed to where it’s currently demanded, they’ll do that and it just it creates activity. I think change creates activity. So I think we’re seeing a lot more of these entrepreneurial people trying to build a pipeline. Oh, have projects to start in conversations with people because if the world does change, which its likely to, during the in the box seat ready to, have a go and start working with people. I think that’s what we’re seeing, an entrepreneurial database. 39:14 Paul: It’s kind of interesting because as that, one of the values was happening with the banks, we’ve just developed something literally has gone live over the weekend, which is looking at companies that are in selling mode. So as that kind of pressure comes on, you can well imagine the position where companies start saying, well you know, what if I sell a couple of buildings over here, two or three or something, then actually that can be reached my balance sheet, remember to send lease back or something. So I kind of retain the asset, but I get some capital, which then fills this hole that the COVID-19 has put into my balance sheet. We’ve just launched a little bit of functionality in our filters where you can now search, just for the properties owned by those companies that have just started selling things, and so you can start to get that understanding of, well actually, if these companies have been selling, then maybe there’s a few more they might want to sell as well. And you can start to piece those things together just as that sort of marketplace is changing Really? 40:12 Ian: Yeah, yeah. I think the Government, just as an aside. I think they have been really good, in terms of setting the tone between lenders and the relationship between tenants and landlords. I think that’s been really important, I think there is definitely a lot of pain in the pipeline, there is probably going to be a long time until it all comes out. On our side in development finance, we have found that most lenders have automatically granted a 3-month term extension. As you touch on Simon, there is not always the capacity in the original plan to allow for that extension, so then, you know there is that cost of who meets that, as you say. I think as long as the GDV stays somewhere as close to normal, or current than they are okay. But where some schemes may come unstuck is if there is a big element of commercial, unless there was pre lets or pre sales in place then you might find that that space is quite difficult, especially retail, if you have an element of retail in your makeup but, Longer term what do you see, what’s the data telling you on the platform, how has search data changed, where do you think it’s going to go. 41:39 Paul: Yeah, we’ve seen big spikes in our numbers so that sort of where we are hearing the interest coming from. So those kinds of conversions. Like your saying really kind of like commercial space, where do we find that. Using the data sets within Nimbus to work out, do those kinds of conversions work. There is some really interesting things which we are also seeing used, which is looking at what others are doing with their buildings, and interrogating those planning files. So actually, this here is converting to student or to HMO or residential or whatever that might be. 42:17 Ian: And you flagged that? 42:18 Paul: Yeah, absolutely, yeah. 42:19 Simon: I would say looking in the planning files isn’t Paul. In terms of you know people who perhaps have a planning application but know haven’t got the fire power to go and build it out. So maybe they can post it with the money or perhaps cash rich or cash richer, or somebody with that track record can go and deliver those ready projects quicker than perhaps other people can. 42:40 Paul: And that’s kind of the point of local knowledge, that I talked about earlier, having that access to understand which developers are doing what, what are they doing with those buildings. If I’ve got one of those buildings, what are they doing with theirs. Actually, it may work for mine too. Who are they, what are they paying? How. What are the uses they are converting to and who are the end occupiers for those things. So, can I then piece that together on my building and understand that’s worth more than I’ve got proposed. So, all of that stuff is again is one click within the platform, to and find all of that. That allows you to kind of see, how that kind of works. And then obviously, same with that kind of looking at the term like kind of stuff, it is all sort of a single kind of click away, really. So, I think that’s all the melting pot, as you can look at your estate and say, well, actually, how do I reposition this? Which bits are struggling, which bits are going well? And I think I’ve had some interesting feedback from some clients where they’re sort of saying, well, a lot of the big retailers are saying, well, I’ll tell you what, you can have three months’ rent holiday, please have six months’ rent holiday. And I think a lot of the knee jerk reaction is no, you can’t, but actually, some of the companies that are also saying I tell you what, well, if you’re trading well, if you’ve got a viable business that’s going to be here after this lockdown comes back then I’ll tell you what, why don’t I give you that, period as rent free, but let’s talk about an extension of the lease, let’s talk about re-gearing that lease. Let’s talk about dropping that five-year break. So actually, I can see my capital values pushing up because of that, and I’ll give you what you want. If you give me what I want. And we’re actually seeing quite a lot of, it’s a very different question than for those occupiers to you know, if the occupiers trading well and they’ve got a stable business they know it’s going to trade really well once were back after lockdown which isn’t very far from perhaps when you started trading already now, then committed to a slightly longer lease which then gives the landlord a bit more, comfort. They avoid the void they’re gonna have if you decided you want to leave into that new lease and so it’s a very different conversation. Rather than saying I just have some free rent thanks very much or you know, some free occupation which I’m not using what he’s in the building into I’ll tell you what, let’s broker something that works for both parties. And then you get what you want, see then you haven’t got that that expensive rent over that six-month period. He’s taking a longer lease the building want to trade from anyway and get’s working for you. 44:48 Ian: And it might be time with your other point. Were you saying that, if they’re looking to get rid of some assets, and you got two that you know, are comparable and it’s marginal, which when you let go that. That’s sort of act of kindness as it were, might be the difference between them keeping your asset and going elsewhere. 45:09 Paul: Yeah. And in reality, you know, that act of kindness, act of kindness is, if you’ve got a 6% yield in the building, it’s 3% worth of value. If I get that lease correct. I put 1% yield, I add nearly 20% of the building. So, I’m giving 3 making 20. It’s like, well, it’s very kind that Ian, yeah. 45:26 Simon: You know, I think, it comes back to relationships between the landlord and tenant are changing as well. I think that’s a bigger discussion. It’s so buildings as a service, rather than just as a, 15-year lease, and it’s quite a draconian sort of legislation, isn’t it? So your, tenants have already been very subservient to the landlord. But now, I think the balance is coming certainly right back and the leases are getting shorter, more flexibility. 45:50 Ian: Well it’s more choice isn’t there as well. You know, you see, it’s easier to move, especially as we talked about, the technology, is easier to pick up a business that’s been in the same building 10 years then its ever been. And so yes, you have got to, I think you’re right, that balance of power is definitely shifting. 46:10 Paul: We did a webinar last week about HMOs. And the person who hosted the webinar was talking about their approach which measures putting the tenant first switch, designing the building around what the tenant wants and designing everything with that customer first. And of course, in the property industry, we don’t think of that we think of I’m going to put a 10-year FRI lease in place to the best covenant I can for as long as I can have highest rents possibly can. 46:33 Simon: Better to be a shell, they got to reinstate that shell at the end of it, and I’m going to hit them with you know, massive dilapidations. 46:40 Paul: Whereas if you didn’t, say where every other company across the UK puts any successful company, puts the customer first, and so works out what does that customer truly, truly want, and then build a whole business around that customer. In the property industry we don’t do that. But it’s just on top of this absolutely right. As an industry, we should be doing that. It’s just there’s a way to go yet but it’s I think it’s really interesting times as that change happens. 47:02 Ian: Yeah, I think you’re right. It’s kind of any industry you look at globally, that there has been that customer centric approach for quite a while. Amazon and anything like that is built purely around the customer centre. Properties never done that, but it’s starting to, its almost like the leisure sector did it. And then sort of the others are having to take notice now. 47:35 Paul: When we started, there was a number of big companies out there, they said that they’re approached when they buy a new site, there approach is, try to get the tenant not to pay the rent, and as soon as the tenants not paid the rent, send the bailiff in and tell them who’s boss. And that is not putting the customer first. You can see why it’s the case. You know, if I make sure you pay rent on time, you got a 10-year lease, we actually pay rent on time. So put the bailiff in make sure they realise they can’t afford to be late. Send minimum interest calculation based on how late the rent is, but that’s not putting the customer first, it’s smashed. 48:09 Simon: Knowing this choice. Choice and mobility is creating this rebalance of power isn’t it. 48:16 Ian: I guess the rent on rent models that you’re seeing we work etc and you’re starting to see that is achievable, right? Because they have gone to that extra level of service and flexibility that people will pay for. So yeah, just more intense management of your assets actually leads to leads to a better outcome for everyone, I guess. Okay, so what next for you guys? What, what’s the next few years hold for you for Nimbus? How do you see your product evolving? Where next? 48:51 Paul: Yeah so we, we kind of, we display about a 10th of the datasets that we’ve got, so in Nimbus when you log into it, about a 10th of its being displayed and the other nine tenths we’re working very hard with playing with it and getting our head around and using it for sort of some of the site finding services, we do have to kind of bespoke what we do in the background that supports people. So I think you’ll see, as we do more and more of that, I think you’ll see more and more of those kind of things that we enter things that we learn, moving back into the platform and into getting stronger and stronger, fundamentally around that key in finding sites assessing what they work, connecting with owners, and then maximising the, the value from them. And we’ve also got sort of four or five other products that we think are really helpful for our customers and the industry more widely, I think you’ll see us bringing out some it’s a question of when rather than if, and so I think over the next, , few years, you’ll see that happening in the UK. And then we have got a few discussions talking about overseas and, and taking the same technology and, you can scroll out and on Google Maps and scroll in and overseas. Well Nimbus could also follow that. So we’ve got, a few discussions going on with that at the moment, too. So we’ve got a busy few years ahead of us, it seems so. 50:08 Ian: Great. And then what about the wider prop tech industry? Where do you see that going? You know, what, what are the developments? What are the things that you’re seeing at the moment which excite you, where do you think there’s still gaps to innovate? 50:25 Simon: Well, I think data is getting more useful, more trustworthy and more accessible, more of an SME developers, I think, historically. It was, I guess what we said at the outset with more of the preserve of the big corporates but with, the likes of what we’re doing, others are making that more democratising that data, for want of a better phrase, so that means more and more people can access it, more and more people can, can do it. I think gov.uk the government bodies are they recognise this, they understand this. Not only are they releasing more data to the likes of us and the wider the wider world, but they’re also Actually now starting to work on how to be linked the data sets and stuff like that. So we’ve been spending a huge amount time linking it, making it as useful as it possibly can, whether it’s our bespoke work or in the platform and that linkages is you know, born bit data from this data set linked to that one actually then suddenly uncovers enormous opportunity. And so, I think the government to their credit are doing that. And seeing that greater accessibility of data is going to create more activity which means people can build more houses or people can invest in improve redundant buildings, basically put money into local economies or national economies and create economic stimulation, wealth and, the sharing that stuff around. I think going forward it’s inevitable as data becomes more standardised that the likes of you know, a more transparent that a ledger kind of system around sort of blockchai, wanted to standardise will find its way into the to the property industry. It’s an ideal, industry for blockchain to work around about, assessing stuff, acquiring stuff, financing it as well and things like that, trusted transparent audit trail but I feel like that for blockchains to become the backbone of, the property processes, there’s an awful long way to go and you’ve got to get the buy in of the government bodies like the land registry. Absolutely number one, the local planning authorities, the local authorities, there’s such a diversity of, information from the different 426 local authorities as well. So, I think it has to come from above, but there is a definite push for that. And I think that will then just create more trust and transparency then you probably see, maybe cellular acquisitions of, crowdfunding of properties, more transparency, if those blocks and those cells you can have more fluidity for small amounts of money can go into much bigger deals which creates that greater, greater accessibility for people. So I think so there is lots of benefits, but you know a lot of it’s a long journey that we’re all going to have to go on, nothing’s gonna happen overnight. 53:09 Ian: Yeah, I think like you said that the changes can be driven from the top, and historically this hasn’t happened that quickly from outside. You need some of the private sector to innovate and show that it works. But then like you say it needs to buy in, to have a much broader set of stakeholders. 53.32 Simon: I think the government have recognised that, with regards to the open source data, have realised that they’re sitting on a lot of economic stimulation, most I never need ever if they give people like ourselves, and they know that the developer and that was the entrepreneurial industry access to it, they will find ways in which they can find use of it, to create these things, because ultimately, that’s what we’re all about, building houses, or building new buildings, or changing buildings and putting money into them and it just creates positivity, doesn’t it across the board? 54:02 Paul: I think what we are seeing, certainly from my point of view and talking to a lot of customers, and to a lot of people in the industry. And I think if you think about where the world was five years ago, there were no property companies talking about data. For me, the dirty word is, it has been a dirty word, for the last five years. And data is information, information is knowledge, knowledge is power. So you almost have to take people on a journey, to understand what data is. But it’s been a dirty word. And as soon as you say it will glaze over and think, oh, it’s just I don’t understand, I don’t know. But I think we are now seeing, the SME come forward and say I now need to take control. Certainly, the bigger, the medium size, and the large companies are very clear. We have to have a data strategy; we need to take control of our data. And that’s flowing right through the industry. Certainly what I see and say is I need to understand my data ready to acquire data, because that sort of light bulbs gone on the data, information and knowledge, we understand the power of knowledge and more we want local knowledge and why that’s so important. But I think what people haven’t really made the connection to, is that that is data and therefore, it’s now no longer a dirty word. Now we need to start harnessing it. And I think that’s what I’ve certainly seen over the course the last few years how that that’s a mind shift has changed. And I think that’s kind of very exciting for, for where that where the industry can now go. 55:17 Ian: Can know realise its potential. I’d like to ask you both about what you think the biggest challenges that the industry and possibly society face with regards to property and land distribution becoming housing, the housing shortage, where do you think, finances obviously, one thing that’s a big thing, SMEs, always talk about, lack of appropriate funding, which obviously something where we’re trying to help with, but planning is a big problem still only where no one else can be done in the private sector to aid SMEs and to really benefit society as a whole in terms of addressing the housing shortage. 56:05 Paul: Yeah, so I think it’s kind of interesting if you look back 10 years ago, and the split of new houses that were built between SMEs and the big PLC’s was about 5050. And what you see now is that ratio is completely changed. And actually it’s about 10% SME development rather than the bigger corporates. And I think if you’re if you’re a PLC, you’ve got your land team that land team’s got a track record, it’s got then relationships, agents, sort of supplying these sites in and actually there’s agents of I think with that, it’s relatively easy to sustain those levels of housing that’s being delivered. But actually, the SME has got it, the SME market has got this huge untapped potential in it. It was comfortable and it no longer is. And so I think the SME markets is where you really can move that needle, and that’s, about the power of that community. How can we how can we support that community to really, find the right sites to know those sites when they found them than work and kind of our own experience of that has been that we’re not necessarily assessing sites early enough, you go to a site, you get a feel about it, you go look a fit couple of semi’s on there or something like that. And actually, then you find it floods and then you find the buildings listed. And actually, you can’t get those in for there’s some view or whatever it is that kind of, and then you chase the wrong bit, all that stuff that pushes the SME into the wrong place. And so I think, that challenge, then sort of ease with the likes of Nimbus, being able to search in areas where those problems aren’t there. So you’re giving yourself a fighting chance of finding something that is going to work, because you’ve set the ground, you’ve set the debate up properly for yourself, those things aren’t going to come back and sting you. So I think that’s where the biggest challenges is, re engaging and reigniting the SME marketplace, giving them confidence, showing them where they can get their stuff from, finding plenty of sites, the biggest challenge we found as an SME was with the supply of sites, it was, forever trying to look off your agent, you’re forever trying to encourage the agent to send you that off market site they found to you. And so actually, if you can generate that list, that sort of site that those sites through into your business, and you can really drive that scale in, then you can choose the stuff that works. And you haven’t got to chase the wrong one, if you’ve only got one to work on. That’s, that’s how you can really move the needle in the industry is to is to engage that SME marketplace, to give them the tools that the big developers of Aviva have got, or they’re working on fewer and fewer sites, and they do it manually so that there’s less to do if you like, and then off the back of that you’re setting up to succeed because they’re picking the right stuff in the right areas where they’re going to get support because fundamentally, we’ve got a housing shortage in the UK. So if you if you take sites forward that are in settlements in sustainable locations, for housing that’s built in line with the character of the surrounding area, you will get a planning ticket. It’s not rocket science. 59:14 Simon: If you have to knock the building down there, again it comes back to entrepreneurial nature, the SME marketplace, they can use existing buildings, they can repurpose buildings, they can take what was upstairs undervalued or underutilised, and converting something else industrial buildings into other space. So that entrepreneurial nature of the industry is brilliant in terms of once you give them the opportunity to work these things out. But first of fact, you have a pipeline of, of site, if you’ve got that dialogue going, somebody may not be ready to sell their property now, but they might sell it in two or three years time. We hear that all the time. Well, if you put a letter across their desk, and then in two or three years time or you have decided to, retire now I’d like to have a proper dialogue with you and work with you in terms of, the numbers and the rest of it. And if you can have that, I think if you have that transparent relationship with the vendor or with the date and you can back it up with information and this has been sold here, this is what I’m going to go and do. Everybody gets what they want out of it to a decent level of developer needs a profit, otherwise, it’s never going to work. So they’ve got to get the whole thing to stack up, you’ve got to open dialogue. Can you say, we’re gonna build a quality building and we’re going to do this stuff the other with it, but I think the vendors will back with that track record of trying to make things, happen and be a positive environmental change for the local areas and things. 1:00:31 Ian: Okay, I think, what we see, I think as funding gets better, planning gets better. And all of these software tools, now bringing it all together. I think you will find that SME sector will grow again and will become, a more powerful deliverer of housing and I think you’re right guys, having the instinct. 1:01:01 Paul: I think it’s also interesting, kind of as you say, because that’s one of the other key challenges around that sector. Part of it is price and getting the right number of sites and picking the right stuff. But then it’s also how far can my money go. And on Brickflow, which is showing you actually, for the same site, same scheme, two different lenders, I keep putting in a fraction of the amount of equity into one as opposed to the other, which means the money goes twice as far as I can then develop more, I can get more size for buying rights at the same time, then, of course, we’ve got all the component parts set up to make money out of these schemes, I’m making my money go as far as I possibly can. So I’ve got the right, debt in place and the right the right funding structure. And then of course, that then where that needle can be moved. It’s really exciting. 1:01:46 S: So I think that goes back to I think this conversation is all about we’ve got a responsibility between our software solutions to ensure that that we can in the background linked together so that that SME developer has a relatively clean sort of progress through this journey we bring together these component parts together. So find and assessing them and funding them. It’s so valuable, isn’t it? So we have to do the hard jobs in the background to, work together as we are to so make sure that SME marketplace has the toolkit, they need to do things efficiently without burning a load of money and time and abortive work, which is ultimately allows them to be more productive, doesn’t it, which is good. 1:02:23 P: If either falls down along that way, then the developer just fundamentally held back. If they both work harmoniously together, then they can skip forward. And that’s the trick isn’t it. 1:02:31 I: Yeah, I think if you deliver an end to end solution where you can find and fund through to the same tools, then you really, are getting somewhere in the space that nobody’s been before and will truly add value. So yeah, this is something we need to work on guys for sure. Okay, so we’ve come to the end. So Just wanted to touch on finally. What are your hopes and ambitions for Nimbus over say the next few years? What’s your legacy? 1:03:14 P: Legacy? Well, I suppose, we want to support our marketplace. That’s what gets us out of bed in the morning. It’s that smell of stale cigarette and plaster. We love that marketplace, we love the retouching of buildings, it’s always fascinating to watch a building come out of the ground and see how it’s going to end up in this stuff. And I think for us, we haven’t scratched the surface of what we can do yet. And where the data sets and information that we hold and the and the insights we’re driving out of those data sets is, becoming more and more exciting, it’s really, some of the things we can now do that we haven’t really dreamed of five years ago, we started on this journey and some of the stuff we can now do, and it’s in a platform you kind of click a button and bang, there it is, it’s blows your mind really, in some of those things that we, were so impressed with back in the time, we suddenly thought, well, we could do this. And that would give us this amazing result, picking the right architects or all this stuff that just changes what can be done. We really have, in starter steps, and every time you put something together and you do something else, you find something else that can then be really exciting. I think what you’ll find is that, really our hopes and our plans and reasons to continue supporting what we’re doing is to try and drive as much. 1:04:34 S: I think supporting that marketplace is now, I think we want more and more people to benefit from property ownership, property investment, property developments, we drive a lot of automation through our business to try and keep the cost down. So we can, give you the fair price, that marketplace so it has a sort of ubiquitous nature. So anybody can, it’s a meritocracy that they can use it and, loads of people want to get into this industry, loads of people love it, they want to experience that stuff, meet there. I think we have got to be there to support them. And I think what rewards us the most is if we can support them. It’s a lot of education, educating ourselves and what you can do with the data sets. And then it’s also educating ourselves and finding out this thing is to sharing, it’s about the world, about sharing these days, isn’t it? And we just want our legacies hopefully, that we shared and we learn somewhere we’re sharing and making more people prosperous, is the driver for us at the moment. 1:05:34 I: I think that’s key as well for us. He says, there’s plenty of people that are capable of operating in this space, but they just don’t have the tools like from either the education, the knowledge to know how to use the information that you guys get, and then on the funding side as well, a lot of builders, I’d say builders means that or trade part of the developers space. And for most of these guys, the thought of going to speak to a bank or having an in depth conversation with a lender is something they just never want to do. They just want to get on with building. And similarly, I imagine this, similar apathy to, , go in and do lots of research on sites, they just want to know that it works fundamentally, they want to just get on and build it and they want the funding. And I think if you can. Those people are capable of doing it by giving them the tools, then I think you really could unleash a serious momentum. 1:06:45 P: How many people buy one site that doesn’t really work and then realise the value of doing it. It’s a necessary thing that you want to do otherwise, because the downstream impact of buying the wrong site that’s got a constraint you didn’t know about whatever is. 1:06:57 S: It’s the wastage. I mean, what Amazon’s done for retail, if I want this thing I get on prime, I get it delivered in a in a van tomorrow I could go on a journey I could go into town, I could go run, the whole thing and come back empty handed. So which would you rather do, I’d rather click a button and have it delivered to my front door. I mean, that’s, the world that we’re living in, I think property will get closer and closer to that, and then they can do their bit with that asset is or whatever they want to do with that property when it comes to their front door. That’s the world. 1:07:29 I: I think that’s when you start getting into modular, designing your own spaces room by room and stuff, which is probably a whole other topic. We can do another day. Cool. Okay, guys. Well, thank you both very much for your time. Really, really interesting, to chat to you guys and just getting a good overview of what Nimbus does, obviously, but how that fits into the wider industry in prop tech in general. So thank you. Thank you very much for coming. 1:07:57 S: Thank you for having us. Outro (Ian): Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Brick by Brick. The podcast for the property development industry. It was really interesting to hear Paul and Simon’s views on the Proptech industry and the growing importance of data. Both they and I agree that the SME sector is key to solving the UK’s housing shortage. The PLC’s won’t do it on their own. The forecasted changes to the planning system by the government should further assist SME’s, so the time is right. Large housebuilders have whole departments dedicated to finding the right sites and the right finance. If you’re an SME you probably can’t afford to employ someone full-time just to find the best sites or the best loan each time you’re looking at a site. By using Proptech & Fintech platforms like Nimbus and Brickflow, you can outsource those functions, allowing you to punch above your weight. Leverage the tech to your advantage, that’s what it is there for. Anyway, we’ll be back again soon with another episode alongside other industry insiders, sharing their own property journeys as well as their tips and tricks to help you get ahead in the property development industry. If you’ve enjoyed this show, we’d really appreciate it if you would leave us a review and share the podcast with your property industry peers. And remember to get in touch about this topic or any future topic by emailing us at podcast@brickflow.com Until next time, take care. Search Loans info@brickflow.com © 2020 Property Funding Hub Limited \| Terms & Conditions \| Privacy Policy \| Cookie Policy Get in touch with one of the team, or book a demo of Brickflow Book a one to one	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line302
__label__wiki	0.581711	0.581711	Home › Joseph Lorusso Joseph Lorusso Artist at the Broadmoor Galleries Joseph Lorusso Another Vision (Georgia O’Keeffe) Away With the Wind 48 Round Bull on Blue Convertible Kisses Her Favorite Sweater Midtown Light Morning Light in Lower Manhattan Waiting At The Bar JOSEPH LORUSSO was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1966 and received his formal training at the American Academy of Art. He went on to receive his B.F.A. degree from the Kansas City Art Institute. Born of Italian descent, Lorusso was exposed to art at an early age. Through several early trips to Italy, his parents introduced him to the works of the Italian Masters. Lorusso would look to these influences throughout his early artistic development and they are still evident in his work today. While in school, Lorusso majored in watercolor and considers himself self-taught as an oil painter. He learned to paint by studying the works of master painters, often losing himself in the halls of the Chicago Art Institute during lunch hours, which frequently turned into afternoons of self-study. Joseph Lorusso creates landscapes and figurative works. In painting these subjects, Lorusso has concentrated on honing his powers of observation, especially as it concerns to color, texture, form and composition. Lorusso’s paintings have been described as warm and dreamlike, places of restful escape with a sense of spirituality, and share timelessness with the works of other eras. Discovering the works of the Impressionists, he gravitated towards the works of Manet and Vuillard. Lorusso searched for similar work of such emotion and soon became an avid student of painting, seeking out and immersing himself in the works of various artists. This path would ultimately lead him to the works of Sargent, Sorolla, Whistler and a whole army of lesser-known yet equally capable painters. Within this group of artists, Lorusso would find a sense of identity. In these masterful works, he saw the power to harness emotion and convey it with power and confidence, yet with delicacy and tasteful restraint. He also saw in these artists the ability to express the “essence” of an object with just a few carefully chosen brushstrokes, creating a visceral and intuitive state of painting. Says Lorusso, “I believe truly great art serves as a trigger into something deeper within all of us”. The mood and emotion conveyed in Lorusso’s paintings evokes a deep sense of beauty found in the quiet times of daily living. His people are mysterious, lonely, romantic and yet familiar, placed in settings we often see ourselves. Lorusso’s paintings have gained notoriety by their ability to connect with the viewer, resonating in a way that is intimate and personal. While in school, Lorusso was recruited by Hallmark Cards, Inc. and from 1988 to 1999 served as an artist in their greeting card division. Lorusso has served as instructor of painting and drawing at the Kansas City Art Institute and the Scottsdale Artists School. Lorusso’s work has been shown internationally and has won numerous awards and honors. He has been featured in American Artist magazine, Southwest Art, U.S. Art, Art & Antiques, The Artists Magazine, Art News, American Art Collector, International Artist and Art Talk magazines.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line304
__label__wiki	0.888719	0.888719	Australian Poetry Journal APJ Forewords The Best Australian Poetry BAP Forewords University of Queensland Press Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize Reviews of Bronwyn Lea Essays and book chapters Forewords Tag: Sorrows of Young Werther Booker-Prize-winner Eleanor Catton and male critics aging badly You could forgive a reader for thinking that journalists were writing about 16 year-old Lorde who topped the US charts last week with her song Royals, not a 28-year-old writer who already has an award-winning book under her belt, as well as a degree in English from the University of Canterbury, a Masters from Victoria University’s Institute of Modern Letters, and an MFA from the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop. That’s the extent to which journalists around the world made a fuss of Eleanor Catton’s “tender age” – which anyone reading the book pages must know by now is 28 (I can even quote her birthday without Googling: 24 September, which makes her a Libran) – when her 832-page novel, The Luminaries, won the 2013 Man Booker Prize. Until Catton displaced him, Ben Okri held the record for youngest Booker winner when he won for The Famished Road (1991) at age 32. Before him it was Kazuo Ishiguro and Salman Rushdie, who were both 34 at the time of their respective wins for Remains of the Day (1989) and Midnight’s Children (1981). Yet not one of these authors were framed by their youth. Nor were they described as looking “remarkably self-possessed”, as Nick Clark kindly but nonetheless patronizingly described Catton’s demeanor “the morning after the night that changed her life.” There are a number of reasons why Catton’s age might have become the headline: the Booker is Britain’s most prestigious literary prize and to win at all is a colossal achievement. And she did break the decade barrier. The profiles of Booker Prize winners shows that most of them have their first success at around 30, peak in their 40s, then die twenty-odd years later. Historically, some literary giants are late bloomers, yet many others burn bright from an early age. Alexander Pope wrote his much-anthologised “Ode on Solitude” when he was 12 and published The Rape of the Lock (1712) when he was 24. By 24 Shakespeare had written Henry VI (1591). By age 20 Jane Austen had written Sense and Sensibility, Mary Shelley had written Frankenstein – both books were published a few years later in 1811 and 1818 respectively – and Rimbaud had retired from writing. Goethe published The Sorrows of Young Werther (1786) when he was 25 and Emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights (1847) when she was 28 – by that age John Keates was already three-years buried. Hemingway published The Sun Also Rises (1926) at age 27, but F. Scott Fitzgerald didn’t publish The Great Gatsby (1925) until he was 29 – in fairness he already had published two books before he composed his Jazz Age classic. Likewise Bret Easton Ellis published two novels before American Psycho (1991) appeared when he was 27. But authorial precocity is not quarantined to centuries past: Zadie Smith published White Teeth (2000) when she was 25 – the same age Jonathan Safran Foer was when Everything Is Illuminated (2002) came out. Of course none of these writers won the Booker: it didn’t exist until 1969; and American authors, until last month, have been barred from entering. Though The Luminaries was generally well-received in Britain, Catton said in an interview in the Guardian that it was “subject to a ‘bullying’ reception from certain male reviewers of an older generation – particularly in New Zealand.” “People whose negative reaction has been most vehement have all been men over about 45,” she says. London-based, New Zealand author and critic CK Stead got stuck on what he called the novel’s “chintzy upholstered tone”. He also became an antagonist in a particularly apoplectic review by Michael Morrissey, a 71-year old novelist and poet from Auckland, who writes: “Eleanor Catton, it seems, can do no wrong, but is she doing anything right – apart from selling well?” Catton’s first novel, The Rehearsal, so Morrissey informs us, was “written when the author was virtually a child of 21 (or so)” and “set a new hallmark in schoolgirlish bitchiness, as well as including flashes of purple writing – understandable in one so young. Femmes were impressed; chaps less so.” The Rehearsal, Morrissey concedes – published in 17 territories and 12 languages – was “an impressive achievement for one barely out of school uniform.” But before he can find his way to the text, Morrissey has more to say about Catton’s person: “The pensive-featured, marginally beautiful Ms Catton was made an adjunct professor at Iowa University.” [At this point in the review, I scrolled to the masthead to see if I had stumbled onto The Onion or some other satirical site.] He also offered Catton some grandfatherly advice, inside which is a wonderfully wrong prediction: “she must not let potential Man Booker (which will probably go to Jhumpa Lahiri) go to her thought-crowded head.” O, these damned scribbling women! At least Nicholas Lezard had the grace to wrap his envy in humour: “Failure is good for the soul,” he writes. “At least that’s what I tell myself as I contemplate the successful young.” But Catton has better things to do than to contemplate the not-as-successful-as-they’d-like-to-be old. “One of those things that you learn in school about any kind of bullying is that it’s always more to do with them than it is to do with you,” she says. “I don’t see that my age has anything to do with what is between the covers of my book, any more than the fact that I am right-handed. It’s a fact of my biography, but it’s uninteresting.” Eleanor Catton has already sold the rights to The Luminaries, which she hopes will become a boxed set television show, rather than film. If she succeeds, which I’m betting she will, it will be a bucket of water in the face for “select male reviewers over 45”. “I’m melting,” they will cry as they fall in a puddle, but no one will be listening. Bronwyn Lea does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations. This article was originally published at The Conversation. Read the original article. Author bronwynleaPosted on October 21, 2013 October 21, 2013 Categories CommentaryTags Ben Okri, Booker, Bret Easton Ellis, Eleanor Catton, Emily Bronte, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitgerald, Famished Road, Fiction, Goethe, Iowa Writers Workshop, Jane Austen, Jazz Age, John Keats, Jonathan Safran Foer, Kazuo Ishiguro, Man Booker Prize, Mary Shelley, New Zealand, Salman Rushdie, Shakespeare, Sorrows of Young Werther, Zadie Smith1 Comment on Booker-Prize-winner Eleanor Catton and male critics aging badly Bronwyn Lea is the author of four books of poems: Flight Animals; The Wooden Cat and Other Poems; The Other Way Out; and most recently The Deep North: A Selection of Poems published by George Braziller Inc. in 2013. Her poems are widely anthologised, appearing most recently in Thirty Australian Poets, Australian Poetry Since 1788, Sixty Classic Australian Poems, and The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry. As Poetry Editor at the University of Queensland Press her list included award-winning titles by Australia’s most distinguished poets – David Malouf, John Tranter, Laurie Duggan, John Kinsella, and many others. Bronwyn reviews poetry, fiction and non-fiction for a number of literary pages, and she is a Politics and Society columnist at The Conversation. She lives in Brisbane and teaches literature and writing at the University of Queensland. Reviews about Bronwyn Bronwyn Lea reviews Collected Poems by Les Murray Australian Poetry Now A gift adrift: what the loss of RN’s Poetica means to poets Bronwyn Lea reviews The Doll’s House directed by Lally Katz Ted hughes: she sent him a blade of grass Bronwyn Lea Blog at WordPress.com.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line305
__label__cc	0.74037	0.25963	Home › Uncategorized › Boundary County Idaho Boundary County Idaho bryandspellman Posted on December 22, 2020 Posted in Uncategorized No Comments Introducing Boundary County Idaho Boundary County got its name because it borders Washington’s Pend Oreille County to the west, Montana’s Lincoln County to the east, and the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. On January 23rd, 1915, the Idaho Legislature took the northern part of Bonner County to create the new Boundary County Idaho. The County has retained its original size, 1,278 square miles, of which 9.3 are water. The 1920 U.S. Census, Boundary County’s first, found 4,474 people living in the County. The 2018 estimate suggests 11,948 live there now. A Brief History of Boundary County Edward L. Bonner built a trading post on the Kootenai River in 1864. He also built a trading post at that location. Ten years later, he sold his operations to Richard Fry. Fry and his family lived in the area for another ten years as the only white folk in the Kootenai Valley. Settlers began arriving in the 1890s, and in 1893, Bonners Ferry was born. Vast stands of timber brought logging operations into the area, and the population began to grow. The Great Northern Railway came through in the 1880s. By the late 1890s, rumors surfaced that a new railroad was in the works. Indeed it was, and construction of the Kootenai Valley Railroad began in 1898. The new railroad was a subsidiary of the Great Northern, and James J. Hill was behind it. It connected the Great Northern with Kootenay Lake in British Columbia. Hill ran steamships across the lake, but in 1913 he sold off his Canadian holdings. Passenger service between Bonners Ferry and Porthill at the border continued for another year. Freight service until the 1970s. A fascinating article on the Boundary County Museum’s website indicates that travelers could expect the trip to take four hours. They cite “frequent stops and regular derailments.” I should hope so. We’re talking a distance of 27 miles. The Boundary County Museum Writes Another captivating article, written by Howard Kent, looks at Boundary County in 1916. One year after the County’s creation, brought Prohibition to all of Idaho. Kent writes that 1916 was a flood year. The road connecting Bonners Ferry with Eastport on the Canadian border was closed for three months. Kent doesn’t just write about 1916. He goes both back in time, and forward. He connects the activities and buildings of a former age with what you’d see and do in Boundary County today. I recommend his short article. In fact, I recommend visiting the Boundary County Museum’s website. They’ve done a good job of writing up and sharing the County’s history. And if you’re in Bonners Ferry, by all means pay them a visit. They are located at 7229 Main Street, Bonners Ferry, ID 83805 and their website is https://boundarycountymuseum.org The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho The Kutenai (Ktunaxa,Kútonâqa, Kootenai) gave their name to the river that flows through Boundary County. A smaller group than most of their neighbors, the Kutanai today are broken into six separate bands. Four are in Canada, one in Montana and one in Boundary County, Idaho. They speak a language unrelated to any other languages in the Pacific Northwest. The Kutenai believe they were on earth to “keep the Creator-Spirit’s Covenant—to guard and keep the land forever.” The website of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho states that “no Kootenai ever signed the treaty.” It’s hard to say which “treaty” they are talking about. When Isaac Stevens called the Council Grove meeting in 1855, representatives of the Kootenai were present. Chief Michelle was the lead representative for them. He did put his X on the Hellgate Treaty, but did he understand what he was doing? Whether white America believed that all the Kootenai were safely on a reservation or if they just chose to ignore the Idaho Kootenai, I can’t say. The fact remains that the Idaho Kootenai lived without official U.S. acknowledgment until 1974. That year, they declared war on the U.S. There were sixty-seven Idaho Kootenai at that time. The U.S. responded by granting the tribe twelve and a half acres I guess the Indians won the war. Since then,the tribe has done well. In 1986, they opened the Kootenai River Inn on the south bank of the River in Bonners Ferry. The Inn has an indoor pool, a fitness center, banquet and meeting rooms. It also is home to the tribal casino, and both a restaurant and a deli. The tribe also owns a campground and RV park, the Twin Rivers Canyon Resort. As part of their promise to guard the land, they have a fish hatchery at the resort. The Kootenai are restoring sturgeon to the rivers of north Idaho. Bonners Ferry, The Seat of Boundary County Idaho The Boundary County Courthouse Bonners Ferry, Idaho I have already mentioned how Edward L. Bonner set up a trading post and ran a ferry across the Kootenai River. Also how he sold the business to Richard Fry. When enough settlers arrived to warrant a post office, that facility carried the name “Fry.” When the town incorporated in 1893, however, it kept Bonner’s name, just without the apostrophe. On a personal note, I will say that every English teacher I ever had would insist on there being an apostrophe before the s in the town’s name. I have trouble typing the name without one. So, as you’re reading this post, you may come across the occsional Bonner’s Ferry. Just bear with me. I wouldn’t want Mr. Gehman to be angry with me. Bonners Ferry got its start with the miners heading north to gold fields in Canada. Then came the timber workers. Starting in 1883, the steamer Midge carried passengers and freight between the city and its neighbors to the north. Looking at the Kootenai River today, it’s hard to imagine a large boat being able to navigate the river. Although at high water… Of course Midge’s day was long before Libby Dam “tamed” the river’s flow. The Kootenai River Bridge Food and Lodging in Bonners Ferry Yelp.com lists eleven places to stay in Bonners Ferry. The Northside School B&B sounds particularly inviting. A different caravansary has only one review, and its a pip. Stephen King couldn’t have done better. It’s also short, so I’ll quote it in its entirety. I just won’t mention the establishment’s name. my grandfather was a resident at this horror house. his two cats were shot in front of him by a psychopath named larry. please do not stay here. many other places. a true nightmare. Now doesn’t that make you want to check the place out? As far as restaurants go, Yelp lists twenty-four. Subway and Simple Simon’s are the only chains. Most serve “American” cuisine, but one in particular caught my eye. I think, next time I’m in Bonners Ferry, I need to have lunch at the Bonners Ferry Pupuseria. OK. I had to look it up. What else. A pupuseria is a place that serves pupusas. Duh! I’ve never tried Salvadoran food. I didn’t even know that was a thing. I learn so much writing these posts. And next time I’m in Bonners Ferry… Full disclosure: the place got a 1-star review. But the writer didn’t mention any Salvadoran food, just macaroni salad and a PBJ sandwich. Why go to an ethnic restaurant and order PBJ? Some people. One other place to check out is the Pearl Theater. Located in an old church, the Pearl offers live music, theatre, dramatic readings. You can rent the venue for your event, and while everything is on hold right now, a glance at their past events makes me wish the Pearl were closer. Other Communities (for lack of a better term) Moyie Springs is the only other “city” in Boundary County. Moyie Springs is the first town you reach driving west from Montana on U.S. Highway 2. Less than ten miles northeast of Bonners Ferry, Moyie Springs is probably most famous for its location near the Moyie River Canyon. The town got its post office in 1927. Incorporation came some twenty years later. The 1950 Census counted 109 residents. The 2019 estimate suggests 761 folk live there now. The Moyie River Bridge Moyie Springs, Idaho South of Bonners Ferry South of Bonners Ferry, my map shows three black dots with names. Of those, only Naples rates a mention on Wikipedia. Named for the Italian city, thanks to a large number of Italian railroad workers in the 1880s, Naples today is most noted for being the closest community to the Ruby Ridge standoff in 1992. At least one commentator suggests that Ruby Ridge was the birth of the militia movement in the U.S. The other two black dots on my map are labeled Moravia and McArthur. Moravia shows up a lot in a google search, but none of the sites I looked at give any real information about the place. The one exception is a genealogical site that lists more Boundary County communities than my map can account for. It states “All that remains of the town are the cemetery, the school house (now a residence), and a motel (also now a residence.)” It adds that the community had a post office from 1903 to 1917 and again from 1918 to 1943. McArthur does not show up on the genealogy list, even though, like Moravia, it has an historic cemetery. It is best known as the location of the McArthur Lake Wildlife Management Area. North of Bonners Ferry My DeLorme Idaho Atlas shows four black dots north of Bonners Ferry. Two are on Idaho Highway 1. These are Copeland and Porthill. The genealogy site says “Still a thriving community, Copeland had a post office from 1900 to 1972.” The most detailed information comes from Diggings, a website devoted to mines and mining. It tells us that Copeland has 53 total mines and 2030 total claims, of which 1,975 are closed. On the site are buttons to link you to further information about all those mines and claims, should you be interested. The site also informs us that Copeland is on the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail. Porthill Another eleven miles northwest of Copeland, and the end of Idaho Highway 1, is Porthill. The genealogy site is downright offusive about Porthill, zip code 83853. Here is more than you ever wanted to know about Porthill, Idaho. It was in December 1893 that “Ockonook” became the official name of the new post office with ex-customs official; J. I. Barnes was its postmaster. A more correct spelling of Ockonook is Ahquonook, which means rocky and grassy hillside. Editor Taylor was appalled that they had decided on such a “heathen savage” name. On January 1, 1897, the site was renamed Port Hill, after customs inspector C. P. “Chippy” Hill. He had acquired most of the town site through a mineral claim. In 1916 Port Hill was the second largest community with a monthly newspaper published by S. T. Jordan. David McLaughlin was the official weather recorder. Porthill is also home to a border crossing. Idaho Highway 1 becomes British Columbia Highway 21 and leads on to Creston, BC. The border is closed at night, so get there before 11:00 p.m. or you’ll have to wait till the next morning. The old US Customs house is on the National Register of Historic Places. Staying on U.S. 95 Just before you get to Copeland, US Highway 95 turns northeast to pass by Addie and end at Eastport. Beyond Eastport, you’ll be on British Columbia Highway 95 headed for Cranbrook. We won’t go there this trip. Addie shows on the map, but all that remains is the old school. It had a post office from 1908 to 1954. It also has a store. In fact, that’s pretty much all that’s there now. And it’s not even Addie these days. Sometime in the 1950s,Paul Springs bought the store and didn’t tell his wife. When she found out, she cried “Good Grief!” And that’s what everyone says these days. The town, and I use the term loosely,even made it to the TV show Hee Haw. They saluted the community announcing that it was home to “three people, two dogs, and one old grouch.” New owners bought the place in 2019 and you’ll have to reach them through Facebook. They don’t have a landline. And that brings us to Eastport. Unlike Porthill, Eastport is a 24 hour crossing. That is, when we’re allowed to cross the border. I’ve been through Eastport several times. Can’t say I remember anything there except the border. But then again, I don’t remember Good Grief. I need to pay more attention the next time I head to Cranbrook. And That’s Why It’s Called Boundary County Boundary County’s Topography Leads to Recreation Two valleys define Boundary County Idaho. The Kootenai River and the Moyie River both cut through mountain ranges. Both rivers originate in British Columbia. The Moyie flows into the Kootenai just east of Bonners Ferry, and at that city, the Kootenai turns north again to re-enter Canada at Porthill. The Selkirk Mountains cover western Boundary County, and the Cabinets take precedence in the eastern part of the County. McArthur Lake is the only lake of any size in the County. The Boundary County Chamber of Commerce has a great page on their website dedicated to recreational opportunities. They even have a map you can download and print. They list eleven different attractions, as well as four waterfalls,and four scenic drives. I’ll be taking the list with me on my next trip. My Next Trip to Boundary County Idaho I have been to and through Boundary County Idaho many times. Usually it was passing through on my way to Cranbrook, British Columbia or taking a scenic drive to Sandpoint. That said, writing this post, as always, showed me how much I’ve missed. Good Grief! Just to mention one. I’ve never driven Idaho Highway 1 past Copeland to Porthill. I’ve never taken any of the four scenic drives the Chamber of Commerce recommends. And I’ve never had Salvadorean cuisine. Believe me, I won’t be ordering macaroni salad when I eat my pupusas. Again, I hope you’ve enjoyed this time spent in Boundary County Idaho. Last week we looked at the southern neighbor, Bonner County. Next week we’ll travel quite a distance to visit Butte County. For now, we’re skipping 8B, Bonneville County, because I need to go back to Idaho Falls and get some photos to share. So what’s left to say but I’ve created a word search puzzle with 24 names from Boundary County. Most, but not all, appear in the text of this post. If you’d like to play along, go to my Boundary County Puzzle page. It will probably be best if you print it out before you take a pen to your screen. Previous Post is ‹ No pasta pasta dishes Next Post is My Photography Sales in 2012 ›	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line307
__label__cc	0.744343	0.255657	About Us Benefits Environment Inside View Video Open Jobs Company Information Registered Nurse - Clinical Trials Unit - 1.0 FTE Set up a Job Alert to be notified when Seattle Cancer Care Alliance posts new jobs. The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), located in Seattle, Washington, is part of a dynamic collaboration among three organizations known nationally and internationally for their patient care and research: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington, and Seattle Children's. Over the past 25 years, these institutions have worked together to support their mission of adult and pediatric oncology patient care services, research and education. Our nurses are partners, decision-makers, researchers—and life changers. Here, nurses are fundamental to the excellent care that Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) provides to patients. In addition to competitive salaries, excellent benefits and a diverse and dynamic work environment, we amplify the talents and gifts of SCCA nurses through Expanded educational opportunities Higher educational reimbursement programs Mentorships and presentations at local, regional, national and international conferences Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is committed to cultivating a workplace in which diverse perspectives and experiences are welcomed and respected. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity and VEVRAA Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, ancestry, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, political ideology, or membership in any other legally protected class. We are an Affirmative Action employer. We encourage individuals with diverse backgrounds to apply and desire priority referrals of protected veterans. Read EEO is the Law poster here. If due to a disability you need assistance/and or a reasonable accommodation during the application or recruiting process, please send a request to our Employee Services Center at escmail@fredhutch.org or by calling (206) 667-4700. Read SCCA’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy here. We are proud to offer best-in-class medical and disability insurance as well as retirement fund options. Our medical staff members are provided with an excellent benefit package as well as other perks including discounts at restaurants, health clubs and transportation. We not only care about the well-being of all of our staff, but want to assure you that you do not have to worry about your well-being as you focus on what matters most—our patients. Relocation - Generous relocation package available Employee Health Clinic - Onsite employee health clinic services are free for employees enrolled in a Kaiser or Premera Blue Cross plan Retirement - 403(b) defined contribution plan with a 7% employer contribution after 1 year and 1000 hours of service Bright Horizons Care Advantage Hutch Kids Child Care Center Tuition Reimbursement Program Subsidized Orca card and tax-advantaged transportation options Our environment and culture: When you join SCCA, you join a world-class team. U.S. News & World Report has ranked Seattle Cancer Care Alliance/University of Washington Medical Center among the top Best Hospitals in the Nation for Adult Cancer Treatment. Our nurses set us apart from the rest — and make us better. Here at SCCA, nurses, clinicians, researchers, and technicians in one area of expertise work directly with teams from other disciplines including care coordinators, nutritionists, and physical therapists to provide our patients with the best care possible. Our team approach yields better outcomes across the entire spectrum of cancers, as confirmed in a 2015 first-of-its-kind study commissioned by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. We are also proud to be one of the few designated Centers of Excellence by the NIH. Our medical staff has access to the most modern laboratory equipment and imaging facilities available. With Fred Hutch next door to our main clinic, it’s possible for research in our nurses’ and doctors’ labs to be implemented at our patients’ bedsides. Because our cross-disciplined teams can also design their own unique facilities, breakthroughs in the labs can be integrated into our clinic as efficiently as possible.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line312
__label__cc	0.734662	0.265338	MPA Legislative Academy MPA Political Action Committee MPA Committees Early Career Psychologists Committee Educational Affairs Committee Professional Practice Committee Public Education Committee Home Study CE CE FAQ’s Workshop Proposals MPA Co-Sponsorship MPAGS About MPAGS MPAGS Convention Psychology Info Current Topics in Psychology Psychotherapy FAQ About MPA MPA Corporate Partnership Advertise with MPA Maryland Psychological Association > Career Center Assistant/Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Osteopathic Principles and Practice Pikeville, Kentucky Academic / Research The University of Pikeville, Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine (KYCOM) is currently seeking qualified candidates for the position of Assistant/Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Osteopathic Principles and Practice. This full-time position is under the supervision of the Chair of the Department of Osteopathic Principles and Practice and the Chair of the Department of Family Medicine. This position is a shared position and has a faculty appointment in both the Departments of Family Medicine and Osteopathic Principles and Practice with direct responsibility for teaching, osteopathic clinical research, and service in the Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine (KYCOM). Duties/Responsibilities: Responsible for teaching in those courses and associated labs within the Department of Family Medicine and the Department of Osteopathic Principles and Practice, as assigned by the respective chairs. Participates in and recommends curriculum development and evaluation. Assists in the preparation of course syllabi, objectives, lecture schedules, and testing procedures. Assists in the preparation of materials and documentation required for continued accreditation of the school by the American Osteopathic Association -COCA and other accrediting agencies. Actively serves on appointed KYCOM Faculty and UPIKE Committees. Provides clinical services as directed by the Department Chairs and Dean, which would be associated with family medicine and/or osteopathic manipulative medicine. Provides counseling, advising and guidance to students. Responsible for other duties as directed by the Dean. Must have earned a D.O. degree from an American Osteopathic Association COCA-accredited college/school of osteopathic medicine. Must be eligible for and maintain an unrestricted Kentucky medical/osteopathic license and obtain that license within 180 days of initial employment. Must be board certified by AOBFP and/or AOBNMM (or equivalent). Current and unrestricted DEA certificate. Previous research and academic/clinical experience are desirable. Must have excellent verbal and writing communication skills. Strong critical thinking, anticipatory problem solving and attention to detail is required. Ability to plan, prioritize, and organize work to complete assignments accurately and within reasonable timeframes. Must have current knowledge and skills in utilizing Microsoft Office Applications, including but not limited to Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Must be able to learn and utilize Learning Management Systems such as Canvas; and the University online platform and systems. Must demonstrate cooperation, courtesy, and consideration when working with the professional community, KYCOM and UPIKE communities, faculty, students, and the public. Must be able to work independently and as a member of a team. This position requires daily professional contact with faculty, staff, supervisor, campus departments, and students. These relationships are maintained through e-mail, telephone, and person-to-person contact. The University of Pikeville offers a competitive salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. UPIKE offers a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, telemedicine, long-term disability, tuition waivers, a 403(b)-retirement plan, and HSA, FSA, and dependent care accounts. UPIKE also offers a generous holiday schedule and paid leave program. Important Notes: Resume and other application materials will be reviewed to determine if you meet the required qualifications for the position. If it is determined that you meet the required qualifications, your application materials will be used to identify a top group of the most highly qualified candidates. Please, specifically address the qualifications, competencies and desired qualifications in your resume and application materials. The University of Pikeville is committed to providing a safe and productive learning, living and working community. To achieve this goal, we conduct background investigations for all final applicants being considered for employment. Background investigations include a criminal history record check, and when appropriate, a financial and/or motor vehicle history. The University of Pikeville is an equal opportunity employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained faculty and staff. The University of Pikeville does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, age or disabilities in its programs, activities, hiring, or the admission of students. Inquiries may be directed to the University of Pikeville Title IX Coordinator by calling 606-218-5344. For more information about the University of Pikeville, please visit http://www.upike.edu. Interested applicants should complete the online application by visiting http://jobs.upike.edu. In addition to the application, interested applicants are requested to attach to their application a letter of interest, current resume, and the contact information for three to five professional references. About University of Pikeville The University of Pikeville is committed to offering a broad liberal arts and sciences education. This foundation provides opportunities for students to develop their full academic and personal potential and prepare for specific careers.The University of Pikeville is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate, baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degrees. Connections working at University of Pikeville Maryland Psychological Association (MPA) is the statewide professional association for Maryland psychologists, supporting the psychologists in Maryland in advancing the science and practice of psychology for the health and welfare of the public. MPA educates about psychology and mental health, and promotes psychological science and practice. Find a local psychologist with our free referral service. © Copyright 2018, Maryland Psychological Association. All Rights Reserved.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line313
__label__cc	0.66829	0.33171	National War College » National Defense University » National War College Alumni Association Job Seekers, Welcome to NWC Career Center Cogito Infrastructure Lead, Data Analytics Group As a not-for-profit organization, Mass General Brigham is committed to supporting patient care, research, teaching, and service to our community by leading innovation across our system. Founded by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Mass General Brigham supports a complete continuum of care including community and specialty hospitals, a managed care organization, a physician network, community health centers, home care and other health-related entities. Several of our hospitals are teaching affiliates of Harvard Medical School, and our system is a national leader in biomedical research. We seek employees who bring passion, are highly collaborative, and thrive in a dynamic, diverse, and inclusive team. We work in a highly agile environment with a focus on quality and achieving real impact with our work. We are excited to have a team with a rich mix of experiences, with people who bring innovative approaches to their work, an excitement for looking at things from new angles, and a spirit of continuous improvement. Finally, we seek employees who embrace and live our core values of respect, recognition, communication, commitment, trust, innovation, and service. If this sounds like you, we invite you to apply. Mass General Brigham's main office is in Somerville, MA. We are currently working as a fully-remote team due to COVID-19 and encourage applications from across the US as telecommuting becomes part of our new normal. We are committed to building an engaged, inclusive community and offer a variety of opportunities to come together virtually and facilitate learning and collaboration. Mass General Brigham's board and system-wide executive leadership are making significant investments in enterprise data and digital health, enabling innovation and transformation in the delivery of health care, research and discovery. By building out core digital and data capabilities, we are supporting the achievement of Mass General Brigham's mission to drive growth and innovation in inpatient, ambulatory, and digital care. We are at the start of this journey and we are looking for talented individuals from across the nation to join us in transforming healthcare and in achieving the expected outcomes of this strategy: improved patient care, quality of care, patient engagement, and efficiency in the delivery of healthcare with excellence. In the achievement of these goals, Mass General Brigham's data and analytic teams are working together to build a system-wide data ecosystem. We are both leveraging current assets and building new, integrated solutions to provide a holistic set of industry-leading data and analytic capabilities, supporting Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and real-time insights. Teams from Data and Analytics, Research Analytics, Clinical Data Science, and Information Systems are collaborating to build this new data and analytic ecosystem. To ensure success of this effort, Mass General Brigham is standing up a new Data and Analytics operating model with a goal of driving a level of standardization for data and analytic operations across the teams involved. The value of investments in data and analytics were proven out during our response to COVID-19 as these investments were leveraged to stand up new reporting and analytic capabilities to support executive and clinical leadership on managing the pandemic. Our broad data and analytic community has come together across Mass General Brigham 's 14 healthcare sites with shared urgency, delivering analytic tools to our system that drove timely insights in both clinical and operational domains, resulting in effective delivery of critical care and in organizational efficiencies during a time of reduced resources. The Cogito Clarity Team Lead is responsible for the overall success of data delivery and availability within the Epic environment. The Cogito TL has strong communication skills, experience with project management, provides direction and leadership to staff, and ensures data management projects align with system goals. S/he oversees day-to-day activities of the team, focusing on achieving the team's deliverables on time and within budget. Role Responsibilities The lead will collaborate with the business and leadership to identify and establish data requirements to support, promote and drive implementation of best practices in the areas of database administration and maintain and support analytics applications and tools in collaboration with the reporting team. Additional responsibilities include: Work with the Director to lead and promote efforts within the department to help standardize work processes and understand departmental capacity and promote innovation in all aspects of the team's work. Ensure that all database systems enhance and safeguard proprietary patient, family, and employee confidentiality, data integrity, security, and availability to appropriate staff. Works directly with Clarity and Database admin support teams to establish standard support procedures and to ensure stability of the Clarity and supporting platforms. Works directly with Epic technical support staff as well as other consulting resources to guide the development and execution of specific work plans. Works with the Program Director to create an enterprise data self-service strategy, and oversees the technical implementation of emerging strategies Identifies and communicates to the Program Director any issues/problems/delays that may adversely impact the project. Coordinates with other application teams and Project managers as required to integrate work and system design, build, testing, training, and go-live to ensure activities of one team do not adversely impact activities of another team. Exhibits sound and accurate decision making and serves as a technical expert resource for problem solving. Remains flexible and adaptable within a fast-paced environment with rapidly changing requirements. Assign/delegate project assignments as appropriate. Provide project-specific direction and guidance to project team members to facilitate timely and quality results. Monitor quality of work performed by team members throughout project life cycle. Provide strong human resources management, including regular feedback, timely reviews, mentoring and career conversations. S/he is responsible for attracting, retaining, developing and engaging high quality staff. Contribute to Mass General Brigham overall success as a leader. Establish and create a positive team environment through leadership, coaching and mentoring. Work with direct reports, department management and HR to ensure that all staff are appropriately informed, trained, guided and evaluated. Use/s the Mass General Brigham values to govern decisions, actions and behaviors. These values guide how we get our work done: Patients, Affordability, Accountability & Service Commitment, Decisiveness, Innovation & Thoughtful Risk; and how we treat each other: Diversity & Inclusion, Integrity & Respect, Learning, Continuous Improvement & Personal Growth, Teamwork & Collaboration Bachelor's Degree in Healthcare, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, Data Science, or related field (relevant work experience may be considered in lieu of educational requirement). Minimum of 8 years of experience in information technology required. Minimum of 3 years in a management, supervisory or lead position required. Minimum of 2 years of experience in a Health Care environment preferred. Experience overseeing the design, development, and implementation of database solutions, systems, or products. Data warehouse, data interfaces, and business intelligence solutions and architecture experience. Experience with database administration, optimization, performance tuning, and capacity planning. Experience with current Microsoft SQL Server platforms and practical application of MS Technology Stack Experience programming in SQL or equivalent programming languages. Familiarity and practical application of advanced principles of ITIL/ITSM. Demonstrated progressive experience in the management of a technical support team. Skills/Abilities/Competencies Required Ability to exercise independent judgment and take action. Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks while under pressure. Able to navigate a large organization in order to accomplish results. Ability to work effectively in a matrixed, agile reporting environment. Ability to identify opportunities for efficiency and areas of potential conflict Advanced interpersonal relations skills, including the ability to effectively collaborate with others and work as part of a team. Logical and efficient, with keen attention to detail. Strong verbal and written communication skills. Translating complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences. 3+ direct reports MGB has implemented special remote working policies due to COVID-19. These policies are subject to change; however, it is currently expected that this position will work remotely (e.g. from home) full time through June 2021 Possible local travel to Partners sites, vendors, conferences, or trainings Must be available for on-call rotation (evening, night, and weekend hours as needed) Normal office working conditions. The noise level in the work environment is quiet to moderate. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit; talk; or hear; use hands to finger; handle; or feel; reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; and stoop; kneel; or crouch. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 5 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision and depth perception. The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners HealthCare) is an Equal Opportunity Employer & by embracing diverse skills, perspectives and ideas, we choose to lead. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, military service, genetic information, and/or other status protected under law. Partners Healthcare System Inc. is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy. Internal Number: 3136321-1435_1607615263 About MGH Institute of Health Professions MGH Institute of Health Professions, founded by Massachusetts General Hospital in 1977, is an innovative and independent graduate school in Boston that is a member of Partners HealthCare. A progressive leader in developing comprehensive models of health care education, the MGH Institute prepares advanced practice professionals in the fields of nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy and communication sciences and disorders through a distinctive combination of academic study, clinical practice, and research. More than 1,200 students are enrolled in graduate level and certificate programs, with an increasing number of courses available online. The Institute is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Connections working at MGH Institute of Health Professions NWC Career Center is Just One of the Benefits. Discover what else NWC has to offer! The job you are trying to reach from was originally posted at NWC Career Center. Subscribe to our newsletter and stay up to date on our latest news Copyright © 2013 National War College Alumni Association. All Rights Reserved. The National War College Alumni Association is an independent 501(c)(3) charitable, educational organization. The National War College Alumni Association is a non-federal entity. It is not a part of the Department of Defense or any of its components and it has no governmental status.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line314
__label__wiki	0.522983	0.522983	Irish Left Open History Project: The Internationalists/Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist), Part One: 1965-1970 May 18, 2010 Posted by leftopenhistoryteam in Communist Party of Ireland (M-L), Irish Left Open History Project. [Mike Hehir, leading national spokesman of the CPI M-L, 1970] [Necessity for Change (1967) is available as a pdf here.] [Red Patriot, issue one, August 1969, pdf file is available here.] [Red Patriot, marking the launch of the CPI (M-L), July 1970, pdf here.]. [There’s also a stock of CPI (M-L) related materials here in the Left Archive] When The Internationalists were first set up in Trinity College Dublin in November 1965, it was not as a fully-formed Marxist-Leninist party, but ‘as an exercise in better staff-student relations.'(1) Prominent among the initial group was Hardial Bains, a lecturer in bacteriology who was originally from India, but who had left for Canada in 1959 and had completed his post-graduate studies in Vancouver at the University of British Columbia. Bains was a former member of the Communist Party of India, having resigned in protest at the party’s endorsement of Khrushchev’s criticisms of Stalin. In March 1963 he founded a political group in Vancouver which was called The Internationalists (later the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), and while the November 1965 TCD group may not have been exactly an Irish version at this stage, the choice of name suggests Bains’ strong input from the start. Also among those involved at the early stages of the group were two African students, David Akerele and Koye Majekodunmi, and staff members Kader Asmal (who was then head of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement), Professor David Webb (Professor of Botany), Dr. Owen Sheehy Skeffington and Dr. R. B. McDowell. Given such participants it is highly unlikely that The Irish Internationalists were at this stage in any way Marxist, or even socialist. This loose discussion group held meetings with titles such as “Academic Freedom” and “The Function of a University”, and continued until October 1966, when the decision was taken, presumably by Bains and his supporters, to establish a more disciplined organisation which would focus on ‘which theory we are going to follow, which motivation we should have, which class we are going to favour’ (2). It was at this stage that people like Asmal, Webb, Skeffington and McDowell began to drift away, leaving Bains as the undoubted central influence. Sometime towards the end of 1966 the group renamed itself the Trinity Internationalists, and began to issue a periodical entitled Words and Comment. There were at least eleven issues produced between 1966 and 1968, and Trinity’s library has at least seven of them for those privileged enough to have access. (3) In February-March 1967 the Internationalists organised a study programme entitled Necessity for Change, during which Hardial Bains made a speech which became the basis of the Necessity for Change! The Dialectic LIves! pamphlet. Necessity for Change ‘People do not stop to think that museums, like history itself, are the creation of the ruling class.’ The main thrust of Necessity for Change appears to be towards students and academics, in that its criticisms are of intellectual production, and the intellectual industry, in the Western world. The control of ideas, of history, of ‘common sense’ by the ruling class needs to be challenged, first by a cadre who have un-taught themselves the prevailing ideas and have begun to see the world based on reality rather than the dominant, right-wing, intellectual discourse; then by the working class who will benefit from the intellectual and individual gains made by the cadre once these new ideas, and this new way of thinking, make their way into the working class through the actions of the cadre itself. We will look at Necessity in more detail another day, but for now here are some key terms / concepts. Anti-consciousness – the forced acceptance of a set of values and beliefs which are, in fact, not acquired by the act of finding out but by the act of consciously suppressing any findings which might contravene and contradict the so-called ‘ways of the civilised world’ (p.27). Almost all of us live and think within the realm of anti-consciousness. The job of the Internationalists is to expose this false reality – first to themselves, then to others – and to engage in ‘understanding’ which requires ‘an act of conscious participation by the individual, an act of finding out.’ In other words, we have to break down this false reality which has not only subsumed society’s thoughts but our own as well, and then begin the long, hard struggle of ‘finding out’ by observing the world as it is, not as the ruling class portray it. Historical crib – “The particular prejudices of a society, transmitted through parents and social institutions, constitute the historical crib into which we are born. Like the womb of the mother, it provides us with everything we need. Our purpose and our goal are defined, that is, how to receive nourishment and how to be grateful for it. The historical crib gives us a perspective with which to look at the world and the people in it, including ourselves. We only see those things, which can be correlated with that perspective. This perspective is the active blindfold of anti-consciousness. Whenever we see through the blindfold we destroy that consciousness by using all kinds of cultural and historical crib-arguments. In other words, we destroy our understanding by camouflaging our experience. The covering up of experience precludes development. Thus we can never grow up and confront the ‘various classes of people who have usurped power by force’ as long as we are unconscious of that historical crib”(pp. 30-31). This historical crib, though, does not serve the needs of the individual, only the ruling class. Nonetheless, its pervasiveness is such that it envelops each individual in a ‘cocoon of loyalty’ from which it is extremely difficult to break. ‘One’s birth requires the destruction of that cocoon, but the self denies itself the will to so so’ (p.33). Bains warns against people using The Internationalists as a new form of historical crib, ‘a new perspective through which they can rationalise their position in almost all circumstance’ (p.31). Internationalists, true Internationalists, have to be on their guard constantly to avoid this happening. ‘Various classes of people who has usurped power by force.’ – The ruling classes. History-as-such – history as taught in schools and universities – essentially the history of the ruling class, from the perspective of the ruling class. The common,accepted conclusions of history. ‘It is always about kings and queens, rajahs and maharajahs, sheiks and inmans, warlords and landlords, and their hand-picked agents… People are compelled to learn that history by heart.’ (p.28) Crucially, this history teaches that ordinary people have no role to play in history, that they are powerless to make their own history. Will-to-be – Despite the best attempts by the ruling class to propagate a hermetically-sealed compliant consciousness, there is a contradiction, a conflict, between the individual and society. There is something inside all of us which is ‘straining to be free in order to see the light… It is a reflection of class struggle going on in our society. This will-to-be is the spontaneous reflection amongst human beings of what they are struggling against in society.’ (p.33) In April 1967 the group were given temporary use of a cellar in Trinity by the college authorities for the purpose of producing a newspaper for circulation. Four months later, in August, the Internationalists held a conference in London where they discussed their ideas with other elements of the British and Irish left. It lasted for two weeks, and among the groups invited were the Irish Communist Organisation (later the British and Irish Communist Organisation) who were also anti-revisionists. Talks of a merger between the two groups came to nothing, and in fact a serious animosity developed, one which played itself out on the pages of the two groups’ respective publications for the next ten years. Towards the end of 1967, after the London conference, the Trinity Internationalists start to become more vocal and agitational. Around this time (1967/68) they produced a manifesto which called for reform of the internal structures of Trinity College. According to a highly-partisan article in the Irish Times (14 Jun 1968) entitled ‘A Cranky Set of Outsiders’, Michael Heney said that the Internationalists … accuse it [TCD] of being a bourgeois-aristocratic educational institution, connected with British colonialism, geared to the reactionary training of students, and giving active support for the ruling and wealthy classes by the inculcation of bourgeois ideas and culture on the students.” The influence of Necessity for Change! is clear – ‘reactionary training’, ‘inculcation of bourgeois ideas and culture’, ‘active support for the ruling and wealthy classes’ – all central ideas from the discussion group and pamphlet. Heney goes on: The group produces an enormous quantity of literature throughout the three academic terms of the year. Words and Comment is their main organ, a weekly publication, but there is also the more occasional Irish Student, and numerous other works, including pamphlets hurriedly produced on the occasion of some issue arising, and volumes containing extensive re-prints from the writings of Chairman Mao, and other Communist leaders. The previous day (13 June) he wrote that the Internationalists numbered about 30, the majority of whom were foreign students, although at least six were Irish. These included John Dowling from Dublin, Arthur Allen from Drogheda, and Simon Stewart from Belfast. In 1968 the leader of the Trinity Internationalists was Nick Miller, a final-year natural science student from England. In August of that year he was suspended from the college for failing to sign an undertaking to obey the rules of the college. Miller never returned to complete his studies, but according to Dublin University Climbing Club by 1971 he had left radical politics behind and was working for his father’s company. According to Nusight, The Internationalists at this time ‘lived communally, shared all their earnings, rose at a certain time for pre-breakfast study sessions, and often worked an 18 hour day bill-posting around the city or stapling magazines.’ (4) It also said that In the summer of 1968 they burst upon the public consciousness when they protested against the visit to Trinity of King Baudoin of Belgium. There were some minor scuffles with the gardai and right-wing students which attracted scare newspaper headlines and silly editorial condemnation of students in general by the Sunday Independent and the Evening Herald. In 1968 they opened up a bookshop in Townsend Street in Dublin. This attracted a small number of young people of working class background, most of whom were in school. They formed the People’s Rights Group and published an agitational broadsheet of the same name… The bookshop closed late last year (1969) when the lease ran out. Since then the Maoists have opened another bookshop in Exchequer Street. The People’s rights Committee, along with the Maoist students, provided the basis for the setting up last October (1969) of the Irish Communist movement (Marxist-Leninist), the major Maoist grouping at present. Attempts were made to set up bookshops in Cork and Limerick. The bookshop in Cork was attacked by a crowd one evening, while the bookshop in Limerick was the centre of a scare campaign by Steve Coughlan, the Labour Party’s Lord Mayor of the city. Both events warrant separate posts. In August 1969 the Internationalists, under the name, Irish Revolutionary Youth, launched a monthly newspaper entitled Red Patriot. In July 1970, The Internationalists merged with Irish Revolutionary Youth, and formed the Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist). 1. Irish Times, ‘Who Are The Internationalists?’, 13 June 1968 2. Hardial Bains, On the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of The Internationalists in Ireland (Dublin, 1990, pp.15-16) 3. Trinity Internationalists, Words, Berkeley Stacks – PER 75-457. Publication Date, Nos.4-11(1966-1968). 4. Nusight, ‘The Maoists’, May 1970. 1. sonofstan - May 18, 2010 Dr. Owen Sheehy-Skeffington. 2. Mark P - May 18, 2010 Those are some fantastic posters they have up behind them. “The United Front, Armed Struggle and Party Building are the three magic weapons of the Chinese Communist Party. Its three principle magic weapons for defeating the enemy in the…” “Build the Party! Prepare for People’s War!” It would be easy to describe them as a bunch of fucking nutcases and leave it at that. So I will. LeftAtTheCross - May 18, 2010 It would be easy to say the pot called the kettle black as well. Don’t you ever display tolerance for anybody who doesn’t align 100% politically with you? Mark P - May 18, 2010 I don’t display much tolerance for student Maoists who were arguing for “People’s War” in Ireland, no. Did you actually try reading their publications before leaping to their defence? They read like the ramblings of a mentally ill man translated into Chinese and back by babelfish. Here’s a sample paragraph-length sentence. The sudden shift from lower case script to capital letters is in the original: “Such sympathy has been gained among working people that the Gardai rarely now dare to arrest sellers of the works of Mao Tsetung and the “Red Patriot, the ICM(ML)’s newspaper of the people, there is no doubt that the Irish proletariat’s greatest allies in revolution are the rural and urban petty bourgeoisie, and there is ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT IN OUR MINDS THAT OUR THINKING MUST BE GUIDED BY MARXISM-LENINISM-MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT, THAT OUR CENTRE AND LEADERSHIP IS THE BELOVED CHAIRMAN MAO, AND ABOVE ALL THERE IS NO DOUBT IN ANYONE’S MIND (INCLUDING THE BOURGEOISIE) THAT THE IRISH PEOPLE ARE RISING NOW TO SEAL THE FATE OF IMPERIALISM AND ITS RUNNING DOGS HERE.” If you can’t call these people fucking nuts, who can you call fucking nuts? It was of its time. It seems dated now. Leave it at that. Calling people “fucking nutcases” is just trollish behaviour. I’m actually sort of fond of their writing style. The switches between lower case and upper act as a sort of indication that the content is about to get madder, the print equivalent of a letter suddenly switching to green ink, or a speaker suddenly standing on his chair mid sentence and starting to roar. “The experience of the Bolshevik Party, and of the Communist Party of China, particularly of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and also the experience of our own movement shows that there are three fundamental building blocks for building the party. 1st and most important, UNQUESTIONING FAITH IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WILL AND CAPACITY OF THE PEOPLE. 2nd COMPLETE FAITH IN MARXISM LENINISM MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT. 3rd AND ABSOLUTE LOYALTY TO THE PARTY OR PARTY ORGANISATION!” Another nice touch is their fondness for lists of capitalised slogans. “LONG LIVE THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF IRELAND (MARXIST LENINIST)! BUILD OUR PARTY THE CHINESE WAY! LONG LIVE THE VICTORY OF THE WORKING AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE IN IRELAND AND THE WHOLE WORLD! STRENGTHEN THE PARTY! PREPARE PEOPLE’S WAR! LONG LIVE THE GREAT GLORIOUS AND CORRECT COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA! LONG LIVE OUR GREAT LEADER CHAIRMAN MAO! LONG LIVE HIS CLOSE COMRADE IN ARMS LIN PIAO! A LONG LIFE TO CHAIRMAN MAO!” I also don’t really accept that this was just “of its time”. In fact I think that they were widely regarded as fucking nuts by wider society and indeed by the socialist left of the time. This stuff isn’t from 1970 as much as its from a different planet. sonofstan - May 18, 2010 This stuff isn’t from 1970 as much as its from a different planet. Unlike some SP economic documents I’ve read. Which really are from 1970. Somehow I’m not surprised that socialism seems dreadfully 1970s to you from your perch inside the suitably modern and up to date neo-liberal Labour Party. 3. Conor McCabe - May 18, 2010 I really don’t know why I bother posting these histories on cedarlounge. All you get is this type of stuff. What type of stuff would you like to see Conor? A considered engagement with the idea of protracted people’s war in Ireland? Perhaps an updating of some of the slogans? Seriously, the histories you have put up here have mostly been of considerable interest. I reserve the right though to take the piss out of Trinity students who wanted to launch a people’s war in Ireland, building base areas in the… erm… jungles and forests and surrounding the cities from the countryside. That sort of thing would be funny today and just because the documents are from forty years ago they don’t cease to be funny when republished. Conor McCabe - May 18, 2010 Oh f*k off Mark. Take as much piss as you want. you’re welcome to it. I’m genuinely baffled as to why you are so offended Conor. I’m not taking the piss out of you, nor out of your article (which was very informative). The socialist left can be fairly ridiculous and if you don’t keep a sense of humour about it you’d end up crying. It has extreme manifestations like Trinity students advocating protracted people’s war in Carlow and less extreme manifestations like three dozen people trying to charge past the Gardai into an empty car part outside the Dail. Yesterday I was reading a book put out by my own party a few years back, a basic introduction to socialism sort of thing. It was pretty good, until I got to a half page picture of a Liverpool council house on a somewhat windswept looking street. The caption? “A glimpse of what’s possible under socialism.” That sort of thing is either funny or depressing. And, despite the flippant tone, I was actually serious when I asked what kind of discussion you would like? Of the posts in this series that I’ve written – myself and WBS share the writing between us – this one has been the toughest, purely because there is virtually nothing written about the CPI M-L that isn’t sectarian bilge. It meant I was falling back on primary source material to a greater extent that would be normal. So, having spent weeks in the national library going through Red Patriot, picking up pieces of information, and going through the other publications including the Irish Times, and having finally tracked down a copy of Necessity for Change!, I put it all together and what happens? Sarcasm. That’s the fucking payoff. Mark, you know I like you but for fuck’s sake, does everything have to be sarcasm? The debate I would like to have would be to take a look at what Hardial Bains was saying, and to take it serious – I’m not saying to agree with it – but to say, well how does this fit into Marxist thought, and overall what do the Internationalists and the CPI M-L tell us about Ireland in the 1960s? Further down the line we’ll be posting stuff up from Jim Lane and the Cork Communist Organisation, a small group that also saw itself as Maoist in thought – a group that saw the CPI M-L in pretty much the same way as you do now. Myself and WBS have already put a lot of work into a history of that group. Is that next on the sarcasm list? The idea for me is to explore ALL strands of the Irish left – and to take each strand serious. to dismiss as you do is, well, meaningless. Where’s the insight? Where’s the engagement with the material? So, I suppose that’s what I would like to see – an engagement with the material itself. Earlier today I was saying to WBS in an email that, once you strip away all the clumsy language, Bains is actually saying stuff about academic intellectual production that’s not a million miles from Chomsky – which for me says a lot about the 1960s and the fluidity of ideas at the time. I think that’s a lot more interesting to explore than comments going “whaaaaaaaa, they’re nuts!” Sorry, I should say, to treat the material serious, not to take it serious. Alright, I can see why that would be irritating. I would emphasise though, that I was taking the piss out of the Internationalists rather than out of your article. I mean, if you’d done a huge amount of primary research on the Skoptsy Christian castration sect in Imperial Russia, you’d have to expect a few jokes about them if your piece was put on a blog. The Internationalists didn’t actually saw their own balls off, but People’s War in Carlow isn’t far from that in terms of people adhering to an ideology but radically getting the wrong end of the stick. And well, whether I’d be sarcastic about the CCO really depends on what they had to say, although thinking that the Internationalists were nuts is a point in their favour. I’m not in any way predisposed to be sympathetic to Maoism, but I’m also not predisposed to see it as inherently ridiculous. Chinese, Nepalese, Indian, Phillipino or Peruvian Maoism deserve serious consideration and critiques, and I’d certainly be willing to assume that much smaller Maoist movements elsewhere which I’m ignorant of may have had interesting things to say. But I also know that a lot of Maoists, and in particular a lot of Maoist groups in the West, tend to be really obviously fucking crazy. These include the American RCP with their proudly proclaimed intent to build a cult of personality around their Chairman, Bob Avakian, and the constellation of Bains groups around Europe and North America which were widely regarded as bizarre even by other Maoists. I think it’s partially an out of context thing – Maoism just doesn’t in my experience have much to say about revolutionary movements in the West. Are there any ideas in the paper that you think are worth engaging with? And finally, is Part two going to include their Hoxhaist turn? Yes. It’ll be from 1970 to 1977, including the election campaigns in Monaghan, Cork and Dublin – as well as Vipond’s quite successful run as TCD SU president – ending with the rejection of China and the embrace of Albanian Marxism. The reason why this history is in so many parts is because very little has been written about them, so as we’re writing it we’re loathe to leave details out as in many cases this is the first time that the details have been covered in, well, detail. Mark, I know you weren’t taking the piss out of the article. That’s not the point for me. The whole thing is taking the piss out of the actual group, as what does it achieve as far as insight and exploration go? “if you’d done a huge amount of primary research on the Skoptsy Christian castration sect in Imperial Russia, you’d have to expect a few jokes about them if your piece was put on a blog.” Yeah, but the sarcastic comments wouldn’t actually tell me anything about the group, would they? They wouldn’t add to our knowledge of the sects in any way. Mark, regarding this: “whether I’d be sarcastic about the CCO really depends on what they had to say..” I interviewed Jim Lane last year. We talked for about five hours, covering all aspects of his life as an activist. I told him about this series and asked him would it be ok if I used a clip of him talking about why he was drawn to Maoism in the 1960s. He said yes, I could (tentatively), but me bollicks am I putting up a clip of the interview so it can be laughed at by you. Because you will laugh at it. you’ll be sarcastic, and you’ll say how ridiculous it sounds. That’s what you do. This is what I mean. In this type of environment, why should I expose Jim Lane to that? Put up him talking so you can laugh at him? Think we might pass on that one. Conor: 1) I very much doubt if Jim Lane is likely to be advocating People’s War in Carlow in your video or shouting at the top of his voice that there is ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT IN HIS MIND THAT OUR THINKING MUST BE GUIDED BY MARXISM-LENINISM-MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT AND THAT OUR CENTRE AND LEADERSHIP IS THE BELOVED CHAIRMAN MAO! As I said to you in an earlier comment, I don’t think that Maoism, still less a youthful Maoism now superceded, is automatically deserving of ridicule. I think that Maoism is wrong but many forms of it deserve serious engagement and critique. And by the way, you will note that I haven’t posted taking the piss out of any of the socialist movement veterans you’ve been interviewing. I’m not really interested in personalising my agreement or disagreements with any of them. 2) On the Internationalists it might be worth looking closely at what they had to say about foreign affairs during the 1970s. This was a period when China began to align itself internationally with the United States against the Soviet Union. And it supported anti-Soviet forces pretty much anywhere in the world, no matter who they were or what they were doing. So China backed Pinochet in 1973 and UNITA in Angola against the MPLA. Not to mention supporting the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, chiefly because they were bitter enemies of the pro-Soviet Vietnamese. They justified this on the basis of Mao’s theory of the three worlds, gradually placing more and more emphasis on “social imperialism” (the USSR) as the main enemy. This caused chaos in Maoist/Anti-Revisionist circles worldwide for obvious reasons, and it was one of the main issues in the 1978 Sino-Albanian split. I’d be curious as to how much the Internationalists went along with the Chinese line on Pinochet etc before the split. Obviously they rejected the Chinese approach afterwards, but in the mid 70s were they pro-UNITA, pro-Khmer Rouge or pro-Pinochet? Well when we scan the issues from the 1970s and put them up the opportunity will be there to read up on the CPI M-L’s approach to foreign affairs. The next post will cover as much as we can, but myself I’m intrigued by the pro-EEC stance and Scratch Orchestra background, as well as the political and musical theory writings of Cardew and how they intertwined with the CPI M-L. On what basis were they pro-EEC? As a break the dependence on Britain sort of thing? I’d forgotten that Cardew was in the British Bainsites. For a while I thought that Alexei Sayle was too, but it turns out he was in a different Maoist group. oh, I couldn’t reveal that just yet… you’ll just have to wait for part II. and it has nothing to do with Ireland’s relationship with Britain. EamonnCork - May 18, 2010 I’d be very interested in the Cardew stuff myself, he set a few Irish traditional songs when he made his turn away from the avant-garde and towards musical maoism. I actually bought a ticket there a couple of weeks back to see John Tilbury playing a piece of Cardew’s at this year’s Proms. Tilbury wrote a 1000 word biography of Cardew. It’s a daunting task to think of reading it but I suspect there’d be tons of fascinating stuff in it. What makes something like the Maoist turn so interesting is the amount of intelligent people who got caught up in it, as compared to something for example like the NF or the BNP which seems to attract pretty much wall to wall morons. This is a great series Conor. I remember seeing that terrific BBC 4 series Lefties which I wish was out on DVD. Pity RTE wouldn’t do something similar, someone could sell them on the Charlie Bird/Kevin Myers angle. Instead I presume it will be a few dozen more documentaries on the Easter Rising. I’d be very interested in reading a good post on the Stevie Coughlan versus the Maoists thing, it’s one of those great legends which nobody really knows the details of. Stevie and Ivan Yates, what a lot the bookmaking profession have given to Irish politics. Nusight has a great article on it, Coughlan v Maoists in Limerick, April 1970 issue. http://tinyurl.com/2u39su2 and Brian Hanley’s article for the Limerick Historical Journal, which touches on the controversy, is available here: Click to access 1970%20springboks%20tour.pdf Likewise very interested in reading the Cardew stuff. There are a lot of people still active in music and in the art world generally – AMM, Keith Rowe, Art and Language – who emerged from that milieu. In France too, the UCF (M-L) was the home for a long time of philosopher Alain Badiou, who will still, when he’s in the mood to annoy liberals, describe himself as a Maoist. And L’Organisation Politique, of which he is the most prominent member, remain unapologetically of that lineage, though with a more interestingly activist mode of being. There was a very good review of the Tilbury biography by Richard Gott in the London Review of Books last year which mentions Bains and the ideological oscillations of the CPE ML. I think it’s on the web. John Green - May 19, 2010 As WBS will no doubt be aware, it was under the tutelage of Terry Atkinson of Art & Language at Leeds that the Three Johns were formed. 