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New World Record Set For Making Electricity From Heat
Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien,Vienna) scientists have now developed a completely new material with a ZT value of 5 to 6. It is so effective that it could be used to provide energy for sensors or even small computer processors.
Thermoelectric materials convert heat into electrical energy. The amount of energy that can be generated is measured by the so-called ZT value. The best thermoelectrics to date were measured at ZT values of around 2.5 to 2.8. The higher the ZT value of a material, the better its thermoelectric properties. This is due to the so-called Seebeck effect: If there is a temperature difference between the two ends of such a material, electrical voltage can be generated and current can start to flow.
The scientists have now succeeded in developing a completely new material with the ZT value raised to 5 to 6. It is a thin layer of iron, vanadium, tungsten and aluminum applied to a silicon crystal. Instead of connecting small electrical devices to cables, they could generate their own electricity from temperature differences.
The new material information has been published in the journal Nature.
Professor Ernst Bauer from the Institute of Solid State Physics at TU Wien said, “A good thermoelectric material must show a strong Seebeck effect, and it has to meet two important requirements that are difficult to reconcile. On the one hand, it should conduct electricity as well as possible; on the other hand, it should transport heat as poorly as possible. This is a challenge because electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity are usually closely related.”
Image Credit: Vienna University of Technology. Click image for the largest view.
At the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Thermoelectricity, which Professor Bauer established at TU Wien in 2013, different thermoelectric materials for different applications have been studied over the last few years. This research has now led to the discovery of a particularly remarkable material – a combination of iron, vanadium, tungsten and aluminum.
Bauer said, “The atoms in this material are usually arranged in a strictly regular pattern in a so-called face-centered cubic lattice. The distance between two iron atoms is always the same, and the same is true for the other types of atoms. The whole crystal is therefore completely regular.”
However, when a thin layer of the material is applied to silicon, something amazing happens: the structure changes radically. Although the atoms still form a cubic pattern, they are now arranged in a space-centered structure, and the distribution of the different types of atoms becomes completely random. “Two iron atoms may sit next to each other, the places next to them may be occupied by vanadium or aluminum, and there is no longer any rule that dictates where the next iron atom is to be found in the crystal,” explained Bauer.
This mixture of regularity and irregularity of the atomic arrangement also changes the electronic structure, which determines how electrons move in the solid. “The electrical charge moves through the material in a special way, so that it is protected from scattering processes. The portions of charge traveling through the material are referred to as Weyl Fermions,” explained Bauer. In this way, a very low electrical resistance is achieved.
Lattice vibrations, on the other hand, which transport heat from places of high temperature to places of low temperature, are inhibited by the irregularities in the crystal structure. Therefore, thermal conductivity decreases. This is important if electrical energy is to be generated permanently from a temperature difference – because if temperature differences could equilibrate very quickly and the entire material would soon have the same temperature everywhere, the thermoelectric effect would come to a standstill.
Bauer noted the high points of the progress, “Of course, such a thin layer cannot generate a particularly large amount of energy, but it has the advantage of being extremely compact and adaptable. We want to use it to provide energy for sensors and small electronic applications.”
The demand for such small-scale generators is growing quickly: In the “Internet of Things,” more and more devices are linked together online so that they automatically coordinate their behavior with each other. This is particularly promising for future production plants, where one machine has to react dynamically to another.
This significantly important progress in a very useful and rich field. An incredible amount of heat is just lost to the atmosphere that could be put to work. The promise now with a doubling of the ZT value looks way better than only a few weeks ago. A sincere thanks is noted and congratulations sent about the results.
Andrew on December 17, 2019 4:38 AM
Enjoyed reading the article above , really explains everything in detail,the article is very interesting and effective.Thank you and good luck for the upcoming articles.
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Very superstitious: Legends from around the world
by Molly Callahan April 13, 2018
Here’s what Boston looked like after a deadly wave of molasses swallowed…
Listen up! Faculty share their favorite podcasts
Scholar makes impassioned plea for Jewish history
Student-journalists shine at New England Emmys
Celebrating a banner day
Share your story and enter to win a Northeastern Night at Fenway…
Can’t-miss campus events: Beanpot, Carnevale, Black History Month, and more
Historian reflects on anniversary of Pearl Harbor attack
New play examines women’s rights with the backdrop of witch trials
Today is Friday the 13th, so don’t let a black cat cross your path, avoid walking under any ladders, and stay away from broken mirrors. You should probably also refrain from gifting clocks to elders, refuse to step over people, and make a point to step in some dog droppings—as long as it’s with your left foot. At least, that’s what some Northeastern faculty advise based on superstitions around the globe.
In order to avoid bad luck today, we asked faculty from Northeastern’s World Languages Center and Department of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies to share some of the superstitions from the cultures familiar to them.
Stacey Katz Bourns
Professor of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies; director of the World Languages Center
In France, it’s good luck to step in dog excrement—but only if it’s with your left foot; it’s bad luck if it’s with your right foot.
Qinghong Cai
Associate teaching professor of Chinese
In China, people traditionally won’t send a clock to elders because the word “clock” (钟) in Chinese sounds similar to the Chinese word (终) that means “end of life.”
In China, people traditionally won’t send a clock to elders because the word “clock” in Chinese sounds similar to the Chinese word that means “end of life.”
Qinghong Cai Associate teaching professor of Chinese
It is also taboo for people to send a fan or an umbrella to Chinese newlyweds for the same reason as the clock case: the sounds of the Chinese characters for “fan” (扇) and “umbrella” (伞) are similar to the sound of the word (散), which means “to break up.”
For example, a store recently had a grand opening at the Assembly Row outlet in Somerville, Massachusetts. To show appreciation for their customers, they offered new umbrellas to everyone. My guess is that some Chinese customers may not appreciate this gift because it may remind them of the bad connotations of “breaking up.”
Inez Hedges
Professor Emeritus of French, German, Palestinian, and Israeli film
I’ve often taught François Truffaut’s 1960s French New Wave film Jules and Jim. Twice in that film it’s mentioned that it’s bad luck to leave your hat on the bed. I haven’t been able to figure out why. I’ve asked several students and we haven’t yet come up with an answer.
Agnes Varda’s film Cléo from 5 to 7 is also full of superstitions—including cabs with unlucky numbers and the advice never to wear anything new on a Tuesday.
Finally, in Chinese, the number four is unlucky because the sound of the word “se” is close to the word for “death.”
Kumiko Tsuji
Assistant teaching professor of Japanese
The numbers four and nine are considered to be unlucky because “four” in Japanese is sometimes pronounced し, which means “death,” while “nine” is also sometimes pronounced く,which means “suffering.” In the U.S., some old buildings don’t have a 13th floor, while Japan hospitals and some hotels don’t have a fourth floor. Often, room No. 4 and rooms 40 through 49 aren’t there. When you gift of a set of plates or cups, it is usually three or five rather than four. So if you are giving presents in Japan, be careful not to give four of anything.
Hearses are probably one of the most important bad luck symbols in Japan. If you see a funeral car passing, you should hide your thumb, making a fist with the thumb inside. The reason is that the thumb is like a parent finger, so by doing this you are protecting your parents from the spirit of the deceased that lingers around the car. Some people even hide their thumbs when passing a graveyard or a funeral.
You shouldn’t hand a knife to another person, but rather lay it down for the other to pick up. The belief is that handing a knife to someone will create conflict between them. (This is a Russian thing.)
Boris Yelin Visiting lecturer in Spanish
Boris Yelin
Visiting lecturer in Spanish
Yelin shared some superstitions from his Jewish and Russian upbringing.
You shouldn’t step over a person—for instance, if they are sitting on the floor and you walk by—because that person will stop growing. (This is a Russian thing.)
You shouldn’t name a child after someone in your family that is still alive. The belief is that you’re replacing them before their death or anticipating their death. (This is an Ashkenazi Jewish thing.)
If you’re unmarried, you shouldn’t sit at the corner of a table with your significant other because then you won’t get married. (This is a Russian thing.)
Digital Projects American history cultural history Friday the 13th jewish history storytelling superstitions
Molly Callahan.
Illustrations by Gregory Grinnell.
If you’re looking for the next great podcast, check out what these Northeastern faculty are listening to. Road-tripping through Italy, the backstories of Supreme Court cases, the personalities of U.S. presidents, and plain old Stuff You Should Know—these are just some of the offerings.
by Molly Callahan June 6, 2018
Snowflakes are not as unique as you think
You may have heard that no two snowflakes are alike, but is that really true?
by YoungHee Jang and Sophia Fox-Sowell January 18, 2019
Follow the journey to the U.S. border of the caravan of people fleeing Central America
An interactive story from News@Northeastern Thousands of people from Central America are fleeing the unstable governments and widespread violence in…
Recounts almost never lead to election reversals. Here’s why they matter.
The midterm elections earlier this month resulted in historical voter turnout and a deepening of America’s polarization. Major races in…
Why there are no more Van Goghs
Pity the poor, struggling artist. He or she may have dreamed of earning global acclaim by the example of Vincent…
Why do the leaves change color in the fall? And what do I do with this feeling of existential dread?
Ah, fall. The season of apple-picking, cozy fireside gatherings, hearty food, and the sneaking sense that winter’s icy gusts are…
Fight off attackers, frustrate thieves, get home safely
Fight off attackers, frustrate thieves, get home safely Your body and your belongings are worth protecting. This week, NUPD will…
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UT Search Council Sets Interviews
View all the posts from April 8, 2004
KNOXVILLE — Interviews with 12 candidates for the presidency of the University of Tennessee are scheduled for April 13-15 in Knoxville.
The UT Presidential Search Advisory Council that will interview the applicants also has scheduled an organizational meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, April 12, at the Marriott Hotel in Knoxville.
Candidate interviews will be held April 13,14 and 15, starting at 8 a.m., in the Hermitage Room of the University Center.
The council will meet at 1 p.m. Thursday, April 15, in the Hermitage Room to select from the 12 candidates the four to six it will recommend to the UT Board of Trustees- Search Committee to go forward in the search process.
The interview schedule and campus locations across the state where the interviews may be viewed are available at http://pr.tennessee.edu/presidentialsearch/.
The Webcast interviews also may be viewed via a high-speed Internet connection at http://oit.utk.edu/dst/webevents.html.
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Crocs Inc. (CROX) went down -3.16% yesterday: Is this the Most Sought-After Stock Today?
By Shaun Noe
Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) started the day on September 15, 2020, with a price decrease of -3.16% at $42.63. During the day, the stock rose to $44.56 and sunk to $42.57 before settling in for the price of $44.02 at the close. Taking a more long-term approach, CROX posted a 52-week range of $8.40-$44.38.
In the past 5-years timespan, the Consumer Cyclical sector firm’s annual sales growth was 0.50%. Meanwhile, its Annual Earning per share during the time was 56.80%. Nevertheless, stock’s Earnings Per Share (EPS) this year is 264.60%. This publicly-traded company’s shares outstanding now amounts to $67.42 million, simultaneously with a float of $65.81 million. The organization now has a market capitalization sitting at $2.67 billion. At the time of writing, stock’s 50-day Moving Average stood at $38.01, while the 200-day Moving Average is $32.40.
If we measure the efficiency of the company that is accounted for 3803 employees. It has generated 323,585 per worker during the last fiscal year. Meanwhile, its income per employee was 31,422. The stock had 10.86 Receivables turnover and 2.04 Total Asset turnover. For the Profitability, stocks gross margin was +48.59, operating margin was +10.44 and Pretax Margin of +9.70.
Crocs Inc. (CROX) Ownership Facts and Figures
Now let’s turn our focus to how large-scale investors are working with this stock of the Footwear & Accessories Industry. Crocs Inc.’s current insider ownership accounts for 3.10%, in contrast to 99.70% institutional ownership. According to the most recent insider trade that took place on Aug 05, this organization’s Director sold 860 shares at the rate of 37.69, making the entire transaction reach 32,413 in total value, affecting insider ownership by 55,680. Preceding that transaction, on Aug 05, Company’s Director sold 10,000 for 38.00, making the whole transaction’s value amount to 380,000. This particular insider is now the holder of 167,336 in total.
Crocs Inc. (CROX) Earnings and Revenue Records
In the latest quarterly report released, which was put into the public domain on 6/29/2020, the organization reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the three months, surpassing the consensus estimate (set at $0.14) by $0.87. This company achieved a net margin of +9.71 while generating a return on equity of 84.69. Wall Street market experts anticipate that the next fiscal year will bring earnings of 0.15 per share during the current fiscal year.
Crocs Inc.’s EPS increase for this current 12-month fiscal period is 264.60% and is forecasted to reach 2.23 in the upcoming year. Considering the longer run, market analysts have predicted that Company’s EPS will increase by 10.00% through the next 5 years, which can be compared against the 56.80% growth it accomplished over the previous five years trading on the market.
Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) Trading Performance Indicators
Let’s observe the current performance indicators for Crocs Inc. (CROX). It’s Quick Ratio in the last reported quarter now stands at 1.50. The Stock has managed to achieve an average true range (ATR) of 1.93. Alongside those numbers, its PE Ratio stands at $23.90, and its Beta score is 1.77. Another valuable indicator worth pondering is a publicly-traded company’s price to sales ratio for trailing twelve months, which is currently 2.25. Similarly, its price to free cash flow for trailing twelve months is now 39.36.
In the same vein, CROX’s Diluted EPS (Earnings per Share) trailing twelve months is recorded 1.78, a figure that is expected to reach 0.58 in the next quarter, and analysts are predicting that it will be 2.23 at the market close of one year from today.
Technical Analysis of Crocs Inc. (CROX)
If we take a close look at the recent performances of Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX), its last 5-days Average volume was 1.49 million that shows progress from its year to date volume of 1.39 million. During the previous 9 days, stock’s Stochastic %D was recorded 83.95% While, its Average True Range was 2.13.
Raw Stochastic average of Crocs Inc. (CROX) in the period of the previous 100 days is set at 92.46%, which indicates a major rise in contrast to 75.00% during the last 2-weeks. If we go through the volatility metrics of the stock, In the past 14-days, Company’s historic volatility was 50.10% that was lower than 62.47% volatility it exhibited in the past 100-days period.
Shaun Noe - January 21, 2021 0
Soligenix Inc. (SNGX) went up 16.78% yesterday: Is this the Most Sought-After Stock Today?
Soligenix Inc. (NASDAQ: SNGX) open the trading on January 19, 2021, with great promise as it jumped 16.78% to $1.67. During the day, the...
Pay Attention to this Trade Activity as Niu Technologies (NIU) last week performance was 21.54%
Niu Technologies (NASDAQ: NIU) started the day on January 19, 2021, with a price increase of 16.90% at $44.41. During the day, the stock...
Flexion Therapeutics Inc. (FLXN) plunge -1.12% in a week: will this be a lucky break through?
As on January 19, 2021, Flexion Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: FLXN) started slowly as it slid -8.38% to $11.97. During the day, the stock rose...
Neovasc Inc. (NVCN) last month performance of 14.58% certainly makes it a sizzling prospect
Neovasc Inc. (NASDAQ: NVCN) flaunted slowness of -8.33% at $1.10, as the Stock market unbolted on January 19, 2021. During the day, the stock...
EQT Corporation (EQT) is 17.80% away from 50-day simple Moving Average despite all headwinds
Witnessing the stock’s movement on the chart, on January 19, 2021, EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT) had a quiet start as it plunged -7.95% to...
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Organising committee established for OCA’s Asian Youth Games Shantou 2021
Shantou, China, November 21, 2020: The Shantou 2021 Asian Youth Games Organising Committee (SAYGOC) was established in Shantou, China on Saturday, November 21.
Gou Zhongwen, Chairman of SAYGOC, Director of the General Administration of Sport of China and President of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and Ma Xingrui, also Chairman of SAYGOC and Governor of Guangdong Province, attended the inauguration ceremony and unveiled the plaque for the organising committee.
Li Jianming, Executive Chairman of SAYGOC and Deputy Director of the General Administration of Sport of China, read out a statement from the General Office of the State Council of China on the establishment of SAYGOC.
Song Luzeng, Vice President of the Olympic Council of Asia, read out a congratulatory letter from Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, President of the OCA.
On behalf of the General Administration of Sport of China and the Chinese Olympic Committee, Gou Zhongwen extended warm congratulations on the establishment of SAYGOC. He stressed that the establishment of the organising committee signified that the preparatory work had entered a new stage.
“We need to actively integrate the preparation of the AYG into economic and social development, facilitate the exchanges of Asian youth and cultures of different countries and regions, nourish people-to-people amity, and let sport play its role in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative and building a community with a shared future for mankind,” he said, referring to the global infrastructure development strategy launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.
On behalf of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CPC and the People’s Government of Guangdong Province, Ma Xingrui said that Guangdong would continue to make the planning and preparations for the AYG a major priority in order to host a successful event at a high standard and with its own characteristics.
The organising committee also unveiled the emblem, mascot and slogan of the AYG.
The emblem is based on the traditional red-coloured merchant boats to be found in Shantou; the mascot is called “Jinfengwa” and is inspired by the Shantou city flower, Jinfeng; and the slogan “Surging Waves, Dynamic Youth” reflects the ocean spirit and the vigour and passion of Asian youth.
The Olympic Council of Asia’s third Asian Youth Games are set to take place in Shantou – a port city in Guangdong province, southern China – from November 20-28, 2021. There are 18 sports on the programme and 25 competition venues, and it is expected that about 3,000 athletes from 45 National Olympic Committees will participate.
The OCA held the first AYG in Singapore in 2009 and the second in Nanjing, China in 2013. After the third edition in 2021, the fourth AYG will take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2025.
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Archive for the ‘Shipwrecks and Disasters’ Category
The Power of the Ballad
Posted in Balladry, Classic poetry, Edmund Fitzgerald, Great Poetry, Great Poetry of the 19th Century, Life, Poems about Water, Shipwrecks and Disasters, Spring!, Structured vs. unstructured poetry, The ingredients of great poetry, The joy of music, tagged "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", Ancestral Halls, Beowulf, Coleridge "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", Edgar Allan Poe "Annabel Lee" and "The Raven", Edmund Fitzgerald, Folk Art Poetry', Gordon Lightfoot, Javelina pig, Keats' "La Belle Dame sans Merci", Noyes' "The Highwayman", Poetry, pronghorn antelope, Shipwrecks, The Gift of Time. Gracious Living, Titanic, Wisconsin Writers' Association Jade Ring Contest, Writers and Writing on April 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Perhaps the oldest form of poetry in most languages, the art of story-telling in rhyme and meter, has staying power like little else in literary history. Recording historical events, myths, and everyday happenings—comic, tragic, or somewhere in between—the ballad has traditionally been sung and accompanied by (frequently a stringed) musical instrument. Yet many unforgettable tales in rhyme and meter stand sufficiently alone on paper, begging to be read aloud.
My English literature background is rich with balladry beginning with that bloody saga of Good vs. Evil, Beowulf. In the 1990s, when we lived in a home with a vaulted wood paneled ceiling we hung the heads of a Javelina pig and a pronghorn antelope—both hunted, bagged, and bequeathed to me by my father. As I viewed the mounted heads, I experienced a wash of Beowulf Medieval atmosphere; I just had to get out an old textbook and read parts of that gory drama in the ancestral hall.
Whereas some of the characters in the ballad had grown fuzzy or obscure in my head over decades, the mood and setting were indelible. Mood and atmosphere are created by music, with or without words.
English literature is replete with balladry. Some beloveds probably known to most aficionados of poetry are Keats’ La Belle Dame sans Merci and Alfred Noyes’ The Highwayman. Add The Rime of he Ancient Mariner, by Coleridge and haunting works by America’s own Edgar Allan Poe (examples: Annabel Lee and The Raven) and you have a start toward Balladry 101. The canon is endless.
The tradition of story-telling via ballads set to music was big in the 1960s, with the popularity of folk music and wrung-out war-protests. This music continued into the 1970s. But since then, except in isolated parts of the country where (happily) folk music is inherent to the local culture, the ballad seems to have dropped through the floor—as if someone played a foul trick by suddenly opening up a hidden trapdoor on the floor of a stage, and absconding with a lot of life-quality in the process.
Now fakey-flashing lights, screaming, throbbing, gyrating about in indecent attire, and the glorifying of oblivion—all personified by The Coarse and Obnoxious (as well as The Just Plain Weird!) have supplanted the age-old entertainment mode of telling and re-telling the human story, both epic and everyday, in a format that implants one’s heart and mind forever. As a society, we have lost the power of the ballad—and the loss is tragic beyond definition!
The stage lights went out and the metaphorical trapdoor opened up shortly after the immense popularity of what I believe to be one of the most significant ballads in contemporary times: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by Gordon Lightfoot—a multi-gifted composer and troubadour. With the obvious exception of fictional last minute commentary on the ship, Lightfoot documented the tragedy with careful selection of factual information.
The ballad triggered an inquisitive spirit in me, and in recent years I’ve read everything I could get my hands on concerning the Fitzgerald (pictured above in all its original glory.) As far as I know, there is still a question: Did the ship hit an uncharted shoal which jarred the hatches loose, or had they been improperly secured? God knows.
Shipwrecks are among history’s most horrific events. I have a penchant for reading about peril on high water, and oddly enough I don’t even like to be tossed about on a small inland lake in a sailboat.
Yes, I do swim and I love water. Canoes and rowboats are wonderful! Motors are okay, too. But flailing in the wind? No thank you—only in a book. I have read about many ship disasters, including the Titanic which was massive in scope and devastation compared to the Fitz. So why is the Edmund Fitzgerald foremost in my head?
Maybe because it happened in my recent lifetime, and less than three hundred miles from home. Or even more likely, because Gordon Lightfoot wrote and performed an unforgettable song about the Fitz. It’s all about The Power of the Ballad.
Margaret L. Been — April 23, 2016
Note: Over decades of serious application to the art of poetry I have written many lyrical, philosophy-of-life pieces. Ten years ago I decided to try writing a ballad, and I did exactly that.
The ballad is titled: The Summer of Horses, and it is kind of a metaphorical-epiphany thing. I was pleased with the effort, and the ballad won 1st Honorable Mention in the 2006 Wisconsin Writers’ Association Annual Jade Ring Contest.
God willing, and the creeks don’t rise, AND providing the days do not suddenly go berserk and hit 70-80° F., I will post The Summer of Horses on this site before National Poetry Month morphs into the Merry Month of May.
But please don’t hold your breath! 🙂
Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald . . .
Posted in Shipwrecks and Disasters, tagged Add new tag on November 10, 2008| 1 Comment »
“The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumme.
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.”
Gordon Lightfoot, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”
The Great Lakes are famous for shipwrecks. Over past centuries, thousands of lives have been lost as vessels went down in turbulent inland waters.
According to Jenny Nolan of The Detroit News, “The first recorded Great Lakes’ tragedy was the sinking of the Le Griffin, belonging to the explorer LaSalle, with a load of furs in autumn of 1680.”
None of the Great Lakes is as potentially treacherous and unfathomable as Lake Superior, the largest of the five. Many Great Lakes’ disasters have been forgotten, but one in recent history–the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior on November 10th, 1975–may continue to be remembered, as it has been immortalized in a haunting ballad by Gordon Lightfoot.
I’ve read a lot about “the Fitz”, both in books and online. A couple of years ago, I printed out the entire NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD MARINE ACCIDENT REPORT–26 pages copied and pasted into a document which I saved in my files. The exact cause of the wreck will remain a matter of opinion and speculation forever.
Were the hatches aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald improperly fastened so that water entered?
Did the Fitz pass over the Caribou Island shoal at a shallow passage inaccurately designated on the navigation maps?
In the devastating storm which beset Lake Superior that evening, did massive towers of vertical waves simply break the ship in two?
Did the cargo (26,116 tons of taconite pellets) shift, causing a fatal list?
You can actually vote your opinion from the above possibilities on http://www.boatnerd.com/fitz .
Perhaps because the answers often lie undiscovered in the depths of oceans or lakes, there is a compelling fascination in connection with shipwrecks. Shipwrecks speak of the power of God in a way that stops us in our tracks. The power of God is awesome. Sometimes it is just plain terrifying!
Admittedly, I don’t spend much time thinking about the sinking of the Titanic–although that certainly was a huge disaster. But I’ll probably always remember the tragedy of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Lake Superior is practically my neighbor, just a couple of hours north of our home in Northern Wisconsin. And the Fitz has been immortalized in song! There’s retaining power in narrative, especially when set to music!
“The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew were in peril.
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
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Three Reports of Sexual Assault, One Referred to Title IX
Content warning: this article mentions rape.
From Feb. 9 to 13, the NYU Department of Public Safety received two reports of Criminal Mischief, one report of Criminal Trespass, one report of Drug Law Violation, one report of Drug Law Violation/Liquor Law Violation, one report of Fondling, seven reports of Harassment, seven reports of Larceny, one report of Liquor Law Violation and two reports of Rape.
On Feb. 9 at 10:29 a.m., an RA reported witnessing graffiti in Carlyle Court. The case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 10 at 7:51 a.m., a Public Safety Lieutenant reported graffiti outside of 238 Thompson St. The case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 13 at 8:50 p.m., a student reported a criminal trespass in Founders Hall. Public Safety escorted the person out without further incident. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.
Drug Law Violation
On Feb. 10 at 9:17 p.m., an RA reported illegal drug possession in Founders Hall. The case is closed and referred to the Office of Community Standards.
Drug Law Violation/Liquor Law Violation
On Feb. 12 at 9 p.m., an RA reported underage alcohol possession and marijuana possession in Carlyle Court. The case is closed and referred to the Office of Community Standards.
On Feb. 10 at 8:55 p.m., a student reported a fondling outside of 726 Broadway. The case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 9 at 6 p.m., a student reported a harassment in the Global Center for Academic and Spiritual Life. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 10 at 10:23 a.m., a student reported a harassment in Washington Square Park. The case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 10 at 6:04 p.m., a student reported a harassment on Broadway and Washington Place. The case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 10 at 10:27 p.m., a student reported a harassment on East 4th St. and Lafayette Street. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 10 at 12:45 p.m., a student reported a harassment on Broadway and Washington Place. A police report was filed and the case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 12 at 9:55 a.m., a student reported being harassed in Washington Square Park. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 13 at 9 p.m., a student reported being harassed as she was exiting University Hall. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 9 at 6:15 p.m., a student reported a missing personal item in Founders Hall. The case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 10 at 10:25 p.m., a student reported a missing phone in Rubin Hall. The case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 10 at 10:43 p.m., a student reported a missing wallet in Palladium Hall. A police report was filed and the case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 11 at 2:25 a.m., a student reported a missing ring in the Henry Kaufman Management Center. The case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 13 at 12:05 a.m., a student reported a missing personal item in Palladium Hall. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 13 at 1:27 p.m., a student reported missing medication in Lafayette Hall. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 13 at 6:09 p.m., a student reported a missing coat in Third North. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 10 at 10:11 a.m., a student reported a rape in Third North. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.
On Feb. 12 at 7:15 p.m., a student reported a rape that occurred in 2019 in Palladium Hall. The case is closed and referred to Title IX.
Email Crime Bot at [email protected]
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Share this Story: Douglas Todd: The hollowing out of Vancouver’s west side (Part 1)
Douglas Todd: The hollowing out of Vancouver’s west side (Part 1)
Analysis: From online shopping to skyrocketing commercial property values, higher taxes and rents, UBC’s ‘city’ growth, gentrification and yes, the pandemic, many factors are at play
Douglas Todd
Dentry’s Irish Grill, on West 10th Avenue near the UBC campus, is no more. In addition to serving food, it was also a popular sports pub and sponsored local teams. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG
First of two parts. Part 2 here.
Beloved independent stores and restaurants have been shutting their doors at a bewildering, depressing pace on Vancouver’s west side.
Douglas Todd: The hollowing out of Vancouver’s west side (Part 1) Back to video
Pane E Fromaggio. Dunbar Vacuum. Dentry’s Irish Grill, which also served as a popular sports pub and sponsored local teams. Jethro’s Fine Grub. Athene’s Greek Restaurant. Moderne Burger. Semperviva Yoga. Dunbar Produce. House of Chains. La Provence. Calhoun’s. Café Katzenjammer’s.
Bean Brothers Coffee. Mayhew Sherwood Flowers. Trafalgar’s Bistro. Senova Restaurant. SKP Restaurant. Wonderland Dollar Store. Plum Clothing. The Bike Gallery. Rothman and Co. Linens. La Patisserie Bordeaux.
That’s just a sample from the past few years. And even chain outlets are going down — like Starbucks, Tim Horton’s and Safeway on West 10th Avenue near the UBC gates, not to mention long-time VanCity Savings Credit Union branches in both Point Grey and Dunbar.
The death of every store and restaurant comes with its own story, usually sad. And there is little doubt the causes of the overall hollowing out of Vancouver’s west side, to use an academic term, are multi-factoral.
The coronavirus pandemic has been only the most recent determinant. Consumers’ transition to online shopping and big-box suburban stores have been playing a role for years. So have skyrocketing commercial property values, taxes and rents. It’s also significant the University of B.C. is turning into a full-scale 24-hour city.
Other factors enfeebling Vancouver’s west-side businesses include sharply shifting demographics, globalization, gentrification, satellite families and housing speculation. They’re contributing to underutilized homes and, in many neighbourhoods, declining populations.
While other neighbourhoods in Metro Vancouver are also emptying out, this column will emphasize what’s been happening to West Point Grey, Kitsilano, Kerrisdale and Dunbar. That’s in part because they’re the neighbourhoods for which readers have been providing me with information.
A Dunbar Produce brimming with vegetable stalls is no more on Dunbar Street on Vancouver’s west side. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG
I’m also stressing these neighbourhoods because they are in the Vancouver-Point Grey riding of Attorney-General David Eby, the minister responsible for housing, and the Vancouver-Quilchena constituency of Andrew Wilkinson, who was until recently head of the B.C. Liberal Party.
Both Eby and Wilkinson agreed to talk about the devastation wrought on restaurants and shops in their ridings. They find it disturbing. Their analyses of the causes, and potential remedies, sometimes overlapped — but also differed.
“I think we see that our city is changing. And one of the tragedies of that is the community feel of small businesses is starting to fade away,” said Wilkinson.
“If we’re all living in low-density neighbourhoods using online shopping, there’s a real loss of social cohesion and sense of community, which we should all regret.”
The Vancouver-Quilchena neighbourhoods of Kerrisdale and Arbutus Ridge, which have exceedingly expensive housing, are going against the overall trend and have actually undergone sharp population drops.
The number of people in these neighbourhoods declined by more than five per cent in the five-year period leading up to 2016, according to a census map created by Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University. Vancouver-Quilchena’s equally costly neighbourhoods of Dunbar and Southlands also experienced declines.
Map shows large sections of the affluent west-side neighbourhoods of Kerrisdale and Arbutus Ridge (dark blue) have suffered the sharpest population declines. They’re followed by Dunbar and a section of Point Grey (in lighter blue). Source: Andy Yan, SFU.
“If you look along (many west-side residential streets) you’ll see houses with many, many bedrooms,” said Wilkinson, who said some were built when families used to have half-a-dozen kids. “Now the west-side population has aged. There are fewer and fewer children and there are fewer and fewer people per household. So the purchasing population is smaller.”
It’s a grave concern that almost no younger families are moving into the west side, Wilkinson said. Price tags on even modest west-side single-family houses, which typically get torn down and replaced with bigger dwellings, run in the $2-million to $3-million range.
“Young people simply cannot afford to move in. And if they do they’re not going to have disposable income, after what they’ve paid for their housing,” he said.
“With the aging of the population, people are staying longer and longer in their houses. On the city block that I live on (in South Granville) there are four women who each live alone in houses with three to five bedrooms.”
David Eby, who was made responsible for housing after the NDP defeated the Liberals in this fall’s election, said “there’s lots to grieve” about the way businesses have been going down for years in parts of the Vancouver-Point Grey riding.
The departure of Safeway, leaving behind an empty lot, has had adverse knock-on effects in Point Grey Village, a five-block zone of retail outlets on West 10th Avenue near UBC’s gates. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG
Eby generally agreed with Wilkinson that static or declining populations have been a factor in reducing the customer base for small businesses on parts of the west side, although data show the Vancouver-Quilchena riding has suffered the worst.
Still, Point Grey Village, a five-block zone of retail outlets on West 10th Avenue near UBC’s gates, has been hammered. The departure of a Safeway, leaving behind an empty lot, has had adverse knock-on effects. The supermarket used to serve as an anchor for the shopping and restaurant area, Eby said.
The two veteran politicians also overlapped to some extent on how high commercial property taxes and rents have been putting tremendous pressure on independent businesses. The two differed, though, on the usefulness of B.C.’s 2019 speculation and vacancy tax.
Eby, who was instrumental in bringing in the tax, said he’s pleased it has contributed to more people living as renters in west-side houses that otherwise would have remained empty. Wilkinson, however, calls it a “phony tax.”
Separate from such policy issues, Eby emphasized Point Grey Village has been directly impacted by the dramatic expansion of housing on the UBC campus, particularly at Wesbrook Village. It now has a large supermarket and many shops, which are drawing students, staff and faculty away from surrounding neighbourhoods.
The ‘closed’ — for good — sign is firmly affixed to a window at the German-Austrian restaurant Café Katzenjammer’s on West 10th Avenue. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG
In regards to local issues, Eby places some hope for the future of Point Grey Village on a major rental housing project in the works for the Safeway site. He is happy, in addition, that a refurbished Hollywood Theatre will soon open on Broadway in Kitsilano.
And he thinks the eventual development of the Jericho Lands, which could bring tens of thousands of new residents to West Point Grey, will be a boon. He acknowledged, however, it will likely take years to get underway.
Reflecting on the west-side’s problem on a more macro level, however, how has the decades-long inflow of foreign capital been affecting the makeup of its neighbourhoods and their independent businesses?
The next instalment of this two-part series looks deeper into the causes of the ghosting phenomenon, and offers a range of possible taxation and other solutions.
dtodd@postmedia.com
twitter.com/douglastodd
Douglas Todd: The hollowing out of Vancouver's west side (Part 2 - the 'weird place')
Douglas Todd: Hidden foreign ownership helps explain Metro Vancouver's 'decoupling' of house prices/incomes
More by Douglas Todd
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.
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The Philosophy of Rick and Morty Show Me What You Got!
HUM 415 | Contemporary Culture | Rob Thomas, Ph.D.
This is the website for Dr. Thomas' Contemporary Culture course on the philosophy of Rick and Morty. An experiment in learning as radical as cartoons themselves, we will think seriously about philosophy (Nietzsche, Baudrillard, Deleuze), social theory (In the Dust of This Planet, Gamer Theory, Enjoying It: Candy Crush and Capitalism), and various forms of popular culture through the show Rick and Morty.
HUM 415 | Contemporary Culture
Tuesday/Thursday, 2:10PM – 3:25 PM in HUM 582
Rob Thomas, Ph.D.
Office HUM 416, Office Hour: Thursday 3:25 – 4:25 PM
This course satisfies the following requirements: Upper Division, UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities SF State Studies: Global Perspectives, Segment Three
PROFESSOR’S STATEMENT
Since 2004, an integral component of my Contemporary Culture course has been the use of science fiction film and literature as a paradigm for thinking the present. Most recently I have focused on apocalypse, zombies, disaster films, contemporary capitalism, and the Anthropocene. Suddenly, as the world around us became even more of a disaster in 2016, I faced a quandary: How do I continue teaching work in social theory and philosophy in ways that are fun and engaging, but that also give my students tools for navigating the historical present? I also faced a quandary with the assigned classroom: It’s super crummy. Also, the time of day: Not so good. So, civilization is ending faster than we thought AND the classroom kinda sucks. Here’s an idea: Let’s make the course about Rick and Morty. Let’s use Rick and Morty as a paradigm (a way of thinking-in-images, or of thinking-beside-images) for reading this historical present.
This course will think philosophy, social theory, and contemporary culture through the show Rick and Morty. Not only will we think seriously about the philosophical-existential questions the show plays with, including its fun references to popular culture, we will also think seriously about the form of Rick and Morty. Thus, in addition to studying contemporary social theory (In the Dust of this Planet), and philosophy from figures like Nietzsche, Baudrillard, Deleuze, and others, we will also think seriously about the form of cartoons, networked media, and video games. Students will be introduced to concepts like simulacra/simulation, the hyper-real, the post-cinematic, etc. In addition to select episodes of Rick and Morty, we will analyze an episode of Star Trek (“Mirror, Mirror”), study David Cronenberg’s The Fly, and other works of visual expression as the crappy classroom and course time we have been assigned allows. The course will begin with 8-bit Philosophy’s “The Philosophy of Rick and Morty.”
Below is a preliminary reading list. This list, as well as the syllabus, will be revised based on consultation with the students on the first class session.
Books (available at the bookstore)
Ian Bogost, How to Do Things With Video Games
Eugene Thacker, In the Dust of this Planet
Assigned Essays (scans or downloads)
JG Ballard, “Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan” (optional)
Jean Baudrillard, “Simulacra and Simulations”
Alfie Bown, Enjoying It: Candy Crush and Capitalism (selections)
Gilles Deleuze, “Plato and the Simulacrum” (optional)
Mark Fisher, “Reflexive Impotence” from Capitalist Realism (optional)
Mauricio Lazzarato, Governing by Debt (optional)
Brian Massumi, “Realer than Real: The Simulacrum According to Deleuze & Guattari”
Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics (selection)
Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals from The Nietzsche Reader
Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil from The Nietzsche Reader
Nietzsche, “Fragment on European Nihilism” from The Nietzsche Reader
Celeste Olalquiaga, The Artificial Kingdom (selections)
Shaviro, “What is the Post-Cinematic?”
Steve Shaviro, “Bodies of Fear: David Cronenberg”
Steve Shaviro, “Splice”
Mckenzie Wark, Gamer Theory (selections)
David Cronenberg, The Fly (USA/1986)
Stuart Gordon, From Beyond (USA/1986)
Chuck Jones, Duck Amuck (USA/1953)
Chris Marker, La Jétee (France/1962)
Vincenzo Natali, Splice (Canada/France/USA/2010)
Frederic Wiseman, High School (USA/1968)
Rick and Morty (select episodes)
Star Trek, “Mirror, Mirror”
• 8-Bit Philosophy, “The Philosophy of Rick and Morty”
Duck Amuck (1953)
"Mirror, Mirror" (1967)
The Fly (1986)
Rick and Morty with Cartoon Muybridge
La Jétee (1962)
Trailer for From Beyond (1986)
Trailer for The Fly (1986)
about Dr. Thomas
I am the author of User's Guide to Pornography (forthcoming, Zer0 Books). I live in San Francisco, CA and teach in the School of Humanities and Liberal Studies at San Francisco State University.
My courses are broadly concerned with the relationship between contemporary culture and the history of Western philosophy, with particular emphasis on modernism/modernity, theories of the image, pornography, affect, global cinema, San Francisco, and political economy.
I studied with Giorgio Agamben in the seminars on The Time That Remains (Il tempo che resta) and hold a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Program in Philosophy, Literature, and the Theory of Criticism at the State University of New York (SUNY), Binghamton (2005), M.A. in Philosophy from SUNY, Binghamton (2004), B.A. in Liberal Arts from Evergreen State College (Olympia, WA) (1997).
I can be found online at theorist.io
The Philosophy of Rick and Morty
A pedagogical experiment as radical as cartoons themselves, this course is presented under the aegis of Dr. Thomas’ Contemporary Culture (HUM 415) course at SFSU.
© 2017 Content and Design by Rob Thomas, Ph.D. | Rick and Morty Images From Adult Swim
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Mexico’s president-elect puts the capital’s new airport to a vote
AT ELSA RíOS GONZÁLEZ’S hair salon in Atenco, east of Mexico City, the chatter turns to the most controversial issue in town, the construction of an international airport. Mexico’s biggest infrastructure project, known as NAICM, is being built just a few kilometres away. Opinion in Atenco is divided. Some of Ms Ríos’s clients fret about the noise and pollution the airport will bring. Others hope for riches. “No one is well informed enough” to judge its merits, says the hairdresser.
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Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who will become Mexico’s president on December 1st, disagrees. A longtime foe of the project, he has put its fate in the hands of voters through a referendum-like “consulta”, to be held on October 25th-28th, more than a month before he takes office. How this unorthodox plan turns out will reveal much about what promises to be an unorthodox presidency. A veteran populist, Mr López Obrador portrays himself as an instrument of the will of ordinary Mexicans. He will offer them an opportunity to vote him out of office midway through his six-year term. The airport consulta is a preview of the sort of direct democracy that he says will characterise his administration.
As mayor of Mexico City from 2000 to 2005, Mr López Obrador sent survey-takers door to door to find out what people thought of his initiatives. He was fishing for the answers he wanted, some said. His first presidential foray into popular democracy will be more contentious. Unlike recent votes on airports in Berlin and in Nantes in France, the consulta does not just test opinion of citizens in the vicinity. It will be organised by Mr López Obrador’s inner circle, not by the national electoral institute (INE). Activists from Mr López Obrador’s Morena party will set up and monitor 1,073 booths in about 500 municipalities, home to 80% of the population. Just 1m ballot papers will be printed for a nationwide electorate of 90m people. They will be counted by a little-known NGO. Without access to the INE’s electoral rolls, it is unclear how the poll workers will prevent people from voting more than once.
Participants will be asked to choose whether to press on with construction of the X-shaped airport, which is already 30% completed, or to scrap it. The alternative is to supplement the existing airport with a new one at the Santa Lucía military airbase north of Mexico City. Mr López Obrador says the result will be binding, whatever the turnout.
Few doubt that something must be done. The capital’s airport, the busiest in Latin America, handles 50% more people than it was designed to do. It has no space to expand. The number of passengers is growing by nearly 10% a year. The boggy land near Atenco is one of the few areas available for a replacement. Vicente Fox, Mexico’s president from 2000 to 2006, tried to buy land cheaply on the east side of the area from farmers, who protested with machetes. In 2014 the current president, Enrique Peña Nieto, said the airport would be built on the western side, on land owned by the federal government.
Half-baked ideas
It would eventually serve 120m passengers a year, more than any other airport in the world today and treble the capacity of the capital’s existing airport. Its backers say it will attract firms that might otherwise make Panama or Brazil their Latin American hubs and bring jobs to the capital’s poor eastern districts. If Mr López Obrador cancels NAICM, which was designed by Norman Foster, a British architect, and is being built by a company controlled by Carlos Slim, Mexico’s richest man, he will unnerve investors whose confidence he has tried hard to secure.
But the project has been criticised from its inception. It will imperil 100,000 migratory birds that alight in the area and, critics contend, cause more flooding in flood-prone eastern Mexico City. Two-thirds of Mexicans have never been on a plane. That makes the airport look to some like a bauble for the rich. The 285bn-peso ($15bn) price tag is 70% higher than the government originally budgeted.
These shortcomings are the result of Mexico’s slapdash process for planning and approving big projects. Developers rarely consult residents who will be affected by them or publish information on subcontractors. Although contracts to build NAICM were awarded in a transparent way, the companies that secured them are not required to report regularly on their progress. That feeds a suspicion that cost overruns are the result of corruption. The government published only an executive summary of its report on the airport’s environmental impact.
Such problems are compounded by politics. Mexican presidents, who serve just one term, rush to build pet projects, or at least to make enough progress that their successors are obliged to complete them. Construction often starts before blueprints are final. NAICM’s perimeter wall started going up before builders knew where the airport’s entrance was; they had to make expensive changes. Agencies responsible for projects often do not talk to each other. Mexico’s shoddy procedures bedevil infrastructure projects of all descriptions, including line 12 of Mexico City’s metro and a planned drainage tunnel for the capital. “The problem is not the cake, it’s the oven,” says Mariana Campos of México Evalúa, a think-tank.
In the case of NAICM, Mr López Obrador says he prefers a different cake. Repurposing the Santa Lucía airbase is the sort of low-budget, low-impact alternative that appeals to the ostentatiously austere president-elect. But the new cake has problems. Santa Lucía is farther from the city centre than NAICM. Some passengers would have to transfer to a different airport to catch connecting flights. Planes landing at and leaving the two airports, all of which must pass through the same corridor in the city’s north-west, risk colliding. That is “a safety issue that the Mexican authorities would surely never allow”, says Bernardo Lisker of MITRE, an institute that studies air traffic.
That decision now will supposedly be made by the people. Polls suggest that Mexicans favour completing the new airport by two to one, but the consulta may not reflect that. As few as 100,000 people will participate, some analysts believe. Ms Ríos, who wants construction to continue, plans to stay home. A determined get-out-the-vote effort in one corner of the country could swing the result. Some observers suspect that Mr López Obrador is engineering a vote in favour of NAICM, giving him an excuse to complete a project that he claims to oppose but would be difficult to abandon.
The controversy over NAICM is a sign that Mexico’s democracy is maturing, argues Onesimo Flores, an urban-planning expert. The elite can no longer feel comfortable “ramming projects through”, he says. But Mr López Obrador’s alternative looks ill-considered. He has shown scant interest in improving slipshod planning procedures. His own favourite projects, such as a “Maya train” through Mexico’s south, have already been endorsed by voters through his election, he claims. If Mr López Obrador has changed his mind about Mexico City’s new airport, this month’s vote may give him political cover. It is not a blueprint for the projects of the future.
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Mortenson aids Denver tiny-home village project after scandal
The organization launching Denver’s second tiny-home village for the homeless has sped up the project with help from an unexpected partner — a construction firm paying penance for its role in the city’s convention center bid-rigging scandal.
Construction began last week on the Women’s Village at Clara Brown Commons. When completed this fall on East 37th Avenue near York Street, it will have a cluster of 14 standalone tiny homes and a larger common house with bathrooms, a kitchen, meeting space and other services.
Mortenson Construction is working as general contractor, a role approved recently by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office under its April settlement agreement with the company. Mortenson had denied allegations that a project manager treated it favorably during bidding for the $233 million Colorado Convention Center project, but its CEO acknowledged the company “did not meet our own expectations.” It agreed both to pay a $650,000 fine and to donate construction services worth at least that amount to a project of public interest.
At first, the intent was that Mortenson and executives involved in the convention center bid would help with a project geared toward the COVID-19 pandemic, such as a field hospital. But the need for such a project receded as hospitalizations declined.
“Homelessness is a challenging issue in Denver, and the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for stable housing,” said Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for Attorney General Phil Weiser. On Monday, he confirmed the office’s approval of the project selection.
Cole Chandler, executive director of the Colorado Village Collaborative, said Mortenson’s donated services have sped up the project’s timeline by two to three months. He hopes the first women, potentially including transgender individuals, will move into the 96-square-foot homes by mid-October.
“We would not be starting construction right now if Mortenson was not contributing their services,” Chandler said.
The new village in the Cole neighborhood is modeled on Beloved Community Village, which opened in 2017 near 38th and Blake streets with the intent to serve as a transition to stability for people experiencing homelessness. Chandler’s group moved it last year to East 44th Avenue and Pearl Street in Globeville to make way for an affordable housing development project at the original site, and it now has 19 tiny homes.
The Women’s Village also is likely to have a limited lifespan at its initial site. Mile High Ministries has plans for a full-block affordable housing development on the site called Clara Brown Commons, named for an enterprising and charitable former slave who moved to Colorado in the 1800s after gaining her freedom.
Chandler says Mile High has granted a renewable two-year ground lease to the collaborative.
His group hopes to build several more tiny-home villages across the city, with an eventual goal of 200 units. Its latest project relies heavily on donors, volunteers and partners, including the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus in Centennial, which is building a half-dozen of the units for the Women’s Village.
The collaborative also is involved in the city’s separate plan to launch a sanctioned homeless encampment. At the same time, the city is making plans to close a temporary shelter set up for women and transgender people inside the Denver Coliseum during the pandemic.
“There’s a plan in place to help shuffle people around,” Chandler said, “but we can see a need for more units to meet that need. We’re eager to extend these units towards that population.”
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207 U.S. 277 - Elbee Patch v. Wabash Railroad Company
the United States Reports
207 US 277 Elbee Patch v. Wabash Railroad Company
28 S.Ct. 80
52 L.Ed. 204
ELBEE PATCH, Administrator de Bonis Non of the Estate of Charles W. Maxon, Deceased, Plff. in Err.,
WABASH RAILROAD COMPANY.
Argued November 15, 1907.
Decided December 2, 1907.
Mr. George C. Otto for plaintiff in error.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 277-279 intentionally omitted]
Messrs. Frederic D. McKenney and Wells H. Blodgett for defendant in error.
Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:
This was an action brought by the plaintiff in error to recover for the death of his intestate in a collision upon the defendant's railroad in Illinois. The action was begun in a court of the state and the defendant forthwith filed a petition for the removal of the cause to the United States circuit court. The petition averred, among other things, that the defendant was a corporation organized under the laws of Ohio, and a citizen of that state, and was not a resident of Illinois, and that the plaintiff was a citizen and resident of Illinois. The removal was ordered and completed. Thereupon the plaintiff filed in the United States court a plea, in which he alleged that the defendant was a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, by the consolidation of five other corporations, severally created by the laws of those states respectively, that the defendant was a citizen of and resident in Illinois and each of said other states, and that the plaintiff was a citizen of Ohio; and the plaintiff prayed judgment whether the court could take cognizance of the action.
The defendant, after having pleaded the general issue to the action, demurred to the plaintiff's plea. Upon a hearing the demurrer was sustained, and the plaintiff electing to stand by his plea, a judgment was entered that the defendant recover its costs. The plaintiff prayed a writ of error, and the judge certified that the judgment was based solely on the ground that the controversy was one between citizens of different states, that in his opinion the record showed that the defendant was not a citizen of or resident in Illinois, that no other ground of jurisdiction appeared, and that jurisdiction was retained only for the reasons stated. A few days later, but after the writ of error had been taken out and filed, and after a new term of the circuit court had begun, the judge undertook to amend the certificate on the ground that it had been signed inadvertently, under a mistake as to its nature and contents, and to certify instead that the question of jurisdiction was not passed upon, but that the ground of the decision was that the plaintiff, being a citizen of Ohio, and therefore presumed not to be a resident of Illinois, was forbidden by the statutes of Illinois to act as administrator, and therefore had no standing to maintain the action or file the plea.
It is obvious that the mistake alleged by the new certificate was not clerical. The judge did not write one thing when he meant to write another, and no inferior officer made a record not corresponding to the action of the court. We cannot read the words 'under a mistake as to the nature and contents thereof,' as meaning that the judge did not know that he was signing a certificate of this court, or as signifying more than that, if he had given the matter greater attention, he would not have signed one saying what it said. The certificate must have received some consideration, as it contains a statement or ruling adverse to the plaintiff, to which we shall refer in a moment. This being so, it appears to us extremely questionable, at least, whether such a certificate, which is an act of record, stands on any different ground from judgments and the like when the term has passed (see Wetmore v. Karrick, 205 U. S. 141, 153, et seq. 51 L. ed. 745, 749, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 434; Michigan Ins. Bank v. Eldred, 143 U. S. 293, 36 L. ed. 162, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 450); and also whether the so-called amendment, supposing it otherwise valid and properly made without leave of this court, can be considered by this court on the present writ of error (Michigan Ins. Bank v. Eldred, supra; McCarren v. McNulty, 7 Gray, 139; Rice v. Minnesota & N. W. R. Co. 21 How. 82, 16 L. ed. 31).
If we were to consider the amendment it would amount to this: The plaintiff pleaded to the jurisdiction of the court as a court of the United States, and stood upon his plea. The judge, however, laid down a proposition of law on which he denied the right of the plaintiff to plead to the jurisdiction, and thereupon took jurisdiction so far as to give judgment for costs. By the analogies of the action of this court in other cases, we should decide for ourselves the preliminary as well as the final question of law, in order to decide whether the circuit court, as a court of the United States, had the right to give any judgment, even for costs. If the preliminary question should be considered, it would seem that the judge below was wrong in taking the proviso in the Illinois statute (Laws of 1905, p. 2; Hurd's Rev. Stat. 1905, chap. 3, § 18, pp. 107, 108), 'that no nonresident of this state shall be appointed or act as administrator or executor,' as opening the appointment of a citizen of Ohio to this kind of collateral attack. See Simmons v. Saul, 138 U. S. 439, 34 L. ed. 1054, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 369; Salomon v. People, 191 Ill. 290, 294, 61 N. E. 83. It is not reasonable to interpret it as making such a severance between the appointment, and the power to act which is a consequence of the appointment, as to leave the former unimpeachable in these proceedings, but its effect open to dispute. The words 'or act' may have reference more especially to executors, and may be a reminiscence of the ancient law, by which they derived their powers from the will,—a notion that has died hard. At all events presumably they offer an alternative to 'shall be appointed,' and refer to action without appointment in Illinois; for instance, action by an administrator appointed elsewhere, not to action after appointment when one is made. As we read them with our present light, at least, we deem them insufficient to prevent the plaintiff from insisting upon his right to keep out of the United States court.
We proceed, then, to deal with the merits of the plea. The original certificate declares that the record shows that the defendant is not a citizen of or resident in the state of Illinois. If this be correct, it maintains the right to remove, so far as it goes. The right is given in cases of this sort to defendants 'being nonresidents of that state;' that is, of the state in which the suit is brought. Act of Aug. 13, 1888, chap. 866, 25 Stat. at L. 433, 434, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 508. If the defendant is to be regarded as a citizen of Illinois, the right to remove did not exist. Martin v. Snyder, 148 U. S. 663, 37 L. ed. 602, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 706. It was for this reason, no doubt, that the petition for removal alleged that the defendant was a citizen of Ohio, and that the certificate declared that it was not a citizen of Illinois. But the plea averred that it was organized and existed under the laws of that state as well as of the others named. It is true, however, that it did not and could not traverse the averment of the petition, considered as an averment of fact, and it was demurred to specially on that ground. Therefore the question is raised how a corporation or corporations thus organized shall be regarded for the purposes of a suit like this. No nice speculation as to whether the corporation is one or many, and no details as to the particulars of the consolidation, are needed for an answer. The defendant exists in Illinois by virtue of the laws of Illinois. It is alleged to have incurred a liability under the laws of the same state, and is sued in that state. It cannot escape the jurisdiction by the fact that it is incorporated elsewhere. The assent of the state to such incorporation elsewhere, supposing it to have been given,—a matter upon which we express no opinion,—cannot be presumed to have intended or to import such a change. This seems to be the opinion of the supreme court of Illinois, as it certainly has been shown to be that of this court. Chicago & N. W. R. Co. v. Whitton, 13 Wall. 270, 20 L. ed. 571; Muller v. Dows, 94 U. S. 444, 24 L. ed. 207; Memphis & C. R. Co. v. Alabama, 107 U. S. 581, 27 L. ed. 518, 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 432; Quincy R. Bridge Co. v. Adams County, 88 Ill. 615; Winn v. Wabash R. Co. 118 Fed. 55. What would be the law in case of a suit brought in Illinois upon a cause of action which arose in Ohio is a question that may be left on one side, as also may be the decisions in cases where a corporation originally created in one state afterwards becomes compulsorily a corporation of another state for some purposes in order to extend its powers. Southern R. Co. v. Allison, 190 U. S. 326, 47 L. ed. 1078, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 713; St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. James, 161 U. S. 545, 40 L. ed. 802, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 621. In the case at bar the incorporations must be taken to have been substantially simultaneous and free. See Memphis & C. R. Co. v. Alabama, supra. If any distinction were to be made it hardly could be adverse to the jurisdiction of Illinois, in view of the requirements of its Constitution and statutes, that a majority of the directors should be residents of Illinois, and that the corporation should keep a general office in that state. We are of opinion that the defendant must be regarded in this suit as a citizen of Illinois, and therefore as having had no right to remove. It follows that the cause should be remanded to the state court.
Judgment reversed.
Suit to be remanded to the state court.
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← New Zealand’s climate change deniers’ distortions exposed.
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The global warming conspiracy?
Posted on December 7, 2009 | 169 Comments
The hacked emails from the East Anglia Climate Centre in the UK have not been a big issue in New Zealand. At least for most people and for most news media. There are, of course, ideological motivated people who wish to promote the issue as a scandal. Who wish to attack our current understanding of climate science and climate change. Or who just have an anti-science attitude in general and attack the integrity of scientists as part of their nature.
A few bloggers have tried to mobilise on this issue (see for example NIWA, Climategate and Evasive Fallacious Answers, The scientific community and self-criticism, Climate scientists caught lying, Climategate – How the scientific community is responding, WarmingGate, New Zealand not warming? and I confess I now believe in manmade Global Warming). And, as Peter Griffin pointed out recently, “The comment sections of some blogs have become particularly grubby places to congregate” (see Climategate brought out the worst in us).
Even the ACT party is trying to get in on the act (Auckland Public Meeting: Climategate, NIWA and the ETS).
Of course, we have been preoccupied here with attacks on NIWA scientists by the ACT party, the Climate Science Coalition, the Climate Conversation Group, conspiracy theorist Ian Wishart, and climate change deniers in the blogosphere. Obviously taking advantage of the climate gate email scandal they made serious attacks on the integrity of these scientists. However, this has also more or less fizzled out as NIWA released information to show the attacks were false.
Of course this doesn’t stop some people. These conspiracy theorists who are presented the emails as evidence of a global conspiracy. They got the bit between their teeth. Believed their own propaganda and started to assert that the Copenhagen meeting would be canceled. That this is the end of the global warming story! The gobal warming conspiracy!
This short video by potholer puts the whole email scandal into context.
It investigates the two most used examples of “fraud” from these emails – the ones talking about “using a trick to hide the decline” an it being a “travesty that we can’t explain the cooling.” The examples that the denier alarmists (conspiracy theorists) have been concentrating on. The ones that have them frothing at the mouth. Poholer pours the cold water of reality over them.
It’s worth watching.
YouTube – 6. Climate Change — Those hacked e-mails.
Thanks to Pharyngula: Febrile nitwits and the hacked climate change emails
Deniers in denial over climate information (openparachute.wordpress.com)
This entry was posted in belief, diversity, Environment and Ecology, New Zealand and tagged climate change, conspiracy theory, Environment, global warming, New Zealand, Scientific community. Bookmark the permalink.
169 responses to “The global warming conspiracy?”
Cedric Katebsy | December 7, 2009 at 5:15 am |
It’s a great video.
It fully deserves more exposure.
Let’s hope more people post it on their blogs and spread the word.
Glenn | December 7, 2009 at 11:44 am |
“There are, of course, ideological motivated people who wish to promote the issue as a scandal. Who wish to attack our current understanding of climate science and climate change. Or who just have an anti-science attitude in general and attack the integrity of scientists as part of their nature”
So basically your approach is to poison the well in advance against dissenters fromy uor view and engage in the ad hominem fallacy.
Nothing much to see here.
Dan Pangburn | December 7, 2009 at 11:48 am |
The hacked emails of Climategate are not necessary to show that human caused global warming never was.
A simple, science-based EXCEL model has been derived that accurately (sd = 0.064 C) predicts all average global temperatures since 1895. The model did not need any consideration whatsoever of changes to atmospheric carbon dioxide or any other greenhouse gas.
A description of the model and its development along with an eye-opening graph that shows measured and predicted average global temperature are in the pdf dated Oct 16 at http://climaterealists.com/index.php?tid=145&linkbox=true
Ken | December 7, 2009 at 12:01 pm |
Well, Glenn – that’s one way of avoiding the issue. Label anyone who bases their analysis on evidence instead of your own preconceived bias. Who is poisoning the well here?
I think the video is excellent. It goes into the two most misquoted emails. If you didn’t see anything there – what do they say: “There are none so blind as those who refuse to look?”
Yes, Cedric. The video is excellent. Short and to the point.
It’s amazing, though, how some people just don’t want to expose themselves to evidence like this. I refer to the phenomenon as an “ideological ghetto.” Where people won’t look outside their strict ideological/theological boundaries. They must always find their “scientific” evidence from approved sources. Like Ian Wishart!
I guess it’s just really confirmation bias.
A simple, science-based EXCEL model has been derived that accurately (sd = 0.064 C) predicts all average global temperatures since 1895.
We all look forward to reading your peer-reviewed paper in Nature.
Kthxbai.
Truesceptic has been looking at the emails in more detail at Greenfyre’s blog.
Some of them are quite blunt.
This is part of an email from McIntyre, where he asserts that engineers have higher standards for data than do academics.
/mail/1104855751.txt
I would immediately delete anything you receive from this fraud.
You’ve probably seen now the paper by Wahl and Ammann which independently exposes
McIntyre and McKitrick for what it is–pure crap. Of course, we’ve already done this on
“RealClimate”, but Wahl and Ammann is peer-reviewed and independent of us. I’ve attached
it in case you haven’t seen (please don’t pass it along to others yet). It should be in
press shortly. Meanwhile, I would NOT RESPOND to this guy. As you know, only bad things
can come of that. The last thing this guy cares about is honest debate–he is funded by
the same people as Singer, Michaels, etc…
Dan Pangburn | December 7, 2009 at 8:03 pm |
Cedric Katesby:
Regarding the research presented in the pdf dated Oct 16 at http://climaterealists.com/index.php?tid=145&linkbox=true : The methodology and all data sources (NOAA) are there so anyone who is technologically competent can verify it. Others may continue to wonder why it is not getting warmer as the CO2 level continues to increase.
Dan, Cedric has a valid point, if you think this model you are proposing is credible you will of couse submit a paper to an appropriate jounal. This should enable it to be assesed prperly by competent climate scientists.
Personally, I won’t bother checking out your web presentation in the absence of a proper peer review. I don’t have that sort of tome to waste.
The methodology and all data sources (NOAA) are there…
Really great.
Now all you have to do is publish your findings in a peer-reviewed journal, overturn the global consensus on global warming and claim your Nobel Prize.
Go for it. There is no time to waste.
Dan Pangburn | December 8, 2009 at 3:05 am |
Cedric Kaesby:
If papers published in “peer-reviewed journals” could predict average global temperature there would not be the present observed SEPARATION between the rapidly rising atmospheric carbon dioxide level, 18.8 % since 2000 of the increase from 1800 to 2000 and the not-rising temperature determined by averaging reports from the five reporting agencies (four since Climategate).
Scott W. Somerville | December 8, 2009 at 3:25 am |
Making sense out of the partisan rhetoric on this issue is a little like trying to figure out the global temperature from thousands of independent measurement stations. The “signal to noise ratio” is VERY high.
I’m happy to say the New York Times science journalist, Andy Revkin, seems to be a person of some independence and integrity. He believes in global warming, but he’s been “accused” of being “not as predictable as we’d like.” He has now been threatened with “the Big Cutoff” by a climatologist who was unhappy with his blog post.
I’ve started reading blog and invite others here to do so as well.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/
Here’s an in-depth analysis of the internal structure of the CRU data. It fits with my own assessment, so I’ll pass it on. The most important claim (which I believe is VERY hard to rebut) is that the .zip file that was released was originally assembled to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Whether it was “leaked” or “hacked” is NOT clear. But it does seem likely that a person inside the CRU assembled this particular set of documents because somebody made a specific request.
Here’s the write-up, if anyone CARES about WHY these emails were gathered.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/12/07/comprhensive-network-analysis-shows-climategate-likely-to-be-a-leak/
Gareth | December 8, 2009 at 10:17 am |
On the other hand, who is benefitting from the release of these hacked emails? Who is running with the story as hard as they can? Why, look, it’s the deniers and their media supporters! What a surprise.
Instead of relying on fanciful reports at WattsUp, why not take a look at what The Times has to say:
The computer was hacked repeatedly, the source close to the investigation said: “It was hacked into in October and possibly earlier. Then they gained access again in midNovember.” By not releasing the e-mails until two weeks before Copenhagen, the hacker ensured that the debate about them would rage during the summit.
My sources close to the CRU affair tell me that the entire email database was hacked, and that the released emails amount to less than 2% of the total. No wonder it took the hackers a few weeks to sort out what to release — and they would have had to know what they were looking for. And this was the work of a “whistleblower”? Pull the other one, it’s got bells on…
Scott W. Somerville | December 8, 2009 at 10:57 am |
Gareth, there’s a factual problem with what you’re suggesting. The Oct. 12 date comes from the BBC’s Paul Hudson, who was provided a set of files but refused to do anything with them. The FOIA.zip file hit the Internet on Nov. 17, and contained emails dated up to Nov. 12, the day before Steve McIntyre’s freedom of information request was denied. (Google FOI_99-44 to see various posts on the progress of that request.)
So the Oct. 12 hack could not have “sorted through” the data retrieved and then released it on Nov. 12. It had to be at least two “hacks,” if there were any. Or just one “leaker” who tried to go to a reputable (and “green”) journalist at the BBC before finally sending the (most current) info to the world at large.
The claim that the release in November was timed to throw off Copenhagen is just silly, unless a release four weeks earlier would have also been “timed to throw off Copenhagen.” The hacker/leaker TRIED to go public with the info on Columbus Day.
The claim that “the entire email database was hacked” but only 2% were released is completely consistent with a FOIA response. The emails have been stripped of headers (appropriate in a FOIA response, and just plain silly for a hacker). The emails do not include personal correspondence (again, appropriate for a FOIA dataset but silly for a hacker–if you want to make Phil Jones look bad, why not include the juiciest personal stuff you can find?)
The question of whether the emails were “leaked” or “hacked” makes no real difference to the science of all this. It would seem like this is an interesting little tidbit of a great big story where reality-based people could look at the evidence together and come to some consensus.
What do others think? Do the emails seems “hacked,” “leaked,” or “who cares?”
Scott, this is an issue for the police. I agree the data may have been collected together for a freedom of information request – but so what? We can look ofrward to what the polic dig up and what the enquiry finds. But that will take time.
The real issue is thyat there are people who are promoting an incorrect and extreme presentation of the emails. Obviously in an attempt to damage the scientific case. And, yes, it is obvious the release was time to threaten Copenhagen. The earlier release probably failed because jounralists saw that the emails didn’t have the power the deniers think. The latest release has relied on extremist and emotional poushing of the story.
But why bother with this Scott? Why ignore the NIWA attacks? Surely we have a clear case here. All the data is available, the denier claims are available. It’s easy to understand.
If you are interested in this issue why avoid discussion the NIWA situation? All the elements of the controversy are there.
Scott W. Somerville | December 8, 2009 at 1:27 pm |
Ken, I’m avoiding the NIWA situation because I have nothing of significance to say about it. I’ve read through both sides of the argument–one side says the data is suspect, the other side says it isn’t. I don’t have anything to add to that, so I’m saying nothing–which is pretty much what I had been doing on the whole AGW issue until the CRU files appeared.
If “all the elements of the controversy” are present in the NIWA situation, I’d love to look more deeply into it.
You say, “The real issue is that there are people who are promoting an incorrect and extreme presentation of the emails.” I don’t actually care what OTHER people are saying about the emails. I’m more interested in looking through them for myself.
Here’s an “extreme an incorrect presentation of the emails” for you–IPCC Vice-Chairman Jean-Pascal van Ypersele is blaming the “hack” on the sophisticated, unscrupulous oil-rich Russians. If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge in Siberia to sell you. This is the LAMEST evidence the IPCC is in deep trouble yet.
Not interested in science as represented by NIWA.? But interested in rumours and scuttle mongering. Why bring up this specific report – there are just so many others.
I suspect your motives in this.
Ken, “suspecting motives” is not the best basis for science. But–as you wish. I’ll go dig into NIWA now.
If papers published in “peer-reviewed journals” could predict average global temperature there would not be the present observed SEPARATION etc.etc. etc.
I am behind you 100%.
This is vitally important.
Far too important to langish in the comments section of some blog somewhere.
This earth-shattering stuff needs to be published in a peer-reveiwed science paper.
Once published, the inevitable demise of the global warming conspiracy is…(um)…inevitable.
Go forth and write up that paper.
Claim the Nobel prize that is rightfully yours.
There’s not a moment to lose.
Don’t let up the pressure on the conspiracy.
You can reveal the truth to all.
Here’s an in-depth analysis of the internal structure of the CRU data.
No Scott, that’s not an in-depth analysis.
That’s a denier blog.
A particularly bad one.
They are not scientists.
They don’t represent scientists.
Whatever happened to your standard of expecting peer-review? You won’t find anything useful there.
If you stick to the work of actual scientists who have indeed published solid research (and mountains of it) , then the denialists lose.
Think about it!
Would you be prepared to get important medical information from these people?
If you can believe in one conspiracy motivated by politics and greed then it’s really easy to believe in other nefarious conspiracies motivated by politics and greed.
Cedric–what I’ve said is that I accept peer-reviewed climatology without branding it “conspiracy.” I also accept the assessment of a computer network specialist who is reviewing a data file. The fact that he publishes his finding on a “denialist” blog doesn’t bother me, any more than the fact that the peer-reviewed literature appears in a “warmist” journal.
I understand that you take a different position, and reject all “denialist” arguments and data outright. That may be the most effective way to keep from being misled by people with evil motives, but it’s not what I would have expected at “Open Parachute.”
I understand that you take a different position, and reject all “denialist” arguments and data outright…
You’ve created a strawman.
That’s not my position at all.
You are being completely unfair.
I reject arguments from people who don’t know what they are talking about because they don’t do the damn work! I find out if they have done the work by looking at their peer-reviewed track record and their active research.
So based on this I am happy to pay attention to say…NASA. Or the Royal Society. Or the British Antarctic Survey or any one of the many excellent and respected scientific communites on the planet.
Based on this, my first port of call is NOT some no-name blog or op-ed article in some newspaper.
Denialists are conspiracy theorists who are trying to rationalise away the scientific work because they don’t like what they are hearing. The vast majority of them are talking completely outside of their field when they discuss climatology.
Opinions are like buttholes. Every ass has one.
You seem to be willing to listen to absolutely anybody. Anybody at all. It never occurs to you that maybe the guy you are talking to is just peddling nonsense.
It may be reasonable sounding nonsense.
It may be scientific sounding nonsense.
It may be very, very slick and intelligible nonsense.
Yet it’s still nonsense.
You don’t have a mechanism to sort out the wheat from the chaff.
If you want to be a reasonable, informed skeptic then you need a methodology of gathering good information as opposed to accidentally allowing youself to be fed sciencey-sounding crap made up by a professional flim-flam artist.
You need a baloney detection kit.
I appreciate that you are taking a good hard look at the claims of scientists and that you are wanting them to cough up peer-reviewed work.
Yet why the double standard?
Why do you not demand the same from the other side? How come every single no-name Denier blog seems like a good, credible source of information to you?
Would you get your medical information from HIV deniers like the one I linked to in my previous comment? They can publish books and create slick web-sites and they even have some tame doctors and talking heads with PHds to trot out to lend credibility.
Willing to put them on the same level of credibility as, say, the AMA or the World Health Organisation?
Or does demanding that people back up scientific claims with peer-reviewed scientific work sound like religious dogma to you?
Hmm?
Dean | December 9, 2009 at 5:47 pm |
Here’s a list of 450 Peer-Reviewed Papers Supporting Skepticism of “Man-Made” Global Warming
http://www.populartechnology.net/2009/10/peer-reviewed-papers-supporting.html
You also found one commenter there said:
“I’ve compared your listing with the science references on the latest UNEP publication « The 2009 Climate Change Science Compendium» published on September 22…
…A total of 438 papers (not including references to Institutional Reports) out of which 133 papers refer to the period 2007-2009…
…What I’ve only found are the names of a handful of scientists (I’ve counted to nine) that appear on both “sides” of the “issue-fence”…
…This is unfortunately a potential proof of the action of an “invisible hand” or “cherry-picking” that is deliberately excluding opposite viewpoints and also excluding the “voice of” maybe hundreds of scientists. The total absence of recent AGW-critical papers in the UNEP-report can not be explained by “hazard”. The numbers are too large…”
This is unfortunately a potential proof of the action of an “invisible hand” or “cherry-picking”…
“Potential” proof?
Now there’s a qualifier that you don’t hear everyday.
Fortunately, this amateurish propoganda piece has been picked clean a while ago.
Shockingly, their technique was to actually carefully examine this list and vet it.
Imagine that.
Actually vetting a list before going around posting it on the Intertoobs.
(gasp)
I’m not familiar with scientific peer review process so I’ll leave that topic for someone else to comment.
Although to me, when there are plenty of scientists who disagree, that’s hardly any consensus.
And labeling scientists who disagree as not-really-scientists, bad scientists, or anti-science are not exactly scientific. No?
But how about this though:
I mean, only about nine scientists?
Also, there’s 450 listed there, just reading it briefly, I don’t think all 450 have been refuted as peer-reviewed?
Easy to fix.
Please visit this link.
Plenty? How much is “plenty”?
Plenty compared to what?
The number of dissenting scientists out there so few that Denialists have to commit fraud to bolster their numbers. (link)
However, calling bad scientists “bad scientists” and not-really-scientists as “not really scientists” is a very good thing if it happens to be perfectly true, yes?
Um, what about it? If you want to read the tea-leaves on this one then do so.
Also, there’s 450 listed there, just reading it briefly, I don’t think…
Well perhaps that’s because you’ve just read it “briefly”?
A list like that is designed to catch your eye with the “450” number.
The uninformed layman is supposed to think “GOSH!! 450 real, super-duper peer-reviewed thingumy whatsits! That sounds like a big number. Why,…um….well….it’s….it’s TWICE as much as 225. Sounds pretty special to me, I tell you. And it’s all part of a list too. Found it on a web-site somewhere. Can’t get much more scientific that that.”
On the other hand, if you read the list slowly and carefully with a critical eye, you’ll find out that the list is crap.
I’m not familiar with scientific peer review process…
You are not alone. Most people have no idea at all about the importance of peer-review or the scientific process. The creator of the list is banking on that very fact. That’s how they win.
Don’t get played.
Dan Pangburn | December 10, 2009 at 7:18 am |
It is unfortunate that many bloggers have little ability and may even lack the interest to do their own research on the planet’s climate. As a result they have no technological basis to challenge highly politicized (and sometimes paycheck driven) claims by some of looming catastrophe.
Peer review is intended to keep nonsense from getting published. However, all peer reviewers are limited to their individual understanding which may be incomplete or even incorrect. Papers that agree with the peer reviewers pre-conceived perceptions are far more likely to get published than papers that disagree. So-called peer review can become worthless and even an advocacy tool. Biased peer review is de facto censoring. Unfortunately, many papers regarding global warming or climate change have appeared after ineffective peer review.
Nick | December 10, 2009 at 8:01 am |
@Dan, Are you for real? You sound like a paid troll. I mean “sometimes paycheck driven”, c’mon who has the deep pockets here?
What involvement have you ever had with a peer review process?
