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SWEET AND TENDER HOOLIGANS IN CONCERT:
As the “ultimate tribute to Morrissey and the Smiths,” LA-based Sweet and Tender Hooligans have been paying homage to the legendary British indie band for more than two decades with their finely crafted tribute show. Performing to sold-out crowds throughout the US, Mexico and UK, frontman Jose Maldonado channels Morrissey so convincingly that Moz himself has even jokingly taken the stage with the opening line “Hello, we are the Sweet and Tender Hooligans and I’m Jose.” From their era-perfect style to Maldonado’s Morrissey-inspired coif, the band never fails to satisfy even the most rigorous Smiths purists, leaving fans to wonder “How Soon Is Now” in regards to their future tour dates.
BACKGROUND SNAPSHOT:
Formed in Los Angeles in 1992, Jose Maldonado and the Sweet and Tender Hooligans began playing Smiths covers as an answer to the iconic band’s 1987 dissolution, a highly publicized event that occurred at the height of their success. As regional recognition gave way to shows around the country, the band made their pilgrimage to the UK, performing to sold-out crowds and attracting the attention of the BBC. Named the “Best Cover Band in Los Angeles” by the LA Weekly, the Sweet and Tender Hooligans continue to pay homage to Morrissey and company for over 25 years.
FANS WHO BOUGHT TICKETS SAY:
“Jose Maldonado along with the entire band are amazing. If you are a Morrissey or Smiths fan, they are a MUST SEE!”
“Just like Morrissey, Jose gets better with age. This band gives 110% in each performance and continue to carry a torch as the ‘ultimate tribute to Morrissey and The Smiths.'”
“This is absolutely the best cover band I have ever seen. The lead singer dances and sings just like Morrissey. He takes off his shirt just like Moz, dances with the microphone, and people rush the stage to hug him.”
Jose Maldonado
David Collett
lead guitar, backing sequences
Danny Garcia
Joe Escalante
Art Barrios
rhythm guitar, backing vocals
honorary rhythm guitar
Forrest Locke – Photography
Sonichaus – Website Design
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About SWFLHS
Cracker Dinner
Recreation Pier in Fort Myers
Start of Everglades in Fort Myers
Blount’s General Store – 1886, 1st & Hendry
Hotel and Bridge in Bonita Springs
Fruit Shop in Estero
Arches at Beach
Bait Shop & Restaurant on Pine Island
Commodore Hotel
Spanish Palmetto Shack
9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
10091-A McGregor Blvd.
Located at the corner of McGregor Blvd. and Colonial Blvd. on the campus of the Lee County Alliance for the Arts
© 2015, Southwest Florida Historical Society
The SWFLHS accepts donations of Southwest Florida historical artifacts, maps and documents that are deemed relative to the mission of the organization which is to preserve and archive the history of the area. Unlike a museum, our primary purpose is to archive historical documents and photos for research by the public. We are not able to accept large, bulky objects that may be better suited for a museum. If we are not able to accept your gift, we may return it to you or pass it on to another organization or group that could best be served having it or, as a last resort, to trash the items if we are not able to place them.
We also welcome your financial donations to assist with the ongoing building maintenance and monthly operating expenses. In addition, we are starting a Capital Improvement Fund to help cover the cost of some significant building repairs that are needed for the aging building to keep it operational for the public.
The highlight of the year and the main fund raiser for the SWFLHS is held in February. The dinner highlights Cracker cooking and features a distinguished guest speaker after the dinner. There are also raffles and silent auctions during the evening to help raise money for the Society.
This year Woody Hanson will share “Stories about Fort Myers” on Monday, Feb 23 at 6 pm. The dinner and program are held at the Riverside Community Center, 3061 East Riverside Dr. Tickets are $30 and must be purchased in advance at the Historical Society at (239) 939-4044 or through the Edison Festival of Light Office at 334-2999.
About Southwest Florida Historical Society
The Southwest Florida Historical Society (SWFLHS) was established in 1960 by a group of citizens to “preserve the history of our area”.
In 1983 the SWFLHS received as a gift a building that was destined to be demolished by the City for a new parking lot. Harper Brothers Construction donated the building and Flint and Doyle was contracted to move the building to the campus of the Lee County Alliance of the Arts. Siting the building to its current location on the Alliance property was completed and renovations started to bring the building up to City and County Building Codes.
In 1984 the SWFLHS received its Articles of Incorporation with the following purpose:
“The mission of the society is to discover, collect and preserve original and source documents, maps and photographs pertaining to the history of SW Florida.
To bring together those interested in the history of this area; to promote and stimulate public interest and appreciation of the history of this area; and to further the preservation and knowledge of Southwest Florida's past.”
In 1987 a Dedication of the Building was held and the doors were open to the public.
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Rob Milton
A young black creative with one foot in both sides of the industry, Rob Milton is a music journalist and indie soul singer who has managed to make a name for himself through releasing an abundance of quality music and serving as a contributing blogger for SoulBounce and Virgin.com.
His passion and presentation allowed him early opportunities such as performing on stage at Washington, DC's Howard Theatre, New York City's famed SOB's venue, recording at Converse's Rubber Tracks Studio in Brooklyn, New York, and receiving press nods from MTV UK, OkayPlayer, AfroPunk, Solange's Saint Heron, SoulBounce, and Ebony Magazine. His music can also be heard in Black And Sexy TV's Rider web series and Centric's Being.
Milton creates R&B with influences ranging from golden-age N.Y.C. hip-hop and early-2000s neo-soul to electronic funk and jazz. His inventively produced tracks often feature grainy post-J Dilla textures that verge on chillwave, over which his smooth, soulful vocals sing unabashedly optimistic lyrics. Milton comes from a church background, and while gospel is a formative influence, his lyrics generally refrain from referring to specific religious subjects, instead focusing on universal themes such as love and positivity.
Beginning with 2012's Love Today, Milton has issued a steady stream of online EPs and singles documenting his progress, highlights of which were compiled on the 2014 CD Songs from the Internet. His debut full-length album, Rebirth, arrived in June of 2015. 2019 saw Milton release the iTunes R&B Top 50 (#26) chart topping Stayp EP and travel from Atlanta to Nashville to Stockholm, Sweden sharing his incredible new sound and wave.
Along with his solo work, he served in 2018 as the Music Supervisor for the final season of the beloved series Hermione Granger and the Quarter Life Crisis and launched the rising Atlanta group Cousin, whose BEST LIFE EP also debuted at #18 on iTunes’ top R&B/Soul albums chart.
AFROPUNK: https://afropunk.com/2019/02/premiere-rob-miltons-good-soul-betrays-a-wide-world/
EBONY: https://www.ebony.com/entertainment/introducing-rob-milton-new-music-323/
OKAYPLAYER: https://www.okayplayer.com/artist/rob-milton
SAINT HERON: https://saintheron.com/audio-rob-milton-the-threat/
SOULBOUNCE: http://www.soulbounce.com/tag/rob-milton/
SWEET SOUL RECORDS: https://sweetsoulrecords.com/artists/rob-milton/
THE SET LIST PODCAST INTERVIEW 2018: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-setlist/id1310912804?mt=2&i=1000423709036
COUSIN: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/cousin/1418957007
https://www.instagram.com/urfavecuz/
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documentary/commercial video
thomashedges.org
@ThomasHedgesTRN
Center for Auto Safety Dissatisfied With Chrysler’s Jeep Recall
Thomas Hedges June 24, 2013
truthdig.com/center for study of responsive law
The nonprofit group The Center for Auto Safety says that Chrysler’s Jeeprecall, which the car manufacturer finally agreed to June 18 after an ongoing battle with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is insufficient and will not fix the vehicle’s defect. At issue is the placement of the Jeep’s fuel tank at the rear of the SUV; regulators say its position there presents a fire hazard if the car is struck from behind.
In response to a demand for action from the Center for Auto Safety and the NHTSA, as well as consumers, Chrysler has agreed to inspect 1.6 million of its Jeep models built between 1993 and 2007 and install a trailer hitch to protect the vehicles’ back end, free of charge. Owners of an additional million cars have the option to bring them in for an inspection.
But these services and upgrades will not help reduce the number of deaths that result from rear-end collision fires, Center for Auto Safety Executive Director Clarence Ditlow said in an interview last week.
Photo by Matthew Hillier (CC-BY-SA)
“The trailer hitch,” he explained, “doesn’t provide any protection from the primary failure mode in these crashes, which is the nose of the striking car coming under the bumper and impacting the gas tank. If it goes under the bumper, it will go under the trailer hitch.”
The NHTSA reports that 51 people have died in rear-end collision fires in Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty models.
Chrysler Group disagreed with the NHTSA’s findings about the placement of the fuel tank, saying in a statementthat “the subject vehicles are not defective,” and “these Jeep vehicles have proven to be safe in operation and the Company’s analysis shows the incidents at the focus of this requestoccur less than one time for every million years of vehicle operation” (Chrysler’s emphasis).
Ditlow is also frustrated because Chrysler’s 2005 and 2008 Jeep models, for which it moved the fuel tank in front of the rear axle, have not been involved in any fires that resulted in deaths. This, for Ditlow, is evidence that it is the placement of the tank that poses a hazard to drivers of the other models. Chrysler, however, has refused to acknowledge any dangers relating to its Jeep vehicles.
The idea of installing a trailer hitch is a calculated PR stunt, Ditlow argued. “A trailer hitch, which provides incremental protection in low-speed crashes only, fits in with [Chrysler’s] strategy that the crashes that kill all the people are unsurvivable crashes,” he said. In other words, since trailer hitches help only in low-speed collisions, which have not been reported to kill anybody, the numbers will stay the same and give the impression that the recall did not really accomplish anything.
Ditlow contended that “if they admitted that putting a skid plate underneath [the fuel tank] worked,” because it cushions more than a trailer hitch, “it would protect against these higher speed crashes” and prove that Chrysler’s assessments of its vehicles were wrong.
“If Chrysler cared about Jeep owners,” he pointed out, “they would have done a recall that provided adequate protection in crashes up to at least 50 mph into the rear of the vehicle. It just shows that Chrysler doesn’t care.”
Source: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/center_for_auto_safety_dissatisfied_with_chryslers_jeep_recall_20130624
← “Everyone is corrupt, I’ve come to learn”How American University Got Involved in Israel’s Public Interest →
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Home Elected Officials VILLAGE JUSTICE, STEVEN S. SIEGEL
Write to Judge Siegel at:
Village Justice Court
PO Box 189, East Rockaway, NY 11518
Leave a message for Judge Siegel at: 516-887-6312
Presiding over East Rockaway Justice Court is its elected Village Justice, Steven S. Siegel. Re-elected in March 2013, Justice Siegel has lived in the Incorporated Village of East Rockaway for well over a decade.
Judge Siegel is an experienced jurist who has been admitted to the New York State Bar since 1984. A graduate of Hofstra University School of Law, Judge Siegel also attended Oxford University in England and graduated, cum laude, with his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Albany.
Currently, Judge Siegel is an attorney in private practice focusing on tort litigation, also known as medical malpractice, as well as other complex negligence actions and criminal law. Previously, Siegel served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Queens County District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau. In fact, Siegel has tried multiple murder cases to verdict. One of Judge Siegel’s cases was also later featured on NBC television’s Law & Order.
Judge Siegel is also one of the founder the Filipino-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national non-for-profit organization providing pro bono, or free, legal services to members of the Filipino-American community. Still serving as the charitable group’s general counsel, FALDEF helps Filipino-Americans suffering from legal injustices by reason of their immigrant origins and status. Those who take use of FALDEF and its services are often unable to engage legal aid and assistance on account of poverty.
Married for 13 years, Judge Siegel remains committed to maintaining a fair and impartial Village Justice Court to ensure that our village remains a great place to live, work and raise a family.
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VNAH
USAID Disability Rights Enforcement, Coordination and Therapies (DIRECT)
ASHA Project
Inclusion of the Vietnamese with Disabilities (IVWD)
Persons with Disabilities Support Program (PDSP)
Schools for Rural & Ethnic Minority Children in Vietnam
Disability Information System/Software (DIS)
Land Mine / UXO Education and Awareness Project
Self-Help Projects - Meeting the Needs of the Rural Poor
Combatting AIDS - Hanoi HIV/AIDS Awareness Project
Vietnam enacts its first Disability Law
McLean, VA -- On June 17, 2010, the National Assembly of Vietnam enacted the first comprehensive national law guaranteeing the rights of people with disabilities. The new law mandates equal participation in society for people with disabilities through accommodation and access to health care, rehabilitation, education, employment, vocational training, cultural services, sports and entertainment, transportation, public places, and information technology. This law, drafted with the support of U.S. funded technical assistance, is expected to have a direct impact on the growth of Vietnam’s economy, as inclusive policies expand opportunities for Vietnamese with disabilities to be productive and achieve economic independence.
The National Disability Law is the culmination of an intensive effort of more than a decade to develop a legal framework for an inclusive society where people with disabilities have access to the programs and supports necessary for their full participation. This effort began with the passage of the national Ordinance on People with Disabilities in 1998, and led to a series of initiatives to advance the rights and interests of people with disabilities, including:
Establishment of the inter-agency National Coordinating Council on Disability (NCCD)
Enactment of the barrier-free access code and standards for public construction
Enactment of barrier-free access standards and regulations for public transport
Disability inclusion provisions in the Vocational Training Law
Implementation of a five-year National Action Plan on disability.
These achievements in policy reform and implementation have brought direct benefits to more than 7 million Vietnamese with disabilities, and indirectly benefitted several million more. The Vietnamese government is set to begin work this summer to develop a regulatory framework and implementation guidance for the new law.
Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH) has provided significant support to the Vietnamese government in bringing about these pivotal reforms through a series of grant initiatives funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and targeted program funds from the Nippon Foundation. VNAH and its international technical partners have been at the forefront of the disability law effort, providing technical assistance to the legal drafting team, promoting the alignment of Viet Nam’s disability law with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the U.S ADA, supporting grassroots review and input to the law’s development, as well as exposing Vietnam’s policy-makers and legislators to international good practices on disability rights through international exchange. VNAH will continue to work in partnership with the Government of Vietnam as it implements the National Disability Law.
Tagged: disability law, USAID, PWD
Newer PostVietnam Moving Toward U.N Disability Treaty Ratification
Older PostVNAH Announces New Grants from USAID and Ford Foundation for Projects in Vietnam
We are so grateful for the support and opportunity to serve.
Join VNAH's Mission to Help Those in Need
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Arab Spring leaves fertile ground for growth of Islamic finance
In the countries swept by the Arab Spring, recent elections were dominated by Islamist parties. This will further encourage the development of the Islamic finance market, experts believe.
"The recent free elections in a number of the affected countries have shown a desire by the people to organise their financial affairs in a manner that reflects their religious beliefs," notes Tariq Hameed, managing associate at Simmons & Simmons in Dubai.
In a report entitled "Blue Print for Islamic Finance Following the Arab Spring" published in February 2012, Hameed notes that the parties winning the most seats in the recent elections in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Libya have all stated their support for Islamic finance.
"The countries affected by the Arab Spring will be expected to deliver economic solutions that directly affect the people that recently voted for them," he argues.
Apart from the desire of the population to move towards a more religious society, there are several reasons why Islamic finance should proliferate in the countries that witnessed the protests of the Arab Spring.
First: the current lack of banking facilities.
A 2010 study by Dr Dhafer Saidane for the United Nations notes the proportion of people with access to banking services in some North African countries is extremely low - approximately 25% in Morocco and 33% in Tunisia.
Hameed notes only 10% of Egyptians have access to a bank. "There was a lack of offerings," he says. "Many didn't engage with the conventional banking system."
For the new governments ready to introduce their people into the financial system, Islamic banking therefore represents an attractive alternative to the 'conventional', distrusted Western banking system.
"Introducing Shariah-compliant current and savings accounts would therefore be important to draw people into the financial system," Hameed says.
In Tunisia, the country where the Arab Spring movement allegedly started in December 2010 in the wake of Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in protest of police corruption and ill treatment, steps have already been taken to develop Islamic banking and finance.
In its Finance Act 2012, Nahda, the Islamist party which has claimed victory in Tunisia's October 2011 elections, has incorporated several changes to facilitate the spread of Islamic finance practices, including a special taxation framework for Islamic banking and the introduction of a regulatory framework for Islamic bonds.
The Tunisian government not only supports the development of Islamic finance, but also sees it as a tool to turn the country into a finance hub in North Africa.
In reality, the industry in the region is up for grabs. Islamic finance has so far failed to take off in North Africa, which currently has less than a 1% share of global Islamic banking assets, according to a report by consultancy McKinsey.
"There are three factors that account for the relative underdevelopment of Islamic banking in North Africa; first the limited development of retail banking generally; second the lack of knowledge of Islamic banking amongst potential clients; and third the absence of (the former) government support," said the African Development Bank in a report on Islamic Banking and Finance in North Africa published late last year.
So with governments across North Africa now openly supporting Islamic Finance, this is likely to change.
Away from retail and commercial banking, one opportunity could come from the development in Islamic microfinance offerings, Hameed notes, as institutions will have to serve demand from rural communities and micro-enterprises.
"The same institution could also provide the community with Islamic micro-insurance (micro-Takaful) to help low-income families to protect against health risks and micro enterprises to protect against property risks," Hameed adds.
Islamic finance could also provide an answer to the need for infrastructure projects, with successful Islamic financing of infrastructure projects already in existence in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh, Hameed notes.
"Islamic finance can play a prime role in financing big projects in North Africa that require large investments and significant borrowing volumes," said Tunisia's former finance minister, Jalloul Ayed, during a July 2011 summit on Islamic finance opportunities in North Africa.
Tunisia itself has financing needs of around USD 40 billion over the next five years, Ayed said, and could soon create a sovereign fund called "Fund for the Generations".
There is a substantial need for project finance in North Africa given the poor state of much of the region's infrastructure. Existing Islamic project financing covering 24 schemes in North Africa worth over USD 2.4 billion has already been approved, according to the African Bank for Development.
The newly elected governments of Arab Spring countries know too well that investing in infrastructure and real estate - in particular, affordable housing, of which there is a severe shortage in North Africa, thus fueling growth and creating jobs - is the only to stabilize the region politically and enhance social cohesion.
Many experts believe Egypt will pave the way for the industry's expansion in the region.
"Egypt will be a great force in steering Islamic finance in a different direction. We will see the development of new products as the market which Islamic finance will serve is a different clientele, and will be needed to solve different problems. Al Azhar University in Cairo should play a role in developing Islamic finance in the country," argues Sahar Ata, a senior lecturer in Islamic finance at the London School of Business and Finance.
Egypt, the most populous state in the region, already has the highest proportion of Shariah-compliant assets in relation to total bank assets (around 5%). The country is "where Islamic finance has the greatest potential", the African Development Bank said.
However, despite promising prospects, there remain challenges for the Islamic finance industry before the potential of these markets can be reaped, Hameed believes. Strengthening of consumer protection laws, clarifying governance, and establishing central Shariah boards for finance will have to be addressed, he argues.
(Zawya / 22 March 2012)
Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur:
www.alfalahconsulting.com
Consultant/Trainer/CEO:
Islamic Investment Malaysia:
www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com
Arab Spring leaves fertile ground for growth of Is...
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Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood - TIFF (Scotia 4)
A deliciously scandalous portrait of unsung Hollywood legend Scotty Bowers, whose bestselling memoir chronicled his decades spent as sexual procurer to the stars.
Scotty Bowers is an unsung Hollywood legend, known for catering to the sexual appetites of celebrities — straight, gay, and omnivorous — for decades. In the 1950s, he ran a gas station in the shadow of the studio lots where he'd fix up his clientele with quickies, threesomes, orgies... you name it. Then, in 2012, he finally spilled his secrets in the bestselling memoir Full Service. The book and this film reveal a dramatic counter-narrative on Hollywood's Golden Age. While the studio PR machines were promoting their stars as hetero, wholesome, and monogamous, Bowers was fulfilling their true desires.
The film begins with the book's publication. Bowers is turning 90 but has the vigour of someone decades younger. He is an unparalleled raconteur. Prepare yourself for a different take on Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner… the list goes on. Although sex workers are often portrayed as sleazy, damaged, or degraded, Bowers defies all those negative caricatures. He's a happy-go-lucky people pleaser and a total delight to be around. We follow him over several months as he meets up with old colleagues who corroborate his outlandish tales.
Filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer has long been a student of Hollywood's secrets, coming from a show-business family and writing for Vanity Fair. His portrayal of Bowers has a touch of Grey Gardens as his subject basks in nostalgia and copes with hoarder tendencies to uncover buried documents as well as some buried life passages.
Tickets and Information: http://www.tiff.net/tiff/scotty-and-the-secret-history-of-hollywood/
Posted in Scotty
Tagged scotty bowers, scotty and the secret history of hollywood, toronto international film festival
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood - Palm Springs International Film Festival
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The War on Drugs and International Development
In September 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by world leaders and came into force on 1 January 2016.
Aiming to build on successes achieved by the Millennium Development Goals, the SDGs will shape the mainstream development agenda for the next 15 years. In this context, it is essential that the global response to drug use, production and supply aligns with, and contributes to, the SDGs – and that the development community pays greater attention to the role of drug policy in this agenda.
The current approach to global drug policy, dominated by strict prohibition and the criminalisation of drug cultivation, production, trade, possession and use, has not only failed in its objectives: it is also undermining efforts to tackle poverty, improve access to health, protect the environment, reduce violence, and uphold the human rights of some of the most marginalised communities worldwide. The upcoming UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs on 19-21 April will provide a rare opportunity to bring nations together to genuinely try and find a solution to the problems caused by the war on drugs.
First, some of the ways in which drug control efforts have impacted on development must be analysed, before discussing how global policy can be modified to generate a more positive impact in developing nations.
The key issue is the failure of current policies to address the socio-economic root causes of the so-called “world drug problem”, in many cases exacerbating them. This encompasses poverty, inequality, discrimination and social and cultural marginalisation, as well as the stability of countries.
Crop eradication and alternative development programmes, particularly those involving eradication as a conditionality, have extensive negative impacts for crop producing communities. The destruction of what is often the only cash generating crop grown by farmers further alienates them from the state by removing their sole source of income. Indeed, in Afghanistan it was noted that the program of crop eradication became a highly effective recruitment tool for the Taliban. Crop eradication, then, deepens regional poverty and food insecurity and often leads to farmers being displaced from their homes.
Negative health impacts can also be clearly seen during these programmes, with one of the chemical herbicides utilised in Colombia being designated by the World Health Organisation as a carcinogen. Environmental impacts also occur, with damage to the land and water sources that communities rely on to survive, alongside general destruction of biodiversity and environmental degradation. The so called ‘balloon effect’, in which production moves to new areas after crop eradication, also causes deforestation through the expansion of agricultural frontiers.
International drug control conventions are also enforced overly strictly. The intention to prevent the diversion of controlled medicines to illicit markets is well meaning, however it results in significant constraints on access to essential medicines, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The inability to access, for example, pain relieving opiates critically hampers the development of good healthcare in developing countries, lowering life expectancy and stunting economic growth.
Heavy handed and militarised efforts by states to control the illicit drug trade fuels insecurity and conflict. Criminal competition over control of the illicit trade is often violent, with significant impacts on homicide rates and other forms of insecurity, and state responses often only fuel the cycle of violence. This is evidenced in the upsurge of drug related violence in Brazil’s favelas whenever military forces move in, compared to the pacifying police units that take a community focused approach. A further issue is the drug trade being used by armed groups as a major source of finance, such as with FARC in Columbia.
The vast profits from the illicit drug market lead to the corruption or collusion of security services, judiciaries, politicians and even whole electoral processes. This undermines people-focused security and justice service provision, as well as the effectiveness and accountability of institutions of governance. This not only hampers development, but also can drive state fragility and increase conflict risks in the long-term. This is highlighted by allegations by drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s daughter, Rosa Isela Gusmán Ortiz, that he bankrolled senior politicians’ campaigns in return for support in avoiding US patrols.
On an individual scale, the absence of harm-reduction services leads to negative health impacts. This includes preventable HIV and hepatitis infections that are associated with injecting drug use, as well as preventable overdose deaths. There have been moves to try and counter this, with needle exchange programmes and the opening of medically supervised injection centres in a number of countries. Even where these services do exist, however, the criminalisation of people who use drugs acts as a significant barrier for people attempting to access health care, preventing them from seeking help for their issues and pushing them into the margins of society. The overall negative impacts of drug control policies, particularly disproportionately large sentences and crop eradication, disproportionately affect women, who are most commonly engaged in drug markets at a very low level.
It is crucial that the UNGASS on drugs addresses the fundamental connections between drug policy and sustainable development, outlined above. A failure to do so risks many more years of an unproductive, wasteful war on drugs that harms many more than it helps. The following suggestions go some way to providing a future drug policy that positively contributes to peace and development, as part of achievement of the SDGs.
Initially, it must be agreed at the summit to welcome the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and noted that drug control policies must not undermine the achievement of the SDGs. In this vein, the current drug war paradigm must be acknowledged as a major obstacle to achieving many of the SDGs, an in light of this all alternative policy options should be tabled to fully consider how these might better facilitate the achievement of the SDGs.
The SDGs should be made a central consideration in the development and implementation of all drug control measures. This should involve dismantling initiatives which negatively impact on development and prioritising those that contribute to improved sustainable economic development, secure livelihoods, food security, strengthening of local institutions, improving infrastructure, access to markets and gender equality. This would form a drug policy that was ‘development sensitive’, actively engaging local communities in meaningful consultation and participation in national development policies and action plans.
An expert panel should be established to conduct a thorough and regular review of areas where drug policy is positively or negatively impacting progress to achieve the SDGs. This panel should also propose concrete measures to increase coherence between drug policy and development mechanisms within the UN system, including increased oversight for relevant UN agencies working on development. Old metrics and indicators in the sphere of drug policy should be overhauled and replaced with ones that are aligned with the SDGs. Development of new guidelines which reflect the socio-economic foundations of involvement in the drugs trade.
In line with efforts to meet SDG 15, relating to life on land, the environmental consequences of forced crop eradication must be addressed. This includes ending the practice of moving illicit crop cultivation into areas of ecological importance to evade the eradication campaigns. SDG 16, “peace, justice and strong institutions”, necessitates active measures being taken to reduce heavy handed and militarised responses to the violence associated with drug trafficking. In their stead, creative policy solutions should be developed and implemented to reduce the levels of violence.
Access to controlled medicines must be ensured to achieve SDG 3, particularly in developing countries. This should be done through national legislative and regulatory frameworks that prioritise access to essential medicines. Furthermore, the provision of harm reduction and evidence based drug treatment, and HIV prevention, care and treatment must be recognised as core obligations of Member States under the right to health, and these efforts must be scaled up from their present level.
Alternative measures to conviction or punishment for drug related offenses of a minor or non-violent nature should be developed and adopted. This follows into supporting decriminalisation and alternatives to incarcerations for people who use drugs, as well as small scale producers. Disproportionate sentences for drug offenses must also be tackled, focusing particularly on the needs of women and other marginalised groups. This supports SDGs 5 and 10, relating to reducing inequality and supporting gender equality.
By bringing global drug policy in line with the new, internationally agreed, SDGs, the UNGASS would show commitment to improving the lives of countless people currently affected by the war on drugs. The mistakes that have been made since the war began should not be repeated, and the upcoming special session provides a rare opportunity to change the course of global policy in a real, meaningful way. The UN website states “for the goals to be reached, everyone needs to do their part” – it remains to be seen if they take their own guidance.
← A4ID CEO Joins Civil Society Leaders from across the Globe at the Commonwealth Peoples Forum 2015
Getting to grips with ending poverty – Yasmin Batliwala writes in The Times Law Brief →
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Ariel Center for Policy Research
Ariel Center for Policy Research (ACPR)
Nativ
A Journal of Politics and the Arts
Volume 16 ■ Number 3-4 (98-99) ■ June 2004 ■ Tammuz 5764
Tell Us the Truth, Arik: Telling "Nothing" is Merely Lying With Silence
Emanuel Winston
Sharon and the Media: The Unholy Alliance
David Bukay
The Self-Incrimination of Ariel Sharon
Paul Eidelberg
Anti-Semitism: Integral to European Culture
Manfred Gerstenfeld
Where Memory is a Curse and Amnesia a Blessing:
A Journey Through Romania's Holocaust Narrative
Laurence Weinbaum
Rabbis in the Holocaust: Captains of a Sinking Ship
Esther Farbstein
Europe: The Return of Defeatism
Jan Willem Van der Hoeven
Tank Tops and Heavy Metal: Armor's Enduring Appeal on the Middle Eastern Battlefield
Rand H. Fishbein
The Palestinian Authority
Arab Terror
Rachel Ehrenfeld
A New Chance for the Original Jewish Self-Conception
Daniel Shalit
The Radicalization of Israeli Academia
Solomon Socrates
Chomsky's War Against Israel
Paul Bogdanor
Jewish Self-Degradation and its Misuse by Anti-Semites in Contemporary Germany
Susanne Urban
The Selective Freedom of Speech of the Radical Left
Steve Plaut
Moshe Shamir
Homage to Orzion Bartana: "All" is But a Part of a Great Whole
Ran Yagil
The Warden of Plenty Rings
Sika Aharoni
Orzion Bartana • Esther Zilber-Vitkon • Anna Akhmatova
Moshe Yegar on "Europe's Crumbling Myths" by Manfred Gerstenfeld • Hillel Weiss on "The Fifty-Fifth Year" by Yossi Achimeir
The Wise Men of Chelm
A Letter from a Palestinian Friend
Selected Summaries
A Journey Through Romania’s Holocaust Narrative
Romania was largely unaffected by the historical confrontation that swept Europe in the mid-1990s, resulting in a reevaluation of many nations’ wartime narratives. During the Communist period, Romanian society did not face its own culpability in the destruction of its Jewish community and in the murder of Jews in Soviet territory under Romanian military occupation. Instead, despite their wartime alliance with Nazi Germany (which persisted until August 1944), Romanians were taught to see themselves as victims, not perpetrators. Murdered Jews were seen as “victims of Fascism” and their deaths were blamed on the Germans alone. Whatever discussion of the Holocaust that was permitted, usually focused on the annihilation of the Jews of northern Transylvania that was carried out by the Hungarians and Germans while the territory was under Hungarian control. After the 1989 revolution that spelled the end of the despotic rule of Ceausescu, no positive change in the country’s historiography was immediately forthcoming. On the contrary, a personality cult developed around the figure of Marshal Ion Antonescu, Romania’s wartime dictator who was responsible for the deaths of over 400,000 Jews (and who was hanged for war crimes in 1946). Not only in extreme nationalist circles, but even in the political mainstream, Antonescu was generally credited with being the savior of the Jews who survived his regime. Jews who dared contradict this version of history were accused of attempting to discredit Romania. In the summer of 2003, when asked to clarify an official Romanian government declaration that “within the borders of Romania between 1940 and 1945 there was no Holocaust,” President Ion Iliescu said that “the Holocaust was not unique to the Jewish population in Europe. Many others...died the same way...” He also accused Jews who were seeking the return of their plundered property of trying to “skin” Romanians. In October 2003, in large measure due to an international outcry, President Iliescu (who on previous occasions had not condemned anti-Semitism) announced the creation of an international commission of inquiry into the destruction of Romanian Jewry, to be chaired by Elie Wiesel. One hopes that the findings of this commission will help Romanians shape a new historical narrative that does not whitewash their forefathers’ own role in the Final Solution.
Any conceptual system trying to account for the present bewildering self-destructive tendencies in Israel cannot deal just with present difficulties, but has to account for the whole gamut of facts and features of the Jewish historical existence. A partial list of these features consists of Jewish fate, including destruction, exile, suppression, attempts at annihilation; the intensity of hatred, contempt, de-humanization and demonization aimed at the Jewish people; its own occasional self-refusal and self-hate verging on self-destruction; also, tendencies for assimilation, radicalism, revolution. In the face of all this – the longest known national survival; continued creativity (Biblical, legal, mystical, Hassidic; in Midrash, poetry, and prayer). In the modern age, the unbelievable institution of the State of Israel – and now, what seems its wholesale liquidation.
Our suggestion is to reconsider the traditional Jewish self-conception.
Its core idea is that the Jewish people is the central site of the dialogue between God and Man, or, in more mystical terms, a vessel for the conscience of the Infinite Divinity and its expression in human life – individual, family, social, legal, moral and political.
Such a project must arouse opposition from cultures or nations, who are less interested in it, inner opposition within the Jewish people itself, and, last but not least, resistance within the individual self. Furthermore, the opposition may be said to be even metaphysical, since in order for human choice to be free, a system of forces counteracting the Divine Word must be activated.
The Jewish people has, then, a capacity for infinite receptivity. In order not to apply this receptivity but to the Infinite, this people must carefully guard itself from more finite influences, hence its clear self-delineation.
Such a subtle balance between the Infinite and the human, the universal and the particular, has to evolve through long preparatory historical stages, which in themselves are far from balanced and therefore highly vulnerable. At these transitory stages, the contact with the Infinite may fail, and various negative conditions may be suffered:
• External and internal oppositions may arise.
• Self-delineation may become segregation.
• Self-criticism may give way to self-negation.
• Infinite devotion may become radicalism.
• Self-surrender to the Infinite may be transformed into surrender and dependence on other cultures.
Such pathology may weaken and destroy any normal nation, but the Jewish people is apparently not normal in any normal sense; it is somehow protected against external malice and even against its own failures. There is always a way of turning all the falls into lessons and regaining the original relation to the Infinite.
So much for the traditional self-conception; for millenia it was not only a mere conception but a source of vitality. It certainly deserves to be translated into contemporary terms and to become once again a fount of powers for healing.
Anti-Semitism is an extreme form of hate, not to be confused with criticism. The resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe after the Holocaust suggests that it has become embedded over many centuries in its societal mindset and behavior and is thus integral to European culture.
That many Europeans condemn, dislike or are indifferent to anti-Semitism does not contradict its deep roots in European culture, as statements of mainstream politicians, media and leading intellectuals prove. Also, varying types of anti-Semitic feelings are expressed in polls. The anti-Semitic wave of the last few years, mainly but not exclusively focused on Israel, suggests that it is impossible to eradicate this deep-seated irrational attitude in European society.
New European anti-Semitism often originates from youth. This indicates that it is an anti-Semitism of the future rather than the past and thus likely to become stronger.
The European Union’s attitude toward anti-Semitism is double-handed. With one hand, by its discriminatory anti-Israeli declarations, the EU plays the role of arsonist, fanning the flames of anti-Semitism. With the other, it also serves as fireman by trying, at the same time, to quench the flames of classic religious and ethnic anti-Semitism. France is paradigmatic of this widespread attitude.
A major change in EU policies is required to combat European anti-Semitism more effectively. This will have to be based on better data collection and political, legislative as well as educational action.
The central elements of Europe’s anti-Semitism are so major and so manifold that Jewish organizations can no longer limit themselves to protesting against individual cases of anti-Semitism. A systematic “Europewatch” to monitor extreme politicians, institutions, media and intellectuals has to be undertaken.
Attitudes toward the Jews have often been an indicator of the health of a society. Making Europeans aware of this is a further important step in the battle to mitigate anti-Semitism.
The article deals with the works of two rabbis who lived during the Holocaust period; one, the manuscript of a Hassidic master in the ghetto; the second, of a congregational rabbi written in a labor camp.
Rabbi Kalonymus Shapira, the “Piascesna Rebbe”, was known before the war both as an educator, the writer of “The Students’ Obligation”, a basic volume in Hassidic education, and as a lover of the Land of Israel.
During the Nazi occupation, he resided in the Warsaw Ghetto. His home was open for prayer, assistance and advice, and each Sabbath he delivered sermons which afforded encouragement and faith. During the deportations, he worked in Schultz’s shop, which was known as the “Hassidic masters’ workshop”, where rabbis studied Torah in the guise of “workers”. He was murdered in Bodzin, in the Lublin District, on November 2, 1943. His collection of sermons are considered the last Hassidic manuscript in Poland.
The Rebbe continued to formulate Hassidic philosophy in the Ghetto, calling to find God in every situation, as “there is no place that He is not present.” God is also present in the human soul and his suffering, and a time of suffering can be a time of intimacy and integration with the “pain of the Divine Presence”; suffering is a connection based on the shared fate of man and his Maker. Similarly, he called to find God through “love of the fellow Jew”, through empathy and assistance to others. His sermons deal with the meaning of suffering and they include various responsa which developed in light of existence in the Ghetto. In an addendum to the book, the Rebbe emphasized the uniqueness of the Holocaust, the fact that the Jews had never before suffered anything like it. And when there were no more words and no more Hassidim, all that remained was the final prayer: “Please, God, have mercy and do not delay our redemption, and God will have mercy upon us and deliver us in an instant.”
Rabbi Yehoshua Moshe Aharonson, the rabbi of the village of Sanik, wrote the second manuscript discussed in this article, during his internment in the Kunin concentration camp, from March 1942 until late August 1943.
The journal is written in fluent, rich Hebrew, and the memoirs are written in Yiddish. Among the descriptions of Jewish suffering and Nazi cruelty, existential, Jewish law and moral dilemmas, which faced the rabbi and the Jews in the camp, are intertwined. Some relate to daily life, like the eating of proscribed foods, matters of prayer and burial and some dealt with genuine questions of life and death, like formulation of deportation lists for the Germans and the question of suicide. The rabbi describes the circumstances, the ruling and his feelings as an arbiter of Jewish law in a concentration camp.
A comparison between these writings enables one to get a sense of the range of Jewish leadership during the Holocaust. Each one represented not only a different type of authority, communal and inter-communal authority, but also provided for his congregation in that spiritual realm characteristic of his leadership during their times of trouble. Thus, even when the bedrock of their existence collapsed and they were exiled with their flock, each held on to the essence of his role, one as a Hassidic intellectual, providing encouragement and consolation; the other as an arbiter and leader, serving as role models who practice what they preach.
Tank Tops and Heavy Metal:
Armor’s Enduring Appeal on the Middle Eastern Battlefield
Rand H. Fishbein, Ph.D.
Far from being a relic of the past, the heavily armored main battle tank is redefining its place on the modern battlefield. From Iraq and Afghanistan to the Palestinian territories, the tank is displaying a new versatility that has once again propelled it to the forefront of ground combat. A renaissance in technology has made the venerable tank not only more lethal and maneuverable, but more survivable as well.
The Middle East continues to serve as the principal proving ground for new armor technology with countries like Egypt, Jordan and Iran engaging in major upgrade programs. The US remains one of the principal tank suppliers to the Arab states, recently announcing that it will provide the latest version of the M1 Abrams tank, the A2, to its allies.
Israel, by contrast, stands at a crossroads in tank acquisition. With its defense budget under increasing strain, there is mounting pressure from the government to terminate production of the Merkava tank. Doing so, however, would have a crippling effect on the nation’s defense industrial base and most assuredly on the ability of Israel’s military leaders to address the growing threat of urban insurrection now gripping the country.
It is imperative that the government commit to an economic rate of Merkava tank production of at least 50 vehicles per year to ensure a viable armor industrial base. Legacy systems should be upgraded, where appropriate, and a robust research and development program for armor maintained.
The Merkava remains an essential part of Israel’s export economy, generating income not only from the sale of defense products and services overseas, but from the diffusion of technology into the civilian sector as well.
The advent of more lethal anti-tank weapons, attack aircraft and long range smart weapons has not diminished the value of the tank. Rather, it has emphasized the need for greater survivability and lethality on the modern battlefield. The ability to seize and hold ground will forever remain at the heart of winning strategy. The Middle East theater is no exception.
As Israel’s adversaries continue to improve their offensive systems it is imperative that the Jewish state not forget some of the hard won lessons of its past. Both quality and quantity are both essential components of victory in a war environment characterized by high attrition, beyond visual range engagement and the need for precision strikes. The heavy tank is an answer to each of these requirements, and as such, should remain an effective fighting tool well into the 21st century.
Chomsky’s War Against Israel
Noam Chomsky, the linguistics professor and extreme left-wing activist, is one of the most prolific Jewish opponents of Israel and Zionism. This article explores the salient features of Chomsky’s anti-Israel discourse: his sophistical argument that a Jewish homeland cannot be democratic; his commitment to the creation of a revolutionary socialist federation in which Jews will be a subjugated minority; his apologetics for Arab extremism; and his depiction of Israel as a terrorist state which is prepared to risk a global “final solution” for the sake of establishing “Jewish dominance” throughout the Middle East. The article documents Chomsky’s political fanaticism and his systematic falsification of facts, evidence, sources and statistics. It concludes by examining Chomsky’s wider hostility to his fellow Jews, including his scurrilous attacks on the American Jewish community and his notorious endorsements of Holocaust deniers.
This article is an abridged version of a chapter to be published in Peter Collier and David Horowitz, eds., The Anti-Chomsky Reader (Encounter Books, 2004, forthcoming). Reprinted by permission.
Sharon and the Media – The Unholy Alliance
The “Disengagement Program”, hurriedly submitted by Sharon, without government approval or Knesset deliberation, was conceived in the sin of competing with Yossi Beilin’s “Geneva Agreement”, and it stands as a sword of Damocles over us, despite the fact that it was rejected by an impressive majority of the members of the Likud. It is a unilateral, hasty, escapist political maneuver, whose objectives are unclear; its result dangerous and its systematic thinking and strategic logic are lacking. Did Sharon devote any thought at all to what would happen after such a panicky flight? Would terrorism end and Palestinian society moderate and cease being a lynching society, which sanctifies blood and death?
Israel has learned nothing, and the syndrome of frightened flight from Lebanon, which bears a large measure of responsibility for the outbreak of Arafat’s September 2000 terrorist war, is recurring. Hizbullah, from which we “disengaged” in Lebanon, has vigorously entered the Palestinian Authority arena and is the foremost leader, operator and initiator of terrorist acts. Israel fled Lebanon, however Lebanon has not fled from it and Israel will withdraw from Gaza, however Gaza will not withdraw from it and will continue to attack it.
The Israeli media, which established a “mutual admiration society” coalition with the messianic Left, provided Sharon with maximum exposure to disseminate his messages, in order to facilitate the successful adoption of his proposal. With a long series of contentions, we systematically refute his positions, in order to expose his “pack of lies” camouflaged in the “emperor’s new clothes”. Especially conspicuous is the disparity between Sharon’s declarations and President Bush’s letter to him and that unsupported pretension further strengthens those disparities.
Finally, we raise a series of questions designed to prove that it is highly probable that Israel’s strategic situation is liable to further deteriorate in the wake of the implementation of the disengagement program, and enumerate several dimensions of that process internally, regionally and internationally.
Academic extremists maintain a very high profile in the Israeli, Arab, and world media and have had an impact far beyond their actual numbers. Examples of their influence are plentiful, from the negotiations cooked up by two academics that produced the Oslo Accords to the rewriting of the textbooks used in Israeli schools to reflect the Arab point of view. Israeli journalists tend to follow their lead and take their clues from the tenured extremists (note, for example, how the media and then the PLO turned Katz’s otherwise obscure M.A. thesis into a cause celebre). Even more important, the extremists have an impact on events and emotions in the Middle East by encouraging those seeking to destroy Israel as well as demoralizing the Israeli public, thus weakening its ability to defend the country.
The most surprising thing about all this is that Israel’s academic extremists do all this damage while being funded by the Israeli taxpayer and by Jewish contributors from around the world, most notably in the United States. (University students pay only about 15% of the costs of their education, with the remainder coming from these taxpayers or donors.) Donors making philanthropic gifts to Israeli universities do so to assist with the Zionist enterprise; obviously, such persons will want to think twice before permitting their funds to further promote anti-Israel extremism.
Jewish Self-Degradation and its Misuse by Anti-Semites
in Contemporary Germany
In the last few years, a steep rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism as well as anti-Americanism has been observed throughout Germany. This development started nearly parallel to the “Second Intifada” in 2000 and took a steep increase after 9/11 and the War in Iraq. Anti-Semitism on various levels – from subtle to open – is expressed by intellectuals, in the media, at public gatherings, in politics, schools and universities. The best means to assure that it will not be considered anti-Semitism but “only criticism” of Israel is to quote or interview , above all, leftist Israeli and/or Diaspora Jews who underline this hostile attitude. Another statement which is constantly repeated, is that because of the Holocaust, Germans have to side with today’s victims – and therefore with Palestinians in general.
But the German tendency to side with Israelis or Jews who are not only critical about Israeli politics but who are full of self-hatred is obvious. The “New Historians” are surprisingly not only those who gain most of the interest of anti-Zionists in Germany, but journalists and other public figures who are popularizing the topic of being anti-Zionistic.
Ariel Center for Policy Research / NATIV
POB 99, Shaarei Tikva 44810, Israel
URLs: www.acpr.org.il, http://nativ.cc
Email: ariel.center@gmail.com
Tel: +972-3-906-3920 ■ Fax: +972-3-906-3905
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Hilltop is bordered by 8th Avenue to the North, Alameda Avenue to the South, Quebec/Monaco to the East, and Colorado Boulevard to the West.
Noted for quiet, tree-shaded streets, charming period architecture, and lush parkways, Hilltop lies adjacent to Lowry, a new mixed-use community featuring shops, restaurants, and theaters, and the Cherry Creek Mall Shopping District, home to some of Denver's most exclusive boutiques, bistros, and art galleries.
The area's first settlement, a lone cabin erected in 1859 beside the Cherokee Trail - the heavily traveled route led to Denver along Cherry Creek - has been preserved at Four Mile Historic Park. A treat for the entire family, Four Mile's traditional Fourth of July is not to be missed.
In 1885, after water from the South Platte arrived via the City Lateral Canal, a branch of the Highline Canal, more people began to settle in Hilltop proper. Winding its way more than 84 miles south and east of Denver, the Highline Canal is now a popular recreation trail frequented by dog owners, joggers, and bicyclists.
Although Hilltop's earliest subdivisions were annexed by Denver in 1893, the area remained a rural enclave until the 1920s, when the University of Colorado School of Medicine moved to the corner of East Eighth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard and drew numerous professionals to the area. By the 1950s, the neighborhood encompassed more than 700 homes.
English Tudors and classic 50s-style ranches share blocks with multilevel Contemporaries and International-style homes, making the allure of Hilltop nearly irresistible. Hilltop boasts a wealth of parks, period architecture, and manicured yards. Cranmer, Burns, and Robinson Parks lie within the neighborhood, while a half-dozen others including Crestmoor, Pulaski Park and Cherry Creek Bikeway, Mayfair, and Lindsley are just blocks away.
Cranmer Park offers a spectacular panorama of the Front Range Mountains from a flagstone promenade engraved with the names and altitudes of prominent peaks. The park name honors George Cranmer, who oversaw Denver's parks between 1935 and 1947 and helped establish both Red Rocks Park and Winter Park Ski Area.
Cranmer frequently appeared on horseback to enjoy the often blazing sunsets as many locals still do today (though not in the company of horses). There's seldom want of a breeze, so kite flying is a popular pastime along with the usual picnicking and sunbathing.
Adjoining the park at its apogee, the Mediterranean-Renaissance Cranmer Mansion (a designated Historic Landmark) designed by the renowned Jules Jacques Benedict, is typical of the magnificent homes, both old and new, that grace much of Hilltop.
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The major in International Business permits students to prepare for managerial careers in international business. It is interdisciplinary in nature and emphasizes the development of language skills as well as an understanding of the sociocultural, political, managerial, marketing, and economic understanding of the international environment.
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Jeff: It’s sort of strange; I still remember my first day of kindergarten. The teacher asked the class – “What do you want to learn? My hand shot up and when she called on me, I knew I had the best answer of all: “I want to learn to read and write.” From there I remember being drawn to Science Fiction (the local library was three blocks away), and the more I read, the more I realized I wanted to write. I was about eight years old when my mom got a typewriter and after much begging, she let me use it for about an hour. I started a story about a boy going to the moon on a rocket and decided, “I could do this.”
Jeff: I have a BA in English, with a minor in Writing. I’ve done a fair amount of technical writing in my job, written a couple of grants, but the desire has always been for fiction.
Jeff: I saw a quote a couple of weeks ago that I really like. It was by Toni Morrison. She said: “If there is a book that you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” I read a lot and try to keep up on news and every once in awhile I will learn something new and think ‘”There’s a great idea for a story!” I’ll ponder it awhile and if it’s still with me after several days, then my interest level kicks up a couple of notches. If I can come up with a good story to carry the idea…at that point I’m excited.
Jeff: For me, the writing schedule isn’t just about sitting down at the keyboard and typing words. There is research and thinking time. I take the bus to work and it’s about a forty minute trip. I get on the bus and close my eyes because unfortunately I get motion sickness. But it’s perfect, because that’s the thinking portion of my writing, forty minutes each way, planning out what I’m going to be writing next. At that moment I have nothing ready to put down on paper, it’s still percolating. So when I’m actually at the computer I may be doing research. But in a couple days that next chapter will somehow come together in my head and then I’ll have a burst of writing. Because of work, family and other responsibilities, I usually don’t get started writing until about 8 PM, but then I may go until midnight.
Deirdra: Can you tell us a little about what your Dark Age Fiction project is about?
Jeff: My agent recommended a book for me to read called Booklife, by Jeff Vandemeer. It’s all about how to live your life as a writer. One of the things he says you must do is get on Facebook. I wasn’t on there yet, so I signed up and found it to be a pretty good place to do networking. He says you must do a blog. So I started Dark Age Fiction. It’s primarily to promote my writing and I’ve discovered I like having a blog. He also said you have to do Twitter, but I haven’t really committed to that yet.
I always wanted to be a Science Fiction writer, but I somehow got the idea for a Historical Fantasy, and decided to write it. I discovered I liked the genre and most of my newer ideas seemed to come from the dark ages, so hence, Dark Age Fiction.
Deirdra: What has your experience been like to work with a professional literary agent?
Jeff: It’s been both rewarding and frustrating. Up until a few years ago I figured once you got an agent, you had it made. My agent likes to take on a new writer every once in awhile, and I’m her current project. She’s made me realize how much I still have to learn. But she said, don’t worry, after you get a few novels under your belt, it gets a lot easier. She’s tough, but I’ve learned a lot.
Jeff: The ideas can come from anywhere. The final idea is often the juxtaposition of two or three different ideas. For example, I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of all cultures having a dragon myth. I’ve been intrigued by Stonehenge. I’ve been intrigued by Hadrian’s wall. All that was kicking around in my head for awhile and I thought…I wonder who would be the main character in a story like this. The story takes place in the time of King Arthur, but I didn’t want to use him. I found Coel, a semi-legendary king of Northern Britain. And then I found the Picts. I mulled that around for awhile and finally decided I could tie them all together. The next thought was…now, there’s a story worth telling.
Deirdra: When did the idea of writing a book first come to you?
Jeff: I was always planning on writing short stories. I’d written a number of them. Finally several years ago I decided, short stories are great, but if I could write a novel, that would not only be a challenge, but if I could sell it, who knows what might happen. Back in the mid 90’s I gave it a try, an adventure story that was only 40,000 words. It fell short, but it was good practice. I tried again a few years later and hit about 50,000 words. I finally wrote a full length story I felt good about a couple of years ago with Draegnstoen.
Deirdra: What do you hope readers will someday get from you books?
Jeff: I hope to get people stretch their imaginations, for them to see that good is worth seeking after and sometimes even fighting for. Most of all, I hope to inspire them to stretch and grow.
Jeff: I think that I probably have a rather odd process for brainstorming. I guess I would say I toss a bunch of ideas into my subconscious and leave them for awhile. I check back from time to time and then, one day, there is something there, something tangible to grab onto. From there, somehow the story just seems to come together to the point where there is a framework to build on. For Draegnstoen, I mostly wrote in chronological order. For my current novel, I write whatever scene pops into my head.
Deirdra: Do you ever experience a snag in a story, a form of writer's block? If so, how do you deal with it?
Jeff: Yes. I’m having one right now! How do I deal with it? I don’t panic, I do research on my story, I think to myself, well, the next scene is not coming, how about this one, or this one. Usually in a day or two something starts flowing again and I start writing again.
Jeff: I don’t need absolute quiet, but after I sit down to write, it usually takes me about twenty minutes to get into the zone so I can write. Music? Usually some favorites, like classic rock. Sometimes music that has the mood of my story does the trick. Often no music at all, but I find that when I’m brainstorming, music helps a lot.
Jeff: Well, I’m writing historical fantasy right now, so I read history and myth. I find photos of the places the story takes place. I read about flora and fauna, architecture, customs, tools, weapons, culture and cuisine. Inspiration can come from other literature, or scriptures. Music, movies, it all helps. I am very grateful for a subconscious that somehow sorts it out and then taps me on the shoulder and says…”hey, how about this?”
Strangely enough, the old Dire Straits song “Brothers in Arms” became one of the major inspirations for my current book.
Jeff: It’s difficult to pin down to one person. A seventh grade English teacher who got annoyed with me because I wasn’t doing my best so she gave me a “C” in her class. A High school film teacher who taught me to dig deeper into meaning. A couple of college professors who encouraged my writing. Family members who have cheered me on. Several writing friends who have been enthusiastic supporters in a number of ways, from continually telling me to keep at it, to reading my stuff, and giving me amazing ideas. A number of people in many different ways have made the difference and I am very grateful.
Deirdra: What’s your secret to making the character’s in your books come to life?
Jeff: I write everything in third person omniscient. For me, every scene is like watching a movie. I’m right there at the table listening to the conversations with them. I’m on the battlefield with them. I watch them, I hear them. I feel like an invisible character in the story.
I also realize that to someone who doesn’t write, this writing process all sounds very odd. I am reminded of an article from a medical journal I read a couple of months ago that said very creative, imaginative people and people with schizophrenia had very similar levels of dopamine in their brains. So, there you go, maybe we are all just a bit mad?
Deirdra: Which of your books is your favorite, and why?
Jeff: I suspect it may be the same for every writer who has a work in progress, the book you are currently working on. Every book must be original, better than the last one. So, right now, for me, it’s Highland King. It’s almost half done, pieces scattered all over the place, but it’s coming together nicely. It’s darker than Draegnstoen, more fantasy, but still not over the top; it’s almost plausible. I guess it’s my favorite right now because I’m in the thick of it and it’s exciting to see it come together. I’ve discovered I really like these epic sagas. A huge, sweeping story with chapter names like “The Gates of Dawn” and “The Battle of Heroes.”
Jeff: Hmmmm…I always have a glass of water handy. An actual snack? I’d probably have to say peanuts, but writing is so sedentary, I can’t eat much while I write, I would get enormous!
Jeff: It sounds trite, but don’t give up. If you are trying to get an agent, don’t send a query letter and sit and wait until you hear back. I know one writer who was trying to get an agent the same time as me. She asked me how many queries I had out. I was rather proud…fifteen I told her. “Are you crazy?” She said. “I have a hundred and twenty five out, get busy!” So I did. At one point I had forty queries out. That’s what did it for me. Also, consider signing up for a website like Writersmarket.com. I think it’s about $39 a year, but you have access to a continuously updated database of agents and publishers by genre. It’s a valuable resource. Finally, don’t stop writing while you are waiting. Writing makes the waiting easier.
Jeff: Highland King. When I finished Draegnstoen I had a few people read it. After my brother read it he said “you need a sequel!” I laughed and said “there is no sequel.” My agent told me to start thinking about a sequel. Then I was worried. I hadn’t left a place in Draegnstoen for a sequel. But turns out there is one.
Draegnstoen takes place in Northern England. I moved the sequel north to Scotland. I also decided to write it with a bit of a Scottish accent. That adds a more challenge to it, but it feels more authentic. There’s an extremely reluctant hero and a truly terrifying villain - an eight foot giant. That makes for an interesting dynamic. It’s a BIG story with allusions to King David, the stone of destiny, the coming of a legendary king. It’s the story of the Picts, a people almost unknown in the history books. And of course, it’s a love story. There has to be a love story.
Deirdra: What is the most difficult thing about being an author?
Jeff: The Internet. It’s completely turned the publishing business upside down. Traditional publishing is going through tumultuous changes. We have POD, ebooks, Kindle, Nook. It’s changed everything and people are still figuring it all out what it all means.
However, it has also made writing so much easier. We can do research from our computer. Not just text, but photographs, maps, movie clips, sound clips. I have part of Highland King take place on Unst, the northernmost Shetland Island. It’s extremely remote. I found photos, sound clips of their accent, tide tables, their diet, information about sunrise and sunset times, all within a couple of hours.
Jeff: Taking some ideas, combining them in your head and creating a story. The story affects you, it moves you. And then you find the right combination of little black marks to put on paper. And if you do it just right, those little black marks will invoke those same emotions in your reader. That is magic.
Deirdra: What are your goals as an author for the next three years?
Jeff: To have Draegnstoen published, to finish Highland King and have a contract for that to be published and to be writing my next book, Woden.
Deirdra: Where is your favorite place to write?
Jeff: I do most of my writing in the den. It’s usually quiet and out of the way. Sometimes, when the weather is nice I will take my laptop out on the deck and write.
Deirdra: How do you come up with your character’s names?
Jeff: This is a topic that a writer must never take lightly. The names must fit, in more ways that one. They have to fit the time, the place and the type of character. You can write against convention, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a new writer. A strong character needs a strong name. If you want a tough Viking, you name him Erik, not Jeremy. Strong names usually have stronger consonant sounds. People also have perceptions about names. My heroine in Highland King is “Morag.” I love the name, it’s a strong name and it fits the story perfectly. I don’t think people would respect the strength of the character if I had named her “Debbie.” The reader wouldn’t accept the name because it’s not old enough, or the right heritage. It would grate on them, every time they saw it. A name has to blend seamlessly with the rest of the story.
Jeff: Your story brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat.
Jeff: Writing is a strange vocation. For the ones really caught up in it, we can’t stay away from it, if it draws us back time and time again. The only thing we can do is embrace it, because it’s part of who we are. Getting rich and famous might be nice, but the reason we write is because there are stories to tell, and we must tell them.
Highland King, the sequel to Draegnstoen, continues the saga of the royal families in 5th Century Scotland and Northern England.
Doncann (nephew of Coel from Draegnstoen) is a young Pictish prince. Swept up in the politics and murderous infighting of claimants to his grandfather's throne, he is falsely accused of murder and exiled to the north. Often fighting for his life, he is protected by the magic of women, mentored by a Celtic demigod and shown how his fate is part of the collective future of his people.