🙂 Conor those Limerick pieces are brilliant. Thanks a lot for posting them. I’ll give a proper response later, up to my neck with stuff at the moment. 4. Budapestkick - May 18, 2010 No, please keep at it. I do find this kind of thing very interesting. Actually know one of these guys, though he has mellowed a lot since this stuff was produced. 5. Hardial Bains (I ain't dead, I'm just having a break) - May 18, 2010 Excuse me Mark P. I’d like to throw your own question back at you. Did you actually try reading their publications? You say the ‘student Maoists’ were ‘were arguing for “People’s War” in Ireland’ but nowhere in the passage you quoted do you find such a call. Perhaps you are referring to a different passage, in which case would you care to tell us? You can say what you like about the sentiments expressed but to suggest that it calls for ‘people’s war’ is subjectivism of the highest order. The photograph above is of their chairman speaking in front of a huge poster proclaiming “Build the Party! Prepare for People’s War!”. The entire back page of the second issue of “Red Patriot” above is also dominated by the slogan “Build the Party! Prepare People’s War!” The same issue contains a report of one of their meetings: “The speeches were puncuated with frequent applause from the masses of people at the rally. Revolutionary slogans such as ‘Long live Chairman Mao, a long life to Chairman Mao’ and ‘Build the Party, Prepare People’s War’ filled the room.” The idea is mentioned repeatedly elsewhere in the publications too. Hardial Bains (still not dead, just having a break) - May 18, 2010 It may say that but it’s not clear from the picture that you refer to, mainly because the view is obscured by the person you refer to as ‘the chairman’. You seem to be very knowledgeable about the inside workings of the organisation you claim to detest so much. In any case how do you account for the statement (i’m quoting your words here) “the Gardai rarely now dare to arrest sellers of the works of Mao Tsetung and the “Red Patriot, the ICM(ML)’s newspaper”. If there were people in Ireland at the time ‘preparing for people’s war’ then An Garda Siochana had a duty and a responsibility to get involved, not to mention other arms of the state. The same way that the authorities in the Soviet Union stamped down on their own fifth columnist in the 1930s. It would have been remiss of them not too. So how do you account for the failure of na Gardaí on this occasion? And while I’m on the subject, what’s so wrong about ‘Irish people rising to seal the fate of imperialism and it’s running dogs’? Why do you have a problem with that? Are you some kind of apologist for imperialism? A running dog lackey perhaps? Gerry Ryan (still as smug as ever and staring down on you all from above) - May 19, 2010 By the way Mark P, ‘preparing for peoples’ war’ is a different matter entirely from ‘arguing for’ or actually advocating such. I hope you grasp the distinction, or has your narrow subjectivism blinded here too? Again, have you actually read the papers above? You don’t have to take my word for it. “Build the Party! Prepare for People’s War!” is the single most common slogan they used at least in the publicastions above, and they weren’t slow to use a slogan. I gave you three examples, none of which you seem to dispute. If you want more, you can go digging for them yourself. As you no doubt know, given your ultra-Stalinist remarks about the Soviet great purges, People’s War has a fairly precise meaning in the Maoist lexicon. It refers to a war initiated by the Maoist force, taking to remote parts of the countryside and seeking to develop a guerilla struggle, taking control of “base areas” and eventually encircling the cities from the countryside. As for the Gardaí’s failure to investigate the Internationalists, it seems from their publications that despite that one line they generally felt as if the Gardaí were actively harrassing them. I suspect however that the Gardaí did not take them enormously seriously as a potential armed threat to the state. They didn’t, as far as I can tell receive the sort of treatment which various armed Republican groups have been on the receiving end of. No doubt that’s because the Internationalists weren’t to be taken seriously on the subject of “preparing for People’s War” any more than they were to be taken seriously on any other subject. Don’t know if they’re ultra Stalinist remarks, but given the subsequent history of the Soviet Union and how close for example the Red Army came to collapse after the Nazi’s invaded due to previous ‘purges’ it’s not a very useful remark. But really, is it necessary for people to stoop so low? Whether the Internationalists weren’t to be taken seriously is a different matter. There’s certainly something almost performance art about the whole thing, but that doesn’t remove sincerity from those involved. Or the reality that China was a vibrant place politically (or on occasion as mad as a bag full of cats) and an obvious alternative for those unhappy about changes elsewhere. Personally I think the more intriguing period for the CPI (M-L) is the 70s and 80s but that’s probably because I was around for some of that. Gerry Ryan (I now accept that I was wrong on most issues) - May 21, 2010 Dear Mark P, The subjective nature of your detached, metaphyscial, one-sided outlook has blinded you even to the absurdity of your own position but I didn’t come on this forum to insult you (that would be too easy). ‘Preparing for People’s War’ is a different matter entirely from advocating, or actually instigating such. As a matter of fact, in the period that is under scrutiny here, 1968/69, there was no threat of armed insurgency or insurrection. So from that perspective, The Internationalist’s standpoint could be described as prophetic. What would you say to the Christian who calls upon followers to ‘prepare for the second coming’? Or the farmer who ‘prepares for the rainy season’? Are these people mad and insane? Do they deserve to be incarcerated in a mental asylum in Dundrum? In any society, capitalist or socialist, the rich prepare their offensive against the poor. Should not the poor similarly prepare? Should we not all prepare against the offensive that NAMA and the ECB has in mind for us all? If you do not like the term “people’s war” fine, find some other term. But don’t leave yourself hapless and unprepared. As for your argument that ‘people’s war’ has a ‘fairly precise meaning within Maoist lexicon’ I think you are being somewhat facetious here. Where is this ‘Maoist Lexicon’? Was it written by a Maoist? Are you a Maoist or where you ever a Maoist? Again, it’s like asking a Christian what he/she means by ‘prepare for the second coming’. Would you have such a person arraigned and charged with planning the apocalypse? Finally, to end on this subject, your description of The Internationalists as ‘Maoist’ is tenuous to say the least. Not to say that Maoism is necessarily a derogatory term. However, it is clear, even from the above synopsis of the history of The Internationalists, that they were not Maoist at their inception. It is true that in their subsequent development they based their outlook on ‘Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse Tung Thought’. But is is also a matter of historical record that the organisations that proceeded from The Internationalists rejected Mao Tse Tung Thought on the grounds that it was un-Marxist and anti-Leninist. So I leave it to detached, one-sided, metaphysical idealists like yourself, Mark P, to determine, to what extent The Internationalists were ‘maoist’ (as you like to refer to them as) and to what extent they were Marxist-Leninists, and to what extent they may have belonged to some other school of thought, as yet unidentified. When I posed the question ‘Did you actually try reading their publications?’ I meant that quite sincerely. Maybe you just thought you read them. 6. Ramzi Nohra - May 18, 2010 Reminds me of the Alabama 3 Good stuff Connor. Mark is completely entitled to his opinion, but it might be worth stating, that the 60s produced a lot of views which would today be written off as lunacy. There were a lot more believers in the rightousness of Stalin then, for example. 7. Garibaldy - May 18, 2010 Conor and WBS put a lot of work into these things, and deserve a great deal of credit for it. A lot of these groups may or may not have been fucking nuts – and as LATC points out we might all be fucking nuts – but what they were saying and the extent to which they were able to get a foothold is of interest. Like Conor says, it might tells us something about Ireland and the Irish left at the time, as well as something about the ideas that were kicking about the international left more generally. More power to WBS and Conor for doing it. Starkadder - May 18, 2010 I agree. After all, even if the Internationalists opinions seem to me to be either eccentric (“the Three Magic Weapons” line in the image, which suggests to me someone there had been reading too many Lin Carter paperbacks 😉 ) or outright offensive (the pro-Stalin/Mao stuff) we can still learn from discussing their history and ideas. The CPI (ML) actually had a group of folk musicians linked with them at one point, which did tours of Ireland. They also, IIRC, were strong supporters of the Irish language, conjuring up this surreal image of the Great Helmsman’s thoughts appearing ” as Gaeilge” . They had an Irish language version of Red Patriot, called “An tírghráthóir dearg.” My Irish is terrible so I don’t know if the articles are a direct translation of the articles in Red Patriot, or a separately written publication altogether. 8. EamonnCork - May 18, 2010 Ramzi’s point is well made. I also think Mark is a valuable contributor to the site, and if the SP had a candidate here I’d vote for him, but it’s a cinch to take the piss out of this rhetoric, or similar rhetoric, a few decades down the line. And the way he takes the piss out of the glowing references to the oustanding enthusiasm displayed at the meeting is similar to a number you see SWP members doing on the SP. The belief in the wondrousness of Mao was not confined to fringe movements like the CPI ML. For one thing, a few years later Fanshen, a play by David Hare, was a big critical and minor commercial success in London. It was based on a book by an American, William Hinton, on the changes wrought in a Chinese village by the Communist party and is almost completely uncritical of these changes, though Hare tries to suggest these days a degree of scepticism which isn’t obvious in the text. (I am a big fan of David Hare by the way). Secondly anyone who’s ever read Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire surely gets brought up short when in the first few pages he makes approving reference to the educative effect of the Cultural Revolution. Yet the book has become something of a mainstream academic classic. The magnificence of Mao is also a given in some of the Godard films from this time. None of these people were eejits, and I don’t think they acted in bad faith. Context explains a lot. I notice the poster for Progressive Books and Periodicals. I have a book of my father’s Marx’s The Civil War In France, printed in China, which he bought there. And it reminds me of that Alabama 3 song. Though perhaps the CPI ML should have heeded the helpful suggestion that if they went carrying pictures of Chairman Mao they weren’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow. (Once more the immense lyrical depth of the profound Lennon contrasts with that of the lightweight McCartney). Eamonn: The reason why I’m taking the piss out of this is because rhetoric like it really doesn’t exist elsewhere on the Irish left. Every organisation gets things wrong, gets overexcited, sometimes puffs up its own importance. They use boilerplate and harp on about their own particular obsessions. But the Internationalists ranted in the most amazing way, with sudden switches to capitals, declarations of eternal fealty to Mao, exhortations that willpower and faith are all that’s needed and endless capitalised slogans seemingly taken directly from Peking Review. The archive contains material from a whole bunch of other groups from a similar time period and well, some of it is good and some bad. Some is interesting and some a little embarrassing. But nothing from the RMG, PD, LWR. Militant or SWM in the early 1970s reads anything like the Internationalists stuff. Even the ICO/BICO and CCO stuff we’ve seen here simply isn’t like this, so it isn’t a necessary accompaniment to Maoism. It’s a real peculiarity of the Bains groups (their still just about extant British sister party still writes in much the same way). Some of the articles in the Red Patriot are more like an art prank than anything else. These are the lads who provoked fond recollections from a number of contributors here about the morning they woke up to find Cork City wallpapered in CPI(ML) posters celebrating Joe Stalin, which again to most people would seem more like a prank than a political intervention. by the way, the SWP more usually take the piss out of what they perceive as the SP’s dourness and rigidity. The SP generally take the piss out of what they perceive as the SWP’s breathless excitement and headless chicken tendencies. So in my experience at least you’ve got that one culturally the wrong way around. And actually, the joking does tell you something about each organisation, if in much exaggerated form. You’re probably right. It will certainly be harder to make a case for taking them seriously when they decide to follow the Enver Hoxha path to socialism. Though I do think that if this rhetoric seems OTT, it’s still along the lines of Maoism in general at the time. I suppose the question is why Maoism was so popular in the late sixties. Perhaps because post-Kruschev and post Prague it offered a way out for people who still needed to take leadership from a powerful actually existing socialist state but couldn’t stomach Russia anymore? My SWP taking the piss out of the SP referred to a piece in Mark Steel’s, good I thought, book Reasons To Be Cheerful where he mocks SP fund-raising meetings for their loud declarations that this is the best fund-raiser ever and shows the strength of support for the struggle etc. It’s a good point about the link between Maoism and support for republicanism in certain cases. I suppose if you believe that all political power comes from the barrel of a gun it makes sense to join a struggle where there are plenty of guns around. In England, for example, the actual realities of what a Revolution would entail were probably more easily elided. Whereas, though I know it wasn’t a Socialist Revolution, the war in the North certainly looked like some kind of Revolution to a lot of people at the time. The stakes were much higher. Speaking of the IRSP for example, and though she was a Marxist rather than a Maoist, someone like Miriam Daly would never have met the same terrible end had she been a left-wing English academic. Perhaps because post-Kruschev and post Prague it offered a way out for people who still needed to take leadership from a powerful actually existing socialist state but couldn’t stomach Russia anymore? I think that’s a crucial point. Stalinism always had the advantage over other far left currents of possessing a certain aura of “realism” due to the existence of the Stalinist regimes. The gradual social-democratisation of the pro-Moscow parties was one of the factors driving Maoist splits and splinters. Maoism was in some ways a return to a harder, more “revolutionary” version of Stalinism. But despite this shift to the left, because of China (and Albania until the Sino-Albanian split) it managed to hold on to the “realism” advantage as compared to the Trotskyists, Anarchists, Left Communists and the like who had to stand or fall on the merits of their ideas. Better still, China still had a certain novelty and glamour that the grey bureaucrats of the Soviet Union had long since lost. Another important factor is third worldism. The Maoists seemed to be going places in the third world. China was by far the most important third world country to go “communist”, and the idea that the revolution was inevitably spreading throughout the third world was attractive to Western radicals, particularly students. Oh, and those fund raising speeches, which were toe curlingly embarrassing but extremely effective in getting cash in, were dropped by the Socialist Party more than a decade ago! All I want is for the Irish left to engage with its past. I mean, it’s not like the Irish left is that aware of its past. It’s not so long ago that a comment I made here about the split in the Irish labour movement in 1944 was met with “huh?” Further down the line we’ll be doing BICO. For me, that means treating “two-nations” serious. Doesn’t mean accepting it, or making apologies for it, it means engaging with it, exploring why two-nations had the impact it had, etc. Again, what can it tell us about Ireland in the 1970s, and the history of the Irish left? I think it’s a lot more interesting to read and discuss things in that way, as an exploration of the history of the Irish left, no? 10. Mark P - May 18, 2010 In the spirit of actually contributing something other than mockery, it might be worth fitting the Internationalists and Irish Maoism generally into a wider pattern. In 1969 or 1970 in quite a number of Western countries, Maoism or closely related “Anti-Revisionist” strands was the dominant force on the far left (by which I mean left of the Moscow line CPs). In the late 1960s and the early 1970s these groups in the US and France particularly enjoyed explosive growth and clearly dominated that left of the left niche, leaving little room for Trotskyists or Anarchists. Then, by the end of the 1970s these Maoist groups started to collapse, until by the 1990s Maoism was a tiny force in both the US and France, with Trotskyism of various stripes taking its place. Britain was slightly different in that Trotskyist groups were always larger and more visible and that limited the scope for Maoism to attract those fed up with or uninterested in the conservatism of the CP. But nonetheless, Maoism/Anti-Revisionism there did follow much the same pattern of growth and collapse in much the same time period. Ireland, in retrospect, looked like it’s far left might have gone in a similar direction. The ICO and the Internationalists certainly weren’t noticeably smaller than the Trotskyists, still less the Anarchists, in 1969. They were apparently in a good position to grow. But instead of growing dramatically like their equivalents in much of the West, they stalled. I suspect that this is down to two things: 1) The deep peculiarities of the two main groups. The Internationalists really did write as if they were directly translating Chinese idioms, while the ICO headed off in a direction of entertaining but incoherent contrarianism. There wasn’t really a “normal” Maoist group to start with. The French Maoists had some odd ideas as did the US or British or Norwegian or Dutch, but they were recognisably more similar to each other than they were to the Internationalists or the BICO. 2) The lure of Republicanism. The obvious orientation for someone taking Maoist dogma seriously in that time period was towards one or more strands of the Republican movement. The Republican movement was a more obvious place for the people who might have ended up in Maoist groups in France or the US to end up, and indeed if I remember correctly that’s where the CCO ended up. “and indeed if I remember correctly that’s where the CCO ended up.” Or came from… Also, a few of the Irish Internationalists / CPI M-L ended up in BICO. 11. Frankly Mr. Shankly - May 18, 2010 Quite a number of people influenced by Maoism ended up in the Official republican movement. and wouldn’t it be interesting to explore why that happened? Instead of just laughing at it? I’m not sure that there’s any great mystery why Mao-ish sorts would have been attracted to the Officials in the early part of the Troubles. Guns, Nationalism and Socialism were central focuses of Maoist theory and Official practice. Plus the Officials were a much more serious organisation than any Irish Maoist group. Just as PD/RMG/SD continuously lost members to the Provisionals at a later stage for much the same reason – why be a member of a small group cheering a larger one one when you can be a member of the larger one waging what both groups saw as the real struggle. Later on the IRSP/INLA would have replaced the Officials as the obvious home of the Mao-ish. Republicanism is a strong tradition in Ireland and it has exercised a strong pull on people in smaller radical traditions, including CP members, Maoists and some Trotskyist groups. 12. Ramzi Nohra - May 18, 2010 Would the IRSP/INLA have defined themselves as Maoist as one stage? I have read people describing them as such, but couldnt remember if it was meant perjoratively or not. Ramzi Nohra - May 18, 2010 thanks Mark P. Didnt see your stuff when I posed the question. I’m not sure if they ever formally declared themselves Maoist. I’d be surprised but it’s not impossible. I get the distinct impression that the particular variant of socialism the IRSP espoused tended to vary from paper to paper. They certainly did have some members who were influenced by Maoism. Indeed they probably still do, along with people influenced by Trotskyism, Stalinism and bizarrely Council Communism. They’ve been accused of being Trotskyists and Maoists and probably all kinds of other things, but I think that they are just fundamentally too incoherent for such labels. 13. WorldbyStorm - May 18, 2010 I’d be somewhat critical of CPI(M-L) although I do genuinely respect the form of rigour that seems to have threaded through their thinking. But I think that in the late 60s there was nothing terribly odd about looking to China as a potential model particularly given the ruptures in the USSR post-Stalin and of course the Czechoslovakian issue. It’s not what I’d have done – I think. But there was nothing ignoble or even illogical in doing so. Indeed oddly my own nascent socialism was fully sparked when I was about eight or so by a programme I saw on TV about collective farms in China where the concept of pooling of equipment etc was described and it just seemed completely sensible… And I’m no Maoist. The most prominent Official republican attracted to Maoism stayed with them when the IRSP split happened. The IRSP were called many things when they got going, but they themselves were adamant that they were not Trots, or Stalinists, or Maoists, but simply republican socialists. 15. Ringo Starr - May 18, 2010 Well done on a fine piece of research, and on posting several interesting publications. I did a quick check to see if the two week long ‘joint conference of [lower case] english and irish patriots and communist revolutionaries’ advertised in the Red Patriot and held in Galway in August 1970 made any impression in the local press. It didn’t. The only use of the word ‘revolutionary’ in the Connacht Sentinel during the month was in reference to the new Citreon CS. The Internationalists did make a mark in Galway, however, specifically on the courthouse, where a piece of scrubbed out graffiti – the single word ‘LACKEYS’ if I remember right – was faintly legible until the early 1990s. The Internationalists certainly had a presence in UCG, before morphing into the Republican Club (the nursery that would furnish Pat Rabbitte, Eamon Gilmore, Mike Jennings et al with some of their post-adolescent ideals). The Internationalists material does seem rather strange, as several of the respondents have pointed out. I think this was because they lacked the rootedness of the republicans, CP, trotskyists, whose organisations in the late 1960s had evolved from pre-existing formations. The Internationalists, perhaps, should be viewed in the context of other counter-cultural movements of their time – the followers of Maherashi, and of Wicca – many of them students also, who latched onto exotic sets of belief, and whose writings now also seem quite odd. 16. sonofstan - May 18, 2010 After a day of reading about Maoism here as a long- buried heresy, I came across this blurb for Slavoj Zizek’s ‘new’ book: After passing through this zero-point, we can begin to perceive the crisis as a chance for a new beginning. Or, as Mao Zedong put it, “There is great disorder under heaven, the situation is excellent.” Slavoj Zizek shows the cultural and political forms of these stages of ideological avoidance and political protest, from New Age obscurantism to violent religious fundamentalism. Concluding with a compelling argument for the return of a Marxian critique of political economy, Zizek also divines the wellsprings of a potentially communist culture—from literary utopias like Kafka’s community of mice to the collective of freak outcasts in the TV series Heroes. *Regrettably more likely to be reconstituted from some or all of his previous books. If Zizek was Irish he’d be Eddie Hobbs, I’m convinced of it. He’s such a fucking chancer. Unlike Eddie, there’s intelligence, and not just cunning and patter, to back it up. To make the classic Indie fan comment ‘I love the early stuff’ – he’s become like Soviet factory production in his method: prodigious in output, but shoddy as fuck in quality. 17. Starkadder - May 18, 2010 “The collective of freak outcasts in the TV series Heroes. ” That would the show NBC have just axed after falling ratings and extraordinarily hostile word-of-mouth then. RIngo Starr’s comment does remind me of Bertolucci’s “The Dreamers”, where Louis Garrel’s Parisian youth is obsessed with Mao’s China, despite the fact his love of rock music and Hollywood movies would have gotten him “re-educated” had he actually lived there. Maybe the average Irish Internationalist was a similar type of rebellious youth? 18. Conor McCabe - May 18, 2010 The philosophy of aesthetics and composition has its part to play in all of this. Take this quote from the Scratch Orchestra Draft Constitution, 1968. This pre-dates Cardew’s involvement with the Maoists, but have a look at what it is saying: “5. Research Project. Conduct of research. Research should be through direct experience rather than academic; neglect no channels. The aim is: by direct contact, imagination, identifications and study to get as close as possible to the object of your research. Avoid the mechanical accumulation of data; be constantly awake to the possibility of new research techniques. The record in the Scratchbook should be a record of your activity rather than an accumulation of data. That mean: the results of your research are in you, not in the book.” (Cornelius Cardew, ‘A Scratch Orchestra: draft constitution’, Musical Times, June 1969, p.619) Have a read of what Bains says in Necessity for Change!, regarding methodology of research and insight. This is not a causality relationship – one did not influence the other – but rather they are drawing from the same well, so to speak – whatever that well is in the 60s – and maybe it’s not that surprising that they eventually found each other? Donagh - May 18, 2010 That Richard Gott LRB article on John Tilbury’s biog of Cornelius Cardew looks very interesting. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n05/richard-gott/liberation-music Cardew became known not just as an outstanding and original composer, and a charismatic performer of difficult music, but also as a fluent writer and critic, able to discuss the crossover from art to music. ‘It was impossible to disentangle the compulsion of the audience to cut, and Yoko Ono’s compulsion to be cut,’ he wrote in the Financial Times in 1966 of the famous performance in which Ono encouraged her audience to attack her clothing with scissors. She was his house guest at the time and had long outstayed her welcome. I don’t have a perch. Perches are for parrots. You’ve insisted, since a comment in which I explained why, often with many misgivings, I am generally a Labour voter, that I am ‘in’ the party (I’m not, I was last a member in the early ’80s – I joined the day Michael O’Leary left) and somehow, even speak for them. I still maintain a critical distance, and often look at the literature produced by other parties – yours included – to see if someone else seems better equipped to bring this state forward. And what do I find? Gibberish, largely, ill- argued, reading much like the same kind of depressingly fantastical imaginings of a new dawn ‘just around the corner’ that always alienated me from micro-parties, such as the CPI (M-L), which I’m old enough to remember. But… I would never actually judge a party completely, or even much, by their theoretical output: most political writing emanating from political parties is terrible. Yesterday, for example, as we were discussing the PUP here, I had a look at their website, and at a piece that was meant to set out the deep ideological core of Loyalism and the PUP’s role as a progressive voice….and it was awful, pseudo-historical whatabouttery of the worst kind. Actually though, I think they’re a better party than that, and Dawn Purvis is one of the few public reps in the North I respect. As are Joe Higgins and Clare Daly in Dublin. But really, there’s no great depth to your analysis, and no credible path from here to your version of the future that I can see. So either you accept that you’re going to be a campaigning party on things like bin and water charges, while people politely ignore your ‘theory’ or you start some real critical self- examination, instead of parroting stuff that was wrong then and is wrong now. The only exception, in my memory, to the general crapness of political party associated literature in this country was that produced by the Workers’ Party in the 80s -containing actual thought and analysis, and not afraid to develop and change. 1) You represent yourself as a semi-tribal Labour supporter here. I’m more than willing to accept that you aren’t a member, but the distinction between a rank and file member and a committed supporter of a party like Labour is fairly thin, given that formal membership doesn’t entail a commitment to do anything. 2) The Socialist Party is fairly clear about it’s goals: A socialist revolution. It’s a small, Marxist, party and in current conditions that means precisely that we are primarily a campaigning party and our goals seem far away. There’s no point in pretending otherwise. Our “proposals” short of a socialist transformation of society are not based on some judgment of the optimum way to run society under capitalism or some vision of the national interest. We have no ideological commitment to Keynsianism, for example or to the idea of a social democratic Ireland. Instead what we push for is the most we think the working class can get at any particular time. We are in that sense an unashamedly “sectoral” party and don’t for the most part put our demands or proposals in the language of costed policy proposals. We aren’t for instance interested in tellng the government where it can make cuts more “equitably” and arguing that x and y should be cut instead of a and b. Instead we oppose each and every attack on services or workers pay and conditions. In less defensive times, the demands we make are for whatever the working class can wrest for itself, not for what we think would result in a stabler nicer capitalism. The other type of demands we sometimes raise, “transitional demands” are deliberately pitched to be both reasonable and unachievable without going beyond the bounds of capitalism. We are not trying to do what social democrats would be trying to do (if social democrats actually existed as an organised force in Ireland, which they don’t really). We aren’t trying to do what the Workers Party was trying to do, or what the Labour Party was trying to do back when it was actually social democratic. We are trying to defend working class interests in the here and now and win people around to the idea of a socialist society, not to win an argument about what it is in the national interest to cut and what to borrow. I suspect that this difference in expectations is what’s throwing you. We aren’t trying to do what you think we are (or should be) trying to do. Just lost a long reply – short answer; I don’t think you should be doing what you think I think you should be doing either. I’ll do the long answer tomorrow. Actually, never mind. I could try and show you that, yes, I do grasp what you guys think a socialist party should do and should represent, and largely even agree with it. But you will still assume that, if despite that, I think the policy documents of yours I’ve read are embarrassingly lightweight and un-thought through, that the fault has to be with me, because how could someone get what you’re doing and not immediately fall into line? Isn’t that a terribly broad definition of Labour supporters? I mean by that token I’d be practically roped in and I find that unlikely. That said there are problems with that self-analysis Mark P. It begs an awful lot of questions. For example given the fact that socialist revolution is no no closer than say at any given point in my lifetime, and in some respects further away or so it would seem there does seem to be an enormous gulf between what you aspire to and what is actually happening. I can only think that for all the brickbats the LP get for their wishy washy not quite social democracy that they might have a somewhat stronger grasp on how to enthuse and motivate larger numbers of people – not in and of itself necessarily a good thing, but surely a prerequisite in terms of offering the prospect of some movement in the here and now rather than the there and perhaps never. Or to put it another way, there are as you and I well know communities of people around this state who are facing desperate problems which aren’t just an issue of immediate cuts but also about direction tactics and strategy into the future. If that future is too far away or seemingly unachievable I’m not sure that a message however sincerely put is going to work with them. 20. Adrian - May 18, 2010 The Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line in the Marxist Internet Archive contains material from the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), the Canadian mothership of Bains’ operation. Most of the materials cover the formation of CPC (ML) and its sister organization, the PCQ (ML), up to the mid 1970s. There are also anti-CPC (ML) materials from other Canadian left groups. Material from from the CPC (ML)s pro-Albania period will be included later. Also available soon will be the documents of the split between the CPC (ML) and the MLP-USA. If interested, see http://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ca.firstwave/index.htm Cheers Adrian. I didn’t know about the encyclopaedia of anti-revisionism. Thanks for that. 21. Jim Monaghan - May 19, 2010 “Fanshen:. The author subsequently admitted he lied and gave a rosy picture which ignored the realities. My memory is that the CPI ML leaked members to the BICO. Does anyone remembr the awful case of Martin Dolphin whose parents had him committed because of hs maoism. Of course the USSR routinely did the same towards the end. There’s some info about Martin Dolphin here: http://ucdhiddenhistory.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/update-april-09/ On the subject of the RCPB-ML, apparently some of its members are associated with the infamous Stalin Society in London. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin_Society Dick Grogan - April 15, 2013 Jim – I took up Martin Dolphin’s case at the time, wrote about it extensively in This Week magazine and worked with Margaret Gaj to try to get him out (successful eventually – long story). Would love to meet you for a chat about it and other matters if and when I can get to Dublin. Maybe you could send me contact details if interested, to dgdgrogan@gmail.com 22. FergusD - May 19, 2010 I very briefly came acroos the CPE (ML) in the 70s in the UK. They seemed to be mostly students from the Far East and were deeply disliked by the mainstream Maoist CPB (ML). So E = England, I assume there was a CPS (ML)? and a CPW (ML)? While the B=Britain, meaning GB/UK. So were the “Internationalists” nationalists/separatists while the CPB’s were unionists??!! The CPE (ML) were, it has to be said, seen to be either crazy, or by some (the CPB (ML)) probably agent provocateurs. (The latter view may not always have been uncommon in those days between far left groups. The “mainstream” far left, Trotskyist or Maoist, would sometimes feel/suggest that some small grouplet loudly proclaiming armed struggle were run by the spooks.) The CPB (ML) members I could talk to (even though I was a Trot), although it rarely went anywhere terribly productive (students are workers, guerilla struggle/fight where you are, totally ignore “politics”), but I don’t think anyone was tempted to try discussing with the CPE (ML) who seemed to live an entirely separate existence – at least in my experience. They came across as a cult frankly. I always had the feeling that many CPI (M-L) members were having a ball, that on some level they really enjoyed their politics. May be wrong of course, but that was just my impression. The leading British Maoist was a Reg Birch who was a significant Trade Union leader. That’s true, though he was CPB (ML), no? Very much so. The CPB(ML) evolved into a very odd, secretive and nationalistic bunch, but they weren’t as peculiar as the CPE(ML) (now RPCPB(ML)). Both groups are for all intents and purposes completely invisible in Britain, even in the small world of the far left, but you will occasionally find a copy of their publications in Housmans. Last I heard, the Bainsite RCPB(ML) were cooperating closely with the New Communist Party, itself a slowly declining group of a few dozen pensioners. The only groups from the Stalinist side of the Communist movement that you could encounter in Britain without the assistance of a team of forensic investigators are the CPB, which is low key but still has a decent number of activists, and the CPGB(ML) which is very small but has some young people and a bit of vigour to it. I always got the impression the CPB was still reasonably strong, all things considered. It depends what context you put it in. By comparison with mainstream ex-Moscow line Communist Parties almost anywhere else in the world it is the smallest of midgets. By comparison with the more hardline Stalinist outfits in Britain it’s a behemoth. It claims a paper membership of 900 or 1,000, but membership doesn’t mean much in terms of an activist commitment. Its age profile is pretty unfavourable but it isn’t uniformly made up of pensioners in quite the same way as the likes of the NCP . I estimated that it had about 200 actual activists fairly recently, and one of its members responded by saying that it had 250 to 300. That would make it probably still the third biggest left group in Britain, a long way behind the SWP or SP but a fair way ahead of the small sects. It retains some notable influence in the peace movement and also in parts of the union movement, although more among the unelected bureaucrats than the union activists. And of course it has a low circulation but recently improved daily newspaper, which is a not inconsiderable asset. (Before someone corrects me, I’m aware that the Morning Star is technically owned by the PPPS rather than the CPB). On the other hand let me reverse my previous statement and say I guess it’s amazing that it’s down to such low figures. 300. Dear God. To be fair to them, they started out from quite a small base when you remember that technically speaking they were a splinter from the CPGB rather than its organisational continuation. The legal successor organisation has fared much worse. First the CPGB became Democratic Left, a name that was very much current in EuroCommunist circles. Then DL became the New Times Network. Then that became a think tank called the New Politics Network. Then finally it merged into Charter 88 to become Unlocking Democracy, a small body of useless people waffling on about written constitutions. Here’s a question, do you happen to know where one can get (approx) figures for further left parties in the UK? Or better still, where do you get yours? I found an interesting doc on the major and mid range parties from the House of Commons, but… nothing on smaller formations…Yeah, the CPGB New Times crowd had no staying power whatsoever. Don’t forget, I was a member for two or so years of our own DL… never rated the UK one even at the time. Didn’t seem to organise. There isn’t any reliable source of information on the size of socialist left organisations in Britain. You have to go off experience and indicators like where they have branches, how visible they are, what their members are willing to tell you and the like. Even if you could get formal numbers from the parties, they indicate very different things. The SWP, for instance, nominally has activist membership criteria but in practice it tends to ignore them. The Scottish Socialist Party and CPB don’t have formal criteria beyond signing a bit of paper and giving them a few quid once a year. The Sparts or Workers Power have a nearly 100% activist membership. It doesn’t really make sense to directly compare the formal memberships of cadre groups with those of sign a bit of paper and bung us a tenner parties. I can give you broadly reasonable estimates (and the reasoning behind the estimate) for most of them, if there are any you are interested in. This is off topic but it seems like something you might know. What is the political provenance or what are the political connections of Mark Fisher, Owen Hatherly and Nina Power who all published books with Zero Books last year? In my opinion, they are three of the most exciting and interesting left wing writers I’ve read in years and the publisher is well worth keeping an eye out for. Capitalist Realism, Militant Modernism and One Dimensional Woman are their books respectively. I don’t read enough theory so I found these fascinating and very bright. All of them Mark! All of them… Nina Power’s name is very very familiar for some reason. Seriously, they’re very good books and very well written. You’d enjoy them. And I suspect it’s probably the one set of provenance and connections because they give the impression of being linked. I think Nina Power was in Dublin lately. Owen Haterley on his trip to Dublin http://nastybrutalistandshort.blogspot.com/2010/03/stunning-developments-on-misery-hill.html Nina Power on Dublin too, to discuss the idea of a ‘free’ university http://www.cinestatic.com/infinitethought/2010/03/dublin-in-particular-is-contained.asp By odd coincidence I just finished reading Hatherley’s Militant Modernism yesterday! I liked it a lot, but then again I’m also aware that he was providing justifications for a lot of my own preferences, so I’m wary of deciding that he’s brilliant because I agree with him. Hatherley, I gathered from some interview, had Communist Party grandparents, both parents are in the Militant/Socialist Party and is himself unaffiliated. He described himself as critically sympathetic to all of the Socialist Party, SWP and Green Party. Nina Power has written a lot on the (post?) Maoist Alan Badiou and has recently been doing public meetings on the future of feminism with Lindsey German (former SWP leader, now in the small Counterfire group). I don’t know what her background is beyond that, but it’s hard to pigeonhole her. Mark Fisher, I know very little about. He has a blog, which reveals no obvious factional affiliations. The second in command of the tiny CPGB/PCC (of Weekly Worker fame) uses the pseudonym Mark Fisher but I’m fairly certain it’s not the same guy. Hatherley’s blogs are well worth reading. He recently did a sort of guided tour of interesting 20th Century buildings in Moscow and St Petersburg on one of them. Hatherley’s non-academic blog: http://nastybrutalistandshort.blogspot.com/ His more academically rigorous blog: http://themeasurestaken.blogspot.com/ Mark Fisher’s blog: http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/ I dont think that Power has a blog, or at least I can’t find it if she does. I was at that. She described it as ‘fractious’ on IT afterwards which it didn’t seem particularly to be to me, but the discussion wandered a bit, to no real end, and ignored much of what Nina said. The discussion on the idea of the Free University on IT was really interesting and especially relevant in the light of the attempt to close the Phil dept. at Middlesex (complicated story, but again, all the detail on Infinite Thought) – again, something that’s obviously relevant to me, since the shrinkage of the profession is to be resisted, but its a wider issue too, because of the breathtakingly crass managerialism of the university authorities. Co-sign on the Zero books (haven’t read the Hatherley, but his blog is great) Capitalist Realism in particular is excellent, and anyone who works on a short term contract in education will shudder along with it… http://infinitethought.cinestatic.com/ Actually, Nina Power does have a blog, as Donagh points out above: http://www.cinestatic.com/infinitethought/ Any chance you’d add them all the blogroll WbS? Beaten to it twice! There are well over 50 left groups in Britain, but to give you an idea of some of the more prominent ones: SWP: Claims over 5,000 members according to one of the leaked internal bulletins the Weekly Worker published recently. Nominally they do have activist criteria for membership, but in practice they don’t really. Still the largest socialist group, but not by nearly as much as the nominal figures suggest. During their recent internal squabble, the losing side were claiming in the same bulletins that the numbers attending their national discussions were somewhere between 600 and 1,000. Socialist Party: Claims 2,000 or so members publicly, up from 1,500 a few years ago but well down on its 1980s peak. It has the “hardest” activist criteria of the big groups. CPB: Claims 1,000 members. Membership is on the same sort of basis as mainstream parties. 300 or so activists. AWL: Claims 100, probably broadly accurately. Workers Power: 40 or 50. Was just over 30 after their recent split with Permanent Revolution, according to the PR people, but I’m told it’s grown a little. Permanent Revolution: According to one of their members about 30. CPGB/PCC (Weekly Worker): Again ex-members say about 30. Workers Revolutionary Party: Very hard to tell. I saw a lot of estimates of about 50, but they are still publishing a daily newspaper which makes me think that it probably has to be a bit above that. Scottish Socialist Party and Solidarity: Both claim 300 plus, but in activist terms it is markedly less. To give a non-socialist benchmark, the Green Party claims 7,500 members in England and Wales, again counted using the same criteria as the main parties. Respect: I don’t know. Low hundreds in activist terms as best I can tell. Again probably has a wide gap between nominal and active membership. neilcaff - May 19, 2010 In one of the internal bulletins produced by the SWP in the run up to their last conference they said they had around 2,900 members paying subs. Mark, thanks for all the info. They’re an interesting crew. Looking at the figures for the British far left, or left if you wish, and thinking of their general electoral performances it struck me that they must envy, or admire, their Irish counterparts. Joe Higgins Euro election performance and the PBP local election seats are something they could only dream of. Well, the British left does win occasional council seats, Respect, the Socialist Party, the Independent Working Class Association, the SSP and Solidarity have all done so in recent years. But a council seat means a lot less there and with the partial exception of Respect, their general election results have been pretty poor. I tend to think that Scargill has to shoulder quite a bit of blame for that. In retrospect the SLP was probably the best opportunity the English left had to build a significant electoral presence and Arthur, who I will normally give a free pass to, fucked it up but good. A more structural problem is the electoral system. When freed from its constraints the SSP managed to make a noticeably bigger electoral advance than the Irish socialist left has yet managed. And then screwed it up by waging the incredibly bitter war of Tommy Sheridan`s cock. As far as the union movement is concerned, the British left is massively stronger than the Irish one. Particularly the British SP and the CPB, which both have some real if limited sway over sections of the union movement there. The CBP seem strong enough for both the SP and SWP to take them very seriously.The EU elections and TUSC seem to me to have the CPB in the centre of things The CPB are not involved in TUSC. They were indeed central to No2EU, and indeed the name was largely down to them. They are certainly taken seriously by the SP and SWP, but because of the Morning Star and their influence over some bits of the left union bureaucracy rather than because they can turn out any large number of activists. They are also taken seriously in the anti-war movement because they have a small number of key people in that movement. I don’t think by the way that most members of the CPB would dispute that assessment – certainly the one who told me that activist numbers were 250-300 rather than my estimate of 200 didn’t. No2EU, I still have nightmares about that bloody name! CPB sorry 26. Babeuf - May 19, 2010 CPB also have the added support of the foreign communist party member organisations in the UK, such as the KKE, AKEL etc, who have not insubstantial organisations or memberships in the UK. Also, don’t underestimate CPB’s union support. Bob Crow is a CPB fellow traveller and CPB executive members sit on Unite’s executive. Graham Stevenson is supposidly overseeing the present BA dispute (according to the Daily Mail anyway!)? In addition, CPB executive members also head the Stop The War Coalition (Andrew Murray) and CND (Kate Hudson). In all, on top of a continuing daily paper (The Morning Star), they are pretty impressive for an organisation of a nominal 1,000 members? That seems like a reasonable analysis. Although still hugely down from back in the day. Graham Stevenson is only running things in the Mail’s fevered imagination. The national officers for aviation of Unite are on the T&G side Steve Turner (ex Militant Tendency) and Brian Boyd (ex CPGB, the real one) on the Amicus side. As the cabin crew struggle intensified around September last year Len McClusky (Deputy General secretary and fellow traveller of Militant during the Liverpool battle) was parachuted in. This had nothing to do with the upcoming Gen Sec’s election and the fact that McClusky is being backed by the left bureaucracy in Unite or all the free publicity. No sir. When things started to turn nasty after the first injunction Tony Woodley took direct control of the dispute and that’s pretty much the situation now. The thing to understand though is that all the figures above are only controlling things from the point of view of the national union. The actual cabin crew branch BASSA (which is the T&G side, Amicus also have a branch but they make up less than 10% of the membership) is very independent in it’s own right. They have their own membership levy and full time staff as well as elected lay officials on 100% facility time. They are the largest private sector trade union branch in the country with over 10,000 members and two reps on Unite’s NEC. In the past they haven’t been averse to telling Unite to get stuffed and the current leadership is currently in place after the last leadership was forced to resign en mass because they agreed to a crap deal stitched up by Woodley in 2007. In short it should come as a surprise to no one that the Mail haven’t got a clue what’s going on at Unite. They probably thought alleging some Tankie was running the show would send a nice little frisson down the spines of the Hyacinth Buckets in Turnbridge Wells types that dominate the readership. 27. Bartholomew - May 19, 2010 Cardew played a concert in Dublin back in the 1970s, about 1974 I’d say. Just himself playing the piano, in the Academy of Music in Westland Row. It’s a long time ago, but what I remember is that he was just back from China, gave long disquisitions on the need for politically useful music in between the pieces. I was expecting some far-out John Cage-style stuff, but it was fairly straightforward tonal music. 28. PJ Callan - May 20, 2010 See the link below for a copy of the reprint of Cornelius Cardew’s, “Stockhausen Serves Imperialism and other articles” (1974) The highly controversial collected Marxist writings of British avant-garde composer Cornelius Cardew (1936-1981). Cardew, a one-time assistant to Karlheinz Stockhausen and founder of The Scrach Orchestra, gradually moved away from John Cage-inspired works toward radical Marxism. Long out of print, “Stockhausen Serves Imperialism” contains “A History of the Scratch Orchestra” by Rod Eley; “John Cage: Ghost or Monster?” by John Tilbury; and the following by Cardew: “Stockhausen Serves Imperialism,” “On Criticism,” “A Critical Concert,”Self-Criticism: Repudiation of Earlier Works,” “Problems of Notation,” and “Criticism of The Great http://www.ubu.com/historical/cardew/index.html And a beautiful version of ‘The Croppy Boy/Boolavogue’ from the Cardew 1985 memorial concert performed on the 16th of May 1982 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall London by his musical colleagues, friends and comrades who came together to perform his music in a tribute to his life and works. http://www.ubu.com/sound/cardew_memorial.html EamonnSweeney - May 20, 2010 PJ thanks a million, that made my morning. By the way, this ubu.com site is an absolute treasure trove of avant-garde music and writing. Amazing. If anyone is interested in Cardew and where he was coming from, the Crash Ensemble playing Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel in IMMA on Sunday would be a treat. I’m tossing a coin between that and the psychedelic Rangda in Whelans on Tuesday, given that economic reality militates against more than a couple of nights in Dublin. Didn’t know about the Rangda gig( Tuesday week) – thanks. anarchaeologist - May 20, 2010 Never heard of them. But it seems if you like Sonic Youth… We’ve come a long way from Hardial Bains! Bartholomew - May 20, 2010 Thanks for those links. What an amazing website, and that’s some lineup for the memorial concert. But with all respect to Cardew, I’m reminded of a song from the recent Chumbawamba album. Sorry, only meant to put a link in, but then the whole window appeared. Delete if you want WbS. Is cool Bartholomew. 🙂 30. anarchaeologist - May 20, 2010 The Crash Ensemble are actually performing on Sunday week in IMMA, see http://www.modernart.ie/en/page_212216.htm Thanks for the tip Eamonn! It looks like the rest of the day will be spent on ubu too… Apologies, I don’t even know what week it is. 31. NollaigO - May 21, 2010 God grant you glory brave Fr Murphy And open heaven to all you men. The cause, that called you, may call tomorrow In another fight for the Green again. And a Maoist wrote a special composition of the above! They can’t be all bad then!! I tell ya you’d wait a long time to hear Boolavogue at a Socialist Party rally! The sad thing is they’re proud of it. The less singing we have to do the better, tbh. 🙂 For once I agree with someone in the SP. Where’s MarkP now to start an argument about it… Nothing socialist about the “Socialist” Party. Remember the way their fellow travellers carried on during the Vietnam war? http://www.lalkar.org/issues/contents/may2010/hochiminh.html Those songs are from a period when the CPIML et al had broken with Maoism following the Nixon visit to the PRC. Hoxha took the Maoist theory of Soviet “social imperialism” towards quasi-Trotskyite absurdities. Following the collapse of Albania there were even a few Albanian aligned CP’s that actually became openly Trotskyite, the CPNZ was one such. In any case I agree that English communists who would sing The Croppy Boy in a Queen Lizzy Hall can’t be the worst! If only there were more of them on that side of the Irish Sea. 33. neilcaff - May 21, 2010 It’s says a lot about the left nationalist mentality that the measure of a persons radicalism and commitment is not what you’ve done in the movement but what sort of songs you sing. Mind you, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone quote Harpal Brar and expect to be taken seriously! “All that glitters is not gold. There is much glitter and sound in Trotsky’s phrases, but they are meaningless.” VI Lenin I don’t want to seem snarky about this, but let’s calm ourselves and step back from discussions that are entirely moot. Given that neither Trotsky nor Lenin, nor indeed Stalin, graced these shores (on either side of the Irish Sea), at least not in the recent past I think it’s pointless to start fighting over next to nothing. I’m also dubious that Lenin was quite as antagonistic to Trotsky as some like to say or that he didn’t change his mind as time progressed. He did after all entrust him with founding and running the Red Army at a crucial time in the history of the Soviet Union. Now perhaps that was a terrible error, but I can’t see why. And really, what’s the point there either? It doesn’t matter a blind bit of difference in Kilbarrack or Kilkenny (or Kilburn) where the working class is currently having to fight, and broadly speaking lose, its battles. I could care less whether comrades who I respect pick sides in struggles none of us had any hand or part in. We’ve other and more important stuff to be doing – don’t we? 35. Irish Left Open History Project: ‘Miscellaneous Notes On Republicanism And Socialism In Cork City, 1954–69′ By Jim Lane (Cork, 2005) « The Cedar Lounge Revolution - June 9, 2010 […] Daly (ex IRA at the time) and myself met Hardial Bains and the other leaders of the Internationalists in 1968. Sean Daly is the person mentioned several times in my Miscellaneous Notes……. […] 36. ‘Miscellaneous Notes On Republicanism And Socialism In Cork City, 1954–69′ By Jim Lane (Cork, 2005) \| Irish Labour and Working Class History - June 9, 2010 37. Irish Left Review · ‘Miscellaneous Notes On Republicanism And Socialism In Cork City, 1954–69′ By Jim Lane (Cork, 2005) - June 10, 2010 […] “Sean Daly (ex IRA at the time) and myself met Hardial Bains and the other leaders of the Internationalists in 1968. Sean Daly is the person mentioned several times in my Miscellaneous Notes……. […] 38. PJ Callan - June 14, 2010 With all the money been printed these days if any of ye have a spare dodgy 100 lying around ye could do worse than this very rare LP. http://www.discogs.com/Cornelius-Cardew-Four-Principles-On-Ireland-And-Other-Pieces-1974/release/909455 Conor McCabe - June 14, 2010 It’s available as an MP3 download from Amazon, PJ, and I agree, it is great. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001GQAD5Y/sr=1-10/qid=1276517329/ref=sr_1_10_digr?ie=UTF8&qid=1276517329&sr=1-10 39. Left Archive: ‘Words’ from the Trinity Internationalists (later the CPI(M-L), c.1967 « The Cedar Lounge Revolution - August 23, 2010 […] that would subsequently develop into the Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist). As noted here… When The Internationalists were first set up in Trinity College Dublin in November 1965, it was not […] 40. Tawdy - June 24, 2012 I was involved with the maoist bookshop in 1970, I also attended the conference in Galway mentioned by poster Ringo Starr at post 15 above. I met Martin Dolphin on a number of ocassions. There was an incident at Limericks Colbert Station when Dev came to town. A young girl ( I don`t remember her name but she was involved with the maoist also ) jumped into the car that Dev had got itno and started shouting at him. She was arrested and taken to the prision at Mulgrave Street. I went to the prision a couple of times to visit her ( told them I was her brother ) We did not know each other but we sat and chatted like brother and sister. they released her after about 2 weeks no charges were ever made. 41. PJ Callan - July 22, 2012 Conor, The LP ‘Four Principles On Ireland And Other Pieces’ is available here at http://www.filestube.com/source.html?token=4a8949471d5a368703ea password – basa005 42. costa breve barcelona - November 5, 2012 This is very attention-grabbing, You’re a very skilled blogger. I’ve joined your feed and sit up for seeking more of your great post. Also, I’ve shared your website in my social networks 43. That US hate-preacher is not the first person ever banned from Ireland – others have been too. \| Citizen Partridge - May 16, 2019 […] he was coming to Ireland to “support the Chinese Communists in Trinity“. I think the TCD Internationalists would have given the Trotskyist Schoenman short shrift. In fact, they’d probably have […]	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line317
__label__cc	0.643045	0.356955	How to turn an RPG into a board game in 147 easy steps - part 4 (Character Mechanics) I was talking last week about a sense of the unknown, and I really do think that is the major key to, well, almost any game, but tactical combat games in particular. Whether you have a 1-in-100 chance to land your hit or a 1-in-100 chance to miss it, that sense of the unknown is what keeps the fight tense and exciting. Only once the monster is brought down and the objective is complete can you breathe a sigh of relief. Of course, I don't think randomness should be the major deciding factor in the outcome of a battle. It should add flavor, but the meat of the game should be about solid tactics and good game play. To that end, I've never really been super-excited about the combat in any tactical combat game I've played. Sure, there are tactics involving where to move and who to attack, but at the end of the day, it boils down to "move your figure and roll some dice." You can add onto that with special abilities and whatnot, but then you're just adding flavor to a meatless broth. I wanted to start from a different place, using mechanics that interested my more Euro-style sensibilities. I was at a meeting of tabletop game designers in Indy many months back, playing this guy's game about crowd-surfing. You had this army of guys and had to play cards from your hand to determine the magnitude and direction each of them would move over the crowd, with the goal being to get your guys onto the stage at the front. It was an interesting game, but in its current iteration, the direction of someone's movement was random, and all the player could do was decide the magnitude of that movement. This lead to some pretty mundane decisions of, "Well, he's moving back, so I'll play my lowest value movement card so he doesn't go back too far," or, "Well, he's going forward, so I'll play my highest value card." This system of having to determine two separate values - direction and magnitude - through two separate cards (even though, at the time, one of the cards was a random draw) reminded me of a game I had seen on last year's Tabletop Deathmatch. It was this card game called Rocket Wreckers, where players were battling on a rocket to either make it crash or hit its target. The important part was that each player's turn consisted of playing two separate cards - one for a special ability and one as a distance traveled. Each individual card had both a power and a distance on it, though, which lead to interesting decisions about how to best use the individual cards and what combinations of two cards worked best, so that you also had good combination options on the following turns. So anyway, this crowd-surfing game got me thinking about that two-card mechanic again. I suggested using a similar system where a player drew a random hand of cards that each had a direction and a magnitude on them (and, to add a little more flavor, a special ability that activated with the direction), and they had to play two together for each of their surfers, one as the direction and ability, and one as the magnitude. This led to more interesting decisions about how to combine the cards in the right way to get a maximal effect. Do you use all your good cards to push one guy up and leave the rest of them hanging? This direction card sends you back, but has a great ability with it, so do you send someone backward to use the ability, or do you play that card for its magnitude instead? Unfortunately, I have yet to see where the guy took the crowd-surfing game after that suggestion, but discussing that type of two-card mechanic with him put it in the forefront of my mind just as I was sitting down to work out the combat mechanics of my own game. I really liked the mechanic, so I ran with it. Each player starts a dungeon with a deck of cards. The number of cards in the deck and exactly what they do is highly dependent on the player's class, but all cards start in the player's hand of active cards. Much like in the previous examples, each card sports two abilities - one on the top of the card and one on the bottom - and each turn, players will play two of their cards simultaneously. Player order for the round is determined by an initiative number at the top of each player card (and monster ability card), so players must choose which of the two cards they played to put on top and act as their initiative for the round. But the card they play on top isn't necessarily the card they want to use the top ability of. That just determines their order in the round, and on their turn they can decide which top action to use and which bottom action to use on their cards (though they can't use both abilities from a single card). Hopefully the player had a good idea what he was going to do going into his turn, but the best plays are often the ones with versatility, so that depending on what the monsters and other players did before you, you can use this top and this bottom, or switch it up and use the opposite top and bottom. For a large part, the top abilities on cards are attack-like actions and the bottom abilities are move-like actions, but this system has so much more to offer that typical move and attack mechanics, in my opinion. First off, the decision making becomes much more interesting and complex. It's not long just a matter of where to move your character, but also how you will move him. If you use this card for its move effect this round, will you still have enough attack cards next round to do the damage you need to? This card I'm using to attack has my only looting ability on its bottom, so I need to decide whether I want to kill this monster or wait around for someone else to do it so that I can loot its corpse next turn. Secondly, it introduces hidden information into the game. I don't want to go on a diatribe about cooperative games and the alpha player problem, but I will just say that, in my opinion, any cooperative game that does not address the alpha player problem is flawed, and a great way to address the problem is the introduction of hidden information. If a bossy player doesn't have information about what your capabilities are, it is much harder for him to boss you around. Because each player's deck of cards is entirely different from everyone else's and they are hidden from everyone else, each player has to be in charge of their own fate, which is exactly how it should be. Third, it introduces a loose system of resources that create a more Euro-like feel than the standard tactical combat game. Once a player runs through their whole deck of cards, they have to spend a turn to rest to get all their discarded cards back into their hand, except that every time they rest, they permanently lose one of the cards in their discard pile before getting the rest back. In addition, some cards have extra powerful abilities on them where if you use them, the card is permanently lost instead of discarded. This introduces a sort of "cards-as-resources" mechanic that pushes players to get through the dungeon as quickly as possible because every player has to either play two cards or rest on every turn. And if you lose all your cards (or all but one), you're out of the game. In the end, every cooperative game needs a "race against time" mechanic to keep the players from dawdling, but baking it into the card system gives the players much more control over their own fate. Lastly, and this is a big one, this mechanic blows the design space wide open. It isn't just move and attack with a couple special powers. Every card in your deck is essentially a special power - a unique ability that you can only use once per rest - and so just designing what each character class feels like and how they interact with their deck is infinitely more interesting, and those dynamics trickle down to the player, too. For example, the easiest character class to play is probably the Brute. The Brute starts with a deck of 10 cards and a lot of them are the same: attack 3 on the top and move 3 on the bottom. He's got other cards to make things more interesting, but for the most part, he's the workhorse of the group. You can always depend on him to get into the fray and deal some decent damage. On the other hand, you've got the Spellweaver, a magic-using class that is much easier to screw up with if you're not thinking ahead. The Spellweaver starts with a deck of only 7 cards, and most of those cards are filled with abilities that force you to permanently lose the card after it is played. The linchpin to his deck, however, is a card that allow him to recover all the cards he permanently lost - once. It is very easy to have the Spellweaver go into combat with guns blazing, throwing powerful spells around and doing much more damage than the brute is capable of. But even with the linchpin card, playing that way is going to make him flame out early - he'll get exhausted and spend the rest of the dungeon doing nothing. You have to be much more careful when playing the Spellweaver - using your powerful spells sparingly when they will yield maximal results. Oh, man, I've ranted on about this for way too long, but let's bring it back around to my original point. Where are the dice? If I play an "attack 3" card, does that mean I just do 3 damage to the enemy? Where's the suspense in that? Don't worry, my friend, it's all in the battle cards. There's already enough going on with the players' action cards and monster automation, I didn't want to add anything too complicated or time-consuming to add suspense to the combat, so I just devised a simple deck of cards to act as an attack's modifier. So if you come in with an "attack 3" or a "heal 3," you're gonna just flip over a battle card to modify that action. A lot of the cards just have "+0" them, which means the action goes through unchanged, but you'll could easily end up with a "+1" or "-1," enhancing or degrading your ability. The modifiers can go even bigger, and there's also a "double" and a "miss" in the deck, so you always have a small chance of completely dodging the boss's attack and hitting him back with a crit. The coolest thing about this deck, aside from it's simplicity, is that it is very easy to modify. Say the encounter is taking place in a foggy swamp - the scenario booklet may tell you to add more misses and negatives to the deck. Or maybe in a climactic battle, everyone is full of adrenaline and getting a plus or a crit is more likely. Oh, and one other thing about the character ability decks that is cool: they allow for deep customization. All the stats are on the cards, so you can build and modify your character by simply switching out what cards they go into battle with. This is what I'll talk about in more detail next time. Also in Blog Forge War Kickstarter: A Retrospective One crazy month I’m sure I’m not alone in the fact that this last month and a half as been quite crazy. I remember about mid-March when the pandemic really started getting serious in the US, and I decided to still go to Piranha Pig Con (pictured above), and then visit my wife’s family out in Virginia. The launch has shifted, and that's okay I don’t have to explain to you how chaotic this last week has been, and I’m sure you don’t need any more statistics at this point. What I’d like to do, though, is briefly explain how Cephalofair Games has been affected by recent events, and what we will be doing moving forward.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line318
__label__cc	0.686611	0.313389	Open Letter to Our Community By Dean Christopher P. Long on June 4, 2020 Dear College of Arts & Letters community, “Anger,” Audre Lorde¹ insists, “is an appropriate reaction to racist attitudes, as is fury when the actions arising from those attitudes do not change.” The racist killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in the wake of more than 400 years of anti-Black violence are infuriating. We must demonstrate solidarity through actions that support our African American colleagues who are directly impacted by the realities of racism. Our actions must be oriented toward systemic change. In the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University, we are engaged in this work within the context of a predominately white institution. After years of effort by the students and faculty affiliated with the African American and African Studies program, in 2019, we announced the creation of the Department of African American and African Studies to situate the practical and intellectual life of Black Studies at the heart of our academic mission. We have created a framework that will support a wider diversity of critically engaged scholarship and practice in the processes by which we grant tenure and promotion. We have established Critical Race Residencies in the Arts; made strategic hires to investigate, understand, and redress the complexities of diversity in a digital age; and we are expanding the diversity of our graduate student body to be the next generation of faculty. Yet, this is not enough. We each bear responsibility for confronting the atrocities of racism, and the ways in which we have been complicit in the maintenance of systems and structures that were not designed for the diversity that exists within our College today. How will we hold ourselves accountable in the difficult work that is ahead of us? On a personal level, I acknowledge the privileges I enjoy as a white male leader in a racist society and institution. I am attempting to act with intention and integrity to create spaces and systems designed for our Black students, staff, and faculty based on the needs they identify. As a College, we will continue to invest resources in the creation, growth, and development of the Department of African American and African Studies. We will work with the College Advisory Committee, Chairs, and Directors to further advance the infrastructure we need to support of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the College; and we will continue to draw on and build faculty expertise to enact inclusive pedagogical practices and to put DEI at the center of our curriculum. Our responsibility is to ensure that the changes we enact endure. Let us be judged not only by what we say, but also by what we do; not only by the values for which we advocate, but also by the systems we transform to bring about tangible change. Dean Christopher P. Long Categories: Long View Blog To the Class of 2020 On Ethical Candor Imagining a Resilient Pedagogy	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line320
__label__cc	0.684887	0.315113	The Highly Influential Mattia Crobu Mar 19, 2017 \| Entertainment Mattia Crobu is an author, producer, and designer from Italy. He has been gaining acclaim for his work, building up his reputation in the business world. Having been involved in multiple successful projects, he has gained the know-how required to stand out and establish himself as a professional. Constantly aiming at reaching the highest quality standards in his work, the outcome has always exceeded initial expectations, and the reviews of his work have been outstanding. Over time, Mattia has developed a deep knowledge of contemporary business and the principles on which success is built brick by brick. There are secrets and tips that add to success and ongoing progression. These are the details that bring out the best in every personality, and Mattia Crobu is well aware of what it takes to succeed. Such enlightening tips and information can be found within the pages of his books, “Financial Management More Pain No Gain” and “Treasures of Japan”. As a young and promising entrepreneur, his insight on business is spot-on and has made him gradually evolve in his fields of expertise. His sphere of influence has been growing steadily, as a result of the quality work provided and the successful guidance offered to others. On social media platforms like Twitter, Mattia Crobu has managed to increase his followers to a huge extent, and this highlights his determination and influence to the world. Sharing the things that matter towards accomplishing personal goals and thriving in business, he has become a valuable asset and source of inspiration to ambitious entrepreneurs all over the world. Business integrity is blended wonderfully with the artistic nature of Mattia Crobu, making him an influential personality among artists and businessmen alike. With his marketing tips and pieces of advice, he has helped build the ground on which several other personalities will rise. When posting something online, the impact is substantial, and most likely the post becomes viral. This highlights just how much appreciated Mattia is in his work. It is not easy for a person to succeed in such a competitive field. Even though there are still many more achievements waiting for Mattia Crobu in the future, it is true that his reputation is already solid, and his success is a fact. For better understanding the dynamics of Arts and marketing, financial management and various other hot topics in today’s world, he is one of the people who can help. Shedding light to the darkness and looking for innovative ideas, breakthroughs, and stimulating projects, Mattia Crobu is a professional with proven experience and a continuously growing influence all over the globe. PreviousLorberboim: Uncommon hand on canvas, a rare display of artistic ingenuity NextArt Review: Marko Stout Rockstar of the Art World Win 4 Suite Level Tickets to See D.C. United Play the Philadelphia Union RiseUp TV Officially Launches On Roku TV International Bestselling Author Ava Miles Launches New Series of Seven Books for Women “Man Made a Monkey”, Download Single by English Retro Rock Band, VENTRILOQUISM, Has Just Been Released. Ventriloquism Features Lead Guitarist/Vocalist Darrell Bath and Drummer Eddie Edwards	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line326
__label__cc	0.704012	0.295988	Sprint Community is Read Only. Please use the My Sprint app or Sprint.com to manage your account. If you need assistance, please visit Sprint.com/chat or visit community.t-mobile.com Sprint Community Community Sign In Help Phones, Devices, Accessories Moto, Google, Essential & Others Re: OnePlus 8 Android 11 update? OnePlus 8 Android 11 update? dnorway71 Android 11 for the OnePlus 8 was released by OnePlus on 10/10. Any word on when it will make it's way to our phones in the United States? Sprint_Zalika Sprint Social Care Hey, I'm unable to say when the update will be available in the US; however, you will be prompted to do the update when it becomes available. Guhnfection Also curious please let us know, if possible in the near future. Phone has screen issues 11 has calibration fixes and others would really love to have it sooner than later. In response to Guhnfection What screen issues are you having? Do you have an 8 or 8 pro? In response to dnorway71 Uniformity issues on low brightness also a black band near my camera cutout and black crush on the left side of the screen. fireguy_6364 usually roughly a month after its release in Europe..give or take depending on what all issues they run into with the carrier variants. since our phones (or at least the 5G phones released after the announcement of the merger) now get the same updates the TMO devices get any updates are usually posted over on their site..well in their device update area...which currently just says its in development. https://www.t-mobile.com/support/devices/software-updates/oneplus-8-update-to-android-11 I like many others come onto this site for assistance and to help others. Marking a reply as helpful or correct helps others with like issues when they try to search the site for assistance. I do not work for Sprint and my suggestions and or opinions are my own. ************************************************************************************************************* In response to fireguy_6364 Still no update but there's a stable version of Android 11 posted on the OnePlus site for the OnePlus 8 dated 10/31. Would be nice if we could download the updates directly from OnePlus. its in development is all that is known currently. In response to Sprint_Zalika This is getting rediculous. It's the last day of November and we still have the September security update. Oneplus has Android 11 updated again for this model on 11/24. i dont believe any carrier in the US has received it..taking a look at V the last update they received was back in November...a security patch only. Finally got the November security update on 12/2. Still waiting for Android 11 even though OnePlus has it on their site since 11/24 the one they have listed isnt a carrier variant though.. thats where theyre running into issues was the last rumor i came across. Please try Searching the Community, we have many questions already answered, you can also check out the Knowledge base If you need immediate assistance after hours please visit Sprint Chat	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line327
__label__wiki	0.866608	0.866608	September 10, 1965 – Fergie Jenkins makes his major league debut 55 years ago today Posted bycooperstownersincanada September 10, 2015 September 10, 2020 Posted inGreat dates in Canadian baseball historyTags:1965, Chatham, Chicago Cubs, Fergie Jenkins, Gene Mauch, Jim Bunning, major league debut, Ontario, Pat Corrales, Philadelphia Phillies, September 10, St. Louis Cardinals By Kevin Glew Fergie Jenkins can’t recall if he walked or ran to the mound when he was called in from the bullpen to make his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies on September 10, 1965 – 55 years ago today. “I don’t know how I got there,” writes Jenkins in his 2009 biography, Fergie: My Life from the Cubs to Cooperstown. “It could have been one of those Star Trek things where they say, ‘Beam me up, Scottie.’ I just got there.” The pride of Chatham, Ont., had been summoned to relieve future Hall of Famer Jim Bunning in the eighth inning of a 4-4 tie with the St. Louis Cardinals in front of 16,333 fans at Connie Mack Stadium. “Bunning was still there [on the mound], the catcher was Pat Corrales and manager Gene Mauch was there,” recalls Jenkins in his bio. “Mauch gave me the ball and said, ‘Go get’em, kid!’” And go get’em the 22-year-old right-hander did. Jenkins reared back and threw a pitch that nearly beaned Cards’ shortstop Dick Groat. Fortunately for Jenkins, as Groat jumped out of the way, the ball hit his bat. Jenkins proceeded to strike Groat out on three pitches (a fastball and two sliders). The young Canadian managed to keep the Cardinals off the scoreboard for 4-1/3 innings that day, before Corrales doubled off of left-hander Hal Woodeshick with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning. John Hernstein then pinch-ran for Corrales and advanced to third base on a wild pitch, and after outfielder Tony Taylor walked, second baseman Cookie Rojas singled in Hernstein for the game-winning run. With that, Jenkins had recorded the win in his first major league game. It was one of seven relief appearances that the 6-foot-5 righty would make for the Phillies in 1965. It hadn’t been an easy road to the big leagues for Jenkins, so to emerge victorious from his debut must have been very rewarding for him. After signing with the Phillies as a free agent in 1962, Jenkins persevered through parts of four seasons in the minors where he would experience segregation and overt racism for the first time. Growing up in Chatham, Ont., Jenkins ate in the same restaurants and used the same washrooms as his white friends, but that was not the case in the deep American South. The discrimination was particularly bad in his parts of three seasons in Little Rock, Ark., where he toed the rubber for the Phillies’ Triple-A Arkansas Travelers. But Jenkins rose above this and posted a 2.95 ERA with the Travelers in 1965 to earn himself his first big league call up. “We were in Little Rock, and after a game, [manager] Frank Lucchesi gathered us together and said, ‘Boys, the Phillies want you. You have to be there tomorrow,’” recalls Jenkins in his biography. Jenkins was thrilled, but he and his fellow call-ups – a list that included Corrales, Alex Johnson, Grant Jackson, Billy Sorrell and Adolfo Phillips – had little time to celebrate. “The big moment had come, not just for me, but for a group of us at the same time. You dream of how it will happen, what it will be like when you get the call to the majors, and it was terrifically exciting, but the reality also was that I hardly had any time to think. You never saw a group of guys pack so fast,” remembered Jenkins. Meanwhile, back in Chatham, Jenkins’ parents Delores and Fergie Sr., were beaming with pride, as was Gene Dziadura, a high school teacher and part-time scout for the Philadelphia Phillies who had worked religiously with Jenkins to teach him the art of pitching. After appearing in seven games with the Phillies in 1965, Jenkins pitched in just one game for the club the following season before he was traded to the Cubs with Hernstein and Adolfo Phillips for veteran starting pitchers Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson on April 21, 1966. After spending the bulk of the 1966 season in the Cubs bullpen, he was converted into a starter in 1967. In his first season as a full-time starter, Jenkins recorded 20 wins and was selected to play in the 1967 all-star game. He followed that up by leading the National League with 40 starts and a 20-15 record in 1968. Those two seasons were part of a remarkable string of six consecutive 20-win seasons (1967 to 1972) for the Canadian superstar. His 1971 campaign ranks as his most impressive. That season, he led the National League with 24 wins, 30 complete games and 325 innings pitched and became the first Cub to win the Cy Young Award. Dealt to the Texas Rangers following the 1973 season, Jenkins recorded a career-best 25 victories, 29 complete games, 245 strikeouts and a 2.82 ERA in 1974. The Canadian pitching legend retired with 284 career wins and as the only pitcher in history to record more than 3,000 strikeouts (3,192), while allowing fewer than 1,000 walks (997). Greg Maddux, Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez have since joined that elite club. For his accomplishments, Jenkins was elected to Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on July 21, 1991, becoming the only Canadian to be so honoured. Published by cooperstownersincanada Kevin Glew is a professional writer based in London, Ontario. His work has been featured on CBC Sports, Sportsnet.ca, MLB.com and Sympatico.ca. He has also written articles for Baseball Digest, Baseball America, The Hockey News, Sports Market Report and the Canadian Baseball Network. He has been involved with the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame for more than 16 years, including a two-year stint as the museum's acting curator. View more posts But What Do I Know? . . . Roberto Osuna, Josh Donaldson, Larry Walker But What Do I Know? . . . Josh Donaldson, John Hiller, Brett Cecil 8 thoughts on “September 10, 1965 – Fergie Jenkins makes his major league debut 55 years ago today” Devon Teeple says: Canadian legend, Baseball legend cooperstownersincanada says: Very true. Thanks for the comment, Devon. Not only a legend on the field, but a true gentlemen off the field. Not sure when another Canadian pitcher will come close to matching the legendary Fergie. I agree, Scott. Thanks for the comment. Len Corben - Author of The Pitching Professor: The Life and Times of Ernie Kershaw, One of Professional Baseball's Oldest-Living Former Players says: Thank you for a very good recap of his HoF career Kevin. Thank you for the comment, Len. Great read Kevin, man I would of loved to of seen him pitch Thanks for the kind words, Brent. Me too.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line335
__label__cc	0.71467	0.28533	FT CHANNELS FT Big Deal Is ESG prompting the end of shareholder primacy? FT Big Deal i This content was paid for and produced by Baker McKenzie in partnership with the Commercial Department of the Financial Times. Warren Buffett has long been admired for his investment decisions but a multibillion-dollar writedown at Kraft Heinz earlier this year has left a big blemish on his recent performance. The Oracle of Omaha is undeterred, saying he continues to be on the hunt for his next large-scale acquisition. In August, Berkshire Hathaway, his sprawling investment conglomerate, reported a 17 per cent year on year increase in second quarter profits to $14.1bn, or $8,608 per class A share. The company attributed just under $8bn of its profits in the period to swings in financial markets and the sales of some of its securities, which offset lower insurance underwriting profits in the three months to June. High equity valuations have stayed the 89-year-old investor’s hand but — with a record high $122bn cash pile at his disposal — he has no shortage of potential purchases. Due Diligence's Arash Massoudi and James Fontanella-Khan explain why Mr Buffett has struggled recently and where he might look for his next big bets.