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Redemption in The Battle of the Five Armies
I've just finished seeing The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies for a second time in the theaters. This isn't nearly yet as many times as I saw The Lord of the Rings movies while they were showing, but I'm working on it. In this second viewing I was able to take more time to ponder the deeper themes going on in the story instead of just sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was going to happen.
*** SPOILERS TO FOLLOW ***
The theme that really struck me was redemption. It was so prominent to me there that were two characters in whom this theme showed its mark. One I think is pretty obvious to all who would see the movie. This would be in Thorin Oakenshield.
He was well on his way to becoming a villain in this story as he and his fellow dwarves retook the treasures of Erebor. His predictable fall into the dragon sickness of the riches that drove his grandfather mad was maddening to watch. It was so powerful in its hold on him that he was ready to let his cousin Dain die on the battlefield without help and he even threatened to slay Dwalin and Bilbo.
Yet at the moment when it seemed the dwarves were going to succumb to the armies of the orcs Thorin had his moment of redemption. He was in the golden hall which featured prominently at the end of Desolation of Smaug and with voices running through his head his eyes were finally opened. He didn't want to fall into madness like his grandfather Thror had, and he finally heard the wisdom of his friends. Thorin immediately turned to the path of redemption. He rejoined the other twelve and they led Dain and his army in a rally against the orcs.
In the end, Thorin after having slain Azog and also been dealt a death blow of his own has one final conversation with Bilbo apologizing for all that he had put him through. Thorin was over his love of gold and back to his love of friend and family.
There is Another
The other story of redemption is not nearly as noticeable. I didn't think much of it my first viewing but it really caught me the second time around. This one involves Thranduil. He too, like Thorin, was going down a dark path. He too, was nearly becoming a villain. His lack of love for those outside his kingdom came to the forefront in Desolation of Smaug and Tauriel confronted him on it. In Battle of the Five Armies we see a glimmer of hope when he arrives in Dale with food and supplies for the remnant of Lake Town. Though he seems to dash that hope when he notes for Bard that he isn't there to save them, he's there for his gems in Erebor.
Thranduil and Tauriel have another run-in in B.O.T.F.A. when in the midst of battle Thranduil prepares to take his elven army back home and Tauriel tries to stop him. He speaks down on her for her relationship with Kili the dwarf and says her love is not real.
It was that last comment that caught me this second time around. For at the end of the film he meets again with Tauriel at the end of battle. Tauriel is sitting next to the slain body of Kili crying and heartbroken. She looks up at Thranduil and says "why does it hurt so much?" Thranduil there has his moment of redemption. You can see his heart soften to the plight of Tauriel. He is likely considering the loss of his own wife which Legolas had mentioned earlier in the film. Thranduil replies to Tauriel "it hurts because it is real [her love]." Though the film doesn't really show us where this pair goes from there it can be seen that Thranduil may have redeemed and softened his heart.
The Contrast
One other note that caught me in seeing BOTFA again was the wonderful job Peter Jackson once again did with his Tolkien-esque portrayal of the hobbits. In contrast to the gold-loving dragon-sickness of Thorin, and the cold heartless demeanor of Thorin is Bilbo Baggins of the Shire. There is a scene where Thorin comes upon Bilbo fumbling with something in his hands. Of course the viewer is meant to think Bilbo is playing with the arkenstone and Thorin will discover this and blow his top. Instead, Bilbo has an acorn.
Thorin expresses surprise that Bilbo has carried it all this way after having found it at Beorn's house. He speaks of it as a very small treasure for Bilbo to take from this journey. Bilbo explains he intends to take it home and plant it at Bag End and enjoy it for years to come. This is exactly how Tolkien himself would portray Bilbo. A lover of all things that grow, of life itself. It was a delight to see this theme play its way out in the Hobbit movies as it also had been shared in the Lord of the Rings movies. What a wonderful contrast to the greed and evil seen in the hearts of so many other characters. The Hobbits, as Gandalf always seems to note, are truly the purest of heart.
Labels: Tolkien
"Home for the Holidays"
"A Not So Ordinary Manger"
The Battle of the Five Armies: Initial Reactions
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GetDietResults – A Book On The Topic Of "weight Successfully" Conquered The German-speaking
Posted on March 28, 2010 August 21, 2014 by your
On Wednesday 10/01/2007 at exactly 12:00 pm, it finally happened! "GetDietResults – Thinning with success," the book of the course is from that date have for anyone who wants to successfully lose weight. Even before Klaus Wolfsberg, author of the book and the developer of the online lifestyle management center weight loss program has to be GetDietResults be tested in his coaching program and the volunteers were enthusiastic: Alexandra L., 26 years: "If you are looking for a solution which is easily integrated into your life and really long-term work, then you've found your solution now. Klaus has everything written in a simple way of relaying what I needed to in my life. I have previously tried many things to lose weight, but until now have never had long-term success. Since I read and my GetDietResults of GetDietResults Lifestyle Management Center recommended program it implemented, has changed a lot. I see food not as a restriction and diet but I have learned to eat healthy foods andthus "passed" the weight loss in passing. I kg reduced during the first 6 months of 13, 9 and I feel great. "Or, Josa G., 54 years says:" Since I am a person who travel a lot, I have always doubted whether I ever managed My dream figure was reached. But after I had read the book twice, the next step was obvious to me. The GDR in lifestyle management center individually tailored program for me, I sat down at once. I now finally no more problems with my character and energy as never before. My body is tight, I have reduced kg in 4 months is 7.9 and the best part for me, I consider this weight now for 6 months! I've never seen before, something like GetDietResults. This is really a great thing. . Cinergy Health . "Get your copy of GetDietResults, step by step guide on how to get your feel-good weight and keep forever, and your personalized access to the Lifestyle Management Center, where your individualNutrition, exercise and nutrition program on the Internet at: GetDietResults – Thinning with success.
Unmasking Bogus Paternity Through Paternity Tests
Since the latest time are investigated by the German immigration authorities sham fatherhood. In 1998, a child law was introduced, which implies that a so-called social father is recognized just like a natural father if the child's mother zustimmt.Im last quarter of 2005, however, a father of German nationality, at the request of the foreigners authority supported by a paternity test that he was the biological father of the common daughter – originally from Ecuador, the mother was obliged to leave at the time of this acknowledgment of paternity. But the father did this test to be unconstitutional and not for the task of the Authority. That a German children's ID card is the daughter of the Authority had "merely declaratory in nature." The whole matter will now decide this way. According to the Federal Ministry of Justice, a DNA analysis should not be introduced, but the authorities should have the opportunity to challenge a paternity "if neither of the recognitionsocio-familial or a physical paternity is based. " Apparently, this new scheme is only for bi-national and foreign parents is practiced, while a child is between Germans is not doubted. Also it is so that in the whole discussion a few foreign men who recognize the child of a German mother, a high priority. Children of German mothers, however, are generally regarded as German. This topic is not easy and must be handled specially. Unfortunately, the German public is no real need for information seems to have. Of a conviction on the favorable treatment of bi-national couples in the population at least one waits in vain so far. It remains to be the final solution is found.
The bad weather forecast for the weekend have been met and until late Sunday afternoon has not been able to enjoy a bit of sun. This has affected a massive attendance of spectators at all types of events that have taken place during the weekend, and have been sporting, cultural or simply recreation. During the streets on Saturday castre a have welcomed a new edition of the Festival of Traditional Culture Cantabra. Bagpipers, exhibition of rural sports, parades of costumes of the region, Cantabrian fight, musical performances, this has attracted the attention of local and more from the tourists who have visited us this weekend. Until late Saturday afternoon acting: Grupo de Danzas Our Lady of Covadonga. Traditional dance group, originally from Torrelavega, about 40 persons nas, accompanied by pairs of pitu and drum, bagpipe, tambourine player and traditional songs.Puri Diaz. Song Mountain. Fernando Gomez. Bagpipe and Pitu Montanes. David Gomez. Tambor, rebec and voice. Javier Alonso and Javier Gomez Rincon. Acting with Silbu, tambourine and drum. During the long weekend, the Plaza de la Barrera Stock Fair hosted a brilliant idea that allows marketers Dealers Association of Castro Urdiales get those products on sale that would not otherwise exit to the sale. On Friday night started off a new edition, the fifth Summer Theater with good public input. Quasar Group Theater staged Shipyard Pam! wine and dessert.In the specialty of raid was held the first edition of this specialty in NATO with a Venezuelan victory with Eladio Sanchez behind. Source: Digital Castro
BROADCASTING Collective rtabra 21
Telebocon born in 1979, considered the first Venezuelan community television channel, located in the State of Trujillo. The regional television channels were created in the fifties had a short-lived as independent before joining the chains with headquarters in Caracas, there would be no more concessions to regional channels until 1982 when it began commercial operations Televisora Andina de M rida, a Amavisi n years later and these would follow a number of other television stations since the late eighties including Telecaribe Televisora Tachira Regional Television and Boys Choir.In 1986, allows the installation of companies to broadcast foreign television via satellite dishes to receive satellite signals, a year after it was founded Omnivision, first subscription television channel to broadcast using the radio spectrum and using a MMDS system ( Multichannel Multipoint Distribution System), varied program of the main international channels. The fifth television channel with national coverage, Televen, founded in 1988, entering into commercial competition with the station RCTV and Venevision. From 1976 until 1998 the Venezuelan state had only two national TV channels but with the wrong financing thereof TVN signal was changed from 1992 to 1998 together with the VTV.Born in the nineties and specialized television stations targeted at specific audiences: Globovisi n (1994), news channel, Bravo TV (1995) (then and now Puma TV Channel I) dedicated to music videos, Meridiano TV (1997), and sports channel Vale TV (1998) devoted to science and culture whose signal occupies the National Television broadcasts finally stops that year. In 2007 comes Sun Channel, tourist, and equally, under the auspices of the Venezuelan peri dioo in English, The Daily Journal, the News Channel, which closed its doors early to mid 2008. Since 1998 the Venezuelan state had only one television channel, and then in 2002 the government decided to launch the station ViVe (2003), and Telesur (2005) also support and fund a network of community TV stations as well as belonging to Avila TV city of Caracas.
Golf has its
Golf has its origins in the fifteenth century in Scotland, where shepherds amused themselves with sticks hitting boulders until you reach a goal. Over time these shepherds perfected the game and introduced the first rules. Golf is played in a field or field of grass natural outdoors. Unlike many sports, golf does not have a standardized playing surface. A golf course occupies a wide area and is generally composed of 9 or 18 runs partial.At the end of each of these routes is a hole in the surface which has a diameter of 107.9 mm, by extension, each of the journey is also called hole. The order traversal of the holes on the court gives its name to each: Pit 1, Pit 2, etc. hole until 9 or hole 18 as appropriate. In some courses the holes are also other commemorative names given or taken from some of its features: its difficulty, its design, the names of flowers, etc.. To play a round of golf, will have to complete 18 holes in an established order. The first stroke of each hole is made in the tee, and the last is to achieve hit the ball in the hole. The result (score in English) in golf is obtained by adding the number of strokes with which he has managed to put the ball on each hole.The overall result is therefore the sum of 18 partial results have been gathered during the game. The assessment of this outcome in a competition will depend, however, other factors: the mode being played and the weighting of the level of play of each player (handicap system, very important in golf because it is the tool for ensure that all players compete on equal terms, regardless of their level of play). The first blow is always hard to get as close as possible to the hole. For the tee shot can place the ball on a wooden or plastic tee called, in order to ease the impact. The blows shall be effected with the ball as it lies. In each course there are holes three, four and five strokes, called hole par three, par four or par five.If the hole is three strokes (par three), the usual strategy that follows the player is to get the ball onto the green and with the first blow. In contrast, in the four-hole (par four) and five strokes (par five), significantly longer, you must hit the ball hard again once or twice to get to be on the green. Once on the green, players no longer hits the ball hard to fly some distance, but the strike gently with a special stick – putter – to go shooting, and introduced into the hole.
A GOOD RHYTHM
My Basketball from within grows apace, and many are the visits and from various locations. Already in a few days I managed to translate some of my ideas, and most difficult for others to read. I got some important pages in Spanish and foreign, and some of the best basketball blogs linking me of our country. Among them I have been particularly welcome references that two coaches have made me Cordoba: the teacher and a young Eduardo Burgos value must not stop reading Daniel Hood. Thanks again to everyone. Live the basket with Eduardo Burgos. http://www.viveelbasket.blogspot.com/ Since the track running through my slate. Daniel Hood. http://baloncestodedani.blogspot.com/
And I think
And I think this is all very well, not only because they are pioneers in the matter but also because the application is technically very well done. But as a friend of mine, so they are not all, are stories. So it is better to look at the numbers that have registered the invention in its first seven days of operation: 6,000 users, ranking number 1 in the application of the Apple store in Spain and 23 in USA, 600,000 ad impressions delivered and a CTR of 10 (normal is 0.5 which shows that Real Madrid fans consume what Real Madrid offers something very beneficial for advertisers who wish to contribute to implementation), growing numbers … No doubt , a hit-makers over the marketing department of the whole mobile Castellana (as it was once the draw for the cars of the players, also commented on this blog).Let’s see how long it takes to copy other clubs in the toy.
Personal Background Son
Personal Background Son of Julian Slim Haddad, who arrived in Mexico in 1902 with 14 years, landed at Vera Cruz, whence he went to Tampico, Tamaulipas, where their roots and four of his older brothers.Julian Slim went on to have a nearby National Palace called “Eastern Star”, a family store named after their roots in the Middle East. Shortly achieved commercial success, reaching adem s have more than 20 properties around, becoming a prominent entrepreneur and prominent. His mother, Linda Helu Atta, born in Parral, Chihuahua, the daughter of Jose Helu and Wadiha Atta, Lebanese immigrants in the late nineteenth century came to Mexico and then travel to different cities of the Republic, decided to settle in the capital . Jose Helu Mexico brought the first printing press in Arabic and founded one of the first magazines for the colony Lebanese community in this country. Carlos Slim Helu is a professional Civil Engineer, graduated from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico UNAM. Since he began to invest in buying businesses, which did succeed, as well as buying and selling real estate in downtown Mexico City. In the early ’80s amid a crisis that crippled Mexico and historical capital flight, Carlos Slim and his band were the only ones who make heavy investments in the country, acquiring several companies at a great price. Carlos Slim has said repeatedly that this stage of the country was reminded about what happened his father, Julian Slim, when in 1914 and in full Mexican Revolution buys his older brother, 50 of the business they had in common called “The Eastern Star, “thinking like this in Mexico and at its destination. “If my dad, in full revolution, the country shaken, not yet having a family, being a foreigner and not the roots that gives you the time, relied on Mexico and its future, as I was not going to do,” said Carlos Slim in some of his interviews. Activity of Carlos Slim has been diversifying in different sectors in 1997 acquired the shares of the computer company Apple Computer, just before the release of iMac multiply making his fortune. In 1997, Prodigy became a U.S. Internet provider, Carlos Slim was able to make this company a powerful server from various Internet services to achieve a partnership with MSN123 launching a Spanish portal with Microsoft’s hand. This soon became a leading portal in Mexico. By the time Mr. Carlos Slim ranked third in Forbes as one of the three richest men in the world. Fortuna According to the 2007 list of billionaires, Carlos Slim builds the largest fortune in the world.However, in June, the magazine placed him as the second richest man in the world and other sources outside Forbes (specifically, the analyst Eduardo Garcia) puts him as number one in the list of the biggest billionaires. Although the same article, Forbes magazine says that “Slim’s fortune is in dispute, since it has amassed in a country where per capita income is 6,800 per year plus half the population lives in poverty.
Julius Erving Julius
Julius Erving Julius Winfield Erving II (born 22 February 1950 in Roosevelt, New York), popularly known as Dr. J, is a former American basketball player who excelled in the decades of 70 and 80. He made a career first in the ABA and then in the NBA. Erving won three championships, four MVP awards and three scoring titles in both the ABA Virginia Squires and New York Nets, as in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers. It is the fifth leading scorer in professional basketball history with 30,026 points (NBA and ABA combined). Erving was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history and in 1993 was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was one of the pioneers of mate, popularizing the spectacular “Tomahawk.”
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Day: January 21st, 2007
The God of Hell
Sunday, January 21st, 2007 | All Things, Arts, Eats, Friends
Back at Congee Village for a some pre-play dining. PD and I were waiting in the bar area when SC & JG raced in from their busy day of home hunting. With our entire party accounted for, the hostess seated us in the mezzanine dining room: all exposed brick and bamboo.
Our dinner was tasty and, as usual, an amazingly good value: our meal of Scallion Pancakes, Sauteed Snow Peas Leaf with Garlic, Seafood with Fish Maw Soup (accompanied by a dish of red rice vinegar — one of my favorites!) and Sliced Beef with Black Bean Sauce Chow Fun Noodles, set us back less than $15 apiece.
We braced for the cold walk east to a pocket of the Lower East Side I rarely explore: just north of the Williamsburg Bridge, south of Houston. SC observed that we could be in another city entirely, with the lack of recognizable landmarks; earlier, I had to map the address of the Big Little Theatre on Ridge Street to know where exactly we were headed. “Google maps is the best!” But there it was: nestled among the brick tenements, marked by a vintage sign alluding to the space’s former incarnation as “Arthur’s Dress Shop” (with a missing “R” replaced by a crude plywood cutout.)
The quiet street has not (yet) been overrun by the trendy bars and clubs that have made the Lower Eastpacking District and particularly, nearby Clinton Street, a dining destination in recent years with new restaurants cropping up every few months.
JS, whom I met for the first time this night, was directing tonight’s production of The God of Hell as part of the Michael Chekhov Theatre Company’s Sam Shepard Festival. The company is presenting every one of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s (45+!) works in this 20-month festival, which runs through December 2007.
The farcical political comedy was written by Shepard as a response to the post-September 11 political climate. Clearly intended as a criticism of the Bush-Cheney administration, the play debuted in previews barely a week before the 2004 presidential elections — probably too late to have deep impact on the voters’ minds. It was first produced at The Actors Studio Drama School by a cast that included Tim Roth and Randy Quaid. The work has since played in London, DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles (where it was directed by Seinfeld alum Jason Alexander.)
The three-scene story revolves around a rural Wisconsin dairy farmer and his wife, and how their peaceful middle-American life is tranformed into an Orwellian nightmare by a mysterious, ultra-patriotic government employee who descends on their farmhouse unannounced and in pursuit of the couple’s visiting guest. Along the way, there are sly, euphemistic references to military secrets and torture (i.e., “aggressive interrogation”) and covert medical experimentation; the title itself is a coded reference to plutonium.
JS made some savvy modifications to the play for this NYC production (running through February 11), which PD had keyed me into before dinner. Notably, he opted to cast the farming couple as dark-skinned South Asians with distinct non-native accents. Without making any other adjustments to the plot or script, the shift underscored the current culture of suspicion that surrounds non-whites in this country, rendering the already aggressive scenes far more tense and disturbing.
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Industries › Commercial Real Estate
Meridian Group acquires class A office building in Reston
The Meridian Group said Monday that it has acquired a Class A office building near the Dulles Toll Road and the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station in Reston. The price was not disclosed.
The Bethesda, Md.-based real estate investment and development firm purchased the 216,239-square-foot building at 11111 Sunset Hills Road from Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners. HFF represented Beacon in the transaction.
“This was an exceptional opportunity to acquire a Class A office building in an excellent location in a growing Reston submarket,” Gary Block, managing director of The Meridian Group, said in a statement. “The building is attractive for a number of reasons: It’s within walking distance of Metro, it has high visibility from the Dulles Toll Road, it’s ideally situated in a mixed-use neighborhood, and it attracts and includes investment-grade credit tenants.”
The property, which Meridian says is 80 percent leased, is close to a number of Reston retail hubs, including Reston Town Center and Plaza America. It’s also close to Comstock’s Reston Station, a mixed-use development that’s under construction. When completed, Reston Station will feature luxury apartments, a full-service hotel, restaurants and street-level retail in an urban plaza.
The Meridian Group continues to be an active investor in the D.C. metropolitan area. Since 2011, when Meridian completed its first discretionary private-equity fund, the firm has acquired $1.2 billion in assets in the region.
In addition to 11111 Sunset Hills Road, the firm also is developing The Boro, a 3.7-million-square-foot, mixed-use development in the heart of Tysons on Greensboro Drive. Located near the Greensboro Metro station, The Boro will offer mix of offices, apartments, condominiums, upscale stores, restaurants and entertainment.
YOLO: Tattoos and mortgages
By Michael O'Connor
Volvo Trucks expansion to add 777 jobs
By Veronica Garabelli | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Levco expands Hampton Roads holdings
Michael O'Connor | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Spruced-up NoVA office park adding, relocating tenants
Chesapeake business center property lures $1.2 million investment
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Filtering by Category: King's Mill Park
Action at the King's Mill Park landfill
Published on August 19, 2002 by Dylan Neild.
There's action at the King's Mill Park landfill!
Monday was the first chance we've had to take the Angus Bruce up the Humber River since it arrived in Toronto. Imagine our surprise when Mark Mattson and I rounded a bend in the river just after 6:00 and saw mounds of gravel, city trucks, and a backhoe on site.
It was almost exactly one year ago that we took our first samples from the old landfill site, which was (and still is) leaking contaminants into the Humber River. When rain falls, two things happen:
King's Mill Park blog
Visit to the Wendigo Creek
Published on March 11, 2002 by Dylan Neild.
I met with David McAlpine at his house on Wendigo Way. Dave wanted to test some leachate we had found earlier this month. The residents of the area are concerned with migrating pollution from an old gas station that was on the corner, above their property. The property is being looked at for redevelopment and the local residents are concerned about the effects of doing this.
We returned to the area along the creek where Mark, David and I had spotted orange leachate coming out of the sides of the bank of the creek and spilling into it about a month earlier. The leachate leaves a very visible sheen on the water, a lot like gasoline would do if in a puddle.
I took three sample jars of the leachate for laboratory testing. It was obvious to me that this leachate was not the result of a natural occurrence, as it not only had a very unnatural color to it but it also had a strong distinct smell to it (very similar to the smell of the leachate found at King's Mill Park).
David had a very well graphed out analysis of the landscape which showed that the water flow for that area would travel from the location of the old gas station to the area where we discovered the leachate.
I dated and labeled the samples, sealed them, and placed them into a cooler for transport to the laboratory in Burlington. David accompanied me to the lab and on route he explained that if he could show that the leachate was coming from the old gas station that his community would have a chance of getting it cleaned up and could prevent further damage to the area by bringing this concern to the people who are planning to construct condo's on the old gas station site.
-- Eric Mattson
City of Toronto under investigation after watchdog exposes 'dirty secrets'
Published on October 22, 2001 by Dylan Neild.
"Acutely lethal" doses of ammonia, PCBs, and PAHs are pouring into the Humber River from the King's Mill Park landfill in Toronto's west end. The closed waste disposal site - just one of seventy-seven in Toronto - is classified by Ontario's Ministry of Environment (MOE) as hazardous to human health.
Report on the King's Mill Park landfill site
Dear Mark Mattson:
This site, which is now closed and utilized as parkland, is situated on the westerly side of and adjacent to the Humber River, south of Bloor Street West. The site is bounded on the north by Old Mill Terrace and on the west by Park Lawn Cemetery. The Humber Valley Yacht Club is situated at the southerly boundary of the site.
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Mandhol Raid by 9th Para SF
July 26, 2017 July 26, 2017 Harsh Bardhan Mishra
After some minor tasks at Madarpur, picquet No 405 at Satwal (the group was given a worth while job at Mandhol, a village about 12 miles South-West of Punch (Map 28). Close to this village was a Pakistani battery of six 122mm Chinese made guns. This battery supported the enemy position at Duruchhian, and was a great nuisance to own 93 and 120Infantry Brigades. On the night of December 13/14, 14 Grenadiers were to attack Duruchhian; Major-General Kundan Singh, Commander of 25th Infantry Division, decided that the Para Commandos should get rid of the guns at Mandhol at the same time. The group, together with Captain D Tyagi, the OP officer from 195 Mountain Regiment, reached Dhip at 5 PM, on Dec 13. After a short halt for an early dinner, they left for Mandhol, and reached a point on the East bank of the Punch River opposite the village by 10.30PM. It was lucky for the Commandos that the villages on the way were empty, and they encountered no enemy patrols. Wading through the waist-deep water, the group soon climbed on to the spur north of the village. A search showed that it was absolutely deserted, except for an old man.
He was quite helpful, and told the search party that the guns were located about a thousand yards from his house. Half an hour before midnight, our artillery opened up at Duruchhian in preparation for the Grenadiers’ attack. The guns at Mandhol soon began to answer; that helped the commandos to locate the position of each gun. Raid Cdr split his group into seven assault teams and support detachments to cover the move of the assault teams to their targets. About half an hour after midnight, when the teams had taken up position for the assault, the support detachment started for the place from which it was to cover them. Soon, the scouts observed a sentry post on a bunker, they crawled up from behind to finish him. He was killed, but the scuffle woke up the inmates of the bunker. Meanwhile, an enemy gunner spotted one of the teams crouching for attack; he raised the alarm. This became the signal for the assault. ‘For the next 10 minutes; says the battalion War diary, there was utter confusion while a hand-to-hand fight went on. Then there was a bang: No 2 Team led by Naib Subedar Zile Singh had blown up one of the guns. Unfortunately, it was loaded, and the bursting of the HE shell blew its barrel into bits, the flash temporarily blinding a few of the commandos. By 2 AM, the commandos had gained complete control of the gun area and they systematically dealt with the remaining five guns. Many of the enemy lay dead; other had run for their lives. Having finished its mission, the group withdrew around 3 AM. The men naturally felt the elation that comes from success. The group suffered 16 casualties in this action, two other ranks killed, and 14 wounded (including an Officer and a JCO). C Group was attached to 80 Infantry Brigade on December 17 for a repeat performance at Chauki. But after the troops had moved to forward assembly areas, the operation was called off due to the cease-fire.
Lance Havildar Yeshwant Singh of C Group had the distinction of winning two awards for conspicuous gallantry during the operations. He received the Vir Chakra for his part in the action at Nagali, and a Sena Medal for the raid at Mandhol. Other recipients of awards in the battalion were Capt MA Kariappa and Second-Lieutenant AV Taskar; both were awarded the Sena Medal. The Battalion commander and an NCO were mentioned in despatches. The above action was part of operations carried out in the Western sector during the Indo-Pak War of 1971. Apart from the destruction of guns, ammunition and other vital equipment, the Pakistanis suffered 37 killed, 41 wounded and a great loss of face. This raid, launched at a crucial time to enable India’s 25th Infantry Division to continue their operations on Daruchian (a Pakistani occupied post). For overall operations in this sector, the Para Commandos were awarded the Battle Honour, ‘Defence of Poonch’ in the 1971 war. This is the one and only classical raid ever executed by the Indian Special Forces.
The ‘Mandhol’ operation had so deep an impact on the Pak Army that it had to raise the second line of troops to secure their artillery guns thereby making a change in its war doctrine.
“We started around 5.30pm on December 13 with one company comprising six officers and around 120 men of 9 Para Commando unit led by Major C M Malhotra,” Col Pathak told TOI. During the fight, many soldiers of Pakistan army were killed while several fled. The raiding party of Indians lost two of its men while 20 were wounded.”It was also an uphill task to return to our territory with wounded soldiers and the body of a soldier. Cots, taken from villages, were improvised and turned into stretchers to carry the wounded soldiers. We reached our post at 6.30am,” Pathak recounted.
He, however, has one grouse that their feat was recognised only when the delegations of the Pakistan Army, after the ceasefire, narrated the heroic act carried out by the Indian troops at Mandhol.
“The act of the raiding team did not fetch it many gallantry awards, but for the overall operations in the Poonch sector, the Para Commandos were awarded the ‘Battle Honour’ in the 1971 war. What can be more proud for the Para Commandos that the operation carried out by them is part of the curriculum of IMA,” Pathak said.
Pathak further revealed that it was a cold night and they had to cross waist-deep water of Poonch river to reach Mandole.
A) 9th Battalion The Parachute Regiment (Special Forces).
B) Indiatimes
Was the Recent Indian Army Raid in Myanmar True or…
Weapons Used by Para Commandos
Uri Attack : Para SF Cross LoC into Pakistan…
How Indian Para Commandos killed 50 terrorists, hit…
Government decides not to Release the Video of…
Do You Know that the Para SF Units used flame…
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Six-man’s roots in Wyoming
With the time period I’m exploring right now, it only makes sense that I’m also finding my interest in the roots of six-man football being piqued, as well.
The late 1930s and early 1940s were an amazing time for the development of six-man football in Wyoming. The six-man game, of course, started in 1934 in Chester, Neb., the brainchild of coach Stephen Epler. The first six-man game was played on Sept. 26, 1934, and by the late 1930s the game had spread across the Midwest states — including Wyoming.
Actually, the game didn’t take long to cross the eastern border from Huskerland. The Moorcroft Chamber of Commerce page references Moorcroft beating Gillette in Wyoming’s first six-man game in 1934 — the year of the game’s introduction. I haven’t dug into finding out more about this game yet, but you can bet I will soon…
Anyway, the six-man game really took off, and by 1941, more than 30 teams in the Equality State were playing the sport. In fact, in 1941, some of the smaller schools in the southeastern corner (Yoder, Veteran, Chugwater, Hawk Springs, Huntley and LaGrange) organized a TOUCH six-man league. LaGrange beat Chugwater 7-6 in the championship game that year… but Hawk Springs was so intrigued by the game that the Hawks actually suited up and played a couple full-contact games that season (they lost to Glenrock, one of the best six-man teams in the state that season, 20-16, then later lost again to the Herders 25-0 and to Albin on Armistice Day).
This research also turned up something interesting: a school in Fort Washakie. I didn’t know Fort Washakie had a high school before the current incarnation of Fort Washakie Charter, but apparently it did. I don’t know much about the school — the team was generically referred to as the Indians, their colors were never listed and photos of the team never appeared, so if you know more about the Fort Washakie school, let me know.
Who was all involved in this? Well, by 1941, Byron, Cowley, Deaver-Frannie, Burlington, Meeteetse, Manderson, Ten Sleep, Worland Institute (the boys school), Shoshoni, Pavillion and Fort Washakie out of the Northwest; Big Piney, Pinedale, Lyman, Reliance, Superior, Snake River, Saratoga, Encampment, Farson and Hanna out of the Southwest; Arvada, Big Horn, Dayton, Ranchester, Clearmont, Moorcroft and, sometimes, Upton out of the Northeast; and Glenrock, Manville, Glendo, Burns, Carpenter, Pine Bluffs, Albin, Guernsey and Hawk Springs out of the Southeast, were playing six-man with some form of regularity.
Then, on Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor happened, and America reorganized its priorities, nearly snuffing out six-man in Wyoming for good. Many small schools postponed play for the duration of the war, or played seasons in which travel restrictions limited the squads to one or two games for the entire season. The programs in Fort Washakie, Carpenter and Hawk Springs didn’t survive past the war; the others came back, eventually, but only a select few survived intact in either six-man or 11-man forms through to today.
There are a couple reasons I am so interested in six-man’s history. One is pretty clear: Six-man football came back to Wyoming in 2009. The new classification has renewed my interest in digging into the archives. Second, it seems like every time I find something, it leads me somewhere else. The intertwining paths these schools followed are pretty amazing. Third, as I work backward, I keep searching for indications that I’m coming close to the end of this research… and if I can get to 1933, I can probably come close to closing the history on 30-some Wyoming football programs… and that gets me jazzed. 🙂
Anyway, here are some more six-man linkages:
Click here for a story from American Profile with a reference in the comments section to the six-man winning streak record Byron set back in the day (and how it was broken by some school in South Dakota)
Click here for a historical six-man page with copies of some of the original news articles from 1934
Click here for a Sublette.com page that references Pinedale’s first six-man game in October 1938
Newsbreak: More title game talk
WHSAA opens football title games to bids (Casper Star-Tribune). … WHSAA made the right decision (Wyoming Tribune Eagle).
WHSAA Newsbreak
The WHSAA approves 2010 title games in Laramie and struggles with Cheyenne South’s classification.
What you need to know: South will be 3A in football in 2011 and 4A in 2012; other sports will depend on South’s enrollment figures. As for Laramie, the board approved going back to Laramie by a 13-4 vote, but they’ve got some kinks in the system yet to figure out how to keep from making this decision on an annual basis….
Five Minute Introduction: Natrona
School: Natrona
Nickname: Mustangs
Stadium: Cheney Alumni Field
State championships: 1975, 1985, 1996, 1999 and 2003
Times worth remembering: Few teams won as consistently for as long as the Mustangs did in the 1970s. For the 11 seasons from 1970-80, NC finished a combined 78-20-1, with the worst record in that span 6-3 marks in 1973 and 1977. Oddly enough, though, the Mustangs only won one state championship in those 11 years.
Times worth forgetting: Losing seasons don’t happen often in west Casper, so what happened in 1990-92 is almost hard to believe. The Mustangs had losing seasons all three of those years, at one point losing 14 consecutive games, as the program transitioned from Mike Ragan to Steve Harshman. Of course, it only took NC two more years to get back into a championship game, and then two more after that to win a title.
Best team: NC has had some great teams, but none were as dominating as the 10-0 state championship team from 1999. The Mustangs outscored opponents by an average of 44-6 and won every regular-season game by at least 35 points. NC had 10 first-team all-state players that season and a record five first-team Casper Star-Tribune Super 25 players.
Biggest win: The Mustangs of the early 1960s were consistent — always solid, always among the top teams in the state, but always an also-ran to Laramie’s rolling dynasty. That all changed on Sept. 13, 1963. Laramie came to Casper with its record 34-game winning streak, but left 28-0 losers to an inspired bunch of Mustangs who let the Plainsmen offense past midfield on only one possession the entire game. NC finished with a 9-0 mark — its first unbeaten season in decades — and its first solo claim on a state championship since 1948.
Heartbreaker: The 1980 Oil Bowl was a clash of unbeatens — 8-0 Natrona vs. 8-0 Kelly Walsh. The winner was the conference champion and earned the right to play in the state championship game; the loser stayed home with an 8-1 record and the nagging question of what might have been. It was NC that stayed home. The Trojans scored on a long touchdown in the first minute and overwhelmed the Mustangs 28-13. KW beat Rock Springs the next week to win the state championship; from there, NC posted three consecutive losing seasons, losing to KW in all three of those seasons, and longtime Mustangs coach Art Hill retired after the last of those in 1983, his last, best chance at a championship denied by that one Oil Bowl loss in ’80.
Natrona team page.
1984 Class 1A all-state team
Got it! The all-state page is now updated with these dudes’ names.
Newsbreak: Title games
WHSAA will vote on return to Laramie (Casper Star-Tribune).
Updates: Deaver-Frannie, Burlington, Midwest, Guernsey, Glenrock, Star Valley, Jackson
A couple small updates I’ve squeezed in between work on term papers:
Coaches Project: I’ve added coaches for Chugwater, Cowley, Guernsey, Manderson and Sunrise.
I knocked three games off the missing games list: Deaver-Frannie’s 29-0 victory over Burlington on Sept. 28, 1956, Midwest’s 12-0 victory over the Natrona JV on Sept. 28, 1956, and Guernsey’s 24-16 victory over Glenrock on Oct. 12, 1951.
I also corrected the score of the Star Valley-Jackson game last season. It was 41-16 Star Valley; I had 41-13. Thanks to Dahl Erickson up at the Star Valley Independent for catching that one!
It’s time for Jerry Hill to get his due
Stumbling through some six-man football research last week, I found something interesting.
It took me a moment to fit the pieces together.
And now that I have, I’ve convinced myself these pieces form some kind of anti-Wyoming conspiracy, somehow tied to the “Wyoming doesn’t exist” craze or the Sacajawea grave debate.
The center of this omission centers on mid-to-late-1950s six-man football in Wyoming (don’t all the greatest debates start here?). More specifically, it has to do with Lingle’s Jerry Hill, and his tie to another NFL great, Jack Pardee.
Numerous sources — Wikipedia, the San Antonio Express-News, TXPrepsFootball, chacha.com and a ton of others — list Pardee as the only former six-man high school player to ever make it to the NFL.
Well, as we in Wyoming know, Pardee isn’t alone.
Hill was, of course, a star at the University of Wyoming (he was voted by fans as the school’s best player of the 20th century) before playing in the NFL with the Baltimore Colts for nearly a decade, including appearances in two Super Bowls. He has long been revered in Wyoming for his gridiron exploits in Laramie and Maryland… but his start in Goshen County has been obscured by the passage of time.
Conversely, Hill doesn’t get much credit for his six-man high school experiences in Lingle. In fact, Googling Jerry Hill’s name in combination with the terms “six-man” or “6-man” turns up nothing about what Hill did for the Lingle Doggers back in the late 1950s.
Why does Pardee get the credit and not Hill? Well, I’m sure that has something to do with tradition. Six-man football is quite the tradition in Texas, where Pardee played in high school and college; in Wyoming, the fall traditions are more closely tied to the brown and gold team in Laramie and to killing things. Hopefully, though, this little blog post keeps Pardee from taking ALL of the credit for six-man success in the NFL.
Not that Pardee would, of course. It’s just that for a long time Hill hasn’t had his due in leading the charge for six-man players’ NFL aspirations.
Five Minute Introduction: Deaver-Frannie
School: Deaver-Frannie
Times worth remembering: The span from 1973-75 was the best three-year stretch for the Trojans, as they went 6-3, 9-0 and 8-1 in those years respectively. At one point, D-F won 15 games in a row.
Times worth forgetting: The Trojans had a tough go of it in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, finishing 1959-62 without a winning season. Deaver-Frannie only won seven games in those four seasons.
Best team: It’s a toss-up between the 1971 team and the 1974 team, both of which went 9-0. But the nod goes to the ’74 squad, which didn’t have any games closer than a 38-13 victory over Burlington.
Biggest win: Despite all its success — the Trojans won more than 58 percent of their games from 1947-76 — Deaver-Frannie never made the playoffs. Even so, the biggest game in the school’s history might have been a 26-22 victory over Byron on Oct. 8, 1971. That game basically assured the Trojans the Bighorn Basin championship in a 9-0 season and helped vault the Trojans into third place in the final UPI poll (four Class B-C teams went undefeated that year).
Heartbreaker: The only game that kept the Trojans from back-to-back undefeated seasons in 1974 and ’75 was a 26-18 loss to Cowley on Sept. 26, 1975. Deaver-Frannie later avenged that loss, beating Cowley 58-28 on Oct. 31 that season, but the one loss gave the Trojans their lone blemish on a two-year run as the best eight-man team in the state.
Deaver-Frannie team page.
My YouTube collection
So it’s late Friday night in Laramie, Wyoming. I could be out having fun. Or I could be writing one of my three final papers that are due next week. Or I could be working out, or sleeping, or any one of a hundred other productive things. Instead, I’m posting my favorite Wyoming high school videos from YouTube here.
The first (and possibly coolest, IMHO) video is a film strip of a Green River-Evanston game. I’m guessing it’s from the early 1960s, based on the uniforms, but I can’t be sure. It’s only 30 seconds long but it’s a great 30 seconds… click here to watch it.
Second is a solid pic/sound compilation from the Jackson Hole News & Guide of the 2007 4A championship between Buffalo and Jackson… click here to watch it.
Third is the Gillette Public Access highlights from the 2008 5A title game between Gillette and Green River. Remember that one? Yeah, it was good…. click here to watch it.
Fourth is the Buffalo “rap” video with lots of highlights from the 2005 Bison season… yeah that 22-game streak was pretty amazing. The rap? Well… click here to watch it.
Fifth is a two-for-one, the videos from the “Line of Scrimmage” thing a couple years ago about Big Piney that ran on Monday Night Football. Any time folks from Cali come out to Wyoming for 2A football, I smile…. Click here for the first and click here for the second.
Anyway, if you’ve got a favorite, feel free to post it below.
Oh, and because I can’t resist… one more, even though it’s not Wyoming it’s awesome.
Now I’ve put a dent in your Friday night, too.
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Complete Collection of Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ Cover Shoot Photos Going to Auction
The complete set of photos taken for the cover of the Beatles' 'Abbey Road' album is headed for the auction block in November, where the signed and numbered set is expected to fetch up to $110,000.
Captured during a brief photo shoot on Aug. 8, 1969, the group's 'Abbey Road' crossing is one of the handful of rock 'n' roll album covers that can genuinely be called iconic, and remains a favorite subject of parody and/or homage. Over time, the Abbey Road crosswalk has developed into one of the U.K.'s busier tourist attractions, to the point where it has its own webcam and has, in recent years, has drawn public safety concern for the many pedestrians that habitually clog the road.
The auction, scheduled for Nov. 21, is believed to be the only time all of photographer Iain Macmillan's shots have been collected and sold this way. "To see the full collection of photographs together is a rare and fascinating opportunity for fans of the Beatles, music and photography," enthused Sarah Wheeler, head of photography for Bloomsbury Auctions. "We are delighted to be offering them at auction and anticipate worldwide interest for this famous and timeless suite."
Fab Four fans who don't have the deep pockets this sale will require are still invited to take a look at the collection, which will be on display starting Nov. 16 through the sale.
Next: Top 50 Beatles Songs
Source: Complete Collection of Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ Cover Shoot Photos Going to Auction
Filed Under: the beatles
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28 Years Ago Today: Alan Jackson Inducted Into Grand Ole Opry
Alan Jackson was only two albums into what would become a legendary career when he was recognized with one of the most important career honors in country music. On June 7, 1991, Jackson was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, just over a year after making his debut on the hallowed stage.
Jackson helped usher in a wave of new traditionalists in 1990 with the release of his debut album, Here in the Real World. The album spawned a string of hits including the title track, "Wanted," "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow" and "I'd Love You All Over Again." He made his Opry debut on March 3, 1990, just days after the album's release on Feb. 27. Jackson — whose previous day job had involved delivering mail to the Opry — had always dreamed of playing at the country music institution, and he performed "Here in the Real World" during his debut.
Why Alan Jackson Is Country's Last Outlaw
Jackson's run of hits and genuine country approach soon made it clear he was an artist with a true commitment to traditional country values and a long career ahead. He released his second album, Don't Rock the Jukebox, on May 14, 1991, and just weeks later, Roy Acuff and Randy Travis were on hand to induct him into the Opry.
“The ultimate dream when you’re in country music is to be asked to join the Grand Ole Opry," Jackson reflects. “You think about people like Hank Williams, and Mr. Acuff, and George Jones, who stood on that spot of wood. That’s what makes you so nervous — to think about the historical part of the Opry and how it’s played such a part in country music.”
You've Never Seen Anything Like Alan Jackson's Crazy Mansion!
Source: 28 Years Ago Today: Alan Jackson Inducted Into Grand Ole Opry
Filed Under: alan jackson
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The story of British officer T.E. Lawrence’s mission to aid the Arab tribes in their revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Lawrence becomes a flamboyant, messianic…
Genre: Adventure, Drama, History, War
Captain Jack Sparrow crosses paths with a woman from his past, and he’s not sure if it’s love — or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s using him to…
Scorpion Season 2 Episode 22
Team Scorpion is hired by the Department of Defense to break into Fort Knox and “steal” a precious artifact in order to test their security, but they must break in…
Episode Title: Hard Knox
Serie: Scorpion
Miles Morales is juggling his life between being a high school student and being a spider-man. When Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk uses a super collider, others from across the Spider-Verse are…
Genre: Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Science Fiction
A student must overcome bullies and hardships, both academic and romantic, in order to win his college’s coveted Student of the Year trophy.
CDC researcher Abby Arcane investigates what seems to be a deadly swamp-born virus in a small town in Louisiana but she soon discovers that the swamp holds mystical and terrifying…
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers
Area 51, flying saucers from another world – and the program to create a fierce technology. Bob Lazar remains the singular most famous and controversial name in the world of…
Swamp Thing Season 1 Episode 5
Episode Title: Episode 5
Serie: Swamp Thing
The misadventures of a group of friends as they navigate the pitfalls of work, life and love in Manhattan.
Animal Kingdom Season 4 Episode 2
J reconsiders his relationship with Smurf after he gets bad news about Morgan’s death. Frankie lures Craig with the promise of another big score. The arrival of an old family…
Episode Title: Angela
Serie: Animal Kingdom
Spider-Ham: Caught in a Ham
Genre: Action, Animation, Comedy, Family
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, young Thomas is deposited in a community of boys after his memory is erased, soon learning they’re all trapped in a maze that will require…
Genre: Action, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller
Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.
Two teenagers, David and Hugo, meet by chance on a canoe ride in the Amazon. This documentary follows their lives as David begins a fair-trade certification system for oil production…
Country: USA, Ecuador
Praana
A young woman decides to lead a solitary life in an old mansion, where she soon realizes that the nature surrounding her has other plans for her.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror
Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his…
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I'm so excited about the burgeoning conversation on this site! Thanks for your comments.
I wanted to respond to one comment in particular. Meg, from A Practical Wedding (a site I frequent nearly every day), said:
"I think it's important to remember that people can spend different amounts of money (and for different reasons) and still make things work out in a calm simple manner. For us, our parents wanted to feed people a bit more formally then we might have cared about, and have a lot of relatives, and were willing to help pay for that option, so that is fine for us."
I definitely don't ever want to seem dogmatic on 2000dollarwedding. I agree with Meg that different people can spend different amounts. $2000 was a very arbitrary number. It felt like enough to host a big event for our friends and family but not too much to put us in debt, force us to ask our families for money, or detract us from our goal of buying a house four days after our wedding.
I think it's important, though, to be very careful about the influence we let our families have on our weddings. Matt's family was super-eager to help out with our wedding, and I imagine they would have planned something more formal than a self-catered reception. At times, I even doubted that Matt and I could pull it off.
In the end, however, I am so, so glad we followed our own path, independent of our families' preferences. A few hours before the ceremony and the reception, a dozen or more of our closest friends descended upon the kitchen in the main house of Sunshine Mountain Lodge. Kevin was in charge of the bean and corn salad, Andy the salsa, me the guacamole, Brian and Christa the seven-layer dip, and Brent the fajitas. On top of that, we had tons of sous-chefs chopping away. Occasionally, people would wander in and shout, "Who needs help?" One of us would respond with, "Here, chop these onions" or "Please dice these tomatoes!"
