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RESOURCES + BLOGNEW
Privacy PolicyYuliya LaRoe2020-07-08T15:29:03+00:00
We at LeadWise Group, Inc (“We,” “Us,” “Our”) have created this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) because We know that You care about how information You provide to Us is used and shared. This Privacy Policy applies to Our information collection and use practices: (i) online when You visit https://leadwisegroup.com (the “Website”) and (ii) offline when You provide information to Us.
Capitalized terms not defined in this Privacy Policy shall have the meaning set forth in Our Terms and Conditions of Use.
By visiting the Website, You are agreeing to the terms of this Privacy Policy and the accompanying Terms and Conditions of Use, both of which govern Your use of the Website. By providing Us information offline, You are also agreeing to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
In the course of operating the Website and/or interacting with You, we will collect (and/or receive) the following types of information.
1. Personal Information.
When You sign up to receive any of our newsletters, respond to a survey, fill out a form, register for a program, make a support request, or purchase any product or service, You may be required to provide Us with personal information about Yourself, such as Your name, address, email address, and phone number. All information We collect and/or receive under this section is collectively called “Personal Information.”
2. Order Information.
When You place an Order, You must provide Us with certain information about the products and services You are seeking to purchase. Such information is collectively called the “Order Information.”
3. Billing Information.
When You wish to purchase a product or service, You will be required to provide certain information in addition to the Personal Information and Order Information noted above. Such information may include a debit card number, credit card number, expiration date, billing address, activation codes, and similar information. Such information is collectively called the “Billing Information.” Although We will have access to some of the Billing Information, it will also be collected and processed by Our third-party payment vendors pursuant to the terms and conditions of their privacy policies and terms of use.
4. Other Information.
In addition to the information noted above, We may collect additional information (collectively, the “Other Information”). Such Other Information may include:
From You. Additional information about Yourself that You voluntarily provide to Us (e.g., via a survey), such as gender, product and service preferences, and other information that does not identify You personally.
From Your Activity. Information that We automatically collect when You use the Academy, including, without limitation:
IP addresses, which may consist of a static or dynamic IP address and will sometimes point to a specific identifiable computer or device; browser type and language; referring and exit pages and URLs; date and time; amount of time spent on particular pages; what sections of the Websites You visit; and similar data; and
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From Cookies. Information that We collect using “cookie” technology. Cookies are small packets of data that a website stores on Your computer’s or mobile device’s hard drive so that Your computer will “remember” information about Your visit to the Website. We may use both session cookies (which expire once You close Your web browser) and persistent cookies (which stay on Your computer until You delete them) to help Us collect Other Information and to enhance Your experience using the Website. If You do not want Us to place a cookie on Your hard drive, You may be able to turn that feature off on Your computer or mobile device. Please consult Your Internet browser’s documentation for information on how to do this and how to delete persistent cookies. However, if You decide not to accept cookies from Us, the Website may not function properly.
Third-Party Analytics. We use third-party analytics services (such as Google Analytics) to evaluate Your use of the Website, compile reports on activity, collect demographic data, analyze performance metrics, and collect and evaluate other information relating to the Academy and mobile and Internet usage. These third parties use cookies and other technologies to help analyze and provide Us the data. By accessing and using the Website, You consent to the processing of data about You by these analytics providers in the manner and for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. For more information on Google Analytics, including how to opt out from certain data collection, please visit https://www.google.com/analytics. Please be advised that if You opt out of any service, You may not be able to use the full functionality of the Website.
From Other Sources. We also may collect or receive information from third parties, such as Facebook and/or other third-party social media sites.
Information Collected by or Through Third-Party Advertising Companies
We may share Other Information about Your activity on the Website with third parties for the purpose of tailoring, analyzing, managing, reporting, and optimizing advertising You see on the Website and elsewhere. These third parties may use cookies, pixel tags (also called web beacons or clear gifs), and/or other technologies to collect such Other Information for such purposes. Pixel tags enable Us, and these third-party advertisers, to recognize a browser’s cookie when a browser visits the site on which the pixel tag is located in order to learn which advertisement brings a user to a given site.
Accessing and Modifying Personal Information and Communication Preferences
You can request to access, review, and make changes to Your Personal Information, Billing Information, and certain Other Information by emailing Us at support@leadwisegroup.com. In addition, You may manage Your receipt of marketing and non-transactional communications by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link located on the bottom of any Our marketing email. Users cannot opt out of receiving transactional emails related to their account or their Orders. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to process such requests in a timely manner. You should be aware, however, that it is not always possible to completely remove or modify information in Our subscription databases.
How We Use and Share the Information
We use the Personal Information, the Order Information, the Billing Information, and the Other Information (collectively, the “Information”) to provide Our services; to process Orders; to administer Our rewards and promotional programs; to maintain and improve the Website and Our services to You; to solicit Your feedback; and to inform You about Our products and services and those of Our third-party marketing partners.
We may also use and/or share Information as described below:
We will access, use, and share the Information as required to process Your Orders and provide support to You.
In order to provide Our services and administer Our rewards and promotional programs, We may share the Information (excluding the Billing Information) with Our third-party promotional and marketing partners, including, without limitation, businesses participating in Our various programs.
With Your permission, third-party applications or services may access Your Personal Information. We use standard OAuth (open authorization) to enable You to give permission to share Your Personal Information with other websites and services, such as Facebook and Twitter (e.g., when You agree to a pop-up requesting You to allow another application to access Your account information). We also use OAuth to allow Us to share information about You that is stored by Us without sharing Your security credentials.
We may employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on Our behalf. Examples may include providing technical assistance, Order fulfillment, customer service, and marketing assistance. These other companies will have access to the Information only as necessary to perform their functions and to the extent permitted by law.
In an ongoing effort to better understand Our Users, customers, and Our products and services, We may analyze the Order Information and Other Information in aggregate form in order to operate, maintain, manage, and improve the Academy and/or Our products and services. This aggregate information does not identify You personally. We may share this aggregate data with Our affiliates, agents, and business partners. We may also disclose aggregated user statistics in order to describe Our products and services to current and prospective business partners and to other third parties for other lawful purposes.
We may share some or all of Your Information with any of Our parent companies, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control with Us.
As we develop Our businesses, we might sell or buy businesses or assets. In the event of a corporate sale, merger, reorganization, sale of assets, dissolution, or similar event, the Information may be part of the transferred assets.
To the extent permitted by law, We may also disclose the Information: (i) when required by law, court order, or other government or law enforcement authority or regulatory agency; or (ii) whenever We believe that disclosing such Information is necessary or advisable, for example, to protect the rights, property, or safety of LeadWise Group, Inc or others.
Information You Share
Please keep in mind that whenever You voluntarily make Your Personal Information available to third parties — for example on message boards or web logs; through email; during webinars, classes, telephone conferences, or coaching calls; or in comment or chat areas — that information can be seen, collected, heard, and/or used by others besides Us. We cannot be responsible for any unauthorized third-party use of such information.
How We Protect the Information
We take commercially reasonable steps to protect the Information from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Please understand, however, that no security system is impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the security of Our databases, nor can We guarantee that the Information that You supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to and from Us over the Internet. In particular, e-mail sent to or from Us may not be secure, and You should, therefore, take special care in deciding what information You send to Us via email.
Important Notice to Non-U.S. Residents
It is important to note that the Website and Our servers are operated in the United States. If You are located outside of the United States, please be aware that any Information You provide to Us will be transferred to the United States. By visiting and using the Website and by providing Us Information when using Our services, You hereby irrevocably consent to this transfer and Our use of the Information and data provided by You in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
The Website may contain links to third-party websites. We have no control over the privacy practices or the content of any of Our business partners, advertisers, sponsors, or other websites to which We provide links. As such, We are not responsible for the content or the privacy policies of those third-party websites. You should check the applicable third-party privacy policy and terms of use when visiting any other websites.
This Privacy Policy is effective as of the date stated at the top of this Privacy Policy. We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. By accessing the Website and/or using Our services after we make any such changes to this Privacy Policy, You are deemed to have accepted such changes. Please be aware that, to the extent permitted by applicable law, Our use of the Information is governed by the Privacy Policy in effect at the time We collect the Information. Please refer back to this Privacy Policy on a regular basis.
If You have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us via email at support@leadwisegroup.com with “Privacy Policy” in the subject line.
Main Office: Miami, FL
Services Offered: Worldwide
support@leadwisegroup.com
Award-winning Talent Development Solutions for Lawyers by Lawyers
LeadWise Group, Inc. © 2011 - 2020
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5 Tips for Lawyers to Find Time for Business Development October 28, 2020
Helping Your New Breed of Lawyers Become Successful Business Developers October 7, 2020
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← Two Paths & Two Embassies Attacked (Updates All Day)
The Friday Focus →
Chicago Warzone Update: 4 shot in 10 Minutes; 2 Dead with 7 Wounded
Posted on September 13, 2012 by A.P. Dillon
The Chicago Sun Times Reports:
Four people shot in 10 minutes on the South Side; one killed
Two men are dead and seven others – including three 14-year-old boys – were wounded Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.
Ornette Massey, 38, of the 6000 block of South Indiana Avenue, was shot multiple times about 6:30 p.m. in the 5600 block of South Michigan Avenue and pronounced dead at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
A 40-year-old man was also wounded in the shooting, police said. That man was taken in stable condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds to the hip and buttocks.
About 10 minutes later, two 14-year-old boys were shot during a drive-by attack in the 2500 block of West 64th Street, police said.
One boy was shot in the back and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. The other boy was shot in the left leg and taken to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital.
About 7:05 p.m., a 33-year-old man was shot in the left leg in the 5000 block of South May Street and took himself to Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Center, police said.
About 15 minutes later, a 21-year-old man was shot in the right leg in the 7700 block of South Bennett Avenue, police said.
About 8:25 p.m., a 14-year-old boy was shot in the left hand in the 6900 block of South Western Avenue and taken in good condition to Holy Cross Hospital.
No one is in custody for any of the shootings as of Wednesday night.
Chicago Warzone Update: Day By Day (Updated)
Chicago Warzone Update: No End In Sight
This entry was posted in Random Musings and tagged Chicago Warzone. Bookmark the permalink.
1 Response to Chicago Warzone Update: 4 shot in 10 Minutes; 2 Dead with 7 Wounded
Pingback: The Morning Links (9/14/12) | Lady Liberty 1885
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Rap Artist Brother Ali Overcomes Stereotypes
Alternative and rock style beats with thoughtful lyricism rapped to the rhythm are hard to find in today’s music industry. However, new rap artist Jason Newman, or Brother Ali, is stirring up a scene with this unique type of music. Ali is a legally blind, albino Muslim trying to use his words to deliver the bold message that labels come second, humanity comes first.
Ali grew up in Michigan for the first 15 years of his life before converting from Christianity to Islam. He felt it was easier to relate to the Muslim and black community rather than his own white community when dealing with his condition. Ali told the Washington Post that while growing up, white kids would make him “feel like not even a human being, not even a person.”
Ali found inspiration in Malcolm X and his teachings, which were the final influences in leading him to convert to Islam. He started frequently visiting a mosque in Minneapolis, where he met many other individuals who felt judged by their skin colors.
Brother Ali’s love for rapping and showcasing his abilities led him to meet many of his future friends, most of them black. The combination of Islam and his rapping skill helped him create an outlet for all the anger he felt, and his music is now pulling in a growing audience.
In 2003, Brother Ali released his first album, “Shadows on the Sun.” However, it wasn’t until his album “The Undisputed Truth” came out in 2007 that he caught the attention of the mainstream audience. He was featured on both the “David Letterman Show” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” where he performed songs from this album.
Ali focuses on his lyricism more than anything, using intricate rhyming schemes and tricky wordplay to get his message across. His songs are mainly about the struggles he has faced through life and the subsequent consequences.
“The music and the sound of my voice and the way I’m describing the situations and emotions involved should make you feel like you’re in my shoes at that moment,” Ali told “Rhymesayers Entertainment.“
Unlike most of today’s rap and hip-hop songs, Ali’s beats and background music aren’t quite as upbeat. His beats are much more melodious. For example, one of his hit singles “Take Me Home” sounds like the Dave Matthews band playing in the background with Ali’s voice rapping over.
Brother Ali brings a new taste to the rapping scene with his unique background and his prominent rhyming talent. “Take Me Home,” “Walking Away” and “Uncle Sam Goddamn” are three of his most popular songs. Even those who don’t like rap music may appreciate his lyrics and the way he delivers his message within his songs.
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Posts Tagged: Leo Scanlon
A Little Sunshine / The Coming Storm — 53 Comments
Study: Ransomware, Data Breaches at Hospitals tied to Uptick in Fatal Heart Attacks
Hospitals that have been hit by a data breach or ransomware attack can expect to see an increase in the death rate among heart patients in the following months or years because of cybersecurity remediation efforts, a new study posits. Health industry experts say the findings should prompt a larger review of how security — or the lack thereof — may be impacting patient outcomes.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University‘s Owen Graduate School of Management took the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) list of healthcare data breaches and used it to drill down on data about patient mortality rates at more than 3,000 Medicare-certified hospitals, about 10 percent of which had experienced a data breach.
As PBS noted in its coverage of the Vanderbilt study, after data breaches as many as 36 additional deaths per 10,000 heart attacks occurred annually at the hundreds of hospitals examined.
The researchers found that for care centers that experienced a breach, it took an additional 2.7 minutes for suspected heart attack patients to receive an electrocardiogram.
“Breach remediation efforts were associated with deterioration in timeliness of care and patient outcomes,” the authors found. “Remediation activity may introduce changes that delay, complicate or disrupt health IT and patient care processes.”
Leo Scanlon, former deputy chief information security officer at the HHS, said the findings in this report practically beg for a similar study to be done in the United Kingdom, whose healthcare system was particularly disrupted by the Wannacry virus, a global contagion in May 2017 that spread through a Microsoft Windows vulnerability prevalent in older healthcare systems.
“The exploitation of cybersecurity vulnerabilities is killing people,” Scanlon told KrebsOnSecurity. “There is a lot of possible research that might be unleashed by this study. I believe that nothing less than a congressional investigation will give the subject the attention it deserves.”
A post-mortem on the impact of WannaCry found the outbreak cost U.K. hospitals almost $100 million pounds and caused significant disruption to patient care, such as the cancellation of some 19,000 appointments — including operations — and the disruption of IT systems for at least a third of all U.K. National Health Service (NHS) hospitals and eight percent of general practitioners. In several cases, hospitals in the U.K. were forced to divert emergency room visitors to other hospitals.
But what isn’t yet known is how Wannacry affected mortality rates among heart attack and stroke patients whose ambulances were diverted to other hospitals because of IT system outages related to the malware. Or how many hospitals and practices experienced delays in getting test results back needed to make critical healthcare decisions.
Scanlon said although he’s asked around quite a bit over the years to see if any researchers have taken up the challenge of finding out, and that so far he hasn’t found anyone doing that analysis.
“A colleague who is familiar with large scale healthcare data sets told me that unless you are associated with a research institution, it would be almost impossible to pry that kind of data out of the institutions that have it,” Scanlon said. “The problem is this data is hard to come by — nobody likes to admit that death can be attributable to a non-natural cause like this — and is otherwise considered sensitive at a very high and proprietary level by the institutions that have the facts.”
A study published in the April 2017 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine would seem to suggest applying the approach used by the Vanderbilt researchers to measuring patient outcomes at U.K. hospitals in the wake of Wannacry might be worth carrying out.
In the NEJM study, morbidity and mortality data was used to show that there is a measurable impact when ambulances and emergency response teams are removed from normal service and redirected to standby during public events like marathons and other potential targets of terrorism.
The study found that “medicare beneficiaries who were admitted to marathon-affected hospitals with acute myocardial infarction or cardiac arrest on marathon dates had longer ambulance transport times before noon (4.4 minutes longer) and higher 30-day mortality than beneficiaries who were hospitalized on nonmarathon dates.” Continue reading →
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Season Statistics (PDF)
Overall Statistics (PDF)
Big 12 Statistics (PDF)
2019 Coaching Clinic (PDF)
Hardwood Club
DeBruce Center
Kansas begins Big 12 Championship against K-State
Redshirt sophomore Tyler Johnson
Game 30: vs. Kansas State
JTV/ESPN3
Stats KU KSU
Record 12-17 15-14
Pts/GM 62.0 67.9
FG% 38.2 41.1
3FG% 29.3 31.4
FT% 64.6 70.8
Reb/GM 37.7 34.0
Ast/GM 11.1 15.4
Blk/GM 3.1 4.7
Stl/GM 6.4 8.9
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas women’s basketball faces in-state rival Kansas State on Friday, March 2 at 6 p.m., inside Chesapeake Energy Arena in the opening round of the Big 12 Championship. The game will be be broadcast on the Fox Sports College Network and the Jayhawk Radio Network.
Following the Jayhawks
Jayhawk fans can follow all of the action throughout the 2018 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Twitter (@KUwbball) and live stats on statbroadcast.com. All of the Big 12 Championship matchups will be broadcast on the Fox Sports College Network.
Fast Breaks
Since the inception of the Big 12 Championship in 1997, Kansas has recorded a 14-21 mark in conference postseason action. Dating back to 1983, the Jayhawks are 33-32 in league postseason play.
KU played in the championship game in 1998, but lost to Texas Tech, 71-53. The last championship title that Kansas won was in 1993.
In Friday’s opening-round matchup, Kansas and Kansas State meet for the third time this year with the Wildcats owning a 2-0 advantage in the series.
Kansas State has a 72-46 advantage in the all-time series, which began in 1969. KU trails K-State, 2-3, when meeting in the Big 12 Championship.
The Jayhawks are 1-7 this season against ranked Big 12 opponents. Kansas notched its first Big 12 win over a top-25 opponent since 2014 on Feb. 21 when KU beat No. 25/23 Oklahoma St., 66-59.
Kansas owns a 124-242 all-time record against Big 12 Conference foes.
Redshirt sophomore center Tyler Johnson matched her career-high 15 points and added 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season against Iowa State (2/27).
Junior guard Christalah Lyons continues to pace the Kansas offense with 26 double-digit scoring efforts in 29 games. Lyons is averaging 14.7 points per game.
When Brandon Schneider-coached teams are leading with less than five minutes to play, his overall record is 367-15, and 22-3 at Kansas.
Lyons Tabbed All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Junior guard Christalah Lyons earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors for her efforts on the hardwood during her first season with the Jayhawks. Lyons becomes the second Jayhawk to earn all-conference honors under third-year head coach Brandon Schneider and the 40th KU women’s basketball to be recognized by the Big 12 Conference since 1997.
About the Jayhawks
The Jayhawks enter the 2018 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship with a 12-17 record and finished the 2018 Big 12 Conference slate with a 3-15 mark. Kansas began conference play 2-1 before suffering a 12-game losing skid. KU ended its losing streak with a win over No. 23 Oklahoma State on Feb. 21.
Two Jayhawks are leading the way for Kansas, averaging double figures on the season. Junior guard Christalah Lyons is netting a team-best 14.7 points per game, recording 26 double-digit scoring efforts in 29 games in her first season with the Jayhawks. Additionally, the Dallas, Texas native is connecting on 42.8 percent of her attempts from the floor and dishing out a team-best 3.1 assists per game. Junior guard Kylee Kopatich is averaging 13.3 points per game, while knocking in the second-most 3-point field goals in the Big 12 with 41 to date. The Olathe, Kansas native is shooting a team-best 37.1 percent from long range for the season. Both Kopatich and Lyons have surpassed the 1,000 minutes played mark this season. Kopatich has played a team-leading 1,016 minutes, while Lyons follows closely behind playing 1,001 minutes.
Collectively, Kansas is averaging 62.0 points and has a scoring margin of -5.4. The Jayhawks are shooting 38.2 percent from the field and 29.3 percent from the 3-point line.
Kansas remains one of the league’s best defensive teams, holding its opponents to shooting 39.3 percent from the field for the season, which is third in the league. The Jayhawks are also third in the Big 12 for 3-point field goal percentage defense, keeping their opponents to connecting on just 31.4 percent of their long-range attempts during the 2017-18 campaign. KU has held its opponents to 67.4 points per game, which is fifth-lowest in the league.
Scouting the Wildcats
Kansas State enters the Big 12 Championship sitting just above the .500 mark with a 15-14 overall record and a 7-11 conference record. The Wildcats have won their last two meetings heading into the Big 12 Championship.
Three Wildcats have led the way for K-State women’s basketball this season. Junior guard Kayla Goth is averaging a team-best 16.7 points per game, while also averaging a Big 12-leading 6.9 assists per game. Goth’s 199 assists to date rank ninth in the nation. Sophomore forward Peyton Williams and freshman guard Rachel Ranke are scoring 14.2 and 12.1 points per game, respectively. Williams leads the Wildcats with 196 rebounds on the season (6.8 rpg). As a whole, Kansas State has scored 67.9 points per game against its opponents.
The K-State defense is holding its opponents to 66.6 points per game and boasts the fourth-best field goal percentage defense in conference play. KSU’s Big 12 opponents are shooting 41.8 percent from the field.
This Day in Kansas Women’s Basketball History
Record on March 2: 6-3
Kansas owns a 6-3 mark on March 2 and plays on the second day of March for the 10th time in program history. In 2015, senior Bunny Williams sank the first points for the Jayhawks and Kansas never relinquished the lead from that point on to nab a 68-64 victory over Iowa State on Senior Day.
Nearing 1,000
With 958 points so far in her career in the Crimson and Blue, junior guard Kylee Kopatich is just 34 points away from the 1,000 point mark. Kopatich will be the 29th 1,000-point scorer in Kansas women’s basketball history should she achieve this accomplishment. The last Jayhawk to score 1,000 career points was fellow Olathe, Kansas native Natalie Knight, who ended her Jayhawk career with 1,081 points. Should Kopatich net 1,000, she would be the eighth Kansan to earn the accomplishment.
The winner of the Kansas vs. Kansas State matchup will advance to the quarterfinals round of the 2018 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship to face No. 1 seed Baylor on Saturday, March 3 at 1:30 p.m., inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. The game will be broadcast on the Fox College Sports and the Jayhawk Radio Network.
@KUwbball
/KansasWomensBasketball
@KUwbballl
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Archive for ‘socialism’
Break the Chains of Empire: nationalism and independence
The British Empire lasted some 300 years; about the same length of time that the United Kingdom has existed. The British Empire has gone. It is time the remnants of colonialism within the UK were also relegated to the past.
Good morning, Scotland. What is it you want?
Please, sir, I want some more.
What! More!
Yes, sir. I want more.
There is disbelief all round.
You already have devolution. What more could you want?
Independence, sir. I want my independence.
Independence? What nonsense is this? Not everyone can be independent. If everyone was independent nobody would appreciate it.
That’s not fair, sir. I want to be independent.
Want! Want! It’s not your place to want! You’ll take what you’re given. Who ever heard of such a thing! There are people who make the rules and people whose duty it is to follow our rules. You are the latter. People who want, don’t deserve independence. And that’s the end of it.
The meaning of empire
The British Empire began as the English Empire although it adopted the name British before the Act of Union. England’s imperial expansion began in the 1500s, enabled by its aggressive navy expanded to break into the slave trade. Union in 1707 was sought by England primarily to remove potential support by Scotland for England’s enemy, France – henceforth Edinburgh was denied decision-making powers over foreign affairs and so has that remained. That the Union gave England control over Scottish trade was an additional, if secondary benefit. The Union of 1707 was not set up to benefit Scotland but to protect England politically and economically. And there was no whiff of democracy anywhere about the agreement struck between a few monied interests in Scotland and England’s parliament.
The Union of 1707 colonised Scotland in much the same way England then the United Kingdom colonised other parts of the world over three hundred years. As with its other colonies the Union parliament never envisaged equality between its heart, in London, and authorities in the peripheral parts of its empire. Power lay with London and there it would remain. That was the intention and nothing changed over three hundred years. Devolution of powers has not altered the conception of hierarchy and subordination within the United Kingdom. Within the United Kingdom – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are subordinates which are not provided with the same levers of power provided to England.
The idea the United Kingdom represents equality between the four nations is a chimera. Power lies with Westminster and in Westminster Scotland’s representatives are outnumbered 10:1. There has never been a time Scotland has been able to influence decisions in Westminster. And there never will be a time Scotland will be able to influence decisions made in Westminster, nor will Northern Ireland and Wales ever be placed on an equal footing with England.
United does not mean equal
Like empires throughout history which have risen and declined so has the British Empire. Empires establish themselves when in a position to wield power against weaker nations and can crumble when their dictum of might is right is questioned by the powerless within their dominions.
When under threat empires tighten their grip on the reins of power through brutality, corruption and threat. Opposition is condemned as treachery – anti-patriotic. In the case of the United Kingdom, loyalty means Britishness and Britishness has always been largely based on Englishness.
Not only does Scotland have no power whatsoever at the heart of England’s rump empire, the United Kingdom, for most of the past 300 years of its existence Scotland has scarcely been considered. Similarly with Wales and Northern Ireland – their representation at Westminster is as tokenistic as Scotland’s. Influence they have none. The populations in the three peripheral areas of the England’s rump empire are demeaned, patronised and the butt of humour as demonstrated in national ‘pet-names’- the equivalent of the racist term ‘boy’ in farther-flung parts of the empire – Scots are Jocks; Irish are Paddies; Welsh are Taffies. Jocks, Paddies and Taffies are invariably depicted as lacking sophistication, feckless, mean, chippy, grievance monkeys – ungrateful for the protection the ‘broad shoulders’ of the empire/UK affords them. Empires evolve cultural myths. Given the hierarchical nature of empires it is the interests and culture of the dominant state that come to embody them. Cultural values of the peripheries are defined as archaic curiosities and sources of derision and humour which tend to be abandoned in favour of those of the dominant power.
Faced with ingratitude/challenge from within the peripheral nations the dominant power tends to act more aggressively. Troops might be sent in/ stationed in the troublesome periphery. We see this across the world and within the Union the population of Scotland was threatened and subdued by General Wade’s army in the 18th century. Empires might impose control through more sophisticated means such as installing bureaucracies into peripheral areas for greater control in parts far away from the centre of power. A recent example of this type of imperious incursion is Queen Elizabeth House in Edinburgh, embedding Westminster-rule into the heart of Scotland in defiance of devolution and meant as a visible reminder to Scotland of who really is in charge; and it is not the Scottish people or their own parliament.
It is an observation often made that the farther away populations are from the centre of power the less the centre represents their interests. Westminster’s Queen Elizabeth House may be a recognition of this but given that Scotland has never figured in its consideration of what is best for the Union as opposed to what suits south-east England it is more likely this hub is the equivalent of General Wade’s force – intimidation and reminder that authority rests with London.
Where threats to empire exist but are less threatening to the dominant power degrees of autonomy are sometimes used to diminish calls for independence. This gives an impression of a benevolent centre of power willingly sharing responsibilities but powers transferred are an illusion for the centre of empire retains the ability to withdraw those same powers whenever it decides. Remember the Union like any empire is a hierarchy in which ultimate authority is retained by the dominant nation; democracy is limited to partial self-government in peripheral areas. Democracy under the Union favours England’s needs and ambitions above those of other parts of the UK through the makeup of the Houses of Parliament and chain of command of government based in London.
India was the British Empire’s greatest source of wealth. Britain’s ransacking of it began when England set up the East India Company in 1599 and by the 1700s Britain was imposing taxes on India. By stealth greater and greater controls were imposed until eventually Britain ruled India directly, governing it with a rod of iron and keeping the ‘peace’ through a policy of divide-and-rule in which divisions between Hindus and Muslims were encouraged. A period known as the British Raj, notorious for luxury and moral decay lasted from 1858 to 1947. This was rule from London to benefit London, the heart of empire. Rarely were native authorities and peoples consulted on any matter. When the British prime minister declared war against Germany in 1939, the announcement was made without consultation with Indian ministers although India was expected to provide millions of troops and provisions for the war effort. High-handed, disrespectful, racist and xenophobic – qualities demonstrated by the British Empire.
Sick of centuries of exploitation by the racist empire, Indians demanded self-determination instead of being administered by London. In London this was regarded as outrageous ingratitude. Lord Linlithgow, the Empire’s man-in-charge in India at the time, a staunch British unionist, threatened India by further inflaming the very internal divisions that London had so adeptly used in the past to keep India in its place. He and London were implicated in the deaths of millions from famine in Bengal in 1943 because of Britain’s policy of destroying food supplies and requisitioning of boats and other means of transport that prevented the movement of goods and food within India. Ruthless and heartless government by Westminster encouraged support for the Quit India movement that demanded an end to British rule. It’s spokesman Mahatma Gandhi said,
“I discovered that I had no rights as a man because I was an Indian.”
The Empire struck back. Gandhi and fellow Indian Congress members were arrested and imprisoned. Press censorship intended to silence the independence movement and the Empire’s human rights abuses could not happen now with social media but then lies spread about India’s independence movement were fed to a lackey press.
There are different forms of nationalism just as there are different forms of democracy in the world. Empires exist to benefit a tiny portion of their populations. When people grow sick of being oppressed for the benefit of the few at the heart of empire they try to change the political structure to better reflect their interests and needs. Empires by their nature are parasitic, sucking the life-blood out of the peripheral areas they govern. So nationalist movements emerge offering hope in the shape of government that will take more cognisance of the desires of the affected people. John Maclean the great socialist advocated Scottish nationalism as the path to socialism and a better world for Scots.
As more Indians saw through the desperate dirty tricks employed by the British Empire so the clamour for independence grew – for India to govern itself in its own interests, not those of the Empire/UK. The Empire/UK struck out – 1,000 Indians were killed during protests and movement leaders imprisoned (Gandhi’s wife, Kasturba, died in jail.) The Empire/UK lost the people’s respect. Once that has gone it is a matter of time before any empire falls. For 300 years India had been subjugated by the British Empire/UK. Soon, Pakistan, too became independent.
The British Empire was once the alpha power and London the alpha capital. This is no longer the case. The Empire created through violence and threat declined because of its arrogance, corruption, xenophobia and disrespect for its peripheral areas. Yes, it was Scots who largely ran the British Empire. It has been said this was because Scots were better educated than in other parts of the UK. Perhaps there is truth in that. It may also have been because educated ambitious Scots had few career opportunities available to them within Scotland because of how Scotland’s infrastructure was run down so that the majority of high-powered jobs were created/preserved for the centre of UK power, London, and Etonian Oxbridge friends of friends in the capital. That Scots participated to a high degree in the British Empire is neither here nor there. Scotland as a nation was as much a victim of the imperial motivations of London as other peripheral parts of the Empire. And while other colonies have won their independence, Scotland remains trapped in a Union founded on inequality.
The British Empire’s decline left behind a debtor United Kingdom, pressurised by the USA because of world war debt to open up access to its international markets. The rump of Empire/UK that remains – the union of the UK – still exhibits the predatory characteristics shared by all empires. They are ingrained in it. The alpha power lashes out whenever its authority is challenged. Whereas India and other former Empire nations were subjected to brutal repression in response to their demands for independence Scotland it is supposed will be subjected to a thrashing by propagandists for the UK. Threats of disaster and failure; of ingratitude have been and will increasingly be made.
Empires resist their loss of power. The mythical hand of friendship extended from the centre of empire to the peripheries is always in the end a fist. Threats escalate as an empire defends its authority. The UK built on violence and threats will die issuing still more threats meant to undermine confidence in the subordinate nation’s future success.
But as India proved, lying and threats, corruption and moral decay, far from saving a venal order leads to its demise. Once people stop believing the indoctrination; once they see it for what it is propaganda concocted to preserve inequalities of the Union/empire they have won – by realising they are the means of changing the world.
Posted in Good Morning Scotland, politics, Scotland, Scottish history, Scottish Nationalism, Scottish Parliament, SNP, socialism, Uncategorized, Weird and Wonderful | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Bengal, British Empire, East India Company, Edinburgh, Empire, England, Gandhi, General Wade, India, Jocks, John MacLean, London, Paddies, Queen Elizabeth House, Quit India, Taffies, The United Kingdom, Union, Union of 1707, Westminster
Year of the Plague in 2020 a far from average year – self-isolation diary Week 9
And here we are again. Week 9. Doesn’t seem too unlike week 8 although each week does have subtle and sometimes not so subtle variations mixed in. It struck me I don’t really say much or, indeed anything, about what I actually do through a week – and that’s not about to change. I’m not one of those let it all hang out types but here’s what I am prepared to tell you.
It won’t surprise you to know I’m still mouthing off at the politics of the Covid-19 pandemic. Machiavelli will be spinning in his grave at the sheer audacity of the lies being dished up daily by government which we are expected to take at face value. My main source of information about coronavirus is the Financial Times which has been unerringly informed and informative on the virus.
No 10 has been spinning like the proverbial top. Matt Hancock is as useless as he looks. No you haven’t ever reached 100,000 tests on any single day – my ref is the FT. And Boris Johnson is now in full Trumpian flow promising even more. It is quite, quite extraordinary that anyone retains any regard for Johnson. He is evidently a lazy, rather stupid man who hides behind other people – occasionally popping up for a photo opportunity such as hypocritically clapping NHS staff and carers and making ridiculous inflated promises.
Another family birthday this week. Mainly virtual but virtual can be good fun. We’re fairly getting into this singing online lark. Presents were actual and delivered as promised by the Aberdeen shop entrusted to do so.
The starlings are still living dangerously, nesting under the eye of jackdaws and rumours of them having given up on the hole in the ash tree have been greatly exaggerated as they are indeed installed there. With the beech next door to them coming into leaf it will become more difficult to see what they’re up to very soon.
The house martins have also being playing games with nest building. Came and seemed to go after a day or two. Then they came back again. We saw them mostly in the evenings for a start and surely they must have been constructing their classy nest under cover of darkness because suddenly it was up. Lots of activity now with them flying back and fore so suspect there are eggs there already or wee ones hatched out. I know why they build under eaves etc – as protection from rain. That probably sounds obvious but it’s a bit strange to build in the open given their nests are made out of regurgitated mud. Last year we had a lot of rain in late summer and the nest collapsed with young dropping to the ground. We tried to save them but couldn’t. The martins then quickly built a second nest, alongside with a late brood being produced. One little one was slow in flying and while the others were champing at the bit to fly away south it couldn’t leave the nest. Fairly sure it did eventually get away but it was late.
Young plants doing well in the greenhouse and the plug gherkins arrived looking in great shape. Those runner beans are now going at a jog. This week we launched our inter-generational radish growing competition. Doesn’t have many rules so far, not even an end date which we’ll have to fix although there seems plenty time since there’s three days after sowing my five seeds there’s no sign of germination. Meant to mention in earlier blogs that our carob tree is looking tip top. It’s kept in the greenhouse, grown from a seed for a bonsai carob, bought by a friend in Aberdeen at least 15 years ago. The carob is also known as the locust tree or St John’s bread and in its natural Mediterranean habitat produces large edible seed pods. Among its uses is as a chocolate substitute. They can grow to up to 50 feet but doubt our little bonsai in a greenhouse in Aberdeenshire will get anywhere near that – or else we’re moving. And I doubt there will ever be a Lenathehyena chocolate. Which is a pity.
Lots of wandering around the garden, in between weeding. Still very dry. The burn is getting lower and lower. Our water supply is, to some extent, reflected by the amount of water flowing downhill. Will be one to watch.
Many of the rhododendrons are passed but several still to come. We have lots of rhododendrons as this is a great area for growing these acid-loving plants. Some are real beauts.
My marsh marigolds have come on a treat. Can’t tell you how I got them but they’ve taken to their habitat in the old sink. I’ve got a soft spot for marsh marigolds since I was a child in the Black Isle and they grew along the burn at Rosemarkie. Here we’ve grown different varieties on the burn bank but one by one they’ve been washed away downstream during spates.
Got another delivery of all sorts of goodies from a wholefood company in England. Our spare bedroom aka pantry aka food quarantine area smells like an eastern bazaar. We’ve almost finished eating the madjool dates we bought from them last time. There is nothing that can compare with a medjool date from Palestine. Big, fat, soft and bursting with flavour.
Our two hours evening screen watch has moved into suck it and see mode since we finished Breaking Bad. What’s that Walt White like!! We’ve finished Outlander. Good last episode after one or two weak ones. Had to give up on the latest Bosch as it’s far too ‘bitty’ and the fast, clipped accents of some actors are too difficult to make out.
Bedtime reading has moved from fiction to the tragic events of the Bavarian uprising in 1919. Dreamers by Volker Weidermann gives an account of the chaotic attempt to establish a worker’s state in Bavaria on the back of the Great War and its horrific impact on the lives of ordinary people. Dreamers because behind the movement and influential in it were writers and poets whose hearts were in the right place but they lacked the ruthless selfish drive of politicians for their movement to succeed. They had some ideas but no roadmap, as today’s parlance goes. Contrary to the impression always presented in the press and by politicians of most stripes it is the right who tend to be most violent and this was true in Bavaria in 1919 when the extreme right started to shoot anyone suspected of siding with the revolution. The intellectuals and workers who supported a people’s revolution and survived the bullets during the rightwing crackdown were hauled off to concentration camps when the right achieved what the left couldn’t in Bavaria following Hitler’s rise to power. He has a bit part in Dreamers though always denying he was anywhere near there. Wouldn’t recognise truth if it slapped him on the face. A true politician. They’re the real storytellers.
Posted in Aberdeenshire, Black Isle, coronavirus, Scotland, Scottish history, socialism, Uncategorized, Weird and Wonderful | 4 Comments »
Tags: Bavaria 1919, Bosch, Breaking Bad, coronavirus, Covid 19, Dreamers, Hancock, Hitler, House Martins, Johnson, Nazis, Outlander, rhododendrons, Starlings
Covid-19 – Coronavirus and the Libertarian
Guest blog by Textor
Things, as they say, are sometimes liable to come back to bite you.
That is if you let your guard down.
And let’s face it many of us have in one way or another let our guards down.
Coronavirus aka Covid-19 has bought home to us that as content as we are in our privileged advanced (there’s a cultural joke) economies the world is other than it seems. Assuming we are not in the gig economy, not queuing at a food bank then things can only get better. We who have access to a fair number of the good things of life; we who thought the real world was little more than novelties in the digital market place – including the delights of Amazon Prime or Netflix – or ever more commodities; we have been brought up short in little over three months by the brute fact of Nature. Bang! Nature has reared up and taken an almighty bite out of this hubris.
Yes, we are all more or less aware, all more or less concerned/unconcerned about climate change and the impact of the Anthropocene (the Age deemed to be when humankind’s effect upon the planet Earth has been sufficient to cause global, catastrophic change.) Regardless of the evident societal alterations required to alleviate a “far off” doom we – those lucky enough to avoid floods, devastating fires etc.- could in the short term just get on with it; recycle as if there were no tomorrow you might say. Waiting for the end of climate change.
But sometimes Nature does not allow us the luxury of waiting for the apocalypse: coronavirus is just such a time. For decades microbiologists have been predicting the coming of a pandemic. The so-called Spanish Flu provided a model of how devastating a modern microbiological disaster could be. Wikipedia gives figures as high as 100 million dying in the influenza pandemic of 1918-20; more than the man-made slaughter on the battlefields of the Great War. Science had the capacity to devise the most wonderful weapons of death but could not stop the ‘flu.
Evolution has “designed” a human organism capable of sophisticated speech with the capacity to adapt itself to wide variations of environmental conditions. At the same time, and perhaps a necessary part of being human, it put its stamp on Nature. Beavers might dam rivers and create lakes but humans could build the Grand Coulee Dam, produce electricity to power a so-called Second Industrial Revolution. Clever, even ambitious. But no matter how sophisticated is the vast commodity producing system that is industrial capitalism it is no match for the potential speed at which a micro-organism might evolve. Humans have brains big enough to predict outcomes and have the technical knowhow (probably) to design and manufacture anti-virals capable of slowing and even halting the spread of Covid-19 – yes humans could in the next few months do this. But for all this Nature remains unconquered. Natural selection continues without any mastermind operating behind the scenes. And we know, or should know, that this process of selection can be good for some species and bad for others.
And so, the long-predicted crisis has arrived. The pandemic is here and the search goes on for a solution. As with previous modern national and global health events the pharmaceutical industry play a crucial role. However, historically necessary component solutions come under the direction and control of local or national state apparatuses. In other words, individuals/institutions are first advised and then told what to do. Sanctions are threatened and sanctions are imposed.
Nothing new in this. Here in northeast Scotland as far back as the 15th century Aberdeen’s magistrates fearful of plague had the bell rung through the medieval town proclaiming the city’s ports (gates) close, lokit with lokis and keis, at night to prevent strangers entering unobserved. A compact medieval town could very swiftly succumb to viral and bacterial threats. Medieval doctors and apothecaries knew little of the causes of infectious diseases but empirically they were aware that for all claims of God expending his wrath on a sinful community, contagion could be slowed by isolating infected families and potential carriers. Whether this would thwart Divine justice was maybe a theological point not to be dwelt upon. And, it’s worth noting that certainly by the 17th century Aberdeen’s magistrates were also attempting to clean the city of middens, street filth and asking that households be kept clean. This lesson on the need for cleanliness was largely lost by the early 19th century when poorer parts of Aberdeen where people living cheek-by-jowl and in slum conditions were condemned to the horrors of cholera and dysentery. This was industrialising capitalism; the poor were there to be exploited and maybe pitied.
As the centuries progressed even more controls were imposed. Vessels were prevented from entering the harbour, merchandise was left in ship holds. On the other hand, when the threat was seen to be coming from internal migration strangers were banned from entering the town. Town ports were watched and at one stage in 1606 dealers in timber were told to stay away under paine of death. Trade suffered as commodities ceased to flow between manufacturers, tradesmen and consumers. In 1647, again in the midst of plague, draconian measures were introduced with, for example, all ydle stranger beggars . . . forthwith removed and banished. Any who returned were to be scourged, branded and driven out.
Authoritarian management is a basic mechanism for control of epidemic-pandemic events. Our current crisis has stark contrasts. On the one hand the relatively fast and severe imposition of lock-down in parts of China. With over seventy years of state control the Chinese Communist Party has an apparatus better adapted to widespread controls than liberal democracies. Compare the Chinese response to the bumbling worlds of the UK and USA brought stumbling towards closing doors and mass quarantine.
These manoeuvres will probably bring howls of anger from libertarians both right and left – those who don’t want to be told what to do by the state. Their individual rights, some might say entitlement, trumps (if you’ll pardon the expression) all else. Allowing for the nastiness of all three states mentioned (China, US and UK) this form of libertarianism smacks of, at best, infantile petulance and at worst disintegrative individualism which fails to recognise a larger vision of human community even one within a capitalist formation. Remember the outcry about seat belts and crash helmets – with cries of freedom from state tyranny? Of course the consequences of a libertarian freedom to roam in a time of a modern plague threatens not only the lives of the defence of freedom lobby but ultimately the well-being of global communities.
And the bite of Nature? As much as humankind imagines itself master/mistress of the world the reality is otherwise. From small nibbles such as occasional volcanic eruption to the all-encompassing bite of climate change Nature exists, not dependent on human imagination, not caring one way or another what happens to humans or any other species. It, if that’s the correct word, does what it does.Humans although in Nature and of Nature are different insofar as this species can make choices. It can gather knowledge, can know history and can act. There lies the rub.
Posted in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, politics, Scotland, Scottish history, socialism, Uncategorized, Weird and Wonderful | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Anthropocene, capitalism, China, Chinese, climate change, coronavirus, Covid 19, libertarianism, microbiology, nature, plague, self-isolation, socialism, tyranny
Jobs for the boys – trade unions for the few not the many in a caveman’s world
David Miliband’s obscenely large salary of £425,000 as president of International Rescue is never far from the headlines. Some people think it a bit rich that a former Labour Party politician who represented the working class constituency of South Shields should be milking it big time from a charity but according to Huffington Post UK, Miliband doesn’t just rely on his charity retainer but as a public speaker he commands up to £20,000 a pop. Oh, and in case you were feeling that poor David doesn’t get the remuneration he deserves this Labour man of the people has or has had several other roles with major organisations to boost that deep, deep pocket of his.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Miliband
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilateral_Commission
As usual I digress. This blog is not about lucky boy Miliband but high earners, mainly men, who represent people who can only enjoy such excessive remuneration in day dreams – oh, and are associated with the party which claims to represent the working class – the Labour Party. All of them lucky boys. Very lucky boys in a lucky boys’ world.
Trade unions might be seen as levers expected to iron out inequalities between men and women but they’ve been fiddling around, whistling, staring into the great blue yonder and rolling their eyes for around a hundred years. And are still at it.
In 2018 everyone was celebrating women winning the franchise a century before. Trade Unionists were saying – quite right, women deserve equality with us men. Saying. Not doing.
Women got the vote some innocents believe because of the sterling work they did filling in for men during the Great War (and not because the government was terrified of women returning to their militant activities that got under the skin of politicians before the war.) Certainly women had proved themselves to be useful as well as decorative. Well, strike me down guv’nor.
And once the war was over trade unions (male) demonstrated the extent of their support for working women by supporting the Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act, 1919 which ensured that so-called dilution of skilled labour – i.e. women and unskilled men who took over industrial production between 1914 and 1918 was rectified – by chucking women out of their jobs.
Men were in charge of trade unions. Women were expected to know their place.
An 1891 report on the increasing number of women workers concluded they were a threat to men’s employment – ‘an intolerable intrusion’ and ‘his (man’s) only chance of escape from the evil effects of their relentless sweep is to be found in directing and controlling them’ (women that is.)
Some men, perhaps understandably for there is no question male workers were cruelly exploited, spent not a little of their scandalously low earnings in bars –
‘Aberdeen factory workers toil on from morn till night for a beggarly wage of 6s and 7s a week, and in Dundee I found that mothers and their families went to the mills to earn equally miserable sums, while fathers compulsorily exercised their energies on the street and voluntarily in the public-house.’
Women were less inclined to put their drink habit before feeding their bairns and it did not go unnoticed that not a few of these men were in trade unions and ‘could have lifted a finger to help their wives and children by demanding better wages for women’ but didn’t.
Influential trade unionist Tom Mann in 1894 spoke of women workers as industrial slaves but despite such recognition trades unions largely ignored the plight of women workers. The excuse went something along the lines of men were too concerned with their own difficulties (to support the least protected of workers.)
In 1919 Aberdeen Trades and Labour Council voted against equal pay for men and women teachers on grounds that women’s work was less valuable than men’s. And, anyhow, women needed less money than a man for invariably she only had herself to keep whereas a man had a family.
‘That was the only reason she received less wages,’ explained W. King.
I think King was, himself, a teacher. He went on to say that the 70% of women teachers were responsible for lowering the salaries of male teachers! It didn’t occur to the intellectually challenged Mr King that if he supported equal pay there would be no lowering of salaries.
Along with other Trades Councils, Aberdeen’s, failed women. In 1920 a well-attended meeting of Aberdeen women workers agreed women had no voice through the trade union movement.
Ten years later in 1930 women campaigned to be able to work in all aspects of boot and shoe manufacture and receive equal pay but they were beaten down by the union by 124 votes to 8. No ifs or buts in that vote.
Another decade on and Scottish women were still having to demand equal pay. In a classic case of shiftiness the unions said they weren’t able to establish the principle of equal pay for similar work but were directing their efforts towards that end. No hurry boys, take your time, won’t you.
Thirty years later —–in 1970 – 1970!! unions were still doggedly anti-women workers insisting that equal pay had to be negotiated between unions and employers. The pay gender pay gap meant around 25% lower incomes for women.
British women were among the lowest paid in western Europe but male-centred unions still regarded equality of pay for women as a threat to men’s (their own earnings.)
Another thirty years plus – nearer forty years later and women in Glasgow were still waiting redress for decades of under-payments. Other local authorities had paid up but the city controlled for decades by the Labour Party dragged its heels. Not just dragged its heels but spent millions of pounds of public money – I repeat £millions – fighting the women’s action through the courts.
When at long last Labour was kicked out of Glasgow by the SNP a great clamour was heard from Labour politicians up and down the UK in support of the underpaid women workers. Cynical and hypocritical? No question.
And most of today’s trade unions 100 plus years from their inception? – surely now women have found equality and opportunities to stick their fingers into the profitable pies of grossly outrageous salaries enjoyed by union leaders? Hardly at all, it seems. Well, what a surprise.
There are women union leaders. A few. The General Secretary of the TUC is a woman. Frances O’Grady enjoys a big Desperate Dan sized pie amounting to around £152,365. She is the TUC’s first female general secretary in 144 years. “We like to take our time,” she says. You can say that again.
Being in the national leadership of unions affiliated to the TUC has its perks. Below is a mere snapshot of a long list of General Secretaries, their pies and gender.
Grahame Smith’s salary as General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress is not easy to find, impossible for me, but The Herald did have a piece that suggested he earned around £70,000 for his STUC stint plus remuneration from sitting on the boards of other government-linked organisations.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16599644.stuc-general-secretary-in-row-over-extra-three-jobs-on-top-of-union-role/
Accord: led by Ged Nichols, a bloke although its membership is over 71% female (2015 fig.) 98% of Accord shop floor reps are women but higher up the union ladder only 15% of its regional officers are and a mere 4% of its national officers. Man at the top Ged Nichols earns c. £140,000.
ASLEF: General Secretary Mick Whelan struggles on a paltry pie of c. £118,000.
The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union is led by another man, Ronnie Draper
Road Transport Union General Secretary is Robert Monks
Airline pilots union BALPA has Brian Strutton in the pilot seat earning c. £140,000.
77% women make up the membership of the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists but nailing the post of General Secretary is Mr Steve Jamieson.
The GMB union made up of 46% women is led by two blokes – Tim Roache and Paul Kenny who together earned £263,000 in 2016.
A whopping 78% of UNISON, the public Service Union, are women but two blessed men are in charge – Dave Prentis and President Gordon McKay. Prentis gets something in the region of £117,000. I tried to find McKay’s salary but UNISON’s website didn’t have that information. It did include a table of proposed salary structures for the plebs in the union with the highest as far as I could see around £42,000. Last year McKay spoke about the union’s success in raising the wages of members, ‘£33 a week makes a real difference in people’s lives,’ he said. It certainly does for those on the lowest pay grades. What’s £117,000 divided by 52? £200 a week is even better but that’s for the few not the many.
‘A Woman’s Place is in the CWU’ – Communications Workers Union (CWU) claims according to its leaflet which features lots and lots of pictures of women members. The CWU is led by a bloke, Dave Ward
USDAW, the union of shop, distributive and allied workers based in England and with a membership that includes 58% women, is led by, you guessed it another bloke, Paddy Lillis. Is it just luck men hold these top positions?
Christine Blower of the English teacher union NUT gets a canny £142,000. Christine is a woman. That’s a lot of money. Not many teachers get close to that amount over their careers.
Unite union General Secretary is Len McCluskey. No idea what he earns. Can imagine.
‘More than half the female officers in Britain’s biggest union claim to have been bullied or sexually harassed by fellow officials or members in their workplaces, a leaked internal study has found.
The report about the treatment and working conditions of female representatives at Unite also concluded that a quarter of employed officers believe allegations of bullying were not handled well by the union when they were reported.
Titled Women Officers in Unite, the report cited an official who said she felt increasingly isolated at work because of male officials talking among themselves. “I have to sit among colleagues who refer to our secretaries as the girls … [They] think it is correct to refer to black people as coloured, talk about chairmen, refer to women as a piece of skirt,’ one female officer said.
The old-boys network is alive and kicking unfortunately in Unite, where it is who you know and where they come from that matters.’
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/02/unite-union-female-officers-bullying-harassment-internal-report
(2 October 2016)
Misogyny has always been part and parcel of the trade union movement and evidently still is.
Most trade unions are based in England. Here’s a Scottish one – the teachers’ union the EIS whose president is A WOMAN, Alison Thornton, which is right and proper given over 77% of teachers are female but the EIS spokesman never off the telly is its General Secretary, Larry Flanagan. Flanagan earns just shy of £100,000.
The trade unions have proved to be nice little earners for many male members and a lucrative career structure.
Irrespective of whether a union represents a mainly female work force the tendency has been and remains for a man to lead it. Union leadership tends to be a boy’s perk. Women’s earnings and working conditions have always been of secondary concern to the unions they pay into.
Trade unions emerged to defend workers’ rights – to protect skills and standards and the delineation of work – for workers read male workers. Women’s skills were regarded as inferior to men’s even when they were comparable such as seamstress/tailor; domestic cook/chef. The skill involved in knitting garments is never seen as comparable to, say, joining two pieces of stick together to make a stool. During the world wars women proved their abilities were every bit as good as men’s but that made no difference to attitudes towards women and their earnings. Indeed the work carried out by women during the World Wars intensified male unionists suspicion of women in the workplace (they couldn’t really argue anymore that women diluted skills) and the male-dominated unions worked hand-in-glove with industry managements to ensure protection for male employees. For long women trade unionists were not exactly welcomed or taken seriously and isn’t that still the case according to the Guardian piece above?
In recent times it is claimed that whenever women enter what has been regarded as a male preserve pay levels tend to decline. Women have traditionally been equated with low pay – even when they stepped into ‘man’s work’ during the First World War munitions workers were paid less than promised and a century of trade unions has done little to eradicate this state of affairs. As far back as 1918 Gertrude Tuckwell, a trade unionist, said men’s and women’s interests are identical. Don’t think that message got across to many of her male comrades.
In 2013 the TUC sent out questionnaires on equality issues to all 54 TUC affiliated trade unions. Only 36 returned them such was their concern with equality. The TUC site that explained this had a link to further details on equality and unions but unfortunately the link doesn’t work.
https://www.tuc.org.uk/about-tuc/equality-issues/equality-audit/equality-audit-2014-improving-representation-and
Trade unions have been self-protective and paternalistic. They have been complicit in keeping women workers’ pay low and in creating jobs for the boys. Just like David Miliband with his eye-watering extravagant salary paid by a charity UK trade union leaders who talk about workers’ rights and negotiate pay claims for their members, the many, increasingly look like the few whose earnings are approaching stratospheric levels with most of them earning in excess of £100,000. And for trade union leaders read mainly male, mate.
Jobs for the boys. Surely is.
Me? I’ve always recommended joining a union and have been a member of the EIS and Unison (but I withdrew from paying the political levy to the Labour Party.)
https://lenathehyena.wordpress.com/2018/04/03/if-all-men-are-born-free-how-is-it-that-all-women-are-born-slaves-trade-unions-and-womens-inequality
Posted in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Labour Party, politics, Scotland, Scottish history, SNP, socialism, Uncategorized, Weird and Wonderful | 2 Comments »
Tags: EIS, equal pay, equality, First World War, Flanagan, Ged Nichols, GMB, Mick Whelan, Miliband, Thomas Mann, Tim Roache, trade unions, trades council, trades union congress, TUC, Unison, Unite, USDAW, women
Protest – as defined by the BBC.
More and more people claim to detect strong rightwing bias at the BBC. It isn’t clear how they get that idea.
Pretty sure it’s the first time these guys have been in a bookshop, they’ve no idea how to behave in one.
The ‘protest’ in the words of the BBC
Posted in BBC, BBC Scotland, Good Morning Scotland, politics, socialism, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Tags: BBC News, Brexit, England, English nationalism, fascist, rightwing, Ukip
If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves? – trade unions and women’s inequality
“Stand forward, sons of toil, and speak for the party out of which you may have taken, or may take, your partner for life” wrote a domestic servant from Aberdeen in 1854 in response to a meeting held the previous evening to discuss shortening of the working week by three hours through the introduction of a half-day holiday on Saturdays. The meeting had been arranged by men and the focus of their concern was working class men.
Letter to the Aberdeen Journal, 8 March 1854.
The Half-holiday movement – A word for females
Sir, I have read the report of the meeting held in the County-rooms on January 17th, on the subject of a Saturday half-holiday. It has often struck me that many speak of the working-classes as being only tradesmen, mechanics, carpenters, masons, and such like, and I am certainly quite of opinion that many such have great need for release from their toil, to breathe the air with freedom.
It was said by one who addressed the meeting that time was necessary for repose, for recreation, and enjoyment; but are these blessings needed only by tradesmen? There are others who have to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, and I also term the working-classes. I for one belong to a class who have very long hours, and very long weeks — just from Monday morning till Monday morning.
I am unable to write logically on the subject, but I may be able to convey my ideas in such a plain way that they may be understood by those interested in the subject. It was stated at the meeting by a speaker that he did not think the sons of toil were ever intended for such long hours of toil by their Maker; and I would add, that I am of the same opinion with regard to the daughters of toil. Just look at their hours of toil. Rise with them on Monday, and go through all the duties of the day till they go to rest at night. Every day and every week has its own duties, and Saturday comes, but in place of a half-holiday, the hours are sometimes as long as decency will admit of, not to infringe on the Sabbath. Then Sabbath morn arrives, but with it very little release from toil, or opportunity to breathe the air. Say, then, should not their hours be shortened?
Then, when we consider how the education of the female part of the working-classes has been neglected in youth, I think one and all ought to consider if something cannot be done for them. If it could be felt how much of the well-being of society depended on the female part of it, every energy would be put forth in their behalf. It comes home to all in some respect or other. There are few of the sons of toil, but try to have a home of their own as soon as possible, and some fair one to make it comfortable to them, and manage the affairs of it. In the wife and mother is laid the foundation of character and education for the rising generation. How necessary then that it be a solid foundation! I did not think so much could be done by women in this respect, as I have seen within the last three years that I have been eye-witness to it, and you know seeing is believing. Stand forward, sons of toil, and speak for the party out of which you may have taken, or may take, your partner for life.
My idea is, that if masters and mistresses could do a little for the bettering of their female servants, they would suffer no loss by their work falling behind, and they would have less to do with Industrial Schools. There are many mistresses who cannot tell if their servants can read or repeat any part of the Shorter Catechism. Show them, by your way of treating them, that you wish to better them; and it must be a strange heart that love does not beget love in. Many servants, in place of going to church on Sabbath, go to see their friend, and acquaintances; and who can blame them for so doing, when they have no time allowed them for it, on week days or evenings? Give them a half-holiday, that all such visits may be made, and on Sabbath spend an hour in hearing them read and repeat the Shorter Catechism, and any such Sabbath like employment.
I may be blamed for bringing family matters before the public, but perhaps what I have said may be taken up more fully by some one who can say it better. But, here again, I am sorry to remark, that I find that the best public man is not always the best in the family circle. My creed is – if you wish any benevolent project to prospect in public, it must be begun in private, and carried out in your own family circle. I support this idea by my observation for years of those who, in public, say, Shut the Post-office, but whose letters go regularly thither on Saturday afternoon, to be carried forward by the Sabbath post. We have seen the length of the speakers at the meeting, now let us see their breadth, and whether they will come and help us. We cannot raise a public meeting to tell our grievances; yet I hope they will not leave the work half done. But I am encroaching on your space and time too much; so I remain, yours,
A HOUSEHOLD SERVANT
(The bold emphasis is mine.)
Sojournor Truth
About this same time in the USA women were involved in similar and different struggles, against sexism and racism –
“That little man…he says women can’t have as much rights as men, cause Christ wasn’t a woman. Where did your Christ come from: From God and a woman. Man had nothing to do with Him.”
(Sojourner Truth, evangelist and reformer, at a Women’s Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio, 1851.)
The anonymous domestic servant in Aberdeen wanted women in non-industrial occupations to benefit from a little time off so they could visit friends and family, go for a walk or simply read a little much like other people not constrained by long and exhausting hours labouring for their employers.
The movement to shorten Saturday work to a half-day – not really a half-day as work was to stop at two in the afternoon instead of five – had been gathering momentum. For the working classes then there were no happy Fridays. Working hours established by governments and laid down in legal frameworks for employment did not follow a trajectory of improvement necessarily as is only too clear today. When the working week ran over 6 days and before the introduction of a 10-hour day males and females were worked to death. In 1847 the maximum hours a woman could lawfully be employed for in a factory was 58 a week. Three years later this was increased to 60 hours.
With half-day Saturdays (2pm stop) the rest of the working week had to be squeezed into what remained of Monday to Saturday early afternoon. Of course for many domestic servants there was no clocking on and off; they were on duty around the clock seven days a week. It is against this background the letter-writer put pen to paper to record her frustration at the different attitudes between organised industrial labour and much women’s work. She is angry that consideration has all gone towards the interests of men with no recognition of the plight of domestic servants and women in particular. The very nature of domestic labour split up this huge workforce into individual households so there were not the opportunities to meet and organise to put pressure on employers and governments to act in their interests.
For those whose voices were heard the prevailing sentiment as demonstrated in press reports was of the generosity and kindness of employers in granting extra hours off on a Saturday instead of condemnation of practices which overworked employees to the detriment of their health and family life. Some who opposed a 2pm stop on Saturdays complained that working men would make bad use of their leisure time, as if that was any business of theirs.
It is incontestable that the emergence of trades unions led to improvements in working conditions and pay. The declining influence of unions is regrettable and the result has been a mushrooming of low wages, long hours, zero hours contracts and the rest where we’ve seen successive governments working in cahoots with greedy and unprincipled employers to drive ever-greater exploitation of the workforce.
However, Britain’s trades unions been equally culpable in the gross and unwavering exploitation of women workers. Too often they have been organised by self-serving cliques who enjoy practices of patronage that any Renaissance prince might be proud of. They emerged to protect and advance the interests of members and being mainly male continued to be defined through their advocacy of male interests and to that end were found to be opposed to what they regarded was the dilution of their crafts by women. We should not be surprised for union men did not live in a bubble of social democracy but were influenced by the mores of the time in which women were seen and treated as inferior beings. It was, therefore, a case of men putting obstacles in the way of women and of women’s skills being designated subordinate to men’s purely on grounds that if women carried them out they must be substandard.
Don’t pay attention to nonsense you read in books that suggest women hardly participated in ‘manual’ work over the centuries. They always have been whether from necessity or choice women could hammer, mould and chisel as well as any man given the opportunity but were denied such opportunities increasingly as male unions dominated protection of industries. And don’t confuse the lives of middle class and upper class women with the experiences of the poor and working classes – chalk and cheese.
Women have always been active in socially progressive movements alongside men although they haven’t always been welcomed. Within trades unions female membership increased through the 20th century but the unions remained in the hands of men, run by them for men. For lots of trade unionists they might talk a good talk but walk arm-in-arm with women – no. Women were always regarded as a threat to their status.
For a lot of people the adaptability of women to pick up traditional men’s jobs during the Great War and later during the Second World War was something of a revelation but most regarded this interregnum as a blip on the employment landscape and women were quickly hustled off to resume more domestic labour. And the unions were there to make sure they did.
In more recent times the unions pushed for and won equal pay legislation for women – of course the definition of what that meant in reality was a thorny one – with that ever-present anomaly of the definition of skilled work against unskilled aka women’s work.
A sheen of equality in the workplace: in 1965 the Trades Union Congress pushed for equal treatment of women workers in industry. But…but…it’s that old canard of you can take a horse to water or more relevant to women… you can agree policy/pass laws but you can’t make the men around you recognise and implement them.
In 1968 women workers at the Ford plant at Dagenham in London and later at Halewood famously went on strike for equal pay. The legislation was there but did that make any difference to their earning? Did it hell. The Labour Party was in government and its female Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, Barbara Castle, was sympathetic and the women were granted an increase – initially that was still 8% lower than men doing equivalent work.
Much foot shuffling and more horses led to a barricade of water troughs with courts, male unions and governments all resisting female equality. In 1970 the Equal Pay Act was passed. No rush boys…to be implemented five years later. Where’s that bloody horse when you need her or is it a him? It was the UK’s membership of the EU and equality legislation under the Treaty of Rome that moved things on a bit for women.
Equality for females in the workforce has been a sair fecht (hard struggle.)
You could be forgiven for thinking that into the 21st century women, at long last, were recognised for their contribution to the economy and their skills. But here comes horsey.
Among the most glaring examples of deliberate resistance to implementing equality practices trot up Glasgow City Council, run by the Labour Party- a party stocked and maintained by trades unions – for the best part of 80 years was exposed as under-paying women and not only that so determined were they to deny there was any wrong in their practices, they spent or rather squandered £2.5 million of public cash in an attempt to prevent women from getting compensated for years of underpay through a legal challenge in the courts. One hundred years and counting women were still being sidelined by the personification of the union movement in power with Glasgow’s Labour governing body still ‘at it.’
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15568711.Revealed__Labour_led_Glasgow_council_spent_millions_fighting_women_workers__39__equal_pay_claims/
As I write the current Labour leader in Scotland, Richard Leonard, agreed that the Labour run council had put ‘too much resistance’ to equal pay claims by women under their control.
“We have seen the length of the speakers at the meeting, now let us see their breadth, and whether they will come and help us” wrote our doughty Aberdonian over 160 years ago.
It took a woman and a new political party, the SNP, in Glasgow to clean out the equivalent of the Augean stables.
A sair fecht? It surely has been and one that isn’t over, not by a long chalk but it’s time that old horse was put out to grass.
Posted in Aberdeen, Labour Party, politics, Scotland, Scottish history, Scottish Nationalism, SNP, socialism, Uncategorized, Weird and Wonderful | 1 Comment »
Tags: equal pay, Richard Leonard, Sojourney Truth, trade unions
The Scots who stopped Pinochet’s engines. NEW FEATURE DOCUMENTARY, NAE PASARAN
The Scots who stopped Pinochet’s engines.
NEW FEATURE DOCUMENTARY, NAE PASARAN
Award-winning director Felipe Bustos Sierra launches the final crowdfunding campaign to compete his feature-length documentary, Nae Pasaran. The project, which launched in 2014, set out to investigate the real impact of a four-year solidarity boycott by factory workers at Rolls-Royce East Kilbride. The research led to the discovery of the Chilean Air Force military engines which disappeared from the factory in 1978. One of the engines, the first engine caught in the boycott, has been returned to Scotland and will be unveiled in East Kilbride early next year.
1974, Scotland. Bob Fulton, a Rolls-Royce engine inspector, returns to his section, upset and anxious. He’s just told his colleagues that a Chilean Air Force jet engine has arrived in the factory for maintenance and he’s refusing to let it go through, in protest against the recent military coup of General Pinochet. He’s seen the images of people packed into football stadiums and the Chilean Air Force jets bombing Santiago, and now one of the engines from those very same planes is right there, waiting for inspection. He can see his supervisors approaching, he knows he’s about to be fired yet he feels a responsibility.
The Chilean coup, on the 11 September 1973, was a landmark of the Cold War. The first democratically-elected left-wing president in Latin America, Salvador Allende, was brutally overthrown by the Chilean Armed Forces, which surrounded and attacked the presidential palace where Allende and his staff refused to surrender. Allende died in the palace and the dictatorship that followed claimed thousands of lives, with many still disappeared. Hundreds of thousands of Chileans were sent into exile.
The images of the Hawker Hunter air raid, caught by documentary filmmakers, traveled the world. When the Scottish workers saw the images of tv, they recognised the planes and knew immediately they’d worked on the same engines. The Hawker Hunter was one of Britain’s most exported military aircrafts, with over 20 Air Forces flying them. All of them were powered by the same engine, the Rolls-Royce Avon.
By the 1970s, all Avon engines were repaired in the same factory… Rolls-Royce East Kilbride. With nowhere else to go for maintenance, the workers’ action could potentially be devastating for the Chilean Air Force.
The boycott of Chilean engines at the Rolls-Royce factory was a minor cause célèbre. The workers kept the boycott going for four years, leaving the engines to rust at the back of the factory, until one night… the engines mysteriously disappeared. The workers were told their actions had been meaningless.
The filmmaker, Felipe Bustos Sierra, son of a Chilean exile, grew up hearing rumours of the now-mythic tale of international solidarity. These accounts bring him to Bob’s door 40 years later. Was any of it true?
NAE PASARAN is the painstakingly documented and emotional account of the impact of their action, and for the very first time, the feature film tells the story of the many Chileans who crossed paths with the engines.
In 2015, following revelations of our research, the Chilean ambassador bestowed the highest honour given to foreigners by the Government of Chile upon the Scottish workers. In an unlikely twist of fate, the film chronicles how the pensioners from East Kilbride became Commanders of the Republic of Chile.
Earlier this year, after having discovered the lost engines in Chile, we were able to bring one back to Scotland with the support of Unite Scotland and assistance of Glasgow Museums. Next year, the engine will be returned to East Kilbride to resume its struggle against the Scottish weather and stand as a monument to the Scottish action for international solidarity.
The film is close to completion and Debasers is now seeking its final £50,000 in funding via Kickstarter. After a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2015 to begin filming, this final round of funding will push the film to completion ahead of its 2018 film festival deadlines.
Crowdfunding perks include Rolls-Royce Avon engine blades, invites to the premiere after-party in East Kilbride, personalised poems written by “The Glasgow Poet” Stuart Barrie (one of the Rolls-Royce workers), and postcards signed by the workers.
For any further information, photographs or interviews, please contact Nicola Balkind: nicola@nicolabalkind.com
Link to campaign: naepasaran.com
Screening times: To Be Announced.
The short film is available to watch at: https://vimeo.com/182246588
Felipe Bustos Sierra said:
It’s been a long project to research and our characters and their story have been an incredible buoy throughout: a true barometer to keep us going in the right direction. We’re asking that if international solidarity means anything to you, if you believe – like we do – that we are all connected trying to make a life for ourselves while treating each other like human beings before politics, class, language or borders muddle it up, this is a story for you and it has a painstakingly-documented happy ending. Please pledge to help us reach our funding goal ahead of our film festival deadlines in early 2018. If you can’t help financially, tell others about the “Scots who stopped Pinochet’s engines”. Tell them what we’re doing and please get them to our funding page at www.naepasaran.com
NAE PASARAN is directed by Felipe Bustos Sierra and produced by Debasers Filums.
Felipe Bustos Sierra is a Belgian-Chilean filmmaker based in Scotland. His second short film “Three-Legged Horses” was the first successful Kickstarter project in Scotland and has played since at over 40 international festivals over 5 continents. He’s the creative director at Debasers Filums and working on his first feature film, “Nae Pasaran”. He’s an alumni of the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Edinburgh International Film Festival Talent Lab.
Kickstarter helps artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers, and other creators find the resources and support they need to make their ideas a reality.
The title Nae Pasaran is the Scottish-accented ‘NO PASARAN’, the anti-fascist battlecry of the Spanish Civil War which saw thousands of men and women throughout the world travel to Spain to fight Franco’s troops. The stories of the Scottish International Brigades are legendary and have been a strong source of inspiration ever since, particularly for the Rolls-Royce workers who led the Chilean engine boycott. ‘No Pasaran’ is still often used today at anti-right-wing demonstrations across Scotland.
The crowdfunding page can be found at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/debasers/nae-pasaran-the-scots-who-defied-pinochet-finishin or http://www.naepasaran.com
Follow Nae Pasaran online on Twitter: @naepasaran and on Facebook at http://facebook.com/naepasaran
The actions of the East Kilbride Rolls Royce workers were highlighted in the press in 1978 when it was reported that four aero-engines belonging to the Chilean government were removed in a secret operation from the Rolls Royce workshop with a call going out to all British workers to black all work for Chile.
A shop steward from Rolls Royce, Peter Lowe, was quoted saying, “There is nothing we can do now that the engines have left the factory. We can only hope that our fellow trade unionists everywhere else will take up the cudgels on behalf of the people of Chile.”
The engines which the men had refused to work on for four years were worth £3 million. They were taken from the factory by sheriff offers in an operation described as of military style precision and it was thought transported to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and from there flown to Chile.
The TUC condemned the actions of the government for supporting the rightwing junta in Chile responsible for the disappearance of 2000 political prisoners.
And the Scottish national football team got caught up in the Chilean controversy when in 1977 the SFA insisted a pre-World Cup friendly be played against Chile in the very stadium the Pinochet junta used as a detention camp for those who opposed their illegal takeover of government – where workers, students, intellectuals, parents and even their children were horribly tortured, raped, humiliated and killed.
Mr Willie Allan of the SFA insisted the match go ahead. Opposition came from among others the committee of the Ross and Cromarty Constituency Labour Party who said, “We are disgusted that the SFA should want Scottish footballers to play in a country whose dictatorial regime used their main football stadium to rape, torture and murder opponents during the military coup.
But such opinions failed to influence the Scottish Football Association and the match went ahead in that blood-soaked pitch proving that to some footballers their game is more important than lives.
One of the best known people who died in the Santiago stadium was Chilean singer and guitarist Victor Jara who had his hands crushed and destroyed before a military officer played a game of Russian roulette with him. Victor Jara died at the third shot. And his popularity with the Chilean people was so infuriating to the rightwing military the singer his corpse was then machine gunned.
Posted in politics, Scotland, Scottish history, socialism, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Allende, Chile, Nae Pasaran, Pinochet, rightwing junta, Rolls Royce
“Up Fittie down with the Hun”: 1920s xenophobia and trade
Guest post by Textor
On April 2nd as many as 3000 gathered at the fish market intent on stopping all landings. Fish was dumped, boats cast adrift and strike breakers intimidated. At one point police threw a cordon between Torry and the town in an attempt to stop fishermen moving en-masse to the centre. Baton charges were made. Not to be outdone the women of Torry gathered bowls, jars and stones to pelt the police. When police cleared the streets men and women took refuge in tenements reappearing as the waves of law and order moved on, all the better to attack from the rear. Meanwhile across on the north side of the harbour the families of Fittie gathered crying Up Fittie Down with the Hun. With creels and baskets full of stones they proceeded to pelt boats entering or leaving the harbour, forcing skippers to the south side of the channel where they were met by a barrage from the Torry men and women. The police were undone by this pincer movement.
At a time when the unpleasant whiff of xenophobia drifts over the stinking frame of crises ridden economies it’s worth recalling that there is nothing new in this. It’s what the class divided beast does; cling to backward-looking, mythologised national identity; to blame others for what are in fact consequences of the endemic conditions of international competition is so much easier than seeking out the social foundations of crises.
This is not to say that xenophobic opinion has no location in objective reality, that it is necessarily the manifestation of mad psychologies. No. The current spectre haunting Europe and beyond draws on ways in which the “free movement” of labour has increased competition between workers and helped keep wages down. In other words “foreign” workers are in a sense a threat to older labour markets. But it is the underpinning forces which mobilise them.
In the 1920s Aberdeen was hit by problems and disputes across two of the most important sectors of the local economy: trawling and granite. The foundation of both lay in intensification of international competition and the legacies of the Great War, and both centred on foreign labour undermining British industry.
Trawling
It was hardly surprising that when the German trawler Bremerhaven attempted to dock and land fish in Aberdeen in 1919 that there was a wave of revulsion. The war had just ended and Aberdonians, like so many others, had suffered deeply in the slaughter of 1914-18. Men gathered at the quayside to refuse the Germans the right to land. Following its search for a berth the trawler eventually grounded and its crew stoned with the demand the German flag be run down. The local paper described the skipper’s attempt to land as brazen insolence and sinister and making clear its animosity to German trade said it was an unfriendly act of a nation not penitent but revengeful. The editor went so far as to sneer at the country’s Kultur of dried raw fish as a delicacy. Bremerhaven was forced out of Aberdeen, eventually landing at its home port where the Social Democrat Party came to its fishermen’s defence and denounced the Aberdeen men as an English rabble claiming Aberdonian screamed Baby killers. Pigs. Shoot down the Huns.
Three years later the trawler Else Kunkel II steamed into Aberdeen hoping to land its fish; again there was opposition to former enemy, now called alien exploiters who were threatening the livelihoods of local families. Aberdeen’s fishermen were said to hold bitter hostility against their former enemy. However their fish was landed and so the trade was continued sporadically through the year. Skippers and mates appealed to the Government for enforcement of the Reparations [Recovery] Act and that it applied 26% duty on German fish. No help was forthcoming. Matters were made more difficult when the particular interests of buyers and fish processors opposed the embargo demanded by trawlermen; and there was local bitterness when Peterhead harbour offered to give room to German boats, not through internationalism but for the money to be made. The local newspaper acknowledged the need for Europe-wide trade in fish but realised with more powerful trawlers and crews able and willing to fish dangerous Icelandic waters the local industry faced a serious threat: A German monopoly of the fish trade of Aberdeen would leave the consumer in the grip of alien exploiters and would mean a disaster to a great local industry.
So matters simmered until February 1923 when skippers and mates voted to strike. Once again the rhetoric of wartime found a voice: you are fighting the Hun a second time for your rights. By the end of the first week of March 100 boats were tied up with hundreds of men out of work. Share fishermen, skippers and mates, led the dispute fearing for their livelihoods. Waged men, deckhands and engineers, were what you might call victims rather than being instrumental in this strike. Although local communists mobilised meetings around the notion of the internationalism of the working class as distinct from men such as skippers and mates there is no evidence that any significant animosity split the ranks nor that the waged men felt kinship with the German crews despite rumblings about some share men having avoided service in the war and making money out of wartime demand.
In fact solidarity within and across the fishing communities of Torry and Fittie was strong enough to draw them together to fight German landings, strike-breakers and police. When one local boat decided to scab hundreds turned out from Torry to confront the skipper and turn him back. Boats were sabotaged including the German trawler Senator Sache; while its crew slept the moorings were cut; eventually saved from grounding by the local pilot. Porters landing German fish were threatened with violence and police were defied. On April 2nd as many as 3000 gathered at the fish market intent on stopping all landings. Fish was dumped, boats cast adrift and strike breakers intimidated. At one point police threw a cordon between Torry and the town in an attempt to stop fishermen moving en-masse to the centre. Baton charges were made. Not to be outdone the women of Torry gathered bowls, jars and stones to pelt the police. When police cleared the streets men and women took refuge in tenements reappearing as the waves of law and order moved on, all the better to attack from the rear. Meanwhile across on the north side of the harbour the families of Fittie gathered crying Up Fittie Down with the Hun. With creels and baskets full of stones they proceeded to pelt boats entering or leaving the harbour, forcing skippers to the south side of the channel where they were met by a barrage from the Torry men and women. The police were undone by this pincer movement.
But so much conspired against the lcoal trawling industry, both men and forces of international trade. Trawl owners looked for compromise, buyers needed the Icelandic fish brought by Germans, the herring industry needed access to the German market and the British government was unwilling to hamper this sector of international trade. From the German side it made so much sense to continue coming to Aberdeen or failing this perhaps Peterhead. With the German Mark devalued, and the hyperinflation of 1923, the prices realised at British ports easily covered the costs of labour and coal. Stones and insults were little compared to the high explosives of the Great War.
Much less militant but driven by very similar forces Aberdeen’s granite industry also found itself in 1923 under threat from German competition. It is probably the case that much of the militancy of the fishermen and their families was born from the closeness of their communities with so many of them living together in the tenements of Torry and Fittie. Granite workers had a much more fragmented life style.
Granite like fish was as open to international competition. And like the owners of trawler Bremerhaven German manufacturers could and did take advantage of the opportunities afforded by devaluation. Selling in the British market was more profitable and vitally gave payment in Sterling, then an important international currency.
Just as the trawler dispute had at times adopted a stance of being anti-German as opposed to anti German competition so also did the dispute with foreign granite traders. Not that Aberdeen’s stone trade was against the import of foreign granite in fact since the later 19th century the trade had depended on imports to meet the fashion for greater variety of colour in memorials. What disturbed Aberdeen’s granite manufacturers was the threat of dressed stone being sold to British customers.
The first hint that there might be competition coming from Germany was reported in 1921when the defeated nation was found to be trading in France. Bad enough there being a competitor on the block but made worse by the belief that monuments made by the one-time enemy were to be erected over the graves of dead French soldiers. In the following year one Friederich Hagelauer of Fürth was said to have been offering memorial crosses for British graves.
By 1923 the “scandal” was being highlighted in Aberdeen’s Press & Journal with German’s accused of dumping fish and dumping granite. The Sunday Post took up the cry of an insult to our heroic dead the stones being erected where woman pray . . . and children weep. Aberdeen’s granite manufacturers sided with the newspapers and led the way in Scotland to enforcing an embargo on this foreign stone. However, it was one thing to achieve success in the home country it was another to get English dealers and customers to agree to a boycott. For customers there was the incentive of cheaper stone, if they were willing to turn a blind eye to origins; and for dealers there was the carrot of more profit. With the English market still accepting German imports Aberdeen’s trade with the south was threatened.
The difficulties Aberdeen’s stone trade faced were nothing compared to the chaos hitting Germany as it struggled to meet reparation demands of the Versailles Treaty. Its economy had all but collapsed, made worse when France occupied the Ruhr bringing its vast coal industry to a halt. Compared with the French the British state favoured a more conciliatory attitude to the defeated enemy, favoured international trade and stabilisation of the German economy.
Consequently when the granite traders approached the Government and asked for an increased tariff on German stone, like the trawlermen they met with refusal, indeed they faced the prospect that the existing tariff might be cut. The Press & Journal argued the local case, believing (and this sounds eerily like opinion in 2017) that by giving up free trade and enforcing tariffs the grave menace of foreign competition could be brought to heal. Regardless of the clout the local press had in the North East its opinion failed to sway the government and into 1926 imports continued.
Employers led the way in this dispute. There were no bands of granite-cutters and families guarding cemeteries, dinging doon German memorials; the nature of the trade simply did not lend itself to this form of action. But labour did have a voice which put itself behind the demands of the masters. George Murray, who lost a son in the Great War said it made his blood boil that German stone should even be offered as suitable material for British graves. Putting a stop to this, he said, was not only the correct thing to do but also good for the industry and what was good for business was good for workers: We in Belmont Street [offices of the Trades Council] are always favourable to the bosses . . . but of course we expect a good living wage from them in return.
Apart from the notable success in Scotland the best legislative advance made was to seek the protection of the Merchandise Marks Act, at one point speaking to Sidney Webb at the Board of Trade arguing that the granite imports should be marked “Made in Germany”. Eventually in 1929, after extensive evidence given including opposition from granite retailers, the Government decided that stone should be marked with its country of origin. Although important to local communities across Britain the Government had decided the granite industry was of no great significance in the national economy hence refusal to “safeguard” it from overseas competition. Marking stone was the most it would concede but even here it was niggardly in the eyes of merchants as only the slightest of marks-stencilled- was insisted on, not the heavily-cut lettering asked for by manufacturers.
The year after being given nominal protection the complaints continued. Germans were accused of stealing designs, appropriating the names of granites made famous by the Aberdeen industry and despite the legislation they palm off cheaply produced monuments . . . as British made.
British made; a rallying cry of the period as the United Kingdom hoped to engender patriotism in consumers and at the same time draw from the still important empire preferential treatment for manufacturers. But even here, with the cold wind of protectionism blowing across economies dealing with slump and the fall-out from the Crash of 1929, even here Aberdeen’s granite merchants struggled. Canada, for instance, did a curtsy to the “Mother Country” but refused to bow the knee. Canada gave some slight advantage to British granite but it still bore a tariff of 27% thus favouring Canadian manufacturers.
And so the Aberdeen granite industry, along with other British manufacturers, found the battle largely lost, found its markets shrinking and in an increasingly unstable world was forced to look to improving its competitive position by reorganising the use of labour and introducing new technology to raise productivity. And where in 1936 did Aberdonians go to see how granite could and should be handled? Germany.
Under the auspices of the British Institute of Quarrying a deputation representing the trade plus engineer Frank Cassie were content to take lessons from “the enemy”. At one site near Dresden they visited a quarry where 2000 men were said to be employed, where 250 men working at stone-splitting machines produced thousands of granite setts. Although Frank Cassie believed Aberdeen granite was unsuitable for mechanical sett-making overall the deputation was impressed by the thoroughness with which the German does the job, and the importance attached to organisation. Three years into Hitler’s rule the British deputation was envious of Germany’s road and bridge building – a policy they said the British government should put in hand. Whether the deputation witnessed other aspects of the young Nazi regime is not recorded.
The pressures of social disruption and global economic crises exposed the trawling and granite industries as poorly equipped to meet the threat of external competition. Trawl owners were content to fish middle-distance waters using an ageing fleet and granite merchants managed an industry characterised by a few large employers in a sea of small businesses, far from ideal when foreign competition became very keen.
Posted in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Doric, politics, Scotland, Scottish history, socialism, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Bremerhaven, embargo, fishing, Fittie, Germany, granite, Torry, trawling, xenophobia
British-American Project – grooming leaders
You will all be familiar with the British-American Project. No? Here’s a clue – it is a British/American networking organisation sponsored by several well-known businesses including Monsanto, Philip Morris (tobacco), Apple, British Airways, BP Coca-Cola, Unilever.
In the words of BAP:
“The British-American Project is a transatlantic fellowship of over 1,200 leaders, rising stars and opinion formers from a broad spectrum of occupations, backgrounds and political views. It is an extraordinarily diverse network of high-achievers on rising career paths in public, professional and business life.
BAP operates on a not-for-profit basis, funded through its membership and a small amount of support from corporate partners. We also receive support in kind from a number of bodies [see above] who share our values and objectives.”
In 2007 the journalist John Pilger wrote that:
‘The BAP rarely gets publicity, which may have something to do with the high proportion of journalists who are alumni. Prominent BAP journalists are David Lipsey, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and assorted Murdochites. The BBC is well represented. On the Today programme, James Naughtie, whose broadcasting has long reflected his own transatlantic interests, has been an alumnus since 1989. Today’s newest voice, Evan Davis, formerly the BBC’s zealous economics editor, is a member. And at the top of the BAP website home page is a photograph of Jeremy Paxman and his endorsement. “A marvellous way of meeting a varied cross-section of transatlantic friends,” says he’[21].
BAP has been described as a Trojan horse for American foreign policy/business/influence in the world – the Special Relationship grown large. I’ve read it has folded yet its website is still up and BAP’s annual conference is advertised for Newcastle later this year so it looks as though it is alive and kicking.
The Labour Party features largely, New Labour’s usual suspects, along with several Conservatives and assorted others. Tony Blair, not a member, described BAP as a wide-ranging pro-active organisation for “young leaders.”
Wendy Alexander, remember her? was one of those expected to take on a leadership role. Blink and you would have missed her leadership of Labour in Scotland but get there she did.
“BAP network …committed to “grooming leaders”
“Casual freemasonry” was Pilger’s description – and “by far the most influential transatlantic network of politicians, journalists and academics.”
It appears this self-selective organisation of like-minded people who saw themselves as movers and shakers able to influence all of our lives and mould attitudes relating to politics, culture, trade, defence, war and so on grew out of an idea of the late US president Ronald Reagan to develop a network of co-operation between the UK and America then developed by Sir Charles Villiers (Etonian banker and former member of Special Operations Executive) and Lewis Van Dusen. This was no peace organisation, very anti-CND.
“In the summer of 1997, a few weeks after New Labour won power, a striking article about the election appeared in a privately circulated newsletter. Under the cryptic headline Big Swing To BAP, the article began, “No less than four British-American Project fellows and one advisory board member have been appointed to ministerial posts in the new Labour government.” A list of the names of these five people and of other New Labour appointees who were members of BAP followed: “Mo Mowlam … Chris Smith … Peter Mandelson … Baroness Symons … George Robertson … Jonathan Powell … Geoff Mulgan … Matthew Taylor …” The article ended with a self-congratulatory flourish and the names of two more notable BAP members: “James Naughtie and Jeremy Paxman gave them all a hard time on BBC radio and television. Other fellows, too numerous to list, popped up throughout the national media commenting, criticising and celebrating.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/06/usa.politics1
In 2003 John Pilger noted that “Five members of Blair’s first cabinet, along with his chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, were members of the British American Project for a Successor Generation, a masonry of chosen politicians and journalists, conceived by the far-right oil baron J. Howard Pew and launched by Ronald Reagan and Rupert Murdoch.”
In the beginning advisory boards were established in the US and Britain through the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC in the US and in Britain the rightwing Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House in London currently headed by Eliz Manningham-Buller, former DG of the Security Services. Former presidents include Douglas Hurd, George Robertson and Paddy Ashdown. It describes itself as ‘independent’ and not funded by government-
“The institute receives no subsidy from the UK government or any other source.” although, curiously, among its funders, those who do not wish to remain anonymous, is the British Army, Ministry of Defence and the BBC.
The BBC? Explains why it uses is so much in its news reports. Isn’t there a question over BBC’s independence when it pays into this think tank? How many others does it help fund?
https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/Fundingbands15-16A.pdf
Let’s cut to the chase – who are/were some of these anointed if not by predestination then something not dissimilar?
Apart from Wendy Alexander, sister of former Labour foreign and trade minister, Douglas Alexander, other alumni include – well, Douglas Alexander, Labour Party Foreign and Trade minister; Stephen Dorrell, former Conservative minister; Alan Sked founder of Ukip, David Miliband, Labour Party; Baron Mandelson, Labour Party, EU trade commissioner; Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, ex-Labour Party Minister, Adviser to BP, on Board of Equilibrium Gulf Ltd; Baroness Symons, Labour Party former Foreign Office minister; Jonathan Powell, Labour Party former chief of staff to Blair; Baroness Scotland, Labour Home Office minister; Geoff Mulgan, former head of Downing Street’s policy and strategy unit; Sadiq Khan, Labour Party, Mayor of London; Matthew Taylor, Downing Street head of policy; David Willetts, Conservative minister; journalists Jeremy Paxman, BBC; Evan Davis, BBC; James Naughtie, BBC; William Crawley, BBC; Jane Hill, BBC; Ben Hammersley, BBC; Trevor Phillips, BBC; Isabel Hilton, BBC, the Independent, the Guardian; Margaret Hill, BBC producer of current affairs; Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The Independent, London Evening Standard; Charles Moore, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator; Rowan Pelling, Daily Telegraph and many, many more.
BAP was designed to be an active professional networking medium for young professionals so many in the list above will have dropped out to be replaced by the future. And on the subject of the future at a time when there is great concern at the erosion of the NHS and the prospect of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership aka TTIP I think there are reasons to be very worried indeed over this close and cagey liaison.
http://powerbase.info/index.php/British_American_Project
http://www.britishamericanproject.org/
Posted in BBC, BBC Scotland, CND, journalism, Labour Party, politics, Scotland, Scottish history, socialism, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Tags: BAP, British-American Partnership, Isabel Hilton, James Naughtie, Jeremy Paxman, Monsanto, NHS, TTIP, Wendy Alexander
STOP PRESS: Russian Revolution 1917
It was almost incredible that it could be true. We stood together in the darkened street, half delirious with joy, while tears mingled with our laughter.
Emotionally charged, with an echo of Wordsworth’s response to news of the French Revolution, these are the words Aberdonian John Paton on hearing that the Tsar had been overthrown. It was March 1917. It was the Russian Revolution. The thirty one year old socialist was leaving an election meeting where he’d supported the anti-war stance of Ramsay MacDonald. Since 1914 millions had been sucked into the bloody maelstrom of world war. For small bands of socialists across Europe the war was final proof of the bankruptcy of capitalism and as such had to be opposed despite lies in the press, willingly if not happily accepting threats of violence and imprisonment.
Anti-war socialists saw glimmers of hope in working class militancy which continued through these desperate years. Rent strikes, demands for 40 hour working week, the emergence of an unofficial shop steward movement all implicitly challenged political authority so much so that by 1917 “Red Clydesiders” were being harassed, sent to internal exile and gaoled. Socialists were buoyed but faced the fact that in Britain and across Europe, particularly in Germany, social democratic parties had taken up their respective national flags and helped drum men to the battle-fronts.
When John Paton left the election meeting on that fateful evening he met with a comrade who was almost choking with excitement at the news of the fall of the Tsar. Hardly surprising that local election politics were for the moment put into the shade. For John Paton events in Russia spurred him to greater political activity which eventually resulted in him becoming a leading figure in the Independent Labour Party.
In a similar fashion the cub reporter James Leslie Mitchell (Lewis Grassic Gibbon) was inspired by the later Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia so much so that he and a colleague could not sleep o’nights. We prowled Aberdeen . . . talking the moon into morning about jolly and heart-some and splendid things: life, death, the Revolution. Young Mitchell was then working for The Aberdeen Journal; the city’s most important newspaper. Since the 1740s the Journal had served Aberdeen with a generally conservative view of the world. In its time it had wagged a political and moral finger at the excessive demands of Chartists and seen off more radical newspaper rivals by accepting some of the liberal policies of the 19th century. Basically the Journal wanted men to be politically sensible. Political militancy, whether it was votes for women or re-division of land, was unacceptable, at least in the parliamentary “democracy” that was Britain.