Dean | December 10, 2009 at 8:11 am |
I agree with that. I mean, it’s all good to use ‘peer review’ as criteria to decide whether a view/idea/stance is more scientific than other. But how many of those peers reviewing the papers are on one side vs the other side? It makes all the difference.
To Cedric,
Sure, calling bad scientists just that might be good, as long as there are clear criteria for calling them so that are used consistently across the board.
And a peer review is not one criteria to be used, because being rejected by a group of peers does not make one a bad scientist.
Like Dan wrote, peer review is to keep nonsense from getting published. I feel like the peer review related to climate gate (just from my observation and perception) was going too far as being used to eliminate competing views, e.g.: preventing some papers from being published.
There also seems to be monopoly on peer review. Evidently some peer review journals are considered ‘crap’, while other not? Is this also part of scientific consensus?
It sounds to me like the scientific community is now operating by mob rule?
Dan -have you ever submitted a paper to a scientific journal, or otherwise experienced the normal review process?
Dan Pangburn | December 10, 2009 at 4:42 pm |
Tens of billions of dollars (grants from the deep pockets of governments) have been spent in futile efforts to prove that added CO2 caused Global Warming while an unpaid engineer with a desk-top computer and using simple engineering analysis has discovered what really determined the average global temperature history since 1895.
Dean | December 10, 2009 at 8:27 pm |
Found this link of pretty clear explanation of the climate gate scandal.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/12/understanding_climategates_hid.html
Also I read on the newspaper (yeah paper! I don’t know who brought the paper in my house but it’s there so I read it), apparently some politicians started to admit that this climate gate is something. A progress from nothing and won’t affect Copenhagen to something that affect the meeting.
That’s eminently fair.
My criteria is simple.
Do they do the work or…are they just a bunch of posers?
Do they get their hands dirty with actual, current research or do they just sit around and “review” other peoples work?
Are they actually prepared to put their reputaion and research techniques on the line and submit to the process of peer-review?
If they fail on any of these counts, then no reasonable person should give a damn what they have to say.
There are are plenty of real, hard working scientists out there who put in the hard work that science demands and deserve to be listened to without wasting time on the crackpots, has-beens and wannabes.
I feel like the peer review related to climate gate (just from my observation and perception) was going too far as being used to eliminate competing views, e.g.: preventing some papers from being published.
No. The process of peer-review does not eliminate competing views.
If the process of peer-review was set up to do that then…you’d never get any new, radical stuff.
Scientists love new, radical stuff.
That’s how you win Nobel Prizes.
Nobody gets to be a great scientist by just ditto-ing what everybody else says.
You have a skewed version of what peer-review is and how it works.
Pleaese check this out.
There also seems to be monopoly on peer review.
And you believe this because….?
Evidently some peer review journals are considered ‘crap’, while other not?
Oh yes. Reputation is everything.
Not all journals are created equal.
Some are very well respected because their standards are very high and they publish only the very best.
One single bad paper can ruin the rep of an otherwise good journal.
On the other end of the scale there are journals which are famous for being shite and will print absolutely anything, no matter how batshit crazy.
And your evidence for this is…?
…an unpaid engineer with a desk-top computer and using simple engineering analysis has discovered what really determined the average global temperature history since 1895.
That is so freakingly brilliant.
An unpaid engineer with a desk-top computer.
Whodathunk?
All of those billions of dollars spent by NASA launching all those satellite-thingys and doing all that mainframe supercomputery stuff and for what?
FOR WHAT??????????
Nothing, that’s what.
Shame on you, NASA.
Shame.
It reminds me of my Uncle Vinny.
After lunch and a couple of beers, using only a napkin and a pencil, he was able to show that the Chinese could cause a tidal wave just by jumping up and down in unison.
He sent his idea to the Pentagon but, strangely, they never wrote back.
Whoever this unpaid engineer is, he deserves a medal.
Finally, somebody got to the TRUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A regular folk hero of our day.
People will probably name their kids after him.
Statues will be erected.
Odes will be penned in his honour.
Maybe, just maybe, Oprah will invite him onto her show.
Who knows? The skys the limit with this one.
Oop, almost forgot.
I make it a rule to get my science information from actual science sources.
I’m sure that “Americanthinker” is a fine enough blog for finding out “Americans think” or whatever but I wouldn’t want to get my science information from it any more that I would get my financial or medical information from it.
Here are some better sources.
This one looks at the Medieval Warm Period denierist talking point.
As a talking point, it’s been done to death but as long as people refuse to do any fact-checking then….it will come back again and again and again and again and again and again an again and again.
Don’t understand how scientists use the work “trick”? That’s easy. Ask the scientific community. They’ll tell you themselves.
There’s plenty of sources.
There’s this…
Or the famous science journal “Nature”….
Or the more populist New Scientist magazine…..
Measured average global temperature (agt) anomalies continue to agree with the predictions by the model that I discovered which accurately predicts all average global temperatures since 1895. That model predicts a continuation of the temperature downtrend that started about 2005 and reveals that changes to ghgs have no significant effect.
Recently, as shown on slides 7, 8, and 9 at http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/originals/co2_report_july_09.pdf, the measured agt has fallen well below the predictions of the 20 or so GCMs that the IPCC uses that assume that rising CO2 causes rising temperature. The IPCC continues to predict a substantial agt increase.
Maybe the measurements reported by the five (four since Climategate) independent agencies are wrong.
So, Dan – why do you think governments are not paying you and your model any attention?
Hi Ken, I think that comment is pretty low and unnecessary. Whether the government pay the guy or not should not matter. A lot of great discovery were made without government fundings.
I think it’s not hard to find scientists who pass your criteria of good scientists who are also denying AGW.
But I bet you will find other criteria that will exclude them. Either you think the peer-review journal is crap, or that you argue they don’t actually work, etc.
My point is that, from what I’ve been reading, this topic seems to be too politicized rather than real scientific. This is true for both camps.
I don’t believe the science is settle at all. Nor I think science should settle for anything for that matter.
Hardly Rabid | December 11, 2009 at 5:57 pm |
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
Global Warming is happening, IRRESPECTIVE of CO2 levels and human activity. That mankind is completely responsible for global warming is the agenda-riddled universal deceit.
Poptech | December 11, 2009 at 8:40 pm |
Cedric, the list has not been picked clean, it has not even been touched. Greenfyre’s lies about the list does not make it refuted. Repeating lies about the counting methods used or that certain journals were not peer-reviewed does not make it true.
He posted Blog posts, wikis and Youtube “rebuttals” to peer-reviewed papers. That is not how the scientific process is done, it is done through the peer-review process of comment submission allowing the author to defend the paper with a reply to the comment.
Sorry but Greenfyre is an embarrassment and has done nothing but make himself looked like a fool. The list is intact and more papers are added everyday (now well over 450).
Measured average global temperature (agt) anomalies continue to agree with the predictions by the model that I discovered which accurately predicts all average global temperatures since 1895
Then go forth you champion of truth and honesty, you!
Stop hiding away on blogs and commenting on posts.
Tell the world.
Enter the scientific arena.
Publish that paper.
Claim your Nobel prize.
Then find ’em.
How hard can it be?
What exactly is your criteria of a “good” scientist.
Is it mysteriously different from mine?
Either you think the peer-review journal is crap, or that you argue they don’t actually work, etc.
Well, either the journal is a crappy journal or..it isn’t.
Word quickly gets around.
Reputations, remember?
That’s very easy to establish one way or another.
It’s not up to me.
Take “Nature” for example.
Doesn’t matter what my personal judgement of the journal is.
It’s as plain as day that any scientist would mud-wrestle their own grandmother to get a paper published in that journal.
Nature is “the big time”.
Doesn’t get more prestigious than Nature.
Even most non-scientists have heard of Nature.
As for their work, well that’s even easier.
That’s also a matter of public record.
Either we’re dealing with scientists that are
doing the work or they are not.
I find out if they have done the work by looking at their peer-reviewed track record and their active research.
That’s what smart, educated people do who don’t want to be flim-flammed.
It’s like buying a second-hand car.
You have to have a system to weed out the lemons.
You have to kick the tyres. Take it for a test drive. Get it inspected by a licenced, independent mechanic. Have the car dealer checked out and see if they are reputable.
Insist on seeing the service logs.
You, however, don’t seem to want to do any of that.
There are always going to be contrarians, nay sayers and crackpots on any scientific topic.
Any scientific topic at all, no matter how mundane or routine.
Vaccinations, HIV, evolution, dowsing, psychics, geocentricism, breathairianism, 9-11 truthers etc.
Shake the tree of any scientific topic, look hard enough and a few outliers will always come out of the woodwork.
How does the average layman objectively sort out the wheat from the chaff?
You don’t have a system or, if you do have a system, you don’t seem to want to share it.
My point is that, from what I’ve been reading, this topic seems to be too politicized rather than real scientific.
Well, that’s probably because you are avoiding scientific sources like the plague and sticking exclusively to political sources for your information.
You are going to places that tell you only what you want to hear.
Hence “Amercianthinker” and the Poptart list of 450 that swept you off your feet and made you feel all warm and runny inside.
You are credulous.
The idea of vetting your sources is an alien concept to you.
When was the last time you got your science information un-predigested by a political pundit?
Why not cut out the middle-men?
Don’t get your science news third-hand.
When was the last time you went straight to the source and found out what NASA thought about global warming?
Or the Royal Society?
Or the British Antarctic Survey?
Or the USGS?
My bet would be that you’re not even aware that these scientific communities even have web-sites set up to inform the general public.
Do a google search. Be daring.
Challange your preconceptions.
Do five minutes of your own, independent research focusing on non-political sources of scientific information.
Go for the most famous, most respected, most hard working scientific communities on the planet.
Find out what they have to say.
Poptech | December 12, 2009 at 1:56 am |
There are many credible scientists who do not support AGW alarmism,
A. Alan Moghissi, Ph.D. Physical Chemistry, Former Director, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Bioenvironmental Division, USA
Adriano Mazzarella, Ph.D. Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Naples, Italy
Aksel C. Wiin-Nielsen, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Geophysical Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Albrecht Glatzle, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Biology, University of Hohenheim, Germany
Alexander Gumen, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Environmental Geology and Geophysics, University of Gomel, Russia
Alfred H. Pekarek, Ph.D. Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science, St. Cloud State University, USA
Allan M.R. MacRae, B.Sc., M.Eng., P.Eng, Canada
Allen Simmons, BSEE, Former Computer Modeler and Weather Satellite Engineer, NASA, USA
Alois Haas, Ph.D. D.Sc. Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Amy Kaleita, Ph.D. Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, USA
Andreas Prokoph, Ph.D. Professor of Earth Science, University of Ottawa, Canada
Andrei Kapitsa, Ph.D. Professor of Geography, Moscow State Lomonosov University, Russia
Anthony R. Lupo, Ph.D. Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Missouri, USA
Antonino Zichichi, Ph.D. President of the World Federation of Scientists, Italy
Arun D Ahluwalia, Ph.D. Professor of Geology, Panjab University, India
Arthur B. Robinson, Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry, Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, USA
Arthur G. Anderson, Ph.D. Physics, USA
Arthur V. Douglas, Ph.D. Professor of Atmospheric Science, Creighton University, USA
Arthur Rorsch, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Molecular Genetics, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Atholl Sutherland Brown, Ph.D. Geology, Former Chief Geologist of the British Columbia Geological Survey, Canada
Ben Herman, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science, University of Arizona, USA
Benjamin D. Pearson, B.S. Physics, USA
Bill Collins, Ph.D. Professor of Earth Science, James Cook University, Australia
Bjarne Andresen, Ph.D. Theoretical Chemistry, Professor of Physics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Bob Durrenberger, Retired Climatologist, Former President of the American Association of State Climatologists, USA
Boris Winterhalter, Ph.D. Professor of Marine Geology, University of Helsinki, Finland
Brian G. Valentine, Ph.D. Chemical Scientist, U.S. Department of Energy, USA
Brian Pratt, Ph.D. Professor of Sedimentology and Paleontology, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Bruce Borders, Ph.D. Professor of Forest Biometrics, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, USA
Bruce N. Ames, Ph.D. Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Bruno Wiskel, B.Sc. Geology, Canada
Bryan Leyland, M.Sc. Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, New Zealand
Burt Rutan, B.S. Aeronautical Engineering, D.Sc. (honoris causa), USA
Carl Johan Friedrich (Frits) Böttcher, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Physical Chemistry, University of Leiden, The Netherlands
Charles Gelman, B.S. Chemistry, M.S. Health Science, USA
Charles Hammons, Ph.D. Applied Mathematics, Software Engineer, USA
Charles R. Anderson, Ph.D. Physics, USA
Chris de Freitas, Ph.D. Professor of Environmental Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Christiaan Frans van Sumere, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, University of Gent, Belgium
Christoph C. Borel, Ph.D. Electrical and Computer Engineering, USA
Christopher Essex, Ph.D. Professor of Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario, Canada
Christopher Landsea, Ph.D. Atmospheric Science, USA
Claude Allegre, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Earth Science, University Paris, France
Cliff Ollier, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Earth and Geographical Science, University of Western Australia, Australia
Clinton H. Sheehan, Ph.D. Professor of Physics, Ouachita Baptist University, USA
Colin Barton, Ph.D. Earth Science, Australia
Craig D. Idso, M.S. Agronomy, Ph.D. Geography, Chairman, Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, USA
Craig Loehle, Ph.D. Mathematical Ecology, USA
Dan Carruthers, M.Sc. Wildlife Biology Consultant, Animal Ecology in Arctic and Subarctic Regions Specialist, Canada
Daniel B. Botkin, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Marine Biology, University of California, USA
David Deming, Ph.D. Professor of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, USA
David E. Wojick, Ph.D. Mathematical Logic, USA
David Evans, B.E. Electrical Engineering, B.Sc. Applied Mathematics and Physics, M.A. Applied Mathematics, M.S. Electrical Engineering, M.S. Statistics, Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Carbon Accounting Modeller, Australia
David G. Aubrey, B.S. Geological Science, Ph.D. Oceanography, USA
David G. Gee, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences, Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
David Gray, Ph.D. Professor of Engineering, Messiah College, USA
David H. Douglass, Ph.D. Professor of Physics, University of Rochester, USA
David J. Ameling, B.A. Physics, USA
David J. Bellamy, B.Sc. Ph.D. C.Biol. FIBiol. Professor of Botany, Nottingham University, UK
David Kear, Ph.D. Geology, New Zealand
David L. Hill, Ph.D. Physics, USA
David Nowell, M.Sc. Meteorology, Royal Meteorological Society, Canada
David R. Legates, Ph.D. Professor of Climatology, University of Delaware, USA
David R. B. Stockwell, Ph.D. Ecosystem Dynamics, Research Scientist, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, USA
Dennis P. Lettenmaier, Ph.D. Professor of Hydrology, University of Washington, USA
Dick Thoenes, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Don J. Easterbrook, Ph.D. Professor of Environmental Geology, Western Washington University, USA
Don Parkes, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Geography, University of Newcastle, Australia
Donald G. Baker, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Soil, Water & Climate, University of Minnesota, USA
Donn Dears, B.S. Engineering, USA
Doug L. Hoffman, Ph.D. Computer Science, Environmental Modeler, USA
Douglas V. Hoyt, Retired Solar Physicist and Climatologist, USA
Duncan Wingham, Ph.D. Professor of Climate Physics, University College London, UK
Eckhard Grimmel, Ph.D. Professor of Geography, University of Hamburg, Germany
Eduardo Tonni, Ph.D. Professor of Paleontology, University of La Plata, Argentina
Edward Wegman, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Computational Statistics, George Mason University, USA
Edwin X. Berry, Ph.D. Atmospheric Physics, AMS, CCM, USA
Eigil Friis-Christensen, Ph.D. Geophysics, Director of the Danish National Space Center, Denmark
Eric S. Posmentier, Professor of Earth Science, Dartmouth, USA
Ernst-Georg Beck, M.Sc. Biology, Germany
Eugene N. Parker, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, USA
Everett Burts, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Biological Science, Washington State University, USA
F. James Cripwell, B.A. Natural Science (Honours Physics), Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK
Ferenc Miskolczi, Atmospheric Physicist, Hungary
Fred Goldberg, Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Sweden
Frederick A. Michel, Ph.D. Professor of Earth Science, Carlton Universityy, Canada
Fred W. Decker, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science, Oregon State University, USA
Freeman Dyson, Professor Emeritus of Physics, Princeton University, Lorentz Medal 1966, Max Planck Medal 1969, USA
Gabriel T. Csanady, Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Australia
Garth W. Paltridge, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia
Gary D. Sharp, Ph.D. Marine Biology, USA
Gary Novak, M.S. Microbiology, USA
Geoff L. Austin, Ph.D. Professor of Physics, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Geoffrey G. Duffy, Ph.D. Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Auckland, New Zealand
George E. McVehil, B.A. Physics, M.S. Ph.D. Meteorology, USA
George E. Smith, B.Sc. Physics and Mathematics, Lecturer, University of Auckland, Australia
George H. Taylor, State Climatologist of Oregon, Professor of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, USA
George Kukla, Special Research Scientist of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, USA
George V. Chilingarian, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Environmental Engineering, University of Southern California , USA
George Wilhelm Stroke, Ph.D. Physics, France
Gerd-Rainer Weber, M.Sc. Atmospheric Science, Ph.D. Meteorology, Germany
Gerhard Gerlich, Ph.D. Professor of Physics, Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina, Germany
Gerrit J. van der Lingen, Ph.D. Geology and Paleontology, New Zealand
Glenn E. Shaw, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Physics, University of Alaska, USA
Göran Ahlgren, Ph.D. Organic Chemistry, Sweden
Gordon E. Swaters, Ph.D. Professor of Applied Mathematics and Physical Oceanography, University of Alberta, Canada
Gordon J. Fulks, Ph.D. Physics, USA
Graham Smith, Professor of Geography, University of Western Ontario, Canada
Guy LeBlanc Smith, Ph.D. Geology, Australia
H. Grant (H.G.) Goodell, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science, University of Virginia, USA
H. Leighton Steward, M.S. Geology, USA
Habibullo Abdussamatov, D.Sc. Head of the Space Research Laboratory of the Pulkovo Observatory, Russia
Hajo Smit, M.S. Environmental Science, Former Member, Dutch IPCC committee, The Netherlands
Hal W. Lewis, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
Hans Erren, B.Sc. Geology and Physics, M.Sc. Geophysics, The Netherlands
Hans Jelbring, Ph.D. Climatology, Sweden
Hans Schreuder, Analytical Chemist, UK
Harrison H. (Jack) Schmitt, Ph.D. Geology, Former NASA Astronaut, USA
Harry N.A. Priem, Professor Emeritus of Isotope and Planetary Geology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Hartwig Volz, Geophysicist, RWE Research Lab, Germany
Heinz Hug, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Organic Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry, University of Mainz, Germany
Hendrik Tennekes, Former Director of Research, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, The Netherlands
Henrik Svensmark, Ph.D. Director of the Center for Sun-Climate Research, Danish National Space Center, Denmark
Henry R. Linden, Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, USA
Howard C. Hayden, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of Connecticut, USA
Howard Maccabee, Ph.D. Biophysics, USA
Hugh W. Ellsaesser, Ph.D. Meteorology, USA
Ian Bock, Ph.D. D.Sc. Biological Science, Denmark
Ian D. Clark, Ph.D. Professor of Earth Science, University of Ottawa, Canada
Ian R. Plimer, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
Indur M. Goklany, Ph.D. Science and Policy Analyst, U.S. Department of the Interior, Former Principal Author, IPCC, USA
Ivar Giaever, Ph.D. Physics, Nobel Prize in Physics 1973, Norway
J. Floor Anthoni, Ph.D. Computer Science, New Zealand
J. Scott Armstrong, B.A. Applied Science, B.S. Industrial Engineering, Ph.D. MIT, USA
Jack Barrett, Ph.D. Physical Chemistry, UK
Jack Welch, B.S. M.S. Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, USA
Jacques Robin, Ph.D. Professor of Computer Science, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brazil
James A. Peden, B.S. Physics and Mathematics, M.S. Experimental Physics, Atmospheric Scientist, USA
James Brooks, Ph.D. Geophysics, Australia
James Goodridge, Retired California State Climatologist, USA
James J. O’Brien, Ph.D. Meteorology, USA
James R. Stalker, Ph.D. Atmospheric Science, USA
James W. Buckee, Ph.D. Astrophysics, Canada
Ján Veizer, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Earth Science, University of Ottawa, Canada
Jarl R. Ahlbeck, D.Sc. Professor of Environmental Engineering, Abo Akademi University, Finland
Jay H. Lehr, Ph.D. Environmental Science, USA
Jasper Kirkby, Particle Physicist at CERN, Switzerland
Jeffrey A. Glassman, Ph.D. Applied Physicist and Engineer, USA
Jens Olaf Pepke Pedersen, Senior Scientist, Center for Sun-Climate Research, Danish National Space Center, Denmark
Jennifer Marohasy, Ph.D. Biology, Australia
Joanne Simpson, Ph.D. Meteorology, Retired Chief Scientist,rei Earth Sun Exploration Division, NASA, USA
Joel M. Kauffman, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, USA
Joel Schwartz, B.S. Chemistry, M.S. Planetary Science, USA
John Blethen, Ph.D. Physics, Nuclear Physicist, USA
John Brignell, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Electronics & Computer Science, University of Southampton, UK
John E. Gaynor, M.S. Meteorology, USA
John E. Oliphant, B.A. Mathematics and Physics, M.S. Meteorology, USA
John K. Sutherland, Ph.D. Geology, UK
John Nicol, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Physics, James Cook University, Australia
John R. Christy, Ph.D. Atmospheric Science, Professor of Atmospheric Science, Director of the Earth System Science Center, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Former Lead Author, IPCC, USA
John Reid, Ph.D. Atmospheric Physics, Former Scientist for CSIRO’s Division of Oceanography, Australia
John S. Theon, M.S. Meteorology, Ph.D. Engineering Science, Chief of Climate Processes Research Program, NASA, USA
John W. Bales, Ph.D. Professor of Mathematics and Modeling, Tuskegee University, USA
Jon Jenkins, Ph.D. Computer Modelling and Virology, Australia
Joseph Conklin, M.S. Meteorology, USA
Joseph D’Aleo, M.S. Meteorology, Former Professor of Meteorology, Lyndon State College, USA
Joseph J. Delgado Domingos, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
Joseph (Joe) P. Sobel, Ph.D. Meteorology, USA
Kanya Kusano, Ph.D. Program Director of the Earth Simulator, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology, Japan
Kary Mullis, Ph.D. Biochemistry, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1993, USA
Keith D. Hage, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Meteorology, University of Alberta, Canada
Keith E. Idso, Ph.D. Botany, USA
Kelvin Kemm, Ph.D. Nuclear Physics, South Africa
Ken Gregory, B.A.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, Canada
Kenneth E.F. Watt, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies, University of California, Davis, USA
Kenneth P. Green, D.Env. Environmental Science and Engineering, Expert Reviewer, IPCC, USA
Kevin Van Cott, Ph.D. Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
Kiminori Itoh, Ph.D. Professor of Environmental Metrology, Yokohama National University, Japan
Klaus Wyrtki, Ph.D. Oceanography, Physics, Mathematics, Germany
Kunihiko Takeda, Ph.D. Professor of Science and Technology Research, Chubu University, Japan
Laurence I. Gould, Ph.D. Professor of Physics, University of Hartford, USA
Lee C. Gerhard, Ph.D. Geology, USA
Lee Raymond, Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, USA
Len Walker, Ph.D. Soil Mechanics, Australia
Leonard Weinstein, B.Sc. Physics, Sc.D. Engineering, USA
Louis Hissink, M.Sc. Geology, Australia
Luboš Motl, Ph.D. Theoretical Physics, Czech Republic
Madhav L. Khandekar, B.Sc. Mathematics and Physics, M.Sc. Statistics, Ph.D. Meteorology, Expert Reviewer, IPCC, Canada
Martin Livermore, B.S. Chemistry, UK
Manik Talwani, Ph.D. Physics, USA
Mark P. Mills, B.S. Physics, Canada
Martin Hertzberg, Ph.D. Physical Chemistry, USA
Mel Goldstein, Ph.D. Meteorology, USA
Michael D. Griffin, B.S. Physics, M.S. Applied Physics, Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering, USA
Michael E Adams, Ph.D. Meteorology, USA
Michael Hammer, BE, MEngSc, Engineering Science, Australia
Michael J. Economides, Ph.D. Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston, USA
Michael J. Oard, B.S., M.S. Atmospheric Science, USA
Michael S. Coffman, M.S. Biology, Ph.D. Forest Science, USA
Michael Savage, B.S. Biology, M.S. Anthropology, M.S. Botany, Ph.D. Epidemiology, USA
Michael R. Fox, Ph.D. Physical Chemistry, USA
Miklós Zágoni, Ph.D. Professor of Physics, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
Morgan J. Poliquin, B.A.Sc. Geological Engineering, M.Sc. Geology, Canada
Nathan Paldor, Ph.D. Professor of Dynamical Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Hebrew University, Israel
Noah E. Robinson, Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry, Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, USA
Neil Frank, Ph.D. Meteorology, USA
Nigel Marsh, Senior Scientist, Center for Sun-Climate Research, Danish National Space Center, Denmark
Nils-Axel Mörner, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Palegeophysics and Geodynamics, Stockholm University, Sweden
Nima Sanandaji, Ph.D. Biochemistry, UK
Nir J. Shaviv, Ph.D. Professor of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Norman Brown, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, University of Ulster, UK
Ola M. Johannessen, Professor of Oceanography, University of Bergen, Norway
Olavi Kärner, Ph.D. Atmospheric Physics, Estonia
Oliver K. Manuel, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Chemistry, University of Missouri-Rolla, USA
Oliver W. Frauenfeld, Ph.D. Environmental Science, USA
Paavo Siitam, M.Sc. Agronomy, Canada
Pal Brekke, Ph.D Theoretical Astrophysics, Norwegian Space Center, Norway
Paul C. Knappenberger, M.S. Environmental Sciences, Former Climate Researcher, Virginia State Climatology Office, USA
Paul Copper, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Earth Science, Laurentian University, Canada
Paul Driessen, B.A. Geology and Field Ecology, USA
Paul Reiter, Ph.D. Professor of Medical Entomology, Pasteur Institute, France
Patrick Frank, Ph.D. Chemistry, USA
Patrick J. Michaels, Ph.D. Ecological Climatology, Research Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Former State Climatologist for Virginia, Contributing Author and Reviewer, IPCC, USA
Patrick Moore, B.Sc. Forest Biology, Ph.D. Ecology, Greenpeace co-founder, Canada
Peter R. Odell, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of International Energy Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Peter Stilbs, TeknD (Ph.D.) Physical Chemistry, Sweden
Peter W. Huber, Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, MIT, USA
Petr Chylek, Ph.D. Professor of Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, Canada
Philip J. Klotzbach, Ph.D. Atmospheric Science, Research Scientist, Colorado State University, USA
Philip K. Chapman, B.S. Physics and Mathematics, M.S., Ph.D. Instrumentation, MIT, Former NASA Astronaut, Australia
Philip Lloyd, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Environmental Chemical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Philip Stott, Professor Emeritus of Biogeography, University of London, UK
Piers Corbyn, B.Sc. Physics, M.Sc. Astrophysics, UK
R.G. Roper, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
R. Perry Glaister, Ph.D. Geology, Canada
R. Tim Patterson, Ph.D. Professor of Earth Science, Carleton University, Canada
R. W. Gauldie, Ph.D. Research Professor Emeritus of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Hawaii, USA
Raphael A.J. Wust, M.Sc., Ph.D. Lecturer of Earth Science, James Cook University, Australia
Ralf D. Tscheuschner, Ph.D. Physics, Germany
Ralph B. Alexander, Ph.D. Physics, USA
Randall Cerveny, Ph.D. Geography, USA
Richard A. Keen, Ph.D. Professor of Climatology, University of Colorado, USA
Richard C. Willson, Ph.D. Atmospheric Science, USA
Richard S. Courtney, B.A., DipPhil Material Science, Expert Reviewer, IPCC, USA
Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Atmospheric Science, MIT, Former Lead Author, IPCC, USA
Richard T. McNider, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science, University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA
Rob Scagel, M.Sc., Forest Microclimate Specialist, Canada
Robert C. Balling Jr., Ph.D. Professor of Climatology, Arizona State University, USA
Robert C. Whitten, Physicist, Retired Research Scientist, NASA, USA
Robert E. Davis, Ph.D. Professor of Climatology, University of Virginia, USA
Robert G. Williscroft, B.Sc. Oceanography and Meteorology, M.Sc. Ph.D. Engineering, USA
Robert Giegengack, Ph.D. Professor of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Robert H. Austin, Ph.D. Professor of Physics, Princeton University, USA
Robert H. Essenhigh, M.S. Natural Science, Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, UK
Robert L. Kovach, Professor of Geophysics, Stanford University, USA
Robert M. Carter, Ph.D. Professor of Environmental and Earth Science, James Cook University, Australia
Robin Vaughan, Ph.D. Physics, UK
Roger A. Pielke Sr. Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, USA
Roger A. Pielke Jr. Ph.D. Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA
Roger Bate, M.Sc. Environmental and Resource Management, Ph.D. Economics, UK
Roger W. Cohen, M.S. Ph.D. Physics, USA
Romuald Bartnik, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Organic Chemistry, Univeversity of Lodz, Poland
Roy W. Spencer, Ph.D. Meteorology, Former Senior Scientist for Climate Studies, NASA, USA
S. Fred Singer, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science, University of Virginia, First Director, National Weather Satellite Center, Former Deputy Assistant Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, USA
Sallie Baliunas, M.A. Ph.D. Astrophysics, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA
Sherwood B. Idso, Ph.D. Soil Science, Former Research Scientist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, USA
Simon C. Brassell, B.Sc. Chemistry & Geology, Ph.D. Organic Geochemistry, UK
Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen, Emeritus Reader of Geography and Earth Resources, University of Hull, UK
Stanley B. Goldenberg, M.S. Meteorology, Hurricane Research Division, NOAA, USA
Steve Milloy, B.A. Natural Science, M.S. Health Science, USA
Stephen McIntyre, B.Sc. Mathematics, PPE Oxford University, Canada
Stewart W. Franks, Ph.D. Environmental Science, U.K.
Sylvan H. Wittwer, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Horticulture, Michigan State University, USA
Syun-Ichi Akasofu, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Geophysics, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA
Tad S. Murty, Ph.D. Oceanography and Meteorology, USA
Thomas P. Sheahen, Ph.D. Physics, MIT, USA
Thomas Schmidlin, Ph.D. Professor of Geography, Kent State University, USA
Tim F. Ball, Ph.D. Climatology, Canada
Tom Harris, B. Eng. M. Eng. Mechanical Engineering, Canada
Tom V. Segalstad, Ph.D. Professor of Environmental Geology, University of Oslo, Norway
Ulrich Berner, Geologist, Federal Institute for Geosciences, Germany
Vern Harnapp, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Geography, University of Akron, USA
Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, Ph.D. Researcher, Institute of Geophysics, Department of Solar and Planetary Research, Mexico
Vincent E. Courtillot, Ph.D. Professor of Geophysics, University Denis Diderot, France
Vincent R. Gray, Ph.D. Physical Chemistry, Expert Reviewer, IPCC, New Zealand
Vitaliy Rusov, Ph.D. Professor of Physics, Odessa Polytechnic University, Ukraine
Yuri A. Izrael, D.Sc. Physics and Mathematics, Vice Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Russia
W. Dennis Clark, B.A. Biological Science, Ph.D. Botany, USA
Walter Cunningham, B.S. M.S. Physics, University of California at Los Angeles, USA
Walter Starck, Ph.D. Marine Science, USA
Warren Meyer, B.S. Mechanical Engineering, USA
Warwick Hughes, B.S. Geology, Australia
Wayne Goodfellow, Ph.D. Professor of Earth Science, University of Ottawa, Canada
Wendy M. Novicoff, Ph.D. Professor of Health Evaluation Sciences, University of Virginia, USA
Wibjorn Karlen, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Sweden
William F. Smyth, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, McMaster University, Canada
Willem de Lange, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer of Earth and Ocean Science, Waikato University, New Zealand
William B. Hubbard, Ph.D. Professor of Planetary Atmospheres, University of Arizona, USA
William Bauman, Ph.D. Atmospheric Science, USA
William E. Reifsnyder, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Forest Meteorology and Biometeorology, Yale, USA
William Happer, Ph.D. Professor of Physics, Princeton University, USA
William J.R. Alexander, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Biosystems Engineering, University of Pretoria, South Africa
William M. Briggs, B.S. Meteorology and Math, M.S. Atmospheric Science, Ph.D. Statistics, USA
William M. Gray, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, USA
William R. Cotton, M.S. Atmospheric Science, Ph.D. Meteorology, Pennsylvania State University, USA
Willie Soon, Ph.D. Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA
Wm. Robert Johnston, B.A. Astronomy, M.S. Ph.D. Physics, USA
Wolfgang Thüne, Ph.D. Geography, Germany
Zachary W. Robinson, B.S. Chemistry, Professor of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, USA
Zbigniew Jaworowski, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. Natural Sciences, Poland
The quality of a journal is purely subjective, fraudulent papers have been published in Nature,
Nature – Jan-Hendrik Schon: Scientific fraud found at Bell Labs (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://www.seattlepi.com/business/88624_bell261.shtml
Nature – Luk Van Parijs: MIT Fires Professor Van Parijs for Using Fake Data in Papers (The Tech, MIT)
http://tech.mit.edu/V125/N50/50van_parijs.html
Cedric you are a typical propagandist by attempting to associate nonsense like conspiracy theories with AGW skepticism.
The list of over 450 peer-reviewed papers is science.
“NASA”, the “Royal Society” [insert scientific organization] do not have any “collective” thought on Global Warming.
Please provide me with a scientific survey or poll of the scientific organization you prefer that proves all the members support AGW theory.
Your appeals to authority are shallow and go no further than an organization’s handful of council members who release position statements.
The more people actually dig, the more they will realize how illusive the imaginary “consensus” really is.
Walter E. Haas | December 12, 2009 at 10:18 pm |
Do not beat around the bush.Any fool knows the climate is changing.Scientist are whores in many cases as atomic bombs on Japan proved.HAARP is the question.Is it also a political weapon.There is reason to believe it is and has been used to cause O Zone depletion,
earthquakes,floods,poles change,etc.Do I need to go further.Were is the logic with half truth.If the fools caused climate change should they also be rewarded for their criminal acts.This is a dilemma.Enslavement of nations for fascist dictatorship.Start using your common sense rather than the fools logic as it makes you one.
Walter E. Haas Search Google.com
Read The Satanic Central Banksters Monetary Enslavement System 3 Sept 09 at Walter E. Haas——————————————– Search
Google.com,or Socia-Economic History Blog-BackType, and my other topic comments to get your heads on right because you seem to have lost
them.Hello.
Walter E. Haas God Bless America, Marry Christmas and Happy New year.
Robert G. Williscroft, PhD | December 16, 2009 at 7:48 am |
I would like to add some clarity to the Climate Change Discussion. My name is listed in the above list of scientists who do not accept anthropogenic climate change. First, by way of a disclaimer, I would not characterize myself as a practicing scientist. My qualifications for entering this discussion are that in 1981 I spent 13 months at the South Pole in charge of NSF climate data collection. As such, I participated in the analysis, but was not responsible for publishing the results. That was done by the scientists in charge of the various projects.
ALL the data I and may others collected at that time pointed to human caused climate change. There appeared to be a measurable increase in global temperature, and there was absolutely no question that there was a distinct human element in the dramatic increase in CO2. Based on our understanding of basic climate models our understanding was that CO2 and other gases supported an atmospheric greenhouse, so that when humans dramatically increaser CO2, we were directly responsible for any consequent increase in global temperature.
During the following decade something dramatic happened. Deep ice cores from both Antarctica and Greenland clearly indicated that historically temperature changes ALWAYS preceded CO2 changes, NOT the other way around, as we thought. Any scientist who has committed himself to following the data has no option but to readdress the entire problem. Since CO2 increases appear to be cause by increases in global temperature, (1) what is the mechanism for these CO2 increases? and (2) what is the mechanism for global temperature increases?
As to the first, the answer came quickly. As the atmosphere warms (from whatever source), the ocean also warms, and gives up some of its stored CO2 – voila! The source for CO2 that follows temperature increases.
As to the source for global temperature increases (and decreases), it turns out that these are primarily driven by four solar cycles ranging from about 1,500 down to eleven years. I won’t go into the details here, but any reader is welcome to email me for further information.
Finally, a recent paper published out of Germany shows unequivocally that there is no atmospheric greenhouse. The entire concept is brought into question in this paper, as the authors clearly demonstrate with relatively basic physics that the underlying model used to explain BOTH a back-yard greenhouse and the so-called atmospheric green house, is completely wrong! Contact me for a copy of the paper – it is an eye-opener. (Science has been wrong in its assumptions before, and will be again. This is just one of those examples.)
The bottom line is that to those of us who are unequivocally willing to follow the data, there appears to be virtually no chance that humans have affected global climate in any meaningful way. Again, I solicit any interested readers to contact me directly for more information.
Ken | December 16, 2009 at 12:54 pm |
Robert – I am quite aware of the ice core data and the fact that temperature changes recorded in them precede CO2 levels. That’s all quite understandable and explained.
Climate change deniers often refer to these facts but they are well accounted for in the understanding of climate scientists.
However, it in no way undermines the idea that CO2 and other greenhouse gases are partly responsible for temperature changes.
(Things are never simple, are they).
The German paper you refer to. What about a reference?
Until I read it I can’t rely on your recommendation or interpretation of its content. Especially as your description seems to counter everything else we know about the effect of such gases on our climate.
But, of course, I am willing to read it.
Ken, no it has not been explained in support of AGW theory but rather excuses have been made for it, mainly at the Fenton Communication’s AGW advocacy website – RealClimate.
Your use of the word denier shows you disinterest in science and instead your ideological beliefs.
Poptech – for a discussion on how I use words like denier and sceptic see Are they sceptics or deniers?.
The relationship between temperature and CO2 in the ice cores neither speaks for or against anthropogenic climate change. However, deniers often grab hold of it to deny that CO2 is a greenhouse gas.
The role of CO2 as a greenhouse gas has been known for a long time – well before ice cores were analysed.
Really, Poptech. it seems to me that you are the one disinterested in science and preferring to use knowledge to arrive at a preconceived belief. Quite contrary to the whole ethos of science.
Robert G. Williscroft, PhD | December 16, 2009 at 8:34 pm |
Actually, Ken, the reverse relationship of CO2 and temperature was a COMPLETE SURPRISE to all of us. The thing you need to understand is that because the variations in CO2 follow temperature variations, CO2 simply cannot be the driving factor for temperature. It’s a pretty simple logical statement, actually.
The whole point here is that CO2 was MISTAKENLY thought to be a “greenhouse gas.” As it turns out (see the paper at the below link), there is no atmospheric greenhouse, and consequently no greenhouse gases.
BTW – I am decidedly NOT a “denier.” I simply go where the data leads me.
For those who are interested, here is a link to the German paper I mentioned above: http://arxiv.org/abs/0707.1161 (If this link doesn’t work, email me directly at rgw@argee.net, and I will email you a copy.) The bottom line of this paper is that our understanding of the “greenhouse effect” anywhere – even back-yard greenhouses – is incorrect. We had assumed that the wavelength of incoming radiation lengthened when it was reradiated by the ground and air inside the glass house, and that the longer wavelengths were blocked by the glass. It turns out this is NOT true. In fact, the ground absorbs the incoming radiation, and the air immediately above it gets part of that heat by convection. The reason the greenhouse heats up is that the warmed air can’t go anywhere. Our atmosphere is not so contained, and any warmed air is immediately taken away by currents, and so there is little or no warming from this effect.
It’s a fascinating paper that I recommend you read. If you are intellectually honest (if you follow the data), you will never see this subject the same again.
Thanks for the link Robert. I’ll download the paper tomorrow but the abstract doesn’t impress me. (The reference to entropy for example). Are there any other workers supporting this idea or are these authors the only ones?
I have no problem with CO2 both acting as a greenhouse gas, and also being released by temperature increases arising from other causes. Consequently, the ice core data is not an argument against the greenhouse properties of CO2.
The greenhouse properties of CO2 arise from it’s fundamental physical/ chemical properties which are well known. They have nothing to do with ice cores or it’s release from the oceans on heating. These factors are independent.
I assure you of my honesty. I am quite prepared to critically consider the evidence and adjust my views accordingly. That’s how I have come to my current (provisionsl) acceptance of the ICPP stand (although I think they may actally underestimate the likely effects we will experience in the future).
By the way, I think your arguments about convection are irrelevant. It is the net energy balance of the earth which is at issue and we rely on radiative effects to emit energy, not convection.
Any comment about this one?
What’s it about, Dean? I can’t comment on something which I can’t access.
Dean | December 16, 2009 at 11:43 pm |
It’s the first of 4 youtube videos from Lord Monckton … very good easy to watch presentation
I would recommend you to watch them … about 8 minutes each video
Poptech | December 17, 2009 at 12:04 am |
Ken – The relationship of CO2 in ice cores speaks to the historic correlation that CO2 has never driven the climate. It raises great doubts about the true greenhouse effect of CO2, especially about any alleged sensitivity of the climate system due to an increase in CO2. Remeber the sensitivity of the climate via CO2 is where the greatest amount of debate is at. The IPCC’s accepted physics of CO2 attribution is a logarithmic function where any increase has less and less of an effect. Standard calculations based on IPCC accepted physics is +0.5 degree increase in temperature for a doubling of CO2. The wild catastrophic temperature increases are all based on subjective computer modeled forcings that have no relation to the real world.
Your use of the word denier is illogical as none of those listed deny climate change or the potential for a human influence. They however all are skeptical of human CO2 being the primary driver or having any significant influence on the climate.
You need to understand this is not a black and white issue. Saying you believe in a human influence on climate is the equivalent of saying that throwing rocks in the ocean has an effect on wave patterns, the question is how much.
Dean | December 17, 2009 at 12:59 am |
In addition, there is a claim that we must act NOW because within 10-20 years we will not be able to reverse this trend. So this is once in a lifetime chance … ever heard that kind of persuasion elsewhere?
I will be leaving this discussion following this post. When a non-scientist says, “…the abstract doesn’t impress me. (The reference to entropy for example)…” I wonder if there is any value in further discussion. If a person cannot understand the basis of an argument, there is little use in pursuing it with him. Or “I have no problem with CO2 both acting as a greenhouse gas, and also being released by temperature increases arising from other causes. Consequently, the ice core data is not an argument against the greenhouse properties of CO2” Ken, the point is that the ice core data illustrate that CO2 does not drive temperature. What do you not understand about the simple fact that CO2 does NOT drive temperature? You refer to the “The greenhouse properties of CO2 arise from it’s fundamental physical/ chemical properties which are well known.” Again, you entirely miss the point. The ” physical/ chemical properties” to which you refer DO NOT imply any kind of “greenhouse” properties of CO2. I have to infer that you mean because of these physical/ chemical properties CO2 is transparent to incoming insolation, but absorbs the longer wavelength radiation emitted by the warmed earth’s surface. It turns out that this simply is not so!
One of the foundational arguments for an atmospheric greenhouse is that the “captured” energy in the greenhouse gases is reradiated from the stratosphere back into the lower atmosphere, resulting in consequential additional warming above that originally supplied by the insolation. The German paper’s entropy argument steps in here. The universe does not work that way. In the real universe energy always flows from a higher state to a lower state; a heat pump (for this is what we are discussing here) can never move heat from a lower reservoir into a higher one without the application of external work. This is why a refrigerator works. We apply external work to force heat from a lower reservoir (inside the refer) to the warmer outside. But in nature, there is no such external work mechanism (unless you are willing to insert the mystical finger of God into the equation). Try to understand that it is PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE for radiative energy to be redirected back into the atmosphere. Actual experiments (several are described in the German paper) demonstrate that CO2 DOES NOT have the “greenhouse” properties claimed for it. Remember, science is not about consensus, it is about data (facts).
The atmospheric greenhouse concept is a mistaken idea, like phlogiston. It underlies ALL the climate models currently used to predict global temperature. This is the reason they are not making accurate predictions.
(As I wrote at the start of this post, this is my last contribution here. I don’t have time to reeducate the Ken’s of the world. Ken – if you truly have an open mind, then prove it by setting aside your entire mindset in this matter. Reexamine ALL the facts, not just those that seem to support a specific belief.)
Robert – I have seen nothing to indicate that molecules of CO2, H2O, CH4 etc., do not have the vibrational modes I learned about at university. I see nothing to suggest these gases have lost their ability to absorb IR radiation.
Your declaration “It turns out that this simply is not so!” is completely unsupported.
Those fundamental properties are not influenced at all by the ice core data.
You are asking us to accept something contrary to basic chemistry and physics – and yet your only support is personal declaration…I will have a look at the paper you referenced, of course, but I am looking for real evidence – not personal revelation.
Poptech – I have never said I “believe” in a human influence on climate change. However, I do accept the evidence I have seen and the basic conclusions of the IPCC from the literature. These are that current global warming appears unequivocal. And that it is most probable (about 90%) that human activity is contributing to this.
This is good enough for governments to take action.
I suspect the IPCC estimation of future effects actually is an underestimate.
And I also accept that new evidence could lead us to draw different conclusions. And we could debate the relative importance of this problem compared with other problems humanity faces.
I have probably see them as I have watched a few of his lately. My feeling is that he does repeat all the tired old arguments. No point in me getting into them all at this stage.
Which of his arguments specifically impressed you?
Ken – what you learned about at the university is again a logarithmic function of +0.5 degrees for a doubling of CO2. Those experiments have nothing to do with the unrealistic and unproven sensitivity based on computer models.
The 90% certaintity is based 100% on computer models. I am a computer scientist and understand the limitations of computer models, this is why I have absolutely no faith in that number.
You have ZERO evidence that the effects are understated except a religious belief.
I am still waiting for the evidence to support the original conclusions!
Ken you might want to read the following,
The UN Climate Change Numbers Hoax
An example of rampant misrepresentation of IPCC reports is the frequent assertion that ‘hundreds of IPCC scientists’ are known to support the following statement, arguably the most important of the WG I report, namely “Greenhouse gas forcing has very likely caused most of the observed global warming over the last 50 years.”
In total, only 62 scientists reviewed the chapter in which this statement appears, the critical chapter 9, “Understanding and Attributing Climate Change”.
Independent Summary for Policymakers: IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (PDF) (The Fraser Institute)
Robert G. Williscroft, PhD | December 17, 2009 at 10:54 am |
Although I wrote that I would not post again here, I feel compelled to make several short comments:
Ken: “I have seen nothing to indicate that molecules of CO2, H2O, CH4 etc., do not have the vibrational modes I learned about at university. I see nothing to suggest these gases have lost their ability to absorb IR radiation.” I am not sure what you mean by “vibrational modes,” but this terminology nails down my presumption that you are not scientifically trained. The term “absorption” only applies within the general laws of physics, and in this case, we are dealing with the flow of heat, which can NEVER move from a place of lower heat to a place of higher heat. The question is not whether gases can absorb energy, but what happens to such absorbed energy, and where it goes. On the earth, it is radiated back into space, and is NOT retained. This is the fundamental error of the climate models. Although I did not give specific references in my earlier post, they are all contained in the German paper that I referenced. I have made no pronouncements – everything I wrote is contained in great detail in that paper.
Ken: “Your declaration “It turns out that this simply is not so!” is completely unsupported.” This is NOT a scientific dissertation. I commented that there really is no atmospheric greenhouse, and pointed to the German paper for the details. As I pointed out above, I did not make any “unsupported declarations.”
Ken: “Those fundamental properties are not influenced at all by the ice core data.” You seem to miss the point every time. This is NOT about any “fundamental properties” of CO2. It is about a simple previously unknown fact that O2 apparently is not the driving factor in atmospheric temperature. (Although I did not give any sources, there is a great deal of evidence that it is driven by solar variations. Email me for specific information on this.)
Ken: “You are asking us to accept something contrary to basic chemistry and physics…” I did nothing of the kind. It is you, Ken, who is waving around words like “…fundamental physical/ chemical properties which are well known…” Assumptions like this are what has caused the problem in the first place. Had anyone (me included) bothered to bounce the assumptions of an atmospheric greenhouse against fundamental physics (basically against thermodynamics), we would never have gotten ourselves into this fix in the first place. The German paper does this, and the conclusions are unequivocal – thermodynamics laws prohibit the basic interactions that are assumed and built into the climate computer models. This is a humongous OOPS! I missed it in the early 1980s, and so has nearly everyone else since then.
The ice core CO2 data caused me and a lot of other researchers to question the models, but even then we missed the thermodynamic connection. I am embarrassed, but willing to admit it. A lot of researchers are in complete denial, to their ultimate discredit.
Poptech – my training was in chemistry so I am referring to the basic properties of these gases – not to any climate change model (I didn’t study in that area).
Any prediction of the future effects must of course be based on computer models – and I am quite aware of the inherent problems, having contributed through my research to some of the agriculture nutrient modeling.
I am aware of the huge variability in predictions because of different assumptions, different inputs, etc.,
However, governments are quite used ot working with these sorts of uncertainties. After all they use economic models which, I suggest, are far more unreliable.
My gut feeling of the IPCC predictions being understated have nothing to do with religion (have a look around here – I have no beliefs in religion). It is based on reading and listening to lectures and presentations which suggest to me that we now know more than was considered at the last IPCC assessment. And this new information suggests some effects which were not considered by the IPCC.
Robert – my training is in chemistry. This teaches me that the vibrational modes of these molecules are responsible for their absorption of radiation in the IR region. Nothing you have presented has contradicted this (and I am sure I would have heard about it if any evidence had).
I have downloaded the paper you refer to (it’s very long!) and will have a look at relevant bits. My impression though is that the problem is that it assumes a model (you refer to it as a heat pump) which just isn’t applicable to the situation of the earth. I don’t (yet) see any thermodynamic conflict with current understanding of the effect of greenhouse gases.
Scott W. Somerville | December 17, 2009 at 11:26 am |
Dr. Williscroft has definitely expanded MY horizons. I started in on the German paper, knowing that my German is pretty rusty but hoping I could follow it. I quickly realized (a) it is in English and (b) I don’t have the math to follow it. So here’s my common-sense check of what he’s claiming…
IF Dr. Williscroft is correct about the way the “greenhouse effect” works (or doesn’t work), one would expect the AIR in a greenhouse to be warmer than the GLASS. If, by contrast, a greenhouse works the way I have always assumed it does, the inner surface of the glass in a greenhouse should be the hotter than the air it touches. That is because the GLASS is absorbing infrared radiation, converting it to heat, and warming the air it touches.
Can anybody tell me whether the glass is warmer than the air?
Ken – It is not possible that you are a chemist. Any chemist understands what a heat pump is, and you clearly do not. It is NOT a model. It is a descriptive term that refers to how heat moves in thermodynamic systems, such as our atmosphere. The basic laws of physics do not allow any energy movement from a lower heat reservoir to a higher heat reservoir unless there is some input of outside work to drive things in that direction. Left alone, energy always moves from the higher heat reservoir to the lower one. This is true in a teacup (the tea gets cold – it can only heat up if you add heat to the system), in the oceans (when the air gets cold, the warmer water gives up its heat to the air, and the water eventually freezes), in a refrigerator (the compressor-motor removes heat from inside the refrigerator and gives it up to the outside air, and this works because the compressor-motor adds work to the system), and the earth-atmosphere system (where the CO2 that may or may not have absorbed some radiant IR, is incapable of giving up that energy to the warmer earth’s surface; it can only radiate it into space).
This thermodynamic reality (called the second law of thermodynamics) is one of the fundamental characteristics of our universe. It applies everywhere. Your belief that the heat pump analogy of our atmospheric heat engine “… just isn’t applicable to the situation of the earth…” is ignorant beyond belief. It is the equivalent to believing that it is possible to build a perpetual motion machine.
You think clearly, Scott! Your question is exactly on point, and you will discover that the glass is at the ambient temperature of the outside (or nearly so). This experiment is described in the paper.
You can effectively read the paper without going through the math. A purist would say you can’t really understand it without doing so, but I believe that you are more than equipped to read up to the equations, and then to skip over them to the summations of what they show.
The paper was written with the intelligent layperson in mind. You will find it enlightening.
I did not read all comments,but I did not see mention of HAARP.We know that climate change is caused by man.The question to what degree,and by what methods.I realize that one may be reluctant to talk about HAARP.This is the problem status quo only wants to talk its way.This is the message that no one wants to hear.High tech devices to control weather can cause harm to the climate.This is probable cause as extreme change in short period of time has resulted.O-Zone depletion results in increase radiation resulting in reduction of land mass,etc.We know the weather has change world wide.We know there are cycles.From observation one can conclude the weather has change in extreme as result of industrial growth,over population,and both natural causes,and man made causes by man in some cases involving secret technology which did and did not respond as desired,and this being a dominant factor.Data available by who and for what motive.Other aspects and possibilities not considered is not scientific research in sense of not recognizing unknown factor.Of course you all know this,or should.
Walter E. Haas search Google^Com
Ken – The computer climate models are an absolute joke. Look at the code that was released with the hacked emails, it fails even elementary coding standards. None of this was any surprise to me as I have dealt with natural scientists at universities who “write” programs in FORTRAN and such. The fact that governments are placing their faith in virtual reality is appalling.
Economic models are just as worthless as climate models. People falsely believe that if you change the name of the code and have a bunch of natural science PhD’s behind it, somehow computers stop working how they always have. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Computer climate models have never been validated or subject to any independent audit.
Useless Arithmetic: Ten Points to Ponder When Using Mathematical Models in Environmental Decision Making (PDF)
(Public Administration Review, Volume 68, Issue 3, pp. 470-479, March 2008)
– Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, Orrin H. Pilkey
No, Robert – you don’t understand my educational background, qualifications or expertise. It is silly to sink to the level of attacking me on that basis. Much more sensible to deal with evidence.
As I said, I will read this paper you recommend – or at least the relevant parts. Personally, from the abstract, I think it is faulty – and that is why I asked you if anyone else had published along these lines.
I guess they haven’t – as you did not provide any other references. That makes me all the more suspicious of this paper.
I am aware that it is currently being critiqued – here is a proposed part of an abstract for a refuting paper:
“Gerlich and Tscheuschner have published a polemic, full of error, irrelevancy, fulmination and accusation, in the International Journal of Modern Physics B. Long known from its arXiv versions, and well refuted, it is difficult to understand how their paper could appear, however, recent history has shown that such papers are occasionally published where editors and referees are not familiar with the underlying science, or themselves are outliers with respect to the field in which the paper lies. This is often the case where expertise in one area is generalized to arrogance about another. A refutation is needed lest anyone be mislead. This manuscript concentrates on the physical basis of their argument. Supplementary material deals with G&T in detail. The first forty or so pages of G&T are devoted to showing that the greenhouse effect has nothing in common with how a glass greenhouse works, a commonplace dealt with in every introductory atmospheric science course. A simple paragraph would have sufficed. Concisely, greenhouses work by restricting the outward flow of energy by convection, the greenhouse effect limits the flow of energy to space by radiation. In both cases, the system heats in order to restore the balance between the inward and outward flow of energy. etc for a bit”
This suggests that the garden greenhouse has been taken as a “straw man” to argue against the atmospheric “greenhouse” – which is well known not to operate the same way.
Another assessment of this paper (from real climate) is:
“It’s garbage. A ragbag of irrelevant physics strung together incoherently”
So obviously controversial. Apparently not supported by any other published work (correct me here Robert if I am wrong – I am only basing this on your non-response to my question). And getting refutation in the literature (see article in German, Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects and Proof of the Atmospheric Greenhouse Effect).
As, I said, I will read at least some of this paper – but will also read those other papers which are relevant. And at least some of these are very critical.
Some further discussion of the Gerlich and Tscheuschner paper:
Global warming falsified – allegedly
Ken – None of that is a refutation in the literature. Those are all blogs. The one paper you listed is not peer-reviewed and refuted.
Comments on the “Proof of the atmospheric greenhouse effect” by Arthur P. Smith (PDF)
(arXiv:0904.2767v3)
– Gerhard Kramm, Ralph Dlugi, Michael Zelger
Gerlich and Tscheuschner brought out the entire range of fanatical believers, people with a proven propensity for NOT following the data, but instead altering the data to fit their preconceptions. Ken, by hauling out these silly “refutations,” you are only reaffirming your position as a “true believer.”
By the way, I did not attack you. I simply noted that anyone who claims that somehow our planet is not subject to the second law of thermodynamics has serious problems understanding even the most elementary science concepts. You speak of reading the relevant parts of Gerlich and Tscheuschner, but I’m not sure you are capable of determining which parts are relevant. From your comments, it appears that you consider anything relevant if it tends to support your “belief system.” That’s simply not how science works. That’s exactly what the “Intelligent Design” people do, and it’s just as wrong (and silly) when you do this as when they do it.
You have not addressed even one of the arguments I presented about heat pumps, and the underlying nature of the so-called “greenhouse” model (for anything). You appear incapable of understanding that (1) the ice core data completely negates the assumed dependence of temperature on CO2 levels; (2) the atmospheric greenhouse has been completely deconstructed by the arguments in Gerlich and Tscheuschner; and (3) there is an entirely reasonable explanation for global temperature changes based on solar output, one that has stood every test thrown at it (thus far, at least).
The solar output explanation predicts that starting about now, and peaking about 2020, global temperatures will decrease significantly, so that the east coast rivers and the Great Lakes will freeze each winter, and we will experience something akin to the “little ice age” of about 1,500 years ago.
Here’s hoping you will live sufficiently long to see this happen.
Ken, now you are linking to forums? Come on.
My links to discussion of the (not peer-reviewed at Robert’s link , by the way) Gerlich and Tscheuschner paper was to show that it is controversial. It is, also I think because of Robert’s lack of answer, also very much a minority (1 paper?) view.
Therefore open-minded people should read the whole discussion – not make up their mind beforehand.
I know this is often how it works, though. People search around for data and references to support their own preconceived beliefs. And this climate change issue brings out such people – doesn’t it?
Yes, Robert – I understand the 2nd law (it’s fundamental in chemistry) – and I also understand how ideologically motivated people will screw around with it to makes outlandish claims. Such as that it means evolution is impossible.
These are incorrect and simple-minded applications.
From my initial glance I think these authors may have been trying to apply this law to only part of the system – a common mistake used by ideologically motivated people.
However, give me a chance. The papers 100 pp longs, one of the refuting papers is the same length (and in German) And there is quite a lot of discussion on this paper which has been kicking around for a few years now in one form or another.
Until I have looked into this my current understanding stands. Nothing you, Robert, or Poptech have said changes my understanding of the chemistry/physics involved and therefore the current assessment by the IPCC.
The paper is peer-reviewed.
Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within The Frame Of Physics (PDF)
(International Journal of Modern Physics B, Volume 23, Issue 03, pp. 275-364, January 2009)
– Gerhard Gerlich, Ralf D. Tscheuschner
Ken, you say you want to read the whole discussion yet appear to have not done that.
Your understanding of physics and chemistry, which is a doubling of CO2 will increase temperatures +0.5 degrees has nothing to do with the conclusions of the IPCC report. You do realize that all of the attribution of climate change to man-made CO2 and hysterical temperature rises are based on unvalidated computer climate models?
Poptech – I did say “not peer-reviewed at Robert’s link” and I am aware that it has got into this particular journal. I am also aware that there is controversy about it and the degree of review for such papers.
However, it is extremely telling that neither you or Robert can quote any other paper which suupports them. It seems, as far as i can tell – a loner.
That’s indicative of something.
However, as I said, I will give it a chance and read it at least in part) as well as the comments on it.
My understanding of chemistry and physics has nothing to do with “a doubling of CO2 will increase temperatures +0.5 degrees” – don’t be silly.
I am aware of the changes in assessment of the effects of doubling CO2 from originally at 5 degrees (in the early days without computers) to a (lower) range now. None of this conflicts with my understanding of chemistry and physics.
Evidence – not dogma and mantra.
Yes there is “controversy” about the review of any paper that is skeptical AGW theory and if you looked into the emails you will see why! You have IPCC scientists intentionally trying to blackmail the editors of journals who published skeptical papers. For anyone to say this is not a serious problem is not being objective.
In regards to Gerlich’s paper it was just published this year.
You seem to believe subjective virtual reality “evidence” and appeals to authority are all the evidence you need. I on the other hand want empirical evidence.
But lets say for the sake of argument that the Greenhouse effect and the basic physics relating to CO2 on climate are correct. That only gives you a +0.5 degree warming from a doubling of CO2. The rest is all based on faith in non-computer scientists writing gibberish FORTRAN code that has never been audited or validated, fails basic commercial programming standards to predict the future. Forgive me but since I am not religious, I do not share your faith.
That paper had been hanging around for a while at arxiv.org. It got into the jounral earlier this year and we might expect papers refuting it in jounrals in the coming year.
Now you are trying to invent a conspiracy tpo explain why there is no support for the paper. Come off it.
Yes, I am a great supporter of empoirical evidence as well. And I recognise how people select evidence to fit preconceived ideas – it’s a human problem.
Where do you get your +0.5 degree warming from? What empirical support is there for it?
Where have the supporting papers been published? Or is it based on your faith? Is it a dogma in your religion?
I am not inventing a conspiracy, I am asking you to be honest and objective about the contents of the emails.
Time to be honest,
“Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal. We would also need to consider what we tell or request of our more reasonable colleagues who currently sit on the editorial board…”
It has been published,
Limits on CO2 Climate Forcing from Recent Temperature Data of Earth (PDF)
(Energy & Environment, Volume 20, Numbers 1-2, pp. 177-189, January 2009)
– David H. Douglass, John R. Christy
Poptech – have a look at my post Those “climategate” emails.
Ken – you are not even looking at the contents of the emails! You are looking at left-wing biased news reports and comments from scientists on them.
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Climate change emails row deepens as Russians admit they DID come from their Siberian server (Daily Mail)
Oh, I should have added. Have a look at the video above in this post. I think it is excellent.
The emails are not a real issue here in NZ. I myself have been concentrating on the scandalous attacks by denier organizations and there camp followers on our NIWA scientists. That has some important lessons. What about you looking at that issue?
It is only excellent if you don’t have any remote understanding of the emails and are clueless. I’ve never seen so much excuse making in my life. What was being hidden was the fact that the proxy reconstruction diverges from the thermometer measurements. This is huge, since all major claims of the current 20th century warming being unusual in history are based on those reconstructions. Phil Jones intentionally hid this information to get the results that he wanted.
There are only 3 major data series for temperatures, NASA GISS, NOAA and CRU. CRU’s have been exposed as fraudulent and it’s director and researchers intentionally misrepresented and distorted data to push their agenda. The other two are hotly debated.
The emails should be the issue if you even remotely care about the integrity of climate science. It is clear you don’t want to make them an issue because if you did you would have to admit that what those scientists engaged in was unethical, fraudulent and illegal.
Being abusive won’t change reality. You obviosly want to draw unwarranted conclusions from the email fiasco – nothing I say will change your mind. However you are obviously frustrated because governments don’t see it the way you do.
However, what is your take on the NIWA data and the charges made by the Climate Science Coslition, the Climate Conversation Group and our local denier religious apologists?
You obviously want excuses for blatantly obvious things.
Mike’s Nature Trick (Climate Audit)
You don’t even remotely understand what is going on and you are attempting to change my mind? Change it to what? A state of ignorance on what the emails show regarding the divergence issue?
Maybe you support deleting data instead of complying with freedom of information act requests?
“I’m getting hassled by a couple of people to release the CRU station temperature data. Don’t any of you three tell anybody that the UK has a Freedom of Information Act!” – Phil Jones, Director Climatic Research Unit (CRU)
“The two MMs have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I’ll delete the file rather than send to anyone.” – Phil Jones, Director Climatic Research Unit (CRU)
Gareth | December 17, 2009 at 7:44 pm |
With respect “poptech”, you clearly haven’t read the emails, or attempted to understand them in context.
The “divergence” problem wasn’t hidden – papers have been published about it. That discussion was about the form an illustration in an IPCC report should take.
But of course, that’s not what the spinmeisters want you to think, so you won’t find it being discussed in the sources you cite. Out here in the real world (which seems to have a left-wing, liberal bias according to you), we prefer to look at al the data – not just the careful selection made from a huge number of stolen emails.
I’ve read the emails in their context.
Yes it was hidden in the IPCC reports!
IPCC reviewer: “don’t cover up the divergence”
IPCC Reviewer Comment: “Show the Briffa et al reconstruction through to its end; don’t stop in 1960. Then comment and deal with the “divergence problem” if you need to. Don’t cover up the divergence by truncating this graphic. This was done in IPCC TAR; this was misleading”
Reply: “inappropriate to show recent section of Briffa et al. series“
And yes their were papers written about it by SKEPTICS.
The only spin is by those want to deny what was hidden.
Please look at the data, the raw data not what was manipulated by CRU!
Russian IEA claims CRU tampered with climate data – cherrypicked warmest stations
The Smoking Gun At Darwin Zero
Frank M. | December 18, 2009 at 1:19 am |
“The basic laws of physics do not allow any energy movement from a lower heat reservoir to a higher heat reservoir unless there is some input of outside work to drive things in that direction. Left alone, energy always moves from the higher heat reservoir to the lower one.”
This is most certainly utter tosh. No physics textbook I have ever read contained such a statement.
What you presumably have in mind is that the net energy transfer will be from the source of higher energy to the one with lower energy. However, that does not mean that the flow of energy is completely unidirectional.
Consider two separate pieces of metal that lie side by side and get heated to 300°C and 600°C respectively. Both will start to emit radiation. If your statement were true, it would mean that the 600°C metal piece will not absorb a single photon coming from the 300°C metal piece. Which law of nature would dictate such an outcome? Certainly not the second law of thermodynamics.
Now, I have not read the paper in question page by page, but if this is the sort of argument the authors rely on, I can see why it has not caused uproar in the scientific world.
“[…] and the earth-atmosphere system (where the CO2 that may or may not have absorbed some radiant IR, is incapable of giving up that energy to the warmer earth’s surface; it can only radiate it into space). “
First, it is an empirical fact that a carbon dioxide molecule absorbs electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is located in the infrared part of the spectrum. I suggest taking a look in any chemistry text book.
Second, it is simply false that this absorbed radiation can only be released in one direction. This would imply that any single carbon dioxide molecule “knows” its spatial position and that it can consequently decide to emit only “upwards” and not “downwards”, which is ludicrous.
As a matter of fact, the emission will be spatially random; some of it will go out to space, some of it back down to Earth. Of course, the net energy transfer will be from the (warmer) surface to the (cooler) atmosphere, i.e. more energy is flowing from the ground up than the other way around, as the second law of thermodynamics dictates. However, this does not mean that some of the energy coming up from the surface can not be either radiated back down or retained as kinetic, rotational or vibrational energy stored in the molecules of the atmosphere.
Again, if your argumentation were correct, it would imply bizarre consequences:
So let us suppose that all the energy absorbed by the carbon dioxide molecules is exclusively radiated into space. Presumably, a certain amount of these photons would travel in the direction of our sun. Now, what happens once said photons reach the sun? According to you, the molecules located at the surface of the sun would be incapable of absorbing even a single one of these photons, because energy transfer from a source of lower energy to a source of higher energy is physically impossible. But what happens instead? Do the photons get bounced back? Do they fly right through the sun? What?
Frank – It’s silly to spend the time and effort you spent arguing the “truthfulness” of the second law. Of course I was writing about net transfer. My intent was to help those readers unfamiliar with the topic to understand the concept. All you have done is confuse the issue. You set up a straw-man argument and then shot it down. For what purpose? Anyone who takes the time to read Gerlich and Tscheuschner will understand the underlying problem, which is (1) that our presumptions regarding greenhouses are incorrect, and (2) the atmosphere does not behave the way greenhouses really act – there is no atmospheric greenhouse.
It’s silly to argue this. Better to gain an understanding of the problem, and then look for the real mechanism for climate change. Since we’re dealing with fundamental physics in describing how greenhouses work, it’s not quite trivial, but nearly so, to reexamine the back yard greenhouse within the context of actual physics (which is what Gerlich and Tscheuschner have done). When you do this, you quickly realize that greenhouses work by convection and containment. The energy enters through the glass, warms the ground which warms the air, and the warm air cannot get out. It’s that simple, because it’s a small closed system.
The earth is not a small closed system. The presumed mechanism for “greenhouse behavior” that the modelers have built into their models is not plausible when examined as Gerlich and Tscheuschner have done. The models produce incorrect results, which has caused some deeply committed researchers to adjust their raw data to force compliance. That’s what the hacked emails were all about. You will find that the same thing has happened in other quarters as well once all the smoke has cleared.
Theoretical physicists are constantly reexamining their theories as new data come to light. Sometimes the reexamination consists of mere tweaks and nudges. But sometimes it requires a complete rethink of a specific proposed solution to a problem. Einstein and Planc, for example, caused major rethinks, but tweaks are happening virtually every day.
For some reason, the problem of climate change has left the scientific arena. The ice core data posed an insurmountable problem for the current theory. The presently constituted models cannot account for the data. Unfortunately, all the models are based on the mistaken “atmospheric greenhouse.” And that’s the problem. If this were not “climate change,” but were a problem with unpredicted boson behavior, researchers would simply reexamine the theory to find the problem (assuming, of course, that the divergent data are real).
When you apply the same principle here, the problem simplifies to: If CO2 levels do not control climate change (by way of the “atmospheric greenhouse”), then what is the controlling mechanism? Since there is an excellent candidate on the table (solar cycles), we should be expending our efforts in testing this hypothesis instead of wasting time and money defending the failed “atmospheric greenhouse.”
And, I might add, it is stupid beyond reason to initiate world-wide controls based on the failed hypothesis.
Scott W. Somerville | December 18, 2009 at 3:53 am |
I’m trying to follow the flow here without getting drowned–it’s definitely a “drinking from a fire hydrant” experience.
Here’s where I’m at in this discussion. Before the “Climategate” emails, I thought I knew four things that might matter to this discussion:
(1) The earth has gotten warmer over the last half century.
(2) CO2 levels have risen dramatically.
(3) The greenhouse effect raises heat by allowing visible light to travel “in” and trapping infrared radiation on the way “out.”
(4) Nuclear power would reduce CO2 emissions and reduce the global dependence on imported oil.
SINCE the “Climategate” controversy, I have
(a) new doubts about the methods the “experts” use to compute the temperature of the planet, and
(b) new questions about exactly HOW rising CO2 levels contribute to the greenhouse effect.
Ken, I’d LOVE to have you open up a thread on the specific mechanism of the greenhouse effect. I THOUGHT I understood it but now realize I don’t. I’m picking away at this topic on my own over at my blog, but it would be nice to see what the assembled thinkers of Open Parachute can contribute to this topic.
“Frank – It’s silly to spend the time and effort you spent arguing the “truthfulness” of the second law. Of course I was writing about net transfer. My intent was to help those readers unfamiliar with the topic to understand the concept. All you have done is confuse the issue. You set up a straw-man argument and then shot it down.”
You were the one who boldly asserted that the second law of thermodynamics requires a strictly unidirectional flow of energy. You were the one who asserted further that consequently the atmospheric carbon dioxide radiates all its energy into space.
I quoted the pertinent passages verbatim. And now you accuse me of attacking a straw-man? Well, if I did, you were the one setting it up.
So now you claim to talk about net energy flow? Fine. Then I am looking forward to your examples in the peer-reviewed literature and/or the IPCC report showing calculations where the net energy flow as a whole from the atmosphere towards the surface is greater than the other way around.
Skimming through the paper, I found this little gem on page 78. The authors quote the German climatologist Rahmstorf:
“Some `sceptics’ state that the greenhouse effect cannot work since (according to
the second law of thermodynamics) no radiative energy can be transferred from a
colder body (the atmosphere) to a warmer one (the surface). However, the second
law is not violated by the greenhouse effect, of course, since, during the radiative
exchange, in both directions the net energy flows from the warmth to the cold.”
What is their response to this completely obvious fact? Well, here it is:
“Rahmstorf’s reference to the second law of thermodynamics is plainly wrong. The second
law is a statement about heat, not about energy. Furthermore the author introduces an
obscure notion of “net energy flow”. The relevant quantity is the “net heat flow”, which, of course, is the sum of the upward and the downward heat flow within a fixed system, here the atmospheric system. It is inadmissible to apply the second law for the upward and downward heat separately, redefining the thermodynamic system on the fly.”
This is so utterly wrong, one can only wonder how any reviewer could have let it slip by.
First of all, I love their ludicrous distinction between “heat” and “energy”, as if we were talking about two distinct entities here. So I guess if I desire a hot cup of water to make myself some tea, this does not require “energy”, but “heat”. Can you tell me how to produce this magical substance “heat”? Furthermore, those physicists who specialize in statistical mechanics need to be told that their account of the heat of a gas via the kinetic energy distribution of the respective particles is mistaken, since “heat” has nothing to do with “energy”.
Even more laughable is the charge of applying the second law of thermodynamics separately. I am not even sure what on earth they are talking about here. The fact of the matter is that energy is exchanged between the surface and the atmosphere in both directions; however, since more energy flows from the (warmer) surface to the (colder) atmosphere, the second law of thermodynamics is not violated by the process as a whole. What is so difficult to understand about this?
I do not have the motivation to study this paper in any more detail. What I have seen is sufficient information for me to form an opinion on it: It´s crap.
Robert, does it not make you suspicious that this supposedly earth-shattering paper has lingered two years on the arXiv-Server before finally getting published in a low-tier physics journal? That it did not hit the headlines of Nature, Science etc.? That it was written by a non-expert? That it was not taken up by any of the major players in the field? Why do you believe that is?
I suggest you think about these questions.
Frank, I’m trying to figure out whether CO2 gains in “heat” when it absorbs an infrared photon. I know it gains “energy” (because the electron cloud is bumped up to a higher quantum state), but I don’t know whether it gains “heat” or not. Do you know?
Frank– You are still playing games with definitions, even in your “analysis” of Gerlich and Tscheuschner you’re just spinning.
For sake of argument, let’s set aside Gerlich and Tscheuschner for the time being. That leaves (1) the ice core data, (2) the incorrect predictions of current models, (3) the net increase of ice at both poles, etc. If the current models are correct, they must be able to incorporate these data. Since the current models cannot do this, the models have to be modified. If it is possible to so modify them without removing CO2 as a driving factor for temperature, I have not heard about it.
My point is to stop the silly argument, the straw man approaches, the name calling, and all the rest of the BS. Let’s do some real science for a change, and let the chips fall where they may.