At the reception, everyone raved about how fresh and tasty the food was (Editor's Note: I'm particularly skeptical of this kind of feedback because, honestly, are people really going to say, "Wow, Sara, the food isn't that good"?).
But near the end of the reception, into the wee hours of the morning, I wandered into the living room and came upon three of Matt's friends. They all talked about how much they enjoyed the wedding, about how they wanted to take our wedding binder so they could have the exact same wedding. When I assured them that their fiances would want to plan their own weddings, one of them added, "Well, you'll have to work with her to plan it then."
I turned the flattery back on them and thanked them--profusely--for all their help. I explained that we seriously could not have done it without their contributions. One of them said, "We liked the wedding so much because we got to help. We really felt like we were part of it."
It's a moment that will stay with me long after some of the other details fade. It's a moment I wouldn't have had if Matt and I had been afraid of conflict with our family. I think families need to realize that their children's weddings should wholeheartedly reflect their children, not themselves. It's hard because we are extensions of our families, branches that connect to the main trunk. But ultimately, a wedding should be a pure and true expression of the couple getting married.
Labels: DIY, Reception
And for the record, I totally dig the way you guys did this. It seems like it was so right for you and I love that. It's interesting, I think I want to write a post about family influences in weddings. In some ways I see how it can be a "whoa Nelly!" kind of bad thing, but for us I think it's been a really good thing.
Anyway, I'm loving all this!
bursty said...
yet another great post! i'd like to get my hands on your wedding binder, too! we're going to self-cater our wedding, much to the shaggrin of our families, and they are very worried that people are going to "go hungry" - although i'm slightly worried about pulling it off, i think it will be fresher and more "us" than a big ol' catered dinner... thanks for the inspiration ;)
i just got back from a wedding where i was a bridesmaid and this post really struck a chord with me. i think i enjoyed the wedding so much partly because i felt like i was behind the scenes and included. (it wasn't really diy but as a bridesmaid i had a bunch of duties.)
and i bet that is how your guests felt: included. especially guys who don't usually get to do these kinds of things and let's face it, like to feel needed.
way to stick it to the wedding machine!
The last paragraph of your post especially struck me, it was beautifully put. We haven't had many disagreements with our families about the wedding (well, my mom hates everything we're doing and won't say anything nice, but she's not really trying to change my mind). But we're doing a lot of things ourselves and asking friends to help, not what my very traditional future mother in law expects, and that has led to some interesting conversations. My fiance and I have, since the beginning, joined forces to stay true to the wedding we want, not the wedding our parents want. We want to be good hosts, and if something we're doing doesn't match that, we hope someone will point that out, but other than that, we want to be free to have and do things that express us as a couple, not just another cookie cutter wedding.
I originally really wanted a wedding similar to what you had, but our guest list is just too big for it to be practical. We're still asking friends and family to help with a lot of things, though, and hope that way we'll get to spend more time with them and they'll come away having felt like they contributed to a wonderful day.
I love reading all the ways your family and friends assisting in your wedding and reception.
Thank you so much for posting these blogs on self catering. I have decided to self cater for all the same reasons and am getting resistance from all sides, except my fiancee and bridesmaids, they love the idea and are looking forward to spending time in the kitchen with us. Showing these posts to respective mothers should assure them that we are not totally insane and that YES, you can have a wedding without a caterer, YES, people do that!! Thanks again, I love your blog.
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Net (mathematics)
Net (Chinese constellation)
O2 (United Kingdom)
Africa (film)
Mother (Natalie Maines album)
Mother (Kubb album)
Mother (Susumu Yokota album)
In mathematics, more specifically in general topology and related branches, a net or Moore–Smith sequence is a generalization of the notion of a sequence. In essence, a sequence is a function with domain the natural numbers, and in the context of topology, the codomain of this function is usually any topological space. However, in the context of topology, sequences do not fully encode all information about a function between topological spaces. In particular, the following two conditions are not equivalent in general for a map f between topological spaces X and Y:
The map f is continuous (in the topological sense)
Given any point x in X, and any sequence in X converging to x, the composition of f with this sequence converges to f(x) (continuous in the sequential sense)
It is true, however, that condition 1 implies condition 2. The difficulty encountered when attempting to prove that condition 2 implies condition 1 lies in the fact that topological spaces are, in general, not first-countable. If the first-countability axiom were imposed on the topological spaces in question, the two above conditions would be equivalent. In particular, the two conditions are equivalent for metric spaces.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Net_(mathematics)
The Net mansion (simplified Chinese: 毕宿; traditional Chinese: 畢宿; pinyin: Bì Xiù) is one of the Twenty-eight mansions of the Chinese constellations. It is one of the western mansions of the White Tiger.
Asterisms
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Net_(Chinese_constellation)
Telefónica UK Limited (trading as O2 – stylised as O2) is a telecommunications services provider in the United Kingdom owned by Telefónica. It is the second-largest mobile telecommunications provider in the United Kingdom after EE Limited, and is headquartered in Slough.
O2 was formed in 1985 as Cellnet, a 60:40 joint venture between BT Group and Securicor. In 1999, BT Group acquired Securicor's 40 percent share of Cellnet and the company was later rebranded as BT Cellnet. In June 2000 BT Cellnet launched the world’s first commercial General Packet Radio Service. BT Cellnet, together with BT Group's mobile telecommunications businesses in Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands were part of the BT Wireless division. This was spun off from the BT Group in 2002 to form a new holding company, mmO2 plc, which introduced the new "O2" brand for the businesses. mmO2 plc was subsequently renamed O2 plc.
O2 plc was purchased by the Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica in 2005 for £18 billion. Under the terms of the acquisition, Telefónica agreed to retain the "O2" brand and the company's UK headquarters. O2 plc became Telefónica Europe.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/O2_(United_Kingdom)
Africa is a 1930 Walter Lantz cartoon short featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Oswald was riding through the Egyptian desert on his camel. The camel, though looking real on the exterior, is actually mechanical because of the two ball-shaped pistons inside which Oswald manipulates with his feet like bike pedals. One day, a lion was running toward them. To defend himself, Oswald brought out a rifle but it malfunctioned. As a final resort, Oswald fired the ball pistons from the camel like a cannon and aimed into the lion's mouth. Terrified by its lumpy back, the lion runs away in panic.
Nearby where he is, Oswald saw an oasis and a palace. Upon seeing the apes dance and play instruments, the curious rabbit decides to join the fun. As he entered the palace, Oswald was greeted by the queen. The queen asked him who he is, and Oswald introduced himself in a song as well as giving advice for a possibly better lifestyle. Pleased by his visit, the queen asked Oswald if he would like to be her king. Oswald was at first uncertain, knowing he never met a queen, but immediately accepted. It turns out momentarily that the queen still has a king who shows up then throws Oswald out of the palace and into a pond full of crocodiles. Luckily, Oswald escapes unscathed and runs off into the desert.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Africa_(film)
Mother is the first solo studio album by American singer Natalie Maines, best known as the lead vocalist of the Dixie Chicks. It was released on May 7, 2013.
Mother is Natalie Maines' first album since the Dixie Chicks' Grammy-sweeping Taking the Long Way in 2006, and comes ten years after the Dixie Chicks were boycotted and banned by country radio for Maines' criticism of U.S. President George W. Bush in 2003. In her seven-year absence from the recording industry, Maines expressed a lack of interest in modern country music.
In June 2012, Maines announced the project on a Howard 100 News broadcast, stating, "I'm making an album, I think." On October 6, she confirmed on Twitter that it would be a rock album, and her first without the Dixie Chicks. Recording completed on December 19. It will include both original music and covers.
The title track, a cover of Pink Floyd's "Mother", debuted on the West of Memphis soundtrack on January 15, 2013. On February 27, Maines and Harper performed songs from the album in a private concert at The Troubadour.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Mother_(Natalie_Maines_album)
Mother is the debut album of British band Kubb. It was released on 14 November 2005 in the UK on the Mercury Records label. It reached a peak of #26 the week of 13 February 2006. The album was never released in the US, although some versions have surfaced stateside (these versions removed the track "Bitch," bringing the album down to 11 tracks).
"Remain" - 3:36
"I Don't Mind" - 3:49
"Somebody Else" - 2:54
"Wicked Soul" - 3:46
"Grow" - 5:13
"If I Can't Have You" - 3:26
"Alcatraz" - 3:18
"Chemical" - 6:06
"Sun" - 3:10
"Without You" - 3:56
"Bitch" - 3:37
"Burn Again" - 4:32
Somebody Else / Alcatraz (30 May 2005)
Remain (22 August 2005)
Wicked Soul (7 November 2005)
Grow (6 February 2006)
Remain (re-issue) (1 May 2006)
B-sides (in order by single release)
"Lady Nightmare"
"Bus Stop"
"Remain" (Youth Edit)
"Somebody Else" (Live XFM Session)
"Wicked Soul" (Acoustic)
"Wicked Soul" (Live At V Festival)
"Lucille"
"Come Inside"
"Wicked Soul" (Tim Bran Remix)
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Mother is a studio album by Susumu Yokota, released in 2009.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Mother_(Susumu_Yokota_album)
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Recommended ACT Priorities for Action: HIV (Detailed Version)
DETAILED VERSION > Includes priorities document, references and further information.
PLAIN ENGLISH VERSION WEBPAGE > For those not familiar with complex health and medical terminology >
Download Plain English PDF : HIVPriorities-Plain-English.pdf
Download Full Version PDF : HIVPriorities-Full-Version.pdf
Implement targeted and evidence-based prevention programs to meet the United Nations and Australian target of zero new transmissions, focusing on working with young people and at-risk communities, supporting peer based approaches and promoting access to new and emerging prevention treatments;
Increase provision of accessible testing for HIV and other STIs (including rapid testing), with a focus on supporting at-risk communities and providing testing in community based settings;
Improve implementation of best practice treatment of HIV in the community, increasing early treatment of HIV and promoting peer support models as a key delivery mechanism; Support treatments cascade and implement appropriate support for ‘the other 10%’.
Increase provision of care and support services for people diagnosed and impacted by HIV and their families, ensuring that this is continued to be person centred, peer based and community based wherever possible. In this, ensure that services are meeting the needs of the growing group of ageing individuals who have survived and are managing long term multiple chronic conditions;
Ensure a human rights approach for people impacted by HIV in the community, eradicating stigma and discrimination of people impacting HIV in our community, and improving the community's understanding of HIV;
Improve collection and access to local and relevant data regarding prevalence and management of HIV in the community, and support for high quality research that involves people impacted by HIV in the design, planning and implementation of research and data collection process.
1. Prevention Programs
The prevalence of HIV in Australia is low compared to other countries, and strong health promotion and prevention programs have been credited with delivering the low rates of HIV infection in Australia.
Over the last decade, new HIV diagnoses, in Australia, have stabilised rather than decreased. Over the last ten years, diagnoses rates in the ACT have increased and reached a similar level to New South Wales in 2014 (4.6 per 100 000 in 2014). Over this period there has been a general increase in the rates of other STIs, particularly amongst young people.
Every new HIV diagnosis is estimated to cost $500,000 over a lifetime, with an annual approximate cost to the Commonwealth Government budget of $14,000.
Particular groups in our community are disproportionately impacted by HIV. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are a group that have much higher rates than the rest of the community. Nationally there was a HIV prevalence rate of 17% of MSM in 2014. Young people are also at particular risk.
Risky behaviours continue to be a key factor in new HIV infections. Sexual contact between men accounts for 70% of new HIV diagnoses in 2014 (758 of the 1081 cases). Other common routes of reported HIV transmission include heterosexual sex (19%), sexual contact between men and injecting drug use (5%) and injecting drug use only (3%).
New treatments such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are proving to be effective as a tool to stop new HIV exposure. PrEP has been approved by TGA, including exploration of whether or not it may be subsidised through the PBS.
Low rates of new infections, effective prevention and health promotion interventions mean that a vision of zero new infections is achievable. In 2014, Australia’s Ministers for Health signed the 2014 AIDS Legacy Statement which committed to a virtual elimination of new HIV transmissions by 2020. This moves beyond the global target of no new HIV transmissions by 2030.
2. Effective Testing
Regular testing, particularly within high-risk communities is acknowledged as an important tool to responding to HIV.
There are still high number of people who delay testing and a HIV diagnosis. At the end of 2014, an estimated 27 150 (range 24 630 to 30 310) people were living with HIV infection in Australia, of whom an estimated 3 350 (12%) were unaware of their HIV positive status. This is a significant improvement on the previously estimated 30% undiagnosed HIV cases.
Within high risk populations, the rate of testing is well below national guidelines.
Over a quarter (28%) of the new HIV diagnoses in 2014 were determined to be late, in that they were in people who were likely to have been HIV positive for at least four years without being tested.
Rapid HIV testing has been proven to be an effective complement to traditional testing. Australia lags behind many other countries in its use of this technology. There is emerging evidence regarding the acceptability and effectiveness of rapid testing in community based settings, and being used as part of a peer based education and health promotion approach.
3. Treatment programs for HIV
Effective treatment of HIV has seen people impacted moving from potentially facing a complex and acute terminal condition, to managing a life-long chronic health condition.
A high number of individuals with a HIV diagnosis in Australia access effective treatments. Among the estimated 88% of people with HIV in Australia who were diagnosed by the end of 2014, an estimated 73% were receiving treatment with antiretroviral therapy, with therapy successfully controlling the infection (“viral suppression”) in 92% (range 84 to 97%). These three figures compare well to the United Nations targets of 90%.
HIV treatment is an area where there is significant research effort, and there is a need for Australia to ensure access to these treatments. Services and support need to also be available for PLHIV who choose not to take treatments, or whose treatments do not reach an undetectable viral load.
PEP is one area which has emerged in recent years as an effective intervention for early treatment for HIV exposure. Guidelines have been developed in Australia to support the use of PEP treatment.
Ease of treatment is a continued important area of research, with efforts continuing to develop therapies that are easy to administer and do not require multiple medications. It will continue to be important to ensure that individuals can access the most effective and streamlined treatments.
Effort is required to ensure that the costs of treatment reduce for both individuals and the community, with the aim that these costs continue to fall in coming decades. The Australian health system needs to be agile to respond to new treatments and be able to deliver in a way that is affordable, for individuals, governments and the community.
4. Care and Support
A HIV diagnosis has a significant impact on an individual, their family and their community. While this no longer means a rapid health decline, it does mean the need of life long management of a life threatening disease. Beyond the issues of testing and medical treatment, there is a need to respond to the physical, physiological and mental dimensions of this change in health status.
The United Nations recognises that comprehensive care must include psychological support as well as social supports to support HIV positive people, their families and their communities. It recognises the vital role that communities and community organisations play in promoting social solidarity, providing emotional support and protecting individuals and communities against discrimination and a violation of their rights.
There is recognition that a range of other lifestyle factors will assist individuals impacted by HIV live healthy lives. Programs that are evidence based, located in community settings, and where appropriate use peer based approaches should be a key feature of services provided to individuals, families and communities impacted by HIV.
Given the success of HIV treatment options, there is a growing number of people who are managing HIV as a chronic illness. The United Nations global commitment is that by 2030, life expectancy of people with HIV will mirror that of the general population. As the group of individuals with HIV age, there will be increasing complexity in health needs, and a requirement for specialist support to manage HIV as a chronic condition, manage comorbidities and the impacts of ageing on health and wellbeing.
5. Stigma and Discrimination
The ACT has enacted the Human Rights Act 2004. This Act recognises the fundamental human rights of individuals.
The Melbourne Declaration that was made at the conclusion of the 2014 International AIDS Conference recognised the interconnection of criminalisation, stigma and discrimination and poor outcomes in relation to the prevention and treatment of HIV. It stated that
“…We, the signatories and endorsers of this Declaration, affirm that non-discrimination is fundamental to an evidence-based, rights-based and gender transformative response to HIV and effective public health programmes…we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to fairness, to universal access to health care and treatment services, and to support the inherent dignity and rights of all human beings. All people are entitled to the rights and protections afforded by international human rights frameworks”.
In practical terms, the human rights approach should ensure that testing is always seen as a voluntary activity and should never be mandated, that sex work continues to be decriminalised, and HIV positive sex workers are not discriminated against, that all individuals are able to access appropriate treatment and cost must not be a barrier to effective treatment, and people should not be subject to limitation in movement or migration as a result of the HIV status.
6. Research, data and information
Globally the importance of collecting HIV information, particularly prevalence data is recognised, with the United Nations Declaration and the World Health Organisation’s Global Health Sector Strategy on HIV/AIDS 2011–15 highlighting the critical importance of ‘knowing’ the HIV epidemic to ensure an effective response. The United Nations Program on AIDS releases regular country, regional and global reports. The Commonwealth Government’s Seventh HIV Strategy notes that “…high quality surveillance, monitoring, research and evaluation inform our knowledge of our epidemic and the most effective response in the Australian context”.
In Australia, HIV data is collected in each state and territory and analysed by the Kirby Institute for infection and immunity in society.
It is important that research and data collection is conducted in a way that protects the dignity and human rights of participants in these studies, particularly people impacted by HIV. The efficacy of interventions, including community based and peer based models should be tested and promoted. People impacted by HIV should be involved in the design and implementation of research and data collection processes.
(UNAIDS), J. U. (2011). Political Declaration on HIV/ AIDS: Intensifying our Efforts to Eliminate HIV/AIDS. Geneva.
20th International AIDs Conference Declaration. (2014). Melbourne.
ACT Ministerial Advisory Council on Sexual Health, H. V. (2015). Prevention a Proposed priority in ACT MinDevelopment of the ACT’s Response to the National HIV, Sexually Transmissible Infection and Blood Borne Virus Strategy. Canberra: ACT Government.
ACT, A. A. (2015). Comments on draft Seventh National HIV Strategy 2014 – 2017 (unpublished). Canberra.
AIDS, U. N. (2001). Care and Support Factsheet. Geneva: United Nations.
Australasian Society for HIV, V. H. (n.d.). National guidelines for post-exposure prophylaxis after non-occupational and occupational exposure to HIV.
Australia, C. G. (2014). Seventh National HIV Strategy 2014-2017 . Canberra: Commonwealth Government.
Australia, C. o. (2014). Third National Sexually Transmissible Infections Strategy 2014-2017 . Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Council, A. A. (2015). Budget Submission 2015. Canberra.
Council, C. H. (2014). AIDS Legacy Statement . Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Guy R, G. J. (2010). Does the frequency of HIV and STI testing among men who have sex with men in primary care adhere with Australian guidelines? . Sex Transm Infect:86(5):371-376.
Institute, K. (2015). HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia Annual Surveillance Report 2015; . Sydney.
Organisation, W. H. (2014). Prophylaxis Factsheet. Geneva.
Organisations, A. F. (2014). Top Tips for Living Well with HIV. Sydney.
Organisations, A. F. (2015). Background Briefing PrEP. Sydney.
Organisations, A. F. (n.d.). HIV Tests and Treatments. available at hivtnt.org.au/treatments
Organization, W. H. (2011). Global health sector strategy on HIV/AIDS 2011-2015. Geneva.
Population, B. I. (n.d.). Concept Paper: Trial of a Community-Based Rapid Point-of-Care HIV Testing Service Targeting Gay and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men in Melbourne. Melbourne.
UNAIDS. (2015). How AIDS Changed Everything: MDG 15: 15 lessons of hope from the AIDS response. Geneva: United Nations.
STRIP Clinics: simple and accessible Sexual Health Clinics
Across Canberra
Regular STI tests are an essential component of maintaining your sexual health. Come along to a STRIP Clinic to access quick and free STI checks.
One of the best ways to fight stigma and empower HIV positive people is by speaking out openly and honestly about who we are and what we experience.
HIV Activist
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Home /No, the problem isn’t “bad coders”
TechnologyFebruary 12, 2019
No, the problem isn’t “bad coders”
A recent blog article discussed the fact that 70% of all security bugs in Microsoft products are due to memory safety vulnerabilities. A lot of the comments I’ve seen on social media boil down to “The problem isn’t the use of a memory unsafe language, but that the programmers who wrote this code are bad.”
In this article, I’m going to look at a recent bug that was caught by the Rust compiler, which I think shows that not only is this assertion unreasonable but virtually impossible for reasons I haven’t seen discussed. While the example I’m going to give is about thread safety rather than memory safety, the arguments I’m going to present can be applied to both.
First, let’s talk briefly about the actual bug. The code that I was working on had both a thread pool and a database connection pool. In order to do its work, I would need exactly one thread and at least one database connection. Database connections are likely to be the more limited resource, and I wanted to avoid spawning a thread and immediately just having it block waiting for a database connection. So the code would grab a connection from the pool and then spawn off the new thread.
The problem is that the database connection would sometimes use a re-entrant mutex when it was acquired from the pool. A re-entrant mutex is a concurrency primitive that ensures you are only using some resource on a single thread. The re-entrant part means that you can ask for a lock multiple times as long as it’s on the same thread. With a normal mutex we would be fine, since you only one lock can exist and it doesn’t matter if we unlock it on a thread other than the one we locked it from. But since a re-entrant mutex remembers which thread it was locked from, we need to keep the resource on the same thread. Fundamentally, we just can’t have a re-entrant mutex be involved and also be able to pull the connection from the pool on a different thread than it is being used.
If the compiler hadn’t caught this for me, all scenarios would have been bad. The best case scenario is that it would have resulted in a test failure. Debugging “attempting to acquire a lock on this mutex hangs indefinitely” would have taken me several hours at least.
The worst case scenario here would have been that no tests failed. We had a case where we thought we had a resource which is not thread safe and could only be used on one thread, but there is actually another thread which could “acquire” a lock on it at any time. This is the sort of ticking time bomb that might not cause a bug at the time the code is written but leaves a massive hole for some other reasonable looking code to blow up in the future.
But luckily, that’s not what happened here. The compiler told me that the mutex guard didn’t implement Send, which is Rust’s way of saying “You can’t send this to another thread” at which point the problem became clear to me. At this point you might be thinking that this should have been obvious to me as soon as I started writing this code. I disagree with that assertion. But even if we assume that is true, I’ve left out one important detail which makes it baseless.
When this code was written, there were no re-entrant mutexes anywhere in the code base.
This wasn’t caught when I finished writing the code. It was caught weeks later, when rebasing against the other changes of the codebase. The invariants of the code I was working with had fundamentally changed out from underneath me between when the code was written and when I was planning to merge it.
Let me be clear, I disagree with the assertion that programmers can be expected to be perfect on its own. But the assertion that we just need better C programmers goes way farther than that. It’s not just a question of whether people can catch problems in code that they write. It’s also expecting people to be capable of re-contextualizing every invariant in any code they interact with (even indirectly). It sets the expectation that none of this changes between the time code is proposed and when it is merged.
These are not reasonable expectations of a human being. We need languages with guard rails to protect against these kinds of errors. Nobody is arguing that if we just had better drivers on the road we wouldn’t need seatbelts. We should not be making that argument about software developers and programming languages either.
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Congressmen Jodey Arrington and Mike Conaway to Play in Tonight’s Congressional Baseball Game
Rob Snyder
WTOP News, Facebook
The 2019 Congressional Baseball Game will be played Wednesday night at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. The tradition was first started in 1909 and has had different formats over the years, but mainly Republicans vs. Democrats.
Last year, the Democrats beat the Republicans 21 to 5, and they have won four out of the last five, and nine out of the last 10 games.
This year’s Republican team is being coached by Congressman Roger Williams from Texas' 25th Congressional District. He played collegiate baseball at TCU and minor league baseball for the Atlanta Braves.
Last year, Congressman Jodey Arrington (R- Lubbock) (pictured, above) played in his first Congressional Baseball Game. While wearing a Texas Tech uniform, Arrington pitched the seventh inning and gave up one run. He is expected to pitch again in Wednesday's game.
Congressman Mike Conaway (R- Midland) played first base in last year's game and over the past 10 years has played in nine games, hitting 2-for-5, for a .400 average. During last year's game, Conaway wore a Midland Rockhounds uniform. (A side note, Congressman Mac Thornberry (R- Clarendon) has not played in a Congressional Baseball Game over the past 10 years)
Republican Congressman Kevin Brady (R- The Woodlands) is the GOP's best player. Over the past decade he has played in 10 games, hitting for a .400 average with 5 RBI.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are expected to use Louisiana Congressman Cedric Richmond as the centerpiece of their team. He will be the Democrats starting pitcher and one of their best hitters. As a pitcher, Congressman Richmond has started eight games, thrown seven compete games (the Congressional Baseball Game is seven innings), has a 7-0 record, with a 2.20 ERA and 62 strikeouts. He has also hit for a .652 average with one home run and nine RBI in eight games.
This year's Congressional Baseball Game benefits a number of charities and will be televised on CSPAN-2 beginning at 5:45pm on Wednesday. According to WTOP News, last year's paid attendance was 16,115.
NOTE: Game stats compiled by The FiveThirtyEight's Nathaniel Rakich
2018 Congressional Baseball Game
Filed Under: Jodey Arrington
Categories: Photos
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How Black Sabbath’s Dio Era Inspired Halestorm
Brian Ives
What was the riff that stopped you in your tracks and made you want to pick up an instrument? Gear Factor host Squiggy posed this question to the members of Halestorm at the recent Welcome to Rockville festival, and their answers gave insight into why they are one of hard rock's best bands: they were inspired by the masters.
When asked what got her to pick up a guitar, frontwoman Lzzy Hale says, "The one for me was 'Heaven and Hell' by Black Sabbath," referring to the title track of their 1980 album, which was their first after Ronnie James Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne. (Halestorm would later repay the debt to RJD, opening for the Dio-era Black Sabbath -- who were called Heaven and Hell -- and by covering Dio's "Straight Through the Heart" for the Ronnie James Dio: This Is Your Life tribute album).
"It made everything seem possible," she says of the "Heaven and Hell" riff. "'It sounds like something I could do!' That was the first for me. I was in Bethel, Pennsylvania on a twenty-acre farm, listening to it with my dad." She adds that that was also the first song that she learned to play on guitar, followed by Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n Roll." Jett was another crucial artist in Lzzy's life. Coincidentally, today both women have Gibson custom signature guitars.
The other members of Halestorm shared their first riffs with Squiggy as well. Drummer Arejay Hale recalled, "I've been playing drums since I was two or three, but when I was five or six or seven, I was in the car with my dad, and 'Rock and Roll' by Led Zeppelin came on the radio, and I heard that [drum] intro and then at the end, that drum solo, and I was like, 'Oh man! This is so cool!' And that was when I threw everything that I previously learned away and became a massive John Bonham fan, and wanted to take playing drums seriously."
He adds that "Rock and Roll" was probably the first song that he learned to play, and his sister points out that "We 'learned' them, but they were attempts to play them!"
Guitarist Joe Hottinger says, "I remember being on the way home in like 5th or 6th grade going by Millpond in Hartford, Wisconsin, we were listening to the radio... [it was] probably a Nirvana song. It was the mid-'90s. 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' or 'Come As You Are.' 'I get it! I need it! Now!'"
As for bassist Josh Smith: "'Smoke on the Water' by Deep Purple. I remember being upstairs in my bedroom in Philadelphia, [sings riff] 'Dah! Dah! Dah!' 'I can play this! I can do this!' Yeah, 'Smoke on the Water' was it for me."
Halestorm's upcoming album, Vicious, will be available on July 27 and they'll be on tour through the summer. Check out their tour dates here.
Source: How Black Sabbath’s Dio Era Inspired Halestorm
Filed Under: Black Sabbath, Dio, Halestorm
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Brooke and Jubal in the MorningBrooke and Jubal in the Morning
Land of the Freeway: Most Popular Cars by State
Though we don’t all agree on our favorite car, the states are quite united when it comes to vehicle loyalty.
Ten cars alone claim the title of “most popular car” in at least one U.S. state. While being the most common car on the road is not necessarily a guarantee of quality, oftentimes, widespread loyalty indicates that a car is a good match for a broad range of American drivers. For this reason, it’s worth taking note of which cars come out on top in each state.
The data scientists at Insurify, a car insurance quotes comparison website, crunched the numbers to see which cars took home the gold. This ranking reflects the most common cars currently being driven, not necessarily the hottest models on this year’s sales floors. So not only do these cars dominate the roadways of their states, they have a history with them as well. Here are the most popular cars by state.
Honda reigns supreme. Two Honda models – the Accord and the Civic – leave the competition in the dust, as the most popular cars in 42 percent of states. This may come as a surprise, as domestic brands are the most popular nationally. In fact, in over half of states nationwide, Chevrolet is the dominant make of cars on the road. As domestic brands command the market, they also provide broader lineups of cars that appeal to many American drivers. Honda, on the other hand, makes up a smaller share of the market, but has reaped the benefits of fewer models that hold widespread favor with drivers across the country.
Regional blocs. Much of brand loyalty may be homegrown, as region appears to be a strong predictor of model popularity. As an example, the Chevrolet Impala is the dominant car in seven states, all of which are contiguous in the mid-northern region of the country. Additionally, the southern United States appears to have an affinity for the Nissan Altima, while the Eastern seaboard states are topped by the Honda Accord.
Some Underdog Victories. The car brands that rank number one across U.S. states are Ford, Honda, Toyota, and Chevrolet. However, even though Nissan and Subaru are not the most popular make in any state, both have models that are the most popular car in a collective total of almost 20 percent of states.
Insurify, an auto insurance quotes comparison website, analyzed its data from over 1.6 million car insurance applications, which ask questions about vehicle type, driving history, and personal information. The vehicle type responses were then grouped by state, and models were ranked by the number of states in which they occupied the number one slot in terms of popularity. Statistics on MSRP and MPG originate from the manufacturers’ websites, with the least expensive 2019 package used for comparison (exception: 2018 statistics were used for the Ford Focus as 2019 prices had not yet been announced as of February, 2019).
Most Popular Cars in America
10. Subaru Legacy
States where this vehicle ranks #1: Vermont
MPG city/highway: 25/34
The Subaru Legacy is the only car on our list that is the sweetheart of one state and one state alone. Flaunting their individuality, Vermonters stand behind the Legacy as the car of their state. Unique in its division for providing all wheel drive as a default feature, the Legacy is a reliable favorite for Vermont’s snowy winters and many available outdoor excursions.
9. Chevrolet Malibu
States where this vehicle ranks #1: Michigan and Indiana
Despite its Californian namesake, the Chevrolet Malibu is the favorite of two adjacent Midwestern states, Michigan and Indiana. This may be in part due to homegrown loyalty, as Chevrolet is headquartered in Detroit, MI. Though sales of sedans have recently seen a pronounced decline for the brand in favor of trucks, the Malibu was still Chevrolet’s 4th best-selling model of 2018.
8. Toyota Corolla
States where this vehicle ranks #1: Florida and Hawaii
In 2013, the Corolla surpassed 40 million cars sold, cementing its legacy as one of the best-selling models worldwide. This is certainly the case in Florida and Hawaii, the American states where this car is the most common vehicle on the road. Now in its eleventh generation, this car giant doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
7. Ford Explorer
States where this vehicle ranks #1: Alaska, Montana, Wyoming
When it debuted its first generation in the early 1990s, the Ford Explorer quickly became one of the most popular American cars of the time—outselling all imported SUVs put together. This rugged SUV is well-suited for the demanding terrain of Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming, the states in which it is the most popular. Despite ranking as the top-selling SUV in the U.S., the Explorer is not the most popular Ford on this list.
6. Ford Focus
States where this vehicle ranks #1: Maine, Kansas, West Virginia
The most recent Ford Focus has earned “Good” ratings in many of its safety designations from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), making it a broadly-appealing vehicle which has secured the top spot in states as varied as Kansas, West Virginia, and Maine. Peaking as the top-selling vehicle worldwide in 2013, the Focus remains one of Ford’s most popular models since its introduction in 1998.
5. Toyota Camry
States where this vehicle ranks #1: Washington DC, Illinois, Nevada, Kentucky
Introduced in 1983, the Toyota Camry has been a hit with American drivers from the start. Perennially reliable, the Camry is an IIHS top safety pick for 2019. Given this popularity and dependability, it may be no surprise that the Camry holds the number one position in locations from the East, West, South, and Midwest.
4. Chevrolet Impala
States where this vehicle ranks #1: Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota
The Chevrolet Impala holds an iron-grip on the Midwest, with all seven of the states in which it is the most popular grouped in a contiguous block. Despite its popularity nationwide since 1958, its relatively low fuel efficiency may limit the likelihood that its popularity will spread to states with higher rates of city-driving.
3. Nissan Altima
States where this vehicle ranks #1: Alabama, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma
Boasting one of the best fuel efficiencies of cars on this ranking, it may be no surprise that the Nissan Altima ranks in the top three for most popular car by state. Introduced in 1993, the Altima has had steadily improving safety ratings until reaching its current status as an IIHS top safety pick. However, its modest three-star rating from Car and Driver may contribute to its inability to crack the top two for America’s most popular vehicles.
2. Honda Civic
States where this vehicle ranks #1: Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Washington, Idaho, New Mexico
Currently ranked the #2 compact car on U.S. News and World Report, the Honda Civic is also the second-highest ranked car on our list. Originally released as a subcompact car, the Civic has now expanded; lending it a broader appeal that aids its preeminent popularity in a diverse group of eight states. Securing the loyalty of drivers on all four borders of the United States, the Civic holds a truly impressive appeal.
1. Honda Accord
States where this vehicle ranks #1: Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Colorado
The number one car on this ranking is the Honda Accord, which is the most popular car in over a quarter of all American states. Especially dominant on the East Coast, the Accord is nonetheless well-represented in the West as well. Rated as the #1 mid-size car by U.S. News and World Report, the Honda Accord is also the top car in the hearts of many American drivers.
If you have questions or comments about this article, please contact insights@insurify.com.
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Главная » World airports » How to fly from Moscow to Thailand direct flight time
Who has not heard of Thailand? Now it is the most popular holiday destination in Southeast Asia. It provides absolutely a full range of services that are included in the concept of «rest with comfort for every taste.»
Here you can find a rest for any wallet. The tourist will be satisfied with the proposed variety of resorts. Those who like a relaxing holiday will be equipped with equipped beaches, comfortable hotels.
Lovers of nightlife open endless chain of nightclubs with a variety of entertainment for any fantasy. Adventures of active recreation will open the wonderful world of diving and extreme rafting. For those who are engaged in self-knowledge and spiritual development, ancient temples will fall in on taste. Although Thailand is open to guests, it still retains its flavor and exoticism.
This article will give comprehensive questions on the main issues:
How to get from Moscow to Thailand?
Is it hard to fly to Thailand?
Which airlines fly to Thailand?
From Moscow to Thailand 6910 km. The flight to Thailand will be 9 hours (plus or minus 30 minutes). The flight time may vary depending on the chosen route, the associated weather conditions and the technical characteristics of the aircraft. The choice of route also affects the mileage (this mainly depends on the country or countries where the transplants will take place).
The time difference between the capitals of the two states, Moscow and Bangkok, is +4 hours. Ascending +1, +2, +3 respectively with the cities of Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Samara. But the time zone of Krasnoyarsk coincides with the Bangkok one. The cities of Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Vladivostok, Severo-Kurilsk, Kamchatka are located in a minus from an hour to five.
For tourists from Russia who come to rest for up to 30 days, a visa is not required. If necessary, extend the stay in Thailand, you can make a visa. This name implies crossing the border of the country and returning, after updating the stamp in the emigration map. It is recommended before planning a holiday to issue an insurance and medical policy.
Bangkok is the third largest airport in Asia — Suvarnabhumi. The intensity of the airport is impressive. At one o’clock the air harbor takes about 30 aircraft. Virtually every flight from Moscow lands at Suvarnabhumi.
The route of the plane from Moscow to Thailand will depend on how you prefer to fly: with transfers or without. From this will depend on the answer to the question of how much to fly by plane to Thailand.
Consider the first version of the flight — without transfers. It will cost you more, but it will be more comfortable.
Russian airline Aeroflot — 8 hours 55 minutes;
THAI Thai Airlines — 8 hours 50 minutes
Nordwind Airlines — 9 hours 15 minutes
S7 — 13 hours 30 minutes, with a 2-hour change in Novosibirsk
Finnair — 12 hours 10 minutes, with a time landing in Helsinki
Emirates — 27 hours 45 minutes, with a 16-hour landing in Dubai, etc.
Turkish Airlines — 19 hours 10 minutes, with a 7-hour landing in Istanbul
Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport sends Aeroflot flights, and Domodedovo Airport — Thai Airlines.
The flight time Moscow — Thailand by direct flight will be in total up to 9 hours.
The price for one ticket for such a flight will be from 21 000 rubles. This cost is one way. It must be remembered that Thai Airways estimates its services a bit cheaper than Aeroflot. Low cost is due to the lack of a return flight offer. So if you plan to buy a one-way ticket, then the best choice would be Thai Airways.
If you buy tickets at once in both directions, then Aeroflot will offer the most attractive price of 43 00 rubles for a couple of tickets.
For those who can spend their vacation on a couple of days on the road, you can choose a flight with transfers. This route will take more time, but the savings on the ticket will compensate for the loss in time and inconvenience of transfers, and you can also use some disadvantages to your advantage. You can get with one or several transfers. The distance, and therefore the mileage of the flight, may increase significantly.
The list of companies that offer budget flights is great.
S 7 Airlines;
Etihad Airways;
Turkmenistan Airlines;
Qatar Airways;
Nordwind Airlines;
Collaboration on a given route by companions such as:
Air China and Thai AirAsia, Aeroflot jointly with S7 Airlines and Air Serbia are a concern for the comfort of their passengers and offer the best prices.
The cheapest flight offers Aeroflot with two transfers. Transplants will be in St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk. The time spent on transplants will be approximately 19 hours, and the total time spent on flight will be about 22 hours.
The demand for travel to Thailand does not decrease throughout the year, so the number of flights does not decrease during the low season.
Departure from Moscow to Thailand Phuket Airport is made from Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo. The duration of the flight will be 9 hours. The estimated time of Aeroflot and Royal Flight companies is about the same and differs by only 10-15 minutes.
The distance from Moscow to Thailand by plane on this route will be 7480 km.
The number of flight options with a transfer is such that you can get lost in the choice. When choosing a city and route, pay attention to the waiting time, because it may be longer than the entire flight.
Doha and hour flight are offered by Qatar Airways. Waiting time is only 1 hour. Singapore Airlines offers a flight of up to 15 hours with a two-hour transfer in Singapore. A six-hour transfer in Dubai and an 18-hour flight is made by Emirates.
These are the main flights with transfers that will save time as much as possible.
Tourists prefer to fly more often directly to the resort, which they have chosen to rest. Pattaya is no exception.
Direct flights are available only in high season. Departures are made by Aeroflot from Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports. All planes departing from Moscow land at U-Tapao Airport. Flight time — 13 hours. In low season, this flight is carried out with a transfer in Bangkok. This flight will last from 14 to 19 hours. Company carrier S7 Airlines. Maximum docking time up to 7 hours.
Koh Samui is one of the three largest islands in Thailand. This place attracts tourists who prefer a beach holiday. There are clubs here as well, but for the most part they are inferior in terms of the scope of the parties held to the clubs of the more popular places of Ty.
It attracts this island with silence and gorgeous beaches on the ocean. Here you can be alone with nature. And in the high season you will find for yourself a quiet corner without tourists. The weather on the island is not changeable and not capricious. The island is located in the bay, which protects it from strong winds. You cannot reach Samui by direct flight.
You will have to make a transfer in Bangkok. This is due to the fact that the airport is small and only accepts domestic flights. If you fly directly to Bangkok, the entire flight will take about 15 hours and 30 minutes. The cost of a ticket to Samui is up to 10,000 rubles. The company that takes you on holiday is Singapore Airlines.
Krabi is a place for family holidays. Here you can find everything you call rest. Amazingly beautiful beaches, places for youth recreation, interesting excursions, fashionable shops — everyone will find something for themselves. It is also an ideal place for climbing.
There are no direct flights from Moscow to Krabi. From Krabi airport you can fly to Bangkok, Quar Mumpur and Singapore. Such flights are offered by the Thai Airways Campaign. If you fly through Bangkok, the flight will take a total of about 16 hours. Ticket price will be about 30,000 rubles.
Phi Phi Island is an amazing and increasingly attractive tourist destination located 40 km from Phuket. It is, in fact, a small archipelago of 6 islands. The most favorable time to visit this island is from October to March. The island’s population is about 3,000 people. The island has gained its popularity due to the huge choice of various entertainment facilities.
Direct flight Moscow — Phi Phi is absent. Transplantation is possible in Bangkok or Phuket. Further access is possible only by sea.
The flight to Thailand for the most part of the time will be in the air. If you chose a flight with transfers, then plan your time in advance. Docking can be done not in the airport, but making small and exciting trips to a new city. Fatigue in this case, you are guaranteed, but you can relax on board the aircraft. So that you have no problems, check whether you need a visa of the country where the flights will be docked.
Take care of your visa in advance. Sometimes it takes up to 2 months to get a visa from the moment of submission of documents. If your waiting time for the next flight is about 10 hours, then there will be plenty of time to see the new city. But when the docking is only a couple of hours, it is worth thinking about how to properly and efficiently walk around the city, so as not to be late for the next flight.
In such cases, modern gadgets will come to the rescue, which will help to make the shortest route to given points on the map and write the approximate time spent on the road. Options will be offered walking on foot, by taxi or by public transport. If you still do not know what you would like to see, then the gadgets will prompt the locations of the most popular places and pave the way for them.
Fatigue is guaranteed. Not all people can rest and sleep on the plane, so think about it, and whether you can spend almost a day on the move without rest. If so, go ahead and choose a flight with the longest possible transfer. You can relax and rejuvenate at the resort.
Travel time can be spent reading a book or watching a movie. If you are going on a vacation by company, then you can grab a game with you on the road. Another entertainment will be the mapping of the flight from Moscow to Thailand. The map can cause interest, both in children and adults, because the list of countries over which the plane flies to Thailand is very large.
Russia is a huge country. For residents of Far Eastern Russia, the flight time to Thailand will be significantly reduced. The number of kilometers to Thailand will decrease as the region moves away from the capital.
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March 24, 2015 March 24, 2015 mlynxqualey
Syrian Poet Al-Ma’arri: Through the Lens of Disability Studies
This interview with Dr. Tom Shakespeare first appeared on the Library of Arabic Literature website:
Scholar, blogger, and public-health advocate Tom Shakespeare recently did a five-part series on “The Genius of Disability” for BBC Radio 3. The first radio essay in the series focused on the blind poet and writer Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī, whose The Epistle of Forgiveness was recently edited and translated, in two volumes, by Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler for the Library of Arabic Literature.
Shakespeare is a sociologist focused on disability studies who currently lectures at the Norwich Medical School and is also keenly interested in disability arts. His interest in al-Maʿarrī began with a post on his blog, “Our Statures Touch the Skies,” where he writes about disabled people of consequence throughout history—that led to more reading and research, and the essay on Radio 3.
For the LAL blog, Shakespeare talks about how he engages with al-Maʿarrī’s work through the contemporary lens of disability and how he hopes the LAL volumes “are the beginning of a longer engagement with him,” as, with the new translations, “suddenly you can experience this tenth, eleventh century writer as if he was here.”
ArabLit: How did “The Genius of Disability” originate, and how did you settle on profiling al-Maʿarrī?
Tom Shakespeare: The background is that I have been running this blog for a number of years called “Our Statures Touch the Skies,” which is a quotation from Emily Dickinson. And what I wanted to do was write short biographies of famous disabled people.
I think that people need to know that disabled people have made all sorts of contributions throughout history. So, I was doing this blog, and one of my colleagues at the WHO [World Health Organization] was an Iranian psychologist, Taghi Yasamy. I was telling him about my blog and he said: “Obviously you should do al-Maʿarrī.”
I wrote the entry on the blog and, fastforward a couple of years, Radio 3 accepted a proposal to do five broadcasts. And I wanted to cover a range. I wanted men, women. I wanted a range of art forms. And, particularly, I wanted a range of impairments.
Al-Maʿarrī speaks to us today in a way that many more orthodox Muslim thinkers may not: he was a vegan, he was a pacifist, he was a freethinker, he was a skeptic. By including him, not only was I saying, Look, somebody with visual impairment can be at the forefront of the poetic tradition. But also that somebody from the Muslim tradition can be a freethinker and challenge our idea of what Islam includes.
[In 2013, Syria’s] al-Nusra Front beheaded a statue of al-Maʿarrī. So a thousand years after he lived and worked, he’s still a threat. This presumably fairly frail, old, blind guy, who lived to the age of eighty-something, and all he did was write poems—this poet was a challenge to the orthodoxy then and now.
AL: As you read through his body of work in translation, were you able to connect with the poems and prose as much as with his personal story?
TS: The truth is that I could connect with the ideas, but the actual poetry was harder to connect with, and I think that’s because the versions I was reading were by Reynold Nicholson, who obviously was this pioneering Arabist of the first half of the 20th century, so credit to him. But I don’t think he was a great poet himself. So what we read is in that slightly stilted early 20th-century style and so it was difficult for me to connect with it as poetry. Some of it more than others.
What’s really helpful about the new volumes of The Epistle of Forgiveness is that they’re very modern and you can read it as a story. It’s fresh. And suddenly you can experience this tenth, eleventh century writer as if he was here.
I really hope that what’s been done with his prose, in The Epistle of Forgiveness, is also done with the collections Tinder Box and with The Unnecessary Necessities. Because I think that would bring this poet to a much wider audience.
I know that it’s not true to say that The Epistle of Forgiveness inspired Dante, but there is a comparison in that previous translations of Dante have been somewhat cumbersome. And then you get a fresh translation, by a poet, and suddenly it comes alive. And I think it’s the same with al-Maʿarrī. We have to have a translation for our own contemporary time.
Of course, there are poems in this prose [of The Epistle of Forgiveness], and they come out much better than they ever did before. What I hope is that these volumes reach beyond scholars of Islam or the Arab world. We need an accessible volume of the prose and the poetry. He can certainly appeal to a much wider audience.
The idea that this poet is writing in the eleventh century! Now, I studied Old English at Cambridge, and I read Beowulf, and I read other works of that time, and they are nowhere near the sophistication and the philosophical and dramatic interest of these writings. I think it’s a shame that we don’t hear more of these sorts of poets and prose writers in our Western tradition.