James Leslie Mitchell’s enthusiasm was not shared by the Journal nor by its stable-mate The Evening Express. However, this is not to say that the earlier phase of the Russian Revolution which had so captivated John Paton was denounced by the Aberdeen newspapers. We must remember that the British state and its mouthpieces were concerned with the prosecution of the war. Where John had seen universal hope for an end to the slaughter and the building of a more just world the Aberdeen papers believed that far from doing this the fall of the Tsarist autocracy would mean a more rational organisation of Russia’s military forces, taking power from the hands of an incompetent regime, with what they called dark and mysterious forces behind the throne, and placing it with men in the Russian parliament, the Duma; in other words a new regime with some sort of political legitimacy, consequently better able to work with Britain and her allies by marshalling workers and peasants to fight the German enemy.
In March 1917 Aberdeen Daily Journal welcomed the “Revolution” and confidently predicted that a more democratic empire could be built with the help of Grand Duke Michael and on this solid foundation the energetic prosecution of the war [would be] their first consideration. And at the same time that it praised Russia for holding fast to the European battlefields where millions were dying the newspaper congratulated Russia for not taking the bloody path of the 1905 revolution or that mapped out in France in 1789. As the Evening Express put it the simple-hearted, generous, hospitable Russians were following a course of common sense in showing a willingness to keep the slaughter going.
On the other hand there was an enemy in Britain, conspiring to defeat the just ends being pursued by the state, personified in the person of Ramsay MacDonald: Aberdeen wants no peace bargainers, no mischief makers, in a time of national crisis. Russia, said the Journal must also beware Socialists and fanatical Revolutionaries. Ramsay MacDonald is now one of the great villains of Labour history; the man who sold out to the National Government and Conservatism. But this is to forget he and others had the courage and we might say the decency to stand against the bloodletting of 1914-18 even if this was from a pacifist stance rather than, as the young John Paton would have demanded, a revolutionary overthrow of the property owning class.
It just so happened that Aberdeen played its own small part in ensuring the pacifist MacDonald with his M.P. colleague Fred Jowett of Bradford were prevented in June 1917 from attending an anti-war socialist meeting in Petrograd. Aberdeen was the “certain port” from which these two men attempted to sail only to be stopped by organised labour under the leadership of Captain Edward Tupper of the seamen’s union. Pickets at the harbour threw their luggage ashore and followed them to their lodgings to keep them from sailing. Needless to say the local press was enchanted by this show of militancy, displaying a support for picketing which tended to be conspicuous by its absence in earlier industrial strikes.
When the Bolshevik Lenin was given safe passage by the Germans to the Finland Station in April unsurprisingly he was said to be an agent of the Kaiser, the editor of the Evening Express advised the Russian state now is the time for a supreme effort to trample down the internal enemy before hurling back the invader. Equally unsurprising the newspapers also saw MacDonald and his ILP comrades as doing the Kaiser’s work not to mention men and women going on strike threatening to disrupt munitions production.
Regardless of all the political guidance being given and the moral exhortations made it still looked as if the events in Russia had a dynamic beyond the control of any of the states involved in mutual destruction. The “moderate”, pro-war, Russian leader Kerensky seemed unable to guide things to the desired end. In Aberdeen’s Mither Kirk (Parish Church) on the third anniversary of the outbreak of war Colonel the Rev. James Smith preached asking God to intercede on the side of Britain: he prayed to God that a better day might speedily dawn upon distracted Russia and that the men of patriotic spirit and invincible courage be forthcoming to lead one of the greatest and most ancient of Empires to the destiny that awaited her. That destiny turned out to be not the one desired by the Rev. Smith or the local editors. Perhaps the call for God to intercede had not been heard or God (some Hegelian might say History) had set course for a future beyond their imaginations.
Come October-November 1917 and pro-war elements had their worst fear was realised: in Petrograd and beyond workers and peasants organised in councils sought peace and began to imagine a world which might be other than the one they now lived in. This was, however, more than a mental act. The councils, packed with voices from all parts of the political spectrum, were organised around degrees of holding power, making decisions which carried force and when necessary using armed militias to achieve their ends. This is what the British and other voices of “reason and common sense” could neither comprehend nor accept. The Bolsheviks were wiser, their political programme, as much as it might have been made on the hoof at times, recognised the dynamics of class action and were able to place themselves at the head of this deeply revolutionary situation. Where revolutionaries saw liberation and new found freedoms the status-quo perceived only anarchy, an upsetting of the natural order and more immediately the loss of privilege and power.
One of the local editors wrote: It is incredible that the Russian people would long tolerate a system which aims at undermining the foundations of the whole fabric of society . . . But undermine it they did. The exploited across Russia and many beyond its frontiers recognised that the “foundations of the whole fabric of society” included systematic exploitation of workers and peasants, imperial adventures and colonisation which had given the world the blood drenched trenches across Europe. Who held power, and to what ends, this was one of the keys to explaining 1917 and indeed equally important to understanding the future of what became Soviet Russia and the emergence of a regime which eventually needed no lessons in how to repress and control civil society.
But this was in the future. Socialists might at times be star-gazers but they are not clairvoyants. The emergence of workers and peasant councils pointed to new social forms around which a new world might be built. One hundred years on John Paton’s words hint at how it must have been:
Every day brought its fresh excitements and new hopes that even now something of lasting good for Socialists in Britain was to come out of the war.
Posted in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, journalism, Labour Party, politics, Scotland, Scottish history, socialism, Sunset Song, Uncategorized, Weird and Wonderful | Leave a Comment »
Tags: 1917, Aberdeen Press, Bolshevik, Fred Jowett, Great War, John Paton, Lenin, Ramsay MacDonald, Red Clydeside, Russian Revolution, Socialiasm, Soviet Union, Tsar
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Title: Futilitarianism
Subtitle: A Libertarian Dilemma?
Author: D. J. Ivison
Topics: Australia, society
Date: January, 1960
Source: Libertarian No. 3. January, 1960. Published by the Libertarian Society at Sydney University.
Notes: Transcribed by P. J. Siegl.
D. J. Ivison
Futilitarianism
A Libertarian Dilemma?
Sydney Libertarians have been attacked on two grounds:
Since they recognise that authoritarian activities are not going to disappear, why do libertarians continue struggling and protesting against them?
Libertarians claim to oppose policemen, priests, moralists and authoritarians of all sorts, but what are they going to do about it? (Where are their bombs?)
Both these criticisms have been advanced against libertarianism recently, and libertarians have found some difficulty in giving a short answer to either question — in fact, some libertarians would reject any attempt at a short answer on the grounds that it would misrepresent a complex position. Nevertheless, I shall outline the form which a short answer might take.
In order to understand how these questions come to be posed, it is necessary to have some knowledge of the social theory of Sydney libertarians. In brief, this social theory is based on a pluralist view of society, on the recognition that any society is composed of a number of ways of going on. These different social activities are never completely reconcilable; there is no lowest common denominator among the ways of going on which would give rise to some consensus of which the state (or some other institution) could be the guardian. Different social groups just do pursue different activities, and these activities often conflict. What does occur are compromises and limited agreements, concessions in return for the implementation of some parts of a policy, and these compromises, concessions and adjustments are sometimes made through the machinery of the state. However, the state is never an impartial arbiter, but a biased referee, a system of social activities which have interests of their own.
Libertarians believe that pluralism is an account of what is the case and that it is utopian to believe that there will ever be an end to the conflict of social interests. The history of society is one of social conflicts; it is unhistorical to believe that history will cease and a millennium dawn — whether the millennium be the Kingdom of God, the classless society, the national interest or any other form of the common good.
Now one form of social conflict is that between authoritarian and libertarian activities, and it is just as utopian, just as unhistorical to believe that this form of conflict will ever disappear as it is to believe that all social conflict will ever cease.
In particular, Sydney libertarians hold that conflict with authoritarianism cannot be overcome by libertarians capturing social power — through the machinery of the state, the general strike, or any social revolution — because the mere fact of being in a position of power leads to interests which are authoritarian rather than libertarian.
I have done no more than outline the general position involved and have ignored the amplifications and qualifications that a full treatment would require, but this brief account of social pluralism may suffice to indicate how the two questions come to be raised — why do libertarians continue to protest if they recognise that they will never eliminate authority, and, if libertarians are opposed to authority, why don’t they take some effective action against it?
It has generally been found easier to attempt to answer the second question, usually along the lines of “set a thief to catch a thief.” If libertarians were to organise either to effect reforms within the existing social order or to overthrow it and to create a new order, they would have to become authoritarian. They only remain libertarian while they eschew moralism, while they refrain from telling people that what is good for libertarians is good for the whole world, while they remain pluralists and recognise that other social groups have interests different from those of libertarianism. The libertarian way of going on is by means of hypothetical imperatives: if you are interested in anarchism, atheism and free love, then come and listen to us; if you are interested in security, certainty and authority, then libertarianism is not your cup of tea.
The answer to the first question, I think, lies in the same direction. Just as libertarianism involves anarchism, atheism and free love, so libertarianism involves conflict with authoritarianism, just because it is libertarianism and not something else. It is a social fact that the interests of libertarians and authoritarians do conflict, and this is “why” the opposition between the two exists.
This kind of answer may appear to be dangerously close to circularity — why are libertarians libertarian? Because they are libertarian. But the apparent circularity arises only when the complexity and diversity of libertarianism are ignored. Both questions ask the same thing: why do libertarians both oppose authority and accept the fact of its continued existence? The answer can only be found in other features of libertarianism, by showing the connections between these other features and the opposition to, along with the acceptance of the continued existence of authority.
I have tried to show how the acceptance of the continued existence of authoritarianism derives from the pluralism of libertarianism, as well as from its non-moralistic way of going on. The opposition to authoritarianism, besides deriving from the “anarchism, atheism and free love” of libertarians, is connected with their social pluralism, for to expound consistently a pluralist theory of society is to reject the monist and solidarist views of the authoritarians (how can you accept their claim that what is good for the nation is good for you if the truth is that there is no national good, no interest common to all the many social activities which exist in that geographic region?) and in rejecting these views as illusions, one may come to inquire into the motives of the authoritarians. [1]
Because libertarianism is the way of life that it is, it finds itself in conflict with authoritarianism, with no hope of ever eliminating authoritarianism from the social scene.
It is from this sort of analysis that libertarians have adopted such slogans as “anarchism without ends,” “pessimistic anarchists” and “permanent protest” to describe libertarianism and libertarians.
D. J. I.
[1] Such an inquiry may, of course, lead one to side with the authoritarians in an attempt to win power or profit (e.g., Pareto). It is the combination of social pluralism with other views, such as anarchism and atheism, that makes for the distinctive libertarian position.
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Our beloved Carol Berry Shockley, age 69, resident of Martindale, Texas was called by our Heavenly Father on Thursday, January 7, 2021. She was preceded in death by her husband: Jerrel Shockley, parents, Glen & Myrtis Berry and sister, Joyce Doang. Carol was a longtime Nurse in the Rio Grand Valley area for over 40 years working at many hospitals and facilities helping and caring for others. She loved her family so much and was most happy listening to Willie Nelson and other country artists. She loved to craft and as a self-taught artist she made soaps and lotions for Southern Sky Naturals that sold at the Local farmers market in the Valley. She was an avid painter as well. She retired and moved to Martindale, Texas to spend time with her grandchildren. She was so happy to hold her new twin grand babies and sang to them often. She is survived by her children, Jeff Shockley (Staci) and Crystal Shockley; grandchildren, Logan Shockley, Charlotte Shockley, Kaden Pena and Ava Pena; sister, Nicki Cone; and with other loving family members and friends. Memorial Services will be celebrated at a later date. Please visit losangelesfh.com to offer condolences and to send flowers.
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DOJ Investigator Heading to Town in Public Administrator Probe
by Kimberly Wear
Submitted photo
Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming.
A representative from the California Department of Justice is expected to arrive in Eureka this week to take over an investigation into possible wrongdoing involving the management of estates overseen by the county’s Public Administrator’s Office.
District Attorney Maggie Fleming says she was notified by phone Aug. 3 of the state’s decision to run the probe, which is looking into whether current and former county employees violated the law by purchasing cars and other items from the estates.
“Other than answering any questions they may have, we will have no role in the investigation,” Fleming writes in an email to the Journal. “We will also have no involvement in charging decisions or any prosecution.”
At the center of the investigation is a California Government Code section that makes it a misdemeanor for a public administrator and “any deputy or agent of such officer” to purchase those estate items directly or indirectly, or to otherwise benefit — personally or in association with someone else — from such a transaction.
Humboldt County Sheriff's Office
Sheriff William Honsal
A representative in the DOJ’s press office declined to respond to any questions about the office’s role, saying that was necessary to protect the integrity of the case.
The Public Administrator’s Office, which came under the Humboldt Sheriff’s Office oversight in 2015 with the merger of the coroner’s office, manages the assets of people who die without a will or someone to oversee their holdings.
Their property — ranging from cars and houses to dishes and fishing poles — is sold off by the office with the proceeds going to any heirs. If there are none, the money is sent to the state.
Suspected improprieties involving those sales — which appear to date back years — surfaced publicly in late June when Sheriff William Honsal announced that he and Fleming were launching a joint inquiry after his office received a complaint and media inquiry about the practice.
Honsal says six current employees of either the sheriff’s office, the coroner’s office or the public administrator’s office were involved in purchases and those who still had the items returned them.
“I requested that they do that and they all complied and they all saw the need to do it immediately,” he says.
Fleming and Honsal reached out to the FBI, which declined to have any involvement, and the DOJ individually after Fleming says “it became clear the investigation would cover multiple individuals and extend back at least several years.”
“The potential for some members of the public to perceive a potential conflict of interest seemed significant,” Fleming wrote in an email to the Journal.
Honsal agrees, saying he and Fleming agreed it was important for “someone totally outside of the organization and the county to independently take a look at the case.”
Meanwhile, he says, new policies and procedures — which now include a blanket ban on employees of his office, their family or close friends making purchases — are being drawn up.
“We are still actively doing that to make sure that we have all the laws in place and the public administrator’s office is operating above board and that’s what has been happening since this whole thing got uncovered,” Honsal says.
With an investigator expected to land in Humboldt County on Wednesday, Honsal says he doesn’t have a timeline on how long the review will take but he did let the DOJ know he was hoping to “get this done as quickly as possible.”
The findings will be turned over to the attorney general.
“At the end of this whole thing, we hope we and the DOJ will be able to issue a joint statement and detail out the reasons why things happened and how we’re taking responsibility for this,” Honsal says.
Government Sheriff William Honsal District Attorney Maggie Fleming California Department of Justice Public Administrator's Office investigation
Sales of Estate Items to County Employees Under Investigation
by Kimberly Wear | Jun 30, 2017
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Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s juvenile justice reform project receives continued funding from the John T. Gorman Foundation
The Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Maine School of Law was recently awarded a grant of $105,500 from the John T. Gorman Foundation, a continuation of its support of the Clinic’s juvenile justice reform work. Through the Juvenile Justice Clinic (JJC) and the Maine Center for Juvenile Policy and Law (MCJPAL), the funds will support efforts to implement a continuum of community-based alternatives to incarceration, to increase fairness in the juvenile justice system, and to remove barriers to success for those who have prior system involvement. The Maine-based Foundation “advances ideas and opportunities that can improve the lives of disadvantaged people in Maine.”
Established in 2017 through an initial grant from the Foundation, the Center works with students, faculty, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders to broaden efforts to connect practice and policy reform. Most recently, Jill Ward, project manager for MCJPAL and nationally-recognized juvenile justice reform leader, served as one of three co-chairs of a statewide juvenile justice task force created to provide support and guidance for a comprehensive assessment of Maine’s juvenile justice system conducted by the Center for Children’s Law and Policy and funded by the state Juvenile Justice Advisory Group. A final report of findings and recommendations was released in February and, with this renewed support, the Center will continue to partner with the Department of Corrections and others to prioritize and implement proposed reforms to establish a sustainable community-based continuum of care for system-involved youth.
As part of its work, the Center also facilitates the juvenile justice reform practitioner work group, a core group of system stakeholders who work to identify consensus solutions to reduce inappropriate detention and confinement and to increase fairness in the juvenile justice system. Over the last several years, MCJPAL has worked with partners from across the state to develop resources and provide policy analysis on the juvenile records code; to coordinate and deliver expert testimony on juvenile record confidentiality and broader justice system reform; and to advocate for model policy and best practices in the juvenile justice field.
The funding also supports the work of the Juvenile Justice Clinic and its director and founder Professor Christopher Northrop. With Foundation support, the JJC has helped clients seal their juvenile record, developed standard template pleadings for use by practitioners, and distributed the information brochure, “Know the Facts: What it Means to Have a Juvenile Record in Maine.” Through a partnership with the Department of Corrections, this grant will expand this project to provide information about disclosure and sealing of records, and reducing or eliminating over burdensome restitution obligations to youth transitioning out of Long Creek. The partnership will also support a new project to provide assistance for detained youth and appointed attorneys from the ‘rim’ counties and other rural areas, including assistance in court preparation and improved access to detention alternatives.
Dean Leigh I. Saufley, who championed the cause of juvenile justice reform in her former role as Maine’s Chief Justice, said of the grant: “We are so grateful for this support from the John T. Gorman Foundation. It will enable the Clinic to continue its highly effective leadership role in this work of critical importance to Maine’s youth, their families, and our communities. That leadership will be all the more important is light of the challenges facing every aspect of government and resources in this upcoming year.”
Professor Deirdre M. Smith, clinic managing director, said: “The John T. Gorman Foundation has been a valued partner in the Clinic’s juvenile justice work for years, allowing Clinic students to receive training through both direct representation of individual youth and policy development work with an even broader impact.”
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COMEDY STAGE
POETRY STAGE
TICKETS & MERCH
TRIPLE SUNDAE
Glow by Triple Sundae
Triple Sundae is a melodic/indie punk quartet from London - starting in 2014 and after a few line-up changes and much experimenting with sound, Triple Sundae have become a growing presence in London’s DIY punk scene since their 2018 release ‘Peace of Mind’. This EP was recorded at The Ranch Production House and has been called a “beautiful 3-track” from which “Triple Sundae are ready to explode into something gigantic.” (Shout Louder).
Following ‘Peace of Mind’ was the self-released 6-track EP ‘Glow’, released on June 7th 2019. The record picks up from where POM left off. The EP will be the last in the discography before the inevitable debut full length comes along. ‘Glow’ gained praise from many and had gained many positive reviews since its release. “We are eternally grateful for the Lockjaw folk here, because they’ve introduced us to a seriously talented outfit who have put out a prime candidate for best British punk record of the year. No exaggeration”(Small Music Scene.) You can listen to it now on all your usual streaming services.
Aside from releasing music Tripsun would play shows all over, being lucky enough to share stages with influences such as Jeff Rosenstock, Such Gold, Pkew Pkew Pkew, Off With Their Heads and more. Having toured within the UK, Canada, Greece + building up a local and loyal fanbase within London, Triple Sundae is now gearing up to record their debut full length album, stay tuned!
Manchester Events Ltd
M19 1NR
England & Wales: 10896488
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Manual RedEye • October 18, 2014 • https://manualredeye.com/51840/sports/crimsons-fall-to-st-x-28-7-look-on-to-male/
Crimsons fall to St. X 28-7, look on to Male
Jack Grossman
St. Xavier defeated the Manual football team for the 25th year in a row last Thursday night. The Crimsons fell to the Tigers 28-7 in blowout fashion.
The Manual defense, which had only given up 3.5 points per game coming into the game, struggled for the first time this season.
The Tigers jumped out to a 25-0 lead in the first half before the Manual defense only gave up three points in the second half.
“We just weren’t playing as well or game plan as well as we should have,” Derek Dorsey (11, #92) said. “We tried to fix it in the second half, but it was too late.”
The scoring started when St. X blocked Jake Rist’s (12, #7) punt on Manual’s first possession of the game and got a safety when Rist fell on the ball in the end zone. It was the second time a Rist punt had been blocked in the last two weeks. On October 10 against Trinity, a punt was blocked and returned 36 yards for a Shamrock touchdown.
“There was confusion on the line, DJ called one call and Jake (Rist) heard it and thought it was a fake punt call,” Chris Roussell (11, #46) said. “So Jake thought it was a fake punt, when it was not at all and he tried to throw it, and he got blocked, like last week, and they got a safety out of it.”
The safety gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead. After a quick touchdown drive for St X, Manual was down 9-0 early in the game and never recovered.
“Jake’s punt just killed our whole drive, everyone put their head down right after that,” Hayden Vinegar (12, #55) said. “That really hurt our defense. Our defense has been untouchable all year, and it could have gotten into our heads. We went into this game with the mindset that we were just going to destroy them, and it didn’t turn out to be that way.”
The Crimson defense will look to return to its normal dominance next week against rival Male.
“We just have to work hard in practice and not let this loss keep us back,” Dorsey said. “We are better than what we did tonight and we’re going to bounce back.”
The Crimson offense continued its inconsistent play Friday night and did not perform well against St. X. One of the reasons that the offense has struggled is that the offensive line needs to improve.
“The offensive line has got to stay strong and do the same things,” Vinegar said. “We just hope to stay focused and improve.”
Offensive linemen Hayden Vinegar (12, #55) and Joseph Gressette (10, #67) block to try to give quarterback Tim Comstock (11, #3) time to throw the ball. Photo by Kate Hatter
Manual quarterback Tim Comstock (11, #3) has had an up and down year. Comstock has not played great in the past two weeks. Comstock threw two interceptions and a touchdown against St. X Friday night after throwing three picks against Trinity on October 10.
The offense needs to regroup and refocus heading into the Male game, according to Comstock.
“We just aren’t focused; we don’t have each others backs,” Comstock said. “We just need to be a team, be a family.”
Comstock is going to take more of a leadership role to try to get the entire offensive unit to play better.
“I’m going to set them (the offense) down this week and talk to them, talk to each other in a meeting, try to figure things out, and to study Male,” Comstock said. “We will become a more cohesive unit.”
The loss drops Manual to a 6-2 record; however, the Crimsons are now 0-2 in district play. The loss against St. X guarantees that Manual will receive the fourth seed in the playoffs, no matter what happens against Male.
Manual will play Male in the 122nd edition of the Old Rivalry on October 24, 7:30 p.m., at Male stadium.
“Next week, we get Male, its the biggest game of the year, and we need to come ready to play and beat them,” Comstock said.
Stay tuned to RedEye for #ManualvMale and Red/White week coverage all of next week.
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Pretend You are Talking to a Friend
February 4, 2018 February 12, 2018 / marybbergman
I have written before that in Provincetown in February, the dead outnumber the living. On a frigid, so-clear-you-can-see-to-Plymouth day, it seems especially true.
Yesterday, I drove down from Hyannis to Provincetown for the funeral, or celebration of life, of a well-known town character. It was cold–just hovering around 20 degrees–and the town was empty. Most sane people were home, where it was warm.
The service was in the Unitarian Universalist church, an old 1840s era building with two chapels and trompe l’oeil frescoes adorning the walls. The same artist painted the UU church on Nantucket.
In the 1840s, the two towns must have shared more similarities than they do now. Nantucket in the 1840s was a world center. Somewhere along the way (I’d say 1916), Provincetown became the more cosmopolitan of the two. It’s hard to know if those kind of distinctions hold any meaning in the hyper-connected world we are in today. Sure, “the world comes to Nantucket,” but I don’t need to wait for the world to come to me anymore. (However, still I wait.)
The celebration was particularly moving because it was for someone had lived their life exactly the way they had wanted to. This meant no “traditional” family structure. There was no wife, no husband, no children. No brothers or sisters–a cousin and a college roommate were the ones who’d known him the longest.
But there were friends. Drinking buddies, coworkers, hangers-on. Pals, sympaticos, confidantes. There were friends whose relationships blurred over the years–from more than friends to friends and back again.
There was a woman in a fabulous fur coat in the spartan chapel. (The former Hicksite Quakers who became some of the first Universalists were rolling in their unmarked graves.)
He was not alone at the end, the confidante tells us. I think the entire church sighed in relief.
(Pretend you are talking to a friend.)
← Hell or High Water; or, Winter on Nantucket
Writing Sprints →
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Double Spike Orchid, Stihl Trimmer Parts Diagram, Funny Video On Cyber Security, Msi Mpg Trident 3 10th, Plants To Grow In Grass, Tuttle Publishing Submissions, Nln Cne Exam, Lenovo Legion 5pi Amazon, " />
north carolina pronunciation
Sign in to disable ALL ads. North Carolina translation and audio pronunciation Corolla (/ k ə ˈ r ɑː l ə /) is an unincorporated community located in Poplar Branch township, Currituck County, North Carolina along the northern Outer Banks.It has a permanent population of approximately 500 people; during the summer vacation season, the population surges into the thousands. Learn more. A town in New South Wales, Australia. Listen to the audio pronunciation of Rodanthe, North Carolina on pronouncekiwi. Thank you for helping build the largest language community on the internet. The popular Facebook page “It’s A Southern Thing” produced a video where they ask people from around the country to pronounce some of North Carolina’s most unusual town names, like Pfafftown, Leicester, and Chicamacomico… The video has already received over 1,000,000 views; I wonder how they would have done with Lowell (pronounced LOWWWHH) or Cherryville […] See authoritative translations of North Carolina in Spanish with example sentences and audio pronunciations. Pronunciation of North Carolina in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. We asked New Yorkers (and one Australian) to pronounce tricky town names in North Carolina while in Brooklyn for the ACC Basketball tournament at Barclays Center. I drove all the way from Florida to Carolina. Listen to the audio pronunciation in English. Piedmont definition, a plateau between the coastal plain and the Appalachian Mountains, including parts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Dictionary entry overview: What does North Carolina mean? Either North Carolina or South Carolina. Pronunciation of carolina with 2 audio pronunciations, 5 synonyms, 2 meanings, 8 translations, 37 sentences and more for carolina. Listen to audio with how to say North Carolina in English. How to pronounce North Carolinian. Add fact ! pronouncekiwi. Write it here to share it with the entire community. William Churton, the preeminent mid-18th century North Carolina surveyor, correctly placed the name “Coneghta Cr”; the creek follows the eastern border of the “Great Coneghta Pocoson”, as shown on the Churton-Collet map of 1770. North Carolina’s Earliest Languages. 2. Definition of north-carolina in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. (countable) A female given name from Latin, Latinate form of Caroline; rare in English. Definition of north carolina, with etymology, pronunciation (phonetic and audio), synonyms, antonyms, derived terms and more about the word north carolina. Sign in to disable ALL ads. The capital city of North Carolina, United States and the county seat of Wake County; named for Sir Walter Raleigh. Listen to the audio pronunciation in the Cambridge English Dictionary. 2.2. Carolina definition, a former English colony on the Atlantic coast of North America: officially divided into North Carolina and South Carolina in 1729. A munici… North Carolina place names. Sign in to disable ALL ads. Please select a sample from the list below. North Carolina is home to a multitude of dialects – which means there is often hot debate on how to pronounce some of the places across the Tar Heel state. • NORTH CAROLINA (noun) The noun NORTH CAROLINA has 2 senses:. * (Audio and phonetic pronunciation) Pronunciation of raleigh north carolina with 1 audio pronunciation, 9 translations, 1 sentence and more for raleigh north carolina. Sir Walter Raleigh, English explorer and soldier. Thank you for helping build the largest language community on the internet. Pronunciation guide: Learn how to pronounce North Carolina in English with native pronunciation. North Carolinian pronunciation. The pronunciation of ‘caramel’ starts disregarding vowels once you go west of the Ohio River. Pronunciation of North Carolina in Oxford Advanced American Dictionary North Carolina : pronunciation. Click on the map below to hear North Carolina county names pronounced by local authors Bland Simpson and Michael McFee.The list that follows it includes cities, towns, mountains, lakes, and more. Talkin’ Tar Heel tells the story of North Carolina’s language groups beginning with the nomadic Paleo-Indians who hunted and gathered in this area 12,000 years ago. How to say North Carolinian. Detail from Edward Moseley’s 1733 map of North Carolina, courtesy of East Carolina University. North Carolina definition: a state of the southeastern US, on the Atlantic : consists of a coastal plain rising to... | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples A town in Alabama. 2.3. Learn how to pronounce North Carolina in English with video, audio, and syllable-by-syllable spelling from the United States and the United Kingdom. NORTH CAROLINA COUNTIES: County Pronunciation County Pronunciation; Alamance: ALA-mantz: Guilford: GILL-ferd: Alleghany: al-uh-GAIN-ee: Harnett: HARR-net: Ashe: ASH: Hyde Listen to the audio pronunciation of Nantahala, North Carolina on pronouncekiwi. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more. How to say North Carolinian. A male given name, transferred from the surname. North Carolina. Pronouncing The 'R' In Camp Lejeune One of the Marine Corps' biggest bases is Camp Lejeune (luh-JUNE) in North Carolina. Learn more. North Carolina meaning: 1. a state in the southeastern US, whose capital city is Raleigh: 2. a state in the southeastern…. Translate North Carolina. See more. North American English regional phonology is the study of variations in the pronunciation of spoken North American English (English of the United States and Canada)—what are commonly known simply as "regional accents". pronouncekiwi - How To Pronounce Robeson County, North Carolina. (Why don’t Rowan and Chowan rhyme?) Listen to the audio pronunciation of Shallotte, North Carolina on pronouncekiwi. Thank you for helping build the largest language community on the internet. Learn more. Have a fact about Robeson County, North Carolina ? English Pronunciation of North Carolina. Listen to the audio pronunciation of Topsail Island, North Carolina on pronouncekiwi How To Pronounce Topsail Island, North Carolina: Topsail Island, North Carolina pronunciation Sign in to disable ALL ads. Until @mid 1960s there were 3 school systems in the county. In the traditional pronunciation, the "oo" is pronounced as it is in "look" instead of as it is in "loop." (uncountable) A placename 2.1. 2.1.1. How to say raleigh north carolina in English? 1. a state in southeastern United States; one of the original 13 colonies 2. one of the British colonies that formed the United States Familiarity information: NORTH CAROLINA used as a noun is rare. We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website, including to provide targeted advertising and track usage. From the mountains to the coast, place names in North Carolina can be confusing. How to pronounce the name North Carolina. North Carolina 1 male, 30s, 1960s, Caucasian, Outer Banks (Manteo) North Carolina 2 female, 50s, 1940s, Caucasian, Outer Banks (Manteo) North Carolina 3 male, 42, 1957, African-American, Walnut Cove & Win-Salem North Carolina 4 male, 52, 1947, African-American, Winston-Salem North Carolina 5 male, 34, 1965, African-American, Winston-Salem Currently popular pronunciations. See more. But for years, many … The first pronunciation is the most common, but the traditional pronunciation of this river dividing Charleston and Mount Pleasant still survives among some older Charlestonians. How to say carolina in English? Carolina (countable and uncountable, plural Carolinas) 1.
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From the halls: Crossover
(March 20, 2018–ANNAPOLIS, Md.)–It’s not exactly March Madness, and we’re not going to wear out all the basketball puns, but yesterday was a significant buzzer on the legislative clock.
Over, not back
Yesterday was Crossover Day. That means bills that have not made it out of their originating chamber are far less likely to see hearings in the opposite chamber. It’s not impossible, but it requires Rules Committee assignments and political will.
One bill that, predictably, remains on the bench is the Paid Leave Compromise Act. This was Gov. Larry Hogan’s attempt to modify 2017’s HB 1 paid leave law. With HB 1 already in effect, the compromise act was going to be a confusing challenge if it went anywhere, but it is still in its original committee.
The House Economic Matters Committee issued unfavorable reports on several bills, including the attempt to increase overtime regulations on businesses.
HB 974 would have imposed on a state level what the U.S. Department of Labor attempted to regulate in late 2016. We opposed the bill because it would have changed tens of thousands of Maryland workers from exempt to non-exempt status, hurting their work-hour flexibility and benefits.
The committee powered down several energy-related bills, as well. HB 1453/SB 732 and HB 878 would have increased the Renewable Portfolio Standard 25 percent by 2020, 50 percent by 2030, and/or 100 percent by 2035. We opposed these bills. This rate went up at the beginning of 2017 and there is a study underway to find the most effective way to proliferate renewable energy without harming businesses.
HB 939 would have imposed heavy penalties on energy producers via a tax on greenhouse gas-producing substances. This tax would add to the cost of almost everything Maryland consumers and businesses use or consume. We opposed this.
Plays remaining
Tomorrow, March 21, the House Ways & Means Committee is scheduled to hear SB 380, the tax incentive bill for certain businesses to hire interns. The bill has already passed the Senate. Tomorrow is the second reading in the House committee. It’s on an 18-bill docket, starting at 1 p.m.
SB 810 will head to the Senate floor, where we expect it to pass. We support it, as we did last year when it got stuck in committee, because it gives businesses in depressed areas tax credits to hire additional employees.
SB 979 would change the refund and compensation structure of the Subsequent Injury Fund (SIF). The Senate passed it, and it is now in House Economic Matters. We support this bill because it allows employers to receive more money toward any lien reimbursement from a third party recovery.
The House passed HB 372, which allocates $150 million to the Washington-Area Metropolitan Transit Authority as part of a permanent funding source. WMATA sought $167 million from Maryland. We support this bill and a permanent funding solution for the Metro because it moves millions of people to work each day and improves highway and city traffic. The Senate has not yet passed its version of this bill, SB 277. We believe it will either match the House’s allocation or increase it to $167 million.
With the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act now in effect, check our resource links for a template on how to inform staff about how their personal income taxes will be withheld. You will need to provide the specifics in the highlighted areas.
Thanks for being with us as we look ahead to the last three weeks of the legislative session. Don’t forget to join us for our open house on Sine Die. We hope to see you there.
And congrats, Retrievers, for making NCAA men’s basketball history. This won’t get old.
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Author: bobcotton
graphic design in the 1920s
In the 1990s, as the new digital media and networks were emerging, it became obvious that graphic design was the core discipline through which the components of the new media could be integrated, designed and presented.
Graphic design is a twentieth-century discipline that drew upon the 500 year-old traditions of printing and publishing, the 19th century developments in advertising, poster design, and photography, and the early 20th century innovations of a swathe of influential designers.
El Lissitzsky: Electro-Library! 1923 This fascinating poster, designed by El Lissitzky in 1923, is indicative of the revolution in print design in the 1920s. El Lissitzky is one of the great prototypical designers of the early 20th century. He epitomises the designer who is familiar with the latest reprographic technologies, and in his stage and exhibition-design he is already mapping the territory that will be fully explored in the latter half of the century, and in this, and his own philosophy of art/science/technology, firmly based on mathematics, he has become an exemplar for current multimedia designers. El Lissitzky sits alongside the greatest designers of the 20th century. Along with Rodchenko, Moholy Nagy, Tschichold, Rand, and half a dozen others, these designers set the agenda for the blend of information-design, graphics, photo-collage and combinations of typography and photography that now dominates both design education and current practice in the digital arts. His astonishing, and as Hans Magnus Enzenberger points out (in Towards a Theory of New Media 1970), at the time virtually incomprehensible suggestion of: “The future of book design resulting as an Electro-Library (what is that?). from the poster: “the design of the bookspace through the material of the process block, which creates the new optics. the supernaturalistic reality of the perfected eye. the continuous page-sequence – the bioscopic book. the new book demands new writers. Inkwells & goose-quills are dead. the printed page transcends time and space, the printed page, the infinity of the book, must be transcended. THE ELECTRO-LIBRARY!
Alexander Rodchenko: poster for Battleship Potemkin 1924 Rodchenko became an early master of the integration of typography and photography. It’s hard for a young 21st century designer, used to working entirely in the digital domain, to understand the technical difficulties of producing this kind of work in the 1920s. There were two main ways of making these graphic works: Making a photomontage with printed type and with photographs, then having a half-tone plate made of the entire graphic, and overprinting with extra colours and with a separate overprinting with letterpress display fonts. Or secondly, it would be pheasible to have halftone plates made for the contone (photographic, continuous-tone) components, and physically cut the zinc plates, before mounting them on type-high pywood for printing. To retain the sharp letterforms, an overprinting of the type would be the final printing.
Rodchenko: Books! with his photograph of Lily Brik A master of type-design using the bold cyrillic display faces of the 1920s, this poster by Rodchenko has become an icon of the period, perhaps even more so than Dziga Vertov’s fim The Man with a Movie Camera (1929), or Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1924)
These designers, from Peter Behrens and his ground-breaking identity for AEG (1906-1914), to the DADA artist-typographer Raoul Hausmann, and the De Stijl artists (1917-1920), to Lazlo Moholy Nagy at the Bauhaus, Alexander Rodchenko in civil-war Russia, Fortunada Despero in Italy, Karel Tiege, Piet Zwart, Jan Tschichold in other parts of Europe, plus the influence of DADA, De Stijl, Surrealism, Russian Agitprop, (etc) all contributed to the emergence of the new profession.
Raoul Hausmann: DADA issue 1 1918 the DADAists were the first to really break with 19th century conventions of type-design and typography. Here Hausmann uses display fonts, body-copy fonts and printer’s furniture (the rules, blocks, logos and symbols) to make an assymetric design, that was a radical redefinition of page-design.
Other important ingredients in this emerging discipline (not really to be called ‘graphic design’ until the 1950s) included late 19th century designers like William Morris, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Aubrey Beardsley, the Beggarstaffs, Alphonse Mucha, Henri Toulouse Lautrec, Arthur Macmurdo, (etc).
And of course, the emerging information sciences of the 1920s and 1930s played a core role in informing the graphic design of statistical information (Otto and Marie Neurath: Isotypes (1930s); and geographic information (Harry Beck: London Underground Map 1933, Phylis Pearsall: London A-Z, 1936), and information taxonomies (the work of Paul Otlet in the 1930s).
All these various ingredients, together with innovations in letterpress, hot-metal, photo-gravure, halftone, trichromatic colour printing, (etc) informed the new industrial-design of graphic artefacts.
Recently, in its digital iteration, graphic design has embraced the moving image, animated typography, even the use of sound and music. It has become the design discipline that above all others, integrates all these multimedia components, and information-design, as well as becoming the art underpinning the graphical user-interface and screen-based content design generally.
I’m planning more detailed posts on individual designers, as well as on the development of all the component media of the 21st century media-ecology.
Posted on July 7, 2014 July 8, 2014 Author bobcotton Leave a comment
Maya Deren: Grid of Stills from Maya Deren films 1944
This post-board or mood-board of stills from Deren’s work, assembled by her in 1944, includes stills from Meshes of the Afternoon, Choreography for Camera, At Land, and Ritual in Transfigured Time. A prolific artist, dancer, choreographer, film-maker, Deren embraced the skill-set that came to represent avant garde American film-making in the post-war period, forming a kind of archetype for the counter culture.
Posted on July 6, 2014 July 7, 2014 Author bobcotton 1 Comment
John Brunner: The ‘Club of Rome’ Quartet 1975
John Brunner was one of the new generation of sci-fi writers who emerged in the late 1960s, and whose work was show-cased by Michael Moorcock in New Worlds Science Fiction. This new wave was characterised by innovations in form and in content. Brunner had spent his early career writing space-opera style sci-fi, whereas from 1967-68 onwards he focused on issues relating to the very sad state that the world had found itself in. By this time, the issues of over-population, pollution, the nuclear arms race and the power of the military industrial complex had become a major concern to the world’s youth. Brunner was to tackle these issues, incorporating them into his partially non-linear writing structure, in books that were later described as his ‘Club of Rome‘ Quartet.
Brunner’s Club of Rome Quartet: Stand on Zanzibar (1968), Jagged Orbit (1969), The Sheep Look Up (1972) and The Shockwave Rider (1975)
The Club of Rome was a group of academics, providing research and investigation into global issues, and attempting to catalyse a change in our thinking, and by 1972 they had commissioned a detailed computer simulation of the world, its resources, its population, and run simulated projections to determine the impact of diminishing resources and increasing population. The projection was called ‘Limits to Growth‘. The simulator was based on Jay Forrester’s World Dynamics model evolved in the late 1960s from his earlier development of System Dynamics.
The Club of Rome stated its objectives as early as 1968: “The club states that its mission is “to act as a global catalyst for change through the identification and analysis of the crucial problems facing humanity and the communication of such problems to the most important public and private decision makers as well as to the general public.”
The Limits to Growth report, coming a decade after Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) – the book that alerted us all to concerns about what we were doing to our environment -in a sense catalysed 10 years of mind-change. By the early 1970s Richard Buckminster Fuller had already begun his World Resources Inventory, and described his World Game idea (1964). Stewart Brand had piublished his Whole Earth Catalog (1968). All these were attempts to raise public awareness of these pressing environmental issues – as was the creation of Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace over this period (1969-72). Brunner was incorporating these concerns in his zeitgeist books. The final book in this Quartet, The Shockwave Rider dealt more with the emerging trends in world communications networks, phone phreaking, computer virus’ (Brunner called them Worms), hacking and online identity-shifting. Shockwave Rider (inspired by Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock 1972) became the definitive British contribution to the Cyberpunk genre of science-fiction, a genre characterised by Venor Vinge’s True Names (1978), William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1983), and Bruce Sterling’s Islands in the Net (1988).
William Gibson describes Brunner’s work: “No one except possibly the late John Brunner, in his brilliant novel The Sheep Look Up, has ever described anything in science fiction that is remotely like the reality of 2007 as we know it.”[1]
Shockwave Rider had a major impact on me and my generation.
Cynthea Brazeal: Kismet Affective Robot 1999
Cynthea Brazeal is associate professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT. She is a pioneer of social robotics – the investigation of how to make a robot capable of responding to social intercourse with humans with some of the signature facial expressions that mirror the ‘human qualities’ of social exchange, understanding, and empathy. Kismet was an early illustration of Brazeal’s doctoral thesis – on Affective Robotics – at MIT AI Lab from 1999.
“Kismet is an expressive robotic creature with perceptual and motor modalities tailored to natural human communication channels. To facilitate a natural infant-caretaker interaction, the robot is equipped with visual, auditory, and proprioceptive sensory inputs. The motor outputs include vocalizations, facial expressions, and motor capabilities to adjust the gaze direction of the eyes and the orientation of the head. Note that these motor systems serve to steer the visual and auditory sensors to the source of the stimulus and can also be used to display communicative cues.”
(http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/sociable/baby-bits.html)
David Hanson:Diego San Robotic Baby Boy 2011
Considerable effort in the research community has been put to the development of human-like robots, the smart (AI-based) software that drives them, and making the prosthetic ‘front-end’ – the eyes, face, mouth, voice etc – that is the effective and hopefully affective user-interface of the robot – what you see, how you gauge understanding, how you apply the Turing test etc. David Hanson (of Hanson Robotics) has produced some remarkable prototypes illustrating progress in this area since Kismet.
What exactly is the relevance of Kismet to the world of film?
We are heading rapidly towards the scenario in which sophisticated CGI and AI software – a development of what is happening right now in Pre-Viz and Games software – enables us to create feature-length movie-experiences in which several or even most of the protagonists are not just soft-machines (like us humans), but are really software-machines – a CGI developed ultra-realistic humanoid soft-robot or cyborg equipped with a sophisticated software-brain, with a built-in expert-system style memory retrieval mechanism, chatbot-style conversational capabilities, and other AI allowing it to keep in-character, and play its part in relevant plot development. Importantly these synthespians, virtual-actors (vactors) or digital dramaturges, will be equipped with the kind of algorithms developed by Cynthia Brazeal and David Hanson – they will be able to assume human characteristics, facials expressions and affective responses relevant to their fictional characters. Eventually of course, real actors will sell the software rights to their individual portfolio of personal motion-capture-data, expression-capture data, likeness-data, allowing movie-makers to cast (say) Richard Burton (in his prime) with Gloria Swanson (in her prime) with Peter Lorre (at his best) and Brad Pitt (at 20 years old) together in the same movie – the ultimate casting machine. Bit-parts and crowd scenes supplied by future generations of Massive Prime’s crowd-simulator, the whole locked together into movies using the catalog of virtual cinematography effects that we have already begun to develop.
Posted on July 4, 2014 July 13, 2014 Author bobcotton Leave a comment
Fritz Kahn: Respiration (top) and What goes on in our heads when we see a car and say car? 1939
Kahn’s fascinating information graphics from the 1920s and 1930s have become motifs for the industrialism and mechanisation of the period – the result of Fordism and the idea of the man-machine, production-line, time-and-motion, rationalisation of work – essentially making man fit in with machine-age capitalism. Kahn’s beautifully intricate graphics echo the zeitgeist that is also illustrated (and summoned) in Raoul Hausmann’s Spirit of Our Times (1921), Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936), Lang’s Metropolis (1927), and Karel Capek’s Rossums Universal Robots (1921), etc, etc.
Raoul Hausmann: Spirit of the Age 1921
The fact that Kahn’s work tended to solidify and ratify the mechanistic rationale of how our body and senses work, and that this was the model that determined how many of us (of my generation at least) were taught, makes you wonder at the cybernetic and computer-processing metaphor that is the current zeitgeist model of how we work. It’s inevitable, I guess, that we use these descriptors as metaphors – explaining the complex in terms of the simple. I was aware of this image long before I discovered that it was by Fritiz Kahn. It appeared uncredited in films and prints by Eduardo Paolozzi (History of Nothing, 1960) and Stan Vanderbeek (Science Friction, 1959).
If you’re interested in Fritz Kahn and his work, there’s a great monograph on him by Ute and Philo von Debschitz (Taschen, 2013).
Posted on June 28, 2014 June 28, 2014 Author bobcottonFormat ImageTags Fritz Kahn, information graphics, man-machine, zeitgeist Leave a comment
Bob Cotton: Zeiteye 2010
This is a short film I made 2009-2010. It was a way of dramatising an archive database – a database film as Lev Manovitch called it. Its intent was to illustrate the changing zeitgeist of the previous 11 decades of new media innovation:
“ZeitEYE is a film about innovation in media and the arts since 1900. It is in the form of a rapid montage of stills featuring all the principle media and art innovations of the last eleven decades. It is punctuated and contextualised by the inclusion of keynote artists and celebrities of each decade, and is framed by closeups of the eyes of these zeitgeist figures. It is a kind of back-story of our contemporary broadband networked media, and it is a film about the evolving spirit of the age. It is eleven decades of media-arts innovation in eleven minutes.”
http://zeiteye.wordpress.com
The avant garde music is Ballet Mecanique, composed by George Antheil between 1923-24 originally for the film Ballet Mecanique made by Fernand Leger, Dudley Murphy and Man Ray in 1924. Used with permission of the George Antheil estate. This recording is conducted by Daniel Spalding and played by the Philadelpia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. CD available at http://www.amazon.com/Antheil-Ballet-Mecanique-George/dp/B00005NCYE
http://www.antheil.org
Posted on June 27, 2014 June 27, 2014 Author bobcottonFormat ImageTags 2010, bob cotton, database film, experimental, film, zeiteye Leave a comment
Janusz Maria Brzeski: Zrwotnice (Crossover) photomontage series 1936
The Polish artist Brzeski , graphic designer, photographer and film-maker, produced a phenomenal range of photomontage – series of works exploring the zeitgeist motifs- the emergence of modernity – in the 1930s – visions of mechanisation (the Narodziny Robota – Birth of the Robot- series), visions of modern capitalism |(Idylls of the 20th Century), visions of War (Zwrotnice – Crossover series), and of emerging sexual equalities (the Sex cycle). Powerful image-making, pulling printed photographs, drawings, typography, news-clips etc together, Brzeski’s work parallels that of his contemporary Czech artists/architects Karel Tiege and Jiri Kroha – the second generation of photo-collagists.
What inspires me about these second generation photomontagists is that they shared in a more-or-less common vision of the zeitgeist of modernity – glamour, commerce, industrialism, mechanisation (the robot and the production-line), and the threat of fully mechanised, aerial warfare in a future world war.
Posted on June 27, 2014 June 27, 2014 Author bobcottonFormat ImageTags 1930, Brzeski, photomontage, robots, zeitgeist Leave a comment
Patrick Hughes: Reverspective paintings 1964-present
Hughes’ Reverspectives are amazing. I first saw one at the Chelsea Arts Club in about 2004. I was blown away. I knew that Patrick had been deeply involved in the study of paradox and visual paradox in particular, and this (he called them Reverspectives) was a brilliant example of a great idea, beautiful crafting of the 3d painted-construction, and acute understanding of how perspective illusions are created in our brain. I must have walked up and down in front of this Reverspective for about half-an-hour, marvelling at the acutely visceral effect a mere illusion – a tromp l’oeil – was having on my perception.
There’s an interview with Patrick at:
http://www.patrickhughes.co.uk/film.html
And a short video sequence illustrating a walk-past of a reverspective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptMDDkq6FjI
Posted on June 25, 2014 June 25, 2014 Author bobcottonFormat ImageTags 1964, 2008, 2014, construction, painting, Patrick Hughes, reverspective, visual paradox Leave a comment
Kees Boeke: Cosmic View – The Universe in 40 Jumps 1957
Boeke was an amazing man – a Quaker and a pacifist, married to a Cadbury heiress, an educationalist, anti-capitalist, film-maker and artist. His Cosmic View illustrated an idea that was to meme its way through the following half-century, triggering filmic and bibliographic versions that illustrated or visualised the concept with varying but generally improving quality, from drawings and animation in Eva Szasz’ Cosmic Zoom (1968), to high-fidelity photography in the Charles and Ray Eames Powers of Ten and the Philip and Phylis Morrison Powers of Ten book.
Charles and Ray Eames: Powers of Ten 1977 Some 13 years or so before Photoshop and 16 years before After Effects, Charles and Ray Eames brilliant exposition and amplification of Kees Boeke’s idea, is to me, the best yet – it combines an aesthetic clarity and coherence with a ‘data-visualisation’ approach – you can see the numbers flicking faster upwards as God-like we accelerate out beyond the Milky Way into intergalactic space, and realise how small and delightfully insignificant we are in the great schema. In contrast, Boeke’s simple pen and ink visualisations are the bare maximum expression of the idea. Drawn with pedagogical intent, – to express and illustrate the amazing qualities of exponentials – Boeke’s book remains a brilliant masterpiece of information design.
This level of world-class information design embraces iconic examples of design such as Harry Beck’s London Underground map, Otto and Marie Neurath’s Isotypes, Florence Nightingale’s Mortality diagrams, and Alan Kay’s Alto graphical user-interface.
Florence Nightingale: Diagram of the Causes of Mortality in the Army in the East 1858 It was by means of diagrams like this that Nightingale was able to convince the British Military that profound changes in hospitalisation and care of wounded were essential. The clarification that a well-designed diagram brings to a mass of complex data explains why the art/science of information design and data-visualisation have become synch a central part of our intellectual world in the 21st century. These are some of the great pioneers.
Otto and Marie Neurath: Isotypes 1936. With the artist Gerd Arntz, the Neurath’s created a brilliant information-design system specially to humanise the illustration of complex statistics and other quantitive data. Their rationalisation of Isotypes into an information-design system has had a pround impact in this field, not least in the utilisation of simple icons and other symbols in the field of human-computer interface design (initially implemented by Alan Kay and the Xerox PARC team in the Xeroix Alto interface (1973).
Harry Beck: London Underground Map 1933 Becks brilliant innovation in schematic mapping uses colour-coding, simple symbols, a Gill Sans typeface, and a harmonic grid of horizontal-vertical-oblique to simplify the complex data of a geographical map, while at the same time preserving the logical relationships between stations and interchanges – all this with a stylised River Thames running across the capitol!
In 1982, Philip and Phylis Morrison, who assisted the Eames partnership in the making of the Powers of Ten film, produced a brilliant book of the subject, each page of the main sequence amplifying the image-field by a power of ten. In something like 80 pages the Powers sequence amplifies each step with contextual information, examples of artefacts at that scale – from DNA molecules to Galactic Clusters – informing at the same time as gratifying the senses.
And I started with Kees Boeke’s book not just because it was an original idea, nor because he was the first to visualise this idea, but because the book in its graphic simplicity has a kind of zen purity – a koan quality – that makes it sublime – it is Zen and the Art of Information Design.
Posted on June 24, 2014 July 8, 2014 Author bobcottonFormat ImageTags Beck, Cosmic View, Cosmic Zoom, data-visualisation, documentary, Eames, information design, Kees Boeke, Morrison, Neurath, Powers of Ten, Szasz Leave a comment
Raoul Grimoin-Sanson: Cineorama 1900
Grimoin-Sanson’s Cineorama fuzes two media technologies to create a new experience: immersive cinema. The media-art-form of the early 19th century, invented by Louis-Jacques Mande Daguerre, the diorama – a circular building in which was hung a 360-degree painted canvas depicting views, great battles, etc – is combined with a very modern and recent 19th century invention, the cinematograph, in a bravado tour de force of new media experimentation worthy of the Paris World Exposition of 1900.
Grimoin-Sanson’s 10-camera panoroamic camera rig for shooting content for his Cineorama of 1900. Using synchronised cameras with slightly overlapping frame coverage of the entire 360-degree scene from an ascending balloon over Paris, Grimoin-Sanson then projects these linked films to create a simulated balloon ride for visitors to the Expo.
It is entirely appropriate that the new 20th century should be celebrated by a marriage of old and new media, and of course that the content of this new marriage should be the experience of flight. So three years before the first powered aeroplane flight, Raoul Grimoin-Sanson celebrates the experience of flying in this stimulation of a balloon-flight over Paris. Filmed using a set of synchronised 70 mm movie cameras, projected using a similarly synchronised set of 10 projectors, Cineorama provided the first taste of 20th century immersive entertainment.
Poster for the Cineorama – a foretaste of theme-park rides and subsequent world expo installations, Cineorama begins a long strand of innovation exploring immersive experience and simulation that culminates with the invention of virtual reality and augmented reality, iMax theatres and immersive-art installations towards the end of the century.
Posted on June 23, 2014 June 23, 2014 Author bobcottonFormat ImageTags 1900, Cineorama, diorama, experimental film, film, immersive entertainment, Paris World Exposition, Raoul Grimoin-Sanson 3 Comments
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History of Edwin Mellen Press
10 Reasons Publish with us
Steps in Publishing with Mellen
Our Production Process
Mellen Books
Selection of Mellen Books
Reviewed by Choice
Mellen Authors
A - Z of Authors
Publish with Mellen
Subject Area: Zambia
Government Policy and Public Enterprise Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa the Case Studies of Tanzania and Zambia, 1964-1984
Makoba, J. Wagona
1998 0-7734-2229-3 568 pages
This study investigates the impact of state development policies of nationalization, Africanization and import substitution industrialization (ISI) on the activities and performance of selected industrial public enterprises (or parastatal organizations). Contrary to conventional wisdom, findings in this study show clearly that public enterprise performance in Tanzania and Zambia, as elsewhere in developing countries, is a result of the quality of management rather than type of ownership. It contributes to the current state-market debate by arguing that any meaningful understanding of economic growth and performance must take into account the roles of both state and market as well as the particular historical and sociopolitical context within which they coexist. Finally, the study extends the application of the resource dependency models of organizations to organizational behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa by demonstrating that local enterprise managers in both Tanzania and Zambia, rather than intelligently scanning their environment, are often overwhelmed by it.
Religion, Kinship and Economy in Luapula, Zambia
Poewe, Karla
1989 0-88946-190-2 250 pages
Presents the thesis that organizational uncertainties - specifically a now-confusing family and kinship structure - present hindrances to economic development equal to lack of money and technology
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN AFRICAN HISTORY WITH CASE STUDIES FROM NIGERIA, SIERRA LEONE, ZIMBABWE, AND ZAMBIA
Thomas-Emeagwali, Gloria
In science the areas of focus include mathematics, medicine, and the sociology of medicine as well as biologically-based warfare. In technology, iron, gold, diamond, and glass-making technologies dominate. Three of the cases of metallurgical development are centered on the pre-colonial periods. Chapters examine deficiencies and offer critical analysis of contemporary state policies in the areas of Nigeria and Zambia.
Struggle for Control of Education in Zambia
O'Brien, Dan
This book investigates the crucial role that education played in the construction and subsequent life of the Republic of Zambia, formerly Northern Rhodesia. The social structure is examined from the perspective of subaltern theory and the educational structure from the theoretical perspective of Foucault’s Discourse and Discipline. The importance of combining these two theoretical aspects arises from the particular situation of the territory between 1924, when the Colonial Office took over from the British South Africa Company and 1964 when Zambian Independence was declared. By 1924 there were already four clearly defined groups within the territory, the Colonial Officials, the Miners, traders and farmers, the Missionaries and the Africans. Each of these categories of people had their own view of how the territory should be developed. Each believed that education was the instrument they could use to achieve their aims and the book shows in details the efforts they made to do so. A detailed study of the education provided at both Discourse (Policy) and Discipline (schools and curriculum) levels shows however that none of the participants took into account the inherent logic of an educational system. The efforts made to manipulate the system has led to results that none of the parties envisaged and has left the Zambian people with major problems at social, political and educational levels.
Theatre and Social Change in Zambia the Chikwakwa Theatre
Idoye, Patrick E.
This is the only comprehensive documentation of the activities of the University of Zambia Chikwakwa Theatre, a group which used the medium of theatre to bring about social change in the central African nation of Zambia between 1969-1979. What are today known as the "Chikwakwa concepts" have become part of the universal theatre language of the southern African region. Explores information, ideas, and philosophy: that theatre can be aggressively used as a vehicle for social change; that theatre and politics are inextricably linked in Africa because "cultural discussion is frequently political discussion"; that the socio-political functions of the theatre are more crucial than the entertainment or aesthetic values; and that for theatre to be effective it must be rooted in the traditions of the people. The book's ten-page bibliography, extensive footnotes and photographs of the group in action make this volume an important tool for further research in African studies.
Zambia and the Decline of Kaunda 1984-1998
Chan, Stephen
This collection of essays spans a 15 year period of close observation of Zambia, and its first leader, Kenneth Kaunda. It begins with the 1984 Zambian elections and continues to Kaunda’s accusation of treason by the Chiluba government in 1998. An eyewitness series of events as they happened, the volume is a contemporary chronicle not paralleled elsewhere.
Zambia’s Stock Exchange and Privatisation Programme Corporate Finance Law in Emerging Markets
Mwenda, Kenneth Kaoma
This work illuminates theoretical issues of corporate finance law in emerging markets, focusing on the legal aspects of public distribution of securities in Zambia. The work fills an important gap in the literature pertaining to Africa’s leading stock markets. This work is a classic guide on emerging markets, invaluable to investors, securities regulatory bodies, stockbrokers and dealers, corporate finance lawyers, and financial economists. It identifies both legal and extra-legal constraints on the regulatory framework. It examines activities both on the Lusaka Stock Exchange and under the privatisation programme. It also makes proposals to introduce a regional stock exchange in Southern and Eastern Africa. It presents a critical analysis of the law, striking a balance between black letter law analysis and law in context analysis.
Scholarly publisher of academic research.
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All fields: insets
Save to favorites Tempo, Vol. 2, No. 8, May 1951
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Save to favorites Rand McNally standard map of Cuba
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["Asian","Black or African American","Hispanic","White"]
[{"name":"Region","data":[107100,57492,65106,77493]},{"name":"Columbia County","data":[50547,36897,59784,69241],"visible":false},{"name":"Dutchess County","data":[128431,53229,65679,84387],"visible":false},{"name":"Greene County","data":[54929,0,44977,53482],"visible":false},{"name":"Orange County","data":[100539,68242,71029,85005],"visible":false},{"name":"Putnam County","data":[117813,115620,90319,106215],"visible":false},{"name":"Sullivan County","data":[80769,40745,42697,60563],"visible":false},{"name":"Ulster County","data":[73894,36684,51722,66553],"visible":false},{"name":"Hudson","data":[34250,29125,29137,41382],"visible":false},{"name":"Poughkeepsie","data":[0,36144,37338,52030],"visible":false},{"name":"Catskill","data":[46375,0,0,40898],"visible":false},{"name":"Middletown","data":[63468,60043,51741,55738],"visible":false},{"name":"Newburgh","data":[0,31872,43335,49406],"visible":false},{"name":"Carmel","data":[132143,83846,90452,105428],"visible":false},{"name":"Monticello","data":[0,28828,33670,30777],"visible":false},{"name":"Kingston","data":[105859,36144,52180,52493],"visible":false},{"name":"NYS (excluding NYC)","data":[101226,48085,62944,74144]},{"name":"U.S.","data":[88204,41935,51811,66536]}]
2017 dollars
Median Household Income, by Race/Ethnicity, 2015-19
Median household income, inflated to 2018 dollars, broken down by race/ethnicity. Half of incomes are below the median and half are above.
Median household income is a gauge of overall economic health of the region and the financial resources of households.
In 2015-19, Asian residents of the Mid-Hudson Valley had the highest median income, at $107,100, followed by white ($77,500), Hispanic ($65,100), and African American ($57,500) residents. For most groups, regional median income was higher than national and statewide (excluding NYC) figures. Though the general pattern of discrepancies between racial and ethnic groups was similar on the regional, statewide, and national levels, African American residents in the Mid-Hudson Valley had a median household income that was 16% higher than the state median (excluding NYC) and 27% higher than the national median. The medians for Hispanic and Asian residents of the region also were 18% and 20% higher than the national medians for the same groups.
Median incomes decreased for all racial and ethnic groups in the region between 2000 and 2015-19. The decline was most pronounced for Hispanic and white residents, down 38%, followed by African Americans (31%) and Asians (30%). However, the median incomes of African Americans was $7,600 lower than Hispanics, $20,000 lower than whites and $49,600 lower than Asians. Racist policies in education, housing and labor market help to explain the gaps in incomes especially for the African American community.
Within the region, racial and ethnic disparities appeared in every county, but groups fared better in some counties than others. Among counties with statistically reliable results, Orange County had the highest median income for African Americans, at $68,200, while Ulster had the lowest, at $36,700. Putnam had the highest median incomes for Hispanic, white and Asian residents, at $90,300, $106,200 and $117,800, respectively. Among communities in the region, median income among white residents ranged from $31,300 in Kiryas Joel to $129,700 in the Village of Woodbury. The populations in most other local areas, when broken down by race and ethnicity, were too small to yield reliable survey results.
Why do these disparities exist?
These large and persistent disparities in income are the result of historic and current policies and practices that disadvantaged people of color. Research has connected slavery and the inability of black Americans even after emancipation to fully participate in economic life to the wealth and income gaps still present today. Structural racism perpetuated by policies and practices that systematically disadvantage African American and Latino communities include inequitable education, low wages, job and wage discrimination, lack of access to capital, and globalization. Even when a recovery from the current economic crisis occurs, it is not expected to make up for the pre-existing racial disparities experienced over time unless policies are enacted to address these gaps.
Data are presented in 2019 dollars. The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). For some small areas, Census did not have enough data to report results at all and N/A is shown in the data table. The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are expected to be released in the fourth quarter.
Region $107,100 $57,492 $65,106 $77,493
Columbia County $50,547* $36,897* $59,784* $69,241
Dutchess County $128,431 $53,229 $65,679 $84,387
Greene County $54,929*** N/A*** $44,977* $53,482
Orange County $100,539* $68,242 $71,029 $85,005
Putnam County $117,813** $115,620* $90,319 $106,215
Sullivan County $80,769*** $40,745 $42,697 $60,563
Ulster County $73,894** $36,684 $51,722 $66,553
NYS (excluding NYC) $101,226 $48,085 $62,944 $74,144
U.S. $88,204 $41,935 $51,811 $66,536
Columbia Cities
Hudson $34,250*** $29,125*** $29,137*** $41,382
Columbia Towns
Ancram N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $68,750
Austerlitz N/A*** N/A*** $118,125* $69,125
Canaan N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $86,875
Chatham N/A*** $42,946** N/A*** $77,733
Claverack N/A*** $26,111*** N/A*** $61,889
Clermont N/A*** N/A*** $58,542 $88,977
Copake N/A*** N/A*** $83,529 $83,350
Gallatin N/A*** $48,750 $78,542*** $70,750
Germantown N/A*** N/A*** $101,250*** $79,417
Ghent N/A*** $42,716*** $71,144* $72,552
Greenport N/A*** $64,306* N/A*** $55,690
Hillsdale N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $89,831
Kinderhook $250,001 N/A*** $39,149* $81,222
Livingston N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $56,956
New Lebanon N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $69,279
Stockport N/A*** N/A*** $68,571*** $64,632
Stuyvesant N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $78,438*
Taghkanic N/A*** N/A*** $50,500*** $91,786
Columbia Villages
Chatham N/A*** $42,759*** N/A*** $56,250*
Kinderhook N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $81,429
Philmont $2,499 N/A*** $15,962*** $51,611
Valatie N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $67,422
Beacon $140,938*** $57,375** $50,379*** $76,402
Poughkeepsie N/A*** $36,144 $37,338* $52,030
Dutchess Towns
Amenia N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $54,967*
Beekman $191,406** $71,968** $85,625** $99,633
Clinton N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $108,125
Dover N/A*** N/A*** $67,246*** $56,488*
East Fishkill $214,048 $146,341 $94,228* $111,250
Fishkill $128,750 $90,792 $90,934 $82,085
Hyde Park $132,000** $70,795*** $56,211*** $75,943
La Grange $168,482* $142,125** $122,533 $115,286
Milan N/A*** N/A*** $168,438 $71,842*
North East N/A*** N/A*** $98,098*** $66,928
Pawling N/A*** $182,792*** $72,857** $95,806
Pine Plains N/A*** N/A*** $20,156*** $62,159
Pleasant Valley $112,750*** $58,750*** $60,391*** $87,112
Poughkeepsie $122,313 $73,900 $76,000* $86,701
Red Hook $135,500** $47,361*** $85,179*** $86,512
Rhinebeck N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $77,533
Stanford N/A*** N/A*** $31,900** $100,568*
Union Vale $250,001 N/A*** $185,909*** $95,909
Wappinger $117,353 $67,102 $66,410* $81,978
Washington $245,478*** N/A*** N/A*** $99,615
Dutchess Villages
Fishkill $83,854* $113,603* $81,908* $73,958*
Millbrook N/A*** N/A*** $26,875* $91,250*
Millerton N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $64,800
Pawling N/A*** N/A*** $63,167** $80,114*
Red Hook $132,656*** N/A*** N/A*** $65,300*
Rhinebeck N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $63,750*
Tivoli N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $54,524**
Wappingers Falls $122,731*** N/A*** $33,900*** $51,769
Greene Towns
Ashland N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $45,250*
Athens N/A*** $53,250*** $54,938* $54,784
Cairo N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $55,000*
Catskill $46,375 N/A*** N/A*** $40,898
Coxsackie N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $59,375
Durham N/A*** N/A*** $28,636*** $55,357*
Greenville N/A*** $64,063*** $73,365*** $67,243
Halcott N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $53,750**
Hunter N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $50,227***
Jewett N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $59,038
Lexington N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $45,188*
New Baltimore N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $75,673
Prattsville N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $50,139*
Windham N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $55,729*
Greene Villages
Athens N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $54,074
Catskill N/A*** N/A*** $81,761*** $36,221
Hunter N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $25,417**
Tannersville N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $52,784**
Middletown $63,468* $60,043 $51,741* $55,738
Newburgh N/A*** $31,872 $43,335 $49,406
Port Jervis N/A*** $107,572*** $80,417** $47,344
Orange Towns
Blooming Grove $121,458** $91,065 $89,798** $98,389
Chester $112,621*** $106,964*** $127,734** $106,625
Cornwall $165,469*** $80,909*** $139,167** $105,250
Crawford N/A*** $82,593** $76,019** $86,518
Deerpark $71,354*** N/A*** $63,606 $57,826
Goshen $166,806*** $135,036*** $62,794** $107,895
Greenville $52,069* N/A*** $135,434 $112,628*
Hamptonburgh N/A*** N/A*** $63,523*** $120,795*
Highlands $141,815* $101,641 $62,188*** $97,581
Minisink N/A*** N/A*** $78,459*** $93,627
Monroe $116,528*** $110,476** $91,917** $110,618
Montgomery N/A*** $67,768*** $89,043 $85,062
Mount Hope $115,313** N/A*** $99,545*** $83,125
New Windsor $138,824*** $86,512* $85,045* $79,559
Newburgh $105,729*** $103,125* $80,313* $92,534
Tuxedo $211,667*** N/A*** $127,083*** $129,375
Wallkill $69,461 $69,175* $77,300 $71,379
Warwick $113,182** $106,875*** $102,826 $98,970
Wawayanda $122,500*** N/A*** N/A*** $94,671
Woodbury $145,625* $135,547 $118,450 $128,566
Chester $112,823* N/A*** $96,154*** $68,387**
Cornwall-on-Hudson N/A*** N/A*** $85,000*** $104,844
Florida N/A*** $93,333*** $145,365*** $92,243
Goshen $101,125*** N/A*** $45,484*** $91,756
Greenwood Lake N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $81,462*
Harriman $37,109* $91,250** $62,500*** $76,250*
Highland Falls $179,107*** $107,679** $62,188*** $86,833
Kiryas Joel N/A*** N/A*** $25,795*** $31,318
Maybrook N/A*** $56,500*** $91,250** $76,458
Monroe $121,500** $124,712*** $75,163** $118,472
Montgomery N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $78,309*
Otisville N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $82,188
South Blooming Grove $250,001 $73,667** $88,185* $79,514
Tuxedo Park $211,667*** N/A*** N/A*** $153,750*
Unionville N/A*** N/A*** $140,833** $71,667**
Walden N/A*** N/A*** $88,602 $84,727*
Warwick N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $74,898
Washingtonville $121,250*** $89,500 $87,308** $92,813*
Putnam Towns
Carmel $132,143*** $83,846*** $90,452 $105,428
Kent N/A*** $83,417*** $113,828** $100,728
Patterson $230,602*** $115,407*** $84,891** $103,777
Philipstown N/A*** $90,647 $80,875** $118,401
Putnam Valley N/A*** $211,057 $91,250* $106,121
Southeast N/A*** N/A*** $75,406* $112,375
Putnam Villages
Brewster $80,526 $52,895** $45,714** $56,953***
Cold Spring $33,864** N/A*** N/A*** $103,646
Nelsonville N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $112,083*
Sullivan Towns
Bethel N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $65,750
Callicoon N/A*** N/A*** $24,766*** $62,287*
Cochecton N/A*** N/A*** $75,000*** $57,625**
Delaware N/A*** $40,944* $68,015*** $58,654*
Fallsburg N/A*** $55,089*** $32,104 $41,096*
Forestburgh N/A*** N/A*** $90,521** $93,125
Fremont N/A*** N/A*** $202,857*** $62,232*
Highland N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $60,673
Liberty $50,313*** $31,536* N/A*** $50,920
Lumberland $111,719* N/A*** $86,538*** $75,625*
Mamakating N/A*** $53,750*** $91,250*** $77,201
Neversink N/A*** N/A*** $30,625*** $74,283
Rockland N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $57,796
Thompson N/A*** $37,227** $41,224* $49,640
Tusten N/A*** N/A*** $69,167*** $49,000*
Sullivan Villages
Bloomingburg N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $31,250**
Jeffersonville N/A*** N/A*** $73,333* $51,000*
Liberty N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $41,795*
Monticello N/A*** $28,828** $33,670** $30,777*
Woodridge N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $48,036***
Wurtsboro N/A*** N/A*** $47,614*** $68,553
Kingston $105,859** $36,144* $52,180 $52,493
Ulster Towns
Denning N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $73,125*
Esopus N/A*** N/A*** $62,262*** $73,241
Gardiner N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $76,815
Hardenburgh N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $66,250***
Hurley N/A*** N/A*** $76,429** $78,221*
Kingston N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $70,556
Lloyd N/A*** $35,838 $58,750*** $88,046
Marbletown N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $74,429*
Marlborough $119,375** N/A*** N/A*** $83,914
New Paltz N/A*** $90,156*** $54,554*** $80,049
Olive $249,514*** N/A*** $95,706* $67,906
Plattekill N/A*** N/A*** $38,869*** $64,003
Rochester N/A*** N/A*** $66,570* $54,255
Rosendale $43,854** $86,607 $43,261*** $71,607
Saugerties N/A*** $21,940*** $36,593 $58,942
Shandaken N/A*** N/A*** $21,543 $47,604*
Shawangunk N/A*** N/A*** N/A*** $82,552
Ulster N/A*** $27,788*** N/A*** $62,045
Wawarsing $91,250** $25,549*** $47,780* $55,764
Woodstock $144,231* N/A*** N/A*** $68,125*
Ulster Villages
Ellenville N/A*** N/A*** $48,333* $54,926*
New Paltz $8,984*** $138,162** $89,000*** $45,263*
Saugerties N/A*** N/A*** $36,587 $40,847
Notes: Figures in 2017 dollars. Multiyear results are from rolling American Community Survey. * Margin of error between 20% & 35% of estimate; ** margin of error between 35% & 50%; *** margin of error greater than 50%. The Census Bureau asks people to identify their race (white, African-American, etc.) separate from their ethnicity (Hispanic or non-Hispanic). So the totals for these categories cannot be added together, as people show up in both a racial and ethnic group.
Median Household Income, by Race/Ethnicity, 2000
Region $152,388 $83,552 $104,510 $125,706
Columbia County $48,914 $38,490 $39,469 $65,928
Greene County $65,219 $34,208 $42,108 $56,650
Orange County $94,186 $54,899 $69,219 $83,092
Putnam County $138,369 $122,764 $94,097 $111,152
Sullivan County $69,878 $34,687 $39,351 $58,224
Ulster County $40,762 $48,748 $55,130 $66,963
NYS (excluding NYC) $173,588 $101,893 $111,353 $131,719
Hudson $33,743 $31,730 $31,650 $40,000
Ancram $0 $49,873 $47,955 $70,048
Austerlitz $0 $51,791 $79,605 $79,252
Canaan $63,300 $36,446 $166,883 $79,757
Chatham $59,464 $64,835 $123,331 $76,941
Claverack $0 $58,941 $85,099 $64,388
Clermont $0 $51,791 $52,431 $72,387
Copake $0 $0 $38,364 $64,525
Gallatin $0 $45,397 $67,137 $65,513
Germantown $48,914 $187,983 $67,137 $64,611
Ghent $0 $39,323 $59,464 $67,419
Greenport $192,404 $41,049 $26,215 $59,931
Hillsdale $123,094 $28,773 $76,728 $60,903
Kinderhook $63,300 $192,818 $69,055 $80,843
Livingston $0 $26,215 $0 $57,162
New Lebanon $0 $73,850 $0 $68,816
Stockport $0 $54,190 $0 $65,404
Stuyvesant $0 $44,758 $86,319 $76,936
Taghkanic $0 $115,839 $85,679 $70,151
Chatham $3,835 $53,070 $47,315 $60,979
Kinderhook $123,513 $78,646 $32,609 $92,287
Philmont $0 $51,791 $118,653 $47,155
Valatie $3,835 $156,930 $26,428 $64,499
Beacon $114,708 $55,181 $62,323 $77,431
Poughkeepsie $37,268 $35,655 $27,636 $52,875
Amenia $39,803 $50,257 $28,294 $62,205
Beekman $93,513 $64,542 $124,219 $102,490
Clinton $156,930 $77,368 $100,130 $104,542
Dover $41,481 $91,027 $71,845 $77,609
East Fishkill $149,503 $122,964 $119,941 $119,402
Hyde Park $123,589 $80,839 $69,055 $78,242
La Grange $194,939 $124,365 $108,059 $111,113
Milan $0 $0 $44,758 $83,619
North East $0 $54,349 $46,996 $64,666
Pawling $72,413 $91,754 $71,826 $94,191
Pine Plains $101,664 $93,992 $306,913 $66,288
Pleasant Valley $111,639 $81,331 $70,494 $83,343
Poughkeepsie $101,856 $79,384 $87,365 $84,855
Red Hook $33,927 $90,474 $56,366 $72,109
Rhinebeck $79,126 $39,460 $163,723 $81,129
Stanford $0 $30,212 $103,104 $83,578
Union Vale $232,188 $70,973 $139,579 $108,039
Wappinger $94,375 $92,776 $83,231 $90,083
Washington $131,054 $125,052 $40,282 $80,055
Millbrook $115,839 $41,241 $115,303 $64,557
Millerton $0 $32,609 $47,955 $56,587
Red Hook $103,583 $62,022 $33,568 $56,553
Rhinebeck $0 $233,771 $174,396 $63,704
Tivoli $32,609 $55,628 $74,810 $63,300
Wappingers Falls $79,057 $53,326 $51,649 $59,644
Ashland $0 $0 $67,137 $54,805
Athens $195,605 $104,542 $88,237 $60,951
Cairo $0 $86,319 $59,145 $55,107
Catskill $51,200 $38,364 $26,264 $53,973
Coxsackie $0 $26,307 $46,585 $59,757
Durham $0 $0 $31,075 $52,608
Greenville $139,579 $70,973 $78,123 $59,051
Halcott $0 $0 $0 $47,235
Hunter $231,196 $0 $67,137 $52,356
Jewett $90,155 $0 $0 $62,941
Lexington $0 $13,427 $16,305 $45,078
New Baltimore $0 $0 $93,992 $74,182
Prattsville $0 $0 $3,835 $46,859
Windham $0 $24,937 $15,346 $55,554
Athens $0 $104,542 $59,464 $56,541
Hunter $0 $0 $63,300 $51,791
Tannersville $24,937 $0 $24,937 $42,200
Middletown $82,722 $44,657 $49,790 $62,877
Newburgh $58,985 $39,461 $49,703 $52,503
Port Jervis $109,885 $34,784 $31,514 $47,002
Blooming Grove $111,574 $64,979 $99,883 $103,081
Chester $96,989 $82,482 $134,369 $108,782
Cornwall $255,717 $69,330 $91,375 $91,599
Crawford $119,602 $108,697 $102,384 $86,767
Deerpark $107,899 $42,791 $54,988 $68,957
Goshen $130,089 $43,296 $66,526 $92,870
Hamptonburgh $89,004 $155,480 $76,409 $115,035
Highlands $97,828 $61,863 $62,952 $88,360
Minisink $0 $101,390 $95,190 $83,441
Monroe $79,469 $116,904 $103,435 $75,348
Montgomery $126,323 $117,582 $84,209 $75,310
Mount Hope $70,973 $87,758 $92,457 $87,253
New Windsor $78,098 $80,510 $63,475 $79,424
Newburgh $100,599 $93,289 $92,032 $91,687
Tuxedo $86,667 $127,980 $70,734 $108,505
Wallkill $69,855 $65,859 $75,357 $80,463
Warwick $124,442 $100,226 $94,395 $94,173
Wawayanda $134,274 $87,597 $105,660 $94,558
Woodbury $116,459 $116,088 $123,843 $121,023
Chester $94,266 $69,878 $135,076 $86,500
Cornwall-on-Hudson $306,913 $76,088 $123,289 $94,556
Florida $9,591 $154,177 $110,615 $82,482
Goshen $72,413 $33,409 $66,701 $80,085
Greenwood Lake $306,913 $0 $97,252 $85,337
Harriman $117,858 $132,804 $101,664 $87,853
Highland Falls $92,841 $47,653 $52,431 $78,522
Kiryas Joel $0 $0 $59,783 $23,230
Maybrook $56,587 $105,152 $105,693 $80,115
Monroe $77,002 $113,173 $112,127 $109,253
Montgomery $127,112 $136,955 $114,817 $76,591
Otisville $115,839 $59,464 $87,597 $75,961
Tuxedo Park $146,099 $5,755 $52,750 $143,343
Unionville $0 $0 $45,653 $58,399
Walden $63,300 $109,764 $70,674 $66,818
Warwick $47,680 $69,878 $59,464 $78,224
Washingtonville $111,574 $67,456 $121,951 $97,309
Carmel $176,216 $132,518 $117,300 $117,343
Kent $131,220 $183,715 $80,085 $111,691
Patterson $233,771 $109,977 $138,928 $100,418
Philipstown $101,939 $87,758 $89,836 $111,214
Putnam Valley $141,699 $163,903 $93,032 $111,927
Southeast $82,243 $83,761 $78,006 $108,327
Brewster $72,251 $77,447 $63,300 $65,346
Cold Spring $87,853 $0 $154,740 $81,918
Nelsonville $0 $0 $195,361 $91,595
Bethel $77,550 $24,617 $33,157 $55,942
Callicoon $0 $65,986 $51,791 $59,878
Cochecton $0 $29,732 $59,464 $63,475
Delaware $306,913 $40,282 $71,932 $61,269
Fallsburg $33,249 $37,841 $35,118 $53,800
Forestburgh $0 $9,591 $172,638 $86,894
Fremont $70,973 $39,323 $41,241 $50,421
Highland $24,937 $93,992 $72,891 $62,212
Liberty $70,283 $33,449 $56,522 $49,534
Lumberland $68,415 $136,192 $70,973 $65,892
Mamakating $131,356 $108,953 $69,055 $62,552
Neversink $25,484 $306,913 $10,869 $70,441
Rockland $67,617 $36,659 $25,096 $51,038
Thompson $156,402 $31,449 $30,245 $59,148
Tusten $44,118 $22,699 $74,810 $60,971
Bloomingburg $0 $0 $42,200 $59,080
Jeffersonville $0 $24,937 $28,773 $50,086
Monticello $34,314 $25,946 $28,773 $36,966
Woodridge $195,361 $20,333 $32,609 $44,118
Wurtsboro $74,490 $134,274 $25,896 $57,142
Kingston $36,446 $33,671 $45,078 $51,125
Denning $17,264 $0 $0 $62,753
Esopus $78,646 $57,271 $72,251 $71,803
Gardiner $67,137 $105,074 $54,669 $83,936
Hardenburgh $0 $0 $0 $54,136
Hurley $306,913 $85,200 $96,229 $77,827
Kingston $0 $18,542 $55,628 $66,753
Lloyd $71,133 $71,357 $56,674 $81,640
Marbletown $0 $96,869 $107,594 $69,934
Marlborough $17,264 $30,051 $47,955 $77,687
New Paltz $14,003 $59,080 $46,276 $66,647
Olive $156,930 $67,137 $42,073 $70,625
Plattekill $18,863 $94,418 $60,214 $62,858
Rochester $113,173 $46,756 $81,417 $66,047
Rosendale $66,104 $79,194 $54,093 $68,108
Saugerties $40,282 $43,571 $61,915 $65,938
Shandaken $66,072 $0 $66,607 $48,613
Shawangunk $63,727 $107,144 $92,713 $79,935
Ulster $103,774 $49,350 $85,360 $67,137
Wawarsing $32,609 $34,208 $41,703 $58,750
Woodstock $3,835 $93,697 $45,317 $76,789
Ellenville $24,937 $28,133 $41,524 $53,361
New Paltz $3,835 $57,325 $38,539 $34,345
Saugerties $0 $0 $60,742 $54,420
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Catalogue Search for "subject:(History of art)" E-book
Results 21 - 30 of 93
Anywhere or not at all: philosophy of contemporary art
By Osborne, Peter, 1958- author
Contemporary art is the object of inflated and widely divergent claims. But what kind of discourse can open it up effectively to critical analysis? This...
Abstract painting and abstraction
By Williams, Emyr, 1965- author
Published Ramsbury: The Crowood Press, 2017
Abstract painting and abstraction can be a daunting and frustrating genre of art. How should you approach a surface? How can you use color effectively...
Design history: a students' handbook
Published London: Routledge, 1992
Hazel Conway introduces the student new to the subject to different areas of design history and shows some of the ways in which it can be studied and...
Colour, art and empire: visual culture and the nomadism of representation
By Eaton, Natasha, 1974- author
Published London: I.B. Tauris, 2013
Colour wreaks havoc with western expectations of biological determinism, objectivity and eugenics. Beyond the cracks of such discursive practice, colour...
Re-envisioning the contemporary art canon: perspectives in a global world
Re-envisioning the Contemporary Art Canon: Perspectives in a Global World seeks to dissect and interrogate the nature of the present-day art field, which...
Art and psychoanalysis
By Walsh, Maria
Often derided as unscientific and self-indulgent, psychoanalysis has been an invaluable resource for artists, art critics and historians throughout the...
A companion to modern art
By Meecham, Pam, author
Published Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018
Presents a series of original essays by international and interdisciplinary authors who offer a comprehensive overview of the origins and evolution of...
Design, history and time: new temporalities in a digital age
Published London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019
Design, History and Time reflects on the nature of time in relation to design, in both past and contemporary contexts. In contrast to a traditional design...
ArtSpeak: A Guide to Contemporary Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords, 1945 to the Present
By Atkins, Robert, author
Published New York: Abbeville Press, 2013
Third Edition edition
An expanded, full colour 3rd edition of the leading lexicon of contemporary art. The leading lexicon of contemporary art returns in an expanded, full-...
Art to Come: Histories of Contemporary Art
By Smith, Terry, author
Published Durham: Duke University Press, 2019
In Art to Come Terry Smith-who is widely recognized as one of the world's leading historians and theorists of contemporary art-traces the emergence of...
Electronic resource (93)
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From 1988 1991 1992 1995 2001 2005 2006 2008 2009 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 To 1988 1991 1992 1995 2001 2005 2006 2008 2009 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
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St. Alfred of Parma
From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia.
Revision as of 09:19, 10 September 2012 by PuppyOnTheRadio (talk | contribs) (8 revisions)
Saint Alfred of Parma.
Alfredo Lambrusco (April 1, 1481 - April 1, 1525) was born a poor Italian goatherder, who grew up on the lower slopes of Mount Parma. An important figure in the history of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Alfredo's reformists toppled Chef Boyardee and brought forth the reformation of the church. He was killed by Boyardeans during The Massacre of the Chickens.
Life[edit]
Alfredo was born on April 1 1481. His parents had little money and Alfredo was raised predominately on goat's milk. Although his parents were heathens who attended the Holy Noodle Ceremony for the pasta, their actions allowed Alfredo to learn the basic tenets of the church. One night while watching the herd, contemplating his future life, he prayed to the Flying Spaghetti Monster to show him some kind of sign. He was immediately pummeled by a hailstorm of meatballs. From this point forward, his parents gave him encouragement to further his religious studies, and to especially pray for more signs from the FSM.
He eventually left home and studied with Pastafarian monks in Sicily, specializing in Meatitude. In 1510 Chef Boyardee removed meatballs from the Holy Noodle Ceremony, inducing Alfredo to form the Meatballists, a separatist faction of the church. By 1518, he had organized his followers into the Reformed Church of Alfredo, and nailed the 95 Pizzas onto the door of the church in Boyardee's home town of Marinara. Armed with the motto "Deo Carnivorus Maximo" ("A Vegetarian God is A Weak God"), Alfredo led his reformists in a war against the Church, known as the War of the Noodles.
During the Battle of Salmonella near Mount Parma, Alfredo and many Reformists were surrounded by Boyardeans on the grounds of a small chicken farm. Dressed in holy Pirate regalia, the Boyardeans grew confused and killed the chickens. The Reformists nearly escaped, but were spotted by a Parrot, and were eventually hunted down. It is said that a headless Alfredo fought off numerous pirates, allowing a small child to escape onto Mount Parma. It is for this miracle and that of the meatball hailstorm that Alfredo was canonized to sainthood.
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Saved in Hope - Pope's New Encyclical
Pope Benedict's new encyclical is here!
SOME QUICK GEMS FROM "SPE SALVI" -
"It is not science that redeems man: man is redeemed by love."
"Whoever is moved by love begins to perceive what “life” really is. He begins to perceive the meaning of the word of hope that we encountered in the Baptismal Rite: from faith I await “eternal life”—the true life which, whole and unthreatened, in all its fullness, is simply life."
"In our encounter with the God who in Christ has shown us his face and opened his heart be for us too not just "informative" but "performative" — that is to say, can it change our lives, so that we know we are redeemed through the hope that it expresses?"
"A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer. When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When I can no longer talk to anyone or call upon anyone, I can always talk to God. When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation that goes beyond the human capacity for hope, he can help me. When I have been plunged into complete solitude ...; if I pray I am never totally alone."
Labels: catholic, Hope, Pope Stuff, resources
This Golden Compass Points Due South
Ah, the compass. Even those of us who have never actually held one know instinctively that to do so would be a comforting thing, a reassuring thing, a good thing. Because in the event that we should become "lost" the compass would serve as a guide to getting us "found" again.
I love the fact that the needle of a compass points north. Well, not true north, they say, but pretty darn near true north. I love north. I love saying the word north! It reminds me of the high and lofty, the cold and unreachable, the North Star, the cap of the world, Mount Everest, stuff like that. Growing up, when July would roll around, my brother and I would always look forward to heading north to Maine. Once the old gray Chevy truck (affectionately known as the Babe) was loaded up, the very act of turning off of the back roads of Browns Mills and slipping onto the ramp that led to 95 North brought a certain rush of excitement. For us, heading north meant a journey into clarity, and a certain clearing of the head; to clearer paths of unspoiled wilderness and open fields.
But what happens when your compass is broken, or worse, the needle twisted, and the signs intentionally switched by another hand? What if 95 North read 95 South, and instead of the cool, clear, balsam-scented forests of New England, we ended up in the hot, swarmy, mosquito invested swamps of Florida! (no offense, Floridians. Hey, my Nana lives in Florida!)
Well, that would not be nice, now would it?
Enter, The Golden Compass. It's the first book of Philip Pullman’s trilogy “His Dark Materials” (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass). A slicked up movie version of The Golden Compass starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig is due for release on December 7th. What's it about? Well, think of the beauty and mystery and appeal of the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings as classic tales of good versus evil that lead us to God, to the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, and then turn it completely upside down.
Pullman is a militant atheist who has said “I hate the Narnia books, and I hate them with a deep and bitter passion. . . .” In the conclusion of the Chronicles of Narnia, when Aslan the Lion (the Christ figure) brings the true and faithful Narnians to Heaven, Pullman is repulsed and has called it “one of the most vile moments in the whole of children’s literature.” Narnia, and the Lord of the Rings he claims, are "propaganda in the service of a life-hating ideology.” He's also said “Harry Potter’s been taking all the flak. Meanwhile, I’ve been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said.”
OK then.
Tonight on the Heart of Things radio show (800AM or http://www.catholicinternetradio.com/) my guest will be Ms. Sandra Miesel. Sandra holds masters’ degrees in biochemistry and medieval history from the University of Illinois. She has written hundreds of articles for the Catholic press, chiefly on history, art, and hagiography. Outside the Catholic sphere, she has also written, analyzed, and edited fiction. We'll be talking about the ramifications of "The Golden Compass" from 5 to 6 pm tonight (EST).
If you are a parent, educator, believer in God, or just alive, please tune in, and pass it on! The show will be uploaded as a podcast by the week's end. My podcast is available through iTunes, or click the podcast link at http://www.missionmoment.org/
PS - Sandra Miesel has a brand new book coming out!
Pied Piper of Atheism: Philip Pullman and Children's Fantasy
You can pre-order it now at www.ignatius.com
Here's the write up from Ignatius:
"British author Philip Pullman is widely acclaimed by critics and readers for his best-selling, award-winning trilogy, His Dark Materials. But he has been criticized by some for attacking Christianity and promoting atheism. What is the truth about Pullman and his books? What does he believe about God, religion, the Catholic Church, and atheism? What does he hope his books will accomplish? Why does he express such strong disdain for the fiction of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien? Should children be reading the His Dark Materials trilogy, or watching the film version of The Golden Compass, the first book of the trilogy?