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line339
__label__wiki	0.717523	0.717523	The Thing’s the Plays Shakespeare’s First Folio comes to Nashville, signifying everything By Steve Haruch \| November 7, 2016 In his poem “Meditation at Lagunitas,” Robert Hass writes: “All the new thinking is about loss. / In this it resembles all the old thinking.” Hass is arguing with poststructuralism—more specifically, he’s arguing with the notion that a word and the thing a word represents are not and can never be inherently connected to each other. This is a quarrel for another time, but as for loss, he has a point. The digital age has made a habit of transient, flickering words. It has brought us new anxieties—about our dwindling attention spans, about ceding the work of memory to the tiny computer brains we carry in our pockets, about the seeming devolution of language all around us. (This presidential election has, if nothing else, tested the limits of language as something entirely separate from any apparent relationship with meaning. Macbeth’s insistence that life is “a tale told by an idiot” has perhaps never seemed more apt.) Words that seemed to earlier generations permanent have been entrusted by our generation to a binary wilderness where links rot, publication archives vanish, and decades of email correspondence can disappear in the blink of a server migration. You could read any of Shakespeare’s plays on the Internet, of course, but it should go without saying that the chance to see a 393-year-old copy of his first collection with your own eyes is a rare and precious one. Published in 1623, the First Folio collected Shakespeare’s plays for the first time. Eighteen of those plays, including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and As You Like It, were never published during Shakespeare’s life, and they might not have made it out of the seventeenth century if not for this volume. To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s passing, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is sending out eighteen copies of the First Folio, and one of them will be on display at the Nashville Parthenon for eight weeks, starting November 10. A host of programs will surround the exhibition, including performances of monologues and short scenes by Nashville Shakespeare Festival actors, programs for teachers, kids’ story times, a puppet-show adaptation of Hamlet, scholarly lectures, and group readings. When not on tour, these rare, near-sacred folios are kept under exquisitely controlled conditions at the Folger: beyond a fire door, a safe door, two more doors (one with a sensor alerting librarians that it’s been opened), down an elevator shaft and inside a vault that runs nearly the length of a city block. That these pages would make it so far through time and space, arriving now at the replica of an ancient ruin, is a testament both to the staying power of Shakespeare’s words and to the collective human work it takes to preserve the collection, susceptible as it is to heat and air and, ironically, the touch of a human hand. There is something about a printed page that still holds our attention better than a glowing screen, even if the latter is better at attracting our eyes in the first place. Who knows whether Shakespeare could have imagined our world of self-driving cars and livestreaming video, but he did imagine the possibility that his plays would survive: …How many ages hence Shall this our lofty scene be acted over In states unborn and accents yet unknown! As far as we know, the Cherokee language—from which we most likely get the word “Tennessee”—predates Shakespeare’s English by two thousand years at least. But this state, and the accents in which English is spoken here, were unknown to the audiences who first heard those words spoken in Julius Caesar. When the Nashville Shakespeare Festival staged A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Centennial Park in 2013, characters were dressed in seersucker, lines were delivered in thick Southern drawls, and, in an extratextual aside, a snippet of a Florida Georgia Line lyric—involving a new pickup truck with a modified suspension—floated in the air between the Bard’s words. Which is to say, more than any other body of work, Shakespeare’s plays have bridged the old thinking and the new by inspiring stagings that recontextualize these stories, many of which were themselves recontextualized hybrids of ancient tales. Robert Hass ends “Meditation” by repeating “blackberry, blackberry, blackberry,” as if to conjure the sweet fruit through words alone, thus proving poststructuralism wrong on its face. But just as Shakespeare introduced new words and phrases to English, meanings that were commonly understood in his time have become archaic, or at least have shifted in connotation. Among numerous examples, “conceit” sounds more vainglorious than it did when Shakespeare used it to mean a notion, while the once-derogatory “fellow” has lost its sting. And so on. Time warps language just as easily as it browns paper and fades ink. There is something deeper, though, that allows language to connect humans to each other through time. And something in these plays reminds us that keeping the stories we treasure alive is work we must do deliberately and intentionally—in the same way that it is painstaking work to keep the fragile pages of the First Folio from turning to dust—for the present is always in conversation with the past. The physical manifestation of Shakespeare’s words is like Hass’s invocation of the blackberries, but in reverse: it summons all those lost meanings, all the annotations and passed-down knowledge that help make Shakespeare legible to us today. It conjures all the strange new geographies onto which these plays have been re-mapped and reinterpreted over the past four centuries, and all the cascading references to these works in other works. Hamlet, a bit of a poststructuralist even before there was such a thing, might decry this argument as simply “words, words, words.” But we know they are much more than that. Steve Haruch lives in Nashville. His writing has appeared at NPR’s Code Switch, The New York Times and the Nashville Scene, where he is a contributing editor. Tagged: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry Maternal Longing Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies Isaac Jaggard and Ed. Blount You Know How to Love By Rachel Tawil Kenyon “With warm, gentle rhymes and soft, sweet art, this book celebrates the power we all have to love, and to use that love to make the whole world a better, kinder, more welcoming place.” -From the publisher Also by Steve Haruch The meaning of the Southern Festival of Books in a season of loss Book Excerpt: Greetings from New Nashville Min Jin Lee discusses identity, diaspora, and resistance in her novel Pachinko Colson Whitehead constructs an alternate route out of American slavery in The Underground Railroad Excerpt: People Only Die of Love in Movies: Film Writing by Jim Ridley See More from Steve Haruch	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line340
__label__wiki	0.585983	0.585983	Little River Band was formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1975. It was originally a blend of musicians who had enjoyed success in other Australian rock acts. Their new focus was to get airplay on American radio, and they achieved that goal with good songwriting, powerful vocals, and guitar harmonies. They immediately claimed their place as one of the great vocal bands of the ‘70s…and the ‘80s.Between 1976 and 1983, chart success in America includes the following singles: It’s a Long Way There, Help Is on Its Way, Happy Anniversary, Reminiscing, Lady, Cool Change, Lonesome Loser, The Night Owls, Take It Easy On Me, Man On Your Mind, We Two, and The Other Guy. Little River Band is considered to be one of Australia’s most significant bands. Worldwide album and CD sales now top 30 million. They also set a record for having Top 10 hits for 6 consecutive years…the first band to achieve that mark. And according to BMI, Reminiscing has garnered rare status with over 5 million airplays on America radio…and Lady is close behind with over 4 million airplays. LRB was rightfully inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame at the 18th Annual ARIA Music Awards of 2004.The current lineup brings new energy and arrangements to the classic hits, making new memories for the audience out of each live performance. It’s always fun to watch as people are swept up by the show’s vitality and the volume of hits from LRB’s history. You’ll see plenty of people mouthing the words…”I love this song…I forgot it was one of Little River Band’s hits!” Boz Scaggs THE ORCHESTRA Starring Former Members Of ELO	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line347
__label__cc	0.531961	0.468039	Three years in, where is the “real” climate change? Charles Brenchley \| CUPE Communications The Liberals’ “Real Change” slogan was heard throughout the 2015 federal election. It was effective in galvanizing public opinion and taking on a rigid and tired conservative government that had overstayed their welcome under Stephen Harper. Justin Trudeau and his Liberal team were swept to power on a promise to deliver on bold new ideas. But three years in, many of us find ourselves asking, how much has really changed? We saw Trudeau deceptively abandon his commitment to replace our archaic voting system with one that would give every Canadian a voice. And then there is the climate file. Let’s take a look at the promises and what has been done. The Liberals showed up to the United Nations environmental conference in Paris, at the outset of their mandate, saying “Canada is back” but then refusing to set emission reduction targets. It is difficult to move a plan forward if targets are not set. The previous government did sign on to a new climate change convention in 2009, but Canada will fail to meet that modest commitment to reduce emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020. Part of Trudeau’s rationale for moving forward with certain pipeline projects, flawed as it may be, was to advance and make progress on other parts of the climate change agenda. If this is the case, then we find ourselves asking, where is the progress? The Liberals committed to a clear deliverable: to “rapidly add electric vehicles to the federal fleet.” This plan seems to have hit a snag when not even the minister of Natural Resources could follow through on his plan to get an electric vehicle due to a lack of charging stations in the nation’s capital. The federal election is just around the corner. It’s time for Justin Trudeau to show us what he has really done towards tackling climate change. On this file, like so many others, the Liberals have so far failed to deliver on their promises. Subscribe to CUPE's publications Collective solutions needed for climate change Download the environmental materials order form Election 2019: Environment and Climate Change	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line349
__label__wiki	0.879763	0.879763	Davenport, Horace W., Ph.D., D.Sc. Identifier DavenportHW Title Davenport, Horace W., Ph.D., D.Sc. Subject Portraits; Academic Medical Centers; Faculty, Medical; Professional Role; Education, Medical; Schools, Medical; Physicians; Physiology; Research; Universities; Utah; Department Chairs Description Dr Davenport was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1912. Dr Davenport received both his B.S. (1935) and Ph.D. (1939) California Institute of Technology. Dr Davenport also received a B.A. (1937); B.Sci. (1938) and D.Sc. (1961) from Oxford University. Dr Davenport was a Lilly Research Fellow at the University of Rochester School of Medicine (1939-1940) and Sterling Research Fellow at Yale (1940-1941). Dr Davenport was Instructor at Pennsylvania from 1941-1943 and at Harvard Medical School from 1943-1945. Dr Davenport was Professor in Physiology and Department Chair at the University from 1945-1956. Dr Davenport was later Professor of Physiology at the University of Michigan. Dr Davenport died in 2005. The portrait of Dr Davenport was painted by A.K. Riescher, and is located on the north wall on the upper level of the Eccles Health Sciences Library. Relation History of the Health Sciences Collection, University of Utah Metadata Cataloger amt; jms Relation is Part of group D; Physiology ARK ark:/87278/s6pp2fvz Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6pp2fvz	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line351
__label__wiki	0.98183	0.98183	/ TV Star Wars Episode IX Supernatural Showrunner Posts Tease of Finale's Last Scene By Spencer Perry - March 9, 2020 11:47 pm EDT The final season of Supernatural is upon us and cameras will be rolling on its final episode ever very soon. To prepare fans for the inevitable end, series showrunner Andrew Dabb took to Twitter to reveal that the finale script has been completed, posting a tease of the last moments from the last episode ever. The final three words that appear in the script for the episode are simply "BLACKOUT" and "The End," officially bringing the story of the Winchesters to a close. Dabb has been involved with the series since 2008, writing over 40 episodes along the way and climbing the ranks to serve as the showrunner starting with season 12. pic.twitter.com/ddQ95AJf1H — Andrew Dabb (@andrewdabb) March 7, 2020 Supernatural series creator Eric Kripke revealed an interesting tidbit about how he wrote the series in response to the photo as well, making a note of what he did with season finales in the early days. "I wrote 'To Be Continued' at the end of the every #SPN ep as a good luck ritual," Kripke tweeted. "They couldn’t cancel us, we were continuing! #SPNFamily: know what’s still continuing? You. Your love for each other & the good you put in the world. If I could ask one thing, it’s that: keep it up." The series has been on a brief hiatus for some time but will return on March 16 with an all-new episode. The final season of Supernatural has, maybe unsurprisingly, been one marked by death and returns. With an all-powerful and all-seeing antagonist, it is difficult to overstate just how weird things have been getting for the Winchesters from time to time. "They’re realizing, 'Well, we’re the Winchesters, but were we really doing this Chuck’s way?'" Dabb said recently. "Part of reclaiming that agency is a big part of the season for them." Plus, the brothers are "going to start to lose people who, in past seasons, we would’ve never lost — and lose them in a very real way. Our guys are going to realize there’s a certain finality, and some of the things they’ve relied on to get through the day — people, talents, things like that — they are no longer going to be able to roll out. And that’s going to throw them for a loop." Supernatural airs on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT, before episodes of Roswell, New Mexico on The CW. After fifteen seasons, Supernatural will wrap its epic run on Monday, May 18. The Stand EP on Why the Series Didn't Dwell on Captain Trips The Simpsons and F Is for Family Writer/Producer David Richardson Dies at 65 Batwoman: Javicia Leslie Teases Season 2 Characters Who Will Be Inspired by Ryan Wilder Tiger King's Carole Baskin Reveals What She Thinks Happened to Her Missing Husband	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line353
__label__wiki	0.980706	0.980706	DOJ Official’s Testimony Highlights Why One GOP Lawmaker Believes Glenn Simpson Faces ‘Real Legal Jeopardy’ REUTERS/Chris Wattie March 09, 2019 3:11 PM ET Bruce Ohr told Congress he met with Glenn Simpson in August 2016, a claim that directly conflicts with what the Fusion GPS founder told Congress in his own testimony. Simpson said he met Ohr only after the 2016 election. The inconsistency has led one Republican to claim that Simpson is “in real legal jeopardy” over his testimony. Ohr also testified that Simpson was the source for a heavily disputed allegation about conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell. Justice Department official Bruce Ohr’s congressional testimony undercuts testimony given by Glenn Simpson, the founder of the opposition firm that commissioned the infamous Steele dossier. Ohr’s testimony, a transcript of which was published Friday, also confirms reports that Simpson was the source of a heavily disputed allegation about conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell. Ohr told lawmakers in an Aug. 28, 2018 hearing that he met Simpson prior to the 2016 election to discuss information gathered by Christopher Steele, the former British spy who authored the dossier. That conflicts with Simpson’s testimony to the House Intelligence Committee that he met Ohr only after the election and at Ohr’s request. Ohr also revealed Simpson provided him during a meeting in December 2016 with a seemingly false lead about Mitchell that ended up in a news article published in 2018. Both of Simpson’s inaccurate claims have been reported in the past, but they were not officially confirmed until Friday, when Georgia GOP Rep. Doug Collins released a transcript of Ohr’s testimony before the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committees. In his interview, Ohr discussed his interactions with Simpson and Steele, a former MI6 officer. Ohr served as a back channel between Steele and the FBI after the 2016 election. He met twice with both Simpson and Steele to exchange information that Steele gathered as part of the dossier project. Some Republican lawmakers have suggested that Simpson lied about the timeline of his interactions with Ohr, whose wife worked as a contractor for Fusion GPS. Texas GOP Rep. John Ratcliffe said on Oct. 14, 2018 that Simpson faced “real legal jeopardy” over his testimony. Simpson pleaded the Fifth two days later to avoid testifying to the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committees. (RELATED: GOP Lawmaker: Glenn Simpson ‘In Real Legal Jeopardy’ Over Congressional Testimony) The testimony that could land Simpson in hot water took place before the House Intelligence Committee on Nov. 14, 2017. In the closed-door hearing, Simpson acknowledged that he met with Ohr, but he claimed the meeting occurred after the 2016 election. He also suggested that Ohr sought the meeting. Ohr’s testimony conflicts directly with both claims. Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson at the Rayburn Office Building on Capitol Hill on Oct. 16, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images) Ohr said that he met twice with Simpson, on Aug. 22, 2016 and again on Dec. 10, 2016. He also testified it was Simpson who reached out to him and not the other way around. (RELATED: Here’s How Bruce Ohr’s Testimony Conflicts With Glenn Simpson’s) Simpson revealed his contacts with Ohr after being asked in the November 2017 hearing whether he had heard from anyone at the FBI or Justice Department about his and Steele’s investigation of President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. “After the election. I mean, during the election, no,” Simpson said. “What did you hear after and from whom and when?” a House staffer asked. “I was asked to provide some information to the Justice Department,” Simpson replied. When asked who contacted him and when, Simpson said: “It was by a prosecutor named Bruce Ohr, who was following up. You know, I can’t remember when. It was sometime after Thanksgiving, I think.” “Did Mr. Ohr reach out to you, or how did that shake out?” he was asked. Simpson did not acknowledge that he reached out to Ohr. Instead, he said that Steele had been in touch with Ohr “and that Bruce wanted more information.” Steele and Ohr had met on July 30, 2016. Simpson claimed again that his interaction with Ohr occurred only after the election. “The context of this is that it was after the election,” said Simpson. “A very surprising thing had happened, which is that Donald Trump had won. There was — we were — by that time, we were enormously concerned about rapidly accumulating indications that the Russian Government had mounted a massive attack on the American election system and that, you know, Donald Trump or his associates might have been involved.” Ohr suggested in his testimony that Simpson initiated the December 2016 meeting. He also said that Simpson provided him with a memory stick that he wanted given to the FBI. That would seem to conflict with Simpson’s testimony that he was asked to provide information to the Justice Department and that Ohr requested the information. “So, as I think I may have mentioned earlier, Glenn Simpson wanted to meet in early December, whatever date that was in December. At that meeting, he provided me with a memory stick and provided some additional details on information about possible connections between the Russian Government and the Trump campaign,” Ohr testified. Simpson has not commented on his testimony. It is unclear why Simpson would have lied about his contacts with Ohr, but some Republicans have theorized the opposition researcher did not want to acknowledge the breadth of his efforts to disseminate information from the dossier. Ohr also confirmed in his testimony that Simpson provided him with information on Mitchell during their meeting on Dec. 10, 2016. “I think it was Glenn Simpson mentioned to me was that Cleta Mitchell became aware of money moving through the NRA or something like that from Russia,” Ohr testified. “And I don’t remember the exact circumstances. And that she was upset about it, but the election was over. I seem to remember that from my notes.” Mitchell would later pop up on the radar of California Rep. Adam Schiff. The top House Intelligence Democrat released a memo on March 13, 2018 that included Mitchell on a list of potential witnesses in the committee’s Russia investigation. Two days later, McClatchy published a story revealing why Mitchell was of interest to Schiff. The McClatchy story matched closely with what Simpson told Ohr, suggesting the Fusion GPS founder was somehow the initial source of information on Mitchell. Mitchell had privately expressed concerns that Russian money flowed into the National Rifle Association, according to the article. There was one major flaw in the story. The report initially claimed that Mitchell was a member of NRA’s board of directors. But in response to the report, Mitchell said that she left the board in 2012 and had no contact with the gun rights group during the campaign. “I’ve never ever expressed any concerns because I’ve never had such concerns,” Mitchell told Talking Points Memo. “Never crossed my mind. Ever.” Mitchell told The Daily Caller News Foundation that reporters from ABC News and CNN approached her weeks before Schiff’s letter inquiring about the information that ended up in the McClatchy piece. Notably, the two reporters who wrote the Mitchell story are also behind two controversial reports alleging that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen visited Prague in August 2016 to meet with Kremlin officials. That claim is one of the main allegations of collusion in Steele’s dossier. Cohen denied the claim in sworn congressional testimony on Feb. 27. McClatchy says it stands behind all of its reporting on Mitchell and Cohen. Tags : bruce ohr christopher steele glenn simpson	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line358
__label__wiki	0.936728	0.936728	Galaxy Theatre's Dallas debut sweeps the week's 5 most popular stories Gold has plenty of shiny stars but doesn't quite glitter Concert Alert Pixies return to Dallas for the first time in 3 years Pixies will play at the Bomb Factory on April 29. Photo by Michael Halsband Influential alt/rock band Pixies will make their first appearance in Dallas in over three years when they play at the Bomb Factory on Saturday, April 29, as part of a five-week North American tour. The tour will kick off in Pomona, California, on April 21, and is scheduled to play 21 dates in 19 different cities, including stops in Houston on April 30 and Austin on May 1. Pixies will be joined by opening act Public Access TV for all three Texas dates. Pixies' signature aural mix of psychedelia, dissonance, surf-rock, and loud-quiet-loud will be on display during the tour. Fans can expect a setlist comprised of the classics and catalogue rarities, as well as newer songs from Indie Cindy and the band’s latest album, Head Carrier, which was released in September 2016. As is the norm, there will be no firm setlist for the shows — their sets, while pulled from nearly 90 songs that the band has rehearsed and is prepared to play, will change somewhat from night to night, with every number determined just before it’s performed. According to a tweet from the Bomb Factory, a limited amount of pre-sale tickets for the Dallas date can be had by using the password "HEAD" on Ticketfly.com. The general on-sale date will be Friday, January 27, at 10 am local time. Purity Ring in concert Russ in concert Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit in concert Bomb Factory	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line359
__label__wiki	0.715636	0.715636	Last edited by Malar 2 edition of Letters on the study and use of ancient and modern history found in the catalog. Letters on the study and use of ancient and modern history John Bigland containing observations and reflections on the causes and consequences of those events which have produced conspicuous changes in the aspect of the world, and the general state of human affairs by John Bigland Published 1804 by Printed by J. Cundee for T. Williams; T. Hurst, and Button and Son; and J. Harris, Juvenile Library in London . World history, Other titles Study and use of ancient and modern history Statement by John Bigland Pagination xviii, 515 p. ; History of modern Ireland – Early settlers. Book of Kells. They attracted scholars from all over Europe and helped to preserve art, culture and learning, including the study of Latin. One of Ireland’s greatest art treasures, the Book of Kells, dates from this period. It is an illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels in Latin. "The Bible" is not one single book. Several of its books were written as what the people in ancient societies understood as "history," but others are poetry, proverbs, metaphorical religious parables, etc. For example, Genesis (the Garden of Eden story, the Noah's flood story, etc.) were not intended to be read as "history.". Start studying Religion Study Guide: Intro, 1, and 2. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. History: From Ancient to Modern. Abstract Book. From the 9. th. Annual International Conference on History: From Ancient to Modern, August , Athens, Greece. Edited by Gregory T. Papanikos. THE ATHENS INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH. The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe. One of the great discoveries in the history of writing is dated to around BC. The Sinai inscriptions were found in the Sinai peninsula, and they were about 20 feet apart. This was important because each picture denotes a consonant sound, and no word signs are used. When sounded out correctly, the letters would produce words in ancient Semitic. Rural Hmong populations in western Washington State Prosecution policy of the Attorney General of Canada: guidelines for the making of decisions in the prosecution process. Equal opportunities and the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 A house in order. C is for Christmas (unboxed) Robert Harley, Earl Of Oxford, Prime Minister, 1710-1714 Capture your audience through storytelling Logic of the fall Survey of curricula and performance in modern languages Lectures on the religion of the Semites. First series : the fundamental institutions Congress of Vienna Collins European mammals Landscape with sex and violence Risk and protection profile for substance abuse prevention planning in Clark County Nevvs ovt of Spaine ofinfinite [sic] concernment to England Letters on the study and use of ancient and modern history by John Bigland Download PDF EPUB FB2 Letters on the Study and Use of Ancient and Modern History: Containing [John Bigland] on FREE shipping on qualifying offers. Pages It is the reproduction of the old book published long back. We try our level best to give you perfect book but some time. Get this from a library. Letters on the study and use of ancient and modern history: containing observations and reflections on the causes and consequences of those events which have produced conspicuous changes in the aspect of the world, and the general state of human affairs. [John Bigland; Jedidiah Morse; William W Woodward]. Full text of "Letters on the Study and Use of Ancient and Modern History: Containing " See other formats. Get this from a library. Letters on the study and use of ancient and modern history: containing observations and reflections on the causes and consequences of those events which have produced conspicuous changes in the aspect of the world, and the general state of human affairs. [John Bigland; Whitman Lenoir Collection (Mississippi State University. See Main Page for a guide to all contents of all sections. Links to full texts of books available at this and other sites will be listed here. The texts are also integrated within the overall structure of the Sourcebook. This listing is to aid compilers of web guides to online books, etc. The books that tend to have been put online here, or. The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late ninth or early eighth century BC. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the first alphabetic script in history to have distinct letters for vowels as well as consonants. In Archaic and early Classical times, the Greek alphabet existed in many different local variants, but, by the end of the fourth Languages: Greek, Official script in: Greece. A. Richard Alston, Soldier and Society in Roman Egypt.A Social History. Soldier and Society in Roman Egypt provides a complete reassessment of the impact of the Roman army on local societies, and convincingly challenges the orthodox picture. The soldiers are seen not as an isolated elite living in fear of the local populations, but as relatively well-integrated into local : Erika Harlitz-Kern. Full text of "Letters on the study and use of ancient and modern history; containing observations and reflections on the causes and consequences of those events which have produced conspicuous changes in the aspect of the world, and the general state of human affairs" See other formats. Ancient & Modern Idols; Paul in Ephesus—A Clash of Cultures; Letter Writing In The Ancient World. Share people were still communicating through their hands the important events in their lives through letters written on papyrus rather than through drawings on cave walls. By the Greco-Roman times, there was a formula for letter writing. Instant New York Times Bestseller. Rob Bell, the beloved author of Love Wins and What We Talk About When We Talk About God, goes deep into the Bible to show how it is more revelatory, revolutionary, and relevant than we ever imagined—and offers a cogent argument for why we need to look at it in a fresh, new way. In Love Wins, Rob Bell confronted the troubling questions that many people of /5(). Even in less fraught circumstances, then, “authors in antiquity were incredibly sensitive to the fact that their survival was dependent on the maintenance of their works in physical form,” as Frampton writes in her book “Empire of Letters,” a close. The papers published here are among the originally delivered at a Conference on ‘Ancient History in a Modern University’ held at Macquarie University on 8–13 July to mark twenty-five years of teaching ancient history at Macquarie University and the retirement of Edwin Judge from the Chair of History in the field of Ancient History. The compilation of these notes and the use to which JM put them reflected an Enlightenment faith in the utility of history, as expressed by the French philosophe Charles Pinot Duclos: “We see on the theater of the world a certain number of scenes which succeed each other in endless repetition: where we see the same faults followed regularly. Here is a collection of study guides on these and other topics in Ancient/Classical history. For individual items, you may find biographies, bibliographies, specialized terms to know, timelines, other people who were important, occasionally, self-grading quizzes, and more. Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians have studied that topic using particular sources, techniques, and. Astérix is misleading when it masquerades as the answer to questions about ancient Rome. Photograph: Allstar But it is not so simple. To study ancient Rome from the. Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets, which were used to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialised purposes thereafter. The Scandinavian variants are also known as futhark or fuþark (derived from their first six letters of the alphabet: F, U, Þ, A, R, and K); the Anglo-Saxon variant is futhorc or Languages: Germanic languages. Letters from Egypt is a living geography book that will touch your mind, your imagination, and your heart. Living Geography—Learn about the people, customs, and climate of Egypt in these letters from a Christian friend. Biblical Insights—Gain a greater understanding of the culture and how it is reflected in so many Scripture verses. Search the world's most comprehensive index of full-text books. My library. Most surviving pre-modern manuscripts use the codex format (as in a modern book), which had replaced the scroll by Late Antiquity. Parchment or vellum, as the best type of parchment is known, had also replaced papyrus, which was not nearly so long lived and has survived to the present only in the extremely dry conditions of Egypt, although it was widely used across the Roman world. Learn ancient world studies book with free interactive flashcards. Choose from different sets of ancient world studies book flashcards on Quizlet.The Internet Modern History Sourcebook is one of series of history primary sourcebooks. It is intended to serve the needs of teachers and students in college survey courses in modern European history and American history, as well as in modern Western Civilization and World Cultures. The history of the alphabet started in ancient BCE Egyptian writing had a set of some 22 hieroglyphs to represent syllables that begin with a single consonant of their language, plus a vowel (or no vowel) to be supplied by the native speaker. These glyphs were used as pronunciation guides for logograms, to write grammatical inflections, and, later, to transcribe loan Author: Jan Van Der Crabben. autohelp.club - Letters on the study and use of ancient and modern history book © 2020	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line365
__label__cc	0.504826	0.495174	Last edited by Vusar 2 edition of Ottawa-Hull and the National Region found in the catalog. Ottawa-Hull and the National Region Published 1983 by Whitecap Books Limited . A private 7 hour tour of the National Capital Region \| We will see all of the highlights of the nation's capital in the comfort of my SUV. There will be some walking, such as on Parliament Hill, the grounds of Rideau Hall, and other open venues. There is so much to see and do. This tour can be tailored to your requests. - tour # Early days in the Ottawa country; a short history of Ottawa, Hull and the National Capital Region by Government of Canada: Engineered landscapes: the Rideau Canal's transformation of a wilderness waterway by Ken W. Watson: Excessive Joy Injures the Heart by Elisabeth Harvor: Exploring Ottawa: An Architectural Guide to the Nation's Capital by Harold Kalman. Ottawa-Hull. The National Capital Region of Canada; Former name of Ottawa-Gatineau. Synonyms. Etymology. Ottawa +‎ Hull. Proper noun. Ottawa-Hull Create a book; Download as PDF; Printable version; This page was last edited on 22 October , at Eastern Ontario is a little corner of Ontario sandwiched between New York State to the south and Quebec to the north.. A true blending of the character and culture of its neighbours and with its own distinct influences, this is region takes a little from a lot of different places and produces something distinct. Hull is the central business district and oldest neighbourhood of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of the Canadian National Capital Region, it contains offices for o civil servants. It is named after Kingston upon Hull in the United y: Canada. Look at a map of our “National Capital Region” and you will see two large rivers flow into the Ottawa, almost opposite each other. The Rideau River flows from the south through chains of small lakes that, with the help of a 19th century canal . Works guidance index Staffordshire (Domesday Books (Phillimore)) In the matter of a public hearing on the Assisted Living Reform Act, Senate Bill 5982 New directions in power structure research mathematical computer puzzle Programme Radiation Protection Selected Letters of Michael Tippett Correspondence and documents respecting the International Naval Conference held in London, December 1908-February 1909. Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers. A sermon preached April 27, 1810, at the ordination of the Rev. Seth F. Swift to the pastoral care of the Second Congregational Church in Nantucket Evaluation of the Federal Direct Loan Program Democracy and totalitarianism. An informative guide for leisurely motoring or bicycling San Luis Obispo County free-citizens address to Sir Samuel Cooke, Bart. for his unshaken attachment to the true interest of Ireland this session of Parliament Whos to know? Ottawa-Hull and the National Region Download PDF EPUB FB2 Ottawa-Hull and the National Region [Anon] on FREE shipping on qualifying offers. Ottawa-Hull and the National Region. Ottawa And the Region of Hull [Patricia Miller] on FREE shipping on qualifying : Patricia Miller. Get this from a library. Ottawa-Hull and the National Capital Region = Ottawa-Hull et la région de la Capitale nationale. OTTAWA-HULL AND THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION/OTTAWA-HULL ET LA REGION DE LA CAPITALE NAT1ONALE. North Vancouver, Whitecap Books, c Distributed by Firefly. 80pp, cloth, $ ISBN X. Grades 6 and up. Reviewed by Dianne Clipsham. Volume 12 Number 3 May. Ottawa and the National Capital Region in Figures Ottawa is the fourth largest metropolitan area in Canada with a population of million (). The Metropolitan area Ottawa-Hull has an total area of 5, sq km. In wintertime the Rideau Canal in the heart of Ottawa becomes with km the world's longest skating rink. Ottawa-Hull and the National Capital Region = Ottawa-Hull et la région de la Capitale nationale. FC O88 Ottawa: capitale du Canada, de son origine à nos jours / Lucien Brault ; avec préf. du major Gustave Lanctot. What to Read or Watch Before You Go: Several of Ottawa’s fantasy author Charles de Lint’s books, including Moonheart, Spiritwalk, and Greenmantle, are set in and around the capital. Published in Written by David Jessop - son and grandson of two of Hull's firefighters, this is a heavily illustrated pictorial history of the firemen of Hull from the origins of the Police Fire Brigade through to the formation of the Humberside Fire Brigade. The Story of Hull Hardcover – 1 Oct by Richard Gurnham were either damaged or destroyed, Hull could recover only slowly. More recently, unemployment is still about twice the national average, and terrible flooding in left parts of the city uninhabitable. Nevertheless, Hull remains one of the country’s largest and most /5(4). NLS at the Library of Congress. National Library Service (NLS) is a free braille and talking book library service for people with temporary or permanent low vision, blindness, or a physical disability that prevents them from reading or holding the printed page. Through a national network of cooperating libraries. Canadian Forces Support Unit (Ottawa), CFSU(O), is the base for the National Capital Region (NCR), and as such, is the gateway to the services you would find at any other base or wing in Canada. The Unit provides administrative support to approximately 10 military personnel employed in the NCR. CANADA - ONTARIO – OTTAWA-HULL CAPITAL REGION & Book of Remembrance, MINT [email protected]@K. C $; Buy It Now; Shipping not specified. The book offers an insight into the daily lives and living conditions of local people and gives the reader glimpses and details of familiar places during a century of unprecedented change. Many aspects of Hull's recent history are covered, famous occasions and individuals are remembered and the impact of national and international events is. Checklist of vascular plants of the Ottawa-Hull region, Canada = Liste des plantes vasculaires de la râegion d'Ottawa-Hull, Canada / By. Gillett, John M. White, David J. Publication Details. Ottawa, Canada:National Museum of Natural Sciences, National Museums of Canada, If you are generating a PDF of a journal article or book Cited by: 5. The National Capital Region, also referred to as Canada's Capital Region and Ottawa–Gatineau, is an official federal designation for the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario, the neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec, and surrounding urban and rural communities. The term National Capital Region is often used to describe the Ottawa–Gatineau metropolitan Country: Canada. Since Ottawa was the national capital, it was clear that Ottawa had to lead the way, especially given its geographical position: Québec was just on the other side of the Ottawa river. In the s, very few federal departments were located on the Québec side of the National Capital Region. Get this from a library. Early days in the Ottawa country: a short history of Ottawa, Hull and the National Capital Region. [Canada. National Capital Commission.;]. While Ottawa-Gatineau files are found within the Statistics Canada link at the top of this page, we also have a separated collection of Ottawa-Gatineau census geography files that include Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) shapefiles and/or Census Tract (CT) shapefiles for the national capital region for, Located in the Ottawa's trendy Byward Market district, Andaz Ottawa Byward Market-a concept by Hyatt features free WiFi and an on-site fitness center. Parliament Hill is mi from this hotel. The location was perfect. Near the Byward market, the parlement and all other tourist attractions. The staff was awesome, friendly and really accommodating. Checklist of vascular plants of the Ottawa-Hull region, Canada = Liste des plantes vasculaires de la râegion d'Ottawa-Hull, Canada / By. Gillett, John M. White, David J. Type. Book Material. Published material. Publication info. Ottawa, Canada:National Museum of Natural Sciences, National Museums of Canada, Notes. 46 works Search for books with subject National Capital Region (Ont. and Québec). Search. The climate of Ottawa-Hull R. B. Crowe Not In Library. Profile: Ottawa-Hull Bernard, André Not In Library. Borrow. A place for Canadians Greg Gyton Not In Library. Ottawa, Hull plus.The Government of Canada Telephone Directory: Ottawa-Gatineau contains a comprehensive listing of federal government contacts and services within the National Capital Region of Ottawa-Gatineau (formerly Ottawa-Hull). Department sections appear .Ottawa, An Illustrated History is a superb example of what a skilled historian can craft in the brief space of pages. This is also a superbly illustrated history these images evoke a past that words can barely describe forcefully written and revealingly illustrated, this book is a wonderful read for all Canadians.5/5(3). autohelp.club - Ottawa-Hull and the National Region book © 2020	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line366
__label__wiki	0.558322	0.558322	Supporting Primary Education in Nigeria FILE - A pupil washes her hands with an improvised tap in front of a school in Nigeria. The U.S. government, through the Agency for International Development, or USAID, announced its continuing support to the education sector in Bauchi, Nigeria. This five-year memorandum of understanding, or MOU, sets out the shared and individual commitments for collaboration in the education sector made by both USAID and the government of Bauchi and provides a framework for mutual accountability for education activities in Bauchi State. The MOU supports the Bauchi state government’s education goals and establishes a preliminary plan for joint monitoring and evaluation of progress. USAID supports Nigeria’s efforts to improve the quality of and access to basic education. Currently, USAID implements three activities that support Bauchi State efforts to improve the education sector: Northern Education Initiative Plus, Education Crisis Response, and the Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy and Development. These activities build state and local government capacity and systems that will teach approximately 2 million primary school children how to read and allow nearly 551,000 children the opportunity to attend classes in community-based learning centers by the year 2020. “The United States commends Bauchi State for its extraordinary efforts to provide greater learning opportunities for its children,” said USAID Mission Director Michael Harvey. “This MOU will expand the partnership between USAID and Bauchi State to improve primary education in Bauchi.” The United States is proud to work with its partner Nigeria to provide a better future for the children of Nigeria.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line376
__label__cc	0.691881	0.308119	European Union Election Observation Mission EU in this area EEAS homepage > EOM Ghana 2016 > Programme for Improved Nutrition in Sindh (PINS) Programme for Improved Nutrition in Sindh (PINS) Through the EUR 60 million Programme for Improved Nutrition in Sindh (PINS) the European Union is supporting the Government of Sindh to achieve the targets set in the Sehatmand Sindh plan. This is the accelerated action plan for reduction of stunting and malnutrition in the province. Stunting is just one major result of malnutrition that has lifelong consequences for physical and mental development. In Sindh, it affects 1 in 3 people. PINS aims to sustainably improve the nutrition of children under five and of pregnant and lactating women in Sindh in collaboration with multiple departments of the provincial government. /file/pinspng_enpins.png Duration: 2017-2021 Budget: €60 million (EU Contribution) Location: Sindh (10 districts): Sujawal, Dadu, Jamshoro, Matiari, Thatta, Larkana, Qambar, Tando Allahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Shikarpur Implementing Partners : Action Against Hunger (ACF), Rural Support Programme Network (RSPN), Conseil Santé Globally, the European Union is committed to reducing the number of stunted children under the age of five by at least 7 million by 2025. In Pakistan, the European Union’s support to nutrition started with humanitarian assistance after the 2010 floods. Since 2013 it has taken a long‐term and sustainable perspective by assisting public authorities to deliver nutrition services, within a clear and efficient policy framework. In Sindh, high rates of malnourishment have resulted in one of every two children being stunted. The consequences of stunting are severe, life-long and irreversible beyond the age of two. Stunted children who survive, develop poorly both mentally and physically. It weakens their immunity and lowers their performance at school. How do we address the challenge? Support to policy PINS is working with the Government of Sindh to develop, coordinate, and implement strategies that will enable rural communities to affordably access all nutrients and services they need to eliminate this problem. Through the Accelerated Action Plan for the Reduction of Stunting, the Government of Sindh has set itself the target to reduce the stunting rate from 48% to 43% by 2021. What can we learn from this project? Based on the lessons learned during the implementation of Women and Children/Infant Improved Nutrition in Sindh (WINS) [2013‐2017, €30M] in four districts of Sindh, the EU added resources to institutionalise nutrition-related interventions as part of regular Government interventions. This is why the EU started the Programme for Improved Malnutrition in Sindh (PINS) in ten districts of the province to respond to chronic and acute malnutrition on a long-term basis. PINS includes a dedicated technical assistance team which is supporting the Government of Sindh with implementation of their nutrition policy strategic framework. EU in Pakistan The European Union (EU) funds projects and programmes around the world in order to help addressing global and local challenges. The reduction of poverty and the respect of fundamental rights and freedoms are key objectives in this context. In Pakistan, the EU is committed to a stable, democratic and pluralistic country that respects human rights and benefits from its full economic potential by supporting sustainable and inclusive development for all its citizens. The EU provides Pakistan with about €100 million annually in grants for development and cooperation. Among other issues, the EU supports Pakistan in its efforts to tackle poverty, increase education, promote good governance, human rights, rule of law and ensure sustainable management of natural resources. EU-funded projects are covering all of Pakistan with a special focus on Sindh and Balochistan. The collaboration between the European Union and Pakistan is grounded in the Strategic Engagement Plan (SEP) signed in 2019. Areas of cooperation under the SEP include peace and security, democracy, rule of law, human rights, and migration but also sectors such as energy, climate change and science and technology. The EU is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners. The EU supports Pakistan’s integration into the world economy and its sustainable economic development, namely by granting it preferential access to the European single market under the GSP+ system since 2014. Under this scheme almost 80% of Pakistan’s exports enter the EU duty and quota free. In 2018, Pakistani exports to the EU were worth €6.9 billion. In order to enjoy the trade preferences under GSP+, Pakistan needs to demonstrate progress on the implementation of 27 international conventions on human rights, good governance, labour rights and environmental protection. Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan, House 9, Street 88, G-6/3, Islamabad Phone: +92 51 227 1828, Fax: +92 51 282 2604 Email: Delegation-Pakistan@eeas.europa.eu To report any irregularities contact us on DELEGATION-PAKISTAN-IRREGULARITIES@eeas.europa.eu Press and information team of the Delegation to PAKISTAN Sujawal, Dadu, Jamshoro, Matiari, Thatta, Larkana, Qambar, Tando Allahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Shikarpur Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress (GRASP) Implementation of Resource and Energy Efficient Technologies (IREET) in the Sugar Sector of Pakistan Supporting Basic Services through Citizen Facilitation Centres (CFC) Democratic Local Governance for Development in Pakistan (DLG Pakistan) Project 2020 Provincial Development Sindh Portfolio 2020 Provincial Development Sindh Portfolio Post Category: Infographics Show left menu: Main Image: /file/provincialdevelopmentsindhportfoliopng_enprovincial_development_sindh_portfolio.png 2020 Provincial Development Sindh Portfolio Regions: Asia Pakistan External links: European Union Within EU CBRN Centres of Excellence Initiative framework, Regional Secretariats for Central Asia and South East & Eastern Europe conduct third Interregional Webinar on COVID-19 Laboratory Diagnostics and Virology Within the framework of the EU CBRN Centres of Excellence Initiative, the Regional Secretariat for Central Asia (CA) and the Regional Secretariat for South East & Eastern Europe (SEEE) have conducted their third Interregional Webinar dedicated to “COVID-19 Laboratory Diagnostics and Virology” Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress (GRASP)GRASP is a six-year project, designed to reduce poverty in Pakistan by strengthening small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small-scale agribusinesses in the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh. EU Delegation to Pakistan hosts live screening of art performance on the World Day against the Death Penalty The Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Pakistan hosted an exclusive live screening of a one-of-a-kind art performance on the eve of World Day against the Death Penalty on 9 October 2020 in Islamabad. Titled ‘Before The Sun Comes Up’, the performance was streamed live online featuring artists	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line377
__label__cc	0.692508	0.307492	Ernie goes to Xiamen (Apr 2015) May 31, 2016 November 15, 2018 • erniegoes Wedding Weekend in Xiamen As the brief Hong Kong winter months passed and the wet and humid spring approached, Ashley’s family was all in a flurry as Joanne, the younger sister, would be getting married over the Easter long weekend. Joanne and Joe, her fiancé, had met while they were both studying in California, but after graduation they moved back to their respective hometowns – Hong Kong and Beijing. Several years of long distance dating followed, until Joe happily proposed to Joanne in Hong Kong in 2014. Instead of holding the wedding in either of their cities though, they picked Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian province, as a compromise. So on the morning of April 3, the whole family flew up to China for the weekend of matrimony. We were joined by a few friends, including Alex (Kuching, Kenting, Niseko) and Vikki (Switzerland, Austria, Kuching, Taiwan), as Vikki had attended the same international high school as Joe in Beijing, and Derek (Kuching, Kenting, Niseko), who had befriended Joanne while they were both working in the same office building in Hong Kong. The wedding ceremony would take place on one of the garden terraces at the Le Meridien Xiamen hotel the next day, so we had that night and the next morning to get a feel for the city. We got to know another couple on the way over, Chunman and Phoebe, both friends of Joe (Chunman through school, Phoebe through work), and we made dinner plans with them and our other friends for that evening. As we feasted on big metal pots full of simmering vegetables and saucy meats, we talked about exploring the city together the next morning before the ceremony. None of us had ever considered visiting Xiamen before the wedding, and our knowledge of its history and environs was woefully lacking. With bellies full and plans in motion, we dragged ourselves away from the table and into the warm, tropical, evening. Amoy in Brief After dinner, we walked through a nearby night market, seemingly patterned after the famous markets in Taiwan. Many of the stalls, in fact, were branded as Taiwan-style vendors, selling Taiwanese drinks and Taiwanese snacks. There is some affinity between the coastal cities of Fujian and Taiwan, and there are shared linguistic and cultural artifacts between the two regions. Xiamen was once known as Amoy, the Hokkien pronunciation of the Chinese characters, and in its former life it enjoyed no small amount of prosperity as a wealthy port town to European traders from the 16th to the 19th centuries. In World War II, it was occupied by the Japanese, and after the Chinese Civil War it was at the forefront of regional Cold War tensions due to its proximity to KMT-governed Taiwan. In recent decades, it has prospered once again as one of China’s first Special Economic Zones, and it is considered one of the most livable cities in the country. We were all too full to have much of anything at the market that night, and we ducked into a tea house to while away the evening hours. The next morning, we said our goodbyes to Ashley as she was ferried away to the bridal party’s villa to join the rest of the bridesmaids, and we headed out to Xiamen University. We had read that its green campus was one of the top tourist destinations in the city, though I don’t think I expected much when we set out. I was pleasantly surprised, then, to be walking through beautiful green spaces underneath clear blue skies, offering a counterpoint to my admittedly dour view of Chinese urban spaces. Actually, the amount of blue and green in the city and the relative cleanliness of the air was a surprise, and I came away with a generally positive opinion of Xiamen that day. What Happens in Xiamen After lunch, we returned to the hotel to prepare for the afternoon wedding. It was a small affair on a lovely day, full of smiles and tears, and the sky was streaked with bands of pink and gold. The evening reception was held outside by the water gardens, where I found myself sitting across from an old Ultimate teammate from Hong Kong, of all people. Things got a little crazier at the after party, and Derek’s harrowing encounter with the drunk MC is now legend among our friends, but what happens in Xiamen, stays in Xiamen. Ashley and I didn’t have much time to rest after the whirlwind weekend however, and after flying back to Xiamen on Sunday, we were back at the airport the next day, ready to embark on our next adventure. Posted in Asia, China, XiamenTagged 2015, Asia, China, city, East Asia, travel, wedding, Xiamen, Xiamen UniversityBookmark the permalink. Ernie goes to Niseko (Feb 2015) Ernie goes to Sri Lanka pt. 1 (Apr 2015)	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line381
__label__cc	0.73377	0.26623	Session Twelve Adam, control, Eve, Eve Sumptor-Riley, kiss, Lainey, love, love making, sex, therapy, Woodrow “Good evening, Eve. Adam, it’s nice to see you again.” I watch as Dr. Woodrow accepts a kiss on the cheek from Adam as I settle in my seat. I haven’t opened my mouth, yet. I’m almost afraid of what will come out. Dr. Woodrow’s gaze shifted from Adam to me and back again. I have no doubt that she can feel the tension that is thick in the air. “Please, take a seat,” she instructs Adam, sitting in her normal spot, picking up her notebook. “I can’t help but notice there’s some strain between you two. How about we talk about that.” I feel Adam’s eyes on me, but I refuse to look at him. And, as childish as it is, I remain quiet. “Eve is upset with me,” Adam sighs. I almost snort a not so nice rebuff, but I don’t. “Would you like to tell me why, Eve?” The doc watches me for a moment before raising a questioning eyebrow. “Would you like to tell me about it?” she asks Adam. “I would if I knew.” “Seriously?!” Yes, that was my first word. Spoken with so much irritation that both of Dr. Woodrow’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline. I turn to Dr. Woodrow. “Ask him what he did when I tried talking to him about our sex life. Like you told me!” “Adam?” Adam actually had the good sense to look sheepish and contrite. I wonder if he really thinks he was wrong, or if he just doesn’t like being called out by the ‘principal’. “We had an argument. I tried being what she needed me to be. I tried . . . ” “I need you to be you, Adam! I don’t need you to change!” “If I were all that you needed you wouldn’t have these feelings for Lainey,” he says quietly, though I can plainly hear the accusation in the words. I stare at him for a moment, afraid to say anything that I’m quite sure I’ll regret later. The best thing I can think to do is walk out. So, I get up and head for the door. “Eve?” My hand freezes on the doorknob at the doctor’s voice. “Leaving isn’t the answer.” “With all due respect, doc, leaving may be the best answer right now,” I counter. “I’m asking that you stay and talk this out. That’s why we’re here.” I take a deep, cleansing breath before acquiescing. I sit back down, back ram-rod straight, and cross my legs as well as my arms. Totally defensive posture, I know. And, exactly what I’m going for. “I didn’t mean that, beautiful.” “Yes you did.” “No, I didn’t. I just don’t understand. First you say I’m too dominate, now I’m too . . . what is it? Sweet?” “That’s not what I said, Adam! You’re misunderstanding everything that I said to you.” “I don’t think I am. You used the dominate excuse for your reason to . . . ” “I’m going to stop you, Adam,” Dr. Woodrow interjects. “I understand that this can be extremely confusing for you. Both of you. However, instead of jumping to your own conclusions, I think it’s best if we discuss this in a rational manner.” Adam nods, as do I. “Eve? Would you like to explain to Adam what you meant?” I bite back the sigh that’s fighting to get out. I’ve tried explaining this to Adam for the past week. Ever since he got pissy about me saying something about our lovemaking. “He thinks . . . ” Dr. Woodrow raises a hand to stop me. “Talk to Adam, not me,” she says gently. This time I couldn’t hold back the sigh. I turn in my seat and face my husband. “Adam.” I pause, trying to figure out my words. “When you were here with me and you asked why I was with Lainey, I told you it was because I felt more control with her. I didn’t mean just . . . sexually. And, I certainly wasn’t complaining when I said you were dominate. I love how you are with me. I love when you lose control. Adam, I never wanted you to change the way you make love with me.” “Then why, Eve? Why Lainey?” “I don’t know!” I run my hand through my hair, jumping out of my seat to pace. “Don’t you think I would stop these feelings if I knew how? Jesus, Adam, I can’t fucking paint. I’m hurting you, and that’s killing me!” Adam stands and steps into my path, wrapping his arms tightly around me. The gesture annoys me at first, as I want to just run away and lose myself in my art. Then I remember I can’t, and I’m even more annoyed. When Adam’s arms tighten even more, I lose that annoyance and feel guilt and sorrow flowing through me. To my utter embarrassment, my breath hitches on a sob. If that wasn’t bad enough for me, my legs give out and Adam sinks to the floor with me, rocking me gently. “It’s okay, beautiful,” he murmurs close to my ear. “I’ve got you.” If I could stop crying, I would in a heartbeat. I feel so vulnerable and weak as uncontrollable sobs rack my body. I remember the last time I cried like this. It was when I lied to Lainey, saying she meant nothing to me, and told Adam we were over. I wonder if Woodrow would give me a prescription. Just something to get rid of this pain inside. No, Eve. Don’t think like that. That part of your life is over. After a moment, my vision cleared enough to see that Dr. Woodrow had joined us on the floor and was currently holding a box of Kleenex out to me. “Thank you,” I whisper, my voice hoarse from crying. “I know you don’t like feeling like this, Eve. But this was good for you,” she says softly. I wonder if my glare is as intimidating when I have red, puffy eyes. This certainly doesn’t feel like it’s good for me. “It doesn’t feel good, I know, but it is.” There she goes again, reading my damn mind. “I hate this,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry, beautiful. I should’ve listened better.” “Don’t do that, Adam. You can’t take all of the blame for this.” God, I wish my voice wasn’t so weak. “I can’t explain it to myself, how can I possibly explain it to you?” “Eve, I handled this all wrong. I let my ego replace my good sense, and I hurt you because of it.” Dr. Woodrow still sat next to us – on the floor – but said nothing. I suppose she’s letting us work it out ourselves. “I never meant to bruise your ego, baby. I only tried to explain that I didn’t need you to change.” I lift my hand to his cheek. “I love you the way you are. I love the way you make love to me. None of that has ever been a problem.” I pause again when I remember a conversation I once had with Lainey. “I once told Lainey that she was ‘safe’ for me.” Adam frowned. “Meaning?” “Meaning I knew neither of us could give ourselves fully to one another. I knew she is in love with her husband, and I’m in love with you. But I didn’t know how to give myself to you. I was able to open myself up to Lainey because I knew her life belonged to someone else.” “But I thought you told me she almost left her husband for you.” I shake my head. “No. She thought maybe she wanted that, but I knew it wouldn’t happen.” “So, why did that make it easier for you?” I shrug. “I don’t really know. Perhaps because I knew there wasn’t a chance that I could lose myself with her.” I look to Dr. Woodrow for confirmation, and she nods. “Do you feel like that with me? That you could lose yourself?” “I do lose myself with you. In you. That’s not a bad thing, but at the time, it scared the shit out of me.” “And, your feelings for Lainey are the way they are because she was the first one that you allowed yourself to be open with?” Adam asks, and to my surprise, there wasn’t reproach only curiosity. I shrug again. “If I may?” Dr. Woodrow cuts in, then continues when I nod. “It took a lot for Eve to be honest about her past. In order for her to be able to do that, she had to have immense trust in that person, as well as a feeling of complete safety. Please don’t take this as an insult to how Eve felt about you. Truth of the matter is, Eve’s feelings for you were too strong for her at the time. That, coupled with her fear that she wasn’t good enough for you, caused her to back away from you.” “Did you not feel that with Lainey?” I sigh. “What I feel for Lainey is strong, but my love for you eclipses anything I’ve ever known. It’s overwhelming sometimes. In a good way,” I add hastily. “Don’t change because you think it’ll change the way I feel for Lainey. I have to work that out on my own. But I don’t want what I feel for you to change. Love me the way you always have. With passion, baby.” Adam lowers his forehead to mine. “It scared me when you wanted to talk to me about our love making. I felt inadequate, no matter what I did, I felt like it wasn’t enough.” “I’m so sorry. I never meant for you to feel that way. I should’ve been more clear.” He leans forward, brushing his lips to mine. Forgetting where we were, I deepen the kiss, feeling that oh so wonderful feeling of arousal. “Ahem. I think that this would be a good place to stop for tonight,” Dr. Woodrow states, standing up. “At least my part in it,” she chuckles. Adam laughs as well, and, I’m blushing again. “Sorry,” I murmur. Adam stands, reaching his hand out to mine, helping me up. He wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. “We needed this, Dr. Woodrow. Thank you.” “That’s what I’m here for,” she smiles. “Just remember that stubbornness and ego do not help the situation.” She looks pointedly at both of us. Apparently I’m the stubborn one. “You two can choose whether the next session will be together or just Eve.” “Thank you,” I tell her, walking to the door. I stop when I hear her call my name. “A session with Lainey would help as well,” she reminds me. I feel Adam stiffen for a moment, before relaxing against me again. I nod to her, glancing at Adam. When he winks at me, I know he’s okay, and we’re on our way home to finish what we started. I hope he is in the mood to go back to the way he was before. I know I certainly am.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line383
__label__wiki	0.987619	0.987619	FP Tech Desk Former Dragon W. Brett Wilson hoping to get a ticket to space — when the price comes down W. Brett Wilson, a Canadian businessman and entrepreneur best known for starring on the CBC show Dragon's Den, wants to rocket into space Armina Ligaya Oct 02, 2014 • Last Updated October 2, 2014 • 2 minute read W. Brett Wilson, a Canadian businessman and entrepreneur best known for starring on the CBC show Dragon’s Den, wants to rocket into space. And when the technology is available for orbital space trips, such as what Elon Musk’s company SpaceX is developing, he plans to buy a ticket to ride, he said. But, Mr. Wilson plans to wait until the steep prices — which could be as high as US$5-million a seat — come down to earth. “I’m not going to be on the first bus, I might be on the third bus, so to speak… The costs will drop dramatically, so there will be people who pay for the privilege of being the first,” he told the Financial Post. “I don’t get any value out of being first, I just want to do it.” Mr. Wilson, an engineer by trade who founded Calgary-based brokerage firm FirstEnergy Capital Corp., was speaking from California where he was visiting Mr. Musk’s SpaceX facility and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Thursday as part of a three-day tour with the XPrize Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mandate is to stimulate breakthrough research, including in space exploration. Dragons’ Den rookie and former Bay Street bad boy Michael Wekerle isn’t afraid to make deals Vikram Vij looks for as much passion on Dragons’ Den as in the kitchen Mr. Wilson said he was there as part of a group of roughly 30 “interested observers,” including Canadian businessman and mining magnate Rob McEwen, from around the world encouraged by XPrize chief executive Peter Diamandis to come for a closer look, Mr. Wilson said. “I’m an engineer by training. As a scientist, I’m fascinated by space travel,” Mr. Wilson said. “As an entrepreneur and a businessman, I appreciate what’s happening now. That we’ve taken control of the exploration… Space is not completely out of the hands of government, but it’s moving into the hands of entrepreneurs.” Mr. Wilson also said he was looking at potential investment opportunities during his trip, which wraps up on Sunday. Last month, NASA announced it was partnering with Boeing and SpaceX — signing contracts worth US$4.2-billion and US$2.6-billion, respectively — to build commercially owned and operated “space taxis” to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, according to Reuters. This reduces the U.S. space agency’s reliance on the Russian space program to bring its astronauts to the International Space Station, which costs roughly US$50-million per seat. Mr. Musk has been exploring commercial space travel with his company Space Explorations Technologies Corporation, also known as SpaceX, that is relatively affordable in comparison. He has previously said that a space ticket price would be in the range of US$500,000, but has hinted more recently it will cost a bit more. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic venture is much closer to space travel, with a commercial flight planned for the spring (after some delays), at the more affordable price of US$250,000 per seat, according to Bloomberg. But that is a suborbital flight — a shorter trip which reaches space, but does not involve sending the vehicle into orbit. Mr. Musk, who Mr. Wilson called a visionary and a “geek’s geek,” is still developing the technology for commercial orbital space flight, and isn’t taking deposits yet.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line385
__label__wiki	0.852864	0.852864	Nigeria's candidate Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala proposed to lead WTO - sources tell Reuters Oct 28, 2020 • Last Updated October 28, 2020 • 1 minute read GENEVA — A key group of WTO ambassadors has proposed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to lead the World Trade Organization, trade sources told Reuters on Wednesday, clearing a path for her to become the first woman and African to head the global watchdog in its 25-year history. The proposal, which still needs full WTO approval, caps a more than four-month selection process involving intensive lobbying which saw her square up against South Korean trade minister Yoo Myung-hee in the final round. The recommendation of former finance minister Okonjo-Iweala was made by three WTO ambassadors, the so-called “troika,” after consulting with members in a series of closed-door meetings in Geneva as part of an intricate and opaque process that some have compared to a papal succession. It still needs to be approved by consensus at a meeting of the WTO’s 164 members. (Reporting by Emma Farge, Stephanie Nebahay; writing by Philip Blenkinsop) (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay)	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line386
__label__cc	0.588422	0.411578	Birmingham Mirrors London as it Attracts Foreign Investors Birmingham's commercial property sector is mirroring that seen in London over the last few years, with investors from overseas proving to be a strong factor in the resurgence of the market... Birmingham's commercial property sector is mirroring that seen in London over the last few years, with investors from overseas proving to be a strong factor in the resurgence of the market. According to a report looking into the centre of the second city, 30 per cent of all of the commercial and retail space there is owned by buyers who have come into the market from other nations. Foreign investors see the UK as something of a safe haven, and with the regional improvements seen throughout 2013, cities outside London give them the chance to get involved at a lower price. The findings of the Who Owns Central Birmingham report by consultancy GVA showed that some 4.3 million sq ft of commercial space in the city centre is now owned by those from overseas. It shows that the city has a growing reputation with foreign investors looking to grab a slice of the 15 million sq ft of office and retail space that Birmingham has to offer. It was also revealed that 17.5 per cent of all stock in Birmingham is part-owned by foreign investors, while 12.5 per cent is part-owned along with other buyers. It is the latter statistic that also serves to show that UK investors are returning to the market as well. More confident British buyers are now starting to capitalise on the improving economy to increase their stock. The news was not as good for Irish buyers, who have cut their ownership by as much as half as the eurozone crisis continues to affect them. The biggest gains have come from the Far East, with more investors coming from this region to take advantage of the chance to invest in the safe haven of the UK. "While this currently accounts for around 0.9 per cent of total ownership, with a recovering market and the city's growing links with China, this could represent an important trend in further foreign investment," said Ian Stringer, senior regional director at GVA. - Friday 14 March 2014 United Kingdom London Birmingham Commercial Property Performance retail space World Health Organization Ian Stringer	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line387
__label__cc	0.666094	0.333906	Factory Joe This can all be made better. Ready? Begin Category: DiSo Machine tagging relationships I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking about how to represent relationships in portable contact lists. Many of my concerns stem from two basic problems: Relationships in one context don’t necessarily translate directly into new contexts. When we talk about making relationships “portable”, we can’t forget that a friend on one system isn’t necessarily the same kind of friend on another system (if at all) even if the other context uses the same label. The semantics of a relationship should not form the basis for globally setting permissions. That is, just because someone is marked (perhaps accurately) as a family member does not always mean that that individual should be granted elevated permissions just because they’re “family”. While this approach works for Flickr, where how you classify a relationship (Contact, Friend, Family) determines what that contact can (or can’t) see, semantics alone shouldn’t determine how permissions are assigned. Now, stepping back, it’s worth pointing out that I’m going on a basic presumption here that moving relationships from one site to another is valuable and beneficial. I also presume that the more convenient it is to find or connect with people who I already know (or have established acquaintance with) on a site will lead me to explore and discover that site’s actual features faster, rather than getting bogged down in finding, inviting and adding friends, which in and of itself has no marginal utility. Beyond just bringing my friends with me is the opportunity to leverage the categorization I’ve done elsewhere, but that’s where existing formats like XFN and FOAF appear to fall short. On the one hand, we have overlapping terms for relationships that might not mean the same thing in different places, and on the other, we have unique relationship descriptions that might not apply elsewhere (e.g. fellow travelers on Dopplr). This was one of the reasons why I proposed focusing on the “contact” and “me” relationships in XFN (I mean really, what can you actually do if you know that a particular contact is a “muse” or “kin”?). Still, if metadata about a relationship exists, we shouldn’t just discard it, so how then might we express it? Well, to keep the solution as simple and generalizable as possible, we’d see that the kinds of relationships and the semantics which we use to describe relationships can be reduced to tags. Given a context, it’s fair to infer that other relationships of the same class in the same context are equivalent. So, if I mark two people as “friends” on Flickr, they are equally “Flickr friends”. Likewise on Twitter, all people who I follow are equally “followed”. Now, take the link-rel approach from HTML, and we have a shorthand attribute (“rel”) that we can use to create a machine tag that follows the standard namespace:predicate=value format, like so: flickr:rel=friend flickr:rel=family twitter:rel=followed dopplr:rel=fellow-traveler xfn:rel=friend foaf:rel=knows Imagine being able to pass your relationships between sites as a series of machine tagged URLs, where you can now say “I want to share this content with all my [contacts\|friends\|family members] from [Flickr]” or “Share all my restaurant reviews from this trip with my [fellow travelers] from [Dopplr\|TripIt].” By machine tagging relationships, not only do we maintain the fidelity of the relationship with context, but we inherit a means of querying against this dataset in a way that maps to the origin of the relationship. Furthermore, this would enable sites to use relationship classification models from other sites. For example, a site like Pownce could use the “Twitter model” of followers and followed; SmugMug could use Flickr’s model of contacts, friends and family; Basecamp could use Plaxo’s model of business, friend and family. Dumping this data into a JSON-based format like jCard would also be straight-forward: "uid": "plaxo-12345", "fn": "Joseph Smarr", "url": [ { "value": "http://josephsmarr.com", "type": "home" }, { "value": "http://josephsmarr.com", "type": "blog" }, "category": [ { "value": "favorite" }, { "value": "plaxo employee" }, { "value": "xfn:rel=met" }, { "value": "xfn:rel=friend" }, { "value": "xfn:rel=colleague" }, { "value": "flickr:rel=friend" }, { "value": "dopplr:rel=fellow-traveler" }, { "value": "twitter:rel=follower" } "created": "2008-05-24T12:00:00Z", "modified": "2008-05-25T12:34:56Z" I’m curious to know whether this approach would be useful, or what other possibilities might result from having this kind of data. I like it because it’s simple, it uses a prior convention (most widely supported on Flickr and Upcoming), it maintains original context and semantics. It also means that, rather than having to list every account for a contact as a serialized list with associated rel-values, we’re only dealing in highly portable tags. I’m thinking that this would be very useful for DiSo, and when importing friends from remote sites, we’ll be sure to index this kind of information. Author Chris MessinaPosted on May 25th Categories Citizen-centric Web, Digital Identity, DiSo, microformats, Technology, Web buildingTags DiSo, foaf, machine tags, microformats, portable contacts, relationships, xfn14 Comments on Machine tagging relationships The battle for the future of the social web When I was younger, I used to bring over my Super Nintendo games to my friends’ houses and we’d play for hours… that is, if they had an SNES console. If, for some reason, my friend had a Sega system, my games were useless and we had to play something like Sewer Shark. Inevitably less fun was had. What us kids didn’t know at the time was that we were suffering from a platform war, that manifested, more or less, in the form of a standards war for the domination of the post-Atari video game market. We certainly didn’t get why Nintendo games didn’t work on Sega systems, they just didn’t, and so we coped, mostly by not going over to the kid’s house who had Sega. No doubt, friendships were made — and destroyed — on the basis of which console you had, and on how many games you had for the preferred platform. Indeed, the kids with the richest parents got a pass, since they simply had every known system and could play anyone’s games, making them by default, super popular (in other words, it was good to be able to afford to ignore the standards war altogether). Fast-forward 10 years and we’re on the cusp of a new standards war, where the players and stakes have changed considerably but the nature of warfare has remained much the same as Hal R. Varian and Carl Shapiro described in Information Rules in 1999. But the casualties, as before, will likely be the consumers, customers and patrons of the technologies in question. So, while we can learn much from history about how to fight the war, I think that, for the sake of the web and for web citizens generally, this coming war can be avoided, and that, perhaps, it should be. Continue reading “The battle for the future of the social web” Author Chris MessinaPosted on May 23rd Categories Citizen-centric Web, DiSo, Life online, Open source, Philosophy, The Web Arts, Web buildingTags competition, DiSo, economics, Facebook, facebook connect, google, information rules, OpenSocial, standards22 Comments on The battle for the future of the social web I’m joining Vidoop to work on DiSo full time Well, Twitter, along with Marshall and his post on ReadWriteWeb, beat me to it, but I’m pretty excited to announce that, yes, I am joining Vidoop, along with Will Norris, to work full time on the DiSo (distributed social) Project. For quite some time I’ve wanted to get the chance to get back to focusing on the work that I started with Flock — and that I’ve continued, more or less, with my involvement and advocacy of projects like microformats, OpenID and OAuth. These projects don’t accidentally relate to people using technology to behave socially: they exist to make it easier, and better, for people to use the web (and related technologies) to connect with one another safely, confidently, and without the need to to sign up with any particular network just to talk to their friends and people that they care about. The reality is that people have long been able to connect to one another using technology — what was the first telegraph transmission if not the earliest poke heard round the world? The problem that we have today is that, with the proliferation of fairly large, non-interoperable social networks, it’s not as easy as email or telephones have been to connect to people, and so, the next generation of social networks are invariably going to need to make the process of connecting over the divides easier, safer and with less friction if people really are going to, as expected, continue to increase their use of the web for communication and social interaction. So what is the DiSo Project? The DiSo Project has humble roots. Basically Steve Ivy and I started hacking on a plugin that I’d written that added hcards to your contact list or blogroll. It was really stupidly simple, but when we combined it with Will Norris’ OpenID plugin, we realized that we were on to something — since contact lists were already represented as URLs, we now had a way to verify whether the person who ostensibly owned one of those URLs was leaving a comment, or signing in, and we could thereby add new features, expose private content or any number of other interesting social networking-like thing! This lead me to start “sketching” ideas for WordPress plugins that would be useful in a distributed social network, and eventually Steve came up with the name, registered the domain, and we were off! Since then, Stephen Paul Weber has jumped in and released additional plugins for OAuth, XRDS-Simple, actionstreams and profile import, and this was when the project was just a side project. What’s this mean? Working full time on this means that Will and I should be able to make much more progress, much more quickly, and to work with other projects and representatives from efforts like Drupal, BuddyPress and MovableType to get interop happening (eventually) between each project’s implementation. Will and I will eventually be setting up an office in San Francisco, likely a shared office space (hybrid coworking), so if you’re a small company looking for a space in the city, let’s talk. Meanwhile, if you want to know more about DiSo in particular, you should probably just check out the interview I did with myself about DiSo to get caught up to speed. I’ll probably post more details later on, but for now I’m stoked to have the opportunity to work with a really talented and energized group of folks to work on the social layer of the open web. Author Chris MessinaPosted on May 13th Categories Citizen-centric Web, Digital Identity, DiSo, microformats, Open source, Technology, Vidoop, Web building, What I doTags DiSo, microformats, oauth, openid, vidoop, xrds-simple35 Comments on I’m joining Vidoop to work on DiSo full time Thoughts on DataPortability Over the last several days I’ve started and abandoned four drafts of this post. Usually it doesn’t take me this long to write out my thoughts, or to go through so many different approaches, but I wanted to express myself as clearly as I could given the amount and overlapping texture of what I wanted to say. I ended up gutting a lot, and tried to focus on some basics, making as few assumptions about the reader (you) as possible. The reality is that I’m eyeballs-deep in this stuff, and realized that in earlier drafts, I had included a lot of subtext that just wasn’t helping me get my message across and that really only made sense to other folks similarly in the thick of it. So I got rid of the subterfuge and divided this up into four sections, inspired by a conversation I had with Brynn. I encourage and invite feedback, but I would prefer to discuss the substance of what I’m arguing, rather than focusing on tit-for-tat squabbly disagreements. What is data portability? How does DataPortability (DP) relate to OpenID? Are there risks associated with DataPortability? What’s good about DataPortability? Contrary to what some folks have argued, I think that the semantics and meaning of the phrase “data portability” are important. To me data portability denotes the act of moving data from one place to another, and that the data should, therefore, be thought of like a physical thing, with physical properties. Let me draw an analogy here to illustrate the problem with this model. Take an iPod. With an iPod, you literally copy files from one device to another — for example, from your laptop to your iPod. This is, on the one hand, a limitation imposed by a lack of connectivity and restrictions in copyright law, but on the other, is actually by design. This scenario is not altogether unmanageable unless you have dozens of iPods that you want to sync up with your music, especially if you don’t typically think to connect your iPod every time you add new music, create new playlists or otherwise change your music library. Now take an always-connected player, like Pandora Mobile, where the model works by federating continuous access from a central source — to consuming devices that play back music. Ignoring the DMCA restrictions that make it impossible for Pandora to let you listen to what you want on demand, the point is that, rather than making numerous copies across many unaffiliated and disconnected devices, Pandora affords a consistent experience and uniform access by streaming live data to any device that is authorized (and is online). The former model (the iPod) is what you might call the “desktop model of data portability”. Certainly you can copy your data and take it with you, but it doesn’t reflect a model where always-on connectivity is assumed, which is the situation with online social networks. The offline model works well for physical devices that don’t require an internet connection to function — but it is a model that fails for services like Pandora, that requires connectivity, and whose value derives from ready access to up-to-date and current information, streamed and accessible from anywhere (well, except in Canada). It’s nuance, but it’s critical to conceptualizing the value and import of this shift, and it’s nuance which I think is often left out of the explanation of “DataPortability” (whose official definition is the option to share or move your personal data between trusted applications and vendors (emphasis added)). In my mind, when the arena of application is the open, always-on, hyper-connected web, constructing best practices using an offline model of data is fraught with fundamental problems and distractions and is ultimately destined to fail, since the phrase is immediately obsolete, unable to capture in its essence contemporary developments in the cloud concept of computing (which consists of follow-your-nose URIs and URLs rather than discreet harddrives), and in the move towards push-based subscription models that are real-time and addressable. So if you ask me what is “data portability”, I’ll concede that it’s a symbol for starting a conversation about what’s wrong with the state of social networks. Beyond that, I think there’s a great danger that, as a result of framing the current opportunity around “data portability”, the story that will get picked up and retold will be the about copying data between social networks, rather than the more compelling, more future-facing, and frankly more likely situation of data streaming from trusted brokered sources to downstream authorized consumers. But, I guess “copying” and “moving” data is easier to grasp conceptually, and so that’s what I think a lot of people will think when they hear the phrase. In any case, it gets the conversation started, and from there, where it goes, is anyone’s guess. OpenID, along with OAuth, microformats, RSS, OPML, RDF, APML and XMPP are all open and non-proprietary technologies — formats and protocols — that grace the DataPortability homepage. How they ended up on the homepage, or what selection criteria is used to pick them, is beyond me (for example, I would have added ATOM to the list). So the best way that I can describe the relationship between any of these technologies and DataPortability is that, at some point, the powers that be within the group decided to throw a logo on their homepage and add it to their “social software stack”. To reiterate (and I won’t speak for the OpenID Foundation since I’m unfamiliar with any conversations that they might have had with DP), no one necessarily asked if it would be okay to put the OAuth or microformats logos on the homepage of DP, or to include those technologies in the DP stack. They just did it. It wasn’t like DP had been around for awhile with a mandate to develop best practices for the future of social networks, and groups like the microformats community petitioned or was nominated to be included. They simply were. There was no process, as far as I’m aware, as to what was included, and what was not. So while OpenID and the other technologies may be part of the technologies recommended by DP, it should be known that there really is no official relationship between these efforts and DP (though it is true that many members of each group coordinate, meet and discuss related topics, for example, at tomorrow’s Internet Identity Workshop, and at events like the Data Sharing Summit). Beyond that, it should be noted that OpenID, OAuth, microformats et al have been in development for the last several years, and have been building up momentum and communities all on their own, without and prior to the existence of the DP initiative. In fact, the DP project really only got its start last November with an idea presented by Josh Patterson and Josh Lewis called WRFS, or the “Web Relational File System”. At the time, the WRFS was intended to serve as a “reference design” for describing how data portability should work and this was to serve as the foundation of the DP recommendations. In January, after ongoing discussions, Josh decided that it would be best to spin WRFS off into its own project and started a separate mailing list, leaving DP to focus exclusively on evangelizing existing technologies and communities and, in the oft-repeated words of Chris Saad, to invent nothing new (a mantra inherited from the OAuth and microformats efforts). If you accept that DP is primarily a symbol for starting the conversation about transforming social networks from walled gardens into interoperating, seamful web services, then no, not really. If you believe or buy into the hype, or blindly follow the forthcoming “technical specifications“, I see significant risks that need to addressed. First, DP does not speak for the community as a whole, for any specific social network (except, perhaps, MySpace), or for any individuals except those who publicly align themselves with the group. On too many occasions to feel comfortable about, I’ve seen or read members of the DP project claim authority far beyond any reasonable mandate, which to me have read like attempts to seize control and influence that not only isn’t justified, but that shouldn’t be ascribed to any individual or organization. I worry that this hubris (conceivably a result of proximity to certain A-Listers) is leading them to take more credit than they’re due, and in consequence, folks interested but previously uninitiated with any of the core technologies will be lead to believe that the DataPortability group is responsible and in control of those technologies. Furthermore, if it is the case that people are mislead, I have little faith that folks from the DP project will prevent themselves from speaking on behalf of (or pseudo-knowledgeably about) those technologies, leading to confusion and potential damage. Second, I have a great deal of concern about the experiences and priorities that are playing into the group’s approach to privacy, security, publicity and disclosure. These are concerns that I would have with any effort that aims to bridge different social or commercial contexts where norms and expectations have already been established, and where there exists few examples (apart from Beacon) of how people actually respond to semi-automatic social network cross-fertilization. Not that privacy isn’t a hot topic on the DP mailing lists, it’s just that statements like this one reflects fishtailing in the definition and approach to privacy from a leader of the group, and that I worry could skid wildly out of control if clarity on how to achieve these dictims isn’t developed very soon: The thing is that while Privacy is certainly important, in the end these are social platforms. By definition they are about sharing. The problem with Facebook Beacon was not that it was sharing, but rather it was sharing the WRONG information in the WRONG way. Also again, don’t forget, just because data is portable or accessible does NOT mean it is public or ‘open’. This is why I stayed away from the ‘Open Data’ terminology when thinking up DataPortability. Just like a Hard Drive and a PC that runs certain applications, ultimately the applications that USE the data that need to ensure they treat the data with respect – or users will simply stop using them. You are right that DP should NOT be positioned that Privacy is not important – that is certainly not my intention with my answers. But being important and being a major sticking point is two different things. Again I tend to think of this as one big Hard Disk. While you provide read/write permissions to folders on a network (for privacy) it is ultimately up to the people and applications you trust to respect your privacy and not just start emailing your word docs to your friends. So if the second risk is that an unrealistic, naive or incomplete model of privacy [coupled with a lack of effective enforcement mechanisms in the case of fraud or abuse] will be promoted by the DP group, the third risk is that groups or communities that are roped into the DP initiative may open themselves up to a latent social backlash should something go wrong with specific implementations of DataPortability best practices. Specifically, if the final privacy model demands certain approaches to user data, and companies or organizations go along with them by adopting the provided “social technology stack” (i.e. libraries offered that implement the DP data model), the technical implementation may be flawless, but if people’s data starts showing up in places where they didn’t expect it to, they may reject the whole notion of “data portability” and seek to retreat back to the days of “safe” walled gardens of today. And it may be that, because of the emphasis on specific technologies in the DP group’s propaganda, that brands like OpenID and OAuth will become associated with negative experiences, like downloadable .exes in email are today. It’s not a foregone conclusion in my mind that this future is inevitable, but it’s one that the individual groups affected should avoid at all costs, if only because of the significant progress we’ve made to date on our own, and it would be a shame if ignorance or lack of clear communication about the proper methods of adoption and implementation of these technologies lead people to blame the technology means instead of particular instances of its application. I don’t want to just be a negative creep, so I do think that there is a silver lining to the DP initiative, which I mentioned earlier: it provides a token phrase that we can throw around to tease out some of the more gnarly issues involved in developing future social applications. It is about having a conversation. While OpenID and OAuth have actual technology and implementations behind them, they also serve as symbols for having conversations about identity and authorization, respectively. Similarly, microformats helps us to think about lightweight semantic markup that we can embed in human-friendly web pages that are also compatible with today’s web browsers, and that additionally make those pages easier for machines to parse. And before these symbols, we had AJAX and Web 2.0, both of which, during their inception, were equally controversial and offensive to the folks who knew the details of the underlying technological innovation behind the terms but who also stood to lose their shamanic positions if simpler language were adopted as the conversations migrated into the mainstream. Now, is there a risk that we might lose some of the nuance and sophistication with which we data junkies and user-centric identity advocates communicate if we adopt a less precise term to describe the present trends towards interoperable social networks? Absolutely. But this also means that, as the phrase “data portability” makes its way into common conversation, people can begin to think about their social networking activities and what they take for granted (“Wait, you mean that I wouldn’t have to sign up for a new account on my friend’s social network just to send them a photo? Really?”), and to realize that the way things are today not only aren’t the way that they have to be, but that there is a better way for social applications to be designed, architected and presented, that give the enthusiasts and customers of these services greater choice and greater latitude to actually pick services that — what else? — serve them best! So just as Firefox gave rise to a generation of web developers that take web standards much more seriously, and have in turn recognized and capitalized on the power of having a “rectangle” that actually behaves in a way that they expect (meaning that it fully complies with the standards as they’ve been defined), I think the next evolution of the social web is going to be one where we take certain things, like identity, like portable contact lists, like better and more consistent permissioning systems as givens, and as a result, will lead to much more interesting, more compelling, and, perhaps even more lucrative, uses of the open social web. Author Chris MessinaPosted on May 11th Categories Citizen-centric Web, Digital Identity, DiSo, microformats, Technology, The Web Arts, Web buildingTags criticism, DataPortability, microformats, oauth, openid31 Comments on Thoughts on DataPortability Chris Messina is a designer, writer, avid Twitterer, and speaker who’s known for inventing the hashtag. He is a product guy, friend to startups, proponent of bots and conversational apps and previously worked at Google and Uber. Factory Joe Create a website or blog at WordPress.com	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line389
__label__cc	0.700252	0.299748	You are here: Home \| 2011 Election \| Five Ways to Advance the Democratic Message Five Ways to Advance the Democratic Message 1. Get Social: Social media is one of the easiest ways for Democratic activists to communicate with people in their own communities about our Democratic values of justice, fairness and equality of opportunity. “Like” the DPVA Facebook page and follow the Twitter feed and simply click ‘share’ or ‘retweet’ to put that information directly in front of the Virginians who look to you as a source of political information. 2. Send a Letter to the Editor: A fast, easy and free way to share the Democratic message on the events of the day with the people in your area is to submit a short letter to the editor of your local paper. Almost every paper anywhere has an easy-to-do method for submitting a short letter of around 200 words sounding off on the news of the day. Submitting an LTE is a great way to communicate with people in your area, and also to influence the editors of a local paper. For more information, visit your local newspaper’s website and look for a link for letter submissions. It can often be found on the Opinion/Editorial tab. When in doubt, pick up the phone and give your paper a call, they will provide you with an email address. 3. Talk to your friends: As a Virginia Democrat, you can share the Democratic message within your personal network. One of the most effective ways to drive a message is to take opportunities at work, at church, in social settings or in other environments to raise the topics of the day and explain to people how they relate back to the differences between Democrats and Republicans. Check the DPVA website for information to help you engage and explain what’s going on in Virginia and how it relates to our Democratic values. 4. Get involved with your local Democratic committee and campaigns: Democratic committees and campaigns depend on volunteers to drive their message to the people in their localities. They exist to provide a framework through which local Democrats can get involved and pool their efforts toward our objective of electing leaders who will turn our Democratic values into public policy. By making phone calls, knocking on doors, stuffing envelopes or even providing snacks for canvassers, you are contributing to the statewide effort to get the word out to every corner of Virginia about the ways in which Democrats are fighting for a better future for every family. To find and contact your local committee click here 5. Run for office: Putting your name on the ballot may sound like a scary thing to do, but there is no better way to take the lead on telling Virginians why Democrats are the best choice to lead this Commonwealth forward. By running for office in your community you not only give yourself a chance to win and make play a role in shaping public policy, you also demonstrate to your community that fighting for Democratic values is worth the time and effort it takes to put yourself on the ballot. The DPVA is a service organization for Democratic candidates and activists. If you are considering running for office, contact DPVA — they are eager to help you get started, and to arm you with the tools and skills you need to advance the Democratic cause in your community.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line394
__label__cc	0.685915	0.314085	Ministers Discussing Africa’s Health Agenda in Brazzaville August 20, 2019 Ethiopian Monitor #Africa, #Cong Brazzaville, #Health Ministers ADDIS ABEBA – World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa opened on Monday in Brazzaville, with Congolese President Denis Sassou-Nguesso calling for stronger health systems, concrete action on counterfeit medicine and universal access to health care. The Congolese leader drew attention to ongoing health development initiatives in his country. “Each meeting of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa should better highlight decisions and facilitate the consideration of African health issues by bodies such as the Executive Board and the World Health Assembly, said President Sassou-Nguesso. “The endeavors of African States should be complemented by the global momentum for health for all. This is one of the best bets for humanity.” In his opening remarks, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus highlighted that many countries have made impressive progress in delivering essential health services at the district level, yet large gaps remain. Only one-third of people in the 47 WHO Member States can access essential health services, and only one third can do so without fear of financial hardship. “Strengthening primary health care must, therefore, be the number one priority for every country,” he said. “The best investment in primary health care is in human capital. Nurses, midwives, and community health workers are especially important for delivering services that can promote health and prevent people from needing a hospital.” In welcoming the participants, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, highlighted progress made by countries: Access to HIV services has expanded significantly, with the number of people on anti-retroviral therapy having more than doubled in the past six years. The region is recording some of the fastest declines globally in new cases of tuberculosis and is on the verge of polio eradication. The Regional Director noted that political will is needed to tackle the emerging burden of noncommunicable diseases, which are expected to account for an additional 28 million deaths in Africa in the coming decade. “All the health priorities and challenges I have mentioned coincide with an opportunity – that the day for universal health coverage has finally come,” Dr Moeti said, “If governments, partners, WHO and other United Nations agencies combine our forces towards UHC we will be able to make health for all a reality for people in our region.” Among the issues on the agenda of the five-day meeting is the Regional Strategy for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response which if implemented, will improve preparedness and response to disease outbreaks. Delegates will also discuss the strategic plan to reduce the double burden of malnutrition in the WHO African Region. The strategy provides guidance to countries to stem the tide of rising malnutrition, obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases by 2025. The Health Ministers will also discuss how to bring vector-borne diseases under control and how to strengthen district health systems for achieving universal health coverage. They will also nominate the next Regional Director, who will serve a five-year term. The Regional Committee is the highest decision-making body on health in the region, involving ministers of health from the Member States of the WHO African Region. ← UN Migration Agency Assist 600 Vulnerable Ethiopian Children U.S., Ethiopia Agree to Exchange Terrorist Screening Information → UN Wants Ethiopia to Relax COVID-19 Travel Restriction March 25, 2020 April 4, 2020 Ethiopian Monitor New ECX Scheme to Increase Maize Farmers’ Access to Finance December 28, 2019 Ethiopian Monitor Ethiopia Reports 865 new Coronavirus Cases, 9 Deaths October 10, 2020 October 12, 2020 Ethiopian Monitor	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line396
__label__cc	0.714086	0.285914	Is Free Wi-Fi the Way of the Future for Smart Cities? Tue, 2017-05-09 10:44 -- SCC Europe Staff If the “city of tomorrow” always needs to be connected, one of the simplest solutions is to give citizens and travellers access to free Wi-Fi, especially in the most public places. Receiving over 36,000 million tourists last year alone, Paris has stepped up its game to give the people what they want, installing a system to allow free Wi-Fi on the Champs-Élysées. After almost a year in action, here’s how this unlimited high-speed network has impacted one of the city’s most visited boulevards and how other capitals across the continent can offer similar large-scale solutions.— Philippe Leonard Connecting visitors to Paris and the world The 1,9 km long boulevard, running from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe, welcomes 100 million people each year, 36 million of which are tourists. To offer these travellers the means to connect while they’re abroad, outdoor advertising company JCDecaux partnered with the Champs-Elysées Committee to set up 70 different Wi-Fi access points in restaurants, boutiques and cafes along the avenue. “JCDecaux already offers a free Wi-Fi network in Paris airports, bus shelters equipped with small cells in Amsterdam, and public Wi-Fi hotspots in Düsseldorf and Los Angeles,” explains Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecaux. “The deployment of free Wi-Fi on the Champs-Elysées strengthens our position as a leading partner in Smart City services sector.” City-Wide Benefits Here are a few ways this smart solution is having big city benefits: -Visitors can access a city guide with recommended restaurants and shops, as well as an interactive map, making a metropolis like Paris more accessible to tourists. -Not only will the businesses along the avenue advertise the free Wi-Fi service in window signs, advertisers sponsoring the service, such as UnionPay International, will receive both homepage branding and banners on the Wi-Fi access interface. -With each access point running at speeds of 30 to 120 megabytes per second, similar to that of a home Wi-Fi network, and at least 5,000 people connecting to a spot at once, a large number of visitors can easily browse the web and more. By giving visitors this type of connectivity, Paris can promote events along and around the avenue, as well as track user data to gain insight on the interests of the people strolling through this area, helping to drive future development in the direction that makes the most sense economically for the city.