AL: It’s interesting to think about al-Maʿarrī in this category, “disabled,” which as you point out is a very recent one. As you said in your radio essay, he would’ve been viewed differently in his time. How do you think looking at him through the lens of “disability” or “blindness” can help us see him afresh or connect to his work?
TS: It’s interesting: Immediately you’re using a visual metaphor, “looking at his work through that lens.” That’s an example of the way that all our language is taken up with visual metaphors. I think it’s an interesting question: What does it do to us? Maybe we might look at his metaphors. Maybe we might look at his language and descriptions, and maybe we might say: How many times does he use a visual metaphor? We can ask, as critics and readers, questions based on our knowledge of him. I think that what’s really interesting is that he would’ve memorized vast amounts of the poetic tradition.
He must’ve composed huge strands of poetry or prose in his head. I think he had four or five amanuenses who he dictated to. He had many, many students, and people came to study with him from all over the place. We know that various later scholars were trained by him.
I don’t know the extent to which [blindness] informs his works in a very direct sense. Other people I’ve written about—for instance there’s Virginia Woolf, who had depression, and I think you can say that that’s informed her work. With other writers, their physicality or their mental state doesn’t necessarily directly inform their work, but it does say something about the state in which the work was composed.
What’s interesting is that his prose and his poetry are very technically complex. So we have here an extraordinarily scholarly person who couldn’t read any of that, but he must have had at his disposal an immense range of references.
Maybe when you are blind or you lack a sense, you concentrate on other parts of your sensory apparatus. I think this is very commonly the case, that people who are restricted actually go much deeper with what they have left.
If he wasn’t blind, he wouldn’t be the poet he was. I’m almost certain of that.
AL: You said, in an interesting short moment in the radio program, “I imagine his needs were met.” That would’ve been key.
TS: Yes, he was a man who was very venerated. He came from quite a noble family, so that would’ve been a help. I suspect he put his hand on someone’s shoulder, and he wandered around and was guided by somebody.
He lived to the age of 84, and when he died, apparently, 80-some poets created poems in his honor. This guy would’ve been rather a celebrity. He’d written a considerable amount of poetry and intervened in the political debates of the day. He’s a really fascinating figure and of course remains famous to this day. And he did all this despite beyond blind.
We also know that right at the core of the Islamic tradition, there is an acceptance and an inclusion of blindness, which must’ve helped.
AL: How would you place al-Maʿarrī’s disability in a context of how blindness is and was seen elsewhere? You said it’s often, across places and times, been seen as a blessing.
TS: Yes, it often has been. Obviously, Homer is said to have been blind, and I don’t know if he actually was, but that’s the tradition. And some of the Old Testament prophets were said to have been blind. It’s almost like a trope that blindness doesn’t stop you, that people with blindness maybe even have additional insight. There’s almost like a special status. Right up to the present day, blind people have had a special status which other disabled people haven’t had. And sometimes blind people don’t want to be lumped in with everybody else because they might lose of their specialness.
AL: On your blog, you wrote, “Throughout history, disability has led to isolation, either because people are excluded and shunned by their community, or else because their mobility or communication problems make it hard for them to participate. The upside of isolation can be a blossoming of creativity …” Did you see evidence of this in al-Maʿarrī’s case?
TS: I don’t think disabled people have always been excluded and shunned. I think they often have been. But on the blog, I talk about a lot of people from different eras who did manage to be accepted and included, and I think you have to be quite exceptional to manage that. If [al-Maʿarrī] had been a kid who’d gone blind at the age of four and had not shown any particular talent, we obviously would never have heard of him, and his life might’ve been far more short and brutal. But the fact was, at an early age, he showed that he had something to offer.
If you are disabled, you’re much more likely to have fallen by the wayside, to have not been able to make a contribution, to have been excluded. Unless you had a particular talent, in which case there are these few people in history who, because of their abilities or talent, do survive and do make a contribution and are remembered.
For example, on my blog, I talk about an Egyptian called Seneb. We only know about him because there’s this funerary monument, and it’s wonderful, and he’s a dwarf. And we have this beautiful rendering. He’s a little guy and he’s sitting on a bench next to his average-height wife and his two children. And he’s a civil servant in the pharaoh’s household, and he clearly lived, thrived, survived, had a happy life, was accepted and venerated. And you think, well, isn’t that great. And every now and then, you get a figure like this. But they’re not many and we must think that disability was actually very common.
We don’t hear from 99.99 percent of them, but every now and then, in the pages of history, we find that despite whatever ailed them, they were nurtured and did thrive. We can’t be sort of Pollyanna-ish and think that maybe it wasn’t a problem. It was a problem. But every now and then, disabled people managed to overcome the obstacles and make a major contribution. And he’s one of them.
I think from a Disability Studies point of view, and a Disability History point of view, it behooves us to remember, celebrate, and popularize these people. Because otherwise we end up with some glib assumption that, ‘Oh, it was always impossible, oh there was never hope for people.’ When that’s not quite true.
And today [it’s much the same]: one third of the children out of school are disabled. If you are blind in Syria today, or in many parts of the Arab world, you’d have real trouble getting an education. You would be at risk of exclusion. There are blind people who flourish, of course, but they’re facing additional barriers today as they would’ve done then.
AL: You found evidence of al-Maʿarrī’s blindness possibly affecting his relationship to the body, for instance in, “The Body is Your Vase”?
TS: “What matters is inside,” is what it says. It’s not that he ignores it completely, but he’s not defined by it. Disability was different in those days. It wouldn’t have been a sense of identity. If you were a modern American poet with a disability, that would be part of your identity, and you would probably talk about it. You would probably affiliate with other disabled people. It would be part of your makeup. It might not be the theme of your work, but you would have made a conscious choice to avoid it. Whereas in those days, it was just one of those things. God had sent you an ailment, and it was up to you to deal with that.
AL: What do you hope next for al-Maʿarrī’s work?
TS: I hope that these volumes are the beginning of a longer engagement with him. I sincerely hope that more of the poetry will be translated and that these efforts that the publishers have made will lead to a wider appreciation of his work. If my small little broadcast is part of that, I’m really, really pleased.
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Posts tagged with "Sir John Soane Museum":
Kaleidoscopic Dulwich Picture Gallery Pavilion lands in South London
What if, when on his Grand Tour, John Soane didn’t go to Italy, but to West Africa? What if, instead of going to Venice, he went to Lagos? This was the question Dingle Price, co-founder of London studio Pricegore, posed when pitching the idea for a pavilion adjacent to the Dulwich Picture Gallery, the oldest purpose-built gallery in England, designed by Soane. The result is The Colour Palace, a gloriously colorful timber structure that nestles between Soane’s 202-year-old building and a residential street. Price and fellow Pricegore cofounder Alex Gore do not hail from West Africa. Such inspiration came from artist and designer Yinka Ilori, who collaborated with the studio for the project. Now based in London, Ilori drew upon markets in Lagos where he was raised. “I wanted to encapsulate the memory of color I have from those markets,” Ilori told AN. “Selling fabrics, color was everywhere.”
Colour Palace Inspiration : This image was part of my early inspiration and mood board when working on the Colour Palace in collaboration with PriceGore. Loved how the shop owners had beautiful curated and designed their shop, as if it was a mini Dutch wax pavilion @dulwichgallery @londonfestivalofarchitecture
A post shared by YINKA ILORI STUDIO (@yinka_ilori) on May 25, 2019 at 10:20am PDT
And at the new pavilion, color is indeed everywhere. When approaching it, hints of a cacophony of color can be spied: pink tips pop out above the park’s perimeter wall; beyond the trees, glimpses of blue and red can be seen through the green. Closer inspection reveals thin, cuboid timber louvers (there are more than 2100) painted in green, yellow, blue, pink, red, and orange. The result makes the facade shimmer from the outside, blending the different tones in the process. Triangles and circles—motifs prevalent in Ilori’s work as a furniture designer—have been painted on the outside, causing the pavilion to look like a party hat. There’s an overriding sense of fun. But the kaleidoscopic baptism doesn’t end there. The giant party hat sits on four five-and-a-half-feet-wide bright red concrete columns—unpolished and raw, they rise up from the earth. A pink elevated walkway traces the structure’s perimeter, and a blue timber internal support structure keeps it all up. “Our work is very Euro-centric, Yinka’s is very West African,” Price explained. “We wanted to mix the two.” Ilori and Pricegore drew upon two precedents: an image of men carrying a thatched roof in West Africa and caryatids in Athens supporting the Parthenon's entablature. “Building in landscape, we wanted to lift the structure off the ground and retain the open sense of a garden,” added Gore. The pavilion, with its 1,560-square-foot base, is open on all four sides. Circles and triangles may adorn the exterior, but the square was most important to Pricegore, who deemed the shape essential to maintaining the structure's relationship to the adjacent Soane-designed gallery. Soane used a strict orthogonal regime to conceive the gallery's plan. So, too, has Pricegore, although the firm has offset the pavilion 45 degrees to the gallery to create a more welcoming dialog to visitors, allowing the various colors of the louvers to gradually change upon approach. Gore continued: “The pavilion is accessible to everyone. A child can enjoy this as much as an art critic.” The Colour Palace is the result of a partnership between the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the London Festival of Architecture. The pavilion is open to the public until September 22, 2019.
The Soane Foundation and The Olana Partnership present The Global Grand Tour
This lecture examines the Grand Tour as a site of origin for the Picturesque, the aesthetic category that would come to dominate landscape representation in Britain by about 1800. It offers a link between the European grand tour and that made by Joseph Banks and James Cook – a world tour. It also highlights Frederic Church as both an artist and world traveler. The lecture moves on to make the unusual claim that we can trace a range of similarities between paintings made by British artists in Italy, and those made after 1788 by a less privileged category of image-makers – the prisoners held in the British prison colonies of Australia, who produced an distinctive, antipodean form of Picturesque landscape. The lecture concludes by arguing that global grand tours of American painter Frederic Edwin Church continued this tradition and brought it to a climax. Tim Barringer is Paul Mellon Professor of the History of Art at Yale University. He specializes in the eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century art of Britain and the British Empire, nineteenth-century American and German art and museum studies.
Soane Seen From Afar: A comparison of Soane and Schinkel
The Berlin architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel visited London in 1826, traveling in the company of his colleague Peter Beuth. They stopped over in Paris, then travelled on to Scotland before putting in a few weeks in London on their way back home. Schinkel’s candid observations and his attempts to meet important people left a record of London life –theatrical, musical, and scientific– and architecture in which Sir John Soane’s name looms large although the two never met. A comparison of Soane’s and Schinkel’s ideas about architectural education lends sharper definition to their affinities and differences. Other travelers from the Continent, such as Prince Pückler Muskau, the landscape architect in search of an heiress, added intrigue, the composer Carl Maria von Weber had arrived to conduct his opera Oberon, and the French writer Stendhal temporarily resided in London. Preoccupations with the development of the city and the social strain caused by poverty signaled a future soon to rear its head in Germany. Schinkel was perhaps less impressed with English architecture than he was with landscape, manufacture, and public entertainment, but he never forgot his brush with a true metropolis. Kurt W. Forster is Professor Emeritus, Yale School of Architecture. He has also held professorships at Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, and the Bauhaus University Weimar. He directed the Swiss Institute in Rome, the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, and the Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles). He recently published Schinkel: A Meander Through His Life and Work (Birkhauser, 2018).
What to catch at this year's London Design Festival
The London Design Festival 2018 is underway and with it comes a host of events and exhibitions to enjoy. Building on last year, this year's festival is awash with an array of colorful installations and exhibits. The Architect's Newspaper took a look at the best to give a lowdown of what to catch in London this week. Out of Character: A Project by Studio MUTT At: Sir John Soane's Museum Exhibiting at Sir John Soane's Museum must be both a dream and a nightmare. It is easily one of, if not the most, exquisite interiors in London and seldom do the exhibits manage to shout over the building they inhabit. Before Studio MUTT had a stab, Return of the Past: Postmodernism in British Architecture was on view and Out of Character seemingly follows from it, embodying the colorful virtues allied with the current PoMo revival. In 1812, Sir John Soane imagined that in the future, those discovering his former home would presume that it was once occupied by four characters: a Lawyer, a Monk, a Magician, and an Architect. More than 200 years later, Studio MUTT realizes these characters architecturally, with each being defined by ornamental color and form. The architectural compositions can be found at different locations around the museum. Not only do they demonstrate the communicative capabilities of color and ornamentation, they work with the museum—each has been designed for its specific location—to produce delightful moments of architecture in conversation. Mind Pilot by Loop.pH At: London Design Museum A mind-powered hot air balloon is floating around the London Design Museum. Via a virtual reality headset, visitors can control the helium-filled balloon, dubbed an "airship" by its designers Loop.pH, while suspended in a sling to amplify the sensation of flight. How does it work? With the aid of electrodes the headset is attached to the pilot's head, which is then hooked up to a computer. Brain signals and pulse are translated into directions which are sent to robotics within the balloon, moving it around the Design Museum's central lobby mezzanine. Visitors are prohibited from going too crazy thanks to a frame which the balloon is tethered to. Alphabet by Kellenberger-White At: Finsbury Avenue Square, Broadgate Broadgate by Liverpool Street hosted a dazzling display from artist Camille Walala in 2017. This year's installation, a series of alphabetic chairs from designers Kellenberger-White, is toned down a notch, but still provides transient bankers with a much-needed dose of play. The 26 chairs can (of course!) be sat on as well as be used to form words. Each chair is in a different color, selected from specialist paint producers used for projects involving industrial metalwork. Colors such as "International Orange," used for San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, and "Cornflower Blue," the color of Middlesbrough’s Transporter Bridge, have been used. The project comes from Kellenberger-White's investigations into folded metal and draws influence from the Bauhaus, notably László Moholy-Nagy, Marianne Brandt, and Wilhelm Wagenfeld. MultiPly by Waugh Thistleton Architects At: The Sackler Courtyard, Victoria & Albert Museum British architecture firm Waugh Thistleton Architects has collaborated with engineers Arup and the American Hardwood Export Council to create MultiPly, a series of stacked timber Minecraft-like modules. Using 60 cubic meters of American tulipwood as cross-laminated timber (CLT), MultiPly aims to exhibit the benefits of modular architecture and the possibilities it provides. Staircases and walkways knit together the series of CLT boxes, creating a 3-D maze-like experience. MultiPly is carbon neutral. Carbon emitted through creating MultiPly (timber extraction, processing, transportation, and manufacture) was offset by the carbon stored in the timber and the potential energy from its incineration. The best thing about the project, though, is the view you get of Amanda Levete's design for the V&A courtyard: a chance to see the project from a bird's eye view and almost in plan, which is a satisfying experience. Living Unit London by AKT II and OFIS Arhitekti At: Old Street Yard, Shoreditch Micro-living hopefully isn't the solution to London's housing crisis, but London engineers AKT II and Slovenian studio OFIS Arhitekti's study into temporary micro-sized dwellings fuels debate on the subject and the minimum space requirements for inhabitance as well as how to arrange such spaces efficiently. Composed as three stacked volumes, each measuring 14.7 by 8.2 by 8.8 feet, Living Unit provides a kitchen, bathroom, bed, and seating, supplying accommodation for two people. Like Waugh Thistleton Architects' MultiPly, the project is modular, meaning units for a kitchen or bed can be easily added and taken away. Modules can connect vertically and horizontally, able to create space for four-to-six people. On their own, units can serve as a retreat, easily used as tree-house, holiday cabin, or hideaway. Living Unit is currently being auctioned off on eBay with the proceeds going to The Architecture Foundation. The Institute of Patent Infringement by Los Carpinteros At: Victoria & Albert Museum Since 2010, Amazon has filed 5,860 patents. That's 732 every year. The Institute of Patent Infringement looks at these and hints a bleak digital future shaped by excessive patenting. The Institute exhibits the work of students, industrial designers, architects, urban planners, artists, programmers, and the wider public, which is invited to merge, reimagine, infringe, and hack existing Amazon patents. Traveling up from the Venice Architecture Biennale, the exhibition is housed within a timber latticed globe designed by artists collective, Los Carpinteros. Under the worrying overtone of Amazon's digital hegemonic ambitions, The Institute of Patent Infringement is laced with humorous proposals that delve into the absurd.
Postmodernism comes back to life in vivid color at the Soane Museum in London
A new exhibition devoted to postmodern British architecture is designed to spark a revival of interest in the movement. The exhibition titled The Return of the Past: Postmodernism in British Architecture is now showing at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London through August 26. The exhibition will display a selection of important works by some of the country’s most prominent architects such as Terry Farrell, CZWG, Sir Jeremy and Fenella Dixon, John Outram, and James Stirling. Their works emerged as part of the postmodern movement, which was a reaction against the confining modernist style used in designing many British towns and cities at the time. Postmodernist architecture generally emphasized the reconnection of architecture to the past through “ornament, materials, form or typology,” according to a statement from the Soane Museum. The SIS building designed by Terry Farrell houses the headquarters of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency Secret Intelligence Service MI6. Located on the bank of the River Thames in central London, the cascading building looks like a fortress, finished with a cream-colored facade and green-tinted windows. Another highlight is a project for 200 Queen Victoria Street for Rosehaugh-Stanhope Developers by John Outram. Although unbuilt, its signature image, featuring oversized Greco-Roman columns, chinoiserie posts, mosaic patterns, turbine flourishes, and fantastical additions make it a shining example of the movement's style. CZWG’s work is also celebrated in the exhibition. Cascades is a twenty-story apartment building located on the Isle of Dogs in London. Its design offered an alternative appearance to the high rise typology. According to CWZG, the “Pharaonic references” signify the high-reaching ambition of the construction, making it a postmodernist centerpiece. China Wharf is also a significant piece by the same firm. The building combines functionalism and aesthetics. The scalloped wall “is used to twist windows, both towards the rising sun and away from the neighbors directly across the courtyard,” according to the designers. As part of a regeneration scheme for the London Docklands, the building includes a pastiche of stylistic references such as naval and pagoda motifs. “Postmodern architecture in Britain is frequently written-off as an expression of 1980s Thatcherism and still little understood. We conceived this exhibition to set the record straight and reveal this period as one of such amazing creativity and innovation that can hold its own with any moment in British architecture history,” said Owen Hopkins, Senior Curator at Soane. “Full of color, ingenuity, and exuberance, the exhibition will also show the serious intellectual basis that underlay a movement whose legacy still shapes how we create and understand architecture today.” The organizers of the exhibition hope to renew attention to postmodern buildings in the U.K. Later this year, Historic England, the public body that looks after England’s historic environment, will launch a project to assess postmodern buildings for listing.
Explore parts of Sir John Soane’s Museum from the comfort of your computer
“Welcome to Explore Soane. The historic house, museum, and library of 19th-century architect Sir John Soane—now made digital. Get closer than ever before to its fascinating objects and see its eclectic rooms in a new light.” These words welcome viewers as they enter the new digital model of the Sir John Soane’s Museum, recently launched by ScanLAB Projects. Sir John Soane was a noted 19th-century British architect who passed away in 1837, leaving behind not simply a home, but a museum of architectural curiosities for posterity. Established by Private Act of Parliament in 1833, the house-museum has been kept just as Soane left it at the time of his death, continuing to offer free access to visitors as he had intended. Safeguarded by its Trustees, the museum hosts exhibitions, events, and a research library. The Sepulchral Chamber. (Via explore.soane.org) The museum's digital model offers visitors the choice to begin their journey in the Model Room or the Sepulchral Chamber. The Model Room includes models of historical architectural sites such as Temple of Vesta (made from cork), Temple of Vesta (made from plaster) and a Model of Pompeii, showing the city in 1820. The replica of the room features individual, digitized models available for download. The interactive elements of the room also include fact sheets for models in Soane’s collection, which can be found upon clicking on each model. As viewers move on to The Sepulchral Chamber, they can find interactive models of an ancient Egyptian Sarcophagus King Seti I and Sarcophagus Detail. This portion of the journey also provides fact sheets and an about page for items in the chamber. ScanLab Projects is a creative studio that works to combine 3-D technologies and large scale scanning with the architectural and creative industries, creating digital replicas of buildings, landscapes, objects, and events. They offer 3-D printing, 3-D scanning, and visualization services to digitize the world in captivating ways. ScanLAB Projects also plans to add more rooms and works of art to the model.
Soane's Annual Gala Dinner
Tuesday evening's John Soane's Museum gala was a great evening for the assembled supporters of the London museum on Lincoln's Inn Fields. It started when Soane Board President Thomas Klingerman asked the audience "How many of you read The Architect's Newspaper?" You probably saw the Eavesdrop column on Jay Z and Beyonce visiting Cuba on a Soane architecture tour (their itinerary included landmarks by architect Miguel Coylua, among others). Things are really changing at Soane! After the irrepressible Suzanne Stephens opened the program awards, inscribed Soane Foundation medallions were given to Carole Fabian, director of Avery Architecture & Arts Library at Columbia, and Barry Bergdoll for their joint acquisition of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives. The award was presented by the architectural theorist Catherine Ingraham, who talked about her maternal grandfather Frank LLoyd Wright and his meaning to her family and architectural culture. In accepting the award, Fabian talked about the enormous organizing challenge of the huge archive and Bergdoll told the story of Wright introducing Mies van Der Rohe to a Chicago audience. In front of the crowd, Bergdoll said "I want to introduce you to Frank Lloyd Wright without whom there would be no Mies Van der Rohe!" A second award was given to Lord Norman Foster of Thames Bank by Paul Goldberger, who is finishing a book on Foster and compared his career as an architect and collector to Soane, though one with his own private airplane! Foster, for his part, woke up yesterday in London, visited the Soane Museum, then lunched with the Queen and piloted his plane to New York.
Quick Clicks> Green, Trolley, Bike, and Soane Booms
Green Boom. Blair Kamin takes a look at the sustainability of two billowing icons in Chicago and New York. Studio Gang's Aqua Tower is going for LEED certification while Frank Gehry's New York tower will not seek the USGBC's approval but claims to be green nonetheless. Kamin notes the importance of such moves, saying of Gehry: "What he, in particular, does--or doesn't do--can have enormous influence, not simply on architects but on developers." Trolley Boom. NPR has a piece on the explosion of streetcars across the country with planned or completed systems in over a dozen cities. Bike Boom. Cycling advocate Elly Blue discusses a new study on Grist stating that bikes deserve their own infrastructure independent from autos. And not just a striped bike lane, Blue notes, but separated lanes called "cycle tracks" like one installed along Brooklyn's Prospect Park West. Soane Boom. The Independent reports on a planned renovation to the Sir John Soane Museum in London, that architect's treasure trove of antiquities and architectural memorabilia from across the world. Plans include opening up a new floor that hasn't been open to the public since Soane died in 1837.
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Years in the making, this spellbinding, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting narrative is an unforgettable portrait of 9/11.
This is a 9/11 book like no other. Masterfully weaving together multiple strands of the events in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Fall and Rise is a mesmerizing, minute-by-minute account of that terrible day.
Travels from: Boston, MA
Fall and Rise - press kit
Mitchell Zuckoff is the Redstone Professor of Narrative at Boston University. He covered 9/11 for The Boston Globe and wrote the lead news story on the day of the attacks. Years in the making, Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 is a spellbinding, heartbreaking, and, ultimately, uplifting narrative is an indelible portrait of 9/11. Fall and Rise masterfully weaves together the interrelated strands of the events in New York City; in Washington, D.C.; and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to create the first minute-by-minute history of that horrendous day. Fall and Rise will open new avenues of understanding for everyone who thinks they know the story of 9/11, bringing to life—and in some cases, bringing back to life—the extraordinary ordinary people who experienced the worst day in modern American history.
Zuckoff is the author of seven previous works of nonfiction, including the #1 New York Times bestseller 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi, which became the basis of the Paramount Pictures movie of the same name.
As a member of the Boston Globe Spotlight Team, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting. Zuckoff’s honors include the Livingston Award for International Reporting, the Winship/PEN New England Award for Nonfiction, the Heywood Broun Memorial Award, and the Distinguished Writing Award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and numerous other publications. He lives outside Boston with his family.
With his rigorous research and moral clarity, Mitchell Zuckoff has provided us with an invaluable service. He has deepened our understanding of what happened on 9/11 and recorded the voices of the victims and the survivors. What’s more, he has ensured that we never forget.
— David Grann, #1 NYT Bestselling author of KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi
Hiding in Plain Sight: Finding and Telling True Stories That Other Writers Overlook
Frozen in Time: An Epic True Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II
Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II
Ponzi Schemes: Financial Fraud, Old and New - From the Original Ponzi Scheme in 1920 to Madoff and His Ilk
The Life and Career of Director Robert Altman
Host Feedback for Mitchell
Check Mitchell's Availability
Previous & Upcoming Events:
May 22, 2019: Boston Public Library - Boston MA
April 30, 2019: 9/11 Memorial and Museum - New York, NY
“Vivid, Intimate Stories of 9/11, From Those Who Survived and Those Who Didn’t” - The Washington Post (May 2019)
“Revisiting the Ponzi Scheme in Mitchell Zuckoff’s Ponzi’s Scheme” - The New York Times (May 2019)
“The Many Tragedies of 9/11” - The New York Times (May 2019)
“Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 by Mitchell Zuckoff” - StarTribune (Apr 2019)
“‘We Have Some Lanes’: Inside the Hijacking of Flight 11” - Boston Globe (Apr 2019)
“Mitchell Zuckoff’s Reconstruction of 9/11 Attacks is a Page Turner” - Newsday (Apr 2019)
“A Riveting, Harrowing, Moving Narrative History of 9/11” - The Boston Globe (Apr 2019)
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Fall, or Dodge in Hell
Author(s): Neal Stephenson
The astonishing new work of imaginative fiction from master storyteller and futurist, Neal Stephenson, author of Reamde, Seveneves and Snow Crash Richard "Dodge" Forthrast, the billionaire founder and chairman of video game company Corporation 9592, was last seen in Neal's Stephenson's 2011 novel Reamde. Now middle-aged, Dodge lives a comfortable life in Seattle, managing myriad business interests and spending quality time with his grandniece, Sophia, daughter of his beloved niece Zula (also last seen in Reamde). As Fall opens, Dodge undergoes a "routine medical procedure"; when something goes horribly, irrevocably wrong, he is pronounced brain dead and put on life support. As Dodge's family and friends gather and struggle to come to terms with this turn of events, his health directive comes to light: Dodge's remains are to be given to Ephrata Life Sciences and Health, a company founded and run by one Elmo Shepherd. Dodge's brain will be scanned, its data structures uploaded to and stored in the cloud. What happens next is pure, unadulterated, mind-blowing FUN: a grand drama played out on an epic scale in digital space. For what is achieved, ultimately, is nothing less than the disruption of death itself. A new world, the Bitworld, is created - an afterlife wherein humans live on not as spirits but as digital simulations. But this brave new world is not the Utopia it might first seem... Neal Stephenson is at the cutting edge of speculative fiction. His sprawling, epic stories are master works of imagination, conjuring an all-too-real, all-too-possible future for our society. His work has been recognised by multiple awards and high-profile fans such as Barack Obama. In the tradition of William Gibson and Liu Cixin, The Fall is a compelling, terrifying, fast-paced near-future thriller.
Publisher : HarperCollins Publishers Australia
Imprint : colaus
Publication date : February 2019
Author : Neal Stephenson
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Tajikistan, China Sign Agreements To Bolster Ties
Tajikistan and China have signed 18 agreements to bolster bilateral ties.
The documents were signed on June 15 in Dushanbe after talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.
Xi was in the Tajik capital not only for bilateral talks but to attend a summit of Asian leaders.
The agreements signed included documents on investment, agriculture, joint business ventures, and fighting terrorism.
The Chinese ambassador to Tajikistan, Liu Bin, earlier said that bilateral trade between Tajikistan and China in 2018 amounted to $1.5 billion.
According to the Chinese ambassador, China is currently Tajikistan's biggest investor and its third-largest trading partner.
Earlier, Xi took part in the summit of the 27-member regional grouping called the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia.
Besides the presidents of Tajikistan and China, the June 15 summit was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and leaders from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and India, who had all gathered a day earlier in neighboring Kyrgyzstan for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
With reporting by Xinhuanet.com
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036
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77th INFANTRY DIVISION - Statue of Liberty
Activated 1 Jul 1940 • Entered Combat 11 May 1943 • Days of Combat 208 • Casualties 9,212
Maj. Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger (Mar 42 - Jun 42)
Maj. Gen. Roscoe B. Woodruff (Jun 42 - May 43)
Maj. Gen. Andrew D. Bruce (May 43 - Feb 46)
Western Pacific (15 Jun 44 - 2 Sep 45)
Leyte (17 Oct 44 - 1 Jul 45)
Southern Philippines (27 Feb 45 - 4 Jul 45)
Ryukyus (26 Mar 45 - 2 Jul 45)
The 77th Infantry Division landed in Hawaii, 31 March 1944, and continued training in amphibious and jungle warfare. Elements began to leave Hawaii, 1 July 1944, for the amphibious assault on Guam. Attached to III Amphibious Force, the 77th made an assault landing on Guam, 21 July 1944. After taking over defense of the beachhead, the Division drove north to seize Mount Tenjo and effected junction with the 3d Marine Division, linking the northern and southern bridgeheads, 23-29 July. It continued to drive north, and dislodged the enemy from positions at Barrigada town and mountain, 4 August, resistance ending on the 8th. With Guam recaptured, the 77th sailed for New Caledonia, but plans were changed en route and it was directed to proceed to Leyte. The Division landed on the east coast of Leyte, 23 November 1944, and was attached to XXIV Corps, Sixth Army. After a short period of training and combat patrolling in the Corps' rear, 23 November-6 December, it landed at Ipil and fought up the east coast of Ormoc Bay to seize Ormoc, 10 December. Attacking north, astride Highway No. 2, the Division secured Valencia and the Libungao-Palompon road junction. Mopping up operations continued through January 1945 to 5 February 1945. The next combat assignment was Okinawa. In late March (26-29), the Division made 15 landings, securing Kerama Retto and Keise Shima for the assault on Okinawa. Riding at sea, 1-15 April 1945, it suffered casualties from enemy suicide attacks, - and prepared for the assault landing on Ie Shima. On 16 April 1945, the 77th landed on le Shims, captured the airfield, and engaged in a bitter fight for "Government House Hill" and "Bloody Ridge." It was in this operation that Ernie Pyle was killed. On 25 April, it left le Shims for Okinawa, relieving the 96th Division, 28 April 1945. Fighting its way slowly against extremely heavy Japanese resistance, the Division, drove to Shuri in conjunction with the 1st Marine Division, occupying it 29-31 May. In June the Division covered the right flank of XXIV Corps and "sealed" Japanese cave positions. In July the Division moved to Cebu, Philippine Islands, and prepared for. the invasion (later occupation) of Japan. The Division landed in Japan in October 1945 for occupation duty, and was inactivated a few months later, 15 March 1946.
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Court: You do not own that copy of WoW you bought
The Ninth Circuit agrees with a previous ruling that World of Warcraft players …
Ben Kuchera - Dec 15, 2010 3:14 pm UTC
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a previous ruling that those who bought and played World of Warcraft did not actually own the software, but were merely licensing the game, per the included End User Licensing Agreement.
The case in question deals with a third-party program that allowed gamers to play World of Warcraft without being at their computer. Certain tasks were automated, allowing players to level up and gain currency without having to actually play the game. In a previous ruling it was claimed that by using this program the EULA was broken, thus the player was violating copyright by accessing the game. The Ninth Circuit Court did not uphold that aspect of the case.
"The license term that forbade WoW players from using Glider was a covenant—a promise not to do something—rather than a condition—limiting the scope of the copyright license," the EFF explained in its commentary about the ruling. It may seem like hairs are being split, but this limits this ability of copyright holders to punish those who break the licensing agreements with copyright infringement lawsuits.
This isn't helpful for the defendants, as they're still liable for the program that broke the EULA in the first place, but it's a small victory for everyone else. The larger problem is that the courts can't seem to agree on what constitutes copyright infringement in cases such as this, which may indicate this issue will need to be resolved by the Supreme Court.
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CDC Preparing for New Swine Flu – Should You?
33 Ways to Eat Environmentally Friendly
Find a Compassionate Doctor to Help You Prevent Vaccine Injuries
With flu season just around the corner, it’s time to review the evidence and decide if you are going to listen to the media and public health authorities and choose to receive the flu vaccine for yourself or your family
Recent reports warn that a new variant strain of the H3N2 influenza A virus – H3N2v – has been identified in the U.S. in children and adults who were in direct contact with pigs at county fairs. Despite CDC assurances that the swine-origin variant H3N2 virus is still principally limited to pigs and poses a very limited threat for human-to-human transmission, the FDA recently reminded the public that the influenza A H3N2 virus is one of the three viruses that was selected last spring to be included in the 2012-2013 seasonal flu vaccine formulation
The 2012-2013 seasonal flu vaccine distributed in the US will also contain the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus strain, along with an influenza B virus strain – B/Wisconsin/1/2010-like virus
The fast-tracked pandemic 2009 H1N1 swine flu vaccine turned out to be particularly reactive – far more reactive than previous seasonal flu vaccines. Will this season’s trivalent flu vaccine – containing both H1N1 and an H3N2 virus – be as reactive?
According to the featured report by US News Health1, a new influenza A variant strain of swine flu, H3N2v, has been identified in children and adults recently in direct contact with pigs at country fairs. The CDC case count of detected human infections in the US with the H3N2-variant currently stands at 154.2
Fortunately, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states the virus is still principally limited to swine, and poses a very limited threat as it appears to spread to humans only with great difficulty, and appears to cause only mild disease when it does.
Influenza A viruses infect humans, swine and wild birds. Transmission of avian-origin influenza A viruses (H5N1 and H7N7) and swine origin influenza A viruses (H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2) between humans and animals does occur.
In August 2011, two cases of swine-origin influenza A (H3N2) virus infection were identified in two children under five years old in different states, and both had been given seasonal influenza vaccine in 2010 (which contained the pandemic H1N1 swine flu virus strain) and had had recent contact with pigs before they got sick.
According to the CDC3, the swine-origin H3N2 influenza virus the two young children became infected with last year was a new "reassortment" virus variant that contained "genes of the swine-origin influenza A (H3N2) virus circulating in North American pigs since 1998 and the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus that might have been transmitted to pigs from humans during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic."
Six months later, the FDA selected the H3N2 influenza A virus strain to be one of the three strains included in this year's seasonal influenza vaccine, along with the pandemic H1N1 influenza A virus strain and an influenza B strain (B/Wisconsin1/2010-like virus). According to the US News Health media report:
"The reason the CDC is concerned about this particular virus is that it contains an element seen in the pandemic 2009 swine flu strain, H1N1, which may make it more likely for the virus to spread from person-to-person," US News Health reports.4
"All 29 cases were infected with strains of H3N2 'that contained the matrix (m) gene from the influenza A H1N1 pandemic virus,' Bresee explained. 'This 'm' gene may confer increased transmissibility to and among humans, compared with other variant influenzas viruses.'
In addition, the virus appears to have become more active recently, the CDC said. 'The virus was first detected in humans in July 2011, and since then there have been 29 total cases of H3N2 variant virus detected, including the 16 cases occurring in the last three weeks,' Bresee said.
...Each of the recent 16 cases were among people who had direct contact with pigs. In 15 cases, contact happened at a county fair... Fortunately, sustained person-to-person transmission of the virus hasn't happened yet, he added." [Emphasis mine]
According to this media report (which does not explain the discrepancy between a detection of "29 cases" with the detected "154 cases" the CDC is reporting), symptoms of the H3N2 flu are similar to seasonal flu. However it's well worth noting that not one of the recent 16 cases required hospitalization. And no deaths have resulted from it so far. Last year, three people with underlying disease did require hospitalization.
Since this strain is a pig virus, the CDC sensibly advises limiting your contact with swine, and avoiding all contact with sick swine. If you do have contact with swine, make sure you wash your hands, and do not eat or drink in the vicinity of the animals.
Why is This New Pig Virus in the 2012 Seasonal Flu Vaccine?
According to an August 13 press release by the US Food and Drug Administration5, the 2012-2013 influenza vaccine formulation for all six manufacturers licensed to produce and distribute the vaccines in the United States will contain the following formulation:
A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)-like virus
A/Victoria/361/2011 (H3N2)-like virus
B/Wisconsin/1/2010-like virus.
The big question is whether the mass use of H1N1 influenza vaccine in the U.S. in the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 flu season somehow contributed to the reassortment of the swine-origin H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses to create the new variant H3N2 influenza viral infections detected in the past year. I don't have a solid answer to this question, but it's worth at least considering...
There are inactivated, injectable vaccines, and live virus, inhaled vaccine. Live viruses in vaccines are shed for a period of time in body fluids6, so live influenza vaccine strain viruses could theoretically recombine with other influenza viruses to create new variant versions.
Multiple Faux Pandemics "In the Works"?
This new swine variant virus isn't the only contender for the next pandemic. Just last month I wrote about renewed fears about the bird flu virus, H5N1 – yet another animal virus that doesn't easily spread among humans, but is feared to have the capability to mutate and give rise to a human pandemic.
While it's prudent to be aware that influenza viruses can be transmitted between animals and humans and a pandemic could occur, what we've repeatedly seen is that this slim possibility is massively over-sold, allowing drug companies to rake in billions of dollars for inadequately tested vaccines and other dangerous and/or ineffective anti-viral drugs.
In recent years we've seen a number of media hyped flu pandemics that never materialized. Sadly, each time a greater number of people ended up being harmed by the drugs and vaccines than died from the "pandemic" virus:
The non-existent 1976 swine flu pandemic: In 1976 the U.S. acted out the first swine flu pandemic scare, devising a vaccine program in which 45 million people were vaccinated for a swine flu epidemic that never came. The hastily created mass vaccination program resulted in hundreds of Guillain-Barre Syndrome paralysis victims and 25 deaths for a flu pandemic that failed to materialize. Within a few months, claims totaling $1.3 billion had been filed by victims, who were permanently disabled from the vaccine, and more people died from the vaccine than from the virus itself.
The 2005 bird flu hoax: Headlines warned the U.S. was facing a cataclysmic extermination event, with a calculated two million Americans succumbing to the bird flu. The best case scenario called for the death of 200,000 Americans. Then, as now, constant references to the tragedy of 1918 heightened the fear factor to a fever pitch, despite the fact that the scientific data did not support the aggressively hyped claims that instilled fear and panic in a lot of Americans.
The formula public health officials used to project the numbers of people who would die from the proposed 2005 bird flu pandemic as that they translated the minuscule number of deaths of bird handlers that had occurred worldwide into an impending extermination-level event from a virus that did not – and still does not – readily spread from birds to humans, nor between humans.
Most of the people who acquire bird-origin influenza virus infection were, and still are, bird handlers in continuous contact with sick birds. However, when it comes to keeping the public in constant fear of infectious diseases, often common sense is thrown out the window...
Bird flu hoax repeats: In 2006, 2007, and again in 2008, media hyped warnings over the bird flu were repeatedly exposed as little more than orchestrated efforts to instill fear and line the pocketbooks of the pharmaceutical industry and various special interest groups connected with the pharmaceutical industry.
The 2009 swine flu hoax: After four consecutive years of bird flu warnings that just refused to come to fruition, the H1N1 swine flu became front-page news again. This turned out to be yet another faux threat that cost tax payers billions of dollars, and in which fast tracked pandemic H1N1 vaccines were pushed on millions of people. The 2009 H1N1 vaccine was one of the most reactive flu vaccines ever created and, just like its 1976 predecessor, harmed far more people than the virus itself.
Remember? H1N1 Vaccine was Not Only Ineffective, But Unusually Dangerous...
As you may recall, the fast-tracked pandemic 2009-2010 H1N1 swine flu vaccine turned out to be particularly reactive – far more reactive than previous seasonal flu vaccines. Will this season's trivalent flu vaccine – containing two swine origin influenza A viruses – pandemic H1N1 and H3N2 – usher in a repeat performance?
One of the most disturbing side effects of some of the marketed pandemic H1N1 vaccines was narcolepsy; a very rare and disabling neurological disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness. About 70 percent of narcolepsy cases also involve cataplexy – the sudden loss of voluntary muscle control – along with vivid hallucinations and total paralysis at the beginning or end of the narcoleptic attack.
The 2009 season was a perfect example of how dangerous it can be to blindly trust public health authorities and vaccine makers, and how badly things can go wrong. As you know, health authorities around the globe fiercely maintain that vaccines are safe, regardless of what's happening in the real world. Time and again, serious side effects from vaccines are overlooked and swept under the rug as being "coincidental."
In the case of the H1N1 pandemic vaccine, the adverse events were so serious, and so widespread that the tragic reality could not be ignored. There's no discussion about whether or not narcolepsy was caused by the vaccine; it's been proven to be a vaccine injury by experts in multiple countries.
For example, according to Swedish findings, children and adolescents vaccinated with Pandemrix during the 2009-10 season had a close to 660 percent increase in risk for narcolepsy! Finland also noticed a dramatic increase in the condition following vaccination with Pandemrix. There, an interim report issued in January of last year found that the H1N1 vaccine increased the risk of narcolepsy by a staggering 900 percent in children and adolescents below the age of 19.7 France, Germany and Norway also reported cases of the rare sleeping disorder, causing the EU to launch an investigation as well.
Why are Vaccines Capable of Causing Serious Reactions?
It is very clear that vaccines do not cause problems for everyone who receives them, but when they do, it can be an unmitigated disaster. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride has identified a brilliant strategy to help assess children who may be at higher risk for developing side effects from vaccines of all kinds. In her extensive experience it is often related to poor gut flora, which is typically transferred from the mother who was compromised due to an unbalanced diet, antibiotics and/or birth control pills. She maintains that children with compromised gut flora are at the highest risk for developing these infections and can often suffer neurological damage.
Dr. Campbell-McBride suggests there are simple tests that can be done to evaluate whether a child has compromised gut flora or other risk factors BEFORE they are vaccinated. If they are at risk, then a comprehensive protocol may help reverse the problem before any vaccines are administered. This is all carefully described in her wonderful book Gut and Psychology Syndrome.
However, there is no guarantee that if you follow these guidelines or others attempting to minimize vaccine risks, that a vaccine reaction, injury or death will not occur. It is always important to remember that vaccines are pharmaceutical products, which carry risks that can be greater for some than others for many reasons, including genetic and biological high risk factors that have not been identified yet.
Total Video Length: 1:13:21
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Evidence Shows Flu Shots Simply Don't Work
Flu vaccinations keep coming up short in study after study – way short – when it comes to having any measurable impact on what matters most, which is reducing illness and mortality from the flu. Here are several other examples providing evidence that flu vaccines may not prevent influenza or influenza-related complications leading to death, like pneumonia, in ANY age group:
A study published in the October 2008 issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine8 found that vaccinating young children against the flu had no impact on flu-related hospitalizations or doctor visits during two recent flu seasons. The researchers concluded that "significant influenza vaccine effectiveness could not be demonstrated for any season, age, or setting" examined.
A 2008 study published in the Lancet9 found that influenza vaccination was NOT associated with a reduced risk of pneumonia in older people. This also supports an earlier study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine10.
Research published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine11 also confirms that there has been no decrease in deaths from influenza and pneumonia in the elderly, despite the fact that vaccination coverage among the elderly has increased from 15 percent in 1980 to 65 percent now.
In 2007, researchers with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Institutes of Health published this conclusion in the Lancet Infectious Diseases:12
"We conclude that frailty selection bias and use of non-specific endpoints such as all-cause mortality, have led cohort studies to greatly exaggerate vaccine benefits."
A large-scale, systematic review of 51 studies, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews13 in 2006, found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo in children under 2. The studies involved 260,000 children, age 6 to 23 months.
Be Aware: Vaccine Makers are Immune Against Lawsuits from Vaccine Damage
As many of you already know, in 1986 Congress gave vaccine manufacturers partial liability protection from vaccine injury lawsuits. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 created a no-fault federal vaccine injury compensation program as an alternative to a lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers and pediatricians when vaccines injure or cause the death of a person.
At the time of the law's creation in 1986, Congress said they were committed to setting up a fair, expedited, non-adversarial, less traumatic, less expensive no-fault compensation mechanism alternative to civil litigation. At the insistence of parents of DPT vaccine injured children, who founded the non-profit National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) in 1982, Congress also acknowledged that any legislation providing liability protection for drug companies and pediatricians must also be equally committed to preventing vaccine harm.
The 1986 law contains strong safety provisions, including first-time mandates for doctors and all vaccine providers to record in the medical record and report serious health problems, hospitalizations, injuries and deaths after vaccination to the government and give parents written benefit and risk information before a child or adult is vaccinated.
But few of the safety provisions have been enforced and obtaining compensation has become a highly adversarial, time-consuming, traumatic and expensive process for families of vaccine injured children. Far too many vaccine victims have been denied compensation. Meanwhile, vaccine makers and doctors have enjoyed liability protection.
To add insult to injury, last year the U.S. Supreme Court called vaccines "unavoidably unsafe" and gave drug companies total liability protection for injuries and deaths caused by government mandated vaccines. The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) called the decision a "betrayal" of the American consumer.
In a 6-2 decision, the Court majority voted to reject substantial evidence that the 1986 law was fully intended to protect an American's right to sue a pharmaceutical corporation for injuries that could have been prevented if the company had elected to make a safer vaccine. Now, the Supreme Court has left anyone who gets injured by a flu vaccine or any other vaccine with no way to hold drug companies accountable in front of a jury in a U.S. court of law, and facing a long shot at receiving federal compensation for any vaccine injuries suffered.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court decision removes all financial incentive for multi-national drug corporations making big profits in the huge U.S. market to make vaccines as safe as they can be!
However, there is still a federal requirement in the 1986 law that doctors and all vaccine providers must warn EVERYONE choosing to get vaccinated of the dangers of the vaccine before they receive it. This is informed consent. You have a right to know the potential risks you or your minor child are taking with a medical intervention or use of a pharmaceutical product and the right to make an informed and voluntary choice about whether or not to take the risk.
What You Need to Know about Informed Consent
Informed consent is especially important when it comes to vaccination because no one can predict whether you or your child will be one of the children who has a devastating vaccine reaction, such as brain inflammation, paralysis, immune dysregulation, permanent brain damage, or even death. Furthermore, doctors have been notoriously lax when it comes to providing patients with full disclosure of potential side effects.