These are just some of the many important questions addressed by Pete Vere and Sandra Miesel in their accessible, concise, and thoroughly-researched analysis of Pullman's fiction and beliefs. The authors provide a literary critique of His Dark Materials and reveal the many premises, and often surprising literary and philosophical sources of that popular work, as well as explain the symbolism present throughout. They also compare Pullman's fiction to The Chronicles of Narnia, the Harry Potter books, and other famous works of children's fiction. And they examine the metaphysical premises and moral propositions found throughout His Dark Materials, and point out the many objectionable aspects of the books—including violence and sensuality—about which every concerned parent should know. Readers looking for a fair, firm, and non-sensational critique of His Dark Materials will find it in Pied Piper of Atheism."
at November 27, 2007 2 comments:
Labels: culture clash, Maine, movie, radio, resources
Deer in the Fence
I was driving out of Malvern Retreat Center about two weeks ago, from a meeting that took me into the twilight time of the day, when a massive buck came leaping across the fields that buffer Malvern Prep's campus from the road. It was a powerful, agile creature, bounding like Mercury over the grass, and straight for my car. I was spellbound for a moment, then looking to my right, I saw traffic approaching. I honked my horn and they slowed. To the left, more cars were coming; they too saw the deer and soon a window was open for this beautiful creature to slip through. And slip it did.
At first it brought to mind the old Far Side cartoon "Nature Scenes We Rarely See" - where a beautiful buck is leaping over a fallen log with his antlers an inch from another tree branch (and we imagine the awkward pain of the next two seconds when the two meet). The grounds of the Retreat Center were surrounded by a high, green, chain link fence. The deer cut to the right away from my car and smacked right into the fence. Deer are color blind, I'm told, so perhaps the green of the fence blended in with the deep green woods of freedom beyond them.
We all watched from our cars as its beautiful body crumpled to the grassy shoulder. Then to our amazement, it jumped again, and again... and again, each time launching itself back into the fence with no success. I found myself cheering him on... "Look over here! You're so close! Freedom is just 20 feet away!" Finally, after what seemed like a dozen attempts, the deer 's own body weight managed to tear away the bottom of the fence and it slowly edged through it backwards, unravelling its antlers from the chain links in a slow and painful twisting movement. Once free of the fence, it simply turned and jumped again, this time into the clear air and off into the deep woods.
Crazy.
It was a couple of days later that the image came back to me. I was thinking of a friend who was in the midst of a real crisis, and I felt again like I was sitting in my safe and secure car, observing something of great power, beauty and freedom suddenly caught up in anxiety, pain and confusion. All I could do was watch, wait, listen.... and point to the freedom just 20 feet away. I was removed, could see more clearly, could see the range of colors that offer through contrast a greater clarity. Even though the path to freedom and to open fields seemed so close, I could only pray and point to it. We can no more force others to choose (a contradiction) than I could have picked up that deer and set him onto the open path. That move would have damaged us both.
How quickly life can turn us into those tangled knots, dark places, and seemingly unsurmountable walls. And we leap again and again into the knot, into the darkness, into the mess of it all for we cannot see beyond it. But I know we're made for open fields; we are meant to be free. Even in the midst of what seems insurmountable, inescapable, even life-threatening, there is hope. And we can find it, sometimes by passing through the pain and darkness, sometimes around it. But the deer could not see this, reason it out, step back, breathe, or pray in the middle of its crisis. It couldn't make an act of faith that this struggle would work out either. But we can step back, pray, sit with the Mystery.... listen. And we should in every and all circumstances as we make our way through this world.
What fence of fear or confusion or dread has locked you in? What boundaries are you seeking to go beyond? What comfort zone is He calling you out of and beyond? And which side of that fence offers you true freedom?
To find the mystery there must be patience, interior purification, silence, waiting....
-Pope John Paul II
Labels: peace, prayer, suffering, The Struggle, trust
Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday found me in Wawa (our convenience store/deli) this morning. I was preparing meself a wee cup of Kona coffee (it's some kinda Hawaiian blend, a little nutty flavor, my favorite), when I heard a song playing through the store. I had never heard it before, but instantly knew I loved it. You know what I'm talking about? I didn't know the artist or even the words, it was playing so low. But I instantly knew it was one of my songs.
You know what I mean. It had that melody, the kind that speaks in my native tongue, that language that needs no parsing and no tense. It is always Now. Always Then. Always shimmering with the possibility of What Will Be.
As far as I'm concerned, good music is an invitation to contemplation. It's a kind of sacramental, wrapping truth and beauty in melodic clothes.
So I stood there as the three people ahead of me had their stuff rung up; bagel, pack of gum, milk, coffee. And all the while I was getting zapped in the middle of a busy morning at Wawa. That music was like a sniper, hitting my heart in the midst of a crowded place, and it can us too in busy streets, in the deserts of solitude, in wide open fields of the soul where we are alone, in the wind over the water of the ocean of our being. What a power it has to strike us down, melt the heart, fire it up, send it hurtling through our days with new insights, new vision, new energy.
"Music is the language of Heaven."
- Peter Kreeft
From the Road! Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld
August Rush Movie - Lookin' Good!
"It's all around us... only some of us can hear it." "Only some of us are listening." Wow, movie trailers are so often high octane, high adrenaline and packed with emotion. Perhaps that's why I LOVE THEM! This looks like a film with a powerful message. Just heard of it today and I'm looking forward to seeing it! Here's the official website.
Labels: healing, Hope, movie, music
CRITICAL WEEKEND FOR CATHOLIC FILMMAKERS
This is a special request from Catholic Exchange.
Keep One in Theaters, Get the Other into Every Catholic Home
www.bellathemovie.com
www.championsoffaith.com
Thanksgiving Weekend is a critical weekend for two sets of Catholic filmmakers. While the team at Metanoia Films appeals to Catholics to keep Bella in theaters this coming weekend, the filmmakers at Catholic Exchange appeal for a blockbuster response to our multi-award winning DVD, Champions of Faith: Baseball.
Just as important as ticket sales for theatrical releases, DVD sales support and sustain films released straight to video and in this instance will enable Catholic Exchange to create more films featuring cultural icons who embrace and affirm our beloved Catholic faith.
Call 1.877.263.1263 if you'd like to order. Here's sampling of the reviews for Champions of Faith:
"A nine-inning faith classic!"
– Bishop Ignatius Catanello, Archdiocese of Brooklyn
"A great testimony to how rich our lives can be when filled with faith ."
– Dennis Heaney, President, The Christophers
"A healthy reminder that men of character do still play the game."
– Russell Shaw
"Anyone with a spiritual bent is sure to be moved by the experiences of these men."
– United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Film and Television
There is nothing more inspirational than to see and hear superstar athletes at the top of their game talking about something greater than winning the World Series or being named a Major League All-Star — that is, their faith in God, devotion to the Blessed Mother and love for Christ in the Eucharist. For the first time, there is a tool available to hand to those people in your life who are the most difficult to speak with about God. Champions of Faith is that tool.
My Wife the Actress!!
Rebecca auditioned a couple of months ago in our local community theater, and POW! she got the role of a dying woman wearing a plaid scarf! How cool is that! Here's the write-up from the theater's website, cut and pasted for your viewing pleasure! __________________________________________ "An O'Henry Christmas" opens at Celebration Theater on November 30th.
Jack Rowe as "O.P" spins a tale to down-and-out travelers Amanda Williamson and Rebecca Donaghy (woohoo! emphasis added) in Celebration Theater's "An O'Henry Christmas". The show opens November 30 and runs thru December 16 in Lansdowne at the 20th Century Club on 84 S. Lansdowne Avenue. The story takes place on Christmas Eve, 1893, when a mysterious storyteller enters an abandoned railroad spur on the outskirts of New York City and joins a rag-tag group of seemingly lost souls. In exchange for food, " O.P." entertains his new friends with a series of charming tales that transform them into characters in stories by O. Henry, including "The Last Leaf" and "The Gift of the Magi." In the process, he rekindles their holiday spirit and gives them new hope for their future. With grace, humor, and a touch of the fantastic, An O. Henry Christmas makes for delightful holiday entertainment. For more information go to www.celebrationtheater.com or call 610 259-1800.
November 30 - December 16, 2007 | Buy Tickets
Performance times (Fri & Sat 7:30 & Sun at 6:30pm)
Friday Nov 30th will feature a Wine and Cheese Reception before the performance for an additional $5 per ticket
Labels: cool, family, Life
The Red Pill or the Blue Pill?
The Matrix was a film trilogy that captivated many (including me!) a few years back, by tapping into the deepest questions we have as humans: Why are we here? Is there more than just this life? What is the Truth of our origins? Where can I find it?
Unfortunately, as the series moved forward, it became a tangled cacophony of too many philosophies and theologies. In the end, it was just another brand of gnosticism wrapped in shiny 20th century special effects (oh but what sweet special effects!)
Despite the philosophical fogginess in these films, there were some incredible "teaching" moments. One of my favorites happens in the initial conversation between Neo (the Chosen One who slowly discovers his purpose) and Morpheus (the sage character who leads Neo out of the darkness of deception).
Morpheus: ... Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind - driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Neo: The Matrix?
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is? (Neo nods his head.)
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind. (long pause, sighs) Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. (In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.)
Morpheus: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (A red pill is shown in his other hand) You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause; Neo begins to reach for the red pill) Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more. (Neo takes the red pill and swallows it with a glass of water)
Glimmers of the Truth on the silver screen?
Isn't there, for all of us, an inherent sense of something being "off" in the world, in our own hearts, in our relationships. Something we can't seem to name exactly... but we know it's there...
"But you feel it. You felt it your entire life."
We should ask ourselves "Is this how it's always been? Should we ever expect Something More?"
"Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison...."
Original Sin. The break in our origins as persons made to give but given in to grasp at the gifts and promises God wants to give us. But our culture is constantly tossing the wool over our eyes, filtering values, watering down truth, trying to erase our memories of that Original Grace, that Garden, that peace and love that runs deeper than lust. In the words of Pope John Paul II, it's the "heritage of our hearts" and it has real "salvific power."
In other words, it can save us. It can liberate us from the prison of sin. But it's not in a pill we can take, or a program we can attend, or even in a self-help section at the bookstore. It pours out freely from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
But it is the self that must seek the help, must look up, look out of the stony place in the heart and beg for the chisel and the hammer that can break us and set us free.
So we do have to make a choice. And therein lies our greatest power, our deepest identity. We are free to choose. And here is the other favorite scene of mine, taken from the final installment of the Matrix Trilogy; there is an epic battle at the film's conclusion where Neo must face Agent Smith and defeat him. Neo is beaten down, nearly destroyed and seemingly the odds are against him. Smith stands over him in what looks like the moment that will end all things.
Agent Smith: Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more that your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose... You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?
Neo: Because I choose to.
What will we choose today in the many encounters we'll experience? Will we reach out of the prison of the self, the lens of lust and grasping and egocentricity that we've been told is the only reality? Or will we dig deeper into that heritage of our hearts, that Original Innocence God created us in? Will we choose to reach up and out and into the Other? Into the New Grace that streams down from the Cross?
He has the power to take us out of ourselves.... finally. Do we believe?
"Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more."
Labels: culture clash, Filmables, meaning in life, movie, The Struggle
Mother Teresa - Saint of Darkness
This week on the Heart of Things Radio Show, my guest is the co-founder of Mother Teresa’s priestly order, Fr. Joseph Langford.
He began his long association with Mother Teresa while studying theology in Rome. In 1983, she invited him to be the co-founder
of her priests’ community, the Missionaries of Charity Fathers. He resides at the community’s motherhouse in Tijuana, Mexico. We'll discuss his new book "Mother Teresa: In the Shadow of Our Lady."
"In recent weeks, the once-private, inner thoughts of Mother Teresa have been at the center of media attention… and scrutiny. Thanks to thirty thousand pages of documents gathered for her canonization and most recently the public release of her personal correspondence to her confessors, the Nobel Prize winning Catholic nun - admired for her work among the poor - has been the subject of critical debate. Did Mother Teresa believe in God? Was she in torment over a loss of faith? Did she cease to pray? Was she a hypocrite? These questions and more are on the lips of the world’s most vocal mouthpieces, from atheists to theologians and everyone in between. In an extraordinary new book published by Our Sunday Visitor, Fr. Joseph Langford, founder with Mother Teresa of her religious community of priests, will help us understand even more about the beloved “Mother” of Calcutta in his insightful revelations about the truth of her interior life. We’ll learn that the only shadow on Mother Teresa’s life that we need to care about is the one cast by Mary, the “Mother” of Nazareth. Fr. Langford candidly proves in Mother Teresa: In the Shadow of Our Lady, that “to attempt to describe Mother Teresa in a few broad strokes by holding up one or another aspect of her life or work without reference to the whole is to fail to grasp who she was.”
- Our Sunday Visitor
Date: Wednesday, November 14
Time: 5pm to 6pm EST @ 800 AM (southeastern PA, NJ, DE, parts of MD)
or live via http://www.catholicinternetradio.com/
To call into the show with your thoughts or questions in the Philadelphia region: 610-527-2906 or outside the Philadelphia region, call toll free: 888-343-2484
Labels: radio, resources, review, saint, study, suffering
Fire, Frost and Gold
This is the season! Even in the rush to work, I'm sure you've been captured by the beauty in the fields, the forests, the city blocks lucky enough to have even a few trees. They are passing through their death throes, shuffling off in a blaze of glory their leafy cloaks... and lifting up their branches to embrace the winter chill.
It's beyond beautiful.
So yesterday morning on the way to work, I stashed the camera, and as I pulled onto Malvern's campus, the sun peeked up from the eastern rim of the sky and poured out fire on the sleepy earth. I took a few pics beside the edge of Black Friar Pond. The page to view them is here. Enjoy! And keep your cameras ready.... this weekend looks like the peak!
Labels: beauty, nature, wonder, wow
Zoom Zoom!
Woohoo! My brother-in-law Tim Byrons was mentioned in the BMW Car Club of America Show in Stowe, Vermont! They gave his car a nice shoutout on the webpage here. Go Tim!
Amongst the other notables:
- A Malaga 1973 3.0CS with 7,500 original miles owned by a reclusive collector who graciously allowed it out to visit (but not play) with a number of other picture-perfect CS coupes.
- Tim Byron’s spectacular 1988 635CSi.
- Dave Haviland’s time warp 1952 Azure Blue performance-tuned Beetle.
- A bevy of Bimmers, Porsches, Mercedes, Audis, VWs. The senior BMW present was Frank Bombardier’s red 1958 Isetta 300.
Labels: cool, family
Answering Atheism
My guest last night on the Heart of Things radio show was Tom Hoopes, executive editor of the National Catholic Register. We spoke of contemporary waves of Atheism in the cultural spotlight, from Richard Dawkins to the Golden Compass. Here are some resources, and the podcast will be uploaded soon for your listening pleasure!
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Turkey Day Apologetics (coming to National Catholic Register soon!)
Married (with a lot) of Children by Tom Hoopes
Apostles to the Slavs - Pope John Paul II
OUR CLOSING SONG
Ginny Owens - I am Nothing
Labels: faith, family, radio, resources
A Drop of Morning Dew
"Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth." - Wisdom 11:22. Rebecca and I went to the 8:30 at Holy Cross this weekend. We needed to get an early start to the day! This church has a massive stained glass window just behind the altar. It's actually an entire scene (the morning of the Resurrection) with three basic panels capturing different moments from that immortal Morning. I found myself drifting into it during the Mass. The reading was from Wisdom 11. Sometimes a line from Scripture can just take you places... "For you love all things that are..... And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? But you spare all things, because they are yours, O LORD and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things!" The video embedded above was taken a couple weekends ago in NY at the in-laws. Again, I was heading out the door to Mass and captured by the soft fragility of beauty. That thought from the book of Wisdom - about God's "imperishable spirit... in all things" - has been sticking with me this week. Despite the rush and the frenetic pace and the noise and the busyness we subject ourselves too, His imperishable spirit is in all things.... Even though we brush past beauty a thousand times a day.... His imperishable spirit is in all things... ALL things.... So I find myself this week drifting back to those spots of time, flashes of light where He was and where I knew He was and sometimes where I did not see Him until just now. But His imperishable spirit is in all things... In the light on the horizon driving home from Grandma Donaghy's when I was a kid in the backseat. In the wet fields off of Sykesville Road, and in the white wings of the gulls hovering over the soil... In the music of my youth....in the games we made up, in the intoxicating freedom of riding our bikes all over Burlington County. In the smell of those Star Wars trading cards, the music of John Williams, the gilded edges of holy cards, the smell of my baseball glove, the walk of wonder to the parking lot under a starry sky after seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time. In the swimming hole at Rancocas Creek... in the card games with the guys on Jefferson Street, laughing... always laughing. His imperishable spirit is in all things... And there is nowhere where He is not, and in Him all things are. The universe is a sacrament, and in faith we can see Him, meet Him, love Him, as He comes to us streaming through the memories, and the moments that surround and shape us every single day.
Labels: being a kid, JOY, universe, wonder
Bella - A Review
There's been tons of talk lately in the press and Catholic circles about the new film "Bella." It won the Toronto Film Festival's People's Choice Award as well as the praise of our own Cardinal Rigali. Now with that kind of variety, this film is worth a look!
I saw it yesterday with our Head of School, Fr. Flynn, and 26 of the boys from Malvern Prep. And I loved it. I can't say enough about how refreshing it was to be served a banquet of real, virtuous love from the Big Screen as opposed to the usual dollar menu of vice, compromise, distorted sex and violence. Where other films would go when their lead characters are young, attractive, male and female.... the movie Bella halts. Instead, it opens up the possibility that there exists a deeper love, a purer love, a love that isn't just about jumping in the sack. Wow! Who knew?
And yet the love between Jose and Nina is real, gritty, painfully honest, and shows to what depths the human heart can go when we become truly naked before another person. Where other Hollywood love stories go in one night (often so predictably) Bella in one day and night goes infinitely beyond. This love is not skin deep, but dives into the painful heart of each person, into their fears and their regrets, and by facing those skeletons, the old bones are given new life.
The lead character Jose is the MAN. That's all I have to say. He is, like his name's sake St. Joseph, the guardian and protector of a woman in a very vulnerable place. And he shines, he soars! Even while carrying the burden of his own tragic past. Nina plays the fragile and sometimes angry heart that finds in the face of Pure Love, that her heart can be open to something more.
The scenes have a raw, gritty feel to them, like we're walking through NYC ourselves. The close-cropped shots of onions being cut and tomatoes tossed, of flame and bread and water and dancing feet and digging earth and planting trees all conveyed a sense of joy and a rhythm to life that I think our culture has forgotten exists. The character of Nina felt its beat in her heart after one beautiful evening meal with Jose's family. "Is it always like that?" she asks him as they walk towards the ocean. "So much joy? So much love?" Jose's humble eyes look down, "That's nothing. You should see it when we all get together on holidays."
I'm tempted to stop writing and just say go see the movie. Just go and receive it like a gift, with no idea of its contents. It's a journey into Life, and it's got all the beauty and the pain and the promise that God has growing in this garden we call earth. Ah the movie Bella, like Life.... what a beautiful choice!
Labels: beauty, culture clash, movie, review, The Struggle, video
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Jay Z and Beyonce Raise $6 Million towards Cancer Treatment and Research
Bey and Jay continue improving the world
Mike Coppola, Getty
Power couple Beyoncé and Jay Z are making the world a better place, both through their incredible music and their contributions to society on basically every level.
Related: Beyonce & JAY-Z Give Teen $100,000 Scholarship During 'OTR II' Tour
The Carter’s latest charitable act involves the two giving a massive donation that will go towards cancer research and treatment. At City of Hope's Spirit of Life Gala in Santa Monica, CA, the couple helped raise more than $6 million for the nonprofit.
It was my pleasure to honor my friend Jon Platt for all the good work he does for The City of Hope. City of Hope makes creating medical miracles its priority in the fight against cancer and life-threatening diseases. If you’d like to help, you can contact them at cityofhope.org.
A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Oct 14, 2018 at 3:24pm PDT
Beyoncé also took the stage during the event, delivering performances of a number of songs including the very fitting "Halo." Other attendees included Pharrell and Kelly Rowland, former Destiny’s Child member who Beyoncé seems to be teasing an upcoming project with.
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Tag: Automata
Automata (2014): Evolution of a Different Sort
Directed and co-written by Gabe Ibáñez and starring Antonio Banderas, the 2014 film Automata takes the ideology behind I Robot and makes it darker; the result of a different sort of evolution. Set in a Dystopian future where mankind has shrunk to just a few million survivors on an inhospitable Earth, the story follows one man’s investigation of an “impossible” crime. With shades of Blade Runner, the film has a protagonist that is not a cop but an insurance investigator, criminals that are not cyborgs but robots who have gone against their protocols and evolved.
Jacq Vaucan (Banderos) is a married man whose wife Rachel (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen) is heavily pregnant and an investigator that is fed up with his job and wants to be moved. His work consists of proving that the robots manufactured by ROC cannot be altered or perform against their protocols.
There are two protocols that each robot must adhere to. The first does not allow it to harm any living thing and the second does not allow it to alter or repair itself. A cop named Sean Wallace (Dylan McDermott) shoots and destroys a robot that he claims was repairing itself. The policeman, who was high on drugs at the time of the shooting, swears that he did not imagine the incident; that the machine altered itself right in front of him.
Robert Bold (Robert Forster) tells Vaucan that this is impossible and the investigator starts looking for someone who disabled the second protocol; a clocksmith. Jacq finds one, a Dr. DuPre (Melanie Griffith) but it turns out that she is not modifying the robots and she learns that it has happened “naturally.”
This film is very dark and brooding in its delivery and with its depiction of a future-earth burnt and dried out by solar flares. Automata does a brilliant job showing the fickle nature of mankind. In the backstory, humanity cheer the new “pilgrim” robots that were made to help “push back the desert.” When the machines fail, the same people who cheered them on turn and their praise becomes hate and disgust.
Similar to I Robot, the machines are part of everyday life although in the that film, the cities are clean and full of successful, happy people. In Automata , like Blade Runner, the towns are dirty, full of acid rain, the unemployed, worn-out robots and is segregated from the ghetto, which is “out of bounds” to the city dwellers.
While the message is bleak, for mankind at least, the robots seem to be the future. Banderas acts his little cotton socks off in the film and his performance alone is worth the “price of admission” as they say. Griffith has a small role and while she still has the chops to impress, it is her character’s outcome that is remembered best. Shocking and sudden, it sticks in the mind and fits this future of grim reality.
Kudos to two favorite Brit actors who have worked together before, although they do not share any real screen time here, Tim McInnerny and Andy Nyman. The actors appeared in the 2006 horror film Severance and it was a delight to see them in this film. McInnerny as the long dust coat-wearing killer for ROC and Nyman as the partner of Wallace, the drug addict cop. Both actors can play “Yanks” quite convincingly.
Oh, and Keep an ear out for Javier Bardem as the “blue” robot.
Automata is streaming on Netflix at the moment and is a real 5 out of 5 stars film. This one, as they say, is a keeper and should become a cult favorite if it has not done so already. Watch this one you will be glad you did.
Author Mike's Film TalkPosted on June 27, 2015 Categories Entertainment, Film ReviewsTags Andy Nyman, Antonio Banderas, Automata, entertainment, Film Review, I Robot, Melanie Griffith, Netflix, Robert Forster, Severance, Tim McInnernyLeave a comment on Automata (2014): Evolution of a Different Sort
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CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis in sickle cell anemia
Paul V. Browne, Robert P Hebbel
Vasoocclusive episodes in sickle cell anemia may be initiated by adherence of erythrocytes to endothelium, one mechanism of which involves thrombospondin binding to CD36 on the red blood cell (RBC). We compared CD36 expression and its relationship to stress reticulocytosis in patients with sickle cell anemia and other chronic hemolytic disorders, including some after splenectomy. Adults with sickle cell anemia had significantly more CD36-positive cells (4.1% ± 3.4%, mean ± SD, n = 12) in unfractionated blood than did normal adults, who had almost none (0.13% ± 0.15%, n = 8, p < 0.05). In density-fractionated blood, sickle samples contained significantly more CD36-positive cells (39.8% ± 21.9%, n = 10) in the lowest density layers than did splenectomized high-reticulocyte controls (8.5% ± 6.4%, n = 4, p < 0.05). "Stress" reticulocytes (identified by their unique morphology) were significantly more frequent in low-density layers from sickle blood (44.3% ± 23.9%, n = 10) than from nonsplenectomized high-reticulocyte controls (10.5% ± 14.8%, n = 5, p < 0.05). There was a strong correlation (r = 0.92) between stress reticulocyte count and number of CD36-positive cells for all patients except thalassemics, in whom CD36-positive cells were more frequent than stress reticulocytes. Flow cytometry confirmed that the maximal CD36 signal was found on immature reticulocytes. We conclude that CD36-positive stress reticulocytes occur more frequently in sickle cell anemia than in other chronic hemolytic states, even after surgical splenectomy, suggesting that this enhanced CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis does not simply reflect absent splenic function. These results explain why RBCs from high-reticulocyte control patients fail to show the significant CD36-dependent thrombospondin-mediated adhesion to endothelium that is exhibited by sickle red cells.
Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis in sickle cell anemia'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Reticulocytosis Medicine & Life Sciences
Reticulocytes Medicine & Life Sciences
Sickle Cell Anemia Medicine & Life Sciences
Thrombospondins Chemical Compounds
Reticulocyte Count Medicine & Life Sciences
Splenectomy Medicine & Life Sciences
Browne, P. V., & Hebbel, R. P. (1996). CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis in sickle cell anemia. Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, 127(4), 340-347. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-2143(96)90181-X
CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis in sickle cell anemia. / Browne, Paul V.; Hebbel, Robert P.
In: Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, Vol. 127, No. 4, 01.01.1996, p. 340-347.
Browne, PV & Hebbel, RP 1996, 'CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis in sickle cell anemia', Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, vol. 127, no. 4, pp. 340-347. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-2143(96)90181-X
Browne PV, Hebbel RP. CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis in sickle cell anemia. Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine. 1996 Jan 1;127(4):340-347. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-2143(96)90181-X
Browne, Paul V. ; Hebbel, Robert P. / CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis in sickle cell anemia. In: Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine. 1996 ; Vol. 127, No. 4. pp. 340-347.
@article{61e7bd4a40814200ac3f0af0fee76734,
title = "CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis in sickle cell anemia",
abstract = "Vasoocclusive episodes in sickle cell anemia may be initiated by adherence of erythrocytes to endothelium, one mechanism of which involves thrombospondin binding to CD36 on the red blood cell (RBC). We compared CD36 expression and its relationship to stress reticulocytosis in patients with sickle cell anemia and other chronic hemolytic disorders, including some after splenectomy. Adults with sickle cell anemia had significantly more CD36-positive cells (4.1% ± 3.4%, mean ± SD, n = 12) in unfractionated blood than did normal adults, who had almost none (0.13% ± 0.15%, n = 8, p < 0.05). In density-fractionated blood, sickle samples contained significantly more CD36-positive cells (39.8% ± 21.9%, n = 10) in the lowest density layers than did splenectomized high-reticulocyte controls (8.5% ± 6.4%, n = 4, p < 0.05). {"}Stress{"} reticulocytes (identified by their unique morphology) were significantly more frequent in low-density layers from sickle blood (44.3% ± 23.9%, n = 10) than from nonsplenectomized high-reticulocyte controls (10.5% ± 14.8%, n = 5, p < 0.05). There was a strong correlation (r = 0.92) between stress reticulocyte count and number of CD36-positive cells for all patients except thalassemics, in whom CD36-positive cells were more frequent than stress reticulocytes. Flow cytometry confirmed that the maximal CD36 signal was found on immature reticulocytes. We conclude that CD36-positive stress reticulocytes occur more frequently in sickle cell anemia than in other chronic hemolytic states, even after surgical splenectomy, suggesting that this enhanced CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis does not simply reflect absent splenic function. These results explain why RBCs from high-reticulocyte control patients fail to show the significant CD36-dependent thrombospondin-mediated adhesion to endothelium that is exhibited by sickle red cells.",
author = "Browne, {Paul V.} and Hebbel, {Robert P}",
T1 - CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis in sickle cell anemia
AU - Browne, Paul V.
AU - Hebbel, Robert P
N2 - Vasoocclusive episodes in sickle cell anemia may be initiated by adherence of erythrocytes to endothelium, one mechanism of which involves thrombospondin binding to CD36 on the red blood cell (RBC). We compared CD36 expression and its relationship to stress reticulocytosis in patients with sickle cell anemia and other chronic hemolytic disorders, including some after splenectomy. Adults with sickle cell anemia had significantly more CD36-positive cells (4.1% ± 3.4%, mean ± SD, n = 12) in unfractionated blood than did normal adults, who had almost none (0.13% ± 0.15%, n = 8, p < 0.05). In density-fractionated blood, sickle samples contained significantly more CD36-positive cells (39.8% ± 21.9%, n = 10) in the lowest density layers than did splenectomized high-reticulocyte controls (8.5% ± 6.4%, n = 4, p < 0.05). "Stress" reticulocytes (identified by their unique morphology) were significantly more frequent in low-density layers from sickle blood (44.3% ± 23.9%, n = 10) than from nonsplenectomized high-reticulocyte controls (10.5% ± 14.8%, n = 5, p < 0.05). There was a strong correlation (r = 0.92) between stress reticulocyte count and number of CD36-positive cells for all patients except thalassemics, in whom CD36-positive cells were more frequent than stress reticulocytes. Flow cytometry confirmed that the maximal CD36 signal was found on immature reticulocytes. We conclude that CD36-positive stress reticulocytes occur more frequently in sickle cell anemia than in other chronic hemolytic states, even after surgical splenectomy, suggesting that this enhanced CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis does not simply reflect absent splenic function. These results explain why RBCs from high-reticulocyte control patients fail to show the significant CD36-dependent thrombospondin-mediated adhesion to endothelium that is exhibited by sickle red cells.
AB - Vasoocclusive episodes in sickle cell anemia may be initiated by adherence of erythrocytes to endothelium, one mechanism of which involves thrombospondin binding to CD36 on the red blood cell (RBC). We compared CD36 expression and its relationship to stress reticulocytosis in patients with sickle cell anemia and other chronic hemolytic disorders, including some after splenectomy. Adults with sickle cell anemia had significantly more CD36-positive cells (4.1% ± 3.4%, mean ± SD, n = 12) in unfractionated blood than did normal adults, who had almost none (0.13% ± 0.15%, n = 8, p < 0.05). In density-fractionated blood, sickle samples contained significantly more CD36-positive cells (39.8% ± 21.9%, n = 10) in the lowest density layers than did splenectomized high-reticulocyte controls (8.5% ± 6.4%, n = 4, p < 0.05). "Stress" reticulocytes (identified by their unique morphology) were significantly more frequent in low-density layers from sickle blood (44.3% ± 23.9%, n = 10) than from nonsplenectomized high-reticulocyte controls (10.5% ± 14.8%, n = 5, p < 0.05). There was a strong correlation (r = 0.92) between stress reticulocyte count and number of CD36-positive cells for all patients except thalassemics, in whom CD36-positive cells were more frequent than stress reticulocytes. Flow cytometry confirmed that the maximal CD36 signal was found on immature reticulocytes. We conclude that CD36-positive stress reticulocytes occur more frequently in sickle cell anemia than in other chronic hemolytic states, even after surgical splenectomy, suggesting that this enhanced CD36-positive stress reticulocytosis does not simply reflect absent splenic function. These results explain why RBCs from high-reticulocyte control patients fail to show the significant CD36-dependent thrombospondin-mediated adhesion to endothelium that is exhibited by sickle red cells.
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Nobel prize winner trading card (CIRCA 1952). Elie Metchnikoff.
Dale E. Hammerschmidt
Russian doctor and bacteriologist, born in Ivanowca in 1845. He began his studies in Kharkov, continuing them at the Universities of Giessen, Gothingen, and Munich, later being named Professor of Zoology in Odessa in 1870. In the Canary Islands, he completed some anthropological works, but dedicated himself especially to studies of marine fauna. In 1887, much taken by the work of Pasteur, he wrote to him asking for a position in his laboratories; in a short time he became one of the principal collaborators with the master, especially in works concerning bacteriology. These were an inspiration to him, and led him to his famous theory of phagocytosis, the defensive act whereby white blood cells protect an organism against pathogenic microbes. Metchnikoff supposed that old age was avoidable, and subscribed to the materialistic school of thought. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908. (With the complements of the Jose Lopez Luis Cigarillo Factory, Tenerife).
The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Nobel prize winner trading card (CIRCA 1952). Elie Metchnikoff.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Bacteriology Chemical Compounds
Zoology Medicine & Life Sciences
Nobel Prize Medicine & Life Sciences
Anthropology Medicine & Life Sciences
Phagocytosis Medicine & Life Sciences
Spain Medicine & Life Sciences
Hammerschmidt, D. E. (2003). Nobel prize winner trading card (CIRCA 1952). Elie Metchnikoff. The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, 141(3), 229-230.
Nobel prize winner trading card (CIRCA 1952). Elie Metchnikoff. / Hammerschmidt, Dale E.
In: The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, Vol. 141, No. 3, 03.2003, p. 229-230.
Hammerschmidt, DE 2003, 'Nobel prize winner trading card (CIRCA 1952). Elie Metchnikoff.', The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, vol. 141, no. 3, pp. 229-230.
Hammerschmidt DE. Nobel prize winner trading card (CIRCA 1952). Elie Metchnikoff. The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine. 2003 Mar;141(3):229-230.
Hammerschmidt, Dale E. / Nobel prize winner trading card (CIRCA 1952). Elie Metchnikoff. In: The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine. 2003 ; Vol. 141, No. 3. pp. 229-230.
@article{394a29410bb24a42b2476261da6d1d31,
title = "Nobel prize winner trading card (CIRCA 1952). Elie Metchnikoff.",
abstract = "Russian doctor and bacteriologist, born in Ivanowca in 1845. He began his studies in Kharkov, continuing them at the Universities of Giessen, Gothingen, and Munich, later being named Professor of Zoology in Odessa in 1870. In the Canary Islands, he completed some anthropological works, but dedicated himself especially to studies of marine fauna. In 1887, much taken by the work of Pasteur, he wrote to him asking for a position in his laboratories; in a short time he became one of the principal collaborators with the master, especially in works concerning bacteriology. These were an inspiration to him, and led him to his famous theory of phagocytosis, the defensive act whereby white blood cells protect an organism against pathogenic microbes. Metchnikoff supposed that old age was avoidable, and subscribed to the materialistic school of thought. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908. (With the complements of the Jose Lopez Luis Cigarillo Factory, Tenerife).",
author = "Hammerschmidt, {Dale E.}",
T1 - Nobel prize winner trading card (CIRCA 1952). Elie Metchnikoff.
AU - Hammerschmidt, Dale E.
N2 - Russian doctor and bacteriologist, born in Ivanowca in 1845. He began his studies in Kharkov, continuing them at the Universities of Giessen, Gothingen, and Munich, later being named Professor of Zoology in Odessa in 1870. In the Canary Islands, he completed some anthropological works, but dedicated himself especially to studies of marine fauna. In 1887, much taken by the work of Pasteur, he wrote to him asking for a position in his laboratories; in a short time he became one of the principal collaborators with the master, especially in works concerning bacteriology. These were an inspiration to him, and led him to his famous theory of phagocytosis, the defensive act whereby white blood cells protect an organism against pathogenic microbes. Metchnikoff supposed that old age was avoidable, and subscribed to the materialistic school of thought. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908. (With the complements of the Jose Lopez Luis Cigarillo Factory, Tenerife).
AB - Russian doctor and bacteriologist, born in Ivanowca in 1845. He began his studies in Kharkov, continuing them at the Universities of Giessen, Gothingen, and Munich, later being named Professor of Zoology in Odessa in 1870. In the Canary Islands, he completed some anthropological works, but dedicated himself especially to studies of marine fauna. In 1887, much taken by the work of Pasteur, he wrote to him asking for a position in his laboratories; in a short time he became one of the principal collaborators with the master, especially in works concerning bacteriology. These were an inspiration to him, and led him to his famous theory of phagocytosis, the defensive act whereby white blood cells protect an organism against pathogenic microbes. Metchnikoff supposed that old age was avoidable, and subscribed to the materialistic school of thought. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908. (With the complements of the Jose Lopez Luis Cigarillo Factory, Tenerife).
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Florida Teen Arrested For Impersonating A Doctor After Performing Exam On Undercover Cop
Family members claim Malachi Love-Robinson actually has certificates and considers himself to be a holistic doctor.
Desire Thompson
Florida teenager fascinated with the medical field was arrested for impersonating a doctor multiple times, The Palm Beach Post reports.
Malachi Love-Robinson, 18, was arrested Tuesday after he reportedly performed a medical examination on an undercover agent at his imposter medical office in West Palm Beach. He did not prescribe the agent any medication. Love-Robinson’s practice was called New Birth New Life Holistic and Alternative Medical Center & Urgent Care, which he displayed on multiple social networks and professional medical profiles. The rented office was across the street from West Palm Hospital at the West Palm Medical Plaza.
The teen claimed he had a Ph.D. and was a doctor of psychology. In October, Love-Robinson was cited in Boynton Beach, where he was practicing medicine without a license.
When Love-Robinson was 17, he also dressed up as a doctor, told residents he was an anesthesiologist, and walked the halls of St. Mary’s Medical Center. He wasn’t apprehended because he didn’t perform on patients. His mother reportedly told police her son was battling a mental illness and refused to take medication.
In an interview with the Sun Sentinel, Love-Robinson’s grandfather William Robinson explained his side:
According to his grandfather, William Robinson, it’s all a big misunderstanding. He said his grandson never claimed to be a medical doctor, only a holistic doctor, and that he had received proper certification to practice.
Those certificates are from online schools, Robinson said, though he wasn’t sure which ones. He said his grandson’s certificates were hung on the walls of his office.
“He’s not out doing drugs, he’s not out trying to rob nobody,” William Robinson told the Sun Sentinel. “He’s trying to do something constructive, and if he did do something and the paperwork wasn’t right — he can get ahead of himself sometimes and he may have been trying too hard.”
Love-Robinson was officially charged with fraudulently practicing medicine, a third-degree felony. He is currently being held at the Palm Beach County Jail on $6,000 bail.
SOURCE: Palm Beach Post, Sun Sentinel | VIDEO CREDIT: Inform
Bridging The Gap – The Intersection Between Black Lives Matter & The Black Panther Party
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Florida Teen Arrested For Impersonating A Doctor After Performing Exam On Undercover Cop was originally published on newsone.com
crime , Florida , Holistic Doctor , Impostor , medical
Florida Teen Arrested For Impersonating A Doctor After…
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MF Doom Dead at 49
Peter Kramer, Getty Images
MF Doom has died at 49 years old.
Doom, who was born Daniel Dumile in London on Jan. 9, 1971, passed away on Oct. 31, 2020. The cause of death has not been revealed.
The news of the British-born rapper's death was shared via his social media accounts on Thursday (Dec. 31). In a statement written by MF Doom's wife, Jasmine, she expressed how much the influential rhymer meant to their family and praised the man he was prior to his passing.
"Begin all things by giving thanks to THE ALL!
To Dumile
The greatest husband, father, teacher, student, business partner, lover and friend I could ever ask for. Thank you for all the things you have shown, taught and given to me, our children and our family. Thank you for teaching me how to forgive beings and give another chance, not to be so quick to judge and write off. Thank you for showing how not to be afraid to love and be the best person I could ever be. My world will never be the same without you. Words will never express what you and Malachi mean to me, I love both and adore you always. May THE ALL continue to bless you, our family and the planet.
All my Love
Transitioned October 31, 2020"
MF Doom's team offered a statement as well. "With heavy hearts, we share these words from MF DOOM’s family. It is our wish to continue to respect their privacy at this difficult time," the statement reads.
The passing of the masked rapper comes three years after the death of his 14-year-old son, Malachi Ezekiel Dumile. MF Doom shared the tragic news via Facebook back in 2017. The cause of death was not shared at the time.
Doom, who has six solo albums under different aliases—Operation: Doomsday (1999), Take Me to Your Leader as King Geedorah (2003), Vaudeville Villain as Viktor Vaughn (2003), Venomous Villain as Viktor Vaughn (2004), Mm..Food (2004), Born Like This (2009)—and worked on a number of collaborative efforts with the likes of Madlib (Madvillainy), Danger Mouse (Danger Doom), Ghostface Killah (Doomstarks), Jneiro Jarel (JJ Doom), Bishop Nehru (NehruvianDoom) and Czarface (Czarface Meets Metal Face), was widely known for his "super villain" stage persona. His signature mask was likened to Marvel Comics super-villain Doctor Doom.
Before the world knew MF Doom, the rapper was known as Zev Love X from the group KMD with his younger brother DJ Subroc and a rapper named Rodan. Rodan was later replaced by Onyx the Birthstone Kid. The trio was established back in 1988. He later adopted the rap moniker MF Doom in 1997, after the group disband following them being dropped from Elektra Records. Subroc had passed away as well.
Earlier this year, MF Doom collaborated on several records including Bishop Nehru's "Meathead." He also worked with Rejjie Snow and Cam O'bi for their track "Cookie Chips" and BadBadNotGood's "The Chocolate Conquistadors" for Grand Theft Auto Online.
Bishop Nehru expressed his sadness over news of MF Doom's passing in an Instagram post. "I SWEAR I DONT BELIEVE THIS SHIT. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING MY G. IF NIGGAS WOULDA TOLD ME ID LOSE YOU AND KOBE IN THE SAME YEAR ID NEVER BELIEVE IT. I USED TO ARGUE ON THE BUS WITH NIGGAS ABOUT YOUR MUSIC BRO. DEAD GET INTO FIGHTS. WHEN I MET YOU AND YOU LIKED MY MUSIC YOU REALLY DONT UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH IT MEANT THAT YOU EVEN KNEW ME. I MET THE FAMILY AND I HOPE EVERYONE IS STRONG AND GOOD MAN. I KNOW ILL SEE YOU AGAIN IN THE ASTRALS. ROLLING ONE UP FOR YOU RIGHT NOW. IMMA EVEN SIP SOME HENNY FOR YOU MAN. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING. TILL WE MEET AGAIN ♾🌎 MY FIRST MENTOR ❤️ THANK YOU. ILL KEEP MY LABRADORITE IN NY LEFT POCKET ALWAYS BROTHER ❤️ NEHRUVIANDOOM - ♾," Bishop wrote.
See reactions from the hip-hop community to the news of MF Doom's death below.
See Rappers We've Lost in 2020
Source: MF Doom Dead at 49
Filed Under: MF Doom
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An Uncommon History: Strange Things Were “Afoot” at Oregon’s Crater Lake, According to These Former Park Rangers
Micah Hanks July 29, 2019
Few places in America offer views as captivating as Oregon’s Crater Lake. It is the deepest lake in the United States, as well as one of the most majestic scenic destinations in the Northwestern part of the country.
A number of Native American legends chronicle the lake’s formation; in one, a spirit named Llao was peering through a great hole left in the top of the ancient Moyaina, or “big mountain” by Gmo’Kam’c, the creator, at the time he made all the trees and rivers in the land. Through this opening, Llao saw a beautiful woman he wished to marry, and sent a messenger to tell the young woman of his intent. However, upon learning who the suitor was, her father refused to allow her to leave, and in his anger, Llao exploded into the air, raining fire down on the earth below in his fury, and leaving a giant hole where Moyaina had once been.
Today, geologists tell a story of the lake’s formation that bears a number of similarities, since Crater Lake partly fills a massive caldera left after the eruption of Mount Mazama nearly 7,700 years ago. After the remnant of the volcano collapsed, it left a 5.5-mile-wide basin more than half a mile deep, which filled over time with the help of melting snow and frequent rainfall.
“Mount Mazama eruption—artistic rendering painted by Paul Rockwood” (Credit: USGS/Public Domain).
Among those who have been drawn to the majestic locale over the years were brothers Larry and Lloyd Smith, a pair of twin brothers who became park rangers at Crater Lake National Park. Lloyd began his tenure there in 1959, and just two years later his brother Larry joined him, both working there together over the next decade. During their time together at the park, they became fascinated with stories about the names of various landmarks and other features of the landscape.
“Who would not be curious about such geographical names as: Goodbye, Annie, Wizard, Phantom, Vidae, Watchman, Cleetwood, Skell, Llao, Danger Bay, and of course the most enduring of all Park names ‘The Old Man of the Lake’,” Larry wrote years later.
In 1964, Larry learned the story of a superintendent who, some years earlier, had been fired and forced to leave. A creek in the park where the superintendent and his brother had been building a bridge was given a poignantly appropriate name at the time of their departure: “Goodbye.”
“As U.S. Marshal Leslie Scott bid ‘goodbye’ to [the] Arant family, he named a bridge and a creek beneath a bridge “Goodbye” because it was the last piece of work completed at Crater Lake by the ‘retiring’ Superintendent,” Larry wrote.
Larry (left) and Lloyd Smith (right) as rangers at Crater Lake National Park (Credit: Crater Lake Institute).
“I was fascinated by this trivial fact of history,” Larry admitted, “and felt the story should be shared. So I typed up a short summary on an index card and tacked it to the employee bulletin board at the head of the stairs in the Administration Building. Several more stories followed. Thus started my lifelong hobby of collecting Crater Lake stories.”
Over the years, the Smith brothers began to keep a record of happenings in the park. It was Red Cone District Ranger Larry Hakel who suggested to Lloyd one day that “that these logs should become a part of the Park’s permanent record and that perhaps the monthly summary logs could be expanded to include interesting events from the past years.”
Beginning that summer, Larry and Lloyd, with the help of Ranger Larry Hakel, began to collect and type up reports that included events and weekly happenings, summaries of newspaper items, historical events, and a host of other items of interest. “Our first, primitive edition came off the Headquarters Xerox machine and late August.”
Thus, The Smith Brothers Chronological History of Crater Lake was born. The volume went through several updates and new editions over the years, and today an online version of the work can be read with entries dating all the way back to 1828.
(Credit: The Crater Lake Institute)
“We witnessed many of the events that appear in our chronology,” Larry notes in the introduction. “A constant stream of people flowed through the Park eager to share a good story about their favorite happenings at Crater Lake with a couple of interested Rangers.”
Add me to the people who read and enjoyed entries from Larry and Lloyd’s chronicling over the years, although among the unique stories shared in the book, there are three that particularly stand out.
The first of these entries is dated “June 8 or 9”, 1976, and gives the following account:
George Morrison, Chief Park Naturalist, spots a “Big Foot” creature crossing the South Road at dusk, headed into Annie Creek Canyon. With four steps, the up-right creature crossed the road. Because of distance and tree shadows, a description is difficult. Morrison could not locate any footprints. George is an experienced ornithologist and experienced in nature observation. Morrison was shaken by his sighting.
With what little the entry says, it says so much: George Morrison, who had been Chief Park Naturalist at the time, described seeing a “Big Foot,” and having been shaken by his sighting. Had it been the only story of its kind that the Smith brothers included in their history, it still would have been noteworthy. There are, however, additional reports that were logged during the ensuing years. The next noteworthy account occurred in the summer of the following year, when a pair of rangers, Marion Jack and Vic Affolter, reported hearing “something large crashing through the forest at the old PCT entrance on the West Road.”
“A pine cone is tossed through the air and the strong odor emanating from whatever it was is over powering,” the brief report concludes. No clear observation of whatever threw the pine cone at the pair of rangers occurred.
What is perhaps the best report of an alleged Bigfoot sighting appearing in the Smiths’ history occurred on August 22, 1981. The report excerpt reads as follows:
“Roger Wade, 33, 1245 W. Almas, Fresno, California, reports seeing an upright type of Sasqash animal cross 50 yards in front of his car, three miles west of Annie Spring, on the West Entrance road. Roger described the animal as being upright, 6 foot tall, with light brown and cinnamon hair. The animal crossed the road from south to north, left to right.”
(Credit: Wikimedia Commons.)
The idiosyncratic spelling of Sasquash is both notable, and charming. Also noteworthy is the fact that Wade estimated the height of the creature to be no more than six feet as he observed it crossing the road.
“We have strived to double check our entries for accuracy,” Larry would write years later in the history’s introduction, “but we have found that oral remembrances do cause what seem to be contradictions and inconsistencies. People remember past events in different ways, but because we have accepted oral history and traditions into our collection, some perceived inaccuracies are acceptable if you accept this premise.”
Nonetheless, the incidents pertaining to Sasquatch all came from rangers or other professionals employed with the park at the time (with the exception of the final account, given by Roger Wade). They appear to have been logged around or shortly after the time of their occurrence, and in the case of the 1976 report by Chief Park Naturalist George Morrison, an experienced witness had been involved.
Like most other accounts detailing alleged sightings of Sasquatch, these are merely anecdotal reports; they are, however, interesting glimpses at the sorts of things which may occasionally have transpired in our National Parks over the years, which otherwise might go un-noted if not for the diligence of folks like the Smith Brothers, whose collected accounts and history of Crater Lake National Park remain widely regarded by laymen and professionals alike… as well as a few Sasquatch enthusiasts over the years.
Tags bigfoot crater lake Oregon sasquatch Smith Brothers
Micah Hanks is a writer, podcaster, and researcher whose interests cover a variety of subjects. His areas of focus include history, science, philosophy, current events, cultural studies, technology, unexplained phenomena, and ways the future of humankind may be influenced by science and innovation in the coming decades. In addition to writing, Micah hosts the Middle Theory and Gralien Report podcasts.
You can follow Micah on and
Bigfoot the Realtor is Back in Business and Doing Well
Wanderings of an Artist: Paul Kane and the “Scookum” of Mount Saint Helens
Micah Hanks June 7, 2019
The Strange Case of the Human-Bigfoot War of 1855
Brent Swancer June 6, 2018
Watch Out For The Women In Black
Nick Redfern June 14, 2016
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Police investigation: Mechanical failure led to Jason Leffler crash, death
By Jerry BonkowskiJun 21, 2013, 11:26 PM EDT
Following more than a week-long investigation, New Jersey state police said the wreck that claimed the life of NASCAR driver Jason Leffler in a June 12 dirt track race in Bridgeport, N.J., was caused by a mechanical problem.
While the report is not fully completed, several findings have come to light to explain much of the reason why Leffler’s car suddenly went out of control and flipped several times before coming to rest. Leffler was taken to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead less than an hour after the wreck, which occurred shortly after 9 pm ET.
Police believe a torsion stop, which is part of the sprint car’s suspension, somehow broke off and became lodged between a wheel and the steering control system, rendering the car uncontrollable. The car came out of the fourth turn, spun, then hit the outside concrete retaining wall, flipping several times before coming to a rest, as well.
While the report has not determined how fast Leffler was going when the crash occurred, the police report said cars were averaging 135 mph and as high as 150 mph on both straightaways during the course of the race.
The official cause of death, as determined by a local medical examiner, has been ruled blunt-force injuries to Leffler’s neck.
Leffler, 37, was buried Wednesday, one week after the tragedy. He leaves behind a five-year-old son. A trust fund for Leffler’s son has been established by several of Leffler’s fellow NASCAR drivers.
Longtime friend and mentor Tony Stewart, a three-time Sprint Cup champion who also co-owns Stewart-Haas Racing and owns or has partial ownership in several short tracks like the New Jersey facility, said last week in Michigan that the facility was not at fault.
“It was an accident,” Stewart said. “Just like if you go out and there’s a car crash. It’s an accident. Nobody as a track owner wants to go through what happened this week, but it’s not due to a lack of effort on their part to try to make their facilities as safe as possible under the conditions they have.”
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Tag: The Daily Telegraph
Mpelembe > The Daily Telegraph
Tag Archives: The Daily Telegraph
Newspaper headlines react to England sacking Sam Allardyce
September 28, 2016 FootballAlan Pardew, Allardyce, Association football, Blackburn Rovers F.C., Country: United Kingdom, Eddie Howe, England national football team manager, England national football team managers, English football scandal, English footballers, FA, Football in England, Football in the United Kingdom, Gareth Southgate, Glenn Hoddle, Greg Clarke, London, Malta, Manager, Martin Glenn, Roy Hodgson, Sam Allardyce, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Steve Bruce, Sunderland, The Daily Telegraph, The Football Association, United Kingdom, West Ham United F.C., West Ham United F.C. managers, Woysmbale
The British newspapers react to Sam Allardyce who was sacked as England manager having behaved “inappropriately” when seeking a lucrative sideline role while talking to undercover reporters.
Daily Telegraph backtracks after installing workplace monitors on journalists’ desks
January 12, 2016 SecurityBuzzFeed, Journalism, Mass media, News, News media, Newsroom, NEXT MEDIA, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, United Kingdomsmbale
UK (Next Media) – The Daily Telegraph made an abrupt U-turn on Monday when it removed workplace monitors from its newsroom just four hours after installing them.
Senior UK lawmakers deny wrongdoing over “cash for access” report
February 23, 2015 PoliticsBritish MPs, British people, Cameron, David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Government of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Iraq, Jack Straw, LABOUR, London, Malcolm Rifkind, Politics, Politics of the United Kingdom, Presidents of the United Nations Security Council, Rifkind, The Daily Telegraph, United Kingdomsmbale
Two former British foreign ministers deny wrongdoing after undercover reporters film them offering their services to a fictitious Chinese company.
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About MSFS
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Elisa Massimino
Former President and CEO of Human Rights First
After 27 years with Human Rights First—the last decade as President and CEO—Elisa Massimino recently stepped down from her post to join Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government as a Senior Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.
Massimino has a distinguished record of human rights advocacy. She has testified before Congress dozens of times, writes frequently for mainstream publications and specialized journals, appears regularly in major media outlets, and speaks to audiences around the country. Since 2008, the influential Washington newspaper The Hill has consistently named her one of the most effective public advocates in the United States.
Massimino was instrumental in Human Rights First’s recent effort to assemble a group of retired generals and admirals to speak out publicly against policies authorizing the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody. This coalition of military leaders played a pivotal role in the effort to restore compliance with the Geneva Conventions standard for treatment of prisoners.
Massimino serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where she teaches human rights advocacy and has taught international human rights law at the University of Virginia and refugee law at the George Washington University School of Law.
Massimino is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Supreme Court Bar. She holds a law degree from the University of Michigan, a Master’s in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Trinity University.
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What’s in a name? For Ryan Blaney it’s one word
By Dustin LongFeb 13, 2015, 8:50 AM EST
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s not a Madonna thing. Or even a Beyonce deal. Yet, there on the waist of Ryan Blaney’s uniform, it reads only Blaney. And his Twitter handle is @Blaney.
So why no first name?
It’s related to Twitter.
Ryan Blaney used to go by @RyanBlaney22. He considered changing the number to 21 with his move to the Wood Brothers this season. But with driving in all three NASCAR series this season – Blaney is expected to run 18 Sprint Cup, about 15 Xfinity and a few Camping World Truck races – it wouldn’t do any good to have a number at the end of his Twitter handle since he would race with different numerals.
OK, so why not go with his first and last name?
That Twitter name is taken.
“It’s some guy in England and he hasn’t used it in like two years,’’ Blaney said of the @RyanBlaney, whose last tweet was Feb. 2013. “We got with Twitter and we tried to buy it from him. I don’t know why he wouldn’t do it.’’
Well, it makes Blaney like Brad Keselowski, who goes by @Keselowski on Twitter.
“Kind of copying Brad,’’ Blaney quipped.
In more than one way. Blaney also is the son of a racer and will compete in some Truck races for Keselowski’s team.
Blaney’s focus, though, is making the Daytona 500 field. The Wood Brothers are not guaranteed a starting spot. Provided he makes the field, the 21-year-old knows anything can happen.
A 20-year-old Trevor Bayne won this race for the Wood Brothers four years ago. Blaney’s father, Dave, was leading the 2012 Daytona 500 when Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a jet dryer, creating an inferno in Turn 3.
There were questions if the track could be repaired. Dave Blaney could have been declared the winner since the race was past the halfway mark. Instead, the race resumed after more than two hours and Dave Blaney finished 15th.
Ryan Blaney agonized during that delay. After spending Speedweeks at the track, he was home because he had school the next day.
“I was so excited that he had a chance to do it and then I wasn’t going to be there for it so I was angry,’’ Ryan Blaney said. “It may have been worse if he did it and I wasn’t there for it. That would have stunk. That was definitely an interesting situation that I don’t think anyone has seen before and I don’t know if we will see that again.”
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Natmills's Blog
The Daniel Laskarin Exhibition: Final
Posted on December 3, 2010 by natmills
The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is presently hosting a variety of art exhibitions, one of which is named Agnostic Objects (things persist). It has run since October 8th and will go until January 30th 2011. The artist’s name is Daniel Laskarin, and his work is object-based and conceptually rooted; http://finearts.uvic.ca/visualarts/facultystaff/dlaskarin/ . Laskarin has been exhibiting since 1983 and graduated from Simon Fraser University in 1985 with a background in Fine and Performing arts, as well as Visual arts. Laskarin’s exhibitions have previously been welcomed in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Las Angeles, France, and more. He has taught art and sculpture at SFU, ECIAD, and currently teaches at the University of Victoria. His work is often constructed to provoke the perceiver’s impressions in diverse ways; the objects are notorious for utilizing a great deal of uncertainty, doubt, and ambiguity while simultaneously portraying evocative comeliness. “I’m somebody that thinks about things, and then makes things- what I wanted to get out was beauty and horror at the same time”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrLoYIOWF1c His current showing at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is a presentation that will feature a selection of new works as well as a number of pieces constructed over the last decade. The art gallery’s website illustrates that his pieces “offer us physical feedback through which we feel our own bodies, our own being in the world”. http://aggv.ca/exhibitions/daniel-laskarin I found this statement to be an exciting precedent of inspiration prior to walking through the exhibition. When I arrived at the art gallery, I was instantly filled with curiosity and an eagerness to see what these unordinary objects could do for me. A plaque inside the gallery states, “Laskarin’s work maintains that our physical relationship to the world and the objects that inhabit it all contribute to how we define and create an understanding of ourselves.” A wordy and intricate presumption indeed- I couldn’t wait to put it to the test.
I found it reassuring to note that Laskarin’s primary motive in sculpture and art formation is to “set out to create objects which might look almost recognizable, but never quite identifiable”, as stated on the gallery website. In essence, this quotation dictates the feeling drawn over me when I entered the first room. I felt immediately overcome with scepticism and disbelief because everything appeared slightly familiar, yet foreign; unanticipated, and strange. I recognized several chair-like figures, as well as other common geometrical shapes; however, each piece appeared to be tainted with an awkward peculiarity. Some objects were tilted on uncomfortable angles, others teetered in fragile motion. Structures of various sizes and colors were seemingly randomly placed; some stationary and bold, and others quaint with material. Simply put, the objects in the first gallery, named Centennial Gallery, did appear to just randomly “exist” or inhabit this open white space comprised of high ceilings and noticeably loud ventilation. On the other hand, there was one structure that struck me as arrogant, boastful, and, oversized. It commanded my attention over and above any of the inferior figures in my peripherals. I pushed forward to examine the most extravagantly outsized chair I have ever seen named, “Now Beacon, Now Sea”. [172 x 113 x 84| 246 cm high| Steel, thermoplastic, fabric]. I stood five feet away in an effort to examine its three-dimensional structure; it stood tall, elevated, and chromatic. The large chair’s steel had been ravaged by gunshots and each penetration was somehow encapsulated in the steel’s definition. Moreover, the blasts of the bullets seemed to be “frozen” in each direction they were shot- it was an incredible technique. Most significantly, though, was the prominent feature of sleek and luxurious fabric wrapped particularly around the chair- it was pinned carefully, as to be held precisely in bunches. The chair was completely contradictory- sharp and jagged steel swathed in smooth and silky posed material. I felt a compulsive desire to reach out and touch the bizarreness of this contrast of textures, however, resisted the urge and chewed over my perceptions. The chair ultimately suggested to me an underlying nature of royalty- elevated, contradictory, untouchable, and immortal. In this gallery of “industrial-like” objects, this particular piece was undoubtedly my favourite in the room. It suggested to me a whirlwind of evocative qualities, and it personifies aspects of violence, times of war, and reign throughout historical periods.
Upon walking into the Ker Gallery, I was immediately struck again by a protagonist monument located in the center of the seemingly larger gallery. I felt again obliged to pursue this extraordinary attention-starved object. My first impression of this piece named “Turny Girl” was that it evoked perceptions of a “futuristic Mona Lisa” because the woman on the TV appeared to systematically flash her eyes back at me when I circled around the orbit’s circuit. It became evidently impossible to give primary justice to other works in the room; here is six-foot pink armature, mounted on a soft sculpture base that looks something like a child’s beanie bag. The materials used for this object were primarily powdered aluminum, fabric, and a DVD for the television screen. The pink sphere rotates, and within the orbit a video panel is fastened which continuously shows the rotating image of a daunting woman staring back at me. I found it extremely unnerving every time the featured person caught my eye because she had a boyish presence and an abrupt glare. I decided after this piece, that I would conclude my first visit to the art gallery after the bizarre impression that Turny Girl had left me. I would come back for a second visit soon after I internalized more research on the artist, in an attempt to understand his work more efficiently. I went onto the artist’s website http://www.laskarin.ca/ because I was little hesitant in my ability to appreciate the exhibition- one of his quotes reassured me that it was normal to feel the way I did. ”The works I make set out to generate their own conditions of physical and imaginative experience. They confirm our existence while resisting definition. To address them is to physically experience doubt – and to proceed through that to creative uncertainty with all its imaginative possibilities.”
I visited the art gallery about a week later. The plan was to acknowledge my uncertainty and verify that it was a normal reaction for this kind of art exhibition. I challenged myself to derive creative and imaginative possibilities from doubt this time around. Anticipation was evident toward the prominent structures in both rooms. In entering the first gallery again, I genuinely attempted to be wowed by some of the other objects, however, remained particularly favourable to “Now Beacon, Now Sea”, and decided to accept it as the monument that I could appreciate. In recognizing this a second time, I felt a familiar sensation- something of an alienated host greeting me again. I later discovered that the compelling chair was inspired, in part, by a scene from 1991 blockbuster Silence of the Lambs.
I came to a broad generalization of the Centennial Gallery. The room was comprised mostly of industrial-type objects; things that could serve as memorable visionaries from the 19th century. Objects appeared to resemble such things as textile machinery, horse-feeders, and agricultural crates. While scanning the room again in search for anything overly intriguing, my attention became drawn towards the repetition of a familiar lullaby which I could recall from the previous visit. To my surprise, it was in fact one of Laskarin’s pieces named “Row your boat” which was created over a decade ago. A sound tape loop plays “Merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream”. I immediately got the sense that the young child’s voice had a strong connection to the artist. Coincidentally enough, after reviewing a website on the artist, I found out that it was in fact his daughter at two-and-a-half who continually sings the nursery rhyme. This particular piece of work was extremely alluring, and I now realized that it acted as a good transition piece to enter the second room- the uncanny tape loop was musical, electronic, and novel in that it didn’t seem to belong with the other objects in the room. It allowed me to shift my attention towards what the next room, or to see what the “future” had in store.
The Kerr Gallery was presented to me in the exact same way again. I noticed that the ventilation was not as loud as the first room, but instead the silence filled with the rotation of Tunry Girl. I find this piece extremely intriguing because depending on where I stand, she will stare at me in a different way. When I walked around the object again, I began to feel nauseous and interpreted it as something significant. Apparently this was a noteworthy reaction because, as Laskarin has stated, “we know that we’re alive when we get physical feedback from the world”. In contrast to the Centennial Gallery, I see the Kerr Gallery as representing a whirlwind of technology taking over in the 20th century. I have internalized it as “the now”, the present, and the future. The evolution of structures featured in the Daniel Laskarin exhibition demonstrates numerous contrasting qualities which compliment the overall experience.
I became curious as to where Daniel Laskarin gets his inspiration from, and did some follow up research on his exhibitions. His work is very comparable to an artist named Jennifer Hutton, a Toronto based writer and artist. The two artists collaborated in exhibition September 11th-November 7th 2009. Her art is also thought-stimulating; comprised of simple objects which collectively form a greater picture. www.jenhutton.com Her project Things, not pictures features a widespread series of clear plastic pushpins displaying that very title. This sort of display is simplistic, yet perception-provoking and analogous to the work of Daniel Laskarin. Their work is designed not to keep secrets, nor to be passively present in the space, but to be alive vicariously through the art. Each abstract piece of this particular stylistic way of art is created purposely; allowing the perceiver to feel life differently, if just for a moment.
[Word Count] 1663
commentaries on three student exhibition reviews
http://michellekb.wordpress.com/
http://jdubxo.wordpress.com/
http://garlicjamfan2000.wordpress.com/
Responses to three contemporary blog reviews
Jill Conner on the legacy of Max’s Kansas City as exhibited in recent NYC shows.
http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/howard-gallery-steven-kasher-gallery/2153
In this art blog, Jill Conner acknowledges “New media” in contrast to “Max’s Kansas City” which dates from 1965 to 1974. It is suggested in this article that new media is the actual problem towards the de-centralization of the art community; the lack of individual expression. Instead, Conner states that in the contemporary art community, “everyone is in search of “the scene”. I’m assuming this means, “whatever’s hot right now” or “whatever the current trend is”.
On the contrary, Conner’s blog demonstrates that Max’s Kansas City was a place that artists could join and express their unique individuality and collaborate different genres and debate ideas. This suggests her appreciation of this era’s excitement and passion for culture. “When you have a real bar culture, many people and things that look seemingly antithetical, in fact are not, because there is a common ground to deal from. And it didn’t have very much to do with the market. It might have had something to do with prestige, but prestige in those days had very little to do with financial success.
– Lawrence Weiner
In a way I feel that Conner is stating in more or less words that the Max’s Kansas City era, being “the beginning of the end”, was the superior realm of the art community and therefore anything subsequent to it is generic contemporary rubbish. I may be putting words in her mouth but I feel she is reminiscing on historical trends and inflating how “things used to be better”, and therefore challenging the status quo, as opposed to accepting contemporary tendencies.
Christine Clark’s profile of Tara Juneau undertakes a debate about the importance of skill.
http://artinvictoria.com/2010/11/01/tara-juneau-the-warrior-princess/
This blog is so interesting to me. I love the way it is written- the style is very inviting for me as it isn’t totally formal, yet it is very informative. It is like a documentary style read, which I prefer entirely.
Christine Clark states that there is a major problem in the contemporary art community whereby realism paintings are seen as old fashioned and less skillful. After visiting the home of Tara Juneau, Christine knows that this just isn’t so- and that people are too quick to judge “what real skill is” based on what society and evolution favor at any given time.
After reviewing Juneau’s work, it became evident to Christine that realistic paintings, such as the impossibly original life-size nude photo of the artist- takes discipline- cold, hard, discipline.
New media becomes an issue here, because “technology can do this now”- when referring to realistic drawings.
Apparently now in consumerism, people only desire what technology cannot produce anyway.
“the discipline and the commitment required to skilfully create realist images with paint and brushes is as important a concept as any other. Discipline and commitment.”
the writer is challenging the status quo; sometimes art is entirely different than “fashion trends”. You can’t exactly rule out realistic art as untalented, unskillful, or as being old-fashioned.
She relates the requirements of what it takes to create realistic art with the requirements of what we need in the world today to make a change- and I couldn’t agree more, this is truly a fascinating metaphor.
Blogger and online columnist Bob Duggan exposes Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture at Washington’s National Portrait Gallery
http://bigthink.com/ideas/24989
This article was short and sweet, however also historically and modernly informative.
“Telling the history of art without the history of gay people is like telling the history of slavery without mentioning black people”
– David C. Ward, curator of Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture
This blog demonstrates the fact that differences in sexuality have been synonymous with art culture for centuries- we just haven’t been entirely aware of it. Hence the name of this art gala “Hide/Seek…”
Compared to other newspaper criticisms, this particular blog is very populist in expressing culture, media, social evolutions, and subjective impressionisms. Because of this, I am very interested in learning more about this particular art community- how they have once felt repressed and ashamed, and with this exhibition, are now free to entertain, educate, and shine brightly unashamed and very welcomed. The list of famous names go on, and they are now compared with the great names of heterosexual artists, as it always should have been.
In this blog, I feel that ‘New media’ is essentially the possible solution for the gay art community. In contrast to a time of repressed homosexuality, ‘New media’- in this sense (Hide/Seek) freely welcomes allows “shadowed figures to come out into the light”.
This Blog definitely surrounds itself around a celebration of the gay art community being seen again. Many famous (early and recent) modern artists are illustrated (some of which I did not even know were gay), and therefore reinforces the overall excitement and passion for this particular art culture.
In Hide/Seek, art history comes out of the closet and out into the open, working specifically in the area of American portraiture to give a general impression of the role of persons of sexual difference in the art we already know and love.
Ellen in Maui- my all time favorite homosexual 🙂
Notes summarizing my plans for corrections of Assignment 3
After my re-reading:
I have decided to re-word my active present voice throughout the essay to one that is more past-tense. Originally, I was attempting to make the essay sound more intriguing, however, I think I instead ran into trouble in a few places as it is “very difficult to pull this style writing off in review form”, as one of my peers has written on my paper during a workshop.
Also, I ended up rushing the conclusion of my essay due to a short word count as well as conflicting additional coursework and examinations. I want to take the time to reconstruct my conclusion in a way that flows nicely with my essay and also revisits the main points that I demonstrated.
My professor’s suggestions:
Also, to elaborate on my conclusion
Revisit the October 19th guidelines (which I managed to skip over) and make sure that I follow them carefully in constructing my essay. This is my primary incentive to re-write this assignment, because I know there are some obvious guidelines that I can add to my writing.
More background research from artist as well as other artists in order to narrate my first and second visit.
Forgot the word count… oops 🙂
Assignment 3: Daniel Laskarin
Natasha Mills
Assignment 3: Interpretive Writing
Daniel Laskarin is an intriguing artist who has been creating unusual objects for over twenty years. He has been exhibiting since 1983, and his work is purposely constructed to specifically provoke subjective impressions in the perceiver. Moreover, Laskarin’s collections are notorious for having a great deal of uncertainty, doubt, and ambiguity while simultaneously portraying evocative comeliness. Laskarin’s exhibitions have previously been welcomed in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Las Angeles, France, and more. He has taught art and sculpture at SFU, ECIAD, and currently teaches at the University of Victoria. His current showing- Agnostic Objects (things persist) – is an ongoing exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, running from October 8th 2010- January 30th 2011. The presentation will feature a selection of new works as well as a number of pieces constructed over the last decade. The art galleries website informs me prior to my visit that Laskarin produces objects which “offer us physical feedback through which we feel our own bodies, our own being in the world”. I found this statement to be an exciting precedent prior to walking though the exhibition. Upon arriving at the art gallery, I am filled with curiosity and an open mind that is eager to see what is inside. A plaque inside the gallery states that Laskarin “strives to create art which connects our physical relationship to the world with a defined understanding of ourselves”.
I found it ironic to note that Laskarin’s primary motive in sculpture and art formation is to “set out to create objects which might look almost recognizable, but never quite identifiable”, as stated on the gallery website. In essence, this quotation dictates the feeling drawn over me as I enter the first room. I feel immediately overcome with scepticism and disbelief because everything appears slightly familiar, yet foreign; unanticipated, and strange. I recognize several chair-like figures, as well as other common geometrical shapes; however, each piece appears to be tainted with an awkward peculiarity. Structures of various sizes and colors are randomly placed; some stationary, some with delicate movement. Simply put, the objects in the first gallery, named Centennial Gallery, do appear to just randomly “exist” or inhabit this open white space comprised of high ceilings and noticeably loud ventilation. Conversely, there is one structure that strikes me as arrogant, boastful, and, oversized. It commands my attention over and above any of the inferior figures in my peripherals. I push forward to examine the most extravagantly outsized chair I have ever seen named, “Now Beacon, Now Sea”. I stand five feet away and examine its three-dimensional structure; it stands tall, elevated, and chromatic. The materials used to create this chair are mainly steel and thermoplastic, which explains the awry nature of the metal. The large chair’s steel has been blasted by a shotgun one hundred times, and each penetration is somehow encapsulated by the materials definition. I try and connect the title of the piece to the structure in front of me- “…Now Sea”- the steel is somewhat brassy in areas and I contemplate whether this rusty appearance has a meaningful association to its name. Perhaps the steel has become rusted at sea after battle? Most significantly, though, is the prominent feature of sleek and velvety fabric which is wrapped particularly around the chair- it is pinned carefully, as to be held precisely in bunches. The chair is completely contradictory- sharp and jagged steel swathed in smooth and silky posed material. I feel a compulsive desire to reach out and touch the bizarreness of this contrast of textures, however, resist the urge and chew over my perceptions. The chair ultimately suggests to me an underlying genre of royalty- elevated, contradictory, untouchable, and immortal. In this gallery of “industrial-like” objects, this particular piece is without a doubt my favourite in the room. It suggests to me a whirlwind of evocative qualities, and I sense take it personifies aspects of violence throughout historical periods. As I scan the room in search for less obtrusive objects, my attention is yet again drawn towards the repetition of a familiar lullaby that I had become desensitized to from the moment I stepped into the gallery. I walk over to where this persistent and somewhat eerie sound is coming from, and to my surprise it is in fact one of Laskarin’s pieces, named “Row your boat” which was created over a decade ago. A sound tape loop plays “Merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream”. I immediately got the sense that the young child’s voice had a strong connection to the artist. Coincidentally enough, after reviewing a website on the artist, I found out that it is in fact his daughter at two-and-a-half who continually sings the nursery rhyme. This particular piece of work was extremely alluring, and it acted as a good transition piece for me to enter the second room as it was positioned next to the Ker Gallery. Upon walking in, I am immediately struck, yet again, by a protagonist structure in the center of the seemingly larger gallery. Again, I feel obliged to pursue this extraordinary attention-starved structure. My first impression of this piece named “Turny Girl” is that it evokes perceptions of a “futuristic Mona Lisa”-It is nearly impossible to adhere to other plausibly intriguing works in the room; here is six-foot pink armature, mounted on a soft sculpture base that looks something like a child’s beanie bag. The pink orbit is rotating, and within the orbit is a video panel which continuously shows the rotating image of someone staring back at me. The woman on the TV appears to systematically flash her eyes back at me as I circle around the orbit’s circuit. I found it extremely unnerving every time the woman featured on the TV caught my eye as she had a boyish presence and an abrupt glare. It was at this point where I decided to end my first visit. I had been surrounded by so many impressions and decided it would be best to pay a second visit a later date when there were hopefully less people in the gallery.
I visited the art gallery about a week later in an attempt to try and decipher some of the questions left hanging over me. Was there a collective technique used in each gallery’s work that I missed? Why did I feel so overwhelmed the first time? Why do I feel so intimidated by the obscurity of this particular art show? To my surprise, I had the pleasure of viewing the galleries alone the second time. No distractions- just me, and my subjective impressions. This time through, I anticipated the prominent structures illustrated previously, as well as the strange musical piece echoing down the hall. I tried again to appreciate some of the other structures in the Centennial Gallery, however, still remained favourable to “Now Beacon, Now Sea”. I tried viewing it from another angle this time, and I could almost picture the presence of a spirit. It truly evoked feelings of historical royalty, while vicariously construing contradictions of life and death through its two mediums. The Kerr Gallery was presented to me the exact same again as well. I noticed that the ventilation was not as loud as in the first room, but instead the silence filled with the rotation of “Tunry Girl”. I find this piece entirely odd because depending on where I stand, she will stare at me in a different way. The two mediums and the color of this structure throw any decisiveness I have out the window. I am completely clueless as to where Daniel Laskarin’s motives are in designing this piece, however, I am still completely approving of it. In contrast to the Centennial Gallery, I feel that the Kerr Gallery represents endless possibilities for the future. It is completely different then the first room in that the vibrate colours, motion, and technology all pertain to modern-day civilization. The first room represents structures pertaining to industrial and textile periods.
The evolution of structures featured in the Daniel Laskarin exhibition demonstrates numerous contrasting qualities which compliment the overall experience. I feel strongly that “Now Beacon, Now Sea” and “Tunry Girl” were meant to be the upmost prominent features of each individual gallery. Undoubtedly, they each represent an entirely different series and genre of work. It is fascinating to think that each structure was designed by the same artist. Moreover, I could not detect a connection of style and design between the two pieces- one very old-fashioned and pertaining to an industrial period with extremely contradicting mediums; the other is revolutionary and futuristic while examining modes of consciousness and fixation of perception. I am completely dumbfounded as to what inspires Daniel Laskarin before creating a piece of work such as either of these structures. There were numerous works in both galleries; however, I feel that it would take many hours of careful internalization to depict each piece credibly.
Today in class we talked about “awareness” of art in general- whether it be an art exhibition, art criticism, blogging, or just a single portrait or sculpture. Moreover, it is of significance to pay attention to what not only interests me, but to what may annoy me, provoke arousal, or even be portrayed as evocative. When I enter an art gallery such as the Greater Art Gallery of Victoria (which, by the way I plan to visit more often as I have a years pass for just a dollar more), it is important to recognize that every visit is my own personal and unique experience- my own moment, and it is a contemporary one. So many art critics, such as Loveink or Jennifer Allen, imply resistance of the evolutionary and societal changes that are currently altering the shape of today’s art world. I think it is important to accept contemporary trends and internalize whatever art it is you are looking at- whether it be good emotions or bad- at face value.
State of the art criticism
This particular art criticism by Lovink was very intriguing to me because I am somewhat of a pro-technology and contemporary person. I am enticed by naturally occurring trends in civilization, and I believe that everything happens as it should. Change is good. New is good. If the majority of the masses are happy being tech-savvy business people and socialites, then that is what the fate of modern-day society is, and it too will change somewhere along evolution’s path. Moreover, I was interested to hear what Lovink had to say in regard to the evolution (or negation, for that matter) of art criticism due to changes in society.
He begins by stating the obvious- that civilization has been overcome by the relentless “World Wide Web” and been impacted by technology, and as a result this has caused the “death of the art critic”. Now aside from sounding completely old-fashioned and referring to the internet as the World Wide Web, and suggesting that the impact of technology has been a negative one, I have to make a vital correction to his argument. As a student taking inferential statistics at the moment, I am somewhat bothered by his claim stating that technology and the invention of the web has caused the death of the art critic. There are so many other variable that would have to be rigorously tested and ruled out for him to make a statement such as this valid. I do realize that the fact of the matter is that art criticism has died, or at least has seriously depleted. But could the reason be that socialism, evolution, and politics are just naturally taking their course? Should we really be resisting the onset of new trends just because we are afraid of change?
Whether or not new media is the actual problem, or a new solution for art criticism is unknown. A clear-cut answer will never be definitive, and it is a waste of time trying to revive old procedures and methods of art criticism, because the tech-savvy revolution is here to stay- at least for now.
I like the quote in this criticism by Jennifer Allen which states, “If it’s crap why talk about it”. That is so blunt and honest, and completely accurate. This is referring to the evolution of blog writing and why is almost now, a preferable title over being an “art critic”. There is too much negativity surrounding an art critic, while blogs are based more on central positivity- things that are liked, evocative, or which provoke arousal.
Critics vs. Bloggers
Posted on November 18, 2010 by natmills
There is some ambiguity when distinguishing what it means to be an art critic as opposed to what it means to be an art blogger. It is interesting to note that the two connotations should theoretically be synonymous; there is no definitive “right” and “wrong” in the world of art criticism, and therefore anyone and everyone is entitled their own opinion-however, the two titles are commonly tainted with two separate underlying values. The way I see it, art critics like to play devil’s advocate in their opinion towards an art show, a particular art piece, or even a general art debate. They aren’t exactly seeking approval of the majority, but instead excel (most of the time) in being well-spoken, and manipulative- which usually does grant them a fair deal of approval in the end anyways. In contrast, I feel that art bloggers lean more towards seeking a collective agreement of the public. Whether it be for art criticism or just sheer online networking- blogging is a an open-minded opportunity to speak one’s opinion while at the same time seeking out the possibility that others will relate to your voice. There’s something about having shared values, opinions, and relations with others that comes naturally in humans, and I think blogging is one way of expressing that. Moreover, I think that the initial motive of art critics and art bloggers is entirely different.
Holland Cotter- Naked Museum
Posted on October 28, 2010 by natmills
How interesting this article was! Never have I heard of such an unusual exhibition as Tino Sehgal’s- it’s truly hard for me to accept classifying this sort of performance as “art”. My whole life growing up, art itself was deeply ingrained as a tangible piece of visual pleasantness. And to narrow even further, I would consider only paintings, sculptures, sketchings, and drawings to be classified as “art”. Things like dance, theatre, creativity, politics, and the like have always been categorized into a different intuitive concept for me. However, this criticism opens my eyes to a whole new horizon of possibilities as to what “art” itself is. I feel as though I would need to see this exhibition for myself to see what all the hype was about. It is interesting that this young artist has collected such an extraordinary fan base through exposure already. The criticism does a good job in telling of the historical background of the artist. It also is very descriptive in painting a picture of what it would be like to go up and down this ramp, which aids in visualizing the artist’s work.
Jerry Saltz- Let’s reconsider
I definitely liked this writerly criticism more than the last article I read- although I definitely am speculative towards some of the things that Jerry Saltz had to say about Marlene Dumas. He starts off his criticism with an animated voice- one that is easily readable and somewhat intriguing. His speech is inviting because he starts off his criticism by directing stabs at the artist on hand. Then he refers to her fan base and how they have attacked him for saying anything about her, and referring to him as “sexist”. He immediately becomes defensive in his article. Personally, I don’t believe that sort of voice is appropriate nor relevant to the work at hand- nonetheless he proceeds to deny their accusations and follows this topic by inviting into conversation a few things that he may, perhaps, enjoy about Dumas’s newest exhibition. I am curious as to how genuine his comments are, and whether or not he is just retracting some of his harshness from previous criticism as a journalist.
onelastwildenjambmen… on Assignment 3: Daniel Lask…
3four5 on Assignment 3: Daniel Lask…
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michellekb on Assignment 3: Daniel Lask…
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/ Category / Interviews
April 6, 2014 - 10:00 am in Interviews
A film featuring the testimony of Keith Little that served as a Navajo Code Talker for the United States Marines in World War II. Having served in Iwo Jima, Roi Namur, Saipan, and other Pacific locations, Little now serves as President of the Navajo Code Talkers…
Samuel Tso served as a Navajo Code Talker after enlisting in the United States Marine Corp in March 1943. Serving in the 5th Marine Division he deployed…
Samuel Tom Holiday was an admirable patriot. Having grown up forbidden to speak the Navajo language while attending boarding schools he recognized the…
Joe Vandever originates from New Mexico and was recruited into the 197th Platoon serving in the United States Marine Corp. Having spent his time as a Navajo Code Talker, he transitions on 16 different ships and served on the front lines on several South Pacific…
Chester Nez: Real Code Talker Interview
Chester Nez served as a Navajo Code Talker in the United States Marine Corp during World War II having been one of the first initial 29 Navajo Code Talkers recruited. He is also the last surviving member of the original Code Talkers recruited in 1942. He played…
John Kinsel: Real Code Talker Interview
John Kinsel was a Navajo Code Talker serving between 1942 and 1945. Originally from Arizona, Kinsel was in high school when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. He enlisted shortly after and served in the South Pacific in the 3rd Marine Division. His documentary…
Kee Etsicitty: Real Code Talker Interview
March 31, 2014 - 10:00 am in Interviews
Kee Etsicitty is a native of the Navajo reservation and served as a Navajo Code Talked in World War II. Serving in locations such as Guadalcanel, Guam, Iwo Jima, and other locations, he spent a total of two years in the Marine Corps. Kee holds many dear memories…
Navajo Tools
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Select ratingGive Davie County 1/5Give Davie County 2/5Give Davie County 3/5Give Davie County 4/5Give Davie County 5/5
DAVIE COUNTY GOVERNMENT:
http://www.daviecountync.gov/
COUNTY SEAT: Mocksville
FORMED FROM: Rowan
LAND AREA: 264.11 square miles
2018 POPULATION ESTIMATE: 42,733
American Indian: 0.7%
Pacific Islander: <0.1%
Two or more races: 2.0%
Hispanic/Latino: 7.0% (of any race)
From State & County QuickFacts, US Census Bureau, 2018.
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 13TH
BIOGRAPHIES FOR
WILDLIFE PROFILES FOR
Piedmont region
REGION: Piedmont
RIVER BASIN: Yadkin-Pee Dee, Map
NEIGHBORING COUNTIES: Davidson, Forsyth, Iredell, Rowan, Yadkin
See also: North Carolina Counties (to access links to NCpedia articles for all 100 counties); Cooleemee Plantation; Brief history of Davie County (from Davie County Historical and Genealogical Society).
by Allyson C. Criner, 2006
Davie County, located in the western part of North Carolina's Piedmont region, was formed in 1836 from Rowan County. It was named for William R. Davie, governor from 1798 to 1799 and founder of the University of North Carolina. Saponi Indians were the original inhabitants of the region. The county seat, Mocksville, was known as "Mocks Old Field" before it was incorporated in 1839. Other communities in the county include Bermuda Run, Cooleemee, and Farmington.
British soldiers under Lord Charles Cornwallis came through Davie County during the American Revolution, and Stoneman's Raiders came to the county near the end of the Civil War. The county boasts several historic sites, including three historic districts. Cooleemee Plantation and the Hinton Rowan Helper House are designated as National Historic Landmarks. (Helper penned The Impending Crisis of the South, a scathing denunciation of slavery published in 1857.) The Cooleemee Textile Heritage Center interprets the mill heritage of the region. Davie County is home to one of North Carolina's oldest annual festivals, the Mocksville Masonic Picnic, held each August since 1878. Agriculture is the dominant industry in Davie County, which in many years ranks as the top dairy-producing county in the state. The county also produces tobacco, corn, wheat, chickens, and beef cattle. The population of Davie County was estimated to be 38,000 in 2004.
Annotated history of Davie County's formation:
For an annotated history of the county's formation, with the laws affecting the county, boundary lines and changes, and other origin information, visit these references in The Formation of the North Carolina Counties (Corbitt, 2000), available online at North Carolina Digital Collections (note, there may be additional items of interest for the county not listed here):
County formation history: http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/ref/collection/p16062coll9/id/289862
Index entry for the county: http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/ref/collection/p16062coll9/id/290079
James W. Wall, History of Davie County in the Forks of the Yadkin (1985).
Corbitt, David Leroy. 2000. The formation of the North Carolina counties, 1663-1943. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll9/id/290103 (accessed June 20, 2017).
Davie County Government: http://www.daviecountync.gov/
Davie County Chamber of Commerce: https://www.daviechamber.com/
DigitalNC, Davie County: https://www.digitalnc.org/counties/davie-county/
North Carolina Digital Collections (explore by place, time period, format): https://digital.ncdcr.gov/
Rudersdorf, Amy. 2010. "NC County Maps." Government & Heritage Library, State Library of North Carolina.
Criner, Allyson C.
1 January 2006 | Criner, Allyson C.
I'm doing a project to choose
Permalink Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 04/22/2015 - 15:22
I'm doing a project to choose a ramdom county. I chose Davie County and this was the first website I researched. Your website has a lot of info. My teacher said that you have a lot of details.
no help @ all
Permalink Submitted by james (not verified) on Mon, 11/03/2014 - 11:43
Permalink Submitted by kagan on Tue, 11/04/2014 - 08:07
Thanks for visiting NCpedia and taking a minute to provide feedback.
I'm sorry to hear this wasn't helpful for you. If you can let us know what you were looking for, we can see if we can provide additional useful information for you. You can post a reply or additional questions back here.
Kelly Agan, Government & Heritage Library
RT @ForEverythingNC: As recommended by public safety officials, state government facilities in downtown Raleigh, including the State Lib… https://t.co/Dx7JpFWyFB — 1 day 10 hours ago
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October 21, 2014 July 12, 2017 / neonplasticlotus / 4 Comments
“The Dental School, please.” I said as I stepped into the taxi.
“The dental school?” asked the african male driver, “What are you getting done?”
“They’re doing a root canal, to prepare for my implants.”
“Implants? Aren’t those painful? how did you lose the teeth?”
“My estranged wife knocked them out.”
“May I ask how that happened?”
“We were on a trip to Wildwood, NJ. It was the end of the trip. It had not been a good trip. She had been fighting with me before we left, and she did some things that were really disrespectful, like kissing a girl in a bathroom, and then telling me to deal with it.”
“Yes, that happened. Then, after a less than stellar weekend with friends, we were all driving back, and they asked us to stop at a house on the way. I asked her to come in and she refused. I knew it would take a long time, and I wanted her to come in because I know I am non-confrontational, and would not be able to get them to hurry it up, so we could get home.”
“So over an hour passed, and she finally comes in. I’m sitting on the couch with them. She just stands there, staring at me, and asks me to show her where the bathroom is. They tell us where it is, and she asked me to come with her. It was next to the kitchen. She doesn’t go to the bathroom, but pulls me into the kitchen. She had me sit her up on the counter, literally had me pick her up to place her on it, and I thought we were going to talk.”
We’re stuck in traffic, on the way to the NYU School of dentistry, so I actually have time to tell him this story. It’s rare that NYC taxi Drivers actually talk to you any longer, so, since he’s interested, I continue.
“She’s sitting there, and I’m waiting for her to talk, and then, suddenly, she raised her left fist, and tried to bring it down on my face. I was surprised, but I caught it. She lifted her right fist and did the same thing. I caught that one also.”
“WHAT?? Where did that come from? Why did she do that?”
“I have no idea, but that’s not the end of it. She then quickly leaned back, shoots forward, head buttes me in the mouth.”
“Yes. I let go of her wrists, and grabbed my mouth. She leaned back, crossed her arms, and smiled.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“I wish I were.”
Silence, then, as he turns the corner,
“What happened after that?”
“I had to get a root canal, because the tooth was pressing against the nerve. Her dentist. She suggested him. I found out later they should have just tapped the tooth back into the canal.”
“But how does this become implants?”
“Well, because her dentist was an idiot, some Doctor Paul Stanciewickz, this was back in Virginia, the root canal was never finished, and that, according to my new Doctors, allowed for infection to get up into my gums. That spread to four other teeth, so now I am forced to pay almost $40,000 to replace the six teeth. One lower tooth is random. No idea why that one had to come out.”
“She knocked out your teeth. She’s not paying for any of this?”
The denture I have to wear, due to the teeth Ania Ziolkowska knocked out by head butting me in the mouth
“Nope. And missing teeth causes a lot of problems. Go on interviews, and even if I’m wearing a three piece suit, they still judge you on your appearance. Teeth missing right in front of your mouth makes them think you’re a crack head. I have six teeth to replace, and she’s partying around the world and not paying a dime.”
“You’re serious?”
“Yup. She played victim after the tooth came out, cheated with some DJ, and ran off to Poland, then India, a place she knew I wanted to go to since 2001, when we met, and then moved here, to New York, before me, after refusing to for YEARS, with the DJ. Made a point to connect with people I met a year before her, while she was out of the country, and cried victim and said I was the one that abused her.”
“What the fuck???”
We’re getting close to the Dental School now, but he still wants to talk.
“Can’t you sue her?”
“Statute of limitations. I can’t do a thing.”
“Didn’t you press charges when she attacked you?”
“We were together, getting married. Of course I loved her, so I was an idiot and didn’t. Anyway, have you ever tried to be a guy reporting domestic violence from a woman?”
“You know what? I know what you mean. My friend is going through the same thing. His wife beats him and embarrasses him, and they don’t do anything about it.”
“Exactly, and in Virginia, it’s even worse.”
“So what did you do?”
“The only thing I could do, I started a blog.”
“Well, first I tried to party, and distract myself from everything, but she kept pulling things, while she was out of the country, like contacting my employers and ruining positions for me. I even became suicidal at one point. It’s hard for a man, in this situation, because no one believes you. YOU are always the bad guy.”
It didn’t even take him a second to ponder this.
“Man, thank you. You’re right. There’s NO protection for men against women. We’re just told to deal with it, be a man, get over it. Thank you for what you’re doing. No one does this. No one helps men who are attacked by women. Thank you so much. Keep doing what you’re doing, man.”
I paid him, shook hands, and went in to my appointment.