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line397
__label__wiki	0.562356	0.562356	(-) Remove Organizations filter Organizations History of the Monash IVF Research Program from 1971 to 1989 In 1971, a group of researchers founded the Monash IVF Research Program with the mission to discover how in vitro fertilization, or IVF, techniques could become a treatment for infertility in both men and women. The program included researcher Carl Wood and colleagues John Leeton, Alex Lopata, Alan Trounson, and Ian Johnston at the Queen Victoria Medical Center and Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Since the program’s establishment in 1971, the Monash IVF Research Program has helped to develop and implement many IVF technologies still used in clinical practice as of 2020. Human Betterment Foundation (1928-1942) In 1928 Ezra Seymour Gosney founded the non-profit Human Betterment Foundation (HBF) in Pasadena, California to support the research and publication of the personal and social effects of eugenic sterilizations carried out in California. Led by director Gosney and secretary Paul Popenoe, the HBF collected data on thousands of individuals in California who had been involuntarily sterilized under a California state law enacted in 1909. The Foundation's assets were liquidated following Gosney's death in 1942. Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson (1950-1977) Established in 1950, the Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson provided Arizona women with family planning resources until 1977, when it expanded to locations outside of Tucson and became Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona. The Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson was formed after the Clinica Para Madres, the first birth control clinic in Arizona, merged with the national organization Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Subject: Organizations, Reproduction, Outreach National Embryo Donation Center The National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) is a non-profit organization that was established in 2002 in Knoxville, Tennessee. The organization is endorsed and supported by several Christian-based associations such as the Christian Medical Association, Bethany Christian Services, and Baptist Health Systems. Its goal is to provide embryo donation and embryo adoption services in order to utilize the large number of embryos that are being cryopreserved as a result of infertility procedures and are no longer needed. Revive & Restore (2012– ) Revive and Restore is a California-based nonprofit that uses genetic engineering to help solve conservation problems, such as saving endangered species and increasing the biodiversity of ecosystems. To facilitate their solutions, Revive and Restore utilizes genetic engineering, which is the process of making changes to an organism’s DNA, or the set of instructions for how an organism develops and functions. Subject: Organizations, Theories Seed Collection and Plant Genetic Diversity, 1900-1979 Farmers have long relied on genetic diversity to breed new crops, but in the early 1900s scientists began to study the importance of plant genetic diversity for agriculture. Scientists realized that seed crops could be systematically bred with their wild relatives to incorporate specific genetic traits or to produce hybrids for more productive crop yields. The Human Genome Project (1990-2003) The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific effort to sequence the entire human genome, that is, to produce a map of the base pairs of DNA in the human chromosomes, most of which do not vary among individuals. The HGP started in the US in 1990 as a public effort and included scientists and laboratories located in France, Germany, Japan, China, and the United Kingdom. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1890- ) Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is a non-profit research institution that specializes in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology, quantitative biology, and genomics. The organization is located on the shores of Cold Spring Harbor in Laurel Hollow, New York. The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences established the CSHL in 1890, to provide scientists with facilities to research Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory. The first mission of CSHL was biological science education. Seed Banking 1979-1994 In the early twentieth century, scientists and agriculturalists collected plants in greenhouses, botanical gardens, and fields. Seed collection efforts in the twentieth century coincided with the professionalization of plant breeding. When scientists became concerned over the loss of plant genetic diversity due to the expansion of a few agricultural crops around mid-century, countries and organizations created seed banks for long-term seed storage. The National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Audrey Heimler and colleagues founded the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) in 1979 in New Hyde Park in New York, New York. Her stated goals were to establish the field of genetic counseling within biomedicine and to coordinate counselors’ voices, so that physicians and others in the medical industry would not dictate the future of the field. Genetic counselors inform patients about the potential for inherited diseases passed on through family lineages and help to navigate the options available.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line401
__label__wiki	0.74198	0.74198	(-) Remove People filter People Organizations (1) Apply Organizations filter Displaying 101 - 125 of 330 items. John Spangler Nicholas (1895-1963) John Spangler Nicholas, an American biologist, was born on 10 March 1895 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. He was the only child of Elizabeth Ellen Spangler, a teacher, and Samuel Trauger Nicholas, a Lutheran minister. Nicholas held myriad administrative positions throughout his life and his contributions to biology spanned several sub-disciplines, but his most notable accomplishments were in the field of embryology. David Baltimore (1938– ) David Baltimore studied viruses and the immune system in the US during the twentieth century. In 1975, Baltimore was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering reverse transcriptase, the enzyme used to transfer information from RNA to DNA. The discovery of reverse transcriptase contradicted the central dogma of biology at the time, which stated that the transfer of information was unidirectional from DNA, RNA, to protein. Charles Bonnet (1720-1793) Charles Bonnet was a naturalist and philosopher in the mid eighteenth century. His most important contribution to embryology was the discovery of parthenogenesis in aphids, proving that asexual reproduction of offspring was possible. In his later life, he was an outspoken defender of the theory of generation now known as preformationism, which stated that offspring exist prior to conception preformed in the germ cell of one of their parents. Muriel Wheldale Onslow (1880-1932) Muriel Wheldale Onslow studied flowers in England with genetic and biochemical techniques in the early twentieth century. Working with geneticist William Bateson, Onslow used Mendelian principles and biochemical analysis together to understand the inheritance of flower colors at the beginning of the twentieth century. Onslow's study of snapdragons, or Antirrhinum majus, resulted in her description of epistasis, a phenomenon in which the phenotypic effect of one gene is influenced by one or more other genes. She discovered several biochemicals related to color formation. William Keith Brooks (1848-1908) Biologist William Keith Brooks studied embryological development in invertebrates and used his results as evidence for theories of evolution and ancestral heredity. He founded a marine biological laboratory where his and others' embryological studies took place. Later in life, Brooks became head of the Biology Department at Johns Hopkins University where he helped shape the minds of leading embryologists. Boris Ephrussi (1901-1979) Boris Ephrussi studied fruit flies, yeast, and mouse genetics and development while working in France and the US during the twentieth century. In yeast, Ephrussi studied how mutations in the cytoplasm persisted across generations. In mice he studied the genetics of hybrids and the development of cancer. Working with George Wells Beadle on the causes of different eye colors in fruit flies, Ephrussi's research helped establish the one-gene-one-enzyme hypothesis. Ephrussi helped create new embryological techniques and contributed the theories of genetics and development. Charles Robert Cantor (1942- ) Charles Robert Cantor helped sequence the human genome, and he developed methods to non-invasively determine the genes in human fetuses. Cantor worked in the US during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His early research focused on oligonucleotides, small molecules of DNA or RNA. That research enabled the development of a technique that Cantor subsequently used to describe nucleotide sequences of DNA, a process called sequencing, in humans. Cantor was the principal scientist for the Human Genome Project, for which scientists sequenced the entirety of the human genome in 2003. Samuel Randall Detwiler (1890-1957) Samuel Randall Detwiler was an embryologist who studied neural development in embryos and vertebrate retinas. He discovered evidence for the relationship between somites and spinal ganglia, that transplanted limbs can be controlled by foreign ganglia, and the plasticity of ganglia in response to limb transplantations. He also extensively studied vertebrate retinas during and after embryonic development. Matthew Stanley Meselson (1930– ) Francis Maitland Balfour (1851-1882) During the 1870s and early 1880s, the British morphologist Francis Maitland Balfour contributed in important ways to the budding field of evolutionary embryology, especially through his comparative embryological approach to uncovering ancestral relationships between groups. As developmental biologist and historian Brian Hall has observed, the field of evolutionary embryology in the nineteenth century was the historical ancestor of modern-day evolutionary developmental biology. Mary-Claire King (1946– ) Mary-Claire King studied genetics in the US in the twenty-first century. King identified two genes associated with the occurrence of breast cancer, breast cancer 1 (BRCA1) and breast cancer 2 (BRCA2). King showed that mutated BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes cause two types of reproductive cancer, breast and ovarian cancer. Because of King’s discovery, doctors can screen women for the inheritance of mutated BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes to evaluate their risks for breast and ovarian cancer. Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) Barbara McClintock worked on genetics in corn (maize) plants and spent most of her life conducting research at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Laurel Hollow, New York. McClintock's research focused on reproduction and mutations in maize, and described the phenomenon of genetic crossover in chromosomes. Through her maize mutation experiments, McClintock observed transposons, or mobile elements of genes within the chromosome, which jump around the genome. McClintock received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1983 for her research on chromosome transposition. Karl Oskar Illmensee (1939–) Karl Oskar Illmensee studied the cloning and reproduction of fruit flies, mice, and humans in the US and Europe during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Illmensee used nuclear transfer techniques (cloning) to create early mouse embryos from adult mouse cells, a technique biologists used in later decades to help explain how embryonic cells function during development. In the early 1980s, Illmensee faced accusations of fraud when others were unable to replicate the results of his experiments with cloned mouse embryos. Subject: People, People Victor Ambros (1953-) Victor Ambros is a professor of molecular medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and he discovered the first microRNA (miRNA) in 1993. Ambros researched the genetic control of developmental timing in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans and he helped describe gene function and regulation during the worm’s development and embryogenesis. His discovery of miRNA marked the beginning of research into a form of genetic regulation found throughout diverse life forms from plants to humans. Ambros is a central figure in the miRNA and C. Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen (1857-1927) Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen studied plants and helped found the field of genetics, contributing methods and concepts to the study of heredity around the turn of the twentieth century in Denmark. His experiments on heredity and variation in plants influenced the methods and techniques of geneticists, and his distinction between the genotype of an organism-its hereditary disposition-and its phenotype-its observable characteristics-remains at the core of contemporary biology. Johannsen criticized biological explanations that relied on concepts such as vitalism and teleology. William Bateson (1861-1926) At the turn of the twentieth century, William Bateson studied organismal variation and heredity of traits within the framework of evolutionary theory in England. Bateson applied Gregor Mendel's work to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and coined the term genetics for a new biological discipline. By studying variation and advocating Mendelian genetics, Bateson furthered the field of genetics, encouraged the use of experimental methodology to study heredity, and contributed to later theories of genetic inheritance. Lap-Chee Tsui (1950-) Lap-Chee Tsui is a geneticist who discovered the cystic fibrosis (CF) gene, and his research team sequenced human chromosome 7. As the location of the cystic fibrosis gene is now known, it is possible for doctors and specialists to identify in human fetuses the mutation that causes the fatal disease. Tsui's research also outlined the mechanisms for the development of cystic fibrosis, which were previously unknown. Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren (1927-2007) Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren was a developmental biologist known for her work with embryology in the twentieth century. McLaren was the first researcher to grow mouse embryos outside of the womb. She experimented by culturing mouse eggs and successfully developing them into embryos, leading to advancements with in vitro fertilization. Stanley Cohen (1922- ) Stanley Cohen is a biochemist who participated in the discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF). He shared the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Rita Levi-Montalcini for their work on the discovery of growth factors. His work led to the discovery of many other growth factors and their roles in development. Brian K. Hall (1941- ) Brian Hall is the son of Doris Garrad and Harry Hall, and was born in Port Kembla, NSW Australia, on 28 October 1941. He attended the University of New England in Armidale NSW, graduating in 1963 with a BSc in zoology, in 1965 with a BSc (Honors) in zoology, and in 1968 with a PhD in zoology. His PhD thesis, undertaken under the supervision of Patrick D. F. Murray, FAA was on the differentiation of bone and secondary cartilage in chicken embryos. Min Chueh Chang (1908-1991) As one of the researchers involved in the development of the oral contraceptive pill, Min Chueh Chang helped to revolutionize the birth control movement. Although best known for his involvement with "the pill," Chang also made a number of discoveries throughout his scientific career involving a range of topics within the field of reproductive biology. He published nearly 350 articles in scientific journals.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line402
__label__wiki	0.909545	0.909545	Why ‘The Mandalorian’ Is the Top Entertainment Franchise By Jonathan Edwards on December 31, 2020 Entertainment The Mandalorian has reinvigorated the Star Wars universe in a major way. It’s breathed new life into an already popular franchise. But where does it stack up when compared to some other more popular franchises that are currently producing movies, TV shows, and streaming series? According to a current analysis conducted as part of a research study, The Mandalorian might be at the very top. The survey ranking the top entertainment franchises In a media landscape in which the big-budget franchise is now king, seemingly every major film studio is looking to either build new franchises or, in all likelihood, latch onto established ones. It’s the reason why Disney purchased Marvel and Star Wars. Recently, a scientific study was performed to determine the top franchise. According to Variety, the strategy firm NRG began conducting a survey in January of 2019. They interviewed 350,000 people about 700 franchises in an attempt to uncover which among them were seen as “the most bold, inspiring, and thought-provoking.” NRG used the results to determine what franchises had the most lasting effects on their audiences. They wanted to identify the ones that adapted to meet the needs of their fans. Jon Penn, the CEO of NRG had this to say about the results of the survey: “Consumers are ready for entertainment franchises to lean into important cultural conversations and create a new reality — one in which optimism, diversity and curiosity unite rather than divide us.” The survey’s findings were less than surprising, as many of today’s major franchises were represented. The results were telling of what consumers currently like most. The other franchises that made the cut How ‘The Mandalorian’ Is Making ‘Star Wars’ Feel More Realistic There were some interesting results included as part of this survey. The Avengers took the second spot, but what was more impressive was how well represented the team was outside that. The Marvel Cinematic Universe accounted for eight spots on the list, with additional Marvel franchises like Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse and Deadpool also making an appearance. Two non-comic book properties cracked the top five, with Stranger Things coming in at number two and John Wick at number three. Netflix had two spots in the top 10: The Witcher at number six and Ozark at number seven. In a bit of an upset, classic Disney properties weren’t well represented. Lion King was the only one to make the top 20, coming in at 19. Meanwhile, Pixar had two appearances: Toy Story and Coco. Movie and TV weren’t the only representatives on the list, as the hit Broadway play Hamilton appeared at 20. While it was made into a film for Disney+, it first gained fame on stage. Overall, franchises solely belonging to Disney made up 12 spots, accounting for over 50% of the list. While this list had some powerful franchises as a part of it, only one reigned supreme. 1 Main Reason Many Mandalorians Become Bounty Hunters in ‘Star Wars’ Galaxy The Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian held down the number one spot as the top franchise. So why did it find its way to the top? It taps into one of the most wildly popular franchises of all time: Star Wars. Plus, while it pays tribute to the movies that made it possible, it also puts a new spin on them. It introduces fans to new characters in familiar settings. Star Wars fans are starved for new content. With no new movies currently on the horizon, this is how fans get their fix. In short, The Mandalorian has serious staying power as a top franchise and will likely remain that way for years to come. Previous ArticleKeanu Reeves Just Explained What Attracts Him to Movies Like ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Bill and Ted’ Next Article It’s Official! Meghan McCain Returns To ‘The View’ as Her Maternity Leave Ends	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line407
__label__cc	0.514445	0.485555	Revealed: In 2021, the Scottish real estate market exploded By Helena Sutan on January 4, 2021 Finance Via Scott Wright According to a new estimate, the logistics and residential sectors of the property market in Scotland would “dramatically outperform” in 2021, when, after five volatile years, Brexit will rapidly fade as the main problem. During Brexit, the drastic move to online shopping has led investors flocking to put their money into real estate in the logistics industry. The real estate company CBRE expects this development to continue next year, forecasting that funds for investing in additional warehouse space will be available in Scotland. The pandemic has underscored the vital role of the logistics sector in keeping products flowing, according to CBRE. In order to protect against potential disruptions, the business expects consumers to concentrate on creating more resilient supply chains, growing capacity and diversifying suppliers in the coming year. In Scotland, £ 174 million has been invested in industrial and logistics real estate so far this year, according to CBRE. Although this is down from the £ 185 million spent last year, it is estimated that the amount will hit £ 200 million on a five-year average by 2020, taking into account the deals expected to close by the end of the year. We expect 2021 to be another strong year for our market in Scotland. David Reid, associate director of the industrial and logistics team of CBRE Scotland, said, “We expect 2021 to be another strong year for our market in Scotland. The incredible take-up of space in 2020 has resulted in critically low levels of stock and, with demand remaining strong, we urgently need new speculative developments to meet future occupier requirements. We are working with a number of developers to fill this gap in supply.” CBRE’s 2021 UK Real Estate Market Outlook predicts that next year the logistics and residential sectors will achieve substantial growth, although it states that lower or even negative rental growth will result from a weaker economy. The broker says overall investment in property in Scotland has declined by around 50 percent this year so far, falling to £ 1.06 billion from £ 1.99 billion in 2019, in the midst of continuing Brexit turmoil. Investment is, however, projected to grow to £ 1.5 billion next year, taking it closer to the £ 2.1 billion five-year average. Demand is expected to come from a variety of sources, including sovereign wealth funds, overseas institutions and European funds, said Steven Newlands, executive director of the investment team of CBRE. Overseas private investors are also expected to be especially involved. “Demand is expected to come from a variety of sources, including sovereign wealth funds, overseas institutions and European funds. Overseas private investors are also expected to be particularly active. ” Once the vaccine is rolled out, we expect this to continue through 2021. The report points to expectations of a gradual improvement in the office sector, and after a tough start to the year, investment and take-up are expected to recover gradually. CBRE reports that UK office yields will remain stable, while in 2020 and 2021 capital prices are expected to decline by about 11 percent. Although considerable question exists as to whether the United Kingdom and the European Union will settle on a trade deal by Dec. 31, CBRE expects the Brexit problem to gradually fade. Given record low interest rates and a “abundance of capital looking for yield,” the company expects the commercial real estate investment market to rebound next year. The market has slowed this year in the midst of pandemic-related uncertainty. “CBRE praised the housing market’s resilience and expects it to perform strongly in 2021, supported by “tax incentives, strong demand and restricted supply.” Mr. Newlands said, “Investment in the housing sector was strong in 2020 amid Covid 19 restrictions. The build-to-rent sector is aimed at a high level of equity, and lending still remains very competitive. Miller Mathieson, CBRE Schottla’s Managing Director Previous ArticleDanny Wilson to reign over super replacement Huw Jones of Glasgow Warriors Next Article After victory in the Indian tax dispute, Cairn faces a $1.4 billion payout	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line408
__label__cc	0.658558	0.341442	Joe Root welcomes the psychologist’s addition to England’s backroom team By Helena Sutan on January 3, 2021 Sports On their tour to Sri Lanka, England will take a full-time counselor with them, with captain Joe Root making it clear that if the burden of being blistered in a pandemic becomes too much, players will withdraw at any time. On Saturday, the moving squad will take a chartered flight and head straight into Hambantota for a two-week quarantine and a couple of training days to get in the mood for two tests in January in Galle. The last two overseas trips to England ended in early cancellation: the initial visit to Sri Lanka was postponed in March as the coronavirus swept the globe, and the white-ball series in South Africa last month was cut short after a handful of positive cases sent panic through the community at the team hotel. January 2 – Outbound14. January – 1st test (bile)January 22 – 2nd test (bile)There is also the awareness that the time players had to spend locked up in so-called biosecure conditions was very stressful, as well as questions about the virus, and several players talked about the challenges: Dr. James Bickley, consulting clinical psychologist for Shifting Minds organisation. And Root made it clear that if they start struggling, the door is open for everybody to get out. “There will be a little bit of extra support for players by having a psychologist on site at all times and making sure there’s someone to talk to,” he said. Everyone understands that if it gets to be too much, they have the right to drop out, and it’s an important thing to note. It’s important for them to be able to tell if they feel they are unable to serve their country physically or mentally. You have a duty as a player to speak your mind not only to the team, but also to the other players. A huge part of my job as captain is to speak your mind not only to the team, but also to the other players. Who knows what advantages of success that could offer! #PerformingWell- James Bickley (@ChangingMindsJB) July 24, 2020Root indicated that there is now some expectation that players will go viral without questioning the series automatically: “Wherever we’re going to be, we’re going to come into contact with it in some form,” he said, noting the current prevalence. “If you look around the rest of the world, other teams, when they’ve traveled, have had to deal with cases on tour, and that could be the case with us. Joe Root turned 30 just before the new year (Rory Dollard/PA) “South Africa was a special circumstance, and it will be different again. We are mindful of what we get into – fingers crossed that all goes well and we take care of each other and defend ourselves as best we can so that we can enjoy some tough test matches. On Wednesday, Root celebrated his 30th birthday, officially bringing the boyish skipper one step closer to “veteran status” and he was pleased that it was a quiet day before setting off on what could be almost three full months in the subcontinent if he also goes on India’s full tour. “I’m waiting for my hair to fall out, but it feels nice,” he said of entering his fourth decade. Previous ArticleAfter the successful return of moon rocks, China looks at a possible lunar base Next Article Scotland’s Coronavirus: Nicola Sturgeon gives plea to Hogmanay Covid rules Java’s ring of fire rumbles on: Indonesian volcanoes erupt – in pictures French ex-PM Édouard Balladur goes on trial over alleged kickbacks ‘The system is rigged’: Seun Kuti on reviving Fela’s political party ‘The Capitol riot was our Chernobyl’: James Comey on Trump, the ‘pee tape’ and Clinton’s emails EU’s Covid vaccination debacle is down to institutional inflexibility What is Ivanka Trump’s legacy? Enabling her father’s odious actions Case backlog threatens UK criminal justice system, say inspectors Space out and cover up: how to make travelling by car more Covid-safe Experts unconvinced by Lord Sumption’s lockdown ethics Ex-Tropical Cyclone Kimi still a risk as emergency services warn of potential flooding	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line409
__label__cc	0.501463	0.498537	Substack: five of the niche newsletter platform’s best By Roberto Silman on January 2, 2021 Technology Substack is best known as a newsletter site that this year has drawn many well-known authors and journalists away from existing news outlets: Glenn Greenwald, Matthew Yglesias and Andrew Sullivan, formerly of The Intercept, Vox Media and New York Magazine, respectively, have all jumped ship to sell their work through the service directly to subscribers. Substack, which combines Mailchimp and Patreon elements, is being touted as the media industry’s future, a home for authors who don’t want to be edited, and a place where it can thrive for those who have already made a name for themselves. https://t.co/9KyGkVvPY3- T. T. November 15, 2020 Greer (@Scholars Stage) On any subject imaginable, the web features more than 100,000 niche newsletters. Note: Not all substacks are paid – some are free, while others offer a combination of free and paid content. InsightInsight is the development of Zeynep Tufekci, a sociologist and author who writes about how “interacts with the fabric of society” for the Atlantic and the fabric of society for the Atlantic and the fabric of society. Her first Substack article was an astute study of why, because of a “cultural lag.” the tradition of televised debates between presidential candidates in U.S. elections, particularly in the age of Donald Trump, is no longer fit for purpose. We people, our environment and institutions, have a lot of inertia. Long after it has become clear that they do not serve the purpose for which they were intended, we hold to traditions and ways of doing things. Remarkably, with a straight face, with pomp and ceremony, we can do it all, even when the exercise borders on mockery in fact. And if some players have agreed that they do not want to play the same game anymore. Why are government thinkers flocking to Substack? Later episodes discuss why randomized studies have failed to show that mask-wearing effectively prevents transmission of Covid-19, mistrust in elections, and the tradeoffs in determining how and when to vaccinate individuals. Garbage Day Guardian Australia culture editor Steph Harmon recommends Ryan Broderick’s Garbage Day newsletter if you want lighter newsletter fare. He dives deep into new memes and viral events, explores the origins and evolution of old memes, and sifts through all other weird online ephemera problems, if you’re into that kind of thing that I’m really into,”He dives deep into new memes and viral events, examines the origins and evolution of old memes, and sifts through all other matters of weird online ephemera, if you’re into that sort of thing, which I’m very much into,” One of the Internet’s oldest and biggest conspiracy theory-based subreddits is r/Conspiracy. Launched in 2008, it has 1.4 million subscribers. It has passed through several levels. It’s currently in the center of another, with pro-Trump users, hardcore QAnon users, and classic libertarian X-Files side character styles all fighting about what in a post-Trump world the subreddit should stand for. Hi Papi! Hola Papi! There’s almost nothing I know about ¡Hola Papi! With the exception of a single post I found via Twitter, Substack, but it was a post of such excellence that I recommend it without reservation. The post in question is titled “Top 5 Rat Movies I Made Up” and is written by John Paul Brammer, who is the brain behind ¡Hola Papi! (¡Hola Papi! says it began life in 2017 as an advice column on Grindr’s LGBTQ outlet INTO and is being turned into a memoir to be released next year by Simon & Schuster.) The post in question is titled “Top 5 Rat Movies I Made Up” and is written by John Paul Brammer, who is the brain behind ¡Hola Papi! “the non-existent rat movies in my head, based on Rotten Tomatoes ratings, that I’m pretty sure would have gotten them had they been executed true to my vision.”the non-existent rat films in my head, based on the ratings of Rotten Tomatoes, that I am very confident I would have gotten them if they had been executed true to my vision. Well, I’m starting small with Ratz, a film that’s supposed to be a funny, tongue-in-cheek criticism of how we market young girls’ goods, but have been exploited along the way. It’s Bratz, but the girls are rodents, instead of humans. They love garbage and want to buy little rat clothes, and their high school is in the drain. Sadly, some executive with the idea fell into one of those humane rat traps and turned the film into a serious marketing pitch for Hasbro. Perhaps more catastrophic, at least for the devoted creators involved in the Previous ArticleChris Basham says that record-breaking fright could spur Sheffield United on Next Article Prebiotics are difficult to digest, but if you try them, would your gut thank you? Feel the buzz: the rise and rise of the quizshow in lockdown	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line410
__label__cc	0.652884	0.347116	digiMine Gets VC Boost Posted By: Usama 0 Comment ipo.com Touting customers like Nordstrom and CBS MarketWatch, DigiMine Inc. is expected to announce today that it raised $20.3 million in a Series C round of financing, also snagging Dow Jones & Co. its newest customer. Mohr, Davidow Ventures led the round for the Bellevue, Wash-based data mining company. New Investors include American Express and the Rolling Thunder Network. Previous DigiMine investor Mayfield Partners also took part in the round. “We do analysis and data mining. Companies use our data improve their sales and marketing efforts,” said Joel Sider, a spokesman for the company. “Dow Jones wants to use our service to understand how customers are using their editorial products. They have a lot of subscribers, and they want to see how they can better meet their needs.” DigiMine’s latest round of funding will support product development and the growth of DigiMine’s sales and marketing teams in both the U.S. and internationally. Additionally, the company anticipates that this will be its last infusion of venture capital. It expects to hit profitability in 2003 and anticipates an IPO at that time. “An IPO is a viable option, and ultimately our destination,” Sider said. Bill Ericson, a general partner a Mohr, Davidow Ventures, which put in around $10 million, agreed that an IPO is in DigiMine’s future. “We always prefer to build successful companies that usually take the IPO route. We believe there is enough talent at DigiMine to do an IPO, but right now the company is very focused on getting to profitability. You never know what the market is going to look like, but ultimately we see IPO for DigiMine.” While most companies are reeling from the poor market conditions, DigiMine’s CEO, Usama Fayyad, thinks that the less than favorable economic environment actually helped DigiMine. “We thought Fortune 100 companies wouldn’t be interested in our services because they could afford to do the research themselves, but with the downturn, those are the companies that wound up looking for us,” said Fayyad. Perhaps Fayyad is on to something. DigiMine brings in anywhere from $250,000 to $1 million per customer annually. Unlike many other technology companies, DigiMine exceeds its revenues expectations in 2001, especially in the fourth quarter, when the company’s sales quadrupled from the previous quarter. Additionally, DigiMine exceeds its fund-raising goals. “According to our plans, we only needed about half this round to get profitability because we had about $10 million left over from our last round. The additional money will help us grow more aggressively.” Source: ipo.com $20.3 million in venture capital for digiMine digiMine lands $20.3 million in third round	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line411
__label__cc	0.690537	0.309463	Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Ministry of Magic < Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter‎ \| Places Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Place Location Underground London First Appearance Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (mentioned), 2 Extended Description 2.1 Departments 5 Greater Picture The Ministry of Magic is the government body of the wizarding world in Britain, and has physical offices in London, apparently deep underground. In The Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter, as in the Harry Potter series in general, the term is used to refer both to the physical place, and to the government body housed therein. This article will concentrate on the physical location, with events that occur therein; the organization, and its effects, are discussed in another article. Extended Description[edit] Beginner warning: Details follow which you may not wish to read at your current level. We first hear of the Ministry in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, when Hagrid comments disparagingly about it while reading the Daily Prophet. However, we don't actually get to see the physical Ministry location until the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The visitor's entrance of the Ministry of Magic is an abandoned red telephone phone booth; one enters the Ministry by dialing "62442" ("magic"). While we don't know if it was different before the accession of Voldemort's puppet Minister, Pius Thicknesse, by the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, one of the normal means of entrance for employees is via a particular public lavatory; one opens the lavatory booth with a special token and then flushes oneself to the Ministry. We are told that the Atrium is lined with fireplaces, so we must also assume that there are multiple connections to the Floo network; however, we do not see anyone traveling to the Ministry with Floo powder, though we are led to believe that the toilets deposit one in one of the fireplaces. It is difficult to imagine either Cornelius Fudge or Pius Thicknesse using a public lavatory to go to work, so we suppose that they, at least, are able to use the Floo network to reach the Ministry directly. We see the inside of the Ministry on three occasions; however, as is to be expected with such a large organization, we actually see very little of the workings of the place. Early in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry is summoned to a hearing concerning his apparent breaking of the Statute for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. He accompanies Mr. Weasley to his work, entering through the Visitor's Entrance, and passes through the Auror offices on his way to Mr. Weasley's office. Finding that the hearing has moved, Mr. Weasley takes Harry down to the courtrooms on the level below the Atrium. Later in that same book, Harry comes to believe that Sirius Black is being tortured by Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries in the basement of the Ministry, and, along with five other students, flies to London to rescue him. It turns out to be a trap set by Voldemort, and a battle ensues, in the course of which the Atrium's Fountain of Magical Brethren is destroyed. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry, Hermione, and Ron, searching for the Locket Horcrux, enter the Ministry in disguise. They have learned that Dolores Umbridge, a Ministry functionary, currently has the locket, and hope to find some clue as to where it could be. In the course of this visit, we see the floor of the Ministry which is used by the Minister and his close staff, the Atrium, and the courtrooms. One of the areas we visit seems to be a flourishing propaganda production group. In the course of this visit, Harry does manage to recover the locket. We should note that Level 1 of the Ministry is the top floor, with the Atrium and main entrance being located seven floors below it. Departments[edit] Level 1: Minister of Magic and Support Staff Level 2: Department of Magical Law Enforcement Improper Use of Magic Office Auror Headquarters Wizengamot Administration Services Level 3: Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes Accidental Magic Reversal Squad Obliviator Headquarters Muggle-Worthy Excuses Committee Level 4: Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Beast, Being and Spirit Divisions Pest Advisory Bureau Level 5: Department of International Magical Cooperation International Magical Trading Standards Body International Magical Office of Law International Confederation of Wizards, British Seats Level 6: Department of Magical Transportation Floo Network Authority Broom Regulatory Control Portkey Office Apparition Test Center Level 7: Department of Magical Games and Sports British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters Official Gobstones Club Ludicrous Patents Office Department of Mysteries Courtrooms Analysis[edit] Part of the discussion of the Ministry premises revolves around the problem of keeping such a large organization hidden from the Muggles, it being simpler to hide than to explain the presence of a multi-story building, apparently Government-owned, but with no apparent purpose. We learn that the Ministry is entirely located underground, and that one of the issues facing the Ministry maintenance wizards is the underground environment. In Harry's first visit to the Ministry, he learns that the windows spotted around the Ministry do not reflect the outside world, but are fabrications of the maintenance workers, and that a contract dispute had resulted in the windows showing stormy weather for two solid months no matter what the outside weather was doing. We also learn that the maintenance workers have full control of the office environment; in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it apparently has become fairly common for rainstorms to occur in the offices of those who the maintenance workers don't approve of, such as Yaxley who worked for the Muggle Born Registration Committee. Questions[edit] Study questions are meant to be left for each student to answer; please don't answer them here. We see rather a lot of the Department of Mysteries during the battle. We actually see rooms or wings dedicated to three mysteries, and hear later of a room dedicated to a fourth. What are the four mysteries that we see or hear about? What other mysteries might there be? Greater Picture[edit] Intermediate warning: Details follow which you may not wish to read at your current level. In the Battle at the Department of Mysteries, Harry first opens a door onto a room full of brains in tanks; presumably this is the Mystery of Consciousness or Thought. The second, the amphitheatre with the Veil, is apparently the mystery of Death. The third, that Harry cannot open, we learn later is the room of the mystery of Love. The fourth is the room of the mystery of Time. Everything that we find in the first room is somehow related to Time. The Hall of Prophecies beyond that is also clearly related to Time. We learn that in the course of the battle, Ron, Ginny, and Luna pass through a room containing a model of the planets; this may be dedicated to the mystery of Space, though it is probably more to do with Astronomy, and the effects of planetary position on various spells. While this is never explicitly stated, it appears from the directions that people travel through the Department that there are often physical connections between related Mysteries. As mentioned, the Hall of Prophecies is clearly related to Time, but clearly it is also related to Consciousness, and so there should be a door from that room to the brain room. The mysteries of Death and Consciousness are clearly related, and we see that there is a direct passageway from one to the other as Harry chases Bellatrix out of the amphitheater of the Veil. The library area where Harry and the students are cornered is obviously intended for the study of many Mysteries and has direct links to several. As the circular chamber leading into the Department of Mysteries has twelve doors, one of which is the exit, there must be a total of eleven mysteries. If Space is one of them, we have heard of five, and six must remain, assuming none of the doors are traps. We can safely guess that one of the remaining six is Magic, and that it will be a large and extremely busy area with connections to nearly all other Mysteries. Retrieved from "https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Muggles%27_Guide_to_Harry_Potter/Places/Ministry_of_Magic&oldid=3771190" Book:Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line416
__label__wiki	0.52453	0.52453	Website about human health Diseases That Cause Swollen Lymph Nodes? 12.05.2020SymptomsComments: 0 What autoimmune disease causes swollen lymph nodes? Lymphadenopathy (enlarged, swollen, or tender lymph nodes) is usually a sign of infection and is quite common in autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and sarcoidosis. What diseases cause enlarged lymph nodes? A wide variety infections are the most common causes of swelling of the lymph nodes, for example, strep throat, ear infections, and mononucleosis. More serious medical problems such as HIV infection, lymphomas (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) or other cancers, or lupus may cause swollen lymph glands. Do enlarged lymph nodes always mean cancer? Swollen lymph nodes are a sign that they’re working hard. More immune cells may be going there, and more waste could be building up. Swelling usually signals an infection of some kind, but it could also be from a condition like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, or rarely, cancer. What disease can mimic lymphoma? In the differential diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy in patients with frequent episodes of tonsillitis, Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease should be taken into account. Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease may convincingly mimic symptoms characteristic of lymphoma. Diseases © 2021	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line417
__label__wiki	0.667111	0.667111	Argument: Build the Wall—To Keep Out the BMWs and Benzes Build the Wall—To Keep Out the BMWs and Be... Build the Wall—To Keep Out the BMWs and Benzes Trump’s threatened trade war against European cars would hurt America most. By Philippe Legrain \| February 22, 2019, 7:54 AM A worker drives a finished Mercedes-Benz C-Class car through production in Bremen, Germany, on Jan. 24, 2017. (Alexander Koerner/Getty Images) Beware enemies hiding in plain sight. The Audi in the driveway and that BMW creeping around the corner are threats to national security. These days, it’s not the reds under the bed Americans need to worry about—it’s the Mercs on the lurk. Or so the Trump administration appears to have concluded. A leaked copy of a Commerce Department report delivered to President Donald Trump on Feb. 17 deems imports of automobiles and auto parts a threat to U.S. national security. That is preposterous—especially when they are made in countries such as Germany, Britain, and Japan that are long-standing U.S. allies. This blatant protectionist ploy provides Trump with a legal loophole to impose punitive tariffs on U.S. imports of cars and car parts within 90 days. For now, he is using that threat as leverage in ongoing trade talks with the European Union, in which the EU had already offered to abolish its 10 percent tariff on U.S. car imports. For Trump, a key objective of those talks is to slash the U.S. trade deficit in goods with the EU. Cars and car parts accounted for around $45 billion of that $168 billion deficit in the year to the third quarter of 2018; the United States also had a surplus in services of $55 billion. If Trump decides to follow through with these tariffs, it would be an abuse of presidential power as egregious as the bogus national emergency that he has declared on the U.S.-Mexican border. It would also spark a devastating new trade war at a time when economies and markets are fragile, U.S. relations with Europe are at an all-time low, and tensions with China are growing on trade and other fronts. Trump has already slapped stiff duties on around $300 billion of U.S. imports: $250 billion from China, $41 billion of steel and aluminum, and some $10 billion of washing machines and solar panels. Adding cars to that list would greatly raise the stakes: In the year to November 2018, the United States imported $371 billion worth of motor vehicles and parts, which account for nearly 15 percent of its total goods imports. While the United States already levies a 25 percent tariff on light trucks to protect domestic automakers—and therefore imports relatively few—its duty on cars and many car parts is only 2.5 percent. Hiking this to 25 percent, as Trump has threatened to do, would potentially be the single biggest protectionist act by a U.S. president since Richard Nixon imposed a short-lived 10 percent surcharge on all imports in 1971. It would dwarf the so-called voluntary export restraints to which Japanese carmakers agreed at the start of Ronald Reagan’s presidency in 1981, which lasted until 1994. One study suggests sustained 25 percent tariffs could nearly halve German car exports to the United States, which totaled $21.7 billion in 2017. Overall in 2017, the United States imported $62.6 billion of vehicles and parts from the EU, which has already announced that it would retaliate with tariffs against 20 billion euros ($22.7 billion) of politically sensitive U.S. products if Trump targets those EU exports. The impact on Japan, from which the U.S. imported $56.7 billion of vehicles and parts in 2017, would also be severe. And unless Canada and Mexico were exempted, the blow to integrated North American supply chains would be calamitous. The United States imported nearly $175 billion in vehicles and parts from its NAFTA partners in 2017. Last year, the three governments concluded a new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that will replace NAFTA—but only when it is ratified by the U.S. Congress, in which the Democrats now control the House of Representatives. The first hit from an automotive trade war would be to fragile financial markets. After tanking late last year, stock markets have rebounded this year, in part thanks to hopes that Trump will soon reach a peaceful resolution of his trade war with China (failing which U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports are set to rise from 10 percent to 25 percent on March 2). Opening up a new global front over cars could dash investor confidence and sap belief in the durability of any deal Trump strikes with China. Since Trump seems to view the Dow Jones Industrial Average as a barometer of his performance as president, this would be a personal blow as well as a financial one. More importantly, the financial fallout would compound the economic damage to the U.S. and global economy. For most Americans, a car is their biggest single purchase (after housing, which is also an investment). So a hike in prices would hurt and feed through into inflation. Toyota estimates that the cost of importing a car from Japan would rise by $6,000; while it might absorb some of that cost in lower margins, sticker prices would inevitably rise substantially. Taxing foreign car parts would also harm U.S.-based manufacturers that rely on them, costing jobs and crimping exports. Take General Motors’ Chevrolet Bolt, an ostensibly American car that is assembled in Detroit. It actually contains only 20 percent U.S. and Canadian content. So a 25 percent duty on its many imported parts would push up the cost of the car significantly, denting sales and potentially encouraging GM to shift export production overseas. A further lurch toward protectionism would also dent economic growth, which is already slowing both in the United States and globally. A recent Citibank report (which is not yet publicly available) calculates that the combination of 25 percent tariffs on auto and auto parts imports (with exemptions for Canada and Mexico) and the EU’s likely retaliatory measures would cut global growth by 0.2 percentage points this year and 0.3 points in 2020. That would cost jobs and shrink incomes in the EU. But perversely, from Trump’s perspective, the United States would be the hardest hit: by 0.3 percentage points in each year, in part due to the expected impact on business confidence and market sentiment. And the damage could be even greater if Canada and Mexico are also targeted, supply chains are disrupted more significantly, and broader business confidence takes a hit. Politically, slapping tariffs on European car exports on bogus national security grounds would deal yet another blow to both the battered Western alliance and World Trade Organization rules. Trump’s imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on national security grounds has already been challenged at the WTO by the EU and others. This places the WTO in a lose-lose conundrum: Failing to rule against the United States would provide carte blanche for others to use national security as a pretext for protectionism, while ruling against Washington on such an ostensibly sensitive matter of national sovereignty would invite a furious response from Trump and could provide a pretext for him to pull the United States out of the WTO, as he has previously threatened. It is often said that relations between the United States and Europe are at their lowest ebb since 2003 in the run-up to the Iraq War, which France and Germany opposed. But today’s trans-Atlantic rift is actually much worse. Whereas then-President George W. Bush maintained Washington’s longstanding support for European integration, Trump has called the EU a foe, in part because the union gives members greater collective clout. Whereas Bush expanded the membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Trump has threatened to pull out of the mutual defense club. And while Bush bridled at international rules that constrained U.S. autonomy, his administration still had much greater consideration for the United Nations, the WTO, and U.S. allies than Trump, who treats them all with contempt. For instance, in 2003, Bush lifted tariffs he had imposed on steel imports the year before after the WTO ruled against them and the EU threatened further retaliation. The trans-Atlantic chasm was in full view at last weekend’s Munich Security Conference, a sort of Davos for defense. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s regurgitated “America First” mantras were greeted with stony silence, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s full-throated defense of rules-based multilateralism was cheered to the rafters. Trump doubtless doesn’t care. He thinks the United States can bully weaker powers and force them to comply with its demands. But while the United States is still the most powerful country on earth, it cannot take on the rest of the world and win. Alienating traditional allies will also make it much harder to gain their support in challenging a rising China, which many in Washington increasingly view as a military threat as well as an economic and technological one. Economically, protectionism is unlikely to shrink the U.S. trade deficit with the EU, which has little to do with its generally low trade barriers. The overall U.S. trade deficit widened last year even as Trump imposed tariffs left, right and center, in part because his tax cuts boosted consumer spending—including on imports—while the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes strengthened the dollar (making imports cheaper and U.S. exports pricier). On the European side, Trump would have more success—and more international support—if he instead pressed Germany and other eurozone countries with large surpluses to boost domestic demand (and thus their own imports, including ones made in the United States). Nor is pushing up the cost of producing cars in the United States likely to lead to a revival of its manufacturing heartland, let alone the return of factory jobs that are being automated away. In fact, the biggest potential for the U.S. car industry lies in electric vehicles, in which U.S.-based Tesla is a global leader and German manufacturers are laggards. If Trump wasn’t so fixated on the trade battles of the past—and in denial about climate change—he could be championing increased research and development spending on the electric car industry and a more moderate and market-friendly version of the Democrats’ Green New Deal. Unlike German cars, carbon emissions really are a threat to national security—and tackling them could create more jobs and prosperity in the United States and elsewhere. Philippe Legrain is the founder of OPEN, an international think tank on openness issues, and a senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics' European Institute. Previously economic advisor to the president of the European Commission from 2011 to 2014, he is the author of five critically acclaimed books, most recently Them and Us: How Immigrants and Locals Can Thrive Together. Twitter: @plegrain Tags: Argument, Britain, Germany, Japan, protectionism, tariffs, Trade, trade war, Trump Cutting Through the Hype on Asia’s New Trade Deal The RCEP truly is a China-style trade agreement: platitudinous and ineffective. Voice \| China and Europe Won’t Get Any Relief on Trade From Biden Washington will not return as the champion of the global trading system. But it may stop being its biggest foe. Election 2020 \| Edward Alden Trump’s Trade Wars Have Made Bad Agriculture Policies Worse From suffering U.S. farmers to the pain inflicted on the developing world, everything about U.S. agriculture policy is dysfunctional. The next administration can do better. Elephants in the Room \| Clark Packard	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line421
__label__wiki	0.960355	0.960355	Question about The Four Seasons By Farin, August 25, 2012 in Questions and Answers This might come across as a bit ocd, but does anyone know what the correct* way to tag the "artist" of the Four Seasons' song "The Night" from the album Chameleon? Is it "The Four Seasons" or "Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons" or "Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons" or "The 4 Seasons" or... ? *the reason I'm asking is, because different sources tell different things and my #1 source for things like that, musicbrainz doesn't seem to know at all. so, does anyone have any idea? As you can see, the album is by "Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons"... ...yet wikipedia calls them just "Four Seasons" while Allmusic names Frankie Valli. Trust the album cover... Edited August 25, 2012 by Guest The album cover actually says "Frankie Valli - The Four Seasons", which is the version apparently supported by discogs Rayzor 1 LocationManitoba, Canada My parents 45's are labelled "Frankie Valli / The Four Seasons" Gotta go with the albums... Brad_M 3 Brad_M LocationNEPA The album doesn't have the "&" sign but the UK 45 single does. See here . The song wasn't commercially released as a single in the U.S. Usually, the record company would use "&" or "and" if that's what the group was recording as. In the case of the album, it seems they wanted to prominently showcase that Frankie Valli was with The Four Seasons, but by not putting the "&" in there makes me say it's an album by The Four Seasons. They could have made it say The Four Seasons featuring Frankie Valli or Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, but they didn't. They just shoved his name on there to make him stand out from the rest of the band. That's a tough call to make. No "&" on the album, but it is on the 45. Although I just said I think the album should be filed under The Four Seasons because the record company didn't put an "&" on it, I'd say the song should be filed under: Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons because the 45s have it. I know, it sounds conflicting when the album doesn't have it and the 45 does, but if they didn't want it to be "&", they wouldn't have put it on the 45 at all. Bell records made it easy with Tony Orlando and Dawn. When he teamed with session singers Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent in 1970 to form Dawn, they recorded as Dawn. They they recorded as Dawn featuring Tony Orlando and then finally as Tony Orlando & Dawn. I think the record company should have done that with Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons and they should have been consistent with both the album and the 45. That's pure marketing and the fact is that the album (and the song) is actually by FV AND the FS. This means "The Four Seasons featuring Frankie Valli" or "Frankie Valli/Four Seasons" it's the same. Valli had also a solo career at the same time. Besides, the record companies make many mistakes when it comes to credit a song or name an artist, sometimes the lead singer wants his name on the album, then the company releases a single and change the name without asking the lead singer, etc. I know cause I've worked for record companies for many years. Dont'cha just hate when they do that. Frankie Valli having a solo career at the time is prolly why they did that then, otherwise they prolly would have left his name off there. It makes it confusing for us trivia folk who like pinpoint accuracy when compiling facts. And the nerve of some singers and record producers who think that the singer is the highlight of the band and want top billing over the rest of the band after recording for so many years as a group with equal members. The other guys in the band prolly feel a bit slighted. I guess it's all about marketing, like you said, Edna, whatever they think will sell the most copies. I was going to say the same last night - I feel it has to do with the fact that Valli had a solo career too - to differentiate from Valli solo, but still trade on his name. Of course that's why they play with his name being or not. Marketing. Even Franki Valli himself had to look for his own solo career. That's how the industry worked... I wonder if it still works. Carl 22 To put it in perspective, the "official" name of the guys who sang "Private Eyes" and "Maneater" is Darryl Hall & John Oates, which is how it appears on their albums. There is some kind of music illuminati somewhere that decides what artist names should really be, which is how sites like AllMusic the big lyric sites choose. The one that really screws the pooch is Pink, who remains officially P!nk.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line422
__label__wiki	0.636861	0.636861	University police report shows uptick in crime at SF State Sandra Lopez\|December 6, 2011 The annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report was recently released by SF State University Police Department and it shows that theft and sexual crimes have risen on campus. The report shows reported crime statistics for 2008-2010, which is divided by the following locations: campus, residential community, public property and non-campus property. According to the report, SF State is a community comprised of more than 30,000 faculty, staff and students members. Currently the department is budgeted for a force of 38 officers. They have expanded their traffic enforcement program to the entire area adjacent to the campus with particular focus on the intersections at 19th and Holloway avenues and Font and Lake Merced boulevards, at the entrance to Lots 19 and 20. A total of 31 reported robbery cases happened between 2008-2010 on campus and in the residence community. Yet, 28 of those cases happened in 2010 in the residence community. There were 144 cases of burglary reported between 2008-2010 on campus and in the residence community, with 13 additional cases reported this semester. Most cases occurred in the late evening and targeted laptops. Between 2008-2010 there were 44 cases of vehicle theft reported on campus and in the residence community. So far this semester there has been one reported case of vehicle theft, which occurred in the parking lot. There were no reported cases of murder, manslaughter, sodomy, sexual assault with an object, sex offenses/non-forcible, incest or statutory rape for all three years and the 2008-2010 report does not include petty thefts. This year alone there has been a total of 34 cases of petty theft that have been reported on campus and in the residential areas. The majority of reported thefts have happened in the Student Center, SFSU Bookstore, the Humanities building and the Gymnasium. Although many of the thefts reported happened at various times, the top three items stolen have been bicycles, laptops and backpacks. According to Ismael de Guzman, prevention education specialist of the Men’s Program at S.A.F.E. Place, there is an obvious connection between the economy and crime. “Whatever is happening in society is happening in our community. It’s a reflection of corporate greed taking over,” de Guzman said. “People ask themselves ‘What’s a fast way to make a buck?’ To steal from others.” According to University spokeswoman Ellen Griffin there has been an increase in patrol officers from last year due to high area crimes. “Theft is a campus-wide issue and UPD addresses the high target areas with extra patrols,” Griffin said. “Additionally, they provide information to the campus community with their Crime Prevention office on ways community members can keep themselves safe from theft and other crimes. They also urge community members to report all suspicious activity to the UPD.” According to the campus crime statistics from 2010, six rape cases happened at SF State. Half of them happened on campus and the other half happened in residence community. Between the years of 2008-2009, zero cases of rape were reported. For the fall 2011 semester, two cases of sexual assault/rape were reported and one case of sexual battery, all in October. “In regard to the recent allegations of sexual assault, UPD increased its presence and patrols in the campus residential community,” Griffin said. “The UPD also provided informational bulletins and information via the UPD Crime Prevention website on preventative measures that could be used by community members.” According to Karla Castillo, a coordinator and intern at the S.A.F.E. Place, the crime log monitors crime on campus very differently. “There are statistics that show that less than 5 percent of sexual crimes are actually reported,” Castillo said. Based on a U.S. Department of Justice research report, it is estimated that the women at a college that has 10,000 female students could experience more than 350 rapes a year. “Since we have a population of 30,000 students and 58 percent of them are women than according to that calculation we probably have more than 600 rapes a year,” Castillo said. Despite many fliers, most students don’t seem to notice the crime alerts that are put up on the buildings and are not aware of the thefts that occur on campus. “I actually haven’t noticed an increase in campus crime, or heard of any thefts through my friends,” said Nissa Poulsen, a 21-year-old cinema major. “I suppose I’m usually pretty aware of my belongings though anyways.” It is not clear when the highest numbers of police are on duty, because according to Griffin, specifics on timing of patrols and locations are not shared publicly, since such information can aid potential criminals in planning their activities. “I hardly ever notice campus security because I don’t see them too much,” said Natalie Woodward, an 18-year-old child development major. The UPD was not able to comment on crime-related question because according to Griffin, “We do not have staff power to spare to meet the many requests we get for officer interviews.” One Response to “University police report shows uptick in crime at SF State” Ocean Beach news roundup December 10 \| The Ocean Beach Bulletin on December 10th, 2011 10:32 pm […] Sex crimes up at San Francisco State University, as are thefts — primarily of bicycles, laptops and backpacks. – Golden Gate Xpress […]	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line426
__label__wiki	0.621959	0.621959	‘Perfect storm’ of fiscal stress hits nonprofits Eighty percent of nonprofit organizations are experiencing fiscal stress, according to a survey released June 29 by Johns Hopkins, and close to 40 percent of them reported that this stress was “severe” or “very severe.” Theaters and orchestras were particularly hard-hit, with nearly 75 percent of the former and half of the latter reporting “severe” or “very severe” stress. Contributing to this stress has been a perfect storm of impacts including declining revenues (51 percent of organizations); increased costs, particularly for health benefits; declining endowments; and decreased cash flow as a result of restricted credit and government payment delays. The 363 organizations that participated in the survey as part of the Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Listening Post Project differ widely in size, cover all regions and represent a diverse array of fields, including children and family services, elderly services and housing, community development, education, arts and culture, and others. Despite the dire challenges, more than two-thirds of the organizations indicated that they have been “successful” or “very successful” in coping with the current fiscal crisis. This is consistent with experience in prior recessions, during which nonprofits boosted employment while for-profit employment declined. This suggests that nonprofits are a countercyclical force in the economy. “Our nation’s nonprofit organizations are displaying exceptional resilience in the face of enormous fiscal challenges,” said Lester M. Salamon, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies, which conducted this survey as part of its Listening Post Project. “Nearly three-fourths of the organizations reported being able to maintain or actually increase the number of people they serve, and this was especially true of service to vulnerable populations.” To achieve this result, nonprofits have displayed unusual resolve and have launched inventive coping strategies. Among them: Well over half of all organizations have launched new or expanded fund-raising efforts, targeting individuals, state and local government, the federal government and foundations. Substantial proportions of organizations are tightening their belts further, cutting administrative costs, creating collaborative relationships with other nonprofits, instituting salary freezes, postponing new hires and relying more heavily on volunteers. Substantial numbers are also stepping up their marketing and their advocacy. Additional findings included the following: While cultural institutions have been particularly hard-hit by the recession, a third or more of child-serving and elderly-serving organizations also reported “severe” or “very severe” fiscal stress. Beyond the 51 percent of responding organizations that reported declining revenues, a substantial majority also anticipated further revenue declines over the coming months, particularly from private giving and government support. Among revenue sources, losses were particularly widespread from individual contributions (losses for 53 percent of organizations), corporate contributions (losses for 44 percent) and foundation support (losses for 42 percent). Reflecting their heavier reliance on donations, theaters and orchestras saw the worst revenue losses, with close to 80 percent of theaters and 70 percent of orchestras reporting losses. Government support, which plays a larger role than philanthropy in the funding of nonprofits, declined at fewer organizations, but more than a third (35 percent) of organizations experienced declines in this important source of support as well, and more than 40 percent reported delays in government payments. More than half (57 percent) of organizations experienced increased health benefit costs, underlining the importance of health benefit reform for nonprofits. Nonprofits were also affected by the general collapse of investment asset values. Among the organizations that have endowments, 80 percent reported a decrease in their value. Despite these realities, 73 percent of responding organizations reported being able to maintain or increase the number of people they serve, and for organizations serving vulnerable populations, this figure was even higher (96 percent for those serving people with disabilities, 92 percent for those serving the economically disadvantaged, 86 percent for those serving the elderly, and 82 percent for those serving children and youth). “The news is mixed, at best,” noted Peter Goldberg, president and CEO of the Alliance for Children and Families and chair of the Listening Post Project Steering Committee. “Resilience in the face of crunching challenges inspires pride in the sector but also a deep concern about future capacities of nonprofit organizations to fulfill their missions.” The full text of the report, “Impact of the 2007–09 Economic Recession on Nonprofit Organizations,” is available online at www.ccss.jhu.edu.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line428
__label__cc	0.720872	0.279128	Celebrating 10 Years Of LAIKA Stop-Motion Animation (Video) By The Movie God \| @ \| December 16th, 2015 at 2:00 pm The stop-motion animated films of LAIKA Entertainment might not be the most financially successful features released, but there is no denying the incredible amount of detail they put into creating their miniature worlds. Many would opt for just digitally animating the movies, but LAIKA stays dedicated to their craft. And it’s a real shame they don’t do much bigger numbers at the box office, because the tiny worlds they create really are incredible. LAIKA is celebrating their ten-year anniversary this year, and to mark the achievement they have released a brief video looking back at their work, including the features Coraline, ParaNorman, and most recently, The Boxtrolls. Click on over to the other side to check out the video. ...continue reading » Leave a comment: No Comments Topics: Animated, Because Awesome, Movies, News, Videos Tags: Coraline, Laika, Laika Entertainment, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls eBook Deal: Neil Gaiman’s ‘American Gods,’ ‘Coraline’ and more! By Empress Eve \| @ \| March 9th, 2014 at 4:03 pm The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is for Books That Inspired Our Passion for Reading for under $2.99 or less each, including Neil Gaiman‘s American Gods (The Tenth Anniversary Edition) and Coraline. Note – this deal is valid only for today, Sunday, March 9, 2014, until 11:59pm PST. See all 36 ebooks available in today’s sale from authors like Ray Bradbury, Agatha Christie, Richard Wright, and more, along with a few other daily deals and monthly deals. Topics: Deals, News Tags: American Gods, Coraline, Neil Gaiman Geek Discussion: 82nd Annual Academy Award Winners & Losers! By The Movie God \| @ \| March 8th, 2010 at 12:45 am As always, we like to have the results of the big awards ceremonies here for all to see, and tonight was the biggest of them all: the 82nd annual Academy Awards. This, the king of all awards shows, has faced much criticism the last few years, and their nominations this year did not help bring validity to their cause. Many of the films and actors were very deserving of their nominations, but many others were passed over in lieu of some big box office successes of questionable overall quality. And though they made a valiant effort to increase the excitement of the show with 10 Best Picture nominations, the end result was frustrating to we the film lovers of the world? In the end, some fantastic films and performances were justly awarded, and as always, there were a few that rubbed the wrong way. Continue on over to the other side to see all of the final results! Leave a comment: 7 Comments » Topics: Movies, News Tags: Academy Awards, Alec Baldwin, Avatar, Best Picture, Carey Mulligan, Christopher Plummer, Colin Firth, Coraline, District 9, Ethan Coen, George Clooney, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Helen Mirren, Henry Selick, Hugh Jackman, Inglourious Basterds, James Cameron, Jeff Bridges, Jeremy Renner, John Musker, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Michael Jackson, morgan freeman, New Moon, PenÃ©lope Cruz, Pete Docter, Quentin Tarantino, Ron Clements, Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek, Steve Martin, The Hurt Locker, The Princess and the Frog, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Twilight, Wes Anderson, Woody Harrelson 82nd Academy Awards Nominations: ‘District 9′! Oh, And…’The Blind Side’!? By The Movie God \| @ \| February 2nd, 2010 at 9:23 pm For we the movie fanatics of the world, the Academy Awards are just as exciting as the Super Bowl. Many of us throw or attend Oscar parties, and even go so far as to print out that ballot and lock our picks into place. Over the past few years, this and a lot of other awards shows have kind of lost their flare. It has become apparent that deciding nominees and voting for winners is not about who is the best and who is most deserving, but about what has the best side-story and what the popular names and titles are. This massive flaw is hard to swallow, and the appeal of the whole event is bordering on non-existent. To help bring more appeal to the game, the folks behind the Academy Awards chose to make a few changes in the format of the show. The biggest of these alterations was of course changing the amount of Best Picture nominees from 5 to a whopping 10, which meant that all of the deserving but not-so-traditional contenders (The Dark Knight) could get their chance to be underdog heroes. Continue reading on for more and to check out the full list of this year’s nominees! Tags: Academy Awards, Avatar, Best Picture, Carey Mulligan, Christopher Plummer, Colin Firth, Coraline, District 9, Ethan Coen, George Clooney, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Helen Mirren, Henry Selick, Inglourious Basterds, James Cameron, Jeff Bridges, John Musker, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, morgan freeman, Neil Blomkamp, Oscars, Pete Docter, Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Ron Clements, Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek, The Princess and the Frog, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Watchmen, Wes Anderson, Woody Harrelson Doom Discussion: 67th Annual Golden Globe Winners & Losers By The Movie God \| @ \| January 17th, 2010 at 11:53 pm Well, the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards were just handed out, and the winners and losers are now here for us to talk about. The popularity and integrity of the Globes has consistently declined over the years as it became apparent that those who were voting were typically voting based on popularity and not so much on those who are deserving (a trend among awards shows, it would seem). Still, these are the awards that set the table for the big one, the Academy Awards, and what we can start to expect when those are handed out. The show was actually better than it usually is. Ricky Gervais was a brilliant host, and even though he likely pissed a lot of people off with his edgy humor, it will be impossible to ignore the positive feedback you will hear from his job this evening. The awards played out as expected with a few pleasant surprises and the typical sickening winner from time-to-time. For those of you who missed the Golden Globes or just didn’t watch them, click on over to the other side to see a rundown of highlights to seek out on YouTube and low points to avoid. Also to be found below is the entire list of nominees, with the winner in each category in bold if you don’t care and just want to peek at who won. Topics: Movies, News, Television Tags: Alec Baldwin, Avatar, Best Picture, Christopher Plummer, Clint Eastwood, Coraline, Courteney Cox, Daniel Day-Lewis, Dexter, District 9, Emily Blunt, George Clooney, Glenn Close, Golden Globes, Inglourious Basterds, James Cameron, Jeff Bridges, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kenneth Branagh, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Michael C. Hall, morgan freeman, Neil Patrick Harris, Quentin Tarantino, Robert De Niro, Robert Downey Jr, Sherlock Holmes, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Carell, The Hangover, The Office, The Princess and the Frog, Tobey Maguire, Warner Bros, Where The Wild Things Are, William Hurt Golden Globe Nominees Revealed; What Do You Think? The list of nominees for the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards were announced earlier today, and you can check out the whole list below. The Globes aren’t the most respected of all awards ceremonies (not that many…if ANY are these days), but they are good for one important thing: Academy Awards potentials. Many of the nominees and winners of Golden Globes will go on to land Oscar nominations as well, so movie fans watch with sharp eyes. Just a glance over the list of nominees, you can see why so many people have trouble taking awards like this seriously. There’s a select group of movies that feel like they’re given these nods just because of their status and not due to their quality. These movies could in fact be the very best of the best this year — I do not know for sure — but when you see films like Nine which hasn’t even been released yet getting so many nominations, you scratch your head, especially knowing how much love musicals get JUST for being musicals. Or maybe even Avatar grabbing a massively unexpected nod in the Best Motion Picture Dramas category. Hopefully the majority of these are indeed the most deserving of the honor, and may the best films win. Head on over to the other side to see the entire rundown of Golden Globe nominees and please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below! Leave a comment: 1 Comment » Topics: Celebrity, Movies, News, Television Tags: Alec Baldwin, Avatar, Best Picture, Christopher Plummer, Clint Eastwood, Colin Firth, Coraline, Courteney Cox, Daniel Day-Lewis, David Duchovny, Dexter, District 9, Emily Blunt, George Clooney, Glenn Close, Inglourious Basterds, James Cameron, Jeff Bridges, Kenneth Branagh, Lost, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Michael C. Hall, morgan freeman, Neil Patrick Harris, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Downey Jr, Sherlock Holmes, Steve Carell, The Hangover, The Office, The Princess and the Frog, Tobey Maguire, Where The Wild Things Are, William Hurt ‘Coraline’ Director Henry Selick Doing More Neil Gaiman; Could It Be ‘The Graveyard Book’? Very few styles of film making are more impressive and more grueling than the art of stop-motion. The meticulous and painstaking work requires the patience of ten saints, and not one person had this gift mixture of virtues more so than Henry Selick. Selick is best known for his directorial debut with the Tim Burton produced Halloween (and sometimes Christmas) classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. He also did James and the Giant Peach, and most recently an adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s book, Coraline. Selick recently spoke with HitFix (head there to read a lot more with the director) about what he has coming up next, and surprisingly, three projects were revealed. As impressive as stop-motion movies are, we live in a world where animated movies are mostly made using computer technologies, and these movies make insane amounts of money; so why put the money and the effort into something as tedious as stop-motion when it can be so much easier? Well, sillies — because there is a certain charm that comes from stop-motion that is completely unique and impossible to replicate. Topics: Animated, Movies, News Tags: Coraline, Henry Selick, Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tim Burton Movie Review: Coraline By Three-D \| February 8th, 2009 at 9:48 am Directed by Henry Selick Starring Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Ian McShane, Jennifer Saunders, Keith David, John Hodgman There is something sadistic lurking in the mind of Coraline director Henry Selick, who also wrote the script from Neil Gaiman‘s children’s book. Selick’s vision evokes bareness and disconnection at their most extreme state. Coraline looks and feels like no other animated film in recent memory. Part of its mysticism is that it lays on the outskirts of conventional films, especially kid related films, where there isn’t any cuddly sidekick, boisterous colors, or predictable plot. It has a strange aura around it, the same aura synonymous with silent films in that it creates a supernatural feel to it not allowing the audience to fully comprehend what they are watching. This just goes to show people the talent that Selick acquires. That he can take the Christmas spirit (he directed Nightmare Before Christmas) and all the tidings attached to it and turn it into an artful piece of catastrophic evil proportions is truly amazing. That he can also use the same technology he used with Nightmare, which was a stop-motion animated feature, and upgrade it in Coraline giving it the full 3D experience is equally amazing. 2009 has just begun but Coraline has the potential of being the most creative and gorgeous looking film of the year as well as the most daring. Topics: Animated, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reviews Tags: Coraline, Dakota Fanning, Henry Selick, Ian McShane, Jennifer Saunders, John Hodgman, Keith David, Neil Gaiman, Teri Hatcher Video: New ‘Coraline’ HD Trailer, Clips + Read The Book For Free Online As you may have been able to tell, we here at Geeks of Doom are pretty excited for the new stop-motion film Coraline, which is from The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick and based on the book by Neil Gaiman. Because of this, we jump at any opportunities to share new goodies that come around before the movie comes out on February 6, 2009. On today’s menu, we have a brand new trailer in HD — which may just be the best trailer that we’ve seen yet. Next up is is a smorgasbord (this may be the first time I’ve ever used “smorgasbord” in a sentence — celebrate!) of video clips that are reminiscent to the stuff you’re likely to see on a DVD’s special features menu and will probably end up on Coraline‘s DVD as well. Last of all, a very cool offer from the folks at Harper Collins — simply enough, if you’d like to read the book before seeing the movie, they’re welcoming you to do so for free at their site! Jump to the other side to partake in the mass of Coraline goodies! Topics: Animated, Books, Movies, News, Videos Tags: Coraline, Henry Selick, Neil Gaiman Contest: ‘Coraline’ Prize Pack By The Geeks of Doom \| @ \| January 19th, 2009 at 10:17 pm Longtime readers probably already know this, but we here at Geeks of Doom are huge fans of both Neil Gaiman‘s and Henry Selick‘s work. We’ve read all the books, seen all the movies, and geek out every chance we get while having discussions about them all. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen The Nightmare Before Christmas or reread American Gods, but needless to say the answer is A LOT. Don’t worry, we’ve got a point here… Thanks to the awesome people at Focus Features and Laika, we’ve been given the super-cool opportunity to give away some exclusive games and gear from Coraline, Henry Selick’s upcoming stop-motion animated 3-D movie based on the awesome Neil Gaiman book, and whoa are we super excited! Man, we love running this site. Anyhooo… go ahead and enter for the chance to be one of six lucky winners — those are images of the prizing here at right (click for larger view) and check out the movie trailer, stills, and poster images and info about Coraline below the entry form. Weeeeee! Three (3) Grand Prize winners will receive: One (1) Coraline Video Game (Wii or PS2 [formats TBA]) One (1) Coraline Book One (1) Coraline Button Key One (1) Coraline Movie Tie-in Book One (1) Coraline Button set One (1) Coraline Pen One (1) Coraline T-shirt One (1) Coraline Alphabet Collector Cards One (1) Coraline Bookmark Three (3) First Prize winners will each receive: TO ENTER: Fill out the form below and submit. Entry form is here after the jump. Topics: Animated, Contests, DVD Reviews, Movies, News, Television Tags: Coraline, Dakota Fanning, Focus Features, Henry Selick, John Hodgman, Laika, Neil Gaiman, Teri Hatcher « Previous Articles	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line429
__label__wiki	0.519702	0.519702	Twenty Good Reasons Not to Worry About Polar Bears Polar bear expert Dr. Susan J. Crockford, Ph.D., University of Victoria, B.C. has prepared a document listing 20 good reasons not to worry about polar bears. She says "so let’s celebrate the recent triumphs and resilience of polar bears to their ever-changing Arctic environment." The document shows that "polar bears are a conservation success story". Some reasons to be optimistic: There are more polar bears now than there were 40 years ago. Only 2 of 19 subpopulations are "likely in decline", down from 10 in 2010. There has been only a marginal decline in total sea ice extent during the critical spring feeding period. The document has maps, graphs and numerous links to supporting information. Canada's Growing Polar Bear Population 'Becoming a Problem' The chairman of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board says the polar bear population along the Davis Strait has doubled during the past 10 years. Too many polar bears are roaming the Canadian Arctic, and the growing population is posing an increasing threat to Inuit communities, according to a new Nunavut government report. “Inuit believe there are now so many bears that public safety has become a major concern,” said one section of the report. Health Fears About Global Warming Are Unfounded Fred Singer and Dennis Avery summarized various studies of mortality rates related to extreme cold and extreme temperatures. They report, for example, that extreme cold killed roughly twice as many Americans as heat waves. All this evidence makes clear the fact that warmer is healthier than colder. Modern Transportation, Not Global Warming, Is Allowing the Spread of Mosquito-Related Disease This article discusses the spread of disease causing mosquitos. It shows that the increasing globalization of disease is a result of modern transportation. West Nile Virus in Kansas This article reviews the factors involved in the spread of the West Nile Virus and Lyme Disease. Unlike the claims of some climate activists, the article shows that climate change has nothing to do with the spread of these diseases.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line430
__label__wiki	0.914028	0.914028	DVD Features Film Features Photos Music Features Photos DVD Features Photos TV Feature Photos Blu-Ray / DVD Reviews Review Photos Broll Clips Home>All Posts>Features>EXCLUSIVE: Jorge Lendeborg Jr. Tackles Alien... EXCLUSIVE: Jorge Lendeborg Jr. Tackles Alien Robots in ‘Bumblebee’ FeaturesFilm Features Angela Dawson\|December 16, 2018 (l-r) Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Memo and Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie in BUMBLEBEE. ©Paramount Picturres. CR: Jaimie Trueblood. Front Row Features HOLLYWOOD—Jorge Lendeborg Jr. grew up in Miami watching Michael Bay’s action-packed “Transformers” movies at the local multiplex. When asked if he ever imagined being an actor in that franchise or other movies, Lendeborg offers a surprising response. “Yes,” the 22-year-old says without a hint of vanity. “When I was 14, yeah. I already was thinking, ‘I want to be an actor.’ That’s when I first caught the bug and I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.” He enrolled in his school’s drama class, began auditioning for local commercials and films, and yada, yada, yada, became a Hollywood actor. Certainly, the odds are against most aspiring actors achieving such a lofty aspiration, but for Lendeborg, who was born in the Dominican Republic before emigrating with his family to the U.S. as a youngster, that dream has come true. He first shot to fame in 2014 playing the character Chihuaha on the TV action series “Graceland.” Subsequently, he co-starred with Noah Wyle and Sharon Leal in the drama “Shot.” He now stars in “Bumblebee,” a spinoff (set in 1987) to the “Transformers” franchise in which he plays an awkward teen called Memo who is smitten with a pretty neighbor who happens to have discovered a giant robot from outer space. The alien, of course, is a giant machine whom she nicknames Bumblebee because of his yellow color. He can transform from an anthropomorphic shape to that of a motor vehicle—specifically, a Volkswagen beetle—whenever he wants. As it turns out, Bumblebee has narrowly escaped from enemy robots—the Decepticons—in his own solar system and fled to Earth, where he awaits his leader, Optimus Prime. He is a little worse for wear when Charlie (“True Grit’s” Hailee Steinfeld) finds him. Lucky for him, Charlie is an ace mechanic, who has her beloved late father’s tools to fix the robot. Memo stumbles upon the pair in the garage as he musters the courage to declare his feelings for Charlie. Romance will have wait as the trio is soon off on a wild adventure where they have to dodge murderous alien robots and getting caught by human law enforcement. The film also stars John Cena, Angela Bassett and Justin Theroux. The action-adventure, directed by Travis Knight (2016’s “Kubo and the Two Strings”) and written by Christina Hodson (“Unforgettable”) is gaining a lot of critical “buzz.” It’s scored a 98 percent Fresh score on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. As I enter a hotel suite to interview Lendeborg, who earlier this year starred in the critically acclaimed indie coming-of-age dramedy “Love, Simon,” I see that the rising screen star is saying his goodbyes to a young lady who turns out to be his younger sister, whom he describes as one of his toughest critics. Although still relatively new to fame and attention, the six-foot-tall Lendeborg appears well-grounded, charismatic and is thoughtful in his answers. It’s no wonder he has been tapped for a role in the upcoming James Cameron/Robert Rodriguez fantasy-adventure “Alita: Battle Angel.” Q: Your sister must be so proud of you. Lendeborg: She’s a tough critic. She describes my movies as videos with my friends. Q: I suppose it’s like that while you’re making it, and then you share it with millions of audience members around the world, right? Lendeborg: Ideally. Q: How fun was it being part of the “Transformers” franchise? Lendeborg: It was a dream come true. It’s a huge property so, as an actor, it’s like, “That’s crazy!” There are just so many huge movies—the “Star Wars” franchise, “Star Trek”—you can count them on two hands. So, it’s a blessing. It’s also something I was a big fan of. The movies came out when I was a kid. I feel like I was the target audience. I’m a huge Michael Bay fan. Those movies were everything—the sound design, the action. A lot of those movies were fun so to be able to take it a step further and to play this character was really great. Q: Where did you grow up? Where did you see the movies? Lendeborg: Miami. I wasn’t born there but I was raised there. Q: How did acting begin for you? Lendeborg: I took a drama class in high school. I got an agent locally and went out for whatever, commercials, anything they had available. There wasn’t too much because Miami is a pretty small (acting) market. It was fun. I remember auditioning for “Star Wars” out of Miami. I’m sure everybody auditioned for that movie. That was a part that John Boyega got. I was way too young. Q: You’re ready now to step in, right? Lendeborg: I’ve got my space alien robots. He’s got the Storm Troopers. What’s up, John? Q: “Bumblebee” is getting a lot of positive critical attention because there’s a real heart to the story besides the robots. Lendeborg: Yeah, we definitely Trojan Horse’d our way into this film. Yeah, the explosions are there but we’re telling a story (too). I’m able to do what got me into filmmaking which is connecting to people and entertaining to tell people stories with their families—the real spectacle of it all. To me, filmmaking and the movie theater are things that are really safe and special. That’s how I bonded with my parents. Q: You and Hailee’s character have a sweet relationship. You’re kind of shy at first but you overcome that reach out to her. And there’s the robot getting in the way… Lendeborg: Yeah, Bumblebee’s a bit of a third wheel. Q: Is Memo nerdy or just shy? Lendeborg: I don’t know. I think it takes a bit of confidence to ask a girl out three times. That’s a lot of resilience. Shy? Sure, because you can’t help but feel a little jittery. But the fact that he keeps going makes him more confident, at least subtly confident. He’s confident in a new light. We’re used to seeing male characters in these movies being extremely macho or whatever, but I feel I’m showing a leader and a confident person with more three-dimensional attributes all the way around. Q: Did you and Hallie Steinfeld get a chance to spend some time together before filming? Lendeborg: Not too much. I think we rehearsed once, which is where I met her. Then we went right into (filming the) movie. Usually, there’s a chemistry read but after the callback, they offered me the film. I had zero time with Hailee beforehand. It happened through the film. Luckily, she was fantastic to work with. She’s very open and a true professional. She’s been doing it forever—from “True Grit” and “Edge of Seventeen” to everything in the middle, she’s a true professional. I learned a lot from watching her and her process. Q: Was the CGI element—dodging giant robots—something that took a while getting used to? Lendeborg: Every movie has its own set of challenges but even in dramatic movies I’ve had scenes where I have to cry and there’s been no other actor there because they’re under 18 so they had to go home, so I’m crying to a piece of tape. I feel like that’s the real job. If everything was given, then the level of skill we’d see in actors wouldn’t be as good. It keeps the work up. That’s what comes with the territory. Q: How did the success of “Love, Simon” affect your career? Lendeborg: A little bit. I still have a lot of anonymity. I get recognized here and there but not too much. But “Love, Simon” definitely sparked a lot of interest on the streets here and there. Q: “Bumblebee” is likely to elevate you into international fame. Are you prepared for fans asking you for an autograph or taking a selfie with you? Lendeborg: I was anxious and nervous about it coming into it. I feel like I went into this as a performer and I like performing in front of crowds but I liked it on my time, like when I’m in front of my friends and family. When I’m out and about, I’m more of a quiet person. So, I was nervous about (fame). But I can’t get ahead of myself. I wouldn’t be here with fans or people who wanted me to succeed. I’m definitely thankful. I was talking to a guy in Miami who told me he was a transpo(rtation) driver for Will Smith on “Bad Boys,” and he said that after a long shooting day, Will Smith would stay an extra hour to give autographs and talk to the kids. I was like, “That’s really special.” That kind of changed my perspective a little bit because it’s clear he realizes that he wouldn’t be (famous) without the fans. Q: To a certain extent, you’re at the mercy of roles that come your way but is there something of a game plan of what roles you want to play or filmmakers you want to work with? Lendeborg: Absolutely. You look at my filmography, and I hope you see that its filled with a lot of purpose, that I’m getting a lot of bang for my buck, for lack of a better term. I’ve (done) indie films/dramatic films, and studio films/sci-fi films. Each movie in its own right is a very special film to me. Movies that play at festivals, movies that have great filmmakers attached, movies that have big robots attached, and things that have all of the above combined. I always say your choices are a big part of being a good actor. Q: You’re in James Cameron/Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel.” Have you finished production on it? Lendeborg: Yeah. I filmed that movie two years ago. The technology they developed specifically for “Avatar” was actually a testing-ground for this movie. The boundaries we push as far as CGI and having it feel genuine is really special. It’s groundbreaking from what James Cameron brings to the care of the story but also the dynamic shooting style that Robert Rodriguez brings to a movie, so I’m really excited about that. It has great themes and I was able to meet and work alongside great actors very early on—Ed Skrein, Jennifer Connelly, Christoph Waltz. After seeing (the Oscar winning drama) “Moonlight,” I met Mahershala (Ali) on the set the next day. And Lana Condor—who’s destroying it right now—she’s in the film. It’s going to be a special movie. Q: What other hobbies or causes are you passionate about? Music? Lendeborg: I want to do everything. I always wanted to have a band. I doubt that’s going to happen. Q: Has your family seen “Bumblebee?” Lendeborg: Not yet. They’re seeing it tonight (at the Hollywood premiere). Tags:Bumblebee, Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Transformers Previous PostPhotos: ‘Venom,’ ‘Weightless,’ ‘Monster Party,’ More on Home Entertainment Next PostPhotos: EXCLUSIVE: Jorge Lendeborg Jr. Tackles Alien Robots in ‘Bumblebee’ Angela Dawson Editor/Co-owner Angela Dawson is the editor and co-owner of frontrowfeatures.com. An award-winning journalist, she has covered Hollywood since 2000. Her interviews with actors, directors, writers, authors and musicians have run in numerous outlets. She is the author of the novel "Generations: A Greek Family Odyssey" available on Amazon.com. EXCLUSIVE: Opetaia Foa’i Infuses ‘Moana’ with Polynesian Sound FeaturesFilm Features Angela Dawson\|November 20, 2016 Robert Redford Maintains the Fire with ‘Pete’s Dragon’ Remake FeaturesFilm Features Angela Dawson\|August 8, 2016 Pedro Almodovar is ‘Excited’ About His New Comedy Film Features Angela Dawson\|June 21, 2013 Elle Fanning Reprises Fairy Tale Role in ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ FeaturesFilm Features Angela Dawson\|October 16, 2019 Angela Dawson is the editor and co-owner of frontrowfeatures.com. An award-winning journalist, she has covered Hollywood since 2000. Her interviews with actors, directors, writers, authors and musicians have run in numerous outlets. She is the author of the novel "Generations: A Greek Family Odyssey" available on Amazon.com. Read Full More posts by the Author » pgonzaga@frontrowfeatures.com http://frontrowfeatures.com Photos: ‘Cleansing Hour,’ ‘Dreamland, ‘Rolling Thunder Revue’ doc, ‘Scooby-Doo!,’ More on Home Video … Plus a Giveaway! ‘Cleansing Hour,’ ‘Dreamland, ‘Rolling Thunder Revue’ doc, ‘Scooby-Doo!,’ More on Home Video … Plus a Giveaway! Photos: ‘American Dream,’ ‘Beautiful Darling,’ ‘Jungleland,’ More Arrive on Home Entertainment ‘American Dream,’ ‘Beautiful Darling,’ ‘Jungleland,’ More Arrive on Home Entertainment Photos: EXCLUSIVE: Jason Isaacs Throws Caution to the Wind as a Theme Park Entrepreneur in ‘Skyfire’ FrontRowFeatures.com © 2011-Present All Rights Reserved.