All Americans should know that if your doctor does not provide the CDC Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) sheet, or directly discuss the potential symptoms of side effects of the vaccination you or your child is about to receive BEFORE vaccination takes place, it is a violation of federal law.
Remember, the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 requires doctors and other vaccine providers to:
Give written vaccine benefit and risk information to the person or guardian of the person before vaccination takes place (and, ethically, a doctor should be willing to discuss and answer all questions the patient or parent has about vaccination)
Keep a permanent record of all vaccines given and the manufacturer's name and lot number
Enter serious health problems, hospitalizations, injuries and deaths that occur after vaccination in the patient's permanent medical record
File an official report of all serious health problems, hospitalizations, injuries and deaths following vaccination to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS)
If a vaccine provider fails to inform, record or report, it is a violation of federal law, and I would encourage anyone who is injured from a vaccine, who did not receive the proper warnings, to use the legal system to hold the physician responsible.
Understand the Risks You Take Before You Take Them...
If you want a clear illustration of what could happen to you or someone you love as a result of a flu vaccine, take a look at this video profile of a former professor of nursing, who was left completely disabled after a seasonal flu shot. This is a risk every single person should be aware of prior to making the decision to get a flu shot.
How to Protect Yourself Against Influenza
So the question is, why do we continue doing something that has been proven ineffective and risky? As Eisnstein said, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
This certainly could be said to apply to the practice of getting a flu shot every year and expecting to be protected against the flu without taking a health risk.
While the media is sure to continue hyping potential pandemic influenzas, remember that a healthy immune system is your best and primary defense against any viral threat. The following simple guidelines will help you keep your immune system in optimal working order so that you're far less likely to acquire influenza or other respiratory infections to begin with or, if you do, your immune system will deal with it without complications:
Optimize your vitamin D levels. As I've previously reported, optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best strategies for avoiding infections of ALL kinds. This is probably the single most important and least expensive action you can take. I would STRONGLY urge you to have your vitamin D level monitored to confirm your levels are therapeutic at 50-70 ng/ml year-round.
An inexpensive option to get your vitamin D levels checked on a regular basis is to join the GrassrootsHealth D*action Project.
Avoid Sugar, Fructose and Processed Foods. Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately. Be aware that sugar is present in foods you may not suspect, like ketchup and fruit juice.
Get Enough Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu. Be sure to check out my article Guide to a Good Night's Sleep for some great tips to help you get quality rest.
Have Effective Tools to Address Stress. We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness. If you feel that stress is taking a toll on your health, consider using an energy psychology tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique, which is remarkably effective in relieving stress associated with all kinds of events, from work to family to trauma.
Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads.
Take a Good Source of High Quality Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats. Increase your intake of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which is crucial for maintaining health. It is also vitally important to avoid damaged omega-6 oils that are trans fats and in processed foods as it will seriously damage your immune response.
Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Remember that antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary and cause more harm than good. Instead, identify a simple non-toxic soap that you can switch your family to.
Use Natural Antibiotics. Examples include oil of oregano and garlic. These work like broad-spectrum antibiotics against bacteria, viruses, and protozoa in your body. And unlike pharmaceutical antibiotics, they do not appear to lead to resistance.
Avoid Hospitals. I'd recommend avoiding hospitals unless you're having an emergency, as hospitals are prime breeding grounds for infections of all kinds and could be one of the likeliest places you could be exposed to any new bug. Also keep in mind that virtually all vaccinations will reduce the effective functioning of your immune system, NOT make it stronger!
US News Health August 3, 2012
Baltimore Business Journal March 1, 2011
FierceBiotech September 2011
1 US News Health August 3, 2012
2 CDC Information on Influenza A (H3N2) Variant Viruses (“H3N2v”)
3 CDC Swine-Origin Influenza A (H3N2) Virus Infection in Two Children – Indiana and Pennsylvania, July-August September 9, 2011 / 60(35);1213-1215
4 See ref 1
5 FDA Press Release August 13, 2012
6 Vaccine 2011 Jun 10;29(26):4322-7
7 National Narcolepsy Task Force Interim Report 31 January 2011
8 Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine 2008 Oct;162(10):943-51
9 Lancet 2008 Aug 2;372(9636):398-405
10 The New England Journal of Medicine 1998 Feb 7;351(9100):399-403
11 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2008 Sep 1;178(5):527-33
12 Lancet Infectious Diseases 2007 Oct;7(10):658-66
13 Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006 Jan 25;(1):CD004879
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Progress and Confusion : The State of Macroeconomic Policy
Olivier Blanchard, Kenneth Rogoff, and Raghuram Rajan
Leading economists consider the shape and future of economic policy: Will it resume the pre-crisis consensus or contend with the post-crisis 'new normal'? Have we made progress with addressing the major issues or does confusion remain in today's economic environment? Chapters address topics that range from the measurement of systemic risk to foreign exchange intervention.
Progress and Confusion
1. A Road Map to “Progress and Confusion”
toggleThe “New Normal”
2. Debt Supercycle, Not Secular Stagnation
3. Rethinking Secular Stagnation after Seventeen Months
toggleSystemic Risk and Financial Regulation
4. A Note from the Session on Systemic Risk and Financial Regulation
5. A Comparative Analysis of Financial Sector Health in the United States, Europe, and Asia
6. Rethinking Financial Regulation: How Confusion Has Prevented Progress
7. Systemic Risk and Financial Regulation: Where Do We Stand?
8. Shadow Banking as a Source of Systemic Risk
toggleMacroprudential Policies: Gathering Evidence
9. Macroprudential Policy Regimes: Definition and Institutional Implications
10. Macroprudential Tools, Their Limits, and Their Connection with Monetary Policy
11. A Simple Cost-Benefit Analysis of Using Monetary Policy for Financial Stability Purposes
toggleMonetary Policy in the Future
12. Introduction to the Monetary Policy Section
13. Monetary Policy in the Future
14. A Monetary Policy for the Future
15. The Credit Surface and Monetary Policy
16. Remarks on the Future of Monetary Policy
toggleFiscal Policy in the Future
17. Fiscal Policy for the Twenty-First Century: Testing the Limits of the Tax State?
18. The Future of Fiscal Policy
19. What Future for Rules-Based Fiscal Policy?
20. On the Proper Size of the Public Sector and the Level of Public Debt in the Twenty-First Century
toggleCapital Flows, Exchange Rate Management, and Capital Controls
21. Floating Exchange Rates, Self-Oriented Policies, and Limits to Economic Integration
22. Some Lessons of the Global Financial Crisis from an EME and a Brazilian Perspective
23. Capital Inflows, Exchange Rate Management, and Capital Controls
toggleThe International Monetary and Financial System
24. The International Monetary and Financial System: Eliminating the Blind Spot
25. Prospects and Challenges for Financial and Macroeconomic Policy Coordination
26. Global Safe Asset Shortage: The Role of Central Banks
27. Going Bust for Growth
toggleConclusion
28. Rethinking Macro Policy: Progress or Confusion?
1. SRISK, a Measure of Financial Sector Health
2. Assessing Global Financial Sector Health using SRISK
3. What Explains the Divergence in the Evolution of the Global Financial Sector Health since 2007?
SRISK Normalized by GDP Comparison.
Aggregate Leverage Comparison.
Global Systemic Risk by Country: Europe.
European SRISK Normalized by GDP.
Global Systemic Risk by Country: Asia.
Asia SRISK Normalized by GDP.
Viral V. Acharya
This chapter uses recent methodology for estimating capital shortfalls of financial institutions during aggregated stress to assess the evolution of financial sector health since 2007 in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Financial sector capital shortfalls reached a peak at the end of 2008 and in early 2009 for the United States and Europe; however, they declined thereafter steadily only for the United States, with Europe reaching a similar peak in the fall of 2011 during the southern periphery sovereign crises. In contrast, the financial sector in Asia had little capital shortfall in 2008–2009, but the shortfall has increased steadily since 2010, notably for China. These relative patterns can be explained based on the regulatory responses in the United States to improve the capitalization of the financial sector, the lack of such an adequate response to recapitalize the financial sector in Europe, and the undertaking of bank-leverage-based fiscal stimulus in China.
In particular, the chapter exploits a theoretically well-founded notion of the systemic risk contribution of financial firms—their expected capital shortfall in a crisis—and measures it using publicly available market and balance sheet data. This approach allows a comparative analysis of the global financial sector health since early 2007, focusing on similarities and differences among the United States, Europe, and Asia.
The reason for selecting capital adequacy as a measure of systemic risk is simply that undercapitalized financial sectors lead to significant loss of economic output through the withdrawal of efficient intermediation services and possibly the misallocation of resources. In particular, when a large part of the financial sector is funded with fragile, short-term debt (or conversely, is not funded with adequate equity capital) and is hit by a common shock to its long-term assets, there may be en masse failures of financial firms. In such a scenario, it is not possible for any individual firm to reduce its leverage or risk without significant costs since other financial firms are attempting to achieve the same outcome. Since deleveraging and risk reduction are privately costly to owners of the financial firms, firms delay such actions, operating as undercapitalized firms that are averse to efficiently expanding the provision of intermediation to households and corporations and keen to pursue risky strategies (gambling for resurrection) that offer them some chance of recovering but at the cost of a greater chance of further stress. If further stress develops, there may be a complete disruption of payments and settlement services, which can cause trade and growth to collapse, as occurred for several years during the Great Depression as well as in the fall of 2008 during the global recession.
The adverse impact of undercapitalized financial sectors on the allocation of economic resources has been the focus of an important body of empirical research. This theme has been confirmed again in the European countries following the financial crisis of 2007–2009. The lack of adequate recapitalization and cleaning up of European banks’ balance sheets prevented an efficient allocation of credit for an extended period of time. Popov and van Horen (2013) report that it has taken European banks much longer to recover in terms of their global syndicated lending than other banks. Acharya and Steffen (2015) demonstrated that undercapitalized European banks put on “carry trades” by using short-term funding to purchase risky government bonds of the southern periphery, a bet that did not pay off and resulted in a combined sovereign and banking crisis for Europe in the fall of 2011.
In light of these adverse consequences of undercapitalized financial sectors, it is natural to single out expected capital shortfall of the financial sector as a way of measuring its systemic risk or vulnerability to a future crisis. Section 1 introduces the measure we employ, SRISK, based on the work of Acharya, Pedersen, Philippon, and Richardson (2010a, 2010b, 2010c) and Acharya, Engle, and Richardson (2012). Section 2 assesses global financial sector health since 2007 using SRISK as the measure of systemic risk. Section 3 discusses the divergence observed in the United States, Europe, and Asia in terms of the evolution of financial sector health since 2007.
Acharya (2009) and Acharya, Pedersen, Philippon, and Richardson (2010a, 2010b, 2010c) argue that systemic risk should be described in in the context of a firm’s overall contribution to systemwide failure. The intuition is that when capital is low in the aggregate, it is not possible for other financial firms to step into the breach. This breakdown in aggregate financial intermediation is the reason why there are severe consequences for the broader economy, such as a credit crunch and fire sales of assets.
Acharya, Engle, and Richardson (2012) implement this intuition by proposing a measure of systemic risk contribution of a financial firm, called SRISK and measured as the expected capital shortfall of a firm in a crisis. In particular, the SRISK of firm i at time t is defined as the capital that the firm is expected to need (conditional on available information up to time t – 1) to operate “normally,” that is, not face a run of its creditors, should another financial crisis occur. Symbolically it can be defined as
To calculate SRISK, we first need to evaluate the losses that an equity holder would face if there is a future crisis. To do this, the volatilities and correlations of an individual financial firm’s equity return and the global marketwide return are allowed to change over time, assuming the two return series are conditionally (i.e., each day) multivariate normal, and simulated for six months into the future many times. Whenever the broad index falls by 40 percent over the next six months, a rather pessimistic scenario that captures the kind of market collapse witnessed during the Great Depression in 1930s and the global recession in 2007–2009, this is viewed as a crisis, and the firm’s equity return is drawn from the joint distribution assumptions described above. For the crisis scenarios, the expected loss of equity value of firm i is called the long-run marginal expected shortfall, or LRMES. This is just the average of the fractional returns of the firm’s equity in the crisis scenarios.
The capital shortfall can be directly calculated by recognizing that the book value of debt will be relatively unchanged during this six-month period while equity values fall by LRMES. Assume k is a prudential capital ratio, which we take as 8 percent (and 5.5 percent for Europe, to adjust for the differences between the European IFRS and US GAAP accounting standards in the treatment of netting of derivatives). Then we can define the SRISK of firm i at time t as
where Equityi,t is the market value of equity today, Debti,t is the notional value of nonequity liabilities today, and LRMESi,t is the long-run marginal expected shortfall of equity return estimated using available information today. This measure of the expected capital shortfall captures many of the characteristics considered important for systemic risk, such as size and leverage. These characteristics tend to increase a firm’s capital shortfall when there are widespread losses in the financial sector. But a firm’s expected capital shortfall also provides an important addition, most notably the comovement of the financial firm’s assets with the aggregate market in a crisis.
Given the simple formulaic structure for SRISK, we can also understand changes in SRISK over time as coming from changes in its components, the book value of nonequity liabilities, the market value of equity, and the market value of equity times the LRMES, as follows:
where the changes in Debt, Equity, and Risk are measured over the period from t – 1 to t, and, together with the appropriate weights from the SRISK formula in (2), combine to explain the change in SRISK over the period from t – 1 to t.
To operationalize SRISK and compare it across countries and regions, the NYU Stern School of BusinessVolatility LAB (VLAB) includes all publicly listed financial firms in a country with active trading in common equity that are in the top 10 percent of firms in a year by size (see the appendix to this chapter for sample size distribution by year). To identify firms with capital shortfall, firms with positive SRISK are identified. All positive values of SRISK for a country or region in a given year are aggregated to obtain the overall SRISK for that country or region. In what follows, all references to the current or the present moment refer to October 10, 2014.
Figures 5.1–5.6 and table 5.1 summarize our overall findings for aggregate SRISK across the three regions (the United States, Europe, and Asia, with an emphasis on China):
Figure 5.1SRISK Normalized by GDP Comparison.
Notes: This figure plots the sum of SRISK for publicly traded financial firms (see inclusion criteria in the appendix to this chapter) in a given week, scaled by the country’s (or sum of the countries’) latest GDP figure available that week, for the United States, China, Asia (including China), and Europe. The SRISK data are from the NYU Stern Volatility Lab (http://vlab.stern.nyu.edu/welcome/risk) from January 1, 2007, until end of September 2014. The country GDP data are from Bloomberg.
Figure 5.2Aggregate Leverage Comparison.
Notes: This figure plots the aggregate (quasi-) leverage for publicly traded financial firms (see the inclusion criteria in the appendix to this chapter) for the United States, China, Asia (including China), and Europe. Quasi-leverage of a financial firm is its quasi-market assets (market value of equity + book value of nonequity liabilities) divided by the market value of equity. Quasi-leverage of financial firms in a region is weighted by the market value of equity of financial firms to obtain the aggregate quasi-leverage. The leverage data are from the NYU Stern Volatility Lab (http://vlab.stern.nyu.edu/welcome/risk) from January 1, 2007, until end of September 2014.
Figure 5.3Global Systemic Risk by Country: Europe.
Notes: This figure plots the top twenty country-level values in Europe of the sum of SRISK in USD billion for publicly traded financial firms (see inclusion criteria in the appendix to this chapter) in a country as of October 10, 2014. The SRISK data are from the NYU Stern Volatility Lab (http://vlab.stern.nyu.edu/welcome/risk).
Figure 5.4European SRISK Normalized by GDP.
Notes: This figure plots the top twenty country-level values in Europe of the sum of SRISK for publicly traded financial firms (see inclusion criteria in the appendix to this chapter) in a country, scaled by the country’s latest GDP figure available as of October 10, 2014. The SRISK data are from the NYU Stern Volatility Lab (http://vlab.stern.nyu.edu/welcome/risk). The country GDP data are from Bloomberg.
Figure 5.5Global Systemic Risk by Country: Asia.
Notes: This figure plots the top thirteen country-level values in Asia (including Australia and New Zealand) of the sum of SRISK in USD billion for publicly traded financial firms (see inclusion criteria in the appendix to this chapter) in a country as of October 10, 2014. The SRISK data are from the NYU Stern Volatility Lab (http://vlab.stern.nyu.edu/welcome/risk).
Figure 5.6Asia SRISK Normalized by GDP.
Notes: This figure plots the top eleven country-level values in Asia (including Australia and New Zealand) of the sum of SRISK for publicly traded financial firms (see inclusion criteria in the appendix to this chapter) in a country, scaled by the country’s latest GDP figure available as of October 10, 2014. The SRISK data are from the NYU Stern Volatility Lab (http://vlab.stern.nyu.edu/welcome/risk). The country GDP data are from Bloomberg.
Table 5.1Decomposition of Change in SRISK
SRISK(t)
SRISK(t–1)
ΔSRISK
ΔDebt
ΔEquity
ΔRisk
Bank of China Ltd. 105,580.9 −4,396.9 109,977.8 90,325.2 20,038.1 −385.5
China Construction Bank Corp. 84,956.1 −12,500.5 97,456.6 90,456.5 15,262.1 −8,261.9
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. 77,991.2 −71,501.9 149,493.1 114,137.7 48,781.9 −13,426.4
Bank of Communications Co. Ltd. 44,484.7 −678.7 45,163.4 38,475.8 6,314.8 372.7
China CITIC Bank Corp. Ltd. 33,828.5 −3,342.2 37,170.7 32,863.6 5,290.3 −983.2
China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. 29,608.3 −14,607.5 44,215.8 38,062.1 5,430.3 723.4
Shanghai Pudong Development Bank 25,899.8 −4,037.5 29,937.3 29,607.2 −1,414.7 1,744.8
Industrial Bank Co. Ltd. 24,856.8 −8,643.1 33,499.9 33,119.3 −1,822.7 2,203.2
China Minsheng Banking Corp. Ltd. 17,584.8 −4,891.7 22,476.5 27,422.5 −6,765.6 1,819.6
Huaxia Bank Co. Ltd. 11,742.1 2,068.4 9,673.7 12,193.5 −2,690.4 170.6
Notes: This table shows the change in SRISK between the beginning of 2010 (t − 1) and October 10, 2014 (t), in USD billion for publicly traded financial firms (see inclusion criteria in the appendix to this chapter) in China, with the top ten values of SRISK as of October 10, 2014. The change in SRISK is decomposed further into change due to changes in book value of nonequity liabilities (Debt), in market value of equity (Equity), and in market value of equity times LRMES, the measure of downside beta of the firm’s equity to a global market correction of -40 percent (Risk). The SRISK data and its component changes are from the NYU Stern Volatility Lab (http://vlab.stern.nyu.edu/welcome/risk).
1. Figure 5.1 plots the aggregate SRISK scaled by the GDP for the three regions and China and is the central figure of this chapter.
In the case of the United States, systemic risk appears to have peaked in the fall of 2008 and early 2009, with an estimated capital shortfall of the financial sector at close to 8 percent of GDP (over $1 trillion). This is of the order of magnitude of the capital injections and other forms of federal support for the financial sector following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the form of TARP legislation, FDIC guarantees, and Federal Reserve liquidity provision. Since then, the systemic risk appears to have steadily come down since the spring of 2009, with current levels (2 percent of GDP) being as low as in January 2007. The one exception is August 2011, when the systemic risk in the United States rises again around the debtceiling political crisis in the United States and the eurozone sovereign debt and financial sector crisis.
Similar to what is seen for the United States, the systemic risk of the European financial sector also reaches its peak in the fall of 2008 and early 2009 (12 percent of GDP, or about $2.25 trillion), but reveals an important difference: it reaches another peak of 10 percent of GDP ($2 trillion) in August 2011, coincident with the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. In other words, Europe appears to have witnessed serial episodes of dramatic capital shortfalls in the financial sector. While systemic risk has come down since this second peak, its current levels (6 percent) remain at more than twice those in January 2007 (2 percent of GDP), another striking difference with the United States. This illustrates well that the European financial sector is far less healthy at present than the US financial sector and also relative to itself prior to the global financial crisis of 2007–2008.
The picture of systemic risk estimate for Asia is, however, quite different from that for the United States and Europe. The estimated capital shortfalls for the Asian financial sector show a steady trend upward all the way from January 2007 to date, with some local peaks, but overall having risen by close to $1 trillion from a quarter trillion (2 percent of GDP) to currently around $1.25 trillion (6 percent of GDP). China, which, along with Japan, is the largest financial sector in Asia, mirrors this trend, as shown in figure 5.1. The Chinese financial sector shows little estimated capital shortfall until the middle of 2010, but since then it has had a meteoric rise, with present estimates putting it at over a half trillion dollars (6 percent of China’s GDP).
2. Figure 5.2 helps us understand the diverging patterns of systemic risk for the United States, Europe, and Asia in terms of leveraging or deleveraging of the financial sector by plotting the aggregate quasileverage of the respective financial sectors.1 It illustrates succinctly that the leverage time series for these financial sectors tracks closely the evolution of the estimated systemic risk of these financial sectors. In other words, the financial sector in the United States experienced a significant leverage increase until the spring of 2009, and since then has been deleveraging at a rapid pace; the European financial sector experienced leverage rises until the summer of 2009, but also in the period close to and leading up to the fall of 2011, and has been deleveraging to some extent since then but not to January 2007 levels; in contrast, the Asian (and Chinese) financial sectors have been ramping up leverage at a steady pace all along from 2007 to date.
It is interesting that at present, the leverage in the US financial sector is down to 5 (i.e., five units of assets for one unit of market value of equity), lower than 10 for Asia, and around 15 for China and Europe. Equally interestingly, the leverage of the financial sector in Europe has been pervasively greater than that of the financial sectors in the United States and Asia.
Similarly, figures 5.3 and 5.4 help us understand the contributors (at country level) to current systemic risk assessment in Europe. In terms of absolute contributions to the estimated capital shortfalls (figure 5.3), France leads the way, at $350 billion, over a fourth of the current shortfall estimate for Europe. Even on a per GDP basis (figure 5.4), France leads the way, with its estimated capital shortfall being around 13 percent of its GDP, a rather sizable fraction of GDP to put aside to recapitalize the banking sector should future stress require public injections of capital.
While Switzerland and the UK are expected to rank high on a per GDP basis given the relatively large balance sheets of their financial sectors compared to the national balance sheets, France topping this list is somewhat surprising and highlights the relative undercapitalization of its banking sector (in terms of its quasi-market leverage). Notably, while Germany ranks high in figure 5.3 in terms of absolute size of estimated capital shortfalls, on a per GDP basis it looks much healthier than France.
And figures 5.5 and 5.6 help us understand countries that contribute to the systemic risk in Asia at the present date. China and Japan together account for most of the estimated capital shortfall in Asia (figure 5.5). On a per GDP basis, however, Japan is substantially higher, at over 11 percent shortfall relative to GDP, whereas China is somewhat smaller, at over 6 percent.
3. Finally, while China’s systemic risk relative to its GDP appears manageable, particularly given its vast reserves, it is intriguing what explains its dramatic rise seen in figure 5.1, from practically zero to now half a trillion dollars, or 6 percent of GDP. Table 5.1 provides an intuitive understanding of this rise using the decomposition of change in SRISK between the end of 2009 and October 10, 2014, for the highest SRISK contributors in the Chinese financial sector into its three components (ΔDebt,ΔEquity,ΔRisk), as explained in the concluding remarks of section 3.
The top four banks in the list are the largest state-owned commercial banks in China. Together they contribute to over half of the estimated capital shortfall for China. However, all these banks had negative SRISK at the end of 2009; that is, they were in fact in capital surplus. What is remarkable in table 5.1 is that almost all of the change in SRISK can be attributed to the increase in debt liabilities (ΔDebt) for these banks. Indeed, while their debt liabilities have increased, equity valuations have suffered, so that the increase in SRISK is also to the result of declines in equity (positive ΔEquity). Interestingly, their downside risk on a per dollar of equity basis has improved, so that the risk contribution (ΔRisk) is negative. Together, these observations suggest massive financial leveraging of the largest banks in China from 2010 to date, which has increased the systemic risk of the financial sector to nontrivial levels, and way beyond that for the United States on a per GDP basis.
In summary, the financial sector capital shortfalls reached a peak around the end of 2008 and early 2009 for the United States and Europe; however, they declined thereafter steadily only for the United States, with Europe reaching a similar peak in the fall of 2011 during the sovereign debt crises in the southern periphery states of Europe. In contrast, the financial sector in Asia had little capital shortfall in 2008–2009 but the shortfall has increased steadily since 2010, notably for China and Japan. What explains these relative patterns? I argue below that these patterns can be explained based on the regulatory responses in the United States, the lack thereof in Europe, economic stagnation in Japan, and the bank leverage–based fiscal stimulus in China.
Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the United States put in place first a substantial rescue package in the form of TARP recapitalization of the financial sector up to $750 billion, FDIC deposit and loan guarantee programs, and the Federal Reserve’s liquidity support of the financial sector as well as of the markets at large, in addition to the government conservatorship of the mortgage agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While these measures were not adequate to calm the volatility in markets, which remained substantially high even in early 2009, the stress test–based recapitalization in spring 2009 (the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program, SCAP) ensured that banks injected a further $200 billion in capital into the balance sheets (required capital-raising by regulators was $75 billion). These measures significantly calmed worries over the health of the financial sector in the United States. Following this, the Dodd-Frank Act was enacted in 2010 and various measures were put in place to rein in systemic risk, again notably an annual stress test of the systemically important financial institutions identified by the newly created Financial Stability Oversight Council. All of these measures have ensured substantial deleveraging of the US financial sector balance sheets, as seen in figures 5.1 to 5.3, to the point that they appear to be among the healthiest in the global economy at present.
In contrast to the United States, the regulatory response in Europe to the financial sector meltdown of 2007–2008 was half-baked. While the governments and central banks were quick to assist the ailing financial sector with asset and liability guarantees as well as liquidity injection, there was no substantial recapitalization of the financial sector on a scale similar to the TARP recapitalization for the US financial sector. This lack of recapitalization, in the presence of massive guarantees, meant that the financial sector had poor incentives during the recovery phase. Many undercapitalized banks invested in risky assets to rebuild equity capital, transferring risks in the process to the government, by undertaking “carry trades” on the southern periphery states’ sovereign debt funded with retail and wholesale deposits (Acharya and Steffen 2015). This created a rather unfortunate nexus between financial and sovereign credit risks in the eurozone, bringing about twin crises in the fall of 2011, with the deteriorating macroeconomic and financial health in Spain and Italy (Acharya 2014). This nexus of sovereign and financial sector credit risks—first, the undercapitalized financial sector taking leveraged exposures to risky sovereigns, and second, further distress of risky sovereigns’ inflicting collateral damage on the financial sector—appears to have had significant real consequences. Acharya, Eisert, Eufinger, and Hirsch (2014) show that even relatively large borrowers in Europe whose lead banks have been from the southern periphery countries have been hoarding cash and cutting back investment and employment, behaving as though they were financially constrained, an effect that is not seen for borrowers whose lead banks are from the core European countries, which are, in turn, relatively better capitalized.
The carry-trade strategies and the undercapitalization of banks that induced them were left unchecked, and in fact were encouraged, by regulators, who conducted stress tests with little bite compared to the SCAP exercise of the United States. As Acharya, Engle, and Pierret (2014) document, the European stress tests granted zero risk weights to risky southern periphery states’ sovereign debt so that effectively not much capital was raised by banks in response, and in fact the worst banks, such as Dexia, in terms of risks were found to require the least capital on the stress tests. Acharya and Steffen (2014) document that the pattern was hardly different with the Asset Quality Review and Comprehensive Assessment of the European Central Bank in 2014. Nevertheless, there is some overall improvement in the health of the financial sector relative to the fall of 2011 owing to the extraordinary liquidity injection and the ECB’s promises to purchase securities from the market starting in December 2011.
Finally, the case of Asia can be explained by the continuing economic malaise in Japan since the regulatory failure in 1990s to recapitalize the banking sector, and the debt-based stimulus in China to ensure high growth rates in the short run even as the global economy suffered in the wake of the crisis of 2007–2008. In the case of Japan, the financial sector leverage remains high or increasing despite the continued macroeconomic weakness, which has only had temporary relief from “Abenomics,” explaining the continuing rise of systemic risk in Japan since 2007.
The case of China, in contrast, is relatively straightforward. After the global financial and economic crisis of 2007–2008, Chinese state-owned banks have leveraged massively, including through the use of offbalance-sheet liabilities (not captured in SRISK analysis), to fund real estate and infrastructure projects, many of which are at unsustainable price levels and subject to high nonperforming rates. From 2008 to 2013, total credit outstanding in the Chinese economy grew from 125 percent to 240 percent. Much of this increase came about from stimulus expenditures undertaken since 2008 by local municipal governments. These local governments, being prohibited from raising debt directly, set up special-purpose financing vehicles, which raised debt from shadow banks (“trusts”) in China to invest in infrastructure and real estate development. The local government debt is backed mainly by revenues from land sales, but with house prices inevitably slowing down in the past few years from their astronomical growth rate before, the shadow banks—many of which are implicitly supported by parent state-owned banks—are exposed to significant losses, which has created the possibility of runs as well as of undercapitalized banks.
While China appears to have the time and resources (a large quantity of reserves and a high domestic savings rate), in addition to tight control of its banks and housing markets, the question is whether, like the United States in the post-Lehman era, it will make the tough recapitalization decisions for its banks before its own crisis comes to fruition, or whether, like Japan in the 1990s and Europe since the global recession, it will let undercapitalized banks continue to operate as zombie banks engaged in the misallocation of economic resources.
Table 5A.1Number of Total Firms per Region
2007 155 30 336 353
Note: Using publicly listed financial firms in each country with active trading in common equity that are also in top 10 percent of financial firms by size (market equity), the number of total firms included in SRISK calculations in each year and geography are as above.
Quasi-market leverage is the notion of leverage in SRISK, which is the quasimarket value of assets divided by the market value of equity. This is in contrast to the regulatory notion of leverage, which corresponds to risk-weighted assets divided by a measure of the book value of the equity of a financial firm.
AcharyaV. V.2009. “A Theory of Systemic Risk and Design of Prudential Bank Regulation.” Journal of Financial Stability5 (3): 224–255.
AcharyaV. V. Forthcoming. “The Nexus between Financial Sector and Sovereign Credit Risks.” In Toulouse Lectures in Economics.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
AcharyaV.T.EisertC.Eufinger and C.Hirsch. 2014. “Real Effects of the Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe: Evidence from Syndicated Loans.” Faculty paper New York University Stern School of Business. http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~sternfin/vacharya/public_html/pdfs/realeffects2014.pdf.
AcharyaV. V.R.Engle and D.Pierret. 2014. “Testing Macro-prudential Stress Tests: The Risk of Regulatory Risk Weights.” Journal of Monetary Economics65:36–53.
AcharyaV. V.R.Engle and M. P.Richardson. 2012. “Capital Shortfall: A New Approach to Ranking and Regulating Systemic Risks.” American Economic Review102 (3): 59–64.
AcharyaV. V.L. H.PedersenT.Philippon and M. P.Richardson. 2010 a. “Measuring Systemic Risk.” In Regulating Wall Street: The Dodd-Frank Act and the New Architecture of Global Finance ed. V. V.AcharyaT.CooleyT.M.Richardson and I.Walter. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
AcharyaV. V.L. H.PedersenT.Philippon and M. P.Richardson. 2010 b. “Taxing Systemic Risk.” In Regulating Wall Street: The Dodd-Frank Act and the New Architecture of Global Finance ed. V. V.AcharyaT.CooleyM.Richardson and I.Walter. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
AcharyaV. V.L.PedersenT.Philippon and M.Richardson. 2010 c. “Measuring Systemic Risk.” Technical report. Department of Finance, New York University Stern School of Business. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1573171.
AcharyaV. V. and S.Steffen. 2014. Benchmarking the European Central Bank’s Asset Quality Review and Stress Test: A Tale of Two Leverage Ratios.Brussels: Center for European Policy Studies.
AcharyaV. V. and S.Steffen. 2015. “The Greatest Carry Trade Ever? Understanding Eurozone Bank Risks.” Journal of Financial Economics115:215–236.
BeckerB. and V.Ivashina. 2015. “Reaching for Yield in the Bond Market.” Journal of Finance70 (5): 1863–1902.
BeckerB. and M.Opp. 2014. “Regulatory Reform and Risk-Taking: Replacing Ratings.” Working paperUniversity of Berkeley Haas School of Business.
CalomirisC. and R.Herring. 2013. “How to Design a Contingent Convertible Debt Requirement That Helps Solve Our Too-Big-To-Fail Problem.” Journal of Applied Corporate Finance25 (2): 66–89.
KoijenR. S. J. and M.Yogo. 2013 “Shadow Insurance.” Working paperLondon Business School and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
PopovA. and N.van Horen. 2014. “Exporting Sovereign Stress: Evidence from Syndicated Bank Lending during the Euro Area Sovereign Debt Crisis.” Working paper Review of Finance. doi: 10.1093/rof/rfu046.
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16-060MR ASIC commences civil penalty proceedings against ANZ for BBSW conduct
ASIC has today commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court in Melbourne against the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) for unconscionable conduct and market manipulation in relation to the ANZ's involvement in setting the bank bill swap reference rate (BBSW) in the period March 2010 to May 2012.
The BBSW is the primary interest rate benchmark used in Australian financial markets, administered by the Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA). On 27 September 2013, AFMA changed the method by which the BBSW is calculated. The conduct that the proceedings relate to occurred before the change in methodology.
It is alleged that ANZ traded in a manner intended to create an artificial price for bank bills on 44 separate days during the period of 9 March 2010 to 25 May 2012.
ASIC alleges that on these days ANZ had a large number of products which were priced or valued off BBSW and that it traded in the bank bill market with the intention of moving the BBSW higher or lower. ASIC alleges that ANZ was seeking to maximise its profit or minimise its loss to the detriment of those holding opposite positions to ANZ's.
ASIC is seeking declarations that ANZ contravened s.12CA, s.12CB and the former s.12CC of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth), s.1041A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act), and s.912A of the Corporations Act.
Further, ASIC has sought from the court pecuniary penalties against ANZ and an order requiring ANZ to implement a compliance program.
ASIC will be making no further comment at this time.
Prior to today's action, ASIC's investigations into misconduct in the BBSW has seen ASIC accept enforceable undertakings from UBS-AG, BNP Paribas and the Royal Bank of Scotland (refer: 13-366MR, 14-014MR, 14-169MR). The institutions also made voluntary contributions totalling $3.6 million to fund independent financial literacy projects in Australia.
In July 2015, ASIC published Report 440, which addresses the potential manipulation of financial benchmarks and related conduct issues.
Originating process (PDF 531KB)
Concise statement (PDF 1.6MB)
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RDS7: Sam Brooks gets specific
Posted on August 19, 2014 by Basement
Dawn Glover: Tell me about “Site Specific Theatre.”
Sam Brooks: My experience with site specific theatre is mostly self-taught, so I’m probably going to offend a lot of theatre types more educated than I am. But it’s basically theatre that is made to be performed in a specific kind of place, or maybe one specific place. An example is Salon, which is a play that has traveled through salons throughout the country.
It’s about expanding theatre from how creators and audiences usually see it, a dressed up black box with an audience facing one way and actors facing the other, and exploring what theatre can be in spaces that aren’t designed for it, or using the theatricality inherent in those places to bring something out the work, and an audience.
DG: What does Site Specific Theatre offer a director, actors, and an audience?
SB: As a director, it’s really exciting to be confronted with the limitations of a space and then figuring out how to work with it. Things that you usually take for granted in the theatre, like a lighting rig or a seating block, are now things you have to figure out how to bring into the piece and make seem organic.
I think it’s exciting for actors to work in a space that isn’t a theatre, and to be confronted with both the limitations and freedoms that it brings; it takes away a lot of the artifice of theatre and there’s not a lot you can hide behind.
For an audience, it’s a chance to see a play that isn’t in a theatre. It’s a chance to be excited by the form again and to see a different kind of story, and a different way of telling a story. I think it’s easy for both creators and audiences to be bored by traditional forms of theatre and it’s fun to see the medium exploded from time to time.
When we did Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys down in Wellington, the most beautiful thing was seeing how people walking past on the Waterfront reacted to see a bunch of people watch two people sitting and talking in a car. It’s the kind of thing that can only happen with site specific theatre and it’s beautiful to watch.
DG: When you wrote Wine Lips did you already have The Basement Green Room in mind?
SB: I did! It’s a space I know too well, this will be my seventh show in the space, and the green room is such a grubby little space that you can’t help but love it. From the terrible furniture to the lack of soundproofing, it’s like a little three-legged dog.
I remember when I did my first show, which was a double bill of two plays I’d written Goddess and Mab’s Room, I was fresh out of drama school and didn’t know anybody in the industry and suddenly I was sitting in a green room, crudely divided with outside fences, sharing it with the likes of Sophie Roberts, Renee Lyons, Sophie Hambleton, Leon Wadham, Martyn Wood, Shadon Meredith, Simon Leary and Josephine Stewart, some of whom I had looked up to since high school, freaking the fuck out and wondering how my life got to this point.
The beautiful thing about that green room is that it’s full of memories like that, and everybody in the industry, from someone fresh out of drama school to international comedians to Elizabeth Hawthorne has done their five nights in that green room, so I think drawing on the memories of that space and all the people who have been on it is something that is really special.
DG: If you could pick any “site” in the world to build a play/story in, where would you pick?
SB: I would love to do something on the Hilton Wharf. It’s, for my money, the most beautiful place in the entire city at night and I think it’s something you could do something really special and romantic with.
DG: Can we look forward to more Site Specific work from you in the near future?
SB: Hopefully! My dream is to take over The Basement for a week, doing both of my site specific shows so far, Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys and Wine Lips, in the carpark and green room, then taking over the main space to do a show about techies packing out a show and have an 11PM show in the bar.
But I’d guess I’d have to write those shows first, huh?
DG: Be sure to check out Wine Lips, in the dressing rooms, the 26th-30th of August.
-DG
Row D Seat 7 is a blog written by Dawn Glover. Dawn studied acting at Purdue University (USA) earning her Masters of Fine Arts in Performance. She has worked professionally as an actor and singer throughout The States and made Auckland her new home almost two years ago. She is one of the founders of Navi Collaborative and is actively interested in theatre for social change, experimental works, and performance art.
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Transcript of Doorstop – Canberra – Thursday, 13 September 2018
Subjects: Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Dutton, women in Parliament.
ANTHONY ALBANESE: The tweet from Malcolm Turnbull stating that Peter Dutton should be referred to the High Court is an extraordinary intervention. It follows revelations in today’s newspapers that Malcolm Turnbull has been lobbying his Liberal Party colleagues to vote for a referral to the High Court. What should happen today is that Scott Morrison should show some leadership. He has shown none in the first few weeks of his prime ministership. He is unable to explain why he was elected Prime Minister and why Malcolm Turnbull was removed.
What he needs to do today is to go to Peter Dutton and say: Listen, it’s not Its not appropriate that the person who is responsible as Home Affairs Minister for administering a range of serious laws relating to national security is himself the subject of doubt when it comes to his legal status to sit as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives.
It’s very clear from Peter Dutton’s own statements that he believes there is a conflict of interest when it comes to the issues of child care and we know that arises out of his pecuniary interest. It’s about time that Peter Dutton himself stopped being angry, stopped making wild accusations against other people under parliamentary privilege, and actually acted like an adult and said: I am going to do what others have done’ – refer himself to the High Court and ensure that there is no doubt over his status to sit as a Member of the House of Representatives.
REPORTER: Do you think that the Morrison Government is protecting Peter Dutton?
ALBANESE: Well quite clearly what we have here is Scott Morrison running a protection racket for Peter Dutton. Scott Morrison knows that his own position as Prime Minister is very vulnerable, but he should learn from Malcolm Turnbull, which is that giving in to people in his own team and being weak will inevitably lead to his own destruction from within and that is why he needs to show a bit of strength and refer Peter Dutton to the High Court and he should do it today.
REPORTER: There’s been a lot of talk within the Liberal Party about bullying and perhaps the need for gender quotas. What advice from Labor do you have to the Liberal Party to clean itself up?
ALBANESE: Well quite clearly the accusations from very senior members of the Liberal Party, from Julia Banks, who has taken the step of saying that she’ll remove herself from politics over these issues; Julie Bishop, the former Deputy Leader and Foreign Minister; Kelly O’Dwyer, the Minister for the Status of Women, have all pointed out the issues that related to the challenge by Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison to Malcolm Turnbull’s prime ministership. They have said that they were bullied. They are entitled, I think, to expect much better and the people of Australia are entitled to expect much better.
What needs to happen in the Liberal Party is that those issues need to be addressed and they need to be addressed in a transparent manner. It’s not up to Scott Morrison to have a cup of tea with someone and sort it out in private. It needs to be sorted out transparently. The second thing that needs to happen is the Liberal Party needs to acknowledge that they’ve got a structural problem. The structural problem is they have been going backwards when it comes to women’s representation at a time when Labor has reached almost 50 per cent and we are very confident we will be on 50 per cent or more after the next election. And Labor has done that through a series of rules, by ensuring that the culture is changed, by ensuring that we promote women candidates. And you know what, we are stronger for it because the Parliament should represent the people who are voting for it and 50 per cent of voters are women. Fifty per cent of Members of Parliament should be women as well.
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Chad “Robo” Robichaux
Alex Soto
Walel “The Gazelle” Watson
Sam Sicilia
Steve Magdaleno
Mike Ricci
Kurt Holobaugh
Cristiano Marcello
Mike Bruno
Danny Castillo
Kamal Shalorus
Rory “Ares” MacDonald
Stephen Wonderboy Thompson
Nate “The Great” Marquardt
Eric Scallan
Joseph Corneroli
Alex Morono
Karl Amoussou
Shaun Dillon
Constantinos Philippou
Alessio Sakara
Jimi Manuwa
Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko
Virgil “The Rezdog” Zwicker
Ovince St. Preux
Gegard Mousasi
Brendan “The Hybrid” Schaub
Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve
Female Fighters
Bec Hyatt
Liz Carmouche
Antoni “Mr. Wonderful” Hardonk
Firas Zahabi
Jon Chaimberg
Home » Fighter
Martial Arts and the Money It Generates
»Posted by Charlene Adams on Jul 11, 2019 in Fighter, MMA | Comments Off on Martial Arts and the Money It Generates
Martial Arts is filled with gruelling action, creating a fascination with the sport. It is this fascination which it delivers in the crowds that are continually increasing the volumes of viewers. Large groups bring in significant revenue, making the sport in the end, very much a game about money. But the large crowds are mainly driven by a few valuable fighters. Hence let’s explore who are the top five fighters in UFC bringing in megabucks and receiving a handsome reward for doing so.
Number Five, Demolition Man
In the heavyweight division, Alistair Overeem has been making a name for himself as being a decorated fighter. Being a champion in their own right, he has deserved a position in many promotional avenues over the recent years. These include Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 World Grand Prix. He has had victory over some great names, which brought him higher earnings and increased sponsorships. Bringing him to number five on the list with an income of just over $6 million.
Number Four Goes to the Greatest Striker
Anderson Silva or Spider Silva is a Brazilian mixed martial artist with the reputation of the greatest striker ever in the Octagon. His performance brought him to Mecca, Cage, PRIDE and other MMA promotions. After a short ban due to a positive test for synthetic testosterone, he returned and continued his success. Earning a total income of just below $7 million.
Canadian Strength, Georges Rush St-Pierre
With an annual income of slightly over $7 million, this Canadian mixed martial artist is third in the line of highest earners in the industry. Before retiring in 2013, he had a winning streak of 12 fights with the UFC and then continued further with triumphing over Johnny Hendricks. Just before his return in 2017, he defeated Michael Bisping, making him middleweight champion. A title which he shortly afterwards gave up due to ulcerative colitis. Still, the fight alone earned him $2 580 000 plus bonuses and increased sponsorships.
Michael Bisping, The Count
Not only known for his performance in both Cage Rage and middleweight, but also his brilliant trash-talking skills. Also known for being an actor as well as a sports analyst and then being the only fighter ever to win the UFC Championship from Britain. Even though he made a lot less from the fight he had with St-Pierre, it came after he already had a winning streak of five matches. His total annual income delivers him in second place, only slightly further above the $7 million-mark than St-Pierre.
The Champion – McGregor
Miles ahead from number two in the position of highest income is Conor McGregor with earning well over $9.5 million. The Irishman has a fast mouth and a sharp wit which made him a superstar in the field of combat sports. This seriously increased his marketability and delivering on the pay-per-view numbers. His fight against Mayweather is still standing at 4.3 million buys as the pay-per-view event scoring the second-highest ever.
Khabib Nurmagomedov Signs new UFC Deal
»Posted by Charlene Adams on Jun 10, 2019 in Fighter | Comments Off on Khabib Nurmagomedov Signs new UFC Deal
Khabib Nurmagomedov signs a new deal with the UFC, which is turning out to be one of the biggest in UFC history. According to Khabib’s manager, he is currently the highest paid fighter.
Khabib has been suspended since last year October and is finally getting really to return to UFC and once again show why he is the best. The undefeated lightweight champion won the title against Conor McGregor last year, which was the same fight that got him suspended due to a post-fight attack on one of the McGregor’s training partners.
Due to suspension, Khabib’s lightweight title was put up for an interim titleholder, featuring a fight between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier. Dustin ended up winning the battle, making him the current lightweight champion and the first to fight Khabib.
The fight is booked and seems to be an incredibly lucrative opportunity for Khabib, thanks to a new multi-fight contract with UFC. He will begin by fighting against Dustin at the UFC 242 on the 7th of September in Abu Dhabi.
According to Khabib’s manager, Ali Abdel-Aziz, the UFC gave them precisely what they want and didn’t even try to hold back. He also says it didn’t take much negotiation to get the deal they’re after, making them happy and looking forward to upcoming fights. He also added that it’s one of the most significant guaranteed contracts in UFC history.
Up to now, Khabib has managed a fantastic track record with 11 wins and no losses. This includes the 2018 April fight against Al Iaquinta and the title victory he led against Conor. The title fight didn’t last long as Khabib managed to win by submission in the fourth round, granting him the title.