Gone Girl – Ben Affleck & Rosamund Pike
This is Domestic Abuse Month, and it’s been a long time since I have written an entry. And, in an interesting twist of fate, “Gone Girl” has also been released in theaters this month. Why is this relevant? Before I proceed, I should say,
“Spoiler Alert”!!!!
if you haven’t seen the movie, you should probably stop reading, go see it, and come back to this. Seriously, because this will be an exploratory of my personal experience, reveal what the movie is truly about, and illustrate a huge problem men like me have always known about, but have been defenseless in confronting. “Gone Girl”, now the number one movie in the United States, is, if one were to believe the contrived reviews, about a marriage. “Gone Girl” is not about a marriage. What “Gone Girl” is really about is the socialized control women have over society. Their duplicity, their manipulative nature, how they can get away with nearly anything, but “virtue” of the fact that they are women. All of the reviews attempt to obfuscate it, attempt to gloss over, to hide the true issue, however David Fincher was very successful in fleshing out a veiled allegory toward the contemporary feminist movement, illustrating how damagingly toxic the narcissism of women actually is. “That aspect of marriage as a con game, or whatever. The idea that we perform a sort of ideal version of ourselves that the other person wants. We perhaps belie our true nature in order to perform to the ideal. David and I talked a lot about living in an age of rampant narcissism.”
Women are narcissistic. Women are borderline sociopathic. Women are so much so, that they manipulate EACH OTHER.
When a woman feels “hurt” over her own mistake(s), she will instead choose to hurt someone else, more than likely the man she feels manipulated her (or, to be more accurate, did not fall easily toward her own manipulations, such as the student that fully knew she was having an affair with a married man.) Sometimes it’s because they come from Narcissistic parents (the mother) The absolutely obscure and cryptic “clues” they leave, expecting you to figure them out, with absolutely no reference at all (her maddeningly frustrating scavenger hunts) They manipulate men, and throw each other under the bus (the girl at the cabin) Men are disposable to them (Neil Patrick Harris) And once you figure they are a narcissistic sociopath, you know how to manipulate them back (the television interview) And they will explain away their own evil as “being a survivor” (how she justifies murdering Neil Patrick Harris to her husband, and getting away with it) There are so many allegories illustrated in “Gone Girl”, toward modern narcissism, especially female narcissism, in this film that it’s quite disturbing. At least it lets me know I’m not the only one that has seen this, both in relationships and in society. Oh! I almost forgot: Narcissists have a limited bag of tricks, a limited tool box, whether it’s to attract (the husband), or to punish (the wife), and bank on creating constant emotional states of confusion, to keep themselves from being found out as what they are. You’ll see this MULTIPLE times in the film. Basically, in the end, it shows that not only are both sexes narcissistic, but that women are MORE TOXIC, and MORE DAMAGING in their narcissistic sociopathy, but are allowed to get away with it, because, let’s face it, they’re “women”.
“Women, for instance, concentrate on their body (many also suffer from eating disorders: Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa). They flaunt and exploit their physical charms, their sexuality, their socially and culturally determined “femininity”. In its extreme form this is known as HPD or the Histrionic Personality Disorder.
Ania Anicca how she really looks, nearly busting out of those clothes and double chins
Ania Anicca vain and narcissistic as ever
Many female narcissists secure their Narcissistic Supply through more traditional gender roles: the home, children, suitable careers, their husbands (“the wife of…”), their feminine traits, their role in
society, etc. It is no wonder than narcissists – both men and women – are chauvinistically conservative. They depend to such an extent on the opinions of people around them – that, with time, they are transformed into ultra-sensitive seismographs of public opinion, barometers of prevailing social fashions and guardians of conformity. Narcissists cannot afford to seriously alienate those who reflect to them their False Self. The very proper and on-going functioning of their Ego depends on the goodwill and the collaboration of their human environment.”
THEORIES OF GENDER BIAS The issue of gender bias in DSM psychiatric diagnoses was first raised by Kaplan in an influential article in the American Psychologist (2). She argued that the diagnostic experts (mostly men) who served on the DSM-lll Task Force had codified certain masculine-based assumptions about what behaviors were healthy and what were crazy, such that women who over-conformed to certain sex role stereotypes would be labeled as pathological (3). Her two primary examples ofgender-biased diagn.oses were histrionic and dependent PDs, but she also noted that BPD was potentially biased. Widiger (4) has described six ways in which differential gender preva- lence rates in the diagnosis of personality disorders could reflect sex bi- ases. These are 1) biased sampling of persons with the disorder, 2) biased diagnostic constructs, 3) biased diagnostic criteria, 4) biased diagnostic thresholds, 5) biased application of diagnostic criteri.a, and 6) biased instruments of assessment. Biased sampling refers to the possibility that the perception of a higher rate of a disorder among women in a clinical setting may sim- ply reflect a higher rate of women receiving treatment in that setting.
The myth of “male dominance” is a well manicured deception. And this has been happening for CENTURIES.
Psychology, like society at large, continues to be baffled by the persistent belief that men and women differ in important psychological ways, in spite of countless studies that fail to demonstrate such differences or that capture them for only a brief moment. New approaches avoid the polarization of `male’ and female’ traits, emphasizing how and why these qualities change over the life span, across cultures and throughout history. To understand where the differences are, we must look to narrative, power, and the conditions of our lives.
I have always said if a man does what a woman does, he’s labeled a “Narcissist”, but if a woman does it, she’s just “A Woman”.
Back to the spoilers……..
“Gone Girl” is about a female narcissistic sociopath that shows the entire range of manipulation that women wield in their absolutely socialized, essentially accepted, behaviors. These are the same behaviors I experienced with Ania. As I said earlier, David Fincher and the writer, whom is a female, must have had their experience with Narcopaths, especially female narcopaths, because they lay the entire tool just bare in that film The actions, such as her leaving a clue based scavenger hunt, every year, with obscure clues only SHE could understand, that you don’t put together until after they are gone, and your head is clear of the constant emotional distress they put you through Ania left her journals behind, I can only assume expecting me to read them. (I didn’t read them until I learned of her and Chris “Exeris” Michael Sevanick. I respect privacy, unlike Ania, who read my journals before we were even dating. I realize now she did that in order to read me, and manipulate me. That’s what narcissists do.)
Ania Ziolkowska would leave the most cryptic hints, rather than being upfront.
This is how narcissists manipulate and gaslight.
Ania had her email address and phone number sent to me via an old email she knew I had access to, but never checked, I realized later, to give me a way to contact her, before she jumped BACK into bed with Chris. She was already fucking him before she left. Uzi Grindler told me. It was Chris’s child she adopted out, after she went to india, to hide her pregnancy, not mine. Little obscure clues, just so they can say you never paid attention to them, so they can justify to themselves what they do to
Gone Girl – Ben Affleck Agonizing over Rosamund’s Scavenger Hunt Clues
you. The manipulation of other women, and men, as Ania did with Eva “Annika” Backstrom and Uzi Grindler (Uzi wanted to fuck Ania anyway
“Don’t they look so alike?”,
Uzi would constantly say about Ania and Annika, and apparently DID, which allowed Ania to get them to ignore incidents they witnessed, such as physically attacking me in the back of their rented Infinity SUV, my only offense being listening to an iPod, on our way to a Stella Nutella show in NYC, and, later, connecting Ania to Chris Exeris, Annika’s ex boyfriend, all in Uzi’s wanting to get revenge upon me for outing his cheating on Annika, which I was forced to do, because he refused to stay out of my relationship – I was actually curing Ania of her narcissism, and he reversed it all, for his own selfishness, Uzi and Eva “Annika” Backstrom, themselves being Narcissistic Sociopaths.) In one of our earliest blogs, we get to hear Ania’s version of how my teeth were lost……..
8:09pm John What happened to make him so fucked up?
8:09pm Dj-vj Exeris he’s been that way for a long time
8:09pm John He says she abused him for 10 years
Dj-vj Exeris made worse by doing meth every day for 3 years (Author’s note – Hearsay. He does not know this, nor can he prove it, which makes this SLANDER.)
8:09pm John Says he begged her to move to NYC and she said no
8:09pm Dj-vj Exeris yea he has twisted everything (Author’s note – This catches up to him later.)
8:10pm John When did he do that? He looked healthy to me?
8:10pm Dj-vj Exeris not sure if he belives his lies or not (Author’s note – Pot calling the kettle black…..)
8:10pm John He doesn’t even smoke
8:10pm Dj-vj Exeris 97-2000 (Author’s note – Interesting as neither Ania Ziolkowska, nor I met Chris Sevanick until 2008. And we only hung out with him a total of THREE TIMES between 2008 and 2010. I met him again after Ania Ziolkowska lied and went to Poland, then India, and told him everything that happened between us, and even have additional proof. As I said, this catches up with him later.)
So, according to Ania Anicca / Ania Ziolkowska (Ania got the “Anicaa” name at “Yogaville”, during her teacher training. They don’t know what the word means, and she can’t come up with anything original on her own. No narcissist can, actually), the story she concocted, is that I did meth for three years, before returning and pursuing her, and I had ALL of my teeth, until TEN YEARS AFTER SUPPOSEDLY DOING METH???
I seem to have a full mouth of teeth here, even if they ARE yellowed from smoking, something I finally have been able to quit…..oh! And Ania seems to be THIN. Hmmmmm…..
This is the story she fabricated to cover the damage she could no longer hide.
But, what’s more disgusting, more disturbing, is OTHER PEOPLE BELIEVED IT.
Because she’s a girl, that’s why.
Ania Anicca has one of the most practiced fake “charm personalities” known to man
Up until recently, there has been no support, no resources, for male victims of domestic violence. As a matter of fact, if you are a man and the subject is brought up, it is actually assumed that YOU are the abuser. Even the police essentially refuse to believe that women, especially small, petite, demur women, can actually be the abusers (not that Ania is small, petite, or demure, ANY LONGER….)
The CDC’s Web site also cites data showing: “In the United States every year, about 1.5 million women and more than 800,000 men are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner,” and 24 percent of intimate partner homicide victims were male (‘http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvfacts.htm‘) Experts have expressed concern that male victims have been unfairly ignored due to gender-driven politics and that this contributes to the intergenerational cycle of domestic violence. When male victims are ignored or just “take it,” their children suffer long-term damage by the exposure and are more likely to commit the violence as adults. The mass media often contributes to this neglect by framing domestic violence as “battered women” or as primarily a male crime and by citing inaccurate crime data. The media says “men and women” when covering soldiers or fire-fighters; it should do the same for male domestic violence victims. The National Coalition of Free Men calls on the media for fair reporting this October. As Dear Abby said, “Domestic violence is a human problem, not a gender problem.”
But, as illustrated above, and in the movie “Gone Girl”, a woman can play victim, and get away with even the WORST atrocities (such as murdering someone she thought to use, as she did with Neil Patrick Harris.)
More men than women were victims of intimate partner physical violence within the past year, according to a national study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Department of Justice. According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (hereinafter NISVS) released in December, 2011, within the last 12 months an estimated 5,365,000 men and 4,741,000 women were victims of intimate partner physical violence. (Black, M.C. et al., 2011, Tables 4.1 and 4.2) 1 This finding contrasts to the earlier National Violence Against Women Survey (Tjaden, P. G., & Thoennes, N., 2000)(hereinafter NVAWS), which estimated that 1.2 million women and 835,000 men were victims of intimate partner physical violence in the preceding 12 months. (One-year prevalence “are considered to be more accurate [than lifetime rates] because they do not depend on recall of events long past” (Straus, 2005, p. 60))
Do a basic google search about domestic violence, and you have to DIG to get the following results:
About two in five of all victims of domestic violence are men, contradicting the widespread impression that it is almost always women who are left battered and bruised, a new report claims. Men assaulted by their partners are often ignored by police, see their attacker go free and have far fewer refuges to flee to than women, says a study by the men’s rights campaign group Parity.
Or “A Voice for Men”, which, if you didn’t know it existed, you would never find it
From this information researchers found that of the 18,761 relationships, 76% were non-violent and 24% were violent. Of the 24% that were violent, half had been reciprocal and half had not—reciprocal meaning there was violence inflicted by both partners. Although more men than women (53% versus 49%) had experienced non-reciprocal violent relationships, more women than men (52% versus 47%) had taken part in ones involving reciprocal violence. This statistic was undoubtedly the most striking: in committing acts of domestic violence, more women than men (25% versus 11%) were responsible. In fact, in the 71% of non-reciprocal partner violence instances, the instigator was the woman. This flies in the face of the long-held belief that female aggression in a relationship is most often predicated on self-defense. Further, while injury was more likely when violence was perpetrated by men, in relationships that featured reciprocal violence, men were injured more often (25% of the time) than women (20% of the time).
A medical journal
While aggression in heterosexual relationships is believed to stem from men, a recent study presented on June 25 at a symposium on intimate partner violence (IPV) at the British Psychological Society’s Division of Forensic Psychology annual conference in Glasgow, found women are more likely to be “intimate terrorists,” or physically aggressive to their partners than men.
A Telegraph UK article of a FEMALE DOCTOR LEAD STUDY
Women are more likely than men to be aggressive and controlling towards their partner, according to a study.
The research found that women showed controlling behaviour along with serious levels of threats, intimidation and physical violence when in a relationship more often than men.
More than 1,000 young men and women were questioned about any “Intimate Partner Violence” (IPV) they had inflicted on a girlfriend or boyfriend, or been subjected to themselves.
The results are in contrast to earlier studies which suggested women are almost always the victims of such behaviour.
Dr Elizabeth Bates, who led the study at the University of Cumbria, said: “Previous studies have sought to explain male violence towards women as arising from patriarchal values, which motivate men to seek to control women’s behaviour, using violence if necessary.”
Even Time Magazine, though you can see the obvious feminist slant, since the feminists have a huge lobby, and they want to not piss off that demographic, even when the facts illustrate otherwise
Research showing that women are often aggressors in domestic violence has been causing controversy for almost 40 years, ever since the 1975 National Family Violence Survey by sociologists Murray Straus and Richard Gelles of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire found that women were just as likely as men to report hitting a spouse and men were just as likely as women to report getting hit. The researchers initially assumed that, at least in cases of mutual violence, the women were defending themselves or retaliating. But when subsequent surveys asked who struck first, it turned out that women were as likely as men to initiate violence—a finding confirmed by more than 200 studies of intimate violence. In a 2010 review essay in the journal Partner Abuse, Straus concludes that women’s motives for domestic violence are often similar to men’s, ranging from anger to coercive control.
But, as I said earlier, you have to dig to almost subterranean levels, in order to obtain this data. For me to find them, I had to finally do a Google search of “Women More Violent Than Men” Why?
As it is profitable to claim victimhood in this age, a good indicator is whether any condemnation by the supposedly oppressed of their oppressor could be similarly uttered if the positions were reversed. We know that what Rev. Jeremiah Wright said about whites could not be said by a white pastor about blacks, and we see even more of a double standard regarding what women and men can say about each other in America today. This reveals one of the darkest depths of the human mind – when a group is utterly convinced that they are the ‘victims’ of another group, they can rationalize any level of evil against their perceived oppressors. Go to any major ‘feminist’ website, such as feministing.com or Jezebel.com, and ask polite questions about the fairness of divorce laws, or the injustice of innocent men being jailed on false accusations of rape without due process. You will quickly be called a ‘misogynist’ and banned from commenting. The same is not true for any major men’s site, where even heated arguments and blatant misandry are tolerated in the spirit of free speech and human dignity. When is the last time a doctrinaire ‘feminist’ actually had the courage to debate a fair woman like Camille Paglia, Tammy Bruce, or Christina Hoff Somers on television? Ever-tightening groupthink that enforces an ever-escalating narrative of victimhood ensures that projection becomes the normal mode of misandrist thought. The word ‘misogynist’ has expanded to such an extreme that it is the Pavlovian response to anything a ‘feminist’ feels bad about, but cannot articulate in an adult-like manner. This reveals the projected gender bigotry of the ‘feminist’ in question, which in her case is misandry. For example, an older man dating women 10 years younger than him is also referred to as a ‘misogynist’ by the older bitterati. Not an ageist, mind you, but a misogynist. A man who refuses to find obese women attractive is also a ‘misogynist’, as are gay men who do not spend money on women. The male non-compliance labeled as ‘misogyny’ thus becomes a reaction to many years of unopposed misandry heaped on him first, when he initially harbored no such sentiments. Kick a friendly dog enough times, and you get a nasty dog. There are laws such as the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), that blatantly declares that violence against women is far worse than violence against men. VAWA is very different from ordinary assault laws, because under VAWA, a man can be removed from his home at gunpoint if the woman makes a single phonecall. No due process is permitted, and the man’s IConstitutional rights are jettisoned. At the same time, half of all domestic violence is by the woman against the man. Tiger Woods’ wife beat him with a blunt weapon and scratched his face, only to be applauded by ‘feminists’ in a ‘you go girl’ manner. Projection can normalize barbarism.
I received a DUI charge and conviction, because, after having taken my prescribed Ambian, when I asked Ania to leave, so I could sleep, tired an hungry, in an apartment she succeeded in having us evicted from IN ONE WEEK, due to HER behavior (that was told to me in confidence, by the leasing manager of the Aspen, in Alexandria, VA), she instead attacked me, and chased me out of the apartment. Knowing what I just listed above, I got in my Mini, and attempted to drive away. Not having eaten, my Ambian kicked in in ten minutes, rather than 20, and I had a victimless accident. The Mini caught fire, and I had to be pulled out of the burning car. Ania Anicca immediately went to the police, while I was passed out, and said
“I think he was trying to kill himself. He took Ambian.”
But how did Ania Anicca spin it, playing victim all the way, when she tells other people the story?
9:31pm Dj-vj Exeris when she left she left him with everything
even paid for the apartment for a whole year
gave him half of her 401K
9:32pm John He said she caused him to get a DUI because he was trying to get away from her while fighting
Said Shee lost him three jobs and two apartments
Lost him his car
She tell you anything About that?
9:32pm Dj-vj Exeris he got a DUI because he swallowed a whole jar of ambien or some other such pills and then got into a car
he didnt have to do that
she didnt make him do that
you see how he is not taking responsibility for his actions? (Author’s note – JAR???? Also, there are details missing to that explanation, as she full well knows.)
9:33pm John He said he did not get half her 401k she paid for an apartment so she wouldn’t have no eviction on her record
9:33pm Dj-vj Exeris he wrecked his car
9:33pm John He told me about that but why was she fighting with him? (Author’s note – first time asked. Pay attention. This is a tactic Ania uses.)
9:33pm Dj-vj Exeris she saved both of them from having an eviction on their record. she didnt have to do that
9:34pm John He told me all that. But why was she fighting with him and why did he leave?
She saved herself from having an eviction then
9:34pm Dj-vj Exeris the point is he took the pills and got into the car
9:34pm John Look I sorta don’t care but none of this makes sense
Why did he leave?
9:35pm Dj-vj Exeris didnt he tell you?
leaving is not a crime, but getting into a car after taking so many pills is
9:35pm John Because she was fighting with him and she tried that domestic violence thing before so he left
9:35pm Dj-vj Exeris he was lucky not to have killed anyone (Author’s note – Avoidance.)
9:36pm John He said he wished they’d left him in his burning car after finding out what she did
He has the report where she told them they were fighting and he left
9:36pm Dj-vj Exeris doesnt change the fact that he took a whole bottle of pills and got into a car (Author’s note – Deferral of fault. Still doesn’t acknowledge the FIGHT.)
9:36pm John Then calmly told then she thought he was trying to kill himself and what he took
Was she fighting with him?
Did she try to do that before?
You seein where it makes no sense?
It was his place why would he leave?
9:37pm Dj-vj Exeris makes sense that if he was laying passed out she would be afraid for his life and tell the police he took pills (Author’s note – HOW does that answer the question, and what does that have to do with the question? )
9:38pm John Unless she was fighting with him and he didn’t want to deal with her lying to the cops
9:38pm Dj-vj Exeris and its not her fault he took the pills
and got into a car (Author’s note – STILL avoiding that fight point, isn’t she? Deferral and deflection. Narcissism one oh one.)
9:38pm John Why was she fighting with him? (Author’s note – This is the THIRD time this question has been asked DIRECTLY.)
9:38pm Dj-vj Exeris he could have killed someone (Author’s note – Deflected again. You get the point, so I will not point it out any longer.)
9:39pm John Why was she fighting with him? (Author’s note – This is the FOURTH time this question has been asked DIRECTLY.)
9:39pm Dj-vj Exeris lots of people fight
9:39pm John Why was she fighting with him? (Author’s note – This is the FIFTH time this question has been asked DIRECTLY.)
9:39pm Dj-vj Exeris but who takes a bottle of pills and gets into a car? (Author’s note – Avoidance. Attempting to put the onus upon the victim. Victim blaming.)
9:39pm John Why was she fighting with him? (Author’s note – This is the SIXTH time this question has been asked DIRECTLY.)
9:39pm Dj-vj Exeris that is really irresponsible (Author’s note – OMISSION and victim blaming.)
9:39pm John Why was she fighting with him? (Author’s note – This is the SEVENTH time this question has been asked DIRECTLY.)
9:40pm Dj-vj Exeris beyond irresponsible
he could have killed someone (Author’s note – Further attempt at redirection from the TRUTH.)
9:40pm John Look it looks like he’s not the only one avoiding their issues (Author’s note – Obviously THEY are avoiding more than I am.)
9:40pm Dj-vj Exeris sounds like they were both arguing with each other
and it sounds like they did that a lot
9:41pm John I deal with psych patients all the time and she hasn’t accepted her fault in anything That’s just my two cents
9:41pm Dj-vj Exeris sounds like it was a good thing that the relationship ended (Author’s note – Here’s where the Narcissistic Personality Disorder aspect of Ania Ziolkowska REALLY shows. All that yoga, all that mediation, India, Nepal, and still THE EXACT SAME ISSUES. Actually, DUE to all of that, she has gotten WORSE.)
9:41pm John I’m not judging, but you might wanna really wonder why she’s really with you.
9:41pm Dj-vj Exeris and you can tell by whats going on now who the victim was all along (Author’s note – YES, we CAN.)
9:42pm John Just lookin out for my boy
9:42pm Dj-vj Exeris he says he is the victim (Author’s note – And Ania Ziolkowska’s words and actions PROVE THAT TO BE TRUE.)
And that’s not even touching on how Ania Anicca, in that conversation, attempted to make a supposed suicide of someone she could care less about ALL ABOUT HER. The facts show, and have repeatedly shown, that domestic abuse against men, by women, is repeatedly and continuously buried, or ignored, on such an accepted social level that it’s just disgusting. But how can you continue to argue about and ignore THIS?
I can tell you a story. It’s a story about when Ania did meth. We had a friend named Brian, who had seen the success I created by how I made and marketed an after hours club in Washington, DC (another thing I regret, as it put me in business with two Jewish cheats, and Narcissists, Ian Morgenstein, WHOM I INVITED IN AFTER IT WAS CREATED, and Uzi Grindler, whom has already been mentioned above – crazy how Ania ran to the sides of the people that cheated both me and her, which is what narcissists do – they go to their own kind), and began to shadow me, to learn how to throw parties himself. I don’t think he ever understood that when I threw a party, it was for the attendees, not to fill my pockets, or inflate my ego. Brian was dealing and addicted to meth. He was over at our house in Alexandria, VA, one night, and he gave it to her to try. I had to go to work. Ania wasn’t working. Fired, again. I asked him not to have it around her, and he gave it to her anyway. I’m preparing to go to work, and Ania is smashing every single glass in the kitchen.
I rush into the kitchen to stop her, and she attacks me, tackles me, and I somehow keep us away from the glass on the floor. She’s in her robe, naked underneath, and I have her on her back.
ANIA ANICCA REACHES UP AND CLAWS ME DOWN MY FACE.
I am forced to let her go. I have to go to work, at that time contracted to arrange displays in grocery stores, dried scars on my face, and the women I worked with, as I was the only man, asked me what happened. I was an idiot, constantly covering Ania’s abuse of me, so I lied –
“Our cat clawed me in my sleep. She’s a little feral. She’s a rescue kitten.”
The woman who was my supervisor stood there and stared at me, grabbed my forearm, and took me to the pharmacy, grabbed a box of “Mecderma”, and told me to buy it and apply it, which I did.
She didn’t believe me. She knew another girl’s claw marks when she saw them.
However, most of the time, Ania’s abuses were NOT under the influence of drugs. Ania Anicca must have obviously been prejudiced, and felt she could abuse all the black men in her life.
“She used to chase me around the house with pots and pans, trying to hit me with them.” Charles Gudet, another black ex of hers later told me.
Charles told me a lot of things, most of which will be visited upon later, in new blogs, just as we will visit upon Uzi Grindler, and Eva “Annika” Backstrom. “Gone Girl” covers all of this, including the ending, illustrating that even when you think you’re free, they still hatch plots to steal your life. For me, that was Ania Anicca stealing all of my dreams for herself. Okay, I think we will call this “part one”, because there is so much more I could write, but it took me forever to put most of this together, just to get this down for Domestic Abuse Month, which this is, and I literally have a decade of abuse to flesh out. But I had to write this, because, as the cabbie said, someone needs to speak up for abused men, so that someone may as well be me (and a few other men who finally have the courage to speak out.) Domestic Violence, like racial prejudice (another subject we touched upon earlier, and will return to later), is narcissism. Narcissistic Sociopathy, to be more accurate. Also known as narcopathy or psychopathy, and “Gone Girl” shows for all to see, both the prevalence of this, and the completely imbalanced scale upon which it weighs. By the way, did you know that “Twilight”, Ania’s favorite series, she even has the Polish version, “Saga Zmierzch”, which is how she read it (probably so I couldn’t read that she was reading about how she was treating me (Hint: Ania is Edward, NOT Bella. We will explore in a later blog how narcissists, such as Ania, project their personalities on to their victims), is about Domestic Abuse? “If you’ve suspected that there’s something unhealthy about the relationship between Bella and Edward in the phenomenally successful Twilight series, then it turns out that you’re exactly right. In fact, there are fifteen examples of unhealthiness.” Next time we will explore how Ania, was going to a domestic violence counselor named Lynn Greenfield, in Alexandria, VA, under the advice of Eva “Annika” Backstrom and Uzi “Ozzie” Grindler. The same ones who would watch Ania abuse ME, and knew Ania had knocked out my teeth, remember? Uzi is israeli, and was teaching Ania how to psychologically manipulate the outcome SHE wanted, with the help of getting the abusive relationship checklist from Lynn Greenfield, and how Ania has assimilated in NYC, and all her travels, by essentially mimicking ME. She DID have ten years to learn how to be me, after all. At least on the surface. She’s still empty on the inside.
I usually save these for jabs at “Exeris” (that name, oh my god that NAME.…), but after this post, you all deserve a treat…..
Part two is on it’s way, and comments can be left at the bottom of the page, but always remember……
“La plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu’il n’existe pas.” (“The devil’s finest trick is to persuade you that he (or she) does not exist.”)”
~ Charles Baudelaire
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FanDuel Sportsbook Debuts in Colorado
Residents and Visitors to Colorado Can Now Place Bets on the FanDuel Sportsbook App
Colorado —May 1, 2020 — FanDuel Group today announced the launch of the FanDuel Sportsbook app and online experience in Colorado. In partnership with Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:TRWH) and Golden Gates Casino Black Hawk, Colorado is the fifth state in the United States where the industry-leading FanDuel Sportsbook online and mobile platform is available. FanDuel is bringing its best-in-class online sports betting experience to sports fans in the Centennial State who can now place wagers across professional football, basketball, baseball, golf, MMA, soccer, table tennis, darts and tennis with a multitude of betting and payment options available.
The FanDuel Sportsbook is available for download via iOS and Android for residents and visitors to Colorado. At launch, the FanDuel Sportsbook will offer a daily free to play game called The ANYTHINGBOOK, where customers can test their sports and pop culture knowledge for the opportunity to win daily cash prizes. Each day, a new question will be posted and correct answers will be rewarded with $5 in site credit.
“Colorado is home to a passionate group of sports fans and we are incredibly excited to show them why FanDuel is the number one online sportsbook in the country,” said Mike Raffensperger, CMO of FanDuel Group. “Our free to play ANYTHINGBOOK game is designed to engage fans during this period of limited sporting events and introduce them to FanDuel Sportsbook’s unique features and markets.”
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In addition, the FanDuel Sportsbook offers a range of payment options, safe and secure banking, lightning fast payouts usually within twenty four hours, a Cash Out early feature, 24/7 customer service, and in-game wagering allowing users to bet on live games as they’re being played. FanDuel utilizes its proprietary risk and trading technology that leverages the IGT PlaySports platform. The FanDuel Sportsbook also has account protections in place and a global reputation for responsible wagering.
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FanDuel Group is an innovative sports-tech entertainment company that is changing the way consumers engage with their favorite sports, teams, and leagues. The premier gaming destination in the United States, FanDuel Group consists of a portfolio of leading brands across gaming, sports betting, daily fantasy sports, advance-deposit wagering, and TV/media, including FanDuel, Betfair US, and TVG. FanDuel Group has a presence across 45 states and 8.5 million customers. The company is based in New York with offices in California, New Jersey, Florida, Oregon, and Scotland. FanDuel Group is a subsidiary of Flutter Entertainment plc, a leading international sports betting and gaming operator and a constituent of the FTSE 100 index of the London Stock Exchange.
About Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc.
Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc. owns and manages seven casinos, two casinos in Rhode Island, one in Mississippi, one in Delaware, and three casinos as well as a horse racetrack that has 13 authorized OTB licenses in Colorado. Properties include Twin River Casino Hotel (Lincoln, RI), Tiverton Casino Hotel (Tiverton, RI), Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (Biloxi, MS), Dover Downs Hotel & Casino (Dover, DE), Golden Gates Casino (Black Hawk, CO), Golden Gulch Casino (Black Hawk, CO), Mardi Gras Casino (Black Hawk, CO) and Arapahoe Park racetrack (Aurora, CO). Its casinos range in size from 695 slots and 17 table games combined for Colorado facilities to properties with over 4,100 slots, 125 table games and 48 stadium gaming positions, along with hotel and resort amenities. Its shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “TRWH.”
About Golden Gates Casino Black Hawk
Golden Gates Casino is located in the heart of Black Hawk, CO. It is in close proximity to two sister gaming establishments: Golden Gulch Casino and Mardi Gras Casino. The trio of casinos is owned and operated by Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc, which acquired the properties in early 2020. In addition to its poker room, Golden Gates Casino offers a variety of table games and slots and boasts a 700-spot parking garage complete with free valet parking. Golden Gates is known for its active poker scene, operating the largest poker room in Black Hawk with nearly 20 tables and is home to the Colorado Poker Championship and the Heartland Poker Tour, two events with an approximate combined prize pool of nearly $1.25 million. Golden Gates Casino is open to players 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information, visit www.goldenmardigras.com.
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Steam Show Dogs
Show Dogs is a movie starring Will Arnett, Ludacris, and Natasha Lyonne. Max, a macho, solitary Rottweiler police dog is ordered to go undercover as a primped show dog in a prestigious Dog Show, along with his human partner, to...
Kutyaparádé, Slaptasis agentas Maksas, Biệt Đội Cún Cưng, Show Dogs - Entriamo in scena, Superagente canino, Milla shel kellev, Suņu neiespējamā misija, Chiens sous enquête, Operatiunea Ham-Ham, Show Dogs: O Agente Canino, Cães à Solta, Wyszczekani
Comedy, Adventure, Family
Raja Gosnell
Max Botkin, Marc Hyman
Will Arnett, Ludacris, Natasha Lyonne, Stanley Tucci
In a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals, e.g. talking dogs co-exist, a macho but lonely Rottweiler police dog named Max is ordered to go undercover as a primped show dog in a prestigious dog show with his human partner Frank (Will Arnett) to stop an animal-smuggling scheme that is using the dog show as a front. When Max finds out the criminals are planning to sell Ling-Li, a baby giant panda, at the upcoming Canini Invitational dog show in Las Vegas, he's forced to go undercover as an entrant accompanied by Frank posing as his trainer..
Comments about comedy «Show Dogs» (22)
Friday, 06 Nov 2020 03:28
I have to admit, the movie didn't do much for me. I had no idea what the movie was about, and I thought it was pretty predictable. However, I was surprised how well the movie made up for it. I thought the story was very interesting and the characters were very well developed. There were some scenes that made me laugh out loud, and I thought that the acting was good. I thought that the movie was very entertaining and I think that anyone would enjoy this movie. I give it a 7 out of 10.
This is an enjoyable movie with some cute animals in it. I love the dancing and the song "Back to the Moon" is a must see. The plot is a little bit silly, but it's still a cute movie. The ending is predictable, but I guess it's okay. It's a great family movie.
Sandra Simpson
This is an entertaining movie. But it is not a great movie. In fact, I was expecting much more. But this is a family movie. The storyline is very predictable, and it has a lot of plot holes. There are not enough jokes, but the movie is enjoyable. This movie is about the dog who takes on the human race. I like the main characters. The story is a little predictable. I would recommend it to people who want a family movie. It is not a great movie, but it is a good family movie.
I did not really enjoy the movie but it is definitely worth watching. If you are looking for a movie that has heart and is fun then you should watch this movie. I am not really a big fan of the movie but I will definitely buy it when it comes out on DVD.
Douglas W.
I thought this movie was pretty good, not great, but pretty good. It had a lot of good moments and it was entertaining. The characters were good and the story was good. The bad thing was that it wasn't very funny and it was pretty depressing. I would have liked to see more of the dog fighting, but other than that, it was a good movie.
Robert Warren
Monday, 14 Sep 2020 14:34
I've just watched the film. I was a bit skeptical because of the reviews. It was actually very funny, and very entertaining. It was a perfect movie for a rainy day. The story was good, and the acting was very good. I liked the way the story was told. It was a little bit different than what I expected, but it was good. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants a good laugh. The acting was good, the story was good, and the story was good. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who wants to watch a good movie. It is a very good movie, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a good movie.
I have to admit, I was skeptical about this movie. I'm not a big fan of animated movies, and I was not sure how this one would be received. But, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the animation was great, the story was great, and the characters were just as I hoped they would be. The only thing that I didn't like was the end. I thought it was a bit rushed. But, I'm still not sure why. Maybe it was because it was the first animated movie to come out in a while. But, I'm sure that it wasn't. So, go see this movie, you won't be disappointed. It's a great movie to see with the family. And, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
The movie is a classic for young people and their parents. It is funny and the main character is charming. I like this movie a lot and I recommend it to all young people.
My 10 year old son and I just watched this film last night and I thought it was very good. We were laughing throughout the film and there were a couple of really good bits in the film. The story is about a little dog who was rescued from the streets of London by a woman and her family. She is working in a pet store and the little dog is living with them. It's not long before the little dog starts showing signs of his powers and it's up to the owner to stop him. This is a really good film. It's not a movie that will appeal to everyone but it was really good. I would say watch it if you like comedies or are a fan of dogs. This is a good film. I would say check it out.
Edward W.
This is a great film. I was surprised at how much I liked it. I was expecting a Disney film, but this was much better. The first half of the film is so funny, it makes you want to laugh. The second half is very well done. You can see the writers and director know exactly what they are doing. The first half of the film is very good, but the second half is just great. The film has a good story line, good characters, and a great story. The film has a good ending, which is really good. The film is very entertaining, and makes you want to watch it again. I recommend this film to all Disney fans. My rating is 7/10.
Gregory Gray
I really enjoyed this movie, especially the first half. I thought the story line was great, and the ending was pretty great too. The acting was okay, I thought that Will Arnett was good as the dog, but I thought that the dogs acting was pretty bad. It was like they didn't want to do the character justice, it seemed like they didn't want to show the true meaning of the dogs characters. I would've liked to see more of the dogs, it was a little over done. The movie is for kids, but if you don't mind a little violence, this movie is pretty good. The only thing I didn't like about this movie was the dog's teeth. I wouldn't recommend this movie for kids, but if you're into dogs or just like movies that are good, I would recommend it. I give it a 7 out of 10.
I don't know why this film is so underrated. I was watching this movie with my friends, and we all loved it. The whole family was laughing, and the whole family was enjoying it. I can't believe how many people hated this movie, and it is not the worst film ever made. It is one of the best. I give it 9/10, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did. It is definitely worth watching.
Deborah Lane
This is a very funny movie. It's about a dog who has been trained to do tricks for a living. He is played by a very good actor named Billy Bob Thornton. This movie is a lot of fun. The story is a little unbelievable but it's a good one. It's very funny. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes to laugh a lot.
Walter Lawson
I'm giving it a 7 because it was cute and I laughed a lot. I didn't like the idea of the dog getting to eat the human, but it was a nice change of pace. The film was sweet and the acting was really good. I think I would have liked it better if it was longer. It's an okay movie, but not great. If you're looking for a good family film, you might like it. It's not a movie I would watch again, but I would recommend it to my friends. I would give this film a 7.5 out of 10.
I saw this movie for the first time on TV a couple of years ago and thought it was awesome. I was not expecting to be that moved by the story, but I was. I saw this movie again today and it is a great movie. The actors are all amazing and the story is one of the best movies I have ever seen. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good movie.
I think this movie is awesome. It's not a serious movie, but it is a very funny one. It's a good movie to watch with your kids. I think it's a great movie for all ages. The story is good, the actors are great and the characters are very likable. I think this movie is very funny and also very nice to watch. The cast is amazing. I think this movie is a must see. It's a very good movie and a must see for all ages. I give this movie a 9/10.
It's a shame that people didn't see this movie. It's a true story, and it's very entertaining. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good movie.
When I first heard about this film, I thought it was a comedy. Boy, was I wrong! This is a very adult film, with the same jokes as in the original. But the problem is that some of them are way too old. I have to admit that I laughed more than once, but it's hard to do when you're sitting in front of a computer screen. I'm not saying that it's bad, but there are a few times when you just can't help laughing, and you don't know why. I also don't think that the kids will be able to understand this film, because it's too adult for them. The movie is really good, but not as good as the original. The actors are really good, especially the child actors. They all really act like real kids. It's really great to see a new film, and I hope it will be as good as the original.
Mark O.
I am a big fan of Disney movies and I am not a fan of some of the new movies coming out. But this one was a winner. I loved it! I think it was a great way to spend time and I hope to see it again. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good Disney movie. I give this movie a 9 out of 10. I think it is a great movie for families and for people who are looking for a good time. I think this movie is a must see for all Disney fans.
Jordan M.
I was expecting this movie to be a total disaster. I have been a fan of all the Disney films and I have to say that this movie was a lot better than I expected. I like that Disney has tried to use all the original characters from the original movie and have some of the original actors in it, like Brendan Fraser, Scarlett Johansson and Jason Bateman. I really liked the Disney side of the movie. The music was great and it was really catchy. The cast was really good, with the exception of Robin Williams, he did not fit the character of Jafar very well. The characters were really well written, and I especially liked the characters of Rapunzel and Maleficent, they were really funny and I really liked the characters of the dwarves. The characters were also well developed, and the animation was very good. I really liked the movie and I would recommend it to everyone, but I think that it would be a lot better if Disney made a sequel to it. I give it a 7/10.
I just watched the movie, and I have to say that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was a funny, yet heartfelt movie. The main character, Billy (Sebastian Koch) was a lot of fun to watch. I was worried that he was going to be a little too goofy, but he was able to pull it off. The other actors were also great, as well. It was a great movie, and I recommend it to anyone who likes a good family film. It was a good movie to watch on a rainy day. I give it a 9 out of 10.
This is one of those films that you can watch over and over and still find something new. I saw this movie at a preview screening and was completely enthralled. It was so much fun to see how the animals and the humans lived and interacted with each other. I can't remember the last time I have seen such a great cast and such a great story. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a light-hearted comedy. I will definitely be buying this one when it's released.
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MIT basketball players excel online and on the court
Robert J. Sales, News Office
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--It's no surprise that MIT varsity basketball players Neal Brenner, Kyle Doherty and Andrew Tsai designed a snazzy web site for their team, featuring a bouncing basketball, photos of players darting on and off the screen, and game action videos.
They are, after all, MIT students majoring in electrical engineering and computer science.
It is a surprise that before the exam break the team compiled an 8-1 record that includes victories by 23, 31, 33 and 57 points. Play resumes on Jan. 3 at home against Salem State.
The web site was a project for course 21W.785, Communicating in Cyberspace, taught by Senior Lecturer in Writing Edward Barrett, who gave the players top grades for their project.
"It was a natural for my class," said Dr. Barrett. "Sports web sites command a loyal fan base, present dynamically changing content and require a design that personalizes the sport. Their site gives a very human face to the Institute."
Coach Larry Anderson inadvertently provided the impetus for the project by talking about a redesign of the team's web page. Working with Wellesley exchange student Maria Gesualdi, the players drew upon their athletes' discipline and mindset to manage the semester-long project.
"We were definitely pleased with how it turned out," said Tsai, a sophomore from Pittsburgh. "We think it conveys general enthusiasm for the program. We have actually received a large number of e-mails from old alumni and family who are generally impressed."
In addition to the eye-catching design, the site includes statistics, thumbnail biographies, results, the schedule and special links for fans, recruits and alumni.
"Last year, my parents always complained that they couldn't follow the team on the web site," said Doherty, a sophomore whose parents, Geri and Neal of Duxbury, Mass., attend every game. "Now they can with our new one. It also helps us to compete in recruiting."
Gesualdi, who took the course as part of Wellesley's cross-registration agreement with MIT, created two links and most of the PowerPoint presentations. "It was nice working with them and I gained a lot of experience from the class," said Gesualdi, a junior who returned to Argentina at the end of the fall semester. "I really like basketball," she said, "although I don't know too much about it. I didn't know about the MIT men's basketball team before, but now I follow them. I will be able to check the site for news about them from home in Argentina."
The web site may be visited at http://web.mit.edu/bball/www/.
The players themselves are not surprised by the team's early success.
Before the season started, tri-captains Brenner, Alex Phillips and Sebastian Heersink organized informal practice sessions that were intense and competitive.
"That was the first sign to us that we were going to do well," said Brenner, a junior guard from Cresskill, N.J. "All the players on this year's team know basketball, work hard and really want to win. We also have much better chemistry this year. Everyone plays very unselfishly and gets along with each other."
Tsai, who was the captain of the Fox Chapel Area High School basketball team as a senior, did not play as an MIT freshman but decided to come out for the team this year.
"I wasn't sure what to expect," said Tsai. "I knew we had a lot of good players, but the majority of our team is so young, so I guess I am a little surprised. But I'm not in total shock. It's been a lot of fun."
Even though the starting five consists of three freshmen and two sophomores and all 13 players on the squad are underclassmen, Brenner expects the team to do well in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC).
"We are not going to use the excuse that we are young," said Brenner. "We hope to keep up our success in a conference that is very strong this year. Everyone believes that! We should win every game we play. That's a big difference from years past."
"I think a lot of people aren't taking us too seriously because we're MIT," said Doherty, who is starting for the second consecutive year, "but we can make a run at winning the league."
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3 Questions: Suzanne Corkin on the world’s most famous amnesic
This week, scientists plan to slice the brain of H.M., the amnesia patient who died last year and whose condition helped shed light on how memories are formed.
Anne Trafton, MIT News Office
A photo of H.M., Henry Molaison, the well-known amnesic patient whose condition helped scientists understand memory and memory impairment.
H.M., the well-known amnesic patient whose condition helped scientists understand memory and memory impairment, died a year ago at the age of 82. H.M. (whose full name, Henry Gustav Molaison, was disclosed only after his death) suffered from an unusual condition as a result of brain surgery to treat his epilepsy: He was unable to form new long-term memories. Before his death, H.M. and his guardian agreed that his brain would be donated to scientists for future study. MIT Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Suzanne Corkin studied H.M. during his life and is now part of a team that will be analyzing H.M.’s brain starting this week. In this interview, she explains H.M.’s impact on understanding how memory works.
Q. In life, what were the most important contributions H.M. made to understanding human memory and brain function?
A. H.M. illuminated the science of memory. His brain damage was deep in both temporal lobes. Prior to his surgery, the clinical literature contained hints that this area played a role in long-term memory. His case, however, showed definitively that the hippocampus and neighboring cortex are critical for the establishment of long-term declarative memory. He also taught us that memory is compartmentalized in the brain, and thus profound amnesia could exist in an individual with an above-average I.Q. H.M.’s motor skill learning and perceptual learning were preserved, indicating that these kinds of learning rely on networks outside the medial temporal lobe. Further, immediate memory, like remembering a telephone number, was intact in H.M., suggesting that different cognitive and brain processes support immediate memory and long-term memory. His core deficit was an inability to transfer information from short-term memory into long-term memory. The only way he could hang on to new information was to rehearse it over and over again.
Q. Why is it important to examine H.M.’s brain after his death?
A. H.M.’s high-resolution MRI scans preformed before and after his death gave us an approximate idea of the location of his lesion, but these images provided only an indirect view. An autopsy study is the only way to define the true borders of his surgical removal. His brain has been frozen, and on Dec. 2, exactly one year after his death, it will be cut into roughly 2,600 very thin slices from front to back. Each will be photographed by a specially designed camera, and will be available for anyone in the world to view on a dedicated web site. Some slices will be examined microscopically to count nerve cells, and other slices will be stained to determine, for example, whether he developed Alzheimer’s disease in old age. Other scientists outside our group will be able to request tissue to address their own hypotheses about H.M.’s brain. A small number of slices will be displayed as part of a touring exhibition, “Remembering H.M.,” which is being planned and created by the MIT Museum.
Q. What was H.M. like as a person and a patient? How well did he understand his condition?
A. Despite his devastating amnesia, H.M. was quiet, polite and congenial, greeting all strangers as friends. He loved to talk about his family and childhood vacations. He had a great sense of humor and would often say, “Knock on wood” while tapping the side of his head with his fist. He was altruistic. When asked how he felt about doing all of our tests and answering questions, he replied, “What they find out about me helps them to help other people.” He knew that he had epilepsy, that he had a brain operation, and that he had trouble remembering things. Sometimes when we asked him a question, and he didn’t know the answer, he would say, “I’m having an argument with myself.” This phrase caught on in my lab, and now, in many parts of the world, former Corkin Lab members have arguments with themselves and remember H.M.
Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory
Bioengineering and biotechnology
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Mrs. B
Mrs.B-Archive-08-27-2008
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Alex Burrows suspended 10 games by NHL
Feb 08, 2018 • Last Updated February 8, 2018 • 2 minute read
Senators winger Alex Burrows and Devils defenceman Sami Vatanen react as the puck comes off the post behind goaltender Keith Kinkaid during the third period of Tuesday's game.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand Photo by Fred Chartrand /THE CANADIAN PRESS
The NHL came down hard on Ottawa Senators winger Alex Burrows late Wednesday, suspending him for 10 games.
The ruling came after Burrows had an afternoon telephone hearing with the league’s Department of Player Safety. In addition to the suspension, Burrows will forfeit $134,408.60 — his pro-rated salary for 10 games — to the Players’ Emergency Fund.
“For the sole purpose of retribution, Burrows drags an unwilling opponent to the ice,” said a statement from Players Safety. “Punches him several times, then uses his knee pad to violently inflict more punishment to his opponent’s head.This is a dangerous and unjustifiable attack.” –
Burrows wasn’t talking publicly, meaning Ottawa Senators had coach Guy Boucher had the unenviable task of trying to defend the indefensible.
Burrows responded to a clean, open ice hit from New Jersey Devils star Taylor Hall with an act of rage during Tuesday’s game.
Burrows chased Hall around the ice, earning a cross-checking penalty and an additional minor for roughing after punching Hall in the head several times.
The worst was yet to come. Lying on top of Hall on the ice, Burrows banged his knee against Hall’s head several times.
“It’s an emotional game,” said Boucher, speaking before the suspension was handed down. “You don’t want (that) result out of it, but, at the same time, we want to be more physical, we want to be hard to play against, and sometimes it gets you to go over the edge a little bit.”
The “little bit” was, of course, open to debate. While Hall wasn’t hurt and even scored on the power play with Burrows in the penalty box, Burrows’s actions went viral.
Much like Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand, Burrows has a history of crossing the line.
• Earlier this season, Burrows was fined $5,000 for roughing against Dylan Demelo of the San Jose Sharks.
• In 2014, while with the Vancouver Canucks, Burrows was suspended for three games for a hit on Montreal Canadiens defenceman Alexei Emelin.
• During the Stanley Cup final in 2011, Burrows bit one of the fingers of Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron.
• In 2010, Burrows was fined $2,500 for accusing referee Stéphane Auger of bias.
Boucher said he recognized that Burrows had a nasty reputation, but also said that the veteran winger had generally played within the rules since the Senators acquired him last season.
When you’re an agitating presence, Boucher said, there’s a fine line between what’s acceptable and what’s not.
“It’s very difficult,” Boucher said. “When you’re on the ice, it’s not like you’re sitting on the couch at home, thinking about how you’re going to deal with things. Things happen in fractions of seconds. When you’re emotional, which you need to be to play a hockey game, sometimes it takes you to the other side of the line, and that’s where you try to manage it.
“What you saw (Tuesday) is a guy who just thought he was getting cheap-shotted and wasn’t going to accept it, and then it becomes what it becomes.”
Burrows has three goals, four assists and 41 penalty minutes in 51 games this season.
He has the option to appeal the suspension.
kwarren@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/Citizenkwarren
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Oilpressure
Speed is Life
« A Disturbing Pattern That Has Been Emerging
The Short and Chaotic Reign of Joe Heitzler »
The Grass is Not Always Greener
Although it has yet to be officially announced, it looks pretty certain that Felix Rosenqvist will be leaving Chip Ganassi Racing to replace the recently fired Oliver Askew at Arrow McLaren SP for 2021. This leaves Ganassi in somewhat of a pickle. Word has it that he had every intention of extending the second-year IndyCar driver for 2021 and beyond.
The team was almost set regarding their driver lineup. Of course, Scott Dixon will return for his twentieth season with Ganassi in the No. 9 PNC Bank car, while Marcus Ericsson is expected to return in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate car. I think it’s a safe assumption that sponsorship will be found to fund Jimmie Johnson’s venture into IndyCar on the road courses but I’m nor sure what the plans were for his car on the ovals. The No. 10 NTT Data Car seemed solid for 2021 with Rosenqvist as the driver…until it wasn’t.
As far as I can remember, this is new territory for Chip Ganassi. He is used to dumping drivers, not getting dumped by them. I don’t know that I can recall too many drivers that left Chip Ganassi’s IndyCar program on their own. Alex Zanardi and Juan Montoya left to pursue their dreams in Formula One, while Michael Andretti went back to his old team at Newman/Haas. Graham Rahal left to join his father’s team in 2013. Other than those, most were shown the exit door by Ganassi.
The list of those that have gotten the boot from Ganassi is long and has some impressive names on it, and some that have been long forgotten. You can decide which category some of these names belong in, but those that have been canned by Chip Ganassi include Eddie Cheever, Arie Luyendyk, Mauricio Gugelmin, Bryan Herta, Jimmy Vasser, Nick Minassian, Bruno Junqueira, Kenny Bräck, Tomas Scheckter, Darren Manning, Ryan Briscoe, Dan Wheldon, Charlie Kimball, Tony Kanaan, Max Chilton, Sage Karam and Ed Jones. Many of those names went on to greatness after their stint at Ganassi. Others fell into obscurity.
Now Chip Ganassi is in scramble mode for possibly the first time ever. Some have suggested that Oliver Askew should be a no-brainer to go into that seat, thereby making it an easy driver-swap. I don’t see it that way. For whatever reason, Chip Ganassi has never been one to hire young drivers coming out of Indy Lights. When he gives a chance to young drivers that few have heard of, they have all come from across the pond. The last driver he hired that was not too far removed from Indy Lights was Bryan Herta, after he drove for Foyt in his rookie season in 1994. Herta and Ganassi did not click at all in 1995, and Herta was driving for Bobby Rahal by the beginning of the 1996 season.
Ganassi is a tough boss. Like Sam Schmidt, he has a history of not treating all of his drivers that well. Even Scott Dixon has been known to refer to him as "Cheap Ganassi". But he has put together an excellent program over the years, so he is doing something right.
Keep in mind, this is one of the top teams in the sport. When we talk about the Big Three, the general consensus is that those three are Penske, Ganassi and Andretti. Since all three teams rejoined the series in 2003; no other team has won the championship besides those three. The tally since then has been Andretti – 5, Penske – 5 and Ganassi – 8. Three of those eight championships for Ganassi were Dario Franchitti (who also won another one with Andretti), the others were from Scott Dixon.
To be honest, I’m not sure who makes sense for the seat vacated by Rosenqvist. Would Sébastien Bourdais turn his back on an already secured ride at Foyt? It would be tempting. He would go from a team that is considered lower tier, at best; to a team that is very familiar with championship dinners. We’ve seen that contracts are easily broken without many consequences. Bourdais would be looked at as a driver who did not keep his word, but he would have the best ride of his IndyCar career since he was with Newman/Haas, when he won his four championships. I’d be very tempted to make that jump if it became available to him.
Would it make sense for Simon Pagenaud to leave Penske and go be teammates with Scott Dixon. Few people willingly leave Team Penske and go on to success. If I was Pagenaud, I think I would stay put.
I’m not sure what the status is of Ryan Hunter-Reay’s contract, but would a change of scenery revive his career that seems to be stuck in neutral? How about Takuma Sato? Could Ganassi put up with the repair bills from another driver in his early forties (along with Dixon) for the occasional win?
These are drivers that have either a championship or at least one Indianapolis 500 win on their resumes. That’s who Ganassi tends to sign.
But there is one complaint that many drivers have had about driving for Ganassi. There is a constant complaint from several drivers that Ganassi takes the sponsorship money from all the other Ganassi drivers and pours it all into Dixon’s car to make sure he can bring home another championship. I think all teams do that to some extent, but I’ve heard that Ganassi takes the practice to another level.
I think drivers not named Scott Dixon are expected to help Dixon win races and score maximum points in a weekend. I don’t necessarily think Dixon has anything to do with this, but the directive comes from the top. A young driver like Rosenqvist may get more than a little frustrated with that practice after a while.
Still, I think Rosenqvist has made a career mistake here. How much longer will Scott Dixon go? Two years? Five years? I might have played the good soldier and bided my time at Ganassi. Sometimes it’s better to deal with the devil you know, versus the devil you don’t know. It may not have been a bed of roses at Ganassi, but they put up with a lot of crashes from Rosenqvist last season and were still on the verge of extending his contract. I’ve not seen anything from Arrow McLaren SP to make me think Rosenqvist will be on a long leash.
There is an adjustment period when a driver switches teams. Rosenqvist will be looked upon as the seasoned veteran on the team. He has two full seasons under his belt and a race win. There is a lot of pressure that comes with that role. I’m not sure AMSP will be very patient to wait on Rosenqvist to go through the adjustment period with his new team.
I hope I’m wrong, but this looks like a bad move for all involved. Ganassi has to find a good driver late in the silly season. Rosenqvist has jumped to what looks like a greener pasture. Most of the time, that green grass is a mirage. This may not end well for him. If it doesn’t, then Arrow McLaren SP will be going through another driver change in another couple of years…or sooner.
Change is Bad!
This entry was posted on October 16, 2020 at 4:03 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
5 Responses to “The Grass is Not Always Greener”
billytheskink Says:
Odd and unexpected move, to be sure. McLaren has allegedly whipped out out the checkbook and attempted to land Pagenaud and even Dixon himself in the recent past, perhaps Rosenquist is the biggest fish that they were finally able to get to bite.
victorlovisa Says:
I’m not sure Chip is looking to replace Felix. This situation may just simplify Chip’s roster next year. Instead of seeking sponsorship and hiring a crew for Jimmie, now he can just slide Johnson into the #10 NTT Data car and hire TK, Helio, RHR, whoever….to run the ovals.
Paul Fitzgerald Says:
George…how can you say this is late in the silly season, we still have one race left?
Scott St. Clair Says:
George, If Dario won three Championships with Ganassi and Dixon five, how is it that Ganassi is pouring all of the money into the 9 car? If anything, nobody has performed in the 10-car since Dario. Sounds like sour grapes from a few of the drivers Ganassi has kicked to the curb.
Yannick Says:
Suddenly, an interesting seat opens that could be an option for a retiring F1 driver who is nterested in racing in the US. Ganassi might get lucky if he can get Sergio Perez for the #10. The other option is of course not upgrading to 4 cars and having Johnson drive the #10 on everything but ovals. Now what if Johnson suddenly finds himself in the championship lead in that car ahead of the Texas race next year? In the #10, that might well be possible. Would Ganassi rather hire a more unknown oval ringer for 3 weekends who might step aside for a possible championship run for Johnson or rather a proven veteran who has no intention of ever doing that.
There aren’t many available oval specialists in this sport anymore.
The 2nd Schmidt Peterson car had only one successful year and that was when Robert Wickens drove it. Here’s hoping that Rosenqvist can turn it into a regular contender. I wouldn’t be too sure he would be the team leader because Pato O’Ward is fast, currently has that role and will want to keep it. Lookng at his results from this year, he likely will.
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Thursday, July 16, 2020, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm at R. W. Owens and Son Funeral home, 200 S Santa Fe, Wolfe City, Texas 75496
Private service for family only
Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Wolfe City, Texas 75496
Sign Guestbook Send Flowers
Theda Nell Harrell
February 18, 1921 - July 14, 2020
Theda Nell Harrell of Rockwall, 99 years of age passed away peacefully on July 14, 2020. She was a member of the Greatest Generation.
Theda was born February 18, 1921, in Wolfe City, TX to Robert E. and Bessie E. Roddy. She graduated from Wolfe City High School in 1939, Theda married Woodrow (Woody) Wilson Harrell in 1940. The two enjoyed a blessed 71 years of marriage. She took great pride in her role as a devoted wife, a loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Nothing pleased her more than having her family around her.
Early in their marriage, Theda supported the (WWII) war effort as a defense worker while husband Woody served as an Army Engineer during the Pacific Campaign. After her children entered school; Theda worked in retail sales and later operated a fabric store on the downtown square in Rockwall. There, she further honed her skills as an accomplished seamstress and award-winning quilt maker. Later in life, Theda attended Eastfield College and then enjoyed many years working in the Rockwall Independent School District
Theda is a member of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), a past member of Daughters of Rebekah, and was active in the Rockwall Garden Club as well as a member of, and former Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church, Rockwall.
Theda was preceded in death by her husband Woody in 2011 sisters, Katherine Roddy, Helen Roddy-Gatlin and husband Otis Gatlin, brother, Roy Bill Roddy, and daughter, Terrye Elaine Harrell. Theda is survived by her brother, James (Gene) Roddy and wife, Betty Roddy of Greenville, TX; her sister-in-law, Elaine Roddy of Gladewater, TX; her children, Linda Lee Parks and husband, Wayne of Waco, and Steven R. Harrell and wife, Roberta of Rockwall; her grandsons, Gregory M. Parks and wife Paula, and Harrison L. Parks and wife Jane, both of Waco, Grant E. Harrell and wife Cheri’ of Rockwall, and Austin C. Harrell of Westlake Village, CA. She is survived by six great-grandchildren.
Services and Visitation – A visitation for the public will be held at Owens Funeral Home in Wolfe City, TX on Thursday, July 16, 2020 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. The public visitation will not be attended by immediate family members. Services and the graveside ceremony are private. The family regrets that due to the need for social distancing, a public service will not be held.
In lieu of flowers the family is requesting that donations in Theda’s memory be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
4 Guestbook
Donna Cullins Pritchard on July 16, 2020 at 1:22 am
I’m so sorry for your loss .
Sharon Mayo Ledbetter on July 16, 2020 at 3:11 am
My prayers are with you and your family. I remember your mom as a kind and talented lady. God bless you.
Dan and Colleen Peschell on July 18, 2020 at 12:44 pm
We loved her and admired her so much! She was a beautiful and intelligent lady that touched the hearts of so many. Always made me laugh and smile. She will be remembered with fond memories alwsys😘♥️🌹
Julia McCormack on October 18, 2020 at 6:43 pm
I knew wonderful Theda through DAR when I first became a member of the Rock Wall Chapter. She was a beautiful lady; kind, generous, and always wanting to do the right thing.
The world lost something very very good on July 14, 2020.
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Minister of State Sam Gyimah MP to open Schrödinger Building at The Oxford Science Park
By rowandev5th July 2018May 28th, 2020No Comments
New building part of ongoing investment in development of Park
Oxford, UK, July 5 2018 –
The state-of-the-art Schrödinger Building at The Oxford Science Park,
one of the UK’s leading parks for science and technology companies, is to be opened this afternoon by Sam Gyimah MP, Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research & Innovation. Architecturally inspiring and built to promote collaboration and cross-fertilisation of ideas, the four-storey office and laboratory facility is part of the programme of investment on the Park which has been ongoing since 2016.
The building is named after Prof essor Erwin Schrödinger, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933 and an alumnus of Magdalen College Oxford, which owns The Oxford Science Park.
As well as declaring the Schrödinger Building open, the Minister will hear about the work of 3D technology innovator Fuel3D and Oxford Sciences Innovation, its first two occupiers. A third occupant is expected to be announced shortly.
At 61,500 ft2 (net internal area), the £13m Schrödinger Building is the largest speculative Grade A office building to be developed on The Oxford Science Park and the first new building on the Park since Magdalen College became its sole owner in 2016. It is expected to house over 300 people once completed, and features a roof terrace overlooking the Park. Schrödinger’s legacy is celebrated in the building’s reception area with a backdrop panel highlighting the wave-particle duality which underpinned his Nobel Prize-winning work.
Science Minister, Sam Gyimah said: ‘It’s an honour to open The Schrödinger Building at the Oxford Science Park, a place where ideas come to life. The businesses found here bring together world-leading research and the spirit of entrepreneurship. They hold the key not just to economic growth, but to how we solve our biggest societal challenges. I’m committing to making the UK the best place in the world for innovators to turn ideas into world-changing businesses. In our Industrial Strategy, we have committed to increasing R&D investment by a third over the next decade. To make the most of this, we will need to create the conditions for the disruptive businesses and dynamic thinkers of tomorrow to thrive.’
Piers Scrimshaw-Wright, Managing Director of The Oxford Science Park, said, ‘The Schrödinger Building is a significant new addition to the Park and it is an honour to have Minister Gyimah here to declare it open. The scientists who discovered the structure of DNA in 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick, both cited the thinking of Schrödinger as influential in their own work. This work in turn has made much of the research that is performed here at The Oxford Science Park possible. We are sure that the occupiers of this exciting new building will make a significant contribution to the vibrant science and technology ecosystem we have here.’
The Schrödinger Building was designed by Bogle Architects.
Photos of the Schrödinger Building and Opening Event will be available.
The Oxford Science Park
Emma Palmer Foster, Strategic Communications Consultant
emmapf@oxfordsp.com
About Erwin SchrödingerNotes to editors
Professor Erwin Schrödinger was a Vienna-born theoretical physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics with Paul Dirac in 1933. The Prize was awarded “for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory” in the field of quantum mechanics. In this work, assuming that matter (e.g., electrons) could be regarded as both particles and waves, Schrödinger formulated a wave equation that accurately calculated the energy levels of electrons in atoms. The Schrödinger wave equation enables the energies and properties of molecules and materials to be predicted accurately and forms the basis for understanding many 21st century fields of science including chemistry, materials science, semiconductors, nanotechnology and molecular biology. He is also noted for his ‘Schrödinger’s cat’ thought experiment. Professor Erwin Schrödinger was a Fellow of Magdalen College Oxford from 1933-1938.
About The Oxford Science Park
The Oxford Science Park is owned and managed by Magdalen College, Oxford. Created in 1991, the Park upholds the College’s heritage and provides one of the most influential science & technology environments in the UK. There is more than half a million square feet of workspace accommodation across the Park, which is now home to nearly 2,500 people and more than 80 businesses. These range from start-ups based in the Magdalen Centre innovation hub to major international companies and include Blue Earth Diagnostics, Circassia, IBM, OrganOx, OxSonics, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Sharp Laboratories, Oxford Genetics, ProImmune and Oxford Technology Management.
In addition to being a key property investment, the Park is at the heart of Magdalen College’s strategy to support discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. It will continue to develop The Oxford Science Park as a long-term strategic asset, with ambitious plans to create an additional 300,000+ sq ft of office and laboratory space on the remaining 10+ acres of land over the next 3-5 years. This additional capacity will support the growth of businesses already based on the Park, providing flexible workspace accommodation, and enabling new companies to enjoy the Park’s exceptional environment and collegiate and collaborative ethos.
The Oxford Science Park is located approximately four miles south-east of Oxford city centre, just off the City’s southern ring road. It has easy access to the M40 and A34, as well as to Heathrow Airport and mainline train services. For further information, please visit: www.oxfordsp.com or follow us on twitter @OxfordSciencePK
About Fuel3D
Fuel3D develops innovative 3D scanning solutions for leading global brands and pioneering organisations. Our technology is re-defining solutions and inspiring better experiences across a wide range of industry sectors from medical research to security and retail. Born out of Oxford University, Fuel3D has offices in Oxford, UK and Greenville, North Carolina, US. We are at the forefront of innovation in 3D technologies with our core technology platform which rapidly and accurately captures and analyses texture, colour, shape and volume data, making it a world-class solution for organic subjects and human form applications.
For further information, visit www.fuel3d.com
Tanya Randall
Email: tanya@fuel3d.com
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Asserting that Atheism and Theism are both faith based positions
Asked 1 year, 10 months ago
I am recently testing an assertion that I have concluded namely that atheism is a faith based position just like theism is a faith based position.
The reason I arrived at this conclusion is that theists have no proof that God actually exists. It's purely a matter of faith. Yes, there maybe strong implicit proof that God exists in their opinion (scriptures, history, etc) but there is no concrete proof of God's existence. In my view, atheists also suffer from the same problem of providing a proof of their position. Specifically that they cannot prove that God is non-existent.
The typical rebuttal I get is that the burden of proof is on the theists. But I view this as a cop out and they hide behind the wall of burden of proof which is just a bias in the debate.
Given the above, I claim that both atheism and theism are positions based on faith. Would it be incorrect to claim that?
theology atheism
M.K.M.K.
Replace 'God' with 'Teapot in orbit around earth'. On who is the burden of proof now? – Scrontch Mar 18 '19 at 16:50
@Scrontch Russell's Teapot is known to be a bad analogy. There is no reason to believe that a teapot orbits Earth: there is no historical claim that there ever was such a teapot. And that is only 1 problem with the analogy. It does not work. – Aaron Mar 18 '19 at 17:11
@Aaron Why do either of those objections not apply to theism? We have no reason based on evidence or reasoning to think any god exists; that's the definition of "belief", after all. And the age of a claim has no relevance to its truth, otherwise the truth would be that the Earth is a hemisphere resting on the backs of four elephants standing on a giant turtle, since Hinduism as a religion predates other major world religions. – Graham Mar 18 '19 at 17:33
@Aaron Not at all far from the truth. No-one has found reproducible evidence of the existence of a god, and that's simple fact, otherwise there would be no "faith". As for the reasoning side, there are many which attempt that. Most start with the a priori assumption and argue backwards. Some (CS Lewis, for example) are even brave enough to start from nothing and argue forwards. But none do it without a self-referential step which basically says either "this god exists because I believe it does" or "this god exists because I believe its non-existence to be unacceptable to me". – Graham Mar 18 '19 at 17:49
You could easily go for a variant on Russell's Teapot that asserts the existence of aliens outside the visible universe (from Earth's perspective) who communicate with Earth by directly altering the sight/hearing of specific individuals to allow conversation, but stopped doing so 2000 years ago. Sure, it could be entirely true, and we just don't have the physics to understand how it could happen. But the default position (which all of you presumably held before you read this) is a lack of belief; it's impossible to prove it happened, so you won't believe it unless strong evidence arises. – ShadowRanger Mar 18 '19 at 19:55
We must draw a distinction between atheism and agnosticism. Atheism is not believing in the existence of a God (or Gods), regardless of whether conclusive evidence is available, while agnosticism is the view that conclusive evidence for whether a God or Gods exists cannot exist1. There can be an agnostic atheist, a gnostic atheist, an agnostic theist, or a gnostic theist.
You seem to be claiming that because we cannot have conclusive proof that God does not exist, therefore atheists are operating out of a purely faith-based position. Here's the thing: most atheists are agnostic. They accept that we can never know for sure that God does not exist, but they think it is more likely for the default state (no God) to be true in the light of insufficient evidence by theists2. There is nothing wrong with this.
For more about the distinction between atheism and agnosticism, see The Difference Between Atheists and Agnostics by ThoughtCo and the entry on Atheism and Agnsoticism in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
1This is a common definition, but it is not the only one. For example, one can define a gnostic as someone who is certain that they know a God does or does not exist, but not 100% certain. (See the comments by Konrad Rudolph for a discussion on this matter.)
2While agnostic atheists do not have beliefs based on blind faith, it is also true that the majority of gnostic atheists do not have beliefs based on blind faith either. (This is not true for all gnostic atheists, however.) This is because gnostic atheists might have logical arguments which completely, in their view, debunk the very concept of a God (or Gods). An example might be someone who thinks that the concept of omnipotence is self-contradictory.
edited Mar 22 '19 at 0:14
YiFanYiFan
@CramerTV why would we remove BOTH because one of them is wrong? That's like removing the consideration that the earth could be spherical because the earth cannot be both spherical and flat at the same time. – JeffUK Mar 18 '19 at 22:18
"most atheists are agnostic" - this is probably true. However, most atheists who spend a lot of time arguing on Internet forums are gnostic, and just as impervious to logic as the most fanatical religious fundamentalists. This small but very loud faction might create the image what was assumed by the OP. – vsz Mar 19 '19 at 7:16
It’s quite annoying that this false-dichotomy answer with its straw man definition has succeeded in luring so many people in. In reality most gnostics aren’t 100% certain — definitely not on the atheism side, but neither on the theism side. Richard Dawkins, pretty much the archetype of the annoying, gnostic atheist nowadays, repeatedly asserts that he isn’t 100% certain. — And consequently, a gnostic atheist isn’t at all a position based in blind faith, contrary to what this answer implies. – Konrad Rudolph Mar 19 '19 at 10:42
@YiFan Virtually nobody, himself included, would describe Dawkins as an agnostic. He’s a gnostic atheist through and through. You’re right that we’re using different definitions. But I’m saying that your definitions are a straw man (a) that nobody really uses, and (b) which therefore aren’t useful. – Konrad Rudolph Mar 19 '19 at 11:09
@YiFan A gnostic is somebody who is convinced. But convinced doesn’t imply in any way a 100% certainty. I’m convinced I didn’t leave my oven on when I left the house. I’m certain enough not to go back, even though the oven, if left on, would destroy all my possessions. But am I 100% sure? Of course not! More than 99% though. Either way, there’s doubt left, and enough evidence could convince me of the contrary. – Konrad Rudolph Mar 19 '19 at 11:16
No, atheism is not a faith based position. This has been debunked time and time again and there are numerous resources on the internet that cover this error in logic. If theism claims the existance of a god, an atheist is one who is not convinced of that claim and rejects it.
An atheist has no responsibility to disprove the claim that god does exist because the atheist is not asserting anything. The burden of proof is on the person trying convince another with their claim. Claims require support and the thiest made the claim so the thiest must support it. Not having faith in something is not faith much like not having a hobby is not a hobby and not exercising is not a form of exercise.
CellCell
1,08311 gold badge44 silver badges99 bronze badges
Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – Geoffrey Thomas♦ Mar 18 '19 at 16:20
If resources are that abundant, your answer could be greatly improved by including some. – Michael W. Mar 20 '19 at 16:08
"If an atheist claims the existence of no god, a theist is one who is not convinced of that claim and rejects it." - that sword cuts both ways. – WernerCD Mar 20 '19 at 16:24
@WernerCD see the first answer. Most atheists do not claim the existence of no god, they simply reject the positive claim that theists make. – Chris Fernandez Mar 20 '19 at 16:29
@WernerCD "If an ateapotist claims the non-existence of Russell's teapot, a teapotist is one who is not convinced." The burden of proof now lies on you to disprove the teapot? Using this as a reversible statement requires you to take an agnostic stance on any non-verifiable claim I can imagine: geese control the weather from their weather control station inside the Sun, the fabric of space-time looks plaid when viewed from the outside, my mother is the reincarnation of the time traveler Steve Irwin. – TemporalWolf Mar 20 '19 at 18:01
The only requirement of meeting the definition of "atheist" is that you do not have belief in any god(s). Computers, rocks, and newborn babies are all, by definition, atheists; because they do not believe in any god(s), notwithstanding that they do not understand what is meant by "god", nor that they have never even thought about the question, nor that they do not even have the cognitive capacity to consider the question.
No faith is required to not subscribe to a faith-based belief, because having faith is not a default attribute of anything, human or otherwise. It is simply not part of the definition of being an atheist that you must have some kind of belief one way or the other on whether there is one or more god(s).
I think this is just a redefinition of the word atheist. I think there might be a difference between someone who thinks there is no god, versus someone/something who/that hasn't considered the matter. – Cullub Mar 18 '19 at 17:22
The word you're looking for is 'Agnostic'. An Agnostic isn't sure whether there's a god or not. An atheist is one that's sure there isn't one. – Kevin Mar 18 '19 at 17:41
@Kevin this argument always suffers the vague definitions. Atheism also includes agnosticism quite often, though the claim is only working for strong atheism.. Also, the position is ill-defined overall, because deities in general are ill-defined. So, there cannot be a proper theist stance, either. – Chieron Mar 18 '19 at 21:37
@Chronocidal apart from you're wrong. A moment of searching and you'll find "ἄθεος" (note your incorrect spelling) means "without god" not "against gods". It used to be used to donate christians as they had rejected the greek/roman gods; and it was an executable offence. As for the redefining of the label, I think the church has the strongest motivation to change the label because they can use it to convince people that atheists must have faith that there is no god... and as such use it to build a strawman. – UKMonkey Mar 19 '19 at 13:47
@Chronocidal It's a red herring anyway. You're assuming that atheists decided to call themselves atheists because they understand the word as "one who actively denies the gods". That assumption need evidence. The definition of "atheism" you like to use has no bearing on the matter whatsoever if you don't provide the connection between the meaning and the people using the definition. At best, you're laughing like "Ha, you keep using that word, but you don't really know what it means!" Changing definitions cause confusion; but what you're doing is outright misdirection. – Luaan Mar 20 '19 at 9:08
Both positions, the theist and the atheist made a claim: The theist claimed the existence of god, the atheist claimed the non-existence of god. History shows: Neither of them could prove his claim.
Having learned the lesson, today’s atheists make a weaker claim: The traditional god-concept - god being omnipotent, omniscient, all-good - is inconsistent. The concept leads to the problem of theodicy.
Hence atheists consider the existence of god a hypothesis. They claim that this hypothesis creates more problems than solves existing problems. Therefore atheists dismiss this hypothesis. They know: A world-model without a god-concept is less complicated but leaves open fundamental questions due to lack of reliable answers.
IMO that’s not faith but heuristics.
Jo WehlerJo Wehler
Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – Geoffrey Thomas♦ Mar 19 '19 at 8:15
Well, coming from a largely atheist country, I'd say it's even simpler - when a theist comes to an atheist and asks him if he believes in a god, he'll hear "Not really, why would I?". Any claims that atheists make are always in response to theists; without theists, there's no claims. Few people claim that the flying spaghetti monster doesn't exist, because the default is still "unless there's a good reason to believe the flying spaghetti monster exists, why even bother with the cognitive load?". We automatically disbelieve all possible concepts - it's belief that takes "effort". – Luaan Mar 20 '19 at 9:12
"the atheist claimed the non-existence of god" what utter nonsense! Why is this "answer" so highly upvoted? – Ian Kemp Mar 20 '19 at 9:28
@Luaan: "Not really, why would I?" is not what I expect from an athiest and I would grant that that position is not faith based. The kind of athiest that is faith based would be more like "No way man". – Joshua Mar 20 '19 at 20:16
+! But this says nothing about whether God exists. It merely places limits on how He is to be defined. – user20253 Sep 14 '19 at 13:32
Alvin Plantinga, a Christian philosopher, presents a similar question regarding an extreme form of atheism that he calls "naturalism". Rather than asking whether the atheism of naturalism is faith-based, he asks whether naturalism might be a "religion" (page 311):
Now it is not clear that naturalism, as it stands, is a religion; there is enough vagueness around the edges of the concept of religion for it to be unclear whether naturalism does or doesn't belong there. But naturalism does serve one of the main functions of a religion: it offers a master narrative, it answers deep and important human questions. Immanuel Kant identified three great human questions: Is there such a person as God? Do we human beings have significant freedom? And can we human beings expect life after death? Naturalism gives answers to these questions: there is no God, there is no immortality, and the case for genuine freedom is at best dicey. Naturalism tells us what reality is ultimately like, where we fit into the universe, how we are related to other creatures, and how it happens that we came to be. Naturalism is therefore in competition with the great theistic religions: even if it is not itself a religion, it plays one of the main roles of a religion.
If being faith-based means to believe in a master narrative that answers Kant's questions, that atheism might be considered, using Plantinga's argument, a quasi-faith-based or a quasi-religion. However, not all atheists need be labeled as believing in naturalism or any other master narrative.
There also may be good reasons not to link atheism in general, or even the atheism of naturalism, too closely with religion. In Where the Conflict Really Lies Plantinga wants to show that traditional theistic religions have at most a superficial conflict with science while naturalism has a deep conflict with science through his Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism. He would likely want naturalism to stand apart from traditional religions when making such a critique of it and not consider it as a religion.
Here is the question:
If the atheism being considered presents a master narrative in competition with theistic religions it could be considered a quasi-religion because of that narrative. Not all atheists have such a narrative nor believe in naturalism. Some atheists may be simply indifferent to such narratives.
Plantinga, A. (2011). Where the conflict really lies: Science, religion, and naturalism. OUP USA.
Naturalism seems to do more than just provide different answers to the three questions; it disputes that the theistic line of inquiry into the issues is capable of finding the truth of the matter - so it could, in some sense, ultimately rest on some sort of faith without being theistic. With regard to the EAAN, Jerry Fodor appears to have a particularly straightforward response. – sdenham Jan 22 '20 at 5:34
Defining Atheism
"Atheism is, in the broadest sense, the absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is the rejection of belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. The etymological root for the word atheism originated before the 5th century BCE from the ancient Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning 'without god(s)'". (Wikipedia Contributors)
"Atheism is not an affirmative belief that there is no god nor does it answer any other question about what a person believes. It is simply a rejection of the assertion that there are gods. Atheism is too often defined incorrectly as a belief system. To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods. Older dictionaries define atheism as 'a belief that there is no God.' Clearly, theistic influence taints these definitions. The fact that dictionaries define Atheism as 'there is no God' betrays the (mono)theistic influence. Without the (mono)theistic influence, the definition would at least read 'there are no gods.'... The only common thread that ties all atheists together is a lack of belief in gods." (American Atheists) "This encompasses both those who believe that God does not exist and those who, while not necessarily disbelieving, do not possess a belief in God’s existence either." (Stephen Bullivant 2011)
"If you look up ‘atheism’ in [some dictionaries], you will find it defined as the belief that there is no God. Certainly, many people understand ‘atheism’ in this way. Yet this is not what the term means if one considers it from the point of view of its Greek roots. In Greek ‘a’ means ‘without’ or ‘not,’ and ‘theos’ means ‘god.’ From this standpoint, an atheist is someone without a belief in God; he or she need not be someone who believes that God does not exist." (Micheal Martin 1990)
"The broader, and more common, understanding of atheism among atheists is quite simply 'not believing in any gods.' No claims or denials are made - an atheist is just a person who does not happen to be a theist. Sometimes this broader understanding is called 'weak' or 'implicit' atheism. Most good, complete dictionaries readily support this." (Austin Cline 2018)
"Claiming that atheists 'can not prove that God does not exist' often relies upon the misunderstanding that atheists claim 'God does not exist' and should prove this. In reality, atheists merely fail to accept the theists' claim 'God exists' and, hence, the initial burden of proof lies with the believer. If the believer is unable to provide good reason to accept the existence of their god, it is unreasonable to expect the atheist to construct a disproof of it - or even care much about the claim in the first place." (Austin Cline 2017)
There are gnostic and agnostic atheists. The Burden of proof would only lie on gnostic atheists specifically to prove that a god does not exist. This was addressed in a previous answer in this thread by the user YiFan. However, some atheists may hold a gnostic standpoint on the existence of some gods, for example, those who are characterized as omnipotent and omniscient because these characteristics would be logically paradoxical or contradictory in some way. See God paradoxes on wikipedia and Gods’ Contradictory Characteristics.
Is Atheism Based on Faith?
Atheism is not faith-based because it does not make claims to have faith in. For example, someone, such as a young infant, who has never heard of the notion of a god is an atheist that hasn’t placed faith in anything regarding the existence of a god or gods. Atheism is a default position.
Atheism and Naturalism
Atheism and Naturalism are independent of one another however many people who are atheistic are also naturalists. Methodological naturalism makes no claims about whether god(s) exist. Philosophical metaphysical naturalism on the other hand does make claims regarding the existence of god(s). A person can have faith (a great trust and/or confidence) in the methods and/or ideologies of naturalism.
In "God: The Failed Hypothesis—How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist," Victor J. Stenger offers this scientific argument against the existence of God:
Hypothesize a God who plays an important role in the universe.
Assume that God has specific attributes that should provide objective evidence for his existence.
Look for such evidence with an open mind.
If such evidence is found, conclude that God may exist.
If such objective evidence is not found, conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that a God with these properties does not exist.
This is basically how science would disprove the existence of any alleged entity. If God existed, there should be concrete evidence of His existence—not [blind] faith [in the religious sense], but tangible, measurable, consistent evidence that can be predicted and tested using the scientific method. If we fail to find that evidence, then God cannot exist as defined.
Of course, nothing in science is proven or disproven beyond a shadow of any possible doubt. In science, everything is provisional. Being provisional is not a weakness or a sign that a conclusion is weak. Being provisional is a smart, pragmatic tactic because we can never be sure what we'll come across when we round the next corner. This lack of absolute certainty is a window through which many religious theists try to slip their god, but that's not a valid move...
In order to prove impact on the universe, there must be measurable and testable events that could best or only be explained by whatever this "God" is we are hypothesizing. Believers must be able to present a model of the universe in which some god is "either required, productive, or useful."
This is obviously not the case. Many believers work hard trying to find a way to introduce their god into scientific explanations, but none have succeeded. No believer has been able to demonstrate, or even strongly suggest, that there are any events in the universe that require a supernatural being to explain.
Instead, these constantly failing attempts end up reinforcing the impression that there is no "there" there—nothing for "gods" to do, no role for them to play, and no reason to give them a second thought. So far, everyone who has tried to scientifically prove that God exists has failed. While it's technically true that this doesn't mean that no one ever will succeed, it is also true that in every other situation where such failures are so consistent, we don't acknowledge rational or even serious reasons to bother believing. (Austin Cline 2018)
Defining Theism
Theism is broadly defined as a belief in the existence of the Supreme Being or deities. The term theism derives from the Greek theos or theoi meaning "god". The term theism was first used by Ralph Cudworth (1617–1688). In Cudworth's definition, they are "strictly and properly called Theists, who affirm, that a perfectly conscious understanding being, or mind, existing of itself from eternity, was the cause of all other things".(Wikipedia Contributors)
Is Theism Faith-Based?
-Faith as Belief Without Evidence
The first religious sense of faith is a type of belief, specifically belief without clear evidence or knowledge. Christians using the term to describe their beliefs should be using it in the same way as Paul: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." [Hebrews 11:1] This is the sort of faith Christians often rely upon when confronted with evidence or arguments that would disprove their religious beliefs.
This sort of faith is problematic because if a person really does believe something without evidence, even weak evidence, then they have formed a belief about the state of the world independent of information about the world. Beliefs are supposed to be mental representations about the way the world is but this means beliefs should be dependent upon what we learn about the world; beliefs shouldn't be independent of what we learn about the world.
If a person believes something is true in this sense of "faith," their belief has become separated from facts and reality. Just as evidence plays no role in producing the belief, evidence, reason, and logic can't disprove the belief. A belief that is not dependent on reality also can't be refuted by reality. Perhaps this is part of how it helps people endure the seemingly unendurable in the context of tragedy or suffering. It's also arguably why it's so easy for faith to become a motivation for committing unspeakable crimes.
-Faith as Confidence or Trust
The second religious sense of faith is the act of placing trust in someone. It may involve no more than having faith in the words and teachings of religious leaders or it may be faith that God will fulfill promises described in scripture. This sort of faith is arguably more important than the first, but it's one which both theists and atheists tend to ignore in favor of the first. This is a problem because so much of what believers say about faith only makes sense in the context of this sense. For one thing, faith is treated as a moral duty, but it's incoherent to treat any belief as a "moral duty." In contrast, having faith in a person who deserves it is a legitimate moral duty while denying faith to someone is an insult. Having faith in a person is a statement of confidence and trust while refusing to have faith is a statement of distrust. Faith is thus the most important Christian virtue not because believing that God exists is so important, but rather because trusting God is so important. It's not mere belief in the existence of God which takes a person to heaven, but trust in God (and Jesus).
Closely connected to this is the treatment of atheists as immoral merely for being atheists. It is taken for granted that atheists actually know that God exists because everyone knows this — the evidence is unambiguous and everyone is without excuse — so one has "faith" that God will be honorable, not that God exists. This is why atheists are so immoral: they are lying about what they believe and in the process are denying that God deserves our trust, allegiance, and loyalty. (Austin Cline 2017)
There are different ways you can attribute faith as illustrated in the above citation, but I think what matters in the context of this question is whether not a person can be without faith in the presence of their belief. Under the most lenient definition faith which is: a "great trust or confidence in something or someone" and the most lenient definition of belief which is: "a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing" our definition of theism would read: Theism is broadly defined as the state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in the existence of a Supreme Being or deities. Because faith can be defined as "great trust or confidence in something or someone" a theist can indeed be without faith. These theists would be considered agnostic theists. A theist with great trust or confidence that there is a god can also be agnostic so long as they don't believe to know with 100% certainty that a god exists.
Theism is not the same as a religious faith; theism is simply belief in some sort of god while religious faith is a religious belief system which incorporates or revolves around the belief in a god. For example, monotheism is a type of theism while Christianity is a religious faith based around monotheism. (Austin Cline 2017)
I thnk you'll find that atheism is not the default position. Human beings have an instinct or intuition that leads them to believe is an all powerful being of some sort, perhaps Wordsworth's 'spirit that rolls through all things', while atheism is highly unnatural and in earlier times quite unusual. . – user20253 Sep 14 '19 at 13:34
@PeterJ I think it's more likely to be the case that Human beings along with other animals are likely to be superstitious due to a perceived benefit that may be received from engaging in certain behaviors as experimentally shown in what's called a Skinner Box. Many people perceive religion to benefit them in some way such as giving people a sense of belonging, purpose, community, comfort, motivation, ect.. Many parents introduce their kids to religion at a young age but that child more than likely didn't believe in a god as soon they could talk let alone understand it. – user37181 Sep 17 '19 at 4:34
Yes, this would be a common view and for some believers in theism and atheism no doubt it is correct. Yet this is not to say that their intuition is misleading. Religion provides us with all the best arguments for and against God. Atheism is a rejection of theism, not a rejection of religion. I was suggesting it is not clear that atheism is the default position not making an argument for atheism or theism, both of which I would reject. – user20253 Sep 17 '19 at 12:25
The atheist position(s)
The most reasonable atheist position is the following position. They might say
"People say that some supernatural being exists, and they call this 'God.' Until they provide sufficient evidence for this claim, I choose not to accept the claim."
This position is often called weak atheism (contrasted with strong atheism), negative atheism (contrasted with positive atheism), or agnostic atheism (contrasted with gnostic atheism).
Weak/negative/agnostic atheism rejects the claim that a god exists because the claim is not sufficiently substantiated. Whereas strong/positive/gnostic atheism asserts the positive claim that god either does not exist or is unlikely to exist.
The burden of proof, skepticism, faith, and conclusive proof
In the case of weak atheism, the burden of proof truly is on the theist, and the atheist does not hold a faith-based position. This is not a "cop out" or "bias," it's just logical that this would have to be the case.
Most people accept this logic for other extraordinary claims. They typically don't believe in other gods such as Zeus or Thor, and to not accept these polytheistic claims isn't generally considered faith.
If I said that I had a gigantic firebreathing dragon in my basement, you wouldn't believe it unless I provided good evidence for it. Of course, if I simply said "I have a dog at home," you most likely would believe me. But that's because you have massive amounts of prior experience and evidence of people owning dogs that it seems totally reasonable and justified for you to believe me. If I said I owned a rocket-launcher at home, you might or might not believe me. This claim is a bit more "out there." It's certainly less common than owning a dog. You might be quite skeptical, but if I argued well I could possibly convince you that I had a rocketlauncher. I could also show you it, and you would be immediately convinced.
Also, if you accepted any claim without sufficient evidence, you would necessarily come to accept contradictory claims. People claim things all the time, and sometimes those claims come into conflict.
You say that "My assertion is that neither position can provide conclusive proof. Therefore both are on faith." However, this puts you in a (very unreasonable, in my opinion) position that everything is faith. This is not how science or epistemology works. In science, nothing is ever conclusively proven, it is rather somewhere on the spectrum of weakly substantiated by evidence to extremely well-substantiated by evidence. Scientific models are not "true", but are rather models that approximately explain some underlying reality. Newton's laws are not "true", but they are a very good approximation of reality. That I claim this is a good approximation is neither based on "faith" or "conclusively proven," but is rather a claim that is extremely well-substantiated by evidence. In fact, some models are even better than Newton's laws--the model championed by Einstein.
The (weak) atheist position is not that the god claim hasn't been "conclusively proven," but rather that it hasn't been sufficiently substantiated to justify accepting it. Therefore, they remain skeptical of this claim. They don't accept the claim until it is sufficiently substantiated by evidence.
Atheists as people
While the position held above can describe the word 'atheism,' in reality atheists are people. People who hold multiple beliefs, have behaviors, lifestyles, attitudes, and so on. There will also be trends among these. For example, while it isn't logically necessary to be an atheist, in reality atheists might be statistically more likely to believe in an earth older than 20,000 years old. They also might be more likely to be more socially liberal, which you may or may not find reasonable. Atheists in the United States are more likely to think that abortion is acceptable. You may or may not find this position reasonable. Perhaps you think they justify murdering helpless babies.
Atheists are also more likely to view religion as a bad thing, just as another example. Logically, there is nothing stopping religion from being a net social positive, even if god didn't exist. If they claim that religion is a bad thing, then this is an affirmative position and should be argued on its merits. Some atheists might argue more strongly that religion is a net negative (see e.g Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens or Matt Dillahunty), whereas other atheists are more keen to argue that religion also has substantial social benefits (see e.g Jonathan Haidt or David Sloan Wilson).
I'm an atheist, but there are many beliefs that are more (statistically) commonly held by atheists (than, say, Christians in the United States) that I find (1) morally indefensible, and (2) scientifically and logically unreasonable. Yet I still hold the weak atheist position as described in the former sections, even though I might find a certain subsection of atheists as people to be generally unreasonable in other respects. Of course, there are also things that are more common among theists that I find unreasonable.
This is a good answer. I'm rather a theist than an atheist, but you soundly explained a logically reasonable position without making blanket statements or "obvious" assumptions. +10 if I could. – Cullub Mar 18 '19 at 17:31
"However, this puts you in a (very unreasonable, in my opinion) position that everything is faith." I think this is the key point. My understanding is that Theists would be fine with that assessment. I think the argument goes: trust in science just collapses into nihilism with a little prodding, unless you have faith in the underlying epistemological philosophy. – lazarusL Mar 18 '19 at 18:59
@lazarusL As an agnostic theist I would at least personally agree any understanding of "truth" or "rules" in the universe requires faith. However I don't see science as there to "prove the truth" rather it is there to construct models which through observation are shown to generally match real outcomes. It would be faith to say these models are fundamentally "true" but I would accept the claim that these models match the observations made so far, and so are reasonable models of normal future behavior also. – Vality Mar 19 '19 at 18:47
Consequently, I would accept the claim that models which do not include a God or gods fit the observations of the observer and thus are reasonable models to predict future outcomes. But I do not consider this to make any assertion on if theism is true or real, merely that a model without it has matched observations thus far. Going any further to say this makes a claim or statement on the existence (or non existence) of a God or gods is indeed faith. – Vality Mar 19 '19 at 18:49
@Vality Most importantly, science also clearly says what would violate those assumptions. If the Sun didn't come out one day, in contradiction of what our theories say, the theories would need to change. If experiments stopped being repeatable (outside of the usual complexities of making a reliable experiment in the first place), we wouldn't keep saying "keep your faith in science" - we'd say "oops, seems like some of our assumptions were wrong". This isn't even a prediction - it already happened in the past, many times. Theists usually see this as a weakness, unfortunately. – Luaan Mar 20 '19 at 9:18
The crux of the matter is neatly hidden within the definition of the word faith. Mind you, both Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Dictionary say that the main meaning is:
Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
‘this restores one's faith in politicians’ [...]
great trust or confidence in something or someone:
She has no faith in modern medicine. [...]
