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View 10 pics | Back to story
Relive Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander's royal wedding
February 02, 2018 by HOLA! USA
queen-maxima-wedding-1
In1999, Maxima Zorreguieta met then-Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands at a party in Seville, Spain. A little under a year after Queen Beatrix announced their official engagement, the Dutch royal and his Latina love, tied the knot on February 2, 2002. Since their fairytale nuptials, the now-King and Queen of the Netherlands have welcomed daughters Princess Ariane, Catharina-Amalia and Princess Alexia. Relive Maxima and Willem-Alexander’s royal wedding here…
The newly married couple waved from the balcony of the royal palace to well-wishers and guests who wanted to bear witness to their special day.
Willem made his way into the 15th-century church Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, Holland before officially saying "I do" to his bride. On his wedding day, the Prince wore the full Captain in the Royal Netherlands Navy uniform. The Prince's wedding day fit was decorated with the Accession Medal 1980, ribbon and star of a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands, the Officer’s Cross and star of a Knight of the House Order of the Golden Lion of Nassau.
The bride wore a beautiful gown by Valentino. The dress was made of ivory mikado silk that accompanied a cowl neckline and three-quarter sleeves and a stunning 16.4 foot lace train. The former banker topped off her look with a diamond tiara and a lace veil.
Photo: Jeroen van der Meyde
Maxima's bridesmaids held on to her stunning lace train as she and her new husband walked out of the church on their wedding day.
The Prince and his Princess made their way out of the church where they were greeted by an arch of swords held by Officers of the Royal Netherlands Navy. In total 1,900 military personnel took part in the ceremony.
Prince Charles made his way to the ceremony. Queen Elizabeth's son was among the likes of Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway.
Willem-Alexander and Maxima posed with their family after the ceremony.
Just like in the fairytales, the bride and groom left the Royal Palace in Amsterdam in a horse-drawn carriage.
The new Dutch Princess waved to well-wishers as she rode away with her husband.
queen-maxima-wedding-10
Sealed with a kiss! Willem Alexander showed off his new bride on the balcony of the Royal Palace, where the newlyweds shared their first public kiss as husband and wife.
Queen Maxima
Queen Maxima and her family reveal they are going 'screen-less' for their summer vacation
Summer looks good on the Dutch royal family! King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and their three daughters — Crown Princess Amalia, Princess Alexia...
Queen Maxima is the dancing queen in the Caribbean
See that girl watch that scene — King Willem-Alexander’s wife is the dancing queen! While on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao, Queen Maxima...
Queen Maxima accepts Queen Elizabeth's invitation for first state visit to UK
Queen Maxima is set to carry out her first state visit to the United Kingdom this fall. Queen Elizabeth extended an invitation to King...
Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander celebrate their teen daughter Princess Alexia
Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander have another teenager on their hands. The royal couple’s daughter Princess Alexia celebrated her 13th...
King Willem-Alexander did not want Queen Maxima to 'fall into a black hole' after sister's death
While King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands had to undertake his Baltic state visits without Queen Maxima, his wife was not far from his mind. The...
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USS Ardent (MCM-12)
Is an Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship in the United States Navy.
She was built by Peterson Shipbuilders, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, built her. Ardent is homeported at San Diego, California and is part of the U.S. 3rd Fleet.
Her Command History for 1993-94 indicates that from 1 January 1994 to 31 October 1994 ARDENT was assigned to Mine Countermeasures Group 3 under Captain Richard Owens. On 1 November 1994 a reorganization of the U.S. Navy's Mine Countermeasures Community took place. Commander, Mine Warfare Command ceased to be Type Commander for the ships homeported in Ingleside, Texas; and a new entity, Naval Surface Group Ingleside, was created to serve as local agent for the new Type Commander, Commander, Naval Surface Forces Atlantic. NSG Ingleside was also intended to give the Ingleside ships "cradle to grave" assistance and supervision. In the new organization, ARDENT was assigned to Mine Countermeasures Squadron 3 (MCMRON 3), still under Captain Richard Owens. ARDENT remained in MCMRON 3 through the end of 1994.
Ardent was featured in a front-page article in the 31 July 2006 edition of DefenceNews that pointed out that Ardent and USS Dextrous were suffering from equipment failures that made them unable to perform their role.
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Kristin Davis Details Wild New Baby-Making Show ‘Labor of Love’ & We're In
By Sierra Marquina May 21, 2020
Remember how Charlotte desperately wanted a baby on Sexy and the City? Well, now Kristin Davis is helping real women have kids on a new reality show dubbed Labor Of Love and we’re already hooked. The actress Zoomed with Ryan Seacrest on Thursday, May 21, and dished the show’s been in the making for years now.
Kristin hosts the FOX show which follows Kristy Katzmann, a 41-year-old account manager who was also a contestant on the 11th season of The Bachelor. Yes, the one where Brad Womack infamously decided not to continue dating either of his final two contestants.
“The concept is that we wanted to investigate what it’s like to be a woman — it was me and a bunch of other women producers talking for years literally, Ryan, about this — what it’s like to be a successful woman and suddenly you wake up and you’re over 35 and you haven’t found the right person to have a baby with but you really want to have a baby.”
Kristin added that they met Katzmann and she was perfect for the series.
“She really already wanted to have a baby, was already on that journey,” Kristin explained. “But she really wanted to find a love connection and a partner.”
Kristin and producers spent over a year looking for eligible bachelors for Kristy, who are also successful and dying to be parents.
“We challenge those men every week in different ways to see if they’re actually ready and how good of a partner and parent they’d really be,” she added, including one challenge involves an actual bear. “It’s about who are you going to protect first? Yourself first or Kristy?”
The best part about being involved in the wild new reality show though for Kristin? Getting to spy on the contestants!
“I learned a lot!” she joked.
Watch back the full interview in the video above and catch the premiere of Labor of Love on FOX tonight at 9/8c.
About Ryan Seacrest
Ryan is quite simply one of the most influential, well-regarded, and well-known names in Hollywood. He is the quintessential Hollywood insider who...Read More
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Casota Conac: a magnificent Romanian period property with a great potential
I would like to introduce you to a remarkable period property from south-eastern Romania, the Casota Conac that I am very familiar with since I grew up in that area. The description below is a brief introduction to one of the most prized types of countryside period property in Romania, the equivalent in this part of Europe of the English Manor of French country chateau.
Casota Conac ©Valentin Mandache
“Conac” is the term given in southern and eastern Romania (the old provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia) to country mansions or manors built by local aristocrats, the boyars. Their main function was as summer residences and also as administrative quarters for their large estates. The word itself is of Turkish origin, reflecting centuries of domination by the Ottoman Empire in the Romanian lands.
Casota Conac is one of the finest such building examples, a fact that makes it an architectural example for the entire region north east of Bucharest.The conacs were confiscated from their owners by the communist regime and transformed in collective farm headquarters, schools or left to fall into disrepair. After 1989 most of these buildings were restored to their rightful owners and some are now on the market. With Romania’s EU accession, the conacs are formally recognized as historical buildings of high architectural value and seen as important status symbol by their owners.
Geography, distances:
Casota conac is located in Buzau county in the southern Romanian province of Wallachia, in the middle of the Baragan plain, a grain cultivated region similar in terms of climate and soil with the American Midwest Prairie, a rare geographical setting for Europe. The black earth soil or chernozem is extremely fertile, ideally suitable for growing the finest organic produce. Two small rivers Cotorca and Sarata, doted by natural and manmade lakes, flowing into Ialomita, an important tributary of the Danube, drain the area.
The climate is continental-temperate, similar with lower Austria’s or Hungary’s, which is characterised by its very distinctive four seasons: beautiful springs and autumns, hot summers and cold, snowy winters.
Casota is a village of about 500 inhabitants, mostly small holding peasant farmers and commuters to nearby industrial towns. It is part of the district (commune) of Glodeanu-Silistea (5000 inhabitants).
The conac is situated close to Romania’s capital, at only 50 miles (82 km) drive from central Bucharest (2 million inhabitants). The Otopeni international airport, country’s largest, is 55 miles (90 km) away. The road from the capital is the main motorway to north-eastern Romania. The conac is located at 2 km distance from first exit north after the small town of Urziceni. The county town, Buzau (120,000 inhabitants), is 45 north of the conac, following the same motorway.
The region’s villages were founded by Transylvanian shepherds in the course of their transhumance from the Transylvanian Alps to the lower Danube plains or by local boyars as a result of setting up large-scale farms that needed workforce.
Pricopie Casotti was the local boyar and an important Romanian landowner who built the conac in 1872 and subsequently re-built it in its actual form in 1880. The village of Casota, which grew around the old conac, derives its name from that of its landlord. The largest part of its inhabitants originates in the nearby older villages founded by Transylvanian shepherds.
Pricopie Casotti was a true man of the Victorian age, interested in modern farming methods, social reform and philanthropist. The conac was designed in the fashion of French manor houses, with the latest water fittings, water-closet toilets and sewage system; installations that even in London at that time were a rarity. He also built two modern schools for local peasants, one of them still functioning today. He also financed the building of a general hospital for the free use by the local peasants. The hospital, of which only the water tower can still be seen today, was destroyed by German enemy action during the Great War.
The communist regime confiscated the conac and used it for collective agricultural farm headquarters, or road building state enterprise offices. The building slowly fell into disrepair with the result that in the 1980s was left vacant, in the care of the county council. A local historian of Casota area, village teacher there in the 1970s, recognized the historical and architectural value and the conac and successfully applied for its inclusion in the county’s heritage list.
Casota conac is an imposing building in the style of 19th century French country mansions that used architectural motifs and themes inspired from the Loire valley chateaux. This is a style at its height of fashion in France during Napoleon III.
Wealthy Romanians, who looked to France in the 19th century as a cultural beacon, replicated in their new residences the French architectural developments. Casota conac is the result of such a vision, being one of the finest examples. Pricopie Casotti, its builder, made his wealth from grain trade and cultivation on the fertile lands surrounding the conac. The region was among Europe’s largest grain producer well into the 20th century.
Remarkable architectural features are displayed in the central sector, that has the shape of a high tower with the roof at a sharp angle that gives excellent commanding views on the village and Baragan plain. The roof has baroc inspiration elements made from zinc sheets. The balustrade for balconies and staircase is made from high quality wrought iron. On the first floor colonnade at the main reception room three stone-sculpted and expressive lion heads can be seen. On the ground floor the wrought iron grillage of a large window still displays the “PC” monogram of the conac builder. Wooden poles sculpted with interesting Romanian peasant inspired carvings sustain the roof corridor linking the conac with the servants’ quarter.
The conac has virtually palatial dimensions, the built up area being 726.2 sqm: cellar 74.91 sqm, two floors with rooms and terraces at 460.69 sqm, servants quarters at 172.41 sqm and a link corridor of 18.20sqm. It also comes with a 4,126.49 sqm surrounding land. The building and its surrounding land has opening on two roads: the main road from comes from the motorway exit and a secondary local road.
The conac is built on four levels containing: a large dry high quality cellar used initially for cask wine storage; ground and 1st floors with 14 receptions and habitation rooms and also terraces; a roof area with a tower balcony and large loft that can be converted in attic rooms or offices.
The servants’ quarter contain 8 good size rooms and was also used for grain storage.
The conac has its own water source, a deep well that is still functioning.
Casota Conac: the former wine cellar ©VM
Actual situation:
The conac has an imposing position over the surrounding village, a fact that only highlights its beauty and importance. It is a listed building on Buzau county’s official list.
Because of misuse during the communist regime and the state of disrepair in which it was allowed to fall, the conac and its annexes are in need, apart from a faithful with the original restoration, of extensive, thorough consolidation and repair works. Being a listed building, it requires the prior approval of heritage authorities before any restoration work is undertaken.
The conac got a new owner who has started renovation and restoration works. That owner, when the conac would be restored to its former glory, would be a true lord of the manor and to a certain extent regarded as such by the local peasants, an image not far removed from that of former Romanian boyars of the Victorian era who built, owned, and lived in this sort of imposing private residences.
Casota Conac is a rare historical building in beautiful Romanian countryside. It is a distinctive architectural focus point for most of the area northeast of Bucharest.
It has easy access from the airport. It is also a good base to explore the region, with Bucharest, which is a major cultural and economic centre at only 1 hour drive away and with the Carpathian highlands and mountains 50 km to conac’s north west.
The local soil has excellent qualities for organic agriculture and would appeal to someone interested in organic farming, as the black earth (chernozem) of the region is one of the most fertile agricultural soils.
Casota Conac- view from the top balcony ©Valentin Mandache
© Valentin Mandache
If you are interested in acquiring a Romanian period property such as a conac mansion on the lines of the one described above, I would be very glad to assist and advice in your enquires, locating the property, putting together the renovation project or specialist research pertaining to the property. To discuss your particular plan, please see my contact details in the “Contact” page of this blog.
Manor House Conac, History, La Belle Epoque, National Identity, Organic Farming, Renovation Project, Restoration, Romania, Victorian Era, Wallachia 2 Comments
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2 thoughts on “Casota Conac: a magnificent Romanian period property with a great potential”
Valentin Mandache says:
A beautiful comment about Casota conac and the work and vision of Moray Letham, its owner and restorer, from Ellen Pare Philips:
“Sorry to write in English, dar vobesc putin Romana!!! Yesterday, I had the pleasure to see the conac with Valentin Mandache and with Moray Letham. I found many surprises. Moray is an unusual person, one who has a dream and remains with focus and dedication to his dream. The conac iinspired Moray with passion and a vision, Maray became memsmerized by the conac. He has restored other historic homes around the world, so the conac is not his first experience. But it is the most challenging and the most expensive. The first surprise for him was to learn that the beauty which attracted him, the inspirational interior elements of highly crafted ceilings and original woodwork had to be destroyed!! The same govenrment which sold him the conac required Moray to destroy the interior of the conac in order to create a standard of building that would survive an earthquake. Every ornate plaster ceiling and every amazing floor, which Moray had planned to repair and restore to original standards, now had to be removed completely so support beams could be inserted. The ceilings therefore had to be recreated. Moray had to hire very talented craftsmen re-create the old ceilings and replace them. This was very expensive, very time consuming and very disappointing. The workers who agreed to do the job have not completed their work, they have disappeared from the worksite. Their unfinished work is very beautiful, I wished to see it completed by them! This is art in the creation.
The removed floors, made from massive wood beams, over 150 years old, were sanded and prepared for reinstallation by Moray himself personally. But a shocking thing happened, many of the floor beams were stolen from the conac before they could be re-installed. This is an asset that cannot be recreated, it is a great sadness. The windows had to be removed so they could be rebuilt and have new glass inserted. Moray did the work personally, preparing the windows to be re-installed. But another shock! Before the windows could be re-installed, they were stolen from the conac.
The most recent theft from Moray involves the land surrounding the conac. Local people are erecting ridiculous ugly shanty structures at the edge of the conac property and claiming to own the property without having title to the property and then trying to “sell” the shanty property to Moray, this is crime, this is fraud, this is pathetic.
The amount of theft at the conac during the years that Moray has struggled with his own money and his own labor to repair the conac is shocking and shameful. Moray has made an effort to use local people to work on the project with him and there has been betrayal with the robbing of windows, floor beams, tools, cement, ironwork, fittings, etc, and now theft of land. Moray the Scot is interested and dedicated and using his time and money to restore a Romanian landmark. But he is being defeated by local crime against his cause. This situation is sad and ironic. I came away after spending several hours with Moray having these three things to say. (1) Moray is authentic and determined to succeed independently with help from no man. (2) Moray is an artist with a vision of the conac coming to life again and, like most artists, he is rejected by the people. (3) Romania is behaving as Moray’s enemy but Moray is determined to win. Fortunately, Moray’s definition of victory – the restoration of the conac – will also be a victory for Romania.”
[Comment posted on behalf of Mr. Moray Letham, the proprietor and restorer of Casota Conac as a reply to Robert:
Well Robert, as you live in the village, then you must know of the years of neglect and stealing of original wrought iron, for scrap iron, oak windows, stolen for the glass…. the stealing of parts of the land. All while the Conacul was in the care of the community, the Conacul and land in the public domain.
Yes, since I bought the Conacul, publically offered for sale, nothing much has changed on the exterior, I agree, but even you must have noticed the very many lorry of cement and iron that have disappeared inside, not counting the iron and cement stolen by neighbors!!
So now at last the Conacul has been consolidated! the top of the tower completely rebuilt with 19 pallets!! of bricks.
I hope to, in summer, have an “open day” when locals who are interested, can have an opportunity to visit the inside and see the work that has been done to “their Conacul” I hope to see you on that day. Moray
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Lower Mainland residents continue to take ICBC road tests in Victoria, despite travel restrictions
Alanna Kelly Journalist/Weekend Anchor
@CTVNewsAlanna Contact
Published Friday, December 4, 2020 2:19PM PST Last Updated Saturday, December 5, 2020 6:46PM PST
VICTORIA -- People from the Lower Mainland are still coming to Vancouver Island for ICBC driver’s tests, even though current provincial health orders strongly discourage people from travelling outside their communities for non-essential purposes.
MoveUP is the union that represents ICBC drivers and vice-president Annette Toth is hearing rising concerns from her drivers about the number of people coming for driving tests not from the community.
“There is definitely a concern that this is a potential to spread a virus,” said Toth. “This isn’t about their protection, this is a community health issue and is about keeping our community safe.”
Over just a few days, Toth said the numbers were highest on Friday, with 29 per cent of examinees at the Dunedin Street location coming from the Lower Mainland.
On Saturday, 15 per cent of the people taking a test at the McKenzie Avenue location were from the Lower Mainland, according to her drivers.
ICBC is asking people to only take their test in their community.
“This is more important now, given the strong recommendation from the provincial health officer to limit travel between communities to help stop the spread of COVID-19,” said the company.
It added that there is “absolutely no benefit” for someone who lives and works in the Lower Mainland to take their test in Victoria.
Toth said her drivers are concerned about the number of people coming to the island and have voiced their issues with ICBC.
ICBC says a random, one-week sample from November showed 27 examinees in Victoria – seven per cent of the 388 people taking road tests – had come from the Lower Mainland. The insurance corporation would not say whether the sample was taken before or after B.C.’s new restrictions were put in place.
All of British Columbia was put under new public health orders on Nov. 19 that restricted social gatherings and asked people to refrain from travelling outside of local health regions until at least Dec. 7.
“We understand that members of the public have concerns about people travelling to their communities to take road tests,” said the company. “We’ve recently looked into this issue and found that these concerns, while understandable given the heightened anxiety over COVID-19, are largely unfounded.”
All of ICBC’s offices remain open, and the average wait time for road testing in Victoria and the Lower Mainland is “nearly” the same at about 40 days, according to ICBC.
“As an essential service, we’ll continue to provide the same services we have been, while keeping the health and safety of our customers and employees the top priority,” said the company.
Toth said the people doing the road tests should not be allowed to book in the first place if they do not live on Vancouver Island.
“Let’s put a moratorium on this for a few weeks to help slow things down. Your road rest can be done in your community” she said. “We are asking for there to be some parametres to make it safer for people.”
B.C.'s top doctor has said it is her expectation that everyone in B.C. will limit their travel as much as possible unless it is essential.
"This includes travel within the province and travel to other parts of Canada,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry when she announced the new orders last month.
Toth said she has contacted the solicitor general and public health and is asking them to intervene and block people from booking tests if they don’t live in the area.
“Enough is enough,” said Toth.
All of ICBC’s offices remain open, and the average wait time for road testing in Victoria and the Lower Mainland is “nearly” the same at about 40 days, according to ICBC. (File photo)
Federal-provincial cost-sharing deal aids BC Ferries, transit services in pandemic
B.C. announces new restrictions on social gatherings, travel provincewide
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Victoria surgeon fined after calling preteen patient a 'loose woman'
Published Tuesday, November 24, 2020 8:58AM PST Last Updated Tuesday, November 24, 2020 9:00AM PST
The findings are contained in a public notice issued by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia on Nov. 19. (File photo)
VICTORIA -- A Victoria-area surgeon has been fined several thousand dollars and reprimanded for using sexualized language during a consultation with a preteen patient.
According to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, Dr. Bruce Taro Yoneda acknowledged that he engaged in unprofessional conduct during a surgical consult by referring to a preteen patient as a “loose woman” and telling her he would give her a “lube job.”
The college also found the orthopedic surgeon “did not offer a clear explanation prior to questioning the patient about her menstrual cycle.”
The findings are contained in a public notice issued by the college on Nov. 19.
The college’s inquiry committee issued Dr. Yoneda a formal reprimand and ordered him to pay a fine of $7,500 as part of a consent agreement. Additionally, Dr. Yoneda will participate in a program on clinical communication and attend the college’s “Professionalism in Medical Practice” course.
The college said in its rationale for the discipline that Dr. Yoneda’s “use of inappropriate language displayed a lack of insight,” adding “the conduct was contrary to college standards and [the college] determined a disciplinary outcome was appropriate.”
CTV News has requested comment from Dr. Yoneda’s office but has not received a reply at this time.
Campbell River nurse falsified records, diverted 'significant' quantities of opiates from hospital
Judge rules B.C. Human Rights Tribunal erred in dismissing racism complaint against Island Health
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Multinational pension schemes
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Why did we build AMX?
Our CEO, Oliver Jaegemann, talks about the industry challenges he saw that lead to the creation of The Asset Management Exchange.
Oliver Jaegemann, 25 September 2020
Institutional investors and asset managers both want to generate returns and across our industry there’s a huge variety of ideas, processes and strategies that have the potential to do exactly that. However the amount of friction in the system also is higher than ever before, as both the complexity and the costs of doing business mount up. It’s in everybody’s interest for the process of investing to change. That’s why we invented AMX, to allow institutional investors, their consultants and their asset managers to do business seamlessly and to avoid the end investor losing out.
With AMX every fund is structured in a standard way meaning that the only thing that stands out is the manager strategy and every contract is also structured in a standard way meaning that less time and money is spent on operational and legal due diligence and managers access greater volume and clients have greater purchasing power. Meaning that both parties here benefit from scale. Finally technology makes the process smoother. With less friction in the system managers and investors can just focus on what really matters, generating returns.
AMX standardizes, centralizes and streamlines the entire process making it better for everyone.
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Introducing… Neymar: The Transfer That Changed The World
By Nick Miller Dec 1, 2020 22
On March 7th, 2009, a skinny young forward came off the bench to make his debut for Santos.
He was only 17, but most people already knew his name: he was a prodigy, soon to become the chosen one of Brazilian football.
On the other side of the world, Liverpool were battling for a first league title since 1990. They ultimately fell short, but they weren’t to know it would take another 11 years for them to finally achieve their goal.
And they certainly weren’t to know then that over in Brazil, those first steps onto the pitch for a kid called Neymar, were also the first steps in a chain of events that would eventually make Liverpool European, world and English champions.
‘The Transfer That Changed The World’ is a new Beyond The Headline podcast from The Athletic. It tells the story of how and why Neymar’s move from Barcelona to PSG in 2017 was probably the most significant deal of all time, not just on its own, but how the ripple effects spread so far and wide.
The deal in isolation would have been remarkable enough. At €222million it more than doubled the previous world transfer record, which even by the standards of the transfer market’s inflation is absolutely extraordinary. Never before had the record been shattered so emphatically. It’s quite possible it will never be broken, and it certainly won’t be for a while in football’s post-Covid world.
But that’s only one element of its influence.
Neymar’s arrival at Barcelona had already helped topple one president, but his departure contributed to a far larger crisis. It wasn’t the sole reason for Lionel Messi’s desire to leave the club earlier this year, but the aftermath and the way they wasted that €222million, exposed the poor planning and muddled thinking that led to them surrounding Messi with mediocrity and pushing him towards the door. And that saga, of course, caused another president to go, Josep Maria Bartomeu resigning in the aftermath.
The money eventually did prove useful, just not for Barcelona. They panicked and paid Liverpool whatever they wanted for Philippe Coutinho, eventually stumping up a fee that could rise to €180million. Unlike Barca, Liverpool used their windfall sensibly, as it allowed them to buy Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Fabinho. They would have bought one of those players anyway. Perhaps, at a push, with some clever dealing and heavy negotiating, two of them. But all three, without the money Barca gave them for Coutinho? Not a chance. And without those three, would they have been able to win the Champions League, the World Club Cup and the Premier League? Almost certainly not.
And then there’s PSG. Sure, they haven’t yet won the Champions League, which ultimately is the only way spending that amount of money on a single player would be entirely justified, but Neymar has helped lift them to an entirely different plane, both on the pitch and off it. Furthermore, Neymar’s presence in France has raised the profile of the whole league, so even though every other club get spanked by him and his colleagues most weeks, they’re glad he’s there too.
In this three-part podcast, we explore how all of that happened. Brazilian football experts Jack Lang and Natalie Gedra take us through Neymar’s background and his personality; The Athletic’s Spanish correspondent Dermot Corrigan looks at the failures and chaos of Barcelona; The Athletic’s Liverpool correspondent James Pearce explains how the knock-on effects were vital to their rise to the top; French journalist and PSG insider Julien Laurens takes us through the transformation Neymar brought to Paris; and we speak to Marcelo Bechler, the Barcelona-based Brazilian journalist who broke the story of this most astonishing of transfers.
Beyond The Headline: The Transfer That Changed The World is available to download now from wherever you get your podcasts, or to listen ad-free on The Athletic.
Nick Miller is a football writer for the Athletic and the Totally Football Show. He previously worked as a freelancer for the Guardian, ESPN and Eurosport, plus anyone else who would have him.
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Sports TV ratings: MLS Cup, Army-Navy, Browns-Ravens and more
By Bill Shea Dec 16, 2020 22
The Columbus Crew SC, just two years removed from nearly decamping Ohio for Texas, averaged about 1 million viewers on Fox for their 3-0 MLS Cup victory over the defending champion Seattle Sounders on Saturday night.
The audience was better than last year’s 823,000 average for the Seattle-Toronto MLS Cup matchup on ABC, which aired in a Sunday afternoon slot.
In 2018, the championship was broadcast on a Saturday in primetime on Fox and generated 1.56 million viewers on average as Atlanta defeated Portland.
This year’s Cup was up against several college football games already in progress, including LSU’s upset of Florida that averaged 4.6 million viewers on ESPN, and USC beating UCLA with an average of 3.2 million viewers on ABC.
Only 1,500 fans were permitted inside Columbus’ Mapfre Stadium for Saturday’s match, which saw Crew midfielder Lucas Zelarayan record two goals and an assist, so the broadcast was the primary way...
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Who would win NASCAR’s media-friendly award?
By Jeff Gluck Dec 30, 2020 18
The Professional Basketball Writers Association recently announced the latest winner of its Magic Johnson Award, which is given to the NBA player who “best combines excellence on the basketball court with cooperation and dignity in dealing with the media and the public.” This year’s recipient was Damian Lillard, who won for the second time.
No such award exists in the NASCAR world, though I’ve long wished it did. When I was a member of the National Motorsports Press Association, I proposed creating a similar honor to recognize a driver each year who best cooperated with the media; the idea was immediately shot down as being too self-serving.
But years later, I think such an award has benefits. After all, similar honors exist in other major sports. For example, the Pro Football Writers Association has a Good Guy Award, handed out to an NFL player “for his qualities and professional style in helping the pro football writers do their...
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Hurricane Harvey Fundraising Efforts – Texas Resident Joseph Ganci, Author Of ‘Gideon: The Sound and The Glory,’ Makes New Spiritual Book Available For Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts
Oct 20, 2017 | Art
Ganci, a Houston area resident, experienced the effect of the devastating hurricane firsthand and hopes to help by donating a portion of proceeds to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund. He encourages others to do the same.
WILMINGTON, NC, October 20, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ — Hurricane Harvey stuck Texas in August of 2017. It was one of the most destructive hurricanes to ever hit the US, displacing over 30,000 people and causing billions of dollars in damage. The storm made landfall as a category 4 near Rockport, Texas, and produced 40-60 inches of rainfall as it moved through the Texas/Louisiana area. The damage was catastrophic, the economic effects are staggering, and the rebuilding and restoration efforts will take many years.
In response to the horrific damage, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Judge Ed Emmett established the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund. The fund accepts tax-deductible donations for victims affected by the floods. The fund is housed at the Greater Houston Community Foundation, at 501(c)(3) public charity.
Houston area resident and author Joseph Ganci has pledged to donate 90% of book proceeds from the sale of ‘Gideon: The Sound and the Glory’ to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund from mid-October 2017 to Easter, 2018. He hopes that many others will join him by doing the same.
“While this may seem by some to be a small effort on the surface,” Ganci stated, “the power is in the numbers. If everyone selling a product or service was to donate even a tiny percentage of their ongoing profits to this fund, the compound effect of those donations, for basic needs, temporary housing, restoration or emergency assistance, could make a real difference to everyone affected by this tragedy. We will be buying these products and services anyway, so why not make them really count for something more?”
“During the hurricane, the rain was relentless, and it was reminiscent of the typhoon season during my Vietnam combat experience. The powerful showers exploded in blinding wind-whipped sheets of fury. The rising waters came within eight feet of my ever sinking threshold door. All alone, I knelt and prayed mightily to the Lord for relief from the constant downpour. I placed my fate into His capable hands and retired to my bedchamber. I had half expected to wake up and be entirely engulfed by the rising tide. I awoke to find that my floor remained high and dry and that the flood waters had reversed its course back to the ocean. The view from my front gate was a temporary lakefront property, and that I stood upon the rock of salvation. Praise be ‘The Name’ of the Lord.
“Many were not as fortunate; my heart goes out to them. For some will be struggling for years to come – trying desperately to get their life back to normal.”
From ‘Gideon: The Sound and the Glory’: Another bolt of lightning darkened the sky. The sun had lost its face. Missiles of rain exploded in the dust, and the heavens dropped, weighed down by the burst of fast-moving clouds. The last of the western sky had blackened, constantly lit by cascades of brilliant-white lightning flashes. The rearmost cohort of the last one hundred chariots had already filled the Kishon Wadi when a sudden blast of wind heralded the uproar from the surge of rushing waters. Sisera’s fleet of iron chariots, his anxious hosts of infantrymen, and his archers were all caught in the eddy of a rising tide. Horse hooves broke, struggling for traction in a vain attempt to climb the slippery embankment. They were all swept away, abandoned to their grisly fate, washed away in the fast-moving rapids.
In ‘Gideon,’ Ganci pierces the veil with a penetrating vision of long-held Bible mysteries that are far and away daring and unusual. He works within a framework of an engaging and dramatized fiction that, while exceedingly rich in detail, remains faithful to uphold spiritual principals. He bases his work on three primary pillars:
The rock-solid cornerstone is biblical history and geography.
The creative arch is revelatory in its timing and issues.
The research is concrete, firmly rooted in customs, languages, and traditions.
The result is that book lovers are transported into the very midst of ancient conflicts and come away with an entirely fresh perspective on mystical teachings found in scripture, now living lessons filled with adventure that inspires wonder yet remain practical answering the challenges of everyday life.
‘Gideon: The Sound and the Glory’ has received rave reviews from readers and reviewers alike. A recent reviewer stated, “Joseph Ganci’s prose is arresting, peppered with fantastic imagery and succinct descriptions of plot, characters, and setting. The themes are masterfully created, and they are woven into the story in a way that allows the reader to enjoy both the inspiration the story offers and the accompanying action. The book explores powerful spiritual and political themes, capturing the conflicts and the dynamics of life within the community of God’s chosen people. Gideon: The Sound and the Glory will appeal to fans of political thrillers, adventure, and conflict-driven stories laced with intense action.” Other reviewers have used phrases such as “riveting,” “amazing” “deftly crafted” and “highly recommended.”
Ganci has also announced he will make his book available as a fundraising tool for other associations and charities. Donors can receive an eBook version of ‘Gideon’ in exchange for a donation to a worthy cause. For more details, contact Joseph via email.
Joseph Ganci is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at [email protected]. ‘Gideon: The Sound and the Glory’ is available in both print, eBook, and a superb, ethnically correct audio narration. All are available from online retailers. More information is available at Ganci’s website at http://www.gideonsglory.com.
Joseph Ganci is a Levite and a high priest and remains a passionate Italian. He is a Vietnam combat veteran and is the father of five daughters and five grandchildren. He resides in Texas.
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Venues / Museums / Museo Soumaya-Casa Guillermo Tovar de Teresa
Museo Soumaya-Casa Guillermo Tovar de Teresa
By Editor Saturday January 9th, 2021
Photo: Correogsk on Wikimedia Commons.
The Casa Guillermo Tovar de Teresa is a house museum in a rather typical house from 1910, the twilight of the Porfiriato era. The home was purchased by Guillermo Tovar de Teresa in 1995 and he lived there until his death in 2013. Today, the museum is a part of the Soumaya Network of Museums, which run the better-known Souymaya Museum in Polanco, and the older branch at Plaza Loreto.
Considered the chronicler emeritus of Mexico City, Guillermo Tovar de Teresa (1956 – 2013) was a historian and art collector. His collection focused on paintings, but he was also a fan of literature and collector of rare and antique books. He had a deep working knowledge of the works of the great photographers in Mexico. Tovar de Teresa is also remembered as a bibliographer, philanthropist, cultural promoter, music lover, film buff and self-taught Mexican scholar.
He authored numerous books on the art of Nuevo España and wrote frequently for the newspaper La Jornada. At 13, he was an advisor on colonial art to then President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (who served between 1964 – 1970). At 23, he published his first book, Painting and Sculpture of the Renaissance in Mexico.
Prior to moving into the house, he modernized the sanitary and electrical installations and opened a skylight over the lobby. The checkered corridor was enlarged and a roof was installed over it. Construction also added a library and personal study.
Upon his death, his brother, the first Secretary of Culture, Rafael Tovar de Teresa, had a complete inventory begun, but later died. The inventory was completed by members of the family and a team of researchers. The entire collection was then acquired by the Carlos Slim Foundation.
As the Museo Soumaya-Casa Guillermo Tovar de Teresa, the museum opened in December 2019. Since then, it’s been a vital part of understanding Mexico during the Viceroyal Period of the 19th century, and the work and passion of one of the most devoted and curious chroniclers of Mexican history.
Hours: Daily 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Web: http://www.museosoumaya.org/
Email: visitasyactividades@museosoumaya.org.mx
Valladolid 52, Roma Nte., Cuauhtémoc, 06700 CDMX
Santo Tomás la Palma, Barrio La Merced
Saturday January 9th, 2021
House Museums Other Museums
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The Daily Hatch
www.TheDailyHatch.org with Everette Hatcher
Tag Archives: Christian de Duve
RESPONDING TO HARRY KROTO’S BRILLIANT RENOWNED ACADEMICS!! Part 159 Z Daniel Dennett, Philosophy, Tufts University, "God is designed to be beyond the verification process of science"
June 16, 2020 – 1:35 am
On November 21, 2014 I received a letter from Nobel Laureate Harry Kroto and it said:
…Please click on this URL http://vimeo.com/26991975
and you will hear what far smarter people than I have to say on this matter. I agree with them.
Harry Kroto
I have attempted to respond to all of Dr. Kroto’s friends arguments and I have posted my responses one per week for over a year now. Here are some of my earlier posts:
Arif Ahmed, Haroon Ahmed, Jim Al-Khalili, Louise Antony, Sir David Attenborough, Mark Balaguer, Mahzarin Banaji, Horace Barlow, Michael Bate, Sir Patrick Bateson, Simon Blackburn, Colin Blakemore, Ned Block, Pascal Boyer, Sean Carroll, Patricia Churchland, Paul Churchland, Aaron Ciechanover, Noam Chomsky, Brian Cox, Partha Dasgupta, Alan Dershowitz, Jared Diamond, Frank Drake, Hubert Dreyfus, John Dunn, Alan Dundes, Christian de Duve, Ken Edwards, Bart Ehrman, Mark Elvin, Richard Ernst, Stephan Feuchtwang, Sir Raymond Firth, Robert Foley, David Friend, Riccardo Giacconi, Ivar Giaever , Roy Glauber, Rebecca Goldstein, A.C.Grayling, David J. Gross, Brian Greene, Susan Greenfield, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen F Gudeman, Alan Guth, Jonathan Haidt, Chris Hann, Theodor W. Hänsch, Brian Harrison, Stephen Hawking, Hermann Hauser, Peter Higgs, Robert Hinde, Roald Hoffmann, Bruce Hood, Gerard ‘t Hooft, Caroline Humphrey, Nicholas Humphrey, Herbert Huppert, Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley, Lisa Jardine, Gareth Stedman Jones, Steve Jones, Shelly Kagan, Michio Kaku, Stuart Kauffman, Christof Koch, Masatoshi Koshiba, Lawrence Krauss, Harry Kroto, George Lakoff, Rodolfo Llinas, Seth Lloyd, Elizabeth Loftus, Alan Macfarlane, Rudolph A. Marcus, Colin McGinn, Dan McKenzie, Michael Mann, Peter Millican, Marvin Minsky, Leonard Mlodinow, P.Z.Myers, Yujin Nagasawa, Alva Noe, Douglas Osheroff, David Parkin, Jonathan Parry, Roger Penrose, Saul Perlmutter, Max Perutz, Herman Philipse, Carolyn Porco, Robert M. Price, VS Ramachandran, Lisa Randall, Lord Martin Rees, Colin Renfrew, Alison Richard, C.J. van Rijsbergen, Oliver Sacks, John Searle, Marcus du Sautoy, Simon Schaffer, J. L. Schellenberg, Lee Silver, Peter Singer, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Quentin Skinner, Ronald de Sousa, Victor Stenger, John Sulston, Barry Supple, Leonard Susskind, Raymond Tallis, Max Tegmark, Michael Tooley, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Martinus J. G. Veltman, Craig Venter, .Alexander Vilenkin, Sir John Walker, James D. Watson, Frank Wilczek, Steven Weinberg, and Lewis Wolpert,
Daniel Clement Dennett III
March 28, 1942 (age 74)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Harvard University (A.B.)
Hertford College, Oxford (D.Phil.)
Jean Nicod Prize (2001)
20th/21st-century philosophy
Main interests
Philosophy of biology
Notable ideas
Heterophenomenology
Intentional stance
Intuition pump
Multiple Drafts Model
Greedy reductionism
Cartesian theater
Influences[show]
Influenced[show]
Daniel Clement Dennett III (born March 28, 1942)[1][2] is an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science.[3]
He is currently[when?] the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies and the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. Dennett is an atheist and secularist, a member of the Secular Coalition for America advisory board,[4] and a member of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, as well as an outspoken supporter of the Brights movement. Dennett is referred to as one of the “Four Horsemen of New Atheism“, along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens.[5]
Dennett is a member of the editorial board for The Rutherford Journal.[6]
Early life[edit]
Dennett was born on March 28, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth Marjorie (née Leck) and Daniel Clement Dennett, Jr.[7][8] Dennett spent part of his childhood in Lebanon, where, during World War II, his father was a covert counter-intelligence agent with the Office of Strategic Services posing as a cultural attaché to the American Embassy in Beirut.[9] When he was five, his mother took him back to Massachusetts after his father died in an unexplained plane crash.[10] Dennett’s sister is the investigative journalist Charlotte Dennett.[9] Dennett says that he was first introduced to the notion of philosophy while attending summer camp at age 11, when a camp counselor said to him, “You know what you are, Daniel? You’re a philosopher.”[11]
Dennett graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1959, and spent one year at Wesleyan University before receiving his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy at Harvard University in 1963. At Harvard University he was a student of W. V. Quine. In 1965, he received his Doctor of Philosophy in philosophy at the University of Oxford, where he studied under Gilbert Ryle and was a member of Christ Church college.
Dennett in 2008
Dennett describes himself as “an autodidact—or, more properly, the beneficiary of hundreds of hours of informal tutorials on all the fields that interest me, from some of the world’s leading scientists”.[12]
He is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.[13] He is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism.[14] He was named 2004 Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association.[15]
In February 2010, he was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation‘s Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.[16]
In 2012, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize, an annual award for a person who has made an exceptional contribution to European culture, society or social science, “for his ability to translate the cultural significance of science and technology to a broad audience.”[17]
Free will[edit]
While he is a confirmed compatibilist on free will, in “On Giving Libertarians What They Say They Want”—Chapter 15 of his 1978 book Brainstorms,[18] Dennett articulated the case for a two-stage model of decision making in contrast to libertarian views.
The model of decision making I am proposing has the following feature: when we are faced with an important decision, a consideration-generator whose output is to some degree undetermined, produces a series of considerations, some of which may of course be immediately rejected as irrelevant by the agent (consciously or unconsciously). Those considerations that are selected by the agent as having a more than negligible bearing on the decision then figure in a reasoning process, and if the agent is in the main reasonable, those considerations ultimately serve as predictors and explicators of the agent’s final decision.[19]
While other philosophers have developed two-stage models, including William James, Henri Poincaré, Arthur Holly Compton, and Henry Margenau, Dennett defends this model for the following reasons:
First … The intelligent selection, rejection, and weighing of the considerations that do occur to the subject is a matter of intelligence making the difference.
Second, I think it installs indeterminism in the right place for the libertarian, if there is a right place at all.
Third … from the point of view of biological engineering, it is just more efficient and in the end more rational that decision making should occur in this way.
A fourth observation in favor of the model is that it permits moral education to make a difference, without making all of the difference.
Fifth—and I think this is perhaps the most important thing to be said in favor of this model—it provides some account of our important intuition that we are the authors of our moral decisions.
Finally, the model I propose points to the multiplicity of decisions that encircle our moral decisions and suggests that in many cases our ultimate decision as to which way to act is less important phenomenologically as a contributor to our sense of free will than the prior decisions affecting our deliberation process itself: the decision, for instance, not to consider any further, to terminate deliberation; or the decision to ignore certain lines of inquiry.
These prior and subsidiary decisions contribute, I think, to our sense of ourselves as responsible free agents, roughly in the following way: I am faced with an important decision to make, and after a certain amount of deliberation, I say to myself: “That’s enough. I’ve considered this matter enough and now I’m going to act,” in the full knowledge that I could have considered further, in the full knowledge that the eventualities may prove that I decided in error, but with the acceptance of responsibility in any case.[20]
Leading libertarian philosophers such as Robert Kane have rejected Dennett’s model, specifically that random chance is directly involved in a decision, on the basis that they believe this eliminates the agent’s motives and reasons, character and values, and feelings and desires. They claim that, if chance is the primary cause of decisions, then agents cannot be liable for resultant actions. Kane says:
[As Dennett admits,] a causal indeterminist view of this deliberative kind does not give us everything libertarians have wanted from free will. For [the agent] does not have complete control over what chance images and other thoughts enter his mind or influence his deliberation. They simply come as they please. [The agent] does have some control after the chance considerations have occurred.
But then there is no more chance involved. What happens from then on, how he reacts, is determined by desires and beliefs he already has. So it appears that he does not have control in the libertarian sense of what happens after the chance considerations occur as well. Libertarians require more than this for full responsibility and free will.[21]
Evolutionary debate[edit]
Much of Dennett’s work since the 1990s has been concerned with fleshing out his previous ideas by addressing the same topics from an evolutionary standpoint, from what distinguishes human minds from animal minds (Kinds of Minds), to how free will is compatible with a naturalist view of the world (Freedom Evolves).
Dennett sees evolution by natural selection as an algorithmic process (though he spells out that algorithms as simple as long division often incorporate a significant degree of randomness).[24] This idea is in conflict with the evolutionary philosophy of paleontologistStephen Jay Gould, who preferred to stress the “pluralism” of evolution (i.e., its dependence on many crucial factors, of which natural selection is only one).
Dennett’s views on evolution are identified as being strongly adaptationist, in line with his theory of the intentional stance, and the evolutionary views of biologist Richard Dawkins. In Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, Dennett showed himself even more willing than Dawkins to defend adaptationism in print, devoting an entire chapter to a criticism of the ideas of Gould. This stems from Gould’s long-running public debate with E. O. Wilson and other evolutionary biologists over human sociobiology and its descendant evolutionary psychology, which Gould and Richard Lewontin opposed, but which Dennett advocated, together with Dawkins and Steven Pinker.[25] Strong disagreements have been launched against Dennett from Gould and his supporters, who allege that Dennett overstated his claims and misrepresented Gould’s to reinforce what Gould describes as Dennett’s “Darwinian fundamentalism”.[26]
Dennett’s theories have had a significant influence on the work of evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller.
An account of religion and morality[edit]
In Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, Dennett writes that evolution can account for the origin of morality. He rejects the idea of the naturalistic fallacy as the idea that ethics is in some free-floating realm, writing that the fallacy is to rush from facts to values.
In his 2006 book, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, Dennett attempts to account for religious belief naturalistically, explaining possible evolutionary reasons for the phenomenon of religious adherence. In this book he declares himself to be “a bright“, and defends the term.
He has been doing research into clerics who are secretly atheists and how they rationalize their works. He found what he called a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” conspiracy because believers did not want to hear of loss of faith. That made unbelieving preachers feel isolated but they did not want to lose their jobs and sometimes their church-supplied lodgings and generally consoled themselves that they were doing good in their pastoral roles by providing comfort and required ritual.[27] The research, with Linda LaScola, was further extended to include other denominations and non-Christian clerics.[28]
Other philosophical views[edit]
He has also written about and advocated the notion of memetics as a philosophically useful tool, most recently in his “Brains, Computers, and Minds”, a three-part presentation through Harvard’s MBB 2009 Distinguished Lecture Series.
Dennett has been critical of postmodernism, having said:
Postmodernism, the school of “thought” that proclaimed “There are no truths, only interpretations” has largely played itself out in absurdity, but it has left behind a generation of academics in the humanities disabled by their distrust of the very idea of truth and their disrespect for evidence, settling for “conversations” in which nobody is wrong and nothing can be confirmed, only asserted with whatever style you can muster.[29]
Dennett adopted and somewhat redefined the term “deepity”, originally coined by Miriam Weizenbaum[30] (daughter of computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum). Dennett used “deepity” for a statement that is apparently profound, but is actually trivial on one level and meaningless on another. Generally, a deepity has two (or more) meanings: one that is true but trivial, and another that sounds profound and would be important if true, but is actually false or meaningless. Examples are “Que sera sera!”, “Beauty is only skin deep!”, “The power of intention can transform your life.”[31] The term has been cited many times.
Personal life[edit]
Dennett married Susan Bell in 1962.[32] They live in North Andover, Massachusetts, and have a daughter, a son, and four grandchildren.[33] He is an avid sailor.[34]
Selected works[edit]
Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life (Simon & Schuster; reprint edition 1996) (ISBN 0-684-82471-X)
Thinking portal
The Atheism Tapes
Daniel Dennett at Tufts University
Hurley, Matthew M.; Dennett, Daniel C.; Adams, Jr, Reginald B. (2011). Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262015820.
Daniel Dennett at the Internet Movie Database
“Daniel Dennett”. Scientific American Frontiers. PBS. Archived from the original on Jan 24, 2001.
Searchable bibliography of Dennett’s works
Marshal, Richard (June 3, 2013). “Intuition Pumping”. 3AM Magazine.
Writers from Boston
20th-century philosophers
21st-century philosophers
American philosophers
Analytic philosophers
Atheist philosophers
Atheism activists
Cognitive scientists
Consciousness researchers and theorists
Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
Wesleyan University alumni
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Philosophers of mind
Philosophers of religion
Tufts University faculty
Fellows of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
Jean Nicod Prize laureates
American non-fiction writers
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American skeptics
American humanists
Fellows of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
Erasmus Prize winners
Critics of postmodernism
Critics of religions
Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
Guggenheim Fellows
Fulbright Scholars
Atheism in the United States
American secularists
Atheist writers
In the first video below in the 49th clip in this series are his words and my response is below them.
50 Renowned Academics Speaking About God (Part 1)
Another 50 Renowned Academics Speaking About God (Part 2)
A Further 50 Renowned Academics Speaking About God (Part 3)
Dear Dr. Dennett,
I know how busy you are so I am going to make this as short as possible.
I know that you are good friends with Richard Dawkins and I have noticed how many times he quotes you in his books. It just so happens that I have just got finishing reading back to back his books, The God Delusion, An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist, and Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science. I also recently enjoyed watching you on Jonathan Miller’s BBC program Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief. Francis Schaeffer used to quote Jonathan Miller back in the 1960’s during his teachings at L ‘Abri.
Today I wanted respond to an assertion you made in the very popular You Tube series, 50 Renowned Academics Speaking About God (Part 1):
God is definitely beyond the verification process of science. God is designed to be beyond the verification process of science. The classic adaptation of religion is to create this gulf so that science can’t get anywhere near God. That is true, but science can understand that very fact.
Let me give 4 short responses.
FIRST, Romans 1 points that every person has a God-given conscience instead of them that tells them that God exists. Back on July 8, 2014 I mailed you a letter that went into this further and the interesting factor is that this can be tested by a lie-detector and there was a proposition I made to the FELLOWS of CSICOP concerning that in the 1990’s and I assume you were one of the individuals I contacted back then. I was very honored that many of the them replied (including Antony Flew and Carl Sagan).
SECOND, let me recommend a book by Sean McDowell and Jonathan Marrow, called Is God Just a Human Invention? And Seventeen Other Questions Raised by the New Atheists.
THIRD, John Piippo responds to your assertion by quoting Alvin Plantinga. As you know Plantinga wants to show that there is no good reason to think Christian belief is unjustified, irrational, or unwarranted unless it can be shown that Christian beliefs are false.
John Piippo in his article 50 Renowned Academics (Atheists) Speaking About God – A Review, (August 05, 2011) noted:
Daniel Dennett (philosophy)
God cannot be scientifically verified. The God of theism is “protected from disproof” because it is defined as “beyond science.” This is an interesting point, and one that can be responded to. See, e.g., Plantinga, who takes the discussion into the arena of “properly basic beliefs.”
FOURTH, there is plenty of evidence from archaeology showing the Bible is true from cover to cover and can be trusted. You stated, “God is definitely beyond the verification process of science.” However, what about the events in the Bible which claim to be the works of God? Can they be tested by a examination of the historical and archaeological records? Here are some of the posts I have done in the past on the subject: 1. The Babylonian Chronicle, of Nebuchadnezzars Siege of Jerusalem, 2. Hezekiah’s Siloam Tunnel Inscription. 3. Taylor Prism (Sennacherib Hexagonal Prism), 4. Biblical Cities Attested Archaeologically. 5. The Discovery of the Hittites, 6.Shishak Smiting His Captives, 7. Moabite Stone, 8. Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, 9A Verification of places in Gospel of John and Book of Acts., 9B Discovery of Ebla Tablets. 10. Cyrus Cylinder, 11. Puru “The lot of Yahali” 9th Century B.C.E., 12. The Uzziah Tablet Inscription, 13. The Pilate Inscription, 14. Caiaphas Ossuary, 14 B Pontius Pilate Part 2, 14c. Three greatest American Archaeologists moved to accept Bible’s accuracy through archaeology.,
I have also responded to your statement today in a more lengthy way on my blog http://www.thedailyhatch.org in the post RESPONDING TO HARRY KROTO’S BRILLIANT RENOWNED ACADEMICS!! Daniel Dennett, Philosophy, Tufts University, “God is designed to be beyond the verification process of science.” I hope you take time to take a look. By the way this series was started because your friend HARRY KROTO is the one who referred me to the You Tube video series that featured your quote!!!
Thank you again for your time.
Everette Hatcher, P.O. Box 23416, Little Rock, AR 72221, cell ph 501-920-5733, everettehatcher@gmail.com
PS: Today I checked out of the library your book Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, and two years ago I read Charles Darwin, Autobiography (1876), in The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, ed. Francis Darwin, vol. 1 (London: John Murray, 1888), and just year I listened to the audio book On The Origin Of The Species (Charles/Francis Darwin) Narrated by Professor. Richard Dawkins, Ph.D., So I trying to try and understand your point of view too.
Darwin age 30
Darwin in midlife
Darwin close to the end of his life
Daniel C. Dennett,
Medford, MA
Recently I read these words that were attributed to you, “There are two ways of looking at the source of meaning there’s the old-fashioned way, which is the trickle-down theory of meaning. Our lives can’t have meaning unless we’re the lesser products of something even more meaningful than we are…The other way of looking at it is the bubble-up theory of meaning, which is that the universe starts off without meaning and there really is no point to it, but it’s possible for life to evolve and it does. We eventually show up–and we are meaning-makers and we care…”
Solomon took a long look at finding meaning in life “under the sun” in the Book of Ecclesiastes without God and he found that it was impossible to be a “meaning-maker” without God in the picture. More on that later.
I noticed that you are on the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and that prompted me to send this material to you today.
A couple of months ago I mailed you a letter that contained correspondence I had with Antony Flew and Carl Sagan and I also included some of the material I had sent them from Adrian Rogers and Francis Schaeffer. Did you have a chance to listen to the IS THE BIBLE TRUE? CD yet? I also wanted to let know some more about about Francis Schaeffer. Ronald Reagan said of Francis Schaeffer, “He will long be remembered as one of the great Christian thinkers of our century, with a childlike faith and a profound compassion toward others. It can rarely be said of an individual that his life touched many others and affected them for the better; it will be said of Francis Schaeffer that his life touched millions of souls and brought them to the truth of their creator.”
Thirty years ago the christian philosopher and author Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) died and on the 10th anniversary of his passing in 1994 I wrote a number of the top evolutionists, humanists and atheistic scholars in the world and sent them a story about Francis Schaeffer in 1930 when he left agnosticism and embraced Christianity. I also sent them a cassette tape with the title “Four intellectual bridges evolutionists can’t cross” by Adrian Rogers (1931-2005) and some of the top scholars who corresponded with me since that time include Ernest Mayr (1904-2005), George Wald (1906-1997), Carl Sagan (1934-1996), Robert Shapiro (1935-2011), Nicolaas Bloembergen (1920-), Brian Charlesworth (1945-), Francisco J. Ayala (1934-) Elliott Sober (1948-), Kevin Padian (1951-), Matt Cartmill (1943-) , Milton Fingerman (1928-), John J. Shea (1969-), , Michael A. Crawford (1938-), (Paul Kurtz (1925-2012), Sol Gordon (1923-2008), Albert Ellis (1913-2007), Barbara Marie Tabler (1915-1996), Renate Vambery (1916-2005), Archie J. Bahm (1907-1996), Aron S “Gil” Martin ( 1910-1997), Matthew I. Spetter (1921-2012), H. J. Eysenck (1916-1997), Robert L. Erdmann (1929-2006), Mary Morain (1911-1999), Lloyd Morain (1917-2010), Warren Allen Smith (1921-), Bette Chambers (1930-), Gordon Stein (1941-1996) , Milton Friedman (1912-2006), John Hospers (1918-2011), and Michael Martin (1932-).
The truth is that I am an evangelical Christian and I have enjoyed developing relationships with skeptics and humanists over the years. Back in 1996 I took my two sons who were 8 and 10 yrs old back then to New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Delaware, and New Jersey and we had dinner one night with Herbert A. Tonne, who was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto II. The Late Professor John George who has written books for Prometheus Press was my good friend during the last 10 years of his life. (I still miss him today.) We often ate together and were constantly talking on the phone and writing letters to one another.
It is a funny story how I met Dr. George. As an evangelical Christian and a member of the Christian Coalition, I felt obliged to expose a misquote of John Adams’ I found in an article entitled “America’s Unchristian Beginnings” by the self-avowed atheist Dr. Steven Morris. However, what happened next changed my focus to the use of misquotes, unconfirmed quotes, and misleading attributions by the religious right.
In the process of attempting to correct Morris, I was guilty of using several misquotes myself. Professor John George of the University of Central Oklahoma political science department and coauthor (with Paul Boller Jr.) of the book THEY NEVER SAID IT! set me straight. George pointed out that George Washington never said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.“ I had cited page 18 of the 1927 edition of HALLEY’S BIBLE HANDBOOK. This quote was probably generated by a similar statement that appears in A LIFE OF WASHINGTON by James Paulding. Sadly, no one has been able to verify any of the quotes in Paulding’s book since no footnotes were offered.
After reading THEY NEVER SAID IT! I had a better understanding of how widespread the problem of misquotes is. Furthermore, I discovered that many of these had been used by the leaders of the religious right. I decided to confront some individuals concerning their misquotes. WallBuilders, the publisher of David Barton’s THE MYTH OF SEPARATION, responded by providing me with their “unconfirmed quote” list which contained a dozen quotes widely used by the religious right.
Sadly some of the top leaders of my own religious right have failed to take my encouragement to stop using these quotes and they have either claimed that their critics were biased skeptics who find the truth offensive or they defended their own method of research and claimed the secondary sources were adequate.
I have enclosed that same CD by Adrian Rogers that I sent 20 years ago although the second half does include a story about Charles Darwin‘s journey from the position of theistic evolution to agnosticism. Here are the four bridges that Adrian Rogers says evolutionists can’t cross in the CD “Four Bridges that the Evolutionist Cannot Cross.” 1. The Origin of Life and the law of biogenesis. 2. The Fixity of the Species. 3.The Second Law of Thermodynamics. 4. The Non-Physical Properties Found in Creation.
In the first 3 minutes of the CD is the hit song “Dust in the Wind.” In the letter 20 years ago I gave some of the key points Francis Schaeffer makes about the experiment that Solomon undertakes in the book of Ecclesiastes to find satisfaction by looking into learning (1:16-18), laughter, ladies, luxuries, and liquor (2:1-3, 8, 10, 11), and labor (2:4-6, 18-20).
I later learned this book of Ecclesiastes was Richard Dawkins’ favorite book in the Bible. Schaeffer noted that Solomon took a look at the meaning of life on the basis of human life standing alone between birth and death “under the sun.” This phrase UNDER THE SUN appears over and over in Ecclesiastes. The Christian Scholar Ravi Zacharias noted, “The key to understanding the Book of Ecclesiastes is the term UNDER THE SUN — What that literally means is you lock God out of a closed system and you are left with only this world of Time plus Chance plus matter.” No wonder Ecclesiastes is Richard Dawkins’ favorite book of the Bible!
Here the first 7 verses of Ecclesiastes followed by Schaeffer’s commentary on it:
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
Solomon is showing a high degree of comprehension of evaporation and the results of it. (E.O.Wilson has marveled at Solomon’s scientific knowledge of ants that was only discovered in the 1800’s.) Seeing also in reality nothing changes. There is change but always in a set framework and that is cycle. You can relate this to the concepts of modern man. Ecclesiastes is the only pessimistic book in the Bible and that is because of the place where Solomon limits himself. He limits himself to the question of human life, life under the sun between birth and death and the answers this would give.
Solomon doesn’t place man outside of the cycle. Man doesn’t escape the cycle. Man is in the cycle. Birth and death and youth and old age.
There is no doubt in my mind that Solomon had the same experience in his life that I had as a younger man (at the age of 18 in 1930). I remember standing by the sea and the moon arose and it was copper and beauty. Then the moon did not look like a flat dish but a globe or a sphere since it was close to the horizon. One could feel the global shape of the earth too. Then it occurred to me that I could contemplate the interplay of the spheres and I was exalted because I thought I can look upon them with all their power, might, and size, but they could contempt nothing. Then came upon me a horror of great darkness because it suddenly occurred to me that although I could contemplate them and they could contemplate nothing yet they would continue to turn in ongoing cycles when I saw no more forever and I was crushed.
You are an atheist and you have a naturalistic materialistic worldview, and this short book of Ecclesiastes should interest you because the wisest man who ever lived in the position of King of Israel came to THREE CONCLUSIONS that will affect you.
FIRST, chance and time have determined the past, and they will determine the future. (Ecclesiastes 9:11-13)
These two verses below take the 3 elements mentioned in a naturalistic materialistic worldview (time, chance and matter) and so that is all the unbeliever can find “under the sun” without God in the picture. You will notice that these are the three elements that evolutionists point to also.
Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 is following: I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.
SECOND, Death is the great equalizer (Eccl 3:20, “All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.”)
THIRD, Power reigns in this life, and the scales are not balanced(Eccl 4:1, 8:15)
Ecclesiastes 4:1-2: “Next I turned my attention to all the outrageous violence that takes place on this planet—the tears of the victims, no one to comfort them; the iron grip of oppressors, no one to rescue the victims from them.” Ecclesiastes 8:14; “ Here’s something that happens all the time and makes no sense at all: Good people get what’s coming to the wicked, and bad people get what’s coming to the good. I tell you, this makes no sense. It’s smoke.”
Solomon had all the resources in the world and he found himself searching for meaning in life and trying to come up with answers concerning the afterlife. However, it seems every door he tries to open is locked. Today men try to find satisfaction in learning, liquor, ladies, luxuries, laughter, and labor and that is exactly what Solomon tried to do too. None of those were able to “fill the God-sized vacuum in his heart” (quote from famous mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal). You have to wait to the last chapter in Ecclesiastes to find what Solomon’s final conclusion is.
In 1978 I heard the song “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas when it rose to #6 on the charts. That song told me that Kerry Livgren the writer of that song and a member of Kansas had come to the same conclusion that Solomon had. I remember mentioning to my friends at church that we may soon see some members of Kansas become Christians because their search for the meaning of life had obviously come up empty even though they had risen from being an unknown band to the top of the music business and had all the wealth and fame that came with that. Furthermore, Solomon realized death comes to everyone and there must be something more.
Livgren wrote:
“All we do, crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see, Dust in the Wind, All we are is dust in the wind, Don’t hang on, Nothing lasts forever but the Earth and Sky, It slips away, And all your money won’t another minute buy.”
Take a minute and compare Kerry Livgren‘s words to that of the late British humanist H.J. Blackham:
“On humanist assumptions, life leads to nothing, and every pretense that it does not is a deceit. If there is a bridge over a gorge which spans only half the distance and ends in mid-air, and if the bridge is crowded with human beings pressing on, one after the other they fall into the abyss. The bridge leads nowhere, and those who are pressing forward to cross it are going nowhere….It does not matter where they think they are going, what preparations for the journey they may have made, how much they may be enjoying it all. The objection merely points out objectively that such a situation is a model of futility“( H. J. Blackham, et al., Objections to Humanism (Riverside, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1967).
Both Kerry Livgren and the bass player DAVE HOPE of Kansas became Christians eventually. Kerry Livgren first tried Eastern Religions and DAVE HOPE had to come out of a heavy drug addiction. I was shocked and elated to see their personal testimony on The 700 Club in 1981 and that same interview can be seen on youtube today. Livgren lives in Topeka, Kansas today where he teaches “Diggers,” a Sunday school class at Topeka Bible Church. DAVE HOPE is the head of Worship, Evangelism and Outreach at Immanuel Anglican Church in Destin, Florida.
Solomon’s experiment was a search for meaning to life “under the sun.” Then in last few words in the Book of Ecclesiastes he looks above the sun and brings God back into the picture: “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
The answer to find meaning in life is found in putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The Bible is true from cover to cover and can be trusted.
Now on to the other topic I wanted to discuss with you today. I wanted to write you today for one reason. IS THERE A GOOD CHANCE THAT DEEP DOWN IN YOUR CONSCIENCE you have repressed the belief in your heart that God does exist and IS THERE A POSSIBILITY THIS DEEP BELIEF OF YOURS CAN BE SHOWN THROUGH A LIE-DETECTOR? (Back in the late 1990’s I had the opportunity to correspond with over a dozen members of CSICOP on just this very issue.)
I have a good friend who is a street preacher who preaches on the Santa Monica Promenade in California and during the Q/A sessions he does have lots of atheists that enjoy their time at the mic. When this happens he always quotes Romans 1:18-19 (Amplified Bible) ” For God’s wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness REPRESS and HINDER the truth and make it inoperative. For that which is KNOWN about God is EVIDENT to them and MADE PLAIN IN THEIR INNER CONSCIOUSNESS, because God has SHOWN IT TO THEM,”(emphasis mine). Then he tells the atheist that the atheist already knows that God exists but he has been suppressing that knowledge in unrighteousness. This usually infuriates the atheist.
My friend draws some large crowds at times and was thinking about setting up a lie detector test and see if atheists actually secretly believe in God. He discussed this project with me since he knew that I had done a lot of research on the idea about 20 years ago.
Nelson Price in THE EMMANUEL FACTOR (1987) tells the story about Brown Trucking Company in Georgia who used to give polygraph tests to their job applicants. However, in part of the test the operator asked, “Do you believe in God?” In every instance when a professing atheist answered “No,” the test showed the person to be lying. My pastor Adrian Rogers used to tell this same story to illustrate Romans 1:19 and it was his conclusion that “there is no such thing anywhere on earth as a true atheist. If a man says he doesn’t believe in God, then he is lying. God has put his moral consciousness into every man’s heart, and a man has to try to kick his conscience to death to say he doesn’t believe in God.”
It is true that polygraph tests for use in hiring were banned by Congress in 1988. Mr and Mrs Claude Brown on Aug 25, 1994 wrote me a letter confirming that over 15,000 applicants previous to 1988 had taken the polygraph test and EVERYTIME SOMEONE SAID THEY DID NOT BELIEVE IN GOD, THE MACHINE SAID THEY WERE LYING.
It had been difficult to catch up to the Browns. I had heard about them from Dr. Rogers’ sermon but I did not have enough information to locate them. Dr. Rogers referred me to Dr. Nelson Price and Dr. Price’s office told me that Claude Brown lived in Atlanta. After writing letters to all 9 of the entries for Claude Brown in the Atlanta telephone book, I finally got in touch with the Browns.
Adrian Rogers also pointed out that the Bible does not recognize the theoretical atheist. Psalms 14:1: The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” Dr Rogers notes, “The fool is treating God like he would treat food he did not desire in a cafeteria line. ‘No broccoli for me!’ ” In other words, the fool just doesn’t want God in his life and is a practical atheist, but not a theoretical atheist. Charles Ryrie in the The Ryrie Study Bible came to the same conclusion on this verse.
Here are the conclusions of the experts I wrote in the secular world concerning the lie detector test and it’s ability to get at the truth:
Professor Frank Horvath of the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University has testified before Congress concerning the validity of the polygraph machine. He has stated on numerous occasions that “the evidence from those who have actually been affected by polygraph testing in the workplace is quite contrary to what has been expressed by critics. I give this evidence greater weight than I give to the most of the comments of critics” (letter to me dated October 6, 1994).
There was no better organization suited to investigate this claim concerning the lie detector test than the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). This organization changed their name to the Committe for Skeptical Inquiry in 2006. This organization includes anyone who wants to help debunk the whole ever-expanding gamut of misleading, outlandish, and fraudulent claims made in the name of science. I AM WRITING YOU TODAY BECAUSE YOU ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CSICOP.
I read The Skeptical Review(publication of CSICOP) for several years during the 90’s and I would write letters to these scientists about taking this project on and putting it to the test. Below are some of their responses (15 to 20 years old now):
1st Observation: Religious culture of USA could have influenced polygraph test results.
ANTONY FLEW (formerly of Reading University in England, now deceased, in a letter to me dated 8-11-96) noted, “For all the evidence so far available seems to be of people from a culture in which people are either directly brought up to believe in the existence of God or at least are strongly even if only unconsciously influenced by those who do. Even if everyone from such a culture revealed unconscious belief, it would not really begin to show that — as Descartes maintained— the idea of God is so to speak the Creator’s trademark, stamped on human souls by their Creator at their creation.”
2nd Observation: Polygraph Machines do not work. JOHN R. COLE, anthropologist, editor, National Center for Science Education, Dr. WOLF RODER, professor of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Dr. SUSAN BLACKMORE,Dept of Psychology, University of the West of England, Dr. CHRISTOPHER C. FRENCH, Psychology Dept, Goldsmith’s College, University of London, Dr.WALTER F. ROWE, The George Washington University, Dept of Forensic Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
3rd Observation: The sample size probably was not large enough to apply statistical inference. (These gentlemen made the following assertion before I received the letter back from Claude Brown that revealed that the sample size was over 15,000.) JOHN GEOHEGAN, Chairman of New Mexicans for Science and Reason, Dr. WOLF RODER, and Dr WALTER F. ROWE (in a letter dated July 12, 1994) stated, “The polygraph operator for Brown Trucking Company has probably examined only a few hundred or a few thousand job applicants. I would surmise that only a very small number of these were actually atheists. It seems a statistically insignificant (and distinctly nonrandom) sampling of the 5 billion human beings currently inhabiting the earth. Dr. Nelson Price also seems to be impugning the integrity of anyone who claims to be an atheist in a rather underhanded fashion.”
4th Observation: The question (Do you believe in God?) was out of place and it surprised the applicants. THOMAS GILOVICH, psychologist, Cornell Univ., Dr. ZEN FAULKES, professor of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), ROBERT CRAIG, Head of Indiana Skeptics Organization, Dr. WALTER ROWE,
5th Observation: Proof that everyone believes in God’s existence does not prove that God does in fact exist. PAUL QUINCEY, Nathional Physical Laboratory,(England), Dr. CLAUDIO BENSKI, Schneider Electric, CFEPP, (France),
6th Observation: Both the courts and Congress recognize that lie-detectors don’t work and that is why they were banned in 1988. (Governments and the military still use them.)
Dr WALTER ROWE, KATHLEEN M. DILLION, professor of Psychology, Western New England College.
7th Observation:This information concerning Claude Brown’s claim has been passed on to us via a tv preacher and eveybody knows that they are untrustworthy– look at their history. WOLF RODER.
Solomon wisely noted in Ecclesiastes 3:11 “God has planted eternity in the heart of men…” (Living Bible). No wonder Bertrand Russell wrote in his autobiography, “It is odd, isn’t it? I feel passionately for this world and many things and people in it, and yet…what is it all? There must be something more important, one feels, though I don’t believe there is. I am haunted. Some ghosts, for some extra mundane regions, seem always trying to tell me something that I am to repeat to the world, but I cannot understand that message.”
Gene Emery, science writer for Providence Journal-Bulletin is a past winner of the CSICOP “Responsibility in Journalism Award” and he had the best suggestion of all when he suggested, “Actually, if you want to make a good case about whether Romans 1:19 is true, arrange to have a polygraph operator (preferably an atheist or agnostic) brought to the next CSICOP meeting. (I’m not a member of CSICOP, by the way, so I can’t give you an official invitation or anything.) If none of the folks at that meeting can convince the machine that they truly believe in God, maybe there is, in fact, an innate willingness to believe in God.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY REACTIONS TO ADD TO THESE 7 OBSERVATIONS THAT I GOT 15 YEARS AGO? Thank you again for your time and I know how busy you are.
Everette Hatcher, everettehatcher@gmail.com, http://www.thedailyhatch.org, cell ph 501-920-5733, Box 23416, LittleRock, AR 72221
BBC The Atheism Tapes – Daniel Dennett
Summary of Alvin Plantinga’s Reformed Epistemology
W.K. Clifford once said that “it is wrong always and everywhere to believe something on insufficient evidence.” This is the heart of evidentialsim or theological rationalism. And it is precisely this view that Alvin Plantinga (AP) challenges with his reformed epistemology which develops a model of “warranted Christian belief”. He has two projects: one public and one Christian.
Public Project – Plantinga first distinguishes between de facto objections (aimed at showing the Christian faith to be false) and de jure objections (those aimed at undermining Christian belief even if true). Even though these can be distinguished, AP thinks argues that in the cases of Christian theistic belief there is no de jure objection independent of a de facto objection.
de jure to Theistic belief – According to the evidentialist, even if it is true that God exists, one is unjustified and irrational for believing this apart from evidence. Only beliefs that are properly basic (those that are self-evident or incorrigible) or inferred from properly basic beliefs do not require evidence. But AP wants to ask why belief in God can’t be a properly basic belief? For he sees no good reason to exclude this possibility. First, there are other things we believe without evidence that we seem entirely justified in doing so without appealing to evidence (i.e., the world is older than five minutes). Second, what evidence is there that only propositions that are self evident and incorrigible are properly basic? The theory fails its own test. So there is no reason to exclude the possibility of belief in God being Properly Basic.
AP argues that Christians are not only within their epistemic rights (Justification) in believing God exists, but also that they can know (Warranted) apart from evidence. The key to Plantinga’s Reformed Epistemology is warrant, “the property which turns mere true belief into knowledge when possessed in sufficient degree.” Justification, on AP’s view, is fairly easy to come by—it’s warrant that is important for knowledge. AP appropriates Calvin’s Sensus Divinitatis (or sense of the divine) in order describe the appropriate circumstances / faculty that form the belief that God exists in people. It is within this context that he offers his four criteria for warrant: 1) the cognitive faculties of the person are functioning properly 2) the cognitive environment is appropriate 3) the purpose of the epistemic faculty is aimed at producing true beliefs. 4) the objective probability of a beliefs being true is high. According to AP then, belief in God is properly basic with respect to warrant if God exists. But then the issue of God’s existence is no longer epistemic, but metaphysical or theological (enter arguments from Natural Theology). There is then no de jure objection to theistic belief.
de jure to Christianity – What about to specifically Christian Theism? AP expands his model to include the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. Due to humanity’s fall into sin, there have been disastrous cognitive and affective consequences. So if Christianity is true then belief in it is warranted in the same way mentioned above because belief is produced by the H.S.
Great Pumpkin Objections – the strongest objection to the public project is that it leads to radical relativism. For example, why could Linus’s belief in the Great Pumpkin not be properly basic for him? AP grants that Linus could be justified in his belief, but so what? He is still being lied to—so he possesses no warrant. Moreover, if Christian epistemologists can have belief in God be properly basic for them, then why not voodoo epistemologists? Again, AP will concede that they can within their epistemic rights (justified), but not warranted. So the Son of the Great Pumpkin Objection Fails. At most, all these objections show is that there is no de jure objection to theistic belief in general (e.g., Muslims). That will have to be settled dependent on how successful de facto arguments are against specific religious beliefs.
The Christian Project – while AP’s public project has been successful, his Christian project might need some modification. AP only offers thin evidence here, and his suggestion that if the Christian God exists, then he would want us to know him and would have provided a way for that to occur isn’t a statement that a Christian evidentialist would disagree with. So more insight from Scripture and experience is needed in order to explicate a Christian model of warranted Christian belief. Since the Sensus Divinitatis and the testimony of the H.S. are experientially indistinguishable, we ought to use the testimony of the H.S. (Rom. 8:16) because of Scripture. Also, the H.S. being described as a cognitive faculty outside of people that forms belief in them is off base. Rather, the H.S. is better seen as a form of testimony that provides the appropriate circumstances for a properly basic belief to be formed.
Overall, Alvin Plantinga’s Reformed Epistemology is a helpful (and many think successful) theory of explaining warranted Christian belief.
For more, see Warranted Christian Belief by Alvin Plantinga (Oxford University Press).
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 53 THE BEATLES (Part E, Stg. Pepper’s and John Lennon’s search in 1967 for truth was through drugs, money, laughter, etc & similar to King Solomon’s, LOTS OF PICTURES OF JOHN AND CYNTHIA) (Feature on artist Yoko Ono)
April 2, 2015 – 7:05 am
The John Lennon and the Beatles really were on a long search for meaning and fulfillment in their lives just like King Solomon did in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon looked into learning (1:12-18, 2:12-17), laughter, ladies, luxuries, and liquor (2:1-2, 8, 10, 11), and labor (2:4-6, 18-20). He fount that without God in the picture all […]
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FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 52 THE BEATLES (Part D, There is evidence that the Beatles may have been exposed to Francis Schaeffer!!!) (Feature on artist Anna Margaret Rose Freeman )
______________ George Harrison Swears & Insults Paul and Yoko Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds- The Beatles The Beatles: I have dedicated several posts to this series on the Beatles and I don’t know when this series will end because Francis Schaeffer spent a lot of time listening to the Beatles and talking […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Tagged Anna Margaret Rose Freeman, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul MacCartney, Ringo Starr, Stg. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band | Edit| Comments (0)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 51 THE BEATLES (Part C, List of those on cover of Stg.Pepper’s ) (Feature on artist Raqib Shaw )
The Beatles in a press conference after their Return from the USA Uploaded on Nov 29, 2010 The Beatles in a press conference after their Return from the USA. The Beatles: I have dedicated several posts to this series on the Beatles and I don’t know when this series will end because Francis […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Tagged George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul MacCartney, Raqib Shaw, Ringo Starr | Edit | Comments (0)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 50 THE BEATLES (Part B, The Psychedelic Music of the Beatles) (Feature on artist Peter Blake )
__________________ Beatles 1966 Last interview I have dedicated several posts to this series on the Beatles and I don’t know when this series will end because Francis Schaeffer spent a lot of time listening to the Beatles and talking and writing about them and their impact on the culture of the 1960’s. In this […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Tagged George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul MacCartney, Peter Blake, Ringo Starr | Edit | Comments (1)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 49 THE BEATLES (Part A, The Meaning of Stg. Pepper’s Cover) (Feature on artist Mika Tajima)
March 5, 2015 – 4:47 am
_______________ The Beatles documentary || A Long and Winding Road || Episode 5 (This video discusses Stg. Pepper’s creation I have dedicated several posts to this series on the Beatles and I don’t know when this series will end because Francis Schaeffer spent a lot of time listening to the Beatles and talking and writing about […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Tagged Beatles, Mika Tajima | Edit |Comments (0)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE PART 48 “BLOW UP” by Michelangelo Antonioni makes Philosophic Statement (Feature on artist Nancy Holt)
February 26, 2015 – 4:57 am
_______________ Francis Schaeffer pictured below: _____________________ I have included the 27 minute episode THE AGE OF NONREASON by Francis Schaeffer. In that video Schaeffer noted, ” Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band…for a time it became the rallying cry for young people throughout the world. It expressed the essence of their lives, thoughts and their feelings.” How Should […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Tagged Blow Up, David Hemmings,Michelangelo Antonioni, Nancy Holt, Sarah Miles., Vanessa Redgrave | Edit | Comments (0)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 47 Woody Allen and Professor Levy and the death of “Optimistic Humanism” from the movie CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS Plus Charles Darwin’s comments too!!! (Feature on artist Rodney Graham)
Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 1 ___________________________________ Today I will answer the simple question: IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE AN OPTIMISTIC SECULAR HUMANIST THAT DOES NOT BELIEVE IN GOD OR AN AFTERLIFE? This question has been around for a long time and you can go back to the 19th century and read this same […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer, Woody Allen | Tagged alan alda, Anjelica Huston, mia farrow, Sam Waterston | Edit | Comments (0)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE PART 46 Friedrich Nietzsche (Featured artist is Thomas Schütte)
____________________________________ Francis Schaeffer pictured below: __________ Francis Schaeffer has written extensively on art and culture spanning the last 2000years and here are some posts I have done on this subject before : Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 10 “Final Choices” , episode 9 “The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence”, episode 8 […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Tagged Bertrand Russell, Friedrich Nietzsche,H.G. Wells, jean paul sartre, Kai Nielsen, Richard Taylor, Richard Wurmbrand, Thomas Schütte | Edit| Comments (0)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 45 Woody Allen “Reason is Dead” (Feature on artists Allora & Calzadilla )
February 5, 2015 – 4:31 am
Love and Death [Woody Allen] – What if there is no God? [PL] ___________ _______________ How Should We then Live Episode 7 small (Age of Nonreason) #02 How Should We Then Live? (Promo Clip) Dr. Francis Schaeffer 10 Worldview and Truth Two Minute Warning: How Then Should We Live?: Francis Schaeffer at 100 Francis Schaeffer […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer, Woody Allen | Tagged Allora & Calzadilla | Edit| Comments (0)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 44 The Book of Genesis (Featured artist is Trey McCarley )
January 29, 2015 – 5:01 am
___________________________________ Francis Schaeffer pictured below: ____________________________ Francis Schaeffer “BASIS FOR HUMAN DIGNITY” Whatever…HTTHR Dr. Francis schaeffer – The flow of Materialism(from Part 4 of Whatever happened to human race?) Dr. Francis Schaeffer – The Biblical flow of Truth & History (intro) Francis Schaeffer – The Biblical Flow of History & Truth (1) Dr. Francis Schaeffer […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Tagged Trey McCarley | Edit | Comments (0)
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Atheists Confronted, Biblical Archaeology, Francis Schaeffer | Also tagged .Alexander Vilenkin, A.C.Grayling, Aaron Ciechanover, Alan Dershowitz, Alan Dundes, Alan Guth, Alan Macfarlane, Alison Richard, Alva Noe, Arif Ahmed, Barry Supple, Bart Ehrman, Brian Cox, Brian Greene, Brian Harrison, Bruce Hood, C.J. van Rijsbergen, Caroline Humphrey, Carolyn Porco, Chris Hann, Christof Koch, Colin Blakemore, Colin McGinn, Colin Renfrew, Craig Venter, Dan McKenzie, David Friend, David J. Gross, David Parkin, Douglas Osheroff, Elizabeth Loftus, Frank Drake, Frank Wilczek, Gareth Stedman Jones, George Lakoff, Gerard ‘t Hooft, Haroon Ahmed, Harry Kroto, Herbert Huppert, Herman Philipse, Hermann Hauser, Horace Barlow, Hubert Dreyfus, Ivar Giaever, J. L. Schellenberg, James D. Watson, Jared Diamond, Jim Al-Khalili, John Dunn, John Searle, John Sulston, Jonathan Haidt, Jonathan Parry, Ken Edwards, Lawrence Krauss, Lee Silver, Leonard Mlodinow, Leonard Susskind, Lewis Wolpert, Lisa Jardine, Lisa Randall, Lord Martin Rees, Louise Antony, Mahzarin Banaji, Marcus du Sautoy, Mark Balaguer, Mark Elvin, Martinus J. G. Veltman, Marvin Minsky, Masatoshi Koshiba, Max Perutz, Max Tegmark, Michael Bate, Michael Mann, Michael Tooley, Michio Kaku, Ned Block, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nicholas Humphrey, Noam Chomsky, Oliver Sacks, P.Z.Myers, Partha Dasgupta, Pascal Boyer, Patricia Churchland, Paul Churchland, Peter Higgs, Peter Millican, Peter Singer, Quentin Skinner, Raymond Tallis, Rebecca Goldstein, Riccardo Giacconi, Richard Ernst, Roald Hoffmann, Robert Foley, Robert Hinde, Robert M. Price, Rodolfo Llinas, Roger Penrose, Ronald de Sousa, Roy Glauber, Rudolph A. Marcus, Saul Perlmutter, Sean Carroll, Seth Lloyd, Shelly Kagan, Simon Blackburn, Simon Schaffer, Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley, Sir David Attenborough, Sir John Walker, Sir Patrick Bateson, Sir Raymond Firth, Stephan Feuchtwang, Stephen F Gudeman, Stephen Hawking, Stephen Jay Gould, Steve Jones, Steven Weinberg, Stuart Kauffman, Susan Greenfield, Theodor W. Hänsch, Victor Stenger, VS Ramachandran, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Yujin Nagasawa | Comments (0)
RESPONDING TO HARRY KROTO’S BRILLIANT RENOWNED ACADEMICS!! Part 147 Massimo Pigliucci, Philosophy, CUNY-City College, “[Reason] is opposed of course to FAITH”
September 12, 2017 – 1:25 am
Harry Kroto pictured below:
Massimo Pigliucci
January 16, 1964 (age 53)
Monrovia, Liberia
University of Tennessee, PhD in Philosophy of Science
University of Connecticut, PhD in Biology
University of Ferrara, Italy, Doctorate in Genetics
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, BS and Masters in Biological Sciences
Scientific skepticism, secular humanism, Stoicism
Philosophy of pseudoscience
Relationship between science and religion
Demarcation problem
Massimo Pigliucci (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmassimo piʎˈʎuttʃi]; born January 16, 1964)[1] is Professor of Philosophy at CUNY–City College,[2] formerly co-host of the Rationally Speaking Podcast,[3] and formerly the editor in chief for the online magazine Scientia Salon.[4] He is an outspoken critic of pseudoscience[5][6] and creationism,[7] and an advocate for secularism[8], science education[9] and modern Stoicism.