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line432
__label__wiki	0.9215	0.9215	Liam Hemsworth Biography By Gelson - Mar 30, 2020 Quick Facts Of Liam Hemsworth Craig Hemsworth Leonie Hemsworth English, Irish, Scottish, and German 6 ft 3 in Will Update Soon Young Hollywood Breakthrough of the Year, Teen Choice Awards Male Breakout, People Choice Awards For his role of Josh Taylor in the soap opera Neighbours and as “Marcus” on the children’s television series The Elephant Princess Liam Hemsworth is a renowned Australian actor. With his elder brothers’ indulgence in the acting field, it was no surprise that he would follow the footstep of his brother and enter into the silver screen. He played the roles of Josh Taylor in the soap opera Neighbours and Marcus in the children's television series The Elephant Princess. He has also been a part of some American movies like The Last Song, The Hunger Games film series and Independence Day: Resurgence. He is a very talented actor. For his role of Josh Taylor in the soap opera Neighbours and as “Marcus” on the children’s television series The Elephant Princess. Source: @people.com Who is Liam Hemsworth's New Girlfriend, Maddison Brown? Liam Hemsworth & Miley Cyrus' House Burned Down By Wildfires. As three uncontrolled wildfires blaze throughout California, Liam Hemsworth has shared a photo showing all that’s left of the Malibu home he shared with fiancee Miley Cyrus. “It’s been a heartbreaking few days. This is what’s left of my house. Love,” he began the lengthy caption that accompanies a striking image of their burnt-out walls, with the charred remains of the letters “L-O-V-E” that once decorated the space. “Many people in Malibu and surrounding areas in California have lost their homes also and my heart goes out to everyone who was affected by these fires,” the 28-year-old Hunger Games star continued. “I spent the day in Malibu yesterday and it was amazing to see the community pulling together to help each other out in any way they can. Malibu is a strong community and this event is only going to make it stronger.” Miley Cyrus confirms secret wedding to Liam Hemsworth Who is Miley Cyrus? Early Life of Liam Born as the youngest of 3 boys to Craig Hemsworth, a social-services counselor and a teacher of English, Leonie on 13th January 1990 in Melbourne, Australia, Liam Hemsworth spent some of his childhood in his birthplace and following the eighth birthday he moved to Philip Island. His nationality is Australian. His maternal grandfather is a Dutch immigrant, and his other ancestry is English, Irish, Scottish, and German. His birth sign is Capricorn and his religion is Christian. At the period of high school, he appointed an agent as he wanted to enter the acting world. By the age of sixteen, he got the opportunity to appear in one episode of the TV show “Home and Away”. He then did a cameo in “McLeod’s Daughters”. In 2009, Liam flew to the United States with the aspiration of enhancing his career in Hollywood. Body Features of Liam Talking about his body features, Liam has got a very hot body figure and charming face. Liam has got a tall height of 6 feet 3 inches. His balanced weight is 75 Kg. His waist size is 33 inches. His eye color is Blue and hair color is brown. His other body measurement will be updated very soon. Career of Liam Though Liam Hemsworth started out his career with small roles in 2006, eventually in mid-2007 he grabbed a recurring role in the TV show “Neighbors”. After leaving the show in 2008, he appeared in “The Elephant Princess” portraying “Marcus”. He then appeared in TV sitcom “Satisfaction”, followed by the role in British flick “Triangle”. Though he had already made his distinctive position in Australian TV shows and gained recognition in Britain, Hollywood was certainly not a cakewalk for this 19 years old actor. After facing 2 setbacks, in 2010 his big break in the Hollywood came into his doorstep in the form of hit flick “The Last Song” co-starring Miley Cyrus. Followed by another Blockbuster ‘The Hunger Games”, Liam proved that he was in Hollywood to stay. Though he could not be the part of “The Expendables”, he made sure to appear in its sequel in 2012. The year 2013 explores his romantic sides with the romantic drama “Love and Honor”, where he portrayed a Vietnam War Soldier. Displaying his versatility, he signed a thriller flick “Paranoia” in the same year. He played his role in the movie "The Hunger Games" which was released in the year 2012. He reprised his role, Gale Hawthorne, in three sequels to The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, released in November 2013, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Part 1), released in November 2014, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Part 2), released in November 2015. He also appeared in Empire State, with Emma Roberts, and Paranoia, co-starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, and Amber Heard in the year 2013. He portrayed the love interest of Kate Winslet's character in the Australian literary adaptation "The Dressmaker", which was filmed in Victoria in the summer of 2014 in the year 2015. He starred in director Roland Emmerich's 2016 film Independence Day: Resurgence in the year 2016. Acknowledged as the third “sexiest man” 2013 by Glamour, Liam has started to dominate Hollywood in a very short period of time, captivating the heart of Hollywood lovers. What is Liam Hemsworth Net Worth? Best known for Neighbors and The Elephant Princess, Liam has garnered the net worth of $16 million as of 2018. The mainstream of his income is his profession i.e “acting”. His exact salary has not been revealed yet and will be updated very soon but there is no doubt in the mind of his follower that he is earning a considerable amount of salary from his career work. Who is Liam Hemsworth Dating? Liam Hemsworth is reportedly dating Australian actress Maddison Brown. Rumor of their romance sparked after they were seen together a couple of times. Liam was previously married to singer Miley Cyrus. They got married in January 2016. However, their marriage did not last long. The couple amicably separated in 2019. Previously, he has been linked to Laura Griffin from 2006 to 2009, Eiza Gonzalez in 2013. The handsome hunk was spotted with Nina Dobrev several times and the rumor of them dating hit the media in 2014. Ambassador of a children organization “the Australia Childhood Foundation”, the kind-hearted actor has always been a part of social causes. Personal likes of Liam As a child and living on the island he loved surfing and used to spend the whole day surfing with his brother. Sky blue is his favorite color. He enjoys watching flicks, such as A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, The Departed, Step Brothers, James Dean, and The Goonies. The 24 years old actor shares a strong bond with his friend Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson. Having been a major part of more than six flicks in just the precedent three years, the native of Melbourne is clearly hardworking and focused. The award-winning actor has been exploring every aspect of acting with his choice of characters. With his current ventures and upcoming ventures on the horizon, the blue the eyed Australian actor is determined to dominate Hollywood. It's just been some years of his appearance in Hollywood, he has already been nominated in several categories and has won awards like Young Hollywood Breakthrough of the Year, Teen Choice Awards Male Breakout, People Choice Awards and more. He is active in social networking sites like “Twitter”. More information about Liam can be found in the wiki. His biography can be found in different internet sites. He was considered to be for the title role in 2011 movie Thor. But later that role went to his older brother Chris. He gave his first audition when he was 16 (in 2006). He stars in the music video Colder Weather for the Zac Brown Band. He has hosted the Nickelodeon Australian Kids’ Choice Awards 2010. Permalink: https://gossipgist.com/liam-hemsworth Jemel Roberson Biography Gelson / November 14, 2018 Kacey Musgraves Biography Gelson / April 19, 2020	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line438
__label__cc	0.64856	0.35144	Primary and Preventive Care Immunizations and Vaccines Acute Hospital Care (Hospitalization) Diagnostic Imaging / X-Ray Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation Lymphedema Therapy Other Medical Services Warfarin Clinic Community Health Team New Patient Information and Forms Charges, Billing and Insurance Paying for My Healthcare Standard Charges Free or Reduced Fee Care Resource Advocate & Financial Assistance Uninsured Policy Helpful Health Care Links 2020 – 2021 Annual Events Cabin Fever Online Auction Spring Into Health 5K Tour de Grace Bicycle Rally VIRTUAL Hospital Fair Day 2020 Tee It Up for Health Golf Benefit Poker Walk Memorial & Tribute Gifts Mission, Vision & Promise Hospital Board of Trustees Hospital Report Card Notice of Non-Discrimination Policy Grace Cottage News Graceful Health Articles Cottage Door Newsletter Why Work At Grace Cottage? Life in Vermont Why is It Important to Immunize My Child? August 21st, 2020 \| Featured, Graceful Health Measles. Mumps. Polio. Diphtheria. Chicken Pox. If you can’t remember what problems these diseases cause, you can thank immunizations. Writing for the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Stanley Plotkin wrote that, “One of the brightest chapters in the history of science is the impact of vaccines on human longevity and health.” Dr. Plotkin is an expert who helped to develop vaccines for polio and rubella (also known as German measles). In these days of Covid-19, it is easier for us to imagine the fear and danger of highly infectious diseases like those named above. We can be grateful to the many dedicated researchers who discovered and developed vaccines to protect us from diseases that used to kill or cripple thousands of children and adults. We will certainly be elated when a Covid-19 vaccine is finally available. Meanwhile, children (and unvaccinated adults) are susceptible to a host of diseases that can easily be prevented with existing vaccines. The medical community recommends a schedule of vaccines for children to prevent these diseases as early in a person’s life as possible. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control provides these recommendations on its website, www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules, where a list of recommended vaccines for both children and adults is available. You might find it helpful to print out the schedule and check things off as doses are administered. If you click on the link labeled “Parent-Friendly Schedule,” you will find a document that is easy to print and can serve as a handy reference for the various vaccines needed, along with basic facts about the diseases they prevent. Most parents understand the importance of vaccines, but they still may have questions. I’d like to share my answers to some of the most common questions I’m asked as a pediatrician. Sometimes parents wonder why vaccines must be given to newborns. Can’t it wait until they are a little older, they wonder? Newborns are very vulnerable, so the sooner they are protected, the better. Delay could prove deadly. For example, the first dose of Hepatitis B vaccine is given at birth, with a second dose given in the next two months. While infants are born with some initial immunity, it is not strong enough or long-lasting enough to provide ongoing protection. It is important to keep up with vaccines, according to the recommended schedule. Especially for those vaccines given in multiple doses, the timing and intervals are very important. The disease can still infect a child during a delay between doses, causing preventable illness. Some parents also worry about giving so many shots to an infant. They worry that it is traumatic, causing too much stress for the child’s small body. The diseases themselves are far, far worse. We have forgotten the devastating effects of measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, and other dangerous childhood diseases that were once common and highly contagious. We need to continue to vaccinate against these diseases even if it seems they have been eradicated. Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, so some parents were lulled into complacency, believing that vaccination was no longer necessary. A recent outbreak in New York City in 2018-2019 disproved that theory. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, 649 people contracted measles after one child returned from Israel with the disease. We are all quite aware of how quickly an infectious disease can spread, now that we have experienced Covid-19. Some parents also worry about side effects. We have decades of clinical experience with the recommended childhood vaccines, across a broad spectrum of patients, and nothing suggests that vaccines harm children. Mild side effects like soreness, feeling tired, and a low-grade fever may occur, but severe allergic reactions to vaccines are extremely rare. Also, there is no evidence to suggest that vaccines cause autism. Earlier fears about childhood vaccines potentially causing autism have been disproved by numerous studies. The American Academy of Pediatricians, the CDC, the American Academy of Family Physicians, Autism Speaks (an advocacy organization), and the entire medical staff at Grace Cottage Family Health all wholeheartedly support the recommendation that children receive the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Rob Ring, Chief Science Officer of Autism Speaks, has issued the following recommendation: “Over the last two decades, extensive research has asked whether there is any link between childhood vaccinations and autism. The results of this research are clear: Vaccines do not cause autism. We urge that all children be fully vaccinated.” Vaccines can safely prevent so many diseases. Why would you delay? And, while we wait for a Covid-19, vaccine, we know the best prevention strategy: wear a face covering, keep proper distance from those not living in your household, and wash your hands often! Please model this behavior and teach it to your children, especially as they return to school. Dr. Elizabeth Linder has been Grace Cottage Family Health’s pediatrician since 1997. A graduate of Pomona College and the University of Vermont School of Medicine, Dr. Linder completed her residency in pediatrics at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital 185 Grafton Road (Route 35) Townshend, Vermont 05353 Email: info@gracecottage.org (Non-medical inquiries only.) To get a message to a medical provider, use the confidential patient portal or call the number below. Main Phone Number: 802-365-7357 Family Health Clinic Number: 802-365-4331 View a complete list of departmental numbers. Price List for Shoppable Service Grace Cottage complies with applicable State and Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ancestry, place of birth, age, or physical or mental condition. (Read More) Language assistance services, free of charge, are available. Call 1-802- 365-7357 (TTY: 1-800-253-0191) Choose a language to translate our site: ©2021 Grace Cottage Hospital / Site by MuseArts	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line440
__label__cc	0.514225	0.485775	Rise like a phoenix from the ashes The phrase rise like a phoenix from the ashes is based on a story that goes back thousands of years. The expression is a simile, which is a phrase used in a sentence that is a comparison of one thing with something else using the word like or the word as. A simile may compare two things with qualities that do not seem related, though there must be some similarity that is either literal or figurative. Writers use similes in prose and in poetry as literary devices used to paint vivid imagery. We will examine the meaning of the phrase rise like a phoenix from the ashes, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences. To rise like a phoenix from the ashes means to emerge from a catastrophe stronger, smarter and more powerful. An example of rising like a phoenix from the ashes is someone who opens a new, successful business after his previous business has failed. Another example is someone who builds a new house after his previous house has been destroyed in a tornado. The phoenix bird is a mythical bird from Greek mythology. It was a feathered creature of great size with talons and wings, its plumage radiant and beautiful. The phoenix lived for 500 years before it built its own funeral pyre, burst into flame, and died, consumed in its own fiery inferno. Soon after, the mythical creature rose out of the ashes, in a transformation from death to life. This story of becoming born again predates the story of the phoenix rising from the ashes. A counterpart to the phoenix is the Bennu of Egyptian mythology, which was a large heron venerated in Heliopolis, Egypt. The fenghuang is a Chinese bird often depicted with fire balls. The feathers of the Russian firebird emit light, and is often the subject of quests in folklore. Christianity adopted the depiction of the phoenix rising from the ashes as a symbol of rebirth and eternal life. The classical, mythical imagery and symbolism of resurrection, of life reborn anew and transformed, resonated with the Christian story. The phrase rise like a phoenix from the ashes is often shortened to rise like a phoenix, or even rise from the ashes. Related phrases are rises like a phoenix from the ashes, rose like a phoenix from the ashes, risen like a phoenix from the ashes, rising like a phoenix from the ashes. Note that the word phoenix is spelled with a lowercase letter. When capitalized, as in Phoenix, the term is the name of a city in Arizona, United States. “I love the way they chose to take care of themselves, that they didn’t fall into the grave and just die — that they made a choice that they were gonna rise like a phoenix from the ashes.” Continues Davis, “Maybe [it’s] not in a way that’s nice and pretty.” (Entertainment Weekly) Limberakis also spoke of “the extraordinary labor of love that has enabled the Saint Nicholas Shrine to rise like a phoenix from the ashes at Ground Zero.” (The Hellenic New of America) How China’s capitalist entrepreneurial spirit arose from the ashes of revolution (The South China Morning Post)	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line442
__label__wiki	0.949096	0.949096	richard lyons actor living single [10], Living Single centered on six people consisting of four women and two men living the single life in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Join Facebook to connect with Richard Lyons and others you may know. The show had struggled to break into lists of top television programs that were viewed by larger audiences and never broke into the Top 50, though it was a higher performer for FOX. MOD title will be available online in March from Amazon/CreateSpace and the WBshop! Update on Nancy Dillard Lyon’s Killer (“Writer’s Block,” Forensic Files) The last post told the story of the poisoning death of Richard Lyon’s wife, architect Nancy Dillard Lyon, at the age of 37, in a case covered by Forensic Files episode “Writers Block.”. The series was a joint production for UPN by Regan Jon Productions, Saradipity Productions, and Jump at the Sun Productions in association with Big Ticket Television. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. [14][15][16][17], In May 1997, Fox announced that it had ordered 13 episodes of the fifth season of Living Single but that the episodes would be delayed until January 1998. Diese Diskografie ist eine Übersicht über die musikalischen Werke des britischen Pop-Sängers Cliff Richard.Er gilt als der erfolgreichste britische Sänger aller Zeiten und hat es als einziger Interpret geschafft, in den britischen Charts in fünf Jahrzehnten hintereinander einen Nummer-eins-Hit zu landen. [24] [25]. The entire series is also available for digital download on Amazon.com and the iTunes Store. Living Kringle December 19, 1993. Her overall goal was to portray Black characters in a positive and less stereotypical light. Living Single started reruns in syndication on September 22, 1997 through various Fox UPN and WB affiliates; in terms of UPN and WB, these were later CW affiliates. [19] The final episode of the fifth season aired on January 1, 1998. Right. Overton was the friendly, but country, maintenance man for the owner of their (and neighboring) building who held deep affection for Synclaire and plenty of hilarious homespun wisdom for everyone else. "Pieces of a Broken Mirror" is the twelfth episode and midseason premiere of the fourth season and 78th episode overall from the Fox series Gotham. "Grapevyne" and "Pass the Lovin'" also brought them some success, as well as their rendition of "I Can't Tell You Why", a song originally recorded by The Eagles. When the show was canceled, she became a wedding planner and left the apartment to move in with her fiancé, Dexter Knight (Don Franklin). Kyle and Max ended up pursuing a sexual relationship, but when he decided to take a job in London and invited Max to join him, she turned him down. The series featured an ensemble cast led by Scott Wolf as Bailey, Matthew Fox as Charlie, Neve Campbell as Julia, and Lacey Chabert as Claudia Salinger, who with their baby brother Owen constitute five siblings whom the series follows after the loss of their parents in a car accident. Kyle returned in the series finale and the two reconciled. Synclaire confronts the mugger (Bobcat Goldthwait) who robbed Overton; Russell tries to save Flavor; and Max makes an impassioned campaign announcement. Richard Lyons is on Facebook. An hour-long retrospective special, Living Single: The Reunion Show, aired on TV One on September 22, 2008. Warner Home Video released the complete first season of Living Single on DVD in Region 1 on February 14, 2006. Its main character (Brenneman) is a judge who serves in a family court for the Connecticut Superior Court's Hartford district; in addition to the family-related cases that she adjudicates, many episodes focus on her experiences as a divorced mother and on the experiences of her mother, a social worker in the field of child welfare. on The Loop is an American sitcom that ran from March 15, 2006 to July 1, 2007 on Fox. The show originally aired on Tuesdays in prime time after sister series Full House, also created by Jeff Franklin and set in the San Francisco Bay Area. The series was produced by Touchstone Television. Fields is the daughter of actress/director Chip Fields and older sister of actress Alexis Fields. Dana Elaine Owens, better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actress, and producer. Heavy D, born as Dwight Arrington Myers, was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital…, Plus a new sketch comedy series from Down Under, Here's where you can watch and stream coverage, The director also teases what a potential Season 2 would be about. The special featured clips and revealing secrets of the cast from the show's five-year run. Yvette Lee Bowser, show creator's, initial goal was to create a show about her and her friends that changed the portrayal of young Black people on television. Queen Latifah, Erika Alexander and Mel Jackson were unavailable to participate. Yvette Denise Lee Bowser is an American television writer and producer. Choose an adventure below and discover your next favorite movie or TV show. Wayans and veteran television writer/producer Don Reo co-created and co-produced the series. The series revolves around a quirky teacher, Jess, after she moves into a Los Angeles loft with three men, Nick, Schmidt, and Winston ; Jess' best friend Cece is also part of the series. Richard Lyons: Hairspray. ... "Don't confuse the actor with the role." Fraction 5 4, Common Brittonic Translator, Candle Wax Predictions, Bearbrick Series 40, Monica Eton Suits, Ryan Johansen Wedding, Miss Jamaica World, Michael Essien Akosua Puni Essien, Tom Busby Trading, Jimmy Karz Sopranos, richard lyons actor living single 2020	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line444
__label__wiki	0.565769	0.565769	Six benefits of solar power for the individual - Healthy Life Essex Home » Blog » Save the Earth, Save Money Save the Earth, Save Money: 6 ways solar power can benefit the environment Most people now accept that the drastic and sharp spike in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels since 1950 is due to the rapid and quite amazing boom of industrialisation across the planet. In other words, mankind is responsible for current levels of CO2 emissions and Climate Change. Across the globe, countries are now considering how they can tackle these challenges. Stanford University Professor Mark Z. Jacobson envisions a world operating on 100 percent renewable energy by 2050: a wind, water and solar-powered world. So, let’s take a look at the benefits of solar power for the individual. But first, let’s also consider how we have arrived at this crucial point in history. Business innovation has yielded wonderful economic results for many years and humankind has, in general, adopted the apparent benefits of this new high-tech world without a thought for the long-term implications. The consumer-driven demand for a comfortable lifestyle with the latest mod cons and gadgets has increased CO2 emissions exponentially leading to harmful and accelerated global warming, climate change, and, ultimately, a dubious human future. It’s easy to blame governments, but we have all played a part in the catastrophic results that are now so blatantly obvious. Yes, the earth’s climate does change in cycles. In the last 650,000 years, there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat. The last major ice age ended about 11,700 years ago, albeit there have been many mini ice ages in more recent times. But invariably these cyclical changes are so slow that creatures on this earth, including humans, have time to adapt. But change is happening at such a rate, and the world is so densely populated, we can’t adapt sufficiently and now have limited time to reverse the current trajectory. It’s important, then, to remember that we can all play our part to create a cleaner, greener future for the generations to come. As individuals, there is a great deal we can do to make a substantial difference including, for example, adopting a plant-based diet and reducing our levels of consumerism. Do you really need that new jumper? Do you really need the latest mobile phone? But, as we have already mentioned, we are going to look at the benefits of solar power as that is also an option worth considering. Solar energy is one of the biggest and most effective kinds of renewable energy in the world. In simple terms, solar energy harvests the natural power of the sun to create electricity to heat, light and/or provide water for homes and businesses. And because solar power is not dependent on burning fossil fuels, solar energy does not create greenhouse gases for energy production. We should remember that production of solar equipment does produce CO2 emissions, but those emissions are considered very low when spread across the normal lifetime of the systems. Solar energy solutions provide a variety of amazing benefits to you and the planet; and they’re something you can implement for tomorrow, today. So, keep reading to discover six benefits of solar power. Benefit #1 — Reduced carbon footprint The dictionary definition of a carbon footprint is: “The amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organisation or community.” Releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere is causing an increasingly warm earth. Why? Because CO2, in excess, fills the atmosphere and creates a barrier or layer between space above and all of us below. In effect, this barrier then traps the planet’s heat. And when heat can’t escape, it can cause a lot of damage. For instance, as temperatures increase, we see a variety of negative effects, including rising sea levels, shrinking ice caps and glaciers, and more. This is known as the greenhouse effect. Thankfully, solar power doesn’t emit harmful CO2 and gasses. It’s an incredibly clean and renewable power source and, ultimately, a powerful solution to one of our biggest challenges today. Benefit #2 — Health benefits of reduced air pollution Not only is excessive CO2 bad for the planet, but the air pollution it causes is extremely bad for human health. Air pollution has been linked to a variety of health conditions, including asthma and many other lung-related complications. Most recently, in a landmark case in the UK, the Southwark Coroner’s Court found that air pollution “made a material contribution” to the death of a nine-year-old girl who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London. Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah died in 2013 after suffering multiple asthma-induced seizures. The coroner said: “I will conclude that Ella died of asthma, contributed to by exposure to excessive air pollution.” In the era of COVID and beyond, it will be more important than ever to choose and implement renewable energy sources that protect our planet and our bodies. By using solar power, you’re helping to protect your health and the health of those around you! Benefit #3 — Reduced heating and water costs The initial installation of solar panels can be costly but should be considered as a long-term investment. In the UK, the average payback period for solar panels is 10 years: slightly less in the south and slightly more in the north due to different levels of sunshine. But each installation is different, so it is extremely important to use a registered installer and ensure that they provide accurate payback calculations before you make a final decision. Additionally, as with any major investment, you should ensure you have an appropriate warranty for your system. Solar systems have low maintenance costs and generally a normal warranty of 25 years, but will potentially last for up to 50 years if serviced at least every 3 years by a certified installer. The inverter, however, the piece of electrical equipment that converts the energy to an AC current, will probably need to be changed after 15/20 years. (Inverters have shorter warranties, usually 10-12 years with the option of an extension.) As many governments across the world are encouraging the installation of solar panels, there are also many grants available. Currently, in England, the Green Homes Grant includes options for solar thermal water heating, albeit not solar pv. But that, of course, could change. There are often additional incentives for businesses and educational establishments to install solar panels, particularly if they have expansive buildings with flat roofs. Contact #ORBMember Energyst Consulting for more information. In other countries including the US, grants might be in the form of tax incentives as Blue Raven Solar based in Indianapolis explains: https://blueravensolar.com/indiana/indianapolis/ Benefit #4 — Conservation of natural resources Energy companies commonly use fossil fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal to power our homes, cities, and vehicles. But these fossil fuels are “non-renewable” meaning, quite simply, supplies will run out! So not only is the use of these fuels inherently bad for the planet and for our health, but supplies are actually limited. In order to maintain supplies or oil, gas and coal, big energy companies are increasingly adopting practices such as fracking that concern many people: Shale gas is a natural gas what is trapped in certain rock formations. Shale gas is extracted by fracking which is considered by many to be a potential environmental disaster. Fracking was supported by the current Government but it appears there may have been a U-turn due to strong public opposition and research that suggests shale gas is one of the least sustainable ways to produce electricity Focusing on clean renewable energy sources such as wind, water, and solar power should surely be the preferred option of individuals, organisations and governments! Individuals and organisations can generally choose an energy provider that offers renewable energy options, particularly for electricity. However, the renewable energy infrastructure is currently not large enough to provide all the power the UK currently uses, so it makes sense to consider producing our own renewable energy through options such as solar panels. Benefit #5 — Reduced water usage Most common methods for creating power and energy (for cities, homes, neighbourhoods, etc.) require near-endless gallons of water. But solar power? Solar power doesn’t require any water at all. It’s an H20-free source of energy and, as a result, helps conserve our national and global supplies of water. Benefit #6 — A more protected planet While solar power offers and provides a host of micro-benefits to our daily lives and rhythms, it’s also important to zoom out and take a look at the wider benefit of installing solar energy — namely, a more protected planet. When we limit the use of fossil fuels, reduce water usage, CO2 emissions, and air pollution, we subsequently create a healthier earth — a place where fish can swim, animals can explore, and we humans can breathe easily for centuries to come. Invest in the future with solar power When you invest in solar power, you’re lowering man-made stress on the planet and helping to create a better tomorrow for your children and your children’s children. You’re reducing harmful emissions, saving water, and nurturing a healthier planet. Be a part of the change and ensure you adopt the benefits of solar power! Image by Reijo Telaranta from Pixabay	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line448
__label__wiki	0.698922	0.698922	I'm Just Walkin' USA \| NYC Today’s route — 16.5 miles 9/11 memorial #75, revisited Whoops! Thought this was a new one, but it turns out we've been here before. John McNamara Square This is a fitting tribute to the Sage of the Bronx, whose 1978 book History in Asphalt explains the origin of every street name in the borough, and whose interest in such matters was piqued by the street signs that started to appear around the Bronx in the 1920s when he was a kid. "I wondered where they came from, those names", he once told a reporter for the NY Times. The City Council approved the naming of this little parklet in 1985, making Mr. McNamara, who died in 2004, one of the few New Yorkers to be honored in this way while still alive. After all, who else could so fully appreciate seeing his name on a street sign? Here are two photos from the Sage's last visit to his namesake square, just a couple of weeks before he passed away. (As far as I know, this had nothing to do with anything, but it seems appropriate that Mr. McNamara's square should be adjacent to Randall Avenue, which calls to mind — though is not named for — another great Bronx historian: Randall Comfort.) Here we are once again on the narrow, winding streets of this bayside Bronx neighborhood that first began to take shape in the 1920s as a summer resort community of tents and other makeshift dwellings. As the NY Times tells it: In 1923, when Richard W. Shaw Sr., the first of four generations of Shaw landlords, bought the property, only one house stood out: a great stone mansion that overlooked pastures, swamps and, of course, the water. During the summer he permitted church groups, Boy Scouts and, later, workers from New York City to pitch tents or build rustic cottages on what became known as Edgewater Camp. "As kids, we'd go see cows grazing and then go down to the farmhouses nearby and steal tomatoes and squash," said John McNamara, a 72-year-old Bronx historian and former Edgewater resident, who recalls lazy summers of courting schoolgirls in canoes and walking three miles to the nearest trolley into town. "We lived in wooden-sided tents with canvas tops," he said. "We had no electricity, just kerosene stoves. It was a real pioneer community." In the 1930's, the Great Depression forced many of the summer residents to sell their homes in the city. They winterized their Edgewater bungalows with newspapers, cardboard boxes and other crude insulation. A permanent community was born. For all its scenic beauty, Edgewater is a planner's nightmare, with neither building codes nor zoning laws. Fire hydrants sprout in backyards, a reminder of how the early residents simply ignored the street grid the city had planned for them. The result is a jumble of 675 single-family houses shoehorned into 55 acres of land, elbowing one another on 30-by-50-foot plots. The concrete Edgewater shoreline Cat on a Cold Asphalt Roof The feared Edgewater Crocodile As vicious as it is footless Portals of the day Gifts from Sandy? Awesome mailbox #56 Wait, isn't the awesome mailbox count up in the 70s? It is indeed, but this mailbox is replacing the former #56, which is no longer awesome. Details here! ’66 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Mary, off center The geometry of mortality Parrot nest! And a parrot! (It's sitting on top of the railing above the nest.) Brooklyn is more famous for its little green Quakers, but there are plenty up here in the Bronx, too. This nest in the Throggs Neck Houses (two g's!) is located almost two miles from the known parrot stronghold of Pelham Bay Park. UPDATE: It turns out that wild parrots have been living in Throggs Neck for some time. Their main colony in the area is about three-quarters of a mile away at the Little League ball fields. GMC Cyclops LAMPCafé The LAMP Ministries roach coach Preston High School This Catholic girls' school building was originally Beau Rivage, the summer home of sugar magnate Frederick C. Havemeyer Jr. “Keepin’ BUMP signs klassy since 2009” Dy-no-mite Alfie: in memoriam A dog long gone whose name lives on I'm walking every street in New York City. This is the counterpoint to my walk across the US. Instead of seeing a million places for just a minute each, I'm going to spend a million minutes exploring just one place. By the time I finish walking every block of every street in all five boroughs, I'll have traveled more than 8,000 miles on foot — all within a single city. Details! Email me at matt@imjustwalkin.com Maps: Progress \| Photos 9,279 miles walked Your donations allow me to keep walking full-time. If you think what I'm doing is valuable and you'd like to offer some support, I would be very grateful. On the other hand, if you think I'm a worthless bum, feel free to email me and tell me to get a job, bozo. Both are excellent options! Select Month August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 August 2011 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 Day 846: Da Mikele Illagio Site by Jason Eppink	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line453
__label__wiki	0.664338	0.664338	News Local State to receive church land, increase subsidy for Orthodox priests wages State to receive church land, increase subsidy for Orthodox priests wages The government will receive 15,564 acres of church-owned land in return for increasing the money it pays towards Orthodox priests wages, according to an agreement between the two institutions. Phileleftheros reports that the agreement entails that the state subsidises the wages of 850 priests in rural areas with €7.534,553 annually, starting from January 1, 2024. In return, the state will receive 15,564 acres of land. The exchange was decided in 1971 by Archbishop Makarios who was also head of state. The 1971 agreement provided that the state will pay priests that work in rural areas with €681.86 per month. Back then, rural areas were defined as all locations outside cities’ walls, thus priests of municipalities such Strovolos, Aglantzia, Latsia, Lakatamia and Mesa Yeitonia are still compensated as working in rural areas. According to Phileleftheros, 73% of the land is in the occupied north. The value of the land located in Republic of Cyprus-controlled areas was estimated by the Department of Land and Surveys to be €81.268,000 in 2010, while the value of the land in the occupied north was €125.163,000 in 2009. The agreement is as follows: Starting from the day of the voting of the bill and until December 21, 2020, 760 priests in rural areas will receive a monthly subsidy of €681.86 each. The state sponsorship towards the priests’ wages will be €6.736,776 per year. From January 1, 2021 and until December 31, 2023, the number of priests receiving the state subsidy will increase to 800. The state sponsorship towards their wages will rise to €7.091,344 per year. From January 1, 2024 and until December 31, 2025 the number of priests receiving the state subsidy will increase to 850. The state sponsorship towards their wages will rise to €7.534.553 per year. After January 1, 2026 the number of priests who are beneficiaries of the state subsidy will rise by 0.5% per year. In January 2019, the number of priests receiving the state subsidy was 722. The amount paid by the state to their wages was €6.3 million and included their 13th salaries. Latin, Maronite and Armenian priests are compensated in the same way. The state spends €400,000 per year towards their wages. According to Phileleftheros, the agreement was negotiated by the Archbishop and his financial affairs team who managed a €1 million increase to the initial proposed sponsorship. The initial deal was first submitted to Parliament in 2015 and provided for subsiding the wages of 700 priests in rural areas with an amount of €6,140.862 starting from December 31, 2025. https://in-cyprus.com/church-receives-e8-2-million-as-vat-refund-from-the-state/ By Andreas Nicolaides Previous articleLitter found in ocean floor in man’s deepest ever dive Next article5%-10% drop in tourism but improvement expected, hoteliers say National Guard members sleep in the Capitol Visitor’s Center ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration Andreas Nicolaides - 19 January 2021 National Guard members sleep in the Capitol Visitor's Center on Capitol Hill, ahead of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, in Washington, U.S., January 18,... Bouli Hadjioannou - 12 October 2020	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line454
__label__wiki	0.772091	0.772091	Affordable Paris Tours More than 100 tours available CityTours provides tour guides Kerala Pilgrimage Tour Indian Tours Kerala Pilgrimage Tours 13 NIGHTS / 14 DAYS TRIVANDRUM - PERIYAR - KUMARAKOM - ALLEPPEY - COCHIN - OOTY - BANDIPUR - MYSORE - BANGALORE The Glimpses of India with Nepal offers an exciting mish-mash of destinations that exhibits the cultural heritage of India and Nepal at its best. A host of attractions including forts and palaces, monuments, temples and bathing Ghats of Ganges in Varanasi is included in this tour package. Besides Golden Triangle Tour, you’ll be visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Site Khajuraho famous for its erotic temples and the spiritual capital of India Varanasi where pilgrims and trabelers alike gather to take a dip in the sacred water of Ganges. The glimpses of India will also take you to the capital city of Nepal. Kannur (Cannanore) Kozhikode (Calicut) Thrissur (Trichur) Alappuzha (Alleppey) Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) Kollam (Quilon) Slect Your Tour Mahaganapathi Temple, Madur (7 km from Kasaragod) This imposing temple represents a fine blend of Kerala and Karnataka architecture. Madiyankulam Temple (3 km from Kasaragod) Situated near Kanhangad in Hosdurg, this temple is dedicated to Bhadrakali, the fierce form of Goddess. The Bhutha Dance is performed during the festival in May-June and December - January. Ananthapura Lake Temple (17 km from Kasaragod) This is the only lake temple in Kerala. Situated in Kumbala, this is believed to be the original seat of Lord Ananthapadmanabha. The Mahalingeswara Temple, Adoor (45 km, East of Kasaragod) This temple has Sanskrit inscriptions written in the Kannada script which has been ascribed to the Chalukya King Kirthi Varma II. Malik Dinar Mosque, Thalankara (1 km from Kasaragod) It is one of the first ten mosques to be built in India after the advent of Malik Mohammed Dinar who propagated Islam in India. His mortal remains are buried near this mosque. The annual festival of Uroose is popular. Nityananda Asramam, Kanhangad (27 km from Kasaragod) The temple here, built in 1963 resembles the Somnath temple in Gujarat. A life-size panchaloha statue of Swami Nityananda is the star attraction. Anandashram (15 km from Bekal) This was founded in 1931 by Swamy Ramdas and Mother Krishna Bhai known as Pappa and Mathaji to devotees. This spiritual centre is said to offer all kind of facilities for the spiritual regeneration. Thrichambaram Sree Krishna Temple, Taliparamba (20km from Kannur) A sacred place of the Vaishnava cult, the deity here is Sree Krishna. The fortnight festival begins on 22nd Kumbham (February - March). Another temple dedicated to Sree Balarama, brother of Lord Krishna is at Mazhoor, Thrichambaram. On the first day, the idol of Balarama is taken out in procession from Mazhoor temple and brought to the Thrichambaram temple. The procession marks the beginning of the festival, on the last day of which the idols of Sree Krishna and Balarama are taken out ceremoniously. The festivities end with Lord Krishna retreating to His abode that is Thrichambaram temple, while his brother Balarama returns to Dharmakulangara temple. The procession in this festival is sans elephants. Parassinikadavu Madapura Sree Muthapan Temple (16 km from Kannur town) The significant feature of this temple is the daily performance of Theyyam, the ritualistic art form of Kerala. The presiding deity is Muthappan, a manifestation of Lord Shiva in the guise of a kiratha (hunter). Kizhakkan Kottam, Valakai, Taliparamba (50 km from Kannur) This is perhaps the only temple dedicated to Sugreeva, the deposed monkey-king who helped Lord Rama in the encounter with Ravana. Madayi Mosque (28 km from Kannur) This was built by Malik Ibn Dinar in the 12th century, with white marble brought from Arabia. Akkara Kottiyur, Ikkara Kottiyur (64 km from Kannur) Lying in the deep forests, these temples are famed for the annual festival which starts with Neyyattom on Swati asterism in May-June and ends with Thirukalasattu after 28 days. Thirunelly Vishnu Temple (32 km south – east of Mananthavady) Tucked away in the Brahmagiri hills and encircled by the River Papanasini is Thirunelly temple. Several myths are woven around the temple. One of the mythical strands says the idol of Vishnu was installed by Brahma (creator) himself. The Papanasini River is believed to have the divine power to wipe away all the sins committed through generations. It is believed that the pithru-tharpana (oblations to manes) done here will also lead to the transformation of the spirits of the departed to salvation. The Koothambalam here is one of the best in the State and rare paintings adorn the temple walls.More details Glass Temple of Kottamunda (20 km from Kalpettta) Located on the slope of Vellarimala, this is dedicated to Parswanatha Swami, third Thirthankara of the Jain faith. The mirrors inside the temple walls reflect the image of the icons in the temple sanctum. Sree Maha Ganapathy Temple, Sulthanbathery (Heart of the town) This temple is more than 800 years old and has a beautiful image of Lord Ganapathi. Erulam Sita Devi Temple, Pulpally (8 km from Sultan Battery) This temple is dedicated to Sita Devi and her sons, Luv and Kush. The three-day festival known as Thira Ulsavam, features Theyyam and Paniyarkali. Lokanar Kavu (6 km east ofVadakara) Dedicated to Bhadrakali, this temple finds mention in the Northern Ballads (Vadakkan Pattukal). Thacholi Othenan, the legendary hero of Kalaripayattu, Kerala's martial art form used to worship the deity here. The offering of Eratttipayasam is said to please the Goddess here. Vettakkorumakan temple, Balusseri (25 km from Kozhikode) This temple was once famous for its vazhipaadu (offering) of breaking ten thousand coconuts overnight by a single person. The idol of this war-god is in the form of a mirror. Thali temple (Kozhikode city) Associated with the Zamorins of Calicut, this temple is the venue for the famous Sanskrit discourse, Revathy Pattathallam. Mother of God Church (1/2 km from Kozhikode city) Built in the Roman architectural style, this church dates back to 1513 AD and is only one of its kind in Kerala. It houses a portrait of St. Mary, believed to be 200 years old. The Jama-at mosque (2 km from Malappuram) This is an important pilgrim centre for the Muslims of Kerala. The annual Nercha festival of the mosque is celebrated for four days in April. Adjoining the mosque is a mausoleum of the Malappuram Shaheeds whose brave exploits have been immortalized in Mappilla Ballads. Pazhayangadi Mosque, Kondotti (18 km east of Manjeri on the way to Kozhikode) Kondotti is a prominent pilgrim centre for Muslims. The Valia Nercha festival at the 500- year old Pazhayangadi Mosque, celebrated for five days in February-March, draws a large number of devotees. While the focus of the Nercha here is the reverence shown to Shaykh Muhammad Shah, *e founder of the Kondotti Thangals, the ceremonial rituals are derived from the worship of folk deities of Kerala. During the special ceremony of the Kondotti cannon, the cannons that are kept in the Kondotti Police Station are taken out to a road near the mosque, charged with powder and ignited. These cannons are believed to have special sanctity and an important offering during the festival is oil for them. The oil that is left over after cleaning of these cannons is believed to have curative powers. Kadaampuzha Bhagavathy temple, Tirur (3km north of Vettichira on the highway connecting Kozhikode and Thrissur) Dedicated to Kiraatha Parvathi, this is one of the most sacred Shakthi centres in Kerala. The uniqueness of the temple here is the absence of idols. Pooja is performed at a hole (about 6 cm in diameter) in the earth where the Goddess is said to have disappeared after showing her presence to Adi Sankaracharya. Poomootal i.e. offering flowers of thecchi (Ixora indica) to the hole is the important vazhipaadu . Matturakkal is another vazhipaadu that involves breaking of coconuts, the purpose of which is to remove the obstacles faced in day-to-day life. Thirumandhaamkunnu Bhagavathi temple, Angadippuram (3 km from Perinthalmanna town) Dedicated to Bhadrakaali, this is one of the ancient and renowned temples in Kerala. According to legends, King Mandhatha of Soorya dynasty, after tough meditation received from Shiva, the l illga worshipped by Parvathi. On his downward journey from Kailash he kept down the l illga at Thirumandhankunnu where it got fixed to the earth. The Shivalillgam in the Sreemoolasthanam here is split into two. This is attributed to the fight that took place between Mandhatha and Kali, who was ordered by Parvathi to get back her precious linga . Parvathi, who could not bear a separation from the linga is said to have entered it, instructing Mandhatha to install Kali near her on whose name all the pooja and festivals were to be conducted. An important custom of this festival is the arrival of Vellathiri to give audience to the Malayanlkutty, the headman of the Palla tribal community. Kalampattu is an important vazhipaadu here and is perhaps one of the longest to be performed, starting from first Vrishichikam to the end of Memam. Mallgalya pooja, Rigveda LakJharchalla and Challdattam are some of the other important poojas. Navamukundha Temple, Thirunavaya (8km South of Tirur) Thirunavaya, on the banks of the River Bharathapuzha, said to be the traditional headquarters of the mythical Brahmin hero, Parasurama, is a place of historical and religious significance. Thousands flock here on karkidaka vavu Day to perform the pithrukriya rites for the departed souls. The Navamukunda temple is said to be the sacred spot blessed with the presence of Saraswathi , Gayathri, Lakshmi, Parvathy, Shami, Ganga, and Yamuna. Vettakkorumakan Temple, Nilambur (36 km from Malappuram) The Nilambur Pattu festival that is held here every year is a unique event, marked by the participation of tribal. It starts with Kodiydtam, the hoisting of the festival flag brought by the tribes from the forest, who are warmly received by the royal family. The festival reaches a climax on Dhanu 23 with the singing of hymns in praise of the temple's presiding deity, Vettakkorumakan by the members of the Nilambur royal family, as well as the tribes. This temple is maintained by the Nilambur Kovilakam. Thunchan Parambu, Tirur (52 km from Malappuram) This is the birth- place of Thunchath Ezhuthachan, the father of Malayalam language and the hallowed ground where children are initiated into the world of alphabets. On Vijayadasami day, people from different places come here for Vidyaramoham, the ceremony in which children are initiated into learning. The iron stylus with which Ezhuthachan wrote on palm leaves and the ancient kanjira tree (Nux vomica) under which he taught his disciples and composed his poems, are treasured exhibits here. Unlike the fruits of kanjira trees found elsewhere, the fruit of this tree is not bitter. The memorial also boasts of granite Sarawathi mandapam and a library with rare manuscripts. Poonthanam Illam, Kizhatoor, Perinthalmanna This is the house of Poonthanam Namboothiri, a great exponent of the Krishna cult of the Bhakthi Movement, known for his work Jnanapana(song of knowledge). In February every year, the ill am hosts the Poonthanam literary festival coinciding with the poet's birthday. The illam and the family temple are being turned into a memorial. Melpatthur Illam, Ponnani (52 km from Malappuram) The site of the home of Melpatthur Narayana Bhattathiri, renowned poet and author of Narayaneeyam is situated on the northern side of the Bharathapuzha about 2 miles away from the Thirunavaya Temple. Sree Vilwadrinatha Temple, Thiruvilwamala (15 km from Ottapalam) Located atop a hill, this temple is dedicated to Lord Rama. The Punarjani Noozhal (crawling through the Punarjani cave) is an important ritual. Punarjani is a narrow cave believed to have been built by Viswakarma, the legendary creator of Kerala and on an auspicious day devotee’s crawl through the half kilometer cave to get rid of their sins. Sree Parthasarathy Temple, Chembai (14 km from Palakkad) The six- day annual festival here honoring Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar features Carnatic music concerts by veteran musicians. Sree Viswanatha Temple, Kalpathy (3 km from Palakkad) Built in 1425 on the lines of the temple at Benaras, this temple is famous for the Chariot festival held every November. Vayillamkunnu Bhagavathy Temple, Katampazhipuram (27 kill from Palakkad) The deity here is believed to be one of the members of the legendary family, Paratcbi Petta Palltbeerukulam (the clan of twelve given birth by Paratcbi, an aboriginal woman). Kalamezhuthupattu is a special feature during the seven-day annual festival. Jain Temple, Jainamedu One of the few existing Jain temples in Kerala is the Jain temple at Jainamedu in the Vadakkanthara village on the Western border. With granite walls devoid of any decorations, this temple comprises four divisions and is 32 feet high and 20 feet wide. Legend has it that the temple was built about 500 years ago by a Jain head named Inchanna Satur for the Jain sage, Chandranatha Swamy. At a Jain house here, renowned poet, Kumaranasan wrote the monumental poem, Veenapoovu (the fallen flower). Juma Masjid (1 km from Palakkad) Mortal remains of Uthman Auliya, a revered man in Muslim Communities are entombed here. Prayers are held in this mosque on Fridays. Annual festival is held in January February. During the festival a grand procession bringing ceremoniously various articles such as rice, coconut, etc to the mosque as offerings is held. A grand feast is held for the poor, the next day. Guru Madhom, Chittur (13 km from Palakkad) This was founded by Thunchath Ezhuthachan. The Samadhi (final resting-place) of Ezhuthachan is also located in this village on the banks of River Bharathapuzha. Vadakkunathan Temple (in the heart of the city) This is a classic example of the Kerala's traditional architecture. Holy shrines of Paramashiva, Parvathy, Sankaranarayana, Ganapathy, Sree Rama and Sree Krishna are housed here. The central shrines and Koothambalam exhibit exquisite vignettes carved in wood. This temple is the site for the famous Thrissur Pooram. The main vazhipaad (offering) here is ghee. Guruvayoor Sree Krishna Temple (29 km west of Thrissur) Guruvayoor, known as Kasi of the South is famous for the Sree Krishna temple which has Guruvayoorappan or the infant Krishna, as the deity. Legend has it that the temple is the creation of Guru, the preceptor of the Gods and Vayu, the God of winds. The most famous offering of the temple is Thulabharam, where a devotee presents to the deity his own body weight against products like bananas, rice etc. The Vishnu's idol here, made of rare stone is believed to possess healing qualities, especially for rheumatism. The 16th century poet Melppathur Narayana Bhattathiri, who suffered from rheumatic pain, is said to have sought relief from Guruvayoorappan, after which he composed Narayaneeyam, in praise of the Lord. An exquisite painting around the Sreekovil has depicting stories of the pranks of little Krishna stand testimony for the art of a period. The 111alldapam facing the Sreekovill is resplendent with beautiful carvings. Non Hindus are not allowed in Guruvayoor temple. Mammiyoor Siva Temple (1 km from Guruvayoor) This temple houses two adjacent shrines of Sankaranarayana and Shiva. Mammiyoor and Guruvayoor Sree Krishna temple are linked to each other in several aspects and it is therefore considered auspicious to worship them on the same day. Koodalmanickam Temple, Irinjalakkuda (21 km from Thrissur) The only temple in India dedicated to Lord Bharatha, brother of Sree Rama is the ancient and historic Koodalmanickam temple. Meenoottal, feeding of the fishes in the Kuleepini theertham, the temple pond is an important ritual here. The temple festival is held for all days in Medom (April-May) from Utram to Thiruvollam asterisms. Chakyarkoothu is performed in the temple theatre during the festival. Sree Rudhira Mahakali Temple (Uthralikkavu) Wadakkancherry (2 km from Parithipra on the way to Shoranur) The annual festival of this temple dedicated to Goddess Kali, is one of the famous festivals of Central Kerala. Known as Uttralikkavu Pooram , the eight-day long festival has as its highlight, about twenty-one caparisoned tuskers. Festivities end with a colourful display of fireworks. Sree Rama Temple, Kadavallur (10 km from Kunnamkulam) A unique feature of this temple is the annual twelve-day Anyonnam, a scholarly debate on Vedas. Vedic scholars from all over Kerala participate in this. Sree Rama is worshipped in three forms here- in the morning as in vanavaasa (exile in forest), at noon as in sethu bandhana [in a roudra(angry) mood] and at night as the king of Ayodhya. Bhagavathy Temple, KodungaIIoor (50 km from Kochi) This temple is famous for the Bharani festival .On bharani day, special nivedya (nectar) known as Variyarippayasamam is offered to Bhagavathy. This is performed by Adikals (priests). Early morning, the deity is ceremoniously taken out of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) and placed on a raised pedestal for public worship. Simultaneously, the temple flag is hoisted signifying the victory of Bhagavathy over Darika (evil). After the bharani day, the temple doors remain closed for six days during which period, pooja is offered only once in a day. On the seventh day when the Sreekovil is opened, thousands have dharshan (vision) of Devi which is considered most auspicious. Cheraman Juma Masjid, Kodungalloor (50 km from Kochi) This is the first mosque in India. Legend says King Cheraman Peru mal of Kodungallor left for Mecca, embraced Islam, accepted the name Thajuddeen and married the sister of the then King of Jeddah. Before his death Thajuddeen handed over to the King of Jeddah several letters addressed to Kerala kings seeking their help to propagate Islam. The King came to Kerala and met the then King of Kodungalloor who helped the former convert Arathali temple into a Juma Masjid. This mosque was designed and constructed based on Hindu art and architecture. It was built in 629 AD and resembles a temple in appearance. Potta Divine Retreat Centre, Muringoor (35 km from Thrissur) This centre is famous for live-in retreats and conventions, through which evangelists and preachers share and proclaim the 'word of God'. Ramakrishna Ashram, Vilangan (9 km from Thrissur) The Ramakrishna Mission has a number of ashrams in the State, which serve as centers of meditation. These centers uphold the ideals of Vedanta as taught by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda. The first branch of the mission was set up in Haripad in 1912. The Thrissur ashram was set up in 1927. Jewish Synagogue, Mattancherry (14 km fro, Ernakulam) this is the oldest synagogue in the Commonwealth and is famous for its Hebrew inscriptions on stone slabs, great scrolls of the Old Testament and ancient inscriptions on copper plates. St. Francis Church, Fort Kochi (12 km from Ernakulam) this is the first European church in India, which later became the model for building churches elsewhere in the country. Vasco da Gama, who died in Kochi during his second visit to Kerala, was buried in the church in 1524. Later his mortal remains were taken back to his native land. Portugal. St. George Church, Edappally (15 km from Ernakulam) This is one of the major pilgrim centres in Kerala venerated by non-Christians as well. Every day devotees throng the church to genuflect before the statue of St. George to express their gratitude for favors received through the saint. The annual festival begins on the 23rd of April with solemn High Mass and Litany. On May Day, the statue of St. George is taken out of its podium and placed on a specially decked chariot for procession. The festival ends with the High Mass on 4'h May. Kaladi (55 km from Ernakulam) Is the birth place of Adi Sankaracharya, the great Advaita philosopher of the 8th century. Kaladi houses temples dedicated to Sree Sankara, Sarada Devi, Sri Krishna and Sri Ramakrishna. On the banks of River Periyar in Kaladi is the sacred bathing ghat where Sankaracharya is said to have been caught by a crocodile and which according to legends refused to release him until Sankara's mother Aryamba permitted him to accept Sanyas" (renunciation). Ramakrishna Advaitha Ashram, KaIadi (55 k from Ernakulam) This ashram was founded by Ramakrishna Mission in 1936. In 1976, a new type of shrine, Viswakshetra representing the styles of architecture associated with temples, churches and mosques was opened here for the followers of all religions. St. Mary's Church, Vallarpadam (45 minutes by boat from Ernakulam). The church was established in 1676 and the famous picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary was put up by Portuguese who brought it from their native land. The picture is believed to have miraculous powers. Vallarapadath Amma, as the St Mary of Vallarpadam is called, is believed to have miraculously saved many lives from violent storms. The feast of Vallarapadath Amma is held on Sept. 24. A big fair accompanies the weeklong celebration. Malayatoor (47 km from Ernakulam) This place is famous for the Catholic Church on the 609m high Malayatoor hill (dedicated to St. Thomas). Thousands of devotees undertake the pilgrimage to the shrine to participate in the annual festival-Malayatoor PtrllIl1/al (March/April). St. Thomas is believed to have visited here. Shiva Temple, Aluva (20 km from Ernakulam) Situated on the banks of River Periyar, the Shivalinga of this temple rises out of the sandbanks of the river and is believed to have worshipped by Lord Rama. During the monsoon season the whole region gets flooded and the idol gets submerged in water. Worship is then done in a small shrine on the upper banks of the river. A dip in this river at the brahmamuhurtha after observing the rituals of Shivarathri is considered very sacred. Thrikkakara Temple (14 km from Ernakulam) Onam, the festival of Kerala takes its origin from this temple, as thiruvonam is the avathara day of Lord Vamana, the presiding deity of this temple. Chottanikkara Temple (15 km from Ernakulam) The Goddess is revered in three forms - as Saraswathi in the morning, as Bhagavathy at noon and Durga in the evening. During the annual festival in kumbham , devotees especially women seek blessings from the Goddess. St. Dominic Church (1 km from Aluva) The feast of St. Dominic's Church falls on the third Sunday after the Easter. The statue of the saint is taken out in procession on that day. The feast of 'Our Lady of the Holy Rosary' also features a spectacular procession on the Sunday after 8th of December. Thangalpara (70 km from Kottayam town) The mausoleum of Sheikh Faridiin found here makes this place a famous Muslim pilgrim centre. Nearby is the scenic hill station of Kurathikallu and the beautiful Kottathavalam. Saraswathi temple, Panachikkad (10 km from Kottayam) Known as the Mookamoika of the South, this temple holds the Saraswathi Pooja every year in October/November. Children are initiated into the world of letters at the Vidyaramobham ceremony here. Blessed AIphonsa, Bharananganam (20 km from Ettumanoor) The church is one of the important pilgrim centers of the Christians in Kerala. The mortal remains of Sr. Alphonsa, who was pronounced as blessed, is kept in this church. The death anniversary of blessed Sr. Alphonsa that falls on the 20th of July is an important day. Jama Masjid, Thazhathangadi (2 km from Kottayam town) This ancient mosque on the banks of the Meenachil River is believed to be thousand years old. St. Mary's Church, Manarcaud (8 km from Kottayam town) It is one of the important churches of the Syrian Jacobite Church of Kerala and is famous for the ettu noimbu festival, an eight-day retreat and fast in honour of St. Mary, starting on September 1. Holy Mass is offered on the feast days. The Perunal falls on September 8 and 9. Cheriapally & Valiapally (2 km from Kottayam town) The Valiapally (St. Mary's Church) of the Knanaya Orthodox Syrians built in 1550 AD is located at Thazhathangadi. The Persian Cross within the church has intricate inscriptions on it. Close to it is Cheriapally, built in 1579 AD. This church is famous for its mural paintings that depict biblical themes. Shiva temple, Ettumanoor (12 km north of Kottayam) The deity here is considered a celebrated exorcist of evil spirits. Exquisite mural paintings and sculptures adorn the temple. The central shrine is circular, with scenes from the Ramayana. Santhana Gopala Krishna Leela and Bhagavatham carved beautifully. The annual ten-day festival falls in February/March. This temple is famed for the Ezharaponnana , (literally seven and a half elephants, the half denoting a baby elephant) and a bunch of areca nuts - all made of gold. Erumely (60 km north-east of Kottayam town of Kottayam town) Erumely is an important pilgrim centre for Hindus and Muslims. Sree Dharmasastha Temple here is an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa. The Petta Thllilal of Kanni Ayyappas (those who go for the first time to Sabarimala) is an important festival which is held in December/January. Erumely is also famous for the Vavarambalam dedicated to Vavar, the friend of Lord Ayyappa. Pilgrims customarily worship here before their trek to Shiva Temple, Vaikom(40 km from Kottayam town) Believed to have been built by Parasurama, the legendary creator of Kerala, this temple is famous for the 12 day Ashtami festival in November - December. Mannanam (8 km north of Kottayam) Situated 8 km from Kottayam is Mannanam, an important Syrian Christian centre. It is also the site of St. Joseph's Monastery associated with Father Kuriakose (Chavara Achan), the first priest in Kerala to be conferred with sainthood. Kurusumala (5 km from Vazhikadavu) This is where hundreds of devotees from far and wide converge during the Holy Week and after, to climb the mala or hill in faith, carrying small wooden Kurlksu or crosses. On the eastern side of the hill is Muruganmala housing a rock cut temple dedicated to Murugan, son of Lord Shiva. Mannarasala Temple, Harippad (52 km South of Alappuzha) This is the most significant site of snake worship in Kerala and houses 30.000 images of snake-gods. The shrine is under the patronage of a Namboodiri family whose oldest female member performs the role of the temple priestess. Legend has it that the first priestess of Mannarasala gave birth to a five-headed snake, which is believed to reside in the illam (ancestral house) to safeguard the family. On the day of Ayilliam asterism in the Malaya1.am months of Kanni and Thulam (September to November), all the serpent idols in the grove and the temple are taken in a procession to the illam where Nurum Palum (rice flour and milk) and Kuruthi (a red liquid made of turmeric and lime) offerings are made. At Mannarasala, barren women are believed to be blessed with children. Chettikulangara Devi Temple (5 km from Kayamkulam) One of the renowned Devi temples in Kerala, this temple is famous for the Bharani festival celebrated in February March. The highlights of this festival are Kuthiyottam and Kettukazhcha, of these, the former is performed as an offering to the Goddess. The man who makes the offering teaches an adolescent boy religious rites for seven days from Sivarathri day (in February) to Bharalli asterism, during which period the boy observes fast. On Bharani morning, the boy with his body coiled with silver wires is taken in a procession to the temple. Later in the afternoon, devotees place huge decorated effigies of chariots, horses, epic figures such as Bhima, Panchali and Hanuman, in the paddy field lying east of the temple. During the night, the image of Devi is carried in a procession to the effigies stationed in the paddy field. This is Kettukazhcha . These effigies are later taken to their respective kavus (place of worship of different families). Kunnathumalai Mahadeva Temple, Chengannur(30 km, south of Kottayam) This temple dedicated to Shiva and Parvathi, is known for the Thiruputha festival, when the goddess is believed to menstruate and the cloth with which the panchaloba idol is draped is found discolored with red spots. The Sreekovil is closed during this time and is re-opened only on the fourth day after pacificator rites. Subramania Swamy Temple, Harippad (1 km from Harippad town) The Subramania (son of Lord Shiva) idol here, the biggest of its kind has been designed after the sculptural pattern of the Buddhist period. It is believed that the idol, which was obtained from a river, was worshipped by Lord Parasurama. Regatta at River Payippad is conducted commemorating the idol recovery. As many as three festivals are celebrated in this temple, of which the Chithira festival in Medom (April/May) is the most important. The procession with the golden peacock throne is fascinating. Sree Krishna Temple, Ambalapuzha (14 km of Alappuzha) In its architectural features, the Sree Krishna Temple conforms to the typical Kerala style. The temple is famous for Palpayasam milk porridge of exceptional sweetness offered to the deity. The deity here has been worshipped by great literary figures in Kerala's history like Melpatthur Narayana Bhattathirippad, Thunchath Ezhuthachan and Kalakath Kunchan Nambiar. It is also here that the Pallipana is performed by Velans (sorcerers) every twelve years. St. Sebastian's Church, Aruthunkal (22 km north of Alappuzha) One of the most important pilgrim centers of the Christians in Kerala, this church was established by Portuguese half missionaries. The feast of St. Sebastian is held here every year during the second week of January. The Ettamperunal is celebrated on the 8th day after the main festival. A peculiar votive of the church is Urula nercha, an offering where devotees crawl on the ground from the church premise to the local beach. Padmanabhaswamy Temple (Heart of the city) This temple, a sprawling complex with a magnificent seven storied tower houses the idol of Lord Vishnu in the form of Ananthapadmanaoha (the Lord who upheld creation on a lotus which sprang forth from His navel). The 6 m image, partly covered with gold and embellished with precious stones is viewed in three sections through three doors. Historical records show that in 1750, the Maharaja of Travancore on being victorious in a battle laid down his sword and, offered himself to this temple's deity. Since then, all his successors have ruled the land as Padmanabhadadasas (servants of Padmanabha). Arattu is an important festival here. Attukal Bhagavathi Temple (2 km from Thiruvananthapuram) Known as the Saoarimala of women, this temple is famous for Attukal Ponkala, the annual festival that commences on Bharani day in Kumbhom (February - March). The highlight of the festival is the Ponkala which is an all woman affair. Ponkala is an offering made in Bhagavathy temples, prepared in the form of payasam (sweet porridge) with ingredients like rice, jaggery, coconut kernel and plantain. Ponkala starts in the morning and ends with the melsanthi (chief priest) sprinkling holy water over the offerings. Sree Parasurama Temple, Thiruvallam (5 km from Thiruvananthapuram) This is the only temple in Kerala dedicated to Sree Parasurama, the mythological creator of Kerala. This 2000year-old temple is a venue for the Bali ritual for departed souls. Bheemappalli (5 km Southwest of Thiruvananthapuram) This mosque is famous for the Chandanakkudam Festival which is said to be the death anniversary of Bheema Beevi, a devout pilgrim who came to Kerala from Mecca. Festivities include devotees going round the mosque carrying earthen pots (kudam) smeared with sandal wood paste. The Uroose festival here is also famous. Christ the King Church, Vettukadu (14 km from Thiruvananthapuram) An important pilgrim centre, this church is famous for the annual festival in November. High Mass, Vespers, a two hour long Holy Eucharistic procession and benediction are the highlights of the festival. Nativity feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary is also celebrated with religious spirit. Varkala (40 km from Thiruvananthapuram) Sivagiri Mutt in Varkala is the final resting- place of the great social reformer. Sree Narayana Guru. The Papanasham (redemption from sins) beach here is the place where Narada is believed to have thrown his valkalam. The 2000 year old Sree Janardhana Swamy temple here is famous for the Arattu, the annual festival celebrated in March-April. Sree Krishna Swamy Temple, Neyyattinkara(20 km from Thiruvananthapuram) This temple is historically important as the site housing the old Jackfruit tree that once gave refuge to King Marthandavarma, erstwhile ruler of Travancore. Kottumkulangara Temple, Chavara (12 km from Kollam) This temple is famous for the Thalappoli Mahoslavam which has a time-honoured custom of men dressed in female attires offering flowers to the deity. Parabrahma Temple, Ochira (54 km north of Kollam town) This pilgrim centre owes allegiance to the Advaitha philosophy in Hinduism. The presiding deity here is the Parabrahma or 'absolute reality'. Being an abstract concept that cannot be symbolized in an iconographic manner, there is no temple structure here. The Ochirakali in the month of, June is famous. Lord Ayyappa Temple, Aryankavu (51 km from Thiruvananthapuram and 70 km from Kollam) This pilgrim centre has exquisite sculptures and mural paintings. Mandala pooja and Thrikalyanam celebrated in December are the main festivals here. Mata Amritanandamayi Mutt (52 km from Kollam) This is the place where Mata Amritanandamayi or Amma was born. It is today the headquarters of her worldwide mission and the spiritual home of thousands of devotees. Panmana, Karunagapally (18 km from Kollam) This is where Sree Chattampi Swamikal, a great social reformer of Modern Kerala attained Samadhi in 1924. The Bhattarakeswaram temple and ashram are dedicated to him. Sree Vallabha Temple, Thiruvalla (2 km from Thiruvalla) Dedicated to Lord Vishnu. This temple houses a tank supposed to be a natural one. Ladies are allowed entry to the sanctum sanctorum only on two days. Vishu and Thiruvathira. The annual festival. Uthraseeveli is celebrated on the Makayiram asterism in Meenam (March - April). Parthasarathy Temple, Aranmula (10 km from Chengannur) A major attraction of this temple dedicated to Lord Krishna is the snake boat race held as part of the festival in August/September. Ayyappa Temple, Sabarimala (72 km from Pathanamthitta town, 210 km from Kochi; 191 km from Thiruvananthapuram) A well-known pilgrim centre in the rugged terrain of the Western Ghats, this temple is dedicated to Lord Ayyappa. Sabarimala is surrounded by hazardous hills like Karimala and Neelimala. The devotees known as Ayyappas negotiate the hills to reach the shrine after undergoing 41 days of vrutham (self-imposed devotional penance). The pilgrimage season, viz.Mandala Pooja and, Makaravilakku comes between the latter half of November and the first half of January, every year. Ablution in River Pamba is considered as holy as a dip in the Ganga. The presence of Ayyappa's lieutenant Vavar makes this esteemed pilgrim centre a model of communal harmony and casteless ness. Vehicular traffic cannot go beyond Pamba and the last 5 km to the shrine can be reached only by trekking. Women aged between 12 and 50 are not allowed inside the shrine. Pandalam (14 km from Chengannur railway station) As a holy town, Pandalam ranks second only to Sabarimala. Sree Ayyappa, the presiding deity of Sabarimala had his human sojourn here as the son of the Raja of Pandalam. The Valiyakozhikkal Temple on the banks of the River Achenkovil has been modeled on the Sabarimala shrine. Three days prior to the Makaravilakku festival in Sabarimala, the sacred ornaments of Sree Ayyappa are taken from here, in a procession to Sabarimala. Manjinikkara Church Manjinikkara church derives its importance from the holy tomb of late Marlgnatius Elias III, the Holy Patriarch of Antioch. Members of the Jacobite Syrian Church believe that the Holy Father was a Saint. The Church has now become one of the foremost places of pilgrimage. A large number of pilgrims visit the church to receive spiritual and physical healing. Maramon Convention, Kozhencherry (16 km east of Thiruvalla and 40 km from Kottayam) This place hosts Asia's largest gathering of Christians, when in February every year, followers of the Mar Thoma wing and many others gather on the banks of River Pamba. St. Mary's Church, Niranam (7 km from Thiruvalla) This is one of the oldest churches in India, believed to have been established by St. Thomas during his missionary days in the State in AD 53. The Apostle of Jesus is believed to have erected a crucifix and built a church here. The main religious festival honoring Holy Mary is on August 15. The birthday of St. Mary is celebrated on 8th September. St. Thomas Day (July 3) is also celebrated with great zeal.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line457
__label__wiki	0.696892	0.696892	ACP Honours Former President of Its Parliamentary Assembly By ACP Press BRUSSELS (IDN) – On behalf of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the Secretariat, Secretary General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes conveyed his deepest condolences to the family and friends, the Government and People of the Republic of Kenya, particularly the people of Bomet County following the death of their Governor, Dr. Joyce Laboso, on July 29, 2019. Europe Editor Papua New Guinea Takes Over Presidency of The ACP Group BRUSSELS (IDN) – The Ambassador of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, Mr. Joshua Kalinoe will preside over the Committee of Ambassadors (CoA) of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States in Brussels for the period August 1, 2019 – January 31, 2020. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Papua New Guinea, Mr. Soroi Eoe, will assume the presidency of the ACP Council of Ministers. In a handover ceremony on July 26, 2019, Ambassador Kalinoe noted that this was a crucial moment when several important events and major documents of relevance to the group are under preparation. Intensified Efforts to Ensure Food Security and Nutrition in Small Island Developing States 79-Nation ACP and UN's Food and Agriculture Organization Collaborate By Jaya Ramachandran NEW YORK (IDN) – Wrapping up the ministerial segment of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on July 19, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Inga Rhonda King said the session had contributed significantly to advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. But she urged governments to "reinvent themselves” and be more agile in finding "ways to engage the poorest and most vulnerable in the decisions that impact on their lives”. Jaya Ramachandran Promoting Sustainable Development Through Aid for Trade GENEVA (IDN) – "Over the past 40 years the ACP and the EU have promoted a unique trade and development cooperation model that inspires global North-South cooperation," said Viwanou Gnassounou, Assistant Secretary-General of the ACP Group of States, at the 'Aid for Trade' Global Review 2019. "Evidently from the post 2020 EU-ACP trade cooperation, the objective of maintaining inclusiveness while seeking to achieve greater integration into the global economy and promoting sustainable development remains central going forward," added Gnassounou. EU-Mercosur Trade Deal Worries 79-Nation ACP Group BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The 79-nation ACP Group of States and the Least Developed countries (LDCs) are concerned about the free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and the South American trade bloc Mercosur announced on June 28, 2019. The agreement has been concluded after 20 years of negotiations. The agreement is perceived as a thorn in the flesh of the ACP Group and LDCs, which includes 180,000 metric tonnes of tariff-free access for sugar in the under the existing 334,054 tonnes CXL quota at 98 €/t for Brazil. In other words, the first 180,000 tonnes of access would be duty-free each year, and also an additional 10,000 tonnes duty-free quota for Paraguay. ACP Urges G20 to End Menacing Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS (IDN) – Ahead of the G20 Summit in Japan’s Osaka on June 28-29, the Brussels-based organisation of 79 developing countries, the ACP Group of States, called upon Heads of Government to take strong measures to end Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing – an issue at the core of marine ecosytems and ensuring food security. This has a pride of place in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their entirety and SDG14 in particular, the international community pledged in September 2015 to achieve by 2030. Reinhard Jacobsen BIOPAMA Launches the 1st Call for Proposals for Medium Grants BRUSSELS (IDN) – The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) has launched on June 24 the first call for proposals for medium grants (up to € 400,000) in the frame of its "Action component". The Programme assists the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to address their priorities for improved management and governance of biodiversity and natural resources. BIOPAMA provides a variety of tools, services and funding to conservation actors in ACP countries. It is an initiative of the ACP Group of States financed by the joint ACP-European Union (EU) 11th European Development Fund (EDF). ACP States Are A Key Factor in India’s Extended 'Act East Policy Viewpoint by Gaitri Issar Kumar The following are extended excerpts from India's Ambassador to the European Union in Brussels, Gaitri Issar Kumar's keynote address on the 44th anniversary of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. It was celebrated at the ACP House on June 7 in Brussels, which ACP Secretary-General Dr Patrick I Gomes described "the end of an era", with the ACP finding itself in the midst of reviewing many institutions that have shaped and marked it in the previous years. Ramesh Jaura 79-Nation ACP Moving into a New Era of Global Partnerships BRUSSELS (IDN) – To bring "Asia and the Americas into closer bonds of friendship" with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and "strengthen South-South solidarity", Secretary-General Dr. P. I. Gomes is keen to "build bridges with India on technical cooperation" and initiate a "new partnership" with Peru. He was speaking at the 'ACP Day' celebrations. ACP-EU Projects Assist Africa to Unlock Innovation Potential By Jeffrey Moyo HARARE (ACP-IDN) – The world’s first green power generator which can produce electricity using radio frequencies, an electric powered car which does not consume fuel, a multi-fueled helicopter: by any stretch of imagination, innovations like these will not be attributed to an African. But Maxwell Chikumbutso has meanwhile been recognized as an exception to the rule. The United States government has given him new home in the populous state of California. In an interview with a Zimbabwean independent online media organization, Chat263.com, Chikumbutso expressed disappointment that Africa did not see what the U.S. Government saw in his ground-breaking inventions. Jeffrey Moyo 79-Nation Group’s Head Explains Vital Tasks Ahead Until ACP-EU Accord Expires ACP Provides Information on Development of Private Sector Lending a Research Hand to CARICOM, Strengthening the ACP ACP-UNCTAD Workshop Targets at Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality International Aid Flows to Southern Africa after Two Devastating Cyclones	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line459
__label__cc	0.598476	0.401524	Digitisation and High Disposable Income Drives Urban Spending Boom High disposable incomes and a booming services sector are driving urban spending in India. India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), a trust under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry expects consumer spending to reach USD 4 trillion by 2025. By Kumar S A report from IBEF says India has seen a 12 percent on year rise in its expenditure between 2005 and 2015, more than double the global anticipated rate of 5 percent. Amid a gloomy global economic scenario, India seems to be the only bright spot in the world, led by its robust economic growth. If India continues to grow at the same rate, it is expected to become the third largest consumer market in the world by this time, according to the report. Food, housing, consumer durables, transport and communication sectors will be major suckers of the Indian spending largesse. In the Oct-Dec (2016-17) quarter India occupied the first position among the 63 countries surveyed in the global consumer confidence index with a score of 136 points. It was a ten-year high. The situation is likely to continue for the next 12 months, says the report. The growing young population especially in the country’s urban regions has acted as a catalyst to the growing consumerism as the newer generation is always pressed for time and looks for quick fix solutions. Brand awareness and a natural inclination towards technology has given a real impetus to the efforts of companies trying to reach their audience. Services Sector Growth The rise in urban spending can be attributed to the extent of quality and reach of services that the service providers are willing to provide, both through the online and offline mediums. The service is right at the doorstep from grocery to gadget delivery. People are willing to pay a premium for services. The start-up ecosystem has taken wing in the last 5-6 years in India. Entrepreneurs are coming out with specific solutions for the simplest of things like a car wash or for complex issues like picking up an insurance policy or filing a tax return. Digitisation and growth of the financial services industry in India has opened up avenues for consumers to not only access global markets with a click of a mouse but also transact with minimum fuss. With so much data available on consumer preferences and lifestyle, organisations are hiring data analysts to target individual customers. The game change is monumental. Brands have latched on to a growing appetite of consumers trying new things and experiences across all demographics be it consumable items, health, fitness and sports, entertainment, art, and academic. A media report quoted Central Statistics Office’s provisional estimates of Gross Value Added growth in the service sector going up 7.74 percent year-on-year to USD 33 billion 2016-17 (Apr-Mar). The services sector contributed around 66.1 percent of its Gross Value Added (GVA) growth in 2015-16 (Apr-Mar). In foreign exchange terms, the tertiary sector attracted foreign investments of USD 59.47 billion between April 2000 and March 2017, which is about 17.92 percent of the total foreign inflows according to Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion data. Companies with local and global footprints view India as a key market for operations. Small businesses and shops have also started capitalising on the benefits of digitisation and automation, thanks to the growing IT sector. Small and medium enterprises contributing to 40 percent of the country’s GDP is also the largest employer. Customised services have reached their doorsteps too. Adopting best practices has not only helped SMBs become more efficient but also aids delivery of goods and services to their customers. High Disposable Income The sector comprises of a huge middle class, relatively large affluent class and a small economically disadvantaged class, with spending anticipated to more than double by 2025. The growing purchasing power and rising influence of product branding through conventional mediums and through social media have enabled Indian consumers to splurge on non-essentials. India’s top seven fast-moving consumer goods companies have outperformed their foreign peers with the combined revenue of USD 11.1 billion in 2015-16 (Apr-Mar) as against USD 9.4 billion revenue generated by seven international companies. The sheer size and diversity of the Indian market makes it a paradise for companies as the scope for almost everything being consumed is unparalleled. The smartphone market is getting bigger by the day with handset makers and service providers doling out all kinds of freebies to capture the market, in a hope that they would breakeven once a sizeable base is formed. Reliance Jio Infocomm, is one such disruptor leading the charge. Mobile phone shipments rose to 109.1 million handsets between January and December, 2016 showing a 5.2 percent rise during the same period in 2015. The same is expected to grow by 15 percent to 125 million in 2017. Fashion is another sunshine sector which has seen tremendous traction among youth especially through the online medium. Online fashion shoppers in India are expected to double to 130-135 million by 2020, the same report says. Editor’s Pick: This 7th edition of the best-selling text is for anyone working in and learning about the exciting industry of visual merchandising. Martin Pegler and new co-author Anne Kong (FIT) zero in on all aspects of visual merchandising and display, from classic techniques to the most avant-garde developments. Brands have set huge targets for themselves on the back of the potential shown by the Indian market. Home grown FMCG player Patanjali Ayurved is expecting a turnover of over 15 billion USD in next 5-6 years which will be a ten-fold increase from the current levels a media report suggests. Sections of the media claims global giant Amazon is revving up operations in India through its Indian subsidiary with new warehouses to stock goods with along festive season ahead. It is also likely to enter the food retail sector which is only growing in India. Multi-million dollar investments is expected from companies like US-based water technology company AO Smith, footwear giants like Adidas and Crocs and quick service restaurant chains Yum! among others. Policy Push The Indian Government has allowed 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment in online retail which has worked wonders for local start-ups. With abundant cash at their disposal, start-ups are flourishing. However, India still needs to help encourage informal sectors into the main stream to tap into the current urban spending binge. AbillionVeg and Counting The early success of Singapore start-up abillionVeg proves the demand for plant-based food options in… Myanmar and France to Strengthen Trade Ties With a view to increase trade opportunities between France and Myanmar, the French Myanmar Chamber… Qatar and Turkey Show Strong Bilateral Trade Turkey has become a new avenue of Qatari investment, with more than AUD 26.5 billion… disposable income FreelContentJournalism India Brand Equity Foundation INDVSTRVS Kumar S urban spending previousHow Not to be Culturally Unremarkable nextWellness and Wellbeing at Work, Works	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line461
__label__wiki	0.960065	0.960065	How the sun of Palestine reached a Black Panther in jail Rebecca Pierce Dec 16, 2015 For George Jackson, like many Black revolutionaries, prison was a place of both political captivity and radical education. During the 11 years Jackson spent in prison following a one-year-to-life sentence for his alleged role in a gas station robbery, he amassed a library of more than 99 books with which he used to educate himself and which he shared among his fellow prisoners. Jackson, a Black Panther and an author, was one of the Soledad Brothers, three African Americans charged with the murder of a white guard at Soledad Prison, California, in 1970. The incident occurred shortly after a marksman who had shot dead three Black men in the prison’s recreation yard was exonerated in a “justifiable homicide” ruling. Less well-known is the fact that Jackson also turned to the Palestinian struggle for inspiration during this time, and that the Palestinian prisoner writings that influenced him would continue to have an impact in the US Black community for decades to come. That encounter has now inspired a new exhibition in a Jerusalem museum that highlights the historic and continuing kinship between the Palestinian and Black American prisoners’ movements. Curated by Tufts University’s English and Africana studies professor Greg Thomas, George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine features international book covers, woodcuts, paintings, political posters and other works tied to Jackson’s life and the US prisoners movement. Presented by Al-Quds University’s Abu Jihad Museum in Abu Dis, the exhibition also includes the coverage of Jackson’s slaying by a prison guard and its aftermath by the Black Panther Party’s official newspaper and prints signed in solidarity with Palestine by Emory Douglas, the former Black Panther minister of culture and graphic artist. Thomas points to a common language shared by Black Americans and Palestinians, for whom widespread incarceration of their communities is not an issue of crime and punishment, but the result of a system designed to punish them for their very presence. Language of captivity “When I’m reading [Palestinian] literature it’s not just the language of the prisoner that’s used, there’s the language of the captive — it’s understood as political captivity,” Thomas said in an interview with The Electronic Intifada. “In George Jackson’s writing, he’s writing about neo-slavery, and he’s using the language of captivity.” The name of the Jerusalem exhibit is derived from Enemy of the Sun, a collection of Palestinian poetry removed from Jackson’s cell by prison authorities after his death. The anthology, published by US Black radical printers Drum and Spear Press, was part of a list of 99 books recovered among Jackson’s possessions that was made public this summer by the socialist paper Liberation News. These books served as both a lending library for the prison population and part of what Thomas calls Jackson’s “study of US colonial fascism” while writing Blood in My Eye, one of the two books of letters that saw him lauded as one of the most important Black American voices of his generation. Handwritten copies of two poems from the collection, “Enemy of the Sun” and “I Defy” by Samih al-Qasim, were also found in Jackson’s cell and were published as a single poem under his name in the Black Panther Party newspaper. Thomas ascribes this to a “mistake of radical kinship” and suggested Jackson hand-copied these poems for the purpose of sharing as contraband among prisoners. They have since had a “long Black life” and continue to be circulated under Jackson’s name to this day. The exhibit is the first effort by the Abu Jihad Museum to highlight the struggle of political prisoners outside of Palestine, and will be on display indefinitely. The collection boasts a unique array of prisoner correspondences, including a previously unpublished letter from Jackson to his lawyers expressing anger over what he considered to be the watering down of his book Soledad Brother. An additional display includes letters of solidarity between Palestinian and Black American prisoners such as Rasmea Odeh, Mumia Abu Jamal and California death row prisoner and author Adisa Kamara. The letters aren’t the only nod to the US prison movement. The exhibit showcases photographs of Palestinian mural art from Israel’s wall around Bethlehem calling for solidarity with the historic 2013 California prisoner hunger strikes against solitary confinement, as well as a poster for Dying for Sunlight, an upcoming documentary film on the strikes. Deeper than solidarity The 20 October opening of the exhibition included a symposium featuring Thomas; Abu Jihad Museum’s Director Dr. Fayed Abu Al-Hajj; Sahar Francis, director of the Palestinian prisoners advocacy group Addameer and Issa Qaraqa, head of the Palestinian Authority’s committee on prisoners affairs. Mahmoud Jiddah, an Afro-Palestinian community leader who attended the opening, said that he’d first heard of George Jackson during his time in an Israeli prison in the 1970s and 1980s. Jiddah explained that the exhibit and broader solidarity efforts connecting Black Americans and the Palestinian struggle have a special significance for his community. “As Black Palestinians we are discriminated against two times, once because we are Palestinian, and another because of our color. So I believe it is a good idea to create awareness between the two peoples,” he said. Addameer’s Sahar Francis said that the ongoing boycott campaign against the British security firm G4S, which operates in both Israeli and US prisons, is a powerful example of the ways in which this solidarity strengthens each others’ communities. Thomas said a tour of Palestinian educational institutions had revealed to him how readily the student body there connected with George Jackson’s story. At Al-Quds University, he recounted, one student had asked if Jackson’s family ever received his body, referencing Israel’s notorious “graveyard of numbers” where Palestinians are imprisoned even after death. According to Thomas, who is working on a Jackson biography, Jackson had considered the possibility his body would not be returned to his family. “There are all these passages in George’s work that address that, where he says ‘If there’s a choice between my dignity and my freedom from inside the prison, then the hill can have my bones,’“ he explained. Thomas said this type of immediate identification with Jackson’s life was common and sees this as further evidence of the radical kinship between the two peoples. “That’s why I think the word ‘solidarity’ is not quite enough,” Thomas said. “Because when it goes beyond physical death and it’s still there, that’s something so much deeper.” George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine is expected to travel in Palestine starting with Birzeit University near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Thomas also hopes to bring a version to the US with a focus on educating Americans about both Jackson’s revolutionary legacy and the Palestinian prisoners movement. “We want it to travel,” Thomas said. “We want the exhibit itself to have a diaspora.” This article originally appeared at Electronic Intifada Revolution from Behind the Walls By Matt Wasserman Black Love Matters By Messiah Rhodes	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line462
__label__wiki	0.83793	0.83793	Meet Joe Tate Rep. Tate’s Constituent Downloads Rep. Tate’s UIA Assistance Form Meet Rep. Tate Meet Rep. TatehousedemsAdmin2021-01-15T17:24:16-05:00 State Rep. Joe Tate is serving his first term representing Michigan’s 2nd House District, a diverse community that covers part of Detroit’s Lower East Side, Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe City, and Grosse Pointe Farms. Tate decided to run for this office as a part of his deep and lifelong commitment to public service. The value of service was taught to him through his parents – a teacher in the Detroit public school system, and a Detroit firefighter. His life has been shaped by teamwork, commitment, and community. As a teenager, Tate earned a scholarship to play football at Michigan State University before joining the National Football League. After the N.F.L., he went on to serve in the United States Marine Corps, deploying twice to Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. After an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps, he earned both an M.B.A. and a Master of Science in Environmental Policy and Planning from the University of Michigan. Before joining the Legislature, Tate helped small businesses grow their capacity as a program manager for the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line466
__label__cc	0.576938	0.423062	Health Registries for Research (HRR) Facilitating the use and security of Norwegian health registries in research Metadata for health registries Secure server resources HRR Reports A national research infrastructure project funded by the Research Council of Norway (2014-2019). The project addressed the needs of the research community by establishing a research documentation service that offers improved documentation (metadata) of the health registries, statistical methods specifically developed for health registries, and statistical support service. The project enhances data security by facilitating the use of secure servers for storage and analysis of research data. National collaboration The HRR-project is coordinated by the University of Bergen, and carried out in close collaboration with the University of Tromsø, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Norwegian Directorate of Health. The HRR infrastructure consortium also includes the two other large Norweigan universities, namely the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the University of Oslo, as well as all four Regional Health Authorities in Norway. All partners are represented in the project’s steering group by high-level representatives from each institution. Thus the steering group constitutes a national network with a considerable influence in issues related to the Norwegian health registries. Transition from developing, implementing to maintaining the infrastructure (2019-2024) From 2019 funding from the Norwegian Research Council is ended, and the project is transitioned to a operating and maintaining the infrastructure – phase. The projects deliverances and the follow-up of these are strongly influenced by the new large national initiative, the Health Data Programme. The work concerning metadata for health registries are transferred to the Health Data Programme, led by the Directorate of e-health. The programme has a project on Harmonization that is responsible for a national solution for management of metadata, coding system and terminology. The institutions that are responsible for running the health registries will be reponsible for managing register-specific metadata and deliver metadata to the Health Data Programme. Documentation of health registries, validation and quality control is closely linked to the administrative responsibility for the health registries, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Cancer Registry, as well as the responsibility for making the data available for research. Long-term operational responsibility for this field is under debate as the Health Data Program and the Directorate for e-Health currently have a key role in the development of a Health Analysis Platform. The work has been closely integrated with the core facility for Biostatistics and Data Analysis at the University of Bergen and will be continued. Investments in the secure research infrastructures SAFE and TSD will be included as a small part of these much larger research infrastructures. Investments have been particularly important for health register research. Operational responsibilities of the main infrastructures lies within the University of Bergen and the University of Oslo.