Who can unite an ancient kingdom broken apart for generations? Stand up to an invading army threatening to overrun the entire country? Learn of the magic of women, the power of silver, and the secret of the Stone of Destiny?
No one but the Highland King.
Labels: Jeff Blackmer
kbrebes December 2, 2010 at 8:49 AM
Great interview. BOOKLIFE sounds like a valuable read. Thanks!
Karen Dupaix December 2, 2010 at 7:51 PM
Great interview. I loved it. Very inspirational.
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Home | Education
History of Aramaic
by Paul D. Younan - June 1, 2000 - [website]
Posted: Sunday, June 22, 2008 at 06:21 AM CT
Aramaic is the ancient language of the Semitic family group, which includes the Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Arameans, Hebrews, and Arabs. In fact, a large part of the Hebrew and Arabic languages is borrowed from Aramaic, including the Alphabet. The modern Hebrew (square) script is called "Ashuri", "Ashuri" is the Hebrew name for Assyrian, the name being used to signify the ancestor of the Assyrians, Ashur the son of Shem, the son of Noah (Genesis 10:22). Aramaic is quoted in the very first book of the Bible, Berisheth (Genesis) in Chapter 31:47. In fact, many portions of the Old Testament are penned originally in Aramaic, including Daniel chapter 2:4 thru chapter 7.
Tel Dan Inscription.
Medium: Basalt Stele.
Approximate Date: 9th-8th century B.C.
Place of Discovery: Tel Dan, Galilee, Israel.
Current Location: Israel Museum, Jerusalem
The first known inscriptions of Aramaic date to the late tenth or early ninth century B.C. In a phenomenal wave of expansion, Aramaic spread over Palestine and Syria and large tracts of Asia and Egypt, replacing many languages, including Akkadian and Hebrew. For about one thousand years it served as the official and written language of the Near East, officially beginning with the conquests of the Assyrian Empire, which had adopted Aramaic as its official language, replacing Akkadian.
The Assyrian Empire.
During the later Chaldean (Neo-Babylonian) and Persian conquests, Aramaic had become the international medium of exchange. Despite Hellenistic influences, especially in the cities, that followed the conquests of Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Aramaic remained the vernacular of the conquered peoples in the Holy Land, Syria, Mesopotamia and the adjacent countries. It ceded only to Arabic in the ninth century A.D., two full centuries after the Islamic conquests of Damascus in 633, and Jerusalem in 635. Aramaic has never been totally supplanted by Arabic. Aramaic had been adopted by the deported Israelites of Transjordan, exiled from Bashan and Gilead in 732 B.C. by Tiglath-Pileser III, the tribes of the Northern Kingdom by Sargon II who took Samaria in 721, and the two tribes of the Southern Kingdom of Judah who were taken into captivity to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in 587. Hence, the Jews who returned from the Babylonian Captivity brought Aramaic back with them to the Holy Land, and this continued to be their native tongue throughout the lifetime of Eshoo Mshikha.
The Aramaic Inscription of the Tomb of Abba was uncovered north of the Old City of Jerusalem. On the wall above the repository is an Aramaic inscription in ancient Hebrew letters (very unusual in the Second Temple period) which reads:
I, Abba, son of the priest Eleaz(ar), son of Aaron the high (priest), I, Abba, the oppressed and the persecuted (?), who was born in Jerusalem, and went into exile into Babylonia and brought (back to Jerusalem) Mattathi(ah), son of Jud(ah), and buried him in a cave which I bought by deed.
During the Hellenistic period of the Seleucids, Aramaic ceased to be a uniform language, when various dialects began to form, due to regional influences of pronunciation and vocabulary. Some of these dialects became literary languages after the differences had increased. The language, henceforth, divided into an Eastern branch, with a number of dialects, and a Western branch with its dialects, but all of which retained a great similarity.
Aramaic Coins from Judea; A.D. 132-135 A.D. From the period of the 2nd Revolt.
OBVERSE: Five stringed lyre surrounded by Aramaic inscription: SHNT AHT LGALT YSRAL (year one to the freedom of Israel).
REVERSE: Palm branch within wreath surrounded by Aramaic inscription: SHMOWN NSYA YSRAL (Shimon the prince of Israel), all within dotted circle.
An Aramaic letter from Simon bar Kochba to Yehonathan bar Be'aya, written during the Jewish revolt 132-135 CE.
Aramaic can be dated to five periods, dating from inscriptions that go back to the first millennium B.C.:
Old Aramaic, 925-700
Official or Imperial (Assyrian) Aramaic, 700-200
(when the language was still uniform)
Middle Aramaic, 200 B.C. - 200 A.D.
Late Aramaic, 200-700
Modern Aramaic, 700 to our time
Aramaic Inscription in the Prayer Hall of the Ein Gedi Synagogue, Dead Sea, Israel. 3rd-century A.D.
The Aramaic in which the Bible called "Assakhta Peshitta" is written, known as the Peshitta Text, is in the dialect of northwest Mesopotamia as it evolved and was highly perfected in Orhai, once a city-kingdom, later called Edessa by the Greeks, and now called Urfa in Turkey. Harran, the city of Abraham's brother Nahor, lies 38 kilometers southeast of Orhai. The large colony of Orhai Jews, and the Jewish colonies in Assyria in the kingdom of Adiabene whose royal house had converted to Judaism, possessed most of the Bible in this dialect, the Peshitta Tenakh.
Edessa Citadel Mount with an Aramaic inscription in Estrangela script.
Edessan coin depicting King Abgar Ukkama, the world's first Christian King.
This Peshitta version of the Old Testament was taken over by all the Churches in the East, which used, and still use Aramaic, as far as India, and formerly in Turkestan and China. The Peshitta Tenakh was completed during Apostolic times with the writings of the New Testament.
Hsian-Fu (Xian) Monument commemorating the arrival of Christianity in China in 635-781 A.D.
Medium: black, sub-granular limestone. Approximate Date: 781 A.D. Place of Discovery: Hsian-Fu, Shanhsi Province, China. Current Location: Pei-lin, China.
This literary form of Eastern Aramaic was pronounced differently in the Western countries under Roman rule and its Byzantine successor, and became the "Western" dialect, influenced by Greek grammar and style. In the Parthian (Persian) Empire, the language retained its archaic style, syntax and pronunciation.
click on the picture for a larger image
Aramaic & Chinese inscriptions from the Hsian-Fu Monument:
Besides celebrating the arrival of Christianity in China in 635 A.D., the inscriptions consist of one thousand nine hundred Chinese characters and about fifty Aramaic words (in the Estrangela script), containing some seventy names of Assyrian missionaries in rows on the narrow sides of the stone with the corresponding Chinese characters denoting the Chinese synonyms or phonetics for the Assyrian names.
Greeks had called Aramaic by a word they coined, 'Syriac', and this artificial term was used in the West, but not in the East, where it has always been known by its own name, 'Lishana Aramaya' (the Aramaic language). Modern Eastern Aramaic has sixteen dialects, spoken by Christians and Jews, and a widely spoken western dialect. Modern Western Aramaic is spoken in three small villages north of Damascus, but in a very mixed form with words borrowed from Arabic and Turkish.
Christian manuscripts in Eastern Aramaic are written in the ancient script called Estrangela (round, thick set) with no vowel markings. After the fifth century A.D., two different scripts developed. In the West, a script (of which half the letters no longer resemble the Estrangela), called 'Serto' (strophe) is used, with five capital Greek letters for vowels, written on their side, above or below the letters. In the Eastern script, called 'Madinkhaya' (Eastern) or 'Swadaya' (Contemporary), only five of the twenty-two letters have been slightly modified. To indicate the seven vowels there are various accents, with two different strokes to indicate the semi-vowels, resembling the Jewish systems of Tiberias or of Babylon.
A graphical representation of the different scripts used by the Assyrians. The first line is the Eastern Estrangela script, the second is the Western Estrangela script. The third line is the modern Eastern script (Swadaya) and the last line is the modern Western script (Serto).
Modern Aramaic, in its various dialects, is spoken in modern-day Iraq, Iran, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, and the various Western countries to which the native speakers have emigrated, including Russia, Europe, Australia and the United States.
This exquisite mosaic was discovered at the ancient synagogue of Hamat Gader and was restored by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Aramaic inscriptions on the mosaic testify to the importance of Hamat Gader, a city renowned for its baths during the Roman period. The inscriptions express gratitude for the financial contributions raised throughout the country to build the synagogue.
Churches which still use Aramaic as their liturgical language include the Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, and the Maronite Catholic Church.
Peshitta Aramaic/English Interlinear New Testament
an online translation of the Holy Peshitta in Aramaic/English interlinear format.
URL: https://www.peshitta.org
Aramaic Lexicon and Concordance
search the online Aramaic Lexicon and Concordance, the dictionary of our language using English or Aramaic words including many other options. To properly view the Syriac font on your computer screen, please download and install the Estrangelo font.
URL: https://www.atour.com/dictionary
Learn Assyrian Online
learn the Assyrian (Aramaic~Syriac) language by speaking through music, read and write by building your vocabulary, and learn the Assyrian and Babylonian history through beautiful screen savers.
URL: https://www.learnassyrian.com
Introduction to Syriac:
An Elementary Grammar With Readings from Syriac Literature
A Compendious Syriac Dictionary
Compendious Syriac Grammar
Classical Syriac
Education Forum | Religion Forum | Peshitta Forum Archives
Assyrian Education Network Archives
Do you have any related information or suggestions? Please email them.
AIM | Atour: The State of Assyria | Terms of Service
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(SunDown RunDown cited in) "Stop Fighting To Attract New Businesses And Start Helping The Ones You Already Have"
by Josh Borstein
Economic developers have long used tax incentives to attract companies to their communities. By some estimates, 95% of U.S. municipalities use these incentives in one form or another, spending upwards of $50-80 billion annually.
At that same time, mounting evidence seems to be showing these tax incentives produce only marginal results, leading to a growing call to change the way we think about local economic development.
Here at JumpStart, we believe the first step to attracting new companies from outside your region is to turn your economic development dollars inward, where they can help existing entrepreneurs and small business owners create jobs and economic growth.
On its face, this method may seem counterintuitive. But I assure you, a dollar spent helping entrepreneurs and small businesses in your community will almost always outperform a dollar spent trying to lure a large company from somewhere else.
Ah, To Be Young.
The vast majority of U.S. businesses are small operations with fewer than 20 employees, limiting their potential as massive job creators. Big corporations, while small in number, account for the lion’s share of U.S. employment. But did you know that neither group is the primary contributor of new jobs?
That distinction goes to young firms who are less than 10 years old. These companies, often called scaleups or gazelles, have the highest rates of new job creation, yet many communities lack a unified strategy to help them grow. In fact, many communities are still focusing most of their time and resources serving well-established businesses who are not major creators of new jobs.
Entrepreneurship Is Vital.
It’s important to understand that local entrepreneurs represent the next generation of economic growth. They will create the young firms discussed above, so nourishing them is critically important to the long-term health of your community.
One of the best ways to do this is by helping local entrepreneurs connect with each other, find mentors, secure funding and locate talent. In nearby Central Ohio, community leaders have organized the SunDown RunDown, a program that gives entrepreneurs a forum to connect, pitch and learn from one another. Building these connections seems like a simple step, but it greatly increases the probability that more local entrepreneurs will succeed.
Build on What You Got.
There have been innumerable studies that show the majority of a community’s job growth comes from existing businesses, rather than the attraction of an outside business. More and more, economic developers are realizing that relocating a large business to your community may generate headlines, but dollar for dollar, it costs less to invest in programs that retain and expand what already exists in a community, or to study the industry cluster(s) that already exist in a community and find ways to make them more competitive.
Moreover, existing businesses tend to have a greater stake in the community and therefore are more apt to contribute to a community’s economic and social vitality than an outside company who only came to your community because of the tax breaks.
There are, of course, many other ways to rethink incentives and turn them inward to build stronger communities. Rehabilitating historic and abandoned buildings, brownfield remediation, human capital development, export promotion—these are just a few.
The point is to see the value of focusing on the people, businesses and resources you already have. You may not attract the next Google, but you will make it easier for existing entrepreneurs and small businesses to create new jobs, which will have a direct impact on the economic vitality of your community.
Source: (SunDown RunDown cited in) "Stop Fighting To Attract New Businesses And Start Helping The Ones You Already Have" URL: https://www.jumpstartinc.org/2016/03/08/stop-fighting-attract-new-businesses-start-helping-ones-already
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ransom riggs
First Look: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
The movie adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, directed by the one and only Tim Burton is set to be released this year. The story features 16-year old Jacob who accidentally comes across an home of orphaned children on a strange island. Each orphan has a peculiar talent that makes them a target and Miss Peregrine is there to protect them.
Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Title: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #1)
Author: Ransom Riggs
Publisher: Quirk
Genre(s): Fantasy, Young Adult
Purchase: The Book Depository
❝ A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.
A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.
A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows. ❞
This book has been lurking on my to-read list, taunting me with its interesting cover. Now I’ve read it at last and it’s everything I hoped it would be. As the title suggests, it’s a peculiar book, but such an interesting read!
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Southington's Flynn to join UConn football as preferred walk-on
Southington football defeated New Britain 27-24 at Veterans Stadium with the winning touchdown coming with thirty six seconds left in the game. Jacob Flynn (8) goes up for a touchdown catch late in the game. Wesley Bunnell | Staff Buy this photo
Published on Wednesday, 15 May 2019 21:05
Written by DAVID GLOVACH
@DavidGlovach
SOUTHINGTON - Add Jacob Flynn’s name to the list of former Southington football players set to play for UConn.
The Blue Knights standout receiver will head to Storrs as a preferred walk-on for Randy Edsall’s Huskies.
“I’m really excited,” Flynn said. “Being from Connecticut, UConn is a big-time school. I was a fan growing up. You grow up watching them on TV. It’s a great opportunity.”
Listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, Flynn caught 44 passes for 816 yards and a team-high 11 touchdowns last season, his first as a full-time starter. Southington’s offense averaged 35 points per game and reached the Class LL state tournament after going 10-0 in the regular season. Flynn was named All-CCC and All-State in LL for his performance.
At UConn, Flynn will join former Southington players Tim O’Shea and Jay Rose. O’Shea recently announced his transfer to Storrs from Wagner. Both O’Shea and Rose are tight ends.
“We’re excited for him and the opportunity he has,” Blue Knights head coach Mike Drury said. “He really flourished for us this past season. He always had a really good skill set - speed, athleticism - but he really developed his confidence. Once he got that confidence in what he could do, he became a beast. This is a great opportunity. There are 105 players on that football team and 85 have scholarships. I know his goal is to be one of those guys that gets one.”
Flynn was looking at a number of schools, mostly at the Division I-FBS and Division-II level, to continue his football career. But once he received a text from UConn recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach Aaron Smith during the middle of his senior season inquiring about Flynn’s interest in the school, the receiver knew it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
“Before the season, it didn’t really cross my mind too much,” Flynn said. “But after I got the text, that’s when things started to progress. I went for a visit and I liked their facilities and thought it was a good fit for me, both education wise and for football. Then when I visited one of their spring practices, I knew it’s where I wanted to go.”
For Flynn, the progression to break into the Blue Knights’ starting lineup to play for Edsall and the Huskies not only shows the time and effort he put in, but what the program he played for under Drury is about.
“I think it says a lot,” he said. “It says a lot about our work ethic and how much time we put into it at Southington. Everything we did there helps from the offseason on. We have great coaches there that do a really good job of making sure we’re ready. We always go out and compete.”
Flynn will continue to train with the Blue Knights before he goes to UConn for fall camp as he prepares for his high school graduation. There’s still plenty of work to put in.
“And he’s only going to get better,” Drury said.
David Glovach can be reached at (860) 801-5085 or dglovach@newbritainherald.com
Posted in The Bristol Press, Southington, UConn on Wednesday, 15 May 2019 21:05. Updated: Wednesday, 15 May 2019 21:08.
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NSW Mock Trial Competition
The Mock Trial Competition is conducted by the Law Society of NSW and is a practical means of introducing students to the law and to increase understanding of the basis of our judicial system.
The competition also helps students to increase basic skills such as listening, speaking, writing, reading and analysing.
Who can participate
The Mock Trial Competition is open to students in Years 10 and 11.
How the mock trials are conducted
Each team consists of 6 students who play the roles of barristers, lawyers and witnesses.
The Law Society also provides ‘the case’ for the mock trials. The cases are confined to criminal and civil matters heard in the Local or District Court.
A team may act as either the prosecution or defence in a criminal trial, or plaintiff or defendant in a civil trial, with each team member taking on the role of a barrister, solicitor, court officer or witness, pitting their skills against the opposing side – a team from another school.
Each trial is presided over by a Magistrate (a solicitor or barrister who will be allocated by the Law Society), who awards marks to each team based on a range of criteria, such as opening addresses, closing submissions and cross-examinations. The team with the highest mark wins the trial.
How the competition works
The first four rounds of the Competition are run on a regional round-robin basis, and the rounds are held in each of the ten regions from February to late June.
The top 64 scoring teams across NSW and the ACT then compete on a knockout basis until two schools are left to meet for the Grand Final in early December. The winner of the State Grand Final is then eligible to compete in the International Mock Trial.
Chevalier College has successfully reached the top 64 stage of the competition for the past 6 years.
2015 NSW Mock Trial Champions
CLICK HERE for the full article (above)…
Strong start to Mock Trial Season 2015 – May 2015
We are very proud of the achievements of the 2013 Chevalier Mock Trial team who were declared State Champions in 2013.
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Coming Soon To A Black Market Near You
The birth, life, and death of kratom: a little-known drug
By Catherine Sinow
Although marijuana is slowly becoming legal nationwide, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has plans to make a different herbal supplement Schedule I, alongside heroin and LSD.
The supplement is called kratom. It’s related to coffee, and it grows on a tree in Southeast Asia. Known for its smooth properties that both elevate and sedate, people use it for everything from chronic pain to insomnia to recreation. It’s been trusted for millennia by traditional medicine practitioners and peasants who spend long workdays under the blistering sun, but it only came to America around 2005.
Kratom comes in pills, powder or shot bottles channeling the likeness of 5-Hour Energy. Vein color and country of origin distinguish the strains, with names such as “Green Malay,” “White Thai,” and “Red Borneo.” Maeng da, which translates to “horseshoe crab” and “pimp” in Thai, supposedly indicates a finer, more potent strain. Anyone with pocket money can buy kratom at head shops, gas stations, sex stores and hundreds of online retailers.
Kratom costs a little under a dollar a cap, coming in packs ranging from 15 to 50 capsules.
“Any more than a dollar a capsule and you’re getting ripped off,” a friend and kratom user named Ryan (1) told me. At the time of our interview, he had recently switched to powder, paying only twenty-five cents for the equivalent of a capsule. Another friend I interviewed had used powder, too, and she brewed it into a tea. This was a steal compared to her first kratom extract capsule, which she purchased at her smoke shop for $10.
Ryan first tried kratom after losing his marijuana connections. He didn’t have access to anything illegal to self-medicate his depression and anxiety, but kratom was there at his local smoke shop.
“It seemed more like an anxiety medication than a recreational drug,” he told me. “It didn’t make me feel fucked up at all, just relaxed and somewhat sedated.”
Kratom contains opioids, but the media have compared it to bath salts, heroin and cocaine. One Florida teen, Ian Mautner, committed suicide with kratom in his system. Although he was being treated for depression, his mom blames kratom, and she lobbied extensively to illegalize the drug in Florida.
“Strong opiates have a reputation for making users immobilized and unproductive, sometimes to the point of doing nothing but dosing and laying around all day,” Ryan told me. “But the number one benefit I get from kratom is probably the energy and motivation that it gives me to get my tasks done. In larger doses, it can be sedating but in a much milder, more manageable way. It would take insane amounts to approach a heroin-like state of being ‘on the nod,’ and users would most likely throw up long before they could reach that threshold.”
When he discovered kratom, Ryan was taking Paxil, an antidepressant that made him fatigued 100 percent of the time. He couldn’t get ahold of his psychiatrist, so he decided to quit the drug on his own. The withdrawal symptoms were awful: more fatigue, paralyzing anxiety, and about half the sleep he needed. “I would always be stuck in this half-awake place,” he said. Ryan had kratom, however, and it made his Paxil withdrawal turn from nightmarish to merely irritating. His psychiatrist finally returned his call—after about three months. But Ryan had developed a habit.
“My life was just so much worse without it that I didn’t know how else to get through the day.” By this time, he was taking several doses of four capsules daily.
Kratom has been involved in 15 deaths in the past few years. By comparison, about 18,000 Americans per year die from prescription opioid overdoses.
My pen-pal from Seattle, Cass, first found kratom in a local smoke shop while buying cigarettes. She told me her story in a lengthy email:
“I remember reading a bit about it online, and knowing that it contained opioids, I was immediately interested in buying some. Although kratom is pretty weak in comparison to prescription opioids, I would say that the effects I was experiencing were equivalent to about 25mg of hydrocodone. (2) Granted, I was taking extract, which can be extremely potent.” Soon enough, kratom shipments were arriving at Cass’s apartment every other week.
Cass, Ryan and myself all pronounce “kratom” differently.
“Kratom made me feel exactly how I wanted to,” she said. “In some regards, it even helped me to be a better person. I was working a bike delivery job at the time, which is inevitably pretty hard on the body—I’m talking 150-200 miles of biking a week. Once I started taking kratom though, I felt a lot less pain, which meant I had more endurance; this allowed me to bike faster, take more deliveries, and subsequently, make more tips. Kratom was literally helping me to make more money. I could feel a habit forming, but I thought to myself: if this habit is paying for itself and more, is there really anything wrong with it?”
The DEA announced their nationwide ban on Aug. 30, 2016, calling kratom an “imminent hazard to public safety.” They plan to make it Schedule I, denoting high potential for abuse and no medical use. The ban was supposed to go into effect on Sept. 30, but on the 29, they decided to delay the scheduling until further notice.
The date’s push-back was probably caused by the immense backlash that came after the announcement. This outcry included coverage from major news outlets like The Guardian and NPR, a petition on the White House’s “We The People” website that gathered over 130,000 signatures and a march on the White House where about 300 people yelled “I am kratom. Kratom saves lives,” and drank kratom. However, the deciding factor was most likely the 51 Congresspeople who asked the DEA to delay the ban.
“[The ban] could be this week, it could be in the future, I just don’t know,” said DEA spokesman Rusty Payne.
In their the original announcement, the DEA did not ask for comment from experts or the general public, which is unusual. However, the agency did suggest they may move kratom to a lower level of prohibition after the initial Schedule I. Their statement mentioned that kratom causes “hepatotoxicity, psychosis, seizure, weight loss, insomnia, tachycardia, vomiting, poor concentration, hallucinations, and death,” but without incidence numbers. Meanwhile, users report that the worst it can do is nausea and vomiting.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Thailand banned kratom in 1943 to encourage demand for opium, which was taxed and very, very profitable. This ban wasn’t really a success, however, since the tree is indigenous to the area. Along the way, kratom also became illegal in Australia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Romania and a handful of U.S. states and counties.
The DEA statement also mentioned kratom’s use as a step-down from severe opioid addiction, which they consider a “misuse” of the substance. This isn’t completely untrue; one New York Times article interviewed Dariya Pankova, a woman who spent $60 or more at kratom bars per day and said her friends did the same. (3) This adds up to almost $22,000 a year spent on kratom. These people stopped when they remembered that heroin is cheaper. On the other hand, some have used kratom as a step-down to great, even life-saving, success.
The DEA reported 15 kratom-related deaths from 2014 to 2016. However, none of these deaths can be attributed to kratom alone. In fatal cases, kratom was taken in addition to benzodiazepines, research chemicals and more powerful opioids. It’s unknown how these drug combinations caused death, but kratom doesn’t cause lung depression. So as far as anyone knows, it’s not possible to die from an overdose. And although there is a propensity for people to develop a slight tolerance to kratom, a study from the Universiti Putra Malaysia showed that morphine creates much less tolerance when mixed with kratom. For these reasons, scientists have hailed kratom as a breakthrough in painkiller research. But when it becomes Schedule I, researchers will have a much harder time obtaining a study license.
Kratom has been involved in 15 deaths in the past few years. By comparison, about 18,000 Americans per year die from prescription opioid overdoses, 10,000 from heroin and 88,000 from alcohol-related incidents.
For more scientific details, I spoke with CC chemistry major, Marco, who also has his own unique way of pronouncing kratom. Marco uses lots of drugs, including a host of research chemicals that I can’t be bothered to remember the names of. But he only uses them irregularly. This includes kratom, which he’s dosed in high amounts at distant intervals.
“Using kratom daily is a very bad idea. It’s playing with fire. There’s no precedent for using opioids to treat anxiety,” he told me.
“Why is it dangerous to habituate to an opioid, even a mild one?” I asked.
“Because it is such a difficult addiction to beat.”
“So why not just stay on it forever?” I asked.
“What if they ban it? Or you run out? Or the mailmen strike? Plus you will begin to prioritize this substance over the other important parts of life. Basically, habituating anything is dangerous.”
Seeking actual medical opinions, I got on the phone with a cardiovascular surgeon I happen to know. I figured that he must have some knowledge on the subject, since he prescribes painkillers. He wished to remain anonymous.
“You’re a journalist. You might twist my words,” he said.
“You can think what you want to think,” I said.
“Well, alright. I’m generally not in favor of those sorts of herbal compounds, especially with something that can cause addiction and heavy withdrawals. Of course, you could argue coffee does the same thing. But I think that herbs being regulated leads to questions of purity, origin and whether or not they do what they say they’ll do. A bunch of drugstores including Target were selling vitamins that did not contain the vitamin they said it contained.”
While his stance seems pretty unambiguous, he also said: “I’m generally not in favor of making things illegal.”
Their statement mentioned that kratom causes ‘hepatoxicity, psychosis, seizure, weight loss, insomnia, tachycardia, vomiting, poor concentration, hallucinations, and death,’ but without incidence numbers. Meanwhile users report that the worst it can do is nausea and vomiting
Dr. Anonymous prescribes a lot of painkillers for surgery recovery, but he doesn’t recommend opioids as a first-line chronic pain treatment due to the risk of patients quickly building up tolerance. This statement seems to go against kratom, but after he cited the overdose epidemic and widespread painkiller theft, it almost seems like a case for it. Still, he’s even firmer on the anxiety stance than the chronic pain stance: “No medical professional will recommend opioids for treating anxiety,” he told me.
A study of Malaysians who regularly use kratom discovered that more than half had developed a severe dependence. In another study, 80 percent of people who tried to quit couldn’t quit. There are 1,364 people subscribed to a subreddit called /r/quittingkratom.
Cass no longer uses kratom. “Three months into my habit,” she said, “I remember being at home one night trying to focus on some schoolwork, and my entire body was aching. I had a pounding headache, and I was in an absolutely terrible mood. I thought that maybe I was getting sick, but then I started to put the pieces together. I realized that I hadn’t taken any kratom in two days, and I tried to think back to the last time that I had gone that long without it—I couldn’t. I started to realize that I might be withdrawing, so to test this theory, I took a small amount of kratom to see what its effects would be on me. I felt pretty stupid when 20 minutes after dosing, I felt completely normal again.”
After quitting, Cass took up a succession of new drugs, such as illegally-obtained Adderall. Currently, she’s taking a mail-order antidepressant called tianeptine that has reduced her drug usage all around.
“The worst part about kratom withdrawals isn’t the physical aspect, it’s the mental aspect,” she told me. “It’s trying to be the person that the drug made you into without actually using it.”
Ryan has been tapering since May. At first he was trying to save money, and now he doesn’t want to be dependent on a soon-to-be illegal drug. Reducing his use has left him tired, anxious and bored almost all the time. It also decreased his appetite (not good, as he is already severely underweight) and gave him restless leg syndrome… in his arms. But he remained adamant that kratom shouldn’t be banned.
“If people are addicted to it and supplies are cut off, they’ll experience withdrawals and look for something else to medicate with,” he said. “Since kratom has been legal this long, it will take awhile for an underground market to form, if at all. More dangerous drugs, like heroin, however, already have a well-established black market presence, and may be easier to obtain for the struggling addict in the throes of withdrawal.”
Marco is mostly disappointed because kratom was a good, cheap, legal high. He’s also disappointed because he supports the decriminalization of all drugs and reduction of painkiller scripts.
“The problem isn’t people abusing kratom,” he said. “The problem is the mass overprescription of painkillers.”
As of the day I’m writing this sentence, nobody knows what’s next for kratom. The DEA might schedule kratom at a lower level, back off completely or continue as planned along their ambiguous trajectory. Like many research chemicals, kratom might be limited-edition. “Kratom is just not good enough to be accessible post-ban,” said Marco. The passionate YouTube videos tell another story, though. Kratom: coming soon to a black market near you.
1. All names have been changed to protect anonymity.
2. If you didn’t already have opioid tolerance, this amount of hydrocodone would get you really high.
3. These bars definitely existed, but only in Florida. Really.
Tagged: catherine sinow
Newer PostThe Business of Life
Older PostThe Cats of Kol
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Agostino Zoida Image courtesy the standup
Agostino Zoida
7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.
Daily from July 6-7
Agostino Zoida didn’t have to move to L.A. to become a standup comic; he was already living there. “I’m from Sherman Oaks, born and raised,” he says. However, growing up in Los Angeles, he didn’t have any more of an understanding of show business than a kid in, say, the Midwest. “I was homeschooled and pretty isolated,” he says. “I watched older movies, like Jerry Lewis films, and loved the art of comedy and film. When I discovered standup, I fell in love.” At 18, he worked a steady run of day jobs with the notion of maybe doing comedy. “If I didn’t feel like going to work, I’d tell them I had a show. And I wasn’t even a comic yet.” After getting laid off, he decided to use the situation to his advantage. He set a date and gave himself a month to write material for his first open mic while he collected unemployment. “These days, my set is about my marriage, my family, and a lot of storytelling,” he says. “You’re going to hear a lot about my wife and my thoughts on life.”
by P.F. Wilson
Rick Bronson's House of Comedy
408 E. BroadwayMall of America
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Anime to check out
This section is to showcase old school (or simply not too recent) shoujo anime that I believe need some attention.
Majokko Meg-chan (1974) In order to possibly succeed the throne in the Magic World, Meg, a young witch, is sent to Earth to live among the humans. She is adopted by a woman named Mami, who gave up her right to be a witch and live in Meg's world when she married a mortal. In order for Meg to live with her, Mami uses magic to brainwash her family into believing that Meg is the eldest daughter. As the young girl struggles to adapt to her new life (where she comes from, families don't exist) she also has to deal with a rival for the throne named Non.
This show played a significant part in how modern magical girl plot points and concepts came to be; it's likely that you already recognize a few things from the summary alone. Sadly, it has never been licensed for North American release. Video clips can be found on Youtube.
Hime-chan no Ribbon (1992) Himeko may be quite the tomboy on the outside, but on the inside she yearns to be feminine and domestic, like her pretty older sister Aiko. One night, Himeko's fate changes. A strange young girl who looks just like her appears at her bedroom window. Erika, princess of the Magic World, wants her twin to test a ribbon she made that allows the wearer to take the form of any living, non-fictional person on Earth for a short period. With the news that she could be like Aiko, Himeko is ecstatic. But the responsibility proves perhaps a mistake, especially with her tendency to scatterbrain and Erika's right to the throne on the line!
This show has not been licensed for North American release, and the chances are less than 1% it ever will be, tragically. Video clips can be found on Youtube.
Akazukin Cha Cha (1994) Try as she might, fumbling witch-in-training Cha Cha can never get her spells right. When she can do something at all it almost always leads to strange and disastrous results. This is surprising, considering her teacher and guardian, Seravy, is regarded as the world's best sorcerer. But that's OK, because she has two best friends: Riiya, a strong boy who can transform into a wolf without the full moon, and Shiine, a fellow magic user who is studying under a self-declared rival of Seravy. Together they lend support to Cha Cha and help her transform into Magical Princess, to defend the land and defeat monsters and other evil-doers.
This show has not yet been licensed for North American release. Our best bet would be 4KIDS or a similar company picking it up for some kind of Saturday morning lineup, but that would be disastrous. Video clips can be found on Youtube.
Tonde Buurin (1994) Karin was just a normal girl, prone to sleeping in and crushing on her school's star soccer player, until she ran into a little yellow pig on her way to school. Thinking it sick, she attends to it, and as a reward the pig - who turns out to be a prince - gives her a special compact. This compact allows her to transform into a superhero, but unfortunately the form is of a pig. If she wants to obtain a more flattering form she must perform 108 good deeds using her new powers. But it will not be easy! Not when her crush turns out to be Buurin's biggest fan, and her father is always looking to snap pictures of the pink, portly hero for the local paper.
Tonde Buurin was never released in North America. It was, however, dubbed in English for release in the Philippines, and was also dubbed in Cantonese, among other languages. Watch some clips on Youtube.
Saint Tail (1995) Meimi is your average, cheerful schoolgirl. Who would ever guess that she moonlights as the infamous thief, Saint Tail? Saint Tail takes items that were stolen and gives them back to the original owners, which some may think of as a Robin Hood-like practice. But the police force only think of her as nothing but a common criminal, and relentlessly try to catch her with no success. The only person who knows of Meimi's identity is her best friend and nun-in-training, Seira. She is also the one who finds victims for Saint Tail to help. Asuka Jr., a boy in Meimi's class, is the son of a detective, and he's made it his mission to do what his father can't: catch Saint Tail once and for all! How would he feel if he knew he sat in the same room with her every school day?
Saint Tail was licensed for North American release in the early 2000s by Tokyopop, but quickly went out of print. You can still locate the DVDs on places like Amazon and Ebay.
*MORE COMING SOON*
Posted by mo at Saturday, May 30, 2009
Misato Tuesday, April 10, 2012
there is manga for Majokko Meg-chan, but it's been rather hard to get proper info, much less some scans. if you could put your minions into work and find some info or scans of Meg-chan, I'd be very thankful!
Lucky Cat Tuesday, December 22, 2015
I've only been able to find one episode of Majokko Meg-chan ;-;
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Christian love/hate
By adminJune 15, 2019Society
Most people would have heard of Israel Folau’s transgression on Instagram, where he stated: “Warning: Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves, Atheists, Idolators: Hell Awaits You. Repent! Only Jesus Saves.” This caused him to lose his contract with Rugby Australia and NSW Rugby, because it breached the Professional Players Code of Conduct1. This was not so much because he denigrated drunks and others who more or less choose how to behave, but because he also stated that homosexuals will go to hell. This is what tipped his comment from admonishment of behaviour to hate speech, because homosexuality is not a choice, and as Mungo MacCallum states, “demanding repentance for what cannot change is both cruel and pointless – as silly as telling Folau to repent for having Polynesian heritage.”2 I cannot begin to imagine how a young Christian trying to come to terms with their sexuality, would react to being told by Folau that they are comparable to liars and thieves. I also cannot begin to imagine the silly thought processes behind Folau threatening people with hell, nor can I understand his inability to grasp the concept of irony in threatening atheists with it.
Now, many religious nutters have come out is support of Folau. They say he is being attacked for being a “blunt defender of the classic, conservative Christian faith” and that this is done out of love3. This is not quite correct. He is being punished for being a bigot and demonstrating that in defiance of a code of conduct. Kel Richards, in The Australian (where else?), firstly conflates being a Christian with being able to ‘speak their faith aloud’3. If this was so, then why does Richards not echo the words of a Christian apologist for slavery in the latter’s belief that black Africans deserved to be enslaved because they were “subhuman and brutish, ignorant, idle, crafty, treacherous, bloody thievish mistrustful and superstitious” as well as “incestuous, savage, cruel and vindictive, devourers of human flesh, and quaffers of human blood”. He compared blacks to orangutans and claimed that African tribes had had sexual relations with primates.4 Could it be that we as a society have grown up and realise that because a person is black, does not mean they are subhuman? Could it be that the religious will eventually realise that homosexuals are similarly not subchristian?
Next, Richards asks “why should the rights of one group trump all other rights?” He states that the right of homosexuals not to be offended trumps the “right of Christians to be as Christian as Jesus intended”3. He then goes on to state that the “homosexual community…appears not to be willing to accept disapproval” and will not “settle for anything short of complete approval”3. This is dishonest. All they ask is for tolerance, not approval, and certainly not bigotry. A further dishonest claim by Richards is that Folau lists eight ‘behaviours’. As MacCallum states (see above), homosexuality is not a choice; it is a matter of a person’s sexual orientation, just like being of Polynesian descent is not a choice.
The hypocrisy of so many Christians never ceases to amaze me. To get an understanding of the behaviours Folau actually does list, and the hypocrisy of Christians who indulge in these, all you have to do is to look at people like Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce, Scott Morrison and others5,6,7. They demonstrate so many of the behaviours that according to Folau, make them all hell-bound.
All you have to do to be a decent human being, is to adhere to the golden rule: “So whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the Law…”. Richards, like so many other Christians, especially those in parliament, has apparently forgotten this. It is from Matthew 7:12, in that book they all pretend to follow. However, before you let Christians tell you it was their idea, the concept of such reciprocity goes back to ancient Egypt, India, Greece, Rome and Persia, as far back as 4,000 years ago9. I think a quote from comedian George Carlin is appropriate here: “Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ‘til the end of time! But he loves you!”
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish religion from comedy.
http://www.nswwaratahs.com.au/news/news-article/articleid/18377/rugby-australia-and-nsw-rugby-union-statement-regarding-israel-folau
https://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/mungo-maccallum/2019/11/2019/1560222453/testing-faith
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/folaus-faith-compelled-him-to-shout-a-warning-repent/news-story/959d971840d50415402de018f4db1d10
https://www.salon.com/2015/06/13/the_bibles_racist_monstrosities_how_the_word_of_god_has_been_%E2%80%94_and_still_is_%E2%80%94_used_to_oppress/
http://www.blotreport.com/australian-politics/morrisons-shadowy-cabinet-of-curiosities/
http://www.blotreport.com/australian-politics/abbott-know-lying/
http://www.blotreport.com/australian-politics/not-horizontal-folk-dancing/
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7%3A12&version=ESV
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule
Arthur Baker says:
The Sydney Morning Herald last Saturday 8 June published a letter from a regular correspondent, Nan Howard of Camden, a Christian, commenting on the Folau controversy. In part, the letter said: “Jesus said that there were two great Commandments: the first to love God and secondly love our neighbour as ourselves. Christians demonstrate their love for God when they obey His commandments.”
So the argument there is that in publishing his diatribe, Folau was (a) loving his God, and (b) loving his neighbours by warning them of what he saw as the consequences of their actions. It occurred to me that if Folau wants to love his God, and say so, that’s entirely his business. But if he wants to demonstrate his love for his neighbours, publishing a public message to all and sundry beginning with the word “Warning” and including the phrase “Hell awaits you” is a darn strange way to do it.
Not exactly subtle, either. If I even spoke privately to a neighbour like that, I’d expect them to tell me to get lost, or worse. If I published an open letter to the public containing such a message, I’d expect every bit of the disapproval he’s received, and probably more. I simply don’t get why, if the behaviours of others don’t adversely affect him one little bit, he can’t just shut up and mind his own beeswax.
Arthur,
As the author of the piece in The Australian indicated, telling people how to live their lives is all part of being a Christian. This is what all the religious nutters are talking about when they ramble on about ‘religious freedom’. It is all about telling others what the religious think they should do and ostracising or discriminating against those that don’t toe the line. It is also the topic of an earlier piece I wrote about rabid christians wanting dominion over the rest of us. http://www.blotreport.com/society/they-want-dominion/
And you wouldn’t read about it (except that I just did), he’s off and running yet again:
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/folau-launches-fresh-attack-on-gay-people-transgender-youths-20190617-p51yba.html
Yes; I just saw that. Too many heavy tackles.
Yes Minister says:
There are few things of less interest to me than the actions of those who play footbrawl or thugby, howevet I understand that this particular character is now in a significantly more advantageous financial situation than previously. Karma perhaps, or something else.??
YM,
He has had his contract torn up, but is suing Rugby Australia. It depends how that turns out, I suppose. The lawyers will rake off a fair bit too.
On the subject of tearing up the contract, here’s a cracker of a letter in today’s Sydney Morning Herald (Mon 24 June:
Quote: The Ruddock review identified the rights of churches to discriminate against people for their beliefs and activities. Churches may exclude school kids, employees and congregation members if they do not align with their belief system. The churches have held this right and fight to retain it. So the solution for Rugby Australia is simple, become a religion. With 87,000 registered players they are already larger than some religions before including the fan base. Then they don’t need a contract to justify expelling Folau, they only need to assert their religious freedom as being opposed to his views. It’s already the game they play in heaven. – Rob Barclay, Epping
End quote
Candidate for letter of the year, in my humble opinion.
That is a cracker indeed. It made me laugh audibly!
And today it turns out that the guy is so dumb he couldn’t read GoFundMe’s terms of service. They have disallowed his fundraising appeal on the grounds that he breached their TOS, and the money raised will be returned to the donors. Your previous comment about taking too many heavy tackles starts to look very insightful.
It seems to be a common thread in Folau’s shenanigans.
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Opinion ›
Students deserve lenience in ‘no exceptions’ policies
Photo Credit: Ericka Suarez | Daily Texan Staff
Published on February 14, 2019 at 8:09 pm
By Henry Corwin
Physical culture and sports sophomore Bryce Reiner was in the hospital vomiting uncontrollably just days before he was supposed to take an exam in his UGS class. Although this clearly hindered his ability to prepare for the test, his professor did not excuse him from taking the test on the day it was administered, Reiner said.
“I said that I’ve been really sick … and (asked) if it is okay if I move this test,” Reiner said. “She (said), ‘No. You’ve had time to prepare. You should be prepared for this. I’m sorry but I can’t make any exceptions.’”
Reiner said he had documentation from the hospital proving he was truly sick, and therefore didn’t understand why he was not allowed to take the test at a different time.
“I just didn’t really see how that made sense,” Reiner said. “How am I supposed to prepare for this if I’m literally in the hospital?”
Professors’ “no exceptions” policies about missing exams or deadlines shouldn’t really be “no exceptions.” When students have an excuse for needing a makeup exam or an extension, professors should examine their reasons on a case-by-case basis and use reasonable judgement to determine whether or not a student should be excused. If their case is reasonable and legitimate, professors should be willing to grant exceptions for situations that are out of students’ control.
According to the University’s General Information Catalog, UT does have policies for attendance and final examinations. However, after contact with the Office of the Registrar, I was not able to find a specific policy regarding students who have to miss regular exams or class work deadlines during the semester due to illness. Kendall Slagle, the communications coordinator for the Office of Executive Vice President and Provost, said it is up to each individual professor to decide whether or not to excuse a student.
“We encourage students to talk to their instructor about situations that arise,” Slagle said. “It is the faculty member’s discretion to excuse absences or class work or not to. If a student is not satisfied with the outcome after speaking with their instructor, a student can appeal to the department chair and the dean’s office.”
Advertising junior Pedrum Rasouli found himself in a similar situation to Reiner’s in the spring of his sophomore year. Rasouli was in the hospital with pneumonia just three days before his exam and had to travel home to recover, causing him to miss the exam. Despite documentation from the hospital and desperate explanation of his situation, Rasouli said he received a grade of “zero” on the exam and instead had to take a more difficult, optional final exam to replace that score.
“I just thought it was unfair because I had to study for a test that was over a lot more (material),” Rasouli said.
Although these policies are made uniform for all students to ensure fairness, there should be some room for interpretation and exceptions made for unique cases. The same concept is applied to laws in the United States.
One law may seem right at one point in time, but new unique cases have caused laws to be reinterpreted and changed over the course of American history: Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v. Arizona and Roe v. Wade.
A judge can issue an opinion that varies from accepted law so long as they have a legal basis for doing so. Professors should do the same when it comes to their policies.
In the cases of Reiner and Rasouli versus their professors, the unique situations of both of these students should be enough for the professors to rule against the accepted laws.
Corwin is a journalism sophomore from Long Island, New York.
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All Times Local
NAIA Women's Basketball Box Score
NAIA Div I Women's National Championship
Quarter Description
No stats reported
Campbellsville (Ky.)
The Master's (Calif.)
ATT YDS TD LG
POS No. Player Sh SOG G A
No stats reported for this team
NO Player Min GA Saves
No Goalie stats reported for this team
Team 1 2 Tot
Shots By Period
Fouls By Period
Saves By Period
# Time Team Goal Scorer Assists Description
Cautions And Ejections
Attack Set Serve Pass Def Block Gen
Team Totals 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total Team Blocks:
No stats were reported for this game
Team Attacks:
Game K E AT PCT
Campbellsville (Ky.) 15 8 19 20 62
The Master's (Calif.) 13 17 11 14 55
32 L. Burd F 7 - 25 0 - 3 5 - 8 8 8 16 5 2 0 3 3 19 35:52
15 E. Fox G 5 - 10 2 - 5 3 - 4 0 2 2 0 1 1 0 3 15 34:11
22 L. Graham G 2 - 8 2 - 7 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 6 37:44
12 L. Grider G 4 - 13 1 - 3 0 - 0 1 1 2 8 3 0 1 2 9 40:00
20 K. Jacob F 1 - 6 0 - 0 2 - 3 4 3 7 1 0 0 1 4 4 20:04
30 M. Kaiser 1 - 3 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 6:55
3 A. Miller 2 - 3 0 - 0 0 - 0 2 1 3 3 2 0 0 2 4 17:06
4 L. Turner 1 - 2 0 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 3 8:08
Team 1 1
Team Totals 23-70 5-19 11-17 15 16 31 17 9 1 9 18 62 200:00
32.9% 26.3% 64.7% Dead Ball Rebounds (4,3)
No. Player P FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST TO BLK STL PF PTS MIN
No stats were reported for this team
24 A. BARTOW G 1 - 2 1 - 1 0 - 0 0 3 3 2 2 0 1 2 3 16:29
21 B. CUBELLO F 3 - 4 0 - 0 0 - 0 1 6 7 1 3 2 1 5 6 19:27
32 M. LINDSLEY G 4 - 15 0 - 5 6 - 7 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 0 14 36:11
00 C. LOWERY F 5 - 9 0 - 1 5 - 8 4 7 11 0 5 6 1 2 15 31:32
30 O. THOMPSON G 2 - 5 0 - 1 3 - 3 0 2 2 1 3 0 1 5 7 30:44
13 K. BURNS 2 - 3 0 - 0 0 - 2 0 2 2 0 3 0 0 3 4 14:37
11 S. EMORY 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 5:51
10 J. IDDINGS 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 4:08
33 S. KINGERY 1 - 2 1 - 2 0 - 0 0 4 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 14:24
25 N. NITAKE 1 - 2 1 - 2 0 - 2 1 1 2 5 1 0 1 3 3 26:37
Team Totals 19-42 3-12 14-22 6 26 32 14 23 8 5 22 55 200:00
Player AB R H RBI PO A
POS No. Player Sh SOG G A GB TO Face Pen
NO Player Min GA Saves Dec
Team 1 2 3 4 Total
Face Off Violations
Face Offs
Extra-Man Opportunities
# Prd Time Team Type Scorer Assist FPS H - V
Period Time Team ## Name Minute EMO Offense
POS No. Player Sh SOG G A GB DC TO CT FPS Fouls
Free-Position Shots
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Book of Mormon Still Ages Away
Wednesday, September 21st 2011 2:49 pm
The other week “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker mentioned in an interview they’d eventually like to do a film adaptation of their Tony Award-winning musical “The Book of Mormon”.
The key word there was ‘eventually’, one many ignored – to the point that a lot of people thought that it meant a film was already in the works.
Parker confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that no film is even in development, and the confusion was over reaction to their earlier interview comments – “We said, ‘Yeah, I think we could do a Book of Mormon movie,’ and they were like, ‘Book of Mormon Movie! it’s coming!'”.
Parker added “We did a stage show and it worked out way better than we ever thought, and we’d like it to be that for a while, you know, without contaminating it with a movie.”
Previous articleBateman To “Disconnect,” “Longest Week”
Next articleTeen Wolf 2nd Season Doubles In Size?
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“Rocko’s Modern Life” Gets A Telemovie Revival
Friday, June 23rd 2017 9:55 am
Nickelodeon has announced plans for a continuance of its classic kids show “Rocko’s Modern Life” about the titular Australian wallaby.
Closing out a three season run over two decades ago, the show will now return with a one-hour TV movie titled “Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling” which will bring back all the original voice cast members.
In the film, the characters return to Earth after being lost in space since 1996. Upon their return, Rocko is having a hard time dealing with modern life in the 21st century while his friends Heffer the steer and Filburt the neurotic turtle have no problem fitting in.
Rocko soon begins to think that his nostalgia for the past can save him from the tortures of the modern world. The TV movie will air on Nickelodeon in 2018.
Artwork by Sean Harris. Source: TV Line
Previous articleTrailer: Michael Cera In “Person to Person”
Next articleScott Plans To Franchise Out “Blade Runner”
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Ripto's Rage Returns
9:34 AM - Friday the 8th of May, 2009 - by dark52
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! has finally been added to the North American PlayStation Store.
Things are heating up! Spyro, the feisty, fire-breathing dragon is back and he's ready to take on a whole new adventure in this sequel to the original Spyro! You must save the worlds of Avalar by defeating the dinosaur-riding Ripto and his evil minions.
Hopefully it won't suffer the same issues as the European release of Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer.
Thanks to crashpro for the heads up.
Gateway to Glimmer
3:46 PM - Wednesday the 22nd of October, 2008 - by dark52
Still waiting to get the newly released The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon? Well Spyro's Lair has a new mini-game added today that could help fill in the time. It's been seen in the scorecard for quite a while and "Path of Fire" has finally materialised in the form of a memory game in which you have to remember a path for Spyro to follow, each progressively longer than the last.
With the release of Dawn of the Dragon you can expect a few more games to appear on Spyro's Lair "very soon".
In other news there are a few more character pictures on the official Dawn of the Dragon website and Prima have added a PDF preview of their Official Guide which details one of the levels quite extensively (and contains spoilers, obviously).
Thanks go to dark_fury912 for the heads up on the new Spyro's Lair game and spyro's #1fan on the official forums for spotting the new pictures.
Dawn of the Dragon
A Second Trailer
Comments (134 - Locked)
11:14 AM - Friday the 10th of October, 2008 - by dark52
As we enter the last few days before launch, a second trailer for The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon has been released, you can find it on Yahoo! Kids.
Mobile Walkthrough
11:39 PM - Sunday the 28th of September, 2008 - by dark52
With the release of the mobile version of The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon recently I've completed work on a walkthrough for the whole thing. Clocking in at a maleficent 31KB you can either read the text file or the less monospaced HTML version of the walkthrough.
A warning for those of you not wanting to have Dawn of the Dragon spoiled is to not read through the walkthrough for a game you don't have. Saying that, I don't think there are any spoilers in there anyway but I could be wrong.
If you can speak French or want to see more footage of the console version of the game then JeuxVideo have a video interview with Jean-Marie Nazaret of Etranges Libellules, the interview is translated here in the forum if you can't be bothered to do it yourself.
Thanks go to Spyro VS Evil and dragonwar2 for posting the interview and translation.
Achieving the Dawn
11:58 PM - Tuesday the 9th of September, 2008 - by dark52
The achievements for the Xbox 360 version of The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon have been released. Check them out on Xbox360Achievements (possible spoilers!).
The release date for the game has finally been announced on the Sierra forums; the 21st of October in North America.
And today also marks Spyro's 10th Anniversary, so, you know, yay for that too.
A Trailer and More
The first trailer for The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon has appeared at this year's Games Convention in Leipzig.
There are also some new screenshots of the PS3 and Xbox 360 version on GameSpot, included are the character models of the main cast of good guys. You can also check out these screens in the Dawn of the Dragon image gallery here on darkSpyro.
Thanks go to Aura24 for the finds.
9:39 AM - Wednesday the 20th of August, 2008 - by dark52
Video Gamer have a new hands-on preview of The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon along with a video of some flying plus some new screenshots.
The new information includes the anticipated length of the game: 8 to 10 hours over 12 levels.
They've also got some Wii screenshots too.
Thanks go to EternalSpyro for finding it.
Tantalising
10:53 AM - Friday the 15th of August, 2008 - by dark52
Tantalus, the developers of the Nintendo DS version of The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, have added twenty new screenshots and a video of the game in action to their website.
You can also check out the screenshots in their full-sized glory in the gallery.
Spyro at Comic-Con 2008
9:26 AM - Sunday the 27th of July, 2008 - by dark52
GameSpot have a video of a demonstration of The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon.
You get to see a lot of new moves and fighting with both small enemies and that big lava boss.
Extended Elijah Experience
9:56 AM - Saturday the 26th of July, 2008 - by dark52
The full interview GameTrailers had with Elijah Wood has finally been posted. It includes some extra questions to Elijah and some more footage of The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon in action.
In other news, the first screenshots of the mobile version of the game have appeared on PocketGamer. You can also check them out in their full non-cropped glory in the gallery.
And in site related news, I've recently made some maps for the Sgt. Byrd speedways in Spyro: A Hero's Tail which should help locate where all those turrets are hiding and perhaps improve your time through the course.
Thanks go to Neal of SpyroWorld for spotting the mobile screens.
A Hero's Tail
First Footage
During the latest episode of GameTrailer TV, Elijah Wood is interviewed, and accompanying that interview is some footage of The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon in action. We even see a brief glimpse of Hunter for the first time.
Thanks go to SpyroFire for spotting it.
Nintendo Dawn Screens
9:31 PM - Tuesday the 15th of July, 2008 - by dark52
Here are five new screenshots from the Nintendo DS version of The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon.
There's also now a huge version of the logo in the gallery.
Wall Savers and Screen Papers
8:04 AM - Tuesday the 15th of July, 2008 - by dark52
The official The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon website has updated with several wallpapers and a screensaver. They've also added in more screenshots and concept art but they're all ones we've seen before.
It also looks like Etranges Libellules are getting a new logo soon.
If you are looking for new screenshots, there are a couple you might not have seen yet on Xbox.com. You can also find them all in the new look gallery here on darkSpyro.
Wings of Fury
11:19 AM - Wednesday the 25th of June, 2008 - by dark52
The folks at Spyro's Lair have added their first new mini-game since release. Wings of Fury sees you play as either Spyro or Cynder (there are apparently some differences between them), in the new Dawn of the Dragon style, flying through up to ten levels of near constant air combat.
You can find the game by clicking on Activities once you're in the Lair.
Unfortunately the game doesn't appear to add your score to your Spyro's Lair scoreboard but you can still mark your achievement on a highscore table with a 3 letter name at the end. Edit July 1st: It does record your score to Spyro's Lair now.
12:56 PM - Friday the 6th of June, 2008 - by dark52
It's another year that has rolled on by and darkSpyro celebrates its fourth birthday. Since this time last year we've had the addition of a guide for the latest game, The Eternal Night, a new guide of the old game Enter the Dragonfly and the rapid expansion of the Guidebook which now contains over 700 characters.
As for statistics, well the site has received over 30 million hits, the forum has broken the 1000 registered members mark and there are now currently around 175,000 posts. The forum has gained several new features including the much requested Private Message service.
What's in the future? I made a comment regarding a new Guidebook last year, that's progressed since then and is still on its way, as too are reworkings of the Season of Ice and Attack of the Rhynoc sections. And of course a guide for the new game Dawn of the Dragon once it becomes available towards the end of the year.
Enter the Dragonfly
Season of Ice
The Eternal Night
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Businesses Criticize D.C. Paid-Leave Bill, But Struggle To Offer Alternatives
by David Grosso
By Martin Austermuhle, December 2, 2015, WAMU
Business groups representing just about every industry in the District — from hotels and restaurants to retailers and builders — strongly criticized a proposed paid-leave bill during a D.C. Council hearing on Wednesday, but struggled to offer alternatives or possible changes to the measure when pressed by legislators.
The groups said the bill — which would offer virtually all D.C. workers up to 16 weeks of paid family leave, with the costs covered by a per-employer tax on employers — would dramatically increase operating costs for local businesses, many of which would stop hiring or leave the city altogether.
"This bill would kill D.C. jobs," said Harry Wingo of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce. "This would revive D.C.’s reputation as a high-tax, business-unfriendly place," offered Charles Miller of the Federal City Council. “At the end of the day, you can’t take leave from a job you don’t have or doesn’t exist," warned Cailey Locklair Tolle of the Maryland Retailers Association.
Others worried about the potential for abuse, criticized the lack of specifics on how much the measure could cost different businesses and organizations, and said that D.C. would be jumping far ahead of the three states that currently offer paid leave — both in how much time is given and who would pay for it.
But the consistent drumbeat of criticisms drew pointed questions from Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who pressed the groups to offer alternatives to the bill — or outline specific changes they would want seen to make the bill more agreeable.
In one particularly animated exchange, he asked Wingo a series of questions about whether the business community could support the overall concept of paid leave for workers. "Do you agree that benefits are beneficial to employees? Is it best for employers if they pay no benefits to their employees?"
Changes likely
Mendelson's questioning seemed to reflect the political reality surrounding the bill, which was introduced in October. With a majority of the Council already supporting the measure — and polling showing it has drawn wide support from residents — he said earlier this week that whether the bill passes isn't the question, but rather what would be included in a final version.
As currently written, the bill would require all private employers to contribute to a fund from which leave benefits would be paid. Workers making up to $52,000 a year would have their full salary covered, while those making more would see a declining percentage of everything above the $52,000 covered. The top pay-out would be $3,000 per week.
"This bill is for people who have to make heartbreaking choices," said Council member Elissa Silverman (I-At Large). She said it would help people take time to care for newborns or ailing relatives, some of whom currently have no paid leave at all.
But in moving towards that goal, Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) — who with Silverman introduced the bill — said the sweeping measure wasn't set in stone. "As written, the bill has 10 variables that would lower the costs on businesses," he said, offering critics a chance to offer changes.
And some business leaders did. Jim Dinegar of the Greater Washington Board of Trade said he would want the issue addressed at the federal level, to avoid creating a regional imbalance where one jurisdiction would offer paid leave while others didn't.
Kathy Hollinger of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington said leave should be limited to workers who have been on the job for at least one year, and asked that provisions requiring employers to notify their workers of paid-leave rights be simplified.