Biography[edit]
Pigliucci was born in Monrovia, Liberia and raised in Rome, Italy.[1] He has a doctorate in genetics from the University of Ferrara, Italy, a PhD in biology from the University of Connecticut, and a PhD in philosophy of science from the University of Tennessee.[10] He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.[1]
Pigliucci was formerly a professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University. He explored phenotypic plasticity, genotype-environment interactions, natural selection, and the constraints imposed on natural selection by the genetic and developmental makeup of organisms.[11] In 1997, while working at the University of Tennessee, Pigliucci received the Theodosius Dobzhansky Prize,[12] awarded annually by the Society for the Study of Evolution[1] to recognize the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding young evolutionary biologist. As a philosopher, Pigliucci is interested in the structure and foundations of evolutionary theory, the relationship between science and philosophy, and the relationship between science and religion.[10] He is a proponent of the extended evolutionary synthesis.[13]
Pigliucci writes regularly for Skeptical Inquirer on topics such as climate change denial, intelligent design, pseudoscience, and philosophy.[14] He has also written for Philosophy Now and maintains a blog called “Rationally Speaking”.[15] He has debated “deniers of evolution” (young-earth creationists and intelligent design proponents), including young earth creationists Duane Gish and Kent Hovind and intelligent design proponents William Dembski and Jonathan Wells, on many occasions.[16][17][18][19]
Michael Shermer, Julia Galef and Massimo Pigliucci record live at NECSS 2013
Critical thinking and scepticism[edit]
While Pigliucci is an atheist himself,[20] he does not believe that science necessarily demands atheism because of two distinctions: the distinction between methodological naturalism and philosophical naturalism, and the distinction between value judgements and matters of fact. He believes that many scientists and science educators fail to appreciate these differences.[9] Pigliucci has criticized New Atheist writers for embracing what he considers to be scientism (although he largely excludes philosopher Daniel Dennett from this charge).[21] In a discussion of his book Answers for Aristotle: How Science and Philosophy Can Lead Us to a More Meaningful Life, Pigliucci told Skepticality podcast host Derek Colanduno, “Aristotle was the first ancient thinker to really take seriously the idea that you need both empirical facts, you need an evidence-based approach to the world and you need to be able to reflect on the meaning of those facts… If you want answers to moral questions then you don’t ask the neurobiologist, you don’t ask the evolutionary biologist, you ask the philosopher.”[22]
Pigliucci describes the mission of skeptics, referencing Carl Sagan‘s Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark saying “What skeptics are about is to keep that candle lit and spread it as much as possible”.[23] Pigliucci serves on the board of NYC Skeptics and on the advisory board of the Secular Coalition for America.[8]
In 2001, he debated William Lane Craig over the existence of God.[24]
Massimo Pigliucci criticised the newspaper article by Pope Francis entitled, “An open dialogue with non-believers”. Pigliucci viewed the article as a monologue rather than a dialogue and, in a response personally addressed to Pope Francis, wrote that the Pope only offered non-believers “a reaffirmation of entirely unsubstantiated fantasies about God and his Son…followed by a confusion between the concept of love and truth, the whole peppered by a significant amount of historical revisionism and downright denial of the ugliest facets of your Church (and you will notice that I haven’t even brought up the pedophilia stuff!).”[25]
Rationally Speaking[edit]
In August 2000 Massimo started with a monthly internet column called Rationally Speaking. In August 2005, the column became a blog,[26] where he wrote posts until March 2014.[27] Since 1 February 2010, he co-hosted the bi-weekly Rationally Speaking podcast together with Julia Galef, whom he first met at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism, held in September 2009.[28] The podcast is produced by the New York City Skeptics. He left the podcast in 2015 to pursue other interests.[29] In 2010, Neil DeGrasse Tyson explained on the show his justification for spending large amounts of government money on space programs. He eventually printed the transcript of his performance as a guest on the show in his book Space Chronicles as a full chapter covering eight pages.[30] Another episode in which Tyson explained his position on the label “atheism” received attention on NPR.[31]
Critics of alternative medicine
Critics of parapsychology
Evolutionary biologists
Italian geneticists
University of Ferrara alumni
Italian philosophers
Italian biologists
Italian atheists
Italian humanists
Italian skeptics
Lehman College faculty
State University of New York at Stony Brook faculty
University of Connecticut alumni
University of Tennessee alumni
People from Monrovia
Writers from Rome
His comments can be found on the 2nd video and the 57th clip in this series. Below the videos you will find his words.
From Everette Hatcher, http://www.thedailyhatch.org, P.O. Box 23416, Little Rock , AR 72221
Dear Professor MASSIMO PIGLICUCCI,
I have really enjoyed watching your debate with William Lane Craig on You Tube and your discussion with Daniel Dennett on the limits of science. I have had the pleasure of both corresponding with Professor Dennett and reading his book DARWIN’S DANGEROUS IDEA earlier this year.
I noticed that you graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Although I have never personally been a Tennessee fan, I was told by my grandfather that a cousin of his was a kicker for the Vols. My grandfather grew up in Franklin, Tennessee with his brothers and sister. They used to get up at 2 am on Saturdays and travel to Knoxville by 1pm for the kickoff. My grandfather attended the University of Tennessee in 1921-23 until his money ran out. My grandfather told me he was relatives with Buck Hatcher who was a star player for the Vols.
Sure enough Buck Hatcher did play for the Vols and he kicked a 53 yard field goal on Nov 13, 1920 to set a record. Later my grandfather’s brother Mack had the “Mack Hatcher Memorial Highway” named after him. He was a Gideon and often helped those who needed help in his Williamson County. (A Gideon is one who gives out Bibles). He stood six foot eleven and his sister Sara Lou was six foot four.
In the You Tube series RENOWNED ACADEMICS SPEAKING ABOUT GOD I found the following quote from you:
Reason of course can be defined in a variety of ways, but these are pretty good approximations. Cause is a explanation or justification for an event. You have a reason to believe. There was a reason I got up from my and went to the refrigerator and got a beer because I was THIRSTY. That is a REASON.
The Power of the mind to think, understand and form judgments by the course of logic is what we are talking about in this context. This is opposed of course to FAITH, which is the COMPLETE trust or confidence in someone or something. Notice the emphasis on COMPLETE for some belief in God or doctrine of religion based on SPIRITUAL APPREHENSION rather than truth. That is the interesting premise here. SPIRITUAL APPREHENSION, what the heck is SPIRITUAL APPREHENSION? How do people spiritually apprehend things? I can talk about how people LOGICALLY or RATIONALLY think about things, but it is hard to get my mind wrapped around the idea of spiritual apprehension. I suspect because there is no such thing as spiritual apprehension.
Let me respond with to your assertion that faith is totally opposed to logic with these writings below by Francis Schaeffer:
Posted on July 29, 2012by PS
What is faith? Faith is often characterized as blind belief just because we want it to be true. It’s sometimes thought to be belief in spite of evidence to the contrary. But is that really what Biblical faith is like or is it a strawman argument that’s easily knocked down to make a point errantly?
Francis Schaeffer presents this story about faith:
Suppose we are climbing in the Alps and are very high on the bare rock, and suddenly the fog rolls in. The guide turns to us and says that the ice is forming and that there is no hope; before morning we will all freeze to death here on the shoulder of the mountain. Simply to keep warm the guide keeps us moving in the dense fog further out on the shoulder until none of us have any idea where we are. After an hour or so, someone says to the guide, “Suppose I dropped and hit a ledge ten feet down in the fog. What would happen then?” The guide would say that you might make it until the morning and thus live. So, with absolutely no knowledge or any reason tosupport his action, one of the group hangs and drops into the fog. This would be one kind of faith, a leap of faith.
Suppose, however, after we have worked out on the shoulder in the midst of the fog and the growing ice on the rock, we had stopped and we heard a voice which said, “You cannot see me, but I know exactly where you are from your voices. I am on another ridge. I have lived in these mountains, man and boy, for over sixty years and I know every foot of them. I assure you that ten feet below you there is a ledge. If you hang and drop, you can make it through the night and I will get you in the morning.
I would not hang and drop at once, but would ask questions to try to ascertain if the man knew what he was talking about and it he was not my enemy. In the Alps, for example, I would ask him his name. If the name he gave me was the name of a family from that part of the mountains, it would count a great deal to me. In the Swiss Alps there are certain family names that indicate mountain families of that area. In my desperate situation, even though time would be running out, I would ask him what to me would be the adequate and sufficient questions, and when I became convinced by his answers, then I would hang and drop.
Schaeffer’s story captures the idea that faith is not blind. It is based on reason, logic, information, but lives in a situation where a gap exists. Faith bridges the gap by trusting in someone or something in a better position than yourself. In this story, faith was put in the knowledge of the man who grew up in the Alps. It was a rational, tested faith based on questioning the man’s knowledge, but it was still faith because the ledge below couldn’t be seen, touched or definitively known. This idea that faith is well informed and not irrational is the first point to keep in mind.
The second point is about the object of faith. When you walk across ice, your trust is put in the ice to hold your weight. Ice is the object of your faith. If your trust is misplaced, you’ll quickly be wet, cold and in significant danger. It wouldn’t have mattered whether you have a little faith in the ice or trust it fully. The strength of the object of faith is what counts. It the story it was the knowledge of the guide in the fog.
Christian faith captures both of these ideas. First, God provides evidence of Himself in creation, in prophecy, in archeology, in Scripture’s consistency across 40+ authors and in the life of Jesus. He doesn’t leave us without witness or guidance. Second, He then requires us to make Jesus the object of our faith. Jesus’ sinless life, substitutionary death and bodily resurrection are what matter. As Paul said, if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead our faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:17). Putting trust in the Creator of the universe rather than our own feeble attempts to be good doesn’t seem like much of a stretch when you look at the history of mankind’s failures an our own individual struggles. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God and must put our faith in Jesus’ work to wash our sin away so we can enter God’s presence.
The answer to finding out more about God is found in putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The Bible is true from cover to cover and can be trusted. Please consider taking time to read Isaiah chapter 53 and if you have any interest then watch the You Tube clip “The Biography of the King” by Adrian Rogers which discusses that chapter in depth.
Is the Bible historically accurate? Here are some of the posts I have done in the past on the subject: 1. The Babylonian Chronicle, of Nebuchadnezzars Siege of Jerusalem, 2. Hezekiah’s Siloam Tunnel Inscription. 3. Taylor Prism (Sennacherib Hexagonal Prism), 4. Biblical Cities Attested Archaeologically. 5. The Discovery of the Hittites, 6.Shishak Smiting His Captives, 7. Moabite Stone, 8. Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, 9A Verification of places in Gospel of John and Book of Acts., 9B Discovery of Ebla Tablets. 10. Cyrus Cylinder, 11. Puru “The lot of Yahali” 9th Century B.C.E., 12. The Uzziah Tablet Inscription, 13. The Pilate Inscription, 14. Caiaphas Ossuary, 14 B Pontius Pilate Part 2, 14c. Three greatest American Archaeologists moved to accept Bible’s accuracy through archaeology.,
Below is a piece of that evidence given by Francis Schaeffer concerning the accuracy of the Bible.
TRUTH AND HISTORY (chapter 5 of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE?)
In the previous chapter we saw that the Bible gives us the explanation for the existence of the universe and its form and for the mannishness of man. Or, to reverse this, we came to see that the universe and its form and the mannishness of man are a testimony to the truth of the Bible. In this chapter we will consider a third testimony: the Bible’s openness to verification by historical study.
Christianity involves history. To say only that is already to have said something remarkable, because it separates the Judeo-Christian world-view from almost all other religious thought. It is rooted in history.
The Bible tells us how God communicated with man in history. For example, God revealed Himself to Abraham at a point in time and at a particular geographical place. He did likewise with Moses, David, Isaiah, Daniel and so on. The implications of this are extremely important to us. Because the truth God communicated in the Bible is so tied up with the flow of human events, it is possible by historical study to confirm some of the historical details.
It is remarkable that this possibility exists. Compare the information we have from other continents of that period. We know comparatively little about what happened in Africa or South America or China or Russia or even Europe. We see beautiful remains of temples and burial places, cult figures, utensils, and so forth, but there is not much actual “history” that can be reconstructed, at least not much when compared to that which is possible in the Middle East.
When we look at the material which has been discovered from the Nile to the Euphrates that derives from the 2500-year span before Christ, we are in a completely different situation from that in regard to South America or Asia. The kings of Egypt and Assyria built thousands of monuments commemorating their victories and recounting their different exploits. Whole libraries have been discovered from places like Nuzu and Mari and most recently at Elba, which give hundreds of thousands of texts relating to the historical details of their time. It is within this geographical area that the Bible is set. So it is possible to find material which bears upon what the Bible tells us.
The Bible purports to give us information on history. Is the history accurate? The more we understand about the Middle East between 2500 B.C. and A.D. 100, the more confident we can be that the information in the Bible is reliable, even when it speaks about the simple things of time and place.
(This material below is under footnote #94)
The site of the biblical city called Lachish is about thirty miles southwest of Jerusalem. This city is referred to on a number of occasions in the Old Testament. Imagine a busy city with high walls surrounding it, and a gate in front that is the only entrance to the city. We know so much about Lachish from archaeological studies that a reconstruction of the whole city has been made in detail. This can be seen at the British Museum in the Lachish Room in the Assyrian section.
There is also a picture made by artists in the eighth century before Christ, the Lachish Relief, which was discovered in the city of Nineveh in the ancient Assyria. In this picture we can see the Jewish inhabitants of Lachish surrendering to Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. The details in the picture and the Assyrian writing on it give the Assyrian side of what the Bible tells us in Second Kings:
13 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear.” So the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
We should notice two things about this. First, this is a real-life situation–a real siege of a real city with real people on both sides of the war–and it happened at a particular date in history, near the turn of the eighth century B.C. Second, the two accounts of this incident in 701 B.C. (the account from the Bible and the Assyrian account from Nineveh) do not contradict, but rather confirm each other. The history of Lachish itself is not so important for us, but some of its smaller historical details.
The Assyrian king Sennacherib sits on his luxurious chair on a low mound. There is a tent behind him. His commander-in-chief stands before him (in a very close proximity) and greets him after conquering the city of Lachish. Assyrian soldiers (the king’s bodyguards) wear their exquisite military uniform and carry their weapons. Prisoners from Lachish are being reviewed and presented to the king. One prostrates and another two kneel; they seem to ask for mercy. Most likely, they were later beheaded. The king obviously had been watching the battle and its victorious aftermath. Neo-Assyrian Period, 700-692 BCE. From Nineveh (modern-day Mosul Governorate, Iraq), panels 11-13, Room XXXVI of the southwest palace; the heartland of the Assyrian Empire.The British Museum, London. Photo © Osama S. M. Amin.
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 41 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Featured artist is Marina Abramović)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 40 Timothy Leary (Featured artist is Margaret Keane)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 39 Tom Wolfe (Featured artist is Richard Serra)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 38 Woody Allen and Albert Camus “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide” (Feature on artist Hamish Fulton Photographer )
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 37 Mahatma Gandhi and “Relieving the Tension in the East” (Feature on artist Luc Tuymans)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 36 Julian Huxley:”God does not in fact exist, but act as if He does!” (Feature on artist Barry McGee)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 35 Robert M. Pirsig (Feature on artist Kerry James Marshall)
November 27, 2014 – 4:43 am
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 34 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Feature on artist Shahzia Sikander)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 33 Aldous Huxley (Feature on artist Matthew Barney )
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 32 Steven Weinberg and Woody Allen and “The Meaningless of All Things” (Feature on photographer Martin Karplus )
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 31 David Hume and “How do we know we know?” (Feature on artist William Pope L. )
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 30 Rene Descartes and “How do we know we know?” (Feature on artist Olafur Eliasson)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 29 W.H. Thorpe and “The Search for an Adequate World-View: A Question of Method” (Feature on artist Jeff Koons)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 28 Woody Allen and “The Mannishness of Man” (Feature on artist Ryan Gander)
October 9, 2014 – 5:10 am
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 27 Jurgen Habermas (Featured artist is Hiroshi Sugimoto)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 26 Bettina Aptheker (Featured artist is Krzysztof Wodiczko)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 25 BOB DYLAN (Part C) Francis Schaeffer comments on Bob Dylan’s song “Ballad of a Thin Man” and the disconnect between the young generation of the 60’s and their parents’ generation (Feature on artist Fred Wilson)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 24 BOB DYLAN (Part B) Francis Schaeffer comments on Bob Dylan’s words from HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED!! (Feature on artist Susan Rothenberg)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 23 BOB DYLAN (Part A) (Feature on artist Josiah McElheny)Francis Schaeffer on the proper place of rebellion with comments by Bob Dylan and Samuel Rutherford
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 22 “The School of Athens by Raphael” (Feature on the artist Sally Mann)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 21 William B. Provine (Feature on artist Andrea Zittel)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 20 Woody Allen and Materialistic Humanism: The World-View of Our Era (Feature on artist Ida Applebroog)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 19 Movie Director Luis Bunuel (Feature on artist Oliver Herring)
May 1, 2014 – 11:53 am
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 18 “Michelangelo’s DAVID is the statement of what humanistic man saw himself as being tomorrow” (Feature on artist Paul McCarthy)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 17 Francis Schaeffer discusses quotes of Andy Warhol from “The Observer June 12, 1966″ Part C (Feature on artist David Hockney plus many pictures of Warhol with famous friends)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 16 Francis Schaeffer discusses quotes of Andy Warhol from “The Observer June 12, 1966″ Part B (Feature on artist James Rosenquist plus many pictures of Warhol with famous friends)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 15 Francis Schaeffer discusses quotes of Andy Warhol from “The Observer June 12, 1966″ Part A (Feature on artist Robert Indiana plus many pictures of Warhol with famous friends)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 14 David Friedrich Strauss (Feature on artist Roni Horn )
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 13 Jacob Bronowski and Materialistic Humanism: The World-View of Our Era (Feature on artist Ellen Gallagher )
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 12 H.J.Blackham and Materialistic Humanism: The World-View of Our Era (Feature on artist Arturo Herrera)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 11 Thomas Aquinas and his Effect on Art and HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE? Episode 2: THE MIDDLES AGES (Feature on artist Tony Oursler )
March 4, 2014 – 9:04 pm
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 10 David Douglas Duncan (Feature on artist Georges Rouault )
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 9 Jasper Johns (Feature on artist Cai Guo-Qiang )
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 8 “The Last Year at Marienbad” by Alain Resnais (Feature on artist Richard Tuttle and his return to the faith of his youth)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 7 Jean Paul Sartre (Feature on artist David Hooker )
February 4, 2014 – 2:00 pm
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 6 The Adoration of the Lamb by Jan Van Eyck which was saved by MONUMENT MEN IN WW2 (Feature on artist Makoto Fujimura)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 5 John Cage (Feature on artist Gerhard Richter)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 4 ( Schaeffer and H.R. Rookmaaker worked together well!!! (Feature on artist Mike Kelley Part B )
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 3 PAUL GAUGUIN’S 3 QUESTIONS: “Where do we come from? What art we? Where are we going? and his conclusion was a suicide attempt” (Feature on artist Mike Kelley Part A)
January 7, 2014 – 11:06 pm
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 2 “A look at how modern art was born by discussing Monet, Renoir, Pissaro, Sisley, Degas,Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat, and Picasso” (Feature on artist Peter Howson)
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 1 HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE? “The Roman Age” (Feature on artist Tracey Emin)
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Atheists Confronted, Francis Schaeffer | Also tagged .Alexander Vilenkin, A.C.Grayling, Aaron Ciechanover, Alan Dershowitz, Alan Dundes, Alan Guth, Alan Macfarlane, Alison Richard, Alva Noe, Arif Ahmed, Barry Supple, Bart Ehrman, Brian Cox, Brian Greene, Brian Harrison, Bruce Hood, C.J. van Rijsbergen, Caroline Humphrey, Carolyn Porco, Chris Hann, Christof Koch, Colin Blakemore, Colin McGinn, Colin Renfrew, Craig Venter, Dan McKenzie, Daniel Dennett, David Friend, David J. Gross, David Parkin, Douglas Osheroff, Elizabeth Loftus, Frank Drake, Frank Wilczek, Gareth Stedman Jones, George Lakoff, Gerard ‘t Hooft, Haroon Ahmed, Harry Kroto, Herbert Huppert, Herman Philipse, Hermann Hauser, Horace Barlow, Hubert Dreyfus, Ivar Giaever, J. L. Schellenberg, James D. Watson, Jared Diamond, Jim Al-Khalili, John Dunn, John Searle, John Sulston, Jonathan Haidt, Jonathan Parry, Ken Edwards, Lawrence Krauss, Lee Silver, Leonard Mlodinow, Leonard Susskind, Lewis Wolpert, Lisa Jardine, Lisa Randall, Lord Martin Rees, Louise Antony, Mahzarin Banaji, Marcus du Sautoy, Mark Balaguer, Mark Elvin, Martinus J. G. Veltman, Marvin Minsky, Masatoshi Koshiba, Max Perutz, Max Tegmark, Michael Bate, Michael Mann, Michael Tooley, Michio Kaku, Ned Block, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nicholas Humphrey, Noam Chomsky, Oliver Sacks, P.Z.Myers, Partha Dasgupta, Pascal Boyer, Patricia Churchland, Paul Churchland, Peter Higgs, Peter Millican, Peter Singer, Quentin Skinner, Raymond Tallis, Rebecca Goldstein, Riccardo Giacconi, Richard Ernst, Richard Feynman, Roald Hoffmann, Robert Coleman Richardson, Robert Foley, Robert Hinde, Robert M. Price, Rodolfo Llinas, Roger Penrose, Ronald de Sousa, Roy Glauber, Rudolph A. Marcus, Saul Perlmutter, Sean Carroll, Seth Lloyd, Shelly Kagan, Simon Blackburn, Simon Schaffer, Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley, Sir David Attenborough, Sir John Walker, Sir Patrick Bateson, Sir Raymond Firth, Stephan Feuchtwang, Stephen F Gudeman, Stephen Hawking, Stephen Jay Gould, Steve Jones, Steven Weinberg, Stuart Kauffman, Susan Greenfield, Theodor W. Hänsch, Victor Stenger, VS Ramachandran, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Yujin Nagasawa | Comments (0)
RESPONDING TO HARRY KROTO’S BRILLIANT RENOWNED ACADEMICS!! Part 146, David Sloan Wilson, Dept of Biological Sciences at Binghamton University, “Profound optimism has been replaced by profound pessimism about our capacity to make the world a better place through reason”
Arif Ahmed, Sir David Attenborough, Mark Balaguer, Horace Barlow, Michael Bate, Patricia Churchland, Aaron Ciechanover, Noam Chomsky,Alan Dershowitz, Hubert Dreyfus, Bart Ehrman, Stephan Feuchtwang, David Friend, Riccardo Giacconi, Ivar Giaever , Roy Glauber, Rebecca Goldstein, David J. Gross, Brian Greene, Susan Greenfield, Stephen F Gudeman, Alan Guth, Jonathan Haidt, Theodor W. Hänsch, Brian Harrison, Hermann Hauser, Roald Hoffmann, Bruce Hood, Herbert Huppert, Gareth Stedman Jones, Steve Jones, Shelly Kagan, Michio Kaku, Stuart Kauffman, Lawrence Krauss, Harry Kroto, George Lakoff, Elizabeth Loftus, Alan Macfarlane, Peter Millican, Marvin Minsky, Leonard Mlodinow, Yujin Nagasawa, Alva Noe, Douglas Osheroff, Jonathan Parry, Saul Perlmutter, Herman Philipse, Carolyn Porco, Robert M. Price, Lisa Randall, Lord Martin Rees, Oliver Sacks, John Searle, Marcus du Sautoy, Simon Schaffer, J. L. Schellenberg, Lee Silver, Peter Singer, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Ronald de Sousa, Victor Stenger, Barry Supple, Leonard Susskind, Raymond Tallis, Neil deGrasse Tyson, .Alexander Vilenkin, Sir John Walker, Frank Wilczek, Steven Weinberg, and Lewis Wolpert,
David Sloan Wilson
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Norwalk, Connecticut[1]
Evolutionary Biology, Anthropology
University of Rochester (B.A.)
Michigan State University(Ph.D.)
Jonathan Gottschall[2]
Evolution for Everyone
Jonathan Haidt[citation needed]
David Sloan Wilson (born 1949) is an American evolutionary biologist and a Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences and Anthropology at Binghamton University. He is a son of the author Sloan Wilson.
1Academic career
2Research
3Publications
4References
5External links
Academic career[edit]
Wilson graduated with a B.A. with high honors in 1971 from the University of Rochester. He then completed his Ph.D. in 1975 from Michigan State University. He then worked as a Research Fellow in the Biological Laboratories at Harvard University from 1974-1975. He then held a dual position as a Research Associate in Zoology at the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Washington from 1975 to 1976. After this he was a Senior Research Officer at the South African National Research Institute for the Mathematical Sciences from 1976 to 1977.
Wilson moved back to the United States and held an Assistant Professorship in the Division of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Davis, from 1977 to 1980. He then served as an Assistant and then Associate Professor at the Kellogg Biological Station and Department of Zoology of Michigan State University from 1980 to 1988. Wilson was then promoted to full Professor of Biological Sciences at the State University of New York, Binghamton, in 1988. He was then given a joint appointment as Professor of Anthropology in 2001.
Wilson started the Evolutionary Studies (EvoS) program at Binghamton University to provide a program that unifies diverse disciplines under the theory of evolution. Students in the program take evolution-themed courses in a variety of disciplines including biology, anthropology, psychology, bioengineering, philosophy, religion and the psychology of religion. There is also a required course called “Current Topics in Evolutionary Studies”, where students attend weekly seminars with a discussion followed afterward. SUNY New Paltz has started a similar program.
Research[edit]
Wilson is a prominent proponent of the concept of group selection (also known as multi-level selection) in evolution. He and Elliott Sober proposed a framework called multilevel selection theory, which incorporates the more orthodox approach of gene-level selection and individual selection, in their book Unto Others. This framework argues that while genes serve as the means by which organisms’ designs are transmitted across generations, individuals and groups are vehicles for those genes and both are arenas for genes to act on. Indeed, genes themselves can be affected by selection, not just because of their effects on the design of their vehicle (the organism) but also because of their effect on the functioning of the DNA on which they reside. Hence the notion of multilevel selection. Wilson has also coined the concept of a trait-group, a group of organisms linked not permanently as a group but having a shared fate due to interactions that they have.
Unto Others (1998) co-edited with Elliott Sober. (Proposition of a framework called multilevel selection theory, which incorporates the more orthodox approach of gene-level selection and individual selection).
Darwin’s Cathedral (2002) (Religion as a multi-level adaptation).
Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology (2006) co-edited with E. O. Wilson
Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives (2007)
The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time (2011)
Pathological Altruism (2011) co-edited with Barbara Oakley, Ariel Knafo, and Guruprasad Madhavan.
Does Altruism Exist?: Culture, Genes, and the Welfare of Others (2015)
The Literary Animal: Evolution and the Nature of Narrative (2005) co-edited with Jonathan Gottschall
Wilson’s book Darwin’s Cathedral proposes that religion is a multi-level adaptation, a product of cultural evolution developed through a process of multi-level selection for more cooperative and cohesive groups. His book Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives attempts to give an introduction to evolution for a broad audience, detailing the various ways in which evolution can be applied to everyday affairs. There is also a class at Binghamton University that is called “Evolution for Everyone”, and students are required to read the book as part of the class.
Wilson’s latest book for a general audience is The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time, published in August 2011. Wilson also co-edited Pathological Altruism published by Oxford University Press in November 2011 with Barbara Oakley, Ariel Knafo, and Guruprasad Madhavan.
Wilson and his co-author E. O. Wilson have become well known[citation needed] for the quote, “Selfishness beats altruism within groups. Altruistic groups beat selfish groups. Everything else is commentary”. This quotation appeared in their paper, “Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology”.
Wilson is a blogger for the ScienceBlogs,[3] where he extensively discusses and defends both the theory of evolution and his multilevel selection model.
In the second video below in the 85th clip in this series are his words and my response is below them.
Below is the letter I wrote to respond to his quote:
Dr. David Sloan Wilson, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Departments of Biology and Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, 4400 Vestal Parkway East, Binghamton, NY 13902,
Dear Dr. Wilson,
I just finished reading the online addition of the book Darwin, Francis ed. 1892. Charles Darwin: his life told in an autobiographical chapter, and in a selected series of his published letters [abridged edition]. London: John Murray. There are several points that Charles Darwin makes in this book that were very wise, honest, logical, shocking and some that were not so wise. The Christian Philosopher Francis Schaeffer once said of Darwin’s writings, “Darwin in his autobiography and in his letters showed that all through his life he never really came to a quietness concerning the possibility that chance really explained the situation of the biological world. You will find there is much material on this [from Darwin] extended over many many years that constantly he was wrestling with this problem.”
david sloan wilson QUOTE
Those who believed in reason and science in the 19th century were deists and not atheists. That we were going to use reason to discover about the creator. Deists were marked with a profound optimism that science and reason could improve the human condition. That was true of the 19th century but not now. What happened was deism morphed into atheism and atheism treats God as an unnecessary hypothesis. Profound optimism has been replaced by profound pessimism about our capacity to make the world a better place through reason. If you are going to use science and reason now you are going to be an atheist and not a deist.
You noted, “Profound optimism has been replaced by profound pessimism about our capacity to make the world a better place through reason.” Evidently you are saying that EVOLUTIONARY OPTIMISTIC HUMANISM like the variety that was talked about in the 19th century has been given up for pessimism. Charles Darwin in his autobiography was touting the same idea that you are addressing.
When I read the book Charles Darwin: his life told in an autobiographical chapter, and in a selected series of his published letters, I also read a commentary on it by Francis Schaeffer and I wanted to both quote some of Charles Darwin’s own words to you and then include the comments of Francis Schaeffer on those words. I have also enclosed a CD with two messages from Adrian Rogers and Bill Elliff concerning Darwinism.
The passages which here follow are extracts, somewhat abbreviated, from a part of CHARLES DARWIN’S Autobiography, written in 1876, in which my father gives the history of his religious views:—
“Believing as I do that man in the distant future will be a far more perfect creature than he now is,”
FRANCIS SCHAEFFER COMMENTED:
Now you have now the birth of Julian Huxley’s evolutionary optimistic humanism already stated by Darwin. Darwin now has a theory that man is going to be better. If you had lived at 1860 or 1890 and you said to Darwin, “By 1970 will man be better?” He certainly would have the hope that man would be better as Julian Huxley does today. Of course, I wonder what he would say if he lived in our day and saw what has been made of his own views in the direction of (the mass murder) Richard Speck (and deterministic thinking of today’s philosophers). I wonder what he would say. So you have the factor, already the dilemma in Darwin that I pointed out in Julian Huxley and that is evolutionary optimistic humanism rests always on tomorrow. You never have an argument from the present or the past for evolutionary optimistic humanism.
You can have evolutionary nihilism on the basis of the present and the past. Every time you have someone bringing in evolutionary optimistic humanism it is always based on what is going to be produced tomorrow. When is it coming? The years pass and is it coming? Arthur Koestler doesn’t think it is coming. He sees lots of problems here and puts forth for another solution.
In Darwin’s 1876 Autobiography he noted:
“…it is an intolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings are doomed to complete annihilation after such long-continued slow progress. To those who fully admit the immortality of the human soul, the destruction of our world will not appear so dreadful.”
Here you feel Marcel Proust and the dust of death is on everything today because the dust of death is on everything tomorrow. Here you have the dilemma of Nevil Shute’s ON THE BEACH. If it is true that all we have left is biological continuity and increased biological complexity, which is all we have left in Darwinism here, or with many of the modern philosophers, then you can’t stand Shute’s ON THE BEACH. Maybe tomorrow at noon human life may be wiped out. Darwin already feels the tension, because if human life is going to be wiped out tomorrow, what is it worth today? Darwin can’t stand the thought of death of all men. Charlie Chaplin when he heard there was no life on Mars said, “I’m lonely.”
You think of the Swedish Opera (ANIARA) that is pictured inside a spaceship. There was a group of men and women going into outer space and they had come to another planet and the singing inside the spaceship was normal opera music. Suddenly there was a big explosion and the world had blown up and these were the last people left, the only conscious people left, and the last scene is the spaceship is off course and it will never land, but will just sail out into outer space and that is the end of the plot. They say when it was shown in Stockholm the first time, the tough Swedes with all their modern mannishness, came out (after the opera was over) with hardly a word said, just complete silence.
Darwin already with his own position says he CAN’T STAND IT!! You can say, “Why can’t you stand it?” We would say to Darwin, “You were not made for this kind of thing. Man was made in the image of God. Your CAN’T- STAND- IT- NESS is screaming at you that your position is wrong. Why can’t you listen to yourself?”
You find all he is left here is biological continuity, and thus his feeling as well as his reason now is against his own theory, yet he holds it against the conclusions of his reason. Reason doesn’t make it hard to be a Christian. Darwin shows us the other way. He is holding his position against his reason.
These words of Darwin ring in my ear, “…it is an intolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings are doomed to complete annihilation after such long-continued slow progress…” . Schaeffer rightly noted, “Maybe tomorrow at noon human life may be wiped out. Darwin already feels the tension, because if human life is going to be wiped out tomorrow, what is it worth today? Darwin can’t stand the thought of death of all men.” IN OTHER WORDS ALL WE ARE IS DUST IN THE WIND. I sent you a CD that starts off with the song DUST IN THE WIND by Kerry Livgren of the group KANSAS which was a hit song in 1978 when it rose to #6 on the charts because so many people connected with the message of the song. It included these words, “All we do, crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see, Dust in the Wind, All we are is dust in the wind, Don’t hang on, Nothing lasts forever but the Earth and Sky, It slips away, And all your money won’t another minute buy.”
Kerry Livgren himself said that he wrote the song because he saw where man was without a personal God in the picture. Solomon pointed out in the Book of Ecclesiastes that those who believe that God doesn’t exist must accept three things. FIRST, death is the end and SECOND, chance and time are the only guiding forces in this life. FINALLY, power reigns in this life and the scales are never balanced. The Christian can face death and also confront the world knowing that it is not determined by chance and time alone and finally there is a judge who will balance the scales.
Both Kerry Livgren and the bass player Dave Hope of Kansas became Christians eventually. Kerry Livgren first tried Eastern Religions and Dave Hope had to come out of a heavy drug addiction. I was shocked and elated to see their personal testimony on The 700 Club in 1981 and that same interview can be seen on You Tube today. Livgren lives in Topeka, Kansas today where he teaches “Diggers,” a Sunday school class at Topeka Bible Church. DAVE HOPE is the head of Worship, Evangelism and Outreach at Immanuel Anglican Church in Destin, Florida.
Thank you again for your time and I know how busy you are.
Everette Hatcher, everettehatcher@gmail.com, http://www.thedailyhatch.org, cell ph 501-920-5733, Box 23416, LittleRock, AR 72221, United States
You can hear DAVE HOPE and Kerry Livgren’s stories from this youtube link:
(part 1 ten minutes)
Kansas – Dust in the Wind (Official Video)
Uploaded on Nov 7, 2009
Pre-Order Miracles Out of Nowhere now at http://www.miraclesoutofnowhere.com
In 1973, six guys in a local band from America’s heartland began a journey that surpassed even their own wildest expectations, by achieving worldwide superstardom… watch the story unfold as the incredible story of the band KANSAS is told for the first time in the DVD Miracles Out of Nowhere.
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged .Alexander Vilenkin, A.C.Grayling, Aaron Ciechanover, Alan Dershowitz, Alan Dundes, Alan Guth, Alan Macfarlane, Alison Richard, Alva Noe, Arif Ahmed, Barry Supple, Bart Ehrman, Brian Cox, Brian Greene, Brian Harrison, Bruce Hood, C.J. van Rijsbergen, Caroline Humphrey, Carolyn Porco, Chris Hann, Christof Koch, Colin Blakemore, Colin McGinn, Colin Renfrew, Craig Venter, Dan McKenzie, Daniel Dennett, David Friend, David J. Gross, David Parkin, Douglas Osheroff, Elizabeth Loftus, Frank Drake, Frank Wilczek, Gareth Stedman Jones, George Lakoff, Gerard ‘t Hooft, Haroon Ahmed, Harry Kroto, Herbert Huppert, Herman Philipse, Hermann Hauser, Horace Barlow, Hubert Dreyfus, Ivar Giaever, J. L. Schellenberg, James D. Watson, Jared Diamond, Jim Al-Khalili, John Dunn, John Searle, John Sulston, Jonathan Haidt, Jonathan Parry, Ken Edwards, Lawrence Krauss, Lee Silver, Leonard Mlodinow, Leonard Susskind, Lewis Wolpert, Lisa Jardine, Lisa Randall, Lord Martin Rees, Louise Antony, Mahzarin Banaji, Marcus du Sautoy, Mark Balaguer, Mark Elvin, Martinus J. G. Veltman, Marvin Minsky, Masatoshi Koshiba, Max Perutz, Max Tegmark, Michael Bate, Michael Mann, Michael Tooley, Michio Kaku, Ned Block, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nicholas Humphrey, Noam Chomsky, Oliver Sacks, P.Z.Myers, Partha Dasgupta, Pascal Boyer, Patricia Churchland, Paul Churchland, Peter Higgs, Peter Millican, Peter Singer, Quentin Skinner, Raymond Tallis, Rebecca Goldstein, Riccardo Giacconi, Richard Ernst, Richard Feynman, Roald Hoffmann, Robert Coleman Richardson, Robert Foley, Robert Hinde, Robert M. Price, Rodolfo Llinas, Roger Penrose, Ronald de Sousa, Roy Glauber, Rudolph A. Marcus, Saul Perlmutter, Sean Carroll, Seth Lloyd, Shelly Kagan, Simon Blackburn, Simon Schaffer, Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley, Sir David Attenborough, Sir John Walker, Sir Patrick Bateson, Sir Raymond Firth, Stephan Feuchtwang, Stephen F Gudeman, Stephen Hawking, Stephen Jay Gould, Steve Jones, Steven Weinberg, Stuart Kauffman, Susan Greenfield, Theodor W. Hänsch, Victor Stenger, VS Ramachandran, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Yujin Nagasawa | Comments (0)
RESPONDING TO HARRY KROTO’S BRILLIANT RENOWNED ACADEMICS!! Massimo Pigliucci, Philosophy, CUNY-City College, “[Reason] is opposed of course to FAITH”
September 2, 2017 – 11:24 am
RESPONDING TO HARRY KROTO’S BRILLIANT RENOWNED ACADEMICS!! Part 145, Dan Brown, Dept of Chemistry, Kings College, Cambridge, Are you a chapel goer now? “I am entirely atheistic and have always have been!”
Interview of Dan Brown, 2008
Uploaded on Jan 6, 2009
An interview with the chemist and important researcher on RNA, Dan Brown, in January 2008 by Alan Macfarlane. For a higher quality, downloadable, version with a detailed summary, please see http://www.alanmacfarlane.com
All revenues to World Oral Literature Project
Dr Daniel Brown FRS (1923-2012)
It is with great regret that we announce the death of Dr Daniel Brown FRS. He died yesterday (Tuesday 24 April), aged 89.
Dan was born in Giffnock, Renfrewshire in 1923 and studied for his PhD at Cambridge. He was elected a Fellow of King’s in 1953 and remained here until his death.
He was a University Lecturer in Chemistry 1957-1975, and Vice-Provost of the college 1974-1981.
Dan was an eminent chemist, who was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society in 1982.
Dan Brown interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 10th January 2008
Quote from Dan Brown
Are you a chapel goer now? I am entirely atheistic and have always have been!
As a man of science Dan Brown needed evidence. I wish he had a chance in the past to examine this evidence below.
I grew up at Bellevue Baptist Church under the leadership of our pastor Adrian Rogers and I read many books by the Evangelical Philosopher Francis Schaeffer and have had the opportunity to contact many of the evolutionists or humanistic academics that they have mentioned in their works. Many of these scholars have taken the time to respond back to me in the last 20 years and some of the names included are Ernest Mayr (1904-2005), George Wald (1906-1997), Carl Sagan (1934-1996), Robert Shapiro (1935-2011), Nicolaas Bloembergen (1920-), Brian Charlesworth (1945-), Francisco J. Ayala (1934-) Elliott Sober (1948-), Kevin Padian (1951-), Matt Cartmill (1943-) , Milton Fingerman (1928-), John J. Shea (1969-), , Michael A. Crawford (1938-), Paul Kurtz (1925-2012), Sol Gordon (1923-2008), Albert Ellis (1913-2007), Barbara Marie Tabler (1915-1996), Renate Vambery (1916-2005), Archie J. Bahm (1907-1996), Aron S “Gil” Martin ( 1910-1997), Matthew I. Spetter (1921-2012), H. J. Eysenck (1916-1997), Robert L. Erdmann (1929-2006), Mary Morain (1911-1999), Lloyd Morain (1917-2010), Warren Allen Smith (1921-), Bette Chambers (1930-), Gordon Stein (1941-1996) , Milton Friedman (1912-2006), John Hospers (1918-2011), Michael Martin (1932-).Harry Kroto (1939-), Marty E. Martin (1928-), Richard Rubenstein (1924-), James Terry McCollum (1936-), Edward O. WIlson (1929-), Lewis Wolpert (1929), Gerald Holton (1922-), and Ray T. Cragun (1976-).
Does it seem logical that God inspired men to write the Books in the Bible and that those books would be correct in what they say? Why not consider the evidence?
The Bible and Archaeology – Is the Bible from God? (Kyle Butt)
by Kyle Butt, M.A.
A man wearing a leather vest and a broad-rimmed hat wraps a ripped piece of cloth around an old bone, sets it on fire, and uses it as a torch to see his way through ancient tunnels filled with bones, rats, bugs, and buried treasure. Close behind him lurks the dastardly villain, ready to pounce on the treasure after the hero has done all the planning and dangerous work. We have seen this scenario, or others similar to it, time and again in movies like Indiana Jones or The Mummy. And although we understand that Hollywood exaggerates and dramatizes the situation, it still remains a fact that finding ancient artifacts excites both young and old alike. Finding things left by people of the past is exciting because a little window of their lives is opened to us. When we find an arrowhead, we are reminded that Indians used bows and arrows to hunt and fight. Discovering a piece of pottery tells us something about the lives of ancient cultures. Every tiny artifact gives the modern person a more complete view of life in the past.
Because of the intrinsic value of archaeology, many have turned to it in order to try to answer certain questions about the past. One of the questions most often asked is, “Did the things recorded in the Bible really happen?” Truth be told, archaeology cannot always answer that question. Nothing material remains from Elijah’s ascension into heaven, and no physical artifacts exist to show that Christ actually walked on water. Therefore, if we ask archaeology to “prove” that the entire Bible is true or false, we are faced with the fact that archaeology can neither prove nor disprove the Bible’s validity. However, even though it cannot conclusively prove the Bible’s veracity in every instance, archaeology can provide important pieces of the past that consistently verify the Bible’s historical and factual accuracy. This month’s Reason and Revelation article is designed to bring to light a small fraction of the significant archaeological finds that have been instrumental in corroborating the biblical text of the Old Testament.
HEZEKIAH AND SENNACHERIB
When Hezekiah assumed the throne of Judah, he did so under extremely distressing conditions. His father Ahaz had turned to the gods of Damascus, cut into pieces the articles within the house of Jehovah, and shut the doors of the temple of the Lord. In addition, he created high places “in every single city” where he sacrificed, and offered incense to other gods (2 Chronicles 28:22-27). The people of Judah followed Ahaz, and as a result, the Bible records that “the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the Lord” (2 Chronicles 28:19).
Upon this troubled throne, King Hezekiah began to rule at the youthful age of just twenty-five. He reigned for twenty-nine years, and the inspired text declares that he “did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done” (2 Chronicles 29:2). Among other reforms, Hezekiah reopened the temple, reestablished the observance of the Passover, and appointed the priests to receive tithes and administer their proper duties in the temple. After completing these reforms, Scripture states that “Sennacherib, king of Assyria entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself ” (2 Chronicles 32:1).
It is here that we turn to the secular record of history to discover that the powerful nation Assyria, under the reign of King Sargon II, had subdued many regions in and around Palestine. Upon Sargon’s death, revolt broke out within the Assyrian empire. Sennacherib, the new Assyrian king, was determined to maintain a firm grasp on his vassal states, which meant that he would be forced to invade the cities of Judah if Hezekiah continued to defy Assyria’s might (Hoerth, 1998, pp. 341-352). Knowing that Sennacherib would not sit by idly and watch his empire crumble, King Hezekiah began to make preparations for the upcoming invasion. One of the preparations he made was to stop the water from the springs that ran outside of Jerusalem, and to redirect the water into the city by way of a tunnel. Second Kings 20:20 records the construction of the tunnel with these words: “Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah—all his might, and how he made a pool and a tunnel and brought water into the city—are they not written in the book of chronicles of the kings of Judah?”
Inside view of Hezekiah’s tunnel, displaying the thick limestone through which workers had to dig. Credit: Todd Bolen (www.BiblePlaces.com).
The biblical text from 2 Chronicles 32:30 further substantiates the tunnel construction with this comment: “This same Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon, and brought the water by tunnel to the west side of the City of David.” The tunnel—known today as “Hezekiah’s tunnel”—stands as one of the paramount archaeological attestations to the biblical text. Carved through solid limestone, the tunnel meanders in an S-shape under the city of Jerusalem for a length of approximately 1,800 feet. In 1880, two boys swimming at the site discovered an inscription (about 20 feet from the exit) that provided exacting details regarding how the tunnel had been constructed:
…And this was the account of the breakthrough. While the laborers were still working with their picks, each toward the other, and while there were still three cubits to be broken through, the voice of each was heard calling to the other, because there was a crack (or split or overlap) in the rock from the south to the north. And at the moment of the breakthrough, the laborers struck each toward the other, pick against pick. Then water flowed from the spring to the pool for 1,200 cubits. And the height of the rock above the heads of the laborers was 100 cubits (Price, 1997, p. 267).
Of the inscription, John Laughlin wrote that it is “one of the most important, as well as famous, inscriptions ever found in Judah” (2000, p. 145). Incidentally, since the length of the tunnel was about 1,800 feet, and the inscription marked the tunnel at “1,200 cubits,” archaeologists have a good indication that the cubit was about one-and-a-half feet at the time of Hezekiah (Free and Vos, 1992, p. 182). Dug in order to keep a steady supply of water pumping into Jerusalem during Sennacherib’s anticipated siege, Hezekiah’s tunnel stands as a strong witness to the accuracy of the biblical historical record of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.
The Siloam inscription commemorates the excavation of Hezekiah’s Tunnel. Archaeological Museum, Istanbul, Turkey. Credit: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
In addition to Hezekiah’s tunnel, other amazingly detailed archaeological evidence provides an outstanding record of some of the events as they unfolded between Hezekiah and Sennacherib. Much of the information we have comes from the well-known Taylor Prism. This fascinating, six-sided clay artifact stands about 15 inches tall, and was found in Nineveh in 1830 by British colonel R. Taylor. Thus, it is known as the “Taylor Prism” (Price, pp. 272-273). The prism contains six columns covered by over 500 lines of writing, and was purchased in the winter of 1919-1920 by J.H. Breasted for the Oriental Institute in Chicago (Hanson, 2002).
Part of the text on the Taylor Prism has Sennacherib’s account of what happened in his military tour of Judah.
As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities, walled forts and to the countless small villages in their vicinity, and conquered (them) by means of well-stamped (earth)ramps, and battering-rams brought (thus) near (to the walls) (combined with) the attack by foot soldiers, (using) mines, breeches as well as sapper work. I drove out (of them) 200,150 people, young and old, male and female, horses, mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle beyond counting, and considered (them) booty. Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage. I surrounded him with earthwork in order to molest those who were leaving his city’s gate (Pritchard, 1958a, p. 200).
At least two facts of monumental significance reside in Sennacherib’s statement. First, Sennacherib’s attack on the outlying cities of Judah finds a direct parallel in 2 Chronicles 32:1: “Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities….” The most noteworthy fortified city that the Assyrian despot besieged and captured was the city of Lachish. Second, Sennacherib never mentions that he captured Jerusalem.
Lachish Under Siege
Assyrians attack the Jewish fortified town of Lachish. Part of a relief from the palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh. British Museum, London. Credit: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
When we turn to the biblical account of Sennacherib’s Palestinian invasion in 2 Kings 18, we learn that he had advanced against “all the fortified cities of Judah” (vs. 14). At one of those cities, Lachish, King Hezekiah sent tribute money in an attempt to assuage the Assyrian’s wrath. The text states: “Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, ‘I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay’ ” (vs. 14). Of Lachish, Sennacherib demanded 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold, which Hezekiah promptly paid. Not satisfied, however, the Assyrian ruler “sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah” (vs. 17) in an attempt to frighten the denizens of Jerusalem into surrender. The effort failed, “so the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish” (19:8). From the biblical record, then, we discover very scant information about the battle at Lachish—only that Sennacherib was there, laid siege to the city (2 Chronicles 32:9), and moved on to Libnah upon the completion of his siege.
From Sennacherib’s historical files, however, we get a much more complete account of the events surrounding Lachish. The Assyrian monarch considered his victory at Lachish of such import that he dedicated an entire wall (nearly seventy linear feet) of his palace in Nineveh to carved reliefs depicting the event (Hoerth, p. 350). In the mid-1840s, renowned English archaeologist Henry Layard began extensive excavations in the ruins of ancient Nineveh. He published his initial finds in an 1849 best-selling volume titled Nineveh and Its Remains, and in three subsequent volumes: The Monuments of Nineveh (1849), Inscriptions in the Cuneiform Characters (1851), and Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh (1853) [see Moorey, 1991, pp. 7-12 for more about Layard’s work]. Since Layard’s early discoveries, archaeologists have located and identified thousands of artifacts from at least three different palaces. The remains of ancient Nineveh are located in two mounds on opposite banks of the Hawsar River. One of the mounds, known as Kouyunjik Tepe, contained the remains of the palaces of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal. The other mound, Nebi Younis, held the relics of the palace of Sennacherib. These palaces were built on raised platforms about 75 feet high (Negev and Gibson, 2001, p. 369).
One of the most outstanding artifacts found among the ruins of Nineveh was the wall relief depicting Sennacherib’s defeat of the city of Lachish. Ephraim Stern offered an excellent description of the events pictured in the relief:
The main scene shows the attack on the gate wall of Lachish. The protruding city gate is presented in minute detail, with its crenellations and its special reinforcement by a superstructure of warriors’ shields. The battering rams were moved over specially constructed ramps covered with wooden logs. They were “prefabricated,” four-wheeled, turreted machines. The scene vividly shows frenzied fighting of both attacker and defender in the final stage of battle (2001, 2:5).
Assyrian warriors shown impaling Jewish prisoners. Part of a relief from the palace of Sennacherib. British Museum, London. Credit: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
Stern also discussed the flaming firebrands that the defenders of Lachish launched at their attackers, the long-handled, ladle-like instruments used to dowse the front of the battering rams when they were set on fire, slingmen, archers, and assault troops with spears. One of the most striking features of the relief is the depiction of the tortures inflicted on the inhabitants of the Lachish. Several prisoners are pictured impaled on poles, while women and children from the city are led past the victims (Stern, 2:5-6). The epigraph that accompanied the relief read: “Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria, sat upon a nimedu– throne and passed in review the booty (taken) from Lachish (La-ki-su)” [Pritchard, 1958a, p. 201, parenthetical item in orig.].
Of further interest is the fact that archaeological digs at the city of Lachish bear out the details of Sennacherib’s wall relief. Extensive archaeological digs at Lachish from 1935 to 1938 by the British, and again from 1973 to 1987 under Israeli archaeologist David Ussishkin and others, have revealed a treasure trove of artifacts, each of which fits the events depicted by Sennacherib. Concerning the Assyrian siege of Lachish, William Dever noted:
The evidence of it is all there: the enormous sloping siege ramp thrown up against the city walls south of the gate; the double line of defense walls, upslope and downslope; the iron-shod Assyrian battering rams that breached the city wall at its highest point; the massive destruction within the fallen city…. Virtually all the details of the Assyrian reliefs have been confirmed by archaeology…. Also brought to light by the excavators were the double city walls; the complex siege ramp, embedded with hundreds of iron arrowheads and stone ballistae; the counter-ramp inside the city; the destroyed gate, covered by up to 6 ft. of destruction debris; huge boulders from the city wall, burned almost to lime and fallen far down the slope… (2001, pp. 168-169).
The Assyrian monarch’s siege of Lachish is documented by the biblical text, and the destruction of the city is corroborated by the massive carving dedicated to the event in Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh, as well as the actual artifacts found in stratum III at Lachish.
Jerusalem Stands Strong
Of special interest in Sennacherib’s description of his Palestinian conquest is the fact that he never mentioned seizing the city of Jerusalem. On the Taylor Prism, we find the writings about his conquest of 46 outlying cities, in addition to “walled forts” and “countless small villages.” In fact, we even read that Hezekiah was shut up in Jerusalem as a prisoner “like a bird in a cage.” It also is recorded that Hezekiah sent more tribute to Sennacherib at the end of the campaign (Pritchard, 1958a, pp. 200-201). What is not recorded, however, is any list of booty that was taken from the capital city of Judah. Nor is an inventory of prisoners given in the text of the Taylor Prism. Indeed, one would think that if the city of Lachish deserved so much attention from the Assyrian dictator, then the capital city of Judah would deserve even more.
What we find, however, is complete silence as to the capture of the city. What happened to the vast, conquering army to cause it to buckle at the very point of total victory? Hershel Shanks, author of Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography, wrote: “…although we don’t know for sure what broke the siege, we do know that the Israelites managed to hold out” (1995, p. 84).
The biblical text, however, offers the answer to this historical enigma. Due to Hezekiah’s faithfulness to the Lord, Jehovah offered His divine assistance to the Judean King. In the book of Isaiah, the prophet was sent to Hezekiah with a message of hope. Isaiah informed Hezekiah that God would stop Sennacherib from entering the city, because Hezekiah prayed to the Lord for assistance. In Isaiah 37:36, the text states: “Then the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.” Sennacherib could not boast of his victory over the city of Jerusalem—because there was no victory! The Lord had delivered the city out of his hand. In addition, as Dever observed: “Finally, Assyrian records note that Sennacherib did die subsequently at the hands of assassins, his own sons…” (2001, p. 171). Luckenbill records the actual inscription from Esarhaddon’s chronicles that describe the event:
In the month Nisanu, on a favorable day, complying with their exalted command, I made my joyful entrance into the royal palace, an awesome place, wherein abides the fate of kings. A firm determination fell upon my brothers. They forsook the gods and turned to their deeds of violence plotting evil. …To gain the kingship they slew Sennacherib, their father (Luckenbill, 1989, 2:200-201).
These events and artifacts surrounding Hezekiah, Sennacherib, Lachish, and Jerusalem give us an amazing glimpse into the tumultuous relationship between Judah and her neighbors. These facts also provide an excellent example of how archaeology substantiates the biblical account.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BULLAE
The ancient Israelites used several different media to record their information. Among the most popular were scrolls of papyrus and leather. When a scribe had completed writing his information on a scroll, he often would roll the papyrus or leather into a cylinder shape and tie it securely with a string. In order to seal the string even more securely, and to denote the author or sender of the scroll, a bead of soft clay (or soft wax or soft metal) was placed over the string of the scroll. With some type of stamping device, the clay was pressed firmly to the scroll, leaving an inscription in the clay (King and Stager, 2001, p. 307). These clay seals are known as bullae (the plural form of the word bulla). Over the many years of archaeological excavations, hundreds of these bullae have been discovered. TheArchaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land provides an extensive list of bullae that have been unearthed: 50 in Samaria during the 1930s; 17 at Lachish in 1966; 51 in Jerusalem in digs conducted by Yigal Shiloh; 128 in 1962 found in the Wadi ed-Daliyeh Cave and a large cache of 2,000 bullae found in 1998 at Tel Kadesh (Negev and Gibson, 2001, pp. 93-94).
On the left, a bulla with Hebrew writing in a slightly oval impression. On the right, a stamp seal with the name of the owner or scribe. Credit: The Schøyen Collection MS 1912 and MS 5160/1.
Most of the bullae that have been discovered are small, oval, clay stamps that contain the name of the person responsible for the document that was sealed (and occasionally the father of that person), the title or office of the sealer, and/or a picture of an animal or some other artistic rendering. One of the most interesting things about the bullae that have been discovered is the fact that certain names found among the clay seals correspond with biblical references. For instance, from 1978 to 1985, Yigal Shiloh did extensive digging in the city of Jerusalem. In 1982, in a building in Area G of Jerusalem, he discovered a cache of 51 bullae. Because of these clay inscriptions, the building is known in archaeological circles as the “House of Bullae.” This building was burned during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.Unfortunately, the intense heat of the fires burned all the leather and papyrus scrolls. Yet, even though it destroyed the scrolls, the same fire baked the clay bullae hard and preserved them for posterity (King and Stager, p. 307).
One interesting bulla, and probably the most famous, is connected to the scribe of Jeremiah—Baruch. Hershel Shanks, the editor of Biblical Archaeology Review, gave a detailed account of a landmark cache of over 250 bullae. In October 1975, the first four bullae were purchased by an antiquities dealer in east Jerusalem. The dealer took these bullae to Nahman Avigad, a leading Israeli expert on ancient seals at Hebrew University. More and more bullae came across Avigad’s desk that fit with the others. On more than one occasion, a fragment from one collection would fit with a corresponding fragment from another dealer’s collection. Ultimately, Yoav Sasson, a Jerusalem collector, came to acquire about 200 of the bullae, and Reuben Hecht obtained 49 pieces (Shanks, 1987, pp. 58-65).
The names on two of these bullae have captivated the archaeological world for several decades now. On one of the bulla, the name “Berekhyahu son of Neriyahu the scribe,” is clearly impressed. Shanks wrote concerning this inscription: “The common suffix –yahu in ancient Hebrew names, especially in Judah, is a form of Yahweh. Baruch means “the blessed.” Berekhyahu means “blessed of Yahweh.” An equivalent form to –yahu is –yah, traditionally rendered as “-iah” in our English translations. Neriah is actually Neri-yah or Neriyahu. Eighty of the 132 names represented in the hoard (many names appear more than once on the 250 bullae) include the theophoric element –yahu (1987, p. 61). Shanks (along with the general consensus of archaeological scholars) concluded that the bulla belonged to Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 36:4, the text reads: “Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah….” The name on the bulla corresponds well with the name in Jeremiah. Concerning the bulla, Hoerth wrote: “This lump of clay…used to close a papyrus document, was sealed by none other than ‘Baruch son of Neriah’ (Jer. 36:4). Baruch’s name here carries a suffix abbreviation for God, indicating that his full name meant ‘blessed of God’ ” (1998, p. 364).
To multiply the evidence that this inscription was indeed the Baruch of Jeremiah fame, another of the inscriptions from a bulla in the cache documented the title “Yerahme’el, son of the king.” This name corresponds to King Jehoiakim’s son “who was sent on the unsuccessful mission to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah” (Shanks, 1987, p. 61). Indeed, the biblical text so states: “And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son…to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them” (Jeremiah 36:26). In commenting on the bulla, Amihai Mazar, who is among the most noted of archaeologists, stated in regard to Jerahmeel the king’s son: “We presume [he] was Jehoiakim’s son sent to arrest Jeremiah (Jeremiah 36:26)” [1992, pp. 519-520]. [As a side note, the Hebrew letter yod is represented by Y and J, which often are used interchangeably in the English transliteration of Hebrew names—a fact that can be seen easily in the Hebrew name for God, which is written variously as Yahweh or Jehovah.] Another bulla in the hoard contained the title “Elishama, servant of the king.” And in Jeremiah 36:12, the text mentioned a certain “Elishama the scribe.” While professor Avigad thinks it would be a dubious connection, since he believes the biblical text would not drop the title “servant of the king” (because of its prestige), Shanks commented: “I would not reject the identification so easily” (1987, p. 62).
One of the names inscribed on a bulla was the Hebrew name “Gemaryahu [Gemariah] the son of Shaphan.” Price noted: “This name, which appears a few times in the book of Jeremiah, was the name of the scribe who served in the court of King Jehoiakim” (1998, p. 235). Jeremiah 36:10 records that Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch, read from the words of the prophet “in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe….” It also is interesting to note that Gemariah was a scribe, which would have put him in precisely the position to produce bullae. Also among the collection from the “House of Bullae” was a bulla that was sealed with the name “Azaryahu son of Hilqiyahu”—a name that easily corresponds with Azariah son of Hilkiah found in 1 Chronicles 9:10-11 (Laughlin, 2000, p. 153).
We have then, among this phenomenal cache of bullae (which dates to the time of the events in the book of Jeremiah), two names and titles that correspond almost identically to Baruch, the son of Neriah, plus Jerahmeel, the son of Jehoiakim, and a third, Elishama, whose name appears in Jeremiah 36. What, then, does this prove? While it is the case that several men in ancient Israel could be named Baruch or Jerahmeel, it becomes almost absurd to suggest that these bullae just happen “coincidentally” to correspond so well to the biblical text. Such evidence points overwhelming to the accuracy of the biblical text and its historical verifiability. At the very least, such finds demonstrate these biblical names to be authentic for the time period. [As an added note of interest on the Baruch bulla, Shanks wrote a follow-up article in Biblical Archaeological Review in 1996, in which he discussed another bulla with Baruch’s title on it that also contains a fingerprint—possibly of the scribe himself. This bulla is in the private collection of a well-known collector named Shlomo Maussaieff (Shanks, 1996, pp. 36-38).]
THE MOABITE STONE
Another important archaeological find verifying the historicity of the biblical account is known as the Moabite Stone. It is true that writing about a rock that was discovered almost 150 years ago certainly would not fit in a current “in the news” section. In fact, so much has been written about this stone since 1868 that very few new articles pertaining to it have come to light. But the real truth of the matter is that, even though it was discovered more than a century ago, many people do not even know it exists, and thus need to be reminded of its importance.
The find is known as the Moabite Stone, or the Mesha Inscription, since it was written by Mesha, King of Moab. A missionary named F.A. Klein first discovered the stone in August of 1868 (Edersheim, n.d., p. 109). When he initially saw the black basalt stone, it measured approximately 3.5 feet high and 2 feet wide. Upon learning of Klein’s adventure, a French scholar by the name of Clermont-Ganneau located the antiquated piece of rock, and copied eight lines from the stone. He then had an impression (known as a “squeeze”) made of the writing on its surface. A squeeze is made by placing a soggy piece of paper over the inscription, which then retains the form of the inscription when it dries (Pritchard, 1958b, p. 105). From that point, the details surrounding the stone are not quite as clear. Apparently (for reasons unknown), the Arabs who were in possession of the stone decided to shatter it. [Some have suggested that they thought the stone was a religious talisman of some sort, or that they could get more money selling the stone in pieces. However, LeMaire claims that these reasons are “apocryphal,” and suggests that the Arabs broke it because they hated the Ottomans, who were attempting to purchase the stone (1994, p. 34).] By heating it in fire and then pouring cold water on it, they succeeded in breaking the stone into several pieces. The pieces ended up being scattered, but eventually about two-thirds of the original stone ended up being relocated, and currently reside at the Louvre in Paris (Jacobs and McCurdy, 2002).
The written inscription on the stone provides a piece of outstanding evidence that verifies the Bible’s accuracy. Mesha, had the stone cut in c. 850 B.C. to relate his numerous conquests and his reacquisition of certain territories that were controlled by Israel. In the over 30-line text (composed of approximately 260 words), Mesha mentioned that Omri was the king of Israel who had oppressed Moab, but then Mesha says he “saw his desire upon” Omri’s son and upon “his house.” Mesha wrote:
I (am) Mesha, son of Chemosh-[…], king of Moab, the Dibonite—my father (had) reigned over Moab thirty years, and I reigned after my father,—(who) made this high place for Chemosh in Qarhoh […] because he saved me from all the kings and caused me to triumph over all my adversaries. As for Omri, king of Israel, he humbled Moab many years (lit., days), for Chemosh was angry at his land. And his son followed him and he also said, “I will humble Moab.” In my time he spoke (thus), but I have triumphed over him and over his house, while Israel hath perished forever (Pritchard, 1958a, p. 209).
The Mesha stele cites Omri as the king of Israel, just as 1 Kings 16:21-28 indicates. Furthermore, it mentions Ahab, Omri’s son, in close connection with the Moabites, as does 2 Kings 3:4-6. In addition, both the stele and 2 Kings 3:4-6 list Mesha as King of Moab. Later in the inscription, the stele further names the Israelite tribe of Gad, and the Israelite God, Yahweh. While the references to the Israelite kings are quite notable in and of themselves, Pritchard has pointed out that this reference to Yahweh is one of the few that have been found outside of Palestine proper (1958b, p. 106).
Another important feature of the Moabite stone is the fact that it “gave the solution to a question that had gone unanswered for centuries.” The biblical record chronicles the Moabite subjugation under King David and King Solomon, and how the Moabites broke free at the beginning of the divided kingdom. However, the Bible also mentions (2 Kings 3:4) that Ahab was receiving tribute from Moab. As Alfred Hoerth has remarked: “Nowhere does the Bible state how or when Moab was reclaimed, for Ahab to be receiving such tribute. The Moabite Stone provides that information, telling, as it does, of Omri’s conquest from the Moabite point of view” (1998, p. 310).
From the end of the quoted portion of the Mesha Inscription (“while Israel hath perished forever”), it is obvious that Mesha exaggerated the efficacy of his conquest—a common practice among ancient kings. Pritchard noted that historians agree that “the Moabite chroniclers tended generally, and quite understandably, to ignore their own losses and setbacks” (1958b, p. 106). Free and Vos document the works of John D. Davies and S.L. Caiger, which offer a harmonization of the Moabite text with the biblical record. Davies, formerly of the Princeton University Seminary, accurately observed: “Mesha is in no wise contradicting, but only unintentionally supplementing the Hebrew account” (as quoted in Free and Vos, 1992, p. 161).
As a further point of interest, French scholar André LeMaire, in an extensive article in Biblical Archaeology Review, “identified the reading of the name David in a formerly unreadable line, ‘House of D…,’ on the Mesha Stele (or Moabite Stone)” [Price, 1997, p. 171; see also LeMaire, 1994, pp. 30-37]. Whether or not this identification is accurate, has yet to be verified by scholarly consensus. Even liberal scholars Finkelstein and Silberman, however, acknowledged LaMaire’s identification, along with the Tel Dan inscription documenting the House of David, and concluded: “Thus, the house of David was known throughout the region; this clearly validates the biblical description of a figure named David becoming the founder of the dynasty of Judahite kings in Jerusalem” (2001, p. 129).
Taken as a whole, the Moabite stone remains one of the most impressive pieces of evidence verifying the historical accuracy of the Old Testament. And, although this find has been around almost 150 years, it “still speaks” to us today (Hebrews 11:4).
Cyrus, King of the Medo-Persian Empire, is among the most important foreign rulers of the Israelite nation. In fact, many Old Testament prophecies revolve around this monarch. The prophet Isaiah documented that the Babylonian Empire would fall to the Medes and the Persians (Isaiah 13; 21:1-10). Not only did Isaiah detail the particular empire to which the Babylonians would fall, but he also called Cyrus by name (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1-5). Amazingly, Isaiah’s prophecy was made roughly 150 years before Cyrus was born(Isaiah prophesied in about 700 B.C.; Cyrus took the city of Babylon in 539 B.C.). To add to Cyrus’ significance, Isaiah predicted that Cyrus would act as the Lord’s “shepherd.” In fact, Isaiah recorded these words of the Lord concerning Cyrus: “And he shall perform all My pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be built,’ and to the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid’ ” (Isaiah 44:28).
In 1879, Hormoz Rasam found a small clay cylinder (about nine inches long, and now residing in the British Museum) in the ancient city of Babylon. Upon the clay cylinder, King Cyrus had inscribed, among other things, his victory over the city of Babylon and his policy toward the nations he had captured, as well as his policy toward their various gods and religions. Price recorded a translation of a segment of the cuneiform text found on the cylinder:
…I returned to [these] sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris, the sanctuaries of which have been in ruins for a long time, the images which [used] to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I [also] gathered all their [former] inhabitants and returned [to them] their habitations. Furthermore, I resettled upon the command of Marduk the great lord, all the gods of Sumer and Akkad whom Nabonidus has brought into Babylon to the anger of the lord of the gods, unharmed, in their [former] chapels, the places which made them happy. May all the gods who I have resettled in their sacred cities ask daily Bel and Nebo for long life for me and may they recommend me…to Marduk, my lord, may they say thus: Cyrus, the king who worships you and Cambyses, his son, […] all of them I settled in a peaceful place (pp. 251-252).
The policy, often hailed as Cyrus’ declaration of human rights, coincides with the biblical account of the ruler’s actions, in which Cyrus decreed that the temple in Jerusalem should be rebuilt, and that all the exiled Israelites who wished to join in the venture had his permission and blessing to do so (Ezra 1:1-11). The little nine-inch-long clay cylinder stands as impressive testimony—along with several other archaeological finds—to the historical accuracy of the biblical text.
The archaeological evidence presented in this article that confirms biblical history is, in truth, only a tiny fraction of the evidence that could be amassed along these lines. In fact, volumes of hundreds of pages each have been produced on such matters, and with every new find comes additional information that will fill archaeology texts for decades to come. The more we uncover the past, the more we discover the truth that the Bible is the most trustworthy, historically accurate document ever produced. As the poet John Greenleaf Whittier once wrote:
We search the world for truth; we cull the good, the pure, the beautiful, from all the old flower fields of the soul; and, weary seekers of the best, we come back laden from our quest, to find that all the sages said is in the Book our mothers read.
Dever, William (2001), What did the Bible Writers Know and When did They Know It? (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Edersheim, Albert (no date), The Bible History—Old Testament, Book VI (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Finkelstein, Israel and Neil Silberman (2001), The Bible Unearthed (New York: Simon & Schuster).
Free, Joseph P. and Howard F. Vos (1992), Archaeology and Bible History (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).
Hanson, K.C. (2002), Sennacherib Prism, [On-line], URL: http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/meso/sennprism1.html.
Hoerth, Alfred J. (1998), Archaeology and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker).
Jacobs, Joseph and J. Frederick McCurdy (2002), “Moabite Stone,” Jewish Encyclopedia.com,[On-line], URL: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=680&letter=M.
King, Philip J. and Lawrence E. Stager (2001), Life in Biblical Israel (in the Library of Ancient Israelseries), ed. Douglas A. Knight (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press).
Laughlin, John C.H. (2000), Archaeology and the Bible (New York: Routledge).
LeMaire, André (1994), “House of David Restored in Moabite Inscription,” Biblical Archaeology Review, 20[3]:30-37, May/June.
Luckenbill, Daniel D. (1989), Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylon (London: Histories and Mysteries of Man Ltd.).
Mazar, Amihai (1992), Archaeology of the Land of the Bible (New York: Doubleday).
Moorey, P.R.S. (1991), A Century of Biblical Archaeology (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press).
Negev, Avraham and Shimon Gibson (2001), Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land (New York: Continuum).
Price, Randall (1997), The Stones Cry Out (Eugene, OR: Harvest House).
Pritchard, James B., ed. (1958a), The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).
Pritchard, James B. (1958b), Archaeology and the Old Testament (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).
Shanks, Hershel (1987), “Jeremiah’s Scribe and Confidant Speaks from a Hoard of Clay Bullae,” Biblical Archaeology Review, 13[5]:58-65, September/October.
Shanks, Hershel (1995), Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography (New York: Random House).
Shanks, Hershel (1996), “Fingerprint of Jeremiah’s Scribe,” Biblical Archaeology Review, 22[2]:36-38, March/April.
Stern, Ephraim (2001), Archaeology and the Land of the Bible: The Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Periods (732-332 B.C.E.) (New York: Doubleday).
RESPONDING TO HARRY KROTO’S BRILLIANT RENOWNED ACADEMICS!! Part 144 Paul Rabinow, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California (Berkeley), “I am not a believer or a theist,…never felt the need to go [into that debate]”
Below you have picture of Dr. Harry Kroto:
There are 3 videos in this series and they have statements by 150 academics and scientists and I hope to respond to all of them.
Paul Rabinow
Portrait of Paul M. Rabinow, made in 2002 by Saâd A. Tazi, at Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, during his Blaise Pascal professorship.
June 21, 1944 (age 73)
Doctoral advisor
Clifford Geertz
Michel Foucault, Richard McKeon
Paul Rabinow (born June 21, 1944) is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California (Berkeley), Director of the Anthropology of the Contemporary Research Collaboratory (ARC), and former Director of Human Practices for the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC). He is perhaps most famous for his widely influential commentary and expertise on the French philosopher Michel Foucault.
His major works include Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco (1977 and 2007), Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics (1983) (with Hubert Dreyfus), The Foucault Reader (1984), French Modern: Norms and Forms of the Social Environment (1989), Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology (1993), Essays on the Anthropology of Reason (1996), Anthropos Today: Reflections on Modern Equipment (2003), and Marking Time: On the Anthropology of the Contemporary (2007).
1Biographical details
2Overview
3Concept work
4Anthropology of the contemporary
5Anthropos as a problem
6Collaboration
7Case work
8Major works
Biographical details[edit]
Rabinow was born in Florida but moved as a small child to New York City. He lived in Sunnyside, Queens and attended Stuyvessant High School [1]. Rabinow received his B.A. (1965), M.A. (1967), and Ph.D. (1970) in anthropology from the University of Chicago. He studied at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris (1965–66). He received a Guggenheim Fellowship (1980); was a visiting Fulbright Professor at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro (1987); taught at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris (1986) as well as the École Normale Supérieure (1997) was a visiting Fulbright Professor at the University of Iceland (1999). He has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and National Science Foundation Professional Development Fellowships (for training in molecular biology). He is co-founder of the Berkeley Program in French Cultural Studies. He was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 1998. He received the University of Chicago Alumni Association Professional Achievement Award in 2000. He was awarded the visiting Chaire Internationale de Recherche Blaise Pascal at the École Normale Supérieure for 2001-2. STICERD Distinguished Visiting Professor- BIOS Centre for the Study of Bioscience, Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Society, London School of Economics (2004)
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Rabinow is known for his development of an “anthropology of reason”. If anthropology is understood as being composed of anthropos + logos, then anthropology can be taken up as a practice of studying how the mutually productive relations of knowledge, thought, and care are given form within shifting relations of power. More recently, Rabinow has developed a distinctive approach to what he calls an “anthropology of the contemporary” that moves methodologically beyond modernity as an object of study or as a metric to order all inquiries.
Rabinow is well known for conceptual work drawing on French, German and American traditions. He was a close interlocutor of Michel Foucault, and has edited and interpreted Foucault’s work as well as ramifying it in new directions.
Rabinow’s work has consistently confronted the challenge of inventing and practicing new forms of inquiry, writing, and ethics for the human sciences. He argues that currently the dominant knowledge production practices, institutions, and venues for understanding things human in the 21st century are inadequate institutionally and epistemologically. In response, he has designed modes of experimentation and collaboration consisting in focused concept work and the explorations of new forms of case-based inquiry.
Rabinow has also devoted a great deal of energy to the invention of new venues, adjacent to the existing university structures, diagnosing the university’s disciplinary organization and career patterns as among the major impediment to 21st century thought. In view of the fact that the organization and practices of the social sciences and humanities in the U.S. university system have changed little in recent decades, they are unlikely to facilitate the composition of contemporary equipment. Rabinow has called for the creation of venues that are adjacent to, but more flexible than, the university and the existing disciplinary structure. He has played leading roles in the design of two such organizations, the Anthropology of the Contemporary Research Collaboratory (ARC), and the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC).
The Anthropology of the Contemporary Research Collaboratory was founded by Paul Rabinow, Stephen Collier, and Andrew Lakoff as part of an effort to create new forms of inquiry in the human sciences. Its aspiration is to create models for new infrastructures, tools of collaboration, and practices of inquiry. The core of the ARC collaboratory is ongoing reflection and communication in a now broadening network of scholars about concept formation and collaboratory work in the human sciences. ARC is a collaboratory for inquiry into contemporary forms of life, labor, and language. ARC engages in empirical study and conceptual work with global reach and long-term perspective. ARC creates contemporary equipment for collaborative work adequate to emergent challenges in the 21st century. ARC’s current concerns focus on interconnections among security, ethics, and the sciences.
His comments can be found on the 3rd video and the 118th clip in this series. Below the videos you will find his words.
Quote from Paul Rabinow:
In other words I am not a believer or a theist, but I am not also a militant atheist. I think that debate leads into a range of different and diverse existential corners that I don’t want to go to and never felt the need to go to.
More lengthy quote from Paul Rabinow:
on religious belief – don’t believe in God; there are passages in Levi-Strauss’ ‘Tristes Tropiques’ on Buddhism which are relatively close to what I felt much more strongly as a younger person; this question is interesting because in recent years I have been working with a student who has just finished a degree in theology and is now doing a degree in anthropology; he is a practising Christian and we get along remarkably well, discussing ethics etc., but it is clear that the larger theist dimensions are radically disparate; this is an interesting anthropological dimension where ethically this seems to not cause any problem; I frequently related to people with strong but quiet religious beliefs; Michel de Certeau was a Jesuit and I had a number of other Jesuit friends; I think it is the fact that they care about the world and other people, are thoughtful, committed and concerned, and I don’t have to share other parts of their belief system while finding them worthy of friendship; I am uninterested in the Dawkins’ argument of science disproving religion, I am not a positivist, there is a big difference between this form of nineteenth century militant positivism and a Weberian position in which science does not answer ultimate questions; when science becomes a world view, a cosmology, it seems to part company with its deep critical functions; I may not be a believer or theist, but I am not a militant atheist; I also part company with people like Jurgen Habermas or Charles Taylor who feel that unless we have sure foundations for our ethical life that we flounder, which seems wrong; no one has ever proved the ultimate foundations of anything to everyone’s satisfaction yet ethical life and decent human relations seem to me not all that common, but not impossible either; I am not looking for ultimate stopping points, and there is some anthropological dimension to that through respect for the complexity of different commitments; cosmopolitan enlightenment sense that we have to live with difference which can be a good thing, and that intolerance –even in the name of tolerance — is not so admirable.
Some atheists claim like Dr. Rabinow that they have never felt inside that there was anything telling him that there is a God that created him. However, the Bible says in Romans that everyone knows in their heart that God exists. AND THAT THERE IS A GOD THAT CREATED THE WORLD AND PUT THAT CONSCIENCE IN EVERYONE’S HEART THAT BEARS WITNESS THAT HE CREATED THEM FOR A PURPOSE?
CSICOP experts commented 15 years ago on a lie-detector’s ability to detect one’s repressed belief in God!!!!
In the book, THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan. Sagan writes:
The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal is an organization of scientists, academics, magicians, and others dedicated to skeptical scrutiny of emerging or full-blown pseudo-sciences. It was founded by the University of Buffalo philosopher Paul Kurtz in 1976. I’ve been affiliated with it since its beginning. Its acronym, CSICOP, is pronounced sci-cop C as if it’s an organization of scientists performing a police function CSICOP publishes a bimonthly periodical called The Skeptical Inquirer. On the day it arrives, I take it home from the office and pore through its pages, wondering what new misunderstandings will be revealed (p. 299).
Back in the late 1990’s I corresponded with many scholars from CSICOP concerning the lie-detector’s ability to detect one’s repressed belief in God. I have a good friend who is a street preacher who preaches on the Santa Monica Promenade in California and during the Q/A sessions he does have lots of atheists that enjoy their time at the mic. When this happens he always quotes Romans 1:18-19 (Amplified Bible) ” For God’s wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness REPRESS and HINDER the truth and make it inoperative. For that which is KNOWN about God is EVIDENT to them and MADE PLAIN IN THEIR INNER CONSCIOUSNESS, because God has SHOWN IT TO THEM,”(emphasis mine). Then he tells the atheist that the atheist already knows that God exists but he has been suppressing that knowledge in unrighteousness. This usually infuriates the atheist.
It is true that polygraph tests for use in hiring were banned by Congress in 1988. Mr and Mrs Claude Brown on Aug 25, 1994 wrote me a letter confirming that over 15,000 applicants previous to 1988 had taken the polygraph test and EVERY TIME SOMEONE SAID THEY DID NOT BELIEVE IN GOD, THE MACHINE SAID THEY WERE LYING.
There was no better organization suited to investigate this claim concerning the lie detector test than the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). This organization changed their name to the Committe for Skeptical Inquiry in 2006. This organization includes anyone who wants to help debunk the whole ever-expanding gamut of misleading, outlandish, and fraudulent claims made in the name of science.
Let me share a story from a former atheist named Jamie Lash:
DOES GOD BELIEVE IN ATHEISTS?
I grew up as an atheist. I thought that the reason I didn’t believe was the lack of evidence that I could see or touch. I kept asking God to show me a sign if He was really there. He didn’t. Despite nine months of searching, I was just as alienated from God as I had ever been.
I remember the shock it was when God revealed to me that what I thought was the obstacle wasn’t the obstacle at all! The obstacle was pride and hardness of heart. It wasn’t a head problem; it was a heart problem. I had to come to the place where I was willing to let God be God over my life. Was I willing to confess (i.e. admit) that Jesus is Lord?
Years ago Adrian Rogers counseled with a NASA scientist and his severely depressed wife. The wife pointed to her husband and said, “My problem is him.” She went on to explain that her husband was a drinker, a liar, and an adulterer. Dr. Rogers asked the man if he were a Christian. “No!” the man laughed. “I’m an atheist.”
“Really?” Dr. Rogers replied. “That means you’re someone who knows that God does not exist.”
“That’s right,” said the man.
“Would it be fair to say that you don’t know all there is to know in the universe?”
“Would it be generous to say you know half of all there is to know?”
“Wouldn’t it be possible that God’s existence might be in the half you don’t know?”
“Okay, but I don’t think He exists.”
“Well then, you’re not an atheist; you’re an agnostic. You’re a doubter.”
“Yes, and I’m a big one.”
“It doesn’t matter what size you are. I want to know what kind you are.”
“What kinds are there?”
“There are honest doubters and dishonest doubters. An honest doubter is willing to search out the truth and live by the results; a dishonest doubter doesn’t want to know the truth. He can’t find God for the same reason a thief can’t find a policeman.”
“I want to know the truth.”
“Would you like to prove that God exists?”
“It can’t be done.”
“It can be done. You’ve just been in the wrong laboratory. Jesus said, ‘If any man’s will is to do His will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority’ (John 7:17). I suggest you read one chapter of the book of John each day, but before you do, pray something like this, ‘God, I don’t know if You’re there, I don’t know if the Bible is true, I don’t know if Jesus is Your Son. But if You show me that You are there, that the Bible is true, and that Jesus is Your Son, then I will follow You. My will is to do your will.”
The man agreed. About three weeks later he returned to Dr. Rogers’s office and invited Jesus Christ to be his Savior and Lord.
A man might be convinced that he’s being very sincere in his search for God, but until he humbles himself, he will never find Him.
— Jamie Lash
A Brief Sample of Old Testament Archaeological Corroboration
I’ve learned to test witnesses in my criminal investigations before trusting their testimony, and I evaluate them with the template we typically use in jury trials. One dimension of this template is corroboration: Is there any verifying evidence supporting the claims of the eyewitness? Corroborative evidence is what I refer to as “touch point” evidence. I don’t expect a surveillance video confirming every statement made by a witness, but I do expect small “touch point” corroborations. The authors of the Bible make a variety of historical claims, and many of these claims are corroborated by archaeological evidence. Archaeology is notoriously partial and incomplete, but it does offer us “touch point” verification of many Biblical claims. Here are just a few of the more impressive findings related to the Old Testament:
Related to the Customs of the Patriarchs
Critics of the Old Testament have argued against the historicity of the books of Moses, doubting the authenticity of many of the stories found in Genesis (and sometimes rejecting the authorship of Moses along the way). Skeptics doubted primitive people groups were capable of recording history with any significant detail, and they questioned the existence of many of the people and cities mentioned in the oldest of Biblical accounts. When the Ebla archive was discovered in Syria (modern Tell Mardikh) in the 1970′s, many of these criticisms became less reasonable. During the excavations of the Ebla palace in 1975, the excavators found a large library filled with tablets dating from 2400 -2300 BC. These tablets confirmed many of the personal titles and locations described in the patriarchal Old Testament accounts.
For years, critics also believed the name “Canaan” was used incorrectly in the early books of the Bible, doubting the term was used at this time in history and suspecting it was a late insertion (or evidence of late authorship). But “Canaan” appears in the Ebla tablets. The term was used in ancient Syria during the time in which the Old Testament was written. Critics were also skeptical of the word, “Tehom” (“the deep” in Genesis 1:2), believing it was also a late addition or evidence again of late authorship. But “Tehom” was also part of the vocabulary at Ebla, in use 800 years before Moses. In fact, there is a creation record in the Ebla Tablets remarkably similar to the Genesis account. In addition, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (once thought to be fictional) are also identified in the Ebla tablets, as well as the city of Haran. This latter city is described in Genesis as the city of Abram’s father, Terah. Prior to this discovery, critics doubted the existence of this ancient city. The Ebla discovery confirmed the locations of several ancient cities, corroborated the use of several terms and titles, and confirmed ancient people were capable of being eloquent and conscientious historians.
Related to the Hittites
The historicity and cultural customs of the Patriarchs have also been corroborated in clay tablets uncovered in the cities of Nuzi, Mari and Bogazkoy. Archaeological discoveries in these three cities have confirmed the existence of the Hittites. These findings also revealed an example of an ancient king with an incredible concentration of wealth. Prior to this discovery, skeptics doubted such ancient affluence was possible and considered the story of Solomon to be greatly exaggerated. This discovery provided an example of such a situation, however. Solomon’s prosperity is now considered to be entirely feasible.
Related to Sargon
The historicity of the Assyrian king, Sargon (recorded in Isaiah 20:1) has also been confirmed, in spite of the fact his name was not seen in any non-Biblical record. Archeology again proved the Biblical account to be true when Sargon’s palace was discovered in Khorsabad, Iraq. More importantly, the event mentioned in Isaiah 20, Sargon’s capture of Ashdod, was recorded on the palace walls, confirming the history recorded in Old Testament Scripture. Fragments of a stela (an inscribed stone pillar) were also found at Ashdod. This stela was originally carved to memorialize the victory of Sargon.