As you can see faith is a thing that can change on the spot. But many people define faith as something fundamental and unchangeable, that cannot be impacted by such trivial action as observing the world outside. Thus a 'loaded term' complicates the discussion. Let's resolve it by naming the latter thing an axiom (unchangeable) and the former a belief (very much changeable).
If you assume axioms, you can base proofs of them. These proofs expand your knowledge about the world created by the axioms. The proofs don't depend on observations of the world, but on observations of the axioms. This is your current worldview, as your question mentioned words 'proof' and 'proving' about six times.
On the other hand, beliefs don't enable proofs. This is scary. One day you believe electrons are small chunks of matter, tomorrow some irritating publication appears about how an electron was observed to interfere with itself and you have no authority to banish these outrageous observations. Then they build a bunch of stupid transistors and they somehow work and beautify our lives, although nobody proven that beforehand.
If someone says a belief is true or proven, they probably mean it has been used to predict a lot of outcomes and mostly suceeded. They don't probably mean that the belief is infalsifiable in principle or that it is induced from infalsifiable axioms.
Atheism is a belief. (Overwhelmingly; marginally, it can be based on axioms if something goes terribly wrong.)
Theism is overwhelmingly based on axioms. No major religion says "If this book doesn't work too well in practice and you see other theories working better - then by all means use them! Absolved! Amen!".
kubanczykkubanczyk
Answers so far have considered evidence, proof and strength of argument. There's another point to consider though - utility. What is the purpose of these claims?
If the theist considered their god(s) to be a non-participant in the world and any hypothetical afterlife, then it would not matter whether the god(s) existed or not. The debate simply wouldn't exist. A debate only exists because theists claim knowledge about their god(s)' interaction with the world and/or actions in the afterlife; and thereafter knowledge of what must be done to ensure people gain the favour of the god(s) for this.
This leads us to the Atheist's Wager, which proves that regardless of the existence or non-existence of any god(s), the best outcome in both the temporal and spiritual domains is to live your life as if no god exists, and live a good life as defined by humanist philosophy. Not only that, but it also provides the best outcome for other people, and hence is the best moral position. This is proven by simple logic, without the need for evidence of the truth of either case.
Having proven that humanist philosophy is the highest moral standard and the best outcome in all cases, it's then necessary to question why we should care whether the god (s) exist or not. This is the crux of where the theist's case falls down. When the existence or non-existence of god (s) is seen as a key question for how to live your life, of course it's important. But take that away, and the theist's whole argument is no more relevant than a 5-year-old trying to get their parent to answer whether they think a ninja could beat a dinosaur.
Of course having an opinion on the subject is based on faith. But being willing to argue on the subject is based on either being irrational or having too much free time. As such, the fact the theist even cares about it invalidates their argument.
GrahamGraham
These assumptions require more than simple logic, they require faith that some kind or moral system exists (in this case humanism). Else I ask why is any one outcome better than any other without some underlying belief of what is good (which essentially becomes faith)? Why is humanism "best" if there is nothing judging best in an absolute sense? Why is it better for humans to not suffer than it is for them to suffer short of some kind of belief system? – Vality Mar 19 '19 at 18:54
@Vality You're completely right that this requires a non-theist moral system such as humanism. That doesn't require faith though, because you can demonstrate the existence of the moral system. And in contrast to theist morality, a humanist moral system is derived from first principles which do attempt judge what's best in an absolute sense, on a scale of benefit or harm to others, without any reference to faith or need for a god as arbitrator. – Graham Mar 19 '19 at 19:03
@Vality Of course not everything breaks down to an obvious "best", at which point it becomes a matter for debate. But if this is the case, both sides of a debate can see it's up for debate. We can prove that it's unprovable, basically. :) At that point it becomes possible for both sides to collaboratively find a solution which they can compromise on, because they know a perfect solution is not possible. – Graham Mar 19 '19 at 19:08
Fair point. I suspect I overstepped my position. I suppose the point I was making is I feel these "First Principles" of accepting that benefit and harm to others as good and bad, is in essence (at least in my own thought process) a form of belief that benefit is good and harm is bad. I believe the humanist moral system exists, merely that its axioms that human benefit is good and human harm is bad, is in fact a belief / faith / whatever you want to call it in the sense there is no place to prove it from. Any logical proposition starts with an axiom which in the end could be called belief. – Vality Mar 19 '19 at 19:08
@Vality We have to start from some kind of axiom like that, sure. If you want to call that belief, I can live with that. :) It's a much more basic "belief" than belief in a god and the truth of a theist rulebook though, and starting from that basis forces us to genuinely think about what's right and wrong. – Graham Mar 19 '19 at 19:15
It's very simple. Theism is belief in deity. Atheism is lack of belief in deity.
Neither position comments upon the ontological status of deity.
Atheists and theists, however, may hold any variety of opinions or beliefs.
Mr. KennedyMr. Kennedy
Not being a philosopher, I prefer the viewpoint based on the scientific method (Karl Popper, I believe?): you can never prove the truth of a theory by experiments - but a single experiment can disprove a theory. Based on this principle, I'd say that Atheism is a stronger theory than Theism (and I do know I am committing violence on the idea of faith): a scientific theory makes testable predictions - a Theistic theory would presumably state something like '...God is/does/will do ....', and you can then test your prediction; to my knowledge, there has never been a positive, unambiguous, reproduceble result, so IOW, Theism fails in its predictions. Atheism states the opposite: There is no God, and there has never been any exeriment that has produced a contradiction.
This is admittedly not proof that Atheism is right - it is simply not scientific to claim absolute truth - but I'd say Atheism stands stronger than Theism.
j4nd3r53nj4nd3r53n
The question is whether atheism and theism are both faith based. If atheism is dependent on scientific theory and scientific theories are not absolute truth does that make atheism faith based just like theism? Regardless, welcome to Philosophy! – Frank Hubeny Mar 18 '19 at 14:08
@FrankHubeny - define faith, please :-) No, but seriously, isn't faith meant to be something about the belief in absolute truth, which has been revealed to the believer? Science is the opposite: the acceptance that there is no absolute truth other than what can be deduced with formal logic from a set of axioms, and even in that case, the absolute truth is only that what is deduced follows from the axioms; logic offers no opinion on whether the axioms are true - it only says 'if the axioms are true, then the conclusions are true' – j4nd3r53n Mar 18 '19 at 16:20
@FrankHubeny, I think the claim goes like this. Since atheism is a well-tested theory and theism has failed to produce any predictions that were born out by experiments, it must be that theism is not a scientific claim and must retreat to being faith-based. Theism is a scientific claim and thus has no need to retreat to faith. – hkBst Mar 21 '19 at 8:25
While I think atheism fits into the categories of being a worldview and even a religion (though it stands apart from the others in that category, just as anarchism can be considered political even though many anarchists oppose any form of political system), this doesn't necessarily mean that it is faith based.
The essence of faith is a confidence or ability to trust in the present and future because of past reliability. I trust in my chair to not collapse because it's held me up thousands of times before. I have faith in my spouse and family to support me because they've been there for me in difficult times before. I don't have faith in my government to make good decisions for the betterment of my nation because they've shown themselves to be lily-livered and self serving.
It's easy to see how theistic religions are faith based. Many have scriptures which tell a history of their god or gods being trustworthy. Many teach an ethical system which they believe is shown repeatedly to lead to human flourishing. Many encourage their people to share with their communities how their god or gods have supported them through difficult times. Religious people have faith when their past experience of the divine leads them to trust the divine for the future.
I'm having a hard time thinking of how atheism could be faith based in this way. While many atheists may trust in their own self-fortitude in difficult times, this is not the same as trusting in their atheism, and of course many theists also trust in their self-fortitude. Many atheists may have confidence that their moral system will continue to lead to good outcomes but again that's not the same as trusting their atheistic beliefs. So although most atheists may still be people of faith (in the sense that we all trust many things), they don't have faith in their atheism itself.
(See also my answer to the parallel question on theism which also shows that many theists do not live faith-based lives.)
curiousdanniicuriousdannii
I'm not sure what is being asserted here, that 'burden of proof' is always just an expression of bias, or only when talking about God? It is often used in informal logic, and is easily understood.
If someone says, “I saw a green alien from outer space,” you properly should ask for some proof. If the person responds with no more than something like, “Prove I didn’t,” then they are not accepting their burden of proof and are improperly trying to place it on your shoulders.
I suppose most people would grant you that God is significantly different from green aliens or pixies.
But isn't that only because we can go some way to proving the positive claim that God exists, and not pixies? Whether or not the theist can actually shift the burden of proof onto the atheist.
i didn't see any answers which explained why the burden of proof is an illegitimate concept here... anyone? – user35983 Mar 18 '19 at 13:31
The assignment of the burden of proof is irrelevant. Even if the atheist made claim here (which would rightly give him a burden of proof), the theist still has his own proof to give. My inability to prove my position does not count as evidence in favor of yours. a theist can not shift his burden of proof to an atheist; the best he can do is share the burden – ThisIsMe Mar 20 '19 at 9:28
There is no point in talking about assigning the burden of proof at this level. The problem is hard enough that the different stacks have diverged. – Joshua Mar 20 '19 at 20:06
I feel that you got the difference between a god and green aliens the wrong way round. We can go some way to disproving that green aliens exist, but gods somehow manage to resist disproof even if they are nowhere to be found. If there were green aliens near enough to affect us, it would be easy enough to prove their existence. This does not work for a god, unless you consider lightning proof of Thor. – hkBst Mar 21 '19 at 8:21
There's a few pieces to this. The first is that the burden of proof is just a structure for debate purposes. It can mean several things. For instance, in virtually all cases, the burden of proof is on the person making an assertion. In this light, claims of theism and atheism are going to be on par. However, there's a bias to deal with here, which comes to light if we don't have an agreement on which side is making an assertion. If I put the strictest theist and the strictest atheist in a cage together, and started taking bets, I would not easily be able to argue who is the one making the claim.
However, there is a situation where we do actually legitimately need the burden of proof. There are many cases where the negative cannot be proven. Many questions in the negative form refuse proof. This is the basis of Russel's Teapot in orbit around Jupiter. Proving its non-existence is truly beyond our resources. One would need to meticulously study the space around Jupiter for a long time to prove it isn't there. However, should someone want to prove it is there, they merely need to provide us its ephemeris, and we can go search for it.
This does not mean burden of proof is always on the positive statement. I can say "There are no integers between 5 and 8, inclusive, which has an integer square root." I just made a negative statement, but very importantly I made a statement on a domain which could be exhaustively searched. We can check 5, 6, 7, and 8 and conclude none of them have an integer square root.
Contrast this with the famous "The real part of every non-trivial zero of the Riemann zeta function is 1/2." In this case, the domain is the entire real number line, and nobody has found a way to exhaustively search it. If someone asserted there existed a zero with a real part that wasn't 1/2, it would be easy for everyone to check it. Asserting that no such number exists is hard.
But it's not impossible. The trick is that the rule "the burden of proof is to prove existence" can be sidestepped, and many theists do. The first thing to do is get you to agree that something exists. "The universe" is typically a good one to start from. From there one can look at what must be true because the universe exists, and try to argue that its existence implies that an entity in a class like God must exist.
And therein lies what I think is the most common back and forth of the theist/atheist argument. There's a difference between "God exists" and "There exists an entity with these properties, and we will call it God." In the former, the burden of proof quite clearly must fall on the theist, but in the latter its a much more nuanced question. All of the good debates on the topic I have seen have quickly shifted to the latter argument and stayed there.
In my view, atheists also suffer from the same problem of providing a proof of their position. Specifically that they cannot prove that God is non-existent.
Yes. If you apply this consistently, you will conclude that every conclusion is faith based. So you will either have to accept that all knowledge is faith based or use special pleading to single out atheism.
Let's try doing this same thing with any claim other than the claim that an undetectable God exists everywhere, say the claim that undetectable cats exist everywhere.
Suppose someone searches a small room for cats and doesn't find any. They conclude that there are no cats in that small room. Is this conclusion faith based? Stop and think about this for a moment. If this conclusion is faith based, what conclusion isn't?
But to conclude that there are no cats in a small room just because a search doesn't find any, we must definitively reject the claim that there are undetectable cats everywhere. But how can we prove that there aren't undetectable cats everywhere? We can't.
So either all positions are faith based because we cannot take that position without disproving all of the infinite number of imaginable ways we could be wrong or you will have to use special pleading to single out atheism for this treatment. If we can't reject the claim that there is an undetectable god everywhere without faith, we can't reject the claim that there are undetectable cats everywhere without faith. Thus, my belief that there isn't a cat under my desk and your belief that there isn't a cat on your head is faith based.
Can that possibly be right? I hope you don't think so.
If you want to argue that all knowledge is faith based, that's fine. But be honest about it and don't pretend that this is something special about atheism or issues involving theism.
David SchwartzDavid Schwartz
I think you hit it on the head here. Most of the answers here miss the difference between a belief and a 'faith-based' belief and get bogged down in whether you are making a claim or not. A little different from your cat example: say someone is trying to tell me that snorting cocoa powder will make me a super-genius. I don't believe it. I have no direct evidence that it won't so my rejection of the claim is a belief. But calling that belief 'faith-based' is absurd. – JimmyJames Mar 20 '19 at 20:19
@JimmyJames I'm making a much stronger argument though that if you wish to be consistent in your reasoning, you must accept theistic claims as definitively known to be false, just as you do with the "there are undetectable cats everywhere" claim. That is, I'm making the argument that strong/critical atheism isn't faith based and that agnostic atheism is special pleading. – David Schwartz Mar 20 '19 at 21:54
I'm not completely sure I follow that reasoning. For example, there are many (serious) claims that perhaps we live in one universe that is part of a collection of many (perhaps infinite) universes. Based on the standard definition of 'universe' there is no way to detect other universes because they would then become part of our own. So such universes, if they exist, are undetectable. Are you saying I must then accept that it's definitely false that they exist? Wouldn't that reasoning lead to the (wrong) conclusion that germs don't exist prior to the invention of the microscope? – JimmyJames Mar 21 '19 at 15:09
@JimmyJames That a method of reasoning can lead to wrong conclusions doesn't mean there's anything wrong with that method of reasoning. We frequently have to reach conclusions with limited information. At one time, it was perfectly reasonable to conclude that the Earth was flat because it looked flat and all our experience suggested that the only way something could look flat is if it was flat. As my answer explains, to arbitrarily hold some claims to a higher bar is unjustified special pleading. – David Schwartz Mar 21 '19 at 17:42
"That a method of reasoning can lead to wrong conclusions doesn't mean there's anything wrong with that method of reasoning." I find that to a be a questionable assertion but setting that aside, I don't believe that it's required to affirm that any given proposition must be confirmed or denied. We can simply say the answer is unknowable/unprovable. For example, time is generally considered to be continuous but there's no way to measure time below a discrete increment. At this point it is neither provable or disprovable. – JimmyJames Mar 21 '19 at 18:11
Theism without faith
Theism needn't be faith-based. Natural theology seeks to prove the existence of God, or of a God, on the basis of purely rational argument. The cosmological argument, however one may rate its validity, is an example of this. As is the argument from design. These arguments, whatever else they may be, are precisely not based on faith. They are meant to be intelligible and cogent whatever one's attitude, positive or negative or doubtful, to religion.
Atheism without faith
As for atheism, it is a common theme that God cannot exist, not because the concept of God is in good order and merely lacks cogent evidence, but because the concept of God is incoherent - that it is internally inconsistent. A popular example of this approach is the argument that the existence of an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God is inconsistent with the existence of suffering. Since as omnipotent God could prevent suffering, how does God's omnibenevolence allow it to happen ?
Whatever one thinks of this argument, it is hardly faith-based. It can and does occur to people of all religious persuasions and none.
The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the Existence of God (1982), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-824682-X. (The title contains a dash of asperity.)
Geoffrey Thomas♦Geoffrey Thomas
From the point of view of cognitive science, you are right. Being convinced/believing that something is true and intellectually knowing/having proof that something is true are two cognitively/neurologically distinct states. So believing in the statement "there is a god" is not different from believing the statement "there is no god", neurologically the two beliefs share the same mechanisms.
So if your position is that faith is defined by the cognitive state of having a belief in something/being convinced that something is true, then your conclusion is correct. However, as you can see in the other answers, you can choose a different definition, and then the conclusion is not necessarily correct.
You can also start from the assumption that having a proof for something and believing in it are the same (which is common in folk understanding of the mind's workings), which will also lead to a different conclusion. While this assumption is empirically known to be incorrect, most people with whom you discuss this question will implicitly use it, so they will not readily follow arguments which violate it, and may be completely dismissive if you start with explicitly stating/trying to prove to them that it is untrue (yes, I realize that's ironic).
Some literature you might want to consider would be On being certain by Robert Burton (cognitive science, popular-science level), The Neural Basis of Human Belief Systems (cognitive science, highly specialized literature, make sure you can follow it before spending money on it) and most of Damasio's work, if you want something from the philosophical side. I guess Descartes' error might be the most relevant one.
rumtschorumtscho
Premise is : Atheism and Theism are both faith based positions. And, the question is Would it be incorrect to claim that both atheism and theism are positions based on faith?
The problem with us, ie., Humans is that we create complex theories, and try at length to solve them.
Let me put it in a simple manner.
There are some fruits hanging from the branch of a tree. Everyone is observing them, but not dare enough to near them. A very few people mustered enough courage and tasted them and said "Very sweet".
Now, what should others do? They should also muster courage, taste them and EXPERIENCE the taste.
if some of them start questioning - will it be juicy ? will it be sweet or sour? will it satiate my hunger? and so on,
and if remaining people start answering in a different manner in support of the people, who tasted the fruits, but without tasting by themselves,
what can the persons already tasted or the fruits do? Nothing. The complex saga will go on.
If a scientist in Chemistry says that certain properties of a particular element, can be observed only in certain Laboratory conditions, what should be the response of a novice to the Chemistry?
Should he just believe the Scientist? If so, why?
Should he start arguing that what Scientist said is incorrect and that the Scientist made that statement while he was undergoing hallucination? If so, why?
In my opinion, both ways are incorrect. The correct method is that the interested persons should also test the element in that particular Laboratory conditions, verify and ascertain whether the Scientist's statement is correct.
In the case of the God also the interested persons, whether they believe or reject, should follow the methods prescribed by a Sage, who attained higher levels of SPIRITUALITY, and EXPERIENCE that levels for themselves.
EXPERIENCE cannot be explained with arguments, in my view.
answered Jun 4 '19 at 9:35
srimannarayana k vsrimannarayana k v
"We are all atheists, some of us just go one god further." Richard Dawkins
As has been pointed out, historical texts are not sufficient proof for belief in a deity. If it were, there would still be worshippers of Greek and Egyptian gods, since records of those predate Muslim and Christian texts (probably Jewish ones as well, but I can't recall).
The difference between the faith of a theist and belief of an atheist rests in what happens when the individual is presented with overwhelming, conclusive evidence that contradicts their belief.
My conjecture is that most atheists would become theists if they were presented with clear evidence of the existence of god. I am not talking about philosophical evidence, the ontological argument or the like. Hard, physical proof that could be verified by science (measured, recorded, etc).
In contrast, a committed theist should be unwilling to change their opinion when presented with evidence for the non-existence of god. They would claim that their faith does not require evidence.
I would contend that for many people the belief in the god does require evidence. This is one reason that we are seeing an increase self-reported atheism around the world 1, especially in countries with high levels of secondary and post-secondary education.2 .
Michael LautmanMichael Lautman
I had a new thought. If you saw the evidence and concluded the god you saw was unworthy would you teach the next generation that god exists? – Joshua Jun 4 '19 at 16:27
@Joshua, I absolutely would. Any entity with the powers we associate with a god, especially an unworthy one, could present a significant risk to us. We would need to know that it exists but not necessarily venerate it. – Michael Lautman Jun 4 '19 at 16:37
This depends on what you mean by "atheism" - and what I see here is that people on both sides tend to disingenuously equivocate on the meaning of the term.
There is the idea that "atheism is simply a lack of a belief in deities". In this case, it cannot be a "faith-based" position because it is not a position, but the absence of one. This, of course, is what many atheists will tell you.
However, the problem with that idea is that those who attempt to argue the notion that "atheism is a faith-based position" are also catching on to something in how that many self-professed "atheists" go about things, and that is that there generally tends to be a rather conspicuous ideology that crystallizes around this supposed mere "lack" of belief which tends to come to what amounts to a triad of scientism as epistemology, materialism and physicalism as ontology, and secular humanism as life philosophy / ethics. And that it is this triad which, I believe, the "atheists are faithers" arguers are trying to point at with their arguments. But I suspect most don't have the necessary vocab to articulate that this is what they're really after.
And yes, I would say that triad could be argued to constitute a "religion" or "faith" of a sorts - at least if you don't require a formal clergy or otherwise as necessary in making something a "religion".
The_SympathizerThe_Sympathizer
First things first... Faith (in the most prosaic sense of the word) is intrinsic to human nature. We all have to believe that an assortment of things are true, because without such belief we cannot establish a consistent worldview — a systematic model of our environment — and the world becomes terrifyingly random. Imagine having the thought in your head that gravity might shut off unpredictably, sending us flying off into the air at any given moment. Could you even walk to the store under that threat?
Of course, faith comes with different levels of justification. Very few people in the world fear that gravity might suddenly shut off, because no one can point at or remember a time when gravity did shut off, and we have moment-by-moment confirmation of its existence. This is the basis of scientific reasoning (using that term broadly). We compare our beliefs about the world with what we actually see happen in the world. Where our faith aligns with our experience we do not give it a second thought; where our faith conflicts with our experience, we question our faith and find some way to rectify our beliefs so that we can fit that experience into our models. Of course, not everyone rectifies their beliefs in the same way. One person might be cynical about it while another is optimistic; one might cling to this aspect of belief and discard a second, while another might cling to the second aspect and discard the first; someone else might reject the experience entirely for a variety of reasons... Experience in this regard can be a great leveler to the extent that it forces people to accept a common framework for airing their disagreements. But experience is by no means a cure-all for the problems of belief.
In this regard, and again using the most prosaic sense of the term 'faith,' atheism is faith-based. They have a clear and specific naturalistic worldview — one that precludes the existence of a god — and they hold it to be true with minimal justification. Note that when I say minimal justification here I am not denying the power and efficacy of science. I'm merely suggesting that while scientific accomplishments do much to promote a 'naturalistic' worldview, they do little to contradict any claims about any god. Most atheist arguments boil down to an assertion that the universe works quite well all on its own, so that any concept of a god is superfluous, and that they as atheists choose not to believe in superfluous entities. But that 'choosing not to believe' is effectively an atheist credo that has at best tangential justification.
That being said, it's worth noting that atheists define faith in a stringent fashion that precludes the application of the term 'faith' to atheist belief structures. As a rule, atheists consider faith to be synonymous with blind faith, and then vigorously deny any form of religious, subjective, or metaphysical experience so that religion cannot encroach on the realm of justified belief. It is a bit of social politics that infuses the discourse and makes discussion of the topic difficult, and in the worst cases borders on a cultish adherence to a naturalistic doctrine. Challenging atheists on this point is counterproductive. Moderate atheists will shrug their shoulders at it, thinking it's merely a matter of rhetoric; dogmatic atheists will become incensed at any suggestion that they have a dogma. Politics is in many ways the death of philosophy...
Alas for I found no answers worthy to upvote; so I will answer.
Nobody is disputing that "God exists" is faith based. That's a good place to start.
It occurs to me the measure of faith required to be atheist is about the same as the measure of the difficulty of proof that "God is irrelevant' would be.
Theorem: either the universe is infinite in a way that allows all possibilities to occur or our own existence must pass through the odds or something enough like God exists to bypass the odds.
There are certain mathematical problems with the infinite mass universe, and the infinite time universe is ruled out, so now it comes down to measuring the odds.
First problem: the laws of physics are fine-tuned to allow life to exist. We can't measure that so in fairness, let us just set it at 1.
Second problem: We must have a planet suitable for sustaining our own life. It was once thought that almost any planet would do, but this is selection bias of the worst kind. In fact I have a long table that tries to put odds at each of more than fifty independent criteria that all must be true, and is loose enough to allow a moon orbiting a gas giant in the life zone to work (but moving Jupiter would not). The combined result is 1 in 10^99 but you get to try once for every star in the universe.
Third: life must become naturally. Whether this is easy or hard depends on evidence selection. We can't do it in the lab, but early Earth history says it appeared more than once, but there are not two completely independent genetic codes but only one and variants. We may note that we can widen the life becomes gate a bit if we're willing to tighten the planetary requirements, but this adds a square to the planetary requirements as we now require two suitable planets so it's not worth it.
Forth: life must be come intelligent. Odds calculation is too hard.
I have never encountered anybody who thinks he really knows all the evidence to these (though many who tried to argue them all while possessing real knowledge of none and clearly did not investigate to any significant degree), but holding but one of these without having actually investigated the evidence results in having a faith-based position.
If you want a way out, it's certainly possible for someone to fool himself into thinking he has diligently considered them all while having actually not done so, but that doesn't change the nature of the position.
JoshuaJoshua
In my experience theists tend to be people who just 'know in their hearts' that some god exists. For them, evidence is either unnecessary or not even conceptually recognised. This default position is challenged when an agnostic or atheist demands that person 'prove' themselves or supply the required evidence, something they don't understand.
However, the debate is avoiding the real issue. The theist in that position is almost always incapable of describing what that deity actually is. There is almost always just an abstract notion of morality manifested as some invisible overarching power. This concept ultimately matches many atheist positions of our lives being to some extent deterministic or at least emergent as part of larger patterns.
SentinelSentinel
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged theology atheism or ask your own question.
Are atheists taking atheism by faith?
Is there a demarcation problem for religions?
Is theism necessarily 'faith-based'?
Is atheism the null hypothesis on god's existence? Can the null hypothesis be accepted? Is the proposition “god does not exist” falsifiable?
Why should atheists bother debating theists?
Is atheism or agnosticism more rational?
Are New Atheists hypocritical?
Why would philosophical agnosticism and pragmatic atheism be considered more rational than philosophical agnosticism and pragmatic theism?
How widely accepted is the “presumption of atheism” among philosophers?
Agnostic theism and agnostic atheism and their validity
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I talk about this a lot but this guitar riff is great and makes the song for me. I like how they ease into Livin’ Lovin’ Maid (She’s Just a Woman).
Heartbreaker was ranked number 328 in 2004 by Rolling Stone magazine, in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song was credited to all four members of the band, “Heartbreaker” was produced by Jimmy Page and engineered by Eddie Kramer.
The solo is something different in this song. Jimmy Page does not play it with the band. He plays it by himself in a break in the song. Page didn’t find out until years later that the solo was in a different pitch than the rest of the song…but it sounded great.
The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, the UK, and Canada in 1969.
Eddie Van Halen: I think I got the idea of tapping watching Jimmy Page do his “Heartbreaker” solo back in 1971. He was doing a pull-off to an open string, and I thought wait a minute, open string … pull off. I can do that, but what if I use my finger as the nut and move it around? I just kind of took it and ran with it.
Jimmy Page: “The interesting thing about the solo is that it was recorded after we had already finished ‘Heartbreaker’ – it was an afterthought. That whole section was recorded in a different studio and it was sort of slotted in the middle.”
Eddie Krammer: “I met Page for the first time in Pye studios when I was working on sessions of The Kinks. Page had earned a certain reputation as a studio guitarist. I also worked with John Paul Jones on a few sessions, and we became friends. Jones was a brilliant musician. He wrote arrangements for chord orchestras and he could play many instruments extremely well. Before I left England to work with Jimi Hendrix at Record Plant studio in New York, in April 1968, Jonesy had invited me at his place to have me listen to a few demos of his new group, Led Zeppelin. I remember it sounded very heavy, and I was surprised that Jimmy Page played guitar because I didn’t know they were friends. Jonesy was very proud of John Bonham, an ex-mason from the north of England who could hit it hard on the drums, as well as of Robert Plant, their wild singer. While I wasn’t convinced by the name they had chosen, I wished them good luck. Then in ’69, I was working at Electric Lady studios when I received a call from Steve Weiss, Jimi’s right-hand man, saying that Led Zeppelin was in town. Page called later to tell he wanted I help him release what they had recorded and to make a few more tracks. Led Zeppelin had been a major success for Atlantic and they were urging Jimmy to finish the second album. Their schedule however wasn’t very arranging. So we ended up listening, doubling, recording and mixing in many different studios around New York, including Groove Sound, a nice R&B 8-track studio.
From Songfacts
This opens Side 2 of Led Zeppelin II and goes right into “Livin’ Lovin’ Maid (she’s just a woman)” on the album. Radio stations usually play them together, but “Maid” was never performed live by Led Zeppelin.
A crowd favorite, Led Zeppelin sometimes opened live shows with it.
At concerts, Jimmy Page would stretch out the guitar solo and incorporate bits of other songs, like “Greensleeves,” “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy),” and Bach’s “Bouree in C minor.”
Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones performed this at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in 1988 with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father.
Led Zeppelin opened many of their live shows in 1971 and 1972 with “Immigrant Song,” followed by a segue right into this.
Eddie Kramer, sound engineer on Led Zeppelin II, told Guitare & Claviers in 1994 how he ended up working on the album:
Hey fellas have you heard the news?
You know that Annie’s back in town?
It won’t take long just watch and see
How the fellas lay their money down
Her style is new but the face is the same
As it was so long ago
But from her eyes a different smile
Like that of one who knows
Well it’s been ten years and maybe more
Since I first set eyes on you
The best years of my life gone by
Here I am alone and blue
Some people cry and some people die
By the wicked ways of love
But I’ll just keep on rollin’ along
With the grace of the Lord above
People talkin’ all around ’bout the way you left me flat
I don’t care what the people say, I know where their jive is at
One thing I do have on my mind, if you can clarify please do
It’s the way you call me by another guy’s name when I try to make love to you, yeah
I try to make love but it ain’t no use
Give it to me, give it
Work so hard I couldn’t unwind
Get some money saved
Abuse my love a thousand times
However hard I tried
Heartbreaker, your time has come
Can’t take your evil way
Go away heartbreaker
Author badfinger20 (Max)Posted on October 1, 2020 September 30, 2020 Categories 1960s, Music, SinglesTags Heartbreaker, Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II, Robert Plant
36 thoughts on “Led Zeppelin – Heartbreaker”
bcorcoran1992yahoocom says:
One of the first guitar riffs I tried to learn. I had LZ II on cassette and used to pop in first on every road trip I’d take.
I have faked this one before but never properly learned it…when I learned “Over The Hills and Far Away” I was overjoyed…I do need to learn this one.
allthingsthriller says:
Distinctive. Iconic. It’s an undeniably great ROCK song.
quite a good little add-on, that guitar work.
deKE says:
Great track! Bombastic comes to mind.
“Heartbreaker” has a good portion of (English) dandyism, and Plant squeezes every drop of theatricality out of the story. Page’s famous improvised solo, at the center of the song, was added after the song was mostly finished. “Heartbreaker” was the first track on the second side of the LP. I never played the song without “Living Loving Maid”.
I meant to post Living Loving Maid today but forgot to schedule…it will be tomorrow. Yea I like both of them together .
They do belong together. Both are outstanding.
I know…I just forgot to post it.
Off comes your head and a chunk out of your ass! LOL!
Lol… take it away!
How are you doing Ms Vic?
Been busy today. Today has been errand day. At least I’ve had gorgeous weather. How is your weather?
It’s great fall type weather…jacket at night but the day is perfect.
I stayed up all night last night. We are changing Spam filters and our network people failed to make the rule to allow the new spam filter to connect to. So…at 5:30 in the morning I had to undo everything and go back again.
I stayed home today and finally got the network people to allow the connection…I’m about to switch it over AGAIN… it should only take me an hour or two…
Well that was more than you wanted lol
I feel for ya’. I may not know networking and systems but, I can appreciate the work that goes into getting everything to work. My problem is, the older I get, the farther away from technology I get.
I wouldn’t mind getting away from it also! I will go to sleep early tonight. I slept from 7-11 today and I am getting sleepy
Goodnight. Sleep well…
I did! Thank You
For a few years I thought they were singing, “lemonade is back in town” instead of “Annie’s back in town”.
Jim…now I will lol
The segue is amazing between the two songs.
It is…I meant to post the other one today but forgot.
Max, you will NOT believe this but on my way over to my mom’s yesterday I played LZII and really got into Heartbreaker. It is swaying me bigtime towards what my last draft pick will be. I decided last night that it is the best rock and roll song of all time. The guitar work in it is one of a kind, every bit, from the big solo to the bits and pieces of notes along the way.
Perfect timing Lisa! We are in sync..I do like the song alot and Living Loving Maid (which will come tomorrow!)… You know what Lisa? Our draft needs a Zeppelin album…it really does. I can’t believe it hasn’t happen yet.
You are right. To me they are THE R&R band, standing next to The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. We’ve already got selections chosen for the other two, so…
I always think of Led Zeppelin and The Who also…that BIG wave of sound both bands gave out. They did the epic songs like Stairway and Won’t Get Fooled Again…and they were similar…great drummer, bass player, singer and guitar player.
Yes they need a selection. I think I’m going with Van the Man.
Great choice! I can never get enough of Zep.
Thanks man! I forgot to post Living Loving Maid so it’s coming tomorrow
Can’t wait.
One of the archetypal rock tunes no doubt at all. Like you I love how they jump straight to the next track as well.
Most of the songs on the first two albums take me back to the three of their early (London) gigs I went to, particularly (for the first album) the one at the Lyceum where I was sitting on the floor close to the stage. Heartbreaker is such a great song.
I know a lot of people don’t like the Song Remains The Same movie (presumably you’ve seen it?) but I love it and particularly the short bursts of Heartbreaker in amongst all the (mostly unnecessary) news footage. It always reminds me of their early gigs which were so raw.
I have the movie…I love the sequences they have through and between the songs. Jimmy’s is…well what you expect from Jimmy Page. I like the Grant and Cole gangster spot.
You got to see them when they were the tightest they ever were…before the acoustic songs came. I’ve seen some clips of them in that period…just incredible.
Also it was great being the age I was when I saw them. 🙂
Back to when the music chose me. Like your quote on Blind Faith “never gets old” Digging it while I type.
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Concert Review: Styx at the Norton Center for the Arts, 10/12/2019
October 16, 2019 Thomas Hatton Reviews One comment
I’ve been a fan of Styx for much longer than I have not been a fan of Styx (as I indicated in my interview with Styx’s Lawrence Gowan last week). So, I was more than excited that my 8 year old son would get to join me to see Styx as his first rock and roll concert. Although I had seen this lineup 20 years earlier (with the exception of bassist Ricky Phillips, who replaced Chuck Pannazo for shows he’s not able to do), I had forgotten just what a force they are live. I had also seen them in a relatively large amphitheater the first time, so getting to see them in the Norton Center for the Arts in Danville was very special. The Norton Center is spacious and accommodating for larger acts, but it is also surprisingly intimate.
The energy of the room totally changed as soon as Styx took the stage and cranked up to 11. Styx pulled from several decades of music, but focused on their most famous albums for the bulk of the setlist, and the audience responded to those famous tunes predictably- songs like “Too Much Time” and “Come Sail Away” had people up on their feet and clapping. However, the band did take care to break things up, playing non-single songs like “Pieces of Eight” and “Snowblind” to break things up a bit.
It’s often the case that, when you see an older band play, people are there for the hits- the songs they grew up with, the songs that have been with them for years. Crowds at these sorts of concerts often respond really positively to the old stuff, standing up and dancing to their favorites, and then they sit down or ignore the band as soon as they start playing their new material. I can imagine, as a band that’s trying to move forward on a foundation built in the past, this can be somewhat deflating. However,Styx played several songs from their latest album, The Mission, and the audience response was, from what I saw, overwhelmingly positive, which is anomalous for acts that are this established. This is especially the case for the flashier, more bombastic tunes like “Gone, Gone, Gone” and Gowan’s solo moment in “Khedive”. I was thrilled that they played the almost Marillion-esque “The Outpost” at this concert, which is my favorite track from the new record. I am really happy that these live performances got some love, because I think The Mission is a terrific album that holds up even when compared to Styx’s classic records.
Styx in its current iteration is made up of 5 immensely talented men, who have even further refined their style and sound and band synergy through years of touring, either with Styx or with other impressive live acts. The result of their hard work is that they put on a near-perfect live show. Tommy Shaw handled his vocal and guitar parts so perfectly, I was in utter disbelief. His voice doesn’t seem to have aged at all. Lawrence Gowan’s renditions of Styx classics like “Come Sail Away” and “Rocking the Paradise” were not only pitch perfect, but filled with energy and excitement, as if they were touring with these hits for the first time. James “JY” Young played and sang solidly, but he lit up the room every time he handled a solo. Ricky Phillips is a powerful force on the stage, hitting every note with mastery and a smile, and contributing to the swells of harmonies that are Styx’s trademark. And drummer Todd Sucherman, who was recently voted Best Classic Rock Drummer in Modern Drummer magazine, played with such joy and vigor that his drum performance was almost worthy of its own concert.
I expected to see a well rendered rock concert from a consistently great live band at the Norton Center for the Arts, and instead I left in awe, with a renewed interest and appreciation for Styx’s catalog and trajectory. It reminded me that Styx, despite their commercial success, deserves the respect of gatekeepers and critics who use that to discredit them. When they were considered prog, they were seen to be too high minded and cheesy. When they wrote pop songs, they were considered to be sellouts. In the end, it’s clear: Styx deserves to be recognized as one of the foundational American progressive rock acts. And as I acknowledge the fact that they’ve been a successful band for almost 50 years, despite the ever-changing flavors of the day or decade, I also am thrilled to know that the future of Styx is looking brighter than ever.
Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)
The Grand Illusion
Midnight Ride
(partial, Tommy Shaw only, acoustic)
Come Again
(Damn Yankees cover) (Tommy Shaw only, acoustic)
Rockin’ the Paradise
Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)
Khedive
Bohemian Rhapsody mid-section (Lawrence Gowan only on piano)
Mr. Roboto
Buy Styx’s new album, The Mission, here.
Check here to see if they’re coming to your town.
Special thanks to ABC PR and Styx.
James JY Younglawrence gowannorton center for the artsricky phillipsstyxtodd suchermantommy shaw
Previous Post: Interview with Lawrence Gowan (Styx)
Next Post: Album Review: Alter Bridge, “Walk the Sky”
Troy T. says:
I echo your comments. I saw Styx a few months ago and they blew me away. I expected a good show and was amazing at how GREAT they are live. The mix of the old and new in the set list was a huge bonus. Great review of a great band!
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Civita immaginata: Imagining
April 2, 2014 in Civita, Design, Maps | Tags: Civita, Lorenzo Fowler, maps, phrenology | by Sharon M | 1 comment
Finally, we come to the most subjective mapping criteria I employed for my Civita series—imagining. It’s been said that you can “read” a person’s temperament, speculate how easy or difficult their life has been, by looking closely at their face. I wondered…what if this were true for a place? What if the essence of a city resided not in its statistics and facts but in the development of its character expressed, perhaps, in the configuration of its hills and valleys, tunnels and caves, changes in public and private space? Could we then “read” a city by examining its own particular psycho-geography? Not the outer surface layer that it presents to the world but its true depth?
The concept is fanciful but intriguing. I knew I wanted to make one last map that would attempt to capture something of Civita’s ephemeral essence. As luck would have it, one day, I was browsing in Tony’s library and came upon a small volume that included a profile of Luigi Ferrarese, an Italian physician and a leading proponent of the19th-century pseudo-science of phrenology—the study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities. Here in America, the theory was expounded by Lorenzo Fowler, who created this iconic head.
27 distinct “faculties” and “sub-faculties” controlled certain character traits or intellectual attributes such as Cautiousness, Benevolence, Destructiveness, Love of Animals, Tune, Continuity and Change. Phrenologists worked by touch; they would “read” a person’s character by running the palms of their hands over the surface of the skull, the relative size of each area corresponding to its power.
Getting to know Civita phrenologically required a slightly different approach. It required eyes and feet, time spent walking its streets and hills, the polar opposite of reading about it in a guidebook, visiting for a few hours on a summer day, or checking it out on Google maps. Yet after 8 weeks, I found Fowler’s list of faculties surprisingly easy to apply. And by shifting the city’s north south axis, Civita’s footprint easily resembles a head.
Here’s a little tour: Civita’s rich yet destructive past has left its mark but it remains an industrious city that loves children, families, and animals and delights in showing its wonders to the world. The city reconstructs more than it builds anew, and it is an optimistic place that venerates its past, full of order, wonder and form. Civita’s more colorful stories led me to some fascinating applications, Time resides in the house where Maria has lived for over 80 years. Human Nature extends up the west perimeter, encompassing her garden where taking in the view requires a payment of 1 Euro, which is understandable since human nature must find a way to make a living. Love of Sex dwells in what remains of the opulent home of the legendary Milanese Marquessa above the Porta S. Maria and Continuity and Individuality is of course, housed in the Civita Institute buildings. This is, of course, an idiosyncratic, fanciful exercise by an amateur phrenologist so perhaps the best approach is to visit and draw your own conclusions.
So which Civita is the real one? The likely answer is one that doesn’t yet exist in what you’ve seen here. Creating a sense of place goes well beyond mapping the physical environment. Way-finding that is envisioned to allow visitors (actual or virtual) to enter new worlds on their own terms—to examine, question, visualize and add to environments on multiple levels can serve not only as tickets to actual territory but as open-ended invitations to go beyond what is visible on the surface, examining instead the many interconnected layers of meaning, culture, and history that invariably exist in one locale. This process was implicit in Civita but it can happen anywhere.
In Latin civitas simply means “city.” My hope is that this project inspires you to create your own Civitas immaginata and to look at those places closer to home that are special to you and imagine the many, varied ways they connect and refer beyond themselves.
Civita immaginata: Describing
March 28, 2014 in Civita, Design, Maps | Tags: Astra Zarina, Civita, il dolce far niente, maps, St. Bonaventura | by Sharon M | 1 comment
Jules Verne said, “Look with all your eyes. Look.” Part of the beauty of spending an extended period of time anywhere, and particularly for me during my fellowship in Civita, was having the luxury of time to observe, and witnessing the ebb and flow of the life of a town.
Writers and artists love details, but there is always a push and pull between the obsession with detail and the semi-conscious acknowledgement that everything will eventually vanish. Relief, essentially, mixed with dread. The Surrealists painters recognized this, calling it “the potency of the everyday.”
Much of Civita has been documented—its history, culture, architecture, and traditions. These things have been studied, talked about, described, inventoried, photographed, and analyzed. Documentation was part of why I was here on a NIAUSI Fellowship. But what about the rest?
The passing of a day in Civita, like anywhere else, includes actions and events that are not usually noticed, things that have no real consequence in the grand scheme of the recorded history of this place. Does that mean then, that what happens when nothing “important” happens worthy of remembering? My suspicion is that noticing the unremarkable might yield a different kind of map of this place. And the process of noticing could, in itself, lead to a particular kind of subjective storytelling since the mind tends to want to question the why and wherefore of what it sees. Observing the world in action, it wants to make connections.
The Italians have a wonderful expression: il dolce far niente which translates as “the sweetness of doing nothing.” Too often in today’s jam-packed, work-driven, internet-powered world, it is easy to forget how to “do nothing.” Even worse, we wrongly believe that doing nothing equals uselessness. The Italians are wiser. They live il dolce far niente even when they are busy serving pranzo, mixing mortar, or ferrying wine bottles and plastic to the recycling bins. Perhaps it is the wisdom that comes from living in a culture with a 3,000-year heritage or simply an understanding that the sum of life is larger than what we can pack into an 8-hour workday. Regardless, life here is not something that can be spent, wasted, or passed. It simply is. Every moment holds possibility.
So how could I try to capture this? For two 6-hour periods on two separate days, I sat in the Piazza S. Donato and watched what was happening around me. I recorded everything I could see or hear and at first the simple act of needing to look and write was enough to occupy me. But slowly, after a few hours, my mind shifted in a way that’s difficult for me to describe precisely to you right now. I suspect it was akin to moving into a meditative state. I noticed more detail, found myself wondering about the stories behind the people I saw. I made connections or made them up anyway and questioned much more than I thought I would.
Here’s a short portion of what’s described on this map, which is designed like a broadside. Here’s a sample passage. This is from 6:00 pm on October 14, 2012 from a bench in front of the Palazzo Alemanni. The weather was sunny with some clouds.
The man’s drawing is good. Pencil only, but his subject is Antonio’s bruschetteria, not the church as I first thought. A little boy is being scolded by his mother for digging in the gravel dirt of the piazza. She cleans his hands roughly and he cries when she picks him up and plops him in his stroller. Another little boy is curious. He circles the nearest Etruscan column, running up now and then to take a peek at the artist. “Mama, viene qui! Guarda!” he calls and his mother comes to look. A toddler runs up and down the church steps, amazingly steady. Is this how Italian women learn to walk on cobblestones in heels?
Five dogs are suddenly in the piazza. The cats stare but don’t budge. They know they live here. The little girl walks past me, interested in what I am doing. She says something in Italian and I smile, unable to communicate with a 4-year old. Craig comes by to tell me he just realized his camera can pan left to right, not just right to left. He needs another month! The artist’s companion (because now I’ve decided they are a couple) walks by to see if the drawing is done. It is not. A dog pees at the base of one of the Etruscan columns. I wonder how many millions of times that has happened. The kids are back. Not once has the artist ever looked up at them, not one glance. Is this good or bad? The little boy jumps around and accidently kicks the conté crayon box. “Matteo!” his father yells and swats him. The sound of Matteo crying. “No, Matteo, va bene,” the artist says, smiling but still not looking.
A young woman in black spandex and a bright green top is sitting on the church steps, taking a selfie. Two older women pass by. They could be sisters. Same glasses, hair, scarves. One is using a cane. They seem confused. The man in the red sweater is back in his spot in front of the church, this time near the far right door, which is closed. Four people are suddenly right in front of my table, cameras raised. Where did they come from? R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” is playing inside Da Peppone’s. The sun has gone back behind the clouds. A pack of cyclists, all men, all wearing branded Italian jerseys ride past me on the cobbled street that rings the piazza. Only one bumps his bike down to ride in the graveled area. Six women, all with Orvieto water bottles, leave La Tonna souvenir shop and cross the piazza toward me. Three of them stop to examine the bottom of their shoes. “Madonna, Madonna,” they repeat to each other.
Anna comes out of Da Peppone’s, checking to see if there is anyone to serve. There is not and she goes back in. A pigeon flies into the open window at La Tonna. Another is on the roof of Antico Forno. I hear “Where should we eat?” in English for the first time this morning. The bell tower chimes twice. Father Stefano arrives at the church, dressed in black and carrying two black bags. The calico cat crosses the piazza diagonally, followed by the Japanese man and his photographer girlfriend. They’re laughing. Father Stefano is putting the new October mass schedule in the display board. The man in the red sweater is suddenly at his side, talking, and I realize now that he is the sacristan that I met a week ago when I was visiting inside the church last week with Liza and Craig.
A man dressed all in black heads towards the bridge, carrying a dented silver hard suitcase. A 6-foot tall Japanese woman appears, calling to her group. A man crossing the piazza stops to hug his wife. She carries a set of keys and is smoking. They smile and laugh together. A tabby skitters past me, followed by a calico. Two smokers walk past my table. I smell their cigarettes. Sounds of clinking dishes come from Da Peppone’s. Anna must have customers but I didn’t see anyone go in. Maybe she’s cleaning? One of the Americans rests his black backpack on the Etruscan column near the bell tower just as it chimes seven times. A second later, the bells begin their longer ringing, signaling the Angelus. It’s 7:00 pm.
Civita immaginata: Preserving
March 26, 2014 in Civita, Design, Maps | Tags: Astra Zarina, Civita, maps, St. Bonaventura | by Sharon M | Leave a comment
During my NIAUSI fellowship, I knew I wanted to pay tribute to some of Civita’s most famous figures in some way, including the contributions made by the late Astra Zarina, who established the University of Washington’s Italian Hilltown program in Civita and handled restoration projects for in some of its first buildings in the late 60s, leading the wave of reclaiming these beautiful structures.
Yet it was impossible and possibly inauspicious, to evade ecclesiastical associations while in Italy. Eccola. Civita’s most famous son, Bonaventura. Chapels and statues to him seem to be on every corner in these two towns. Bonaventura was born Giovanni Fidanza around 1221 AD in a house no more than 20 meters from the Palazzo Alemanni where Zarina taught her “Continuity and Change” programs to architecture students for 30 years.
Bonaventura and Zarina both traveled widely, but both reliably returned to Civita. When she died in 2008, Zarina was buried in Bagnoregio, not very far from a church where in 1490 Bonaventura’s right arm was placed in a reliquary made from gold and silver donated by the people of the town. That event is celebrated every year on March 14—today.
What better way, then, to pay tribute to both Bonaventura and Astra Zarina then to map the trajectories of the lives of two of Civita’s saints and saviors? The map is not meant to be definitive by any means, but instead highlights the overlaps and intersections of two lives and one place.
Civita immaginata: Symbolizing
March 24, 2014 in Civita, Design, Maps | Tags: Civita, iconography, maps, symbols | by Sharon M | Leave a comment
Andy and Lana Wachowski are best known for writing and directing the “Matrix” trilogy and by all accounts are natural filmmakers. According to a New Yorker article, both siblings count “2001: A Space Odyssey” as one of their earliest influences. The family was apparently huge movie fans, of all genres. Twelve-year old Lana recalls initially hating “2001” because she was perplexed by the mysterious presence of the black monolith. Her father explained simply, “That’s a symbol” and the article recounts Lana’s reaction: “That one sentence went into my brain and rearranged things in such an unbelievable way that I don’t think I’ve been the same since…it’s one of the reasons I’m a filmmaker.”
Now, granted, perhaps not every 12-year old child will respond to symbols this way, but I believe a contributing factor is that we don’t cultivate that type of visual seeing and learning early enough in our educational systems. But the anecdote resonated with me because in Civita I was struck by the complex overlays of symbol and iconography there. Admittedly, this is probably the case in many countries whose historical timeline extends back beyond the 1700s but it felt particularly close to the surface in Civita and very much a part of daily life.
As designers know, the advantage of symbols is that they speak a universal language. I do not need to be conversant in Arabic to understand that the Kaaba represents a significant concept to Muslims. I might not be able to fully articulate the subtleties of its meaning, but I can understand the power and centricity of it as a symbol in one of the world’s great religions.
Once these symbol sets pass into the realm of becoming archetypes — ideas or ways of thinking inherited from all these sources and present in your subconscious — they begin to function as a complete set, as iconography—the collective use of symbols and visual images by a certain culture or group.
Symbols and iconography can be like road maps, leading or guiding you toward a desired goal, encouraging certain behaviors or effects. Each passing generation, utilizing the same symbol, builds up a stronger energy from that symbol with the most effective ones lasting through the ages. Obvious examples include the Christian cross, the yin/yang symbol, the pyramid, and the ankh. It is no coincidence that certain of these symbols from ancient civilizations continue to be an integral part our society, even to the point that corporations use them in commercials, movies, and logos.
Iconography is expert at unlocking a stream of memories, data, emotions and beliefs, sometimes whether we want them or not. That’s why people often choose to pray in a church setting when they could just as easily do so at home, or feel they can mediate more successfully in a space carefully designed to induce a contemplative state.
That I would create an iconographic map of Civita was almost a foregone conclusion and the result is probably one of the more traditional maps in the series. Yet even here, I conflated content since Civita’s three very distinct layers of iconography—historic, religious and vernacular symbols—often mix.
The Etruscans, the city’s first inhabitants and the Romans who followed, were both cultures that understood well the power of symbols and used iconography extensively for protection, fertility, wealth, birth and death rituals. In fact, one of the first things the Romans did on their relentless march to conquer the ancient Etruscan cities was to smash their black clay wear which was heavily decorated with symbols.
For a palpable look into this iconography “mix” you need look no further than Civita’s main piazza and its beautiful Medieval church, the Chiesa S. Donato. Iconography was an integral part of Christian life, and in Italy, it survived, despite the seventh and eighth centuries Iconoclasts demanding their destruction. [bishops keys] In tangible ways, you can see not only the layering of symbols, but also symbol “borrowing” as well as active incorporation of artifacts from one culture to another. [rosette] Rosettes—which many scholars believe derived from the Etruscan paterna or mundus, the symbol of the ever-present life-force—abound as decorative elements. Roman sarcophagi, frieze fragments, and corbels [sarcophagi and corbels] are set into the lower outer walls of the church and the nearby bell tower. Going even further back, the physical divisions of the four contrade correspond to the Etruscan layout of the ideal city, a circle divided into favorable and unfavorable areas.
This amalgam of past incarnations of history, religion and everyday life, along with the addition of some beautiful palimpsests, is mapped on the iconographic map and unified by a tufo background, which in Civita is a welcome constant.
Civita immaginata: Navigating
March 21, 2014 in Civita, Design, Maps | Tags: Civita, maps, treasure map | by Sharon M | Leave a comment
In 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson published a fictional tale of adventure about an expedition to an unnamed Caribbean island to recover a treasure that had been buried there. Treasure Island is action-packed, has a huge cast of characters, and begins with a map.
Ever since its publication, Stevenson’s map has had readers asking, “Where is Treasure Island?” even when they are told it is an imaginary island that doesn’t exist. How could they not? Maps are guides. We trust them. We look to them to help us find what is desirable, navigate the unknown and avoid the dangerous. They can make unreal place seem real, and real places more manageable.
In Civita di Bagnoregio, for many reasons it’s very easy to believe you are in an imaginary place. The backstory that is history here is sometimes so deep, so hard to comprehend in real time, that it begins to feel unreal. Once, the twin cities of Civita and Bagnoregio were a single city, along with a lively merchant neighborhood between which has since totally disappeared, swallowed up by landslides. Now they are separated by a deep chasm, and joined only by a narrow footbridge. Very few maps unite the two again, but when you’ve spent some time navigating back and forth between the two, it quickly becomes clear that one could not exist without the other. Civita is why the tourists come, and Bagnoregio thrives, in part, to serve those visitors.
But Civita also has a day-to-day life as well, which can be easy to overlook. During my two months there, I often watched tourists come into town, snap a few pictures, and be on their way back out in an hour. They pay little attention to the richness of history here, and zero attention to the fact that there are “real” people here—merchants, masons and carpenters, cooks, priests, and seismic workers— living out their daily lives.
I wanted people to notice. So I decided to create a treasure map of the city. I knew that I wanted to unite Civita and Bagnoregio once again and to include everyday treasures as well as historic ones because taken together, all seemed necessary to feed a traveler’s body and soul.
Can strangers use this map to navigate Civita’s numerous treasures? Absolutely. All the information about historic, architectural, and natural wonders is there. Everything mentioned is open to the public. But interspersed are also some personal treasures, which befits a casual, fun map like this one— my favorite spot for affogato, which ATM wouldn’t reject my card, and the gatto who decided he was mine for two months. Because in the end, what we each decide to include on the treasure maps of our lives will always be as personal as the places we visit and the experiences we have there.
Civita immaginata: Discovering
March 19, 2014 in Civita, Design, Maps | Tags: Civita, doors, maps | by Sharon M | Leave a comment
For visitors in any context, doors hold a special significance. As I worked my way through some of the archived materials from the University of Washington Italian Hilltowns Program housed in the Civita Institute’s Sala Grande, it was clear that I wasn’t the only one interested in doors and gates and windows. But a noticeable difference was the focus of the interest. Student projects documented architectural styles, details, age, and construction materials. My interests lay more along the lines of the enormous variety of doors in Civita. Every door seemed to have its own particular beauty that it carried along with its long, imagined history.
The ancient Romans had advanced architectural elements and were known to have used single, double, sliding, and folding doors. In fact, the Roman god Janus is the god of doors and doorways, which makes him of course, the god of beginnings and endings. So I began my discovery process with doors.
Doors also symbolize transitions. At the simplest level, a doorway represents movement from one place to another, but in religion, mythology and literature, it can also depict the passage from one world to another. A deeper personal meaning arises when doors, gates, and passageways serve as symbolic transitions for individuals experiencing change. Nearly everyone has a memory of stopping to take a deep breath before crossing some kind of threshold—an interview, a meeting with a teacher or mentor, or a dining room filled with laughing, happy people, none of whom we know.
Taking that step across a doorway means you’ve crossed a boundary. It might be a place where two places (or cultures or experiences) meet, or taking chances and leaving the past behind. These were all appropriate musings for a visitor in Civita and rich mapping material. In composition and layout, this map reflects these concepts of intimate and outsider; public or private as well as mapping locations and offering architectural styles and details.
Civita immaginata: A Time Map
March 18, 2014 in Architecture, Civita, Maps | Tags: Civita, maps, NIAUSI, Prezi | by Sharon M | Leave a comment
Timelines are a staple of exhibit design, providing a way for viewers to grasp a condensed glimpse of what usually is a huge body of information. Mounting an exhibition without a timeline is akin to leaving out the donor wall. To provide context for the series of maps of Civita di Bagnoregio, I offer this visual time-map. Click on this link (or the image below) to view an interactive Prezi of Civita’s 3000 year history.
Here in Civita, time stretches far into the distant past. Pre-history begins 2 million years ago when the tufo that is this region’s primary building material was formed during the Pleistocene age. The site itself has been continuously inhabited for over 2,500 years, first by the Etruscans, then the Romans.
“Civita” simply means “town” and in central Italy, you will often see it appended to the name of various places, such as Civita Castellana and Civitavecchia outside Rome. But in early usage, the word, derived from the Latin civitas, designated the oldest and most built up area in order to distinguish it from neighboring villages. If a location was called “civita,” the designation meant that it was a place of some importance.
In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Civita looked much the same as it does today. A saddle of land connected present-day Civita to Bagnoregio (known then as Rota) with the Convento di S Francisco occupying the middle ground before it was lost to an earthquake. Together, the population numbered close to 1,800 citizens. Starting in 1695 and continuing for over 100 years, the city endured a series of devastating earthquakes, landslides, locust infestations, and malaria. By 1800, more than 40% of Civita’s land mass had been lost. Although the rate at which the city continues to crumble is glacial, the process continues through to today. “The clay soil here falls away like fresh ricotta,” says Erino Pompei, the mayor of Bagnoregio until 2009, whose name bears an eerie resemblance to another lost Italian town.
Civita immaginata: Mapping a Historic Landscape
March 13, 2014 in Architecture, Civita, Maps | Tags: Civita, maps, NIAUSI | by Sharon M | Leave a comment
In 2012, I received the Astra Zarina Fellowship from NIAUSI, The Northwest Institute of Architecture and Urban Design in Italy which allowed me to spend two months living and working in Civita di Bagnoregio, a World Heritage hill-town in Lazio, Italy whose roots date back nearly 3,000 years to the Etruscans.
On Friday, March 14th, I’ll be presenting my project, Civita immaginata: Mapping a Historic Landscape at NIAUSI’s Fellows Festival along with Liza Mickle, Don Fels, Isabel Sitcov and Alan Maskin at an afternoon seminar at SRG Partnership in Seattle, followed by an evening reception and auction at NBBJ Seattle.
As a designer, first and foremost, I organize information and try to make sense of sometimes very dissimilar things. But I’m also a storyteller, and this dual persona was a primary component of what I wanted to bring to Civita when I set out to create a series of maps that would attempt to make my own personal sense of a very special place. And this is probably as good a time as any to put out a disclaimer that I am not an architect or an historian so there are likely errors in some of these maps for which I take full responsibility.
So, why maps? Why not a series of posters or brochures? For designers as well as the general public, maps provide one of the primary ways of making sense of a place. But maps can also help us grasp deeper concepts, detect patterns, prognosticate. Civita immaginata invites viewers to go beyond what is depicted on the surface, to examine the many layers of meaning, culture and history that exist in one place.
Traditional maps are essentially arbitrary selections of information yet as users, we assign great ambitions to them. Implicitly, we trust them to help us navigate and make sense of the world. Quite often they succeed but sometimes in a controlled, coded language, and for many people who don’t how to analyze the data, they’re often complex and hard to understand. I wanted to see if a broader view of mapping, one that included an emotional component, might increase their accessibility for viewers, not just to their content but to their understanding of place.
In traditional societies, there was no need for maps. Words and memories built history, and what was “known” was transmitted from memory to memory. Yet this need we have to define the areas we explore and inhabit, to mark our territory, to organize it and often, change it seems fundamental. Map designers always need to make choices: what to leave in and take out. Everything goes through a kind of cartographic surgery, through layering of texture, color, image, text, symbol. Fortunately, we’re generally so familiar with the language of maps that we trust them, and mapmakers can take some liberties. But to map is to lie, since there is always a bias, always a point of view both literally and figuratively. Oscar Wilde said, “Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not his sitter.” Maps are like portraits—mysterious, sometimes abstract and sometimes deliberate exaggerations. Not only is this to be expected but in my opinion, it adds to the character of maps, creating an open-ended invitation for viewers to enter.
I’ll be sharing my project results in a series of posts over the next week, as well as some thinking on my map-making process and would love to hear your thoughts.
Civita Time: part 2
October 24, 2012 in Architecture, Civita, World design | Tags: Architecture, Civita, Design, Italy, seismic | by Sharon M | Leave a comment
In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Civita looked much the same as it does today. A saddle of land connected present-day Civita to Bagnoregio (known then as Rota) with the Convento di S Francisco occupying the middle ground before it was lost to an earthquake. The monastery can be seen in the drawing (below) sent back to Rome by a visiting monk. Together, the population numbered close to 1,800 citizens.
The Medieval city was divided into four contrade, or neighborhoods: Mercatello (the Merchant quarter); Ponte (the Bridge); Civita (the Town); and Carcere (the Prison). The area boundaries, interestingly, roughly correspond to the ancient Etruscan ideal city plan with most of the upper class Renaissance families building in the most favorable southeast sector and the communal prison located in the northeast. Still today, Civita displays its contrade banners during festas and other important ceremonies.
Most of the beautiful golden warren of buildings you see in Civita were built during this time, including the Palazzo Alemanni, the largest, most imposing house in Civita facing the main piazza. A walk around the town today can give you a real sense of what the city might have looked like in the 16th century—that is, at least from the buildings that are still standing.
Starting in 1695 and continuing for over 100 years, the city endured a series of devastating earthquakes, not to mention landslides, locust infestations, and malaria. By 1800, more than 40% of Civita’s land mass had been lost. Although the rate at which the city continues to crumble is glacial, the process continues through to today. “The clay soil here falls away like fresh ricotta,” says Erino Pompei, the mayor of Bagnoregio until 2009, whose name bears an eerie resemblance to another lost Italian town.
The twentieth century brought WWII bombings and isolation for well over a year in the mid-60s when the old bridge was demolished and a new one being built. In 2004, engineers began a cliff stabilization project, funded by the Province of Viterbo and the EU, that will cost more than $15 million when it is scheduled to be completed in 2014. The project involves planting concrete shafts in the dirt below the rocks on which Civita sits and reinforcing them with thousands of iron rods. The blocks are meant to act as dams to keep the claylike soil from getting too wet and unstable. Last year, a fascinating and extensive exhibit detailing Civita’s geological past and the stabilization project opened at the Museo geologico e delle frane located in the Palazzo Alemanni.
The hope is that for the next few centuries at least, Civita will be safe. After that? “Niente può fermare la natura,” says Signore Pompei. “Nothing can stop nature.”
Ciao from Civita!
October 24, 2012 in Civita, Maps, World design | Tags: Civita, Etruscans, Liver of Piacenza, Mummy of Zagreb, Pyrgi Tablets, Roman, timelines, Villa Guilia | by Sharon M | Leave a comment
As every designer worth her salt knows, timelines are a staple of exhibit design. Mounting an exhibition without a timeline is akin to leaving out the donor wall.
When I arrived in Civita, I knew a timeline would be one of the maps I would create, but I also knew it would probably be the last. It may seem counter-intuitive, but now as I come to the end of my stay, the process feels right. I needed to spend an extended time here, reading, talking, and learning before I felt I could attempt anything approaching a timeline.
Timelines are the quintessential “map” of any subject; a way for viewers to grasp a condensed glimpse of what is usually a huge body of information. So, in lieu of the interactive visual timeline that will be the final product of my fellowship, allow me to play the part of museum curator in my two final posts, and present some of my favorite stories that I have learned about “Civita Time.”
“Civita” means “town” and in central Italy, you will often see it appended to the name of various places, such as Civita Castellana, Civitella d’Agliano, and Civitavecchia (outside Rome). But in early usage, the word, derived from the Latin civitas, designated the oldest and most built up area in order to distinguish it from neighboring villages. If a location was called “civita”, the designation meant that it was a place of some importance.
Civita di Bagnoregio has been continuously inhabited for over 2,500 years, first by the Etruscans, then the Romans. Its pre-history begins 2 million years ago when the tufo that is this region’s primary building material was formed during the Pleistocene age. History then picks up with the Etruscans, before moving on to significant Roman, Medieval and Renaissance events.
Before leaving Seattle, I had wanted to read D.H. Lawrence’s book of short essays “Etruscan Places” but ran out of time. I checked Tony’s library, hoping that perhaps I might find it in the section marked “English nonfiction” and sure enough, there it was. An old yellowed paperback, but there nonetheless. Non-historian Brit that he was, Lawrence has been criticized for writing six essays on the subject of Etruscans after spending the whole of three days exploring Etruscan Italy. Yet his style is pretty approachable and he writes with warmth and feeling, if from a slightly patronizing perspective. The very first essay begins:
“The Etruscans, as everyone knows, were the people who occupied the middle of Italy in early Roman days and whom the Romans, in their usual neighborly fashion, wiped out entirely in order to make room for Rome with a very big R.”
The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna or Rasna and they are most commonly believed to have moved westward into northern and central Italy from Asia Minor. The etymology of the name “Etruscan” may have come from a phrase in the ancient Umbrian dialect with “trus” being the Latin Umbrian word for tower. So, the Etruscans were “E-trus-ci” or “those who build towers.”
The Romans lay claim to most historical achievements in Italy but many would never have been accomplished without their Etruscan predecessors, including hydraulic engineering and a written language (Latin was a spoken language only until Roman intermingling with the Etruscans began). They put their skill as excellent architects and engineers to good use in diverting waterways, tunneling channels and laying out their cities. The lower lying portions of Rome, such as the area surrounding the Capitoline Hill, was formerly marshland. Creating a habitable area there would never have been a possibility without the hydraulic engineering skills of the Etruscans.
The “Etruscan League” consisted of twelve loosely aligned cities, one of which was known in Latin as Volsinii (or Velzna by the Etruscans) and is believed to have been the site of the modern Italian cities of Orvieto or Bolsena. Every spring, representatives of the Dodecapoli, or Twelve Cities of the League, came to Volsinii for religious rites, conferences, games, entertainment, and a large market. With Civita less than a day’s journey away from Bolsena (15 minutes by car today) it may well have been an important stopping point on what would have been a two-day journey from the Tiber to Orvieto during Etruscan times.
The Etruscan civilization was peaceful (their ultimate downfall) and prosperous, based on farming, metallurgy, ceramics, and trade throughout the Mediterranean. Religion pervaded all aspects of their society, with a particular emphasis on and familiarity with the afterlife. The Etruscans saw little difference between life and death, regarding them simply as different states of being.
They preferred hilltop sites for their cities, safely above the malarial swamps and easily defendable. Often the cities were sited whenever possible on two adjoining plateaus or headlands separated by a river. On one plateau, they would build their city; the other served as the necropolis. Civita and its neighbor to the north, Orvieto, are perfect examples of this scheme.
They used a sacred plan to design the layout of their cities, which reflected their religious beliefs. The ideal Etruscan city was a circle divided into a grid, with four main sectors formed by the intersection of two axes, a street running north-south and another east west. This corresponded to the division of the sky into four parts inhabited by different gods, with good or bad connotations, designating favorable or unfavorable areas to locate particular enterprises. At the center was an open space, the mundus, with a shaft running underground that connected to the necropolis and the underworld, through which sacrifices and offerings could be made. The main temples faced this central gathering place.
When a new city was built, this sacred plan was laid out in a special ceremony. We know this from subsequent Roman writings, and we also know that the Romans respected these beliefs enough that they adopted some of the Etruscan practices. In Civita, the current site of the Christian Chiesa S Donato (first built in the 8th century A.D.) has been the site of some form of religious worship since 600 B.C. and the prison contrade is located in the “most unfavorable” zone.
The elimination of the Etruscans was one of the more successful genocides of modern times. It worked, not because it concentrated on the physical elimination of a group of people—from a Roman point of view the sieges of Etruscan cities was considered a domestic disturbance, not a foreign war—but because the cultural identity of the Etruscans was destroyed. After the sack of Perugia, the last great Etruscan city, Augustus made it illegal to speak the language. By the reign of Claudius, fifty or sixty years later, the emperor himself was one of the few still able to speak Etruscan.
What is left from the Etruscans hints at the richness of their culture. There is the Mummy of Zagreb, an Etruscan text written on linen (they wrote from right to left like the Phoenicians) that was discovered when it was used as binding tapes for an Egyptian mummy brought back to that city by a tourist. There is the Liver of Piacenza, a Henry Moore-like representative of a sheep’s liver in bronze, inscribed with the names of regions and gods used for haruspicy, a divining practice that inspects the entrails of animals. And there are the Pyrgi Tablets, a bilingual text in Etruscan and Phoenician engraved on three gold leaves, one written in Phoenician and two in Etruscan, that dates from approximately 500 B.C. and which is on display in the Villa Guilia, Rome’s primary Etruscan museum.
Lawrence writes:
“But it is not for me to make assertions [although he continues to do so throughout his essays]. Only that which half emerges from the dim background of time is strangely stirring; and after having read all the learned suggestions, most of them contradicting each other; and then having looked sensitively at the tombs and the Etruscan things that are left, one must accept one’s own resultant feeling.”
The “resultant feeling” here in Civita is one of awe that such a place could have been conceived and achieved by the Etruscans and that today, in 2012, I can wake up, walk to the piazza, and sit in the sun next to an Etruscan column built in 600 B.C.
Cloud over Civita
October 22, 2012 in Civita, Inspirations, Maps, Typography, World design | Tags: Architecture, Civita, Design, maps, word cloud | by Sharon M | 1 comment
From the studio where I have been working these past weeks, I could (and still can) hear the voices of tourists as they pass by the balcony window. When I first arrived in Civita it was quite hot, in the high nineties, and during the Italian pausa between 1:00 and 4:00 pm, it was a welcome relief to take shelter inside the cool tufo building. Now in October, there are far less visitors, but in late August and early September school children were still on holiday and families were squeezing in one last vacation trip.
The heat did not keep the tourists inside. So as I worked I could hear the mingling of languages as visitors passed by my window—mostly Italian, but always with a smattering of English, German, French and what I think was Japanese. The words drifted into my room like a cloud…a word cloud.
Word clouds or “tag clouds” as they are properly called, became all the rage in the late 1990s as a feature of early personal websites and blogs. The form was used widely to visualize the frequency distribution of keywords that describe website content, and as a navigation aid. Before long, word clouds were being used to editorialize and visualize everything from Biblical passages to presidential debate analysis.
But the idea behind word clouds is not new. It could be argued that traditional maps were the very first rudimentary “word clouds” since the type size of the name of a city, region, or feature is represented relative to its population or importance.
Then there are calligrams, type or handwriting arranged in a way that creates a visual image that expresses the content of the text. Visual designers and educators have used calligrams as a visual means of expression for decades.
During my stay in Civita, I was looking for a way to convey the rich mix of both “hearing” many languages and seeking a way to describe how people experience this place. A word cloud/calligram seemed like the perfect solution. So beginning from that first week in August, I decided to track what I could hear outside my studio window. And so began my “map” of the most common words heard during one hour of the daily pausa when most “sensible” Italians were indoors cooking the midday meal and resting.
Obviously, what I could catch was dependant on my limited Italian, college French, and zero understanding of any Asian language. English jumped out at me without my having any say in the matter, and so my resultant Civita word cloud may be a bit biased in that respect. Simple observation, however, was all that was needed to determine that there have been far more Italian tourists in Civita than any other group these past seven weeks. That should most certainly provide a hometown advantage.
Reading Civita
October 20, 2012 in Architecture, Civita, Maps, World design | Tags: Architecture, Civita, Franz Joseph Gall, Italy, Lorenzo Fowler, phrenology | by Sharon M | 1 comment
It has been said that you can “read” a person’s temperament, speculate how easy or difficult their life has been, by looking closely at their face. This is often where signs of stress appear, presenting itself with tired eyes, deep lines between the eyebrows, lips and jaw tight.
What if this were true for a place? What if the essence of a city resided not in its statistics and facts but in the development of its character expressed, perhaps, in the configuration of its hills and valleys, tunnels and caves, changes in public and private space? We could then “read” a city by examining its own particular psycho-geography—not the outer surface layer that it presents to the world but its true depth.
The concept is fanciful but intriguing and pursuing it further inevitably leads to an examination of the 19th-century pseudo-science of phrenology. Phrenology is the study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities. The system came from the theories of the Austrian physician Franz Joseph Gall but it was quite popular in Britain and American as well. Lorenzo Fowler was America’s leading phrenologist. It was he who created the famous white ceramic head.
Phrenologists worked by touch; they would “read” a person’s character by running the palms of their hands over the surface of the skull, the theory being that the skull takes its shape from the brain beneath. They considered the brain the organ of the mind and believed it was composed of distinct “faculties” and “sub-faculties” each of which controlled a certain character trait or intellectual attribute such as Cautiousness or Benevolence. The size of each area corresponded to its power.
Getting to know Civita phrenologically requires a slightly different approach. It requires eyes and feet, time spent walking its streets and hills repeatedly. This is the polar opposite of reading about a place in a guidebook, visiting for a few hours on a summer day, or checking it out on Google maps. I’ve been fortunate that through NIAUSI’s fellowship I’ve been allowed the time to do this type of exploration.
When complete, my phrenological “map” of Civita will most certainly be a subjective exercise in “bump-reading” applied to a particular place during a limited time period. But my hope is that it will provide yet one more way to “see” this special place. Already, a cursory look at Fowler’s list of faculties applied to Civita leads to some general conclusions.
Civita’s rich yet destructive past has most certainly left its mark but it remains an industrious city that loves children, families, and animals and delights in showing its wonders to the world. The city reconstructs more than it builds anew, and it is an optimistic place that venerates its past. Interestingly, in phrenology, the faculties one lacks are just as significant as those that are prominent, and in Civita the lack of Blandness and Approbativeness immediately come to mind.
This is, of course, an idiosyncratic exercise. Perhaps the best approach is to visit and draw your own conclusions. Civita will most certainly welcome you.
12 Hours in Civita
October 15, 2012 in Civita, Food, Maps, Photographs, World design | Tags: Civita, Italy, maps | by Sharon M | Leave a comment
Part of the benefit of spending an extended period of time here in Civita is witnessing the ebb and flow of tourists and visitors to the town. Some days are busy; some slower due to weather or weekday schedules. What remains constant is the realization that whether 10 or 100 tourists walk up the hill on a Sunday in October, Civita will continue to go on about its business.
Jules Verne said, “Look with all your eyes, look.” The Surrealists painters recognized what they called “the potency of the everyday.” Writers and artists love details, but there is always a push and pull between the obsession with detail and the semi-conscious acknowledgement that everything will eventually vanish. Relief, essentially, mixed with dread.
It has been interesting to discover how much more there is to “see” when you really slow down and start to look. Glance around the piazza on a typical morning and you may think not much is happening. A few groups of tourists wander in through the gate…the chiesa door is open and receiving visitors…. La Tonna, one of the souvenir shops, is open for business.
Look a little closer in Civita and you might see: seismic workers heading out to the north cliff wall; a mason mixing the special pozzolano cement used here for tufo construction; Sandro making his rounds to collect and ferry Civita’s garbage to the Bagnoregio bins. Basically, you will see the life of the town in the process of being.
Much of Civita has been documented—its history, culture, architecture, and traditions. These things have been studied, talked about, described, inventoried, photographed, and analyzed. Documentation is part of why I am here on a NIAUSI Fellowship. But what about the rest?
The passing of a day in Civita—a mere 12 hours—includes, like many places, actions and events that are not usually noticed; things that have no real consequence in the grand scheme of the recorded history of this place. Does that mean then, that what takes place when nothing “important” happens is worthy of remembering or recording? My suspicion is that noticing the unremarkable might yield a different kind of map of Civita. And the process of noticing in itself could lead to a particular kind of subjective storytelling since the mind tends to question the whys and wherefores of what it sees. Observing the world in action, it wants to make connections.
The Italians have a wonderful expression: il dolce far niente, which translates as “the sweetness of doing nothing.” Too often in today’s jam-packed, work-driven, internet-powered world, it is easy to forget how to “do nothing.” Even worse, we wrongly believe that doing nothing equals uselessness. The Italians are wiser. They live il dolce far niente even when they are busy serving pranzo, mixing mortar, or ferrying wine bottles and plastic to the recycling bins. Perhaps it is the wisdom that comes from living in a culture with a 3,000-year heritage or simply an understanding that the sum of life is larger than what we can pack into an 8-hour workday. Regardless, life here is not something that can be spent, wasted, or passed. It simply is. Every moment holds possibility. In America, some of us, myself included, frequently feel that if something is not done with a purpose it is the same as doing nothing.
Of course, there is a downside to this observation that I will call the “grass is always greener” syndrome. Our perceptions of the world are formed through categories, genres, and classifications, many of them specific to the culture we come from. Idealizing any particular place happens when we remove ourselves from our daily routines and see new ways of living. We become attracted to the potential for change in our own lives. Yet as we all know, change is hard, but it is essential if we are to continue to grow. Travel speeds that growth process in many ways by simultaneously challenging and enriching us.
The people of Civita are called Civitonici. In such an ancient place, that self-definition may apply only to the handful of families who have lived here for five or seven generations. Can someone who has lived here for 20 or 30 years legitimately call themselves Civitonici? Does it depend on whether you are a full or part-time resident? Does it count at all if you’re a stranieri, a foreigner? You may have come here decades ago and know as much if not more about Civita than some locals. But…Italians take the long view of history.
The answers to these questions are ultimately personal. One solid fact, however, is that Civita is experiencing increasing change with each passing year. Invariably this will—this must—change the definition of who and what constitutes the Civitonici. For many reasons, the city has become a destination. The influx of tourism and rising real estate prices is bringing increased commerce for the merchants but also poses the risk of losing the essence of this city and turning it into an Italian Disneyland. So far that has not happened, but it is a fine line to thread. Everyone wants a piece of something they feel they have “discovered” and when they get it, they tend to not want to share it with the next newcomer. But to survive, Civita has to be shared.
The passing of a day here, like anywhere, has its own rhythm and increasingly that routine includes many tourists and the patterning of locals to cater to the needs of these visitors, both short-and long-term, myself included. Whether this means that a little bit of the ancient soul of Civita is lost in the process remains to be seen. The decision ultimately rests with the Civitonici, however broadly or narrowly they choose to define themselves.
Saints and saviors: part 2
October 11, 2012 in Architecture, Civita, World design | Tags: adaptive reuse, Architecture, Astra Zarina, Bonaventura Tecchi, Civita, Design, University of Washington Rome Center | by Sharon M | 1 comment
Do a Google search for Civita di Bagnoregio and one of the first things you will find is a reference to it as “la città che muore” (the dying town). This immediately sets a particular tone, but in fact, this appellation is taken out of context from a text by Bonaventura Tecchi an Italian essayist born in Bagnoregio. In 1947, Tecchi formed the “Pro Civita Committee” whose mission was to save Civita from what seemed at the time to be inevitable death. Tecchi was referring to the erosion of the cliffs around Civita, not voicing a prediction for the future of Civita. Here is the full quote:
“I would never have become a writer unless I had lived for a few months every year, from July to November, starting in my earliest youth, in the valley of Civita, with the vision of the white crests, the golden volcanic clay, the eloquent ruins, in the land of Saint Bonaventure…with the memory of ancient earthquakes, the slip constant…in the city that is dying.”
One of my NIAUSI colleagues here is exploring Civita through the lens of adaptive reuse of its buildings over the years, particularly since the 1960s and 70s when many restoration projects began to take place. It has been sobering to see graphic visual examples which she has found in the archives here of just how deteriorated Civita had been before those restorations projects began to gain a foothold. For those of you who know Civita, the picture below (taken from Piero Bormioli’s book) shows the view of the city in the late 1960s, looking west. Osteria Il Forno d’Agnese currently occupies the building on the left.
Today, tourists walk into the main piazza and we hear them comment on how “old” and “worn” the buildings and some of the public infrastructure seems. If only they knew….in actuality, Civita is in pretty top form today. Certainly, there are areas that need attention and repair, but in most cases, they are receiving it. Civita has become a destination and those in authority know it. A major stabilization project targeting one of the most vulnerable cliff areas on the northwest side of the city was recently completed, funded with money from the Province of Viterbo and the EU. as I write this, dust drifts in my open window and I can hear the whirring of additional anchor rods being drilled into the cliff by seismic workers nearby.
Keeping Civita alive takes a lot of work and much resources. But over the decades, it has attracted scores of people who have worked to save it. The reasons are varied and numerous. Some people, like the Rocchi family who own both a bruschetteria and ristorante here, have lived in Civita for over 500 years. The family is very dedicated to the idea of helping Civita survive in the 21st century while simultaneously respecting the geography and geology that surrounds it. Other one-time residents like the Bastoni and Medori families continue a close connection to Civita through the successful businesses that they have established here over many years. It is in their interest to see Civita thrive.
Then there are the contributions made to Civita by the late Astra Zarina and her husband Tony Costa Heywood, who today counts himself as one of the town’s handful of full-time residents.
Zarina was a respected Professor of Architecture at the University of Washington in Seattle, who in the 1980s was instrumental in establishing the UW’s Rome Center, housed at the Palazzo Pio near Campo d’Fiori.
In the early 60s when the couple first visited Civita, much of the town was in a state of extensive disrepair, as noted above. Zarina and Heywood had the foresight to envision the value and potential to restoring buildings in Civita, and their training as architects gave them the skill and vision to make it a reality. But it took hard work and many years. Zarina handled restoration projects for some of the first buildings in Civita in the late 60s for architect friends, leading the wave of reclaiming these beautiful structures. Tony recalls how difficult it was to get workers to even agree to work on a project in an area as remote and difficult to reach as Civita. There was unreliable electricity to run power tools and pozzolana, the volcanic ash cement used here as mortar for the tufo buildings, needed to be mixed by hand. But they persevered.
Civita was enlivened further still when Zarina established the University of Washington’s Italian Hilltowns program in this ancient borgo. Starting in the late 70s and continuing for 30 years, architecture and design students had the opportunity to spent two months in Civita every summer, living with local families and learning the lessons of continuity and change in Italian architecture. In 2007, the pair donated a portion of their own personal restored property to NIAUSI, the organization that is funding my Fellowship, to establish the Civita Institute as a permanent study center in Civita.
These, then, are the real saints and saviors of Civita…the people who loved the city, saw its potential and worked to ensure that it would not become “la città che muore.”
October 8, 2012 in Architecture, Civita, Maps, World design | Tags: Architecture, Civita, Design, Italy, saints | by Sharon M | 2 comments
It is impossible, and possibly inauspicious, to evade ecclesiastical interactions while in Italy. Despite the presence of the Vatican city-state in Rome, Italy has one of the least religious Catholic populations in the world. Yet even the smallest Italian city displays a rich layering of religious iconography, placemaking, and storytelling. Civita and its neighboring hamlet Bagnoregio are no exceptions.
One of the most fascinating religious discoveries I have made here concerns saints known as i incorruttibili misteriose or “the mysterious incorruptibles”—devout individuals whose remains do not decompose after death. The phenomenon of incorruptibility is taken as a powerful sign of saintliness in the Catholic Church and most of these individuals have already been canonized. Visitors to certain Italian churches, myself included, are shocked by the display of a corpse, dressed in religious vestments and encased in a glass coffin at the high altar or in the crypt.
Officially Civita has two Patron saints, Santa Vittoria (St. Victoria) and Sant’ Ildebrando (St. Hildebrand), both of whom have separate altars dedicated to them in the city’s main church Chiesa S. Donato.
Santa Vittoria, martyred in 251 AD is remembered for persevering through abuse and her remains are kept in an urn under the left altar. Sant’ Ildebrando was born in Bagnoregio and was its Bishop from 856 to 873. His body rests under the right altar. An interesting miracle attributed to him is that when he was old and bedridden, his servants brought him a cooked partridge, but as it was a fast day, he was unable to eat the bird. So instead, he prayed over it and it came to life and flew away. Here in Bagnoregio, the people are very zealous in honoring Sant’ Ildebrando and regularly make the trip up the hill to Civita since it is said that he has a reputation for dealing severely with those who do not give him due respect.
But Civita’s most famous son is S. Bonaventura (St. Bonaventure). Chapels and statues to him seem to be present on every corner in these two towns. Bonaventura was born Giovanni Fidanza around 1221 AD in a house no more than 50 meters from where I am writing this now.
As a young child, he fell seriously ill and his mother took him to the nearby Convento de San Francisco, which used to occupy the ground between Civita and Bagnoregio before it was lost in a 17th century to an earthquake.
In the grotto that now marks the spot of the old monastery, it is said that St. Francis prayed and healed Giovanni, then blessed him with the name “O Buona Ventura,” seeing much good fortune in his future. Bonaventura went on to join the Franciscan order and became a scholar and teacher and a primary biographer of St. Francis. He traveled widely but often came back to Italy and his home in Bagnoregio. After his death, his right arm was placed in a reliquery made from silver and gold donated by the people of Bagnoregio, an event that is celebrated every year on March 14.
A church, the Chiesa di S. Bonaventura, was built on the site of his childhood home but after the structure was damaged in another earthquake, a chapel built with some of the salvaged tufo bricks was dedicated in a new church in Bagnoregio.
The most endearing story I have heard about S. Bonaventura came from the sacristan in the church here, also named, interestingly, Bonaventura. Apparently, when Pope Gregory X made Bonaventura a cardinal, he sent several messengers to him with the symbolic red cardinal’s hat. When they arrived, they found Bonaventura washing dishes and he asked them to hang the red hat on a nearby tree since his hands were wet and dirty.
October 4, 2012 in Civita, Maps, World design | Tags: Civita, Italy, Treasure Island | by Sharon M | 1 comment
In 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson published a fictional tale of adventure about an expedition to an unnamed Caribbean island to recover a treasure that had been buried there. Treasure Island is considered one of the first adventure stories written specifically for adolescents without an obvious emphasis on teaching morals. It’s action-packed, has a huge cast of characters, and begins with a map. And the map has a backstory.
It begins in Scotland, in 1881 on a rainy summer day. A twelve-year old boy is daydreaming and begins drawing a map of an island. His stepfather finishes it, adds names, and writes in the upper right hand corner, “Treasure Island”. That stepfather was Robert Louis Stevenson and his stepson’s map inspired his novel. Unfortunately, when Stevenson sent his manuscript to his publisher, the map went missing and it was never found. He created another map for publication, “but somehow,” he wrote,” it was never really ‘Treasure Island’ to me.”
Since its publication, Stevenson’s map has had readers asking the question, “Where is Treasure Island?” even when they are told it is an imaginary island that doesn’t exist. How could they not? Maps are guides. We trust them. We look to them to help us find what is desirable, help us navigate the unknown, and sometimes avoid the dangerous.They can make unreal place seem real, and real place more manageable.
It’s easy, here in Civita di Bagnoregio, to imagine that you are in an imaginary place. The backstory that is history here is sometimes so deep, so hard to comprehend in real time, that it begins to feel unreal. Once, the twin cities of Civita and Bagnoregio were a single city, along with a lively merchant neighborhood between which has since totally disappeared, swallowed up by landslides. Now they are separated by a deep chasm, and joined only by a narrow footbridge. Very few maps unite the two again, but when one has spend some time in Civita, it becomes evident that one could not exist without the other. Civita is why the tourists come, and Bagnoregio thrives, in part, to serve those visitors.
But Civita also has a present life as well as a past which can sometimes be easy to overlook. I’ve watched tourists come into the town, snap a few pictures, and be on their way back out in an hour. They pay little attention to the richness of history here, and zero attention to the fact that there are “real” people here living out their daily lives—merchants, masons and carpenters, cooks, priests, and seismic workers.
Taken together, Civita’s treasures are numerous. Some are historic, some architectural, some natural. When I decided to create a treasure map of the city, I knew that I wanted to include everyday treasures as well as historic ones. Together they feed the body and the soul and here in Italy, both are necessary to sooth a weary traveler.
In some ways, every map is a “treasure” map, every place a “Treasure Island” and what we each decide to include on the treasure maps in our lives will always be as personal as the places we visit and the experiences we have. Everyone will have their own list. Right now, I’m enjoying putting mine together for Civita.
Symbols and iconography: part 2
September 24, 2012 in Architecture, Civita, Signage, World design | Tags: Architecture, Civita, Design, Etruscan, Italy, Roman, Signage | by Sharon M | Leave a comment
Civita iconography can roughly be divided into three categories—religious, historical, and vernacular—the latter spanning many time periods. What is most interesting to me about this visual language is how each of these three very distinct layers mix. Not surprisingly, this is a recurring theme here in Civita given its amalgam of past incarnations, beginning from its Etruscan beginnings and extending up to today. Having the luxury to spend an extended period of time here looking and learning allows one to begin to perceive the extent of this intermingling in a much more subtle way.
There is also a welcome tendency here to leave well enough alone. Whether this is due to the relatively easy-going lifestyle of the Italians, their innate sense of design, or their tendency to reuse materials (more about that later), the result is that even the simplest of vernacular signs has a natural balance and pleasing composition. Hand-printed signs lettered decades ago hang happily and comfortably beside cantinas and tabacchi. Typography, especially handwritten, is satisfying as well.
Tabacchi are in fact, good examples of vernacular design. In Italy, a tabacchi is where you go for local bus tickets, phone cards and postage stamps. Tabacchi display this sign: a big white “T” on a blue or black background. The text “sali e tabacchi” refers to the two products—salt and tobacco— that these shops sold that were initially controlled by the government. Nice sign, right?
Historical signs carry with them the weight of imagination and memory, making them particularly interesting in cultures like Italy where time reaches back so far into the past. The Etruscans, Civita’s first inhabitants, and the Romans who followed, were both cultures that understood well the power of symbols and used iconography extensively for protection, fertility, wealth, crop germination, death, and birth rituals. In fact, one of the first things the Romans did on their relentless march to conquer the ancient Etruscan cities was to smash their black clay wear which was heavily decorated with symbols. Symbols common here in Civita include the horse—an archetype that both the Etruscans and Romans associated with honor and spiritual journeys to other worlds—the lion, and the eagle.
Religious iconographic art is sometimes referred to as “windows into heaven” and the Greek work anagogic—literally meaning “leading one upward”—was often used to describing their purpose. Iconography was an integral part of Christian life, despite a great controversy in the seventh and eighth centuries when the Iconoclasts (“icon-smashers”), suspicious of any sacred art that represented human beings or God, demanded the destruction of icons. In addition to the Bishops’ hat and keys, associated with the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, the pervasive religious icon here in Civita, as in much of the rest of Italy, is the Madonna. Not only is she visually represented everywhere, but her presence is alive in many of the built-in altars and icons on buildings and in Civita’s caves and grottos.
For a palpable look into this iconography “mix” we need look no further than Civita’s main piazza and its beautiful Medieval church, the Chiesa S. Donato. Here, in tangible ways, we can see not only the layering of symbols, but also symbol “borrowing” as well as active incorporation of artifacts from one culture to another.