FOLLOW THE DATA!
“Frank, I’m trying to figure out whether CO2 gains in “heat” when it absorbs an infrared photon. I know it gains “energy” (because the electron cloud is bumped up to a higher quantum state), but I don’t know whether it gains “heat” or not.”
You are making the same mistake as the authors of this notorious paper did.
On the molecular level, there is no distinction between “heat” and “energy”. “Heat” (or more precisely: “Temperature”) is the (macroscopic) manifestation of the collective energy of an ensemble of (microscopic) molecules or atoms.
At a given temperature T1, the molecules contained within a certain volume of gas will show a certain distribution pattern regarding their kinetic energy (usually approximating a bell-shaped curve). If you heat the gas (i.e. if you pump energy into the system), what will happen is that the distribution pattern at T2 has shifted towards a higher mean kinetic energy. In other words, the bulk of the molecules at T2 will move faster than at T1. Another way of saying the same thing is that the temperature of the gas has increased.
This is all basic stuff, so I suggest you get an introductory textbook on statistical mechanics or physical chemistry from your library if you want to learn more.
Regarding the absorption of IR radiation by carbon dioxide, it is not solely (or even mainly) the electrons that are relevant here, since IR radiation normally has not enough energy to excite electrons (UV and visible light is mainly responsible for this).
Rather, absorption of IR radiation influences the rotational and vibrational modes of a molecule. Again, any basic textbook covers this topic. Or you can start with a wikipedia article on IR spectroscopy.
So, a short answer to your question:
Yes, a carbon dioxide molecule gains “heat” upon absorption of IR radiation in the sense that its kinetic, vibrational and/or rotational energy increases.
You accuse me of playing with definitions, when the authors of the paper you championed try to make a completely bogus distinction between “heat” and “energy”?
Talk about irony.
Regarding your other points about ice core data and climate models:
I am not a climatologist, so I am not in a position to verify the validity or lack thereof of either issue. I will note, however, that the overwhelming majority of experts in the field does not share your view. I will draw my conclusions from this fact.
You will get no argument from me there.
Frank & Ken — My point regarding a straw man argument is that it is a waste of time to argue about the truth of thermodynamic principles – they are what they are. If one writer says something that can be twisted to mean something else, nobody gains by jumping on such a statement. Get in the writer’s head and understand what he is saying – whether or not you agree with him. If his argument is fundamentally flawed, then discuss that flaw.
You don’t have to be a climatologist to understand the dilemma posed by the ice core data. I think every reader here understands that current climate models presume that atmospheric temperature is a function of the amount of CO2 and certain other so-called greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Consequently, the models predict that temperature increases following an increase of CO2 (or one of the other gases). We ALL believed this in the mid 1980s (me included).
But then the ice core data appeared. These data unequivocally show that historically on this planet, CO2 levels rose between a few hundred to a few thousand years following a significant atmospheric temperature increase. Any model of reality must be able to predict accurately anywhere within the experimental envelope. The problem here is that reality apparently does not match the models. Something caused increases and decreases in global temperature, but it decidedly is NOT CO2 or any other atmospheric gas.
This is where intellectually honest scientists go back to the drawing board. First you verify the data. You don’t want to modify a good model because of faulty data. Once you have verified the data, then you go about modifying the model. And here is the current dilemma. A great deal of prestige, money, face, and power depends on the outcome. Is it any wonder that the weaker researchers bowed to pressure and altered their data?
So, as I wrote earlier, let’s set aside the arguments and the BS, and let’s do some real science. Ideally, nobody takes sides, nobody shouts from the rooftops. Instead, we all get down and dirty, and discover what is really happening with our climate.
I also mentioned earlier that a very viable candidate is resting on the table. Solar cycles seem to fit all the data we have right now – even tree ring and ocean core samples. The numbers are pretty impressive and warrant examination by anyone genuinely interested in the truth.
Frank – let me also jumpo on board when you say:
Might I add, though, as a retired chemists, soil scientist, I personally won’t be doing any of the basic climate science. However, I will follow with interest the work being done by these scientists. After all, they are the ones with the expertise, experience and depth of knowledge in the area.
And I will continue to be suspicious of anyone who attempts to “play the man, rather than the ball,” and imply that climate scientists are a dishonest lot – rather than deal with the real science.
And that includes people who try to imply a “sciency” veneer by clinging to a renegade paper, alone it this field, which is not supported by others and makes demonstratively shonky thermodynamic claims.
After all, we can always find that lone shonky paper, or Ph D to endorse our own prejudices.
Ken — you continue to attach the man instead of looking at the science. Furthermore, you seem to believe that consensus is how science is done – at lease you (and Frank, too) have mentioned several times that since the majority of climate scientists hold a particular viewpoint, it must be true. Both of you have also desperately tried to debunk Gerlich and Tscheuschner. Let it be! It is not important for the current discussion as I tried to point out. Just follow the data.
Science is NOT the business of consensus, guys. Virtually every significant breakthrough has gone against the stream. (Now, don’t you guys go out and start counting how many breakthroughs went with and how many went against the stream. That’s not my point.)
You guys continue to “play the man,” as you put it. Apparently neither of you is willing to deal with the inconvenient truth I presented in my last post: Models MUST predict the real world. When they don’t, they need changing – period!
Sure Robert science is not consensus and one should not be afraid of going against the stream. But science is also not simply anti-consensus or opposition to the stream. Those factors are not evidence. they are emotional arguments people use when they don’t have evidence (Just look at how often the ID people use those arguments).
So, I follow the evidence – and outside my expertise I rely on the experts (while retaining my critical – not cynical outlook). I certainly am not persuaded by those people currently who see current understanding of climate change as resulting from dishonest science and a conspiracy.
You may desperately grasp the paper of Gerlich and Tscheuschner. I can see scientific flaws (particularly thermodynamic ones) in what parts I have so far read, I am aware there is a lot of scientific opposition to it, no supporting papers (at least none theta you have produced).
So the fact they these authors go against the stream, are outside any “consensus” (with anyone except you) are in themselves not recommendations. I judge their paper on its content and faults.
Ken — You keep coming back to Gerlich and Tscheuschner. Did you miss the part where I suggested that we set it aside for the time being and just concentrate on the data? Can you see how I have avoided bringing that paper up again (except in this context)?
Why do you use emotional words like “desperately grasp”? Nowhere in my posts here have I indicated any kind of desperation. I introduced an interesting paper that makes some interesting points, but when I was overwhelmed by an emotional rejection of the paper, I decided to let it go. It simply isn’t central to my argument. I have no need to convince anyone. I was there at the beginning, and know what is happening. My only reason for even joining this conversation was to enlighten (and explain that my position on the above list may be misleading, since I no longer am active in research). It does matter to me if my government makes draconian changes for completely bogus reasons, but other than that, I don’t personally care what you think.
The consensus to which I have referred is the one you keep bringing up regarding anthropogenic climate change, and that CO2 drives global temperature. Since there are significant data that cannot be explained by this “consensus” point of view, I am forced to find another explanation. And once again, science has no room for consensus – only facts.
This is a weak argument as papers can take years to finalize and get published. This paper is 115 pages long and has 4 versions on the arxiv server. Submission to arxiv is an easy way for distribution to allow further critique before submission for publication. The peer-review process itself can take months.
Both are clearly qualified to write a paper on Physics,
Gerhard Gerlich, Ph.D. Professor of Mathematical Physics, Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina, Germany
Ralf D. Tscheuschner, Ph.D. Physics,
Based on your logic only science in two journals is relevant and everything else should be ignored. This is clearly nonsense and an appeal to authority.
As for the lack of supporting papers, it may be because it was just published this year! New papers will have few citations in the first couple of years.
Frank M. | December 18, 2009 at 9:44 pm |
“I introduced an interesting paper that makes some interesting points, but when I was overwhelmed by an emotional rejection of the paper, I decided to let it go. It simply isn’t central to my argument.”
Robert, here is what you said when you introduced the paper:
Quite an announcement. So, why is this paper so earth-shattering? Well, because
“The question is not whether gases can absorb energy, but what happens to such absorbed energy, and where it goes. On the earth, it is radiated back into space, and is NOT retained. This is the fundamental error of the climate models. Although I did not give specific references in my earlier post, they are all contained in the German paper that I referenced.”
“The basic laws of physics do not allow any energy movement from a lower heat reservoir to a higher heat reservoir unless there is some input of outside work to drive things in that direction. […] This thermodynamic reality (called the second law of thermodynamics) is one of the fundamental characteristics of our universe. It applies everywhere.”
IOW, you claimed (based on the paper by Gerlich and Tscheuschner) that a carbon dioxide-based greenhouse effect is physically impossible since it would violate the second law of thermodynamics.
Now, I provided you with an excerpt from said paper which showed that the authors, when trying to defend their core claim against an obvious criticism,
a) fallaciously try to distinguish between “heat” and “energy”; and
b) fail to understand that the second law of thermodynamics does not prevent energy flow from a point of lower energy to one with higher energy, provided that the net energy flow goes in the opposite direction.
Instead of addressing this issue, you have dropped the paper like a hot potato and tried to cover this up by accusing others of being emotional or clouding the matter. Not very impressive.
Regarding the ice core data that seems to be your new focus, I will venture a daring conjecture:
Climatologists are aware of the fact that carbon dioxide levels are not the master switch which solely controls the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere!
Of course there are other factors having an influence. But that does not change the fact that carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas which humanity is currently pumping into the atmosphere in historically unprecedented amounts.
To claim that this will have absolutely no influence at all on the global temperature and to be taken seriously requires a hell of a lot more than writing a paper which does not even get the basic facts about thermodynamics right.
Poptech,
“Both are clearly qualified to write a paper on Physics, [snip]”
They are not climatologists, i.e. not experts in this field.
I have a PhD in Chemistry, but I do not consider myself qualified to write a paper about “Chemistry” outside my field of expertise. In our day and age, it is simply impossible for any one (or two) person(s) to have a thorough grasp of an entire discipline.
And now we have two non-experts come along and tell the scientific community that their whole approach is physically impossible because they have made a beginner’s mistake any student would be chided for.
Why does that remind me of the situation in biology, where we can also witness non-experts explain to evolutionary biologists the gaping holes in their theory that the layman has spotted instantly?
I am sure you can quote me where I said this. Oh wait, you can’t, because I did not say it.
My point is that the journal where a paper is published usually tells you something about its quality and the standards of peer review it had to pass. The fact that a paper containing such lofty claims was not published in one of the top journals (or even a reputable physics or climatology journal) should make you cautious about its validity.
How many times do I have to say it? Let the Gerlich and Tscheuschner paper be for now. It’s a distracting discussion that adds nothing to the basic question: How do you propose to explain the now established fact that there are significant times in our history where atmospheric temperature changes clearly and obviously precede CO2 changes? If the presumed CO2 to temperature relationship is factual, i.e. if CO2 drives atmospheric temperature, how then do you explain the ice core data?
Without referring to anything else, any outside papers, any other data, THESE DATA need explaining. The only attempt I have seen is a relatively ineffective argument that tries to show a measuring error in taking the information from the cores. This should be considered, of course, but it’s too weak to hold up the edifice on its own. For me, the ice core data changed my mind – long before Gerlich and Tscheuschner. The ice core data caused me to set aside (at least temporarily) the current models to look for another explanation for global climate change.
I am asking you guys to give it a break, let Gerlich and Tscheuschner be for the time being, and to address what I have written above. You guys persist in petty wrangling when there are genuinely substantive issues on the table.
BTW — if you go back through these posts, you will see that I first brought up the ID perspective as an analogy for what you guys are doing with respect to anthropogenic climate change. (i.e. trying to fit data to a defined perspective, to a model that has serious scientific flaws and is wrapped in political/religious fervor.)
Scott Somerville | December 19, 2009 at 3:44 am |
May I just say that it has been a pleasure to have an actual Ph.D. with a personal history of gathering global warming data here on this thread? With all the talk of “believers” and “deniers,” it’s nice to have some actual science here somewhere!
This has nothing to do with the discussion, except as a footnote. An old colleague of mine who worked for me when he and I wintered over at the South Pole in 1981 is back there for the polar summer. He has been communicating with me regularly by email – something not possible when he and I were last there. He tells me that my thoughts and popular writings on this topic are the subject of regular discussion at the pole. He says that most of the currently resident scientists agree with my take on the current state of the atmospheric models.
I understand that this is entirely hearsay information, and has no scientific meaning at all, but I think it adds an interesting perspective to the discussions here.
Dr. Williscroft, let me make sure I heard you correctly. You say that the scientists now residing at the South Pole are aware of your “take” on the current state of the atmospheric models, and discuss them–and (despite the “consensus” I keep hearing about), “agree” with your position?
If that’s fact and not just hearsay, it should help Ken reevaluate his position–which, up to now, has been, “This is a very complicated subject and I rely on the consensus of the people who actually do this kind of science.”
Can you give me a link to the simplest version of your “take”?
Let me make myself completely clear on this. I have been having an ongoing email discussion with my old colleague and friend who is presently back at the south pole. He told me by way of something that might interest me that in the ongoing informal after-dinner discussions that always seem to take place down there, one of the topics is (naturally) the current world-wide interest in global warming. My friend has followed my website (which really is NOT dedicated to any particular thing at all) and my writings and radio interviews, and presented the essence of these to his current colleagues at the pole. (I’m mildly notorious down there because of a photo poster of me in the lounge following my initiation into the 300 club that my friend took back in 1982 – I am standing naked at the pole holding a sign regarding the “accomplishment.” here is a link to the photo: http://argee.net/South%20Pole%20Photos/300%20Club.jpg) According to my friend, nearly all these guys (I don’t know who they are) agree with my perspective. This is hardly a measure of what the current climate science community thinks – just a few of the guys in the trenches at the pole right now.
Regarding a link to my perspective, I will look through my material to see if I have published online anything that would meet this criterion. You are welcome to browse my website: http://RobertWilliscroft.com
I want to make myself perfectly clear. I am having an ongoing email conversation with an old friend and colleague who worked for me at the pole in 1981-82, and who is back there for the polar summer. In the ongoing after dinner discussions that always seem to take place down there, one of the ongoing topics is the world-wide interest in global warming. (I am mildly notorious down there because of a photo poster gracing the lounge wall that my friend took in 1982 that shows me standing naked at the pole holding a sign regarding my initiation into the 300 club. Here is a link to that photo: http://argee.net/South%20Pole%20Photos/300%20Club.jpg) My friend brought up my perspective, and reported to me that most of the guys there agree with me.
This is far from a consensus of the current climate science community. This is a group of guys down in the trenches at the pole (I don’t even know their names). I will look through my online material to see if anything meets your request. You are welcome to browse my website: http://robertwilliscroft.com.
There was a problem with the photo link. Here it is again: http://argee.net/South%20Pole%20Photos/300%20Club.jpg
Please provide me with the scientific method for determining this.
“…one of the top journals (or even a reputable physics or climatology journal) .”
Again please provide me with the scientific method of determining this.
Oh and please do not respond with subjective opinions.
@Robert, “the guys” that you have heard from a friend that mostly agree with you, these would be the scientists right? Or would these be the assorted engineers, drivers, cooks or other suchlike climate experts?
Excuse me, but I don’t find you at all credible.
I suspect the gang down at the South Pole would actually APPRECIATE a little global warming!
Nick — I can’t tell you what the guys at the pole right now are, but from my personal (fairly dated) experience, the group consists of both types. During my Summer (1981-1982), 60 people were there. Of those, about a third to a half (at any specific time, since they tended to come and go) were genuine scientists. The remainder were split between technical support people (which means they were fully competent to give a meaningful opinion), or they were station support people (which means they could follow the conversations, but were not likely to offer any meaningful input to the conversations other than personal opinion based on their personal take from the scientists’ conversations). During the winter-over we were 17 people, evenly divided between scientists and support people.
BTW – I could care less whether or not you find me credible! Neither you nor I are going to influence the outcome of the current political debate. Whatever input I made long ago is not pertinent now, except in a limited historical perspective. What I can add, that neither you nor any of the other so-called believers can add, is a genuine personal perspective – I’ve been there and done that! Furthermore, since my science background has given me a well-grounded training in the “scientific method,” I am well qualified to write about how science should be done. I, and anyone else with a similar general science background (including several of the so-called believers here), am capable of looking at the available data, examining what the models predict based upon that data, and comparing that to the real world. We all are also capable of looking at new data as they arrive, to see if the current models can incorporate those data.
(None of this has anything to do with credibility. So, what’s your problem, Nick? Why stoop to a personal attack?)
By way of explanation, Scott:
When I was at the pole (and perhaps they still do it), we had a sauna that we heated to 200 deg F when the outside temperature had stabilized to -100 deg F. We sat in the sauna, naked except for boots, built up our courage, and then ran (remember, the pole is at 10,000 ft altitude) from the sauna door for a quarter mile around the symbolic pole marker and back to the sauna, experiencing a 300 deg F temperature drop in the process. Ours was the first winter over crew where every person completed that silly challenge. Our winter over was also the coldest on record since such records have been kept. We hit -117.8 deg F in the middle of June 1982.
No personal attacks Robert. This was just a statement about who I find to be credible/ or not.
As far as technical support people being fully competent to give an opinion, I would point you towards another thread on Ken’s blog. In particular towards my comment linked to below:
https://openparachute.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/sack-all-those-scientists-yeah-right/#comments
I take your point, Nick — but please take my reference to technical support people in context. I was talking about an after-dinner conversation, where both working scientists in this area (and others) and their technicians were talking about things, including climate change. Within this context, the typical technician down there, doing what they do, really can participate in an informal discussion and give valuable input, especially since their “supervisors” are immediately there to correct any genuinely off-the-wall comments.
Why is it necessary to parse such statements when the point of the comment was (1) informational in a socially interesting way, and (2) designed to correct any misinterpretation as to the nature of the discussions (which I intended to be taken as no more than after-dinner discussions by some people in the trenches at the pole, and not a statement about the general consensus of the community at large).
BTW — When you call a person not credible, you ARE attacking the person. If you wish to avoid personal attack, stick to that person’s arguments, which no one here has yet addressed (the ice core data anomaly).
Nick | December 19, 2009 at 10:08 am |
Perhaps you can also understand where I am coming from. I have not so much time to be be following peoples arguments. For me to actually do this, I like to feel that it is going to be worth my time. Especially, when the discussion is not in my specialist area.
In my own area, of course, your credibility is not important, as I already have deep experience, so if you want to hold forth about software design, particularly as it relates to financial risk management, go for it. I’m all ears.
But, when you are holding forth about a subject that seems to have filled the airwaves with complete trash in the last couple of weeks, sorry, I am not going to bother unless I find you credible. No matter how many times you have been to Antarctica . Sorry.
Nick — you’re welcome to find me credible or not, but using your opinion of my credibility as an argument in an ongoing discussion is not useful. People in discussions unable to counter a point of information have several choices: they can be quiet, they can ask questions, they can attack the person… In my experience going all the way back to my initial years at University of Washington in the 1960s, a segment of our society routinely uses the “attack” to counter otherwise unassailable arguments. If you can’t counter the other guy’s argument, attack him in some manner or shout him down so no one can hear him.
You cannot have missed this approach by the left during the last few weeks of public discussion about climate change. The amusing thing (to me at least) is that by about 2018 or so there no longer will be any discussion about humans’ effect on global climate. If the solar output hypothesis is correct (and as of now, it has met every scientific challenge), things will get really cold for a while. Should it turn out, on the other hand, that this hypothesis cannot explain some newly acquired data, then we will simply have to keep looking, and what happens will remain a crap shoot. Right now, the current models cannot explain the ice core data. The solar output hypothesis can (along with every other piece of data in the current databases).
Frank M. | December 19, 2009 at 10:37 am |
“Please provide me with the scientific method for determining this. [whether Gerlich and Tscheuschner are experts in climatology]”
Go to Google Scholar. Type in their names. See how many other articles on this topic they have published in the peer-reviewed literature.
“Again please provide me with the scientific method of determining this. [the reputation of a journal in the scientific community]”
Look up the impact factor of the International Journal of Modern Physics B. Compare it to Nature, Science or Physical Review Letters.
I see you wish to drop the paper from the discussion. Wise move.
Regarding the ice core issue: as I said, I am no climatologist and have neither the time nor the motivation to become one, so I can not give an expert opinion on this.
However, doing a quick Google search retrieved the following Science paper:
Click to access CaillonTermIII.pdf
dealing with this topic. The final paragraph states:
“Finally, the situation at Termination III differs from the recent anthropogenic CO2 increase. As recently noted by Kump (38), we should distinguish between internal influences (such as the deglacial CO2 increase) and external influences (such as the anthropogenic CO2 increase) on the climate system. Although the recent CO2 increase has clearly been imposed first, as a result of anthropogenic activities, it naturally takes, at Termination III, some time for CO2 to outgas from the ocean once it starts to react to a climate change that is first felt in the atmosphere. The sequence of events during this
Termination is fully consistent with CO2 participating in the latter 4200 years of the warming.
The radiative forcing due to CO2 may serve as an amplifier of initial orbital forcing, which is
then further amplified by fast atmospheric feedbacks (39) that are also at work for the present day and future climate.” [emphasis mine]
Which is in tune with my understanding, i.e. that carbon dioxide levels are not the sole driver of temperature changes in the atmosphere, but a potent amplifier. So we should think twice before releasing it into the atmosphere without restraint.
Frank — I did not say I wanted to drop Gerlich and Tscheuschner from the discussion. I said I wanted to put it aside for the time being, since you guys seemed incapable of discussing their argument, but constantly revert to whether or not their paper had received sufficient accolades, etc. Gerlich and Tscheuschner is NOT central to my main ice core data argument. I just wanted to focus on a point that, until now, has not been addressed in this discussion.
Since I’m not sure of your science background, or that of the other “believers” here (I mean no disrespect, I just want to distinguish you as a group in this discussion), I don’t want to patronize you by getting too basic in any explanation. As I reviewed the paper you linked to, and especially the pertinent quote that you included in your comment, I could not help but smile at the “hand waving” in that quote. These guys provided not one specific piece of evidence. They are doing here very much what the email perpetrators did when they modified their raw data to force it to match their models. Their underlying approach is to assume the accuracy of the current models, and then to force the ice core data into compliance, by “interpreting” what the anomalous data points really mean. You’ve got to be kidding me! Please, just step back and use your native intelligence when you read these words. It should be obvious to you that it is pure spin doctoring.
Please remember that in these cores we are talking about major temperature increases followed within a few hundred to a few thousand years by major CO2 increases, and there were NO humans around to cause anthropogenic anything! Before the temperature increases, there were NO CO2 increases. Consequently, the temperature increases COULD NOT have been caused by CO2 increases, since there were no CO2 increases until well after the temperature events.
When you move forward in time from these points, using other indirect measuring techniques (tree rings, ocean estuary bottom cores, etc.), other temperature increases also are not preceded by CO2 increases. Closer analysis indicates (but is not nearly so clear as with the ice cores) that CO2 increases always seem to follow temperature increases.
When you chart temperature maximums and minimums against consolidated solar maximums and minimums, the correlation is very significant. In light of this, it makes little sense to believe in CO2 driven temperature increases, while ignoring the solar data. Better, perhaps, to put the entire question back on the table, and reexamine ALL the assumptions, in order to come up with an explanation that satisfies ALL the data.
This is what people like me are urging. We’re neither believers nor deniers. We just follow the data, and accept the results without political argument or polemic.
So the scientific method to determine if someone is a climatologist is to see if their name appears in Google Scholar? Ok both of theirs do, so I guess they are!
Impact Factor is a subjective determination of popularity not scientific validity,
Show Me The Data
(The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 179, Number 6, pp. 1091-1092, December 2007)
– Mike Rossner, Heather Van Epps, Emma Hill
Irreproducible results: a response to Thomson Scientific
(The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 180, Number 2, pp. 254-255, January 2008)
Why the impact factor of journals should not be used for evaluating research (PDF)
(British Medical Journal, Volume 314, pp. 498–502, February 1997)
– Per O. Seglen
Andrew W | December 19, 2009 at 1:55 pm |
Robert G. Williscroft, PhD // December 19, 2009 at 3:28 am : “The only attempt I have seen is a relatively ineffective argument that tries to show a measuring error in taking the information from the cores.”
Aye??
Denialists like to pretend that AGW proponents originally claimed that the initial warming that occurs when the planet moves from glacial to interglacials was caused by increasing concentrations of CO2, and that therefore the evidence that the initial temperature rise preceding the rise in CO2 concentrations is a huge embarrassment, some even claim that this evidence somehow disproves AGW.
The reality is that the initial driver of the regular glacial – interglacial transitions has been recognised for over 60 years as the Milankovitch cycles, as Hansen mentions in this paper:
Click to access 2007_Hansen_etal_2.pdf
It is only after the Milankovitch cycle induced initial warming of the planet starts that CO2 and methane released from the warming oceans and land, increase atmospheric GHG concentrations, and fueling further warming.
Anyone who places any stock in the Gerlich and Tscheuschner paper cannot be taken seriously.
Really? Then what reverses this trend and causes the ice ages?
“Then what reverses this trend and causes the ice ages?”
You mean the glacial periods of the current ice age? The Milankovitch cycle, “cycle” get it? Round and round?
“Finally, a recent paper published out of Germany shows unequivocally that there is no atmospheric greenhouse.”
I’d love to be a fly on the wall at a denier lodge meeting when Robert G. Williscroft, PhD explains that one to denialist/sceptic climate scientists like Spencer, Lindzen, Pielke (jnr and snr) and Michaels people who actually do have a pretty good understanding of atmospheric physics.
Nick | December 19, 2009 at 5:12 pm |
@Robert. The reason why I am not engaging with your arguments, is that they have been very capably disposed of by Frank and then by Andrew.
Seems like you are falling into all sorts of beginners holes with regard to these issues. You however, seem to think that you have hit on some fundamental flaws in the established research. I will say it again. You might want to read Ken’s post again “Sack all the scientists…” https://openparachute.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/sack-all-those-scientists-yeah-right/.
Frank M. | December 19, 2009 at 11:07 pm |
“Frank — I did not say I wanted to drop Gerlich and Tscheuschner from the discussion. I said I wanted to put it aside for the time being, since you guys seemed incapable of discussing their argument, but constantly revert to whether or not their paper had received sufficient accolades, etc.”
No Robert, I tried various times to get you to discuss their argument and its obvious failures, but never received any substantive response from you.
So let’s be clear here:
Do you endorse their assertion that a carbon dioxide-based greenhouse effect is physically impossible due to a violation of the second law of thermodynamics or not?
“These guys provided not one specific piece of evidence. They are doing here very much what the email perpetrators did when they modified their raw data to force it to match their models. Their underlying approach is to assume the accuracy of the current models, and then to force the ice core data into compliance, by “interpreting” what the anomalous data points really mean.”
What on earth are you talking about? Where do they “force the data into compliance”? The authors clearly state that the initial warming preceded the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 800 +/- 200 years and thus was caused by another factor. I don’t know about you, but if I wanted to “force the data into compliance” with a preconceived model, I would make sure that there is no time lag between temperature increase and carbon dioxide increase.
Which is exactly what the authors state. Again, nobody is denying that the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere is influenced by a multitude of factors apart from carbon dioxide levels. You are knocking down a straw-man if you argue against a position which maintains that warming can be solely caused by an increase in the carbon dioxide concentration.
What IS being said is that carbon dioxide, due to its physical properties, acts as an amplifier in the process, thus facilitating its own increased release into the atmosphere and a further temperature increase in a positive feedback loop. Except that due to human interference, carbon dioxide levels at present do not increase over centuries, but decades, with potentially disastrous consequences. If you want to show that this is not possible, you will have to come up with better arguments than the second law of thermodynamics.
I´m all for it. You think you have a superior hypothesis? Then gather the data. Do the analysis. Write up the paper. Submit it. See how well your case stands up under scrutiny.
I told you to check their publication record in the field of climatology, especially the role of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
”Impact Factor is a subjective determination of popularity not scientific validity”
Of course it is subjective. Just like peer review is. Just like the “scientific method” is. Just like any other human endeavour is. That does not mean it is not an indicator you can use to judge the merits of a paper.
Seeing that you are obviously endorsing this publication, how about defending its content? Care to explain to me how the carbon dioxide-based greenhouse effect violates the second law of thermodynamics?
Robert, I’m still trying to understand the science, here. Do you know enough about the Milankovitch cycles to tell whether the rise (and subsequent fall) in global temperatures can be completely explained by the planetary tilt, or does the CO2 that is released by a warming ocean then have ANY effect in adding to the warming cycle?
Right so solar and planetary cycles drive the climate.
Actually you did not say this your said “this topic”.
How many papers publised on climatology makes them a climatologist?
What if they publish papers on the climate that has nothing to do with CO2? Are they still a climatologist?
Who decides this criteria and how is this the scientific method for determining who is a “climatologist”?
Impact factor is merely one subjective way to rate a paper’s popularity. Is science determined by popularity now?
Back to the main point of this post (the “conspiracy”), I just found an article by Roger Pielke, Sr., a “highly cited researcher” who is on the “hit list” in the CRU emails. Pielke specifically claims that his research was suppressed and excluded. Here’s a link to his 88 page “public comment” which he published in 2006. His comment starts with this:
“The process for completing the CCSP Report excluded valid scientific perspectives under
the charge of the Committee. The Editor of the Report systematically excluded a range of
views on the issue of understanding and reconciling lower atmospheric temperature trends.
“The Executive Summary of the CCSP Report ignores critical scientific issues and makes
unbalanced conclusions concerning our current understanding of temperature trends.”
Click to access NR-143.pdf
The article he WANTED to publish is here:
http://ow.ly/NwqV
The abstract of this paper begins:
“This paper investigates surface and satellite temperature trends over the period from 1979-2008. Surface temperature datasets from the National Climate Data Center and the Hadley Center show larger trends over the 30-year period than the lower-tropospheric data from the University of Alabama-Huntsville and Remote Sensing Systems datasets. The differences between trends observed in the surface and lower tropospheric satellite datasets are statistically significant in most comparisons, with much greater differences over land areas than over ocean areas. These findings strongly suggest that there remain important inconsistencies between surface and satellite records.”
Putting that in simple terms: “satellite measurements over the last 30 years don’t agree equally well with ocean surface temperature measurements and land-based surface temperature measurements. The land-based measurements are warmer.”
That is relevant to this discussion because:
(1) There is some reason to believe the land-based measurements may have been “cherry-picked.” (The “conspiracy theory.”)
(2) Land-based measurements do not agree with tree-ring measurements since 1960. (Thus the call to “hide the decline.”)
(3) A paper dismissing the so-called “urban heat island” effect (which could raise the overall temperature of land-based measurements) was called “fraudulent” in private emails by CRU director Tom Wigley. (Wigley later wrote “It was only then that I was able to confirm that Wang had committed fraud.”) Academic charges against lead author Wang Wei-Chyung were dismissed, but in a non-standard procedure that kept the person who made the charges from participating. All this makes the “urban heat island” effect an open question.
(4) CRU selected a subset of the Russian land-based surface temperature measurements, but that subset is significantly warmer than the full set. The CRU subset ignored some sites that had long-term, uninterrupted readings.
So–here’s the deal. We have TWO divergences from land-based surface temperature measurements. Satellites and tree-rings don’t see the same effects that the CRU-selected land-based thermometers do. We can explain that by “multiplying the entities” (with one hypothesis for tree rings and another for the land-water satellite differential), or we can act like scientists and apply Occam’s Razor.
Reading up on Roger Pielke, Sr. If he’s a “denier,” I’m a flying spaghetti monster. He’s a terrifically well-published expert in the field of climatology, and he makes VERY specific claims that the peer-review process has been stacked (which is my OTHER biggest concern from the CRU emails). Here’s Pielke’s own words from his “public comment”:
“The process that produced the report was highly political, with the Editor taking the lead in suppressing my perspectives, most egregiously demonstrated by the last-minute substitution of a new Chapter 6 for the one I had carefully led preparation of and on which I was close to reaching a final consensus. Anyone interested in the production of comprehensive assessments of climate science should be troubled by the process which I document below in great detail that led to the replacement of the Chapter that I was serving as Convening Lead Author.
“The inappropriate substitution of a replacement Chapter 6, for the one I had led the drafting before resigning from the Committee, enforced the narrow perspective of the Chair of the Committee. The new version replaced the version that was nearly complete and accepted by the Committee in August 2005. This substitution represents an example of this usurpation of the responsibility granted in the original charge to the Committee and the forcing of the Editor’s perspective on this Report. The result was the elimination from the Chapter of significant scientific issues concerning temperature trends in the lower atmosphere in the version of the Report that is now under public review.”
Scott’s Personal Appeal to Ken:
Ken–I really enjoy Open Parachute. I love the idea of a blog where people with open minds come together to discuss facts and explore theories. At this point, I feel like your stance on Anthropogenic Global Warming falls short of that goal. You’ve taken the position that you “trust the consensus,” but that’s (a) an example of “belief,” not “science” and (b) increasingly difficult to reconcile with the evidence.
What would it take for you to have an “open mind” with respect to AGW?
The Milankovitch cycle is actually the Milankovitch cycles, and the plural is NOT trivial. Milankovitch was a civil engineer and mathematician (not an astronomer or climatologist), which is interesting, given all the sophomoric assertions regarding scientific qualification in these posts. I also find it interesting that the Milankovitch cycles have been raised to prop up the arguments that CO2 drives global temperature (although I recognize that some of you are now using the word amplifier to describe CO2’s function).
Despite the personal attacks from some of you, and despite the pettiness that some of you insist on bringing into the discussion, if you were to take the time to review my posts, you would see that I have said (1) the ice core data indicates that CO2 apparently is not the driver of climate change, (2) Solar cycles (including the Milankovitch cycles although I didn’t mention them specifically) seem to provide answers that better fit the data, and (3) the Gerlich and Tscheuschner paper argues that there can be no “atmospheric greenhouse.”
Whatever happened to civil discourse? Nick, Frank, Andrew (to list the individuals who have personally clashed with me here), why do you feel a need for sarcasm, snide asides, direct personal attacks, innuendo, spin…? It adds nothing to discourse, and only lessens you in my eyes and those of the people reading but no joining these comments.
I find the arguments raised to explain the ice core data (not here, but in the climate change community) unconvincing. On the other hand, I find the following more convincing:
Use the Milankovitch cycles (which are not really solar cycles, but planetary precession cycles) as a general backdrop. Superimpose over these the following well established solar cycles (1) the 1,100 to 1,500 year Bond Cycle, (2) the 200-500 year Seuss Cycle, (3) the 75 to 90 year Gleissberg Cycle, ad (4) the 11 year Schwabe Sunspot Cycle. This was the state of the solar cycle explanation for climate change until relatively recently. The problem was that all of these together still didn’t account for the slight, but real, additional measured temperature increase that could be seen in the various indirect measurements that everybody relies on. This difference was assumed to be CO2 by many researchers.
Then, starting in 2002, Veizer, Shaviv, Carslaw, and most recently Svensmark et al., have collectively demonstrated that as the output of the sun varies, and with it, our star’s protective solar wind, varying amounts of galactic cosmic rays from deep space are able to enter our solar system and penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere. These cosmic rays enhance cloud formation which, overall, has a cooling effect on the planet. When sun’s energy output is greater, not only does the Earth warm slightly due to direct solar heating, but the stronger solar wind generated during these “high sun” periods blocks many of the cosmic rays from entering our atmosphere. Cloud cover decreases and the Earth warms still more.
The cosmic ray effect was demonstrated recently in lab experiments carried out by Svensmark. The addition of this effect makes up the difference, so that there is no need to bring in questionable CO2 “amplification” by “atmospheric greenhouse effects.” With the publication of the Gerlich and Tscheuschner paper (which questions the atmospheric greenhouse), it is good to see that the bases remain covered.
Professor Singer recently made the following comments in a speech:
We have a split in this scientific community, of those who believe in the observational evidence, which is against any significant global warming, and those who believe in theoretical climate models, which indicate major global warming. So you have a choice – you either believe in the atmosphere or you believe in computers. It is not a difficult choice to make,
We have data from satellites and weather balloons that show no appreciable warming in the last 25 years, completely contrary to climate models. Climate models predict that warming should be greater in the atmosphere than at the surface – we see the opposite. Climate models predict that the warming in the Polar Regions should be many times greater than at the equator – we don’t see such warming in the Polar Regions; the Antarctic has even been cooling. So everywhere you look, you find that the models are not verified by actual observations. My recommendation is to just ignore the models for predicting future climate change.
Well then. This is a familiar pattern. Come rushing in making some weird and wonderful claims, then when people calmly dispose of them (not me, I don’t know enough about this subject to do that), come over all hurt and wounded claiming personal attacks. This reminds me a bit of our old friend Glenn.
Nick, was that comment supposed to describe Dr. Williscroft? I’ve been following this thread, taking notes, and looking up links ever since he got here. I would not agree that people have “calmly disposed” of his arguments. I can’t see that he has made any “weird and wonderful claims,” either. As for the “personal attacks,” they shouldn’t matter one way or another in a scientific discussion–real scientists can be total jerks with no people skills (who make such attacks), but the scientific discussion ought to focus on facts and arguments, not snark and sarcasm.
The most important thing Dr. Williscroft has added to my understanding of the science is the role that atmospheric CO2 plays in warming. I came into this discussion thinking the atmosphere was essentially transparent to certain infrared wavelengths, but for atmospheric CO2. I thought that visible light hit the surface, re-radiated back upwards as infrared, and was reabsorbed by CO2 in the air. More CO2 would trap more infrared, resulting in a warmer planet.
Now, looking at the absorption spectra more closely and thinking about the greenhouse analogy more critically, I realize that the atmosphere is essentially opaque to the relevant infrared wavelengths. Adding more CO2 to the atmosphere doesn’t make it more opaque–it just makes an already opaque “blanket” thicker. As far as I can tell, that means the warming effect of atmospheric CO2 would be limited to trapping kinetic energy within the “blanket.”
IF that is the case, then the actual temperature of the atmosphere become a critical concern. Is the “blanket” holding more heat, or not? I assume that most of the heat-holding CO2 would be in the lower part of the atmosphere (the troposphere), so what do we know about warming trends in the troposphere?
That’s where Dr. Roger Pielke’s expertise comes in. He’s a troposphere scientist, and he makes the unpopular argument that we AREN’T seeing a warming trend in the troposphere.
So–have I completely missed how CO2 is supposed to affect temperature?
That’s total BS, Nick. Apparently you belong to the school that believes if you say something often enough and loud enough, people will begin to believe you.
I did not rush in – I entered the discussion to ensure that my position on the list that appeared above was not mistaken. I qualified my position as probably not really belong on the list given my current non-scientific preoccupations. Following that, I brought up several interesting items for the assembled group to toss about in civil discourse.
What happened was a firestorm of personal attacks that added nothing to the discussion, and distracted from the direction I had assumed this discussion was going. I doubt that any thinking person would agree with your assessment that what I brought to the table was “calmly disposed of.” In fact, the issue of the ice core data was only addressed once – peripherally, the Gerlich and Tscheuschner paper was roundly denounced, but without a shred of evidence or argument from within the field of physics, which was the underlying source of their arguments, and my offering the solar cycle hypothesis as an alternative explanation for climate change was not even addressed.
You people are acting just like the assembled Students for a Democratic Society that shouted down opposing viewpoints back in 1966 at University of Washington. Their disruptions concerned the Vietnam War and other policy matters. Your disruptions follow the same pattern in your misguided attempts to “shout down” the opposition. That’s just NOT how science is done (mostly, anyway).
Leave the person out of it, leave consensus out of it, leave peer review out of it, and examine the data. It doesn’t take a “rocket scientist” to see what precedes what. It may take a deeper understanding and even some extra eyes (peer review) to verify cause and effect relationships, but “what came first” is at the eighth grade level – even you guys can understand this.
Internet anonymity makes it possible for you guys to be as rude and unpleasant as you wish (I guarantee you, were you in my personal presence you would never think of behaving so). Why don’t you open your individual selves to closer inspection – as I have repeatedly done here (visit my website: http://robertwilliscroft.com). And then, why don’t all of you begin to behave as responsible adults and carry on with this discourse the way reasonable people do?
It’s pretty ironic to see “Open Parachute” host this debate between the “believers” and the “skeptics.”
Scott — Svensmark is one of the leaders in cosmic ray/climate research. I mentioned him above. Here is a link to Svensmark’s latest paper : http://climateresearchnews.com/2009/07/new-paper-cosmic-ray-decreases-affect-atmospheric-aerosols-and-clouds/ This link only gives you an abstract and a summary of the conclusions. Since his paper is relatively recent, you have to pay for a copy of the published version, but here is a link to one of the latest drafts before publication. It is accurate in all of its significant aspects: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/svensmark-forebush.pdf
Ján Veizer, Yves Godderis & Louis M. François published a paper in Nature in Dec 2000 that is very pertinent. Here is the abstract: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v408/n6813/full/408698a0.html Here is THE significant figure in their paper: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v408/n6813/fig_tab/408698a0_F1.html Here are two other figures that are pertinent: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v408/n6813/fig_tab/408698a0_ft.html
Dr. Williscroft, before you showed up, I assumed that “all the experts agreed” that CO2 has a warming effect, but that “skeptics” disagree with how MUCH of an effect it has.
Now I understand you to be saying the following:
(1) Ice cores show that CO2 rises AFTER temperatures rise (presumably from a release of CO2 from the oceans).
(2) The “greenhouse” analogy is misleading (at best). CO2 does NOT act like a pane of glass that “traps” warm air.
(3) Rising CO2 levels in the past have NOT (necessarily) “amplified” a pre-existing warming trend. On the contrary, the Veizer, Godderis, François paper you cite finds the “radiative forcing model” to be incompatible with oxygen isotope rations in sea shells over the last 500 million years.
(4) By contrast, models that ignore any warming effect from CO2 seem to match the observed temperatures better than those which assume a radiative forcing model. You cite Milankovich cycles plus the refinement of solar flare effects on atmospheric ions.
(5) For what it’s worth, you claim that your old pals at the South Pole think you might be on to something.
It would be a BIG leap for me to go from “interested amateur” to “greenhouse skeptic.” I can follow your arguments, but I can’t follow the math in the German paper well enough to go out on a limb and say “CO2 may not have any effect on overall temperature.” It defies everything I’ve learned since grade school. (Yes, I learned about “the greenhouse effect” back in the early 1970s. Can’t remember why.)
I’d love any more links you can suggest. They’ve been fascinating so far!
Scott — I was just perusing various materials in my personal “locker,” and came across this interesting gem. It is, perhaps, the best summarizing article I have seen, written for intelligent laypersons by a very well credentialed scientist (much more so than I): http://www.peacebytruth.com/main.php?Post=78
Re Gerlich and Tscheuschner: Try reading the paper up to any specific mathematical argument, and then skip to the summarizing paragraph that usually follows the specific argument. If you do this thoughtfully, you’ll come away with a very good understanding of why they believe they have “falsified” the atmospheric greenhouse.
[Here is an excellent definition of falsifiability, just in case you are unfamiliar with the concept (from Wikipedia): Falsifiability (or refutability) is the logical possibility that an assertion can be shown false by an observation or a physical experiment. That something is “falsifiable” does not mean it is false; rather, that if it is false, then this can be shown by observation or experiment. Falsifiability is an important concept in science and the philosophy of science. The term “testability” is related but more specific; it means that an assertion can be falsified through experimentation alone.]
I’m a big fan of Sir Karl Popper and the concept of “falsifiability.” I’ll check that out.
Meanwhile, I just came across this LONG and THOUGHTFUL assessment of the entire 2,000 page CRU email directory. This is the first journalist I’ve seen who has actually dug in to do the reporting on what is IN the emails. Here’s a juicy paragraph from page 3 of this 7-page story:
“Also clear is that the official science on climate change as we know it today, looking backward and forward, has been developed and controlled by the relatively small collection of scientists who wrote most of the emails. Working directly or indirectly for the IPCC, the scientists seem to have become captive of that organization’s objectives, which was to find “the hand of man” in climate records to justify plans to change the climate in future. The scientists, in other words, became engaged in the all-too-familiar business of decision-based evidence making.”
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=78aa4157-da68-4596-859a-a7e49a6207ae
Andrew W | December 20, 2009 at 8:40 am |
Couple of quick points as I’m busy today, Robert G. Williscroft, PhD Did not mention or imply any knowledge of the Malenkovitch cycles, and that they are recognised as an initial driver in the transition from glacial to interglacial periods, now that he does know of them and the role it is understood that they play, rather than look at this (to him) new evidence in an objective way, he looks instead for a way to use this evidence to justify is preformed opinions.
As I’ve alluded to the Gerlich and Tscheuschner claim that there is no GH effect is very fringe, denialist and sceptic atmospheric scientists overwhelmingly accept the existence of the GH effect, much of the calculations conducted by both sides in this debate just wouldn’t fit observations without the GHE.
Scott, your point about GH gases being very effective is correct, the tropospheric warming that occurs with additional GH gases is because of the complex absorption/re-radiation/re-absorption, it just takes longer for IR energy to get to the stratosphere. Like adding more blankets to your bed, there is always going to be an additional insulating effect.
Andrew — Don’t you get tired of making stupid comments? I am NOT calling you stupid – but your comment about my alluding to the Malenkovitch cycles carries no better description. Any unbiased review of my recent posts will show that I referred to “solar cycles” from the start. I had not intended to go into this in any detail, since the Malenkovitch cycles backdrop for climate change is virtually universally accepted.
Scott — here are links to several very well written articles that present a fairly cohesive picture of climate change within the framework of real world science as opposed to politics driven science. The articles are about 2 1/2 to 3 years old, so they are not especially timely; but they still are pertinent, and interesting:
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/68/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-1-Statistics-needed.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/69/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-2-Warming-is-real-and-has-benefits.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/74/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-3-The-hurricane-expert-who-stood-up-to-UN-junk-science.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/82/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-4-Polar-scientists-on-thin-ice.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/91/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-5-The-original-denier-into-the-cold.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/157/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-6-The-sun-moves-climate-change.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/164/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-7-Will-the-Sun-cool-us.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/172/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-8-The-limits-of-predictability.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/174/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-9-Look-to-Mars-for-the-truth-on-global-warming.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/178/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-10-Limited-role-for-C02.aspx
Click to access Deniers%2011%20-%20The%20Real%20Deal.pdf
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/187/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-12-End-the-chill.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/189/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-13-Clouded-research.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/Journal/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/213/categoryId/15/Global-Warming-Deniers-Part-14-Allegres-second-thoughts.aspx
http://thedeadhand.com/LinkClick.aspx?link=argee%2Freflib%2FClimate+Warming%2FRead+the+Sunspots~070620.pdf&tabid=164&mid=524
Andrew — Don’t you get tired of making stupid remarks? I am NOT calling you stupid, but your comment about my alluding to the Malenkovitch cycles can best be so described. Any unbiased review of my posts will show that from the onset, I made reference to “solar cycles.” I did not specifically mention the Malenkovitch cycles, because they represent a virtually universally accepted backdrop for climate change.
Scott — Here are several links to a series of articles that present a fairly complete picture of the current state of climate change thinking. Since the articles are between 2 1/2 to 3 years old, some recent information is not there, but they still make interesting and informative reading:
Andrew, you refer to the “tropospheric warming.” If I understand the “greenhouse” mechanism, CO2 supposedly absorbs and then reradiates infrared, trapping heat like a “blanket on a bed” instead of a “pane of glass in a greenhouse.”
Dr. Williscroft argues, in effect, that even the “thick blanket” model is a bad analogy, and cites a German paper for the argument that CO2 provides essentially no heat-trapping effect.
So–who’s right? I can’t follow the math in the German paper. The simplest way I can think of to test these two hypotheses is to see whether the lower atmosphere (the troposphere) acts like a “thick blanket” or not.
According to Roger Pielke, Sr., the troposphere is COOLER than we expected. Here’s a quote from his 88 page “public comment”:
“In the early 1990s, data from NOAA’s polar orbiting satellites were analyzed for multi-decadal trends. These initial analyses indicated that temperatures in the troposphere showed little or no increase, in contrast with surface air measurements from ships, land-based weather stations, and ocean buoys. This result led some to question the reality and/or the cause of the surface temperature increase, on the basis that human influences, thought to be important contributors to observed change, were expected to increase temperatures both at the surface and in the troposphere with larger increases expected in the tropical troposphere. This surprising result led to an intensive effort by scientists to better understand the causes of the apparent differences in the rates of temperature increase between the surface and the troposphere.”
IF I understand the “greenhouse effect,” these data seem to support the German claim that CO2 has no greenhouse effect.
Andrew, what am I missing?
Sorry about the double post — I am unsure what happened.
Andrew — you wrote “…the complex absorption/re-radiation/re-absorption, it just takes longer for IR energy to get to the stratosphere…” That’s pretty cute. Do you want to expand your explanation a bit, at least to describe this “complex” mechanism? And while you’re at it, you might also want to demonstrate that your hypothetical mechanism is consistent with the second law of thermodynamics.
This has been one of the ongoing problems with this research. WE ALL made assumptions that appeared to be correct. On closer examination, however, many of these assumptions fail the falsification test. Nobody bothered to do this initially, because “it was common knowledge that…”
It turned out it wasn’t so common knowledge after all.
Robert seemed to want to round of with his own subjective summary of the discussion back there a bit.
It probably should be finished – or moved elsewhere. With close to 200 comments very few new people will want to look into these comments and would prefer to move to comments on a new post. Why waste the effort? After all some of the points brought up here are actually the content of my post The global warming debate summarised. Why not move there – and answer the points in the post?
For what it’s worth – my subjective summary is that I find the behavior of people on this issue interesting from the point of view of social psychology, and note the overwhelming prevalence of confirmation bias in people’s thinking.
After all, we would all prefer it if the IPCC was wrong in its conclusions. None of us like to see the prospect the science is revealing. So it’s easy to move into a denial psychology. And there’s no doubt that motivated organisations and individuals are actively encouraging this by manipulating information for their own ends.
However, there a some huge elephants in the room which keep getting ignored.
1: The science of climate change is extremely transparent, heavily reviewed and very available. The IPCC has done a tremendous job of reviewing the published scientific literature. The review process is rigorous and one can have confidence in the outcomes. In fact the outcomes are still expressed in a relatively tentative manner. While global warming is accepted as occurring, the contribution of humanity is considered only as – “most likely.” There is no dogmatism there.
2: Granted the IPCC documents are not readily approachable by the lay person. The reports are after all for governments and policy makers. Governments and policy makers as a whole appear to strongly accept the IPCC conclusions. This is also true for scientists advising governments, particularly climate scientists.
While IPCC summaries are available, even these may be too much for the layperson. But the information does get into books. There is an excellent book just published “Climate Change 101: An Educational Resource” by Andy Reisinger of Victoria University (a brief review at Hot Topic). I’ll also post a review on this in a few weeks.
This is aimed at the student and science-oriented layperson and essentially takes the IPCC reports and presents them in a more appropriate and condensed manner. It should do a lot in bringing the science of climate change to students and laypersons.
3: There is an unbalanced (unhealthy) preoccupation with many of the critics (and exemplified by some commenters here). Rather than deal with the overwhelming science contained in the IPCC reports there is concentration on selected (cherry-picked) points, in isolation.
a: The ice core issue, Robert, is definitely not ignored by climate scientists and is not evidence against the fundamental properties of CO2 and similar gases leading to a “greenhouse” effect. But this and similar issues are presented in isolation as some sort of “proof.”
b: Isolated papers, with no supporting credibility can be pulled out and set against the rest of the scientific literature. And then fiercely and partisanly defended against rational critiques. Balance requires their consideration – sure (and this is what the IPCC review process has done – they haven’t ignored such papers) but also requires consideration of all the other papers and a proper evaluation of their worth.
c: emails, comments, etc., are pulled out and set against the whole of climate science literature as if they have equal, or more value – desperate confirmation bias! And then people doing this complain because the media and governments don’t see things the same way! Very quickly this approach leads to arguing for a huge conspiracy of scientists, media and governments!
d: Bloggers are seriously putting up 11 year-old children as betters scientists than the experienced climate scientists. Seriously! That’s is huge, irrational, confirmation bias.
These bloggers have not bothered to look at the huge amounts of evidence (not easy I admit) but grab desperately at videos from 11 year old children!
And if you question them, the deniers rush to their defense, will not allow an assessment of the child’s “research” but will continue to effectively accuse the experienced scientists of “beating their wives.” Conspiracy theory mentality.
e: We get a “research paper” from denier groups in NZ attacking our NIWA scientists. And these denier bloggers and commenters get themselves into a frenzy accusing the NIWA scientists of “beating there wives” – and refuse to make a critical assessment of the original “research paper.” This “research paper” was analysed by a couple of scientist bloggers, shown to be incorrect. The producers of the ‘research paper” admit they had noi scientific input or scientifc review of their “paper” – and our comments are ignored! The denier bloggers and commenters prefer to get caught up in slandering honest scientists rather than casting an objective eye over that “paper.”
4: Commenters like Scott think they are doing science when they desperately search through emails, comments, etc., to find evidence for the IPCC science being worng (or the result of a conspiracy). I have invited Scott several times to look at the iriginal “research paper” which attacked our NIWA scientists but his cioncept of doing that is to contine to accuse the scientists of “beating their wives.” He is prepared to ignore the obvious sin and slander by the deniers and prefers to search instead for a scientific conspiracy.
As I said – an interesting project for social psychologists.
Until this week, I truly thought of the “greenhouse effect” as visible light coming in, re-radiating as infrared, and then radiating back to the ground where it would be absorbed. I sort of visualized a semi-silvered mirror, I guess.
Now that I’m trying to think through what the photons actually do, I realize that my mental image of a “semi-silvered mirror” was completely off base. Any IR radiation that enters the CO2 must ultimately go out into space or down to the earth. If I’m thinking about this correctly, doubling the CO2 can’t double the statistical probability that a given photon finally winds up hitting the earth. I can take a “random walk” through one mile of CO2-rich atmosphere or ten miles–either way, I have to wind up in space or on the ground.
The only difference the amount of CO2 makes, as I’m working through this, is the actual kinetic energy that is stored in the atmosphere. More CO2 will hold more heat. It’s like putting water in a microwave–if I put one mug in the microwave, I store one mug’s worth of heat. If I put two mugs in, I can store more heat.
Which means I should be able to detect that absorbed heat by measuring the temperature of the troposphere. If a “thick blanket” of CO2 is driving the earth’s warming, then the EASIEST and MOST ACCURATE direct measurement we can make would be to measure the heat trapped in the blanket.
But, since Pielke claims that is what we DON’T find, I don’t think the “thick blanket” model works, either.
Andrew, you seem to understand the “expert consensus” on all this. How, exactly, is it that CO2 trap heat?
Ken, I’d be happy to close off this thread. I REALLY think you’ve got me mixed up with someone else on the “beating their wives” claim–if not, please tell me what I said that could be construed that way!
As for the NIWA claims… I went off to find out what was going on, and came to the conclusion that it was a “Yes you did/no you didn’t” dispute. NIWA is following “generally accepted methods” of correcting for temperatures. The critics don’t accept those methods. Both sides are “right” in their own eyes, so (in my opinion) it’s not a dispute that’s worth investing that much effort on.
For what it’s worth, I’m more skeptical of the surface measurements than I used to be–so I’m more likely to question whether NIWA is doing the right thing. But I’m not going to accuse them of “fraud” or “conspiracy.”
With that, I’ll retire from this thread.
Ken — Are you the “Ken” of this blog? I’m disappointed with your “summary,” since it has summarized to your particular bias rather than simply summarizing objectively. Your choice, of course. (If you are the “Ken” of this blog, I would like to discuss your “belief system.” I suspect you and I have significant overlaps there.
Scott — I am beginning to think you may know a great deal more about this subject than you are letting on. Your approach reminds me of a crafty oceanography professor of mine back at UDUB (University of Washington) – namely Dixie Lee Ray. I have enjoyed the exchange.
Poptech — Are you Andrew, Doug, Carl, or Mike? You seem to be a pretty clear thinker. Keep focusing on the facts – no matter where they lead you.
The rest of you (at least those who have interacted with me) — sooner or later you need to advance beyond your sophomoric thinking.
You illustrate my point beautifully, Scott.
We have a “research paper” attacking, slandering, our scientists at NIWA. Have you bothered to look at that “paper” and critically assess it?
Did you read my comments on that “paper”, its lack of scientific input and review (see New Zealand’s denier-gate)?
Did you read The Atavism’s comments on the “paper” and his statistical analysis of their data (see Peer Review for the Climate “Science” Coalition)?
As far as I can see no! At least you have not commented on our critiques, or countered anything we have said. That’s what I would have expected from an objective commenter.
Instead you continue “to question whether NIWA is doing the right thing.”
Well – what about this Scott. Why don’t you question if the NZ Coalition and Conversation group are doing the right thing?
If you had an honest interest in the science of this matter you would have done that.
I fear you may be for real, Walter E. Haas — OMG! At the South Pole, we had a 1930s something UCLA doctoral thesis about the hollow earth and the aliens who live there. The way into this place was, according to this PhD candidate, at the South Pole. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Scott, from what I can see the questions you ask have already been answered in the thread by Frank, Ken and others, if you don’t want to accept them, don’t.
Robert G. Williscroft, PhD claims that the GH theory contravenes the 2nd law of thermodynamics, that energy can’t flow from a colder object to a warmer object, this claim is what the Gerlich and Tscheuschner paper it entirely based on, Frank covers this, the rule is that there can be no NET energy transfer without work being done.
A simple experiment can be carried out to test which claim is right, if there is no flow of energy from colder to hotter objects that partially offsets the larger flow from hotter to colder things should cool at a rate independent of the relative temperature of their colder surroundings, ie, a 90C cup of coffee in a 50C oven should cool at the same rate as a 90C cup of coffee in a -10C freezer, try it.
I don’t know how many times and in how many ways I need to make the following point to you Scott, this is the last time I’ll try:
Roger Pielke, Sr once argued that the troposphere is cooler than expected, but he was not talking about an absence of a GH effect, which would result in a troposphere about 33C cooler than it is, Gerlich and Tscheuschner are the only people with a published paper making this no GH effect claim, Pielke is addressing the finer points of climate sensitivity. We all agree he’s a sceptic rather than a denier.
Quote from Scott: “In the early 1990s, data from NOAA’s polar orbiting satellites were analyzed for multi-decadal trends. These initial analyses indicated that temperatures in the troposphere showed little or no increase…”
There was found to be an error in that data that was a result of satellite orbital drift, sceptic (as opposed to denier) scientists accept the corrected data.
Robert G. Williscroft, PhD:
You referred to 4 solar cycles in your earlier comments with periods of up to 1500 years, you made no mention of orbital cycles, and further claimed that AGW supporters denied the existence of any initial driver other than increasing CO2 concentrations. You were wrong, wrong , wrong, you then decided to revise what you initially said to fit what had subsequently been explained to you. You’re not just a flake, but also a liar and a scoundrel.
James | January 9, 2010 at 6:25 am |
For my 9th grade honors history class I have to do a debate on climate change. I’m on the side that this whole problem can’t he 100% anthropogenic because althoughwe may be able to influence the climate a little with carbon emmitios and whatnot, there is now way a all that we could cause such drastic changes to the enviorment. The whole conspiracy idea and evidence is news to me and seems to directly parallel my hypothesis.
Any ideas? Email me at swimfinn3456@ymail.com subject line: climate change.
Ken | January 9, 2010 at 8:15 am |
James, the IPCC is on the side that there are natural as well as man made causes of climate change. When you look at their reports you see a careful and objective assessment of the science. This provides a conclusion that the major contributor to the current warming is most likely (more than 90% probable) due to humans. The science, and the IPCC process is pretty obvious and transparent.
Really if there is a conspiracy it’s on the deniers’ side with apparent links to conservative think tanks, the fossil fuel industry, creationist and conservative Christian groups.
The denier claims of conspiracy amongst the scientists are as obviosly silly as similar claims made by creationists.
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Gerhard Kramm | January 19, 2010 at 11:18 am |
@Poptech // December 17, 2009 at 1:29 pm
for your information. The comment of Kramm et al. (2009) on Arthur Smith’s paper was submitted to the arXiv of the Cornell-University because Smith’s paper was published there. Also the Gerlich-Tscheuschner paper was first submitted to arXiv before it was eventually published in the International Journal of Modern Physics B.
arXiv is used by many physicists, and physical journals recommend to upload manuscripts to arXiv so that they can be applied within the framework of the review process.
If peer-reviewed is such an important measure for you, please stop to believe that climate modeling is an appropriate tool in climatology because climate modeling is based on Ed Lorenz’s (1975) contribution to the GARP # 16 report. It is not peer-reviewed.
“Peer-reviewed” is a measure for people who are unable to analyze scientific papers.
P.S.: I served as a reviewer for 19 different jounals of meteorology, geophysics and physics.
Poptech | January 19, 2010 at 1:14 pm |
@ Gerhard Kramm // January 19, 2010 at 11:18 am
The comment was not peer-reviewed and rebutted as noted.
arXiv is nothing more than posting a paper on your own website.
Lorenz’s Climatic predictability, GARP Publications Series, April, 1975 is so widely used you cannot find it on the Internet? I think not.
If alarmists now reject peer-review let me know.
nephelometer | January 21, 2010 at 5:20 pm |
Nice video, thanks! Very informative.
Gerhard Kramm | February 12, 2010 at 3:33 pm |
I wrote that the paper of Ed Lorenz is not “peer-reviewed”. This is a fact. Nevertheless, it is unimportant to me because I am able to analyze papers.
I have a copy of the GARP #16 report since 1977 or so. I do not need the internet.
Arthur P. Smith wrote a blog on the arrogance of physicists. Meanwhile, it is widely distributed on the web. I wonder why he did not use his valuable time to write a reply on our comment.
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Peer review - the "tyranny" of the third reviewer
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Tag: national census
Wednesday: 1 US Soldier, 12 Iraqis Killed; 33 Iraqis Wounded
Posted on October 27, 2010 October 27, 2010 by Margaret GriffisCategories UncategorizedTags Ahmet Davutoglu, Amnesty International, Ba'ath Party, Greece, Iraq casualties, jordan, Kurdistan Democratic Party, kurds, maliki, national census, russia, Tariq Aziz, turkey, U.S. casualties, VaticanLeave a comment on Wednesday: 1 US Soldier, 12 Iraqis Killed; 33 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 5:50 p.m. EDT, Oct. 27, 2010 Tariq Aziz remained the focus of news as his death sentence, considered unfair by many, could further stall the process of government formation, the number two story in Iraq today. The two topics overshadowed a return of Tony Blair to the Chilcot inquiry and a possible delay in the national census. At least 12 Iraqis were killed in new violence. Another 33 were wounded. Also, a sniper wounded a U.S. soldier in Amara, and the Dept. of Defense announced the non-combat death of a U.S. soldier three days ago in Baghdad.
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Be Specific, But Not Too Specific
Lawrence A. Keller
In a defendant’s perfect world, we could enter into Compromise and Release agreements which would absolve the defendant of any and all liability for any and all injuries, known or unknown, resulting from an applicant’s employment with an employer. Such broad releases are not likely to be approved, and where they are signed off on by a WCJ, they would not stand up to scrutiny before the Appeals Board. It is therefore necessary that Compromise and Release agreements identify all proper body parts and/or dates of injury to maximize the scope or the Compromise and Release. The recent decision in Herbert Cooper (Dec’d), Pamela Cooper (Widow), Applicant v. Johns Manville, PSI employer, ESIS, TPA, Defendants, 2015 Cal. Wrk. Comp. P.D. LEXIS 585 (ADJ8826379), highlights the need to not let the pendulum swing too far the other way and to limit the identified body parts or conditions included in a Compromise and Release, with reliance on broader release language in an addendum.
Mr. Cooper worked over 30 years for roofing and insulation provider Johns Manville as a mixer operator. Mr. Cooper filed an Application claiming a 1988 injury to his respiratory system with the WCAB. This was settled by Stipulations in 1991 prior to Mr. Cooper’s retirement. In 2007, a Compromise and Release was entered into, which was subsequently amended in 2008. Mr. Cooper was unrepresented throughout his claim.
As a result of his exposure to asbestos during his employment with Johns Manville, the applicant developed respiratory injury as a result of his exposure to asbestos. The exposure to asbestos was also the basis for Mr. Cooper’s claim of respiratory and lung injury which was settled by Compromise and Release in 2008. Following his death, Mr. Cooper’s wife filed a death claim. The cause of Mr. Cooper’s death as asbestos-caused mesothelioma of the peritoneal, or stomach lining, was undisputed by defendant.
The defendant sought to have the death claim barred as having been settled in the 2008 Compromise and Release. Listed in the body parts section of the Compromise and Release were only the “lungs and respiratory system.” The defendant had included an addendum to the Compromise and Release indicating that “this settlement resolves any and all remaining claims against Johns Manville for Workers’ Compensation benefits due to exposure to asbestos. Settlement includes any and all injuries arising from exposure to asbestos including mesothelioma and asbestos-related cancers.”
Unfortunately, for the defendant, the 2005 WCAB Compromise and Release form included paragraph 3 on page 1 which stated “this agreement is limited to settlement of the body parts, conditions, or systems and for the dates of injury set forth in paragraph number 1 despite any language to the contrary in this document or any addendum.” The current 2008 version of the Compromise and Release form includes similar language in paragraph 3 on page 5, “This agreement is limited to settlement of the body parts, conditions, or systems and for the dates of injury set forth in paragraph number 1 and further explained in paragraph 9 despite any language to the contrary elsewhere in this document or any addendum.”
It would appear from the language of the Compromise and Release (there is some question in the Cooper case that there may have been a lack of communication regarding the intent of the parties) that the language was intended to resolve all claims related to the applicant’s exposure to asbestos and potential mesothelioma.
However, the WCJ included that the Compromise and Release applied only to the respiratory system, and not to the abdomen or stomach which was the ultimate cause of the applicant’s death. The abdomen, cancer, or even reference to asbestos were not included in the body parts on the Compromise and Release, but only referenced in the addendum. The WCJ concluded that the addendum could not expand on the Compromise and Release and therefore the Compromise and Release did not cover the peritoneal mesothelioma which was the cause of death.
To ensure that a Compromise and Release covers potential future claims related to an existing condition, it must be included in paragraph 1 or paragraph 9 of the current Compromise and Release form. A general release in an addendum is not sufficient. Although Cooper involved the particularly pernicious extensive illness which may be triggered by asbestos, the reasoning should not be limited to asbestos related claims. All body parts claimed by the injured worker in pleadings or referenced in medical reports which are intended to be part of the Compromise and Release must be included in paragraph 1 or paragraph 9 of the Compromise and Release agreement.
The defendant in Cooper may have been spared liability for a death claim had all potential body parts which may have been affected by mesothelioma been included in paragraph 1. In the current version of the Compromise and Release form, the defendant’s language from the addendum regarding release of all asbestos related injures should, at the very least, be included in paragraph 9. Given the WCJ’s reasoning, such inclusion in paragraph 9 should prevent a finding that the settlement was limited to only the body parts listed in paragraph 1. However, the language may not be so broad as to include “any and all, known or unknown” injuries.
The Navarro Effect
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The “F” Word is Not Just for Applicants
Discovery Issues Involving Multiple Defendants on CT or Occupational Disease Cases
© Parker, Kern, Nard & Wenzel 2021
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Gen. Martin Dempsey to serve as 2016 Commencement speaker
Author: Dennis Brown
Gen. Martin Dempsey, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks in Carey Auditorium in September 2014
Recently retired U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the past four years, will be the principal speaker and receive an honorary degree at the University of Notre Dame’s 171st University Commencement Ceremony on May 15.
“Gen. Dempsey is a military strategist who was trained as a humanist, and the top military adviser to the president who has always shown great concern for the common soldiers under his command,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., the University’s president. “In dangerous and uncertain times, he has proven a steady, wise and conscientious leader.”
Dempsey was sworn in as the nation’s 18th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1, 2011. His second two-year term ended Wednesday (Sept. 30), and he has been succeeded by former U.S. Marine Corps commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. Just prior to becoming chairman of the joint chiefs, Dempsey served as the Army’s chief of staff from April through September of 2011.
A 1974 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, Dempsey is a career armor officer whose assignments have taken him around the world in both war and peace. His military career began as a company grade officer serving with the 2nd Cavalry in Europe and the 10th Cavalry at Fort Carson, Colorado.
His career then took an unusual turn when he spent two years at Duke University earning a master’s degree in English and then three years at his alma mater as an assistant professor of English. He has been known to quote Yeats and Shakespeare in his speeches, and he says his five years in academia made him “a clearer thinker, a better communicator.”
In 1991, Dempsey deployed with the Third Armored Division in support of Operation Desert Storm, followed by assignments in Germany and with the Army Personnel Command, the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment and the joint chiefs.
From 2001 to 2007 he trained and advised the Saudi Arabian National Guard, commanded the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad and trained and equipped Iraqi security forces.
Before becoming the Army chief of staff, he served as the deputy commander and then acting commander of U.S. Central Command and led the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.
Dempsey’s awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Distinguished Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Bronze Star with “V” Device and Oak Leaf Cluster, the Combat Action Badge and the Parachutist Badge. In addition to his master’s degree in English, he holds master’s degrees in military art and in national security studies.
A proud Irish American, Dempsey sang the Irish ballad “The Parting Glass” at his retirement ceremony last weekend. He and his wife, Deanie, have three children, all of whom have also served in the U.S. Army, and nine grandchildren.
Dempsey delivered the Jack Kelly and Gail Weiss Lecture in National Security at Notre Dame on Sept. 6, 2014, and presented the American flag during ceremonies prior to the Notre Dame-Michigan football game that evening. He also spoke at a Notre Dame symposium last April in Washington, D.C.
Notre Dame’s University Commencement Ceremony will be held in Notre Dame Stadium beginning at 9 a.m.
Originally published by Dennis Brown at news.nd.edu on September 30, 2015.
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Progressive Hindu Dialogue
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CORRIDOR OF PEACE BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN
Posted by Promod Puri on January 23, 2019
By Promod Puri
It is hailed as a “Corridor of Peace” between India and Pakistan.
The Kartarpur Corridor to be ready by November of this year is also a long-awaited and welcome historical development for Sikhs worldwide. The much-desired Corridor will connect the border town of Dera Baba Nanak from the Indian side and Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan.
The 4.7 kilometers border corridor would be a sacred passage to the historic site of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539), settled and assembled the faith’s commune after his missionary travels.
The highlight of the Corridor is that it is visa-free for pilgrims and devotees of Sikhism and from other religions to visit the Gurdwara in Kartarpur.
Till now, Sikh devotees from the Indian side gather in large number on higher places to have sacred viewing of the Gurdwara across the border.
The Indian government at one time was reluctant to the Corridor project, because of the poor state of the relationship between the two countries. Instead, it offered to install several powerful binoculars close to the border for viewing of the Kartarpur Gurdwara.
With the change of mind, perhaps the original proposal was mooted by ruling BJP prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, that the present Modi Government tend to be a partner in the upcoming project.
An 800-meter-long bridge will be built over the Ravi river to lead up to the transit terminal where shuttle buses will take the pilgrims from India to Pakistan.
The Kartarpur Gurdwara is a revered Sikh historical shrine where according to one Lahore-based historian Fakr Syed Aijazudin, the place houses the last copies of Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhism.
The Kartarpur Corridor has been an old, forceful and relentless demand of the Sikhs to the leadership of both the countries. It was only in September 2018 that the Pakistan Government unilaterally decided to start construction work for the Corridor.
The announcement was instantly welcomed by the government of India when prime minister Narendra Modi compared the decision to the fall of the Berlin Wall, saying the project may help in better relations between the two nations.
The peace Corridor is reported to be complete close to the 550th-anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev’s birthday.
The Sikh Guru founded Kartarpur in 1504 AD and established the first commune for his followers there. He lived in Kartarpur till his death. It is believed that the tradition of langar, an iconic part of Sikh faith, began here.
Guru Nanak was a firm believer in “karta,” meaning a doer. This relates to a person who besides being religious, is actively involved in doing work to earn one’s pious living. While in this engagement one also keeps social and family ties, rather than seeking a religious seclusion life as a hermit in search of god and peace. Hence, he named his place of final settlement Kartarpur.
The original 16th-century shrine on the banks of river Ravi was built by the followers of Guru Nanak Dev, including many Muslims. But it was ravaged by floods. The present Kartarpur Gurdwara was built by late Maharaja of Patiala Sardar Bhupinder Singh in 1925 at the site where Guru Nanak died.
After the partition of India in 1947, the Kartarpur region was awarded to Pakistan. The Gurdwara was sort of abandoned and showed signs of ruin. Later in 1995, the Pakistan Government began the repair work and fully restored the sacred Sikh shrine in 2004.
The sanctity of the site was always upheld by Nanak’s Muslim devotees as well. And today Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib has emerged as the ultimate symbol of peace among the Punjabis on both sides of the border.
The “Corridor of Peace” would be the eventual tribute by both the nations of India and Pakistan to the teachings of Guru Nanak.
Promod Puri is a Vancouver-based journalist, writer, and author of “Hinduism Beyond Rituals, Customs, And Tradition.” Websites: promodpuri.com, progressivehindudialogue.com
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HomeTrackside GuideMarietta, Georgia
Friday Afternoon Railfanning in Marietta, Ga.
A Random Train Day in Marietta, Ga.
Southbound Mixed Freight Passes Through Marietta, Ga.
Photo Gallery: Intermodal Passes Through Marietta, Ga.
Small locomotive highlights area’s railroad roots
Web site features trains in Marietta, Ga.
MARIETTA, Ga. — Tracks through Marietta were laid prior to the Civil War and the Western & Atlantic Railroad, created by a Dec. 21, 1836, act of the Georgia General Assembly, operated trains between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Kennesaw House, located adjacent to the train depot, is an important landmark for railfans and especially for history buffs.
It was here on April 12, 1862, that James Andrews and 19 raiders boarded a Western & Atlantic train bound for Chattanooga. The plan was to burn bridges, tear up track and cut telegraph lines between Marietta and Chattanooga to disrupt one of the Confederate’s most important rail lines.
“The mind and heart shrink back appalled at the bare contemplation of the awful consequences which would have followed the success of this one act,” wrote the editor of the Southern Confederacy.
The historical marker outside the hotel reads: “In the ante-bellum days, this hotel was a summer resort for planters attracted by the gay social activities of this town. In 1862, J.J. Andrews and his federal raiders met here to begin the daring Locomotive Chase. Confederate wounded were fed and treated here after many battles, and civilian refugees from overrun Tennessee and Kentucky stayed here, moving south as Federals drew near. July 3, 1864, Sherman has his headquarters in this hotel, while directing his pursuit of the Confederates retiring to Atlanta. After the war, numerous northern visitors wintered in Marietta, many stopping at the Kennesaw House.”