Related to Belshazzar
Belshazzar, king of Babylon, was another historic king doubted by critics. Belshazzar is named in Daniel 5, but according to the non-Biblical historic record, the last king of Babylon was Nabonidus. Tablets have been discovered, however, describing Belshazzar as Nabonidus’ son and documenting his service as coregent in Babylon. If this is the case, Belshazzar would have been able to appoint Daniel “third highest ruler in the kingdom” for reading the handwriting on the wall (as recorded in Daniel 5:16). This would have been the highest available position for Daniel. Here, once again, we see the historicity of the Biblical record has been confirmed by archaeology.
Related to Nebo-Sarsekim
It’s not just kings and well-known figures who have been verified by archeology over the years. There are thousands of “lesser known,” relatively unimportant characters in the Bible who would easily be overlooked if archeology did not continue to verify them. One such person is Nebo-Sarsekim. Nebo-Sarsekim is mentioned in the Bible in Chapter 39 of the Book of Jeremiah. According to Jeremiah, this man was Nebuchadnezzar II’s “chief officer” and was with him at the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC, when the Babylonians overran the city. Many skeptics have doubted this claim, but in July of 2007, Michael Jursa, a visiting professor from Vienna, discovered Nebo-Sarsekim’s name (Nabu-sharrussu-ukin) written on an Assyrian cuneiform tablet. This tablet was used as a receipt acknowledging Nabu-sharrussu-ukin’s payment of 0.75 kg of gold to a temple in Babylon, and it described Nebo-Sarsekim as “the chief eunuch” of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon. The tablet is dated to the 10th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 595BC, 12 years before the siege of Jerusalem, once again verifying the dating and record of the Old Testament.
Related to Nehemiah’s Wall
Skeptical historians once doubted the historicity of Nehemiah’s account of the restoration of Jerusalem that is found in the Bible. Nehemiah lived during the period when Judah was a province of the Persian Empire, and he arrived in Jerusalem as governor in 445 BC. With the permission of the Persian king, he decided to rebuild and restore the city after the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians (which occurred a century earlier, in 586 BC). The Book of Nehemiah records the completion of this wall in just 52 days, and many historians did not believe this to be true, since the wall itself was never discovered. But in November of 2007, the remnants of the wall were uncovered in an archaeological excavation in Jerusalem’s ancient City of David, strengthening concurrent claims King David’s palace was also found at the site. Experts now agree that the wall has been discovered along with the palace. Once again the Old Testament has been corroborated.
Archaeology is an ever-developing discipline, providing new insight into the past with every new discovery. Many of these findings are featured at the Biblical Archaeology Society and at other similar sources. The claims of Judaism and Christianity are more than proverbial insights; they are claims about the historic past. As such, they can be verified or falsified. Archeology is one way we can test the claims of the Old and New Testament, and this discipline continues to provide “touch point” corroborative evidence affirming the claims of the Bible.
Related Posts In This Series:
Establishing the Reliability of the Old Testament: A Trustworthy Process of Transmission
Establishing the Reliability of the Old Testament: A Timely Test of Transmission
Establishing the Reliability of the Old Testament: The Ardent Testimony of the Ancients
The Comparatively Rich Archaeological Corroboration of the Old Testament
From Reliable to Divine: Fulfilled Prophecy in the Old Testament
J. Warner Wallace is a Cold-Case Detective, a Christian Case Maker, and the author of Cold-Case Christianity
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– See more at: http://coldcasechristianity.com/2013/a-brief-sample-of-old-testament-archaeological-corroboration/#sthash.XYt8QHnn.dpuf
“Woody Wednesday” Discussing Woody Allen’s movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors” and various other subjects with Ark Times Bloggers (Part 6) Judah ” I believe in God, Miriam. I know it… because without God the world is a cesspool”
_____________________________ Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 3 Uploaded by camdiscussion on Sep 23, 2007 Part 3 of 3: ‘Is Woody Allen A Romantic Or A Realist?’ A discussion of Woody Allen’s 1989 movie, Crimes and Misdemeanors, perhaps his finest. By Anton Scamvougeras.http://camdiscussion.blogspot.com/ antons@mail.ubc.ca ______________ I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Woody Allen | Edit | Comments (0)
Religious freedom include discussing creation in the classroom?
July 25, 2013 – 1:07 am
Friendly Fire with John Whitehead—Rob Boston (Part 1) Uploaded by RutherfordInstitute on Aug 20, 2007 An interview with Rob Boston, Assistant Director of Communications, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Part 1. ____________ Above you see Rob Boston discuss the teaching of intelligent design in the class room. He was against it. Obama’s […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in President Obama | Edit | Comments (0)
Discussing Woody Allen’s movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors” and various other subjects with Ark Times Bloggers (Part 6) Judah ” I believe in God, Miriam. I know it… because without God the world is a cesspool”
Carl Sagan’s search for the of meaning of life
________________ Kansas – Dust In The Wind “Live” HD Rolling Stones: “Satisfaction!” U2 Still Haven’t Found (with lyrics) Carl Sagan appears on CBC to discuss the importance of SETI [Carl Sagan Archives] __________________________________________________ On December 5, 1995, I got a letter back from Carl Sagan and I was very impressed that he took time to answer […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Atheists Confronted | Edit | Comments (0)
Taking on Ark Times Bloggers on various issues Part F “Carl Sagan’s views on how God should try and contact us” includes film “The Basis for Human Dignity”
I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer, Prolife | Edit | Comments (0)
Carl Sagan v. Nancy Pearcey
On March 17, 2013 at our worship service at Fellowship Bible Church, Ben Parkinson who is one of our teaching pastors spoke on Genesis 1. He spoke about an issue that I was very interested in. Ben started the sermon by reading the following scripture: Genesis 1-2:3 English Standard Version (ESV) The Creation of the […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Atheists Confronted, Current Events | TaggedBen Parkinson, Carl Sagan | Edit | Comments (0)
Review of Carl Sagan book (Part 4 of series on Evolution)
Review of Carl Sagan book (Part 4 of series on Evolution) The Long War against God-Henry Morris, part 5 of 6 Uploaded by FLIPWORLDUPSIDEDOWN3 on Aug 30, 2010 http://www.icr.org/ http://store.icr.org/prodinfo.asp?number=BLOWA2http://store.icr.org/prodinfo.asp?number=BLOWASGhttp://www.fliptheworldupsidedown.com/blog _______________________ I got this from a blogger in April of 2008 concerning candidate Obama’s view on evolution: Q: York County was recently in the news […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Atheists Confronted, Current Events, President Obama | Edit| Comments (0)
Review of Carl Sagan book (Part 3 of series on Evolution) The Long War against God-Henry Morris, part 4 of 6 Uploaded by FLIPWORLDUPSIDEDOWN3 on Aug 30, 2010 http://www.icr.org/ http://store.icr.org/prodinfo.asp?number=BLOWA2http://store.icr.org/prodinfo.asp?number=BLOWASGhttp://www.fliptheworldupsidedown.com/blog______________________________________ I got this from a blogger in April of 2008 concerning candidate Obama’s view on evolution: Q: York County was recently in the news […]
Carl Sagan versus RC Sproul
At the end of this post is a message by RC Sproul in which he discusses Sagan. Over the years I have confronted many atheists. Here is one story below: I really believe Hebrews 4:12 when it asserts: For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Atheists Confronted, Current Events, Francis Schaeffer | Tagged Bill Elliff, Carl Sagan, Jodie Foster, RC Sproul | Edit | Comments (0)
Review of Carl Sagan book (Part 4 of series on Evolution)jh68
November 8, 2011 – 12:01 am
Review of Carl Sagan book (Part 4 of series on Evolution) The Long War against God-Henry Morris, part 5 of 6 Uploaded by FLIPWORLDUPSIDEDOWN3 on Aug 30, 2010 http://www.icr.org/ http://store.icr.org/prodinfo.asp?number=BLOWA2http://store.icr.org/prodinfo.asp?number=BLOWASGhttp://www.fliptheworldupsidedown.com/blog _______________________ This is a review I did a few years ago. THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Atheists Confronted, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)
Review of Carl Sagan book (Part 3 of series on Evolution) The Long War against God-Henry Morris, part 4 of 6 Uploaded by FLIPWORLDUPSIDEDOWN3 on Aug 30, 2010 http://www.icr.org/ http://store.icr.org/prodinfo.asp?number=BLOWA2http://store.icr.org/prodinfo.asp?number=BLOWASGhttp://www.fliptheworldupsidedown.com/blog______________________________________ I was really enjoyed this review of Carl Sagan’s book “Pale Blue Dot.” Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot by Larry Vardiman, Ph.D. […]
Atheists confronted: How I confronted Carl Sagan the year before he died jh47
In today’s news you will read about Kirk Cameron taking on the atheist Stephen Hawking over some recent assertions he made concerning the existence of heaven. Back in December of 1995 I had the opportunity to correspond with Carl Sagan about a year before his untimely death. Sarah Anne Hughes in her article,”Kirk Cameron criticizes […]
My correspondence with George Wald and Antony Flew!!!
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RESPONDING TO HARRY KROTO’S BRILLIANT RENOWNED ACADEMICS!! Part 143, Bede Rundle, Philosophy Dept, Trinity College, Oxford, “God or any other supernatural agent doesn’t have what it takes to act upon physical things”
Bede Rundle Why is There Something Rather than Nothing
Bede Rundle obituary
Philosopher in the tradition of Aristotle, Kant and Wittgenstein
Bede Rundle, left, taught at Trinity College, Oxford, for 40 years.
Edward Kanterian
Monday 31 October 2011 14.32 EDTFirst published on Monday 31 October 2011 14.32 EDT
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The New Zealand-born philosopher Bede Rundle, who has died aged 74, taught for 40 years at Trinity College, Oxford, and made substantial contributions to the philosophy of language, mind and action, to metaphysics and to philosophical theology. He defended the currently unpopular but correct view that philosophy is not, like science, a cognitive discipline building theories, but a critical enterprise of human self-reflection. In this he stood in the tradition of Aristotle, Kant and Wittgenstein and gave us a model of how to do philosophy.
Rundle thought in whole books, six of them over 37 years: meticulously crafted, rich in insights and packed with arguments. Grammar in Philosophy (1979), opening with, “Philosophy may begin with wonder, but it soon ends up in confusion”, is one of the most ambitious and important books in philosophy of language since Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. In it, Rundle attacks prevailing conceptions of key semantic concepts, such as meaning, truth, reference and necessity. His early specialisation was mathematical logic, which he taught for 10 years at Oxford. But under the influence of Wittgenstein’s writings, he came to think that to understand the nature and role of language in our lives, the abstract logical and linguistic frameworks pioneered by Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell and Noam Chomsky are less relevant than careful and detailed investigation of how language is employed by ordinary language speakers, including scientists.
Mind in Action (1997) sharply rejects the view of the mind as a machine, or as an entity “inside” our brains, contrary to what our neuroscientific and popular culture often makes us believe. He also showed that animals do not reason, that there is a sharp demarcation between humans and animals, and that we have a free will.
In the third of his most notable books, Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing (2004), which received considerable attention, Rundle tackled one of philosophy’s most important questions, formulated by Gottfried Leibniz in the 18th century, in a new way. Rundle contended that the question cannot be answered by science, but must receive a genuine philosophical treatment. He did so by addressing a famous argument in favour of the existence of God, presented by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century.
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Since this universe is contingent, that is to say it might not have existed, at some point it did not exist, and at a later point it came into existence. Since something can only begin to exist in relation to something else already existing (for instance, a football match can only start if the players are on the field), a non-contingent, necessary thing, God, must have existed for this universe to begin to exist. Had there been no necessary thing, God, there would be nothing now.
Unlike most recent philosophers, Rundle found some truth in this argument. In his version, we must indeed claim that if nothing had existed, nothing would exist now, in other words that it is impossible that nothing at all should have existed. For to say that there might have been nothing “then” (before the Big Bang) or “now” presupposes a temporal framework of reference, and thus space, motion and objects.
However, this does not fully vindicate Aquinas, for “the only thing which would provide a setting into which our universe might make an entrée would be another universe”. There is no necessary entity, God, but some physical thing or other must have always necessarily existed.
If correct, this argument has dramatic consequences for most humans and their religious or scientific beliefs about the origin of the world, for it undermines the idea of an absolutely first event of the world, whether Creation or Big Bang. Rundle also casts doubt on the notion of divine agency and indeed the coherence of the notion of God.
He had a Catholic upbringing, but little sympathy for religion, or for scientists engaging in theological speculation. Earlier this year, he made his exasperation clear to me: “As if we don’t have clear answers to the questions ‘Where do we come from? Where do we go to?’ – from our mothers’ wombs and into the grave.”
Born in Wellington, he was educated there at St Patrick’s college and Victoria University. His interest in philosophy was sparked when, as a boy, he chanced across CEM Joad’s introduction to the subject in the local library. After gaining his first degree in 1959, he went to Magdalen College, Oxford. There he played tennis for the college with the lawyer Michael Beloff, and table tennis for the university. On completing his BPhil in 1961, he went to Queen’s College as a junior research fellow for two years before being elected to the Trinity fellowship. In 1968 he married his wife Ros, with whom he had a son and a daughter.
He held visiting professorships in the US, but turned down offers for chairs, preferring the tutorial system, whose recent decline he deplored. An unassuming and generous figure, he was very popular with his students. He took his role as a tutor for graduates just as seriously as that of being the senior common room wine steward.
He is survived by his wife and children.
• Bernard Bede Rundle, philosopher, born 21 February 1937; died 24 September 2011
• This article was amended on 1 November 2011. The original referred to Bede Rundle’s books as Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? This has been corrected to Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing.
God or any other supernatural agent doesn’t have what it takes to act upon physical things. That seems to me to be the underlying problem in all of us. We extend our talk of things we are familiar with to God forgetting how much it is based in familiar facts about the physical world, and we just suppose it is making sense. It looks similar language when we take it to this different domain.
RESPONDING TO HARRY KROTO’S BRILLIANT RENOWNED ACADEMICS!! Part 137 Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist, Cal Tech, “I can’t believe the special stories that have been made up… because they seem to be be too simple, too local, too provincial”
July 4, 2017 – 12:52 am
“Feynman” redirects here. For other uses, see Feynman (disambiguation).
Richard Phillips Feynman
Queens, New York, U.S.
February 15, 1988 (aged 69)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum, Altadena, California, U.S.
The Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics (1942)
John Archibald Wheeler
James M. Bardeen
Laurie Mark Brown
Thomas Curtright
Albert Hibbs
Giovanni Rossi Lomanitz
George Zweig
Other notable students
Robert Barro
W. Daniel Hillis
Douglas D. Osheroff
Paul Steinhardt
Albert Einstein Award (1954)
E. O. Lawrence Award (1962)
Nobel Prize in Physics (1965)
Fellow of the Royal Society (1965)
Oersted Medal (1972)
National Medal of Science (1979)
Arline Greenbaum (m. 1941; d. 1945)
Mary Louise Bell (m. 1952–56)
Gweneth Howarth (m. 1960)
Carl Feynman
Michelle Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman (/ˈfaɪnmən/; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics for which he proposed the parton model. For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Sin’ichirō Tomonaga, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965.
Feynman developed a widely used pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as Feynman diagrams. During his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known scientists in the world. In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal Physics World he was ranked as one of the ten greatest physicists of all time.[1]
He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II and became known to a wide public in the 1980s as a member of the Rogers Commission, the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In addition to his work in theoretical physics, Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing, and introducing the concept of nanotechnology. He held the Richard C. Tolmanprofessorship in theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
Feynman was a keen popularizer of physics through both books and lectures, including a 1959 talk on top-down nanotechnology called There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom, and the three-volume publication of his undergraduate lectures, The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Feynman also became known through his semi-autobiographical books Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think? and books written about him, such as Tuva or Bust! and Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick.
Richard Phillips Feynman was born on May 11, 1918, in Queens, New York City,[2] to Lucille née Phillips, a homemaker, and Melville Arthur Feynman, a sales manager,[3] originally from Minsk in Belarus,[4] in those days part of the Russian Empire; both were Ashkenazi Jews.[5] They were not religious, and by his youth, Feynman described himself as an “avowed atheist“.[6] He also stated “To select, for approbation the peculiar elements that come from some supposedly Jewish heredity is to open the door to all kinds of nonsense on racial theory”, and adding, “at thirteen I was not only converted to other religious views, but I also stopped believing that the Jewish people are in any way ‘the chosen people‘.”[7] Later in his life, during a visit to the Jewish Theological Seminary, he encountered the Talmud for the first time and remarked that it contained a medieval kind of reasoning and was a wonderful book.[8]
Like Albert Einstein and Edward Teller, Feynman was a late talker, and by his third birthday had yet to utter a single word. He retained a Brooklyn accent as an adult.[9][10] That accent was thick enough to be perceived as an affectation or exaggeration[11][12] – so much so that his good friends Wolfgang Pauli and Hans Bethe once commented that Feynman spoke like a “bum”.[11] The young Feynman was heavily influenced by his father, who encouraged him to ask questions to challenge orthodox thinking, and who was always ready to teach Feynman something new. From his mother, he gained the sense of humor that he had throughout his life. As a child, he had a talent for engineering, maintained an experimental laboratory in his home, and delighted in repairing radios. When he was in grade school, he created a home burglar alarm system while his parents were out for the day running errands.[13]
When Richard was five years old, his mother gave birth to a younger brother, Henry Philips, who died at four weeks of age on February 25, 1924.[14] Four years later, Richard’s sister Joan was born, and the family moved to Far Rockaway, Queens.[3] Though separated by nine years, Joan and Richard were close, as they both shared a natural curiosity about the world. Their mother thought that women did not have the cranial capacity to comprehend such things. Despite their mother’s disapproval of Joan’s desire to study astronomy, Richard encouraged his sister to explore the universe. Joan eventually became an astrophysicist specializing in interactions between the Earth and the solar wind.[15]
Manhattan Project[edit]
Feynman’s Los Alamos ID badge
In 1941, with World War II raging in Europe but the United States not yet at war, Feynman spent the summer working on ballistics problems at the Frankford Arsenal in Pennsylvania.[43][44] After the attack on Pearl Harbor had brought the United States into the war, Feynman was recruited by Robert R. Wilson, who was working on means to produce enriched uranium for use in an atomic bomb, as part of what would become the Manhattan Project.[45][46] Wilson’s team at Princeton was working on a device called an isotron, which would electromagnetically separate uranium-235 from uranium-238. This was done in a quite different manner from that used by the calutron that was under development by a team under Wilson’s former mentor, Ernest O. Lawrence, at the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California. On paper, the isotron was many times as efficient as the calutron, but Feynman and Paul Olum struggled to determine whether or not it was practical. Ultimately, on Lawrence’s recommendation, the isotron project was abandoned.[47]
At this juncture, in early 1943, Robert Oppenheimer was establishing the Los Alamos Laboratory, a secret laboratory on a remote mesa in New Mexico where atomic bombs would be designed and built. An offer was made to the Princeton team to be redeployed there. “Like a bunch of professional soldiers,” Wilson later recalled, “we signed up, en masse, to go to Los Alamos.”[48] Like many other young physicists, Feynman soon fell under the spell of the charismatic Oppenheimer, who telephoned Feynman long distance from Chicago to inform him that he had found a sanatorium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for Arline. They were among the first to depart for New Mexico, leaving on a train on March 28, 1943. The railroad supplied Arline with a wheelchair, and Feynman paid extra for a private room for her.[49]
At Los Alamos, Feynman was assigned to Hans Bethe’s Theoretical (T) Division,[50] and impressed Bethe enough to be made a group leader.[51] He and Bethe developed the Bethe–Feynman formula for calculating the yield of a fission bomb, which built upon previous work by Robert Serber.[52] As a junior physicist, he was not central to the project. He administered the computation group of human computers in the theoretical division. With Stanley Frankel and Nicholas Metropolis, he assisted in establishing a system for using IBM punched cards for computation.[53] He invented a new method of computing logarithms that he later used on the Connection Machine.[54][55]Other work at Los Alamos included calculating neutron equations for the Los Alamos “Water Boiler”, a small nuclear reactor, to measure how close an assembly of fissile material was to criticality.[56]
On completing this work, Feynman was sent to the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the Manhattan Project had its uranium enrichment facilities. He aided the engineers there in devising safety procedures for material storage so that criticality accidents could be avoided, especially when enriched uranium came into contact with water, which acted as a neutron moderator. He insisted on giving the rank and file a lecture on nuclear physics so that they would realize the dangers.[57] He explained that while any amount of unenriched uranium could be safely stored, the enriched uranium had to be carefully handled. He developed a series of safety recommendations for the various grades of enrichments.[58] He was told that if the people at Oak Ridge gave him any difficulty with his proposals, he was to inform them that Los Alamos “could not be responsible for their safety otherwise”.[59]
At the 1946 colloquium on the Super at the Los Alamos Laboratory. Feynman is in the second row, fourth from the left, next to Robert Oppenheimer
Returning to Los Alamos, Feynman was put in charge of the group responsible for the theoretical work and calculations on the proposed uranium hydride bomb, which ultimately proved to be infeasible.[51][60] He was sought out by physicist Niels Bohr for one-on-one discussions. He later discovered the reason: most of the other physicists were too much in awe of Bohr to argue with him. Feynman had no such inhibitions, vigorously pointing out anything he considered to be flawed in Bohr’s thinking. He said he felt as much respect for Bohr as anyone else, but once anyone got him talking about physics, he would become so focused he forgot about social niceties. Perhaps because of this, Bohr never warmed to Feynman.[61][62]
Due to the top secret nature of the work, the Los Alamos Laboratory was isolated. Feynman indulged his curiosity by discovering the combination locks on cabinets and desks used to secure papers. He found that people tended to leave their safes unlocked, or leave them on the factory settings, or write the combinations down, or use easily guessable combinations like dates.[63] Feynman played jokes on colleagues. In one case he found the combination to a locked filing cabinet by trying the numbers he thought a physicist would use (it proved to be 27–18–28 after the base of natural logarithms, e = 2.71828…), and found that the three filing cabinets where a colleague kept a set of atomic bomb research notes all had the same combination. He left a series of notes in the cabinets as a prank, which initially spooked his colleague, Frederic de Hoffmann, into thinking a spy or saboteur had gained access to atomic bomb secrets.[64]
Feynman’s salary was $380 a month, about half what he needed to cover his modest living expenses and Arline’s medical bills. The rest came from her $3,300 in savings.[65] On weekends, Feynman drove to Albuquerque to see his ailing wife in a car borrowed from his good friend Klaus Fuchs.[66][67] Asked who at Los Alamos was most likely to be a spy, Fuchs speculated that Feynman, with his safe cracking and frequent trips to Albuquerque, was the most likely candidate.[66] When Fuchs confessed to being a spy for the Soviet Union in 1950, this would be seen in a different light.[68] The FBI would compile a bulky file on Feynman.[69]
Feynman (center) with Robert Oppenheimer (viewer’s right, next to Feynman) at a Los Alamos Laboratory social function during the Manhattan Project
Feynman was working in the computing room when he was informed that Arline was dying. He borrowed Fuchs’ car and drove to Albuquerque where he sat with her for hours until she died on June 16, 1945.[70] He immersed himself in work on the project and was present at the Trinity nuclear test. Feynman claimed to be the only person to see the explosion without the very dark glasses or welder’s lenses provided, reasoning that it was safe to look through a truck windshield, as it would screen out the harmful ultraviolet radiation. On witnessing the blast, Feynman ducked towards the floor of his truck because of the immense brightness of the explosion, where he saw a temporary “purple splotch” afterimage of the event.[71]
Cornell[edit]
Feynman nominally held an appointment at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as an assistant professor of physics, but was on unpaid leave during his involvement in the Manhattan project.[72] In 1945, he received a letter from Dean Mark Ingraham of the College of Letters and Science requesting his return to the university to teach in the coming academic year. His appointment was not extended when he did not commit to returning. In a talk given there several years later, Feynman quipped, “It’s great to be back at the only university that ever had the good sense to fire me.”[73]
As early as 30 October 1943, Bethe had written to the chairman of the physics department of his university, Cornell, to recommend that Feynman be hired. On 28 February 1944, this was endorsed by Robert Bacher,[74] also from Cornell,[75] and one of the most senior scientists at Los Alamos.[76] This led to an offer being made in August 1944, which Feynman accepted. Oppenheimer had also hoped to recruit Feynman to the University of California, but the head of the physics department, Raymond T. Birge was reluctant. Eventually, he made Feynman an offer in May 1945, but Feynman turned it down. Cornell did, however, match its salary offer of $3,900 per annum.[74] Feynman became one of the first of the Los Alamos Laboratory’s group leader to depart, leaving for Ithaca, New York, in October 1945.[77]
Since Feynman was no longer working at the Los Alamos Laboratory, he was no longer exempt from the draft and was called up by the Army in the fall of 1946. He avoided this by faking mental illness, and the Army gave him a 4-F exemption on mental grounds.[78][79] This may not have been an incorrect assessment; his father died suddenly on 8 October 1946, and Feynman suffered from depression.[80] On October 17, 1946, he wrote a letter to Arline, expressing his deep love and heartbreak. This letter was sealed and only opened after his death. “Please excuse my not mailing this,” the letter concluded, “but I don’t know your new address.”[81]
Unable to focus on research problems, Feynman began tackling physics problems, not for utility, but for self-satisfaction.[80] One of these involved analyzing the physics of a twirling, nutating disk as it is moving through the air, inspired by an incident in the cafeteria at Cornell when someone tossed a dinner plate in the air.[82] He read the work of Sir William Rowan Hamilton on quaternions, and attempted unsuccessfully to use them to formulate a relativistic theory of electrons. His work during this period, which used equations of rotation to express various spinning speeds, ultimately proved important to his Nobel Prize–winning work, yet because he felt burned out and had turned his attention to less immediately practical problems, he was surprised by the offers of professorships from other renowned universities, including the Institute for Advanced Study, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, Berkeley.[80]
Feynman diagram of electron/positron annihilation
Feynman was not the only frustrated theoretical physicist in the early post-war years. Quantum electrodynamics suffered from infinite integrals in perturbation theory. These were clear mathematical flaws in the theory, which Feynman and Wheeler had unsuccessfully attempted to work around.[83] “Theoreticians”, noted Murray Gell-Mann, “were in disgrace.”[84] In June 1947, leading American physicists met at the Shelter Island Conference. For Feynman, it was his “first big conference with big men … I had never gone to one like this one in peacetime.”[85] The problems plaguing quantum electrodynamics were discussed, but the theoreticians were completely overshadowed by the achievements of the experimentalists, who reported the discovery of the Lamb shift, the measurement of the magnetic moment of the electron, and Robert Marshak‘s two-meson hypothesis.[86]
Bethe took the lead from the work of Hans Kramers, and derived a renormalized non-relativistic quantum equation for the Lamb shift. The next step was to create a relativistic version. Feynman thought that he could do this, but when he went back to Bethe with his solution, it did not converge.[87] Feynman carefully worked through the problem again, applying the path integral formulation that he had used in his thesis. Like Bethe, he made the integral finite by applying a cut-off term. The result corresponded to Bethe’s version.[88][89] Feynman presented his work to his peers at the Pocono Conference in 1948. It did not go well. Julian Schwinger gave a long presentation of his work in quantum electrodynamics, and Feynman then offered his version, titled “Alternative Formulation of Quantum Electrodynamics”. The unfamiliar Feynman diagrams, used for the first time, puzzled the audience. Feynman failed to get his point across, and Paul Dirac, Edward Teller and Niels Bohr all raised objections.[90][91]
To Freeman Dyson, one thing at least was clear: Sin’ichirō Tomonaga, Schwinger and Feynman understood what they were talking about even if no one else did, but had not published anything. Moreover, he was convinced that Feynman’s formulation was easier to understand, and ultimately managed to convince Oppenheimer that this was the case.[92] Dyson published a paper in 1949, which added new rules to Feynman’s that told how to implement renormalization.[93] Feynman was prompted to publish his ideas in the Physical Review in a series of papers over three years.[94] His 1948 papers on “A Relativistic Cut-Off for Classical Electrodynamics” attempted to explain what he had been unable to get across at Pocono.[95] His 1949 paper on “The Theory of Positrons” addressed the Schrödinger equation and Dirac Equation, and introduced what is now called the Feynman propagator.[96] Finally, in papers on the “Mathematical Formulation of the Quantum Theory of Electromagnetic Interaction” in 1950 and “An Operator Calculus Having Applications in Quantum Electrodynamics” in 1951, he developed the mathematical basis of his ideas, derived familiar formulae and advanced new ones.[97]
While papers by others initially cited Schwinger, papers citing Feynman and employing Feynman diagrams appeared in 1950, and soon became prevalent.[98] Students learned and used the powerful new tool that Feynman had created. Eventually, computer programs were written to compute Feynman diagrams, providing a tool of unprecedented power. It is possible to write such programs because the Feynman diagrams constitute a formal language with a formal grammar. Marc Kac provided the formal proofs of the summation under history, showing that the parabolic partial differential equation can be reexpressed as a sum under different histories (that is, an expectation operator), what is now known as the Feynman–Kac formula, the use of which extends beyond physics to many applications of stochastic processes.[99] To Schwinger, the Feynman diagram was “pedagogy, not physics”.[100]
By 1949, Feynman was becoming restless at Cornell. He never settled into a particular house or apartment, living in guest houses or student residences, or with married friends “until these arrangements became sexually volatile”.[101] He liked to date undergraduates, hire prostitutes, and sleep with the wives of friends.[102] He was not fond of Ithaca’s cold winter weather, and pined for a warmer climate.[103] Above all, at Cornell he was always in the shadow of Hans Bethe.[101] Feynman did, however, look back favorably on the Telluride House, where he resided for a large period of his Cornell career. In an interview he described the House as “a group of boys that [sic] have been specially selected because of their scholarship, because of their cleverness or whatever it is, to be given free board and lodging and so on, because of their brains”. He enjoyed the house’s convenience and said that “it’s there that I did the fundamental work” for which he won the Nobel Prize.[104][105]
Caltech years[edit]
Personal and political life[edit]
Feynman spent several weeks in Rio de Janeiro in July 1949,[106] and brought back a woman called Clotilde from Copacabana who lived with him in Ithaca for a time. In addition to the cold weather, there was also the Cold War. The Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb in 1949, generating anti-communist hysteria.[107] Fuchs was arrested as a Soviet spy in 1950, and the FBI questioned Bethe about Feynman’s loyalty.[108] Physicist David Bohm was arrested on December 4, 1950,[109] and emigrated to Brazil in October 1951.[110] A girlfriend told Feynman that he should consider moving to South America.[107] He had a sabbatical coming for 1951–52,[111] and elected to spend it in Brazil, where he gave courses at the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas. In Brazil, Feynman was particularly impressed with the Samba music, and learned to play a metal percussion instrument, the frigideira.[112] He was an enthusiastic amateur player of bongo drums and often played them in the pit orchestra in musicals.[113] He spent time in Rio with his good friend Bohm, but Bohm could not convince Feynman to take up investigating Bohm’s ideas on physics.[114]
Feynman did not return to Cornell. Bacher, who had been instrumental in bringing Feynman to Cornell, had lured him to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Part of the deal was that he could spend his first year on sabbatical in Brazil.[115][101] He had become smitten by Mary Louise Bell, a platinum blonde from Neodesha, Kansas. They had met in a cafeteria in Cornell, where she had studied the history of Mexican art and textiles. She later followed him to Caltech, where he gave a lecture. While he was in Brazil, she had taught classes on the history of furniture and interiors at Michigan State University. He proposed to her by mail from Rio de Janeiro, and they married in Boise, Idaho, on June 28, 1952, shortly after he returned. They frequently quarrelled and she was frightened by his violent temper. Their politics were different; although he registered and voted as a Republican, she was more conservative, and her opinion on the 1954 Oppenheimer security hearing (“Where there’s smoke there’s fire”) offended him. They separated on May 20, 1956. An interlocutory decree of divorce was entered on June 19, 1956, on the grounds of “extreme cruelty”. The divorce became final on May 5, 1958.[116][117]
In the wake of the 1957 Sputnik crisis, the U.S. government’s interest in science rose for a time. Feynman was considered for a seat on the President’s Science Advisory Committee, but was not appointed. At this time the FBI interviewed a woman close to Feynman, possibly Mary Lou, who sent a written statement to J. Edgar Hoover on August 8, 1958:
I do not know—but I believe that Richard Feynman is either a Communist or very strongly pro-Communist—and as such as [sic] a very definite security risk. This man is, in my opinion, an extremely complex and dangerous person, a very dangerous person to have in a position of public trust … In matters of intrigue Richard Feynman is, I believe immensely clever—indeed a genius—and he is, I further believe, completely ruthless, unhampered by morals, ethics, or religion—and will stop at absolutely nothing to achieve his ends.[117]
The government did, however, send Feynman to Geneva for the September 1958 Atoms for Peace Conference. On the beach on Lake Geneva, he met Gweneth Howarth, who was from Ripponden, Yorkshire, and working in Switzerland as an au pair. Feynman’s love life had been turbulent since his divorce; his previous girlfriend had walked off with his Albert Einstein Award medal, and, on the advice of an earlier girlfriend, had feigned pregnancy and blackmailed him into paying for an abortion, then used the money to buy furniture. When Feynman found that Howarth was being paid only $25 a month, he offered her $20 a week to be his live-in maid. That this sort of behavior was illegal was not overlooked; Feynman had a friend, Matthew Sands, act as her sponsor. Howarth pointed out that she already had two boyfriends, but eventually decided to take Feynman up on his offer, and arrived in Altadena, California, in June 1959. She made a point of dating other men but Feynman proposed in the spring of 1960. They were married on September 24, 1960, at the Huntington Hotel in Pasadena. They had a son, Carl, in 1962, and adopted a daughter, Michelle, in 1968.[118][119] Besides their home in Altadena, they had a beach house in Baja California, purchased with the money from Feynman’s Nobel Prize.[120]
Feynman tried LSD during his professorship at Caltech.[121][122] He also tried marijuana and ketamine experiences at John Lilly‘s famed sensory deprivation tanks, as a way of studying consciousness.[121][123] He gave up alcohol when he began to show vague, early signs of alcoholism, as he did not want to do anything that could damage his brain.[122]
Physics[edit]
At Caltech, Feynman investigated the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, where helium seems to display a complete lack of viscosity when flowing. Feynman provided a quantum-mechanical explanation for the Soviet physicist Lev D. Landau’s theory of superfluidity.[124] Applying the Schrödinger equation to the question showed that the superfluid was displaying quantum mechanical behavior observable on a macroscopic scale. This helped with the problem of superconductivity, but the solution eluded Feynman.[125] It was solved with the BCS theory of superconductivity, proposed by John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper, and John Robert Schrieffer.[124]
Richard Feynman at the Robert Treat Paine Estate in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1984.
With Murray Gell-Mann, Feynman developed a model of weak decay, which showed that the current coupling in the process is a combination of vector and axial currents (an example of weak decay is the decay of a neutron into an electron, a proton, and an antineutrino). Although E. C. George Sudarshan and Robert Marshak developed the theory nearly simultaneously, Feynman’s collaboration with Murray Gell-Mann was seen as seminal because the weak interaction was neatly described by the vector and axial currents. It thus combined the 1933 beta decay theory of Enrico Fermi with an explanation of parity violation.[126]
From his diagrams of a small number of particles interacting in spacetime, Feynman could then model all of physics in terms of the spins of those particles and the range of coupling of the fundamental forces. Feynman attempted an explanation of the strong interactions governing nucleons scattering called the parton model. The parton model emerged as a complement to the quark model developed by Gell-Mann. The relationship between the two models was murky; Gell-Mann referred to Feynman’s partons derisively as “put-ons”. In the mid-1960s, physicists believed that quarks were just a bookkeeping device for symmetry numbers, not real particles; the statistics of the Omega-minus particle, if it were interpreted as three identical strange quarks bound together, seemed impossible if quarks were real.[127][128]
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory deep inelastic scattering experiments of the late 1960s showed that nucleons (protons and neutrons) contained point-like particles that scattered electrons. It was natural to identify these with quarks, but Feynman’s parton model attempted to interpret the experimental data in a way that did not introduce additional hypotheses. For example, the data showed that some 45% of the energy momentum was carried by electrically neutral particles in the nucleon. These electrically neutral particles are now seen to be the gluons that carry the forces between the quarks, and their three-valued color quantum number solves the Omega-minus problem. Feynman did not dispute the quark model; for example, when the fifth quark was discovered in 1977, Feynman immediately pointed out to his students that the discovery implied the existence of a sixth quark, which was discovered in the decade after his death.[127][129]
After the success of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman turned to quantum gravity. By analogy with the photon, which has spin 1, he investigated the consequences of a free massless spin 2 field, and derived the Einstein field equation of general relativity, but little more. The computational device that Feynman discovered then for gravity, “ghosts”, which are “particles” in the interior of his diagrams that have the “wrong” connection between spin and statistics, have proved invaluable in explaining the quantum particle behavior of the Yang–Mills theories, for example, quantum chromodynamics and the electro-weak theory.[130] He did work on all four of the forces of nature: electromagnetic, the weak force, the strong force and gravity. John and Mary Gribbin say in their book on Feynman: “Nobody else has made such influential contributions to the investigation of all four of the interactions”.[131]
Partly as a way to bring publicity to progress in physics, Feynman offered $1,000 prizes for two of his challenges in nanotechnology; one was claimed by William McLellan and the other by Tom Newman.[132] He was also one of the first scientists to conceive the possibility of quantum computers.[133][134] In 1984–86, he developed a variational method for the approximate calculation of path integrals, which has led to a powerful method of converting divergent perturbation expansions into convergent strong-coupling expansions (variational perturbation theory) and, as a consequence, to the most accurate determination[135] of critical exponents measured in satellite experiments.[136]
Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman[edit]
In the 1960s, Feynman began thinking of writing an autobiography, and he began granting interviews to historians. In the 1980s, working with Ralph Leighton (Robert Leighton’s son), he recorded chapters on audio tape that Robert transcribed. The book was published in 1985 as Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! and became a best-seller. The publication of the book brought a new wave of protest about Feynman’s attitude toward women. There had been protests over his alleged sexism in 1968, and again in 1972. It did not help that Jenijoy La Belle, who had been hired as Caltech’s first female professor in 1969, was refused tenure in 1974. She filed suit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which ruled against Caltech in 1977, adding that she had been paid less than male colleagues. La Belle finally received tenure in 1979. Many of Feynman’s colleagues were surprised that he took her side. He had gotten to know her, and both liked and admired her.[146][147]
Gell-Mann was upset by Feyman’s account in the book of the weak interaction work, and threatened to sue, resulting in a correction being inserted in later editions.[148] This incident was just the latest provocation in a decades-long bad feeling between the two scientists. Gell-Mann often expressed frustration at the attention Feynman received;[149] he remarked: “[Feynman] was a great scientist, but he spent a great deal of his effort generating anecdotes about himself.”[150] He noted that Feynman’s eccentricities included a refusal to brush his teeth, which he advised others not to do on national television, despite dentists showing him scientific studies that supported the practice.[150]
Challenger disaster[edit]
Main article: Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
The 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Feynman played an important role on the Presidential Rogers Commission, which investigated the Challenger disaster. During a televised hearing, Feynman demonstrated that the material used in the shuttle’s O-rings became less resilient in cold weather by compressing a sample of the material in a clamp and immersing it in ice-cold water.[151] The commission ultimately determined that the disaster was caused by the primary O-ring not properly sealing in unusually cold weather at Cape Canaveral.[152]
Feynman devoted the latter half of his book What Do You Care What Other People Think? to his experience on the Rogers Commission, straying from his usual convention of brief, light-hearted anecdotes to deliver an extended and sober narrative. Feynman’s account reveals a disconnect between NASA‘s engineers and executives that was far more striking than he expected. His interviews of NASA’s high-ranking managers revealed startling misunderstandings of elementary concepts. For instance, NASA managers claimed that there was a 1 in 100,000 chance of a catastrophic failure aboard the shuttle, but Feynman discovered that NASA’s own engineers estimated the chance of a catastrophe at closer to 1 in 200. He concluded that NASA management’s estimate of the reliability of the space shuttle was unrealistic, and he was particularly angered that NASA used it to recruit Christa McAuliffe into the Teacher-in-Space program. He warned in his appendix to the commission’s report (which was included only after he threatened not to sign the report), “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.”[153]
Recognition and awards[edit]
The first public recognition of Feynman’s work came in 1954, when Lewis Strauss, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) notified him that he had won the Albert Einstein Award, which was worth $15,000 and came with a gold medal. Because of Strauss’ actions in stripping Oppenheimer of his security clearance, Feynman was reluctant to accept the award, but Isidor Isaac Rabi cautioned him: “You should never turn a man’s generosity as a sword against him. Any virtue that a man has, even if he has many vices, should not be used as a tool against him.”[154] This was followed by the AEC’s Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award in 1962.[155] In 1965, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Schwinger and Tomonaga “for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles”.[156] He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1965,[2][157] and received the Oersted Medal in 1972,[158] and the National Medal of Science in 1979.[159] He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, but ultimately resigned and is no longer listed by them.[160]
In 1978 Feynman sought medical treatment for abdominal pains, and was diagnosed with liposarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Surgeons removed a tumor the size of a football that had crushed his kidney and spleen. Further operations were performed in October 1986 and October 1987.[161] He was again hospitalized at the UCLA Medical Center on February 3, 1988. A ruptured duodenal ulcer caused kidney failure, and he declined to undergo the dialysis that might have prolonged his life for a few months. Watched over by his wife Gweneth, sister Joan, and cousin Frances Lewine, he died on February 15, 1988.[162]
When the end was near, Feynman asked Danny Hillis why he was so sad. He replied that he thought Feynman was going to die soon. Feynman said that that sometimes bothered him, too, adding, when you get to be as old as he was, and have told so many stories to so many people, even when he was dead he wouldn’t be completely gone.[163]
Near the end of his life, Feynman attempted to visit the Russian land of Tuva, a dream thwarted by Cold War bureaucratic issues – the letter from the Soviet government authorizing the trip was not received until the day after he died. His daughter Michelle later undertook the journey.[164] His burial was at Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum in Altadena.[165] His last words were: “I’d hate to die twice. It’s so boring.”[164]
Films and plays[edit]
Infinity, a movie both directed by and starring Matthew Broderick as Feynman, depicting his love affair with his first wife and ending with the Trinity test. 1996.
Parnell, Peter (2002) “QED” Applause Books, ISBN 978-1-55783-592-5, (play).
Whittell, Crispin (2006) “Clever Dick” Oberon Books, (play)
“The Quest for Tannu Tuva”, with Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton. 1987, BBC Horizon and PBS Nova (entitled “Last Journey of a Genius”).
“No Ordinary Genius” A two-part documentary about Feynman’s life and work, with contributions from colleagues, friends and family. 1993, BBC Horizon and PBS Nova (a one-hour version, under the title “The Best Mind Since Einstein”) (2 × 50-minute films)
The Challenger (2013) A BBC Two factual drama starring William Hurt, tells the story of American Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman’s determination to reveal the truth behind the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster.
The Fantastic Mr Feynman. One hour documentary. 2013, BBC TV.
Los Alamos from Below on YouTube Lecture by Feynman
The Feynman Lectures on Physics Website by Michael Gottlieb, assisted by Rudolf Pfeiffer and Caltech
Feynman Online!, a site dedicated to Feynman
Feynman and the Connection Machine
Richard Feynman (Interviews, with and about) – American Institute of Physics
20th-century physicists
20th-century scientists
American Nobel laureates
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American physicists
California Institute of Technology faculty
Deaths from cancer in California
Cellular automatists
Cornell University faculty
Deaths from liposarcoma
Experimental physicists
Far Rockaway High School alumni
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Jewish atheists
Manhattan Project people
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
Nanotechnologists
National Medal of Science laureates
Niels Bohr International Gold Medal recipients
Nobel laureates in Physics
Particle physicists
People from Far Rockaway, Queens
Princeton University alumni, 1940–49
Putnam Fellows
Quantum electrodynamics
Quantum physicists
Scientists from California
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Theoretical physicists
Nuclear weapons scientists and engineers
United States Army civilians
Textbook writers
Sigma Xi
In the first video below in the 3rd clip in this series are his words and my response is below them.
John Piippo in his article 50 Renowned Academics (Atheists) Speaking About God – A Review, (August 05, 2011) concerning Feynam’s quote (which is in bold).
Richard Feynman (physics)
“I can’t believe the special stories that have been made up… because they seem to be be too simple, too local, too provincial.” I think this is a good objection, one to be taken seriously. I don’t, of course, think it is adequate to claim that the Jesus story has been “made up.” We need to bring in historical studies here. The Jesus-claim is that it is a story rooted in historical events. Historiographical research contains its own unique set of problems, especially as regards the matter of “evidence.”
FIRST, Romans 1 points that every person has a God-given conscience instead of them that tells them that God exists. The interesting factor is that this can be tested by a lie-detector and there was a proposition I made to the FELLOWS of CSICOP concerning that in the 1990’s. I was very honored that many of the them replied (including Antony Flew and Carl Sagan).
THIRD, there is plenty of evidence from archaeology showing the Bible is true from cover to cover and can be trusted. What about the events in the Bible which claim to be the works of God? Can they be tested by a examination of the historical and archaeological records? Here are some of the posts I have done in the past on the subject: 1. The Babylonian Chronicle, of Nebuchadnezzars Siege of Jerusalem, 2. Hezekiah’s Siloam Tunnel Inscription. 3. Taylor Prism (Sennacherib Hexagonal Prism), 4. Biblical Cities Attested Archaeologically. 5. The Discovery of the Hittites, 6.Shishak Smiting His Captives, 7. Moabite Stone, 8. Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, 9A Verification of places in Gospel of John and Book of Acts., 9B Discovery of Ebla Tablets. 10. Cyrus Cylinder, 11. Puru “The lot of Yahali” 9th Century B.C.E., 12. The Uzziah Tablet Inscription, 13. The Pilate Inscription,
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Outsider Looking In: Sociando-Mallet 1982-2015
BY NEAL MARTIN | MARCH 6, 2019
Bordeaux is built around an immutable hierarchy set in stone in 1855. As the ink dried on the classification, I suspect nobody believed it would still shape the region into the 21st century and beyond – and arguably more so now than ever before. Whether you agree with the classification or not, it inevitably creates winners and losers. Properties with exceptional terroir that underperformed at the time of assessment (the decade before 1855) pay the price in perpetuity. There are mundane reasons for exclusion. A négociant once told me that had Sociando-Mallet been located less north and, let’s say, closer to Calon-Ségur, then doubtless it would have been classified, given its enviable gravel soils and proximity to the Gironde. Unfortunately, Sociando-Mallet lay beyond the geographic purview of those assigned to gather data, and over subsequent decades this injustice left the estate reeling, to the point where it started crumbling into oblivion. Thankfully, one man saw its potential and single-handedly drove the regeneration that led to its current status as potentially the best non-classified growth on the Left Bank. I had not visited for several years, so I arranged to reacquaint myself with Sociando-Mallet and discover how vintages over the last four decades have matured.
The history of Sociando-Mallet can be traced back to March 17, 1633, the date of a document referring to Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, a propitious terre noble that belonged to a Basque nobleman named Sièvre Sociando. The estate passed through the hands of several owners until around 1850, when it was sold to a naval captain named Mallet. Hitherto the wine from this terre noble had been known as Lamothe, but Mallet renamed it Sociando and appended his family name. In the early 1870s, as recorded by the 1874 edition of Féret, Mallet’s widow sold the property to the Alaret family, who presided over the increasingly esteemed wine. The 1898 edition of Féret places it second behind Château Verdignan on their list of best Cru Bourgeois in Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne. At that time, the proprietor was Léon Simon, who had bought the estate in 1878. Production was still comparatively small, at 45 tonneaux per annum. During the 20th century, the estate had a succession of owners that included the négociant Delor; Louis Roulet, in the 1940s and 1950s; and a former mayor of Saint-Seurin.
The lack of continuity in ownership hindered long-term investment, and Sociando-Mallet began treading water. Quality went off the boil, and the château building began to fall into disrepair. The wines’ reputation was nothing like its halcyon days at the end of the 19th century, even though it was included in the inaugural Cru Bourgeois classification of 1932. The estate finally found itself under the proprietorship of the Téreygéol family. I have read that François Téreygéol bought the property, although I believe it would have been his father Emile. But that is all by the by, because the Téreygéols decided to focus on their other property, Pontoise-Cabarrus, and put Sociando-Mallet on the market. Both were in dire need of investment and the family could not finance both. In 1969 a buyer was found. His name was Jean Gautreau.
Gautreau, born in 1927, had been employed as a salesman for the négociant arm of the Miailhe family and was escorting a Belgian client around the northern Médoc when he chanced upon Sociando-Mallet. According to Clive Coates, writing in his Grand Vin tome, Gautreau bought the estate for 250,000 Francs because he admired the vista across the yawning Gironde estuary. Some say he initially saw it as a mere holiday home, and only after encouragement from Jean-Paul Gardère at Latour and Jean-Michel Cazes at Lynch-Bages did he realize its potential as something more. At that time he had no practical experience of winemaking. The vineyard had withered to just five hectares and the buildings were in ruinous condition, without a cellar to speak of. However, as Gardère and Cazes explained to its new owner, the estate occupied a propitious gravel croupe, basically an extension of Montrose to the south. So Gautreau spent years restoring Sociando-Mallet with the ultimate aim of creating a vin de garde. By 1982 he had reconstituted the vineyard and brought it up to 30 hectares, installed temperature-controlled stainless steel and concrete vats, and made the château inhabitable. Part of the reason he was able to finance the reconstruction of Sociando-Mallet was that he continued to run his own independent merchant, through which he distributed the wine. Gautreau constructed a large balcony overlooking the vineyard and the estuary over to Blaye and beyond, to admire the view that had sparked his interest.
Jean Gautreau as seen when I visited the property in 2006.
I used to meet Jean Gautreau during en primeur visits, though I have not seen him for a few years now. He always welcomed me with open arms, often in sunglasses for some reason, happy that at least one writer had bothered to visit a château disadvantaged by its location far from itineraries of Grand Cru Classé. His pride in Sociando-Mallet was tangible and infectious. One could misinterpret his passion for arrogance, given that Sociando-Mallet was unclassified. Hubristically in some eyes, he refused to submit his wine for the Cru Bourgeois reclassification of 2003, when it surely would have become the tenth Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, and instantly torpedoed some of the classification’s credibility. This can be excused because of Gautreau’s unstinting dedication to what was an unfashionable location; because he turned a run-down estate into one of the best in the northern Médoc; and not least because of the quality of the wines. Now in his 90s, Gautreau lives in the town of birth of Lesparre, enjoying a well-deserved retirement. It was a pleasure to meet his daughter Sophie Gautreau, who currently runs the estate.
Sophie Gautreau, daughter of Jean Gautreau, has taken the reins from her father.
Considering that the vines once occupied just five hectares, it is impressive that there are now 77 hectares in production. The current vineyard comprises 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc, though in the past there was up to 5% Petit Verdot. The main plot is around the château, and there is a second 28-hectare parcel toward the village of St-Seurin-de-Cadourne, used for the second wine. The vines average 40 years of age and are pruned double Guyot and planted at around 8,333 vines per hectare. There is no de-leafing or green harvest as at many other properties; Gautreau vehemently disapproved of those practices and preferred to sort the bunches in the cellar, notwithstanding that their exposed vineyard needs protection by the canopy from the wind and sun. Ergo, the yields at Sociando-Mallet tend to be higher than those of its peers, often around 50hl/ha. It can be argued that this modus operandi imparts a greenness that can affect the wine in its youth. I will broach that later.
Looking over the main vineyard at Sociando-Mallet from the balcony, the banks of the estuary around 800 meters away. You might be able to make out the eyesore that is the nuclear power station on the opposite bank.
During the harvest, head winemaker Pascale Thiel and Sophie Gautreau enter the vineyard to choose which plots to pick, approached parcel by parcel using two teams of around 140 vendangeurs. “We spend all afternoon in the vineyard choosing the plot. We use two sorting tables before de-stemming, and then a vibrating sorting table,” Sophie Gautreau informed me as we chatted on the balcony. Harvest had begun, and in the distance, pickers worked through the vines. “We ferment the wine in cement and stainless steel vats (usually with a long cuvaison of between 20 and 35 days), maturing for 12 months in barrel before racking.” A high percentage of new oak is used here, at least 80% but often closer to 100%. Just over 30,000 cases are produced of the Grand Vin plus a second label, previously called Latigue de Brochon but now simply Les Demoiselles de Sociando-Mallet, that sees a modest 25% new oak.
I also undertook a complete vertical of the elusive Cuvée Jean Gautreau from the debut 1995 vintage. The first I heard about this cuvée was about a decade ago when I was invited to a vertical tasting in London. It has remained an insiders’ secret, perchance because it was intended as a one-off for private use. In fact, it has been produced every year since, and a few cases dribble out as late releases. The Cuvée Jean Gautreau is a specific barrel selection made in the winery, where some 80 barrels, matured in 100% new oak, are whittled down to just three of the best barrels, or approximately 900 bottles. Sophie Gautreau told me that initially the cooperage was only Seguin Moreau, although since 2000 they have used a mixture.
One of my regrets is not being able to attend a complete vertical tasting of Sociando-Mallet a few years ago to celebrate 40 years since Jean Gautreau’s acquisition of the estate. I was eager to make amends and tasted most major vintages from 1982. In addition, I had the opportunity to taste a complete vertical of the Cuvée Jean Gautreau from the debut 1995 to the present.
This tasting proved that Sociando-Mallet has a strong case that it is a classed growth in all but name. One of its disadvantages is that it unequivocally requires bottle age – let’s give a ballpark figure of 10 years in a good vintage. It is true that there can be green traits in its youth, but these tend to ebb away as the wine matures, perhaps similar to the way some whole-bunch Pinot Noirs subsume stemminess that can transmute into attractive secondary characteristics. Sociando-Mallet vintages from the 1980s attest to a wine with inbuilt longevity that must surely derive from its gravel soils. The oldest vintage, the 1982 Sociando-Mallet, is still going strong and indeed, a few months earlier it had easily held its own among far more expensive Grand Cru Classé at a 1982 horizontal. The 1983 Sociando-Mallet has not fared as well; however, the 1985 and 1986 Sociando-Mallet continue to give drinking pleasure and reflect the character of those vintages, the former fleshy and polished, the latter fresh, ferrous and structured. I often find that Sociando-Mallet excels in a warm growing season, and the 1990 Sociando-Mallet proves that to be the case. It’s a gorgeous wine that is spicier than previous vintages, revealing a hint of curry leaf on the finish, and clearly à point.
In the mid-1990s we see a slight change as the wine is entirely raised in new oak. I am not completely sold on this approach. The aromatics on the 1996 Sociando-Mallet are rather dictated by the cooperage, unlike the slightly superior 1995. In a less ripe vintage such as in 1998, I find the new oak disproportionate to fruit that cannot quite give it the necessary support, perhaps one key difference between Sociando-Mallet and the First Growths that share similar terroir. The 2000 Sociando-Mallet was not shown at the vertical and has always been a controversial wine. I remember being impressed during en primeur, and yet subsequent encounters have revealed a nagging greenness that leaves a bitter/vegetal note on the finish. I dug out another bottle from my cellar, but it too was disappointing compared to other vintages. Perhaps this is one year when some green harvesting or de-leafing would have benefited the wine. Far superior is the 2001 Sociando-Mallet, which is more harmonious and fresher, showing no trace of underripeness. The 2003 vintage favored the northern Médoc and especially Saint-Estèphe, and while you can shell out for the touted Montrose and Cos d’Estournel, the best value for money might be the outstanding Sociando-Mallet. In this season, Jean Gautreau’s eschewing of effeuillage was advantageous; others cut back canopies and left exposed bunches to be grilled by the merciless heat that summer. Even better, perhaps, is the benchmark 2005 Sociando-Mallet, where everything comes together, sporting fine-boned tannins that are not always associated with this cru. This is the first vintage where I feel more bottle age will not go amiss. I must admit to finding the 2007 and 2008 Sociando-Mallet a little disappointing and too herbaceous for my liking. This is put into sharp relief by the outstanding 2010 Sociando-Mallet, destined to be one of the most structured and longest-lasting of all vintages produced to date. Readers can find more recent vintages already entered on the Vinous database from previous tastings.
Not on the database, at least until now, are notes for the Cuvée Jean Gautreau. Because of the way the barrels are selected, the blend can differ greatly. Readers will find details of all the assemblages within the tasting notes, but to give one example, the 1997 comprises 60% Cabernet Sauvignon while the 1998 includes 90%. That said, the wine is an expression of Gautreau’s predilection instead of an articulation of a specific plot of land; therefore, despite varying blends, there is a sense of stylistic consistency. Though rarely seen, prices are little different from Sociando-Mallet itself, partly because few people are aware of the Cuvée Jean Gautreau’s existence and partly because it is not implicitly superior. There are some excellent vintages, such as the 2001, 2009 and 2010 Cuvée Jean Gautreau, but they are as much a reflection of those great growing seasons as anything else. Stylistically, they would appeal to palates that prefer a modern style of Left Bank, richer and glossier than the regular Sociando-Mallet. At its best, the Cuvée Jean Gautreau can certainly mature over 15 to 20 years; in other vintages, especially those that experience weaker growing seasons, it seems burdened by the new oak and the results are less interesting.
We often talk about proprietors who have followed their own path. Few in Bordeaux personify this more than Jean Gautreau. Sociando-Mallet struck out on its own from the moment Gautreau acquired the property and commenced rebuilding it. Now it seems to occupy a no-man’s land. Received wisdom is that it ranks above Cru Bourgeois, a view shared by me and reflected in its higher market prices, yet it is destined never to be part of the “club of 1855.” It is an outsider looking in. There is no question that it occupies great terroir, but Sociando-Mallet has always had obstacles in its way: its distance from the city of Bordeaux; its high turnover of owners in the 20th century and concomitant decay; its omission from the 1855 classification and (voluntarily) as a Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in 2003. Furthermore, it has never been the most consistent of wines. Vintages like 2000 reinforce a sense of unpredictability, compounded by youthful greenness, which was anathema at a time when the vogue was for low yields and ripeness. Sociando-Mallet would have become an anachronism had the wines not cut the mustard.
Ultimately, the estate’s doggedness under Gautreau is its strength. Even without Jean Gautreau at the helm, Sociando-Mallet will always be blessed by the gravel croupe that elevates its wine above that of its peers, putting it neck and neck with Grand Cru Classé. One can argue that its site is even more advantageous thanks to the regulating affects of the Gironde estuary, which is wider here and thus more influential than farther south in Saint-Julien or Margaux. At least now there are one or two others in the area with the same vision and conviction, notably Jean Guyon at Haut-Condissas and Rollan de By farther north (see Aiming High: Haut-Condissas 1997–2015 for last year’s article on Vinous). For the imminent future, I see Sociando-Mallet continuing just as it has done over the last few years, punching above its weight, official status be damned.
See the Wines from Youngest to Oldest
Looking The Part: Pichon-Baron 1953 – 2015, Neal Martin, January 2019
The DBs: Bordeaux 2016 In Bottle, Neal Martin, January 2019
Long Distance Runner: Brane-Cantenac 1924-2015, Neal Martin, January 2019
Enigma Variations: Lafleur 1955-2015, Neal Martin, November 2018
Cellar Favorite: 1967 Château d’Yquem Sauternes Premier Grand Cru (Jan 2021)
Choose Wisely: Château Sérilhan 2008–2017 (Jan 2021)
Lagrange 1959-2015 (Dec 2020)
Saturday Morning: Larcis Ducasse 1945-2017 (Oct 2020)
Cellar Favorite: 1919 Montrose (Sep 2020)
2018 Château d'Yquem (Sep 2020)
Southwold: 2016 Bordeaux Blind (Aug 2020)
The Most and Least Important of Things: Petrus 1897–2011 (Jul 2020)
Delivering Where It Counts: Meyney 1971–2017 (Jul 2020)
Cellar Favorite: 2010 Haut-Bailly (Jun 2020)
Cellar Favorite: 2011 Le Pin (Jun 2020)
2019 Bordeaux: A Long, Strange Trip (Jun, 2020)
Uncertain Smile: Bordeaux 2019 (Jun 2020)
Château Siran 1918-2008 (Jun 2020)
Cellar Favorite: 1947 Château Trotanoy (Jun 2020)
Hopes and Dreams: Canon Chaigneau 1998-2019 (May 2020)
Six Decades of Pavie-Macquin: 1928-2018 (May 2020)
Remember, Remember: 1945 Bordeaux (May 2020)
No Relation: Clos Saint-Martin 1964-2017 (Apr 2020)
Squares & Circles: Bordeaux ‘10 At Ten (Apr 2020)
Cellar Favorite: 2012 Château Latour (Apr 2020)
Cellar Favorite: 1931 d’Yquem (Mar 2020)
In Good Taste: Branaire-Ducru 1928-2013 (Mar 2020)
2017 Bordeaux – Mirror, Mirror on The Wall… (Mar 2020)
Cellar Favorite: 1949 Château Figeac (Feb 2020)
Vintage Seeks Home: Bordeaux 2017 In Bottle (Jan 2020)
Cellar Favorite: 1924 Château Filhot (Jan 2020)
Cellar Favorite: 1939 & 1950 Cheval Blanc (Dec 2019)
Cellar Journal: Bordeaux 1920-2015 (Dec 2019)
Cellar Favorite: 1970 La Tour Haut-Brion (Nov 2019)
The Future’s Not What It Was: Bordeaux 2018 (Nov 2019)
Cellar Favorite: 1990 Château Latour (Nov 2019)
A Century - Not Out: Talbot 1919-2010 (Oct 2019)
Remembering Jean-Bernard Delmas (Oct 2019)
The Cat’s Whiskers: Bordeaux 1961 (Oct 2019)
The Other Side of Bordeaux (Sep 2019)
Cellar Favorite: 1947 Carbonnieux Blanc (Sep 2019)
A Century of Bordeaux: The Nines (Sep 2019)
Songs Full of Light - Lafaurie-Peyraguey 1906-2018 (Aug 2019)
Two Imaginary Boys: Pichon-Lalande (Aug 2019)
Cellar Favorite: 1904 & 1948 Langoa-Barton (Aug 2019)
Vinous Table: TentaziOni, Bordeaux, France (Jul 2019)
Precious Clay: L’Eglise-Clinet 1929–2015 (Jul 2019)
"G" Acte 1 to 8 (Jul 2019)
Finally: Bordeaux 2015 In Bottle (Jul 2019)
Cellar Favorite: 1970 Gallais Bellevue (Jun 2019)
Finding Filhot: Filhot 1935-2015 (May 2019)
Cellar Favorite: 1934 Cheval Blanc (May 2019)
Bordeaux 2018: Back in Black (Apr 2019)
The Margaux Paragon: Rauzan-Ségla 1900-2015 (Apr 2019)
Cellar Favorite: Château Latour: 2019 New Releases (Apr 2019)
An Education: La Dominique 1989-2015 (Apr 2019)
Cellar Favorite: 1988 Ausone (Apr 2019)
Setting Sail - Malartic-Lagravière 1916 - 2013 (Apr 2019)
What Nectar!! Suduiraut 1899-2015 (March 2019)
A Test Of Greatness: 2009 Bordeaux Ten Years On (March 2019)
Cellar Favorite: 1869, 1879 & 1893 d’Yquem (March 2019)
Cellar Favorites: 1953 & 1975 l’Angélus (Feb 2019)
Looking The Part: Pichon-Baron 1953 – 2015 (Jan 2019)
The DBs: Bordeaux 2016 In Bottle (Jan 2019)
Cellar Favorite: 2005 Larcis Ducasse (Jan 2019)
2016 Bordeaux…It’s All In The Bottle (Jan 2019)
Long Distance Runner: Brane-Cantenac 1924-2015 (Jan 2019)
Cellar Favorites: Coutet Cuvée Madame (Jan 2019)
Cellar Favorites: 1945, 1966 & 1982 Gruaud Larose (Dec 2018)
Cellar Favorite: 1970 Château de Fieuzal Rouge (Dec 2018)
Enigma Variations: Lafleur 1955-2015 (Nov 2018)
Cellar Favorite: 1956 Château Léoville Barton (Oct 2018)
Where Value Lies: First Look At 2016 Bordeaux (Oct 2018)
Fairest of Them All: Cos d’Estournel 1928 – 2015 (Oct 2018)
Sharing Alike: Petrus 1947 - 2015 (Sep 2018)
Cellar Favorite: 1906 Château d’Arche Crème de Tête (Aug 2018)
Aiming High: Haut-Condissas 1997–2015 (Aug 2018)
The Marital Margaux: d’Issan 1945-2015 (Jul 2018)
Cellar Favorite: 1900 Château Margaux Deuxième Vin (Jul 2018)
Cellar Journal – Bordeaux to Start… (Jul 2018)
Looking Back To Go Forward: Lafite-Rothschild 1868 – 2015 (Jul 2018)
In Excelsis: Château Latour 1887 – 2010 (Jul 2018)
Cellar Favorites: Laville Haut-Brion (Jul 2018)
Bordeaux In Excelsis (Jun 2018)
Cellar Favorite: 1955 Château Latour (Jun 2018)
Last Man Standing: Bel-Air Marquis d’Aligre (May 2018)
A Century of Bordeaux: The Eights (May 2018)
Purple Reign: La Conseillante 1966-2015 (May 2018)
2017 Bordeaux: The Heart of the Matter (May 2018)
2017 Bordeaux : Au cœur de l'affaire (May 2018)
The F-Word: Bordeaux 2017 (May 2018)
The F-Word: Bordeaux Left Bank 2017 (May 2018)
The F-Word: Bordeaux Right Bank 2017 (May 2018)
Cellar Favorite: 1947 Cos d’Estournel (Apr 2018)
Mother & Child: La Lagune 1962 – 2015 (Apr 2018)
Cellar Favorite: 2006 Tertre Rôteboeuf (Apr 2018)
A Beautiful Stay: Beau-Séjour Bécot 1970-2015 (Apr 2018)
Cellar Favorite: 1973 Pétrus (Apr 2018)
Vinous Table: TentaziOni, Bordeaux, France (Apr 2018)
Cellar Favorite: Château Latour: Latest Releases (Apr 2018)
Bordeaux 2014: The Southwold Tasting (Mar 2018)
Here We Go Again: Value Bordeaux 2015 (Mar 2018)
Long and Winding Road: Ausone 1912–1999 (Mar 2018)
Cellar Favorite: 1990 Troplong Mondot (Mar 2018)
2015 Bordeaux: Every Bottle Tells a Story... (Feb 2018)
The Magician’s Fool: 1950s Bordeaux (Feb 2018)
Juxtapose With You: Pétrus, Lafleur & Le Pin (Feb 2018)
2008 Bordeaux: A Day In A Life (Feb 2018)
Remembering Bob Wilmers (Dec 2017)
Cellar Favorite: 2000 Smith Haut Lafitte (Dec 2017)
Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival 2017 (Nov 2017)
Remembering Patrick Maroteaux (Nov 2017)
Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1921-2016 (Oct 2017)
Cellar Favorites: Château Latour – 2017 Library Releases (May 2017)
Cellar Favorite: 1983 Château Gruaud-Larose (May 2017)
Cellar Favorite: 1986 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey (May 2017)
2016 Bordeaux: It’s Now or Never, Baby (Apr 2017)
2016 Bordeaux: 30 Top Values (Apr 2017)
Larcis Ducasse Retrospective: 1945-2014 (Mar 2017)
2014 Bordeaux: A September Surprise (Feb 2017)
Cellar Favorite: 1996 Château d’Yquem (Sep 2016)
Mouton Rothschild: 2003-2015 (May 2016)
Bordeaux’s Radiant 2015s (Apr 2016)
Remembering Paul Pontallier (Mar 2016)
Cellar Favorites: 1996 & 1985 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (Feb 2016)
2012 Bordeaux: Messages in a Bottle (Jan 2016)
2005 Bordeaux with Tanzer & Galloni (Nov 2015)
Cellar Favorite: 1982 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (May 2015)
Cellar Favorite: 1982 Château Margaux (May 2015)
2014 Bordeaux – Vintage Highlights (May 2015)
2014 Bordeaux – Les Découvertes: Under the Radar Gems and Sleepers (May 2015)
2014 Bordeaux: It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over (Apr 2015)
Le Miracle de Haut-Brion (Dec 2014)
Cristal and Icons from Piedmont & Bordeaux (Oct 2014)
2013 Bordeaux: Walking the Tightrope (Apr 2014)
Vinous Table: L’Univerre, Bordeaux (Apr 2014)
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V. Ramani's web The world through my lens
Op-eds/articles
Running with the Hares, Hunting with the Hounds – A Dangerous Game
Posted by vramani in government, political economy, public affairs, public policy. Tagged: Babri Masjid, BJP, coalitions, Congress, Lokpal, Naseeruddin Shah, Punjab, Sabarimala, Shah Bano, UAPA. 8 comments
I know it has become a pastime, especially among those sympathetic to or following the present ruling dispensation, to lay the blame for all India’s ills at the door of the Indian National Congress and its presiding deities, the Nehru-Gandhi family. We may pass over the apparent errors of India’s first Prime Minister, including his neglect of primary education and agriculture and his obsession with the public sector, not to mention his disastrous tryst with the Chinese, relying on incompetent advisers. But what, even for true-blue liberals, is not so forgettable are the errors of commission and omission over the last forty years, which have landed the country in crisis after crisis. In trying to be all things to all people, the Congress has been withering away, in the best traditions of Marx’s Communist state.
Let us start with its missteps in Punjab in the late 1970s/early 1980s, followed by the Shah Bano-Ram Janmabhoomi fiascos of the 1980s. Catering to what it thought were specific constituencies, the Congress played with fire and, as expected, sustained severe burns. It forfeited the support of the Sikhs after the storming of the Golden Temple and the pogrom of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984 and alienated moderate Muslims with its anti-woman stance in the Shah Bano case. It then provided oxygen to a weakened BJP by opening the locks of the Ram Temple, followed by a spell of masterly inaction when the Babri Masjid was being demolished. The electorate rightly banished it to the boondocks for eight years, till its return in 2004.
But this blog is not about the past; it is about how the Congress party refuses to learn from its past mistakes. Four recent incidents highlight its continued bumbling and raise serious doubts in the mind of the swing voter about the capabilities of this party to govern the country for the next five years. After managing to secure power in three Hindi heartland states, one would have hoped that the new broom would sweep clean. But there seems to be no effort (at least not in public view) or intention to implement the rule of law in dealing with vigilante rowdyism. Following up on the prosecution of lynchers would have sent a clear message to those who indulged in murder under previous ruling regimes. Not only was this not done, there was the recent incident of film personality Naseeruddin Shah being prevented from participating in the Ajmer Literature Festival. The Chief Minister tweeted weakly about his commitment to the rule of law. But there was no firm police action to make it clear to the protesting hoodlums that their nonsense would not be tolerated. Added to this is the continued ambivalence of the new Congress governments on the “beef ban”. The Rajasthan government seems to have gone further. Newspaper reports speak of its efforts to felicitate those who shelter cows; there is no discussion on reviving the cattle industry and restoring the livelihoods of millions from the minority and disadvantaged communities, while guaranteeing protection to the cow, if the intention was to assuage majority community feelings as well.
The approach to the Sabarimala issue highlights a similar lack of conviction. The party of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru is not able to come out with unequivocal support for the right of women to worship at the shrine even after a Supreme Court judgement. Nor is it able to provide a public forum for a reasoned discussion on possible solutions. Caught between the Scylla of belief and the Charybdis of the rule of law, the party has surrendered its moral authority to regressive religious forces. In the process, it has ensured that it will gain the support of neither the pro-changers (especially its women segments) or the conservative no-changers.
A strong enunciation of its belief in the right to equality of all humans by the Congress would have gone down well with the liberal intelligentsia and India’s largest minority community as regards the hasty attempts by the present central government to introduce the Citizenship Amendment Bill. This travesty of a legislation which seeks to confer inferior status on a particular community should have been roundly condemned and public opinion should have been built up against it. Instead, the Congress Party chose to boycott the vote in the Lok Sabha instead of voting against it: yet another opportunity lost to reiterate its clear support for minorities.
Most laughable has been the denunciation of the sedition provisions in India’s criminal laws by a spokesperson of the Congress party, who has also been Law Minister in the previous UPA government. Congress governments of the past have never been chary of using this execrable provision. Sedition cases are now being lodged against students, intellectuals and journalists. Congress governments never tried to do away with this colonial anachronism. In fact, they introduced even more draconian legislation that hit at the liberty of the individual. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) was first passed during Congress rule and most amendments stiffening its provisions have been enacted by Congress governments. It has been used against social activists rather than terrorists and seems designed more to stifle freedom of expression and association rather than tackle terrorism. For the Congress party to shed crocodile tears when these laws are misused by police under the present ruling dispensation represents the height of hypocrisy.
Nor has there been any real commitment to administrative, judicial or police reforms on the part of the Congress party. The Reports of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission were ignored by the very Congress government that set it up. India’s governance systems are hamstrung by outmoded management structures and criminal justice (and police) reforms are not even on the horizon. No party, including the Congress, has shown any enthusiasm for the institutions of the Lokpal and Lokayukta, raising serious questions about their commitment to eradicate corruption.
There appears to be no realisation that a political party needs a base of committed voters. This requires the articulation of a clear ideology and adherence to a set of specific principles. These ideological positions also attract an adequate mass of swing voters who are not committed to any specific party but vote on the basis of the programmes that a particular party espouses. Given its past mistakes and the absence of committed cadres, it is little wonder that the Congress party has had a virtual no-show in a number of states in the last general elections. Subsequent disenchantment with the BJP may have yielded seats to the Congress in a number of states, but it should not be forgotten that it could not retain power in the state of Karnataka on its own strength. Even today, the loyalty of its legislators in Karnataka remains suspect, compelling its party managers to resort to resorts to keep the flock together.
Cobbling together a mirage of coalitions is not the route to political power for the Congress. Too many of the players in the political parties that make a great show of unity today have gone through the experiences of unhappy (and uneasy) past cohabitations. Nor have any of these parties inspired confidence in the public regarding the values they stand for. The animals in India’s Animal Farm may then decide to continue with Farmer Jones rather than opt for Napoleon if, the more things change, the more they remain the same.
The Gadfly Column
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Tag Archives: Austins Ferry
Award winning buildings edging or overlooking the Derwent River 2015
Recently the Master Builders of Tasmania Association announced Housing and Construction Excellence Award winners. Here are a selection.
The winner of the Unique Achievement in Construction was project MONA Turrell Amarna. This massive sculptural structure was designed by artist James Turrell and titled Amarna. Its construction needed extraordinary creativity and engineering nous to build.
The winner of the Excellence in Heritage Listed or Period Home Restoration/Renovation – Open Value was the ‘Colonial Cottage’, Sorell Creek, New Norfolk. The original building was constructed around 1870.
The winner of Heritage Listed or Period Building Restoration / Renovation – Open Value was ‘Pumphouse Point’ which overlooks both Lake St Clair and Derwent Basin.
The winner of New Construction – $5 million to $10 million was ‘Brooke Street Pier’. This innovative floating structure almost next to Salamanca, replaced a series of tiny old ferry offices, and is now the gateway for ferrying visitors to MONA, supplying interesting locally produced Tasmanian souvenirs of quality, and providing a welcome drink or two.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Tasmania and tagged Amarna, Austins Ferry, Brooke Street Pier, Colonial Cottage, Derwent Basin, Excellence in Heritage Listed or Period Home Restoration/Renovation – Open Value, Heritage Listed or Period Building Restoration / Renovation – Open Value, Housing and Construction Excellence Award, James Turrell, Lake St Clair, Master Builders of Tasmania Association, MONA, MONA Turrell Amarna, New Construction - $5 million to $10 million, Pumphouse Point, Salamanca, Unique Achievement in Construction on October 29, 2015 by Tasmanian traveller.
Another revision: naturally therapeutic images from stages 7-10
I can’t help myself. Having reviewed my favourite images from the first half a dozen stages of my walk along the Derwent River, I felt compelled to continue looking through my collection from the subsequent walks. I have chosen photos showing aspects of both the natural and man-made world and I believe all will prompt thinking about the Derwent River, Hobart and its suburbs, and the natural environment. My selection of the images with the most memorable impact for me, from stages 7-10, are given below.
From the eastern shore looking northwards towards the Bowen Bridge, with a couple of black swans on the river.
Two plaques ‘opened’ by two great Australian prime ministers near the Bowen Bridge.
The rusting raw-edged remains of a ship, the Otago, at Otago Bay.
My enjoyment of any family’s black sheep.
Heading into Old Beach and gradually leaving Mount Wellington behind.
The gloominess of the approaching storm when I reached Old Beach.
The pleasures of well-made pathways, thanks to local government.
Looking northward across the Jordon River to Greens Point.
The glories of native flora. In these instances, it was blooming wattle and a spectacular stand of eucalyptus/gum trees which attracted my attention.
The remains and the signs of a burnt out car on a back track.
Knowing that it is still possible to have a laugh when walking.
Arriving at the Bridgewater Bridge.
Walking on the western shore of the Derwent River for the first time during this project.
The house of one of first European settlers, James Austin, at Austins Ferry.
At Dogshear Point, walking around the Claremont golf course, with the thwacking sound of hit balls crossing the greens.
Reaching Cadbury’s chocolate manufacturing factory in Claremont.
The hand-hewn rustic style seat near Connewarre Bay.
Passing MONA somewhat camouflaged as it nestles into a tiny hill against the Derwent River.
The mosaics along the foreshore.
The jumble of boats and boat houses at Prince of Wales Bay.
Road mark making in Lutana.
Cornelian Bay’s oil tanks up close.
The Tasman Bridge.
The circus had come to town.
The emptiness of an arena of stands waiting to be filled during wood chopping competitions.
Reaching the ‘end of the line’ on arrival in Hobart city.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Hobart, Mount Wellington, Tasmania, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, Australian, black sheep, Black Swans, Bowen Bridge, Bridgewater Bridge, Cadbury, chocolate, chocolate manufacturing factory, circus, Claremont, Claremont Golf Course, Connewarre Bay, Cornelian Bay, Derwent River, Dogshear Point, end of the line, eucalyptus, Greens Point, Gum trees, Hobart, James Austin, Jordon River, local government, Lutana, MONA, mosaic, Mount Wellington, native flora, Old Beach, Otago Bay, prime ministers, Prince of Wales Bay, rustic, Tasman Bridge, wattle, wood chopping on May 12, 2015 by Tasmanian traveller.
Arriving in Granton for Stage 14 of the walk along the Derwent River
Since walking along the Derwent River in the northern suburbs on the western shore earlier this year, I have revisited MONA at Berriedale on a number of occasions but I have not been further north. So it was a great delight when my X1 Metro bus, which departed from Hobart city at 7.17am, used the old main road after the Glenorchy bus mall to travel through Berriedale, Claremont and Austins Ferry before reaching Granton. I was able to see the acres of majestic gold and red leafed vines of Moorilla Wines, to observe Cadbury’s chocolate factory puffing plumes of white steam into the crisp blue sky morning, to identify a range of native birds that were using Goulds Lagoon as a safe resting place, and to recognise various bays and other features that I had passed previously. Everything seemed edged with the early sunlight which glowed strongly through rain washed, impeccably clean air.
I was off the bus at stop 49 on the last of the Brooker Highway at 7.50am. Looking northwards, the sign made it clear the direction to take was straight ahead. An earlier post introduced the history of the old Granton watch house (search Historic Granton, Tasmania) – that’s the low yellow building on the left in the first photo below, and then the second photo shows the sun-struck front of the building.
I was aware New Norfolk, over last weekend, had been celebrating the glories of its autumn foliage as indicated by the sign below. The sign served to increase my anticipation of those colourful delights.
The unmemorable architecture of the Granton Memorial Hall solidly facing the morning sun, seemed very out of place in this beautiful area.
Equally solid and immediately serviceable was the public toilet block at the edge of the carpark used by many city bus commuters.
In front of the carpark a sign reminded me of the importance of grape growing in Tasmania – not the least because the wine from our vineyards is very drinkable (as agreed by wine judges from around the world).
My eyes swung across to the roundabout for vehicles travelling north on the Midlands Highway to Launceston via many rural towns. In the distance, the vertical towers of the Bridgewater Bridge marked the Derwent River crossing. The calmness of the day, and the quality of the light was sublime.
I hadn’t walked far along the Lyell Highway when I saw the sign below which indicated that 16 kilometres further along the highway I would reach New Norfolk. But could I trust the sign? Two or so kilometres further back, when I was still bussing on the Brooker Highway, I had seen a sign indicating the distance was 16 kilometres.
Not far away another roadside sign alerted motorists (and the occasional pedestrian): Welcome to The Rivers Run Touring Route.
Walking on the right hand side of the road facing oncoming traffic and with the Derwent River on my right, I continued into the icy breeze heading towards New Norfolk. It wasn’t much after 8am when I left the (comparatively) built up area of Granton on the first leg of Stage 14.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Hobart, Tasmania, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, autumn, Berriedale, Bridgewater Bridge, Brooker Highway, Cadbury, chocolate, City of Glenorchy, Claremont, Goulds Lagoon, Granton, Granton Memorial Hall, grape, Launceston, Lyell Highway, Metro bus, Midlands Highway, MONA, Moorilla, New Norfolk, northern suburbs, The Rivers Run Touring Route, vineyards, watch house, western shore, wine on April 16, 2015 by Tasmanian traveller.
From Wrest Point to New Norfolk on the Derwent River
‘Have you got a red hat?’ friend An asked me. Recently she became Princess Pollyanna, an esteemed member of Hobart’s Scarlatt O’Hatters (http://www.hobartredhats.com/), and urged me to join particular excursions that have a connection with my walking project. The delicious carrot being wriggled before my eyes was a ferry trip from Hobart to New Norfolk on the Derwent River. I paid my membership fee to Queen Poppi and then found a common red beach hat (although others were wearing all manner of superb creations on their heads – are these the modern day ‘mad hatters’, I wondered). I donned a range of purple clothes and, as the newly appointed Lady Walkabout, jumped on the tiny water taxi ferry with 20 colourful new friends to be.
The wind was strong and some swell across the River kept us bobbing. However, the ride was comfortable and no one needed to bark at the fish over the side. Sprays of salt water marked the windows and there were few opportunities to move outside into the clear moist air. But the day was beautiful, the wind chopped waves dramatic and the panoramic scenery majestic.
What a thrill the journey was. After we left the jetty at Wrest Point Casino in Sandy Bay, a southern suburb of Hobart, we motored with commentary from our driver. He pointed out environmental and historical features. This was a wonderful reminder of research and findings I made while walking the edges of the Derwent between the mouth of the River and Bridgewater Bridge, and I learned a few new details.
The surprise sighting of a white sea eagle perched in a high tree against the cliffs in Shag Bay (an inlet between the Bedlam Walls – refer to my Stage 6 report) inspired the driver to stop and allow us outside to get a privileged view of this large bird.
One of the great treats of the day was motoring underneath the very low Bridgewater Bridge (reminded me of travelling on some flat top boats in Paris where you feel sure the boat will become wedged against the bridge metal) and passing through without a bump or grind.
During our trip, at one stage hundreds of coots flew up from the water, we were accompanied for part of the journey by a small flock of sleek long necked swans, and in a small inlet a large family of pelicans were flying around. Our eyes focused on all these birds.
As we continued on the Derwent River against landscape which I am yet to see on foot, it was clear my earlier belief that marshlands will prevent me from walking directly next to the River for most of the way from the Bridgewater Bridge to New Norfolk, is correct. Occasionally it will be possible to walk on paths and grass, but mostly I will be tramping the hard road verges. I was not aware the remains of a historic Lime Kiln sits beside the water, and it was good to see that I should be able to walk pass this on my way northwards.
As a result of this one-day excursion and from many car trips up and back to New Norfolk, I have a good understanding of the route. However, I realise that at foot level the world looks completely different and I look forward to finding out more in the near future.
understanding of the route. However, I realise that at foot level the world looks completely different and I look forward to finding out more in the near future.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Hobart, Tasmania, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, Bedlam Walls, Bridgewater, Coot, Hobart, Lady Walkabout, Lime Kiln, mad hatters, New Norfolk, Paris, Pelican, Princess Pollyanna, purple, Queen Poppi, Red hat, Sandy Bay Road, Scarlatt O'Hatters, sea eagle, Shag Bay, Stage 6, Swan, water taxi, Wrest Point Casino on March 11, 2015 by Tasmanian traveller.
The highlights of the 9th stage of my walk along the Derwent River
The 9th walk took place on 25th November. I loved every part of the day but a number of highlights stand out.
The tranquillity of Goulds Lagoon
Being at the Austins Ferry point and looking across to the Old Beach jetty
Finding James Austins House
Being surprised how long it took to walk around the water edge of Claremont Golf Course
Arriving at and walking around Dogshear Point
The down time at the Cadbury chocolate factory
Being followed by a duck
Pied Oyster Catchers on the golf course and parks
The rough-hewn bench seat near Lowestoft Bay
The memorial to defence force dogs
Discovering the Worm Mound at MONA
Earlier postings provide more information on these highlights or you can email me for further information
Please note; anyone choosing to walk this stage needs to be aware there are no public toilets. However, a number of businesses have toilet facilities to which you may be able to gain access.