And Steve Hoffman, who owns a local insurance company that has operated in the city since 1906, asked that the leave be cut to eight weeks — and that it be paid for in part by the employee taking the leave. Without some changes, he worried the increased costs would force him to move — or close.
"We've always felt the need to stay and pay back a city that has given us so much," he said. "But if the [bill] passes in its present form, we will have to consider leaving the District because we compete against not only D.C. agents, but also agents across the country."
Containing costs
It was concerns like those that prompted Mendelson to ask proponents of the bill — who largely spoke in personal terms about the bill — to address the costs of implementing paid leave.
"There is a cost to this," he said to a panel of advocates for the bill. "There's no question [paid leave] would help children, families and low-income folks. It could change a whole lot of social problems we have. That's not the issue. I need you to speak to the cost."
"We have to wait until we get the actual calculations of what it would cost to provide this benefit," said Ed Lazere of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, speaking to a reality that hung over the hearing throughout the day — no final calculations on the bill's costs have been produced, nor has a study funded by the U.S. Labor Department on a number of paid-leave proposals for D.C. been finalized.
But even without those specifics in place, Lazere pushed back on the argument that it would drive businesses to close or into the surrounding states.
"After raising the minimum wage, they don't tend to lose employees, they don't tend to move. Businesses are flexible, they can respond to the added costs through a variety of means," he said.
Proponents also said that the bill could actually serve to help small businesses that can't currently afford to offer any leave, and pointed out that more and more large businesses are instituting paid-leave policies as a means to attract and retain top talent.
At one point, Silverman noted that Wingo of the Chamber of Commerce once worked for Google, which recently implemented an 18-week paid-leave policy. She also pointed out that Miller of the Federal City Council doubles as a senior attorney at Covington and Burling, a powerhouse legal firm that also offers 18 weeks of paid leave.
That raised another concern on the bill — what happens with businesses and organizations that already offer paid leave? John Cavanaugh, speaking on behalf of the Consortium of Universities, noted that the city's 10 universities were extremely concerned with how the measure would affect the leave they already offer.
"The consortium strongly supports the concept of paid leave, and has several types of paid leave in effect as evidence," he said. "The consortium opposes the unfunded mandate that will cost institutions in the District $15 million per year to implement a one-size-fits-all program that may not address the needs of our employees."
The diverse groups that could be affected by the paid-leave bill will have a chance to continue weighing in over the next few months, as Mendelson has said he will call at least two more hearings before any further action is taken on the proposal.
And despite uncertainty over what form the bill could ultimately take, Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) — who supports the measure — said that even having the debate is a positive step forward.
"I doubt the legislation will emerge in same form, but it starts the conversation," she said. "It’s a conversation that’s long overdue."
tagged with paid leave, family, workforce
Chairperson, Committee on Education
dgrosso@dccouncil.us
1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
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We’re Delta Echo. Passion and perfection, these are the words by which we live. We believe that it’s the audience that is the true judge of our productions, and that’s who we write for! We’re persistent with an eye for perfection. And, we like to have fun doing it! And all of this brings us to what we do best: create works that tells a story and brands people to their work. We are proud to be a veteran founded organization.
Devin Rumer attended The Ohio State University after his time as a United States Marine. His interest in film peaked when he started acting while in D.C. on several films and television. After moving to Los Angeles to continue acting, he landed roles on CSI and various daytime television. He is a story-teller who leads the writing team and performs as Delta Echo’s president. Devin started in the film industry as an actor where he watched and learned the techniques he now uses from some of the best directors in the business.
Eve Cerda’s first intention was to study theatre and to become an actress. Although she enjoyed “becoming” different characters on stage she knew that something was missing. She quickly discovered that her passion lied elsewhere, in producing. She wanted a career that involved being constantly challenged and as Delta Echo’s Executive Producer, she has found her dream. She is able to see the big picture regarding productions and she is able to bring in the right people to make the film the best it can be.
ecerda@deltaechoproductions.com
drumer@deltaechoproductions.com
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NY museum scraps Bolsonaro event after complaints
By AFP Apr 16, 2019 in World
New York's Museum of Natural History announced Monday it had canceled a private function booked to take place there that would honor Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
The leader, who has been attacked at home and abroad for policies that critics say threaten the environment and indigenous communities, was due to receive an award at the museum from the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce.
"With mutual respect for the work & goals of our individual organizations, we jointly agreed that the Museum is not the optimal location for the Brazilian-Am. Chamber of Commerce gala dinner," the museum tweeted.
"This traditional event will go forward at another location on the original date & time."
The statement was also posted on the chamber's website.
Bolsonaro was chosen to receive the "Person of the Year" award from the chamber at a May 14 gala dinner attended by more than a thousand people.
Every year, the body selects two people -- one Brazilian and one American -- to recognize at the sold-out gala.
It did not respond to an AFP request for comment, nor has it announced the gala's new location.
Following an avalanche of complaints, the museum last week announced it was considering its options over the event.
"The external, private event at which the current President of Brazil is to be honored was booked at the Museum before the honoree was secured," the museum tweeted last Thursday.
"We are deeply concerned, and we are exploring our options."
In an open letter published in the French newspaper Le Monde, 13 representatives of Brazilian indigenous peoples had denounced Bolsonaro's environmental policies, which they said left them on the verge of "an apocalypse".
"The government wants to monopolize the entire Amazon, bleed it even more by building new routes and railroads," it said.
Since taking office on January 1, Bolsonaro has rolled back environmental protection laws in favor of miners and farmers.
More about US, Brazil, Politics, Environment, Museum
US Brazil Politics Environment Museum
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Anime Review | Wish Upon the Pleiades Complete Season 1 Collection (Lights, Camera, Action!)
By Drew Hurley 29.10.2016 1
Wish Upon the Pleiades Complete Season 1 Collection (UK Rating: 12)
When it comes to anime, there are a number of cornerstone series that will always be made, again and again. The giant mecha anime, the shonen battle anime, the magical girl anime, and so on. This new magical girl anime follows a group of colour-coded, broom riding witches as they try to capture falling stars to get an alien back to its home planet. Indeed. This complete series from Manga Entertainment contains all 12 episodes and hit the UK retail scene on 17th October.
Wish Upon the Pleiades comes from an unusual source material. Instead of being based on a usual manga or light novel / visual novel, Wish Upon the Pleiades was originally a free short 'net animation series, produced in a partnership between venerable anime studio Gainax and… car manufacturer Subaru. This series was available for free on YouTube, broken into four parts and totalling around 25 minutes.
The series follows a young girl called Subaru… It's one of the few things linking the company to this anime. The sharp-eyed out there may also spot the logo from time to time, as well as the fact that Pleiades is known as Subaru in Japan. Subaru is an astronomy obsessive who is beginning her first year in junior high - something she's going to have to take on alone, since she and her best friend, Aoi, are no longer speaking. During Subaru's first night at her school, she decides to take her telescope and go stargazing on campus, yet when she enters the observatory, she somehow ends up in a strange greenhouse-like room filled with trees and flowers, in the middle of which sits an odd red-headed boy named Minato. Upon leaving there, she ends up in another room, stumbling in on her old friend Aoi and three other girls, along with an alien slime creature…
This alien slime creature is hunting for pieces of its crashed spaceship and has granted the girls magical powers (of course) to help it track down these parts. The parts take the form of shooting stars and the girls transform into colour-coded magical young ladies, riding powered-up broomsticks known as "driveshafts" that rev and roar like an engine. Soon enough, Subaru has joined the team and after class the quintet is trying to track down all of the engine pieces so the alien can return home.
Being quite a short series, the story relies on each episode mostly consisting of single episode stories where the girls compete with a mysterious red-haired boy, who also seems to be trying to collect the falling stars. There are also episodes dedicated to each of the girls, where their characters are fleshed out, with some flashbacks and their own personal problems for them to face; each is wrapped up quickly in a single episode.
Wish Upon the Pleiades' best feature is the visuals; this series is from Gainax, after all, and it is filled with plenty of gorgeous moments and the brightly coloured ladies soar through the sky and even through space. When they fly in particular formations, huge spell circles form in the sky between them, made of iridescent light and prisms. They look fantastic and reminiscent of some of the moments from TTGL. A particularly great looking episode has the girls chasing a piece of the engine that has attached itself to a comet, which ends up getting too close to the sun.
Very Good - Bronze Award
What at first seems like just another average series becomes something more in its final moments. Wish Upon the Pleiades is an entertaining series that is elevated by its truly gorgeous and fantastical visuals. A truly original, eccentric trip through the stars with an absolutely superb finale.
Snowtwo 30.10.2016#1
Least it's not the Pleiades from Overlord.
Adam Riley, justin-p
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Education / Hot News | By Team Estrade
SHEMFORD Group of Futuristic Schools to organize 10th ShemEmpower Residential Teachers’ Training Programme
New Delhi: July 24, 2019: SHEMFORD Group of Futuristic Schools, one of South Asia’s fastest growing school chains, is all set to inaugurate the 10th edition of its ShemEmpower Annual Residential Teachers’ Training Programme at the campus of SHEMFORD Futuristic School, Pinjore- to enhance the skills of teachers and prepare them for challenges that they may face as educators. The 4-day Training Programme, starting from 24th June 2019 is expected to be attended by more than 200 School Heads & Teachers from all across the country.
The comprehensive & insightful Residential Training Programme has been designed by a team of expert & experienced educationists under the ace supervision of Mrs Meenal Arora, Founder Director – SHEMFORD Group of Futuristic Schools. She is one of India’s leading educationists and a distinguished parenting expert. She is the recipient of the reputed ‘#100 Women Achievers Award’ by the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India.
The training programme comprises of innovative and effective modules such as From Vision to Action, The Brain and Beyond, Measuring what Matters, The Kinesthetic Classroom, and many others. Apart from sessions of informative modules and enriching presentations, this 4-day event will help the School Heads and Teachers to refresh and rejuvenate their mind, body & soul with several exciting & fun-filled activities like Excursions, Yoga, Aerobics, Trekking, Gym, Gala Party, etc.
This year’s training programme is special as the year 2019 marks the completion of 30 years of SHEMROCK and SHEMFORD Group of Schools and 10 years of the Senior School Venture- SHEMFORD Futuristic Schools.
Dr. D.R. Arora, Chairman- SHEMFORD & SHEMROCK Group of Schools & Dr. Mrs. Bimla Arora, Founder Director – SHEMROCK Group of Preschools, will host the training programme in the lush green campus at the foothills of the Shivalik Himalayan range.
The Inauguration ceremony of this ‘Festival of Learning’ will be presided over by Major General Sunil Chandra, Former Managing Director – Army Welfare Education Society, as the Chief Guest on 24th June (Monday). Prof. Sanjay Gupta, Vice Chancellor, World University of Design will join the inauguration ceremony as this year’s special guest.
Dr. R. C. Mishra (IPS), Additional Director General of Police, Additional Director General of Police (Vigilance) Haryana has consented to attend the Culmination and Award Ceremony of the Programme on 27th June (Thursday) as the Chief Guest. Dr. R. K. Soni, Regional Officer & Director, AICTE North Western Regional Office (NWRO), Chandigarh will join the Culmination Ceremony as the special guest.
Additionally, the participants will have a wonderful chance to listen to revered Brahmkumari Sister Neha as she is going to take a session on ‘Emotional Intelligence – Being In Tune With Emotions To Benefit the Teaching And Learning Process’.
About SHEMFORD Group of Futuristic Schools:
SHEMFORD Group of Futuristic Schools is the Senior School Chain of SHEMROCK – one of India’s oldest Playschool Chains. After establishing a landmark in the field of ‘Preschool Education’, the organisation realised the scope of bringing the same concept of stress-free learning to the 10+2 school segment too. Keeping this in mind, in the year 2009, SHEMROCK launched a nationwide chain of Senior Secondary Schools by the name SHEMFORD Group of Futuristic Schools. Today, the Group has 650+ Preschools, Primary Schools and Senior Schools across India, Nepal & Bangladesh and more than 4,00,000 children have already received a foundation for success from these schools.
Meenal Arora
SHEMFORD Group of Futuristic Schools.
Mia by Tanishq launches a new digital film for their ‘Facets Collection
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Yes You Can (If You Practice)
One of my children, Nick, has stuck with his music. Everybody in the family’s rather musical, whether it’s singing or playing instruments or whatever. But Nick is really an exceptional guitarist. He can play many styles of music.
At a gig his mother and I went to a while back with his band, we were sitting and listening to the band play and it was in between songs. I heard a guy, sitting next to us with a friend of Nick’s say, “Boy, I wish I could play like that.”
My son’s friend glanced over at me. I looked at him and he kind of had a smile on his face because he and Nick had known each other for years. And he said, “Well, if you practice two, three, four or more hours a day like Nick does you probably will be able to play that well.” And both of them laughed. How true of a statement that is. Are you willing to put in the time necessary to be that good of a guitarist? Nick does.
Negative Self-Talk Eliminator
Overcome the Worry Habit AND Create an Unstoppable Positive Mental Attitude!
Amazon Apps Google Play
A good friend, David Lanz, who’s an internationally known piano recording artist, plays hours and hours a day. People say, “Wouldn’t it be nice to play like David?” Sure, it would be wonderful to play like David. If you spent the hours he did, you could probably be pretty good too. You may never be a David Lanz, but you could be exceptionally good.
Have you wished for something but not taken the needed action to develop the skill or expertise? Sure. Every single one of us has–playing a musical instrument, learning to ski, play tennis, golf, badminton, chess. Becoming a good public speaker–knowing how to hold yourself, how to compose your thoughts, how to use your voice, the look on your face.
Maybe being a decent parent is in your magic vase, finding out what to do and what not to do. Knowing how to use time-outs appropriately, how to speak to your children in a way that they will listen to you and you don’t make them afraid.
What about controlling your own emotions so you stay more positive the majority of the time so you don’t get sucked into the cesspool of negativity. Can you do that? Yes, you can do all of this plus much, much more. But you’ve got to quit wishing and start taking action. No more excuses. You can have what you desire; you just have to go do something. You have to take action.
The Champions Mindset
For just a moment, think about that magic vase. What’s one thing you could begin doing today to start on the path to your greater success? One little thing you could do. It isn’t usually the monumental things that make a difference, it’s one step in front of another.
Could you make a phone call to talk to someone to begin moving this process forward? That’s a step isn’t it? Or maybe you could send someone an email who you’d like to talk to about this or to have partner with you on this process and you could ask them. If they say yes or they say no is actually irrelevant because you’re taking action.
Maybe you could read a book. You go and find some expertise that’s already out there. A book to me is an incredible thing. It’s a compendium of information. I’ve written three books. And those books are condensations of years of study and research and experience. If you look at what any book is, it’s a detailed compilation of massive research down to a very finite piece of work. So read a book. Find that compendium of information.
Go get yourself a mentor. We all need mentors. Nobody is so great that you no longer need to grow and learn. Do you think that exceptional basketball players like LeBron James, Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, have mentors? Do you think they have coaches that helped them refine their game even though they were playing at the top of their game already? Absolutely.
The Mindset of a Millionaire
Do you know how the wealthy look at the world? Where are their priorities? What are their spending and investing habits? How do they feel about opportunity, poverty, charity, and employment? The answers just might surprise you. But acquiring the mindset of a millionaire takes more than a focus on money. In fact, to the very rich, money is a byproduct of value given. This is just one crucial piece of the entire picture, revealed here in this program.
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Re: Short Summations
Road House (1948) 3.5/5 - Ahhhh, Ida Lupino... if I could have just one woman from the Golden Age of Hollywood, it would be her. No one could play the bad girl types like she did. She had that waifish look, a melodic, warbling voice and the smoking sensuality that made good guys go bad. In Road House, she plays a chanteuse at a lounge owned by Richard Widmark. Widmark's character is completely smitten with her, but when she falls for his good looking friend and manager of the lounge (Cornel Wilde), his jealousy overcomes him and he frames him for embezzlement. He has the judge parole him into his custody, just so he can drive a wedge between the two lovers as he makes his life a living Hell. But this only bonds the two closer, and when the trio go on a trip together, Wilde and Lupino make a break for it, with Widmark in psychotic pursuit.
Not a great film, but it delivers the goods. Once again, Richard Widmark plays the lecherous type to perfection. As I've written before, Mitchum was the God of noir, but Widmark is the Beelzebub.
Avatar (2009) 2/5 - In my youth, my favorite band was Yes. Not only did I love their music, but I was completely enthralled with their album covers, which were created by graphic artist Roger Dean. I used to think that it would be so great to have a film based on his atmospheric and fantasy landscapes. Well, 35 years later, James Cameron did it. If I were to rate this film on the technological achievements alone, I would probably rate it 4/5. While it is amazingly beautiful, at times I also found it a bit too much. Kind of like turning a kid loose in a candy store, and eating himself sick. I think that if Cameron could have, for once, set his enormous ego aside, and let someone who knows how to write a good screenplay, take over that part of the film, then this could have been a masterpiece. I can't tell you how many times I cringed listening to the cliched dialog in this worn out story. I can understand the hype, but when all is said and done, it's all just eye candy, that in about another five years, will be forgettable when the next level of graphic CGI emerges. That's the double edge of the special effects sword...eventually, it will look as antiquated as King Kong does today.
The Nazis: A Warning from History (1997) 4.5/5 - I've pretty much seen almost every documentary on Adolph Hitler and the Nazis and figured that this one wasn't going to shed too much light on that devastating moment in history. Boy, was I wrong! This has to be one of the best treatments on this subject that I've ever watched. What separates this documentary from the countless, by the numbers types that are repeated ad nauseum on the History Channel is this... There is very little time spent on battles and more time is spent showing how they came to power. Instead of chronicling the events of The Final Solution, and Himmler and Heydrich's role in it, they feature lesser, but still prominent Nazis such as Arthur Greiser and Dr. Josef Bühler. These are men that you hardly ever hear mentioned in Nazi documentaries. The best part of this series, is that they don't portray the Nazi hierarchy as efficient, ruthless monsters, but as incompetent, petty boors who happen to be in the right place at the right time to seize power on a stunned and demoralized post-Versailles Germany. If you are interested in watching this excellent series, it is posted, in its entirety on YouTube.
I've set them up in a playlist...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPYoEGrFEkA&list=PLF63C7414151EF571&feature=mh_lolz
Scrooge (1935) 3.5/5 - Seymour Hicks played Ebenezer Scrooge probably more times than all the other actors who have portrayed the greedy miser combined. He started in 1901 as a young man, and by 1935, had the character down cold. I used to think that Alastair Sim was the quintessential Ebenezer Scrooge, but after watching Hicks, I'm starting to change my mind. His Scrooge is more crotchety, and mean spirited in the beginning, while his transformation to a humble philanthropist is on par with Sim. The film itself, stays pretty true to the narrative of Dicken's short story, and the supporting cast handle their roles admirably. I wish that some DVD company would spend just a little on remastering the print of this film, because having another excellent version of this story alongside the Sim version, is gravy for the goose...pun intended.
Wings of Desire (1987) 3.5/5 - I actually watched this film about a month ago and forgot to write a review on it. Now that four weeks have passed by, I am at a loss to think of anything in this film that was truly memorable. As I was watching it, it held my curiosity and there were some truly beautiful scenes, but as a whole, I will probably never watch it again. Bruno Ganz was great as can be expected, and I loved looking at Solveig Dommartin. It's a shame she died so young. Sorry if there's not much written here, but the film just didn't grab me. I liked it, but barely.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2014, 11:05:42 PM by Antares »
Watergate (1994) 4.5/5 - You have to hand it to the BBC. They really know how flesh out the details of a story in their documentaries. I stumbled upon this five part documentary on YouTube, and I must say that it is the best program I've ever watched concerning this egregious moment in American politics. While every other documentary focuses mainly on the events post arrest of the burglars, this sets the stage with interviews with the participants, detailing what was originally planned, and how screwed up it all became. My first observation is that the whole operation was doomed from the start because of the fact that G. Gordon Liddy was involved. Listening to not only him, but the others talk about some of the hair-brained schemes he wanted to implement, one feels a sense that if they made a modern day film about Watergate, then Jim Carrey should play Liddy, he's that crazy a character.
It's a shame that by the time this documentary was made, both John and Martha Mitchell were already deceased. It would have been interesting to hear the former Attorney General's take on the event and its aftermath, and it definitely would have been entertaining to listen to Martha run her mouth off again. If I can find one fault in this series, it would be that the BBC paid very little attention to the efforts of the many reporters who tore away at the layers of security involved in the cover up. Also, very little is mentioned in regards to Hugh Sloan, the man at the Committee for Re-Election of the President, who eventually was the whistle blower.
If you've ever wanted to really delve into this infamous event, then this would be the best place to start.
Have you ever seen David Frost's interviews with Nixon? I haven't seen the film that was done recently, but I mean the actual footage of the original broadcast. I recently saw an new, extended interview with David Frost where he talked at length about the preparation and what led up to a virtual confession from the ex-President. It's a fascinating insight into old fashioned journalism.
I watched it when it originally aired. The thing is, Nixon came off not only as criminal and lecherous, but also sympathetic too. After that interview, he was kind of reborn as an elder statesman. Americans just love to forgive someone who comes clean.
It's a shame he stooped to the covert crap, because his presidency would have been considered one of the best of the 20th century had Watergate never happened. He brought an end to the Vietnam War, signed a nuclear reduction treaty with Russia and opened up diplomatic relations with communist China. Not to mention that the economy was running on all cylinders during his terms as President.
Unfortunately, Nixon was the Captain Queeg of U.S. Presidents, a paranoid personality who saw plots behind every door.
Have you ever seen this documentary?
No, but I think I remember hearing about it. I'll have to try and keep an eye out for it. BBC4 specialises in showing both new and old documentaries.
Twelve Monkeys (1995) 4/5 - I'm ashamed to say that I haven't seen too many of Terry Gilliam's films, even though I'm a huge Monty Python fan. I think my problem lies with the fact that I know I'm going to have to invest myself completely with the storyline because of Gilliam's cerebral screenplays and his attention to detail. Last night there was nothing on television and I couldn't think of a DVD in my collection that piqued my interest, so I started surfing the channels and fell upon this film. I started to get that uneasy feeling that I usually get when I'm undecided about sinking my teeth into a complex film, as I felt I wasn't in the right frame of mind, but after about 15 minutes, I was hooked. Usually films about time travel don't sit well with me because you can usually find holes in the screenplay to make the time travel aspect inconceivable as written. But Gilliam's storyline is completely plausible and has enough twists to keep it compelling throughout. Bruce Willis and Madeleine Stowe are both excellent in their roles, but Brad Pitt steals the show every time he's on screen. I read on IMDB that Gilliam took away Pitt's cigarettes to get a more manic delivery from him, and this obviously worked to a tee. I think now that I'm finally going to seek out Gilliam's other films, if they're half as good as this was, I'll be happy.
samuelrichardscott
Please check out the documentary Lost in La Mancha if you're interested in Gilliam. You'll love it.
KinkyCyborg
Quote from: Antares on January 09, 2012, 01:02:39 AM
Twelve Monkeys (1995) 4/5
I think now that I'm finally going to seek out Gilliam's other films, if they're half as good as this was, I'll be happy.
Give Tideland a try. It is controversial, offbeat, shocking, will leave you feeling squeamish and Gilliam is completely unapologetic about it. 12 Monkeys is good too and I must admit that I am as shocked that you liked it as you were! I didn't think you were a big fan of sci-fi films let alone ones about time travel.
I'm ashamed to say that I haven't seen too many of Terry Gilliam's films, even though I'm a huge Monty Python fan.
Gilliam's films are (almost) nothing like Monty Python (except Jabberwocky maybe).
My favorites are The Fisher King and above all Brazil (his version of 1984). Time Bandits is great fun (and still fairly close to Python) but Munchhausen can be skipped, I guess. I did like Twelve Monkeys and fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (the memory of the latter is rather vague though). I have not seen Brothers Grimm and Tideland and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
The Tale of Zatoichi (1962) 4/5 - My favorite genre in films is Film Noir, but running neck and neck with it is jidai-geki chanbara films from Japan. A few years ago I started catching a lot of these films on IFC on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately, they would start at 9AM and being in the hospitality industry, I'm usually still sleeping at that time. So I've caught most of these films in midstream. One of my favorites of these genre of films are the Zatoichi films. Now that Criterion is streaming free films on Hulu, I've gotten to see the first two films in their entirety. A lot of the character traits of the blind masseur are still to be worked out in the following installments, but the basis of the character is intact. He's a master swordsman who likes to gamble. He calls himself a yakuza, but the moniker doesn't fit. In this first film, we get a Yojimbo style screenplay with Zatoichi in the middle of two rival yakuza clans. It takes a while for Zatoichi to draw his sword, but when he does the action is fast and furious. Subsequent films would get to the action much quicker, as fans wanted to see the prowess of this master swordsman and less of the character development that this film had. What also sets this film apart from it's successors is that Zatoichi is a bit more cynical in this one. Later on, he would come across as comical, and that's why I think the first few outings are the best.
The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (1962) 3/5 - With the success of the previous film, Daiei Studios knew that they had a profitable alternative to Toho's Yojimbo character and they quickly shot this film to capitalize on it. The hurried nature is well evident in the patchwork screenplay. The story itself is good, but there really isn't anything to sink your teeth into. The fight scenes are frequent and relatively good. But as sequels go, this pales in comparison to Kurosawa's Tsubaki Sanjûrô. Even though this entry is rather light, I'm looking forward to the next four films in the series, as they are also freely available on Hulu.
New Tale of Zatoichi (1963) 3.5/5 - The third film in the franchise is an odd duck. A deeply somber turn for the blind masseur as Zatoichi returns to his home village where he learned his masterful sword skills. He meets up with the sensei who trained him and the sensei's younger sister. Her name is Yayoi and the sensei has arranged a marriage to a wealthy samurai family for her, but she doesn't want to marry out of necessity. She has fallen in love with Zatoichi and after an emotional confrontation in which both he and she express there feelings for each other, Zatoichi renounces his lifestyle and promises the girl to lead an exemplary life from then on. When his former master learns of their intentions to marry, he berates Zatoichi and expels him from his house. Up until this point, the film kind of slowly meanders through a couple of divergent subplots involving a yakuza who was related to the outlaw leader that Zatoichi killed at the end of the second film, and the sensei’s involvement in a kidnapping plot against one of his students. It moves so slowly, that I started to feel that this film was going to turn out to be a dud in the series. But after Zatoichi’s expulsion, the film shifts into high gear with lots of swordplay and the inevitable scene with Zatoichi leaving the village after breaking his promise to Yayoi and massacring a small army of yakuza thugs.
While not as sharp as the first film, this entry had me enthralled after the romance was exposed and Zatoichi was forced to engage the yakuza gang. It was the first time in the series that I felt pity for Zatoichi and his handicap. Maybe this was a ploy to get female viewers more involved in the character, and if it was, then I think it works. Not a great film, but a solid entry in this long franchise.
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Brainbuster
Machine Learning and Data Science Careers
ECM explore data science and separate hyperbole from opportunity in part one of our guide to careers in machine learning and data science.
We’ve seen a lot of trends in high-tech industry over the 30+ years for which ECM have been working with the best and brightest candidates and companies. Data science, and subsequently machine learning, have been two of the hottest topics we’ve encountered – there is a huge amount of interest in these, from both candidates and companies in the field.
The confusing thing for people trying to understand these areas is that the same terminology is used not only to describe variations on a theme but also in some cases to encompass or exclude larger portions of the field than one might imagine. This is true for details published by companies, described by universities and professionals, and even topics cited in major publications.
It’s easiest to understand this as a diagram:
(A larger version of this diagram is available for download. Depending on your web browser, clicking the link may save it to your Downloads without telling you it's done so.)
This is a view of the overall field of data science. Here, quotes around “machine learning” or “deep learning” indicate common usage; unquoted terms are (in our subjective view) more technical / specific definitions from the perspective of people in those fields. You’ll encounter both, so it’s worth bearing in mind the differences. But do note, everyone’s perspective is different – and that’s a good thing – and language is always evolving. This makes it hard for those of us with a technical background as we’re used to precise terminology - but broader definitions help to advance the edges of the field and make subjects more approachable and inclusive.
In part one, we'll discuss data science - in part two we'll discuss machine learning, and in part three we'll touch on big data.
Data Science: The Broad View
From a certain perspective, the field of data science can be seen as encompassing the totality of data processing, from initial cleanup and reasoned or intuitive analysis through to statistical work and (where applicable) the application of machine learning technologies.
The goal in every case is to answer a question relevant to a business or group of people, and the answer (since it is often based on statistics) usually comes in the form of a percentage or probability. Sometimes the question is known at the start; sometimes the data is known but the goal is to explore what can be learned from this data that may be of value to the business and so the question is derived during the analysis. This is increasingly common as the excitement around the fields of data science and machine learning has swept across the business landscape; companies realise they have vast quantities of untapped data on hand, and feel they should be making use of it. These conditions have given rise both to specialist consultancies in these fields, and to domain experts with a variety of scientific backgrounds, all contributing to answering these questions for different kinds of data.
Data Science: The Statistical View
Some people view data science less broadly, and would be more likely to name the field as a whole as data analysis or data modelling (or even data processing). They might use the term data science to refer to activities which fall more strictly into the fields of computational statistics and applied mathematics. This is the exciting bit of data science from a mathematical standpoint, and it’s effectively the fulcrum, i.e. the greatest point of leverage, for statistical methods.
These methods fall into three primary areas, with related goals:
Clustering – grouping data by similarity
Classification – categorising data
Regression – quantifying and predicting relationships
These are further supported by mathematical techniques which allow a “best” fit to be made to a curve or series of curves intended to approximate the equation (model) describing a set of data points along various axes. Techniques such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo apply to this category.
There is also substantial overlap between this view of data science, and the field of operations research (OR), also known as operational research, which has comparable goals and overlapping methods.
A Career As A Data Scientist
As the field is still developing, data scientists frequently come from a wide variety of backgrounds and there is no prescribed route into the field. At ECM we find data scientists often have a strong background in maths or physics, and especially have knowledge of statistics and a real enthusiasm for working directly with data.
There are some things worth knowing if you’re considering a career in data science. If you ask any data scientist working commercially, a substantial amount of their time (indeed the vast majority of it, for many people) is spent on the data to clean it and prepare it ready for analysis. Data must be filtered and transformed, rogue values eliminated, duplicates removed, sources merged and combined. This normalisation process is critical for the success of later stages, whose conclusions will otherwise be incorrect. Given each data source (and even sometimes, each data set) is different, and requires an intuitive understanding of the data and the problem, this stage remains largely a manual task; though often data scientists will write ad hoc scripts and transformations to help them once they start to see patterns.
After this critical stage, work diverges depending on the kind of data scientist one speaks to. People from a statistical background will often be building statistical models, or writing statistical code from first principles. Others will be working with data engineers: those being people with a combined mathematical and software development skillset whose role it is to provide tools to allow data scientists to do their work (and this is far from a purely supporting role; a skilled data engineer has just as much of a vital role to play in that process). Given the quality and availability of pre-existing platforms, libraries and toolkits, there are also a large number of data scientists whose work involves taking advantage of these, understanding their foibles and quirks, and directing the process of analysis by shepherding data through the right tools. This isn’t as simple as it might sound: in many tools just as complex a model can be built by the data scientist as would be built from first principles and it’s just as important that the basis of that model is correct.
Register with ECM Jobs in Data Science
Continue reading about machine learning in part two and about big data in part three.
Data Science Machine Learning
ECM|Monday 06 August 2018|Permalink
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This Mystic Seer Predicts a Lack of Royalties for Bill Shatner
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 27, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections, Star Trek, Television |
Poor William Shatner! He creates the character of Captain Kirk and doesn’t even get a damn cameo in the upcoming Star Trek film which will no doubt generate millions of dollars worth of merchandise. But if that isn’t enough now they’re cashing in on his Twilight Zone work as well! Shown above is the Twilight Zone Mystic Seer Bobble Head which is based on the classic 1960 Twilight Zone episode Nick of Time which featured a ‘mystic seer’ fortune-telling device. The episode opens with this stunning narration by Rod Serling:
“The hand belongs to Mr. Don S. Carter, male member of a honeymoon team on route across the Ohio countryside to New York City. In one moment, they will be subjected to a gift most humans never receive in a lifetime. For one penny, they will be able to look into the future. The time is now, the place is a little diner in Ridgeview, Ohio, and what this young couple doesn’t realize is that this town happens to lie on the outskirts of the Twilight Zone.”
By the way I should point out that there have been fans who have created their own plans in the past for making their own mystic seer machines, but this seems to be based more on a love of the show rather than trying to make a quick buck on the “misfortune of others”:
Getting back to our official bobble head for some odd reason the Twilight Zone seer also includes a set of fortune telling cards, even though none that I recall were featured in that episode! Sadly in this case I think I already know what the answer to the question “Will I get rich?”
By the way a bit of interesting trivia about Nick of Time: Twilight Zone writer Richard Matheson claimed that they wanted to cast Pat Breslin, who played Pat Carter (the wife of Don Carter, Shatner’s character in this episode) to reprise her role in the episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet which also featured Shatner in the main role:
And lastly to add my final insult in injury I should mention that the gremlin from that Twilight Zone episode was also turned into a toy at one time which I bet Shatner didn’t get anything for either:
Ah yes — we’re traveling to another, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of cash! A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of hucksters…
Tags: 1960, Star Trek, Twilight Zone, William Shatner
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Re-Introducing All About H. Hatterr
I sold G.V. Desani's All About H. Hatterr to my students as "the Indian Finnegans Wake." When I said it, I was thinking of the last time I tried to read Desani's novel, early in graduate school. It was a frustrating experience, and more a failure than a success really. Hence, the comparison to the Wake.
It's odd, because I'm not finding Desani's book even remotely as obscure now. In fact, it's pretty smooth going, and really quite funny.
Here are the fundae of Desani's life: born and raised in India, moved to England, where he wrote and published All About H. Hatterr in 1948. It was widely reviewed and even sold a few copies, but Desani never wrote another novel (he did revise and add to the text several times). Between 1950 and 1970 he got seriously interested in various forms of Hindu and Buddhist mysticism, and spent time at Ashrams in India, as well as meditation centers in Burma and Japan. Meanwhile, he was writing occasional columns for The Illustrated Weekly of India (a magazine that Khushwant Singh would later edit). Desani finally ended up in Texas, where he taught in the English department at UT-Austin (alongside Zulfikar Ghose) until the late 1990s. He passed away in 2001.
(A more detailed bio of Desani can be found at the University of Texas here)
Salman Rushdie has written in a couple of places about his debt to G.V. Desani's Hatterr. In the controversial preface to the Mirrorwork anthology of Indian writing (1997), Rushdie placed Desani at roughly the same rank of importance as R.K. Narayan (the two writers have little else in common). Here is Rushdie:
The writer I have placed alongside Narayan, G.V. Desani, has fallen so far from favour that the extraordinary All About H. Hatterr is presently out of print everywhere, even in India. Milan Kundera once said that all modern literature descends from either Richardson's Clarissa or Sterne's Tristram Shandy, and if Narayan is India's Richardson then Desani is his Shandean other. Hatterr's dazzling, puzzling, leaping prose is the first genuine effort to go beyond the Englishness of the English language. His central figure, 'fifty-fity of the species,' the half-breed as unabashed anti-hero, leaps and capers behind many of the texts in this book. Hard to imagine I. Allan Sealy's Trotter-Nama without Desani. My own writing, too, learned a trick or two from him. (xviii)
Yes, it's true, don't even try to buy a copy of this novel from Amazon. (I did, a couple of months ago. One of the associated used-book sellers emailed me after a week with an apology: "Actually, we haven't had that in stock for two years. Sorry, we'll give you your money back." I still don't own a copy; I'm teaching it from photocopies.)
One of the reasons many people are afraid of this novel is its reputation for slang-ridden obscurity. Actually, it's not that obscure -- certainly not as difficult as Ulysses (and not even on the same astral plane as Finnegans Wake). Moreover, the obscurity is generally literary, not linguistic. In the first 100 or so pages of the novel, I counted a total of ten Hindi words in the text. And most of those are 'Hobson-Jobson' words like topi (hat), which would have been readily familiar to readers in 1948. Novels like Manju Kapur's Difficult Daughters are considerably more dense with Hindustani (or Punjabi) words, and still seem passable enough to western readers.
Anthony Burgess, in his preface to the 1969 edition of the novel, is also careful to disavow the métèque label that dogged late colonial African writers like Amos Tutuola. F.W. Bateson coined Métèque as a way of referring to writers for whom English was a second or third language, who don't respect (or don't know) 'the finer rules of English idiom and grammar'.
It's not that such writing can't produce interesting effects. But successful forays into slang or, even further, dialect English, are rarely interesting to fluent English speakers unless they are carefully controlled -- by a writer who is quite confident (and of course competent) in the language. The writer may have a memory of learning English, but he or she cannot still be learning English at the time of the writing of the novel. Conrad, Nabokov, and even the contemporary writer Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything Is Illuminated) knew exactly what they were doing. So did Desani.
The mad English of All About H. Hatterr is a thoroughly self-conscious and finely controlled performance, as Burgess points out elsewhere in the same preface:
But it is the language that makes the book, a sort of creative chaos that grumbles at the restraining banks. It is what may be termed Whole Language, in which philosophical terms, the colloquialisms of Calcutta and London, Shakespeareian archaisms, bazaar whinings, quack spiels, references to the Hindu pantheon, the jargon of Indian litigation, and shrill babu irritability seethe together. It is not pure English; it is, like the English of Shakespeare, Joyce and Kipling, gloriously impure.
Though Desani doesn't have very much common with Joyce at the level of style, it seems appropriate to read Hatterr as a species of modernist experimentation.
For one thing, Desani shares Joyce's interest in tweaking the English canon a bit irreverently. Desani's canon is, however, a bit more fringey, having at its center the eighteenth-century classic, Tristram Shandy (full text at Gutenberg). There also seems to be the picaresque spirit of Apuleius here; some episodes read a little like they might have come out of The Golden Ass (full text at Gutenberg). Third is Lewis Carroll, whose "Mad Hatter" is alluded to in "Hatterr" (it's an amusing exercise to speculate on where the extra 'r' comes from). There are, in fact, dozens of sources in play -- my sharp graduate students spotted references to Everyman and Piers Plowman in the first chapter -- but the most prevalent literary reference point by far is Shakespeare. Some of Desani's Shakespearisms are simple comic misquotations, but others are considerably sustained (if still comically misapplied). One episode that stands out is the opening of "Chapter 1" (which, given the small avalanche of prolegomena, is by no means the real beginning of the book). It is a kind of remix of Hamlet. Hatterr, however, is playing the guard:
'All's well, friend Master Keeper o' Literary Conscience!
'The name is H. Hatterr, how d' you do?
'What of that?
'Well, thereby hangs a tale...
'List!'
'List!' is what the ghost in Hamlet says ("listen!"). Here, however, I think Desani is playing around; "List!" also seems to mean "enumerate!" -- as in, explain yourself, damnit! The odd dialogue (I've quoted only a small part of it) is a kind of framing device for the novel that follows (in which, among other things, Hatterr will explain the origins and significance of his name, and, not coincidentally, offer many lists).
Though all of this playing around seems quite modernist in shape, early in the novel Desani self-consciously disavows any connection to the Bloomsbury scene (already for the most part dead and, er, buried by 1948). In the "All About..." section (signed and dated by the author, G.V. Desani), an autobiographical chapter that details the ostensibly 'real' experiences of the author in his quest to get the manuscript of All About H. Hatterr published, he details one encounter with a Miss Betty Bloomsbohemia, to whom he addresses the following:
As for the arbitrary choice of words and constructions you mentioned. Not intended by me to invite analysis. They are there because, I think, they are natural to H. Hatterr. But, Madam! Whoever asked a cultivated mind such as yours to submit your intellectual acumen or emotions to this H. Hatterr mind? Suppose you quote me as saying, the book's simple laughing matter? Jot this down, too. I never was involved in the struggle for newer forms of expression, Neo-morality, or any such thing! What do you take me for? A busybody?
In short, Desani is saying, I'm really not trying to do anything fancy with all this Hatterr-speak. And why waste your intellectual acumen with my crazy little book? And no, I'm no modernist, not like you: nothing so pompous ambitious.
In the midst of this evasive self-acquittal is a seeming grammatical slip: "this book's simple laughing matter." There is apparently a missing indefinite article there ("a simple laughing matter"). It's possibly an Indianism (intentionally inserted), but the missing "a" makes meaning-making little bit slippery. Most obvious reading is self-deprecation... But perhaps Desani is also playing with the idiom "laughing matter"; it is the "matter" that is "laughing" (at the reader? at Miss Betty Bloomsbohemia?). If this were Joyce, there would also be a joke here about "mater" (Latin: mother), and maybe two or three others. It's not Joyce, but there still might be two or three jokes here, not on mothers, but on naming: the book's "simple laughing" Hatterr, who is mad as a hatter, never matter the mater.
Not only is this book out of print, it's been widely overlooked by scholars of Anglo-Indian literature as well as 20th century literature more broadly. The most ambitious essay I know of is Srinivas Aravamudan's "Postcolonial Affiliations: Ulysses and All About H. Hatterr," in the anthology Transcultural Joyce. It is a witty, learned essay, but it is almost all about... Joyce (surprisingly thin on Desani).
The most helpful essay on Hatterr that I know of is M.K. Naik's oddly titled: "The Method in the Madness: All About "All About H. Hatterr" About H. Hatterr." (That's the exact title.) It's from Naik's 1987 survey Studies in Indian Literature, which is likely to be widely available at decent American university libraries. Naik's essay is especially helpful as a basic, straightforward account of the book: this is what happens, and here is what Desani is trying to do.
I might take a stab at my own essay on Desani at some point soon (hell, given the length of this blog post, I'm already half-way there). But my dream would be to do a new, fully annotated edition of the text, in the vein of The Annotated Lolita or Ulysses Annotated. I somehow doubt it would fly -- hard to imagine the market for an annotated edition of a book that no one knows about!
There is a decently long excerpt from the novel here.
Posted by electrostani at 6:25 AM
Kanya said...
Amardeep,
I think you are right on the money about the archetypal value of *All about H. Hatterr.* Probably the earliest satire on Anglo-Indian life and "Qui hai" culture. Desani is so hard to classify precisely because no one after him (till Alan Sealy's *The Trotter-nama*) seems to have written a satire of this class of people. Anglo-Indians were routinely satirized by the British (Jos Sedley and the nabob phenomena), but I don't know of any Indians trying to write mock-epics about the sahibs or the sahibs. The Eurasians were always low-life, abject or silenced. Kipling's *Kim* is, of course, masquerading as one. It's certainly time for a new edition! I am glad you said it was easier reading the second time around--I found it tough going when I tried and eventually abandoned it.
Scott Eric Kaufman said...
It's impolite to incite in your readers the desire to read books they can't even acquire through inter-library loan. What I mean to say is you're now obligated to scan your photocopies and create a .pdf to be circulated within the scholarly community...starting with me.
Kanya,
Yes, Hatterr is still completely unique. (I've never attempted the Trotter-Nama, though the excerpt that's in Mirrorwork is pretty brilliant).
And do give it a try again if you have access to a copy. Read it slowly, maybe doing parts aloud if you have the time. Some of the puns and wordplay only come out through that kind of attention to detail.
Scott, no copies at UCI? That's surprising. Scanning it to PDF would be a lot of work... but email me, maybe we could figure out something.
Onkar Singh said...
Amardeep
Just a correction - on the University of Texas biography it says he was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and not India.
Suvendra Nath Dutta said...
I was able to get this book through Amazon, and never able to finish it. Maybe now I'll give it another shot.
Lucy Tartan said...
Amardeep, how do you go about teaching a novel from photocopies? Do your students all have to make their own copies, or do you have something like class sets? I thought the book must be very small, but the copy in my library is 300+ pages. There is a novel I badly want to put on a course I'm running next year, but it seems to be out of print.
The book was availabe in India about 3 years ago. You could give Penguin India's wesite a dekko. They might still have it. If it is still available any exporter of books from India like vedam's can ship it to you.
It's a small graduate seminar, so the tree death entailed is only moderate. If there were more than 10 students, I would either scan the whole thing in, or just teach a short excerpt.
Oh, and I'm not using the final, extra afterward ("With Iron Hand, I Defend..."), "written" by H. Hatterr's "lawyer."
And anonymous, thanks for the tip. It's still there on Penguin India's website. But Vedamsbooks and Indiaclub.com aren't carrying it. (I think the rights are restricted, because McPherson still controls the copyright in Europe and the U.S.)
Still, I'll pick up a copy when I go to India this winter.
Builder said...
I agree with Scot. What a tease!
Qalandar said...
Amardeep: I was able to buy a hardback of this book from alibris.com, in case you haven't checked that out...
I completely agree with you. I'm a B'COM grad. attempting to a post grad. degree in English literature and inspite of all my tries to get the story or the book - I could not grab a copy until now. There is something with the Indian writers. I have no issues with any other subject but 'Indian Literature in english' is the toughest subject, to find material for. Not all 'All about H.Hatterr', Alan Sealy's 'The Trotter-nama' reveals the same story.
Todd Katz said...
Thanks for the refreshing reintroduction of H. Hatterr. While he was a professor of philosophy in Austin, I was one of Desani's teaching assistants and editors over several editions of All About H. Hatterr spanning about 15 years). I can affirm that Desani cared deeply about every word, article, symbol, and instance of italics or boldface in his book.
He often talked about the fact that Hatterr would be a rich subject of annotation, but -- as your quote of Miss Betty Bloomsbohemia indicates -- he wasn't a big fan of overly intellectual analysis of his writings.
This brings me to your quoted phrase "simple laughing matter". Thinking this might be a typo I checked the earliest edition of Hatterr. No typo. Although I don't recall the details, I'm quite sure I would have at some point suggested either "a simple laughing matter" or "simply laughing matter". Obviously he demured.
However, the way I read it now, I think Desani had it right all along. There is a slight nuanced difference between "a simple laughing matter" and "simple laughing matter" if for no other reason than the latter doesn't imply comparison with something else.
Also wanted to mention that I've collected some biographical information and web references on Desani (including that drawn from the UT memorial resolution quoted above) at:
http://www.desani.org
Of course I'll add this new comment in the near-term. You're definitely more than 1/2 way to an excellent essay!
Todd Katz
I have added your very learned comments on "All About H. Hatterr" in Wikipedia, here. Please feel free to correct the entry for accreditation or simply adding more. check out this page too. btw, i'd like to fund your "annotated AAHH" when i make a lot of money (which maybe as early as my next life)
wandering_star said...
I just thought I'd let you know that it looks like the NYRB are bringing out "All About H Hatterr" in early November. I've been wanting to read it since I read this post, so I have it on pre-order!
I read this book when I was admitted to hopsital for an emergency Hysterectomy age 57, no children, life saving stuff, I was on a long Nightingale Ward, with over 20 others. I read this book at night and laughed so much I had to bite the bedclothes, the nurse heard the weird choking sounds and ran up the ward to my bedside to find me with tears streaming down my face exlcaiming Iit's the book! That was back in 1987, I made sure I bought my own copy and when the new agers try to take me in with their Celestine Prophesies I just think Hell Bannerji! It's the Desert Island Book you save from the sea, Ok anayse if you will but it is wonderful, delightful and yes, I can imagine he wrote whilst the bombs were dropping because it is so funny.
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The Sounds of Cheyenne Mountain High School
Taking a page from Dickie Goodman (look him up kiddies), the students at Cheyenne Mountain High enlisted the help of KYSN 1460 disc jockey Mark McDonald to record this 1977 audio memento.
Flipside includes a skit of a drama instructor (not credited) teaching Macbeth, and being interrupted by a lengthy class announcement.
In 1983, KYSN changed to an oldies format and became KKHT. Two years later the station again flipped to a simulcast of its then sister station KKCS-FM.
Posted by Lisa Wheeler at 5:37 PM No comments:
Labels: Colorado Springs
Happy 150th Birthday Fort Collins
You can Google Fort Collins history and its centennial celebration in 1964 (and the controversy over Jack Benny's hand prints...) and find out all you would ever need to know about the city's founding, so I will spare the repetition. As 2014 marks its 150th birthday, I thought it appropriate to feature this vinyl ode to the city's heritage.
According to the history of this recording, it was suggested three years previous by the late Dr. Robert Hayes, the former mayor of Fort Collins.
Recorded in 1964, Heritage is billed as "a dramatic expression" of the city's history. Lots of pomp and pageantry on here, as evident in the first cut on the disc - a formal 13 minute speech, written by local historian James Miller, and read by Pastor Ray E. Howes.
Gregory Bueche (the head of CSU's music department since 1937) dips into the school's talent pool, featuring the CSU Symphonic Band and its University Chorus, for the non-speaking sections of the recording.
Labels: Fort Collins
Job Timothy Vigil
Job Vigil interviewed February 2014
Job (pronounced Jobe) Vigil’s life story could be a screenplay—personal struggle, hardship, perseverance, redemption, triumph, and concluded with a happy ending.
Born and raised in Pueblo, his interest in music started at a young age. “I started piano lessons before I was 5 years old,” he said. “I took 15 years of classical piano and 12 years of classical violin.”
After graduating from Pueblo East High in 1969, he was offered a full ride music scholarship to Adams State College, Alamosa, where he became a concertmaster for the school’s orchestra his freshman year.
Then he lost it all.
“I became involved with drugs and alcohol and at the end of the spring semester I lost my scholarship and dropped out.”
After floundering back home in Pueblo, unsure of his next move, Vigil got in his car and went to Denver to stay with a cousin. “He took me to a nightclub on the eastside of town, to see band a called Offspring [which featured Marc Gonzales, and another cousin, Charlie Vigil, formerly of Genesis]. As we walked in the door I heard the band playing "With A Little Help from My Friends" and I was hooked. I knew I wanted to be a performer.”
He was asked to join the group—as the band’s bus driver.
“After a while I moved back to Pueblo. I then got a call from my cousin Charlie. He wanted me to join a band.” The band was Kismet, which had a regular gig at the Foothills Ramada Inn, as well as Taylor’s Supper Club, in Denver."
It was around this time Vigil started writing songs. While admittedly he said he was naïve about the process, it allowed him to get his feelings on paper. In 1975, after finishing several heartfelt compositions, he decided to take them into the recording studio.
Blueberry Candles and Cactus Plants
Gail's Song
I'm Coming Home to You
No Promises
Workin' My Man's Hands
Come Stay With Me
A Little Piece of Love
Enlisting the financial help of his parents, and including his sister Elizabeth (background vocals), Marc Gonzales (bass), drummer Phil Tamez, and guitarist Dave Kintzele, Vigil booked studio time at Viking Recording in Denver.
Feeling positive about the finished product, and with the encouragement of family and friends, he had an estimated 200 copies of Blueberry Candles and Cactus Plants pressed. While the record received no local airplay, and would go on to sell only a handful, the experience only fueled his desire to get his music heard by a larger audience.
Listen to a sample of "A Little Piece of Love"
Listen to a sample of "No Promises"
“A friend connected me with a songwriter friend of his who was living in Hollywood. He agreed to share his one-room apartment with me. Both of us went out every day knocking on doors to try to get our music out in front of anyone who would listen. Mostly, they wouldn't even let us get in the door.”
After countless rejections, Vigil found a willing and encouraging ear. “After she listened to bits and pieces of a few of those songs, she said, ‘Do you have anything else?’ I pulled out a couple of songs and one of them caught her attention. She liked it, but said it needed more work. She told me to work on it and come back when I felt I had it improved enough.”
But the money started to run out.
“A moment that is forever etched in my memory was the turning point for me. While going from door-to-door, trying to sell my music, I would bump into the many street people in downtown Hollywood. There was the bag lady, the guy with the shopping cart full of his life, and at night there were the drug addicts and so on. My roommate had connected with the owner of a restaurant just a block off the corner of Hollywood and Vine. He would sometimes let us wash dishes in exchange for a meal.”
After witnessing the hardship of life in Hollywood, he dug out the open-ended return air ticket he had kept, and flew home.
Not deterred by the experience, he continued to perform, eventually re-connecting with Marc Gonzales, in the band Cheeks. The two kept the band going for about three years. Vigil and his wife, Gail, then packed up and moved to Dallas where he found work in area nightclubs. With the steady paycheck, and additional work as a nightclub manager, it appeared he finally found some stability in his life.
"My following at the North Park Inn grew quickly and I added a happy hour gig at another bar. One night a regular customer told me he really liked my original music and thought I should record. I said I would love to, but didn't have the funds to do so. He was pretty wealthy and said he would invest the money for a single and then we would see what would come of it. By then I was also the manager of the North Park Inn nightclub, as well as the other gigs. I decided on the two songs and flew Marc Gonzales down to play bass and used a drummer from my trio from the bar. Another group of musicians had become friends of mine and I loved their vocals, so they agreed to sing backup for me on the recording. We did the session all in one day and I had about 250 records were pressed."
"I either sold all of them or gave them away. I didn't get any airplay that I know of, but it was a great experience. The recording studio was an amazing place, the name of it slips my mind, but all in all I liked the final product. These two songs were a little better than the songs on my first album, but still not strong enough to boost my career.
Vigil also found work acting in TV commercials and local training films. "I did very well in Dallas, he said.”
But that was about to end. “My wife and I were on the verge of a divorce. So we moved back to Denver. I joined a band, but my heart was not in it. My marriage was falling apart because of all of the time I spent on the road.”
As if fate would have it, his cousin Charlie contacted him. “He had become a Christian and was playing in a church band. My wife and I went to see him one night, and we liked it so much we kept going.” Vigil was so moved by the experience he knew he found his calling – as a Christian musician.
“I eventually traveled the country with my family, performing Christian music. During our final road trip, in 1992, I was hired as a worship pastor at a church in North Platte.”
Finally feeling like he had found his true calling. He started his own church, and became its pastor. The bubble burst when the board of the church he founded discharged him. “My wife and I did not want to leave North Platte for our children's sake. We had just opened a coffee house at that time and since it wasn't making enough money to support us, the publisher of the North Platte Telegraph, where I had done some stringer work, offered me a full-time sportswriter position. I became the sports editor and then was promoted to managing editor.”
Married 36 years in May, he and his wife also run two coffee shops in town (Da Buzz). He continues to perform music in a three-piece band, Job, Peter and Chuck.
“We play 60s and 70s music and have been selected as the area's favorite band for 6 years running.”
Labels: Alamosa, Pueblo
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Elk Bugles
Radio Show Episodes
Radio Show (18)
Lisa Wheeler
Esoteric vinyl recordings and obscure music history, from the Rocky Mountain State.
© Lisa Wheeler and elkbugles.com 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on this blog, without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner, is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Lisa Wheeler and elkbugles.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Home|Company overview and history
Company overview and history admin 2016-10-27T10:45:39+00:00
Handspring Puppet Company was founded in 1981 and has grown under the leadership of Artistic Director Adrian Kohler and Executive Producer Basil Jones for 30 years. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, the company provides an artistic home and professional base for a core group of performers, designers, theatre artists and technicians. Handspring’s work has been presented in more than 30 countries around the world.
In 1985 Handspring produced David Lytton’s Episodes of an Easter Rising – the company’s first play for adults. The success of the production led to collaborations with a string of talented directors: Esther van Ryswyk, Mark Fleishman, Malcolm Purkey, Barney Simon and William Kentridge. Handspring’s work with Kentridge continues to tour the world currently. Handspring has also created successful productions with artists from other parts of the African continent including Sogolon Puppet Troup from Mali and Koffi Koko from Benin. As the company’s international profile has grown works have been developed with directors and creative partners from Europe, the UK and the United States including Tom Morris, Neil Bartlett and Khephra Burns. Handspring’s most recent production Ouroboros, directed by Janni Younge, was presented at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town 2011.
Due to the increase in popularity of puppetry both locally and internationally Handspring is experiencing high levels of demand on the company. To meet this demand, and in planning for the long-term future, the company has expanded its reach and incorporated leading puppetry artists into the core creative team. With a full time staff of over 20 people and numerous performing artists, Handspring Puppet Company is currently directed by Adrian Kohler, Basil Jones and Janni Younge.
The Handspring Trust for Puppetry Arts, a non-profit organization, was established in 2010. The programs of the trust identify, mentor and champion the next generation of puppetry artists through workshops, academic engagement and the support of ongoing projects in rural areas and townships. The Trust has premises in the informal settlement of Vrygrond near Handspring’s Cape Town puppet factory.
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系部介紹
隊伍概況
專業教師
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大學英語
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實踐基地
研究生會
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工會活動
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Introduction to the School of Foreign Studies
發佈者： [發表時間]：2018-05-15 [來源]： [瀏覽次數]：
Dating back to 1958 when the Foreign Languages Department of Guangzhou Normal College was founded, the School of Foreign Studies of Guangzhou University had its present form by merging the two in 2000 with two other departments, the Foreign Languages Department of Guangzhou Education College and the College English Department of South China Construction College (West Campus).In July 2001 the School was officially founded with the approval of the newly-merged Guangzhou University to cater to its development need. Therefore the School began to offer the program of Foreign Languages and Literature in the 1950s, and it started to enroll undergraduate students in 1977 and graduate students in 1999.
As one of the biggest schools in Guangzhou University, the School of Foreign Studies boasts a history of over 60 years. Among the 142 members of the faculty, 128 are full-time teachers (including 13 professors and 36 associate professors while most of the younger generation of the teachers hold a doctorate degree). The School is composed of five teaching departments, namely the English Department,the Eastern Languages Department, the Western Languages Department, the College English Department , and the Graduate Students Department. In addition, it has three administrative offices which are the General Affairs Office, the Teaching and Research Office and the Students Affairs Office, plus several research centers including the Research Center of Modern Poetics, the Research Institute of Cognitive Linguistics, and the Research Center of Foreign Language Education. The undergraduate students major in English, Japanese and French,and in particular, the English majors can choose to take up one of the three orientations which are English teaching, international business, and translation. In terms of graduate program, it offers the Authorized Discipline of Master ' s Degree in English Language and Literature, along with the Master Degree program of Course and Pedagogy (English Education), as well as the Professional Authorized Discipline of Master of Education (English Teaching). In total, there are over 1,400 full-time undergraduate students and 200 graduate students in the School.