Rosettes—which some scholars believe derived from the Etruscan paterna or mundus—the symbol of the ever-present life-force—abound as decorative elements. The Etruscan lions and Roman eagle now grace the outer entry of the Porta S. Maria, placed there in the 1500s to commemorate Civita’s triumph over a nearby city-state. Roman sarcophagi, frieze fragments, and corbels are set into the lower outer walls of the church and the nearby bell tower.
Enter the church and you will see a holy water font made from two ancient Romans Corinthian capitals turned upside down. When Civita celebrates its festas in the piazza,the Medieval symbols depicting the town’s four contrade, or neighborhoods (the Market, the Bridge, the Caisson, and the Prison) are unfurled and live on. Going back even further, the physical divisions of these four contrade correspond closely to the Etruscan layout of the ideal city, a circle divided into four areas, favorable and unfavorable.
Coming from a young country, this concept of flow and continuity in history is striking. We try hard to understand it, but we may never fully absorb its effect. Michael Adams in his book Umbria, writes: “To the Italian…acceptance of the past is natural and effortless. For him, the centuries merge more easily than for the rest of us, partly because he lives (in Umbria and especially in Civita) surrounded by so many of the physical symbols of the past, but even more because here the essential thread has never been broken…with no Reformation, no French Revolution, lies like a caesura across the line of his history. The Romans (and Etruscans) are his ancestors, as they are not ours, and all that lies between, all the troubled history of two thousand years, has been assimilated, unified, and transmuted into a culture singularly free of contradiction.”
September 19, 2012 in Civita, Entertainment, World design, Writing | Tags: 2001: A Space Odyssey, iconography, symbols, The Matrix, the New Yorker | by Sharon M | 1 comment
In a recent issue of the New Yorker, there is a fascinating article on Andy and Lana Wachowski, the siblings who are best known for writing and directing the “Matrix” trilogy. By all reports, the brother and sister are natural filmmakers who count “2001: A Space Odyssey” as one of their earliest influences. The family was apparently huge movie fans, of all genres, but 12-year old Lana recalls initially hating “2001” and was “perplexed by the mysterious presence of the black monolith.” Her father explained simply, “That’s a symbol”. The author recounts Lana’s reaction: “That simple sentence went into my brain and rearranged things in such an unbelievable way that I don’t think I’ve been the same since…it’s one of the reasons I’m a filmmaker.”
Granted, perhaps not every child will respond to symbols this way, but could a contributing factor be that we also don’t cultivate this type of visual seeing and learning enough? The anecdote resonated with me because this past week I have been struck by the complex overlays of symbol and iconography here in Civita. Admittedly, this is most probably the case in many countries whose historical timeline extends back beyond the 1800s but it feels particularly close to the surface in Civita and very much a part of daily life here.
It seems to me that America has trouble with symbols. Both commercially and on a personal level the relationship is one of ambivalence. In order to be sure they convey their intended meaning, we seem to feel they need amplification (a logo must always have a tagline, and perhaps a second, and a third…) or alternately, we fear they possess an innate power to excite and incite ideas and actions, allowing them to spin out of the sphere of our control.
As any designer knows, the advantage of symbols is that they speak a universal language. I do not need to be conversant in Arabic to understand that the Kaaba represents a significant “concept” to Muslims. I might not be able to fully articulate the subtleties of its meaning but I can understand the power and centricity of it as a symbol in one of the world’s great religions.
The more a symbol is used for a particular purpose, the clearer and more effective its communication will be. Each passing generation, utilizing the same symbol, builds up a clearer, stronger energy from that symbol and its resultant power increases. It is no coincidence that certain of these symbols from ancient civilizations continue to be an integral part our society, even to the point that corporations use them in commercials, movies, and logos.
Symbols can be like road maps, leading, or guiding you, toward a desired goal. Of course, the road is not a real road with dirt and stone; it is the energy we invest in the symbol. By this measure, it would seem to make sense that the most effective symbols are the ones that have lasted through the ages. Obvious examples include the Christian cross, the yin/yang symbol, the pyramid, the ankh, etc.
Once these symbol sets pass into the realm of becoming archetypes — ideas or ways of thinking inherited from all these sources and present in your subconscious — they become the model upon which you pattern your life, sending shorthand messages to your subconscious and conscious minds. They begin to function as a complete set, as iconography—the collective use of symbols and visual images by a certain culture or group designed to encourage certain behaviors or effects.
That is why people often choose to pray in a church setting when they could just as easily do so at home, or feel they can mediate more successfully in a space carefully designed to induce a contemplative state. Iconography can unlock a stream of memories, data, emotions and beliefs, and sometimes it happens whether we want them to or not.
Portals to another world
September 12, 2012 in Architecture, Civita, Design, World design | Tags: Architecture, Astra Zarina, Design, doors, Italy, University of Washington Rome Center | by Sharon M | 2 comments
For visitors in any context, doors hold special significance. Here in Civita, since I am most certainly a visitor, I’ve found myself taking a particular interest in them, although I am hardly alone in this respect.
Here in the Civita Institute’s Sala Grande there are years of archived materials from the University of Washington’s Italian Hilltowns Program, which was based here in Civita di Bagnoregio and conducted for many years by Astra Zarina, one of the co-founders of the University’s Rome Center. After spending several hours browsing through the materials, it became obvious that doors and gates (and windows) occupy a good portion of the students’ study, but with a noticeable difference in focus.
Student projects tended to document architectural styles, details, age, and construction materials. My interests lie more along the lines of discovering and describing the enormous variety of doors here in Civita, every one of which seems to have its own particular beauty that it carries along with its long, imagined history. Many in fact are wonderful examples of palimpsests, something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form. And then, there is their meaning.
The English word “portal” is, in fact, derived from the Latin portalis or Italian porta which means “door” or “gate.” Doors and doorways have been symbolic across cultures for as long as history has been recorded. A door is, of course, both an entrance and an exit, so it has been associated with portals and passageways on many levels throughout history. Doors are closely related to gates and thresholds because the three share some very similar symbolic features and sometimes work together to create passage.
Doors were first seen in recorded history on paintings inside Egyptian tombs. The ancient Romans had advanced architectural elements and were known to have used single, double, sliding, and folding doors. Fun fact: the Roman god Janus is the god of doors and doorways (which makes him, naturally, the god of beginnings, endings, and transitions.) Doors still continue to symbolize all of these elements today.
First and foremost, a door is an entrance. On a literal level, this will usually lead to the inside of something (a house, building, or other structure). But on a metaphorical level, a door can become an entrance to nearly anything, although in ancient art it is most commonly used to symbolize the entrance to another world. On a personal level, a door might symbolize whether you are an intimate or an outsider.
The other common symbolism for doors, and one that particularly interests me, is transitions. At the simplest level, a door or doorway symbolizes the transition and passageway from one place to another, or can symbolize the passage from one world to another in religion, mythology, and literature. But a deeper meaning arises when doors, gates, and passageways serve as symbolic transitions for individuals experiencing change. Most of us have a memory of taking a deep breath before crossing some kind of threshold, be it to an interview, a meeting with a teacher or mentor, or a dining room filled with happy, laughing people, none of whom we know.
Doors are associated with privacy, control, and protection much more than a welcoming, open-view gate. Often a doorway provides little view to the other side when closed. And when open, we generally take far less notice of them.
Taking that step across a doorway also means you’ve crossed a threshold and thresholds are typically boundaries or points at which two places (or cultures or experiences) meet. It is where two worlds come together and provide the traveler a point of passage. Crossing the threshold means taking chances and leaving the past behind. All appropriate musings for a visitor in Civita, and rich mapping material.
Beautiful evidence
September 7, 2012 in Civita, Design, Maps, World design | Tags: Design, Edward Tufte, Galileo, information design, Italy, maps | by Sharon M | 1 comment
Here in Civita, as my second week begins, I’ve been thinking about the many ways we “map” our world. There is a story I heard once about the American astronauts, who when they first landed on the moon, named some of the craters after their wives. I suppose when we are far from home, there is a need to feel reassured by what is near and dear.
As users, we assign great ambitions to maps. Implicitly, we trust them to make sense of the world, reveal things that are invisible to the eye. But often, they do so in a coded language, so much so that much still remains invisible to many who do not know how to analyze the data.
In traditional societies, there was no need for maps. Words and memories built history, and what was “known” was transmitted from memory to memory. But yet, there seems to be this need we have to define the areas we explore and inhabit, to mark our territory, to organize it and often, change it.
Edward Tufte, the professor emeritus of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale University who is noted for his writings on information design and data visualization, says there are only two industries where the consumer is commonly referred to as a “user”—illegal drugs and the computer industry.
Tufte’s books, The Quantitative Display of Information and Envisioning Information are classic reads for graphic designers. His most recent book, Beautiful Evidence, sets out to explode the myth that there are pre-specified ways of displaying particular information. Instead, Tufte believes that the content should dictate the form, a concept not all that different from the “form follows function” principle associated with modern architecture and industrial design in the 20th century. His thesis is that the information doesn’t care what is done to it or how it is displayed. Do whatever it takes. Adapt as you analyze. Link it to the content.
Here’s an excerpt from the book’s introduction:
“A colleague of Galileo, Federico Cesis, wrote that Galileo’s 38 hand drawn images of sunspots ‘delight both by the wonder of the spectacle and the accuracy of expression.’ That is beautiful evidence. Science and art have in common intense seeing, the wide-eyed observing that generates empirical information. Beautiful Evidence is about how seeing turns into showing.”
My Civita mind map has generated five distinct perspectives that will be the blueprint that guides my project: symbolizing, discovering, describing, navigating, and imagining.
As I explore various ways of translating Civita’s treasure trove of content using these multiples perspectives as the underlying framework, I will keep Tufte’s advice in mind and let content lead the way.
September 4, 2012 in Civita, Design, Maps | Tags: Design, Italy, maps, mind maps | by Sharon M | 2 comments
This morning, a little etymology…
The origin of the word “map” dates from the early 16th century, from the medieval Latin mappa mundi, literally ‘sheet of the world.’ The position Civita occupies as one of the most unusual locations in Italy—its almost fantasy-like setting coupled with its history of concerned preservation and multi-layered past makes it rich mapping quarry.
Certainly, Civita is not the sole location where a project like this could take form. Many other locations are rich in history and traditions enough to warrant a similar depiction, but a special place like Civita is more than deserving of the effort. Or perhaps it is more meaningful to say that a project such as this is implicit in a place like Civita. With a myriad of mapping potential, I decided to begin with a Civita mind map as is a graphical way to represent all the possible ideas and concepts I might want to explore.
Mind maps have always been common visual thinking tools in the arts and sciences field but they have recently become all the rage in the education world, since they encourage students to avoid thinking linearly. Essentially, a mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea.
Here’s an early example of a mind map by Walt Disney done in 1953, the original of which can be found in the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.
Mind maps are process-oriented, not an end in themselves, even if they do sometimes wind up being fun to look at, like this promotional one by Wendy McNaughton for Dell Computers.
In a mind map, as opposed to traditional note taking, information is deliberately structured in a way that resembles much more closely how your brain actually works. They open you up to new ways of organizing information and they’re more realistic, because most projects aren’t orderly to begin with. Mind maps naturally hook into your right brain, where creativity and intuition can help you. Mostly, they help you get the big picture before getting bogged down in the details. Mind maps force you to avoid the prioritizing that happens almost unconsciously in lists and sequence arrangements. In the process, you might discover something that might have been lost or overlooked had you taken a more left-brain approach by creating a prose version of the same information.
There’s only one key to making a mind map: you need to let go of the idea of what it “should” look like and allow yourself to explore implicit rather than explicit connections.
So—on to my own mind map of Civita. I’m looking forward to what the exercise may uncover that might have otherwise slipped past unnoticed.
Civita immaginato
August 31, 2012 in Civita, Design, Maps, World design | Tags: Civita, Design, Italy, maps | by Sharon M | 2 comments
After traveling by car, plane, bus, plane, bus, train, bus, and walking, I have arrived in Civita di Bagnoregio for my two-month fellowship sponsored by NIAUSI, the Northwest Insitute of Architecture and Urban Studies in Italy, or as it is referred to here, Istituto Civita with an accent on the first syllable (CHEE-vee-tah). Sorry, Rick Steves.
It’s time to give a little background on why I’m actually here.
Working as a graphic designer for the past twenty-some years, I’ve seen the discipline become an increasingly insistent presence in the daily lives of ordinary people, mostly in the service of selling products. But graphic designers also work to interpret, inform, educate and build community through the exchange of information and ideas. As a design professional working in Seattle and a student of Italian, I was marginally aware of the NIAUSI’s Fellowship Program in Civita but it was only when I became curious to learn more that I decided to propose this project because what I discovered surprised me.
Practicing architects and historians had access to a body of technical analyses about Civita’s built form and history and the continuing record of the important work being carried out in conservation and sustainable development of the tuff towns of Italy. The NIAUSI archives contain a wealth of information and project records since past fellows have contributed much richness and specificity to this dialogue, including Gabriela Denise Frank’s CivitaVeritas which offered a welcome personal perspective.
Yet most of this material did not seem easily accessible to the general public. For the casual but interested traveler (or reader) there seemed little more than enticing but short blurbs by Rick Steves and other travel writers, depicting the area as either a dying town or a study model in preservation.
As a graphic communicator, I wanted more. 500—even 50—years ago, Civita was certainly a vastly different place. How had it changed? What forces, events, and people occurred and layered over time to make Civita the specific place it is today? Each bit I discovered made me want to know more, even as each piece seemed to depict a distinctly different place—a multitude of Civitas. And…perhaps this was the key. Perhaps Civita needed to be pulled apart and examined separately before it could be understood as a unified whole.
Maps are essential tools of interpretation for the graphic designer. Audiences see information before they read it, and often we see instead of reading at all. This makes maps ideal devices for conveying complex information. Not only can maps extend factual content, but the manner in which the information is envisioned and arranged can express an emotional component as well. Usually, most of what we conjure when we think of traditional “maps” depicts conventional reality—freeways not bird migrations; shopping footprints instead of lost buildings. But this narrow view of maps denies their potential—rarely do they tap into our subjective memories.
No two people “see” the same city, even with the exact same map. A city is many worlds in one place, or many maps of the same place. Maps—in essence and intent—present arbitrary selections of information. A series of maps may represent many places in the same way or the same place in *many* ways.
What if a series of maps served as an invitation to look at the richness of a place—in this case Civita—with new eyes, allowing a viewer to enter these worlds on their own terms, alter, add, or plan with them? I decided my project would focus on the latter, creating an “atlas” of sorts— Civita Immaginato—Civita Imagined. The series might serve as a ticket to actual territory, but might also offer an open-ended invitation to go beyond what is mapped on the surface, examining the many layers of meaning, culture, and history in one single place through specific and distinct lenses running the gamut from serious to light-hearted, legendary to humorous.
The objective: a small, modest collection, deeply arbitrary, of one person’s exploration of the history and future of a place. The hope: when viewed together, the maps might hint at the richness and complexity of Civita and its surrounding areas as they have been experienced and altered by both residents and visitors.
August 29, 2012 in Civita, Design, World design | Tags: Architecture, Design, Italy | by Sharon M | Leave a comment
As I begin my NIAUSI Fellowship, I’ve been thinking a lot about identity. During the next two months, I know I will be meeting people whose lives, on the surface at least appear to be very different from my own. How difficult will it be to connect, and what, if anything, will serve as that connector? Language? Food? Temperament?
On my way east, I stopped for a few days in Washington, D.C. to help settle our daughter in at American University where she’s beginning her studies in the School of International Service. During the welcome ceremony, one of the speakers cautioned against defining oneself too closely or tightly by any one characteristic (gender, race, religion, nationality, etc) no matter how important you deem it to be in your life. His reasoning was that by identifying too closely to any one signifier you risk the danger of it becoming your only defining quality. Then, he said, it becomes “all about you.”
At the other extreme, of course, is as global travel broadens our lives and way of living, we lose a bit of each of our separate cultural identities along the way. Changing dollars to Euros instead of lire felt like one small but obvious reminder. Then when I landed in Rome, I was struck by how many of the signs were offered in English. Many were in Italian and English but a fair number were English only. In a remote location like Civita I wondered how these cultural and economic pressures to reach out to as many people as possible might play out.
I didn’t have to wait long to find out. I opened the New York Times Style magazine to discover this fashion ad for the Italian brand Brunello Cucinelli.
I keep imagining the camera crews knocking over the Italian nonnas on the bridge to get that perfect shot of the supermodels. Maybe there’s more that connects us than we think. Oh, and if anyone can figure out the meaning of the tagline, please let me know what it is.
Italian adventure
August 10, 2012 in Architecture, Civita, Design, World design | Tags: Architecture, Design, Italy | by Sharon M | 4 comments
In a few short weeks, I’ll be beginning my Italian Adventure, traveling to Civita di Bagnoregio and living there for two months as a Fellow of the Northwest Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies in Italy (NIAUSI). If you don’t know about this organization, and you are a designer of any persuasion, you might want to check them out. The organization is a non-profit corporation established in 1981 by academics, students, and professional members of the Pacific Northwest design community and grew out of the University of Washington’s Rome Program, founded by the esteemed educator and scholar Astra Zarina to promote intercultural communication and awareness of design in the built environment through exchange between the Pacific Northwest and Italy.
Today, in addition to the three yearly fellowships they award (including one to an current student or alumnus of the UW Rome program) they serve as a resource and an opportunity for professional growth and individual enrichment for any designer interested in studying cross communication and improving the quality of the built environment. And I’m honored to be the first recipient of the recently renamed Astra Zarina Fellowship.
More about my evolving project to come. For now, suffice it to say that its objective is an unconventional series of graphic maps. With no shortage of landmarks and treasures in Civita and the surrounding region, I hope to share thoughts and sometimes idiosyncratic observations in words and images on history, traditions, culture, people, geology, and food. What better place to undertake this project than in la bella Italia.
Ci vediamo!
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Pat Launer
Put a Little Drama in your Life
About Pat
Theatre Preview – December 2002 – The Nutcracker
Published in Décor & Style Magazine
‘Tis the season…. for something old, something new, something old made new and something out of the blue.
For traditionalists, The Nutcracker returns to San Diego and Orange County. The California Ballet brings back Tchaikovsky’s all-time favorite, in downtown and North County venues. Executive director Maxine Mann choreographs a cast of 160, backed by members of the San Diego Symphony. The magical Christmas tree grows to fill the room as the memorable music swells and fills your holiday heart. All matinee performances include Sugar Plum Parties, allowing young audiences to enjoy refreshments and meet the cast, as well as a certain jolly seasonal gentleman. (12/19-22 at the San Diego Civic Theatre; 12/28-29 at the Poway Performing Arts Center; 858-560-6741). The San Diego Symphony will also accompany the renowned Moscow Classical Ballet as it dances The Nutcracker in Escondido (1/12-15, California Center for the Arts; 800-988-4235).
After a four year absence, the American Ballet Theatre returns to the Orange County Performing Arts Center with its renowned production of the famous tale of Mouse Kings and soldier Princes, sugarplum fairies and an international array of dancing delights. Staged by artistic director Kevin McKenzie, the swashbuckling production promises to enchant audiences of all ages. (12/18-22; 714-740-7878).
For its 27th production of A Christmas Carol, the San Diego Repertory Theatre is taking another new turn. The show has been re-conceived as a gospel meeting, a circus, a homeless tale and other wild imaginings. Now, under the direction of the Rep’s much-heralded associate artistic director Todd Salovey, the 1843 Dickens classic returns to its homebase, Victorian England. Master designer Giulio Cesare Perrone, once again turning his endless creative talents to sets and costumes, will transform the Rep into a wistful winter landscape — an aptly Dickensian backdrop for the timeless tale of release and redemption. “We’re playing with the magic and poetry of wintertime and snow,” says Salovey. “We’re presenting snowmen and snow angels, ice skating and icicles — all kinds of things people love about the snow.” The supernatural almost always pops up in Salovey productions, and there will be no shortage of ghosts — and gnomes! — in this production. The talented Steve Gunderson is writing original music, and there will be carols galore. Many Rep favorites will be featured, including Globe veteran Jonathan McMurtry as Dickens himself, Julie Jacobs as an ice skating Belle, and XXXXX as old snarly, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge — the nasty-man we love to hate and come to love. (11/30-12/29, at the Lyceum in Horton Plaza; 619-544-1000).
Now if you want to take a peek behind the curtains, you’ll get the whole back-story in Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, a San Diego premiere at North Coast Repertory Theatre. The piece was conceived in 1995, when a young child pointed out to writer/actor Tom Mula that Jacob Marley got a raw deal in Dickens’s Christmas Carol. Thanks to him, Scrooge was redeemed, but Marley remained in chains for eternity. Mula agreed that this was grossly unfair, and wrote his version of the story, told from Marley’s point of view. Originally written as a novella, the piece had its world premiere at the Goodman Studio in Chicago, where Mula himself (like Dickens before him) enacted the story.
The play goes back in time, when, seven years after his death, confined to a hellish Hell, Jacob Marley is condemned for his inhumanity, eternally chained, as are his fellow prisoners, to what they most hated on earth, or what they most prized above other people.
Horrified by his fate, Marley begs for a chance to redeem himself. If he can bring about the reform of the one person on earth who is a worse curmudgeon than he himself was in life, he can escape his deadly doom. The ghostly sensibility of Dickens combines with a contemporary wit in this one-man tour de force that stars the much-lauded and loved local actor, Ron Choularton.
“As the story progresses,” explains the British-born Choularton, “Marley learns fear and pity, and earns redemption for himself and for Scrooge. It’s a journey we take with old Jacob as he eventually learns about life — but not before meeting up with a host of ghostly folk, visiting his own youth and experiencing all the things Scrooge does in the original, but in different circumstances. He isn’t alone in his mission, though; he’s led and sometimes pushed by this nauseating but comical little chap called Bogle. Although defined as a kind of spirit, I did notice that his name is an anagram of ‘Globe,’ a well-traveled place in this play.” The ending, like its predecessor, is warm and moving. Prepare to be enlightened, if not transformed. (11/24-12/29at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach; 888-776-NCRT).
And now, for something completely different….a comic gothic thriller that has absolutely nothing to do with the holidays, but it’s a hoot in its own right. Diversionary Theatre presents The Mystery of Irma Vep, a two-man tour de force, where the two make 100 costume changes and play multiple, outrageous characters. In the dark spirit of Rebecca and Wuthering Heights, Irma Vep draws on innumerable images from suspense films, horror movies and other ‘penny dreadfuls.’ The action swings wildly from the foggy moors surrounding Mandarcrest Manor to the dusty tombs of Cairo and back again. We meet a sympathetic werewolf, a ghostly vampire, a deceased first wife and the reincarnated mummy of a long-dead Egyptian princess. Accomplished comic actors David McBean and Farhang Pernoon play eight roles in this quick-change marathon.
In Charles Ludlum’s wacky, campy spoof of every dark and stormy night you’ve ever watched or read about, the romance of Lord Edgar (Pernoon) and his new bride, lady Enid (McBean) is complicated by Edgar’s lingering attachment to his first (dead?) wife. The household staff, a wooden-legged butler and disgruntled housekeeper, fan the flames of discontent. Rapid character and costume changes pile up the mystery and the laughter.
The play was first performed in 1984 by Ludlum and his artistic and life partner, Everett Quinton, as part of Ludlum’s ridiculous Theatre Company in New York’s West village. It received both Obie and Drama Desk Awards, and became the theater company’s most successful (and still most widely produced) play. In 1987, Ludlum died of AIDS-related pneumonia at the age of 44, but his hilarity lives on.
If you’re sated with sugarplums, and crave a little tart zaniness in your holiday confections, slink on down to Diversionary. (through 12/21, at 4545 Park Blvd., on the outskirts of Hillcrest; 619-220-0097).
Whatever you do for the holidays — make it dramatic!
Pat Launer is resident theater critic at KPBS radio and TV. Her theater reviews can be heard Fridays at 8:30am on 89.5FM, or viewed online at kpbs.org, gaylesbiantimes.com and at patteproductions.com.
©2002 Patté Productions Inc.
© 2021 Pat Launer . All Rights Reserved.
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Cosby Season 3 Episode 14
Griffin contemplates quitting the teaching profession when his first day as a substitute teacher is a disaster. The Lucases lend themselves out as mock students so that Griffin can practice his teaching techniques on them — although their misguided attempt to help might just turn him off teaching forever.
Serie: Cosby
Director: Bill Cosby, David Renwick
Guest Star: Jurnee Smollett
Episode Title: Lucas Absentia
A series following a North Carolina woman who was diagnosed with an endocrine system disorder called polyscystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) that caused her to gain hundreds of pounds.
What starts out as a simple, reckless mid-life affair between a genetic scientist named Yvonne and a Westminster paper pusher takes an intriguing turn when she realizes he’s a spook…
SciJinks
A team of inventive scientists use cutting-edge science as the foundation for outrageous stunts and practical jokes. From showcasing classic chemical reactions under the guise of a cooking class, to…
Workaholics is an American sitcom that premiered on Comedy Central on April 5, 2011. The series is in its third season, and is predominantly written by its stars Blake Anderson,…
Star Wars: Clone Wars is an Emmy Award- and Annie Award-winning American animated microseries set in the Star Wars universe. Chronologically, the series takes place during the three-year time period…
Genre: Action, Action & Adventure, Adventure, Animation, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Jimmy Carr hosts proceedings as the 8 Out of 10 Cats crew take over the words and numbers quiz.
Genre: Comedy, Game-Show, Reality
Think the days of bootleggers, backwoods stills and “white lightning” are over? Not a chance! It’s a multi-million dollar industry. But perhaps more importantly to the moonshiners, it’s a tradition…
Genre: Crime, Reality, Reality-TV
Young ensemble comedy about a group of friends living together for the first time. Each episode is told from the perspective of Cooper Barrett, a wickedly charming and deeply flawed…
Husband Kody Brown, along with his four wives (only one of which is legally married to Kody) and their combined 18 children, attempts to navigate life as a “normal” family…
Genre: Drama, Reality, Reality-TV
A not-so-happily married couple’s meticulously planned camping trip is derailed by uninvited guests and forces of nature, turning the weekend into a test of marriage and friendships.
Immigration Nation
With unprecedented access to ICE operations, as well as moving portraits of immigrants, this docuseries takes a deep look at U.S. immigration today.
From executive producers Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti, CNN Original Series “Race for the White House” captures the drama of how a high-stakes presidential election can turn on a single…
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Home Economic Policy Yet More Tripe on Trade
Yet More Tripe on Trade
by Dean Baker
Fareed Zakaria, Robert Samuelson's fellow columnist at Newsweek, joins the choir of trade damage deniers. Zakaria's line is that everything is fine, so why would anyone worry about trade. To make his case, he tells readers that in the last twenty years "per capita GDP has roughly doubled." (Measured in 2000 dollars, per capita GDP rose from $25,382 in 1985 to $37,241 in 2005, an increase of 46.7 percent.) He notes the "stunningly low" 4.4 percent unemployment rate, and that "the median income of a family of four rose 23 percent between 1985 and 2005." Those less interested in cherry picking family types might have simply noted that the median family income rose by just 17.1 percent from 1985 to 2005. This increase is well below the 31.5 percent gain of the previous twenty years, and way below the 74.6% gain in the last two decades of the golden age, 1953-1973. Of course, there are issues of family size, and also the fact that much of these income gains result from more workers per household. If Mr. Zakaria wanted a measure of income growth that is independent of these problems, then he could have chosen to look at median wages. The median hourly wage rose 9.8 percent from 1985 to 2005. This is equal to about 5 years of wage growth during the golden age. If the point is that things could be worse, few would argue otherwise, but to claim that things are going great and that most of the population is seeing substantial benefits from the pattern of growth over the last quarter century is ridiculous. The typical worker has seen less progress in the last quarter century than in any comparable period in U.S. history. If Mr. Zakaria and Newsweek expect to be taken seriously in debates over trade, acknowledging reality would be a good place to start.
--Dean Baker
Blog: Beat the Press
Dean Baker is senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C.
Read more by Dean Baker
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Records, CDs and Music:
Living in the Physical World
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and … SACD? – Simon and Garfunkel on MFSL
Ever since I was in my late teens I’ve been a sucker for Simon & Garfunkel’s music. I watched their “Concert in Central Park” on HBO in 1981 and completely feel in love with all things Simon and Garfunkel and made it a mission to track down all of their music.
I of course had heard their hits – “Sound of Silence”, “Homeward Bound” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” to name just a few – but after seeing their reunion concert (and buying the double album that was released from it) I wanted to explore some of their full length albums.
The first Simon & Garfunkel collection I bought was a five album vinyl set called “The Simon and Garfunkel Collected Works” which I believe came in a purple covered box and if my memory serves also came out in 1981.
It consisted of their main five studio albums including my two favorites “Bookends” and the “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme” album.
Today I’m going to take a look a the most recent reissue of the “Parsley, Sage,Rosemary and Thyme” album that the Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs label released just a few weeks ago on SACD.
(Note: The SACD format, which I’ve written about before, is what’s called a Super Audio CD which is a HiRes format for music with a higher resolution than normal CDs. You have to have an SACD player to get the Super Audio sound but most SACDs nowadays also have a normal CD layer that will be compatible with any CD player)
Now, to be perfectly honest I own the “Parsley” album on CD in a few different versions – the original Columbia CD, the 2001 remix on CD, the Audio Fidelity label’s gold CD as well as the most recent Columbia reissue from 2014.
While all of these CD issues sound good, the best is a close race between the Audio Fidelity gold CD issue and the 2014 Columbia issue. Most days I’d go with the 2014 CD as it just sounds a bit smoother and livelier than the Audio Fidelity CD but both are really nice.
This new 2014 SACD version is taken from the same source as the 2014 CD so I was anxious to hear how it compared sound wise.
Apparently the 2014 Columbia CD was taken from a duplicate master from Japan which is very close in sound to the original master from 1966 when the album was released.
The original master tape from this album was worn out by Columbia Records’ practice of mastering their various vinyl pressings from original master tapes as opposed to making copy tapes to press records as most other labels did in those days which of course wore out the original master (and best sounding source).
Anyway, with a bit of trepidation (yes, even I thought I needed another copy of this album on CD like a hole in the head!) I ordered the limited edition SACD and plopped it into my CD player.
First off I listened to the regular CD layer which is compatible with any CD player and found the CD sounded really nice – much like the 2014 CD pressing which I love. Practically just as nice sounding and hard to tell a difference.
Next I played the SACD layer and that’s where there was a slight improvement in sound – tighter bass, cleaner stereo separation and the vocals sounded a bit better. Now I’m not going to say it’s night and day better than the 2014 CD pressing but to me it did sound better and in fact is probably the best version I own of this album in digital form.
Is it worth the $35 for the slight upgrade in sound? Well that depends on how nuts you are about Simon and Garfunkel or this album or how nuts you are in general about music or collecting music.
As you may well know by now I’m nuts about music and collecting music so to me this CD is worth the upgrade.
You can see pictures of the new SACD above – lovely package, MFSL does a great job with all their products – and ponder if you’d like to take a chance on a truly lovely sounding version of this album on CD.
Of course these days I feel pretty much isolated, except online, in my love for CDs and physical media. Most everyone I know streams and has no need for anything physical when it comes to music and only care for what they can get on their phone.
BUT if you’re so inclined to wade into the CD world this SACD is really worth giving a try. Feast your eyes above if you need something to motivate you to hunt this CD down.
Until next time be well and enjoy the early December pre-Christmas buzz.
Published by recordscdsandmusic
James Grant was born and raised in Fort Wayne, IN. He is a freelance writer and has published over two hundred newspaper articles that focus on entertainment. Some of the people James has interviewed include: Gene Simmons of KISS, Peter Frampton, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Diana Krall, Tommy James, Neal Doughty of REO Speedwagon, Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues, Buddy Guy, Richard Williams of Kansas, Steely Dan, Dewey Bunnell of America, Alice Cooper, Paul Doucette of Matchbox Twenty, Phillip Phillips, George Jones, Glen "The Kid" Marhevka (trumpet player for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy), Paul O'Neill of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Bill Allen (Executive Director and Producer of Cirque de la Symphonie), Richard Sterban of The Oak Ridge Boys, Jim Brickman, Bryan Adams, Rick Springfield, Peter Tork of The Monkees, Clay Aiken, Chip Davis of Mannheim Steamroller, Keith Harkin of Celtic Thunder, John Rzeznik (lead singer and songwriter for The Goo Goo Dolls), Garry Peterson (drummer for The Guess Who), Tony Butala (lead singer for The Lettermen), Peter Noone (lead singer for Herman's Hermits), Gary Puckett, Graeme Edge (drummer and songwriter for The Moody Blues), Chloe Agnew of Celtic Woman, Rusty Young (lead singer and songwriter for Poco), Danny Hutton (lead singer for Three Dog Night), Gordon Lightfoot, Vivian Campbell (guitarist for Def Leppard) and Robby Takac (bass player for The Goo Goo Dolls). View all posts by recordscdsandmusic
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Blog at WordPress.com. Records, CDs and Music:
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Kristian Segerstråle
Chief Executive Officer & Director at Super Evil Mega Corp.
Super Evil Mega Corp.
Initial Capital LLP
Playfish Ltd.
RelSci Relationships are individuals Kristian Segerstråle likely has professional access to. A relationship does not necessarily indicate a personal connection.
Shukri Shammas
Founder & Partner at Initial Capital LLP
Tareq Naqib
Henri Vähäkainu
Co-Founder at Appgyver Oy
Marko Lehtimaki
Qingshuo Wang
Co-Founder & CPO at Super Evil Mega Corp.
Mikko Juhani Kodisoja
Co-Founder at Supercell Oy
Ilkka Matias Paananen
Chief Executive Officer & Founder at Supercell Oy
Richard Lee Thompson
Limited Partner at Lead Edge Capital Management LLC
Tommy Krul
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer at Super Evil Mega Corp.
Adam Valkin
Investor at Giphy, Inc.
Industry-Leading Mobile Gaming Organization Tribe Gaming Raises Over...
Industry-Leading Mobile Gaming Organization Tribe Gaming Raises Over $1M in Seed Funding to Shape Esports, Media and Entertainment; Star investment lineup includes the Boston Celtics' Gordon Hayward, mobile gaming veteran Kristian Segerstrale and the WWE'
Rogue Games Enters Publishing Agreement With Super Evil Megacorp for Vainglory; Rogue Games to Spearhead Live Ops and Content to Enable Super Evil Megacorp to Focus on New Games and Technology
How crossplay and esports can drive each other forward
Vainglory goes cross-platform on mobile, Steam, and Mac
Paths to Kristian Segerstråle
M.A. Degree in Economics
LSE was founded in 1895 and has grown to become one of the foremost social science universities in the world, ranked alongside Harvard, UC Berkeley and Stanford. A specialist university with an international intake, LSE's reach extends from its central London campus to around the world. The School has a cosmopolitan student body, with around 9,500 full time students from 140 countries It has a staff of just over 3,000, with about 46 per cent drawn from countries outside the UK Over 100 languages are spoken on LSE's campus An influential network of over 160,000 LSE alumni spans the world, covering over 190 countries with more than 80 active alumni groups.
MA Economics
The University of Cambridge (informally known as Cambridge University or Cambridge) is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world (after the University of Oxford), and the seventh-oldest in the world.
Chief Executive Officer & Director
Super Evil Mega Corp. develops core games for tablet, mobile and emerging platform. The company was founded by Robert Joseph Daly Jr., Tommy Krul, Stephan Sherman, Kristian Segerstrale and Qingshuo Wang in 2012 and is headquartered in San Mateo, CA.
Co-Founder & Partner
Initial Capital LLP provides investment services. It is an investor and accelerator for seed and early-stage technology companies with a focus on social media, digital, gaming, Internet and mobile. The firm operates through its locations in the United Kingdom and the United States. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
General Manager, Business Unit
2012 - Prior
Electronic Arts, Inc. develops, markets, publishes, and distributes games, content, and services for game consoles, PCs, mobile phones, and tablets worldwide. The company develops and publishes games and services across various genres, such as sports, first-person shooter, action, role-playing, and simulation primarily under the Battlefield, The Sims, Apex Legends, Anthem, Need for Speed, and Plants v. Zombies brands; and license games, including FIFA, Madden NFL, and Star Wars brands. It also provides advertising services; licenses its games to third parties to distribute and host its games. The company markets and sells its games and services through digital distribution channels, as well as through retail channels, such as mass market retailers, electronics specialty stores, and game software specialty stores.The company was founded by William M. Hawkins III and William Gordon in 1982 and is headquartered in Redwood City, CA.
Prior - 2011
Amazon Video Ltd.
Amazon Video Ltd. provides film and television subscription service. Its services include DVD rentals and video game rentals. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
Lovefilm International Ltd.
Lovefilm International Ltd. provides online DVD rental and movie download services. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
Super Evil Mega Corp. raised money in a private placement transaction
Dojo Madness GmbH
Dojo Madness GmbH provides software services. The firm offers LOLSumo, an android and iOS based real-time virtual coaching application for league of legends that enables gamers to build orders and crucial information about their match. The company was founded by Jens Hilgers, Markus Fuhrmann, Christian Gruber and Mathias Kutzner in 2014 and is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
LoopMe Ltd.
LoopMe Ltd. provides mobile advertising inbox technology solutions for advertisers and publishers. Its mobile ad inbox software development kit (SDK) is integrated into apps in smartphones and tablets globally. The firm offers LoopMe, a mobile-first video advertising platform which uses mobile data and artificial intelligence to measurably improve results and outcomes for marketers, and the brand experience for customers. The company was founded by Marco van de Bergh and Stephen Upstone in 2012 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
Valkee Oy
VALKEE Oy develops and manufactures health devices. Its flagship product Valkee is a pocket-sized light therapy device that channels bright light via the ear canals into the brain that has beneficial effects on mood and wellbeing of people. The firm is carrying out additional tests and studies concerning the effects of bright light on cognitive and physical performance and jet lag. The company was founded by Juuso Samuel Nissilä and Antti Aunio in 2007 and is headquartered in Oulu, Finland.
500 East Cesar Chavez Street-Austin, TX
2012 Game Developers Conference Online
Event focuses on connected games including casual, MMOs, virtual worlds, and social networking games
Kristian Segerstråle is affiliated with Super Evil Mega Corp., Initial Capital LLP, Electronic Arts, Inc., Playfish Ltd., Glu Mobile Inc., Macrospace Ltd., Amazon Video Ltd., Lovefilm International Ltd.
This web site is not endorsed by, directly affiliated with, maintained, authorized, or sponsored by Kristian Segerstråle. The use of any trade name or trademark is for identification and reference purposes only and does not imply any association with the trademark holder. The Presence of Kristian Segerstråle's profile does not indicate a business or promotional relationship of any kind between RelSci and Kristian Segerstråle.
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A “Meet The Press” Teleconference with Newt Gingrich
17 May, 2011 by John Hawkins
Newt Gingrich, who’s still getting pancaked by conservatives for his harsh comments about the Ryan plan on Meet the Press, has been doing full throttle damage control efforts since then. Today, he did a new media teleconference. I was in on that and what follows are notes, not quotes, from the teleconference.
Opening Remarks from Newt Gingrich
Obviously, the Meet the Press comments were more controversial that I intended.
#1) My comments about food stamps were not, as Gregory claimed, racist.
#2) I oppose Obamacare on every front. There’s 2 1/2 years of background showing I oppose it.
#3) If the country were opposed to the Ryan plan, should we do it? I said “no” and used language that was too strong. I should have used different language.
Since then, I have signed a pledge to repeal Obamacare. I also oppose the mandate. That being said, I do think we should find a way to get people to pay for the healthcare they get.
I have reached out to Paul Ryan, I want to work with the House Republicans, and I want to increase the number of Republicans elected in Congress in 2012.
Q&A Session
You’ve changed your positions on Libya, Cap and Trade, and you were specifically targeting Ryan’s plan. Are you flip-flopping here?
I have never supported cap and trade in its current form. On Libya, my position changed when the President’s position changed. I have written a column in favor of Ryan’s position. I have been for it.
I think conservatives need to be aware that we are proposing large scale change. We need to make sure that the American people support it, not seek to impose it over people.
You said in an interview a couple of weeks previous to that interview that you would vote for Paul Ryan’s plan. Would you still vote for it?
Yes. The challenge is making sure the American people want it. If they want it, we should support it.
Follow-up: Is it possible to separate the budget from the Ryan plan?
Yes. The Left wants to freeze us in place. Obama’s only chance is picking a fight with the Congress and being Harry Truman in 1948. If we win in 2012, we can push a bold, decisive plan in early 2013, but we can’t get it passed right now.
Can you talk in more detail about your differences with Paul Ryan?
I would offer, on a voluntary basis, some kind of support plan this year. When we did the 1996 thing, we did a lot of polling. Seniors like to have the right to be told that they have the right to choose, but they hate to be told they have to choose.
Part of what I am worried about is compelling people to go through a radical change that hasn’t been tested. Let people choose between the plans and make Obama stop it.
Medicare is a program in which you are faced with daily decisions that impact people’s lives. Health care is 10 times more complicated than national security.
I shouldn’t have allowed Gregory to set the terms to question. I see no reason we can’t all say, “The Ryan plan is a terrific start and we want the American people to join us in the process.”
Medicare is not like anything else. It’s something people really take personally. Had I understood how it would be heard, I would have said, “I’m proud of Paul for starting the process.”
Democrats have already announced they’re going to use your comments in ads. Reaction?
I’ll be glad to cut an ad for anybody who gets hit with an ad like that calling it a lie and saying that the Democrats have nothing to offer but fear.
The narrative from your critics is Newt is undisciplined. Is it fair?
The fair criticism that I’ve been an analyst and tried out ideas is fair. I probably should have gone in more hostile to Gregory. The whole show was a set-up and I should have handled it differently.
What about the mandate in 1993? Also, are you good enough on TV?
Well, I was explaining the position that was happening 20 years ago. It was a different time. I do a lot of talking, but sometimes, you’ll have a bad week. It happens.
You are stressing that you are against the imposition of the Ryan plan. How specifically is the Ryan plan coming from the Right?
I am very concerned about attitudes that say, “We’re really smart, but people are really stupid, and we have to do this to them.” You can’t think about driving something through without popular support. I don’t support a group imposing something on the American people that will change their behavior, without their approval. It’s a bad idea.
If the American people say, “I want to sign up for the Ryan plan,” it is precisely what the system is supposed to do. We need to do this with approval. We need to seek the popular will. The Founding Fathers understood that. We have to have the people with us. I am just saying to some of our friends, we need the people with us.
Summary: I am not a diehard Newt Gingrich supporter or someone who’s blind to his flaws, but I will say that painting Newt Gingrich as a RINO is faintly ridiculous. Over the last 30 years, when I think of the 3 men who were most important to moving the ball forward for conservatism, they’ve been Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, and Newt Gingrich. That being said, the way he characterized Ryan’s plan on Meet the Press was a mistake. He admits as much. I think people should just leave it at that without trying to draw some over reaching conclusion about Gingrich’s sincerity as a conservative.
I’d also add that the point that Newt hammered home in the teleconference again and again is a good one: It’s not enough to come with great policies. You have to build up support for those policies and get the American people on your side. On something as big as the Ryan plan, having the American people behind it before it’s pushed through is an absolute necessity. If you do the same thing Obama did, which is push big reforms without the support of the people, the result will be the same — the single worst election result in more than 50 years.
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Home > DISSERTATIONS > AAI27548274
The Role of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Metabolites in Endometrial Cancer
Isabelle G Lee, University of Pennsylvania
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are pervasive environmental and dietary toxicants generated from the incomplete combustion of organic material, including fossil fuels, food, and tobacco. To exert carcinogenicity PAHs require metabolic activation to electrophilic metabolites. Metabolism involves cytochrome P450s (P450s) and epoxide hydrolase to yield more water-soluble hydroxy-PAHs (phenols, dihydrodiols and tetraols), while aldo-keto reductases (AKRs) convert PAH trans-dihydrodiols into PAH ortho (o)-quinones. PAHs can also act as xenoestrogens. However, the role of PAHs in endometrial cancer, a cancer predominantly associated with unopposed estrogen action is unknown. In this dissertation I characterize the status of estrogen receptors (ERs) and the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) in the Ishikawa endometrial cell line and assess whether the representative PAH, benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), can be metabolized to estrogenic compounds in the presence and absence of induction of P450s by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo[b,e][1,4]-dioxin (TCDD). Using stable-isotope dilution high performance liquid chromatography and APCI tandem mass spectrometry in the selected reaction monitoring mode, I analyzed B[a]P metabolism in Ishikawa cells. Estrogenic activity of B[a]P metabolites was determined by the endogenous estrogen inducible alkaline phosphatase reporter gene and an exogenous estrogen response element (ERE) luciferase reporter construct. I also assessed whether PAHs can induce a proliferative phenotype via ER- and non-ER-regulated pathways. I demonstrate that, 5 µM B[a]P can be metabolized in human endometrial cells into 3-OH-B[a]P and B[a]P-7,8-dione in sufficient amounts to activate ER and that induction of P450 activity by 10 nM TCDD increases the amount of estrogenic metabolites formed. I also show that of the estrogenic B[a]P metabolites, only B[a]P-7,8-dione induces endometrial cell proliferation, which is unlikely regulated by ERs instead by the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. This work indicates that human endometrial cells can metabolize PAHs into estrogenic metabolites, which may play a role in the disruption of ER signaling in the endometrium and also induce cell proliferation through non-ER-regulated pathways.
Pharmacology|Environmental science
Lee, Isabelle G, "The Role of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Metabolites in Endometrial Cancer" (2019). Dissertations available from ProQuest. AAI27548274.
https://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI27548274
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Huey Lewis and the News: Before
This film follows one of the world's top rock-and-roll bands of the 80's and a crew of fifty technicians to the Bahamas for the making of a music video for their number one hit single, "Stuck With You" for their...
This film follows one of the world's top rock-and-roll bands of the 80's and a crew of fifty technicians to the Bahamas for the making of a music video for their number one hit single, "Stuck With You" for their album, "FORE!" Blank takes us behind the scenes for an off-beat look at what happens when a song is transformed into visuals and musicians are transformed into actors. Hidden in the straightforward reportage are sly comments on the MTV machine, sexism in the media, and the business of rock-and-roll. Best of all, Huey Lewis and the News maintain their sense of humor even when absurdity threatens to overwhelm them (In color).
Chris Simon, Les Blank, Maureen Gosling, Susan Kell
Les Blank Films
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Here's the true net worth of Keith Urban On this page you can see the Keith Urban's real net worth as 2018.
Keith Urban is a successful singer, entrepreneur and also a songwriter. Keith is famous for such singles as “Somebody Like You”, “But for the Grace of God”, “Stupid boy”, ‘You’ll think of Me” and many others. What is more, Keith is known for being one of the judges in such shows as “American Idol” and ‘The Voice”. Keith has been nominated for and has won different awards. For example, ARIA Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Award, Billboard Award, Grammy Award, and many others. Not so long ago, Urban created his own line of guitars and accessories, which also made him more famous.If you think how rich is Keith Urban, it can be said that Keith’s net worth is about $75 million, and this sum might change in the future.
Full Name Keith Urban
Place Of Birth Whangarei, New Zealand
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Profession Musician, Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter, Pianist, Composer, Actor
Nationality Australia
Spouse Nicole Kidman (m. 2006)
Children Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban
Parents Marienne Urban, Bob Urban, Blue Ain’t Your Color, Somebody Like You, You’ll Think of Me
Siblings Shane Urban
Nicknames Keith Lionel Urban
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/keithurban
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/keithurban
Google+ http://plus.google.com/+KeithUrban
Instagram http://www.instagram.com/keithurban
MySpace http://www.myspace.com/keithurban
IMDB www.imdb.com/name/nm1236707
Awards Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the Year (2005), Grammy Awards for Best Male Country Vocal Performance, American Music Award for Favorite Country Male Artist, People’s Choice Award for Favorite Male Artist (2010), Teen Choice Award for Choice Male Country Artist
Albums “Ripcord” (2016), “Fuse” (2013), “Golden Road” (2002), “Defying Gravity”, “Be Here” (2004), “The Story So Far” (2012)
Music Groups The Ranch (1997-1998)
Nominations Grammy Award for Best Country Album, Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year, Country Music Association Award for Single of the Year, Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance, Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year, Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performanc…
TV Shows American Idol, The Voice (AU), CMT Invitation Only, Daytona Beach, FL, United States, Indianapolis, IN, United States, Daytona Beach, FL, USA
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Posted on 22.11.2019 by Dak
Sep 26, · View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the CDr release of Me, Myself And I on Discogs.4/5(2). The album was supported by the single "Make It Rain" featuring Lil Wayne, which peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot The album debuted at number 14 on the Billboard Top and has since sold a total of , copies. [1]Genre: Hip hop. A Capella Vocal Groove Trio founded in Wrocław (Poland). The main members are Magdalena Pasierska and Michael raiplantiverciduconciasembstewpato.xyzinfo beginning group is always supported by beatboxers. Creating sounds of different musical instruments using speech organs, freedom and inventiveness in the instrumental treatment of the voice cause the band sounds unusual, richly, sometimes even orchestral.
Jul 30, · View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the CD release of Me, Myself & Irene (Music From The Motion Picture) on Discogs/5(5). Various - The Proof flac album download free. Arthur Fiedler With The Boston Pops Orchestra - The American Spirit. referencing Me, Myself & Irene (Music From The Motion Picture), CD, Album, It has a "space" before the title, causing bad title ordenation. Reply Notify me Helpful. Me Myself And I (as P.A. Pasemaster Mase) and 1 more De La Soul - 3 Feet High And Rising (2xLP, Album, RE) Rhino Records (2), Tommy Boy: R US: Sell This Version: Featuring & . On the trio of albums that made her reputation in , Joan Armatrading, Show Some Emotion, and To the Limit, Armatrading relied on the pristine production of Glyn Johns to underscore the sensitivity of her folk-based confessional songs. Here, on her first full-length album in two years, she turned to rock producer Richard Gottehrer and a session band that included Anton Fig, Chris. Me Myself I is the sixth studio album by Joan raiplantiverciduconciasembstewpato.xyzinfoed in May , the album was Armatrading's highest ever chart placing both in the UK (no.5) and in the US (no). In Australia, the album peaked at no It was certified "Gold" in the UK by the BPI in July The title track became one of her most successful singles, peaking at no over an week stay in the UK charts.
JAi Envie De Te... - Juan Rozoff - Maison Rozoff (CD, Album), Cry Me A River - Jackie Opel - Cry Me A River / Forever And Ever (Vinyl), Frigg (2) - Isnt It A Tango (CD, Album), Stone Sky, Thank You
8 thoughts on “ Me, Myself And I - Various - The Proof (CDr, Album) ”
Fegore says:
May 27, · Taken From Their 5th Album, Shout It Out (). This Song Is Truly A Hidden Gem ***NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED***.
Murr says:
referencing Me, Myself & Irene (Music From The Motion Picture), CD, Album, It has a "space" before the title, causing bad title ordenation. Reply Notify me Helpful.
Vudogis says:
Me Myself and I, a album by Cheryl Pepsii Riley, or the title track; Me, Myself & I, a album by Fat Joe; Me, Myself + I, a album by Jive Jones, or the title track; Me Myself I, a album by Joan Armatrading, or the title track; Films and plays. Me, Myself and I, a play by Edward Albee; Me Myself & I, a film by Pablo.
Kagazilkree says:
The U.S. 12" single of "Me Myself and I" was released as a "3-sided single". Side 1 of the record plays like a normal record. Side 2 was mastered with "parallel grooves". Instead of one continuous groove, there are actually two different grooves on the record. Each time the listener plays the record, it may play something different from before.
Bralkis says:
May 06, · Listen to music from Me Myself and I like jive jones, Sou-au & more. Find the latest tracks, albums, and images from Me Myself and I.
Doull says:
"Me, Myself and I" is an R&B song about dealing with a philandering partner and learning from the consequences. The live performance of the song from The Beyoncé Experience Live was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in , and the original version earned Beyoncé, Storch and Waller an ASCAP Pop Music Award.
Goltimi says:
Sep 25, · Directed by Randall Einhorn. With Bobby Moynihan, Jack Dylan Grazer, Brian Unger, Jaleel White. Alex Riley experiences defining moments at different points in his life.
Dakus says:
Me, Myself & I is an informal collaboration of individuals who wish to remain anonymous. In concealing their true identity they are able to explore their cre.
Fae Et Portem - Luigi Boccherini - Stabat Mater (Vinyl, LP)
Gettin It
Samba Pa Ti - Santana - Il Meglio Dei Santana (Vinyl, LP)
Cup Of Tea - David (64) - David (CD, Album)
Here Is Your Paradise - Chris De Burgh - This Way Up (Vinyl, LP, Album)
Mezit on Me, Myself And I - Various - The Proof (CDr, Album)
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Tech Tip of the Month, November 2020: Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties
For those involved in the stewardship of the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties are an indispensable resource for guiding decisions relating to the restoration, rehabilitation, repair and maintenance of these historic places. The Standards are the basic criteria used by state historic preservation offices, most governmental entities, and many other organizations for evaluation of work on historic buildings and sites. For instance:
If your home or public site is a locally designated landmark or if it is in a locally designated landmark district, you will probably need to obtain a “Certificate of Appropriateness,” from your local Historic Preservation Commission for any work that falls within the jurisdiction of your municipality’s historic preservation ordinance. It is very likely that that ordinance references the Standards.
If you are applying to your State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) for review of any work on your home that may qualify for financial incentives, the SHPO will base its evaluation of the work you are proposing on the Standards.
If your site is applying for a grant (public or private) to cover restoration costs, even if the Standards are not explicitly called out in the grant guidelines, your reference to them in your grant request will indicate the level of professionalism with which you are approaching a project.
Under the Standards, there are actually four distinct, but interrelated approaches to the treatment of historic properties. When beginning the preservation planning process on a property, it is important to consider which of these approaches apply, so a basic understanding of all is helpful. The National Park Service website outlines these approaches:
Preservation focuses on the maintenance and repair of existing historic materials and retention of a property’s form as it has evolved over time.
Rehabilitation acknowledges the need to alter or add to a historic property to meet continuing or changing uses while retaining the property’s historic character.
Restoration depicts a property at a particular period of time in its history, while removing evidence of other periods.
Reconstruction re-creates vanished or non-surviving portions of a property for interpretive purposes.
In some cases, guidelines from more than one approach may be useful. While preservation work on a residential property might not typically reference more than one approach, a large-scale restoration of a public site may have components that fall under all four. The Martin House in Buffalo serves as a good example of a site where aspects of all four approaches would be relevant:
Preservation: Maintenance of historic fabric such as brick and concrete.
Rehabilitation: Sensitive alteration to accommodate public access
Restoration: Restoration of art glass windows.
Reconstruction: Reconstruction of the Pergola and Carriage House.
According to the Department of the Interior, the Standards, “are neither technical nor prescriptive, but are intended to promote responsible preservation practices….” In other words, they are guidelines that lay out approaches to making decisions when working with historic properties. They require interpretations in each situation. This can at times seem frustrating if there is a difference of interpretation between an owner and reviewer of a project, but the ability to interpret also provides room for creativity. Preservation is not a one-size-fits-all process, any more than designing a building from scratch. Whether your project is subject to review by an outside body or not, the Standards provide an invaluable framework on which to base your decisions.
As an additional resource, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy has developed guidelines based on the Secretary of Interior’s Standards that are tailored specifically for Wright buildings. It is these guidelines, in conjunction with the Secretary of Interior’s Standards, that the Conservancy will reference when reviewing proposed work to properties on which the Conservancy holds a preservation easement.
As always, if you have questions regarding your Wright-designed property, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Conservancy at preservation@savewright.org.
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ESA Science & Technology - Hubble celebrates 19th anniversary with fountain of youth [heic0906]
Hubble celebrates 19th anniversary with fountain of youth [heic0906]
To commemorate the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's 19 years of success, the orbiting telescope has photographed a peculiar system of galaxies known as Arp 194. This interacting group contains several galaxies along with a "cosmic fountain" of stars, gas and dust that stretches over 100 000 light years.
HST/WFPC2 view of Arp 149
Over the past 19 years Hubble has taken dozens of exotic pictures of galaxies going "bump in the night" as they collide with each other and have a variety of close encounters of the galactic kind. Just when you thought these interactions couldn't look any stranger, this image of a trio of galaxies, called Arp 194, looks as if of the galaxies has sprung a leak. The bright blue streamer is really a stretched spiral arm full of newborn blue stars. This typically happens when two galaxies interact and gravitationally tug at each other gravitationally.
Resembling a pair of owl's eyes, the two nuclei of the colliding galaxies can be seen in the process of merging at the upper left. The bizarre blue bridge of material extending out from the northern component looks as if it connects to a third galaxy but in reality this galaxy is in the background and not connected at all. Hubble's sharp view allows astronomers to try and sort out visually which are the foreground and background objects when galaxies, superficially, appear to overlap.
The blue "fountain" is the most striking feature of this galaxy troupe and it contains complexes of super star clusters that may have as many as dozens of individual young star clusters in them. It formed as a result of the interactions among the galaxies in the northern component of Arp 194. The gravitational forces involved in a galaxy interaction can enhance the star formation rate and give rise to brilliant bursts of star formation in merging systems.
Hubble's resolution shows clearly that the stream of material lies in front of the southern component of Arp 194, as shown by the dust that is silhouetted around the star cluster complexes.
The details of the interactions among the multiple galaxies that make up Arp 194 are complex. The system was most likely disrupted by a previous collision or close encounter. The shapes of all the galaxies involved have been distorted by their gravitational interactions with one another.
Arp 194, located in the constellation of Cepheus, resides approximately 600 million light-years away from Earth. Arp 194 is one of thousands of interacting and merging galaxies known in our nearby Universe. These observations were taken in January 2009 with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Blue, green and red filters were composited together to form this rather picturesque image of a galaxy interaction.
This picture was issued to celebrate the 19th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1990. Hubble has made more than 880 000 observations and snapped over 570 000 images of 29 000 celestial objects over the past 19 years.
Image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Cell: +49-015115373591
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
E-mail: villard stsci.edu
https://sci.esa.int/s/WXqRj18
Constellation region near Arp 194
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MD Message
Value Creation Model
Where We Come From
Awards & Certification
Scientex Great Wall (Ipoh) Sdn Bhd – Sungai Siput, Perak
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AGM & EGM
Scientex in News
Scientex in News - 2019
Scientex gets shareholders’ nod for Daibochi deal
By scientex1 February 12, 2019 November 15th, 2019 No Comments
Tuesday February 12, 2019
Scientex In New - 2020Scientex in News - 2019
Strong management, good track record seen in Scientex
scientex1
Scientex aims for RM1.1b worth of new launches in FY20
Scientex’s 1Q earnings rise on higher sales
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Scientex Great Wall (Ipoh) – Sg. Siput, Perak
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Mega Printing & Packaging – Teluk Emas, Melaka
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Ang Kim Swee
Independent Non-Executive Director
Ang Kim Swee, a Malaysian, male, aged 62, is an Independent Non-Executive Director. He was appointed to the Board on 17 December 2014. He is also the Chairman of the Board’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee and a member of the Board’s Audit Committee and Risk Management Committee.
Ang Kim Swee graduated with a Diploma in Accounting and Costing. He is a Registered Financial Planner, a Chartered Financial Consultant registered with The Malaysian Insurance Institute, an Audit Committee Member of The Institute of Internal Auditors Malaysia as well as a Qualified Risk Director with the Institute of Enterprise Risk Practitioners. He has also attended Premier Business Management Program organised by Harvard Club of Malaysia in 2015. He has more than 30 years of working experience in the areas of finance, costing, information technology systems and administration. He is a pioneer of Meditop Corporation (M) Sdn Bhd since 1990 and presently, he is the General Manager (Finance) primarily responsible for the management of financial affairs of the company.
Dato’ Noorizah Binti Hj Abd Hamid
Dato’ Noorizah Binti Hj Abd Hamid, a Malaysian, female, aged 60, is an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Company. She was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director on 7 November 2016. She is also the Chairperson of the Board’s Risk Management Committee and a member of the Board’s Audit Committee.
Dato’ Noorizah Binti Hj Abd Hamid graduated with a Diploma in Accountancy from MARA Institute of Technology in 1980, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration (Finance) and a Master Degree in Business Administration (Finance and Management) from Central Michigan University, USA in 1982 and 1984 respectively.
Dato’ Noorizah Binti Hj Abd Hamid was the former Independent Non-Executive Director of Amanah Mutual Berhad, Maybank Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd and PT Lintas Marga Sedaya, a subsidiary of PLUS Expressways International Berhad (“PEIB”). She was also a former Non-Executive Chairperson and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of PEIB, former Managing Director of PLUS Malaysia Berhad and PLUS Expressways Berhad. Presently, she sits on the Board of Directors of Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd, which is wholly-owned by Minister of Finance Incorporated Malaysia, PNB Merdeka Venture Sdn Bhd, Land & General Berhad and Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Berhad.
Wong Chin Mun
Wong Chin Mun, a Malaysian, male, aged 76, is an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Company. He was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director on 6 October 2017. He is also the Chairman of the Board’s Audit Committee and a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee.
Wong Chin Mun received the Teacher’s Certificate from the Ministry of Education of Malaysia in 1966 and graduated with Bachelor of Business (Accounting) Degree and Bachelor of Business (Secretarial Administration) Degree from Curtin University, Western Australia in 1972 and 1974 respectively. He is a Fellow of Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants as well as associate members of Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, UK and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.
Wong Chin Mun worked as the Financial Controller/Company Secretary in Yeo Hiap Seng Bhd from 1974 to 1975. He then joined Nylex (Malaysia) Berhad (“Nylex”) as the Financial Controller/Company Secretary in 1976 and became the first local General Manager/Director of Nylex in 1980. He was promoted to the position of Managing Director in 1985 and left Nylex at the end of June 1994 to found TEC Asia Centre (now known as Vistage Malaysia Sdn Bhd), an international organisation which aims to help chief executive officers and entrepreneurs to manage change and grow their businesses. He had served on the National Export Council under the Ministry of International Trade & Industry (“MITI”) from 1989 to 1992 and was appointed to the National Branding Taskforce of MITI 2006 to 2009. He also served on the Board of Trustees of Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council from 2000 to 2002 and as the Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of Sunway Berhad from 2011-2020. Currently, Mr Wong is the Independent Non-Executive Director of Khind Holdings Berhad. He has served on the Board of Trustees of Scientex Foundation since 2008.
Lim Peng Cheong
Non-Independent Non-Executive Director
Lim Peng Cheong, a Malaysian, male, aged 58, is a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director of the Company. He was appointed to the Board as an Executive Director on 9 September 1988, and has held this position until 10 November 2003 when he was re-designated as Non-Executive Director. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Business Studies from the City University, London, UK in June 1984. He is currently the Managing Director of Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd.
Lim Peng Jin
Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer
Lim Peng Jin, a Malaysian, male, aged 53, is currently the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the Company. He was appointed to the Board on 20 January 1995 as the Group Executive Director and subsequently as Managing Director on 6 November 2001. He is also a member of the Board’s Risk Management Committee.
Lim Peng Jin graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 1990. He began his career in the chemical industry in Japan before joining the Company in 1991. He had also completed a course in Programme Management Development at Harvard University, USA in 1998. He has local and international working experiences in the fields of polymer and chemicals during the early years of his career and is very hands-on in the businesses of the Scientex Group of Companies involving packaging, property, polymer and chemicals industries for the past 20 years. The success of the Group owes much to his extensive involvement in its operations and management.
Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd Sheriff Bin Mohd Kassim
Chairman and Non-Independent Non-Executive Director
Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd Sheriff Bin Mohd Kassim, a Malaysian, male, aged 81, is a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Company. He was appointed to the Board as Independent Non-Executive Chairman on 20 June 2003 and was re-designated as Non-Independent Non-Executive Chairman on 22 March 2018. He is also a member of the Board’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee.
Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd Sheriff graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Economics degree from University of Malaya in 1963 and a Diploma in Economic Development from Oxford University, United Kingdom in 1969. He graduated with a Master of Arts in Economics from Vanderbilt University, USA in 1974.
He served as the Secretary General of Treasury, Ministry of Finance for three years from 1991 to 1994 and as Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad for nine years from 1994 to 2003. He was a former Director of United Engineers (Malaysia) Berhad, RHB Bank Berhad and former Chairman of Renong Berhad, Projek Penyelenggaraan Lebuhraya Berhad, PLUS Expressways Berhad, PLUS Malaysia Berhad, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research, Manulife Holdings Berhad, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad and Standard Chartered Saadiq Berhad. He was also a former President of the Malaysian Economic Association.
He sits on the Board of Trustee of Yayasan UEM. He is also a Non-Executive Chairman of Warisan Pinang Sdn Bhd, a property development company.
Phang Chi Ming
Legal & Corporate Affairs Manager
Phang Chi Ming, a Malaysian, male, aged 55, graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1989 with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree. He has been in legal practice since 1990 and obtained his Master of Laws from University of Malaya in 1996. He has various experience in commercial and corporate work as well as litigation. He was appointed as the Legal & Corporate Affairs Manager of Scientex Berhad since January 2008.
Tan Hong Koon
General Manager – Corporate Planning
Tan Hong Koon, a Malaysian, Female, aged 42, is an accountant by profession. She has more than a decade of local and international experience in the field of auditing and accounting. She graduated from University of Melbourne with a Bachelor Degree in Accounting & Finance. She is a member of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand. She joined Scientex Berhad in 2003 and was appointed as Senior Financial Manager in January 2009. She was promoted to Group Financial Controller of Scientex Berhad in October 2014 and held this position until November 2017. Presently, she is the General Manager of Corporate Planning since January 2019.
Phang Yuen Khang
Sales and Marketing Director – Property Business
Phang Yuen Khang, a Malaysian, male, aged 39, joined Scientex’s property division in 2010 as Sales & Marketing Manager. He was promoted to Sales & Marketing General Manager in August 2017 and subsequently, as Sales & Marketing Director of Scientex’s property division in February 2020. He graduated from La Trobe University, Australia with a Bachelor of Business in Marketing and has more than 15 years of experience in marketing and property development.
Goh Tian Chin
Executive Director – Packaging Business
Goh Tian Chin, a Malaysian, male, aged 55, joined Scientex Polymer Sdn Bhd in September 1995 as Assistant Production Manager. He was promoted to General Manager in February 2001 and since 1 July 2010, he has assumed the responsibilities of a Senior General Manager for the stretch film business. He is a graduate of Universiti Sains Malaysia with a Bachelor’s Degree in Technology and has more than 20 years of experience in the polymer industry. Presently, he is the Executive Director of packaging business.
Jesselyn Chang Siew Sian
Executive Director – Corporate Planning
Jesselyn Chang Siew Sian, a Malaysian, female, aged 48, is an accountant by profession. She graduated from University of Malaya with a Bachelor Degree in Accounting. She is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants and Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She joined Scientex Berhad in 2002 as Corporate Finance Manager and was subsequently promoted to Group Financial Controller on 15 May 2003. She was appointed as the Executive Director overseeing corporate planning of the Group since 2014. She completed the Advanced Management Program in Harvard Business School in 2015.
Gan Kok Khye
Gan Kok Khye, a Malaysian, male, aged 58, graduated from North East London Polytechnic, London in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Business Studies. He joined Scientex Group in 1988 and has since then held various management positions in the subsidiaries of the Company. He was appointed as an Executive Director of the Group’s subsidiary, Scientex Packaging Film Sdn Bhd as well as the Executive Director of Scientex’s packaging business in 2002. For a period from year 2016 to year 2018, he was assigned to oversee the corporate affairs of the Group. Presently, he is the Executive Director of packaging division.
Koay Teik Chuan
Executive Director – Property Business
Koay Teik Chuan, a Malaysian, male, aged 60, joined Scientex in 1997. During the early stages, he was involved in the construction and development of Scientex’s flagship development in Johor. Prior to joining Scientex, he was handling various construction projects in different parts of the country. He was appointed as the Executive Director of Scientex’s property business on 1 November 2009. He received his higher education from the Institut Teknoloji Butterworth in 1978 and has more than 30 years of experience in various aspects of construction and property development including township projects.
Khaw Giet Thye
Chief Operating Officer – Property Business
Khaw Giet Thye, a Malaysian, male, aged 52, joined Scientex’s property division in 1996. Starting off as a project manager in Scientex’s subsidiary, Scientex Quatari Sdn Bhd, he was promoted to General Manager on 1 February 2004 and subsequently, as Executive Director of Scientex’s property business on 1 August 2013 and presently, is the Chief Operating Officer of property business. He graduated from Universiti Sains Malaysia with a Degree in Housing, Building & Planning and has over 25 years of experience in construction and property development.
Choo Seng Hong
Chief Operating Officer – Packaging Business
Choo Seng Hong, a Malaysian, male, aged 52, graduated with a Bachelor of Accountancy from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 1993 and is also a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants. He was formerly the Finance and Administration Manager of Scientex. Currently, he holds various senior positions in the Company’s subsidiaries. Prior to joining Scientex in 1997, he was attached to KPMG from 1993 to 1997 and has experience in the fields of banking, oil and gas and manufacturing. He was appointed as the Executive Director of Scientex’s packaging business on 1 March 2003 and presently, is the Chief Operating Officer of packaging division.
Yau Kuan Yee, a Malaysian, male, aged 58, joined Scientex in 1996 as a Division General Manager of stretch film business. He was appointed as the Senior Technical General Manager on 1 March 2015 and presently, is the Executive Director of Manufacturing Facilities since 1 August 2017. He has almost 30 years of experience in the plastics packaging industry and 25 years in stretch film segment. He graduated from Swinburne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia with a degree in Manufacturing Engineering.
By any yardstick, a half century is a long time. To give this some perspective, it took 50 years for man to reach the summit from the time the first photographs set Mount Everest apart as the ultimate challenge. Likewise, it took almost 50 years for cancer research to yield such progress in prevention and treatment from the time US President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act as a challenge to find a cure.
These are challenges requiring courage and commitment, values that Scientex has embraced as its own. Similarly, the Scientex story is about taking up challenges and for this reason, the theme of our 50th Anniversary is ‘Challenge New Heights Together’.
Our story may have begun 50 years ago, but it is only just taking off. After our incorporation in 1968, we made steady progress during the first 40 years. However, our efforts then were fragmented and disconnected. We lacked structure and our operations were not consolidated or streamlined. In the immediate years before 2008, Scientex operated 10 business units with 10 different sets of people, all working in silos independent of each other. To use a tug-of-war analogy, we were pulling on our own, but not pulling together.
The last 10 years were a different story. In 2008, we merged our listed entities, bringing two companies together as one. The same year, Scientex celebrated its 40th Anniversary, giving the Board, management and staff a common goal for all to cooperate and collaborate. Looking back, this was a seminal moment. We discovered we could achieve much more in lesser time by working single-mindedly to navigate in one direction. As a result, we formed an executive committee or Exco in 2009 to coalesce our focus and drive the company towards a collective vision and aspiration.
It was during these last 10 years that Scientex came into its own. In that period, we leveraged on our strengths to build capacity. At the same time, we developed our resources in capital, talent and technology that enabled us to undertake more ambitious projects to grow faster and go further. Following this exceptional decade of exponential growth and extraordinary achievements, Scientex is today a RM2.6 billion company with thousands of employees and operations spread throughout Malaysia and beyond.
Based on how far we have come, the tendency is to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labour. Yet, it is not in our nature to rest on our laurels and let complacency creep in. Instead, we are ready to take on the next challenge, just as mountain climbers continue to attempt summiting Mount Everest and cancer researchers remain resolved in finding new pathways towards cures for different cancers.
In the next 10 years, we intend to push the boundaries and propel ourselves like never before. We have a new Vision 2028 to become a RM10 billion company with a production output of 1 million metric tonnes of flexible plastic packaging (FPP) and completion of 50,000 affordable homes.
This is an ambitious goal, one which is fraught with challenges, internal as well as external. In response, Scientex will remain nimble and responsive to the ever-changing market forces, avoiding the common trap of excessive bureaucracy which commonly afflicts companies as they grow in size. Our corporate philosophy of ‘management like water’ will continue to set us apart through lean management and our agility to navigate the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world ahead to seize opportunities wherever and whenever they appear.
Given this agility, we will intensify our investment to build capability and capacity. While we had RM620 million in assets and RM350 million in equity 10 years ago, we now have more than 5 times that amount with RM3.4 billion in assets and RM1.8 billion in equity, giving us the financial muscle for investment in new plants for manufacturing and acquisition of new land banks for property development whenever the need arises.
For our manufacturing division, we intend to drive annual capacity up from 450,000 metric tonnes to 1 million metric tonnes over the next 10 years. To reach this goal, we need to grow our market share by: capturing a slice of the rapid growth in demand for our existing products; securing new regional markets for our present offerings; and creating new solutions to penetrate different market segments. As we explore new frontiers to become a truly global player, our challenge is to learn and adapt to different market demands and conditions.
For our stretch film business segment, we will continue to tap our economies of scale to grow our volume-based model as we seek to venture into new markets. For this reason, we have invested in a new plant in the United States to expand our stretch film markets beyond Asia Pacific to the huge markets of the Americas.
In the case of our custom film segment, we first ventured into flexible plastic packaging for consumer-based products in 2013 following our acquisition of Great Wall companies. This opened the door to new opportunities for Scientex as our quality packaging products play an important role in enhancing packaging integrity to reduce food wastage and spoilage through better quality packaged products. We are now poised to tap into the fast-growing FPP market, which is expected to grow in excess of USD200 billion by 2020. The food and beverage (F&B) segment, which constitutes 70% of this market, will be a key focus for Scientex. By capitalising on our competencies, we will develop customised solutions for these specialised market needs in collaboration with our customers while also keeping pace with emerging trends such as e-commerce, convenience and sustainability. Our latest improvements through the adoption of digital printing technology in our production process are part of the continuous efforts to complement and supplement Scientex’s capabilities to meet changing customer requirements. Our specialty segment leverages on our joint ventures with international partners to produce specialty products such as adhesives and solar films. Through the transfer of skills and technology, we now have the competencies to move into high technology products that can respond to global market trends.
On the property front, Scientex has long been entrenched in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia, providing affordable housing to the masses for the past 20 years. In line with our corporate philosophy, we continue to search for new ways to deliver affordable housing by tapping into our expertise and efficiencies in order to derive greater cost savings which are then passed on to our buyers. A decade ago, we were building at a rate of 500 units per annum. Today, Scientex is building 5 times the number of units at 2,500 per year. All in, we have delivered nearly 17,300 units of quality affordable homes, with high occupancy rates recorded for all our Johor and Melaka projects. To achieve our next 10-year aspiration, we need to look beyond our existing markets by crossing boundaries and extending our trademark of developing affordable housing in previously uncharted territories. Since last year, we have expanded from our traditional bases in Johor and Melaka northwards to Selangor and Perak as we strive to deliver 50,000 affordable homes by 2028.
As with both the manufacturing and property development divisions, going where we have never been before comes with a host of challenges. Here again, our people would need to push the envelope as they contend with new rules and regulations, different market sentiments as well as intense competition from established players with home ground advantage.
Central to these ambitions and aspirations is our embrace of sustainability as a catalyst to develop a company of the future and for the future. For many years, Scientex has been committed to driving sustainability across the economic, environment and social spheres.
Economically, Scientex’s robust business performance in recent years has significantly contributed to the financial growth and greatly improved the livelihoods of our stakeholders, from our shareholders, partners and associates to our employees and vendors. To reduce the impact of our operations on the environment, we have diligently adhered to the 3Rs programme of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle in every aspect of our manufacturing and property development activities. In addition, our quality packaging solutions have gone a long way to reduce food wastage for our customers by extending the shelf life of packaged food products. In property development, Scientex’s commitment to providing affordable housing has helped to put a roof over the heads of tens of thousands of Malaysians.
At Scientex, we are firm in our belief that sustainability drives growth, by generating opportunities and optimising resources in capital, assets and people while also harmonising our activities with the communities and environment within our considerable sphere of influence. To us, sustainability is a business imperative with the potential to ensure we can meet all our aspirations and achieve all our goals on a continuous and consistent basis.
What I have outlined represents our concerted approach to our ambitious target. Some may say this is a bridge too far for Scientex. Yet, we can be successful, if only we are courageous and fully committed to take up the challenge.
Mankind is at its best when we come out of our comfort zone to test ourselves and push our limits. In this regard, this is what we will and must do at Scientex. It is together that we can challenge for new heights.
Ng Boon Ngee joined Scientex Berhad in 2005 and was appointed Company Secretary on 30th September 2009. Subsequently, she heads the Corporate Secretarial Department of Scientex Group since 1st August 2011. She has more than two decade of experience in handling corporate secretarial matters in professional secretarial firms and the corporate sector. She is a Chartered Secretary (ICSA) and is a Fellow of the Malaysian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.
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Hotels in Belgium
Sint-Pieters-Woluwe Hotels
Hotels in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe
photo by Lauren C
Find out more about Sint-Pieters-Woluwe
What's Sint-Pieters-Woluwe like?
If you're looking for a place to get away, look no further than Sint-Pieters-Woluwe. Whether you're planning to stay for a night or for the week, the area around Sint-Pieters-Woluwe has accommodations to fit every need. Search for hotels in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe with Hotels.com by checking our online map. Our map displays the areas and neighborhoods around all Sint-Pieters-Woluwe hotels so you can see how close you are from landmarks and attractions, and then refine your search within the larger area. The best Sint-Pieters-Woluwe hotel deals are here with our lowest price guarantee.
Where are the best places to stay in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe?
The top hotel in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe:
Aspria Royal La Rasante
4-star hotel with bar, near Woluwe Shopping Centre
• Free WiFi • Restaurant • 2 indoor pools • Spa • Attentive staff
How to Get to Sint-Pieters-Woluwe
What are the closest airports to Sint-Pieters-Woluwe?
• Brussels - National Airport (BRU), 4.9 mi (7.9 km) from central Sint-Pieters-Woluwe
• Charleroi (CRL-Brussels South Charleroi), 25.8 mi (41.5 km) from central Sint-Pieters-Woluwe
• Antwerp (ANR-Antwerp Intl.), 24.8 mi (39.9 km) from central Sint-Pieters-Woluwe
Things to See and Do in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe
What is there to see near Sint-Pieters-Woluwe:
• Stoclet House (1.2 mi/1.9 km from the city center)
• La Grand Place (4.1 mi/6.6 km from the city center)
• Manneken Pis Statue (4.2 mi/6.7 km from the city center)
• Atomium (6.2 mi/10.1 km from the city center)
• Brussels Expo (6.6 mi/10.5 km from the city center)
What is there to do near Sint-Pieters-Woluwe:
• Museum of Urban Transport Brussels (0.4 mi/0.6 km from the city center)
• Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (3.7 mi/6 km from the city center)
• Mini-Europe (6.3 mi/10.2 km from the city center)
• Avenue Louise (3.4 mi/5.5 km from the city center)
• Belgian Comic Strip Center (3.9 mi/6.2 km from the city center)
When is the best time to visit Sint-Pieters-Woluwe?
• Hottest months: July, June, August, September (average 61°F)
• Rainiest months: July, December, October, and August (average 3 inches of rainfall)
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Makers of new music, dreamers of new dreams
https://shigarivers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ga-20120401.mp3
Young people, “You shall teach us your song’s new numbers.”
In April new leaders take over and younger people move up in organizations throughout Japan. Older people retire or step aside. Me, too. I’m still a teacher, but until yesterday (31 March 2012) I also spent 12 years as a university administrator. Now we older people will, or should, encourage our new leaders as they bring new visions of the future.
One of my favorite poems is Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s Ode, published in 1874. The first two lines are famous:
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
But it’s not about us. The poem celebrates each new generation that comes with new songs and new dreams. Here’s the final stanza:
Great hail! we cry to the comers
From the dazzling unknown shore;
Bring us hither your sun and your summers;
And renew our world as of yore;
You shall teach us your song's new numbers,
And things that we dreamed not before:
Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers,
And a singer who sings no more.
Some middle-aged and older teachers complain about young people, but I feel optimistic as I see each class grow up and contribute new dreams to society. In that sense I’m lucky. Several of my former students are now colleagues, and one of them now chairs an academic department.
As we begin a new academic and business year in Japan, I hope young people will be encouraged, and empowered, to make their own music and to dream their own dreams. History and traditions are important, but let’s remember Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s message to youth:
And things that we dreamed not before...
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Is there a future for Devon’s libraries? My article for the new Devonshire Magazine
My article in the Summer issue of Devonshire Magazine:
After a decade of austerity, libraries are one of the success stories that our County Council likes to tell. As another shire county, Derbyshire, hands over all its libraries to local communities, Devon still has fifty branches across the county. The Council handed over the service in 2017 to the mutual Libraries Unlimited, but still provides the bulk of the funding. However Libraries Unlimited’s charitable status has enabled it to win funding from other bodies and – if we are to believe the publicity – do more for less.
Libraries Unlimited’s vision is to ‘reach beyond libraries’ traditional book lending role’ to look at broader ‘ways in which libraries support individuals and communities’. Highlights include ‘fab labs’ in Exeter and Barnstaple – which allow users to ‘print t-shirts, design and produce 3D prints, make beautiful embroidered designs’, etc. – and an Exeter business information centre where workshops, one-to-one advice sessions and ‘inspiring’ talks take place. Of course libraries in smaller towns and villages don’t have these things, but the aim is to turn them into community centres, hosting local events and increasingly run by local community volunteers.
Win-win?
We’re told this is a win-win situation. Library users keep their core service and exciting new developments take place, while financial pressure is lifted from the hard-pressed council. However when we look beneath the surface, there are troubling areas in Devon’s library service and big uncertainties about the future.
Libraries Unlimited has a new chair, Professor William Harvey of Exeter University; a new chief executive, Alex Kittow, takes over on 1st June 2019. So I offer a critical perspective in the hope that the new team will recognise the seriousness of the challenge they face. At its heart is not just a different vision of the library of the future, but whether Devon’s libraries have a longer-term future at all.
The question is how far ‘beyond’ their traditional book-centred role our libraries can go before – especially in smaller communities – they are no are longer viable libraries. The new developments would be fine to supplement well-resourced book-lending libraries. But what happens when managers are putting their energies into raising grants for innovation, while funding for books declines?
The evidence, as measured by the library service itself, is sobering. When the figures for book (and other) loans in 2018/19 are released, it’s likely that they will have fallen by 50 per cent over the last decade: only half the number of books that were being taken out of Devon libraries ten years ago are being taken out today. And that’s the average; in many smaller libraries the downturn is far greater. Particularly alarming, children’s book issues, which were holding much steadier, have fallen drastically in the last couple of years (see graph below)
Devon’s libraries have seen a modest rise in issues of e-books, but small in numbers compared to the drop in issues of ‘real’ books. People like the convenience of e-readers when they go on holiday, but despite the enthusiasm for digital a decade back, the traditional paper version still dominates. In the USA and Australia, libraries haven’t seen the crippling cuts we’ve had under austerity in the UK, and they are thriving.
Tipping point?
The danger is that we may have reached a tipping point at which the failure to renew the library stock is seriously driving away readers. A constituent told me, ‘I’m an avid reader and I used to go to the library every week. But I’ve read everything they’ve got and they just don’t get the new releases.’ Some libraries are taking donations of books from local people; while the gifts are laudable, they’re no substitute for a professionally curated, up-to-date library stock.
If these trends continue, it would be rash to bet against a Derbyshire-style clearout in the not-too-distant future. I’m sure that neither the County libraries team nor Libraries Unlimited wish that, but the time has come for everyone to recognise where the crisis in the book stock could lead. Communities should demand proper local provision, and the Council should halt its inexorable funding cuts.
Instead of going to the library, my constituent was looking for bargains on Amazon. But that’s no substitute for a proper local library, especially for our children. What if the next generation never get the reading bug which their parents and grandparents got from their local community library? We will all be the poorer.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Devon libraries.
Honiton Mens Shed now underway, too
Report to be presented to Tuesday’s Health Scrutiny meeting shows Devon NHS continuing to let down patients with cancer and those needing ‘elective’ surgery. Where is the urgency to improve patients’ experience, when they are faced with life-threatening and life-changing conditions?
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Engineers Are Helping Draft the Solutions to America's Ills
The year 2020 has been one of upheaval. COVID-19 swept through the country, spreading illness and death in a scale we hadn't imagined. Civil unrest exploded in the streets of cities and towns in response to a long history of injustice and police violence. Even expected events like the 2020 election have been marked by chaos and unpredictability.
This was a year that many of the institutions and organizations Americans take for granted began to buckle under the stress of a country in crisis. Political scientists, epidemiologists, activists, and others made their voices heard. But behind the scenes, engineers put their heads down and got to work too. After all, they were used to building things to withstand stress. But this time the project was unconventional — the United States itself. And an unconventional project requires unconventional engineers.
Mapping Disease Transmission Points in Urban Environments
On March 1st — three months after the first reported cases in central China — New York City recorded its first case of COVID-19. In the weeks that followed, the city would become the epicenter of the pandemic in America. For residents, New York became unrecognizable.
Social distancing became the words on everyone’s lips. Limit interactions. Stay inside. Do your duty to fellow citizens. But how would social distancing actually work in a city of over eight million? Engineers in New York began to model the ways humans interact in urban environments, including simple questions no one had really thought about. Like: just how many surfaces do you typically touch on a trip out of the home?
For these engineers, that data needed to be collected. Not just from algorithms, but on the streets. In March, just as New York City began a strict lockdown, a team of 16 student researchers from the New York University Tandon School of Engineering started a project to study individual behaviors outside of COVID-19 hotspots.
Led by Debra Laefer, a professor of civil and urban engineering at NYU Tandon and director of citizen science at the Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP), the team captured specific, hyper-local data on the movement and behaviors of people when leaving COVID-19 medical facilities: they created precise records of what people touched, where they went, and whether they were wearing personal protective equipment. Using these records, they identified surfaces and locations most likely to be disease transmission points.
Collectively, the team spent over 1,500 hours collecting data across the city — 5,065 records documenting the behavior of 6,075 individuals around 19 hospitals and urgent care clinics. Over periods of up to 20 minutes, the researchers documented the gender of the subject, objects touched, route taken, and destinations among other factors. The records showed clear trends over time and differences in behavior by gender in both transportation choices and PPE usage.
That data has now been made open and available to researchers studying disease transmission. Laefer predicts that the compendium of real-world data collected by her team will enable researchers to create disease transmission models for cities worldwide — predicting hotspots and allowing public health officials to react quickly in dense locations where quick action can save lives.
Misinformation and U.S. Elections
Every election has high stakes and contested viewpoints. But over the last 10 years, the realm of public debate has moved almost entirely to social media, where bad actors purposefully spreading misinformation can reach a wide audience. But how can we limit the damage done by blatant misinformation that spreads across Facebook groups and Twitter timelines like wildfire?
During the Democratic primaries, a study conducted by engineers from NYU Tandon revealed that pairing headlines with credibility alerts from fact-checkers, the public, news media, and even AI, can adversely affect the amount a post containing misinformation is shared. However, that effectiveness largely depends on the user’s political alignment and gender.
The study was led by Nasir Memon, professor of computer science and engineering at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering and Sameer Patil, visiting research professor at NYU Tandon and assistant professor in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington. The work involved an online study of around 1,500 individuals to measure the effectiveness among different groups of four so-called “credibility indicators” displayed beneath headlines.
Fact Checkers: “Multiple fact-checking journalists dispute the credibility of this news”
News Media: “Major news outlets dispute the credibility of this news”
Public: “A majority of Americans disputes the credibility of this news”
AI: “Computer algorithms using AI dispute the credibility of this news”
Official fact-checking sources were overwhelmingly trusted, while the other indicators were much less trusted.
But political alignment strongly affected the result. More than 60% of Democrats were shown to be less likely to share false stories checked by fact checkers, compared to 19 percent of Republicans. Some two percent of Republicans were more likely to share a story rated false by an AI-based fact-checker.
Ultimately, fact-checking was shown to be helpful in slowing the spread of misinformation — depending on who you ask.
Building an Artificially Intelligent World — Without Bias
This summer, unrest related to police violence gripped the country. Once again, the discrimination and oppression that has marred American history became impossible to ignore.
The data clearly shows that a bias against Black Americans exists — they are more likely to be targeted by law enforcement and less likely to be hired for jobs, to give just two of many examples. Now, both police departments and hiring agencies are increasingly using AI in their work. Theoretically, that could strip out human bias and just focus on the raw data. In practice, the algorithms are just as faulty.
NYU Tandon professor Julia Stoyanovich is trying to fix that. At NYU’s Center for Responsible AI, she explains that because AI systems are dependent on the quality and the representativeness of the data being input, if a system neglects to consider entire groups, it is not likely to perform accurately for those groups. Among other examples:
Automated decision systems used by employers have been known to discriminate against women in filling tech positions.
Financial technology has done little to stop mortgage lenders from charging LatinX and Black borrowers higher rates.
The justice system’s automated methods of predicting recidivism have frequently been shown to be inaccurate.
At the Center, Stoyanovich is applying her research to build open-source tools such as Ranking Facts, a platform that gives users of AI systems easy-to-interpret information on their fairness, stability, and transparency. She and her colleagues are also developing courses on responsible data science and other educational materials (even a comic series — Data, Responsibly — whose first volume is titled “Mirror, Mirror”), so that a new generation of technologists is ready to help build a more just world.
This content was paid for and created by New York University. The editorial staff of The Chronicle had no role in its preparation. Find out more about paid content.
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© 2020 The Chronicle of Higher Education. All rights reserved.
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SOS LULA
Movement to support Brazil's former President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva
VIDEOS auf Deutsche
Posted on January 10, 2018 by soslula15
Statement in Defense of Lula Workers’ Party delegations in the Federal Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies Convicting Lula is convicting Democracy and the People
President Lula is being subjected to judicial persecution that is unprecedented in Brazilian history. This persecution has a clear goal: to prevent Lula from getting elected again in order to, one more time, deliver the economic, political, and social accomplishments the Brazilian people need to increasingly stand ever more proud and sovereign.
A warning is in order: there is no evidence of any wrongdoing committed by Lula in these lawsuits. And there is no evidence because there was no wrongdoing whatsoever! In the meantime, evidence of his innocence is ignored and dismissed.
No one has ever been more fully investigated in all these years. No one has ever been so fully exposed and had their lives more thoroughly probed than Lula. Yet they could find nothing. No foreign account, no concealed assets. Nothing more than partisan convictions, unsubstantiated theories, arbitrary hypotheses, and intense political dispute justify and base the lawsuits against him.
At a juncture when, in Brazil, conservative politicians are acquitted and preserved and criminals are released to spend their millions abroad, despite substantive incriminating evidence, convicting Lula, the most popular leader in our history, without a thread of evidence, amounts to dealing a fatal blow to Brazil’s justice and democracy.
It is unacceptable that the justice system should proceed with an evidently political action to convict an innocent with the clear intention of interfering in the political dispute and to keep Lula from becoming a candidate. With this deliberate conduct, rife with extralegal and biased interests, and driven by countless transgressions of rights and guarantees enshrined in the legal order of the Democratic Rule of Law, the trials Lula is being submitted to offend the Brazilian constitutional system and international human rights treaties. By convicting Lula, they convict democracy and attempt to subjugate the will of the people.
So much arbitrariness has been inflicted on Lula throughout these tortuous inquests and processes, it suffices to mention the unlawful and shameful operation that took him into custody in March 2016 or the ridiculed public Power Point presentation riddled with assumptions, image montages, and sound bites, with the evident purpose of embarrassing the former president and submitting him to public humiliation, clearly offending the fundamental principles of the dignity of the human person.
Another extremely serious fact was the leaking by justice itself of recorded conversations between former President Lula and the then President Dilma Rousseff, whose illegality was ultimately acknowledged by the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (STF) itself, upon whom it is incumbent to safeguard the Constitution. So far, however, the STF’s ruling has not led to the punishment or removal of the suspected judge, who shows no impartiality to try President Lula.