As mentioned by Khabib’s manager, we are currently looking at the greatest fighter. He manages to dominate in all his fights, winning every one of them. He has never been knocked out, beaten or even caught. He also adds that it’s the reason they got the deal they wanted from the UFC. He is currently the best, and the top fighter everyone wants to see his way to the top again.
With the proven track record, there’s little doubt that he won’t win the title again in September. Sure, Dustin has been training hard and putting in the work, but when you look at the competition, we don’t see him defeating Khabib.
If Khabib wins the title, we can expect some incredible fighting events to come, including the most prominent fighters in UFC lightweight. Of course, Tony Ferguson would like to have the first pick and so would Donald Cerrone, which is why these two are booked in an upcoming fight to see who gets the title shot against Khabib or possibly Dustin Poirier. It’s also been reported that we might see Conor and Khabib enter the octagon again, but nothing has been confirmed.
Donald Cerrone Calls out McGregor
»Posted by Charlene Adams on May 10, 2019 in Featured Fighter, Fighter, MMA | Comments Off on Donald Cerrone Calls out McGregor
Conor McGregor seems once again one of the top choices for lightweight fighters even after he lost his title to Khabib last year. This time, ‘it’s a name knows as the Cowboy who had won a five-round brawl against Al Iaquinta. Doland Cerrone is now out for the Irishman who is set to return to MMA within just a few weeks. He is still finding the ideal way to return after his six months suspension in October 2018, or he is retired, which is unlikely.
McGregor announced his retirement in April, but just a week afterwards, there were already signs that ‘it’s not real. Firstly, Dana White never knew about retirement as McGregor never told him. Its also been revealed that Dana and Conor always talk daily, including how McGregor would make his return to UFC.
Well, now he has the opportunity against a fighter who has been coming up in MMA faster than most. Donald Cerrone just managed his 23rd victory in UFC and was aiming to take on the title holder, but said he would want to fight McGregor is that opportunity ‘doesn’t come available first.
It would be a while before he would have a shot at the title as Dustin Poirier has just won the interim title. Khabib is the real title holder, but he was also suspended in October of last year. However, unlike McGregor, Khabib will only return after 12 months as he joins teammates until they can fight again as well.
Therefore, before Donald can have a shot at the title, Dustin and Khabib must first determine who the actual title holder is. This fight is expected to take place as early as September 2019, but no dates have been set just yet. Once the winner is announced, Donald would need to fight his way through all the other interested contenders before he would have a clear shot for the title.
Other Possible Fighters for the title
Of course, McGregor has been itching for a rematch against Khabib since last year when he lost in the fourth round. Now, he would also want to take on the champion and possibly take back the title.
We also see Tony Ferguson still wanting a fight for the title, who has just returned to the MMA world after having some personal problems. However, he has been cleared to fight and has come back with plans to get his championship fight finally.
There are loads of others wanting a shot at the fight between Dustin and Khabib finally determines a winner, but of those, Tony, McGregor and Doland are the most likely. Therefore, we might see some exciting fights as these contenders take each other on to see how deserves a shot at the title fight.
At this point, there aren’t any plans for such fights just yet, but ‘there’s little doubt that the UFC and Dana White ‘wouldn’t see the opportunities available.
Tony Ferguson Signs with New Management
»Posted by Charlene Adams on May 2, 2019 in Fighter, MMA | Comments Off on Tony Ferguson Signs with New Management
For a moment, it seemed as if Tony Ferguson was out of the 2019 season. The well-known lightweight champion appeared to be having some mental issues, which drove his wife out the house and seeking a restraining order against him. It came out that Tony had never hurt or abused her or their child, but she was concerned for his safety and urged him to seek help. It seems as if Tony took her advice and has now once again been cleared to fight.
Before getting back in the octagon and seeking out some significant events, he decided to change management teams. He used to be part of the well-known Paradigm Sports team who also manage other professional fighters such as Stephen Thompson, Cris Cyborg and even Conor McGregor. He is now signed with Ballengee who has also proven to be a worthy manager with notable names such as Vitor Belfort, Eddie Alvarez and Aljamain Sterling forming part of the team. Surprisingly, Tony received a warm send-off from the former management team with the SEO wishing him well in the events to come.
Fighting Opportunities for Tony
The fans are already going wild as Tony made a post on Twitter that told everyone he already received a fight invite for a significant event. He also added that it’s “champ shit only” from now on. However, as we all know, the next title fight takes place when Khabib returns, which is still a few months away. Therefore, we expect to see Tony take on Conor McGregor.
Both of these fighters are hoping to take part in another title fight shortly, making it the perfect matchup before the title fight takes place between Dustin Poirier and Khabib. Whoever managed to win the battle will get to take on the winner in the “unknown” primary event fight that involves Tony.
When Khabib got suspended after the craze at UFC 229 in October last year, Tony was offered the interim title fight first. He would’ve faced up against Max Holloway, and the odds would have been in his favour. This would have been the best way to ensure he gets the title fight against Khabib, but Tony declined the fight. He said he wants a title fight and nothing less. Now, with Tony getting back in action under a new management team, we might see some fantastic events coming up. Tony will almost certainly take part in some title event, whether it’s against Khabib or Dustin.
He now seems more determined than ever, giving fans more reason to stand behind him and show support as he moves up to finally claim the title he has been after for so long. We expect to see significant events involving Tony later in 2019, giving us all great reasons to keep an eye on the odds and place some major bets!
Is Conor McGregor Done?
»Posted by Charlene Adams on Apr 24, 2019 in Featured Fighter, Fighter, MMA | Comments Off on Is Conor McGregor Done?
Since the 2018 fight against Khabib, we haven’t seen much of McGregor in terms of fighting and even before the UFC 229 event, he didn’t exactly take part in loads of fighting events.
Sure, he has been the focus on news over the last couple of months, but it almost seems as if he doesn’t have the same passion for MMA fighting as he did a few years ago.
One of the main reasons McGregor isn’t seen at the moment is because of a 6-month suspension. It was handed down by the Nevada Athletic Commission for his part in the brawl that took place at UFC 229 back in October of 2018.
It was actually Khabib who started the whole thing after winning the fight against McGregor in the fourth round. Khabib had a few words with a trailing partner on McGregor’s team right after the fight, which resulted in the title holder jumping over the cage, into the crowd and attacking.
Naturally, McGregor jumped in as well, trying to defend his team, but due to the magnitude of the actions, both fighters were immediately suspended. The hearing only took place in January 2019 where McGregor was fined $50,000 and suspended for 6 months.
Now with the suspension almost done, we see McGregor saying that he is once again retiring. He made a post on social media to announce the news. With further investigation, it seems as if the retirement post came after he was offered a co-main event later this year, which he declined as he wants shares in UFC, which hasn’t been given to him. McGregor said he will do the event if he gets shares, which was clearly declined, resulting in him retiring early.
He has also been incredibly busy with the launch of his whiskey. He also has a young family, giving him more than enough reason to step back from the fighting and focus more on personal things.
Retirement Not Confirmed
Conor has made retirement threats in the past, which didn’t last and he came back to fight multiple times after the 2016 post on social media. Now, in 2019, we once again have reason to believe that McGregor will be seen in the octagon once again.
One of the biggest reasons was revealed in an interview with UFC boss Dana White who said McGregor hasn’t told him anything about the retirement and to his knowledge the Irishman will be taking part in fighting events later in 2019.
Dana White also confirmed that he has been talking to McGregor almost daily and commonly talks to McGregor about the way he would make a come back into the octagon after his suspension. Therefore, we have reason to believe that the suspension is another way for McGregor to take control for the time being, but we doubt that the suspension will be a permanent thing.
Dustin Poirier to Fight Khabib
»Posted by Charlene Adams on Apr 16, 2019 in Fighter, General, MMA | Comments Off on Dustin Poirier to Fight Khabib
In the recent main event at UFC 236, Dustin Poirier managed to claim the interim lightweight title by beating Max Holloway in the fifth round.
Sunday last week, we saw the two determined fighters enter the octagon to fight for the interim title as a result of Khabib’s suspension due to a post-fight brawl in 2018 at UFC 229. The rightful title holder was suspended for only nine months but decided to extend it until his teammates are allowed to fight again, meaning he won’t fight for 12 months.
However, we expect to see Khabib take back to the octagon by the end of 2019, which means he will step into a fight with Dustin to determine who gets to keep the lightweight title.
There are also many other fighters lining up to complete against Khabib in when he returns, including Dustin Gaethje, Conor McGregor and possibly Tony Ferguson. However, all of them would have to wait as the current title holder Dustin Poirier now has priority.
Dana White confirmed the fight following the title victory on Sunday, stating that Khabib and Dustin will be the next to fight for the title. He also mentioned that the event is most likely to take place in September of 2019, but it has not been confirmed as well. We expect to see Khabib return around September, making this the first fight he walks into as he is welcomed back.
Unlike Khabib, Poirier didn’t manage to get up in MMA quite as fast, but he did have a promising career ahead of him from the very start. After his first four wins, he seemed to have hit the brakes though, which he then decided to make a career move and join the lightweight category in 2015.
It might have taken his 22 fights to make his way to a title fight, but there’s no doubt that Poirier has what it takes to defend the title. Even Dana White says he shouldn’t be criticised for how long it took and as we all know, Dustin has been a victim of the media.
Now, with the interim title, he has the first choice to take on Khabib and finally claim this way to become a fighter he is meant to be seen as. When you look at all the details, Dustin should consider himself lucky for the opportunity as Toiny Ferguson was the first choice for the title fight. However, Tony turned down the offer as he wants nothing less than a full title fight against Khabib.
While the fight against Max Holloway would’ve given him just that, We saw Tony decline the offer, thinking he would be one of the fighters lining up to take on Khabib when he returns. However, it’s unlikely for Tony to take part now as he has been dealing with personal issues and hasn’t been involved with UFC as much.
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AWS Security Blog
AWS Security Profiles: Adrian Cockcroft, VP of Cloud Architecture Strategy
by Becca Crockett and Tom Olsen | on 19 NOV 2018 | in Security, Security, Identity, & Compliance | Permalink | Comments | Share
In the weeks leading up to re:Invent, we’ll share conversations we’ve had with people at AWS who will be presenting at the event so you can learn more about them and some of the interesting work that they’re doing.
How long have you been at AWS, and what do you do in your current role?
I’ve been with AWS for two years, based out of the Palo Alto office in California. I tell people that I have three jobs. One is similar to the kind of thing that Werner Vogels does: I present keynotes at AWS summits. I’ve done fourteen keynotes so far, the biggest in New York last year and Tokyo this year. This gives me a calendar that takes me around the world, where I also spend a lot of time visiting customers, meeting with sales teams, gathering input, and talking to people about their architectural challenges, cloud migration challenges, and organizational challenges. I specialize in the architecture of highly available, multi-region, redundant use cases. That’s the second job. The third job is that I’ve recruited and now manage the team that looks after open source engagement from AWS (and to some extent from Amazon as a whole, as we support a few projects that are broader than AWS itself). We hired a bunch of senior, principal-level technologists who are open source specialists in different areas, and one of the most well-known things that has come out of this is AWS joining the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. I’m one of two board members representing AWS. My team has also created an open source web page that describes the work that AWS is doing in open source. We also have an open source blog.
What are you currently working on that you’re excited about?
My current focus is on resilience, particularly as it pertains to financial services. The problem that many financial services companies face is that their current infrastructure consists of data centers full of mainframes. But mainframe experts are retiring, and there aren’t very many millennial mainframe developers and operations people around. The talent pool is disappearing. So people at these institutions are beginning to ask themselves, “We use these mainframes to move trillions of dollars around. How do we run something like that on the cloud securely, and with extreme resilience?” These aren’t rhetorical questions. Financial institutions need to comply with government audits and standards and compliance rules. In fact, there’s a designation for these organizations — Strategically Important Financial Institutions (SIFI) — which means that they’re regulated in a very special way due to events like 9/11 and the 2008 market crash, events that can introduce systemic risk across the industry. AWS has the Well-Architected Guide to describe our current availability architecture, and we are deeply involved with some of these customers to upgrade it for SIFI workloads. The team is working across sales organization, solutions architecture, and the service teams. We’re currently focused on the availability side of the question, but the security piece is also important: We’ll need the right options, from key management to private end points, to make it all viable. It’s a really interesting project, and one I’m deeply involved with.
How did you choose your particular topics for re:Invent this year?
I have one talk in the container track on chaos engineering, which I’m co-presenting with an engineer from one of our partners, Gremlin. Ana Medina is going to do a live demo of trying to break some container orchestration, and I’m going to do the setup, which is how we see chaos engineering playing out. Chaos engineering is a hot topic with a lot of customers. The high-level way of thinking about it is that most large customers have a failover strategy for their backup data centers. But most of them don’t test it very often: Testing is a big pain in the neck, it’s not reliable when you need it, and it’s expensive. However, if you’re failing over between two cloud regions, your APIs are the same, your capabilities are the same, and a lot of the things that make testing hard involve the drift between data centers. AWS just doesn’t have those problems. We’re managing all that out for you. This results in a highly automatable, productized, safe way to do failovers, which means you can test a lot more frequently. Instead of having one annual test, you can run them every quarter, or every month, or every week. And you’re doing low-level, fine-grain testing against individual instances and services. The upshot is that you end up with a much more resilient system, rather than something that once a year you come along and say, “I’m going to see if I can get it through the audit.” There are analogs to that in the security space as well: We’re moving from annual audits of your security architecture to continuous security where you’ve got tamperproof logs of configuration so you can prove that your system has never been in an insecure state, for example, rather than inspecting it every now and again and asking everybody if they’re processing tickets properly.
My second session is about trends in digital transformation. As I meet with customers around the world, I often hear them say, “We’re different than everyone else; we have all of these unique challenges.” And when they start to list their challenges, the list sounds exactly like the lists from twenty other companies. So eventually, I put all these challenges into a presentation that says, “Here are the four things that are blocking you from your technology transition.” This isn’t about adopting any particular set of AWS products. It’s really about the step before that: If you can’t absorb technological change, if you can’t do a cloud migration, if you can’t be agile, then you can’t keep up with the rest of the industry. What’s driving this digital transformation is the connectedness of customers and devices. Pretend you’re a manufacturing company that makes door locks. Traditionally, you’d put them in boxes, ship them off, and hope to never see them again — if products come back, it means they didn’t work. Now pretend you’re manufacturing a connected door lock — if you don’t hear from your door locks every five minutes, it’s a problem. It means your product is either broken, or the customer has stopped using it. Either way, the connected version requires you to continually monitor and understand how people are actually using it—and this shift applies to a huge numbers of industries. So I’ll be talking about how to navigate the various organizational and cultural blockers that exist within many companies.
What’s the most common problem you see customers running into when it comes to cloud security and compliance?
Over and over again, I see people doing data center security that’s largely enforced by network architecture. They have these complex sets of networks with firewalls, and they think if you’re in this box here, and we have a firewall around you, you’re safe. This segmentation model in data centers is largely based on network structure. Then, when customers start to move to the cloud, their security teams say, “We don’t care what you’re doing in the cloud as long as it follows this structure that we use in the data center.” This means you need to go off and build incredibly complex structures to resemble data center structures, all in order to get sign-off from the security teams. But once these systems are running, you’ll quickly find they’re much too complex — and completely the wrong architecture for cloud and cloud security. But it’s almost like you have to go through this step. It would be nice if we could convince security teams to buy into cloud best practices from the start and to use larger, flatter networks with other mechanisms for segmentation.
Five years from now, what changes do you think we’ll see across the security and compliance landscape?
Five or ten years ago, the cloud was a subset of the functionality of the data center. We’ve now flipped this: It’s hard to build a data center that’s even a pale imitation of a subset of an AWS account. We just have so much scalable functionality. I think that five years out, it will be difficult to even pass an audit in a data center. People are going to say, “You’re running that in a data center? I can’t guarantee anything about your configuration!.” And you’re going to struggle to keep your data center from being overrun by hackers because you can’t control what’s going on. You’ll eventually hit the point where you can’t know enough about the data center to secure it. So you’ll move to the cloud, where, with the proper hygiene, you’ll be able to know everything. You can log everything that’s ever happened in a tamperproof log, and that ability allows you to make strong assertions.
I also think we’re starting to get governments around the world to support banking in the cloud. We’re still in the early stages, since this also requires teaching auditors how to understand what a banking audit looks like in the cloud: The goals are the same, but the implementation of patterns is different. We’re also seeing people using AWS Managed Services to create a PCI-compliant configuration from scratch via an API call, within a few hours. And then the auditor comes in, says, “You didn’t mess anything up. You’re done!” and walks away. I think these highly audited systems will be start to be built in an extremely automated, repeatable way.
What does cloud security mean to you, personally?
I bought a house last year and have been installing all these IoT things, like door locks, lights, blinds, and yard sprinklers. These are all cloud services. I think we’re getting to a point where your personal security is tied up into the cloud. The security of all those items, which used to be physical security, is moving toward a cloud-based security model that’s going to touch people more and more as it all rolls out.
The AWS Security team is hiring! Want to find out more? Check out our career page.
Want more AWS Security news? Follow us on Twitter.
Adrian Cockcroft
Adrian Cockcroft has had a long career working at the leading edge of technology, and is fascinated by what happens next. In his role at AWS, Cockcroft is focused on the needs of cloud native and “all-in” customers, and leads the AWS open source community development team.
TAGS: AWS Security Profile
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History of the Preakness Stakes
Part of a long heritage of racing in Maryland, the first Preakness Stakes was run in 1873 at Pimlico Race Course, where it is still held today. The Preakness Stakes is the Middle Jewel of the prestigious Triple Crown and is commonly referred to as "The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans" for the state flower of Maryland.
What's At Stake
A winner at Pimlico takes home $1.5 million and the coveted Woodlawn Vase. The vase was originally created by Tiffany & Co. in 1860. The beautiful silver design, assessed in 1983 at $1 million, is easily the most valuable trophy in American sports. The perpetual is on display at The Baltimore Museum of Art and is brought to Pimlico Race Course by the Maryland National Guard. The winning horse is draped with a blanket of flowers that closely resemble black-eyed Susans. Because the state flower is not in bloom in May, Viking poms are used.
Historic Races
The thoroughbred race is an American Grade I stakes race which is run over a distance of one-and-3/16 miles on the dirt track. The entire day includes a full race card featuring the top performing Thoroughbreds in the world. The first race begins at 10:30 a.m. with 14 races throughout the day for guests to wager on, leading up to the running of the Preakness Stakes, the penultimate race of the day.
Only 13 horses in history have won the coveted Triple Crown and all of them showed off their prowess at Pimlico. Past historic Preakness winners include American Pharoah, ending the 37-year drought in 2015 to become thoroughbred racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner, Rachel Alexandra (the 2009 winner and first filly to win since 1924), Justify, Affirmed, Seattle Slew, Secretariat and War Admiral. Pimlico is also the site of the famed match race in which Seabiscuit triumphed over War Admiral in 1938.
The Official Cocktail
The Black-Eyed Susan is the official cocktail of the Preakness Stakes, named after the Maryland state flower. It has been the Preakness Stakes' official cocktail since the 1950s and has been reinvented several times over the years, but we’re sharing the official recipe made at Pimlico:
1 part of Maker’s Mark® bourbon
1 part of DeKuyper® Peachtree
1 part of Effen® vodka
2 parts of orange juice
2 parts sour mix
Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a Preakness glass over fresh crushed ice. Garnish with an orange & cherry flag.
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Brianna Mason On Her Historic Miss Tennessee Win: “Representation Is So Important”
Published on July 3, 2019
By AIMEE SIMEON via https://www.refinery29.com/
When Brianna Mason, a 23-year-old Nashville native and Murfreesboro grade-school teacher, was crowned Miss Tennessee on Saturday night, she became the first Black woman in the statewide pageant’s 80-year history to own the title. It was a history-making moment to be sure, and this wasn’t the first time she competed for the title. “I’ve attempted to win this competition four times,” she told Refinery29 in an interview. “The amazing career and scholarship opportunities gave me the drive to keep trying.” In the end, her perseverance led her to the crown and a place in the Tennessee history books.
Mason’s history-making win is one of many “firsts” in the pageant world this year. For the first time, the reigning Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, and Miss America are all Black women. The …
Read More: Brianna Mason On Her Historic Miss Tennessee Win: “Representation Is So Important”
I am a future butterfly at the stage of growth when I am turning into an adult. I am enclosed in a hard case shell formed by love, family, and friends. It is the hardest stage of becoming a black butterfly. You will encounter many hardships only to come out stronger and better than what you went in. At this stage, you are finding out who you truly are and how to love yourself.
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Capital Index Cyprus Gives Up CySEC License
Samson Ononeme | Nov. 2, 2018
A multi-regulated brokerage firm, Capital Index has made the decision to give up its CySEC CIF license. The company's decision, according to the regulator is not due to any regulatory action by CySEC.
November 2, 2018 | AtoZ Markets - The Cypriot regulatory watchdog, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has made a public announcement regarding a multi-regulated brokerage firm, Capital Index (Cyprus) Ltd.
The watchdog has informed the public that Capital Index (Cyprus) Ltd has renounced its authorization, which is the Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) License.
Capital Index Renounces CySEC CIF License
CySEC stated clearly that the brokerage firm has voluntarily surrendered its license based on the company’s decision and not as a result of any regulatory action taken by the regulator.The full CySEC notice reads as follows:
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (‘CySEC’) announces that, on its meeting of 29th October 2018, has decided, pursuant to section 8(1)(a) of the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2017 (ΝI87(I)/2017), to withdraw the Cyprus Investment Firm authorisation with number 249/14 of the company Capital Index (Cyprus) Ltd (‘the Company’), due to Company’s decision to expressly renounce it.
The regulator, however, did not state the reason why Capital Index made the decision to call it a day with its CySEC CIF license, as it has seen several regulated brokers recently voluntarily surrendering their license in their own terms, and not because of any regulatory issues.
While the reasons leading up to this decision remain unclear, the CySEC will continue to maintain supervision over the financial service company until it has taken care of its responsibilities as required by the license.
A look at the broker’s website now shows that Capital Index (Cyprus) Ltd has already made changes in its website by removing references regarding the authorization and supervision of the entity by CySEC. Additionally, the company has shared the following statement on its website:
Due to the immediate actions that need to be undertaken by our Regulator, the Company will ensure that closure of open trades/accounts, as well as withdrawal requests, will be dealt with immediately.
It shall be clarified that the Company is fully aware of the legal requirements and obligations in relation to the renouncement of its license and will proceed with all the necessary actions that are required to be taken.
What is Next For Capital Index (Cyprus) Ltd?
CySEC will now give the brokerage firm three months from October 29, the date it renounced its authorization, to settle its obligations arising from the investment services that will be lapsed. Until then, Capital Index will remain under the supervision of the Cypriot watchdog.
Moreover, the Cypriot regulatory framework requires that the entity is under compulsion to return all outstanding balances to its clients and handle all of their complaints.
Additionally, Capital Index is also mandated to provide a confirmation from its external auditor that it does not have any pending obligations and should also have the details of each of the company’s clients included.
Capital Index (Cyprus) is owned by a self-acclaimed Master Trader, Greg Secker. Secker hired Matthew Wright, former Destek Markets CEO to run the firm in late 2017, replacing co-founder Robert Woolfe, who has recently joined GKFX as CEO in 2014.
The firm opened a London branch office in 2015 and became authorized and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Think we missed something? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Samson Ononeme
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Category Archives: FA Cup
Manchester City are the first club to repeat as PL Champions in a decade
English football fans certainly got their money’s worth this season, with a title race that kept both supporters and neutrals on the edge of their seat. Fans of lower league clubs also got some thrills as latent giants are finally challenging to climb back into the top flight. All of this under the shadow of Financial Fair Play regulations with teeth… and of course, Brexit.
Here is my take on the 2018-2019 Premier League season.
Would they, or wouldn’t they? The writing was on the wall when Manchester City beat Liverpool at the Etihad in the new year. The first team to successfully defend its crown since the last Manchester dynasty, Pep Guardiola’s side ended their season as worthy champions in a title race for the ages. They did it by accumulating 198 points over two campaigns, scoring 201 league goals in the process… while only letting in 50 (Arsenal let in more in the last ten months, and they finished fifth).
Despite losing a crazy Champions League tie to scrappy Tottenham, Citeh may still win a domestic treble by beating Watford next week in the FA Cup. If so, they will have done it with basically two full sides, almost all of whom would fit in at any other European elite team. That includes the ever-present Sergio Agüero, Raheem Sterling and, eventually, Leroy Sané.
The off-season will be busy. Talismanic but injury-prone captain Vincent Kompany may or may not sign a one-year deal at 33 years old. Former record signing Elaquim Mangala has a one-year contract extension after a big knee injury. Six other players also have one year left on their contract. Fernandinho, David Silva, Delph, and Gündogan have played key parts in City’s success this year as the heart of Pep’s midfield, but none of them could be considered youngsters. It will be interesting to see how much Emirati oil money gets splashed around this summer, to help City finally lift Big Ears in Istanbul in 2020.
It has been exhausting being a Liverpool fan this season, exhilarating yet bittersweet as Jürgen Klopp built on past campaigns to refine his Heavy Metal Football. A 22-point improvement meant the Reds finished with 97 points… and still came up short. In a season of inches, it was a bumpy two months at the start of 2019 that undid Liverpool: a close loss away to City, followed by an FA Cup loss against a productive Wolves side, and then four draws in eight matches. Come March, a potential 10-point margin at the top had evaporated into nothing.
And yet… there is a feeling of crackling energy under the skin at this club. Liverpool were perfect against the bottom half, and despite their image of a calmer, more disciplined team, they actually scored four more league goals this season while practically shutting the door at the back. Pundits pooh-pooh Mohamed Salah for “only” scoring 22 goals which, alongside teammate Sadio Mané, and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, was good enough to win the league’s Golden Boot.
A monumental comeback against a European giant means that Liverpool may finish what they could not 12 months ago. And there is almost no indication this side — so complete with the addition of Golden Glove winner Alisson, and Premier League and PFA Player’s Player of the Year Virgil van Dijk — will be any less formidable come August.
The last five winners of the Championship have managed to hold onto their Premier League status, but none have done so with Wolves’ panache. Maybe panache is not the word; perhaps “authority”. This club was 13th in offence, but had the fifth-best defence in the league. A Midlands side with a Portuguese heart, Nuno Espirito Santo kept his side organized enough to beat Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal AND Manchester United, and held Manchester City to a draw at the Molineux. Only Liverpool did the double on Wolves, and even then, Wolves gave them an early shove out of the FA Cup.
Benfica loanee Raul Jimenez is set to sign a permanent contract after a 17-goal season, and the Portuguese contingent (there are eight of them on this team, four of whom have been capped in the past year) have had no problem with life in England. Wolves achieved the highest finish in the league table for a newly-promoted side since Ipswich Town got to fifth in 2001. While this may surprise some, many pundits seem to forget that Wolves are a big club (one of the original 12) with big pockets. They seem to be in the vanguard of the return of some classic clubs, with Sheffield United already up, and Leeds, West Brom, Villa and Derby fighting it out in the playoffs. Good fun.
The Hammers’ image of a club in perpetual turmoil appears to be fading. While West Ham continues to be stuck in-or-near the middle of the table year after year, the arrival of drama-free manager Manuel Pellegrini seems to have brought a stabilizing influence. The signing of Felipe Anderson from Lazio has given fans a goalscorer to cheer about, and Issa Diop helped the club keep out 13 more goals. However, the move from North to East London has not made Jack Wilshere any less brittle, and an early injury to Dortmund import Andrii Yarmolenko was a blow. Those two should be back for the new season and, barring a summer contract extension, perpetual IR list member Andy Carroll will be off the books.
An improvement of 10 points and three table places means a successful rebuilding year for the Iron.
We’ll temper this one after looking at their last four matches: a draw, and three losses, albeit to Top Ten sides. It was rough end to the season for a club that constantly hovered in and around the top half of the table. Javi Gracia’s first full season in charge earned the Hornets three more wins, nine more points and three higher spots than last year. Troy Deeney was Mr. Watford, pure entertainment for the “purist”, and Doucouré was an ever-present large menace in the goal box. But Gracia’s, um, coup de grâce, was signing Gerard Deulofeu from Barcelona on a permanent. The journeyman Spaniard was good for 10 goals and 5 assists, helping Mssrs. Deeney and Doucouré along the way. The reward is an appearance at Wembley, a possible trophy, and the European campaign that goes along with it.
United need a lot of work in the off-season.
The club removed a tyrant for the prince that was foretold… except that hasn’t worked out; it’s all gone Game of Thrones, hasn’t it? (As opposed to the constant Lord of the Rings references for Ole Gunnar Solskjær… would that make this season a Three-Ring Serkis?) We were constantly told that José Mourinho had lost the plot, had turned on his players and was content to go scorched earth as United lost three and drew one in their first seven matches. Training ground arguments, dressing room mutinies, as well as increasingly bizarre press conferences meant that a mid-December loss to Liverpool was the final straw.
Enter Old Trafford’s Hamlet from stage left. The provisional manager appeared to kick at the daylight and a new era began as United went undefeated for 12 straight matches. Then Solskjær was signed as the permanent manager and the players were content to watch their season burn: eight points from their last nine matches, as well as falling out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals. It turns out it was the players after all…
So here they sit. No Champions League next season. If Arsenal beat Chelsea in the Europa league final, United will be the only Top Six team not in Europe’s top competition. To make matters worse, if Watford win the FA Cup, United would have to start Europa League qualifying matches in mid-July.
The squad is a shambles and it will likely take a small fortune for proper replacements. It turns out Paul Pogba is dressing-room poison, despite his obvious talent. It turns out Romelu Lukaku is not a big-club player, and may actually be an anachronism in this era of twitchy wingers and counter-pressing. It turns out that Alexis Sanchez is a multi-million pound albatross that will be difficult to move. It turns out (to the surprise of almost no one) that United’s back line is a shambles, and that wholesale change is critical.
As the years pass, the evidence grows stronger that United’s biggest superstar for years was Sir Alex Ferguson. Good luck finding his successor. It isn’t OGS.
This one might be a bit unfair, except that the Premier League is a cruel place, what with all the money at stake. Burnley have known the see-saw battle of the “small” club (even though they are one of said Original 12) for years, but after last season’s seventh place finish on a shoe-string budget, expectations were maybe not high, but there was optimism.
Then came an early Europa League campaign, and the apparent abandonment of the defence-first strategy that worked so well last season. Burnley were then left gasping for air for most of the season, and the club dropped 14 points and eight places. If not for the bottom three’s efforts to speed towards the trap door, Burnley might have been looking at a Championship stint in the fall; it may just be delaying the inevitable. The Clarets had a dismal -23 goal difference, and finished the season on a draw and three losses. Expect more of the same in August, and another relegation battle for the Lancashire club.
Unfortunately, this one was on the cards from the get-go. The Terriers had wait until November for their first win… one of only three on the season. A precipitous drop of 21 points from last season sent them to Number 20 with a bullet. Maybe they will return to the Prem with the help of parachute payments, but not likely.
Never really a contender or hopeful to stay up, this club was here sightseeing. No money, no players, no hope. Plus the added bonus of not having to listen to “proper footballing man” Neil Warnock spout off venom and crap.
See above, except some pundits were genuinely excited about the Cottagers’ scrappy line-up. Aleksandar Mitrović started strong with five goals in six games, and then scored six in the next 32. Fulham had seven wins all season; three of those came after they were relegated. ‘Nuff said.
Saved only by Cardiff’s self-immolation, the Seagulls basically repeated their previous PL season. Yes, Glenn Murray continued to defy Father Time and scored goals in the double digits. But the Cumbrian aside, Albion was positively anemic, both on the score sheet and in the league table. Only earning two wins after Christmas has cost Chris Hughton his job. The club are tourists in the top flight, and will likely return home in 2020.
Will Sarri win the battle of wills at Stamford Bridge?
Sure they qualified for the Champions League, but the last two spots were a hot potato that no one seemed to want at the end of the season. At times, Mauricio Sarri carried on with the frantic exasperation of a taxi dispatcher, smoking and pacing on the sidelines. He was obviously brought in to make Chelsea better, and to lead a fractious dressing room that had full-on revolted against fellow Italian, Antonio Conte.
But did he? The same player issues seem to still be there, despite bringing midfield quarterback Jorginho with him from Napoli, as well as spending £72M on Kepa from Bilbao… with whom he had an apoplectic, and very public, battle in the League Cup final. Chelsea is a club with notorious “player power” whose owner seems to listen to his on-field staff more than his managers.
Chelsea finished the season with only two more points than last year, and practically the same goals for and against. The only difference is that Chelsea’s rivals appeared in the same rush to lose. With main goalscorer Eden Hazard almost certainly on his way to Real Madrid, Sarri had better hope he can continue to mould his team in his unwavering image, while continuing to challenge for the Top Four. Of course, there is the little matter of UEFA’s transfer ban for Financial Fair Play violations… maybe winning the silver of a Europa League trophy will add some shine to this season.
What to say about Spurs? Frankly, with all the factors lined up against them, they should have no business being in the Champions League final, and have had to fight hard to stay in the Premier League Top Four. After a net spend of £18M last season, owner Daniel Levy spent a grand total of £0 on new players in the summer of 2018. Nicht. Nil. Zip.
Tottenham had to contend with another season at Wembley, as construction delays at the new White Hart Lane ate away at the club’s bottom line on the daily. They have a gifted and charismatic manager who made rumblings all season, hinting that the owner needed to spend or else he was off to a “bigger” club. They had a threadbare squad that fans had to hope would push through injury and fatigue.
Obviously, they were not disappointed. Spurs have managed to scrape into the Champions League… even though their talismanic striker was obviously exhausted after going deep into the World Cup with England. Harry Kane was out for a quarter of Spurs’ league games. It didn’t stop Spurs from mounting the Mother of All Comebacks.
That’s because there are two new folk heroes of Haringay: Heung-min Son, a man who is obviously experiencing pure joy playing for the Spurs faithful, and Lucas Moura, who will eternally be remembered for THAT game in Amsterdam. After everything stacked up against Spurs, a first-ever Champions League trophy would simply be mythical.
But one can not stand still in the Premier League. You only have to think back to rivals Arsenal in the early 2000’s to see the financial effects of a brand-new stadium. Yes the gate will dramatically increase, but it will likely take at least a decade to pay off the new-build’s capital costs. Levy is frugal at the best of times, and Mauricio Pochettino wants assurances that he will have cash to splash, come July. Christian Eriksen is valued at around £77M right now, and Levy will likely sell to spend. Otherwise, the Miracle of North London will end just as it did in the mid-70s, and early 90s…
After 22 years under a single manager, Arsenal’s post-Wenger era was always going to be trepidatious. Certainly the Frenchman’s replacement had the pedigree. Unai Emery has three European titles to his name, along with a two-season stint at French giant Paris Saint-Germain. But Emery walked into a hodgepodge of a dressing room. He inherited a wonderful offence… and a truly terrible back line. Koscielny is brittle and past it, Xhaka and Mustafi are volatile liabilities, and bringing in Stephan Lichsteiner — whose attempts to use sh!thousery to cover a serious decline — was never going to be the answer. Emery’s thinly-veiled battles with Mezut Özil and fan-favourite Aaron Ramsey have angered many Arsenal supporters.
However, Emery does have the front pairing of Golden Boot winner Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. His purchase of Lucas Torreira from Sampdoria was inspired; same with Sokratis who, despite losing his head now and then, was coveted by several Premier League teams.
Losing out on Champions League qualification on the second-last week of the season had to sting. That pain will subside completely if they beat rivals Chelsea on the 29th. But they will need to find more cohesion, more sense of self, more Arsenal of old.
Sigh. The “fans hate Mike Ashley/the manager might be leaving/please sell the club” narrative is now a decade old. Newcastle actually finished with one more point this season, but dropped three places. Content to play like a much smaller club, the Magpies have firmly ensconced themselves in the third quadrant of the Premier League table. Of course, that could change if the ownership does as well…
Whither Eddie Howe? The Premier League’s longest-serving manager (approaching seven years) has kept his club in the top flight for five seasons. When the Cherries finished ninth three years ago, the typical hyperbole about “the young English manager” whipped around, including as a potential replacement for Arsene Wenger or, heaven’s mercy, England. Certainly Howe is quite good at nurturing young talent, but he spent £80M in the off-season with minimal results. Twenty-five million of that money was spent on defensive midfielder Jefferson Lerma… yet Bournemouth let in nine more goals in 2018/19. Chances are good that Bournemouth will be in the relegation battle come next spring.
The good news for the Saints is Mark Hughes is not their manager anymore, replaced in December by the equally sparky (but by all accounts, much nicer) Ralph Hassenhüttl. Under Hughes, Southampton had four league matches in an entire calendar year… including a solitary victory from the start of the season to his firing. Under Hassenhüttl, the team earned an 8-6-10 record… not lighting up the league, but certainly enough to dig themselves out of a dark hole. What is worrying for the club is that, despite the threat of relegation, Southampton finished with three draws and two losses; all of those opponents finished 11th or lower. Luckily, Cardiff fell on the sword instead, and Ralph & Co. get to play in the Premier League for another year.
All the drama surrounding the hiring of Marco Silva appeared to be blowing up in the Toffees’ face. Everton mostly languished outside the Top 10 until the middle of March, when they finished a strong 5-3-2, and landed exactly where they were 12 months ago: eighth. No Everton Cup for you, Everton. Now let’s see if Silva will be allowed to replenish his aging squad, as well as loanees Kurt Zouma and André Gomes, while keeping Gylfi Sigurdsson down on the farm.
Well… you couldn’t find two more different managers then the gaffers that took charge at the King Power this season. By all accounts, Claude Puel was not the most inspiring of generals, and his record with the Foxes was positively insipid. Enter Brendan “Enough About Me, Let’s Talk About Me” Rodgers, whose 6-3-2 record helped Leicester claw its way back and finish in the same spot as last year: ninth. Puel’s great crime was spending all that Riyad Mahrez money, and then wasting it. Rodgers let loose £22M signing Ricardo Pereira up the wings and he was rewarded with crosses galore.
Leicester is a very talented squad. Example: despite all the hype around Manchester City and Liverpool, Jamie Vardy was mostly overlooked as he finished the season with 18 league goals… good enough for fifth overall, and more than Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane and Eden Hazard. The problem (sorry, “challenge”) is that the club recently won the Premier League title. It was an anomaly… but now the team and the fans feel they should be challenging for the Top Six. They’ve got their work cut out for themselves.
A slight improvement in both offence and defence, if not in table position, Crystal Palace are as bland and anonymous as their manager… and that’s not a dig either. An almost perpetual dweller in the lower leagues, Palace have now managed to stay in the top flight for six seasons. Roy Hodgson has taken his patchwork quilt of cast-off players and held onto that mushy, nebulous part of the table that will rarely rise into the Top 10 but, with a bit of luck, won’t get relegated either. After relying on Wilfried Zaha as the sole goalscorer, Hodgson now has options: hard man captain Luka Milivojević led the team in scoring with 12 goals. Not bad for a supposed “defensive midfielder”. Expect more of the same from Palace next season.
All right: now bring on the finals for the FA Cup, Europa League, Champions League and Nations League!
Brent Lanthier
Filed under Champions League, FA Cup, Premier League
Tagged as arsenal, bournemouth, brighton, burnley, cardiff city, chelsea, clarets, cottagers, crystal palace, everton, foxes, fulham, hammers, hornets, huddersfield, leicester city, liverpool, man u, manchester city, manchester united, newcastle united magpies, premier league, saints, southampton, spurs, terriers, toffees, tottenham hotspur, wanderers, watford, west ham, west ham united, wolverhampton, wolves
by At The Rails | April 20, 2011 · 11:57 pm
The Best of Times, The Blurst of Times
Do Wolves have any legs left?
Call it the Year of the Keystone Kops… a season where clubs have been stumbling over each other to fail. So forget about Manchester United’s mediocre march to the title (and don’t tell me they’re up for the double by winning Big Ears. If Schalke doesn’t surprise them, Real or Barca will certainly dispatch them with maximum efficiency). Forget about Arsenal finding new and novel ways to self-destruct, sending Arsene Wenger further along the road to Nutterville. Chelsea are old. Man Citeh’s millions couldn’t buy a team. ‘Arry’s mighty offence petered out. Liverpool were already falling down the hill. And as usual, David Moyes’ Everton started too late to matter.
So with the exception of the FA Cup final — whose implications for Europe require an engineering degree to calculate — I’m watching the relegation battle that potentially involves half the league.
Two points separate seven teams: Newcastle, Aston Villa, West Brom, Fulham, Stoke City, Sunderland and Birmingham. All sit relatively safe. Next are Blackburn and Wigan in the two spots above the relegation zone that currently contains Blackpool, West Ham and Wolves. Newcastle and Villa (at 10th and 11th, respectively) have reached the so-called magic number of 40 points. For the others, the next 5-6 games are critical.
Wide-eyed Woy widing high at WBA
I’m going to go out on a limb and say West Bromwich Albion are safe. Saturday’s loss to Chelsea was their first under Roy Hodgson, and no club has scored more since his reign began.
Hodgson’s legacy of going for the draw seems to be lingering at Fulham under Mark Hughes. The Cottagers’ next two games are at bottom Wolves before they host Bolton, who are woeful on the road. They should hit the 40-point mark no problem.
Stoke City and Birmingham are the Premier League’s little European embarrassments. Birmingham is already in the Europa League, via their Carling Cup win… but whether Stoke qualifies is still up in the air. If they win the FA Cup final, they are in. If they lose but Citeh qualifies for the Champions League, they are in. Otherwise the spot goes to the sixth-placed team… I think… carry the one…
Either way, both have not been playing well as of late, with each team only winning two games in their last eight. The bad news for Stoke is that they must face three other relegation battlers — Blackpool, Wolves and Wigan — plus Arsenal and the aforementioned Citeh. Birmingham must also face teams fighting for a spot in Europe. I think they will both stay up… only because there are teams playing worse. But if they drop, it means two of England’s three Europa clubs won’t be playing in the top-flight at home.
That leaves six teams fighting it out for three spots above the drop. Wolverhampton Wanderers are 20th, but they will leapfrog Wigan into 17th if they win that game in hand against Stoke. Many pundits say Wolves are too good to go down… and they took some serious scalps this season. But despite their recent form, every single one of their remaining games is against a struggling club. It could be tough going for Mick McCarthy’s men.
Bruce wonders where it went wrong
At the beginning of the season, I picked Wigan Athletic to drop, partly because they barely missed it last year… but mostly because I was irritated that such a small, unsupported club was taking up a Premier League spot. They also have to play several games against strugglers… as well as a surging Everton.
West Ham United sit 19th. I thought with the addition of Demba Ba, they might have a fighting shot at making it out alive. But they remain ensconced in the drop zone due to their inability to go for the jugular.
It’s the three remaining clubs that have the most to worry about. Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool and Sunderland have been dropping like stones. Blackburn have performed poorly since the departure of Big Sam Allardyce. Blackpool and Sunderland seem to be on opposite sides of a mirror. The Black Cats haven’t been the same since they lost their best player in Darren Bent; the Tangerines have suffered without cashing in on Charlie Adam. Out of the three clubs, only Blackpool has won a game since the end of January.
In such a topsy-turvy season, I still think we are in for some surprises on the final day of the season… on both ends of the table. It’s either the best season in years… or English football is at it’s most mediocre.
By the way, here are my picks for the drop: Wigan, Blackpool, West Ham.
Filed under Carling Cup, FA Cup, Premier League
Tagged as arsenal, aston villa, birmingham city, blackburn rovers, blackpool, charlie adam, chelsea, darren bent, demba ba, everton, fulham, liverpool, manchester city, manchester united, mark hughes, mick mcarthy, newcastle united, roy hodgson, steve bruce, stoke city, sunderland, tottenham hotspur, west brom, west ham united, wigan athletic, wolverhampton, wolves
by At The Rails | March 8, 2011 · 10:49 pm
Hammer Time?
Ba Humbug for West Ham's opposition...
It doesn’t happen very often. But sometimes, I get it wrong.
Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re saying to your computer screen, “That’s not true, Brent. You’re being modest. Give your head a shake and have a beer on me…”
Alas, faithful readers, I have erred. It turns out that I am not the reliable prognasticator I once thought I was. And it’s all thanks to a certain Israeli manager who manages a certain East London club.
I had predicted in early December that Avram Grant would be fired by Christmas. West Ham were at the bottom of the table and were up against the wall. I said how the holiday swing was going to kill the team — and the career of the gaffer. Indeed, through December and the first half of January, with the Hammers going 2-3-3, it seemed like curtains for both Grant and the club’s Premier League hopes.
But then a couple of cup runs seemed to give the Irons a spark. They won their 3rd round FA Cup tie against Burnley 2-0. Then three days later, they beat fellow Premier League strugglers Birmingham in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final. Since then, they have gone 5-2-3 in all competitions.
It could be that Avram Grant finally has a team that is “too good to go down”. The team has scored thirteen goals in their last four games. It’s likely no coincidence that this spurt is due to the arrival of striker Demba Ba (you don’t say his name, so much as let it spill out of your mouth) from TSG Hoffenheim in February. In the five games he has played, both Ba and strike partner Carlton Cole have each scored four goals.
Parker does his Christian Bale impression...
But the keystone of West Ham’s mini-turnaround has to be Scott Parker. The midfielder and captain has been bossing the centre of the park, marshalling his teammates both physically and mentally as they have clawed their way out of the relegation zone… at least for the time being. Many of his teammates — as well as English pundits — say Parker should be named Player of the Year for his pluck in the face of West Ham’s dreadful first half of the season results.
I’m not going to say that they won’t go down. West Ham are only just above Brum in the relegation zone… and the Blues still have two games in hand. The Hammers still have to face Spurs, Chelsea and Man City away, as well as play first-place Manchester United at home. Plus, they still have to continue their FA Cup run, facing sinking Stoke again for the second time in a week.