The School centers on the mission of building a high-level university by dedicating to team building and academic development. The recent years has witnessed a significant progress of the academic achievement of the faculty that have gained two state-funded research projects and around 30 projects funded at the ministerial and provincial level, and published over 40 books, translation, textbooks and 200 articles.
With a promising new beginning, the School will follow the university’s development blueprint and make good use of the geographical advantages of Guangzhou which is a national key city and an international business center.It will also seize the opportunities brought by the national strategies such as the“Belt and Road”Initiative and the Greater Bay Area to accelerate its own development. In this regard, it makes every endeavor to become a top-ranking school of foreign studies in the country and a key foreign language education provider in South China.
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地址:廣州市番禺區大學城外環西路230號 郵編：510006
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H2O – Sam Dransfield, Hannah Imlach
Sam Dransfield
Hannah Imlach
H2O is the result of a process of working that has seen two exciting, emerging artists create new artwork informed by researching the Foresterhill site, referencing both the history and the way in which this expansive place functions day to day. Both artists have made work through continual interaction with the site and with individuals from NHSG Estates, Catering Services, Porters, Archive and also Aberdeen University Special Collections.
Documentation is an important tool within both their work, and is considered with regard to the gallery context, how it helps inform and introduce the audience to their process of working, and is an insight into the journeys they undertake.
Hannah is an Edinburgh-based visual artist who works predominantly in sculpture and photography.
Responding to the complex social and physical environment of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Hannah’s new work deals with the agricultural origins of the site and its now out-sourced food production for patients and staff. The piece is drawn from ideas of small-scale sustainable growing and the potential of currently unused space. Allotment Concertina is a transparent folding structure occupied by a variety of edible flowers, herbs, fruit and vegetables, documented on the hospital’s industrial rooftop.
The plants chosen represent those that were grown in the early years of ARI on the Foresterhill site, revisit historical methods of ‘in-house’ food production, and indicate the possibility of continual growth within this environment. Allotment Concertina will be installed in The Suttie Arts Space where it will be tended to throughout the summer months by GHAT staff and volunteers.
Sam’s work is informed by journeys, often along pathways created for either transportation or for technology, including plane journeys, quarries and access roads, or power lines that weave through remote places. These pathways are traced and documented through the use of photography, film and audio, to form a record of a journey.
From conversations with NHSG staff and residents of Aberdeen, it transpired that nowadays, it is more economical to source the building material Aberdeen is famous for, granite, from the other side of the world. Sam began communicating with a contact in China, who has previously worked with GHAT to source granite. Together they identified a quarry in Quanzhou, in the Fuijian Province of China, which provides the granite commonly used in new buildings around Aberdeen – G602. Sam then travelled to Quanzhou and worked with stonemasons who work in the quarry to create an artwork in China that would travel to Scotland with him for exhibition.
As part of the continual interaction with the Foresterhill site throughout the exhibition, Sam has created and posted a series of 30 cyanotype postcards. These have been created by a process using a photographic chemical on paper, and exposing them in different locations on his journey that has taken him from Foresterhill, to China, and back. These cards have passed through the hands of various people on route, from Danish airport staff, quarry workers in China and hospital porters within ARI and will continue to arrive throughout the exhibition where they will be displayed.
Exhibition photographs by Mike Davidson
This exhibition was funded by Creative Scotland
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HowlinWuelf.com
Howlin Wuelf Media
Taking a Breather
Michal Towber
No Resolution is singer / songwriter / musician Michal Towber’s eighth studio album, and her first partnership/collaboration with guitarist/saxophonist AR. The album was co-produced by Towber and Kazim Zaidi, and recorded in his home studio in Freehold, NJ. It was mixed by Dae Bennett and mastered by David Kowalski.
The inspiration for No Resolution came from a dark time in Towber’s life. She had given up a career in corporate law, and her musical aspirations, to move to the suburbs and raise a family, only to find herself extremely isolated, lonely and unfulfilled. She started writing songs again “to save myself from annihilation,” she says bluntly.
Besides writing all the material, Michal contributed lead and backing vocals, most of the keyboards and some acoustic guitar. AR played guitar on “Let Me Down Easy,” “Before Tonight,” “Bittersweet” and “Secret Song” and composed the latter two. AR heard a lot of these songs when they were first demoed or written and gave her very detailed advice throughout the writing and recording processes. Zaidi performed or programmed all the drum and bass parts, provided most of the guitars and some keyboards. “The Crash,” features a guitar part composed by the late Scott Putesky aka Daisy Berkowitz of Marilyn Manson, Towber’s longtime friend who passed away of colon cancer in 2017. The demo of “The Crash” is the last known recording by Putesky.
Michal and AR met through mutual friend Robin Finck in 2003 and perform live as a duo, playing original repertoire and a few specially arranged covers. “We were pen pals for 14 years,” Michal says of their partnership. “My music has lived in his head, and his thoughts have lived in mine for all of that time. We were best friends before I ever heard his voice or saw his face. He could have been a hologram or living on the moon. It’s a very intimate way to get to know someone; through their ideas and the content of their soul.”
Emmy-winner Towber was born in Ashkelon, Israel, and raised in NYC. She is a classically trained pianist and self-taught guitarist who graduated from Yale University and Columbia Law School. Fellow Hunter High School alum Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton”) recently tweeted that she was “always the most talented person in our class.”
Michal released her first record at 17, Sky With Stars on Columbia. The album was co-produced by Towber and Soul Asylum front man, Dave Pirner. Supporting the release, she performed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and opened shows for Soul Asylum and Patti Rothberg. The song “My Friend” was featured on Delia’s In Your Head sampler and played in movie theaters nationwide; “Broken Boy” appeared in Dawson’s Creek.
Her sophomore effort, Coma (2002), was produced by Joe Simon (keyboardist for Billy Idol and Fiona Apple). Robin Finck, of Nine Inch Nails, lent his guitar skills to the song “Alive.” Multiple tracks appeared on ABC’s One Life to Live. “Life without Me” appeared in HBO feature film Kiss the Bride.
In 2005 Michal released Desireless. Her song “Perfect” was featured in the HBO film Jack and Jill vs. the World and Lifetime’s True Confessions of a Go Go Girl. “Lovesick” appeared in the film Dark Rising. “Happy Feeling” was included in a Take Five/Diet Coke podcast, the movie Duck Farm No. 13, and Lifetime’s Matters of Life and Dating. The track “Desireless” was included on New Arrivals Vol 1: Artists for Hurricane Relief, a Hurricane Katrina benefit album. Towber was the face of Urban Decay’s make-up palette “Face Case,” and “Big Bang” lip gloss was named after her. She was nominated for five Emmys, winning one this same year for her work on One Life to Live as part of the composition team led by music director Paul Glass.
Michal collaborated with producer/songwriter Dave Liang of the Shanghai Restoration Project in 2008 on the song “Pace of Light” which showed up on the album Stories of a City. In 2009 they collaborated again on “ToyLand,” a song included on Undercover Christmas, Vol 1. The following year, Towber’s version of the NY1 theme song was profiled in a half-hour television special. She also put out Lifesblood in 2009. The song “Nothing Makes Sense” was chosen by the blog TwilightersAnonymous.com as a “New Moon Monday” staff pick. In 2010, Michal worked with producer Jamahl Richardson of Seven Day Visa on a remake of a 1930s song “The Baseball Song” for the baseball documentary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”
The year after, Towber collaborated with Dave Liang, and Sean Han of the band Blip Blip Bleep under the group name “MagiCat.” They released the Up the Rabbit Hole EP, a fantastical reimagining of the classic fairy tale Alice and Wonderland as told from the point of view of the Cheshire Cat. The EP reached the top 20 of iTunes’ Japan Electronic Chart, and the cut “Jabberwocky” reached the top 20 of iTunes Japan’s pop charts. The title track appeared in the Warren Miller Xtreme-skiing film Like There’s No Tomorrow, a North America-wide Canon television spot, as well as ads for the Oona, Slingbox, Sonos and EF Educational Tours.
2012 saw Michal release One Immortal Day, produced by Jamahl Richardson. The music video “Vampire” aired internationally. Sadly, that year also saw the passing of her musical mentor, Don Devito, after a long struggle with cancer. She performed at his memorial service along with Roseanne Cash and Billy Joel.
Three years ago, Towber released a best-of compilation, with previously unreleased tracks, entitled Lovesick. Earlier this year, Michal contributed the song “Outside” to the soundtrack of Netflix’s When We First Met in collaboration with The Practice Worldwide. Her song “Tissue Paper Wings” appears in the award-winning documentary “A Castle in Brooklyn, King Arthur.”
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MichalTowber
YouTube: www.youtube.com/MichalTowberYouTube
Instagram: www.instagram.com/MichalTowberInsta
Twitter: @MichalTowber
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/artist/id1162660
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/MichalTowber
CDbaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/MichalTowber
Bandcamp: https://michaltowber.bandcamp.com/
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/1eoI2Uxzm9yaoP9XyZxWKd
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Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 13-02-05
Cyprus News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>
[01] Industrial producer price index drops in December 2012
[02] Cyprus responds to needs of cancer patients, says Health Minister
[03] Building permits show decrease of 3.5% in January-November 2012
[04] Minister of Foreign Affairs holds meetings in Munich
The industrial producer price index fell in Cyprus, Greece and the Eurozone in December, Eurostat said Monday.
On a monthly basis, the industrial producer price index in Cyprus fell by 0,7% in December 2012 compared with November 2012, recording the largest decrease in the Eurozone and the third largest in the EU after Bulgaria (-1%) and Denmark (-0.8%).
In December 2012, compared with December 2011, prices in total industry increased by 4.4% in Cyprus and in Greece by 2.1%. Industrial producer prices gained 2.1% in the euro area and 1.9% in the EU27.
About 3,000 new cancer patients are diagnosed every year in Cyprus, Minister of Health Androulla Agrotou said on Monday, adding that the newly-appointed National Committee on cancer can provide, for the first time, a comprehensive response to cancer issues.
The Minister said that the Council of the European Union, with a series of decisions, called on Member States in June 2008 to develop strategies to reduce cancer, adding that Cyprus' Ministry of Health was one of the first ministries that acted immediately following these decisions and developed a comprehensive Strategic Plan, based on prevention, treatment, palliative care and research.
She added that last year the Chairman of the National Commission for the treatment of the disease Adamos Adamou handed the Action Plan against cancer.
A decrease of 3.5% was recorded in the number of building permits between January - November 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.
According to data from the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus, the number of building permits authorized by the municipal authorities and the district administration offices during November 2012 stood at 554.
The total value of these permits reached €148.3 million and the total area 143.8 thousand square metres. These building permits provide for the construction of 565 dwelling units.
The Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis held bilateral meetings with the President of the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Vuk Jeremić, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Israel, Danny Ayalon, and the Parliamentary Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and former Foreign Minister, Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
A press release issued here Monday said the meetings took place on the sidelines of the 49th Munich Security Conference held in Munich, Germany on 1-3 February 2013.
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CS(SS) CT(SS) EM(SS) EN(SS) ET(SS) FT(SS) HM(SS)
IC(SS) LS(SS) MM(SS) MS(SS) MT(SS) QM(SS) RM(SS) SD(SS)
SK(SS) SM(SS) SO(SS) ST(SS) TM(SS) WT(SS) YN(SS)
Click on your Rating abbreviation above:
U.S.S. TREPANG
(SSN-674)
THE MIGHTY WAR PICKLE
USS TREPANG (SSN-674) - a Sturgeon-class attack submarine
SSN-674 Deployments - Major Events
Add a SSN-674 Shellback Initiation Add a SSN-674 Deployment - Major Event
at General Dynamics Electric Boat Groton CT
SEP 1969 - Launch Date: 27 SEP 1969
AUG 1970 - Commissioned: 14 AUG 1970
NOV 1971 - JAN 1972 Blue Nose - Arctic Circle
MAY 1973 - DEC 1973 Mediterranean
NOV 1974 - NOV 1975 Regular Overhaul
JUN 1976 - SEP 1976 Mediterranean
SEP 1977 - DEC 1977 Blue Nose - Arctic Circle
NOV 1980 - MAY 1982 Dry Dock
DEC 1983 - MAY 1984 Mediterranean
APR 1985 - JUL 1985 North Pole
APR 1993 - OCT 1993 Mediterranean
APR 1995 - OCT 1995 UNITAS
JUN 1995 - JAN 1996 UNITAS
JAN 1996 - JAN 1997 UNITAS
MAR 1998 - Shellback Initiation - 31 MAR 1998 - Pacific Ocean
JUN 1999 - Decommissioned: 1 JUN 1999
SSN-674 General Specifications
Class: Sturgeon-class attack submarine
Named for: The trepang
Complement: 14 Officers and 95 Enlisted
Length: 292 feet 3 inches
Beam: 31 feet 8 inches
Flank Speed: 15 knots
Final Disposition: Scrapping via Ship and Submarine Recycling Program completed 7 April 2000
USS TREPANG (SSN-674)
The second Trepang (SSN-674) was laid down on 28 October 1967 at Groton, Conn., by the General Dynamics Electric Boat Division; launched on 27 September 1969; sponsored by Mrs. Melvin R. Laird, wife of the Secretary of Defense; and commissioned on 14 August 1970, Comdr. Dean Sackett, Jr., in command.
Following local operations out of New London, Conn., Trepang proceeded to the Arctic early in 1971. From 22 February to 22 March, the nuclear attack submarine operated beneath the northern ice cap, conducting extensive tests to provide data for her weapons systems, as well as carrying out scientific experiments concerning the movement, composition, and geological history of the cap itself.
After returning to New London via Faslane, Scotland, Trepang was soon deployed to the warmer climes of the Caribbean, departing from her home port on 22 April and subsequently making port at Frederiksted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, for weapons systems acceptance and evaluation trials. Back in New England waters for local operations, Trepang again headed south for further tests. Later in the year, in November, the submarine conducted independent operations in the North Atlantic.
Following her return to her homeport on 5 February 1972, she subsequently underwent standdown and upkeep, as well as type training and equipment grooming in local operating areas. During this period, Trepang again conducted a second extended deployment into the northern Atlantic from 24 July to 25 September 1972, returning to New London via Halifax, Nova Scotia. For the remainder of the year, Trepang operated off the east coast between New London and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
An interim four-week drydocking period at the Portsmouth (N.H.) Naval Shipyard preceded the ship's 1973 operations, before the attack submarine headed south for weapons tests off the Florida coast. Completing a four-week upkeep period on 22 April, the ship completed a Nuclear Technical Proficiency Inspection before returning to New London, where she completed an Operational Reactor Safeguards examination on 4 May.
On 8 June, Trepang departed New London for a six-month deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. She participated in several special operations with this Fleet during the increased tension brought on by the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East in October 1973. The attack submarine returned to her home port at the end of November 1973 for upkeep and standdown leave period.
Trepang got underway on 15 February 1974 for a special operation which lasted through 9 April. The ship then spent three days at Holy Loch, Scotland, before sailing for New London. She continued local operations and training off the east coast through her change of home port on 1 October 1974, when the submarine was assigned to Portsmouth, N.H. She spent the remainder of the year 1974 in drydock in annual overhaul.
Trepang was assigned to Submarine Squadron 10 during March 1975. She spent the period from April to August completing the overhaul and carrying out crew training and recertification. Following sea trials in late October, Trepang returned to New London on 7 November for an intensive post-overhaul upkeep alongside Fulton (AS-11).
Departing New London on 1 December, Trepang conducted post-overhaul weapons systems acceptance testing at Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, and five days of acoustic trials off Frederiksted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, before departing St. Croix on 17 December and returning to New London on 22 December.
Trepang spent the early part of the year 1976 preparing for an extended cruise. She deployed to the Mediterranean from June to November, operating with the 6th Fleet. She returned to New London upon conclusion of the deployment and observed post-deployment standdown into 1977.
In mid-January 1977, Trepang participated in Exercise "CARIBEX 77." The spring was devoted to individual ship exercises which included a Nuclear Technical Proficiency Inspection (NTPI), a Mk-48 Torpedo Proficiency Inspection, and an Operational Readiness Inspection, all of which were completed successfully. An extensive refit period, which included drydocking, took place in May and early June. Midshipman orientation cruises followed; and, in September, Trepang conducted pre-deployment work-up and certification. The nuclear attack submarine then engaged in an Atlantic training mission from mid-October to mid-December with the ship returning to Groton in time for Christmas.
January 1978 found Trepang finishing a post-deployment standdown. The remainder of January, February, and March were devoted to type training and participation in NATO Exercise "Safepass." Trepang spent the summer working up for a scheduled Mediterranean deployment. The deployment was subsequently cancelled to permit the ship's participation in a special CNO project. The remaining months of 1978 were spent in the evaluation of project-associated equipment, with alternate periods at sea followed by periods in port devoted to equipment maintenance. Trepang departed Groton on 27 November to conclude the year at sea while continuing to participate in the special project.
[Note: The above USS TREPANG (SSN-674) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS TREPANG (SSN-674), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]
SSN-674 Crew Roster
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Resources updated between Monday, September 25, 2006 and Sunday, October 01, 2006
UNRWA violating regulations Article
Mark Malloch Brown
First of all it is not known for sure if Malloch Brown is leaving or he will be kept on by the new Secretary-General. Rumors of deal-making, by the usual anti-American contingent at the UN, to keep him on board are flying around. In the meantime, he notches up his rant about the evils of America while sensitive to the preferences of the genocidal regime in Sudan. Courtesy of the American taxpayer, who pays 25% of his salary.
In defence of the United Nations Article
Fifth report of the International Independent Investigation Commission into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others Development
Head of Commission Investigating Hariri Assassination Reports Further Progress, Despite Lebanon Conflict (Press Release) Development
S. Korean Contender for U.N. Post Has an Edge Article
An update on the UN Commission of Inquiry on Lebanon set up by the Second Session of the Human Rights Council. The Commission's mandate alone indicates the bias -- "the systematic targeting and killings of civilians by Israel in Lebanon" and assessing "the extent and deadly impact of Israeli attacks..." There is no Commission of Inquiry into the use of Lebanese human shields by Hezbollah or the thousands of rockets Hezbollah used to murder Israelis.
Letter from the members of the Commission of Inquiry on Lebanon addressed to the President of the Human Rights Council Development
John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, is the UN human rights system's chief spokesperson for Palestinian terrorists. Says Dugard in this report: "the root cause of the security threat is the continued occupation," and once again suggests Israel is an "apartheid regime." In this "fact-finding" mission to Gaza (in which he never actually visited Gaza) he refers to the Middle East Quartet's (U.S., Russia, EU, UN) "punitive measures designed to compel Hamas to change its ideological stance, or to bring about regime change" as "unfortunate."
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967 Development
Human Rights Council Concludes Discussion of Reports Submitted by Office of High Commissioner (Press Release) Development
High Commissioner for Human Rights Presents Reports to Human Rights Council (Press Release) Development
Cuba, Algeria, Sri Lanka, India, Morocco object to criticism of their human rights records by NGOs and the President of the Human Rights Council allows them to silence the discussion. (RT)
Webcast of the Statements by Non Governmental Organizations and Statements on the Organization of Work by Human Rights Council Members Development
Iran - that paragon of human rights - urging the UN Human Rights Council to eliminate country-specific criticism: "...we are of the particular view that the mandate of the country specific procedures should no longer be the part of the system and thus should be terminated in the course of our reform. These procedures, if continued on the basis of selectivity, will serve as a negative force to further polarize and politicize the existing international human rights debate. The key question...is not whether they are independent or non-partisan or otherwise, rather the key element is the already politicized or polarized environment in which these procedures are created which it seems will never change in the UN."
Statement of Iran on the Reports of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Report of the Joint Inspection Unit Development
According to Indonesia, the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights must be geographically representative - ie job selection on the basis of geography = "even-handedness."
Statement of Indonesia on Reports, Studies and other documents prepared by the Secretariat, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Secretary General Development
Algeria on behalf of the African Group, mounting another takeover bid of the staff of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, this time by alleging a staff which isn't a mirror image of the General Assembly means "cultural bias."
Statement of the African Group on the Reports of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Report of the Joint Inspection Unit Development
Statement of the Vice-Chairman of the Joint Inspection Unit on the Follow-up to the Management Review of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Development
Report of the Joint Inspection Unit on the Follow-up to the Management Review of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Development
Statement of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Reports presented to the Human Rights Council Development
Statement of Iran on the Report of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Development
Take me to your leader Article
Letter from Afghanistan to the President of the General Assembly on the nomination of Ashraf Ghani to the post of the next Secretary-General Development
Hearing Briefings from Committees Countering Terrorism, Security Council Considers Progress Made, Ways to Increase Effectiveness (Press Release) Development
Much ado at the U.N. Article
Little Pressure on Hezbollah to Disarm Article
Security Council Speeds Up Process To Name New U.N. Chief Article
Remarks by Ambassador Bolton on the selection of the next Secretary-General and other matters Document
Remarks by Ambassador Bolton on Ethiopia/Eritrea, the selection of the next Secretary-General, and other matters Document
Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories Development
Be Careful What You Wish For Article
Korean leads field for Annan's job Article
The United Nations Honors Yet Another Dictator Article
Human Rights Council Discusses Reports on Situation of Human Rights in Sudan and Belarus (Press Release) Development
Human Rights Council Reviews Human Rights in Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar (Press Release) Development
Right of Reply by the African Group to the Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Statement of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Statement of India on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Statement of the United States on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Statement of Malaysia on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Statement of the African Group on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Statement of the European Union on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Statement of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Statement of Indonesia on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Statement of Belarus on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Development
Statement of Malaysia on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan Development
Statement of the United States on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan Development
Statement of Canada on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan Development
Statement of Egypt on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan Development
Statement of the European Union on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan Development
Statement of Bangladesh on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan Development
Statement of India on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan Development
Statement of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan Development
Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan Development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan Development
Statement of Pakistan on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Development
Statement of the European Union on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Development
Statement of India on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Development
Statement of Myanmar on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Development
Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Development
Statement of Indonesia on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Development
Statement of the European Union on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Development
Statement of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Development
Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Development
UN frontrunner plays it safe Article
After Annan, what kind of UN leader? Article
For this, we went to war Article
IDF, UNIFIL meeting goes up in smoke Article
Race for U.N. Chief Said Still Open Article
Statistical report of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination on the budgetary and financial situation of the organizations of the United Nations system Development
Human Rights Council discusses situation of human rights in Cuba, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Cambodia and Haiti (Press Release) Development
Human Rights Council discusses situation of human rights in Somalia and Cuba (Press Release) Development
Statement of the Palestinian observer on the Report of the Special Rapporteur John Dugard on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory Development
Statement of Indonesia on the Report of the Special Rapporteur John Dugard on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory Development
Statement of the United States on the Report of the Special Rapporteur John Dugard on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory Development
Statement of Bangladesh on the Report of the Special Rapporteur John Dugard on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory Development
Statement of the European Union on the Report of the Special Rapporteur John Dugard on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory Development
Statement of Algeria on the Report of the Special Rapporteur John Dugard on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory Development
Statement of Malaysia on the Report of the Special Rapporteur John Dugard on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory Development
Statement of Israel on the Report of the Special Rapporteur John Dugard on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory Development
Statement of the Special Rapporteur John Dugard on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory Development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, John Dugard, on the question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine Development
Statement of the United States on the Report of the Personal Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Cuba Development
Statement of Algeria on the Report of the Personal Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Cuba Development
Statement of Iran on the Report of the Personal Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Cuba Development
Statement of North Korea on the Report of the Personal Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Cuba Development
Statement of Cuba on the Report of the Personal Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Cuba Development
Report of the Personal Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Cuba Development
Statement of Myanmar at the General Debate of the 61st Session of the General Assembly Development
Statement of Syria at the General Debate of the 61st Session of the General Assembly Development
Statement of North Korea at the General Debate of the 61st Session of the General Assembly Development
Same old UNIFIL? Article
Remarks by Ambassador Bolton on the latest Brammertz report, Somalia and other matters Document
The U.N.'s Masquerade Article
Statement of Iran on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Development
Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism Development
UN Tunnel Vision Article
Report of the Secretary-General on Persons displaced as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities Development
Statement of Libya at the General Debate of the 61st Session of the General Assembly Development
Statement of Indonesia at the General Debate of the 61st Session of the General Assembly Development
Afghan police said a gunman killed the head of the Kandahar province Women's Affairs department outside of her home. Police said the unidentified killer, who rode a motorcycle, shot Safia Amajan, a campaigner for women's rights who had headed the women's affairs department since the Taliban was overthrown in 2001, as she left her home, the BBC reported Monday.
Afghanistan Human Rights Voice
U.N. Force Is Treading Lightly on Lebanese Soil Article
Canada blocks bid by Arab countries to label Israel's nuclear capabilities as a threat Article
Letter from Israel to the President of the 50th General Conference of the IAEA Document
Text of Communication from the Resident Representative of Israel to the International Atomic Energy Agency concerning Arab Reservations about the Credentials of the Israeli Delegation Document
Statement of Arab Delegations Concerning their Reservations about the Credentials of the Israeli Delegation Participating in the Fiftieth Session of the IAEA General Conference Document
Arab Group's response to Israel's letter to the IAEA concerning the inclusion of an item entitled "Israeli Nuclear Capabilities and Threat" in the agenda of the 50th session of the General Conference of the IAEA Document
Israel's Position on the Request to Include an Item Entitled "Israel's Nuclear Capabilities and Threat" on the Agenda of the 50th General Conference of the IAEA Document
Explanatory Memorandum on Israeli Nuclear Capabilities And Threat Submitted by the Member States in the League of Arab States to the International Atomic Energy Agency Document
U.N. Places Its Bets on New Secretary-General Article
Remarks by Ambassador Bolton on Sudan, Iran and other matters Document
Security Council Resolution 1709 extending the United Nations Mission in the Sudan until October 8, 2006 Development
Human Rights Council concludes discussion on reports on Health, Right to Food and Human Rights defenders (Press Release) Development
Human Rights Council discusses reports on Health, Right to Food and Human Rights defenders (Press Release) Development
Statement of Israel on the Report of the Special Rapportuer on Human Rights Defenders Development
Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Development
Statement of Iran on Incitement to Racial and Religious hatred and the Promotion of Tolerance Development
Statement of Indonesia on freedom of religion or belief and contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance Development
Statement of the United States on Religious intolerance Development
Statement of Malaysia on Incitement to Racial and Religious hatred and the Promotion of Tolerance Development
Statement of Saudi Arabia at the General Debate of the 61st Session of the General Assembly Development
Status of Contributions as at February 28, 2006 Development
UN Transcript (Proces Verbal) of the Security Council meeting on the Situation in the Middle East Development
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Wolves and Apples 2016
Posted by John/Posted 3 years ago October 16, 2016
Yesterday was the Wolves and Apples event in Leicester, a one-day series of workshops and talks run by Leicestershire-based Mantle Arts concentrating on children’s writing – picture books, middle-grade, YA.
The event was targeted at “emerging writers”, which is a great term – I hate calling people “aspiring writers” because if you write, you’re a writer, as far as I’m concerned; also, emerging is a term that can apply to writers like me, with a couple of books out there with small publishers, but still not quite in the mainstream of the industry (no agent, no ongoing contracts, little-to-no bookshop shelf space).
Added to that was the fact that it was literally less than ten minutes from my house, and I couldn’t resist!
Session 1 – Writers and Agents
I chose this session over Celia Rees’ workshop on voice because even after several years of trying and dozens upon dozens of submissions, I still know very little about the mysterious world of literary agents. (To be honest, I don’t know much about voice either, but I had to make a choice!) Ben Illis and one of his clients, Liz Flanagan (author of Eden Summer) provided a case study of how Liz went from querying to publication, and all the trials and tribulations in between. One important theme was patience – it can take a very, very long time to get anywhere, and there may be several dead ends along the way. Even after landing Ben as her agent, it was only when Liz’s third book went on submission to publishers that she got a deal – despite tons of really positive feedback in the meantime. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been – but the lesson is to keep going.
Session 2 – Self Publishing
Again, a difficult choice of session! In the other room, Chris Priestley was talking about scary stories; but I’ve got a collection of short stories that I’m thinking of self-publishing in collaboration with an artist friend, so I had to choose Ben Galley’s talk on self-publishing.
Ben endeared himself to me immediately by condemning Author Solutions and their awful, predatory practices. They’ll take thousands and thousands of pounds and give you very little that you can’t do yourself. Steer clear!
But “do it yourself” isn’t quite the right term. Ben is a big advocate of contracting freelance professionals for the specialised tasks like editing and cover design and typesetting. The worst thing you can do with a self-published book is make it look self-published, and these days there really is no excuse.
I had to pop out just before the end of the session, because I had a one-to-one with agent Ben Illis.
I was allotted fifteen minutes with Ben to go over the first chapter of my latest completed novel, my middle-grade sci-fi adventure Far Galactic North, and he had some very useful suggestions – he’s a big advocate of paring down the language, and I’d made the mistake of including a couple of similes in fast-paced sections that slowed the action down, and some extraneous observations that would be better reserved for more reflective moments – not when the main character was fleeing space pirates! Most encouragingly, however, Ben didn’t have too many comments about the prose in general, and said it was “accomplished and, potentially, exciting” and he gave me a few agents’ names to try.
Session 3 – Digital Storytelling
Another difficult choice of session here! In the other room, Liz Flanagan was talking about kickstarting your novel, and that sounded great (and from chatting to other attendees afterwards, it sounds like it really was very useful) but Gabrielle Kent was talking about storytelling in video games.
Now, I used to be a really big gamer. It’s only since I started devoting all of my spare time to writing that gaming has fallen by the wayside, but I’ve always been fascinated by the ability of immersive entertainment to tell stories that other media can’t. I remember many years ago playing Deus Ex (the 2000 original, not Human Revolution or Mankind Divided) and sneaking about on a rooftop, eavesdropping on a conversation, and thinking “I don’t know who to trust.” Not “I don’t know which option to take,” which would be the natural way of thinking about playing a game, but “I don’t know who to trust.”
Gabrielle used The Last of Us as a case study in building richness and depth in a game world through little details. Unfortunately her laptop wasn’t playing ball, and she couldn’t play the scene from the game that she wanted to show us, but here it is:
I haven’t even played The Last of Us (I was an Xbox 360 player, didn’t have a PS3) but I’ve watched my brother play the whole thing, and it really is an amazing bit of storytelling.
And a lot of the lessons from game storytelling are good lessons for storytelling in general. Using incidental detail to provide richness is core to building a believable world.
Then Gabrielle introduced us to Twine, a free tool for creating non-linear stories. With just a few clicks and a little bit of typing, with no coding whatsoever, you can create a branching story with multiple paths, a lot like the text adventures I grew up with (I’m very old, you know). This has the serious potential to become very addictive!
Session 4 – Navigating Children’s Publishing
Kesia Lupo, editor with Chicken House, was on hand to guide us through the work of an editor in the world of children’s publishing. This was the only session that I had no problem making a decision on – in the other room, Elys Dolan was talking about picture books. Now, I like picture books (current favourites: Beegu by Alexis Deacon and Please Mr Panda by Steve Antony) but I have no interest in writing them, so while I’m sure it would have been interesting from an academic point of view, Kesia’s talk was more useful.
She went over the different types of editing (structural, line, copy, proofread) then gave her Top Five Editing Tips:
Put it away before you edit. (Definitely agree with this one!)
Think about pace and structure. Are there any sections where nothing happens? Are there good surprises?
Murder the undeserving. Are there any characters who are superfluous? Are any of them interchangeable, and can they be combined? A common mistake is to include a large cast, where a smaller cast might be easier to follow and more effective.
Read scenes aloud. Particularly the trickier ones that you’re most unsure about.
When you’re done, write two lists: the strengths and the weaknesses that you can see in the manuscript. I imagine if the weaknesses are too many then it might be time to do another round of editing!
Final session – What Should I Read?
Finally, all the panelists were brought together to discuss the books they thought people interested in writing for children should read. There was a lot of love for SF Said (and rightly so!) as well as older writers like Joan Aiken, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper, and some less well-known authors like Lian Hearn, whose Across the Nightingale Floor I read and loved back in the early 2000s. There was a lot of nodding and agreement in the room!
The nice folks from Mantle Arts have promised to put the full list of books mentioned up on their website early next week.
A very full, very busy day, packed with loads of great talks. My only complaint is that I wanted to see everything! Choosing between the sessions that ran alongside each other was extremely difficult.
The organisation was extremely good, and everything ran smoothly (even though there was a bit of wrangling with the catering). There were plenty of opportunities to chat to the presenters and the other attendees, too; it’s always nice to speak to like-minded people about a subject you love. And I even spoke to two people who’d already seen Dawn Treacher’s cover art for The Beast on the Broch from Twitter and Facebook!
If they run another event next year, you’re interested in writing for children, and you’re anywhere near Leicester, I strongly advise you to come along.
Previous Article Review: The Royal Rabbits of London by Santa Montefiore and Simon Sebag Montefiore, illustrated by Kate Hindley
Next Article Brochs in fact and fiction
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Home HR Initiatives AIR FORCE SCHOOLSTAFS
The Air Force School
The Air Force School (TAFS) was established in temporary wartime hutments at Wellingdon Camp, Club Road, New Delhi on 18 July 1955 with the aim of providing comprehensive modern education to children of personnel of the Indian Air Force. In May 1967, the school shifted to its present Aravali Campus at Subroto Park, Delhi Cantt. The school celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 1980.
The School is situated on the Aravali ridge - amidst picturesque surroundings - lined by rows of majestic Eucalyptus and Ashoka trees. In the 15 acre area of the school, there are numerous varieties of Bougainvillea, ranging from the common Pink to the rare lovely Mary Palmer which blossom throughout the year. Although the school was established primarily for the benefit of children belonging to the IAF personnel, it has always been open to wards of Army and Navy personnel as well as to Civilians. Thereby it satisfies a long felt need of the Air Force personnel and simultaneously provides quality education to a much wider spectrum of children, from all over the country.
The Air Force School is a co-educational public school with boarding facilities for boys of classes VI to XII. The school is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education and is a member of the National Progressive Schools Conference (NPSC). The school has been declared ISO certified in the year 2007.
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Searching results for 'apne'
Apne (2007)
An ex-boxer Baldev Choudhary (Dharmendra) has had a stain in his boxing career. He wanted to wash it with his son Angad's (Sunny Deol) success, but times were hard and a financial crunch kept him from...
Cast: Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Katrina Kaif, more..
Released on Jun 29, 2007
Drama,Family Drama,Social,Sports,
Aashiq Banaya Aapne (2005)
Aashiq Banaya Aapne is a story about love triangle with good music starring Imraan (Vicky) Tanushree (Sneha), Sonu Sood(Karan). Vicky is Karan's friend and stays in elhi. Sneha is Karan's friend and s...
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Tanushree Dutta, Sonu Sood, Naveen Nischol, more..
Romance,Thriller,
Karan (Sonu Sood) loves Sneha (Tanushree Dutta), but is too much of an introvert to ever express his feelings to her. Although Karan's feelings are evident to many, he is content in just seeing Sneha ...
Hadh Kar Di Aapne (2000)
Raj Malhotra (Raju) (Govinda), a detective, goes on a European trip to help his friend Sanjay Khanna (Nirmal Pandey) prove that his wife is having an extramarital affair. Khanna and his wife Anjali (R...
Cast: Govinda, Rani Mukerji, Johny Lever, Paresh Rawal, more..
Comedy,Romance,
Le Chal Apne Sang (2000)
Cast: Nishant, Alok Nath, Raza Murad, Beena Banerjee, more..
Saat Rang Ke Sapne Story is a Forced into marriage with a mentally deranged man, Yashoda (Farida Jalal) gives birth to a child, only to have her husband kill himself and the child, leaving her devasta...
Cast: Arvind Swamy, Juhi Chawla, Anupam Kher, Farida Jalal, more..
Tere Mere Sapne (1996)
P.V. Shastri lives in a small town in Southern India with his wife, son, Ballu, and daughter, Paro. He finds out that Paro is in love with a young man named Rahul Mehta, and asks her to bring him home...
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Arshad Warsi, Chandrachur Singh, Priya Gill, more..
Apne Dam Par (1996)
Ranjit Saxena is a proud but arrogant owner of a vast mansion, and immense wealth. He lives in this mansion with his wife (Reema Lagoo), her brother (Mushtaq Khan), his wife (Kunika), sister Sapna (Sh...
Cast: Avtar Gill, Kunika, Reema Lagoo, Jr Mehmood, more..
Released on Mar 15, 1996
Insaaf Apne Lahu Se (1994)
After his wife passes away, wealthy Advocate Mahendrapratap Singh re-marries a widow named Geeta, who has a young son named Devilal alias Devi. Mahendrapratap dislikes Devi to such an extent that one ...
Cast: Shatrughan Sinha, Sanjay Dutt, Sonam, Farha, more..
Sapne Saajan Ke (1992)
Shalini wants her daughter, Jyoti, to marry the son of wealthy man, Gulu. But Jyoti isn't attracted to Gulu. When she meets Deepak, they both fall in love. Shalini agrees with her daughter's choice an...
Cast: Jackie Shroff, Rahul Roy, Karisma Kapoor, Aruna Irani, more..
Apne Apne (1987)
Ravi Kapoor lives a wealthy lifestyle with his widowed mother and runs a construction business. His mother would like him to get married to foreign returned Seema, who also comes from a wealthy family...
Cast: Rekha, Jeetendra, Hema Malini, Mandakini, more..
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Maryanne Aitken
Executive Director, Research Office, La Trobe University
MaryAnne has a BSc(Hons), a certificate of general nursing and a PhD in molecular biology. After a post-doc, MaryAnne completed the Graduate Diploma of Genetic Counselling in 1996. For the next ten years she worked at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI) in genetics education heading a research group. MaryAnne moved to research administration in 2007 as Head of Strategy at the MCRI for 7 years. She began at La Trobe University in June 2014 as Executive Director of the Research Office where she is responsible for the Grants, Contracts, Ethics, Research Performance and Research Impact Teams.
Taking the office out of the Research Office- does it work?
Thursday 7th June, 2018
Future Shape of Work
Maryanne Aitken - Executive Director, Research Office, La Trobe University
Megan Power
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Hilo Weather
Kona Weather
Saddle Road
Hawaiian Moons
Meet The InstantHawaii Team
John Alexander
John has lived in Hawai'i most of his life and has spent much of his spare time exploring and learning about the Big Island. Co-owner of Dolphin Bay Hotel in Hilo, John uses his vast island knowledge to help his guests enjoy and appreciate all that Hawai'i has to offer.
John is the source of much of the basic information in this site, from which we do further research. In fact, this site would not be possible without John's valuable experience.
David fell in love with Hawai'i and the Volcano in the early 90's and moved to Hawai'i in the late 90's. owner of Cookware Software, a Hawai'i based company that provides Internet, Web, and Software services, David also works for Research Corporation of the University of Hawai'i providing computer programming for the Subaru Telescope Project on Mauna Kea.
David and John together do all the hikes, trails and scenic drives on this site. However, while some of the photographs on InstantHawaii show John in them, you never see David as he is always behind the camera.
InstantHawaii Team Auxiliary Members
Coco came to Hawai'i with David in the late 90's. A beautiful Golden Retriever and Red Lab mix, Coco is often along on hikes and trails and can be frequently seen in many of the photographs on this site, including a few where dogs are not allowed (because she considers herself 100% human).
Update: Coco passed away on June 13, 2005 at the ripe age of 18. We have dedicated a trail to her memory. Please join us as we enjoy Coco's Trail in Hawaiian Paradise Park.
Harry is an African Grey Parrot with an extensive vocabulary and good sense of music. Born in a school on Oahu, Harry was adopted by John and came to live with him on the Big Island. Harry also considers himself 100% human and can prove it by saying many phrases and identifying items. If you dare to disagree, he will be more than happy to show you the strength of his beak.
Keetan
Keetan (key-tan), a Ragamuffin breed of cat, was adopted shortly after David and Coco moved to Hawai'i as a companion for Coco. Coco who nursed more than one litter of kittens (due to inattentive moms) loves cats and the two often sleep nestled together. Keetan also is present during most of the writing for this site and demands petting while David is trying to type.
Rubble (or Rebel or Rubber, depending on your mood) is also an unknown breed of cat, born in Hawai'i. Rubble is John's cat and is also the official Dolphin Bay Hotel cat. She is always on the run defending the hotel from other stray cats and the local peacocks. A favorite of many guests to the hotel, Rubble can be found sleeping on the cars or going room-to-room looking for handouts.
Meet Rubble, one of the Dolphin Bay Hotel Cats
Filmed by Dolphin Bay guest Zack Scott
This page is named 'Team'. Can't Find It?
http://www.instanthawaii.com/cgi-bin/hi?Team
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1978: Chesapeake by James Michener
The Author:
This is the third book by James Michener (1907-1997) to appear on my list. He has four different books on the list, a total matched only by Stephen King and surpassed only by John Grisham. As such, I hope you'll forgive me for copy/pasting most of the author bio from my review of The Source and Centennial.
James Michener (1907-1997) was adopted by a Quaker from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He attended Swarthmore college for English and psychology, graduating with honors in 1929. After a couple years spent abroad, Michener returned to Pennsylvania to teach high school English. In 1935, he married his first wife, Patti Koon, then earned his Masters and taught briefly at Harvard before becoming an editor for Macmillan Publishers.
Michener served in the South Pacific during WWII. His experiences there provided the basis for his first novel, Tales of the South Pacific (1947), which won the Pulitzer for fiction in 1948 and was adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein for the stage, under the title South Pacific. In 1948, Michener divorced Koon and married Vange Nord. Michener appeared in the top 10 annual bestsellers list twice in the 1950s, and fifteen times over the course of his life, taking the top spot four times. In 1955, he divorced Nord and married Mari Sabusawa. In 1977, Michener recieved the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He died of kidney failure in 1997.
Subject/Genre: Chesapeake Bay Region/Historical Fiction
Chesapeake is, as the name suggests, a history of the Chesapeake Bay region. The novel begins in 1583, focused on Native American inter-tribal relationships and history, followed by the arrival of Europeans and the foundation of Jamestown and the Chesapeake Bay Colony, the slave trade, the Civil War and Reconstruction, up through to the 1970s.
As opposed to Michener's other works, Chesapeake is very focused. Where as The Source covered several thousands of years of history and Centennial spent a hundred pages explaining early earth geology and detailing the lives of prehistoric river mammals, Chesapeake's focus wavers less, leading to a whole that is more cohesive than the others I've previously reviewed. Chesapeake's focuses on the usual suspects of American historical fiction, religion, race, class, and discrimination, e.g. the Quaker, pro-abolition family set at odds with the wealthy slave-owning family.
Michener's modus operandi seems to be a wide-scope of an area's history, leading up to current social or political situations. The Source leads to violence in the Middle East, Centennial to the modern Midwest, Chesapeake to the the modern South and Civil Rights movements, and The Covenant to apartheid era South Africa. Michener attempts to draw a step by step diagram of how things got the way they are. Such a diagram is going to be, at best, oversimplified. While his aim is admirable, compressing four hundred years of history into a single novel (even a long one) is going to require things to be painted in very broad strokes. Michener realizes this (as demonstrated by the notes at the chapter ends in Centennial), but the novel form is not greatly suited for this type of endeavor. Michener tries to explain history from the perspective of those living it, and not just the heads of state or generals, but from the perspective of the average man. However, the men and women in his novels are by no means average. They must embody some particular archetype: the slave owner or the abolitionist. Too much, the social forces of the time are embodied too literally, and everything seems teleological, as if it had to happen this way, a view that is true only in retrospect.
I don't mean to imply that Michener is factually incorrect, or that he plays fast and loose with the facts. Michener's novels are, if nothing else, well-researched. Rather, it's his approach to history as a series of inevitabilities, a habit of viewing past events and decisions through the lens of their long-term results.
That said, if you like long historical fiction, Chesapeake is for you.
Bestselling Novels of 1978:
1. Chesapeake by James Michener
2. War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
3. Fools Die by Mario Puzo
4. Bloodline by Sidney Sheldon
5. Scruples by Judith Krantz
6. Evergreen by Belva Plain
7. Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
8. The Holcroft Covenant by Robert Ludlum
9. Second Generation by Howard Fast
10. Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
Also Published in 1978:
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
The World According to Garp by John Irving
Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby, Jr.
Labels: 1978, best seller, book review, chesapeake, historical fiction, james michener, novel
The (First) Wizard of Oz
1980: The Covenant by James Michener
1979: The Matarese Circle by Robert Ludlum
The Cast of the Hobbit Reads The Ballad of Bilbo B...
1977: The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
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Errico Petrella – opera composer
Sicilian whose popularity drew scorn from rivals
Errico Petrella's operas enjoyed great popularity
in Italy in the 1850s and 1860s
The largely forgotten opera composer Errico Petrella, whose popularity in Italy in the 1850s and 1860s was second only to operatic giant Giuseppe Verdi, was born on this day in 1813 in Palermo.
His composed 25 works, mainly comedic or melodramatic in nature, and had a run of successes in the 1850s, when three of his productions were premiered at Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
However, Petrella attracted the scorn on both Verdi and another contemporary, the German composer Richard Wagner, both of whose careers coincided exactly with Petrella’s, even down to having been born in the same year.
When Il Duca di Scilla had its first performance at La Scala in March 1859, a year on from his hugely successful Jone, which also premiered at the Milan theatre, Wagner’s criticism could have hardly been more unflattering.
Asked his opinion of the work, Wagner said: “It is an unbelievably worthless and incompetent operatic effort by a modern composer whose name I have forgotten.”
Some years earlier, admittedly before Petrella had enjoyed much success at all, Verdi had been similarly scathing in his assessment of the 1951 opera Le Precauzioni, set against the background of the Venice Carnival, which made its debut at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples.
Verdi claimed that Petrella 'did not
know music' despite his popularity
He wrote: “Petrella does not know music, and his masterpiece, Le Precauzioni, may please the orrechianti [people who love opera but cannot read music] for its several brilliant violin melodies, but as a work of art, it cannot stand up either to the great works or even operas like Crispino, Follia a Roma etc., etc [the latter being comic operas written by the Neapolitan Ricci brothers].”
Verdi was less rude than Wagner, but his words were equally damaging. Opera historians suspect that Verdi’s quarrel was with Petrella’s conception of opera, which had a lot in common with the Neapolitan school in general in that it was less demanding of the singers.
In fact, although born in Palermo, Petrella was effectively a Neapolitan himself, his father having been a naval officer from Naples who was based in Sicily.
Petrella attended the Naples Conservatory and his style almost certainly owed much to his teacher, the conservatory’s director, Nicolo Zingarelli, whose advice was to think first of the audience rather than trying to impress other composers.
Zingarelli told him: “If you sing in your compositions, rest assured that your music will be found pleasing. If you amass harmonies, double counterpoint, fugues, canons, notes, contranotes etc. instead, the musical world may applaud you after half a century or it may not; but the audience will certainly disapprove of you. They want melodies, melodies, always melodies.”
The libretto from Petrella's most
famous work, Jone, published in 1858
Even though there was no argument about Verdi’s primacy among the composers of the day, there were clear signs of jealousy on the part of the northern Italian of his southern rival. Verdi even expressed his annoyance that Petrella wrote to Alessandro Manzoni seeking permission to write an opera based on the novel I promessi sposi and received a flattering letter in response.
However, Petrella’s Jone – set against the background of the eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii - was so popular it was produced as many as 600 times, compared with no more than 60 for Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, which premiered only a year earlier.
Petrella had needed to wait a long time to find success after making his theatre debut in 1929.
It was not until he had written half a dozen works to only modest acclaim that he began to attract attention. Il carnevale di Venezia, which had its premier at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples in May, 1851, is seen as the opera that put him on the map.
He followed this with Elena di Tolosa, which made its debut at the Teatro Fondo in August 1852, Marco Visconti (San Carlo, Naples, 1854), L'assedio di Leida (La Scala, 1856) and then Jone (La Scala, 1858), the premier of which was a major event in the operatic world, drawing appreciative audiences in Milan and beyond.
It became a regularly performed opera in Italy and remained so well into the 20th century, with productions around the world in venues as far flung as Melbourne, Calcutta, Jakarta, Santiago, Lima, Manila and Tbilisi. His most critical reviews still derided his unashamed attempts to court popularity rather than treat opera as high art, but had to concede that he could write a good tune.
Petrella suffered from diabetes in later life and died in financial hardship in Genoa in 1877, aged 64. Despite his outspoken comments, Verdi is said to have felt sorry for the plight of his fellow musician and sent him some money, although reputedly it did not arrive until after he had passed away.
His body was returned to Palermo, where he is buried in the church of San Domenico.
The impressive facade of the church of San Domenico,
the second most important church in Palermo
The church of San Domenico in Piazza San Domenico is the second most important church in Palermo after the cathedral. Completed in 1770 on the site of previous churches built in the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance period. The current church was designed by Andrea Cirrincione, who conceived the magnificent baroque façade, which was completed in 1726, with the bell tower added later. In 1853 it was declared the “pantheon of illustrious Sicilians” and contains the tombs of many of the island’s most notable figures, including the artist Pietro Novelli, the Risorgimento protagonist Francesco Crispi, the politician and revolutionary Ruggero Settimo and the anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone.
Via Errico Petrella in Milan
The memory of Errico Petrella is preserved in Milan in the name of a street linking Via Luigi Settembrini and Corso Buenos Aires in a residential area a few blocks from the central station. There is also a street in Turin that takes his name while there is a Teatro Errico Petrella in the pretty hill town of Longiano in Emilia-Romagna, situated about 30km (19 miles) southeast of Forlì.
Labels: 1813, Alessandro Manzoni, Errico Petrella, Milan, Music, Naples, Opera, Palermo, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro San Carlo, Verdi
Giovanni Boldini – artist and portraitist
Alessandra Mussolini – politician
Luigi Olivari – flying ace
Piero the Unfortunate – Medici ruler
Tito Schipa – operatic tenor
Renato Guttuso - artist and illustrator
Charlemagne – Holy Roman Emperor
Lazzaro Ponticelli – war veteran
Dino Risi – film director
Giuseppe Bergomi – footballer
Strife-torn Rome turns to Vespasian
Giuliana Sgrena – journalist
Alberto Tomba – Italy’s greatest skier
Gianluca Pagliuca – record-breaking goalkeeper
Rome falls to the Ostrogoths
Ivana Spagna – singer-songwriter
John Paul Getty III released
Fabrizio Giovanardi – racing driver
La Festa di Santa Lucia
Piazza Fontana bombing
Gianni Morandi – actor and pop singer
Sonia Gandhi - Indian politician
Johann Maria Farina - perfumier
Azzone Visconti - ruler of Milan
Luigi Lablache – opera star
Francesco Gemianini - composer and violinist
Gae Aulenti – architect
Mario Borghezio – controversial politician
Roberto Capucci - fashion designer
Lorenzo Ghiberti – sculptor
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As promised, LAW OF FASHION now brings you the second installment in its fashion law roundup for the week. Since this writer covered intellectual property, advertising, and free speech-related stories yesterday, today's theme is a non-descriptive "everything else"...
FASHION [OUT]LAWS
"Lauren Odes, Former Native Intimates Employee, Claims She Was Fired Over 'Too Hot' Appearance" (HuffPost Style)
"Lauren Odes, a data entry professional, claims she was fired because she was too busty and dressed too provocatively for her Orthodox Jewish employers at wholesale lingerie company Native Intimates.... [H]er busty shape was allegedly unacceptable to her Native Intimates supervisors, who deemed her figure 'distracting.' Even after Odes agreed to purchase a long sweater to cover up, management fired the 29-year-old blonde. Odes' employers reportedly told her, 'You are just too hot for this office.'...
Said [Odes' attorney Gloria] Allred at yesterday's press conference, 'No woman should be told that her breasts are too large, her body too appealing and her appearance too attractive for the male leadership of that company,'..."
"Resale price maintenance - dead or alive[?]" (Martindale)
"Subsequent to the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., 551 U.S. 877 (2007), rejecting per se treatment of resale price maintenance, a groundswell erupted of outrage and threats of reprisal by federal and state legislators. On the federal front, several efforts to legislatively overturn Leegin have either died in committee or on the floor....
The failure of federal and state governments to move forward legislatively on resale price maintenance, and the thin enforcement efforts of per se treatment by state attorneys general, may suggest a gradual death knell for per se treatment of resale price maintenance. [HOWEVER,] this conclusion must be heavily caveated on a state-by-state basis (particularly New York, Illinois and California), where [active] state attorneys general may [invoke state consumer protection statutes in an effort to prohibit the practice.] As a result, companies should proceed with caution and consult counsel before setting up resale policies...."
"City Nails Sex-Based Pricing [in Manicures, Haircuts, and Waxing]" (WSJ)
"At Kim's Holly Salon in Crown Heights, manicures for men were $8 while women paid $6. At Freckle Skin and Hair in Greenpoint, haircuts for men used to be a good $10 cheaper than for women. And until recently, a wax at Vanilla Hair Spa on the Upper East Side was priced differently for men and women. No more.
The salons are among 138 businesses that have been hit this year for violating a little-known provision that has many pulling their hair: gender-pricing discrimination. The majority of violations so far this year—103—were issued to salons and barbershops...."
"Michigan Mom Ditches 11-Year-Old Daughter She Forced To Shoplift From Old Navy" (HuffPost Detroit)
"A mother who allegedly coerced two children into helping her shoplift clothing and accessories from an Old Navy store on Saturday night refused to pick up her 11-year-old daughter from police after the girl was busted, the Detroit News reports.
Police officers told the paper that a 49-year-old mother enlisted three people -- her daughter, a young boy, and a 61-year-old woman -- to help her shoplift clothing and other items from an Old Navy in Troy, Mich.... The woman is now wanted for retail fraud, child neglect and contributing to the delinquency of a minor...."
LET'S [NOT] MAKE A DEAL/'JUST SAY NO' TO AN IPO
"Elsa Peretti For Tiffany Might Be A Thing Of The Past" (HuffPost Style)
"Remember those Elsa Peretti for Tiffany heart and bean necklaces from the early 2000s? We had one. All our friends had one. Stores made cheap knockoffs. Emma Watson wore one. They were the rage.
But the days of stylized starfish jewelry might be behind us, if Tiffany's recent bid to purchase the rights to Peretti's intellectual property falls through. Women's Wear Daily reports that Peretti is considering ending her licensing agreement with the esteemed jewelry company, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday...."
See also “Tiffany May Lose Elsa Peretti License, Has Mixed Quarter” (JCK Magazine): “Since 1974, Tiffany has had the sole license for Peretti’s designs. Current Peretti designs sold by Tiffany include the 'Diamonds by the Yard' collection and teardrop necklaces. But now, Peretti, 72, has expressed interest in retiring from the relationship and has authorized her advisors to look into possibly selling her intellectual property to Tiffany….”
"Sycamore Not Ready to Pull Trigger on Talbots Deal" (ABC News / AP)
"The women's clothier Talbots Inc. said Friday that a deadline expired without a deal in its exclusive talks about being acquired by a private equity firm and that it will actively pursue other options. Its shares plunged by more than a third in morning trading.
The retailer said that Sycamore Partners told the Massachusetts-based company that 'it is not prepared to execute a transaction at this time.'..."
"Dr Martens awaits private equity tie-up" (The Independent)
"Private equity firms have put their best foot forward and submitted first-round bids of up to £120m for Dr Martens, the British footwear brand....
The owner of Dr Martens hired advisers at the investment bank Rothschild earlier this year and first-round bids were due last week. Private equity firm, Electra Partners, is thought to be among the suitors but others are known to be looking at the company...."
"Versace Back in Expansion Mode [but claims to have no plans for an IPO in the immediate future]" (WWD; sub. required)
"Versace is in expansion mode but for now has no plans to take on an investor or go for an initial public offering. The Italian fashion house returned to profit last year and the Versace family is eyeing ways to grow globally — including the possibility of an IPO at some point in the future. But in the meantime, the owners have no intention of relinquishing control even as they look for ways to fund further growth...."
"Graff Diamonds ‘Risky’ Revenue Model Could Hurt IPO" (CNBC)
"London-based luxury jeweler Graff Diamonds, which kicked off its initial public offering (IPO) roadshow on Monday, is expected to get a weak response from investors due to its “risky” business model and lack of brand awareness in Asia, market experts told CNBC....
In 2011, the company’s top 20 customers accounted for 44 percent of revenue, with one individual alone making up 13.2 percent. 'This business model is not typical of companies looking to go public, the risk is high. I have doubts that it will get a lot of interest,' Jiong Shao, Chief China Strategist, Macquarie said.... Besides a limited revenue model that could deter investors, Shao says the market is also not in a position to welcome a big offering. The jeweler plans to list on June 7...."
See also "Graff Diamonds IPO gleams but doesn't dazzle" (Reuters): "Whereas the likes of LVMH or Prada rely on expanding wealth, Graff can benefit simply from growing [income] inequality. That helps explain its 25 percent revenue growth over the past three years. Against that, investors have to weigh unusual risks. Sales could prove lumpy, since Graff gets around half of its revenue from just 20 customers. Billionaires, especially in Asia, can fall from grace alarmingly fast. There’s also the risk of false confidence. The super-rich are often touted as shock-proof spenders, but that was proven wrong in 2009, when Graff’s sales fell by 25 percent...."
But it appears at least two companies are sufficiently infatuated with each other to seal the deal…
"Yoox Surges in Milan on Talks to Set Up PPR E-Commerce Venture" (Bloomberg News)
"Yoox SpA (YOOX), an Italian online fashion retailer, rose the most in 2 1/2 years in Milan trading [on Thursday] after confirming that it’s in discussions to set up an e-commerce joint venture with PPR SA. (PP)
The venture will run the online sales of all of Paris-based PPR’s luxury brands, including Gucci, a person with knowledge of the talks told Bloomberg News yesterday, asking not to be named because the matter is private. No definitive agreement has been signed, Yoox said [on Thursday] in a statement...."
FASHION ETHICS
“The Jones Group Moves Ahead With Confidence [and Without Fur!]” (WWD; sub. required)
"[Wesley Card, CEO of The Jones Group, Inc., spoke to the company's shareholders on Thursday, noting the company's 4% increase in sales in 2011 -- and its 5.8% decrease in net income in the same year. He explained that the company] has identified five strategic pillars to achieve their goals. They consist of revitalizing core brands, investing in emerging brands, expanding its international footprint, improving direct-to-consumer performance and building operational excellence....