The Western & Atlantic Railroad was acquired by the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad in 1890. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad absorbed that railroad in 1957. Today, the line is operated by CSX, a successor of the L&N, and is heavily traveled.
A second line — the Marietta & North Georgia Railroad — was built starting in 1874. In 1887, tracks were completed to Murphy, N.C.
The line changed hands over the next few years. In 1902, the L&N Railroad purchased the line.
CSX abandoned some of the line. Today, some portions are operated by the Georgia Northeastern Railroad.
Notable Happenings
October 1886: A Western & Atlantic Railroad track hand was badly injured when a freight car being pushed by a switcher knocked him down. The car dragged him four car lengths, and his hand was “badly mashed.”
A version of this article was originally published in the February 2005 edition of The Cross-Tie.
A Random Train Day in Marietta, Ga. | Railfanning.org
Friday Afternoon Railfanning in Marietta, Ga. | Railfanning.org
More From Marietta | Railfanning.org
Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History to Display Rare Glover Locomotive – Railfanning.org
Rare Glover Machine Works Locomotive Displayed at Kennesaw Museum – Railfanning.org
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May 8, 2016 - Sunday May 9, 2016 - Monday Jeggit Politics, Scotland, Society
Scotland’s Rise to Momentum
So you think Scotland has lost its momentum? Well, “momentum” is an equation, and if you’re thinking that we’ve lost it then we should take a look at the numbers. We think you’ll find that when it comes to real momentum Scotland has it in bucket loads.
Someone commented on the Butterfly Rebellion Facebook page yesterday that they felt the momentum had gone from the independence movement in Scotland. Now, with the buzz of the 2014 referendum all fading into the past, we can appreciate where a comment like this comes from. The cut and thrust of hyperactive street politics has settled down into the more mundane business of a distant parliament and politicians, and, yes, we have the feeling that we’ve somehow lost momentum. Thankfully when it comes to momentum, however, we have the work of a truly great Englishman to turn to – Isaac Newton. Newton’s second law of motion states that Force equals mass by acceleration or F=ma (where mass by acceleration is the change in momentum over the change in time).
Rather stunning that Sturgeon has fallen short of OM. Unionist Scotland not being won over. SNP momentum lessening
Chris Deerin (@chrisdeerin) May 06, 2016
So let’s consider the change of our momentum over time. From 1929 to 1966 the National Party of Scotland and its successor the Scottish National Party failed to win a single Westminster seat in the ten general elections in which they stood candidates. In 1970 the SNP won a single seat, and between then and 2010 never gained more than eleven seats. All in all, that’s 52 seats won over 81 years, an average of 0.64 seats. Yes, in Westminster’s Scottish benches that is a negligible momentum.
Yet between 1999 and 2011 within the elections for the newly reopened Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh a powerful change was effected that shot the SNP from 35 seats to 69 and a parliamentary majority that led ultimately to the party taking 56 of the 59 Westminster seats in the 2015 general election (the largest proportion taken by a single party with the largest voter turnout). There can be no mistaking the fact that this is a serious increase in voter mass happening at an accelerated rate; an equation which, according to Newton, amounts to a significant force with considerable momentum.
Actually, what we have witnessed in Scottish politics is the formation of a juggernaut of public opinion; a groundswell in support for independence that even Ruth Davison can’t deny. While we on the ground may have felt the party atmosphere fizzle a bit, what the phenomenon produced has become nothing less than Westminster and the British establishment’s worst nightmare. In thirteen years we have seen a 233% increase in support for independence. If this growth continues at even a quarter of this rate for five more years independence is inevitable. In fact, as Westminster well knows, independence is already the only logical outcome of this colossal momentum.
Tagged History, Momentum, National Party of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, Physics, Politics, Scotland, Scottish Independence, Scottish National Party, Scottish Parliament, Society, Westminster
Why are so Many Scots Voting for the Thatcherites?
Ask not what Scotland can do for you…
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The Demand for Children’s Books in Other Languages
Children’s books in the home are a vital resource in enabling parents to engage with their children’s learning, and the shared reading of picture books is an essential foundation in early literacy development. But for many families where parents first language is not English, access to quality children’s picture books published in their home language can be limited or non-existent; particularly where the home language is non-European. Where the parents speak and read very little English, the children of those parents can miss out on a crucial stage of early learning, potentially having consequences on literacy attainment throughout their education: “Parental involvement in their child’s literacy practices positively affects children’s academic performance and is a more powerful force for academic success than other family background variables, such as social class, family size and level of parental education… Any [initiative] aiming to improve literacy standards… needs to embrace the family as a whole and include parents as partners in their children’s education from the very beginning of their children’s lives.” [A Research Review: the importance of families and the home environment, National Literacy Trust, 2008; revised March 2011].
At Pop Up, we believe that there is demand for quality original picture books by well-known children’s authors; books that, crucially, do not have to be about ethnicity or identity; published in diverse, non-European languages; and who can be reached not through traditional routes (e.g. high street retailers) but through schools, libraries, family services and community networks. If we are able to evidence this demand within the arts and education sectors, and demonstrate effective promotional and distribution strategies, we may be able to influence the commercial publishing sector, and increase the diversity of stories available to families in the UK, whether they are mainly English-speaking or not.
We undertook some research into the provision of, access to and demand for contemporary children’s picture books among diverse parents for whom English is not the first language. 106 parents from 22 different countries of origin were surveyed in eight primary schools in three London boroughs (Hackney, Islington, Camden); surveys were made available to respondents in eight different languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Bangla, Somali, Yoruba, Twi).
89% of respondents were born outside of the UK, and stated that they ‘speak (their) home languages the most’; and 76% agreed they communicate orally in their home language ‘the most’ with their children – with the highest three groups who stated this being Turkish (16%), Somali (12%) and Spanish (7%). The value this sample group of parents placed on the importance of reading books in the home appeared to be extremely high: 96% said they have ‘children’s books in English at home’, 76% claimed to read books with their children ‘very often’, while 96% ‘would like to read more books with their children’.
Almost half of respondents perceived their children as not able to ‘read very well’ (33%) or ‘at all’ (12%) in their home language. And a clear majority (95%) wanted their children ‘to read better’ in their home language, with a similarly high percentage (85%) wanting children’s books in that language in the home. 38% said they did not currently have books in their home language in the home; a total 67% were unaware of children’s books in their home languages being available in the schools their children attend (analysis of the 33% who were aware of books in their schools showed that all spoke European languages with the exception of Turkish), while 87% ‘would like to have more children’s books in (their) language in school”. A further 83% said they ‘would like to buy children’s books in (their) home language’ from a range of sources, with schools ranking first, followed by libraries and bookshops.
These results depict a broad sample of mainly migrant, bilingual parents as placing considerable value not only on books and intergenerational reading in the home, but also on opportunities for their children to connect with their home language/culture through reading and writing. This suggests that in addition to providing parents for whom English is not their first language with books to read with their children, these books will serve a further purpose: to enhance children’s reading skills in their home languages – which the overwhelming majority of the parents we surveyed would like to see happen. This research represents the first step in evidencing demand for books in diverse languages, and for access to those books – both for sale and to loan – to be facilitated via schools and libraries.
“Parental involvement in their child’s literacy practices positively affects children’s academic performance and is a more powerful force for academic success than other family background variables, such as social class, family size and level of parental education
National Literacy Trust
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Home → Attractions
The P.J. McArdle Roadway: Past and Present
On December 7, 2020 / Attractions, History, Places
A Brief History Pittsburgh is known for its steep hills and how they provide dramatic perches for overlooking the city. While those hills can be an asset, they can also be an obstacle. During the early 20th Century, residents began to move from the confines of the Golden Triangle to surrounding neighborhoods such as Mt. Washington. Before the P.J. McArdle Roadway, there were six inclines
The Best of Somerset County
On September 7, 2020 / Attractions, Places
Somerset County is located to the southeast of Pittsburgh, and its southern edge borders Maryland. Its county seat is also called Somerset and the names derives from Somersetshire, England. Primarily a rural, agricultural county, it is known for its beautiful rolling farmlands and mountain peaks. The county is home to the highest point in Pennsylvania, Mt. Davis, at 3,213 feet above sea level. Two recent
On August 24, 2020 / History, Places
The Rotunda at The Pennsylvanian on downtown Pittsburgh’s Liberty Avenue is so magnificent. It’s difficult to imagine that such a beautiful landmark was nearly demolished. A Beautiful Gateway Pittsburgh was the original “Gateway to the West” long before St. Louis claimed the title. Our rivers made us the embarkation point for those heading to the unsettled land west of the area. With the advent of
What’s in a Name? – Cambria County
On July 13, 2020 / History, Places
“Cambria” is the Latinized term for the what the people of ancient Wales called their country Cymru. Cambria County shares that name perhaps because, like Wales, it has abundant coal. There are many other towns and communities in the county with interesting names. Here is a sampling: Carrolltown This community was named in honor of the United States’ first Roman Catholic Bishop, John Carroll, who
What’s in a Name? – Westmoreland County
On June 1, 2020 / History, Places
We live, work, worship, and play here, but do we know how some of the towns, boroughs, and municipalities around us acquired their names? Some are obvious, having derived from descriptions of geographical or features found in that area. But what about those other places? How did they get their names? Some were named after people. Who were they? And why did they merit having
What’s in a Name? – Allegheny County
On February 3, 2020 / History, Places
We live, work, worship, and play here, but do we know how some of the towns, boroughs, and municipalities around us acquired their names? Some are obvious, having derived from descriptions of geographical or features found in that area. For instance, Oakland is reported to have gotten that name because of the numerous oak trees found there. The North Shore received that appellation because it
Eat’n Park Bringing Food and Smiles to Pittsburghers for 7 Decades
On January 20, 2020 / Attractions, Featured-food-drink, Food & Drink
For many Pittsburghers, they have never known a time without Eat’n Park restaurants, which was founded in 1949 before many of them were even born. Eat’n Park’s first location opened on June 6 of that year on Saw Mill Run Boulevard and was a sensation from the start. So much so, that the grand opening caused a traffic jam on Route 51 necessitating that the
Luminari offers mind broadening camps for teens who are rising 8th and 12th graders. Areas of focus: Diplomacy & Leadership; Cooking; Public Speaking and Writing.
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2015 RCP Rocket Award Winners: Risk-Takers Rise to the Top
For the third straight year, Redmond Channel Partner magazine and Revenue Rocket Consulting Group spotlight three companies that exemplify sustainable growth strategies for the 2015 RCP Rocket Awards.
By Gladys Rama
If there's a common thread linking all three of the companies that have been chosen as this year's RCP Rocket Award winners, it's that at some point for each of them, it could have all gone wrong.
For Valorem Consulting, that point might have been sometime soon after its founders decided to start a cloud company during a recession. For Uptime Legal Systems, it might have been when its CEO decided to make a critical rebranding decision. And for Pariveda Solutions, there was a potential flashpoint every time it disregarded a big project in favor of a small one.
But instead of turning their businesses belly-up, the risks have paid off for each of these companies -- by a lot.
The RCP Rocket Award, now in its third year, recognizes Valorem, Uptime and Pariveda for their innovative business strategies that have resulted in sustained growth over a three-year period, from 2012 through 2014. Here, we profile what they did right -- even if conventional wisdom might say they were wrong.
Valorem: Take a 'First-in' Approach
Risk is part and parcel of Valorem Consulting's DNA. The co-founders of the Kansas City-based Microsoft consulting partner, Justin Jackson and Domnick Parretta, had a vision of a "first-in" company -- that is, a company that's first in adopting and supporting new technology. Case in point: Valorem started in 2009 as a firm focused on Microsoft cloud technologies, at a time when cloud computing was still a largely untested business model and Microsoft Azure was still in the pre-release stages.
Valorem's Kansas City headquarters
Valorem took a big risk betting its business on cloud, and the dividends have been significant. In the past six years, Valorem has grown from a two-person operation to a 130-person-and-growing company. In 2012, revenue grew by 73 percent year over year; in 2013, by 50 percent; and in 2014, by 65 percent. Parretta expects revenue to balloon by another 70 percent this year.
A big contributor to that growth is Valorem's willingess to embrace new technologies. In 2009, it was cloud; nowadays, it's the Internet of Things and "mixed reality" technologies like the Microsoft HoloLens. Parretta acknowledges that there's inherent risk in Valorem's first-in philosophy. "The risk there is where we spend cycles ramping up on the wrong trend," he says. "I don't think we've had one of those big missteps, but I'm sure we will, at some point."
The key to avoiding those missteps so far has been discernment, and the ability to distill real-world applications from even the most bleeding-edge concepts. "We do it smartly. We don't just jump on everything. I think we try to look out for what are the mega trends, where is the messaging, where is the bubble coming," Parretta says. "And we don't do it for the sake of being trendy."
With HoloLens, for instance, Valorem is taking steps to assess how the technology's 3-D modeling capabilities can augment its own cloud offerings and solve business problems in the manufacturing and design industries. Parretta doesn't necessarily expect HoloLens to become a revenue stream for Valorem right away, at least outside of a handful of early adopters. The payoff is in the long-term, when the technology has become more mainstream. Right now, the focus is on "building the chops" among Valorem's employees to work with mixed-reality technologies. "That way, six years from now [when it becomes mainstream], we've already established ourselves."
For Valorem, which offers services based solely on Microsoft products, this first-in approach also has the benefit of making it easier for the company to get Microsoft's attention. "It's about getting in early and building rapport and relationships before the herd comes charging in, and I'm a little guy at the table versus the only guy at the table," Parretta says. This relationship with Microsoft has been critical to Valorem's growth, according to Parretta.
Why Valorem Won
"Valorem's focus on new tech and culture has resulted in fantastic growth. The company has proven that it can pick the right technology and the right talent to help its clients with breakthrough results. HoloLens and the cloud represent a huge opportunity for those firms that can harness the power of these tools for their clients. I fully expect Valorem to be one of those firms."
-- Mike Harvath, CEO, Revenue Rocket Consulting Group and RCP Rocket Awards Judge
Another factor in that growth has been the fact that many of Valorem's stickiest customers have also seen significant revenue growth of their own. Some of Valorem's projects that were initially worth between $20,000 and $30,000 are now worth $500,000 to $1 million, according to Parretta. "We've done a good job of profiling and retaining good customers that will grow," he says. "We bet on the right type of projects with the right type of companies."
As Valorem's coffers have grown, so has its headcount. Since 2012, year-over-year employee growth has ranged between 45 percent and 67 percent. This has been fueled, in part, by Valorem's need to diversify its employees' skills to keep up with new technology. Mainly, though, it's a matter of logistics.
"Hiring isn't easy, but it's critical to our ability to sustain growth," says Parretta, who identifies recruitment as Valorem's top business hurdle of the past three years. "We spend almost all of our time on how to market, how to recruit, how to attract the best people. Because -- at least in this day and age -- we don't have a sales challenge. We can get customers, we can retain customers, customers want to do work with us. We have a challenge in hiring people fast enough."
The developer-to-job ratio in Kansas City is about 7-to-1, Parretta says. That makes attracting and retaining employees even more challenging. To bolster its recruitment efforts, Valorem has invested a lot in infusing its headquarters with the kinds of perks that a young workforce has come to expect. There are areas to park your cruiser bike, for example, or socialize over coffee or play ping pong.
"Culture is king here," Parretta says, noting that among today's crop of prospective employees, high salaries are not always enough. "Someone's always going to pay more. I think it's about culture and about purpose."
Uptime: Do Verticalization Right
The common refrain among services providers is that specialization is critical to success. In a lot of ways, Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Uptime Legal Systems -- which started out as simply Uptime Systems -- is a poster child of that idea. But that doesn't mean the transition was an easy one.
CEO Dennis Dimka founded Uptime in 2005. For the next seven years, Uptime was a "pretty quintessential" managed services provider (MSP), according to Dimka, providing IT consulting and networking services to small companies in the area. The company was successful enough, in the sense that its revenue was growing, but it was slow progress. Uptime was hobbled by "the same challenge that every MSP generalist deals with," Dimka says. "It's always three steps forward, two steps back."
In 2012, Uptime switched to a cloud services provider (CSP) model, developing cloud-based services and expanding its prospective customer base nationally. However, still lacking a niche industry to market to, Dimka encountered the same problems as he did when Uptime was an MSP: "It was very difficult to stand out. Therefore, difficult to sell. Therefore, difficult to grow."
Uptime's transformation from a general MSP into a CSP that focused solely on the legal industry happened in stages. First, the company tried a two-menu model: one menu of services aimed at just law firms and another menu of services for everyone else. The law-focused menu consisted, in part, of existing Uptime services that had been repackaged for the legal sector, while other services had been created specifically for law firms. But that two-menu approach failed to set Uptime apart from other CSPs, Dimka says. He notes that there are plenty of CSPs that advertise themselves as legal-focused while simultaneously marketing to other verticals on their Web sites. "Everybody does that," Dimka says. "In that way, you're not a specialist at all. You're just another generalist that knows how to list industries."
Dimka eventually made the decision to fully commit Uptime to the legal industry, killing the non-legal menu and -- to make sure there's absolutely no confusion -- adding "Legal" to the company's name.
To differentiate itself, Uptime focused on developing its intellectual property. Its core offering is Uptime Practice, a private cloud platform for law firms. Besides being a differentiator, Uptime's self-described "Law Practice-as-a-Service" offering also gives the company a foothold for the future; Dimka notes that while a lot of legal practice-management applications are premises-based, the law industry is steadily shifting to the cloud.
Why Uptime Won
"As many of you who have followed Revenue Rocket over the years know, we are strong proponents of focusing your business on one market and of having a very limited technology offering, including your own IP. Uptime Legal, in many ways, is the poster child for this recommendation. The proof is in the numbers -- its growth and incredibly high-profit realization is one that all partners should strive to emulate."
-- Mike Harvath, CEO, Revenue Rocket Consulting Group and RCP Rocket Award Judge
The result of the rebrand has been 194 percent top-line revenue growth since 2012, with a projected $4 million in revenue for 2015. Uptime's client base has grown in proportion with its revenue since the rebrand, according to Dimka; its platform now has well more than 2,000 users and is used by 400-plus law firms. The company also recently launched the Uptime Authorized Partner program for legal technology consultants.
Such a fundamental shift in a company's identity certainly carries a degree of risk. Success in a newly chosen niche isn't guaranteed, while the loss of at least a few long-standing customers that fall outside that niche is inevitable. However, Dimka says that some of Uptime's legacy customers have decided to keep doing business with Uptime despite the rebrand. Moreover, while he expects to lose some non-legal clients in the future, "the growth from specializing and becoming a thought leader in the legal technology space outpaces that [loss] by 100-to-1."
As a side-effect of the verticalization, Uptime has also made some fundamental changes to its business processes. First, the company established an internal development program dubbed "Uptime University" to educate employees on the culture, software and workflow of law firms. Existing staff and new hires were required to go through the program, which Dimka describes as "essentially a boot camp for IT guys who maybe don't have any experience in the legal world."
Second, Uptime went from a company that, as Dimka says, "had little or nothing in the way of formal business plans, save a half-baked Word document that was usually written then stuffed into a drawer," to a company that conducted regular strategy meetings and had periodic performance goals. At first, Dimka says, the new structure "felt a little unnatural." However, he knew that it was necessary to sustain the kind of growth that comes from specialization.
"Every small business tends to be able to get away with a lack of formal structure," he says. "But we knew as we grew that we would outpace that kind of ma-and-pa style of management."
As Uptime's journey has shown, going vertical is a risky and multistep process that, if done right, can yield significant rewards. For firms looking to make the jump, Dimka says the key is to do nothing by halves. "Go all in," he says. "Specialization and verticalization don't just help you grow -- it helps everything snap into focus."
Pariveda: Focus on People and Growth Will Follow
Nowadays, it seems anithetical for any modern company to focus on its employees first and on its customers second. But that philosophy has propelled Pariveda Solutions, a Microsoft National Solutions Provider based in Dallas, from $1 million in revenue in 2004 to more than $70 million in 2014.
"The important thing to know is that we focus first and foremost on talent development. The development of our people. And that prioritizes [development] activities ahead of even our clients, if you can believe that," says Liem Vu, managing vice president of the West Region at Pariveda.
It isn't that profitable project outcomes aren't top-of-mind for Pariveda; it's that what's good for employees will ultimately be good for clients, too, in Pariveda's way of thinking. As Joe Davey, a vice president working out of Pariveda's Seattle office, puts it: "The belief is -- and I think it's borne out in the work that we've done -- is that if you support people, if you invest in them, good things will come from your [client] engagements. Your clients will benefit. And overall, that investment in your workers will start to pay dividends."
Those dividends are in the ballpark of 15 percent to 20 percent year-over-year revenue growth since 2012, project margins in excess of 50 percent, and referral business accounting for about 85 percent of annual revenue. Pariveda currently employs roughly 400 billable consultants across its nine U.S. offices, with plans to continue to grow headcount. Clearly, there's something to this people-first approach.
Although many other consulting companies have training programs in place, Vu emphasizes that Pariveda's approach, which is centered on what it calls an "Expectations Framework," goes beyond the usual class-based learning regimen. "We don't look at it as training. We look at it as developing on people's capabilities, not necessarily skills," he says.
Pariveda's Expectations Framework gauges consultants on five areas: Effectiveness, Business of IT, Relationships, Leadership and Others First. The framework is aimed at building consultants' "core capabilities" in each of those areas, according to Vu.
The distinction between capabilities and skills is an important one to Pariveda. "Most consulting companies -- and I've been with a number of them -- they're focused on developing skills. I'm going to get you trained up on .NET, Oracle, SharePoint or whatever," he says. However, Pariveda's Expectations Framework assumes that its consultants will learn those skills along the way; the priority is ensuring that consultants are capable of being effective advisers. Meaning, according to Vu, "that they have the networks in the marketplace that allow them to engage with clients and offer advice and help."
Why Pariveda Won
"We have seen Pariveda's employee-focused success formula first-hand. This model is extremely well-architected and well-executed at the firm. Its model has resulted in consistent above-average growth and profit for Pariveda, regardless of what is happening in the rest of the market."
The consultant-development process isn't just an internal one; it also extends outward to Pariveda's relationships with its clients and determines what kinds of projects it undertakes. The company matches projects to consultants "in a very deliberate manner," Vu says, that's aimed at moving those particular consultants up the Expectations Framework.
Pariveda also favors shorter-term projects over longer-term ones, which is notable given the conventional wisdom that longer-term projects are a better guarantor of revenue than shorter-term projects. Davey explains that this strategy, while counterintuitive, is also in service of Pariveda's over-arching goal of employee development. For consultants to be eligible for promotions, he says, they need to become familiar with multiple technologies, which is hard to do if they're locked in to a single project for a long period of time. Long-term projects might be good for a company's bottom line, but "it's not always the best thing for your employees, especially consultants who are trying to better themselves," he says.
And, as Vu points out, shorter projects (or longer projects "chunked up" into shorter ones) are frequently better for customers, too. The end goals of long-term projects are often outpaced by changes in a client's industry, technologies and business processes. By the time a long-term project hits its end date, its originally stated goals may no longer fit the company's current situation. Shorter projects have more measurable and useable value for customers, he says.
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Archive for Nationalism
Posted in Communist Movement, International Affairs, Pakistan with tags India, Kashmir, National Liberation, Nationalism, Pakistan, Socialism, South Asia on February 22, 2010 by Umer
by Danish Khan
When we try to investigate the region of South Asia, the conflict of the Jammu and Kashmir flashes our imagination. More than 100,000 lives have been lost in the bloodiest dispute of the Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan. It will not be wrong to say that the establishments of both India and Pakistan working on the agenda of Imperial powers have exploited the conflict of Kashmir as a popular tool to keep millions of people of the sub-continent under the clouds of darkness, poverty and misery. While during all this time the people who have been most affected by this ever lasting dispute are the unfortunate people of the Jammu and Kashmir. It is essential that the legacy of Kashmir dispute should be put to an end, and a new dawn should emerge from the beautiful mountains of Kashmir which will ensure a prosperous and peaceful future for the coming generations of sub continent.
The present status of the Jammu and Kashmir is similar to a neo-colony. When I will use the term Kashmir, I am referring to the whole region of the Jammu and Kashmir. The armed forces of both India and Pakistan have occupied the territory of the Kashmir. The people of Kashmir have been denied from their basic civic liberties. To make sure the status quo in the Kashmir, the India and Pakistan are spending almost three forth of their economic budget on the military. If we analyze the means of production of the Kashmir they are pre-capitalist in nature. In these harsh realities it is inevitable that only the scientific knowledge of Marxism-Leninism has a potential to emancipate the most oppressed and exploited people of the Kashmir. In the light of Marxism-Leninism a “National Democratic Revolution” can solve this conflict by emancipating the people of Kashmir from occupation, oppression and exploitation. National Democratic Revolution in Kashmir can also trickle starts the series of “people’s democratic revolution” in the sub-continent. Because the defeat of arm forces of India and Pakistan in Kashmir can only weaken their stranglehold in their own countries respectively. Thus it will be a huge opening for the people’s movement in India and Pakistan to take control of the state affairs and close all doors for Imperialism.
Police threaten indiscriminate revenge killings in Balochistan
Posted in International Affairs, Pakistan with tags Balochistan, Human Rights, National Liberation, Nationalism on September 4, 2009 by Umer
ALRC-CWS-12-04-2009
Twelfth session – Item 4
A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organisation with general consultative status
PAKISTAN: Police threaten indiscriminate revenge killings in Balochistan
The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to bring to the attention of the Human Rights Council the situation of human rights in Balochistan, Pakistan’s south-western province, which is deteriorating day by day due to the heavy-handed policies being adopted by the government towards nationalist groups. In response to the recent increase in violence committed by nationalist militants, a high-ranking police official threatened in a press conference on August 21 to begin killing people indiscriminately in the province in retaliation.
Mr. Ghulam Shabbir Shiekh, the deputy inspector of police, Nasserabad range, announced on Friday that the police will kill 40 local persons in revenge for the militants’ alleged abduction and murder of 20 policemen in July and August. No targets, however, were specified. Mr. Shiekh also threatened that if any bullet was fired at the police, the police would fire 100 bullets indiscriminately back at the locality from where the bullet was fired. If any rocket was fired at police stations, the police would fire 10 rockets back.
The announcement by Mr. Shiekh was the most recent attempt by Pakistani state agencies to instil fear among Baloch nationalists. Earlier, in January, 2009, journalists received threats from the Director of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) for writing editorials demanding investigations into allegations that the army is running torture cells and detaining female prisoners. The Director, who also holds the rank of Major General, threatened to withhold official advertisements and payments from the newspapers if they continued their “malicious” campaign against the army. Some television channels disclosed the threats publicly, but the Federal Minister for Information denied that the ISPR Director has made any such announcement.1
These developments reflect the serious situation of human rights in Balochistan, which continues to degrade despite the government’s promise to revive law and order. After the removal of General Musharraf, the newly elected government of Asif Zardari announced in 2008 that military operations in Balochistan would be halted. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and government parties apologized before the parliament for military excesses committed during the operations there.
In reality, however, no serious effort has yet been undertaken to resolve the rampant problem of illegal arrests and extra-judicial killings that plague Balochistan. Rather than adopting democratic institutions, Prime Minister Gilani has accused nationalist groups of being run by Indian agents. Cases of disappearances have continued to take place in the same way as they did during the military regime of Musharraf. Personnel of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) have arrested victims during the daytime and taken them into jeeps without registration plates. Victims are reportedly being transferred to military-run torture cells and kept in incommunicado until confessional statements have been forcefully extracted.
As of August 2009, an estimated 60 persons had been forcibly disappeared in Balochistan in 2009. This represents an increase from the estimated 39 cases of forced disappearance that were reported having been committed in the last nine months of 2008. A total of 99 cases of disappearances have taken place since the newly elected government came to power last March. The members of FC are being afforded impunity for these acts, as the police are claiming having no knowledge about the arrests and subsequent disappearances. Furthermore, under the state of emergency declared by General Musharraf on November 3, 2007, a Constitution (Amendment) Order, dated 20 November 2007, was issued.2 Under this amendment’s section 6, the addition of Article 270AAA to the Constitution ensures that no acts performed by any State authorities or members thereof can at present be challenged in any court in Pakistan, including the Anti-Terrorism Court or the High Court. This amendment continues to grant total de facto impunity to all State-actors in Pakistan. In order to undo this amendment to the Constitution, the Parliament (the Senate and the National Assembly), is required to vote to do so with a two-thirds majority. Since the removal of Musharraf, however, the Parliament has thus far failed to undo this amendment, and the legacy of the emergency continues to be the key obstacle that is preventing the fight against impunity and for justice concerning violations of human rights in the country to date.
Baloch Martyrs Day – 15 July
Posted in Pakistan with tags Balochistan, Internationalism, Kalat, National Liberation, Nationalism, Nauroze Khan on July 16, 2009 by Umer
On October 6th 1958, Pakistani forces attacked Kalat and arrested the Khan of Kalat Ahmed Yar Khan. As the news spread throughout Balochistan, the Baloch nation’s anger turned into a national revolt which has been known in Baloch history as the Second Baloch Uprising.
Nawab Nauroze Khan Zarakzai, who led the Baloch uprising, was born on 1875 in the house of Sardar Pasondh Khan Zarakzai in tehseel Zehri of district Khuzdar in Balochistan. During the Second Baloch Uprising, he and his brave commanders had frustrated Pakistani State’s attempts to crush the revolt. After a year, the government of Pakistan sent a mediator and promised on the Holy Quran that the Baloch leadership will be given immunity and their demands will be negotiated.
As soon as Nawab Nauroze and his companion stepped down from the mountains, they were arrested. After a kangaroo trail in Hyderabad Jail, Mir Wali Mohammad Zarakazi, Mir Gullam Rasool Nichari, Mir Sabzal Khan Zehri, Mir Musti Khan, Mir Bahwal Khan, Mir Jamal Khan and Mir Batay Khan were awarded death sentences. They were executed on 15th July, 1960.
Due to his old age, Nawab Nauroze Khan’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. At the age of 90, Nawab Nauroze Khan died in Hyderabad Jail on December 25th, 1965.
The sounds of thunder coming from the mountains of Balochistan have kept the legacy of Shaheed Nawab Nauroze Khan and his comrades alive. Now no one can cheat the Baloch nation from its freedom. It has been decided.
The torch of Baloch liberation is also illuminating the path of the workers and peasants of Punjab, Sindh, and Pakhtunkhawa. It is in the light of this torch they see barbarity of the ruling elite of Pakistan and resolve to support the Baloch nation’s right to self-determination including succession.
No retreat!
No surrender!
No compromise!
The Colonial Paths of Transition to Capitalism & Reactionary Anti-Imperialism
Posted in Communist Movement, International Affairs, Marxism, Pakistan with tags Anti-Imperialism, Capitalism, Colonialism, Democracy, Imperialism, Karl Marx, Lenin, Marxism, National Liberation, Nationalism, religious extremism, work, Workers on March 2, 2009 by Umer
by Taimur Rahman
In order to understand the dynamics between authoritarianism and bourgeois-democracy, let us briefly look at the economic imperative for the development of bourgeois-democracy in capitalism.
Capitalist society is based on the general recognition of private property. Capitalism begins where the money capital of the bourgeois meets with the labour-power of the wage worker. This exchange is premised on the dual recognition of the private property of both parties – capital of the bourgeois and labour-power of the working-person. Thus, in capitalist society the working-person is also recognized as a property owner – the property of the working-person is labour-power. This mutual recognition of property does not distinguish the social conditions that allow one class the social power to buy labour-power and the other the conditions that compel them to sell labour-power. In relation to the market the buyer and seller of labour-power are both commodity owners and the social conditions that make one the buyer and the other the seller of labour-power do not impact the mutual recognition of the two parties as owners of property. In sum, under capitalism there is an economic imperative to recognize the labourer as a property owner.
However, does capitalist society automatically accept the working-person as a free and equal citizen on the basis of the recognition of the working-person as the owner of the commodity labour-power? On the contrary, for capitalist society to translate the economic recognition of the free labourer into the political recognition of a free citizen requires a historical process of class struggle.
For instance, take the development of civil society in Europe. Marx demonstrated that the central tenants of civil society—equality, liberty, security, and freedom of belief, association, and expression as enunciated by the Declaration of the Rights of Man 1791, 1793, and the American Constitution of 1795—were theoretically derived from the central right of private property: Security consists in the protection afforded by society to each of its members for the conservation of his person and property; liberty consists in the right of utilizing one’s property in anyway within the law; equality before the law excludes class equality and so on (Marx, 1843). However the general recognition of these rights was only won as a result of social struggle – the French revolution, the American war of independence. Similarly, the right of freedom of association with respect to the working class (that is the formation of trade unions) can be theoretically derived from the recognition of labour-power as a commodity – since all owners of property have the right to protect and command the best possible price for their respective commodities, the owners of labour-power also have the right to form associations to command the best possible conditions of sale for labour-power. However, the social recognition of the right to form trade unions required a long and protracted social struggle by workers.
The fact is that while the principles of bourgeois-democracy can be theoretically derived from capitalist property relations, the political hegemony of these principles can only come about through social struggle. The necessity of social struggle implies that the theoretical principles are not necessarily ascendant in all forms of capitalism. Thus, the rights afforded by society in any given historical situation are contingent, not merely on the economic relations of production, but also on social struggles and the path of historical development. In other words, the form and development of the class struggle mediates the development of democratic rights.
Societies that travel the road of the colonial path have to contend not with one but with two powerful social forces against democratic development. Firstly, societies of the colonial path must contend with the surviving remnants of pre-capitalist forms of unfree labour. In third world countries millions of workers continue to be enslaved through various pre-capitalist forms of unfree labour. They are still engaged in the struggle to gain bourgeois freedom; that is, the recognition of their labour-power as their individual private property. Naturally, the exploiting classes associated with these pre-capitalist relations are powerful fetters on democratic development. This feature is, however, common to the Junkers and colonial path. Secondly, and more importantly, countries that travel the road of the colonial path must not only challenge these surviving pre-capitalist forms of bondage but must also contend with the undemocratic institutions, relations, and cultural practices of the colonial state. The colonial state, as explained previously, was set up for the extraction of surplus from the colony and in its neo-colonial form continues to act as an obstacle to democracy. Thus, the forces of democracy in colonial countries today must contend not only with pre-capitalist social forces but also with imperialism.
We see then that the configuration of class forces in colonial societies is different either from countries that of the republican or Junkers path. In the first path the bourgeoisie overthrew the feudal lords through a popular revolution (France, USA, Britain) and in the second, the feudal lords slowly transformed into capitalists (Prussia, Austo-Hungary). However, in the countries that travelled the colonial path the capitalist transformation of the state occurred under the colonial regime: That is, the colonial bourgeoisie defeated, militarily or economically, pre-capitalist social forces and captured state power. Although the colonial state is planted on pre-capitalist forms of unfree labour, it is nonetheless a capitalist state because it principally represents the social forces of the dominant foreign colonial bourgeoisie. However, the colonial state, built on the economic foundation of colonial monopoly, cannot be democratic. Thus, the democratic transition of the colonial societies is premised on decolonization and the democratic transformation of the post-colonial state. In conclusion, the democratic transition of colonial countries, ironically, occurs in struggle by indigenous bourgeois-democratic forces against an advanced foreign imperial bourgeoisie. The fact that the democratic revolution in colonial countries requires a struggle against another bourgeois class is unique to the colonial path.
The spread of markets, free labour-power, secular government, foreign capital, commoditisation, consumerism, business culture and so on – in a word, the spread of the economic, political, and cultural values of bourgeois democracy – slowly undercuts and uproots pre-capitalist society. Thus, the way of life of pre-capitalist forces in colonial countries is ground down by the onslaught of colonial capitalism. These pre-capitalist forces, in order to maintain their pre-capitalist way of life, may also rise up, from time to time, against the foreign colonial rule. Significant sections of the working population disaffected by the destructive process of colonial capitalism may join their ranks. This rebellion by pre-capitalist classes against imperialism gives rise to the phenomenon of “reactionary anti-imperialism”. It is anti-imperialist in the sense that it seeks to liberate those societies from foreign conquest or to reverse the influence of foreigners in those societies. On the other hand, it is reactionary because it struggles against the foreigners in order to restore the way of life that existed before colonialism.
Thus, as opposed to the rather simple republican or Junkers path, the colonial path is complicated by the relationship between imperialism, reactionary forces, bourgeois forces, and working classes. The combined and uneven economic development of capitalism, the economic, political, military, strategic imperatives of empires, the degree of objective and subject development of modern and reactionary classes, all these and other factors contribute to sharpening or blurring the contradictions between these forces at different historical moments and societies. History shows that a variety of class alliances leading to very different outcomes are possible within countries that experience transformation through the colonial path. These are not the only possible outcomes but they are some of the outcomes that have been observed in the twentieth century.
Nationalist outcome:
Bourgeois-democratic anti-imperialism under the hegemony of the bourgeoisie
The nationalist outcome is the product of the anti-colonial struggle in countries with a well-developed bourgeoisie progressively radicalized by colonial discrimination together with an organized working class movement. In such cases, the bourgeoisie is able to win and maintain its hegemony over the anti-colonial movement. The main enemy of the nationalist bourgeoisie is colonialism. These nationalist movements do not seek an antagonistic confrontation with reactionary classes but work to win or neutralize them. The classic examples of this case are the anti-colonial struggle of the Congress against British rule, or the African National Congress against Apartheid. To some extent the Pan-Arab movement under Gamal Abdul Nassir can also be put into this category.
National Liberation outcome:
Bourgeois-democratic anti-imperialism under the hegemony of the workers and peasants
The national liberation outcome occurs when the bourgeoisie is unable to maintain the hegemony of the mass anti-colonial movement. It may begin the anti-imperialist struggle (for instance the Nationalists in China) but owing to various historical reasons is unable to maintain this hegemony. Communist parties win the hegemony of the anti-colonial movement and organize workers and peasants against imperialism and their domestic reactionary allies transforming the nationalist movement into a national-liberation struggle. National-liberation struggles are generally opposed not only to the colonial authority but also equally to their reactionary allies. Conversely, they do not seek an antagonistic confrontation with the indigenous bourgeoisie but work to win or neutralize them. The classic case of such national liberation struggles China and Vietnam during the periods of Mao and Ho Chi Minh respectively.
Reactionary Anti-Imperialist outcome:
Anti-imperialism under the hegemony of reactionary classes
The reactionary anti-imperialist outcome occurs when reactionary classes organize and lead the struggle against colonialism or imperialism. The bourgeoisie is either economically and politically weak or reconciled to imperialism. Similarly, working classes, especially those associated with modern capitalism, may be weak, disorganized, or simply unable to exercise significant hegemony or power over the anti-imperialist movement. Reactionary anti-imperialism often relies on the ideology of religious fundamentalism and they are also strongly opposed to independent working class or bourgeois-democratic forces. To such reactionary forces, bourgeois-democratic or socialist working class forces represent another aspect of “Westernisation”. The classic case of such reactionary anti-imperialism is Iran under Khomeni. One may also consider the Mahdi of Sudan, the Khilafat movement in British India , Hamas, and the Taliban in Afghanistan today in the same category.
While the first three are outcomes of anti-imperialist struggle, the following two outcomes are a product of a victorious imperialist strategy.
Reactionary Monarchist outcome:
Based on the class alliance of reaction with imperialism
The reactionary monarchist outcome occurs in instances where historical factors bring about a strong class alliance of reactionary classes and imperialism. Such an outcome is seen to occur in countries where the strategic objectives of imperialism are not to develop any trade or production but to monopolize certain key routes, resources, or territories. Imperialism will help to consolidate and strengthen pre-capitalist reactionary forces and the development of capitalism, in such instances, remains extremely weak. Whatever bourgeoisie develops is generally extremely weak and mostly reconciled to both imperialism and reaction. Other working classes associated with modern capitalism are also under-developed and unable to spark or lead a sustained anti-imperialist movement. Such states are often ‘rentier states’ with the ideology of religious traditionalism that, although aligned with imperialism, are strongly opposed to any independent working class or bourgeois-democratic forces. To such reactionary forces, bourgeois-democratic or socialist working class forces also represent another aspect of “Westernisation”. The classic cases of such reactionary monarchies are Saudi Arabia, Jordon, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and so on.
Bourgeois Reactionary outcome:
Based on the class alliance of the bourgeoisie, reaction, and imperialism
In certain instances the contradictions between reactionary classes, the bourgeoisie and imperialism do not develop into sustained antagonistic conflicts. This outcome is also possible in circumstances where imperialism is able to manage by force and accommodation, these contradictions and they remain within a certain limited framework.
This outcome may occur in a variety of countries ranging from moderate to relatively developed third world economies. The class alliance of imperialism, the bourgeois and reaction is able to overwhelm, in such a period, the forces of change (for instance workers and peasants). The classic cases of such reactionary states are South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Pakistan and so on. One could also argue that nationalist movements, national liberation movements, or reactionary anti-imperialist movements may capitulate to imperialism to leading to a bourgeois reactionary outcome.
We can see that there are sustained periods of both reconciliation and resistance between reactionary and bourgeois democratic forces in relation to imperialism. There are also periods where bourgeois-democratic and reactionary anti-imperialist trends may merge with each other, to some degree, thereby blurring the lines of distinction between the two. These five outcomes are by no means exhaustive. For instance, this admittedly simplistic model does not take into account a situation were bourgeois, reactionary, or working class forces are split along national or ethnic lines; it does not take into account independent action by other classes such as the petty-bourgeoisie, the nomads, or tribes; it does not take into account the results of inter-imperialist rivalry or rivalry between third world states; and so on. Nonetheless, despite the simplistic nature of the model that cannot do justice to the real history, it helps one appreciate that unlike European capitalist development, the colonial path is characterized by greater complexity and a variety of outcomes determined by the modalities of class formation and class struggle.
In sum, India and the region that constitutes Pakistan became capitalist through a ‘colonial path’ with the result that the social-economic formation retains significant features of pre-capitalist relations together with a colonial capitalism.
What we are witnessing in the phenomenon of fundamentalism is a form of reactionary anti-imperialism. We must reject this path of development in favour of the path to national liberation.
The author of the note is a member of the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party (CMKP) and pursuing his doctral degree at SOAS.
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Justia US Law US Regulations Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration 2005 July
Federal Aviation Administration July 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents
Airworthiness Directives; Boeing Model 727 Airplanes
Document Number: 05-15016
Type: Proposed Rule
Agency: Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation
The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Boeing Model 727 airplanes. This proposed AD would require revising the Limitations section of the Airplane Flight Manual to prohibit resetting a tripped circuit breaker for a fuel pump. This proposed AD results from fuel system reviews conducted by the manufacturer. We are proposing this AD to prohibit the resetting of a tripped circuit breaker for a fuel pump, which could allow an electrical fault to override the protective features of the circuit breaker, and could result in sparks inside the fuel tank, ignition of fuel vapors, and consequent fire or explosion.
https://regulations.justia.com/regulations/fedreg/2005/07/29/05-15016.html
Modification of Legal Description of the Class D and Class E Airspace; Salina Municipal Airport, KS
Type: Rule
An examination of controlled airspace for Salina Municipal Airport, KS has revealed discrepancies in the coordinates used in the legal description for the Class D and Class E airspace areas. This action corrects that discrepancy by incorporating the current coordinates for the Airport Reference Point, the Salina VORTAC and the FLORY LOM. This action also removes references to effective dates and times established in advance by a Notice to Airmen from the legal descriptions for Class D airspace. The effective dates and times are now continuously published in the Airport/Facility Directory.
Modification of Class E Airspace; Dodge City Regional Airport, KS
This action amends Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations, part 71 (14 CFR 71) by revising Class E airspace areas at Dodge City Regional Airport, KS. A review of the Class E airspace surface area and the Class E airspace area extending upward from 700 feet above ground level (AGL) at Dodge City Regional Airport, KS reveals neither area complies with criteria in FAA Orders. These airspace areas and their legal descriptions are modified to conform to the criteria in FAA Orders.
Modification of Class E Airspace; Norfolk, NE
This action amends Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations, part 71 (14 CFR 71) by revising Class E airspace areas at Norfolk, NE. A review of the Class E airspace surface area and the Class E airspace area extending upward from 700 feet above ground level (AGL) at Norfolk, NE reveals neither area complies with criteria in FAA Orders. These airspace areas and their legal descriptions are modified to conform to the criteria in FAA Orders.
Modification of Class E Airspace; Abilene Municipal Airport, KS
An examination of the controlled airspace for Abilene Municipal Airport, KS has revealed a discrepancy in the size of the Class E airspace area. This action modifies the Class E5 airspace area beginning at 700 feet above the surface by deleting the airspace area extension and increasing the radius from 6.3-miles to 6.9-miles of the airport. This action brings the Class E5 airspace area into compliance with FAA directives.
Modification of Legal Description of Class C and Class E Airspace; Lincoln, NE
An examination of controlled airspace for Lincoln, NE revealed discrepancies in the airport name. This action corrects the airport name and removes references to effective dates and times established in advance by a Notice to Airmen from the legal descriptions for Class C and Class E airspace. The effective dates and times are now continuously published in the Airport/Facility Directory.
Proposed Modification of the Minneapolis Class B Airspace Area; Minneapolis
This SNPRM supplements a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published in the Federal Register on November 24, 2003. In this supplemental notice, the FAA is proposing to modify the previously proposed description of the Minneapolis, MN, Class B airspace area. Specifically, this action proposes to add an additional area that is necessary to contain large turbine-powered aircraft within the Class B airspace area during aircraft operations to the new Runway 17/35 at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International (Wold Chamberlain) Airport (MSP). The proposed modifications would enhance safety and improve the management of increased aircraft operations in the Minneapolis terminal area. Further, this effort supports the FAA's national airspace redesign goal of optimizing terminal and en route airspace areas to reduce aircraft delays and improve system capacity.
Revocation of Compulsory Reporting Point; MT
This action revokes the GARRI Intersection as a compulsory reporting point. GARRI Intersection is located between the de- commissioned Drummond, MT Very High Frequency Omni-directional Range/ Tactical Air Navigation (VORTAC) and Butte, MT. The FAA has determined that this intersection is no longer needed in the National Airspace System (NAS).
Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation; Notice of availability and request for comment on a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for Horizontal Launch and Reentry of Reentry Vehicles
Type: Notice
In accordance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, the FAA is announcing the availability of and requesting comments on the Draft PEIS for Horizontal Launch and Reentry of Reentry Vehicles. Under the proposed action, the FAA would license the launch of horizontally launched vehicles and the reentry of reentry vehicles (RVs). The FAA has evaluated three horizontal launch vehicle (LV) design concepts and both powered and unpowered RV concepts. This PEIS assesses the potential programmatic environmental effects of licensing horizontal launches and reentries of RVs, as well as the licensing of launch facilities that would support horizontal launches and reentries. The information in the PEIS is not intended to address all site- specific launch issues. This PEIS will be used to tier subsequent environmental analyses for site-specific launches, reentries, or the operation of a launch or reentry site. To facilitate these site- specific environmental analyses the FAA has provided guidance throughout the PEIS in various sections and technical appendices. This PEIS is intended to update and replace the 1992 Final PEIS for Commercial Reentry Vehicles and complement the 2001 PEIS for Licensing Launches.
Notice of the Availability for the O'Hare Modernization Final Environmental Impact Statement, Final Section 4(f) and Section 6(f) Evaluation, and Final General Conformity Determination, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces that the O'Hare Modernization Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), Final Section 4(f) and Section 6(f) Evaluation, and Final General Conformity Determination, for Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, are available for public review. The FAA will accept comment on specific sections of the FEIS that have been updated and/or refined for purposes of the FEIS, in part, because of response to comments on the Draft EIS, Draft Section 4(f) and Section 6(f) Evaluation, and Draft General Conformity Determinations. The comment period is open as of the date of this Notice of Availability and closes Tuesday, September 6, 2005. The FAA will accept comments on updated and/or refined information in the following sections of the FEIS and the associated appendices: (1) Sections 3.6 and 3.7, of Chapter 3, Alternatives. (2) Section 5.6, Air Quality, of Chapter 5, Environmental Consequences. (3) Subsections 5.21.4 through 5.21.11, of Section 5.21, Environmental Justice, of Chapter 5, Environmental Consequences. (4) Section 5.8, Section 4(f) and Section 6(f) Resources, of Chapter 5, Environmental Consequences. (5) Section 5.22, Other Issues Relating to Cemetery Acquisition, of Chapter 5, Environmental Consequences. (6) Section 5.23, Issues Relating to Due Process Claims and Formal Adjudicative Processes, of Chapter 5, Environmental Consequences. (7) Chapter 7, Mitigation. The FEIS identifies alternatives intended to address the projected needs of the Chicago region by reducing delays at O'Hare, thereby enhancing capacity of the National Airspace System, and ensuring that terminal facilities and supporting infrastructure can efficiently accommodate airport users. All of the development alternatives would result in wetland, property acquisition, air quality and noise impacts, as well as other impacts. All comments are to be submitted to Michael W. MacMullen of the FAA, at the address shown below. The USACE and IEPA have requested that the FAA be the recipient of all comments regarding their actions. These comments must be sent to Michael W. MacMullen of the FAA at the address shown below, and the comments must be postmarked and e-mail must be sent by no later than 5 p.m., central standard time, Tuesday, September 6, 2005. The USACE participated in the EIS process because implementation of any development alternative, if selected, would require the USACE to approve issuance of a permit to fill wetlands under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act Section. The IEPA participated in the EIS process because implementation of any wetland development alternative, if selected, would also require IEPA to issue a Water Quality Certification under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act.
Airworthiness Directives; Rolls-Royce plc RB211 Series Turbofan Engines
The FAA proposes to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for Rolls-Royce plc (RR) RB211-22B series, RB211-524B, - 524C2, -524D4, -524G2, -524G3, and -524H series, and RB211-535C and - 535E series turbofan engines with high pressure compressor (HPC) stage 3 disc assemblies, part numbers (P/Ns) LK46210, LK58278, LK67634, LK76036, UL11706, UL15358, UL22577, UL22578, and UL24738 installed. That AD requires removing from service certain disc assemblies before they reach their full life if not modified with anticorrosion protection. This proposed AD would require the same actions as AD 2004- 01-20, but would shorten the compliance time for disks that entered service before 1990. This proposed AD results from the manufacturer's reassessment of the corrosion risk on HPC stage 3 disc assemblies not modified with sufficient application of anticorrosion protection. We are issuing this AD to prevent corrosion-induced uncontained disc failure, resulting in damage to the airplane.
Airworthiness Directives; Boeing Model 757-200, -200PF, and -200CB Series Airplanes Equipped With Pratt & Whitney or Rolls-Royce Engines
The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 757-200, -200PF, and -200CB series airplanes. This AD requires inspecting to determine the part number of the upper link forward fuse pins of the engine struts and replacing the fuse pins as necessary. This AD is prompted by a report indicating that, due to an incorrect listing in the illustrated parts catalog, persons performing maintenance on the engine strut(s) could have installed an incorrect upper link forward fuse pin. We are issuing this AD to prevent a ruptured wing box, due to the engine not separating safely during certain emergency landing conditions, which could lead to a fuel spill and consequent fire.
Airworthiness Directives; McDonnell Douglas Model DC-8-11, DC-8-12, DC-8-21, DC-8-31, DC-8-32, DC-8-33, DC-8-41, DC-8-42, DC-8-43, DC-8F-54, and DC-8F-55 Airplanes; and DC-8-50, DC-8-60, DC-8-60F, DC-8-70, and DC-8-70F Series Airplanes
This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to certain McDonnell Douglas airplane models. This AD requires a one-time test to determine the material of the upper inboard spar cap of the wing, and corrective actions if necessary. This action is necessary to prevent stress corrosion cracking in the forward tang of the upper inboard spar cap of the wing, which could result in structural damage to adjacent components of the wing and consequent reduced structural integrity of the airplane. This action is intended to address the identified unsafe condition.
Petitions for Exemption; Summary of Petitions Received
Pursuant to FAA's rulemaking provisions governing the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for exemption part 11 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), this notice contains a summary of certain petitions seeking relief from specified requirements of 14 CFR, dispositions of certain petitions previously received, and corrections. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities. Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of any petition or its final disposition.
Pursuant to FAA's rulemaking provisions governing the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for exemption part 11 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), this notice contains a summary of certain petitions seeking relief from specified requirements of 14 CFR. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities. Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of any petition or its final disposition.
Airworthiness Directives; Boeing Model 757-200, -200CB, and -300 Series Airplanes
The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 757-200, -200CB, and -300 series airplanes. This proposed AD would require repetitive detailed inspections for proper functioning of the girt bar leaf springs for the escape slides at passenger doors 1, 2, and 4, and corrective actions if necessary. This proposed AD is prompted by a report that the escape slides failed to deploy correctly during an operator's tests of the escape slides. We are proposing this AD to prevent escape slides from disengaging from the airplane during deployment or in use, which could result in injuries to passengers or flightcrew.
Petitions for Exemption; Dispositions of Petitions Issued
Pursuant to FAA's rulemaking provisions governing the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for exemption, part 11 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), this notice contains the disposition of certain petitions previously received. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities. Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of any petition or its final disposition.
Public Notice for Waiver of Aeronautical Land-Use Assurance; Rickenbacker International Airport; Columbus, OH
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is considering a proposal to change a portion of the airport from aeronautical use to non-aeronautical use and to authorize the lease of the airport property. The triangular parcel consists of 85.85 acres. The land is currently vacant and being farmed. The land was acquired by the Rickenbacker Port Authority through a Quitclaim Deed dated November 15, 1999 and a Quitclaim Deed dated September 22, 2003 from the United States of America through the Secretary of the Air Force. There are no impacts to the airport by allowing the airport to lease the property. The release of the property is being requested to allow for development into an intermodal transportation facility, along with roadway access. Approval does not constitute a commitment by the FAA to financially assist in the lease of the subject airport property nor a determination of eligibility for grant-in-aid funding from the FAA. The disposition of proceeds from the lease of the airport property will be in accordance with FAA's Policy and Procedures Concerning the Use of Airport Revenue, published in the Federal Register on February 16, 1999. In accordance with section 47107(h) of title 49, United States Code, this notice is required to be published in the Federal Register 30 days before modifying the land-use assurance that requires the property to be used for an aeronautical purpose.
Special Conditions; Duncan Aviation Inc., EFIS on the Raytheon 300 King Air; Protection of Systems for High Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF)
The FAA published a document on June 22, 2005 concerning final special conditions for Duncan Aviation Inc., on the Raytheon Model 300 King Air. There was an error in the preamble of the special conditions in the reference to the docket number. The correct document number appears in the addresses section in one place; however, the docket number is incorrect in the heading, in one other location in the address, and in the ``Comments Invited'' section. This document contains a correction to the docket number.
Consensus Standards, Light-Sport Aircraft
This notice announces the availability of certain new consensus standards and revisions to previously accepted consensus standards relating to the provisions of the Sport Pilot and Light-Sport Aircraft rule issued July 16, 2004, and effective September 1, 2004. ASTM International Committee F37 on Light Sport Aircraft developed these new and revised standards with FAA participation. By this Notice, the FAA finds these new and revised standards acceptable for certification of the specified aircraft under the provisions of the Sport Pilot and Light-Sport Aircraft rule.
Notice of Intent To Request Renewal From the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of Nine Current Public Collections of Information
In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the FAA invites public comment on nine currently approved public information collections which will be submitted to OMB for renewal.
Noise Exposure Map Notice; Receipt of Noise Compatibility Program and Request for Review for Atlantic City International Airport
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces its determination that the noise exposure maps submitted by South Jersey Transportation Authority for Atlantic City International Airport under provisions of Title I of the Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979 (Pub. L. 96-193) and 14 CFR part 150 are in compliance with applicable requirements. The FAA also announces that it is reviewing a proposed noise compatibility program that was submitted for Atlantic City International Airport under part 150 in conjunction with the noise exposure maps, and that this program will be approved or disapproved on or before January 11, 2006.
Public Notice for Waiver of Aeronautical Land-Use Assurance; Delta County Airport, Escanaba, MI
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is considering a proposal to change a portion of the airport from aeronautical use to non-aeronautical use and to authorize the lease of the airport property. The proposal consists of 1 parcel of land, totaling approximately 19.49 acres. Current use and present condition is undeveloped land compatible with local commercial/ industrial zoning classification. The land was acquired under the FAA Project Numbers 3-26-0031-1798 and 3-26-0031-1899. There are no impacts to the airport by allowing the airport to lease of the property. Subject land may provide good commercial/industrial development opportunities for the community and are well outside airport perimeter fence limits. Approval does not constitute a commitment by the FAA to financially assist in the lease of the subject airport property nor a determination of eligibility for grant-in-aid funding from the FAA. The disposition of proceeds from the lease of the airport property will be in accordance with FAA's Policy and Procedures Concerning the Use of Airport Revenue, published in the Federal Register on February 16, 1999. In accordance with section 47107(h) of title 49, United States Code, this notice is required to be published in the Federal Register 30 days before modifying the land-use assurance that requires the property to be used for an aeronautical purpose.
Public Notice for Waiver of Aeronautical Land-Use Assurance; Rickenbacker International Airport, Columbus, OH
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is considering a proposal to change a portion of the airport from aeronautical use to non-aeronautical use and to authorize the release of 8.655 acres of airport property for the proposed right-of-way for the Alum Creek Drive Extension between Ashville Pike and Lockbourne-Eastern Road. The land is vacant and is currently being farmed. The land was acquired by the Rickenbacker Port Authority through a Quitclaim Deed dated March 30, 1984 from the Administrator of General Services for the United States of America. There are no impacts to the airport by allowing the airport to dispose of the property. Approval does not constitute a commitment by the FAA to financially assist in the disposal of the subject airport property nor a determination of eligibility for grant-in-aid funding from the FAA. The CRAA will not receive payment for the dedication of the right-of-way to the City of Columbus or Franklin County for public transportation purposes. In accordance with section 47107(h) of title 49, United States Code, this notice is required to be published in the Federal Register 30 days before modifying the land-use assurance that requires the property to be used for an aeronautical purpose.
Standard Instrument Approach Procedures, Weather Takeoff Minimums; Miscellaneous Amendments
This amendment establishes, amends, suspends, or revokes Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) and/or Weather Takeoff Minimums for operations at certain airports. These regulatory actions are needed because of the adoption of new or revised criteria, or because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System, such as the commissioning of new navigational facilities, addition of new obstacles, or changes in air traffic requirements. These changes are designed to provide safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace and to promote safe flight operations under instrument flight rules at the affected airports.
Airworthiness Directives; Rolls-Royce plc RB211-524 Series Turbofan Engines
The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for Rolls Royce plc (RR) RB211-524 series turbofan engines with certain part number (P/N) intermediate pressure (IP) compressor stage 5 disks installed. This AD requires new reduced IP compressor stage 5 disk cyclic limits. This AD also requires removing from service affected disks that already exceed the new reduced cyclic limit, and removing other affected disks before exceeding their cyclic limits, using a drawdown schedule. This AD results from the discovery of cracks in the cooling air hole areas of the disk front spacer arm. We are issuing this AD to prevent IP compressor stage 5 disk failure, which could result in uncontained engine failure and possible damage to the airplane.
Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Model A300 B2 and B4 Series Airplanes; Model A300 B4-600, B4-600R, and F4-600R Series Airplanes, and Model A300 C4-605R Variant F Airplanes (Collectively Called A300-600 Series Airplanes); and Model A310-200 and -300 Series Airplanes
The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus airplane models, as specified above. This AD requires modifying the thermal insulation system of certain fuselage frames, and modifying the fuselage drainage system. This AD also requires revising the FAA-approved maintenance inspection program to include inspections for corrosion or cracking in the subject areas. This AD is prompted by reports of corrosion in the lower part of the pressure bulkhead at certain fuselage frames. We are issuing this AD to prevent accumulation of condensation in the insulation blankets of certain fuselage frames, which could cause corrosion that could result in reduced structural integrity of the fuselage and consequent rapid decompression of the airplane.
Airworthiness Directives; Boeing Model 747-100B SUD, -200B, -300, -400, and -400D Series Airplanes
The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 747-100B SUD, -200B, -300, -400, and -400D series airplanes. This AD requires repetitive inspections for cracking in fuselage stringers 8L, 8R, 10L, and 10R at body stations 460, 480, and 500 frame locations; and repair if necessary. This AD is prompted by findings of cracking in fuselage stringers 8L, 8R, 10L, and 10R at body stations 460, 480, and 500 frame locations. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking in certain fuselage stringers, which, if left undetected, could result in fuselage skin cracking that reduces the structural integrity of the skin panel, and consequent rapid depressurization of the airplane.
Airworthiness Directives; McDonnell Douglas Model DC-10-10, DC-10-10F, DC-10-15, DC-10-30, DC-10-30F (KC-10A and KDC-10), DC-10-40, DC-10-40F, MD-10-10F, MD-10-30F, MD-11, and MD-11F Airplanes
This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to certain McDonnell Douglas Model DC-10-10, DC-10-10F, DC- 10-15, DC-10-30, DC-10-30F (KC-10A and KDC-10), DC-10-40, DC-10-40F, MD-10-10F, MD-10-30F, MD-11, and MD-11F airplanes, that requires performing a functional test of the exterior emergency control handle assemblies of the forward passenger doors, and corrective actions, if necessary. This action is necessary to prevent failure of the forward passenger doors to operate properly in an emergency condition, which could delay an emergency evacuation and possibly result in injury to passengers and flightcrew. This action is intended to address the identified unsafe condition.
Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Model A320-111 Airplanes and Model A320-200 Series Airplanes
The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus Model A320-111 airplanes and Model A320-200 series airplanes. This AD requires installing insulator and cable ties to the electrical cables of the S routes at the gaps in the raceway in the wing trailing edge and the wing tip and wing root areas. This AD results from fuel system reviews conducted by the manufacturer. We are issuing this AD to prevent injection of high voltage current into the low voltage wiring that passes through the fuel tanks, which could result in a possible fuel tank explosion.
Airworthiness Directives; BAE Systems (Operations) Limited (Jetstream) Model 4101 Airplanes
The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all BAE Systems (Operations) Limited (Jetstream) Model 4101 airplanes. This AD requires repetitive detailed and specialized inspections to detect fatigue damage in the fuselage, replacement of certain bolt assemblies, and corrective actions if necessary. This AD results from a review of primary airframe fatigue test results and a Maintenance Steering Group 3 (MSG-3) analysis. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct fatigue damage of the fuselage, door, engine nacelle, empennage, and wing structures, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the airplane.
Airworthiness Directives; The New Piper Aircraft, Inc. Models PA-34-200T, PA-34-220T, PA-44-180, and PA-44-180T Airplanes
The FAA adopts an airworthiness directive (AD) to supersede AD 2003-11-14, which applies to certain The New Piper Aircraft, Inc. (Piper) Models PA-34-200T, PA-34-220T, PA-44-180, and PA-44-180T airplanes that have a model 91E92-1 or model 91E93-1 combustion heater fuel pump installed. AD 2003-11-14 currently requires you to do a one- time inspection of the combustion heater fuel pumps for fuel leakage. If leakage is found, repair or replace the fuel pump. This AD retains all the actions of AD 2003-11-14 and includes additional serial numbers for the Models PA-34-220T and PA-44-180 airplanes in the applicability section. This AD results from an investigation that concluded that after the issuance of AD 2003-11-14, additional fuel pumps that did not meet the quality control (inspection or design) requirements of the AD had been installed in Models PA-34-220T and PA-44-180 airplanes. We are issuing this AD to correct quality control problems with the heater fuel pump, which could result in failure of the heater fuel pump. Such failure could lead to fire or explosion in the cockpit.
Airworthiness Directives; Bombardier Model CL-600-1A11 (CL-600), Model CL-600-2A12 (CL-601), and Model CL-600-2B16 (CL-601-3A, CL-601-3R, and CL-604) Airplanes
The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bombardier Model CL-600-1A11 (CL-600), Model CL-600-2A12 (CL- 601), and Model CL-600-2B16 (CL-601-3A, CL-601-3R, and CL-604) airplanes. This AD requires operators to assign serial numbers or part numbers to certain landing gear parts and to establish the number of landings on the parts, if necessary. This AD also requires operators to revise the Airworthiness Limitations section of the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness to reflect the new life limits of the landing gear parts. This AD is prompted by reports that landing gear parts that have safe-life limits but do not have serial numbers or part numbers can be removed from one landing gear and re-installed on another, making tracking difficult. We are issuing this AD to prevent life-limited landing gear parts from being used beyond their safe-life limits, which could lead to collapse of the landing gear.
Notice of Intent To Rule on Application 05-05-C-00-JFK, EWR, LGA To Impose and Use the Revenue From a Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), NY; Newark International Airport (EWR), NJ; and LaGuardia Airport (LGA), NY
The FAA proposes to rule and invites public comment on the application to impose and use the revenue from a PFC at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Newark International Airport (EWR), and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) under the provisions of the 49 U.S.C. 40117 and part 158 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR part 158).
Airworthiness Directives; Rolls-Royce Deutschland (Formerly Rolls-Royce plc) Models Tay 650-15 and 651-54 Turbofan Engines
The FAA proposes to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for Rolls-Royce Deutschland (formerly Rolls-Royce plc) (RRD) models Tay 650-15 and 651-54 turbofan engines. That AD currently requires borescope inspection of the high pressure compressor (HPC) stage 12 disc assembly to detect damage caused by HPC outlet guide vane (OGV) retaining bolt failure, and replacement of unserviceable parts with serviceable parts. That AD also requires as terminating action, the incorporation of a new design retention arrangement for the HPC OGV to prevent HPC OGV retaining bolt failure. This proposed AD would require the same actions but extends the terminating action compliance time for Tay 650-15 engines. This proposed AD would also include references to later revisions of two of the applicable RRD service bulletins (SBs). This proposed AD results from findings that the terminating action compliance time for Tay 650-15 engines can be extended. We are proposing this AD to prevent an uncontained failure of the HPC stage 11/12 disc spacer, which could result in damage to the airplane.
Airworthiness Directives; Lycoming Engines (Formerly Textron Lycoming) AEIO-360, IO-360, O-360, LIO-360, LO-360, AEIO-540, IO-540, O-540, and TIO-540 Series Reciprocating Engines
The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Lycoming Engines (formerly Textron Lycoming) AEIO-360, IO- 360, O-360, LIO-360, LO-360, AEIO-540, IO-540, O-540, and TIO-540 series reciprocating engines rated at 300 horsepower (HP) or lower. This proposed AD would require replacing certain crankshafts. This proposed AD results from reports of 12 crankshaft failures in Lycoming 360 and 540 series engines rated at 300 HP or lower. We are proposing this AD to prevent failure of the crankshaft, which could result in total engine power loss, in-flight engine failure, and possible loss of the aircraft.
Airworthiness Directives; Boeing Model 747-200C and 747-200F Series Airplanes
The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 747-200C and 747-200F series airplanes. This AD requires one-time inspections for cracks and material loss in the fuselage skin above the stringer (STR) 23 lap splice, between Body Station (BS) 282 and BS 298, and repair if necessary. This AD is prompted by a report of a crack above the STR 23 lap splice on one airplane. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct cracks or material loss in the fuselage skin, and consequent reduced structural integrity of the skin panel, which could result in rapid depressurization of the airplane.
Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Model A300 B4-600, B4-600R, and F4-600R Series Airplanes, and Model A300 C4-605R Variant F Airplanes (Collectively Called A300-600 Series Airplanes)
The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus Model A300-600 series airplanes. This AD requires an inspection for evidence of chafing between the hydraulic flexible hose and the ram air turbine (RAT) hub, and related investigative and corrective actions if necessary. This AD is prompted by reports of holes in the RAT hub cover. We are issuing this AD to prevent a hole in the RAT hub cover. A hole in the RAT hub cover could allow water to enter the RAT governing mechanism, freeze during flight, and jam the governing mechanism. In addition, the metal particles that result from chafing between the hydraulic flexible hose and the RAT could mix with the lubricant grease and degrade the governing mechanism. In an emergency, a jammed or degraded RAT could result in its failure to deploy, loss of hydraulic pressure or electrical power to the airplane, and consequent reduced controllability of the airplane.
Airworthiness Directives; Lockheed Model L-1011-385 Series Airplanes
This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to all Lockheed Model L-1011-385 series airplanes, that requires repetitive inspections to detect corrosion or fatigue cracking of certain structural elements of the airplane; corrective actions if necessary; and incorporation of certain structural modifications. This action is necessary to prevent corrosion or fatigue cracking of certain structural elements, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the airplane. This action is intended to address the identified unsafe condition.
Airworthiness Directives; Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica S.A. (EMBRAER) Model EMB-145 and EMB-135 Series Airplanes
Document Number: C5-13142
https://regulations.justia.com/regulations/fedreg/2005/07/21/C5-13142.html
Operating Limitations at Chicago O'Hare International Airport
The FAA has issued an order to show cause, which solicits the views of interested persons on the FAA's tentative determination to extend through April 1, 2006, an August 18, 2004, order limiting the number of scheduled aircraft arrivals at O'Hare International Airport during peak operating hours. The text of the order to show cause is set forth in this notice.
Airworthiness Directives; Boeing Model 767-300 and -300F Series Airplanes
The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 767-300 and -300F series airplanes. This proposed AD would require a one-time operational test of the pilots' seat locks and the seat tracks to ensure that the seats lock in position and the seat tracks are aligned correctly; and re-alignment of the seat tracks, if necessary. This proposed AD is prompted by reports indicating that a pilot's seat slid from the forward to the aft-most position during acceleration and take-off. We are proposing this AD to prevent uncommanded movement of the pilots' seats during acceleration and take-off of the airplane, and consequent reduced controllability of the airplane.
Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Model A319-100, A320-200, and A321-100 and -200 Series Airplanes
The FAA is revising an earlier NPRM for an airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to certain Airbus Model A319-100, A320-200, and A321-100 and -200 series airplanes. The original NPRM would have superseded an existing AD that currently requires modification of the telescopic girt bar of the escape slide/raft assembly, and follow-on actions. The original NPRM proposed to mandate a new modification of the telescopic girt bar, which would terminate the repetitive functional tests required by the existing AD. The original NPRM also proposed to expand the applicability of the existing AD. The original NPRM was prompted by development of a new, improved modification. This new action would revise the original NPRM by proposing to mandate the installation of placards on the modified girt bars, and reduce the compliance time. We are proposing this supplemental NPRM to prevent failure of the escape slide/raft to deploy correctly, which could result in the slide being unusable during an emergency evacuation and consequent injury to passengers or airplane crewmembers.
Airworthiness Directives; Aerospatiale Model ATR72 Airplanes
The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Aerospatiale Model ATR72 airplanes. This proposed AD would require a one-time general visual inspection for contamination of the surface of the upper arms of the main landing gear (MLG) secondary side brace assemblies; and repetitive eddy current inspections for cracking of the upper arms, and related specified and corrective actions if necessary. This proposed AD also would mandate eventual replacement of aluminum upper arms with steel upper arms, which would end the repetitive inspections. This proposed AD is prompted by two reports of rupture of the upper arm of the MLG secondary side brace due to fatigue cracking. We are proposing this AD to prevent cracking of the upper arms of the secondary side brace assemblies of the MLG, which could result in collapse of the MLG during takeoff or landing, damage to the airplane, and possible injury to the flightcrew and passengers.
Modification of Legal Description of the Class E Airspace; Columbia Regional Airport, MO
An examination of controlled airspace for Columbia Regional Airport, MO, has revealed a discrepancy in the legal description of the Class E airspace area beginning at 700 feet above the surface. This action corrects that discrepancy by incorporating the coordinates of the Columbia Regional Airport ILS Localizer. Extensions to this Class E airspace area are described in relation to the Columbia Regional Airport ILS Localizer, therefore the coordinates for this facility must be included in the legal description to bring the airspace area into compliance with FAA directives.
Modification of Class E Airspace; Newton City-County Airport, KS
This action amends Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations, part 71 (14 CFR 71) by revising Class E airspace areas at Newton City-County Airport, KS. A modification of the Airport Reference Point (AFP) necessitates the revision of the Class E airspace area extending upward from 700 feet above ground level (AGL) at Newton, KS to conform to the criteria in FAA Orders.
Noise Exposure Map Notice; Receipt of Noise Compatibility Program and Request for Review for Albany International Airport
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces its determination that the noise exposure maps submitted by Albany County Airport Authority for Albany International Airport under provisions of Title I of the Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979 (Pub. L. 96-193) and 14 CFR part 150 are in compliance with applicable requirements. The FAA also announces that it is reviewing a proposed noise compatibility program that was submitted for Albany International Airport under Part 150 in conjunction with the noise exposure maps, and that this program will be approved or disapproved on or before January 4, 2006.
Amendment of Class E Airspace; Blairstown, NJ
This action amends the Class E airspace at Blairstown, NJ. Controlled airspace extending upward from 700 feet Above Ground Level (AGL) is needed to contain aircraft operating into Blairstown Airport, Blairstown, NJ, under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR).
Airworthiness Directives; Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica S.A. (EMBRAER) Model EMB-135 Airplanes, and Model EMB-145, -145ER, -145MR, -145LR, -145XR, -145MP, and -145EP Airplanes
The FAA is correcting a typographical error in an existing airworthiness directive (AD) that was published in the Federal Register on June 22, 2005 (70 FR 36011). The error resulted in an incomplete listing of the affected airplanes. This AD applies to all EMBRAER Model EMB-135 airplanes, and all Model EMB-145, -145ER, -145MR, -145LR, - 145XR, -145MP, and -145EP airplanes. This AD requires repetitive inspections of the electrical connectors of the electric fuel pumps to detect discrepancies, application of anti-corrosion spray, replacement of all fuel pumps with improved fuel pumps, repetitive inspections after all six fuel pumps are replaced, and applicable corrective actions.
The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain McDonnell Douglas airplanes identified above. This AD requires repetitive functional tests for noisy or improper operation of the exterior emergency control handle assemblies of the mid, overwing, and aft passenger doors, and corrective actions if necessary. This AD also provides for optional terminating action for the repetitive tests. This AD is prompted by a report that the exterior emergency control mechanism handles were inoperative on a McDonnell Douglas Model MD-11 airplane. We are issuing this AD to prevent failure of the passenger doors to operate properly in an emergency condition, which could delay an emergency evacuation and possibly result in injury to passengers and flightcrew.