My 10th walking stage will start at bus stop 33 in Berriedale and then will continue south towards Lutana.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Mount Wellington, Tasmania, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, Cadbury, Dogshear Point, Goulds Lagoon, James Austin's house, Lowestoft Bay bench, Lutana, memorial to dogs, Old Beach on December 1, 2014 by Tasmanian traveller.
Walking south and into the suburb of Claremont on the 9th stage along the Derwent River
The intersection of Harbinger Lane and Ferry Road at Austins Ferry marks one corner of Weston Park. At 9.56am I turned left and walked across the Park parallel to Rusts Bay, crossed a single lane wooden bridge and rounded the Shoobridge sporting fields all the while enjoying the pleasures of dogs walking their owners along the edge of the Derwent River.
The photo below shows Shoobridge Park on the northern side of Beedhams Bay.
I was amused and somewhat puzzled watching a Pied Oyster Catcher picking for worms on the sports oval, and not bothered by an interested German Shepherd. What happened to a little fear? What’s wrong with oysters?
I had an easy walk on mowed grasses to Beedhams Bay and was delighted when a White Faced Heron flew onto the path ahead of me. Slender. Petite. Soft grey.
At 10.10am I crossed the railway line following the tracks of others but there are no official paths. The Main Road was again to my right with the railway line to my left. Native Hens were feeding ahead and noisy plovers let them know I was coming. Black swans floated on the Bay. I noticed bus stop 40, and realised 1 ¾ hours had passed since I started today’s trek from bus stop 47 in Granton South.
While at Beedhams Bay I was in full view of three mountains: Mount Direction on the eastern shore, and Mount Faulkner and Mount Wellington on the western shore.
I stopped for a morning tea break at 10.18 in a gazebo at the southern end of Beedhams Reserve. Despite some protection from the elements, the food was blown off my spoon before I could transfer it to my mouth. My hair thwacked back and forwards at every angle across my head creating an interlocking mesh.
The photo below shows Beedhams Bay looking northwards across it.
My maps indicated that the nearby building sunk low in the earth was a scout hall but I couldn’t see signs of identification and the building looked locked up and unused. Foot tracks emerged from the area and crossed the railway line that cut through between packs of houses on either side. There was no evidence of being able to continue to walk close to the Derwent River so I walked up above but beside the railway line until I reached a road crossing at Bilton Street in Claremont.
A local government bike and pedestrian path from Hobart reached its conclusion next to the railway line on the other side of the road. To my surprise Claremont Plaza, a multifaceted shopping village and other organisations, was located in the block diagonally opposite. This was a sensible location to make a toilet stop since there are no public toilets available during my 9th stage of the walk along the Derwent River.
By 10.46am I had returned to the rail/road crossing ready to continue the walk. I followed Bilton Street around the curve until its T junction with Cadbury Road and turned left. On the other side of the road, the lovely red brick unused old Claremont School stood boarded up.
The road turned uphill and passed the Bilton Bay Reserve (10.49am) and the entrance to the Derwent Waters Residential Club – an estate signed as private property thereby denying my access to the River’s edge (10.56am). I continued walking on Cadbury Road flanked by tall pine trees thrashing in the wind, past the Cadbury Sports Grounds (11.05am), past the Cadbury Visitors Car Park (11.08) and turned left onto Bournville Road. I knew I would be returning to have a closer look at the Cadbury chocolate confectionery manufacturing factory so I proposed to walk to Dogshear Point first and then be rewarded sweetly later.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Hobart, Mount Wellington, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, Beedham Bay, Beedham Reserve, Bilton Bay Reserve, Bournville Road, Cadbury, Cadbury Sports Ground, Claremont Plaza, Derwent Waters Residential Club, Dogshear Point, Ferry Road, Harbinger Lane, Mount Direction, Mt Faulkner, Native Hen, Pied Oyster Catcher, Plover, Rusts Bay, Shoobridge Park, Weston Park, White Faced Heron on November 28, 2014 by Tasmanian traveller.
James Austin’s Cottage at Austins Ferry
Leaving the Austins Ferry jetty I passed two metallic standing fish which supported an information panel about local fishes.
Past this sign and amidst trees in the distance the sandstone blocks of James Austin’s Cottage were visible. The interpretative panel indicated that James Austin died on Christmas Day in 1831 (did he choke on something like a threepence from the pudding I wonder?), and is buried in St David’s Park in the centre of Hobart – as I walk through the wharf and Salamanca area of Hobart’s CBD in a few weeks’ time, I will make a detour to see if I can locate his gravestone.
I walked away from James Austin’s tiny cottage at 9.55am and continued my journey southwards.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Hobart, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, James Austin, James Austin's Cottage, St David's Park on November 28, 2014 by Tasmanian traveller.
Onto Austins Ferry edging the Derwent River on the 9th walking stage
At 9.36am last Tuesday I had passed St Virgil’s College with its warbling magpies and raucous plovers flying overhead and turned left at Merley Road. I was in the heartland of the suburb of Austins Ferry and now walking down a hill towards the River. Opposite a street signposted Willow Walk, I crossed some land and then up and over the railway line. I walked across an open area with large fat rabbits quickly disappearing from view.
The view from the water’s edge looking northwards was as follows:
Once at the River’s edge I turned left towards the Austins Ferry Yacht Club and a jetty.
An interpretative panel explained that the Austin’s Ferry was the main Hobart to Launceston link from 1816 until 1848 when the bridge was constructed up stream. James Austin managed the Roseneath Ferry from the western shore and his friend James Earl managed the Compton Ferry from the eastern shore. I peered across the brightly lit water but could barely distinguish the Old Beach jetty on the other side. Clouds were scudding across bringing light and shade so that all my photographs which try to record the jetty on the other side are abysmal failures. Nevertheless I know where to look for that jetty from this Austin’s Ferry jetty.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Hobart, Mount Wellington, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, Austins Ferry Yacht Club, Compton Ferry, James Austin, James Earl, Old Beach, Roseneath Ferry, St Virgil's College on November 28, 2014 by Tasmanian traveller.
9th Stage of walk along Derwent River completed yesterday, Tuesday 25 November
I caught two buses from my home in Bellerive on the eastern shore, via the Elizabeth St CBD Hobart and the Glenorchy City bus malls, to reach Granton on the western shore of the Derwent River in the northern suburbs of the City of Glenorchy in the Greater Hobart Area.
At 8.26am I stepped off the Metro number X1 bus at stop 47 outside the York Hotel in Granton South and, with excitement about what the day might bring, I looked around and admired the view across the River to the suburb of Bridgewater before starting the tramp south.
No footpaths or walk ways had been laid for pedestrians and so vigilance was required against the traffic on the Main Road. Occasionally a few metres of concrete or bitumen were laid for a new subdivision but generally a track for smooth safe walking was not on offer.
The weather started sunny but during the afternoon rain passed intermittently. In the photo below you can see the grey background blurred by rain, but meanwhile three pelicans were enjoying themselves on Lowestoft Bay.
Relentless buffeting wind was the main feature all day. As a result, I couldn’t keep my sun hat attached to my head. Needless to say, I returned home with a blasted red face. But happy from the pleasure of walking, discovery and the fresh air. Being a tourist in my home town is a revelation and a joy.
I walked southwards from Granton South to MONA (the world famous Museum of New and Old Art) at Berriedale and passed through the suburbs of Granton South, Austins Ferry, Claremont and half of Berriedale.
I experienced Goulds Lagoon, Austins Ferry Bay, Rusts Bay, Beedhams Bay, Bilton Bay, Dogshear Point, Windermere Bay, Knights Point, Windermere Beach, Connewarre Bay, McCarthy’s Point, Lowestoft Bay, and Cameron Bay. I plodded around bays and a golf course (I gained special permission to walk this private property but I would NOT recommend anyone else try it – see later postings), had a stopover at Cadbury’s, and hid from the rain in gazebos and art works. All up, I probably walked 18 kms.
Yesterday I covered 9 ¼ km of the River’s length on the western shore. This adds to my previous tally of 3/4km on the western shore making a total of 10kms covered as I trek southwards from the Bridgewater Bridge to the mouth of the Derwent on the western shore.
Specific details of the different legs of this 9th stage walk will be written up and posted in the coming days.
My favourite photo of the day was taken near the end of my walk, when I sat at the point where the southern end of Cameron Bay met the Derwent River (with MONA just over the hill). The water had been frothed by wind and I liked the lacy remnants floating by. The intense colours are the result of the rich light quality caused by the heavy clouds overhead.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Hobart, Mount Wellington, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, Beedhams Bay, Bellerive, Berriedale, Bilton Bay, Bridgewater, Cadbury's, Cameron Bay, City of Glenorchy, Claremont, Connewarre Vay, Dogshear Point, Goulds Lagoon, Granton South, Greater Hobart Area, Knights Point, Lowestoft Bay, McCarthy's Point, MONA, Museum of New and Old Art, Rusts Bay, Windermere Beach, York Hotel on November 26, 2014 by Tasmanian traveller.
Colonial Artists, the Derwent River and the Glenorchy area
A number of 19th century artists made visual references to Roseneath on the Derwent River within the current City of Glenorchy. These include Joseph Lycett, George William Evans and James Taylor (no not ‘Sweet Baby James’) all of whom may have a connection with each other as I will explain.
Background to Joseph Lycett
Let’s start with Joseph Lycett who left a significant body of work depicting Sydney and Newcastle in NSW, and a few pieces named with features along the Derwent River.
Lycett didn’t come to Australia by plan. He was a forger and the British government transported him to Sydney with a sentence of 14 years. He arrived in 1814. It was clear he had skills and was almost immediately given a ticket of leave on landing, but he couldn’t help himself. Within 15 months Lycett was illegally printing bank notes for use in NSW. His new sentence was relocation to Newcastle for hard labour in the coal mines. I suspect there must have been something charismatic about this man despite the Australian Dictionary of Biography alleging Lycett had ‘habits of intoxication’ that were ‘fixed and incurable’. Before long his abilities were noted and he was out of the mines and drafting designs for new buildings in Newcastle. In 1821 he was finally pardoned and left Australia for good the following year. But Lycett never visited Van Diemen’s Land.
I wondered how he came to produce the well-known pictorial publication Views of Australia or New South Wales & Van Diemen’s Land, published by John Souter, London, 1824-25 described by eminent Australian Art historian John McPhee as “the most lavish pictorial account of the colony ever produced”. McPhee has come to the conclusion that Lycett couldn’t help being a con man. Though his views of Van Diemen’s Land were supposedly scenes he had witnessed, McPhee (quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald 5/4/2006) says “there’s no doubt he never went there”. We can be surprised to learn that when Views In Australia didn’t sell in England as well as Lycett hoped, he turned to forging bank notes again. He must have loved his printing press!
So I began to research how Lycett ‘knew’ what the Derwent River and the surrounding land looked like.
When Lycett first landed in Sydney, Governor Macquarie was ruling the colony. During Lycett’s sojourn in Newcastle, Macquarie became acquainted with the artist’s pictorial records of the colony. In 1818, the Governor received the personal gift of a chest. Lycett had painted eight of the twelve panels on this chest with views of Newcastle as well as copies of William Westall’s Views of Australian Scenery. In 1820, the year Lycett returned to live in Sydney and earn a living as a painter, according to http://www.nla.gov.au/selected-library-collections/lycett-collection ‘Governor Macquarie and Elizabeth Macquarie were among his patrons’. Obviously impressed, Governor Macquarie sent a selection of the artist’s work to Lord Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies, in England.
But what does this have to do with the Derwent River?
What is the story about Joseph Lycett’s Tasmanian (then named Van Diemen’s Land) pictures? Well … Governor Macquarie visited Van Diemen’s Land on two occasions: in 1811 (before Lycett arrived) and in 1821 (a few months before Lycett left for England). I love connections and so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Governor Macquarie named the Austins Ferry area as Roseneath when he visited Van Diemen’s Land in 1821. Did the Governor make drawings and bring back sketches? This is doubtful. It is more likely that others went to Van Diemen’s Land at the Governor’s request, brought their sketches back to Sydney and that these were shown (perhaps some were given) to Lycett.
I wondered whose sketches, paintings or etchings Lycett saw, and then ‘used’.Two people with drawing skills have been suggested: George Evans and James Taylor.
First, let’s consider George Evans.
In the first two decades of the 1800s, Governor Macquarie sent surveyor George William Evans to Van Diemen’s Land off and on a number of times for short trips to remeasure land previously granted (misconduct involved); various sources suggest different years so I am not sure exactly which years in the second decade of the 1800s Evans was in Tasmania; some suggestions are Sept 1812 to Aug 1813, 1814, July 1815 to 1817. Wikipedia suggests that on two occasions Evans was granted valuable acres of land near in the Coal River Valley near the town of Richmond outside the Greater Hobart Area.
According to http://www.daao.org.au/bio/george-william-evans/biography, at the end of 1818 Evans was able to resume office as Deputy Surveyor-General of Van Diemen’s Land. His travels around Tasmania are recorded in his Geographical, Historical and Topographical Description of Van Diemen’s Land… (London, 1822). One of his watercolour sketches of Hobart Town was used for the foldout aquatint and etching used as the frontispiece in the original edition. Another of the town was published by Ackermann of London as an independent print. Both depict Hobart as a thriving British colonial seaport town with court-house, commissariat store, St David’s Church, warehouses and numerous domestic dwellings in evidence. A surviving original (Dixson Library) shows a competent understanding of watercolour technique.
The website http://www.nla.gov.au/selected-library-collections/lycett-collection offered: ‘As well as being a competent surveyor and a resolute explorer, Evans was an artist of some note. His aquatint view of Hobart in 1820 was published as a frontispiece in his Geographical, Historical and Topographical Description of Van Diemen’s Land … (London, 1822; second edition, 1824; and a French edition, Paris, 1823). The original, with another aquatint of Hobart in 1829, is in the Dixson Library of New South Wales.’
Second let’s consider James Taylor.
Military officer, Major James Taylor, arrived in Sydney in 1817 with the 48th Foot Regiment. Taylor produced a number of paintings and prints throughout his tours and his panoramic works of Sydney were particularly popular. He travelled to Van Diemen’s Land with Governor Macquarie in 1821. On 15th February 1822 he sailed to Britain with the Macquaries on board the Surry. Only 50 people including the crew were on board for this 5 month trip around Cape Horn and it is easy to speculate that Macquarie and Taylor would have talked about Lycett.
Comparison of art works
I decided that comparing the works of the three artists Evans, Taylor and Lycett might help me to understand where Lycett’s Tasmanian images came from. Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate sufficient of the work of Evans and Taylor to make a solid comparison despite knowing Lycett’s work very well (having worked in the Newcastle Art Gallery for a number of years in the presence of a substantial collection of Newcastle district related images by Lycett). Nevertheless some images for Evans and Taylor are available.
Examples of Lycett’s art
Below is an image of Lycett’s etching (see below) titled Roseneath Ferry near Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land dated 1 December 1824 (two years after Lycett left Australia). The etching was published as plate number 4 in Views in Australia or New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land Delineated. London: J. Souter, 1824. This etching is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. Lycett is looking across the Derwent River from somewhere above the western shore and southwards so that the ‘hill’ in the distance to the left of the picture is Mount Direction (you may recall I walked past this as I passed the Bowen Bridge on my way from the suburb of Risdon to the suburb of Otago Bay on the eastern shore).
The image below, also by Joseph Lycett, is another hand coloured etching, this time from the viewpoint of the eastern shore. The title is View of Roseneath Ferry, taken from the Eastside, Van Diemen’s Land and it was produced in 1825 (when he was already living in England). One of the edition of this etching is in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.
The image below is Distant View of Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land, from Blufhead Plate 28 from Views of Australia or New South Wales& Van Diemen’s Land, published by John Souter, London, 1824-25. This handcoloured aquatint and etching is held in the Joseph Brown Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Examples of George Evans’s art
The image below comes from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-22/1819-slnsw-south-west-view-of-hobart-town-1819-george-william-e/5689410 It is titled South West view of Hobart Town and dated 1819
The image below comes from http://www.acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/s/search.html?collection=slnsw&meta_e=350
Hobart Town, Vandiemen’s Land. 1828 At lower left is printed “G. W. Evans. Pinxt.”; at lower right “R.G. Reeves. Sculpt”; underneath title “Published 1828, by R. Ackermann, 96 Strand, London” he image is from the collections of the State Library of NSW.
Examples of James Raylor’s art
I could find no image by James Taylor that was related to Van Diemen’s Land. I only found two New South Wales images.The image below is from http://www.afloat.com.au/afloat-magazine/2010/july-2010/Lachlan_Macquarie#.VHAuwPmUdqU and titled Panoramic view of Port Jackson c.1821
The image below, from http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=326892 is an aquatint of Port Jackson and Sydney dated 1824.
This panorama of Port Jackson and of the town of Sydney was taken from a hill near the Parramatta River, was produced with ink on paper by Major James Taylor, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1820, then engraved by Rittner et Goulpil, Sydney / Paris in 1824. The Powerhouse Museum (Sydney) provided the following information:
‘Statement of significance
In 1820 Major James Taylor created a series of watercolours on paper which, when joined together, formed a panorama of Sydney. When he returned to England in 1822 (did Taylor and Lycett travel on the same ship? – more research required) Taylor arranged for the engraving and printing of a three sheet panorama based on his watercolours. Known as ‘Major Taylor’s Panorama’, this is one of the most informative depictions of Sydney in its early years. Taylor, a topographical draughtsman attached to the 48th Regiment, arrived in 1817 when Sydney was thriving and Governor Macquarie was trying to turn an ‘infantile’ penal colony into a ‘civilised’ society. Taylor’s pictures were intended to be a record of that change. The view, taken from Observatory Hill, encompasses Sydney Harbour from the Heads to Lavender Bay, showing many of the major buildings of the day.
Convicts can be seen cutting the sandstone which provided building material for Sydney’s expansion. The many fences indicate gardens and a respect for private property. The harbour is filled with trade and military ships. Government House and its stables can be seen set in Governor Macquarie’s private park called the Demesne. Much of this park still survives as the Botanic Gardens and the Domain. This area contrasts markedly with the small cottages in the middle ground which were typical of many in The Rocks. They were often occupied by convicts and their families who were encouraged to develop ‘respectable’ habits like gardening in their spare time.
A prominent building is the Military Hospital, built in 1815, where patients can be seen dressed in long coats. On the horizon are the impressive buildings of Macquarie St, including St James Church, the Hyde Park Barracks and the General Hospital. To the right of the Military Windmill is Cockle Bay, later called Darling Harbour. The land beyond is the Ultimo estate owned by the surgeon John Harris. To the far right are the windmills that gave rise to the name Millers Point.
Topographical artists often included indigenous people in their work. These images were intended to educate European viewers about the appearance and customs of the ‘natives’, but such depictions were informed by symbolism and ideology rather than a representation of reality. In Taylor’s panorama Aborigines stand amid uncultivated bush, in contrast to Europeans who are clearing and grazing the land. When the British took possession of New South Wales they argued that, as the Aborigines did not ‘work’ the land, they did not own it. This supported the notion of ‘terra nullius’ or nobody’s land. Taylor’s representation is a graphic rendering of that argument.
The engraving is based on watercolours by Major James Taylor. Taylor was a topographical draughtsman attached to the 48th Regiment. He arrived in Sydney on the convict transport Matilda on 9 August 1817. He accompanied the Macquarie’s on their tour of Tasmania in May and June 1821 and some of the Tasmanian views in Joseph Lycett’s Views are probably based on Taylor’s drawings. Taylor received some training in draughtsmanship as part of his military studies and like other military and naval officers, was interested in his surroundings and recorded them in watercolours. Little of Taylor’s work survives, notably the originals of this view of Sydney Harbour. This image is held in the Powerhouse Museum collection.’
My conclusion
Lycett’s style is quite different from each of Evans and Taylor so it is difficult to attribute the work of one or the other as being the ‘aid’ to Lycett’s Tasmanian etchings.
There are three possibilities.
Lycett took the shape of the landscape around Roseneath from Taylor’s drawings. I am guessing that since Taylor accompanied Governor Macquarie to Van Diemen’s Land in 1821, he probably went to Roseneath with the Governor on the day that Macquarie named Roseneath. It is conceivable Taylor rushed up a few sketches and it is these that either Taylor showed or gave Lycett, or Taylor gave to the Governor who showed or gave them to Lycett. Perhaps the three of them met in London on arrival in 1822?
Lycett had access in Sydney to Evans maps of the land, and using their flat two dimensional nature, he fabricated a three dimensional landscape. If indeed he worked in this way, then the odd shapes of some topographical features of the landscape in Lycett’s pictures from and towards Roseneath can be explained.
Lycett had access to both Taylor and Evans work and amalgamated them to create a fictional but partly realistic depiction of Tasmanian sites. Lycett’s history is one of creativity, so sticking to the facts of the situation wouldn’t necessarily be important.
Incidental extra
In conclusion, there is one connection between the current Hobart and the Derwent River and the early 19th century Joseph Lycett – which could never have been foreseen. I discovered that Lycett was on the list of prisoners that sailed to Newcastle on 8 July 1815: the name of the ship was the Lady Nelson. Pride of place on the today’s wharf at Hobart is a training sailing replica, the original having been stripped, burnt and sunk in 1825.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Hobart, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, Bowen Bridge, City of Glenorchy, Coal River Valley, Elizabeth Macquarie, George William Evans, Governor Macquarie, John McPhee, Joseph Lycett, Lord Bathurst, Major James Taylor, Mount Direction, National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, New South Wales, Newcastle, Newcastle Art Gallery, Otago Bay, Richmond, Roseneath, Sydney, Tasmania, Van Diemen's Land, William Westall on November 23, 2014 by Tasmanian traveller.
Roseneath on the Derwent River
Signs at the jetty at Old Beach on the Derwent River’s eastern shore referred to Roseneath opposite on the western Shore (within the northern suburbs of the City of Glenorchy). The very impressive blog postings by Geoff Ritchie at http://ontheconvicttrail.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/roseneath-house.html provides detailed and well researched information, plus great photographs. I wonder if I will be in the vicinity of the location of Roseneath house when I walk this way next week (Harbinger Lane and Austin’s Ferry Road).
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, Geoff Ritchie, Old Beach, Roseneath on November 22, 2014 by Tasmanian traveller.
Granton and Austins Ferry on the western shore of the Derwent River
On my 9th walk along the Derwent I will be passing through Granton South and Austins Ferry.
Granton is the northern-most suburb within the City of Glenorchy, part of the Greater Hobart Area. I can find no records explaining how it came to be named. Granton and its Harbour in Edinburgh Scotland were not developed until the 1830s. If the York Hotel in Tasmania’s Granton was built in 1849, possibly there may be a Scottish connection with the naming of the suburb.
Austins Ferry sits adjacent to and south of Granton within the City of Glenorchy. Wikipedia informed me that this suburb was named after James Austin (1776-1831). Austin was transported to Australia as a convict and arrived in Tasmania in 1804. When he became a free man, the government granted him some land in this area. During the 1810s he had a profitable ferrying business across the Derwent River to the eastern shore. ‘In 1821 the visiting Governor Lachlan Macquarie renamed the village Roseneath, but it has since reverted to its original name.’ James Austin’s original cottage is located (somewhere) in this suburb and maybe I will be fortunate enough to locate it when I walk.
According to http://profile.id.com.au/glenorchy/about?WebID=160, Granton is linked with the suburb of Austins ferry for statistical purposes. In 2011, the joint population was 3,329. ‘Settlement of the area dates from the early 1800s. Some growth took place in the early 1900s, although significant development did not occur until the post-war years. Most of the houses were built in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Growth continued from the early 1990s, with the population doubling between 1991 and 2011, particularly in Austins Ferry, a result of large numbers of new dwellings being added to the area. Major features of the area include Goulds Lagoon Sanctuary, Poimena Reserve, Hestercombe Reserve, James Austin Park, Roseneath Park, Shoobridge Park, Weston Park and one school.’
According to http://www.homesales.com.au/location/granton-tas/, Granton has a population of 1519 with an average weekly income of $787. The median prices for houses are $375,000. The average house is rented for $610 a week. 94% of people live in houses as distinct from other types of residences. 36% of people fully own their houses/property. Almost 30% are under 30 years of age and only 10% are over 65 years of age. 92% of residents were born in Australia. By contrast, Austins Ferry has a population of 2221 with an average weekly income of $721. The median prices for houses are $287,000. The average house is rented for $340 a week. 87% of people live in houses as distinct from other types of residences. 31% of people fully own their houses/property. 27% are under 30 years of age and 14% are over 65 years of age. 88% of residents were born in Australia.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Hobart, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, Australia, City of Glenorchy, Goulds Lagoon Sanctuary, Granton South, Greater Hobart Area, Hestercombe Reserve, James Austin, James Austin Park, Roseneath, Shoobridge Park, Tasmania, Weston Park, York Hotel on November 20, 2014 by Tasmanian traveller.
Crossing the Bridgewater Bridge during the 8th stage of my walk along the Derwent River
This stage of my walk along the Derwent from the mouth of the River on the eastern shore was the most exciting one so far, because I was reaching a significant milestone. By my reckoning, it marked the end of the easiest part of the walk to the source of the Derwent River at Lake St Clair. Accordingly, and to continue a walk with relative ease for a while, I planned to cross the Bridgewater Bridge and walk south to the mouth of the River on the western shore, then to start tackling the challenging kilometres further north next year.
I was a little surprised how special the day seemed, and so it was an easy decision to cross the Bridge rather than waiting to do so on Stage 9.
I stepped onto the path on the left of the Bridge at 1.14pm and was off the Bridge and onto the Bridgewater Causeway by 1.20pm. The terrifyingly large fast trucks threatened to suck me off the bridge with their speeding surges next to my shoulder (there was a metal fence separating us but the bridge noise and vehicle speed all combined to make the energy around me vibrate fiercely). I removed my sunhat and held on firmly.
Except for a small layby, there was no formal walking track beside the Highway on the Causeway, and trying to walk on extremely unsafe and uneven ground beside railings (or none) required extra vigilance.
Looking ahead of the western shore, from the Bridgewater Causeway.
The persistently noisy and fast traffic (on what must be one of Tasmania’s busiest roads – the Midlands Highway) and the wind pushing across the Causeway from one side of the Derwent River to the other were constants, and I was determined they would not distract me from getting to the western shore. I was not the only one walking across the causeway; two others were following me across. So, on the sample of three people, I would say 100% of people experience danger walking across the Bridgewater Causeway. I didn’t take photos of the really dreadful bits – too busy concentrating on where my feet might go.
I did enjoy watching the dozens and dozens of Black Swans, and looking back at part of the suburb of Bridgewater on the eastern shore.
And towards the western shore:
I reached Granton on the western shore at 1.35pm and negotiated myself along the road and across old train lines (this would all be easy if there was no or minimal traffic) all the time beginning to move southwards. Three minutes later I reached the sign indicating a left turn off the Brooker Highway towards Granton South and Austins Ferry.
As I stepped in this direction I recognised a sign marking the start of the City of Glenorchy.
Occasionally I looked back towards the Bridgwater Bridge, across the railway line that was one a lively link between northern and southern Tasmania.
I followed a rough non-path on the edge of the road until a new sign at 1.45pm indicated I needed to take another left turn towards Granton South and Austins Ferry.
As I walked around the corner, on the right in the distance I could see a hotel; the York Hotel.
I felt myself glow with delight in anticipation of making this my stopping point for the walk, enjoying a cold beer and meeting the locals. However, as I got closer, two locals were walking towards the bus stop Number 47 located opposite the Hotel. They let me know that a bus was expected in the next few minutes. My feet hurt, it would be quite a while before another bus would pass this way, and so I decided to forego the pleasures of the pub and start my bus trip home. The locals led me to believe the publican ‘has done a really good job’ and ‘this is a good pub now’. So, perhaps with friends in the future, I will venture back here for the missed cold one.
I was on the bus at 1.57pm, reached the Glenorchy Bus Mall at 2.15, and caught the Metro bus 694 via Risdon Vale to the Eastlands Shopping Centre at Rosny when it left around 2.30pm. Most of all I was surprised how long it took the bus from the York Hotel to Glenorchy – almost 20 minutes. That represents a great deal of walking time so it is difficult for me to guess where I can reach on the next Stage 9 of my walk along the Derwent River. I am guessing that somewhere in the suburb of Claremont might be achievable, but who knows! Finding out is what gives me something to look forward to next week when I tackle Stage 9 of my walk.
This entry was posted in Derwent River, Hobart, Mount Wellington, Walking and tagged Austins Ferry, Black Swans, Bridgewater Bridge, Bridgewater Causeway, Brooker Highway, City of Glenorchy, Glenorchy Bus Mall, Granton, Granton South, Lake St Clair, Midlands Highway, Risdon Vale, York Hotel on November 17, 2014 by Tasmanian traveller.
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Fall/Winter Juried Members Exhibition 2019
Patrick McCay, Something Fishy, Acrylic, 48 x 48 in
Exhibition: November 16th, 2019 to January 25th, 2020
Opening Reception: November 16th, 2019 from 2 - 4 PM
The Whistler House Museum of Art is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, the Fall/Winter Juried Members Exhibition 2019. The show will run from November 16, 2019 to January 25, 2020. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, November 16, from 2 to 4 pm in the Parker Gallery.
The Lowell Art Association, Inc. (LAA) is the oldest incorporated art association in the country. In this year's Fall/Winter Juried Members Exhibition, see works from the artist members of the LAA in a range of subjects and mediums. The works of art featured in the exhibition represent both modernist and traditional methods and aesthetics. Through paintings, drawings, sculpture, fiber art, printmaking, and photography, experience the world through varying perspectives in this exciting new show.
Teri Gambardella, Overlooking the Park, Rockport Cheryl Kessler, Kimonos in Kyoto
Kim S. Theriault, noted academic, critic, and mentor in Art History and Museum Studies is the juror for this exhibition. Theriault received her PhD from The University of Virginia. Her publications in the field of Modern and Contemporary art include books, exhibition essays, journal articles, and art reviews. The recipient of numerous awards, including a Society for the Preservation of American Modernists grant and selection into the National Endowment for the Humanities Institute program. Specializing in identity, memory, and trauma in contemporary art, she has also presented nationally and internationally on such subjects as the artist Arshile Gorky and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. While heading the art history program at Dominican University and teaching graduate students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she has become an advisor to contemporary artists through individualized critiques, assisting with the development of their artist statements, and identifying exhibition strategies.
Ms. Theriault selected over 90 works from more than 250 submissions by over 100 artist members of the Lowell Art Association. The works were judged on such criteria as technique, composition, perspective, color, and originality.
"Each year the Lowell Art Association membership grows and the body of work becomes more and more impressive," says President and Executive Director Sara Bogosian. "This is a truly remarkable and diverse exhibition, and everyone should come to experience it."
Law Hamilton, Storm Surge, Riley Martha Wolfe, The Ledges, 1925 John Brickels, Red Brownstone
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TRUMP AND RACISM
The leading Dem presidential candidates and their allies in the media, aka “the nuts,” would have you believe the country is rife with racism, Nazism, white supremacy, and misogyny. The president, they say, is guilty of all of the above. His rhetoric and actions are responsible for all that’s bad and divisive in the US. Furthermore, anyone who voted for Mr. Trump or supports him is also culpable.
According to the nuts Mr. Trump and his supporters are evil, immoral, and deplorable. Some of them even claim the country was founded on racism and white supremacy, is severely flawed, and needs to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch according to their socialist ideals.
Wow! Let’s all take a breath. Yes, there was racism in our past, but by any objective measure we have come a long way as a society. Long gone are the days of slavery, “Jim Crow,” and Native American persecution. We have elected an AA president, twice; we have many minorities and women in the Congress, the Supreme Court and in local government. Minority business leaders, clergy, athletes, actors, and musicians are praised and respected for their achievements the same as whites. Interracial dating and marriage is commonplace. Alternative lifestyles are accepted in most places. Unemployment is at historic lows, particularly among minorities, women and teenagers. If the US is so flawed why are tens of thousands of migrants trekking thousands of miles with their young children, or, in some cases, sending their young children alone in the company of “coyotes,” to enter it?
With respect to Mr. Trump, I will stipulate his incessant tweeting can be problematic, at times. But one needs to look past what he says and focus on what he does. His actions speak loudly. He is not a politician, who measures his words carefully; he is a businessman who says what he thinks and speaks plainly and frankly. He has condemned Nazis and WS; he is married to an immigrant; he has a Jewish son-in-law; he has employed many females and minorities in his businesses and his Administration ( e. g. Nikki Haley, Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Sanders, and Ben Carson); and his policies have benefitted minorities greatly.
Some of these nuts are probably sincere in their beliefs. They actually believe their rhetoric. Others are trying to score political points. Others are just plain ignorant or think that you are for believing their rhetoric. Some of the media types are just trying to “stir the pot” to get ratings or sell newspapers. But, frankly, most of them are just simply full of s..t. Their statements are inane, nonsensical, illogical and dangerous. Read on, and I will show you.
I am 74 years old, and in all that time, to my knowledge, I have never met a white supremist. Never. Moreover, I could count on one hand the racists and all the other “ists” I have met, and those were many years ago, in a different time. How about you? How many have you met? I would wager, not many, certainly not in the last 40 years or so. Where are they all? I’ll tell you where. They are in the imagination of these nuts. Yes, I’m sure there are a few. In every society there are a few outliers, misfits, and extremists. But, to claim the president and half the country are racists? Come on! These people need to get out of the coastal bubble in which they live. Mix with the public. Go to a mall, a movie, a McDonalds, a Wall Mart. Fly in a public airplane. Get some perspective.
According to the nuts, whenever something bad happens it is Mr. Trump’s fault. There have been dozens of examples of this in the past three years, but below please find a few of the most recent:
1. Extreme weather? Trump’s fault for not “taking climate change seriously.”
Income inequality, divisiveness, problems at the southern border, crime, “racist” cops, ICE deportations of illegals, gun violence? Trump again. I could go on and on, but you get the point.
2. The recent shootings in Dayton and El Paso are Trump’s fault even though the Dayton shooter was an avowed supporter of ANTIFA and a Warren supporter. Do I think that makes Warren culpable? No. Is Sanders responsible for one of his supporters shooting a Congressman at a softball game last year? No. In my opinion, these shooters were part of the fringe crazies I referred to earlier. Political beliefs are not the primary cause. There are crazies on the right, the left and in between.
2. The Dem candidates were quick to try to score political points from the Dayton and El Paso tragedies. They pounced even before the bodies were buried. O’ Rourke and Booker blamed Trump’s “rhetoric.” Joe Biden, not to be outdone, accused Trump of “fanning the flames of white supremacy.”
3. Congressman Joaquin Castro disclosed the identities of hundreds of Trump donors. Outrageous? Yes. But, understand, the left views those with opposing political viewpoints not as dissenters, but as evil, immoral, and racist. And, once you attach those labels to another person there’s no more discourse, no more healthy exchange of ideas. If you disagree with me, you are evil and immoral, and all’s fair in combatting evil and immorality.
4. Irresponsible media outlets, such as CNN and MSNBC, have been trotting out one moron after another to spew controversy, hatred and divisiveness. For instance, MSNBC contributor, Malcomb Nance, accused Trump of sending “subliminal orders” to neo-Nazis. Nicole Wallace, former communications director under Bush, accused Trump of “planning the genocide of Hispanics.”
However, the “winner” was former FBI counterintelligence officer, Frank Figliuzzi, who opined on MSNBC that President Trump’s respectful gesture to order flags flown at half mast until 8/8 was a subliminal signal to Nazis. Huh? It seems that the letter “h” is the eighth letter in the alphabet. Therefore, “8 8” stands for “H H,” which, as we all know, stands for “Heil Hitler.” Got it? Now, does that sound rational to you. You can’t make this stuff up.
All this nonsense would be laughable, except some people probably believe it. By the way, how does MSNBC permit these idiots to go on the air?
5. The latest ploy is to label anyone who supports Mr. Trump or contributes to his re-election campaign as a racist and white supremist and, consequently, fair game. Since those people, who are merely espousing a different political viewpoint, are “evil” Castro’s action was deemed acceptable by the left-leaning media. The unruly and potentially violent mob that congregated outside of Mitch McConnell’s house a few days ago is a prime example, but there have been many others in recent months. Ironically, many of those compromised donors are Hispanics and AAs who likely also supported Obama. How do they fit the WS narrative? The answer is, they don’t, but that little detail is being overlooked. Sooner or later, someone will be killed, and, of course, it will be “Trump’s fault.”
In my view, the country is in a very dangerous period. Violence is replacing honest discourse and debate. This country was built on the latter, not the former. Remember the Bill of Rights?
I know it’s early, but it looks like Mr. Trump will likely get re-elected. Those who have studied history know it is very difficult to defeat an incumbent president, particularly when there is peace and a strong economy, which we have presently. Also, the leading Dem candidates are being exposed. Biden seems befuddled and lost. Harris has been exposed as a disingenuous phony by fellow candidate, Tulci Gabbard. According to the latest Q Poll her support is melting like an ice pop in July. Her support among AAs is down to 1%. Warren and Sanders are being exposed as thinly-disguised socialists. Booker, Mayor Pete, and Beto have no serious support and no prayer in a general election. The others are not worthy of discussion. Who’s left? No one.
If you think the left is fomenting violence and divisiveness now, wait until Trump wins re-election. Normal, law-abiding folks beware. I’m afraid the left will simply not accept the results. As bad as things are now, and make no mistake about it, they are bad, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
August 8, 2019 August 8, 2019 by webuiltitblog 3 Comments
PC ACTIVISTS SEEK TO ERASE HISTORY
IF NOT TRUMP, WHOM?
3 thoughts on “TRUMP AND RACISM”
Hi LJ,
Rather than refuting your arguments on our numerous points of disagreement, as one of “the nuts,” I’ll instead ask for your explanation on a point I don’t understand.
“Congressman Joaquin Castro disclosed the identities of hundreds of Trump donors. Outrageous? Yes.” How so? Public info.
PS. I had no idea you were 74! To me, you’re no more than 21!
PPS. I hope I can be a cashew!
webuiltitblog says:
Thank you for your comment. It’s been a while. How are you and Rick? Re Castro I think the point is that although this information is publicly available it is not easily obtainable. It can also be viewed as an open invitation for a “nut” to do something violent. Also, many of these people have families /kids that were put in danger. Let’s hope nothing happens. Ironically, it’s very possible that many of these donors are AAs or Hispanics and support other candidates as well,, such as Obama and other Dems. I would be interested in your “take” on my last blog. Which candidate(s) would you vote for and why?
STEPHEN AKSEIZER says:
White about the minority racists. Rev. Wright, Lois Farrakhan, Al Sharpton etc?
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“Wolfman” Howl Try-Outs, Featuring Rockers & Opera Singers
Joe Johnston, director of The Wolfman, had some interesting stories to tell in his recent interview with Boxoffice, including an account of how he deliberately modified the script to guarantee an R-rated edit. He also talks about the lengths they went to in order to capture the perfect howl for Lawrence Talbot’s beastly alter-ego. The vocal contributors included Gene Simmons and David Lee Roth!
We had opera singers come in and howl, we had animal impersonators. Gene Simmons and David Lee Roth were pretty near the end of the process. By then we knew what we were looking for, we were homing in on it. And their stuff became the most useful stuff that we did. Like I said, I don’t think they would recognize it after what we’ve done to it because we’ve digitally processed it and added cool overtones and all that stuff. We were basically just looking for a wolf howl you’d never heard before. What we realized is that everybody in the audience knows what a wolfman sounds like. Even if it’s from their imagination, it’s all pretty much the same thing. We just wanted our howl to be the best version of that howl. And I think we’ve come up with something that’s definitely spine-tingling, and at the same time it’s familiar enough that the audience is going to recognize it—it’s what they expect, with enhancements.
There’s a lot of good stuff in this interview, so have a read!
Angela Quinton Jan. 20th 2010
In Film, Television & Music
#interview #r-rating #Wolfman
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Pro racecar driver Scott Tucker gets over 16 years in prison
NEW YORK (AP) — Pro racecar driver Scott Tucker was sentenced to over 16 years in prison Friday after his conviction for running a payday loan business that prosecutors say cheated millions of financially struggling Americans.
In this March 19, 2010, file photo, Level 5 Motorsports driver Scott Tucker waits in his Oreca FLM09 on pit row during a break in the morning practice session for the American Le Mans Series’ 12 Hours of Sebring auto race in Sebring, Fla. Pro racecar driver Scott Tucker has been sentenced to over 16 years in prison after his conviction for running a payday loan business that prosecutors say cheated millions of financially struggling Americans. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius, File)
U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel said it was “staggering” how many people nationwide were affected by Tucker’s business.
Over a 15-year period, more than 1 percent of the U.S. population became victims of the business, Castel said as he sentenced Tucker to 16 years and eight months in prison.
The judge said the business was “a fraud from the beginning” and a scam “to extract money from people in desperate circumstances.” He added it “created heartbreak and sorrow … not just a financial loss.”
In a letter to the court, the 55-year-old Tucker of Leawood, Kansas, defended his business practices and implied he was misunderstood.
Castel ordered him to immediately begin serving the sentence and he was led from court in handcuffs, but only after he removed his suspenders.
Timothy Muir, 46, a lawyer from Overland, Kansas, was sentenced to seven years in prison for his conviction at the same October trial as Tucker.
Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney Joan Loughnane said in a release that the business the men ran from at least 1997 through 2013 is now closed.
“For more than 15 years, Scott Tucker and Timothy Muir made billions of dollars exploiting struggling, everyday Americans through payday loans carrying interest rates as high as 1,000 percent,” she said. “And to hide their criminal scheme, they tried to claim their business was owned and operated by Native American tribes.”
Prosecutors said Tucker’s lending enterprise, based in Overland Park, Kansas, employed over 1,500 people as it did business as Ameriloan, Cash Advance, OneClickCash, Preferred Cash Loans, United Cash Loans, US FastCash, 500 FastCash, Advantage Cash Services and Star Cash Processing.
They said Tucker, who hasn’t raced professionally in several years, and Muir, the company’s general counsel, charged interest rates ranging from 600 percent to over 1,000 percent, generating over $3.5 billion in revenue from just 2008 to June 2013 alone.
The loans were issued to over 4.5 million struggling people in all 50 states, the government said.
It said the jury saw evidence that many loans were issued in states, including New York, with laws that banned lending at the exorbitant interest rates Tucker charged and that the company provided scripts to its employees to read to individuals who complained that the loans were illegal.
In his letter to the judge, Tucker asked for mercy but defended his intentions.
“I am remorseful, your honor, for having failed to accurately display, convey and live up to the vision I had. I am remorseful, your honor, to have left a single person with the misperception that I do not recognize my responsibility to live as a good and fair business man, employer, and American citizen,” he wrote.
He also said the legal process had “taken its toll,” leading his brother and business partner to commit suicide.
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Criminal Justice News, News, Sports
Fraud, Scott Tucker
Louisiana has spent $1.3M to settle sexual harassment claims
Ex-UN secretary general’s nephew pleads guilty in bribe case
$1.3B award upheld against racecar driver over payday loans
Ex-NY Giants player sent to prison for $1.6M fraud case
Jury selection to start in trial of NY governor’s ex-aide
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'A huge surprise to us': Martial arts business owner says they never received ticket despite city's report
Devon McKendrick Digital Editorial Producer
@the_dmckendrick Contact
Published Wednesday, November 25, 2020 10:22AM CST Last Updated Wednesday, November 25, 2020 5:39PM CST
Source: Jon Hendricks
WINNIPEG -- The City of Winnipeg has fined another business for not following public health orders put in place by the province.
On Nov. 20, TRP Academy was issued a $5,000 ticket, with the city saying it was fined for operating when it was required to be closed.
TRP Academy is located at 95 Scurfield Blvd and is a Taekwondo and Hapkido school that teaches programs for children and adults.
Jae Park, who is the owner of the academy said he has not actually received a fine, but they have closed down while they try to sort out the matter with the government.
He said they had originally closed down all martial arts activities when the province put the restrictions in place, but he said they still run a daycare program for students before and after school.
"I got a call from the inspector, I gave him some information. He wasn't too sure what he was supposed to do," said Park. "So he said he was going to call his supervisor and give me a callback. He did so, after that, he said his supervisor didn't know what to do about the situation," with Park adding he was told to call the COVID helpline for the province.
The confusion that has come from the situation is Park said they are not technically licensed as a daycare centre, saying they operate just like a daycare run from someone's home, and therefore no one knows if he is allowed to be open.
"There's a lot of grey area that they are actually sifting through. It took the weekend, plus a couple days, for the province to figure out which department should actually be handling this."
When it comes to the fine, Park said he was very surprised to hear that he had been fined, as no one, not even the inspector, said they would be ticketed.
"Even when I spoke to him on the phone I said 'So what is happening here, are you fining us? I don't understand why we have to close down and for what reason,' he couldn't give me any answers, he didn't say we were fined. So this is all coming as a huge surprise to us."
What frustrates Park is the uncertainty at every level and how no one knows what he can do.
"When the inspector who comes can't provide information as to why they are shutting us down or why they are asking us to and can't even provide the right information even after speaking with a supervisor, how are we as citizens supposed to know what we're supposed to do when the enforcement people don't even know, when the government really doesn't know."
Park said he has been following all guidelines since day one and if they give him a clear reason on why they need to close down, then he will follow those rules. He also said he hopes he doesn't receive a ticket after talking with the media.
The city also issued six separate fines to people for not wearing masks throughout Winnipeg.
Two tickets were handed out on Nov. 18, two on Nov. 20, and two on Nov. 21.
Each ticket was worth $298.
Washington prepares for presidential inauguration
There are active COVID-19 outbreaks at 23 of Winnipeg's long-term care facilities
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'All I've been doing is crying': Winnipeg mother unable to see hospitalized son with disabilities due to health restrictions
Jeff Keele Political Reporter
@jeffkeelectv Contact
Published Wednesday, November 25, 2020 6:42PM CST
WINNIPEG -- A Winnipeg mom is pleading with health officials to see her 19-year-old son who lives with a disability and is at the Health Sciences Centre (HSC).
Christina Stewart said her son Quinn Stewart Antonio lives with a severe disability and isn't able to communicate with nurses and doctors.
Quinn suffers from constant seizures and Stewart said she has never left his side until now as she hasn't been allowed to visit him due to code red rules.
"I have holes in my walls even. He has drop seizures consistently, no matter what," said Stewart.
She said a recent episode caused Quinn to go to HSC and now she isn't allowed to visit him, even though she is his care provider.
"None of it makes any sense, all I've been doing is crying and I can only imagine the state Quinn is in right now."
She said she has been turned down by hospital administration to see him due to restrictions.
There are exceptions to the visitor rule which can be made on a case-by-case basis, such as end-of-life situations, labour and delivery, and for child patients.
Stewart thinks she should be allowed to see her son as she said he can't properly communicate his needs with strangers. Even though he is 19-years-old, Stewart said he has the cognitive ability of a child.
"Probably even delayed more than a five-year-old, I'm denied and I guarantee you right now he's wondering where I am. I've never left his side, not once."
Stewart is concerned for his safety as he may need help and no one will know.
"I'm the only one out there, legit, only one that knows he's making a certain type of grunt or certain type of anything to motion if he wants a drink, if he's in pain."
In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for Shared Health said visitor restrictions are one of several measures to ensure people's safety but exceptions can be made.
"We encourage patients and/or their loved ones are encouraged to reach out to our patient relations department," the spokesperson said.
Quinn Stewart Antonio, 19, lives with a disability and is currently in hospital. His mother, Christina Stewart, is unable to visit him because of COVID-19 restrictions. (Source: Christina Stewart)
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WIX® Filters Returns as Official Technical Partner with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing As Driver Sage Karam Enters the 2019 Indianapolis 500 in No. 24 WIX Filters Car
Global Leader in Filtration Products Continues Involvement in “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”
WIX® Filters announced today it is returning to the 2019 Indianapolis 500 set for May 26 with a continuation of its partnership with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing as chief technical partner for the team’s No. 24 Indy 500 entry and driver Sage Karam.
Now in its 80th year of production, the global manufacturer of filtration products begins its seventh season of a multi-level partnership with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, including serving as the Official Technical Partner and oil filter of the team, within several racing forms including the Indy 500 and ARX Rallycross.
“Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and WIX Filters have formed a tremendous partnership for many years now and we’re very excited to continue our technical relationship for another year at the legendary Indy 500 with talented young driver Sage Karam,” said Jeff Blocher, director of sales for WIX. “Dennis Reinbold’s racing team is very experienced and always comes to the world’s biggest race with a solid chance to contend for victory. And Sage has been outstanding to work with on and off the race track. Each year, Sage charges up the Indy 500 field and puts the WIX car in contention and we look forward to another strong performance this year with the No. 24 WIX Filters race car.”
Many racing teams have relied on the performance and quality of WIX Filters for over 50 years, and in return, the race track provides exceptional testing grounds for the WIX engineers.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, which has entered and qualified 38 cars in the Indy 500 dating back to 1999, has taken Karam to impressive Indy 500 run in each of his previous four runs in the DRR machine at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway including winning the “Hard Charger” Award as a rookie in 2014. Last year, DRR fielded two drivers in the Indy 500 with Karam in the No. 24 WIX Filters car and veteran J.R. Hildebrand in the No. 66 Salesforce car.
“Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and WIX Filters have enjoyed a great seven-year partnership and we’re thrilled to bring WIX back to the Indy 500 in 2019 with Sage,” said Dennis Reinbold, team owner. “WIX has been a leader in its category for 80 years and has made numerous valuable contributions to motorsports industry as well as to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. We want to put WIX Filters in the winner’s circle this year and Sage will be a solid contender.
“I can’t wait to be back with WIX and DRR for the 2019 Indianapolis 500 and I'm looking forward to putting our No 24 WIX Filters Special in victory lane,” said Karam, the 23-year-old Nazareth, Pa., racer. “This year is WIX Filters 80th anniversary, and I’m excited to help them celebrate throughout the year and represent them on the track. Make sure to follow my social pages along with WIX for behind the scenes race coverage and giveaways.
“WIX Filters is so well known around the world and their staff is outstanding to work with at the track and off. Our WIX IndyCar was a great-looking machine last year and I’m anxious to see this year’s livery as well. Working with a global brand like WIX Filters brings a lot of prestige to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and I’m honored to be a part of this partnership.”
The Dreyer & Reinbold Racing family has a great legacy at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway dating back to the 1920s with legendary car builder Floyd “Pop” Dreyer, who built cars for the entire front row in 1931. Reinbold, Dreyer’s grandson, has qualified every car he has entered as car owner in the Indy 500 and has recorded four top-10 finishes including a best of fourth in 2012.
“It’s hard to believe this Indy 500 will be my fifth with DRR and each year we have had a strong race car,” Karam continued. “We’ve run in the top 10 each time and we just need to get to that checkered flag again. My racing mindset has improved each year and I’m ready to take the No. 24 WIX Filters DRR car to the front on May 26.”
Karam will enter his sixth career Indy 500 and fifth with the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team. But in 2014 as a rookie for DRR, Sage won the “Hard Charger Award” with a spectacular drive from 31st to ninth. In 2016, Sage drove from 23rd to fourth before retiring from the event on lap 94 in DRR machinery. Last year, he came from 24th to sixth on lap 154. Karam also won the Indy Lights point championship in 2013.
Karam will take the No. 24 WIX Filters DRR IndyCar to the IMS oval for the first time on Tuesday, May 14 when practice rounds open on the famed oval. Qualifying for the 103rd running of the Indy 500 is set for Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19. The start for this year’s Indianapolis 500-Mile Race is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 26.
For more information on WIX, please visit wixfilters.com.
About Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing was founded in 1999 by Indianapolis car dealer Dennis Reinbold. The legacy of the Dreyer and Reinbold family dates back to the 1920s with Reinbold’s grandfather, the legendary Floyd “Pop” Dreyer, a former factory motorcycle racer. Dreyer served as a crewman and mechanic on the famed Duesenberg driven by Benny Shoaff and Babe Stapp in the 1927 Indy 500. Dreyer went on to build Indy 500 cars in the 1930s which many started on the front row. In addition, Dreyer constructed championship-winning sprint cars and midgets as well as quarter midgets called Dreyerettes. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing captured its first win in 2000 with driver Robbie Buhl at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla., and has fielded a variety of drivers including Buhl, Buddy Lazier, Sarah Fisher, Buddy Rice, Ryan Briscoe, Al Unser Jr., Townsend Bell and Sage Karam. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has successfully qualified all 38 drivers for the Indy 500 in its history. DRR, who campaigned in the Red Bull Global Rallycross for the first time in 2015, captured the 2016 Red Bull GRC Lites championship in 2016. The DRR team recorded five main event victories, 23 heat race wins and eight fast qualifying honors.
Bradford Hood
WRAY WARD
bhood@wrayward.com
Christy Marion
Account Manager, Public Relations/Content
cmarion@wrayward.com
Annie Mohr
PR/Content Account Coordinatior
amohr@wrayward.com
Tom Blattler
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
tomblattler@earthlink.net
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Turn on the Bright Lights
Turn On the Bright Lights is the debut studio album by the American rock band Interpol, released in August 2002. The album was recorded in November 2001 at Tarquin Studios in Connecticut, and was co-produced, mixed and engineered by Peter Katis and Gareth Jones. It was released on August 19, 2002 in the United Kingdom and August 20 in the United States, through independent record label Matador Records. Upon release, the record peaked at number 101 on the UK Albums Chart. It reached number 158 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, as well as spending 73 weeks in the Billboard Independent Albums, peaking at number five.
"PDA", "NYC", "Obstacle 1" and "Say Hello to the Angels" were the singles from Turn On the Bright Lights, and a video was shot for each with the exception of "Say Hello to the Angels".
The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on August 29, 2011 for shipments of 500,000 copies.
A remastered version of the album was released in 2012 to commemorate its tenth anniversary. It featured additional material including demo recordings of several tracks, the bonus songs previously available on international releases and a DVD of live performances and music videos.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Turn_on_the_Bright_Lights
The New 52 is a 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic books. Following the conclusion of the "Flashpoint" crossover storyline, DC cancelled all of its existing titles and debuted 52 new series in September 2011 with new first issues. Among the series being renumbered are Action Comics and Detective Comics, which had retained their original numbering since the 1930s.
The relaunch included changes to the publishing format; for example, print and digital comics are now released on the same day. New titles were released to bring the number of ongoing monthly series to fifty-two. Various changes were also made to DC's fictional universe to entice new readers, including to DC's internal continuity to make characters more modern and accessible. As well, characters from the former Wildstorm and Vertigo imprint were absorbed into the DC Universe.
The New 52 branding ended after the completion of the "Convergence" storyline in May 2015, although the continuity of the New 52 continued. In June 2015, 24 new titles were launched, alongside 25 returning titles, with several of those receiving new creative teams.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/The_New_52
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The New, Interpol
I wish I could live free
Hope it's not beyond me
Settling down takes time
One day we'll live together
And life will be better
I have it here, yeah, in my mind
Baby, you know someday you'll slow
And baby, my hearts been breaking.
I gave a lot to you
I take a lot from you too
You slave a lot for me
Guess you could say I gave you my edge
But I can't pretend I don't need to defend some part of me from you
I know I've spent some time lying
You're looking all right tonight
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2 injured in motorcycle crash in York
Posted: May 19, 2019 / 03:26 PM EDT / Updated: May 20, 2019 / 12:08 AM EDT
Police say that two people were badly injured after a crash involving a motorcycle and another vehicle.
The crash happened around 1:10 pm on May 19th near New Salem.
Both people that were riding on the motorcycle were thrown off when they collided with the other car, neither of the motorcyclists was wearing a helmet.
Police say they are both in critical condition and have been rushed to the hospital.
by Dennis Owens / Jan 20, 2021
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -- For the second time in its history, the United States has a Roman Catholic president. So why aren't more Catholics celebrating?
Joe Biden's catholicism was on display Inauguration Day. He attended mass and invited a bishop to the podium. The first day for America's second Catholic president.
by Kayla Brown / Jan 20, 2021
LANCASTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WHTM) -- The Manheim Township Police Department said three men smashed out the windows and robbed a Sunoco gas station in Lancaster Township Tuesday morning.
According to police, the three suspects used a cinderblock to break into and rob the gas station, located at 1000 Columbia Ave. around 2:30 Tuesday morning.
by Kate Sweigart / Jan 20, 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WHTM) -- On Wednesday morning, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as the 46th President and 49th Vice President of the United States. Harris made history as the first woman to be elected as Vice President.
State and U.S. lawmakers were in attendance at the U.S. Capitol, in addition to former Presidents and First Ladies, as well as Governor Tom Wolf. Many Pa. lawmakers released statements regarding the presidential inauguration, voicing their support of President Biden and Madame Vice President Harris.
Pa. Senator Toomey commends President Biden for representing all Americans
“It was a moment of great change” Gov. Wolf releases statement after attending inauguration
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Commusings
How to Support Your Immune System with Dr. Mark Hyman
In today’s episode, Dr. Mark Hyman shares a wide range of options for boosting your immune system — from food groups and supplements to practices and rituals. He and Jeff also delve into food policy, environmentalism, and how the pandemic may impact our approach to health moving forward.
INTRO: Welcome to Commune, a global wellness community and online course platform featuring some of the world’s greatest teachers. We’re on a mission to inspire, heal, pass down wisdom, and bring the world closer together.This is the Commune podcast, where each week we explore the ideas and practices that help us live healthy, connected and purpose-filled lives.If you and hunkered down at home - as you should be - this may be a good time to check out our course platform at onecommune.com where you’ll find programs from Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Russell Brand, Wim Hof, Brendon Burchard Adriene Mishler and many other brilliant personal development and wellness luminaries. Our courses span yoga, meditation, spiritual development, functional medicine, recovery, and social impact - essentially, everything you need to be holistically well. Just go to onecommune.com.Right now, given the gravity of the global pandemic, one might instinctually think that practices like meditation and yoga are dispensable. Nothing could be less true.If you are one of the superheroes on the frontline - a medical professional, a food provider, a scientist or a government worker, you will be stressed to your limits psychologically and physically. Even 30 seconds of deep breathing and grounding can help you stay centered and focused. We need you and we support you. If you are someone on the front lines and could benefit from a meditation course on your phone, email me at [email protected] In early February, I got very sick. Fever, shivers, sweats, an awful cough that lingered forever. It was acute for 4 or 5 days. I did eventually get better but felt that my immune system was compromised. In mid-March, the shivers came back. I got a sore throat. A little cough. And a profound fatigue. I would try to work for a couple of hours and then collapse.Given the intense coverage on Coronavirus, of course, there was the additional layer of anxiety.My fever was extremely low-grade. And, because of limited availability of testing, I just started to treat myself the best I could.I don’t know if I have or had COVID-19. Certainly, it wasn’t as remotely as acute as many cases. But I seem to have largely beat it back now.However, since I am not a doctor, I called the best one I could possibly think of to get advice on how to bolster my immune system.Dr. Mark Hyman is a practicing family physician and an internationally recognized leader, speaker, educator, and advocate in the field of Functional Medicine. He is the founder and director of The UltraWellness Center, the Head of Strategy and Innovation of the Cleveland Clinic Center for FunctionalMedicine, a thirteen-time New York Times best-selling author, and Board President for Clinical Affairs for The Institute for Functional Medicine.His most recent book is FOOD FIX: How to Save Our Health, Our Economy, Our Communities and Our Planet—One Bite at a TimeMark and I talk about the myriad behaviors that you can embrace to boost your immune system from food to supplements to practices and rituals. We also delve into food policy, environmentalism and how our pandemic may impact our approach to health moving forward.I hope you find this episode useful. You may be at home feeling mild symptoms, perhaps some that are psycho-somatic. And, even if you’re feeling great, as they say, the best time to fix your roof is on a sunny day. Keeping yourself healthy right now is not just good for you, it’s good for your community and for society at large. Without further ado, my conversation with Dr. Mark Hyman.My name is Jeff Krasno. And welcome to Commune.
Jeff: Hello, Dr. Mark Hyman, how are you?
Dr. Mark Hyman: I'm good. How are you Jeff?
Jeff: Good. What a crazy time to be alive and to be a doctor and alive.
Dr. Mark Hyman: It's true. It's a double hit. It's a double hit.
Jeff: I think it's safe to say that at the core of your philosophy about medicine, but I would say also society at large, is the subject of food. And you have been one of the most articulate messengers around food being at the epicenter of essentially all the salient issues of society from personal health, to our healthcare system, to the environment. And you have a new book that has just been released called Food Fix that addresses many of these topics and I guess the diaspora of food.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah.
Jeff: And as a way into our conversation today, I would love to talk about what's kind of top of mind for everybody, which is foods, relationship with the immune system and general personal health, given the global pandemic of COVID-19. And I think it's probably just appropriate to say that we're recording this on Friday, March 27th in a situation that's incredibly fluid as the statistics kind of change every single day.
Jeff: So just to kind of frame this as a bit of a personal note. I am just recovering from sort of an eight-day stint, where I had many of the symptoms that are highly associated with COVID-19, persistent cough. In my case it was not particularly acute, but somewhat of a low-grade fever, extreme lethargy, aches and pains, kind of shivers, sweats, et cetera. But because of the lack of availability of testing where I live in Los Angeles, I didn't really qualify for a test. And you know, I'm 49 years old, I'm not highly susceptible to any kind of high mortality rate, et cetera.
Jeff: So really my goal was to self-treat, and I did a number of things, and I'm curious what you think about these things and how they relate to how you would generally counsel someone who is trying to boost and bolster their immune system. So I wonder if you could take us through what your regimen would be right now, to protect yourself or essentially bolster your immune system.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. Thank you Jeff, and thanks for having me on the podcast. And I think you know now more than ever, people need to focus on their health and wellbeing, and the role of food and lifestyle on strengthening their immune system. Because we know now that the people who are most likely to die from COVID-19, are the ones with underlying chronic disease, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, and even obesity.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Your risk of death is almost three times higher if you're obese, which is 42% of the population, 10 times higher, if you have heart disease, 7 times higher, if you have diabetes. And by the way, one out of two Americans has prediabetes or Type 2 Diabetes which suppresses immunity. So I think now more than ever we have to understand the role of food in our immune system but also you know food in the bigger context of making a susceptible to all sorts of diseases.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And I wrote an article and posted it called, how to protect yourself from COVID-19 supporting your immune system when you need it most. And people can Google that. I'm trying to update it on a regular basis. But essentially talk about the science of what we know about how to best support your immune system. And we know a lot. Food is probably the most important thing.
Dr. Mark Hyman: There are both harmful and immune suppressing foods and there are protective foods. So the harmful foods are really clear. Sugar and starch, which is no surprise. I've been touting that horn for decades, but sugar and starch are among the most harmful components of our diet for immune function. And by the way, they are 60% of our diet for the average American. Which is flour and sugar in all its forms. Second is salt, salt in excess has an impact on your immune system. So salt is good, but excess salt is bad.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And most people do not get too much salt by adding salt to their food, they get it by eating processed food, which is loaded with added salt. Not the salt that you add to your food is the salt that's added to your food by corporations. So you want to stay away from processed food. The other thing is there a lot of additives and ingredients and food, and just processed food in general is very damaging to the microbiome, which is the ecosystem in your gut.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And when that gets altered, it damages the lining of the gut, otherwise known as leaky gut. And that is a problem because 60% of your immune system is right underneath the layer of your intestinal lining. And why that's important is that if you look at all the chronic diseases, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune diseases, and so forth, they all relate to the gut, and they all relate to a leaky gut. And they all are driven by this inflammatory reaction that happens when your immune system is exposed to the partially digested food proteins, and to the bacterial toxins that are in the inside of your gut.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Well you don't want them to get outside and leak in and sort of like coffee grounds leaking through a coffee filter that's got two big holes in it. So getting your gut healthy is really important, and avoiding those additives like the emulsifiers, thickeners and all the gums that are in our processed food is really, really important
Dr. Mark Hyman: So number one, get off of the harmful foods, processed foods, sugars, starch, refined oils. That should be the first step. And I think people are having more time at home. They can cook from real food, they can make real ingredients. You have time to soak your beans, you have time to do all this stuff that people didn't have time to do. And now's the time to really get into cooking.
Dr. Mark Hyman: On the protective side if I can or do you want to ask me a question?
Jeff: I was going to ask you, I know that there are some philosophies around, like for example NSAIDs or Lectins that might contribute to the breakdown of the mucus on the wall of your intestines, that could lead to leaky gut. And there's also been some articles out there written about NSAIDs and when I say NSAIDs, maybe you could clarify what that is.
Dr. Mark Hyman: You mean like Aleve or Advil or ibuprofen, Naproxen, those are anti-inflammatory drugs that seem to be problematic in terms of COVID-19 particularly. So you shouldn't use it to treat symptoms, and also it's damaging to your gut as well.
Jeff: Yeah. Okay, good. Good to know. Because essentially when I was experiencing fever and many people probably are at home having some mix of winter flu, or potentially mild cases of COVID-19 or psychosomatic symptoms, whatever it can be. But you would advise not to treat fever with ibuprofen. I mean there's been written, that maybe Tylenol is a preferable treatment for that or maybe not treat it at all. I wonder where you stand on that.
Dr. Mark Hyman: It seems to Tylenol may be okay. Although it is toxic to the liver in high doses. I think there were some case reports initially of how NSAIDs caused worsening of COVIDs-19 when they were used in patients. I think we're still learning about it, so I feel it's better safe than sorry in this situation. And going back to sort of on the good side, there's a lot of foods that are highly protective to your immune system, and these foods include all the typical suspects, all the colorful plant foods that we should be eating anyway that I recommended people to eat.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And foods that contain lots of different nutrients that are particularly good for your immune system. For example, Vitamin C, so a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. Zinc, which comes in pumpkin seeds and other nuts and seeds. Selenium, which is found in Brazil nut. B6, I think people should get Vitamin A and B6, which is also very helpful, in system. You can get the dark vegetables, B6 is in some plant foods, but the best sources of Vitamin A and B6 are organic chicken livers.
Jeff: Great.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So very cheap food. I mean I grew up on that stuff because we were very poor when I was growing up. My mom used to make chicken livers and onions and put it on rice and I thought it was like gourmet food. I loved it. And what did I know? I was a little kid, five years old, but it was extremely healthy. Liver is far more nutrient dense in terms of vitamins and minerals than any plant food on the planet. That's just a fact. That's not an opinion.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So I think we all should be thinking of ways to increase spices that help us, that are good for the immune system. Turmeric which is great. Ginger, garlic also have antiviral and microbial properties. Rosemary, quercetin, which is found in a lot of onions and the allium family, vegetables leaves. And then of course there's a lot of foods that we can use to help our gut, both prebiotic and probiotic foods.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And obviously the probiotic foods that we know pretty well. Those are things like Kefir, and yogurt and fermented foods like sauerkraut, and kimchi and miso and natto and tempeh. And these are all things that we can be consuming, the prebiotic foods. So it's like chicory root, dandelion greens, Jerusalem artichokes, garlic, onions, leeks, artichokes, asparagus, bananas, barley, oats, apples, konjac root, which is actually from... It's Japanese root, and they make these shirataki noodles, which are really great alternatives to regular noodles. They're high in fiber, flax seeds, and jicama root, seaweed is also very great.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So you can include a lot of these to help your microbiome and protect your gut, which is really, really important. So I really encourage people to focus on optimizing the nutrition through eating nutrient dense foods. Protein is also important, particularly for people who are elderly or sick, they need a lot more protein. And often they're not getting enough. And protein is what you're required to actually build the components of your immune system, your immunoglobulins, your antibodies are made from protein.
Dr. Mark Hyman: A lot of your immune responses depending on adequate protein. And that's why you see in the developing world, people die from inconsequential infections all the time, because they have protein malnutrition, because they can't afford any protein. So good quality protein is really important as well.
Jeff: Yeah. What would you say would be the recommended sources of protein?
Dr. Mark Hyman: Well, I mean you can have lots of different sources. We had lentils the other night, which are good. But you want to make sure you get nut butters, beans, whole grains. You have to eat a fair bit to get adequate protein. But [inaudible 00:12:53] are also okay. And I've been getting online sources of good value,
Dr. Mark Hyman: High quality animal products like fish. So I bought, from Vital Choice, lots of cans of salmon, mackerel, and anchovies-
Jeff: I think we've been buying for the last remaining cans of that stuff.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I bought a bunch of cases.
Jeff: Yeah, my wife buys it by the case and I don't know if they have any left.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And we buy from Butcher Box, which has grass fed meats that you can get and animal products. Thrive Market has a lot of low cost products, again, there's a big run on all this stuff. So you know you have to be patient but you can go to your local store. I mean, I went to Walmart and for $500, I bought enough food for almost three months for my ex wife because she was struggling and [inaudible 00:13:44] car. Really you could get a lot of really healthy nutrient dense food. I didn't buy her any junk food. I didn't buy her any processed food. I just bought real food and I literally for $500 I got, enough food for a long, long time. So I think, I think focusing on nutrient density, focusing on adequate protein, on lots of phytochemicals, lots of spices.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I made, for example, [inaudible 00:14:08] the other day which has lots of turmeric and ginger and garlic and some... I made chicken soup, which is actually great for your immune system. I put in all kinds of spices I put in ginger and I put garlic you can, you [inaudible 00:14:24] get now, but you can buy these astragalus things like looks like tongue depressors or Chinese root that are incredibly immune boosting. So you can throw those in the soup and make that immune soup. There's a lot of things you can do that are... And it's fun. I mean, I like taking time to cook and hang out is actually a real joy and a pleasure. I love to do it and I'm just thrilled to be able to make food that's better than a restaurant at this point.
Jeff: Well you're a Renaissance man and those qualities are becoming quite clear on this phone call. What would you say about the body and alkalinity? And one of the things that I was doing was gargling apple cider vinegar and a little bit of water, and a couple of times a day and then actually drinking a little bit of apple cider vinegar. I've read some things around the effects or the impacts of alkalinity on the body and its relationship specifically to COVID-19 but to other forms of disease as well. So I wonder what you could comment on that.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah, I mean I think there has been so many dietary fads out there and I don't think we need to be commonsensical about this. I think your pH and your body is extremely tightly controlled, but it can become altered in the face of illness on you become more acidotic. Even small changes can have significant [inaudible 00:16:01] on your cellular function and your immune function. So most of the ways in which Americans eat with highly processed foods creates a slight increase in acidity and that seems to accelerate the damage from COVID-19 and you end up often in a metabolic acidosis. So eating a more alkaline diet is good for you anyway. So if you get off of process and junk food, and you eat a plant rich diet, and you cut out the sugar and processed foods, you're going to be alkalinizing your body anyway. There's some people suggesting taking Alka-Seltzer Gold and so forth. I mean, okay. I think it's probably not the most important point other than just reemphasizing the need for a plant rich diet that can help to change your biology into one that is resilient and is able to fight infection, rather than one that is susceptible and more likely to cause a crisis if you do get it.
Jeff: Yeah. Beyond food, I'm curious around what other forms of behavior that you have the power to enact over your own life-
Dr. Mark Hyman: Sure.
Jeff: That may help to boost immunity.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I've doubled down on all my practices because I feel so strongly that they're, they're critically important, especially in this time because not only protecting myself, but by my not getting sick, I'm not ending up in the hospital and overburdening the system. So it is a social act to take care of yourself because it's very selfish to undermine your own health in this time because you will be more likely to get sick, and more likely to end up in a hospital, and more likely to need a ventilator, and burden the healthcare system, which really is a buckling under the weight of this epidemic. So yeah, I think it's the obvious stuff. It's moderate exercise boosts your immune system.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So I took a nice hour walk around our area, up a hill and got a good workout. I'll do seven minute workout every day. I'll do yoga at home. Those simple things. Meditation, 20 minutes twice a day is a nonnegotiable for me. I just meditated before this podcast and I feel like it really helps to, and especially in this moment of anxiety because we're all in this together. You, me, everybody, [inaudible 00:00:18:33], our families, our friends. There's one silver lining here, which is that we're all recognizing that we're one human species sharing this human condition together. That no ideology, no political persuasion, no religious belief, no dietary persuasion matters at this point. What matters is that each of us join the human in this collective effort to work on this problem.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So I think that meditation is really key, that exercise's really key, sleep, so important. I think people are often not sleeping, they're having struggles with anxiety. I think prioritizing sleep is really important. And I [inaudible 00:19:16] a sleep ritual, which is get off all devices at least an hour or ideally two hours before you go to bed. I love taking a hot bath with Epsom salt and lavender. Lavender actually reduces cortisol levels. So lavender essential oils sounds corny, but the science is really clear. That's why Johnson and Johnson has done a lot of the research on this. They make the lavender baby bath, they know about this. And then I get into bed and I have a little light, which is a [inaudible 00:19:45] but it's actually a no blue light is all the non blue light spectrum.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So it allows me to not stimulate my retina with all these sleep disrupting light. And then I'm going to get tired. I just cuddle my wife and go to bed. So I think there's a real important... Rituals and structures, really important I think also because given this set of all of a sudden time of, lack of structure, lack of focus, it's really important to put in place for each of us a structure for the day that gives us a rhythm and understanding that you know how to cope with this. So I think that's really, really important. So I feel like those are really essential. And then of course there's my supplement regimen, which I think you don't have to go crazy with things that are really, really important. For example, I think vitamin C, moderate amounts of vitamin D, zinc, I think taking quercetin can be helpful, which is a, seems to be very good in regulating inflammation.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So your basic supplements and then of course there's all kinds of things that people are experimenting with, and trying, and suggesting, and it can get out of hand a little bit. I think the other piece is really important is that there are therapies that might be helpful for people. Like intravenous vitamin C.
Jeff: Yeah.
Dr. Mark Hyman: We're using this in our clinic. In China, they did the trials with this and found very effective in reducing symptoms and preventing death. So high dose vitamin C intravenously. There's, I think an opportunity to look at ozone therapy, which sounds crazy, but using ozone gas intravenously can help actually kill viruses, and boost immune function, and help people recover. I believe. So there's a lot of things out there that people are trying peptides. There's a lot of work around peptides in China. I've seen some preliminary data. Preliminary data of scientists experimenting with high dose vitamin C and thymosin, and other peptides that can help stimulate immune function.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So I think we're going to be learning more and more, but the basics are the key. If you focus on the basics, your diet, exercise, meditation, yoga, sleep, you're going to get through this and we all can do what we can do and nobody has great expectations for you writing the great next novel or doing some great thing. You just need to hunker down, take care of each other. And I think the other thing I think is really important for immune function is social connection. And I think [inaudible 00:22:30] loneliness is really probably one of the biggest killers in America. I worry about that for people today and people who are isolated or alone. Spending more time in deep connection with people is really important. So if you have someone in your house that you're sequestered with, I think it's [inaudible 00:22:49] really drop in and go deep with them and rediscover intimacy, and connection, and sharing, and being in this together with them in a shared collaborative experience, it will actually also help your immune system.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And I've been working with my team virtually now and I had 30 of my employees on a Zoom call. All the video, it was the coolest thing. I thought, I could see them all, I could feel them and we had a great connection. And I think there's a lot of ways to actually to make this work.
Jeff: I wonder if you can take a little bit of time to talk about the food industry, how the food industry operates, who are the winners and who are the losers. And what are the ramifications on our environment and our Health Care System?
Dr. Mark Hyman: Well, before all this started, I think I was very focused on the role of our food system in so many of our global crises. And the role of it, particularly in chronic disease and our chronic disease epidemic, which affects six out of 10 of us in this country and is responsible for 1 in 3 dollars in our Federal Budget, soon to be 1 in 2, within five years. And the importance of addressing this is underscored by the way in which COVID is actually attacking the people who have chronic disease, which is the majority of Americans. So that underscores the importance of it. But as you draw the threads of our food system and what it's doing to us and to humanity through the poisoning of our species. And literally, we see the number one cause of death globally today is, food.
Dr. Mark Hyman: It's not enough protective foods and too much processed foods. Ultra processed foods, I think, can certainly kill about 11 million people a year. And I think it's a lot more when you add in all the other diseases that are caused by food. And there are 2,300 Americans that die every single day from preventable heart disease deaths alone. It's far more than COVID is killing, at this point. So we have to actually look at this more carefully. And then when you start to say, what else does food do and how else does it affect our world? Well, it clearly is the biggest driver of climate change. And most people are not aware of this. Most people think it's fossil fuels. But when you add in deforestation, soil erosion, the animals, food, waste, transport, refrigeration, packaging, processing, you add all that in.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I mean just fertilizer alone is such a massive contributor to climate change. It's the number one cause of maybe between 47 and 54% of all greenhouse gases are caused by our food system in some way or another. And then of course, there's all the environmental degradation, the loss of Biodiversity. We've lost 90% of our edible plants species, 50% of our livestock species, 75% of our pollinator species and which a lot of our agriculture depends on. And then of course, our water resources are being depleted. 70% of our human use of fresh water is for growing animals, for human consumption. Most of our crop land, 70% of it is used to grow food for animals, for human consumption. The deforestation is to grow animals for human consumption. So this is a bad plan and it doesn't mean automatically that I'm recommending everybody become vegan, because as Russ Conser said, "It's a regenerative farmer. It's not the cow, it's the how."
Dr. Mark Hyman: And actually, it turns out that regenerative farming or regenerative ranching can actually restore soils and draw down carbon. And actually soils are the biggest carbon sink on the planet. You can haul three times the amount of carbon as exists in the entire atmosphere. In fact, most people don't realize this, but 30 to 40% of all the carbon currently in the atmosphere, which is a trillion tons, 30 to 40%, about three and 400 billion tons, comes from soil erosion and the loss of soil organic matter. The organic matter in soil is carbon. Carbon dioxide is how the plants breathe. That carbon goes into the plants and creates carbohydrates coming from carbon and people don't get that whole cycle. So, that's a big issue. And then there's even more downstream effects on social justice and on kids and on national security.
Dr. Mark Hyman: We have kids who can't learn in school from eating junk, who have ADD behavior issues, violent. We see in prisons, just by swapping out bad food for healthy food in prisons, you reduce violent crime by 56% and 80% if you give them multivitamins. Same thing in kids, you reduce suicides by up to a hundred percent. In this one study of 3,000 kids who were given healthy food, reduced the suicide rate a hundred percent. Reduced the need for restraints, 7%. Reduced oppositional defiant bad behavior by 90%. So, we know the role of food is playing on our mental health. It's perpetuating poverty, income inequality, social injustice. And so, there's so many different ways in which we're being threatened by our food system. Even our National Security and our nation state is being threatened because the way we're growing food is threatening our future ability to grow food.
Dr. Mark Hyman: The way we're growing food is actually because of climate change and creating different unstable environmental conditions. And climate conditions makes it harder and harder to grow food. We saw over a million acres flooded in the Midwest in 2019 and farms needed a $20 billion bailout by President Trump. And to put that in perspective, farmers get 4 billion a year in subsidies. So, that's five times the yearly subsidy for farmers. So of course, military recruits aren't even able to join the military because they're unfit or too fat to fight. So we have all these problems that are caused by food and unless we attack the food system, starting with the seed and the soil and moving on to how we grow and process and distribute and eat and waste food. I mean, it all has to get fixed. And I didn't even mention food waste, but these are all connected problems. So, my book Food Fix, was about connecting the dots. It's not called food apocalypse, which I just laid out. It's called Food Fix, which is about solving the problem.
Jeff: Yeah. And that's what I want to ask you about now because the one thing that I love about the book is that it is very prescriptive in its solutions. And I'd like to talk a little bit about where the responsibility lies to address some of these underlying conditions that you've laid out and what we can do individually. And oftentimes, it's very easy for us to feel paralyzed in the face of the enormity of this problem. But I'd love to first, have you address if you don't mind, what we can do individually as human beings and as citizens. And then subsequently, where does the other kinds of responsibility lie? What can, for example, the government do with policy to change the arc of this issue?
Dr. Mark Hyman: Great, great questions. So in my book, Food Fix, I go through what individuals can do, businesses can do, what policymakers can do. And on my website, Foodfix book.com, you can actually download the free Food Fix Action Guide. So, I think that we really need to look at what we can do. And I mean, before I get into the individual actions, I just want to make it really clear that it's not enough. If every single human being did everything that I say on this list, it still wouldn't be enough unless it one, drove changes in policy. And two, drove changes in agriculture.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So, I think that's important for us to understand. But I do believe that consumers can make a difference and they are. We're seeing that by our personal choices, we're driving industry to change. For example, Kellogg's, which makes cereal, they told their consumers that they were going to get glyphosate or weedkiller out of their cereal by 2025, that's huge. Cheerio's has more glyphosate or weed killer in a bowl of cereal than Vitamin A or Vitamin D, which are actually ... Sorry, vitamin D or vitamin B12, which are added to the cereal.
Jeff: I want to unpack that a tiny bit because how is that, is that essentially from runoff or from essentially Miracle-Gro product being-
Dr. Mark Hyman: Yeah. So Miracle-Gro is a Roundup as, right? It's Roundup. And essentially it's a product that's used on 70 crops called glyphosate or Roundup. It's used on crops that aren't even GMO crops, like wheat or oats. It desiccates them and it's used not early on to kill the weeds in this agricultural cycle, but it's used right at harvest. Which is far worse because then it's higher concentrations to desiccate or dry the plant that then actually allows to make it easier to get the kernels off and make the wheat.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So that is why there's so much in our bread and wheat products, so much glyphosate. And it's what's really, really harmful. And I think, even the Impossible Burger for example, has 110 times the amount of glyphosate is required to kill the microbiome of animals and animal studies. And we think that's a healthy plant based meal, but it's GMO soy and sprayed full of Roundup or glyphosate. And also General Mills and Danone are now funding farmers to convert to regenerative agriculture.
Dr. Mark Hyman: You've got these companies actually paying farmers to do this. I see hope in the consumer. So what should we do? And we can become regeneratarians. I think you can be a vegan or paleo, but you can still be regeneratarian. And that means eating food and it's not really fully possible today, but you can eat food that's grown or raised in ways that are regenerative. That restore the soil, that restore ecosystems, that restore watersheds, that help reduce the use of chemicals that build soil in a way that actually draws down carbon.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And whether you're eating animals or plants, it's important to think about how you can do more of that. By for example, searching out sources like ButcherBox, which is grass fed meat or Marin [Poser 00:36:54] Ranch, which is a regenerative ranch. There's Marin Carbon Project. There's all sorts of places where you can buy these things online, direct from farmers. It's much cheaper. And then even buying stuff that's regular meat in a grocery store, if you'd get it direct from farmers. You know, join your community, support agriculture, start a garden yourself, those are really important. In terms of food, stick to real food. I mean, one of the silver linings of this Coronavirus epidemic is that nobody's eating at fast food restaurants. Or maybe they are, they're doing takeout. I don't know, but it's certainly less.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Sure. People are staying home and I feel bad for the food workers because they're marginal workers to start with and they're not actually being taken care of. So I think eating that way and I talk about how to do that and focus on non GMO. Why? Not because necessarily GMO is bad or good for you. We could argue about that all day. But because if your eating a GMO food, you're eating food that's grown in a way that's destructive to the environment and probably destructive to your health, particularly because of the glyphosate and the pesticides. You can actually focus on food waste for your own house and for your community. For example, compost is a just easy thing to do. And some of us live in urban areas, it's a little harder. But there are in apartment composters you can often drop it at farmer's markets. And it turns out food wasted for our country would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And even if you're a vegetarian or vegan and you're throwing your vegetable scraps in the landfill, you're off gassing methane, it's worse than cow burps. People just don't understand the whole connectivity of all this. So, it's very nuanced, it's complicated. But it's an interconnected ecosystem. So, make sure you have a compost pile. You can also, if you get inspired, you can actually start to work on political campaigns. You can work with your local governments to implement community gardens or implement composting systems like
Dr. Mark Hyman: -in San Francisco. You can turn up the heat on your politicians and then be vocal in elections. You can find out what your representatives are doing at the Food Policy Action website, which is foodpolicyaction.org. And you can see how they vote on food and Ag issues. And you can communicate with them through the tools they have there. And they ousted two food system friendly congressmen that were voting in ways that were harmful. And they got rid of them by activating their base. And there are a lot of other ways people want to support more sustainable investments. Larry Fink from was it Blackstone or BlackRock? Who runs the biggest financial investment firm in the world. Recently wrote a letter to all CEOs saying we need to account for climate change in our investment strategy. One, because it's important, but two, because it's an economic imperative.
Dr. Mark Hyman: So where do you put your money? Do you put it in a bank that's doing gas and oil, or that's supporting factory farms? Or a place like Good Money, which our friend Gunnar's created, which is a company that actually creates a parallel bank system. It creates transparency and it allows you to invest in companies that actually are doing good in the world. So there's a lot of good things we can do from the individual point of view. But ultimately it's going to require massive changes in policy. And that's also what I'm working on through a campaign called the Food Fixed campaign. And people can go to foodfix.org to learn more about it, but it's focused on driving the concepts in the book into actionable policy changes in the government.