One shareholder asked Card if the company has resolved its issues with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Card replied, 'We no longer use fur in any of our products.'..."
"Fish Pedicures Could Cause Serious Bacterial Infections, Warns CDC" (Ecouterre)
"It’s official: Fish pedicures aren’t just a bizarre beauty ritual with shady animal-welfare considerations, they’re also downright dangerous to your health, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Wednesday, the federal agency published a report by U.K.’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science, which examined the types of bacteria associated with Garra rufa, an inch-long toothless carp that nibbles away at dead skin. Native to Southeast Asia, the so-called “doctor fish” soared in popularity in 2008, when salons across the nation began offering them as an alternative to razors for scraping away calluses...."
"Cindy Crawford Seems Kinda [Indifferent to] Vogue’s New Model Age Rules" (Jezebel)
"Last night, I asked Cindy Crawford if she had any reaction to Vogue's recent decision to stop hiring models under the age of 16 (and models who, in Vogue's words, "appear to have an eating disorder"). Unlike some of her colleagues, who have embraced the measure, Crawford's response is more of a shrug....
'[T]hat was never one of my issues, so. I think that the fashion industry is in the consumers' hands. Because if they buy into it, nothing will change. If consumers don't like it that models are too skinny, or too young, and they don't buy the magazines, then believe me, then the magazines will have to change.'...
Crawford began modeling locally in Chicago at 17, and briefly attended college (Northwestern, on an academic scholarship) before moving to New York and beginning her international career at age 20. That's older than most models, who typically begin working in their early teens, many of whom are lucky if they can find time to earn their GED...."
See also "Janice Dickinson Is Also Suspicious of Vogue’s New Health Initiative" (NY Mag / The Cut).
"Plus-Size Model Candice Huffine Is Naked On Another Magazine Cover [and This Is Problematic]" (Jezebel)
"Plus-size model Candice Huffine made the cover of Spain's S Moda magazine [see image at the top of this post] — naked, as we see so often with plus-size models.... Seeing a wider variety of body types in fashion is good, obviously, but associating larger women with sexual availability is problematic...."
"Gap, Levi’s, H&M Garment Workers in Cambodia Strike Over Poverty Pay" (Ecouterre)
"More than 5,000 Cambodian garment workers failed to reach an agreement with their employers on Tuesday after 11 days of striking.... Employees, [one worker at the factory "SL Garment Processing"] said, are regularly denied sick leave and ordered to work up to 16-hour shifts, including on days off. Although long shifts are compensated with overtime pay, SL Garment Processing was breaking Cambodian labor laws by forcing employees to work against their will, [the worker] added.... According to its website, the garment factory supplies clothing to more than two dozen international brands, including J.Crew, Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, H&M, and Levi’s."
[Ed. LAW OF FASHION cannot, of course, corroborate either the workers' or the factory's assertions; see the disclaimer at the bottom of this and every post.]
"Topshop going [partially] green with eco capsule line" (Yahoo! News / AFP)
"Following hot on the heels of H&M's sustainable Glamour Conscious Collection, high street retailer Topshop has teamed up with eco fashion brand Reclaim To Wear to create a debut upcycled capsule collection made entirely from discarded materials.
Materials including surplus stock and production off-cuts have gone into the line, which comprises on-trend pieces including ombre bleached denim shorts and color block panel mini and maxi dresses. On sale from June 8 at the retailer's London Oxford Circus store and online, the line aims to encourage sustainability within the fashion industry...."
"LVMH Unveils Green Initiative [Which Means It's Time to Revisit the FTC's 'Green Guides']" (WWD; sub. required)
"The French luxury goods giant is launching an internal 'Green Week' in tandem with a conference kicking off in Brussels on Tuesday under the title 'Every Drop Counts.'
LVMH said its aim is to 'encourage its more than 90,000 employees to adopt state-of-the-art environmental practice.'
'This year, LVMH is focusing on techniques to reduce its footprint in water-intensive sectors, including vineyards, cosmetics and perfumes,' the company added...."
As the fashion conglomerate continues to wave its green flag with pride, it should keep in mind this guidance from the FTC (an excerpt from the so-called "Green Guides," briefly discussed in this July 2011 LOF post):
"[16 C.F.R.] § 260.7 Environmental marketing claims....
(a) General environmental benefit claims. It is deceptive to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a product, package or service offers a general environmental benefit. Unqualified general claims of environmental benefit are difficult to interpret, and depending on their context, may convey a wide range of meanings to consumers.
In many cases, such claims may convey that the product, package or service has specific and far-reaching environmental benefits. As explained in the Commission’s Advertising Substantiation Statement, every express and material implied claim that the general assertion conveys to reasonable consumers about an objective quality, feature or attribute of a product or service must be substantiated. Unless this substantiation duty can be met, broad environmental claims should either be avoided or qualified, as necessary, to prevent deception about the specific nature of the environmental benefit being asserted."
There's a lot more where that came from (and more, still, in other areas of the law); however, for guidance on that, you'll have to retain my firm -- via a formal, countersigned engagement letter, of course...)
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT[S]
"European and US [cosmetics] regulations – a world apart. For now..." (Cosmetics Design Europe)
"Different cultures, various definitions and a global market make it difficult for regulation of cosmetic products in Europe and the US to properly align, but strides are being taken in order to sufficiently protect consumers around the world....
Speaking of the differences between the two regions, [Director General of the trade association Cosmetics Europe Bertil] Heerink said that the endpoint of scientific investigation in Europe is regulation; a concept that Europe is used to….”
"Access emerging market consumers via the cosmetics industry" (NASDAQ)
"Sometimes U.S. stocks are the natural way to play a business trend in the emerging world because they dominate a particular market. In other circumstances, we suggest the U.S. competitor as a proxy on a hard-to-reach sector. The global cosmetics industry gives us examples of both....
AVP [Avon] has turned its toehold in Latin America into a $1 billion-a-quarter business by spending a fortune on marketing and retailer incentives.... [Ed. The article's writer then mentions the 'bribes' Avon 'is accused of distributing in Asia,' and queries whether these practices extended to Latin America.]
In China, the bid is simplicity itself. Local cosmetics industry manufacturers like T Joy have aligned themselves with global partners, but even with foreign backing they remain fringe players.... Right now, the real winner in China is well known to Western investors: PG, which has a staggering 62% of local shampoo sales sewn up among its top three brands, and a significant presence in several other key categories. [As a result,] PG has amassed maybe 19% of the $10 billion Chinese personal care and cosmetics market...."
"Privacy across borders: concerns surfacing in Trans-Pacific Partnership" (Lexology)
"The US is currently negotiating an ambitious agreement to enhance trade and investment with [several] other nations.... Last summer, the US announced it had tabled an unprecedented proposal in a chapter on e-commerce in the TPP: binding, enforceable language obligating TPP countries not to block the cross-border transfer of data over the Internet, as well as a binding obligation that a TPP country cannot require a company to locate its data servers in its territory as a condition of doing business there. Other provisions in the e-commerce chapter according to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which has yet to publicly release the legal text, address customs duties in the digital environment, authentication of electronic transactions, consumer protection, and treatment of digital products....
[The TPP's so-called 'data flow' provision arguably] has significant implications due to differing national information privacy and data security regimes. In particular, recent accounts indicate that Australia and New Zealand are concerned about the TPP proposal due to potential conflicts with their laws. [It remains unclear, for example,] whether data transmitted to another TPP country would be subject to laws such as the PATRIOT Act in the US that could breach the privacy of its citizens...."
"White House claims Romney has flip-flopped on China trade" (Politico)
"White House press secretary Jay Carney pushed back strongly against Mitt Romney's record on Chinese trade, saying that he has flip flipped on the issue: 'Gov. Romney wasn't always for enforcing trade laws against China. In his book, Gov. Romney attacked the President for standing up for American workers and businesses by enforcing trade law against China, even calling it 'bad for the nation and our workers."'...
Obama 'has been extremely consistent and firm when it comes to enforcing trade laws,' Carney said...."
"J. Crew's Bali Catalog Shoot: Misguided?" (HuffPost Style)
"[For its latest catalog,] J. Crew crew headed to Bali, where it photographed the latest spring looks against a backdrop of ancient temples and the village of Ubud. The team also paired their spring models with local Balinese children, 'our littlest local friends,' wearing traditional religious dress on the steps of a thousand-year-old temple.... But some might find J. Crew's 'Bali Adventure' slightly off-putting. As one Instagram user (who Instagram'd the new catalog cover) noted, 'Come on, J. Crew. Accessorizing with brown kids is so 2010.'
The sentiment echoes critiques of Donna Karan's recent ad campaign, which featured Adriana Lima modeling Donna Karan duds in the Haitian town of Jacmel with several local children huddled in the background...."
"Fashion People Discuss the Future of Africa" (NY Mag / The Cut)
"Last night, a panel discussion at the Soho House called 'Design Africa' drew a significant crowd, including Edun founder (and wife of Bono) Ali Hewson, Julie Gilhart, and Barneys's new senior fashion director Tomoko Ogura.... [Participants] discussed whether Africa's apparel industry would be 'the next China' (known for competitive prices) or the 'the next Italy' (known for craftsmanship).
Moderator and Essence editor-in-chief Constance White pointed out that a great deal of Italy and France's 'prestige value' comes from government-sponsored promotion, and she asked whether African governments should go the same route....
Passion Projects’ Bridget Russo, who produced the event, said the imminent expiration of a fashion-friendly trade policy for brands producing in Africa made the conversation even timelier. The provision allows brands to import fancy foreign fabrics to lesser-developed African countries without paying duty, making places like Lesotho attractive to clothing companies...."
Despite Appeal to Delhi High Court, India's "50% Entertainment Tax on [Fashion Design Council in India]’s Shows Will be Enforced" (Asian Fashion Law)
"The [Indian] government imposed a 50% entertainment tax on ramp shows organised by the Fashion Design Council in India (FDCI) a couple years ago. The fashion community was very upset and questioned the relevance of the tax. To them, fashion shows are not entertainment and to call them that is an insult to their craft. The law provided for an exemption, which was requested by the FDCI between October 2008 and March 2009, but on 10 September 2009, the government rejected the request for 100% exemption from the tax on all of the FDCI’s fashion shows.
The Delhi High Court was [asked to rule on the issue], with the hope that it would find for the FDCI, however, to add insult to injury, the Delhi High Court recently declined to interfere, leaving the government to enforce the tax. Judicial review was only limited to the examination of the decision-making process. The court stated: 'Whether to grant exemption to the fashion events from entertainment tax or not is a discretionary power granted to the Government of NCT of Delhi.'... The FDCI is anticipating a meeting with the Entertainment Tax Department, after which the organisation will decide on the next steps...."
"Adidas Accuses Former Officials in India of Fraud" (WSJ)
"German sportswear and equipment maker Adidas AG filed a criminal complaint against the former chief of its India operations and another former senior employee for alleged financial and commercial irregularities...."
"The Wal-Mart Corruption Case" (NY Times Opinion)
"The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the largest teachers’ retirement fund in the country and known as CalSTRS, filed an important lawsuit this month against 27 current and past executives and directors of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest employer.
The case alleges widespread corruption and bribery at the company’s Mexican subsidiary. Last week, the company said it was expanding an internal inquiry to include other subsidiaries. The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have begun parallel inquiries [primarily under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ('FCPA')]. This suit, along with those investigations, could help ensure that the company reckons with what it did wrong and fixes its broken corporate governance...."
The way events are unfolding, Wal-Mart might be interested in this advice from Corporate Counsel on “Ways to Build Credibility During Government FCPA Investigations.”
[SOME OF] THE RICH GET RICHER; EVERYONE ELSE, WELL...
"Paris Hilton Is Adding To Her $1.5 Billion Fragrance Empire with New Perfume Inspired by… Herself" (Fashionista)
"Fashion houses like Chloe and YSL create scents inspired by [a certain romantic city in France], and so does Paris Hilton–only her inspiration is herself. The heiress’s latest scent Dazzle, which will be sold in a pink diamond-inspired falcon with platinum jewel-bedecked cap (naturally), is meant to express her personality....
The fifteen scents [Ms. Hilton] already has with marketer and distributor Parlux is believed to be worth $1.5 billion, according to WWD, and it is predicted Dazzle will generate at least another $20 million...."
"Court: Gore-Tex heiress can't adopt ex-husband [in order to increase inherited share of family fortune]" (Reuters)
"[A]n heiress [has failed in her attempt to] adopt her 65-year-old ex-husband to increase her family's claim to a billion dollar inheritance.... [B]ecause Susan Gore and [ex-husband] Jan Otto had three children, while each of her four siblings had four, Susan's children stood to inherit fewer shares [her family's company]....
Delaware's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the unconventional adoption did not entitle the man to inherit a share of the Gore-Tex waterproof fabric fortune.
Heirs to the founders of W.L. Gore & Associates Inc of Newark, Delaware, have fought for years over how to divide their stake in th e privately held company, which has $3 billion in annual revenue...."
"Aspirational luxury buyer all but gone, claims industry expert" (Luxury Daily)
"The aspirational/symbolic buyers that most luxury marketers are chasing have all but disappeared in this economy, according to one of the leading luminaries in the luxury marketing world.
While the upper-echelons of the wealthy have not drastically pulled back their spending amid the Euro crisis and weak U.S. market, those earning between $150,000 and $400,000 per year largely disappeared as luxury consumers, claims Greg Furman, founder and chairman of The Luxury Marketing Council, New York. 'Many contend the middle class is rapidly disappearing, sadly so,' Mr. Furman said...."
[This post is for entertainment and informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship among any individuals or entities. Any views expressed in this post or at the linked web pages are those of the writer on a particular date, and should not necessarily be attributed to this writer, his law firm, or its clients. Neither LAW OF FASHION nor any person or entity associated with it can warrant the thoroughness or accuracy of the content here or at the linked sites.]
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Changing the apprenticeship landscape
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Posted by. Dan Lancaster-Holmes
blogs, blogs:Business, Management and Marketing, blogs:Employability
The apprenticeship levy was implemented in April 2017, with the intention of changing the way in which employers and the government fund apprenticeship training in the UK. The levy was introduced to promote apprenticeships, aligned with the government's objective of having three million people start apprenticeships between 2017 and 2020. Below, Dan Lancaster-Holmes, Relationships Manager at Leeds Trinity University, reflects on how apprenticeships have transformed in the last two years.
Two years into a long-term change project to reform the Apprenticeship landscape - and I think the sector has weathered most of the changes that are going to happen, and is coming out stronger. The initial idea was that the levy contributions of large employers would fund the co-contribution of the government for small businesses, so it was never expected to be an instant hit.
Is it working now? That depends on which part of the education sector you’re in really. The stats can be confusing. Levy-paying employers make up 49% of all apprenticeship starts, despite only 2% of the employers in England paying into it, whilst only 7% of total levy contributions have been spent, and apparently apprenticeship starts have fallen by 61%.
For me it’s opened up more opportunities for apprenticeships to be embedded into strategic plans across the board, and its helping those that haven’t previously used apprenticeships to do so.
It has encouraged employers to look at apprenticeships as a mainstream recruitment and training pathway, not just for new recruits and entry-level positions but to support people to achieve higher level skills and progress within the organisation.
It has helped to develop apprenticeships as a mainstream route for young people and adults into Higher Education, rather than the traditional “alternative route” view that has dominated how apprenticeships are perceived, and has led to a negative image over the years as having less value than a full time education. If anything, the opposite is now true. The employability and soft skills that Apprenticeships develop are in high demand from employers and will provide apprentices with a solid platform to build successful careers on, whatever the industry.
The growth of degree and higher apprenticeships at Leeds Trinity University is proof of this, and show that the apprenticeship model works for ensuring continuous professional development is available to everyone. Within two years we are now delivering nine apprenticeships to more than 100 apprentices, from Management and Business-to-Business Sales to Supply Chain Management. Without the introduction of the levy and the other reforms this wouldn’t have been possible.
If we couple the apprenticeship levy with Apprenticeship Standards, then there are more benefits. For business, there is now much more control of the entire process, the training is more bespoke and role related, and the apprentices will need to complete an End Point Assessment to qualify, meaning that they are able to evidence how well they are operating in their role.
The apprenticeship levy opens up a whole new marketplace for collaboration, innovation and streamlining. I’m excited about the growth in levy transfers from large organisations to SMEs, and the potential that this has to strengthen business partnerships and building relationships.
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Power to alter accounting...
Changes over time for: Section 257
Companies Act 1985, Section 257 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 17 July 2019. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.
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Act modified by Regulation (EC) 2157/2001, Art. AAA1(3) (as inserted) by S.I. 2018/1298 reg. 97
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s. 380(4ZB) inserted by 2006 c. 50 Sch. 8 para. 75(3) (This amendment not applied to legislation.gov.uk. Sch. 8 para. 75 repealed (1.10.2009) by S.I. 2009/1941, arts. 1, 2(2), Sch. 2)
s. 396(1)(a)(ii) words repealed (cond.) by 2000 asp 5 Sch. 12 para. 46(2)(a)(3)(4) Sch. 13 Pt. 1 (The commencement of sch. 12 para. 46(2)(a) is conditional upon whether or not Companies Act, 1989 (c. 40), s. 92 is in force, see sch. 12 para. 46(3)(4). 1989 c. 40, Pt. 4 (ss. 92-107) was repealed without ever being in force (1.10.2009) by 2006 c. 46, s. 1180, Sch. 16; S.I. 2008/2860, arts. 3, 4, Sch. 1)
257 Power of Secretary of State to alter accounting requirements.E+W+S
F1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F1S. 257 repealed (6.4.2008) by Companies Act 2006 (c. 46), ss. 1295, 1300, Sch. 16; S.I. 2007/3495, art. 8(a), Sch. 2 Pt. 1 (with arts. 7, 12, Sch. 4 para. 33(2))
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Tag Archives: Art World
For its latest issue (#71), Source magazine is asking the question, “What is conceptual photography?” To go along with the mag they have produced three short talking-head videos exploring this question with a handful of artists and critics. The importance of the “concept” in contemporary photography has always interested me. In the photo-world, the question regularly pops up about why “straight” photography isn’t taken seriously by the art world. Those in the straight photography corner often appear to see conceptual photography as impure in some way, as if it were not what photography is really about. Without wanting to spark off another one of these debates, it seems to me that concept is indeed considered paramount in Western art photography today (in my experience, this is not at all the case in Japan, where “serious” photography can still very much be about wandering around with a camera and taking pictures). For example, I’m often struck by young photographers struggling to hang an ill-fitting artist statement with some big ideas in it over the shoulders of work that is clearly not conceptual in the slightest… presumably because they have been taught to do so in art school. Wherever you stand on this question (or however delightfully far away you stand from it) these videos provide an interesting look at how photography became so excited about concepts and what the hell “conceptual photography” is even supposed to mean in the first place.
Photography has died (again)
Is tilt-shift photography’s auto-tune?
This entry was posted in Contemporary Photography, eyecurious and tagged Art Photography, Art School, Art Today, Art World, Artist Statement, Auto Tune, Conceptual Photography, Contemporary Art, Contemporary Photography, Debates, Existentialist photo-ramblings, Handful, Hell, Japan, Magazines, Paramount, Photo World, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photography., Shoulders, Source Magazine, Straight Photography, Tilt Shift, Western Art on September 13, 2012 by eyecurious.
Art Space Tokyo
Tokyo is not an easy place to get to grips with, especially for those of us who are used to the structure and scale of most European cities. Its multi-layered sprawl and labyrinthine underground transport network can make it feel like a never-ending maze. Like the city itself, Tokyo’s art scene can feel impenetrable to an outsider. The fluctuations of the art world make it difficult to keep up with the art landscape in any big city, but Tokyo more than most as the contemporary art market is not as developed and established as in the US or Europe. This doesn’t mean fewer galleries, but rather more of them and a constant ebb and flow of relocations, openings, and closures too. As a regular visitor to the city over the last decade, I still feel as if I have only seen the tip of the art scene iceberg. Galleries are often small, tiny even, and difficult to find, rarely at street level but tucked away in a basement or on the 4th floor of an anonymous building in a non-descript neighbourhood. Part of the charm if you’re gallery hopping, but if you actually have to get to a meeting, it can be a little more stressful. I often rely on Tokyo Art Beat, a kind of online art events guide (in both Japanese and English) including exhibition reviews that tells you what is on in Tokyo. A very useful tool, in its attempt to be comprehensive it also ends up being a little overwhelming and is probably more useful when you know what you are looking for.
Thankfully there is now another online English-language resource to turn to. Art Space Tokyo has existed as a physical book since 2008, but it has now been launched on digital platforms and as a website including three major sections: spaces, interviews and essays, as well as a timeline of some of the major art events in Tokyo over the last 60+ years. Rather than going for a comprehensive picture of the Tokyo art scene, Art Space Tokyo limits itself to a couple of handfuls of spaces and art world ‘players’, providing the essential info but also going into some depth and analysing current trends. The essays included also tackle interesting questions such as the nature of Japanese street art or the state of art journalism and criticism in Japan, making this much more than a guidebook to the Tokyo art world. The authors, Ashley Rawlings and Craig Mod, have also clearly given a lot of thought to translating all the content from a paper book to digital platforms (iPad, Kindle) and to a website. They have been generous too, putting up the entire contents of the book online for free, even holding on to Nobumasa Takahashi‘s great illustrations, rather than treating the site as a sneak preview promotional tool. This one is bound to come in handy on my next visit to Tokyo.
Review: Tokyo-e @ Le Bal
Tokyo highlights
Japan: A Self-Portrait opening in Tokyo
This entry was posted in Contemporary Photography, eyecurious and tagged Art Events, Art Landscape, Art Market, Art Scene, Art Space, Art World, Contemporary Art, Contemporary Photography, Descript, Digital Platforms, Ebb And Flow, English Language Resource, European Cities, Exhibition reviews, Handfuls, Japanese photography, Last Decade, Major Art, Outsider, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photography., Relocations, Tokyo Tokyo, Transport Network, Underground Transport on August 24, 2012 by eyecurious.
E. Brady Robinson
There are an infinite amount of approaches to portraiture, and one that is incredibly revealing and insightful is to look at personal spaces. E. Brady Robinson has explored this approach in her terrific series, Desks as Portraits: An Inside Look at the DC Art World . I first met Brady as a co-exhibitor at the Lishui Photography Fesitval in China this past fall. Her exhibition was greeted by the Chinese with great success and it garnered her the Grand Prize in the American Life exhibition.
Brady has a long roster of exhibitions, has been featured in a myriad of publications, and her work is held in many significant collections. She received her MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art and
BFA in Photography from The Maryland Institute, College of Art in
Baltimore, Maryland . Brady maintains a studio in Washington,
DC and Orlando, Florida. She is Associate Professor in the School of
Visual Arts and Design, University of Central Florida. Brady is also working to make Fotoweek D.C., running November 9-18th, a huge success.
Images from Desks as
Portraits: An Inside Look at the DC Art World
Desks as Portraits: An Inside Look at the DC Art World documents the desks of artists, curators, collectors, art critics, dealers, museum directors and taste makers in the District. This project has become a “six degrees of separation” in the DC Art World. One photo shoot leads to another in which Brady asks for recommendations and names of possible subjects. Further introductions are made and invitations accepted which allows her private access to people who are making significant contributions to contemporary art and photography in DC.
This series explores the concept of desk as portrait combined with the social experiment of navigating the DC art world. Robinson plans to continue this series in new markets at home and abroad. This work has been featured in The Washington Post, Channel One Russia TV and won Grand Prize in the “American Life” exhibition in the 2011 Lishui Photography Festival.
This entry was posted in Contemporary Photography, L E N S C R A T C H and tagged Academy Of Art, Art And Photography, Art Critics, Art World, Contemporary Photography, Cranbrook Academy Of Art, Curators, Dc Art, Degrees Of Separation, Life Exhibition, Maryland Institute College, Maryland Institute College Of Art, Museum Directors, Personal Spaces, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photography., Russia Tv, School Of Visual Arts, Six Degrees Of Separation, Social Experiment, Terrific Series, University Of Central Florida, Washington Post on July 10, 2012 by Aline - lenscratch.blogspot.com/.
Andy Freeberg, Spinello, New York Pulse 2010, Artist: Zachari Logan
Andy Freeberg
Spinello, New York Pulse 2010, Artist: Zachari Logan,
From the Art Fare series
Website – AndyFreeberg.com
Andy Freeberg was born in New York City where he learned at an early age to be a critical observer of the world and the people in it. He studied at the University of Michigan, began his career as a photojournalist and now concentrates primarily on fine art projects. Freeberg has recently emerged on the contemporary art scene as a wry commentator on the art industry itself. Long fascinated with the gallery and museum worlds, he often turns his camera on the dealers, gallery patrons, artists, museum guards, and their interplay with the works of art on view. His project Guardians, about the women that guard the art in Russian museums, won Photolucida’s Critical Mass book award and was published in 2010. The Guardians will be on view at the Cantor Museum at Stanford University through January 2013. His series, Art Fare, documenting another side of the art world, will open at Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles in September 2012. Freeberg’s work is in many public and private collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, The Portland Art Museum, the George Eastman House, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
This entry was posted in Contemporary Photography, Flak Photo, Uncategorized and tagged Art Industry, Art Projects, Art Scene, Art World, Assignment Work, Cantor Museum, Contemporary Photography, Critical Mass, Flak Photo, flak, photo, photographer, photography, film, digital, digital photography, camera, toy cameras, photoblog, photo blog, Andy Adams, Flak Magazine, flak, George Eastman, George Eastman House, Logan New York, Museum Of Fine Arts, Museum Of Fine Arts Boston, Museum Of Fine Arts Houston, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photography., Photojournalist, Photolucida, Portland Art Museum, Private Collections, Rsquo, Russian Museums, Spinello, Stanford University on July 9, 2012 by Andy Adams.
Curators Look Ahead to LOOK3
The very day after the 2011 LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph ended, this year’s guest curators—National Geographic photographer Vincent Musi and Washington Post visuals editor David Griffin—started to put together the slate of artists who will appear this coming weekend. The annual for-photographers-by-photographers event in Charlottesville, Va. runs June 7-9. But, says Musi, the weekend will include the work of more than one year: professional relationships and the curators’ senses of balance, both developed over many years, were key in the decision process.
The three artists chosen by Musi and Griffin to be this year’s INSight Artists—the featured photographers who, Griffin says, must be people who have made a significant body of work and can inspire other photographers—are Stanley Greene, Donna Ferrato and Alex Webb. Masters talks will be given by Ernesto Bazan, Hank Willis Thomas, Lynsey Addario, Bruce Gilden, Robin Schwartz and Camille Seaman; David Doubilet is this year’s TREES Artist, whose work will be hung in trees along Charlottesville’s downtown pedestrian mall.
Although the festival does not have an explicit theme, Musi says that a documentary slant is strong in all of the featured work. “We also have this crossover because advertising and the fine-art world are really stepping up and doing a lot of what journalism used to do,” he says. And it goes both ways: he cites Hank Willis Thomas as someone who is using journalistic forms outside of the world of journalism. “The common thread,” Musi says. “is that everyone is very excited to have a foot in each world, but the work is very documentary in nature.”
Griffin echoes that sentiment, citing the aesthetic vision evident in Alex Webb’s work as an example of great journalism that “hits that beautiful spot” that touches the art world. He says that this year’s LOOK3 will place a heavier emphasis on individual shows for the speakers’ work, so that guests who attend the talks will be able to see the pictures discussed. There will be more than a dozen hours of onstage programming and a dozen print shows hung, which is more than in previous years.
Both curators agree, though, that the artists who present are not necessarily the highlights of the festival. “This is building a community and sustaining it, so that people go from one side of the stage to the other and back again,” says Musi. That community is made up of artists who attend as viewers, give talks a later year and then maybe teach a workshop some other time.
And artists who just hang out: “There’s a coffee house and it’s right outside of one of the hotels, and I just remember walking out each morning and David Alan Harvey would always be sitting out there having a cup of coffee,” Griffin says of past festivals, “and there’d be Martin Parr sitting with him or Jim Nachtwey, and you’d just walk up and sit down and start talking with a person. That’s one of the really cool things about the festival.”
More information about this year’s LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph, which will take place in Charlottesville, Va., from June 7-9, is available here.
This entry was posted in Contemporary Photography, photojournalism and tagged Addario, Aesthetic Vision, Alex Webb, Art World, Bruce Gilden, Charlottesville, Common Thread, Contemporary Photography, David Doubilet, David Griffin, Documentary, Donna Ferrato, Ernesto Bazan, Festival, Guest Curators, Look3, Lynsey, Musi, National Geographic Photographer, Out There, Pedestrian Mall, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photography., Professional Relationships, Robin Schwartz, Seaman, Stanley Greene, Vincent Musi, Washington Post on June 5, 2012 by Lily Rothman.
Video + photobook review: Burke + Norfolk on Afghanistan Wars
Already an award-winning photographer of contemporary Afghanistan, Simon Norfolk returned this time to follow the footsteps of a relatively unknown Irish war photographer, John Burke, who had documented the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880). An immensely engaging book presents the works of both photographers, as well as compelling essays that offer context to this subtle and complex work.
This work is also currently on exhibit at the Tate Modern in London, and it won a World Press Photo Award, too. carrera de fotografia . It is highly unusual for a single body of work to be lauded by both the fine art world and praised by the toughest critics in documentary photojournalism. squido lense .
See 20 photographs, and read more about the book, here in Lens Culture.
This entry was posted in Contemporary Photography, Uncategorized and tagged Afghan War, Art World, Contemporary Afghanistan, Contemporary Photography, Documentary, Fine Art, Footsteps, Irish War, John Burke, London, photobook, Photographer, Photographer John, Photographers, Photographs, Photography., Simon Norfolk, Squido, Tate Modern, Video Review, War Photographer, World Press Photo, World Press Photo Award on April 26, 2012 by Jim.
Affordable Art Fair, Aperture Booth, & W.M. Hunt
Over the course of twelve years the Affordable Art Fair has transformed the model of the traditional art fair, driving the notion that fine art is within everyone’s reach, showcasing new and emerging artists, galleries, and must-see installations in 11 locations around the world. To date, the roster includes editions in Amsterdam, Bristol, Brussels, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Milan, New York, North London, Singapore, and Sydney.
Will Ramsay founded the fair in 1999 as an extension of the ‘accessible’ marketing drive evolved from Will’s Art Warehouse, the UK gallery that he has maintained since 1996, and today specializes in selling a wide range of contemporary art priced between £40 and £4,000. In an interview with Table Talk, Ramsay notes, “My aim, when founding the Affordable Art Fair was to break down the barriers of the sometimes stuffy and intimidating art world — giving ‘the terrified’ the opportunity to enjoy and collect art in a fun and informal atmosphere.” He often relays an experience of entering galleries and being met with “frosty reception”, a fear factor that he sought to eliminate in launching the first Affordable Art Fair in London, 1999. This first fair, an instant hit, attracted 87 galleries, 10,000 visitors, and grossed £1 million in sales. Now, a bit more than a decade since its founding, the Affordable Art Fair is an internationally-recognized and leading showcase for contemporary art, having welcomed more than one million visitors as of 2011, and sold over $270 million worth of art.
NEXT WEEK, the UK-based fair makes a return to the art capital of the US for its third annual spring edition, hosting more than seventy unique exhibitors over five days at 7W in New York City. Browse the full list of exhibitors here.
Wednesday through Sunday, join Aperture at the Affordable Art Fair to browse and buy a selection of just-published books, bestsellers, and new limited-edition prints, plus take advantage of a special offer on Aperture-magazine subscriptions.
Thursday, April 19, Aperture will present a talk and walk-through with W. M. HUNT, curator, collector, consultant, teacher, fundraiser, and author of the new Aperture book The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious ($52.50, available here). Join Bill, who is known for his wit and larger-than-life personality, for an entertaining presentation on the art of collecting.
Aperture Booth and The Insider’s Eye:
A Talk and Walk-through with W. M. Hunt
Wednesday, April 18, 2012–Sunday, April 22, 2012
Admission Required
The Affordable Art Fair
This entry was posted in Contemporary Photography, Exposures and tagged 7w, Affordable Art, Affordable Art Fair, Aperture, Aperture Magazine, Art Capital, Art Fairs, Art Warehouse, Art World, Books, Contemporary Art, Contemporary Photography, Emerging Artists, Events & Exhibitions, Fear Factor, Frosty Reception, Informal Atmosphere, Limited-Edition Photographs, List Of Exhibitors, Magazine, Milan New York, North London, One Million, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photography., Showcasing, Spring Edition, The Unseen Eye, Traditional Art, Twelve Years, W M Hunt, William Ramsay on April 12, 2012 by Aperture Foundation.
Survival Techniques Opens with Video Screening and Curator-Led Tour
Featuring fifteen artists from around the world, the Museum of Contemporary Photography’s newest exhibition, Survival Techniques: Narratives of Resistance examines social conflict, political corruption and the common ways humans learn to survive.
Prior to the opening reception – which takes place on April 12 from 5 to 7 pm – there will be two events held in conjunction with the exhibition:
Film Screening: Before Ai Weiwei and Enemies of the People
Wednesday, April 11, 6:30 pm
Join the MoCP for a film screening pairing two documentary films addressing the ways humans interpret and cope with government oppression.
Daria Menozzi’s Before Ai Weiwei is based on an interview with the artist Ai Weiwei in 1995 and exposes his early political beliefs at a time when he is both estranged from the country where he lives and also poised to position himself as a global force within the art world. The second film, Enemies of the People directed by Thet Sambath and Rob Lemkin, interviews the men and women who perpetrated government-sponsored massacres between 1975-79. The screening will take place at the Hokin Lecture Hall, located at 623 S. Michigan Ave.
Curator Talk and Opening Reception
Thursday, April 12, 4 pm
Welcome Survival Techniques guest curator, Davide Quadrio, and contributing artists, Julika Rudelius and Li Mu, as they walk visitors through the exhibition at 4 p.m. The opening reception, which will be held at the MoCP, will immediately follow.
This entry was posted in Contemporary Photography and tagged 96, Ai Weiwei, Art World, Contemporary Photography, Documentary Films, Film Screening, Global Force, Government Oppression, Guest Curator, Lecture Hall, Lemkin, Menozzi, Michigan Ave, Mocp, Museum Of Contemporary Photography, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photography., Political Beliefs, Political Corruption, Social Conflict, Survival Techniques, Techniques Narratives, Thet, Video Screening on April 9, 2012 by Alexandra Field.
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Launch of Hellas Sat 4 a New Chapter in Space History of Cyprus and Greece, Minister says (video)
The launch of Hellas Sat 4 communication satellite opens a new chapter in the space history for Cyprus and Greece, Minister of Communications Vassiliki Anastasiadou has said from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana, where Hellas Sat 4 successfully launched last night.
The Minister referred to the geopolitical, technological and commercial benefits that Hellas Sat 4 has to offer, and added that “we are proud to see the flags of the two countries accompany the satellite in its space orbit.”
Anastasiadou noted that the launch of Hellas Sat 3 in June 2017 and of Hellas Sat 4 expand and diversify the existing satellite coverage of the company by providing more satellite capacity in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The Minister said that this is important as well for strengthening Cyprus as an attractive satellite communications centre, contributing to the achievement of the long-term policy goal, which is to turn Cyprus into a regional service centre in the field of telecommunications services.
She pointed out that the presence of Hellas Sat in Cyprus since 2001, when Cyprus and Greece jointly licensed the company, is an important step forward in strengthening our position as a successful regional satellite communications centre. This agreement put Cyprus on the global satellite map.
Concluding, she thanked Hellas-Sat CEO, Christodoulos Protopapas, and all who worked tirelessly for this launch. She pledged that the Ministry will remain committed to support and facilitate the activities of satellite providers in Cyprus.
According to a press release by Arianespace, Arianespace opened its 2019 mission activity by successfully orbiting a pair of telecommunications spacecraft – Saudi Geostationary Satellite 1/Hellas Sat 4 (HS-4/SGS-1) and GSAT-31 – using the company’s workhorse Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël confirmed the success in post-launch comments from the Spaceport’s Jupiter control room. “For the first Ariane 5 launch of the year, our heavyweight vehicle has once more performed flawlessly,” he said. “Congratulations to all!”
“Deployed first in the flight sequence 27 minutes after liftoff, HS-4/SGS-1 is a geostationary “condosat” for Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and Greek-Cypriot satellite operator Hellas Sat, an Arabsat subsidiary. Designed, assembled and integrated by Lockheed Martin Space, HS-4/SGS-1 will operate from an orbital position of 39 deg. East, with a coverage area that includes Europe, South Africa and the Middle East” Arianespace says.
It adds that the Saudi Geostationary Satellite 1 communications payload will provide advanced Ka-band spot beam communications services for KACST, a government organisation responsible for promoting science and technology in Saudi Arabia. The Hellas Sat 4 communications payload will deliver advanced Ku-band regional beam communications services for the Arabsat subsidiary.
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Man allegedly kills 17-year-old girl and posts grisly photos of her body online, police say
One wounded in Vacaville shooting south of I-80
By Sam Richards
VACAVILLE, Calif. (BCN/KTVU) - Vacaville police continue to investigate a shooting Sunday afternoon that left a man with non-life-threatening injuries.
The shooting was reported at 2:50 p.m. Sunday in the 900 block of La Cruz Lane near Alamo Drive, said police Sgt. Jason Johnson.
The shooting occurred outside, Johnson said.
The victim was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
No arrests had been made as of 5:30 p.m. Sunday, said Johnson, who wouldn't elaborate on a possible motive.
It doesn't appear this shooting is related in any way to a fatal shooting at about 6 p.m. Saturday on Interstate Highway 80 near Orange Drive and the old Nut Tree complex in Vacaville.
California Highway Patrol officers who had been dispatched to a reported accident there found a man shot, and who died a short time later, and a pickup truck nearby with several bullet holes in the side.
"It doesn't look like they're connected, but we're considering all possibilities," Johnson said Sunday.
Firefighters took two hours to extinguish a grass fire alongside Highway 680 in Pacheco that spread to a nearby storage unit facility on Tuesday.
Fire is now extinguished and in extensive mop up. Some 450 of this 500-plus unit storage facility were saved from fire today with no injuries Fire risks are especially high along our areas streets and highways. Please use extreme caution in ALL outdoor activities. #pachecoic pic.twitter.com/0FteLWZZ2y
The two-alarm fire started at about 2:43 p.m., according to Steve Hill of Contra Costa Fire Protection District. The fire broke out near the Highway 4, Interstate 680 intersection.
4.3 magnitude earthquake centered near Blackhawk felt throughout Bay Area
By Michelle Toy, KTVU
A 4.3 magnitude earthquake shook Contra Costa County at 1:11 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.
The earthquake's epicenter was about 7.5 miles east of Blackhawk near the Los Vaqueros Reservoir according to the USGS.
The earthquake was initially reported as a 4.4 magnitude, but was then downgraded to a 4.2. A few minutes later the USGS said it was a 4.3 magnitude.
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This series of reflections was photographed over a period of 2 years at airport departure lounges while waiting to fly out of Melbourne.
Past the chaos of routine airport procedures, but not yet boarded onto the plane, passengers who are literally in transit also seem to be in a state of psychological limbo. Caught between fatigue and the transcendent hours of early morning, people are propelled into a dreamlike atmosphere.
Unknowingly trapped in a glass box designed to make travelers feel anything but, individuals seem insignificant – slouchy and surrendered to authorities that promise safety and reliability.
The air is cold and stale – remnants of earlier passengers and never truly refreshed. Like the baggage carousels, people come and go fleetingly, reminding me that flying is just a larger scale of public transport – one that isn’t as glamorous as it once was.
Still, the departure lounge is a place to hope. The possibilities of renewal... The wait to a culture shock, whether good or bad, is only hours away.
hello@mardianasani.com | +417 955 900 90 | Zurich
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Featured/ Human Rights
Adopt our culture or leave
BNP, election, Human Rights, MP Jun 23, 2009
“Adopt our culture or leave” — my challenge to the BNP.
Nick Griffin would be hugely funny if he were a character created by Sacha Baron Cohen, rather like Borat or Bruno. But his wilfully inconsistent line is a planned and calculated programme to court ‘the plain man’. I’m not really sure how dangerous the BNP is. Their support is, after all, tiny. But I am sure that they are a slap in the face to our democratic society.
Today, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has begun a legal challenge to the BNP for its constitution and membership criteria. Speaking on Radio 4’s PM programme, the BNP’s Griffin claimed that his party was exempt under sections 26 and 27 of the Equality Act 2006. However, the Commission has pointed out in its letter the BNP does not satisfy the criteria for a membership organisation which exists for the benefit of its members.
Griffin, I think, failed to register the irony of his remarks. He declared unequivocally that the British National Party existed for the benefit of the ethnic minority English people, who were discriminated against by society. First off, English people are not an ethnic minority. According to the 2001 census, 85.7% of the population are the native ethnicity referred to as ‘White British’, while the CIA Factbook suggests that 77% of the UK population are English. But, rather more ironically, does Griffin’s party purport to represent the interests of English people, or, as the name suggests, British people? If British, then it should surely include all those with British citizenship. Or else he should be required to change its name to the ‘White British Ethnic Party’, since he can scarcely claim that his party is a ‘national’ party, if its aim is to exclude a part of the nation. If he really means only the white English, he should change the name to ‘White English Ethnic Party’.
During his Euro-election night speeches, Griffin suggested that people coming from other cultures to Britain should be required to adopt our culture, or should be required to leave.
Let me therefore replay this challenge to the BNP. Britain is a multi-racial, multi-cultural society with laws protecting all for the benefit of all.
If the BNP is unwilling to adopt our culture and obey our laws, its leaders and members should simply leave the country. I am not strictly sure which countries would welcome them.
But, there’s always Rockall.
Human Rights /
‹ Crowdsourcers shame Telegraph › The politics of hate
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What shall we do with irony?
(and the strange case of the man on a boar’s back)
Alanis Morissette wrote a famous song about irony, which demonstrated that she didn’t actually know what irony was. There’s a rather brilliant scene in Archer series, episode 5, where Sterling Archer, who alternates between hyper-informed mentor and pre-literate buffoon, explains the difference between coincidence, irony, metaphor and symbol. When Pam asks “so what’s satire”, he replies “nobody knows”.
Once the preserve of senior school chess clubs and Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, an extreme, sarcastic irony has become one of the dominant forms of discourse on the internet. While business gurus have long lamented that you can’t tell tone of voice on email — which is why it’s so important to be careful and take no offence — posters of blank irony make maximum use of this. On social media and in anonymous comments to articles this may be harmless enough, but what about the ‘blank’ irony of fake news sites?
Fake news sites are in some ways the polar opposites of the Britain First style memes I looked at a few weeks ago in The Format of Falsehood. While these memes attempt to trigger an emotional reposting to reenforce prejudice, the fake news sites such as The Daily Currant, National Report, The Borowitz Report and World News Daily Report impel the reader to either enjoy the joke or be the subject of it.
Articles from these sites are frequently shared by outraged readers on Facebook, such as the claim that missionaries were sending Bibles to Nepal instead of food. Anyone who follows the links back and reads the original article can go onto the ‘about’ pages and confirm that the sites are offering only bogus, ‘entertainment’ content, but this is not clear if you are reading on Facebook.
In one thread, I saw a string of readers posting outraged comments, since they took the story at face value, despite the fact that a persistent user continued to interrupt the thread by pointing out that it was a bogus story from a satirical site.
I personally love TheDailyMash, which is a scurrilous satirical site rather like a free version of Private Eye, but more so. There is perhaps a fine line here, but it is nonetheless a sharply inked one. All the stories on TheDailyMash are funny. They begin with something implausible, though no more implausible than many of the ‘genuine’ news stories reported in the Daily Mail. However, if this piques your interest and you read the actual article, it gets sillier and sillier. No matter how gullible you are, a Daily Mash story will eventually reveal to you that it’s a joke. Unlike the real Daily Mail.
The Daily Mash is, to me, a genuine satirical news site. Like Private Eye and Dilbert, it doesn’t do to read too much of it, lest it tarnish many things that do not deserve it. It has three important qualities which distinguish it. First, the articles are genuinely funny in their own right. As a form of humour, satire needs to justify its existence first of all by being funny, in a sense that at least makes you chuckle, rather than merely despise. Second, the articles reveal themselves to be satirical to a reasonably critical observer. Third, the articles make a cleverer and more insightful point than the thing they are mocking.
While the first two are important, it seems to me that the third is crucial. If the satirist is not as profound as her or his target, the result is mere mockery. It makes a fool of the mocker, and the reader, but says nothing useful about the target.
There is a genuine sense in which the satirist — with Shakespeare’s clowns — says ‘we are all fools’, while the mocker merely says ‘they are fools, but I am not’.
This — in my view — is where the fake news sites go wrong.
One of the fundamental challenges in writing for the internet is that you do not know who is reading. Actually, by writing this article in long-form, on a website, with phrases in it like ‘One of the fundamental challenges…’, I’ve narrowed down my readership considerably.
Even so, there are a lot of things I don’t know about my readers. Do they have English as a first language? I just ran one of the earlier paragraphs through Google Translate into Dutch and back into English. The result didn’t make a great deal of sense. If you’re reading this using machine translation, the whole thing may have lost you not far from the beginning.
How did you find the article? Via Facebook, Twitter, browsing, or a random internet search? If from a random search, I know even less about you. Do you use Wikipedia? Do you read TVTropes.com? If you’re a naive Wikipedia user, you might be inclined to take a lot of things at face value. On the other hand, if you’re a Wikipedia editor (and anyone can be), you are probably by now highly sceptical of anything which doesn’t come with references and footnotes. TVTropes would make you ‘genre-savvy’, and you may already be bored of this article for not containing enough Easter Eggs to keep you amused (unless, of course, I’ve hidden some Easter Eggs that you haven’t found). If you don’t read TVTropes.com and you don’t know what Easter Eggs are, then the previous sentence must have been completely baffling.
The ironic works for us when we converse with people who share the same set of cultural assumptions and a similar level of linguistic expertise. It’s a game of coding, word-play and hidden meanings — a form of riddling talk that requires a set of keys and clues to be understood: a fun game when the players are equal, but demeaning and even nasty when they are not.
Consider the following cryptic Anglo-Saxon proverb:
“Now it is in the pig’s judgement”, says the man sat on a boar’s back.
Nu hit ys on swines dome cwæþ se ceorl sæt on eoferes hricge
This is from the proverbs in the Durham book, probably written down towards the end of the Anglo-Saxon period, though quite possibly in use long before then. There is a helpful Latin gloss, though, in this case, the meaning was either so obvious to the translator that he didn’t bother to elucidate, or he was baffled too.
Word for word in English — not a proper translation — it would be:
Now (Nu) it (hit) is (ys) on (on) pig’s (swines) judgement (dome) says (cwæþ) the (se) churl (ceorl) sat (sæt) on (on) boar’s (eoferes) back (hricge).
A literal translation would therefore be:
Surprisingly, as far as I can discover, no-one has so far published a sensible meaning for it. The trick is to recognise that in Old English, a boar is a kind of swine (like Dutch, ‘everzwijn’), unlike in Modern English, where ‘boar’ is different in kind from ‘pig’, the one being wild, the other domesticated. The swine in the first part of the proverb is therefore the same animal that the man is sitting on in the second part, not a different animal, which has confused many translators.
We can now translate it as: “It’s up to the swine to decide”, says the man sat on a boar’s back.
Still confused? The thrust of the proverb is the same as ‘we were only following orders’, or ‘I never knew what I was letting myself in for’. A man who has successfully managed to get onto the back of a wild boar and ride it is, indeed, entirely at the mercy of the swine in terms of where they go, how fast, how soon, and when they stop. Nonetheless, he cannot absolve himself of responsibility for any damage caused, since he made the decision in the beginning to climb onto the boar’s back.
In daily life, we can imagine a young Saxon saying ‘It’s not my fault’, being rebuffed by an older person saying “Of course not, it was the swine’s”.
Within a cultural frame of reference where they both know the proverb, both know what it means, and both know why and how it is applied, this exchange is enough to persuade the youth to stop making excuses and take some responsibility. Without those cultural cues, it is simply baffling.
So it goes with the internet.
Should (ironic) fake news sites be banned?
Whether or not we think they ought to be — a question which presses close to the question of freedom of speech — there is a real sense in which they cannot be. Even if there was an effective mechanism for banning anything on the internet, banning things because they were not demonstrably true would i) involve taking down most of the internet and ii) require an extraordinary burden of proof. It’s barely possible to enforce it on Wikipedia. Going beyond that would be silly.
If that’s not possible, where does it leave us?
There is an international but not universal convention that we can all publish any rubbish we like on the morning of April 1. This must be extraordinarily baffling for people from any culture that does not celebrate the arbitrary April Fool’s Day. Some groups of people don’t share the convention that this stops at 12:00 noon, and, in any case, one would need to be fairly alert to recognise where a story was being published from, and correlate the time zone with that. For that reason, nobody believes anything they read between breakfast on March 31st and somewhere on April 2nd, unless it is utterly mundane. The BBC then generally follows this up with a quiz about stories that sound like they are April Fools, but are actually real.
For the rest of the year, perhaps its time for us all to grow up and stop playing games with ideas of truth, or, at the very least, to leave it to people who really know how to do it. Not everyone can be a satirist.
‹ Britain’s issues have not changed, even though the government has › Those migrants, what are they like?
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The Song in the Abalone Wars Commercial on Discovery Channel
The song in the Abalone Wars commercial on Discovery Channel is
Labels: Commercial Song 2013
Dale Matthews September 19, 2013 at 4:17 AM
Dannielle Smart October 2, 2013 at 8:00 PM
It is NOT Alive by Pearl Jam. Its Given To Fly by Pearl Jam
Given to fly is correct
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Mysterious Banned CFC Rise Shocks Scientists
Posted on Friday, 18 May, 2018 by Zheluo Cai
CFCs have been outlawed for years, but researchers have detected new production somewhere in East Asia. A sharp and mysterious rise in emissions of a key ozone-destroying chemical has been detected by scientists, despite its production being banned around the world. Unless the culprit is found and stopped, the recovery of the ozone layer, which protects life on Earth from damaging UV radiation, could be delayed by a decade. The source of the new emissions has been tracked to east Asia, but finding a more precise location requires further investigation.
CFC chemicals were used in making foams for furniture and buildings, in aerosols and as refrigerants. But they were banned under the global Montreal protocol after the discovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica in the 1980s. Since 2007, there has been essentially zeroed reported production of CFC-11, the second most damaging of all CFCs. The rise in CFC-11 was revealed by Stephen Montzka, at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Colorado, and colleagues who monitor chemicals in the atmosphere. “I have been doing this for 27 years, and this is the most surprising thing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “I was just shocked by it. We are acting as detectives of the atmosphere, trying to understand what is happening and why” Montzka said. “When things go awry, we raise a flag.” Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment, said: “If these emissions continue unabated, they have the potential to slow down the recovery of the ozone layer. It’s therefore critical that we identify the precise causes of these emissions and take the necessary action.”
CFCs used in buildings and appliances before the ban came into force still leak into the air today. The rate of leakage was declining steadily until 2013 when an abrupt slowing of the decline was detected at research stations from Greenland to the South Pole. Scientists then embarked on an investigation, published in the journal Nature, to find out the cause. The detective work began by assessing whether there had been changes in how the atmosphere distributes and destroys CFC-11 that could explain the changed measurements. But this factor was mostly ruled out and in the most recent data – 2017 – it appears to have played no role at all. Next, the researchers looked at whether the release of CFC from older materials could have doubled, as required to explain the data. “But we don’t know of any folks who are destroying buildings at a much more dramatic rate than they were before,” said Montzka. Lastly, the team considered whether the new CFC-11 was being produced as a by-product of some other chemical manufacturing process. But they ruled this out too, as the quantities involved are too high, representing a 25% rise in global emissions. “You are left with, boy, it looks like somebody is making it new,” said Montzka, who noted that the less damaging replacement for CFC-11 is more expensive to make. If the increased emissions were to go away [soon], it’s influence on the recovery date for the ozone layer would be minor,” he said. “If it doesn’t go away, there could be a 10-year delay, and if it continued to increase, the delay would be even longer.” The last option is a possibility as if the new CFC-11 is being used in foams, then only a small fraction will have made it to the atmosphere so far, and more could leak out for many years into the future.
Michaela Hegglin, at the University of Reading, UK, and not part of the research team said researchers had taken rigorous steps to rule out alternative explanations for the rise in CFC-11 when reaching their conclusion that new production must be occurring. She said: “The study highlights that environmental regulations cannot be taken for granted and must be safeguarded and that monitoring is required to ensure compliance.” Prof Piers Forster, at the University of Leeds, UK, said: “This new study is atmospheric detective work at its finest.” Paul Young, at Lancaster University, UK, said: “The Montreal Protocol has been rightly hailed as our most successful international environmental treaty, so the suggestion that there are possibly continued, unreported emissions of CFCs is certainly troubling and needs further investigation.” Montzka said the world’s nations are committed to its enforcement. “I have a feeling that we will find out fairly quickly what exactly is going on and that the situation will be remedied,” he said. Even just the publicity about the new CFC-11 production could lead to its shutdown; he said: “Somebody who was maybe doing it purposefully will realise – oh, someone is paying attention – and stop doing it.”
Credit: Damian Carrington for The Guardian, 16 May 2018.
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blog, editing, fantasy, fiction, nanowrimo, pilgrim of the sky, poetry, watcher of the skies, WIP, writing
Watcher of the Skies and Thoughts on NaNoWriMo
Posted on November 14, 2012 by Natania Barron
from Flaxman’s Iliad – 1792. Public Domain.
So, my last post really did make it sound like I wasn’t doing NaNoWriMo, mostly likely. And apparently that’s the thing that got me going. Or something. I’m not going to try and explain it in too much details, but it goes something like this. I screwed up my back. I had to take medicine. I found out my kid does, in fact, have Asperger’s. My brain was mushy, I was in need of escape in the form of writing therapy that wasn’t going to require much editing (see: medicine), and my best friend Karen started talking to me about Joss Raddick. Readers of Pilgrim of the Sky know Mr. Raddick well, a godling of the water variety from Second World who eventually (and rather reluctantly) joins up with Maddie to help her get to Alvin in First World and prevent All The Bad Stuff. This isn’t the first time that Karen has birthed a book into my mind by just saying a few words. The entirety of The Aldersgate is due to her saying to me once, “I’m surprised you’ve never written anything with cowboys” or something to that effect, and I wrote back and said they’d have to be cowboyknights and, all that stuff happened.
The original text of Keats’s poem, “On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer”. I get giddy about the handwriting.
Anyway. The words have been spilling out, most appropriately considering Joss’s nature. The book is entitled Watcher of the Skies, and while it bears the same title as a Genesis song, it’s taken from Keats’s poem “On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer”. Last night, though I didn’t think I was going to get much done because of feeling kinda crappy, I almost got another 3K in and brought the book to 30K which is, quite frankly, a really good chunk. And this draft is surprisingly solid. Or maybe not surprisingly. I’ve been contemplating Joss’s story for quite some time, and it was just a matter of getting the details right. The book is set up in a frame narrative. The beginning features Maddie and he talking, and he invites her to hear his whole story on a rather appropriate godling level. It involves a hand full of water and mushy ice cubes and one of my favorite phrases to date: “a drunkard’s communion.”
No, this is not the book I was going to write. But it’s the book that needs to be written right now. It’s perfect timing, which I think is the way that working writers can succeed at endeavors like NaNoWriMo. I really hate the pressure people put themselves under. As a novelist, it’s not like November is the only month I can write books in, and if I don’t it somehow means less. But life and projects have conspired to make this a most amenable month of writing–and it isn’t as if I’m writing that much more than my usual 1K a day. The stars have aligned and I am enjoying myself immensely.
One of the most exciting parts is that I’m getting to explore Second World. If there’s one thing the reviewers let me know it’s that they’d wished I’d dabbled more in alternate history. Well, I’m doing just that. The book takes place starting in the late 18th century and moves to the early 20th–and let’s just say the historical/religious/economic landscape isn’t the same as you’d expert. I’m not going to be too spoilery, but there’s lots of poets, cameos by Percy and Mary Shelley and Keats and Byron and Wordsworth and Coleridge, and even mention of crazy old Blake (okay, some are significantly more than cameos, but y’know). Plus I get to explore various twains in their previous incarnations–Randall, Matilda, and Alvin are all present, sort of. Other versions of them. And I finally get to have fun with Athena. She’s a cross-dressing theatre owner of African descent. You know, as you do. I’ll have a lot more to share eventually, but for now, I’m just giddy about this book.
My pithy advice to those of you writing this hectic month is to be kind to yourself. Learning to write is like any good habit. And while it’s lovely that so much energy is poured into the month of November, it’s not the only time to write. It’s okay to step back and say it’s not a good time, professional or fledgeling or proto-fledgeling. It doesn’t make you a failure, it makes you a person who has a life and deadlines and responsibilities and maybe, just isn’t ready yet. If you want to be a writer, whatever that means, you’ve simply got to write. You’ve got to strike when the iron’s hot, and when it’s not. My issue with NaNo is that it doesn’t produce a book. It produces part of a draft. In 2008, when I “won” (whatever that means) it was very helpful, because that book did become Pilgrim of the Sky. But it’s been four years since I made an effort, and time it was primarily because of a need to escape and an excuse to keep away from Rock Revival. The timing was right for me. It may be right for you. But it may not be. And that, friends, is really, really okay.
Anyway, I have a few hours alone for the first time in almost a month, so I’m going to put it good use. For all your NaNoers out there, good luck to you!
Joss meets Andrew La Roche, Randall’s predecessor, in a tavern, while his friend William Wordsworth encounters Samuel Taylor Coleridge for the first time.
“You still haven’t told me your name,” La Roche said, taking up a cup of tea and stirring it gently. He managed to do so without a single clink against the China, so precise he was.
“It’s Joss,” I said. “Joss Raddick. I’m from Cumbria.”
“I daresay you are, it’s written all over your vowels,” La Roche remarked with a knowing smirk. “But I knew of you the moment you were born. The others argued with me, but I have a sense for these things. As you do.”
I nodded. “I felt you. Until you snuck up on me.”
“Slipped beneath your senses,” he said. “I was out of the rain, out of the river, out of the water. I dry rather quickly when I want to.”