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Asymmetry, Relationality and Networks of Power: Rethinking the Dynamics of Legitimacy and Illegitimacy in Intrastate Conflict
azu_etd_14128_sip1_m.pdf
Schoon, Eric William
Intrastate Conflict
Relationality
Breiger, Ronald L.
Release 12-Aug-2017
From academic scholarship to military policy and international law, legitimacy is regarded as critical in shaping the course and outcome of violent political conflict. Yet, our understanding of the conditions for legitimacy and its effects in the context of armed conflict has been limited by multiple challenges and inconsistencies. My dissertation addresses longstanding debates in the literature on armed conflict by turning attention to two key features of legitimation: the asymmetry between legitimacy and illegitimacy, and the relationality of legitimation. I argue that these concepts, which have been theoretically and empirically overlooked or underdeveloped in research on armed conflict, offer a path to overcoming the challenges associated with the study of legitimacy in this context. I advance this claim through three studies. The first study empirically develops the assertion that while the conditions for legitimacy vary by case, the conditions for illegitimacy transcend regional contexts, representing a more global phenomenon. Comparative analyses of 30 cases of civil conflict from 1978 to 2008 reveals significant patterns across space and time in the conditions for civilian perceptions that government sanctioned violence is illegitimate. And yet, consistent with existing literature, my analyses revealed no patterning in the conditions for legitimacy. Through historical research into the details of these 30 cases, I identify three general mechanisms that result in perceptions of illegitimacy. The second study turns attention to the effects of illegitimacy for violent non-state groups. Using historical and discursive data, I examine the effects of illegitimacy at this level through an in-depth study of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey. I introduce important correctives to existing theories, examining the cumulative effects of multiple sources of legitimation and showing that illegitimacy can provide much needed flexibility for oppositional groups. The third study examines the causes and conditions that lead to intrastate conflict recurrence. Combining quantitative analyses with comparative and historical research, I identify four distinctive pathways to conflict recurrence. I show how the conditions associated with each pathway shape the networks in which relationships of legitimacy and illegitimacy are embedded, and I discuss how these conditions mediate the effects of legitimacy and illegitimacy on conflict recurrence. By focusing on the asymmetry and relationality of legitimacy and illegitimacy, this work engages fundamental assumptions that are widely taken for granted and overlooked in scholarship on legitimacy in violent conflict and suggests significant revisions to existing theories of legitimation in armed conflict. Through this shift, my research identifies previously unobserved patterns in how evaluations of rightness and acceptability are made across space and time, allowing us to better understand the power dynamics that shape and constrain the networks of actors engaged in armed conflict.
Electronic Dissertation
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Volume 85, Number 10
Research Article| October 01, 2000
Geochemistry of pyroxene inclusions from the Warrumbungle Volcano, New South Wales, Australia
Mohammad R. Ghorbani;
Mohammad R. Ghorbani *
Division of Geology and Geophysics (FO5), School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, N.S.W 2006, Australia
E-mail: c/o M. Saffari saffari@modares.ac.ir. Corresponding author present address: Department of Geology, Tarbiat Modarres University, P.O.Box; 14155-4838 Tehran, Iran. Fax; +98 21 8006544.
Eric A.K. Middlemost
American Mineralogist (2000) 85 (10): 1349–1367.
https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2000-1003
Mohammad R. Ghorbani, Eric A.K. Middlemost; Geochemistry of pyroxene inclusions from the Warrumbungle Volcano, New South Wales, Australia. American Mineralogist 2000;; 85 (10): 1349–1367. doi: https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2000-1003
Pyroxenes provide an elegant key to understanding the tangled petrogenesis of the diverse midalkaline rocks of the Warrumbungle Volcano. These rocks evolved from two primary magmas, and the pyroxenes record the various stages in their origin and evolution. Trace-element abundance patterns for chromian diopside crystals from a spinel-lherzolite xenolith provide evidence of an early mantle-depletion event. Depleted spinel-lherzolite is an appropriate mantle source for the ITEP (incompatible-trace-element-poor) series of rocks. Subcalcic augite megacrysts are common in the basic rocks of this series. They crystallized in a high-pressure, intratelluric environment where they controlled the initial magmatic differentiation of the ITEP series. Aluminian augite occurs as megacrysts and also in gabbronorite xenoliths found in one of the more differentiated rocks of the ITEP series. This pyroxene crystallized in a lower-crustal magma chamber where its host magma was peraluminous and intermediate in composition. A few clinopyroxene (Cpx) megacrysts are Fe-rich and exceptionally enriched in rare-earth elements (REE). They crystallized from a moderately differentiated magma, locally contaminated by crustal material, or were later subjected to a metasomatic event. One of the nepheline-normative basic rocks of the ITER (incompatible-trace-element-rich) series contains small inclusions of K-rich omphacite. This phase contains one of the highest K contents (0.6–2.3 wt%) ever reported in a Cpx, and crystallized from a K-rich liquid at a greater depth than any of the other pyroxenes, probably deep within the upper mantle. Orthopyroxene (Opx) megacrysts are rare and belong to at least three geochemically distinct types: in association with chromian diopside, with subcalcic augite, and with aluminian augite megacrysts. Each type of Opx crystallized in a separate chemical and physical environment.
chain silicates
electron microscopy data
mineral inclusions
New South Wales Australia
pyroxene group
Warrumbungle
S36°00'00" - S28°00'00", E140°00'00" - E156°00'00"
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Pulse News Mexico
News from Mexico and around the world
Guelaguetza Set to Start in Oaxaca
Posted on July 9, 2019 November 2, 2020 by Thérèse MargolisIn Culture, Gastronomy, History, Lifestyles, Mexico, Travel
Photo: Sección Amarillo
By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS
Touristically speaking, the southern central state of Oaxaca, high on a vast plateau some 400 kilometers south of Mexico City, is world renowned for its awe-inspiring Zapotec ruins, its breathtakingly beautiful colonial churches, its unusual handicrafts and its tangy cacao-based mole sauces.
But perhaps the state’s most important attraction is its annual Guelaguetza festival, a colorful celebration of music and dance that dates back to pre-Columbian times.
The Guelaguetza, also known as the Festival de los Lunes de Cerro (Festival of Mondays on the Hill), is an essential part of Oaxacan culture and was originally related to the worship of corn.
The word Guelaguetza comes from the Zapotec language and literally means a “reciprocal exchanges of gifts and services.”
In pre-colonial Oaxaca, the various tribes and communities of the region lived by a common code of ethics that specified that if someone gave you a gift, you were obliged to reciprocate with a comparable offering in the near or distant future.
This “pay-me-when-you-can” barter system was the fundamental basis of the early Zapotec economy, and the annual Guelaguetza festival was a way of reminding all parties of their respective obligations.
Since corn was the most important commodity in ancient Oaxaca, it seemed natural to tie the reciprocity reminder ceremony to the goddess of maize, Centeotl, who was honored in late July each year during the height of the rainy season.
Thus the Guelaguetza took on a duel purpose, serving both as a way of prodding neighbors to meet their duties to repay what they might owe and to implore Centeotl to comply with her duties to feed her people.
During the Spanish colonial period, Catholic missionaries sought to replace the pagan celebration of the corn goddess festivities with a more Christian observance of the feast of the Virgin of Carmen, the protector of fishermen, celebrated on July 16.
To that end, the Carmelites built the temple and ex-convent of High Carmen – better known as Carmen Alto in Oaxaca – at the foot of a hill.
The new chapel allegedly took the place of the Teocalli de Huaxyacac, a temple devoted to Centéotl, Xilonen and Huitzilopochtli.
The new Spanish-organized Virgin of Carmen ceremonies commenced with a mass and procession ascending the hill.
The indigenous participants wore costumes, danced to traditional drums like the huéhuetl and teponaztles and paraded around with tarascas, large puppets of mythical creatures operated by men directing motion from inside (much like the dragons seen in Chinese New Year parades).
Young children also played with mini tarascas.
The result was a hybridization of cultures as the two distinct traditions became interwoven into the modern La Guelaguetza festival we know today.
Unfortunately, that tradition ended in 1741, when Bishop Tomás Montaño decided to ban the tarascas, saying that they scared attendees.
He replaced them with the Dance of the Giants.
Three couples – one indigenous, one Spanish and one black – performed in the churchyard for the entire community to enjoy.
Initially held on last two Mondays of July, the Guelaguetza has evolved in recent years into a two-week festival that, according to Oaxaca government sources, is responsible for more than half of the state’s annual tourism revenues.
Starting in mid-July, participants from the seven different regions of the state, decked out in indigenous costumes with brightly hued ribbons and bells, gather in the capital city to dance, sing and play music.
In addition to folkloric dance and song, the cultural exchange extends to gastronomic celebrations, with regional food showcased alongside other Mexican delicacies.
Since 2005, the dance showcase has been performed twice on the two Mondays, first at 10 a.m. and then at 5 p.m.
Aside from the dance showcases, the festival encompasses a wide variety of events, which build momentum for the culminating Monday performances.
The celebration kicks off the Saturday prior to the first Monday with the Calendas procession (a parade with dancers from the various regions), a display of marmotas (large paper or cloth lanterns, which resemble tiny air balloons) and monigotes giant puppets with people controlling the movements from inside.
The next day, the Queen of the Guelaguetza is elected based on her ethnic roots and understanding of Oaxaca tradition.
Throughout the Guelaguetza ceremonies, she assumes the role of Cenéotl, the corn goddess, by presiding over the dance performances.
The Bani Stui Gulal – literally, Repetition of Antiquity, in Zapotec – is also performed on Sunday, and tells the story of the event’s evolution from the pre-Columbian era to modern day.
Another Guelaguetza play centers on Donaji, the Zapotec princess who perished protecting her people from the Mixtecs.
On the morning of the first Guelaguetza performance, “Las Mañanitas,” the Mexican birthday song, is performed at dawn on pre-Columbian whistles and drums on the Cerro del Fortín.
Throughout the following week, the schedule is essentially repeated a second time, until the last dances are performed on the final Monday of the Guelaguetza.
This year’s Guelaguetza celebration will officially begin on Monday, July 22 although the Oaxaca government has already begun a barrage of more than 200 complimentary cultural events that will take place throughout the month.
These include art exhibits, classical music concerts, mezcal tastings, mole competitions and photo displays.
Despite some political unrest that has marred the state’s tourism industry several years ago, Oaxacan tourism officials say that more than 80,000 visitors are expected to attend the festivities.
The Guelaguetza festival officially begins this year on Monday, July 22, at 10 a.m., with an elaborate dance ceremony at the Plaza de la Danza in downtown Oaxaca City, near the Basìlica de la Soledad. There will also be a performance on Monday, July 29.
Tickets can be purchased in advance through Ticketmaster Mexico at 5325-9000 or at on the internet at http://www.ticketmaster.com.mx.
Tags: Bani Stui Gulal, Bishop Tomás Montaño, Calendas procession, Carmen Alto, Catholic missionaires, Centeotl, Cerro del Fortín, corn, Culture, Dance of the Giants, Donaji, Festival de los Lunes de Cerro, Festival of Mondays on the Hill, Gastronomy, Guelaguetza, huéhuetl, Huitzilopochtli, Las Mañanitas, marmotas, Mexican indigenous communities, Mexico, Mixtecs, monigotes, Oaxaca, Pulse News Mexico, Queen of the Guelaguetza, Repetition of Antiquity, tarascas, Teocalli de Huaxyacac, teponaztles, Thérèse Margolis, Tomás Montaño, traditions, Travel, Virgin of Carmen, www.pulsenewsmexico.com, Xilonen, Zapotecs
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The Birthday Party – Prayers On Fire vinyl reissue
Before Nick Cave had his Bad Seeds and became an alternative rock sensation (something well-deserved I might add), he was in a band called The Birthday Party. The band actually was first known as the Boys Next Door before changing their name to The Birthday Party and they hailed from Australia. The band, one of the early post-punk groups, were hugely influential despite their mere five-year lifespan.
The band’s music had a huge influence on what would become the goth and dark wave scenes and you can hear bits of their sound in many of the bands in those genres. The Birthday Party’s songs were dark, brooding, moody, sometimes unsettling, often times noisy, and incorporated a wide range of styles including jazz, blues, rock, and punk. There was really nothing like this at the time, they were true pioneers.
Their début album, Prayers On Fire, was originally released in 1981 on vinyl only and there even was an American pressing for a very limited time back then but it went out of print and for a while you could only get it as an import, then you couldn’t get it at all. It was released on CD in 1988 but only overseas and there wouldn’t be a domestic version on CD available until 1997. The vinyl format for this album in any country ceased to exist after a limited reissue in Australia in 1990 and it wasn’t until 2011 that this album was made available again on vinyl in any country and it just so happened to be here in the United States. That limited edition sold out so fast that the entire pressing was spoken for in pre-orders and it was gone again, until now.
Drastic Plastic Records, the label who reissued this on vinyl in 2011 and is the premier vinyl reissue label here in the USA, finally brought this post-punk masterpiece back to the people with this beautiful vinyl reissue. The label has amazingly high standards in both packaging and sound and this one is no exception. The glossy, full-color sleeve faithfully reproduces the original album artwork with only minor differences in label information on the back cover. Inside you will find a printed inner sleeve with lyrics on both sides but the record itself isn’t inside of it, instead that is found in one of those audiophile, anti-static poly sleeves. The labels are made to look like the originals too, with only minor differences. The record was mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio who has hit a home run with every record he has cut for the label. It sounds amazing and will easily be your preferred format and edition for regular playing.
This reissue comes in two configurations: 200gm super-heavyweight black vinyl, or the far more attractive 150gm red/white swirled vinyl, which comes out more like a pink and white swirled vinyl that compliments the color splash on the front cover beautifully. Whichever edition you prefer, each is individually numbered on the back cover with a foil stamp and each edition is limited to 1500. Since I missed out on the previous edition and never owned the original vinyl edition of this album I’m really glad that Drastic Plastic gave us all a second chance with this release. If you are a fan of post-punk, goth, dark wave, etc, then this album is a must-own, just don’t wait too long or they may sell out again. If you can’t find one at your local store, hit up the Drastic Plastic website and get one sent right to your door! Nice work as always guys, and thank you for bringing this one back!
Lilys – Eccsame The Photon Band reissue
Lords Of The New Church – The Method To Our Madness vinyl reissue
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By Riviera Nayarit Conventions & Visitors Bureau ● April 2013
Marina Riviera Nayarit in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle will host competitions of up to 5K, which will take place next April 27
Aguas Abiertas Riviera Nayarit
In Riviera Nayarit luxury means adventure, and 500 swimmers from all categories are expected to participate in the third edition of the Aguas Abiertas Riviera Nayarit, which will take place next April 27 at Marina Riviera Nayarit in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle.
Newts from all categories will join this competition, which will test their resistance. Children 7 to 20 will make a 500 m lap; ages 11 and 12 will swim 1.250 km.; ages 13 and 14 will swim 2.5 km, and amateurs 15 and older will be required to complete 3.75 km in under 2 hours.
The main competition will be a 5k race for professionals with a time limit of 1 hour, 20 min. In 2011, two competitors from Guadalajara won this race: Manuel Chiu, with a time of 1:04:28, and Andrea Gutiérrez, who finished in 1:12:13. In 2012, Alan Rojas Sagrero, timing 1:01:33, and Lizeth Rueda Santos, at 01:03:26, were the champions.
The Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) of Riviera Nayarit congratulates Nadoseguro for contributing to promote his tourist destination through sport events that get the attention of competitors, their families, and of the media.
Riviera Nayarit is a privileged destination not only because of its beaches, which extend over 180 miles, but also because of its natural environment, which makes it one of the preferred destinations for sport fishing enthusiasts. Its world-class infrastructure, and its readily available services allow visitors to enjoy magical experiences and fun family vacations.
The Convention and Visitors Bureau of Riviera Nayarit has defined the events and conventions segment as a priority within the framework of promotion for our destination, as it realizes that these contribute directly to selling hotel nights and in accomplishing the objectives defined by the State Government headed by Roberto Sandoval, in order to attract tourism to benefit the people of Nayarit.
Registration will be open until April 24. The cost until April 21 is $550 pesos, increasing to $600 pesos after that date. For more information, contact: belin@nadoseguro.com or pedromoran@nadoseguro.com
Source: Riviera Nayarit Conventions & Visitors Bureau
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>> Opinion
TIM BURKE: Let’s put 2020 into perspective going forward
A week ago, we said goodbye to 2020, and we turned toward what we hope is a better year in 2021.
By Tim Burke Special to the Pahrump Valley Times
Special to the Pahrump Valley Times. Tim Burke, columnist for the Pahrump Valley Times.
Getty Images "Yes, 2020 was a bad year, but good things happened in 2020, too," writes freelance columnist Tim Burke. "It wasn’t all bad news. Babies were born, people got married, new businesses started, people found ways to connect while isolated, and vaccines for COVID-19 began to roll out."
If you were sickened by the COVID-19 virus or lost family members or friends to the virus, you might feel that 2020 was one of the worst years in history.
The pandemic forced businesses to close, many of them permanently, and unemployment skyrocketed. The shutdowns angered many who felt that their rights were violated as they were told to stay home and wear a mask in public.
If you contracted the virus and you were one of the unlucky ones who became violently ill, or you lost a friend or family member to the virus, you were angry at those who refused to comply with the stay-at-home orders and mask mandates.
The year was marred by a contentious presidential election fight that has spilled over into 2021. 2020 indeed had some very dark moments, but it was far from one of the darkest years in human history.
If we examine our history, we can put 2020 into its proper perspective. Many of the darkest years can be traced to three different types of events: death from plagues, starvation from natural catastrophes, and the spread of civilization across the globe into isolated regions bringing wars and viruses that wiped out entire civilizations.
The Justinian Plague that ravished large parts of the world between 541 and 542 led to an estimated 25-50 million deaths. Around a quarter of the world’s population was wiped out in the space of two years. A mere five years earlier, the year 536 has been called the worst year of the worst century in human history, thanks to natural disasters, famines, and widespread warfare.
Scientists have shown that a vast volcanic eruption caused world temperatures to plummet as ash blocked out sunlight for most of the year. As if freezing temperatures, a lack of sunlight, and the total failure of crops weren’t enough, large parts of the world were engulfed by war. Both halves of the Roman Empire had finally fallen, leaving chaos and uncertainty in their wake.
The year 1347 marked the high point of the bubonic plague in Europe and parts of Asia. For months it had been killing thousands in the Black Sea region.
Then, at the start of 1347, it was brought to the rest of Europe on trade ships and went pandemic. Estimates on the total number of casualties vary. However, most guesses put the total number of victims at 200 million, meaning as much as 60% of Europe’s population was wiped out in a few months.
1492 may have been a high point for European explorers, but it was a very dark year for the native peoples of North America. It’s believed that 1492 marked the beginning of the end for many indigenous people. Between then and the start of the 16th century, 90% of the indigenous population was wiped out, with many cultures lost forever.
1919 may have brought peace as World War I ended, but millions died from the Spanish flu, and in retrospect, it can be argued the war was only put on hold for 20 years. The Treaty of Versailles ended the war, but it planted the seed for what was to become World War II.
1919 also saw Russia descend into its own bloody civil war, a conflict that would lead to the creation of the Communist Soviet Union. The Spanish flu was at its peak in 1918, but millions also died in 1919. An estimated 500,000 Americans died as a result of the epidemic during 1919.
If you survived the Spanish flu, you could not toast your good fortune because the 18th Amendment, which introduced prohibition, was passed in 1919.
In our modern era, there have been many other dark years. The Great Depression started in 1929 and peaked in 1933. In 1939 World War II began. In 1943 the genocide of the Jews by the Nazis was fully underway.
Within the first half of 1943, an estimated 1.2 million Jews had been deported from Nazi-occupied lands, many of them sent to death camps.
1968 saw the U.S. drawn deeper into the Vietnam War and civil rights leader Martin Luther King and presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy both tragically assassinated. 2001 ended a period of world peace that started in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union.
The terrorist attacks in the United States left thousands of people dead and led to wars in the Middle East, which continue today.
Yes, 2020 was a bad year, but good things happened in 2020 too. It wasn’t all bad news. Babies were born, people got married, new businesses started, people found ways to connect while isolated, and vaccines for COVID-19 began to roll out.
2021 will be the same but different. The virus may not get controlled until well into this year, and there will be a new president in office with a different political agenda. The economy will begin to recover. As the virus wanes, we will eventually be able to travel and socialize in groups again. History has taught us that even in the worst years, we can survive and move forward. Here’s to moving forward in 2021!
Tim Burke is a businessman, philanthropist, educator and Pahrump resident. Contact him at timstakenv@gmail.com
Posted on: Opinion
Tagged: mc-opinion
January 20, 2021 - 11:17 am January 20, 2021 - 11:17 am
Out-of-town reader supportive of Pahrump after reading local news
Many double standards prevail in political circles
TIM BURKE: First Amendment rights in danger on major social media platforms
January 15, 2021 - 7:00 am January 15, 2021 - 1:45 pm
Freedom of expression is one of our most cherished rights. Over the weekend, the conservative social media platform, Parler, headquartered in Henderson, Nevada, was shut down when Amazon turned off the web services that hosted the platform.
DAN SCHINHOFEN: Open Letter to Nevada House Delegation
By Dan Schinhofen Special to the Pahrump Valley Times
To the honorable Representatives of our State. I am taking a moment to write and plead with you to act in the best interest of America rather than your political party. I heard Speaker Pelosi say, on 60 minutes, that one reason to impeach President Trump was so that he could never run again. While your Party has been talking about election interference since 2016 and spent 40 million dollars of our money to investigate “Russian Collusion”, no collusion was found.
Resident disputes timing of trash disposal rate increase
DEBRA J. SAUNDERS: How to start a civil war
By Debra J. Saunders Special to the Pahrump Valley Times
President Donald Trump’s supporters didn’t think through what would have happened if they’d succeeded in overturning the legitimate 2020 election.
VICTOR JOECKS: Vaccinate seniors before prisoners
By Victor Joecks Special to the Pahrump Valley Times
January 8, 2021 - 8:35 am January 8, 2021 - 8:35 am
Gov. Steve Sisolak shouldn’t vaccinate felons before senior citizens. Even a casual look at the coronavirus death numbers makes this obvious.
Reader states mural not good use of taxpayer money
DEBRA J. SAUNDERS: House Republicans splitting apart from President Trump
January 5, 2021 - 5:19 pm January 5, 2021 - 5:19 pm
Rep. Mark Amodei, the only Republican in Nevada’s congressional delegation, is a prime example.
DAN SCHINHOFEN: How fragile it all is
January 5, 2021 - 11:52 am January 5, 2021 - 12:12 pm
If we have not agreed on or learned anything this past year, we should all agree that our freedoms are very fragile. Look at how quickly we conceded our God-given rights to freely exercise our religion, or our right to own property, as in owning a small business. With just a few words from our elected governor, and a declaration here and a directive there we were told it was not safe for us to sing in church. We were directed to close down our business that we spent money, and years of sweat building up to support our families, because we were not deemed “essential”.
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About Robert
Red Head - CD Album
Rachel’s fourth album is a further celebration of women in music — the singers, songwriters, muses, religious icons, lovers and dancers — all performed by Europe’s Top Pan Woman on what is arguably the only new chromatic and acoustic instrument of the 20th century. Named after Lord Kitchener’s calypso celebration of the flame-haired ladies, the album demonstrates the ample capabilities of the pan for versatility, and for musical and emotional expression. Two tracks (‘Happy’ and ‘Ave Maria’) feature fabulous and unique vocals from Rachel’s long-term friend from their days in the Radcliffe Rollers Steel Band: Jo Servi. A remarkable talent from a young age, Jo’s performances were the highlight of Rollers’ shows and featured in many of their television and concert appearances. Probably best known as the uSwitch man in uSwitch.com’s Gospel advertising campaign, Jo has established a prominent career in musical theatre. He has many West End credits including The Lion King, Jersey Boys and Sunny Afternoon as well as creating outstanding roles in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and A Christmas Carol. He also performed with Kate Bush as part of her KT Fellowship in her sell-out “Before The Dawn concerts” in 2014.
Since the release of her last album in 2008 - Priestess of Pan - Rachel has become the UK’s only living Doctor of Music with a speciality in pan, and was invited to play with Nostalgia Steel Band as part of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony. She joined Russell Henderson (Father of the Notting Hill Carnival) and his Trio as a guest artist at London’s 606 club on numerous occasions and performed a specially composed solo part in Patrick Larley’s Birmingham Spirituals. With Pan Nectar she became the first woman of European heritage to arrange for a steel band in the Notting Hill Carnival.
© 2021, Robert Rankin
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Tag Archives: Dyan Cannon
Deathtrap (1982)
Posted on April 11, 2019 | Leave a comment
4-Word Review: Playwright turns to murder.
Sidney Bruhl (Michael Caine) was at one time a top playwright, but his latest play is a flop. To add to his depression he finds that one of his students who attended his writing seminar, Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve), has on his first attempt written a brilliant sure-fire hit. Something that makes Sidney jealous. He decides to invite Clifford over to his secluded cottage and while there, and with the help of his wife Myra (Dyan Cannon), kill Clifford and then steal his script and treat it as if it’s his own. Things though don’t work out quite as expected especially when their neighbor Helga (Irene Worth) arrives who has psychic visions that could ultimately implicate Sidney for doing the dirty deed.
The film is based on the Broadway play of the same name written by Ira Levin that ran for 1,793 performances from February 26, 1978 to June 13, 1982. The play was well received by critics and audiences alike including director Sidney Lumet who put up some of his own money to get it made into a film, but ultimately he relies too heavily on the twisting plot while failing to add any cinematic element to it.
The exterior of Sidney’s home was the picturesque DeRose Windmill Cottage, which sits in East Hampton, New York and helps add a visual flair, but the interior of the home was shot on a soundstage and the film becomes quite claustrophobic as almost the entire story takes place in this one setting. The movie desperately needed more cutaways, even some minor breakaway bits like Helga’s disastrous guest spot on the Merv Griffin Show, which gets talked about, but never shown, in order to make it seem less like a filmed stageplay, which it ultimately ends up being.
The script brings up some potentially interesting insights like how sometimes the characters in a writer’s play can closely parallel the authors themselves. In fact many people that knew him felt that the Sidney character here strongly resembled the real Ira Levin, but the film fails to pursue this in a satisfying way and is devoid of any interesting subtext or nuance. The characters end up being just boring one dimensional caricatures that are wholly unlikable. You could care less which one of them killed who, or whether any of them even survive.
Christopher Reeve is the film’s only real bright-spot and the way he plays a gay man is effective and believable. His onscreen kiss with Caine was considered controversial and daring at the time and even upsetting to fans to the point that purportedly one audience member in a Denver theater screamed out “Superman, don’t do it!” just as the kiss occurred. Irene Worth is fun too and her accent is so believable that I was convinced that she must’ve been born in Eastern Europe and was shocked to learn that instead she was from, of all places, Nebraska.
Caine is good, but his presence will remind many of the movie Sleuth, which he also starred in and is quite similar to this one. In fact a lot of viewers thought this was a sequel to that simply for that reason and because of this somebody else should’ve been hired to play the part.
Cannon on the other hand is annoying as the hyper wife and shares no onscreen chemistry with the other two actors. Marian Seldes had played the role on Broadway in every one of its 1,793 performances, which garnered her a citation in the Guinness Book of World Records as most durable actress and because of that alone she should’ve been given the part here.
Johnny Mandel’s soundtrack gives the proceedings a highbrow flair and I wished it had been played more. The plot twists may entertain and surprise some, but not if you think about them for too long, which ultimately makes this just a second-rate Sleuth.
Runtime: 1 Hour 56 Minutes
Director: Sidney Lumet
Studio: Warner Brothers
Available: DVD, Blu-ray, YouTube
Posted in 80's Movies, Black Comedy, Gay/Lesbian, Movies Based on Stageplays
Tagged Christopher Reeve, Dyan Cannon, Entertainment, Ira Levin, Irene Worth, Marian Seldes, Michael Caine, Movies, Review, Sidney Lumet
Shamus (1973)
4-Word Review: Detective uses unorthodox methods.
Shamus (Burt Reynolds) is a down-and-out private detective who uses a pool table for a bed and seems more able to attract woman that he doesn’t know for indiscriminate sex than he does at finding cases to solve. Eventually he gets hired by a millionaire businessman (Ron Weyand) to retrieve diamonds stolen during a violent robbery, but the more he pursues the case the more convinced he becomes that it’s a set-up.
This film has the perfect blend of funny Burt/tough-guy Burt and it’s one of the main reasons why it manages to remain engaging. Most other films that he was in never had the right balance. By the late 70’s his humorous side had gotten overused to the point that his image had become that of a silly country boy, but then in the 80’s he over-corrected by starring in a lot of sterile action flicks where his characters were overly-serious and moody and even less entertaining than his comical side. Here though it’s a fun mix as he playfully jumps from saying quips with a twinkle in his eye to beating the crap out of the bad guys when he needs to and the opening bit where he wakes-up and tries to get ready for the day after a long night of partying is a total gem.
The actions of his character though gets a bit over-the-top particularly with the way he extorts information from those he encounters. Unfortunately he’s no Jim Rockford who would use his cunning and wit to get people to talk, but here Shamus gets physically rough with them to the point that he literally strangles a man with a chain until his face turns purple making it look like he was as bad as those he was pursuing. It also made me wonder how long he could go on using these unsavory methods before it would finally catch-up with him.
He also doesn’t use much of his own brain power as he gets underlings at a bar he frequents to do most of the research for him making it seem like they should be the ones receiving the pay. I was also confused why he’d stay on the case even after the person who had hired him cuts off his funds. For the majority of the film he’s emotionally detached and only doing what he needs to, to get paid, so why continue to pursue something when the incentive is gone especially when there’s nothing in it personally for him?
The story has a lot of twists and complications, but it all ends up circling back to the person that we had suspected from the very beginning making the ending not only predictable but boring. It would also have been nice since this film does make some attempts at being gritty to not have every lead that he comes upon always magically pan out. In real-life many so-called ‘hot leads’ go nowhere and for the sake of balance the film should’ve shown Burt coming to a few dead-ends before finally getting the clues that he needed.
As for the action it’s okay and the foot chase outside of a warehouse is good not so much for what happens, but more because it was shot in late autumn and the orange sunlight coupled with the bare trees gives off a surreal feeling, which gets ruined later during another foot chase where everything is suddenly plush and green and strangely turned springtime without warning. The fact that Burt is always able to jump into vehicles that routinely have their keys already in the ignition hurts the credibility and how he was able to get a forklift to drive itself during the warehouse segment is even more perplexing.
The film starts off with a bang and I was hoping this would be something really different, but ultimately it becomes like a slow, leaking tire that gets flatter as it goes along. That’s not to say it isn’t adequate as it is, but there’s nothing about it that’s truly memorable. Dyan Cannon’s is particularly wasted. Supposedly she had to be coaxed out of semi-retirement to do this after her bad experience in Such Good Friends, but I failed to see the point as her character doesn’t have much to do with the story and could’ve easily been cut out altogether.
Director: Buzz Kulik
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Available: DVD, Amazon Video
Posted in 70's Movies, Action/Adventure, Black Comedy, Movies that take place in the Big Apple, Mystery
Tagged Burt Reynolds, Dyan Cannon, Entertainment, Movies, Review
Author! Author! (1982)
Posted on May 8, 2017 | Leave a comment
4-Word Review: Playwright has family issues.
Ivan (Al Pacino) is a playwright struggling to get his next creation ‘English with Tears’ financed and produced. While he has managed to attain the necessary funding he still has a second act that everyone feels ‘needs work’, but before he can tackle that his wife Gloria (Tuesday Weld) leaves him for another man (Frederic Kimball). Now he must contend with raising the five kids alone with four of them being hers from a previous relationship.
The screenplay was written by Israel Horovitz and loosely based on his own experiences as a single parent. Horovitz has written many plays, over 70 of them, several have been considered at least in their day as groundbreaking, so this thing seems incredibly contrived by comparison. The scenes dealing with Ivan’s struggles in regards to his play and the politics that ensue in order to get it made are the most interesting aspects of the movie and the story should’ve solely focused on this angle while the home-life stuff proves sterile and better suited for a sitcom.
The kids seem too connected to the adult world around them. Children can certainly be astute at times, but they still dwell in their own little bubbles and this film shows no awareness of that and instead has them saying lines that more likely would’ve been uttered by an adult. Benjamin H. Carlin has a few cute moments as the young Geraldo, but Ari Meyers, who would later go on to star in the TV-show ‘Kate and Allie’ gives the best performance when she breaks down into tears as she describes the hardships of being booted around from one household to the next.
It’s nice seeing Pacino doing light comedy, which is a real change of pace for him, but he’s too intense and does not play off of Weld, who is more emotionally restrained, well at all. The scene where he tries to physically drag her into a taxi cab isn’t funny, but scary instead and most likely would’ve had those who were standing around witnessing it trying to intervene, or calling the cops.
Dyan Cannon is not effective as the kooky actress who stars in his play and then later moves in with him. Had her character’s eccentricities been played up more she might’ve at least been amusing, but the script doesn’t go far enough with this and having her call him up out-of-the-blue and ask to go to bed with him seemed too outrageously forward. There was some dramatic potential when, after she moves in with him and his kids, she is then asked to move out when Weld’s character comes back into the picture. This could’ve opened the door to a lot of dramatic fireworks and given the film a real lift, but instead she just leaves quietly and is essentially forgotten, which then begs the question why even bother introducing her character at all?
The scenes where Ivan frets about his play and the audience reactions to it are the best parts of the film because it shows the inner anxieties of just about any playwright or screenwriter out there, which is why this should’ve been the central point of the movie as it is the only thing that helps the story stand out. By comparison the family life stuff is generic and filled with too much manufactured cutesiness. It also wastes the talents of Alan King who is mildly amusing, at least at the beginning, as the play’s producer as well as the legendary comedy team of Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding who play the part of the play’s financiers.
The film’s title song ‘Coming Home to You’, which plays over the opening credits as well as the closing ones is so overly sugary that it is enough to make you want to turn the movie off before it’s even begun. It got nominated for a Razzie award for worst original song and it should’ve won as there could not be anything that would be worse, but what is even more amusing is that no one gets credited for singing it, which should’ve been a signal to director Arthur Hiller not to feature it in the film because if the song’s own singer is embarrassed by it then who else would like it.
Released: June 18, 1982
Director: Arthur Hiller
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Available: DVD
Posted in 80's Movies, Cold Climate/Wintertime Movies, Comedy/Drama, Movies that take place in the Big Apple
Tagged Al Pacino, Ari Meyers, Arthur Hiller, Benjamin H. Carlin, Dyan Cannon, Entertainment, Israel Horovitz, Movies, Review, Tuesday Weld
Doctors’ Wives (1971)
4-Word Review: His wife sleeps around.
Several wives of prominent surgeons at a prestigious hospital get together for a game of cards, but one of the women, the oversexed Lorrie Dellman (Dyan Cannon), gives them a shocking proposition. Seeing that they are not satisfied with their sex lives, she tells them that she will sleep with each of their husbands and then critique their ‘performances’, so as to enlightened them as to what they might be doing wrong. The women turn down her ‘friendly’ offer, but then panic when Lorrie tells them that she has slept with ’50 percent’ of them already. They have no time to worry though because the next day Lorrie is shot dead by her brain surgeon husband (John Colicos) after she is found in bed with one of the physicians. Now the women must try to figure out which doctor it was while worrying if their husbands were also involved with Lorrie at some other point.
The film, which is based on a novel by Frank Slaughter, is just too trashy and soap opera-like to take seriously. The productions values are strong and director George Schaefer shows a flair for the visual, which makes it watchable, but the characters are one-dimensional and the dialogue seemingly stripped straight out of a potboiler paperback.
Cannon, who’s billed as being the star, is on-screen for less than five minutes, which has to set some sort of record. Who on earth would ever accept a part to be the film’s ‘star’ if they are going to only be in it for that short of a period, or why bill someone as being such if they ultimately will have that little to do? In some ways I wished the character had remained as she is so outwardly slutty that it becomes campy and her initial proposition would certainly have created a more interesting scenario than what ultimately gets played out. Besides any character whose first words out of their mouth is “God, I’m horny” can’t be all that bad.
The supporting cast, which is made up of many familiar faces, are essentially wasted especially Gene Hackman in what may be the dullest role of his otherwise illustrious career although the way he repeatedly slaps his wife (Rachel Roberts) across the face after she confides in him that she once had a lesbian affair does have a certain outrageous quality.
Colicos is competent as the heavy, but Anthony Costello steals it as a young intern who sleeps with the middle-aged wives of his superiors. In real-life he was gay and ended up dying of AIDS at the young age of 45, but here successfully comes off as a flaming heterosexual who brags of his conquests and acts like going to bed with married women is as common place as taking out the garbage. His best bit comes when he beds fellow intern Sybil (Kristina Holland) who is making a sex documentary and narrates a ‘play-by-play’ of her sexual intercourse with him as it happens.
The film’s most memorable moment, and it’s a doozy, is when it shows in incredibly graphic style the operation of taking a bullet out of a man’s heart. A real pumping human heart was used and the footage would rival that of any educational film. Not only do we see them tear off the organ’s outer membrane, but we also watch as the doctor sticks his finger into it and then in one truly ghoulish shot pop the bullet out of it. It’s all real and done in close-up making it far more explicit than any gore movie out there and one of the most stomach churning things ever to be put in a mainstream Hollywood movie.
Director: George Schaefer
Available: DVD-R
Posted in 70's Movies, Drama, Movies Based on Novels, Movies with a Hospital setting, Movies with Nudity
Tagged Anthony Costello, Dyan Cannon, Entertainment, Gene Hackman, George Schaefer, John Colicos, Movies, Rachel Roberts, Review
The Burglars (1971)
4-Word Review: Corrupt cop hounds thief.
Azad (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his cohorts pull off a daring heist by robbing a gem collector of his emeralds in his home by using a state-of-the-art machine that is able to create a key to the safe on the spot by simply entering in the safe’s serial number. However, things go awry when Abel (Omar Sharif), a corrupt police captain, becomes suspicious of their activity after seeing the gang’s car parked on the road. Initially he lets them off, but only so he can follow them later and then blackmail them for the jewels, or threaten them with prison otherwise.
The film, which is based on the novel by David Goodis and made 14 years earlier as The Burglar, which starred Jayne Mansfield, has all the trappings for being a classic heist film. I enjoyed watching the intricate way they are finally able to crack open the safe, which takes up much of the first half-hour. I also liked the creative action, stunt work, story twists, luscious Greek scenery and musical score by the legendary Ennio Morricone. Unfortunately none of this is able to overcome a rather plodding pace and a lingering feeling that you’ve seen it all before.
The film’s biggest claim-to-fame is its two chase sequences. The first is similar to the one done in The Italian Job as two small compact cars drive all over Athens, including on sidewalks, stairwells, and through crowds of people, which is exciting to watch. However, the fact that no one gets injured and no other automobiles are damaged even as the cars drive straight into on-coming traffic is hard to imagine. The camera also cuts to a close-up shot of the lead car driving on its rim, but somehow the vehicle is still able to continue to go several more miles on rough surfaces and high speeds, but why have a shot like that inserted if it ultimately doesn’t mean anything?
The second chase works better, which involves Belmondo hanging onto the side of a bus as it travels speedily down a crowded city street while he tries to kick shut the door of a police car that is following, which is quite realistic looking especially since it appears to be Belmondo himself and not a stunt double doing it. This one culminates with Belmondo being tossed from a dump truck and down a steep hill while other large rocks roll with him, which again is impressive, but the fact that he doesn’t even receive a scratch from it is hard to believe.
Sharif is outstanding in a rare turn as a bad guy. He commands every scene that he is in and in the process makes co-star Belmondo seem forgettable and unable to equal the same strong presence. Dyan Cannon, who is the only American in the cast, gets a pointless part as a pin-up magazine model that catches Belmondo’s eye. Her character doesn’t appear until an hour in and is not all that integral to the plot. Her voice is also clearly dubbed in the French version, which makes her acting here limited and probably not worth signing up for to begin with.
The climactic finish that entails a man being drowned inside a grain elevator is novel as is the final moment inside a giant, mobile chicken coop with thousands of loud, clucking chickens, but overall the film fails to illicit much tension and would’ve been better had the runtime been trimmed and the scenes shortened.
Alternate Title: Le Casse
Director: Henri Verneuil
Posted in 70's Movies, Fast Cars/Car Chase, Foreign Films, French Films, Heist Movies, Movies Based on Novels, Obscure Movies, Remakes
Tagged Dyan Cannon, Ennio Morricone, Entertainment, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Movies, Omar Sharif, Review
Honeysuckle Rose (1980)
4-Word Review: On the road again.
Buck Bonham (Willie Nelson) is a country music singer who enjoys life on the road traveling to different concert venues with his band much to the consternation of his wife Viv (Dyan Cannon) who wants him to stay home more and help raise their child. When his longtime guitarist Garland (Slim Pickens) decides to retire they bring in Garland’s daughter Lily (Amy Irving) as a temporary replacement. Then Buck starts fooling around with Lily, which creates turmoil both with Buck’s relationship with his wife as well as Lily’s relationship with her father.
After his successful stint in Electric Horseman this film was supposed to send Nelson to the next level as a leading man, but fails miserably because the guy just can’t act. In fact he conveys his lines in such a laid back manner it’s almost like he’s half-asleep and not even there. His screen presence is nil and he ends up being badly upstaged by both Cannon and Pickens. I realize he is considered a country music legend and has many adoring fans, but personally his trembling voice type of singing is not for me. Out of the many, MANY songs that he sings during the course of this picture the only one I even remotely liked was ‘A Song for You’ and even then I consider the Leon Russell version to be far superior.
The film like its star is too laid back. It takes a full 30 minutes before we get anything even resembling a plot going. There’s lots of concert footage and scenes taken on their traveling bus, which to some extent gives the viewer a good taste of what life on the road is like, but then it becomes excessive. It’s almost like a concert movie with the slightest of plots intermittingly mixed in for good measure. The story itself is too obvious and takes too long to play out and then when it finally gets going and we have some actual dramatic tension it then resolves too quickly.
Cannon is pretty good and even does her own singing. Irving on the other hand seems in-over-her-head and looks quite uncomfortable playing on stage. She got nominated for a Razzy award for worst supporting actress and I felt it was well deserved. Rodeo clown-turned-actor Pickens is super in one of his best roles that allows him to show both his comedic and dramatic side. Lane Smith is hilarious in a brief, but funny stint as an aggressive agent looking to get his client, a guitarist who wears some very loud suits, into the band while also trying to push some cheesy money making schemes on the side.
The part where Pickens attacks Nelson with a gun and chases him all around a lonely beach is amusing as is their drunken bus ride along an isolated Mexican highway. I also liked Irving meeting with her father after the secret of her affair has come out as well as her moment of apology to Cannon, but this all comes during the film’s final 20 minutes. Before then it’s just a lot of stock footage of Nelson on stage, which is nice if you enjoy his singing, but not if you’re looking for an actual movie, which at times this barely seems to be.
Released: July 18, 1980
Director: Jerry Schatzberg
Available: VHS, DVD, Amazon Instant Video
Posted in 80's Movies, Comedy/Drama, Movies that take place in Texas, Musical, Remakes, Road Movies, Romance
Tagged Amy Irving, Dyan Cannon, Entertainment, Lane Smith, Movies, Review, Slim Pickens, Willie Nelson
Such Good Friends (1971)
4-Word Review: Her husband fools around.
Julie (Dyan Cannon) is a well-off New York Housewife living in a swanky Manhattan apartment with her husband Richard (Laurence Luckinbill) who is the successful editor of a New York fashion magazine. Her life seems fulfilled and happy until Richard goes into the hospital for routine surgery, which has unexpected complications that sends him into a coma. While going through some of his personal belongings she comes upon his little black book that lists all sorts of sexual conquests he has had with her friends, which first leads the devastated Julie into considering suicide, but then ultimately into revenge.
This film can be considered Otto Preminger’s swan song as the two movies he made after this weren’t worth watching. This movie also proves to be a giant improvement from the awful Skidoo that he did just three years before where he tried unsuccessfully to get with the ‘hip generation’, but failed miserably. It has the same irreverence and satire as that one, but it is much more disciplined and sophisticated and makes its point without going overboard. It also shows that despite his renowned cantankerous nature behind-the-scenes he was still a gifted director who managed to span five decades with movies that had vastly different styles and themes and he deserves to be labeled a filmmaking legend.
I loved the way the camera spins around in a circle during a scene inside a New York art museum as well as some breathtaking shots of the New York skyline while on top of Jennifer’s and Richard’s condominium. The fractured narrative that deals heavily with flashback sequences is also nicely handled though the scenes showing a middle-aged Cannon trying to look like she is an adolescent while wearing pigtails looks tacky and should’ve been scrapped.
The film is based on the Lois Gould novel of the same name and while that book had a much more serious tone the movie gives the material more of a satirical spin much like Diary of a Mad Housewife, which Preminger had scriptwriter Elaine May (who gets credited as Ester Dale) watch before writing this one. The result is endlessly witty dialogue and some near brilliant conversational exchanges between the characters. Some of the best bits are Jennifer’s discussions with Richard’s doctors who seem reluctant to take responsibility for their medical blundering as well as Jennifer’s awkward sexual encounter with her friend Cal (Ken Howard) when he is unable to ‘rise to the occasion’.
Although she has a face that can show pain and sadness well Cannon may not have been the best choice and some other actresses would’ve been more interesting in the part. Apparently Preminger had her in tears already on the first day and she has in subsequent interviews called him a ‘horrible man’. The scene showing her naked in a snapshot is actually that of another nude model with Cannon’s face cropped on it.
James Coco is great in support and I was genuinely shocked that it didn’t get him nominated for best supporting actor. The scene where Cannon is undressing him for some sex and he tries desperately to distract her while he takes off a corset that he is wearing underneath is frickin’ hilarious. Burgess Meredith has an outrageous moment where he is seen nude while attending a posh party and only his genitals are covered by a book hung from a belt that he is wearing.
The only real negative is the ending that is too serious and somber and deflates the energy from the film’s otherwise snarky tone. Some of the music used doesn’t work with the scenes either including the O.C. Smith song played over the closing credits. Otherwise it’s as fresh, original and timely as it was when it first came out and ripe to be rediscovered by the right audience. The title sequence created by Saul Bass that is used to open the film is diverting and I wished it had been extended.
Director: Otto Preminger
Studio: Paramount
Available: DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Instant Video
Posted in 70's Movies, Dry Humor, Movies Based on Novels, Movies that take place in the Big Apple, Movies with a Hospital setting, Movies with Nudity
Tagged Burgess Meredith, Dyan Cannon, Elaine May, Entertainment, James Coco, Movies, Otto Preminger, Review
Coast to Coast (1980)
Posted on February 4, 2014 | 3 comments
4-Word Review: Kooky couple goes truckin’
Maddie (Dyan Cannon) escapes from a mental hospital after she finds out that her husband (Quinn K. Redeker) had her committed there simply so he could avoid an expensive divorce. On the run she hitches a ride with truck driver Charles Callahan (Robert Blake) who reluctantly takes her in despite having troubles of his own including running from a man named Jules (William Lucking) who is after him for late payments on his truck. Together the two ride all the way from New York to California dealing with calamity and even some romance along the way.
Cannon has not had a lot of success in films where she has been the star, but she scores here and pretty much saves it and deserved top billing over Blake. Her energetic upbeat personality that has just a tinge of the fun-loving despite the circumstances helps keep things moving and entertaining. I loved the fact that she had herself trained on how to drive a big rig, so she could go through exactly what her character did when she first gets behind the wheel. The part where she climbs into some stalls housing a bunch of cows including a wild steer deserves mention for her tenacity, which is something some other plastic Hollywood stars wouldn’t even consider.
Blake on the other hand doesn’t fare as well and his attempts at trying to leave Maddie behind and stranding her in the middle of nowhere does not make his character very likable. He is also a poor choice for a romantic lead and the scenes in the snow where they finally do kiss seem forced and unnatural.
The casting of 60-year-old Maxine Stuart as a tough talking bounty hunter out to nab Maddie is interesting simply for its novelty. Lucking literally puts his body on the line getting chased by a steer that comes very close to nailing him. Michael Lerner is entertaining as the psychiatrist who gets knocked out by a bust of Sigmund Freud and then put into a strait-jacket and left on the side of the road.
The film though is disjointed and the first hour runs flat and fails to gain any momentum. The broad humor is not very funny and the couple’s constant bickering is more tiring than engaging. There is also the problem that the story is all about this great big cross-country trip that they take and yet it was entirely filmed within the state of California. Obviously this was for budgetary reasons, but when the film’s theme centers on a big trip then they should’ve taken the extra step and done everything on-location where the scenery could have helped during the slow parts of which the film has many.
The second hour manages to be a bit of an improvement. The part where Maddie takes her big truck and drives it through her husband’s posh garden party is amusing especially when she proceeds to crash the rig right through the wall of their big house and then careen’s the thing straight through their living room, which is done in slow-motion. This scene as well as the shocked reactions of the snotty party guests is enough to save what is otherwise a misfire.
Released: October 3, 1980
Director: Joseph Sargent
Available: VHS
Posted in 80's Movies, Farce, Obscure Movies, Road Movies, Romance
Tagged Dyan Cannon, Entertainment, Maxine Stuart, Michael Lerner, Movies, Review, Robert Blake, William Lucking
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ScoTs Staff
Tagore Archive
Gitanjali and Beyond
The Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies
Travelling the World for Visva-Bharati
Rabindranath travelled almost incessantly. He went several times to England, to Continental Europe, to the United States of America, to Japan, to Ceylon, to Egypt, to China, to Burma, to Argentina, to Russia, and to the countries of South East Asia. Explaining his migratory instinct he wrote to his younger daughter Mira:
“Having examined myself from within I know for certain that God did not create me for the life of a householder. That is perhaps why I am a constant traveller, and not able to set up home anywhere. The world has received me in its arms, I shall do the same with the world.”[31]
Of course there were many practical and pressing reasons for him to travel as much as he did besides the wanderlust. The reasons were, first, his family’s interventions; second, his own individual longing to break out of the isolation of being a mere provincial of British India; third, his great respect for Western literature; fourth, his admiration for the liberal secular values of the West; fifth, his longing to reach out to a larger humanity with his poetry which led to his Nobel Prize and his transformation into a global citizen; sixth, his intensifying concern over war and conflict; seventh, his inner need to condemn the destructive nature of territorial and militant nationalism; finally, his deep-seated conviction in the spiritual and cultural meeting of the races at a centre which would be a gateway to the world’s learning that led to his founding of Visva-Bharati. He carried the message of Visva-Bharati’s universal ideals wherever he travelled.
His close association with world literature had widened his horizons from early on in life. In his family Goethe was read in German, Maupassant in French, Sakuntala in Sanskrit, Macbeth in English. Rabindranath absorbed every bit of that cosmopolitan air. At sixteen he wrote an analytical essay in Bengali on the possibility of material prosperity in Bengal with the title “Bangali-r asha o noirashyo” (Hope and Despair of Bengalis) where he argued for the need to build up a new civilisation through the meeting of East and West.
His inclination to embrace the world came from the confidence of his own solid education in his mother tongue and his grounding in the Indian cultural tradition both of which were also family gifts. It was indeed poetic justice that of all the Tagore family, Rabindranath was most in need of that confidence as he worked his way to find a delicate balance between his commitments to his country and to the world. This was particularly so after his award of the Nobel prize for literature in 1913 when he felt more and more at home in the world. He wrote,
“I have felt the meeting of the East and the West in my own individual life… It was the same feeling which I had when I listened to those in my family who recited verses from English literature and from the great poets of those days. Then also I felt as if a new prophet of the human world had been revealed to my mind.”[32]
Click Here To View References
This article was written by Uma Das Gupta
Professor Uma Das Gupta is a historian and a renowned Tagore biographer. She is the author of many books and articles on Tagore. Some of the most recent are: Rabindranath Tagore: My Life in My Words. New Delhi, Penguin Books, 2010; Rabindranath Tagore: An Illustrated Life. New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2013.
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Connie's Story-Part 6: "A Story Worthy to Remember"
Heroes are often not seen or known. Good deeds are often not recognized, nor or they necessarily dramatic. I share this story with you to remember that simply doing the right thing can be heroic.
The war is over. Connie's story draws to an end...
Connie returned home to the Chicago area. She said she was in great need of a stop at the beauty shop. Before her hair was dry Connie could hear a conversation between two women, and one of them remarked: “I don’t believe the Jews suffered as much as they are saying.” Connie responded by jumping out of her chair, and said, “They most certainly suffered as much as they are saying. I saw it.” She was so upset she then left with her hair still wet. She marched home down the street with her wet hair still in a towel.
These memories are only part of the life experience of a remarkable woman. She went on to marry a man named Warren Majors and they adopted two children. Warren passed away some years later. She went on to marry Robert Morris. She inherited five stepchildren and many grandchildren.
“Connie” was her familiar name. She was born in 1920 in Woodstock, Illinois. Her given name was Mary Elizabeth Conway. She attended St. Pius X Church in Dallas, Texas, for over 30 years. That is where we first met. She worked at a local hospital and helped train nurses. My stepsister was one of them. Later she attended St. Jude parish in Allen, Texas, where I became her pastor for the second time.
It was during this period in the 1990’s that we persuaded her to make a short video of her experiences during the war for use with small groups. She often worried about giving these presentations. She could not sleep the night before thinking about things that happened. The use of a video helped not only archive her experiences, but also assisted her when giving presentations. She could simply show the video and answer questions. She was amused that young people would ask her if her experiences were like “M*A*S*H*”. She always responded they were certainly not.
Her daughter in New York knew someone who was associated with the “Shoah Archives”, sponsored by the film producer Stephen Spielberg. The Shoah Archives preserve the memories of the survivors of the Holocaust during WWII. They came in 1998 to interview Connie and that interview can be found online on YouTube listed as “Liberator: Mary Morris” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg0LeAfSbQ4) It is a three-hour presentation that details her experiences in her own words. Connie passed away in April 2005.
The story of a young woman who loved her country and fellow human beings even during the horrors of war is worthy to remember. She was on the front lines of war and risked her life that others might live. Connie would conclude her story by saying that she hoped that humanity would learn to never harm one another again.
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Select... $11.99 — CD $6.66 — Digital
Formed in 2007, Paranorm is a progressive thrash/black/death metal band based in Uppsala, Sweden. In 2011, Paranorm went into the studio with producer Nino Vukovic and released their first EP, titled 'Pandemonium's Rise'. After promoting the record on various stages in Sweden, the band started work on a follow-up recording. The next release, a four-track EP titled 'The Edge of Existence', produced once again by Vukovic, was released in 2014.
With a line-up change in 2018, Paranorm recruited powerhouse drummer Samuel Karlstrand of Wretched Fate. Meanwhile, work was ongoing for their most ambitious project to date: a full-length album titled 'Empyrean'. This time around, Paranorm sought out the talents of producer Lars Hultman, and the album was recorded between 2019-2020. Redefining Darkness is proud to unleash the band's most accomplished work to date this Feb, 2021!
The Immortal Generation
Edge of The Horizon
Intelligence Explosion
Desolate Worlds (Distant Dimensions)
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Down By The Old Mainstream
This product can also be purchased in <strong>401</strong> of our stores.
Golden Smog: Down By the Old Mainstream 1LP was the 12th fan voted title and 13th ROG release pressed on vinyl. Limited to only 1,755 LPs worldwide and delivered to stores in June 2018. Fans voted to have the LP pressed on a clear mixed colorway of yellow, red and black vinyl. If you missed out on the pre-order check our store locator to find an authorized Run Out Groove dealer near you.
Vinyl info:
Mastered for vinyl from the original source and pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Industry in the Netherlands. Comes in a gatefold tip-on Stoughton jacket.
Details about the record:
Out of print for 8 years , a lost classic from the 1990s that includes Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum & Gary Louris of the Jayhawks sees its first repress on vinyl since its original pressing in 2010.
Info about the band:
Golden Smog is a Minneapolis-based, loosely connected inter-changeable group of musicians from notable bands comprising members of Wilco, Soul Asylum, The Replacements, The Jayhawks, Run Westy Run, Big Star and the Honeydogs. Since their inception in 1989, many members have come and gone, with the following musicians having appeared on all recordings: Kraig Johnson (Run Westy Run), Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum), Gary Louris (Jayhawks) and bassist Marc Perlman (Jayhawks). The group originally played in and around Minneapolis doing mainly cover song sets as a country-rock reaction to the punk and hardcore music that dominated the region. In 1995 they released their debut album, “Down By the Old Mainstream,” recorded at Pachyderm Recording Studio that was made up of mainly original material with a few covers. Drummer Chris Mars of the Replacements was gone by now and the line-up consisted of Johnson, Murphy, Louris, Perlman and two new members: Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Honeydogs drummer Noah Levy. All members were credited under pseudonyms to avoid contractual issues with their other record companies.
2. Ill Fated
3. Pecan Pie
4. Yesterday Cried
1. Glad & Sorry
2. Won’t Be Coming Home
3. He’s A Dick
Side C
1. Walk Where He Walked
2. Nowhere Bound
3. Friend
Side D
1. She Don’t Have To See You
2. Red Headed Stepchild
3. Williamton Angel
4. Radio King
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Will Smith’s daughter, Willow acquires new mansion
Will Smith and Jada Smith’s daughter, Willow has been reported to have acquired a brand new mansion for herself within the coronary heart of Malibu.
In line with studies, the singer purchased her first home for a shocking $3.1 million (₦1.2 billion) mansion in Malibu.
The 19-year-old singer has clearly adopted within the footsteps of her huge brother, Jaden, who moved into his own residence three years in the past.
The property he acquired is claimed to be a $4 million home in Hidden Hills.
That is really an important achievement for her.
Willow was first launched to stardom at age 10 when she launched the track, “Whip My Hair” which earned her a cope with Roc Nation.
Properly, a lot of her family and friends are actually glad for her as they despatched congratulatory messages.
Take a look at a number of the image of her new mansion:
6 tips that can help you win back your partner’s confidence
Safa praises new PSL champions – Mamelodi Sundowns
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The School appoints as Distinguished Senior Fellows a number of senior academics recently retired but still active in their scholarly disciplines and/or in the wider promotion of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and with a demonstrable connection with the School. Distinguished Senior Fellows are appointed by the Directorate, and hold office indefinitely.
Professor Sir Roy Goode, CBE, QC, FBA (appointed in 2011)
Professor Margaret Bent, CBE, FBA (appointed in 2010)
Professor Terence Daintith (appointed in 2009)
Professor Sir Roderick Floud, FBA (appointed in 2009)
Professor Nicholas Mann, CBE, FBA (appointed in 2009)
Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve, CBE, HonFRS (appointed in 2009)
Professor David Cannadine (appointed in 2008)
Professor Victor Bulmer-Thomas (appointed in 2007)
Professor William Twining (appointed in 2006)
Professor Richard Sorabji (appointed in 2005)
Mrs Sarah Tyacke (appointed in 2005)
Professor Sir Brian Vickers, FBA (appointed in 2003)
Professor Sir Anthony Kenny (appointed in 2002)
Professor Shula Marks (appointed in 2002)
Professor Lord Sutherland (appointed in 2002)
Lord Woolf (appointed in 2002)
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The Mission of the Faith & Spirituality Integrated SBIRT Network is to provide SBIRT training that helps allied health professionals engage in culturally competent clinical practice by integrating faith and spirituality during behavior change discussions with clients and patients in various health care settings.
Click on the Project Directory link below to see a list of project staff and collaborators.
Project Director: Rachel Gonzales-Castaneda, PhD, MPH
Dr. Gonzales Castaneda is an addiction research psychologist and an Associate Professor at Azusa Pacific University. She has extensive experience in designing and evaluating prevention and treatment programs that address substance use disorders. Her expertise and research focus on prevention and disease management approaches, adolescent and young adult health, and cultural and social impacts on health status. In addition to her role as Project Director of the Faith & Spirituality Integrated SBIRT Network, she serves as a co-investigator on a large, multi-program evaluation of the youth system of care in Los Angeles County funded by the Department of Public Health, as well as an Associate Research Psychologist at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP).
Co-Director: Mary Rawlings, PhD, LCSW
Dr. Mary Rawlings is a licensed clinical social worker and Chair of the Department of Social Work and the MSW Program Director at Azusa Pacific University. As an educator and program director, she is interested in competency-based education, assessing outcomes of social work education, and experiential learning models (i.e. service learning) that can enhance student education outcomes. Her research focuses on the development of observed structured clinical exams for evaluation of social work skills. As a licensed clinical social worker, she has more than 10 years of practice experience and is interested in women's issues and chronic and persistent mental illness.
Co-Director: Sheryl Tyson, PhD, RN, CNS
Dr. Sheryl Tyson is a psychiatric clinical nurse, a professor, the Associate Dean of Research, and the Executive Director of the Institute of Health Research at Azusa Pacific University School of Nursing (SON). She is a child and adolescent psychiatric clinical nurse specialist with extensive experience in treating children and adolescents with trauma related disorders. Her experience with substance abuse comes from having been a substance abuse educator and counselor for the Los Angeles County Drug Abuse Program Office, and from her position as a research scientist on substance abuse and suicide prevention research projects funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, The National Institute of Nursing Research, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Training Director: Sherry Larkins PhD
Dr. Sherry Larkins is a Research Sociologist in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and is a Co-Director of Training for UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ICAP) and member of the Pacific Southwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center. She has extensive experience as the training director at the Lost Angeles County, Department of Mental Health (LAC-DMH) and UCLA. She has been involved in substance abuse research for over 20 years and has led multiple epidemiological and clinical research studies. Her research includes stimulant abuse, substance abuse treatment for marginalized populations, and sexual risk behaviors associated with substance use.
Training Coordinator: Irene Valdovinos, MSW, MPH
Irene Valdovinos is the evaluation coordinator on the SBIRT project and oversees the development, implementation, and management of the training materials for the SBIRT student training. She coordinates communication between all stakeholders and oversees regulatory and administrative aspects of the project.
Faculty Preceptor Liaison for Psychology: Kathryn Ecklund, PhD
Dr. Kathryn Ecklund is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and the Chair of the Department of Psychology at Azusa Pacific University. As a researcher and clinician, her interests are in the assessment and delivery of culturally sensitive mental health services for children and families. She has maintained an active clinical practice serving racial, cultural, religious, economic, gender, and sexually diverse youth, couples, and families. Since joining APU, her scholarship has focused on the inclusion of faith in the consideration of diversity dynamics, diversity identity development, and diverse relationships among Christian college students.
Faculty Preceptor Liaison for Social Work: Jennifer Payne, PhD, LCSW
Dr. Jennifer Payne is an Assistant Professor in APU’s Department of Social Work. Her research interests include developing culturally adapted community-based depression and trauma interventions and addressing minority mental health disparities. She is the Principal Investigator of the Urban Pastor's Project and the Clergy Depressive Counseling Survey, which surveyed pastors’ beliefs and treatment practices surrounding depression and mental health. Dr. Payne is also an Ordained Evangelist with the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW), and the Director of the Psychological and Social Resource Ministry. She is a trainer and consultant on mental illness issues through the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health Clergy Training Academy.
Faculty Preceptor Liaison for Nursing: Lynda Reed, DNP, RN, FNP-C
Dr. Reed is the Director of FNP and AGNP programs at Azusa Pacific University and has 30 years of experience as a nurse, nurse practitioner, and nurse educator. Her research is on wellness and integrating primary care with behavioral health for chronic disease patients to improve coping and self-management. She was the first faculty member at APU to require that students practice SBIRT on their adult patients in the outpatient primary care clinical settings. Her NP background includes endocrinology, specifically diabetology, family practice, prenatal care and women’s health in low-income community clinics.
Evaluation Specialist: Alex (Chong) Ho Yu, PhD
Dr. Yu is an Associate professor at Azusa Pacific University and has extensive training in statistical methodologies, including exploratory data analysis, data visualization, resampling, and data mining, and multimedia learning. His interests are in alternate and emerging research methods, instructional psychology and technology, philosophical aspects of research methodologies, cross-cultural comparison, and the relationship between faith and science.
Research Associate: Janna Schirmer, BA
Janna Schirmer is the project research associate who assists the team with development, implementation, and evaluation of the SBIRT training.
The SBIRT Student Training Project is supported by SAMHSA grant funds (TI #: TI026021) and the Government gets to utilize the product at no charge.
SAMHSA’s 2015 Substance Abuse Treatment Grants Program Profiles are now available. The Program Profiles give annual statistics on clients served and outcomes for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment grant programs that address prevention, treatment, recovery, homelessness, youth and adolescents, pregnant women, drug courts, young offenders, HIV/AIDS, and capacity expansion. Click here to access the Program Profiles.
Click on each partner university to view detailed information.
Azusa Pacific University (APU)
Link: http://www.apu.edu/
About: Azusa Pacific University (APU) is a comprehensive, evangelical, Christian university in Southern California. It is one of the leaders in the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and is committed to excellence in higher education. The university is built on Four Cornerstones: Christ, Scholarship, Community, and Service. The university actively seeks to uphold this four cornerstones and its motto, “God First,” in all of its endeavors. This dedication, along with the University’s commitment to excellence in higher education, makes APU the prime candidate to pioneer Faith and Spirituality Integrated SBIRT in the State of California. The Faith and Spirituality Integrated SBIRT Network is grateful to have the support of Azusa Pacific University as well as all of our partner universities.
Mission Statement: Azusa Pacific University is an evangelical Christian community of disciples and scholars who seek to advance the work of God in the world through academic excellence in liberal arts and professional programs of higher education that encourage students to develop a Christian perspective of truth and life.
Link: https://www.biola.edu/
About: Biola University is a Christian institution in Southern California where all faculty, staff, and students are professing Christians. The University offers biblically centered education and promotes the values of Truth, Transformation, and Testimony among all its students. For this reason, the Faith & Spirituality Integrated SBIRT Network is proud to be partnered with Biola University’s undergraduate nursing department as well as the undergraduate and graduate psychology departments as we move toward preparing students to impact the world through culturally competent care.
Mission Statement: The mission of Biola University is biblically centered education, scholarship and service — equipping men and women in mind and character to impact the world for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Link: http://www.calbaptist.edu/
About: California Baptist University (CBU) offers academic programs that foster the intellectual, physical, social and spiritual development of each student, with the purpose of sending out students into the world who are academically prepared, biblically rooted, globally minded, and equipped to serve. These values make California Baptist University an invaluable partner in this project and we are grateful for the opportunity to work with CBU’s undergraduate nursing department and its undergraduate and graduate psychology departments in our training endeavor.
Mission Statement: California Baptist University believes each person has been created for a purpose. CBU helps students understand and engage this purpose by providing a Christ-centered educational experience that integrates academics with spiritual and social development opportunities. Graduates are challenged to become individuals whose skills, integrity and sense of purpose glorify God and distinguish them in the workplace and in the world.
Concordia Unversity Irvine
Link: http://www.cui.edu/en-us/
About: Concordia Univesrity Irvine (CUI) is a traditionally Lutheran institution comprised of a thoughtful and caring Christian community that seeks to live out the theology of "Grace Alone. Faith Alone." CUI’s dedication to preparing students for their vocations provides the perfect partnership for our project as we endeavor to equip students in the CUI undergraduate nursing program to provide culturally competent care to all of their patients.
Mission Statement: Concordia University Irvine, guided by the Great Commission of Christ Jesus and the Lutheran Confessions, empowers students through the liberal arts and professional studies for lives of learning, service and leadership.
Link: http://www.fresno.edu/
About: Fresno Pacific University promotes academic excellence, innovative programming and spiritual vitality among its students. The University upholds the Christ-centered values of community, service to others, academic and professional excellence, student-focused education, and innovative and responsive thinkers. The Faith & Spirituality Integrated Network is excited to be partnering with Fresno Pacific University’s undergraduate social work department and graduate psychology department as we seek to bring SBIRT practice and culturally competent care to a broader community of allied health professionals.
Mission Statement: Fresno Pacific University develops students for leadership and service through excellence in Christian higher education.
La Sierra University
Link: https://lasierra.edu/
About: La Sierra University adheres to the Seventh-day Adventist denomination and seeks to encourage students to develop a deeper relationship with God through all areas of campus life. The University’s key mission is “To Seek” truth through scholarship; “To Know” God, ourselves, and the world; and “To Serve” others, contributing to the good of the local and global community. This desire toward service makes La Sierra University’s social work department a valuable partner as we move forward in our charge to train students to provide person-centered care in SBIRT practice.
Mission Statement: As members of the diverse La Sierra University community, we are committed to inquiry, learning, and service. Our community is rooted in the Christian gospel and Seventh-day Adventist values and ideals.
Click on each partner site to view detailed information.
Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LAC DMH)
Link: http://dmh.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dmh
About: The Department of Mental Health in Los Angeles County (LAC DMH) is the largest county-operated mental health department in the United States and oversees more than 85 sites throughout LA County. LAC DMH provides mental health services, including assessments, case management, crisis intervention, medication support, peer support, and other rehabilitative services. Special emphasis is placed on addressing co-occurring mental health disorders as well as addiction. The department works with stakeholders and community partners to provide clinically competent, culturally sensitive, and linguistically appropriate mental health services to clients in the least restrictive settings.
The Clergy Advisory Committee: DMH recognizes the role that spirituality can play in a client’s mental health recovery and is therefore partnered with leaders of the faith community in Los Angeles County. These clergy leaders represent various faith communities, mental health consumers, and family members who collaborate with the DMH staff to provide culturally competent care.
The Student Professional Development Program: DMH holds a training partnership with accredited professional schools that place students in a variety of clinical and administrative settings to give students an opportunity to learn about professional practice and receive a wide variety of trainings through DMH.
Mission Statement: Enriching lives through partnership designed to strengthen the community’s capacity to support recovery and resiliency is our Mission. DMH works with its stakeholders and community partners to provide clinically competent, culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate mental health services to our clients in the least restrictive manner possible. We tailor our services and support to help clients and families achieve their personal goals, increase their ability to achieve independence and develop skills to support their leading the most constructive and satisfying life possible.
UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs
Link: http://www.uclaisap.org/html/overview.html
About: The UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP) conducts research, provides research training and clinical training, and arranges treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs) in coordination with the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and in affiliation with community-based treatment providers. ISAP efforts range from clinical trials of innovative behavioral therapies and pharmacotherapies to epidemiological studies.
Mission Statement: The UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP) works to: 1) develop and evaluate new approaches for the treatment of substance use disorders; 2) move empirically supported treatments into mainstream application through dissemination of research findings and practice improvement efforts; 3) advance the empirical understanding of substance use disorders and support efforts to ameliorate related problems through clinical training provided to physicians, counselors, and other healthcare workers; 4) investigate the epidemiology, neurobiology, health and social consequences, treatment, and prevention of substance use disorders.
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Home 20th Century Studios FANTASTIC FOUR NEW Teaser Trailer Released!
FANTASTIC FOUR NEW Teaser Trailer Released!
Patrick Campbell
FANTASTIC FOUR, a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel’s original and longest-running superhero team, centers on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways.
Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.
It’s very interesting taking in this new teaser. The first thing of note is how different it looks stylistically from Fox’s first two Fantastic Four films, which may be a blessing in disguise. However, there’s a small worry that maybe the tone of the film is too far in the other direction this time around, being incredibly serious and gritty, moving too far away from the campy nature of the first two. Hopefully it’s just the way the teaser plays out, and the movie doesn’t feel as bleak as the teaser shows. It really gives a very strong Interstellar vibe, and this really does feel different than any other comic book films out there right now.
The one thing that I will say is it feels like it’ll be a nice compliment to Fox’s X-Men series, which will be great if they manage to merge the two brands together down the line. It’ll be interesting to see if they manage that, because I like what Trank seems to have envisioned here. The film looks gorgeous, and his cast is fantastic. There’s so much great talent in front of and behind the camera, that this could end up being one of the biggest surprises of the year. We just have to hope that everything comes together, and all those rumors of behind the scenes turmoil were false, because this film could end up being very special.
Fantastic Four, starring Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, and Toby Kebbell, is set to be released on August 7, 2015.
Legoland CA Rings in 2021 Early with “Brick Drop” in Times Square
Disney and Pixar’s “Soul” Extended Sneak Peek
Socalthrills Staff - December 21, 2020
Acclaimed filmmaker Peter Jackson has released an exclusive sneak peek of his upcoming documentary “The Beatles: Get Back” for fans everywhere to enjoy. The...
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What Will Happen to Your Immigrant Workers Next Year
By Mitra Nejat and Branigan Robertson November 29, 2016 November 28, 2016
When it comes to immigration, we’ve all heard a lot of rhetoric regarding work visas, E-Verify, walls, and deportation. But what does the implementation of President-elect Trump’s 10 immigration goals mean for everyday workers and employers? There is one goal that will have enormous impacts on how human resource professionals will do their job:
9. Turn off the jobs and benefits magnet. Many immigrants come to the U.S. illegally in search of jobs, even though federal law prohibits the employment of illegal immigrants.
Practically speaking, what does this mean? As you know, in many cases, employers deal directly with the immigration system and file visa petitions on behalf of foreign workers. They also check I9s and have to keep track of them. Put simply, a Trump presidency presents a scenario that will dramatically change the status quo.
As immigration and employment attorneys we’re getting a lot of questions from our clients. Here’s what we’re telling them.
E-Verify for hiring
It is likely that Trump will make the E-Verify system mandatory. E-Verify is a database that employers can access to check a prospective employee’s immigration status. In theory, the system will tell the employer if the applicant is allowed to work in the United States. Opponents have argued that E-Verify has a high error rate and its effectiveness is debatable.
Currently, the system is not required nationally. Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Utah require employers with 15 or more employees to use the system. Pay close attention to upcoming changes with this system.
Nonimmigrant temporary work visas
Our areas of legal expertise often deal with applications for nonimmigrant work visas, which allow different types of workers — from seasonal agricultural laborers, to outstanding professors — to live and work temporarily in the U.S. Referred to as nonimmigrant visas because of their temporary nature, they provide an attractive opportunity to many foreign nationals due to less stringent eligibility standards and shorter approval wait times.
The President has incredible latitude when determining how many nonimmigrant visas will be issued each year, as well as interpreting who is eligible to receive one. When it comes to the number of nonimmigrant visas issued annually, the Attorney General, a presidential appointee, is the government official charged with setting the number. The U.S. Code §1184 states, “The admission to the United States of any alien as a nonimmigrant shall be for such time and under such conditions as the Attorney General may by regulations prescribe.”