Dr. Mark Hyman: And we're working with an incredible team that launched Bono's One campaign and raised $87 billion for AIDS and poverty relief in Africa. And was very effective at getting legislation passed. And they're working with me and many other groups to actually implement changes around three pillars. The first is to transform all of our policies and all of our healthcare systems into a food is medicine strategy. So food first as medicine. Second is reforming broken food policies, whether it's agricultural policies, whether it's SNAP, or food stamps, or school lunches, or FDA regulations, things that really need to be fixed. And the third is supporting regenerative agriculture. So those three pillars, I think are going to help drive the change we need to see. And our job is to educate the 2000 people in Washington that make decisions. Because strikingly, they may have good intentions, but their level of education around this is extremely low.
Jeff: Yeah. And what is the general receptivity there, just given your experience? Because-
Dr. Mark Hyman: I've been blown away actually. I've been in Washington, before all this chaos happened. I spent a lot of time in Washington meeting with congressmen, senators, staffers, people in the various agencies, defense department. And there's incredible interest and openness. I think it's become an imperative that people realize we cannot ignore this any more, that we have to address this as a nation. And it's an economic imperative. It's a humanitarian imperative. And I think the leaders of this country is starting to really understand that.
Jeff: Yeah, because on its face it's an issue that transcends partisanship. And I think there's potentially an image that is somewhat a feat of the coastal, Whole Foods goer that may seem kind of aloof and very, very separate from the American Heartland, and the way most people can afford to live. However, at the core of the message that you're on the front lines supporting. It seems to have economic implications and health implications that affect every single person in the country and in the world, and transcends red and blue, which is rare at this juncture.
Dr. Mark Hyman: All of us depend on health care. All of us depend on food. It's striking to me the level of consciousness about how food does affect our health. I think people understand that if they eat too much, they gain weight. But short of that, I think people just don't understand the rapid impact of improving the quality of your diet has on your health, and how quickly it can happen.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I mean, in the book I talk about Janice who was 66 and had severe type two diabetes, on insulin for 10 years, heart failure, kidneys were failing, liver was fatty, high blood pressure, lots of medications, multiple stents put in her heart. She was very overweight. She was 243 pounds and was very short. And within three days she was off her insulin. In three months she got off all her medications and reversed her heart failure and her kidney failure. And in a year she lost 116 pounds just eating real food. It wasn't really complicated. It was an antiinflammatory, a whole foods, unprocessed diet. So I think people really need to realize how powerful this is, not just in terms of prevention, but also treatment.
Jeff: Yeah, I mean, do you feel that the changes in behavior that we have witnessed, and that we have honestly engaged in ourselves over the couple of weeks. Whether they're cooking, and not going to restaurants, not driving, not flying as much, telecommuting, all of the behaviors that in some ways have been hoisted upon us. The implications of those while set against the backdrop of something very, very serious, may be incredibly positive. I'm looking at, and I'm sure you're following this, but the New York times is covering the impact of COVID-19 on the environment. And I think in LA over the past week you've seen some of the clearest skies in terms of particulate matter in the air in 40 years. And so I wonder, just kind of in summary, if you are optimistic looking forward, hoping that there could be potentially sort of a new human story. Or at least a set of new behaviors that can emerge out of this very, very difficult time that could actually lead us in a more positive direction.
Dr. Mark Hyman: I do. I mean, I've been thinking a lot about this. About how this is going to change human consciousness. How this is going to change our way of relating as a human community. How it's going to change the things that we focus on and care about. How it's going to impact our addressing the epidemic of chronic disease for example, and the overburdened healthcare systems, the stress on hospitals. We were completely unprepared for this from a healthcare point of view. And I think this is a wake up call for people, for governments around the world. Maybe it's a Pollyanna view, but I do think that there's going to be a new opportunity for a different way of being together as a human family that isn't so divisive, that isn't so oppositional. That isn't focused on us, and me, and mine. And more on we, and us, and the sort of interconnectedness of all of us.
Jeff: Yeah. Well, Mark Hyman, thank you for being such a leader on this issue right now, when we need that leadership more than ever. But for years and years and years, your commitment to healthy lifestyle and helping us understand the integrated nature of food, the environment, our healthcare system, our political system. You've been on the front lines of that. So very, very grateful for that leadership and very, very grateful for your new book Food Fix.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
Jeff: Yeah, anytime. And we'll do it again. And stay safe, stay healthy, and give Mia a big hug. One of the suggestions that you made as part of behaviors to stay well, is to cuddle your partner. So I'll take that.
Dr. Mark Hyman: You bet, hugging actually helps your immune system, so that's a good thing.
Jeff: Not strangers at this point, but maybe your partner. Okay. Take care of Mark, thank you man.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Take care [inaudible 00:48:37].
OUTRO: Thank you for listening to today’s show. To learn more about Dr. Mark Hyman and his new book, Food Fix, drhyman.com. If you have any comments or questions about today’s show, shoot me an email at [email protected] I always appreciate hearing from you.That’s all from the Commune for this week. I am Jeff Krasno. And I am here for you
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Kriegers Flak - Screened Area - Direct Connection to Land
Danish Kriegers Flak II, Kriegers Flak Nord and Kriegers Flak Syd
22 Jun 2020: The Nordsøen I and Kriegers Flak II were not chosen to be utilised for Danish 2030 offshore wind roadmap. The government and a broad majority in the Folketing signed an agreement on an ambitious climate plan on 22nd June. The agreement, together with the agreement on a green waste sector, forms the first part of the government's overall climate action plan. The agreement includes plans for: · Establishment of two energy Islands by 2030; one at Bornholm at 2 GW and one in the North Sea at 3 GW. The North Sea Island will be expanded to 10 GW in the long term. The island in the North Sea is being expanded in phases as electricity consumption rises and the energy island joins trade links with other countries. The energy islands must not only produce electricity, but also in the long term be able to connect technologies that can store or convert the green power to green fuels (so-called "Power-to-X"). It is a condition of the projects that they are profitable. Work on the energy islands will start immediately and parties involved will be continuously updated of the scheduling. · The establishment of the second wind farm agreed in the 2018 energy agreement will be located at Hesselø with a capacity of 1 GW. The parties have agreed that the wind farm should be operational by 2027 and have advanced the schedule compared to the original 2018 agreement. · The third wind farm agreed in the 2018 energy agreement will be included in the first phase of the energy islands and will be realised by 2030. · The funds reserved for the connection of second and third projects of the Energy Agreement 2018 will be re-prioritized to finance elements of the agreement. · The parties agree that DKK 4 million will be allocated in 2020, DKK 121 million in 2021 and DKK 89 million in 2022 for a preliminary study of the two energy islands and the park at Hesselø, at the same time with the re-prioritization of the funds allocated for preliminary studies of parks 2 and 3 of the Energy Agreement 2018. The preliminary studies are the first step in the establishment of the energy islands. · The energy islands and Hesselø must be based on the principles of the Energy Agreement 2018, which states that in future, offshore wind should be market-driven as far as possible without public support. · Other key points of the agreement include: promotion of Power-to-X plants and CO2 capture technology; electrification of the heating sector; Support for biogas and other green gases; Sustainability requirements for biomass for energy; Green restructuring of the industry; and Transition to market-driven expansion of solar cells and onshore wind. The so-called mill ceiling (maximum of 1,850 onshore wind turbines) will be postponed from 2030 to 2040 and CfD tenders for new onshore turbines and solar will be launched in 2020 and 2021. In total, the agreement between the government and the Left, DF, Radical Left, SF, the Unity List, Conservatives, Liberal Alliance and the Alternative, together with the climate agreement for waste, results in CO2e reductions of DKK 3.4 million tonnes by 2030. Wind Denmark praises the decision on two energy islands and the decision on Hesselø. However, calls for a clearer timetable for the establishment.
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Most commonly, a generic name for all fossil resins, although it has been restricted by some to refer only to succinite, the mineralogical species of fossil resin that includes most of the Baltic Coast deposits. The time necessary to transform resin…
A taxonomic order of insects comprising the cockroaches and termites. The order Blattodea, also referred to as Blattaria, contains at least 4500 species of cockroaches (Fig. 1) and 3000 species of termites. Previously, termites were assigned to a…
The common name for three living species of mammals in the family Elephantidae (order Proboscidea). Elephants are extant members of the mammalian family Elephantidae, which is one of several families included in the order Proboscidea. The remaining…
Monotremata
A mammalian order containing the egg-laying platypus and echidnas. Members of the order Monotremata (monotremes) are egg-laying mammals belonging to the subclass Prototheria (in some alternative classifications, the monotremes have been assigned to…
Proboscidea
An order of placental mammals containing the largest and most powerful living terrestrial mammals—the elephants. Proboscideans once had a wide distribution, reaching every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Although early forms lacked both…
Touch-screen display
An electronic display that allows a user to interact with a computer system by touching an area or areas on the display. Touch-screen displays have been in use for many years in ATMs, checkout registers, and other applications, but gained mass…
A nocturnal, burrowing, insectivorous, piglike mammal (Orycteropus afer) in the order Tubulidentata. The mammalian order Tubulidentata contains a single family, Orycteropodidae, and a single extant aardvark species, Orycteropus afer (Fig. 1).…
An early mechanical calculator. The abacus likely originated in Babylonia sometime before 1000 BCE. Over the subsequent centuries, it became a commonplace device in many regions of the world. The abacus is still occasionally used as a cognitive…
Acoustic signal processing
A discipline that deals generally with the extraction of information from acoustic signals in the presence of noise and uncertainty. Acoustic signal processing has expanded from the improvement of music and speech sounds and a tool to search for oil…
Agile methods in software engineering
A group of software development methods in which requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between the developers and the customers. Agile methods have significantly changed the practice of software development since their inception…
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Azmi Bishara: I have been targeted
Israeli police say Azmi Bishara, who resigned from Israel's parliament on Sunday, aided enemies of the country during last year's war against Hezbollah.
Bishara, who heads the anti-Zionist party Balad, has denied any wrongdoing, telling Al Jazeera he did not have direct contact with the Lebanese fighters.
A police document, released after a court partially lifted a gag order on Wednesday, said Bishara, 50, is suspected of aiding the enemy in wartime through information he conveyed, violating money-laundering laws and committing other security-related crimes.
Racist' climate
The document did not specifically mention Hezbollah nor elaborate on the allegations. No charges have been brought in the case.
Bishara resigned from the Knesset on Sunday at the Israeli embassy in Cairo and said he would stay abroad for a time because of a "racist" climate back home.
A police source said Bishara could be arrested immediately if he returned to Israel. He lost his immunity to criminal prosecution when he quit the legislature.
Bashira has called for a fair and impartial state for all Israeli citizens, describing it as unrealistic and prejudiced for Israel to be both Jewish and democratic.
This has led to accusations that he is trying to destroy the Jewish character of Israel.
Here is a full transcript of his interview with Jane Dutton in Qatar on Talk to Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera: You are being investigated by Israeli police for unpublished charges. You have been in this situation before. Do you think that, being an Arab member of the Knesset, you are being targeted?
Bishara: Well, yes, I have been targeted. It is a reality now because, in the last few years, I was two times brought to court and this is the third investigation.
The first two times had to do with my political opinions. Once because I was not recognising the Jewish character of the state and calling for a state of its citizens.
The second time was for visiting an enemy country. They consider Syria and Lebanon as enemy countries. I was charged with that.
Actually we do not accept that the enemies of Israel are our enemies as Arabs and Palestinians. We think we are part of the Arab world too and not only citizens of the state of Israel.
This is the third time. We can see the first two charges were once probably constitutional charges or normal felonies and I was stripped of my immunity, but I was not guilty because the court did not accept the Israeli charges.
It seems for me it has to succeed in Israel because the charge is about security. Something has to do with our connections to journalists and friends in the Arab world, as if passing the information to the enemy at a time of war, which is a very serious charge but had to do with what we think as normal for our relations with the Arab world.
Israel wants to use this as a tool in order to get rid of this position in Israel which calls for Israel to be the state of its citizens and accepting the national character of the Arabs in the country.
How do you balance your interests? You say that Syria and Lebanon, particularly Hezbollah, are not your enemy, but they are enemies of the Israeli state?
The Israeli state was established in 1948 on the ruins of the Palestinian people. Now if you want, in the language which will be known probably in Australia or America or even in South Africa, we are indigenous people, the natives of the place.
And Israel was built on our ruins. We did not immigrate to Israel in order to become Israelis like many French people would like the Algerians to integrate into France or to accept as equal citizens.
But these people immigrated to France and they chose to be French. We did not choose to be Israelis. Israel came to Palestine, destroyed Palestine and emerged from the ruins of Palestine.
We are Arab Palestinians. Israeli identity does not exist even according to Israel, they insist their identity is Jewish. There is no such thing as Israeli identity.
Our Israeli citizenship was forced upon us. Now we use it as a framework for work to demand for equality. But this does not amount to identification with the goals of the country in the region, which we do not accept. We are not Zionists and we do not consider Syria and Lebanon our enemies, on the contrary.
So you are advocating the destruction of Israel?
Of course not. We do not identify with everything that other organisations demand.
We live in the state of Israel and in the framework of such a regime and we think that Israel should be accepted if it accepts a just peace, which means a just settlement with the Palestinians to co-exist in justice and equality.
But we do not accept a kind of apartheid reality with the West Bank and Gaza and third- or fourth-class citizenship for the Arabs in Israel. We also do not accept Israel to be the policeman of the region. In that sense, yes we do identify, for example, with the victims of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza as victims of the occupation, Lebanon as a victim of Israeli aggression and we do not conceal this.
We think that Israel turned the border incident into a full-scale war. It was an aggression against Lebanon which destroyed about a third of the country. And we also say that war crimes were committed. We said that as Palestinians, and actually we can say that as parliamentarians.
It is our duty to speak out against Israeli aggression. In addition to this, I think what is cultural and what is historical and what people do not understand is the fact that historically we cannot identify with the Zionist project. It is a Zionist project which is built on our ruins.
How do you find your working with other Israelis on the Knesset?
The Knesset is not the worst political culture in Israel. The street could be even more racist than the parliament. But in the parliament, I think Israel is democratic within the limits of being a Jewish state.
I would call it trivial democracy. It is a democracy for Jews, and Arabs are granted rights because they are a minority and because they can be endured.
What is amazing or what would be amazing for Westerners who think that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, is the media. It is totalitarian actually. There is one orchestrated incitement calling for ousting us etc, while in the Arab media there are different opinions.
What options are open to the Arabs there? What do Arab Israelis want?
Normal people, of course, are not professional politicians and they don't think of ideologies etc. Most Arabs, even people who do not support us politically, think that Arabs should be acknowledged to run their own affairs as a national minority like other national minorities. And that the state should be the state of all its citizens, Because as long as it is a Zionist stae, it cannot grant equality for its citizens.
The majority of the Arabs, I think, do believe that. But of course there are different interests, like any other minority. Some of the Arabs are connected to the state apparatus, some work in the state and are afraid to say their opinions. Some have even connections with Zionist parties.
So we have different opinions, but I think that the majority of the people agree to this platform and I think this is driving a lot of people in Israel crazy. What we started is now actually becoming commonplace.
You said that the Arabs are persecuted in Israel. Give us a sense if you will of the conditions in which they live?
First of all, not all Arabs are persecuted. If you are a loyal Arab or a good Arab as many Zionists would say, you are not persecuted of course. It depends on what the definition of a good Arab.
What makes a good Arab?
Accepting to be marginalised, accepting to be a second-class citizen and being pleased and thankful because you live better than in Gaza. You have to be grateful.
Anyway, many times when we talk like this, they would say you should be pleased that we allow you to talk, in Syria you cannot talk. We would say, well, you took the whole country and you give us the freedom of speech.
Give us back the country and you take your freedom of speech if you want. And at the end Syria will be democratic, Egypt will be democratic. I know that democracy will win in the Arab world in the end. But these are their countries which you took.
How do the bad Arabs live then?
Well, the bad Arabs have to do with not accepting to be just tolerated. They have the pride of the indigenous people that this is their country and actually you are not doing them a favour that you are in the Knesset. Probably if you look at it from my side, I am doing them a favour that I am in the Knesset because this gives them legitimacy. And many Arabs blame us for being in the Knesset.
So, people like us, who come with this approach that our rights are derived from being natives, not from Zionism, or not a favour done for us that we have to be grateful for, then, you know, you start being a bad Arab.
You want us to recognize your national character, we also have a national character and we want to run our cultural affairs autonomously etc. Then you are provoking the limits of the tolerance of the state.
So then you become a bad Arab and then they try to persecute you. One charge after another, and if they fail, they seem they are ready to carry on and charge you with treason because you do not identify with the state or because you have connections with the Arab world, which is the principal issue for us because we are Arabs.
Do you think that Israeli state is in a state of flux at the moment? Do you think what is happening in the Middle East at the moment will determine Israel's future?
It could be. If Israel does not grab now and does not jump on the opportunity of the current Arab peace initiative, I think, they are going into catastrophe. Because at the end what will impose itself is the fact that this is an apartheid country. And the two state solution will fail because people will live in inequality and in the end people will not accept to be second-class citizens.
Most Arabs in Israel live in discrimination in all walks of life.
They cannot go back to their villages, I am not speaking about refugees who are outside Israel. I am not also speaking about the right of return.
Many internal refugees, Arabs in Israel who live five kilometres from their villages, were driven away and cannot go back to their properties.
There is no demographic question here, if they go back to their villages the number of Arabs won't be bigger. They are already citizens.
Sometimes things are happening to Arabs in Israel because the state ignores them. There is a phenomenon called unrecognised villages. Villages that should not be there, although they were there before the state of Israel emerged. So it is a severe case of discrimination. That's why, I think, Israel is making a huge mistake if it is not taking the peace initiative which is suggested by the Arab world.
What do you think of the significance of the timing in this investigation?
I think media interest has one timing and the interest of the security apparatus has a totally different timing. The media interest in blowing it all at once probably has to do with the failure of the war against Lebanon. They are looking for a scapegoat. I think this is a mechanism that we know in cases of, let me call it, problematic minorities at times of war.
Jews were like this once in Europe and were treated like that sometimes. In our case, we are speaking about minority Arabs in a country at war with Arabs.
So it is very easy to speak about a scapegoat to blame at times of war, especially when they fail in war and they failed in the war.
It also has to do with the distribution of our ideas in Israeli society, especially at the time of the discussions of the Israeli constitution.
A lot of papers were recently published by Arab institutions which adopted our ideas. They say that the source of the problem is the fact that a group, or Azmi Bishara, or someone else, published their ideas freely and speak about the state of the citizens etc althought they are in the parliament.
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Hands On: Bulova A-15
Watches, in their variety, grasp appeal from nearly endless sources. Just think of all the things you might take pleasure in as a watch lover for any particular watch. A watch can be a unique and beautiful dial, an artifact from another time that can temporarily bring you places you’ve never been, a tool that makes your life safer, or simply an accessory that finishes off an outfit. Maybe it’s all of these things.
A watch is also a tactile and physical pleasure. Stopping, starting and resetting a chronograph. Watching the seconds hand fly around the dial in impossible to see tiny increments, with power generated not from electricity, like everything else in our lives, but through the motion of our own bodies as we wear the watch. This, in a lot of ways, is the pleasure that the Bulova A-15 taps into. The dual crowns, while ostensibly offering some added utility to time events and track another timezone, are at their core just good old fashioned fun to manipulate. If you’re constantly playing with your dive bezel in meetings, on the train, and in other places where it just doesn’t make sense, you’re going to like the A-15.
But you’re also probably going to like it if you’re just a fan of military inspired pilot’s watches, which have their own charms with or without the somewhat gimmicky dial layout of the A-15. Even if you never make use of this watch’s defining feature, it more than holds up as a fun, heritage aviation piece, and coming in well under $1,000, it offers quite a bit of value as well. Let’s get into it.
Miyota 82S6
Yes, on hour markers
Picking up the A-15 for the first time, you’re immediately struck with a sense of quality due to its heft and weight. There’s a substantialness to the case that’s really pleasing – this one doesn’t disappear on the wrist. At 42mm in diameter and 14mm thick, the watch wears large, as a pilot’s watch should, but I didn’t find it uncomfortable, even though the case is a bit taller than what I’d normally prefer in a watch of this size.
There’s nothing flashy about the finishing, but the brushing on the mid-case is well implemented, and the polished bezel is about as classic as it gets for this type of watch. It’s subdued and has the profile of an old-school tool watch, but perhaps just a few millimeters bigger in every dimension.
The lugs are short and thin and angle downward ever so gently toward the tips. On my wrist, which is about 7.5 inches, this doesn’t have much of an impact on the wearing experience. But if you have a smaller wrist it’ll be a close call as to whether or not these lugs hang over your wrist or wrap it tightly. While 42mm isn’t an uncommon size for a modern tool watch, the A-15, because of the nature of it’s dial, feels more expansive and also just physically takes up a lot of real estate. If you’re considering this watch and have the opportunity to try it on before making a purchase, you definitely should.
As a lefty who wears watches on my right wrist, the triple crown setup here gave me pause initially. Even small crowns on well designed watches can dig into the lower forearm if you’re a right hand watch guy, and it’s something I’ve just kind of become used to over the years (we all have our cross to bear). For me, it really all comes down to how high off the wrist a watch is elevated due the caseback assembly or display back. The A-15, in my experience, wears pretty close to the wrist – the bottom of the lugs are the watch’s low point, not the caseback. That said, I didn’t experience any discomfort due to the triple crowns. While I noticed them, they aren’t particularly large or obtrusive.
Let’s talk about what those extra crowns are actually used for, as they’re this watch’s calling card more than anything else. Looking at the watch, you see a series of circular time scales. From the outside in we have: minutes, hours, hours once more, and a 24 hour scale showing 13 – 24 on the innermost scale of the dial. We also have hash-like minute markers on the outer minutes scale, and a railroad style minute scale between the two hour scales. If this sounds like a lot to keep track of, it is.
The crowns make things even a bit more complicated, but in a fun way that will appeal to people who like to interact with their watch. The crown at 2:00 rotates the outer minutes scale. Think of this as you would a dive bezel – the most practical application here is to track elapsed time from a given point. The crown at 4:00 rotates the hours disc just inside of the rotating minutes scale. Like a 12 hour bezel, this can be used to easily track the time in a second time zone.
Both discs rotate in both directions, and operation is smooth and effortless. Bulova did a really nice job of making sure that these crowns can turn with minimal effort, and the tactile sensation is satisfying in a way that’s similar to actuating a really good chronograph, or turning a diving bezel with particularly tight tolerances.
One of the nicer details of the dial is the way that Bulova executed the rotating discs in such a way that they slope upward as you move toward the outside of the dial. The effect is very subtle, and I imagine it has something to do with ensuring each disc has the proper clearance to spin without generating too much friction against the dial material alongside it, but at certain angles when checking the time you get a sense of depth when looking at the dial that is uncommon in pilot’s watches, which are by design often meant to be as flat as possible.
In terms of readability, it takes some time to get used to the clutter of the A-15’s dial. It’s a bit of any eye chart – there’s just a lot of text and not enough variation between typeface styles on the inner rings. After some time with the watch, though, you become more comfortable and your eye intuitively learns where to focus to read the time. However, if you’ve adjusted the inner rings for timing purposes, it adds another layer of complexity when you look down at your wrist and see, perhaps, both an hour and minutes track that are in positions you don’t immediately recognize.
But the dial, ultimately, is a strength of the A-15, as it does more to capture a general kind of pilot’s watch aesthetic (an idea that’s become a little washed out over time, as so many styles of watches claim to be aimed at aviators, and real pilots less frequently rely on mechanical watches to do their job) than any other component of the watch. The dial has a busyness to it that immediately makes me think of the Breitling Navitimer and other pilot’s watches with similarly cluttered and complex dials. The A-15, of course, isn’t nearly as complicated as the slide-rule enabled Navitimer, but it nevertheless fills the dial with a maze of numerals and symbols in concentric rings that has its sort of old fashioned charm.
The pop of yellow (in the most interior hours track) is also welcome, and here serves to give the watch a faux-aged look in a way that doesn’t involve radium colored lume. The yellow text not only provides a high level of contrast against the matte black dial, but it recalls vintage aviator watches in a clever way.
The day to day wearing experience of the A-15, for me, didn’t involve using the watch’s key feature all that much. Largely, that’s due to the fact that as a lefty I’m wearing this watch with the crowns in a hard to reach place. Taking the watch off, spinning the crowns to use the discs, and putting the watch back on is simply too cumbersome a performance.
Did I feel like I was being cheated out of this watch’s core functionality by not having the easiest possible access to the feature that might well draw people into the thing in the first place? No, not really. In real life, which is where you’re going to wear this watch, I personally just don’t find myself in desperate need of even one of the additional timing functions offered here, let alone both at once. Still, those rotating rings instill a ton of charm in the A-15 through their very presence and solid implementation. It’s fun just knowing they’re there.
The A-15 is powered by the Miyota 82S6, a simple time only automatic movement. For the price, it’s hard to complain. The watch has a smooth winding action, and I suppose Bulova could have opted for a quartz movement here, but the vintage charm would have really been compromised if they had gone that route.
The A-15 is a really well executed curiosity that will appeal to fans of vintage pilot’s style watches, and the modern watches inspired by them. I think many users are likely to find a lot more real world functionality here than I did, and that’s great. But this watch doesn’t require that functionality to be taken advantage of to get some enjoyment from it, and I think it would be a mistake to dismiss the watch entirely simply because you might not have a need for either or both of the supplemental discs on the A-15. The question you should be asking yourself before committing to the A-15 isn’t “Do I need to track a second time zone on a regular basis?” or “Can I make use of what is effectively an internal dive bezel?” It’s “Am I the type of person who enjoys the tactile pleasure of fiddling with something that’s really well made?” If the answer to that question is yes, the A-15 could serve as a very satisfying, vintage inspired, fidget spinner.
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By 101.9 The Mix | October 14, 2020
Rosie O'Donnell looks back on coming out as gay following 9/11
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images For Showtime
(NEW YORK) — Rosie O’Donnell opened up about her personal coming out story, which transpired in the days following the September 11 attacks.
Speaking to Red Table Talk: The Estefans on Facebook Watch, the comedian recounted what it was like to embrace her truth during such a tumultuous time in American history.
“When I came out on TV after 9/11, it was like a blip,” the former talk show host reflected on the Wednesday episode, noting that she was still “surprised that people thought I was not gay.”
Which is why, as she says, she blurted it out during one of her standup routines at Carolines on Broadway in New York City.
“I went to a comedy club and I was doing stand-up and I’m like, ‘I’m gay. Listen, 9/11 happened, I’m gay. I’m telling you all, I’m gay. In case the buildings blow up again, I’m so, so gay,’ you know,” O’Donnell furthered.
The episode, which also featured Michelle Rodriguez alongside host Gloria Estefan and her family, tackled hot button issues like sexuality and LGBT rights.
The full episode will be made available starting at 12 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
By Megan Stone
Are your social interactions a little rough lately too? No? Just us? 😬 . . Stream us live. Click the link in our bio. . . . . . . #...
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Laying emphasis on continuation of the ongoing pace of development works, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh becomes a dignified and self-reliant developing nation as the people have voted the Awami League government for a long tenure.
“Bangladesh is no more known as the country of natural calamities, cyclones, floods and poverty, rather it has emerged as a role model of development . . . the long-time mandate of people to the government has paved the ways for this development of Bangladesh,” she said.
The premier was speaking at the regular weekly cabinet meeting held at Bangladesh Secretariat joining virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.
Mentioning that the whole world respects today’s Bangladesh, she said Bangladesh has made an example before the whole world demonstrating how to achieve development, reduce poverty, generate employment, develop the lifestyle of people and provide healthcare etc. “The trend of this development has to be continued.”
Sheikh Hasina said the government has framed Perspective Plan and 8th Five Year Plan which would turn Bangladesh into a developed country.
Terming 2021 a very important year for the country due to the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Golden Jubilee of the country’s Independence, She said Bangabandhu wanted to build Bangladesh as poverty and hunger-free nation.
The premier expressed her gratitude to the people as they voted the Awami League to keep in power to work for them as well as give the opportunity to celebrate Silver Jubilee and Golden Jubilee of the country’s independence.
She said the Covid-19 pandemic has forced to abandon mass gathering and many events of the birth centenary celebration of Bangabandhu, but the government in “Mujib Year” has fixed a goal to provide houses to every homeless person.
“We’ll build a Bangladesh where no one will remain homeless rather every home will be illuminated with electricity,” she said, adding, “We’ll fulfill the basic needs of people from education to healthcare, and will pull the country ahead creating jobs for the people.”
Referring to Bangabandhu’s remarks — Bangladesh has land and people to make the country’s progress and development that he told journalists immediately after independence, Sheikh Hasina said the vast workforce and fertile land along with other resources have to be utilized properly to take the country forward.
Talking about the Padma Bridge, she said country’s some famous persons had raised questions about this bridge and stopped its procedures which were very much unfortunate for the nation.
She went on saying it was also very much regrettable that an individual even committed more notorious job just for simply holding the position of managing director of a bank.
“We took the matter as a challenge and had decided to build the bridge with own financing, and finally we have materialized it and the bridge is now a reality,” said the premier, adding, “This particular one decision has changed the image of Bangladesh across the world.”
At the outset of the meeting, the prime minister greeted all of happy New Year-2021.
Sheikh Hasina, Awami League, 12 Years of Development,
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Economy|Business and Economy
Whither the US dollar?
Economic analyst says there may be little Washington can do to stop its currency slide.
Timothy Geithner, the US treasury secretary, wants a strong dollar but has taken no steps to defend it against its downward slide in international markets [EPA]
During a recent visit to Tokyo, Timothy Geithner, the secretary of the US treasury, said that a strong dollar is “very important” to Washington, even as the American currency continued its noticeable depreciation.
This is a very curious statement as it seems to indicate that the US treasury is going to defend the dollar from any further slide in the near future. But this is highly unlikely as the US treasury does not have a history of intervening in foreign exchange markets.
It is true that the treasury’s Exchange Stabilisation Fund (ESF) can be used to prop up the dollar, but it has never really been used for that purpose. The ESF, which right now has about $50bn, was originally created by the Roosevelt administration in the early 1930s to deal with currency upheavals as the Gold Standard was being dismantled.
The ESF was used only once in international financial markets and that was to defend the Mexican peso in 1994.
Therefore, the treasury’s use of the ESF to defend the dollar can be ruled out.
In any case, it would take a lot more than $50bn to stabilise the greenback if there were to be a speculative attack on the dollar, like there was against the British pound in 1992.
On September 16, 1992, the UK withdrew the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) after short selling in global markets brought the value of the British currency below its agreed lower limit.
Liquidity and the Fed
The Fed has been providing banks with funds at nearly zero per cent [EPA]
The US Federal Reserve (popularly known as the Fed) is also unlikely to be defending the dollar any time soon. To prop up the currency, the Fed would have to buy back dollars which would require that the US offer euros, British pounds and Japanese yens in exchange.
The Fed does not have much foreign currencies in stock because the US has been running trade deficits continuously for a long time now.
The fact that the Fed does not have a war chest big enough to intervene credibly in the foreign exchange market on behalf of the dollar, paradoxically, discourages short and swift “shark attacks” – the massive selling of dollars by speculators in a very short span of time.
Speculators need some entity to bet against, and typically such opposition is provided by a central bank, such as the role the Bank of England played in its defence of the pound in 1992.
In fact, the Fed is at present much more interested in supplying dollars than in buying them. It has committed itself to providing liquidity to the banks at rates closer to zero per cent.
The banks can then presumably lend this money to households and firms at much higher interest rates and pocket the difference. For example, the mortgage rate in the US has been hovering around five per cent.
While getting near-free money from the Fed and then being able to lend it at five per cent provides enormous potential for profits (and large bonuses and salary increases for top management), it also reflects the high risk of default the banks perceive as a threat, given the defaults that have taken place on past lending.
The Fed creates this cheap money by paying for US government bonds that it buys from the public. Thus, the Fed ends up financing US government debt, albeit indirectly. Hence, a lot of the bailout money for AIG, Fannie Mae, and GM, has been indirectly financed by money created by the Fed.
‘Too much money?’
However, could the creation of all this money lead to inflation? After all, was it not the danger of rising inflation that principally fuelled the dollar’s downward spiral?
These concerns stem from the simplest, yet best-known economic theorems: inflation is caused by “too much money chasing too few goods”.
While it is true that the treasury and the Fed acting together are creating a lot of money, we are not even close to an excessive demand for goods and services in the US. Sales are down significantly across the board.
Most households get frequent solicitations from Direct TV, the phone company, or the cable company offering high-definition connections at highly discounted rates; airline fares have declined, if not collapsed. It is easy to find seats in movie theatres and restaurants as there are no people lining up to get in.
The deals that auto companies are offering, be they American, Japanese or Korean, are extremely lucrative to the consumers. All round, it feels more like the economy is producing too many goods, not “too few”.
If inflation is not a real danger then why is the dollar depreciating? Since 2002, the US government deficits have been mounting as have the trade deficits. These two trends have brought about a long-term average decline of the dollar in spite of several short-term upswings.
Part of the new dollar crisis can be attributed to new monetary policy from the Fed which is to lend money to the member banks in the US at virtually 0 per cent. This has enabled these banks to invest some of that money in the high-performing emerging economies in Latin America and Asia where the rate of return is much higher than what can be earned in the US. This is called the dollar “carry” trade.
Finally, the more recent and conspicuously sharper decline of the dollar has also been due to diversification on the part of central banks from the dollar to gold, euros, and the yen. India’s central bank, for example, recently used $6.7bn from its reserves to buy gold.
China’s power
US trade deficit with China has given Beijing power to determine the dollar’s strength [AFP]
The foreign institution which matters the most regarding the value of the dollar, by far, is the central bank of China, the People’s Bank of China (PBC).
Ever since China joined the international monetary system in the late 1980s, the PBC has pegged the yuan to the dollar, and only recently allowed the yuan to appreciate slightly.
The implication of China’s fixed exchange rate policy has been that on a daily basis the PBC has been able to reap all the excess dollars flowing into China in the form of trade surplus with the US.
Instead of holding on to these reserve dollars in the form of cash, the PBC has invested them in interest-paying US government bonds.
The accumulation of the US government bonds in the coffers of the PBC, including those with the central bank of Hong Kong, is now valued at well over a trillion dollars. The PBC has, for all practical purposes, become a lending agency to the US government.
But China has lately started becoming very nervous about its dollar holdings because of the sharp increase in the recent US government deficits. The deficit for the fiscal year 2009-10 could be close to $2tn.
However, as long the Chinese authorities want to manage the exchange rate of the yuan to the dollar, they are stuck with the status quo and will have to continue absorbing the dollar surpluses.
Washington feels stuck too. It realises that it is the Chinese authorities who control the floor value of the dollar. No wonder, then, that Geithner made reassuring statements about the US government’s commitment to a “strong dollar” when Barack Obama, the US president, visited China last week.
Adhip Chaudhuri is a professor of international economics at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
Source : Al Jazeera
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APS News April 2018
News and Events ›
Building diversity across the APS workforce
Findings from the APS Statistical Bulletin: December 2017 show that the representation of APS employees from diverse backgrounds has increased over the last decade.
The data shows that in December 2017, 3.3% of APS employees identified as being from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background. This has increased from 2.6% in December 2007.
Cultural diversity, as measured by employees from a Non-English speaking background, has also increased—from 12.8% to 14.2% over the same period.
In December 2017, women continued to occupy the majority of positions in the APS, making up 59% of the workforce. While men make up the majority of employees in senior roles, the gap is narrowing. The proportion of women in senior executive service (SES) roles has increased from 36% to 44% over the past decade, including an increase from 43% to 44% over the past 12 months.
APS workforce data is updated every six months, drawing on information provided by agencies to the APSC in the Australian Public Service Employment Database (APSED).
APSED data is also publicly available through a series of interactive dashboards called the APSED interactive interface (APSEDii).
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Indonesia / Philippines / Australia
Indonesia / Philippines / Australia | Workplace struggles
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Recent articles by Ia Maranon & Walden Bello
Recent Articles about Indonesia / Philippines / Australia Workplace struggles
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Labor in the age of Duterte: The Pacific Plaza strike
indonesia / philippines / australia | workplace struggles | non-anarchist press Thursday March 14, 2019 00:20 by Ia Maranon & Walden Bello - Rappler.com
Whatever may be the conclusion of the strike, there is little doubt that the practice of contractualization, which has done so much damage to labor in this country, is facing a mortal challenge from its victims.
The lesson of the Pacific Plaza strike is that workers’ solidarity, not presidential promise, will end contractualization.
“Kung titingnan natin sa umpisa, pumasok ako ng Pacific nung construction pa lang, hanggang maintenance.” This isn’t an uncommon sentiment for the workers of Pacific Plaza. Most of them have spent almost two decades tending to the needs of the residents of the lush twin-condominium towers, only to find themselves bearing the brunt of what would turn out to be one of 2018’s major labor struggles.
The Pacific Plaza workers union’s strike in the heart of Bonifacio Global City turned half a year old last February, having weathered so many challenges – from dispersal on the first day of the strike, typhoons, a steadily depleting strike, to TRO’s ignored by management.
Caving in is, however, the furthest thing from the mind of these workers, who have held one of the longest hunger strikes by labor since the 80s, as part of their campaign to pressure the Pacific Plaza management to regularize 17 contractuals terminated last July 2018. It is this perseverance in the face of the ruthless management of a prestigious institution that has attracted much attention from media, students, and even the Catholic Church.
Unlikely union
In most establishments, management has strictly enforced legal distinctions between regular workers and contractual workers, the most important being the contractuals’ insecurity of tenure. Many workers have, unfortunately, internalized these differences in status. One of the features of the Pacific Plaza strike that has caught the attention of observers of the labor scene is the way its participants have united despite their status distinctions, something that rarely happens.
“Para sa akin, yung ginawa nila doon sa labing-pito na kontraktwal, gagawin din nila sa amin. Sa loob pa lang, kahit kontraktwal, kasama namin sila, ginagawa nila yung trabaho namin, at yung trabaho nila, ginagawa namin, (For me, what management did to the 17 contractuals, they will eventually do to us, regulars. Inside, we could see that the contractuals were with us, doing the same kind of work)” said Edgar Virtudazo, a regular employee and an officer of the Pacific Plaza union, Pacific Plaza United Action of Labor – SUPER (Punyal-SUPER, for short), when asked about why they formed the union with the contractuals.
The distinctions don’t matter, Edgar emphasized, and said that the union had organized themselves in this way because it made sense for them to do so. To leave out the contractuals would have been to dilute the struggle and recreate the same kind of distinctions management has imposed on them.
This wasn’t the first time the workers had tried to organize into a union. The first union in Pacific Plaza, composed of only the regular workers, was formed in 2015. However, during their first CBA (collective bargaining agreement) negotiations, management promised higher pay and better working conditions on the condition that the workers voluntarily dissolve the union. Under such pressure, the workers caved in, but it only took a short while for them to realize that they had been duped. Within that time period, management enforced more stringent rules, but no longer having a union, the workers were powerless to do anything about it.
It took almost 3 years for the workers to muster the courage to organize again, only this time including the contractuals. With the formation of their union with the contractuals, management made its move: on July 6, 2018, a total of 17 contractuals, half of the 34 members of the union, were terminated, with “end of service,” colloquially known as endo, as the officially stated reason. This was in clear violation of the rights of the contractuals whose contracts ran to December that year.
A month later, the union went on strike on the basis of union busting, when negotiations carried out at the level of the National Conciliatory and Mediation Board (NCMB) hit a dead-end.
On first day of the strike, the union was dispersed and the workers were detained by the police. The stated reason? That workers could not carry out a strike on private property--a senseless rationale since strike actions by workers are guaranteed by the constitution.
After that fateful day, the union decided to come back to Pacific Plaza armed with a letter from Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III stating that the police and the Bonifacio Global City marshals could not intervene in the strike action since it was covered by DOLE guidelines drawn up with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). The strikers felt confident management would come to terms.
6 months at the picket line
Six months passed. Six months at the picket is a feat, but also a struggle in and of itself. Perseverance has been accompanied by hardship, so that today, spirits are undoubtedly low. The picture of victory which seemed on the verge of attainment has begun to blur.
“Gusto na namin matapos ito, kasi…masakit na,” Ka Edgar said, managing to smile as he did so.
It’s very rare to find the words to describe a strike, but Ka Edgar phrased it well for the workers of Pacific Plaza. The battle is truly far from over for the Pacific Plaza workers, but it is costly in terms of human suffering. People have had to tighten their belts. Families’ incomes have been sharply reduced. But even more serious than material privations was the demoralization that was lurking at the margins of the strike, ready to strike and spread if given the chance.
Ka Edgar’s admission that things were hurting was followed, however, by a realization that the struggle was still worth pursuing. We asked him that if he had known that the strike would be this long-drawn out process, would he still have gone out on strike? After a pause, he said that if by some miracle he had foreseen how things would turn out, he would still have chosen to go out.
Management colludes with manpower agencies
Ka Edgar isn’t wrong when he says that strikes, much like the one at Pacific Plaza, are bound to happen.
The Pacific Plaza workers are a particularly interesting case for labor in the country. Their strike makes a pointed critique of the current DOLE Department Order 174 and the subsequent Executive Order 51 of the President, both of which were proclaimed as the solution to the contractualization issue.
Contractualization was a one of the main issues in the 2016 election campaign, with candidate Rodrigo Duterte promising to abolish it. Along with other promises, Duterte’s vow to end contractualization led to a whopping 16 million votes. Nearly 3 years into this administration, however, the promise remains unfulfilled.
Currently the law does not prohibit bilateral contractual arrangements (better known as direct hire). This arrangement includes the probationary 6-month period and covers seasonal and project-based workers. Controversy, however, attaches to the trilateral arrangements that involve a principal or establishment that is serviced, a manpower agency, and a contractual worker.
Under the current department and executive orders, the only kind of trilateral arrangement that is banned is “labor-only contracting.” A manpower agency is considered a labor-only contractor if it does not have capital investment in the form of equipment, tools, uniforms, and other items necessary for the performance of work; it does not have direct power or control over its workers; and the jobs contracted out to its workers are not directly related to the main business of the principal, that is non-core functions.
Compliance with these criteria would mean that manpower agencies providing janitorial, security, and other non-core functions would be the only ones that would be classified as legitimate subcontractors.
The fact is that most workers in trilateral arrangements are either performing core functions, are under the direct control of the principal, or use equipment belonging to the principal. This is the issue at the heart of the Pacific Plaza strike: there is no difference in the work done by the Plaza’s regular workers and the contractual workers that are nominally under the control of a manpower agency.
More broadly, manpower agencies providing contractual labor have become a convenient vehicle for management to avoid regularizing workers that perform core functions and are under its direct control.
Definitely all hope is not lost for the workers, although at times many feel as if there is no hope left. “Bago ako lumabas naisip ko na obligasyon ko na ito. Papanindigan natin ito,” were Ka Edgar’s words of advice to workers who might be hesitating to fight for their rights.
Ka Edgar’s wife, Mildred Virtudazo, a housewife for most of her time before the strike, has become a de facto union member in the process. She has been to general meetings, has been part of every milestone and landmark of the strike, and even goes to shifts in the picket. When asked why she does this, when little to none is asked of her, she says, “Naisip ko na ang laban niya ay laban ko na rin.”
If there’s anything to describe the incredible sense of solidarity of the Pacific Plaza workers, it would be Mildred’s sentiment. It is a deep understanding that struggles are shared and carried by those who see, understand, and care.
Ultimately, what keeps Edgar and Mildred going is the fervent belief that “winning” the labor dispute is possible. Certainly wins are possible, and the Pacific Plaza strike has created the blueprints for workers everywhere – that it is indeed possible for regulars and contractuals to be organized together, without thinking that they are detrimental to each other’s interests. That in itself is the Pacific Plaza workers’ biggest achievement so far. But, of course, there is no substitute for victory in the strike.
Politically, what is there to do? With the broken promises of the Duterte administration, the Pacific Plaza workers teaches us that when we look to the most affected by these policies, there is much to learn about how we can make the country better for all of us, most especially for the workers.
We are at a point in contemporary history where labor is resurgent. The struggle against contractualization has reignited the labor movement. In the last 3 years alone, more than 24 strikes have taken place, compared to the 15 strikes that occurred during the six years of the Aquino administration.
Whatever may be the conclusion of the Pacific Plaza strike, there is little doubt that the practice of contractualization, which has done so much damage to labor in this country, is facing a mortal challenge from its victims.
Related Link: https://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/225013-labor-age-of-duterte-pacific-plaza-towers-bgc-strike
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(Reading time: 6 - 12 minutes)
Parshat HaShavuah - KI-TISA
Parshat HaShavua Ki-Tisa in a nutshell: This week's Parshah discusses three major things; the Mishkan, the Golden Calf and the second tablets.
After the sin of the golden calf, Moses’ smashing the two tablets of stone, and G-d’s partial forgiveness of the Israelites:
(Moses said to G-d): “Please show me Your glory.”
(G-d said to Moses): “I will make all My goodness pass before you… I shall show favor to whom I shall show favor, and I shall show mercy to whom I shall show mercy.”
(G-d further said to Moses): “You will not be able to see My face. For no human may see My face and live.” (33:18-20)
Moses perceived that this moment of forgiveness was et ratzon, the time of His goodwill (Rashi to 33:18). He wanted to make the best of that instant by asking to come closer to Him, through seeing His glory. As Isaiah was to express: “Seek G-d when he is present, call Him when He is close” (Isaiah 55:6).
Abarbanel offers a range of insights, one of which essentially extends Rashi’s explanation. He sees Moses as extending his dialogue with G-d. In the capacity of His chosen leader of Am Yisrael and the receiver of G-d’s instructions, he wanted to connect with the source of that dialogue at a deeper level. He wanted to know G-d better. He wanted a clearer insight into the workings of G-d and the universe. He wanted to understand the spiritual dimensions of the Creator and the Creation.
To which G-d replied: “You will not be able to see My face. For no human may see My face and live.” Your capacities are limited because you are human.
Indeed, human beings sense the world though five senses: touching, tasting, feeling, seeing, and hearing. To which we add the sixth sense of the higher cognitive capacities than distinguish us from all other creatures.
Candle Lighting Times for Shabbat Ki-Tisa
The chimpanzee may be very intelligent, but he will never achieve the cognition required to graduate kindergarten and move up to elementary (grade) school. His brain is not designed to develop the required mental capacities, however hard he tries and however good his trainers. It will just not happen!
Like the chimpanzee, the human being’s capacity for sensing and understanding has its boundaries. We use human ingenuity to creatively apply increasingly sophisticated scientific findings to “dominate… all the earth” (Gen. 1:26) and even make a foray or two beyond. But our human design cannot tune in to G-d’s spiritual forces whose full operations are beyond the limits, workings, and reach of observable science and indeed human cognition and perception.
G-d continued: “You will have a vision of what follows from My existence, but My essence will not be seen” (33:23, literally: You will see my back, but My face will not be seen). Abarbanel explains that even Moses, the greatest of all prophets, is being told that he is a live human being. “My essence will not be seen”: he will never tune in to the spiritual heart of the Creation. However, “You will have a vision of what follows from My existence”.
And thus G-d communicated that prayer is the way to come close to Him, in the form of addressing the shalosh esreh middot, His ‘Thirteen Attributes’. The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 17b) brings the tradition that G-d appeared to Moses wrapped in a tallit as one who leads the congregation in prayer. He showed Moses the order of prayer, with “Whenever Israel sins, let them perform before me this order of prayer, and I shall forgive them”. Indeed, a tallit around the head blocks out outside distractions, and helps a person to concentrate. G-d was teaching Moses that when people concentrate on praying, G-d concentrates on attending to their requests.
May Am Yisrael be given the help to pray with the necessary kavana and sincerity that G-d may heed and attend to our petitions.
PARASHAT KI-TISA - HAFTARA
'Is it you, O Troubler of Israel?' (Kings I 18:17).
This Haftara focuses on the Prophet Elijah. Elijah, and his disciple, Elisha were active in the Northern Kingdom approximately a century (873-852 BCE) after it had broken off with the Southern Kingdom, following the death of King Solomon. They both brought the word of G-d to His people during a period where the Ten Tribes were generally physically barred from traveling to the First Temple in Jerusalem.
Elijah worked alone – often as a one-man campaign - to establish His Will in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. That was a very difficult thing to do, as the Kingdom of Israel was under the House of Omri, in the person of Ahab, Omri’s son. Ahab not only followed in the evil steps of his predecessor kings, but he also married the Phoenician Princess, Jezebel, and imposed her idolatrous Baal worship on the people of his kingdom. The story of the Haftara is set in this very tense atmosphere of the struggle between a very determined and single-minded prophet of G-d, and Ahab and his idolatrous foreign wife - in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
The Haftara relates Elijah’s spectacular demonstration of G-d’s power over Baal on Mount Carmel. The years of drought decreed by Elijah before Ahab: no 'dew or rain will fall except with my permission' (Kings I 17:1) caused much suffering to the population, and in its third year, G-d ordered Elijah to appear before Ahab (18:1). His first contact was with Obadiah, Ahab's manager, who had hidden the true prophets of G-d from Jezebel's wrath (18:13). Although Obadiah is recorded to have been a G-d-fearing servant (18:3), he was most reluctant to be seen in Elijah's association, as Ahab might suspect him of being on Elijah's side rather than his own. However, under Elijah's persuasion, Obadiah set the scene for Ahab's actually leaving his palace and going to meet Elijah, greeting him with: 'Is it you, O Troubler of Israel?' (18:17). And Elijah replies in kind – the troubles were not from him, but the inevitable consequence of the pagan Baal-worship perpetuated by the House of Omri.
Elijah followed up his reply with his famous challenge: 'Summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, together with four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Ashera, who eat at the table of Jezebel' (18:19). Indeed, the challenge was not just to the royal House of Omri, but to the entire House of Israel: 'For how long will you jump between two bushes?' – between God and Baal. And the people could not answer him (18:21). – they were obviously hedging their bets, no doubt caring first and foremost that the drought and the famine should end. Each side was to prepare a bull and see if their deity could bring down the fire necessary to consume it. All parties accepted that this should be the sign that the was a success (18:24).
So the prophets of Baal act first: they set up their offering and practice their rituals including bloody forms of self-mutilation (18:28), and do not manage to bring down the fire. Elijah then takes his turn – and emphasizes the greatness of the miracle about to happen by building an altar of twelve stones, one for each tribe, surrounding them by a trench, and filling it with water – such a waste no doubt horrifying his onlookers. And as night fell, the fire of G-d came down to consume the bull, the wood, the stones, and even the water in the trench (18:38). And the people saw, fell on their faces, and decided on whose side they were: 'the Lord alone, He is G-d' (18:39).
Though Elijah's subsequent massacre of the priests of Baal, and his placing Israel back into G-d favor brought an end to the drought, his lonely campaign had only short-term success. With Jezebel hot on his path, Elijah found himself having to leave the region in a hurry - to Mount Horeb. There, G-d appeared to him in the kol demama daka – the ‘still small voice’. The lesson may be seen to teach that a zealous messenger of G-d does not bring His word in wrath and fury, but quietly, diplomatically, meaningfully, having created the right atmosphere.
G-d’s instructions to Elijah continued in that spirit. There were to be no more fireworks on Mount Carmel, but he had to carry on his zeal for his Creator’s cause in a much more subtle, if no less effective manner. He was to effect spiritual reform in the Northern Kingdom by quiet diplomatic action behind the scenes. He would put the mechanism in action whereby Baal-worship would be removed from the Israelites through not only religious power (in his anointing Elisha as his successor), but also through the secular power – by anointing Jehu as the future king who would, in the future, eventually launch a coup that would bring him to power, destroy the ruling House of Omri, and bring Baal-worship to an end (Kings II 10).
Elisha carried on the work of Elijah after his death. As king, Jehu indeed temporarily restored the worship of G-d to the Northern Kingdom, but he soon found himself behaving in as arbitrary a manner as the House of Omri – and indeed virtually all the kings of Israel broke off with the worship of the Almighty sooner or later, right up to the capture and enforced exile of the Northern Kingdom under King Shalmanezzer V of the Assyrian Empire (720 BCE).
The Haftara relates Elijah’s spectacular demonstration of G-d’s power over Baal on Mount Carmel. The years of drought decreed by Elijah before King Ahab: no 'dew or rain will fall except with my permission' (Kings I 17:1) caused much suffering to the population. In the third year of the famine, G-d ordered Elijah to appear before Ahab (18:1). His first contact was with Obadiah, Ahab's manager, who had hidden the true prophets of G-d from Jezebel's wrath (18:13). Although Obadiah is recorded to have been a G-d-fearing servant (18:3), he was most reluctant to be seen in Elijah's association, as Ahab might suspect him of being on Elijah's side rather than his own. However, under Elijah's persuasion, Obadiah set the scene for Ahab's actually leaving his palace and going to meet Elijah, greeting him with: 'Is it you, O Troubler of Israel?' (18:17). And Elijah replies in kind – the troubles were not from him, but the inevitable consequence of the pagan Baal-worship perpetuated by the House of Omri. And before Ahab could catch his breath, he told him to summon the people – and especially the priests of Baal – to Mount Carmel.
Why did Ahab not do the obvious and order Elijah to be put to death? After all, here was a golden opportunity to get rid of his enemy - the man who brought so much suffering on himself and the people of Israel.
In simple response: Elijah was Ahab's conscience. He could remove Elijah from the face of the earth, but murdering Elijah would not take him out of his own conscience. This is developed below.
Although the text introduces Ahab as more evil than any of his predecessors, he had a conscience, which occasionally did make him hesitate. The most notable instance is with his obsession to purchase Naboth's vineyard. He was deeply distressed at Naboth's refusal to part with a cherished family inheritance (21:4). He did not know what to do. It was his murderous wife, Jezebel, who made his mind up for him. She was the one who trumped up the capital offence; it was her doings that led to his execution by royal decree. But when Elijah confronted him with a 'You murdered and you took possession', his attitude was a defensive 'Have you found me, O my enemy?' (21:20) rather than put him out of the way for unwarranted interference in royal proceedings. And when Elijah told him how G-d viewed his murder of Naboth, he 'tore his garments and fasted…' to the degree that G-d confided to Elijah: 'Do you see how Ahab humbles himself before Me? I will not bring evil on his dynasty in his lifetime…' (21:29)
Know who's near. Locate Anglo professionals in your area
This narrative opens a window on Ahab. He was hesitant, and it was very likely that side of his personality that Jezebel exploited on several occasions to get her own way. He was hesitant with Elijah because he recognized The Truth in him. Even if he could put him away, he knew that what Elijah stood for would catch up with him sooner or later – as indeed it did.
In a similar vein, although he was incensed about the famine that Elijah decreed, he knew that the 'Troubler of Israel' was a man of The Truth – as Pharaoh recognized Joseph as a man 'having the spirit of G-d in him' (Gen. 41:38). Getting rid of Elijah would not get rid of The Truth – which would catch up with him sooner or later.
As the text of the morning prayers state: 'A person… should acknowledge The Truth, and speak the truth in his heart.'
Acknowledgements to Jacob Solomon
With Torah Blessings
Rabbi Nissim Mordechai Makor.
Yeshiva Pirchei Shoshanim Israel
Parshat Hashavua Index
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Malaysia SMEs eyeing laid off workers
PETALING JAYA - Businesses are still positive over employment in the new year although several groups are painting a gloomy picture.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are said to be keen on hiring employees retrenched from bigger corporations.
"SMEs are always complaining that they can't find middle-management personnel," said Neil Foo, the CEO of the Secretariat for the Advancement of Malaysian Entrepreneurs.
He said SMEs are taking the opportunity to fill in the management void with experienced executives that downsizing companies were forced to let go.
He expects to see a restructuring of workforce this year whereby the commodity and import sector will be "right-sizing" themselves whereas export-oriented companies will be using the chance to expand their manpower.
"We hear a lot of businesses are expanding right now. They always said it was difficult to hire and they faced a lack of manpower.
"But now, they have the option to recruit from whatever extra capacity in the workforce," he said.
Echoing Foo's thoughts was SME Association of Malaysia president Michael Kang, who said the next three years presented good prospects for businesses.
Kang agrees that SMEs will get a good chance to hire skilled employees.
"SMEs are always short of local staff. Every company is at least short of two to 10 employees, depending on the company's size," he said.
He added that this was also the best time to restructure, re-educate and upgrade the skills of their staff.
"This is because you do not need to worry about trained staff running away (hopping to another job)," Kang said.
The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia secretary-general Datuk Low Kian Chuan believes that there will be a general slowdown in recruitment.
Administrative positions will take a hit, he said, but skilled and semi-skilled work was still aplenty.
"Malaysians, in general, do not want blue-collar jobs. That is why we have to resort to hiring so many foreign workers," he said, adding that foreign help is much costlier than local workers.
Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Hua Zong) president Tan Sri Pheng Yin Huah, however, noted that steel mills and the glove-making industries are set to suffer due to high natural gas prices.
He pointed out that the increase in price to RM18.50 (S$6) per million British Thermal Units (MMBtu) for subsidised piped gas has significantly raised the cost of production.
"The increase in cost went up to tens of millions of ringgit, forcing three big local steel mills to cease operations," he said.
Pheng, one of the biggest shareholders of Perwaja Holdings Bhd, declined to name the companies.
He predicts a bleak 2016, urging the International Trade and Industry Ministry to step in to help revive the industry.
"In the end, the country's development relies heavily on the steel mill industry," he said.
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The Special Role of Our Chapters
“For too long the O/AU project has failed us. It has particularly failed our youths. What other continent, apart from Africa, will young men and women be running away from their countries, only to die in the Sahara Desert or Mediterranean Sea, and worse auctioned off as slaves in Libya, and still our various governments continue as if nothing is happening to Africa’s most precious resource – its young people?”
Sophie Kwokori, Human Rights Activist
Mission of our Chapters
To be in the vanguard of holding the AU and its Members accountable to the standards they have set for themselves. We also take it upon ourselves to ensure that the AU is not only known in every corner of the continent, but that every African in some way is involved in its programs and activities. We intend to embark on an AU information blitzkrieg of the continent with the objective of bringing all of us into the AU conversation. We want you to join us.
Working with partners, the Chapters perform the following functions:
Awareness Raising and Organising Events
• The main task of the Sections is to ensure that AU Watch activities are effectively publicized in-country. The Sections use radio, TV, films, social media, newspapers, advertisements, blogs, news and academic journals, web features, op-eds, conferences, workshops, research reports, speaking engagements, and books, to lobby AUMS, to ratify, implement and domesticate human rights instrument. They also work with the in-country CSOs and journalists and their professional unions to raise awareness of the issues of ratification, implementation and domestication of human rights instruments. They work with students and the ordinary African citizen to understand rights protected by the AU organs and why it’s important for AUMS to ratify, implement and domesticate human rights instruments.
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AU Watch has two dedicated Research Units at the Policy Programs and Administrative Directorate (PPAD) and the AU Organs Polic Directorate. So, in addition to the massive amounts of research and analysis connected with these two programs, the organization is mandated to carry out or commission research and analysis at the country level that strengthens the field and shapes its operations.
These researches target a variety of audiences, including law and development practitioners, policymakers, national and international organizations, academics, students, media professionals and grass root communities. The objective is for such projects to produce a variety of outputs, including edited volumes, policy and research briefs, guidelines and principles, and reports of different kinds.
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Creative, informative and entertaining media outputs are at the core of our approach. Our Chapters make arrangements with national and local radio and TV stations to carry stories about its work. Working in partnership with local media houses AU Watch produces TV news and programs, radio dramas, radio call-in, magazine shows, public service advertisements, billboards and interactive content for mobile phones. The Sections are also involved in development of poverty alleviation projects. The objective is to empower individuals and communities to understand and claim their rights. Through advocacy campaigns, lobbying and practical programs, the Sections aim to influence local and national policy makers to adopt policies and positions that will advance human rights, democracy, good governance, sustainable development, regional integration and much of the objectives of the AU.
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The chapters take responsibility of all the in-country projects and programs of AU Watch, ensuring that:
a. AU Watch activities are effectively publicized in-country. Such publicity shall involve, for example and where appropriate, organizing interviews with leading AU personalities that will visit the country.
b. Key AU dates (African Human Rights day, AU Day, UN Human Rights Day) are observed and covered by the local media.
c. Schools, colleges and universities include in their curriculum a study of ‘Understanding the Work of the AU’ including the African Human Rights System. AU Watch is developing curriculums for each stage of education in all the AU languages.
d. AU Watch International gets a compilation of an up-to-date directory / analysis of the various development indices of that country. The information will eventually form part of the basis of the development entry of that country in the Yearbooks, ‘State of the Union: Development’; ‘State of the Union: Human Rights’; corruption indices and other publications.
e. AU Watch gets a compilation of an up-to-date directory and analysis of the security issues facing that country. The information will form the part of the basis of a yearly report on ‘Regional Security Index,’ that will be published by the Policy and Programs Directorate.
f. AU Watch gets a compilation of an update-to-date address list, telephone and fax numbers and email addresses of all the relevant government ministries and officials in that country.
g. AU Watch gets a compilation of an up-to-date address list, telephone and fax numbers and email address of all the relevant CSOs in that country. Assist CSOs that do not have a web address to acquire one.
h. AU Watch gets a compilation of an up-to-date address list, telephone and fax numbers and email address of all police stations, prisons and detention centres in that country.
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Destination: The Americas
By NIKHIL SWAMINATHAN
On a Tuesday morning in fall 2013, Mike Collins loaded up his RV and started the 11-hour drive from his home in Austin, Texas, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Collins was en route to the Paleoamerican Odyssey conference, where he and other researchers would lay out their evidence, gathered from sites throughout North, Central, and South America, as part of the ongoing effort to piece together a picture of how and when humans settled these lands millennia ago. It was the biggest gathering of its kind since 1999.
Collins, a Texas State University archaeologist, had precious cargo with him in the form of more than 70 stone tools that he’d found during his 15 years of digging at a site in central Texas, roughly midway between Dallas and San Antonio, called Gault. His collection was scrupulously organized into two groups—one that he believes are more than 13,000 years old and a second that he believes were made more recently. The tools—blades, scrapers, and bifaces (typically crafted carefully on both sides)—initially appear to share similarities, as if all are part of the same lineage. But three points in the “newer” collection exhibit striking work—“stemmed” ends and fluting—of a caliber not seen in the other cache. These points, to which the term “beautiful” is often applied, are Clovis points. For the last several decades, in addition to capturing everyone’s attention because of the skill that making them requires, Clovis points have been thought to have been made by the first people to inhabit the Americas. Assemblages of artifacts such as Collins’, painstakingly excavated over years, form an ever-advancing line of research into the population of the Americas.They are a primary means of overturning the long-standing theory that a group of big-game hunter-gatherers crossed over a land bridge from Siberia to Alaska, known as Beringia, making their way south through an ice-free corridor in western Canada around 13,000 years ago. From there, they would have radiated onto the continental United States and beyond, all the way down to Chile.
It has been a compelling narrative. But recent excavations at Gault are part of a growing list of digs contributing new evidence that not only asserts that there were other peoples in the Americas at the same time as those who made Clovis points, but that humans had reached these lands earlier, and possibly by different routes. At the conference, when it was Collins’ turn to speak, he said just that. “By the beginning of the Younger Dryas [a 1,300-year cold snap that began about 12,800 years ago], this was already a fairly crowded archaeological landscape.”
Over the past 15 years, as the consensus in the field has gradually moved beyond the idea that “Clovis came first,” archaeologists have arrived at what Collins calls “an enormous and propitious moment in the study of the peopling of the Americas.” The door has been thrown open to discussions of multiple founding populations, alternate routes, varying toolkits, and even drastically different timeframes for when people might have shown up. “Clovis is still important,” says Mike Waters, director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University, “but we have to realize that there were people here before. Now we have to determine how long before Clovis people were here, who they were, what kind of technology they carried, and how they migrated through the continent and settled the empty landscapes.”
It’s a new, exciting paradigm in the field that could possibly confirm that the melting pot that the Americas are today is not just a recent development. “We can look at things now in a totally different light,” says Jim Adovasio, director of the Mercyhurst University Archaeological Institute in Erie, Pennsylvania. “The book is wide open for new inscriptions.”
One of the initial clues that people had arrived in the Americas before Clovis came from the southernmost tip of the hemisphere: the Monte Verde site in Chile, 600 miles south of the capital, Santiago. In the late 1970s, an excavation led by Tom Dillehay, currently at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, turned up stone pebble tools and wood and bone artifacts dated at more than 13,000 years old. Remnants of living quarters and three human footprints discovered there also appeared to be from the same period. The revelation would lead to more than two decades of controversy about the integrity of the site, until, in 1997, a group of nine prominent archaeologists traveled to Monte Verde to assess its legitimacy. After sitting through a series of presentations—from, among others, Dillehay, Collins, who spoke about the stone tools discovered there, and Adovasio, who had studied the ropes used on a tent structure that had been found—and taking a visit to the site, the panel was satisfied that the site contained evidence of occupation dating back 14,500 years, some 1,500 years before the date of the earliest Clovis site in the Americas.
Today, the archaeological community has largely come to accept that people were living at Monte Verde before the emergence of Clovis technology. Adovasio, whose excavations at Meadowcroft Rockshelter in the 1970s uncovered artifacts indicating that people were living in western Pennsylvania between 14,000 and 16,000 years ago, says that now, looking back, he realizes that he and Dillehay vastly underestimated how long it would take for their findings to be accepted. And the work continues. At the Santa Fe conference, Dillehay offered a presentation on Monte Verde and one on a site in northern Peru called Huaca Prieta, where he’s found charcoal and animal bones along with stone tools dating back as far as 14,200 years.
As things now stand, the work of this group of archaeologists and many others is continuing to offer up enough evidence to keep researchers busy for the next several decades. Some of the upwards of 50 sites already being studied will have their findings permanently written into the story of the peopling of the Americas. Take, for instance, Paisley Caves in southern Oregon. There, archaeologists discovered fossilized human dung, called coprolites, and a few pieces of a stone toolkit that looks nothing like Clovis, but is, at the least, contemporary with it.
The earliest dates at Paisley are 14,300 years ago. Based on analysis of the coprolites found there, Dennis Jenkins, the University of Oregon archaeologist who led the excavation, has been able to determine that the people there were gathering and consuming aromatic roots, for which they would have needed special knowledge that would have developed over time. “These guys aren’t the first people to come over the hills, see the caves, and go in there and relieve themselves,” he explains.
In addition, Paisley Caves provokes a line of questioning having to do with the routes that early people might have taken to reach the Americas. There are dissimilarities between the tools found at Paisley and Clovis points. In addition, people in the area of Paisley Caves were there before 14,300 years ago. Rather than these people being part of the same group whose descendants would eventually make Clovis tools, the inhabitants at Paisley were, instead, a distinct and earlier pulse of migrants. That raises the question of whether all of the earliest humans in the New World actually entered via the ice-free corridor. Jenkins, in fact, supports the hypothesis that the original immigrants to America boated from island to island along the northern rim of the Pacific, eventually making it from Beringia to the Pacific Northwest around 15,000 years ago.
Some of the coastal travelers may have made their way inland to what is today northern California, following the Klamath River northeast to Paisley Caves. Others, Dillehay suspects, might eventually have followed the coastline all the way to Monte Verde. “After the initial entry,” he says, “it is highly likely that this is one large tossed salad, with multiple migrations from multiple places moving around and retracing, with some on a straight line south.”
Other archaeologists working in South America, however, have a different idea. Stone tools found at the Toca da Tira Peia rockshelter, in Serra da Capivara National Park in central Brazil, have been dated to 22,000 years ago. At Pedro Furada, another rockshelter in the same park, excavators say they’ve found tools and fire pits dating back 50,000 years. If either claim is confirmed, it would suggest that the first Americans arrived in the southern hemisphere, possibly via boat from west Africa, where the Atlantic is at its shortest width, around 1,600 nautical miles.
If there’s a new buzzword in the archaeological study of the peopling of the Americas, it is “boats.” Part of reimagining the settling of the New World is to stop considering traveling by land as the only way people could have arrived there. “We so radically underestimated the roles of boats and water transports for all time horizons, not just the more recent past,” Adovasio explains. After all, roughly 50,000 years ago aboriginal Australians completed the trip from East Africa to Oceania. More specifically, they got there via Asia, “and they sure didn’t walk,” says Collins. Evidence shows—and this is an important understanding to factor in when considering all of these migrations—that the “trip” took them 20,000 years.
Nonetheless, the migration proposal that arouses possibly the highest degree of contention relies on boats. It suggests that the earliest travelers to the New World made their way more than 20,000 years ago from what is now the west coast of France and northern Spain. They went north along the coast to what is now southwestern Ireland and then west along the edge of an icecap in the northern Atlantic Ocean until they reached North America at the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. They would then have made their way south. This argument rests on the discovery of laurel-leaf biface points that strongly resemble tools used by the Solutrean people, who lived in France and the Iberian peninsula from about 22,000 to 17,000 years ago. They have been found in several locales including the Cinmar site off the coast of the Delmarva Peninsula near the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. The archaeologists who support this theory stress the similarity between Solutrean and Clovis tools. They consider the Clovis point the direct descendant of the laurel-leaf tool.
Not all researchers are willing to embrace what is commonly termed the Solutrean hypothesis. Waters, for instance, doesn’t buy it. “I think there are just too many problems,” he says, referring to, among other criticisms, the lack of a systematic excavation at any of the sites where the points have been found. Collins, however, who is open to hearing out the vast majority of pre-Clovis claims, finds the Solutrean hypothesis very compelling. “I think maritime adaptations happened in both oceans, and I think it happened first in the Atlantic and then the Pacific,” he explains. “You have people peopling the Americas from both directions, and they eventually meet in the middle.”
The work proceeds from site to site. While Waters tends to support the validity of a total of 10 “before-Clovis” sites in the Americas, Collins is considering the possibility that there are already around 40 such sites. “When you look at the big picture, it looks like there’s an extraordinarily complex early record out there,” says Collins, who is already looking for patterns among sites. “I think by 14,000 years ago there were a lot of people here.”
Paisley Caves
Debra L. Friedkin Site
Schaefer and Hebior Kill Sites
Manis Mastodon Kill Site
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Erbil Revealed
America, in the Beginning
Letter from the Bronx
Your Face: Punching Bag or Spandrel?
Sounds of the Age of Aquarius
Conquest and Clamshells
They're Just Like Us
Modern-Day Ruin
World's Oldest Pants
Alone, but Closely Watched
Saving the Golden House
The Dovedale Hoard
An Ancient Andean Homecoming
Dawn of a Disease
The Case of the Missing Incisors
World Roundup
Digging at Halloween's birthplace, superstition in the Virgin Islands, new paintings at Angkor Wat, and how materials scientists are using ancient Chinese pottery
Does a Viking figurine depict the goddess of love or simply a very stylish man?
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Ethan Martin
ETHAN H. MARTIN (b. 1990) has performed both locally and abroad. In 2017, he performed in Costa Rica as a featured artist in the Fifth International Festival of Percussion Ensembles. His quartet, Barb City Percussion, performed a full program of music in the capital city of San José, presented an outreach concert in Limón, and led master classes for students at the Centro Nacional de la Música. The ensemble had the honor to present the world premiere of Amniorrhexis by Chicago-based composer Brian Penkrot.
Ethan’s varied musical interests collide as a performer with Projeto Arcomusical, a world music sextet reimagining the Afro-Brazilian berimbau through a repertoire of unique, powerful, original concert chamber music. As a member of Projeto Arcomusical, Ethan has performed at Harris Theater in Chicago for the inaugural Ear Taxi Festival and at National Sawdust in Brooklyn for the 2017 Percussion Marathon hosted by Ian Rosenbaum and Andy Akiho. Additionally, he has performed and/or assisted in Arcomusical presentations at educational institutions including the Juilliard School, Boston Conservatory, Princeton, UMass, Baldwin Wallace University, Bowling Green State University, Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin – Madison, University of Illinois Urbana – Champaign, Illinois State University, Kansas State University, Western Washington University, and the Cornish College of the Arts.
Ethan received his Master of Music from Northern Illinois University as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and earned undergraduate degrees in Music Performance, Neurobiology, and Zoology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His primary teachers include Dr. Anthony Di Sanza, Dr. Gregory Beyer, Ben Wahlund, and Thomas Ross.
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A conversation with Jaime Hayon, mastermind behind the psychedelic playground at the High Museum
Andrew Alexander July 8, 2016
The pig has landed.
That’s seemingly the word from the High Museum as the institution’s usually staid and elegant Sifly Piazza becomes a psychedelic playground for the summer. The four large-scale wooden forms — pig, bell, bunny head and teddy bear — complete with ramps, steps, slides and interior platforms, are the work of internationally-renowned Spanish designer Jaime Hayon. The installation continues a series of recent commissions by the High for temporary interactive outdoor pieces on the piazza that began in 2014 and 2015 with Mi Casa, Your Casa and Los Trompos (The Spinning Tops) by Mexican designers Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena.
“Tiovivo: Whimsical Sculptures by Jaime Hayon” on the High Museum of Art’s Carroll Slater Sifly Piazza. Photo by Jonathan Hillyer.
“It was a difficult project,” says Hayon, who creates everything from watches to furniture, ice cream cakes to hotels, all with a recognizably zany sense of color and play. Hayon has become especially well-known for his work with crystal, ceramic and porcelain, so the occasional commission like the High’s to create a large-scale interactive site-specific work can come as something of a challenging shift. “Whenever you do an installation outdoors you have a lot of limitations. You have a limitation of material. The materials I’m used to working with are too delicate for the outside, too delicate to interact with.”
One of the primary challenges, therefore, was picking a material. Hayon eventually settled on boat wood, deciding its flexibility and water-resistance made it superior to other options, more inviting than molded plastic and much cooler than laser-cut metal in the summer sun. Working with a structural engineer, he and his team assembled the forms from slats of wood in his atelier in Italy, a slow, artisanal process that he says was akin to ship-building itself.
“Wood is flexible, it vibrates,” he says. “You feel there’s a certain softness and cushioning. That’s why it’s a good material for playgrounds. You can make forms that are pretty organic. And in the heat of Atlanta, now I realize they’re kind of refuges. Because of the material, you have air flowing through it so it ventilates well and it feels good inside.”
From the beginning, Hayon wanted to create forms that would invite both children and adults to play, so making the platforms and doorways large enough for adults was essential. One of the project’s seemingly simplest elements — the repeating pattern of graphics on the outside of each object — turned out to be one of the most complex to realize. “It was a hell of a job,” says Hayon, whose team used stencils to paint the patterns by hand, a painstaking task when trying to make the patterns look perfectly clean and linear. “We’re not an industry. These are handmade. It looks easily done, but it’s not. It was complicated because the forms are so rounded.”
The project takes its name, Tiovivo, from the Spanish word for a carnival or fairground. “If you really translate it, it means ‘my uncle is alive,’” says Hayon. “Why do they call a fairground tiovivo? I’m not sure, but it just had that great touch of surrealism.”
Overall, Hayon surmises that his playful, surreal aesthetic developed in part from the foreign cartoons he watched devotedly as a kid in Spain, things like “The Smurfs” and “Mazinger Z.” But he believes that his sensibility derives primarily from the culture of the era of his childhood itself. Hayon was born in 1974, one year before the end of the repressive regime of Francisco Franco and the sudden advent of progressive democracy in Spain. “Other countries finished the war and became liberal, and the ’60s were all crazy, But in Spain, you would go to prison if you had long hair,” he says. “I was born at a time when Spain was activated with a lot of new things. I had my father always telling me, ‘You don’t know how lucky you are.’ I was raised in this crazy freedom where everything was possible. That really did influence me.”
Hayon says he’s always tried to approach his work with that playful sense of limitless possibilities, seldom concerning himself with labels or distinctions such as “designer” or “artist.” “I don’t really think about it,” he says. “I never tried to categorize myself in any context. I just do things. I believe you have a concept in your way of creating, and it’s adapted to any kind of discipline that comes up. There’s always a link in things. There’s a code of elements I like, of forms and combinations and thematics. They come back in any discipline.”
And that sense of playfulness and adaptability arises even in his animated, free-ranging conversation. During our interview, he pauses for a moment to look out the window of the High at the piazza, where, in spite of the heat of a Georgia summer, a mother climbs inside the pig to play alongside her child. “That means it’s working,” he says. “It’s ventilating. This is exactly what you want. In the end, that’s the purpose of it. It really is as simple as that.“
Atlanta visual artinstallationJaime HayonSifly Plaza
Previous ArticleA discussion with Deer Bear Wolf’s Davy Minor and Elizabeth Jarrett about the organization’s transition to nonprofit
Next ArticleOpinion: “Art Will Tell”
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Frontier Airlines files for IPO
Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata
David Zalubowski
Low-cost airline Frontier today filed for an initial public offering, which means it likely plans to go public sometime in May. The Denver-based company last year flew 14.9 million passengers through 59 airports in the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean.
Top line: The Denver-based carrier's income statement reflects its budget sensibilities, with $200 million in net income on $1.7 billion in revenue. This is up from $146 million of earnings on $1.37 billion in revenue in 2015.
Why the improvement? Three factors jump out. First, the average cost of fuel fell from $1.90 per gallon to $1.59 per gallon. Second, the average number of passengers per departure climbed from 154 to 173. then there is "non-ticket revenue" (i.e., booking fees, baggage fees, on-flight purchases), which jumped from $401 million to $726 million.
Market: Airline stocks have been major beneficiaries of the "Trump Bump," judging by the most popular airline ETFs. Budget airline rival Southwest recently hit an all-time high, while Spirit Air remains well below its 2004 highs (but still is up for the past year).
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Kate’s thoughts with frontline workers as she celebrates 39th birthday
The Duchess of Cambridge is likely to be spending the day with her husband William and their three children at their Norfolk home.
The Duchess of Cambridge celebrates her 39th birthday on Saturday (PA)
By Eleanor Barlow and Tony Jones, PA Court Correspondent
The Duchess of Cambridge has said her thoughts are with workers on the front line of the pandemic as she celebrates a “very different” birthday.
Kate, who turns 39 on Saturday, is believed to be spending the day with her family at their Norfolk home of Anmer Hall, where the Cambridges spent Christmas after the Queen decided to have a quiet festive period at Windsor Castle.
A message on the Cambridges’ Twitter page said: “Thank you for your kind wishes on The Duchess’ birthday.
“Birthdays have been very different in recent months, and our thoughts continue to be with all those working on the front line at this hugely challenging time.”
Thank you for your kind wishes on The Duchessâ birthday.
Birthdays have been very different in recent months, and our thoughts continue to be with all those working on the front line at this hugely challenging time. pic.twitter.com/J4jUWq5hmO
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) January 9, 2021
The message was accompanied by a photograph of Kate wearing a face mask and waving, which was taken while she and William spent three days in December touring the country by royal train to thank key workers for their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.
Birthday wishes were also sent to the duchess by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.
The Clarence House Twitter account posted a photo of Kate taken during a visit to Battersea Park in September, where she met mothers to learn how they were helping each other during the pandemic, alongside the message: “Happy Birthday to The Duchess of Cambridge!”
Buckingham Palace tweeted two photos of Kate, one of her with the Queen which was taken as the duchess gave a guided tour of the garden she created for the Chelsea Flower Show, and the other of Kate as she became joint president of the Scout Association, which has the Queen as its patron.
The palace tweet said: “Wishing The Duchess of Cambridge a very happy birthday today!”
A birthday cake emoji was added, as well as the hashtag #HappyBirthdayHRH.
Wishing The Duchess of Cambridge a very happy birthday today! 🎂#HappyBirthdayHRH pic.twitter.com/HToUpuqUAu
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) January 9, 2021
Kate’s birthday celebrations are likely to be a private affair, due to lockdown restrictions, with William and their three children – seven-year-old Prince George, Princess Charlotte, five, and two-year-old Prince Louis.
Throughout the pandemic, the Cambridges have adapted their public life, turning to video calls to carry out virtual engagements and then joining socially distanced face-to-face events when restrictions were lifted.
In November, the duchess said she was “humbled” that more than half-a-million people had taken part in her landmark research on the issue of early years.
The study was the largest of its kind in the UK on perceptions of early childhood – which found only one in four people recognise the key importance of the first five years of a child’s life.
The day before Kate’s 38th birthday in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their bombshell news that they wanted to step down as working royals and become financially independent – something they have achieved.
Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born to Carole and Michael Middleton at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on January 9, 1982.
Happy Birthday to The Duchess of Cambridge! 🎊 pic.twitter.com/RfoGguifPg
— The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) January 9, 2021
Amman in Jordan was home to Kate and her family for a few years in the mid 1980s, where she attended a nursery school from the age of three, before returning to Berkshire.
At the age of 13, she went to the exclusive, private Marlborough College in Wiltshire, where she part-boarded.
She graduated in 2005 with a 2:1 in history of art from St Andrews University, where she met and began dating William, whom she married at Westminster Abbey in 2011.
Kate – now an HRH and a future Queen consort – is patron of 19 charities and organisations, and has focused her charity work on helping children have the best possible start in life, particularly surrounding their mental health.
Latest UK
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How can plan sponsors know what they don’t know? – Carosa
This paradox for plan sponsors can mean the difference between peace of mind and a class-action lawsuit.
By Christopher Carosa | June 06, 2018 at 04:30 PM
Many 401(k) plan sponsors fall into the category of ‘casual’ or ‘accidental’ plan sponsor, especially in smaller firms where executives need to keep their focus on their business. Quite simply, they don’t have time to become 401(k) plan experts. (Photo: Shutterstock)
Yes, we know life isn’t easy for the casual 401(k) plan sponsor, and, face it, the vast majority of them are “casual.”
Christopher Carosa
Chris Carosa has been writing a weekly article and monthly column for BenefitsPRO online and BenefitsPRO Magazine since 2011 and is a nationally recognized award-winning writer, researcher and speaker. He’s written seven books, including From Cradle to Retire: The Child IRA; Hey! What’s My Number? – How to Increase the Odds You Will Retire in Comfort; A Pizza The Action: Everything I Ever Learned About Business I Learned By Working in a Pizza Stand at the Erie County Fair; and the widely acclaimed 401(k) Fiduciary Solutions. Carosa is also Chief Contributing Editor of the authoritative trade journal FiduciaryNews.com and publisher of the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, a weekly community newspaper he founded in 1989. Currently serving as President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and with more than 1,000 articles published in various publications, he appears regularly in the national media. A “parallel” entrepreneur, he actively runs a handful of businesses, including a small boutique investment adviser, providing hands-on experience for his writing. A trained astrophysicist, he also holds an MBA and has been designated a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor. Share your thoughts and story ideas with him through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christophercarosa/)and Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChrisCarosa).
Lawsuit tests limits of COVID-related employment litigation
Robert Storace | January 18, 2021
A woman claims she was fired for complaining about pay equity. The company says it was because of the pandemic. Who was right?
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A CHEWING GUM COMPOSITION
The present invention relates to a chewing gum composition useful for the removal and the prevention of the formation of dental plaque, comprising from 15% to 50% by wt. of gum base, from 20% to 60% of sweetening bulking agents from 0.5% to 15% by wt. of plasticizers and from 1% to 10% of micro spheres of cross-linked alginate including an abrasive filler substance, selected from the group consisting of abrasive silica, calcium carbonate, talc, kaolin and mixtures thereof.
CHEWING GUM CONTAINING ENCAPSULATED ABRASIVE FILLER SUBSTANCE
The present invention relates to a chewing gum composition including an abrasive substance, useful for oral hygiene and particularly for the removal and the prevention of the formation of dental plaque.
In the prior art chewing gum compositions are known containing abrasive substances which are described as useful for inhibiting or reducing dental plaque in the oral cavity.
US 4 400 372 describes a chewing gum composition containing a gum base, at least one source of non-toxic acid and particles of calcined kaolin?, having an average diameter of 2 /xm and where substantially all the particles have a diameter less than about 20 /xm. As described, the chewing gum composition, upon mastication, performs a cleaning action on the dental enamel and inhibits the reformation of plaque.
US 4 828 820 describes a chewing gum composition able to remove dental plaque, which contains from 20% to 4 0% by weight of an abrasive of calcium carbonate having a specific grain size'.
WO 97/02009, in turn, describes a gum base composition which includes an intimate mixture of an elastomer and of abrasive silica, where the abrasive silica has an average particle size lying between 1 and 8 μm.
A common problem inherent in all the chewing gum compositions containing abrasive substances is that of achieving an effective cleaning action upon chewing, naturally avoiding
the damage to the enamel of the teeth and likewise avoiding an unpleasant organoleptic sensation of earthiness.
For this reason the main parameters which are taken into consideration in the formulation of gum base compositions and of chewing- gum are essentially the nature of the abrasive agent, its grain size and the quantity for incorporation in the gum.
For the purpose of resolving the above-stated problems the subject of the present invention is a chewing gum including a filler of abrasive substance which is characterised in that the said abrasive substance is included in microspheres of cross-linked alginate.
Thanks to the said characteristic the microgranules of abrasive substance, embedded in the alginate matrix material, are particularly protected in the initial chewing of the chewing gum; thus, in this initial chewing phase, an unpleasant sensation of earthiness on the palate is avoided; moreover, since the microspheres are relatively fragile, they break up directly upon contact with the teeth during the chewing, releasing the abrasive substances at the site at which they are to perform their abrasive action in a progressive manner.