Having no idea what he was talking about, I added, “You’re… warm. That’s the only way I can describe what I sense. Warm. Bright. Dry.”
“Hmm, yes, indeed,” he said. “And I have a particular aptitude for the healing arts. And poetry.” He said this last word with particular relish. “As you do, so I have heard. You’re a kept man, Mr. Raddick.”
I didn’t quite know what he meant by that statement. “Kept, sir?”
La Roche sipped his tea. “Hmmm… yes. You’ve been tamed, so to speak, by that curious little lake poet, Mr. Wordsworth. I’m sure he’s been a most impressive teacher, as poets are so often, but he’s using you for your light. For your inspiration. Surely you’ve figured that out by now, yes?”
I snorted. Of course I had figured it out. But it didn’t make the situation any less difficult. “He has been kind to me. He’s taught me things, about how to fit in, about how to experience… how to be a human man.”
“And what makes you think you are not a human man?” La Roche asked. “I’m genuinely curious, not attempting to pass judgment on you, Mr. Raddick.”
“Not sure what to say to that,” I said. “It’s just something I know. Humans come from women, born in a big egg that breaks open and spills water on the earth. A stream of blood and birth. That’s not how I came about.”
“Well, we have that in common,” La Roche said. “I was awakened. In a young village lad, some centuries ago. In Southern Gaul. It was quite strange. I awoke, and walked away from the family that had raised the boy. He was no longer. I entered him like water into a gourd, and have since made this body as I’ve willed it. I don’t always have to look like this, but I prefer it.”
friendsJoss Raddickkaren gadientlifenanowrimopoetryprogressRomanticismwriting
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Taylor Swift Murders All The Old Taylors In 'Look What You Made Me Do' Music Video
She literally crawls out of a grave
Emilee Lindner 08/27/2017
Taylor Swift has officially killed off her past personas in her video for "Look What You Made Me Do," confirming Swift's proclamation that Old Taylor is dead. On Sunday night, Swift unleashed her brand-new video at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, and we don't know if we should be screaming from excitement or fear. With over 20 different looks and scene changes, the video, directed by frequent collaborator Joseph Kahn, is truly a spectacle.
Can you keep up? Here's everything that went down:
- She crawled out of a grave (she could've stopped there, but it keeps going)
- She crashed a really fancy car...looking like Katy Perry
- She cradled one of her Grammys
- She joined a biker gang
- She became a BDSM crew leader
- She cemented her status as Queen of the Snakes
- She slayed in fishnets
- She lead a crew of rebels wearing I <3 TS shirts (look familiar, Tom Hiddleston?)
- She took a golden chainsaw to a private jet
And lastly, she killed off all the past versions of herself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tmd-ClpJxA
That's right — Swift took on all the past versions of herself just to murder them. At the end of the video, "You Belong With Me" Taylor made an appearance, along with Red Tour Taylor, 2009 VMA Taylor, "Shake It Off" Taylor, and a dozen more. Quite scandalously, her version of Kim Kardashian had a sleek ponytail and was "getting receipts." "I'll edit this later," "Kardashian" said, perhaps alluding to the fact that real Kardashian's leaked video of Swift's call with Kanye was spliced.
"Stop making that surprised face. It's so annoying," Old Taylor told other Old Taylor. "Yeah, you can't possibly be that surprised all the time."
Swift's mysterious rollout for her sixth album, Reputation, comes complete with her reclamation of the snake emoji and a no-B.S. attitude toward the media and her haters. The singer blacked out her social media earlier this month, and when "Look What You Made Me Do" dropped, fans realized that the Old Taylor was dead and gone — just like her deleted tweets.
The 2017 VMAs have touched down at the Forum in Inglewood, California, airing live on MTV. See the full list of winners and keep up with all of the night's biggest VMA moments!
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Across the BordersGarage Triennial
Text by Anton Belov
Director Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Sergey Poteryaev. From the series Staraya Utka, 2013. Courtesy of the artist
This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the Russian Revolution and Garage is contributing to the celebrations with a somewhat revolutionary show—the very first Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art that will go beyond the walls of the Museum to the surrounding area of Gorky Park, Moscow’s central park. From March 10 to May 14, 2017 Garage will showcase the best of Russian contemporary art, including established and lesser-known artists, some of whom have never been shown in Moscow before.
This is not the first exhibition in the world to focus on Russian art, and it is not the first Biennial or Triennial in Russia. However, it is the first show of this scale to present the work of Russian Artists to an international community. Moreover, in the modern era, Russian culture has been centralized in our western metropolises—St. Petersburg, and Moscow. We would like to expand this focus to take into account all of the artists making work in small cities and towns across our country. Even for curators and artists working in Russia, little is known about these far-flung art communities. Imagine what is in store for an international visitor?
This show is the result of a grand research tour. Over the last year, a team of Garage curators—Katya Inozemtseva, Snejana Krasteva, Andrey Misiano, and Sasha Obukhova—led by Chief Curator Kate Fowle has traveled through our vast country, visiting forty-two cities and towns from the Pacific to the Arctic oceans, crossing eleven time zones. Geographically the largest country on the planet, Russia has an extremely diverse population comprising more than 200 nationalities and 100 languages.
As our curators explored local art scenes across Russia, their understanding of this country’s culture shifted from the national to the local, and to the personal. In Yekaterinburg, the city between Europe and Asia, one of the curators met an artist who is now her future husband. In the Far Eastern port city of Vladivostok, the team met with a polymath who has thirty-three artistic alter-egos, each working in different genres. In the Chechen capital of Grozny, Garage curators discovered a video artist with an astonishingly creative visual outlook. And those are just a few of the long list of stories and encounters Garage team had on its travels around Russia.
Though created by artists at different stages in their career, all of the work in the Triennial has been made in the past five years. We decided to choose 2012 as the cut-off because it is Garage’s goal to represent the latest art in the world. In the context of the Triennial, having work made in recent years will help us better understand the contemporary moment, especially as it is seen from different corners of the country.
After their return from these research trips, the curatorial team spent months discussing art that they had seen and conversations they’d had. From this wealth of experience and material, they set out a number of structuring principles, or “vectors,” for the Triennial.
These are quite varied, including art that evinces a strong sense of place, art that is used to invent and inhabit imaginary worlds, and art that aspires to change the world, both through local activism, and international conversation. Though the work is quite varied, all of it contains an underlying principle: art as a way of life. The very essence of the Triennial is to bring together artists from across the country, thus, highlighting the social diversity of Russia and offering a unique insight into its culture and art. That said, there are many artists, curators, and visitors who will not be able to attend the exhibition in person. To address this problem, Garage is developing a web-based directory of contemporary Russian artists and local art scenes that will gradually evolve into a comprehensive resource in both Russian and English.
AS OUR CURATORS EXPLORED LOCAL
ART SCENES ACROSS RUSSIA, THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF THIS COUNTRY’S CULTURE SHIFTED FROM THE NATIONAL TO THE LOCAL, AND TO THE PERSONAL.
This last element speaks to a central goal of Garage’s overall program. Research-driven and inclusive, the Triennial is emblematic of Garage’s mission to be a place where history is unearthed to enrich the understanding of the present. We want to develop a stronger infrastructure for contemporary Russian art, not only through exhibitions, but through research.
Over the past eight years, Garage has exhibited some of the world’s most iconic artists, as well as Russian artists, be they well-known or emerging. We have established a unique archive and a rigorous network of programs and publishing projects designed to spur conversation and innovation among artists, curators, and scholars. The result of all of this has been to protect the history of contemporary Russian art, much of it unofficial or underground. This Triennial will apply these principles to future generations of Russian artists.
contents ARCHIVE
Extravaganza is Individuality
Valentino's path to self expression
Feeding the opulence of diversity is enriching,
even more so in the context of a Maison de Couture.
“PLACE TITLE HERE”
Virgil Abloh's Retrospective
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago presents
the first-ever museum exhibition artist and designer Virgil Abloh.
Noblesse Radicale
Symbolism & antiquity for Givenchy
For the Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2019 Claire Waight Keller
unravels a tale of romance and antiquity.
Celebrating Orlando
By Tilda Swinton
Aperture Gallery opens an exhibition guest-curated by Tilda Swinton.
Jessica Forever
Futuristic romance and brutality
Directors Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel presented
their new movie set in a dystopian future.
Bucolic Meditation
Fendi's ode to Nature
In a time where half of what surrounds is
synthetic or virtual Fendi reminds us of the importance of Nature.
More contents
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Gary Nichols, James Leblanc & Angela Hacker at Scott Boyer Benefit
Alabama Music Office.com goes to Marriott Shoals Conference Center in Florence, Alabama to attend the Scott Boyer Benefit on 1-17-2013. Scott was in Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital recovering from surgery to correct arterial blockage. The show was presented as a part of the Muscle Shoals to Music Row Live concert series.
Donations to "The Scott Boyer Recovery Fund" at Any branch of Bank Independent. The mailing address is PO Box 5000, Sheffield, AL 35660.
# 256-386-5000 or toll free 877-865-5050.
email customerservice@bibank.com
Gary Nichols (born 1978 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama) is an American country music singer. Signed to Mercury Nashville Records in 2006, Nichols made his debut that year with the release of his single "Unbroken Ground", which reached No. 39 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Following it were the singles "I Can't Love You Anymore" and "Goin' Fast." Nichols never released an album for the label and soon left it.
In April 2010, he replaced Chris Stapleton as the lead singer and guitarist of The SteelDrivers.
James Leblanc was born and raised in Shreveport Louisiana. He has been playing since his Dad taught him to play as a toddler. In his teen years James started writing songs and playing in local bands. Over the years his following began to grow to include other songwriter’s and musicians. In 1995 one of these musician friends sent sone of James’ songs to Rodney Hall at Fame Publishing. After two years of staying in close touch with the FAME staff, James was signed to FAME Publishing’s, House of Fame branch. Since that time James has fast become one of the hottest songwriters around garnering cuts on artists such as Rascal Flatts(3), Martina McBride, Travis Tritt(2), Joe Diffie, Sara Evans, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Heartland and Cyndi Thompson(2). In late 2000 James relocated to Muscle Shoals, Alabama where has continued to pursue his livelong music habit. James first hit single was released on Travis Tritt. The song is entitled “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde. The song garnered James his first top 10 single and ASCAP award for One of the Most Performed Songs of the Year.
More Recently James has landed the title cut on Platinum artist Jason Aldean, as well as two cuts on Gary Allan’s forthcoming project. James also recently signed to FAME Records and will be releasing his next cd this fall. As an artist James released a singer/songwriter cd titled “Muscle Shoals City Limits” in 2003. The Cd garnered widespread critical Acclaim thoughout the music industry.
Source: Reverbnation
Angela Hacker is a country singer who first gained fame through winning Nashville Star, a country version of American Idol. She was born in 1978 in Muscle Shoals, AL. She grew up with three sisters and was shy as a child. When she was 13, she entered a singing contest at her school and claims that she "hasn't quit since." She struggled for the next 16 years with her singing career, but managed to get an audition on the fifth season of Nashville Star. She was selected to be one of the show's ten finalists and, throughout the competition, was perceived as the frontrunner. For the finale of the show, she was competing against her younger brother, Zac Hacker. In the end, Angela took the title and won a recording contract with Warner Brothers Records. She recorded and released her debut album, The Winner Is..., on April 3, 2007. The album had no singles, since the point of the album was to be a retrospective of her time on the show. She is currently working on her second album, which will be a collaboration with her younger brother, Zac Hacker. She has one son, Bay Simpson, and resides in Florence, AL.
Source: ALLMUSIC
Labels: Gary Nichols, James Leblanc and Angela Hacker at Scott Boyer Benefit
Scott Boyer Benefit Grand Finale
The Decoys with Scott Boyer III at Scott Boyer Ben...
The Decoys with Spooner Oldham at Scott Boyer Bene...
The Decoys with Friends at Scott Boyer Benefit
Travis Wammack at Scott Boyer Benefit
Fiddleworms at Scott Boyer Benefit
Bottletree at Scott Boyer Benefit
Gary Nichols, James Leblanc & Angela Hacker at Sco...
Kelvin & Tonya Holly at Scott Boyer Benefit
Bad Brad "Poor Man Ain't Got a Chance"
Red Mountain White Trash at Kentuck Festival 2012
Red Mountain White Trash "Rose of Alabama"
Red Mountain White Trash at Kentuck Festival
Tosha Hill sings original at Dick Cooper Party
Tosha Hill kills it at Dick Cooper Party
Dick Cooper ADAT Party 2012
Late Night at Dick Cooper Party
Kentuck Festival 2012 Highlights
Bob Tedrow and Jason Bailey at Kentuck Festival
The Pyles at Dick Cooper ADAT Party
Elizabeth Cook "Sometimes It Takes Balls To Be A W...
Elizabeth Cook between songs
Mark Lanter Interview
Jim & Joyce Cauthen at Kentuck Festival 2012
African Drumming at Kentuck Festival
Singing Lessons? by Jerry W. Henry
Bad Brad & The Sipsey Slims "At Least They Can't E...
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Protect The Mission
From Airman to Professional
Most Powerful Air Force in the World
Creech Air Force Base & Nellis Air Force Base
Nevada Veterans Resource Guide
Nevada Attorney General Office of Military Legal Assistance
OMLA Business Case
Veteran-Owned Business
As the Las Vegas Valley grows, residential areas inch closer and closer to Nellis Air Force Base. But just how close is too close when it comes to civilian life coming into contact with military operations? As suburban sprawl encroaches on Nellis Air Force Base, missions and military exercises become more difficult to carry out.
While the area surrounding the Nellis has been empty for decades, the Valley’s rapid growth has led to the development of residential zones just south of the base. As a result, air flight plans have to be altered to avoid flying live bombs over civilian homes. As developers continue to push to use that land for residential purposes, it makes military exercises harder to execute, and raises concerns as to whether missions can be safely and effectively carried out at all.
At Nellis Support Team, we make it our mission to protect the land surrounding Nellis Air Force Base from encroachment. We work with city and county governments in an effort to keep the areas designated as commercial and industrial, or empty entirely.
Operation Warmheart
Copyright 2019 - Nellis Support Team - All Rights Reserved.
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Friday essay: the Australians who pioneered self-sufficiency, generations before Nimbin
Written by Rachel Goldlust, Phd candidate in environmental history, La Trobe University
The term “self-sufficiency” commonly evokes images of communes, yurts and 1970s hippies, most likely living off the land in northern New South Wales. More recently, it has been linked to an explosion of interest in solar powered “off-grid” living, tiny houses, ethical food networks and complementary health practices, along with a hipster-driven return to the artisanal and hand-made.
But these are just a small part of a much larger story. Australians have, in fact, dreamt of going back-to-the-land since the latter part of the 19th century. Those who embraced an ethic of self-sufficiency included anarchists, suffragists seeking opportunities for unemployed women, Catholic agrarians wanting to nurture both the soul and the soil, and a grassroots collection of organic farmers trying to bring attention to “Mother Earth”.
Each of these pioneers looked beyond “unhealthy” cities to the land as a source of salvation, seeking answers and alternatives to some of the problems of industrial modernity, and sharing in a vision of “the good life”.
A century before today’s ‘off-grid’, tiny house fans, Australians sought solace by going back to the land. shutterstock
Dirty, corrupt cities
The story begins in the late 19th century when urban reformers across North America, England, Europe and Australia started to identify a decline in societal values and standards, sparked by economic insecurity and rapid social change. With growing anxiety around “dirty and corrupt” cities, a transported image of the English “rural idyll” became a ready source of inspiration.
In Australia, this idea was equally shaped by the romance of bush ballads, alongside the popular landscape art movement. But rather than simply gaze at the landscape or go bush-walking on weekends, a number of urban Utopians wanted to get back to nature, hoping to reimagine and reconstruct society.
David Andrade was one of them. Born to Jewish merchants in Collingwood in 1859, he grew up with an acute sensitivity to the inequalities he saw around him. After co-founding the first Anarchist Club in Australia and spending years publishing and speaking across Melbourne, Andrade came up with a bold vision he called “Social Pioneering”. It envisaged opening up “agricultural, pastoral and industrial pursuits” for people with no access to land, bringing them closer to nature and basic subsistence living to avoid the dangerous economic fluctuations of the market.
David Andrade pictured in the 1890s. www.marxists.org/glossary/people/a/n.htm
In 1893, during a worsening economic depression, Andrade established “Liberty Hall” in central Melbourne. This radical venture housed a progressive “bookery”, the earliest vegetarian restaurant and hosted numerous lectures on topics like socialism, mesmerism, vaccination, free thought and spiritualism.
Andrade laid out plans for a co-operative community called “Freedom” on Lake Boga along the Murray River as an “enlightened salve for poor city wage-slaves”.
However, with little support for such a wild venture, in 1894, he and his wife Emily instead moved to the newly opened settlement of Sassafras in the nearby Dandenong Ranges with their three children, and a fourth on the way. Under a government scheme known as Village or Closer Settlement, which opened up large tracts of arable but often difficult land to the urban unemployed, the Andrades were among thousands who looked to small-scale farming on small rural “homesteads”.
Sadly their dream of agricultural independence and collective Utopia remained elusive. In 1897, devastating fires burnt out the settlement. David was committed to Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum soon after with his “reason having been broken down”. Emily and the children were forced to move back to the city and much of the radicalism of Andrade’s pioneering ventures soon faded.
Still, many others continued to battle capricious natural elements, poor soils, and the harsh realities of making a living from the land, buoyed by the potential of subsistence agriculture and the autonomy of working for oneself.
Womanly but not weak
While it was acceptable for both urban and rural women to garden domestically, it was hard for women to make a living from their gardens in the cities. Away from city dwellers’ conventions and expectations, they had more luck.
Horticulture for Ladies. The Australasian, 18 Feb, 1899. The Australasian
In December 1892, suffragist Mary Sanger Evans began promoting silk growing, or sericulture, as an ideal vocation for “womanly agriculture” pursuits as the Depression set in. Defying the view that “real men do real farming”, sericulture was promoted as a feminine practice. Soon after, Evans formalised her ideas into the Women’s Cooperative Silk Growing and Industrial Association. It had a charter to
open up new fields of productive industry for workless women of all classes, from the refined gentlewoman, thrown perhaps suddenly to depend on her own exertions, to the factory girl or motherless waif – industries healthful and elevating, and, if properly carried out, highly profitable – all of them too, productive from the soil direct.
With the support of prominent women such as the wife of NSW Governor Robert Duff, the organisation purchased a 44-acre farm lease at Wyee, north of Sydney. They called it “Wirawidar”, the Indigenous name for “woman’s ground”. Continuing to farm until 1901 during drought and difficult economic conditions, their efforts inspired urban women to look away from the cities towards the power of the soil.
With the support of her brother Justice Henry Higgins, suffrage activist Ina Higgins also realised that women could gain “autonomy and freedom” from a rural smallholding. After years agitating for a course to be made available for women at the Burnley Horticulture College, Ina became one of its first graduates in 1900. She then became Australia’s first professional female landscape gardener.
With the support of fellow suffrage and peace activists Vida Goldstein, Adela Pankhurst and Cecilia Ann John, Ina set up a farm in Mordialloc on the fringe of metropolitan Melbourne in 1913. Members of the Women’s Rural Industries Cooperative worked variously in an orchard, a nursery, raising poultry and horses, bee-keeping, and growing flowers and vegetables. Like Wirawidar, it was established for single or divorced women to provide for themselves, their children, and earn an income.
Ina Higgins in the garden at ‘Killenna’, 1919. Palmer Papers, National Library of Australia, PIC Album 885/7 #PIC/P778/562
Paying no attention to class or dress dictums, they scandalised the public with their “rational dress” of a “brown knickerbocker suit.” While Higgins gave instruction on horticulture, the press reported that one co-op member, Cecelia John, was “as good as a man” since she could “drive a car, paint a house, erect poultry sheds, and [is] planning on turning a corner of the big barn into a bathroom at the least expense.”
With only six permanent workers, the farm managed to survive and succeed until the end of the war, but failed due to lack of capital and shortages of water. Higgins later continued educating young women in horticulture at Dookie Agricultural College, and paved the way for future “women of the soil” such as renowned landscaper Edna Walling.
The gospel of simplicity
During the 1930s a “lure of the pastoral” found popular resurgence through a nation-wide Country Life Movement. It united public and political sentiment, reaffirming the moral and political superiority of rural areas and small towns.
Within this push, aspiring political activist Bob Santamaria helped launch the National Catholic Rural Movement in 1938. He advocated for a form of “cottage Catholicism” within a new social order that was neither capitalist nor communist, but would bring the “countryside back to Christ”. The movement believed that in order to find the “true” source of one’s religious being, one had to embrace “honest, wholesome toil”.
Out of these ideas emerged the agricultural community of Whitlands. Established in 1941 near the base of Victoria’s Mount Buffalo, it celebrated the “dignity of manual labour” within a strong monastic tradition. By the end of the war, its valiant and charismatic leader Ray Triado had attracted dozens of young urban Catholics – men, women and their families – away from their comfortable city lives.
An acclaimed track athlete, and later an associate to a High Court Judge, at 30, Triado traded this world for a life of hunting, building and farming. A troubadour and storyteller, his community was built around simple daily rituals, of song, prayer and work. Numbering a few dozen in its later years, a variety of people were drawn to create a “world of the village around and permeated by God’s presence.”
Ray Triado in the 1940s. Graeme Butler
Whitlands quickly became notorious amongst Melbourne’s high society for its radical departure from comfortable, conventional Catholicism, and its rejection of the materialistic culture of modern Australia. Some, such as regular visitor and journalist Niall Brennan supported the program and reported in the Catholic press of male “monks” in overalls, working shirts and shorts who “chanted Matins, Lauds and Prime, milked cows, cut wood and lit fires”.
Single women were also drawn to the farm as they saw a vital opportunity to escape the monotony of urban domesticity. Though the women maintained separate living quarters, such a scandalous situation led to calls from within Catholic institutions to dissolve the community.
The chapel at the old Whitlands site, which survives today. Author provided
In 1950, a dozen dedicated Whitlands members made a “pilgrimage” of over 250km from the farm to Melbourne to petition Archbishop Mannix against its closure. They succeeded in keeping the farm open – but the early idealism was soon lost. Many members moved on, while a few families settled nearby.
Soil and Civilisation
Long before the rise of the modern environment movement, farmer Elyne Mitchell (author of The Silver Brumby) published Soil and Civilisation in 1946. This book was an early attempt to explain to Australians the importance of the connection between human and ecosystem health. In addressing problems facing industrial agriculture and society at large, she wrote that, divorced from his roots, (i.e the earth) “man loses his psychic stability.”
Soil was at the heart of many later self sufficiency movements. shutterstock
Her sentiment echoed a growing movement of farmers across southern Australia that had united from the mid-1940s through the Living Soil Association in Tasmania, Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society of NSW and the Victorian Compost Society.
Drawing on the work of British organic pioneers such as Lord Albert Howard, they argued that all organic wastes, such as plant matter and animal manure, must be returned to the soil to decay and replenish soil humus. They also felt that nature’s “law of return” could be used as a model to alleviate some of the problems faced by ever growing, all consuming cities.
Editions of the Organic Farming Digest from the late 1940s. Author provided
Challenging the dominant vision of agricultural progress, particularly the use of artificial fertilisers and chemical pesticides, the organic growers looked to the model of the small, family farm for salvation. Though not strictly a call “back-to-the-land” since many were already farming, or working their suburban gardens, these campaigns encouraged ordinary people and producers to consider the origins of their food, and contemplate the wider outcomes of its production.
Banner for Victorian Compost News, March 1950. Author provided
Michael J. Roads was one of these early proponents. He had moved from England to Tasmania in 1963 with his family. After years farming cattle, Roads saw how problems of greed, the rapid commercialisation of life, and a spiral of harmful farming practices were affecting both individuals and society as a whole.
In 1970 he published A Guide to Organic Living in Australia. It reflected on a growing movement “back to the earth” seeking solace in the bush and the simplicity of self-provision. In it, he shared his own story of spiritual transformation that had occurred when he began to revere the power of nature.
Spreading his message that nature, the soil and human happiness are inextricably linked, Roads continues to publish, travel the world, and teach others the insights he learned as a small farmer on a secluded mountain in Tasmania.
Roads was joined soon after by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren who transformed this philosophy into the practice of Permaculture. In turn, it helped motivate the counter-cultural movement as growing food organically for self-sufficiency became a critical way to rebel and achieve social change.
The 1973 Nimbin Aquarius Festival established self-sufficiency as central to its political and social doctrine. From this point on, personal self-sufficiency was seen as a means of survival, but also of achieving broader political, social and environmental reform. It continues to stand for a way of reducing consumption, getting back to basics, engaging with DIY projects, using renewable energies, and fostering community networks today.
Read more http://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-australians-who-pioneered-self-sufficiency-generations-before-nimbin-114594
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Stevan Ridley signing one-year deal with N.Y. Jets
Published: April 8, 2015 at 07:27 p.m.
Updated: April 9, 2015 at 10:34 a.m.
The New York Jets continue to add Patriots to their roster.
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NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday that the Jets are signing running back Stevan Ridley to a one-year deal, according to a source close to the situation. Ridley joins the Jets after spending his first four seasons in New England.
Ridley joins a Jets backfield that includes Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell. Ridley's final season with the Patriots ended in October after he tore his ACL and MCL. The injury wrecked Ridley's free-agent value, but he could re-establish himself on a short-term deal with the Jets.
Rapoport reported that Ridley had offers from multiple teams, including the Redskins and Dolphins. An opportunity to play in Chan Gailey's offense was a contributing reason to Ridley's decision to choose the Jets.
This is an interesting signing for New York. Ridley is an established power back who does his best work between the tackles. The same skill-set can be attributed to Ivory, who might find himself on shaky footing under a new regime in New York. The Jets could still use a home-run hitter type back -- if they grab one in the draft, Ivory might be the odd-man out.
Ridley's health and history of ball-security issues make him a bit of a gamble, but he's just 26 and only two seasons removed from a 1,200-yard, 12-touchdown season with the Patriots. There is plenty of upside here.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast plays its newest game, 'What's your Fancy?' and debates if you'd trade Aaron Rodgers for Andrew Luck. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
"Fitzgerald: Kliff Kingsbury has Cards going '..."
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Cam Newton takes a dip in latest 'Top 100' reveal
Published: May 20, 2015 at 09:59 p.m.
Updated: May 21, 2015 at 08:07 a.m.
Two NFL South quarterbacks make an appearance in the latest edition of The Top 100 Players 2015 countdown on NFL Network.
Players 80 through 71 were revealed on Wednesday night, with Cam Newton landing at No. 73, a steep 49-spot drop from his No. 24 ranking in 2014. There's logic behind the tumble: Newton declined in many key statistical categories and the Panthers went just 5-8-1 in his 14 starts. This after Carolina went 12-4 and knocked the Saints off the NFC South perch in 2013. Steve Smith's absence was definitely felt by Newton -- we'll see if second-round pick Devin Funchess can make an impact.
Matt Ryan shows up at No. 77 on the list, this after the Falcons star was left off the Top 100 entirely in 2014. Ryan was ranked 17th in 2013, when the Falcons were coming off a season in which they went 12-4 and won the NFC South. It's clear the voters -- who, as a reminder, are all players -- put a lot of stock in team success when determining where to rank quarterbacks. Ryan remained as steady as ever statistically, and the Falcons jumped from four to six wins. Ryan will have to get Atlanta back to playoffs to move any higher up this list.
Looking elsewhere in the division, Bucs rookie Jameis Winston will have to wait until next year to be in contention for the Top 100. Saints quarterback Drew Brees, meanwhile, should be considered a lock as one of the nine quarterbacks yet to be revealed.
Some other takeaways from the 80-71 reveal:
» Texans running back Arian Foster (No. 80) makes his return to the Top 100 after injuries knocked him off the list in 2013. Foster feels strangely underrated. In 2014, he compiled over 1,500 total yards with double-digit touchdowns for the fourth time in five years. There aren't many backs in this leg that have been that consistently great.
» Going to Green Bay did good for the career of Julius Peppers. The veteran pass rusher comes in at No. 71, this after he fell off the Top 100 list in his final season with the Bears. Peppers, 35, is the fourth-oldest non-quarterback on this list.
» Muhammad Wilkerson was the only Jets player to crack this list in 2014. He does it again this year, coming in at No. 74. Something tells us that Revis guy is going to give Wilkerson some Gang Green company in 2015.
» Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans (No. 75) becomes the third player to make this list on the strength of his rookie season, joining C.J. Mosley (No. 94) and Aaron Donald (No. 92). Last year's Top 100 had three rookies total.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast welcomes Lindsay Rhodes to discuss the Patriots' response in the "Deflategate" saga and the latest names revealed on the "The Top 100 Players of 2015" countdown. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
"Tate says Stafford is best QB he has played w..."
Titans' Vrabel backs Mariota ahead of QB's contract year
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North Kansas City » News » What's New » World’s First Explor-A-Storium Headed to NKC
World’s First Explor-A-Storium Gets a Big Boost from the Missouri Department Finance Board
$2 Million in Contribution Tax Credits Approved for City of North Kansas City, Rabbit hOle Project
North Kansas City, Missouri – The City of North Kansas City, Missouri’s application for $2 million in state tax credits for the development of The Rabbit hOle was approved by the Missouri Development Finance Board on December 19th. The development of the Rabbit hOle - the first major cultural attraction north of the river - represents a unique opportunity to spur continued development in North Kansas City while expanding the Greater Metro’s creative and cultural footprint to better serve children and families.
The Board (MDFB) gave unanimous approval at its December 19 meeting to issue the credits – which will generate $4 million in contributions – for The Rabbit hOle Project. The Rabbit hOle is a Kansas City-based Missouri 501(c)(3) that intends to develop more than 100,000 square feet of warehouse space at 14th Ave and Knox in North Kansas City for adaptive reuse as a museum and cultural attraction dedicated to children’s literature and the art of the children’s book. The attraction will open with approximately 60,000 square feet of program, exhibit, and visitor space complementing a general uptick in development in North Kansas City.
The move means that eligible taxpayers can claim 50 percent tax credits for financial donations and other contributions to The Rabbit hOle project, beginning now for the 2017 tax year.
The Rabbit hOle will deliver a wide array of programming to schools, educators, parents and children of all ages. There will be writing and story labs, maker workshops, book-making classes, performances, national author events, professional development opportunities, and author/illustrator residencies. With a visitor experience patterned after St. Louis’ City Museum and backed by some of the country’s top children’s book authors, illustrators and publishers, The Rabbit hOle will be a tourist destination, drawing visitors from across the Kansas City Metro, as well as from regional and national markets.
“We’re grateful that MDFB recognizes the potential of this project for North Kansas City – and for the entire metro,” said Eric Berlin, City Administrator for North Kansas City. “North Kansas City is experiencing a boom in development where businesses, entertainment and shopping venues, and residential developers are investing in the quality of life and the schools we have here. This project helps extend the development that has taken place in the arts corridor south of the River and will introduce visitors to what North Kansas City has to offer.”
“Today marks an important milestone in the realization of The Rabbit hOle in North Kansas City,” said Rabbit hOle Campaign Co-Chair Steve McDowell. “It’s a great opportunity for our supporters and others with Missouri tax liability to invest in an innovative project that will offer returns for years to come.”
The MDFB tax credits will add to the $2.4 million the project has already raised in private contributions toward a total $12.2 million project goal in a campaign designed to attract charitable investment from both within and outside the Kansas City area. Rabbit hOle organizers Deb Pettid and Pete Cowdin have garnered support from nationally-known authors and illustrators and major children’s book publishers who will partner in the project. In addition, organizers intend to seek challenge grants from regional and national foundations to help raise the $12.2 million.
“We’re thankful to the City of North Kansas City, the dozens of organizations that have endorsed us and this project, and the Missouri Development Finance Board for their confidence in this project’s ability to transform a community,” said Rabbit hOle Co-founder and Director, Pete Cowdin. “Some 20 years ago, MDFB made an early investment in what was then a novel idea for a children’s museum. Today, that idea – in the form of the City Museum – is one of St. Louis’ top attractions drawing more than 700,000 visitors a year, and has been a driver of redevelopment along the Washington Street corridor. It is our hope and belief that The Rabbit hOle has that same potential right here in Kansas City.”
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Kill Elton John.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
(SPOILERS) Matthew Vaughn may have talked a good game when highlighting those successful follow-ups, and their winning ingredients, he aspired to for his first home-grown sequel, but unfortunately he falls prey to the worst excesses of typical bigger, baggier, more bloated studio fare. Kingsman: The Golden Circle is more Die Hard 2 or Iron Man 2 than John Wick Chapter 2 or The Empire Strikes Back. Not that I think trying for the latter kind of model works on this kind of movie anyway. Kingsman hews closer to the Austin Powers side of Bond than the Bourne, so pasting the beats of an earnest one over an essentially frivolous enterprise leads to, well, indulgence and excess.
Shame isn't a strong enough emotion to stop us from doing anything at all. Believe me.
(SPOILERS) Paul Verhoeven certainly loves courting controversy, and in a year’s time he’ll still be courting controversy as a rare octogenarian filmmaker (rare enough that there are octogenarian filmmakers who aren’t Clint Eastwood, rarer still that there are ones still fanning the flames of outrage). I didn’t find myself outraged by Elle, though, I suspect mainly because I was constantly aware of how calculated its provocative elements are; in a way, this is as precisely designed to elicit a response as his earlier Basic Instinct (with which it very loosely shares a genre bracket), with streaks of black humour and irreverence running through subject matter that usually (rightly) elicits the most respectful and cautious treatment.
So, um... You think we can get to the Moon?
Hidden Figures (2016)
(SPOILERS) The second biggest hit (worldwide) out of this year’s Oscar nominees, Hidden Figures seems to have stuck around in theatres the longest, perhaps because of its “educational” content. This tale of NASA’s black female mathematicians is the kind of movie mind instantly goes to when looking for an example of palatable Oscar fluff (see also A Beautiful Mind), socially progressive but entirely without a spine, the kind of movie you come away from thinking all is good with the world, as we’re all heading in the right direction. It’s banal, aspirational and inoffensive (unless you find its very inoffensiveness offensive).
One hour of their lives gone, just like that. And they don’t remember anything.
The Avengers 4.14: The Hour That Never Was
Roger Marshall pens and Gerry O’Hara directs a memorable episode, big on location work and atmosphere, and small on guest cast members. At least, for the majority of its duration.
The only things I care about in this goddamn life are me and my drums... and you.
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
(SPOILERS) The final entry in John Hughes’ teen cycle – after this he’d be away with the adults and moppets, and making an untold fortune from criminal slapstick – is also his most patently ridiculous, and I’m not forgetting Weird Science. Not because of its unconvincing class commentary, although that doesn’t help, but because only one of its teenage leads was under 25 when the movie came out, and none of them were Michael J Fox, 30-passing-for-15 types. That all counts towards its abundant charm, though; it’s almost as if Some Kind of Wonderful is intentionally coded towards the broader pool Hughes would subsequently plunge into (She’s Having a Baby was released the same year). Plus, its indie soundtrack is every bit as appealing as previous glories The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.
Mention of the latter highlights Some Kind of Wonderful’s greatest boast; it’s a gender swapped Pretty in Pink, only this time Hughes (and his directing surrogate Howard…
Kill the earthworm, Steed, and ultimately you kill everything. Soil, birds, animals, man.
The Avengers 4.13: Silent Dust
Revisiting Season Four, several episodes have fallen slightly in my estimation, but Silent Dust (along with Dial a Deadly Number) is one that has gone up. The plot isn’t all that, continuing the horticultural (and pesticide) theme of Man-Eater of Surrey Green, but it has a great supporting cast, and in Avengers terms that’s often the difference between a hit and a dud.
Why are you painting my house?
mother!
(SPOILERS) Darren Aronofsky has a reasonably-sized chin, but on this evidence, in no time at all he’ll have reduced it to a forlorn stump with all that stroking. And then set the remains alight. And then summoned it back into existence for a whole new round of stroking. mother! is a self-indulgent exercise in unabated tedium in the name of a BIG idea, one no amount of assertive psued-ing post-the-fact can turn into a masterpiece. Yes, that much-noted “F” cinemascore was well warranted.
Imagine a plant that could think... Think!
The Avengers 4.12: Man-Eater of Surrey Green
Most remarked upon for Robert Banks-Stewart having “ripped it off” for 1976 Doctor Who story The Seeds of Doom, although, I’ve never been wholly convinced. Yes, there are significant similarities – an eccentric lady who knows her botany, a wealthy businessman living in a stately home with an affinity for vegetation, an alien plant that takes possession of humans, a very violent henchman and a climax involving a now oversized specimen turning very nasty… Okay, maybe they’re onto something there… – but The Seeds of Doom is really good, while Man-Eater of Surrey Green is just… okay.
This isn't fun, it's scary and disgusting.
(SPOILERS) Imagine how pleased I was to learn that an E Nesbitt adaptation had rocketed to the top of the US charts, evidently using a truncated version of its original title, much like John Carter of Mars. Imagine my disappointment on rushing to the cinema and seeing not a Psammead in sight. Can anyone explain why It is doing such phenomenal business? It isn’t the Stephen King brand, which regular does middling-at-best box office. Is it the nostalgia factor (‘50s repurposed as the ‘80s, so tapping into the Stranger Things thing, complete with purloined cast member)? Or maybe that it is, for the most part, a “classier” horror movie, one that puts its characters first (at least for the first act or so), and so invites audiences who might otherwise shun such fare? Perhaps there is no clear and outright reason, and it’s rather a confluence of circumstances. Certainly, as a (mostly) non-horror buff, I was impressed by how well It tackled pretty much everything that wasn’t the hor…
You better watch what you say about my car. She's real sensitive.
Christine (1983)
(SPOILER) John Carpenter was quite open about having no particular passion to make Christine. The Thing had gone belly-up at the box office, and adapting a Stephen King seemed like a sure-fire way to make bank. Unfortunately, its reception was tepid. It may have seemed like a no-brainer – Duel’s demonic truck had put Spielberg on the map a decade earlier – but Carpenter discovered “It was difficult to make it frightening”. More like Herbie, then. Indeed, the director is at his best in the build-up to unleashing the titular automobile, making the fudging of the third act all the more disappointing.
Don't worry about Steed, ducky. I'll see he doesn't suffer.
The Avengers 4.11: Two’s A Crowd
Oh, look. Another Steed doppelganger episode. Or is it? One might be similarly less than complimentary about Warren Mitchell dusting off his bungling Russian agent/ambassador routine (it obviously went down a storm with the producers; he previously played Keller in The Charmers and Brodny would return in The See-Through Man). Two’s A Crowd coasts on the charm of its leads and supporting performances (including Julian Glover), but it’s middling fare at best.
Have no fear! Doc Savage is here!
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975)
(SPOILERS) Forget about The Empire Strikes Back, the cliffhanger ending of Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze had me on the edge of my seat for a sequel that never came. How could they do that to us (well, me)? This was of course, in the period prior to discernment and wisdom, when I had no idea Doc Savage was a terrible movie. I mean, it is, isn’t it? Well, it isn’t a great movie, but it has a certain indolent charm, in the manner of a fair few mid-‘70s SF and fantasy fare (Logan’s Run, The Land that Time Forgot) that had no conception the genre landscape was on the cusp of irrevocable change.
Captain Freedom to wardrobe. Captain Freedom to wardrobe on the double.
The Running Man (1987)
(SPOILERS) Now here’s a Stephen King/Richard Bachman adaptation that could do with a remake. The actual date of futuristic dystopias clocking round is usually a cue to compare and contrast, and no doubt in two years there will be legion Blade Runner articles doing precisely that (and damning/feting the worthy/tragic sequel). Actually, they might be doing it with The Running Man too, since it’s only a worldwide economic collapse announced in the opening crawl that occurred in 2017; the events of the movie also take place two years from now. Nevertheless, it has garnered some attention (most notably an Empire article) this year. Working against celebrating its anniversary on either date is that isn’t much cop, nor was it ever considered to be.
You can look dope, can’t you? Sure you can.
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (2017)
(SPOILERS) Is there a new “Vin Diesel model” for movie successes? The xXx franchise looked dead in the water after the Vin-less 2005 sequel grossed less than a third of its predecessor. If you were to go by the US total, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage was a similar flunk. And yet, a sequel is guaranteed. The key to this rehabilitation appears to be borrowing from the Fast & Furious franchise rule book (or the one operating since entry No.5, at any rate): bring on the international casting and sit Vin at the top as their leader. The only difference being, here Diesel is having appreciably more fun.
Believe me, our world is a lot less painful than the real world.
Nocturnal Animals (2016)
(SPOILERS) I’d heard Marmite things about Tom Ford’s sophomore effort (I’ve yet to catch his debut), but they were enough to make me mildly intrigued. Unfortunately, I ended up veering towards the “I hate” polarity. Nocturnal Animals is as immaculately shot as you’d expect from a fashion designer with a meticulously unbuttoned shirt, but its self-conscious structure – almost that of a poseur – never becomes fluid in Ford’s liberal adaptation of Austin Wright’s novel, such that even its significantly stronger aspect – the film within the film (or novel within the film) – is diminished by the dour stodge that surrounds it.
It could have been an accident. He decided to sip a surreptitious sup and slipped. Splash!
4.10 A Surfeit of H20
A great episode title (definitely one of the series’ top ten) with a storyline boasting all the necessary ingredients (strange deaths in a small village, eccentric supporting characters, Emma even utters the immortal “You diabolical mastermind, you!”), yet A Surfeit of H20 is unable to quite pull itself above the run of the mill.
Now, Mr Steed, you’re going to have to work for your supper.
The Avengers 4.9: Room Without a View
If The Gravediggers’ eccentricity feels entirely natural, Room Without a View’s seems plastered onto a standard issue spy plot, one that wastes the talents of the majority of its cast and leaves Steed polishing off the best table leavings.
What is that young woman doing tied to the railway line? She’ll break my engine!
The Avengers 4.8: The Gravediggers
Do you dig The Gravediggers? Yeah, it’s all right. Actually, it’s more than all right. While the series has been up to its eyeballs in eccentricity prior to this, this episode furnishes us with the particularly eccentric eccentric living in his own private fantasy world, and as part and parcel of this, stylistic conceits entirely take precedence over any notions pertaining to logic or naturalism. It’s an episode that revels in its absurdity.
Let the monsters kill each other.
Game of Thrones Season Seven
(SPOILERS) Column inches devoted to Game of Thrones, even in “respectable” publications, seems to increase exponentially with each new season, so may well reach critical mass with the final run. Groundswells of opinion duly become more evident, and as happens with many a show by somewhere around this point, if not a couple of years prior, Season Seven has seen many of the faithful turn on once hallowed storytelling, and at least in part, there’s good reason for that.
Some suggest the show has jumped the shark (or crashed the Wall); there were concerns over how much the pace increased last year, divested as it was of George RR Martin’s novels as a direct source, but this year’s succession of events make Six seem positively sluggish. I don’t think GoT has suddenly, resoundingly, lost it, and I’d argue there did need to be an increase in momentum (people are quick to forget how much moaning went on about seemingly nothing happening for long stretches of previ…
It’s been three hundred years since I’ve seen a bald man.
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
(SPOILERS) I recalled very little about Star Trek: Insurrection, other than it being a mostly inoffensive plod that had something to do with the fountain of youth. That part is pretty much correct, although revisiting it, I was pleasantly surprised by how serviceable the opening section is, effectively setting up a mystery (even if the antagonists are disclosed too soon) and even more so at the twist ending, which I had entirely failed to remember. Most surprised because it’s virtually the same one used by Star Trek Beyond.
Shame isn't a strong enough emotion to stop us fro...
One hour of their lives gone, just like that. And ...
The only things I care about in this goddamn life ...
Kill the earthworm, Steed, and ultimately you kill...
You better watch what you say about my car. She's ...
Don't worry about Steed, ducky. I'll see he doesn'...
Captain Freedom to wardrobe. Captain Freedom to wa...
Believe me, our world is a lot less painful than t...
It could have been an accident. He decided to sip ...
Now, Mr Steed, you’re going to have to work for yo...
What is that young woman doing tied to the railway...
It’s been three hundred years since I’ve seen a ba...
You think we're bluffing? We don't bluff!
This stage is about to explode with major piggy po...
One for the grandkids.
Sounds like an electronic dictatorship.
Would you do that? Would you wrap a lizard in cash...
‘Cos I’m the gringo who always delivers.
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NBA G League Will Have Record Presence Thanks To New Orleans Pelicans
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 at 06:55PM
NYSJ Sports-Entertainment Business News Service
October 24, 2018: The New Orleans Pelicans have signed a deal to own and operate a team in the NBA G League, beginning with the 2019-20 season.
The team will play in Legacy Arena, Birmingham, Ala., with its debut scheduled for the 2022-23.
However, with Legacy Arena currently undergoing a $120 million-plus renovation and expansion, the team will play in Erie, Pa, as the Erie BayHawks, until its permanent home within the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex is complete.
The name and identity of the team in Birmingham will be announced at a later date.
With the addition of the Pelicans, the NBA G League will expand to a record 28 teams for the 2019-20 season.
“The Pelicans join the league at an exciting time,” Malcolm Turner, NBA G League president, said via the league.
“We’re on the brink of 30 teams and are coming off our most productive season to date. I look forward to fans in Birmingham enjoying NBA G League basketball for seasons to come.”
Members of the Pelicans appeared in a promo spot when the move was unveiled, including Anthony Davis and Julius Randle. Five current Pelicans have NBA G League experience.
Birmingham is also the site of a new franchise from the Alliance of American Football, with the Birmingham Iron playing in Legion Field Stadium in the inaugural AAF season in 2019.
The Pelicans will partner with the BayHawks’ current management team to operate the team in Erie.
Most recently, the group in Erie has been in partnership with the Atlanta Hawks to host that team’s NBA G League affiliate while its arena in College Park, Ga, is being completed.
Erie has been the home to an NBA G League team since the 2008-09 season.
The Pelicans will partner with the BayHawks’ current management team, led by Owen McCormick and Matt Bresee, to operate the team in Erie.
Most recently, the group in Erie has been in partnership with the Atlanta Hawks to host that team’s NBA G League affiliate while its arena in College Park, Ga., is being completed.
According to Dennis Lauscha, Pelicans president, “We know this has been a lengthy process, but we wanted to ensure that we found the best partner for this endeavor, as we are fully invested in our team and building basketball in the Gulf South.
“We know this has been a lengthy process, but we wanted to ensure that we found the best partner for this endeavor."
“We’ve done our due diligence and researched markets across the region, and no one matched the interest and investment that the City of Birmingham will provide..
Pelicans management said they would “engage with the Birmingham community to determine an identity that best represents the city and the region.”
tagged NBA, NBA G League, New Orleans Pelicans, sports marketing in NBA Print Article Email Article
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Aggies’ Cohen earns Sporting News honor
NC A&T Sports Information / August 27, 2015
Unlike other All-American teams, the College Sporting News (CSN) honors squad is designed to be like a real team, capable of taking the field and competing in a game. It includes everything from quarterbacks, who can run or pass and often-overlooked fullbacks, to long snappers and other special team performers. The Fabulous Fifty also emphasizes players who have exhibited character and other team-oriented traits, not just lofty statistics, or talent.
After the national championship game on January 9 in Frisco, Texas, the year-end Fab 50 team will be announced including the three major awards for top coach, offensive and defensive players named in honor of the FCS legends Coach Roy Kidd, Adrian “AP” Peterson and James “Boomer” Grigsby respectively. Other major awards will also be announced for Offensive Lineman of the Year, Special Teams Player of the Year, Freshmen of the Year, and Playoff Most Valuable Player.
Cohen, the league’s co-offensive player of the year in 2014, is coming off of a season where he rushed for 1,340 yards and 15 touchdowns, the second most yards in a season in A&T history. Only Maurice Hicks (2,812) has rushed for more yards in a two-year period than Cohen (2,488) in program history. Cohen has led in the MEAC in rushing over his first two seasons at A&T, and also led the MEAC in scoring (96 points) and touchdowns (16).
Cohen’s postseason honors in 2014 included being named co-offensive player of the year by the MEAC, first-team All-MEAC, first-team All-American by BOXTOROW and third-team All-American by STATS FCS.
Founded in 2001, College Sporting News is the largest and oldest news service solely devoted to publishing original content and other information of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. CSN annually names national coach, offensive, and defensive honors, pre-season and post-season All-America teams, national weekly student-athletes honors, and maintains the Gridiron Power Index (GPI) ranking of teams which the NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee used as a tool for the selection of teams since 2008.
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Suzy Parker Casablanca Airport Magazine Elle
Suzy Parker, Etole Leopard, Magazine Elle
Sophie Litvak Arret de Bus, Paris
Marie Helene et Le Poisson Rouge
Lucinda, Londres, Publicité de Voiture
Lucinda Hollingsworth, London
Barbara Mullen, Elle Magazine
Dorian with a Bunch of Flowers
Suzy and Police Officer
Barbara et MHA sur le Riva Eden Roc, Antibes
Suzy Parker Hydrangea
Georges Dambier (French, b. 1925—2011)
Georges Dambier first went to work for painter Paul Colin, where he learned drawing and graphic design. He then became an assistant to Willy Rizzo, a famous portraitist photographer (Harcourt’s Studio, Paris Match). There, he discovered photography and was taught the fundamentals of this art, especially lighting.
Georges Dambier was 20 when the Second World War came to an end, a moment when the social scene in Paris suddenly took off. Nightlife, subdued during The Occupation, exploded. He frequented cabarets and jazz clubs in Saint Germain des Prés, where famous artists and celebrities organized glittering parties and balls. One night, he managed to take pictures of Rita Hayworth, who had come, incognito, to a famous nightclub, Le Jimmy’s. He sold the exclusive images to France Dimanche, a daily magazine recently created by Max Corre and Pierre Lazareff, and earned a job with the magazine as a photo-reporter. In his new post, he was sent to all over the world to cover current events. However, with his predilection for graphic design and aesthetics, his liking for refined mise-en-scene, and at the urging of many friends, such as Capucine, Suzy Parker, Jacques Fath, Bettina, Brigitte Bardot, Jean Barthet, he was lead towards fashion photography.
As Georges Dambier built and perfected his craft, he was hired by Helene Lazareff, the director of ELLE, the fashion magazine. She encouraged him and gave him his first assignment as a fashion photographer. Georges Dambier did not conform to the standard technique of taking fashion pictures, with models standing emotionless and seemingly indifferent to the camera. Instead, he showed models smiling, laughing and often in action. His models were surrounded by local people in a market place in Marrakech, villages in Corsica, and – and above all – in his beloved Paris.
Most of all, it was Georges Dambier’s ability to put his subjects at ease (many of them were friends) that helped him create true, intimate and lasting images. With his delicate style, and refined technique, his work revealed a reality of great elegance. As his career blossomed, he became widely known for his ability to capture the essence of feminine chic and glamour in his images.
In 1954, Robert Capa asked him to lead a fashion department at the Magnum Photo Agency. Unfortunately, Capa died a few weeks later, while covering the Indochinese war. Meanwhile, Georges Dambier set up his own studio in Paris, Rue de la Bienfaisance. As a freelance photographer, he continued to contribute to ELLE and other magazines: Vogue, Le Jardin des Modes, Marie France, and others. He also collaborated with Françoise Giroud and Christine Collanges at L’Express. Big advertising campaigns (Synergie, Havas, Publicis), and contracts for many brands such as L’Oréal, Carita, Jacques Dessange followed.
In addition to his work in advertising, Georges Dambier did portraits for record covers and posters for his great friend, the producer Eddie Barclay and Jacques Canetti. As his reputation grew, so did opportunities to meet and photograph celebrities from different worlds. He captured the faces of the most notable artists of the 60’s: Sacha Distel, Zizi Jeanmaire, Dalida, Jeanne Moreau. His impressive client list included celebrities (Cerdan, Cocteau), singers (Johnny Hallyday, Sylvie Vartan, Charles Aznavour), actors (Alain Delon, Françoise Dorléac, Catherine Deneuve) and many others.
In 1964, Georges Dambier launched his own project: a magazine for young people, dedicated to culture and fashion: TWENTY. He hired young artists and photographers: Just Jaeckin, Jean Paul Goude, Philippe Labro, Copi, Bosc and many others who would later become famous in their own right. TWENTY lasted two eventful years.
In 1976, he created the magazine VSD with his old friend Maurice Siegel. Georges Dambier led the artistic side of the magazine and headed the photographic section. VSD was an instant success.
In the late eighties, Georges Dambier retired to a quieter life in the countryside. He passed away in 2011.
Regards de mode : Paris Fifties March 23 – June 8, 2013
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Boris’s transport deputy to quit City Hall for Arup
February 9, 2016 - Martin Hoscik@martinhoscik
Image: TfL
Boris Johnson’s chief transport advisor, Isabel Dedring, is leaving City Hall to take up a new role with design and engineering group Arup.
Serving as both deputy mayor for transport and deputy chair of Transport for London since 2011, Dedring is one of Johnson’s key officials and has helped develop and deliver some of City Hall’s biggest transport projects.
She previously led on environmental policy and spent six years at Transport for London and is a qualified US lawyer with a background in regulated industries and management consultancy.
Paying tribute to his departing deputy, Mayor Johnson said: “Isabel Dedring has been an indispensable member of my team and the absolute lynchpin behind the vast improvement across every aspect of transport services in London over recent years.
“She has made a colossal contribution to our city, overseen the successful delivery of major pieces of transport infrastructure and lobbied with great effect for more.
“Isabel leaves us with a world-class transport network that Londoners can be proud of and I wish her all the very best in her future career.”
Dedring, who will take up the post of Global Transport Leader on March 21st, said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining Arup in this role at such an exciting time for the transport industry worldwide.
“New innovations in funding, the emergence of zero-emission technologies, the need for closer integration between planning and transport, the explosion of digital technology, and ever-higher public expectations from transport are just a few examples of the changes creating opportunities in this field.
“I look forward to working closely with colleagues to build on Arup’s outstanding reputation in this area.”
Arup Group Chairman, Gregory Hodkinson commented: “Isabel brings extensive experience of leadership in transport policy, planning and delivery, and I am looking forward to her helping us to drive the firm in exciting new directions.”
London’s Transport Commissioner, Mike Brown MVO said: “Isabel has done a great job in the Mayor’s office, playing a key role helping us improve transport in London, and I am very pleased that all her experience and her ability to get things done will be retained by the industry.
“Populations in many cities and regions around the world are growing fast and Isabel’s expertise will I am sure be put to good use in her new role. I wish her every success.”
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You are here: Home About Us News, Blogs & Competitions Competitions Katherine Branson Essay Prize Winners 2018
Katherine Branson Essay Prize Winners 2018
The BBC comedy sitcom ‘upstart crow’ depicts a young Shakespeare at the beginning of his career, struggling to establish himself in Elizabethan England’s theatre scene. In the pilot episode the script for ‘Romeo and Juliet’ nears completion, yet the playwright struggles to find a suitable male actor to play Juliet in the first performance. Kate – the daughter of Shakespeare’s landlord and an aspiring actress – offers an alternative to the norm by playing Juliet herself:
Kate: Ahem
Shakespeare: What?
Kate: I was hinting that the answer to your Juliet dilemma could be… *points to herself*
Shakespeare: Oh, Kate, don't go there. Lady-acting is illegal. Beside which, girls can't act. Just as they cannot practise law, cure the sick, handle financial matters or stand for any office.
Kate: But no woman has ever been allowed to try any of those things!
Shakespeare: Because they can't do them! God's bodikins, Kate, what's not to get? Now, please, forget this nonsense and let me focus.
The idea (and historical reality) that women should be limited from playing female roles is now ludicrous to the point that it has become fodder for satire. Today, not only are women permitted to act, practise law, cure the sick, handle financial matters and run for office, they have become leaders in these roles.
In medicine and biomedical science, this is apparent. Last week I turned on the radio to hear Wendy Barclay talking about her work in the field of virology on the life scientific. Professor Jane Dacre is president of the Royal College of Physicians, and in 2014 Dame Claire Marx became the first female president of the Royal College of Surgeons. In every hospital specialty women are now represented, and this is of no small importance. In conversation with my peers and in the literature 1, a common theme is that the presence of female role models is instrumental in encouraging women to push professional boundaries. More personally, reading Frances Ashcroft’s popular book on electrophysiology, ‘The Spark of Life’, not only inspired me to apply to medical school, but to undertake a project in electrophysiology during my BSc year despite being the only woman in my lab.
And yet, though 55% of medical students are women, women fail to be represented to the same proportion as their graduating class, with only 34% of consultants in the UK being women2. In medical education and academia3, the proportion of women in senior roles doesn’t even approach 50%.
Furthermore, gender related preconceptions persist. At a recent teaching awards ceremony at my own medical school, the nine teaching excellence awards went to male doctors, and the two pastoral care awards were given to female doctors. These were awards nominated and voted on by medical students – demonstrating that at my place of study at least, the preconception that men are better teachers, whilst women are more caring, lingers amongst students and in the trust in which we are studying. In discussion about this with a colleague, his response was that ‘perhaps the male consultants are better at communicating tricky concepts to students’ – not exactly a far cry from to the fictional Shakespeare’s response above.
The term ‘glass ceiling’ was coined almost 40 years ago in reference to the sometimes invisible barriers to success women encounter in their careers. Persisting attitudes and the decrease in female representation up the training grades suggests that, at least in part, this ceiling still exists for women pursuing a career in medicine. However, the increasing numbers of women in senior roles suggests the barrier may be weakening – some, and an increasing number, are breaking through to the top.
One barrier to career progression women encounter, which I think is not so much ‘glass’ as something more opaque, is the fact that only females are able to become pregnant and breastfeed. However, an aspect of child-rearing in which a ‘glass’ component exists is in the subtle assumption the mother of a child should be the primary care giver. Changes in the law allowing the fathers to share parental leave with their partners, and the increase in men working part time to share the childcare more evenly, suggests this too is changing – though perhaps not quickly enough.
In Elizabethan England, the ceiling restricting the advancement of women was more concrete (or timber) than glass. Despite later empowerment of women, a ceiling persisted into the 21st century, preventing women excelling to their full potential. In my opinion, that ceiling exists still for women in the medical profession; though I no longer feel it is impenetrable. Perhaps a jelly (or agar) ceiling is a better metaphor for the situation now. Though they require more determination, my female colleagues ahead of me are slowly pushing through and weakening the barrier, forging the way for me and my peers.