Moreover, among other demonstrations of the persecution Lula is being submitted to is the arbitrary decision by another judge prohibiting, without any plausible reason, the activities of the Lula Institute, without there even being any petition filed thereto by the public attorney’s office, just for the sake of public exposure and humiliation. So outrageous was the decision that it was rapidly overthrown by a higher court. Still, it is revealing of the diversified mosaic of measures that are being taken by part of the judiciary against former President Lula, with the sole purpose of embarrassing him.
Against Lula was adopted the so-called “criminal law of the enemy”, the judicial policy of previously identifying and fully criminalizing a person, regardless and even before the existence of a crime. In relation to Lula, they act like the “referee who doesn’t want to lose the game”, in the words of renowned Italian lawyer Luigi Ferrajoli, in a public analysis held last April 4, in Parliament in Rome.
Everyone in Brazil knows that the judicial persecution against Lula, actually lawfare, has been part of the Brazilian coup d’état’s political agenda, since long before any legal action began.
It is imperative to understand that the actions against former President Lula are being conducted by prosecutors and judges who have made a clearly ideological and partisan option, publicly expressed on social media. These prosecutors and judges have allied themselves with the conservative media, dominated by a small oligarchy of powerful families, with the political aim of persecuting and humiliating former President Lula and the Brazilian left as a whole. For this reason, these prosecutors and judges have adopted the criminal tactic of producing selective leaks of the investigations – a clear affront to the Brazilian law – to disseminate their absurd theories that Lula would be the “commander” of a sweeping corruption scheme. This dirty tactic, typical of authoritarian regimes, seeks public conviction in disregard for the due process of law and the principle of the presumption of innocence.
It is also for this reason that this arm of the Brazilian judiciary system adopted the tactic of abusively using pre-trial detention as a form of psychological torture to force plea bargainers to depose against the former president, which is not only an affront to the Constitution, but also to international human rights treaties. Everyone knows, in Brazil, that the chance that a defendant will be released or get a shorter sentence increases exponentially by accusing Lula.
There is, therefore, clear political selectiveness on the part of the Brazilian judiciary system. While politicians with ties to Brazil’s traditional oligarchies are protected or released, even in face of substantive evidence like recordings and suitcases full of illegal cash, Lula is convicted in the absence of any evidence.
It is worth underscoring that former President Lula never sought any protection or privileges of any kind. He has never refused to appear in court. He never purported to be above the law. Lula is not above the law, but he cannot be denied the law, which disposes that everyone is entitled to a fair trial.
Unfortunately, it is sad to verify that Lula was not given a fair trial. Far from that. He was prejudged and convicted by an oligarchic and venal media and by judges and prosecutors who are modern Savonarolas. This media-hyped pre-conviction had to be ratified by a legal sentence, even if unfair, unconstitutional, and illegal. As former President Lula has said, the judge and the prosecutors have become prisoners of their own lies.
Now, the appellate court that is to review Lula’s case, the 4th Region Federal Regional Court (TRF/4ª), has scheduled Lula’s trial for January 24, 2018, in record time in Brazilian history. This trial is going on in half the time required by the fastest trials ever held in that Court. It must be noted that Carlos Eduardo Thompson Flores Lenz, presiding justice of the TRF/4ª, stated, even before the case arrived at his court, that the ruling handed down by Judge Sérgio Moro that sentences former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to nine and a half years’ imprisonment in the episode of the Guarujá (SP) triplex was “technically flawless”. Therefore, this is about playing a game with a stacked deck of cards, whose political aim is to prevent the candidacy of a great popular leader.
Even the prosecution’s petition recognizes there is no substantial evidence against the former president, besides the deposition of a plea bargainer who has been sentenced to 2 years in prison and who knew he could be released or have his sentence shortened should he accuse Lula, as has become customary in processes involving judges and prosecutors who, as a rule, act in a clearly selective and partisan way and merely on the basis of conjectures and arbitrarily built probabilistic hypotheses. According to the Brazilian law, plea bargains are invalid in the absence of substantive evidence.
Yet, given the paradoxical reasoning that prevails in these Kafkaesque processes against popular leaders, absence of evidence becomes proof of guilt. In these processes have also prevailed, as noted, the trampling of individual rights and guarantees, abuse of temporary arrests as an instrument of political torture to force plea bargains, unlawful pre-trial arrests, and all sorts of aggressions against the Brazilian Constitution and the international treaties on human rights.
In the specific case of Lula’s conviction, it should also be added that not only was there no evidence of his culpability, but also that there was substantial evidence of his innocence, as the fact that Lula never enjoyed the use of the apartment that, in the delirious allegation by the accusation he had received as “bribe”, and that the construction company has always held ownership of the property. This would be the only case of metaphysical ownership of a physical asset. Nonetheless, substantive evidence of his innocence was ignored in the purely political trial the former president was submitted to.
In face of this situation, Lula’s defense has already filed a petition with the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Acting in partnership with Geoffrey Robertson, a lawyer specializing in human rights in the international system, the defense rightly contends that the former president will not have any fair trials, in compliance with the due process of law and with ample right to defense, in the present political setting in Brazil, a country submitted to a coup d’état and exceptional measures.
This coup d’état, perpetrated by what has been termed “the most dangerous gang in Brazil” against a president widely known to be honest (Dilma Rousseff), always had as its ultimate goal to destroy the Brazilian people’s social and economic achievements and to impose, in arbitrary and illegitimate fashion, an agenda rife with social setbacks and destruction of rights that would have never been approved in free and democratic elections.
The Brazilian people know that the only “crimes” Lula committed were, among others, having lifted 42 million Brazilians into the middle class, having virtually eradicated poverty in Brazil, broadened educational opportunities for the poorest population, increased the minimum wage by more than 70%, enlarged healthcare services for needy Brazilians, reduced deforestation in the Amazon region, committed Brazil to the world fight against global warming, enabled true fight against corruption in a country that had always tolerated it, affirmed the country’s independence and sovereignty, removed Brazil from the FAO Hunger Map, and in short, started the construction of a fairer and solidarity country. A Brazil for all.
Thus, Lula is being persecuted for his virtues, his powerful symbolism as a popular leader dedicated to eliminating poverty and overcoming inequalities, which, in a crisis, clashes with the neoliberal and “austericide” imperatives of the coup-led government. Not for his alleged crimes.
But we believe that Lula is also being persecuted for what he means to the world. Unquestionably, Lula has set up a foreign policy designed to build a pluralistic, truly multilateral world, in which the emerging countries may also enjoy the benefits of development and participate in the great international decisions. Lula has also played a decisive role in the introduction of the main social themes in the world agenda, in committing the emerging countries to key environmental issues, and in initiatives designed to reform multilateral institutions and control world finances.
This way, Lula replicated, at the foreign level, the progressive policies he implemented domestically. Lula is a symbol of equality, social progress, and democratic multilateralism for the world. Lula represents the hope of overcoming neoliberalism’s concentration of income and wealth, promotion of poverty and inequality, rampant unemployment, exclusion, and injustice, and deeper division between the countries of the globe.
Lula symbolizes, above all, the idea that another world is possible.
For all of that, Brazil is willing to fight and combat this unfair persecution.
Lula represents everything the reactionary and antidemocratic oligarchy hates the most, for his personal struggle is intertwined with the collective struggle of the Brazilian people and of many oppressed peoples in the world.
Lula is genuinely a creation of the Brazilian people. He is their face and their heart. Lula is in the son of the bricklayer who became a doctor. In the mother who can afford to feed her children today. In the waters that today irrigate the northeastern semi-arid outback. In the light for those who, in the 21st century, lived in darkness, without electric energy. Lula is in the Mercosur, the Unasul, the Eclac, the BRICS. Lula is in the G-20, in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Lula is in the solidarity with Africa. Lula’s example is in every international program designed to fight hunger and poverty.
Lula is the hope of reconciliation for Brazil. Only direct elections with Lula’s participation will be able to overcome the country’s extremely serious political, economic, and institutional crisis. Incarcerating Lula means keeping Brazil in an insoluble crisis. It is worsening the conflicting setting the country is imprisoned in.
And Lula is also a symbol in a world lacking world leaders truly committed to fighting the gaps between countries on this planet. Lula embodies the dream of equality and hope of a less asymmetrical world. A world oriented to satisfying the needs of the people, not dedicated to the maintenance of the privileges of the few who control globalized finances.
This dream cannot be imprisoned, this hope cannot be incarcerated.
We will react, we will fight back. Now, more than ever before, we will dedicate our strengths to acquit Lula. In every sphere and every court, in Brazil and abroad, we will denounce this scandalous injustice. This new coup against Brazilian democracy. We will denounce that, without Lula, the only leader capable of opposing the destructive agenda of the ongoing coup, the next Brazilian presidential election will be a big fraud. Without Lula, there will be no democracy in Brazil. Without Lula, the hopes of a better world dwindle.
We are certain of victory. We are – with Lula and the people – on the right side of History!
CategoriesNEWS
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PATRICK MORLEY
Full Name: Patrick Morley
Organization: Department of Defense
Occupation Freelance Agent
Creator: James Burke
Patrick Morley is a freelance agent working with the Department of Defense.
That is as close to the truth as can be done in a single line. He is really a former NATO anti-terrorism officer serving under General Neil Ashley, working to fight the forces that constantly challenge the West's way of life. He was considered by the General as one of the best men he had under his command. Morley relished the work and challenges and the successes. He also enjoyed the fact that he met his future wife in this work as she was also attached to Ashley's command. Together they planned a future of more work leading to children and to a normal life.
That would not be as his wife was killed in a plane crash and Morley suddenly lost all purpose. He found he could not stay in the job that reminded him so much of his lost love so he resigned his commission and said farewell to his work and his commanding officer and headed to Florida for a new start doing ... well, doing nothing at all.
It was while being so occupied, that is, doing nothing, that he met an elderly gentleman who saw in Morley a lost soul and also a man who could be put to good use. TO this old man, nicknamed Dan Caspar, Morley was a man who needed something to do or he would die a bitter man at an early age. Morley was also a man that could perform certain tasks as a courier that Caspar needed done in his role as a former underworld figure still active in getting to Person A what Person B had and was willing to part with that Person A needed, all done without either knowing how the transfer was accomplished. Also kept unaware was the authorities.
For a while, Morley enjoyed the challenges and he acted as a courier on all sorts of things though he never allowed himself to be used to carry anything explicitly illegal and never anything related to drugs. Then Caspar ran afoul of his old colleagues and is killed and Morley is angered. He liked the old man and wanted revenge. He also saw a way to make a lot of money in getting that revenge. And he saw a way of helping the United States government strike at an underworld that was getting too cozy with the very terrorists that Morley used to fight.
As the activities of the first book in this two-volume series conclude, Morley is reunited with the General and again becomes an agent, albeit a free agent this time, doing the sort of work he is so very good at.
1 A Present For Santa
Written by James Burke
The underworld boss that Morley did odd jobs for has been killed and Morley sees it as an opportunity to make a lot of money but the mob catches on and Morley needs an old friend's help to stay alive.
2 Spy Story
Morley is asked to help the General when a CIA mole in the Kremlin passes word of a KGB mole high up in the American government but then must kill himself before he can give a name.
When I first examined these two books, I saw immediately that Morley was the protagonist for each. I also saw that the genres appeared to be completely different. The first looked like a crime novel with revenge and a con being the particulars. The second was a straight-forward spy novel. How the two could be connected was more than a little confusing.
All things are explained to those who are patient. Or who finally reads the books and sees that some things do make sense.
I liked the Morley books. I like a good scam novel and the first definitely succeeds. I love a good spy novel and the second fills that. I liked the way that the author made the two work together. I wondered, though, and still do, why he only wrote the two. Morley could have done more. He should have done more.
And seeing more of the beautiful and very capable Angela would have been a good idea, too. If you wonder who she is, read the books. You will like her, too.
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Rick ’n’ Roll Highschool?
Metal fatigue?
Acting funny:
an interview with Matt Okine
I’ve started our conversation rather bluntly, at what I consider to be the beginning: my first awareness of the stand-up comic Matt Okine.
It wasn’t after I’d first seen him on stage. It wasn’t after I’d first seen him on television. It was a couple of years before that.
I’d first heard of Matt when another comic who had cut his teeth on the Brisbane circuit told me about two Brisbane comics – Matt being one of them – who’d made an ad for McDonald’s. The Macca’s ad, as far as comedy peers were concerned, was a bad move.
“A lot of people thought that,” Matt laughs, admitting that the thought also crossed his mind. “As a comic, you’re always going to come across situations where you have to question whether doing something is going to be good for your career or not. It all comes down to what you genuinely think of whomever you’re advertising for, I guess.”
Matt’s got no problem being affiliated with Macca’s. Why would he? They were literally his very first employer as a teenager. “After I did that ad, I landed a small part on a TV show which I since got to work on the next season of; I got a small part in an American TV show that they were doing on the Gold Coast at the time; I’ve done multiple spots on TV as a comic; I’m working right now as an actor; I’m making my own stuff… I don’t think it was a bad move.”
And of course, Matt’s worked for them again. More recently, he was in the rather cute ‘Macca’s Chef’ created as a 9-part web series created and broadcast during MasterChef. They featured Melbourne comic Michael Chamberlin alongside Matt Okine.
“Comics in general don’t like anyone doing anything that’s not ‘pure’ and ‘for the art, man’,” Matt explains. “If you do anything for a commercial company, you’re ‘selling out’. But as far as I’m concerned, I was a 20-year-old guy who had nothing to sell in the first place.”
Indeed. And because Matt’s an actor and a comic, it was the perfect move to finance his comedy, and to land more acting work. It meant he didn’t have to actually keep working in a Macca’s, or undertake any other kind of Joe Job to get by. (And who can take, or even define, the moral high ground on this one? How many comics do you know will opt for late night fast food after a gig or during a festival run?)
In fact, McDonald’s has enabled Matt to do is work on a new web series with a “reasonable budget” that enables him to spend time writing with two other co-creators. “There’d be no chance that I could put something together that is mine, that has my own voice and has everything I wanted to do, without doing ads. Not just for McDonald’s, but for anyone.”
The other point, of course, is that Matt’s been able to take the mickey out of Macca’s in the process. The Macca’s Chef ads were “pretty daring”. It’s impressive, he reckons, that a corporation like McDonald’s can take a different and funny approach to what it does.
Yeah, I know; I watched Gruen Transfer too. I saw Wil Anderson, Todd Sampson, Russel Howcroft et al deconstruct that behind-the-scenes ‘trust us’ pizza ad (the ‘cheese pull’ ad); multinational corporations are producing the statistically necessary and sufficient degree of self-deprecation required to win trust and keep making money. But if, in the process, they employ comedians to do what they’re good at – be funny – and thus enable them after hours to do what they’re good at – be funny – that’s clearly far better than if they didn’t employ comedians at all.
“If more companies were willing to make content like that, it’d be a lot better,” Matt concurs. “I – and a lot of other comics, I’m sure – wouldn’t mind… working…” Irrespective, Matt also acknowledges that, chances are, “no matter what I do, there will be some comic out there who just does not like my sort of thing, or wants to have a whinge about it.”
Acting like a comedian
Matt got the comedy bug young and tried to convince a buddy whom he thought was very funny to enter the Raw Comedy competition with him, straight out of school. Unfortunately, by the time they got around to it, they’d missed the entry deadline. So Matt went about his business attending drama school. He chose the Queensland University of Technology’s course since they offered an intensive four-week comedy workshop in the second year. Before that workshop came, Matt made sure he’d registered for that year’s Raw Comedy competition. “I wanted to get a heads-up before I did the workshop, and I’d always wanted to do comedy anyway.”
Matt did extremely well. His first ever comedy performance was his Raw Comedy heat. Which he won. His second performance was his Raw Comedy semifinal. Which he also won. And although he came second in the state final – which was only his third gig – he was selected for the national final, “which,” he says, “I subsequently f*cked up”. I know it sounds harsh; it was only his fourth ever gig, and customary though it is to do okay at your first, getting by on adrenalin and fear, and then crash and burn thereafter, it is a pity that he had to crash and burn in front of his biggest live audience while being filmed for television.
“It was an amazing experience and everything like that, but it still goes down as one of my worst gigs,” he recalls.
I can’t help wondering if there was a bit too much ‘riding’ on the gig; beyond the fact that it was the national final, Matt did mention he was selected for the national final despite not winning his state final. Indeed, the state winner didn’t make the national final.
“I still don’t know why exactly,” Matt says. “I can only assume why, but I can never state why.”
I think I can guess why. Or at least, guess what Matt’s thinking, but not wanting to say. And I’m having a bit of a problem saying it, too. Perhaps he fears there was some affirmative action at work – that he got through so he could be the ‘member of a racial minority’ on the bill. “Totally,” Matt says. “I’m sure that helped…”
Yeah, being different from most people, but as talented as the other person who’s the same as almost everyone, does make you stand out. And if you think about it, guys who are totally the same, competing with others for a prize, stand less chance than guys who are very different, because they don’t stand out as much. Perhaps Matt got through to the final because he is black. (There. I said it.) But I doubt it. He more l likely got through because he was good. And not comedically ‘samey’.
Promoters the world over will program a comedy night to make it appeal to the most people and there’s any number of reasons they’ll select some specific comics over others. Usually it is so the audience doesn’t have to sit through two comics doing the same shtick. You don’t want to see two musical folk singing comics on the same bill, or two impressionists, or two anythings (unless it’s a festival specifically celebrating folk singing comics or impressionists or the anything subgenre of comedy, in which case, take a bunch of the best and hope they stand out from each other for some other reason) because the second one’s rarely even close to seeming as funny as the first, even if the second is as good as the first. Unless, of course, the second one is better than the first. In which case, ditch the the first, go with the second.
But if you do perceive yourself as a member of some subgenre, and you are put on a bill, there’s more to be said of making the most of it, of taking the stage time and making it matter, rather than wondering why. Far better you just ensure you have your shit together enough to make the most of such a situation, should you ever be part of it. Because all stage time is good stage time. Particularly when you’ve won each round of a talent contest because you’re good. Maybe Matt didn’t win the state final because he had an off night, or didn’t bring as much of an audience, or any other number of reasons that would have been taken into account before putting him into the national final. It doesn’t matter anymore.
And anyway, it’s not like affirmative action – if that’s what it was (and I don’t believe it was) – can’t work against the minority, either. Matt knows this from his acting experience. “Instead of being one in 2000, I’m one in 20,” he explains, which is good. But, he adds, “the amount of roles that come up for those 20 is about 80 to 90 percent less.”
And what of those roles that do come up? I can’t help thinking of Margaret Cho, the American comic of Korean descent who, before she made it as an internationally successful comedian, would get offered television parts all the time. Mostly as ‘the Asian prostitute’ in a police drama.
“I always get to play the homeboy or the guy’s best friend,” Matt laughs. “But I don’t care if I’m playing the best friend; I’ll take that.”
The reason I don’t mind writing about this is because Matt has to deal with it, time and again, as a way of life. Indeed, the first routine I ever saw him do was one about how he is perceived: people asking him where he’s from – (it’s Queensland) – when what they really want to know is why he looks different. Point is, in the process, Okine revealed some of my own inherent racism to me. Not an overt hateful bigotry, just a tendency towards preconceived modes of thinking and behaviour in which, to be honest, I’d otherwise have kidded myself I don’t indulge. And that’s what good comedy can do: reveal truths about yourself and your world that you didn’t realise were the case. Or truths you knew, but didn’t actually realise or acknowledge that you knew.
“That’s why I still use that joke, three years on,” Matt says. “I do a little bit of ‘black’ material in my set, but I try not to over-saturate my material with it. I like opening with that joke because generally, when I walk on stage, it’s just natural for the audience to go ‘here’s the black guy’, and I just address it and get it out of the way and it’s over.”
In other words, there can often be a level of trepidation in the audience that dissipates as soon as Matt has dealt with it. It’s not so apparent in busy cities where there are lots of different people. But in regional towns boasting a more homogenous populace, you can “really feel it in the audience, people watching you, going, ‘I wonder what this is going to be like’. And then after I do that opening joke, you can really feel the audience warm and relax.”
And of course, in the big cities where the audience is less homogenous, punters will step up to Matt after a gig and tell him that they experience the behaviour he described – people asking where they’re from and not meaning ‘where in Australia’ – all the time.
That opening routine is one of many I can quote, having seen him perform several times. But when I think about it, I can’t actually encapsulate what his comedy is about or what it is he does. In fact, Matt hasn’t quite found a pat description for his comedy either.
“People ask me what my comedy’s about all the time, and you know what? I don’t really know. My comedy is about me. It’s very self-indulgent, but I just talk about things that I’ve done and the way that I see things in the world. That’s all I really talk about. Put simply like that, I sound like some kind of egomaniac, on stage with a microphone, letting loose about whatever I think is funny – but that’s pretty much what I do. I don’t try to hide that with one-liners or anything. What I talk about is my point of view. I’m just talking about shit that I’ve done and seen.”
There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s pretty much what every good comedian you care to mention does, in the end.
Disco Matt MC Esquire III
Given that Matt continues to act and to do comedy, the question is whether acting and comedy are parallel careers for him. Because some comics trained as actors but really just want to be comedians. Other comics are doing stand-up in the hope to ultimately get into movies. In Matt’s case, the two will continue, together.
“From very early on, I’ve wanted to something like Larry David or Jerry Seinfeld,” he says, “where I can write and act in my own sitcom or show. It doesn’t have to be The Matt Okine Show. I’d like to be part of the writing team and act out a character I’m writing for.”
Matt’s already started: late last year he worked on a pilot for television, but by the time they cast it, there wasn’t a character for Matt to play. “I didn’t want to write a new one, I just enjoyed working on it. But I’ve done the writing thing; I’ve done the acting thing; I’ve done comedy; I’d like to meld it all together, whichever way it works. I really like the idea of writing a show and then acting in it.”
The first step towards the master plan is a web series that’s due to launch in November, entitled The Future Machine (one of those proejects Matt is able to finance through doing ads for the likes of Macca’s). In fact, here’s the trailer for it, hot off the press:
There are, of course, other creative projects he’s undertaken, in order to hone his skills and pursue his creative bent. Like the video blog he maintains, as Disco Matt MC Esquire, III. It began as a hobby.
“When I was 18 I started making music in my bedroom. At first it was acoustic music, me stuffing around with my guitar. Then I discovered how to make rap beats in my bedroom. So I just started making hip hop EPs with a friend, and I went under the name Disco Matt MC. The first one was me learning how to use everything.”
The second one was more creative. Entitled The Bling, it was a take-off of The Ring: “If you listen to the EP you’ll die in seven days,” he says. “It’s got a narrative that goes through the five songs.” The third one, The New Start, was more serious, dealing with his “move to Sydney… and stuff”. In the process, the Disco Matt MC character developed.
“I really like the character,” Matt says. “I think he’s fun.” Ideally Matt would like to put Disco Matt MC Esquire III in a sitcom. In the meantime, he appears in funny sketches on YouTube.
“The video blogs are there to see what other people make of that character. I really like him. I’ve done a couple of live performances as him, but not many people know about him. I want to see what people think of him.”
Of course, the EPs are still available for download from Matt’s homepage, should anyone want to listen. But he’s quick to point out that, unlike the comedy and the acting, the music is just a hobby. “Don’t expect Ice Cube or Ice T,” he says. “It’s more like Ice Coffee. Or Vanilla Ice.”
Whatever you think, it’s an impressive body of work for relatively young comic to have behind him. Although Matt insists that it’s a “pretty weird experience”, his career thus far. Two days ago we were chatting at the Laugh Garage Comedy Club, where he took the stage first as a member of Man Choir, the a cappella group consisting entirely of male comedians, and then as a solo stand-up comic. But for this interview, I’ve phoned him in Far North Queensland, where he’s spent the day “on a boat, sailing between the islands off the coast with a full navy vessel” behind him, filming scenes that will appear in the second season of Sea Patrol. At the end of the week he’ll be headlining at the Laugh Garage again.
“It’s really cool,” Matt says. “I like acting, I like comedy. I don’t have anything else to fall back on. This is my one thing that I’ve done pretty much since I left school and I’m going to make it work, regardless.”
So, chances are, there’ll be more comedians bitching about Matt Okine soon!
Addenda:
‘Matt Okine’ is a difficult name to make one of my customary cute, punning title out of. The closest I could come was to use a phrase with ‘ok’, and substituting ‘Okine’ in its place. They kinda sucked (try it yourself if you don't believe me). In the process, however, I discovered a theory that ‘Okine’ is a Scottish surname, not too far removed from ‘Atkins’ and ‘Aitken’. And that the family motto is ‘Strength and Vigilence’. See for yourself.
The hilarious and absurd Shane Matheson (who presides over something called Mrs Funberries with the equally hilarious and absurd Ryan Withers) has suggested a corker of a title: Close Encounters of the Okine. I'd have used it, but when Shane gave me permission, he said that he’d previously given it to Matt as a show title. That’s where it really ought appear: as a festival show title. But I like it a lot.
Posted at 08:57 PM in Future Machine, Macca's Chef, Man Choir, Matt Okine, McDonald's, Mrs Funberries, Raw Comedy, Ryan Withers, Shane Matheson | Permalink | 0 comments
Tags: Future Machine, Macca's Chef, Matt Okine, Raw Comedy, Sea Patrol
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One World, Many Stories
Coming this Season
Auditions/Contact
Past Prod
ONE WORLD, MANY STORIES ONE WORLD, MANY STORIES
How are we a Company?
As credited to theatre troupes in the 16th and 17th centuries in England, we call ourselves a Company. (Although, we do not have a patron!)
The young actors audition to become a member of the Company and the productions are chosen once the Company is in place. The initial weeks are spent on getting to know one another and bond as a group, working equally as one, challenging their own comfort zones. The strength of the Company then helps to dictate the production.
“Keen intellect and a limitless imagination are the foundations for all of the work an actor does.”
Joe Cabral, Walnut Hill School
FOUNDER/DIRECTOR
Susan Pendleton is a proud New Englander, growing up near Boston. She holds a Master of Arts in Educational Theatre from New York University (including studies in England) and a Master of Music from The University of Memphis. She has been teaching drama and music to students from pre-school though university since 1974, as well as creating a creative drama curriculum for the Saskatoon Schools. Susan has led over a dozen teacher workshops in various school districts in Canada. In April, 2011, Pendleton was invited as a SMART artist to lead workshops in Drama Education at The University of The United Arab Emirates.
Susan is a member of, and continues to attend, internationally recognized Educational Theatre organizations and conferences, such as TYA and AATE.
Favorite acting roles include Babe (Crimes of the Heart), Fiona (Brigadoon), Carrie Pipperidge (Carousel), Elvira (Blythe Spirit), Mrs. Keller (The Miracle Worker). Directing projects include Godspell, Charlie and Algernon, Ronia the Robber's Daughter, The Boxcar Children, The Orphan Train, Seussical, the Musical, Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat.
Her professional oboe and English Horn positions have been with various symphony orchestras including Saskatoon, Sacramento, Memphis, and as principal oboist with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra. These positions were in conjunction with teaching positions at The University of The Pacific, The University of Tennessee (Chattanooga), and a fellowship at the University of Memphis.
Susan's daughters all grew up in Sytco and have continued their study of the arts in the US (including NYU's Cap 21, Carnegie Mellon Summer Intensive, Interlochen Arts Academy, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and Idyllwild Arts.) Her grand daughter made her stage debut at age 6 weeks as Baby Roo in Sytco's production of A Winnie the Pooh Christmas Tail, and again at age 13 months; however that later one required a stand by actor, age 9 months.
Susan has a 5 pound Yorkie, named Casey, He has never acted; but he dresses up as a scorpion for Halloween.
"Dark chocolate always makes me smile!"
Copyright © 2020 Youth Theatre - All Rights Reserved.
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Sycamore Basketball
Whats the difference.....?
Thread starter Bluethunder
Bluethunder
Hugh McAwesome
For several years now, I have heard people discuss the difference in the noise level of the women's games vs. the men's games. While often times they would draw roughly the same size crowd, the women's games were always louder, and much more enthusiastic. But why? The most common explanation over the years was the style of the women's team vs the style of the men's team, but that no longer works anymore because the men's team is starting to play a very similar style to the women.
While I didn't get to see all of the men's game tonight online, I did watch pretty much the entire second half. I saw numerous break outs, some press, and several set plays that resulted in wide open shots and a much faster pace to the game then in previous years. The biggest thing that shocked me was the absolutely pathetic crowd. That was one of the most pathetic crowds I have ever heard (or not heard, if you will) and I have been to plenty of games with smaller crowds. What is the problem? We have a much more exciting style of play this year, and brand new scoreboard, new graphics and banners, etc, yet we have the same dead crowd. It is no wonder we struggle to recruit against schools like Xavier, Creighton, SIU, etc. There crowds are twice as big as ours, but more importantly they are three times as loud. What can we do? I don't see how anyone can say WINNING is the answer, because even in games we are winning, the crowd is dead.
One thing I will point out is that certain changes need to be made. First (and I have said this before) if you aren't going to have ANY new routines then we need to just get rid of the cheerleaders. I graduated in the 90s and we are doing many of the same cheers to the same songs (Wabash Cannonball). The cheerleaders do the same cheers, at the same time, in the same places on the floor. If you go to enough games, you probably have some of these cheers memorized.
Also, for those who have been to a game this year (I live out of state), what are they doing with the new scoreboards to get the crowds involved? Are they used at the start of the game to introduce the starting line up? Do they show some team highlights like dunks, steals or three pointers to excite everyone? Are they still playing the same song at the start of the game from years ago? When I was at ISU, they played that Michael Buffer clip from JockJams and they were still playing it several years after I graduated. Then they switched to the Black Eyed Peas, even though by that time the song was several years old. Have they gotten something new?
Point is, this has got to change. I can't stand to listen to our games and not hear anything but the PA announcer and the sound of the ball. With 4000 people in an arena, I should not hear the plays being called over the radio. I shouldn't hear the refs calling out fouls and shoes squeaking on the floor.
Somebody tell me things are being done to fix these problems, or someone throw some ideas out. I have several but I will have to type them at a later date as I am tired. But I know I can't be the only fan on this board that is frustrated by the complete and total apathy at our games. I have been to games where I actually felt weird for being vocal and loud, because everyone else around me was so quiet and passive. We need to be the change Sycamore fans. So start throwing out your frustrations and lets talk about them, then we can move on to step two, which is fixing them.....
The Kleuh Level
ISU Apathy
Cool down 'Dawg...wo-o-o-o-o...stop the carriage! How long's it been since ISU was over the .500 hump in Men's hoop? Are you surprised that the bandwagon has lost some of its vigor? What you're witnessing is the BYPRODUCT of a losing major sports program over two decades of sugar-rich pastry. How can you expect ISU students/fans to feel "excited" given these conditions? The ISU Board of Trustees should be totally disbanded for FORSEEABLY (yes, they KNEW or SHOULD'VE KNOWN) that such conditions would appear in lieu of their malfeasance in addressing these issues over the past 1/4 century. RP bravely addressed these issues the other day, pointing out the "state of ISU Sports."
Like others have said, it'll be a long road back...Fortunately, RP has taken the lead on these issues where past A.D.'s have simply been content with refining the game of "pocket pool.":sycamores:
SycamorePsycho
The Varsity Level
I was at both of the ISU womens game and the ISU mens game. Personally I thought that the crowd was louder for the mens game then it was the womens game. I always try and get the crowd to get loud when I am at the games. At the men's game the crowd got pretty loud several times. I think the reason our crowd hasnt gotten that loud yet is because we have not played a tough team at home. Even though we only beat Ball State by 11 points it never really seemed like a close game. We never really struggled against them one time. In the past when we have played teams like IU, Purdue, Butler the crowd has been ridiculously loud. I think when we play teams like Southern Illinois the crowd will definitely get loud.
It is not just the level of fan enthusiasm at each game; it is the environment in which the game is played. We just don't seem to do little things at the men’s games that could and should get the crowd a little fired up. I understand that many fans have been through many losing seasons and are wary of each new season and what it might bring, but once you are actually at the game, that should be put on the backburner. Do we use the new screens (or will we) to get the crowd involved? Can we play better music at the start to appeal to a broader audience and get more enthusiasm at the start? Can the cheerleaders not do the same routines since 1994? Can we stop playing the Wabash cannonball for the rest of the 21st century? It just seems like we don't really do much to get fans involved. Yes there are moments when fans are louder or more excited, but it is pretty much left up to the fans to do this and these moments are few and far between. We cheer at a three pointer or a dunk, and then it is almost absolute silence for the next two or three minutes.
One final question. I hear a lot of people say when we start winning it will get better. How much better does everyone think it can realistically get? Do you think consistent sellouts are possible in Terre Haute or just a pipedream? Is 9000 or 8000 realistic? How much enthusiasm will that bring? I don't know the answers, just wondering what everyone else’s thoughts are on the matter.
For your answer, check the attendance #'s during Bird's three (3) years @ ISU. How many HC sellouts?:talktohand:
gostate03
Attendence
What was the attendence figures during the two years of ncaa tourneys? I would guess around 7000 to 8000, but it was always loud!! You have to have something to cheer about!!!
Go State!!
I was at both the women's and men's game Sat. To me the crowds looked to be about the same. I didn't take time to count. ( thats a joke) One thing we are forgetting is that the women's crowd is more compact. Most seats are filled in the blue area where the men seats are more spread out. I saw a lot more in the yellow seats at the men's game where most of the blue was filled during the women's game. That could account for the increased noise heard on the radio.
I did have the pleasure of sitting in front of Jay's family Sat. night. I never know who will be seated behind me. I enjoyed talking to Jay's mom and dad. Yes we were both (Jay's Dad and I) loud during the game but dads do not chear we just get loud during play.
The Newsom Level
gostate03 said:
I remember it being 5-6k... It was louder. It's much easier to cheer/get loud when you are pretty sure that shots will go in, or that you are going to win...
It's much harder to cheer when you are "hoping" to win, or the shots just don't fall time and time again....
I was at both games... The first half of the men's game was pretty brutal to watch. It was very fortunate that we were playing a team that was not very good... We could have EASILY been burried in the first half.
Forward your concerns to Mr. Prettyman. All of your points are very valid and have been discussed ad nauseum on another ISU basketball message board. Prettyman NEEDS to hear all of these concerns because they are extemely valid. All who feel this way should email him today.
CoachTerri
Lack of enthusiasm
I was at the women's game and have been at women's games for years. What I am noticing is that when the band should be playing something upbeat during a time out to get the crowd involved John Sherman is having some kind of contest. I think they should save that stuff for half time not during time outs. The other thing that would help is if the band gave some thought to what they played when...when we need to get the crowd fired up the band does it not the cheerleaders. The school song and wabash cannonball do get a little old but it seems to get the crowd more involved. Some of the songs that have played the last two home games have people looking at each other a little. ... It seems like they follow a program instead of going with the flow of the game. I could be wrong about this but a couple of times lately the band has actually quieted the crowd.
Sponsors are important but it sort of seems like they distract the crowd with these contests.
When there was only the pepsi shot people sort of got excited about it but now its sort of like "oh not again".
Just my .02
Coach T
ssoats
The White Level
You're right on the money, coach terri. I get really tired of them running out there at time-outs. It distracts me and people sitting around me say the same thing. Usually a time out is called when one team or another has done something good and if we are on the side of the good we want to root and stand up for that and cheer the athletes on, not sit there and watch a half-court shot that will never get made. It takes away all focus on the reason we are there, to stand and yell our players on, be it the men or women, and this to me has been a distraction.
The Recruit Level
Here's a largely positive response that will seem out of place in this thread...
I for one appreciate the efforts of our student performers at the games who undoubtedly give many, many hours to the school in practices and performances. In many ways they compare favorably to similar groups at other schools I have seen. I also very much like the new scoreboard and banners--what great improvements! I would be upset if I didn't hear the Wabash Cannonball or March On at the games. I can't imagine fans at Duke complaining because the band plays "Devil With a Blue Dress On" with the same dance routine in the same way they have done it for many years. The same thing with "Rocky Top" at Tennessee, "Sweet Georgia Brown" at IU, the Seminole War Chant at Florida State, "Boomer Sooner" at Oklahoma, "Tiger Rag" at LSU, "The Chomp" at Florida, etc., etc.. The fact that those songs and cheers happen at predictable times is what creates that anticipation and full participation. We have all too few things that are uniquely Sycamore and all too few people who are vocal and loyal. Let's focus on creating new traditions and fans, not try to tear down the few traditions we have now.
Having said that, I agree that way too many timeouts are spent on shooting contests. Two per game would be plenty...
As a fan, I believe it is my job to come to the game ready to cheer for my team, not someone else's job to force me into it. If I'm not willing to get on my feet, no scoreboard, band, or promotion is going to do it for me.
Go Sycamores!
The only thing I will disagree with you on is the fact that every song you mentioned above by the different schools elicits a huge response from the crowd, and I don't think we can put the Wabash Cannonball on the same level. Is it supposed to get a response? Yes. Does it? Not really. I personally think it is used too much and if we are going to use it that much then we should at least try and some up with something to go with it to get EVERYONE involved.
I do agree that as a fan, it is not (nor should it be) someone's job to get me on my feet and cheering. Lets face it though, we have too many fans at ISU games that put their coats on their laps and sit like they are at a movie theater all night. I have had people look at me funny for standing after a dunk or when we have gone on a run and the other team has called a time-out. THAT is the culture that we need to change, but I confess I don't know how to do it. We just don't seem to have any traditions at our games that everyone knows and gets into and can be passed down to teh next generation of students. We don't have any O-H-I-O like at Ohio State games or "Boiler Up" chants at Purdue games. Those are the things that we need to cultivate and put into place.
Any ideas???????
The difference isn't that we haven't had traditions or attempts to create some. The difference is how many people respond to them, and at what level, which in turn determines how many of them live on. It's just like cheering after a good play, or laughing at a movie theater -- you tend to do it a lot more if there a lot of people around you who are doing it. The key is getting more people in the seats and getting them more involved. There's no easy answers to that, but doing things like spending the money on a new scoreboard with video screens certainly is a step in the right direction. But I don't hear any of us talking about the improvements, nor about how else to get people to the games. We're talking about blaming the volunteer students who are trying to do something for the people who either aren't there or aren't involved while they are there.
I'm not sure what you mean by saying it's used too much. If you're talking about the Wabash Cannonball, then I can't remember when it was played more than once before the game and once during the game. If it was never played again or if there were a new dance routine to it, would that get people on their feet? Whether you're doing something old or something new, people have to want to get involved. And the things that have the best chance of getting everyone involved are the things that everyone see as belonging to everyone in the gym (see the list above). You can play rap music, big band music, country/western, metal, whatever, but any of those things will only appeal to a minority of the tastes present and there is no guarantee that it will make them stand up and yell. Try new things, sure, but let's not act like the Wabash Cannonball is the reason why we don't have more people at the games or that people just sit there quietly. Let's face it -- if the team comes on the floor, the school song is played, and people don't stand up and clap, then let's not kid ourselves...they're not going suddenly decide to get involved simply because the Cannonball is played less often, because there's a new dance routine to it, or because something else is done that's never been tried before. You have to want to be involved.
We're no different than anyone else -- it's easier for us to criticize someone else who is trying to do something than to take the responsibility for making it better ourselves. Let's be inviting other people to the games, respecting the old traditions, and be ready to get involved with new ones.
BlueHeart
The Sycamore Level
[I can't stand to listen to our games and not hear anything but the PA announcer and the sound of the ball. With 4000 people in an arena, I should not hear the plays being called over the radio. I shouldn't hear the refs calling out fouls and shoes squeaking on the floor.
I think to make a judgment on the crowd noise based on what you hear on the radio may be giving you a false impression of the atmosphere in Hulman Center. One of the reasons the women's game may seem louder is there are a lot more young kids and ladies in the crowd, also mostly sitting in the lower bowl (proximity to the mics). Higher pitched voices and a compact crowd are going to get picked up on radio microphones more than the lower pitched voices and spread out crowd of the men's games. I attend both games in person each time and don't think the men's games are lacking enthusiasm by comparison. You just need to be there to feel it. Radio does a great disservice to those of you who try to gauge the excitement of the crowd.
All of this being said, many successive years of watching a team give away games that could have been won do sort of make the crowd "apprehensive" about the outcome. "Wonder how we'll lose this one"? I don't think that new cheers, new songs, new contests will do anything to take this mind set away. A successful team on the floor will. I am excited about seeing the baby steps that Coach Mac has been able to accomplish. This year may not be what we all hope for, but it is certainly going the right direction. After all, the majority of the team are returning players from last year, the rest are new to Division I ball. How much change is really fair to expect?
OK. One criticism. Too many contests at the wrong time. These contests should be at the half only. During the game, they seem to come at the time when the band/cheer team should be allowed to "whip up" the crowd. Instead you see some poor soul heave a ball from mid floor in hopes of earning pop for a year?!? It sure does throw the wet blanket on my enthusiasm.
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Tag Archives: Shinsuke Sato
A-Z Challenge: “O” is for Oblivion Island, Haruka and the Magic Mirror
Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (Hottarake no Shima: Haruka to Mahō no Kagami) 2009
The success of Toy Story and Skrek are two CGI examples that I think of most when it comes to changing animation in America. Of course, it’s silly to point out only two examples, only two moments or studios (Pixar and DreamWorks here) as being responsible… but I think they are definitely noteworthy 🙂
Across the world in Japan, I kinda see Production IG as one similar driver of CGI integration into anime. Again, they’re obviously not the only studio doing so, but if I think of Ghost in the Shell in the mid-1990s and Innocence (among others) a little later on, I feel like there’s a clear line to 2009 when they released Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror.
Later in the review I do want to return to this rambling train of thought, but I should talk about the film itself sooner or later, huh?
Oblivion Island has a great fairy-tale feel, with perhaps a bit of Alice in Wonderland but a lot more Japanese folklore too, with a specific focus on kitsune. The hook for me was the idea that main character Haruka is drawn into a world of ‘forgotten things’, things which humans have left behind and have then been collected by fox-like creatures over the decades (and doubtless longer).
In fact, the scavengers have a motto: What You Neglect, We Collect, which is a pretty perfect description. When Haruka lands in the new world she is lucky enough to have a (reluctant at first) guide to show her around. And the Island is a pretty amazing place, where pretty much everything has been repurposed, from open books that function as seats on rail cars to gramophones deconstructed into chairs (okay, they’re both chairs :D).
There’s even a hierarchy/currency to the items, with mirrors being prized above all else – exactly the object Haruka needs to recover; her own precious hand mirror.
The story unfolds at a steady pace as the search gets Haruka and Teo (her guide) mixed up with ruler of the island, Baron. Maybe as an adult you won’t find heaps of surprises but I think kids would be delighted in all the right places, and Teo’s a cute little guy too. It’s also cool to see that Haruka is no push-over either.
If I had to single out an issue… it was just the feeling that I didn’t love the movie – I ‘only’ liked it a lot. That’s not much of a criticism, is it? Maybe the climax was actually a little long but it was usually pretty exciting.
Okay, so finally I’m going to creep back toward the visuals – which is what I was slowly, slowly leading up to at the start.
I remember a certain amount of excitement and bold predictions from the media and creators during those changes to the animation world that I mentioned before, discussing the way new technology would revolutionise things (I remember a bit of that around the time of Appleseed for one).
You can still see that excitement in occasional special features included with physical releases, sometimes it’s even the same folks looking back and reflecting on how the predictions turned out a little differently (but not ‘wrong’ either).
So, why have I also wrangled this review around to special features?
Well, I like to use them as one potential marker of the level of success a studio hoped for with a new release and I was curious about Haruka and the Magic Mirror.
Obviously, most ‘extras’ double as marketing materials but when I saw the decent list of special features included with Oblivion Island, I had the impression that Shinsuke Sato and Producton IG wanted the film to be a big hit. And of course! Why shouldn’t they? Success also keeps the studio going and making more great stuff.
So, I guess finally now to a question – did other folks like the film and its blend of traditional animation and CGI?
Oblivion Island was nominated for and won awards but I suppose if I’m interested in more than one marker of success, then I can’t ignore box office either – so, using IMDB, Haruka and the Magic Mirror had a worldwide gross of $3,171,022.
Now, to give some context I’ll try a couple of other similar-ish films released in the same year. First up, Summer Wars, which listed a fair bit more in terms of ticket sales: $18,434,328. Hosada’s film also used CGI but not in the same way as Oblivion Island and he also had a lot of anticipation already built up at that point. Something more CGI-heavy then? I’ll try Astro Boy – it took in $39,886,986 but it’s not precisely an anime film. (It was also considered a flop).
Maybe neither of my examples are totally useful as 1-to-1 comparisons, but I think I can say that audiences were still slow to warm to CGI in anime then. I know some of that reluctance lingers today, and does so within me, but again, I think I mostly complain when it seems like the blend between techniques is not great.
And I reckon Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror brings the two approaches together nicely indeed. Even if the character models have that CGI-smooth look, there’s still a lot of texture and depth to them and the backgrounds and props, and not just courtesy of the lighting either I reckon.
So, finally, I’ve finished all of my tangents – and as it turns out, it took me a really long time to say that I enjoyed this fairy-tale CGI anime and think it’d probably be pretty suitable for kids, just not the really, really young.
[This is another entry in a challenge (that I hope to one day finish), where I have set myself the goal of watching something for each letter of the alphabet – you can see the list over here if curious].
Posted in Anime | Tagged 2000s, adventure, fairy tale, fantasy, Hirotaka Adachi, Oblivion Island Haruka and the Magic Mirror, Production I.G, Shinsuke Sato | 4 Replies
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The Thompson-Pendragon Controversy-Part Two
According to Robert Weinberg and his co-editors (or Mr. Weinberg alone), C. Hall Thompson's stories in Weird Tales were among the first Cthulhu stories "written by an author who was not personally invited to join the fun by Lovecraft." According to editor Charles M. Collins, Thompson was "catapulted to fame" after his work appeared in Weird Tales, with "Spawn of the Green Abyss" receiving "tremendous acclamation" and "hailed as out Lovecrafting the old master himself." All of that appears to have been too much for August Derleth, who pressured Weird Tales to quit publishing Thompson's Lovecraftian stories. This in effect seems to have silenced the younger author, who spent the remainder of his career writing Westerns and crime/detective stories. Thompson may have his revenge, though. His four stories have been reprinted again and again, and if he was indeed the author behind the Arthur Pendragon stories, then he has also been hailed as the creator of two of the best Cthulhu stories of the post-Lovecraft era. These, too, have been reprinted, most recently in Acolytes of Cthulhu (2014). Derleth's byline is missing from that book by the way.
But was Thompson Pendragon? No one knows and no one may ever know. A user named Druidic on the website Thomas Ligotti Online seems to think so, though, and the more I look into the controversy, the more I think things fit. Still, the evidence is circumstantial only. I haven't found anything conclusive.
In going about all of this, I first looked at C. Hall Thompson's stories in Weird Tales. Here is what I found . . .
Thompson's four stories were:
"Spawn of the Green Abyss" (Cover story, Nov. 1946)
"The Will of Claude Ashur" (July 1947)
"The Pale Criminal" (Sept. 1947)
"Clay" (May 1948)
Of these, only "The Will of Claude Ashur" touches directly on what is now called the Cthulhu Mythos. (That's Derleth's term. I'm not sure that we should use it, but it's too late to do anything about it now.) The others are Lovecraftian to one degree or another, but they could easily take place in a non-Cthulhian universe.
Three of the four are set in the northeastern United States. Only "The Pale Criminal" takes place beyond American shores, in Germany. Of the three stories set here in this country (I write from the cold, snowy Midwest), two are based in New Jersey with side trips to other places. One, "Clay," takes place in Lovecraft's beloved New England. If you're writing while under the influence of Lovecraft, I can see setting your stories in New England. That was his country. But to set your stories in New Jersey seems a little odd to me--unless New Jersey forms a part of your own region, one that you might wish to mythologize in the same way that Lovecraft mythologized New England. Well, C. Hall Thompson was born in Philadelphia and lived in Pennsylvania--like New Jersey, a Mid-Atlantic state--for all or most of his life. (1, 2) In contrast, Arthur Porges, another candidate for the Pendragon title, was from the Chicago area and lived, I think, in California for a good many years.
All four of Thompson's stories have Lovecraftian elements, but they also have conventional gothic elements. There are locked rooms, locked chests, secret books, and hidden manuscripts. There are also ancient curses, forbidden rites and lore, twin or switched identities, cases of possession and malign influence cast by supernatural forces, all of which culminate in ghastly deaths or unfortunate fates visited upon the main characters. As in so many gothic stories--maybe all gothic stories--much of the action in Thompson's work takes place in lonely and forbidding houses. In "Spawn of the Green Abyss," it's called Heath House, located close to a town "sprawled on a forlorn peninsula off New Jersey's northeastern coast." (3) In "The Will of Claude Ashur," the house is Inneswich Priory, not a priory at all but a private home, also located in New Jersey. In "The Pale Criminal," the house is a castle called Zengerstein, which looms on the edge of the Black Forest. (4) Finally, the action in "Clay" takes place at Wickford House, an asylum for the insane located somewhere in northern New England. There is in fact a lot of insanity or presumed insanity in Thompson's weird fiction, but--younger by more than a generation than H.P. Lovecraft--Thompson had a different angle on mental illness, one that would have been in vogue in postwar America.
(1) On the other hand, if you're from Pennsylvania and want to mythologize a place, why wouldn't you choose your own place to mythologize?
(2) I wouldn't rule out that Thompson served in the military during or right after World War II. His first known published story was "The Shanghaied Ruby" in the Winter 1945-1946 issue of Fight Stories. That would have been just right for a man separating or soon to separate from the military.
(3) That sounds like Sandy Hook to me, but I'm no Easterner. There are beaches at Sandy Hook, and I wonder if it was a tourist spot for Philadelphians in Thompson's day. There are also military installations at Sandy Hook. Could Thompson have been stationed there?
(4) Or could Thompson, if he was in the military, have been stationed in postwar Germany? Maybe not, as "The Pale Criminal" seems an imitation of a story by Poe and not based on anything from real life.
Copyright 2019 Terence E. Hanley
Posted by Terence E. Hanley at 6:00 AM No comments:
Labels: August Derleth, C. Hall Thompson, H.P. Lovecraft
The Thompson-Pendragon Controversy-Part One
Charles John Thompson (1923-1991), who published under the pen name C. Hall Thompson, contributed four stories to Weird Tales in 1946-1948. Despite his small output in the field of weird fiction, Thompson wasn't an unknown writer nor a flash in the pan, for he authored dozens more stories, mostly Westerns, and a few novels, also Westerns, over the course of his twenty-plus years as a professional writer. Born in the same month in which the first issue of Weird Tales came out, Thompson was only forty-six years old in 1969, the year in which his last known work of fiction was published. (It was one-half of an Ace Double Western.) Oddly enough, that was the same age at which H.P. Lovecraft stopped writing . . . except that Lovecraft stopped writing on account of a premature case of death. Thompson may have kept on writing--he had to have done something during the last twenty-two years of his life--but for now at least, this is all we have.
Thompson's four stories for Weird Tales are Lovecraftian in one way or another. The story is that they were too Lovecraftian for August Derleth's tastes. An extremely prolific author, the publisher of Arkham House books, and the self-appointed defender of the Lovecraftian faith, Derleth is supposed to have threatened Thompson with legal action if he did not desist from writing in the manner of his master. Thompson's last story for Weird Tales, entitled simply "Clay," appeared in the May 1948 issue of the magazine and he was heard from no more in those pages.
At least one reader who has posted on the Internet has suggested that Thompson was the man behind two stories, published under the pseudonym Arthur Pendragon, in Fantastic Stories of Imagination in 1964-1965. The stories, "The Dunstable Horror" (Apr. 1964) and "The Crib of Hell" (May 1965), are pastiches of Lovecraft. They are considered good pastiches, but they are nonetheless pastiches. Darrell Schweitzer, who knows a thing or two about Weird Tales, has suggested science fiction and fantasy author Arthur Porges as the man behind the Pendragon mask. There is circumstantial evidence in favor of both suggestions but nothing definite. We may never know Pendragon's real identity.
I have looked into the Thompson-Pendragon controversy a little more and have read Thompson's four weird tales. One thing I wanted to find out about is the story that August Derleth threatened C. Hall Thompson if he did not quit with the Yog-Sothothery. This story has been repeated on the Internet without citation and attribution, as all things are in this medium. Well, I just happened to find a telling of that story in print. From the introduction to "The Will of Claude Ashur" in Weird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors, edited by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, Robert Weinberg, and Martin H. Greenburg (1988):
C. Hall Thompson's 1947 story, "The Will of Claude Ashur"--with its appropriation of Lovecraftian names and more than casual nod to the plot of "The Thing on the Doorstep"--stands as one of the first stories of this kind [i.e., one of "H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories"] written by an author who was not personally invited to join the fun by Lovecraft. Thompson wrote three other stories for the magazine in the same vein until Lovecraft's publishers asked him to stop. (p. 488)
That quote led me to Mr. Weinberg's earlier history of the magazine, The Weird Tales Story (1977) and this quote:
November 1946 brought forth the "Spawn of the Green Abyss" [sic] by C. Thompson Hall. A direct pastiche of Lovecraft in both style and content, the story was similar to "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." However, "Spawn" was well written and entertainingly told. Thompson did several other Lovecraft pastiches until Derleth made Weird Tales stop from publishing them. Derleth maintained a stranglehold on all Lovecraftian ideas, though it was doubtful that he had any legal right to do so. (p. 46)
The way I understand it, Derleth had no legal right to do so. At this late date, I think we can say that he was more or less a jerk about it. Anyway, Robert Weinberg owned the Weird Tales property when he wrote those words. I think we have to assume that he knew whereof he spoke. I think we should also point out that Derleth was competing with Thompson for space in Weird Tales during the late 1940s, not only under his own name but also under his pseudonym Stephen Grendon. We might call his position biased. After all, one more Thompson tale in the magazine could have meant one less Derleth tale. Like I said, jerk.
In 1963, Avon Books issued a collection of weird tales called Fright, later Harvest of Fear. In his introduction, the editor, Charles M. Collins, wrote:
C. Hall Thompson catapulted to fame when his "The Will of Claude Ashur" and "Spawn of the Green Abyss" were published in Weird Tales magazine. The latter, received with tremendous acclamation, was hailed as out Lovecrafting the old master himself. His "Clay," in the Lovecraft tradition, is a minor masterpiece which should generate much enthusiasm among his many admirers. (1975 edition, p. 12)
So if Derleth was really that peeved with Thompson, maybe it was out of jealousy. In any case, those are pretty encouraging words from Collins the editor. If you were C. Hall Thompson, you might have thought pretty well of yourself and that maybe you should take advantage of the situation while you could. Now consider the timing: Fright was published in 1963. Just four months into the following year, Fantastic issued a never-before published Lovecraft pastiche, "The Dunstable Horror" by Arthur Pendragon. Was it an old story dusted off for publication in 1964? Or was a new story, composed and submitted to Cele Goldsmith in short order following the publication of Fright? Whatever might have happened, if Pendragon was Thompson, the timing seems right. Now let's see how Pendragon's stories might match up with Thompson's.
Original text copyright 2019 Terence E. Hanley
Who Was Arthur Pendragon?
The other day I wrote about C. Hall Thompson, who contributed Lovecraftian pastiches to Weird Tales in the 1940s. I also wrote that there is at least one person who speculates that Thompson was the man behind two stories by a pseudonymous author dubbed Arthur Pendragon, published in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination in 1964-1965. I say pseudonymous, but I don't think anyone can say for sure that Pendragon wasn't his real name. It just seems really unlikely that it was. His (or her) two stories in Fantastic were "The Dunstable Horror" from April 1964 and "The Crib of Hell" from May 1965. The story goes that in the 1940s August Derleth threatened C. Hall Thompson with legal action if Thompson didn't stop writing Lovecraftian tales. I don't know the source of the claim of Derleth's threatened action against Thompson, but it doesn't sound out of character for him.
The suggestion that Thompson was Pendragon comes from the website Thomas Ligotti Online. It is made by a user named Druidic (I think). You can read the entire short thread by clicking here. Druidic's evidence isn't strong, but sometimes a gut feeling can get you somewhere. Another user--I guess he's called Ancient History--points out that both of Pendragon's stories were reprinted in Acolytes of Cthulhu, from 2001. "In the introduction," writes Ancient History, "editor Robert M. Price says that Darrell Schweitzer suggests this is a pseudonym for Arthur Porges." Here is the evidence for that claim, straight from the source, Robert M. Price's introduction to the book:
As the learned Darrell Schweitzer points out, Pendragon's secret identity was most likely Arthur Porges, who wrote for the magazine under his own (noticeably similar) name during the same period. Sounds good to me.
In other words, there isn't any good evidence one way or another. There is of course circumstantial evidence that C. Hall Thompson was our man. After having written pulp stories--mostly Westerns but also a few weird tales and crime/detective stories--in the 1940s and '50s, Thompson may have gone looking for other markets in the early 1960s. Could he have dusted off a couple of old Lovecraftian pastiches and submitted them to Cele Goldsmith, editor of Fantastic, either under a pseudonym or insisting on a pseudonym so as to avoid any trouble with Derleth? Maybe so. Ms. Goldsmith and Derleth would seem to have been connected in one way or another. Whether distantly or closely, I can't say, but maybe she would have understood the problem--and looked right past it because of her endless need for new material. Or maybe Derleth's ire against other Lovecraftian authors of the late 1940s had died down by the early 1960s. The circle of Lovecraftian authors, editors, artists, and fans could not have been very big in any case. Artist Lee Brown Coye was working for both Cele Goldsmith and August Derleth during the early 1960s. He in fact illustrated "The Dunstable Horror." Maybe that's connection enough. Nevertheless, Cele Goldsmith bought and published two Lovecraftian stories from a now unknown author, despite any objection Derleth might have had.
There is also circumstantial evidence that Arthur Porges was Arthur Pendragon. The first name and both initials match, and it was a pretty common practice for writers of science fiction and fantasy to write under more than one byline, especially for different kinds of stories. One possible weakness in this argument is this question: Did Porges write other Lovecraftian pastiches? Is he known to have been a fan or reader of Lovecraft's work? If he wasn't, then it's harder to believe that he wrote what some consider to be among the better Lovecraftian tales from after Lovecraft's death. Witness the inclusion of both of Pendragon's stories in Acolytes of Cthulhu and Mr. Price's comment in his introduction that Pendragon's "reputation is narrower than it ought to be." None of that is a problem, of course, when it comes to C. Hall Thompson. He had written Lovecraftian stories before and there isn't any reason to think that he couldn't have done it again in the 1960s, alternatively, that he had been sitting on those stories since the 1940s and got them into print when the opportunity presented itself.
So who was Arthur Porges? Well, he was the son of James and Clara (Kurzin) Porges, two Jewish-Russian immigrants who came to the United States as young children in the period 1888-1890, spoke Yiddish as their mother tongue, and lived in the Chicago area for most of their lives. James Porges was born Israel Podgursky but changed his surname to match that of a relative in Chicago. Arthur was the second youngest of James and Clara Porges' four sons. His older brother Irwin (1909-1998), a college professor and musician, wrote Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan (1975). (Burroughs was also a Chicagoan.) The youngest of the Porges boys, Walter Porges (1918-1979), was a teacher of history in Connecticut and at Pierce College in Los Angeles. It seems as though at least three out of the four ended up in California.
Arthur Porges was born in 1915, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and taught college-level mathematics. According to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, his first published story was "The Rats," which appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in December 1951. He published dozens more stories until his death in 2006 at age ninety. In looking over their titles, I don't see any that jumps out as a possible Lovecraftian tale, but you never know. I'm not sure that it matters anyway, for the question of who Arthur Pendragon really was will remain until someone finds a telltale typescript or letter or some other piece of evidence among the papers of a deceased author or editor.
By the way, Arthur Porges was born on August 20, 1915, H.P. Lovecraft's twenty-fifth birthday.
Arthur Porges had the cover story, "The Shadowsmith," in the September 1960 issue of Fantastic Science Fiction Stories. The cover artist was John Duillo (1928-2003), later the other Conan artist for Lancer Books.
Arthur Porges' older brother, Irwin Porges, was also a writer and the author of the book Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan (1975). He and Arthur also collaborated on a story called "A Touch of Sun" for Fantastic, published in the issue of April 1959. The cover artist here is unknown.
Both Irwin and Arthur Porges were of an age to have grown up reading Burroughs' stories. Irwin Porges reached the Golden Age of Science Fiction (which is twelve) in 1921, Arthur in 1927. Burroughs must have captured their imaginations. But what about H.P. Lovecraft? Would they have had the same reaction to his work, assuming they read it? It's impossible to say. But maybe generations matter when it comes to these things. C. Hall Thompson was younger than the Porges brothers by a decade or more. Born in 1923, he would have lived his formative years in a time when Weird Tales and H.P. Lovecraft (as well as Amazing Stories and other science fiction pulps) were at their peak. Could Lovecraft have been his Burroughs? Again, it's impossible to say.
Both C. Hall Thompson and Arthur Porges have been proposed as the true identity of the (presumably) pseudonymous author Arthur Pendragon. Pendragon has two genre-fiction credits. First came "The Dunstable Horror" in Fantastic Stories of Imagination, in April 1964. The illustrations were by Lee Brown Coye, his last work for the magazine. For the next several years, Coye did illustrations for August Derleth's Arkham House. Like Derleth's 1945 pastiche The Lurker at the Treshold, "The Dunstable Horror" is set in rural New England. Also like Derleth's novel, there is an element of the plot that involves an American Indian of unusual power. If C. Hall Thompson was Arthur Pendragon, and if he wrote "The Dunstable Horror" in the 1940s, he or his editor may have felt that his story was uncomfortably close to The Lurker at the Threshold. (Lovecraft's village of Dunwich makes its appearance in Derleth's book, too.) Maybe he didn't want to risk a lawsuit. On the other hand, maybe Thompson--if he was Pendragon and if Derleth had made legal threats against him in the 1940s--couldn't pass up the chance to stick his finger in Derleth's eye after so many years and so submitted his tale to Fantastic. But that's all a lot of speculation. The mystery remains.
Posted by Terence E. Hanley at 6:00 AM 3 comments:
Labels: August Derleth, C. Hall Thompson, H.P. Lovecraft, Jewish Authors, Lee Brown Coye, Who Was . . . ?
C. Hall Thompson (1923-1991)
Né Charles John Thompson
Born March 17, 1923, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died February 11, 1991, presumably in Pennsylvania
C. Hall Thompson's name came up the other day while I was writing about Viking stories. He didn't write any Viking stories that I know of, but he did write a few Northerns--the Alaskan and Canadian type, not the Viking type--and several Westerns. He also wrote four stories for Weird Tales. While looking into his life and career, I came across an interesting bit of speculation put forth on the Internet. I'll get to that in a minute.
C. Hall Thompson and Weird Tales made their debut in the same month, March 1923. He was born on St. Patrick's Day and was christened almost three months later, on June 10, 1923, at Tabor Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. His baptismal name was Charles John Thompson. The Charles part came from his father. Before he was even out of high school, Thompson, a budding author, had adopted a pseudonym: from at least 1942 until the closing out of his career, he called himself C. Hall Thompson. The Hall part came from his mother, Helen Hall Thompson.
Thompson graduated from South Philadelphia High School for Boys in June 1942. He would have been a year older than his classmates, but I don't have an explanation for his delayed graduation. Even then he was a writer, for Thompson penned the review of his graduating class, calling it "Southern for Service." He may have been the Charles J. Thompson who, as a student at Vare Junior High School in Philadelphia, won second prize (junior group) and the grand sum of $3 for his entry in the National Peace Poster Contest in March 1938. Despite his efforts, war came to Europe a year and a half later. Although Thompson was of an age to serve when America went to war, I don't know that he did. However, he filled out a draft card in 1942 while residing in Philadelphia.
Thompson appears to have lived in Philadelphia and nearby places in Pennsylvania for all or most of his life, but I know almost nothing about him, and neither does anybody else as far as I can tell. Like I said, he had four stories in Weird Tales:
"Spawn of the Green Abyss" (Nov. 1946)
All have been reprinted again and again and a couple have even been translated and published in European editions.
Thompson's popularity as a teller of weird tales can be attributed in part to his authorship of some of the first Cthulhu Mythos stories told after the death of H.P. Lovecraft--told, that is, by someone other than members of Lovecraft's circle. (Lovecraft died two days before Thompson's fourteenth birthday.) There is a story on the Internet that August Derleth threatened Thompson with legal action if he did not cease writing tales set in a Lovecraftian universe. That story arrives without citation or attribution, but it would seem to go along with Derleth's reputation. (The more I read about him in regards to Lovecraft, the less I like him: Derleth seems to have been a man who loved something so much that he thought it was his.) Chased away from Weird Tales or not, Thompson sold nearly four dozen stories to Adventure, Argosy, Dime Western Stories, Frontier Stories, North-West Romances, 10 Story Western Magazine, and other titles, mostly Westerns, over the next six years. He also broke into the slicks with stories in Collier's and Esquire.
Thompson's magazine stories were published between 1945 and 1954 when their author was in his twenties and early thirties. Then, in the same year that Weird Tales came to an end, Thompson's magazine credits seem to have dried up. Pulps in general were dying off by the early 1950s, but Westerns were still strong, in paperback, at the movie theater, and on TV. Thompson had a few Westerns published in the 1950s: A Gun for Billy Reo in 1955, Under the Badge in 1957, and Montana! in 1959. Ace Double Editions issued Thompson's Western novel The Killing of Hallie James in 1969. Thompson is also supposed to have written stories for Sunday newspaper sections.
There is speculation online that C. Hall Thompson was the pseudonymous author of "The Dunstable Horror" (Apr. 1964) and "The Crib of Hell" (May 1965), both in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination. (That thread appears on the website Thomas Ligotti Online, here.) Not very long ago (in geologic terms) I was working on some research to do with Lee Brown Coye. As it turns out, Coye illustrated "The Dunstable Horror," a serviceable pastiche of Lovecraft (and far superior to Derleth's own novel The Lurker at the Threshold, from 1945). This was Coye's final work for Fantastic. By 1964 he had already begun working for Derleth and Derleth's Arkham House. Coye had previously illustrated "The Will of Claude Ashur" and "Clay" by Thompson in Weird Tales. If Pendragon was indeed a pseudonym of C. Hall Thompson, then Coye would already have been familiar with his work.
In the summer of 1951, Thompson married Italian-born Isabella Elda Pirritano (1924-2009), a recent graduate of Temple University who had studied secondary education. She was also a choral singer. I don't know anything about their lives nor their long years together after 1969. Charles J. Thompson died on February 11, 1991, and was buried at Arlington Cemetery in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. His wife survived him by nearly two decades and was laid to rest beside him in 2009.
C. Hall Thompson's Stories in Weird Tales
None except to read Thompson's stories.
C. Hall Thompson's first story for Weird Tales, "Spawn of the Green Abyss," from November 1946, was also his first and only cover story. The cover artist was the unfindable Boris Dolgov. His technique was unusual for a pulp cover, as it appears to be a pencil drawing tinted with watercolors.
Lee Brown Coye illustrated Thompson's next story for "The Unique Magazine," "The Will of Claude Ashur," from July 1947. This was also the first issue in which Coye's "Weirdisms" feature began in Weird Tales and the first in which the Damp Man, created by Allison V. Harding, appeared. Despite the eventual popularity of the Damp Man stories, Thompson had the lead story in that July 1947 issue.
I don't know whether "The Crib of Hell" by Arthur Pendragon was the cover story in the May 1965 issue of Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, but I wanted to show the cover because I have detected a swipe, unfortunately made by an otherwise great and very admirable artist, Gray Morrow. You can see for yourself how oddly divided this image is. The part on the right is likely original. The part on the left, executed in an entirely different technique, is obviously a swipe. See the two images below. There is at least one person, by the way, who has speculated that Thompson and Pendragon were the same person. More on that in the next posting.
At the left is Jack Thurston's cover for Satan's Disciples by Robert Goldston (1962), and at the right is another artist's swipe done for the summer 1974 issue of Weird Tales. Who knows where the late Mr. Thurston's artwork will show up next? Update (Jan. 22, 2019): I have been thinking about this image, and it occurs to me that all of the artists who created versions of it may have been guilty of swiping it from an original source, Jack Thurston included. But what would the original source have been?
Text and captions copyright 2019 Terence E. Hanley
Posted by Terence E. Hanley at 6:00 AM 1 comment:
Labels: August Derleth, Authors, Boris Dolgov, C. Hall Thompson, H.P. Lovecraft, Jack L. Thurston, Lee Brown Coye
Vikings have captured our imaginations in a way that no other people in history have done. Maybe we have ancestral memories of their falling upon us without warning, taking what they wanted and burning the rest. If you had lived during their heyday, Vikings could never have been far from your thoughts. They would always have been there, creeping along the edges of your imagination and your fears, and it would have been equally so for your grandparents before you and your grandchildren after you. There may have been Huns and Goths, Mongols and Turks, Persians and Saracens, stalking along the borderlands of European civilization, but none can compare now in our imaginations to the Vikings.
In thinking about the Viking-fantasy story, it occurs to me now that there are three types. First is the type in which Vikings are the encountered. We see them from the outside, from the perspective of perhaps a more civilized observer. I haven't yet read "A Yank at Valhalla" by Edmond Hamilton (Startling Stories, Jan. 1941), but I suspect that this is an example of the first type. Next is the type in which Vikings are the encounterers. (Blogger doesn't like that word.) In this type, we see things from the perspective of the Vikings themselves, very often in their encounters--historically accurate or not--with American Indians. I have a book, Prince Valiant in the New World by Harold Foster (Nostalgia Press, 1976), that tells such a tale. (Beowulf, in which Grendel and his mother are the encountered, is also of this type, I think.) The third type is the story of the Vikings as a people, their ways of life among themselves and in their own world and culture. If fantasy and science fiction are ultimately stories of encounter, then it's hard, it seems to me, for this third type to fall within those genres, unless the monsters, gods, witches, and undead encountered are a part of Norse mythology and folklore itself and not something from the outside.
My friend Hlafbrot has pointed out that Eric Brighteyes by H. Rider Haggard (1891) has a place on the list of Viking literature. I have never read this book, but it's listed in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, indicating that it's a genre work and not one of conventional or mainstream literature. In fact, if Eric Brighteyes was the first or one of the first modern Viking stories, then maybe it was also the beginning of the Viking-fantasy in our popular culture. Pulp magazines arrived on the scene just five years after Eric Brighteyes was published. I can't say when the first Viking story appeared in a pulp magazine. I also can't say what the first Viking story in Weird Tales might have been. Writers and readers of "The Unique Magazine" seem to have been far more interested in tales of the Orient and the tropics. (1) Robert E. Howard is supposed to have written a lot of Viking stories or quasi-Viking stories. The one that comes to mind, "The Frost Giant's Daughter," never made it into Weird Tales.
After writing about Vikings the other day, I cast about for a book to read and came quickly enough to a novel by one of my favorite authors for children. It's called Viking Adventure, and it's by Clyde Robert Bulla (1914-2007). Like so many Viking stories, this one is about an encounter with American Indians before Columbus. And like so many of the late Mr. Bulla's books, it is told in what I hear as a melancholy voice. Although his books are for children, Clyde Robert Bulla knew what it is to be a child, to suffer pain and loss, loneliness and yearning, to feel small and out of place, to feel like running and hiding, to dream and to have one's dreams thwarted or unfulfilled. If a good book is one that resounds within you even after you have finished reading it, then Viking Adventure is a good book, better, I would hazard, than myriads of supposedly serious and ambitious novels written for adults.
(1) If Viking stories are Northerns, stories of the tropics are Southerns, and those of the Orient are Easterns, then there was far more emphasis on Southerns and Easterns in the pulps than there was on Northerns. Or if people wrote and read stories of the Far North, they were about the North Woods, about the taiga and the tundra, Alaska, the Yukon, and the Arctic, all set in the present of the pulp-fiction era or in the recent past. There was even a pulp magazine called North-West Stories.
Prince Valiant in the New World (1976) is Prince Valiant Book 6, part of a series of storybooks adapted from the comic strip by Hal Foster and published by Nostalgia Press of New York City. Here is the encounter depicted again and again in popular culture: the Viking meets the American Indian in a time before Columbus.
Eric Brighteyes by H. Rider Haggard, originally published in 1891, was reprinted again and again during the twentieth century. Here is the cover of the Zebra paperback edition of 1978. The identity of the cover artist is unknown. The furious action (and the depiction of the hero's anatomy) may be under the influence of Frank Frazetta, but the technique is purely 1970s, like that of Michael William Kaluta, Berni Wrightson, or Jeffrey Jones. Update: I hear from bthom1 that the cover artist is Esteban Maroto. Thanks bthom1.
Zebra reprinted Eric Brighteyes in 1982 with different cover art, but the artist is again unknown.
In 1979, Zebra Books issued a sequel, Eric Brighteyes: A Witch's Welcome, penned by Sigfriour Skaldaspillir, better known as Mildred Downey Broxon. The cover artist was Ken Barr, but the mountain in the background wasn't his . . .
For he swiped it from Frank Frazetta's cover for Conan of Cimmeria, in which the quasi-Viking story "The Frost Giant's Daughter" appeared. Though offered to Weird Tales, "The Frost Giant's Daughter" was refused by its editor, Farnsworth Wright, and went instead to the March 1934 issue of The Fantasy Fan. Frazetta's illustration of the story is justly famous.
In 1963, Thomas Y. Crowell Company of New York published Viking Adventure by Clyde Robert Bulla. Here's the cover of the Weekly Reader Children's Book Club version, with illustrations by Douglas Gorsline. Viking Adventure is the story of a boy named Sigurd who goes on an adventure far from home, to Wineland, our America, inhabited only by what we now call Indians. It is a moving story of growth and loss, and I recommend it.
There were Westerns in the pulps, but there were also Northerns, if you want to call them that, but Northerns are not about Vikings. Instead, they're about what Bob and Doug McKenzie call the Great White North. In the pulp magazine North-West Stories (later North-West Romances), these two genres lived side by side. Here is an example of the cover, from the Winter issue of 1950, showing a sort-of Betty Hutton lookalike with her parka conveniently undone and her sweater conveniently tight. This was the 1950s after all, the era of the sweater girl. Anyway, if this were a Weird Tales cover, it would fall into the category of "Woman and Wolf" (click here). The title story in fact is called "The Wolf-Woman of Chandindu," by C. Hall Thompson, who also, as chance would have it, contributed to Weird Tales. More evidence that all things form circles.
Labels: Frank Frazetta, Robert E. Howard, Vikings
Tales of Viking Fantasy
A month ago I wrote about Vikings and other medieval subjects on the cover of Weird Tales, and out of that I received a couple of comments from readers about Viking fantasy stories. That got me thinking that there may be a missed sub-sub-genre of fantasy and science fiction dealing with those men and women of the north, with their winged and horned helmets, long, braided hair, conical breastplates, and raiments of hide and fur. So here is a first shot at stories of Vikings and Norsemen, with some also of Saxons, Geats, Goths, and other early northern Europeans thrown into the mix. These are stories with fantastic, supernatural, weird, or science-fictional elements. That leaves out a lot of good Viking stories to be sure, but you've got to draw a line somewhere. I welcome additions to this list. If you send them, I will add them.
Beowulf by an unknown author (date of composition unknown)--Beowulf is the granddaddy of Northern fantasy in English, and although it's really the story of Geatish men, I think I have to include it here. To leave it out would be a bumbling kind of oversight. Beowulf has been an inspiration to myriads of writers, including, in the twentieth century, J.R.R. Tolkien and Michael Uslan, better known as the executive producer of the Batman movies.
Unidentified stories by Ralph Milne Farley (Argosy, 1930s)--A commenter on my earlier article mentioned these stories, but I don't know any titles.
The Lost Vikings by Jack Bechdolt (1931)--A lost lands/lost race novel set in Alaska.
Prince Valiant by Hal Foster (1937)--A Sunday comic strip in which the title character, a Norseman, goes on adventures, some fantastical or supernatural, all over the globe, as the subtitle reads, "In the Days of King Arthur." Adapted to film in 1954.
"King of the World's Edge" by H. Warner Munn (Weird Tales, Sept.-Dec. 1939)--A four-part serial by a correspondent and friend of H.P. Lovecraft, "King of the World's Edge" is a story of Romans and Saxons in pre-Columbian America, authored by an enthusiast of history and archaeology, including the idea that Vikings came to America during the Middle Ages and left behind evidence of their visit.
"A Yank at Valhalla" by Edmond Hamilton (Startling Stories, Jan. 1941)--Reprinted as The Monsters of Juntenheim (1950).
"Flight into Destiny" by Verne Chute (Weird Tales, Mar. 1943)
The Lost Ones by Ian Cameron (1961)--Reprinted as Island at the Top of the World (1974) and adapted to film as The Island at the Top of the World (1974).
Journey into Mystery (Aug. 1962)--Marvel Comics' version of Thor as a superhero (and future member of the Avengers) first appeared in Journey into Mystery in August 1962. Since then, he has been in countless comic books and now a series of movies made by Marvel Studios.
Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in AD 922 by Michael Crichton (1976)--Reprinted as The 13th Warrior in 1999 and adapted to film that year under the same title.
The Norseman (1978)--A movie starring Lee Majors, Cornel Wilde, and Mel Ferrer.
DC's version of Beowulf starred in his own title in the 1970s. The stories were written by Michael Uslan and drawn by Ricardo Villamonte. Here is the cover of the first issue, from May 1975.
Prince Valiant of comic strip fame is a Norseman. Here he is on the cover of Dell Four Color #900, from 1958. The interiors were drawn by Bob Fuji, but I'm not sure that he was the cover artist here.
Startling Stories, January 1941, with a cover story, "A Yank at Valhalla," by Edmond Hamilton and cover art by Earle Bergey.
"A Yank at Valhalla" was reprinted in 1950 as The Monsters of Juntonheim in a British edition. The identity of the cover artist is unknown.
Weird Tales, March 1943. The cover story is "Flight into Destiny" by Verne Chute. The cover art is by Edgar Franklin Wittmack.
In 1974, Walt Disney Pictures released an adaptation of The Lost Ones by Ian Cameron. Here is the movie tie-in edition of Cameron's book, retitled to match the movie.
Vikings in America were and still are a popular theme in popular culture. (Prince Valiant came to America, too.) In 1978, American International Pictures released The Norseman, with Lee Majors in the lead role as a Viking in the New World. I think The Norseman made a clunking sound, but I remember that my younger brother saw it at the movie theater with his friends. Note the similarity of the movie poster to one of Frank Frazetta's Conan covers for Lancer. If you have never seen Hal Foster's original Prince Valiant, you know that Frazetta took a great deal from Foster. Who can blame him? And so this Frazetta-like poster closes a circle.
Labels: Comic Books, Vikings
Friends of Thanos
While I was away over the holidays, we watched Avengers: Infinity War on Netflix. We had seen it at the movie theater months before, but we wanted to see it again as the release of the sequel approaches. (Avengers: Endgame will be out in April.) Even though we knew what was coming, it was still shocking and sad to witness half of the team crumble into dust and blow away. (Bill and Ted were right after all: All we are is dust in the wind.) I can't wait to see Thanos get his comeuppance in the next movie. We all have our theories about how that will happen, but I think we'll all be proved wrong. (I think Ant-Man will play a strong role, but we'll see.)
A day or two after we watched the movie, my nephew told me that there was some kind of controversy involving Thanos and the description of Avengers: Infinity War on Netflix. I resolved to find out more once things calmed down after the holiday. I have read about the controversy now, but I still don't really understand what the big deal is. It leads back to something that I wrote about months ago, though, in an article called "Summer Movie Miscellany" (here). In that article I made a kind of prediction. As it turns out, I was right, but then it doesn't take a genius to be right about these things.
The recent controversy has to do with this description of Avengers: Infinity War posted on Netflix:
Superheroes amass to stop intergalactic sociopath Thanos from acquiring a full set of Infinity Stones and wiping out half of all life in the universe.
That's not exactly informative. The uninitiated might ask, What the heck is an Infinity Stone? But if you have to ask, you probably shouldn't watch Avengers: Infinity War until you have seen a couple of dozen other Marvel movies first. Anyway, a bunch of people who don't have anything else to do objected to the characterization of Thanos as a sociopath. The objections seem to fall into two categories. First is that the use of the word sociopath is incorrect or inaccurate. Second and more troubling is that Thanos is not a sociopath because what he's trying to do--kill off half of the life in the universe--is actually a good thing. I'll take these objections one at a time.
The first objection is easy enough to deal with. First, the term sociopath is informal and imprecise. It isn't a diagnosis. People use it more or less how they please. It doesn't mean very much to say that Thanos or anybody else is a sociopath. Second, Thanos is not a real person. He exists only as drawings on paper or as a bunch of electrons. How can you get worked up over something so inconsequential as that? As William Shatner (or the evil Captain Kirk from Episode 37) might say: "Get a life! For cryin' out loud, it's just a movie." How can anyone possibly have enough time or interest to start some kind of wacky campaign to get a television blurb changed? I mean, how old are you people? What have you done with yourselves? Move out of your parents' basement and grow the hell up!
The second objection, that Thanos is actually a good guy and is trying to do something good and necessary in the universe, is far more serious and scary. But then we live in a world full of serious and scary things, one of which is the nihilistic, anti-human thinking of countless millions of people--people who hate themselves and because of it hate everyone else, past, present, and future, God included. They are the kind of people who made the twentieth a century of horrors and promise to make the twenty-first a proper sequel of greater, though more subtle, horrifying things.
As I wrote before, if you believe that humanity should be reduced or diminished, you are, like Thanos, a monster and a villain. Get that into your head: You are a monster. There is no get out of jail free card for you if you believe, like him, that the process should be equally and randomly applied. You are a monster. And I hope--we all should hope--that you never have even the remotest access to power (1, 2)
(1) Although in a democracy, even monsters have power. In fact, democracies are just as likely as any form of government (or even more likely) to give rise to monsters, as a democracy inevitably results in a rapid race to the bottom, and monstrousness resides in every one of us at the basest of levels.
(2) By the way, has anyone noticed the similarities in motivation between Thanos and Kodos the Executioner from the Star Trek episode "The Conscience of the King"? The difference is, I guess, that there is nothing to prick the conscience of Thanos.
Labels: Comic Books, Star Trek, What Is the Monster of the Twenty-First Century?
After receiving a request from a reader, I have added a page to this blog called "Read Weird Tales." Click on the item on the right or here for a link. This new page includes links to websites on which you can read whole issues of Weird Tales in digital facsimile format. If anyone knows of similar websites, even if they include only one issue, please let me know, and I may add it to the list.
Posted by Terence E. Hanley at 12:50 PM 2 comments:
Labels: Requests
The Shadow Over Aquaman
I'm back again after the holidays and eighteen sleep-deprived days at home. Two days into the new year we saw Aquaman at a mostly deserted movie theater. That's what happens in the middle of a holiday week in small-town Indiana. We stayed for the last of the credits and when we walked out of the theater into the darkened hallways of the multiplex we saw only the manager, who was sweeping up.
Like I said, I was sleep-deprived. I have to admit that I almost dozed off three times during Aquaman. But even if I hadn't already been sleepy, I might have felt the same way, for Aquaman is too long and, for at least an hour, too slow-moving to hold a person's interest very well. The players are Jason Momoa as Aquabro, Willem Dafoe as Mr. Miyagi, and Nicole Kidman as the Aquamom. They are supported by Dolph Lundgren as a guy whose pink hair flows and swirls like he's in a VO5 commercial and Randall Park as Conspiracy Brother, among others. Every one of them also takes a turn playing the role of Basil Exposition, and every five or ten minutes during the movie someone stops the proceedings to tell you a little story about something you don't really care about or understand. I actually groaned at one point because of it. This is no way to tell a story. In fact, one of the first things you learn in storytelling is to show it, not tell it. Even my thirteen-year-old nephew said that the movie is "cringy" in places. It's not a good sign when a kid calls your superhero movie "cringy," but that's a good word to describe the dialogue in Aquaman, which includes a little gem in which someone or other says that he plans to become "the Ocean Master." If he were in Machu Picchu or San Francisco or some similar place, I suppose he would want to become the Stair Master.
Near the beginning of Aquaman there is a little still life shown in the interior of the lighthouse keeper's home. One of the elements in this tableau is a paperback version of The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft. I'm not the first to comment on the Lovecraftian elements in Aquaman. Others have already gone there, including more than a few who just have to tell you again that Lovecraft was a horrible racist. And did we mention that Lovecraft was a horrible racist? There can be no doubt that H.P. Lovecraft wrote again and again about race and the mixing of races, as well as about the degeneration, decay, and dissolution of individual human beings and their familial or tribal lines. There is just that in "The Dunwich Horror," a tale of a kind of demigod named Wilbur Whateley, first published in Weird Tales in April 1929. The same theme appears again in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," published posthumously in the same magazine in April 1942. It seems to me, though, that Lovecraft could have been writing about himself when he told tales about mixing and degeneration or decay, for his father was a common traveling salesman and eventual syphilitic while his mother was the daughter of a prominent and well-established New England family. (Even she ended up in the bughouse.) I sense that the author himself felt the creeping of tainted blood in his semi-blue veins as he lived out his life in a decaying home among decaying fortunes. In any case, Aquaman is also a tale of the mixing of races. The results here are positive, though, in that the title character is not degenerate but emergent. However, there is a degenerate race of men in Aquaman, and I couldn't help but see them as the Deep Ones from "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." Finally there is a deep-sea leviathan like Cthulhu, befriended by Aquabro and voiced by Julie Andrews of all people. Mary Poppins returns indeed.
I haven't yet seen a DC movie as good as the least good of the Marvel Studios movies, but then I haven't seen them all yet, from either studio. I can say, though, that the DC movies lack a kind of warmth and humanity that prevails more or less in the Marvel movies. They're also slow, talky, and lacking in humor. (1) I'm not sure why that is. Marvel doesn't have a lock on good screenwriters and directors. DC ought to be able to come up with something comparable. But they don't. As I have said before, DC ought to hire Marvel Studios to make their movies for them. Anyway, we saw previews for M. Night Shyamalan's new movie Glass on Wednesday night last week. If you have to see a new superhero movie this month, see that one instead of Aquaman. You can also look forward to Captain Marvel in March and Avengers: Endgame in April. Both are from Marvel Studios. Sorry, DC.
(1) The DC movies also miss out on the essence of the original comic book characters. For example, in Superman Returns, from 2006, Superman becomes Superstalker, a brooding creep who spies on Lois Lane as only a super-powered guy from Krypton can. In that and other Superman movies, the original and essential love triangle of Clark Kent-Lois Lane-Superman is banished to the Phantom Zone and Superman is made to be in love with Lois Lane. That's not how it works, people, and if you knew better, maybe moviegoers would like your product. Beyond that--and speaking of racism and racial stereotypes--the makers of DC movies are guilty of what I think is a pretty egregious perpetuation of a stereotype of Jewish men as cowards, weaklings, and nebbishes in the character of the Flash, from Justice League (2017). If they had had a black Flash like Stepin Fetchit or an Asian Flash like Long Duk Dong, viewers and critics would have howled, and rightly so. But this is the twenty-first century and one of the few permissible stereotypes left is one or more of the Jewish people. I guess that's to be expected when one of our major political parties is so outwardly and unabashedly antisemitic. And it ain't the Republicans.
H.P. Lovecraft had only one cover story in Weird Tales but in order to get it he had to go to Canada and then only after he had died. The story was "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and it appeared in the May 1942 issue of the Canadian edition of the magazine. The artist was cartoonist and illustrator Edmond Good.
Text and caption copyright 2019 Terence E. Hanley
Labels: Comic Books, H.P. Lovecraft, Weird Tales in Canada
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Children In Need and Comic Relief unite for TV fundraiser
UK gets set for major TV fundraiser
21st April 2020 by Gareth Jones
The Big Night In will raise money for charities and community projects around the UK.
Children In Need and Comic Relief are joining forces for a TV fundraiser to support vulnerable people during the Covid-19 crisis.
The three-hour Big Night In, to be broadcast on BBC One, will celebrate people who are making a difference in their communities and feature appearances from a host of celebrities and famous faces.
Social distancing guidelines will be observed during the show, with live musical performances being broadcast directly from artists’ homes. Viewers will also have the opportunity to win “money can’t buy” prizes.
All monies raised will be split between Comic Relief and Children In Need to support local charities and community projects dealing with the impacts of coronavirus around the UK.
Charlotte Moore, director of BBC Content, said: “BBC One will bring the nation together for this special one-off live charity event. I would like to thank both BBC Children in Need and Comic Relief for joining forces in these unprecedented times to provide their support to local charities, projects and programmes across the whole UK; and to all of the stars taking part in this unmissable night of entertainment when the country needs it most.”
UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden added: “The Big Night In is a fantastic way to channel the amazing outpouring of generosity we are seeing from the British people. It’s brilliant to see BBC Children in Need and Comic Relief coming together for the first time to ensure help gets to those that need it most, and to celebrate those who are going above and beyond in their communities.
“We’re working with the BBC and others to ensure this event is a huge success. As government develops further measures, we will work together to coordinate our efforts in the battle against coronavirus and remind everyone to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.”
The event is being supported by Sainsbury’s, who will match donations given to the appeal by its customers. Shoppers will be able to round up their bill or donate in store and online, with all funds split evenly between Comic Relief and Children In Need.
Nectar points can also be contributed to the fundraising effort, which will run from 9 April till 1 May.
Sainsbury’s CEO Mike Coupe said: “We’re proud to be working with Comic Relief in an effort to help those in need - it is more important than ever to be supporting charities and the crucial work that they do to help the most vulnerable in society.”
The Big Night In will be broadcast on BBC One from 7pm to 10pm on Thursday 23 April.
Do you need help due to Covid-19? Click here to see what assistance is available.
The Big Night In raises £27m
Sport Relief cash will help those hit by coronavirus
Comic Relief will stop sending stars to Africa
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Emojiary Is A Mobile Diary App Where You Visualize Your Feelings With Emoji
Regularly journaling your thoughts and feelings is a good way to “check in with yourself,” raise your self-awareness and connect with your intuition, but it can also be a time-consuming activity that most of us don’t have time for, given our busy lives. A company called All Tomorrows wants to change that, by offering a quick and arguably more fun way to track your feelings with a new diary app called Emojiary.
The app seems a little silly, initially. To translate your day into diary entries, you pick out a few emoticons that help you visualize your abstract thoughts and feelings. After entering these in your app diary, the Emojiary bot then chats with you to ask follow-up questions.
“Can you tell me a bit more about why you feel that way?,” it says. The bot also tells you how the app’s other features work instead of putting your through a “walk-through” like some other apps do upon first launch.
For instance, the bot explains how you’ll receive “awards” as you continue to use the app, which include special emoji that help you express different emotions. Upon my first entry, for example, I received a “unicorn” emoji that Emojiary said was for helping me with my “far-out, mystical feelings.” Okay then!
My initial impression of the app is that it was something that would make the most sense for a teenager, sitting in their bedroom dramatically documenting their youthful concerns, and I’m not entirely convinced there’s a big market for the app beyond the young adult demographic, or other navel-gazers and quantified self enthusiasts. The exception would be those suffering from mood disorders, of course, who want to chronicle emotional changes for the purposes of better understanding their triggers and other medical concerns, like how a dosage change has affected them.
That being said, the app could still prove valuable for those in these groups by helping them draw out their feelings in new ways, and then, further down the road, help them to see the patterns of their ups and downs. That’s something the company is working toward currently, but it doesn’t have anything to test in this area at the time. For that reason, it’s hard to analyze whether or not Emojiary’s long-term game plan of supporting your emotional well-being and delivering insights will hold up.
Explains co-founder Albert Lee, previously of design and consulting firm IDEO, the All Tomorrows team does a lot of product research and prototyping before it releases an app publicly, and what they found was that people were “hungry for support in understanding, processing, and channeling their emotions,” he says. That’s how they came up with Emojiary.
“Journaling has been proven to be beneficial in this way, but it’s extremely high friction. You get a blank page in front of you and it’s hard to put non-verbal feelings into words,” Lee says, describing the problem they wanted to solve. “Although people often think of emoji as fun and silly, it’s actually a really robust library of potential emotional states and it’s already used in conversation to add emotional context to words, making it a natural fit.”