With the Boleyn Ground averaging about 33-thousand fans a season — and the brand spanking new Olympic stadium waiting to be taken over — West Ham is a biggish club that thinks it has a brighter future. I’d tell you where that future lies… but I’m afraid of being wrong again. That would be just scary…
Tagged as avram grant, birmingham, burnley, carlton cole, demba ba, fa cup, hoffenheim, league cup, man united, manchester city, scott parker, stoke, sunderland, tottenham, west ham united
by At The Rails | January 12, 2011 · 3:34 am
Leeds, Ipswich long for Red Letter Days
Leeds United turned back the clock this weekend
Rewind 10 years to May 2001. Manchester United had just won their English third league title in a row. It was the first time a single manager — Sir Alex Ferguson — managed the feat. Arsenal came in second, pipping Liverpool to the spot on the last day of the season. But the Merseysiders shed few tears, winning a treble of trophies — UEFA Cup, FA & League Cups — and earning a third-place finish that would put them in the Champions League, their first foray into top-tier European football since the Hillsborough disaster.
The top of the table was awash in a sea of red. But just below them were the other colours of the Union Jack: Leeds United white and Ipswich Town blue. Both teams were riding high. Both teams would find their success short-lived.
Fast forward 10 years to the present day. Leeds and Ipswich have spent much of the last decade in the lower leagues, unable to replicate the success of 2000-2001. Now both teams must go through Arsenal to have any chance of cup glory this season.
Back in 2001, both clubs were riding high. Ipswich had only been promoted the previous season and were widely picked to go down again. But they stayed in the top six for much of the campaign, finishing fifth and earning George Burley the Manager of the Year award. They also picked up a place in the UEFA Cup, the trophy they had won 20 years earlier.
George Burley: Manager of the Year 2001
But that success turned out to be a blip. After their fifth place finish, the Tractor Boys spent much of the next season at the foot of the table and were relegated, entering administration in the process. They’ve remained in the First Division/Championship ever since. Ipswich came close to coming back up, securing play-off spots in 2004 and 2005, but lost both times to West Ham. Since then, they’ve have simply floundered. The hiring of former Ipswich great Jim Magilton, and then Man U giant Roy Keane, did nothing for either the club’s results… or for the idea of using unqualified players as managers.
For Leeds, the heights were even loftier. Although they slipped from the previous season’s third-place finish, they made up for it in 2001 by going all the way to the Champions League semi-finals. A 3-0 defeat to Valencia prevented them from facing their opponents in the 1975 final, Bayern Munich.
That Leeds side featured several young players who would make names for themselves at other clubs: Robbie Keane, Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell, Lee Bowyer, Paul Robinson, Alan Smith, Dominic Matteo, Rio Ferdinand.
Leeds: Too good to go down…
But like Icarus flying to close to the sun, the Yorkshire side was burned by pride. Buoyed by Leeds’ domestic and European success, Chairman Peter Risdale borrowed heavily to secure new players. That proved to be short-sighted: their fourth-place league finish meant they had to settle for the UEFA league. Leeds lost much-need television revenue and they began their descent.
The team was forced to sell star players to fund debts, killing morale at the club. Leeds were relegated in 2004, and then dropped again to League One in 2007. After two playoff losses in a row, the Whites finally got promoted to the Championship last season with a second-place finish.
Cup Success?
One club has rebounded, one has not. The difference between the two was evident this weekend. Ipswich sacked Keane on Friday, just two days before the East Anglians were to face Chelsea in the FA Cup. Owner Marcus Evans was unhappy with Ipswich being in 19th place, but his timing was awful. The champions and cup holders humiliated Evans’ team, 7-0.
Meanwhile, Leeds — who sit in fifth — almost earned a famous win at the Emirates, if not for a Theo Walcott dive in the dying minutes. United must now fancy their chances with the replay being held in the intimidating environs of Elland Road. If they win, a West Yorkshire derby awaits at home against Huddersfield Town.
Ipswich still have a chance at redemption. New gaffer Paul Jewell will lead them out against the Gooners today at home, in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final. Ipswich are 7-1-6 at Portman Road. But after five trophy-less seasons, Arsene Wenger is hungry for silverware and isn’t likely to let up on the Tractor Boys.
Ten years ago, both Leeds United and Ipswich Town were riding high. Now, after a decade of being left red-faced, both clubs are hoping for a blue-ribbon day against a formidable opponent, lest they are forced to wave the white flag of surrender.
Filed under Carling Cup, Champions League, FA Cup
Tagged as 2000-2001 season, alan smith, arsenal, bayern munich, chelsea, dominic matteo, east anglian, fa cup, george burnley, harry kewell, hillsborough, ipswich town, jim magilton, lee bowyer, leeds united, liverpool, manchester united, mark viduka, paul robinson, rio ferdinand, robbie keane, roy keane, tractory boys, valencia, west ham
10 Things I Learned This Weekend
What, me worry?
1) Firing your manager before your team faces the defending champions and cup holders = stupid. Chelsea 7-0 Ipswich Town.
2) Firing your manager before your side faces the team that ripped the World Club Champions a new one = also not smart. Tottenham 3-0 Charlton.
3) Howard Webb likes to insert himself in games. Questionable calls against Liverpool this weekend. Not outrageous… but questionable.
4) Kenny Dalglish has his work cut out for him at Liverpool, especially since he will be without Steven Gerrard for the next three games. Blackpool away, Merseyside derby at home, Wolves away… Liverpool have lost to all three teams this season.
5) Arsenal need a keeper. No kidding.
6) Lionel Messi wins the inaugural FIFA Ballon D’Or as the best player in the world. No kidding.
7) All of the FIFA Pro XI were chosen from Italian or Spanish clubs. Stop me when you are sick of me stating the obvious…
Andros Townsend: The Future of the Right
8 ) ‘Arry still hasn’t finalized a deal to bring Becks. I don’t understand why Spurs would sign him in the first place.
9) Becks and Posh are expecting a fourth child. Show-offs…
10) El-Hadji Diouf is still a knob. Discuss.
Filed under FA Cup, Premier League
Tagged as andros townsend, arsenal, arsene wenger, ballon d'or, david beckham, fifa pro xi, harry redknapp, ipswich town, lionel messi, liverpool, manchester united, tottenham hotspur
by At The Rails | January 9, 2011 · 3:06 am
Northeast gets Sweet FA from Cup ties
Winning never hurt so good...
The world’s oldest football tournament almost never disappoints, with its share of cracking matches, and sometimes… cracking bones. Here are some of the highlights from Saturday’s FA Cup fixtures:
– Arsenal will have to travel to the hostile Elland Road for a replay, after barely drawing Leeds United 1-1 at the Emirates. The only reason the Arse are still alive is because of a penalty given after a Walcott dive. Kids today…
As if! Diouf can't believe what Neil Warnock said about him
– Speaking of dirty cheaters, El-Hadji Diouf did his best impression of a human heel in Blackburn Rover’s 1-0 win over Queen’s Park Rangers. According to QPR gaffer Neil Warnock (who is no stranger to jackassery himself), the Blackburn player stood over Jamie Mackie and taunted him as the young Scot writhed in pain from a broken fibula and tibia. Diouf should thank his lucky stars it wasn’t Jamie Carragher…
– League Two side Stevenage were the giant killers of the Third Round, taking out Newcastle United 3-1. The Toon Army does not suffer fools — or managers — lightly, but apparently they aren’t as bad as the Stevenage fans. They get upset even if their team wins!
– The Newcastle loss means the FA Cup is going nowhere near the Rivers Tyne, Wear, or Tees this season. Sunderland lost 0-1 to Notts County, while Burton Albion beat Middlesbrough 2-1.
– A resurgent Southampton took down a reserve-side Blackpool 2-0. Saints’ fans taunted Ian Holloway with chants of “Premier League, you’re having a laugh.” They should know…
Where Once We Watched King Kenny Play: Liverpool head to Old Trafford with Kenny Dalglish once again at the helm. The Reds legend takes over from Roy Hodgson, who left after mutual dissent. Unfortunately for Liverpool, he didn’t take Christian Poulsen, Paul Konchesky or Joe Cole with him…
Also on the Manager Merry-Go-Round: Ipswich Town head to Stamford Bridge, sans Roy Keane. They meet a Chelsea team whose manager might be joining Keane in the unemployment line, if the cup holders don’t beat the Tractor Boys, who sit 19th in the Championship.
Manager Merry-Go-Round, Part III: Tottenham Hotspur are hosting a gaffer-less Charlton Athletic in what will surely be a second-string run-out for ‘Arry’s adolescents. Look for goals from, um… that guy… off a cross from, uh, that fellow over there…
Filed under FA Cup
Tagged as ancellotti, arsenal, blackburn rovers, burton albion, charlton athletic, chelsea, dalglish, el-hadji diouf, ipswich town, leeds united, liverpool, man u, middlesbrough, newcastle united, notts county, old trafford, qpr, stevenage, sunderland, theo walcott, tottenham
by At The Rails | January 7, 2011 · 6:19 pm
Fringe benefits for Spurs
Which way to the pitch again? I haven't been there in ages.
As our ’Arry is so fond of saying, there are no easy games in the Premier League. With the possible exception of Werder Bremen circa late-2010, there aren’t too many gimmes in the Champions League, either. And being drawn against local rivals Arsenal in your first Carling Cup match isn’t much of a party, not when you’re used to a diet of Port Vales and MK Dons in the early stages of that competition.
So at the risk of jinxing things, it’s fair to say that Charlton’s FA Cup visit to White Hart Lane this Sunday is the first time in a long time that Tottenham have had the luxury of giving a good number of fringe players in their deep squad a chance for some action. And it’ll be interesting to see just who Redknapp kits out for the 3rd round encounter.
The manager-less Addicks, having just pink-slipped former Colchester gaffer Phil Parkinson, sit some 45 places below Tottenham. They’re in the League One playoff zone, but they’ve got a bunch of teams breathing down their necks and they haven’t won in five matches. Seems like a super opportunity for Spurs to showcase some lads whose boots are gathering spider webs, especially those who might be pushed further down the pecking order if a certain Mr. Beckham moves from La La Land to the Lane this month.
After taking maximum points in all three holiday fixtures, and weathering a pair of sending-offs in the process, Tottenham lost at Everton in the week, their first EPL defeat since October. Gareth Bale left with a sore back, and the squad was far from sharp. Time for some R & R, lads. You’ve got Man. Utd and AC Milan on the horizon.
It was back in September’s 4-1 extra-time defeat to Arsenal in the Carling Cup when Redknapp last dug deep into the reserves to field a team. And even though Samir Nasri’s pair of late penalties killed Tottenham off that evening, it was still fascinating to watch youngsters Steven Caulker and Jake Livermore get their feet wet with the first team.
For players like Robbie Keane and David Bentley, whose twittering wife has provided yet another reason for ’Arry’s anger, the Charlton clash could be a chance to get in the shop window and line up transfers away from Tottenham this month. Birmingham have expressed interest in both, but only Bentley (17 million pounds and he can’t even drive the team bus!) looks likely so far.
It’s 99.9 percent not likely to line up this way, but here’s a Tottenham XI (and subs bench) I’d be curious to see take on the visitors from South London this Sunday.
GK – Stipe Pletikosa: The Croatian hasn’t featured since the Arsenal defeat (if memory serves) and Carlo Cudicini is out with a sore shoulder. Give Heurelho Gomes a good rest.
RB – Vedran Corluka: Banished to bench for long stretches after CL miscue in favour of Alan Hutton. Time to dust him off.
CB – Bongani Khumalo: Redknapp might not think South African newcomer is ready for trial by fire but hey, it’s Charlton, not Chelsea. This is like trial by lighter.
CB – Sebastien Bassong: Plays the least of THFC’s unfortunately few fit central defenders. Dawson and Gallas could use a break and Kaboul is banned for his recent red card.
LB – Benoit Assou-Ekotto: Caulker and the Kyles are all away on loan so we’ll stick with a starter here.
RW – Andros Townsend: Newly-sacked Roy Keane (suck it, you thug) didn’t want him at Ipswich so he needs showcasing for a new loan.
MF – Sandro: The Brazilian beast has had too few chances since his switch from Internacional. We know what Palacios can do. Let’s have a closer look at this lad.
MF – John Bostock: I know, even Hull didn’t want him. Give him a run and maybe someone else will fancy a longer look. The kid needs to play.
LW – Niko Kranjcar: The other Croatian lost in the wilderness at Spurs. Plus my made-up team is pretty young and needs some veteran savvy. He’s got it in spades.
FW – Roman Pavlyuchenko: The Russian donkey was in fine form at the end of last season when he got some regular playing time. If he finds his feet again, it would be a big boost.
FW – Giovanni Dos Santos: Remember him? All kinds of rumours say he’s on the way out. How about one last look before he leaves?
SUBS: GK Heurelho Gomes (in case of emergency), CB Michael Dawson (same as Gomes), FW Robbie Keane (for when Dos Santos disappoints again), MF Jermaine Jenas (can’t hurt), MF Jamie O’Hara (unless his back still isn’t better), MF David Bentley (in case his Brummie deal isn’t done yet) and FW Peter Crouch (for when my Spurs XI go a goal down).
Ian Harrison
Tagged as ac milan, addicks, arsenal, bongani khumalo, carling cup, charlton athletic, chelsea, david, david bentley, everton, fa cup, harry redknapp, heurelho gomes, jake livermore, john bostock, la galaxy, manchester united, niko kranjcar, robbie keane, sandro, spurs, steven caulker, stipe pletikosa, thfc, tottenham, tottenham hotspur, transfer window
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Live Interview with Cym Lowell, Author of JASPAR’S WAR
By BookTrib|2018-09-14T17:23:02-04:00April 14th, 2014|Fiction|
JASPAR’S WAR
Greenwich, Connecticut socialite Jaspar Moran has it all-a magnificent estate, two beautiful children and a loving husband, Trevor, serving as the Secretary of the Treasury. Protected, admired and living in the lap of luxury, Jaspar is reeling from the news that her government jet has crashed just as her children vanish without a trace. An ominous message warns her to keep silent about her husband’s role in the President’s economic plan. Or else. Determined to save her children, she’ll go to hell and back, form alliances with assassins, traitors and Mafioso, and commit unspeakable acts-if that’s what it takes. With alarms sounding around the world, hunted from all sides, and unsure of who to trust, she finds herself depending on a mysterious figure without an identity. Jaspar journeys from the Australian outback to the palazzos of Rome, the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, and to the magnificence of the Vatican, in her quest. Can she rescue her children before the plot to crash the global economy is unleashed?
CYM LOWELL was born in Montana to academics and spent his youth traveling the world. To put it politely, he was an undistinguished student, rewarded with assignment to the U.S. Navy at 18. After two years in Vietnam, college and law school were a challenge. Being a veteran in the political turbulence of the late 1960s and early 1970s taught humility. Raising three children in the Midwest and Texas brought love and responsibility. An international tax practice in the financial crises of the past 40 years provided insight into motivations of actors on the global stage. Friends, clients, adversaries, and colleagues, like victory and defeat, added color and context. The result is a writer with a treasure trove of experience to frame compelling characters enmeshed in heart-thumping challenges. [giveaway giveaway_id=1393 side=”right”]
About the Author: BookTrib
BookTrib.com is a hub for book lovers and dedicated to on-the-rise authors that readers may not have heard of. For readers constantly in search of new titles, authors and ideas for their next read, BookTrib will introduce them under-the-radar writers who might be a perfect match. BookTrib has it all: new and noteworthy, exclusive reviews, video interviews, the hottest book podcasts, and all the buzz to enhance readers' understanding and enjoyment of books and up and coming authors. Top-notch contributors. In-the-know content partners. Expert recommendations. Behind-the-scenes peeks. BookTrib.com is produced by Meryl Moss Media, a 25-year-old literary marketing, publicity and social media firm. Visit www.merylmossmedia.com to learn more.
Booktrib: Live Chat Tomoday with Cym Lowell: Author, Philanthropist and Veteran - The Pen & Muse April 17, 2014 at 3:04 pm - Reply
[…] your calendars for Cym Lowell’s Live Chat TODAY at 4 PM ET. Cym will be discussing his latest release, Jaspar’s […]
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Posts Tagged 'transformers'
I WISH I COULD QUIT YOU, MICHAEL BAY
Published July 11, 2014 GIFs , MOVIES , VIDEOS 1 Comment
Tags: bayhem, michael bay, michael bay explosions, michael bay meme, movie gifs, transformers, transformers: age of extinction
Note: There are quite a few YouTube videos included in this post, all of which I included for a reason and all of which I think are worthy of checking out. In case you’re some tech uber-noob, I recommend switching each video to HD where possible (use the little gear symbol on the bottom right side of the video to switch video quality), and some of the videos are best watched in their bigger versions on the YouTube site itself. Do that by clicking the YouTube logo on the bottom right of each video, and it will open in a new tab. Do I really have to explain this to you in 2014?
All year, I’d been anticipating doing a full review of Transformers: Age of Extinction, because my reviews for the previous 2 TF films have been fairly popular, not to mention fun to write. Then, after seeing the film I realized…what’s the point? I know damn well Michael Bay hasn’t learned a thing with regards to how to tell a story, and he isn’t even remotely interested in changing the worst aspects of his filmmaking style. I’m done hoping and praying that he’ll somehow evolve into a mature filmmaker. The guy is 49 years old, but still proudly makes movies for 14-year olds. He is what he is. So…why review something when I knew going in precisely what I was going to get? So I can tell you everything he did wrong in the other Transformers movies he does wrong again here? So I can tell you the only real improvement is that we don’t have Shia LaBeouf screaming like a girl for 2 hours? So I can explain to you in 6,500 words that yes, this was in fact EXACTLY what I thought it would be? Logic demanded I not waste my time. If I was going to talk about this movie on here, I’d need a different angle. As a result, I’ve decided instead to share what it is that fascinates me so much about Michael Bay, a director I’m somehow still a fan of despite his not having made a decent movie since the first Transformers 7 years ago. A man whose best movie (The Rock) came out 18 years ago (fuck I’m old). A man who has NEVER made a truly great movie, yet whose films I still want to see anyway no matter what. There is no other mediocre director who captivates me so. WHY?!
I’ll tell you why…
Continue reading ‘I WISH I COULD QUIT YOU, MICHAEL BAY’
Mini Reviews: THE GREAT GATSBY, PAIN & GAIN, THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES
Published May 19, 2013 MOVIES , REVIEWS 2 Comments
Tags: "young and beautiful", 3D, anthony mackie, baz luhrmann, blue valentine, bradley cooper, carey mulligan, derek cianfrance, dwayne johnson, elizabeth debicki, florence + the machine, joel edgerton, ken jeong, lana del rey, leonardo dicaprio, mark wahlberg, michael bay, michael bay cliches, moulin rouge, nero, pain & gain, ryan gosling, the great gatsby, the great gatsby soundtrack, the place beyond the pines, the xx, tobey maguire, transformers
As 2013 continues to slog along, I continue to wait for a truly great film to be released. On my nomination ballot for next year’s Biggie Awards, I still don’t have any movies under consideration for Best Picture, Director, or either screenplay categories. At this point, 2013 is looking a lot like 2009. Hopefully that changes in the coming weeks. Is Star Trek Into Darkness as good as J.J. Abrams‘ first Trek outing? Will Man of Steel live up to the fast-rising expectations? Please, movie gods, let’s hope so.
Anyway, here are my thoughts on 3 recent flicks that I’ve seen, none of which rocked my socks, but all of which are worthy of comment. Minor SPOILERS ahead.
After being delayed 6 months from its original release, The Great Gatsby finally opened last week to a surprisingly strong $50 million weekend. The film is directed by Baz Luhrmann, who may be hit or miss, but one thing’s for sure; he’s a visionary, and I can appreciate that. His last film, 2008’s Australia, was a huge disappointment, but I’m a big fan of Romeo + Juliet (which began young Leonardo DiCaprio‘s meteoric rise as a heartthrob) and Moulin Rouge!, one of the best (and easily the most original) musicals of the last 20 years. He’s very much a love-him or hate-him kind of director, because his visual and editorial style is very IN YOUR FACE. In fact, I despised Moulin Rouge! after the first time I saw it- even going so far as to tell people it was one of the worst movies I’d ever seen, but for whatever reason, I gave it a second chance and “got it” the second time. Summed up, The Great Gatsby is very much a Baz Luhrmann film.
Continue reading ‘Mini Reviews: THE GREAT GATSBY, PAIN & GAIN, THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES’
Review: BATTLESHIP
Published May 18, 2012 MOVIES , REVIEWS Leave a Comment
Tags: alien invasion, aliens, bad movies i love, battleship, CGI, chris brown, deleted scenes, friday night lights, good bad movies, gregory gadson, hasbro, ilm, industrial light & magic, jerry ferrara, michael bay, military porn, peter berg, phil neilson, rami malek, rihanna, steve jablonsky, summer blockbuster, taylor kitsch, transformers, u.s. navy, visual effects
If you’ve read this blog for any significant length of time, you’ll know I’ve been very much looking forward to Peter Berg‘s Battleship. (See my post Can we talk about the Battleship trailer for a minute?) However, I wasn’t looking forward to it because I thought it looked great, I was looking forward to it because I thought it looked so bad, so dumb and so poorly planned that I would actually enjoy it as a classic “good bad movie”. I thought this would take its place in the annals of history among good bad movies I love like Batman & Robin, Godzilla, xXx, Snakes on a Plane, and perhaps even the Godfather of good bad movies, The Room. I can honestly say this is the first time in my life I’ve wanted a movie to be bad. Alas, it was not to be. God help me, but…GULP…I legitimately enjoyed Battleship. Sigh…I’ll explain.
Continue reading ‘Review: BATTLESHIP’
Epic Review for an Epic Fail: TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
Published July 3, 2011 MOVIES , REVIEWS , TRAILERS , VIDEOS 5 Comments
Tags: 2D, 3D, alien invasions, autobots, CGI, decepticons, id4, independence day, ken jeong, laserbeak, megatron, michael bay, mission impossible 4, mission impossible: ghost protocol, optimus prime, rosie huntington-whitely, sam witwicky, shia labeouf, shockwave, soundwave, starscream, steven spielberg, stupid people, summer movies, transformers, transformers 3, transformers: dark of the moon, transformers: revenge of the fallen, visual effects, war horse
Well, that’s the last time I put a Michael Bay movie as my “most anticipated movie of the year.” Lesson finally learned. Movie gods, I surrender! I used to be a Michael Bay defender. No more. The man has no desire to stretch his limits, and despite admitting his mistakes from Revenge of the Fallen, he learns nothing from them in his execution of this film. Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a 2 hour, 37 minute hyperventilating mess. I’m actually hesitant to even say that it was better than Revenge of the Fallen. I’m not sure that it is. I am sure of this; Michael Bay is the most immature filmmaker on the planet. I’m sick of his visual “style” (which is simply moving the camera in every single shot and shooting every exterior during magic hour so that white people’s skin is yellowy orange instead of pale). He doesn’t care about making movies that stand the test of time. He cares about making movies that make a lot of money, and that’s it. But hey! He’s immensely successful at doing what he wants to do, so who am I to judge? Unfortunately, that success not only means he gets to continue making big expensive movies the same way over and over again, but it has also made him one of the most arrogant and stubborn filmmakers in Hollywood. Arrogant to the point where now nobody can tell him to his face how stupid some of the shit he’s doing is. He has no financial incentive to change, and that’s precisely what it would take for him to change. Back to the aforementioned question, I’m one of his paying customers, so I get to judge all I fucking want. And today is Judgment Day.
Dark of the Moon has no heart and no soul whatsoever. At least the first Transformers movie had some of both. This one is cold and crude, devoid of any intelligence, and lacking any characters, robot or human, that the audience can embrace.
A bit of a disclaimer here: The reason I’ve been so passionate about Bay and his team getting these movies right (I’ve been very outspoken about it since the day they announced the first Transformers in 2006) is because this is the one geek franchise (that didn’t start as a live-action movie or TV show, like Star Wars/Trek) I can legitimately say I grew up with. I never read comic books as a kid, so when Hollywood screws up something like Green Lantern, I don’t really care, because I was never invested in those characters before seeing the movie. I used to watch the Transformers cartoons every day, and I had more Transformers toys than any other kind of toy (Legos were a close second). In fact, my most prized youthful possession was probably that massive, battery-powered Trypticon toy [PIC]. I worshipped Transformers as a kid, and as such it means a lot to the kid in me to see it brought to life the right way on the big screen. This isn’t me being anal for the sake of being anal or because I have a grudge against Michael Bay. I have a personal history with a lot of these characters, and I think most of them have been handled poorly in these movies. The exceptions (for the most part- none of them have been handled perfectly) would be Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Megatron and Starscream. Long before Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg brought these alien robots into theaters, it was always one of my goals to one day write and direct a live-action Transformers movie myself. And I do mean long before. I was a teenager when I first came up with that idea. Funny enough, I also desperately wanted to remake War of the Worlds, too. So thank you, Mr. Spielberg, for stealing two of my dream projects from me. Just know that when I get heated about this stuff, it’s coming from an honest place. I’m not expecting The Godfather from these movies, but I assure you, Transformers movies infused with heart and soul and humanity are a possibility.
One of these things is not like the other.
There are people like me, who have come out of these last two Transformers movies immensely disappointed, and there are the people who go in and claim to not care that these movies are soulless and utterly incompetent. It’s the old “just show me some giant alien robots fighting each other” defense. These people (and I know several of them) apparently don’t expect that those fights be exciting, or memorable, or well-choreographed, or, I dunno, comprehensible in any way. Sorry, but I can’t turn my brain OFF when I go into a movie I desperately want to be awesome. I’m not gonna excuse shitty storytelling just because there’s a lot of nonsensical action. I also require that the action be good. The next time I hear someone excuse this movie by calling it a “ride”, I’m gonna rip out my armpit hair and feed it to them. If Michael Bay and the studio want to make a Transformers ride at Disneyland, go ahead and do it. Putting 3D glasses on does not turn shitty, mindless action into a “ride”. This is being advertised as a movie, which is what it’s supposed to be. Movies have stories and plot structures that are supposed to make sense. Forgive me for refusing to let go of that expectation.
The good news is, despite the fact that I keep hearing (from sources I trust) that this is the best live-action 3D since Avatar, I don’t have to shell out 12 bucks to go see it again in 3D, because the movie is bad, and I don’t want to see it again, in 3D, 2D or otherwise. I don’t see good movies in 3D, so why would I see this in 3D? My New Year’s resolution of No 3D in 2011 is still intact, and this was the most serious threat to that resolution of any 2011 movie I can think of. Viva 2D!
Not that it’s a big deal, but we will be getting into some minor spoilers during this review. Oh, fuck it…the Autobots win! The Autobots win! Good prevails! And Sam gets to keep his British supermodel girlfriend! There, I ruined it. Now can we proceed?
WHAT I LIKED
-I still find Shia LaBeouf likable in the Sam role, but hopefully this is the last summer action movie he does for a long time. The kid is too talented to be wasting his time with this stuff anymore. It’s time for him and his agent to start making better career choices going forward. For now, Shia can rest comfortably, knowing that no man has ever screamed as often as he does in this movie. No, really, he screams a lot. Girls who get cast in future horror movies should look at this performance for inspiration.
Sam’s big character struggle in this movie is that he’s angry that he can’t find a job where he “matters”. No, I’m not kidding. He can’t find a job, and he’s very upset that he can’t openly brag that he saved the world from the Decepticons twice. THAT is Shakespearean depth, people. That’s literature shit right there. No fear! He doesn’t really have to worry about money, anyway. He’s got a British supermodel girlfriend who’s paying his rent, so he doesn’t have to face the real world, or the economy that most of us in the real world have to deal with every day. Woe is Sam.
-I like that they finally gave Optimus his trailer, and that when it transforms, it becomes his armory. Very cool. As always, they make the first Optimus Prime transformation count. The problem is we only see the trailer in action once, at the beginning of the movie, and only briefly. They really should have done just one scene where Prime transforms, and the trailer mysteriously floats away and vanishes, like it always did in the cartoons.
-I liked that Sam’s parents were only in the movie for a couple of scenes. The mom in particular was so goddamn annoying in the second movie that I never wanted to see her again. They’re both cartoons again here, but they’re only in a couple of scenes, so the effects are mitigated. Correct me if I’m wrong, but these two weren’t anywhere close to this obnoxious in the first movie, right? They were almost normal? Really, it’s not even the dad (played by Kevin Dunn, who I usually like) so much as the mom (Julie White), who can’t utter a single line of normal dialogue. It’s joke after insult after joke after awkward sexual reference after SHUT THE FUCK UP, LADY.
-I like the idea of Leonard Nimoy voicing a Transformer. I did not like the execution of that idea in this movie. Sentinel Prime is a muddled character with unclear motives (so of course he ends up being the main villain), and I didn’t like his character design at all. Unmemorable, to say the least.
-I would love to have been in the room while Michael Bay directed the Bill O’Reilly cameo scene. Wow. Talk about two dominant personalities.
-I like that this is probably the last Transformers movie Michael Bay will ever direct. You’ll not destroy my childhood any further, sir.
-I like the conceit at the beginning of the movie about the secret mission behind the original moon landing, but I don’t think it was executed particularly well. That was like 6 minutes without an explosion, and you could sense Bay’s patience running out as the title card came up. Also, the CG work trying to alter and recreate John F. Kennedy‘s face was pretty bad.
Now that I think of it, doesn’t this re-write the entire history they established in the first movie? In this one, we first came into contact with the Transformers in 1969, but in the original movie, none of them showed up on Earth until they were looking for the Cube. Then, in Revenge of the Fallen, it’s revealed that the Primes were on Earth thousands of years ago. Which is it?! I have to LOL at the whole thing. Seriously, watch the intro to this movie and the intro to the 2007 movie. Dark of the Moon pretty much ignores everything that happened in the first one. Continuity is for pussies!
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
–The script. Need I say more? Well, I’m not going to. The script is terrible. If I talk about it in depth, my own ability to write a screenplay will decrease. Eat shit, Ehren Kruger, you hack. You haven’t done anything worth a damn since you adapted The Ring…9 years ago.
-Despite the fact that dozens of human actors appear in the movie, there are hardly any human characters to be found. Almost every woman you see onscreen is a lingerie model, and every male is a wise-cracking spasmatic. Then you’ve got John Turturro‘s sidekick Dutch, played by Alan Tudyck, who is, I dunno, a flamboyantly gay German ex-intelligence officer? He had to be one of the strangest movie characters of all-time. Bay just can’t help himself. No person or situation can be straightforward. How about that stupid bit with the Latina girl in the office, where she’s wearing a tight half-shirt with her tits hanging out while the super nerdy guy scolds her for her attire. And she’s wearing all white, and all the guys are wearing white shirts in this ultra-modern all-white room? What the fuck? I don’t know what movie that scene belonged in, but it did not belong in this one. If you cut out idiotic scenes like that, you’d trim 5 minutes off the run time, easy.
-The Rosie Huntington-Whitely character, Carly. I mean, COME ON! Aside from men wanting to have intercourse with her, what are audiences supposed to find appealing about her as a person, or as a love interest for Sam? Why can’t Sam have a normal looking girlfriend? Why can’t ANYTHING be normal in a Michael Bay movie? Does he not fucking understand that if Sam had even an above average looking girlfriend, people would like her a lot more? No, it has to be one of the hottest females alive. Women can’t root for a supermodel, and men don’t believe a supermodel would date this character. That’s a big fuckin conundrum. That is…if you’re not Michael Bay, and you take things like logic into consideration. Nobody UPGRADES from Megan Fox to Rosie Huntington-Whitely. That’s absurd even by movie logic. You don’t make that upgrade unless you’re famous or incredibly wealthy, or both. Even then, it’s a stretch.
Put it this way, in REAL LIFE, Brad Pitt went from Jennifer Aniston to Angelina Jolie. But in doing so, Pitt had to take on Jolie’s 43 adopted kids as his own. Justin Timberlake couldn’t pull off what Sam does here, and he was with Britney Spears and Jessica Biel in their primes. Shia LaBeouf’s character in these movies outclasses Brad Pitt and Justin Timberlake in real life. That is riotously funny.
I guess if Bay doesn’t have a supermodel on set at all times, he can’t function. Maybe that’s his reasoning. For the record, I didn’t give a shit that they got rid of Fox, because she was mostly an empty character. If, after two movies, your only real character trait is that you’re good with cars, then it’s not gonna be tough for me to miss you when you’re gone. But at least in the first movie, Sam had to chase the hot girl. He had to win her over through deed and circumstance, so it wasn’t totally ridiculous when he finally got her. The scene in this movie where Sam first meets Carly at the goddamn White House is off-the-walls unbelievable. Obviously, in Michael Bay’s White House, every foreign ambassador has a supermodel assistant who is ready to leave her promising career behind and move to D.C. to support an American civilian she just met. I’m sure that happens all the time in the real world.
Given enough movies, I think Sam could give Wilt Chamberlain a run for his money. Really, Sam Witwicky belongs in the Lothario Hall of Fame.
However, all of that said, I thought Rosie H-W did a good enough job with what she was given, considering it was her first acting role. The key words there were “with what she was given.” You can’t tell if someone’s a good actor by watching a Michael Bay movie.
Sure, she’s mildly attractive.
-Like all Bay films, there’s all the usual military porn, but it dawned on me how differently Bay treats certain military characters. He clearly respects soldiers and their commanders, but I guess he doesn’t think much of National Security Advisors (see Revenge of the Fallen) or, in this case, National Intelligence Directors (check out that Wikipedia link to see what this job entails in the real world). I love Frances McDormand, but her character is such a fucking clown here that it’s not even POSSIBLE to take her seriously.
-They wasted Shockwave here like they wasted Devastator in the last movie. Shockwave is supposed to be the Decepticons’ best tactician and second-in-command only to Megatron. Here, he’s…I don’t know how the fuck to describe him. He rides around inside a giant robot…anaconda? So strange. Apparently he drives this giant thing, and of course, it appears anywhere in the world he needs to be at the snap of a finger. We first see it in Chernobyl in Russia, and then when he finally reappears, it’s in Chicago. (I was under the impression that Shockwave was gonna be the primary villain in this movie. Clearly, I was misinformed.) So I guess this giant robosnake dug its way across the globe (and swam across the ocean), showing up in Chicago just in time to fight the Autobots at the end of the flick. Convenient. By the way, I love how it screams, too. It has no discernable face or eyes, but the front “mouth” part of it screeches, even when Shockwave isn’t inside it. Very interesting. And speaking of talking (speaking of talking?), when he first appears in Russia, Shockwave pops out of his driver’s pod/seat/thingie, just to say “Optimus!”, and then he and the snake give up and leave without a fight. That was cute; pop out to say hi real quick, and then leave. How courteous. Wait, no, that was stupid, but what’s more stupid is that anytime you see Shockwave for the rest of the movie, he can no longer speak English. He just grunts and mumbles, walking around the city looking for Autobots like a dunce. Then they kill him off like a bitch, and he barely puts up a fight. I hated it. This is not the Shockwave I know, and though the effects were cool, he was completely wasted as a character and villain. There was no need to call him Shockwave. They should have just called him Slithermumble or some shit like that. Or Serpentor. Wait, that name’s taken.
Sorry, bro.
-I was more than a little peeved by the way they magically reintroduce Soundwave. In the second movie, I thought it was cool and fitting that he was a satellite, intercepting military communications and hacking into U.S. satellites to eavesdrop and gain information. That was one of 3.5 things in that movie that made sense. In this one, for some reason product placement purposes, he’s now a brand new $200,000 Mercedes sports car instead. HUH?! But oh goodie, he retained his Doctor Octopus tentacles! So yeah, I’m pissed off that they fucked up my two favorite individual Decepticons. Unacceptable.
Speaking of conspicuous product placement, Bay has long been the king of it. Did you happen to notice the 39,384 Lenovo LCD computer monitors in the office Sam works at? Did you notice the baffling closeup of a Cisco router? Or Sam’s mom taking a swig of a Bud Light can (immediately after being served a s’more by her husband! Gross!)?
-The Ken Jeong cameo. Sorry, it was just too much, and the Ken Jeong bandwagon is already full, Mr. Bay. Moreover, his shtick as the over-the-top Asian guy is wearing thin. Either way, a Ken Jeong character in a Michael Bay movie is even more insane than you could possibly have imagined. If Jeong’s intensity in the Hangover movies is an 8, they dialed him up to a 10 for this. His character here is so ridiculous that, like almost everyone else, you can barely call him human. He’s more like a crazed chimp. He struts around the office being paranoid and ultra-awkward, mumbling under his breath, and also keeps two pistols under his desk. You know, just in case. Then, he accosts Sam in a bathroom stall and screams conspiracy theories at him. I mean, he seriously may as well have had a tail and been hanging upside down from the ceilings. It wouldn’t have appeared any stranger than this Jerry Wang character already is. Then, for the grand finale, Laserbeak throws him out of his office window, and the movie treats his death like high comedy! Nobody in the office really cares, and John Malkovich‘s boss character (another cartoon character) immediately starts making jokes about it. I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried, people. At the midnight show I went to, 90% of the audience was roaring in laughter when he died, but even the annoying 17-year old who was sitting next to me (and chewing gum with his mouth open the entire fucking movie) was intelligent enough to say out loud, “I don’t think that’s supposed to be funny.” Only, apparently it was supposed to be funny. Sigh.
Speaking of Malkovich, have you ever seen a more inconsistent accent? It was like someone had a child sitting on the floor behind the camera, and that child had an on/off button for Malkovich’s goofy New York accent and just kept bashing it repeatedly.
Too. Much.
-What the fuck is this apartment palace that Sam & Carly are living in? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that absurd characters are living in an absurd apartment, but holy shit. This place seemed to be bigger than the entire house the Witwickys lived in in the first movie. The main living area is so expansive in this place that at one point in the movie, Bumblebee is in the room STANDING UP and moving around. I don’t know the Washington D.C. area very well, but I challenge someone that does to find me where this apartment could actually exist. It’s got a massive spiral staircase, a huge chandelier, and a freight elevator. Because people often park their cars inside their apartments in big cities. That’s common, right? We’re made to understand that Carly is paying for the place herself (poor Sam can’t find a job), and maybe I missed where this was explained, but I’m not quite sure how she could afford it by herself.
-It was kinda dumb the way Tyrese re-enters the picture, was it not? The Autobots are about to be shipped off into space via NASA shuttle, and HEY! There’s Tyrese working as…one of the guys who walks behind the giant shuttle platform? Huh? Okay, then when Sam wants to get to Chicago, Tyrese and his boys are only too happy to take him. Then they apparently drive from Houston or Florida (wherever that shuttle was) to Chicago overnight (or instantaneously if you follow the editing), and of course require no rest before they join the battle. What was even funnier was when they finally do get to the outskirts of the city, after all that traveling, Tyrese takes one look at the devastation, and in all seriousness declares, “We’re not goin in there!” WHAT?! You just drove a thousand miles, dude! And now you want to puss out? Ridiculously bad writing.
And now to the action scenes…
-Due to the way Bay’s team designed these characters, when they’re fighting in closeup you can barely tell what’s going on, because so many of these robots have similar colors and/or the same spikey gray features. This makes the one-on-one fight scenes unintelligible and uninteresting.
–The overkill on the slow-motion action shots. Basically, every time this happens, it’s pure audience manipulation. It’s Bay telling you, “This is the awesome part! Cheer wildly when it’s over!” He tries to tell me when I should be impressed instead of letting it happen naturally. This is certainly not a new technique, but when you tell me “This is the awesome part!” 20 friggin times, they all get less awesome due to saturation, and it’s hard to top yourself 20 times within one movie, even if that movie is 157 minutes long. Quick, tell me the best slow-mo shot in this movie! You couldn’t do it off the top of your head, because there were so many of them. You have to pick and choose your money shots. More importantly, the last thing Michael Bay’s action scenes need are an infusion of Zack Snyder.
-There was an awful lot of unnecessary spitting and drooling by the Transformers in this movie. It seemed every time one of them got punched or fell to the ground, there was some form of liquid spewing from their mouths. And it was usually in slow motion, like you’d see in a boxing movie. That was probably at least $250,000 in effects shots they could have saved or spent elsewhere.
–The whole concept of the space pillars/teleporters. Ehh, just didn’t work for me, especially when Sentinel uses his 5 rods to teleport the Decepticons off the moon and into D.C. Let’s break this down, in case you didn’t notice just how dumb it was. So the Decepticons have had spaceships and extra soldiers chillin’ underground on the moon for several decades, but they needed a teleporter to get them down to Earth? Huh? Umm…WHY NOT JUST STUFF THEM ALL INTO THOSE GIANT SPACESHIPS AND BRING THEM DOWN WHENEVER THE HELL YOU WANTED!?!? Why didn’t Megatron think of this in either of the first two movies? Did he not know he had an army on standby the whole time? I guess these teleporters also act as alarm clocks for the 200 Decepticons who were hibernating on the moon. What happened to the Transformers being launched down to Earth inside those meteors like in the first movie? There I go bringing common sense into the equation again. Sorry.
-I wasn’t impressed by the final 45+ minute battle in Chicago, either. Sorry, just wasn’t. But this is what most of the film’s fans are saying is worth their hard-earned money and time. Raise your standards, people. It wasn’t that impressive. It wasn’t. You have a bunch of random bad guys that we don’t care about (Sentinel and Megatron are just chillin on the top of a tower while everyone else does the dirty work) mostly shooting missiles into buildings. WOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!! For what purpose though, we’ll never know. Unless you live in Chicago, you don’t have an emotional investment in seeing your favorite skyscrapers destroyed. Occasionally, they kill some random humans, and the effects are pretty good, but none of the main characters even come close to death. Also, because there’s nothing groundbreaking being done here effects-wise, I was never awed by it. This isn’t like the first time you saw the alien invasion sequence in Independence Day. There were cooler spaceships in Independence Day, and much cooler, scarier alien weapons technology in District 9.
Was I supposed to be blown away by the soldiers jumping out of the planes in chutesuits? It was cool, but they used those in the damn Tomb Raider sequel, and I saw a much cooler feature story on people who base jump with those on 60 Minutes a couple years ago.
And what was with the War of the Worlds weapons the Decepticons were using? They were blasting humans with these lasers that left behind only the humans’ skulls and clothes. Umm, why just the skulls and not the rest of their bones? I digress. In general, I don’t like the Transformers’ guns in this movie. There’s no impact or violence or intensity to them, they just make these cute little popping, “pew pew!” sounds that I can make with my mouth. When they hit something with them, all you see are sparks. There’s no real impact damage. They’re not scary or loud or intimidating at all.
Am I missing anything? What else was there that was so fucking spectacular to some of you?
I have a question for the “I loved it because it’s huge alien robots fighting each other!” set; did you love the hour and 45 minutes the giant alien robots weren’t fighting, too? If not, what were you doing during these parts of the movie? Smiling with glee at the shitty humor and subhuman characters? Did you find the rest of the movie a “ride”, too? Or did you really find these action sequences so exciting that you can dismiss the rest of the movie, which is undeniably awful. Seriously, if you think I’m overreacting, how do you excuse the parts of the movie that didn’t have any action? Because that was most of the movie.
-I won’t even bother bashing the Patrick Dempsey character or the whole thing where certain humans were conspiring with the Decepticons. It wasn’t interesting enough to even mock.
NITPICKS
-It was kinda gross that Megatron walks around the whole movie with the right side of his brain exposed. They can bring all these new Decepticons to Earth between the two movies (how they snuck Shockwave down I have no idea), but Megatron can’t get his head repaired?
-It’s cool that he’s in the movie, but Laserbeak doesn’t talk, dude. And he’s certainly not some maniacal, trash-talking schemer. Aye vai.
-Optimus Prime carries this massive sword on him and various other projectile weapons, right? So why, after killing Shockwave’s anaconda, does he get tangled up in a bunch of construction cables for like an hour? And he has to get cut down by his little “wrecker” Autobot buddies? Lame.
-I’m no astrologist (or geologist or physicist, whatever field of study applies), but wouldn’t suddenly teleporting Cybertron into orbit have significant effects on Earth’s gravity? Or the tides? Or my bowel movements? Just sayin.
Other than that, I fuckin LOVED this movie!
To wrap things up, I’m just glad this will be the last Transformers movie for a good while. Yeah, they’ll probably try to “reboot” it 5-10 years from now with another director and a new cast (the series has made too much money for them to just say OK, it’s over, that was nice while it lasted), but we’ll worry about that in 5-10 years. There’s no indication what Michael Bay’s next movie is going to be, but let’s just assume it’ll come out in June, cost a lot of money, have no real people in it, and feature a lot of explosions. Does it really matter what the title is or what it’s about?
I doubt anyone else will do this, but I wish I had the time to take the DVDs of all 3 Transformers movies, and create a 10-minute montage of all the stupid, random, gratuitous, unnecessary shit, just to show how absurd Michael Bay’s view of the world is (on the off chance I didn’t just make it abundantly clear). And again, I used to be the biggest Michael Bay defender out there. My assumption was that at some point he would mature as a filmmaker. At some point, I thought he would see all these movies being made by better, more competent directors (say, Christopher Nolan for one) and say, “Hey, I’d like to do something like THAT one day.” I’ve waited long enough for that day to come, and it hasn’t. Sadly, it seems as though he doesn’t have that desire, because he’s too obsessed with box office grosses, and making a different kind of movie might mean taking a creative risk that could result in fewer tickets being sold. God forbid. I’ve been defending Bay since Pearl Harbor, for 10 years now, but I’m done. I’m spent. Let him go make $200 million PG-13 summer movies for the rest of his career if that’s all he aspires to. If he doesn’t want more for himself (creatively), why should I? Fuck’m.
In the final equation, the 2007 Transformers is the only one in this series that’s on my love list. Even still, the best Transformers movie ever made came out in 1986, and it was animated. After what we’ve seen these past 4 years, it seems that animated may be the way these characters should stay.
Until next time! I can’t wait to be disappointed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in a couple weeks. Too pessimistic?
FUN READING:
GQ recently published a lengthy compilation of quotes from Michael Bay’s actors, producers, writers, friends and other collaborators, all giving their brief and various opinions of the man and his work. Very amusing/interesting read. [Blow Up: The Oral History of Michael Bay]
Here’s some telling quotes from Bay himself, straight from the article:
On making a different style of film for Pearl Harbor: “I don’t change my style for anybody. Pussies do that.”
On critics: “It’s funny with them. You are making entertainment. People get so angry about it.”
On deciding whether or not to make a third Transformers movie: “I’m not going to sit in my house by myself—what am I going to do? Leading the fat cat life—I don’t want to do that. I’d rather go back in the trenches.”