1. Kapila, D. Female role models in medicine: a medical student’s perspective., Female role models in medicine: a medical student’s perspective. J. Adv. Med. Educ. Prof. J. Adv. Med. Educ. Prof. 6, 6, 49, 49–50 (2018).
2. Women and medical leadership infographics. The King’s Fund Available at: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/audio-video/women-and-medical-leadership-infographics.
3. Equality in higher education: statistical report 2013. Equality Challenge Unit Available at: https://www.ecu.ac.uk/publications/equality-in-higher-education-statistical-report-2013/.
This essay discusses that the budget should be distributed to invest in community care. This includes the funding of allied health professionals and social care to promote the development of an integrated care service and therefore promote the health and wellbeing of patients. The underlying priority is to create a healthcare system in which it is uncommon for a patient to reach crisis point, be that physical, mental, social or a combination of these,and hence require admission to stabilise them.
In the United Kingdom there is an increasing elderly population which in turn is putting new strains on our provision of healthcare and healthcare budget. Elderly patients are more likely to have chronic health conditions and have more complex healthcare needs that benefit from a multidisciplinary team approach. In addition to the expanding elderly population, there are still younger patients with complex health needs and adding to this, patients are contracting chronic health conditions at an earlier stage in life which is putting increased strain on the system. Although the health system is already striving to provide an integrated service, it relies on many healthcare professionals providing separate services to a patient but also collaborating to ensure that each patient is provided with an optimum personalised care package that focuses on their individual needs. Currently, this service is not available in the way that would be beneficial to both patients and healthcare workers, and one of the reasons for this is that there is not enough funding in the community to provide a truly integrated service, or enough time in health professionals schedules to allow collaboration between individuals in different services.
An integrated service would comprise of true collaborative practice between general practitioners, consultants based in the community, district nurses, allied health professionals and social care to provide best possible care for all patients, but especially those with complex care needs. This would require regular multidisciplinary meetings between these professionals to discuss individualised patient care plans and prioritise patient safety issues should they arise alongside working with patients in the community and at more regular intervals than is currently possible. Therefore money invested would have to be partly used to increase the workforce numbers in the community of these professionals to allow time for the services to meet to discuss patient needs and develop personalised care plans, but also to develop a system which would nourish this approach.
It is important to note that investing money into community care and a better integrated healthcare approach would not only benefit those working in the community but those working in hospitals also. If patients are better cared for in the community, their healthcare needs can be understood and therefore are more likely to be met, the service is providing preventive medicine. This means that patients are less likely to be admitted into hospital, and if admission is needed there are less reasons for delay in discharge back into the community. This then means that there will both be less patients in hospitals and increased flow within them, and so there will be less pressure on beds. There will be shorter waiting lists if there are less acute patients to require hospital time, and therefore this time may be spent in routine clinics, which will further add to an integrated health care approach. This may also mean that healthcare professionals in hospitals are able to offer better patient care to inpatients. Although not previously mentioned, as part of the integrated care plan, investment is needed in hospitals to provide training and time to allow healthcare workers in hospitals to communicate effectively with the community team caring for each patient, both on admission to understand patient history and needs, and on discharge to ensure the individual plan is amended to allow smooth transition into the community and therefore prevent readmission.
In conclusion, prioritising integrated care by investing money into community services and social care could both increase health and wellbeing of patients in the community but also reduce preventable admissions into hospital, having further effects on inpatient care. Investing in preventive medicine, although costly in the short term, may both reduce money spent on acute healthcare in the future and will improve the physical and mental health of patients: something that everyone working in healthcare should have as their main priority.
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PTL 10th Anniversary – Dave Winkler, Renegade Playboys
Posted on July 5, 2013 by OI
Darkness Rising – A view from the wings
The first time I saw The Darkness was at a wedding reception. I went to see them at the Barfly In Camden Town a few weeks earlier. A good mate of mine had been raving about them, but he generally loved every other new Camden band, so I wasn’t convinced. During the support band my girlfriend at the time complained she was ill, or maybe she had just had too much to drink, so I ended up missing them to drive her home, much to my regret. We broke up the following day, though not for that reason.
The wedding reception gig was good fun, though they only played about four songs, including a hilarious cover of Knowing Me Knowing You by Abba. However, the show that really made an impact on me was the second time I saw them, again at their second home at the time, the Barfly.
Image-wise Justin, tattooed and shirtless in skin-tight jeans and big furry boots, was the only one at this stage who had fully made the Rock N’ Roll transition from the band’s indie roots. So at first I was sceptical that this was another local alt-rock band that liked AC/DC a bit. The track, Live Til I Die, which has sadly yet to make an album, was what made me prick my ears up. However, mid-way through the set they launched into Love Is Only a Feeling. I admired any band who, much like my own, had the balls to play an full-on power ballad in the sarcastic centre of Camden in mid-2001. At this point they had entirely won me over.
I Believe in A Thing Called Love had yet to make the set, if I remember correctly, but Love On The Rocks was a great closing number, and Justin’s energy and enthusiasm throughout was really infectious. I remember having a discussion with some friends outside the pub afterwards that these guys could be the ones who really do something big, not realising it would actually happen.
After getting to know the guys, I helped promote a show in Hackney where my own band, Renegade Playboys, would support them. This would have been around the early Summer of 2002. The amusing thing was that the Darkness were not who we had planned as headliners. Anti-Product were opening the main stage at OzzFest at the time so they pulled out on us. Sack Trick couldn’t make it, we even asked the B-Movie Heroes because one of them was in a vaguely famous Wildhearts-related band. The Darkness were our last choice. Less than a year later they would be headlining a sold-out Astoria, the same month Anti-Product played to a half full Underworld.
The Hackney Ocean show was under-promoted, it was great fun but we only played to a half full three-hundred capacity room. What is interesting is that, just a month later, the Playboys again supported the Darkness at the Underworld, just five miles away, and they completely sold the place out to the extent there were queues round the block, some of our own crowd didn’t get in until the band after us had finished! I was informed by the Underworld staff that this was the largest crowd an unsigned band had pulled for over a decade, at this point it was obvious there was no turning back for the band.
It was around this time that outside the Dublin Castle, Dan and Justin were handing out demos to their friends. A demo that soon became more than a demo, as it contained the unmastered versions of Love Is Only A Feeling, Love On The Rocks With No Ice, and their signature I Believe In A Thing Called Love, the very recordings that made it onto permission to land. These were produced by Pedro Ferreira, who at the time doubled as their sound man, and tripled as the bloke who carried Justin through the crowd during the Love On The Rocks solo! I managed to get my hands on a copy, it might have been the same night that Dan was talking about having sword-fighting midgets in their first video, or something!
From this point onwards things moved very quickly for the guys, a Kerrang! Weekender here, a Wildhearts support there, the I Believe In A Thing Called Love single was released the first time round, I ended up in a 2 year relationship with a Swedish girl I met at a Darkness show in Oxford Street. Love is Only a Feeling became ‘our song’.
And then, the legendary London Astoria show. The Darkness, Ten Benson and us. We were offered it ahead of some of their label mates simply because they liked us. It was originally going to be at the Astoria 2, but that sold out in a week. I was in my parents’ kitchen when I got a call from Justin and Sue Whitehouse saying it had been moved to the Astoria. “Ok mate, great news” I said, thinking I knew what was coming next, “I guess you’ll be wanting a bigger opening band then?”. Justin replied “No you guys are still on the bill, we’re gonna pack it out anyway!” Or something to that effect. It was more than ten years ago! I was Twenty-two years old. In my naïve mind this meant I was about to become a Rock Star.
The show was amazing. We were on at 7pm and the place was already packed out. I think some of the younger kids at the front thought we were the Darkness themselves, as we got a massive roar when we walked out onstage, it was absolutely electric. Sadly my wallet got stolen that night so I missed most of their set, whilst cancelling my bank card. It was an amazing night though, and sadly the only time I would ever get to play the Astoria, which has now been destroyed by Transport For London along with two other venues where I saw the Darkness play.
Three months later, and ten years ago this week, Permission To Land was released. Thirty-eight minutes of adrenalized, kick-ass Rock N Roll (and a couple of Power Ballads for safe measure). I bought it from HMV the week it came out with a £10 voucher I got for my birthday, I thought it was fair of me to (sort of) pay for it, rather than try and blag one, given all the opportunities the guys had afforded me. I saw less and less of Dan, Justin and Frankie in real life, and more of them on TV. Ed could though usually be found at the Dublin Castle or the Good Mixer in Camden on a Friday night when he wasn’t on tour.
To my awareness, they haven’t played any wedding receptions since.
Thanks to Dave for assaulting his memory banks in the name of Darkness.
For more contributors, click here
This entry was posted in Darkness and tagged Articles, PTL 10th Anniversary, The Darkness by OI. Bookmark the permalink.
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The Cyprus Dispute: a Failure of UN Mediation?
By Lélia Rousselet, Researcher and Coordinator, Paris office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), Deputy Director of the Community, Open Diplomacy Institute
· Europe,Gouvernance mondiale
First article of a series published after the study trip organised by the Open Diplomacy Institute in Greece on 28th April - 1st May 2017.
Cyprus is a strategic geographic point in the Mediterranean area, at the intersection of three continents, and is often described as a “microcosm of external ambitions”[1]. In the context of the Cold War, the dispute about the island was at the centre of the attention of the international community: Cyprus could at any moment become an object of military confrontation between Greece and Turkey, both members of NATO since 1952. While the 50th anniversary of the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus was celebrated in March 2014, the conflict still continues to move the international community today, especially because of the interweaving between the Cyprus dispute, Turkey’s aspiration to become a member of the European Union, and instability in the South-Mediterranean region. The peculiarity of this case study is that it seems immune to all attempts of peacemaking. As Epstein highlights it, the Cyprus dispute “has resisted with tenacity the efforts of nations great and small to bring about a solution. It frustrates diplomats, amazes outside observers, irritates those who believe we had made progress in studying techniques of negotiation, and has been a sore point with secretaries-general of the UN”[2].
As in any persistent conflict, the literature is abundant, but often one-sided. Although these positions do not invalidate the relevance of the analyses, one has to be cautious in order not to duplicate this standardized discourse. More specifically, the studies by Bruce, Groom, Wolfe, Kyle, Camp, Keashly and Fisher offer detailed analyses of “third party interventions” in the Cyprus dispute, especially of UN attempts at mediation[3].
The objective of this article is to determine to what extent the mediation by a multilateral international organization such as the UN can facilitate the peace process in a conflict based on a territorial dispute. In this perspective, the case of Cyprus is singular because the UN have been involved since the 1960s, by adopting many strategies that didn’t materialize.
The historical background: from the Greek independence to the Annan Plan
Cyprus, given its geographic position at the Eastern extremity of the Mediterranean, has always been a strategic point in the area and a place of migratory and commercial exchanges. Historically, the inhabitants of Cyprus are of Hellenic culture, whereas they have successively been under Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian, then Ottoman domination from 1571 to 1878 and British domination from 1878 to 1960.
The conflict that still divides the island today originates in the 1950s-1960s, during the independence process. When the Greek Cypriot community took up arms to assert its independence in the 1950s, the British rulers used Turkish militia to help the colonial troops. Greece chose to internationalise the conflict in 1954, by bringing it in the UN arena (a multilateral organization newly created at the time) because it was afraid of not being able to face alone the British opponent[4].
The Zurich and London Independence Treaties in 1959 gave Turkey a right of military intervention in case of major threat to the independence of the island. In 1960, Cyprus adopted a constitution and became an independent republic, member of the UN, based on a bicommunal institutional system in which the Turkish minority (representing 18% of the population) acquired an important political and military weight (30% of parliamentary seats and 40% of positions in the police)[5]. The Greek community considering these quotas as disproportionate attempted to reform the Constitution in the following years and this situation triggered strong tensions between communities which turned into violent clashes. In March 1964, Resolution 186 (1964) of the UN Security Council authorised the envoy of a UN peacekeeping force on the ground, the UNFICYP, which acted as a buffer force. This resolution had three implications: the establishment of the UNFICYP, the recognition of the effective control of the Greek Cypriot community on the Cypriot institutions, and the recognition of the UN accountability in the management of the peace process. Initially, an official mediator was appointed by the Secretary General. However, given the prevailing tensions between the two parties, the formal strategy of a “UN mediator” was abandoned in 1965 and replaced in 1966 by alternative mediations (the “Mission of Good Offices”[6]).
A Turkish tank in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1974 after Turkey, fearing a Cypriot union with Greece, invaded to protect Turkish Cypriots. Credit Associated Press.
In 1974, the conflict that we know today burst. The Colonels’ Regime who seized power in Greece by a military coup, tried to achieve Enosis, i.e. the union between Greece and Cyprus, with military intervention on the island. In response, Turkey invaded the island from the North (and justified this action by the Treaty negotiated with Great Britain at the time of independence) and quickly occupied 38% of the territory. The island was divided into two parts by a line, called the “Green Line”, on which were stationed the peacekeepers of the UNFICYP. In the North, the Turkish Cypriot community now lives, and in the South, the Greek Cypriot community. Although the first phase of the Turkish military intervention can be justified by the Treaty of Guarantee signed by Greece, Turkey and Great-Britain in 1960, the second phase clearly exceeds these prerogatives and can thus be considered by the international law as an illegal invasion[7].
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) formally declared its independence in 1983 but is not recognized by the international community (with the exception of Turkey). In its Resolution 541 (1983), the UN condemns the Turkish occupation. For twenty years, the situation remained in deadlock, the negotiations (including under the auspices of the UN) failing repeatedly, and the ceasefire being maintained by the presence of the UN force on the Green Line.
In 1990, the Republic of Cyprus presented a formal application for accession to the European Union. This request was made at the appropriate time, given that enlargement had become a priority for the EU since the end of the Cold War. The European identity of Cyprus was immediately recognized by the EU[8], and the Republic of Cyprus officially became an EU member in May 2004 (the accession including de facto only the southern part of the island).
The many years of negotiations by the UN and probably the change in Turkey’s policy (following the election of Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Prime Minister in 2003) led to the Annan Plan in 2004, which included the organisation of a referendum to establish a federal state. While it was accepted by 65% of the Turkish community of northern Cyprus, the Annan Plan was rejected on April 24, 2004, by more than 70% of Greek Cypriots. The last ten years have been marked by a lack of progress, although some crossings between the North and the South of the island have been locally opened. The economic crisis in 2008 and the recent discovery of gas resources can be seen as new obstacles to reunification, despite the continuous efforts of Ban Ki-Moon’s special envoys.
This contextualization of the conflict firstly shows that its causes are ancient and multiple, and secondly, that it is neither only a confrontation between Greece and Turkey, nor a sectarian conflict between Christians and Muslims. Indeed, from the beginning of the dispute, there has been a plurality of actors (Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Great Britain, etc.) aggravated by the internationalisation of the conflict which led to the involvement of international organisations, especially the UN, for whom religious differences between parties is not a source of conflict in itself. Thus, contrary to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for example, the Cyprus dispute appears as a territorial conflict that has not turned into an inter-confessional conflict.
The divided capital, Nicosia. Credit Petros Karadjias/Associated Press.
The ineffectiveness of the UN mediation and the necessity to identify the actors of peace
The UN has a key role in the Cyprus dispute, given that the UNFICYP is one of the first peace operations undertaken by the organization. There are two aspects of the UN intervention in Cyprus: first the peacekeeping mission (the “blue helmets” present in the buffer zone[9]), and the mediation carried out through negotiations and the proposal of ‘plans’ of conflict resolution (peacemaking negotiations, the “Mission of Good Offices” headed by the Special Adviser to the Secretary General, and actions of other UN agencies on the island). Indeed, there are both a military and police component and a diplomatic or political component. However, the prerogatives of the two entities are intimately linked. The UN force in charge of peacekeeping in Cyprus has two missions: preventing a restarting of the fighting and maintaining the military status quo, and restoring a normal situation and humanitarian activities. As part of this second mission, for the first time UNFICYP organized an informal meeting between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot mayors of Nicosia in 2013[10]. Financially, the Force costs about 55 million dollars annually, of which 18 million are paid by the Cypriot government and 7 million by the Greek government. The two sides have not officially signed the “1989 aide-mémoire” determining the layout of the cease-fire lines and buffer zones established by the UN.
The UN intervened in Cyprus in 1964, at the request of Greece. This will to internationalise the conflict and to appeal to the UN as a mediating instrument was analysed by some authors as an exploitation of the UN for the purposes of national policy: ”The Greek Cypriots would have been able to ‘squeeze them dry’ without the skillful use of the UN as an instrument of national policy. The key to their success lies in the effective utilization of the UN, especially the General Assembly, as a means for the mobilization of world public opinion and as a lever for the exercise of global political pressure”[11]. This calling into question of the impartiality of the UN as a mediator has certainly had an impact on the effectiveness of UN actions (and their being accepted by the Turks), although it is unrealistic to consider that the Greek community was able to manipulate the whole international community.
The main UN mediation attempt seems to have failed since the Annan Plan was rejected by referendum in April 2004. Yet, this plan had been determined after negotiations between Greece and Turkey, and had the support of the international community. How can it be explained that the Greek Cypriot community rejected the plan? According to the plan, each part of the island had to accept a maximum of 33% of inhabitants of the other community on its territory. However, before the Turkish military intervention in 1974, the Greek Cypriot community accounted for nearly 79% of the inhabitants of the northern part of the island. On the whole, the plan would have given a weight to the Turkish community considered too strong by the Greek Cypriots. The Turkish presence on the island would have been legalised and internationally recognised, which could seem possible for Greece but not for a majority of Greek Cypriots.
From left, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci; the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon; and the Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, at settlement talks in Mont Pèlerin, Switzerland, in November 2016. Credit Fabrice Coffrini/Reuters.
Thus, the effectiveness of the UN as a mediator of the Cyprus dispute can be questioned. Although several resolutions were taken, showing an operational functioning of the UN as a forum for dialogue among nations and a catalyser of compromise, the UN actors did not always have the capacities necessary for their field implementation. “The effectiveness of the UN as a guardian of peace, or as an instrument of national policy, is limited because of its inability to implement resolutions”, highlights J. S. Joseph[12]. Paradoxically, the failure of the referendum emphasized its necessity: the adoption of the plan by representatives without popular support would have been useless because it would not have allowed the end of tensions nor clashes. Finally, we must emphasize the importance of linking the peacekeeping and peacemaking dimensions: with the persistence of the conflict, the parties seem to forget that the UN peacekeeping force intervenes only to allow a situation that is conducive to peacemaking. In the event of a failure of sustainable peacemaking negotiations, the peacekeepers would have to leave the field, leaving Cyprus without an intervention force[13].
Beyond the importance of identifying the actors of the conflict, it seems essential to question the actors of the peace.
Although the UN has not been able to provide appropriate conditions for pacification on Cyprus, the elements necessary for a successful mediation were there: the UN process was informal and flexible (which suited both parties), confidential and impartial (which helped to win the trust of both parties), and had no pre-established purpose (thus, the parties could participate in negotiations without committing to anything)[14]. The failure of UN mediation invites us to reflect on the actors involved in negotiations and the peace process. A negotiated peace between leaders without a dialogue with the population may be rejected by the population due to lack of support. In this sense, conflict resolution and peace process cannot only be worked out through the signing of a treaty, an agreement or a plan. Important background work should be done with and by the population. This is where the internal factor of the failure of UN mediation lies. The various attempts of the UN have failed to change the respective perceptions of the parties: Greek Cypriots continue to see the Turkish Cypriots as a minority which cannot claim more rights than those of a minority, and the Turkish Cypriots still feel that the Greek Cypriot community is threatening their lives and their autonomy. The Cypriot case-study invites us to think of peace as a construction, in which the support of all stakeholders should be sought at each stage.
Beyond a study of UN mediation, one can notice with the Cypriot case that several conflict resolution processes by third players can interact and threaten each other. We can assume that the accession of Cyprus to the European Union has drastically changed the characteristics of the conflict and nullified the UN mediation process embodied by the Annan plan. The Greek Cypriot community, which became a member of the EU, found itself in a strong position compared to Turkey, a position which could allow to negotiate a better deal. “There was no need to accept the Annan Plan. The island’s accession to the European Union would fundamentally alter the balance of power in favor of the Greek Cypriot community”[15]. Such an assumption is enhanced by the fact that the referendum was held just a week before the official date of accession of Cyprus to the EU on May 1, 2004. The relevance of such questioning is reinforced by the current trend of increasing both the number and types of peace actors: international organisations such as the UN, the EU or NATO, private actors, peace professionals, NGOs, religious groups, etc. Although the ultimate goal of all these players is the same (peace and conflict resolution), the means to achieve it are often different (top-down or bottom-up pacification strategies, more or fewer concessions, different temporalities, etc.). The risk of such a situation is less to create duplications and recurrences than to lead to deadlock or hardening of positions in the case of a failure of one of the mediation attempts.
[1] MALLINSON W., Cyprus, Diplomatic History and the Clash of Theory in International Relations, IB. Tauris, Londres & New York, 2009, p. 139.
[2] EPSTEIN M. A., “Efforts to resolve the Cyprus dispute”, in BENDAHMANE D. B. et MCDONALD J. W., Perspectives on Negotiation, Washington, Foreign Service Institute, 1986, p. 99.
[3] Cf. BRUCE L. H., “Cyprus: a last chance”, Foreign Policy n°58, 1985; CAMP G. D., “UN efforts at mediation”, in BENDAHMANE D. B. et MCDONALD J. W., Perspectives on Negotiation, Washington, Foreign Service Institute, 1986; GROOM A. J. R., “Cyprus: light at the end of the tunnel”, Millenium: Journal of International Studies, 1980; KYLE K., Cyprus, London, Minority Rights Group, 1984; WOLFE, “A historical Review of the dispute”, London, Minority Rights Group, 1984; KEASHLY L., FISHER R. J., “Towards a contingency approach to third party intervention in regional conflict: A Cyprus illustration”, International Journal, 1990, 45(2), pp. 424-453.
[4] FAUSTMAN H., “The UN and the Internationalization of the Cyprus Conflict, 1949-58”, p. 3, in RICHMOND O. P. and KER-LINDSAY J., The work of the UN in Cyprus: Promoting Peace and Development, Great Britain: Palgrave Publishers, 2001.
[5] See La Documentations française, « Chypre : vers la réunification ? », June 2011. Available on: http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/dossiers/chypre/index.shtml (18/05/2017).
[6] KER-LINDSAY J., The Cyprus Problem: What everyone needs to know, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 40-41.
[7] Ibid, pp. 44-45.
[8] Cf. European Commission, opinion of June 30, 1993: “Cyprus’s geographical position, the deep-lying bonds which, for two thousand years, have located the island at the very fount of European culture and civilization, the intensity of the European influence apparent in the values shared by the people of Cyprus (...) all these confer on Cyprus, beyond all doubt, its European identity and character and confirm its vocation to belong to the community”.
[9] “On December 15, 2013, the size of the military component was 857 soldiers of all ranks, and the police component counted 65 people”, Report of the Secretary General on the UN operation in Cyprus, Security Council, 30 December 2013.
[10] Report of the Secretary General on the UN operation in Cyprus, Security Council, 30 December 2013, p. 3, section 11.
[11] JOSEPH J. S., Cyprus: Ethnic Conflict and International Politics, Great Britain:Palgrave, 1999, pp. 113-114.
[12] Ibid., p. 115.
[13] MIRBAGHERI F., Cyprus and International Peacemaking, London, Hurst & Company, 1998, p. 158.
[15] KER-LINDSAY J., The Cyprus Problem: What everyone needs to know, Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 70.
KER-LINDSAY J., The Cyprus Problem: What everyone needs to know, Oxford University Press, 2011
KER-LINDSAY J., FAUSTMAN H., MULLEN F., An Island in Europe: the EU and the transformation of Cyprus, London, IB Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2011
MALLINSON W., Cyprus, Diplomatic History and the Clash of Theory in International Relations, IB. Tauris, Londres & New York, 2009
MIRBAGHERI F., Cyprus and International Peacemaking, London, Hurst & Company, 1998
DREVET J.-F., “Chypre et l’Union européenne (UE)”, EchoGéo, December 2013. Available on: https://echogeo.revues.org/13658 (18/05/2017)
KEASHLY L., FISHER R. J., “Towards a contingency approach to third party intervention in regional conflict: A Cyprus illustration”, International Journal, 1990, 45(2), pp. 424-453. Available on: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40202677?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents (18/05/2017)
THEOPHANOUS A., “Cyprus, the European Union and the Search for a New Constitution”, Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans Online, 2:2, 2010. Available on: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/713683342 (18/05/2017)
ZERVAKIS P. A., “Cyprus in Europe: Solving the Cyprus Problem by Europeanizing it?”, The Quaterly Journal, vol. III, n°1, March 2004. Available on: https://procon.bg/system/files/03.1.09_zervakis.pdf (18/05/2017)
Report of the Secretary General on the UN operation in Cyprus, Security Council, 30 December 2013, “Divided Cyprus: Coming to Terms on an Imperfect Reality”, International Crisis Group - Europe, Report n°229, 14 March 2014. Available on: https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/western-europemediterranean/cyprus/divided-cyprus-coming-terms-imperfect-reality (18/05/2017)
Photo graph at the top: National flags of Greece and Cyprus.
Quelle communication pour une visite d’État d'un pr...
Sommet de l’OTAN : à quoi peut-on s’attendre ?
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world << world
US Arrests former Marine Connected to North Korea Embassy Raid in Spain
TEHRAN (defapress) – US authorities have arrested a former US Marine who is a member of a group that allegedly raided the North Korean embassy in Madrid in February and stole electronics, two sources familiar with the arrest said on Friday.
Publish Date: 20April 2019 - 12:21
Christopher Ahn was arrested on Thursday and appeared on Friday in federal court in Los Angeles, according to a law enforcement official and a source close to the group.
In a related development, armed US federal agents on Thursday raided the apartment of Adrian Hong, leader of Cheolima Civil Defense, a group seeking the overthrow of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that is blamed for the Feb. 22 embassy raid, a person close to the group said without providing more details. Hong was not present at his residence when the raid occurred, the source said, Reuters reported.
The US Justice Department declined to comment.
A group of at least 10 people stormed into the embassy, restrained and physically beat some personnel and held them hostage for hours before fleeing, according to a Spanish court.
Spanish investigators have said the intruders removed computers and hard drives from the embassy before fleeing to the United States, where they handed over the material to the FBI.
A Spanish judicial source said this week the material had been returned by Spanish authorities to Pyongyang's mission after being returned two weeks previously by the FBI to the Spanish court investigating the raid.
The anti-Kim group, which also calls itself Free Joseon, said the raid was not an attack and that it had been invited into the embassy.
The incident came at a sensitive time, just days ahead of a second summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un at which the US leader failed to make progress in efforts to persuade North Korea to give up a nuclear weapons program.
North Korea's foreign ministry denounced the incident a "grave terrorist attack" and cited rumors that the FBI was partially behind the raid. The US State Department has said Washington had nothing to do with it.
Three of the intruders took an embassy official into the basement during the raid and tried to encourage him to defect from North Korea, according to a detailed document made public on March 26 by the Spanish court.
While the document said several members of the group, including Hong - a Mexican passport holder with US residency - fled to the United States, their whereabouts are unclear.
The Spanish court is seeking their extradition.
A US Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the case.
However, she noted that extradition treaties "generally provide that an individual who has been extradited to another country to face criminal charges cannot thereafter be extradited to a third country without the consent of the original country.”
Message end/
Tags: US ، Spain ، defapress
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Premium Content»High School Sports»League champion Bears return five All-League players
League champion Bears return five All-League players
Members of the Brewster High School varsity boys’ baseball team are, front row, from left: Cade Gebbers, Logan McGuire, Javier Whitehouse, Eric Martinez, Jeff Sonneman, Jorge Ramirez, Gage Fletcher, and Corey Jarrell. Pictured back row, from left, are: Anthony Olvera, Kade Kelpman, Caiden Riggan, Isaac Baker, Ben Witt, and Joe Taylor.
Mike Maltais, Staff writer
BREWSTER – In a pair of lopsided wins, the Brewster High School varsity boys’ baseball team held visiting Oroville scoreless in a doubleheader played Saturday, March 18. Following a 5-3 loss to Okanogan on Thursday, March 16, it was the Bear’s first home-season win. Coach Todd Phillips said Brewster lost four seniors to graduation last year, but that was a big loss, since “three…started every game for us for four years,” said Phillips. “All four were All-League players.
BREWSTER – In a pair of lopsided wins, the Brewster High School varsity boys’ baseball team held visiting Oroville scoreless in a doubleheader played Saturday, March 18.
Following a 5-3 loss to Okanogan on Thursday, March 16, it was the Bear’s first home-season win.
Coach Todd Phillips said Brewster lost four seniors to graduation last year, but that was a big loss, since “three…started every game for us for four years,” said Phillips. “All four were All-League players.
Timbo Taylor was a 1A Caribou Trail League (CTL) First-Team pick in 2013-14, First-Team North Central Washington 2B in 2015-16, Most Valuable Player and Pitcher of the Year in 2015, and All-State selection from 2014-16.
Mitch Boesel was a CTL Honorable Mention in 2013, CTL First-Team in 2014, First-Team NCWB in 2015, and All-State in 2016.
Raul Olvera was NCWB First-Team in 2015-16 and 2016 Pitcher of the Year.
Chris Varelas was NCWB HM in 2015 and Second-Team pick in 2016 and started almost every game since he was a sophomore.
“So, we lost some valuable seniors but I think we will be just a strong,” said Phillips. “Just a little younger.”
Phillips has seven players returning who started more than 20 games last year, five of those All-League selections.
“We have four eighth graders this year and only 10 high school players, Phillips said.
“They will all compete for spots on the varsity,” said the coach. “They all played on my 19-U summer baseball team so they have seen a lot of high school pitching and know what it takes.”
The young players competed in more than 40 games this summer.
“We have started three eighth graders the past two years,” said Phillips, “So I am not afraid to throw them to the wolves and see what they can do and what they are made of.”
Brewster won the Central Washington 2B League championship for the second straight year in 2016 and finished second in District 5/6 behind Warden to advance to state for the third consecutive year. The Bears lost to Asotin in the quarterfinals and finished the season with a 20-5 record.
The Bears were scheduled to play at Bridgeport on Tuesday, March 21 and will host Soap Lake for a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 25
Brewster School District
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Opinion»Columnists»Progress on repairing America’s Health Care
Progress on repairing America’s Health Care
U.S. Cong. Dan Newhouse
Throughout my time representing the people of Central Washington in the U.S. Congress, constituents from across the 4th District have shared with me their deeply personal stories about the struggles and hardships they’ve faced under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare.
In late 2016, a gentleman from Yakima wrote me in distress as his insurance provider was pulling out of his county: “My wife and I are losing our healthcare coverage. Our financial lives are about to radically change and a literal risk to our health is upon us. The challenge to find affordable, acceptable healthcare insurance will be immense.”
In early 2015, a woman from Grandview wrote to describe her dire situation after being forced onto the ACA exchange: “I was paying $231 a month for a policy that had a $500 deductible with a $10 co-pay.” However, under the ACA, she said her healthcare costs skyrocketed: “I now pay $475 a month for a policy that has a $5,500 deductible. This is not affordable healthcare. It is the middleclass American who has worked hard to have a good retirement who is being hit hard by this.”
A gentleman from West Richland recently pleaded that the many middle class workers, like him, must not be forgotten as we repeal and replace this broken law: “Do not forget us when fixing. We liked our plan, and we lost it.”
Very recently, a farmer from Moses Lake called my office and said that before the ACA he was paying less than $200 a month for catastrophic coverage for his family. Yet he is now forced to pay $1,000 per month with high deductibles discouraging his family from even being able to use and access their care.
As Congress debates the best way to repeal and replace the ACA, I am committed to ensuring we protect the most vulnerable—and also to providing relief for the majority of everyday, middle class Americans who have been devastated by this misguided and broken law.
The American Health Care Act currently being considered in House committees is draft legislation and subject to amendments, so the final bill that will be voted on the House floor and sent to the Senate for consideration and possible amendments remains to be seen. This is the beginning of the debate, and it is a good start to fix the failed status quo.
While I have heard some stories from people who feel like they have better coverage under the ACA, I have heard many more stories from my constituents who are struggling under this failed law. To those who have been hoping for relief: I hear you, I will not forget about you, and I will keep your stories at the forefront of my mind as we work to fix this failed system.
This column is adapted from remarks Rep. Newhouse delivered on the floor of the U.S. House on March 10, 2017.
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Endangered Species: A 20th Anniversary Retrospective of ‘Menace II Society’ (Part 7)
In honor of the 20th anniversary of ‘Menace II Society,’ I proudly present this multipart retrospective. The current chapter is posted below. To read the previous chapter, please click here. Thank you, and enjoy!
Part VII: Makaveli Strikes Back
Filming had commenced on Menace II Society without the participation of Tupac Shakur. He walked out on the production after a nonsensical dispute with co-director Allen Hughes. However, he hadn’t formally quit. He simply instructed Hughes to “call his manager.” When Allen’s repeated attempts to do so proved fruitless, New Line Cinema gave the rap star the pink slip. The role was then recast with a different actor.
That outcome didn’t sit well with Tupac, who now had a vendetta against the Hughes brothers. Word of his displeasure eventually got back to Allen. Rumors began to circulate as the nature of his grievance. Some said that the Hughes brothers had initially offered him a larger role in film, but reneged at the 11th hour. Others claimed that Tupac disagreed with Allen on how to play the character of Sharif. Regardless of the actual reason, Tupac clearly felt spurned. However, the Hughes brothers had a movie to finish. They didn’t have time to address petty grudges.
Incensed, Tupac aired his grievances to the media. It was a strategy that Muhammad Ali had perfected during the early part his career. The combination of psychological warfare and showmanship often crippled his opponents long before they ever set foot in the ring. Tupac used such tactics to cement his own legacy.
Ironically, the Hughes brothers were launching a similar campaign. In 1991, John Singleton and his ilk ushered in a new renaissance period for Black cinema. As always, the Hollywood press put all such filmmakers into one monolithic category. Allen and Albert didn’t want to be stigmatized in that manner. They had their own voice, and felt no special obligation to their forebears and peers. Spike Lee was fifteen years their senior, making him a Black “Baby Boomer.” He represented the Black aristocracy that the Hughes brothers meant to topple.
The stalwarts of the "new renaissance" of Black cinema, circa 1991: The Hudlin Brothers, Ernest Dickerson, Spike Lee, Mario Van Peebles, Matty Rich, John Singleton and Charles Lane
Menace would surely draw comparisons to Boyz n the Hood upon release. To counteract this, the Hughes brothers launched a preemptive strike. They began taking shots at Singleton and Lee in interviews (They famously referred to Boyz as nothing more than "an after-school special with cussin'."). The developing feud was bound to intensify with the release of Singleton’s sophomore effort, Poetic Justice. That film not only had Tupac as its male lead, but was set to open just twenty eight days after Menace.
Ten months after Allen’s falling out with Tupac, things finally came to a head. For nearly twenty years, Allen Hughes remained tight-lipped about what transpired that day. He finally broke his silence on January 11th, 2013, when he appeared as a guest on the “Sway in the Morning” radio show.
Allen’s story, as told to Sway Calloway, is as follows. The incident took place at the video shoot for Spice-1’s song “Trigga Gots No Heart.” It was to be the lead single from the Menace II Society soundtrack. The Hughes brothers arrived at the shoot with a mutual friend. They were there to show their support, as neither of them would be directing that day. Tupac was also on the scene, as were a dozen members of the Rolling 40’s Neighborhood Crips. The gangbangers were guzzling 40 ounces of malt liquor and smoking blunts. Allen immediately smelled a set up. Nonetheless, he played it cool.
As he exited his vehicle, Allen could see Tupac starting toward him. The aforementioned gangbangers then formed a perimeter around both men, pinning Allen against the driver’s side of his vehicle. Tupac then went into an incoherent tirade. Realizing that he was woefully outnumbered, Allen maintained his composure. Meanwhile, the gangbangers egged Tuac on. Realizing that the situation was hopeless, Allen pushed past the perimeter and made his way across the street.
Allen’s hasty retreat was foiled by an ineffective sucker punch to the back of his skull. He spun around to see Tupac in a boxing stance. Allen’s patience had reached its breaking point. He picked Tupac up over his head and threw him on the hood of a truck. He then clasped his left hand around the rapper’s throat while pulling his right hand back to deliver a finishing blow. Before he could fire, he was swarmed by a dozen Rolling 40’s Crips.
When the downpour of fists and feet subsided, Allen Hughes was a bloodied mess. He could hear one of the Crips issuing a command: “Give my homie back his chains!” Tupac reiterated the command. Allen looked down at his left hand and was shocked at what he saw: Tupac’s jewelry in his tightly clenched fist. He’d snatched it in all of the confusion. Later on, Allen tried to set up a rematch through a mutual friend. Tupac respectfully declined.
When Allen finished his story, Host Sway Calloway humorously played devil’s advocate. Rap fans would surely balk at the idea of Allen Hughes body-slamming Tupac. Mr. Shakur’s public image was that of a fearless rebel who lived his art. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, and never back down from a fight. He’d shot two cops, and had been shot five times himself. Tupac wasn’t just a rapper, but an icon. Meanwhile, the Hughes brothers seem like little more than two film geeks from the suburbs of Los Angeles. Why bother coming out with this story now?
Allen Hughes seemed to have anticipated such reactions. He then countered Sway’s observation with an equally humorous one of his own: While he weighed 210 lbs on his “worst day,” Tupac only weighed “a buck 40 (140 LBS) wet (while) holding a brick.” He also noted Pac’s penchant for using guns in lieu of his fists. That characterization is perfectly in keeping with his comments from the December ‘09/January ’10 issue of Vibe Magazine:
“Tupac was an artist. Tupac was not a gangbanger. Tupac could not fight to save his motherfucking life. I know that for a fact. He was an immensely gifted person and he was far, far, from a thug.” He lets out a deep sigh. “I think that’s just years of frustration that just came out.”
Interestingly, the “years of frustration” that Allen spoke of had already been documented by Vibe years in advance. They were a matter of public record. In their February 1996 issue, the publication ran a now legendary piece on Death Row records. In it, Tupac described his relationship with label head Marion “Suge” Knight. Interestingly his own self-image seemed to line up with Allen’s perception of him:
“"As for me and Suge (Knight), right now-as of today-we're the perfect couple. I can see this is what I've been looking for, management wise. He rides like I ride. With Suge as my manager, I gotta do less. 'Cause before, niggas wasn't scared of me. So I brought fear to them. Now I don't have to do all that to get respect. 'Cause motherfuckers is scared shitless of Suge.”
The February 1996 issue of Vibe Magazine.
Allen’s characterization of Tupac seems to be the general consensus. Infamous entrepreneur Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell once described him as a Little man with a Napoleon Complex. Tupac himself provided further confirmation of this during his March 8th, 1994 appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show. When speaking of his altercation with Allen Hughes, he described himself as weighing 165 lbs, and both Hughes brothers as weighing 200 lbs each.
The final piece of evidence comes courtesy of the New York State Department of Correctional Services. On February 14th, 1995, Tupac was admitted to Clinton Correctional Facility to serve out a sentence for sexual abuse. All New York state inmates are required to take an identification photo or “mugshot” during processing. In these photos, inmates are required to hold up a placard listing their surname, first initial, “DIN number,” height, and weight. According to his placard, Tupac Amuru Shakur weighed stood at 5’11 and weighed 154 lbs. It’s customary for male celebrities to exaggerate their height, especially in bios and other such press materials. It’s unclear if the New York State Department of Correctional Services would make concessions for that time honored practice.
Tupac's NYSDOCS mugshot, complete with his vital stats.
Now, taking all the aforementioned stats and quotes into account, a few things become clear. Allen Hughes might not have hoisted Tupac over his head like a professional wrestler. However, he outweighed Tupac by at least 35 lbs. Had they both been professional boxers, Allen would have been a heavyweight and Tupac a middle weight. They’d have fought in completely different divisions. All jokes and exaggerations aside, Allen’s assessment obviously has a ring of truth to it. Size might not mean everything in a fight, but it most certainly matters.
Schoolyard squabbles notwithstanding, Allen and Albert still had much work to do. Menace had to be prepped for release. Cast and crewmembers alike felt unmoved by the early footage. However, the film truly began to materialize during the editing process. The Tender Trio’s ultimate vision had indeed weathered the storm. They had an honest to God movie on their hands, but was it any good? Artists can hardly be trusted to accurately judge their own work. Often times, they only see their mistakes. Menace II Society needed could only be properly assessed by its intended audience. Two years earlier, Boyz n the Hood had been warmly received by that very same audience. How would they react to the Hell that New Line Cinema was about to unleash upon them?
CLICK HERE TO READ PART 8!
Labels: 20th Anniversary, Black Cinema, Crime Film, Gangs, Hood Film, Menace II Society, Spice-1, The Hughes Brothers, Tribute/Celebration, Tupac Shakur, Tyger Williams
Mohammed Ali Zaini July 2, 2016 at 11:00 AM
You've put way too much emphasis on the weight factor in a fight. You make it out to be a trump card when it really isn't. Does it make a difference? Sure. But so do a dozen other factors. I also feel like you've taken the Pac quote about fear out of context. Taking into account the personal bias of the account, I would take it with a pinch of salt. I'm not saying Pac can't be beaten in a fight; anyone can. But he was a ruthless fighter, and I doubt it went down in the way that story was narrated.
Endangered Species: A 20th Anniversary Retrospecti...
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BIG HIT Creates Exemplar ‘Hydrogen Islands’ Energy System for Orkney →
May 15, 2018 Nigel Holmes
The official opening of BIG HIT brings took place in Kirkwall, the Orkney Islands, bringing together communities, industry, and politicians who are all working together to deploy one of Europe’s leading energy systems. BIG HIT will enable more renewable energy to be produced and used locally in the Orkney Islands of Scotland and also support similar deployments more widely.
This ‘Building Innovative Green Hydrogen Systems in an Isolated Territory’ (BIG HIT) project is a major first step towards creating a genuine hydrogen territory in the Orkney Islands. BIG HIT has been widely recognised as the leading project of its kind in Europe.
BIG HIT involves 12 partners based across six EU countries and is funded by the FCH JU as part of the €30 billion Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The Orkney Islands of Scotland were chosen for this development because of the need to store excess renewable energy and utilise the stored energy locally for transport and heat.
The BIG HIT project provides a blue print for renewable hydrogen deployment for island systems and new hydrogen territories. This will benefit communities and businesses who want to use more locally generated renewable energy.
Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse said: “We are very supportive of the BIG HIT initiative because it will help alleviate grid constraints in the Orkney Islands by enabling excess renewable energy generated locally, but what cannot be transmitted to the mainland to be stored and used to produce hydrogen. As a versatile and low carbon energy solution, hydrogen therefore has the great potential to play an important role in transport, heating, and industry. “This innovative project will add to our growing understanding of the potential role of hydrogen in Scotland’s future energy system, as identified in Scotland’s Energy Strategy which I published in December. “The Scottish Government has already supported a number of world-leading hydrogen demonstration projects, such as; the Orkney Surf‘n’Turf project; and the introduction of zero emission hydrogen buses and hydrogen refuelling stations in Aberdeen.”
Orkney Islands Council Leader James Stockan said: “Orkney is at the heart of the BIG HIT project, which aims to demonstrate how hydrogen produced locally using renewable energy can be used sustainably in ways which benefit islands and other remote communities. Our community is the ideal test bed for this important initiative. The Council has ambitions to become carbon neutral and so it was great to see the Council’s new zero-emission vans - the first vehicles to have a ‘fill-up’ of Orkney-produced hydrogen – at the launch event, providing clear evidence that BIG HIT is up and running.”
Mark Hull, Head of Innovation for Community Energy Scotland, added: “The launch of this project is the hard earned result of a truly unique partnership of technical, public and local community partners coming together. We are looking forward to seeing it not only lead the way internationally, but also create real benefit to the local community, especially in Shapinsay and Eday.”
Neil Kermode, Managing Director of the European Marine Energy Centre said: “By piloting the generation of hydrogen from renewable energy sources, BIG HIT is helping avoid grid shortcomings, while supporting further development of renewable energy projects in Orkney. It is breaking through the barriers to delivering renewable transport and heat, opening up new markets around the world.”
Clive Brookes, the Chair of Eday Renewable Energy added "Eday Renewable Energy are proud and pleased to be part of BIG HIT and the emerging Hydrogen economy here in Orkney. This is an exciting time for the community of Eday and will create new opportunities for making better use of renewable energy generated from wind and tidal sources on Eday".
The Orkney Islands have over 50 MW of installed wind, wave and tidal capacity generating over 46 GWhr per year of renewable power and has been a net exporter of electricity since 2013. Energy used to produce the hydrogen for BIG HIT is provided by the community-owned wind turbines on the islands of Shapinsay and Eday, two of the islands in the Orkney archipelago.
At present the Shapinsay and Eday wind turbines are often ‘curtailed’, losing on average more than 30% of their annual output, limited by grid capacity restrictions in Orkney. This wasted energy from the locally owned Shapinsay wind turbine will be used by the BIG HIT project to produce renewable hydrogen using a 1 MW PEM electrolyser supplied by ITM Power. Storing excess renewable energy as renewable hydrogen in this way increases the utilisation of the installed wind capacity without the need to reinforce the grid connection.
Prof Roger Putnam CBE, Chairman of ITM Power, added: "BIG HIT is an important blue-print for the design of hydrogen energy systems utilising intermittent renewable energy. The project perfectly illustrates the use of electrolysis for energy storage and its subsequent use as a clean fuel and for renewable heat. ITM Power are delighted to be part of such an important project"
BIG HIT builds on foundations laid by the Orkney Surf ‘n’ Turf initiative, which has established production of hydrogen on the island of Eday using wind and tidal energy. BIG HIT and Surf ‘n’ Turf are both recognised as world leading pilot and demonstration projects, which put in place a fully integrated model of hydrogen production, storage, transportation and utilisation for low carbon heat, power and transport. These projects have successfully address a number of operational and development challenges including the logistical and regulatory aspects for transport of hydrogen fuel between islands, and the orientation and familiarisation with new hydrogen building and transport technologies.
Fernando Palacin, the Managing Director of The Foundation for the Development of New Hydrogen Technologies in Aragon, coordinators of the BIG HIT project, said: “Hydrogen technologies provide solutions to some of the most important challenges that humankind has to face in terms of sustainability, environmental concerns, and a better use of local renewable resources for improvement the socio-economic structure of the region or territory where they are deployed. They also offer public & private entities business opportunities, allowing them to increase competitiveness and social cohesion. The BIG HIT European project is a pioneer project and the first step worldwide towards establishing a real locally-integrated hydrogen economy, The Foundation is delighted to join and lead this consortium to demonstrate and make visible & tangible the benefits of hydrogen technologies in Orkney”.
The local authority partner in BIG HIT is Orkney Islands Council, providing local input together with the Shapinsay Development Trust (SDT), Community Energy Scotland (CES), and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). Calvera, Giacomini, ITM Power, and Symbio are the industry partners providing equipment and technical expertise. Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is the technical partner and the Scottish Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Association (SHFCA) is dissemination partner. The Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure (MTI) represents Malta as the lead follower territory for project replication. The overall BIG HIT project coordinator is Fundación Hidrógeno Aragón (FHA, The Foundation for the Development of New Hydrogen Technologies in Aragon).
The BIG HIT project has received funding from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No. 700092. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Hydrogen Europe and Hydrogen Europe research. The FCH 2 JU selected BIG HIT as the only hydrogen project of its kind to receive funding in 2016, and €5 million has been allocated to the project, which has total estimated costs of €10.9 million.
← UK Government releases Draft Clean Air StrategyIMechE releases report on Hydrogen into Gas Grid for Renewable Energy Storage →
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Mark Valley
Sarah E. Johnson
Sarah Johnson is an executive producer on several notable recent films including Alejandro G. Inarritu’s Birdman, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2015; James Gray’s period drama, The Immigrant; Guillaume Canet’s crime thriller Blood Ties; Atom Egoyan’s crime thriller Devil’s Knot; David Gordon Green’s drama Joe; and Eli Roth’s horror thriller The Green Inferno. Her social issue documentaries include the Academy Award nominated The Square, Chasing Ice and The Invisible War, as well as the critically acclaimed The Hunting Ground and Living In Emergency: Stories Of Doctors Without Borders.
Johnson is also an activist for environmental, educational, and gender issues. A former Portfolio Manager at Franklin Templeton, she is active on the boards of St. Lawrence University, Mission Markets, Conservation South Africa, and Chairs the board at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. She holds a B.S. in Biology from St. Lawrence University.
Originally from Ogdensburg, New York, Mark has amassed a diverse body of work collaborating with some of the most iconic writer/producers in Hollywood. He has been a television regular for a decade on series like Boston Legal, Harry’s Law, Human Target, Keen Eddie, Body of Proof, Girlfriend's Guide To Divorce and now shooting the film 'Salty' a Simon West comedy with Antonio Banderas. Mark is an Army veteran who served in the first Gulf War and is active with several veteran’s advocacy groups including Volunteers of America, Veterans in Film and Television, and the GI Film Festival Advisory Board. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
Drea Clark
AARON WOOLF
Aaron Woolf is the producer/director of the hit documentary King Corn and the filmmaker behind the acclaimed PBS specials Blueprint America: Beyond the Motor City, Dying to Leave: The Global Face of Human Trafficking and Smuggling, and Greener
Grass: Cuba, Baseball, and the United States. Other work has appeared on the Sundance and Discovery Channels and on numerous networks abroad. His films have won Rockie, Logie, and Peabody Awards.
Woolf has appeared on CNN, C-SPAN and NPR, and in The New York Times, The Washington Post. He serves on the board of the Adirondack Council.
An experienced event producer, Drea Clark currently works for the LA Film Festival as a Programmer and the head of Filmmaker Relations, and has led the feature programming team for the Slamdance Film Festival since 2002. Additionally, she served as the Executive Director and Festival Producer for Slamdance from 2006-2009.
Clark continues to hold a position at USC’s School of Cinema, teaching Music Video Production, and has been the producer of IndieCade, the international festival of gaming, since 2010.
Clark has produced two independent feature films and has produced for the American Music Awards, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, and the Golden Globes since 2009.
Gloria Campbell
Gloria Campbell has more than twenty-five years of experience in all aspects of the performing and film arts. Her background includes work in public radio, managing a modern dance company, a film festival and the fine arts booking on a university campus with programs ranging from string quartets to stadium rock concerts.
Gloria spent nearly a decade working in the Denver Mayor’s Office, where she produced the state’s largest free performing arts festival, two Super Bowl victory rallies/parades for 500,000+ fans and worked with President Clinton’s Summit of the Eight.
Since moving to Los Angeles, she started as the Managing Director of The American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival, was the Managing Director of the Los Angeles Film Festival for five years and continues to work on Film Independent's Spirit Awards. Gloria continued her long-standing relationship with the Denver Film Society by serving as the Shorts Curator and producer of the red carpet premieres for the annual film festival that just celebrated its 37th year.
lenore vanderzee
Lenore VanderZee is the Executive Director for University Relations at SUNY Canton, working in the President’s Office on public relations, government relations, and economic development. She is passionate Canton and the North Country, and is a strong supporter of arts, culture, and development in the region. In addition to her day job, she is the Coordinator of the Remington Arts Festival in Canton and sits on multiple boards, including the Canton Community Fund, the Young Women’s Leadership Institute, the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, the and the Advisory Board of American Red Cross – St. Lawrence County. Occasionally, she can be heard performing with her folk-Americana band, Uprooted, in and around Canton.
roy caldwell
Brian Hauser
Brian Hauser teaches film at Clarkson University. He has published on cinematic adaptation and D.I.Y., and he is co-editor of The Journal of Short Film. In addition, he is a screenwriter and filmmaker. His first feature, Nontraditional, debuted in 2013.
After studying mathematics and European history, Roy Caldwell completed a PhD in Comparative Literature. At St. Lawrence University he is Professor of French and Film Studies, and has served as chair of two departments: Modern Languages and Film Studies. His nomadic scholarly career has produced articles on the American writers Robert Coover and Paul Auster, on Flaubert, Diderot, Robbe-Grillet, Vargas-Llosa, Sterne, Kafka, Zola, and the Martinicans Chamoiseau and Confiant. His writing on film includes articles on Louis Feuillade's Les Vampires (1915-1916) , Marcel L'Herbier's Au Bonheur des dames (1928), and Agnès Varda's Sans toit ni loi (1985). Most recently he has studied cinema of the Great War; his essay on Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory will soon appear. The film of his life is Fellini Satyricon, which he saw at 19, and forever changed his life.
Trevor J. Blank
BOB PENSKI
Judy and Bob Penski have enjoyed 40 years in the North Country, raising a family, building a house and gardens, founding and expanding a staffing service business (www.penski.com), and connecting with a wide array of friends and acquaintances in diverse walks of life. Bob hopes that the St. Lawrence International Film Festival can broaden cultural connections and interactions within the North Country and across the St. Lawrence River to neighbors in Ontario and Ottawa, making the region an even better place to live and work.
Trevor J. Blank, Ph.D., is a folklorist and assistant professor of communication at the State University of New York at Potsdam. Currently, he serves as editor to the journal Children's Folklore Review. He lives in upstate New York with his wife, Angelina, and their dogs, Penny and Clyde.
Scott Alan Smith
Scott is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Pepperdine University where he directs and teaches. He serves as the Associate Artistic Director of the award-winning Road Theatre Company and has been the Festival Director of the theater’s annual Summer Playwrights Festival (the largest new play staged reading series in the nation) since it began in 2010. Scott trained at Arena Stage and the Studio Theater before earning his MFA from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Actor's Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit, and is also a proud alumnus of the Lincoln Center Theater Director's Lab West (Gold Medal Class of '05).
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Biography of Turner
Chaplain Letters: 1864-1865
The Oratory
Scholarship on Turner
The #HMTProject
The Digital Archival Project dedicated to the writings and study of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, the 12th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church.
Letter to Charles Sumner December 20, 1871
Letter to Charles Sumner
Congressional Globe and Appendix, Second Session Forty Second Congress in Six Parts, Rivers and Bailey, Washington, DC., 1872
Macon, Georgia, December 20, 1871
Sir: I am glad to see you are pressing your Civil Rights Bill still before the United States Senate. I have only a few moments to write you at this time, but I must relate a transaction which occurred day before yesterday morning.
Just as I was about to step on the Columbus train at Macon, I heard a white man say to a well-dressed, beautiful, modest-featured lady, "Ain't you colored?" "Yes," was her reply. "Well, "this is the white folks's car; that is the car for negroes." So she very politely turned away and took a seat in the car pointed out. I stepped in the same car after her, and noticed that her looks and general appearance had the mark of superior breeding and fine culture. But not being acquainted with her I did not dare to approach her even with "Good morning," but sat and read the morning news, and afterward folded up the paper and raising my hat, asked her it she would like to read this morning paper. She gracefully smiled, and accepted the same, and read till we arrived at the breakfast house, at Fort Valley.
The white passengers all went out to breakfast, and she politely arose from her seat and came in where I was sitting and said that she was from Boston, Massachusetts, had been traveling for some days and nights, was on her way to Alabama to take charge of a high school, and had nothing to eat since she crossed the Potomac river, and would I be so kind as to step out to the hotel and ask the keeper to send her some breakfast. I instantly replied, "Yes, yes," and hastily left the train for the boarding-house, and made the necessary request. But the landlord asked, "Is she white or colored?" I told him she was colored, but she was a very respectable colored lady. "Well," he said, "we have not got enough cooked this morning for the white folks ; so I can't let her have anything." "But," said I, "then send her a cup of tea and a biscuit." "I can't spare it," he said. "Well," said I, "let her come in, and fry her some eggs." Said he, "I have got nothing in my house for her.'' So I went back and stated, not only to her, but to all in the car, what was said. The incident so mortified some white Democrats on the train at the time that they even cursed about it, and, I believe, felt sorry for the colored lady. One white- man (a Democrat, too) said that kind of prejudice was damn foolishness; and he thought railroad eating-houses ought to have one white table and one colored table, or let all eat together.
I afterward found out that this colored lady was a graduate of a Boston high school, and then of a university. She had letters vouching for the highest and most spotless character. And in the face of it all she could get nothing to eat from Aquia creek to Montgomery,Alabama, notwithstanding she had left home, relatives, and friends to educate a people who are in the future to wield, in part, the destinies of the nation.
Let the facts speak for themselves; I shall say no (more)
Your humble servant,
H.M.TURNER.
- Copyright © The #HMTProject -
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Fish In A Barrel
From Yahoo news:
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said the consensus from the White House health care summit is that there is an immediate need for health care reform, and signaled that he's open to compromise on Thursday.
Obama told participants at the end of a health summit that although he offered a plan during last year's campaign, he isn't wedded to that proposal. He told Republicans and Democrats, doctors and insurers — "I just want to figure out what works."
Seriously, this is becoming too easy. I have said over and over that Obama's essential philosophy is pragmatism. He is, in fact, a gross caricature of the philosophy of pragmatism. The above is a stunning example.
Since pragmatism holds that nothing is true and nothing can be proved absolutely (except of course the that absolutely nothing is true), the pragmatist must first seek consensus from others since he is unable to reach any independent conclusion. Since he rejects absolutes, he not only dismisses principles held by others but can not even firmly believe his own "hypotheses". Therefore, he openly seeks compromise and is willing to negotiate on anything. Who knows if one idea is right or wrong, just act and see what happens. There is no good or bad - let's negotiate, seek consensus, compromise, get something or anything done.
In this case, Obama is not even sure he is right. The consensus said there is need of health care reform so let's do it, but, to be sure, he is still open to compromise. He just wants to figure out what "works." This is his pattern on every issue not just health care. He forms a consensus from "experts", is willing to negotiate anything, and then acts. In fact, as we are now discovering, he brings a teleprompter wherever he goes. In other words, he appears unable to speak without a complete and literal rendering of the words which he is to utter. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was able to offer the principle of unalienable rights thus enabling one to deduce concrete applications to an almost infinite variety of political questions. Over two hundred years of modern philosophy later, we now are observing the spectacle of a president who is so unprincipled (on principle) that he is unable to deal with virtually any concrete and is reduced to simply parroting words placed in front of him.