Employers and immigrants reading this article might be asking themselves what specific visas could be affected by Trump’s presidency. While the number of categories of nonimmigrant visas is too large to detail in one article, here is a short list of some of the non-immigrant visas that could be affected:
NAFTA-TN visa – During the campaign, Trump targeted global trade deals as American job killers, and set his sights squarely on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Brokered under the administration of George H.W. Bush, NAFTA eliminated tariffs on goods moving between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. One of the byproducts of the deal was a visa program that allows certain professionals to travel more freely among the three countries for employment purposes. The types of workers granted NAFTA-TN visas are typically employed in specialty occupations such as hotel management, architecture or data processing. While it’s unclear exactly what will happen once Trump is in office, he has said he would like to either renegotiate the deal or terminate it all together. What’s more, withdrawing from the treaty doesn’t require the approval of Congress. Rather, he only has to give Canada and Mexico six months notice. This could have the effect of eliminating the NAFTA-TN visa permanently.
H2A and H2B visas – Both of these visas apply to foreign workers who come to the U.S. to perform seasonal work. The A visa is granted to agricultural workers, the B visa is granted to all other seasonal workers. In the case of both H2A and H2B workers, the application process involves a U.S. employer obtaining special certification from the Department of Labor. This is done to ensure that any visas issued under these categories won’t affect the jobs or wages of U.S. citizens. While it remains to be seen whether or not Trump intends to keep this program intact once in office, it’s worth noting in addition to the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security, his appointment to head the Department of Labor will also directly affect this class of visas.
F-1 student visas – Most foreign students studying at American colleges and universities are limited when it comes to getting permission to engage in work. In some cases, they are not eligible to obtain work off campus. Certain exceptions to this law have been extended to students affected by severe economic hardship beyond their control, such as in the case of Syrian students affected by that country’s civil war.
Qualifying Syrian students are allowed to work longer hours off campus, while at the same time carrying a reduced course load. Currently, this exception is set to expire in March of 2018. Once in office however, Trump could easily roll back this exception. While it’s speculative at this point what he will do, some of his fiercest pre-election rhetoric has focused on the recent influx of Syrian refugees and his intention to suspend all immigration from this country.
Immigrant visas (green card) — Workers who apply for this type of visa usually do so with the intention of attaining lawful permanent resident status. The immigrant visa is closely tied to the green card, which allows foreign nationals to live and work in the U.S. permanently. Obtaining lawful permanent status is also an important step toward an immigrant becoming a full citizen. Employment visas under this classification include the EB-5 investor visa, which is granted to foreign nationals who invest $1,000,000 in a U.S. business, the EB-3, which is granted to professional and skilled laborers, as well as the EB-1 for persons of extraordinary ability. While federal law determines the specific number of immigrant visas issued annually, Trump’s appointees with the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State will still have latitude when deciding who gets a visa, and how their applications are weighed.
Revoking Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — Trump claims he is planning to revoke DACA immediately. Trump will not need congressional approval to repeal DACA. This executive policy was enacted by President Obama. DACA allows certain immigrants who entered the country illegally before their 16th birthday (usually as children with their parents) to stay in the country and receive a two-year work permit.
For HR, this means that young employees at many companies may lose their prior permission to work. In that case, HR may be tasked with the unpleasant job of terminating them.
Boosting wages for foreign visa workers — Finally, Trump has also said he wants immigration controls to “boost” wages so that employers won’t hire foreign workers at the expense of qualified domestic workers. As far as we can tell, Trump believes employers should be required to pay foreign workers more than their U.S. counterparts to incentivize them to recruit locally.
Whether you are an immigrant looking for a job, HR, or an employer who is looking to hire immigrants, many folks are understandably anxious over what the future will bring. It goes without saying that the policies of President-elect Donald Trump are sure to affect hundreds of thousands of immigrants and employers. To what degree they are affected, remains to be seen.
But it’s important to remember that even with the White House and both houses of Congress under Republican control, Trump’s power is not absolute. Just because Trump campaigned a certain way, and made promises, doesn’t mean they will all go into effect. So, make sure you do your research before taking action.
Mitra Nejat
Mitra Nejat is an immigration lawyer in Orange County, CA. She immigrated to the United States from Iran in the 1973 at the age of 15 and knows a thing or two about our immigration system. She represents people and employers from all over the nation who seek to legally enter and work within the United States. Visit her website at immigrationlawhope.com.
Branigan Robertson
Branigan Robertson is an employment attorney in Irvine, California. He is a member of the California Bar and the California Employment Lawyers Association. He exclusively represents California employees in lawsuits against employers and focuses his practice on harassment and wrongful termination cases. Visit his firm’s website for more information.
E-VerifyH1B VisasI-9ImmigrationLegal - Compliance & Policieslegal issuesNews & Trends
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PERRY: STAGS CAN MAKE UP CASH SHORTFALL
MANSFIELD Town chairman Andy Perry today pledged no players would be leaving Field Mill to plug a £62,000 budget deficit.
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/football/Perry-Stags-make-cash-shortfall/article-1266052-detail/article.html
All Blue Square Premier clubs were told just days before the start of the season they would be receiving a handout of only £18,000 from the Football Conference in 2009-2010 – down from £80,000 last season.
The drop has been largely attributed to the collapse of Setanta, who had negotiated a long-term broadcasting deal with the league.
But Perry is confident Mansfield will be able to make up the lost revenue by their commercial activity.
"A lot of our finances are directly related to the commercial side. Now we know we have to keep up the momentum even more," he said.
"But we feel, with the town's support, we can overcome the problem.
"We aren't going to be able to get in any more players on a permanent basis unless others go out first, as we initially hoped we might be able to do early in the New Year.
"The squad is already a lot stronger than last year, so we are well equipped, but we can still make use of the loan system should we need it."
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* Done With This Roller Coaster
When Wild Animals Become Pets
By David Rosenberg
Jan 11, 201611:36 AM
Dozer.
Areca Roe
Areca Roe’s love of animals often influenced her photography. Early on, she created images in a zoo but felt the human-animal relationship there was too one-sided and forced. That work lead into a series about pets and then further narrowed to work about pets that were a bit more out of the ordinary.
She wanted to create photographs that highlighted the contradiction between the wildness of the pets—including turtles, snakes, lizards, and pigs—and the domestic environments in which they lived with their owners. She calls the series “Housebroken” and has been working on it on and off for three years.
“It just looks so strange to plop a lizard onto a couch, or a parrot in a car,” she wrote. “What do they make of this environment?”
Roe found all of her subjects around Minnesota and Wisconsin, within a few hours of her home, and contacted most of them through social media. She also found reptile owners through the Minnesota Herpetological Society, a group of avid lizard and amphibian lovers.
Finnian.
Tumnus.
Since many of the animals roam around the homes, Roe didn’t have to worry about photographing them in cages. She spent a lot of time trying to find interesting textures and colors to use as backgrounds. When a chicken named Blue wandered onto a couch that was the same color as her feathers, Roe was struck by the beauty she said is “simultaneously harmonious and discordant”; it became a theme of the work. She also listened to suggestions about where to shoot from the pet owners, one of whom gave her the idea of photographing a python around a punching bag; another places her finches in a clear plastic pitcher when she cleans their cage, so Roe tried it in the shot.
Ally.
Finches, pitcher.
The images were created with a medium-format film camera. Because many of the interiors were dark, Roe brought along her own lights that served a dual purpose by also stopping the motion of the sometimes fleet-footed animals.
“The chinchilla and ferrets wouldn’t sit still for more than a second!” she wrote.
Roe said that her decision to name the series “Housebroken” is symbolic for a number of reasons.
“A creature that is housebroken has been rendered suitable to live in a domestic environment. That environment plays a key role in the photographs, serving as a stand-in for the owners, and as a source of tension between the wild-seeming animal and the soft textures and clutter of domestic life. … Broken indicates tamed, or maybe the animal being broken from its wild self.”
Eastern box turtles.
Isis.
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Lying in His Cot with His Dead Mother and Sister
At age one, lying in his cot, his mother, Elizabeth, and his sister, Muriel, lay dead beside him, both victims of the Spanish flu pandemic. His maternal aunt and later his stepmother raised him. He detested his stepmother and included a caricature of her in Inside Mr. Enderby quartet of novels.
Learning about an author’s background is one of the reasons that I believe it is valuable to read biographies and autobiographies of successful people. We can gain much by understanding their challenges and methods of overcoming sometimes seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
One of these people is author, Anthony Burgess. He had always attracted acclaim and notoriety in roughly equal measure, perhaps from his traumatic childhood. He was a British novelist, critic and composer. He was also a librettist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, travel writer, broadcaster, translator, linguist and educationalist.
Anthony Burgess was born John Burgess Wilson on February 25, 1917 in a small house in Harpurhey, Manchester in northwest England. His father, Joseph Wilson, had a variety of jobs including an army corporal, a bookkeeper, encyclopedia salesperson, butcher and part-time pianist. His mother was a musician and dancer. He described his father as “a mostly absent drunk who called himself a father.” His father died of flu in 1938.
During his lifetime, Burgess had a knack for annoying people and, therefore, frequently criticized for writing too much. In a 1972 interview reprinted in the Paris Review, he said, “I’ve been annoyed less by sneers at my alleged overproduction than by the imputation that to write much means to write badly. I’ve always written with great care and even some slowness. I’ve just put in rather more hours a day at the task than some writers seem able to.”
Burgess studied at Xaverian College and Manchester University, where he read English language and literature, graduating in 1940. During World War II, Burgess served in the Royal Army Medical corps, leaving the army as a Sergeant Major.
In 1942, he married Llwela Isherwood Jones. In 1943, GI deserters allegedly attacked her during the blackout. She was pregnant at the time and miscarried. It is widely speculated that this trauma may have influenced parts of A Clockwork Orange. Invalided at home in 1959 and diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and, therefore, a terminal illness, he became a professional writer in the hope that in his final year he would provide some security for his wife.
Within a short time of his first wife’s death, Burgess married Italian contessa, Liliana Macellari, an Italian translator that created quite a scandal. They had begun an adulterous affair in London several years before Llwela’s death. Burgess and Liliana later settled in Monaco, taking occasional trips to America on the lecture circuit.
He outlived the doctors’ prognosis by 33 years, writing numerous novels and nonfiction books. He produced critical works on Joyce, Lawrence, Hemingway and Shakespeare. He wrote several well-known novels included The Wanting Seed, Inside Mr. Enderby, Earthly Powers and A Clockwork Orange published in 1962.
A Clockwork Orange was adapted into a popular 1971 Stanley Kubrik film. Burgess said in The Economist that he felt, ” … when the film was made the theological element almost completely disappeared.” The film was so violent that Britain banned it.
When successful authors give writers advice especially at writers’ conferences, they tend to say to write, write and write more. Anthony Burgess wrote and wrote and wrote. He produced over thirty novels. In 1978 he confessed, “I refuse no reasonable offer of work, and very few unreasonable ones.”
During his last years, Burgess and his wife settled in Monte Carlo and in Lugano, Switzerland. He loved to gamble and visited the casinos nightly. He knew the royal family well and frequently strolled with Princess Grace.
Wherever he was living, Burgess continued to work diligently from about 10 a .m. to 5 p.m. He produced a thousand words a day using a word processor for his journalism and a typewriter for fiction along with drinking strong tea, smoking small cigars.
Even when his health began to fail and he had to return to England, “I start at the beginning, go to the end, then stop,” Burgess once said. He revealed in Martin Seymour-Smith’s Novels and Novelists: A Guide to the World of Fiction (1980) that he would often prepare a synopsis with a name-list before beginning a project.
Seymour-Smith wrote, “Burgess believes over planning is fatal to creativity and regards his unconscious mind and the act of writing itself as indispensable guides. He does not produce a draft of a whole novel which he then revises, but prefers to get one page finished before he goes on to the next, which involves a good deal of revision and correction.”
Burgess died of lung cancer on November 22, 1993 in London at age seventy-six. At his death, he was a multi-millionaire.
This entry was posted in Biographies and tagged A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, army corporal, broadcaster, composer, critic, essayist, John Burgess Wilson, linguist and educationalist., novelist, playwright, poet, screenwriter, Sergeant Major, translator, travel writer.
← Death: A Curious Habit
Embracing My Vulnerability →
2 comments on “Lying in His Cot with His Dead Mother and Sister”
healingbrain says:
This fellow seems to be an example of what you wrote in the previous entry, “Death: A Curious Habit.” There you wondered what it would be like, if you were told you only had a short time to live, what would you do differently? Burgess, given his diagnosis of a year, began writing passionately and lived 33 more years.
His writing process is also very interesting: complete one page before moving on to another. This would truly allow the subconscious to be the director of where the novel is going.
My first exposure to “A Clockwork Orange” was through the satire in Mad Magazine, since it was rated X and I was only eight when it came out. I read my mad magazines over again each summer so I was quite familiar with the plot and purpose of the movie by the time I saw the movie as an adult. Setting the violence aside, the movie asks whether people who are violent criminals deserve punishment, or the nation’s efforts to rehabilitate and cure the criminal? At that time behaviorism was very strong and the cure was to condition the criminal to abhor violence. Now that I have read this short biography I intend to read the work as a novel. I am curious what he meant by saying the theological element was missing from the movie–I want to read that.
Thanks for posting this!
I agree with you, Patrick, it is an example of what I wrote in the previous entry, “Death: A Curious Habit.” This demonstrates what we can do under dramatic circumstances and how following our passion can change our lives in powerful ways.
I also thought that it was intriguing about his writing process. I believe that you are correct that this allowed him to be guided by his subconscious. As writers, we each have our own style that when followed can lead to success.
I’m pleased that this post has stimulated you to read “A Clockwork Orange” again from a different perspective. Please feel free to share your thoughts when you have completed the book.
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Brad Keselowski wins overtime shootout at Kansas Speedway
Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service
Sunday, May 12 827
At the end of a thrilling victory in Saturday night’s Digital Ally 400 at Kansas Speedway, race winner Brad Keselowski’s first thoughts sped to the truck owner who helped further his career.
“I just want to dedicate this win to Mike Mittler," Keselowski said of the man for whom he drove for two NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series races in 2006. "You know, he helped a lot of guys in their career, and I was one of them. He passed away yesterday. It's just a huge loss to the NASCAR community.
“He was one of those unsung heroes that works in the garage. He gave his whole life to this sport, and there's so many of those guys and so many of those fans. It hurts to see those guys go away.”
Keselowski’s other emotion was joy. In a two-lap overtime shootout, he beat Alex Bowman to the finish line by .205 seconds, as the race went four laps beyond its scheduled 267. The victory was Keselowski’s third of the season—matching Kyle Busch for most in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series—his second at Kansas and the 30th of his career.
With fresher tires, thanks to a pit stop under caution on Lap 241, the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford grabbed the lead from Bowman on Lap 261, building momentum down the backstretch and passing the No. 88 Chevrolet to the outside through Turns 3 and 4.
"What a great day. On the (last) restart, I just got a great launch and Alex Bowman—he's going to win a race. He did a great job today. We had a little bit of fresher tires than he did (to facilitate the lead change before overtime), and we were able to make the move on the outside there and caught everything perfect.
“I'm just so thankful.”
Saturday’s race was the first under the lights with the new higher-downforce, lower-horsepower competition package NASCAR introduced this year.
"I'm a little biased because I'm parked in Victory Lane, but this was an awesome race today,” Keselowski said. “This rules package is really made for tracks like Kansas Speedway, and I think the fans saw a great one today."
The runner-up finish was Bowman’s third straight, following second-place runs at Talladega and Dover.
“Just made some bad calls there through lapped traffic and got tied off, had to lift, and then the 2 (Keselowski) was able to drive around us,” Bowman said. “Wish we were standing here with three wins in a row, and things could have gone differently, and that could be the case, but we’ll keep digging next week and try to go get in the All-Star (Race), go win the All-Star and then go try to win the (Coca-Cola) 600.”
Erik Jones ran third, followed by Stage 2 winner Chase Elliott and Clint Bowyer. Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher completed the top 10.
Pole winner Kevin Harvick led a race-high 105 laps and won the first stage, but Harvick brought the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to pit road on Lap 180 with what he thought was a flat right front tire. The unscheduled stop cost Harvick a lap, which he didn’t recover until Lap 244 as the highest-scored lapped car under caution for debris in Turn 2.
Harvick finished 13th behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Aric Almirola.
Kyle Busch was battling with the front-runners after a Lap 245, but contact with Bowyer’s Ford cut a tire on Busch’s No. 18 Toyota, forcing him to pit road and ending his record-tying streak of top-10 finishes to start the season at 11. Busch came home 30th, three laps down.
« Digital Ally 400 Results from Kansas Speedway Almirola Finishes 12th at Kansas »
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Community Building (CBI)
Past Grantees
Community Recovery and Resilience Initiative
Emergency Food & Shelter (EFSI)
SJCPF Deploys Over $1M to Alleviate Homelessness and Hunger
Emergency Food and Shelter Initiative (EFSI) Grants Go to Service Providers
(IRVINE, CA, March 10, 2020) — January 2020 marked the eighth year that St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund (SJCPF) has funded nonprofits providing direct services in the areas of food, shelter, and care coordination through its Emergency Food and Shelter Initiative (EFSI). In 2020, SJCPF is granting $ 1.025 million to 46 nonprofit community partners engaged in these direct services for the hungry and homeless in the California communities that its health system serves. This is a reflection of the Providence St. Joseph Health System commitment and legacy to care for the most vulnerable. It is also one part of SJCPF’s larger comprehensive strategy to improve Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) through both services and building community power and capacity to change upstream conditions.
“The services that our EFSI partners provide are critical to the well-being of the most vulnerable in our communities. By funding programs that address hunger, provide shelter, and help those in need receive support services through case management and referrals, SJCPF is taking one of the necessary steps toward increasing individual and community health and well-being”, said Senior Program Officer, Jason Lacsamana.
As SDoH, homelessness and hunger are prominent barriers to community health and well-being for many in California and across the US. As a foundation of a prominent health system, SJCPF is committed to improving these conditions. In California alone, the homeless and hungry populations are large and face complex health concerns:
According to the 2018 HUD Point in Time estimate, California had 129,972 homeless individuals – the highest number of any state in the United States. The actual count could be substantially higher.
7% or 4.6 million of California’s population is/are food insecure according to the California Association of Food Banks
According to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, the top causes of homelessness are: (1) lack of affordable housing, (2) unemployment, (3) poverty, (4) mental illness and the lack of needed services, and (5) substance abuse and the lack of needed services.
Community partners funded by EFSI are working to provide vulnerable individuals with the emergency services and resources that they need. These services are a part of the solution for keeping them as healthy as possible and on the road to better behavioral and physical health outcomes.
About St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund
St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund makes strategic investments in the health and well-being of communities served by of the Providence-St. Joseph Health System. SJCPF works to reduce health disparities and promote equity by investing in systems level impacts on community health issues, and strengthening partnerships and collaboration. Our investments fall into the following four categories: housing and homelessness, education, disaster preparedness, and capacity building of the nonprofit sector. Learn more at https://stjosephcpf.org.
If you would like more information about this topic, please call Jason Lacsamana at (714) 483-0248, or email at Jason.lacsamana@stjoe.org.
http://www.cafoodbanks.org/hunger-factsheet
https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/ca/
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-07/homeless-population-mental-illness-disability
Addressing Health Care Needs in the Homeless Population: A New Approach Using Participatory Action Research – https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244018789750
stjosephcpf2020-06-22T21:58:54+00:00
Copyright © St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund. All rights reserved.
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How Singapore regulates novel foods like lab-grown meat
Singapore made global headlines in December 2020 by becoming the first country in the world to allow the sale of cultured meat, which refers to meat developed from animal cell culture.
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA), the national authority charged with ensuring food safety and security, gave the green light for Eat Just, Inc.’s cultured chicken to be sold in Singapore as an ingredient in its nuggets product. Discussions on developing novel food regulations started in 2018 among SFA’s predecessor, the Agri-Food &Veterinary Authority, scientists and food businesses.
Here’s a look at Singapore’s approach to regulating novel foods such as alternative protein products that do not have a history of being consumed as food.
April 2019: Singapore forms the SFA as a new statutory board under the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources to oversee food safety and security.
In 2019, SFA introduced the novel food regulatory framework, which requires companies to seek pre-market allowance for novel food. Companies are required to conduct and submit safety assessments of the protein to cover potential food safety risks, including toxicity, allergenicity, safety of its production method, and dietary exposure arising from consumption.
Companies must also provide detailed information on the materials used in their manufacturing processes and how these processes are controlled to prevent food safety risks.
This followed public consultations on the proposed regulatory framework for novel food and food ingredients in 2018.
March 2020: SFA formed a Novel Food Safety Expert Working Group to provide scientific advice and ensure that safety assessments are rigorously reviewed.
The expert working group is chaired by the Head of the Centre for Regulatory Excellence, Professor John Lim, and comprises experts in food toxicology, bioinformatics, nutrition, epidemiology, public health policy, food science and food technology.
A guidance document was provided to help industry members better understand SFA’s requirements regarding safety assessments, as well as the application process of novel foods.
The SFA will establish an international expert working group to provide scientific advice on food safety.
On 23 March, 2020, SFA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Food Standards Australia New Zealand, together with Enterprise Singapore. The parties will collaborate on food safety programs and standards in areas of mutual interest, including risk assessment of novel foods and food additives, as well as the identification of emerging food issues.
Labelling of alternative protein products:
Companies selling pre-packaged alternative protein products in Singapore will be required to label the product packaging with qualifying terms such as “mock”, “cultured” or “plant-based” so that consumers may make informed decisions when deciding whether to consume these products.
Misrepresenting cultured meat as conventionally produced meat to consumers is not allowed, and those who mislead customers on the true nature of the food sold may be convicted under the Sale of Food Act.
Reason for promoting the development of novel foods:
Singapore sees novel foods such as alternative proteins as complementing traditional meat producers, with the promise of producing large quantities of proteins with smaller amounts of resources in a climate-resilient and sustainable manner.
This is also part of Singapore’s national strategy to produce 30% of its nutritional needs by 2030. Besides developing a regulatory framework for novel foods, Singapore also launched research and development grant calls to foster knowledge creation for future foods.
Agri Trends
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The Veil of Deception — Truth is Not a Conspiracy Theory
By Shane Idleman Published on May 20, 2020 •
In 1787, a woman asked Ben Franklin what sort of government the Founders had given the people. He said, “A Republic,” then added, “if you can keep it.” America, with all its spots and blemishes, is still a true gift from God … if we can keep it.
As of now, we have the ability to self-govern and enjoy God-given freedoms. But the Founders also realized that religion must be the foundation for the Republic to last. John Adams made this clear when he stated, “Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.”
The reason Christian values are so important is because they promote self-control. Without self-control, there is more government intervention, oversight and authority. As U.S. Congressman Robert Charles Winthrop said in 1849, “Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by the bayonet.”
Drowning in Information, Starving for Truth
We are drowning in information while starving for wisdom and truth. We are being flooded by misinformation primarily because of deception, and deception must be veiled, at least initially, to accomplish its purpose. Isaiah 33:6 offers one way to unveil deception. God reminds us that His wisdom and knowledge must be the stability of our times. God commands us to expose the unfruitful works of darkness with the truth (Ephesians 5:11). Truth is the only thing that stabilizes.
When do we ignore so-called conspiracy theories, and when do we pay attention?
And certainly we are in unstable times. Clearly forces are working to undermine God, our nation and our families. When do we sit up, take notice, and expose the unfruitful works of darkness? I believe that we need to expose and rip away the veil of deception and recognize what we see around us when:
It’s an attack on God’s character and His Word.
It’s an attack on God-given freedoms.
When it harms or oppresses the innocent.
When sin is legally sanctioned. Legal is not always lawful.
When is a Conspiracy Theory Not a Conspiracy Theory
One form of deception is the weaponization of the phrase “conspiracy theory.” Its use is often intended to shut down inquiry, to mock and dismiss that which the user does not want examined. We shouldn’t be naive and gullible, but we also cannot disregard everything as “conspiracy theories.” If something is proven true, it’s not a theory.
This begs the question: When do we ignore so-called conspiracy theories, and when do we pay attention?
For example, to say certain government officials want to use the COVID-19 crisis as a way to control families gets you labeled a “conspiracy theorist.” But is it a legitimate concern?
For instance, HR-6666 (if passed) would authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services “to award grants to eligible entities to conduct diagnostic testing for COVID–19, and related activities such as contact tracing, through mobile health units and, as necessary, at individuals’ residences, and for other purposes.” I can’t even begin to tell you how harmful this can become. How susceptible to abuse. To call this an overreach is an understatement — it’s a travesty. It could lead to forcibly removing sick or healthy family members from homes and tracing those with COVID-19.
Conspiracy nonsense? Ventura County said if a family only has one bathroom, they could physically remove the infected family member from their home if the others test negative. Fortunately, once this information hit the national media, the county quickly backpedaled.
In Oregon, Lindsey Graham reopened her salon business in defiance of the state. She says two days later Child Protective Services showed up at her home to interrogate her child and determine if she was a fit mother.
Granted, many elected officials and medical personnel are trying to do what’s best from their vantage point. But others are trying to push what they can to see what will be allowed. (How many politicians, for example, started pushing gun control at the start of the pandemic?)
It may sound reasonable, even wise to those who are panicked about COVID-19, to take extreme measures. But what prevents the same contact tracing and home invasions being used for whatever other reasons the government deems “essential”?
And why are we shutting down the economy for this but not other pandemics? As a matter of fact, since the 1600s America has experienced health-related epidemics such as typhoid, scarlet, and yellow fevers every 15 years or so, but we have never taken such extreme measures. Jim Garlow and David Barton gave an incredible breakdown on this during a recent podcast titled A History of Pandemics. It’s a must-hear.
An Agenda That’s Not Hard to Miss
By now, many feel that there is a clear agenda at work. I don’t have time to go into all the inconsistencies such as one day they tell us to wear masks but in other videos they tell us not to. Or why criminals are being released and law-abiding citizens are being arrested. But let me offer a few relevant examples:
The World Health Organization, at China’s bidding, downplayed the threat from the virus. They put us in danger. And yet, Facebook and YouTube are censoring videos that challenge what WHO is saying or recommending. WHO, population-control advocate Bill Gates, and Dr. Anthony Fauci are deeply intertwined. They all have vested interests in the current pandemic. Should these connections be ignored?
Journalist Sharyl Attkisson on her show Full Measure exposed the political and financial fight over hydroxychloriquine, a very cheap drug vs. remdesivir, which a lot of people involved in our nation’s health care decisions have a financial stake in. YouTube briefly removed the video. (Thankfully, it’s now back up.)
Thirdly, we see skewed numbers, fake visuals, and elevated stats to instill fear. Consider the recent story of a man dying of alcoholism caught national attention because the cause of death was recorded as COVID-19.
The San Diego Tribune just ran a story quoting Supervisor Jim Desmond as saying, “We’ve unfortunately had six pure, solely coronavirus deaths — six out of 3.3 million people.” I’m not minimizing even one death, but there is a greater chance of dying just walking down the street than from COVID-19 in most parts of the USA.
It’s About an Election
It appears that this is no longer about a virus. It’s also about an election. Why is the governor in California talking about mail-in voting in November but opened a voting center in Lancaster in May? Because the Republican Mike Garcia was poised to win (and did).
I respect my governing official and pray diligently for him and his wife and their kids. But we are reaching a point where we must lovingly ask hard questions. Irrational reactions, inconsistent policies, and a severe overreach of authority are devastating our nation. We must remove the veil of deception.
Sadly, the new deception is that if you are for freedom then you are selfish.
What’s the Real Answer?
What’s the answer? It’s simple, but it’s not easy. We must turn back to God with a spirit of humility and not approach others with a renegade spirit of rebellion. But we need watchmen at this pivotal point in America’s history. God asked in Psalm 94:16, “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” We must be loving yet vocal. Peaceful, yet bold. “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent” (Isaiah 62:6). So it begs the question, are you a watchman, or have you cowarded back from this enormous responsibility?
It’s not that we will never fear, but it’s what we do with the fear that matters. We have a refuge during the storm if we will run to Him. I don’t want to downplay what’s going on, but I also don’t want to amplify fear. The Bible tells us not to worry. Instead, it provides hope. It’s honest about the consequences of sin and pending judgment, but it also offers a solution: Turn to God with all your heart. This is a consistent theme in Scripture. How people respond to a crisis clearly reveals who or what they trust in. God is always the answer.
(For those interested, you can hear the sermon where this article came from here.)
LA County Health Dept. Threatens to Shut Down Outdoor Church Service (Update: They Didn’t)
An Open Letter to Our Leaders — Churches Must Not Be Handcuffed
The Viral Pandemic of Distrust and Misinformation
John Stonestreet & G.S. Morris
COVID-19: Eight Things You Need to Know From a Pastoral Perspective
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Preferred High Bridge redesign includes protected sidewalks, calmer traffic
A design concept for the High Bridge includes a protected sidewalk, similar to the one on the Wabasha bridge.
If current plans move forward, the new High Bridge will feature calmer car traffic, bike lanes, and a separated sidewalk after reconstruction in 2018.
Members of the MnDOT community advisory committee were presented with two concepts at a meeting last night with project manager Tara McBride. One concept keeps basically the existing design but with wider sidewalks, and another has a barrier-protected sidewalk similar to the Wabasha bridge. The group unanimously endorsed the latter.
The current bridge has 12-foot-wide car lanes, an 8-foot shoulder that is used as a bike lane but not officially designated as such, and a 6-foot sidewalk. The new design would feature car lanes that are 10-11 feet, bike lanes that are 5.5-6.5 feet, and an 8-foot-wide sidewalk.
For context, 12 feet is a fairly standard lane width, including on freeways. The narrower lane widths are not uncommon on city streets, and even some sections of I-94 have 11-foot lanes. Plans call for lowering the speed limit to 30 mph, which will have a negligible impact on driving times as the bridge is only 1/2-mile long and has traffic signals near both ends, McBride noted.
It’s important to note that the design is not final, and still has a further review and approval process within MnDOT.
MnDOT engineers considered more than 20 different design concepts based on feedback from community workshops, but all but the final 2 had been rejected as not technically feasible or prohibitively expensive.
Some community members had suggested an asymmetrical layout, with car traffic on one side and a wider pedestrian boulevard on the other, but structurally the bridge couldn’t handle that type of load shift without millions of dollars in modifications. Other suggested features, such as bump-out viewing areas, would also add considerable cost.
Another important consideration was whether booms on inspection trucks could still extend over the side and underneath the bridge. That limits the position and height of barriers, however, the proposed concepts shouldn’t present an issue, McBride said.
A local suicide prevention group has pushed for railings to be made higher to prevent people from jumping off the bridge, that portion of the design is still in early stages but railings will likely be higher and more difficult to climb. Other issues such as lighting and design elements will depend largely on how much the city of St. Paul contributes to the project.
The design concept that’s moving forward represents a more balanced approach to serving the needs of everyone who uses the bridge, while keeping in mind cost and technical limitations. The MnDOT team has been very responsive to community feedback.
MnDOT staff will be on hand to answer questions at tonight’s bridge walk, which is organized by the Smith Bridge Community Health Forum. The group meets at 6 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month at the top of the bridge (Smith & Cherokee).
This entry was posted in Transportation issues and tagged High Bridge construction by admin. Bookmark the permalink.
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‘We Owe It to Ourselves to Take the Next Step’ – Participating in an Insurance Captive
by Mike Roche | Jul 7, 2017
Kevin Lamp, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of The Fall River Group in Fall River, Wis., recently shared his perspective on why members of The Alliance cooperative should consider participating in an insurance captive. Kevin’s remarks are shared below to help you decide whether your company can benefit.
From my perspective in Member Services at The Alliance, the most striking thing that Kevin said was:
“We owe it to ourselves to take the next step.”
A Captive Feasibility Study
What prompted Kevin’s remarks? The Alliance is currently working with member employers to study the feasibility of creating a captive for medical stop-loss insurance. To participate in the feasibility study, employers must:
Have 100 or more employees.
Be willing to make a long-term investment to gain medical stop-loss savings.
Spend time now to answer key questions and then provide additional information about stop-loss practices.
Submit data by Aug. 1, 2017.
When the feasibility study ends in the fall of 2017, The Alliance hopes to work with a group of committed employers to create its first captive group for medical stop-loss insurance. This group will agree to attend quarterly meetings to guide the captive’s development. Learn more about the study by contacting us.
Please thoughtfully consider Kevin’s remarks as you weigh your own decision about whether a captive can help find more savings from your self-funded health plan.
Kevin Lamp, CFO of The Fall River Group, shares his perspective on participating in The Alliance captive feasibility study.
Is the Fall River Group currently participating in an insurance captive?
The Fall River Group has joined two insurance captives. We joined one captive group in June 2014 for medical stop-loss coverage and one in January 2015 for workers’ compensation and general liability insurance.
What has your experience been so far? Have you seen any savings or positive results?
The Fall River Group has been extremely satisfied with both captive solutions. We have witnessed significant savings in both premiums and total dollars spent compared to the traditional insurance solutions. The concept of like-minded employers working together to reduce claim exposures and subsequently reduce costs is the most important aspect of the program. Sharing ideas and experience within the captive family of companies is very valuable.
What would you tell employers thinking about whether to work with The Alliance to study the feasibility of a medical stop-loss captive for cooperative members?
You already are like-minded employers who are familiar with The Alliance and with each other’s insurance objectives. This is the mindset of a long-term commitment to moving health care forward. That’s also true for a stop-loss captive. It’s not a quick fix. But it does give us the ability to work together to create additional savings, which we’re already doing as part of The Alliance cooperative. We owe it to ourselves to take the next step.
Do you think creating a stop-loss captive through The Alliance will be difficult?
No. It seems like it will be an easy thing to accomplish to get this going. We’re going to do our homework and then we’ll make decisions together. I’m glad to hear there will be quarterly meetings because that will make it easier for us to make those decisions.
Has Fall River turned down any past opportunities to join a captive?
We have turned down opportunities that were not right for us. Fall River was asked to join a homogenous funding group and we said ‘no’ because being part of a group of employers who are all in the same industry has additional risks. One benefit of the proposed Alliance captive is that it’s comprised of employers who operate in different industries and in a broader geographic area. That helps share the risk and increases the odds of savings from being part of the captive.
What will be the greatest benefit to Fall River? Is it the potential to receive dividends when the captive has a “good year” due to lower-than-expected claims?
Dividends are not the biggest benefit from my perspective. Employers should not go into this looking for dividends or other distributions. Employers should go into this because they want their stop-loss premiums to be lower. That’s where the savings lie from my perspective.
Are you hoping this captive will attract like-minded employers in other ways?
Captives can bring together employers who all make the same type of investment in improving the health of employees. One example is a captive group that brings together employers who have all invested in wellness programs for employees. That’s not expected to be part of The Alliance captive initially, but I hope over time the captive will develop to include these types of areas of emphasis.
What would you say to Alliance employers who qualify for the captive but do not pursue it at this time?
This can be a very good thing. I really believe it might be a lost opportunity if you don’t pursue this.
Learn More about Participating in an Insurance Captive
Why Your Company Should Consider Self-Funding
What You Should Know about Stop-Loss Insurance
Read the Stop Loss Captive FAQs.
Read Kevin’s previous interview about why being engaged in The Alliance is essential.
Director of Business Development at The Alliance
Mike Roche joined The Alliance as member services manager in 2015. He is responsible for working with Alliance employers on health benefit strategies; sharing data-based information to help members manage their health care spend; and serving as a voice of member employers.
Mike has a strong background in health benefits and self-funding. He previously served as a regional sales advisor for Digital Benefits Advisors in Madison, Wis., where he managed the health benefits for more than 160 credit union clients across 14 states. Prior to that position, Mike worked at CUNA Mutual Group in their employee benefits division for almost 10 years as an employee benefits sales specialist.
Mike has a bachelor’s degree with a double major in marketing and business administration and is licensed in both health and life insurance in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Montana.
Read blog posts by Mike.
Latest posts by Mike Roche (see all)
What Are The Benefits of Hosting a Vendor Summit? - January 11, 2021
How To Design a Health Benefits Plan That Saves Your Business Money - July 27, 2020
What’s Your Risk Appetite? - May 22, 2018
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Broad City: Reclaiming the American Dream
Broad City, which premiered on Comedy Central on January 22, follows two twenty-something girls (Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson) on their misadventures through New York City. While the show’s trailers depict the girls’ lives as nothing more than humorous and trendy hipsterism and edginess, Abbi and Ilana’s trials are far from shallow. In Ilana’s own words, the show is about “two Jewess’ just trying to make a buck,” and their financial troubles seem to be the central theme of the show from the episodes aired thus far. And the girls aren’t just slackers, either, as both hold jobs. Abbi, the more cautious and level headed of the duo, works at a local gym, stuck as a maintenance worker who dreams of being a trainer. Ilana, the brash one, is employed at a vague internet company with a vaguer goal who does not have the means to even pay its employees.
The first episode revolves around the girls trying to pull enough money together to go see a Li’l Wayne pop-up concert (200 dollars) and the ensuing antics that range from the humorous, depressing, and eventually, disturbing. After realizing her employer cannot pay her salary, Ilana seeks help from Craigslist, where a number of perverts contact her. The two girls eventually wind up in Fred Armisen’s creepy apartment, who stiffs them after they clean his apartment. Broke and discouraged, they retreat into alcohol and bond over the experience. One of the most charming aspects of the show is how the girls rely on each other’s friendship during hard times.
There has been a trend in recent American television to shy away from depicting lower middle class families. From children’s television, to sitcoms, to HBO, we have seen a surge of wealthy upper and middle class families on television and a general lack of characters with economic issues, which is strange considering the dwindling job market and Great Recession. Compare the humbly average Wrigley’s on The Adventures of Pete & Pete to the plethora of contemporary surreal and glitzy Disney and Nickelodeon Hannah Montana-looking programs, where beautiful teenagers seem to have endless Scrooge McDuck piles of gold. Or look at recent episodes of the animated sitcom The Simpsons versus old episodes of The Simpsons. While in the third season, airing in 1992, the Simpsons family struggles to pay for their dog’s, Santa’s Little Helper, surgery to save his life in the heartfelt “Dog of Death.” Whereas in the The Simpsons now, in its twenty-fifth season, has a plot revolving around Homer spying on Marge with high-tech glasses. Again, what was once a realistic portrayal of the American middle class devolves into a semi-surreal cartoon without morality and responsibility of the artist.
Modern Family, a recent comedy series which has met universal critical acclaim, seeks to break new grounds by tackling controversial issues such as gay marriage, gay adoption, racism, and agism. The show features a large, varied cast, including a dysfunctional “nuclear” family, a married gay couple with an adopted daughter, and an older gentleman who has recently married a young Colombian woman, and every week, chaos and hijinks ensue. The cast is superb, with most episodes tightly written, but for depicting the average, modern family, the Dunphys, the Pritchett-Delgados, and the Tucker-Pritchetts appear to be incredibly wealthy, each family boasting a luxuriously large and well-furnished LA home.
This is not to say that the show has somehow lost its way in its depiction of the American family (it’s actually pretty good at this), but long gone are the days of the rough and real sets of a show like Roseanne, which aired from 1988 to 1997. Roseanne, a sitcom centered around comedian Roseanne Barr, the matriarchal figure of the Connor family, follows an American working-class family struggling to get by in a fictional Illinois suburb. The show is notable for its portrayal of a “blue-collar” family with both parents working outside the home and tackling several controversial issues, one of the big ones being poverty. Roseanne’s children struggle with the notion of not being able to afford going to college, father Dan can barely keep a job for the first few seasons, and one of the most striking moments in the show’s history is the last episode of the first season, “Let’s Call It Quits,” where Roseanne walks out of the factory she works at due to the new supervisor’s unrealistic quotas. The second season revolves around Roseanne searching for a new stable income, including fast food worker and phone solicitor.
In many ways, Roseanne depicts the American family as it truly is in a way that Modern Family does not. For several of the early seasons, Roseanne must settle instead of following her dream of becoming a writer. During the final season, the Connor’s win the lottery and become millionaires, yet this only upsets the balance of their family, dispelling the notion of the “American Dream,” the national ethos of upward social mobility.
One of the key components to the Connor’s economic situation is the status of their home and one of the events that significantly affects this is when Dan takes a second mortgage on their house to pay for a motorcycle shop he wants to start (which eventually he must give up). Home ownership has always been a status symbol in American culture, and it often distinguishes the middle classes from the poor. The Connor house is a symbol of the strength and togetherness of Roseanne’s family, and the constant economic dangers it faces mirror the family’s own poverty.
Moving back to Broad City, the focus of the article, when one reflects on Ilana and Abbi’s economic situation, it would be impossible to imagine either one owning a house. They can barely afford a pair of concert tickets. There is no room in either one of their jobs for promotion, thus they are stuck, forever two broke girls (notable is the sitcom 2 Broke Girls, which has a similar premise, but lack of character depth and lack of reality altogether forces the show into unaffecting, inane sitcom territory). Ilana and Abbi will continue to live in their small apartments into the unforeseeable future.
On one episode of Broad City, Abbi, looking to better herself, challenges herself to buy her own marijuana for once (which seems goofy, but stay with it). She calls some old classmates (indicating that she did in fact go to college) and speaks to a woman on the phone known as “Cheese.” The audience sees Cheese on the other line, well-dressed, in a very well-furnished kitchen, holding a child while another screams in the background. Cheese judges Abbi on the fact that she still smokes marijuana, which prompts Abbi to claim it was a prank call and hangs up. Cheese, who obviously was a party lover in college, has now grown up.
Her stretched ears with the plugs taken out are a symbol of her teenage rebellion and clash with her surroundings, seeming to make a statement about growing up and the harebrained futility of teenage rebellion, but then we see her take prescription medicine and drink a cocktail before the camera cuts. She is no different than Abbi trying to score pot, except she does not even realize how unstable her life is. She has a large, nice home, and presumably a wealthy husband (Cheese is home watching the kids during the day), seemingly living that American Dream. And yet, just like Gatsby, just like the characters of Edward Albee, Cheese is a satire of the dream, naive and blinded.
An obvious comparison can be made between Broad City and the HBO series Girls, which also features young women trying to make it in New York City. Girls is set up to be a realistic comedy-drama that pans out sort of like a soap opera, but its tone sticks to the real world as much as possible. Lena Dunhamn’s, the show’s creator, character, Hannah, is an aspiring writer living in Brooklyn whose parents recently cut her off financially. Marnie, who met Hannah at Oberlin, is an art gallery assistant until season two, and is well put together to an archetypal T. There’s also the bohemian Jessa, who is somehow a “world traveller.” These girls’ lives are filled with hardships, some, as mentioned, relating to their career and economic welfare. Yet, each girl comes from a clearly upper class background, and despite their problems, each girl makes it seem incredibly simple to move to the City and make a living without doing much and survive easily.
In comparison, by the end of episode one of Broad City, the girls are drinking liquor in a gutter with a homeless person. For all its bombastic, Comedy Central sitcom qualities, Broad City is very clear (without being on the nose) about where it and its characters stand.
In the post-post modern age of cynicism and the internet, post-The Cosby Show, most people know to scoff at any notion of the so-called American Dream. It’s something of a joke, something to diffuse in high school lit class. But the question should be raised: if the American Dream is not about social mobility and owning a home, than what is it that drives Americans, if anything at all?
For Ilana and Abbi, who obviously want money but can’t seem to get it, well, they just want to hang out, smoke weed, watch Netflix, and be content without getting screwed over by the system. And while they may not be seeming to aim very high, there’s something about Ilana and Abbi that is reminiscent of Roseanne and Jackie from Roseanne, where characters stick with each other and friendship and family is essential through getting tough financial times. Broad City is not a manufactured program, but one from the perspectives of two very real people, and, weed jokes aside, is a very serious and telling portrayal of the young American.
american dream Broad City Girls Modern Family Roseanne
Posted on Feb 7, 2014 by
Nilson Thomas Carroll
Game writer, Frank O'Hara wannabe, perfect Wagnerite, Pokémon obsessive, surf punk
Edited by Dale Barham, Jordan, Misagh.
Feb 7, 2014 Reply
Alma King
I honestly didn’t know anything about this show until it followed workaholics a few weeks ago. I decided to give it a chance and was pleasantly surprised watching every ep since. Shockingly witty and gritty I can’t see this show lasting forever, but it’s definitely worth a watch.
This show is just a one note idea saying, “Hey, we’re wacky and crazy and we like pot”. It just feels old. Something like this should have been done in the late 90’s and with a better cast. It’s just, stale.
Nilson Carroll
One of the episodes is about how one of the girls can’t handle pot. I thought the same thing you did when I saw the first trailer, but it really is quite a nice show with some depth. I’d give it a chance.
Curious as to why you bring up the “late ’90s”…
Dannies
This isn’t even close to the worst show on Comedy Central. I think it has potential. Way better than sh!t like the Kroll Show
annaliuannaliu
I agree that weed-loving and campiness of the show is a little old, but I feel that it’s different with Broad City because the show revolves around two young subversive women. It’s not so much “look, women -can- be silly and be potheads too,” but rather that we are. Of course, the question remains, what are the implications of girls merely mirroring boy-tropes (although, arguably it’s doing more than that)?
Also, while undoubtedly a feminist show, the writing tackles conceptions of femininity in a way that’s not overbearingly moralizing, which is what I believe sets it apart from other post-college/girls/urban shows.
JulieLee
I’ll give this one a chance. My concern with any girl-comedy stuff is that it seems like there is a lot of Danica Patrickesque stuff where they will give a girl a show because they want to give a show to a girl, instead of giving it to whoever (girl or boy) based on merit.
There was this show called (I think) “Best Friends Forever” on one of the networks and it was so obvious they just gave the two girls a show because they wanted to have a show by two girls. It took them about three weeks to learn their lesson (at least I hoped they learned).
If they wanted to give a show to two girls who have earned it, they should give one to those girls who go by the name ‘Garfunkel and Oates’. Those chicks are great.
My other concern is that they will fall into the Amy Schumer thing were they rely almost entirely on sex topics (or “gross” stuff) just for the “Women aren’t supposed to say that stuff!” shock value. It’s fine for women to talk about that stuff but when that is all it is, it gets old really quick. It’s like a black comedian who only does black guy/white guy stuff.
I was able to watch the first episode and be hopeful for the series. But week after week of these slackers screwing up gets tiresome. I don’t think I can take any more after this week.
I love this show precisely because it is showing women who I would be friends with and who resemble a sillier version of myself.
Feb 11, 2014 Reply
Kawilki
I like the comedy of this show, and the cast is perfect for the job. Without that cast, i find the interactions to be dull. In fact, me and a scene partner are doing a scene from an early episode. The dialogue is funny on paper, but has a harder time being brought to life. I know we are not master comedians, but the humor is a funnelled one and because of that, i don’t see it lasting very long. in fact, i think that it will get greater success when it has been off air for awhile much like shows like LOST, Friends, and almost every other show pictured on Netflix.
amyvcarlberg
Love the parallels drawn here with Roseanne, another of my favourite shows, as Broad City has become. Roseanne was so smart, and her show was so real and funny and sometimes tragic. The characters often lose whatever it is they want, and I’d argue that’s the revision of the American Dream: Americans are supposed to be people that get knocked for a dozen loops, get back up and keep trying again. I don’t understand the ubiquitous elaborate set, I suppose it’s an element of the escapism of TV. But Roseanne’s house was always one of my favourite parts of the show. And I think it takes more work to make a ‘normal’ house look good, rather than have the home simply look stylish like the houses of Modern Family or the apartment in 2 Broke Girls (latest guilty pleasure to project an unrealistic image of ‘poverty’…ick, I have more money than those characters are supposed to, and I have leaks in my ceiling and roaches). I loved how tacky all their stuff and their outfits always were, that was more relatable to me. One of my favourite episodes had the Connors decking their home in the tackiest possibly Christmas decorations purposefully to offend their neighbours. And that seems an even bigger part of the American dream, the part that won’t let Americans quit: doing whatever you want, and pushing even harder if anyone dares try to stop you.
Wow, if I could give an award for best comment, you’d win. Very perceptive. I hadn’t thought about that particular episode of Roseanne like that, but yeah, you’re absolutely right.
Man, a lot of people don’t like the show, I’d expected more positive comments. Has anyone here watched the web series? I found it really propped up the TV series and expect the full-length will gain momentum to catch up, here’s hoping it’s not solely effective in a micro format.
markflores
I’m glad I read this, but if anything, it just seems like a chick version of Workaholics, and recently just watched an episode of Broad City, wasn’t that amused.
Mar 6, 2014 Reply
Max Lin
Great article! Never seen Broad City but now I feel inclined to start! As for realistic depictions of the American Dream, I wonder if you’ve ever seen the U.S. version of Shameless. That, I believe, is a very accurate portrayal of many poor working class families in America.
Jul 20, 2014 Reply
brocklew
Great job! Another episode of Broad City as it relates to the American Dream I thought of is the season finale. “The Last Supper” really draws out the contrast between Abbi and Ilana and the wealthy New Yorkers they are surrounded by. In particular, I would cite the discussions that guest stars Amy Poehler and Seth Morris have behind the scenes in the kitchen. Even though they cultivate a sense of class for the sake of the restaurant and it’s patrons, their deteriorating relationship in the kitchen stews beneath the surface of a stereotypical picture of success.
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Tom Holland’s ‘Uncharted’ Movie Finds Another Director
John Stewart September 28, 2019
Slanted > Film > Tom Holland’s ‘Uncharted’ Movie Finds Another Director
The director of “Bumblebee” is the latest name attached to Sony Picture’s long-delayed “Uncharted” movie. Travis Knight will now direct the adaptation for the studio, and Tom Holland is still attached to star in the film.
Deadline first broke the news of Knight’s hiring, but no official confirmation has been released by the studio at this time. Dan Trachtenberg was the most recent director attached to the movie, but he left the project last month. Production on “Uncharted” is expected to start in 2020, but the movie hasn’t had an excellent track record with keeping directors, so we will have to wait and see if the film actually starts shooting on time. The original director was Shawn Levy, who left the film due to scheduling conflicts.
Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Rafe Judkins wrote the screenplay for the film, which is an adaptation of the popular “Uncharted” video game franchise created by Naughty Dog for the Playstation console. The franchise is one of the most popular ever to come from the Playstation 3 and the Playstation 4 console lifespan, and over the years, over 41M copies of the game have been sold worldwide. The last major release from the game franchise was “Uncharted: A Thief’s End” back in March 2016. The games released on multiple platforms and across multiple generations, but was always sold as a Sony Playstation exclusive. A spinoff of the main story called “Uncharted: The Lost Legacy” was also released, and the publisher made a smaller installment for the PS Vita.
Once the movie enters into production, we should know the names of the supporting cast. Fans of the franchise still have a few more months before filming starts, but should be happy to know that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is staying in the MCU for two more movies.
Tags : CastingSony Pictures
John Stewart September 28, 2019
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Over the summer Scotland’s economy moves up to fourth in the UK rankings, some concerns over the unemployment rate, and consultation on the replacement for EU structural funds begins
November 2019 December 2019 / Leave a Comment
The UK government has promised to replace EU funding to the regions with a new UK Shared Prosperity Fund. EU structural funds (regional development and social funds) have recycled £740m into Scottish projects between 2014-20.
Last month the Scottish Government launched a consultation on how these funds should be replaced after Brexit.
To complicate the issue, the EU has proposed that ‘transition region’ status should be extended to cover all regions with a GDP per head between 75-100 per cent of the EU average, compared to 75-90 per cent at present.
Seven additional UK sub-regions are likely to slip below the threshold of 100% EU average GDP per head, qualifying them for ‘transition region’ status. South West Scotland falls into this new category.
It is not clear how much extra funding South West Scotland would have received from the EU, but €50 per head over the next EU spending round is not an unreasonable assumption.
In Dundee, the Michelin site has received a £60m funding commitment to turn the former plant into an innovation centre focusing on sustainable mobility, clean transport and low carbon energy.
Last year the firm said that it would close the plant with the loss of all 845 jobs in 2020. More than 400 employees have found new jobs since Michelin announced the closure of the factory.
The £60m investment is supported by Michelin, Scottish Enterprise and Dundee City Council. It is not clear at this stage what the breakdown of the investment is or how much public money is involved.
On transport, figures released by Virgin Trains show more people travelling between London and Glasgow by rail rather than air. The record level was driven by a 6% year-on-year increase in the number of passengers travelling, c718,000, up from c244,000 a decade ago.
FirstGroup and Italian firm Trenitalia, are to take over the running of the route from December, replacing Virgin, which was barred from bidding. In the latest National Rail Passenger Survey, of the 25 operators in the country, Virgin was ranked second.
FirstGroup operates TransPennine Express, Virgin’s only competitor on most of the northern part of the West Coast mainline. The Competition and Markets Authority has raised concerns train ticket prices could rise under the new franchise.
The Authority said that on 21 routes, passengers would have little or no option but to choose a service run by FirstGroup. At Lockerbie, where there are no Scotrail services, passengers will have no choice. The Authority’s investigation into the new contract is ongoing.
Following its first publication of quarterly GDP estimates for the regions in September, the ONS has now published its next estimates for the nine English regions and Wales, for the year to March 2019. GDP figures have been available for the UK since the 1940s, for Scotland since 2002 and Northern Ireland since 2013.
The Scottish figures are compiled by statisticians and economists in the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser of the Scottish Government.
The latest available comparable figures showed that Scotland’s economy grew by 1.4% compared with 1.5% in the year ended December 2018. This ranked the ‘region’ eighth (was previously seventh) out of the twelve UK ‘regions’.
London topped the table with growth of 4.2% with Yorkshire and The Humber bottom at -0.3%. Propelled by a drive to meet the original March 31st Brexit date, UK growth over the same period was 2.2%.
The ONS figures also showed that growth in Scotland accelerated in the quarter to March 2019. The economy grew by 0.5% in January to March 2019, following growth of 0.1% in October to December 2018.
In this period, food & drink and pharmaceutical & related industries accounted for more than half of the 0.5% growth.
Overall, output in the construction sector increased by 2.0%, output in the production sector increased by 1.8% and output in the services sector grew by 0.1%.
Estimates published by ESCoE last month for the year ended September 2019, a more recent period than the ONS figures, ranked Scotland fourth (previously sixth) with growth of 1.55%, which suggests the country has had a better summer relative to other parts of the UK.
Using this metric, UK growth was 1.45%. Growth in London (ranked first) was 2.32%, which compared with growth in the South West of England (bottom) at 0.41%
More data from the ONS showed that unemployment increased by 8,000 to 110,000 between July and September; the increase of 0.4% was the second highest in the UK and took the overall rate to 4.0%. Northern Ireland had the lowest rate of 2.5%, with the UK rate at 3.8%. The highest rate was 5.9% which was recorded in the North East.
The South West had the highest employment rate at 81.0% which compared with 74.4% in Scotland; the UK rate was 76.0%.
In September, average earnings in Scotland were up by £21 to £622 per week. London had the highest average earnings in the UK of £830. The lowest average earnings of £527 were recorded in Wales. In the UK overall, average earnings grew by 3.6% or by 1.8% after inflation.
Scotland’s average property price increased by 0.3% over the month to £155,029 which took the annual uplift to 2.4%. In comparison, UK prices fell by 0.2% to £234,370 during September, an annual growth rate of 1.3%.
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Christian Rice Named Scholarship Winner
Aug 24, 2017 | Business
Bunch & Brock, Attorneys at Law in Lexington, Kentucky, have announced they have chosen Christian Rice of La Mesa, California, as the winner of their 2017 Bunch & Brock Attorneys Law School Scholarship Contest.
LEXINGTON, KY, August 24, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ — “Of all the submissions we received and judged, Christian’s clearly stood out above the rest,” said W. Thomas Bunch, II, one of the partners of the firm. “It’s an honor to be able to contribute to furthering Christian’s education. He’s got a first-rate mind and he writes very well, two attributes that will be very useful in the legal profession. We feel as if this award is more of an investment in the legal community than simply helping a contest winner.”
After graduating from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Rice worked as a policy analyst in the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Originally from La Mesa, Calif., Rice majored in government and minored in philosophy as an undergraduate; he will attend The University of Virginia’s School of Law, founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson in Charlottesville, VA, in the fall 2017 semester.
After his work for the Committee, last year Rice accepted a position as coordinator of public relations and as a contributing writer for the National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA), where he specializes in aerospace issues, focusing on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
The Bunch & Brock Scholarship contest is designed to award future law students who have extraordinary talent and help them financially with their future education. To apply, the future student must submit a written piece that was published in a magazine, journal or newspaper. The applicant must also be a U.S. citizen or be authorized to work in the U.S., provide a copy of the school acceptance letter indicating that he or she will be attending law school in the fall of 2017 and provide a copy or link to the publication. The award recipient is selected solely on their written submission, as judged by representatives of Bunch & Brock.
“The article was very well-written, very comprehensive and thoroughly thought out,” Bunch said. “Mr. Rice employs skills that will serve him well in the future. It truly is an honor and privilege to recognize future leaders like him — we are simply glad to be able to contribute to some of the brightest minds in the profession. They’ll carry on after most of us have retired, and we’re confident they’ll not only sustain, but raise the standards of those legal practitioners.”
Bunch said his firm looks forward to offering the contest again next year, and encourages potential participants to watch the firm’s web site for details.
“We feel that with the success we’ve had with the scholarship contest this year, it will be even better in the future,” Bunch said.
With more than 35 years of experience practicing law from offices in Lexington, Ky., Bunch & Brock have the experience, knowledge and resources to help you with your legal needs. The firm doesn’t just serve the community, but is part of it, and looks forward to offering their services to their fellow Kentuckians. If you have legal questions or would like to set up an appointment contact us online or call us at 859.254.5522.
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The Vista Voice
Vista’s Top Ten
Flexi Schedule Offerings
Vista Swim
Eagle time: September 22, 2014
Vista’s swim team is one of the many gems in the school’s crown. As the season ends, so does the experience for many graduating swimmers. It’s time to review the year:
The boys lost their previously undefeated title, while the girls won both sectionals and leagues. It’s believed the boys lost because the majority of these swimmers were gone. As for the girls, it’s obvious as to what caused this success: hard work.
Freshman swimmer Kelly White weighs in on the highs and lows of the season. “Highlight, probably league meets, I guess. I mean, I’m a freshman, and I made finals top eight and wasn’t even the very last one, so that was pretty cool.” As for her regrets for the season: “When I accidentally missed two races in a row, and that was just sad. It was the first time I ever did that, and I got made fun of, a lot.”
White believes the most nerve racking part of swim is the moment before a race while on the blocks. “You’re afraid your going to mess up.” It was also hard for her to endure friendly, yet competitive competition between team memebers.
Overall, White’s favorite part of the season was having to put in hard work, and seeing that pay off right before her eyes.. We all love to see our hard work pay off. So, if your at all interested in joining Vista’s swim team don’t hesitate. It’s a fun, passionate sport, and also a great way to socialize. Good luck to all of incoming Vista swimmers!
Any comments deemed threatening or inappropriate will be deleted
Parking Lot perks and Concerns
Elections: What are Students’ positions?
What’s Life Like In The Most Expensive State?
The student news site of Vista del Lago
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Ontario parents can now apply for second COVID-19 payout. Here's how
TORONTO -- Just in time for the holidays, Ontario parents can now apply for their second COVID-19 payment from the provincial government.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford made the announcement during a news conference on Monday, saying the funds aim to help parents struggling due to additional learning and child-care costs amid the pandemic.
“There are thousands of families out there who have made sacrifices, who've taken seriously the public health advice, and who have gone that extra mile to make sure their child can learn safely,” Ford told reporters.
“We will always be there to support each and every single person in this province. That's why I'm proud to announce that starting today the portal is open for applications for the ‘Support for Learners’ program.”
Parents of children aged 12 or younger will be able to receive a one-time payment of $200 per child, and $250 for children 21 years of age or younger with special education needs.
The portal is open to all eligible parents in Ontario, whether their children attend school in-person, online, or both.
“This financial support will help families cover the unexpected costs of school supplies, and other learning resources, especially for our youngest learners,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce told reporters.
“The money will be deposited directly into your accounts within roughly two weeks following your verification.”
The province said the application for the “direct one-time payments” can be submitted online and parents have until Jan. 15 of next year to apply.
This is the second payout from the province to Ontario families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first payout came in the spring. The government said it will spend $380 million on the second payout to parents, on top of the $378 million from the first round.
Canadian $100 bills are counted in Toronto, Feb. 2, 2016. (Graeme Roy/The Canadian Press)
'Super Sophia' releases her first song to inspire kids and help fund 'Love Boxes'
Hospital director's family members get vaccine
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ESOF 2018 Supporting institutions
The European Commission is head-quartered in Brussels, Belgium, and works closely with the 28 EU Member States and European Parliament to define, develop and implement laws and legislation. The activities of the European Commission have the ability to affect millions of EU citizens’ lives and so all new propositions are considered carefully before being put into law. The European Commission is led by 28 commissioners and one president, selected from each of the 28 EU Member States, together they decide the objectives and priorities for actions of the EU and work towards delivering them. Alongside their work within the Union, they also represent the Member States outside of Europe.
Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation
The Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation is responsible for preparing and implementing the government’s policies in the higher education’s departments of research, technology, and space. Research is conducted in higher education establishments, public research institutes, and private enterprises; the sector employs 575 800 workers, half of which are researchers. To take on the most important scientific, technological, environmental and societal challenges, it carries out a national strategy that develops a culture of scientific, technological and industrial entrepreneurship in the higher education department to encourage innovation. In a context of permanent global competition, French researchers and educators must also keep an open-minded approach and are encouraged to cooperate with European and international partners.
The Occitanie Region is the second largest region of metropolitan France and encompasses of 13 departments in the South of France. Sustainable development helps shape the policy it creates for its territories. On an environmental stand, the region ambitions to become Europe’s leading region in clean energy and hopes to develop its transportation to provide more alternatives to cars. Socially, it seeks to strengthen solidarities by favoring easier access to health, housing, culture, regional languages and sports and creates conditions for students to receive an education suitable for their location and their future developments. Its economic development favors sustainable employment, innovation and internationalization of its businesses and supports the world’s growing sectors, notably digital technology and renewable energy.
Conseil départemental de la Haute-Garonne
6 309m2
1.3 million residents
588 municipalities
18 000 new residents per year over the last 15 years
Economically dynamic and demographically vigorous, the Haute Garonne ranks among the most attractive departments in France.
Standing out as an institution in tune with the needs of its residents and territories, the Haute-Garonne’s Conseil départemental is responsible for social and territorial solidarity. As part of its involvement in balanced and equitable to country-and-urban planning, the Conseil départemental is a major partner of Toulouse Métropole and of the towns and cities throughout the department.
Involved in today’s challenges and tomorrow’s major fields of innovation, the Conseil départemental supports the ground-breaking projects that help make the Haute-Garonne’s Department an outstanding and attractive territory.
haute-garonne.fr
Toulouse Métropole is a public institution of intercommunal cooperation that unites 37 communes of the Toulouse area around a common territorial development project. It was made up of 13 communes after its creation in 1992 and has continued to grow since then. With a current budget of 1.8 billion euros, it plays an important role for its 760,000 habitants by taking action in a wide variety of spheres including urban projects, economic development, transportation, the environment and water management.
A few of its major upcoming projects include the developments of Toulouse Aerospace, which will become a European neighborhood known for technological innovation, of the “Big Park” urban development of the Garonne’s bank in seven communes and of Toulouse EuroSudOuest which will expand the city’s train station to a larger transportation center and develop its neighborhood’s economy.
The Caisse des Dépôts group
The Caisse des Dépôts group is committed to helping bring about the transitions of French society more swiftly
“Caisse des dépôts et consignations and its subsidiaries constitute a public group serving the general interest and economic development of the country. The Group fulfils its missions in the general interest by supporting public policies undertaken by the French State and local authorities and can undertake competitive activities (Article L. 518-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code, amended by the 2008 French Economy Modernisation Law).
A long-term investor, the Caisse des Dépôts group is renowned for its expertise in managing mandates. It is focusing its action on four strategic transitions for France's long-term development : local, ecological and energy, digital, and demographic and social transitions.”
Caisse des Dépôts' public missions
► Caisse des Dépôts centralises and manages a significant portion of savings on passbook accounts (including Livret A, LEP and LDD), and puts this resource to good use financing the construction and renovation of social housing in France along with other public priorities. Over the 2013-2017 period, Caisse des Dépôts is set to provide local authorities with funding of up to EUR 20 billion.
► It invests in real estate and infrastructure projects that make a contribution to local area development, alongside local authorities.
► As the banker of the French public justice and social security systems, Caisse des Dépôts manages and protects the private funds entrusted to the legal professions and general interest organisations.
► Through the 48-plus pension and solidarity schemes that it manages, Caisse des Dépôts covers 7.5 million contributors and 3.6 million pensioners.
► Manager of the personal training account.
► Major institutional investor in France and Europe.
Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées
Located at the heart of the Science neighbourhood in Toulouse, the Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (UFTMP) represents 23 higher education institutions, 1 University Hospital and 7 research institutions.
Always aiming at combining democracy and excellence, this collaboration fosters the creation of innovative development policies, enables the spread of scientific culture and a share of knowledge under a common objective: « Sharing Science, towards new horizons ».
L’UFTMP provides with services in 5 education areas:
Arts, Literature and Languages — Humanities and social studies — Law, Economy, Management — Science, Technology, Health — Sport Science & Technics
Being the entry point for its external partners, public communities and businesses — essential supports for a common site policy— the UFTMP works daily with its members, associates and partners in mutualizing its actions for the benefit of all its publics in France and abroad.
The UFTMP is the local project lead of ESOF 2018 Toulouse
Other Institutionals
The Toulouse Academy is a school district that combines eight educational departments in the South-West of France. The rector undertakes the institution’s leadership and works in the rectory, located in Toulouse. Its role is to apply the government’s educational policy to the area it oversees. In this sense, it works according to the local environment and collaborates with territorial authorities: communes for primary education, general councils for secondary schools and the region for high schools. In terms of surface area, it is the largest academy of metropolitan France and affects over 663 000 students of all ages, a number that is quickly growing as the Academy manages the region’s important demographic growth.
AGENCE D'ATTRACTIVITÉ TOULOUSE T
One sole development agency for showcasing Toulouse
The merger of Invest in Toulouse, Toulouse Convention Bureau and the Toulouse Métropole Tourist Office brought all the bodies responsible for the promotion of the area to the general public under one umbrella.
The mission of the Toulouse Métropole business, meetings & tourism development agency is to conceive and direct the marketing activity for the Toulouse area in order to bolster its national and international notoriety, seek out wealth and job creators and to improve the existing conditions for welcoming them.
Founded in 1969, Toulouse Institute of Technology (also called National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse) is a French university cluster based in Toulouse, France, part of University of Toulouse. The Institute is composed of six engineering schools and 17 research laboratories. The Institute delivers master's degrees and Ph.D.
The six Engineering schools of the Institute are:
École Nationale Supérieure d'Électronique, d'Électrotechnique, d'Informatique, d'Hydraulique et des Télécommunications (ENSEEIHT)
École nationale supérieure des ingénieurs en arts chimiques et technologiques (ENSIACET)
École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse (ENSAT)
École nationale d'ingénieurs de Tarbes (ENIT)
École d'ingénieurs de Purpan (EIP)
École Nationale de la Météorologie (ENM)
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Domestic Surveillance
Obama Calls for Congress to Pass NSA Reform 'Quickly'
President Barack Obama pauses before answering a question during a joint news conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the conclusion of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, March 25, 2014.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP
By Zeke J Miller
March 25, 2014 12:44 PM EDT
President Barack Obama called Tuesday for Congress to “quickly” pass legislation to reform a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program.
Obama’s proposal would end the spy agency’s bulk collection of telephone metadata, instead allowing phone companies to keep the data and requiring law enforcement and intelligence officials to seek judicial approval before accessing the information. The new Obama administration proposal follows months of reviews into the surveillance program following its revelation in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Speaking to reporters Tuesday in a joint news conference marking the end of the Nuclear Security Summit with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at The Hague, Obama said the dramatically scaled-back program would answer the concerns of many critics of the surveillance effort.
“This ensures that government is not in possession of that bulk data,” Obama said. “I recognize that people were concerned about what might happen in the future with that bulk data. This proposal that’s been presented to me would eliminate that concern.
“The second thing that people were concerned about is making sure that not only is a judge overseeing the overall program but also that a judge is looking at each individual inquiry that’s made into a database, and this new plan that’s been presented to me does that,” Obama added. “So overall, I’m confident that it allows us to do what is necessary in order to deal with the dangers of a terrorist attack, but does so in a way that addresses some of the concerns that people had raised. And I’m looking forward to working with Congress to make sure we go ahead and pass the enabling legislation quickly, so that we can get on with the business of effective law enforcement.”
Administration officials said they will seek authorization from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to extend the existing surveillance program until Congress acts.
Asked by a Dutch reporter about lingering effects of revelations of American surveillance of European leaders and foreign nationals, Obama said “any one issue can be an irritant in the relationship between the countries, but it doesn’t define those relationships.”
Obama took aim at “sensationalized” reporting about the scope of American surveillance, but acknowledged why people may be concerned.
“I think the fears about our privacy in this age of the Internet and big data are justified,” Obama said. “I think the actual facts — people would have an assurance that if you are just the ordinary citizen in any of these countries, that your privacy, in fact, is not being invaded on. But I recognize that because of these revelations, that there’s a process that’s taking place where we have to win back the trust, not just of governments but more importantly of ordinary citizens. And that’s not going to happen overnight because I think that there’s a tendency to be skeptical of government and to be skeptical in particular of U.S. intelligence services.
“The step we took that was announced today I think is an example of us slowly, systematically putting in more checks, balances, legal processes,” Obama added. “The good news is that I’m very confident that it can be achieved. And I’m also confident that the core values that America has always believed in — in terms of privacy, rule of law, individual rights — that that has guided, you know, the United States for many years and it will continue to guide us into the future.”
Biden's Inauguration: A Spectacle of Normalcy
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Lawmakers Float Their Own NSA Reform Bill
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Rohingya Women 'Raped at Gunpoint' in Burma Army Sweep for Suspected Jihadists, Report Says
Burmese army soldiers patrol a village in Maungdaw, in Burma, as security operations continue in Arakan state on Oct. 21, 2016
STR—AFP/Getty Images
By Feliz Solomon
October 28, 2016 3:54 AM EDT
Eight Rohingya Muslim women say they were raped at gunpoint by Burmese army soldiers during counterterrorism operations in the remote and conflict-ravaged Arakan state in the west of Burma, which is officially known as Myanmar.
Reuters reports that villagers claim dozens of women may have been sexually assaulted near the state’s northern Maungdaw township, though access to the area — which borders Bangladesh — is severely limited, making claims almost impossible to verify.
However, the news agency gained access to the village of U Shey Kya, where three women recounted their assaults in person. Five other women were reportedly reached by phone, and provided similar accounts of soldiers raiding their homes, looting their property and raping them.
One woman described being gang-raped by four soldiers. They also assaulted her 15-year-old daughter, she said.
A spokesman for the office of the President denied the allegations of sexual violence, according to Reuters. The military did not respond to the agency’s request for comment. A state police official told Reuters that the allegations were “propaganda for Muslim groups.”
The allegations follow a military lockdown on the area that began after what appeared to be coordinated attacks on three border patrol posts that killed nine policemen and eight suspected attackers on Oct. 9. The Burmese government said the attacks were carried out by Islamic militants with ties to foreign terrorist organizations.
Since the attacks, additional troops have been deployed to the already militarized area and search for what the government says could be about 400 suspected jihadists. According to official figures, 33 suspects have been killed since the sweep began.
Humanitarian aid has been suspended to all villages in Maungdaw, though some assistance is reaching other parts of the state. Western journalists and aid workers are not allowed to travel in Maungdaw, and some local journalists who have reported on the situation have been subjected to online harassment.
Arakan state, also known as Rakhine, is home to an estimated 1.1 million Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority that is considered one of the world’s most persecuted peoples. Many Burmese view the group as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, as does the government, which does not use the name Rohingya on official documents.
Rohingya make up the majority of the population in northern Arakan, but they are a minority in other parts of the state, where the population is mostly ethnic Arakanese and Buddhist.
Communal violence in 2012 left more than 100 people dead and about 140,000 others displaced, with the Rohingya bearing the brunt of the damage. About 100,000 still live in squalid displacement camps where they are largely denied movement, education and health services.
The October attacks and the subsequent crackdown are the toughest test yet for Burma’s new government, which is led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi following her landslide win in elections last year. Her party flushed out a military-backed government and ushered in a wave of international optimism about the former pariah state, though the army retains significant political and economic power.
[Reuters]
Championing Rohingya Rights in Myanmar Cost Me 12 Years in Prison. It’s a Price Worth Paying
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Artist: Boudin, Eugene-Louis
Oct 2, 2020 | ° Artists |
Eugene Louis Boudin (1824 – 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, summary and economic, garnered the splendid eulogy of Baudelaire; and Corot called him the “King of the skies“.
Born at Honfleur, Boudin was the son of a harbor pilot, and at age 10 the young boy worked on a steamboat that ran between Le Havre and Honfleur. In 1835 the family moved to Le Havre, where Boudin’s father opened a store for stationery and picture frames. Here the young Eugene worked, later opening his own small shop. Boudin’s father had thus abandoned seafaring, and his son gave it up too, having no real vocation for it, though he preserved to his last days much of a sailor’s character: frankness, accessibility, and open-heartedness.
In his shop, in which pictures were framed, Boudin came into contact with artists working in the area and exhibited in the shop the paintings of Constant Troyon and Jean-François Millet, who, along with Jean-Baptiste Isabey and Thomas Couture whom he met during this time, encouraged young Boudin to follow an artistic career.
At the age of 22 he abandoned the world of commerce, started painting full-time, and travelled to Paris the following year and then through Flanders. In 1850 he earned a scholarship that enabled him to move to Paris, where he enrolled as a student in the studio of Eugene Isabey and worked as a copyist at the Louvre.
To supplement his income he often returned to paint in Normandy and, from 1855, made regular trips to Brittany. On 14 January 1863 he married the 28-year-old Breton woman Marie-Anne Guedes in Le Havre and set up home in Paris.
Dutch 17th-century masters profoundly influenced him, and on meeting the Dutch painter Johan Jongkind, who had already made his mark in French artistic circles, Boudin was advised by his new friend to paint outdoors (en plein air).