During a month-long beta tests with 1,000 users, more than 75% inputted daily – pretty impressive engagement, though it’s too soon to say if those numbers will scale.
The company is now wrapping up work on an in-app dashboard that will share some basic insights about how you’ve felt over time, and expects to roll this out in a few weeks.
Emojiary’s app is a free download on iTunes.
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April 28, 1933 Sacred Cod
So important was the Cod to the regional economy, that a carved likeness of the fish hung in the Massachusetts State House, fifty years or more before the Revolution.
The American Revolution was barely 15 years in the rear-view mirror, when the new State House opened in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. The building has expanded a couple of times since then, and remains the home of Massachusetts’ state government, to this day.
On January 11, 1798, a procession of legislators and other dignitaries worked its way from the old statehouse at the intersection of Washington and State Streets to the new one on Beacon Hill, a symbolic transfer of the seat of government. The procession carried with it, a bundle. Measuring 4’11” and wrapped in an American flag, it was a life-size wooden carving. Of a fish.
For the former Massachusetts colony, the Codfish had once been a key to survival. Now, this “Sacred Cod” was destined for a new home in the legislative chamber of the House of Representatives.
Mark Kurlansky, author of “Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World”, laments the 1990s collapse of the Cod fishery, saying the species finds itself “at the wrong end of a 1,000-year fishing spree.”
Records exist from as early as AD985, of Eirik the Red, Leif Eirikson’s father, preserving Codfish by hanging them in the cold winter air. Medieval Spaniards of the Basque region improved on the process, by the use of salt. By A.D. 1,000, Basque traders were supplying a vast international market, in Codfish.
By 1550, Cod accounted for half the fish consumed in all Europe. When the Puritans set sail for the new world it was to Cape Cod, to pursue the wealth of the New England fishery.
Without Codfish, Plymouth Rock would likely have remained just another boulder. William Bradford, first signer of the Mayflower Compact in 1620 and 5-term governor of the Plymouth Colony (he called it “Plimoth”), reported that, but for the Cod fishery, there was talk of going to Manhattan or even Guiana: “[T]he major part inclined to go to Plymouth, chiefly for the hope of present profit to be made by the fish that was found in that country“.
There are tales of sailors scooping Codfish out of the water, in baskets. So important was the Cod to the regional economy, that a carved likeness of the creature hung in the old State House, fifty years or more before the Revolution.
Massachusetts’ old Statehouse
The old State House burned in 1747, leaving nothing but the brick exterior you see today, not far from Faneuil Hall. It took a year to rebuild the place, including a brand new wooden Codfish. This one lasted until the British occupation of Boston, disappearing sometime between April 1775 and March 1776.
The fish which accompanied that procession in 1798 was the third, and so far the last such carving to hang in the Massachusetts State House, where it’s remains to this day. Sort of.
With the country plunged into the Great Depression, someone looked up in Massachusetts’ legislative chamber, and spied – to his dismay – nothing but bare wires. The Commonwealth had suffered “The Great Cod-napping”, of 1933.
Newspapers went wild with speculation about what happened to The Sacred Cod.
Suspects were questioned and police chased down one lead after another, but they all turned out to be red herring (sorry, I couldn’t help myself). State police dredged the Charles River, (Love that dirty water). Lawmakers refused D’Bait (pardon), preferring instead to discuss what they would do with the Cod-napper(s), if and when the evildoers were apprehended.
Soon, an anonymous tip revealed the culprits to be college pranksters, three editors of the Harvard Lampoon newspaper pretending to be tourists. It was a two-part plan, the trio entering the building with wire cutters and a flower box, as other Lampoon members created a diversion by kidnapping an editor from the arch-rival newspaper, the Harvard Crimson. The caper worked, flawlessly. Everyone was busy looking for the missing victim, as two snips from a wire cutter brought down the Sacred Cod.
Two days later, it was April 28. A tip led University Police to a car with no license plate, cruising up the West Roxbury Parkway. After a 20-minute low speed chase, (I wonder if it was a white Bronco), the sedan pulled over. Two men Carp’d the Diem (or something like that), and handed over the Sacred Cod, before driving away.
The Sacred Cod resumed its rightful place, and once again, there was happiness upon the Land. The Cod was stolen one more time in 1968, this time by UMASS students protesting some thing or other, but the fish never made it out of the State House.
The “Holy Mackerel” of the Massachusetts State Senate
Years later, future Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill faced the Cod in the direction of the majority party. It will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Bay State politics, that the thing has faced Left, from that day to this. For Massachusetts’ minuscule Republican delegation, hope springs eternal that the Sacred Cod will one day, face Right.
Not to be outdone, the State Senate has its own fish, hanging in the legislative chambers. There in the chandelier, above the round table where sits the Massachusetts upper house, is the copper likeness of the “Holy Mackerel”. No kidding. I wouldn’t fool around about a thing like that.
Legend has it that, when you see those highway signs saying X miles to Boston, they’re really giving you the distance to the Holy Mackerel.
A tip of my hat to my friend and Representative to the Great & General Court David T. Vieira, without whom I’d have remained entirely ignorant of this fishy tale.
Beacon Hill, seat of Massachusetts state government, where the author addresses an empty chamber. Maybe The Sacred Cod™ was listening.
Author Cape Cod CurmudgeonPosted on April 28, 2018 April 28, 2018 Categories American History, Animal Stories, Odds & Ends, Politics & Government, UncategorizedTags Cod-napping of 1933, Fishery, Massachusetts, Sacred Cod, Today in History1 Comment on April 28, 1933 Sacred Cod
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Note: Facility Access Is Limited during COVID-19 Restrictions | See Map
1600 Hospital Parkway
Welcome to Texas Health HEB
Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford is committed to providing Northeast Tarrant County with a patient and family-centered approach to care. As a valuable health care resource to the community, we are pleased to offer complex care treatments and medical advancements in a variety of services. In addition to being a designated Level III Trauma Center, we’ve also added new behavioral health therapies at Texas Health Springwood Behavioral Health. Our dedication to your health and well-being goes beyond our hospital walls through established patient education programs to meet all of your needs.
Free parking is available for all patients and visitors on the Texas Health HEB campus. For more information on where parking is available, view or print a copy of the campus map.
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Visitors may be allowed depending on the COVID status of the mother and support person. There is no restriction on visiting hours. Visit the full visitor policy for more information.
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Location: First floor, hospital lobby
Monday through Friday: 6:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Closed holidays.
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Location: Second floor, waiting area
Available at all times, the Fresh Market Café offers traditional vending options along with fresh fruit, sandwiches and healthy snacks. Credit and debit cards are accepted.
Saturday: 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
People of all faiths are welcome to use the chapel, located on the first floor of the hospital. If you need a chaplain, please ask the nurse or call 817-848-4000.
If you suffer from heartburn and reflux symptoms, the Texas Health HEB Heartburn & Reflux Program Team offers a wide range of services to help guide you from diagnosis to treatment.
Fraser Hay, President
Fraser Hay
Fraser Hay, FACHE, serves as president of Texas Health HEB. Hay was promoted to president in January 2018 after serving as vice president of professional and support services at Texas Health Plano. In this role, he provided oversight for all non-nursing operations and led strategic business development activities and service line development.
Hay was instrumental in the starting up of a physician-led Surgical Services Operations Committee to improve Perioperative Services’ access and efficiencies. He also oversaw the development and implementation of a systematic campus refresh plan and furthered the hospital’s service-line strategies to increase acuity and regional reach of care provided. Prior to joining Texas Health Plano, he served as the professional services officer at Texas Health Southwest.
Hay holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of Oklahoma and a master’s degree in health administration from Trinity University in San Antonio. He completed a residency with INTEGRIS Health in Oklahoma City.
Hay remains active in his professional and personal communities by serving on the boards of the North Texas Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council (DFWHC). He also serves his local church, Good Shepherd Catholic Community in Colleyville, as a member of the Pastoral Advisory Council. Hay has been honored as Young Healthcare Executive of the Year by the North Texas Chapter of ACHE in 2015 and DFWHC in 2017.
Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Lindsay, and their three young children.
Julie Balluck, Chief Nursing Officer
Julie Balluck
Julie Balluck, M.S.N., R.N., NEA-BC, serves as chief nursing officer at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford, having moved into that role in Feburary 2020.
Balluck began her tenure with the system in 1999, starting as a staff nurse and rising through the ranks at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas to become director of surgical services from 2010 to 2017, and then associate chief nursing officer in 2015. She subsequently served as interim chief nursing officer in 2019.
Balluck improved the consumer experience at Texas Health Dallas by increasing patient experience scores for two inpatient post-surgical departments from 55th percentile to 80+ percentile (one of highest in the hospital) in less than two years. She also oversaw consistent year-over-year ambulatory surgery patient experience scores within threshold or above.
Balluck planned and oversaw significant facility construction projects there, including a perioperative services expansion and renovation of the sixth-floor medical-surgical unit. She also advanced and grew strategic initiatives, including planning for that hospital’s fourth American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet designation in 2020, and oversaw market growth for service lines including orthopedics, trauma, heart and vascular, neurosciences, surgical services and women’s and infants.
She holds an honors in nursing diploma from Sheridan College School of Nursing in Mississauga, Ontario, a bachelor of science in nursing at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, and master of science in nursing from the University of Texas at Arlington. She is currently enrolled in the doctor of nursing practice (administration) program at the University of Texas Health Sciences program in Houston.
Balluck lives in Dallas with her husband, Terry, and their three school-age sons. The family stays busy attending the boys’ activities including academic competitions, lacrosse and soccer. The Ballucks also like to travel and camp at state parks, and make a drive to her childhood home in Canada every summer.
Scott David Lloyd, Chief Medical Officer
Scott LLoyd
Scott David Lloyd, M.D., M.B.A., is chief medical officer of Texas Health HEB.
He was previously medical director for care management at North Texas Specialty Physicians (NTSP)/Silverback for four years. In this role, he provided medical oversight of the utilization management, disease management and complex case management for over 80,000 Medicare Advantage members. During this period, he also was medical director of the Care N’ Care Insurance Company.
While at NTSP/Silverback, Lloyd developed a nationally recognized community paramedicine program with emergency medical services provider MedStar that closes gaps in care for many local Medicare members. He also led the development of a palliative care program for the plan membership.
Lloyd also served as a hospitalist with Texas Health Physicians Group, working primarily at Texas Health Fort Worth. He is board certified in internal medicine and is a veteran of the United States Air Force.
He is a graduate of the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University.
He and his wife, Jennifer, live in Arlington.
Texas Health Hurst-Euless-Bedford Community Health Needs Assessment
2020–2022 Texas Health Resources Implementation Strategy
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Jeff Bezos Named Person of the Year
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is named Person of the Year by Time Magazine.
Posted in The Internet
GIF Madness!
Seven years after introducing the GIF format, during which it became a defacto standard because of its efficient compression algorithm, Compuserve reaches a licensing agreement with Unisys over the use of the patented LZW method in the GIF specification. CompuServe was not aware of the patent when it used the LZW technique in 1987 and Unisys was not aware that LZW was used in the GIF format until 1993. By the time the settlement was reached, the use of the GIF format had become widespread on the early world wide web. During the announcement of the licensing agreement with Compuserve, Unisys made it known that they expected all commercial services or software that used the GIF format or the LZW method to pay licensing fees. While the arrangement would likely not have affected anyone who used GIF graphics on their web sites, the announcement was generally met with outrage. Many people and organizations criticized Unisys for attempting to collect licensing fees on a format that was commonly considered to be freely available. The most famous condemnation was the “Burn All GIFs” campaign by the League for Programming Freedom. The uproar over the GIF licensing arrangement led to the development of the patent-free PNG format. The LZW patent expired worldwide during 2003 and 2004 so the GIF file format is now completely free to use.
The Internet Goes Hollywood
The Warner Brothers motion picture You’ve Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, is released to theaters. While mostly known as a romantic comedy, the film was chock-full of technology symbolism. Primarily I find interesting that the movie’s themes of business and technology was foreshadowing larger charges to come.
Starting with the obvious, the film’s title was the popular notification sound used by AOL for incoming e-mail. This showed just how quickly the Internet had become mainstream with e-mail and on-line dating starting to gain traction in the general population. At the time, AOL was the face of the Internet to those just getting their feet wet. However, it also foreshadowed one of the biggest technology deals in history. Just a little over a year later AOL would buy Warner Brothers’ parent company Time Warner, forming one of the largest media companies in history. However, the dot-com bubble burst and the merged companies never quite meshed. AOL was eventually spun-off in 2009, having lost its status in a more tech-evolved society.
Additionally, the main characters’ choice of technology was telling. Tom Hank’s character, the corporate businessman, used a Windows-based PC (an IBM no less) while Meg Ryan’s character, the small book shop owner, used a Macintosh Powerbook. The common thinking at the time was that Windows PCs were for business and Macintosh computers were for “creative” people. Of course, this was just a few years before the iPod was introduced and Apple re-revolutionized the technology industry in the 2000’s. Apple is now the consumer face of technology, whereas Windows is considered old technology even among business professionals.
The book industry was highlighted, with the movie’s subplot exploring the struggle of small businesses against the expansion of large corporate chains. Yet in the span of about a decade after the movie was released, large corporate bookstores were on the defensive against upstart companies doing business on the Internet. For context, in 1998 after 3 years in business, Amazon.com had yet to turn a profit, yet today Borders is out of business. The rise of social media now gives small companies the ability to effectively market themselves directly to their customer base, giving them a way to compete with large corporations. All this in a relatively short time after a movie helped publicize a computer network.
Perl is Always Appropriate
The O’Reilly book, Programming Perl, was released in 1991. It became known as the “Camel Book” among Perl programmers and the camel became the unofficial logo for the Perl programming language.
Larry Wall releases version 1.0 of Perl, a general-purpose programming language very commonly used as a Unix scripting language. Perl became very popular on the early world wide web, commonly being used to program CGI scripts for web applications. Perl’s flexibility and adaptability continues to make it a widely used programming language to this day.
Posted in Computers, The Internet
Canning Spam
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 is signed into United States law. Passed in an attempt to control the growing deluge of junk e-mail, the law’s effectiveness is dubious at best, especially considering political spam is exempt from the law.
AltaVista Launches
Developed by researchers at Digital Equipment Research Laboratories, the AltaVista search engine is launched. It was the first world wide web search service to gain significant popularity. One of the most popular search engines in the early world wide web, Google didn’t overtake AltaVista until 2001. AltaVista was eventually purchased by Yahoo! in 2003.
Netscape 1.0 Released
Netscape Communications Corporation releases Netscape Navigator 1.0, the world’s first commercially developed web browser, although this particular version was free for non-commercial use.
Google Releases Chrome
Google releases the first stable public version of their web browser, Chrome. Chrome is now considered the third-most popular web browser in the world.
RIAA Sues Napster
The Recording Industry Association of America sues the peer-to-peer file sharing service Napster alleging copyright infringement for allowing users to download copyrighted music for free. The RIAA would eventually win injunctions against Napster forcing the service to suspend operations and eventually file bankruptcy. In the end the RIAA and its members would settle with Napster’s financial backers for hundreds of millions of dollars.
While the case was ostensibly about copyright violations, the bigger picture for the RIAA was also about control. The recording industry in general was caught with its pants down when it came to digital music and the Internet. They were not prepared for the sudden popularity of digital music downloads that Napster introduced and were not ready with a model to monetize downloaded music. This lawsuit, along with future lawsuits targeting individuals, was intended to squash the practice of downloading music as much as it was to recover compensation. However, the practice of downloading music could not be stopped as other non-centralized peer-to-peer file sharing services popped up in place of Napster. Faced with the ever increasing tide of users downloading music for free, eventually the recording industry reluctantly got on board with commercialized music downloading services like the iTunes Music Store. However they still lost a great deal of control over the marketplace. Leveraging the huge success of iTunes, Apple enforced a strict pricing policy much to the consternation of the record companies. By creating a de-facto pricing standard for downloaded music, Apple became the major powerhouse in the music industry. The runaway success of iTunes also had the effect of Apple displacing established retail and radio outlets as the gatekeepers of popular music. As well, the ability for artists independent of record companies to distribute their music and gain followings greatly disrupted the control the RIAA and its members had over the music industry. While the RIAA may have taken down Napster, what Napster started completely changed the direction of both the music and technology industries.
Initial ARPANet Completed
The University of Utah becomes the fourth node on the ARPANet*. This completed the planned original nodes on the experimental network that would eventually evolve into what we now know as the Internet.
*Some sources claim this date as December 1st. I can not yet find a definitive source.
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San Jose, Ca. Officer Down
Date: March 25, 2015Author: Thonie Hevron 0 Comments
OFFICER DOWN-SAN JOSE POLICE DEPARTMENT-
San Jose Mercury News Staff writers Eric Kurhi and Mark Gomez contributed to this report.
Law enforcement officers have an area blocked off as they search for a suspect who shot and killed a San Jose police officer Tuesday, March 24, 2015, in an exchange of gunfire in San Jose, Calif. Police were searching in an area near Senter and Umbarger roads. (Josie Lepe/Bay Area News Group)
Photos: San Jose police officer killed in exchange of gunfire
SAN JOSE — A 14-year veteran San Jose police officer was killed Tuesday evening in a dramatic series of events that began with a call about a suicidal man and ended when police used explosives and a robot to breach the suspect’s apartment, but found him dead.
The killing of Officer Michael Johnson was the department’s first line-of-duty death in 14 years. He was fatally wounded as he responded to an apartment complex in the 2600 block of Senter Road around 6:48 p.m. Tuesday.
Johnson was the 12th SJPD officer killed in the department’s 166-year history. He was a field training officer at the time of his death.
Now, the SJPD community is reeling from an experience it has been spared from for nearly a decade and a half: mourning the loss of a comrade who gave his life to protecting the public.
“Officers are obviously crying, grieving, they will obviously do so for some time. Our hearts, our prayers go out with the family of Michael, our brother. This is a very difficult time right now,” police spokesman Officer Albert Morales said early Wednesday. “Rest assured we’ll keep him in our memories as we go out there and continue to do the job we loved to do and I’m sure that he loved to do.”
Adding to the heartache was the fact Johnson came from the same police academy class as Jeffrey Fontana, the last officer killed in the line of duty. Fontana was in his rookie year on the force when he was shot to death during a high-risk vehicle stop in South San Jose on October 28, 2001.
“As a chief this is not something we would ever want to do,” San Jose police Chief Larry Esquivel said at a news conference late Tuesday. “It’s a sad day for law enforcement and for the police department and the community.”
A statement from the San Jose Police Officers Association said all officers were grieving for Johnson.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johnson’s family and friends,” the union said. “(Johnson) was tragically struck down in the prime of his life protecting and serving the residents of San Jose.”
Scott Dunham, 57, of San Jose, is being sought in connection with the shooting death of a San Jose police officer on Tuesday, March 24, 2015. (San Jose Police) ( SAN JOSE POLICE )
Mayor Sam Liccardo, who added that he offered condolences to the slain officer’s family on behalf of the city, said, “This is San Jose’s darkest hour. This strikes the heart of all of us in San Jose and throughout the region.”
Liccardo said in a tweet that Johnson was engaged to be married.
Police identified the suspect in Johnson’s slaying late Tuesday as Scott Dunham, 57. Officials launched a massive manhunt after the attack with a detail consisting of dozens of officers and the MERGE (SWAT) unit, who all swarmed the area of Senter and Umbarger roads to find the gunman.
Nearby homes were evacuated as officers and equipment — including armored vehicles and a helicopter — were summoned from neighboring police agencies, including the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale police, and the California Highway Patrol.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, center, speaks during a press conference regarding the San Jose police officer killed earlier in the day in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, March 24, 2015. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) ( Nhat V. Meyer )
The manhunt continued for hours, with police eventually converging on the building that housed Dunham’s apartment. Officials said around 11 p.m. that they believed that Dunham might still be inside the apartment, but they were also chasing down leads that indicated he might be elsewhere.
Police breached his apartment using explosives around 1:30 a.m., then began a slow, exhaustive search using a robot with a camera. Officers at the scene confirmed that Dunham had been found dead on the apartment’s balcony shortly before 3:30 a.m.
It was not immediately clear how Dunham had died, though police said he had suffered at least one gunshot wound. Police reported earlier that he may have been wounded during the exchange of gunfire that killed Johnson. Esquivel acknowledged the possibility that Dunham might have been dead for most of the standoff, as officers never made contact with him after the initial clash, and there was no subsequent gunfire.
San Jose officers were initially called at 6:48 p.m. Tuesday by a female family member who said that Dunham was intoxicated, despondent and possibly meant to harm himself or others, Esquivel said. As the officers approached the apartment building on Senter Road and spotted a person on a balcony, they were fired upon without warning.
Police dispatch recordings show that officers told dispatchers they believed the man they were searching for had one or two handguns in the apartment.
At one point, as they approach the apartment, an officer says “we have movement from the blinds at the apartment.”
An officer calmly reports that a male has stepped out onto the balcony, describing him as having gray hair, a gray mustache and a black T-shirt. Seconds later, the “shots fired” call can be heard, followed almost immediately by the “officer down” call.
Dispatchers immediately called for the area to be secured and put out a citywide call for assistance. Another officer reported that shots were fired at the suspect, and that he possibly “went down as well.” Esquivel confirmed the gunfire exchange and the possibility that Dunham was wounded.
“This person had the nerve, the audacity, to shoot at our officers who were on a call for assistance,” Esquivel said.
An outpouring of grief flowed from both members of the public and law enforcement agencies throughout California and across the nation Tuesday night. Hundreds of social media users sent their condolences to San Jose police through the department’s Twitter account.
“It’s extremely painful and shocking,” said Councilman Tam Nguyen, who represents District 7, where the shooting occurred. “I’m worried for the safety of other officers, he’s still at large and still very dangerous.”
Tam said he lived in the neighborhood and was not going home because of the manhunt, but driving around and waiting to hear more from police.
“I want to let them concentrate on their own safety and the safety of others,” he said.
gunfirepolice officerSan Jose Policesuicidal manwounded
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The foreseeable, but largely unforeseen, risks of a technology crash
Technology has been an indispensable tool in our response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis.
Doctors have adopted telemedicine. School children learned in digital classes. Billions of us communicated, shopped, worked and played primarily online.
But unless we are careful, our increased reliance on technology can magnify, rather than minimize, the next global crisis. Much like the Covid-19 pandemic, this risk falls into the category of fully foreseeable, but largely unanticipated risks. We know how this story might play out even though we haven’t read the script yet.
Our pervasive use of technology has already surpassed our ability to safely manage it. Unless we upgrade our security, governance and regulatory regimes, we will remain extremely vulnerable to critical infrastructure crippling, either by malicious design or by default. Call it a tech crash.
This week’s events at FireEye point out the inherent risks. The job of the US cybersecurity firm is to protect its customers from hackers, but it has itself been hacked. FireEye pointed to suspicion of a state-sponsored attacker “who was primarily looking for information relating to certain government clients.”
Alarmingly, the hackers have stolen the tools used by FireEye’s “red team” which hack into its customers’ systems to expose their own vulnerabilities. The company is now scrambling to deploy countermeasures.
Cyber weapons have already become an accepted part of the armories of many states due to their cheapness, effectiveness and denial. Their use was examined in a chilling new HBO documentary, The perfect weapon, based on a delivered by David Sanger.
The film shows how the United States and Israel were the first to realize the power of cyber weapons, unleashing the Stuxnet malware against Iran to degrade its nuclear weapons program in 2007. “Stuxnet was the first time that ‘ a large state was using a powerful cyber weapon in an aggressive manner, ” Amy zegart, the co-director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, said in the film.
But this successful attack opened up a Pandora’s box of problems that is now impossible to close. Iranians, North Koreans, Russians and Chinese quickly concluded that cyber warfare was an asymmetrical game against a country as large, open and digitally exposed as the United States.
In 2014, there was a damaging Iranian cyberattack on the casino empire of Sheldon Adelson, the American tycoon who had openly called for a nuclear bomb to be dropped on Iran. North Korean hackers then inflicted severe damage on Sony Pictures angry at the release of a movie mocking dictator Kim Jong Un. They later posted the WannaCry ransomware, exploiting loopholes in Microsoft software to strike over 155 countries.
The Russians have launched cyber attacks against Ukraine, disabling power grids, subways and airports. They also hacked into the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 US presidential election campaign and posted stolen emails to WikiLeaks.
Chinese hackers opened the US office of personnel management access nearly 22 million files. According to the experts named in the film, they also attempted to hack the Covid-19 vaccination programs and deliberately fed a “Infodemic” of disinformation about the pandemic in the United States.
Given all of this, it’s no wonder that U.S. defense officials have been warning for years about the dangers of a “cyber Pearl Harbor” that could destroy critical infrastructure, even if they plan to release cyber attacks of their own.
But it is not only the cyber conflict between states that is alarming. We must also be concerned about the systemic instability of the Internet, given its governance incredibly fragile. Ingenious short-term fixes stayed in place for a remarkably long time while long-term fixes never materialized.
Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft, says the company’s confidence in the technology has worsened amid growing concerns about cybersecurity, privacy, internet safety and the ethical use of artificial intelligence. “Since technology is inevitable to play a much more central role, we need to build trust,” he said this week.
Enterprise engineering teams should take more responsibility for developing systems to ensure security and build trust, Nadella said. But we also need new regulations and institutions.
Our governance structures remain stuck in the analog age. We must either rethink their scope or invent new ones. We could start with a World Data Organization to agree protections for personal data and secure international data flows. The digital equivalent of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration could be tasked with pre-approving algorithms used in sensitive areas, such as healthcare and the justice system. And a digital Geneva Convention could set the limits of cyber warfare.
William Gibson, the science fiction writer who coined the term cyberspace, told me earlier this year that we may be the last generation to distinguish between our offline and online worlds. He is probably right. It is time that we rule our physical and virtual worlds as one.
john.thornhill@ft.com
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Alumni Association Gathers Former Bears at Cards Game
The University of Central Arkansas Alumni Association broke new ground as it hosted a meeting at one of the biggest venues in St. Louis: Busch Stadium. With over 40 alumni attending the June 4th event, UCA Alumni Director Jesse Thill said it was “the biggest meeting we’ve ever held.” Members of the association plan to set their sights for the future just as high.
Unlike previous meetings, which consisted of small dinner parties in various cities across the country, such as Washington D.C. and Memphis, this meeting was held on the first base line during a weekend series between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals. Much like how the Cardinals came back from losing 5-0 in the sixth inning to eventually winning the game, the alumni want to turn their approach around and attempt to hit it out of the park.
According to Aaron Knight, the Alumni Association has been aimed more toward graduates who were over the age of 35. In the past, meetings consisted of dinner and chatting, and were occasionally free.
“The attendance could be improved,” Knight said. Members of the Alumni Association decided to try something new. They wanted to make the meetings have more value.
“People didn’t start showing up until we started charging alumni to come, which adds more value to the events,” Knight said. “Now we have record attendance.” Charging alumni to come to events allowed them to spend the money on bigger and better meetings.
Now members of the Alumni Association want to make events aimed more toward the current senior class at UCA. “[They] will be laying the groundwork for the younger alumni in November,” Thill said.
image via dynastyleaguebaseball.mlblogs.com
SGA Elections Coming Soon
Sugar Bears tame Lady Lions 79-61
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Art can provide an escape. It can make people think or laugh. It may spark conversations. These are some of the goals of artwork that will be displayed throughout our new children’s hospital. Some pieces are whimsical, and many have been selected to invite discovery. Families and visitors may look at a picture and ask each other, “What do you see?” or “What do you think is going on?” The artwork may even lead to storytelling.
The artwork found at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital was selected with patients, families, and visitors in mind. More than 300 pieces will be installed; a small portion will be transferred from existing pediatric areas. Funding for the artwork comes from the Art in State Buildings program, which was made possible by passage of a 1979 state law, known as a percent-for-art law. It requires that a minimum of one-half of 1 percent (.005 percent) of the state’s portion of total construction costs be allocated to artwork. Private donors also helped provide support for some pieces. The artwork in UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital represents the work of more than 60 artists, half of whom are from the Midwest.
In a hospital, art is more than just a pretty picture. It can help the healing process. According to Global Alliance for Arts & Health, “By reducing stress, loneliness, and the perception of pain, the arts improve the patient experience.”
Throughout the Hospital
Iowa Scenes
Early in the design process, focus groups told us that artwork in the hospital should establish a sense of place—show that our hospital is located in Iowa—as well as invite exploration. From these suggestions, four large Iowa scenes were developed that highlight natural habitats across the state. Displayed on every floor, the Iowa scenes highlight the state’s farmlands, prairies, woodlands, rivers, and skies. Patients, visitors, and employees will enjoy picking out details from each scene.
The scenes serve another purpose, too. They were the inspiration for icons that are used throughout the hospital. A different icon was chosen to represent each of the building’s 14 levels. Displayed on walls, signs, and elevator buttons, the icons will help visitors find their way throughout the building.
Individual Pieces of Art
Artwork will be installed in hallways, waiting rooms, respite rooms, family lounges, and clinical areas, including preoperative and postoperative rooms. Pieces will feature different styles and media, such as intricate paper cuttings, sculptures, and woodcut relief prints. Many will have a unique texture to provide a contrast to sleek cabinets and furniture. Some of the more whimsical pieces were created by Brett Kern. His ceramic objects look like inflatable toys, complete with folds and wrinkles. Looking at these pieces, observers find it hard to believe that they were formed from clay.
Gerdin Family Lobby (Level 1)
The main lobby is a welcoming space that invites discovery. Artist Larry Kirkland designed four different types of artwork that can be found throughout the lobby. His goal? To help people forget, even for a second, why they are at the hospital.
The Blooming Wall
The Blooming Wall is displayed on the curved walls in the lobby; some parts of the wall extend two stories high. Triangular-shaped panels give the effect of colorful vertical blinds. Panels are white and varying shades of blue, green, and purple. The shades increase gradually in intensity, or “bloom,” before fading to white. Then the cycle repeats itself. The effect is different when seen up close than it is when viewed from far away. The Blooming Wall also varies in appearance depending on the amount of sunlight streaming through the lobby windows.
Terrazzo Floors
Four different areas in the lobby’s terrazzo floor offer an “I Spy” experience for kids and adults alike. Outlines of common objects—such as animals, a football, and household tools—are embedded in four different sections of the floor. Only one item can be found in all four spots: a four-leaf clover.
Wind Vanes
It’s hard to miss them. Six towering sculptures, known as wind vanes, look like large stacks of alphabet blocks. Each of the pieces represents two Iowa communities. Colorful graphics reflect aspects of each place, such as an event, industry, or natural area located there. Each wind vane features a decorative piece at the top that rotates like the real wind vanes that inspired them. Four wind vanes are located near the children’s theater; two others are near the library.
Playful artwork inside six vitrines, or glass-covered window displays, will be enjoyed by all who visit the Gerdin Family Lobby. Each display is approximately 7 feet tall and showcases a different theme. One includes alphabet blocks, as well as toys and small figurines that start with each letter of the alphabet.
Designed as a calming oasis, this room features a large piece of art known as “Lift Your Spirits.” Measuring 8 feet wide and more than 8 feet tall, this painted glass art piece depicts birch trees reaching for the sky. This original piece of art, designed by artist Bebe Keith, weighs more than 400 pounds. It was hand painted onto glass, one color at a time, in a studio in Germany. The uplifting work of art is also visible from the hallway on Level 12.
Bebe Keith also created 22 mosaics displayed in the hallway on the top level of the hospital. Known collectively as “Kaleidoscopes,” the intricate design of the hexagon mosaics mimics what children see when viewing patterns through a kaleidoscope. The largest mosaic is 5 feet wide and took 60 hours to complete. It includes an estimated 5,700 pieces of cut stained glass.
John and Mary Pappajohn Plaza
This outdoor green space features two large horse sculptures by Deborah Butterfield. The artist creates her trademark sculptures by wiring together pieces of found objects, such as driftwood. Then each piece is numbered, photographed, taken apart, and cast in bronze. The bronze pieces are reassembled to form unique horses that are larger than life. One of the two horses displayed outside our children’s hospital is more than 13 feet tall. The horses are named Indelible and Midday, but nicknamed Drift and Bones by our patients.
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Johnson is sacked
WEYMOUTH have sacked manager Steve Johnson after just four and half months in the job.
Poor results and ‘a general lack of progress’ have been blamed for the former Latvia under-18 coach’s departure.
The Terras have won just one of their last seven league matches, a run that has all but ended their Conference South play-offs hopes.
Johnson, whose brother Gary is boss at Yeovil, was dismissed along with club secretary Liz Bell after a hastily arranged board meeting at the Wessex Stadium yesterday.
Coaches Roy O’Brien, John Waldock and Gary Borthwick will take charge until the end of the season and the trio began their reign with a 3-1 over Wimborne in the Sammy McGowan Trophy last night.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Terras owner and chairman Martyn Harrison.
“I like Steve Johnson as a person and he’s become a good friend. I really wanted things to work for him.
“He’s been living in my house over at Bowleaze and his children have just started school down here.
“But results have been poor and I couldn’t see any progress. We are building for the future and I just didn’t see anything positive coming long term.
“Contrary to what a lot of people think, we have not slashed the playing budget at the club since Steve Claridge left.
“We gave Steve Johnson as much support as is humanly possible and have backed every decision he has made and provided the finances.
“In fact the squad is bigger now than it’s ever been but it just wasn’t working. We were becoming increasingly concerned that things weren’t quite right in the dressing room either.
“I’m a very ambitious person and I won’t settle for second best although that’s not meant as a reference to Steve Johnson in any way.
I want to be at the top of the league and I couldn’t see that happening if things stayed the same.
“There simply were not enough positives for me and the other board members and something needed to be done.
It’s not a decision we have taken lightly and sacking Steve Johnson was a lot harder than sacking Steve Claridge.
But it’s a unanimous board decision and outsiders have not influenced us.
“It remains to be seen whether it’s the right move. It may be something that comes back to haunt us and I’ll be the first to hold my hand up if that’s the case.
“But this is a business and I want what’s best for Weymouth Football Club and I’m not a very patient person.”
Meanwhile a shocked Johnson told Echosport: “It’s really too early for me to say anything. I need time to take in the news and time to collect my thoughts.”
Harrison said there were no plans to advertise the vacancy and instead, directors will make contact with a number of previous applicants although Shaun Teale and Mark Morris are already emerging as contenders
“We have a few people we want to talk to,” Harrison added, “but we will not be rushed into anything. We have nine games left this season and personally I wrote off any chance of making the play-offs three weeks ago.
“John Waldock, Roy O’Brien and Gary Borthwick will take charge for now and we’ll see what happens.
What we are now looking for is a strong man who can motivate the players we’ve got and get the best out of them.
“We have the basis of a very good side and with a few additions in the summer, we are definitely promotion material.
“But I want to be top from the start of next season and so we have to get a man who can get us there and keep us there.”
Meanwhile Harrison blamed Bell’s departure on a ‘behind the scenes reshuffle’
He explained: ‘All I want to say on this matter is that Liz Bell has left the club’s employment because of a change of direction staff wise.”
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<< Previous TITLE 16 / CHAPTER 1 / SUBCHAPTER CXLI Next >>
16 USC CHAPTER 1, SUBCHAPTER CXLI: SAN RAFAEL SWELL RECREATION AREA
From Title 16—CONSERVATIONCHAPTER 1—NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES
§460dddd. Establishment of Recreation Area
Subject to valid existing rights, there is established the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area in the State.
(2) Area included
The Recreation Area shall consist of approximately 216,995 acres of Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, as generally depicted on the Map.
(b) Purposes
The purposes of the Recreation Area are to provide for the protection, conservation, and enhancement of the recreational, cultural, natural, scenic, wildlife, ecological, historical, and educational resources of the Recreation Area.
(c) Map and legal description
As soon as practicable after March 12, 2019, the Secretary shall file a map and legal description of the Recreation Area with the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.
(2) Effect
The map and legal description filed under paragraph (1) shall have the same force and effect as if included in this subchapter, except that the Secretary may correct clerical and typographical errors in the map and legal description.
(3) Public availability
A copy of the map and legal description filed under paragraph (1) shall be on file and available for public inspection in the appropriate offices of the Bureau of Land Management.
(Pub. L. 116–9, title I, §1221, Mar. 12, 2019, 133 Stat. 668.)
Emery County Public Land Management
Pub. L. 116–9, title I, §§1211–1214, Mar. 12, 2019, 133 Stat. 667, provided that:
"SEC. 1211. DEFINITIONS.
"In this part [part II (§§1211–1255) of subtitle C of title I of Pub. L. 116–9, enacting this subchapter, amending section 1274 of this title, enacting provisions set out as a note under section 1274 of this title, and enacting provisions listed in a table of Wilderness Areas set out under section 1132 of this title and in a table of National Monuments set out under section 320301 of Title 54, National Parks Service and Related Programs]:
"(1) Council.—The term 'Council' means the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area Advisory Council established under section 1223(a) [16 U.S.C. 460dddd–2(a)].
"(2) County.—The term 'County' means Emery County in the State.
"(3) Management plan.—The term 'Management Plan' means the management plan for the Recreation Area developed under section 1222(c) [16 U.S.C. 460dddd–1(c)].
"(4) Map.—The term 'Map' means the map entitled 'Emery County Public Land Management Act of 2018 Overview Map' and dated February 5, 2019.
"(5) Recreation area.—The term 'Recreation Area' means the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area established by section 1221(a)(1) [16 U.S.C. 460dddd(a)(1)].
"(6) Secretary.—The term 'Secretary' means—
"(A) the Secretary [of the Interior], with respect to public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management; and
"(B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to National Forest System land.
"(7) State.—The term 'State' means the State of Utah.
"(8) Wilderness area.—The term 'wilderness area' means a wilderness area designated by section 1231(a) [enacting provisions listed in a table of Wilderness Areas set out under section 1132 of this title].
"SEC. 1212. ADMINISTRATION.
"Nothing in this part affects or modifies—
"(1) any right of any federally recognized Indian Tribe; or
"(2) any obligation of the United States to any federally recognized Indian Tribe.
"SEC. 1213. EFFECT ON WATER RIGHTS.
"Nothing in this part—
"(1) affects the use or allocation, in existence on the date of enactment of this Act [Mar. 12, 2019], of any water, water right, or interest in water;
"(2) affects any water right (as defined by applicable State law) in existence on the date of enactment of this Act, including any water right held by the United States;
"(3) affects any interstate water compact in existence on the date of enactment of this Act;
"(4) shall be considered to be a relinquishment or reduction of any water rights reserved or appropriated by the United States in the State on or before the date of enactment of this Act; or
"(5) affects the management and operation of Flaming Gorge Dam and Reservoir, including the storage, management, and release of water.
"SEC. 1214. SAVINGS CLAUSE.
"Nothing in this part diminishes the authority of the Secretary under Public Law 92–195 (commonly known as the 'Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act') (16 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.)."
§460dddd–1. Management of Recreation Area
The Secretary shall administer the Recreation Area—
(1) in a manner that conserves, protects, and enhances the purposes for which the Recreation Area is established; and
(2) in accordance with—
(A) this section;
(B) the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); and
(C) other applicable laws.
(b) Uses
The Secretary shall allow only uses of the Recreation Area that are consistent with the purposes for which the Recreation Area is established.
(c) Management Plan
Not later than 5 years after March 12, 2019, the Secretary shall develop a comprehensive management plan for the long-term protection and management of the Recreation Area.
The Management Plan shall—
(A) describe the appropriate uses and management of the Recreation Area;
(B) be developed with extensive public input;
(C) take into consideration any information developed in studies of the land within the Recreation Area; and
(D) be developed fully consistent with the settlement agreement entered into on January 13, 2017, in the case in the United States District Court for the District of Utah styled "Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, et al. v. U.S. Department of the Interior, et al." and numbered 2:12–cv–257 DAK.
(d) Motorized vehicles; new roads
(1) Motorized vehicles
Except as needed for emergency response or administrative purposes, the use of motorized vehicles in the Recreation Area shall be permitted only on roads and motorized routes designated in the Management Plan for the use of motorized vehicles.
(2) New roads
No new permanent or temporary roads or other motorized vehicle routes shall be constructed within the Recreation Area after March 12, 2019.
(3) Existing roads
Necessary maintenance or repairs to existing roads designated in the Management Plan for the use of motorized vehicles, including necessary repairs to keep existing roads free of debris or other safety hazards, shall be permitted after March 12, 2019, consistent with the requirements of this section.
(B) Effect
Nothing in this subsection prevents the Secretary from rerouting an existing road or trail to protect Recreation Area resources from degradation or to protect public safety, as determined to be appropriate by the Secretary.
(e) Grazing
The grazing of livestock in the Recreation Area, if established before March 12, 2019, shall be allowed to continue, subject to such reasonable regulations, policies, and practices as the Secretary considers to be necessary in accordance with—
(A) applicable law (including regulations); and
(B) the purposes of the Recreation Area.
(2) Inventory
Not later than 5 years after March 12, 2019, the Secretary, in collaboration with any affected grazing permittee, shall carry out an inventory of facilities and improvements associated with grazing activities in the Recreation Area.
(f) Cold War sites
The Secretary shall manage the Recreation Area in a manner that educates the public about Cold War and historic uranium mine sites in the Recreation Area, subject to such terms and conditions as the Secretary considers necessary to protect public health and safety.
(g) Incorporation of acquired land and interests
Any land or interest in land located within the boundary of the Recreation Area that is acquired by the United States after March 12, 2019, shall—
(1) become part of the Recreation Area; and
(2) be managed in accordance with applicable laws, including as provided in this section.
(h) Withdrawal
Subject to valid existing rights, all Federal land within the Recreation Area, including any land or interest in land that is acquired by the United States within the Recreation Area after March 12, 2019, is withdrawn from—
(1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws;
(2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and
(3) operation of the mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws.
(i) Study of nonmotorized recreation opportunities
Not later than 2 years after March 12, 2019, the Secretary, in consultation with interested parties, shall conduct a study of nonmotorized recreation trail opportunities, including bicycle trails, within the Recreation Area, consistent with the purposes of the Recreation Area.
(j) Cooperative agreement
The Secretary may enter into a cooperative agreement with the State in accordance with section 307(b) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1737(b)) and other applicable laws to provide for the protection, management, and maintenance of the Recreation Area.
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, referred to in subsec. (a)(2)(B), is Pub. L. 94–579, Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2743, which is classified principally to chapter 35 (§1701 et seq.) of Title 43, Public Lands. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 1701 of Title 43 and Tables.
§460dddd–2. San Rafael Swell Recreation Area Advisory Council
Not later than 180 days after March 12, 2019, the Secretary shall establish an advisory council, to be known as the "San Rafael Swell Recreation Area Advisory Council".
The Council shall advise the Secretary with respect to the preparation and implementation of the Management Plan for the Recreation Area.
(c) Applicable law
The Council shall be subject to—
(1) the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.); and
(2) section 1739 of title 43.
(d) Members
The Council shall include 7 members, to be appointed by the Secretary, of whom, to the maximum extent practicable—
(1) 1 member shall represent the Emery County Commission;
(2) 1 member shall represent motorized recreational users;
(3) 1 member shall represent nonmotorized recreational users;
(4) 1 member shall represent permittees holding grazing allotments within the Recreation Area or wilderness areas designated in this part;
(5) 1 member shall represent conservation organizations;
(6) 1 member shall have expertise in the historical uses of the Recreation Area; and
(7) 1 member shall be appointed from the elected leadership of a Federally recognized Indian Tribe that has significant cultural or historical connections to, and expertise in, the landscape, archeological sites, or cultural sites within the County.
The Federal Advisory Committee Act, referred to in subsec. (c)(1), is Pub. L. 92–463, Oct. 6, 1972, 86 Stat. 770, which is set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
This part, referred to in subsec. (d)(4), is part II (§§1211–1255) of subtitle C of title I of Pub. L. 116–9, Mar. 12, 2019, 133 Stat. 667, which enacted this subchapter, amended section 1274 of this title, enacted provisions set out as notes under section 1274 of this title, and enacted provisions listed in a table of Wilderness Areas set out under section 1132 of this title and in a table of National Monuments set out under section 320301 of Title 54, National Parks Service and Related Programs.
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Dr. Ward's letter to UTS Alumni
Dear UTS Alumni and Friends,
The thoughts and prayers of the UTS Administration and Staff are with all of you in these challenging times when lives and futures are impaired. We pray that you remain safe in this difficult period and be strengthened in your love of God, family, and each other. Let us pray for the many who have lost their lives and also for the peace and comfort of those whom they left behind.
On August 8, 2019 I officially became the 6th President of Unification Theological Seminary. It was my honor to follow Dr. Hugh Spurgin in this position. In his more than four years of service, Dr. Spurgin brought UTS a desperately needed realignment, restoring full Middle States Accreditation, successfully establishing the main UTS campus in New York City and UTS gained authorization to deliver its Master of Arts in Religious Studies fully online. Dr. Spurgin also succeeded in strengthening our ties with our sponsoring Church. He established a laudable record of service and a foundation that we all feel blessed to inherit.
When I took on my responsibilities at UTS, I soon recognized the wealth of institutional knowledge, the professionalism, and high standards set by the UTS faculty and staff. I also recognized their faith, their desire to serve God, to uphold the vision for UTS set by Father and Mother Moon, and to render service to the members of the Unification community, to faithful Christians, to all believers and seekers of truth and reconciliation. It was also immediately evident that UTS is blessed with extraordinary students in its ranks who literally could have studied anywhere and yet they chose to do graduate studies at our Seminary.
UTS has a proud legacy and here I would like to share some of the ways in which we intend to build upon it.
Honoring the Past: Emeritus Status awarded to Previous UTS Presidents
In recognition of their service, the UTS Board of Trustees conferred President Emeritus Status upon the second, fourth and fifth Presidents of the Unification Theological Seminary: Dr. Theodore Shimmyo, Dr. Tyler Hendricks, and Dr. Hugh Spurgin on October 14, 2019. On that same date, the Board also have conferred upon Dr. David S. C. Kim, the first and, by far, longest serving President, the title “Distinguished President Emeritus.”
Honoring the Past: A New Display on UTS History
For those of you who have time, we encourage you (once we get through the current COVID 19 crisis) to visit our next exhibit at our 43rd Street Address. The display includes historical artifacts from the Seminary’s Founders as well as from alumni, and early UTS academic leaders and faculty. The collection includes many publications from UTS faculty as well as documentation of the many Unification-inspired projects that have been overseen by UTS alumni.
An Updated Mission Statement
On December 16, 2019, following discussion with members of the Administration, with faculty, students, and presentations to UTS alumni, UTS adjusted the wording of its Mission Statement, reaffirming its Unification identity as well as its commitment to continue to serve a broader community of believers: The revised Mission Statement now reads:
Unification Theological Seminary provides advanced academic and professional education for current and future leaders of the Unification community and all faiths, that seeks to enhance their relationship with God, their effectiveness in ministry and public leadership, and their service to the human family. As a home of thought, we strive to foster deeper understanding, contextualization and application of the Unification worldview within a world of diverse faiths.
A Revised Master of Arts Degree and Updated Doctor of Ministry Program
UTS has updated its Master of Arts in Religious Studies. For the past two years, the Family Federation has sent cohorts of young Unification leaders to UTS to earn a degree and to be better prepared to assume leadership roles within various Church organizations and affiliated NGOs. The revised MA strengthens the students’ foundation in the Old and New Testament, Church History, Divine Principle, and Systematic Theology. It also offers specialized Unification Studies courses for Unification Leaders as well as a new Korean language track, where students can spend one semester of their study in Korea after having completed initial Korean language study in the US. The new Master degree will also offer a strengthened concentration in public and NGO leadership that will prepare interested students for internships in governmental, Intergovernmental, and non-governmental organizations located near the UTS NYC campus. The new MA will also continue to welcome non-Unificationists who represent a significant portion of our student body today. The Doctor of Ministry has also gone through important changes that will reduce required residencies and also make it possible for students with a Master degree in a discipline other than religion or theology to enter the doctoral program following the completion of 15 to 24 credits of prerequisites for those not holding a Master of Divinity degree.
UTS First Massive Open Online Course
On April 6, 2020, UTS initiated its first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), which prospective students, alumni, and friends may either take for credit or simply audit according to their interest. This first course offered by Dr. Claude Perrottet, a UTS alum with extensive experience in online learning is entitled “Unification Thought in Context.” For-credit enrollment expired on April 20 but students may still join the course as auditors.
UTS joins Theta Alpha Kappa
In UTS was informed that its application to host a Chapter of Theta Alpha Kappa, the National Honor Society for the Study of Religion and Theology, has been accepted. Theta Alpha Kappa, has ties with both the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature. It began in 1976 at Manhattan College in New York City and now has more than 200 chapters across the United States. UTS will do its first induction of members in May 2020. Membership in Theta Alpha Kappa requires a minimum Grade Point Average of 3.5.
UTS Faculty Roundtable
UTS now conducts a monthly lecture series during fall and spring terms. Each roundtable features a presentation by one member of the UTS Faculty or a student with advanced academic standing at UTS. The sessions are open to the entire Unification Community via Zoom. If you would like to participate, kindly email info@uts.edu.
New Faces in the UTS Administration
Like many parts of the UTS community, we are currently actively seeking to prepare for a new generation of Unification leadership. In September of last year, Christina Lange assumed the role of Assistant to the President and Director of Special Projects. In addition to her native English, Christina speaks fluent Japanese and Korean. She did her undergraduate studies at Northwestern University and in Japanese language at Sun Moon University and is pursuing her Master of Arts in Religious Studies at Unification Theological Seminary. Thomas Delaney, the son of Registrar and Senior Associate Dean Ute Delany, has taken on the role of UTS Assistant Registrar. Thomas studied history at the State University of New York and he is currently pursuing his Master of Arts in Religious Studies at UTS. He began working as Assistant Registrar in spring 2019. UTS looks forward to including additional second-generation leaders going forward.
Opportunities for Alumni Ongoing Involvement with UTS
When I became President of UTS, one of the things that I quickly realized was the extent to which we owe a debt of gratitude to our alums. When we consider Unification leadership around the world, whether one speaks of Dr. Kihoon Kim, our Continental Leader or Rev. Demian Dunkley, our Family Fed USA President, or Dr. Thomas Walsh, Chairman of UPF, or Dr. Michael Jenkins, President of UPF and of the American Leadership Conference, Rev. Mari Curry, National FFWPU Director of Education, or Rev. Mi Young Eaton, Region #1 Director of Education, or Dr. Taj Hamad, Chairman of the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, they all have been educated at Unification Theological Seminary. UTS’ legacy is built on the outstanding achievements of these and many other alumni whose leadership, who publications, whose sacrifices are at the center of so much of what explains UTS pride. Many Alums want to stay close to UTS. We also want to stay close to you. These are some things that you might want to do:
Follow the Unification Theological Seminary website for latest developments.
Attend our monthly Faculty Roundtables via Zoom. The next two events take place on April 28 and on May 12. The featured speaker on April 28 will be Dr. Theodore Shimmyo, President Emeritus of UTS, and on May 12, our speaker will be Rev. Mi Young Eaton, a 2019 graduate of UTS, and Northeastern Regional Director of Education under the guidance of and in collaboration with President Demian Dunkley. You should have received an email recently with the event details. You may also email info@uts.edu for more information.
Make a financial contribution to your Alma Mater UTS. Visit our website to find out how.
Consider returning to UTS for a degree upgrade:
UTS Alums holding a Diploma of Religious Education will be pleasantly surprised to learn how close that they are to a Master of Religious Education.
If you hold a Diploma of Religious Education, a Master of Religious Education, a Master of Arts in Religious Studies, or a Master of Divinity, learn how close you are to earning the Doctor of Ministry degree, most of which you may do from the comfort of your home.
Please give any and all of these some thought. In the meantime, again, stay safe. Know that you are in our prayers. Know that UTS pride stems from you and your achievements. May the blessing of God and True Parents be with you.
Gratefully in True Parents,
Thomas J. Ward
Unification Theological Seminary
ward@uts.edu
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Home » Pondicherry » Pondicherry
Puducherry, or Pondicherry as it was known till 2006, is a famous tourist destination in South India. A very interesting point about Puducherry or Pondicherry is that while three of its districts are located on the east coast, the fourth, named Mahe is located on the west coast. Puducherry is the best known among these four districts and is the center of tourism in this Union territory. The city has many beautiful colonial buildings, churches, temples, and statues, which, combined with the systematic town planning and the well planned French style avenues, still preserve much of the colonial ambience. The tourist attractions in Puducherry include some of the best known monuments, and buildings of south India on the west coast. Tourism in Puducherry is growing at a steady place and the city is a popular weekend destination that can be approached easily from the nearby cities.
Major tourist attractions in Puducherry:
Sri Aurobindo ashrama: Sri Aurobindo was a greatly respected freedom fighter and philosopher who settled in Puducherry and established this Ashrama in 1920. His philosophy and teachings found many followers here, and this Ashrama became one of the centers of vedic and philosophical studies. The place is a peaceful community developed over the years by the active participation of members that include people from all countries, casts, and communities. The ashrama is a great example of unity in diversity and promotes world peace in a very subtle way, emphasizing on the learning of world religions. The ashrama is also known for the samadhi (memorial) of Sri Aurobindo and Sri Ma (mother). Besides, there are farms, gardens, cottage industries, library, and various other manufacturing units that cater to the day to day requirements of the ashrama.
Auroville: This unique venture is a city located close to Puducherry and is considered to be among the tourist spots in Puducherry. It was started in 1968 under the supervision of ‘mother’. It has been visualized as a universal town where people from all cast, creed and community will live in peace and harmony. Work is still going on, and many countries have shown interest to participate in the venture.
Puducherry museum: This museum exhibits interesting artifacts related to the history of Puducherry that goes back to the 1st century AD. The most interesting exhibits are the Roman articles discovered at Arikamedu. The French section showcases the history of French colonization in Puducherry. The museum also has a nice collection of sculptures, paintings and sea shells. The colonial structure is one of the important places to visit in Puducherry.
Promenade: This is one of the most visited parts of the city and major tourist attraction. The 1.5 kilometer long stretch faces the Bay of Bengal and offers a wonderful getaway from the daily chores, to the locals and tourists alike. The statue of Mahatma Gandhi and a War memorial are the important things to watch here.
Chunnambar Resort: This place is known for its fantastic beach and the water sports opportunities. This is one of the most popular tourist spots in Puducherry.
Anglo - French Textile mills: This is a historic place and must be visited as part of the historical tour of the city. The fabrics manufactured at this mill are still known for their quality and tourists are given rebates on purchases here.
There are numerous other tourist attractions in Puducherry. These include the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Bhartidasan Memorial Museum, the botanical garden, and the mansion of Ananda.
Climate and Clothing
Puducherry usually has a year long hot and humid climate. The summer temperatures may cross 40 degrees in May or June, but usually the temperature remains between 26 – 38 degrees Celsius. During this season, light colored cotton clothing is advised. Hats, caps, sun screens, and lots of drinking water are must for tourists this during this time. The winter season starts from November and this is the best time to visit Puducherry. The temperature hovers around the 30 degree mark, while the north eastern winds bring in light showers. Nights are cooler and offer the best possible weather for a walk around the streets or along the peaceful beach. The monsoon arrives here during July- august. This is also a nice time to visit Puducherry. Umbrellas, raincoats and slippers come in very handy during this period.
How to Reach Pondicherry
By Air: Pondicherry does not have any airport with in its boundary. But it lies very close to Chennai, which has an international airport. Chennai is accessible from all over the country. Almost all public and private airlines operate regular flights to and from Chennai.
By Road: A good road network, originating from National Highway 45, covers Pondicherry. The most convenient way to Pondicherry is either from Chennai (150kms) and Bangalore (320kms).
By Rail: The nearest railhead is Villupuram (36 kms), which is connected to Chennai and Madurai / Trivandrum. One can also take a train from Bangalore to Cuddalore and then reach Pondicherry by road.
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WWD Highlights The Most Dynamic Fashion Moments Of 2012.
Christian Louboutin with “Crazy Horse” performers
Photo By Courtesy of Christian Louboutin
Chanel Spring Couture 2012
Photo By Giovanni Giannoni
Madonna in Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci at the Super Bowl 2012.
Photo By Courtesy
Alber Elbaz at the mic, with Kim Hastreiter.
Photo By Stéphane Feugère
Jan. 10: No good deed goes unpunished. Diego Della Valle’s plan to donate 25 million euros to the restoration of the Colosseum hits a wall when Codacons, Italy’s antitrust authority, finds “a series of distortions” in Tod’s bid.
Jan. 13: Hasbro pairs with Junk Food Clothing to launch a fashion line of T-shirts based on its classic board game Monopoly to retail at Kitson in L.A.
Jan. 17: Miuccia Prada complains about the forthcoming Met Museum Costume Institute exhibition “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations,” saying, “It’s too formal; they are focused on similarities, but they are not taking into consideration that we are talking about two different eras, and that [Schiaparelli and I] are total opposites. I told them but they don’t care.”
Jan. 18: For the first time, H&M takes out a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl for its David Beckham Bodywear collection. NBC is reportedly charging $3.5 million per 30-second spot.
Jan. 18: Christian Louboutin unveils his collaboration with famous Paris nude cabaret Crazy Horse to run from March 5 to May 31.
Jan. 19: Emanuel Ungaro says it will not deliver its spring 2012 collection to retailers because of an internal reorganization. It also cancels its fall collection and all pre-fall appointments.
Jan. 20: Blowout factory Drybar inks a $16 million deal with Castanea Partners, through which the hair-drying sensation can expand to a city near you. Straight hair for everyone.
Jan. 24: Phoebe Philo, expecting her third child at the time, cancels her fall runway show for Celine in favor of a very small, very select presentation.
Jan. 24: A day before its flight-themed couture show in Paris, Chanel charters fleets of private planes to fly its top customers, press and friends to Las Vegas for its lucky number-themed event and exhibition “Numéros Privés” at the Wynn.
Jan. 25: For its couture show, Chanel commissions a plane, or at least its interior, to be installed in the Grand Palais, complete with seating for 250, double-C monogrammed carpet and a 164-foot aisle.
Jan. 26: Jean Paul Gaultier’s couture collection, an ode to the style of recently deceased Amy Winehouse, proves too soon, invoking the ire of her fans, her family and many fashion people.
Jan. 27: At a Paris dinner to launch his Masstige line, Karl Lagerfeld serves up iPads — on silver platters — for each guest as the fifth course of the dinner.
Jan. 31: The White House is forced to deny reports in several British newspapers, including the Telegraph, that Michelle Obama had spent $50,000 on lingerie at Agent Provocateur on Madison Avenue.
Feb. 1: Anna Wintour is ranked in the top tier of fund-raising bundlers for President Obama, raising more than $500,000 for his reelection campaign.
Feb. 7: Halston gears up for a relaunch — again. This time, it’s in the hands of Ben Malka, private chairman and ceo.
Feb. 7: Madonna performs at the Super Bowl halftime show in Givenchy couture.
Feb 9: Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, the original Juicy Couture ladies, are back with a new contemporary line they launch at New York Fashion Week.
Feb. 10: Marta Ortega, the 28-year-old daughter of Inditex founder and Spain’s richest man Amancio Ortega, reveals plans to marry Sergio Alvarez in a dress made by Zara, one of Inditex’s top brands.
Feb. 10: Miguel Adrover returns to the New York schedule after shuttering his company in 2004. He serves up a strong, irreverent show.
Feb. 13: Alexander Wang shows he’s part of the big leagues, booking top supermodels Gisele Bündchen, Shalom Harlow and Karolina Kurkova to close his fall show.
Feb. 15: Following Whitney Houston’s death, the E network pulls the rebroadcast of the “Fashion Police” episode during which Joan Rivers lambasted Houston. (The original show aired the day before Houston died.) Asked for comment at the Badgley Mischka show, Rivers says she has no regrets: “When she’s alive, she’s fair game. It’s part of being a celebrity.”
Feb. 17: Members of the Occupy Wall Street movement showed up at the Calvin Klein show, their ranks diminished by inclement weather. They chose the Klein show “because of the symbolic nature of it and it’s the last day of fashion week,” says Justin Stone-Diaz, an information coordinator for the movement.
Feb. 24: Girls start lining up at 8 a.m. for Katy Perry’s public appearance to introduce her line of fake eyelashes for Eylure at an Ulta pop-up shop at The Americana at Brand in Glendale, Calif.
March 1: Alber Elbaz marks a decade at Lanvin.
March 5: Rei Kawakubo shows a Comme des Garçons collection for the ages, based on two-dimensional, outsize outfits in bright colors and prints. Her standard cryptic sound bite postshow: “The future is two dimensions.”
March 8: Marc Jacobs commissions a full-scale steam locomotive to roll into the Cour Carrée du Louvre for the fall Louis Vuitton show.
March 13: Derek Lam and Tod’s part ways after six years.
March 14: It’s a fashion face-off of First Ladies — Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron, wife of U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron — during the Brits’ state visit to the U.S.
March 16: Donald Trump releases his second fragrance, Success by Trump, under The Five Star Fragrance Co.
March 20: For her first public speech of her royal career, the Duchess of Cambridge wears a bright blue double-breasted coat by Reiss, cinched with a black belt.
March 30: Devout yogi Russell Simmons introduces Tantris, a new Zen lifestyle brand.
March 30: Dolce & Gabbana slaps a Cape Town costume jewelry store with a lawsuit over its name: Dolce & Banana.
Marc Jacobs Dot fragrance
Photo By George Chinsee
The mock-up CR cover, featuring Kati Nescher, photographed by Sebastian Faena.
Photo By Courtesy Photo
April 6: Marc Jacobs adds a new fragrance, Dot, to his repertoire.
April 9: More than a year after her exit from French Vogue, Carine Roitfeld says she will launch her own CR Fashion Book magazine.
April 16: New York’s Meatpacking District is drawing merchants with more mass appeal and tourists, while losing high-fashion tenants such as Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen.
April 18: The U.S. International Trade Commission rules in favor of Louis Vuitton in a widespread counterfeiting case.
April 23: Uptown, the new downtown? An influx of younger labels, such as Rag & Bone, Proenza Schouler, Maje and Sandro, give Madison Avenue a cooler, edgier vibe.
April 2: Betsey Johnson LLC files Chapter 11; as a result, the bulk of the designer’s boutiques will close and about 350 staffers are expected to lose their jobs.
May 8: Dressed to impress, guests celebrate the “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations” exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual gala.
May 11: Procter & Gamble Co. moves its skin care, cosmetics and personal care headquarters from Cincinnati to Singapore.
May 14: Ray-Ban celebrates its 75th anniversary with a new collection and advertising campaign.
May 17: Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy follow up their “Black Swan” costume work with designs for the L.A. Philharmonic’s upcoming production of “Don Giovanni.”
May 22: Failing to get the giant payout, Gucci is awarded $4.7 million in its three-year legal battle with Guess over its similar interlocking “G” logos.
May 25: Michael Kors doubles space on Madison Avenue with its largest store in the world, which will occupy two floors and measure 6,655 square feet.
May 29: Guess marks its 30th anniversary.
June 5: The Row, Billy Reid and Reed Krakoff take home the night’s top honors at the annual CFDA Awards.
June 6: Denying sweatshop allegations, Alexander Wang files its response to a lawsuit in March alleging New York State labor law violations.
June 12: H&M reveals its upcoming collaboration with Maison Martin Margiela.
June 18: Saks Fifth Avenue revamps its shoe strategy with a refurbished and expanded eighth-floor shoe department at the New York flagship.
June 21: Hedi Slimane’s makeover of Yves Saint Laurent includes officially changing the YSL moniker to Saint Laurent.
June 22: Doo-Ri Chung exits her namesake label.
June 26: Net-a-porter opens its first headquarters outside of the U.K., landing in a 32,000-square-foot space in New York’s Flatiron District.
June 26: Nora Ephron dies at the age of 71.
The Christian Louboutin Cinderella shoe
Photo By 2012 The Walt Disney Studios.
Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough
Photo By Lexie Moreland
Anna Piaggi
Photo By Stephane Feugere
Minnie Mouse in Lanvin.
Katie Holmes and Bobbi Brown
Photo By Stephen Sullivan
July 2: Fall 2012 couture collections kick off with Donatella Versace’s Atelier Versace show at the Ritz Paris, site of so many of Gianni Versace’s couture triumphs.
July 3: There’s a new master in the house. Raf Simons launches his Christian Dior era with his first couture collection for the brand. Guests at the show include Marc Jacobs, Alber Elbaz, Riccardo Tisci, Azzedine Alaïa, Donatella Versace, Pierre Cardin, Olivier Theyskens and Diane von Furstenberg.July 5: Loath to secede haute supremacy to the new guy in town, Karl Lagerfeld wishes Raf Simons well and then rocks it with a superb Chanel couture show.
July 6: Forget glass slippers. Christian Louboutin designs a pair of limited-edition, 120-mm. heels for a modern-day Cinderella in honor of Walt Disney’s rerelease of “Cinderella” on Blu-ray and DVD.
July 11: Marvin Traub, one of retailing’s most famous and innovative merchants who led Bloomingdale’s to its trendiest, most fashionable heights, dies at age 87.
July 12: Proenza Schouler’s Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough prepare to open their first store, a 2,000-square-foot space on New York’s Upper Madison Avenue.July 13: WWD gives a first look at Lady Gaga Fame, the bizarre fragrance — a black juice that, when sprayed, transforms in the air to a clear mist — by the bizarre performer.
July 13: Valentino is sold to Mayhoola for Investments, a private investor group from Qatar, for around 700 million euros, or roughly $900 million.
July 13: The Capitol Hill controversy heightens after it’s learned that the uniforms Ralph Lauren designs for the U.S. Olympic athletes were made in China. Lauren, an Olympic sponsor, has pledged to make uniforms for the 2014 games in the U.S.
July 16: Daffy’s, the cash-strapped off-price chain, will shutter its doors.
July 16: Barneys New York opens its new shoe department, a 22,000-square-foot expanse that runs the width of a city block and brings men’s and women’s styles together.
July 17: EBay hooks up with Billy Reid, Chris Benz, Fallon, Jonathan Adler, Ruffian, Steven Alan and Tibi to create the eBay Holiday Collective.
July 19: Flat, sparkling or designer? Evian taps Diane von Furstenberg to create a 2013 limited-edition bottle.
July 20: After five seasons consulting on Tommy Hilfiger’s women’s runway collection and accessories, Peter Som gives up the gig.
July 23: Coach Inc. scores a $44 million judgment against a U.S.-based mother-and-daughter duo operating Web sites advertising and selling counterfeit Coach handbags.
July 27: Eighties Italian designer Roméo Gigli makes a comeback in Hong Kong with luxury retailer Joyce.
Aug. 6: PPR forms a joint venture with Yoox SpA to accelerate the online development of its various brands.
Aug. 7: Fashion journalist Anna Piaggi dies in Milan.
Aug. 9: Diana Vreeland will be the 19th recipient of a Rodeo Drive Walk of Style plaque, and the first editorial figure to be so honored.
Aug. 10: Bigger must be better. Macy’s Herald Square opens a major portion of “the world’s largest” shoe floor, escalating the raging battle among Manhattan’s retailers to conquer the footwear category.
Aug. 10: Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig plan to take their signature glamour from the red carpet to fragrance counters with their first scent, Marchesa Parfume d’Extase.
Aug. 13: Helen Gurley Brown, writer, publisher and businesswoman, dies in New York at age 90.
Aug. 15: Banana Republic recruits Narciso Rodriguez to rev up its fashion offering in an advisory role.
Aug. 17: Actress Jessica Chastain is named Yves Saint Laurent’s ambassador for Manifesto, the French fashion house’s newest women’s fragrance.
Aug. 22: Diane von Furstenberg is more powerful than Anna Wintour — at least according to Forbes. The magazine ranks the designer 33rd and the Vogue editor in chief 51st on its list of the world’s most powerful women.
Aug. 23: At 5 a.m., fans start lining up outside the Uniqlo flagship in New York to meet new brand ambassador and tennis champ Novak Djokovic.
Aug. 27: Business around West 34th Street returns to normal following the fatal shooting of Steven Ercolino, 41, vice president of sales at Hazan Import Corp., an accessories firm, near the Empire State Building.
Aug. 29: Barneys New York teams with Disney for “Electric Holiday,” holiday store windows and campaign that reimagine classic cartoon characters as runway regulars, such as Minnie Mouse — in Lanvin.
Aug. 30: It’s reported that vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s wife, Janna, wears a $169 Talbots sheath to her husband’s debut on the national stage at Republican convention.
Sept. 4: Stefano Pilati, who exited as Yves Saint Laurent’s creative director in March, lands the creative director gig at Ermenegildo Zegna Group.
Sept. 6: Katie Holmes is the first celebrity to sign on as the face of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, where she’ll also serve as muse and collaborator.
Sept. 8: The young fashion brand NAHM, designed by Nary Manivong and Alexandria Hilfiger, closes shop.
Sept. 8: The 15-year anniversary of Fendi’s Baguette bag is feted in Los Angeles with a Baguettemania pop-up shop and three bags commissioned from artists Chaz Bojorquez, Kenny Scharf and Pae White, and curated by Jeffrey Deitch.
Sept. 9: For the finale of his spring runway show, Alexander Wang kills the lights and lights up the clothes, literally — they glow in the dark.
Sept. 9: Google cofounder Sergey Brin takes a bow with Diane von Furstenberg at her spring show. He’s there to introduce Glass by Google — a new technology that brings the digital world to the user and tries to stay out of the way.
Sept. 9: British brand Belstaff opens its first store in the U.S., on New York’s Madison Avenue.
Sept. 11: A former Gucci network engineer is sentenced to between two and six years in New York state prison for hacking into the luxury brand’s servers, causing more than $200,000 in damage.
Sept. 11: Ralph Lauren becomes a national corporate sponsor for PBS’ “Masterpiece” drama series. It represents the first TV sponsorship for Ralph Lauren Corp.
Sept. 11: First Lady Michelle Obama rockets Laura Smalls’ name onto the national scene by wearing two dresses from the little-known designer during the Democratic National Convention.
Sept. 12: After two-and-a-half years as creative director at Diane von Furstenberg, Yvan Mispelaere leaves the company. He will not be replaced, with the design team continuing to be directed by von Furstenberg.
Sept. 13: Betsey Johnson celebrates her 70th birthday with a retrospective-cum-spring-show-cum-party, replete with a performance by Cyndi Lauper singing — what else? — “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”
Sept. 13: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen announce they will launch the first fragrance under their Elizabeth and James label with Sephora in March.
Sept. 14: Oscar de la Renta takes out a full-page ad in WWD to publish an “open letter” that takes Cathy Horyn to task for calling him a hot dog and alleging he copied Raf Simons’ styles at Dior in her review of his spring show.
Sept. 18: Rebekka Bay, a former top designer at H&M, is named creative director and executive vice president for Gap Global Design.
Sept. 24: Jil Sander presents her first women’s collection in eight years for the house that bears her name — but no longer her ownership.
Sept. 27: Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo will create a range of covers for iPads and Macbooks in collaboration with Paper Rain.
Taylor Swift’s limited-edition sneaker for Keds.
An original design sketch from 1969 by Yoko Ono.
Photo By Courtesy Sketch
Jagger in Scott’s zigzagged jacket and matching Stephen Jones fedora.
Photo By Tim Jenkins
Oct. 1: Swiss label Akris fetes its 90th birthday in Paris with guests like Charlene, Princess of Monaco, and Swiss politician Doris Leuthard.
Oct. 2: With YSL references everywhere, Karl Lagerfeld creates an illustrated “No Smoking Here” sign at Chanel’s Rue Cambon studios. “We don’t have to do smoking,” he says. “Hedi Slimane really does it well.”
Oct. 8: Yoox Group launches a Chinese version of its e-commerce site at Yoox.cn with capsule collections and end-of-season clothing and accessories from top designers worldwide.
Oct. 8: Queen Elizabeth II approves an honorary award that will make Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and French citizen, a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
Oct. 8: A dispute over a 400-item portfolio of Yves Saint Laurent’s drawings and personal items erupts, involving Pierre Bergé; Fabrice Thomas, a former Saint Laurent lover; a German businessman, and a possible police investigation and criminal complaint.
Oct. 11: Taylor Swift’s empire continues to grow with a three-year partnership with Keds. The singer will play a pivotal role in the new direction of the brand.
Oct. 11: Stephen Colbert talks to WWD, offering some presidential advice along the way: “Obama maybe should take a Red Bull. Get your head in the game. For Mitt, I would just keep grinning. He’s a very handsome man. He’s got excellent hair. As long as you keep concentrating on the smile and the hair, then you don’t think too much about what he’s saying.”
Oct. 19: Level Shoe District, the world’s largest shoe store, opens in Dubai Mall with more than 96,000 square feet of space and a selection of up to 15,000 different styles at any one time.
Oct. 24: Sisters Penélope and Mónica Cruz line up a design collaboration with Agent Provocateur for its first diffusion line, called L’Agent.
Oct. 29: Neiman Marcus Group’s Karen Katz unveils her true feelings about the competition: “I have been known to use a Neiman Marcus bag when I am going to hyperventilate,” she joked at Fashion Group International’s Night of Stars. “But if I am going to be really sick, I pick up a Saks Fifth Avenue bag.”
Nov. 4: Ralph Lauren Corp. plans to shutter its Rugby brand. Fourteen stores and the e-commerce site will close over the balance of fiscal 2013.
Nov. 6: PPR reveals Nicolas Ghesquière will exit Balenciaga, the house he helped rebuild. Less than a month later, Alexander Wang is named creative director.
Nov. 7: Delaware judge Leo Shrine weighs in on the Burches’ legal tiffs, calling them a “drunken WASP fest.”
Nov. 8: Labelux sells the Derek Lam brand back to founders Lam and Jan-Hendrik Schlottmann. Terms are not disclosed.
Nov. 12: Barneys New York unveils Disneyfied fashion characters, including Ed Filipowski, Lady Gaga, Anna Dello Russo, Cathy Horyn and WWD’s own Bridget Foley, as part of a short film for its “Electric Holiday” campaign.
Nov. 13: The Council of Fashion Designers of America and Vogue magazine join numerous fashion houses and launch Fashion for Sandy Relief, an initiative that serves as a collective industry fund-raiser. Earlier, Ralph Lauren and Coach Inc. both donate $2 million each to Sandy relief efforts, while Michael Kors, PVH Corp, the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Hearst Corp. and Time Warner Inc. each give $1 million.
Nov. 13: Holt Renfrew, Canada’s premier luxury specialty store chain, marks its 175 birthday.
Nov. 20: Versus parts with Christopher Kane to focus on a seasonless line with a digital element, capsule collections, co-branding projects and limited editions designed by Donatella Versace and rotating designers, stylists and creative talents.
Nov. 21: Yoko Ono reveals she is creating a limited-edition men’s clothing line for Opening Ceremony with 18 styles based on a series of sketches she did for John Lennon in 1969.
Nov. 26: L’Wren Scott unveils the costumes she created for beau Mick Jagger for the “50 & Counting: The Rolling Stones Live” tour.
Nov. 27: Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo collaborates with Hermès on two limited-edition collections of silk carré scarves dubbed Comme des Carrés.
Dec. 5: Ambassador Anna? After her outspoken support for President Obama and hefty sums donated to and raised for his reelection, rumors swirl that the Vogue editor in chief could be under consideration for an ambassadorship to the Court of St. James’s, or to France. She will certainly know what to wear to state dinners.
by The CoF on December 10, 2012
Categories: Fashion, News • Tags: Diego Della Valle, Haute couture, IPad, Juicy Couture, Karl Lagerfeld, New York Fashion Week, Paris, Riccardo Tisci
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sharmasushmita
and one more Nov 29 Women’s Wear Daily reported Alexander Wang to be the next creative director of Balenciaga…
MY FAVE JAN 27 Karl serves ipads yummmm……….
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“Mallrats 2″ Is Now Being Developed as a TV Series
June 10, 2016 Uncategorized adapted for tv, kevin smith, mallrats 2, tv series
(via Deadline/WWMR 93.3 Philadelphia)
Come to think of it, plenty of long-awaited sequels might have fared better as a TV series.
It’s been 21 years since Kevin Smith released Mallrats. In that time, it has become a cult hit that propelled Smith’s career. Making a sequel has proven tough though, which is why Smith has opted to now developed Mallrats 2 into a 10 episode TV series.
Given that there’s a whole cinematic universe of Kevin Smith movies, a TV series will give what might have been an overstuffed Mallrats sequel the room to do as much as it wants to and play in said Kevin Smith-verse.
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Top 9 Children’s Books Illustrators
Marcelina Morfin
Pictures are wonderful things, as they have the ability to take the young and young-at-heart on a visual journey. Children’s books would not be the same without illustrations, as they help foster a child’s imagination and help them better understand the story they might yet be able to read. Culture Trip has created a list of some of the best children’s books illustrators, from beloved greats to emerging and established talents.
Where the Wild Things Are | © Maurice Sendak/HarperCollins
There is no doubt that the late, great Maurice Sendak deserves a place on this list. Using his life as inspiration, his books and illustrations have delighted little ones for decades. His best-known book, without a doubt, is Where the Wild Things Are. An instant success, even though some thought it was too scary for children when it was first released in 1963, the book features ‘wild things’ of a beast-like nature who have adventures with the main character, Max. The book has won numerous awards over the years and has even been adapted into other media, including a film. Sendak also illustrated other authors’ children’s books, including the Little Bear series by Else Holmelund Minarik.
Adèle & Simon | © Barbara McClintock/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Another decorated children’s book author and illustrator, Barbara McClintock’s illustrations have garnered her numerous awards. She has illustrated almost 40 books so far, including Jim Henson’s television series, Fraggle Rock. As for her own books, McClintock has always been inspired by the 19th century, with many of her stories taking place during that time and with charming drawings to match. Her illustrations are detailed, lovely and brimming with soft colors, attracting and keeping the attention of any child who is looking at them. Some of her books include Adèle & Simon — a sister and brother in early 20th-century Paris — and The Fantastic Drawings of Danielle, another story set in Paris at the turn of the century.
A World of Your Own | © Laura Carlin/Phaidon
Laura Carlin
Laura Carlin is not only an illustrator but also a painter and ceramist. Once a student at the Royal College of Art, Carlin has been praised for her work and has earned several awards, including the 2011 V&A Illustration Award. Her works really encourage young minds to use their imagination, as evident in her book titled A World of Your Own, in which she describes what inspires her and, in turn, her drawings. Children can take a journey through Carlin’s imaginary world, and at the end, be inspired to take their own journey via pencil and paper. She has illustrated others’ books as well, including Nicola Davies’ The Promise and The Iron Man by Ted Hughes.
Ruby’s Wish | © Sophie Blackall/Chronical Books
Sophie Blackall
An award-winning artist, Sophie Blackall has illustrated over 25 children’s books. Originally from Australia, this Brooklyn-based artist is known for her charming, quirky illustrations that appeal not only to kids but also to adults. Some of the books she has illustrated include Meet Wild Boars and Wild Boars Cook, both of which are about a group of mischievous wild boars who get into all sorts of trouble, and the delightful Ruby’s Wish. This book earned two Ezra Jack Keats Awards — an award that focuses on children’s books — in 2003 for both Blackall’s illustrations and the author of the book, Shirin Yim Bridges.
The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend | © Dan Santat/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Dan Santat
The creator of the Disney show The Replacements, Dan Santat is also known for his children’s books, complete with his fantastic, colorful illustrations, plus illustrations of others’ children’s books. From his first book The Guild of Geniuses, a story of friendship between Frederick (a movie star) and Mr. Pip (a monkey), to The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, which earned Santat the 2015 Caldecott Medal, an award handed out annually to ‘the most distinguished American picture book for children,’ Santat’s books will enchant both children and those young at heart.
Locomotive | © Brian Floca/Simon & Schuster
Brian Floca
Another Brooklyn-based artist, Brian Floca is originally from Texas and is an author of picture books plus an illustrator. As an illustrator only, he has worked on projects such as Avi’s Poppy plus others in the same series along with works by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan (Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring) among others. As an author and illustrator, Floca has created several award-winning gems, including the 2014 Caldecott Medal winner Locomotive, a historical book for children about a train journey in 1869 brimming with incredible pictures, making the story even more exciting.
First the Egg | © Laura Vaccaro Seeger/Roaring Book Press
Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Acclaimed author and illustrator Laura Vaccaro Seeger has won multiple awards for her work, including two Caldecott Honor Awards. A New York native, she is also a painter whose work has been featured in museums and galleries around the country. Some of the books that children (and parents) love is the Dog and Bear series, which features a stuffed patchwork bear and his friend, a dachshund (based the author’s own family pooch, Copper), the multi-awarding winning First the Egg, and Lemons Are Not Red, a fun book that teaches young ones about color.
Rabbityness | © Jo Empson/Child’s Play
Jo Empson
With a background in graphic design, Jo Empson creates whimsical illustrations for children’s books. She finds inspiration all around, especially from nature, and is not afraid to experiment when it comes to shape and color. Creating visual journeys for her young readers, Empson’s first book entitled Rabbityness, which was nominated for many awards, features a black bunny doing all sorts of things set amid backgrounds bursting with vibrant colors. She also has two new books, Chimpanzees for Tea and Little Home Bird, set for release in 2016.
The Cat in the Hat | © Dr. Seuss/Random House Books for Young Readers
Theodor Seuss Geisel
A list of great children’s books illustrators would not be complete without Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Loved by children and adults from all around the world, his books are whimsical gems that leave a lasting impression. With a deep passion for drawing, he started out as a cartoonist and then began to create ads for companies such as NBC, Ford, and General Electric, to name but a few. He wrote his first children’s book, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, in 1937, and the book that catapulted him into success, The Cat in the Hat, in 1957.
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Can Toews, Saad & Keith Bounce Back?
By Meghan Dillon September 27th, 2018
As the 2018-19 season approaches, the Chicago Blackhawks are looking to make a comeback after their disastrous 2017-18 season. Coach Joel Quenneville is optimistic about it, as he told NHL.com, “Coming off last year, with our experienced guys, new guys, and their experiences, adding it to the mix with younger guys and getting a little bit better, we have some growth and excitement.”
However, a comeback will be difficult if some of their star players don’t make a comeback as well. It’s no secret that stars like Jonathan Toews, Brandon Saad, and Duncan Keith had slumps last season, but how possible is it for each of them to make a comeback?
Scoring-wise, the 2017-18 season was the most embarrassing for Toews with 20 goals and 32 assists in 74 games. It’s an abysmal stat compared to his career high 2008-09 season where he tallied 34 goals and 35 assists in 82 games. Due to his massive success early in his career as well as being the youngest captain in franchise history and one of the few current players on the 100 Greatest NHL Players list, his past few seasons have been rather underwhelming.
When it comes to improving for the upcoming season, Toews is looking to adapt to a quicker game. It’s no secret that the game has gotten younger and faster. Toews can’t control being on the wrong side of 30, but he can work on his speed.
Photo: Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports
He told the Chicago Sun-Times back in July, “Getting that skill and that creativity back in my game is a big thing I want to focus on. You watch a lot of these young guys that are coming up and getting the opportunity to play right away — they all have the skill, they all have the skating. And it’s days like this, where they’re out there working on stuff and playing around and just being loose and creative. It’s going to be fun to get that back into my game.” (from “At 30 years old, Jonathan Toews trying to adopt a more youthful mindset, style”, Chicago Sun-Times – 7/18/18).
As the season opener grows closer, he has the same goal he did two months ago, as he tells Madeline Kenney of the Chicago Sun-Times, “It’s just always identifying little ways you can get better [and] little weaknesses in your game,” Toews said. “[It’s] also building on the things you already do well but you still have to improve upon because the game is getting better and better. It’s a fun challenge.” (from “Jonathan Toews puts pressure on himself for bounce-back season”, Chicago Sun-Times – 9/16/18).
His preseason performance is already better than his prime from last season. His new training regimen seems to be working out, and if he can return to the glory of his early days this season, it would be instrumental to the Hawks’ success. The goal for Toews should be to get his first regular-season goal as soon as possible. It’s taken him awhile the past couple of years and seems to carry into the rest of the season. For Toews, a strong start is a must.
Brandon Saad
Saad returned to the Hawks’ roster last October after his two years with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Thereafter, the Hawks traded Artemi Panarin for him. His start looked promising, as he scored a hat-trick at the season opener. It was a downhill path for him the rest of the season, though, which he ended with 18 goals and 17 assists in 82 games.
The Hawks expected much more from Saad after trading Panarin, the Hawks’ first Calder Trophy recipient since Patrick Kane, for the two-time Stanley Cup Champion. Panarin tallied 27 goals and 55 assists in 81 games with the Blue Jackets last season, The winner of this trade is clear as day.
When it comes to Saad’s career as a Hawk, improvement is vital to survival this season. He needs to give everything and more to prove that giving up Panarin wasn’t a grave mistake.
Brandon Saad, Chicago Blackhawks, Nov. 9, 2017 (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
Like Toews, he knew he had to improve in the offseason and changed his training regimen, as he told the Chicago Sun-Times, “I think it was just a bit of an eye-opener with edge work and puck skill. [The] majority of summers, it would just be practices and conditioning. So this summer [I focused on] working more skills with keeping your head up, making plays with the puck and using edge work to skate out of corners and things like that.” (“Blackhawks’ Joel Quenneville believes ‘this year could be huge’ for Brandon Saad”, Chicago Sun-Times – 9/16/18).
A proposed solution for improving Saad’s game has been to put him on a different forward line, particularly with Patrick Kane and Nick Schmaltz. Like Saad, Kane and Schmaltz are more speed-centric forwards. Schmaltz thinks they’re a promising trio, as he told Tracey Meyers of NHL.com, “He’s one of the best at protecting the puck,” Schmaltz said. “He has a good stick, he’s hard to move from in front of the net, and he gets those little shots off. They may not be the hardest shots, but he’s quick with his stick and can find those loose pucks. Playing with a guy like that, you just want to funnel pucks to the net, and he’s always around banging home rebounds. Hopefully, we can use that to our advantage, know where we’re going to be at all times and play off him.”
Saad’s new training regimen and forward line can make or break him this season. A comeback for Saad is possible and essential for his survival as a Hawk, but it will not be an easy road.
A star defenseman isn’t expected to score a lot of goals, but they’re definitely expected to score more than two goals in a season. For Keith, last season was an embarrassment. The second the season ended, he knew he had to step up his offseason training to get back in shape, as he told the Chicago Sun-Times, “The training has to be high end, as hard as I can go and push the limits and come back in great shape.” (“At 34, Blackhawks’ Duncan Keith to go ‘above and beyond’ to regain lost form”, Chicago Sun-Times – 4/11/18).
Luckily for Keith, he appears to be doing better in the preseason. His projected linemate for the season is 19-year-old Henri Jokiharju who has admired Keith since childhood. Starstruck, he told NHL.com.
“It’s a big thing for me. It was awesome practicing with him today,” the 19-year-old defenseman said. “I watched him a play a lot last season. He’s one of the best in the league.”
Henri Jokiharju (Dayna Fjord/Portland Winterhawks)
Expectations are high for Jokiharju to help turn around the Hawks’ blue line. If Keith is playing back up to par, the two can easily become one of the most lethal defensive pairs in the league. Not only can Jokiharju help Keith improve, but Keith can also be an excellent mentor to the young defenseman with sky-high expectations.
Keith is optimistic about the upcoming season when it comes to how prepared him and his teammates are, as he told WGN Radio, “Everybody seems like they’re in good shape and lean and ready to go,” Keith said. “I think that’s just kind of a sign of the times more than anything. Every team is in good shape, and there’s no time to slack off. The league is so fast.”
If Keith and the rest of the Hawks can keep their eyes on having a successful season and scoring a playoff spot, a comeback shouldn’t be too difficult. An individual comeback for Keith could be a little more difficult since he isn’t getting any younger. With Jokiharju, a comeback can be much easier.
Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks, Nov. 9, 2017 (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
A comeback for all three players will be difficult, but not impossible. Saad definitely has a tougher road ahead of him than the other two, and Toews likely has the greatest chance of succeeding. The success for the Hawks will, of course, be a team effort this season, but it will definitely help if Toews, Saad, and Keith make a comeback.
All stats are obtained from NHL.com
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Through March 30
by Maura Judkis March 5th, 2010 August 29th, 2020
It would be too easy to classify Titouan Lamazou’s photographic series, “Women,” as a United Colors of Benetton-meets-Oxfam tour through the poverty and prejudices women face worldwide—and how, despite the odds, they persevere. And when you stare into the beautiful faces of twins Soya and Awa from Mauritania, or the scantily clad Katrine and Noris from Colombia, or Rose-Marie, the nun from Uganda in her habit, it’s hard not to look upon them with pity and admiration. But Lamazou, who is French, saves his sympathy for his American subjects instead—particularly, women from Los Angeles. “There were so many waitresses, stripteasers, porn actresses,” he told the New York Times. “They have really hard lives, and I felt a lot of tenderness for them. They’re totally alone in their ambitions.” Two of those women—Daisy and Jillian—are the only ones to appear nude in the show. And while most of the other photos show the subjects in their villages, with their sisters and friends and support systems, for Daisy and Jillian each, it’s just a room, a photographer, and a woman.
THE EXHIBITION IS ON VIEW 11:30 A.M. TO 5 P.M. TUESDAY TO FRIDAY AND NOON TO 5 P.M. SATURDAY TO MARCH 30 AT ADAMSON GALLERY, 1515 14TH ST. NW. FREE. (202) 232-0707.
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Dead Ducks
by Amanda Ripley August 27th, 1999 August 29th, 2020
Dead Ducks Residents near McMillan Reservoir say they’ve noticed an alarming increase in hit-and-run accidents on their streets. “Every morning when I walk my dogs, I see two or three or four dead geese,” says June Maxim, a 12-year neighbor of the reservoir, which abuts Howard University and Children’s Hospital. Locals suspect that the deliberate removal of rushes and other aquatic plants from the reservoir by groundskeepers has disrupted the habitat for McMillan’s significant goose and duck populations. The birds’ migration to other spots in the neighborhood hasn’t exactly been a smooth one, what with competition from indigenous D.C. creatures such as speeding automobiles. “It’s one of the few places in the city where you can see wildlife,” says Maxim. “Seeing dead ones just doesn’t get it.” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Washington Aqueduct Chief Thomas Jacobus explains that the action is necessary to preserve the integrity of the reservoir and its drinking water. “We’ve been laying out maps to Canada,” Jacobus says, “but they just won’t go.”
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Monster Rally ’99
by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa August 6th, 1999 August 29th, 2020
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
All the best movie monsters—the daughters of Dracula, the brides of Frankenstein, the teenage werewolves, the mummies dearest—remind us of ourselves. They are intensifications and distortions of the natural world’s order, uncanny reflections that show how near we really are to the shuffling, oozing beasties that make us shrieking in abject horror. The insect-headed scientist in The Fly is the chemistry geek with bad acne you avoided in high school. The panther woman in Cat People is the sex kitten who shot you down at the Big Hunt last weekend. The big ape in King Kong is your first boyfriend, overly demonstrative and not particularly bright. Scary as these monsters are—in particular the ones that sprang from England’s Hammer Studios in the ’60s—there’s something comfortable about the way they always politely die at their films’ ends, re-establishing society’s status quo in their death rattles. They’re like old friends, and this weekend’s Monster Rally ’99 convention is like Homecoming Weekend. Besides true horror royalty—actor Christopher Lee and stop-motion god Ray Harryhausen—and a local celebrity ghoul—Count Gore De Vol (pictured), who warped young minds as the host of Creature Feature on Channel 20 two decades ago—you’ll also get to meet…the Spawn of Monsters!—Bela Lugosi’s son, Lon Chaney’s great-grandson, and Boris Karloff’s daughter. Celebrate the golden age of horror and science fiction, buy memorabilia you don’t need, attend panel discussions, rub shoulders with the undead, and scream and scream again from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. Friday, Aug. 6, 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 8, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, 2799 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington. $20. (410) 665-1198. (Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa)
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