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line468
__label__wiki	0.564194	0.564194	Freddie Mac: How Government Sponsored Enterprises Get Us Through Recessions Rich Martinez understands the nature of and need for rental housing, particularly now as soaring demand calls for an increase in supply by Russ Klettke Economic cycles and individual life phases are not always in sync. Even while the financial crisis began to unfold in late 2007 and reached its depths a few years later, young people graduated college, got married, and started to have children. Due to challenges in the housing market, many of those young families did all those things from spare rooms in their parents’ basements—hardly an ideal situation. And it’s why Freddie Mac exists. As a government sponsored enterprise (GSE) that nonetheless is also a publicly traded firm, a big part of the Freddie Mac mission is to even out the rough spots in the broader economy by working overtime to maintain a stable housing market. It accomplishes this by purchasing home mortgages and apartment loans from lenders, ensuring a steady supply of capital in the US mortgage marketplace. “Our task is to help achieve affordability goals and yet remain profitable ourselves.” As Rich Martinez, vice president for multi-family production and sales for Freddie Mac explains, the global recession illustrates their function in extremis. “Private funding sources such as life insurance companies, banks, and conduits tend to focus mainly on high-end properties and top-tier markets along the US coasts,” he said, adding that almost all disappeared from apartment lending altogether by late 2008. “We focus on all aspects of the market, including rehabilitating older rental properties across the country and properties in smaller markets that have greater difficulty tapping into private capital, especially in times of economic stress.” Martinez adds that the economics of working with older buildings generally provides housing on a lower cost-per-square-foot basis—which, of course, translates to greater affordability. This shores up neighborhoods without gentrifying them, a key concern given how wages have remained relatively stagnant in the economic recovery. As most who follow the financial markets know, Freddie Mac was placed into conservatorship in September 2008 just as the financial markets entered what appeared to be a death spiral. Along with its sister GSE, Fannie Mae, the Federal Housing Finance Agency used its authority to protect it from the severely deteriorating housing markets of that time period. Martinez notes that the multifamily portion of Freddie Mac remained profitable throughout that time, and that together with the single-family operations, it recovered from its deficit to pay back to the US Treasury $22 billion more than what was borrowed in the crisis. “Other lenders ran for the hills in the recession,” says Martinez. “Consequently, because we continued to make loans, our market share actually increased.” Competitors in a healthy economy include the Department of Housing and Urban Development, mortgage banks, Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs and Cantor Fitzgerald, and commercial-backed mortgage securities firms. Freddie Mac lends not to homeowners but to banks and mortgage companies, which then provide individual loans to apartment owners and developers and home buyers across the country. The bulk of mortgages that Freddie Mac acquires are in single-family homes, but Martinez’s focus is on rentals that include apartment buildings for students, senior citizens, and families or individuals, as well as manufactured home developments more characteristic of rural and Sunbelt areas. One program variation, small balance loans, is now available for buildings valued at under $5 million, many owned by individuals. Where individual banks in many geographical areas simply lack the capital to fund these kinds of developments, lending remains possible when Freddie Mac brings its capital to the table. Rental housing has grown significantly more important in recent years. After homeownership rates peaked in 2005 at more than 69 percent, that has since dropped to below 64 percent of households. With that decline in ownership, about five million more households now rent than before. With greater demand on the rental sector, rents have unfortunately gone up. “We recognize the high-rent crisis in some markets,” says Martinez, citing New York and San Francisco as among the most difficult examples. “Our task is to help achieve affordability goals and yet remain profitable ourselves.” The market segment most impacted by this is families with small children. Hispanic families are affected at a higher rate as statistics show that Hispanics skew younger and typically have children at younger ages. The multifamily loans area overseen by Martinez currently funds as many as 350,000 multi-family units out of 430,000 funded a year. He has little trouble convincing investors that more money could and should go into the rental sector, given that apartment demand should exceed supply for years to come. Industry analysts peg demand at more than 440,000 units per year as the economy improves. Most of that targets the affordable housing market, including all those rehabs. But some Freddie Mac money bets on luxury rentals, which are in high demand in some places where people simply do not want the burden of ownership. Creating rental properties in all segments of the market matters, according to Martinez. Or, as he puts it, “a rising tide raises all boats.” Q&A With Freddie Mac’s Jorge Reis	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line469
__label__wiki	0.510491	0.510491	China’s, Not Sweden’s Or Denmark’s, Is The Government Democrats Want China's President Xi Jinping. Source: Wikimedia Commons I&I Editorial When Democrats propose “progressive” policies, they say their objective is to make the U.S. more like Europe’s welfare states, not socialist nations such as Venezuela and Cuba. Maybe at one time that was true. But not now. In recent years, China has become the nation they want to emulate. Let’s clear up one possible misunderstanding right away. We’re not calling the Democrats communists. There are hard socialist leanings within the party, and far too much just-below-the-surface authoritarianism. But we’re not saying they’re communists, though they have no reservations about calling conservatives and Republicans fascists and Nazis, even when they know the charges are untrue. Nor are we going to try to make the case that Democrats are in bed with China. We simply want to point out that Democrats want to reign over this country the way the communist party rules China. The Democrats’ appetite for following the China model goes back more than a decade. One of its early manifestations is found in the fever dreams of New York Timesman Thomas Friedman. In 2008, he openly yearned for America to be “China for a day.” He called it a “fantasy, basically,” yet he wondered: “What if we had a government here that could actually make decisions? Okay? That could actually come together, Democrats and Republicans, and make a long-term plan and pursue it?” Those remarks were made on what is loosely called a “comedy report.” In a more sober interview with news anchor Tom Brokaw, Friedman didn’t stray from his chosen course. There’s only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, the Chinese form of government, and that’s one-party democracy. You know, in China, if the leadership can get around to an enlightened decision it can order it from the top down, OK. Here, when you have one-party democracy, one party ruling, basically the other party just basically saying no, every solution is sub-optimal. In other words, a party that tosses aside traditional and established limits, as well as its conscience, and does whatever it wishes to do. No, that wouldn’t be the Republican Party, at least nominally the party of the Constitution and limited government. That would be the Democratic Party, which wants to pack the Supreme Court so that its legislative agenda will have no constitutional limits, and to rule – not govern in a system of checks and balances – in perpetuity as the only political party in the country. Does Friedman speak for the Democratic Party? Has he been saying out loud what Democrats are keeping to themselves? Answers: 1) Not officially, but he is a de facto messenger for the party, as are most in his profession, and 2) yes, without a doubt. One week ago, we argued that the “stated goal” of today’s Democats is to ensure they build a permanent “majority so they can finally get their far-left agenda enacted.” “The very first thing Democrats did in the House this year, after seeing their lead shrink dramatically,” we said, “was to approve a set of rules designed to neutralize Republicans as much as possible.” We further said – and we believe this to be irrefutable – that “Democrats are also certain to pass legislation that will make it easier for them to win future elections, whether legitimately or not.” The evidence? “The first bill the Democratic-controlled House introduced in 2019 was the ‘For the People Act,’ which was designed to make election fraud easier on a national scale.” Screenwriter, novelist, and PJ Media co-founder Roger Simon recently expressed concern that “the United States is turning into a near clone of the People’s Republic of China,” a “one-party state” that has “a form of oligarchic fascism.” It’s a clear-minded observation about a country that’s been making “enlightened” decisions from the “top down” and another, where one party is actively driving its system of government in that direction. The limitless power of government is only one element of the Democrats’ affection for the Chinese system. The other: The privileges held and exploited by those in power. The Democrats crave a system wherein they are the elite, the ruling class whose members flaunt their too-expensive-for-you twin Sub-Zero refrigerators; shut down speech they don’t agree with and speech that threatens their power; and, ultimately, have their own Soviet-style Zil lanes so they can avoid the traffic that the deplorables have to endure in busy big cities. Our case is further bolstered by recent events in which President Donald Trump and his supporters have been purged not only from social media but from jobs and society in general. We’ve seen calls for Republicans and conservatives to be re-educated, to be cleansed, and maybe only after they’ve repented and relearned will they be allowed to again be approved members of their communities, free to associate with others. This sounds much too much like China, where, says the American Conservative’s Rod Dreher, “you cannot buy or sell unless you have the approval of the government” because China has instituted a “social credit system to compel conformity.” In 2019, when the world of November, December, and January could not have been predicted, Simon wrote that “we are already halfway to our Chinese-ification,” living in a society where “without our even being aware of it, we are being told what to think.” From Big Tech to Hollywood to our media to our campuses to the campaign rhetoric of virtually every Democratic candidate, we are moving toward a homogenization of thought and action that is, well, Chinese communist in style and ultimately in content. An American welfare state might be suitable for a few true believers on the left. But most Democrats prefer a system that partitions the elites, which they believe themselves to be, from the rest, who must be herded when necessary, shunned when that pleases the status-obsessed ruling class – and kept in their place. That matches China much closer than Sweden and Denmark. — Written by the I&I Editorial Board China Democrats Democrats Featured purge Socialism Hey Corporate Execs, Here Are Some Democrats You Can Dump For ‘Undermining Democracy’ rusino says: Fine you can’t say it but I will….First, Progressivism then Socialism with the final goal… Communism! George Dixon says: Democrats and China? Obama: ‘It Would Be So Much Easier To Be the President of China’. deguello13 says: Left = Theft No matter what name is attached to them, they are devoted to taking what the makers produce and giving it to the takers with a healthy vigorish to themselves. Ritchie The Riveter says: There might be another model at work here … think along the lines of a theocracy with its unquestioned allegiance to The Narrative, except one with gods that can be seen in the mirrors of the elite. Our Progressive elites think they Know Better. C.S. Lewis had them pegged decades ago. “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under of robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some points be satiated; but those who torment us for their own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to heaven yet at the same time likely to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on the level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” tmorgan75 says: “When all the world is running towards a cliff, the man running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.” –C S LEWIS “And those of whom were dancing were thought to be insane by those of whom could not hear the music.” –FREDERICH NIETZSCHE Oldcrow1 says: Yup, they don’t believe certain classes of people have moral agency. Jeffery Topps says: Why does Friedman still live here if China is so great? They never leave. Paul Bloustein says: Deconstructing America has been de rigueur for the elite for decades, especially those captivated by the idea of rescuing the vulnerable by destroying the structures of society the vulnerable enjoy, ironically the very structures the vulnerable admire when immigrating to the land of the free and home of the brave. Comprehending just why some of the highly educated find razing success so attractive requires a deep dive into the psyche of the dissatisfied and the guilt-ridden, but the recent acceleration of cancel culture can be marked by the stinging rebuke an Electoral College majority gave in 2016 to Hillary Rodham Clinton by a reprobate, a deplorable, a man who could not possibly win. To add insult to the crushing defeat, the deplorable victor provided the best economy and best foreign policy we have seen for decades, giving another strident rebuke to the erudite elite by casting aside eight years of Barack Obama. How could this happen? If a deplorable can defeat what Mr. Obama called the most qualified candidate for president in our history, then something must be irredeemably wrong. And if something that formidable is wrong, isn’t it the patriotic duty of every able-bodied elitist to cancel the wayward culture and construct a righteous edifice, one in which their views reign supreme? My granddaughter in a New York City public school studied Chinese, a compulsory element in the foreign language curriculum. I’m thankful that she now has a leg up on the coming new world order. I hear talk show hosts telling us to find a peaceful way to resolve our issues with the Left. That IMHO, that is impossible to do. The left is comprised of irrational people. All they are interested in in total control, and they want anyone who disagrees with them dead. Democrats are not interested in peace. These talk show hosts need to open up a history book and see how it worked out with Neville Chamberlain and Hitler. I used to think the Democrats had the stupid market cornered, but I honestly think Conservatives are dumber than Democrats. The Committee to Unleash Prosperity	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line472
__label__wiki	0.650172	0.650172	Self-filling bottle borrows beetle's trick of harvesting water from the air Alasdair Wilkins The Namib Desert of southern Africa is a brutal a place to live, even for a beetle. To survive, the Namib beetle farms moisture, using its back to condense the water and then storing the water to drink later. It's a remarkable adaptation to the arid conditions, and a team of recent MIT graduates are hoping to tap into the Namib beetle's secret in order to bring water to the estimated three billion people — otherwise known as about half the human race — who live in regions with insufficient water resources. The company, NBD Nano, are attempting to create a water bottle that is coated in an alternating mix of water-attracting and water-repelling, or hydrophilic and hydrophobic, materials. This combination should trap in moisture and force it to condense inside the bottle. Co-founder Miguel Galvez explains the idea to BBC News: "It was important to apply [biomimicry] to our design and we have developed a proof of concept and [are] currently creating our first fully-functional prototype. We think our initial prototype will collect anywhere from half a litre of water to three litres per hour, depending on local environments. Dry places like the Atacama Desert or Gobi Desert don't have access to a lot of sources of water. So if we're creating [several] litres per day in a cost-effective manner, you can get this to a community of people in Sub-Saharan Africa and other dry regions of the world. And if you can do it cheaply enough, then you can really create an impact on the local environment." While the idea of moisture farming is hardly new, the condensation devices that currently exist use up huge amounts of energy for relatively little return. While NBD Nano's bottle couldn't support an entire community, it would at least be able to provide extra water in a much more energy-efficient way. For more, check out BBC News. Image by Hans Hillewaert via Wikimedia. ManchuCandidate Huzzah, but won't the invention of this device lead to the birth of some kid who blows up a moon sized battlestation and ends any hope of picking up power converters at Toshi Station?	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line478
__label__wiki	0.662059	0.662059	Home > Free Essays > History > African American Studies > Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle Essay We will write a custom Essay on Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle specifically for you The United States is the world’s ultimate super power constituted by a diverse mix of different races. 13 percent of these constituents are pre-dominantly blacks. Even in this era, inequality and racism seem to be rampant in the country and in fact, capitalism seems to feed off these vices; as Malcolm X said, “You cannot have capitalism without racism”. The aftermath of the Katrina disaster exposed these ugly trends in the country after many blacks were displaced and seemed to be neglected. Statistics show that the black community has decreased in terms of population in New Orleans; once at 67 percent, now is at 58 percent. Louisiana Republican Congressman, Richard Baker said, “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did” referring to the displacement of poor black residents in New Orleans. Black youth seem to be the target of police harassment and imprisonment in addition to them being the most exploited and unemployed in the country. These inequalities have sparked social explosions as was evident in 1992 when there were riots in Los Angeles, a rich city having a large number of poor blacks. The past struggles which yielded the heroes of yesteryears have done little to improve the lives of many blacks who have not experienced any change. Black freedom struggle has taken many shapes over time, but during this period shaped what is commonly and popularly referred to as black (African-American) culture. The struggle has taken various steps since the slavery days when Africans were shipped into America. The march on Washington Campaign of 1940 is the earliest cited genesis of the struggle by “No Coward Soldiers” and subsequent struggles have taken the shape of bus boycotts (Montgomery 1955-56), freedom rides in 1960, Poor People’s March in 1968 and attempts at establishing a black political party in 1970. All these events exuded passion from the black community and have largely influenced black culture to this day. “No Coward Soldiers”, has traced the development of the modern freedom struggle and attributes it to the need by blacks to have a distinct culture that uniquely defines and influences them. In an attempt to understand the modern freedom struggle, this paper focuses on the black culture which has influenced the struggle and is influenced by the black community today. The genesis of the distinct African-American culture is the fight against white hegemony. This factor has probably singularly shaped most of what constitutes the black culture albeit not single handedly. The need to have a political structure that advocates the needs of the black community has also played a big part in the shaping of black culture. Politics and culture neither substitute nor determine one another but rather relate each other in a more complex manner. Politics can shape culture and vice versa. Therefore, in an attempt to understand black culture, the book attempts to analyze black internal politics. African-American culture has its roots in sub-Saharan ad Sahelean cultures, it has however been greatly influenced by white culture in the post-slavery era. It is one of the most unique cultures which greatly influences mainstream American culture and that of the world evidenced in music, art, literature, cuisine and sport. The culture aids in the removal of historical complexities from the mind. Take for example black music which is accepted world wide and is central to black culture as it a reflection of it. Politics are central in the influence of cultures and present modern day heroes for the common African-American in the likes of Obama, Rice and Powell. African-Americans consider themselves the saving nation of the larger American nation and this notion is captured in poems such as ‘My Blackness Is the Beauty of This Land’(Martin, 11). Blacks are known for their interests in political processes compared to any other minority group in the US evident in the large numbers of registered voters. They also have higher education levels compared to any migrants in the country. This helps to show that blacks are fighting on every front to level the playing field when compared to whites so as to better advocate their rights which they feel have not been wholly addressed. While upholding the doctrine of beating people at their own game, blacks have enrolled in all social areas and are striving to excel in those areas so as to offer themselves the opportunities that they previously have been denied. The accent of Obama to presidency, the presence of sports heroes in the likes of Gay and Kobe, the wealth accrued by Oprah and Johnson of Black entertainment Television and other examples have been a driving force in empowering blacks and better placing them to advance their struggle for true and ultimate freedom. They have not only black Americans with the impetus, but also provided white America with new ways of describing black bodies and sounds distinctively(Sklaroff, 247). African-Americans largely favor the traditional American values. They cite their culture as the major determinant in their opposition to same-sex marriages and the upholding of traditional family values which discouraged divorce. Increased divorce rates among blacks, and increased single parent households evidenced by the fact that only 38 percent of black children live with both parents (McKinnon 2003), indicate an influence of white culture and changing economic realities. We will write a custom Essay on Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle specifically for you! “No Coward Soldiers”, draws parallels between the past freedom struggle and the present freedom struggles and argues it from a realities perspective. The past was characterized by fight for equality brought about by segregation whereas the present although still focused on equality is of a different nature. “In black culture, we can find a history of American perfidy, American violence, American oppression and American racism, all captured for our delectation in a way that provokes reflection without spurring us into action” (Cashmore, 170). He further adds that the culture of blacks is the source of comfort rather than a challenge. It is in the culture that blacks draw their inspiration as they reflect on the road they have taken to a form of freedom envisaged by the initial freedom fighters. “No Coward Soldiers” has discussed in detail the genesis and the continued proliferation of black freedom struggle. The fact that culture has played a major role in the shaping of this struggle over the years is not in doubt, in fact, both the culture and the freedom struggle have affected each other mutually. It is the struggle that conglomerated blacks in the beginning and it has continued to umbrella them in institutions appealing to their course. For example, blacks initially were republican since Abraham Lincoln aided in abolishing slavery, they have since defected to the democratic movement as Johnson and Kennedy were sympathetic to the civil rights movement of 1960’s. Cashmore, Ellis. The Black Culture Industry. London: Routledge, 1997 Martin, Waldo E. Jr. No Coward Soldiers. Black Cultural Politics in Postwar America. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2005 McKinnon, Jesse. The Black Population in the United States: March 2002. United States Census Bureau, 2003 Not sure if you can write a paper on Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle by yourself? We can help you Sklaroff, Lauren Rebecca. Black Culture and the New Deal: the quest for civil rights in the Roosevelt era. Charlotte: The University of North Carolina Press, 2009 This essay on Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle was written and submitted by your fellow student. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. African Americans-Prejudice and Discrimination Views on how to re-unite the nation and deal with freedmen Select a citation style: IvyPanda. (2019, November 27). Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle. Retrieved from https://ivypanda.com/essays/culture-and-the-black-freedom-struggle/ "Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle." IvyPanda, 27 Nov. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/culture-and-the-black-freedom-struggle/. 1. IvyPanda. "Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle." November 27, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/culture-and-the-black-freedom-struggle/. IvyPanda. "Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle." November 27, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/culture-and-the-black-freedom-struggle/. IvyPanda. 2019. "Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle." November 27, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/culture-and-the-black-freedom-struggle/. IvyPanda. (2019) 'Culture and the Black Freedom Struggle'. 27 November. Phenomenology Of Mind: Upholding The Philosophy Characterization of Hamlet Poem Analysis: "We Are Many" by Pablo Neruda How Jacob, as a Complex Character, Often Appears to have Opposing Aspects/Parts to his Personality Is the book of genesis an epic? Edward Johnson and Typography Religion: Sumerian and Genesis Creation Account Lectio Divina (Genesis 18: 1- 5) Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson: the Civil Rights Movement Response to Panther Film The Reconstruction Era and its Impact on Freedmen Advancement of Human Rights from 1865 to Present Martin Luther King's Speech: A Summary Young black people in the United States History African American Studies Freedom Culture History Phenomenology Of Mind: Upholding The Philosophy Phenomenology Of Mind: Upholding The Philosophy Characterization of Hamlet Poem Analysis: "We Are Many" by Pablo Neruda How Jacob, as a Complex Character, Often Appears to have Opposing Aspects/Parts to his Personality Is the book of genesis an epic? Edward Johnson and Typography	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line480
__label__wiki	0.682457	0.682457	Home \| Global News \| India: The Next 5 Years or More India: The Next 5 Years or More By Mukul Dube Countercurrents.org No! Indians Don’t Vote Intelligently Announcing The Monster Hindu Supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party Comes To Power In India BJP: The People’s Choice – But.. Narendra Damodardas Modi’s supporters cannot be blamed for using words like “historic” for their hero’s (or their party’s) victory in the 2014 general election. The superlatives used by the media — the most common being “tsunami” — are of course a business necessity and may be dismissed as marketing bilge. Is the election result a big deal? One view was expressed succinctly by Nirmalangshu Mukherji on FaceBook: With just 31% of actual votes (21% of electorates, 14% of population), Modi is repeatedly comparing his performance with that of Congress in 1984. In 1984, Congress won 404 seats with 49.1% vote share. Even NDA vote share will be just about 35% in 2014. This BJP government is the most unpopular and unrepresentative in republican India. That is, the BJP won its mandate without the help of nearly 70 per cent of the votes cast in the election. This is scant consolation for the fact that 31 per cent of the votes meant 52 per cent of the seats in the Lok Sabha and the right to form a government and rule over India for half a decade. We must not overlook the fact that in a five-year term a rogue government can do much damage. Prabhat Patnaik has pointed out that there was “not a word of apprehension about the consequences of his being in power” (http://communalism.blogspot.in/2014/05/liberal-and-conservative-have-to-be.html). He was referring to those who said that the strength of India’s democratic institutions will not permit Modi much leeway. Against this it has been argued that the institutions in questions have in the past not shown themselves to be strong at all. An editorial in EPW (http://communalism.blogspot.in/2014/05/india-anger-aspiration-apprehension.html) describes the election as “the biggest corporate heist in history” and goes on to say, “Perhaps of greatest concern is that we now have the Sangh Parivar being presented with a clear opportunity to reshape the Indian polity in line with its decades-old Hindutva project.” More than anything else, the recent history of democratic institutions in Modi’s state, Gujarat, tells us what we might expect. The bureaucracy there has been rendered powerless to do anything other than carry out the wishes of the Sahib. Ministers and legislators in Gujarat are rendered irrelevant as Modi keeps a grip on all key portfolios and makes sure that the Vidhan Sabha remains in a state of hibernation, assembling as few times as the rules allow. In particular, we should look at the law and order machinery. The police ignores its duty (and shatters its pledges) so as not to touch the Sahib’s goons when they break every law in the book — and so as to carry out the blatantly illegal and inhuman orders of the Chhota Saheb (or Cat’s Paw or Chief Chamcha). The judiciary, that last resort of the citizen in search of justice, has been made to crawl. In the “sting” by Tehelka, many spoke on camera of how inconvenient judges were shifted out when needed. So much for democratic institutions: but there shall be other “consequences of his being in power”. In the years up to its rout in 2004, the NDA packed institutions with its own people, it turned cowards like Savarkar into national heroes, it sought to perform major destructive surgery on books and on education generally. Might we expect less of a man who makes A.B. Vajpayee look like an anaemic wimp? No, we cannot ignore the 56 inches — or it may be 5.6 inches — with which he swaggers around. The new prime minister will act to protect himself. The noose was tightening, and it shall continue to do that unless he can stop it. Many of his vile foot soldiers gave evidence on camera to the effect that he allowed them free rein for some days. Zakia Jafri’s appeal against the “clean chit” judgment of a Metropolitan Magistrate is being heard and may well sully that chit, already tattered from being waved about so much. There is D.G. Vanzara’s resignation letter, in which the renegade policeman speak of how “Shri Narendrabhai Modi, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat, whom I used to adore like a God”, came under the “evil influence” of the “ace strategist Shri Amitbhai Shah”, who “usurped his eyes and ears and has been successfully misguiding him by converting goats into dogs and dogs into goats since [sic] last 12 years”. If we accept this account, it is clear that Modi did not have his wits about him. There is a parallel from the violence of 2002. If we allow that Modi did not actively order or permit the butchery, we are left with the fact of a chief minister of surpassing incompetence. This is India’s new prime minister. I shall not be surprised if legislation is brought in to protect the several mass murderers who roam free despite their actions in Gujarat in 2002 and later. In what amounts to a kind of presidential form of government, there is also the option of ruling through ordinances as Smt. I. Gandhi once did. We shall see, in the coming days, the real worth of the “checks and balances” system that is often spoken about. Given the recent record of Gujarat, we must wonder also about the degree to which the country’s higher judiciary will be suborned outright, or suppressed with threats. On more than one occasion the Supreme Court has acted to bring justice to the victims of Gujarat 2002. As that has gone directly against the chief minister of the state, who is known to be vindictive apart from wanting to ensure his survival, we must worry about what he does as prime minister. We see, in all this, the power of a mere 31 per cent of the votes cast in the election. What of the 69 per cent votes that did not go to Modi? That figure tells us that there are many in the country who did not want Modi to rule. The size of the opposition counted for little because it was badly fragmented; and in the face of an installed government it can count for nothing. We must look ahead. If we who make up seven tenths of India are to stand up to the Hindu Right in five years’ time, we need to find ways to ensure that we do not remain so divided that less than a third of the voters in the country can make us irrelevant. I am aware that five years from now the country itself may have been damaged beyond repair. Mukul Dube is a writer, photographer and editor who lives in Delhi. He can be reached at uthappam@gmail.com [I thank Ghazala Jamil for advice and suggestions.] This article is likely to appear in Mainstream weekly Previous Women ask pope to make celibacy optional Next ‘I will not rest until I know how many Iraqis died in British custody’	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line484
__label__cc	0.674697	0.325303	call us or text 602-888-0216 Tempe Acupuncture & Laser Therapy Low-Level Laser Therapy Microneedling in Tempe Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): Tui Na, Cupping, Gua Sha Find rejuvenation Book Now About Juvenate Healing: Laser & Acupuncture Tempe Looking for acupuncture in Tempe? Juvenate Healing offers laser therapy with acupuncture in Tempe. We also are experienced in other Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) therapies like Tui Na, Cupping and Gua Sha to promote safe and swift recovery for our patients in a relaxing environment. We started Juvenate Healing after seeing too many patients suffer from chronic pain, inflammation and other ailments that were only being addressed from a single lens. Please note that we are able to accommodate early morning appointments (before 8a) by request. Look no further for professional, experienced acupuncture in Tempe. We look forward to working with you in your journey for optimal health and wellness! Brennan intended to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an attorney. However, while in school, he worked at a running store called Road Runner Sports (RRS). He discovered he loved helping customers with their fitness and health, including hands-on running and walking gait analysis. This discovery helped him shift from a career in law to helping people feel better. With the goal of focusing on sports injuries and pain, Brennan looked at both Eastern and Western Medicine options. He chose Eastern Medicine, since he felt he could help more people suffering from chronic pain. Brennan started his Acupuncture career in San Diego attending Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM). After two years at PCOM, Brennan moved to Arizona to attend Phoenix Institute of Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture where he graduated with a Master of Science in Acupuncture. Brennan specializes in treating sciatica, lower back pain, shoulder pain, insomnia, infertility, general musculoskeletal pain and sports injuries, headache, and general health. Luis lost his grandfather, his best friend, when he was 21. He watched as his grandfather slowly became consumed by pain. Luis felt powerless that his grandfather’s only “relief” from pain was heavy medication that made him sleepy and prevented him from being present with his family. This started Luis’s journey in the medical field. He was drawn in by Oriental Medicine’s view of humans as a total, as a unity, and more important as body, mind and soul. Health is a journey, not a destination. Luis is proud to offer integrated medicine and multidisciplinary experiences to help his patients. Luis also looks for balance in life, family, and friends. He enjoys the outdoors, cooking, and good company. He reminds himself daily he has two ears and just one mouth to listen more than he speaks. When she was a child, Svetlana she dreamed of becoming a pediatrician. That dream was realized when she received her Medical degree in Russia, with specializations in Pediatrics and Neonatal Medicine. Russia is known for its medical innovations and openness to alternative and natural medicine, so she received training in physical medicine, rehabilitation and acupuncture modalities. She used acupuncture with children and adults, with very encouraging results. Svetlana came to the U.S. to continue in the healing profession, and decided to train more in Chinese medicine and acupuncture. She received her Masters in Acupuncture at Phoenix Institute of Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture. Svetlana believes in diagnosing and healing the entire person. Disease can often seem like a prison. She believes in doing whatever necessary to free people from this prison, including supporting Western therapies patients may be receiving. Her pediatric and neonatal backgrounds also give her a unique perspective in treating children. Svetlana specializes in pain management, immune system support, stress management, addiction detox support, facial rejuvenation, as well as general health maintenance. After 30 years in the field of management, Trish decided to pursue her dream of practicing medicine. In her search for her passion, she stumbled upon Eastern medicine and fell in love with the holistic approach of mending mind, body, and spirit. Trish’s Masters in Acupuncture and Bachelors in Psychology give her a firm understanding of the mind body connection, and the importance of balance between the two to achieve optimal wellness. Trish also has extensive experience working with children and adults with special needs. Trish has a special interest in using acupuncture to treat chronic pain, chronic fatigue, autoimmune, ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, and helping those with musculoskeletal disorders. 6426 S McClintock Dr, Suite 110 info@juvenatehealing.com Mon-Sat 8a-7p About Juvenate We combine laser therapy with acupuncture and other Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) therapies to promote safe and swift recovery in a relaxing environment. Learn more Chinese Medicine Glossary Learn more about Chinese Medicine techniques as well as microneedling and nanoneedling © Juvenate Healing. All Rights Reserved.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line486
__label__wiki	0.561938	0.561938	Biography of George M. Bedford George M. Bedford, farmer and stock raiser; P. O. Paris. The Bedford family are of English origin; they trace their ancestry to one Thomas Bedford, of Charlotte County, in the Old Dominion; he was a large landowner, and of the families who ranked high in social position; he was twice married; first to Mary Coleman, by whom he had three children: Charles, Margaret and Jane, all of whom remained in Virginia; his second marriage was to Miss Spencer, who bore him six sons and five daughters, the sons were Thomas, Benjamin, John, Stephen, Littleberry and Archie; the daughters were: Nancy, who married a Mosely; Patsey, a man by the name of Fuquia; Susan, a Walk; Patsey, a Crenshaw; Mary, a Hamlet; the first one of the Bedford name came to Kentucky was Benjamin, who was born Dec. 23, 1762, and emigrated first to Madison County about 1787, and raised one crop; came to this county in 1789, and located in the southern part of Paris Precinct; his wife was Tabitha Clay, born Nov. 15, 1761; the father of the above was Littleberry Bedford, who was born in Charlotte County, Va., Jan. 1, 1769; he married Mattie Clay, born in Virginia, Sept. 8, 1772; she bore thirteen children; the eldest was Thomas, who was born Oct. 26, 1790, and was killed in the war of 1812; the others in order of birth are: Henry, born Oct. 26, 1792, and married Patsey Dawson; Elizabeth, born Dec. 7, 1794; she married Capt. Wash. Kennedy; William was born Dec. 7, 1796; Littleberry, born July 30, 1798; he married Sicily Rollins; Capt. John was born July 26, 1800, and married Sallie King; Augustin Volney, born Aug. 17, 1802, and Franklin P., born May 14, 1805; he married Henrietta Clay; Benjamin C., born Aug. 17, 1807, and married Caroline Moran, afterward Ann M. Garrard; Patsy, born Nov. 26, 1809, who was the wife of William Green Clay; Archibald M., born Feb. 25, 1812, and married Elizabeth H. Bedford; Ediwn G., born Aug. 27, 1814, who married first to Margaret Gerrard, then Lucy Degraftenreed; George M., who name heads this page, is the youngest of the number; he was born May 19, 1817; who at the age of sixteen started in life upon his own account, having nothing to begin with, save his hands and a willing heart; Nov. 4, 1840, he married Mary A. Bedford, who was born in this precinct Sept. 22, 1824, daughter of Benjamin F., who was a son of Benjamin, the pioneer; after Mr. Bedford’s (George M.) marriage he farmed on rented land; in the fall of 1845, he located on the farm he now owns, where he has since (except two years), spent in Paris; has been among the prominent breeders of short-horn cattle and Cotswold sheep; he has 1,400 acres of land, all self acquired; his father died Aug. 7, 1829; mother, March 2, 1864, in her ninety-second year; religiously, Mr. Bedford is not a member of any sect or denomination; he has five children: Mary E., Julia K., Maria V., George M., Jr., and Benjamin F., Jr.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line489
__label__wiki	0.990271	0.990271	Alexa, Play KICK-AM Jim West Linda Flores John St. John Chuck Leary Dee Lewis KICK-AM VIP Dee LewisDee Lewis Hear Vince Gill Belt Out ‘Heartache Tonight’ on the Eagles’ New Live Album [Listen] Rick Diamond, Getty Images Vince Gill is best known for his exceptionally pure tenor as a singer of some of country music's most emotional ballads, but as it turns out, he can rock it up when he needs to. The country superstar turns up the volume on a new version of "Heartache Tonight" from the Eagles' new live album, and he pulls it off surprisingly well. "Heartache Tonight" is perhaps the song that's the biggest stretch for Gill in the songs he took over from the late Glenn Frey when he joined the Eagles in 2017. Most of the other songs he sings in the iconic group's live shows are better suited to his own approach, including "New Kid in Town," "Lyin' Eyes" and "Take It to the Limit," but — just as Glenn Frey himself did on the original recording from 1979's The Long Run — he forces an edge to his upper range in the performance below, from the Eagles' new Live From the Forum MMXVIII package. Frey and Don Henley co-wrote "Heartache Tonight" with Bob Seger and J.D Souther, and the song gave the Eagles their final No. 1 hit when they released it as the lead single from The Long Run. "Heartache Tonight" would go on to win the Eagles a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal. Gill surprised both his fans and Eagles fans when he joined the group in 2017, following Glenn Frey's death in 2016. Gill and Frey's son, Deacon, joined classic-era members Henley, Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh in a new lineup that has toured ever since, and both Gill and the younger Frey make their recorded debuts with the group on the new album, which the Eagles released on Oct. 16. In a recent interview at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Gill says he understands the criticism he's received from some Eagles fans. "It's different, and it's not as good as the original," he states. "I don't sing like Glenn, and I don't pretend to. I see a lot of people making negative comments about me being in that band ... I get it. It's my favorite band, too. I don't want to hear me sing 'New Kid in Town,' but the other option is not possible. So I'm just trying to do my part to keep some great songs afloat." See Inside Glenn Frey's Sprawling California Mansion: See Inside Don Henley's Hollywood Bungalow: Source: Hear Vince Gill Belt Out ‘Heartache Tonight’ on the Eagles’ New Live Album [Listen] Filed Under: The Eagles, Vince Gill Eleven Hurt, Two Seriously, in Area Weekend Traffic Crashes 2021 KICK AM 1530, Townsquare Media, Inc. All rights reserved.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line490
__label__cc	0.679733	0.320267	Vault (gymnastics) facts for kids Figure on vaulting table A vault is an apparatus that male and female gymnasts perform on. A vault is included in gymnastics competitions such as the olympics. The gymnasts first run before they flip on the vault. Either the male or female gymnast perform a flip in the air and land on the floor. When the gymnast lands on the floor, he or she has to be in balance. Early forms of the vault were invented by German Friedrich Ludwig Jahn. The apparatus itself originated as a "horse", much like the pommel horse but without the handles. It was sometimes called a "vaulting horse". The horse was set up with its long side perpendicular to the run for women, and parallel for men. The vaulting horse was the apparatus used in the Olympics for over a century It began with the 1896 Summer Olympics and ending with the Gymnastics at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Following a number of problems, International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) changed the apparatus. They did it for both safety reasons and for better acrobatics. The 2001 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were the first international competition to make use of the "vaulting table". This was an apparatus made by Dutch gymnastics equipment company Janssen-Fritsen since the mid-1990s. It features a flat, larger, and more cushioned surface almost parallel to the floor. It slopes downward at the end closest to the springboard. Gymnasts nicknamed it the "tongue". Original vaulting horse configuration (women) Modern vaulting table A multiple-exposure image of a gymnast performing a vault (handspring double front salto tucked) during the 2012 Olympics. Vault (gymnastics) Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line491
__label__wiki	0.923578	0.923578	While driving down the mountain at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, TJ Harris of Decyfer Down caught up with JesusFreakHideout's Christopher Smith to discuss their new album, their status as an independent band, and to share the vomit story... This interview took place on: February 23, 2016. Click here for Decyfer Down's Artist Profile page. JFH (Christopher Smith): Describe your perfect day. No limits. TJ Harris: My perfect day would definitely involve my family and an awesome rock show laughter. It's far and few in between that I get both in the same day because I don't get to travel with them that often. I've got two kids, 10 and 8, and my wife's pregnant with our third child right now--so that would be pretty amazing. JFH (Christopher): After being on break, what kind of thoughts went through your head when you guys got a phone call--out of the blue--to play in the City RockFest tour? TJ: Honestly I kinda laughed about it. We hadn't played in probably two or three years, and we didn't tour the Scarecrow record. Our drummer at the time, Josh, called me and he was talking to me about it and I just kinda laughed at him. And he went on to talk about it more, and I said 'Oh, you're serious!' I was excited. I believe we all were excited. Brandon and I had talked about it, but at the same time we were kind of freaked out and a little nervous because after being home for two or three years after touring for eight to ten years, you get settled in. It was just a normal 8 to 5 kind of lifestyle. The thought of leaving the family and starting off again into this thing where you're not sure financially where you are going to land and how often you'll be home was a little scary. But we just put our faith in God, and it was amazing. It was one of the best tours we'd ever been on and now this year is even better. JFH (Christopher): I've seen many established bands such as yourselves going the independent route. What has this experience been like for Decyfer Down? TJ: It's been awesome. But it requires a lot of time. Even the whole IndieGoGo crowdfundraiser, that portion of it was like a full time job on its own just trying to keep the word out there on social media and keeping in people's feeds. But it was great. The process of recording on an independent record was so liberating. There was no one to answer to for writing and recording, no filter. And when I say that, I mean nothing negative toward Fair Trade or the people that work at Fair Trade. We still have a good relationship with those guys--we love them. It's just that there's a certain part of the industry and a certain aspect in trying to navigate our style of writing that really sucks the creativity out of the whole process. It was really nice to be able to do it on our own and not have to worry about what anybody thought about what we wrote or the type of riff we came up with. JFH (Christopher): You guys made it clear on this album that the "other side of darkness" is God's love. Can you talk about this theme--maybe what it means to you personally and how you hope it connects with fans? TJ: With this record, we want people to listen to it and walk away knowing that God is love and there is hope in Jesus Christ. We've always tried to relay that message to people and portray that in our lives. The message, in that regard, hasn't changed a whole lot. We've always written songs from life experiences, but at the same talk about how Christ has brought us out of these things. It's not so much that they're dark, but they seem dark when you listen to them. We just wanted to write about our lives and hope that there are people out there that relate to those things. We are not the only ones who have been through what we've been through, regardless of what it is. There's too many people in the world for that. We just want to bring a message of hope, as always. JFH (Christopher): On Scarecrow, you guys really explored your southern sound, but The Other Side of Darkness is more a straightforward modern rock style--kinda like Crash but heavier and more aggressive. What was the thought process like for how you guys wanted this record to sound? TJ: It was kind of a mixture for us between End of Grey , progressing stylistically a little, and just honing our crafts. Joey West from Disciple played drums on it, so that was another thing that pushed us a little bit. (JFH: What tracks did he play on?) He played on "Nothing More," "The Other Side of Darkness," the first track "Rearrange," and one other song I can't remember off the top of my head. His aggressive style, his super heavy rock background, and his taste in music--which a lot of the riffs and things like that were already created when he came in--his style just added to that. It did make the music seem more aggressive, which is fine. Like I said, there was no filters and nobody to answer to. We just tried to create an album that we loved and hopefully our fans will love it too. JFH (Christopher): Your vocal approach on this album is a little different than previous records, and even track to track. I hear more grittiness and urgency in your voice, but at the same time I don't think I've heard you sing anything quite as soft as the first chorus of "Believe In Me." Can you talk about your vocal approach on this album? TJ: Crash for me as a vocalist was very rushed. Within 11 days I had signed a record deal, became a partner in Decyfer Down, did a photo shoot, and sang 11 songs. It was one of those things where it was like, 'okay, let me hear Caleb's vocal' and 'okay, hit record, let's see what mine sounds like.' It was really quick. (JFH: And you hadn't heard any of those songs before?) Well, I wrote "Moving On" and Despreate" on the Crash record. Those are two songs that I brought to the table that I previously had in Fighting Instinct that we had recorded demos of, and they ended up on the Decyfer Down record. And then with Scarecrow, it wasn't so much a southern approach as it was a tribute to a lot of the bands that got us interested in music in the beginning--things that we listened to when we were in middle school or high school. (JFH: Like The Eagles) yeah man, The Eagles, Lynard Skynard, and Led Zepplin being one of the first metal bands, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, stuff like that. So it wasn't really a southern approach, but using lighter, less gritty tones, less low end riff and more high end like in the song "Say Hello" which was a big tribute to Soundgarden stylistically. Scarecrow was more a tribute to our inspirations, musically. With The Other Side of Darkness there was some aggressiveness when it came to writing the riffs and all that, but it was kind of built up a bit from 2009 until now, because we didn't release anything like that with Scarecrow. JFH (Christopher): What kind of response have you been getting for your single "Nothing More"? TJ: It's been awesome. Just overwhelming, really. Our fans have really supported us all the way. Just comment after comment of people loving the song, loving the chorus and loving what the song stands for. It's just amazing. It really is. Awesome fans. JFH (Christopher): "Lifetime" is the first love song from Decyfer Down. It's also the first Decyfer Down song that I think would have fit on a Fighting Instinct record. Can you describe the story behind that song? TJ: It is a love song. At the same time it's a song that has a lot of relationship subject matter that could be related to our relationship with God. That was actually a song that was written four or five years ago when we writing for our third record, Scarecrow. "Lifetime" was a song we wrote with Gavin Brown who did a couple of the first Three Days Grace records. Really cool dude. We wrote like 80 songs for our third record. It's one of the reasons we went the different direction we did for Scarecrow. We had so many songs that had been shuffled to the side because they just didn't think they were good enough or couldn't get past the powers that be. JFH (Christopher): Which song are you most proud of on this album, and why? TJ: Probably "Nothing More." Vocally it was pretty challenging. Not because was bad but because it was consistently three quarters of the way up in to my range. And not just that, but it was the first song that we recorded for the record. Chris brought the song to the table. The chorus was about half finished and we still needed a bridge. Ideas flowed. Like I told you before, there were no filters. There was nothing in the back of our head saying 'okay, are these people going to be happy with this song?' Alongside of my vocal performance, I was proud of it because it was a butt-kicker of a song. Just the whole process of writing this song and recording it and it being our first song recorded for our independent record was an awesome feat. JFH (Christopher): I have to admit, when I first saw the tracklist I was a bit disappointed to see "Burn Back The Sun", but you guys absolutely killed it. What drew you guys to revisit that song? TJ: Cool man, thanks! We did the IndieGoGo on a crowdfund campaign, and one of the perks for contributing to that was a five-song acoustic EP. We were listening back and we were talking about what we want to do as the last song of the record, and we were like 'man, let's just put our acoustic "Burn Back the Sun" on there.' It felt right to end the album with a song that was just so honest and just between us and God. So we checked to make sure we could, because that song that song was recorded back in 2006 for the End of Grey record, but it all worked out and we were super stoked. JFH (Christopher): How would you describe the individual personalities of your bandmates? TJ: These kind of questions are better asked when they are present. laughter I think our personalities are all super different, but we complement each other whether it is on the road or in the studio. I can be a little apprehensive sometimes with style changes or doing something out of the box. Which is crazy, because I love stuff that's out of the box, but when I have to do it myself sometimes I can be like that. Chris Clonts is not like that. Chris Clonts comes up with a riff and he's ready to go, and I think that's awesome. Brandon [Mills] is kind of like that too. Everybody is super creative. It's just like what I was saying a while ago about "Nothing More," it just meshed. It was like the first time all over again because there was no pressure. JFH (Christopher): Do you have any funny stories while on the road? TJ: Laughs I can tell you throw up story. (JFH: Let's hear it!) We were on City RockFest tour last year and I really don't know if it was a stomach bug or food poisoning, but we were on our way back out from Canada and they stopped us at the border. It was like midnight or 1am and we had three guys who were just terribly ill. We're at the border, inside, and Border Patrol is talking to us and looking at our passports, and we've got three guys side by side in different stalls just throwing up and dying in there. And it was terrible cause it was two of my guys--Brandon and Chris Furr--and one of the guys from Disciple. It was rough. Then two more guys from Disciple got it that night or the next day. So you'd get out of your bunk and you'd see plastic bags hanging from people bunks. Laughter (JFH: That's some virus!) Tell me about it! But thank God I didn't get it and that it didn't spread much further than that. I hated it for the guys. It was pitiful, but we made it through. JFH (Christopher): Are there any difficult moments in your music career that you look back on, and can now appreciate? TJ: That's on the spot, right there! Yeah there have been some difficult moments. A real difficult moment that I had as an individual was making a decision to join Decyfer Down back in late 2008. It was something that was really hard for me because I was in Fighting Instinct with my buddies, and I thought we had some good stuff. I had filled in four or five shows for Decyfer Down, then they asked me to join the band. It was hard. It was really hard. I love the guys in Fighting Instinct and they're still my buddies, though I don't get to see them as much as I'd like to because we all have families and careers. That was a hard time because I had to do not only what was best for my family, but it was also a door that God had opened in our lives and I just had to choose whether I was going to walk through it or not. And when I did there was a peace. It took just a little bit leading up that for me to feel that peace but I just keep praying and I believe that God just gave me a peace that I made the right call, and went with it. (JFH: That peace is definitely one of the best indicators of God's will.) Yes sir! JFH (Christopher): I heard you guys are doing a headlining tour this fall--what will that look like? TJ: We're throwing some ideas around right now trying to figure out who we'd like to take out, so we're not sure at this point. We really do want to do a headlining fall tour. It may look like a month or a month and a half long, with 20 to 25 dates. (JFH: Where are you guys hoping to tour?) I don't know if we'll reach all the way to the west coast, but it would be awesome if we did. But when you do that, it feels better if you've got 35 to 40 dates to come all the way out to California and back. We're from North Carolina so we'd probably start in the southeast region of the U.S. but I'm sure we'd at least make it out to Texas or New Mexico. JFH (Christopher): Any final comments? TJ: I just want to say thank you! Thank you to you guys for putting our stuff out there all these years. Thanks to the fans for all their support. It's been so overwhelming, especially coming back after three years. I'm just unbelievably grateful for what God's doing in our lives and in the future for Decyfer Down, and who He is going to allow us to minister to. Decyfer Down's latest album, The Other Side of Darkness will be available on April 1st, 2016!	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line498
__label__cc	0.674004	0.325996	Home » Marketing Blog » YMCA of Pawtucket Adds New Chief Operations Officer YMCA of Pawtucket Adds New Chief Operations Officer Pawtucket, RI (July 26, 2017) – The YMCA of Pawtucket has selected Jeanine Achin of Rehoboth, Massachusetts as its new Chief Operations Officer (COO). Achin has over 27 years of experience in YMCA operations, with a diverse background in fundraising, leadership, staff development, program development and community collaborations. As COO, Achin will work closely with Charlie Clifford, Chief Executive Officer of the YMCA of Pawtucket. She will support the successful operation of the five branches of the YMCA of Pawtucket, including membership, program development, volunteer recruitment, staff supervision, community relations, collaborations, properties, budgeting and financial results. Achin is excited to put her years of experience and institutional knowledge to work for the YMCA of Pawtucket, stating: “I am pleased to be joining such a well-regarded Association. The YMCA of Pawtucket has a legacy of providing vital services and programs to this community and I look forward to working with our staff to ensure the continued success of all YMCA of Pawtucket branches.” Most recently, Achin served as Executive Director of the YMCA Southcoast in Massachusetts, where she successfully opened a new YMCA branch in Swansea, Massachusetts. Prior to that, Achin worked at the YMCA of Greater Providence in the position of District Executive Director. In that capacity, she lead operations, strategic vision and community impact for multiple branches, with a total budget exceeding $4,000,000, employing more than 250 staff and serving 9,300 members. Additionally, Achin held the title of Associate Executive Director of the YMCA of Attleboro. “We are pleased to welcome Jeanine to the YMCA of Pawtucket team,” said Charlie Clifford. “She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience as well as a strong commitment to forging worthwhile community partnerships. This is a hallmark of the Y mission and we are confident our members and the communities in which we serve will benefit from Jeanine’s enthusiasm.” In addition to her extensive work experience, Achin also holds the following professional memberships and certifications: YMCA Organizational Leader, Association of YMCA Professionals, American College of Sports Medicine (Member), American Council on Exercise (Certified Instructor), Certified Reeboks Step Instructor, Certified Promise Kickboxing Instructor, Certified Zumba Instructor and Zin Member, Certified Les Mills Body Pump Instructor, Bristol County Horsemen Association (Member), American Quarter Horse Association (Member), United States Dressage Federation (Member), East Providence/Seekonk Rotary (Past President), Member on multiple School Improvement Committees and Wellness Teams. Achin graduated from Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts with a Bachelor’s degree in Health, Recreation and Physical Education. She then successfully completed the Executive Master’s Program at Springfield College and attained her MS in Human Services with a concentration in Organizational Leadership. She resides in Rehoboth, MA with her husband, Thomas Achin, and together they have two grown children, two children attending college, and three grandchildren. She is an avid exercise enthusiast and enjoys riding horses, skiing, swimming and boating with her family. About the YMCA The Y is one of the nation’s leading nonprofits strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Across the U.S., 2,700 Ys engage 22 million men, women and children – regardless of age, income or background – to nurture the potential of children and teens, improve the nation’s health and well-being, and provide opportunities to give back and support neighbors. Anchored in more than 10,000 communities, the Y has the long-standing relationships and physical presence not just to promise, but to deliver, lasting personal and social change. The YMCA of Pawtucket is comprised of five branches across the state: Pawtucket Family YMCA and Heritage Park YMCA Early Learning Center in Pawtucket, MacColl YMCA in Lincoln, Westwood YMCA in Coventry and Woonsocket YMCA. previous post: RI Trusted Choice Agents Donate $5,250 to the Herren Project next post: Sam Sutter Joins the Law Offices of Ronald J. Resmini	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line499
__label__wiki	0.614852	0.614852	Submissions: Articles and Reviews Vol. 2 No. 2 (2019): Journal of Juvenilia Studies / “What one sees another sees" Synchronicity in the Juvenilia of Anna Kingsford and Richard Jefferies Peter Merchant https://doi.org/10.29173/jjs38 juvenilia, Victorian poetry, sensation fiction, mysticism, nineteenth-century literary reviewing This essay considers some of the work published by Anna Kingsford (1846-88) before she reached the age of twenty and by Richard Jefferies (1848-87) before he turned eighteen. It focuses on the year 1866, and explores some unexpected parallels between his writing and hers. What stand revealed are two oddly overlapping careers that were shaped by, but also both rose above, the not always favourable conditions under which in the later nineteenth century the young writer had to operate. PDF JJS 2.2 Merchant Vol. 2 No. 2 (2019): Journal of Juvenilia Studies Copyright (c) 2019 Peter Merchant The Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International license applies to all works published by the Journal of Juvenilia Studies and authors retain copyright of their work. Join members of the ISLJ in Sydney in 2022. Deadline for proposals TBA. Papers already submitted and accepted for the postponed 2020 conference will be honoured in the new program for 18-21 May 2022. The call for papers for new submissions will open in September 2021. Literary Juvenilia, material imagination and 'things' The Journal of Juvenilia Studies is an open-access journal publishing peer-reviewed scholarship, book reviews, and notices. We encourage original submissions and welcome enquiries from scholars in the field. eISSN 2561-8326 \| print ISSN 2561-8318 JJS is published by the International Society of Literary Juvenilia Dedicated to the discussion and promotion of literary works by young writers www.arts.unsw.edu.au/juvenilia Journal of Juvenilia Studies \| eISSN 2561-8326 \| print ISSN 2561-8318 Contact \| Privacy Policy \| Copyright & Licensing	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line503
__label__cc	0.594706	0.405294	joybauer.com / Success Stories / Katie B. Getting engaged was just the motivation Katie needed to lose weight. On Joy's program, she learned lifelong healthy habits and got ready to walk down the aisle — 27 pounds lighter! Current weight: 140 pounds Pounds lost: 27 Katie had been overweight — and unhappy about it — for years, but getting engaged was the motivation she needed to finally lose the weight. She didn’t want to look back on her wedding photos and see herself looking unhealthy and unhappy. Beyond the photos, her impending marriage also made Katie think about some serious issues regarding how her weight could impact her future. Recently diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects fertility, Katie learned that one way to improve her chances of having children and combating other symptoms of PCOS was to lose weight. There were also other health issues plaguing her family, including diabetes. As she began a new chapter of her life, building a family with her fiancé, there was no better time to shed the extra pounds for good. Katie was introduced to Joy Bauer’s program through Woman’s Day magazine, when she was chosen as a blogger in the Woman’s Day Slimdown Challenge with Joy Bauer. Getting started was difficult: Katie disliked cooking and rarely made her own meals; she relied on processed foods like popcorn and cereal. The hardest change was learning to make healthy meals and to make meal preparation a part of her daily routine. Katie had given up on previous diets, but telling everyone about her weight-loss efforts through her Woman’s Day blog helped hold her accountable. Even her coworkers cheered her along on her weight-loss journey and helped her to eat healthfully at the office and to stick to an exercise routine. “That accountability is vital to me,” she says. “Otherwise, I can quickly get tired of putting in the extra effort.” Another key to Joy’s plan that worked wonders for Katie was learning moderation. “During the holidays, I didn’t bake any cookies or bring any temptation into my house until the week of Christmas — and on Christmas I indulged, but I also exercised a lot,” she says. “Then the next week, I got back into my normal routine. You don’t have to avoid the holidays like the plague; you should enjoy them. But you really don’t need to indulge for two solid months.” It wasn’t easy, but Joy’s program taught Katie healthy habits that have helped her to not only lose 27 pounds, but to maintain her healthy weight as well. “Joy’s plan didn’t require me to learn a lot of rules or count a lot of calories or points,” says Katie. “It just taught me to be healthier, simple as that.” Now, instead of processed foods, Katie’s favorite snacks are blended frozen bananas as a substitute for frozen yogurt and Joy’s Double Chocolate Muffins. At parties and events, she makes sure to fill her plate with vegetables and allows herself one cookie so that she doesn’t feel deprived or guilty. Katie’s biggest advice is to eat! “Cutting back so much that you’re hungry is a great way to set yourself up to cheat. But also be aware of what you’re putting into your mouth,” she says. “Know how much you are putting into your body, and how much you’re burning, and don’t kid yourself. If you think you might be, write it all down!” *Weight loss varies by individual. You may not achieve these results.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line504
__label__wiki	0.855508	0.855508	Google says Australians could lose free search services CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Google warned on Monday that the Australian government’s plan to make digital giants pay for news content threatens users’ free services in Australia and could result in their data being given to media organizations. The U.S.-based company's warning, contained in what it called an “open letter to Australians,” comes a week before public consultations close on draft laws that would make both Google and Facebook pay for news siphoned from commercial media companies. “A proposed law ... would force us to provide you with a dramatically worse Google Search and YouTube, could lead to your data being handed over to big news businesses, and would put the free services you use at risk in Australia,” Google Australia and New Zealand managing director Mel Silva wrote. Google owns YouTube, a video-sharing platform. Both Google and Facebook have condemned the proposed legislation, which was released last month and aims to succeed where other countries have failed in making the companies compensate media businesses for news content. Australian competition watchdog Rod Sims, chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which drafted the laws, said Google’s letter contains misinformation. “Google will not be required to charge Australians for the use of its free services such as Google Search and YouTube, unless it chooses to do so,” Sims said in a statement. “Google will not be required to share any additional user data with Australian news businesses unless it chooses to do so,” he added. Google later said in a statement that free services were at risk in Australia because the draft laws were “unworkable.” Google said it did not intend to charge Australians for those services. Google also said the draft legislation requires the platform to provide user data that “goes beyond the current level of data sharing between Google and news publishers.” Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, the minister responsible for the consumer watchdog, said in a statement that the draft law “remains open for consultation, providing an opportunity for media companies and digital platforms to provide feedback” until Aug. 28. Swinburne University senior lecturer on media Belinda Barnet described the Google letter as a “cynical exercise” designed to “scare Google users.” “I see no merit in any of the arguments,” she said. “One of the most ironic arguments is that they’re going to have to hand over some data to news organizations — for example which article people have read and how long they may have read it for — and this coming from the world’s major privacy violator and certainly the world’s largest data aggregator is a bit rich,” Barnet added. Google has been battling the Australian consumer watchdog on two fronts. Last month, the watchdog launched court action against Google for allegedly misleading account holders about its use of their personal data. The commission alleges that Google misled millions of Australians to obtain their consent and expand the scope of personal information that it collects about users’ internet activity to target advertising. Google denies the allegations. Technology law and ethics Technology issues Computing and information technology Media and entertainment industry	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line506
__label__wiki	0.964198	0.964198	Juicy J feat. Justin Timberlake “The Woods” [LISTEN]!!! Memphis natives team up for a collaboration! Juicy J has always been the rapper for a good party hit, and has displayed this with songs like “Bandz A Make Her Dance”, and “Show Out”. Since the return of Justin Timberlake, our ears have been graced with his voice on tracks like “Suit and Tie” and “Mirrors”, and on features like “Holy Grail”. The two J’s have come together on a new Juicy J track entitled “The Woods”. Unlike the music that Juicy J has been putting out, “The Woods” is a slower tempo than all his other hits. “The Woods” is a single off of Juicy J’s highly anticipated album Stay Trippy which is set to release August 27th. Take a listen to his latest release, featuring Justin Timberlake, “The Woods” Juicy J and Justin get sexy on em! #NOstoplights Follow ME on Twitter AND Instagram @ayejuju__ Beyonce’s Mrs. Carter Tour in DC [ FAN PHOTOS] bandz a make her dance , Juicy J , justin timberlake , Still Trippy , The Music , The Woods	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line511
__label__wiki	0.893307	0.893307	Visiting Fascists Confronted by LYM in Ibero-America Synarchist Aznar Unmasked Schwarzenegger Meets 'Mini-Arnie' Aznar Had Planned a Far Different Agenda 'Ibero-America's Voice Must Be Heard' Uruguay Pays Off IMF Debt Bush Support Proves Kiss of Death for Nicaraguan Allies From Volume 5, Issue Number 46 of EIR Online, Published Nov. 14, 2006 The LaRouche Youth Movement busted up prominent events by two key assets of the new Fascist International this week: first in Bogota, Colombia, against the Cheney-like former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on Nov. 8, and then in Mexico City the next day, against California's shame, Gov. Arnie Schwarzenegger. The LYM message to both—that Lyndon LaRouche led the Nov. 7 defeat of their fascist kin in the United States at the polls, and they will soon go down, too, as Bush and Cheney are driven out—pleased many, and both interventions were widely covered by the Ibero-American press (see next two items). First, on Nov. 8, came the move against the former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who had a rough time of it when members of the Colombian LYM interrupted the last of his presentations in that nation, an event jointly organized by his own Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies (FAES), the foundation of French Synarchist Jean Francois Revel, and the Good Government Foundation of Colombian Defense Minister and Mont Pelerite Juan Manuel Santos. Present were Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and an audience of 800 former ministers, government officials, bankers, and other elites, as well as the accredited diplomatic corps in Colombia. Aznar began his standard rant about the blessings of the neoliberal model, only to be interrupted by a LYM member shouting, "Lies. Aznar is a liar. The British neoliberal model has caused starvation, misery, and unemployment to nations. The proof is in the streets and not in statistical sophistry. Look at how Argentina, Mexico, our country have been impoverished." Aznar, somewhat taken aback, continued his speech, only to be met by another shout: "You ordered the invasion of Iraq and committed genocide," and then, as he attempted to resume, was interrupted yet again by another LYM member: "Jobs are generated with infrastructure. The usurious debt is growing faster than the productive capacity of nations." Aznar finished his speech looking like a frightened rat, the LYM reported. The discussion period opened with an exchange between a LYM member and President Uribe on how to develop the nation: He must break with the "fascist policies of British liberals like Mr. Aznar," he was told, and instead turn to American System economic policies as Colombia's late 19th-Century President Rafael Nunez had courageously done. The event was closed by a five-minute briefing to the entire gathering from yet another LaRouche youth, on how LaRouche, leading the FDR faction in the Democratic Party in the U.S., intends to overthrow the fascists in the U.S. who have invaded Iraq and who are committing genocide. We are going to get them out of power and into jail, said the LYM organizer. The mandate in the U.S. elections is clear: Bring the troops home and begin the impeachment of Bush and Cheney for genocide. The next day, Arnie "The Deregulator" Schwarzenegger had hoped to be the star of a Nov. 9 event sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City, and attended by the governors of Zacatecas, Baja California, Tamaulipas, and the state of Mexico, as well as the director of UCLA and other prominents. The event room at the swank hotel stank of the oligarchism of the business sector that was present, the LYM reports. But scarcely had the Governator entered the room, when a short, male LYM member, put on a dress and Terminator mask, and began parodying the Governator and distributing an invitation to LaRouche's Nov. 16 webcast. Another LYM member began shouting, "Here, look here. Arnie's Mini-me," explaining why Arnie, Cheney, and Bush are crazy fascists. With the press stunned and security disconcerted, the persecution began. As mini-Arnie was dragged out, big Arnie was told by another LYM member: "You are a fascist and now as weak as President Bush.... Talk about the bankruptcy of the auto sector, of the collapse of real estate," and so forth. When she, too, was kicked out of the room, another group of LYM'ers began distributing leaflets, as another quickly ascended the podium and opened up a 2.5 x 1.5 meter banner right next to the Governator, who by this time had forgotten what he was going to say. Before security was able to drag these organizers out (they left singing, to the tune of "London Bridge": "Bush and Dick are falling down, falling down, falling down, Bush and Dick are falling down, Arnie too"), a LYM member told Arnie: "LaRouche was the reason the Republicans lost; Remember, it's LaRouche!" Outside, the press were taking statements, copies of the invitations, and lots of photos of mini-Arnie. Coverage of the intervention ranged from Peruvian TV, to Chilean radio, and print media from Mexico to India. The coverage was typified by an ANSA wire, out in Spanish and Portuguese, and headlined "Mexicans shout 'Fascist' and 'Nazi Assassin' at Schwarzenegger," which identified the protesters as the LaRouche Youth, whose message was: "You are a fascist, and you are already as weak as President Bush." Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar had planned a triumphal tour to Colombia and Guatemala, to offer his nostrums on "economic freedom" and to boast of the "successes" of his 1996-2004 Popular Party (PP) regime in Spain. Just prior to Aznar's departure for Colombia, three PP representatives showed up in Caracas, Venezuela to join the opposition in a Nov. 4 march in support of its Presidential candidate Manuel Rosales, who is running against Hugo Chavez in the Dec. 3 elections, and to participate in a seminar "in defense of freedom and democracy" in Venezuela. In a tour described as a continuation of his February 2006 visit to Mexico, where he outrageously intervened to lobby on behalf of PAN Presidential candidate Felipe Calderon, the rabidly anti-Muslim, pro-Francisco Franco Aznar announced that he would be focussing on such issues as reforming NATO; "What Is the West?"; the need to create a free-trade-based Atlantic Prosperity Area; and "Ibero-America conceived of as an essential part of the West," as opposed to "indigenist populism." On Nov. 9, Aznar was to receive an honorary doctorate at the Francisco Marroquin University, the Central American headquarters of a nest of University of Chicago-trained, Friedrich von Hayek-loving "economists." That was the message delivered Nov. 4 by Argentine President Nestor Kirchner to the Ibero-American Summit in Montevideo, Uruguay. Kirchner was addressing the annual gathering of Ibero-American heads of state, and the Spanish King and current Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. "The prism of globalization leads us to give greater importance to a sense of community which demands a different, more universal decisiveness—a synthesis which preserves, but at the same time integrates our peculiarities." Kirchner stated that, "We must increasingly become enamored of building an Ibero-American space." But he warned that, while it is the responsibility of each government to fight poverty, unemployment, and inequality, "the success of development policies depends on being able to count on a more just and fair international financial system, which shows greater solidarity." Kirchner embraced the proposal made by Zapatero to create an "Ibero-American Fund," that could be used to combat poverty and social and economic marginalization. Exclusion "prevents the creation of a community," Kirchner said, because those excluded "produce as a reaction an identity of resistance, anchored in the past." To overcome this, there must be cooperation and development projects, so that people won't be forced to leave their own countries in search of better opportunities elsewhere. "I absolutely agree" with Zapatero, Kirchner said. "We face enormous challenges ... and it is very important that the Ibero-American voice be heard in consolidating that multilateralism that is so endangered today...." Following in the footsteps of Brazil and Argentina, Uruguayan Economics Minister Danilo Astori announced on Nov. 8 that his government would pay off the entirety of its $1.08 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund, a full two years ahead of time, in order to free itself from "some demands which sometimes become restrictions." He was quick to add that this did not mean a break with the IMF, but that it did end the stranglehold of "conditionalities" that the IMF imposes on debtor countries. The Bush Administration provided critical help in electing Sandinista Danny Ortega as President of Nicaragua in the first round of voting on Nov. 5. The Administration's imperialist threats, that Ortega was unacceptable to the Bush regime, were not welcomed by the Nicaraguan population. Having one of his opponents backed by the Bush Administration, and the other by Iran-Contra criminal Ollie North, added to Ortega's support. See "Calderon Has That Old Sinking Feeling," in our InDepth section this week, for a look at other political leaders in Ibero-America who have yet to learn that tying one's fate to Bush and globalization is proving a politically suicidal act.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line518
__label__wiki	0.962708	0.962708	Bush Administration Blocking Syria-Israel Peace Pact Israeli Defense Expert: Iran Threat Is Exaggerated Kuwait Prepares for Potential U.S. War Against Iran Tehran Seeks Bids for Two New Nuclear Power Plants Iran May Withhold Oil Exports Against Sanctions Mozart Festival Held in Occupied Palestine From Volume 6, Issue 17 of EIR Online, Published April 24, 2007 Speaking before the German-Syrian Society in Bonn April 18, Syria's ambassador to Germany, Dr. Hussein Omran, reported that Syria and Israel were close to a peace agreement, but the political will in the United States was lacking. Certain events in the last weeks alone have pointed to how quickly peace could be reached in the region if Vice President Dick Cheney were impeached. The most recent occurred in Israel, where on April 12, for the first time in its history, a Syrian had addressed the Israeli Knesset with a message of peace from Damascus. Ibrahim Suleiman, a Syrian and naturalized American living in Maryland, who participated last year in Syria-Israeli back channel talks along with former Israeli senior foreign ministry official Dr. Alon Liel, briefed the Knesset's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee on Syria's readiness for peace talks. "Syria right now is ready to speak peace. I challenged the Israeli government to answer President Bashar's [Assad] call for peace and sit down together" Ha'aretz quoted Suleiman telling a press conference after his Knesset briefing. "I think it can happen in six months." Both Suleiman and his Israeli counterpart Alon Liel briefed the Knesset committee on their secret talks, held between 2004 and 2006 (see last week's InDepth for "Bush Fiddles While Cheney Plots More Wars," by Jeffrey Steinberg). Suleiman, who reportedly enjoys good relations with the Assad family, presented various possibilities for a peace agreement based on a return to Syria of the Golan Heights in return for normalization of relations, and economic cooperation. He reportedly told the committee that Syrian President Assad has appointed a committee, headed by one of his army generals, to coordinate talks with Israel. He also conveyed messages from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem. Suleiman said, "I believe that only secret negotiations between Israel and Syria, far away from the eyes of the media, will lead to peace." Thanking the committee for inviting him, he said, "I'm very glad I came. I hope that both sides will begin to meet and we, as a private channel, will disappear. My presence here makes everything possible." Knesset member Yahava Gal On, of the Meretz party, who initiated the Knesset briefing, said, "In a peace agreement, Syria would agree to stop supporting terror against us and cut ties with Hizbollah, and would demand that we return to 1967 borders in the Golan Heights." She added that the briefing "was a huge step, especially because it returns the Syrian option to public discourse.... It is important that Israel begin formal talks with Syria...." Neither the Israeli Foreign Ministry nor the Prime Minister's office received Suleiman, for fear that they would incur the wrath of Washington. While underscoring the significance of the Suleiman's visit to Israel, one Israeli intelligence source told EIR that as long as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refuses to buck the Bush Administration, the prospects for a peace agreement are slim. Addressing a security conference at Tel Aviv University on April 17, a senior Israeli defense expert said the nuclear threat from Iran is exaggerated. Dr. Yitzhak Ravid, former head of military studies at the Armament Development Authority (RAFAEL), said exaggerated assessments played straight into Iranian hands by aiding them in frightening Israelis. "A 20 kiloton bomb over Tel Aviv would kill 20,000 to 25,000, not 250,000 as had been claimed," Ravid said. "Such an attack is very serious, but it is not the end of the Zionist dream." He added that Iran was now struggling to make a first-generation bomb, but once made, they would have another major challenge in attempting to fit it on a missile that could carry the weight. As for Iran's allegedly nuclear-capable Shahab missiles, Ravid said, "Never in human history has more than one Shiaab missile been successfully test-fired. And the Shahabs themselves are very limited. They are actually a Scud-sized missile." Quoting Uzi Rubin, head of ballistic missile research for the Ministry of Defense, Ravid said, "The Iranians are almost frantic in volunteering information about their weapons capabilities, sometimes to the point of incredulity.... They are meant to impress before they are meant to be used in anger." As for the threat posed by missiles carrying chemical warheads, Ravid said, "More harm is caused to people by attempts to prepare for such an attack, than harm which would be caused by a direct hit by such a missile." "This exaggeration causes damage in terms of anxiety, and pressured diplomatic activity." Ravid pointed out that more Israelis were killed through suffocation by mishandling gas masks during the 1991 Gulf War than by the Scud missiles that hit Israel. Although it was officially announced on April 20 that Iranian chief negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will meet on April 25, to start a new round of talks on Iran's nuclear program, warnings of a coming war continue. Most significant is the report, by AFP on April 20, that Kuwait has announced a plan to prepare for such a war. Kuwaiti State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Faisal al-Hajji was quoted telling the al-Watan daily, that an emergency team "will devise a comprehensive contingency plan to deal with risks that may result in case a war breaks out in the Gulf on the back of the rising military escalation towards Iran." The team, which will draw on officials from the Ministries of Defense, Interior, Health, and Oil, is to be set up by the Cabinet April 22, to hold its first meeting April 23. Then, on May 1, the Parliament will hold a special debate on the government's readiness for a possible confrontation. There are 15,000 U.S. troops now in Kuwait, which was used as the launching pad for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Despite the controversy over its nuclear program, the Iranian government announced April 16 that it is seeking bids for construction of two new nuclear power plants; it plans to site the plants near Bushehr. Ahmed Fayyaz-Bakhsh, the deputy chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said companies worldwide, including U.S. companies, can bid on plants which would have a capacity from 1,000 mw to 1,600 mw, and cost approximately $1.7 billion each. The construction time is not to exceed ten years. Meanwhile, the Director General of the IAEA Mohammed ElBaradei has called on Iran and Israel to join a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. Reports indicate that ElBaradei made the appeal after his talks with King Abdullah of Jordan. ElBaradei also said the IAEA is ready to help Jordan to develop its nuclear energy for peaceful use. At the 12th annual International Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Expo, Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh insisted, "The Islamic Republic of Iran's policy is to supply energy as a responsibility. We are never seeking to cut the energy supplies to the world. But naturally, every country, which is subject to danger or attack, should use all its possibilities to defend itself, and this is every country's right." His comments were reported by Iranian television and the national news service IRNA on April 18. The minister's statement concerning potential withholding of oil was made as new threats from some UN Security Council quarters, of a third sanctions resolution against Iran for its nuclear program, have surfaced. Ironically, Minister Vaziri-Hamaneh reported to the Expo that Iran has signed more than $38 billion in development deals during the past year and a half, in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries. He added, "Signing deals shows firm determination of the Islamic Republic of Iran to make breakthroughs in the oil industry." During a two-week period spanning Easter, an extraordinary Mozart Festival was held in occupied Palestine, Ha'aretz reported April 18. The Palestinian Mozart Festival included 50 works, including almost everything from solos to operas and ensembles to orchestral works. Some 20 concerts, were held as well as films, master classes, and workshops, in cities throughout the West Bank where Palestinians had to run the gauntlet of checkpoints and security checks in order to reach concert halls. In the city of Nablus, where, only a few weeks ago, the Israeli military conducted a series of brutal military incursions, the Choir of London held a concert at the Al Masri Cultural Center. The American clarinetist Douglas Metcalf performed a Mozart Quintet with a string quartet from England. Later in the evening, the choir performed Miserere K. 85, and the Ave Verum. The audience included a group of children aged 6 to 8 who, according to the Ha'aretz correspondent, "sat in total silence, staring wide-eyed" at a performance the likes of which they had never seen. In Bethlehem, the Choir of London performed the Magic Flute, and in Ramallah, the Requiem. Many of the performers were Palestinians, including the international soprano and Jordanian native Dima Bawab, and 14-year-old violinist Jenna Barghouti. John Harte, a member of the Choir of London and one of the musical directors of the festival, said, "This tour made us realize that music has far more roles than we imagined. Not only musical harmony, which is supposed to encourage harmony between nations, as many think, but also a means of objecting, a socio-political declaration, an expression of despair in politics and its failures and also an outlet from stress and worry."	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line519
__label__wiki	0.50115	0.50115	Are You How You Talk? How We Speak - extended interview with Dr. Richard Epstein Everyday Grammar - Are You How You Talk? We judge people by the way they speak and the grammar they use. Listen to several Americans from different regions speak. Don’t worry too much about what they are saying, just listen to their different speaking styles. Can you guess where they are from? Fran Drescher: "What’s this about? Why’s there only one woman?” James Earl Jones: “I feel wonderful to be back on Broadway.” Sarah Palin: “The difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick.” Dolly Parton: “You know, I’ll wake up sometimes from a dream and think I’d better get up and write that down or I’ll forget it.” Surfer: “Dude, you got the best barrels ever dude.” John F. Kennedy: “Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” Tom Brokaw: “A moment that will live forever. You’re seeing the destruction of the Berlin Wall.” Wendy Williams: “How is it getting up and being there and getting your hair fried and the eye lashes and all that stuff.” Rosie Perez: “I’m exhausted.” Rhett Buetler: “Everybody kind of relates rodeo with kind of a wild energizing experience…something that gets out of control.” As you listened to these different speakers, you probably started to form ideas about them. The minute you open your mouth, you are giving clues about yourself—where you grew up, with whom you grew up, and where you went to school. Non-standard dialects If you study English in the United States, you are probably learning Standard American English – the kind of English used in books, business, government and school. But there are millions of native speakers who have their own vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation that is different from Standard American English. Linguists call these non-standard dialects. Basically, a non-standard dialect is a dialect of a language that is not taught in school. There are dozens of regional varieties of American English. People disagree about what makes a distinct dialect or accent. But it is clear that a farmer from North Dakota does not sound like a police officer in Boston. And a lawyer from Seattle does not sound like a fisherman from Louisiana. Some people look down on certain regional accents and dialects. They might describe them as "slang," "ungrammatical" or "broken English." Richard Epstein is a linguist from Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey. He says it is a mistake to judge people by the way they speak. “When we hear someone use grammar that we think of as perhaps not standard, it’s very easy to judge them as uneducated, and maybe they’re not too bright. But that’s a stereotype. There are many people who speak non-standardly who are extremely bright.” African-American Vernacular One of the largest non-standard dialects in the United States is what linguists call African-American Vernacular English, or AAVE. It is spoken by some African-Americans, especially those living large cities. A small number of white teenagers also speak AAVE, Epstein says. AAVE follows the grammar rules of Standard American English with a few exceptions. For example, AAVE speakers might drop the “to be” verb in the present tense. Instead of the standard, “The coffee is cold,” some speakers say, “The coffee cold.” Epstein explains. “So, of course, white folks who don’t know African-American dialect raise their hands up in despair and say, ‘Oh, this is ungrammatical, it’s illogical, how can you possibly have a sentence with no verb? It doesn’t make sense.’ "But of course it makes perfect sense. The verb ‘be’ in the present tense doesn’t really give you any information of any use at all. So in many languages, not just African-American dialect, they don’t have the verb ‘be.’ Or if they don’t have it, they don’t use it. “So the most logical language of all in our folklore is Latin, and Latin also frequently also left out the verb ‘be’ in the present tense. … So there’s nothing illogical or ungrammatical about saying, ‘The coffee cold.’” Presidential Grammar It is common for people to change dialects for different social situations. Someone who speaks AAVE at home might speak Standard American English at work. Sometimes even the rich and powerful adopt non-standard grammar. Former president George W. Bush grew up as the son of a senator and went to Harvard and Yale. But when he was campaigning, he spoke like a “regular Joe,” or someone from the working class. Listen to his speaking style at a campaign rally in the southern state of Alabama in 2006. “For those of you who are stuffin’ the envelopes and puttin’ up the signs and gettin’ on the telephones and turnin’ people out to vote, I wanna thank you in advance for what you gonna do for this excellent governor.” Notice how the former president dropped the letter “g” at the end of a word. He shortens “going to” to “gonna” and “want to” to “wanna.” George W. Bush was speaking with a working class Southern accent, even though he grew up in New England. Bush’s critics said that his informal speaking style showed that he was not very smart. Epstein says President Bush used non-standard grammar to his advantage. George W. Bush is not alone. Many politicians change their speaking style to try to build a connection with their audience. Dialect and identity Epstein says the way we speak is part of who we are. He says not everyone who speaks a standard dialect is intelligent. And not everyone who speaks a non-standard dialect is uneducated. “It’s very clear that we speak the way the people we most cherish and love most, the way they speak. . . Our language is a sign of who we are as much as our religion, much more than it’s a sign of our intelligence. There is no link between dialect and intelligence.” We leave you a song performed by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. In the song, a man and woman disagree about how to pronounce the words “potato” and “tomato.” As a joke they decide to cancel their wedding or “call the whole thing off.” Neither, Neither, Let's call the whole thing off! You like potatoes And you like "potahtoes" You like tomatoes And you like "tomahtoes" Potatoes, "potahtoes" Tomatoes,"tomahtoes" Let’s call the whole thing off! I’m Jill Robbins. I'm John Russell. Adam Brock wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor. To find out about the speakers you heard in the audio for this story, take the quiz. (look to the left on web or below on mobile). Standard American English – n. The variety of the English language that is generally used in professional communication in the United States and taught in American schools. non-standard dialect – n. not conforming in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, etc., to the usage characteristic of and considered acceptable by most educated native speakers variety – n. a number or collection of different things or people dialect – n. a form of a language that is spoken in a particular area and that uses some of its own words, grammar, and pronunciations bright – adj. smart, intelligent African American Vernacular English – n. a varietyof American English, most commonly spoken by urban working-class African Americans. folklore – n. traditional customs, beliefs, stories, and sayings Now it’s your turn. What do you call your own dialect? Is it respected in your country? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. Here’s a nice site created by Ben and David Crystal where you can listen to many different people saying “potato.” AAVE exists in social media, too : Taylor Jones mapped it in Twitter. Who Makes Grammar Rules? Everyday Grammar: American English vs. British English	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line521
__label__cc	0.728719	0.271281	Expert Contribution Sexual Harassment /Sexism in the workplace happen more often than you think By Libertatem News Network ArticlesLibertatem News Network - January 18, 2018 0 Latest trends in Cryptocurrency This is an Expert Contribution from Adv. Kanishk Agarwal, Founder, CriTaxCorp (A Law Firm) In today’s generation, every citizen has moved... Expert ContributionLibertatem News Network - May 17, 2017 0 All one needs to know about GST We all have been wondering what is GST ever since its inception, haven’t we? People in the nation have... Libertatem News Network The status of women in India has been a major issue for decades. According to the various religions that prevail in India, women are to be worshipped in all circumstances. But the reality is that we worship goddesses whereas women are subjected to harassment and maltreatment. While sexual harassment has been an inescapable problem for women throughout the history, only in the last decade have feminists won definition of sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination and women have come forward in mobs to demand remedies and institutional changes. Even after so much of awareness that has been spread over these years, still, unfortunately, the outcome is slightest. Sexual harassment or sexism in the workplace happens much often than what we understand. The simple reason being that the cases or instances of sexual harassment are not reported. There are many cases of serious sexual harassment where the victim is not able to get any relief because of social pressure as even society hasn’t considered it as a serious problem. The reluctance to take actions often comes down to a simple formula. A company is given freedom to decide its own action base. The company takes the action depending on the fact whether it’s a bigger financial risk to lose a key person or to settle a few sexual harassment claims. The power of position is often triggered when it comes to cases related to sexual harassment. THE REASONS WHY SeXUAL HARASSMENT DOES NOT GET REPORTED There are many reasons why women are not able to report unwanted verbal or physical conduct. It has been found that the abusers often target women who have certain traits or disadvantages. The ones who are usually harassed are the ones that may be inexperienced employees or single mothers who rely on a paycheck. Others may target those who are timid personality types i.e. the ones who have a hard time in taking a stand for themselves. But this does not mean that executive women are not subjected to sexual harassment. A woman may have represented management-level, she can experience sexual harassment from subordinate level employees. This class of women are concerned about retaliation from peers and are concerned about their career or reputation impact that they might have after reporting sexual harassment. It is not easy for women to report a case, one is always concerned about the office gossips and difficulty finding a new job if the forthcoming employers get to know about the claim or being tagged as a troublemaker for the organizations or people she works with. It is such a difficult situation for a women because at one hand it is said that proceedings related to sexual harassment complaint are to be kept confidential but practically it hardly takes any time that peers of the victim to be apprised of such complaints, due to lack of enforceability part of organisations to enforce confidentiality by respondent or witnesses. It has been observed that some harassers have very low self-esteem and don’t believe they are being coercive because they don’t see themselves having power. And sometimes women don’t report because they think “everyone already knows” and action hasn’t been taken that is often not the case. She further adds that “There are the rumor mill and people at a certain level who know about it, but they don’t say anything to people who can do something about it because they’re afraid of retaliation,” Harassers usually look for people who are in less of a position or power in credibility or monetary stability. Sexual harassment happens much more than what we can even imagine.Alyssa Milano, a Hollywood actress on being sexually harassed by her producer, Harvey Weinstein, urged women who have been sexually harassed to write #MeToo on twitter. #MeToo posts of thousands of women across India has proved the same, the cases are not reported as the internal mechanism is not strong. The compulsions made by the act are just a liability for the big organizations.It is just for the namesake. A young enthusiastic lawyer, Mr. Kanishk Agarwal has come up with an application Centre4POSH, with an ideology that organization needs to focus on preventing sexual harassment in the organization rather than just complying with it or addressing it as per the book of law. In the past, the focus has always been on redressal mechanism, but prevention mechanism is a better way to curb the deeply rooted problem within India. Sensitizing the employees on sexual harassment is very important as sometimes, even the employees also don’t know that their conduct might amount to sexual harassment. Some of the harassments which are disregarded as harassment and taken as part of the culture by even higher management employees are; use of abusive language, repeated request for late night dinner dates, ogling, caressing etc. It’s time we endure against Sexual Harassment and transform an organization from being a complaint to preventing SH at the workplace! Previous articlePadmavati Controversy- Politics behind Interpreting India’s History Next articleGujarat Elections, 2017: Final Verdict with New Indications Articles Libertatem News Network - January 18, 2018 0 This is an Expert Contribution from Adv. Kanishk Agarwal, Founder, CriTaxCorp (A Law Firm) In today’s generation, every citizen has moved towards digitalization so cryptocurrency which... Expert Contribution Libertatem News Network - May 17, 2017 0 We all have been wondering what is GST ever since its inception, haven’t we? People in the nation have been quite curious as to...	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line525
__label__wiki	0.649314	0.649314	Item F2456 - Letter to Peggy Penberthy, 1982 Letter to Peggy Penberthy, 1982 1 1.; 27 cm. Herbert, Xavier, 1901-1984 Xavier Herbert was born in Geraldton, Western Australia, and grew up there and in Fremantle. He trained as a pharmacist and worked and lived in Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin and then England where he married and wrote his first novel 'Capricornia' which was finally published by P R Stephensen in 1938. Herbert returned to Australia in 1932 and in 1946 he settled with his wife Sadie at Redlynch, near Cairns, Queensland. Herbert's other works include the autobiographical 'Disturbing Element' (1963), the novel 'Soldiers' Women' (1961), the novella 'Seven Emus' (1959) and the short story collection 'Larger than Life' (1963), as well as short stories and many articles expressing his strongly held opinions on various aspects of Australian life. His last work 'Poor Fellow My Country' was published in 1975 and won the Miles Franklin Award that year. Since his death two collections of Herbert 's writings have been published: 'Xavier Herbert' (1992), edited by Peter Pierce and Frances De Groen, which includes extracts from novels with other fiction, nonfiction and correspondence, and 'South of Capricornia' (1990), edited by Russell McDougall, which reprints stories written before 1934 and often published under pseudonyms. Xavier Herbert was awarded honorary doctorates by the Universities of Queensland and Newcastle. Penberthy, Peg Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Letter 30 July 1982 to Peggy Penberthy, Shorncliffe, Brisbane. Unrestricted access. Handwritten. Letterhead: Redlynch, Qld. Authors, Australian -- 20th century -- Archives Herbert, Xavier, 1901-1984 (Subject) Migrated Migrated from LMS: April 2019, P.A. Herbert, Xavier, 1901-1984 (Creator) Penberthy, Peg (Creator)	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line529
__label__cc	0.660623	0.339377	What a Girl (and Boy) Wants Home » Articles » What a Girl (and Boy) Wants Apparel, Articles, Consumer, Featured, Insights, Region, The Americas, Topics, Types Here's What Drives Kids' Wear Before there were UwUpies and E-Gees, Softgirls and VSCO girls, there were Valley Girls. Fer sure. And they totally like, loved going into, like, clothing stores and stuff. Of course, parents then had to pony up for that preppy, peppy California look, just as today’s parents try to keep up with the fickle trends that drive the kids’ market. It’s a business that — despite some of the cryptic lingo — continues to remain steady, thanks to parents who are willing to listen to their kids, and brands that understand the parental preferences, as well. "Retailers need to consider parents’ and children’s style preferences, especially as kids play a big role in purchase decisions. Those that capture the attention of parents and their kids have a chance to encourage additional self-purchases from parents and retain children as loyal customers when they transition to independent shoppers." -Alexis DeSalva, Retail & Apparel Analyst, Mintel Childrenswear held a global value of US $203.4 billion in 2017, according to Statista, the international statistics portal. The market is forecast to reach US $339 billion by 2024, according to Global Industry Analysts (GIA). Growth in kids’ wear will be “driven by factors such as growing exposure of children to media and the ensuing rise in materialism, excessive consumption and impulsive purchases,” GIA states, adding that other aspects include, “greater autonomy and decision-making power of kids and their enhanced role in purchase decisions; growing affluence of parents; and a widening range of choices in luxury and designer clothing brands.” Statista says the baby and young children’s apparel market in the United States was valued at $21 billion in 2018. And with all the effort to appease their kids, American parents have made the U.S. the largest consumer of children’s apparel, with 21 percent of the global market, according to web data provide ScrapeHero. Perhaps the market is so strong in the U.S. because more than half the parents of 1-to-5 year olds (56 percent) say shopping for children’s clothes is fun, according to the Cotton Council International (CCI) and Cotton Incorporated 2019 Childrenswear Study. It may come as no surprise, though, that the shine wears off the enjoyment once kids hit the tween years (10-to-13) when just 39 percent of parents say it’s still fun and instead say they are more likely to feel overwhelmed (16 percent) and frustrated (14 percent) by the clothes shopping experience. Babies, on the other hand, have no say in what they wear and toddlers, not much more. That gives parents all sorts of leeway to play dress-up with their own living dolls. It makes sense then that ScrapeHero reports that babies (0-to-3 years old) have the highest number of products (13.3k) and that market was expected to be worth $8.4 billion in 2019. Girls had the second greatest number of products at 9.30k, followed by boys at 7.4k. Mintel says moms are more prone to being thrifty, while fathers like to express their sartorial side when picking out kids’ clothes. And overall, the top inspiration for a purchase comes from what is requested by the child (69 percent), according to the Childrenswear Study. That’s followed by retail store displays, salespeople and window shopping (50 percent), “people I see regularly including children of friends and family” (36 percent), retailer, brand, or ecommerce sites (30 percent), and social media sites (29 percent). It should be noted that the social media sites see a big spike among parents of one-year-olds (43 percent). More than one-half of all parents (51 percent) say fabric has “some/a great deal” of influence on their purchase, according to the Childrenswear Study. And 83 percent of parents check fabric content at least some of the time before purchasing kids’ clothes, with 2 in 5 checking “always/usually.” When it comes to fabric preference for their child’s clothes, cotton is the preferred fabric overall. More than three-quarters (78 percent) prefer cotton for their kids’ underwear and undershirts, while 77 percent prefer it for shirts or tops, such as tees, tanks, dress shirts, and sweatshirts, according to the Childrenswear Study. Additionally, 71 percent prefer cotton for their kids’ bottoms, whether its pants, leggings, denim jeans, or shorts. When seeking apparel for their children, the Childrenswear Study respondents say the most important factors are that the clothes are “comfortable for my child” (96 percent), “does not chafe or irritate my child’s skin” (76 percent), “functional/allows my child to move/play” (70 percent), durable or long-lasting (62 percent), is high quality (60 percent), and “is a style my child will wear” (60 percent). Increasingly, parents are springing for premium children’s brands. GIA says this stems from the fact that even though the birth rate is declining, “the increased resources available per child is helping increase per capita spending.” This can be seen in the increase in “Mom & Me” outfits for mothers and daughters. The market is also seeing demand for non-gender specific clothes, according to GIA, as well as durable apparel made from environmentally friendly materials and extended-size apparel for children. It’s also feeling the influence of advergaming (advertising in video games), viral marketing, and social media advertising aimed at children. Speaking of viral, Edited analysts say retailers should be poised for the spread of Baby Yoda merchandise. The character is officially known as The Child in the new Disney+ series, “Star Wars: The Mandalorian.” Officially licensed apparel and accessories is being made available through a variety of retailers, including ShopDisney, Amazon, Target, Kohl’s, Walmart, and Macy’s. “Unlike many other memes that are short lived, Baby Yoda’s popularity has rolled into 2020 with retailers tapping the character for merchandise,” Edited noted. “If you have a license for Baby Yoda, then graphic T-shirts are the easiest and most popular way to capitalize on the character.” The tops category is the most popular among children’s clothes (19.8k), according to ScrapeHero, with bottoms following at 6.3k. Since so many tops are purchased, parents say they like to buy clothes for their kids that include positive messages (88 percent), according to the Childrenswear Study. That’s followed by parents who just want their kids to be comfortable, “even if I don’t like his/her style” (85 percent). Mintel’s Alexis DeSalva, retail and apparel analyst, says that although the children’s market faces some challenges due to declining birth rates, the market remains steady. “Retailers need to find ways to evolve the meaning of value and convenience for parents, especially as they do more shopping online,” she states. “Further, looking to existing shoppers to drive incremental sales will be important for maintaining ongoing engagement. Retailers need to consider parents’ and children’s style preferences, especially as kids play a big role in purchase decisions. Those that capture the attention of parents and their kids have a chance to encourage additional self-purchases from parents and retain children as loyal customers when they transition to independent shoppers.” #Children's Apparel #Childrens' Clothes #Childrenswear #Cotton #Cotton Incorporated #Kid's Apparel #Kids' Clothes #Lifestyle Monitor Where Consumers Shop For Most of Their Clothing Over Time Holiday Prep Amongst a Pandemic & Economic Uncertainty Will Millennials Force Apparel Industry into Transparency? September 2013 Executive Cotton Update The Science Behind Sleeping Well COURTING THE MEXICAN APPAREL CONSUMER	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line531
__label__wiki	0.935691	0.935691	Things I Love Music This is an irony-free zone by Sam Worley alterna2 Why the long face? Stephin Merritt, a short, gay, laconic, and exceedingly witty person, is the lyricist for the Magnetic Fields (about whom this is the second Bleader post this week, sorry), in addition to other projects like the 6ths and the Gothic Archies. He writes impeccably and owns a chihuahua named for Irving Berlin. I've encountered people who think of Merritt's lyrics as "ironic," but I am here to submit that that's not the case. They have a weird earnestness, which I think is what makes them so effective. You just have to separate it out from the aggressively hilarious, like "You Must Be Out of Your Mind," from the 2010 album Realism, with its lines "I want you crawling back to me / Down on your knees, yeah / Like an appendectomy / Sans anesthesia." There's some funny shit on the new album, Love at the Bottom of the Sea, too; see for instance “Your Girlfriend’s Face.” I think that sincerity, beneath and beside the veneer, is Merritt's stock-in-trade. He writes about love—mostly, almost exclusively—as an absurd and doomed pursuit. He wrote 69 love songs for an album called 69 Love Songs, a three-volume epic that remains a career peak for the band. When I saw them the other night, they played "Busby Berkeley Dreams," which is on the third volume. It opens with a lovely little couplet: "I should have forgotten you long ago / But you're in every song I know." And on and on. Sure, there's the twee and the strictly conceptual ("Experimental Music Love," for instance). But consider a song like "Love Is Like a Bottle of Gin": "It costs a lot more than it's worth / And yet there is no substitute." Who can argue with it? I wrote the other day of how much I liked "Plant White Roses," which the Magnetic Fields sang on Monday. It was a pleasure watching them perform such a simple country song, though it had been run through the old genre-metareference machine; I loved the lyrics "You're all I need / But you need more than country songs / You need to be getting along." Some other favorite lines come from "100,000 Fireflies," which is on the band's early album Distant Plastic Trees, and they straddle the divide between goofy and almost unbearably tender. They're the last in the song: You won't be happy with me, but give me one more chance You won't be happy anyway Why do we still live here, in this repulsive town? All our friends are in New York Why do we keep shrieking when we mean soft things? We should be whispering all the time Things I Love Music Stephin Merritt Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs Love at the Bottom of the Sea Busby Berkeley Dreams the 6ths the Gothic Archies Video Irony-free zone, part two: "Kites Are Fun" by Kate Schmidt \| Apr 2, 2012	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line536
__label__wiki	0.673847	0.673847	Food & Drink » Restaurant Review Proprietary Blends Make Their Mark by Laura Levy Shatkin The tiny region of Bordeaux, centered around the Garonne River in southwest France, produces an estimated 750 million bottles of wine each year, most of which are some blend of the common Bordeaux grape varietals--for reds, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, malbec, petit verdot, and the more exotic macaire, gros verdot, and carmenere; for whites, sauvignon blanc, semillon, and sauvignon vert. In France (and elsewhere in Europe) wines are identified by their appellation, or growing region, as well as their vineyard. Bordeaux produces both the stars of the wine world, like Chateau Petrus from the right-bank Pomerol "appellation d'origine controlle," and a plethora of middle-range blends, like Chateau Lynch-Bages from the left-bank region of Pauillac. Bordeaux grapes are cultivated in the U.S. as well, but most American wines are classified by grape variety rather than appellation. Per the rules of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, to be dubbed a varietal, a wine must be at least 75 percent one kind of grape. "In the early days of California wine making," says Robb Hultman, manager of Randolph Wine Cellars, "most vintners were using single grapes to create wine, but they started realizing that blending could create wines of superior quality--and who did they want to emulate but the French?" In the last 30 years proprietary blends--wines that combine two or more grapes in varying proportions--have become increasingly popular among American wine makers. But as American wines have gained a higher profile in the world wine market, some vintners have become increasingly uncomfortable with the available terminology, feeling that catchalls like "private reserve" and "table wine" (the only categories allowed by the ATF) don't do justice to the sophistication of their signature blends. After Robert Mondavi and Baron Phillipe de Rothschild joined forces in the mid-70s to create Opus One, the cabernet sauvignon-based blend that became America's first ultrapremium wine, many vintners followed their lead to create proprietary blends that showcased their individuality and creativity. They hit on names outside the limited vocabulary of American viticulture. The Niebaum-Coppola estate blended cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and merlot to create Rubicon, named for the Italian river once famously crossed by Caesar. Franciscan Vineyards created the red Magnificat in homage to Bach; Caymus Vineyards' white Conundrum is a complex blend of muscat, chardonnay, semillon, and sauvignon blanc. By 1988 the nomenclature was becoming confusing. Many of these proprietary blends could have been classed as varietals (for example, a 1978 Rubicon, being 88 percent cabernet sauvignon grapes, 6 percent cabernet franc, and 6 percent merlot, easily qualifies as a cabernet sauvignon under the 75 percent rule). Many wine makers worried that the chaos in the American market--still something of an upstart--was hurting their attempts to create a strong profile on the international market. So a group of them banded together to create a consistent appellation for American Bordeaux blends--the predominant and most sophisticated blends produced in the U.S.--and to encourage the development of wines that meet the highest standards. They coined the term "Meritage"--combining the words merit and heritage--as their trademark (no relation to the Bucktown restaurant of the same name). One of the criteria for membership in the association was that the blended product must result in a better wine than could be created as a varietal. Other criteria required that a blend include at least two of the main Bordeaux varieties (with no more than 90 percent of a single variety) and be produced in a quantity of no more than 25,000 cases per year. If a blend qualified, it was entitled (although not required) to display the word "Meritage" on the label. Meritage was adopted into the international wine vocabulary, and today the group has 48 member wineries. The criteria for membership have evolved in the last 20-odd years: initially the varietals approved for Meritage reds included only the five major Bordeaux grapes, but now the rules have expanded to include the three more obscure grapes listed earlier, which are all but nonexistent in the States. This could allow smaller (but growing) wine producers like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Chile to join the association in the future. In addition, the limited production requirement has recently been revoked, a change that opens the field to larger wine producers who've started dabbling in proprietary blends. But while the organization is growing, its practical applications appear to be waning. On the wine list at NoMI, the restaurant in the new Park Hyatt, not a single wine in the limited (but excellent) selection displays the Meritage mark--rather they bear names like Quintessa, Viader, and Cain Five. At Grace, renowned for its well-selected and small-producer-oriented list, the category "Other Reds" features premium blends like Justin Isosceles and Dominus, but nothing labeled "Meritage." Hultman and many other national wine experts believe that a fabricated category to encompass a range of unique blends is probably unnecessary. "They thought wine makers would want to have the name Meritage on the label so the public would look at it...for easy identification," says Hultman. "But as it turned out, I think it's on fewer labels now than it was in the past decade. People are more educated now--they know more about wine and how to read a label than ever before, so aren't necessarily looking for a generic name." Of the 18 domestic blends carried at Randolph Wine Cellars, only one white bears the name--and it's produced by St. Supery Vineyards, whose CEO is Michaela Rodeno, current president of the Meritage Association. Randolph Wine Cellars is a six-month-old retail store with an adjacent bi-level wine bar, the Tasting Room, which offers a stellar selection of 104 wines by the glass (and almost 200 bottles) as well as cheese and charcuterie plates (and a great West Loop view of the skyline). The store carries a growing collection of 800 handcrafted American wines--some produced in batches as small as 500 cases--including the aforementioned 18 American Bordeaux blends. Hultman and owners Brenda and Perry Fotopoulos pride themselves on carefully handling and selecting wines for both retail sales and by-the-glass service, and collaborate to design a list with an eye to both quality and value. ("And we mean value," reminds a recent issue of their newsletter. "Anyone can select good $50 bottles of wine.") Hultman's passion for learning about wine makers and grape varieties keeps them on the cutting edge. "We have relationships with many California and Oregon wine makers, so we have the ability to get wines that aren't always available for retail. You won't see them anywhere else in town," he says. Randolph Wine Cellars is on a mission to take the mystery out of buying and drinking wine. Toward that end, the store offers a variety of complimentary tastings on Sundays from 2 to 6. Upcoming tastings include "More Merlot" on August 6, "Rhones on Loan" on August 13, "Hot Wines of Summer" on August 20, and "Italian Wines" on August 27; a six-week wine appreciation class starts August 1. Randolph Wine Cellars and the Tasting Room are located at 1415 W. Randolph, 312-942-1212. Spotted at 1039 W. Bryn Mawr: a sign announcing the newest addition to the Mia Francesca empire, Francesca's on Bryn Mawr, slated to open in late September. The venerable Rosebud group of Italian restaurants expands into beef with the opening of Rosebud Steakhouse in the former Shelly's Back Room space at 192 E. Walton. Le Colonial, 937 N. Rush, has renovated its basement and plans to open Le Passage, a supper club and nightclub, by the end of July. On July 1, Joe Russo and John Bubala of Thyme opened Sinibar, their new French-influenced Mediterranean bistro at 1540 N. Milwaukee. Chef Michael Tsonton turned in his toque at Tizi Melloul, 531 N. Wells, last week. --Laura Levy Shatkin Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Perry and Brenda Fotopoulos, Robb Hultman photo by Jim Newberry.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line537
__label__wiki	0.879559	0.879559	Film » Movie Review Slum Chums by Jonathan Rosenbaum ** (Worth seeing) Directed by Mel Brooks Written by Brooks, Ron Clark, Rudy De Luca, and Steve Haberman With Mel Brooks, Lesley Ann Warren, Jeffrey Tambor, Stuart Pankin, Howard Morris, and Rudy De Luca. "Tragedy is if I cut my finger. . . . Comedy is if you walk into an open sewer and die."--Mel Brooks For a long time now Mel Brooks has been one of my guilty pleasures. It's difficult to refute the protestations of friends and colleagues about the general feebleness of History of the World--Part I and Spaceballs--his previous two features as writer-director, and the only ones that appeared in the 80s--but there are moments in both films that I deeply treasure, not so much as evidence of a writer's, director's, or performer's craft, but rather as moments that make me laugh hard and long and make me feel good afterward. (Moments that come to mind are the "Inquisition" production number in History of the World--Part I and the surreal episode in Spaceballs when the characters consult the already-packaged video of Spaceballs to determine what they should do next.) I fully concede that Brooks's borscht-belt vulgarity, his childish obsession with scatological gags, his awful taste in puns, his sloppy plots and camera setups, and his hit-or-miss attitude toward gags all make his comedies fairly shaky vehicles. Yet all his movies leave me with a sense of maniacal gusto that I think I treasure precisely because it doesn't seem very contemporary. Even Brooks's apparent lack of control is a guarantee of authenticity; when one of his random gags manages to achieve a kind of surreal profundity, like the line at the beginning of this review, it's a profundity that seems earned because it's arrived at intuitively and almost accidentally, like a triumph of Zen archery. In fact, what seems especially precious about Life Stinks--a comedy about the homeless, and not one of Brooks's best--is how beautifully and movingly out of date it is. I know we're all supposed to be concerned constantly and exclusively with "now," especially when it comes to Hollywood movies; the marketplace decrees that, and we're expected to follow its dictate without complaint, like trendy, up-to-date sheep. But if this summer's batch of entertainments is anything to go by--and contemporary wisdom and insight is what's to be gleaned from Terminator 2, Boyz N the Hood, Regarding Henry, The Doctor, V.I. Warshawski, and Mobsters--I confess I'd rather be somewhere else, preferably sipping iced tea and laughing at Mel Brooks. It might seem too generous to call Life Stinks Brooks's version of Sullivan's Travels, but the parallel is hard to avoid. Though the motives that propel Preston Sturges's and Mel Brooks's wealthy heroes voluntarily out of their mansions and into the ranks of the homeless are not even remotely the same, both heroes undergo a moral education through their poverty--especially after it becomes involuntary. Sullivan's Travels arrives at a clear moral position about the relation of the rich to the poor, while Life Stinks disintegrates into an incoherent if good-natured barrage of half-assed bromides, a finale that evades nearly every question it manages to stumble over. (Charity is the basic thrust of the solution to the problems posed, but when hero and heroine drive off at the end, it's significant that we haven't the foggiest notion of where they could be going.) What these two films truly share is a particularly sharp sense of the Depression. Sullivan's Travels, released in 1941, looks back on that era from a short distance, while Life Stinks is appearing a full half century later. This may make Brooks's vision archaic, but it's archaic in an indelible, luminous, and instructive way. Born in a Brooklyn tenement in 1926, Brooks is clearly marked by the Depression--perhaps in part because his father died half a year before the stock market crashed. He has a lot to tell us about the emotional essence of that era, and he tells it with a vividness we wouldn't find in most history books. Ironically, most 30s movies seem to give us a less immediate sense of what Depression poverty was like, perhaps because they were designed precisely to make Depression audiences forget about their impoverished lives. The closest thing to Life Stinks from the 30s that comes to mind is a particular favorite of mine, the 1933 Al Jolson/Rodgers and Hart musical Hallelujah I'm a Bum--a bittersweet fantasy about the homeless and the rich that owes some of its conceits to Chaplin's 1931 City Lights but that strikes me today as anachronistically having more to do with a 60s sensibility. If the characteristic 60s attitude about poverty is some form of Thoreau-style idealism, the primary 30s attitude is chumminess, human warmth in the midst of adversity. As critic Manny Farber once pointed out while comparing the human iconography of movies in the 30s and the 70s, in the 30s "every shape was legitimate"--you could be fat, short, or a legless dwarf (like the cheerful one Brooks employs climactically in Life Stinks) and still be OK, still be an ordinary person. You didn't have to look for identity exclusively in some relative organizational abstraction like ethnicity; sometimes being human was enough. Only in the 70s and afterward were you expected to jog and work out and make yourself look like everybody else and feel mortified if you didn't succeed; looking like Schwarzenegger or Cruise wasn't always the ticket that entitled you to membership in the human community. And arguably, only during the last 20 years have you been obliged to be part of a "special interest group" to belong in the larger scheme of things; before that you might have been marginalized, but at least you were a member of society at large. Perhaps I'm being a 60s idealist myself when I speculate about a Depression that was over many years before I was born. But it seems to me that people were nicer to each other then, and nicer about each other, perhaps because there was a certain sense of shared adversity--and they weren't necessarily less intelligent or hip because of this attitude. In any case, this idea helps to account for the most implausible part of Life Stinks, that Goddard Bolt (Brooks), the billionaire hero, soon finds loyal friends among the homeless after he agrees to spend a month in a ghetto on a bet with a business rival (Jeffrey Tambor). (Each wants to develop the two-and-a-half square miles into a complex named after himself.) In quick succession Bolt meets Sailor (Howard Morris), Molly (Lesley Ann Warren), and Fumes (Teddy Wilson), and before long the four are inseparable, a virtual family without common ethnic, racial, or gender ties who even sleep in adjacent crates and cartons. It's a 30s solution to an 80s and 90s problem, and in contrast to the 60s and 70s solutions that still assail us from every corner, it's naive only on the shallow level of our contemporary conceptions; underneath it seems refreshingly savvy, even shrewd in its overall sweetness. It tells us how a rich man like Brooks might try to cope with homelessness, and how we might ourselves. "Political correctness" has nothing to do with it. This is a dumb movie in some ways because it harps on the obvious, ends certain scenes inconclusively with awkward fade-outs, and only suggests development in the characters without bothering to spell it out. But it's a movie with heart and sincerity, and there aren't many of those around. When critics applaud movies about "moral improvement" as blatantly insincere and phony as The Doctor and Regarding Henry--movies where narcissism and yuppie tunnel vision serve as both the opening premises and the desired end points--it seems that even a klutz like Brooks has something to teach us. Even if he's only amusing us, he's doing it with a human face. I'm not trying to offer up the 30s as the only route into what I like about Life Stinks. When Brooks turns to his specialty, the big-scale musical number in unlikely circumstances--the aforementioned "Inquisition," and "Springtime for Hitler" in The Producers, and here a charmingly modest pas de deux with Brooks and Warren, danced to "Easy to Love" in a warehouse of rags--his model seems closer to minor MGM musicals than to Astaire and Rogers, even though they probably inspired it. When he gets good laughs out of Sailor's "excremated" ashes blowing in his friends' faces, he's just being Mel Brooks. And when he's focusing on feet in the opening sequence, he could just as well be serving up another Hitchcock homage left over from High Anxiety (though much later in the film he brings back the feet motif in a manner that literally and hilariously lampoons 30s film rhetoric). Indeed, the most hysterically funny portion of the film has only a glancing relation to the 30s. It consists of a now genuinely destitute Bolt encountering another tramp (cowriter Rudy De Luca), who calls himself J. Paul Getty and who insists he's richer than Bolt. What begins as a measured disagreement on Bolt's part ("Now look, let's be reasonable--there's an enormous difference between us") and a friendly sparring about precise figures ("I amassed $6.4 billion" "I amassed 6.5") eventually evolves into a slapping session straight out of the Three Stooges--a group that formed before the Depression but flourished long after. It's run-on low comedy with a wisdom of its own about what it really means to be rich (or poor), and Brooks manages to stretch it out inordinately, all the while making it funnier and funnier. It's materialist comedy in the best sense of the word, and when it leads to slapstick involving Thorazine in an overcrowded hospital, Brooks truly hits his stride. For joyful moments like these, I can happily settle for the scattershot effectiveness of the rest.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line538
__label__wiki	0.932812	0.932812	News & Politics » Feature Southwest Slugfest National Policy vs. Neighborhood Politics in the New Third Congressional District by David Moberg Out on the far southwest side a bruising political slugfest has broken out between old colleagues. Never close friends, congressmen Marty Russo and Bill Lipinski were nonetheless frequent companions over the past decade on flights back and forth from Washington. They are often seen--inaccurately--by outsiders as political peas in a pod, "conservative ethnic Democrats" who consistently vote against civil, reproductive, and women's rights, but who support most narrowly defined prolabor and urban initiatives. Now the redrawn boundaries of the new Third Congressional District have pitted the two incumbents against each other in the March 17 primary. At the local level this race is a test of how an important bloc of swing voters responds to a choice of political styles within the Democratic Party. Despite great similarities between the two men, Lipinski represents traditional machine-style Democratic politics--a parochial and suspicious world of personal favors, deals, and loyalties based on ethnic and neighborhood links. Though his roots are in the same Democratic machine, Russo embodies a newer style of moderate urban populism--a somewhat more open and inclusive politics emphasizing general policies that benefit the broad middle or working class more than deals and favors for well-connected individuals, institutions, and interests. But this primary fight has significance far beyond the bungalows and two-flats, the leafy residential streets and the well-ordered industrial parks of this part of the city and the adjacent suburbs. At the national level it's an important test of the political appeal of a progressive approach to the hot issue of health care. Russo, an influential congressional insider, had never played a public leadership role, but over the past two years he has become the high-profile sponsor of comprehensive health-insurance-reform legislation. Modeled on the Canadian system, his plan would replace the current expensive, crazy-quilt system with a single national health-insurance plan that would cover everyone at less expense. While formally a supporter of Russo's proposal, Lipinski is still leaning toward less drastic reform. Neither man would be a candidate for political sainthood or Common Cause awards. Lipinski relies on his comrades in the declining Democratic machine and remains an unabashed proponent of patronage politics. And despite his emphasis on policy over patronage, Russo harvests bushels of campaign funds from political-action committees and organized special-interest groups, and often looks out for those supporters. Lipinski claims to bring home the political bacon for Chicago in the form of public- works projects. Russo positions himself as the champion of an increasingly beleaguered middle class, especially with his health-care proposal. Lipinski, who virtually cedes Russo's claim that he's a national leader, derides him for being a national politician and not a true representative of the old neighborhood and its people. The terrain of this battleground stretches from the closely packed bungalows and two-flats of wards at the edge of Chicago, the home of traditional Democratic power brokers such as state house speaker Michael Madigan and Alderman Ed Burke, to the more spread out, more Republican suburbs, from Oak Forest and Tinley Park on the south to Oak Park on the north and Hinsdale on the west. The people living in the district are overwhelmingly white, many of southern- and eastern-European heritage. Virtually all would consider themselves middle-class, though they range from moderately affluent to barely scraping by. Many of the younger families have put on white collars--taking clerical, technical, or low-level managerial jobs--thanks to the steady if unspectacular past paychecks of their blue-collar parents. Yet this is still factory territory, the home of many plants that fled Chicago's inner city or took root in suburban open spaces over the past few decades. The voters' roots and loyalties may be Democratic, but in recent elections they have chosen Republican presidents--and even some local officials. Many of them have relied heavily on government programs--from housing subsidies (mortgage interest deductions) to social security--but over the years they have soured on government, seeing it as costly, ineffective, and, worst of all in the eyes of many, mainly a boon to blacks. Now their enthusiasm for the antigovernment policies and leadership of Ronald Reagan and George Bush has plummeted, but Democrats have not yet recaptured their support. Will these "Reagan Democrats" come back to their old party? Is it possible to create a Democratic Party that is home to them and the party's loyal core supporters, including blacks, Hispanics, women's-rights advocates, civil libertarians, and antimilitarists? For most of his 17 years in Congress Marty Russo has held Saturday-morning workshops with constituents throughout his district. They're attended mostly by the elderly, who have time to spare, and people who have a gripe with Russo, the government, or the world. There's always at least one elderly person who brings up "the notch," complaining that because she was born between 1917 and 1921 she's been shortchanged in her social-security benefits. Russo is 48, his wavy, bushy hair now graying. He's a self-confident, engaging figure, and the brusque, no-nonsense mannerisms of his Taylor Street childhood still clearly show through a social patina acquired over the years in Congress, where he has developed a reputation as an effective party whip and as possibly the body's best golfer. Russo has sometimes seemed politically retrograde, as when he and Lipinski became the only northern Democratic congressmen now running for reelection to vote against the 1991 civil rights bill that even Bush finally supported. Yet standing before these district workshop audiences, Russo sounds like a bastion of progressive politics, defending the role of government in society. "The government today is our enemy," declared one older constituent, an ironic position given that one of the main complaints of the elderly in the audience is that they want more out of the social-security programs on which they depend. Russo shot back, "I think it's horrible you'd say government is your enemy. Government hasn't been doing its job because Reagan and Bush sold people like you a bill of goods. Government is not your enemy. It ought to be a partner with people like you. The reason it's not doing the job is because people in power don't want to do the job." When another constituent attacked welfare, Russo bit the bullet. "Do you think people love being on welfare?" he said angrily, to which there was a mumbled chorus of "yes" from the audience. "You ought to see the way people live on welfare. Most people stay on welfare less than nine months. But to get people off welfare there have to be jobs for them." These days, however, Russo primarily defends what government could do about health care. Despite their misgivings, his constituents are so burdened by health-related woes that they're more than willing to consider his ideas. The United States spent 12.3 percent of its gross national product on health care in 1990, and at the current rate of increase it will spend more than 16 percent by 2000. By comparison, Germany, France, and Canada spend between 8 and 9 percent of their GNP on health care--Japan, Britain, and others spend even less. And the growth in health-care spending in all these countries is far less than here. More and more Americans--now about 37 million individuals--also have no health insurance. Unlike every other industrialized country except South Africa, the United States does not have a comprehensive national health plan. Instead of making health care a right, the United States assumes most people will get insurance through their jobs. But because insurance has become so expensive and growing numbers of people work part-time or temporary jobs without benefits, having a job is no guarantee of protection. Three-fourths of the uninsured are in working families. The high cost of health care is not just a personal nightmare--it's a drag on the overall economy and makes this country less competitive. Even major corporations, including the Big Three auto companies, now support national health insurance. Those with some kind of insurance have also suffered as employers try to shift growing costs onto workers by reducing coverage or increasing employee payments. Four-fifths of all strikes in recent years have occurred to protect health insurance. Insurance companies have increasingly tried to avoid covering people who are sick or seem at risk of injury or illness, including AIDS. Millions of Americans are trapped in jobs they might otherwise leave because they have preexisting health conditions that would exclude them from insurance at a new job. Unemployment looms as a double catastrophe: loss of income, but also loss--possibly forever--of health insurance. More than one-fourth of Americans who are nominally protected are underinsured and vulnerable to catastrophes. Poor people covered by medicaid are shunted into a second-rate system; medicare for the elderly covers a declining share of old people's health expenses, especially for long-term illnesses. Russo's legislation is roughly modeled on Canada's health-care system. Everybody in the country would be covered by the same insurance with comprehensive benefits--hospitals, doctors, prescriptions, preventive care, nursing homes. Patients would pick their own doctors. National and state health-care budgets would be set annually to guarantee appropriate coverage, and providers would be paid according to a schedule of fees or, in the case of institutions such as hospitals, a negotiated global budget. In place of employers or individuals paying insurance premiums, Russo's plan would be financed through a 6 percent payroll tax on employers, increased income taxes, a long-term-care premium on senior citizens, state taxes, and current federal health spending. Russo's plan would provide insurance for everyone, including those now uninsured, and improved insurance for many already covered. Yet all that would be done at a lower total cost than the nation now spends for inferior health care. The U.S. General Accounting Office concluded that if a Canadian-style health plan were applied to the United States, "the savings in administrative costs alone would be more than enough [about $67 billion a year out of about $800 billion currently spent] to finance insurance coverage for the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured. There would be enough left over to permit a reduction, or possibly even the elimination, of co-payments and deductibles." Marty Russo came to be one of the preeminent congressional leaders on health care in a roundabout fashion. The basic idea is not new. In the 1930s Roosevelt called for national health insurance, just as Truman did after World War II, but both were beaten back by the American Medical Association and the insurance industry. For many years Ted Kennedy promoted comprehensive public-health-care legislation, but faced with constant frustration he retreated to the limited idea of requiring employers to either provide insurance for employees or pay into a public fund ("play or pay"). Russo is a relative newcomer to the issue. Ironically, in 1978 he cast critical votes in the defeat of a hospital-cost-containment proposal of President Jimmy Carter. He says he voted against it because the proposal favored northeastern hospitals over more efficient midwestern hospitals; critics say he was beholden to insurance companies that had contributed to his campaign. In 1988 he voted against long-term home care for the elderly. But now his own legislation encompasses both cost controls and long-term care. Over the decade from 1981 to 1991, according to Common Cause, Russo received $228,575 from medical-industry political-action committees. Lipinski charges that those contributions led Russo to support lucrative industry tax breaks engineered by Dan Rostenkowski. Lipinski also implies--without offering any evidence--that Russo is not pushing forward on his health-care bill. Russo responds that he had nothing to do with the so-called transition rules that benefited insurers, and that he has worked hard on his bill, which now has 67 cosponsors, far more than any other health-care proposal. In any case, Russo is now working to wrest the entire health-insurance market from private industry. Other Democrats haven't shown such willingness to bite the hand that financed them. For example, Iowa senator Tom Harkin, who portrayed himself as the most traditionally liberal presidential candidate, has waffled on health care in large part because he has depended so much on insurance-industry contributions. Born into a working-class family, with a father he remembers working three jobs, Marty Russo followed a classic Chicago political career. He went to DePaul for both college and law school, then worked in the district attorney's office. In 1974, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, he was tapped for a long-shot run against a Republican incumbent. Russo won and has held on to the office by substantial margins ever since. For many years Russo drew little press attention, except for occasional controversies about his fund-raising or his actions favoring business special interests, such as blocking new regulations on small bakers and the funeral-home industry or supporting tax breaks for Chicago's futures traders. He defined himself in the late 70s as a "conservative probusiness Democrat" defending small business from undue regulation. Now he finds himself attacking deregulation and arguing that government can and should do more for the average citizen. For much of his time in Congress Russo has been a junior ally and student of Dan Rostenkowski. But he has also been influenced by three more traditionally liberal members of Congress who share a house with him in Washington: Charles Schumer of New York and Leon Panetta and George Miller of California. His voting record is an odd concoction: neither predictably liberal nor conservative. He shows signs of being driven by both principle and expediency. Unlike many other social conservatives--who share Russo's opposition to choice, affirmative action, and the equal-rights amendment--Russo has often supported civil liberties in tough cases. He opposed the Reagan-Bush "gag rule" that would prohibit federally supported doctors from discussing abortion with their patients. He voted against prayer in schools and the constitutional amendment banning burning of the United States flag. He opposed aid to the right-wing El Salvador government and Nicaraguan contras, and he favored sanctions against the South African apartheid government. He has also been a staunch opponent of weapons systems such as Star Wars, chemical and nerve-gas weapons, and the MX missile, and he has supported nuclear test bans and the nuclear freeze. Over the years Russo gained respect as an effective behind-the-scenes operator, as a leading critic on the Ways and Means Committee of the Reagan and Bush tax and budget policies, including defense spending, and as a primary advocate of the alternative minimum-tax provision of the 1986 tax act that was designed to make sure the rich wouldn't escape taxes. As a party whip he's known for being forceful but not too overbearing in rounding up votes. But he was certainly better known to his peers than to the public beyond his district. Early in his career Russo served on a health subcommittee, but it was only while serving on the Ways and Means Committee, headed by Rostenkowski, that he began thinking seriously about national health insurance. Like nearly everyone in the House, he voted in 1988 for a revision of medicare that raised premiums to pay for catastrophic care and some other improved benefits. But the elderly protested mightily, and a year later Congress reversed itself. During the debate on repeal Russo spoke out repeatedly in favor of comprehensive reform of the health-care system rather than piecemeal changes. It was the experiences of his family and his constituents that pushed him to contemplate drastic changes. "I got started because of senior citizens coming to my workshops, complaining that the premiums go up but the benefits go down," he says. But he also saw what happened in his own family: his mother-in-law had a hiatal hernia and had her gall bladder removed, but the insurance company resisted covering the operation because it wasn't approved in advance. His father had major surgery, and he watched with frustration as his 72-year-old mother struggled to fill out the voluminous forms with her arthritic hands. Then his sister-in-law was hurt in a skiing accident in Colorado. Russo took her to one of the best knee surgeons in the country, who lived in the area, but the insurance company demanded a second opinion, even though only one doctor was readily available. "How silly is this system?" Russo asked himself. "I've got to wait for a bureaucrat. That's not the way we ought to be doing it." One person who has worked with Russo adds, "Marty grew up thinking a congressman was a powerful guy. To find himself humiliated by an insurance bureaucrat got under his macho Mediterranean personality." Russo had another motive to introduce health-care legislation. "I had helped so many people get their bills passed," he says. "Why don't I come up with an idea I can pass? It's time you get moving on the national scene." Though he had pushed through the Brady bill to control handguns, he says, "it's not called the Russo bill. I'd like to do something for myself too." Russo also had a politician's hunch that the nation was ripe for radical health-care reform. "I try to represent the core section of the country, to reflect the sentiments of people around me." Now he proudly claims, "I read it right. My constituents told me this was something on the horizon. People said this isn't going to be a big issue. I said this is a sleeper issue." Then underdog Democrat Harris Wofford made national health care the centerpiece of his Senate campaign last fall in Pennsylvania and won a dramatic victory over former attorney general Richard Thornburgh. With self-satisfaction, Russo says simply, "I saw a problem, made an issue, proposed a solution." Because he had voted earlier against hospital cost containment, Russo says he "felt an added responsibility" to return to the issue. After he and his staff studied a wide range of alternatives, he settled on the essentials of the Canadian model, which breaks the link between employment and health insurance and establishes a single payer for medical bills. Drafting a bill took a year and half, with contributions from a number of outside experts and citizen lobbying groups, including Citizen Action (a national coalition of progressive statewide groups), the Illinois Public Action Council (Citizen Action's Illinois affiliate), and Citizens for Tax Justice. "By the time we started working with him [in the fall of 1990] he was convinced that the single-payer reform was the way to go," says Cathy Hurwit, legislative director of Citizen Action. "I do think that when he started he was looking for a way we could work through the insurance system. But the more he looked into and studied the problem and tried to figure out what was required on both a political and policy basis, he was convinced single-payer reform was the way to go." Maureen Testoni, Russo's chief aide on health issues, says, "One of the main reasons he picked single payer is that every American would be covered--there are no gaps, no cracks. It's the only plan that can guarantee coverage for everyone with less money than what we pay now." For a politician the appeal is obvious: Russo is able to expand benefits vastly, not only for the uninsured but also most of the insured, and he can pay for it all by eliminating waste. In this case, however, the waste is in the private system, not the government. "The private sector has failed miserably," he says. "Government-run medical care is more efficient." He lovingly cites comparative figures: under medicare, administration represents 2.5 percent of program costs; under private insurance, administration eats up 12 percent of costs. Canada's overhead is about the same as medicare's. And these figures don't take into account the huge cost to doctors, hospitals, and patients in time and money spent filling out claims forms and fighting with insurance companies over who pays what. The private system has enormous duplication and expends a lot of effort and money in marketing and reviewing claims, attempting to avoid payment, or second-guessing doctors. None of the alternative proposals before Congress touches this massive waste, whether it's the Senate Democratic leadership "pay or play" legislation or President Bush's proposed tax credits to help people buy insurance (which Citizen Action derided as "taxpayer subsidies to the insurance industry"). Putting the government in place as a single payer--the basic objective of related bills introduced by Vermont representative Bernie Sanders and Nebraska senator Bob Kerrey--also provides the leverage to negotiate overall health-care budgets and implement cost controls more effectively. Unlike many of the managed-care plans that would effectively channel people into health-maintenance organizations--which are endorsed by the New York Times, Paul Tsongas, and others--the Russo plan would preserve the freedom of individuals to choose the doctors, clinics, or hospitals they wanted. Russo loves to tally the savings. According to a study cosponsored by Physicians for a National Health Plan, if Russo's bill had been in effect last year, state and local governments would have saved about $30 billion in reduced payments for medicaid, the uninsured, and public-employee benefits. That would have amounted to $1 billion in Illinois, about two-thirds of the budget deficit the state faced. According to calculations his staff made earlier, the elderly would have saved $28 billion in 1989 as a group and nonelderly individuals $25 billion if his plan had been in place that year. Under Russo's plan, some people would pay more in taxes: the lowest income-tax rate would stay at 15 percent, but the top two brackets of 28 and 31 percent would change to three--30, 34, and 38 percent--with the highest rate for families with incomes over $200,000. There would also be a $25-per-month premium for the better-off elderly to pay for long-term care. Although businesses as a group would shoulder a bigger load than they do now, since many companies offer no or limited health insurance, many companies would actually save money. On the campaign trail recently, Russo met at Heim Corporation in Bedford Park with a group of machine-tool-company executives. At first they pressed their typical business agenda, trying to restrict liability for their products. After listening respectfully a while, Russo sneaked in a question about health-insurance premiums. After subdued moans of complaint around the table, Roger Maroch, chief financial officer of FamTech, exclaimed, "I wish somebody would come up with a way of controlling health-care costs." "Support HR 1300, my bill," Russo said with a smile. "Nobody seems to have an answer," Maroch continued. "I've got an answer," Russo insisted. "I'll bet you're paying 11 to 12 percent of payroll on health insurance." Actually some of the companies were paying as much as 17 percent of payroll. Russo told them that under his plan they would pay 7 percent, a substantial savings. The executives were suspicious, but eventually Maroch concluded, "All I can tell you is somebody has to do something. At this stage I don't think anybody other than the government can do it." Sometimes Russo has trouble convincing individuals who would benefit. At one workshop he walked 70-year-old Hiamen Rubenstein through the math, showing how he could save $9,000 a year and still go to the doctor of his choice. "I'd rather pay my own way," Rubenstein insisted, "rather than depend on the government." Of course, he already depended on the government for medicare, social security, and much more. Other people told horror stories about Canada. Russo responded that 90 percent of Canadians like their system and dread nothing more than the possibility of returning to a U.S.-style system. Besides, he said, "People wait all the time in this country. If you're at the bottom, you don't even get in the waiting line." Clearly the United States does ration health care according to ability to pay, and that contributes to the high cost of health care: the working poor and even many middle-income people delay going to doctors or avoid treatments, which leads to more serious illness and higher costs when they're eventually forced to seek help. Russo objects strongly to this two-tier medical system, which would be perpetuated even under many other Democratic plans. And he thinks Bush's proposal would be even worse. "I think the Donald Trumps of the world and the average Teamster should get the same kind of care," he told constituents at a recent workshop. He argues that systems like "pay or play" will lead to private insurers skimming off younger and healthier workers, leaving more expensive clients to a public program. He adds that those younger workers will resent paying taxes to finance a public system that doesn't benefit them. Like social security, he says, a universal system can win broader political support. Russo has made his national health plan a consuming mission, and his personal role as backer of the single-payer approach is extremely important. First, he works hard and effectively, not only with his colleagues but also in public forums. Second, as a representative from a conservative, white ethnic district, he symbolizes how progressive policies can be fashioned to benefit the broad majority of Americans, from poor to middle-class, both black and white. And it's important for the country to break out of the morass of internal conflict and antigovernment, uncommunal politics that have contributed so heavily to the decline of our quality of life and economic vitality over the past two decades. For the Democrats, such inclusive progressive social reforms are key to revitalizing their party. Cathy Hurwit of Citizen Action has worked on Capitol Hill since 1976. "I've worked on a lot of different issues with a lot of different members of Congress," she says. "It is extremely rare, if ever, that I've seen someone work as hard on a bill [as Russo does]. If we call and say we hear someone is interested in the bill, he's dialing that person before we're off the phone. He's educated himself on this so he can argue with anybody. I've been enormously impressed. You can tell the people who really believe in what they're doing and those who are doing it for personal political reasons. It's absolutely clear this has become a critically important thing to him." Public-opinion polls have repeatedly demonstrated that the power elites--the medical, political, media, and other establishments--are way behind the American people on this issue. And no other approach generates the kind of grass-roots enthusiasm that Russo's bill does. Worries about health care and the economy are at the top of voter concerns across the country, and the new Third District is no exception. Russo is staking his race for Congress primarily on his leadership role in the health-care fight. "My race is of national importance," he says, "not because of Marty Russo, but because of what I stand for. I'm going to put the insurance companies out of business. If I lose, they'll say, 'If national health insurance is such a great idea, why did he lose?'" The man who wants Marty Russo to lose almost as much as the insurance companies do is Bill Lipinski, the incumbent congressman from the Fifth Congressional District, much of which was merged with former Russo territory. Lipinski is pure old-school Chicago politics, a man who a few years ago contemplated a run for mayor on a platform of restoring patronage, which he defends as a means of instilling discipline in city workers. A lifelong southwest-side resident, the 54-year-old Lipinski touts his roots and bungalow life-style as political badges of honor. "I'm one of you" is Lipinski's basic message, suggesting that Russo isn't. "I'm interested in representing people where I live," he said. "[Russo] is interested in serving in Congress." In one mailing he prominently contrasts his modest home with Russo's larger suburban house with its three-car garage, highlighting how he lives in the heart of the district and Russo outside of it. Russo counters that the boundaries of his district were changed, and he'll move if he wins. Russo also responds that his house and garage are larger because his sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and two sons live there with his wife and him. Lipinski's literature asks, "Had enough of insiders like Marty Russo?" Yet Lipinski is, if anything, more an insider than Russo, certainly with regard to the local Democratic Party. The implication in Lipinski's message is that he will look out for his neighbors in the urban village like a superalderman who was simply bumped up from City Council to Congress. After he was described in such terms by one writer, Lipinski remarked, "I don't know if it was meant as a compliment or negatively--but it was accurate. My campaign style has not changed since I ran for alderman in 1975." Lipinski's roots also limit him and his political vision. "I don't think I could represent a district that was 30 percent black and 70 percent ethnic American," he says. "I'd have to change my basic political philosophy that I am a representative of the people that live in my ward and district. It's all well and good to look down the road at what's good for America, but my first obligation is to represent the views of my district." Lipinski's father was a CTA driver, his mother a secretary in a steel mill. The family's closest tie to politics was an uncle who was a Republican precinct captain. After graduating from high school, Lipinski went to Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, for two years. He never finished college. In the summer of 1958 he got a temporary job with the Park District, then was asked to stay on as recreation leader and physical-education instructor. He began to develop ties with local politicians and businesses who sponsored the athletic teams, and gradually became involved in his Democratic ward organization. As one alderman after another fell to indictments for zoning corruption, the leadership of the ward was in shambles. In 1975 Lipinski was given a boost into the committeeman slot by Mayor Richard J. Daley, who was facing a challenge from then-independent William Singer and wanted to get convicted alderman Frank Kuta out of his party-committeeman role. Lipinski went on to win an open aldermanic fray by a modest margin, exploiting networks he'd established working for the Park District. Lipinski rebuilt the 23rd Ward organization, relying heavily on Park District patronage, and established a local zoning board and a ward council to include businesses and neighborhood organizations in community politics. In 1982, with the backing of Richard M. Daley, Lipinski ran against and solidly defeated incumbent congressman John Fary, who was backed by then-mayor Jane Byrne. Lipinski retained both his role as committeeman and his old sympathies for patronage politics when he moved to Washington. Russo recently revealed that over Lipinski's nine years in Congress 27 of his staff made 150 contributions totaling $45,000 to Lipinski's ward organization. All but 15 of the contributions were made either just before the staffers were hired or while they were employed. Of course, it's illegal for congressmen to promise or deny jobs on the basis of contributions to them, and illegal to solicit contributions from staff. It's also illegal for staff to contribute to campaign funds that might influence a federal election. Russo called for a federal, state, and local investigation to see whether Lipinski had violated criminal statutes, pointing out that the contributions and the close relationship between ward-organization activities and elections suggest he might have. Lipinski's campaign admitted to only one such contribution from a staffer to a Lipinski fund and said the $250 was being returned. Russo also criticized Lipinski, as others have in the past, for profiting personally from his ward office, which rents space to his ward organization, his alderman, and his state representative--all costs the public pays indirectly. Russo contends that this behavior may violate federal statutes and is ethically improper, even if it is true to the machine tradition of politics as a family business. One of Lipinski's colleagues in Congress was Harold Washington. Despite their political antagonism, they managed to maintain a moderately friendly relationship. During Washington's first years as mayor, Lipinski had been the member of the Vrdolyak bloc who most went out of his way to cultivate ties with Washington and to invite him to neighborhood functions on the southwest side. Washington genuinely appreciated Lipinski's gestures, though he never won Lipinski's support. Lipinski praised Washington for distributing city services fairly, increasing government efficiency, and rebuilding the neighborhoods, but he blamed Washington as much as Vrdolyak for the city's bitter political and racial strife. In the City Council Lipinski, who once made a sartorial splash by wearing a bright orange suit, campaigned for a rapid transit line for the southwest side. In Congress he continued the fight, getting help from Washington and other members of the delegation. As a member of the Public Works Committee, a traditional Chicago plum, Lipinski made the transit line his special cause. After Lipinski cast one of the very few votes in favor of aid to the Nicaraguan contras from a northern Democrat, Ronald Reagan called to thank him. Then Reagan asked Lipinski if there was anything he could do for him. Appropriate money for the southwest rapid transit, Lipinski said. In half an hour a Reagan aide was back on the line beginning to work out arrangements. Lipinski denied that he traded his contra vote for the transit line. He said he simply believed in contra aid and reaped the political windfall. Compared to previous hacks from the Fifth District, Lipinski has worked hard to bring home the public-works goodies. He takes credit for pushing through the airline tax that Richard M. Daley wanted to finance a new Lake Calumet airport. (That alone may inspire some votes against him. Russo has been noncommittal about a new airport site but very sympathetic to new high-speed railroads that in the long run would benefit Chicago as well as the country even more than a new airport.) Ironically, while Lipinski is claiming credit for revitalizing Midway Airport and surrounding businesses, the Lake Calumet airport--in the unlikely event it is ever built--would shut down Midway. In this election both Lipinski and Rostenkowski take responsibility for bringing home highway and transit funds with last year's highway bill. Lipinski has voted as a generally prolabor Democrat on economic issues, though he--unlike Russo--voted for the politically attractive but fiscally unsound balanced-budget amendment. But on cultural, military, and foreign-policy issues Lipinski is one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress. His voting profile most resembles that of a white southern conservative Democrat, and he's significantly to the right of Russo on many issues. Lipinski was an ideological hard-line cold warrior and an enthusiastic backer of all Reagan's military-spending initiatives--from Star Wars to the MX missile. He also opposed bans on chemical weapons and nuclear tests, and even talks on test bans. While a tough foreign policy may be popular in Lipinski's district, it was the Reagan military budgets that ran up the huge public debt Lipinski disliked. Far worse, the debt that was squandered on high-tech military gimmicks could have been spent on productive public investment, such as new railroads and highways or improved education. That spending drained far more money from Chicago and Illinois than Lipinski's hustling managed to return in public works. In the bargain Lipinski effectively cut with Reagan--southwest-rapid-transit money for contra aid and military spending--Chicago and the Third District were big losers. In this sense, Lipinski didn't bring home Chicago's bacon--he sent it to both coasts and overseas. Now Lipinski says he's willing to cut some defense spending--perhaps $75 to $100 billion over the next five years, compared to Bush's $50 billion. But Russo, who opposed many of Reagan's biggest military-spending boondoggles, wants to cut $175 billion or more in the same time. And though Lipinski declared a year and a half ago that the cold war was over, he has continued--often as part of a tiny minority of 11 Democrats--to fight defense cuts and arms control. He voted for a new tactical missile, and against a call for a nuclear test ban, against small cuts in the MX-missile and Star Wars programs, and even against a modest proposal to help convert military facilities to peacetime work. Conservative as Russo has been on many social issues, Lipinski is even more so. For example, he favors school prayer, taxpayer financing of church-operated programs, and an amendment outlawing flag burning. He has been a militant crusader against liberal social policies and civil liberties in the national Democratic Party, which he sees as alienating his constituents and losing national elections for the Democrats. At times Lipinski's positions are remarkably inconsistent. In his district he's fought against trash incinerators, yet he would be happy to pave over the Lake Calumet wetlands. But he's also a cosponsor of the admirable Ancient Forests Protection Act, denounced by many loggers in the northwest as more pointy-headed liberal planning by effete easterners like Lipinski. (Maybe Washington and Oregon congressmen could introduce legislation to protect midwestern wetlands.) Besides focusing on public works for Chicago and fighting social liberalism among Democrats, Lipinski has been a staunch supporter of a government industrial policy, including federal aid to retool industries and retrain workers to match international competition. Here he and Russo are not far apart, and both want to maintain restrictions on Japanese auto imports. But Lipinski recently called for a five-year moratorium on all Japanese car imports; Russo ridiculed that plan as irresponsible and pointed out that Lipinski drives a Fiat in Washington while denouncing imports at home. Lipinski said feebly that he'd been trying to sell the car--and besides it was Italian, not Japanese. From start to finish, it was an episode of pure political nonsense. Both congressmen reject knee-jerk free trade, but Russo has more experience and a better sense of government's role in managing trade. Driving around the southwest side recently--in Chicago he drives a red Chrysler LeBaron convertible--Lipinski reflected on the hot issue his rival had staked out: health care. Having endorsed nearly every proposed bill, he was reluctant to back one. "I don't know what I want till the people know what they want," he explained. Yet he seems to be leaning against the single-payer approach in favor of tinkering with the current system. "As I learn more, the way I'd approach it is to create jobs, put the people back to work, then give people health care through their employer," he says. "Some people can't get it, and the federal government will have to provide for them." But that leads to a more costly two-class system with little political appeal, even for Lipinski's constituents. Russo's national plan could unite blacks and whites, a rare and needed political strategy for Democrats. "In many cases gains made by blacks have been supported by representatives of ethnic America I deal with," Lipinski contended. "But we get looked on as impediments to a free and equal society. The people I represent--and I truly try to represent them--they're caught in between two national parties. Some issues the Republicans seem to give lip service to, and some issues the Democrats promote. Neither one seems to have taken a serious look at the plight of people I represent. The first thing Democrats could have done different is they could have given more attention to the plight of my people on quotas and reverse discrimination. My people resent affirmative action. They were never in positions of power to deny a job or housing to anybody. They had nothing to do with slavery, discrimination--but they had to pay for it." It's a familiar message these days. Pat Buchanan and David Duke promote it on the Republican right, and George Bush pushed it until it looked like it could begin to backfire after the Clarence Thomas hearings. Russo would probably disagree with little of Lipinski's argument, and he certainly justifies his votes against affirmative action as the will of his constituents. Yet unlike Lipinski he does not make antiquota politics a central plank in his campaign. By contrast, one of Lipinski's leaflets proclaims that "Bill Lipinski hasn't been afraid to say what many of us feel" about quotas and reverse discrimination--an example of blunt pandering to racial fears and prejudices. Lipinski can be warm and friendly even to political antagonists, as he showed with Harold Washington--or mean and nasty to onetime friends, as he's showing in some of the campaign tactics he and chief aide Joe Novak are using against Russo. Lipinski loves to mingle with his constituents, to drive his own car around the district and drop in on community meetings without an entourage of aides. He's pure southwest style--a bit unpolished and untelegenic, his features angular and tight, his voice reedy, his taste enough of a throwback to be almost retro chic in another setting. Russo is smoother in style, the old neighborhood boy who's been to college, moved to the suburbs, and managed to hobnob with people who would have thought themselves his social betters. A bit more full of a sense of his own importance than Lipinski seems, Russo nevertheless maintains a common touch. Generally polite and genial, he can be brusque and blunt. It's not simply geography that divides Russo and Lipinski. They reflect in many ways the cultural divide between the old urban-village white ethnic working class and the less traditionalist families who moved to the suburban crabgrass frontier after World War II. "There's a dramatic difference in their political orientation," argues John Cameron, who, as associate director of the Illinois Public Action Council, has often cooperated and occasionally fought with both men. "Not at the broad ideological level, but more at the level of how they relate to their base and constituents and how they position themselves in Congress. Although Russo's origins in politics were as a southwest-side regular machine politician, over the years he's developed into a political figure who has a more media-oriented style. He's not a creature of ward organizations that elect him. . . . Lipinski is a ward-organization guy. His claim to fame is he delivers bacon to the city. His is more of a classic machine strategy. His ward organization is his primary base, but one that can't talk to suburban voters." Now comes the test of what plays best with the voters in this new district. Although three-fourths of the voters live in the suburbs, about 54 percent of the likely Democratic primary voters live in the city. Overall, a slight majority of the district identify themselves as Republican, which raises the hopes of Republicans that they might take it away in the fall. The Lipinski campaign contends that a tiny plurality of voters comes from his old district; Russo strategists claim the narrow plurality favors their man. They also say that 54 percent of Democratic primary voters come from Russo's district, 36 percent from Lipinski's old district, and 10 percent are new. In any case, the district is overwhelmingly white; it's only 2 percent black, about 7 percent Hispanic. Russo is expected to raise far more money for mailings and other campaign media tactics. His campaign admits to raising $600,000 so far, though Lipinski staffers think that figure will rise to $1 million. Lipinski hopes to raise $250,000, not counting the funds spent by the ward organizations. Lipinski admits that he's been on Russo's heels trying to exact equal contributions from Russo's donors. Lipinski has nearly solid regular Democratic organization support in the city and strong backing in the suburbs, where Russo also has some Democratic organizational support. State house speaker Michael Madigan, who supported Russo in the past, is now backing Lipinski with his potent ward organization. But many voters in Madigan's ward are happy with their current congressman and may not switch to Lipinski. Regular Democratic committeemen seem to have closed ranks around one of their own rather than support one of the top national leaders on what could be a breakthrough issue for Democratic successes. "Bill is a Democratic committeeman," Lipinski's deputy campaign manager Tom Mannard said. "He's from the regular Democratic organization. He's one of their own. But we're a little disappointed the mayor hasn't endorsed us, because we've produced for the mayor." Russo has picked up endorsements from some of the unions that are enthusiastic supporters of his health-care bill--AFSCME, the United Auto Workers, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, the Laborers' International Union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers--but officially the state AFL-CIO and many individual unions are neutral. The small boilermakers' union endorsed Lipinski. The Illinois Public Action Council--which includes many liberal unions as well as consumer, senior citizen, and neighborhood groups--has endorsed Russo. Russo's strategists want to focus on health care and Russo's leadership role. Lipinski's campaign is stressing his public-works achievements and the jobs they create, as well as his empathy with the district's ethnic voters--coupled with sharp attacks on Russo on social issues (flag burning, church-supported day care, pornography). After a November poll the Russo campaign staff claimed their candidate led 44 percent to 37 percent with the remainder undecided (they say the numbers have not changed much since). They said Russo did slightly better among voters who knew both candidates, and overall had higher favorable ratings and lower unfavorable ratings than Lipinski. When a question identified the candidates with their core issues--in Russo's case, health care--Russo's lead was even greater. But Lipinski's campaign staff claim their most recent poll shows their man ahead 46 to 41 percent. A Chicago Tribune poll taken in late February showed Lipinski leading 47 percent to 31 percent. Out on the streets of the southwest side one wintry day, it seemed clear that voters had health care and the economy on their minds. Lipinski was handing out leaflets at a Dominick's at 76th and Pulaski when 70-year-old Clement Marszalek walked past decked out in a Bears jacket and stocking cap. "I'm sort of favoring Russo for the elderly," he said. "He's shown more action, more interest in seniors. One thing we want is to get medical care. Canada has it, from baby up till grave. This [current policy] is ridiculous. And we spend too much on the military." Other voters that day leaned toward Lipinski. Retired printer Jim Sinkay saw him as "sincere," Al Aliano was mad about a vote Russo had made on veterans, administrative assistant Pamela Ryback liked Lipinski's "overall attitude" and friendliness. A few voters observed that they were Polish or that Russo was a "dago," but Russo campaign manager Jack Quigley says their research suggests ethnicity will not be a big factor. Former Madigan precinct captain Anthony Giedraitis wasn't going to follow his leader. "Though Lipinski worked at the Park District with me, I never thought he'd have the ability to be congressman. I thought he was OK as park superintendent. I think I'd go for Russo. He's more of an intelligent man." If Russo is able to make health care the issue in the campaign he stands a good chance. "I'm going to pick Mr. Russo," said Catherine Dimaggio, a retired secretary whose husband used to be a city employee. "I think he's fighting for us, first with health care. That's really hitting us." Although Olga Wierzbicki, a housewife, hadn't yet made up her mind, her views favored Russo. "Anything would be better than what we have now," she declared. "I really dislike Bush--40 million people without insurance, a lot of people laid off. I think it's very important. I was brought up under socialized medicine. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it." Lipinski unquestionably helped the city with some public-works issues, especially the southwest transit and recent highway and transit funds. His role in promoting the Lake Calumet airport, while seen as a feather in his cap, gave a political and financial boost to a fatally flawed site. On balance, however, his work in Congress has lost Chicagoans, especially the majority of his potential constituents, more than they've gained. But his brand of deal making fits the old narrow vision of Democratic machine politics as well as the corporate, banking, and legal elite, whose views are reflected in the Chicago Tribune's endorsement of Lipinski. Russo's political history is marked by shortcomings, especially on issues of race and women's rights, and the sort of deal making with special business interests that has corrupted politics and weakened the Democrats. But increasingly he has shown signs of transcending those limits. That's most evident in his positions on military spending and his hard-driving advocacy of the best and most popular answer to the health-care crisis. These policies would serve not only Chicago and his constituents but also the rest of the country better than the old cramped pork-barrel politics that have long dominated the city. Despite the superficial similarities of the candidates, voters on the southwest side have a clear choice with important ramifications for the rest of us. Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Marc PoKempner.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line539
__label__cc	0.630572	0.369428	(idea) by JayBees Sat Jan 20 2001 at 2:59:02 In story of Sodom, two angels are guests in Lot's home, and all the men surround the house and demand that Lot bring out the two men, "that we may know them." Lot offers to them his two virgin daughters instead, saying, "Do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof." The men of Sodom start to break down the door, and the two angels pull Lot back inside, and strike the men outside blind. Then God pops a cap in their ass, and destroys Sodom, yada yada yada... The misunderstanding is what the sin being professed here actually is. Their sin is the attempted gang rape of Lot's male guests. That they are all male is inconsequential. The gang rape of a woman by men doesn't mean that all heterosexual behavior is wrong. For the same reason, gang rape of a man by other men doesn't mean that all homosexual behavior is wrong. What's wrong is the rape. A story with a similar message, which also refutes the idea that homosexuality is inherently wrong, is in Judges 19. In this story, a group of men attempts to gang rape other men, but this time, when a woman is offered as a substitute, she is gang raped and killed. There's actually another sin in this story, although it's less relevant in modern times. In Lot's time, when you provided hospitality to someone, especially in the desert, you were giving them sanctuary because being exposed to those conditions too long would be certain death. To provide hospitality to the two angels was a very important duty, and to allow them to be dishonored, as the group of men would have, would have been a gross violation of his sacred duty. Jude 7 and 2 Peter 2:4-10 refers to Sodom, too. Jude speaks of those who "indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust." In the New Revised Standard Version, a footnote says the literal Greek is, "went after other flesh". Peter uses the phrases "depraved lust," or "unlawful acts." These references to Sodom are sexual in nature, but they are applicable to the sinful, immoral, and unethical capabilities of all. According to scholars the phrase, "went after other flesh," probably refers to Lot's guests, who are angels disguised as men. By the way, in the King James Version of the Bible, the word 'sodomite' is used incorrectly. The New Revised Standard Version has a more accurate translation saying, "None of the daughters of Israel shall be a temple prostitute; none of the sons of Israel shall be a temple prostitute. You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a male prostitute into the house of the Lord your God." In Hebrew the word translated as "sodomite" in the King James Version actually means "male temple prostitute." (place) by rabidcow Sat Jan 20 2001 at 3:49:28 Other things to look for in the story of Sodom: For the sake of a mere TEN righteous people, God would not have destroyed this city full of vileness. (Genesis 18:16-33) Lot and his family did not want to leave. The angels had to drag them out of town. Lot's wife still looked back, she didn't want to leave, even after she was told that that place meant death. (Genesis 19:15-17 and the famous verse 26) See also Luke 17:26-32 Location: It is thought that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah lie beneath the southern end of the Dead Sea. (idea) by Noung Sat May 14 2005 at 1:48:00 The story of the destruction of Sodom is told in Genesis 19, encompassing the entirety of that chapter. Sodom was the chief town of five on the plain of the Jordan River, being inhabited by the Canaanite clans. When Abraham travelled to the land of Canaan from Egypt at the command of God (with the promise that one day his descendents would own this land), he had been accompanied by his nephew Lot. The two men parted company as the land could not support them both together, with Lot travelling east to take up residence in Sodom and Abraham travelling West to live in Canaan. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were sinning against the Lord, and eventually He sent two angels to investigate their transgressions to see if the repute of their sin was as great as He had heard. When it transpired that it was, God destroyed all of the towns on the plain apart from one which Lot was allowed to escape to. Lot's wife, who was apparently unhappy to be leaving Sodom (she looked back) shared the fate of the inhabitants of the city - destruction, in her case by being turned into a pillar of salt. The city of Sodom had not had even ten righteous citizens within. The polemical aspect of this Biblical story arises from the exact sin the people of Sodom are believed to be guilty of. When God's messengers arrived in Sodom to appraise the situation, they took up residence in the house of Lot. The King James Bible relates what happens next - But before they lay down [to sleep, separately], the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. "Know", of course, usually means sexual intercourse in this context. Some versions of the Old Testament, such as my New International Version, translate "know" simply as "have sex with". So on a simple reading it would seem the crime of Sodom was homosexuality or rape (these exist in all cities to an extent, but here all the men of the city were involved), especially as when offered two young maidens instead the men outside refused. This interpretation is favoured by the Qu'ran, in Sura 7 (commonly referred to as "The Heights") and Sura 26 ("The Poets") among others. For instance, 7:80 - 81: "We also (sent) Lot: he said to his people: 'Do you commit lewdness such as no people in creation (ever) committed before you? 'For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds.' Or Sura 26:165-72, relating Allah's destruction of Sodom following the request of Lot (the latter speaking) - "Of all the creatures in the world, will ye approach males, "And leave those whom God has created for you to be your mates? Nay, ye are a people transgressing (all limits)!" They said: "If thou desist not, O Lut! thou wilt assuredly be cast out!" He said: "I do detest your doings." "O my Lord! deliver me and my family from such things as they do!" So We delivered him and his family,- all Except an old woman who lingered behind. But the rest We destroyed utterly. At another point (Sura 11:79), "They said: "Well dost thou know we have no need of thy daughters: indeed thou knowest quite well what we want!" However, such an interpretation is open to a number of criticisms (although it does show it was entrenched even by this early stage). Firstly, the Hebrew word for "man" (enoshe) translated here is usually translated as "mortal", meaning the focus would be on rape rather than homosexuality (but this raises other problems, as it was all the people, so homosexuality could be a component of a larger problem). Secondly, another interpretation presents itself that allows us to synthesize and make sense of the descriptions in the Old Testament on this matter with Jesus' message of love and tolerance in the New Testament, if hardly with the uncompromising version in the Qu'ran. Just before the destruction of Sodom, God had visited Abraham in the desert and had been treated with great hospitality by him. In the desert, then as now, hospitality is a hugely important part of culture because a man left alone in the desert on his own cannot survive for long. Abraham washes the feet of his guest, and provides food and water to God and the two angels accompanying him. When the two angels go on to Sodom, they receieve no such good reception. Rather than this treatment, they are instead surrounded by a crowd of people with an intent to gang rape them. Homosexuality might not be a sin, but greeting guests, never mind angels, with a threat of homosexual gang rape most surely is. Seen in this perfectly plausible way, the story of Sodom buttresses the message of the New Testament in two ways - God does not punish people for being homosexual, but he does punish them for not being respectful and helpful towards their fellow man. Although it must be admitted that the Bible is subject to many differing interpretation, this one surely is most consistent with the later command "If it is possible, as far as depends on you, live at peace with all men". Holy Bible. Holy Qu'ran (translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodom_and_Gomorrah The 120 Days of Sodom Aye, and Gomorrah Gomorrah Noah's Ark Genesis 19 Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God The Angel of Sodom and Gomorrah The Anathema of Zos: The Sermon of the Hypocrite Chick Publications Lust Screws up Relationships Genesis 18 Dead Sea wench Some of the hacked Sarah Palin e-mails Technically it doesn't count Nick Cave's Love Song Lecture Kids are being trained to shoot people who chant in the forest How far can an animal fall and survive? Helping someone learn how, and why, to appreciate text I've had better hugs from wind gusts and dead people Cats make great alarm clocks The soul gets growing pains, too	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line540
__label__wiki	0.86888	0.86888	187 U.S. 118 - Homer Bird v. United States 187 US 118 Homer Bird v. United States 23 S.Ct. 42 47 L.Ed. 100 HOMER BIRD, Piff. in Err., No. 306. Argued October 14, 1902. Decided November 17, 1902. Messrs. L. T. Michener, W. W. Dudley, and Malony & Cobb for plaintiff in error. Assistant Attorney General Beck and Mr. Charles H. Robb for defendant in error. Mr. Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court: Homer Bird was found guilty of the crime of murder, and was sentenced to death. On appeal to this court the judgment and sentence were reversed, and the case remanded for a new trial. 180 U. S. 356, 45 L. ed. 570, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 403. A new trial was had, resulting again in the conviction of Bird for murder, and a sentence of death by hanging was pronounced against him. To this judgment and sentence this writ of error is directed. After the first trial and while the case was pending in this court, that is, on March 3, 1899, Congress passed a criminal code and code of civil procedure for Alaska, entitled 'An Act to Define and Punish Crimes in the District of Alaska, and to Provide a Code of Criminal Procedure for Said District.' [30 Stat. at L. 1253, chap. 429.] It went into effect July 1, 1899. On June 6, 1900, Congress passed another act for Alaska, entitled 'An Act Making Further Provision for a Civil Government for Alaska, and for Other Purposes.' 31 Stat. at L. 321, chap. 786. Plaintiff in error, contending that these acts deprived the court of jurisdiction, when the case was called for trial, moved the court to strike the cause from the docket and order him discharged: (1) Because the court had no jurisdiction of the crime charged; (2) because the court had no jurisdiction of the case. The motion was denied. It was renewed again in arrest of judgment, and the grounds of it specifically alleged as follows: 'I. Because there has never been any plea entered in this court by the defendant, the only plea ever made by him being in the district court for Alaska, established by the act of Congress of May 17, 1884, which was abolished by the act of Congress of June 6, 1900. 'II. Because the court has no jurisdiction of this cause, the indictment herein having been returned into the district court for Alaska, established by the act of Congress of May 17, 1884, and not into this court, and there is no law conferring upon this court jurisdiction over indictments returned into said court. 'III. Because this court has no jurisdiction of the offense charged in the indictment herein, in this: The said indictment charges an offense under § 5339 of the Revised Statutes of the United States,1 while this court has no jurisdiction of crimes, except as defined in the Criminal Code for Alaska.' The motion was denied and an exception was taken. This ruling constitutes the first assignment of error. 1. The act of 1884 provided a civil government for Alaska, and by § 3 it was enacted as follows: 'That there shall be, and hereby is, established a district court for said district, with the civil and criminal jurisdiction of district courts of the United States, and the civil and criminal jurisdiction of district courts of the United States, exercising the jurisdiction of circuit courts, and such other jurisdiction, not inconsistent with this act, as may be established by law; and a district judge shall be appointed for said district, who shall, during his term of office, therein, and hold at least two terms of said court therein in each year, one at Sitka, beginning on the 1st Monday in May, and the other at Wrangel, beginning on the 1st Monday in November.' By § 7 it was provided: 'That the general laws of the state of Oregon now in force are hereby declared to be the law in said district, so far as the same may be applicable and not in conflict with the provisions of this act or the laws of the United States.' [23 Stat. at L. 24, chap. 53.] It was under this law that plaintiff in error was indicted and tried the first time. The act of March 3, 1899, defined the crime of homicide, and divided it into murder in the first and second degrees, and manslaughter. The act contained a clause, it is conceded, saving the jurisdiction of the court over prior cases and crimes. And it is also conceded that the act is still in force, but it is urged that it has no bearing on the questions presented. It is contended that the act of 1884 was entirely repealed and superseded by the act of June 6, 1900, 'both by express enactment and by necessary implication;' that 'the district court for Alaska created U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3627. by the act of May 17, 1884, by the act of May 17, 1884, was abolished by the act of June 6, 1900, and an entirely new court created;' and it is hence asserted 'that, in the absence of a provision in the latter act, transferring criminal causes pending in the old court to the new, the latter had no jurisdiction of indictments returned into the old court;' that 'a statute conferring upon a court 'general' jurisdiction in criminal matters must be construed to refer to and to be limited by the code of criminal law enacted for the territory, and does not include jurisdiction of any offense not embodied in the code.' The act of 1884, we have seen, established the district court for Alaska 'with the civil and criminal jurisdiction of district courts of the United States, and the civil and criminal jurisdiction of district courts of the United States exercising the jurisdiction of circuit courts.' It also provided for the appointment of a district judge, a governor, and other officers. It made provision, as declared in its title, for a civil government in Alaska. The act of June 6, 1900, is entitled 'An Act Making Further Provision for a Civil Government for Alaska, and for Other Purposes.' It provides for a governor and other officers, and its provisions for a court are as follows: 'There is hereby established a district court for the district, which shall be a court of general jurisdiction in civil, criminal, equity, and admiralty causes; and three district judges shall be appointed for the district, who shall, during their terms of office, reside in the devisions of the district to which they may be respectively assigned by the President. 