In 1857/58 Boudin befriended the young Claude Monet, then only 18, and persuaded him to give up his teenage caricature drawings and to become a landscape painter, helping to instil in him a love of bright hues and the play of light on water later evident in Monet’s Impressionist paintings. The two remained lifelong friends and Monet later paid tribute to Boudin’s early influence. Boudin joined Monet and his young friends in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1873, but never considered himself a radical or innovator.
Late in his life, after the death of his wife in 1889, Boudin spent every winter in the south of France as a refuge from his own ill-health, and from 1892 to 1895 made regular trips to Venice. In 1898, recognizing that his life was almost spent, he returned to his home at Deauville, to die on 8 August within sight of the English Channel and under the Channel skies he had painted so often.
He was buried according to his wishes in the Saint-Vincent Cemetery in Montmartre, Paris.
Click here to read Boudin’s full bio on Wikipedia.
Boudin painted in several places in Normandy ( a link to his works will appear for each city when published):
Caudebec-en-Caux – The Artists – Boudin, Eugene-Louis
Eugene Boudin is a real Normandy based artist, born and died in Normandy. He was an Impressionist painter and a close friend of Claude Monet. He was the son of a harbour pilot who later went on and set up a picture framing and stationery shop. His son took to…
Caen - The Artists - Boudin, Eugene
Eugene Boudin is a real Normandy based artist, born and died in Normandy. He was an Impressionist painter and a close friend of Claude Monet.
Le Havre - The Artists - Boudin, Eugene
Eugene Boudin is a real Normandy based artist, born and died in Normandy. He was an Impressionist painter and a close friend of Claude Monet. Here are a few of his many works he made in Le Havre
Artist: de Saint-Delis, Rene
Rene de Saint-Delis, 1876 - 1958, was a French painter influenced by the Impressionist movement. He was born in the North of France (Pas-de-Calais) and died in Etretat, Normandy.
Artist: Thaulow, Fritz
Frits Thaulow was a Norwegian Impressionist painter, best known for his naturalistic depictions of landscape.
Tags: ArtArt-Impressionism
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Passport Requirements to Fly to Hawaii
How to Travel to Hawaii With a Student ID
Does a Baby Require a U.S. Passport to Travel to Hawaii?
Kathryn Walsh, Leaf Group Updated March 15, 2018
The natural beauty of volcanic sand beaches awaits Hawaii's visitors. (Photo: Thinkstock/Comstock/Getty Images )
Traveling to Hawaii With a Dog
What to Pack for Infant Travel to Hawaii in 2018
So baby's taking her first dream vacation. The flight to Hawaii is a long one, no matter where you start from, and making that trip with an infant does require plenty of advance planning and strategic packing. One thing you can cross off your to-do list is securing a passport for your baby. As long as she's an American citizen, your baby probably doesn't need any documentation to travel to Hawaii.
Who Requires a Passport to Visit Hawaii?
Maybe because it's so far removed from the contiguous United States, some travelers forget that Hawaii is as much an American state as any of the other 49. As long as you're traveling to Hawaii from within the U.S., you aren't required to carry a passport. Passports are required, however, for any traveler who enters Hawaii from another country or plans to travel from Hawaii to another country.
What Does a Baby Need to Visit Hawaii?
Adult passengers are required to show government-issued photo IDs to board a flight or cruise ship to Hawaii. Requirements vary slightly between airlines and cruise lines, but a valid driver's license or passport is generally acceptable ID. Typically children under 16 aren't required to show ID to travel within the U.S. In addition to your own ID, bring a copy of your baby's birth certificate just in case you need to prove her citizenship or your relationship to her at any point during your trip.
Check your carrier's rules before traveling, as some have their own guidelines. For example, JetBlue allows newborns under 14 days to fly only with a physician's letter; other airlines won't accept babies younger than 14 days.
How Do I Get My Baby a Passport?
If you plan to continue on from Hawaii to another country, or if your baby will be traveling internationally in the next few years, start the passport application process early. Even newborns are required to have passports for international travel. Standard passport processing can take a few months; expedited processing takes just a few weeks, but costs extra.
It's not possible to apply online or by mail for a baby's passport. Both parents should visit a passport acceptance facility together with the baby. If only one parent can appear in person, that parent must show proof that she's the child's sole legal guardian or bring a notarized copy of form DS-3053, a letter of consent to travel with the baby from the second parent.
Complete form DS-11, available from the U.S. Department of State website. Bring your child's original birth certificate, a copy of the birth certificate, proof that you're the baby's parent (if you're listed on the birth certificate, that's sufficient proof) and a photo of the baby that meets the Department of State's requirements for passport photos. Both parents must also show ID, like a valid driver's license or passport, and copies of that ID.
Present all your documents to an acceptance agent and pay the necessary fees, which range from $40 to $160, depending on whether you're applying for a passport book or a passport card and whether you need expedited service. The baby's passport will be mailed to you and is valid for only five years.
Carnival: Travel Documentation: U.S. Citizens
Southwest: Traveling With Children
U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs: Children Under 16
U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs: Passport Fees
JetBlue: ID Requirements for Domestic Travel
Transportation Security Administration: Identification
Hawaii Tourism Authority: Hawaii Travel Tips
Kathryn Walsh has been writing about travel topics for more than 10 years, but has been feeding her inner travel bug for much longer. Her favorite place to visit is Scotland, and her work has appeared on sites including USAToday, AZCentral and Choice Hotels.
Flight Time to Hawaii From California
Hotels on Maui, Hawaii That Accept Pets
How to Travel to Hawaii for a Vacation
What Do People Pack in Their Carry-on Bag for Hawaii?
How to Travel to Hawaii
Hawaii Travel»
Travel in Hawaii»
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Posts About "Gary Suter"
Flames 12 Days of Hockeymas: 3 Calder Trophy Winners
December 22nd, 2020 The '12 Days of Christmas' is a classic holiday song first published in its current form in 1908. In a nod to the classic carol, join The Hockey Writers as we count down the 12 Days of Hockeymas. Each day, we will provide you with a piece of hockey history as we eagerly await the start of the 2020-21 NHL season. It’s been 30 years...
Flames' 5 Most Productive Defensemen of All-Time
November 17th, 2020 It takes more than offensive statistics to measure the impact of a great defenseman, including leadership, toughness, and durability; attributes that are difficult to quantify, yet are intrinsic to winning teams. The Calgary Flames have had many great defensemen over the last 40 seasons, from swift skaters to bone-crushing body...
Josh Morrissey: The Next Ones NHL Draft Profile
June 24th, 2013 Josh Morrissey THW Close-Up: (Full name: Joshua T. Morrissey; aka J.T. and Josh Morrissey) Date of birth: 1995-Mar-28 Place of birth: Calgary, AB Ht: 6’0 Wt: 185 lbs Shoots: Left Position: Defenseman NHL Draft Eligibility: 2013 1st year eligible Twitter: @Morrissey_10 THW The Next Ones Rankings...
Griffin Reinhart - The Next Ones: 2012 NHL Draft Prospect Profile
March 6th, 2012 Griffin Reinhart THW Close-Up: Date of Birth: 1/24/1994 Place of Birth: West Vancouver, B.C. Ht: 6'4” Wt: 202 lbs Shoots: Left Position: Defense NHL Draft Eligibility: 2012 Bloodlines are strange things. Sometimes they don't matter a bit, sometimes they're all that matter. Growing up, it's natural to become interested...
The Bob Suter Story: The Power of Twenty
August 15th, 2011 In sports, twenty has graced the backs of a number of Hall of Famers, causing ten MLB teams, two NFL teams, the Portland Trailblazers and the Los Angeles Kings to retire the number. In other corners of the NHL, one name is associated with the number twenty: Suter.
Do You Still Believe in Miracles? - A Review of Wayne Coffey's The Boys of Winter
The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. By Wayne Coffey. (2005, New York: Three Rivers Press. Softcover. Pp. 273. $13.95 US / $15.95 CAN. ISBN 978-1-4000-4766-6.) Ask many American hockey fans what they were doing almost 31 years ago and they will tell you about...
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Judge Rejects Joey Kramer’s Lawsuit Against Aerosmith
A judge has rejected Joey Kramer’s efforts to be reinstated as Aerosmith’s performing drummer in time for this weekend’s Grammy Awards.
The judge’s ruling noted the short amount of preparation time leading up to scheduled Aerosmith performances at Saturday night’s MusiCares event and Sunday’s Grammys as the main factor behind the decision. “Given that Kramer has not played with the band in six months and the dearth of available rehearsal time before the upcoming performances, Kramer has not shown a realistic alternative course of action sufficient to protect the band’s business interests,” the ruling declared.
Kramer had sued his fellow Aerosmith members following a band vote to exclude him from the Grammy-related performances. “This is not about money,” the drummer asserted in a statement released at the time of the lawsuit’s announcement. “I am being deprived of the opportunity to be recognized along with my peers, for our collective, lifetime contributions to the music industry. Neither the MusiCares’ Person of the Year Award nor the Grammys’ Lifetime Achievement honors can ever be repeated.”
The drummer has been recovering from a shoulder injury suffered last April. In an attempt to prove he’d healed enough to perform, Kramer auditioned for the band by playing to a click-track — a process he later described as “both insulting and upsetting.” In the opinion of his Aerosmith bandmates, the drummer was too rusty to perform, though they insisted he was still invited to attend this weekend’s events. “Of course we have invited him to be with us for both the Grammys and our MusiCares honor,” the band said via statement. “We are bonded together by much more than our time on stage.”
While Kramer says Aerosmith’s invitation to attend the events in a non-performing capacity “is appreciated,” it appears the drummer will decline. In response to the judge’s ruling, Kramer issued the following statement via his publicist:
“Although I’m extremely disappointed by the Judge’s ruling today, I respect it. I knew filing a lawsuit was a bit of an uphill battle considering that the corporate documents don’t reference any process for a band member returning from an injury or illness. However, the band waited until January 15th to tell me that they weren’t letting me play at the awards ceremonies this week. I can hold my head high knowing that I did the right thing – to fight for my right to celebrate the band’s success that I have dedicated the better part of my life to helping build.
The truth speaks for itself. Ever since I injured my foot last August and went through many hours of physical therapy to heal, not once did the band in its entirety offer to rehearse with me. That is a fact. I was also sent the full rehearsal schedule on January 18th and flew to LA the next day to rehearse and have many texts and emails stating the band can’t wait for my return. That’s also a fact. When I showed up to rehearse, I was greeted by two security guards who prohibited me from entering.
The band’s offer to allow me to participate in this week’s MusiCares and Grammy celebrations for red carpet photo ops only, is appreciated; however, with a fill-in drummer playing on stage at two events honoring our collective musical contributions, it is extremely hurtful to me. I am a professional musician who is eager to return to my rightful place with Aerosmith.
I want to thank my fans for the incredible outpouring of support and for sharing my goal of taking my place on stage as one of the five founding members of Aerosmith and continuing to play the music I love.”
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The Democrat’s Purge Is Starting! Progressives Campaign to Force Breyer to Retire
This is the sort of story that brings a certain phrase. Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it! Biden has managed to gain a narrow Senate majority, so the progressives are already dreaming about all of the spoils that they can enjoy.
They are also scarred by late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s refusal to retire so that President Obama would have a chance to appoint a replacement.
Now, they have decided to take out their frustration on Justice Stephen Breyer. Politico has more. “Demand Justice, the group founded in 2018 as a progressive response to conservative organizing around the courts, praised Breyer in a statement to POLITICO but encouraged him to make way for a younger liberal replacement and to do it early in Joe Biden’s first term.
“Justice Breyer’s service on the Court has been remarkable, and history will remember him even more fondly if he ends up playing a critical role in ensuring the appointment of the first Black woman to the Court,” said Brian Fallon, the group’s co-founder and executive director.
“Timing his retirement in the coming year would guarantee that opportunity, and it would be wise to do so because the window may prove a narrow one.”
Fallon’s comments are the latest example of Democratic anxiety about the composition of the Supreme Court, where conservatives outnumber liberals six to three. And it illustrates how the left-wing of the party feels immediately emboldened to push Biden now that a Democratic Senate majority seems likely, however narrow.”
However, the situations are not exactly the same. Breyer and Ginsburg are at different stages of their careers.
Biden and Obama are also at different points. For once, they cannot make this about Donald Trump. For starters, it should be easy for any Biden SCOTUS candidate to be pushed through. After destroying the filibuster for presidential appointments back in 2013, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid won’t be restoring it.
Confirming a nominee is going to be very easy. As long as they have all 50 Democrat votes, Kamala Harris can serve as the tiebreaker.
Joe Manchin is going to be a fly in the ointment, though. His constituents are already furious and they are sure to vote him out in 2024 if he allows the progressives to run wild. In other words, a green light for progressives in the Supreme Court could spell doom for him.
All of this assumes that Manchin remains on the left side of the aisle. Fortunately for the Democrats, this is a lot more likely after Trump’s demagogue behavior caused the Capitol building to be stormed by his supporters.
This isn’t exactly the best time to be switching allegiances. Manchin risks offending his more moderate voters with such a move.
Stephen Breyer is one of the most reliable voices on the court, from a liberal to progressive standpoint. Sonia Sotomayor is far more progressive but Breyer is more likely to be pushed into a more moderate position. If progressives think that Biden is going to ram Sotomayor through when Senate Republicans are still enraged over the treatment that was given to Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh.
Biden is more of a center liberal type, so it makes sense that he would want to choose someone who is less likely to upset the right side of the aisle. He’s the one who has been preaching all about unity. It would be a bad decision to immediately go against these messages, just to stick it to the right-wing.
If progressives successfully force out Breyer, their best bet is to hope for a justice that takes a slightly less hard-line stance. This seems like a pretty silly risk to take just so that you can keep the count at 6-3. Breyer has been good to the progressives and they may just want to leave well enough alone. Near as we can tell, there should be no rush.
Still unknown to many is a brilliant government sponsored mortgage program called the High LTV Refinance Option (HiRO) that could benefit millions of Americans and reduce their payments by as much as $3,000 per year! You can bet the banks aren’t too thrilled about losing all that profit and might secretly hope homeowners don’t find out before the.....
Can You Save $3,000 On Your Mortgage?
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Home Bruce & Selina David & Camren Gotham Gallery Press Archive Media Online
Welcome to The Bat & The Cat, a fanpage dedicated to "Gotham" characters Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, aka young Batman and Catwoman, played by David Mazouz and Camren Bicondova.
Variety (2015)
'Gotham' Stars Discuss That Mysterious Final Scene, Selina's 'Twisted' New Outlook
October 26, 2015 | Written by Laura Prudom
Spoiler warning: Do not read on unless you’ve seen “Gotham” episode 206, titled “By Fire.”
In the Oct. 26 episode of “Gotham,” we saw Cory Michael Smith’s Edward Nygma take another step towards his dark destiny as The Riddler by accidentally killing his girlfriend, Kristen Kringle (Chelsea Spack), after he confessed to murdering her abusive ex and sent her running for the door. As a forensic scientist for the GCPD, Nygma probably has a few ideas about how to cover his tracks, but the emotional ramifications of his impulsive act are likely to reverberate for the rest of his days — and perhaps even contribute to his future penchant for green spandex.
Elsewhere in the hour, Selina (Camren Bicondova) went to Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) for help with her friend Bridgit Pike, aka Firefly (Michelle Veintimilla) — a previously meek girl from The Narrows turned badass vigilante.
Her decision to kill her brothers and take control of her own destiny “really does ignite a fire inside her, because she’s seeing the real world for the first time, she’s seeing all these injustices and all these women in cages, and that infuriates her,” Veintimilla said of her character’s more assertive transformation in this week’s episode. “She feels like she has to do it because she escaped her brothers and because she got out of her circumstances, she feels like she needs to take matters into her own hands, and I think she feels completely justified in what she’s doing. It’s frustrating for her when Selina denies that she’s suffered injustices – Selina is a really strong, independent women, but people underestimate her all the time, so I think they teach each other a lot.”
Alas, Jim and the GCPD were unable to keep the rebellious thief from coming to a fiery end… or so they thought.
In the episode’s final scene, we saw a severely burned Bridgit being wheeled along the clinical corridors of an underground facility known as Indian Hill, previously mentioned as a toxic waste dump that was traded between mobsters Don Maroni and Don Falcone in season one. Located underneath this prime piece of real estate, the mysterious lab was apparently a division of Wayne Enterprises, where all manner of grisly looking experiments were taking place. After her flamethrower accident, Bridgit’s suit was said to have melted to her skin, making her fireproof — “that’s why they sent her down here with the rest of the monsters, for testing,” according to one of the men accompanying her.
Veintimilla admitted she has “no idea” what’s in store for Bridgit when she makes her return, but she predicted that Bridgit’s somewhat unhinged mental state will mean her next appearance will be “very similar to what happened this time around. They’ll let me know when I get to set.” Despite the burns Bridgit endured, the actress was confident that her next costume upgrade will be “awesome — since the first costume came out the way that it did, I think her real villain costume will be even cooler.”
Variety also caught up with Bicondova to discuss where Selina goes from here, having lost her oldest friend (or so she thinks) because of Jim’s failure to protect her, and having been warned to stay away from Bruce (David Mazouz) by Alfred (Sean Pertwee).
We’ve gotten to see a more vulnerable side of Selina thanks to her friendship with Bridgit in the latest two episodes – why do you think that relationship is so important to her?
They grew up together, so that’s one thing that’s very important to Selina – having someone with her – especially after Alfred told her to stay away from Bruce. Before Bridgit came around, she felt very lost… They understand the struggle of growing up in a chaotic place like Gotham.
In this week’s episode, she tells Bridgit “no one’s ever gone after me or hurt me” – does she really believe that?
It’s definitely a cover-up. She not only tells herself that to survive but she’s telling Bridgit that to stop Bridgit doing what she’s about to do. Yes, Selina has been gone after, like last season in episode 10, assassins were going after her, but nobody has gone after her specifically – they’ve always gone after her regarding Bruce. That’s the complex part of what she’s saying, but it’s a cover-up, definitely, because her mom hurt her; her mom left her. She’s been growing up on her own — a teenage girl with no mom, that’s not a positive subject.
Alfred telling her to keep away from Bruce (and slapping her) seemed to really affect her – how is she handling that?
She’s bitter, because Bruce promised her that he wouldn’t tell anybody about what happened, and he told Alfred, and so when Alfred confronted Selina, not only was she surprised by the slap, she was surprised that Alfred knew about what happened. So she’s bitter about that, and she’s bitter about the fact that she can’t see him. So she’s lost and, especially after she finds out what happens to Bridgit, she doesn’t have anybody to turn to anymore, so she’s like “I don’t know whether I’m a good guy or a bad guy. Where do I fit in?” She’s definitely struggling.
Does that lack of companionship nudge her closer to the dark side?
I think it would be easy for her to turn to the dark side, I don’t think she necessarily wants to. That’s where she’ll be struggling… She’s going to have to turn to herself – at this point, she’s going to need to remind herself that she has raised herself and taught herself things that adults don’t even know in Gotham, so she’s going to need to remind herself that she’s gotten this far on her own and she can go further on her own, because she is very independent for her age.
She doesn’t usually take no for an answer – is she actually planning to stay away from Bruce for long?
I think she’ll come around; I think she’ll figure out a way to see Bruce again, because at this point, she’s iffy about Gordon. What she doesn’t realize is that the GCPD is changing with Captain Barnes in charge, so when the GCPD changes, that affects Gordon. So he can’t necessarily do the things he used to be able to do, and in turn, he can’t help Selina the same way he used to. So when he promises her that he’ll watch out for Bridgit, and he doesn’t deliver, she’s upset.
At the end of the episode we see that Bridgit ends up at Indian Hill – Selina was obviously devastated at the thought of Bridgit being dead, but how do you think she’d feel to find out she’s still alive, but in such a changed state?
I think it would be a mix of both. Shock would be the main word to describe it if Selina were to find out, because she would be glad that she’s still [alive], but to be in Indian Hill, which is not a good place for anyone to be, she would kind of wish she’d died at the same time… She would feel terrible that she didn’t help Bridgit like she initially wanted to, so she’d regret a lot of things.
She’s been pretty useful to Penguin so far this season, but is she planning on sticking around with him, or is she just waiting for a better offer?
Selina does whatever she wants to do, whenever she wants to do it, so if Penguin works out then it works out. If something better comes along, maybe she’ll go somewhere else – business is business to her; she doesn’t really take things personally as much as everybody else that she knows.
What else is coming up for her in the next few episodes?
She starts doing some really cool things. There’s this controversy of the character of Catwoman where is she a villain or is she a hero, and for me personally, I think Selina and Catwoman are both antiheroes. Lately, within the season so far, we’ve seen Selina change and see emotions we don’t normally see, so you’re trying to figure out “is she going to the dark side, is she going to the good side?” And in the next couple of episodes you’re going to see her trying to figure that out for herself, but she’s going to be doing some things that are kind of twisted, but for very good reasons, and I’m just very excited and I’ve been getting to do some really cool scenes. She’s a teenager and she’s reacting to emotions she hasn’t felt [before].
“Gotham” airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox.
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Next on “Gotham”
September 22, 2014 – April 25, 2019
— July 9, 2019: “Gotham” season 5 + “Gotham”: The Complete Series out on DVD and Blu-ray in the US. Learn more about it here.
Conventions and Fan Events
— December 28-29, 2019: Hollywood Collector’s Convention (Tokyo, Japan)
• David Mazouz will attend.
— January 18-19, 2020: Albuquerque Comic Con
— May 2, 2020: (10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PDT) Wizard World Virtual Experiences
• David Mazouz will attend. More about it here.
Browse the Conventions and Fan Events category to see pictures and videos of the previous conventions attended by David and Camren.
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David Mazouz and Robin Lord Taylor’s call to action
David Mazouz on The Rundown podcast
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Fanboy Expo (Knoxville, TN)
5×12 – “The Beginning…” additional HQ stills
5×12 – “The Beginning…” sneak peek
“Gotham” series finale trailer
David Mazouz and Camren Bicondova filming episode 11 of “Gotham” season 5
Camren Bicondova’s Selina Kyle to be played by Lili Simmons in the finale
5×11 – “They Did What?” sneak peek
5×11 – “They Did What?” spoilers
No Man’s Land Trailer
5×11 – “They Did What?” HQ stills
Categories Select Category Audio Awards and Nominations Batman Behind the Scenes Bruce Wayne Camren Bicondova Catwoman Conventions and Fan Events David Mazouz Episode Stills Episode Synopses Gotham Stories Lili Simmons Photoshoots Pictures Press Public Appearances Radio Screen Captures Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Selina Kyle Show Social Media Spoilers They say TV Appareances Videos Website
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Lauryn Hill Sentenced to Three Months, Says She’s Basically a Slave
Lauryn Hill has been sentenced to 3 months in federal prison for evading taxes. A judge sentenced Hill on Monday saying that in addition to the 3 months, she’ll have 3 more months on house arrest and 9 months of supervised release. Hill plead guilty last year to failing to file returns on the $1.8 million she made between 2005 to 2007.
Hill’s attorney told the media before the hearing that she had managed to scrounge together $970,000 to pay off her almost $1 million debt. Turns out that didn’t help. Asking for mercy because of her charity work and 6 kids didn’t help either. The judge told her to show up to prison by July 8.
As it turns out, Lauryn Hill has a flair for the dramatic and straight up compared her tax evasion with slavery.
“I was put into a system I didn’t know the nature of. … I’m a child of former slaves. I got into an economic paradigm and had that imposed on me,” Hill said.
She continued, “I sold 50 million units … now I’m up here paying a tax debt. If that’s not likened to slavery, I don’t know what is.”
Lauryn makes a lot of sense. You should get a free pass when you’re ignorant of the law. She’s the child of former slaves for god’s sake. You think they had time to teach her about taxes? Of course not. Her English teacher mom and computer programmer dad were too busy being beaten by their slave owners. Figuratively. Why, she almost didn’t even get to perform on Amateur Night on It’s Showtime at the Apollo when she was 13. Because slavery!
Can you imagine the shock she must have felt when someone explained that she had to pay taxes on the 50 million units she sold? The units she sold with her hard work, not the government’s. Why don’t you just chain her up and make her call you “mastah,” IRS?!
#lauryn hill
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taxation is slavery smart guy. learn your constitution. the federal income tax is unconstitutional. maybe she was tired of giving her money to a government that kills innocent children indiscriminately around the world.
marcus! speak the truth, friend. yes. xo
Exactly Marcus, thank you. Victor is a sarcastic ignoramus.
No, she’s a CHILD of slaves. That would easily make her … somewhere between 100-110 years old. That’s definitely worth 10% off your cup of coffee at McDonalds.
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Shonda Rhimes Won’t Tolerate Heigls
By Larry Putzgerald October 9, 2014
Shonda Rhimes talked to The Hollywood Reporter and told them she runs a tight ship nowadays. She has no room for assholes.
Although her perfectionist tendencies coupled with Scandal’s breakneck story pace can wreak havoc on deadlines — “We’re always behind,” she admits — the operation runs smoothly and the cast is tight-knit. “There are no Heigls in this situation,” she says, choosing her words carefully. She adds later of her “no assholes” policy: “I don’t put up with bullshit or nasty people. I don’t have time for it.”
It took a while of laying low for Katherine Heigl to get another show so it’s probably a good idea for her not to respond to this. Getting work in Hollywood for a woman is hard enough. Getting work when you had a string of recent box office bombs and a history of bad-mouthing the people you worked with is nearly impossible.
#katherine heigl
#shonda rhimes
Steven Seagal Pats Katherine Heigl’s 16-Year-Old Breast
White People Have Found a Way to Make Jesse Williams’ Speech About Black Lives Matter About Them
Good Thing, Katherine Heigl is Pregnant!
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Back to Dying Well
Green Death
Planning a funeral you can live with
By Timothy Gower
As she helped arrange her father’s funeral earlier this year, Amy Bieber began thinking about her own death—specifically, what would she want her family to do with her body? Fit and 43, the married mother of a trio of small boys presumably has many years to make up her mind. But a bit of research challenged some of her long-held assumptions.
“I had always thought I wanted to be cremated,” says Bieber, who lives in Murrieta, California. But she has had second thoughts since reading that cremation requires a great deal of fuel and emits greenhouse gases and heavy metals into the atmosphere. Likewise, Bieber learned that a traditional funeral, with a casket buried in a cemetery that requires frequent landscaping and watering, uses lots of natural resources, too. “There don’t seem to be many good options,” she says.
Yet, there are alternatives to traditional burial and cremation that appeal to people who are concerned about the effect their send-off to the great beyond will have on the environment. In fact, a 2017 survey by the National Funeral Directors Association found that 53.8% of Americans are interested in exploring so-called green or natural burial, an alternative to conventional means of “body disposition”—the preferred term in the funeral industry—that experts say probably has the least carbon impact.
A 2017 survey by the National Funeral Directors Association found that 53.8% of Americans are interested in exploring so-called green or natural burial.
“The term ‘green burial’ is just a 2018 phrase for what we used to call ‘burial’,” says Joshua Slocum, executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, a nonprofit organization based in South Burlington, Vermont. “You simply have the body placed either in a shroud or an easily biodegradable container, then buried directly in the soil. That’s it.”
While there are infinite ways to personalize a green burial, they all share something in common: They omit several elements considered essential in the typical modern funeral. That includes:
– Embalming. Injecting formaldehyde into a dead body slows (but doesn’t halt) decomposition, but embalming is not legally required and almost never necessary, says Slocum. (One exception would be if a body is being transported a long distance.) Embalming is rare outside the United States and Canada, he adds. While the formaldehyde usually used in embalming probably doesn’t pose much threat to the environment, exposure to the chemical is risky for embalmers themselves, who have increased rates of certain cancers and respiratory diseases, as well as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (or Lou Gehrig’s disease).
– A traditional casket. Each year, the hardwood and metal used to make the coffins commonly sold by funeral homes use the wood of 77,000 trees, as well as 17,000 tons of copper and bronze, according to the nonprofit Green Burial Council (GBC). Green burials use shrouds or coffins made of sustainably harvested woods, cardboard, wicker, or other biodegradable materials.
– A concrete vault for the casket or liner for the grave. Most cemetery operators require them, playing on loved ones’ fears by implying or stating flat out that the concrete will help protect the body from water and soil, to say nothing of hungry microbes and worms. But their true purpose is to prevent the gravesite from caving in under the weight of lawn mowers and other landscaping equipment, says Jeff Jorgensen, proprietor of Elemental Cremation & Burial in Seattle, who formerly managed a cemetery. Besides, vaults and liners eventually crack, says Jorgensen. “When you put a body in the ground, or a mausoleum, ultimately it turns to bone, no matter what,” he says. The GBC estimates that the concrete used to make vaults and liners each year in the United States could create a two-lane highway from San Francisco to Kansas City.
But arranging a green burial for yourself or a loved one can pose challenges. Many funeral homes require embalming if you plan to have a wake, for example, though others (like Jorgensen’s facility) do not. If a client does not want embalming for a loved one, he’ll place ice gel packs below the body to slow decomposition enough to allow for brief viewings prior to burial or cremation.
Moreover, you may struggle to find a cemetery nearby that will permit green burials. Some “hybrid” cemeteries set aside a portion of their land for that purpose, while others are devoted solely to natural burial. But only 100 or so of the roughly 10,500 cemeteries in the United States make such accommodations. (You can find a list on the Green Burial Council website, https://greenburialcouncil.org/.) Jorgensen performs green burials, but says they make up a tiny portion of the body dispositions he performs. The reason: The nearest “eco-cemetery” is 90 miles north of Seattle, which is a long drive for loved ones who would like to place flowers on a gravesite now and then.
If there’s a small church or village cemetery near you, Slocum says it can’t hurt to ask if the operators will permit a green burial, though they may have no clue what you’re talking about. And if you own enough land, you may be able to create a private cemetery; ask your local zoning officials.
If green burial isn’t for you, Jorgensen believes that the next-most environmentally friendly mode of body disposition is a newer method available in some parts of the United States that goes by various names, including flameless cremation and alkaline hydrolysis (AH). The body is placed in a large stainless-steel chamber filled with water and potassium hydroxide, which is heated. After a few hours, the soft tissue dissolves, leaving behind bone fragments and a sterile solution; the bones are pulverized into ash, as in conventional cremation, and the fluid goes down the drain. AH “has 90% less carbon impact than conventional cremation,” says Jorgensen, who doesn’t offer the procedure, which is currently only legal in about 15 states, not including Washington.
Availability may not be the only barrier to acceptance of AH—several friends gasped in horror when I described it. However, Slocum says it’s catching on. “To some families, it seems gentler than traditional cremation,” he says. “But to others, it makes them think of mobsters dissolving a dead body with lye in a bathtub.” (The corpses of several unfortunate characters in the hit TV show Breaking Bad were disposed of through liquefaction.)
The perception that cremation is a greener choice than traditional burial also appears to have contributed to its rising popularity, though that’s a debatable assumption.
And what about traditional cremation? In 1960, it was used in fewer than 4% of body dispositions in the United States; today, that figure exceeds 50% nationwide, and in some parts of the country it’s much higher. One factor in that rise has likely been the Catholic church’s loosening pf restrictions on the choice of cremation in 1963 (though the Vatican still frowns on scattering ashes). The perception that cremation is a greener choice than traditional burial also appears to have contributed to its rising popularity, though that’s a debatable assumption. In a typical cremation, the body is placed in a chamber that is heated to 1800 degrees F, give or take, for two to four hours, releasing carbon dioxide, mercury, and other toxins into the atmosphere. The vast majority of Jorgensen’s clients—98%—choose cremation, and he estimates that performing one has the environmental impact of driving an automobile from Seattle to Spokane, about 300 miles. To keep his company carbon neutral, Jorgensen purchases “offsets” from a nonprofit group that plants trees and performs other green-space restoration around the state.
Other green options will likely become available in the near future. Not far from Jorgensen’s funeral home, a Seattle company called Recompose is developing technology that converts human remains into soil that can be used for planting gardens. And not long ago, Bieber saw a Facebook post about an alternative approach that appeals to her belief that while our bodies may have expiration dates, a person’s being is eternal. Capsula Mundi, a project launched by a team in Italy, hopes to soon offer egg-shaped biodegradable pods, in which the remains of a loved one would be inserted in the fetal position and buried a few feet below the ground; a tree would then be planted over the pod. As the pod breaks down, nutrients from the decomposed body would, in theory, nourish the tree. Bieber knows that, one way or another, the disposition of her body will have some impact on the planet, but says “at least that harm would be counteracted by a tree that provides oxygen, and that is a life force.” (Currently, Capsula Mundi only sells mini versions of its pods, which can be used for burying cremated ashes. To learn more about Capsula Mundi, read our interview with its co-creator, Raoul Bretzel)
If a traditional burial feels like the right choice for you, don’t worry that you’re contributing to a growing shortage of space in cemeteries; that’s only a problem in certain graveyards, typically near large cities, notes Jorgensen, who says many cemeteries he knows of have several acres of space remaining. “Do you know how many bodies you can fit in one acre?” he asks. “A lot.”
What matters most say Jorgensen, Slocum, and others who deal with death every day, is thinking about the kind of ceremony and disposition you want, and conveying those wishes to your family and friends.
“It will change you and everyone around you,” says Jeanne Denney, a psychotherapist and “death educator” who is on the faculty of the Art of Dying Institute in New York City, which conducts training and conferences focused on the final passage. Engaging in the process, Denney believes, can help us overcome the instinct to repress thinking about death, which only makes it more terrifying. “Your life is filled with less anxiety and more meaning,” says Denney. “You start to feel more alive.”
Timothy Gower (Bucket Age: 27) lives on Cape Cod, a peninsula off Massachusetts, where he hopes one day his ashes will be scattered in the sea, though he’s in no rush. His writing has appeared in over two dozen publications, including Prevention, Reader’s Digest, Esquire, and the New York Times.
Having an environment-friendly burial or cremation is important to me.
"From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World To Find the Good Death," by Caitlin Doughty
Listening:
"Bury Me Beneath the Willow," by Roseanne Cash
Six Feet Under (2001)
Death in the Afternoon
Having the Last Word Planning a funeral with personality.
Burden or Blessing? The dilemma of genetic testing
Mourning Jewelry Mourning jewelry can keep loved ones close at hand, heart.
Destination Death A college student's journey of discovery and meaning
A good article! However, it does not mention “Home Funerals.” See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_funeral
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Posted on March 28, 2016 March 25, 2016 Kaiju
Today we come across another film which uses the “found footage” style to tell a story. Does the film stack up better than Cloverfield? Let’s find out.
A documentary film crew tries to investigate a mysterious man named Hans, who many believe to be a poacher. They soon discover he isn’t hunting bears but is instead a licenced hunter of Trolls for the government. Soon, Hans reveals his techniques for hunting and destroying Trolls. It involves a surprising amount of paperwork.
The film offers an interesting bit of world building. Large proportions of the movie are spent explaining the workings of the Trolls. Using a lot of the old legends of trolls, it depicts how Trolls smell the blood of Christians and why they turn into stone during the day. The film also grounds the Trolls in a sense of reality when having the characters get a blood sample test to see if the creatures have come down with an illness. A lot of research and thought went into this film and it shows.
The downside of the film comes from the characters. Yes, the titular Trollhunter Hans does get a lot of backstory and character explanation but the others don’t get as much information about them. They are dedicated to investigating the truth behind if Trolls exist or not but there really isn’t much else to their characters. Thomas is memorable because he’s the one who gets injured fairly early in the film and you spend the whole time wondering if the whole “Is something going to come from the injury” plot line is going to come into effect. The cameraman Kalle has a brief bit of character but only for a crucial moment. The female in the group Johanna really has no definitive character except for being the girl. This film would definitely fail the Bechdel test.
I’ve heard its supposed to be a comedy but I didn’t really pick up on this vibe. There are some moments which could be seen as comedic but there are enough grim scenes to make up for this. Maybe is was one of those times where you have to understand the culture to really get the jokes. I’ll admit I haven’t seen many Norwegian films. Still, it feels like there are too many light moments for it to be a horror movie and too much violence for it to really be a comedy.
As I did mention Cloverfield before I’ll take the time to compare the two films. Frankly, Cloverfield really was the better feature as it allowed us to connect with the characters and care about whether they were going to get out alive or not. This film doesn’t really have us connect with anyone except for Hans and frankly he’s presented as such a capable warrior despite fighting these intense creatures you never really worry if he’s going to make it out alive. The film is an interesting bit of world building but really could have stood to have us connect more with the cast, especially when there are so few in the main cast. Still, the film is worth watching for the giant monster fan who wants to see how other countries treat their Kaiju.
RATING: B-
Found Footage Kaiju Trollhunter
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One thought on “Trollhunter”
I really liked the troll lore in the film, and it would have been cool if Thomas turned into a troll from his injury.
The breakfast scene was the funniest moment in the film. Hans played it totally straight as he talked about the trolls.
btw; I don’t think this is true: “… they turn into stone during the day.” They turn into stone if exposed to daylight, but once that happens, they are dead. That’s why the Mountain Kings sleep in caves.
I wrote a short essay on Trollhunter called “Intolerant Trolls.” If you would like to read it, feel free to post a comment: https://christopherjohnlindsay.wordpress.com/2015/05/03/troll-hunter/
Chris Lindsay , June 16, 2016 at 11:14 am
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Douglas Messerli | "Looking for Kantor" (on The Wooster Group's "A Pink Chair")
looking for kantor
The Wooster Group A Pink Chair (In Place of a Fake Antique), performed at Redcat (the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) / the performance I saw with Pablo Capra was a matinee on April 8, 2018
For several decades now, as Los Angeles Times critic Charles McNulty reminded me this morning, The Wooster Group (founded in 1975) has been skewering the theatrical and musical history of the US, Europe, and, on occasion, South America. I have seen several of these productions, including Tennessee Williams’ Vieux Carré, Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, the group’s rendition of Early Shaker Spirituals, Harold Pinter’s The Room, and, on film, their production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones—and there have been numerous others, including their noted production of O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape. Not all of these succeed as theatrical works; sometimes the skewering comes closer to farce, as in La Didone, or obscurantism as in their Shakespeare send-up. Yet nearly all are interesting, demanding one rethink the originals.
Their newest work, A Pink Chair (In Place of a Fake Antique), suffers some simply because most of the audience, I am sure, has never seen a production of the Polish theater artist Tadeusz Kantor, a figure in Poland who is as well-known as his fellow countryman, Jerzy Grotowski. And I too suffered through much of this very complex and sometimes impenetrable play with a feeling of deep confusion. As the intelligent woman from Jerusalem, who sat next to me at the Sunday matinee, said, upon standing to leave, “Do you have to understand a work in order to like it? Because I enjoyed it with having a clue to what it all means.” I promised her that I would try to make sense of it, but I think to do so would mean I would have had to have studied Kantor’s work, and I’ve never experienced a single performance which he directed, let alone the work central to this production, I Will Never Return from 1988. If nothing else, I now am most interested in Kantor’s theater, and will surely try to uncover other works in an attempt to comprehend his directorial methods.
To give Wooster Group director, Elizabeth LeCompte and the often collaborative performers credit—in this case, Zbigniew “Z” Bzymek, Kate Valk, Ari Fliakos (who miraculously gets younger every year), Jim Fletcher, Enver Chakartash, Suzzy Roche, Danusia Trevino, Erin Mullin, and Gareth Hobbs, along with, on film, Kantor’s daughter, Dorota Krakowska—they have attempted to give us a roadmap into what they are attempting to do through extensive use of tapes from Kantor’s own productions and a rather rambling, and somewhat inconsequential interviews in a Manhattan restaurant with his daughter.
Indeed, LeCompte argues that it was only through Krakowska that she found a way to enter this work, even though she, herself, had seen the director’s Dead Class in a production at New York’s La Mama. At least we can now perceive what the actors are alluding to, and why they are telling us about this strange story, in which the director sits on stage with his characters, serving as a sort of frightening shadow-figure that often enrages and engages the characters of the play. LeCompte even quotes a few lines from the text, presumably representing Kantor’s own viewpoints:
in a moment I will enter with my “luggage”
a shabby and suspicious
I have traveled to it for a long time.
At nights.
Sleepless nights.
I have traveled here to meet.
I am not sure what, with apparitions or people.
To say I’ve been creating them
for many, many years
would be an overstatement.
I gave them life, but they also gave me theirs.
They were not easy to deal with; nor were they obedient.
They have traveled with me a long time
and gradually left me at various roads and stops.
Now, we are to meet her.
Maybe for the last time.
In short, a bit like Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, the characters of this play encounter their own creator, not precisely a friendly guy; and the play centers, in its postmodern way, about the interactions of the director and the figures who make his plays come alive.
The inn-keeper (Fliakos), constantly cleans up the tables, moving the characters about as if, at times, they were mere props; yet these figures, particularly his long-suffering, stalwart, and nearly silent wife, act, challenge, and even threaten their “creator,” while he seeks throughout what is described as “a shadow of a shadow,” a vision of life based on reality but, like this company’s own productions, skewered to make us see it differently, and, most importantly, as something contorted and discomforting.
This is a story of how life and art come together without truly meeting up. The pink chair of the title, (like several of the characters) is merely a prop, something that stands in for the real thing or even a faux antique which might more fully suggest it. Reality, particularly in the hands of Kantor, does not exist. His figures, men with breasts and women with penises, are shifting multi-sexual beings who quickly transform from posturing actors (several in dunce hats) into a beautiful singing chorus—music has always been an important element of the Wooster Group’s plays, and this they sing everything from an Argentinian tango, a Catholic hymn, a Jewish hymn, and remarkable Protestant hymn, “Bound for the Promised Land.”
If the company, with a grant from the Polish Adam Mickiewicz Institute, is constantly seeking a way inside to Kantor’s work, so too Dorota, an actor in some of his dramas, is seeking a way into better knowing her often absent father. So, in a true sense this play represents a kind of double-helix of daughter and theater company working with different motives and on different levels to comprehend their subject of admiration.
Of course, in the end it is an impossible and meaningless task no matter how fascinating and worthy, as the introduction of Odysseus from Kantor’s production of Stanisław Wyspiański’s play The Return of Odysseus reiterates. All those travels and adventures, those endless sleepless nights, as Kantor/Odysseus ask, have been for naught: a shadow of a shadow, something any of us might feel as we come to end of our lives. To try, as the Wooster Group company does, to enter another’s world is always a near impossible task. Yet, as my theater-going neighbor out-rightly admitted, is was a lot of fun!
Los Angeles, April 9, 2018
Reprinted from USTheater, Opera, and Performance (April 2018).
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Wednesday, December 2, 2020 Latest PDF issue | Give to the Voice | Search
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‘Hidden Figures’ is a riveting tale about civil rights
By Nicholas Weninger
“Hidden Figures” is the untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, brilliant African American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind helping launch astronaut John Glenn into orbit.
Now, most of you who will have wanted to see this movie have by now. But the rest of you who didn’t plan on seeing it or were on the edge, you need to go see it. “Hidden Figures” is one of the most powerful and entertaining films that has to deal with sexism and racism within the workforce.
“Hidden Figures” is more than just the battle of civil rights. It is the story of humanity and the struggle for basic human rights, the ability to have the same chance and opportunities as everyone else. This movie doesn’t try and push many boundaries, but rather just tells a good story. It does it so well that it feels like it’s a story that has never been told before. This for me was one of the best civil rights/sexism/racism movies that I have ever seen.
“Hidden Figures” would be nothing without its fantastic cast. Octavia Spencer has received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, which was to be expected (but she won’t win). She is really the people’s choice when it comes to this category because, in all honesty, she was outdone by the other two supporting ladies Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monáe.
Not to take anything away from Spencer, but the other two ladies simply had more to work with and were much more powerful emotionally than she was. I was very surprised by the Academy’s pick, but I’m just glad someone got recognized.
Alongside the main ladies, we have the man that should win Best Supporting Actor, Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”), Kevin Costner (it is great to see him doing something good again), Jim Parsons (Bazinga!) and Kirsten Dunst. This amazing group of actors and actresses deserved to win the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, they truly did.
I am very happy to see how well “Hidden Figures” has done in the box office. It recently crossed over the $100 million mark ($25 million to make), which is really good for a cast that focuses on leading ladies to do the heavy lifting. For some stupid reason, female lead films never seem to do as well in the box office but I am very happy to see that wasn’t the case with this film. ‘Hidden Figures’ deserves all the recognition that it is getting.
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The Dr. James Horn Interview
Published on March 27, 2018 March 1, 2019 by Robert Van Ness
2019 Commemoration and I teamed up once again, and this time the podcast returned to Jamestown to interview Dr. James Horn.
Dr. Horn has made quite a name for himself in the history world with his most notable work being concerned with Colonial America. He is currently the President and Chief Officer at Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation at Historic Jamestowne in association with Preservation Virginia. Previously Dr. Horn served as Vice President of Research and Historical Interpretation at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Saunders Director of the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, and taught at the University of Brighton, England for 20 years.
In addition to Dr. Horn’s considerable positions, he has written many books and articles which are cited often by leading academics and intellectuals alike. In October 2018 he is due to add to this already well-known body of work by publishing 1619: The Origins of
American Society. Do, be on the lookout for that volume, as it promises to be a great addition to 1619 scholarship.
Dr. James Horn and Bartholomew Gosnold
The James Horn Interview on Libsyn
BOOKS BY JAMES HORN:
Horn, James. Adapting to A New World: English Society in the Seventeenth Century Chesapeake. Raliegh, NC: North Caroline Press, 1994.
Horn, James. A Land as God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Horn, James. A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. New York: Basic Books, 2010.
Horn, James. 1619: Jamestown and the Forging of American Democracy. New York: Basic Books, 2018.
Inside James Fort
The Jamestown Rediscovery Team has been exploring this site, the home of William Pierce, where Angela, one of the first Africans to arrive at Jamestown, served.
The “Angela” site.
This was once a new styled living set up in the New Town section of Jamestown
The Tercentenial monument at Histsoric Jamestowne
JAMESTOWN LINKS:
COMMEMORATION 2019 LINKS:
All photography used on this site is owned and copyrighted by the author. The Featured Image is of Jamestown, as seen outside the recreated walls.
Music used for this episode – Louis Armstrong and the Mills Brothers,”Carry Me Back to Old Virginia” available on iTunes, and Hebrides Overture – “Fingal’s Cave” Op. 26 by Felix Mendlessohn performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Tags 1619, Angela, archaeology, Colonial History, Commemorate 2019, Dr. James Horn, History, James Horn, Jamestown, US History, Virginia, Virginia History
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One thought on “The Dr. James Horn Interview”
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COVID-19 on Vancouver Island: Central Island drives growth in new cases
Published Tuesday, November 24, 2020 10:08AM PST Last Updated Tuesday, November 24, 2020 10:28AM PST
As of Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, a total of 122,145 coronavirus tests had been administered by Island Health. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
VICTORIA -- On Tuesday, Vancouver Island is expected to surpass 500 cases of COVID-19 recorded since the pandemic began.
Many of those cases – approximately 193 – have been added over the past two weeks, driven in large part by the disease’s explosive growth in the Central Island region.
There were 152 active cases of the virus in the Island Health region Tuesday morning, a nearly four-fold increase from the 39 active cases on the island 14 days ago.
Approximately two-thirds of those currently active cases are in the Central Island region, where 13 active cases on Nov. 10 have grown to 100 active cases Tuesday.
The region, which includes Tofino, Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Parksville, Lake Cowichan and Duncan, has recorded 215 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Active cases in the South Island region of Victoria, Saanich, Port Renfrew and the Southern Gulf Islands have more than doubled from 18 cases two weeks ago to 40 cases on Tuesday.
The region has recorded 164 cases since the pandemic began, adding 48 cases since Nov. 10.
The sparsely populated North Island, which was home to the bulk of the island’s cases early in the pandemic, now has the fewest cases.
The region, which includes Courtenay, Comox, Port Hardy and parts of the Central Coast, has added 25 cases over the past 14 days.
The North Island has recorded 115 cases since the pandemic began, with 12 active cases on Tuesday.
Six people in the Vancouver Island region have died of the disease and 336 people have recovered, according to B.C.’s health ministry.
There are currently two people in hospital with the coronavirus on the island but no one in critical care.
As of Tuesday morning, a total of 122,145 coronavirus tests had been administered by Island Health.
Forty-eight new cases of COVID-19 were reported by Island Health over the weekend. The island’s case total now stands at 494 cases since the pandemic began.
B.C.'s record-breaking COVID-19 update: 941 new cases, 10 deaths
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Nanaimo RCMP seek man wanted on Canada-wide immigration warrant
Published Friday, December 4, 2020 9:18AM PST Last Updated Friday, December 4, 2020 2:40PM PST
Investigators say 26-year-old Romey O'Neill was in Nanaimo on Nov. 13, when he rented a vehicle in the city. (RCMP)
VICTORIA -- Mounties in Nanaimo are asking for the public’s help finding a man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant.
Police say Romey O’Neill is wanted for overstaying his immigration status in Canada.
Investigators say the 26-year-old was in Nanaimo on Nov. 13, when he rented a vehicle in the city.
The blue 2020 Kia Forte was never returned and has been reported stolen. The vehicle has the licence plate JW69OD.
Police say O’Neill was dropped off at the rental agency by a woman in a white Mitsubishi Lancer.
Investigators believe O’Neill is associated with homes in Bowser, Quadra Island and Cortes Island.
He is described by police as 6’ 2” tall, weighing approximately 160 pounds with brown hair and green eyes.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the Nanaimo RCMP non-emergency line at 250-754-2345.
Large fire, explosions tear through Nanaimo homeless camp
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Sunday 17 January, 2021
Alterio named Vinton Police Officer of the Year
By Debbie Adams
Vinton Police Officer Brandon Alterio (center) was chosen by his peers as Officer of the Year for 2019. He is shown with Lt. Glenn Austin (on left) and Interim Police Chief Fabricio Drumond. (photos by Debbie Adams)
The Vinton Police Department held the annual Police Awards Dinner on September 22 at the Vinton War Memorial to celebrate achievements in 2019. The awards are usually presented in March for the previous year but were postponed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interim Police Chief Fabricio Drumond spoke of the challenges the department has faced in these unprecedented times in a job that “involves complete social interaction between us and the community in which we serve.”
“As officers you provide the checks and balances that society requires in creating and restoring order. A thread holds the rule of law together – you are that thread. Even bigger, our role of community caretakers grew. As individuals, you conducted Happy Birthday drive-bys for our beautiful children stuck at home, Drumond said. “You coordinated parades for our senior communities. You conducted well-being checks on our frail members of society and aided in giving high school seniors a graduation ceremony. I would venture to say that without our officers, many events would not have occurred.
“In our town, we are blessed with a governing body that believes in your profession and places complete trust that you will provide safety and create strong relationships of mutual trust between the police and our residents,” he continued. “After all, it is through a collaborative effort that we are successful in maintaining public safety through effective policing.”
Drumond announced that Officer Brandon Alterio was chosen by his peers as Officer of the Year for 2019.
“Today, we are here to recognize one officer, recognized by his peers, for his devotion to the town, the agency, and the profession,” Drumond said. “This officer has exhibited exemplary skills, a can-do attitude, and a desire to succeed. This officer serves the community with excellence, compassion, and fairness. For someone so young in his law enforcement career to exhibit such strong character and skill in being a well-rounded officer is a blessing for our team. We look forward to watching him grow and become an even better person than he is now.
“The Law Enforcement Officer goes to work in unpredictable conditions, unpredictable weather and unpredictable circumstances,” said Drumond. “The possibility of not returning home is a mere thought, but still exists. The element of danger is real; science supported by data proves that. It takes an individual six-tenths of a second to raise a gun and fire it. It takes even the best trained police officer, eight-tenths of a second to mentally process what is occurring. The odds are already against the officer.
“An officer is challenged to take visual account, make a threat assessment, consider the use of force minimally necessary; plan a response and finally, put the plan into action,” he continued. “If you remember the times, six tenths vs. eight tenths – that’s quite an expectation. No matter the element of danger, it will always be outweighed by the better good.
“The Law Enforcement officer has been taught criminal law, traffic law, civil law, the physics and algebra necessary for accident investigations, computer software, and human behavior, and handles sophisticated systems and programs. The Law Enforcement officer is a troubleshooter; he identifies a problem and puts his heart, soul, and knowledge into solving it. He is trained to use his body as a weapon and more importantly, as a shield to the defenseless. He is trained to take a life as a last resort– save one – because of the sacrifice for the greater good,” the chief said.
“The law enforcement officer will wear many hats. They will act as a therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, and a medic. The law enforcement officer is called upon to repair a broken home, console a child, identify a problem in five minutes that has taken years to create. He is expected to have an answer, offer advice, and is looked upon in a time of need. A Law Enforcement officer will run towards what most of us will run away from. He is trained to do so; he is expected to do so. A Law Enforcement officer’s civic duty to protect and serve our community does not end at the end of his or her shift. More often than not, officers are called upon to perform their duties and exhibit their God-given abilities at any time of need,” Drumond said.
Alterio is a 2005 graduate of William Byrd High School. He earned his Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in Criminal Justice from Liberty University. He is a six-year veteran of the United States Air Force, earning the rank of staff sergeant. He joined the Vinton Police Department in March 2019 after serving with the Salem Police for four years.
Alterio gained media attention in the region last December when he purchased a bicycle for a 9-year-old boy whose bike had been stolen.
Sgt. Michael Caldwell was chosen by his peers for the 2019 Leadership Award.
Vinton Police Sgt. Michael Caldwell )center) received the Vinton Police Leadership Award for 2019. He is shown with Lt. Glenn Austin (on left) and Interim Police Chief Fabricio Drumond.
In presenting the award, Drumond said, “Leadership traits can be second nature to some. We’ve all heard it – leadership is something you are born with. I am a firm believer that leadership is a choice. The term ‘leadership’ can be so broad in interpretation. You’ll always hear a leader is a good boss, a good example. I define a leader as someone with a vision, cause or purpose, perhaps towards a future that does not yet even exist. Leadership is hard, sometimes lonely, and requires sacrifice. They chose sacrifice because they take risks before anyone else does. They choose to sacrifice so that their people may be safe, protected and so that others may gain.”
“A strong leader can be anyone; it doesn’t say ‘leader’ on his/her business card. It’s not an assignment; it’s not a job title. It’s a choice,” Drumond said.
Caldwell is the Community Services Officer for the Vinton Police Department. Part of his job involves working with students at Herman L. Horn and W. E. Cundiff Elementary Schools.
The 2019 DUI Award was presented to Cpl. Jeremy Shrewsbury, who in 2019 apprehended 30 subjects who were driving while intoxicated. In presenting the award, Lt. Glenn Austin noted, “Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes – that’s one person every 50 minutes. These deaths have fallen by a third in the last three decades; however, drunk-driving crashes claim more than 10,000 lives per year.
Vinton Police Corporal Jeremy Shrewsbury received the DUI Award for 2019 at the Police Awards dinner on September 22 at the Vinton War Memorial. He is shown with Lt. Glenn Austin (on left) and Interim Police Chief Fabricio Drumond.
“Approximately one-third of all traffic crash fatalities in the United States involve drunk drivers. According to the Center for Disease Control, on average, a drunk driver will drive 80 times under the influence before the first arrest,” Austin said.
“Tough enforcement of our drunk-driving laws is a major contributor to reducing unnecessary and preventable deaths. As law enforcement, one of the main goals of drunk driving enforcement is to raise the perception among drivers that if they choose to drive drunk, they will be stopped and investigated,” he concluded.
Cpl. Jordan Keith was recognized as the 2019 recipient of the Traffic Safety Award. In presenting the award, Austin said, “This award is presented to the officer who shows the most proactive enforcement when it comes to traffic safety-related enforcement and education.
Vinton Police Corporal Jordan Keith received the 2019 Traffic Safety Award. He is shown with Lt. Glenn Austin (on left) and Interim Police Chief Fabricio Drumond.
“Most of those who aspire to be officers, share a common desire to save lives and help their communities. Traffic safety is a critical component in law enforcement and instills the very principles that we enter the profession for. The fact is, communities expect their law enforcement agencies to keep them safe and keep the roadways safe. The traffic stop is arguably one of the most valuable self-initiated activities that a police officer can perform,” Austin said.
Drumond thanked the families of Vinton officers for their patience, sacrifice, and understanding in allowing them to serve the community in their jobs.
Vinton Police Sgt. Michael Caldwell paid tribute to Interim Police Chief Fabricio Drumond during the 2020 Police Awards dinner held on September 22 at the Vinton War Memorial by sharing a story about his background.
“On December 7, 2005,” Caldwell said, “a young Marine corporal who was an antitank assaultman with the 1st Mobile Assault Platoon, 6th Marine Regiment, was on patrol in the Hummer he commanded near Camp Al Qa’im, Iraq. A war zone is, of course, a very dangerous place – especially for children. Death and danger are everywhere, but kids are resilient and seem to always make the best of their situation. On that day, a group of Iraqi children had left the shelter of their homes to go play outside. Unfortunately, enemy insurgents had decided to place the weapons of war in their path. An improvised explosive device (IED) detonated, critically injuring several of the children. The young Marine dismounted his patrol vehicle and immediately began administering lifesaving first aid as medical support was called in. The lives of the children were saved. That Marine was our new interim chief, Fabricio Drumond.
“Joining our department as a patrol officers on December 14, 2009, Chief Drumond has distinguished himself as a leader and humanitarian. Those who have worked with him have undoubtedly witnessed his approach to policing. He always treats those he serves with compassion, while still doing what is necessary to restore order. He embodies the quote, ‘You can be tough as nails and still be a gentleman,’” Caldwell continued. “Chief Drumond has always stepped up to any challenge. Since joining the department, he has served as corporal, sergeant and, in 2017, he was promoted to deputy chief of police, where he has excelled! He is a leader, and just as importantly, he is a friend to all who know him.
“On behalf of the Vinton Police Department, we would like to say ‘Thank you’ for all you have done and continue to do,” Caldwell said.
Drumond was appointed by Vinton Town Council to serve as interim police chief in July 2020 when Chief Tom Foster was confirmed as the U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Virginia.
The Vinton Police Department celebrated their accomplishments for 2019 at the Police Awards dinner at the Vinton War Memorial on September 22. Due to COVID-19 the dinner was postponed several times since originally scheduled in March.
The awards dinner was held with masks, gloves, and social distancing – catered by Sal’s Italian Restaurant in Bonsack.
Facebook0Tweet0 By Sports editor Brian Hoffman.
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Our Daily Bread to open Vinton location
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Roanoke Valley Chapter DAR welcomes Lois Fritz from New Freedom Farm
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Chamber of Commerce chooses new officers and board for 2021
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Two memorable Christmases
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Calendar | Ticket Packages | Products | Donations | Gift Cards | My Account | Shopping Cart
Cannot access this performance because it occurred in the past: 9/24/11 10:00 PM.
Jeff Seal & Chris Manley
Saturday, September 24, 2011 at 10:00PM
575 Metropolitan Ave
L to Lorimer or G to Metropolitan
Jeff and Buttons have TONS of new material and now they have their own show so this should be a cinch. Their comedy harkens back to the golden age of Vaudeville (1925-late 1925) with updated and reworked laughs. Their new PoMoVau show, Neon Lights is all you need to know about Vaudeville and ol’ timey crack ’em ups. They’re also idiots. Chris Manley (Buttons) is a member of "New Excitement" and has appeared on Comedy Central. Jeff Seal is a four-time Golden Clown Nose nominee and has appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. Both of them co-wrote and acted in Kill Me Loudly: A Clown Noir. Directed by Danny Manley. 60 min.
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Neuroscience Research Institute
Ohio Regional Traumatic Brain Model System
OVC: 614-293-3802, ext. 711
Ohio Valley Center for Brain Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation
Brain and Spine Tumor Center
Center for Cognitive and Memory Disorders
Center for Movement Disorders
Center for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Center for Psychiatry and Behavioral Health (Cinical Care)
Comprehensive Epilepsy Center
Ohio State Spine Care
Comprehensive Stroke Center
Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Center
Neuromuscular Disorders Center
Nisonger Center
Comprehensive Pain and Headache Center
Center for Brain and Spinal Cord Repair
Center for Brain Health and Performance
Spinal Cord Injury Resources, Rehabilitation and Research
The Belford Center for Spinal Cord Injury
Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research
Traumatic Brain Injury Network
About the Traumatic Brain Injury Model System
The Traumatic Brain Injury Model System (TBIMS) program was created and funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) in 1987 to demonstrate the benefits of a coordinated system of neurotrauma and rehabilitation care and conduct innovative research on all aspects of care for those who sustain traumatic brain injuries. The mission of the TBIMS is to improve the lives of persons who experience traumatic brain injury, their families and communities by creating and disseminating new knowledge about the course, treatment and outcomes relating to their condition. Ohio Regional TBIMS is one of 16 centers throughout the United States that provide comprehensive systems of brain injury care to individuals who sustain a traumatic brain injury, from acute care through community re-entry. Each center works closely with the Model System Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC).
At the heart of the program is a long-term, longitudinal study of patients who receive rehabilitation for TBI. Each center systematically collects important data about eligible individuals with TBI. Consenting patients are followed 1, 2, 5, 10 and every 5 years thereafter to learn about the long-term effects of moderate and severe TBI. Each center contributes data to the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Data and Statistical Center (TBINDSC) located at Craig Hospital in Englewood, CO.
Ohio Regional Model System
The Ohio Regional TBI Model System was selected to continue as a TBI Model Systems Center through 2022 (NIDILRR #90DPTB0001, 9/30/17-9/29/22). The Ohio Regional TBI Model System is located in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Ohio State University Medical Center.
Jennifer Bogner is the principal investigator, John Corrigan is the co-principal investigator and Sheital Bavishi is the medical director. The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team at Dodd Hall plays a pivotal role in supporting this research, as do the trauma services of the Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center, OhioHealth’s Grant Medical Center and Riverside Methodist Hospitals, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Mount Carmel Health System.
The Ohio Regional TBI Model System was first funded in 1997, and is the longest continuously funded TBI Model System in the country. During that time, Ohio State has recruited more than 1,150 patients into a national dataset that follows people from their injury throughout their lifespan.
Participants in the TBI Model System research program are recruited from the Brain Injury Unit at the Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center and the Rehabilitation Unit at St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, which is part of the Mercy Health system. St. Rita’s Medical Center’s Rehabilitation Unit is the primary provider of inpatient rehabilitation services for a 10-county region in northwest Ohio. The addition of St. Rita’s to the Ohio Regional TBI Model System is new for this 5-year grant, and will assure that research participants are representative of both metropolitan and rural communities.
Ohio Valley Center
2118 Dodd Hall
480 Medical Center Drive
Phone: 614-293-3802, TTY Dial 711
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21°, fair
Data finds Warwick children faring better than state averages
Kelcy Dolan
Child health indicators are better in Warwick than state averages, according to the Data in Your Backyard briefing provided Warwick non-profits last Wednesday by Kids Count, in partnership with …
ALL FOR THE KIDS: The Data in Your Backyard conference saw police officers, school administrators and representatives from the city as well as the concerned public.
KEEP AN EYE OUT: Policy Analyst for Kids Count, John Neubauer, said that although data for Warwick may appear to be less than neighboring community, because it is one of the largest cities in the state those numbers can be staggering.
Posted Thursday, October 22, 2015 2:30 pm
Child health indicators are better in Warwick than state averages, according to the Data in Your Backyard briefing provided Warwick non-profits last Wednesday by Kids Count, in partnership with Warwick Coalition to Prevent Child Abuse. Yet, some of the numbers presented should still raise concern according to presenters.
John Neubauer, a policy analyst for Kids Count, who presented at the meeting at the Warwick Library, noted that because Warwick is one of the largest cities in the state, percentages may seem low in comparison to other municipalities, but the actual figures should still be alarming.
He said during the 2013-2014 school year 1,023 students were identified as homeless by school personnel statewide and in Warwick 74 children. Neubauer cautioned these numbers could be much higher because of the reporting system. Children who are staying with family, living in a hotel or camping out may not be reported.
Similarly, Warwick had a child poverty rate in 2014 of 8.4 percent, or nearly 1,300 children, compared to the state’s 19.5 percent. The poverty threshold for 2014 was $19,073 for a single parent family of three with two children and $24,008 for a family of four with two children. However, Neubauer pointed out that for a single parent with two children it costs at least $51,500 to meet basic needs.
“That’s twice as much as the poverty level,” he said. “More families are still struggling.”
He noted that with the country’s and Rhode Island’s slow recovery from the recession things are starting to level off.
Neubauer said part of the reason Warwick sees less childhood poverty than other communities is that mothers tend to have higher levels of education in the city, predominantly having some college or having completed an undergraduate degree. Similarly, Warwick sees fewer teenage pregnancies and births as well. Overall, teen births are declining across not only Rhode Island but nationally.
Elizabeth Burke Bryant, executive director of Kids Count, said, “Children of teen parents face a number of challenges. It is important that we ensure that teen parents are connected to the services they need to support their own health and well-being, as well as that of their child.”
Not everything at the “Data in Your Backyard” saw improvement. In comparison to the remainder of the state, especially the four core cities of Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence and Woonsocket, Warwick lags in the implementation of full day kindergarten programs. The four core cities are at 100 percent full day K while, the state is at 81 percent and Warwick at 28 percent for 2014.
Neubauer did note though that with universal full day kindergarten being implemented next year that should resolve itself.
Although it was a very small difference, Warwick did see an increase in child abuse and neglect. In 2014, 154 children in Warwick were victims of child abuse and neglect, 9.7 victims per 1,000 children under 18. That is nearly half of the state’s rate of 14.5 victims per 1,000 children.
“Experiencing child abuse or neglect can have a damaging impact on a child’s development,” said Neubauer. “The Warwick Coalition to Prevent Child Abuse is a great example of Warwick’s commitment to keeping their children healthy and safe from harm.”
He added that with such small numbers the city shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that this will become a trend, but should “keep an eye” on it in case.
Mayor Scott Avedisian said every year Data in Your Backyard provides a great opportunity to “break down the facts and figures to better serve the children in Warwick.”
In the past, this meeting has helped establish health and dental clinics through partnerships with the Comprehensive Community Action Plan (CCAP).
Burke Bryant noted that Warwick has the “great ability” to take the information presented by Kids Count and use multi-sector solutions to see improvements.
“We need to look at what we can do to continue improving services for our families,” Avedisian said. “This data gives us the numbers to prove our points and to make our case. We have our values in the right place.”
College Planning Center hosts statewide financial aid forum Jan. 28
Cicilline at the center of the maelstrom
Two schools, one team
Parents petition for resignation of Bachus, Cobden
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UNESCO » Culture » World Heritage Centre » News & Events » News
Rescuing the Congo's natural world heritage
A high-level meeting between authorities from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and UNESCO will take place in Kinshasa on 14 January to discuss ways of strengthening protection of the five DRC sites inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The meeting, organized by the Democratic Republic of Congo and UNESCO, will be chaired by the Prime Minister of DRC Adolphe Muzito and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.
The five sites in danger include Virunga, Garamba, Kahuzi-Biega, and Salonga National Parks, and the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, which are home to a unique range of flora and fauna including the Mountain Gorilla and the Okapi.
All of the sites have suffered from political instability in the Great Lakes region over the past two decades. The continued insecurity due to the presence of armed groups and the proliferation of arms as well as a general break down of law and order have lead to massive poaching. The Northern White Rhino, which had its home in the Garamba National Park is feared to have been hunted into extinction, while numbers of the remarkable Okapi - a forest giraffe only found in DRC - and elephant populations are seriously declining. The population of mountain gorillas in Virunga has remained stable but numbers of Grauer's gorilla in Kahuzi-Biega have plummeted. Deforestation and habitat loss in Virunga because of illegal charcoal production continue to threaten key gorilla habitat. Illegal artisanal mining is already impacting several of the sites and the attribution of new oil and mining concessions could threaten their World Heritage status.
The meeting will examine the state of these natural sites, reinforce the commitment to their restoration and safeguarding by Congolese authorities, redefine support provided by the international community and adopt the main lines of a plan of action. Participants will include government ministers and representatives from other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, including major donors.
A press conference will be held at the Grand Hotel in Kinshasa after the meeting at 2 pm.
Materials available for journalists
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/multimedia/photos/photo-galleries/congo-photo-gallery/
B-roll for television (upcoming) at:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/multimedia/news-videos/
Guy Debonnet (UNESCO)
World Heritage Properties (1)
Okapi Wildlife Reserve
States Parties (1)
Biodiversity Conservation in Regions of Armed Conflict: Protecting World Heritage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
World Heritage in the Congo Basin
Regions (1)
Other news (13)
World Heritage in the Congo Basin 23-Jun-2010
Belgium reinforces its engagement for World Heritage Sites in Danger in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 22-Dec-2009
Maps of World Heritage sites in Democratic Republic of the Congo presented by Belgian Federal Science Policy Office 26-Jun-2009
Natural heritage experts review protected areas in Congo Basin to identify those suitable for World Heritage inscription 20-Mar-2008
Director-General urges systematic measures to end poaching and killing of endangered animals in Democratic Republic of Congo World Heritage Sites 26-Apr-2007
Preserving Congolese Heritage in Armed Conflict 06-Nov-2006
Economy Minister Confirms French Commitment to Protect Congo Forests 08-Jun-2006
"Promoting and Preserving Congolese Heritage" Publication Now Available 18-Apr-2006
Conservation and Sustainable Management of Wildlife surrounding National Parks of the Congo Basin 13-Jan-2006
International Donors’ Conference in support of the World Heritage in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), UNESCO, Paris, 13 - 17 September 2004 07-Dec-2004
"Congo - Nature and Culture in the Democratic Republic of Congo" 10-Sep-2004
Congo - Heritage in Danger 08-Sep-2004
Promoting and Preserving Congolese Heritage 19-May-2004
Congo - Heritage in Danger - Protecting the wonders of the Democratic Republic of Congo 10-Sep-2004-26-Sep-2004
Congo: Heritage in Danger 10-Sep-2004-26-Sep-2004
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Main » TV-series » Private Eyes season 3
Private Eyes season 3
Original name: Private Eyes season 3
Director: Tim Kilby, Shelley Eriksen
Cast: Jason Priestley, Cindy Sampson
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Crime
TV channel: Global
Original release: May 26, 2016 – present
About TV show Private Eyes season 3
Private Eyes is a Canadian television series that premiered on May 26, 2016. After one and a half seasons, the series was based on the novel The Code by the author G.B. Joyce is based, whereby The Code was also the development title of the series, extended by the broadcasting transmitter Global already for a third season.
Once, Matt Shade swept through stadiums as an ice hockey player and was known and feared for his foresight and tactical play. However, he hung up the skates a few years ago and now devotes himself to crime. Together with the private investigator Angie Everett he solves tricky cases and tries to get the perpetrators on the track. Shade and Everett always come across bizarre cases, land at the horse race, sometimes in the underground and have to find their way into Toronto's hip-hop scene.
Private Eyes season 3 release date on Global
Subscribe to receive last news and updates status TV show Private Eyes season 3. You will receive an automatic email when the show renewed or cancelled.
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Google plans to introduce PC operating system
In a direct challenge to Microsoft, Google announced late Tuesday that it is developing an operating system for PCs that is tied to its Chrome Web browser.
The software, called the Google Chrome Operating System, is initially intended for use in the tiny, low-cost portable computers known as netbooks, which have been selling quickly even as demand for other PCs has plummeted. Google said it believed the software would also be able to power full-size PCs.
The move is likely to sharpen the already intense competition between Google and Microsoft, whose Windows operating system controls the basic functions of the vast majority of personal computers.
Source: NY Times Added by: Jabril Faraj
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the Web in a few seconds.”
— Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management, and Linus Upson, engineering director
Google History
View other events that happened on July 8
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Home » TV & Movies » Michael J. Fox Is Not Dead, Despite What a Death Hoax Tried to Make Fans Believe
Michael J. Fox Is Not Dead, Despite What a Death Hoax Tried to Make Fans Believe
Michael J. Fox isn’t dead — he’s just the latest celebrity victim of a death hoax.
On Sunday, a false report was posted on a site that was seemingly designed to trick readers into thinking they were reading a Yahoo! News article. However, while the two sites had similar looks, stories from the real outlet appear online at www.yahoo.com/news, while this story appeared on http://www.yahoonews-us.com.
The hoax claimed the 57-year-old actor died on Sunday morning from pneumonia, days after checking into the hospital with Parkinson’s Disease-related complications. The site also claimed that the actor’s death had been confirmed to them via the actor’s doctors.
Although it’s unclear what led to the posting of the death hoax, Heavy reported that it may have seemed more plausible to people as the actor has not posted on social media in over a month.
However, although Fox’s last Twitter post is dated June 1, his latest Instagram post was posted on Tuesday.
In the image, the actor smiles while standing beside his wife Tracy Pollan, and two of their children: daughters Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances.
While the actor has yet to respond to the death hoax, after word began spreading on social media that the sad news wasn’t true, many fans of the actor expressed their relief.
“I’m glad Michael J. Fox isn’t actually dead. Almost just started sobbing,” wrote one fan.
The star has battled Parkinson’s disease, a disorder that causes uncontrollable tremors throughout his body, since 1991. At first, he did so privately but went public with his diagnosis in 1998.
Despite the challenges, in a March 2017 interview with AARP The Magazine, Fox said he was reminded that he was not alone in his battle when legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease for three decades, called him.
RELATED VIDEO: Michael J. Fox Undergoes Spinal Surgery: ‘He Is Recovering and Feeling Great’
Fox remembered that moment with clarity, saying, “In this raspy, paper-thin voice, he said, ‘Aahhhhh … Michael, now that you’re in it, we’ll win this fight.’”
“What could I say?” added Fox. “Sitting there alone listening to Muhammad Ali, this giant — I was welling up, almost openly weeping.”
Fox is just the latest celebrity to fall victim to a death hoax. Last month, a death hoax was started about Mr. Bean star Rowan Atkinson, in an attempt to spread a computer virus, according to website Hoax Slayer.
Jurassic Park actor Jeff Goldblum also had a fake report circulate in 2009 — and his mom believed it.
“Yes, someone had put online that I had fallen off a cliff in New Zealand,” Goldblum, 65, previously recalled during an episode of Watch What Happens Live. “Before we got the word out and I could call everybody, yes, my mom. She called and was like, ‘Jeffrey, are you alright? Are you alright?’ ”
He continued, “And then a friend of mine [who] very tearfully and hysterically left a message.”
Can ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ and ‘The Meg’ Prevent an August Box Office Slump?