Still one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen: Robot Chicken’s BAYSPLOSIONS trailer:
If this isn’t the quintessential Michael Bay photo,
I don’t know what is.
Fun fact: I wrote “Michael Bay” or “Bay” 35 times in this review.
IN OTHER MOVIE NEWS:
–Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is nearing a $1 billion global gross. It will be the 8th movie ever to accomplish this. Do you understand how depressing that is? Worldwide, it’s going to outgross The Dark Knight (though TDK still has it crushed by more than 2:1 in U.S. grosses). Note to self: for huge international grosses, have your movie take place outside the United States.
-A couple of highly anticipated trailers finally debuted this week, one for Steven Spielberg‘s new Oscar-bait movie, War Horse, and the other for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. I think each is exciting in its own way. Watch em, and I’ve got comments after each. As always, I recommend switching the video quality to at least 720p HD.
Will you look at that photography? Holy shit. At least visually, we know Spielberg has lost nothing off his fast ball as he’s aged. On my Most Anticipated Movies of 2011 list, I put this at #3, so I’m very happy to finally see a trailer for it. Spielberg hasn’t made a great film since Munich in 2005, and actually hasn’t directed anything since that horrid 4th Indiana Jones in ’08. Nothing would please me more than for this to be the best movie of 2011. And let’s face it, this year it won’t take much to be the best movie of the year. If nothing else, it shows that there’s still some hope left for the fall/winter lineup. Like I said on that previous post, I think this story is right in Spielberg’s wheelhouse, and again I have to marvel at Janusz Kaminski‘s cinematography in this trailer. Wow. Strangely, this clip has gotten a lot of ignorant negative feedback on the internet, with people making various unfunny jokes about this’ll be the first time a horse wins Best Actor. The movie isn’t just about the horse, idiots, it’s about this young man trying to find the horse and return it home in the midst of World War I. If it were a fucking dog, I’m betting those same a-holes would find the idea utterly compelling. Would you rather watch an interesting story like this at Christmas, or go watch the 57th comic book movie of this dreadful year instead? Get a clue. This should be a damned fine movie.
I like it, but don’t love it. Yet. What immediately sticks out to me is a seemingly gratuitous use of CG in the stunt sequences. That Kremlin explosion at the beginning looks cringeworthy, but I’ll withhold judgment because I’m sure it’s not a completed effects shot. But really, you couldn’t have done that with a big model? Again we have the struggle these franchises face as they get into movies 4 and beyond, and that’s the desperate desire to up the ante. In this case, they thought blowing up Red Square would be a good idea, and then later in the trailer you’ve got a giant cloud of CG dust chasing Tom Cruise. This makes me kinda nervous. By the way, does anybody sprint in a movie with more intensity than Cruise? I love it. Despite the CG, there’s still a lot of cool hand-to-hand combat and a car chase, and I absolutely can’t wait to see this sequence in Dubai, where they actually had Cruise climbing around on the world’s tallest building. Just seeing that monstrosity on film is pretty awesome. I wonder how far away you’d have to put a camera to get the entire building in frame.
As previously noted, this is of course the live-action debut for director Brad Bird, who did the underrated Iron Giant as well as The Incredibles and Ratatouille for Pixar. If ever there were an animation director ready to take the next step, I’d say Bird would on that shortlist. Allegedly, this will also be the Mission: Impossible film that transitions Cruise out of the lead role, and in a perfect world for Paramount, the franchise will continue with Jeremy “I’ve been cast in everything” Renner. It’ll be interesting to see how that transition occurs. I’m also very happy to see Tom Wilkinson and the beautiful Paula Patton join the cast. Anyway, smart move to use an Eminem song over the trailer. Gotta get those kiddies’ attention.
One more shits and giggles:
I’m posting this review on July 3rd, 2011, which is the 15th anniversary of the release of Independence Day, one of the movies that changed my life as a youngen. It currently sits at #40 on my list of all-time favorite movies.
This teaser trailer first appeared in January of ’96, attached to a now-forgotten sci-fi horror movie called Screamers. After seeing the trailer, I found it difficult to concentrate on the actual movie I came to see, and that was the longest 7 month wait of my life.
We’ve seen about a dozen alien invasion movies and TV shows in the last year (with at least one more coming in Cowboys & Aliens), and I’d say none of them compare to the excitement I experienced watching iD4 that summer. The visual effects still hold up today, and in fact are more impressive than most of this year’s “blockbusters”. Put it this way, almost everything you see being destroyed on the ground is real. It’s either a model, a miniature, or a practical explosion. Now, almost all of it would be created in a computer, which is the completely wrong approach. Hollywood has changed a LOT since 1996. For instance, that summer you had maybe 6 big movies. Nowadays, every single week there’s a new $150-250 million event movie cramming its way into theaters, and as a result, very few stand out anymore. Whereas in 1996, the biggest movies that summer were the first Mission: Impossible, The Rock (back when Michael Bay movies were good), The Nutty Professor, iD4 and Twister (another of my favorites).
1996 was the first summer that I worked at a movie theater, and I remember this was the first movie I went to an employee screening for, which was quite a new experience at the time. Seeing a huge movie the night before everyone else could! Holy shit! I saw it at least 5 more times after it came out. I also vividly remember sneaking away from the concession stand and watching the alien attack sequence just about every time it was happening (I even had the timing down perfectly- it occurs about 45 minutes into the movie). I’d come back from watching it, and people would be like, “Where did you go!?” I’d always say the bathroom or something like that. Let’s just say I had a lot of 10-minute bathroom breaks. I must have watched that sequence 50 times the first few weeks it was out.
Independence Day grossed $306 million that year, back when $300 million put you among the highest grossers of all-time. Put in perspective, that 306 would be $544 million today. I would really love to watch this movie on the big screen again. Can someone over at Fox get on that? They should have put it out just for this weekend to celebrate the 15th anniversary. I’d have thought of that if I were a studio boss, but I’m not a studio boss, am I?
I don’t have any recommended listening to wrap things up, because I haven’t had time recently to listen to anything new. Feel free to give me some recommendations. If you managed to read all 6,000 words of this review, I applaud you and appreciate you. Good evening.
My Ten Most Anticipated Movies of 2011
Published January 6, 2011 LISTS , MOVIES , TRAILERS 5 Comments
Tags: 3D, battle: los angeles, captain america, christopher nolan, daniel craig, david fincher, harry potter, IMDb, j.j. abrams, martin scorsese, mel gibson, michael bay, mission: impossible, most anticipated movies, natalie portman, robert downey jr., scream 4, sherlock holmes, steven spielberg, sucker punch, super 8, the avengers, the beaver, the dark knight rises, the girl with the dragon tattoo, the hangover, thor, todd phillips, tom cruise, transformers, transformers: dark of the moon, war horse, x-men, zack snyder
2011, aka The Nolan Off-Year. Christopher Nolan has been releasing a movie every other year since 2006, so while we wait for his 2012 Batman finale, The Dark Knight Rises, we must first live through 2011. As it turns out, there are some pretty cool and interesting films on tap. 2010 was a very good year for movies (a big upgrade over the disappointing 2009), so let’s see what you got, ’11. If you had no idea what was coming out this year, well, that’s one of the reasons you keep me around as a friend. I’ve done the homework for you. After digging through several lists of hundreds of movies coming out this year, here’s what interests me and tickles my cinematic taste buds the most;
Looking at this camera only reinforces that I never want to shoot in 3D.
1. TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (July 1)
I can’t believe I’m doing this after the disaster that was Revenge of the Fallen, but I can’t help myself. The original was my most anticipated movie of 2007 and the sequel was my most anticipated movie of 2009. Michael Bay also had my most anticipated movie of 2001 in Pearl Harbor, so this is the 4th time he’s topped this list. Despite his many flaws, he’s like a drug I can’t get enough of. Combine that with my childhood love for Transformers and I’ll be right back in line for the midnight show, excited as shit to see giant fucking robots, explosions, and…an entire movie taking place at sunset (as per Bay’s requirements). I’m still hesitant to believe Bay has learned his lessons from the second movie, but after reading THIS big piece about him on Collider, my fears began to subside. The only way you can fix a problem is to acknowledge its existence, and Bay admits to almost everything I hated about Revenge of the Fallen in that interview. Whether or not he’s full of shit remains to be seen, but the way those guys described some of the footage they saw from Dark of the Moon got my geek antennae all warm and fuzzy again. The teaser trailer was really cool, and I think they spent more time on this one on the story, even though it is coming out just 2 years after the last film again (blame the greedy studio for that, not Bay). Bay also claims that this one will be darker, which is cool, but everyone says that after Dark Knight. Yes, they got rid of Megan Fox. No, I don’t really care. They replaced her with a British Victoria’s Secret model, so apparently Shia LaBeouf is just one irresistibly sexy bitch. I’m very interested to see what they’ll do with Shockwave as the main villain, though I guess Megatron will still make an appearance. I don’t know how that will work, but logic was never Michael Bay’s strong suit. Bay shot some of the film in 3D, despite previously bashing the medium as a gimmick. This is probably so he can make more money off the premium ticket sales. Or is that being too cynical? See, I’m already bashing the thing and I haven’t even seen it. But I am very excited about it! No, really! I know one thing they’ve done right already…they gave Optimus Prime his trailer! It better magically disappear in the movie just as it did in the cartoon. I’ll be very upset if it actually serves some practical purpose. [IMDb – TRAILER]
BAM!!!
Yeah, Optimus and I are boys. What of it?
-As an aside, I dug through my old MySpace blog and found my Revenge of the Fallen review, which is probably the best, most entertaining movie review I’ve ever written. Forgive the small fonts, but whenever MySpace redesigned their site, they literally reduced the size of the blogs. It looked much better when I originally posted it. Check it out if you’ve forgotten just how ridonculous that movie is, and what a big mountain they have to climb to get the series back to where it was on the first film.
Still waiting for a moment like this in the live-action Transformers movies;
2. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 (July 15)
Despite how disappointed and utterly confused I was by Part I, I still have faith that the series will end in spectacular fashion. This one will also likely by 2½ hours long, but most of it should be character-building action, which I’m all for. There isn’t much else to say here, but apparently all the cool stuff in the trailer was from Part II. I will remain spoiler free until it comes out, so who lives and who dies and what happens should all be new to me come July. Interestingly enough, since this is a huge Warner Bros. release, we may also see the first teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises attached to it. Here’s hoping. I don’t care if it’s just some Hans Zimmer Batmusic, the logo and the release date. Just give me something. P.S. Per my New Year’s resolution, I will not be seeing Potter in 3D. [IMDb – TRAILER]
Spielberg on set.
3. WAR HORSE (December 28)
Unless it’s called Tin-Tin, any Steven Spielberg-directed movie will make my top 5 most anticipated of any year. Unfortunately, the last taste in our mouths of Spielberg directing anything was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, one of the most absurd movies I’ve ever seen. And it pains me to say that, but I have to be honest. This one is based off of Michael Morpurgo‘s book of the same name (which was later adapted to a stage play), and the story takes place during World War I (an underused time period in modern films), where a kid’s beloved horse is sold into the British cavalry and sent into action. The horse ends up in the thick of things, being used on both sides of the war, and the kid, too young to enlist, sets out on his own to find the horse and bring it home. That appears to be a story right in Spielberg’s wheelhouse, and I have every confidence he’ll knock it out of the park. There are no big stars in the cast (the most recognizable one is Emily Watson, playing the boy’s mother), and they did a huge search in the UK to cast the role of the boy, Albert. A kid named Jeremy Irvine eventually won the part. I’m very interested to see a trailer for this, but we likely won’t get one til the summer. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
4. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (December 21)
I have no real reason to be so excited about this, other than the hype I’ve heard and the insane popularity of Stieg Larsson‘s books. I became hooked when David Fincher agreed to direct it, and then by the excellent cast they’ve put together. Fincher cast his Social Network star Rooney Mara in the coveted lead role of Lisbeth Salander. Then they cast the great Daniel Craig in the lead male role, Mikael Blomkvist, and we also get Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgard, and Christopher Plummer. I heard an interview recently where Fincher admitted he was hesitant to get involved with another murder story, but that he was excited about the prospect of creating a movie franchise for adults. I’m so happy that Benjamin Button and Social Network have cemented Fincher’s place as one of Hollywood’s prestige directors (meaning he’s one of the first people called when the best projects come up), even though his fans have known that since the mid-90’s. By the time this opens in December, I probably still won’t have read the books, but I will have seen all of the original Swedish movies, which are coming up soon on my Netflix list. It’s interesting that the Lisbeth Salander of the Swedish movies, Noomi Rapace, is now being cast in some big mainstream American projects (one of which is coming up on this list). Needless to say, I’m interested to see what all the fuss is about. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
5. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL (December 6)
A lot of people may disagree with me, but I think the Mission: Impossible films have gotten better and better each time out. This is usually the exact opposite of what happens with most Hollywood franchises. Though J.J. Abrams is not directing again, he’s back in a producing capacity and was involved in coming up with the story, both of which are good things. The director this time is Brad Bird, and this marks his live-action directing debut (he previously did the fabulous The Iron Giant, and The Incredibles and Ratatouille for Pixar). Normally, I’d be skeptical of an animation director taking on a project like this as his live-action debut, but not in Bird’s case. I think this was a smart choice, and I also like that Tom Cruise was humble enough to take part in a story that’s supposedly set up to phase him out of the series. Jeremy Renner is Cruise’s protégé in the film, and apparently if there’s a 5th movie, Renner would become the star and Cruise’s Ethan Hunt would be gone or reduced to a small part. Another very smart move I think. Not that I lack confidence in Cruise (I think I’m one of 15 people left in America who still love the guy as an actor), but in order for a franchise like this to continue, you’ve got to get new blood involved and turn over the lead role from time to time. Renner is überhot right now, and it was a wise casting choice. They seem to be borrowing a page from the Bond films, and that’s not a bad formula to emulate (new leading men, new directors each time, etc.). Simon Pegg returns, which incites smiley faces everywhere. Also joining the cast are the beautiful Paula Patton and the excellent Anil Kapoor (of Slumdog Millionaire and 24: Season 8 fame). We don’t know anything about the story, but some of it takes place in Dubai, and in the photo above, you’ll see Tom Cruise doing stunts on the Burj Khalifa, the recently completed tallest building on Earth. I can’t wait to see what they did with that. A few months ago photos came online (I couldn’t find it again to post here) of Cruise literally sitting on the top of the tower. It was mindboggling. That dude has some balls. Should be f’n awesome. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
6. SUPER 8 (June 10)
J.J. Abrams‘ next directorial effort is shrouded in maximum secrecy, but we know it’s a sci-fi movie in the vein of old-school Spielberg (who is a producer on this, but that could mean nothing). Or so we’ve been told. Regardless, after what Abrams did on Mission: Impossible 3 and Star Trek, I’d get in line to see him make a Barbie movie. You heard me. I really can’t say much else about it. It seems to take place in the late 70’/early 80’s and involves a creature or aliens on the loose. I know, that sounds like Cloverfield, but I’m assuming Abrams isn’t gonna rip himself off. The cast includes my boy Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) and a bunch of other white people. Watch the teaser trailer and see if you can make anything out of it. Just the fact that they’ve been able to keep it such a secret in this day and age is applause worthy. [IMDb – TRAILER]
7. SHERLOCK HOLMES 2 (December 16)
I simply adored the first movie. Turns out Guy Ritchie
was the perfect filmmaker to modernize the character, and they pulled it off with visual flair, clever action scenes, smart writing and terrific performances across the board. Almost all of the original cast and crew are back (though my girl Rachel McAdams has not been confirmed), and they add the aforementioned Noomi Rapace in the female lead, and Jared Harris as Professor Moriarty, Holmes‘ greatest foe. The introduction of Moriarty in the sequel reminds me of how Christopher Nolan saved The Joker for his second Batmovie. I’m not saying this sequel will be anything close to as good as Dark Knight, but I like the idea of bringing in your big gun villain after you’ve spent one movie setting up the world and your main characters. In that sense, there’s great potential here, but in the end it will all depend on the writing. Robert Downey‘s comeback still amazes me. After Johnny Depp, he might be the second-biggest movie star in the world right now, and no other actor can say they’re simultaneously carrying 2 franchises like he is. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
8. THE HANGOVER PART II (May 26)
I think the original was perhaps the best comedy of the 2000’s. I’d have to do some digging to see what else would be on that list, but The Hangover has to be right up there. With its massive success, a sequel isn’t surprising, but I have to admit, I was not keen on the idea of a sequel to this story. I mean, what could possibly bring these 4 characters together again, and what could they possibly be doing so that they’d end up in another set of such insane circumstances? After all, you have to up the ante for a sequel. I just thought (and might still think) that anything close to what they went through on the original happening AGAIN would be too much of a stretch. They haven’t released a whole lot of info on the plot, but this one will supposedly follow what happens when the guys travel to Thailand for Stu‘s (Ed Helms) wedding. So they’ll have to introduce whoever it is Stu is marrying (looks like she’s played by Jamie Chung), and then international hijinks will ensue. Since they got the cast back, and since Todd Phillips is back, I’m psyched to see it regardless of whether or not I think it should have been made in the first place. The first one was mostly based in reality, and I just think if that kind of stuff happens to them again, you run the risk of making them all look cartoonish. But I’m open to being wrong. I’m also very curious to see all these cameos (Liam Neeson and Paul Giamatti have small parts, and even Bill Clinton shot a scene, which may be a first for a former President). [IMDb – No trailer yet]
9. THOR (May 6)
For some reason, I get the sense this will be hit or miss. Either it’ll be very good or very disappointing. I have some confidence given Marvel’s recent history and how they’re tying these films together for The Avengers in 2012. We’ll get some carryover from the Iron Man movies (Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson and maybe a Sam Jackson as Nick Fury cameo or some other surprises), and Chris Hemsworth looks pretty damn good as Thor. We’ve also got Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, and relative newcomer Tom Hiddleston (who’s also in War Horse) as Thor’s brother, Loki. I admit I’ll be going into this one pretty cold, as I’ve never read a Thor comic and know next to nothing about the mythology. So it’ll be cool to experience some discovery of a new world. I’m curious how much of the film takes place in Asgard versus how much is on Earth. I like the trailer, and whatever the machine thingy they’re fighting is looks pretty badass. It’ll also be interesting to see what Kenneth Branagh brings to the table as director. He’s certainly never done anything with this scope. Hopefully, he placed some of that Shakespearean gravitas on the film. If Marvel had total creative control of the project and didn’t let him do at least some of his own thing, then you wonder why they’d hire him. [IMDb – TRAILER]
10. THE BEAVER (April 8 )
Though I don’t think it’ll make any money, I’m just hopeful Mel Gibson delivers the type of performance that allows him to stage a comeback in the industry (though you could argue he won’t make that kind of comeback until something he’s in does make money). I’d like to see a Michael Vick level turnaround, and based on how good the script for this thing supposedly was, I don’t believe that’s outside the realm of possibility. And I think under the steady hand of Jodie Foster in the director’s chair, the circumstances are ideal for Gibson to turn in a great performance. But we’ll see. I’m putting this in the top 10 because that’s how much I love Gibson as an actor. I think he’s a vital performer, and I want him back in the mix, both as an actor and perhaps even moreso as a director. Kudos to Summit for releasing the film. I’ll reward them by buying a ticket to their next goofy Twilight movie later in the year. [IMDb – TRAILER]
10 RUNNERS UP (in A-B-C order):
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (March 4) – A very interesting sci-fi premise in a real-world setting, based on a Philip K. Dick story (shocker). Matt Damon and the lovely Emily Blunt star, along with Mad Men‘s John Slattery. [IMDb – TRAILER]
BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (March 11) – This looks very cool, but at the same time I won’t be surprised if it’s a complete disaster. However, I love the way they’re describing it, which is that it was shot Black Hawk Down-style from the perspective of a group of Marines as they fight off an alien invasion in LA. I’ll see pretty much any alien invasion movie, but few of the filmmakers involved have done anything in the past that I’ve loved. I guess there’s always a first time. I hope. The second trailer (which I’ve linked) is much better than the first one they released. [IMDb – TRAILER]
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (July 22) – Here’s another instance where I know nothing about the Marvel mythology. I’m also a little nervous that we haven’t seen a trailer yet, and that it’s kind of flying under the radar, even though it’s an important release, particularly with regards to the Avengers movie. At first I was hesitant about Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, but I’ve since been put at ease by some of the publicity photos. The cast around him is pretty strong (Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones), and Joe Johnston is a competent enough director. I’m reserving judgment, but they gotta show us something soon. I’m curious to see what kind of Captain America they present in this day and age. I’m surprised the PC Police didn’t intervene and force them to rename him Captain Democracy or some shit like that. Something tells me this isn’t destined to be a hit overseas. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
COWBOYS & ALIENS (July 29) – Yet another alien invasion story, though this one comes with a very cool twist. It takes place in the old west. I love westerns, and I love alien invasions. Put the two together…and I’m intrigued. You also gotta love that title, simple and to the point. I think Jon Favreau has proven himself to be a competent director of summer blockbusters (though I’d like to see some more ‘vision’ out of him), and with Daniel Craig as your lead, you can’t go wrong. Then there’s a grumpy Harrison Ford (who ALREADY WORKS AROUND THE CLOCK!!!), as well as Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano…and Olivia Wilde! Woot woot! Should be pretty neato, and whether it’s good or bad, it’ll be unique. [IMDb – TRAILER]
NO STRINGS ATTACHED vs. FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS (January 21 & July 22) – I just covered this in my New Year’s post, but I also intend on seeing both movies. Aside from Ashton Kutcher, I’m a big fan of the actors involved, and it’ll be interesting to compare the two films as well as seeing if the first one to come out (No Strings) affects the other’s prospects at the box office. It looks like they’re both gonna be R-rated, which is also a plus. It’ll be good to see Natalie Portman doing something lighter, and I’ll watch Mila Kunis in anything. Sort of reminds me of the “two movies with similar plot devices coming out within months of each other” situations we saw with Dante’s Peak vs. Volcano, or Deep Impact vs. Armageddon in 1998. [IMDb & IMDb – See trailers in the previous post]
HANNA (April 8 ) – This movie looks like an absolute trip. Eric Bana plays the father of a 14-year old girl (the amazing Saoirse Ronan), who he’s trained to be a cold-blooded killer. Then there’s Cate Blanchett as a government agent who’s been trying to track him down. It’s directed by Joe Wright, who did an excellent job with Atonement. I’d have a hard time describing the plot, so just trust me and watch this trailer. Ronan looks like she could give Hit Girl a run for her money. Oh, and The Chemical Brothers did the score. Badass. [IMDb – TRAILER]
SUCKER PUNCH (March 25) – Zack Snyder, the king of slow motion, returns with this completely original, visually stunning, utterly awesome-looking action/fantasy. Forgive me, but I’m just gonna copy the plot summary straight from IMDb for ya; “A young girl is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the facility.” Snyder’s got this whole scenario set up where we get this really cool looking fantasy dream world that looks part Inception, part Sin City, part 300 (all movies I love). I just think this looks fantastic, and because it’s an original story, I’m rooting for it to succeed in the same way I rooted for Inception last year. This is easily one of the most fascinating films of 2011, and it’s not gotten a lot of attention yet. The cast looks fantastic (both literally and figuratively), and I really wanna see how Emily Worthing does with her first big starring role. Girl is hawwwt! [IMDb – TRAILER]
OH, HAI Vanessa Hudgens!
MONEYBALL (September 23) – They’ve been trying to get this movie off the ground for years, and for a long time it had Steven Soderbergh attached to direct. Instead, we’ll get Bennett Miller (Capote) directing, with Brad Pitt starring as Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane. This is based on the acclaimed nonfiction Michael Lewis book about Beane’s successful effort to build a winning team on a small market budget. Doesn’t sound like a really good basis for a movie, does it? That’s probably why it’s been in development for about 5 years. However, in the end, we’ll be getting a movie with a script that was worked on by both Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, two of the best writers in Hollywood (in fact, in my book, probably #1 and #2). We’ve also got Philip Seymour Hoffman as A’s manager Art Howe, as well as Jonah Hill and Robin Wright. With the talent involved behind and in front of the camera, I have faith that they’ve turned this into a story worthy of being told on the big screen. I’m also looking forward to seeing a sports movie that doesn’t require on-field drama to be compelling. And if you still think this sounds boring, consider that this time last year, few people thought a movie about the creation of Facebook would be worth a damn. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
SCREAM 4 (April 15) – I’m torn on this one. The original Scream movies (the last one came out in 2000 if you can believe it) are my all-time favorite horror series. That’s saying something considering I’m not a big fan of horror movies in general. I fell in love with the brilliant, original Scream in 1996 at age 16 while working at a movie theater, and I loved both sequels. That said, if we’re being honest, here we have another example of a sequel that probably didn’t need to be made, but much like the Hangover followup, we’ve got the original creative team back in place. Wes Craven is at the helm, and series creator Kevin Williamson wrote the script. As such, I retain a glimmer of hope that there’ll be some interesting new ideas here given the different world we live in now, both culturally and technologically. I kinda wish they’d rebooted it with a whole new cast, but Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox are also back. It’s tough to tell from the teaser trailer who the main characters are, but a slew of actresses (Anna Paquin, Hayden Panettiere, Marley Shelton, Kristen Bell, and Friday Night Light‘s Aimee Teegarden) all make appearances, making me wonder who gets the Drew Barrymore/Jada Pinkett scene at the beginning of the film. They’ve been talking about making a 4th Scream for a decade, and now we have it. We’ll see if it was worth the wait. Damn, I miss my Scream mask and black robe. Scaring the shit out of the girls on Halloween in 1997 is one of my fondest high school memories. [IMDb – TRAILER]
Mr. Scream rides the bus?
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (June 3) – By the way, there’s a new X-Men movie coming out this year. That’s how bad Brett Ratner‘s X-Men: The Last Stand was and how much it decimated my passion for the franchise. It was so bad that I couldn’t muster enough interest in this to put it in the top 10. And X-Men is easily my favorite comic series. It LOOKS like they’ll be getting the series back on track here, rewinding the story back to a point where Professor X and Magneto were friends. Together, they discover their powers and fight off some great threat (which is unnamed to this point), and presumably at the end of the film they’ll part ways, setting up the legendary rivalry. I really like this premise. And let’s face it, after The Last Stand, there’s nowhere to go but up. They brought in Matthew Vaughn to direct, who is hot off of Kick-Ass. We’ve also got two fine actors in James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, playing Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr respectively. Like I said, X-Men is my favorite comic series, and Magneto is my favorite comic book villain, so I have high hopes here. However, those hopes are still somewhat jaded after the bitter taste of excrement that remains in my mouth after The Last Stand. Have I mentioned how bad X-Men: The Last Stand was? [IMDb – No trailer yet]
-Why isn’t Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides anywhere on this list? Because it didn’t need to be made, and that’s painfully clear when you watch that trailer, which I won’t even link to.
-I still get confused trying to tell Green Hornet and Green Lantern apart. This much I know; the one with Ryan Reynolds in a green CGI suit looks incredibly dumb. And really, how many fucking comic book movies is this guy gonna be in? He’s been in so many different comic storylines (Blade: Trinity, Wolverine, now this) that it feels like the universe is about to implode. The Seth Rogen green superhero movie looks okay, though there are way too many homophobic jokes in that trailer, are there not? How many times does the Asian dude say some variation of, “I’ll go with you, but I’m not touching you.” Just awkward. Though I’m very interested to see what Michel Gondry does with a big-budget effects movie like this, I’m not expecting it to be very good.
-I didn’t see it, but I keep hearing last year’s Valentine’s Day was one of the worst romantic comedies ever made. Why do I mention this? You know why. Yes, they made a sequel. It’s title? New Year’s Eve. That deafening sound you just heard was every moviegoer in the country simultaneously sighing in disgust.
-Fox is going bonkers with origins stories this year. In addition to X-Men: First Class, we’ll be getting Rise of the Apes, which, you guessed it, will set up the Planet of the Apes mythology. As if there was a great demand for that. I’m intrigued that they got James Franco, Frieda Pinto and Andy Serkis to star. Might be good, might be crapola.
–Adam Sandler‘s comedies continue to suck ass of late, but I have to admit, Just Go with It looks sort of funny, and it has a premise I can’t remember seeing before. This will mark the screen debut of supermodel Brooklyn Decker, who I’ve been in love with for several years. Regardless of whether or not it’s funny, just watching the trailer I can already see the ending coming from a mile away. Think he ends up with Jennifer Aniston? Spoiler alert!
-Even though I did not like Pineapple Express, the followup pairing of director David Gordon Green with actors James Franco & Danny McBride, Your Highness, does look hilarious. Natalie Portman, who’s about to get an Oscar nomination for Black Swan, will be hot in 2011 as well, with this, No Strings Attached, Thor, and the very promising The Other Woman. Attagirl.
There you have it. Those are the movies I’ll be keeping my eye on this year. Of course, several foreign films, documentaries, and indie films will end up in the mix (as they always do), but it’s tough to predict what those will be at the beginning of the year. Last I checked, I don’t have any tickets to this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Enjoy your 2011 at the movies! And remember, we’re only one year away from the epic 2012, where we’ll get The Dark Knight Rises, a Zack Snyder-directed Superman, the third Daniel Craig Bond movie, The Hobbit: Part I, The Avengers, The Spider-Man reboot, the Star Trek sequel, and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
P.S. Do me a favor, be a smart moviegoer, and see as few 3D movies this year as you can. I will be seeing NONE. In case you didn’t know, everything that comes out 3D is also available to see in regular 2D as well. You don’t HAVE to see everything in 3D just because they advertise the shit out of it being in 3D. Unless it’s Avatar or a CG-animated movie, it probably ain’t worth it. Tell Hollywood you’re tired of paying an extra $3-5 for crappy post-converted 3D and you’re on to their greedy tricks. Do it so that our best filmmakers don’t feel they need to jump on board the bandwagon. When fucking Martin Scorsese
is shooting a 3D movie, you know things have gone too far.
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Movie Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi
For over 40 years, Lucasfilm has brought us popcorn movies extraordinaire. The Last Jedi is no exception.
I realize many readers will not read this review until they’ve seen the movie, even with the promise of no plot spoilers.
Let me just say this: “Yule love it!”
The movie is enjoyable, deeply satisfying, and innovative. In many ways, I found it more enjoyable than The Force Awakens. I know I don’t have to tell you to go see it. In the first day that it’s been released, it’s on track to be the #2 biggest opening financially after The Force Awakens.
Yet it goes into some unconventional directions, unlike the safer approach that J.J. Abrams took in The Force Awakens.
One of the widely heard comments about the previous Episode VII: The Force Awakens is that it was a remake of the original Episode IV: A New Hope. It seemed to play it safe by sticking close to the original story — a youthful adventurer on a desert planet seeking mentorship from an older man.
However, this movie is fresh and inventive: it moves the storyline forward while honoring the legacy of the original trilogy. It was beautifully mounted, visually stunning, and emotionally engaging.
The Last Jedi starts fast with a space battle scene that is every bit as good as the concluding battles in some of the other movies.
The film has humor and surprising sweetness done with a light touch. It has both comedy and tragedy.
In some ways, it did echo Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, but that’s inevitable. As it is the bridge in the trilogy, we know there’s a final episode coming. There were a fair number of fanboy callbacks to previous movies and inside jokes, but the crowd loved it.
This movie introduces us to new characters while still paying tribute to older characters, a reverence if you will, for Luke and Leia. We get a touching scene between them. We see greater character development of the three main leads — Ray, Finn, and Poe — introduced in Episode VII.
There are new critters. We’ve got wicked awesome new ships.
You see new hand-to-hand weapons: laser swords, Asian swords and bo staffs, new blasters, axes, and halberds. The lightsaber action is more subtle and nuanced than in previous films.
Beyond any previous film in the saga, we see more strong female leads, coming out from behind the figurehead of General Leia, in both major and minor roles.
Watch for Benicio Del Toro. He has a small role, but is a delight to see.
Check out the Governor Tarkin-style late ‘70s sideburns sported by the First Order officers.
Everyone knows that Carrie Fisher died between the last movie and this one. This movie uses every scrap of celluloid she did in this one. There is a tribute in the credits, and a half-off of a sort: her daughter Billie Lourd is seen more than once in the film.
The closing scene from The Force Awakens occurs on an island where Luke Skywalker has been hiding. In The Last Jedi, we get to spend more time there and see what it actually was: a hermitage off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland.
It was built back in either the 6th or 8th century and remained active as a Christian monastery until the 12th century. Boat tours are available to visit the island from nearby Portmagee on the Irish mainland. Today it is a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site allowing only 180 visitors a day.
By way of wildlife, about the only things you’ll see are puffins, the indigenous life form on the island. The movie plays that up in a creative way. There are no trees or wood for a fire, and the diet of the original monks was fish, birds, and eggs.
Visible today 12 kilometers off the western coast of southern Ireland, it hosts several cisterns, huts, and oratories that are constructed without mortar in a beehive-like corbel construction. I’ve seen the same type of corbel stone construction while visiting the Dingle peninsula of western Ireland, a bit farther north up the coast, where another scene from the movie was filmed. The flat rocks are laid in such a way as to require no mortar and yet they have stood for centuries.
We got a better view into the allure of the Dark side of the Force. We learned more about the Taoist yin & yang of the Light & Dark sides of the Force to an extent never seen before.
The Rogue One movie ended with the word “hope” and we hear it several times repeated in this one.
John Williams is back as music director and it really makes a difference.
There are many questions raised in the first move that either remain unanswered by this film, or unsatisfyingly answered. Or unbelievable. Understandably they’re waiting for the last film of this trilogy, but they were on the tip of our tongue when we walked out of The Force Awakens.
There are more than the usual number of sub-plots. With the camera jumping between each of them, you’ve got to pay attention to who is in each and what is happening.
While George Lucas cannily negotiated rights to merchandising for the original film, this film felt like it significantly lagged the toys and action figures. They’ve been on the shelf for months — well ahead of the film. Will this be Disney’s SOP going forward?
It’s long, the longest of the saga at 152 minutes. Sometimes it’s noticeable. The first editor’s cut of the film was over 3 hours.
This movie is the movie we’ve been waiting for to see the torch handed off to the next generation. There was quite a mix of old and new characters and ways of thinking and new directions. Make no mistake, this is a movie by millennials for millennials. We see conflict between the younger generation and the older one, between male styles of leadership and female leadership, between the haves and the have-nots.
You’ll like it if: you enjoy space battles, cool tools, explosions, spaceships, interesting locales, action, paced with some slower character development.
You won’t like it if: you need answers raised in the last movie, silliness, prefer a more straightforward plot line.
P.S. Notice how the figures in the movie poster create a shape like Darth Vader’s helmet?
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood culturevulture
Posted in Movies, Pop Culture, Science Fiction and tagged Star Wars
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Bill Petro is a technology sales enablement executive, with a background in product management and marketing. Expertise in Cloud Computing, Automation, Data Center, Information Storage, Big Data/Analytics, Mobile, and Social technologies.
© 1984-2019 Bill Petro 4.0. All Rights Reserved unless stated otherwise.
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The Low-Stakes Pleasure of KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE
The simplicity of Hayao Miyazaki’s gentle children’s film is what makes it so good.
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold Jul. 18, 2017
The best children’s films are the ones that can be savored by wide-eyed innocents and crotchety old people and highfaluting 20-somethings alike. Pixar’s projects admirably promote mature themes like loss, grief, loneliness, and death—but they are often mired in sentimentality and bound by cheerful Western expectations. Disney has the same problem.
Studio Ghibli’s animation is different. The stories Ghibli produces are strange, frightening, labyrinthine. They’re comforting, to be sure—but the comfort comes in the purity of the natural world, from neon green fields and white clouds tearing across the sky, not from the apparent goodness of people’s hearts or bullshit feel-good plotlines.
Best of all, the work of Ghibli and master animator Hayao Miyazaki recurrently features pre-pubescent and teenage girl protagonists who go exploring (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle and Kiki’s Delivery Service, to name a few). While these stories are structured around fanciful elements, a more shrewd, feminist magic comes in the force of the female characters’ vigor and audacity.
Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) was released July 29th in its native Japan; this year marks the film’s twenty-eighth anniversary, and it briefly returns to theaters on July 23 and 24 as part of Studio Ghibli Fest 2017. Based on a novel of the same name by Eiko Kadono, the animation follows a plucky thirteen-year-old witch who leaves home to study abroad, a right of passage with her kind. Kiki decides to settle in a city-by-the-sea called Koriko, an impossibly fresh and radiant municipality based on Stockholm by design, with a whiff of San Francisco in its steep inclines and 360° overlooks. Koriko feels like a coastal town, even in two dimensions; seagulls soar overheard, blue water twinkles around every corner, and characters’ hair billows in a ceaseless ocean breeze.
Kiki finds room and board at a bakery run by a kindly lady, and augments her airborne skills by making deliveries around the city via broomstick. Flying high, carrying packages and messages, she bypasses traffic jams and commuting and all the worst aspects of urban survival.
Although she’s a witch, Kiki’s tale is one of normalized enchantment. Sorceresses in this world are unusual, but not unnatural. City folk are impressed by Kiki’s flight, and she doesn’t have to hide her powers or run from prejudiced villagers like other movie witches. Donning a perky red bow and the customary black dress of her brood, Kiki is a typical pre-teen, just livin’ her life.
Above all, Kiki is eager for independence. Although homesick, she’s determined to make things work in her new city. But she’s self-conscious too, as sensitive adolescent types often are—especially around boys. Tombo is a bespectacled guy who is fascinated by aviation, admiring Kiki’s penchant for flight; but our heroine is hesitant and even sulky when it comes to befriending him. Other girls in town are catty, and when some of Tombo’s pals mock her odd style, Kiki feels like an outsider. Her confidence plummets to the point where she loses her powers and can’t fly or communicate with her familiar and best friend, a talking black cat named Jiji. In the English dubbed version of the film, Jiji antagonizes, complains, and frets in the voice of comedian Phil Hartman (Kiki is voiced by Kirsten Dunst). In the Japanese original, Jiji is voiced by a non-sarcastic lady with considerably less to say.
Kiki’s Delivery Service isn’t whimsical like Totoro, epic like Mononoke, or spooky like Spirited Away. It’s small and safe and very practical. No darkness lurks in the shadows (as it does even in Totoro, with a mother’s mysterious illness). The action is minimal and the stakes are low. You expect threats, but they never come. Everyone is exactly what they seem, and no one nurtures sinister intent. The worst person we encounter is a little girl who doesn’t appreciate her grandmother’s pies (to be fair—what a bitch. Just eat the pie and pretend to like it, as I always did with my Polish grandmother’s weird soup).
The narrative’s lone external drama is a dirigible crash, wherein Kiki has to save Tombo from falling to his death, all the while flying on a faulty broom. This is probably the film’s weakest sequence; luckily, it all happens within the last ten minutes, almost haphazardly tacked on in order to the satiate the public’s desire for a traditional climax and denouement.
Movies move faster than they used to. There are shorter shots and more cuts. Kiki’s Delivery Service harkens back to a gentler spirit, one the newest generation of children are presumably less familiar with—and more’s the pity. Kids might be conditioned to crave chase scenes now, but the desire for rapid pace is hardly innate. In place of instant gratification, we’re missing films with slow build-up. Winnie the Pooh, for example, is an unassuming children’s saga about friendship between stuffed animals in a tranquil English forest; but when Disney released a film version in 2011, though well-reviewed, it didn’t perform at the box office. Pooh doesn’t have 3D technology or big name actors or anything flashy to crow about.
Far too many mainstream contemporary kid’s films are unoriginal sequels or reboots (Cars 3, Despicable Me 3, Ice Age: Collision Course), parading special effects and heart-stopping action sequences, rendering characters and quests intangible or distant from the real world (The Jungle Book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them). The top films at the box office last year didn’t necessarily relate to people’s lives at all (Captain America, Rogue One, Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad). Flights of fantasy are wonderful sometimes—but what if children were given more cinematic role models mirroring their real lives and problems?
The simplicity of Kiki’s Delivery Service is what makes it so good. The primary conflict isn’t about magic—it’s internal and invisible and wholly human: Kiki’s brief period of lost motivation and artist’s block. She gets it back when she wants to help Tombo, whom she loves. Simple as that. She doesn’t have to wage an epic battle to prove her worth, as even the protagonist of Disney’s Moana eventually did (a lovely film, all the same). “Without thinking about it, I used to be able to fly. Now I'm trying to look inside myself and find out how I did it,” Kiki says, describing the tricky disconnect between having inspiration strike without reason or compliance, and trying to figure out where it disappears to when it leaves you again. That’s certainly not a struggle only witches can relate to.
Kiki gets her power of flight back in the end, but her ability to conversate with cat Jiji is a little more complicated. In Mami Sunada’s Studio Ghibli documentary Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2013), Miyazaki is shown having a casual chat with his assistant while he storyboards 2013’s The Wind Rises. “Why couldn’t Jiji speak at the end?” his assistant asks shyly of Kiki’s conclusion. “When they’re together at the end, there’s nothing to say,” Miyazaki tells her (without a whiff of condescension).
In the Japanese original, though Kiki gets her power of flight back, she and Jiji are never able to communicate again. Contrastingly, the 1997 American dubbed version implies they get their common language back, too. It seems Miyazaki himself intended for the cat and girl to lose their understanding permanently, as Kiki has grown up and away from her childhood companion. Jiji has moved on as well, with a new family of his own, a pretty spouse and several kittens. If this were a Pixar or Disney production, Jiji would utter some touching line emblematic of all the lessons they’ve learned to close out the film, and Kiki would hear and appreciate it. But Ghibli is smarter than that.
Kiki's Delivery Service (Blu-ray + DVD)
DVD | Walt Disney Home Entertainment Presents A Studio Ghibli Film
Anya Jaremko-Greenwold
Anya Jaremko-Greenwold is a culture journalist who likes children's film & literature, abusing em dashes, and quiet scenic places.
Suspended In Flight With LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY
By Caroline Cao, Feb 28, 2017
The (un)attainable floating kingdom in Hayao Miyazaki’s CASTLE IN THE SKY.
NAUSICAA: Sowing The Seeds Of Studio Ghibli
How the pre-Ghibli masterpiece NAUSICAA: VALLEY OF THE WIND pollinated the Miyazaki trademarks.
PRINCESS MONONOKE: The Epic Masterstroke Of Meister Miyazaki
By Caroline Cao, Jan 02, 2017
A look at one of Miyazaki's masterworks.
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National Cheeseburger Day: How Foodies Should Celebrate This Holiday
by Mia Maureen | Jul 5, 2018 | Blog | 0 comments
Americans recognize and celebrate many events in their lives like the births of newborns, wedding anniversaries, and school graduations, to name a few. While there are a limited number of national holidays, every day has something that is recognized and celebrated. For instance, September 18, 2018, is National Cheeseburger Day.
How National Days are Chosen
How Cheeseburgers Got a Day?
National days are not limited to one item or thing being recognized. Along with recognizing the cheeseburger, September 18th is also the anniversary of the United States Air Force and National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day.
It seems like every day a new “National (fill in the blank) Day” is mentioned on the news or the radio. Since most calendars don’t have these days listed, you may wonder how national days are chosen. One method for recognizing a national day is to declare it.
Since there isn’t a formal procedure for having a national day, any company, group or individual can declare one. For instance, if you and your buddies make great impressions of cartoon characters, you might declare a “National Talk like a Cartoon Day.”
To spread awareness of it, you and your friends could post videos of yourselves talking like Donald Duck, Goofy or Scooby Doo. If it catches on, great! If not, that’s okay, at least you had fun. So, that’s one way national days are chosen.
The second way to get a day designated for something is to submit the idea to Chase’s Calendar of Events. This publication is a guide to holidays, national days, festivals, famous birthdays, and other observances for countries around the world.
If you want to have “National Talk like a Cartoon Day” recognized, you can submit a request to Chase’s. It would be a good idea to get as many people as you can to submit it as well. The publication receives as many as 10,000 requests for national days in the US every year, but they only fulfill about 20 to 25 of them.
While submitting a request to Chase’s is a more formal way to get a national day declared, most national days are now inventions of the internet. People will declare a national day for whatever they like, such as chocolate cake or surfing, it will catch the media’s attention, or others will start celebrating it, and suddenly it is a national day.
It isn’t known how National Cheeseburger Day came about, but September 18th has been picked to celebrate the invention of the cheeseburger. Oh, there is also a National Burger Day if you don’t like cheese, which is May 28th.
History of the Cheeseburger
The invention of the cheeseburger is in dispute, but most food experts recognize Lionel Sternberger as the creator of the cheeseburger in 1926. It is rumored that he was making a hamburger and decided to place a piece of cheese on it. He was 16 and working in his father’s restaurant called the Rite Spot in Pasadena, California.
Others who are recognized as the inventors of the cheeseburger include the restaurant O’Dell’s in Los Angeles. They had a cheeseburger listed on their menu in 1928. It had chili on it and was sold for 25 cents.
Another restaurant, Kaelin’s in Louisville, Kentucky lays claim to the tasty sandwich as well. They say it was invented at the restaurant in 1934. However, the trademark for the term “cheeseburger” was given to Louis Ballast, the owner of the Humpty-Dumpty Drive-In in Denver in 1935.
The founder of Steak n’ Shake, which is still in business, also applied for the trademark for “cheeseburger” in the 1930s, but it wasn’t awarded to him. Whoever invented it, it has become one of America’s favorite fast food selections, as well as made at home meals.
Cheeseburger Stats
The statistics are evidence of the popularity of cheeseburgers and hamburgers. 71% of the beef consumed in restaurants is in the form of a burger. McDonald’s buys one billion pounds of hamburger meat every year.
The burger, both cheese, and non-cheese varieties are very popular because they account for 60% of all the sandwiches sold in the US. The Burger Survey, which was done in 2013, shows that most Americans prefer cheddar cheese on their cheeseburgers over American, blue cheese, and Swiss.
Celebrating National Cheeseburger Day
Along with firing up the grill to make cheeseburgers, you can enjoy celebrating the popular sandwich in several other ways. Some burger restaurants offer discounts or free cheeseburgers on September 18th. While most places don’t require you to work for your meal, Fuddruckers, which is a national chain, does.