'The court shall consist of three divisions. The judge designated to preside over division numbered one shall, during his term of office, reside at Juneau, and shall hold at least four terms of court in the district each year, two at Juneau and two at Skagway, and the judge shall, as near January 1 as practicable, designate the time of holding the terms during the current year. 'The judge designated to preside over division numbered two shall reside at St. Michaels during his term of office, and shall hold at least one term of court each year at St. Michaels, in the district, beginning the 3d Monday in June. 'The judge designated to preside over division numbered three shall reside at Eagle City during his term of office, and shall hold at least one term of court each year at Eagle City, in the district, beginning on the 1st Monday in July.' [31 Stat. at L. 321, chap. 786, § 4.] Section 5 declares the jurisdiction of each division of the court to extend over the whole district, and provides for a change of venue from one division or place to another. The act further empowers the judges to appoint their own clerks, commissioners, etc. Section 10 provides that the 'judges . . . [and other officers] provided for in this act shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,' etc., and a salary of $5,000 is provided, instead stead of $3,000, as under the old law. Section 25 provides that 'the officers properly qualified and actually discharging official duties in the district at the time of the approval of this act may continue to act in their respective official capacities until the expiration of the terms for which they were respectively appointed unless sooner removed.' And it is provided in § 368 as follows: 'No person shall be deprived of any existing legal right or remedy by reason of the passage of this act, and all civil actions or proceedings commenced in the courts of the district before or within sixty days after the approval of this act may be prosecuted to final judgment under the law now in force in the district, or under this act. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.' [p. 552.] It is upon these provisions that counsel for plaintiff in error rest the contentions which we have quoted. The principal contention is that the district court for Alaska, created by the act of May 17, 1884, was abolished by the act of June 6, 1900, and an entirely new court created. The contention is supported with ability, but we do not think that it is necessary to decide it on this record. That Congress did not intend, by the act June, 1900, to affect the prosecution of prior offenses is manifest from the act of March 3, 1899, supra. 30 Stat. at L. 1285, chap 429. This act, though passed prior to the act of June, 1900, constituted, with the latter act, a part of the scheme of government for Alaska. By the act of March 3, 1899, it is provided 'that nothing herein contained shall apply to, or in any way affect, any proceeding or indictment now found or pending, or that may be found, for any offense committed before the passage of this act.' Section 219. The act was in force at the time of the passage of the act of June, 1900. It constituted then and constitutes now the code of criminal law enacted for the territory, and the crimes there defined constitute the criminal causes of which the district court, by the act of June, 1900, is given 'general' jurisdiction. Necessarily, therefore, not only the criminal causes subsequent to the act of 1899, but the criminal causes saved by it, are covered by its provisions. In other words, the tribunal provided by the act of 1900, whether it is newly created or an existing one continued, has jurisdiction of all the criminal causes embraced by the provisions of the act of March 3, 1899. And it makes no difference that the records and files 'of the old court' are not made records and files 'of the new court.' They must be considered as made, as the means of exercising the jurisdiction conferred. It being the intent of Congress to save 'any proceeding or indictment' found or pending 'for any offense committed before the passage' of the act of 1899, in construing the act of 1900, 'some degree of implication may be called in to aid that intent.' 6 Cranch, 314, 3 L. ed. 234. There is a presumption against a construction which would render a statute ineffective or inefficient, or which would cause grave public injury or even inconvenience. We find nothing in the cases cited by plaintiff in error to defeat our conclusion. In McNulty v. Batty, 10 How. 72, 13 L. ed. 333, there was a transfer of sovereignty; a territory became a state, and it was held 'the territorial government ceased to exist and all the authority under it, including the laws organizing its courts of justice, and providing for a revision of their judgments in this court [Supreme Court of the United States] by appeals or writs of error.' All that is material in Freeborn v. Smith, 2 Wall. 160, 17 L. ed. 922, depends upon the same consideration. In Merchants' Ins. Co. v. Ritchie, 5 Wall. 541, 18 L. ed. 540, it was decided that the act of 1833, which gave the citizens of a state the right to sue citizens of the same state in the courts of the United States, for causes arising under the revenue laws, was repealed by a subsequent statute, and that therefore the national courts had no longer jurisdiction of such causes. In other words, it was held that, as the jurisdiction depended upon the statute, it was taken away by the repeal of the statute. Ex parte McCardle, 7 Wall 506, 19 L. ed. 264; The Assessor v. Osborne, 9 Wall. 567, sub nom. Gates v. Osborne, 19 L. ed. 748; Baltimore & P. R. Co. v. Grant, 98 U. S. 398, 25 L. ed. 231, and United States v. Tynen, 11 Wall. 88, 20 L. ed. 153, were to the same effect. In the latter case there was not an express repeal of the prior statute, but it was decided the latter act effected such repeal upon the principle that if two acts are 'repugnant in any of their provisions, the latter act, without any repealing clause, operates, to the extent of the repugnancy, as a repeal of the first; and even where two acts are not in express terms repugnant, yet, if the latter act covers the whole subject of the first, and embraces new provisions, plainly showing that it was intended as a substitute for the first act, it will operate as a repeal of that act.' This principle plaintiff in error relies on, and urges that it was recently asserted and applied in Murphy v. Utter, 186 U. S. 95, 46 L. ed. 1070, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 776. The principle is not pertinent in the view we take of the statutes. 2. One of the witnesses for the prosecution was a woman. She was designated on the indictment by the name of Naomi Strong. It was contended that Naomi Strong was not her name, and plaintiff in error objected to her testimony on the ground that her true name had not been furnished on the list of witnesses given. The objection was overruled, and the ruling is assigned as error. At the request of the plaintiff in error the jury was withdrawn and the witness examined before the court as to her name, and she testified that her maiden name was Naomi Strong, but she had been married and divorced. She refused to give the name of her husband. She also testified that she had been divorced ten or twelve years, and upon her divorce she went by her maiden name. Subsequently she went by the name of Byers, when living with a man by that name, and, after meeting plaintiff in error, she went by his name. She testified that she met the plaintiff in error in 1893 or 1894, and left New Orleans with him the 1st of May, 1898, to join the expedition to Alaska, during which the homicide was committed. She and plaintiff in error traveled as husband and wife under the name of Mr. and Mrs. Bundick. The ruling of the court was right. Section 1033** of the Revised Statutes of the United States requires that in a capital case the list of the witnesses and jurors shall be delivered to the defendant at least two entire days before the trial. By list of the witnesses means a list containing the names of the witnesses, and, necessarily, this means the names which they then bear, and which identify them. The purpose of the statute is to point out to the defendant the person who may testify against him, and that is best accomplished by the name the witness bears at the time, and not some name that such witness may have had at some prior time. The present case demonstrates the sense of this. It does not appear how long the witness had been married, and to have designated her by her married name might have conveyed no information about her. A question could be raised whether the objection to the witness was made in time. Logan v. United States, 144 U. S. 263, 36 L. ed. 429, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 617. 3. There are errors assigned on the instructions given or refused, and for their understanding an outline of the facts is necessary. In the spring of 1898 the plaintiff in error, Hurlin, the deceased, Charles Scheffler, R. S. Patterson, and Naomi Strong organized a party to prospect in Alaska for gold. Each of the men was to contribute $500 for purchasing an outfit. Scheffler failed with his contribution and plaintiff in error furnished something over $1,000. At San Francisco, California, a small steam launch and a scow 32 feet long by 6 feet beam were bought, together with the usual supply of food, clothing, etc. The party sailed from San Francisco, and reached St. Michael July 4. Shortly after, they started up the Yukon river, reaching a point in September about 600 miles above its mouth, and there determined to go into winter quarters, and for that purpose began the construction of a cabin. Dissentions arose in the party, and the plaintiff in error and the rest of the party do not agree in their testimony as to who was in fault. A resolution to separate was formed, but its execution was postponed, at the request of the plaintiff in error, until the cabin should be finished. The cabin was finished on September 26. In the meantime there had been disagreements as to the division of supplies. The homicide occurred on the morning of the 27th of September. The witnesses for the prosecution substantially agree that the party collected for breakfast on that morning,—Patterson, Hurlin, and Scheffler going first, the plaintiff in error subsequently joining them, he seating himself on his bunk back of the others, and they sat as follows: Patterson on the right, Scheffler in the center, and Hurlin on the left. We may quote from the testimony of the woman. Her statement was substantially corroborated by the others; their statements only varied in some details or differences which arose from their different positions. Scheffler and I were talking about a trap I had set to catch some grouse, and _____ . . . A._____we were talking about it, and all at once I heard Mr. Bird's gun click,—shotgun,—when he broke it, it clicked, of course, and I looked up, and he had the gun to his shoulder, and in the meantime Mr. Scheffler looked around; I think he fired at Mr. Hurlin, and then Scheffier looked around and held up his hands and told him for God's sake not to shoot him, and I jumped up after he fired at Hurlin, and Mr. Patterson kind of jumped back of me,—jumped behind me like, and I asked Bird not to shoot; he had the gun to his shoulder all the time, and I jumped and run; put my head over Patterson's shoulder and run through the boat, and just as I passed him in the boat he fired at Mr. Patterson, and Patterson jumped overboard; whether the shot struck him when he jumped overboard I don't know; and in the meantime I jumps out on the beach, and Mr. Patterson jumps overboard, and Mr. Bird comes running out, climbs over the bow of the boat with two guns in his hand—his own and Mr. Scheffler's—and heads Patterson off; the boat was in the water just kind of half on the beach and half in the water, and so Mr. Patterson wades around on the side of the boat to get out, and Bird heads him off and tells him not to come near him, and Patterson kept begging him not to shoot him, and Bird up with his gun again says, 'Bob, you dirty son of a bitch, you're the cause of this,' and shot at him the second time, and Patterson came to the beach. Q. Well, compose yourself, Mrs. Strong, if you can, and go on and state what occurred there. What happened when Mr. Patterson got to the beach?—A. They were all on the beach then, and he begged Bird not to shoot him. Q. What did he say to him?—A. He held out his hands and told him for God's sake to think of his poor family. Q. What did Bird say?—A. I don't remember any more what he did say; I think he says, 'Bob, I have thought of our families,' or something like that. Q. At the time he fired at Hurlin, did you see what Mr. Hurlin did? Immediately after, as far as Hurlin was concerned? Immediately after the shooting of Hurlin, what followed [witness sobs]; what did he do, Mrs. Strong?—A. Mr. Hurlin? Q. Yes.—A. He never moved at all; he sat in the same position when he was shot. Q. Did his body change position at all?—A. No; just remained that way for quite a while. Q. Did you see any evidence of a wound on Mr. Hurlin. anything?—A. I saw where there was a hole in his head right here, the left side. The plaintiff in error claimed to have acted in self-defense. His testimony will be given hereafter, in connection with an instruction to which it is more particularly pertinent. In view of the testimony, error is based upon the following instruction given by the trial court: 'In this connection you may consider whether the gun of the defendant was placed at a point near his bed, as stated by the witnesses for the prosecution, and whether the defendant took his gun from the point where it was described to have been placed, by the witnesses for the prosecution, and whether, without any act on the part of the deceased or either of those sitting near him, he maliciously, from behind the backs of these men, when no attack was made against him in any way, wilfully and maliciously shot the deceased, Hurlin, in the back and side of the head, thereby taking his life; or whether the statement of the defendant is true, that a quarrel ensued between himself and Patterson while discussing their accounts; that blows passed between them, and that, after hearing the witness Naomi Strong say, 'They are getting their guns,—if he did hear any such thing, and if you so find,—whether he sprang down to a point near the water barrel and there seized his gun, and immediately raising the same shot Hurlin while he, the said Hurlin, was in the act of attempting to draw a gun from his sleeping bag; and, if all of that was true, as the defendant states, whether he was under the necessity of immediately shooting and killing the said Hurlin in order to protect his own life, or if, as the situation then appeared to him, such necessity of immediately shooting Hurlin in order to save his own life existed. 'If you find from the evidence that the statements of defendant Bird in these respects are true, and that the statement of the witnesses of the prosecution are not true, and that the defendant Bird shot and killed the said Hurlin under circumstances, as they then appeared to him, necessary for the protection of his own life, then you should find him not guilty. But if you should further find that the statement of the defendant Bird is true as to the acts of the said Hurlin as to obtaining his own gun in the manner he described, and yet the apparent danger was not such as to make it necessary or apparently necessary for him to kill the deceased, Hurlin, without giving him any warning, if you find he gave him no warning,—and without calling upon him, the said Hurlin, to desist in his efforts to obtain his gun, and that the defendant, under such circumstances, shot and killed the deceased, Hurlin, without apparent necessity therefor in order to preserve his own life, then you should find the defendant guilty of manslaughter at least. 'But in determining this matter, under the evidence before you, you must consider the situation of the parties at the time and all the surrounding circumstances, together with the testimony of the witnesses for the prosecution, as well as the evidence of the defendant.' The contention of the plaintiff in error is that the last paragraph 'qualified the whole instruction, and permeated it with two errors;' because it was in effect declared that, even if the testimony of the witnesses for the government were untrue, it was to be considered in determining the verdict; and because all of the evidence of the defendant (plaintiff in error) was withdrawn from the jury in passing on the issue of self-defense. The instruction is not open to this criticism when considered in connection with other instructions. The rule as to the credibility of witnesses was given in other instructions, and did not have to accompany every ruling, and the jury were instructed that it was their duty 'to consider the whole evidence, and render a verdict in accordance with the facts proved upon the trial.' The injunction was not limited by the paragraph complained of by plaintiff in error. That was preceded by the following: 'In considering whether the killing in this case was justifiable or excusable on the ground of self-defense, the jury should consider all the circumstances attending the killing, the conduct of the parties at the time and shortly prior thereto, and their respective situations at the time. You should determine from the evidence in this case whether the several parties were situated, at the time of the killing, as described by the witness for the prosecution or described by the defendant himself.' The italics are ours, and manifestly the injunction was to determine from the whole evidence 'the respective situations' of the 'several parties.' And the same injunction was expressed in the concluding paragraph of the instruction. This view makes it unnecessary to consider at length the instruction requested by plaintiff in error, the refusal of which constitutes the 8th assignment of error. It selected and gave certain testimony prominence, and attempted to make it determinative of a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the plaintiff in error. If we could concede the correctness of such an instruction the refusal cannot be claimed as error, if the whole case was submitted to the jury; and we think it was. 4. The 7th assignment of error is based upon the following instructions: 'Evidence has been offered of the escape of the defendant, or attempted escape, after arrest on the charge on which the defendant is now being tried. This evidence is admitted on the theory that the defendant is in fear of the consequences of his crime and is attempting to escape therefrom; in other words, that guilt may be inferred from the fact of escape from custody. The court instructs you that the inference that may be drawn from an escape is strong or slight according to the facts surrounding the party at the time. If a party is caught in the act of crime and speedily makes an attempt for liberty under desperate circumstances, the inference of guilt would be strong; but if the attempt was made after many months of confinement and escapes comparatively without danger, then the inference of guilt to be drawn from an escape is slight; but whether the inference of guilt is strong or slight depends upon the conditions and circumstances surrounding the accused person at the time.' There was no error in the instruction. It submitted to the jury the attempt to escape as a fact to be considered, not as determinative of guilt, and Allen v. United States, 164 U. S. 492, 41 L. ed. 528, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 154, applies, and not Starr v. United States, 164 U. S. 627, 41 L. ed. 577, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 223. Indeed, when the state of the record is considered the charge given was as favorable to the accused as the law warranted. The only testimony on the subject of flight related to an escape made by the prisoner in October, following his arrest in June. This testimony was objected to, not because proof of flight was per se inadmissible, but solely on the ground that the escape in question was too remote from the commission of the offense charged and the arrest and imprisonment of the accused, to be entitled to go to the jury. The court overruled the objection on the ground that it went to the force of the evidence, and not to its admissibility. When, therefore, the court charged the jury that an attempt to escape, 'made after many months of confinement' and 'comparatively without danger,' tended only slightly to prove guilt, we think the instruction was not amenable to the criticism made of it. In view of the instruction which the court gave, as just stated, we think the court committed no error in not giving a more elaborate instruction on the subject of flight, which was asked by the accused. Everything in the charge asked, as applied to the case, was embraced in the charge given. 5. The plaintiff in error requested the court to give an instruction which defined principal and accessory, expressed the legal value of the testimony of an accomplice and the necessity of its corroboration to justify a conviction, and submitted to the jury to determine whether Charles Scheffler and Naomi Strong were or were not the accomplices of plaintiff in error in the killing of Hurlin. Assuming, without deciding, that the instruction requested expressed the law correctly, it was nevertheless rightly refused, because there were no facts in the case to justify it. The plaintiff in error testified, and claimed to have killed Hurlin in self-defense. His version of the controversy which preceded the homicide was as follows: I says to him [Patterson], 'You fellows are nothing but a pack of thieves; you made 10 per cent on them bills in Fresco;' and Patterson says 'You're a liar;' I says, 'You're another,' and with that we dug into each other. Q. And what happened?—A. He struck me and I struck him. Q. Where did you strike him?—A. In the eye, and I knocked him off the sacks and he fell down, and with that Naomi hollers, 'Look out, Homer, they're getting their guns.' Hurlin was coming up with his gun under his sleeping bag, one end of it this way. I shot Hurlin, and Patterson ran to the bow of the boat; he had to stoop like that, and he jumped for his gun, and, as he did so, I shot him. Q. Come to this map and point out just where you were when you shot at Hurlin.—A. I was in here; I jumped down here and got the gun and stood right about here; Scheffler and the woman was here. Q. Where was Hurlin?—A. Hurlin was here reaching for his gun under the sleeping bags, and had it under his knee like this way. Q. And where was Patterson?—An. He was jumping from here over against the edge like,—you see the rifle was right in here. I had seen that gun there before, for Scheffler had it out, and brought in and set it down there. He was going for that. It is hardly necessary to point out that this testimony shows the woman to have been an innocent spectator of the fray, and if Scheffler had any guilty connection with what transpired, it was not as the accomplice of plaintiff in error. Nor did he become an accomplice by not disclosing the homicide until some time afterward. We find no error in the other rulings, objected to, nor do they require particular review.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line541
__label__cc	0.746826	0.253174	mRELEVANCE Launches New Website for Wright Homes March 21, 2014 - Marketing Relevance mRELEVANCE, LLC announces the launch of the new Wright Homes website. The new website reflects the Birmingham, Ala. builder’s belief that people are at the heart of what they do. The website, www.wrighthomes.cc, is more intuitive, user-friendly and utilizes a dramatic full-width responsive design, allowing users to explore the site while on-the-go or just sitting at their desks. “Just like their homes, the new Wright Homes’ new website has been designed and built with its customers in mind,” explained Mitch Levinson, managing partner of mRELEVANCE. “We are really excited about the new look. It’s much cleaner now with more options to discover the builder and its products.” On the home page, the website features easy navigation, with tabs at the top of the page and a whimsical sketch board with imagery that represents the builder’s drawn elevations and floor plans. The navigation and board accomplished the builder’s design goal to display both the classic and custom home options. Other board images are uploaded and converted on-the-fly to these pencil drawings. Even the Google map takes on a sketch appearance. In addition to the responsive design, the website automatically adjusts large high resolution images to smaller file sizes when viewing on tablet and mobile. This means the page loads faster and delivers the desired content to the user quickly. Visitors can click to view the builder’s custom homes, classic homes, available building sites and communities. Visitors can also view images of the featured home and 2014 Parade Home, learn about the building process, read the new blog and so much more. The new site is interactive and will keep the home buyer engaged and on the site. “Beyond the enhanced user experience and an attractive look, the site will improve the company’s traffic, leads and search engine optimization. Better search engine results will provide a way for more prospects to confirm Wright Homes as their builder of choice,” continued Levinson. “Additionally, the content on the site is created dynamically, allowing Wright Homes to easily manage and edit every aspect of the website, including the web leads that are captured and stored in the custom content management system.” Wright Homes is comprised of a talented and experienced team that creates individual designs to meet buyer’s visions, lifestyle and budget. Homes range from entry-level classic homes to million dollar homes with opportunities for buyers to build in a community or on their own home sites throughout eight counties around Birmingham. If you need help building or updating your website, contact mRELEVANCE here.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line542
__label__wiki	0.501123	0.501123	Prof. Zetian Mi selected as IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer Prof. Mi will speak about the advances in ultraviolet optoelectronics for improved disinfection and water purification. Zetian Mi Prof. Zetian Mi is one of six professors worldwide selected to be a 2020-2021 Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Photonics Society. This program was designed to honor excellent speakers who have made technical, industrial or entrepreneurial contributions to the field of photonics and to enhance the technical programs of the IEEE Photonics Society Chapters. Mi’s talk will focus on the advances of ultraviolet optoelectronics for improved disinfection and water purification. Mercury lamps, which require a lot of power and can be hazardous, are the current method for disinfection and water purification. III-nitride ultraviolet (UV) light sources, including light emitting diodes (LEDs) and lasers, offer a promising alternative. Mi will rely on recent research showing that AlGaN-based UV-C LEDs can readily shred genetic material of viruses and bacterial and achieve 99.9% sterilization of SARS-COV-2. He will present the recent advances of AlGaN and BN nanostructures and heterostructures and their applications in UV optoelectronics. He will also explore how these methods are better at preventing the transmission of microbial diseases with virtually no harmful side effects. As a Distinguished Lecturer, chapters may request Mi to present at chapter meetings, chapter-related events, or co-sponsored conferences organized by a chapter during his term served July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021. He will also be available for virtual presentations, or the society can provide a pre-recorded talk for chapter events. An alumnus of Michigan, Mi received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics in 2006. He returned as a faculty member in 2016. Most recently, he was an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University, where he received several major awards including the Engineering Innovation Award. Mi is a fellow of the Optical Society of America. He has received the Young Scientist Award from the International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors and the Young Investigator Award from the 27th North American Molecular Beam Epitaxy Conference. Honors and Awards; Zetian Mi	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line553
__label__wiki	0.584774	0.584774	“This Is Low, Even By NRA Standards”: NRA Gets Everything Wrong In New Attack Ad At least for now, Donald Trump’s campaign doesn’t really have the resources to air commercials in key 2016 battleground states, but the presumptive Republican nominee is getting some help from a controversial ally: the NRA Political Victory Fund, the National Rifle Association’s political arm, is investing $2 million in a new attack ad blaming the 2012 attack in Benghazi on Hillary Clinton. The spot features Mark Geist, a Marine veteran who survived the terrorist attack, apparently walking through a national cemetery. It will air in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. So, what’s wrong with the ad? Just about everything. First, the New York Daily News reports on the problem of using a national cemetery as a prop in a campaign attack ad. Federal government officials dismissed the ad, stating that the NRA never requested to film on the solemn, hallowed ground – and would have been rejected if it had. “Partisan activities are prohibited on national cemetery grounds as they are not compatible with preserving the dignity and tranquility of the national cemeteries as national shrines,” the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration, which maintains 134 national cemeteries, told The News in a statement. Second, while the ad suggests Clinton was responsible for the attack in Benghazi, the star of the commercial is actually on record saying largely the opposite. Third, just this week, the House Republicans’ own Benghazi report found no evidence – despite two years of investigating – that blames Clinton for the terrorism. And finally, note that the ad features hundreds of cemetery tombstones, when the actual U.S. death toll in Benghazi was four people. I don’t expect much from NRA attack ads, but this is low, even for the notorious gun group. By: Steve Benen, The Maddow Blog, July 1, 2016 July 4, 2016 Posted by raemd95 \| Donald Trump, National Cemetaries, National Rifle Association \| Attack Ads, Benghazi, Department of Veterans Affairs, Hillary Clinton, House Republicans, Mark Geist, NRA Political Political Victory Fund, Veterans \| Leave a comment “What Price Would Be Too High?”: The Question Gun Advocates Should Have To Answer As we have yet another round of our repeated and possibly fruitless arguments about the role of guns in American society, there’s one thing I desperately want to hear gun advocates say. It’s not complicated, it would have the benefit of honesty, and it might enable us to move this debate to ground where we could actually make choices about what kind of society we want to have. What I want to hear gun advocates say is, “This is the price America has to pay for the right some of us cherish.” The reason I want to hear this is that on no other basic debate over constitutional rights that I can think of does one side argue that there are no tradeoffs, that exercising a particular right, even in the most extreme way, doesn’t actually involve any cost whatsoever. Only gun advocates say that. When somebody shoots 49 people in a club with a military weapon that gun advocates work so desperately to keep as widely available as possible, they don’t say, “That was terrible, but the right to have guns is so important that it’s something we need to live with.” When confronted with the fact that over 30,000 Americans are killed every year with guns, they don’t say that this cost is acceptable, they say that guns had nothing whatsoever to do with all the people killed with guns. Maybe it was because of mental illness, or radical Islam, or video games. But guns? Why should we talk about guns? There’s no other right we talk about this way. When the exercise of other rights produces things we don’t like, we don’t deny that we’re paying a price for something we value. When Nazis decide to hold a march and it makes us upset, nobody says, “Oh, we didn’t have to endure that hateful sight because of free speech; it was our road-building policy that made it possible. Speech had nothing to do with it!” We say that as unpleasant as it was, we have to tolerate hateful speech because of our commitment to free expression. Nobody denies that it has a cost. Now to be fair, on some extremely rare occasions a prominent conservative has acknowledged that our national gun fetish has a price. For instance, Ben Carson said last fall that while he treated gunshot victims as a doctor, “I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away.” If your mind reels at how morally obtuse that is, then you know why it’s an argument you almost never hear. Instead, gun advocates say that the real answer to the carnage guns inflict is to saturate our society with yet more guns. In other words, there’s no tradeoff at all. It’s as though someone said that if you’re worried about the privacy we give up when we let the government snoop on our communications in order to stop terrorism, the answer is to just give the government all your passwords and set up a webcam in your bathroom, and then you’ll have real privacy. Nor does anyone talk this way about less fundamental rights, the things we merely want and need. Cars kill the same number of Americans as guns, but even though cars are incredibly useful, nobody denies that they’re dangerous. So we try to make them as safe as possible. We build technologies into them, like seat belts, air bags, and anti-lock brakes. We try to make sure people are capable of handling them safely before we give them permission to drive. We pass new laws on things like texting while driving in order to eliminate the factors that make them less safe. Nobody says, “Well, the fact that your child was mowed down by a teenager texting on his phone doesn’t have anything to do with cars and driving—let’s put the focus where it belongs, on teen attention spans.” Perhaps it’s because gun advocates look at their opponents and see people who put no value at all on gun rights, who would rather have America be more like, well, like almost every other industrialized country in the world, where guns are heavily restricted and gun ownership isn’t seen as a “right” at all. They may think that arguing against those people requires taking an absolutely categorical position at all times. Or perhaps it’s because that small proportion of gun owners, the ones who fight with fervid intensity against even the most modest restriction and regulation, really have sanctified guns in their own mind. An object so perfect in its wondrous glory can’t possibly be blamed for anything done with it. But the truth is that gun advocates do actually think that the price we’re paying is a reasonable one for the existing gun regime, in which it’s so spectacularly easy for almost anyone to obtain as many weapons as they like. Nobody thinks that the NRA or your average Republican politician is happy about the 30,000 Americans whose lives are ended by guns every year, but it’s not a high enough number for them to embrace any measure that might inhibit gun ownership. It’s not even high enough for them to tolerate some inconvenience, like making gun owners demonstrate that they know how to handle them safely and are able to store them where children can’t get them. Presumably, there’s some number that would be too high. Maybe it would be a hundred thousand Americans killed with guns every year, or five hundred thousand, or a million. But 30,000? That’s a price they think we can pay. I have little doubt that some gun advocates genuinely believe that they’ll probably have their home invaded by murderous gangs, or that they need their concealed carry permit because there’s an ISIS strike team waiting at the supermarket, or that society is eternally on the brink of complete breakdown and their guns are the only way to protect their family against the cannibal hordes. But they also won’t say to the rest of us what they say to each other, which is that guns are fun, guns are cool, guns make you feel like a man and that’s the reason that guy in the shop is buying his fifth or tenth or 12th gun, not because he’s the only thing standing between the rest of us and government’s tyranny. And the AR-15s that are getting so much attention? They aren’t as popular as they are because it’s impossible to defend your home without one. They’re popular because they’re relatively affordable, because they can be easily modified (so you can trick yours out with lots of cool accessories), and because having a gun designed for the military makes you feel like a real warrior. That’s a truth that can’t withstand the light of day. If it’s really not about needing guns but about people wanting them and loving them, then we’d have to ask exactly what price we’re willing to pay for some people’s love of guns. So maybe that’s the question gun advocates should answer: If 30,000 dead Americans is an acceptable price to pay for your version of freedom, what price would be too high? By: Paul Waldman, Senior Writer, The American Prospect, June 29, 2016 June 26, 2016 Posted by raemd95 \| Gun Advocates, Gun Control, Gun Deaths, National Rifle Association \| Assault Weapons, Ben Carson, Constitutional Rights, Gun Ownership, Gun Safety, Orlando Shootings, Public Health, Republicans \| Leave a comment “The Day The NRA’s Gun Dam Began To Crack”: The Ongoing Holocaust The NRA And The Republicans Are Abetting I couldn’t believe Wednesday night that some liberals were expressing indifference or even suspicion toward the House Democrats’ sit-in. I wouldn’t say this was all that widespread, but I did see it, and it was based on the fact that one of the bills they were demanding a vote on, the one banning people on watch lists from buying guns, is problematic from a civil-libertarian point of view. Oh please. Do these people know history happening when they see it? The sit-in was about the two bills only in the most nominal sense. It was really about dead bodies. It was about the NRA and its stranglehold on their institution. It was about saying “enough.” I wrote earlier this week that yes, the NRA won again on those four Senate votes, but “someday, this dam will break.” Well, it’s coming a hell of a lot faster than I thought it would. No, the dam isn’t broken—yet. That will still take a fair amount of time. But after Wednesday night, it’s now possible to see a different future, one in which the NRA is not all-powerful. It’s no longer crazy to think that its back can be broken. Sure, there are serious civil liberties concerns about government lists. Here’s what the ACLU has to say about them. If you are a man with an Arabic name in particular, the risk of being put on one of these lists because of error or confusion is not inconsiderable. That has to be addressed, and a citizen has to be able to go to the government and demonstrate wrongful harm. But everyone agrees on all this. As I watched the coverage Wednesday, every single Democrat I saw interviewed said as much. I wish I could retrieve for you what Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky told Chris Hayes late last night, but the video wasn’t posted on his site yet as I sat down to write. She said in essence: Of course, we all agree, fix the bill, build in an appeals process for individuals to challenge being put on the list. Given. In the meantime, actual dangerous people who deserve to be on that list can go buy assault weapons and mow down innocent people. Let’s stop that first, then we’ll fine-tune the bill. What on earth is objectionable about that? Nothing. And anyway, the bill isn’t going to pass even if Paul Ryan does allow a vote. But it would have the effect of calling the Republicans’ bluff. That is, the standard Republican criticism of the bill has been precisely this civil-libertarian critique. So if the Democrats come to them en masse to say fine, we agree with you, let’s find a way to build in a workable appeals process, and the Republicans still vote against the bill, they will stand exposed, and everyone will know that civil liberty concerns aren’t what’s driving GOP opposition. Fear of Wayne LaPierre is. We all know this already anyway, but if there is a vote and they still vote against it, we’ll have proof. Legislating is ugly business. The choices are usually between okay and not okay, or often between bad and much worse. You take what you can get. This is why the sit-in merits support and admiration (and if you really want to be a liberal who’s on the opposite side of the great John Lewis, be my guest). This is very different from the civil rights actions of the 1950s. Then, activists had a country to persuade; they had to move the mountain of public opinion. And so activists in Birmingham settled on segregated buses as the target that would tangibly and visibly make segregation stark for white Americans outside the South. They bided their time, deliberately chose Rosa Parks as the woman to do it, and slowly won public opinion over to their side. But here, the public doesn’t have to be persuaded. It’s 80 or 90 percent on the Democrats’ side on guns. Even most NRA members support background checks, the subject of the other bill over which the Democrats staged their action. The boulder that has to be moved—or crushed—is the Republican Congress. So it’s up to congressional Democrats to make that fight, and they have to do it with the imperfect implements at their disposal, which means particular pieces of legislation that are bound to be deficient in one way or another. And they’re finally making that fight. It was remarkable to see lawmakers holding those pieces of paper with the names of victims from Newtown and Orlando. That wasn’t about watch lists. It was about the ongoing holocaust that the NRA and the Republicans are abetting. It was all the more remarkable for the fact that it was done in an election year, when everyone’s supposed to be double-terrified of the NRA. So the sit-in is ending as I write, on Thursday afternoon. But one of these days, the NRA will lose a vote. Two or three more Orlandos (which is of course two or three too many) will have the nation tearing its hair out. Democrats will finally stand firm, and enough Republicans from purple districts and states will defect. The stranglehold will end. And maybe in time, after LaPierre has gone off to whatever place eternity has reserved for him, the NRA will again become what it used to be, which is an organization that promotes reasonable Second Amendment rights but stops insisting that these death machines that were never intended to be in civilian hands deserve constitutional protection. And when that time comes, historians will point to June 22, 2106 as the day the dam started to crack. I’m clear about which side I’m on. By: Michael Tomasky, The Daily Beast, June 24, 2016 June 25, 2016 Posted by raemd95 \| Gun Deaths, House Democrats Sit-In, National Rifle Association \| House Republicans, John Lewis, Mass Shootings, Paul Ryan, Public Opinion, Senate Republicans, Terrorist Watch List, Wayne LaPierre \| Leave a comment “21st Century Assault Weapons And 18th Century Muskets”: Why The Next Supreme Court Is Poised To Roll Back Gun Rights While Congress remains stymied by Republican opposition to any gun regulations, there are four reasons to think that the court system, and the Supreme Court in particular, may be evolving: Orlando, changes in the Court, and two recent court cases. Remember that the NRA’s understanding of the Second Amendment is an extremely recent phenomenon. For more than 200 years, the legal and scholarly consensus was that, in the absence of a standing army, the Second Amendment was designed to enable states and localities to maintain a “well-regulated militia” by placing muskets and other weapons in the hands of local citizens. Then came three decades of conservative political activism, focused on law schools, the National Rifle Association, and conservative think tanks. This effort culminated (but by no means concluded) with the 2008 case of D.C. v. Heller, which the Supreme Court found, for the first time, an individual right to gun ownership in the Second Amendment. This view is now the dogma of tens of millions of Americans, propped up by an entire industry of selective histories and scholarship that can usually be traced back to the handful of philanthropists who paid for it. Indeed, the preamble of the Second Amendment has been written out of the Constitution to the point where the NRA’s national headquarters has a frieze engraved on a wall bearing only the second clause of the amendment, “the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed.” Despite the fervency with which some hold that belief, however, it is very shaky as a judicial matter—and recent signs suggest it may collapse entirely. First, of course, is the Orlando massacre, the latest mass shooting to horrify America. While the Right has, of course, blamed the shooting solely on Islamic terrorism, it seems clear to most people that it was due to a combination of terrorism, homophobia, the personality of the shooter, and access to guns. Without the AR-15-style rifle, the shooter would likely not have killed 49 people. The Orlando massacre doesn’t have any formal judicial meaning. But Supreme Court justices are also human beings, and it’s hard to see it not impacting how they view the relationship between 21st century assault weapons and 18th century muskets. Second, there is the shift in the Court’s own membership. The Heller opinion was written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia for a 5-4 majority. That majority is now gone. Interestingly, we know next to nothing about how a Justice Merrick Garland might vote on gun control. Contrary to the insinuations of Bill O’Reilly and other conservative talking heads, Judge Garland did not vote to uphold the District of Columbia’s gun law that was ultimately overturned in Heller; he only voted for the entire appeals court to hear the case, rather than just a three-judge panel. (One of the appeals court’s most conservative members voted the same way—but they were outvoted.) We have no clue of his view of the Second Amendment, and his more moderate outlook in general means that anything is possible. Still, Garland is no Scalia—and if he isn’t confirmed, whoever President Hillary Clinton nominates is likely not to be a Garland-style moderate either. So the pendulum may swing back on gun rights simply as a function of the Court’s membership. Two lesser-known developments, though, may be even more telling. The first of these is that the Supreme Court decided not to hear an appeal brought by a challenger to a state’s assault weapons ban, upholding the gun-control law. This may mean many things: maybe a majority of justices think the appeals court got it right, or maybe they don’t see enough of a conflict among the circuit courts, or maybe they think this case isn’t the best test case to take, or maybe the short-handed court is limiting its workload, or who knows—it could be anything. But at the very least, it means the Court does not see the ban as a horrifyingly unconstitutional travesty that requires immediate judicial remedy. Contrast that with two of the cases still outstanding this year: Texas’s challenge to the Obama administration’s immigration policies, and Texas’s defense of its abortion clinic regulations. The Court not only took these two cases but issued (or upheld) injunctions on the enforcement of the challenged rules. Not so in the assault weapons ban case. Finally, there’s a case from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, decided earlier this month, that provides some of the best intellectual rationale for limiting, if not overruling, Heller. That case, Peruta v. City of San Diego, dealt with California’s strict requirements to obtain a “concealed carry” permit. (They are only available to limited groups of people, such as guards, messengers, hunters, or target shooters.) Do those requirements violate the Second Amendment? The Ninth Circuit, by a vote of 8 to 3, said no. Writing for the court, Judge William Fletcher wrote an extensively researched originalist opinion worthy of Justice Scalia himself. Expressly avoiding the question of whether the Second Amendment gives citizens a right to carry weapons openly in public (a question left open by Heller as well), Judge Fletcher’s opinion focused on whether there is a Second Amendment right to carry concealed weapons. To answer the question, he turned Scalia’s logic against him. The Heller opinion refuted the plain meaning of the constitutional text on the grounds that it codified a “pre-existing right” to bear arms for self-defense, not just for use in a militia. (That the opinion was by a self-proclaimed strict constructionist was an irony not lost on liberal commentators.) Thus the question became whether there was a “pre-existing right” (in America or pre-colonial England) to carry a concealed weapon in public. And the answer was obvious: not in the least. On the contrary, English common law, colonial regulations, and state statutes dating back as far as the year 1299 prohibited carrying a concealed weapon. (That 1299 regulation provided that sheriffs prohibit anyone from “going armed within the realm without the king’s license.”) The masterful opinion cited English laws and opinions from 1299, 1304, 1308, 1328, 1388, 1419, 1444, 1541, 1594, 1613 (“bearing of Weapons covertly… hath ever beene… straitly forbidden”), 1686, 1694, 1716, and 1782; and American state cases and statutes from 1822, 1833, 1840, 1842, 1846, 1850, 1868, 1871, 1875, 1876, 1879, 1885, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1897, and 1899—all of which, save a single outlier (Kentucky, 1822), upheld bans on carrying a concealed weapon even in the face of general rights to own or carry firearms in general. Applying the Supreme Court’s own methodology, the Ninth Circuit reached the obvious conclusion: whatever the Second Amendment does protect, it does not protect concealed-carry rights. Thus the California law is constitutional. Along the way, the Ninth Circuit, while bound to respect Heller, seriously limited its application. It would not be logically difficult to extend an individual gun right to a right to concealed carry, but Heller was not a logical opinion; it was an historical one. In its view (similar, incidentally, to the conservative dissents in the same-sex marriage cases), history, not logical reasoning, is what determines whether a right exists. It’s not hard to see how this use of conservative constitutional logic for a substantively liberal outcome would play out in future cases. Is there a historical right to own an automatic weapon? To amass unlimited amounts of guns and ammo? To bring weapons into schools and sporting events? Of course not. More generally, if history is to be our guide—as judicial conservatives usually insist—then surely it is appropriate to factor in the quantity of firepower involved, which could enable the government to regulate nearly all contemporary weapons. Of course, one factor unchanged by these four considerations—Orlando, the Court, the assault weapons case, and Peruta—is the way in which gun rights has become a symbol, for white American conservatives, of the good ol’ days, limited government and exceptionalist American values. Indeed, the logic is often adolescent in nature; if it pisses off the liberals, it must be a good thing. That attitude, combined with the unprecedented gerrymandering of the House of Representatives, makes it unlikely that federal legislative action will come any time soon even though a majority of Americans support it. But if Orlando has awakened the American public, in a way that Virginia Tech, Colombine, Sandy Hook, Roanoke, and San Bernadino did not, then these judicial changes might provide the avenue for that change to occur. They may not provide the will—but they do provide the way. By: Jay Michaelson, The Daily Beast, June 22, 2016 June 23, 2016 Posted by raemd95 \| 2nd Amendment, Gun Control, National Rifle Association, U. S. Supreme Court \| 9th Circuit Court, Assault Weapons Ban, D. C. v Heller, Gun Lobby, Gun Rights, Orlando Shootings, Peruta v City of San Diegon, Well Regulated Militia \| Leave a comment “NRA Corpses Pile Up”: The NRA’s Day Of Reckoning Will Come, And Maybe Sooner Than We All Think Can the National Rifle Association ever be defeated? I can’t blame you if you’re thinking “no.” It won again this week, as everyone knew it would. But someday, this dam will break. I admit that these last few days give us little basis for hope, but I do think Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy’s filibuster had some impact in forcing a vote, albeit an unsuccessful one. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell controls the calendar, decides what gets to the floor. He didn’t have to schedule these votes. Granted, his real motivation was undoubtedly to give that small number of Republican incumbents from purple or blue states a chance to cast a reasonable-seeming vote on guns. But public pressure exists, and polling is through the roof on support for banning the purchase of guns by people on terror-watch and no-fly lists. Murphy’s stand galvanized gun-control forces. After the Newtown shooting in December of 2012, it took five months for the Senate to hold a vote. This time it took a week. That may not seem like much, especially given that both efforts came to the same bleak end, but this is progress of a sort. These things take a long time. It was mildly encouraging, too, to see some red-state Democrats vote for gun legislation sponsored by Dianne Feinstein. To NRA hard-liners, she is Satan. There are four red-state Democrats who risk political suicide if they’re not careful on guns: Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Jon Tester of Montana. All but Heitkamp voted for Feinstein’s amendment to prevent gun purchases by anyone who’s been on a terror watch list for the last five years. It should be noted that only Donnelly voted for the other Democratic measure, introduced by Murphy and Chuck Schumer, which sought to close the gun-show loophole. And all four of these Democrats opposed a weak amendment from Republican Chuck Grassley. But ultimately, yes, the votes were election-year theater. Here’s how ridiculous the whole thing is. Maine Republican Susan Collins has this “compromise” bill that would ban purchases of guns by people on the no-fly list. That’s to get Democratic support. Then it allows people to appeal such a decision, which is supposed to lure Republicans, who’ve said they don’t like the ban because some people have been incorrectly put on those lists. You might think that that would mean that enough senators from both parties could vote yes. But as of Tuesday afternoon, a Senate source explained to me, no other Republican had yet signed on to Collins’s bill. A small number presumably would—Mark Kirk of Illinois, who’s facing a tough reelection fight in a very blue state, maybe a few others. But Collins would need 15 or 16 Republicans to back her to get the 60 votes needed to end cloture. That’s as close to impossible as anything can be. Now it gets even more baroque: Despite this lack of Republican enthusiasm, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may well give Collins a vote anyway. McConnell, of course, has no personal interest in compromise on this issue. He’s NRA all the way. However, he probably wants a vote for the sake of Kirk, New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte, Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey, Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson—that is, all the Republicans up for reelection in blue states. It’ll look nice to voters back home that they cast a bipartisan gun vote. But of course Democratic leader Harry Reid knows this, and so he might respond to such a move by McConnell by encouraging his caucus to vote against the Collins measure, thereby denying Kirk and the rest the desired bipartisan cover. Capische? So the bill that is an actual compromise, the one bill on which both sides might actually have been able to agree, at least in theory, is the very bill that might lose by something like 95-5. It’s not just ridiculous. It’s immoral. How high do the carcasses need to pile? I sense we’re starting to reach the point where we’re going to learn the answer to that question. This just can’t go on forever. For starters, if Hillary Clinton maintains her lead and is elected president, one of the first things she’s going to do is put a liberal on the Supreme Court, making for a 5-4 liberal majority. Even if she settles for Merrick Garland, signs are he’d back gun control measures (the NRA already came out against him). That could lead to an overturning of District of Columbia v. Heller, which vastly expanded individual gun-ownership rights. Given enough time, and maybe an Anthony Kennedy or a Clarence Thomas retirement and thus a 6-3 liberal majority, it could lead to still bigger changes in gun-law jurisprudence. That would lead a defensive NRA to try to tighten its grip on Congress even more. And that will probably work, for a time. But it will embolden the anti-NRA forces too. Momentum will then be on their side. And the mass killings will continue, and the bodies will pile up, and public outrage will grow. And one of these days, there’ll be a tragedy that will make everyone, even the number of Republicans who’d be needed to break a filibuster, say “enough.” It would have to be just the right kind of thing, click all the demographic boxes just right—a white man who bought an assault weapon with no background check and went on a rampage and killed many white people in a heavily Republican part of the country. I’m not wishing this on anyone, but then, I don’t need to. As we continue to do nothing, the odds increase daily that it will happen. Things look awful until, one day, they suddenly don’t. The day Rosa Parks sat down on that bus, I bet not that many people would have predicted that a president would sign a civil rights bill just nine years later. The evil that is the NRA is so thoroughgoing and so repulsive to most Americans that it just can’t last forever. Newtown and Orlando energized millions of people. The LGBT community, I gather, is going to embrace gun-control as an issue. They’re organized, and they have money and clout. The old saying that pro-gun people vote on that issue while anti-gun people don’t isn’t as true as it once was. So be angry about what happened. But Wayne LaPierre’s day will come, and maybe sooner than we think. And what a day it will be. June 23, 2016 Posted by raemd95 \| Chris Murphy, Gun Control, National Rifle Association, Senate Republicans \| Democrats, Dianne Feinstein, Gun Show Loopholes, Heidi Heitkamp, Mitch McConnell, SCOTUS, Susan Collins, Terror Watch List, Wayne LaPierre \| 1 Comment	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line558
__label__cc	0.732922	0.267078	ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS THAT INFLUENCES STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOL IN ESAN WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE This research work is based on the environmental factors that influences students academic performance in selected secondary school in Esan west local government area of Edo state. Four research question were raised to test the respondents opinion using the person product moment correlation coefficient (r) formulate to analysis the data obtained from the field. The findings show that there is a significant relationship between infrastructural facilities and academic performance of students. There is a significant relationship between qualified teachers and academic performance of students, qualified teachers and academic performance of students, qualified teachers are the hub of any good educational system whether primary, secondary or tertiary institutions and parents marital status was also found out to have significant relationship to academic performance of students. Background to the Study Students’ education is closely linked to their life chances, income and wellbeing (Battle and Lewis 2002). Therefore, it is important to have a clear understanding of what benefits or hinders ones educational attainment. There are several areas of the environment that are mostly linked to academic achievement these include student role performance (SRP) factors, school factors, family factors and peer factors. Student role performance is how well an individual fulfills the role of student in educational settings, sex, race, school effort, extracurricular activities, deviance are all important on SRP and have shown to affect the academic achievement of students. Environment such as the neighborhood, family background, relationship between teachers and students. Research has shown that socio-economic status, parental involvement, and family size are particularly important factors (Major Banks, 2006). Peer influence can also affect student performance, peer pressure and peer conformity could lead to students participating in risk taking behaviours which have been found to have a negative indirect effect on the academic achievement (Santor and Kusumaker, 2000). Over the years, authorities have sought to find out the reason for the downward trend in the academic achievement of secondary school students. From biological perspective, the reasons have been attributed to reason of a reflection of these students genetic inferiority. In other words, the inability of most students from rural areas to achieve academic excellence in an inmate deficiency. Undoubtly, it is the failure of some schools to transmit the values and cultural patterns necessary for the students to reach optimal academic performance. Factors affecting a student educational achievement include the culture of school the student attendance, the attitude of the principal and teachers to the students, motivation and the value transmitted by the school in general. The older theory of school improvement held, that is the result of improperly implemented research based educational programs. Environment of both home and school contribute to the development of students. Next to the home, the school is the most important experience. In the process of the development of the students, the school to which the student attend also influence academic of the student. School environment perceived by student has an advantage of characterizing the setting through the eyes of the actual participants. Learning can also be defined as the process of acquiring more knowledge and understanding in other to be useful to the environment. Munn (2005): defines learning as a more or less permanent incremental modification of behaviour which results from activity, special training or observation. The classroom is a learning environment where interaction occurs among teachers, student and learning takes place. Learning environment needs to be constructive in nature engaging learner in sense making or reasoning. School environment implies a measure of the quality and quantity of the cognitive creative and social support that has been available to the subjects during their school life in terms of teacher-students interaction. The classroom environment consists of teacher support, teaching materials, task orientation, study habits, involvement, disengagement etc. It is therefore necessary to study the academic learning environment of students in these contexts of home and school and trace the casual factor for enhancing the academic accomplishment of students. School environment may consist of both negative and positive characteristic which affects the perception of the student. There is no doubt that conditions of environment also constitute the performance of students across all fields of endeavour. Hence, a good environment enhances qualitative learning. Generally, students from low socioeconomic status attend government schools while students from wealthy families attend private schools or public schools. These two types of schools have major difference in medium of instruction. In addition, home learning environment, school learning environment and academic achievement may be influenced by various socio-economic factor like age, gender, family size, parents education and occupation. The kind of academic climate in school and among students, promote either a positive or a negative attitude towards their work at school. The negative attitude are bound to have a strong influence on their academic performance and manifest themselves in undesirable behaviours such as inattentiveness and truancy which in turn further affects their academic achievement. Academic achievement is always dependent on school learning environment as well as home environment. Culture is neither static nor deterministic. It gives us just one important way in which to understand some difference among students. Learning and thus can indicate appropriate strategic and modification in curriculum. (Netos, 2002). School culture can be defined as the basic assumption, norms and values and cultural artifacts that are shared by school members which influence the functioning at school effectiveness. Environment has been said to have a major influence on students academic achievement, recent decades in many countries especially where violence has been on the increase in some neighborhood where students resides, which are all the physical social and economic factor affecting students academic achievement. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (2009), the incidence of the environment on academic performance can be linked to stress which students pass through when they are just newly admitted into the secondary phase of the school where these teens find it difficult to adjust to live in the classroom and the environment which they come from. To date, little research has been conducted to systematically examine the relationship the environment has on the academic performance of students. (Daughterty, 2008) Students seem to view their grade as a reflection of the academic achievement they aspire to attain self-worth, forgetting how the environment can impact or influence these achievements. Students who place such contingencies of self- worth on their academic performance may also be at risk for instability in self-esteem (Crocker, 2002). Statement of the Problem There is public outcry and concern by parents teachers, government and students over the re-occurring low performance in examination in secondary schools. Considering the powerful influence the environment has on the students and its importance as a primary influence on the aspirations of students, it can be argued that academic achievement of the student could be enhanced or hindered depending on the environment students come from. It appears that many people have not yet recognized that environment has a great impact on students academic achievement. Based on this information above, this study’s concern therefore is to look at some environmental factors that can be used as a yardstick to check if really environmental factors has any influence on the academic performance of students, in secondary schools. Hopefully the findings of this study will help the researchers to make sound recommendation(s) on how to tackle the problems of poor academic performance. The above study shall seek to find out if environmental factors of this study include: Family size, infrastructural facilities, adequacy of qualified teachers and parents marital status, affect academic performances of students in secondary schools in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State. The following research questions were asked to guide this research: 1. Do family size have influence on academic performance of students in secondary school in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State? 2. Do infrastructural facilities have any effect on academic performance of students in Secondary School in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State? 3. Does adequacy of qualified teachers affect academic performance of students in Secondary School in Esan West Local; Government Area of Edo State? 4. Does parent’s marital status affect academic performance of students in secondary school in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State? Research Hypotheses The following hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. 1. There is no significant relationship between family size and student academic performance. 2. There is no significant relationship between infrastructural facilities and students academic performance. 3. There is no significant relationship between adequacy of qualified teachers and academic performance of students. 4. There is no significant relationship between parents marital status and students academic performance. The findings of this research would help students, teachers, administrators, parents and the government, Students would benefit from this research by understanding how the environment and environmental factors can influence their academic performance in schools. Findings of the study would make teachers understand the environmental factors that can be faced by students and how they can help in tackling such impending problems. The finding can also help the school administrators to be able to provide positive environmental conditions that would assist the students gain more academically. Parents will understand how they can help on bringing out the best of their wards/children academically. The study’s findings will help the government to provide the necessary infrastructural and instructional facilities to nation — building instead of trying to destroy the nation, to make a point. The major purpose of this study examines environmental factors and their influence on student’s academic performance while the general purpose included the following; 1. To know if family size have influence of academic performance of students. 2. To find our if infrastructural facilities have influence of students academic performance. 3. To determine if adequacy of qualified teachers has any relationship with students academic performance. 4. To identify if parents marital status affect academic performance of students. Scope of the Study The scope of the study are secondary school students that reside in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State. Four secondary schools were randomly selected from the rural and urban towns constituting two schools respectively from each setting. Limitation of the Study A study of this nature should not be completed without discussing some problems encountered by the researcher. The various problems that limit outcome of this research work were therefore discussed below; In the first place the research depended mainly on the responds of the students. The time set aside for this study was too short; as a result, the researcher has no opportunity to make all intensive and extensive study on the topic. There were incessant strikes by teachers in the Local Government Area used as the case study of this research work this prolonged this work. Finance, also limited the outcome of this research work. The researcher would have loved to go to many libraries outside the state, so as to collect more information but financially, his movement was constrained. Finally, students could not return all the questionnaires distributed to the researcher and this has only made the researcher to only work with the ones that got to him.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line561
__label__wiki	0.760596	0.760596	In 1992, a Russian Nuclear Attack Submarine Slammed into an American Sub (Right off Russia's Coast) December 13, 2016 Topic: Security Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: RussiaSubmarinesDefenseTechnologyMilitaryPoliticsUS Navy A scary incident under the waves at a time when the Soviet Union just fell into the ash heap of history. by Sebastien Roblin It’s tempting to think of sonar as a sort of radar that works underwater. However, water is a far less compliant medium than air even for the most modern sensors, and wind conditions, temperature variations and sounds rebounding off the ocean floor can all dramatically degrade its performance. When attempting to detect the extremely quiet submarines currently in use, just a few adverse factors can turn a very difficult task into an impossible one. Therefore, a submarine spying close to an adversary’s home port might not be able to spot another submarine heading towards it until after the collision—which can be worse than embarrassing for everyone involved. On February 11, 1992, the USS Baton Rouge, a nuclear-powered Los Angeles–class attack submarine, was lurking twenty meters deep in the shallow waters off of Kildin Island, fourteen miles away from the Russian port of Murmansk. The Soviet Union had dissolved just two months earlier—but the Navy still wanted to closely monitor what had become of Russia’s powerful navy. The exact nature of the Baton Rouge’s espionage activities has never been clarified. It could have involved recording the sounds produced by Russian submarines for later identification, or depositing and recovering intelligence-gathering devices. At 8:16, something massive struck the 110-meter long Baton Rouge from below, scratching the nuclear-powered submarine’s hull and causing tears in its port ballast tank. Fortunately, the American submarine’s hull was not further compromised. It turned out a Russian Sierra-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, the B-276 Kostroma, had attempted to surface underneath the American submarine. Swimming at around eight miles per hour, the Russian boat’s conning tower had impacted the belly of the American ship. The titanium-hulled Kostroma’s sail was partially crushed from impacting the Baton Rouge’s belly, and pieces of the American submarine’s anti-sonar tiles were later found embedded in its surface. Both submarines were designed to launch cruise missiles from their torpedo tubes, some of which could theoretically be armed with nuclear warheads. However, Russia and the United States had recently agreed to withdraw such warheads under the START I treaty, and it was likely that the Baton Rouge at least no longer carried them. Still, a worse collision could have breached the reactors on either vessel, irradiating the submarines and the surrounding waters. Fortunately, this did not occur. The Baton Rouge circled around and contacted the other submarine to make sure it wasn’t in need of assistance, and then both vessels returned to port for repairs. The accident caused one of the United States’ first diplomatic incidents with the newborn Russian government, with Secretary of State James Baker having to meet in person with Yeltsin and assure him that the United States would scale back its spying in Russian waters, a message belied the following year by another submarine collision off the Kola peninsula. The incident also highlighted differences on the definition of “international waters.” The United States follows the standard of measuring them twelve miles away from the nearest landmass. The Baton Rouge was in compliance with this principle. Moscow, however, defined them as extending twelve miles from a line formed by the two sides of a gulf, by which standard it considered the Baton Rouge in violation of its territorial waters. The second in the prolific Los Angeles class, the Baton Rouge was only seventeen years old. However, the cost of repairing the 110-meter-long vessel, combined with the already scheduled expenses of nuclear refueling, was judged excessive and the boat was decommissioned in January 1995. The Kostroma, however, was repaired and put back to sea by 1997, and remains active to this day. Russian sailors have painted a kill marking on its conning tower to commemorate the “defeat” of the Baton Rouge. Stealth in Shallow Water How did this accident even happen? Some articles in the press characterized the subs as having been involved in a cat-and-mouse game that had gone too far. Indeed, such games were common between the attack submarines of rival nations, and had resulted in collisions in the past. However, that account remains unlikely because a submarine can only play a cat-and-mouse game if it is able to detect the other ship. And in the shallow waters off of Kildin Island, it is unlikely either vessel could. This is because in shallow water, breaking waves create at least ten times the background interference for sonar operators, making it extremely hard to discern a submarine’s quiet propeller screw. Furthermore, even signals that are detected will have reflected off the ocean floor and the surf so that it would become difficult to isolate them against the background interference. Analyst Eugene Miasnikov calculated in 1993 that the detection range using passive sonar of a slow-moving Sierra-class submarine in such a noisy environment would likely have been between one hundred and two hundred meters, or fewer if it was a windy day. And detection range might have fallen to zero if the Russian sub approached from a sixty-degree arc behind the Baton Rouge, which is not covered by the submarine’s fixed sonar array. The Russian submarine would also have had little chance of detecting the quieter Los Angeles–class submarine. More powerful fixed antisubmarine sensors might only have been effective at ranges of three to five kilometers in such conditions, too short to reach the Baton Rouge’s position. Submarines can also deploy towed sonar arrays behind them to increase their sonar coverage, but these are difficult to control in shallow waters and were therefore not in use during the incident. A submarine or surface ship could also use active sonar to emit sound waves that would reflect off another submarine’s hull. In shallow water, this might have increased detection ranges to a few kilometers. However, doing so would also reveal the platform using the active sonar. The Baton Rouge surely did not use active sonar so as to remain undetected. Nor did it detect active sonar from the Kostroma. Thus, neither vessel was using active sonar, and their passive sonars were likely not strong enough to detect the other in the noisy shallows. This explains why submarines measuring longer than a football field in length can run into each other, oblivious to the other’s presence until the crunch of impact. As evidenced by the alarming collision in 2009 between the nuclear missile–armed French Triomphant and the British Vanguard, the risks of underwater collisions between nuclear submarines remain quite real today. Sébastien Roblin holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. Image: Los Angeles–class fast-attack submarine USS Scranton. Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Navy	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line563
__label__wiki	0.871319	0.871319	NBCSN TO TELEVISE WORLD CUP SEMIFINAL MATCHES IN SPANISH TODAY (FRANCE-BELGIUM) & TOMORROW (CROATIA-ENGLAND) – LIVE COVERAGE BEGINS AT 1:30 P.M. ET Nearly Half of Semifinalists’ Rosters Played in Premier League Last Season – By Far the Most Among Any League in the World – Including Top World Cup Goal Scorers Harry Kane of England (Tottenham) & Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United) 2018-19 Premier League Season Kicks Off One Month from Today on NBCSN as Manchester United Host Leicester City on Friday, August 10 Network Will Simulcast Telemundo’s Spanish-Language Coverage of the Semifinal Matches; Digital Coverage Available via the Telemundo Deportes En Vivo and NBC Sports apps STAMFORD, Conn. – July 10, 2018 – NBCSN, the exclusive U.S. cable TV home of the Premier League, will simulcast in Spanish the FIFA World Cup semifinal matches between France and Belgium TODAY, Tuesday, July 10, and Croatia and England TOMORROW, Wednesday, July 11, with live coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET on both days. The four teams feature 41 players from last season’s Premier League – by far the most of any professional league in the world – including two of the top goal scorers in the 2018 World Cup (Tottenham’s Harry Kane of England, 6 goals; Manchester United’s Romelu Lukaku of Belgium, 4 goals). The 2018-19 Premier League season kicks off exactly one month from today on Friday, August 10, as Manchester United host Leicester City on NBCSN. The World Cup semifinal matches will be simulcast in Spanish from Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. The matches will also be livestreamed in Spanish on TelemundoDeportes.com and via the Telemundo Deportes En Vivo and NBC Sports apps. Andres Cantor calls France-Belgium today on Telemundo and NBCSN, joined by Manuel Sol, Juan Pablo Sorin, and Diego Forlan. Sammy Sadovnik calls Croatia-England tomorrow (Wednesday) on Telemundo and NBCSN, joined by Eduardo Biscayart, Juan Pablo Angel, and Claudio Borghi. Telemundo Deportes is the exclusive Spanish-language home of 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™, offering more than 1,500 hours of World Cup coverage from Russia across all platforms, including more than 500 hours on television and more than 1,000 hours across digital platforms, including the live streaming of all 64 World Cup Russia games. In addition, Telemundo Deportes will offer the latest news and clips of the most relevant moments as well 2018 FIFA World Cup real time results along with expert commentary from renowned commentary team. To follow all the action of the games, visit the complete programming schedule for the 2018 FIFA World Cup™. Telemundo Deportes, one of the leading providers of Spanish-language sports content in the United States, is home to two of the world’s most popular sporting events: the FIFA World Cup™ through 2026 and the Summer Olympic Games through 2032. It is also the home of the FIFA Women’s World Cup through 2023, and the FIFA Club World Cup until at least 2018. In addition, Telemundo Deportes broadcasts the FIFA World Cup™ CONCACAF qualifying matches for most of the region, including the Mexico and USA national teams’ away matches, and the Premier League. Telemundo Deportes is also home to Boxeo Telemundo Ford, the #1 boxing program in Spanish, and Titulares y Más, the #1 sports news, entertainment and commentary show in Spanish, among other recognized sports properties.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line564
__label__wiki	0.636653	0.636653	lobotero in Foreign policy, International Situations 14 February 2018 692 Words Iran Will Be The News Soon! Well the nuke deal is not the news that it was a month ago however does not mean that the powers that be have not taken their eyes off Iran…..Israel will NEVER let Iran stay out of the news for long…..but behind the scenes the old voices are tuning up….. Fifteen years ago this week, Secretary of State General Colin Powell gave a speech to the United Nations arguing for war with Iraq, saying the evidence was clear: Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. It was a speech Powell would later call a blot on his career. Is President Trump doing the same thing now with Iran? We speak to Powell’s former chief of staff, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson. He recently wrote a piece titled “I Helped Sell the False Choice of War Once. It’s Happening Again.” https://www.democracynow.org/2018/2/9/lawrence_wilkerson_i_helped_sell_the As I said before……the western media made too mucch out of the protests…..they were all but writing the obits for the Iranian government…. Barely a month ago, Iranians were amassing in the streets to protest against their government. Their core grievances, according to Western media and politicos, were the economy, foreign policy, expansionism, and human rights. Today, the protests are over. But according to a recent survey by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (based at the University of Maryland) and IranPoll, only one of those grievances actually provided the spark: the economy. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-american-media-spin-doctored-the-iranian-protests/ If people listen to the lies and misinformation put out by Israel and its enablers….most of the American GOP…….. then the people would have jaded opinion and knowledge of the country of Iran. A little understanding goes a long way…….. Following the eruption of the recent protests that began in Iran on December 28, 2017, due to growing inflation and unemployment, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei accused Iran’s enemies of “trying to strike the Iranian nation.” Iran occupies an important position in the eyes of international and regional powers. A historical reading of the relationship of Iran to these powers shows an enduring yet rocky relationship governed by both mutual suspicion and mutual interests. But today Iran is living in a new environment in which the great powers are striving to contain and exclude their rivals to ensure a commanding position in the global order. During the time that Iran has aimed to become power player itself, it has been an active and proactive party in proposed regional plans for the Middle East; however, the great powers have insisted that Iran remain in a subordinate position. This stance is what has driven Iran to crystallize formulas, principles, and strategic doctrines that represent its regional identity and interests within a broad framework of Iranian nationalism. Iran’s efforts encompass all areas of influence in the Middle East and attempt to reject any political or military reality imposed upon it. http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/fikraforum/view/how-to-understand-iran The recent protests in Iran has some on the edge of their chairs……and the MSM predicting the demise of the religious leadership…..but just what are we to make of these incidents? When protests erupted in Iran at the end of December, the cause seemed obvious. The price of basic food staples like eggs and poultry rose by almost 40 percent in a matter of days, and data from Iran’s central bank showed a general rise of the inflation rate throughout the country. And yet, even at the time, there was something inadequate about this explanation. The protesters were everyday civilians, not students or political activists – and they had not risked their lives to protest in 2012 or 2013, when economic conditions were far worse. If the price of a carton of eggs rises temporarily from $3 to $4.20, it is hardly welcome, but it is also not the type of thing that leads to revolution. https://geopoliticalfutures.com/a-theory-about-iran/ I present these findings because soon all Hell will break loose and people will scurry around looking for answers to their questions and if they would pay attention now then their questions will not go unanswered. Closing Thought–13Feb18 “I Don’t Need No Stinking Briefing!” 2 thoughts on “Iran Will Be The News Soon!” 14 February 2018 at 0609 We live in such a world of spin and counter-spin, it is becoming impossible to believe anything. Some days, I am on the verge of giving up on ‘news’ completely, and just watching films… lobotero says: Sounds lovely…..I go into withdrawals with the news…LOL chuq	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line566
__label__wiki	0.813843	0.813843	William Shorey William Shorey, c.1906 photo from Oakland History Room William Thomas Shorey (July 13, 1859–April 15, 1919) was captain of a whaling ship from the 1880s through the 1900s, the west coast’s only black captain at that time. He was known to his whaling crews as the ‘Black Ahab’. Born in Barbados in 1859, Shorey went to sea as a teenager, and made his first whaling voyage in 1876. Whaling brought him to California, where in 1884 he married Julia Ann Shelton (Shorey) (June 10, 1865–March 12, 1944), the daughter of a leading African-American family in San Francisco. He was a skilled captain and navigator, earning his master’s license which allowed him to command any size vessel anywhere in the world. Between the threat of storms, crew unrest during the months-long voyages, and the whales themselves (who were understandably unhappy about being hunted), whaling was a dangerous business. During one 1904 voyage, whales smashed two boats to pieces, amazingly with no loss of life. 4 Another voyage in 1905 returned “3000 pounds of bone and 230 barrels of oil. This means profit for the owners, fair pay for the skipper and some of the officers and $1 for the green hands.” Shorey’s ship, the John and Winthrop survived two serious storms during the 11-month trip. One storm nearly drove the ship ashore, and the other was feared to have sunk the schooner Gotama. 2 Family and Life After Whaling Shorey family, c.1899 photo from San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Research Center. P00.21578xDespite the danger, Julia and the children regularly accompanied William on sea voyages. In her book Negro Trailblazers, Delilah Beasley wrote, ”The baby is only three years old and it is considered creditable to so young a navigator that she and her father steered their bark further to the north than any other whaler ventured this year.” 3 Given that whaling voyages sometimes lasted over a year, it’s somewhat understandable. Regardless, Julia Ann must have been a remarkable woman. Living at 1782 8th Street in West Oakland, William and Julia Ann had 5 (or possibly 6) children. Only Victoria Grace Shorey (Francis) (August 1, 1898–1971) and William T. Shorey, Jr. (May 25, 1902–1969) survived to adulthood. The Shorey family was friends with the Prentiss family (Jennie Prentiss raised Jack London) and it is likely Jack London knew him. Shorey was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church at 8th and Grove (now MLK, Jr. Way) Streets. 5 William retired from the sea in 1908, as the whaling industry was winding down as petroleum was discovered. Active in politics before and after his retirement, William hosted a dinner in 1903 honor of Booker T. Washington, who spoke to raise funds for his school at Tuskegee. After retiring as a captain, he worked from 1912 until his death in 1919 on the docks as a special policeman for Pacific Coast Steamship Company. Julia was the treasurer of the board of directors of the Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored People in 1898, and president of the board c. 1901–1911. 1 At some point after William’s death, Julia, Victoria, and William Jr. moved to 1268 28th Avenue. In 1927, William Jr. was working as a waiter, and Victoria as a stenographer for Larche & Maurice. Death and Burial William died in 1919 of pneumonia, one of many victims of the Spanish flu pandemic. Some of the influenza victims from Oakland are buried in plot 53 in Mountain View Cemetery, but William is in plot 14B. Julia Ann and their daughter Zenobia Pearl Shorey (August 19, 1888–November 26, 1908) were also buried there. Their grave is prominently marked on the maps the cemetery provides. Nearby is the grave of William T. Shorey, Jr. It’s unknown where Marion Joyce Shorey (1889–November 19, 1890) is buried. Conmy's paper also lists Elivra J. Shorey (November, 1891–November 18, 1893) and Hazel E. Shorey (June, 1893–April 4, 1894) and says they are buried in the grave in Mountain View. Shorey Street in West Oakland may have been named after him. The OHA Winter 2013 newsletter suggests it may have been for a police detective Shorey, but the records aren’t clear. 3 What is known is that the street was renamed from Short Street by Ordinance #2616, which was approved by Mayor Frank K. Mott on August 24, 1907. Shorey Street was one of about 50 streets renamed by the ordinance, mostly to remove duplicate street names. 5 In April, 2013, the Shorey House was designated a historic landmark in Oakland. To learn more about Captain William Shorey and his legacy, check out this episode of the East Bay Yesterday podcast: "California's Only Black Whaling Captain" Shorey family grave CC SA-BY Our Oakland Victoria Shorey (Francis) CC SA-BY Our Oakland William T. Shorey, Jr. CC SA-BY Our Oakland Pages tagged “William Shorey” Captain William Thomas Shorey and Shorey Street Shorey House Add new "William Shorey" William Shorey on Lives of the Dead black Captain Ahab on Black History Album William Shorey on BlackPast.org William Shorey on Wikipedia California’s only black whaling captain: William Shorey’s journey from sailor to celebrity East Bay Yesterday podcast Make Appeal for Assistance for Their Home for the Aged and Infirm SF Call November 21, 1909 Whaling Bark Brings Fair Catch SF Call November 21, 1905 Black captain William Shorey’s triumphs at sea Oakland Heritage Alliance News Winter 2013 Whale Dives Under the Ice, Smashing to pieces the Boat of Its Pursuers SF Call November 20, 1904 Captain William Thomas Shorey and Shorey Street by Peter Thomas Conmy featured entry historic person legendary local MVC people Odd Fellows	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line567
__label__wiki	0.902532	0.902532	‘All on good terms’: Viva departure won’t affect work with Nadine, says James Posted at Sep 19 2019 09:05 PM \| Updated as of Sep 20 2019 06:35 AM James Reid assures his and Nadine Lustre's fans that his decision to leave Viva does not mean that they'll stop doing projects together. Karl Cedrick Basco, ABS-CBN News MANILA -- James Reid has opened up about his decision to leave Viva, his talent agency for more than seven years. It was early last month when the move was first reported, and his fans grew concerned that this meant that he'll stop doing movies with girlfriend Nadine Lustre, who is still with Viva, or that he'll be transferring managements. Speaking with Push, Reid said of his working relationship with Lustre: "It hasn't been affected at all." He added: "We're still working together. We're all on good terms, which is great. I just have a bit more freedom now, that's all." He also said he has no plans to move to another talent agency. Reid first joined Viva back in 2012 after two years with Star Magic. He went on to do several movies with Viva, like "Diary ng Panget," "Never Not Love You," and "Miss Granny" to name just a few. Last year, he established his own record label Careless Music Manila. Of being an independent artist, Reid said: "It's great, but it's also scary knowing that it's just me." "But I'm focusing a lot on my record label right now. I want to give it a chance. I want to see how far I can take my music. And I have big plans for it," he explained. Reid was speaking at a press conference where he was launched as the newest ambassador for American watch brand Armitron. James Reid, Viva, Nadine Lustre Read More: James Reid Viva Nadine Lustre	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line572
__label__wiki	0.743465	0.743465	Montana voters to decide five ballot measures related to firearms, marijuana, and the initiative process in November In Ballot measures, State Montana voters will decide five statewide ballot measures on November 3 concerning firearms, marijuana, and the ballot initiative process. The two citizen initiatives on the ballot—CI-118 and I-190—were sponsored by New Approach Montana and are designed to legalize recreational marijuana in the state. CI-118 would amend the Montana Constitution to authorize the legislature or a citizen initiative to set a legal age for marijuana purchase, use, and possession. I-190 would enact a law that would legalize the possession and use of marijuana for adults over the age of 21, impose a 20% tax on marijuana sales, require the Department of Revenue to develop rules to regulate marijuana businesses, and allow for the resentencing or expungement of marijuana-related crimes. The tax revenue generated would be allocated as follows: 49.5% to accounts for wildlife, parks, and recreation 10.5% to the state’s general fund 10% to an account for drug treatment 10% to local authorities to enforce the provisions of the law 10% to an account for Montana veterans 10% to an account to fund wage increases for healthcare workers Pepper Peterson, a spokesperson for New Approach Montana, said, “Our research has always shown that a majority of Montanans support legalization, and now voters will have the opportunity to enact that policy, which will create jobs and generate new revenue for our state. It also means that law enforcement will stop wasting time and resources arresting adults for personal marijuana possession, and instead focus on real crime.” According to the latest campaign finance data filed on September 30, New Approach Montana reported receiving $6.95 million in contributions, including $4.7 million from the North Fund (a D.C. based nonprofit) and $1.9 million from the national New Approach PAC. There is one committee registered in opposition to the initiatives—Wrong for Montana. The campaign reported receiving over $78,000 in contributions. Steve Zabawa, the treasurer of the Wrong for Montana campaign, said, “All you have to do is go to Colorado for a test site. They’ve been up and running now for eight years, and if you look at the traffic accidents, you look at the emergency room, you look at the vagrants, you look at the activity in the black market as well as the regular market down there, it has just exploded.” Montana voters will also vote on a legislative referral that would remove local governments’ authority to regulate the carrying of permitted concealed weapons. The ballot measure would continue to allow local governments to regulate unpermitted concealed weapons and unconcealed weapons in public occupied buildings. LR-130 would also remove local governments’ power to regulate the possession of firearms by “convicted felons, adjudicated mental incompetents, illegal aliens, and minors.” According to the text of the measure, it was designed “to secure the right to keep and bear arms and to prevent a patchwork of restrictions by local governments across the state.” Montana Governor Steve Bullock (D) came out in opposition to the measure saying, “[LR-130] would end local decision-making about whether felons and the mentally ill can carry weapons in public. It would also end local decision-making about concealed weapons. Both changes are dramatic departures from Montana history. Neither is good policy. Montana law already contains strong protections that totally prohibit localities from restricting our basic right to keep and bear arms. […] I see no reason to reassign that power to decision-makers in Helena.” Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, said, “Bullock is effectively arguing that a felon who would disregard committing another federal felony and disregard a state law prohibiting guns in schools would be deterred from bringing guns into schools if only local governments are allowed to enact an ordinance for a local misdemeanor prohibiting that conduct. Right, as if felons spend their time first reading and then complying with local ordinances.” Ballotpedia identified one committee—NRA Big Sky Self-Defense Committee—in support of LR-130 that raised $16,000 from the NRA Institute for Legislative Action. There is one committee—No on LR-130—that reported nearly $1 million in contributions with its largest contribution from the Montana Federation for Public Employees ($803,369.27). The legislature also referred two constitutional amendments to the ballot—C-46 and C-47. The measures would not alter currently enforced initiative signature distribution requirements but would amend constitutional language to match the signature distribution requirements currently enforced. A distribution requirement is a statutory or constitutional mandate requiring that petitions for a ballot measure or candidate nomination must be signed by voters from different political subdivisions in order for the ballot measure or candidate to qualify for the ballot. For an initiated constitutional amendment in Montana, proponents must collect signatures equal to 10 percent of the qualified electors in each of two-fifths (40) of the state’s 100 legislative districts. C-47 would amend the constitutional language to match these signature distribution requirements for initiative petitions. For an initiated state statute or a veto referendum in Montana, sponsors must collect signatures equal to 5 percent of the qualified electors in each of one-third (34) of the state’s legislative districts. C-46 would amend the constitutional language to match these requirements. The signature distribution requirements for initiated state statutes, veto referendums, and initiated constitutional amendments were changed in the state constitution to a county-based requirement with the passage of two voter-approved constitutional amendments, C-37 and C-38, in 2002. The 2002 county-based requirements were later ruled unconstitutional. Based on a ruling from Attorney General Mike McGrath, the distribution requirements in the constitution prior to 2002 were re-enforced. The invalidated language, however, remained in the state constitution. The deadline to register to vote is October 26. Late registration, which is conducted at county election offices, begins on October 27 and continues through election day. Polls will be open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm on election day. Mail-in ballots must be received by 8:00 pm on election day. Montana 2020 ballot measures Montana I-190, Marijuana Legalization Initiative (2020) Montana CI-118, Allow for a Legal Age for Marijuana Amendment (2020) Montana LR-130, Limit Local Government Authority to Regulate Firearms Measure (2020) Montana C-46, Initiated Amendment Distribution Requirements Measure Montana_C-47, Initiated Statue and Referendum Distribution Requirements Amendment (2020)	cc/2021-04/en_head_0021.json.gz/line573

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