The preparation and use of encapsulates based on hydrocolloids and particularly alginate has already been described in the patent literature, for . the purpose of encapsulating active principles such as sweetener, flavourings and pharmaceuticals, to achieve a prolonged and delayed release of such active principles.
EP-A-0 202 819 describes a release system for chewing gums, which comprises an active agent rendered insoluble in a matrix of cross-linked hydrocolloids based on alginates or carraginates of polyvalent cations.
This release system is utilised for encapsulating active agents such as, in particular, essential oils, sweeteners and pharmaceuticals. However, there is no indication of the possibility, and even less of the convenience, of encapsulating in alginate an abrasive substance useful for the purposes of prevention and removal of dental plaque.
As mentioned, the microspheres of alginate used in the scope of the present invention typically have an alginate matrix in which the granules of abrasive substance are dispersed; it is however also contemplated, within the scope of the definition of microspheres, that the granules of abrasive substance be covered by a film of alginate.
The microspheres preferably have a size, expressed as equivalent average diameter, lying between 0.6 and 1.5 mm; it is, however, preferable that such microspheres should have a relatively narrow grain size distribution curve, for example with equivalent average diameter lying between 1,000 and 1,200 /xm.
The relative proportion of abrasive granular substance with respect to alginate is preferably between 80-99% by weight of abrasive substance and correspondingly 2 0-1% by weight of alginate.
The microspheres may however encapsulate smaller percentages of active agents, in particular 'flavourings, colouring and
active principles for the care and treatment of the teeth, the percentage by weight, referred to 100 parts by weight of alginate and microgranules, generally does not exceed values between 0.1% and 1% by weight.
The abrasive granular substances included in the microspheres are typically filler materials such as, for example, abrasive silica, talc, kaolin, calcium carbonate, but may also include other solid abrasive materials including therein organic substances which have an adjuvant mechanical action in the removal of plaque as long as such substances are admitted by the current laws for incorporation into chewing gums.
Typically, the particles of abrasive substance have an equivalent average diameter lying between 2 and 100 /zm, values lying between 4 and 60 fjm being preferred, and between 6 and 10 /zm even more preferred.
A preferred material is abrasive silica of the type used as abrasive filler in toothpaste formulations.
Mixtures of abrasive substances can also be utilised, such as, for example, particles comprising a core of calcium carbonate and a shell of silica as described in WO 97/39728, or mixtures of silica-calcium carbonate, silica-talc-calcium, carbonate, silica-talc, or calcium carbonate-talc.
The procedures for the preparation of alginate microspheres are known per se and exploit the property of alginates which are hydrosoluble as monovalent cations, such as sodium and potassium, to give rise to reactions of ionic substitution with polyvalent cations to form a gel which - when the
substitution is completed - form a cross-linked precipitate insoluble in water.
Within the scope of the present invention calcium ions ar^ utilised as polyvalent cations which are added to an aqueous solution of hydrosoluble alginate (particularly sodium alginate) in the form of salts.
Thus, for example/ the preparation of the microspheres contemplates the introduction into an aqueous solution of calcium chloride of an aqueous solution of sodium alginate, containing, in dispersion or in suspension, an inert abrasive material and possibly one or more active principles which can be loose or suspended or dispersed in the alginate solution.
A colourant chosen from among those admitted by food legislation, can be included in the aqueous solution of calcium chloride or in the solution of sodium alginate for the purpose of achieving its incorporation in the microspheres to obtain coloured microspheres. In particular, the aqueous solution of alginate containing the abrasive non-hydrosoluble material is supplied through a nozzle into the aqueous solution of calcium' chloride, whilst controlling the rate of addition and the conditions of agitation for the purpose of obtaining microspheres having the desired grain size.
The microspheres of. calcium alginate which form in this manner incorporate within their interior the inert material and/or the active principles present in the two solutions which are mixed. For the purpose of encouraging and
accelerating cross-linking of the alginate the addition of an acid as a cross-linking initiator can be contemplated.
The active principles which can be added to the solution of alginate in order to be encapsulated in the microspheres comprise in particular fluorine ions in the form of a fluoride salt acceptable for food use, salts of phosphorus and calcium, salts or phosphorous and calcium bound in a stable or metastable manner to phosphoproteins such as, for example those present in liydrolised casaein, as well as flavourings substances which - advantageously - correspond to the flavourings present in the hydrosoluble part of the chewing gum.
Moreover, alimentary integrators, vitamins and intensive sweeteners can be included as active principles.
In the procedure for preparation of the microspheres these latter are recovered from the reaction mass by means of filtration and are subsequently washed with water and dried to an appropriate moisture content; the preferred moisture content lies between 0.1% and 5% by weight - referred to the weight of the microsphere, in that with this moisture content it has been found that the microspheres are sufficiently tenacious to resist intact the mechanical washings necessary for the production of chewing gum, but simultaneously sufficiently fragile that upon chewing they break up on the surface of the tooth, assisting in the mechanical removal of the plaque and releasing the desired active principles onto the surface of the teeth.
The microspheres thus obtained, preferably having the above stated moisture content, are incorporated in a chewing gum composition typically in concentrations from 1% to 10% by weight referred to the total weight of the composition or preferably between 3% and 5% by weight.
The preparation of the chewing gum is effected by means of conventional methods utilising commercially available gum bases.
Typically, the gum bases utilised comprise:
From -5% to 5 0% by weight of naturally occurring synthetic elastomers, particularly polyisobutylene, isobutbutylene - isoprene copolymer and butadiene-styrene;
From 5% to 60% by weight of resin acting as elastomer
plasticisers, including polyterpene resins, colophony
esters and polyvinylacetate of high or low molecular
weight;
From 5% to 40% of softening agents (softeners) chosen
from among the microcrystalene waxes, hydrogenated or
partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and their
mixtures;
From 1% to 15% by weight of emulsifiers such as
lecithin, mono- and di-glyceride acetates and
triacetates; and
From 0% to 60% by weight of optional fillers chosen from
the fillers conventionally utilised in the preparation
of the gum base.
The chewing gum can be prepared by means of a conventional process of mixing the gum base with the alginate microspheres, filler, sweeteners , flavourings and further high or low intensity sweeteners and possible plastisisers. Preferably, the chewing gum compositions have a water content not greater than 5% by weight.
Exam-Die 1
An aqueous solution of sodium alginate was prepared containing from 1% to 10% by weight of alginate, in the specific case 5% by weight of sodium alginate. To this solution silica particles (Syloid AL1 F.P.®, Grace Company) were added having a grain size lying between 6.0 and 7.6 /im, the quantity being about 4 0% by weight referred to the weight of the aqueous solution. The suspension of alginate and silica solutions, maintained homogeneous by agitation, is introduced in the form of minute droplets via a nozzle into an aqueous solution of calcium chloride at 1% by weight, subjected to" slow agitation. Upon coming into contact with the calcium chloride the droplets of sodium alginate -containing the inert silica - transform into droplets of calcium alginate which enclose the inert silica. After about five minutes the supernatant is decanted from the precipitated microspheres and these are filtered through a mesh filter having a mesh size of 1 mesh. The microspheres are washed on a filter with a little water and dried in an oven under vacuum at 50°C to a water content of about 3%-5% by weight.
The same procedure as described in example 1 utilising, in place of the silica carbonate of calcium and talc respectively having a grain size substantially corresponding to that of the silica utilised in the proceeding example.
Procedure as in Example 1, adding a food colouring to the silica in concentrations lying between 0.1% and 10% referred
to the weight of the aqueous solution of alginate; proceeding as in example 1 coloured microspheres are obtained.
Proceeding -as in Example 1, adding to the solution of sodium alginate an active principle represented by potassium flouride in quantities of from 0.1% to 10% by weight referred to the weight of the aqueous solution of alginate.
The microspheres obtained according to the above - described examples were utilised for the production of chewing gum containing from 15% to 50% by weight of gum base, from about 20% to about 60% of sweetening fillers, 0,5% - 15% of plasticisers and from 1% to 10% of alginate microspheres including, moreover, flavourings and sweeteners, preferably high intens ity.
1. A chewing gum composition useful for the removal and the prevention of the
formation of dental plaque comprising from 15% to 50% by wt. of gum base, from 20% to 60% of sweetening bulking agents from 0.5% to 15% by wt. of plasticizers and from 1% to 10% of microspheres of cross-linked alginate including an abrasive filler substance, selected from the group consisting of abrasive silica, calcium carbonate, talc, kaolin and mixtures thereof.
The chewing gum composition according to claim 1, wherein the said microspheres have an equivalent average diameter lying between 0.6 and 1.5 mm.
chewing gum composition according to claim 1, wherein the said microspheres have an equivalent average diameter lying between 1 and 1.2 mm.
The chewing gum composition according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the said microspheres are present in quantities from 1% to 10% by weight referred to the weight of the chewing gum.
The chewing gum composition according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the said abrasive filler substance is present in particles having dimensions, expressed as equivalent average diameter, lying between 2 and 100μm.
The chewing gum composition according to claim 5, wherein the said abrasive filler substance has a particle size lying between 6 and 10 μm.
The chewing gum composition according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the said microspheres comprise from 80% to 99% by weight of abrasive filler substance.
8. The chewing gum composition according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the said microspheres further include ingredients chosen from flavourings, sweeteners, active agents and mixtures thereof.
in-pct-2002-95-che-pct.pdf
in-pct-2002-che-95-abstract.pdf
in-pct-2002-che-95-claims duplicate.pdf
in-pct-2002-che-95-claims original.pdf
in-pct-2002-che-95-correspondance others.pdf
in-pct-2002-che-95-correspondance po.pdf
in-pct-2002-che-95-description complete duplicate.pdf
in-pct-2002-che-95-description complete original.pdf
in-pct-2002-che-95-form 1.pdf
in-pct-2002-che-95-form 18.pdf
IN/PCT/2002/95/CHE
PERFETTI VAN MELLE S.p.A
Via XXV Aprile, 7 I-20020 Lainate
1 COLLE, Roberto Via Giotto Res. Fiori, 221 I-20080 Basiglio
2 FUGANTI, Claudio Via G.B. Nazari, 8 I-20129 Milano
A23G3/30
PCT/EP2001/001762
1 TO2000A000394 2000-04-26 Italy
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All The Difference In The World
https://www.allnationselim.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200112_frontlinesundaysallthedifferenceintheworld.mp3
In general, if you tell people that you go to church they will think it’s because you’re religious and it’s what people like you do. Or they will think it’s where your friends are and that it’s a good place to connect with people.
Whilst there is a grain of truth in these views, they miss what the New Testament suggests the church is all about.
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by being set apart by the Spirit for obedience and for sprinkling with Jesus Christ’s blood. May grace and peace be yours in full measure!
In 1 Peter 1:1-2, when Peter begins his letter to small groups of Christians scattered across ancient Turkey, he wants them to understand what it means to be the church. He does it by helping them see themselves as part of the Old Testament people of God. He uses two key words and a stunning truth. Firstly, God’s elect.
God’s purpose from Genesis 12 onwards was that Abraham, and all his descendants, would be blessed and would be a blessing to the world around. Not all these early Christians would have been Jewish by birth. Yet Peter draws them into the ongoing story of God’s intention for the world by using the language of calling.
Whatever our journey to faith in Jesus was, when we surrendered to his Lordship, we became part of this ‘called’ people. In the UK around 6% of people worship in a Christian church once a month or more. It’s not many, but it is significant. When we gather as worshippers, we remind ourselves that we believe a very particular story about the world. We believe it is God’s – he created it. We believe it’s broken – because of sin; we believe that Jesus’ death makes new life possible; we believe that one day everything will be transformed. We live as people with a distinct story in a culture that may not believe any of that, who will no longer embrace Christian values. When we gather we do so to strengthen and encourage one another to be who we are – God’s chosen people.
But our mission is to our Frontlines, our work places. We are called to make a difference in the world, we are salt and light – Monday through to Saturday is our mission. In order to grow as disciples in these frontlines, we need one another; we need to be together as a worshipping community. Culture could be defined as the glue that holds the organization to gather. What is holding us together at All Nations? On Sundays we worship, but do we have a vision of reaching out and connecting with a broken world?
The second term that Peter uses, exiles, is one that recalls the great disaster of the Old Testament – when Israel lost their land. At first, they hoped for a quick return. But the prophets told them that most of that first generation of exiles would not return, though they could remain distinct and be a blessing where they were (Jeremiah 29).
Today, we are also scattered for most of the time. We don’t spend all our time with fellow Christians. We may be the only disciples of Jesus at home, at work, or in our class. These are the places where we are called to shine. What does the Kingdom of God look like in broken situations, where people have no understanding of God, no hope, no life?
Read Philippians 2:14–16. It’s important that we don’t ‘grey out’, lose our distinctiveness, and become the same as the surrounding culture. God has a plan in placing us in our scattered contexts. The culture we live in should not influence our values, we should be influencing our culture.
Frontlines are everyday places where we live, work, study, or play and we’re likely to connect with people who aren’t Christians. We are all the scattered people of God. We all have frontlines. If our ministry model revolves around expanding what we do within these walls, if our emphasis is on our programmes then as a church we are in danger of dying and losing our influence. Do we extend grace to a broken world? Do we connect with the lost? Or do we shut the gospel to them at a distance, but we don’t get involved in their lives, we don’t connect?
Peter concludes his opening greeting with a reminder of the wondrous work of the Trinity in their lives:
Our situations are known by God – his foreknowledge.
We have been set apart by the Spirit – his sanctifying work.
We can be confident of our relationship with God – the sprinkling of blood is a sign of being included in his covenant .
Peter rejoices with his readers in all that God has done for us. And he reminds them, and us, that we live out the implications of the gospel in our scattered places. We are elect and we are exiles.
We need conviction of Gods purpose for our lives. As we go into our work place, or whatever our Frontline maybe, we need to be secure in our identity. We are called, we are His church, kings and priests unto God, we have been given the Keys of the Kingdom.
Series: Frontline Sundays
What Is Your Focus For…
Wherever We Are
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Shannon Leddy
Shannon Leddy (Métis) is a Vancouver based teacher and writer whose practice focuses on decolonizing education and Indigenous education within teacher education. She holds degrees in Art History and Anthropology from the University of Saskatchewan (1994), an MA in Art History (1997), and a BEd (2005) from the University of British Columbia. Her PhD research at Simon Fraser University focused on inviting pre-service teachers into dialogue with contemporary Indigenous art as a mechanism of decolonizing education and in order to help them become adept at delivering Indigenous education without reproducing colonial stereotypes. During her time as a public school teacher with the Vancouver School Board, Shannon worked at several high schools as a teacher of Art, Social Studies and English. She is now an Instructor in Indigenous Education at the University of British Columbia.
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Exodus 24 RSV
1And he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abi'hu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship afar off. 2Moses alone shall come near to the LORD; but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
3Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do.” 4And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. 6And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 824.8: Mt 26.28; Mk 14.24; Lk 22.20; 1 Cor 11.25; Heb 9.20; 10.29.And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
9Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abi'hu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.
1224.12: 2 Cor 3.3.The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tables of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13So Moses rose with his servant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14And he said to the elders, “Tarry here for us, until we come to you again; and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a cause, let him go to them.”
15Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18And Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Read the Bible Book Club guide to Exodus
Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, 1957 and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Good News Bible (GNB)King James Version (KJV)Contemporary English Version (CEV)English Standard Version (ESV)New International Version (NIV) NEW!New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)beibl.net (BNET)Beibl Cymraeg Newydd Diwygiedig (BCND)Beibl William Morgan (BWM) NEWYDD!An Testament Nowydh ha'n Salmow 2014 (ABK)
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BirdWatching • News & Features • Science • Ornithologist J. Drew Lanham wins 2020 E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Award
Ornithologist J. Drew Lanham wins 2020 E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Award
Dr. J. Drew Lanham. Photo by Scott Steedley.
J. Drew Lanham, a Clemson University ornithologist who has worked to make conservation science more compelling, relevant and inclusive, is the 2020 recipient of the Center for Biological Diversity’s annual E.O. Wilson Award for Outstanding Science in Biodiversity Conservation.
“We’re delighted to present this award to Dr. Lanham for his passion and creativity in the fight to protect the wild creatures we share the Earth with,” said Kierán Suckling, the Center’s executive director. “By exposing how racism and the abuse of nature stem from a common core, Dr. Lanham is lighting the path toward a safer and more just world for people and wildlife alike.”
Lanham is a distinguished professor and master teacher of wildlife ecology at Clemson, where he’s taught courses in woodland ecology, conservation biology, forest biodiversity, wildlife policy, and conservation ornithology and nature writing for 25 years. He is the poet laureate of Edgefield County, South Carolina.
Lanham is also an ornithologist, author and activist. His work focuses on making conservation science relevant in an evocative, understandable way and exploring how culture and ethnic prisms affect perceptions of nature and its care.
“I congratulate Dr. Lanham and thank him for his work to blend science, art, and racial justice to advance biodiversity protection,” said E.O. Wilson, the award’s namesake. “His work to make conservation more understandable and inclusive is critical to ending the extinction crisis.”
A renowned birder, Lanham uses speaking and writing about birding as an inspirational vehicle for connecting people to the outdoors. He has spent decades writing and speaking about the experience of Black birders and has authored numerous essays on the connections between racism and extinction, continually working to make conservation more inclusive.
“E.O. Wilson has long been a hero and mentor of mine. I am honored to accept this award and humbly so. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to speak on behalf of nature and the necessary convergence of culture as a means to broaden and deepen the conservation conversation,” Lanham said.
Award is a handcrafted metal ant sculpture
The E. O. Wilson Award For Biodiversity Conservation Presented to Dr. J. Drew Lanham By the Center for Biological Diversity, 2020
The Center for Biological Diversity presents the E.O. Wilson Award annually to a scientist who has made an outstanding contribution to conservation. It is named after renowned scientist Edward O. Wilson of Harvard University, known as “the father of biodiversity.” Wilson’s career has focused on inspiring people to understand and protect plant and animal diversity worldwide, and he is the world’s leading authority on ants.
The E.O Wilson Award consists of a handcrafted metal ant sculpture by Anne Bujold, visiting assistant professor in sculpture for the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, along with a $1,000 cash prize.
The five previous recipients of the award were Rebecca Hernandez for advancing sustainable renewable energy; the late Lincoln Brower for monarch butterfly conservation; Aradhna Tripati for groundbreaking research on climate change; Tyrone Hayes for safeguarding people and wildlife from pesticides; and the late James Deacon for protecting freshwater species.
Green groups fight Trump’s bird-killing rule in new lawsuit
The suit objects to the administration’s ‘callous decision to eliminate protections for migratory birds.’
Expanded reserve protects warbler wintering area
The land in Colombia’s Middle Magdalena Valley will add more protections for Prothonotary Warblers and many other species.
In revised rule, nearly 3.5 million acres of its habitat opened to logging.
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Draft Prospects Top 5
MVP Metric
Buffalo Bills Weekly Recap
Photo by Rich Barnes, USA Today Sports
Written by Bobby Greco
The Buffalo Bills came off the bye week rested and generally healthy and claimed their eighth win of the season. They did however have to put WR John Brown and OL Cody Ford on the IR, with the hope that they will be able to return after the three-week minimum (Though Ford will probably miss more time). The last time the Bills were on the field, they suffered that heartbreaking loss to the Cardinals. I said in my recap about that game that I thought Buffalo was still in a very good position, but it was going to be important for them to come back strong after the week off and I think they definitely did. The offense had its ups and downs, but overall they played well and it was nice to see them run the ball. Defensively I think Buffalo had their best game, they gave Herbert a lot of trouble and for the first time this year bailed out the offense from late-game turnovers. Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll has really come into his own and it has really made the offense, especially Josh Allen flourish. One player who has become a real quality pro is rookie kicker Tyler Bass. He had some early-season struggles, but I think there was a lot of pressure on him when Steven Hauschka was cut and now he is comfortable and is really showing off his leg.
After forcing a three and out on the opening drive, Buffalo’s came out on a mission and marched down the field for a touchdown. It was a weird game for the offense, I think they played well, but statistically did not have their best game. Allen completed 75% of his passes, but only had 157 yards and two total TDs(1pass,1run). Besides an ugly fumble, this was Devin Singletary's best game of the year and Moss had a strong performance too. It was nice to see Buffalo stick with the run game, they were able to establish the run and find things that seemed to work for them. They are not a finished product when it comes to the run game, but it was nice to see them have success. I know I have been harping on this point, but a fullback in this offense would really be a big help. The one unit that I have to give the most props though, the offensive line. They had a really strong showing against one of the best defensive lines with the Chargers, besides Joey Bosa no other lineman really made an impact. I also think Buffalo owned the line of scrimmage rushing the ball, it seemed like they pushed back LA’s D-Line two yards on every play. The only TFLs the Chargers had were made by the linebacker, not a lineman. I’m not sure what happened in the 4th quarter when Buffalo decided to turnover the ball three times, but they need to clean that up. A better team would have taken advantage and the game could easily have gotten away from them, but thankfully they were able to hang on and get the win.
Buffalo came into this game with their defense finally trending in the right direction but was hoping to take that next step and I think they definitely did. Justin Herbert has been hot of late and the Chargers offense was clicking, but Buffalo was up for the challenge. They stifled Herbert and made him look very uncomfortable all game. The D-Line got a lot of pressure and finished with three sacks. Ed Oliver had a fantastic game in the middle, minus one drive where he had back to back penalties. Now I have to give credit where credit is due because the MVP of this game was surprisingly A.J. Klein. I have been harsh on him previously, but he really was a difference-maker in this game. He finished with 14 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, and 1 pass deflection. Though he still had some trouble in coverage, he was all over the field and made a couple of Buffalo’s biggest plays defensively. Though this is already known Buffalo has the best secondary in the league and it showed against LA. They shut down the high-flying Chargers pass attack and Tre’davious White had a massive 4th quarter INT. That being said, they do need to practice Hail Mary defense, because I can’t watch another one caught in triple coverage! The most important piece of the game is the fact the defense found themselves in the 4th quarter. After three consecutive turnovers by the offense, it was the defense who decided flex and won that game. They held the Chargers to 3 points off the turnovers, which is astounding in today’s NFL. There are a few things they still need to work on, but I really liked what I saw out of them and hope it will continue.
The Bills next game is Monday Night Football against the 49ers but will be played in Arizona. San Fran is banged up and has been up and down this year, but they are an extremely tough team. It will be a test for Buffalo because the 49ers are a run-first team However I am hoping what I saw vs LA, means the whole team is finding their stride and will continue to put on a show on national TV.
2020 NFL All-Rookie Honors
College Football Championship Preview: Alabama vs Ohio State
Know Thy Enemy: Baltimore Ravens Redux
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Become a Bombshell
Bombshell Salon is a hair salon with an urban-modern kick. Offering a variety of services including haircuts, hair color, spray tanning, body waxing, bridal parties, and blowouts. We are the only recognized RedKen Elite salon in North Dakota. Bombshell Salon will always maintain an advanced, ongoing education system, even when the state of North Dakota does not require any continued education. Come enjoy a "Non-Spa" experience like no other.
Book Now 701-751-6363
The Bombshell Story
There are few guests that know the story of how Bombshell came to be. For those of you that are new to our salon company, you might have heard some of the bits and pieces through the grape vine. So, what we wanted to do was reintroduce our story on how Bombshell came to be.
It started with a husband having a crazy idea that he wanted to open his own business before he turned 30, you know the long-term goal agenda. During that time, there were rumors that the salon Amanda was renting a room from was going to close due to the civic center expansion. The opportunity at the time didn’t really make sense; we had just bought a home, and were trying to grow our roots in Bismarck. Amanda has lived in North Dakota her whole life, graduating from New England high school and going straight to Cosmetology school here in Bismarck after graduating. Chad was a military brat, moving from state to state before ending up in North Dakota in 2010. We met through mutual friends, and to Chad’s surprise Amanda agreed to marry him in Cancun Mexico in 2012.
After many bottles of wine and Macallan 12 scotch at their kitchen table “board meetings”, Chad finally convinced his wife with his “relentless nagging” as she would call it, or as Chad would recall “charming intuition and determination”, to open a salon with an urban downtown feel that had a fresh, upbeat, and big-city atmosphere.
The name of the salon took us the longest to come up with. We wanted a name with a meaning of reinvention, or bring something back to life - an “old to new” mentality. After countless google searches, we came across the word “bombshell”. When you google “bombshell”, you see images of women from the past and present reinventing themselves to fit the current trends of our industry at that time. That’s what Bombshell is all about!
Fast forward 4 years or 21,902 salon hours later, we feel that we have impacted the community just as much as the community has impacted us. Bombshell has been voted a top salon in the area 4 years in a row; we have donated over $34,000 to local charities and community events, hosted over 42 educational events in the salon for our team, and accommodated over 200 bridal parties on their special day.
We recently had a team culture meeting in November 2017, and as a team we came up with 6 core values that define the salon. They consist of: accountability, integrity, continuous growth, image, fun and balance. These 6 core values have been embedded in our current and future salon culture. We are excited for these values to take shape in our salon, and future salon professionals.
Amanda and I welcome you to experience what our team has to offer, we guarantee you won’t be disappointed!
Chad and Amanda Faass
508 E Main Ave. Suite 2A
Bismarck, ND 58501
(Inside the Gulch Block Building)
Downtown Parking Information
Monday - Thursday 9 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Friday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Home Our Story Services Partners Team Contact Policies Become a Bombshell
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Fashion | Insiders
Miroslava Duma in conversation with Giorgio Armani
Buro exclusive
Interview: Miroslava Duma
Image: Inho Ko
Image: @armani
In a rare interview opportunity, Giorgio Armani shares the secrets to his success with Buro 24/7 founder, Miroslava Duma
You began your career as a designer at the age of forty, which is considered quite late in today's context. Did you feel anxious about starting something so new and significant at the time?
As I have often had the occasion to say: I never had a burning passion for fashion, I actually discovered it much later due to a series of coincidences. I had so many ideas, so many passions and curiosities. I was attracted to everything that was connected with photography, performance arts and with elegance — and to everything that was new. I think that I started my career at the right time. I launched my line at a 'mature' age, but with a technical background of rather articulated knowledge. This certainly influenced my performance and success, because I knew exactly what I wanted to say and how to say it. It is for this reason that I advise young designers to be patient. Finding one's own style and tone of voice is crucial, but it requires time.
I heard that you funded the launch of your brand by selling your car. Is this true? It seems rather risky. Do you still take risks?
Yes, it's true. When my partner Sergio Galeotti and I decided to start Giorgio Armani in 1975, we had great enthusiasm but a small budget. To buy the furniture for the first office on Corso Venezia 37 in Milan, I had to sell my white Volkswagen Beetle — a car that I was very fond of. Fortunately, things went in the right direction, and as soon as I had the chance, I bought it back. Since then, I have often had to accept challenges, but always by carefully considering all of the options and consequences.
Early in your career you worked with Nino Cerruti, and this is when you started to develop an expertise in menswear. Tell us about your time then and how your style took shape.
Before turning forty, I had gained ten years of experience in designing collections for Nino Cerruti and collaborating as a freelancer with various fashion houses. It was around that time that I got into materials and forms, and that's when my career took off. Because I started to quickly develop strong and personal ideas that I then developed by creating my own brand.
How did the idea to deconstruct the classic men's jacket come about?
The starting point was the observation of that which surrounded me. All I saw around me were men who wore rigid jackets that concealed the body, imprisoning them in a sense. I sought out the exact opposite — comfortable clothes that gave ease of movement, comfort and nonchalance. It was in this manner that, as early as the mid-seventies, I made the first deconstructed jacket, removing its lining and padding. Gradually, I also changed the layout of the buttons and changed its proportions. It was a process that radically transformed this garment. Since then, my jackets have been comfortable, lightweight, and even sensual in their construction.
Is there a field in the fashion industry, or in any other industry you would like to work in?
In these forty years of my career, I have created a complete Armani lifestyle that reflected my ideas and was applicable to various fields outside of fashion from interior design to hotels. Each expansion has always been carefully considered, as it had to be completely in line with my philosophy. It will be the same in the future when considering projects and areas that could be of interest.
You have started an initiative to support young designers. How do you select the participants and what do they need to demonstrate in order to get your attention?
The future of fashion depends on new generations. Lending my theatre to emerging designers is an initiative that I hope will help increase their visibility and in turn accelerate business growth. I am pragmatic and do not like paternalism. I preferred this formula to economic aid — a grant, for example — because I think it is more challenging for the designer chosen and, ultimately, more effective in terms of media exposure. We must not forget that the success of a fashion house also depends on this. The designer chosen from one edition to another does not necessarily have to have a stylistic vision similar to mine. I appreciate styles that are different from mine, provided that they are personal and original. Having an idea and moving forward with strength is the real criteria.
Let's talk about womenswear. How has your perception of femininity changed during your career? And in your opinion, what is more important for a modern woman: a well-cut suit or a dress?
The woman of today has definitely changed a lot from when I started. Her priorities have changed. She no longer has to fight to show that she has a value equal to that of men, and has learned to accept the finer and unexpected traits of her personality. She is sure of herself, enough to want to explore and even enjoy a certain eccentricity. The Armani woman has changed over the last forty years, even if her basic features of being strong-willed and conscious are the same — like the unchanged desire to wear clothes that are a completion of herself, and never a disguise.
Your suits used to be a uniform for working women all over the world. What do you think of the idea of clothing as uniform today?
In the seventies and eighties, women decidedly faced certain areas of work for the first time, showing themselves as equal or possibly superior to men. They needed clothes that represented them adequately in the competition with the stronger sex. This is where the idea of the power suit came from. Today, those achievements are ascertained, and women have also agreed to show their softer, feminine side, without making themselves dolls. Today's wardrobe has become more fluid and less prescriptive. I don't think that clothing should be worn as a set uniform. Natural-ness always wins.
What do you think of an 'extremely basic' wardrobe? Is it represented by 'New Normal' in your clothing line? Such approach urges us to buy less and to think more carefully about adding more items to our wardrobes.
With 'New Normal', I started from totally different considerations. It seemed to me that fashion lately had forgotten the everyday needs of working women who wish to dress with great care, without appearing like a fashion victim. I instead wanted to offer the essence of my work — classic yet modern, but with creativity. And I wanted these concepts to be obvious, starting from the name. So, 'normal' as a precise aesthetic code on the basis of which to offer garments that maintain the values of elegance and dignity, and 'new' because the garments are also updated. I do not believe that this is in any way 'anti-consumeristic' because like all collections, even 'New Normal' is updated every season.
Armani has been at the forefront of Italian fashion since the late 1970s. How has your aesthetics and views changed since then?
My idea of style and my aesthetics are the same as when I started forty years ago. They express a deep appreciation for all that is simple and straightforward. Of course, over the years, this has been combined with the desire to always keep myself in line with the times, through a careful and constant observation of reality. For the future, the goal is therefore to keep the brand modern through preserving its essential features — natural-ness, elegance, linearity and dignity.
You have been attributed with saying the following: "As long as I am alive, I'll be here," and it has been said that you will never sell your company. But there have been rumours that you might be looking for a successor.
In these years, I have been surrounded by skilled collaborators — people whom I trained and helped their progress, and who also have concerns about my succession. I can therefore assure you that everything is ready. My team will take over on its own, at the right time. But at the moment, I have no intention of stopping.
If you could go back in time, is there anything that you would like to change? Do you have any regrets?
Regret is a pointless feeling that hurts. Reflecting on past behaviour, however, helps to change it. Now I think about paying more attention to my private life, which means my family, friends and people who interest me. However, I would re-do everything that I have done.
In conversation: Miroslava Duma
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You are here: Home > Europe > Northern Macedonia
Economy and Business in Northern Macedonia
Northern Macedonia's gross domestic product (GDP) had zero growth in 2017, while in 2015 and 2016 there was an increase of 3.9 and 2.9 per cent respectively. In the list of countries' gross national income (GNP) per capita, Northern Macedonia is in 100th place. Of the former Yugoslav republics, only Kosovo has a lower ranking with 115th place. Unemployment in Northern Macedonia is 22.4 per cent, and 21.5 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line.
According to COUNTRYAAH, Northern Macedonia underwent an economic crisis in the 1980s that threatened the area with a complete collapse. With few inhabitants and a vulnerable geographical location, few believed that the Republic could manage on its own.
Following the independence of Northern Macedonia in 1991, Greece introduced full blockade of Northern Macedonia by closing the port of Thessaloniki for Macedonian goods. This blockade lasted until 1995. At the same time, an international blockade of Yugoslavia was launched, a blockade in Northern Macedonia indirectly becoming a victim of. The country was thus hit by blockade on two sides.
In 1995, Greece was pressured by the United States to cooperate with Northern Macedonia, but even after the lifting of the blockade, Northern Macedonia's economic situation has been very difficult. The privatization process initiated after independence in 1991 did not lead to the expected economic growth.
The conflict with Albanian rebels from February to August 2001 set the country back economically. After 2001, the government implemented tax reforms and established economic zones aimed at increasing foreign investment. Together with other economic reforms and measures to strengthen regional integration, this has led the country from 2004 to have a more positive economic development.
Agriculture contributes 10.9 per cent of GDP. Arable land and pasture make up about 25 per cent of the country's total land, but agriculture only employs 16.2 per cent of the working population. Animal husbandry, and especially cattle and sheep, is the most important form of farming. Most of the cultivable land is found in the river valleys. Here wheat, sugar beet, maize, cotton, tobacco, vegetables, fruit and grapes are grown. There is considerable irrigation.
The country has relatively rich mineral deposits, and coal is extracted. Otherwise, lead and zinc ore, copper and chromite are recovered. There are also deposits of iron, nickel, manganese, silver and gold that are only partially exploited.
Northern Macedonia covers 83.5 per cent of its electricity needs through its own production from coal and water resources. In 1995, a pipeline was opened from the Bulgarian border to transport natural gas from Russia. In 2002, a pipeline was opened to transport oil from the Greek port city of Thessaloniki to Skopje.
The industry contributes 26.6 per cent of GDP and employs 29.2 per cent of the working population. Major industries are the iron and steel industry, the food, textile and chemical industries. The country also produces footwear, tobacco products, cement, pharmaceuticals and automotive parts.
The communication network is generally poorly developed. The road and rail networks along the Vardar Valley have traditionally been important for freight and passenger traffic between Greece and Central Europe. The total rail network is 925 kilometers. The road network is 14 182 kilometers, of which 270 kilometers are highways. There are international airports at Skopje and Ohrid.
The number of foreign tourists increased from 586,000 in 2010 to 1.1 million in 2018.
Northern Macedonia exports totaled US $ 4,601 billion in 2017, while imports totaled US $ 6,630 billion. With this, the country had a deficit in the foreign trade balance of just over two billion US dollars.
The four main export markets are:
Germany(46.7 percent)
Bulgaria(6.1 percent)
Serbia(4.4 percent)
Belgium(4.1 percent)
The main export products are food and beverages, tobacco, textiles, iron, steel and car parts.
The six main import markets are:
Germany (11.9 percent)
United Kingdom(10.0 per cent)
Greece (8.0 percent)
China(5.9 percent)
Italy(5.5%)
The main import goods are oil, natural gas, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals and food products.
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Three lives: Living and Dying with COVID: Part 2
By Laurie Ezzell Brown
Published 1 week ago
Last updated 1 week ago
In-page image(s)
“WHAT A YEAR this has been,” Doug Benge said, echoing what many of us have felt in 2020. But Doug isn’t just glad 2020 is over. He is glad he survived it.
When he celebrated his birthday in November, Doug thanked his Facebook friends for their birthday wishes. He also thanked them for their concerns and prayers during the two long weeks he was hospitalized with the coronavirus.
“What a year this has been,” he reflected, “but [this is] a birthday I’m glad I got to celebrate.”
It has, without question, been a tough year. Doug was laid off last spring after working the last 12 as a pumper at Cimarex. Fortunately—though he didn’t realize how much so at the time—his severance package included 10 months of health insurance benefits.
Doug had always considered himself a healthy guy. Never caught a cold, never had the flu, never missed work. But he also knew the job had taken its toll. “I had some body parts, some joints that were wearing out, just from the work I’ve done,” he said.
About a month before the layoffs were announced, he had undergone shoulder surgery, and already met his deductible. As it turns out, that was a real blessing, given the $150,000 bill he received following his 15-day stint in Liberal’s Southwest Medical Center—12 of those spent fighting for life in the intensive care unit.
DOUG’S BATTLE BEGAN here in Canadian on Oct. 9, when he first tested positive for COVID-19. What started as just a terrible headache worsened over the next five days, to the point that he woke his wife, Karlyn, in the middle of the night, saying, “You’ve got to take me to the emergency room. I’ve got to get a shot for this headache.”
It was just before midnight when they arrived at Hemphill County Hospital. Dr. Gary Frederick was on call. “The first thing, they took my blood pressure, my temperature, and my oxygen level, which was down to 69 percent,” Doug said. “By that time, I was already out of it.”
Doug’s oxygen saturation level was so low that Dr. Frederick immediately began searching for an acute care hospital that had an empty bed—no small feat in the age of COVID. He located one, finally, in Liberal, Kansas.
Doug doesn’t remember much about the trip in the ambulance. “I remember coming into Liberal,” he said. “It seemed like time was just really crawling. All I could see was the ceiling and a clock on the wall.”
He also remembers that—because he had COVID—Karlyn wasn’t allowed to come with him.
“They wouldn’t let her in,” he said, the sting of that moment still clear. “They wouldn’t let Karlyn in.”
His first few days in the hospital were a blur. Doug didn’t really know what day it was, or how much time had passed. “I didn’t have a dime in my pocket. I didn’t have my glasses. I didn’t have my cellphone,” he said. “I mainly just got messed up on my days. Those days just lasted longer than I thought.”
Doug had developed pneumonia in conjunction with the coronavirus. The top priority in his treatment was to enable him to breath. Doug was immediately placed on a CPAP machine that forced air into his lungs, given plasma via an IV tube, and treated with antibiotics and steroids.
“From midnight to daylight, all these people were coming in, doing chest X-rays and blood work,” he remembered. “The doctors and nurses would get together and get their game plan, and come by about 10 or 11 every morning. I was really impressed. It seems like they had it all down, and what they were doing was sure working.”
At some point, though, there was talk of having to intubate Doug—often one of the final measures taken as a COVID patient struggles increasingly to breathe.
Doug remembered one very difficult night in his two-week hospital stay. “I have always had a positive attitude,” he said, “but there was one really bad emotional night up there. It just hit me all at once. I was crying. I was by myself and had nobody to talk to. The kids were texting me, and every time I read something, I just cried.”
“I was thinking of Karlyn, thinking I wish this was paid off, and stuff like that,” he said. “But the next morning, that was gone. I never had it again.”
“It was the good Lord that brought me out of it,” he said. “Good doctors. Good treatments. But it was His will. ‘You’re not done yet.’”
That, he said, is when he decided: “I’m gonna whip this.”
“Once I started feeling better,” Doug said, “I never had a setback.”
Looking back on his ordeal, Doug remembered something else about that time in the hospital. “You could tell those nurses were sure getting tired and wore out,” he said. “The stress of it, and not knowing.”
BEFORE HE CONTRACTED the virus, Doug said he and Karlyn didn’t shut themselves in their house, but they didn’t go out a lot, either.
While Doug is unsure how he was exposed, he tested positive a few days after a weekend men’s conference held here in Canadian. “That was really the only time I was around people I normally wasn’t,” he said. “People from Oklahoma, Vernon, Amarillo, and Childress came. I don’t know if it was somebody there.”
“I do know people there that did come down with it,” he said.
One of the main speakers—a preacher from a church in Tulsa—became very ill with the coronavirus following the conference, and had only begun to recover last month.
“When I came down with it,” Doug said, “I sure wasn’t mad. I’m not upset if somebody had it there and I caught it. What worries me is how many people did I expose… was there one, or 10, or 20? That bothers me more. You just don’t know.”
In fact, Doug credits his church’s Bible study group—a group of six or seven couples—with having helped him recover. “They were so good about texting stuff: encouragement, prayers, checking on Karlyn,” he said. “All them ornery, old high school buddies of mine, checking on me.”
It was those same friends who just showed up, unbidden, when a winter storm delivered freezing temperatures and layers of ice that coated the countryside and caused crippling power outages to much of this area. Doug was still fighting for life in that Kansas hospital, and Karlyn was alone at home with cattle to care for.
“She had all our animals and was out here by herself,” Doug said. “She couldn’t even get the gates open. But them ol’ buddies of mine just showed up. They were out there feeding the cows and stuff, without even being asked.”
“It sure makes you feel good that you belong to a community as thoughtful and kind,” he said. “We weren’t in it alone. It lets me know how good people are.”
TODAY, DOUG IS just grateful for having been lucky enough to survive. After first being released, he had strange residual symptoms. “Weird stuff,” Doug said. “The bottom of my feet seemed numb, and it was weird walking. My hands and wrists felt like they had needles poking in them. I couldn’t sleep at night because of it. I would start shaking real bad if I picked up a cup or something.”
About two weeks later, he said, he was symptom-free.
“I’m not scared of getting it again,” he said. “But if we’re out, I sure mask up. I don’t think we’re at risk of giving it to anybody.”
“I don’t think there’s any way you can be completely safe and not put yourself in a position to be exposed to it, unless you lock yourself up in your house and never get out,” Doug admits. “I’m not going to live my life scared of going out and seeing people. I just think you’ve got to believe, if it does affect you, you will work hard at overcoming it. With the good Lord’s help, you will survive.”
“I always thought I was invincible,” said Doug. “I thought I could live through anything. And I guess I did live through it.”
“I sure wasn’t wanting to leave this world yet.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The third and final part of Three Lives: Living and Dying with Covid, will be published in next week’s edition of The Record. It will feature our conversation with Jenny Wilburn Frazier, whose father, Bob Wilburn, died last month from COVID-19.
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The Adventures of China Iron
by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
Translated by Fiona Macintosh and Iona Macintyre
Published by: Charco Press
188 Pages, 129.00 x 7.80 in
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020
1872. The pampas of Argentina. China is a young woman eking out an existence in a remote gaucho encampment. After her no-good husband is conscripted into the army, China bolts for freedom, setting off on a wagon journey through the pampas in the company of her new-found friend Liz, a settler from Scotland. While Liz provides China with a sentimental education and schools her in the nefarious ways of the British Empire, their eyes are opened to the wonders of Argentina’s richly diverse flora and fauna, cultures and languages, as well as to the ruthless violence involved in nation-building.
This subversive retelling of Argentina’s foundational gaucho epic Martín Fierro is a celebration of the colour and movement of the living world, the open road, love and sex, and the dream of lasting freedom. With humour and sophistication, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara has created a joyful, hallucinatory novel that is also an incisive critique of national myths.
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara was born in Buenos Aires in 1968. Her debut novel La virgen cabeza (published in English as Slum Virgin by Charco Press, 2017) was followed by Romance de la negra rubia (Romance of the Black Blonde, 2014) as well as by two collections of short stories. In 2011 she published the novella Le viste la cara a Dios (You’ve Seen God’s Face), later republished as a graphic novel, Beya (Biutiful), illustrated by Iñaki Echeverría. Beya was awarded the Argentine Senate’s Alfredo Palacios Prize and was recognised by the Buenos Aires City Council and the Congress of Buenos Aires Province for its social and cultural significance as well as for its contribution in the fight against human trafficking. During 2013, she was writer-in-residence at UC Berkeley, and in 2019 she was part of the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin.
Fiona Mackintosh is a Senior Lecturer in Latin American Literature at the University of Edinburgh with research interests in gender studies, comparative literature and literary translation. Fiona specialises in Argentinian fiction and poetry and has published extensively on Alejandra Pizarnik and Silvina Ocampo in particular, as well as on contemporary authors. She has translated Luisa Valenzuela’s The Other Book for Bomb magazine and selected poems by Esteban Peicovich for In Other Words. She is currently writing a book on the novels of Claudia Piñeiro.
Iona Macintyre is a Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Iona’s teaching and research has focused on nineteenth-century Spanish American history and culture. Within this area she works primarily on Argentina, history of the book, translation studies, gender studies and transatlantic relations. She has also published on the contemporary fiction of Jorge Accame.
International Booker Prize (Shortlist)
A thrilling and mystical miniature epic. —The Guardian
[The Adventures of China Iron] reminds us, in Cabezón Cámara’s entrancing poetry, how magical and frankly unpleasant it is to live through history.” —New York Times
A daring, playful story. —New Statesman
Daring. —The Financial Times
Brilliantly translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre, this is a heartfelt, dreamlike paean to Argentina’s past and what might have been had the pampas been left alone. —The Times Literary Supplement
Shaking loose new possibilities for how we might reshape the present precisely by unsettling something seemingly so settled as the past. —Music & Literature
Cabezón Cámara’s exciting LGBTQ look at pioneers of the pampas makes for a rewarding and subversive treat. —Publishers Weekly
[The Adventures of China Iron] compels readers to examine critically not only the biases of the myths we celebrate, but also how they seep into our contemporary understandings of nationhood. —LA Review of Books
A wonderful reading experience, filled with light, joy, discovery, friendship, and love. —The Massachusetts Review
An unexpected ride that delivers on all accounts. —DIVA Magazine
A transformative adventure, wholly romantic and sublime, at times even supernatural in its message of discovery. —Books and Bao
10 Best Translated Books 2019 —Books and Bao
Best books published in Latin America 2017 —New York Times
20 Best Latin American books 2017 —El País
Best books dealing with feminism, sisterhood and queerness —Pagina/12
Best Books of 2017 —Los inRockuptibles
Praise for Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
Silverio Cañada Memorial Prize (Shortlist)
Queer writing at its most exhilarating. —The Times Literary Supplement
Cámara’s breakout tale is mind-blowingly good. —Publishers Weekly
A revelation for contemporary literature. —Andrés Neuman, author of TRAVELLER OF THE CENTURY and TALKING TO OURSELVES
Caìmara has a powerful voice, one to be taken seriously.” —Library Journal
Book of the Year 2009 —Rolling Stone (Argentina)
Cabezón Cámara’s exuberant range of styles truly shines. —Asymptote
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Dana Reeve
Dana Reeve, widow of actor Christopher Reeve, holds a tag with the Superman logo which represents the belief that Reeve's vision of a cure for paralysis will go forward, at the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation's "A Magical Evening" gala, Nov. 17, 2005 in New York. Dana Reeve fought tirelessly for better treatments and possible cures through the foundation. She died March 6, 2006 of lung cancer. She was 44.
Credit: AP Photo/Stephen Chernin
Dana Reeve, widow of actor Christopher Reeve, performs a song during a pregame ceremony to retire New York Rangers captain Mark Messier's No. 11 jersey in this Thursday, Jan. 12, 2006 photo taken at New York's Madison Square Garden. The widow of actor Christopher Reeve, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005, succumbed to the disease March 6, 2006.
Credit: AP Photo/Kathy Willens
Dana Reeve, actress, singer and activist, at the American Cancer Society Mother of the Year Awards in New York in this Feb. 28, 2005, file photo.
Dana Reeve attends the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's 2nd Annual Gala at the Beverly Hills Hotel on May 14, 2005. Her acting career included appearances in "Law and Order" and the HBO series "Oz" and she also appeared in off-Broadway shows and in regional theater productions for the Manhattan Theater Club, the Yale Repertory Theater, Joseph Papp's Public Theater and the Williamstown Theater Festival.
Credit: GETTY IMAGES/Stephen Shugerman
Dana Reeve, who headed the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, seen in a speech during the America's Heath Insurance Plans (AHIP) 2005 National Policy Forum March 8, 2005, in Washington, D.C.
Credit: GETTY IMAGES/Stephen J. Boitano
Carol Alt, Dana Reeve and her son, Will, along with Glenn Close, arrive at Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation 13th Annual Gala at the Marriott Marquis Nov. 18, 2004, in New York City. Dana Reeve sang the title song for the HBO award-winning movie "In The Gloaming," directed by her late husband Christopher Reeve and starring Glenn Close.
Credit: GETTY IMAGES/Scott Gries
Dana Reeve is applauded by then-Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry and former Sen. John Glenn, Oct. 21, 2004, in Columbus, Ohio. An advocate for the disabled and a fighter for more funding for medical research, Reeve was on the board of numerous charitable organizations and was a tireless speaker and volunteer on their behalf.
Credit: GETTY IMAGES/Justin Sullivan
Robin Williams, at right, poses with Christopher and Dana Reeve and their son, Will, at the screening of "House Of D" during the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival May 7, 2004, in New York City. Reeve and ABC correspondent Deborah Roberts co-hosted 'Lifetime Live," a talk show on the Lifetime network.
Credit: GETTY IMAGES/Evan Agostini
Christopher and Dana Reeve listen to then-N.J. Gov. James McGreevey speak at The Kessler Institute For Rehabilitation Jan. 4, 2004, in West Orange, N.J. McGreevey signed a bill legalizing stem cell research in New Jersey.
Credit: GETTY IMAGES/Stephen Chemin
Actress/author Joan Collins and Christopher and Dana Reeve attend the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation 13th Annual "A Magical Evening" Gala at the Marriot Marquis Hotel Nov. 24, 2003, in New York City.
Credit: GETTY IMAGES/Matthew Peyton
Christopher and Dana Reeve pose on their way into a gala benefit in Greenwich, Conn., Thursday, Oct. 9, 2003. The event raised $1.5 million for the Westport (Conn.) Playhouse's $30 million renovation project.
Credit: (AP Photo/The Stamford Advocate)
Christopher and Dana Reeve arrive at the 57th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall, Sunday, June 8, 2003, in New York.
Credit: AP Photo/Tina Fineberg
Dana Reeve in a portrait at New York's Union Square Theatre, Sept. 14, 2003.
The Reeve family poses for journalists after Christopher Reeve was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame April 15, 1997. A native New Yorker, Dana Reeve graduated from Middlebury College and attended the California Institute of the Arts.
Credit: HECTOR MATA/AFP/Getty Images
Christopher Reeve poses with, from left, actress Jane Seymour, actress Glenn Close, wife Dana and son Will after being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame April 15, 1997.
Christopher Reeve and his wife, Dana, as he arrived at the 13th annual Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation gala event in New York, in this Nov 24, 2003, file photo. Christopher Reeve died Oct. 10, 2004. The two appeared on screen together in 1995's police drama "Above Suspicion."
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Government of St. Kitts & Nevis
Citizenship By Investment Program
Escrow Agents
Blacklisted Companies
60 Day Accelerated Process
INTEGRITY OF THE COUNTRY’S CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT PROGRAM IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, May 11, 2017 (Press Unit in the office of the Prime Minister) – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris says his Team Unity Government will not sacrifice the security and reputation of the country’s Citizenship by Investment Program (CBI) for the sake of profitability.
The recent steps taken to strengthen the program’s due diligence process are indicative of that fact.
Speaking at his monthly press conference on Wednesday, May 10th, 2017 at Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Harris pointed to the hiring of IPSA International, a regulatory risk mitigation company, to do a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s citizenship program “and that led to improvement in the control, it led to new management of the CBI program where we brought in persons with the relevant skill-sets in insurance, in financial banking…in anti-money laundering to be part of the management network at our CIU (Citizenship by Investment Unit).”
Dr. Harris noted that his Government will not let “ill-gotten gains be the determinant in terms of our policy prescription,” as St. Kitts and Nevis will never be a haven for criminals.
In echoing similar sentiments shared by Prime Minister Harris, Chief Executive Officer of the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU), Mr. Les Khan said the integrity of the country’s citizenship program must never be compromised.
Speaking with the Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister on Thursday, May 11th 2017, Mr. Khan stated that, “Due diligence and vetting of all clients is of the utmost importance and in some cases we are considered the toughest in vetting of applications throughout the region. The reason is that the integrity of our program is of the utmost importance and we believe that we should only have individuals of the highest caliber and character and this takes precedence over volume.”
The measures implemented under the Team Unity administration to strengthen the program have been welcomed by several international agencies, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
Dr. Harris further stated that, “We have been collaborating with the U.S. [and] with all international players who have an interest. We have invited them in…they have looked at our system, and recently when the IMF came they spent a lot of time on our (CIU) unit…and they came out welcoming the reforms that we had implemented at the CBI program.”
Premier of Nevis and Senior Minister in the Federal Cabinet, the Honourable Vance Amory also weighed in on the matter of strengthening the program’s due diligence process.
Supporting the Prime Minister at his monthly press conference, Premier Amory stressed that the financial institutions that receive CBI funds add another layer of security for the program, as these institutions carry out their own due diligence procedures.
Premier Amory said that strong security measures strengthen the hand of the jurisdiction of St. Kitts and Nevis.
The Senior Minister added that such strong measures protect the Citizenship by Investment Program and also ensure the integrity and stability of the financial services sector in the international marketplace.
“The banks require as well a declaration of the source of funds…to make sure that they do not find themselves being used for the transfer of illegal funds in any activity which could be classified as money laundering,” Premier Amory stated, noting that all of these measures “give us that type of quality program of which I think the Government can be proud.”
View all articles by Tamara O'Flaherty
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Prince played Izod Center & MSG w/ lots of friends, plays MSG again tonight (pics, setlists & stuff)
My only complaint about the December 18th Prince show at Madison Square Garden was how short it felt. It was under two hours. I would have gladly taken three. I thought for sure we'd get a nice chunk of extra songs in the 2nd encore, but instead we only got a nice chunk of extra celebrities. Not that watching Sherri Sheppard of the View, Whoopi Goldberg (also on the View), opener Sinbad, Spike Lee, Spike Lee's son, Jamie Foxx, Naomi Campbell, Alicia Keys, Professor Cornel West, Tavis Smiley, opener Larry Graham (who also had his bass), Questlove (who also drummed) (and whose afro and tweeting were unmissable from where I was sitting before he left his seat to get on stage), Busta Rhymes, John Leguizamo (who I also saw on the will call line when I walked in), Sheila E (who was already up there performing), Prince's amazing band and backup singers and others dancing around on the love symbol-shaped stage wasn't fun, but I would have gladly traded it for a few more songs.
And speaking of Larry Graham whose band Graham Central Station opened, he was very worth getting there early for. Graham was the bass player for Sly & the Family Stone, and he paid that band tribute with a five-song medly that Prince himself came out to play on. For an opener, the energy in the half-packed room was huge.
Sheila E's appearance during Prince's set, especially her performance of her hit song The Glamorous Life was another serious highlight, though unlike as advertised, it wasn't the only show on the "tour" she showed up for. She didn't play at the 12/15 Izod Center show, but she did play during the second of three encores (yes, they got three) at the 12/17 Izod show, and it has been announced she will play with Prince again at MSG tonight (12/29). The full lineup for tonight's show is: 7:30 - Mint Condition, 8:15 - Janelle Monae, 9:00 - PRINCE (w/ Sheila E). UPDATE: She didn't actually play with Prince on 12/29.
If you miss tonight's show, you still have one more chance on 1/18. Tickets are still on sale for that one (no openers have been announced yet though, that I know of). Janelle Monae and Prince were both spotted at Lauryn Hill last night, and will probably collaborate on stage tonight.
A few more mostly-encore pictures from the 12/18 MSG show, and some videos and the setlists from the last 2 shows, below...
Audience dance routine during Prince in Madison Square Garden
Graham Central Station Opening for Prince at Madison Square Garden
Gala @ Prince concert in NYC with Larry Graham!
Graham Central Station Concert at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA Setlist on December 18, 2010
We've Been Waiting
It Ain't No Fun to Me
Bass Solo/ One in a Million You
Family Affair / Dance to the Music / Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) / Everyday People / I Want to Take You Higher
(Sly & the Family Stone medley, last two with Prince)
Prince Concert at Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ, USA
Setlist on December 17, 2010
Let's Go Crazy
Little Red Corvette
Love... Thy Will Be Done (Martika cover)
Sexy Dancer
Le Freak (Chic cover) (with Controversy outro)
I Love U, but I Don't Trust U Anymore (with Maceo Parker)
Take Me With U
Encore 2:
The Glamorous Life (Sheila E. cover) (with Sheila E.)
A Love Bizarre (Sheila E. cover) (with Sheila E.)
The Bird (The Time cover)
Jungle Love (The Time cover)
If I Was Your Girlfriend
Prince Concert at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
Welcome 2 America
Dance (Disco Heat) (Sylvester cover)
Baby I'm a Star
Raspberry Beret
Cool (The Time cover)
Let's Work
U Got the Look (with Sheila E.)
The Glamorous Life (Sheila E. song performed by Sheila E.)
A Love Bizarre (Sheila E. cover) (with Sheila E. and Questlove and lots of people dancing)
Filed Under: Busta Rhymes, Graham Central Station, Izod Center, Jamie Foxx, John Leguizamo, Larry Graham, Madison Square Garden, MSG, Naomi Campbell, Prince, Questlove, Sheila E, Sinbad, Spike Lee, Whoopi Goldberg
Categories: Music News, Photo Galleries
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News from Brown
Topics Science and Technology
Kevin Stacey
Brown engineering faculty and students design DIY ventilator
The team designed a ventilator that can be easily assembled using 3D-printed and easily acquired parts, and plans to make the design available for anyone to make.
BrunO2 is an open-source ventilator design.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — As medical experts warn that the COVID-19 pandemic could create a shortage of live-saving ventilators, a team of faculty and students from Brown University’s School of Engineering has been hard at work on a solution that may help in a crisis.
The team has designed a do-it-yourself ventilator, dubbed BrunO2, that can be quickly assembled using 3D-printed and readily available parts. The design targets specifications developed in consultation with medical experts yet can be easily deployed in resource-strapped situations. The idea is to make the design of the system and its custom components freely available online, so anyone can download the plans and make their own.
“The important thing is that one should be able to produce it locally,” said Roberto Zenit, a professor of engineering at Brown who co-led the effort with fellow faculty member Daniel Harris. “There is a package of information that can be downloaded — in Texas, or in South America, or in West Africa — where users should be able to purchase the materials, print the components and put it together.”
The project began as a submission to the Code Life Ventilator Challenge, an international design initiative based out of McGill University in Montreal and aimed at helping to alleviate potential ventilator shortages. Neither Zenit nor Harris had previous experience in making ventilators. But as experts in fluid dynamics, they did have some experience moving air around. And Harris’s lab specializes in rapid prototyping of custom-made tools and devices used in fluid dynamics experiments. He routinely makes those designs available to other researchers.
“This was naturally within that spirit,” Harris said. “I believe that to make things progress in science, whether it’s health or our own fluids research, that we should be collaborating globally.”
Video courtesy of the Harris Lab
The key to making BrunO2 simple to build and easy to operate was working with medical experts to strip down its function to the most critical parameters for COVID-19 patients.
“Traditional ventilators are used for all kinds of conditions and all kinds of patients, so they have lots of settings and modes,” Harris said. “By having the medical advisors on our team, we were able to streamline the requirements that we would need for our device.”
To build it, Harris and Zenit enlisted a group of engineering students, some of whom already work in Harris’s lab and others who are part of the Brown Formula Racing team, which designs and builds a competitive race car each year for a national competition. Undergraduate student team members include Will Haddock, Jacob Morse, John Antolik, Ian Ho and Eli Silver.
Students used 3-D printers to fabricate custom valves.
“I knew I wanted the best student designers, and the best mechanical designers, so I went to the car team,” Harris said. “I know from my own experience when I was on a similar team as an undergrad, that they know what they’re doing in terms of design, doing it quickly and doing very interdisciplinary work.”
The design that the team came up with is inspired by a peristaltic pump, a type of pump that drives a flow without that flow coming into contact with the pump’s internal machinery. That function is particularly useful in medical settings, Harris says, because the device can go from one patient to the next without health care workers having to sterilize every part of the machine. Airflow is controlled simply by pinching a tube to varying degrees, allowing more or less air to flow.
“We iterated on a design and figured out the right force parameters and tubing so we could fully close it,” Harris said. “Most recently, we did some careful testing looking at how the flow rate changes as we open this up. So we have very accurate control from this peristaltic idea, which is something that the students came up with.”
The team enlisted Jacob Rosenstein, an assistant professor of engineering, for help with the electronics. On the medical side, the team worked with Dr. Gerardo Carino, intensive care director at the Miriam Hospital and an associate professor of medicine at Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School, as well as Brown alumnus Dan Dworkis, now an assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine at the University of Southern California.
Jacob Rosenstein, an assistant professor of engineering, worked on the device's electronics
“Dr. Dworkis is actively treating COVID patients right now and using whatever limited free time he has to give us advice,” Harris said. “That’s beyond incredible.”
The BrunO2 design made it to the top 65 from more than 1,000 designs submitted to the Code Life Ventilator Challenge. Though it was ultimately not chosen as a top-10 finalist, the team plans to continue refining their device. They’ve been awarded $20,000 in seed funding from the Brown COVID-19 Research Seed Fund, established under the Office of the Vice President for Research to fast-track innovative research proposals that directly address the urgent needs of the pandemic. Contributions have also come from the medical school, the Miriam Hospital Educational Fund and the Brown Medicine Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine.
And over the last week, the team has begun to explore with health care officials in Rhode Island how the device might be of use locally.
“All we want to do is be able to share our design with someone who can save lives,” Harris said.
This story was adapted from a story written by Beth James for the School of Engineering.
Tags COVID-19 Research
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The Bruges Group spearheaded the intellectual battle to win a vote to leave the European Union and, above all, against the emergence of a centralised EU state.
A challenge to the TED talks: Brexit is ending the control of outmoded hierarchies
Technology is driving changes that remote bureaucrats have yet to imagine. Brexit is about openness. It’s about people realising their global role and forging new links with counties and other people. The British people, through Brexit have embraced what made this country so dynamic; freedom of information and limited top down control.
As reported in the Memo Chris Anderson, Founder of the renowned TED talks series of lectures has criticized Brexit and poured cold water on the possibility of Brexiteers speaking at his events. Stating that TED are pro-globalisation. Clearly he has jumped to the wrong conclusions about Britain’s EU exit and perhaps has globalisation very wrong.
Some cannot distinguish between internationalism, working with others, and the brand of globalization being pushed by supra-national institutions. Organisations like the EU are, in the words of Dr Anthony Coughlan in Tackling the EU Empire, ‘imperial arrangements like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, once known as a “prison-house of nations”, where different countries are ruled by a centralized bureaucracy in a far-away imperial capital.’ That model failed then and will fail again.
Supranationalism, what Chris Anderson must be confusing with Globalisation, is according to Dr Coughlan ‘the opposite of internationalism, which is a benign and progressive concept. Internationalism – from Latin inter, “between” – implies the pre-existence of sovereign Nation States. It refers to relations of co-operation between the States that constitute the international community, but with each controlling and deciding its own domestic and external affairs in accordance with the wishes of its people. Recognition of States based on the right to self-determination of nations and peoples is a basic principle of modern democracy and international law.
‘Supranationalism, in contrast to internationalism, implies a hierarchy, with the supranational level on top. Internationalism implies legal and political equality between the parties. Properly understood, internationalism is opposed to all forms of chauvinism and xenophobia. It implies coexistence among progressive “nationalisms” – that is, broad nationalisms rather than narrow, using the positive rather than the negative sense of that word in English. It implies patriotism and love of country, combined with respect for the many national communities into which humanity is divided and admiration for their varied cultural and other achievements.
‘Internationalism delights in the diversity of nations. Supranationalism seeks to erode national differences, either because they threaten the dominance of a particular ruling power or they make it more difficult for transnational big business to establish a world of homogenized consumers and employees. Supranationalism seeks the erosion of State sovereignty. Internationalism seeks to establish and maintain it.
‘The glory of European civilisation has been the diversity of its national components – in culture, science, political institutions, economic actors, legal systems, education systems, tax codes, fashion. In classical Europe emulation and competition between nations, communities and individuals spurred creativity and innovation.’
Britain always has been global, we are fully with the modern world. We invented modernity and took it around the globe. The British, instinctive believers in free trade, understand this and behind Brexit was a desire to reenter the rest of the world free from the Byzantine grip of a sclerotic EU. Britain tried european union, found it not to our tastes and are now seeking new opportunities over-seas.
The EU, just like the trans-national empires of the past, is not permanent. If any time line is extended long enough the chances of survival become zero. An organism, or organisation for that matter, must adopt or die. In the referendum, the British people rejected the EU’s inflexibility and its failure to adapt.
Top down, rent seeking, institutions are the past. Those holding onto the supranational institutions are desperately trying to support a system that kept the old cartels innpower. Technology and the people’s legitimate rights to have a government of their own people will sweep away suprantionalism.
The greatest trend in world politics is the near universal demand for diversity and decentralization of decision making and power. Ever more countries are being born and taking their seat at the United Nations, an international body that has at its very core a respect for the nation state.
Whilst transnational empires will fail and new states will be born, there is also the beginnings of a trend towards not just smaller political units but economic empowerment of individuals. Using technology people are becoming free from the tired cartels that cling to supranational governance. Whilst global value chains are growing, people will no longer have to be passive receivers of the proceeds of growth as if they were in some feudal system. 3D printing is just the start. Indeed, even financial institutions may themselves have to adapt to deal with the challenge from crypto currencies and peer-to-peer investment models.
Top down information flows are the past, by rejecting the hierarchical organisation of the EU, Brexit has shown how we can live the information revolution. In the UK, centralisation is out, we have embraced the new world of horizontal information channels. In this exciting age of technology and easy communications across the globe, it is absurd that our lives were being managed by grey men in their ivory towers in Brussels.
Technology is driving changes that remote bureaucrats have yet to imagine. People are deciding how to live their own lives for themselves. Brexit is about openness. It’s about people realising their global role and forging new links with counties and other people. The UK has re-joined a world we helped to shape. The British people, through Brexit have embraced what made this country so dynamic; freedom of information and limited top down control.
If TED wants to remain relevant then it needs to be open to the new ideas at the heart of Brexit. This may require Chris Anderson to take a leap of faith and be open to the ideas that are driving the most exiting political movement in a generation – Brexit. Chris Anderson needs to look beyond the pseudo-globalisation of political, corporate and market hierarchies attempting to ensnare us in their web, whilst masquerading as enlightened progressives. The TED talks need to embrace the coming Cambrian explosion of devolution, fewer hierarchies, more markets and more information channels.
How we choose to live our lives and interact can no longer be controlled by old structures like the EU. It is not the big that beat the small, it is the fast who beat the slow.
If we can question the old tired structures of supranational governance, which come from the early 20th Century, and break free from it, then Chris Anderson can step up to the plate and listen to what Brexiteers have to say. It may take him out of his comfort zone, but I suspect that he will realise that despite the inevitable bumps on the road we point the way forward.
The French economist, Professor Jean-Jacques Rosa, in the Bruges Group publication, Saying No to the Single Market, summed up what is so wrong with the supranational version of globalization which the EU personifies. His arguments are summarised below. The EU is little more than organisational sclerosis.
The attempt to construct a third superpower by combining the former imperial nations of France, Germany, Italy and possibly even Great Britain was intended to reinforce and consolidate the Western Alliance. But the last quarter of the century saw a sea change in organization, coming from the information and communication technological (ICT) revolution.
The organizational trend underwent a complete reversal from the mid-1970s onward, changing the structure of most hierarchical organisations, and boosting the development of markets everywhere. I claim that the optimal organisation of the public sector and also of private businesses has been revolutionized by an informational tsunami during the past three decades in favour of smaller hierarchies and larger markets. And that is the reason why the old project of centralizing Europe by building an additional level of political organization above that of the nation states is now not only obsolete (the remnant of a former era) but also moving more and more afar from the modern (information era) optimal political organization. For that reason, it is deeply detrimental to growth and economic dynamism.
A problem of Centralisation
The single market itself is another step in that wrong direction, alongside with other centralising policies, whether effective, such as monetary policy (the creation of the euro) or projected, such as a single tax policy intended to suppress tax competition among governments. They all belong to the general category of anti-competition policies.
The single market really means European-wide centralisation of national regulations, a regulatory centralisation that decreases competition and consumer welfare.
It creates huge new rents for centralized European regulators and for business interest groups and oligopolies.
The centralisation of regulation ignores the difference of tastes in various countries. It also ignores the difference in economy conditions, such as the local (national) elasticity of demand, the elasticity of supply, the density of population in various countries, and so on. These factors explain the differences in the demand for environmental regulations from one country to another. Fixing the same standards for the whole of Europe ignores these differences in demands: one size does not fit all and the consumers are less well served. Thus, centralising regulation distorts competition instead of increasing competition.
Interest groups versus consumers
A regulation in fact is a tax plus a subsidy. The question is: is the centralisation of regulation increasing the overall volume of regulation? I say yes of course.
Why? Well take the European Union. The total population of the 28, soon to be 27, countries is about 500 million people. A large enough firm will now have its former lobbying budget available to lobby not 28 regulatory bodies but just one central authority and with greater outcome. It becomes more worthwhile to lobby. So there is an overall increase of the money spent lobbying and of course the regulatory authorities are influenced by the spending of lobbies and that’s what the late Professor and Nobel Prize winner George Stigler showed and called the “capture” of regulators by the regulated firms and their lobbies. The regulatory authorities are not completely independent of the actions and spending of the lobbies. Bureaucrats controlling access to a 500 million people are obviously more actively lobbied than bureaucrats controlling a market of 18.5 million people.
Rent seeking will increase and that’s bad news for consumers. That’s good for some businesses, that is good for the bureaucrats, but it is bad news for consumers. And so, the incentives for forming cartels, the collusion between firms, are much increased. As we know, cartels are good for business and bad for consumers: they result in higher prices and lower quantities.
There is a second important real effect of the centralisation of regulation, it comes from the dilution of democratic control. The formerly hard won national democratic control is reduced through the extension of the voting area and voting population, and that’s exactly what happens in business firms when you dilute the capital by the creation of new shares. You increase the capital and you dilute the power of the former owners (voters or shareholders). The control that these “owners” can exert on managers, that is, in this example, the politicians and bureaucrats, is lowered in the same proportion. Accordingly, the politicians all over the EU are not going to resist the trend towards more centralisation. On the contrary, they receive some personal benefits and increased independence vis-à-vis the electorate by that very diluting process.
My conclusion is that the centralisation of regulation brings about an extension of the size of central bureaucracies and this is the case even more when you consider that existing bureaucracies usually do not disappear when new ones are created.
Look at the European Central Bank. The ECB has been created and is now working in a huge expensive building in Frankfurt. But the French Central Bank still exists, it didn’t decrease its employment or budget and I suppose it’s the same for other national central banks in the Eurozone. So there is a net addition of monetary bureaucracies with the centralisation of monetary regulation and the creation of one more level in the political hierarchy, which results in an increase of the overall size of bureaucratic Europe.
On the business side of that process, the development of lobbies mainly benefits existing established firms because they are the only firms that can create a lobby. “Potential” firms obviously cannot, nor do the new entrants. The extension of lobbying thus favours existing firms. Existing firms are large firms, and the older they are the larger they are. It follows that centralisation of regulation and increased lobbying promote the concentration of business firms and business interests and that’s not really an advantage for consumers either.
This is not good for the creation of new firms and for the general dynamism of the economy. Indeed, it is the source of sclerotic organisation in the EU. It enforces and enhances the rents of large, older business firms and bureaucracies and freezes the hierarchical structure of both industry and political production at a moment when innovation, new small firms, and lighter government are required. It is a recipe for accelerated decline.
Organisational sclerosis
During the first three quarters of the 20th century there was a trend towards centralisation, concentration, increase of the size of hierarchies both public and private (big firms, big states). Industrial organisation economists call it the “fordist” era after the name of the American carmaker that invented the continuous production line, but it was also the era of socialism and centralisation of the state and of the increase of the size of state bureaucracies everywhere, including in the democratic “market economies”.
But from the mid-70s on, a reverse track upset organisational structures everywhere. Big conglomerates disappeared in the following decade, very large and inhomogeneous countries dissolved: the USSR first and then Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, while regionalist and secessionist movements multiplied in Spain, Italy, and elsewhere in the world.
Something big happened in the 1970s: that was the dawn of the information era. Suddenly information costs fell vertically because the drastic fall in the cost of storing, processing and communicating information due to the microchip, the computer, and radio transmission of the internet. An economist would say that when the cost of information is going down more information should be used. But a more intensive use of information is going to impact profoundly the structure of organisation of all productions.
When the cost of information goes down dramatically as it did in the 1970s, then the market becomes more efficient than the hierarchies. So hierarchical Europe is to shrink its hierarchies: they should be divided and reduced, and at the same time markets should expand, and that’s what happened in the 1980s, worldwide. It was even more the case in highly centralised economies such as the USSR. They simply went broke because their organisational structure had become uncompetitive and obsolete. They did not take advantage of the sudden fall in the cost of information. They did not realize that a new and abundant resource (information) was available for maximizing growth. Or if they did they weren’t able to change their outdated organisational structure to benefit from the new cheap resource and they lost to information intensive competition from the U.S.
Adam Smith called attention to the invisible hand of the market and the American economist Alfred Chandler explained in a symmetric fashion that the “visible hand” of the big corporation, the existence of large hierarchies, was characteristic of the 20th century businesses. What one could observe today is that since the last quarter of the past century large hierarchies are shrinking: the information era is the era of the “shrinking hand”.
Against this general background what are we doing in Europe? The EU is still extending the public (or political) hierarchies and contracting markets, a directly dysfunctional and unproductive strategy. The relative prices of factors and information tell us that they should be doing the opposite. We live in an extraordinary abundance of information, and the deluge is increasing.
The current European orientation towards increased centralisation is itself increasingly questioned and will be reversed just as in the last part of the 19th century, the previous British trend towards free trade and small hierarchies was replaced by a new trend towards centralisation, including both big firms and big state. I think that current European policies are a legacy of this period (the 20th century) but that they are counterproductive in the new era of the information age. What we need to avoid a growing organisational sclerosis is a radical about face of policy, a great reversal if you like.
A uniform union-wide regulation (and the underlying model of centralisation of everything) is just like the Ford Model T: the choice of the car paint is up to every buyer, provided it’s black. This could be a productive, wealth enhancing, policy in the price context of the past century. But it won’t do today.
With the falling costs of information, centralisation is out, variety is in and centralisation becomes directly unproductive and will lead to failure in a very short term as the information revolution proceeds at an accelerating pace.
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It's time to celebrate, not slight, the spouses behind Canadian small businesses: CFIB
The new rules for sharing dividends or salaries with family members will have more than just the modest impact government vowed
By Dan Kelly
Published in the Financial Post on September 18, 2018
With an elementary-school-age son, a heavy workload and an often unpredictable travel schedule, I know that I would be lost if I didn’t have a tremendously supportive and understanding spouse (who balances her own full-time work schedule). If asked, I’m sure many working Canadians would report the same.
But for independent business owners, a spouse or partner is something even more.
Running a small business can mean shouldering the burdens and celebrating the payoffs of hard work without colleagues or professional mentors to lean on. Spouses and family members of small business owners frequently become not only their biggest cheerleaders, but also their closest professional partners, in both formal and informal ways.
A majority of small business owners – more than two thirds – employ family members, according to a 2016 CFIB member survey. A separate survey found that more than half of small businesses compensate the owners’ spouses for their contributions to the business – often through a salary, dividends or some combination of both.
Being the spouse of a small business owner doesn’t stop at devoting one’s time and skills to the business. Spouses often have to maintain an outside job to provide stability while the business establishes itself. They might have to take on a greater proportion of the domestic labour, child or elder care, while their partner devotes long hours to running their business. And I’ve met many spouses who have had to step in and run the business when something happened to their partner so they could keep the doors open, the lights on and the employees paid.
Spouses also have to share the uncertainties and the sacrifices owners make for their business – often including the inability to take a family vacation, difficulty qualifying for a mortgage, an unclear financial future, or even family bills going unpaid during bad months.
So it was jarring when the federal government introduced new rules on income splitting late last year, severely limiting small business owners’ ability to include their family members’ contributions in their tax calculations a of Jan. 1, 2018. Even more so because details of the changes were announced only two and a half weeks before they were to come into effect, with next to no consultation and despite protests from business groups, tax professionals and the Senate.
The government claimed the suite of new rules for sharing dividends or salaries with family members would have only a modest impact, affecting a handful of high income earners. Unfortunately, upon greater review, this will affect tens of thousands of independent family businesses. In fact, the independent Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated that the new tax revenue to government will be two to three times higher than government estimated and noted that it is extremely difficult to determine who will be affected by the new rules.
One of my greatest concerns is that it remains very difficult for any business owner – even for tax professionals – to clearly understand the new rules. A confusing mix of “bright line” and “reasonableness” tests, exemptions for some, but not for others will now be passed to the Canada Revenue Agency to interpret and sort out. And this was all done essentially retroactively, before business owners were able to sort out and make changes to accommodate the new rules. Expect another round of panic among business owners when the audits of the 2018 tax year begin.
What is clear is that it will be nearly impossible for the CRA to sort out all of the formal and informal ways family members are involved in a business. Even family members who are not actively involved in the day-to-day operations are heavily implicated – as risk takers, extra labour, potential successors and investors.
I think back to a lunch I had with a woman whose husband runs a Quebec trucking firm. She told me that while her husband was the president and sole shareholder of the business, she has been keeping a handwritten note in their household safe noting the money she lent her husband to get the business going. I think of the woman I know who suddenly had to quit her day job in Manitoba to lead the family auto-body shop when her husband suddenly dropped dead. Or the husband of the dentist who does the books at home while his wife focuses on running the practice. How CRA will interpret the thousands of unique and often informal roles spouses play over the life of a business is anyone’s guess.
What has gotten lost in the discussion around income sprinkling is who these measures were originally designed to help. These aren’t CEOs of large corporations looking to offload some income on an uninvolved spouse so they can dodge taxes. These are typically long-running, independent businesses in which everyone in the family lends a hand when needed.
The contribution of family members, particularly spouses, should not be erased by a government that hasn’t really tried to understand the reality of running a small business. CFIB is calling on all parties – including the current government – to commit to a full spousal exemption when business income or dividends are shared. The spouses of Canadian small business owners deserve this kind of respect.
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Research & Economic Analysis
© 2021 Canadian Federation of Independent Business. All Rights Reserved.
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The Ale House & Canteen
Bach was just 19 years old when he joined popular American heavy metal Skid Row as its frontman, but 30 years later he’s well into a successful solo career. The Canadian singer has three studio albums and two live ones to his name, all of them deeply rooted in the metal music he’s played since he was a young teenager.
thealehousekingston.ca
June 29, 2018 at 8pm – 11pm
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Visiting Day (Paperback)
By Jacqueline Woodson, James Ransome (Illustrator)
In this moving picture book from multi-award winning author Jacqueline Woodson, a young girl and her grandmother prepare for a very special day--the one day a month they get to visit the girl's father in prison. "Only on visiting day is there chicken frying in the kitchen at 6 a.m, and Grandma in her Sunday dress, humming soft and low." As the little girl and her grandmother get ready, her father, who adores her, is getting ready, too, and readers get to join the community of families who make the trip together, as well as the triumphant reunion between father and child, all told in Woodson's trademark lyrical style, and beautifully illusrtrated by James Ransome.
Jacqueline Woodson (www.jacquelinewoodson.com) is the recipient of a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Children’s Literature Legacy Award. She was the 2018–2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and in 2015, she was named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She received the 2014 National Book Award for her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award, and a Sibert Honor. She wrote the adult books Red at the Bone, a New York Times bestseller, and Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She is the author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include New York Times bestsellers The Day You Begin and Harbor Me; The Other Side, Each Kindness, Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster; and Miracle's Boys, which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. Jacqueline is also a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature and a two-time winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
James Ransome (www.jamesransome.com) has illustrated more than fifty books for children, including This Is the Rope (by Jacqueline Woodson), and won the Coretta Scott King Award for The Creation (by James Weldon Johnson). His work has also earned him a Coretta Scott King Honor, IBBY Honour, ALA Notable, NAACP Image Award, Bank Street Best Book of the Year, and Rip Van Winkle Award. He lives in upstate New York with his wife, author Lesa Cline-Ransome, and their family.
"This poignant picture book chronicles a joyfil girl narrator's hard-to-bear anticipation and special preparations for a journey with her grandmother to see her father.. . A shared feeling of hope and tenderness pervades each spread."--Publishers Weekly
"Woodson stays firmly planted in the perspective of a sentient young child who is comforted by the familiarity of her world."--Children's Literature
"The text is spare, gentle, and reassuring."--School Library Journal
Publisher: Puffin Books
Minimum Grade Level: K
Juvenile Fiction / Social Themes
Juvenile Fiction / Holidays & Celebrations / Other, Non-Religious
Kobo eBook (August 11th, 2015): $8.99
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Singer Demi Lovato Says She's Focusing on Her Relationship With the Lord
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'I Still Believe' Producer Kevin Downes Reflects on the Movie's 'Beautiful Love Story'
'I Still Believe' tells the story of up-and-coming Christian musician Jeremy Camp as he falls in love with a young woman named Melissa. Melissa, unfortunately, is diagnosed with cancer. 1:00PM EST 1/31/2020
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If you have stepped out in faith and totally surrendered to God's plans for your life, you know and understand the struggle in remaining in Him. 6:00PM EST 1/30/2020
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Advice Surgeries
Planning Targets in Epsom and Ewell
Home » What’s Happening » Planning Targets in Epsom and Ewell
Planning Targets in Epsom & Ewell
I was one of a number of MPs from the South East who spoke in Parliament on 8 October 2020. Please find below an extract from Hansard below to let you know the points I raised.
There is a transcript of the whole debate at https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2020-10-08/debates/2496DD54-7CE6-4393-B8E0-477A7084D8FD/PlanningAndHouseBuilding.
Chris Grayling (Epsom and Ewell) (Con)`
We were elected 12 months ago on a platform of building more houses, and we need to build more houses; there is no doubt about that at all. But we were also elected on a platform of rebalancing our economy, protecting our green belt and looking after natural England. I am afraid that although I praise many elements of what the Minister is trying to achieve, this housing algorithm is completely inconsistent with the promises we made a year ago.
If we go ahead with a housing approach of the kind that the Government are setting out in the algorithm, the reality is that economic growth, the brightest and best people in society, and opportunity will continue to be sucked into the south-east of England. That is exactly the opposite of what this country needs to achieve. If we are to be successful in the future, we need to be more like countries such as Germany, where the economic centre of the nation is not in one place, but is spread out over a number of successful and prosperous cities. If one walks around the cities of the midlands and the north, it is clear that there is not a lack of developable land and opportunity; there is plenty. There are endless relics of more prosperous times for those cities in the past that can and should be regenerated for the future. The solution is not simply shoehorning more and more into the south-east.
I represent one of the constituencies that will be directly affected if the Government go ahead with this policy. The Office for National Statistics says that our future housing need is around 250 new houses a year. The previous target, which was unsustainable, was already 579. This algorithm would push the number to over 600. I represent an urban constituency where the available land is either green belt or parkland, but there are some opportunities. I have myself put forward to the local authority a proposal to build several thousand new houses by remodelling the commercial areas. We can build on the strengths of the area, which has one of the finest creative universities in the country, and create new business premises in an integrated urban village environment where people can live close to work. We can develop a new generation of digital and creative businesses. It is a real opportunity, which we can deliver.
We can deliver new homes—new homes aimed at first-time buyers and at the right demographic to keep people in our area—but what we cannot do is build 600 new houses a year in perpetuity. It is simply not possible. Actually, it is possible: by tearing up the manifesto commitments that we made a year ago and building all over the green belt. Even then, we will still probably need to build lots of tower blocks, which goes diametrically against the commitments we made about protecting communities.
In a nutshell, this policy simply cannot work for a constituency like mine. It is impossible to deliver it and keep the promises that we made to the electorate, and it is the wrong thing to do. It will have the counterproductive effect I have described of sucking economic activity into the south. It will destroy the environment in the area I represent. It will congest already congested infrastructure. Of course, it is also based on so many false premises, because, as with many other constituencies in Surrey, the algorithm forgets altogether the income from commuters by focusing on affordability, so it misses altogether the incomes of the most prosperous people in my area, who work elsewhere and get the train into the City in the mornings. It only focuses on the incomes of those who live and work in the constituency.
I praise the Government’s ambition. I simply say that the mode of implementation—the route they are currently following—is the wrong one for the country and for the constituency I represent. I urge the Minister, who is a good man, to think again, because I regret to say that, even as a loyal supporter of the Government, I cannot support this policy in its current form.
Sara Olsen2020-10-13T14:58:10+01:00October 8th, 2020|Local Plan|
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Christian Sauvé
Edge of Darkness (2010)
2010-01-29 Christian Sauvé Leave a comment
(In theatres, January 2010) It’s been a long time since Mel Gibson has simply acted in a film, and his choice of vehicle for his come-back really isn’t a stretch: As a Boston cop who seeks to avenge his murdered daughter, Gibson relies on tics developed for Payback and the Lethal Weapon series, although in a far darker context. What seems like a botched criminal revenge killing eventually develops into a conspiracy involving politicians, state secrets, eco-terrorists and professional assassins. It doesn’t end well for anyone. While all of the above sounds pleasantly crunchy, the result feels curiously uninvolving. The story (adapted, updated and condensed from a mid-eighties BBC series) advances in jolts, with the political angle feeling particularly disconnected and superfluous. Gibson himself does better as the vengeful father, his grim (and increasingly creased) face lending a bit of gravitas to the shootouts that pepper the film. Director Martin Campbell brings a few good shocks and suspense sequences to compensate for mawkish flashbacks to the daughter-as-a-girl and an over-the-top final sequence that marks the fourth big movie in three weeks to make heavy use of pseudo-Christian mythology. Edge of Darkness doesn’t embarrass itself, but neither does it achieve narrative velocity. It’s a thriller for post-teenage moviegoers, but even with its grim atmosphere, it’s not even up to the equally-adapted-from-the-BBC State of Play in terms of effectiveness.