Emmerdale ruling revealed after investigation into Tracy sex worker storyline complaints
Covid drug approved by the NHS may be ineffective
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Bon Appetit Mgmt Co and United Farm Workers Release Groundbreaking Farm Labor Report
Farmworkers lack legal protections, rights that other sectors take for granted
New report paints grim picture of US #farmworker reality (by @Bamco, UFW w @OxfamAmerica) http://bit.ly/fOTe4f #CesarChavezDay
The Inventory of Farmworker Issues and Protections in the United States is a groundbreaking report on farmworker rights released today by sustainable food service provider Bon Appetit Management Company and United Farm Workers (UWF), with support from Oxfam America. The most comprehensive picture released to date of the reality faced by 1.4 million crop farmworkers, it highlights the working conditions and abuses suffered by America’s least-valued but critically important workforce: the people who pick our food. PDFs of the executive summary and full report, along with high-resolution photos of farmworkers, can be downloaded from http://bamco.com/page/114/farmworker-inventory.htm.
Thursday, March 31, 2011 - 12:01am
NEWSROOM: Bon Appétit Management Company
(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) Palo Alto, CA - March 31, 2011 - More and more Americans are asking questions about where their food comes from, but few are going so far as to think about who picked it. Farmworkers remain in the shadows. A groundbreaking new report released today, César Chávez Day, in honor of the labor leader who fought tirelessly for farmworker rights, shines a light into these dark corners of our nation’s food system.
The Inventory of Farmworker Issues and Protections in the United States is the product of a unique for-profit/NGO joint venture of the Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation and United Farm Workers (UFW), with support from Oxfam America. By compiling and analyzing data from multiple federal, state, and private sources, it renders the most comprehensive picture yet of the reality faced by America’s least-valued yet critically important workforce.
Key issues faced by the nation's 1.4 million crop farmworkers:
Farmworkers are exempt from most federal wage and hour standards, and even existing regulations are rarely enforced, leading to rampant wage theft and other abuses.
Children as young as 12 are legally allowed to engage in farm work, although it is one of the most dangerous employment sectors.
Widespread use of subcontractors leads to lack of transparency and difficulty enforcing existing laws.
Health and safety standards are inadequate, and even those that exist are rarely enforced.
Most farmworkers are ineligible for unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation insurance that is granted to employees in other sectors.
Farmworkers are explicitly excluded from laws that protect collective bargaining and free association.
In summary, the U.S. food supply depends on the labor of a socially and economically marginalized population working in often appalling, sometimes abusive conditions.
Bon Appétit Management Company, known for its pioneering efforts toward more sustainable food sourcing, has long wanted to add farmworker welfare to its list of core values. “But when we began questioning our suppliers about the human element in how the food was produced, we discovered they knew very little about the people who actually harvested it,” said Maisie Greenawalt, vice president of strategy, Bon Appétit Management Company. “They thought that the lack of data about violations or abuses meant that there was no problem. Our partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida had opened our eyes that this was not the case. We helped develop this report as a first step toward being able to direct our purchasing power to operations that treat their agricultural employees with certifiable dignity and fairness.”
The UFW, the largest and oldest farmworkers union in the United States, hopes that through the Inventory it can motivate consumers to help bring justice to the millions of workers who toil in our fields. By exercising the substantial power they wield over the stores and restaurants they patronize, consumers can compel agricultural employers to treat farmworkers with the dignity and respect we demand of one another every day.
Bon Appétit and United Farm Workers would like to see the data compiled by the report lead to the development of verifiable and enforceable standards for farm work that can be supported by both individual consumers and socially responsible corporations.
“Thirty-nine years ago, César Chávez coined the phrase 'Si se puede!'” ['Yes, we can!'] — a reminder that each of us is the keeper of César's legacy,” said UFW President Arturo S. Rodriguez. “The greatest monument to César Chávez isn’t on a street sign or an official holiday. It’s having the courage to work for change that he instilled in his own people and in millions of others who never worked on a farm.”
America's cheap and abundant food system is the envy of the world, but it cannot continue to rely on an invisible underclass of exploited laborers. Until we acknowledge this and take steps to grant farmworkers the same legal protections in the workplace as those in other U.S. occupations, we will never have a food system that is truly sustainable, fair, and healthy for all.
The executive summary and full report, along with high-resolution photos of farmworkers, can be downloaded from http://bamco.com/page/114/farmworker-inventory.htm.
Bonnie Azab Powell, 650-621-0871; bonnie.powell@bamco.com;
Maria Machuca, 661-889-2758; media@ufwpress.com
About Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation
Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation’s mission is to educate consumers and institutional purchasers about how their food choices affect the global environment and local economies — now and for future generations — and to motivate them to make change. It is the operating foundation of Bon Appétit Management Company, a socially responsible on-site restaurant company offering full food-service management to corporations, universities, and specialty venues including eBay, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Getty Center. Based in Palo Alto, CA, Bon Appétit operates more than 400 cafés in 31 states. The company has pioneered environmentally sound sourcing policies, beginning with its Farm to Fork Program in 1999, which recently passed the milestone of 1,000 family-scale suppliers. Bon Appétit has also implemented programs addressing antibiotic overuse, sustainable seafood, cage-free eggs, the connection between food and climate change, and most recently, farmworkers’ rights. The company has received numerous awards for its work from organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Seafood Choices Alliance, The Humane Society of the United States, and Food Alliance.
About the United Farm Workers of America
Founded in 1962 by César Chávez, the United Farm Workers of America is the nation's first successful and largest farmworkers union, currently active in 10 states. The union continues to organize in major agricultural industries across the nation. Recent years have seen major UFW organizing, negotiating, and legislative victories. Among them are union contracts with one of the nation’s largest employers of strawberry workers, one of the California's largest vegetable companies, and 75 percent of California’s fresh mushroom industry. Just recently, the union renegotiated its contract protecting 370 wine-grape workers at America’s largest winery, Gallo of Sonoma. UFW contracts in the Pacific Northwest include the biggest dairy in the U.S., Washington State’s largest winery, and a huge cattle feedlot firm in Oregon and Washington. Many recent UFW-sponsored laws and regulations aid farmworkers; in California, it backed the first state regulation in the U.S. to prevent further heat deaths of farm workers. The UFW is also pushing its historic bipartisan, broadly backed AgJobs immigration reform bill. AgJobs would allow undocumented farm workers earn the right to stay permanently in this country by continuing to work in agriculture.
Fair Food Project, a multimedia story of farmworkers' lives
Pesticide Action Network, protecting farmworkers' health
Full report: Farmworker Inventory
Bonnie Powell
Bonnie.Powell@bamco.com
Bon Appetit Management Company
http://www.bamco.com
http://www.ufw.org
Marica Machuca
media@ufwpress.com
United Farm Workers of America
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Professor Sir David Eastwood DL
Deputy Lieutenant
Professor Sir David Eastwood became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham in April 2009. Former posts include Chief Executive at the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Vice-Chancellor at the University of East Anglia, and Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Board. His early career was spent at the University of Oxford, where he was Fellow and Senior Tutor of Pembroke College. He later held a Chair in Modern History and was Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University.
Sir David is currently Chair of Universitas 21 (U21) and Chair of Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). He is a Board Member and Non-Executive Director of INTO University Partnerships, a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and a Board Member and Non-executive Director of the Russell Group. He also serves as an International Member of the Hong Kong University Grants Committee.
In 2014 Sir David was awarded a Knighthood for services to education.
Appointed in 2012.
West Midlands Lieutenancy
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Peter Rasor, The NACC, And The Era Of The Mega-church
September 8, 2014 Playachurch 1 Comment
In the world of ministry among Independent Christian Churches, there is one event that is as predictable as Christmas: In July, the annual North American Christian Convention comes to some fortunate Midwestern city where 10,000 Christians blissfully check-in to what many fondly refer to as one great-big family reunion. In recent years, however, the convention has changed. In the era of mega-churches and the celebrity pastor, it has become – for better or for worse – the Oscars of the Restoration Movement. A self-congratulatory goat rodeo directed by an insular, elitist group of predominantly mega-church pastors, some of whom seem to be more interested in ego-stroking than the movement they purport to honor. The award-winning air within this enmeshed community is no better exemplified than in Tim Harlow’s Summer at Parkview website video introduction of special speaker Mike Baker dated 8/3/14. As he stands in front of the camera, trophy in hand, he announces that Mike will be next year’s NACC President:
“what just happened on Friday of my convention, I gave this gavel, representing the presidency of the North American Christian Convention, to my friend Mikey.”
The only thing missing was the acceptance speech.
Blogger, Peter Rasor, recently weighed in on this phenomenon in two comprehensive and objectively penned posts entitled My Reflection Upon the NACC – Or, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of a Movement in Crisis and An Open Letter to Mike Baker, Next Year’s NACC President. Among other things, Dr. Rasor criticized the NACC for not acknowledging the people who are actually doing the bulk of ministry in this country, i.e. ministers of small-to-medium congregations – it is a valid point. He goes on to charge that “the NACC is entirely led by ‘mega-church pastors.’” A concern that, to my knowledge, has not yet been recognized, much less addressed. And if the responsive comments from next year’s NACC President, Mike Baker, is any indicator, I doubt we are going to see an increase in the number of small-to-medium congregation ministers, bible college professors, or even missionaries speaking this year – people who, again, comprise the backbone, heart, lungs, blood, and muscle of the movement this organization claims to represent. Inspiring even less confidence about the unity of the NACC specifically (and perhaps the Restoration Movement in general) was the very public and ham-fisted reaction to the barrage of internet discussions sparked by Dr. Rasor. In particular, Executive Continuation Committee member and California mega-church pastor, Caleb Kaltenbach whose smart, savvy, prayerfully-considered decision-making process led him to delete any comment from his Facebook ICC minister’s discussion group which dared to offer anything but praise for the convention (and those leading it); he then went on to permanently excommunicate from the online forum those guilty of expressing such opinions – reportedly saying, “I don’t care what anyone thinks.” A curious position to take for someone on the Executive Committee. I can only hope he was not speaking on the committee’s behalf.
Don’t get me wrong, as I am happy to support the NACC, but I agree with Dr. Rasor, it has much still left to do that would make it worthy of much more support and credibility. There are too many issues within the Restoration Movement that need to be raised, discussed, highlighted, challenged, corrected and questioned that the current leadership does not find the will to indulge into. That is what makes it a farce for me at some level.
For example, how do we reconcile multi-site churches with our Restoration Movement principles? Proven church-planters, guys with congregations of over 1,000 thriving members, ministers who’ve already beaten the odds, who have had and still have a successful God-ordained ministry, what makes these guys over-reach? Often, the original flagship operation is a simple, straightforward concept: a new church in a new community, or a re-launched church in an existing community, or simply a well-established church that never stopped growing. But success makes these guys feel invulnerable. They must be geniuses, right? They have drawn hundreds if not thousands of people into their own auditoriums! So rather than planting other autonomous congregations as was done in the first century, why not franchise and open a 500 seat satellite-campus with simulcast sermons and a merchandising outlet in another community? The answer is so simple. Because it’s not Biblical.
Changing lives, bringing hundreds or thousands of people together in a single Bible-based congregation? What’s wrong with that? You’re blessed man! Keep up the good work! Why this sudden urge to expand an empire into a theologically-questionable, mini-denominational operation? As Dr. Rasor and others have pointed out, one of the big questions that keeps coming back but is never answered is: Are multi-site churches the modern-day precursors to denominations enabled by new technology? Unfortunately this sort of high-level question is never addressed. What better forum to discuss the issue than the North American Christian Convention?
Another issue: Racial Diversity. It just seems like a glaring problem. Rarely can one see so many white people in one room. It really does look like the last George Wallace campaign. Yet we’re talking about a movement that seeks to reach a population that’s between 25-27% non-white.
And while we are on the subject, who is in charge of vetting the presenters of NACC workshops? In the 1990’s I attended the workshop addressing racial diversity. The facilitator’s sole qualification for leading the workshop consisted of his being hired by a congregation that was 40% African American. He, in fact, had nothing to do with the cultural shift experienced within this congregation – as it had happened years before he arrived on the scene – and his comments reflected that reality. Why on earth was he asked to present on this topic? What, exactly, were we being asked to emulate? The credibility has been sorely lacking. Later, I happen to note that the church he represented was a congregation with very deep pockets and a major financial contributor to the NACC.
A couple of years later, the same subject was addressed by a well-known and well-connected former Bible College Professor who proceeded to lift and recite passages from a, then, just released book on racial reconciliation and the kingdom of God. After the session I asked what percentage of racial minorities made up the congregation he was currently serving in Atlanta, Georgia. He reported less than 2%. I further inquired if he had personally been involved in reaching or simply befriending a member of any minority group within his own community (one of the action points he passionately challenged his audience to seize upon). Answer – “not yet.”
This past year the racial diversity workshop was co-led by Kevin Holland of Turning Point, an International Church of Christ congregation. For those of you who are unaware, the International Church of Christ is a movement that has singlehandedly poisoned thousands of young people on college campuses in Los Angeles and across the nation with its absurdly imperious system of church discipline. And while Independent Christian Churches have managed to, for the most part, avoid being associated with this group, public perception has taken a hit and congregations like mine have to be vigilant about making the distinction, something that continues to this day. But I digress. My point is, addressing the subject of racial diversity should never require us to associate with such a toxic wing of the evangelical world. In the comments section of Dr. Rasor’s Good-Bad-Ugly post, African-American Minister Michael Vereen, who has served First Christian Church of Florence in South Carolina for fifteen years, reports that he has never even been approached. I, for one, would be interested to hear what he might have to offer in the way of accommodating the ethnic/cultural diversity of our movement by creating authentic pathways for expression in the program of the NACC and within the Restoration Movement at large. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against the Dream of Destiny. But for the dream to become a reality, it has to be concerned with more than just window dressing. Let’s face it, when minorities are invited to the NACC they are asked to assimilate and leave their cultural differences in the parking lot. Simply hiring and staging people based on skin color without asking them to influence the cultural fabric of the event is disturbing. No one, afterall, wants to be known as “the brown guy ” who was hired to prove the groups openness to racial diversity. Why not seek out and ask people like Mr. Vereen to share their unique perspectives or to provide practical ideas aimed at cultural accommodation?
Dr. Rasor is correct – the movement is in crisis. This is the Brave New World of the celebrity pastor. A world where cynical, performance-oriented, lowest-common-denominator-theology is center stage. But an approach that is difficult to criticize. After all, the weekly audience size has exploded in these churches. There is an unimpeachable logic to your argument when no matter what one may say about what you do – or even how true their observations might be – you can respond with two words: “It works.” Whatever these celebrity pastors have done, it is working. That success ensures that whoever complains about “quality” or “sound theology” appears quaint – even deranged. And for that reason, for me at least, the NACC is quickly becoming irrelevant. It has become an awards show which provides a platform for self-promotion for those who least need it and the illusion of importance to those who increasingly have nothing to say of any significance to the fracturing movement they claim to support and love.
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The Bajau people are traditionally a nomadic seafaring community, many were displaced during the 2013 Zamboanga siege. - Image ©Shuterstock.com/Nokuro
Supporting peace and inclusive development in the Philippines
Research 15 Dec 2020 6 minute read
New research explores how Australia Awards alumni from the Philippines have contributed to national and international humanitarian and emergency response programming, indigenous rights and political representation, and improved professional practices within media organisations, the local government sector and the education sector.
Since the 1950s, Australia has provided over 4000 postgraduate education and training opportunities to Filipinos to build the capacity of emerging leaders to drive change and sustainable development in their home country.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to evaluate the long-term outcomes of Australia’s investment in these scholarships and fellowships through the Australia Awards Global Tracer Facility.
The Facility’s latest case study explores the development contributions of seven Filipino alumni who completed their scholarship in Australia between 2010 and 2014 in the areas of peace, security and inclusive development.
In addition to the alumni, nine stakeholders participated in interviews for this Case Study to provide a contextual understanding the Australia Awards in the Philippines, and further explore the contributions of alumni. Whereas previous case studies have involved in-country, face-to-face interviews with alumni and stakeholders, due to the COVID-19 pandemic this case study was the first to engage in wholly remote data collection.
A unique element of the Australia Awards in the Philippines is the Re-Entry Action Plan (REAP), which outlines how applicants intend to use the skills and knowledge they will acquire in Australia to contribute to Philippine development on their return.
After completing a Master of Peace and Conflict Studies at Sydney University in 2014, Professor Rey Danilo Lacson planned to undertake his REAP around the use of community mediation in the reduction of local clan conflicts. However, the project’s scope grew, and he found himself participating in the larger peace process.
I came back to the Philippines and worked in the DFAT project that really evolved into not just a program between and among clans, but it supported the real peace process between the government and the rebels. It brought me to facilitate dialogues at the municipal level, provincial level, and even in the legislature in Congress and in the Senate during that time. – Rey Danilo Lacson
Fellow University of Sydney Master of Peace and Conflict Studies graduate, Ms Primy Cane-Fuentes, has used her background in broadcast media and communications to promote the media’s role in conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Ms Cane-Fuentes used her REAP to focus on informing high school students and teachers about the importance of peace journalism. She held a conference about school campus journalism that was attended by around 200 high school students and teachers.
Right now, the war journalism style of producing stories is still really active. When I give my talks, that the peace journalism way of presenting your story is really “more balanced,” “more fair,” and it gives more context to the story, so people don’t immediately jump the gun and contribute more to conflict. Instead, they try to understand all sides that are involved in the story. – Primy Cane-Fuentes
While working as a news reporter for the ABS-CBN national news team in Manila from 2015 to 2017, Ms Cane-Fuentes was able to advocate for changes in journalist practices in reporting conflict-related stories, leading to the introduction of a professional development unit for staff. Through connections made on award, Ms Cane-Fuentes was invited to train local government officers and local journalists in peace journalism practices in General Santos City in Mindanao.
Ms Cane-Fuentes and colleagues investigating a story for ABS-CBN. Photo: Ms Primy Cane-Fuentes
Inclusive development programming
Six of the seven of the alumni featured in this Case Study have directly contributed to inclusive development programming post award, through technical advice, training, program design, implementation and evaluation. Many of these alumni have worked in post-conflict situations, employing skills which were enhanced on award, such as conflict sensitivity training and inclusive consultation, to support peacebuilding and inclusive development programming.
Mr Crisanto Cayon uses inclusive techniques honed while completing a Master in Crisis Management at Monash University to help involve communities in development initiatives aimed at improving their livelihoods. While working on a school building project in Zamboanga City for the displaced Bajaus / Sama Dilaut -‘sea gypsies’ of Tawi-Tawi Island in Southern Philippines, Mr Cayon set up a public consultation process with the community to find out what they wanted in a school. He ensured that the consultation process included a variety of leaders and stakeholders, such as school-aged children, women, traditional elders and representatives from the three different ethnic groups in the community.
As a result of that consultation, the construction of schools, of temporary shelters, and of wash facilities were designed according to the specifications of the Bajau people as a whole and not just of their traditional leaders. – Crisanto Cayon
Professor Lacson has also played an influential role in improving political recognition and inclusion of indigenous peoples in the peace process in Mindanao. While in Australia, Professor Lacson remained active in facilitating dialogue in Mindanao, using his network to push for political representation of indigenous peoples within the formation of the new autonomous region and supported the call for two reserved seats in parliament for indigenous peoples.
With security in the region a shared objective of the Philippines and Australia, the two countries’ long-term history of cooperation is reflected in the ongoing people-to-people links contributed to by alumni who continue to support knowledge sharing and collaboration. ■
To read the full Philippines case study by Amanda Haddow and Jo Doyle, or for further information about the Australia Awards, visit the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.
Australian higher education supporting sustainable development
Economic growth and fiscal reform in Bangladesh
Contributing to the disability sector in Timor-Leste
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Prophecy expert says America is beginning to “speak like a dragon” as the Bible predicted
For Immediate Release (Priest River, ID) —Author and theologian Steve Wohlberg has studied eschatology for over 40 years, and one of his particular areas of study has been the identity of the lamblike beast described in Revelation 13:11 which Wohlberg believes represents the United States of America. Wohlberg bases his view on the parallels found between Revelation 13 and Daniel 7 which describe the rise of four great beasts—a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a dragon.
“Daniel 7:23 plainly says that these beasts represent four mighty nations which scholars for centuries have applied to Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome,” says Wohlberg. “A beast in prophecy represents a great nation, and the lamblike beast in Revelation becomes a mighty nation in the end times as it rises ‘out of the earth.’ The four beasts of Daniel 7 all rose out of the sea, or water, which Revelation 17:15 says represents vast multitudes of people. In contrast, America’s rise in a sparsely populated region perfectly fits ‘out of the earth.’ The ‘lamblike’ part indicates that this is a new nation, with Christ-like features.”
Wohlberg believes the further detail of the nation having “two horns” without crowns, contrasted with Revelation 13:1, describes America as well— a democratic nation rather than a monarchy, with a distinct separation of powers. Wohlberg says recent events also point to some additional end times prophecy coming to fruition.
“The fact that the U.S. has recently helped broker a peace agreement between Israel and the UAE once again reveals its strong influence as the mighty nation described as having ‘two horns like a Lamb,’” says Wohlberg. “Yet prophecy predicts that in the closing moments of time, the U.S. will deny its constitutional principles of freedom and ‘speak like a dragon.’ I believe we are beginning to see this unfold right now. The pandemic has shut down businesses and churches, bringing constitutional issues to the forefront. It is certainly not far-fetched to imagine that if the world continues descending into crisis times, that just like Covid-19 has been used as a reason to shut down much of the world, even so could a future, larger ‘public emergency’ be used as a reason why our constitutional First Amendment rights should be trashed.”
In his newest book, “Approaching Armageddon,” Wohlberg establishes the validity of predictive prophecy in the first few chapters. His book then focuses on prophecies from Jesus about the end-times and outlines them point by point for the reader, showing not only how New Testament prophecies fall in line with Old Testament predictions, but also how an entire cluster of current events are rapidly fulfilling biblical prophecies. The book discusses the biblical battle of Armageddon itself, including what it means, where it occurs, who is involved, and who will win.
“When the dust settles,” Wohlberg declares, “a fabulous future of hope and love awaits those who choose to be on God’s side.”
About Steve Wohlberg:
Bible expert, international speaker, television producer, and author of over 40 books, Steve Wohlberg has been a guest on over 500 radio and TV shows and has also spoken inside the Pentagon and U.S. Senate. Widely regarded as an apocalyptic expert, he has been featured in three History Channel documentaries and one National Geographic International documentary offering insights into the book of Revelation. He earned a B.A. degree in Theology from La Sierra College and his Master of Divinity degree from Andrews Seminary. He currently lives in Priest River, Idaho, with his wife Kristin, their son Seth Michael, and their daughter, Abigail Rose. For more information visit www.whitehorsemedia.com.
Click this link for a Q&A article on Steve Wohlberg
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NEWS Etihad boosts South Asia, North America connectivity
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Home > Canine Health > Senior & Geriatric Dog Health > In Memory of the September 11 Search & Rescue Dogs
In Memory of the September 11 Search & Rescue Dogs
It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Bretagne on June 6, 2016, just shy of her 17th birthday. Bretagne was the last known surviving search and rescue dog to have served following the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001.
CHF is honored to have funded the long-term medical surveillance study since 2001, led by Dr. Cindy Otto of the University of Pennsylvania and founder of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center. The study monitored the health and behavioral effects of the canine responders deployed at Ground Zero in New York City, the Staten Island landfill, and the Pentagon. In addition to the study providing vital information to handlers, trainers, and veterinary professionals on the health and wellbeing of dogs deployed on search-and-rescue missions, it also provides insights into health problems that may occur in human first responders. Ninety-five search and rescue dogs and 55 non-deployed control search and rescue dogs were enrolled in the study.
You can learn more about the heroic dogs who participated in the study on the Penn Vet 9/11 Memorial page. We are grateful for the service of these fine dogs and their devoted handlers.
To the many individual donors and clubs that have supported this study, we thank you as well. The data and information from the study will help a new generation of search and rescue dogs and their handlers.
Recently, CHF had the opportunity to sit down with Denise Corliss, Bretagne's handler. You can read more about their extraordinary story in "How to Maximize the Golden Years: One Heroic Working Dog's Story." We hope you enjoy the photos, below, from our time with Denise, her husband, Randy, and Bretagne. All photos courtesy Kevin McGowan.
Bretagne lived nearly 17 years, despite her exposure to the contaminants at the World Trade Center.
Bretagne gets her blood pressure checked by Heather Anderson, LVT, at Fairfield Animal Hospital in Cypress, Texas, which was part of an every- three-month exam.
Heather Anderson, LVT, during one of Bretagne's cold-laser therapy sessions used to improve circulation and stimulate the body’s natural healing powers. The goggles protected Bretagne's eyes from the laser.
Bretagne with her longtime veterinarian, Dr. Mike Hicks of Fairfax Animal Hospital, who treated her since returning from Ground Zero.
In addition to her volunteer search-and-rescue work and full-time job, Denise is a volunteer fire fighter with Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department. She says that when Bretagne was young, she’d take her along on calls to acclimate her to the noise and activity levels associated with fire fighting. That experience helped Bretagne more easily handle the chaos she faced at Ground Zero and in later deployments.
Randy Corliss, Denise’s husband, is a full-time arson investigator, and he is also a volunteer fire fighter with Cy-Fair. “I remain amazed at how many lives this dog has touched,” he said at the photo shoot.
American German Shepherd Dog Charitable Foundation Continues Matching Funds to Support Hemangiosarcoma Research (10/02/2020)
AKC Canine Health Foundation Announces Matching Donation for 25th Anniversary Endowment Campaign (09/22/2020)
Funding Announced for 2019 Theriogenology Residency Programs (07/30/2018)
Canine Athlete & Performance Dogs
Your Dog’s Health
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Hamas turns violent on peaceful protesters in Gaza
Rights organizations and activists in the Gaza Strip called on Hamas to stop its violent repression of peaceful demonstrations that erupted there against deteriorating living conditions.
Palestinian men watch as fighters from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, take part in a military show ahead of the 30th anniversary of the movement's founding, Khan Yunis, Gaza, Dec. 5, 2017. Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP/Getty Images.
Entsar Abu Jahal
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Coming just days before a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel erupted into an exchange of missiles between the two sides, a Hamas crackdown on peaceful protesters in Gaza has drawn the condemnation of other factions and human rights groups. Hamas, however, says the Palestinian Authority (PA) and President Mahmoud Abbas instigated the protests as a political ploy.
Palestinians have taken to the streets under the slogan “We want to live,” protesting price hikes and the dire living conditions in the Gaza Strip. Hamas’ security forces cracked down on demonstrators soon after the protests began March 14, arresting hundreds of protesters and using violence to disperse the gatherings. Several human rights activists and journalists were arrested; their phones and cameras were confiscated.
In light of the deteriorating security situation in the Gaza Strip, Hamas’ security services temporarily released March 25 all citizens arrested during their participation in the peaceful protests against the movement’s rule. However, the security services forced them to sign pledges that they will remain under house arrest and avoid use of social media, knowing that their personal computers and phones remain in the custody of the security services.
The director of the Gaza-based office of the Independent Commission for Human Rights and the head of the commission’s complaints department were beaten March 16 as they were documenting the crackdown on protesters in Deir al-Balah town in central Gaza Strip.
Local human rights organizations condemned the violence and suppression, stressing that the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and political participation are guaranteed by the Palestinian Basic Law and cannot be violated under any pretext.
UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov on March 17 also strongly condemned the arrests and violence used by Hamas security forces against demonstrators, including women and children.
Hamas has accused the PA of orchestrating the demonstrations, although demonstrators have stated they are only calling for better living conditions, with no political motivation. Hamas called on its supporters March 16 to take to the street and demand the ousting of Abbas, in what some observers said was a bid to offset the popular movement.
In a March 19 statement, Hamas expressed regret over any damage that might have been caused to the demonstrators. It urged human rights groups to continue working and stated that Palestinians have the right to express themselves peacefully.
Still, the security forces continue trying to disperse the demonstrations.
About 10 Palestinian factions met March 16 in the Gaza Strip to affirm their support for the “just demands” called for in the demonstrations, which they described as peaceful. They rejected all forms of repression and the violent crackdown on freedoms and rights.
The factions also demanded that Hamas and Gaza officials withdraw security forces and gunmen from the streets and public squares, release the arrested protesters and hold accountable those who attacked the demonstrators. The factions further said that the crisis gripping the Gaza Strip is the result of the Israeli blockade and the Palestinian division, and has been further exacerbated by the PA's punitive measures and additional taxes imposed by Hamas.
Hamas recently increased taxes on cigarettes, which are seen as a primary source of income for the government. At the beginning of the year, Hamas also imposed new taxes on imported goods that have alternatives in the Gazan market. Hamas said the taxes are designed to protect local products. The Gaza-based Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) has called on the Ministry of Finance in Gaza to reverse the additional taxes, which have weighed heavily on the cash-strapped people suffering under the siege and punitive measures.
“The [peaceful] demonstrations are a result of the difficult economic situation the people of Gaza are living in and the neglect of the officials, who are preoccupied with their political differences,” Momen al-Natour, one of the organizers of the “We want to live” demonstrations, told Al-Monitor before he was arrested by Hamas on March 21.
Natour explained that mainly young people from the Gaza Strip called on people over social media to take part in weekly peaceful protests across all governorates, demanding job opportunities, noting that the repression they faced early on in the demonstrations pushed them to continue protesting.
What started out as peaceful demands on social media could turn into full-blown calls for strikes, mass disobedience and sit-ins, he said, adding that the movements will continue.
“We don't follow any political party," Natour said. "Our demands are strictly social, aiming for better living conditions and ways to solve unemployment, which currently stands at 53% in the Gaza Strip, and to reverse the decision to slash salaries of the employees in Gaza.”
Hamas and the PA are blaming one another for the demonstrations. Hamas says the dire economic conditions are the result of the PA’s policies on the Gaza Strip, while the PA claims the situation has resulted from Hamas’ mismanagement of the coastal strip. Natour noted that the protesters are only calling for better living conditions and social justice — not the overthrow of Hamas or Abbas.
Natour added that security forces broke into his house and confiscated the phones of his parents, who received a notice March 16 telling their son to surrender to Hamas' internal security branch, which he said he will not do. He is still hiding for fear of getting arrested. According to Natour, everyone arrested was tortured, humiliated and accused of collaborating with Israel and the PA. Some of those arrested were released after signing a document pledging not to take part in the demonstrations, but a large number of protesters remain in detention.
“We are well aware that we can't topple Hamas’ rule, which has a strong military wing that helped the security forces to disperse the demonstrations. We are only calling for a decent life," he said.
For its part, Hamas police said demonstrations were dispersed because the organizers hadn't obtained permission. According to Natour, Palestinian law doesn't require peaceful protesters to get permission.
“This is a partisan police fight to protect Hamas, not the people. We hope that the government will absorb the situation instead of confronting it with violence,” he concluded.
Political analyst Tala Okal told Al-Monitor that the demonstrations are not surprising, given the deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip and the crises that affect people. He explained that Hamas tried to avoid this popular explosion by launching the Great Return March last year.
“A year later, the Great Return March has not achieved its objectives, leaving the people in even more despair, which made it only normal to break their silence and call for their basic human rights,” Okal said.
He stressed that it is not right for the Hamas government to claim that the demonstrations are politically motivated to defend its mismanagement of the coastal enclave. “They ought to … take the right measures to decrease taxes and create job opportunities,” he said.
“Hamas must know that the repressive security measures will lead to more violence and ultimately the collapse of its rule. They also need to consider this: The people who sacrificed more than 250 martyrs and more than 30,000 wounded in the Great Return March are ready to pay [with] their freedom as a price to improve economic and living conditions,” he said.
Samir Zaqout, deputy director of the Gaza-based Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, told Al-Monitor that the police claim that the demonstrations did not have a permit is baseless and that this is their right according to Palestinian law.
Zaqout explained that these demonstrations should not be dispersed unless there were attacks on public property, and even if that were the case, the dispersal should have been done properly, not by beating and arresting protesters and storming their homes without warrants. Journalists were also banned from covering the developments and their equipment was confiscated.
“The public prosecutor in Gaza must act immediately to stop these serious human rights abuses. Hamas’ violent acts should not be forgiven just because it is upholding the resistance,” Zaqout said.
More from Entsar Abu Jahal
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800-year-old school in Gaza gets face-lift
Gaza unable to crack down on antiquities smuggling
Israeli-Arabs divided on Netanyahu’s electoral blitz
Afif Abu Much | Israeli elections | Jan 18, 2021
Moscow stands to gain from Hamas-Damascus reconciliation
Anton Mardasov | Russia in Syria | Jan 15, 2021
Hamas seizes Gulf detente opportunity to get close to Saudi Arabia
Ahmad Melhem | | Jan 16, 2021
Houthi terror designation 'death sentence' for Yemenis, UN officials warn
Al-Monitor Staff | | Jan 14, 2021
More from Palestine
Entsar Abu Jahal | Gaza | Jan 20, 2021
Abbas' rival Dahlan coordinates UAE aid to Gaza as Palestinian elections near
Rasha Abou Jalal | Gaza | Jan 15, 2021
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Skoda develops car boot parcel delivery system
Skoda is working on a new project that will enable couriers to deliver parcels to your car boot.
It will enable consumers to provide their vehicle’s location and number plate, instead of an address, when ordering goods.
The technology required for remote access to the car is currently being tested in the pilot scheme.
Jarmila Plachá, head of Skoda’s DigiLab: said: “This pilot project provides a concrete look ahead at how everyday life can be made even simpler and more convenient in future by using state-of-the-art technology. I’m looking forward to further developing this project together with our partners.”
DigiLab has partnered with two of the biggest online retailers in the Czech Republic, and has a view to bring the technology to UK consumers in the future.
Jaguar Land Rover trialled a similar scheme in 2017 and Amazon already offers the service to owners of certain Volvo and General Motors vehicles in America.
Connected in-car technology has enabled the brand to introduce the new delivery method, which works by giving the online retailer permission to deliver packages to their car via a mobile app.
When an order is placed, the car’s location is displayed to the courier via GPS for delivery. Using the app, the courier is then granted one-time-only, secured access to open the boot within a pre-defined time frame. They then place the parcel in the boot, subsequently relock the vehicle using the app and the customer is notified about the successful delivery.
Security is a paramount issue for the scheme; data is encrypted and the parcel courier is restricted to opening the vehicle within a short time frame that is defined by the customer.
The service and technology are currently being tested and specifically optimised; the system is going to be trialled for the project partners by a small selection of customers.
Daimler in cost-cutting effort as long-term partnership to end
Daimler is seeking €6 billion in cost savings and efficiency gains as its partnership with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance could be coming to an end.
Groupe PSA and FCA plan to join forces to build a world leader for a new era in sustainable mobility
The Supervisory Board of Peugeot S.A. and the Board of Directors of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (“FCA”) (NYSE: FCAU / MTA: FCA). have each unanimously agreed to work towards a full combination of their respective businesses by way of a 50/50 merger. Both boards have given the mandate to their respective teams to finalize the discussions to reach a binding Memorandum of Understanding in the coming weeks.
The Nordic hall of the heroes is open for business
The Nordic hall of the heroes is officially open for business as Aston Martin’s latest mid-engined sportscar – Valhalla – has taken flight for the first time alongside the world’s most highly-anticipated hypercar, Aston Martin Valkyrie.
UK CV production falls in April as planned shutdowns affect output
UK commercial vehicle production declined by -70.9% last month, according to figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Just 2,162 vans, trucks, buses and coaches left production lines as planned shutdowns to prepare for model changeovers resulted in the substantial drop in output.
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Tag Archives: Luke Bryan
Country Stars Read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (Version 2)
To wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season, we’ve brought together some of your favorite country music stars to read the classic holiday poem, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (Version 2) Feel free to follow along with the poem… Keith Urban: Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not…
To wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season, we’ve brought together some of your favorite country music stars to read the classic holiday poem, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (Version 1) Feel free to follow along with the poem… Alan Jackson: Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house…
Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Ashley McBryde, Luke Combs & More Share Their Favorite Halloween Memories
Halloween is right around the corner on Oct. 31, and it seems like everyone has a great story about the holiday, so we caught up with Luke Bryan, Gabby Barrett, Brett Eldredge, Ashley McBryde, Luke Combs, Eric Church and more to share their spooktacular tales. Luke Bryan: Favorite Costume “Me and [wife] Caroline did one…
2021 Country Radio Seminar to Be Totally Virtual & Open to Anyone Who Registers
Country Radio Seminar—Nashville’s annual gathering of country radio executives, on-air personalities and artists—will be an online-only event in 2021 that is open to anyone who registers. CRS 2021: The Virtual Experience will take place online on Feb. 16–19 with educational panels, virtual networking, workshops and artist performances. Luke Bryan has been confirmed for the annual…
Luke Bryan Drops “Down to One” as Sultry New Single [Listen]
Luke Bryan will try to score his 26th No. 1 single with the release of “Down to One” on Oct. 12. Penned by Dallas Davidso, Justin Ebach and Kyle Fishman, “Down to One” is the fourth single from Luke’s seventh studio album, Born Here, Live Here, Die Here. The new tune follows the album’s previous No.…
Brad Paisley, Luke Bryan, Gwen Stefani & More to Honor New Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees
Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley and Gwen Stefani will join more than a dozen other artists tasked with honoring the new members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Nov. 7. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2020 includes Nine Inch Nails, the Notorious B.I.G., Whitney Houston, Depeche…
Luke Bryan, Maren Morris, Kane Brown, LBT, Dan + Shay & Ashley McBryde to Perform at CMT Awards
CMT announced its first round of performers for the 2020 CMT Music Awards on Oct. 21: Ashley McBryde, Dan + Shay, Kane Brown, Little Big Town, Luke Bryan and Maren Morris. The fan-voted CMT Awards hand out annual awards in a number of categories, including Video of the Year, Collaborative Video of the Year, Breakthrough…
Shenandoah to Release New Album, “Every Road,” Featuring Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley & More
Shenandoah will release a new album, Every Road, on Nov. 13. The 10-song collection of brand-new tunes features an A-list cast of collaborators, including Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Ashley McBryde, Dierks Bentley, Lady A, Zac Brown Band, Carly Pearce, Cody Johnson and Brad Paisley. Shenandoah topped the charts in the late ’80s and early ’90s…
Set List! Check Out the Lineup of Performers & Songs at the ACM Awards
The ACM Awards will air live from Nashville on Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. The show will take place at three iconic Nashville institutions: the Grand Ole Opry House, The Bluebird Cafe and Ryman Auditorium. Keith Urban will host the show for the first time. Check out the Set List featuring the…
ACM Awards to Kick Off With Medley by Carrie Underwood, Thomas Rhett, Luke Combs, Luke Bryan & Eric Church
ACM Entertainer of the Year nominees Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett and Carrie Underwood will kick off the ACM Awards on Sept. 16 with a medley of tunes from their past catalogs. Previously announced performers at the ACM Awards include Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and Pink, Blake Shelton with Gwen Stefani, Jimmie…
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Happy Happy National Cheese Lover’s Day!!! We heard some big gasps this morning after sharing this national survey that indicated that parmesan cheese is the favorite cheese of Texans. Huh??? Bring on the queso baby cause Texas has tons of cheesy yum!!! We would love to know our favorite spot for queso in DFW? Girl…
Smokey Rivers Blog
Watch Our Exclusive Chat with Travis Denning!
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Jason Pullman is here!
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AmigaLove
The online community for classic Commodore Amiga games and hardware
https://www.amigalove.com/
Games section coming soon
https://www.amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=30
by intric8
In the next few weeks a Games section will be added to AmigaLove.com.
This new section will by no means be comprehensive at first. And this is not an attempt to recreate Wikipedia. it will also take a very long time to do, so what is launched will be a work-in-progress. But, it will start with some of the most popular titles in the U.S. and Europe and branch out from there.
I'm not sure if the "budget" titles will be represented at this time. But the "big boys" definitely will be.
Here's what it will offer that most other Amiga fan sites and repositories lack: it will be responsive. In other words, you won't be forced to use a desktop/laptop to view the game data and images. This should ensure a very long life for amigalove.com, and the rich history I hope it will provide in the coming years to anyone who tries to access it.
Games will include complete credits, screenshots and other visual media when available (e.g. box art, ads, etc.).
Re: Games section coming soon
by Shot97
How exactly would this be implemented into the site? Would this be a separate location to the forums with its own interface? With a list of games? Similar to a Wiki? Or would it just be a separate section of the forums and each game would be a separate topic? I'm guessing based on how you want to be viewable on all sorts of devices it would be separate. I'm guessing this would be more factually based as opposed to reviews? Looking forward to whatever you come up with on that though.
Yes exactly - a separate section. There will be Forum and Games. The games section front will be a Search, but you will also be able to sort by Alpha (A, B, C, D, etc.). That will serve up search results in the form of screen thumbnails. The actual game page will include (at least right now):
Overview (which I will try to usually grab from the back-box-flap marketing copy)
Details (to include lots of database wikipedia info, like year published, Publisher, Designer, Composer, etc.)
Artworks (which could be box scans, adverts from old mags)
Screenshots (which I hope I get right!)
A community voting tool, where you score with Hearts, naturally
The voting tool and comments might be phase 2, but I'm hoping I can launch with them. It depends on how long it may take to do and if I get antsy or not to ship what I have. "Phase 1" is already nearly complete, and currently is built to be responsive.
For what it is worth, I've been trying to make the U.S. releases my initial focus. To do this, I've been using a brilliant free and all-digital PDF archive of Computer Gaming World, which runs across the Amiga's timeframe. It also has lots of content for C64/Atari ST fans, but in every issue there are a few gems in terms of in-depth reviews and honest commentary, which is hugely helpful. I wish I could find other US-based mags that were Amiga focused (and not solely dedicated to video production). But they all seem to cover the whole scene, across all brands. CGW had an "Amiga Preferences" section with little dedicated columns of text
Tiny example from 1986, August (Issue #30) for your enjoyment:
After the initial sea of game clones for the Amiga the tide has shifted to a small puddle of new items. The biggest wave rolling in so far was Arctic Fox and the next sighted "big-one" is Marble Madness from EA. It seems to be out there somewhere in the distance. On the horizon are Jet from subLogic and others from Sierra and EPYX. We all keep waiting to see how each new release tops the other in appearance and performance on the Amiga.
No joke I read this stuff!
My dad bought Computer Gaming World after we went PC, but yeah, they had several Amiga lovers on their staff long after the Amiga was gone. In their 1996 hall of fame issue they put in several games and listed the Amiga as being the one that deserved to be played. He had several Amiga and Commodore magazines but Amiga World was the one we had the most of. I know you can find every issue scanned somewhere. I downloaded a whole bunch of them. Given the hobbyist nature of Amiga users in America they were focused on applications for the most part, but they always dealt at least a small section to games in every magazine and at least one issue per year was all about games. They even did a top Amiga games of all time list that I remember. That's worth downloading if you can find it.
Marble Madness was a good one! You're in 1986 then. Yeah, the 1000 had a brief burst of games to show what it could do but it took awhile to get people on board... Which game with the 500/2000 in 87! That's cool to see CGW looking forward to more Amiga stuff. They knew what it could do!
Well those first games would have all been from America, the 1000 did not even work in PAL countries if I'm thinking right. I don't know if you're focusing on particular years for the start or if it's going all over the place. That's what I"m doing on my channel, starting off the American stuff, throw in a few European stuff here and there. I actually like a lot of their better side scrollers and stuff (Fire and Ice is sweet! Super hard, but sweet!) I've just got a lot of crap to cover while I still remember the details from my past! Though I do know my top Amiga games list would be vastly different than the normal ones you see on the web.
Some of those European ones manage to slip in though. I love Another World/Out of this World. Ain't no way The Great Giana Sisters is ever getting in my list though! It's so funny how much they love that game and it shows just how huge piracy was, because the game was sold for one second before Nintendo killed it. Give me some Railroad Tycoon any day!
If you can figure out and list the games as North American/European you would be doing something nobody else has, and I commend you for it! - I suddenly want to play Marble Madness... hhaha...see, we could do those short/fun games too, it wasn't all super deep stuff. EA before they were evil.... Earl Weaver Baseball is another fantastic EA game. That was before they understood they could release the same unchanged product year after year and get fools to buy it. With EWB you had the main which was out in like 1986, early one... But you had "stat disks" made every year, for a low price, that included all the teams rosters. They did that from 1986-1992. From Computer Gaming Worlds Hall Of Fame 1996 Issue: "Earl Weaver Baseball: Revolutionary physics based baseball engine please both action and statistic fans, still unsurpassed over a decade later."
Looking at the list of those games... To me, those are the big boys... And I'd say half the list at least had an Amiga version that was the best version. I don't even like all of them but it's so obvious how different the tastes were over the pond.
UPDATE: Games section coming soon
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 9:04 pm
The Games Section is 95% complete from a development standpoint (with more enhancements planned).
If anyone has any recommendations of games they'd like to see in the early days, post your ideas here or PM me and it'll get on the docket.
Plans are to unveil the section by the end of April, 2016, and each game will have the ability for community voting on the game (1 through 5 hearts) and comments.
Games will be found via search tools and alphabetical listings at first. Stay tuned...
The new Games section is complete, and I believe all of the bugs have been found and squashed.
I plan to push it live for all users by the end of April, as it could use a little bit of content first! That being said, it will be rather sparse for the first several months as I get a good content-creation flow going. I hope you all like what you see.
This has taken longer than I planned. I am making progress at 1 game a day. At the current rate the Games Library, as small as it is, will become publicly visible to all by the third week in May.
Some of the games I wanted to launch with may not make it. Try as I might, I have not been able to find Infocom's A Mind Forever Voyaging in Amiga format. This title, for Amiga anyway, seems to be extremely rare.
Also, shockingly, Archon was extremely difficult to get working at all. It is such an early title, downgrading one's machine to find that magic spot adds a lot of time to this type of research project. I won't be surprised if a few more gems cause problems, too. So, some classic titles (esp from 85-86) may be added later to the library rather than slow down the release. But they won't be left behind, for sure.
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Albuquerque Man Agrees to 12 Year Prison Sentence for Discharging Firearm during Attempted Robbery of Restaurant
Defendant Prosecuted under Federal “Worst of the Worst” Anti-Violence Initiative
ALBUQUERQUE – Peter Pagan, 23, of Albuquerque, N.M., pled guilty today in federal court to violating the Hobbs Act by attempting to rob an Albuquerque-area fast food restaurant and to discharging a firearm during the attempted robbery. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Pagan will be sentenced to 147 months in federal prison followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court.
Pagan was charged by criminal complaint in Oct. 2015, with discharging a firearm while attempting to rob the Blake’s Lotaburger located at 6215 San Antonio Dr. NE in Albuquerque on Jan. 27, 2015. According to the complaint, Pagan entered the restaurant, pointed a firearm at employees, and demanded money. When the employees were unable to open the cash register, Pagan shot a round of ammunition into the ceiling before running out of the restaurant. When a customer attempted to chase him down, Pagan allegedly fired nine rounds into the customer’s vehicle.
Pagan subsequently was indicted on Nov. 17, 2015, and charged with violating the Hobbs Act and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. According to the indictment, Pagan committed the crimes on Jan. 27, 2015, in Bernalillo County, N.M.
During today’s proceedings, Pagan pled guilty to the indictment. In entering the guilty plea, Pagan admitted that on Jan. 27, 2015, he entered a Blake’s Lotaburger armed with a loaded handgun and demanded money. Pagan further admitted firing a round into the ceiling of the restaurant when employees were unable to open the cash register.
State charges against Pagan were dismissed in favor of federal prosecution. Pagan has been in federal custody since his arrest on the federal complaint and remains detained, which has yet to be scheduled.
This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Albuquerque Police Department with assistance from the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul H. Spiers and Rumaldo R. Armijo are prosecuting the case.
This case is being prosecuted as part of a federal anti-violence initiative that targets “the worst of the worst” offenders for federal prosecution. Under this initiative, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal law enforcement agencies work with New Mexico’s District Attorneys and state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to target violent or repeat offenders for federal prosecution with the goal of removing repeat offenders from communities in New Mexico for as long as possible. In recognition that New Mexico’s violent crime rates, on a per capita basis, are amongst the highest in the nation, New Mexico’s law enforcement community has come together to is collaborating the initiative is significantly exceed the national average.
Phoenix Field Division
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Speak Up For Australian Jazz
By Adam Simmons
Photo: Michelle Dunn
This is a mixture of invitation, plea and manifesto to encourage each and every reader to participate in shaping the future for Australia’s jazz community.
Right now, the conditions we face are challenging – largely no viable gigs (especially for Victorians), restricted travel, lack of visibility, lack of connection and lack of voice. But from a different perspective, if we recognise these conditions for the opportunities they present, we might just “weather the storm” and come out much stronger as we emerge.
An opportunity upon us, is the upcoming Parliamentary Inquiry into Australia’s creative and cultural industries and institutions – with a deadline of Oct 22nd. An inquiry gives us access to the government to tell our stories, share our experiences and present our facts and figures. With this inquiry’s terms of reference, there is the chance to explain our integral part of the music sector, as well as society more broadly and to imagine what might be.
I am preparing a submission based on previous research as well as recent consultation. I will give an outline of that here, but I hope that you will each consider your own submission also.
A quick clarification about the word “jazz”. I will use it here in a broad, encompassing sense to cover traditional, swing, mainstream, bebop, cool, fusion, avant-garde, free, smooth, neo-classic, contemporary, experimental, noise, acid, pop, whatever else – I’m not concerned about the style. For me, jazz is a process, or as Ronny Ferella has put it, “It’s not what jazz is, it’s what jazz does.”
Jazz In My Time
I’ve just hit 50 years of age a few weeks ago. I started playing recorder when I was seven, clarinet at eight and saxophone at age 12. I’ve been playing in bands for almost 40 years, professionally for over 30. I studied improvisation at the Victorian College of the Arts, and I can now look back and recognise how the skills I learnt there have informed the wide range of activities I’ve engaged in including: performance, composition, education, sculpture, theatre, curation, mentorship, advocacy and more.
Things have changed over that time.
Visibility of jazz has been lost – in the 80’s and 90’s I remember seeing artists like Sandy Evans Trio, Paul Grabowsky, Don Burrows, The Swingin’ Sidewalks, Brian Brown and Judy Jacques on TV – all presenting their music. Around the mid 90’s my quartet featured on Bert Newton’s morning show on Channel 10, playing original music. This all seemed possible and attainable because I saw friends and colleagues there also. But it feels the only times I see them now is in backing bands for Carols by Candlelight, acts at the AFL Grand Final and shows like Dancing with the Stars. I don’t see our Australian jazz artists telling our stories on TV anymore and national radio is not much better – a whole generation or two have been neglected.
Linked to this is the lack of sustainability within the scene due to decline in real value of gig fees and the impact of the internet and streaming on record/CD sales. The general rate for a gig is often around $100 – that’s if you’re not doing a door deal which for a jazz gig carries the very real risk of getting much less. But I was doing gigs in the mid 90’s for $100. My first wedding gig around 1986 paid $150. And my father tells me the story of knocking back a regular weekly nightclub gig for $100 because he didn’t feel he was good enough – that was in 1969! And it’s not much different at festivals: one prominent Australian festival where I have performed for over 20 years, the rate I have received has stayed steady around $280-300.
Same for the prices of CDs/albums, which have been pretty much the same since for 30 years, but the return has suffered from a reduction in sales numbers as music is consumed in different ways now and revenue from royalties has diminished due to digital disruption. There has been a corresponding loss of record label support as retail outlets and support have disappeared.
There have been positive changes also.
I see the standard of general musicianship of students increasing as each generation passes on the benefits of their learnings, with teachers often coming from a trained jazz background.
Origami with Flora Carbo. Photo: Adam Simmons
Gender diversity may not be perfect, but it has come a long way in terms of numbers, consideration and awareness over the decades. There are no excuses for curators to not be presenting balanced line-ups, especially as audiences are increasingly demanding this.
Access to information, education and recordings has changed unbelievably due to digital and technological advances. The ease and speed of communication has helped jazz develop as an international form with strong national differences in each country. It has also made it easier to connect internationally for touring, promoting/releasing music and facilitating international collaborations.
Where Are Things At?
The Australian arts sector, including jazz, has been decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic and largely ignored by the Federal Government in its response. This has just compounded the structural issues that have been slowly eroded and neglected over many years, particularly since the change of government back in 2013, which led to the abandonment of a national cultural policy that had been bilaterally approved.
Australia’s jazz sector has not been immune or unaffected by this neglect. If the Global Financial Crisis was not bad enough in the loss of major sponsors for various national jazz festivals, that have not returned, the funding fiascos perpetrated by George Brandis’ Catalyst program have had lasting effects. Not least of which, was the loss of federal funding for Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues for several years, noted as Australia’s premier jazz and blues festival.
Spiderbait and the Wangaratta Horns of Death. Photo: Paul Martin
As mentioned above, a bunch of other conditions exist for Australian jazz – minimal mainstream media presence, education funding cuts, stagnant (or decreasing) artist fees, erosion of revenue sources from recordings due to emergence of streaming, lack of organisational infrastructure, gradual shift in funding focus of narrowing contemporary music to exclude jazz.
But on the positive side, we have a wealth of young and talented musicians across a range of jazz styles, we have and are contributing internationally, our audiences are passionate and loyal, we have skills that are utilised within many other sectors and more broadly, there is strong international activity in jazz that is interested in engaging with Australia. Jazz can be a dirty word when used to dismiss what we do as old hat, impenetrable, elitist or low-brow, but if you’re David Bowie, Paul Kelly, Kendrick Lamar, Outkast or Beyonce, jazz might be informing the music and worn as a badge of approval.
Things are not perfect, but jazz is not dead - and in my humble opinion, far from it!
Is Anyone Doing Anything?
Actually, there’s a bunch of things happening now – or rather that have been slowly developing over the past couple of years or more. Different industry gatherings, organisations and individuals have been researching and considering ways to improve support for Australian jazz. The examples I know about include the National Jazz Alliance, Sounds Australia, Australian Music Centre, Stonnington Jazz Industry Summit, Port Fairy Jazz Festival’s Jazz Workshop, Eric Myers (Discussion Forum/National Jazz Think Tank), Richard Letts (The Music Trust/Music in Australia), Johannes Luebbers and Tim Nikolsky (Australian Jazz Real Book). There are many good people who care deeply for this community.
Concerto for Piano & Toy Band. Photo: Sarah Walker
I took on a pro bono role to look at developing a state/nation-wide jazz industry as outlined in the Victorian Jazz Industry’s Strategic Action Plan. This 2019 report was based on the consultation done by Port Fairy Jazz Festival. The similar notion of a peak body for jazz was raised at the Stonnington Jazz Industry Summit. Given the same conversation was being had by very different groups within the broad spectrum of jazz, it made sense to combine efforts. Slowly, my work got a kickstart through preparing and consulting for a submission to Victoria’s Creative State 2020+ last years. COVID disrupted most of my plans, but there have been other ways to further the cause, including the Australian Jazz Forum held recently.
And that brings me to the upcoming Parliamentary Inquiry into Australia’s creative and cultural industries and institutions.
On 26 August 2020 Minister for Communications, Hon Paul Fletcher MP asked the Standing Committee on Communications And The Arts to inquire into and report on Australia’s creative and cultural industries and institutions. The terms of reference are broadly looking to gain an overview of the state of the arts sector and elicit potential opportunities for its development.
Aside from considering the impact of COVID-19 (which I have already written about in terms of jazz) and identifying avenues for innovation, the inquiry is looking for guidance about how to recognise, measure and grow the economic and non-economic benefits, including community, social wellbeing and national identity. While I may be sceptical of the motivations of the current Federal Government, this is an opportunity to convey the value of the arts beyond the more common economic lens that has helped spawn “creative industries”.
There is no national arts and cultural policy in Australia. The first one was Creative Nation, delivered by Paul Keating in 1994. The second one, Creative Australia, was launched by Simon Crean in 2013, but was abandoned after the election that year by Tony Abbott’s new government. So, despite the final report to the 2015 Senate Inquiry on the Impact of the 2014 and 2015 Commonwealth Budget decisions on the Arts recommending the development of a national arts policy in consultation with the arts sector (page 77) and creativity being recognised as being crucial to international prosperity in the 21st century, why is it we still have nothing in place in terms of real support for arts and culture in Australia?
Giving Jazz A Voice
Jazz sits squarely in this picture – both in terms of the scaffolding it provides across contemporary music as well as having a part to play in contributing to Australia’s national identity. Jazz is entwined with the fortunes of other sectors including hospitality, tourism, education, health and more.
But it has been almost 20 years since Australia had a formal national voice for the jazz sector. Who is going to tell the story now?
Who is going to tell about how jazz develops skills for creating music spontaneously together with complete strangers? Who is going to talk about the regional towns whose communities benefit from the tourism dollars brought in by jazz festivals? Who is going to talk about the influence our jazz musicians are exerting internationally in cities like New York, Berlin, Tokyo, Singapore and more? Who is going to talk about the fact that our music is just as deserving and just as relevant as any other style within contemporary music?
Us. That’s who.
It's Time To Get Involved
Here is where I make the case for you, the reader, to become part of making change.
Let’s assume for a moment that the Government takes notice of the final report from this inquiry. It will be based only on the information they seek or are given. And they will be looking to see where they can have the most impact, get the biggest bang for buck and basically win votes. There will be many people making a lot of noise for themselves. If you and your community are not represented, then you can’t count on anyone else to do it for you – as someone quoted today, “you have to be in it to change it”.
Power of numbers – the more voices speaking for jazz, especially in all its diverse forms, the better. And one of the strengths of jazz is the fact we cross over so many generations and communities. As a musician I have played with both my teachers and my students, sometimes even all together, but all as equals in service to the music. If we can engage with Government in the same way as we play music, our unified voice will carry much greater weight.
That’s being positive. But what if my inner cynic is correct instead? If all our hard work and passion was to fall on deaf ears, wouldn’t it all be pointless?
No – then it’s even more vital to do - and this is more why I’m making this plea now. It will be the passion, the ideas, the discussions, the dreaming, all of this and more that we really need to express while we can. Working together to create a shared understanding of what we each need and imagining what we might be and articulating that clearly – just think what we might achieve if we could do that?
Whatever we do now is actually the beginning of a much bigger plan.
But What's The Plan?
At the time of writing, I am still pulling that all together, but here’s what has been going on and the rough plan before next week’s October 22nd deadline for submissions.
About three weeks ago, the Australian Jazz Forum was held. Over 70 people were in attendance, sharing ideas, thoughts, information and solutions about how we might improve the jazz sector. All of that is available on the Mural platform: a digital whiteboard, as a shared community resource for information and contributions.
This is helping inform a submission to the Inquiry that I am preparing for community comment and feedback – that should be almost available by the time this article is published.
Then what is required of you is any combination of:
sharing of this article
consideration of the draft submission and offering comment/feedback
get informed/contribute via the Australian Jazz Forum Mural
prepare your own submission – watch this video about how to write one
complete the Parliamentary Inquiry’s official survey
Whatever you do, it needs to be your story, your voice. This may be as an individual, collective or an organisation. I hope the work and resources I’m preparing will be of use, but whether you use it or even agree with my approach to things – the main thing is that you make the most of the opportunity to have your voice heard as part of a democratic process that you might just be able to have an influence upon for you and your community.
Read my draft outline here
We would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri people who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live, and recognise their continuing connection in our community. We would like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present of the Kulin Nation and extend that respect to other First Nations people who have read this article.
Adam Simmons
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Daily Arts
Happy Hundredth Birthday, Paramount Theatre!
Austin's original vaudeville stage announces Lyle Lovett and more
By Richard Whittaker, 9:35AM, Wed. Jan. 28, 2015
Photo by Richard Whittaker
It was, Harry Houdini told the assembled supporters of the Paramount Theatre, a great pleasure to be back on its stage after a 99-year absence, to celebrate the centenary of Austin's greatest stage: an anniversary year that will see a calendar of free events and the return of both Lyle Lovett and a lost gem to the building.
After a medley built around "America, the Beautiful," courtesy of the Austin High Mighty Maroon marching band, Houdini – or at least history's great escapologist in holographic form – introduced the schedule for the storied venue's hundredth anniversary celebration. The sonne et lumiere fun and games were not without glitches but, "hey, if you don't experiment, you can't fail grandly," said Austin Theater Alliance CEO Jim Ritts.
The introduction gave a brief glimpse into the grand history of Austin's grandest stage. After all, the year after it opened, the state capital of Texas was so small that 20% of its population saw Houdini's show in its one-week run (for reference, now that would take a couple of sell-out home games at the UT Stadium). Ritts praised the foresight of Ernest Nalle, who built a 1,500-seat capacity venue only 30 years after the Capitol building was constructed, when there was barely a single paved street in the entire city. That said, it did have a streetcar. "Yes, we had mass transit in Austin. Vote Prop One," deadpanned Ritts.
The Paramount has outlived most of its contemporaries. "It's no mean feat for a theatre to be in its footprint for a hundred years without stopping," Ritts explained, noting that only 25 theatres out of the 1,000 or so that scattered early 20th century America have survived to equal that record. He had particular praise for Charles Eckerman, Stephen L. Scott, and John M. Bernadoni, as the three men who oversaw the 1975 renovation of the theatre, just as both the then-cinema and Downtown Austin were dying. "The Paramount became the anchor for the Downtown area," explained Bernadoni. They started by showing vintage movies "because we had to get people in the theatre. … As a result of that, tens of thousands of people came Downtown." That became the foundation for not just the theatre's renaissance, but also the rebirth of the center of the capital city.
New Mayor Steven Adler listed it along with Barton Springs and Town Lake as "one of the things that makes Austin special." Then came the proclamation, commemorating the 1915 opening of the Majestic (as it was then called) as a dedicated vaudeville house and the estimated 18 million customers who have seen live performances, silent movies, talkies, and now comedy, film festivals, and more.
Of course, there could not be an evening celebrating the legacy and cultural impact of the Paramount without a side trip to Tuna, Tex. Jaston Williams talked of sharing the stage with Cactus Pryor, Ann Richards, and Studs Terkel. "It doesn't get any better than that," he said. There was good news for those hoping for a reunion with his old friend and creative partner Joe Sears, with a promise that the pair are only on hiatus and far from done.
Now begins the year-long celebration of all that history and the laying of the foundations of the next century. The official birthday won't be until Oct. 11, but the Paramount staff are already revving up for a loaded year. Ritts said, "By December 31, we want everyone to go, 'Man, I'm glad the centenary's over, I'm tired of hearing about it.'"
That all begins on April 1 with a special free screening of A Night at the Opera, starring Paramount live veterans the Marx Brothers. On April 22, Ron White will open the Moontower Comedy Festival with a show open to all badge holders. The hot ticket will undoubtedly be the May 9 Centennial Gala with special performance by Lyle Lovett, including Patty Griffin as part of his amazing friends. Lovett along with Jerry Jeff Walker, will also get the honor of having their own plaques on the Paramount Avenue of the Stars.
The Marx Brothers aren't the only Paramount veterans getting a repeat screening. May 20 sees a free performance of The Philadelphia Story, celebrating Katharine Hepburn's appearance in the both the film and the play under the mural of St. Cecilia. More up to the moment will be an evening with filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, complete with a secret screening and Q&A, but all that may pale into insignificance with the restoration of an important part of Austin's architectural history. "In late September, we're going to hold one hell of a party here," said Ritts, with one special candle being lit: a reconstruction of the original Paramount Theater sign, a blade with a distinctive sunburst design and over 1,000 bulbs.
Bernadoni summed up the sentiment of the evening, and the year to come, simply. "This is not a building of plaster and steel. This is a living being, and she is wonderful."
More Paramount Theatre
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Sofia Tafich, May 1, 2020
Paramount Announces Fall/Winter Season
Shinyribs, Ira Glass, and Potted Potter all on the horizon
Kimberley Jones, May 31, 2018
More Steve Adler
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“Something’s going to have to give. It’s real.”
Michael King, May 29, 2019
Mayor's State of the City
Adler touts city initiatives, decries “shadow” of state backlash
Michael King, April 18, 2019
Paramount Theatre, Steve Adler, Jaston Williams, Lyle Lovett, Jerry Jeff Walker, Paramount Avenue of the Stars
Art & Music Nights at the Cathedral at The Cathedral
ICOSA: Meet Me at the Water at ICOSA
MORE ARTS EVENTS >>
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Practical action needed to introduce 5G service - Nordic Council of Ministers
RIGA - Practical action must follow to start the Baltic-Nordic cross-border integration for the launch of 5G services, Paula Lehtomaki, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers, said at the Baltic Sea Region 5G Ecosystem Forum on Thursday.
She said that it is necessary to keep working hard to start the cross-border integration and launch 5G services in Europe in the next coming years.
We still have several challenges that are slowing work on starting cross-border integration, Lehtomaki said, adding that adapting each European country's regulation to a single standard is the most complicated task.
There are plenty of ideas and perspectives, but I expect us to devote more time to practical and concrete actions in the future, Lehtomaki said.
Latvian Environmental Protection and Regional Development Minister Juris Puce (For Development/For) said at the 5G forum that the most important conclusions after a meeting of the Nordic and Baltic ministers in charge of technology were about a three-year digital development plan and Latvia's role in introducing the 5G service.
"I believe that the 5G technology will be a significant contribution not only to mobile communications operators but also other industries, such as agriculture and logistics. It is essential for Latvia to take this step ahead in development, which is why we want the mobile operators to keep investing in technology and solutions, so that 5G was made meaningful for the country as a whole," the minister said.
Juris Binde, President of Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT) mobile operator, emphasized the necessity to prevent a divide between technological development and the public. "Technological development is inevitable and fast, but we, mobile operators, must be the ones to reduce the information divide between technology and people by educating and informing them about development opportunities," he said.
Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins (New Unity) said at the forum that the Baltic states have to be leaders in the 5G era by introducing the necessary technologies and solutions.
Speaking of 5G, the Latvian premier said that the technology is something "new and unfamiliar which we nevertheless want".
The question about leadership in this area remains open, he noted, stressing that the Baltic states should take the leadership role in the 5G era. "We have technologies, capabilities, entrepreneurs and creative ideas. We are technologically very able and creative, always finding new solutions," Karins said, voicing confidence that the Baltic states will continue to be the best in Europe if not in the world.
5G Techritory, the Baltic Sea Region 5G Ecosystem Forum, is taking place in Riga on November 28 and 29.
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Home » Posts » Sericulture in Bangladesh
Sericulture in Bangladesh
While the textile industry produces an amazing array of artificial, natural and blended fabrics, many would agree that nothing beats the luxurious texture of pure silk, a product with a long history that remains popular today. The history of silk farming, known as sericulture, is said to have started in China some 5,000 or more years ago. The history of silk production in Bangladesh, which is closely linked with India dating back to the 1st century, has been part of the nation of Bangladesh since its independence in 1971. Today, Rajshahi, located near the border of India, remains the top sericulture region of Bangladesh. The climate in this area is perfectly suited to growing mulberry trees, without which sericulture would not be possible, as the Bombyx mori silkworm feeds exclusively on mulberry leaves.
The production of silk is a fascinating process that starts with the tiny silkworm larvae feeding on mulberry leaves. As the silkworm grows, it molts, shedding its skin four times before starting to spin a silken cocoon around itself by secreting a dense fluid from its structural glands in an unbroken fibroin protein filament fiber. The fibers are cemented together with the secretion of a gummy substance called sericin. To free the silken filaments from their sericin bonding, the cocoons are placed in hot water in a process aptly referred to as degumming. Unfortunately this method also kills the silkworm pupae. Some cocoons are set aside to allow the silk moth to emerge, whereupon she will lay thousands of eggs before dying. Larvae hatch from the eggs, and the cycle continues. Interestingly, this process of harvesting was criticized by Mahatma Gandhi who adhered to the principles of not harming any living thing, and continues to be criticized by animal welfare groups, including the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
The harvesting of wild silk, also referred to as ‘peace silk’, is done after the moths have left the cocoon by cutting through the threads. Because wild silk threads are not one continuous filament, such as those produced in cultivated silkworms, it is reportedly more difficult to work with. Nonetheless, it is considered to be the more humane sericulture option, if not the most profitable.
Once the glue has been removed from the filaments, it is ready to be wound, woven and transformed into beautiful textiles that are sheer luxury to the touch. Visitors may want to buy a pure silk scarf or garment to take home as a memento of their time spent in Bangladesh.
Haor Basin – A Vital Wetland Habitat
The Haor Basin in the north eastern part of Bangladesh is a wetlands ecosystem considered to be of international ecological importance due to the extensive waterfowl population that uses the ...
The Vulnerable Bengal Slow Loris
Found in some of the National Parks of Bangladesh, the Bengal slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis) is a fascinating little primate with enormous brown eyes, a round flat head, small ears, ...
Marine Protected Area for Bangladesh
Folk Music of Bangladesh
Mangoes of Bangladesh
Dallywood: Bangladesh’s Film Industry
Beautiful Bangladesh
Bangladesh Updates Conservation Red List
Sonargaon: The Ancient Capital of Bengal
Tea Gardens in Bangladesh
A Visit to Moheshkhali Island
Magpie Robin: The National Bird of Bangladesh
New Marine Protected Area for Bangladesh
Cultural Diversity at Ethnological Museum in Chittagong
Tiger Conservation Conference in Dhaka
Organic Farming Uplifts Communities in Bangladesh
Birds of Bangladesh: Drongos
EMK Center: Promoting Public Service and the Arts
Solar Energy Empowers Rural Bangladesh
Kabadi: The National Game of Bangladesh
Traditional Metal Craft in Dhamrai
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BofA tops 2017 mobile app ranking
Holding low-cost deposits may be helped by good mobile banking experience, says S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis
Written by S&P Global Market Intelligence
S&P Global Market Intelligence, formerly S&P Capital IQ and SNL, is the premier provider of breaking news, financial data, and expert analysis on business sectors critical to the global economy. This article originally appeared on the SNL subscriber side of S&P Global's website.
By Katie Darden and Lucy Kneissler, S&P Global Market Intelligence staff writers
Bank of America Corp. took first place in S&P Global Market Intelligence's 2017 mobile bank app ranking, joined in the top five by BB&T Corp., BBVA Compass, Capital One Financial Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co.
Starting with a select list of mobile features and 28 of the largest retail banking franchises across the U.S., S&P Global Market Intelligence ranked bank apps in two ways.
We first ranked them based on the number of features available. The second ranking weighted features based on their popularity in our 2017 mobile banking survey. We determined the weights using responses to survey questions about the app features mobile banking customers use the most and about desired features that respondents identified as missing from their mobile banking experience.
Building a better mobile app
Some of the most commonly used mobile features are, not surprisingly, available in all the bank apps we examined. These include checking balances, reviewing transactions, and paying bills. Certain features that our survey takers want on their apps have become increasingly common. For instance, many apps now offer the ability to log on using one’s fingerprint or give customers the option to view account balance information on the launch screen without logging in.
Some more advanced features, which were not part of the mobile banking survey, are confined to just a few banks. For example, cardless ATM access is still rare; BMO Harris Bank NA and a few larger players are the only banks on our list whose customers can withdraw cash using their smartphones. BBVA Compass is one of only three companies in our analysis that let customers speed up the mobile bill payment process by snapping a picture of a bill to automatically add payees.
The availability of certain features is just one way to assess the quality of an app. Customers who provide app store reviews clearly value speed, reliability, and an intuitive layout, as well as a preference for having all features available on one platform.
Some banks offer a robust suite of mobile services, but customers have to download more than one app to take advantage of them.
And even the same features can have varying capabilities across banks. For example, all of the apps we researched provide information about non-depository accounts, but some offer access to more accounts than others. Certain features, such as rewards programs and the ability to view one's credit score, may only be available to holders of specific account types.
Hanging onto low-cost deposits
A user-friendly mobile banking experience could prove an important tool for banks looking to hold the line on deposit costs in a rising interest rate environment. S&P Global Market Intelligence expects depositors to see more benefit from increases in the fed funds rate, meaning that financial institutions will have to pass on more of the change to their customers in the form of higher deposit yields.
Bank of America's primary banking subsidiary, with the second-lowest cost of deposits at 0.11% in the first quarter, was one of nine banks in our app ranking that managed to keep deposit costs flat or lower them year over year.
Charles Schwab Bank, which does not have traditional brick-and-mortar branches and is a subsidiary of retail brokerage giant Charles Schwab Corp., had the group's lowest cost of interest-bearing deposits at 0.05%, up 3 basis points year over year. Schwab offers unlimited fee rebates from ATMs worldwide on its high-yield checking account, which still only offers an annual percentage yield of 0.13%.
Several banks, however, saw deposit costs grow by at least 10 percentage points, among them Wells Fargo. The San Francisco-based bank, which was second only to BofA by U.S. deposit market share in 2016, ranked first in our 2016 mobile bank app feature analysis. Wells Fargo has been pressured by regulatory and political scrutiny, higher expenses, and trouble attracting new customers in the wake of a sales-fraud scandal that erupted last year.
Well-designed mobile apps could help banks hold onto core deposits in what is likely to be an increasingly competitive environment for such funding.
Our survey asked mobile banking customers whether they would be willing to switch banks in order to gain access to features missing from their current apps. More than 80% of survey takers who bank with BofA, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo identified missing features, and more than half of those respondents said they would be willing to switch banks for missing app features.
The responses to these questions also speak to the need for banks to continue educating customers about the services available to them. Some survey takers identified missing features that were already available on their banks' mobile apps. Bank websites offer information about their online and mobile banking services, although ease of access to that information varies. Many websites offer short videos that show app capabilities, and some feature online chat outreach to site visitors. More proactive measures include marketing emails and press releases about new features.
S&P Global Market Intelligence researched bank app features between June 9 and June 23. We used the apps themselves when possible, otherwise relying on bank websites, app store descriptions, and communications with company representatives to determine the availability of features.
The ranking was informed by the 2017 Mobile Money survey, which was fielded between Jan. 26 and Feb. 1 from a random sample of 4,000 U.S. mobile bank app users aged 18 and older. S&P Global Market Intelligence weighted the data to be nationally representative. Results from the survey, which was conducted online, have a margin of error of +/- 1.6% at the 95% confidence level based on the sample size of 4,000.
This article originally appeared on S&P Global Market Intelligence’s website under the title, "Bank of America tops 2017 mobile app ranking"
Download reprint of S&P Global Market Intelligence article
Tagged under Retail Banking, Technology, Channels, Feature, Feature3,
S&P Global Market Intelligence, formerly S&P Capital IQ and SNL, is the premier provider of breaking news, financial data, and expert analysis on business sectors critical to the global economy. This article originally appeared on the SNL subscriber side of S&P Global's website. Older articles published under the original SNL Financial name can be found here.
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Subsets and Splits
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