I can't help quoting Ayn Rand on pragmatism:
[The Pragmatists] declared that philosophy must be practical and that practicality consists of dispensing with all absolute principles and standards—that there is no such thing as objective reality or permanent truth—that truth is that which works, and its validity can be judged only by its consequences—that no facts can be known with certainty in advance, and anything may be tried by rule-of-thumb—that reality is not firm, but fluid and “indeterminate,” that there is no such thing as a distinction between an external world and a consciousness (between the perceived and the perceiver), there is only an undifferentiated package-deal labeled “experience,” and whatever one wishes to be true, is true, whatever one wishes to exist, does exist, provided it works or makes one feel better.
A later school of more Kantian Pragmatists amended this philosophy as follows. If there is no such thing as an objective reality, men’s metaphysical choice is whether the selfish, dictatorial whims of an individual or the democratic whims of a collective are to shape that plastic goo which the ignorant call “reality,” therefore this school decided that objectivity consists of collective subjectivism—that knowledge is to be gained by means of public polls among special elites of “competent investigators” who can “predict and control” reality—that whatever people wish to be true, is true, whatever people wish to exist, does exist, and anyone who holds any firm convictions of his own is an arbitrary, mystic dogmatist, since reality is indeterminate and people determine its actual nature.
Posted by The Rat Cap at 6:19 PM
..."and anyone who holds any firm convictions of his own is an arbitrary, mystic dogmatist, since reality is indeterminate and people determine its actual nature."
Wow. Its amazing how much she saw. How many times have you heard empiricists (usually leftists) make that claim; ie only the religious believe in firm convictions and absolutes? Ayn Rand had them pegged decades ago.
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Where Would The Citizens' Politics Lead Us?
As Bernie Sanders catches up with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump raves and rages, and Jeremy Corbyn holds on - even if rather precariously - at the British Labour Party, we can reasonably think that an era of anti-Politics has began. The slick politics of the mid-90s, when Centrism took hold, but all it meant was a breed of cynical politicians who stood for nothing but the craving of power (brilliantly represented in Frank Underwood in the US version of The House of Cards), seems all but gone. Ideology, of sensible and insensible variety, is back in the mix, all over again.
This is counter-intuitive. As we entered the Age of the Millennial, we were expecting a sweeping victory for those smooth-tongued Centrists, who wanted to hold the centre-stage, but not any ground in anything else. The millennial would be, we expected, products of a 'liquid' modernity, for whom the pursuit of pleasure, rather than any fixed commitment, is all pervasive. But their surging support for all these new politicians who 'stand for something', and simultaneous ringing rejection of the 'reed-in-the-wind' politics, now tells a different story. One could say this is the characteristic search for certainty of a generation growing up in the aftermath of the financial crisis. But, the other explanation, more optimistic, is that this is the final turning of the corner of a global generation, united in the shock of discovery that the middle class dream is a con.
Is this, then, the end of the post-modern age, when our social beings were atomised - every person for himself - and our collective consciousness withered? This was a time when no one stood for anything because there was nothing to stand for. The only pursuit of civilised life was, at least for a time being, that of more material acquisition, fuelled by the insane possibility of ever-expanding private debt. One could feel richer by kicking the can down the road, protests were subsumed in tokenism, arguments were framed around interests and not ideas, and identities were an aggregate of the possessions.
Just as the monstrosities of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia made aware on the limits of social compliance, it seems that the recession has taught a generation that came of age in its midst a disillusionment with the standard-issue middle class story. The anti-Politics rage, expressed in choosing the idiosyncratic leaders and ideologies, seem to represent an urge to find roots, the authenticity that we have let go in most spheres of public life.
That the middle class dream is stunted, is true. The collusion of policy-makers with interests has gone too far, undermining the combative fairness that keep a democratic society, for all its failings, healthy. All the estates have come together as one, perhaps far too cosily, and one set of ideas has become too dominant, all too concentrated, and opened up a space for contrarian views. So, is this the inflection point, when a new set of ideas emerge, or just another false start, for some to proclaim an apocalypse that ends in a whimper?
So far, it seems to be the latter, indeed. For all the disillusionment, the millennial identities are concentrated around the 'coolgevity' (I made that up to mean how long it remains cool) of our devices, and so seems the politics. Sanders, Trump and Corbyn are departures from the usual, may even be a wake-up call, but not signs of lasting change. In Trump, it is apparent how misdirected this anger can be, and how easily the voices could be usurped by a demagogue. In others, like India's Kejriwal, a man of similar intentions, there is a fragmented activism, some flurry of honest engagement, even a touch of sincere anger, but that departure is only partial, as they wrestle with the dominant doctrines of the age. Their rhetoric of change is not the moral call that we long to hear, but rather a manager's manifesto. Reading too much into it is deluding ourselves.
Perhaps such a stalemate is indeed the fate. Revolutions are too painful for people that have, and it has been pushed to the margin of ideas. But the lure, and the fear, of revolution has also obscured other possible ideas of change, limiting the intent to change to mere demagoguery that we see ascendant today. And, in the end, disillusionment lie, perhaps in its most complete form - Hopelessness! It happened before, and this time around, Millennials are just riding the same train, the same rickety edifice that look coolly retro, a blast from past, but to be discarded as one grows up into responsibility. This is not, is not, the moral rage that would change the world.
Banter Diary Ideas Left Politics My Life Politics Revolution
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Date: Mon 08/Jul/2013, 10:45
In his first week as bank of England governor, Mark Carney sent shares soaring after issuing explicit guidance to steer down expectations of interest rate rises – coincidentally matching advice by Mario Draghi, his opposite number at the European Central Bank.
George Osborne declared that he represented the taxpayer after charges by Ed Balls, his shadow, that the chancellor bungled the removal of Stephen Hester as chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, which has resulted in the tax payer-owned lender losing £4bn of its market value.
Lord Mandelson, the former Labour Business secretary warned that the HS2 rail line between London, Birmingham and Manchester, whose estimated cost has risen almost £10bn to £42.6bn, could turn out to be an “expensive mistake”.
A £1.2bn plan to provide superfast broadband to 4.5m country dwellers will be delivered two years late, according to the National Audit Office.
The Co-operative Group is seeking and independent expert to investigate its disastrous purchase of Britannia building society and the flawed attempt to buy 631 Lloyds branches.
Jim French is to step aside as chief executive of Flybe, the struggling regional airline, after 12 years, in favour of Saad Hammond, a former chief commercial officer at easyJet.
Nicole Farhi, the fashion house funded in 1982, collapsed into administration putting 121 jobs in peril.
Guy Hans, boss of Terra Firma, the private equity firm, pulled the listing of Deutsche Annington after failing to attract enough demand for the shares of Germany’s largest residential landlord.
Michael and Xochi Birch, founders of Bebo, bought back the social network for $1m (£670,000) – six years after selling it to AOL the American internet giant, for $850m reaping a $595m return for the former Imperial College of London students.
Wiggle, the private equity owned online cycling store, saw sales rise 21% to £140.8m profiting from the Bradley Wiggins effect.
Ocado should turn a full-year pre-tax profit for the first time since it was founded in 2000, said Tim Steiner, chief executive of the online grocer, which signed a 25-year deal with Morrisons in May.
Lord Rothermere increased his controlling voting stake in the Daily Mail and General Trust media group from 60% to 90% by buying the shares held by his Uncle Esmond Harmsworth’s trust.
Diana Carney, the new Bank governor’s wife, was forced to deny she was against tea bags after comments she made about the environmental damage caused by individually wrapped bags were publicised.
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The Day of the Dolphin
When you think of George C. Scott, or even Mike Nichols for that matter, talking dolphins are probably not the first things that come to mind. In The Day of the Dolphin (1973) George C. Scott plays a dedicated scientist working with dolphins on a remote island. Involved in a top secret project, Scott and his team are training dolphins to both understand and speak the English language. When he has a remarkable breakthrough, however, Scott must race to stop the dolphins from being used as pawns in a bizarre plot to assassinate the President of the United States. The Day of the Dolphin is nothing if not unique, and its curious hodgepodge of different genres including science fiction, political thriller, and environmental cautionary tale is a sincere effort and probably unlike anything you have ever seen.
Based on the 1967 French novel Un Animal Doue de Raison (A Sentient Animal) by Robert Merle, The Day of the Dolphin was originally going to be made by director Roman Polanski of Rosemary's Baby(1968) and Chinatown(1974) fame. Polanski was busy developing the project in London when he received the devastating news of the violent murder of his wife Sharon Tate in Los Angeles at the hands of members of the Manson family. Understandably, Polanski abandoned the Dolphin project and returned to the states to deal with the tragedy. What the film would have been like in the stylish Polanski's hands remains an intriguing thought.
Instead director Mike Nichols was offered the project as the result of a contract he had with producer Joseph E. Levine, who ran Avco Embassy Pictures. Nichols had already made two successful films for Levine: The Graduate (1967) and Carnal Knowledge (1971). In order to fulfill his contractual obligation with Levine, Nichols had to complete one more picture for him, but the two couldn't agree on a project. Nichols and Levine went round and round trying to come up with something, Nichols even trying to get out of his contract at one point. Finally, the two found that they were able to agree upon The Day of the Dolphin. Nichols, desperate to move on from this contract so that he could make other films, jumped in with both feet.
At Nichols' request, Buck Henry, who had penned the scripts for Nichols' previous hits The Graduate and Catch-22 (1970), took on the job of adapting Robert Merle's novel into a screenplay despite his reservations about the material. Having never written a melodrama, Henry thought that The Day of the Dolphin would be a stimulating challenge.
It was a challenge that proved harder than Henry had bargained for, however. "I was trying to make it my own, but I was also trying to make sense of it," said Henry in a 2003 interview. "The novel was this giant sprawling mess with two fundamentally unbelievable pieces built into it. And once you remove those pieces, like with most stories that rely heavily on narrative, everything falls apart." Henry wound up making major changes from the book's plot and kept his fingers crossed that it would all work.
George C. Scott was at the top of his game-and fame-when he joined the cast of The Day of the Dolphin. The commanding actor was fresh off his indelible Academy Award-winning performance in Patton (1970) (an award that he famously refused) and had just received an Academy Award nomination for his work in The Hospital (1971). Both feared and revered, Scott brought his temperamental and bigger-than-life reputation with him to the three-month long shoot on the island of Abaco in the Bahamas, where there was little to do except eat, drink, swim and play tennis. While Scott could lose his temper easily and had a penchant for too much alcohol, most found him to be a teddy bear at heart whose label as one of the greatest living actors was well deserved. "He could be a nightmare," said Buck Henry, "but he was a blessing. He could do an awful lot with an awful little."
Buck Henry also made a significant contribution to The Day of the Dolphin in a most unlikely way by providing the voices for the dolphins, Alpha and Beta. The final dolphin voices used in the film were actually a mix of Henry's voice, mechanical noises, and other dolphin sounds all put together. During the shoot, Henry would often stand off camera and talk in the dolphin voices in order to cue the other actors for their scenes.
A total of six dolphins were trained to perform in the movie. Two dolphins named Buck (for Buck Henry) and Ginger (for Ginger Rogers) played Alpha and Beta, and the four others were backup. Buck and Ginger had been found off the coast of Florida in 1972 and specially trained to perform for this film using an "immediate reward" system.
The strong supporting cast of The Day of the Dolphin includes Trish Van Devere (George C. Scott's real-life wife) playing his onscreen wife Maggie, Paul Sorvino, Fritz Weaver, and Edward Herrmann. Fans of General Hospital will enjoy seeing a very young Leslie Charleson (aka Dr. Monica Quartermaine) in a small but memorable part as a member of George C. Scott's research team.
Though the film received decidedly mixed reviews, The Day of the Dolphin was deservedly rewarded with two Academy Award nominations for Best Sound and for Georges Delerue's hauntingly beautiful score, which provides an atmospheric musical backdrop to some truly beautiful scenery and stunning dolphin sequences.
This highly anticipated re-teaming of Mike Nichols and Buck Henry after their previous successes turned out to be the last time the talented pair would work together. Each branched off to work on his own projects creatively, though there was always the chance (and still is) that the pair would collaborate again someday. "In truth," said Buck Henry in a recent interview, "I thought maybe we'd run out of good ideas for awhile with that particular film, but it was nothing ever but pleasure for me to work with Mike. We always had a good time."
Producer: Robert E. Relyea
Director: Mike Nichols
Screenplay: Buck Henry, based on the novel Un Animal doue de raison by Robert Merle
Cinematography: William A. Fraker
Art Direction: Angelo P. Graham
Production Design: Richard Sylbert
Music: Georges Delerue
Film Editing: Sam O'Steen
Cast: George C. Scott (Dr. Jake Terrell), Trish Van Devere (Maggie Terrell), Paul Sorvino (Curtis Mahoney), Fritz Weaver (Harold DeMilo), Jon Korkes (David), Edward Herrmann (Mike), John David Carson (Larry), John Dehner (Wallingford), Severn Darden (Schwinn), Elizabeth Wilson (Mrs. Rome).
C-104m. Letterboxed.
by Andrea Passafiume
VIEW TCMDb ENTRY
Ealing Studios
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The Man in the White Suit
The Ladykillers (1955)
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Home > Vol 6, No 6 (2012) > Hofmann
Review Essay: Twenty Important Journal Articles on Radicalisation to, and De-Radicalisation from, Terrorism
David Hofmann
Keeping up-to-date with new research on terrorism can be challenging for both academic and non-academic researchers, with a multitude of books, articles and reports of varying degrees of quality being produced continuously. Andrew Silke noted that the publication of books on terrorism nearly jumped tenfold after 9/11, from 150 titles in 2000 to 1108 the following year, and 1767 in 2002 [1]. If one searches for books on terrorism with www.amazon.com one decade later, one gets over 30,000 results and the sub-genre ‘radicalisation’ already produces in excess of 300 books. Research on radicalisation took off in 2004 in response to the blowback from the American intervention in Iraq the year before. The London bombings in 2005 generated further interest in the phenomenon of “homegrown terrorism”, where apparently self-starting cells of radicalising individuals mobilized against their host countries with little or no material support from foreign terrorist entities. This has created a whole new field of empirical inquiry.
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Arts & Culture Vietnamese landscapes in Japan's katazome paintings
Vietnamese landscapes in Japan's katazome paintings
Japanese painter Toba Mika's latest exhibition on Vietnam the subject that she has pursued for 16 years - will be displayed at the Temple of Literature and the Vietnamese Art Museum in Hanoi until December 25.
The exhibition, entitled "Nara and Hanoi Linking Eternal Capitals" features nearly 100 paintings of Vietnam's landscapes, using a traditional Japanese dyeing technique called katazome, which dates back to the 12th century.
Toba Mika, 49, is a lecturer at the Kyoto Seika Art University in Japan. She came to Vietnam in 1994 after traveling throughout Southern Asia.
Mika was so taken with the diverse cultures, striking landscapes vibrant daily life, she made the country the subject of her work.
The event aims to celebrate Hanoi's 1,000th anniversary and Nara city's 1,300th anniversary.
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Victory Games makes it official, working on new Command & Conquer games
A few days after both Victory Games and their new Command & Conquer project were outed, the developer has made things official via the series’ website.
In an interview with the franchise community manager, General Manager Jon Van Caneghem confirmed: “Our current focus is making a AAA Command & Conquer game, which I am very excited to be working on.”
Want anymore details than that? “I can tell you it’s a Command & Conquer game for the PC, but we’re not yet at a stage where I can go into any details—we’ll be prepared to make a more formal announcement later in the year.”
Tight-lipped, then. Could this be a new universe? A return to Red Alert? Whatever it is, it’s going beyond the first game:” We’re not just working on a game, though. Our general focus is on the future of Command & Conquer. That means updating a lot of the core technology to create a stable base for future development, and leveraging that work on this first game.”
We’ll have to hold on for a bit to find out more.
About the author: Jamie Feltham
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Tip: What’s in a Name? If you fail to name a beneficiary on your IRA, it may be much more difficult for your beneficiaries to ‘stretch’ the inherited IRA over their lifetimes.
The Investment Company Institute reports that there is roughly $7.9 trillion in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA).1 To help put that in perspective, that’s nearly half the annual gross domestic product of the U.S.2
If you have a traditional IRA, you may have the opportunity to stretch it out, meaning the account may be structured to extend its tax-deferred status across multiple generations.3
With a traditional IRA, the account holder must begin taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) by April 1 of the year after he or she turns 70½. These payments are based on the IRS’ tables for life expectancy. To calculate an RMD, divide the account balance by the account holder’s anticipated lifespan.
Let’s assume, for example, a 73-year-old has an IRA with a balance of $250,000. According to the Internal Revenue Service's 2017 lifespan table, the person's life expectancy is 14.8 years, so the RMD is:
$250,000 ÷ 14.8 = $16,891.89
At that rate, it may take several years to deplete the account — in some cases, longer than the account owner is likely to be alive. So what are your options?
First, you can name your spouse as beneficiary of the traditional IRA, and he or she can roll the balance into a new account. If your spouse is over age 70½ when you die, he or she must begin taking RMDs based on his or her life expectancy. When your spouse dies, the second-generation beneficiary may transfer the balance into an inherited IRA. Then, the owner of the inherited IRA must begin taking RMDs based on his or her life expectancy. (See illustration.)
This gives the money in the inherited IRA a longer time to remain tax deferred. Keep in mind, however, that there is no guarantee that the person who inherited the IRA will continue the tax-deferred treatment of the account.
How About a Roth IRA?
Fast Fact: Inheritance. The IRS rules that allow a stretch IRA are the rules under which one inherits an IRA. This is why stretch IRAs are sometimes referred to as “inherited IRAs.”
Stretching a Roth IRA follows similar rules to a traditional IRA. But remember, a Roth IRA does not require any RMDs. If you name your spouse as a beneficiary, he or she can roll the balance into a new Roth account. Since it remains a Roth IRA, your spouse is not required to take RMDs either. When your spouse passes, the beneficiary must begin taking distributions. The distributions will be tax free since it’s a Roth IRA.4
Stretching an IRA can be a powerful strategy. But it’s critical to understand the limitations and benefits before following the approach.
A single father, age 55, rolls over $250,000 from his employer’s retirement plan into a traditional IRA and names his son, age 25, as beneficiary. At age 70½, the account owner starts taking RMDs.
When he dies at age 80, his son moves the assets into an inherited IRA and starts taking RMDs based on his life expectancy.
By the time it’s exhausted, the IRA will have lasted 85 years and paid out over $2 million in benefits — all from a $250,000 rollover.
This is a hypothetical example used for illustrative purposes only. It is not representative of any specific investment or combination of investments. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Actual results will vary.
Investment Company Institute, 2017
CIA World Factbook, 2017
Contributions to a traditional IRA may be fully or partially deductible, depending on your individual circumstance. Distributions from traditional IRAs and most other employer–sponsored retirement plans are taxed as ordinary income and, if taken before age 59½, may be subject to a 10% federal income tax penalty. Generally, once you reach age 70½, you must begin taking required minimum distributions.
To qualify for the tax-free and penalty-free withdrawal of earnings, Roth IRA distributions must meet a five-year holding requirement and occur after age 59½. Tax-free and penalty-free withdrawals also can be taken under certain other circumstances, such as a result of the owner’s death. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the ability to "undo" a Roth conversion.
Choosing a Retirement Plan that Fits Your Business
To choose a plan, it’s important to ask yourself four key questions.
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Leatherface Review
Posted Posted on October 25th, 2017 November 12th, 2017 by jEX
Note: This is a spoiler filled review.
For years I’ve argued that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise has had the best track record of any horror franchise when it comes to sequels. The original is of course the best, an all time classic. TCM 2 was weird and quirky, but had the excuse of coming out a decade later in the 80s, and it ramped the black comedy factor from the original up to 10 with the introduction of Chop Top, making it one of the most entertaining in the series. TCM 3/4 both had their moments but were definitely where things started dipping in quality a bit. Enter Michael Bay with his reboot trilogy that modernized things with ultra-violence. The first one was alright, but the second one, TCM: The Beginning, was actually awesome, and the most underrated of all. Finally, 2013’s TCM 3D was rough around the edges but introduced an interesting concept between the victim and Leatherface that was pretty groundbreaking for the genre.
Point is, like most long-running horror franchises, there had been a few duds, but almost all of them are more than watchable, either by revamping things for new audiences, or adding interesting new plot elements to keep things fresh. The latest installment, just called “Leatherface”, promised to keep that tradition going with another unique concept and the amazing directors of the French film “Inside” leading the charge.
The movie starts off on the right foot with a great opening scene. We get to see grandpa finish off someone with his famous mallet, and they get the detail of him being “a one-hitter” in his prime just right. This made me think the people behind this might be true hardcore fans and actually know the source material well.
After an incident in which the Sawyer family kills the local sheriff’s daughter (sheriff played by Steven Dorf who you may remember from Blade), he bends the law to get all the Sawyer children locked up in a mental hospital. Ten years later, the patients at this hospital escape and the unique approach to this origin story is that one of the escapees will become Leatherface, but you don’t know which one it will be.
Unfortunately, this is where the film falters. I liked the concept and I was on board with it, but I just couldn’t get behind what they did with it. Leatherface as a character is actually not that interesting. He’s just the muscle, the pet dog for the Sawyer family. What has always been interesting is his fucked up family and how well the individual characters are developed. Unfortunately, almost all of these characters are dull and boring.
We have a Bonnie and Clyde-esque couple, Ike (James Bloor) and Clarice (Jessica Madsen), and at first, I thought the guy might be Nubbin’s (the Hitchhiker from TCM 1), but no, he’s just a random pyscho. Same with Clarice, who was the most interesting character, with a body covered in burn scars, random necrophilic tendencies, and a take no shit Texas attitude. These two embodied the spirit of Chainsaw Massacre more than any others, but they’re not even members of the Sawyer family.
The strength of past films was the “Saw is Family” mentality. Rather than having the band of escapes all be strangers, it would have been far more interesting if they were alll members of the Sawyer family, and we got to see them go on the road, evading the law, Devil’s Rejects style. That’s what made the family twist in TCM 3D so interesting.
SInce the movie is pretty slow, the reason I found myself sitting through it was to see who ended up being Leatherface. Out of all the potential candidates, Bud (Sam Coleman) was the most fitting to what we know of the character, and even when he was shot in the head and it was revealed that (SPOILER) Jackson (Sam Strike) was actually Leatherface I wasn’t buying it. In fact, I was still hoping this was a mislead and Bud would somehow come back with a last minute kill like Tiny in Devils Rejects.
Having Leatherface be originally a “nice guy” who progressively turns psychopathic didn’t work for me. I was expecting almost anything else, even something thrown from way left field like having him revealed to be a female, which would have been just as bad, but at least something unique.
Things do become a little more traditional towards the end. We get a chase sequence with what I’m guessing is supposed to be Nubbins and…Chop Top maybe? These characters have practically no dialogue so if they are meant to be these iconic characters their inclusion is wasted. The final moment when “Leatherface” is expected to kill the nurse (Vanessa Grasse) I was still hoping he’d back down and be revealed not to be the character, but nope, he swings and slices her head off in a transformation that is not believable at all.
Just like the beginning, the movie does at least end on a good note, with a cool scene of Leatherface creating his first mask. Too bad it didn’t come off feeling earned.
So, I guess the track record of the series takes a hit with this one. It’s probably the worst entry so far, although it sits right up there close with TCM 3 (also called Leatherface) and TCM 4. It’s not the worst horror film or sequel I’ve ever seen by a long shot, but as a huge fan of these films, I wish it had been better.
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A Perfect Circle - "The Doomed"
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The Mandela cover-up unravels
By Cliff Kincaid
It appears that AIM and blogger Trevor Loudon are among the few sources highlighting the official statement of the South African Communist Party (SACP) confirming that Nelson Mandela was a high-ranking member. SACP deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila is quoted by a South African magazine as saying it was denied at the time for "political reasons."
The communist Workers World Party, which supports North Korea, has also reprinted the official SACP statement about Mandela. The communists are proud of Mandela and what he accomplished. His false claims of being a non-communist fooled South Africa and the world (except for his domestic and international comrades who were in on the secret). The official SACP statement includes these words: "At his arrest in August 1962, Nelson Mandela was not only a member of the then underground South African Communist Party, but was also a member of our Party's Central Committee."
Politicians lie, but this was a whopper, designed for the purpose of turning South Africa and its strategic materials over to the communists. The perfect front man, Mandela had always denied being a party member and, for the benefit of foreign audiences, publicly rejected Marxism as a "foreign ideology" as recently as a few years ago. It appears that was just a ploy to keep the foreign aid coming. South Africa has been among the top ten recipients of U.S. foreign aid, getting close to $500 million in fiscal year 2013.
Now that we know what's going on, what will we do about it? Three American presidents – Obama, Clinton, and George W. Bush – are going to South Africa for his state funeral on December 15. Obama has ordered American flags to remain at half-staff in his honor until sunset on December 9. The con will continue. Still, the facts matter.
Many in the media are calling Mandela a "political prisoner" when he served prison time. But on the Fox News "Special Report" show on December 5, Jesse Jackson admitted Mandela told him that he was planning bombings of hospitals and schools in South Africa when he got caught. That is why Mandela went to prison. He ran Umkhonto we Sizwe, the terrorist wing of the African National Congress (ANC) and South African Communist Party. The white minority made a deal to release him because they feared for their lives against a Soviet-sponsored terrorist onslaught that was documented in 1982 Senate hearings entitled "The Role of the Soviet Union, Cuba, and East Germany in Fomenting Terrorism in Southern Africa."
One of the witnesses before those hearings was Bartholomew Hlapane, a member of the African National Congress's national executive committee and the South African Communist Party's central committee. Bartholomew, who described SACP domination of the ANC, was assassinated in his home in South Africa on December 16, 1982, by an Umkhonto we Sizwe assassination squad. The ANC later admitted to the crime.
President Obama condemned the Boston Islamic terror bombings, saying, "Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians it is an act of terror." But that is what Mandela was orchestrating in South Africa. And Mandela is Obama's role model. Apparently, it was okay to kill whites in the name of black majority rule.
So how is that working out for the blacks, the supposed beneficiaries of Mandela's revolution?
WikiLeaks is usually a source that our media trust. But little attention was paid to information from WikiLeaks demonstrating that the South African government is now resorting to "forced removals, violence, [and] intimidation" against poor blacks demanding their rights. Referring to a group of black shack dwellers known by the initials AbM, a U.S. embassy cable from 2010 said: "While the ANC claims to be making efforts to clean up slums and provide the poor with adequate housing, AbM leadership claims intimidation and anti-democratic tactics are used against its members by the ruling party."
It's true that Mandela failed to authorize a bloodbath of the minority whites once the black majority took power. But that decision recognizes, as the Chinese communists did, that socialism doesn't work. The whites had to be tolerated because of their economic expertise. However, whites are now getting killed regularly in the "new" South Africa, and the country is being featured on "Genocide Watch" because of the racist dangers there. A spin-off from the ruling African National Congress, the Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) movement, held a rally in October in South Africa featuring banners saying the "Honeymoon is over for white people in South Africa." The group is openly Marxist-Leninist.
Interestingly, a column in the far-left Huffington Post hints at the truth, noting that Mandela "spent much of his life as a radical Marxist allied with global communist luminaries...."
In addition to the evidence of Mandela's secret membership in the Communist Party, those "global communist luminaries" deserve some attention. He admired Fidel Castro, praised his "brother in arms" Yasser Arafat, and was a big fan of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. He was awarded the Soviet Union's International Lenin Peace Prize. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Nelson Mandela on his 95th birthday in July and "gave a high assessment to Nelson Mandela's role in developing friendly Russian-South African relations, which have now reached the level of a strategic partnership." Indeed, Russia and South Africa have become strategic partners in the BRICS group. BRICS refers to Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
An objective source of some of Mandela's famous quotations is the book In the Words of Nelson Mandela, edited by Jennifer Crwys-Williams. They include:
"Islam has enriched and become part of Africa; in turn, Islam was transformed and Africa became part of it."
"The people of Libya shared the trenches with us in our struggle for freedom" (spoken at a banquet in Tripoli, Libya, in 1997).
"He [Muammar Gaddafi] helped us at a time when we were all alone, when those who are now saying we should not come here were helping our enemies" (spoken at the start of his 1997 trip to Libya).
"My brother leader" (referring to Gaddafi).
Gaddafi was the terrorist leader who killed 189 Americans, most of them college students, by bombing Pan Am 103. The year was 1988. Gaddafi was also behind the La Belle bombing in Berlin in April of 1986. This killed two Americans and a Turkish woman and injured well over 200 persons, including 41 Americans.
In a story about Mandela's 1997 visit to Libya, The New York Times noted: "Although Mr. Mandela had twice visited Libya before, this is his first trip since becoming President [of South Africa] in 1994. No Western leader has visited Libya since the sanctions were imposed after Colonel Qaddafi refused to turn over suspects in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland."
But Mandela was thankful Gaddafi gave his terrorist movement weapons. He didn't care about the terrorism that took American lives. Later, Gaddafi renounced terrorism, paid restitution to the families of Pan Am 103 victims, and gave up his own nuclear program. Nevertheless, Obama authorized his overthrow and he was killed by a mob in Libya.
Bill O'Reilly said on his Fox News show that Mandela "was a communist, all right? But he was a great man. What he did for his people was stunning. ... He was a great man, but he was a communist." Throwing out the word, without documenting it, leaves people without adequate information and O'Reilly vulnerable to the tired charge of "McCarthyism."
The notion of a good communist, considering the bloody history of the movement, seems absurd. But sadly, that is some of the best coverage of Mandela that we have seen.
The left's hero worship of Mandela – as well as of Obama – is to be expected. Strangely, similar coverage came from Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak, who claimed Mandela "embraced constraints on his power," was a George Washington-type figure, a friend of Israel, opposed terrorism, and "did not turn his back on the United States and her ideals." He went on Mark Levin's radio show to repeat some of these dubious, and even ridiculous, claims.
Pollak quoted Mandela during his treason trial as saying, "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities." Mandela also declared at the time that he was not a communist.
Now we know better. Or do we?
© Cliff Kincaid
Cliff Kincaid is a veteran journalist and media critic.
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Assessing the Leaders’ Agenda
Written by Suzana Anghel and Ralf Drachenberg,
The Leaders’ Agenda, adopted by the EU Heads of State or Government on 20 October 2017, was designed both as a contribution to the realisation of the objectives set out in the ‘future of Europe’ debate and as a concrete work programme for the European Council up to June 2019. The main feature of the Leaders’ Agenda is the introduction of new working methods to enable consistent follow-up on the policy objectives outlined in the Bratislava and Rome declarations, previous milestones in the future of Europe debate. It notably increased the number and formats of meetings, and introduced a new approach to the discussions among EU Heads of State or Government.
This method has allowed an open debate among EU leaders on sensitive political issues at informal Leaders’ meetings, with the aim of facilitating consensus, which would be followed up through the adoption of formal European Council conclusions at subsequent meetings. The informal debates were stimulated by the use of Leaders’ notes, which outline the main challenges and sticking-points on a specific topic. In this sense, the Leaders’ Agenda can be seen as the operational follow-up to the Bratislava and Rome declarations. Ahead of the expected discussion on the implementation of the Leaders’ Agenda at the 9 May 2019 Sibiu summit, one can conclude that the Leaders’ Agenda was a rather successful approach, which introduced a more structured framework to the proceedings in the European Council and generally improved decision-making, whilst also sustaining unity among EU leaders when the Union faced the unprecedented challenge of the departure of a Member State. This notwithstanding, it seems that the Leaders’ meetings and Leaders’ notes, the purpose of which was to serve as consensus-building tools, have not been used to their full potential. However, a follow-up to this Leaders’ Agenda would be advisable in the next institutional period, while taking the lessons learned into consideration.
At the core of the Leaders’ Agenda is the objective of preserving unity, which can be considered as the red line running through Donald Tusk’s term in office as European Council President, at least since the United Kingdom (UK) referendum on EU membership. This assessment distinguishes between achieving unity (on a piece of legislation or in a given policy area) and maintaining unity between Member States when the EU faces a major challenge. While the European Council was rather successful in maintaining this unity, in particular with respect to Brexit, it has a more mixed record in achieving unity on certain other topics, such as migration, where Member States have very different positions.
Moreover, the Leader’s Agenda emphasised the importance of taking account of citizens’ views when shaping a common future for Europe. The three policy areas – migration, security and unemployment – indicated by President Tusk as priorities under the Leaders’ Agenda, also reflected the three main concerns of EU citizens, as expressed in Eurobarometer surveys at the time.
Now that the end of the life-span of the Leaders’ Agenda is approaching, one can indeed observe that most of the policy priorities included in the Bratislava and Rome declarations have figured on the agenda of meetings of EU Heads of State or Government and been debated to varying degrees, either as part of the formal European Council, the Leaders’ Agenda meetings or the Euro Summits.
As we approach the 2019 European Parliament elections, EU leaders ought more than ever to be encouraged ‘to draw inspiration from new ideas’ that have arisen from citizens’ dialogues and consultations, in which, under the Leaders’ Agenda, they have voluntarily agreed to participate and to conduct. Whether and to what extent the citizens’ views will be reflected in the output of the Sibiu summit, and the European Council’s subsequent new strategic agenda, remains to be seen.
Read the complete In-depth analysis on ‘Assessing the Leaders’ Agenda‘ on the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
Source Article from https://epthinktank.eu/2019/05/07/assessing-the-leaders-agenda/
Публикувано в News на май 7, 2019 от admin.
← The Juncker Commission’s ten priorities: An end-of-term assessment The Future of Europe debates in the European Parliament, 2018-19: A synthesis of the speeches by EU Heads of State and Government →
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VIRGINIA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW JOURNAL
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April 2019 Notes Pool
WWII-Era Government Contractor Indemnification Clauses Come to the Fore in CERCLA Litigation as Other Grounds to Shift Costs to the Government Narrow
Hume Ross is a member of the Georgetown Environmental Law Review. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate. Please leave any comments on the original post, which may be found on Georgetown Environmental Law Review's webpage.
Before World War II, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto wrote: “Because I have seen the motor industry in Detroit and the oilfields of Texas, I know Japan has no chance if she goes to war with America, or if she starts to compete in building warships.”[1] As he anticipated, after hostilities broke out the United States government quickly began to mobilize the nation’s considerable natural resources and manufacturing capacity.
The War Production Board (WPB) was established in 1942 in order to "increase, accelerate, and regulate the production and supply of materials, articles and equipment and the provision of emergency plant facilities . . . required for the national defense."[2] The WPB and similar entities had the ability to determine how various raw materials would be used, set prices, and enter into novel contractual arrangements with defense contractors. Some contracts provided that contractors would operate temporary facilities owned by the government,[3] or be subject to recapture of excess profits.[4] Profit margins were typically low, but in return contractors sometimes received favorable contract terms to insulate them from unexpected costs.[5]
The Contract Settlement Act of 1944 (CSA) recognized that, because of the extent to which American industry had been integrated into the war effort, any issues with the payment of claims when the war ended could imperil the entire economy. The CSA provided procuring agencies with authority “notwithstanding any provisions of law” to “agree to assume, or indemnify the war contractor against, any claims by any person in connection with such termination claims or settlement.”[6]
As was the intent of these legislative and executive acts, American industry roared to life, flooding the operational theaters with ships, planes, tanks, ordnance and fuel, and propelled the Allies to victory. But this overwhelming effort had ill-effects as well. Due in part to both the extraordinary pace of production, and the less stringent environmental regulations of the time, large amounts of toxic chemicals were released at hundreds of sites around the country.
Three-and-a-half decades later, in the face of mounting public concern about environmental pollution, Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).[7] CERCLA authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency, if it determines a site poses “an imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health," to sue certain responsible parties for the costs of cleanup.[8] Many of the sites identified by the EPA under CERCLA (commonly called “Superfund” sites) are the product of the extraordinary war-time effort, and the extraordinary defense contracts that enabled it. This set the stage for decades of litigation to allocate financial responsibility for the cleanup between the contractors (and often their corporate successors) and the government.
II. CERCLA LIABILITY GENERALLY
CERCLA liability will attach to any entity that owns or operates a contaminated facility, or owned or operated a facility where hazardous substances were disposed of in the past, as well as a few other categories related to transporting or arranging for the improper release of hazardous materials.[9] CERCLA liability is strict, joint, and several.[10] This means that often one party may be compelled to begin cleanup (or reimburse EPA for beginning cleanup) and then will have to seek contribution from other liable parties.[11] The liability was structured this way to ensure that there would always be a party available to pay for cleanup, and to disincentive companies from engaging in prohibited activities. Even if a corporation sells a polluted facility before the pollution is discovered, they will still be liable as a “past owner” or “operator.” Courts often note that CERCLA should be construed liberally in view of its remedial purpose to achieve its twin goals: “(1) enabling the EPA to respond efficiently and expeditiously to toxic spills, and (2) holding those parties responsible for the releases liable for the costs of the cleanup.”[12]
Under these standards, both defense contractors and the government (which specifically waived sovereign immunity related to CERCLA claims)[13] may be liable for some of the cleanup costs. But the extent of liability for each party is determined by comparing the role that each played in causing the pollution. The characterization of which entity was an “operator” is significant because of the way courts equitably apportion CERCLA contributions among the responsible parties. There is no fixed formula – instead, courts look at various sets of factors. One such set is the “Gore” factors, named after an unsuccessful but nonetheless influential attempt to pass an amendment to CERCLA in 1980 by then-Representative Al Gore.[14] Another similar set of factors are known as the Torres factors.[15] A common theme is that liability will be more heavily apportioned to a party with more "knowledge and/or acquiescence […] in the contaminating activities."[16] The tests established for the “operator” label tend to track closely with this language, and therefore being designated as an “operator” often leads to a large share of liability.[17] The analysis of which entity was “operating” a facility, or portion thereof, has evolved over time as discussed in the next section.
A. FMC Corp. Suggested Broad Government Liability Even for Regulatory Oversight
In 1994, the Third Circuit decided FMC Corp. v. United States.[18] The case established a framework by which the US government could be held liable as an “operator” for acts it took in a regulatory capacity. Commentators at the time were concerned that, because the government is the ultimate “deep pocket,” this could lead to a massive amount of CERCLA liability looping back onto the government.[19] While not explicitly overruled, FMC Corp. has been limited by subsequent cases. But the decision is still relevant as its fact pattern, while rare, is not unique in the WWII-era contracting context.
FMC Corp. concerned a facility located in Front Royal, VA (then owned by corporate predecessor American Viscose) that produced high tenacity rayon (“HTR”) for plane and vehicle tires. Ordinarily the tires would have used rubber, but 90% of the United States’ rubber supply came from the Pacific, which was cut off after Pearl Harbor.[20] The facility was in fact converted from producing textile rayon to HTR largely at the behest of the government.[21] In 1982, inspections revealed elevated levels of carbon disulfide in the ground water around the plant.[22] Carbon disulfide is a volatile organic compound capable of causing neurological damage with chronic exposure.[23]
After the EPA notified FMC of its potential liability under CERLA, FMC filed suit seeking monetary contribution from the government under section 113(f) of CERCLA.[24] FMC argued that the government was “so pervasively” involved in directing the activities at the facility that it should pay some, if not all, of the cleanup costs.[25] The government admitted that it effectively controlled many aspects of the operation at the American Viscose plant, but argued that it did so only in a regulatory capacity, and that it could not be held to be an “operator” for purposes of CERCLA when it was acting only as a regulator.[26]
The FMC Corp. court looked to cases in the parent-subsidiary liability context, and chose to apply the same “substantial control” and “active involvement” test to governmental actions for purposes of CERCLA liability.[27] The court found it important that, even if the government was primarily “regulating,” it:
“determined what product the facility would manufacture, controlled the supply and price of the facility's raw materials, in part by building or causing plants to be built near the facility for their production, supplied equipment for use in the manufacturing process, acted to ensure that the facility retained an adequate labor force, participated in the management and supervision of the labor force, had the authority to remove workers who were incompetent or guilty of misconduct, controlled the price of the facility's product, and controlled who could purchase the product.”[28]
The court ultimately found that the government was an “operator” of the plant.[29] To the extent that this result was not what Congress may have intended when it adopted CERCLA, the court noted that amending the statute was within the power of Congress, not the Courts.[30]
B. Bestfoods Narrowed the Operator Liability Standard
Four years later, the Supreme Court decided United States vs. Bestfoods.[31] Bestfoods dealt with the question of under what circumstances a corporate parent could be held liable as an operator under CERCLA for the actions of a subsidiary corporation. Because FMC Corp. and other earlier defense contract related decisions had examined governmental vicarious liability under CERCLA as being the same as the inquiry for a “non-governmental entity”,[32] Bestfoods would have a direct impact on government CERCLA liability.
Bestfoods found that a subsidiary “so pervasively controlled” by a parent such that it would warrant veil piercing in the corporate law context could be held derivatively liable for the acts of the subsidiary.[33] This is a high standard - even a parent and a subsidiary that share officers and directors will not necessarily meet it.[34] But even if the conduct of a parent would not warrant veil piercing, the court found that “CERCLA prevents individuals from hiding behind the corporate shield when, as 'operators,' they themselves actually participate in the wrongful conduct”.[35] Thus, “[u]nder CERCLA, an operator is simply someone who directs the workings of, manages, or conducts the affairs of a facility… specifically related to pollution, that is, operations having to do with the leakage or disposal of hazardous waste, or decisions about compliance with environmental regulations.”[36] This standard has been interpreted to require involvement in environmental decisions on a frequent, often “day-to-day” basis.[37]
It is unclear how FMC Corp. would have been decided under this standard. While it appears that the government did exercise some day-to-day control, it is not clear that this control had the required nexus to the actual pollution. What is clear is that this standard is intensely factual in nature. For all the record developed in FMC Corp., more might have been needed to determine if the government’s day-to-day input over personnel and other issues had the required nexus to the pollution.
C. Recent Cases Exemplify this Narrower Standard
Two recent cases demonstrate how much more difficult it is to assign “operator” liability to the government after Bestfoods. Exxon Mobil Corp. v. United States involved two sites in Louisiana where the production of avgas[38] for the war effort led to contamination of the Mississippi River.[39] Exxon argued that many activities at the site were performed out of fear that the refineries would be seized by the WPB if production quotas were not met.[40] The court rejected this argument, finding that the government acted more like a “very interested consumer,” and did not direct day-to-day activities.[41] The court also found persuasive that fact that some of Exxon’s contracts contained clauses stating that certain specifications and quantities would be “determined by negotiation,” as opposed to simply dictated by the government.[42]
Exxon further argued that government personnel were at the site every day, performing inspections. The court cited in response other post-Bestfoods cases where daily inspections related to contract compliance and worker safety were insufficient.[43] Ultimately, the government was not determined to be an “operator” of the avgas refineries under CERCLA.[44]
A second case, TDY Holdings, reached a similar result.[45] TDY was the corporate successor of several corporations which had operated a facility near San Diego international airport that performed aeronautical fabrication and testing as a contractor to the government between 1939 and 1999.[46] Even though it was undisputed that the government “owned some of the equipment related to the contamination, and observed and knew of TDY's production processes and maintenance practices that released contaminates into the environment” the government was found to be merely a “past owner” and not an “operator.”[47] TDY argued that adherence to military specifications (mil specs) led inevitably to pollution, but the court found that the mil specs did not dictate how by-product chemicals should be managed, contained, or disposed of.[48] The court also explicitly distinguished FMC Corp. on the grounds that TDY actively sought out defense work, and was never “ordered, coerced, or forced” to operate as a defense plant.[49] TDY was assigned 100% of the cleanup costs as the “operator,” even though the government had been found to be a “past owner” of some facilities.[50]
III. Shell and E.I. DuPont establish the framework for litigation over indemnification clauses
With the window to assign the government “operator” liability in all but extreme cases closed, litigants have explored other ways to shift cleanup costs to the government. One method that has succeeded has been to rely on special indemnification clauses that were included in some WWII-era contracts. Unlike the in-depth factual analysis required to establish “operator” liability, this analysis involves primarily questions of law. Specifically, application of these clauses depends on whether or not the clauses extend to CERCLA liability (which was unforeseen at the time of their execution). If the clauses do cover CERCLA liability, it then must be examined whether or not the Anti-Deficiency Act prohibits payment of indemnification under the clauses and, if so, whether the ADA was effectively waived by the Contract Settlement Act of 1944.[51]
In 1940, the government contracted with E.I. du Pont to build a plant in Morgantown, WV to produce munitions-related chemicals. E.I. du Pont was to construct and operate the plant, but the facilities would be owned by the government. E.I. du Pont was to be paid a fixed fee for the operation of the plant, but the government affectively owned all of the output – there were no products “sold” to the government.[52] The contract contained an indemnification clause that read:
“the Government shall hold [E.I. du Pont] harmless against any loss, expense (including expense of litigation), or damage (including damage to third persons because of death, bodily injury or property injury or destruction or otherwise) of any kind whatsoever arising out of or in connection with the performance of the work”[53]
The court had no difficulty determining that this clause extended to CERCLA liability based on its broad, non-limited language.[54] The court then turned to the question of whether the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA) barred payment under the indemnification clause. The trial court had determined that the ADA, which bars payments in excess of the amounts appropriated by Congress for a particular contract,[55] did bar payment of CERCLA indemnification. The Federal Circuit did not question this general conclusion, but instead focused on whether payment was otherwise “authorized by law” as an exception to the ADA.[56]
Specifically, the Federal Circuit considered whether the Contract Settlement Act of 1944 (CSA), designed to ensure rapid settlement of war related claims, could overcome the general prohibition of the ADA. The CSA provided that certain agencies;
“shall have authority, notwithstanding any provisions of law other than contained in this chapter, (1) to make any contract necessary and appropriate to carry out the provisions of this chapter; (2) to amend by agreement any existing contract, either before or after notice of its termination, on such terms and to such extent as it deems necessary and appropriate to carry out the provisions of this chapter; and (3) in settling any termination claim, to agree to assume, or indemnify the war contractor against, any claims by any person in connection with such termination claims or settlement.[57]
The Federal Circuit agreed with E.I. du Pont that this language “grant[ed] the President the authority to delegate to departments and agencies contracting power virtually unfettered by contract law, including the ADA”.[58] The case was remanded for entry of judgment in E.I. du Pont’s favor – the government would be liable for any CERCLA costs that might be imposed on E.I. du Pont.[59]
Subsequent cases have confirmed that if the CSA is applicable to the contract at issue, then the ADA restriction is not effective.[60] The only issue that remains is whether the particular indemnification clause is “(1) specific enough to include CERCLA liability or (2) general enough to include any and all environmental liability which would, naturally, include subsequent CERCLA claims.”[61] Shell Oil Co. v. United States concerned a contract where the relevant agency had agreed to pay “"any now existing taxes, fees, or charges . . . imposed upon [the Oil Companies] by reason of the production, manufacture, storage, sale or delivery of [avgas]."[62] The Federal Circuit held that future CERCLA liability was a “charge” within the meaning of the contract, and the government was therefore liable to reimburse Shell for it.[63]
The courts’ findings that certain WWII-era contractor indemnification clauses cover CERCLA liability makes this an attractive litigation tactic now that that it is more difficult to assign the government “operator” liability. Of course, not all contracts contained a version of either of the provisions discussed above. Those that did are more likely to be contracts of the type at issue in E.I. du Pont and FMC Corp., where the government and the contractor were undertaking a mode of operation that would not normally be undertaken outside of wartime. These extraordinary contracts are more likely to involve fact scenarios on which the government might also still be determined to be an “operator,” even under the narrow Bestfoods test. But even where the government might be deemed an “operator,” the indemnification clause strategy has the advantage of providing a complete bar to contractor liability as opposed to requiring apportionment, and also does not require intense factual investigation.
[1] Correlli Barnett, The Lords of War: Supreme Leadership from Lincoln to Churchill 163 (2012).
[2] FMC Corp. v. United States Dep't of Commerce, 786 F. Supp. 471, 474 (E.D. Pa. 1992).
[3] E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. United States, 365 F.3d 1367, 1369-70 (Fed. Cir. 2004).
[4] Sixth Supplemental National Defense Appropriation Act, 1942, Pub. L. No. 77-528, ch. 247, § 403, 56 Stat. 226, 245 (1942).
[5] See, e.g., Shell Oil Co. v. United States, 751 F.3d 1282, 1287 (Fed. Cir. 2014).
[6] E.I. du Pont de Nemours, 365 F.3d at 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2004).
[7] Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-510, 94 Stat. 2767 (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-9675 (1988)).
[8] Id at § 9604.
[9] See 42 U.S.C.S. § 9607 (listing the categories of “covered persons”).
[10] Tanglewood East Homeowners v. Charles-Thomas, Inc., 849 F.2d 1568, 1572 (5th Cir. 1988); O'Neil v. Picillo, 883 F.2d 176, 178-79 (1st Cir. 1989).
[11] 42 U.S.C.S. § 9607.
[12] B.F. Goodrich Co. v. Murtha, 958 F.2d 1192, 1198 (2d Cir. 1992).
[13] See FMC Corp. v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 29 F.3d 833, 842 (3rd Cir. 1994).
[14] The “Gore” factors include: “(i) the ability of the parties to demonstrate that their contribution to a discharge release or disposal of a hazardous waste can be distinguished; (ii) the amount of the hazardous waste involved;
(iii) the degree of toxicity of the hazardous waste involved; (iv) the degree of involvement by the parties in the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, or disposal of the hazardous waste; (v) the degree of care exercised by the parties with respect to the hazardous waste concerned, taking into account the characteristics of such hazardous waste; and(vi) the degree of cooperation by the parties with Federal, State, or local officials to prevent any harm to the public health or the environment.” United States v. A & F Materials Co., 578 F. Supp. 1249, 1256 (S.D. Ill. 1984).
[15] See Exxon Mobil Corp. v. United States, 108 F. Supp. 3d 486, 534 (S.D. Tex. 2015).
[16] Weyerhaeuser Co. v. Koppers Co., 771 F.Supp. 1420,1426 (D. Md. 1991).
[17] See TDY Holdings, LLC v. United States, 122 F. Supp. 3d 998, 1015 (S.D. Cal. 2015) (“In circumstances where the Government was found to be such an "operator" due to its control or management, in whole or in part, of the disposal practices at a site, courts have found it equitable to burden the Government with a substantial portion of the
remediation expenses.”).
[18] FMC Corp., 29 F.3d at 833.
[19] See Van S. Katzman, The Waste of War: Government CERCLA Liability at World War II Facilities, 79
Va. L. Rev. 1191, 1193, 1232 (1993).
[21] Id at 835.
[23] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Toxicological Profile for Carbon Disulfide (Update) (1996).
[24] 42 U.S.C.§ 9613(f).
[26] The government also argued that it had not waived sovereign immunity for purposes of CERCLA liability for purely regulatory actions, but the court disagreed with this contention. Id at 836.
[28] Id (emphasis added).
[31] United States v. Bestfoods, 524 U.S. 51 (1998).
[33] Bestfoods, 542 U.S. at 64 n. 10.
[34] Id at n. 12.
[35] Bestfoods, 542 U.S. at 65 (quoting Riverside Market Dev. Corp. v. International Bldg. Prods., Inc., 931 F.2d 327, 330 (5th Cir. 1991)).
[36] Bestfoods, 524 U.S. at 65-66.
[37] Exxon Mobil Corp., 108 F. Supp. 3d at 529-30 (quoting City of Wichita, Kansas v. Trs. Of APCO Oil Corp. Liquidating Trust, 306 F. Supp. 2d 1040, 1055 (D. Kan. 2003)).
[38] Avgas was a revolutionary 100-octane fuel that, when used to replace the 87-octane fuels previously used in combat aircraft, increased their speed without requiring significant modifications to the engine. See Sustainable Technology Forum, Chemists explore WWII ‘miracle’ aviation fuel, available at http://sustainabletechnologyforum.com/chemists-explore-wwii-miracle-aviation-fuel_9396.html (last visited June 26th 2016).
[39] Exxon, 108 F. Supp. 3d at 491.
[40] Id at 523-24.
[44] The government was determined to be an operator of several discrete facilities related to the litigation, including an ordinance shop. This finding was based on correspondence showing that the government “made specific decisions about waste disposal and environmental compliance,” was aware of the pollution, and decided to continue polluting. The ordinance works was described as “resembl[ing] a United States Army base more than a chemical plant” in terms of who actively managed it and its operational procedures. Id at 530-32.
[45] TDY Holdings, 122 F. Supp. 3d at 1003.
[46] Id at 1003.
[47] Id at 1004, 1021-22.
[48] Id at 1016-17.
[51] See generally Andrew P. Lawson, Casenote: The End of a War Does not End its Adversarial
Reach: The Federal Government's Indemnification of World War II Contractors for Toxic Waste Cleanup Resulting from Wartime Manufacturing Efforts in Shell Oil Co. et al. v. United States, 26 Vill. Envtl. L.J. 363 (2015).
[52] E.I. du Pont de Nemours, 365 F.3d at 1369-70.
[57] Id at 1375 (emphasis as added in decision).
[58] Id at 1376 (quoting Johns-Manville Corp. v. United States, 12 Cl. Ct. 1, 33-34 (1987)).
[60] See, e.g., Shell Oil Co., 751 F.3d at 1301.
[61] E.I. du Pont de Nemours, 365 F.3d at 1373 (quoting Elf Atochem N. Am. v. United States, 866 F. Supp. 68, 870 (E.D. Pa. 1994)).
[62] Shell Oil Co., 751 F.3d at 1287.
[63] Id at 1284. Reyna, J. dissented, primarily on the ground that the provision in question was located in a section of the contract related to taxes and, interpreted in that context, CERCLA liability was not a “charge.” Id at 1303-05.
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US questions its unwavering support for Israel
Consensus forming in Washington that Israeli government is abusing support with policies seen to be risking US lives
Chris McGreal
5 July 2010, The Guardian
There are questions that rarely get asked in Washington. For years, the mantra that America's intimate alliance with Israel was as good for the US as it was the Jewish state went largely unchallenged by politicians aware of the cost of anything but unwavering support.
But swirling in the background when Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, arrives in Washington tomorrow to patch up relations with the White House will be a question rarely voiced until recently: is Israel ‑ or, at the very least, its current government ‑ endangering US security and American troops?
Netanyahu would prefer to be seen as an indispensable ally in confronting Islamist terror. But his insistence on building Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem, which is causing a deep rift with Washington, is seen as evidence of a lack of serious interest in the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. That in turn is seen as fuelling hostility towards the US in other parts of the Middle East and beyond, because America is perceived as Israel's shield.
In recent months Barack Obama has said that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a "vital national security interest of the United States". His vice-president, Joe Biden, has confronted Netanyahu in private and told the Israeli leader that Israel's policies are endangering US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senior figures in the American military, including General David Petraeus who has commanded US forces in both wars, have identified Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian land as an obstacle to resolving those conflicts.
More recently, Israel's assault on ships attempting to break the Gaza blockade has compromised relations with Turkey, an important American strategic ally.
A former director of intelligence assessment for the US defence secretary, last month caused waves with a paper called Israel as a Strategic Liability? In it, Anthony Cordesman, who has written extensively on the Middle East, noted a shift in thinking at the White House, the US state department and, perhaps crucially, the Pentagon over the impact of Washington's long-unquestioning support for Israeli policies even those that have undermined the prospects for peace with the Palestinians.
He wrote that the US will not abandon Israel because it has a moral commitment to ensure the continued survival of the Jewish state. "At the same time, the depth of America's moral commitment does not justify or excuse actions by an Israeli government that unnecessarily make Israel a strategic liability when it should remain an asset. It does not mean that the United States should extend support to an Israeli government when that government fails to credibly pursue peace with its neighbours.
"It is time Israel realised that it has obligations to the United States, as well as the United States to Israel, and that it become far more careful about the extent to which it test the limits of US patience and exploits the support of American Jews."
Cordesman told the Guardian that the Netanyahu government has maintained a "pattern of conduct" that has pushed the balance toward Israel being more of a liability than an asset.
"This Israeli government pushed the margin too far," he said. "Gaza was one case in point, the issue of construction in Jerusalem, the lack of willingness to react in ways that serve Israel's interests as well as ours in moving forward to at least pursue a peace process more actively."
It was a point made forcefully by Biden to Netanyahu in March after the Israelis humiliated the American during a visit to Jerusalem by announcing the construction of 1,600 more Jewish homes in the city's occupied east.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that at a meeting between the two men, Biden angrily accused Israel's prime minister of jeopardising US soldiers by continuing to tighten the Jewish state's grip on Jerusalem.
"This is starting to get dangerous for us. What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace," Biden told Netanyahu.
Obama's chief political adviser, David Axelrod, said the settlement construction plans "seemed calculated to undermine" efforts to get fresh peace talks off the ground and that "it is important for our own security that we move forward and resolve this very difficult issue".
Netanyahu sought to head off the issue when he spoke to pro-Israeli lobbyists in Washington earlier this year. "For decades, Israel served as a bulwark against Soviet expansionism. Today it is helping America stem the tide of militant Islam. Israel shares with America everything we know about fighting a new kind of enemy," he said. "We share intelligence. We co-operate in countless other ways that I am not at liberty to divulge. This co-operation is important for Israel and is helping save American lives."
But that argument is less persuasive to the Americans now. Last month, Israel's ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, said the Jewish state had suffered a "tectonic rift" with America. "There is no crisis in Israel-US relations because in a crisis there are ups and downs," he told Israeli diplomats in Jerusalem. "Relations are in the state of a tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart."
Oren said that assessments of Israeli policy at the White House have moved away from the historic and ideological underpinnings of earlier administrations in favour of a cold calculation.
Cordesman said it is too early to tell whether Netanyahu has fully grasped that while there will be no change in the fundamental security guarantees the US gives Israel, "the days of the blank cheque are over".
He added: "I think it is clear there is more thought on how to deal with Gaza, how to deal with the underlying humanitarian issues, less creating kinds of pressures which frankly, from the viewpoint of an outside observer, have tended to push Hamas not toward an accommodation but toward a harder line while creating of all things an extremist challenge to Hamas. But until you see the end result, some comments and some token actions don't tell you there's been a significant shift."
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