Martin CampbellMel Gibson
Game Change, John Heilemann & Mark Halperin
Harper, 2010, 448 pages, C$32.99 hc, ISBN 978-0-06-173363-5
If politics is showbiz for ugly people, then Game Change is its quadrennial gossip rag, dishing saucy un-sourced dirt on the celebs of the field. Nominally a behind-the-scenes exposé of the events leading up to the 2008 US presidential elections, Game Change thus follows in the footsteps of an entire political non-fiction sub-genre, the “Making of a President” campaign memoir based on candid anonymous interviews (in this case: 300 of them, the authors claim) and released well after the events. By purporting to offer a look behind the political high point of 2008, it’s definitely a book aimed at political junkies who can recall just about every mini-scandal of the campaign. But it also offers a portrait of the candidates that’s often quite different from their stage-managed podium personas, or the superficial media coverage that passes for political news in the US.
After a dramatic prologue set the night of the Iowa caucuses, Game Change really begins four years earlier, with the fallout of the Bush/Kerry contest and the election of a young senator named Barack Obama. Running for president isn’t something done on a whim, and the book documents how Obama and Hilary Clinton each come to the conclusion that they would be running for president in 2008. This sets up more than half of the book: as observers of the 2008 campaign remarked, some of the most interesting moments of the year happened during the Democratic party nomination process as the old-guard faithful to Clinton slowly came to realize the potential of Obama, and how Obama’s strategy gradually chipped away at the perceived inevitability of Clinton’s nomination. This rivalry, often far more intense than the one opposing Obama to Republican candidate John McCain, ends up being part of the book’s conclusion –which closes on Clinton’s decision to accept the post of Secretary of State after almost rejecting it.
In-between, well, we get it all: John Edward’s abrupt fall from grace following an infidelity scandal, Sarah Palin’s embarrassing rise to national prominence, McCain’s impulsive decision-making, Joe Biden’s gaffes, views from the campaign staffers (many of whom hate each other), private doubts and poignant vignettes. Heilemann and Halperin reconstruct pivotal moments, give internal monologue to their characters and try to contextualize events in the vast flow of information that every campaign generates. Some stuff falls by the wayside (“Joe the Plumber” is never mentioned, for instance), but much of the book is an instant-replay of 2007-2008 American politics, with added revelations of what the people involved were thinking at the time.
Naturally, everyone gets dirtied along the way. Hilary Clinton’s bad management skills account for part of her campaign’s failure, including her husband Bill’s unhelpful contributions. Sarah Palin’s awful reputation is bolstered by even-stranger episodes of her practically turning catatonic on the campaign trail (“They began discussing a new and threatening possibility: that Palin was mentally unstable” [P.401]). Surprisingly, though, it’s not Palin who suffers the most from Game Change’s revelation as much as John Edwards and his wife: While he’s portrayed as a candidate whose self-entitled narcissism ends up with self-immolation (after ignoring repeated interventions by his staff), Elizabeth Edwards is revealed not as the quasi-sainted figure of cancer survivor legend, but as “an abusive, intrusive, paranoid, condescending crazywoman” [P.127] To think that Edwards was once a viable candidate is to fully appreciate the bullet dodged by American voters.
In the same vein, it’s probably not an accident if the only ones who emerge from Game Change with their reputation intact are Barack and Michelle Obama. Sure, there’s a sense that history is written by the winners; but there is also sufficient evidence that Obama’s already-legendary calm behaviour made converts out of many sceptics, including the Clintons. In discussing the impact of the September 2008 financial crisis on the campaign, the authors conclude that “The crisis atmosphere created a setting in which [Obama’s] intellect, self-possession, and unflappability were seen as leaderly qualities.” [P.393]. Sure, the new President is quoted (even on the book’s flap-jacket!) as being quite a bit more profane than we would expect –but that’s the kind of thing that only erupts in a scandal if there’s a microphone present.
Some scepticism is in order, obviously: un-sourced interviews are all about axe-grinding and selective memories. But much of what is in Game Change is just elaboration on known themes. Those who read the November 2008 Newsweek special edition on the campaign already knew quite a bit about the dynamics confirmed here. It also turns out that bloggers at the time had a pretty good handle on the Obama strategy. Much of what Game Change does is to confirm rumours that few people were willing to acknowledge at the time. Significantly, as the book is being read and picked apart by highly knowledgeable participants in the events described, there doesn’t seem to have been any detailed challenges to the factual accuracy of the book: In fact, a mini-scandal about Harry Reid’s off-the-cuff remarks reported in the book occurred because the quote was true.
But what we get in exchange for this murky lack of sourcing is a picture of the politicians as human beings: It’s fascinating to peek at the personalities involved, the rivalries and friendships between political figures that would never even hint at their true feelings while there’s still a chance that they may run for office again. The extraordinary nature of Obama’s win is never more obvious when considering the way that he was casually dismissed as an unworthy opponent early on by the Clinton and their allies. (It’s no exaggeration to say that Clinton and McCain got along better together than either of them did with Obama.) Meanwhile, we also get an idea of the considerable toll that presidential campaigns can take on candidates, who have to rush from one event to another for months before even getting the nomination of their party. Though it amounts to cliché, families are never too far away from their minds.
Game Change also offers a credible answer to the increasingly pertinent question of whether books are still needed at a time of always-on cable shows, blog commentary and Twitter feeds. The authors manage to squeeze out and contextualize quite a bit of material that would be impossible to grasp from short and frequent updates: They can look at the big picture, and form a narrative about the events. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a made-for-TV movie adaptation at some time or another.
It helps a lot that Game Change is an absolute joy to read. Readers without the political junkie gene may beg to differ, but I read every page with rapt attention, slowing down my usual reading speed to be sure to catch every line. The authors know how to structure their narrative in dramatic ways, and their smooth prose style makes it easy to flash back to the news of the time. Of course it’s a book that rewards political trivia knowledge. Yet it’s also one that offers a lot more than discussions of policy and polls. It may be a package of gossipy hearsay, but gossip has the advantage of dealing with human beings. If nothing else, it’s a useful reminder that as the TV news show us nothing more than crafted sound-bites without the benefit of context, the people saying those lines have lives of their own. We’ll never know the true story as it occurs, but Game Change does manage to explain a lot about the crazy, cool, unprecedented and unique 2008 US presidential campaign.
John HeilemannMark Halperin
The Lovely Bones (2009)
(In theatres, January 2010) For viewers unfamiliar with Alice Sebold’s novel, Peter Jackson’s take on Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones has two major problems: First; its determination to beef up an elegiac tone about the aftermath of a brutal murder with suspense sequences that aren’t just jarring, but drawn-out to an extent that they become more ridiculous than gripping. Second; its utter refusal to provide conventional closure on both the thriller as the dramatic elements of the picture. There are several small flaws (such as Mark Whalberg’s unremarkable “say hi to your mother” performance, the difficulty of literalizing heavenly metaphors, or Stanley Tucci’s over-the-top performance as a character who screams serial-killer), but those two stick out badly. The second is actually a feature, especially for those who have read the book: The point of The Lovely Bones is not vengeance from beyond the grave (even though the narrator is the murder victim speaking from heaven) nor police procedural success despite the fixation on tracking down the serial killer. It’s reaching that final Kubler-Rossian step of acceptance, letting go of horrible things and accepting with serenity the idea that some things are never avenged, explained or satisfied. Still, this leaves us with the troubling tonal problems in transforming a dramatic novel that uses genre elements into a genre picture that seems stuck in inconclusive drama. The differences between book and movie are both profound and trivial: the chronology is compressed, one dramatic climax is toned down to a simple kiss, various lines of the novel are rearranged wildly. Some of this is due to the demands of presenting material on-screen, while others are simple prudishness. Still, Jackson does make a few sequences last twice, maybe three times as long as they needed to be, and that simply reinforces the sense that his approach to the material is fundamentally flawed. The best thing about the film, in fact, may be that those who go read the book afterwards will enjoy hearing Saoirse Ronan’s voice as the narrator.
Alice SeboldMark WhalbergPeter JacksonSaoirse RonanStanley Tucci
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Back Bay Books, 2004 reprint of 2002 original, 328 pages, C$19.95 pb, ISBN 0-316-16881-5
I’m really not the right person to comment on this book. This won’t be news to anyone who’s read more than a few of my reviews, but even after years of solid counter-examples, I’m still faintly dubious about mainstream fiction books that take up some aspects of genre fiction. The reading protocols are often too different to mesh together, and the plot density is generally too sparse to keep me interested. I am not, after all, a reader interested in prose for prose’s sake.
But The Lovely Bones received its share of acclaim, was once featured on CBC’s long-lamented Open Book TV book club, and can now be purchased second-hand for next to nothing. When Peter Jackson announced he was shooting the movie adaptation, the book went on my embargoed-until-I-see-the-movie waiting list. Such an embargo usually proves beneficial in that the book is (almost) always better than the movie, and given the disappointment that was Jackson’s adaptation, there was a lot to enjoy about the carefully-controlled original work.
But we’ll talk about the book/movie comparison in a moment. What you need to know about The Lovely Bones is simple: It’s narrated from the hereafter by the victim of a brutal crime. Suzie Salmon is, in most respects, your happy mid-seventies teenage girl: stable family, fine neighbourhood, doing OK in school, on the verge of experiencing her first romantic relationship. Then she is murdered.
It’s what happens next that makes The Lovely Bones so special: Suzie tells us about what happens to her family, her friends and her community as the echoes of her murder continue to reverberate. There is a police investigation, but it is not a mystery. There are details about the afterlife and some proof of interaction between the living and the dead, but this is not a fantasy story. Sebold is really using genre devices to explore a mainstream drama of grief and acceptance. In the wake of Suzie’s disappearance, people cope in various ways with the wrongness of her death. The murderer escapes detection for a while; her family is driven apart; her friends commemorate her and then eventually forget. Even Suzie herself has a few unresolved issues, and the novel doesn’t end until she can let go of her own existence.
Now that the book has been brought to the big screen, a new group of readers will come to the book having seen the film, and pleasantly discover how much better the written version is. This is interesting to discuss in the ways it shows how finely Sebold controls her material compared to Jackson’s ham-fisted heightening of every conceivable melodramatic hook. In the book, Suzie’s death is minimally described; after all, we don’t need the details to fill in for ourselves that it’s a terrible thing: the rest of the book does that. In the movie, though, Jackson milks the tension leading to her death to a degree where it becomes overdone and ridiculous. Sebold seldom insists and her book is both subtler and stronger for it. Meanwhile, Jackson rearranges events to milk a suspense that will never be satisfied, heightens the sentimental meaning of a few details (such as the pictures that Suzie takes, never a strong plot point in the book) and doesn’t seem to realize the importance of tonal unity. As a result, the movie version of The Lovely Bones is at times sad, horrific, comic, suspenseful, wondrous and dramatic, with little thematic unity between its emotional moods. But the worst thing about the movie, which is directly relevant to the book, is how it tries to create a genre picture out of a mainstream novel that is not really interested in being a genre novel. The police investigation is heightened to a point where viewers feel cheated when it doesn’t conventionally pan out; whereas Sebold doesn’t really dangles this possibility in front of her readers in the first place. The same thing goes for the ghost-story elements: While the film plays with the idea that Suzie can have some influence in leading her family to her murderer, this isn’t as much of a concern in the book.
Amusingly, while the movie fails by being more extreme than the book, the book actually contains at least two strong scenes that were deemed unsuitable for the film: Without spoiling anything outright, let’s just say that the police investigator serves another purpose than not catching the killer, and that Suzie’s final reunion with her boyfriend doesn’t stop where it does in the film. It’s easy to see the screenwriters looking at those scenes and deciding that there was no way they could work on-screen. They were probably right, but it’s a shame that didn’t realize that the same was true for a number of other things.
But talks of “ruining” the book are only valid if, somehow, you don’t recognize that the book is still there, waiting for readers just as it did before the film was released. In fact, reading the novel made me understand better why the film wasn’t working, and who to blame. (As a bonus, you will “hear” the novel’s narration in Saoirse Ronan’s voice, probably the best thing about seeing the movie in the first place.) Sebold intentionally withholds the kind of closure that you would see in genre stories. Suzie’s ghost doesn’t tritely lead police investigators to the killer, for instance. The closure in The Lovely Bones is of a different sort, not the heightened artificial closure that screenwriters are told to put at the end of their third act, but the Kübler-Rossian fifth stage of acceptance and letting go. And it works in ways that genre novels usually don’t, thanks to clean prose and mature storytelling.
So it is that I’m still struck by the quiet dramatic power of the novel, even a novel for which I was thoroughly spoiled and more interested in taking apart narratively. The Lovely Bones, so twee and overdone on the big screen, is better seen as a novel that leaps across natural readership boundaries, making use of genre conventions to its own purposes and, along the way, delivering a reading experience quite unlike anything else. This coming from someone who’s so far away from the intended audience of the book, imagine how it may work on you.
(In theatres, January 2010) The second religious-themed action/fantasy thriller in as many weeks in North American theatres, Legion has the elementary decency not to be terribly serious about its usage of Christian mythology. God has decided to wipe out mankind, angels are out to zombify humanity and only one renegade can save the world by protecting the mother of an unborn child. No, it doesn’t make any sense: Legion’s screenwriters would rather spend five interminable minutes setting up character relationships between cannon fodder than actually making sense. But some of the character time is worthwhile: For a cheap B-grade horror film that blends zombies with angels and demons, it’s unusually generous with the patter, and that almost makes it better than average. It’s a good thing that all of God’s forces are well-mannered enough to line up zombie-style for maximum usage of conventional firepower by our small band of survivors, and that we’re never asked to think too much. Which is sad, really, because in-between the tattered script and the conventional execution, there are glimmers of a terrific concept, character set-pieces and several cool scenes. (Paul Bettany is better than expected as a renegade angel, while Dennis Quaid provides a dependably gruff presence as the owner of the small lonely diner where everything happens.) But the banal dialogue, indifferent scenes and dumb mistakes keep ruining the fun: For such a self-aware, borderline-camp film, Legion never fully realizes its potential. What remains isn’t much more than the type of genre picture that sinks to the bottom of the remaindered bin, and becomes an unfair trivia question within years of its release.
Dennis QuaidPaul Bettany
(In theatres, January 2010) Genre-hopping movies are fun if the genres mesh together, which is why no one will bat an eye when The Book of Eli crosses back and forth between action and post-apocalyptic science-fiction, reminding viewers of Mad Max and The Road along the way. But (spoilers!) when the movie takes a sharp turn toward evangelical apologia in its third act, it’s as if the rules of the picture change abruptly: the invincible hero has divine protection, the lousy world-building becomes an intentional sop to a certain audience and you can hear an audible crack as individual suspensions of disbelief break down. It’s not helped by a sepia-tinged self-important tone (complete with persecution complex) that makes it impossible to claim special camp-craziness dispensation. Aw well; it’s not as if The Book of Eli is a complete loss: As crazy as the last act turns out to be, much of the film has a few qualities worth noticing, from capable direction by the Hugues brothers to a handful of well-presented action sequences, to a capable performance by Denzel Washington. It’s a shame, then, that Denzel (who also co-produced the film) should use The Book of Eli to reveal his evangelical complex to the world at large. It could have been a far better film without the last-minute slide in fantasy.
Denzel WashingtonHugues brothers
Cooking Dirty, Jason Sheehan
FSG, 2009, 355 pages, C$32.50 hc, ISBN 978-0-374-28921-8
Anyone looking for another hit of that crazy professional kitchen attitude can stop re-reading their Anthony Bourdain: Jason Sheehan is here to tell his story as a cook in America’s kitchens, and he has both the life experience and the writing skills to produce a memorable book. Unlike Bourdain, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and eventually demonstrated enough supervisory skills to assume leadership positions in his kitchens, Sheehan’s biography remains that of a professional kitchen cook, occasionally climbing up then sliding down as Sheehan goes through the rough life of an American line cook.
Because working in a kitchen is similar no matter where you go: It’s about working in an environment that tolerates no weaknesses, about beating the dinnertime rush, about lasting as long as you can and then stepping away. It’s a tough life, and Sheehan’s description of his years in the kitchen is unflinching. The book’s subtitle is “A story of life, sex, love and death in the kitchen” and only the death part is over-promising. (On the other hand, we get plenty of gruesome injuries, including what happens to hands when they reach into a vat of boiling oil. Nightmares guaranteed.) Sheehan is a spokesperson for an entire class of working cooks who find the rhythm of professional kitchen to be compatible with their scattered lives. They may live paycheck-to-paycheck on a string of cheap drugs, easy partners and low-rent apartments, but their cooking skills are good enough to carry them no matter where they go. Over and over again (until Cooking Dirty’s last third), Sheehan is able to walk out of kitchens when thing aren’t working out, set out for another restaurant or even another state, and pick up working when he wants. This is expected: No matter where he is, the kitchen atmosphere remains the same, with colleagues that largely share his own ambitions. And that may be the crucial difference between Shehan’s book and Bourdain: When Bourdain talks about his kitchen crew, it’s with the knowledge of someone who fit there for a while, but had the potential to grow into increasingly senior positions. Sheehan’s identification to the lifestyle is much stronger: if it wasn’t for an accident of relationships, economic recession and luck with an editor looking for another Bourdain, Sheehan may very well still be in the kitchen.
He is also just as good as anyone in describing the hectic rush of dinnertime in a crowded restaurant. His description of a kitchen battered to the breaking point is unforgettable: the craziest passage (in chapter “Will Work Nights”) involves a new guy, sabotaged frozen fish on a busy Friday night, and a natural gas build-up that results in an explosion in the kitchen. They kept cooking; the new guy never came back.
All the while, we get another reminder about the nature, temperament and personalities of people working in kitchen to serve food to, well, you. There is little new in learning this (as readers of other restaurant memoirs will find out) but the difference is the vividness with which Sheehan can tell his story. His career as a cook is peppered with odd and amazing stories, from being the bartender at a swingers’ night to working in an industrial kitchen, to serving catered food in a convention hotel. Incidentally, Science Fiction and Fantasy fans will even recognize in Sheehan one of their own, as he peppers his narrative with geek-chic references –and even gets beaten up for reading Michael Moorcock.
When Sheenan’s self-destructive streak finally catches up with him in late 2001 in Albuquerque and he finds out that he can’t get a job in the kitchen, there’s only one escape: writing. One stroke of luck follows another, and so Sheehan finds himself in Denver reviewing restaurants and winning the James Beard Award for food journalism. And that’s how, improbably, a food mercenary ends up telling his story: not just as a Bourdain clone, but as a writer with an authentic voice and a terrific sense of narration. While Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential remains the top example of the form, Cooking Dirty is a look in the trenches that some cooks never escape, partly by lack of opportunity, drive or talent, but also sometimes by choice, however misguided they may sound to others. As a look in kitchen culture, it completes Bourdain’s book and makes for a heck of a read. The Amazon recommendation engine has seldom served me better than when it coughed up that title.
Jason Sheehan
Shopportunity!, Kate Newlin
Collins, 2006, 240 pages, C$31.00 hc, ISBN 978-0-06-088840-4
There are many ways in which a given book can fail to achieve its potential, but Kate Newlin’s Shopportunity! is one of the rarest blend of misguided intentions, flagrant elitism and inane chatter. It’s easy to read, written by a smart person, filled with interesting factoids and yet fails to cohere in a fascinating fashion. It frustrated me in ways that simply-bad or dull books simply can’t even dream of.
Its biggest problem is that it simply doesn’t know what it’s about. From the cover blurbage, we get the impression that this will be, in the footsteps of Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy and Call of the Mall, an exposé of the contemporary American shopping experience and how it fools the average shopper into making suboptimal choices. But then again, it may be an instruction manual for shop owners: Newlin, after all, works for a consulting firm that specializes in retail business advice. A quick look at the first paragraph tells us that the contemporary shopping experience has become soulless and mechanized: Is Shopportunity! an ironic title meant to propel an acid critique of today’s big box stores and their devastating impact on the nature of consumer choice?
This confused, perhaps even schizophrenic impression grows stronger as the book advances. Because it’s possible to find all three messages in Shopportunity!, along with brain-damaged passages in which Newlin summarizes her main arguments in bullet-points meant to enhance our shopping experience. (“Rule #17: Break Out of the Big Box” [P.165]) As if what we really needed was a retail consultant telling us how to become a better, more satisfied shopper…
Oh yes; in between the looks at the psychology of the modern shopper, savage anti-Wal-Mart diatribes, explanations on how bad stores drive away customers and a lament on the terrible cost of “cheap”, Newlin actually aims part of her book to people who love shopping and want to make it even more fun.
It’s not necessarily a contradiction in term, although my own prejudices are having trouble coping with that concept. I’m not, after all, a happy shopper. Like many men, I see retail stores as places for hunting, not gathering: I know my prey, I’m a busy guy, and my ideal store minimizes the nonsense between me and what I want. So when Newlin flies in a rage against Costo/Price Club, I take it personally: I love Costo in ways that airy discussions about the chain’s efficiency, logistics and force concentration can’t fully convey. (But I don’t always shop there.)
On the other hand, I do boycott Wal-Mart and love my upscale(ish) neighbourhood grocery store. Yet when Newlin blasts a suburban (read; poor and lower-class) IGA while praising Whole Food, I can’t help but twitch an eyebrow. That reflex is confirmed pages later when Newlin talks about a simply wonderful, dahrling shopping afternoon in trendy upscale Manhattan boutiques. It then becomes reasonable to suppose that Newlin has lived the Manhattanite life for too long to be able to relate to most of her shopping readership: much of the (short) book isn’t about shopping as it seems to be about pure class exhibitionism, and the demonstration that Newlin’s tastes are unarguably better than those poor schlubs trucking it to their local IGA. There’s a difference between having the means to consume better products and rubbing one’s self-designated superiority in everyone else’s faces, and Shopportunity! comes revoltingly close to the second. As a result, I found myself disliking the book long after Newlin moved on to other topics. In fact, I found myself disliking the author (who, I’m sure, is a perfectly nice person when she’s not writing books), and there’s little coming back from that point. I hope it burns her to learn that I got the book at a remainders table.
But even ignoring the class issues, Shopportunity! is just a mess, destined at about four different and incompatible audiences. Those looking at business advice will resent being treated to incoherent “Shopping Tips” like brain-damaged Valley Girls (“Rule #3: Let Brands Transform You” [P.40]), while socially-conscious shoppers will be put off by Newlin’s effortless arrogance. While there is substantial insight buried in-between the dumbed-downed bullet points and the shoppier-than-thou arrogance, Shopportunity! never gels, and comes across as an unsatisfactory mixture of material found elsewhere in purer, more coherent fashion. There are so many fundamental social problems in the way retail outlets are set up nowadays that building about around how it’s “not fun to shop anymore” is the dumbest possible way to approach the issue. Shopping technicians are better off reading Paco Underhill’s books; shopping activists are better off with Naomi Klein or Ellen Ruppel Shell’s Cheap and shopping fans are better off at the mall.
Kate Newlin
The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron, Rebecca Keegan
Crown, 2009, 273 pages, C$29.95 hc, ISBN 978-0-307-46031-8
Admitting that James Cameron is one of my favourite directors is endangering my movie-reviewing license and exposing myself to endless mocking. Somehow, the more successful his films become, the most acceptable it is to dismiss his achievements. But as someone whose mind was blown away by Aliens and Terminator 2, someone who still likes Titanic and Avatar despite the faux-chic scorn they attracted, it was hard to pass up Cameron’s latest biography, one that picks up twelve years after Christopher Heard’s poorly-sourced Dreaming Aloud.
Rebecca Keegan has one big advantage over Heard, and it’s that she wasn’t limited to newspaper clippings and a few meagre interviews: she reportedly had full access to Cameron, his family and his long list of friends and acquaintances in Hollywood. As a result, The Futurist is a rich and well-researched book, one that remains interesting throughout and not just when its subject hits the big time.
Of course, the notion of “big time” for Cameron starts early, as he’s been helming his own celluloid visions since 1984’s The Terminator. Every subsequent Cameron film after that is a study in increasingly complex endeavours, with making-of stories that rival the film itself. “Just another day on a Cameron set” may include everything from hanging off a plane suspended by a crane over the Miami skyline, nearly drowning in an abandoned nuclear reactor cooling tower, building a near-full-scale model of the Titanic with period detail, or inventing new technology to get unprecedented visuals. From its very title, The Futurist aims to show how much of a visionary Cameron truly is; how he has the mind of an engineer, the hands of an artist and the eye of a filmmaker. Tales after tale show Cameron doing things no one else has ever done before, winning large bets against those who said it just couldn’t be done.
The flip-side of this incredible forward drive is Cameron’s abrasive personality, one that has annoyed a number of award-watchers, left film crews rebellious and broken four of his own marriages. Cameron delivers fantastic movies, but he’s a demanding master in making them. But then again, he has paid his dues: One of the best-known stories about him involve feverish sickness in Rome while fruitlessly re-editing his first film (an episode that would lead, as fans know, to the genesis of the Terminator films), but Keegan also reports on a lesser-known story about his first shoot that involved Cameron literally mopping up blood on the set and trying to keep the rest of the lunching crew from finding out what happens when you shoot in a real morgue. Keegan doesn’t shy away from describing Cameron at his worst or identifying who has said they would never want to work with him again, but she does her best to show how the same facets of his personality can lead to good and bad.
The rest of the book is just as skilful. With deft and clear narration, Keegan moves from project to project, weaving industry facts with recollections from Cameron acquaintances. For moviegoers, The Futurist is a lot of fun to read. I don’t follow gossip much, and so there were a number of new anecdotes to me here and there, including one in which Cameron helped arrange for the safe release of Guillermo del Toro’s father after a kidnapping. Perhaps the most revelatory section of the book follows Cameron in the twelve years between the release of Titanic and Avatar. Flush with cash and acclaim, Cameron chose to step away from Hollywood and spend a decade indulging in his passions, from deep-sea diving to space exploration and setting up the new technology that we would need to deliver Avatar.
Given all of this, the flaws of The Futurist are slight, obvious and inevitable. Released to coincide with Avatar’s release, it hopes for another Cameron success but really has no idea how big the movie would become, and how warmly it would be greeted by audiences. Then again, updated material is what paperback editions are meant to feature. (One wishes, though, that some of Keegan’s most ridiculous claims about Cameron’s predictive powers would be toned down: Using Arab terrorists in 1995’s True Lies doesn’t make him anticipate Al Quaida any more than did contemporary thrillers such as Executive Decision and Air Force One.)
It’s not quite the ultimate Cameron biography (one hope that he still has a few great movies in him), but it’s a very good one. It’s certainly the best and most complete book about Cameron’s life so far (even though Paula Parisi’s Titanic and the Making of James Cameron remains a resource for Titanic minutiae) and a pretty good compendium of arguments for those willing to argue that Cameron is among the most important directors of the past quarter-century.
James CameronRebecca Keegan
(In theatres, January 2010) Every genre fan comes to develop a fondness for “the B-movie that could”, the twice-a-decade film that comes along with a little budget and big brains to take the genre in a newish direction. While that’s a lot of praise to dump on Daybreakers all of a sudden, consider that it manages to combine horror and science-fiction to imagine a future society that has adapted to the fact that most people are vampires. Add a few action scenes, Willem Dafoe playing a redneck with a fondness for crossbows and muscle car, tons of special effects and a script that doesn’t devolve into total silliness and the result is an impressive piece of work, especially in the doldrums of January. It’s a savvy piece of work, one that privileges quantity of special effects, little details and genre-blending to deliver a mean and lean movie. The direction is pretty good, the thematic underpinnings are solid, the pacing always accelerates and we have the sense of watching something that hasn’t been done before (no, Ultraviolet doesn’t quite compare). It’s not a perfect piece of work: Ethan Hawke is a bit dull, some of the details make no sense, and the revelation on which the third act depends seems quite a bit… convenient. Nonetheless, Daybreakers is a vigorous, stylish, entertaining B-movie that will earn quite a few admirers. It’s probably my favourite vampire film since Blade II, and it pumps some blood back into what was becoming a tired monster. I’m not sure what the writer/director Spierig brothers will do next, but I’m already interested.
Ethan HawkeSpierigWillem Dafoe
The Rebel Sell, Joseph Heath & Andrew Potter
Harper Perennial, 2005 updated edition of 2004 original, 374 pages, C$19.95 tp, ISBN 978-0-00-639491-4
Shortly after reading Naomi Klein’s virulent No Logo, I ended up buying myself a copy of Adbusters magazine despite Klein’s own misgivings about the publication. It was the first time I purchased the magazine since high school: I wanted to see what I had been missing in the years since then, and gauge the current state of the anti-consumerism movement. I wasn’t impressed: In-between spastic graphic design, incoherent articles and a message that didn’t seem to have evolved since the early nineties (and which may, in fact, have regressed into further insularity), Adbusters seems more self-satisfied than relevant, a charge that also broadly applies to a number of activists on the left end of the political spectrum.
So imagine my pleasure in finding kindred spirits in Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter’s The Rebel Sell. –also known as Nation of Rebels in the US market. The book’s subtitle promise to tell us “why the culture can’t be jammed” and the demonstration is more than a discussion of co-optation. Indeed, the authors demonstrate, there was never a need to co-opt, since counter-culture does nothing better than reinforce culture itself. Their argument is complex and I’m not up to the task of summarizing their dense tapestry of ideas, but it generally breaks down in the realization that the mainstream doesn’t really exist. Mass culture is made of many sub-cultures, including the counter-culture. Nothing really stops anyone from adopting counter-cultural ideas as part of their individual identity, and there is a lot of money to be made selling ideas of rebellion.
So far so good; but what really sold me on the book were Heath and Potter’s demonstration that the current (Canadian) system, albeit imperfect in countless ways, actually works better than anything else tried so far. Whereas the far left thinks it will settle for nothing less than revolution, the author point out that small incremental changes have, historically, been the surest way to chip away at social inequity… not to mention the losing gamble that is the complete replacement of an established system. It seems like a common-sense point, and yet one that’s not often taken seriously. Of course, small incremental changes are boring. They require work, tenacity and, at the very least, some involvement in the messy real-world conflict of interest that is organised politics. The Rebel Sell may be a triumph of conventional thinking, but it’s also far more reasonable than anything it criticizes.
Not always reasonable, though: The Rebel Sell is, in many ways, a sneering dismissal of left-wing power fantasies and at times it can’t avoid the trap of acting like the smartest kid in the class. While most of the book is solid, it sometimes becomes wobbly in specific criticism. They authors point and laugh at Naomi Klein’s musings about the gentrification of her neighbourhood in a way that almost makes me suspect that they must have had an argument with her at a Toronto social event or something. (Not to mention their dislike of Alanis Morrissette!) They also, regrettably, sketch a bit hastily over the point that not all No Logo-inspired left-wing activism is posturing: criticizing third-world sweat shops is about improving lives, not simply selling counter-culture merchandise. (Maybe that point seemed obvious to the authors who, despite their targets, actually hail firmly from the left side of the political spectrum.)
But none of this changes the fresh thinking in this book. It’s articulate, a bit smart-alecky, almost daring in its embrace of middle-of-the-road progressivism. It’s very Canadian in how it speaks from the middle against forms of excess, and uses the ideals of the left to police its own worst excesses. (In a formula I’m adopting from now on, they point out that the left has trouble differentiating dissent from deviance.) This review barely scratches at the fizzy intellectual fireworks of the book, but it’s a joy to read and great way to complete the picture painted by Klein and company. It’s perhaps most useful as an antidote and vaccine against some of the most inflamed rhetoric that starts to sound so good after eight years of the Bush administration. Most people are, after all, reasonable people. They don’t all subscribe to Adbusters magazine and would rather live well than climb to the barricades.
(Bonus Trivia: You can scour early-nineties Adbusters magazine and spot my name once in their letter columns. If my memory of what I wrote there is correct, you will find out that I haven’t changed much since then.)
Andrew PotterJoseph Heath
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
McClelland & Stewart, 2003, 378 pages, C$37.99 hc, ISBN 0-7710-0868-6
When a talented mainstream author tackles a science-fiction novel, quite a few interesting things start to happen. The novel is read by two largely distinct audiences (the author’s audience, and the genre SF audience as well), leading to what can be hilariously divergent takes on the result. Historically, mainstream authors writing SF did so without the bag of tricks drilled into the heads of budding genre writers (consistent world-building, incluing, social complexity, etc.) and without any lifelong affection for the genre either. The result tends to read like well-written, but substandard science-fiction: The background doesn’t hold together, the extrapolation is superficial and there’s a suspicion that everything is supposed to be a metaphor standing for something else.
But Margaret Atwood is not just a “talented mainstream author”: In fact, despite her occasional protestations, she’s perilously close to qualifying as a true science-fiction writer. She has written at least three SF novels so far, and one of them, The Handmaid’s Tale, remains a minor landmark of the genre. Mainstream fiction novel The Blind Assassin even included a subplot about a hack SF writer in mid-twentieth century New York. Atwood has apparently read a lot of SF in her formative years (which may explain her familiarity with an often-outdated notion of the genre) and clearly understands how it can be used to do things that mainstream fiction can’t explore.
So it is that Oryx and Crake is a return to Science Fiction for her: While the framing device is about a man, a quest and a post-apocalyptic world, the meat of the story is the imagined biography of three people growing up in an increasingly unpleasant future. Jimmy (later Snowman) is the main viewpoint character, and his experiences growing up with his friend Crake, and then meeting Oryx, form most of the bulk of the novel. It’s not a pleasant future, what with deadly violence figuring prominently in popular entertainment, and genetic manipulations resulting in ever-stranger life forms. When humanity is wiped out in the last third of Jimmy’s narrative, just in time to make place for the post-apocalyptic landscape Snowman has been inhabiting in-between telling the story of his life, we feel as if it’s a deserved end. After all, it has already engineered its better descendant to inherit the Earth once they’re gone.
Genre readers poking at Atwood’s imagined future won’t be impressed by the originality or depth of the SF elements. Much of it appears recycled wholesale from other post-apocalyptic genetically-engineered nightmares. Atwood loves portmanteau words and can’t resist the impulse to label everything in cute fake trademarks, surrounding her characters with a blizzard of consumerist tags. Her future society, pre-catastrophe, seems to be one in which everyone is gleefully complicit with competing corporations, unchallenged pornographic entertainment and rotten “human” behaviour. It’s not a nice novel, and even pointing out that it’s supposed to be dystopian satire doesn’t do much to quieten thoughts that we’ve seen all of this before, in more fully imagined settings. This being said, Atwood does not embarrass herself with paper-thin future elements like so many of her mainstream colleagues: There may not be a lot of SF here, and it may not go far, but it’s good enough to suspend the disbelief of the average SF genre reader.
But reading Oryx and Crake for the SF elements is like using a Ferrari to commute to the nearest bus stop: It’s a bit of a waste, and it denies the book’s greatest assets. An Atwood novel is meant to be read for the writing, the sly humour, the deadpan take on human weaknesses. Never mind the obviously converging plotting; it’s a book meant to be appreciated line-by-line. Reading it is, if you want to go back to clumsy car analogies, like experiencing a performance engine put in an otherwise unassuming beater: The writing is polished to a level that would cause lesser writers to weep openly. It doesn’t amount to much in the end, but it’s a ride to get there.
Oryx and Crake even fans the deep and undying crush that mainstream-friendly SF genre readers may have on Atwood, who will always remain Canada’s hottest writer no matter how much we can take her for granted.
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009)
(On DVD, January 2010) Every one of the four straight-to-DVD futurama features has been less interesting than its predecessor, and so it is that Into the Wild Green Yonder in the least interesting of them all. It’s still worth a look for confirmed Futurama fans, but there isn’t much here that sticks in mind: While the early Mars Vegas sequence is promising, the mini-golf throwaway joke becomes a stretched subplot, the environmentally-focused theme becomes overbearing (the eco-feminist subplot? Eh.) and by the time we’re supposed to realize that the film may be the last Futurama episode ever (thanks to an ending that wraps up a few romantic threads, and sends the entire crew somewhere else), it’s a bit of a relief that the thing actually ends. There is a surprising amount of continuity with the entire series, another proof (if it was needed) of the intricate nature of the Futurama series, where nothing is quite a throwaway joke. The best thing about Into the Wild Green Yonder may be the sales figures pushing toward another season of Futurama, hopefully in episodic 20-minutes installments for suited to the show’s nature. The DVD adds an audio commentary that is up to Futurama’s entertaining standards, as well as a few other short features, the best of which being a hilariously misleading “making of” documentary that should satiate even the most rabid Amy/Lauren Tom fans.
From a Buick 8, Stephen King
Pocket, 2003 reprint of 2002 original, 487 pages, C$11.99 mmpb, ISBN 0-7434-1768-2
At this stage of his career, Stephen King can take risks that a younger writer wouldn’t dare. Risks like a novel that consciously withholds complete satisfaction from the reader, wrapping everything in a preachy blanket of “there are strange things we’re not meant to understand”. No, I’m not talking about The Colorado Kid, but From a Buick 8, an uncanny novel that does things in ways few genre readers would expect.
Which is just as well, because a very superficial look at the novel immediately summons memories of another King novel: his Christine is the first example that comes to mind whenever talking about “evil car horror novels” for instance. But the similarities end there: In From a Buick 8, things are far more complicated than just a car haunted by evil spirits.
After all, it’s not even a car. When Pennsylvania State Troopers are called to a gas station to pick up an abandoned vehicle, they quickly find out that the object that looks like a Buick Roadmaster really isn’t: Not only do the details don’t match (extra decoration elements, oversized wheel, etc.) but the car won’t even move by itself. Never mind how it got there, or where its driver has gone: Soon enough, the Troopers discover that the materials used to build the car are quite unlike anything they know, and that the car self-repairs when damaged.
But wait: it gets worse. Periodically, the car starts bending reality. Temperatures next to it drop by several degrees and the inside of the car lights up with eerie electrical light. Soon after those events, things either disappear or appear next to the car. One trooper goes missing. Repulsive plants and animals pop up next to the car. Faced with such phenomenon, the troopers safely shutter the car in a shed. Years pass.
Don’t expect a tidy chronological third-person telling of the tale. From a Buick 8, also much like The Colorado Kid, is a novel in which a younger protagonist is told things by older, wiser people who have seen it all happen. In this case, a young teenager, whose recently-killed father knew the secrets of the Buick, prods and asks his father’s colleagues about the car he discovers hanging around the barracks. Their tale goes from 1979 to the early years of the new century, in bits and pieces given how they don’t want to acknowledge all at once the piece of pure strangeness in the back shed. The narration is one filled with regional expressions, jaded details, blue-collar vocabulary and homespun turns of phrase. The teenager wants to know everything as soon as possible, and have it make sense, whereas the older folks know that it’s impossible: The car has been in their lives for decades, and it’s unexplainable as far as they know.
In many ways, it’s a novel about storytelling and how it’s neater than messy reality. The Buick becomes an irrational part of the characters’ lives, to be locked somewhere in a shed and occasionally confronted as it takes out another piece away from their orderly reality, or spits out something that has no right to exist. It’s not a scary novel as much as it’s a quietly terrifying one as the characters come to terms with something that will never be explained. In that regard as well, it’s a precursor to the dirty trick that King would spring on readers with The Colorado Kid, presenting them with a tantalizing mystery that the author refuses to solve.
Yet From a Buick 8 is somewhat friendlier to genre readers than The Colorado Kid in that it does feature a decent amount of chills and thrills even before the conclusion, and that it does offer enough of an explanation and a conclusion to mollify most readers. The central mystery itself remains, but most of the smaller details are tied together in a final vision, and the epilogue offers a surprisingly reassuring way out of the strangeness.
It amounts to a strange and uncanny novel that works in ways that horror novels usually don’t. It’s a pleasure to read thanks to the narration and the accumulation of details about the life of state troopers, but it does eventually leads somewhere with its steady freak show of small-scale terror. The framing device works in large part because the conclusion jumps out of the frame and starts messing with the people telling the story. Writers will recognize the risks taken by King here, but readers should feel blessed to be in the hands of such a good storyteller. From a Buick 8 is not your average horror novel, and it’s all the better for it.
Aren't you wasting your time right now?
Desk Set (1957)
Evil Toons (1992)
The Sundowners (1960)
Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
San Francisco (1936)
Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
Kings Row (1942)
Top Hat (1935)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Die unendliche Geschichte [The NeverEnding Story] (1984)
2036 Origin Unknown aka Or1g1n Unknown (2018)
Patient Zero (2018)
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Pope Francis' First Visit to US to Include Discussion on Homosexuality, Infertility, Celibacy at World Meeting of Families!
CP Current Page: U.S. | Monday, November 17, 2014 | Coronavirus →
By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post Reporter Follow | Monday, November 17, 2014
Pope Francis waves during his visit in Tirana, September 21, 2014. Pope Francis is on a one-day trip to Albania, his first to a European country, to pay tribute to followers of all religions who suffered some of the worst persecution in the 20th century, and to hold up the impoverished nation as a model of inter-religious harmony. | (Photo: Reuters/Arben Celi)
Pope Francis plans to make his first visit to the United States next September, and his itinerary will include traveling to Philadelphia for the upcoming World Meeting of Families congress. The discussion topics for the meeting are set to focus on contentious issues such as premarital sex, homosexuality, infertility and celibacy, according to the congress' meeting notes.
"I would like to confirm that, God willing, in September 2015 I will go to Philadelphia for the eighth World Meeting of Families," the pope said during his opening speech at the interreligious conference on traditional marriage at the Vatican.
Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput told Catholic News Service that he was surprised at the early announcement. "You know usually they don't make these announcements. Four months out is the typical and here we are 10 months away, and the Holy Father said he is coming to Philadelphia," Chaput said.
"He's been telling me that personally, but for him to announce it officially that he is coming so early is really quite an unusual thing, so it's going to re-energize our efforts. There's lot of enthusiasm already, but I think 90 percent of the enthusiasm is based on the fact that the Holy Father will be with us, and now that he's said that I expect that there will be even a double amount of enthusiasm ... and I'm very happy about that."
Francis is currently hosting the "Complementarity of Man and Woman" conference, which is dedicated to traditional marriage. The conference will feature speakers from various religious traditions, including a number of different Christian churches.
The World Meeting of Families is held every three years, and is sponsored by the Holy See's Pontifical Council for the Family. The official website claims that it is the largest Catholic gathering of families in the world, and is aimed and energizing and enlivening the understanding of families. The 2015 meeting theme has been designated as "Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive."
Although the discussion topics include today's cultural hot spots, Mary Beth Yount, a theology professor at Neumann University, who also serves as director of content and programming for the World Meeting of Families, insisted that the meeting will be more than just a discussion on sexuality.
"It's not all about sex," Yount said. "We're pulling in the larger context, not just human sexuality and not just family relationships. This is for all people in all walks of life: married, dating, single by choice, celibate."
The theology professor added that the congress will examine important questions such as "how best to be in human relationship with God and each other," and "what are the ways we can live fruitful lives?"
Yount argued that sexuality "doesn't just mean people having sex. That is a fundamental expression that includes married people, but it also means engaging the world in other ways. It's a self-giving love: married people, people single by choice, and celibacy."
The pope's visit to Philadelphia could potentially be expanded to include other U.S. cities, though that has not been confirmed yet. Back in August, Francis told reporters that President Barack Obama has invited him to Washington D.C., while the secretary-general of the United Nations has invited him to New York.
"Maybe the three cities together, no?" Pope Francis said, and suggested that he would also like to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also expressed his excitement over the pope's announcement.
"The presence of Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families in our country will be a joyful moment for millions of Catholics and people of good will. Our great hope has been that the Holy Father would visit us next year to inspire our families in their mission of love. It is a blessing to hear the pope himself announce the much anticipated news," Kurtz said.
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What Does the Trump Administration Mean for Climate Change Efforts?
February 22, 2017 By Shanna Edberg
This post was originally published on MIT Sloan’s innovation@work Blog.
On November 4, 2016, the historic Paris Agreement on climate change policy (#OurAccord) became international law. “Humanity will look back on November 4, 2016, as the day that countries of the world shut the door on inevitable climate disaster,” said UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa and Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar in a joint statement that day.
Four days later, on November 8, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. And overnight, the set of policies required to fulfill the promises of the Paris Accord were under threat.
Here’s what we know. President Trump has called human-caused climate change a hoax. He has vowed to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency “in almost every form.” Trump has attacked Obama’s Clean Power Plan as “a war on coal.” And, perhaps most significantly, he has promised to renege on the U.S. pledge under the Paris Agreement, which commits more than 190 countries to reduce their emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide pollution.
And so now, we wait.
However, as recently reported by ClimateWire, “For every conservative who dreams about ripping up the Paris Agreement, there’s a company executive who wants to stay in.” Shortly after the election, hundreds of U.S. businesses urged Trump to uphold the Paris climate deal. More than 360 companies and investors–from DuPont, eBay, and Nike to Unilever, Levi Strauss & Co., and Hilton–made their plea in an open letter to the incoming and outgoing administrations and members of Congress. (The signatories have since grown to over 700.)
And many companies are walking the walk. In a recent press release, Google announced it will reach 100% renewable energy and carbon neutrality in 2017. Iron Mountain signed a 15-year wind power purchase agreement that will supply 30% of its North American electricity needs with renewable energy. And here in Boston, MIT, Boston Medical Center, and Post Office Square Redevelopment Corporation have formed an alliance to buy electricity from a large new solar power installation, adding carbon-free energy to the grid and demonstrating a partnership model for other organizations in climate-change mitigation efforts.
“At the organizational level, there are fantastic opportunities for companies to invest in renewable energy in a net-present-value positive way,” says MIT Sloan Senior Lecturer and Executive Director of the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative Jason Jay. “All of these efforts can help people see the value in supporting a move to a low carbon future and the importance of maintaining the momentum of the Paris Agreement.”
MIT Sloan Professor John Sterman agrees that efforts of the business community are critically important and highly laudable. However, he also cautions against assuming the marketplace will somehow naturally bridge the gap between policy and action. “A number of people argue that the U.S. will continue to cut its emissions and fulfill our commitment under the Paris Accord because green energy is getting cheaper and businesses will increasingly choose it on economic grounds. That’s partially true. But policy matters. Fossil fuels remain heavily subsidized, delaying the transition to clean energy. Abandoning the Clean Power Plan, weakening the CAFÉ standards, and failing to put a price on CO2 so people pay the full, true cost of their energy use will delay the emissions reductions we need and hurt our economy.”
Sterman points to an analysis by Climate Interactive, a scientific think tank, of which he is a member, that provides climate change analysis and simulation models to governments around the world. The analysis concluded that President Trump’s policies will make it extremely difficult, at best, for the U.S. to meet its commitment under the Paris agreement (a cut of 26-28% from 2005 levels by 2025). Back in December, The New York Times used data from Climate Interactive to create its digital story, “How Trump Can Influence Climate Change,” exploring what actions were intended to deliver upon the Paris pledge of the U.S., what actions could be lost under the new administration, and where the U.S. fits globally.
Does U.S. action matter? The U.S. is the second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind China. If we do not fulfill our pledge, the world may not be able to slow the increase in global temperatures. With Mr. Trump in the Oval Office and Republican majorities in both houses,” says Sterman, “there is little hope that the Clean Power Plan will survive in the Supreme Court or for federal action to meet the U.S. commitment under the Paris accord. Worse, if the U.S. won’t fulfill its pledge, why should developing nations, like India, cut their emissions?”
While most Republicans want to see Obama’s climate policies dismantled, people of both parties increasingly argue for stronger action. Leading Reagan-Bush-era conservatives, including former Secretaries of State James Baker and (MIT alumnus) George Schultz, call for a border-adjusted, revenue-neutral carbon tax as a replacement for the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The revenue-neutral “carbon fee and dividend” proposal has been popular among economists for years and embraced by some leading climate scientists and advocacy groups. President Trump’s Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has also stated his support for a carbon tax. However, as recently reported in The Washington Post, “There’s also the question of whether the current White House is up for big, wonky crossover ideas,” even though a large majority of people in the US, including more than 60% of Trump voters, “Support Taxing and/or Regulating the Pollution that Causes Global Warming.”
The terrain ahead
As we wait to see to what degree President Trump leaves the environment in the lurch, many want to know what the next move should be for citizens, organizations, and communities. What’s readily apparent: it’s not going to be an easy road.
“We can do it: it’s technically possible to avoid the worst risks of climate change and build a safer, sustainable world,” Sterman says. “It’s affordable. It’s getting cheaper every day. But we are in a race to cut emissions before the damage is irreversible. We weren’t moving fast enough even before the election, and now there’s a stiff headwind in our faces,” says Sterman. “We have to put our heads down and work harder, professionally, personally, and politically.”
“In the face of that uncertainty, it’s all the more important to express and act on support for #OurAccord at individual, relational, and organizational levels,” adds Jay. “Despite what’s happening here politically, the world is certainly moving forward, as John can attest from his work at COP22 in Morocco,” referring to the most recent climate change conference, where the details of the Paris Agreement started to take shape. “At the individual level, we can all work toward a healthy, vibrant, low-carbon lifestyle. At the relational level, we must build our skills in going beyond the choir and having conversations about climate change and sustainability with people who don’t agree with us.”
Conducting difficult and often-polarizing conversations on topics like climate change is the thrust of Jay’s new book, coauthored with Gabriel Grant and currently available for pre-order, entitled Breaking Through Gridlock: The Power of Conversation in a Polarized World. Jay and Sterman also point to Climate Interactive’s climate change simulation software, C-ROADS, as an excellent tool for understanding the long-term effects of climate change and demonstrating those effects in relational settings, especially among groups that may straddle different sides of the aisle. “Research shows that showing people research doesn’t work,” Sterman says. “So we created the World Climate Simulation, where a group of people play the roles of UN climate negotiators working to create an agreement to limit global warming, then use our C-ROADS climate policy simulation to discover whether their proposals would work. World Climate enables people to learn for themselves – not only about the science, but to understand and empathize with people from other nations,” says Sterman. Sterman demonstrated the award-winning C-ROADS software in a recent MIT Sloan Executive Education webinar, and the software is freely available for download. (You can access both here.)
View the video below to hear John Sterman and Jason Jay discuss how you can contribute your ideas on how to fight climate change. They also encourage you to share your ideas on social media using #OurAccord. Sterman and Jay teach in the three-day program, Strategies for Sustainable Business, offered next month (March 22–24, 2017) at MIT Sloan Executive Education.
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After an uptick in fortunes in 2019, as concerns about Brexit and political uncertainty diminished, hopes were high that UK banks would make further progress in 2020.
The biggest risk to profitability in 2020 was always likely to be the prospect of more Brexit stalemate as well as another Bank of England rate cut, after two policymakers called for a 25bps rate cut at the last meeting of 2019.
Reasons for optimism
The removal of the previous few years’ political gridlock had also fostered optimism at the end of the decade that despite some evidence of a slowing economy, the continued resilience in wages and low unemployment would put the UK economy in a good place for a pickup in economic activity, heading into 2020.
There were plenty of reasons to be optimistic: tensions between the US and China had diminished due to the signing of a phase one trade deal, and the UK election had delivered a landslide majority, which consigned the most radical Labour party manifesto of recent years to the dustbin of history, while the latest economic data from China showed an economy that was starting to pick up speed.
Over in Europe, there had been significant divergence between the manufacturing and services sectors, for most of 2019, however as the year came to a close there was some optimism that this was starting to change for the better.
European banking sector concerns
Despite this optimism, there were lingering concerns about the resilience of the European banking sector, and any vulnerabilities that might come about as a consequence of a sharp downturn. It was still being widely acknowledged that European banks had some way to go to deal with the various legacy issues of non-performing loans, particularly in the weaker regions of Spain, Italy and Greece, where bad loans are a particularly thorny issue.
The problems of the European banking sector aren’t new; the region is overbanked, and needs to shrink or consolidate quite sharply, with investors having very little faith in the ability of the sector to address its underlying structural problems.
The hope was that while the European Central Bank could keep rates low and the financial system functional, the banks and EU regulators could come together and create a bad bank, or winding up mechanism for those banks that are being constrained by the toxicity of their balance sheets.
This was always going to be a tall order, even without the coronavirus pandemic, but now the problem in Europe is even more acute than it was a year ago, not that you’d know it from the way the European banking index has bounced back, after hitting a record low in March this year.
UK vs EU banking sector comparison chart
Source: Bloomberg
In terms of overall performance, the European Banks index (green line) has outperformed its UK counterpart despite the problems in Europe, however that’s not as positive as it looks given that the sector traded at record low levels in March. The UK banking sector, on the other hand remains well above its record low levels of the 1980s.
UK banking headwinds
The UK banking sector has nonetheless underperformed this year, not only due to concerns about coronavirus and the amount of bad loans they might have to contend with in the coming months, but also a central bank that seems determined to hollow out its ability to generate income, with speculation about negative rates.
With concerns about a UK-EU trade fissure to deal with as well, it’s perhaps not surprising that we’ve seen much more weakness in the UK banking sector than we have in Europe. This is also borne out when we compare the respective EU and UK banking baskets
Not surprisingly the banking sector has had a dreadful year, not only here in the UK, but the US and Europe as well, however we are starting to reverse some of the worst losses, with the news of a Covid-19 vaccine helping to support the sector, as we head towards 2021.
UK, US & EU banks basket comparison chart
Source: CMC Markets
Looking at the chart above, we can see that the rollover in markets started just after new record highs were posted in the DAX and Stoxx 600 in mid-February, as it soon became apparent that what started out as what was thought to be a localised respiratory flu outbreak was morphing into a full-blown global pandemic.
Once the sell-off started to gain traction, the banking sector bore the brunt as the prospect of economic lockdowns, and an economic collapse fuelled concerns about solvency, while regulators stepped in to force banks to suspend their dividends and buybacks in order to preserve capital and shore up their balance sheets.
It has been notable that HSBC’s share price has managed to ride out the turbulence this year better than most, not falling anywhere near as much, however its rebound has also been more muted, while Barclays’ share price has bounced back strongly.
UK banks’ share price performance chart
NatWest share price rebounds
Under the stewardship of new CEO Alison Rose, who took over from Ross McEwan, the rebadged NatWest Group (previously RBS) has had a baptism of fire. While Rose has done a good job of giving the bank a makeover and polished up the paintwork; unless you fix what’s under the bonnet, you’re still left with the same old banger underneath.
In September, the NatWest share price hit fresh record lows, but since then the shares have rebounded strongly, as the prospect of a resumption of dividends and a decent set of quarterly numbers showed that the pessimism priced into NatWest’s share price was probably a little overdone.
Investors’ main concern this year, of all years, has been the banking sector’s resilience with respect to non-performing loans, and it’s the UK and US who have had the most success in improving in this respect.
UK banks set aside billions
The biggest concern for UK investors, and which was arguably a big mistake on the part of UK policymakers, was forcing a lot of UK banks to curtail their trading operations in the wake of the financial crisis, in the mistaken belief that it was everyday so-called ‘casino’ investment banking that caused the crisis, rather than the financial jiggery-pokery of the packaging and repackaging of collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) of mortgages and other risky securities.
This has played out in the relative performance of the share prices of NatWest Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and HSBC, where we’ve also seen enormous provisions in respect of non-performing loans, and where Barclays and HSBC have proved to be the most resilient.
So far this year we’ve seen Lloyds Banking Group set aside £4.1bn in respect of bad loans, with an expectation that this will come in at the lower end of £4.5bn to £5.5bn by the end of this year. NatWest Group’s numbers painted a similar picture; having posted impairments of £801m in Q1, and an attributable profit of £288m, the bank posted Q2 impairments of over £2bn. NatWest said it expects full-year impairments of between £3.5bn and £4.5bn.
As for Barclays, they set aside a Q2 impairment charge of £1.6bn, on top of the £2.1bn it set aside in Q1, making a total of £3.7bn compared to £900m a year ago. In Q3, this was increased by another £608m, taking the total provision to £4.3bn. However, the bank was slightly more optimistic about the future, forecasting that provisions were likely to be much lower in the second half of the year.
While all three of these UK banks are acutely vulnerable to widespread consumer defaults, along with HSBC, at least HSBC and Barclays have other revenue streams from their investment bank and overseas operations. This has certainly helped Barclays, which has seen its investment division start to perform better-than-expected in recent quarters, which in turn has helped it in respect of any underperformance in its domestic retail operations.
As for HSBC, they set aside £5.3bn in the first-half in respect of non-performing loans, and said at the time that this could rise by another £5bn over the rest of the year, as it wrestles with its own restructuring plan, as well as walking a perilous tightrope between its China business, and its UK and US businesses. In its most recent Q3 numbers, HSBC posited a slightly more positive outlook, saying that loan losses could come in at the lower end of expectations for the full year, which is encouraging, however that also assumes no new deterioration in outlook as we head into winter. Given recent events and the direction of travel with respect to the virus, his view looks rather optimistic, which suggests that talk of dividends being resumed at the end of Q4 is rather premature, and could be blocked in any case by the Prudential Regulation Authority.
European banks unprepared for loan losses
As for European banks, their provision for non-performing loans has been pitiful, and while there does seem to be some early signs of consolidation, with the recent deal by Spain’s BBVA to sell off its US operation, its failure to come to an agreement with smaller counterpart Banco Sabadell for €2bn suggests there remains a long way to go to move forward with widespread consolidation, as well as preparing for the tsunami of loan losses that are about to hit the European banking sector next year.
BBVA has also been one of the few European banks to get out in front of potential loan losses by setting aside €4bn so far this year. The remainder of the sector appears to be much more complacent, with the likes of Santander, Société Générale, Deutsche Bank, ING and BNP Paribas appearing to set aside less than €20bn between them.
As if to underline some of the complacency over non-performing loans, Germany’s biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, has set aside a pitiful €761m this year in respect of loan defaults at a time when the German economy has just gone into a one-month partial lockdown, following on from the total lockdown in March and April. Let’s hope this complacency doesn’t come back to bite it hard.
We’ve also had the worrying prospect of Unicredit CEO Jean-Pierre Mustier being forced to step down over political pressure to absorb that perennial Italian basket case bank Monte dei Paschi, due to concerns over wider visibility of some of the problems sitting on its balance sheet. We've already seen the perils of forcing a resilent bank take on the liabilities of a weaker one here in the UK when Lloyds Banking Group was forced to swallow HBOS. Unicredit could well go the same way if forced into absorbing Monte dei Paschi.
A recent survey outlined the scale of the problem in Europe, with estimates that over half of Europe’s small and medium-sized businesses could face bankruptcy next year if revenues don’t pick up. One in five companies in Italy and France anticipate filing for bankruptcy within six months, according to a survey conducted by McKinsey and Co in August of 2,200 SMEs. Coming on top of the problems in the region already, this is likely to be a catastrophe unless EU leaders step up to the plate with a rescue plan.
Banks face uncertain outlook
It’s been an awful year for banks in general, with record lows in a lot of bank share prices here and in Europe. The outlook does appear to be more positive now with the prospect of a vaccine however while the recent rebound in share prices is welcome, the banks are still likely to be in the front line as loan defaults and bankruptcies start to become apparent in 2021.
Europe remains a key pressure point and a lot will depend on the reaction function of EU policymakers, and their determination to restore confidence in a banking system that is sitting on a bed of nitroglycerine, to coin a phrase that was used in slightly different circumstances.
The rebound from September’s lows looks promising for banking in general, however the sector is likely to face further headwinds into 2021, as the global economy tries to lift itself out of what is likely to be an extended period of subdued recovery.
View the estimated indices dividend drop points* for week commencing 21 December 2020.
Messenger RNA could mean success for pharma stocks
Covid-19 may have slowed business, but there was still plenty of M&A action in 2020. Read our annual review.
As Covid-19 hit, pharma took to the spotlight, boosting share prices among small, innovative companies. Read our annual review.
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Snowflake Share Price Set To Cool A Little
In light of the surge in the Snowflake share price since its IPO launch, there was always the risk that the first earnings report as a publicly-listed company might fall short. As with any IPO, there are always up-front costs that tend to affect headline profits in the first instance.
Snowflake's progress has certainly been impressive in terms of the actual numbers. In the first-half of this fiscal year, the company returned $242m in revenue, leaving it on course to more than double its turnover for this year, to over $540m.
Even allowing for that, and Snowflake's share price move to highs of $340 last month, it does beg the question as to whether there is too much froth in the valuation.
Losses could impact Snowflake share price
Q3 revenues came in at $159.6m, over double the same period last year at $73m, however the company still remains some way short of being profitable, as losses increased to $168.9m.
The outperformance will no doubt please Snowflake's backers, Salesforce and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, who both invested over $250m in the business at the IPO price.
Yesterday’s losses were larger than expected, which wasn’t too much of a surprise. However there was some disappointment over its projections for the upcoming quarter, which are expected to come in between $162m and $167m.
Business looking good, despite stiff competition
The general consensus was for a number towards the upper end of the projection at $166m, and while the number is still within the wider guidance threshold, some investors may well start to look at taking profit in a sector where competition is already fierce.
Snowflake is operating in the same sandbox as the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet, and has recently signed deals with Capital One and Goldman Sachs. Business is certainly looking good, in the short- to medium-term, however does it justify an $80bn valuation?
Early indications suggest that we could see further weakness in the Snowflake share price when US markets reopen later today
Ocado share price tipped to rise on raised guidance
The Ocado share price is likely to push higher today as the full-year earnings guidance was raised again.
Rolls-Royce share price recovery fuelled by vaccine news
EU-UK trade talks deadline extended as EU leaders meet, ECB up next
Dynamic Tesla
After an awful year, the Rolls-Royce share price has pulled out of its tailspin. What will its Q3 results bring?
Tesla is probably the best-known electric car company in the world and whether you’re a fan of their cars or not, there is no denying the performance of its stock price, which has risen over 850 percent in the last year.
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Monday - Friday, 6:00 - 9:00 AM ET
Squawk Pod
The big end to week on Wall Street
Published Thu, Dec 3 20157:17 AM EST Updated Sat, Oct 14 201710:44 AM EDT
Matthew J. Belvedere@Matt_Belvedere
Peter Schacknow@peterschack
IN THE NEWS TODAY
U.S. stock futures were sharply higher, after yesterday's slide essentially wiped out Tuesday's big rally. Investors this morning are focusing on the Fed and the European Central Bank. (CNBC)
Fed Chair Janet Yellen, set to testify before Congress this morning, is expected to reiterate comments Wednesday on why interest rates could go higher for the first time in nine years. (CNBC)
Before Yellen's appearance on Capitol Hill, the ECB holds a rate meeting and news conference this morning. Central bankers are expected to announce an expansion of easy money policies. (CNBC)
Oil prices bounced higher this morning suggesting that Saudi Arabia would propose cutting production as long as they were supported by countries both inside and outside OPEC, which meets tomorrow. (FT)
Authorities in California said the shooting rampage at a San Bernardino social services facility that killed 14 people looked planned. Both suspects, a couple, died a short time later in a police shootout. (CNBC)
The couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who allegedly carried out the San Bernardino shooting left their six-month-old daughter with her grandmother before the onslaught. (NBC News)
South Africa's top appeals court found Oscar Pistorius guilty of murder in the 2013 killing of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, overturning an earlier conviction of manslaughter. (NY Times)
Standard and Poor's cut its credit ratings on the holding companies behind eight key U.S. banks, citing uncertainty about whether the government would prop them up under extraordinary circumstances. (CNBC)
Alphabet's (GOOGL) YouTube unit is seeking streaming rights to TV series and movies in a bid to compete with Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN), and Hulu. (WSJ)
Two of the largest shareholders in Viacom (VIAB), including Mario Gabelli, are raising questions about to remain executive chairman of the media company. (Reuters)
National health spending hit $3 trillion for the first time ever in 2014, due both to full implementation of Obamacare that year and a sharp rise in spending on retail prescription drugs. (CNBC)
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual State of the Nation address today to parliament, with terrorism, Ukraine, and the country's economy the key themes. (CNBC)
GOP presidential candidates gather today to talk about their national security plans at a forum held in Washington and sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition. (USA Today)
Key reports on the U.S. economy this morning begin with the Labor Department's weekly report on initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET. The ISM's nonmanufacturing index and the government's October factory orders are both out at 10 a.m. ET.
Dollar General (DG), Sears Holdings (SHLD), Michaels (MIK) and Lands' End (LE) are out with quarterly earnings this morning, while Barnes & Noble (BKS), Five Below (FIVE), Ulta Salon (ULTA), and Zumiez (ZUMZ) post their numbers after today's closing bell.
Retailers were also a theme of yesterday's after the bell reports. American Eagle (AEO) beat on earnings and fell short on revenue. The company said the holiday season is off to a "solid start."
PVH (PVH) reported earnings well above estimates and revenue in-line with expectations. The apparel maker's noted a negative impact from a strong dollar, but reaffirmed its full-year forecast.
Costco (COST) reported flat same-store sales for both its fiscal first quarter and for November, but both those numbers were better than consensus forecasts for declines.
While Yahoo's (YHOO) board continues to consider the company's future at this week's meeting, the Wall Street Journal reports several potential suitors are emerging for Yahoo's internet business, including Verizon (VZ) and IAC/InterActiveCorp. (IACI).
Yahoo's board is seriously considering pausing a planned spinoff of its lucrative 15 percent stake in Alibaba (BABA), according to Re/code. But CNBC sources said no decision has been made yet.
McDonald's (MCD) is expected to be the fourth U.S. company whose tax deals are coming under scrutiny by European Regulators, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Target (TGT) has agreed to pay $39.4 million to resolve claims by banks and credit unions that said they lost money because of the retailer's late 2013 data breach. Earlier this year, Target settled other cases for tens of millions.
Lockheed Martin (LMT) is delaying a decision to spin off its government information technology business until early in 2016. But the company is still expected to go ahead with the move.
China is the world's largest vehicle market, and possibly one of the world's most dangerous. Authorities there have handled more than 17 million cases of road rage this year. (CNBC)
Target Corp
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Miami Dolphins prepare for life after football
Published Thu, Mar 2 20173:23 PM EST Updated Thu, Mar 2 20173:45 PM EST
Morgan Brennan@MorganLBrennan
Jessica Golden@JGolden5
Miami Dolphins getting schooled on winning off the field
Even in a city as populous as New York, it's an unusual scene. More than a dozen pro-football players clad in neon yellow construction vests and hard hats traipsing around one of the biggest construction sites in the world, taking notes as contractors talk about steel and drywall.
The players: 16 Miami Dolphins, or nearly a third of the NFL team. The site: Midtown Manhattan's Hudson Yards, the $25 billion development team owner and real estate maven Stephen Ross' Related Companies is building. The goal: teach players more about business and investing so they are better positioned to win off the field, when they retire from football.
"I'm really interested in real estate building," said Ryan Tannehill, quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, from the 24th floor of an under-construction high-rise that will eventually house tenants like Neiman Marcus. "We've been talking about investing in companies, growth, and the process of vetting people before the investment process. No other owners are giving their guys the opportunity to do something like this."
The Miami Dolphins meet with CEOs and tour businesses to get a head start on their post-NFL careers as part of a Miami Dolphins Business Combine.
Jessica Golden | CNBC
The tour is one part of a week-long business combine that Dolphins owner Ross arranged for players this week, on the heels of a 10-6 winning season that saw the Dolphins in the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Planning began in September after a much smaller version involved six players last year. Attendance is optional, dress code business attire.
To participate, players paid thousands of dollars out of pocket to partake in a jam-packed itinerary of more than a dozen events spearheaded by entrepreneurs in real estate, tech, hospitality and leisure, and retail. Among the names: Warby Parker Co-CEO Dave Gilboa, Equinox CEO Harvey Spevak, Related President Bruce Beal, LRMR Management's Maverick Carter, and 76ers and Devils owner Michael Rubin. Players have been sitting in on meetings, touring facilities, and being encouraged to ask questions.
"It's been beyond worth it having the opportunity to sit down with so many business minds and be a sponge and take that wisdom and implement it into your own life," said Cameron Wake, Defensive End for the Dolphins.
As part of the Miami Dolphins Business Combine, players get a first-hand look at the construction taking place at Hudson Yards.
"As an owner, I have the responsibility to develop them as great football players, to prolong their careers, but also it's a responsibility to makes sure they are developed when their careers are over," Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross told CNBC's Power Lunch. "It's great for the team, it's great for the organization.
The National Football League says the combine is a first. The NFL's player engagement department runs business boot camps with Stanford, Northwestern, Penn State and Harvard – but this format in which a team hosts a stand-alone summit is, at least for now, unique to the Dolphins.
"I know from my business career, the better you treat people, the better the organization you have and you attract the best. That's all part of it and everyone wins in a situation like that," said Ross.
High bankruptcy rates
The average NFL career lasts a mere 6 years, according to the league. And as is the case with other pro athletes, despite hefty multi-million dollar contracts, many find themselves broke within years of retirement. One study, conducted by the Department of Labor Services, estimates a bankruptcy rate among NFL players of between 15 and 40 percent after retirement.
Ross leveraged his own success in drafting the program. The self-made billionaire's empire consists of a massive real estate portfolio developed by Related Companies, ownership through Related of Equinox Fitness, and venture capital firm RSE Ventures, which has invested in everything from drone racing to restaurant brand Momofuku. Leaders from all of those businesses have been on tap.
"To be able to shadow these business millionaires and billionaires is an amazing opportunity," said Jelani Jenkins, Dolphins linebacker. "When I saw the All-Star guest speakers we had, I was eager to learn from them, take notes … absorb as much as I can."
For the executives, it's also a win. "I do think it's a great way of giving back, but I also think as a brand with fitness at its core, we speak a common language and I think a lot of these athletes would be great employers for Equinox," said Harvey Spevak, CEO of Equinox, from the fitness company's Manhattan headquarters. "People who are naturally experienced playing on a team are going to make for pro employees."
Dolphins long snapper John Denney said he could potentially be interested in Equinox and what they are doing with their Blink franchise. "It's all about who you know in this world. This is a great opportunity to meet a lot of people who can help in the future," he said, standing in front of machinery inside an Equinox club.
For others, it's about mentorship, and helping educate the players about their industry. "They've been asking amazing questions. One of the players was asking me the difference between building with steel and concrete," said Bruce Beal, president of Related Companies, from Hudson Yards. Beal has first right of purchase of the Dolphins when Ross is ready to step away.
While the Dolphins are currently the only team involved, half-way through the week the players were already voicing hopes that others in the league will one day get similar opportunities. "I hope to see this grow through the league and give more guys the opportunity to experience things like this. Football can only take you so far – you really have to have a plan after that," he said.
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Looking for an edge, esports team Fnatic hires sports scientists to try to boost gamers’ performance
Published Fri, Dec 4 20209:48 AM EST Updated Sun, Dec 6 20208:26 PM EST
Sam Shead@Sam_L_Shead
Esports team Fnatic has started hiring sports scientists to a new "High Performance Unit."
The unit will study and observe how sleep and stress levels impact the performance of the 60 gamers across Fnatic's teams.
Fnatic's 60 esports players get paid to play games like Apex Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and League of Legends in front of hundreds of millions of viewers.
Team Fnatic lift the winners' cup after the "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" final game between FaZe Clan and Fnatic on March 4, 2018 in Katowice, Poland.
Norbert Barczyk | PressFocus | MB Media | Getty Images
LONDON – Esports team Fnatic has started hiring sports scientists as part of an effort to improve the performance of its gamers.
Fnatic, which has players around the world, set up a "High Performance Unit" after closing a $10 million funding round from investors in November.
"One of the things that we're looking into right now is how do we bring in all the knowledge that comes from sports," Sam Matthews, founder and chief executive of Fnatic, told CNBC on a call.
The unit will study and observe how sleep and stress levels impact the performance of the 60 gamers across Fnatic's teams, which get paid to play games like Apex Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and League of Legends in front of hundreds of millions of viewers.
The unit will also look at alcohol and cortisol levels, as well as the impact of a caffeine dip on a gaming session.
"It's the first time we've had a sports science lab to figure out what actually makes the difference in a gamer's performance," said Matthews, who co-founded Fnatic in London in 2004.
There are currently three people in Fnatic's High Performance Unit but the company plans to hire five more staff to it in 2021.
"In esports, the competition is getting more and more fierce," said Matthews. "Like in F1, you're always looking at edges that you can get, whether it's hardware, training, or psychology."
Fnatic also uses a network of nutritionists and freelance fitness coaches, who encourage the gamers to go to the gym, Matthews said.
Many professional gamers train or compete for over ten hours a day, and some of them rake in over a $1 million a year in the process. However, the physical and mental strain on the body can sometimes result in health problems.
Matthews said: "These people are fit and healthy largely, but there's always an anomaly to the rule."
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Google CFO Patrick Pichette to retire
The longtime key exec says he wants to spend more time with his family, but will stay on to find his successor.
Richard Nieva
March 10, 2015 2:32 p.m. PT
Google says it will find Pichette's replacement within the next six months. Getty Images
Google's longtime chief financial officer, Patrick Pichette, is retiring.
The search giant hasn't yet determined Pichette's last day of work, but in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Google said he intends to assist in finding his successor. That process should be done within six months, the company said. Pichette began working for Google in 2008.
Pichette, 52, leaves Google as the company focuses both on its juggernaut advertising business, as well as branching out with audacious initiatives like driverless cars and smart contact lenses.
In a blog post, he said he wants to leave the company to spend more time with his family, and especially his wife, as they celebrate their 25th anniversary this summer.
"While I am not looking for sympathy, I want to share my thought process because so many people struggle to strike the right balance between work and personal life," said Pichette.
There have been other shakeups in top management in the past year. In October, CEO Larry Page said he would step back from a day-to-day leadership role to focus more on the company's future. In his place, he promoted trusted lieutenant Sundar Pichai, who already ran Google's important Android mobile software business, to take over as Google's product czar.
Before Google, Pichette was an executive at the telecommunications company Bell Canada.
Discuss: Google CFO Patrick Pichette to retire
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Unisys to upgrade 32-way Intel server
Unisys will debut new 32-processor servers, a revamp of its ES7000 line with the latest Intel Xeon processors, the company plans to announce next week. The new Xeons, running at 1.4GHz and 1.6GHz, come with a feature called hyper-threading, which lets a single CPU act somewhat like two, but the feature isn't enabled in the first versions of the new ES7000/200. Dell plans to use the new Xeons, as will new systems from IBM, Egenera and others to be announced next week. The ES7000 can be divided into several independent partitions, each with its own operating system. With the new server, pre-written scripts can be used to add or remove processors from a partition to adjust to increasing or decreasing workloads, the company said. Unisys has joined with Microsoft to market the machines and improve the Windows operating system for the high-end system. Deals under which Compaq Compaq and Hewlett-Packard would sell the ES7000 under their own names fell apart in 2001.
Stephen Shankland
March 11, 2002 12:21 p.m. PT
Unisys will debut new 32-processor servers, a revamp of its ES7000 line with the latest Intel Xeon processors, the company plans to announce next week. The new Xeons, running at 1.4GHz and 1.6GHz, come with a feature called hyper-threading, which lets a single CPU act somewhat like two, but the feature isn't enabled in the first versions of the new ES7000/200. Dell plans to use the new Xeons, as will new systems from IBM, Egenera and others to be announced next week.
The ES7000 can be divided into several independent partitions, each with its own operating system. With the new server, pre-written scripts can be used to add or remove processors from a partition to adjust to increasing or decreasing workloads, the company said. Unisys has joined with Microsoft to market the machines and improve the Windows operating system for the high-end system. Deals under which Compaq Compaq and Hewlett-Packard would sell the ES7000 under their own names fell apart in 2001.
Discuss: Unisys to upgrade 32-way Intel server
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Africa Americas Asia Australia China Europe India Middle East United Kingdom
Nearly 180 people killed in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta in 2 weeks
By Angela Dewan, Jomana Karadsheh and Hande Atay Alam, CNN
Published 1:18 PM EST, Sun January 14, 2018
Nearly 180 people, including 51 children, have been killed in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta in just over two weeks, the volunteer White Helmets rescue group said Sunday, as the government steps up its air raids on the country’s remaining rebel-held areas.
The death count was announced as more regime strikes were reported over the weekend and as activists posted videos online of rescuers pulling children from the rubble of targeted buildings.
The start of the year has been marked by death and destruction in Eastern Ghouta, an enclave on the outskirts of the capital Damasus.
White Helmets volunteer rescuers carry a girl who was pulled from the rubble in Eastern Ghouta on January 6.
PHOTO: ABDULMONAM EASSA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
The area is rebel-held but has been besieged by government forces for more than four years. The Syrian government, backed by Russian air power, began an offensive to retake it on December 29 last year. The White Helmets said Sunday that the offensive had involved hundreds of airstrikes, missiles and cluster bombs.
The group said that 177 people had been killed in the latest offensive, and more than 800 civilians, including at least 200 children, had been injured.
A Syrian man who fled from the outskirts of southern Idlib due to conflict between government forces and opposition fighters stands holding a child following their arrival at the make-shift camp of Kalbeed near the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Syria-Turkey border on January 4, 2018. Government and allied forces backed by Russian warplanes have been battling jihadist fighters and rebels for over a week in an area straddling the border between Idlib and Hama provinces. / AFP PHOTO / Zein Al RIFAI (Photo credit should read ZEIN AL RIFAI/AFP/Getty Images)
PHOTO: ZEIN AL RIFAI/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Related Article Idlib: Syria's latest version of hell
UNICEF, the UN’s agency for children, said that 30 children had been killed in the first two weeks of the year, and that 200,000 children had been trapped there since 2013.
“It is shameful that nearly seven years into the conflict, a war on children continues while the world watches. Millions of children across Syria and in neighboring countries have suffered the devastating consequences of unabating levels of violence in several parts of the country,” UNICEF said in a statement Sunday.
“UNICEF received information from inside east Ghouta that people are taking shelter underground in fear for their lives. One particular heavy attack on residential buildings was so strong it reportedly injured 80 civilians including children and women. Medical personnel struggled to pull survivors out of the rubble.”
The White Helmets also reported a small-scale chlorine gas attack in the area.
CNN has not been able to independently verify the attack. The Douma Medical Center said it treated six people, including children, for symptoms consistent with chlorine poisoning.
Eastern Ghouta is a designated “de-escalation zone” under a ceasefire deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran, which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to last year. Violence by the regime and rebel groups is in violation of the ceasefire.
UN: Schools and hospitals targeted
Eastern Ghouta was seized by rebel groups after the Syrian civil war erupted. The government chokehold on the enclave has led to a desperate humanitarian situation there, with the regime repeatedly refusing to allow aid in – or civilians to easily leave.
CNN has received reports from medical organizations operating in the country that hospitals and other medical facilities are being targeted in Eastern Ghouta, as well as the provinces of Idlib, the largest-remaining rebel-held area, and Hama.
UNICEF said that the women and children’s hospital in Idlib had been hit three times and taken out of service while schools were also being targeted.
A Syrian paramedic carries an injured child following airstrikes in Eastern Ghouta on January 6.
“Two medical facilities came under attack in the past days in east Ghouta, and most health centers had to close because of the violence. In some areas, mobile emergency clinics are the only way for families to receive medical treatment and aid,” UNICEF said Sunday.
“Schools have been reportedly closed in and around east Ghouta at a time when children elsewhere in Syria are sitting for their mid-term exams.”
In late December, the government allowed more than 80 people to leave Eastern Ghouta to be taken to hospitals in Damascus for medical treatment, in a one-off people-swap deal, in which prisoners were exchanged for critically ill civilians.
A critically ill six-month-old baby died while waiting to be evacuated, according to Mohamad Katoub, advocacy manager for the Syrian American Medical Society.
CNN’s Eyad Kourdi and Natalie Gallón contributed to this report.
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Veteran Soldier Legally Open Carrying Rifle Arrested for “Rudely Displaying Weapon”
April 20, 2013 February 11, 2017 Kelly W. Patterson 664 Views Accountability, assault, Brutality, C.J. Grisham, City Manager David Blackburn, Civil rights, cop block, copblock, Copblock submissions, copblock.org, Corruption, double-standards, excessive force, Filming police, freedom, Gary O. Smith Chief of Police, Harassment, III, Illegal search/entry, Justice System, kelly patterson, Mayor Pro-Tem Danny Dunn, Mayor William A. Jones, merit badge, no victim no crime, Officer Steve Ermis, open carry, Open Carry Texas, police, police abuse, police accountability, Police brutality, Police State, rights, Sergeant Menix, Temple, Temple Police Department, Texas, TX, Update, video
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The following post and accompanying video were shared with the CopBlock Network anonymously, via the CopBlock Submissions Page.
If you have a video, personal story involving police misconduct and/or abuse, or commentary about a law enforcement related news story, we would be happy to have you submit it. You can find some advice on how to get your submission published on the CopBlock Network within this post.
“On March 16, 2013, my 15 year-old son and I were hiking along country roads among pastures and fields to help him earn his hiking merit badge. I always enjoy these father/son hikes because it gives me time alone with my son.
As I always do when we go on these hikes and walks, I took my trusty rifle with me as there are coyotes, wild hogs, and cougars in our area. In Texas, it is legal to openly carry a rifle or shotgun as long as you do so in a manner that isn’t calculated to cause alarm. In other words, you can’t walk around waving your rifle at people. I always carry my rifle slung across my chest dangling, not holding it in my hands.
At about the five mile mark of our hike, a voice behind us asked us to stop and a police officer motioned for us to approach him. He got out of his car and met us a few feet later. He asked us what we were doing and I explained that we were hiking for my son’s merit badge. He then asked me what I’m doing with the rifle, to which I responded in a calm manner, “Does it matter, officer? Am I breaking the law?”
At that point, the officer grabbed my rifle without warning or indication. He didn’t ask for my rifle and he didn’t suggest he would take it from me. He simply grabbed it. This startled me and I instantly pulled back – the rifle was attached to me – and I asked what he thought he was doing because he’s not taking my rifle. He then pulled his service pistol on me and told me to take my hands off the weapon and move to his car, which I complied with.
Next, he slammed me into the hood of his car and I remembered I had a camera on me (one of the requirements of the hiking merit badge is to document your hikes). This video is the rest of that encounter. Up to this point, I am not told why I am being stopped, why he tried to disarm me, or even that I was under arrest.
We did not set out that Saturday morning to “make a point” or cause problems. Our goal was to complete a 10-mile hike and return home without incident. My son chose a route that was away from populated areas, but near our home. The arresting officer is Officer Steve Ermis and the supervisor is Sergeant Menix of the Temple Police Department.
The man in the video, C.J. Grisham, was first charged with resisting arrest, however, the charge was downgraded to interfering with a peace officer while performing a duty. Update: Grisham was eventually convicted of the interference charge and received a $2,000 fine during sentencing. He has appealed the conviction and, as of February 2017, is still awaiting a ruling on that appeal.
After this incident, Grisham became involved in Second Amendment activism, founding “Open Carry Texas” in 2013 in order to advocate for gun rights within the state. As part of that activism, members have organized numerous open carry events and marches throughout Texas. Open Carry Texas was instrumental in getting legislation passed to allow Texas residents to open carry legally.
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Original article by Charles C. W. Cooke of the National Review.
Temple, Texas Contact Information
Gary O. Smith Chief of Police – (254) 298-5561
Mayor William A. Jones, III – : (254) 298-5700
Mayor Pro-Tem Danny Dunn – ddunn@templetx.gov
City Manager David Blackburn – (254) 298-5600 – email: dblackburn@ci.temple.tx.us
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Kelly W. Patterson
a lifelong resident of Las Vegas, who's been very active in local grassroots activism, as well as on a national level during his extensive travels. He's also the founder/main contributor of Nevada CopBlock, Editor/contributor at CopBlock.org and designed the Official CopBlock Press Passes. ____________________________________________________________________________ If you appreciate Kelly's contributions to CopBlock, consider donating to the CopBlock Network and/or visiting the CopBlock Store. ____________________________________________________________________________ Connect with Kelly at these social networks; Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
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Think Twice Before Speculating on a COVID-19 Cure
As hundreds of companies race to develop vaccines and drug therapies that could help end the COVID-19 pandemic, news reports on successful or failed trials affect individual stock prices and can trigger swings in the broader market.1 Understandably, this highly contagious virus — and its severe economic repercussions — has a knack for stirring up investors’ emotions.
By May 27, 2020, COVID-19 was responsible for more than 100,000 deaths in the United States and about 355,000 worldwide.2 Investors are human beings first, and most of us are waiting anxiously for a cure that would stop the suffering and allow normal life to resume.
Governments and nonprofits have provided billions of dollars in support, and some red tape has been loosened, all to help speed a costly, complex, and time-consuming drug development process.3 Even so, this influx of public funding — along with a concerted humanitarian effort — suggests that some of the most important discoveries may not generate profits for investors.
High Hopes for a Vaccine
A vaccine prepares the body’s immune system to recognize and resist a specific disease, preventing it from causing sickness and spreading to others. As of May 27, the World Health Organization (WHO) was tracking 125 experimental vaccine candidates globally, 10 of which had advanced to clinical evaluation. Another 115 candidates are still in the pre-clinical stage, which involves testing in cells and/or animals and waiting for regulators to review results and grant permission for human trials.4
Clinical studies are conducted in three phases. During Phase I, a small study of healthy people tests the safety and immune response of the vaccine at different doses. Phase II is a randomized, double-blind, controlled study of hundreds of people that further assesses safety, efficacy, and optimal dosing. If all goes well, clinical studies expand to include thousands of people in Phase III.5 These larger studies can be challenging because they test how well the vaccine works in an environment where the virus is spreading.6
Despite the urgency, COVID-19 vaccine candidates can’t skip any of these crucial steps, but timelines have been accelerated.7 Health officials have said it could take 12 to 18 months before a vaccine may be available.8 The U.S. government has struck supply deals with several pharmaceutical companies to support research into leading vaccine candidates and boost the manufacturing capacity needed to produce 300 million doses by fall of 2020, should a candidate prove effective.9
Other nations and well-funded nonprofits have made similar deals. Massive public investment allows drug makers to get a head start on manufacturing doses while waiting for human trials to conclude and approval to be granted. In return, at least one drug maker has promised to sell an approved vaccine without making a profit during the pandemic.10
A COVID-19 vaccine is not imminent — a point made by the fact that there is no vaccine to prevent HIV after several decades of research. Still, early progress on several fronts offers reasons to be cautiously optimistic.11
Testing Old and New Therapies
The development and approval process for experimental drugs is similar to the one for vaccines. Companies that develop successful treatments are likely to face the same manufacturing challenges and pricing pressures. In the meantime, doctors are testing existing therapies that might help COVID-19 patients.12
One existing antiviral drug was approved for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after it was determined to help hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 recover faster. The pharmaceutical giant that makes the drug has ramped up production and is donating about 1.5 million doses as a public good.13
Scientists are also working on targeted antibody therapies, which depend on the identification of specific antibodies that bind with and neutralize the novel coronavirus. At high doses the right antibodies might prevent the disease from worsening in hospitalized patients, and at lower doses the same antibodies could provide short-term immunity for front-line workers.
Effective antibody drugs are easier to develop but more complex to manufacture. Thus, there is limited global capacity to produce the large amounts needed. Governments, nonprofits, and companies that are normally competitors are reportedly discussing ways to share manufacturing plants if one company’s antibody proves to work better than the others.14
Antibody treatments could help save lives as long as COVID-19 is a threat, but widespread vaccination could make them obsolete. If a successful vaccine materializes, many valiant efforts to develop beneficial therapies may never make much money.
More Implications for Investors
As of May 21, 2020, the U.S. government had invested at least $2 billion for the development of coronavirus vaccines and $300 million for antiviral and antibody therapies.15 New biotechnologies, generous financial support, and unprecedented cooperation between governments and industry leaders could shave several years off typical development timelines.16
It’s rarely easy to predict which new products will perform well enough in multiple rounds of studies to earn regulatory approval. Moreover, the stock market’s mid-May rally and high valuations for biotech and pharmaceutical shares imply that success in developing COVID-19 treatments might already be priced in — especially for newsmakers.17
Headline-induced price swings suggest that investors are making decisions driven by hopes and fears, and possibly based on limited information, instead of a realistic assessment of an investment’s longer-term earnings potential. Now more than ever, it’s important to have a well-researched investment strategy based on your own goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance.
1, 17) The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2020
2) Johns Hopkins University, May 27, 2020
3, 5, 7–8, 16) World Economic Forum, 2020
4) World Health Organization, May 27, 2020
6) Bloomberg News, May 7, 2020
9–10) The Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2020
11) NPR.com, May 12, 2020
12, 14–15) Bloomberg Businessweek, April 20, 2020
13) STAT, April 29, 2020
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Kids' Track Club Stresses Fun, Participation
Low-key program has ribbon-winning opportunities - and popsicles - for all
By Lisa Leigh Parney Special to The Christian Science Monitor
NEEDHAM, MASS.
IT'S almost six o'clock on a Thursday evening at a local high school track. Student volunteers in tie-dyed T-shirts and jean shorts carry track equipment out to the field. A few early arrivals talk quietly at the information table. The atmosphere is calm and quiet.
Fifteen minutes later, car doors are slamming in the parking lot. Parents and their kids squirm out of their cars and break toward the track. The silence barrier is broken, and 400 children, mixed with Hula-Hoops, Styrofoam hurdles, eggs, balloons, and oranges create pandemonium.
It's "like setting up the Fourth of July and putting on a parade every night," says John Hrones, summer-program director of the Needham Track Club in this suburb west of Boston.
The club, open to children aged 5 to 14, meets two evenings a week in June and July. It started more than 10 years ago with a group of adults, and has grown into a summer program for children that includes 200 parent coaches and 700 children. (On a given night, an average of 400 children attend.) For their $32 membership fee, each child receives a T-shirt with his or her name on it, prize ribbons, and popsicles after every meet.
The purpose of the program is to introduce young children to track and field, "but in a low-key, fun-type atmosphere," says club president John Normant.
The program is primarily for town residents, but guests come from as far away as New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The Club also sponsors fund-raisers, two "away" meets for older children, a parent-child meet, and an all-star meet.
"There needs to be more youth clubs like this," says Steve Zaitones, managing director of the New England Association for U.S.A. Track and Field. "It's a very supportive atmosphere, with everybody taking part."
In fact, the popularity and success of the program may be its only drawback. As Zaitones has been told by other track coaches in the area, the size of Needham's program limits its ability to travel to other track meets.
"If you have 300 to 500 kids, how do you decide who goes?" Zaitones says. Hrones is considering capping the number of children who can participate.
A typical evening at the track club commences with a "super duper obstacle relay" for everyone. Participants grab a Hula-Hoop, slide it over their body, and run under a hurdle. After the big event, children break up by age group for more typical events: dashes, runs, hurdles, jumps, and various throwing events. But there is also a tug-of-war and races in which contestants must grip an orange or an egg with their chins.
"It's something they are going to have fun with no matter how well they do," Hrones says, "because they get ribbons and they get to participate. Here, you don't have to achieve. If you achieve, that is fine, but we try to discourage it as being serious."
In order to prepare for the summer events, Hrones orders 34,000 ribbons (at 10 cents apiece) and 550 trophies every February. In June and July he has a standing order for 400 popsicles, twice a week. "People wait around for the popsicles," Hrones says. "That is a strong incentive."
Three families that attend the club on a regular basis say it accommodates their needs and those of their children.
Abbe and Steven Asen say they go to 90 percent of the meets with their three children: Mollie, 10; Emma, 7; and Josh, 2.
`MY kids love the action, and they like seeing what they are good at," Abbe says as she watches Emma prepare for the 100-meter dash.
"I like winning," Emma says later. She had crossed the finish line first.
"This is a very special event for all of us," Abbe continues. "We take them out for ice cream afterwards. And we all come home very tired." Josh is till too young to compete, but his parents plan to sign him up as soon as he's old enough.
On the other side of the track is Sheridan Carey, who ran alongside his five-year-old son in the 50-yard dash to give him moral support. Carey says the program is "outstanding."
"My son is a very slow runner, but he really enjoys this," he says. "It's incredible to have this for kids."
When asked what he likes most, Mark Carey, Sheridan's son, says "I like the tug of war because I get to beat a bunch of grown-ups," that is, older children in the program.
Judy McLaughlin says the program is "wonderful" because of the volunteers' support and the feeling that everybody is a winner.
"It's competitive, but in a relaxed manner," McLaughlin says. Over the course of the summer, she predicts, "Everyone will probably end up with first- and second-place ribbons."
McLaughlin's 10-year-old daughter, Kerry, who took second place in the hurdles and third place in the 100-meter dash, says, "I have a whole collection of ribbons." She likes "the way you get to do neat events."
Hrones says he has been pressured by some parents to increase the level of intensity, but hesitates to do so.
"Parents try to push their kids too young to try to do something," he says.
"We know from experience that if a child is below the age of six, that it is very difficult for them to compete with a group and keep up. Our activities are supposed to be fun."
In Honduras, troubled youth trade gangs for sports
Harvard obesity study: Low-income kids more at-risk
Block by block, a community activist builds a better Chicago
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NEMCON 39 PERFORMERS
Mark Calabrese
Performing professionally for 15 years, Mark Calabrese has made a name for himself in the world of close-up magic. Armed with cunning sleight-of-hand and a charming personality, Mark dazzles his audiences with his digital dexterity. He uses these tools to deceive and entertain his audiences while keeping them laughing out of their seats.
Ordinary, everyday items become objects of fancy as Mark delicately handles them with feats of prestidigitation. Coins multiply, cards fly, and audiences cheer. Mark's brand of magic has been honed over the past few years all over the country.
Mark forms a special bond with his audiences, creating intimate miracles, often taking place in your hands! Mark is also an established Street performer in New York City's South Street Seaport with many acts in his repertoire. Mark has been lucky enough to perform for stars suchs as Mike Epps (Next Friday, The Hangover), Rosie O’Donnell, Rob Schneider and Gilbert Gottfried, just to name a few.
Norman Beck
Norman Beck has been many things in life just some of which include: Janitor. Bouncer. Bartender. Writer. Magician. Police Officer. Speaker. Consultant. He’s wowed crowds with exceptional close-up sleight of hand magic skills. He’s moved audiences to adopt change with powerful stories that capture the bets and wagers of individual choices, and the consequences people face because of them.
He’ll tell you that he has one of the “oddest jobs in the world”. He works for a company that provides prize coverage for contingency contests. Think hole in one contests, half-court basketball shots, prize vaults, and super slots.
He has played high-level tournament bridge for his entire adult life and what he’s learned from that he uses a great deal of when leveraging real-life situations. Because of his unique skill set, storytelling ability, his gambler’s mystique, and the magic of a sleight of hand expert — Norman woos audiences like no one else can!
Carisa Hendrix
Magician and Variety Artist Carisa Hendrix is an 8-time Award-Winning Entertainer featured in the Guinness Book of World Records (2014), Ripley’s Believe it or Not (2015) and the star of the Super Channel documentary Carisa Hendrix: Girl on Fire, which tells the true story behind her 2016 Las Vegas magic show.
Recipient of the prestigious Allan Slaight award and recently nominated for Stage Magician of the Year at the Magic Castle, Hendrix is best known for her beloved comedy magic character Lucy Darling. With Lucy and a host of her other characters, Hendrix has been delighting audiences internationally for the past 16 years with her signature blend of classy, sassy comedy entertainment.
Ken Scott has over 20 years of experience, performing over 350 shows a year. He has entertained over a million people with his unique cutting edge programs. Ken is a FOUR time winner of the Greater Atlanta Magician of the year award. In addition, Ken was also featured on CNN Headline News, where he headlined their segment on A Day of Magic.
Ken performs yearly in Hollywood California at The World Famous Magic Castle, which is home to the Academy of Magical Arts. Ken has also performed five times at the White House. Ken has also appeared on ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Video.
Matt Roberts
Matt Roberts is returning to NEMCON to emcee our stage show. Matt Roberts has represented Fortune 500 companies at live events and in over 30 TV commercial, earning two Emmy nominations. A favorite of corporations and performing arts venues, he has presented a decade of 'Music & Magic' shows with live orchestra at Boston Symphony Hall and is the recipient of the 1st Place and People's Choice Award at Abbott's Magic Competition.
Mateo Price-Otero
Mateo Price-Otero is 14 years old and first became interested in magic upon seeing a performance in Spain when he was ten. He has been doing magic since then and is currently part of two SYM groups, serving as the vice president of SYM #124 and the secretary of SYM #129. Mateo has participated in Tannen's Magic Camp the last two years. He performs in private functions, birthday parties and for family and friends.
Save your seat at NEMCON 39!
© 2020 by New England Magicians Conference, Inc.
For questions, contact us at nemcon@ctnemcon.com
Honoree
NEMCON 39 Feedback
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Wyn Starks Updates His Acclaimed Sound with Progressive Pop Anthem “Split In Two”
New single blurs boundaries between modern pop, beat-driven R&B, and 21st century soul
Versatile pop-soul artist Wyn Starks turns a new page with his newest track, “Split in Two.” Released today, the song builds a bridge between the throwback sounds that filled Wyn’s earlier releases — including the Motown-flavored “Dancing My Way” and the show-stopping retro ballad “Circles” — and the genre-bending grooves of modern-day pop music. The result is a thoroughly contemporary track about a failing relationship, punctuated with R&B swagger, anthemic hooks, blasts of brass, and a dancefloor-worthy beat.
“I’ve been on both sides of a relationship like that, where you feel like you’re giving so much of yourself while the other person doesn’t give as much in return,” says Wyn, who co-wrote “Split in Two” with Jason Walker and producer Josh Bronleewe. “Maybe you stay because you love them, or maybe you leave, but there’s still a piece of them that goes with you. Whichever side you’re on, you feel split.”
A progressive artist who’s never been afraid to shine a light on his musical roots, Wyn Starks kicked off his solo career with “Circles,” a nostalgic song that pitted his elastic vocals against a backdrop of sweeping strings and timeless chord progressions. Released in 2019 by Sidewalk Records, a division of Curb Records, “Circles” racked up more than half a million streams on Spotify, including landing on Spotify’s Retro Pop Playlist and Today’s Top Pop Hits. Rather than replicate the song’s old-school vibe on his follow-up releases, though, Wyn stretched his musical legs, digging deep into his gospel and soul roots for the popular “Sunday Morning” and thoroughly modernizing his sonic approach with “Split in Two.”
“I’ve always loved incorporating the sounds I grew up with into the music I’m making now,” says Wyn. “Fans have already heard a piece of me with songs like ‘Sunday Morning’ — songs that were inspired by the music I loved as a child — but that’s just one side of me. ‘Split in Two’ is exciting because it’s an introduction to a more contemporary side. It’s a bridge between two worlds, connecting the throwback vibe of what I’ve already released with the contemporary sound of what I’m working on now.”
“Split in Two” is available on all DSPs, along with songs like “Circles,” “Sunday Morning,” “Dancing My Way,” and Wyn’s version of the holiday classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” For more information on Wyn Starks, visit www.wynstarks.com.
Listen to “Split in Two” HERE.
About Wyn Starks:
A modern-day pop-soul pioneer, Wyn Starks builds a bridge between the old-school sounds that filled his childhood — from the soulful sweep of Motown classics to the bright sparkle of ‘80s hitmakers like Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson — and the grooves, hooks, and genre-bending bounce of contemporary radio. It’s a sound that celebrates not only the multi-octave range of his vocals, but also the power of his songwriting. From the retro ballad “Circles” to the dancefloor-worthy banger “Split in Two,” Wyn has cemented his reputation as a progressive artist who hasn’t forgotten his roots.
Raised in Minneapolis, Wyn sang his first solos in church. The soaring power of gospel music took ahold of him at a young age, as did the pop songs and soul classics that he’d listen to at home, hidden from the rest of the world behind his family’s couch, headphones pressed to his ears. Wyn began creating music of his own — music that made room for the wide range of his influences while also pushing forward into unexplored territory. Looking for a town whose music community was as diverse as his art, he headed to Nashville, signing a record deal with Curb Records during his first six months in town.
Partnering with producer and co-writer Fred Williams, Wyn introduced his sound to the world with singles like “Circles,” “Dancing My Way,” and “Sunday Morning.” He then teamed up with Josh Bronleewe for 2020’s “Split in Two,” a song whose modern bounce helped build a bridge between the throwback appeal of Wyn’s early work and the progressive punch of his newer releases.
About Curb Records:
In 2018, Curb Records joined forces with Word Entertainment to form Curb | Word Entertainment, combining two of the music industry’s most respected brands and more than a century of collective experience. Today, Curb | Word Entertainment is one of the world’s leading independent music companies. Owned and operated by Mike Curb, the company includes label imprints Curb Records, Word Records, Squint Entertainment, Fervent, Sidewalk Records and IVAV representing top artists in Country, Christian, Pop, Rock and Hip-hop music, Curb | Word Music Publishing, 25 Live, Curb Films, Word Films, Word Entertainment and Curb Sports.
Curb Word2020-09-27T21:45:26+00:00September 18th, 2020|
Wyn Starks Takes Flight With Uplifting Gospel Ballad, “Sparrow”
Curb | Word Entertainment’s Sidewalk Prophets Kicks Off The New Year With “Reasons For Joy” Tour
Dylan Scott – ‘Nobody’, Behind The Scenes Look!
YUENGLING AND COUNTRY MUSIC STAR LEE BRICE ANNOUNCE OFFICIAL PARTNERSHIP
Don’t Miss Filmore and Tim Dugger at the Listening Room Café
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Home Other Streaming CBS All Access CBS All Access: Everything You Need to Know
Other Streaming
CBS All Access: Everything You Need to Know
Overview of Service
CBS All Access is one of the most popular streaming sites in the United States. It is an online streaming service owned by CBS, America’s #1 network. Users can access this streaming service by subscribing and paying a monthly fee. Additionally, this service gives users access to thousands of episodes of popular TV shows, along with CBS All Access originals.
This service is geared toward people who enjoy watching cable TV shows and live TV while avoiding expensive cable subscriptions. It’s also great for people who want the option to view their favorite shows outside of a living room setting. This convenient service is especially relevant for people to enjoy shows on their preferred devices. Furthermore, All Access offers tons of shows and numerous perks.
Some perks of CBS All Access include:
An ad-free classic show library
All episodes of current season shows
Prior seasons of current shows
Fewer commercials per episode
Commercial free on-demand episodes
In general, episodes are made available on CBS All Access the day after their original broadcast. The amount of episodes made available depends on the show.
Competitors include:
Seeso, HBO Now, Netflix, Amazon Video, and Hulu.
CBS All Access makes it easy for cord cutters to watch their favorite programs without paying for cable TV. They offer 24/7 streaming, so users can watch shows anytime, anywhere. Streaming is available anywhere in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. As of right now, U.S. Territories of American Samoa, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, North Mariana Islands, and U.S. Minor Outlying Islands are unable to access this service, but CBS is working to expand to these regions in the future. Furthermore, CBS All Access users are only allowed to use the service while in the United States.
Which Devices Support CBS All Access?
CBS All Access is supported by many different devices, including:
Xbox One and Xbox 360
and Windows 10
With so many supported devices, users can easily access shows at home, at work, or anywhere in between.
To subscribe to CBS All Access on a computer or mobile device, users must create a CBS.com account. After a user has made an account, he or she can log in, pick a subscription plan, and pay online using a credit card. Once the account is made and a plan is paid for, users can download the mobile app and start watching TV shows on the go. Users must have 3G or be connected to WiFi to stream shows.
CBS All Access offers two different plans with different prices. The first plan is called CBS All Access Limited Commercials and it allows customers to watch on-demand shows with limited commercials. This plan is $5.99 per month plus tax or $6.99 per month plus tax if used with an iPhone or iPad. New subscribers can stream shows for free for one week as a trial.
The second plan is for customers who want to stream their favorite shows without interruptions. The plan is called CBS All Access Commercial Free, and it costs $9.99 per month plus tax or $11.99 if used with an iPhone or iPad. Live TV and select shows have promotional interruptions and commercials even with the commercial free plan.
CBS All Access offers something that many other streaming companies do not offer: live streaming of newscasts, special events, and sports. Most noteworthy, users can even stream the NFL live on CBS. Unfortunately, mobile users do not have access to live games. Only people who have Verizon Wireless as a mobile career can watch NFL games live on their phones due to an agreement between Verizon and the NFL. There is no additional cost to stream live TV.
CBS All Access offers over 8,500 episodes on demand to its users. Moreover, they offer many different kinds of programs from prime time to late night. Some popular, well-known TV shows include 60 Minutes, Big Brother, The Big Bang Theory, and Grey’s Anatomy. In addition, CBS All Access offers some original shows that can only be viewed through the subscription, like The Good Fight, Big Brother: Over the Top, and Star Trek Discovery. CBS All Access offers a variety of shows to ensure that every customer can find a TV show that he or she will enjoy watching. Users can keep up on current shows without having to pay the hefty prices of cable TV.
Try CBS All Access Today!
In conclusion, many users are already using All Access with great responses. Now that you know everything there is to know about the service, give CBS All Access a try today!
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CBS All Access Available to Amazon Prime Members in the U.S as an Add-On
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Trump and a Republic That We Could not Keep
by David Schultz
Photograph Source: Anthony Crider – CC BY 2.0
Donald Trump refuses to concede and claims the 2020 election was rift with fraud. American democracy is in peril. Then the GSA will fund the Biden presidential transition. His lawsuits are coming to an end. The electoral college will soon cast its ballots. And Donald Trump will no longer be president of the US. The crisis of the American republic has been averted.
So goes the script of commentators on American politics. If only it were that simple. The problems with American democracy are deeper than simply a president refusing to concede an election and claim fraud, yet they will again be glossed over with a return to normalcy with the Biden Administration.
Since election day pundits and many academics have bemoaned Trump’s disparaging of the integrity of the elections. They note how his false accusations of election fraud will do lasting damage to American democracy, instilling in many who voted for him a distrust of our democracy. Political science research tells us that democracies are held together both by institutions and cultural values, with both requiring a degree of buy-in from political elites and the public. Yet there has been a hysterical and misplaced emphasis on Trump’s comments when it comes to the stability of American democracy.
Nearly 50 years ago a nation divided by Vietnam and Watergate wondered how it would survive. It did. The irony was that the “system” worked. The US exited the war, Nixon was forced out, many of his co-conspirators convicted of crimes, and America healed with reforms.
The same will happen again. Trump will be gone soon and America will move beyond him. Except Trump is not the problem. He was always the personification of many underlying problems with American democracy that produced him and his Trumpistas that will endure unless serious change occurs.
Part of what produced Trump is the underlying economic inequality in America that is at its greatest level since the 1920s. Social mobility has ground to a near halt. People are segregated into concentrated poverty. Many who once could make a good living working in a factory without a college degree are losers in the economy and they are anxious about their future. Trump provided an answer in blaming it on globalization and appeals to xenophobia. .
Trump also appealed to racial anxiety at a time when the US is rapidly moving to become a nation that is majority-minority—White Caucasians who are Christian soon will be a minority for the first time in our history. For some this change in the American identity is scary, and Trump used the race card to attack immigrants and Black Lives Matter.
But as we saw with the death of George Floyd, racism is a fundamental problem of our society. America was born of race and slavery, the Constitution is a compromise over it, and the problem of race is not just a problem of the twentieth century as W.E.B. DeBois proclaimed in1900, but it is woven into the fabricate of the US affecting where we live, the health care and education we receive, and how we interact with the government and law authorities.
Politically, we have a constitutional infrastructure designed in a horse and buggy pre-industrial era. The problems of the Covid pandemic are only partially a doing of a president in denial about its reality, but it is rooted in a federalism that devolves much power to states that makes concerted national action impossible. Federalism less now represents the laboratories of democracy that Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once praised, but instead impedes solving some of the most basic crises and problems in our society. States, no matter how well meaning, cannot address global problems, or confront the power of the Googles and Amazons of the world that wield immense corporate power and control over our lives. There is also the unprecedented impact of the social media undermining a faith in science and facts.
Our electoral system was broken before Trump. We have all but given up on regulating the distorting impact of money in politics. Voting rights for many are suppressed. Partisan gerrymandering is a problem. The two major political parties have polarized America against itself to create what Abraham Lincoln feared—a house divided.
There are many other challenges facing America. They predated Trump. They all made Trumpism possible. His demeaning of the integrity of the elections is bad, but it pales in comparison to the other problems the United States is confronting. America will recover from Trump himself, but not from the forces that have placed Americans into a position where they are receptive to the disparagement of our elections. Trump spoke to the anxiety many felt, or failed to speak to those who feel that American democracy has not worked for them.
American myth has it that when asked of Benjamin Franklin as he exited the constitutional convention of 1787 what type of government we had. He replied “A republic, if you can keep it.” Trump’s presidency did little to further the republic, his departure may help, but it is not clear that we had the republic we thought we had even before he became president.
David Schultz is a professor of political science at Hamline University. He is the author of Presidential Swing States: Why Only Ten Matter.
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The “New” Corporation
by Thomas Klikauer – Nadine Campbell
The corporation may well mean corpus or a body of people, yet these are not ordinary people just as corporations are not ordinary organisations. Historically, the archetype of an evil corporation remains the East India Company tasked to exploit British colonies and most the people who lived there. Such an old corporation was very much seen as an evil corporation dedicated to what one of the master chefs of neoliberalism once called the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits – in whatever way possible.
Despite media capitalism’s rather marvellous public relations apparatus, negative perceptions of corporations had begun to increasingly sieve through, entering the general population during the latter half of the 20th century. More recently, so-called scandals – which in reality regularly occurred in corporate capitalism – like Ford Pinto, Nestle, Bhopal, Enron, Exxon Valdez, the global financial crisis of 2008, followed by Volkswagen’s Dieselgate, etc. began to pile up. It was time to re-birth the old corporation as the new corporation.
The new corporation pretends to be kind to workers, communities and the environment. At the same time, the new corporation continues to make sure that the rich are getting richer. To underscore this, JPMorgan’s CEO even announced the dawn of a new age of corporate capitalism with the goal of casting corporations as good actors. Key to the new corporation has been the Davos meeting also known as the World Economic Forum (WEF) run by a small clique of the global super-elite that has accumulated enough money and power to be granted access to the WEF.
WEF boss – Klaus Schwab – sees the new corporation as a blend of moneymaking and social responsibility. Next to business ethics, corporate social responsibility or CSR quickly became key ideologies of the new corporation. Both are pushed by business school professors and corporate apparatchiks inside corporations and adjacent PR-firms. CSR makes it easy for the new corporation to broadcast Schwab’s dream of the new corporation with a heart. All of this is aimed at pretending that the new corporation is a good global citizen. The advocates of the new corporation claim that 80% of the Davos elite rejects a return to Friedman’s shareholder value – profits at all cost.
Joining the bandwagon are the usual suspects of the global managerialist elite. Some are so-called management gurus who are called gurus because most managers and business journalist find it hard to spell the word charlatan. One of them – super-guru Michael Porter – rides on the bandwagon when saying, corporations have to change their tune, it’s undeniable. For once, he spoke the truth. The new corporation is a change in tune. The new corporation is just as the German philosopher, Adorno, once said – it is a variation of a theme. The theme being corporate capitalism and variation is the ideology of the new corporation.
In a PR drive toward reputation-conscious public relations, new corporations like Walmart, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, etc. are suddenly making very sweeping promises of full sustainability, promises such as 100% carbon neutrality, zero waste to landfill, 100% recycling, etc. It is what Joel Bakan calls a kind of Ben & Jerry fiction of big business. In short, l’idée fixe new corporation is yet another diversion to conceal profit-making and accompanying corporate pathologies. The ideology of the new corporation is mainly about pretending what’s good for them is good for us – the bread-and-butter issue of CSR.
Behind the façade of CSR, the new corporation mercilessly pushes profits and tax cuts. The Coronavirus pandemic, for example, revealed how Donald Trump’s tax cuts saved JPMorgan $5 billion in 2019. It also shows how the same tax cuts helped corporations to reap record profits while simultaneously starving the government of the means to protect citizens in the face of a global crisis. Worse, America’s superrich boosted their collective fortune by $248 billion during just three weeks of the pandemic. These fortunes came at a time when thousands died.
Beyond that, the new corporation says it cares about social and environmental values. Yet they, the new corporation, does not want to pay taxes to protect and promote these much-acclaimed values. Despite polished rhetoric of conscientious commitments, corporations embracing social and environmental values, etc., the new corporation does so only when it helps them make even more money.
One such a social and environmental initiative is Unilever’s training of rural Pakistani women to become beauticians. In reality, the idea is creating a new market and sales force for Unilever’s beauty products. Similarly, Coca-Cola is mounting youth empowering programmes in Brazil’s impoverished favelas creating loyal customers for its products. Doing good can build positive reputations helping corporations to attract new customers.
Even global warming deniers and right-wing Koch industries have jumped on the new corporation and CSR bandwagon claiming to practice sustainability. And indeed, its companies have programmes to reduce waste, save energy, recycle resources, and prevent pollution. But Koch’s coal mining – unquestionably a profoundly unsustainable practice – continues undeterred. Meanwhile, British American Tobacco boasts of creating biodiversity at its tobacco fields; however, it makes a product that kills millions of people.
To sex-up the new corporation’s social and environmental reputation, the new corporation pursues small scale sustainability projects with limited impacts but significant PR effects. Yet, the new corporation talks differently compared to old corporations. It creates a patina of plausibility for vastly exaggerated claims to be environmentally friendly – corporate greenwashing.
Even corporations like BP now declare that we believe climate change is real. Their semi-delinquent off-sider ExxonMobil will have pumped 25% more oil and gas by 2025 compared to 2017. To camouflage this, the new corporation presents itself as solution providers and no longer as a problem creator. This marks a fundamental shift in corporate PR, which is designed to stave off urgent, and far-reaching measures scientists are calling for to prevent global warming.
This is what Great Thunberg calls, CEOs are making it look like real action is happening, when in fact, almost nothing is being done, apart from clever accounting and creative PR. A good example of this, as well as the new corporation, is Larry Fink – CEO of BlackRock investment – managing nearly $7 trillion in assets. Seven trillion looks like this: 7,000,000,000,000.
By comparison, Japan’s nominal GDP was $5.15 trillion in 2020. The man who is more important than Japan says he wants to dump bonds and stocks that generate more than 25% of revenue from coal production. An admirable goal. Yet, dumping coal is a shrewd business move as coal stocks have tanked. What is presented as a great CSR and environmental move is barely good PR and an economic necessity.
Worse still, Nestle also known to some as the baby killer company is not only the world’s largest food and beverage company, Nestle has also announced to rebrand itself as a nutrition, health, and wellness company. Even better is Volkswagen and its Internet video celebrating the company’s anti-corruption crusade saying, all we ask you is to follow the rules. Yet still better is the fact that Volkswagen ranked among the top-ten companies with the best CSR reputation by Forbes magazine. Volkswagen has also won an award at the World Forum for Ethics in Business.
Not long after all that, Volkswagen pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, obstruction of justice, and falsifying statements. Dieselgate damaged the corporation’s clever PR – for a while. These business-as-usual scandals committed by Volkswagen and many other corporations have made it abundantly clear that over the last two decades, corporations have been on a crime spree. Simultaneously, they are claiming they have become conscious and caring. The new corporation uses environmental PR – corporate social responsibility – to smokescreen profit-making and global environmental vandalism.
To understand corporate (mis)behaviour, it is imperative to realise what the new corporation is doing is part of a textbook-style cost-benefit calculus that incentivises corporate lawbreaking. Yet, it explains why most corporations commit offences – some routinely. Worse, much of this is purposely engineered under the neoliberal ideology of self-regulation. The prevailing mantra is self-regulate rather than be regulated.
Under the neoliberal ideology of governmental deregulation, corporate self-regulation is about the freedom of the new corporation to create its own rules, to decide if and when and how to follow them. Secondly, it is about preventing the government’s mandatory edicts. The 737 Max crashes, for example, shows how this operates. It is a stark and tragic reminder of what happens when governments retreat from regulation and leave corporations to regulate themselves.
Virtually the same occurred in the case of the UK’s Grenfell Tower fire. Before the fire in 2017, an all-party government committee called for regulation requiring apartment buildings to have fire-resistant cladding and sprinklers. The government simply said, no! Three years later, the Grenfell fire killed 71 people. The building’s exterior had been fitted with cheap flammable cladding. There were no sprinklers. This is how neoliberalism works. It increases corporate profits and lowers costs for governments. Everyone wins except the people who die.
Ideologically even better is recycling – the ultimate swindle. Recycling remains one of the greatest tricks that corporations have ever played. Many people know by now that recycling doesn’t work because much of what goes into recycling bins ends up in landfills or is burned. Yet, recycling is the ultimate trickery. Waste corporations and governments make people believe they do something for the environment.
Meanwhile, the new corporation can carry on overloading us with unnecessary packaging, plastic bottles and the like. The genius of the entire scam is a triple whammy. Firstly, consumers buy expensive rubbish and pay twice. Once for packaging and a second time for disposing of it. Thirdly, the entire scam is presented as environmentally friendly.
Much of this is part of a larger narrative that plays into the hands of the new corporation while simultaneously preventing real action towards sustainability. Virtually, the same goes for fairwashing, which occurs when fair trade masquerades corporate profits while helping multinational corporations. Some NGOs have been made part of the corporate structure. The corporate goal is to make sure NGOs no longer criticise and challenge corporations. Instead, they become co-operators and supporters. Simultaneously, NGO involvement cultivates the belief that we’re making progress. In strategic management, this is called stakeholder inclusion. The new corporation favours l’idée fixe of stakeholders.
Unlike neoliberalism that uses and abuses democracy, the new corporation has no space for democracy. It simply does not need democracy. As a consequence, there is no room for democracy in the ideological narrative of the new corporation. Yes, by letting corporations liberate themselves from democratically controlled regulation, we create a profoundly anti-democratic space for the new corporation.
Ultimately, the goal of the new corporation is to change society from having corporations towards being a mere appendage to the new corporation. The new corporation will no longer serve society. Instead, society will serve the new corporation. As this advances, the democratic space of society retreats and the lifeworld shrinks. Super philanthropist Bill Gates calls this stretching the market. It converts public goods into corporate goods which are for sale.
Of course, as the market advances, equality retreats. In 1980, the top 1% and the bottom 90% owned roughly the same share of wealth in the USA: 32% and 34%. By 2015, this had changed dramatically. The proportion was 40% and 21%. The rich were made richer while the middle-class was made poorer even though plenty of middle-class voters voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 who together with Thatcher (UK) and Pinochet (Chile) turned a wired fringe dogma of neoliberalism into reality.
Perhaps it is just as Seattle Councillor Kshama Sawant says, you do not need a PhD in economics to know that your life sucks under capitalism. Yet, when the Coronavirus pandemic hit the world in 2020, the very opposite happened to what horror films showed and US preppers, and survivalists in their can-food-bunkers thought would happen. Instead of turning humanity into flesh-eating zombies, the pandemic has turned millions of people into good neighbours. Ten-year-olds went shopping for their elderly neighbours, and others shared toilet paper. Society did not collapse. Instead, Pëtr Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid prevailed.
In the end, the cure for the new corporation might be to reinvigorate and deepen democracy to ensure democracy controls the new corporation rather than society being controlled by it. Yet, the new corporation still tells an attractive vision of a corporate society, but in reality, it is a veneer for rampant corporate capitalism.
Having just turned 92, none other than Noam Chomsky‘s words on Joel Bakan’s book The New Corporation ring through. Chomsky wrote on the cover, a very important book, an arresting study directed to a central issue of our times.
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Two Covington Lawyers Named Among Law360s Rising Stars
Two Covington Lawyers Named Among Law360's "Rising Stars"
WASHINGTON, September 9, 2019—Law360 named Covington partners Andrew Soukup and David Zionts to its list of “2019 Rising Stars.” This annual recognition honors top lawyers under 40 “whose legal accomplishments transcend their age.”
Mr. Soukup's Law360 Class Action profile can be found here.
Andrew Soukup is a litigator and co-chair of the firm’s Class Action Litigation practice group. He has helped clients achieve successful outcomes at all stages of litigation, from early dispositive motions through trial and appeal. Mr. Soukup specializes in representing financial institutions and other corporate clients in class actions and other high-stakes commercial disputes. He has also represented clients in the communications, technology, sports, and retail industries. He has particular expertise defending clients from consumer protection claims asserted in class-action lawsuits and other multistate proceedings, many of which have been defeated through pre-trial motions. Mr. Soukup’s clients have prevailed in litigation against putative class representatives, government agencies, and commercial entities.
Mr. Zionts's Law360 Appellate profile can be found here.
David Zionts is a litigator whose practice focuses on appellate litigation, as well as questions of international law and other transnational legal issues that arise in both U.S. and international tribunals. Mr. Zionts has extensive experience representing clients in complex, high-stakes appeals in federal and state appellate courts. He has authored numerous briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court on a wide range of issues, including constitutional law and administrative law. He has argued appeals in numerous appellate courts, including a precedent-setting win for a client in a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Mr. Zionts has also argued before the International Court of Justice on behalf of the Government of Ukraine.
Andrew Soukup +1 202 662 5066 asoukup@cov.com
David M. Zionts +1 202 662 5987 dzionts@cov.com
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Colten Care (1993) Limited
Brook View
Brook View Good
Inspection carried out on 29 January 2019
During a routine inspection
About the service: Brook View is a care home with nursing that was providing personal and nursing care to 52 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection.
People’s experience of using this service:
The service met the characteristics of good in all areas, and there were some aspects of practice that approached outstanding.
People told us they felt safe at Brook View. Staff felt comfortable to raise any concerns about their own or other people’s safety. There were checks to ensure new staff were of good character and suitable for their role.
People praised the caring manner of staff. Interactions between people and staff were kind, respectful and unhurried. People’s privacy, dignity and independence were upheld.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff involved people, and where appropriate their relatives, in decisions about their care.
Care was delivered in line with current standards and good practice. People were happy with their or their loved one’s care. Medicines were managed safely. Staff liaised as necessary with people’s healthcare professionals. When people were unwell, staff made timely referrals to their GP. People were supported to have a comfortable and dignified death when the time came.
Care plans varied in their completeness, consistency and level of detail. The management team had already identified care planning needed to improve and had made plans accordingly.
There was an emphasis on the importance of eating and drinking well. People enjoyed a choice of freshly-prepared meals and snacks, and people’s dietary preferences and needs were catered for.
There was a range of activities based on people’s ideas and interests, including regular trips out. Activities staff worked on a one-to-one basis with people who were unable to leave their rooms. There were strong links with the local community and people who were able often went out on trips.
There were enough appropriately qualified staff on duty to provide the care and support people needed. Any gaps in the rota were covered by agency staff. Staff had the skills and competence they needed to care for people safely and effectively. They were supported through training and regular supervision. The provider’s Admiral nurse, a specialist dementia care nurse, gave practical and clinical support to staff as well as people’s families.
The premises were clean and well maintained. The building and garden were adapted for people with impaired mobility. There was a range of communal areas for people to spend time together and alone. Equipment was regularly serviced. Effective infection prevention and control procedures were in operation.
People and relatives told us they would feel able to raise concerns or complaints with the manager if they felt the need to do so. Staff understood their responsibility to report concerns and near misses. Action was taken to ensure people were safe and improvements made where necessary.
The provider had good oversight of the service through its established management and accountability arrangements. Although there had been changes in manager, people and staff were confident in the leadership of the service. People and staff described managers as approachable and supportive, but that they would address poor practice. Staff came across as motivated and worked as a team. People commented, “The staff seem very happy and cheerful; they do seem to like their jobs here”, and, “The staff get on well together. There is a very good atmosphere”.
Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection the service was rated good (report published 5 August 2016).
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Inspection report published 5 April 2019 PDF (opens in a new tab)
Inspection carried out on 15 June 2016
This inspection took place on 15 June 2016 and was unannounced.
Brook View is a 56 bedded, purpose built, care home that provides accommodation and nursing care. At the time of the inspection there were 48 people living at the service.
The last inspection of the home was carried out on 17 January 2013. No concerns were identified with the care being provided to people at that inspection.
There was a new registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. People and staff said they were looking forward to getting to know the new registered manager and were aware they had many years of experience to bring to the home.
People living at Brooke View told us they were very happy with the care and support provided. They said the registered manager and staff cared about their personal needs and preferences. One visitor told us “There are always plenty of staff around, bells seem to be answered quickly”.
The risk of abuse to people were reduced because there were effective recruitment and selection processes for new staff. This included carrying out checks to make sure new staff were safe to work with vulnerable adults. Staff were not allowed to start work until satisfactory checks and employment references had been obtained.
People were supported by sufficient numbers of staff who had a clear knowledge and understanding of people’s personal needs, likes and dislikes. Care plans were personalised to each individual and contained information to assist staff to provide care in a manner that respected their needs and individual wishes.
People’s care needs were recorded and reviewed regularly with senior staff and the person receiving the care and/or a relevant representative. People’s needs were discussed with them regularly as the ‘resident of the day’ and any changes agreed. All care plans included the person’s written consent to receive care. One care plan had a section that had been written by the person, informing staff how they wished to be supported if they no longer had capacity.
The mealtime experiences were seen as positive for people living in the home. Throughout the day, snacks and hot and cold drinks were offered to all. If people wished to receive alcoholic beverages, these were provided before the lunch was served. There were smaller lounges and a café where people could have more intimate meetings with their visitors.
People were able to take part in a range of activities according to their interests. Activities included trips out, arts and craft, signing and cooking. One person said “There is always something going on here”. A staff member said “We have some amazing days out”.
Medicines were administered safely. Medicines were administered by staff who had received suitable training. Safe procedures were followed when recording medicines. Medicines administration records (MAR) were accurate. There were no unexplained gaps in the medicines administration records. Audits of medicines had been completed and appropriate actions taken to monitor safe administration and storage.
People had access to external health professionals. Where people's health needs had changed, staff worked closely with other health professionals to ensure they received support to meet their needs.
All incidents and accidents were monitored, trends identified and learning shared with staff and put into practice. The registered manager was supported by a regional operations manager who supported them with their one to supervision and identifying day to day issues in the home.
Each person received a copy of the complaints policy when they moved into the home. None of the people we spoke with had any complaints about the quali
Inspection report published 5 August 2016 PDF (opens in a new tab)
During our visit we spoke with three people who lived in the home, and a person�s relative who was visiting the home.
The registered manager told us that the home had appointed a new head of care in the week of our visit. The home was working towards the gold standards framework for end of life care (GSF) accreditation.
People told us that they felt positive about the quality of care they received; and with their relationships with the staff. We observed residents moving freely around the home and interacting with the staff in a relaxed way.
People who live in the home, and a visiting relative, told us that they were asked for their consent when making choices and decisions about their daily lives; and that people's choices and decisions were respected by the staff. A person told us, "The activities are quite good, I enjoy the craft activities. There is enough to keep me occupied � They ask me what I would like; you do get choices."
The home maintained appropriate standards of cleanliness and hygiene. A person told us, �Everything is always clean.�
We found that staff were properly supported to provide care and treatment to people who live in the home. A person told us, �On the whole the staff know what they are doing.�
The home was taking account of people's comments or complaints. People, who lived in the home, and their relatives, told us that they could be sure that their comments were responded to appropriately.
View finding of report online
Inspection Report published 24 January 2014 PDF (opens in a new tab)
Inspection carried out on 15 March 2013
We used a number of different methods such as reviewing records, we talked to staff, people that used the service, the manager and we talked with a relative to help us understand the experiences of people using the service.
The satisfaction surveys that we saw showed us that people�s views and experiences were taken into account in the way the service was provided and delivered in relation to their care. People rated the quality of their care between good and excellent.
People experienced care, treatment and support that met their needs and protected their rights. The care plan that we looked at was person centred and documented the people�s wishes in relation to how their care was provided. People that we spoke to said that the quality of care was excellent and that their privacy and dignity were respected.
People who used the service were protected from the risk of abuse because the provider had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening. We spoke with staff and staff demonstrated an understanding of the safeguarding procedures and the different forms of abuse. People told us that they felt safe at Brook View.
We observed that people were dressed appropriately and kept active within the service as there were a number of different activities for people to be involved in. People told us that they were supported to make choices about activities they took part in and what they wore each day.
Inspection Report published 3 May 2013 PDF (opens in a new tab)
Oakdene Nursing Home
In Dorset, BH21 6RB
Amberwood House
In Dorset, BH22 9AX
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Home » F1
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Championship Titles
Sebastian Vettel Biography
The incredibly boyish looking Vettel almost cuts a childlike figure amidst the high octane F1 paddock, but the mop-haired German has already proved to be a formidable talent with a maturity beyond his years.
The surprise opportunity to make his Grand Prix debut at the 2007 United States Grand Prix in place of the indisposed Robert Kubica led to Sebastian becoming the sport's youngest-ever points scorer at 19 years and 345 days, when he took eighth place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Being the son of an enthusiastic hill climb and karting competitor, saw Sebastian behind the wheel of karts as a toddler and he made his competition debut aged just seven.
In 1997 he took his first German title and after moving up to the European series, he was crowned champion in both the Junior and Senior classes before taking the big step into cars for the 2003 season.
His talent was immediately in evidence in the Formula BMW series as he ended his debut year in second place overall, taking the top rookie honours in the process. The following year the German youngster was totally dominant in winning 18 of the 20 races and this naturally ensured his promotion to the F3 Euro Series for 2005.
Although Lewis Hamilton was the runaway champion, Vettel once again made a great impression in his rookie year, taking fifth overall and won the golden opportunity to test an F1 Williams-BMW as a reward for his Formula BMW success.
In 2006 Vettel found himself in a close fought battle for title honours with the equally talented Paul di Resta, but despite four victories, the German lost out in the title chase at the final round out of the championship in Hockenheim.
By this time however Sebastian had already made his mark at Grand Prix level following the abrupt departure of Jacques Villeneuve from the BMW Sauber squad halfway through the 2006 season. His first appearances as the third driver in Friday test sessions in Turkey and Italy saw him top the timing sheets, and immediately cement his place as a key member of the BMW F1 squad for the following year.
Vettel began 2007 by combining his test role with the BMW Sauber F1 team with a campaign in the World Series by Renault. He was leading the way for Carlin after round 7 too - 74 points to the 51 of his nearest rival, Alvaro Parente - until his F1 chance came and he switched focuses. Despite that though he was still classified fifth in the end of season WsBR standings.
Post-Indianapolis and having finished eighth on his F1 debut, he was courted by Toro Rosso team boss, Gerhard Berger and with the support of his long-time backers Red Bull, he was drafted in to replace Scott Speed at STR for the final seven races of the 2007 F1 season.
After shining at Indianapolis, Vettel again made his mark with STR. Indeed, despite throwing away a probable third place finish in the rain-hit Japanese GP, after running into the back of Mark Webber, he made amends at the very next event in China, bringing his car home in fourth place and taking the team's best result to date.
Despite having attracted the attention of bigger teams further up the grid, Vettel continued with Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2008, where he linked up with Champ Car star Sebastian Bourdais. Anyone expecting the Frenchman to out-perform his younger team-mate, however, was in for a rude shock.
With Toro Rosso benefitting from its link to Red Bull Technologies and running a Ferrari-powered version of the latest Adrian Newey design, Vettel proved to be one of the revelations of the season albeit one that took a while to get started.
Saddled with the year old machine until Monaco, ‘Team Seb’ posted six retirements in its first eight combined starts but, while Bourdais enjoyed the older car more than his young team-mate, the arrival of the STR3 produced a dramatic about-turn as Vettel embarked on a solid points-scoring run, starting in the Principality and seeing him climb steadily up the standings.
The highlight, however, came on the team’s home soil, at Monza, where the former Minardi operation enjoyed its day in the sun or, in this case, the pouring rain. Running light in wet qualifying as part of its strategy to combat the race day forecast, Vettel claimed pole, and then ran away with the race as he revelled in the sodden conditions.
Still on a high, and with a Red Bull Racing contract already in his pocket, the young German wrapped up the season with three scoring finishes to end the campaign eighth overall, with 35 points, as Toro Rosso upset Red Bull’s ‘works’ squad.
At that point, the move to Renault-powered Red Bull Racing for 2009 looked to be a backward step, but Newey’s typically svelte RB5 appeared to be at the head of the class in pre-season testing, boding well for Vettel to continue his rapid rise to F1 prominence.
The German was made to wait for his moment, however, as Jenson Button and Brawn GP proved faster out of the blocks, winning six of the first seven races, while Vettel crashed chasing second in Australia and managed only 15th in Malaysia. The one race that Button didn't win in that spell, however, went his way, as a consumate wet-weather performance gave Red Bull Racing not only its first win, but also headed a 1-2 finish.
A second win went begging with a first lap error in Turkey, allowing Button to stretch his advantage, but Vettel and RBR were back on form in Britain, where he won as he pleased, and Germany, where he backed up team-mate Mark Webber in another 1-2. A tilt at the title needed more of the same, however, and successive DNFs in the next two rounds ultimately left him with too much to do, despite the RB5 having the measure of Button's Brawn over the run-in.
Two wins in the final three races hinted at what could have been, as Vettel claimed the runners-up spot, eleven points adrift of Button, and also pointed to further success in 2010, where he would form one of the few unchanged line-ups on the grid.
The RB6 may have been little more than an evolution of its predecessor, but had already set promising times in testing when Vettel claimed pole for the season-opening Bahrain GP. An exhaust problem denied him victory, and the race proved to be a pointer for much of the campaign, with the young German very fast in qualifying, but not always able to convert that into victories. Ironically, his first win of the year came from second on the grid in Malaysia, and it wasn't until Valencia that he topped the podium again.
A collision with Button in Belgium appeared to have damaged both drivers' title chances, but Vettel appeared to benefit from the release of pressure, producing a comeback fourth next time out in Italy and then winning three of the five 'flyaways' that closed the year. It should have been four from five, only for engine failure to account for a dominant Korean performance, but Vettel's late show - combined with problems for team-mate Webber and points leader Fernando Alonso - ensured that he did enough to become the sport's youngest world champion in Abu Dhabi.
Heading into 2011 with the #1 on his car only served to spur Vettel to greater heights, helping to erase the more unsavoury aspects of his first title year, where he fell out with Webber and sparked claims of favouritism within the Red Bull camp.
With the RB7 a potent evolution of its predecessor, it was up to the opposition to close the gap and it failed to do so, as Vettel started as he meant to go on with pole and victory in Australia. A further ten race wins and 14 poles were added to the tally before the year ended in Brazil, with Vettel clinching the title in Japan, fully five rounds early. The RB7 proved to be, statistically, the most successful car since the 1992 Williams, but Vettel showed his growing maturity by adapting to its demands, and those of the new Pirelli tyres, quicker than team-mate Webber, who was restricted to just one win and three poles.
The same pairing formed RBR's line-up for a fourth straight year in 2012 when, despite the various rule changes, the Milton Keynes team started as favourite to 'three-peat' as double F1 champions. The German, however, was made to work hard for his own hat-trick, as losing the blown diffuser technology that helped make it nigh on invincible in 2011, Red Bull was just one of several frontrunners in 2012.
Vettel didn’t stand on the top step of the podium until round four in Bahrain. Robbed of victory number two in Valencia due to alternator failure, he then had to wait until the season-ending ‘flyaways’ to return to winning ways, but a four-race sweep from Singapore to India put him in control of the title fight. Alternator problems forced Vettel's only DNFs of the season, with a second failure costing a podium at Monza, while a clash with Narain Karthikeyan in Malaysia caused him to miss out on points in round two, but the German again disproved the ‘can’t overtake’ myth about him by coming from the back in both Abu Dhabi and Brazil to secure the results he needed for title number three.
The youngest to achieve a championship hat-trick, Vettel finds himself in illustrious company by winning three straight, joining Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher in a club of three.
His success also played a major part in helping RBR achieve its hat-trick of driver and constructor titles, and he again formed half of an unchanged line-up for 2013, with Webber having inked another one-year extension to fill the #2 machine. However, it was to be their last year together as Vettel chasing victory after finishing third in Melbourne disobeyed team orders to pass Webber and win in Malaysia.
The fallout was huge, and Vettel’s reputation was damaged. Webber announced his intention to retire mid-season, but as the year went on Vettel rose to the fore again and then went on an incredible run of nine straight victories from Spa until the end of the season, wrapping up his fourth title in a row with ease in the process.
His dominance may be set to end, however, as the Renualt power unit looks set to start the season off the pace. But it still marks an opportunity for Vettel to cement his place alongside the greats, as he’ll for once have to race in the pack in an inferior car. He’ll be doing so with a new team-mate to deal with as well, as Daniel Ricciardo moves up from Toro Rosso to replace Webber.
2014 was a difficult year for the German who struggled to adapt to the new power units and seemed to have performance issues throughout the season compared to his new team-mate. In addition the 2014 Pirelli tyre compounds never suited the Germans driving style and he was severely handicapped all year.
The German managed just four podium finishes all season in Malaysia, Canada, Singapore and Japan respectively and became the first defending champion to fail to win a race in the following season since Jacques Villeneuve in 1998. He finished fifth overall in the championship standings and was completely outperformed by his new teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
In November 2014, it was confirmed Vettel would be ending his partnership with the Red Bull team to join Ferrari on a three-year deal. Ferrari enjoyed a competitive campaign in 2015 following its troubles of the previous year, and Vettel made the most of the opportunity to claim three victories in Malaysia, Hungary and Singapore, as well as taking third spot in the standings.
2016 would prove to be more challenging for the Scuderia, as Vettel made just four trips to the podium all season - none of which were top-step appearances. With fourth place in the championship beckoning, Ferrari switched attentions to 2017.
Having taken advantage of an aerodynamic regulation change ahead of the new season, Ferrari made significant ground up on rivals Mercedes during the winter, with some in the paddock believing the SF70H was the strongest car on the grid. Vettel started the year brilliantly, winning three of the opening six races to surge into the championship lead, but a terrible run of reliability and a start-line crash in Singapore meant Vettel failed to convert a championship lead into the title for the first time in his career.
Vettel had a second bite at the cherry to claim his first title for Ferrari in 2018, starting the year with back-to-back wins in Australia and Bahrain. Ferrari was the team to beat come mid-season, with victory at Silverstone allowing Vettel to open up a points lead over Lewis Hamilton, only to crash out while comfortably leading the German Grand Prix. It was a moment of crucial momentum swing: Vettel won just once more all season, while Hamilton went on a scintillating run of form that saw him wrap up the title with two races to spare, finishing 88 points clear in the final standings.
Hopes were high for Vettel and Ferrari entering the 2019 season after an impressive showing in testing, only for the team to fall way short of these expectations. Vettel was on course to kickstart his season in Canada, taking pole and dominating the race, but a mistake resulted in a time penalty for almost pushing Hamilton into the wall, leaving Vettel P2. It would not be until Singapore that Vettel finally took victory, albeit his sole success of the year as new teammate Charles Leclerc overshadowed him at Ferrari. While there were high points (Canada, Singapore, and Germany, where he went from P20 to P2), it was a largely difficult season for Vettel as momentum shifted away from him at Maranello, leaving questions to be answered heading into the new decade.
2019 proved to be the beginning of the end for Vettel at Ferrari, as before the 2020 F1 season even got underway, the Scuderia announced it had decided against renewing his contract and instead would be replacing him with Carlos Sainz in 2021.
Vettel - now left without a drive - continued to struggle as Ferrari endured a woeful season (its worst since 1980) and slumped to sixth place in the constructors' standings. The German looked a shadow of his former self as he fell to his own worst F1 campaign by finishing a lowly 13th in the drivers' championship with just 33 points to his name. Turkey proved to the standout race where Vettel showed glimpses of getting back to his best with an excellent drive to third place in horrible conditions.
The four-time world champion moves to pastures new for 2021 - joining the rebranded Aston Martin works' squad as he looks to rediscover his old form and thrive in a new environment.
By Crash.net
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Soundtrack for the Imagination: Small Town by Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan
Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan. (Photo: John Rogers)
The art of the duet is on full display on the recent ECM release by guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan. The album is called Small Town yet the music is often larger than life, containing a pallette of places big and small. It hits so many imaginative and emotional notes that I consider it the best album of 2017.
I’ve been listening to the works of Bill Frisell for over thirty years and I’ve written extensively about his work on Critics At Large. I can’t help it. His remarkable sound – a mix of ethereal textures and multi-colours all created by his touch on the guitar and the various electronic devices he uses to create and manipulate them – continues to move me. John Scofield, an equally skilled guitarist and composer, called Frisell “The Wizard” at a public event I witnessed in Montreal during the sumptuous Jazz Festival back in the summer of 1994. To Scofield at the time, it was Frisell’s gumbo of gadgets that created a potion that could put the listener in a spell and I would have to agree. But over the years I grew less interested in the technical side of Frisell’s music, recognizing that the technical requirements are but a means to an end. His remarkable achievements as a musician, particularly as a sideman over the years, bear this out. This new album, Small Town (ECM), is the consummate Frisell experience. It’s his 35th release as a leader, dating back to 1983 when he debuted on the ECM label with the album titled In Line. That record featured solo tracks and several duets with Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen. (I played guitar in those days so I was always interested in recordings of the new school of guitarists that emerged after Jim Hall, such as Pat Metheny.) In some respects Small Town, which was recorded in performance at the Village Vanguard in New York City in 2016, is a return to familiar musical territory that is full of the wit and wisdom of one of the jazz world’s greatest exponents. One look at his eclectic résumé will certainly attest to Frisell’s versatility as a guitarist.
But this new record took on new dimensions for me this past September while I was on vacation. When I was on the road with my wife travelling the highways of British Columbia and Alberta, Small Town provided an excellent soundtrack. As we drove across the land and into the Rocky Mountains, Frisell and Morgan’s musical interaction often enhanced our journey and the spectacular vistas that greeted us around every corner. During the trip we tuned out of most media, having had our fill of the doom and gloom of the past year. Listening to Frisell in the car quieted our minds and slowed our heart rates so that we could take it all in and nourish our souls. It worked beautifully. Now, when I listen to the album, I can hark back to our trip with fondness and how it brought me peace of mind and gave me hope.
On Small Town Frisell and Morgan play eight tracks that offer up a diversity of styles from be-bop to traditional folk songs made in America. The record opens with the Paul Motian composition “It Should Have Happened A Long Time Ago,” an 11-minute piece that gracefully floats into the ears. Frisell played extensively with the late drummer, who died in 2011 at the age of 80. This is a fitting tribute to his bandmate who, like Frisell, was noted for his sense of touch on the drums going back to his formative years with the Bill Evans Trio in the sixties. Frisell learned a lot about the space between the notes from Motian, and this track is the best blend of Frisell’s sensibilities as a guitarist and what he learned from Motian. Another veteran musician, Lee Konitz, whom Frisell often played with, gets a good reading on the tune, “Subconscious Lee,” based on the chord changes to “What Is This Thing Called Love” by Cole Porter.
That earthy track is followed by a Frisell original called “Song For Andrew No. 1,” which likens us to the abstract paintings of Jackson Pollock. This “Andrew” is a sentimental character full of charm. It’s my favorite track on the album because of its flow and thoughtful refrain. But it’s really the first part of a suite, in my mind, as the duo leads into the American classic “Wildwood Flower,” first published in 1860 but made famous by the Carter Family on their radio shows during the thirties. Frisell and Morgan really excel at this kind of folk song, playing it as if it they had written it themselves. This excellent performance leads to Frisell’s original and the title track, “Small Town,” a kind of country & western song for the 21st century. Its familiar notes are rooted in Frisell’s complete understanding of the American landscape. Over the years he’s written music for photographers such as Mike Disfarmer and the silent pictures of Buster Keaton. He seems to capture the feel and non-violent spirit of American life in sound. “Small Town” isn’t any specific place; it’s deep in the recesses of his imagination and we are all welcome to visit.
I particularly like the gentle sway and interaction of “Poet / Pearl.” Morgan’s technique and choice of notes really compliment Frisell’s story line. It’s a musical conversation we’re listening to on this track, rich in colour and quiet passion. The album and the set close with a great rendition of “Goldfinger,” the John Barry song from the James Bond movie. It’s an unhurried version that’s full of Frisell’s humour. At a concert in Toronto last June, the duo played “You Only Live Twice” to a packed house at the Church of the Redeemer on Bloor Street West. Perhaps a complete Bond songbook is in the works? I’d love to hear that!
This is my favourite album of the year because it speaks to me continuously about what is beautiful and positive in the world. I spent a great deal of quality time with Small Town beyond my regular listening and music reviews for Critics At Large. I realized that I wasn’t enjoying albums to their fullest by making critical comments, often after a couple of listens, about records that I thought were either important or at least essential to one’s psychological health. For me, this one does the trick. So whatever music is for you, dear reader, I will no longer try to influence. With this essay I’m going to focus on books about music and musicians going forward. If you find an album that you love, no matter what genre, give it the time it deserves. Take it on a road trip and let it be your soundtrack for the day, the week or the year.
– John Corcelli is a music critic, broadcast/producer, and musician. John is also the author of Frank Zappa FAQ: All That’s Left To Know About The Father of Invention (Backbeat Books).
Labels: John Corcelli, Music
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Serial scammer gets 6 months in Erie County jail
Jon Hand
@jonhand1
The man who admitted to duping dozens of people in Monroe County by taking their money for snowplow services that were never provided was sentenced in Erie County to six months in jail related to other charges there.
The State Attorney General's Office in January filed criminal contempt charges against Scott Romero, 39, related to a 2011 lawsuit for defrauding customers in the Buffalo area. A court order obtained in 2011 by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office required Romero to pay $50,000 in restitution to victims and to put up a $150,000 bond before he could accept any advance payments from consumers.
Romero has admitted that he was in violation of that court order when he resumed his snow removal business under a false name and scammed additional victims in Rochester in 2013 and 2014. He admitted to six violations of that court order before Justice Catherine Nugent Panepinto of the Erie County Supreme Court, according to Schneiderman's office, and was sentenced to a total of six months in jail — 30 days on each of 6 violations.
In April, Romero admitted that he took $42,461.98 from 218 residents of Monroe County for snowplow services when he pleaded guilty to two counts of scheming to defraud.
He is scheduled to be sentenced May 27 to one to three years in state prison and restitution. The sentence will include a recommendation for shock incarceration, a six-month, highly structured boot camp. Romero is in Monroe County Jail, where he has been since December.
Police have said his methods were similar in each town: He would use the name "Andy Stewart" and sign contracts with residents to provide snowplowing services — services he would never provide.
They said Romero advertised for snowplow removal services under the business name "Met Construction Residential Snow Plow Service," then take money for services — typically between $150 and $300 — and never provide the services.
In the 2011 lawsuit, the attorney general's Buffalo office sued Romero and his company, Extreme Snowplowing, for $120,000, accusing Romero and his business partner of taking money from more than 400 consumers in the Buffalo area and then never delivering on the services.
JHAND@DemocratandChronicle.com
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Onward is an upcoming 2020 American computer-animated urban fantasy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures.
As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos.
They come in pieces
A volcanic eruption threatens the remaining dinosaurs on the island of Isla Nublar, where the creatures have freely roamed for several years after the demise of an animal theme park known as Jurassic World. Claire Dearing, the former park manager, has now founded the Dinosaur Protection Group, an organization dedicated to protecting the dinosaurs. To help with her cause, Claire has recruited Owen Grady, a former dinosaur trainer who worked at the park, to prevent the extinction of the dinosaurs once again.
Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond.
M Adventure
The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill's true parentage.
Light years from Earth, 26 years after being abducted, Peter Quill finds himself the prime target of a manhunt after discovering an orb wanted by Ronan the Accuser.
A spacecraft transporting thousands of people to a distant colony planet has a malfunction in one of its sleep chambers. As a result, a two passengers are awakened 90 years before anyone else.
M Western
A big screen remake of John Sturges' classic western The Magnificent Seven, itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Seven gun men in the old west gradually come together to help a poor village against savage thieves.
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"The Constitution is clear. Congress has oversight as an independent branch of government over the executive branch. Subpoenas, inquiry, oversight. If you take that away, you have an autocrat. And that is what is at risk in this. It isn't about personalities or policies. It's about the Constitution of the United States."
The event, hosted by Polk County Democrats, was billed as a "conversation" with the powerful Democratic leader. Pelosi, who took questions from the public through a moderator, used a bulk of her time on stage to talk about the president.
Pelosi specifically recalled a meeting with Trump earlier this month where she expressed her disagreement with his decision to withdraw troops from Syria and its implications for America's reputation on the world stage. A photo of the meeting, which featured Pelosi standing across from the president, went viral.
"What I said to him: 'You've undermined our national security. You've undermined the oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution and you jeopardized the integrity of our elections,'" she said.
The line received a long standing ovation inside the Drake auditorium.
Lawmakers are investigating the president's communication with leaders in Ukraine after a whistleblower complaint alleged his administration pressured officials to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Testimony from diplomats has included assertions that Trump withheld aid to Ukraine in exchange for cooperation.
Trump has said he’s done nothing wrong, and he’s repeatedly criticized the impeachment inquiry.
On Saturday, Pelosi held a mic with one hand and used the other hand to animatedly comment on other issues besides the president, including what she described as a "poisoning" of social media "that is there to undermine the mindset of what is America."
Pelosi also talked about the importance of women seeking public office. She applauded the work of U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, who spoke briefly at the event, and U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer. Both made history last year by being the first women to be elected to represent Iowa in the U.S. House.
Inside the venue, Pelosi's popularity was palpable. Polk County Democrats sold T-shirts that featured Pelosi in a clapping pose, a nod to how she reacted to the president after his State of the Union address earlier this year. A volunteer at the table said of the T-shirts, which cost $20 each: "They’re selling like hotcakes."
Outside across the street, a group waved pro-Trump campaign flags in protest. One person held a sign with a cutout picture of Pelosi that read “UNAMERICAN” in all caps.
Pam Thompson of Des Moines was among the crowd. She wore one of Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” hats. Thompson said she had a message for Pelosi.
“Cut out the baloney of impeaching this president that was duly elected,” she said. "Cut out the nonsense."
Sean Bagniewski, chair of the Polk County Democrats, said there was a smaller crowd of protesters this time than when Pelosi headlined another party event in 2017.
"Bless their hearts," Bagniewski said. "I'm glad to see them here. They're exercising their First Amendment rights."
Pelosi’s appearance happened as Democratic presidential candidates mark 100 days until the first-in-the-nation caucuses on Feb. 3. Several of them are scheduled to appear at the Liberty and Justice Celebration next week. The fundraiser, formerly known as the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, is a major party event ahead of the caucuses.
Pelosi said of the crowded 2020 field: “Any one of them would be a better president of the United States."
Barbara Rodriguez covers health care and politics for the Register. She can be reached by email at bcrodriguez@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8011. Follow her on Twitter @bcrodriguez.
Your subscription makes work like this possible. Sign up at DesMoinesRegister.com/Deal.
'We don't have time to correct every error': Iowa Democrats vote 26-14 to certify caucus results Iowa Caucuses 2020: Full Democratic results and alignment tallies Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price to resign after caucus chaos Inside the Iowa Democratic Party's 'boiler room,' where 'hell' preceded the results catastrophe Sign up for our Politics Newsletter and get the latest caucus news delivered to your inbox.
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Britain’s Got Talent is coming to Torquay
National talent contest Britain’s Got Talent will be bringing their film crew to the Cinnabar Pub on the harbourside on Wednesday night
Zoe StevensReporter
The crew from Britain's Got Talent will be holding auditions in Cinnabar, Torquay on August 9 (Image: Google Maps/Facebook/Cinnabar Torquay)
If you’ve ever thought about auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent, now is your chance – the production crew are holding auditions at a Torquay pub.
The Britain’s Got Talent production team are returning to the Cinnabar Torquay for a second year from 6pm on Wednesday.
Chris and Vicki, who run the popular venue, said: “We are delighted to be chosen exclusively to host this event again in Torbay.
"Last year BGT / ITV filmed 22 auditions with some individual interviews and filming along the harbourside. A great mix of local talent of all ages took part including singers, singer/songwriters, musicians, beatboxer and even a magician!”
The crew from Britain's Got Talent will be holding auditions in Cinnabar, Torquay on August 9 (Image: Facebook/Cinnabar Torquay)
If you think you’re ready to be discovered by the Britain’s Got Talent team, register your interest by calling 01803 41178, leaving your name with a member of staff at the pub, or emailing chris@cinnabartorquay.co.uk .
Please note, all under 16’s MUST be accompanied by a parent/guardian. If you cannot attend this audition but would like to apply you can do so by logging on to www.itv.com/talent .
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Legal Placements, Inc. Careers
Legal Placements, Inc.
Positions at Legal Placements, Inc. (4)
Join a dynamic team that designs, develops, and supports software solutions to the needs of the legal technology community. Our
Legal Technology Assistant
The Washington, D.C. office of an boutique law firm is seeking a Legal Technology Assistant to join their team on
Our client, a national law firm, is seeking a SharePoint Developer to join their growing practice in their D.C. office.
Our client, a prestigious firm in Washington D.C., is seeking a Service Desk Analyst to join their growing practice. The
About Legal Placements, Inc.
Founded in 1996, Legal Placements Inc. (LPI) is an industry leader in assisting law firms and corporations in staffing both their contract and permanent employment positions. This includes contract attorneys, paralegals, legal secretaries, accounting and finance and technical personnel.
What separates LPI from other staffing agencies? LPI s screening process is stellar. We perform two (2) supervisory references on all candidates, bar status and social media. The success of a company is repeat business and 85% of LPI s clients have worked with LPI for the last 18 years.
LPI was featured in Washington, D.C. s The Conscience of America published by the Heritage Media Corporation, as a company that has contributed to the city. For five consecutive years, LPI was ranked by the Washington Business Journal as one of the top 25 temporary staffing agencies in the Washington, D.C. area.
As LPI continues to grow we want you to grow with us. Our job is to make your work life easier that we can promise.
In January of 2016, LPI was acquired by Advanced Discovery, a leading eDiscovery service provider. LPI now operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Advanced Discovery. Read the press release here.
In March of 2018, Advanced Discovery announced an agreement with Consilio, a global leader in eDiscovery, document review and legal consulting services, to unite their worldwide operations, technology solutions and consulting resources.
Key URLs
Company Website Careers
These are the hottest in-demand skills at Legal Placements, Inc.. Do you have any of these skills? Add them to your profile now.
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Can Tesla's entry in India drastically improve the country's electric vehicle industry?
By Souvik Das | Published on 08 Feb 2017
Responding to a tweet, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated his hopes are high for introducing the much-fancied all-EV company to India this summer. Much work, though, remains if that is to materialise.
Seventeen hours ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to a Twitter user's query, stating that the much-fancied all-electric vehicle company may actually introduce itself in India this summer. While Musk did indeed stress on the fact that he's still only "hoping for" the launch and nothing is really confirmed yet, it was enough to have all of us excited at the prospect of having Tesla's futuristic automobiles prowling along Indian highways. The move also seems highly probable, as the Government is pushing heavily for electric vehicles to promote zero emission and a network of Smart cities. However, no further particulars of this deal has been disclosed so far, although now that word is out, we do expect to hear more about the same from either the Government of India, or Tesla itself.
@goel_ishan Hoping for summer this year
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2017
There are, though, a number of factors that need to be considered before we get all excited at the prospect of driving a Tesla Model 3 on Indian roads, real soon. First, the company will need to establish a service network for its vehicles across major parts of the country. While the Model 3 is interestingly up for preorders for India already for just $1,000, the company will be required to set up a robust network of service centres in India, before the cars can be viable for plying in the country. The second criterion is the presence of charging stations. Called Supercharger stations, these are capable of charging a Tesla car by up to 270km in range in 30 minutes, and fully charge it up in one hour and 15 minutes. Right now, although the Indian government is intent on promoting electric vehicles, there is no electric charging station network to really support such vehicles, and the advent of Tesla in India may actually lead to the establishment of a much-needed service in the country. It is interesting to note that Musk has previously expressed his interest in setting up a Supercharging network in the country for potential customers in the future, although no further information on the same is available as yet.
The Tesla Model 3: Headed to Indian roads?
Musk has also expressed interest in establishing a Gigafactory - a Lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant - in India. While further information on the same is awaited, the Government's policies on electric automobiles may fall in line with the same, and this can also allow Tesla to export its battery produce from India. Industry estimates on manufacturing and labour costs out of India state that this may bring down the cost of Tesla's batteries by as much as 33 per cent, which should significantly affect production expense as the battery is the single most expensive element of an electric vehicle. Another factor to be taken into consideration is the price of each vehicle, which would drastically increase as all Tesla cars would be imported as Completely Built Units (CBUs), and there are hefty duties on CBUs in India. While this would make the Tesla cars considerably more expensive in India than in foreign lands, the company is likely to enjoy certain rewards if it sets up electric charging networks and manufacturing plants of key components in the country, or other similar deals.
"It seems highly improbable that Tesla's famed autopilot will really work in India"
India has much to gain in terms of infrastructure and the evolution of its automobile industry if Tesla does make its way to India this summer. Apart from battery manufacturing plant(s) contributing to the country's Make in India plans, the establishment of electric charging stations and the presence of more electric cars will raise awareness and scope of owning electric vehicles - an eventual target that even Tata has in sight for commercial vehicles.
Unfortunately, though, it seems highly improbable that Tesla's famed autopilot will really work in India. After all, even if charging stations, service centres and battery plants are established soon, it will be a while until we really start obeying traffic rules to the hilt.
Souvik Das
The one that switches between BMWs and Harbour Line Second Class.
Tesla Tesla India Tesla India launch Elon Musk Elon Musk tweets Tesla Model 3 Tesla cars India electric vehicles
Apple is moving forward with an electric car project, targeting 2024 release: Report
Amazon Great Republic Day Sale: Deals on Bluetooth speakers
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Tag Archives: defences
New book by Marc Wilson
October 1, 2014 by Sophie
We interviewed Marc Wilson and featured his impressive project ‘The Last Stand‘ on the Document Scotland site a while ago. His project beautifully documents some of the physical remnants of the Second World War on the coastlines of the British Isles and northern Europe.
When we first spoke to Marc, he had already travelled to over 100 locations and was in the process of crowd funding to complete the project and travel to further locations all over Scotland, England, Wales, France, Denmark, Belgium, The Channel Islands and Norway. The result is a beautiful book and an impressive document of the various bunkers, gun emplacements and observation posts which exist on these coastlines. Many of these locations are no longer in sight, either subsumed or submerged by the changing sands and waters or by more human intervention. At the same time others have re-emerged from their shrouds.
In Scotland, the building of coastal defenses was concentrated on Scotland’s east coast as anti-aircraft defenses existed to protect strategic locations on the west, such as the Firth of Clyde, the region’s industries, the shipyards and the city of Glasgow. Some of the locations Marc photographed in Scotland include Lossiemouth, Newburgh, Findhorn, Loch Ewe, Hoy, Flotta, Northmavine, Unst and Lerwick.
Marc sent us some information about the book which you can pre-order here – we hope you enjoy it…
Stanger Head, Flotta, Orkney, Scotland, 2013 © Marc Wilson 2013 all rights reserved. To protect Hoxa Sound, the main entrance channel to Scapa Flow, new coastal defences were established during WW2. They included gun and rocket batteries, boom nets, searchlights, also anti-aircraft and barrage balloon sites. The Navy’s signaling and observation station on Stanger Head was also enlarged.
Lamba Ness, Unst, Shetland, Scotland, 2013 © Marc Wilson 2013 all rights reserved. Because of their proximity to occupied Norway, where the Germans had established U-boat and Luftwaffe bases from which they threatened Allied shipping in the North Atlantic, it became urgent for Britain to extend the range of the radar covering Orkney and Shetland. A Chain Home Low radar station (RAF Skaw) was set up at Lamba Ness in Unst, the most northerly island of Shetland. It could detect enemy aircraft flying at a minimum altitude of 500 feet.
You can click here to see more of Marc Wilson’s project The Last Stand on his website www.marcwilson.co.uk
Marc is also on Twitter here.
| Book, coast, colour, contemporary, crowd funding, defences, historical, landmark, Landscape, Marc Wilson, Orkney, photography, Scotland, sea, seascape, Shetland, slow journalism, structure, war phtoography, World War II | 0
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PRESS – OLDandrewgrune2018-08-28T13:32:42+00:00
Lindsey Fitzharris received her doctorate in the history of science, medicine and technology at the University of Oxford, and was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Wellcome Institute. She is the creator of the popular blog The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice and writer and presenter of the YouTube series Under the Knife. She has written for The Guardian, The Lancet, New Scientist, Penthouse, The Huffington Post and Medium, and has appeared on Channel 4, BBC, PBS and National Geographic. She is a member of The Order of the Good Death.
Online, Fitzharris is a purveyor of gruesome artefacts on Instagram (@DrLindseyFitzharris, 114k followers), Twitter (@DrLindseyFitz, 27k followers), Facebook (@DrLindseyFitzharris, 46.5K followers), and YouTube (@UnderTheKnife, 19K followers).
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Home > National youth strategy 2015-2020.
Ireland. Department of Children and Youth Affairs. (2015) National youth strategy 2015-2020. Dublin: Government Publications.
PDF (National youth strategy 2015)
The aim of the National Youth Strategy is to enable all young people to realise their maximum potential, by respecting their rights and hearing their voices, while protecting and supporting them as they transition from childhood to adulthood.
The following principles are central to the National Youth Strategy and its implementation:
Young people and those who support them:
1. Young people are valued in their own right, and recognised as integral to society.
2. Young people are acknowledged as key drivers in achieving their cognitive, emotional, social, economic and cultural development.
3. Parents, families, other significant adults and communities are recognised as playing a critical role in the development and progression of young people.
Professionals and volunteers working with young people:
4. Professionals and volunteers who work with young people are respected, valued and appropriately supported in their work.
5. Those providing services for young people act in the best interests of young people, and respect and uphold young people’s rights.
Policies and practices:
6. An equality perspective is integrated into all policy and practice.
Service development and delivery:
7 Government and other stakeholders work collaboratively, with vertical and horizontal communication and cooperation, to achieve more effective services and supports for young people.
8. Services for young people are open, accessible, resourced and provide additional support in response to particular needs.
9. Services for young people are quality assured, outcomes focused and informed by evidence.
Irish-related, Report
Corporate Creators
Ireland. Department of Children and Youth Affairs
MP-MR Policy, planning, economics, work and social services > Programme planning, implementation, and evaluation > Programme planning (strategy)
N Communication, information and education > Education and training
T Demographic characteristics > Child / children
T Demographic characteristics > Adolescent / youth (teenager / young person)
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Melted Alaska Sea Ice Alarms Scientists
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Sea ice along northern Alaska disappeared far earlier than normal this spring, alarming coastal residents who rely on wildlife and fish.
Ice melted as a result of exceptionally warm ocean temperatures, the Anchorage Daily News reported .
The early melting has been "crazy," said Janet Mitchell of Kivalina. Hunters from her family in early June traveled more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) by boat to find bearded seals on sea ice. Bearded seals in the past could be hunted just outside the village but sea ice had receded far to the north.
"We didn't know if we'd have our winter food," she said. "That was scary."
The hunters ran out of gas after harvesting eight seals and a walrus. They were able to call other residents to deliver fuel, Mitchell said.
Rick Thoman, a climatologist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment & Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, posted on social media last week that the northern Bering and southern Chukchi seas are "baking."
Sea surface temperatures last week were as high as 9 degrees (5 Celsius) above the 1981-2010 average, reaching into the lower 60s, he said, with effects on the climate system, food web, communities and commerce. Kotzebue and Norton sounds were warmest but the heat extended far out into the ocean.
The warmth is weeks ahead of schedule and part of a "positive feedback loop" compounded by climate change. Rising ocean temperatures have led to less sea ice, which leads to warmer ocean temperatures, he said.
The last five years have produced the warmest sea-surface temperatures on record in the region, contributing to record low sea-ice levels.
"The waters are warmer than last year at this time, and that was an extremely warm year," Thoman said.
Lisa Sheffield Guy of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States oversees an online platform that allows Alaska Native walrus hunters to share tips on sea ice, weather and hunting. The need for reporting ended May 31 because coastal sea ice had melted.
"When we started in 2010, we would go until the last week of June," she said.
Guy is a seabird biologist who studied birds on St. Lawrence Island south of the Bering Strait. She's worried that warmer temperatures will make it harder for seabirds to find the tiny seafood they eat, she said. The heat might push their prey deeper or away from the area.
Warmer ocean temperatures come as hunters report large numbers of dead seals off Alaska's western and northern coasts, Thoman said. An unusually large number of dead gray whales have also been found off Alaska's southern coasts, where sea surface temperatures are also unusually high, Thoman said. It's not known whether the warm water has contributed, Thoman said.
"Certainly it's all happening at the same time," he said.
In March, the high temperatures were blamed for a large ice shelf breaking from the coast near Nome in March, dragging tethered crab pots. Nick Treinen lost two crab pots and others lost more.
"It was unprecedented for March," he said.
The ice also swept away gold mining equipment, forcing a helicopter rescue for three miners who unsuccessfully tried to save it.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will conduct an unusually extensive fish survey in the Bering Strait this summer, Thoman said. It could provide clues for possible impacts to Bering Sea fisheries, he said.
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Home AJIRA PDF - UDOM 2nd Round SINGLE Selected Applicants | Students Selected to Join The University of Dodoma 2020/21-New jobs
PDF - UDOM 2nd Round SINGLE Selected Applicants | Students Selected to Join The University of Dodoma 2020/21-New jobs
mafekeche On Friday, October 30, 2020
Dodoma City is located in the centre of the country (6°10’23’’S; 35°44’31’’E), 455 km west of the former capital, Dar es Salaam; and 441 km south of Arusha City, the cradle of the East African Community. It is also 259 km north of Iringa Municipality through Mtera. The City covers an area of 2,669 km2 of which 625 km2 is urbanised.
Dodoma features a semi-arid climate with relatively warm temperatures throughout the year. Although average maximums are consistent throughout the year, average minimums drop to 13°C in July. The average annual precipitation is 570 mm, most of which occurs during the wet season between November and April, with the remainder of the year comprising dry season.
The recently refurbished Dodoma Airport and the Central Railway Line connecting it over a distance of 465 km with Dar es Salaam serve the city. There are also major highways connecting Dodoma with Dar es Salaam (via Morogoro Region) to the east, Mwanza City (via Singida) to the west, and Arusha (via Kondoa) to the north.
The University is located about 8 km east of the city centre, and is accessible by public transport, which is easily available from the city centre. Given the central location of Dodoma, UDOM is strategically positioned to serve applicants around the country and specifically Government and private sector employees living in Dodoma, who hitherto could not find training opportunities in the area. Such employees can comfortably utilise UDOM to combine work and study for their career advancement. Additionally, the geographical location and Dodoma weather render UDOM a convenient place for international students.
Please download PDF file below...
DOWNLOAD PDF FILE HERE
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Start a Car Wash Business
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Start a hand car wash business
Mobile Car Wash Regulations
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HOMEPAGE MONEY
How much money does a car wash make?
Written by: Steve Smith
Car wash businesses can make a lot of money, but they need to be in a good location. They also need to offer a competitive price to consumers who aren't always looking to spend big bucks on getting their car washed.
Since washing a car isn't a top priority, and there is a lot of competition, this can cut into profit margins. However, there are many things you can do to make a car wash more profitable.
The car wash came along in the 1960s, offering an easier way to keep a car clean. They were extremely profitable in the 1970s and when automated car washes came along in the '80s and '90s, many people made a lot of money operating them. Today, car washes are not as profitable because people spend less on luxuries and tend to wash cars themselves to save a buck or two.
Washing a car was sort of like a ritual to some people back in the heyday of the automobile. To make a car wash profitable, you need to offer a good service at a really low price. Even though people can do it themselves, it doesn't mean they want to. So, if your car wash is cheap enough, and saves them time, customers will come.
Washing a car was sort of like a ritual to some people back in the heyday of the automobile.
So, if your car wash is cheap enough, and saves them time, customers will come.
A general conception used to be that car washes made a lot of money. You could build an automated car wash and rely on a steady business. However, that is not always true. The cost of supplies, detergents and upkeep on a car wash takes a big bite out of profits. Owners need to carefully consider the cost of materials, how much is used during the car wash, and the economy.
A general conception used to be that car washes made a lot of money.
Owners need to carefully consider the cost of materials, how much is used during the car wash, and the economy.
Car washes are more popular in cities where people do not have access to a hose and an area in which to wash their own cars. However, the cost of real estate in these areas is higher, and therefore the car wash overhead is more. You also have more competition, so you can not charge more for a car wash in the city. In the south, car washes can operate year round, and people tend to use them more often in the nice weather. In the north, people are concerned about road salt and need to wash their cars in the winter, but they do not do it as frequently as they do in the summer.
Car washes are more popular in cities where people do not have access to a hose and an area in which to wash their own cars.
In the north, people are concerned about road salt and need to wash their cars in the winter, but they do not do it as frequently as they do in the summer.
If you are interested in opening a car wash, carefully take note of the cost per wash of facilities already in the area. You should then find a location with plenty of traffic that will draw more customers. Research zoning regulations, and find out if you can put up a large sign, if there is the proper sewer and drainage requirements. Finally, find a vendor that can supply the equipment and materials to operate the car wash.
If you are interested in opening a car wash, carefully take note of the cost per wash of facilities already in the area.
Research zoning regulations, and find out if you can put up a large sign, if there is the proper sewer and drainage requirements.
Start a towing and recovery business→
Start a convenience store→
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Car wash business plans
Steve Smith has published articles on a wide range of topics including cars, travel, lifestyle, business, golf, weddings and careers. His articles, features and news stories have appeared in newspapers, consumer magazines and on various websites. Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and journalism from University of New Hampshire Durham.
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