They offer a challenge to celebrate cheeseburger day. The challenge is to finish a three pound burger with one pound of French fries in one hour. Winners are awarded two free meals, a free t-shirt, and awe from everyone watching you eat.
In Toledo, you can buy a 10 lb. Americana Burger from Bar 145. It feeds between 20 and 25 people, but they need to have advanced orders to get the burgers done in time to celebrate cheeseburger day. The Americana comes with American cheese, lettuce, pickle, onion, tomato, and mayo on a brioche bun.
At Dog Haus, which is a national chain, they usually upgrade a single cheeseburger to a double cheeseburger at no additional cost. Many other burger joints offer discounts as well. Look for specials at your favorite burger place as it gets closer to the date.
Making Cheeseburgers at Home
Of course, the best way to celebrate the day is to make cheeseburgers at home on the grill or stove top with your family. Thanks to well-known chefs and foodies, the simple cheeseburger has been transformed by unusual, but tasty ingredients.
However, you don’t know to go to New York, Chicago, or LA to enjoy one of these tasty sandwiches as they can be made at home. Here is a cheeseburger recipe with ingredients you’ve may have never thought to try between a bun before.
Cheddar-stuffed Burgers
Chef Kyle Bailey from the Birch & Barley Restaurant in Washington DC doesn’t just plop a slice of cheese on his burger. Instead, he stuffs the burger with the cheese. Here is the recipe for his Cheddar-stuffed Burgers with fried shallots and pickled slaw.
For this burger, you’ll need:
8 cups (about one and a half heads) of green cabbage, finely shredded.
1 cup of distilled white vinegar.
1 tbsp. of sugar.
2 tbsps. of yellow mustard seeds.
Use vegetable oil for frying five large shallots that have been thinly sliced into rings.
One-quarter cup of Wondra flour.
One and a half pounds of ground chuck, 85% lean.
1 tsp. onion powder.
1 tsp. garlic powder.
1 tsp. sweet smoked paprika.
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
Fresh ground pepper
6 oz. of shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese.
4 cups of baby arugula.
Four brioche buns, toasted.
Directions for making the burgers:
Put the cabbage with some kosher salt in a large bowl. Toss and massage it until the cabbage starts to soften and release its juices, which takes about four minutes. Then, drain the cabbage using a colander and rinse it.
After wiping out the large bowl, add the vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, a cup of water and one tablespoon of salt to it. Mix it until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Add the cabbage to the mixture, toss to coat it and then put a plate on the bowl to keep the cabbage covered by the mixture. Let it sit at room temperature for about two hours.
In a large saucepan, add about one and a half inches of vegetable oil to the pan and heat it until the temperature reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss the shallots in the Wondra flour in a medium bowl and add to the oil. Stir gently as they fry for about seven minutes. Extract them from the pan using a slotted spoon and set them on a paper towel covered plate to drain and then, sprinkle salt on them. Keep the oil.
Place the ground chuck in a medium bowl, along with the paprika, onion and garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, two teaspoons of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Mix everything and form eight 4″ patties.
Form a shallow depression into four of the patties and place the cheddar cheese on them. Then, place the other four patties on top of the ones with cheese, pressing the edges of the patties together to seal the cheese inside.
Put a grill pan on the stove or heat a griddle. Brush a small amount of shallot oil on both sides of the burgers and cook them over medium heat. The bottom of the burger should be brown before you flip it, which takes about three minutes. Cook the other side until the burger is medium and the cheese is melted, which is about three minutes.
To the buns, add some of the arugula, then place the burger on top of it. Add the pickled cabbage and shallots on top of the burgers. Add the bun tops and serve them.
Along with this recipe, you will find hundreds of burger recipes online with which to celebrate National Cheeseburger Day.
Easy Cheese Burger Cookbook: 50 Delicious Cheese...
Copycat Dessert Cookbook
Cooking with Essential Oils: Seasonal Recipes &...
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Waving at reality from a safe distance
Posted on Dec 15, 2018 Dec 15, 2018 by camestrosfelapton
My plan was to return to this today — the claim that the human population of the Earth is substantially less than 7 billion. Before we get to the main course I learnt something that was only a little surprising: the crypto-fascist and terrorist-supporter Vox Day is into moon-landing conspiracy theories. The links are at the bottom of the post for reference. The first is a recent link to a video by a guy called Owen Benjamin. Vox has been pushing this guy’s videos recently because he was a former supporter of Jordan Peterson who has since decided that Peterson is satanic. The video is rambling and poorly argued — not worth watching as there’s nothing new there and its interspersed with homophobic tangents. Vox’s scepticism about the moon landings is older though and he links to a position he’s had on them since at least 2006.
“I tend to support the faked Moon landing theory myself, not because of any particular detail, but simply based on the theory that if the Official Story is that we landed there, then we probably didn’t. This mysterious disappearance tends to support that… it’s intriguing to see how tapes, videos and recordings never seem to survive whenever an Official Story is questioned by the public.”
I’ll concede one point in Vox’s favour: he very neatly encapsulated the core fallacy at the heart of his thinking and in Sarah Hoyt’s position on the population of the Earth. I’ll generalise his argument as follows:
The fallacy of denial: If the official story is one thing then this a lie and the truth is in a specific other direction.
As a fallacy, it is a species of the genetic fallacy that treats the source of the argument as determining the truth of the argument. There are instances where similar arguments are not fallacious, for example, if we are evaluating the reliability of evidence from a particular source and that source is known to be unreliable. However, an unreliable source doesn’t contaminate all the other surrounding evidence nor is it rational to conclude that an unreliable witness/source must be lying without additional evidence.
Additionally, there is a fallacy of unreliability here. The fallacy is that if a source of data is unreliable and that all we know about it, then the unreliability can only be in one direction. For example, Vox contends that NASA are obviously lying about something but then doesn’t contemplate whether they are hiding extra moon landings etc. If if you grant that somebody is lying to you, you need other evidence or arguments to conclude even vaguely the nature of the lie.
Back to 7 Billion
Returning to the denial that the population of the Earth is 7 billion, we can see the same fallacy in operation here:
“I don’t think we’re 7 billion or whatever number the UN claims, and frankly I can’t understand why ANYONE believes the UN on this. They can’t be trusted on anything else, pretty much taking the word of dictators and totalitarians for proven facts, but you trust them on this? Really?”
Hoyt argues that the official story is 7 billion and that the official story can’t be trusted and therefore the actual population must be significantly less. She doesn’t say by how much but presumably enough that people would be less concerned about the population of the Earth. It is essentially the same argument as Vox’s but on a completely different subject.
The claim is fallacious even if we can regard some parts of it being credible. To wit, these are reasonable points:
Census data can’t be wholly accurate in general.
Census data will be even less accurate in less developed countries.
Authoritarian regimes do sometimes (or even often) lie about national statistics.
However, none of those points address either the size or the direction of any errors that apply to the 7 billion figure. What they tell us can be summed up as:
Population of the Earth = 7 billion +/- some error
That error is not zero but we knew that already and nobody is claiming it is zero. Hoyt’s argument requires the error to be both negative and substantial, neither of which can be derived from “you can’t trust the UN”.
Denial versus conspiracy
The basic claim we are looking at (i.e. that the population of Earth is substantially less than 7 billion) is best described as denial. By itself, it is simply a claim that something with substantial evidence behind it isn’t true. That’s not the same as a conspiracy theory but it is the seed of one.
The move from a simple denial to conspiracy comes from when further evidence is presented.
In the case of the Earth’s population, we do not need to use the UN figure at all. Instead, we can use the USA’s Census Bureau estimate or we can use an estimate by a private organisation The Population Reference Bureau.
For 2015 these estimates were according to Wikipedia:
UN: 7,247,892,788
USCB: 7,336,435,000
PRB: 7,349,472,000
[Links take you to sources. For UN and USCB these are interactive sources and the figures vary to some degree from what is quoted on the Wiki page but confirm 7 billion + ]
So different groups come to similar figures. Maybe the USCB is lying as well and in the same way as the UN? Well, that’s a definite move into conspiracy theory territory.
A less conspiratorial source of skepticism is that national governments lie. It’s a fair point and if each of those estimates above used the same raw data and that raw data was false then maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the figures are similar. After all, a billion+ of that 7 billion is from China and there is no particular reason to assume that the Chinese government would be honest.
However, that assumes that all these estimates are is simply adding up some top level numbers. It ignores that these numbers are just part of a wider discipline of demographics. Behind the figures are estimates about population density and population growth. These estimates aren’t perfect either but they do make lying about population figures substantially harder.
The estimates are also part of a historical record of estimates and hence would require a government to not just lie but to do so consistently over decades. It might be plausible to believe that the Chinese government would lie but during the years of the much vaunted one-child policy, in what direction would the government lie? To bolster the policy initially a cynical government might inflate population growth but overtime a cynical government would start exaggerating the degree to which the policy had worked. Lying plausibly about such things would be quite a challenge but not impossible in a relatively closed society. While modern China is still under one-party rule, it’s relatively easy to visit and see the size and scale of Chinese cities. That’s not enough to confirm the accuracy of Chinese census figures but it does limit the degree to which they can be inflated.
For other nations unintentional inaccuracy in census figures cuts both ways. There are reasons that some people may be over-counted and reasons why some people might be under-counted. USCB estimates for the population of China in 2015 were 1,367,485,000. Let’s say the ‘true’ figure was HALF of that then the world population would be 6,652,692,500 — less than 7 billion but still 7 billion when rounding to the nearest billion. To get the figure down to 6 billion requires both accidental over-counting and intentional lying from multiple nations.
Such lies might work in a sufficiently rural population where the impact of people is harder to observe but much of the growth in the world is in cities, cities that are observable by satellite. Again, hard to get exact population figures from such data but its not hard for demographers to use economic data, land use data and other sources to provide corroboration.
Put another way: population figures may be ‘wrong’ but there’s a limit to how wrong they can be.
Motive is insufficient
Now imagine the 7 billion figure is a hefty 2 billion people out and in one direction i.e. the actual world population is 5 billion. That figure would require not just huge lies from both China and India but the active collusion of demographers in multiple countries and the governments of hostile nations going along with the deception. But let’s grant that and imagine it’s all part of a plan to frighten people by the spectre of over-population. Is 7 billion seriously that much scarier than 5 billion to be worth all of that effort? And the effort to shave 2 billion off those figures would be significant.
Critical thinking versus credulous thinking
I mourn the word “skeptical” but unfortunately it’s not up to the job of the modern world. “Critical thinking” isn’t much better because what ever word we might use, it will then be misused by flim-flam You-Tube “philosophers” like Stefan Molyneux. However, for the time being at least I can use it to point out a distinction.
It can seem paradoxical the extent to which some people we encounter (not all on the right but increasingly concentrated on the right) can be both so sceptical and credulous at the same time. While doubt and belief look quite different, the “scepticism” is routed in their credulousness. The core issue is not a capacity to believe or disbelieve but rather an unwillingness to interrogate their own beliefs (or disbelief for that matter).
It’s not unlike the very basic advice given to people learning how to do maths or physics problems. It’s not enough to churn through calculations and plug numbers into calculators because small errors can lead to big mistakes and misunderstanding the problem can lead to correct methods to the wrong problem. Adept problem solvers take a step back and ask the question “does this answer actually make sense?”
“Now, I have not said that the Moon landings were a hoax, I have only observed that I do not believe the Official Story concerning them. I don’t know what people are lying about or the full extent of their lies and deception, I only know that the Official Story is not entirely true. That does not mean it is entirely false.”
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/12/skepticism-required-here.html
“I tend to support the faked Moon landing theory myself, not because of any particular detail, but simply based on the theory that if the Official Story is that we landed there, then we probably didn’t.”
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2006/08/fortuitous-loss.htm
“As with all things for which there is no clear historical consensus, I remain entirely agnostic on the issue. To the extent that I lean one way or the other, I tend to assume that the landings were faked due to the means, motive, and opportunity heuristic and because I am a confirmed cynic when it comes to Official Stories narrated by the U.S. government”.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/12/no-one-went-to-moon.html
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2018/12/10/bad-bad-futures-which-didnt-happen/
Posted in Molyneux, Rabids, Reason Hell, Straw Puppy, Weird Internet Ideas
Doctor Who: Changing Season 11
Ignore this…
38 thoughts on “Waving at reality from a safe distance”
I was wondering when you were going to deal with Beale’s latest declaration of what a special, special snowflake he is. Honestly, I can’t help but feel that if he didn’t feel it’d be a step too far, Ted would join the Flat Earth Society, to bask in the approval of being a member of the most gnostic group imaginable.
We are just not smart enough to know what a genius he is.
He’s obviously a very stable one, since stable byproducts form the bulk of his output.
The Night Wind says:
Vox Day astounds me. I keep thinking that he can’t stoop any lower or become any more unbelievable, but he always manages to do it. I’ve been following the ‘Alt-Hero’ comics for example, and they actually get worse every issue. This has got to be a first in literary history.
Yet in spite of finishing behind ‘none of the above’ at Hugo Awards and unable to sell anything except through online retail, he still brags about being an industry leader and a best-selling author.
Finishing below “No Award” four times in a row, at that, which is the one record he has actually broken. JCW may have lost to “No Award” more times in total, but he did it in only two years.
It’s not difficult to be an industry leader when you’re the only one in your ‘industry’*. Even one sale will make the grade.
*where the meaning of ‘industry’ closely approximates “whacked-out uttely looney Neo-Nazi racist conspiracy take-over artist grifter.”
Hey, there are dozens of them. DOZENS!
KMP says:
The thing is, flat earthism is a perfect explanation for WHY the moon landing would be faked. It’s the final piece of confirmation for the masses that yes, the earth’s round, see, they took photos from space, but up there it’s cold and empty and boring and no there’s no point in going back and that’s why nobody has in 50 years now just shut up about it peasant, here’s some Kardashians and Trump-twitter to distract you.
And above all, don’t try [CENSORED BY ORDER OF THE GLOBAL SPHERICAL ROUND-WORLD EXECUTIVE NONEUCLIDEAN COMMISSION]
(I have a one-page sketch outline for a book on this premise but I have other projects I need to finish first so I don’t know when I’ll get around to expanding on it)
How does dude cope with the Manhattan Project? Who does he think really bombed Pearl Harbor? Not to mention what is his belief in the quantification of his IQ, or that there even is such a thing?
On the other hand, if we can’t believe the official story, why is that guy with the orange hair on TV every night?
How does he even know what country he is in? Sure it’s called “Italy” on the maps but that’s the official story.
Stewart says:
Being pedantic, the official story is that it’s the Repubblica Italiana.
thephantom182 says:
Communist and other corrupt regimes continuously lie about everything, floppy. Whatever direction their monetary interest is, that is where their lies will point. We know this is true because the lies change as circumstances change.
I note that you have entirely ignored the influence of international aid on population figures. If East Bongoliastan can get another couple of million bucks from the UN by inflating their population numbers, and the UN -wants- them to inflate those numbers, then I do not find it unreasonable to suspect they are inflated.
I mean, look at the US ground-station data for temperature. We know that’s been inflated for sure. Why else are there so many official NOAA thermometers in the middle of asphalt parking lots? Hundreds of them. Whole websites are dedicated to documenting it.
So my point on Sarah’s post was that I do not know what the true population of China or India is, much less Venezuela, Cuba, Congo, North Korea or even South Africa. And neither do you. You’re saying we’re all crazy to question the UN numbers because it suits your rhetorical purpose, not because you have any evidence to support those numbers.
If a person lies about all kinds of things all the time, it does not mean that for sure they are lying -this- time. But it does mean one would be imprudent to assume they are not.
angharad says:
I like the point about cover ups that could possibly go in multiple directions. I think from now on I shall hold fast to the theory that NASA were lying about the moon landings because they ran into David Bowie up there, and he created the Ziggy Stardust character for plausible deniability if it ever came out (I’m not really an alien, I just pretend to be one to sell records…)
Robert Wood says:
Why not expand this one? The Bowie alien abducted the ship and stole the identity of one David Jones to provide cover. The government knew about this all along, but didn’t want to create a panic. Etc.
Magical thinking seems to be a very popular pastime among those on the Right.
stevejwright says:
Actually, the Chinese are deliberately *under*stating the size of their population, trying to pretend they’re minimally environment-friendly, when actually there are at least three times as many of them as they say. Why hasn’t this been detected? Well, I refer you to the excellent documentary on the subject, “Folding Beijing”, published a couple of years ago now. Wake up, sheeple!
“Wake up, sheeple” always makes me think of this XKCD strip.
“As with all things for which there is no clear historical consensus….” No clear historical consensus? No clear historical consensus? For the moon landing? Yeah, historical consensus is pretty clear on that one, about 98% like the climate scientists.
** Buzz Aldrin reaction gif **
https://imgur.com/gallery/sC2VPhp
I think the comparison to climate change makes it sound like you’re underestimating the historical consensus on the moon landings.
Yes, I was being charitable. I presume they don’t believe it charity either.
JohnQPuzzle says:
I would point out that where I grew up, the Official Story is the whole “Jesus is our Savior” thing. Also, the validity of Euclidean geometry. Day is saying I should assume the opposite?
The Official Story also operates by the fallacy that there is one Official that controls and sources all information, and that Official is a small group of people who can keep everybody quiet, presumably by means of a large military where all the soldiers keep their mouths shut, and that this is achievable for decades with changing populations in government of different political parties and different members of the military in charge, yet all keeping up the “Official Story” with no other sources.
This is, obviously, not the way the world works, though it is the way that the authoritarian minded seem to want it to work. We did not have one manned moon landing — we had six of them. Some of those moon landings had international cooperation and other major countries watching and spying very closely what the U.S. did. All of the moon landings involved numerous private contracted companies and an army of people employed, including the U.S. military, NASA employees, numerous government departments, and numerous private company employees. Additionally, there were private companies that bid for contracts on the moon landing and didn’t get the contracts, but did get a significant amount of information on parts of the moon landing operations in order to make a bid. There is the physical evidence of rockets, capsules, lunar rocks, etc. that would have been incredibly expensive and elaborate to create for six moon landings and require an army of scientists to go along with the hoax for decades and keep quiet about it, etc. In short, the U.S government did the moon landings but they were not the only source of information about the moon landings, nor was NASA the only government agency involved in the moon landings. The moon landings aren’t simply the “Official Story” of NASA and the data has not been controlled entirely by NASA. Claiming that NASA could have faked the moon landings, all six of them, is giving NASA resources and magical powers it doesn’t have.
In Hoyt’s case, she is making the U.N. official governor of the world, which it is not, and the only official source of population census. This is absurd as there are thousands of surveys of world population not only from many governments but from numerous private firms working for global corporations, marketing, non-profit assessments, and many international cooperative efforts. The U.N. is not the official source of world population numbers, and certainly isn’t the only source of world population numbers by any measure.
The U.N. governs nothing, despite the best black helicopter dreams of anti-globalists. It is an organization for mediation and negotiation of countries. It can’t control countries and stop any of them from being dictatorships. If the most powerful countries in the organization agree, it can send a joint military force for dealing with atrocities and unstable systems, but that force is governed by the countries who decide what troops each of them will send and under what caveats those troops will act. For instance, Canadian forces with the U.N. were restricted in what they could do in peace-keeping missions in Rwanda by the Canadian government when violence broke out there and turned into genocide. They were unable to help those attacked to the degree that they wanted to because the Canadian government had a limited mandate. The U.N. is often confused with NATO and given powers and policies that it doesn’t actually have in conspiracy theories.
The U.N. is also not in charge of and does not control international aid, nor is it the official source by which global international aid is determined. Most international aid is one country giving to another directly, with considerable self-interest and a combination of government and private aid agreements with specific goals. Countries giving international aid to other countries do not use the U.N. data. They use their own data assessment, and that can often involve private firms and a variety of data sources. As we already noted, countries with high populations don’t particularly get more aid than countries with low populations, and the U.S. government, European Union, the U.N., etc., have very little interest in giving China, now a world power, a ton of international aid, despite it having the highest population. Countries that have growing economies and rapid development need less international aid but may be having population growth, like India and Brazil. Many poor countries that get a lot of aid have a very small population, like Haiti or Belize.
So to have a proper conspiracy theory going on something large rather than something small, you have to first reduce complexity and pretend that there aren’t thousands, sometimes millions of people involved in the information/evidence being disputed. You then have to create a bogeymonster — a one singular official source/authority that can tightly control the information/evidence to create the hoax and maintain it for a really long time, despite shifting personnel and changing loyalties. You have to have a cabal with near god-like control and authoritarian global authority to be the “Official Source” with the “Official Story.” It is plausible to have a conspiracy theory about say one scientific experiment done in secret or one business deal. Historically, those have occurred, sometimes quite horrific. But that’s not possible with something as large and global as moon landings or world population estimates (or the Holocaust for that matter.) There are too many actors and factors, too many sources, too many leak opportunities that increase over time. As the saying goes, two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.
There is never just one Official Story and there’s never just one Official to tell it. As we are currently seeing in multiple countries.
If we’d faked the moon landings, the Russians (and to a lesser extent the Chinese) would have pointed that out loudly and repeatedly. It would have been their greatest propaganda coup ever regarding the superiority of communism and the evils of the lying running capitalist dogs.
And how close is Cape Canaveral to Cuba, where the Soviets’ buddy Castro let them do whatever they wanted? You know they had eyes on Florida even after they removed the missiles.
Ah yes, but you forgotten that both sides in the Cold War were being played by, you know who, in order to weaken white Christian countries, or at least that’s what some Conservatives believe.
The interesting thing about the Moonlanding conspiracy theory is that on the surface, it doesn’t look too bad, but once a person can believe that the government would lie about something like the moon landings, it’s a gateway into believing that the government could lie about anything.
I actually saw a discussion once on one of the Red Pill blogs’ comment section where they were debating upon whether the Law of Gravity was real or not.
frasersherman says:
There’s a flat earth theory that we spared the Russians from nuclear annihilation in the Cuban missile crisis in return for them helping promote “globularism.”
Has anyone seen Tribulation 99? It’s a conspiracy-parody film showing how everything the US has done since 1945 has been to stop evil aliens from the far side of the sun from taking over. For example the General Noriega we supported in Panama was a good guy, but then he was replaced by an evil ET clone which is why we suddenly had to go to war on him. It shows how very easy it is to make bullshit make sense if you start from the wrong premise.
Oh apparently they are saving the revelation up for when it would do some real damage – like decades after anybody involved was till in charge (!?)
On the gravity thing, I did once find a book in the library of the small rural Queensland town where my parents once lived, that carefuly explained that all this gravity stuff was nonsense and we are all in fact stuck to the earth by the pressure of cosmic rays.
Paul Weimer says:
Yeah, just an orbital view of the earth at night can give a first order approximation to the density of the population.
Well, if the moon landing were faked, orbital views of Earth are clearly faked as well.
I’ll add that authoritarian countries can often be motivated to underestimate some populations–i.e., groups that are not under their control but that they feel should be. “Sure, the whole eastern half of the country is rebelling, but there aren’t that many of them so it doesn’t really matter.” “It’s ridiculous to say we killed a million people; there were only 500,000 of them to start with, and there are still some left.”
My take on this particular conspiracy is that it’s mostly spread by people who live in rural areas and haven’t travelled. Sarah Hoyt is presumably an exception.
Hampus Eckerman says:
Yes, plenty of countries with ethnic conflicts refuses new population counts. Or fake when they are pressured. Lebanon has always had a problem with how to handle their palestinian refugees. In their last census, suddenly hundreds of thousands palestinians had disappeared. Where did they go?
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/01/05/whats-behind-the-disappearance-of-420000-palestinians-in-lebanon/
Hoyt seems to like to launch weird, easily disprovable theories and see if she can get other far righters to believe them, from the quotes Cam highlights. Like that all the Hugo nominees are professors looking to a convention SFF award for tenure approval, or this one about brown countries using the U.N. to get international aid from white countries with inflated population counts. I’m pretty sure the next one will involve sea squids and smuggling cheese.
Don’t tell her. The sea squids are smuggling cheese fine without puppy interference.
Plus, the sea squids are all Socialists, I’ve heard.
Vicki Rosenzweig says:
They have an impressive faith in the ability, as well as the willingness, of large numbers of people to keep secrets for decades, rather than thinking better of it, or going a little too far in the “I know something you don’t” hinting, or forgetting that their spouse/children/golf buddy isn’t part of the conspiracy.
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publication date: Oct. 6, 2017
Conversation with the Cancer Letter
Matt Myers: Philip Morris has a long history of funding what it calls independent research by previously credible researchers
Matt Myers
The Foundation for Tobacco-Free World is unlikely to win hearts and minds in the tobacco control community, said Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
The new foundation, which received an $80 million-a-year funding commitment from Philip Morris International, has the support of John Seffrin, former CEO of the American Cancer Society.
If it is to gain credibility, the group would now need to recruit a board of directors who would be willing to stake their reputations on a venture funded by the makers of Marlboro cigarettes.
“I personally do not think anybody actually interested in reducing the death and disease from tobacco should give Philip Morris International any credibility as long as they continue to market the product the way they do,” Myers said to The Cancer Letter. “As long as they continue to introduce highly flavored new forms of Marlboro to attract kids. As long as they oppose high cigarette taxes, oppose effective warning labels, oppose paid mass media campaigns. Otherwise, it’s simply a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
Myers spoke with Paul Goldberg, editor and publisher of The Cancer Letter.
Paul Goldberg:
I’m working on a story about the Foundation for Tobacco-Free World, and people have been telling me that the world has changed, that kids aren’t smoking as much anymore. That this generation of tobacco smokers could be the last generation of smokers, and that e-cigarettes are the wave of the future. I am also told that no one’s paying attention to existing smokers, old folks who still need the drag. Is this a time to engage companies like Philip Morris differently?
Matt Myers:
First of all, many of those statements don’t truly reflect the full situation. I think that’s very important to understand. There’s also myopia over what goes on in a country like the United States versus what’s going on throughout the rest of the world. The problem with cigarette smoking is a long way from being solved. The problem with youth tobacco use is a very long way from being solved. It is true that in the United States, that smoking rates among high school students are now below 10%.
If you look at low-income countries across the globe, you continue to see high levels of smoking among young people, but even more importantly, you continue to see companies like Philip Morris aggressively marketing to those young people.
In some respects, the issue of whether we should be looking for new alternative ways to help adults quit is a very different question from looking at the behavior of Philip Morris International. That’s a fundamentally important distinction with what’s going on with this foundation.
Philip Morris International has a long history of funding what it calls independent research by previously credible researchers. In the past, they’ve always funneled that research to try and set an agenda, to divert attention away from what they’re doing.
They’re doing the same thing here. They want us all to be talking about harm reduction and ignoring the fact that they continue to market aggressively. That they continue to introduce new versions of Marlboro, whose primary appeal is to children and young women. They continue to sell their products … Johns Hopkins School of Public Health is in the process of finishing up a series of studies looking at marketing to kids, elementary school kids, in low income countries. They’ve found example after example, after example of kiosks, literally outside the front door of elementary schools, in low-income countries, supported by Philip Morris International.
You got to start from a slightly different premise, that there has been great progress made in countries like the United States, but the problem isn’t solved. There has been progress made in low-income countries, but it is despite what Philip Morris International has been doing.
PG:
So, they haven’t changed?
MM:
They haven’t changed at all. Now, they have a new product that may or may not be significantly less harmful.
We don’t know that, do we?
We don’t know that for sure. What we do know, is that while their website has wonderful statements about a world that is smoke-free, their marketing behavior, their opposition to government policy that will actually reduce tobacco use, and their introduction of new forms of Marlboro, is totally inconsistent with that goal.
Somebody who wants to buy into the foundation as proof that the company has changed, ignores the history of how similar this behavior is to their behavior over the last 60 years.
Right. Reporting the story, I actually heard people say, “Oh, that Matt Myers, who rides around Washington on his white horse…”
Actually, my organization is one of the organizations that actually works in the low-income countries, where we see what Philip Morris does every single day.
Let me just move you to another question….
I’m not uncomfortable with my white horse, by the way.
I’m sure. It’s a good horse. It’s a really good horse. Gets you through the swamp.
A number of my staff just came back from South America. Marlboro has introduced a host of new flavors there. Fusion blast. You can buy every flavor of Marlboro you want. Tell me this is a reformed company.
It’s not my argument.
This is the same company who told us in 1954 that they were going to be part of the solution. They promised to tell us the answer. Every time we get close to an answer, they want to fund somebody to say the real problem is, we need more research. What we really need is less opposition from Philip Morris.
How do you deal with the older smokers, the existing smokers, the old guys who go behind the cancer center where they’re treated to take a drag?
The quick answer to that is that our organization as well as a number of the other major organizations has done, in recent years a great deal. We have petitioned the FDA, on multiple occasions now, to urge that CDER reconsider how it reviews smoking cessation products, and that CDER actually convene people in order to pose the question about what it needs to do to promote tobacco cessation innovation.
Our organization supports the legislation giving FDA jurisdiction over tobacco products, including setting up a structure for FDA, not the tobacco companies, for scientifically reviewing which products, if any actually help smokers reduce their risk of disease, so that we don’t have to continue to rely on the unsubstantiated statements of tobacco companies who first told us, filtered cigarettes were safer, then told us light and low tar cigarettes were safer.
They have a long track record of making claims that are not substantiated by the science and have resulted in more people continuing to smoke.
In fact, if you believe in science, our organization as well as others have said, FDA is a tried and true method for independent, objective scientific review. It is what we use for drugs. It is what we use for safety for foods. It only makes sense to say we should do the same thing for tobacco.
So, you’re focused on kids…
We’re not just focused on kids. The campaign does a great deal of work to prevent youths from starting because long-term, that’s the best way to reduce tobacco use. The campaign has always worked on policies that impact individuals of all ages. That’s why if you look, you’ll see, no organization has petitioned the FDA more to encourage it to take tobacco cessation seriously than us.
Do you see danger to kids from e-cigarettes and other alternative products?
In the absence of meaningful government regulation, we absolutely do.
If you look and see today, you see that more kids are experimenting with e-cigarettes than experimenting with cigarettes. While more kids use cigarettes regularly, a significant number of children continue to use e-cigarettes with a good deal of frequency, as well.
What we also see is that is in the absence of regulations, the thousands of flavored e-cigarette products that the industry has introduced with no testing, without any consideration as to whether they either help people quit smoking, or entice kids, has resulted in the fact that over 80% of the kids who say they use e-cigarettes, say they use flavored e-cigarettes. They use these e-cigarettes because they’re flavored.
We don’t know, because e-cigarettes are so new on the marketplace, what the long-term impact of this experimentation is. It may be that virtually all of those kids end up using e-cigarettes and never use any other tobacco product.
But there’s one statistic that ought to be a cause for concern for anybody who cares. That is, in the second wave of FDA’s PATH study, what they found was of the kids that were exclusively using e-cigarettes in wave one, 24 percent were using cigarettes in wave two. [The PATH study doesn’t provide conclusive evidence of gateway effect, experts say. Discussion of available evidence is published online by CA: Drope et al., “Key Issues Surrounding the Health Impacts of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) and Other Sources of Nicotine.”]
Do you see any rationale for reduction of risk from tobacco versus complete elimination of tobacco? Should the latter still be the goal?
Complete elimination needs to be the long-term goal. We are comfortable with the concept of FDA reviewing products that can be used to assist smokers who can’t or won’t quit to switch completely to those less harmful products, ideally as a pathway to quitting.
The key, though, is we think that the evidence shows that in the absence of meaningful regulation that e-cigarettes on the market all too often, are being used to sustain smoking through dual use. That we’re seeing far too little good science to assist a smoker who wants to use an e-cigarette to quit or switch, to know which ones to do so.
You have to differentiate the concept. Our organization is very clearly on record. If e-cigarettes assist smokers to quit completely, under a regulated situation, that’s something we would support.
What’s really interesting is this argument that it’s kids versus adults. The kids aren’t smoking—
It’s a false dichotomy.
It’s specious; no?
It is a totally specious dichotomy. It sounds good until you actually look at the facts.
Which is what I’m doing.
The same public health public policy to reduce smoking among adults reduces smoking among kids, it’s not an either/or at all. If e-cigarettes have a public health benefit, it is to assist smokers to switch completely or quit.
The introduction of thousands of flavors without any research whatsoever as to whether any of them, or which of them actually helps smokers to quit, and under what circumstances, neither serves adults nor kids.
What would serve them both, is good science. In the absence of regulation, we have not seen good science. It may or may not be possible to do some nontraditional flavors may assist adult smokers to quit. The answer is we don’t know that, because the e-cigarettes companies haven’t done the research to identify which of them do that, if any.
Have you seen any reason at all to believe that this Foundation for a Smoke-Free World will be a real hands-off research funding agency, or will this be another way to provide tobacco companies with a way to advance their agenda?
It already is serving as a way to advance their agenda. Philip Morris would like the world to think that the problem is that we need more research as a way to divert attention from the fact that in many of the countries in which my organization works, Philip Morris is actively opposing the adoption of tobacco control policies that work.
Philip Morris, in addition, wants to control the research agenda.
This is something that they have always done. By focusing the research agenda for this new foundation and quote, “harm reduction,” what they’re doing is steering the debate on a topic they want to talk about.
The history of Philip Morris as well is they always find somebody who has public health credibility to give their research dollars to, as a way to divert attention away from their own behavior. In the 1960’s, they gave massive grants to the American Medical Association, for allegedly independent research. Subsequent to that, if you’ll read … I don’t know if you’ve ever read Robert Proctor’s book. [Proctor, Robert N. (2012). Golden Holocaust: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition. Berkeley: University of California Press.]
Okay. You’ve got whole chapters of major American universities, the most credible ones, who were given so called independent research dollars, with regard to it.
Whatever role harm reduction may play in speeding up the process of eliminating the death and disease caused by tobacco, this foundation, there’s all the hallmarks of a game plan that Philip Morris has executed time and time again.
Were you surprised to see John Seffrin endorsing this Foundation?
You know, Paul, John’s an old friend of mine. I will stay away from the comment about it.
He did endorse it.
He had a very positive comment about it. He said I think it’s—
Well, I mean friends talk to friends. Have you spoken to him?
Yes, they do. They do. I will say this. It’s inconsistent with the policy of today’s American Cancer Society.
Hey, which he put together. He put together probably the absolutely strongest conflict policy that any organization anywhere has.
That’s exactly right.
I have tested it probably more than any other reporter, over the years.
People who work in the tobacco control field are passionate, and are constantly looking for the magic bullet. It’s easier than the day-to-day hard work, on it. This is a case where I hope that there will be introduced a host of products that are far more effective at helping smokers quit or switch.
But to date, the major tobacco companies have not been a force for positive change. The products they have introduced by and large, including Philip Morris’s vapor products, appear to be the least effective in helping smokers quit. Whether or not Philip Morris International’s new product is or is not significantly safer… I’ll wait to see what FDA says about that. It doesn’t detract from the fact that they continue to market Marlboros as aggressively as possible around the world.
You would not join this Foundation for a Smoke-Free World?
No. I personally do not think anybody actually interested in reducing the death and disease from tobacco should give Philip Morris International any credibility as long as they continue to market the product the way they do.
As long as they continue to introduce highly flavored new forms of Marlboro to attract kids. As long as they oppose high cigarette taxes, oppose effective warning labels, oppose paid mass media campaigns. Otherwise, it’s simply a get-out-of-jail-free card.
I was actually looking at this statement by a bunch of anti-tobacco people, basically outlining the characteristics respectively, of the circumstances where you can take money from a tobacco company to fund research. You know the paper, right?
Do you accept that? It seems to be just another paper.
It is just another paper, but more importantly, the paper in my view, didn’t contemplate that giving a lot of money that argues that our major problem, tobacco problem is research. It’s truly nothing more than a PR campaign and diversion, from Philip Morris’s actual practices.
My organization just got through working with the government of Uruguay who spent six years defending itself against a lawsuit from this very same company, when it simply tried to increase the size of its warning labels.
We worked closely with the government of Australia who is still facing a lawsuit that was prompted by Philip Morris International when they adopted plain packaging, to reduce tobacco use. We have worked with a number of governments in Africa that have received threatening letters from Philip Morris International, when it sought to adopt strong tobacco control measures.
I don’t know if you saw the Reuters story just earlier this year, that documented Philip Morris International’s effort to undermine implementation of the framework convention on tobacco control.
The notion that Philip Morris is anything other than even slicker than it used to be, is undermined by their other behaviors.
Looking at that paper that there was referencing, with the characteristics of all that credible effort by a tobacco company to fund research.
One of the aspects of it is having an independent board. I don’t see the board yet.
I see their bylaws. That seemed to be tailored to that paper. I don’t see anybody on their board. Can you imagine anybody credible joining that board? What would you say to somebody that would?
I would think that anybody who knows the history of this industry who would join that board without first requiring that Philip Morris International change its behavior. That would be inconsistent with everything we know.
Which of course, would never happen.
Well, we’ll see.
It’s really fascinating. Thank you so much.
Philip Morris has long since had a goal to find ways to divide the tobacco control community. This fits that playbill completely. It’s interesting, because as I’ve watched the reaction of people who actually work on tobacco control, on the ground in countries across the globe.
The response has been uniform. It’s not people who care more about adult cessation versus youth. It’s people who day in and day out have been working to get adopted the kind of tobacco control policies that we know work.
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Baltimore Ad Executive Andy Dumaine Dies at 55
Advertising, Agency
Andrew D. “Andy” Dumaine, a Baltimore advertising executive who later founded Shrinkingfootprint, a communications firm focused on tourism and sustainability, died July 26 from a seizure at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson.
According to a report in The Sun, his wife of 19 years, Cristina Creager, said he was still recuperating from a 2014 brain surgery at the time of his death. He was 55.
“To say that Andy was engaged, caring, loving and a gentle human being is just touching the surface,” longtime friend Frank Sesno, a former CNN anchor and Washington bureau chief who is now director of the George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, told The Sun.
“He was a lovely, thoughtful person who would speak what he felt and lived what he believed,” Mr. Sesno said. “He believed in sustainability issues, and believed that we were capable of making a better planet. He was impressive. He was inspiring.”
The Sun also reported that after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in 1983 in media and journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he began his advertising career as a copywriter at DDB Needham World Wide in McLean, Va. Within two years he was promoted by DDB Needham World Wide to vice president.
After working for two years for Ogilvy and Mather Advertising in Venezuela, Dumaine and his wife moved to Baltimore in 1994 and went to work for the Campbell Group Inc., which had been founded in 1984 by Robert M. Campbell, according to The Sun. After Mr. Campbell’s death, the couple purchased the $26 million, 45-employee, full-service public relations and advertising firm on Pratt Street, which specialized in the travel and tourism industry.
Andy DumaineCampbell GroupShrinkingfootprint
Buzz in Baltimore: MGH Adds Ceramcor; New Hires at Devaney and Weber Shandwick; Jellyfish Tops BBJ List
Jennifer Quinlan is New CEO of R2integrated
Jeffrey A. Davis, APR has more than 25 years of news media and national public relations experience and is Managing Partner at Van Eperen. A PRSA Maryland chapter board member, he also serves as Baltimore regional editor for the Capitol Communicator and is co-founder of Podcast Village. He began his career as a reporter at daily newspapers in Ohio, New Jersey and at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis.
Buzz in Baltimore: News from GKV, Jellyfish, Warschawski & R2i
ISL Completes New D.C. Office for its 60 Employees
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Celtic Scholar's Reviews and Opinions
This blog will contain reviews of books that I have read to deal with the Celts and other subjects that interest me, as well as my own thoughts on the subject of the Celts their religion, mythology and culture.
July 31, 2012 by celticscholar
The Celts: Origins, Myths, Inventions
Author: John Collis
Published: 2011 (first published in 2003 by Tempus Publishing)
Synopsis: We use the word “Celtic” fast and loose – it evokes something mythical and romantic about our past – but what exactly does it mean? Furthermore, why do people believe that there were Celts in Britain and what relarionship do they have to the ancient Celts? This fascinating book focuses particularly on how the Celts were re-invented in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and how the legacy of mistaken interpretations still affects the way we understand the ancient sources and archeological evidence.
About the author: John Collis is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield, and the leading Brittish aurhority on the European Iron Age.
Review: So this book was really tough for me to read. I didn’t want to read this book because from what reviews of the book I read, the author is a Celt denier. So not a point of view I would be interested in. A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to read the author’s reasons for what he thinks and so I ordered the book. I was curious to see if there is merit to his arguements or if it is as one reviewer put it, the British imperialistic thought process at its best. Considering the author’s credentials I was actually more than curious. The book started out pretty good actually. The author had a list of questions at the beginning of his book that he said he was going to answer and they were questions that I’ve thought about often. I really liked the Introduction to the book. The author took the time to explain where he is coming from, what his thoughts on the research that came before are, and what he intends to accomplish in his book and by what method. Then I started reading the first chapter…
Okay, let me start with what I liked about this book. The author is right in that the classical records have their problems of not being the original source, and having their bias problems. He did also open my eyes to a couple of interesting things. There are some people who wrote about the Celts who were Celts or at least claimed Celtic ancestors. The ancient definition of Celt may not be ours, and that not all classical sources are created equal as some of them were too far removed from the event for their writings to be completely accurate. I found his assessment of the sources fair and informative. He also listed all the important classical writers who wrote about the Celts in their chronological order and this helps in the evaluation of the sources. I also liked his survey of all the different people who wrote about the Celts from the seventeenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century. There were people in there that I didn’t know, in fact there were A LOT of names there that I didn’t know and it will be interesting to look for these writings if I can find them.
Now for what I didn’t like. To be honest, the way he chose to interpret the information he provided grated on my nerves. Everything he wrote (in my humble opinion) didn’t really support his theory of the Celts being a myth. The final chapter of the book listed his conclusions and I kept laughing out loud at them because they are that…well…silly. The author has an agenda and it isn’t wrong to have one. Every writer does. No one is really ever neutral, the problem is his bias is VERY obvious, and it colours his interpretation of EVERYTHING. His theory, the way I read the book was not that the Celts were a myth, but rather that Britain is not Celtic…ummm, I’m pretty sure no one said it completely was (Wales can be classified as Celtic after all). He even has a problem with Ireland being Celtic and here I’m not sure if he means Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, either case they have a Celtic language and that means they are Celtic by the current definition of what a Celt is. Oh, and he has a problem with defining the Celts by their language, and I got the feeling that he thought that Welsh should not be classified as a Celtic language, but he didn’t explicitly say that so it could just be a misunderstanding on my part. I’m pretty sure he wants to define the Celts by genetics because this would definitely fit in with his theory. Celticity is not a genetic designation.
I think I’m inclined to agree with the reviewer on Amazon who said that this was fuelled by a British superiority complex. The book was not a complete waste of time as I mentioned above, but the author simply failed to convince me of his theory or the thought process behind it. Some will say that I am too invested in the Celts because of my spiritual path to accept this theory and the truth is a lot of things have changed for me lately (I’m more focused on studying the Irish with out generalising on to the Celts) and I went into this book with a very open mind, still not convinced. Does Ireland have a problem of how and when the Celts (or if you like the Celtic language) arrived sure, does that mean that I’m going to say that they (or the language) didn’t exist? Umm no, it surely exists.
The best rebuttal of this book are Facing the Ocean by Professor Barry Cunliffe and The Atlantic Iron Age by Jon Henderson. Read them if you haven’t yet.
This entry was posted in Book Reviews and tagged Celtic scepticism, Classical Writers.
16 thoughts on “The Celts: Origins, Myths, Inventions”
Sharon Reamer says:
I haven’t read this one yet, but I may not after what you’ve said. I’m about halfway through Blood and Mistletoe by Ronald Hutton and find it very fair but also quite interesting – he concentrates more on the existence of the Druids than of the Celts themselves. It’s quite good but a slow read for me.
celticscholar says:
I would actually recommend that you read it but also read the two books that I suggested at the end. If you ignore the interpretations that he superimposes on the things he reports on, you’ll have a good set of information to work with on the development of the theories on the Celts that are floating around now. He reminds me a lot of Ellis but from the opposite direction. In Ellis’s eyes the Celts can do no wrong and the Roman and Greek writers were all wrong about them. Neither extreme is right. The truth is somewhere in the middle.
Good point! It’s nice to get both extremes of an argument. I’ll put it on my list. 🙂
Dafydd says:
I’ve read John Collis’s earlier book, The European Iron Age (pub.1984), and I found it thought provoking, although like you I find his anti-Celtic stance can be rather overbearing at times. Collis does make some great points about the discrepancies in Celtic studies, but I find it odd that his criticisms about ethnic identity in the Iron Age don’t extend to the other peoples of Europe or Asia. For instance he doesn’t spend much time criticising historians/archaeologists who use the the term Hittite, even though the Hittites wouldn’t have actually called themselves by that name (they called themseleves the People of Hatti and their language was called Nesili). The very same could be said about the Scythians, Thracians, Dacians and other peoples.
If Collis was really concerned about ethnic identity in the Iron Age he would be just as vocal in his criticisms of those who carelessly use the terms Thracian, Dacian etc, but he isn’t. His criticism of the Celts seems to be driven by modern politics and his own disgust with people who use the term Celtic for what he calls “Unacceptable ends”. I’d find his hypotheses much more sound if he applied his ideas about ‘ethnic identity’ to all the peoples of Iron Age Europe rather than just the Celts.
Exactly! Thank you! Michael Morse does make a better case in his book How the Celts came to Britain. He is very concise in his term use and he makes a point of criticising both sides of the argument equally pointing out the flaws in both. My definition of the Celts is a linguistic one so I can’t conceive of there not being Celts but I will say that trying to make them more than a linguistic, cultural group is very problematic and even with the cultural aspect you run into trouble in Ireland so…The truth is I think there has been some good research done by people on the Atlantic Fringe. The problem with John Collis is he has this huge bias that probably will stop him from REALLY reading the research with out that filter in place.
Yes, Collis does make some good points about material culture, especially his ideas that Iron Age people buried with La Tene items doesn’t necessarily mean that they were Celts, anymore than the fact that a modern day European who uses Chinese utensils makes them Chinese.
Collis has a negative perception of the Celtic languages too. I don’t think he believes that Welsh or Irish are Celtic, while he also believes that many of the languages spoken across Iron Age Europe weren’t Celtic either, but were forms of Italic, Germanic or another language group. For instance I think he says that the Belgae of northern Gaul spoke a Germanic rather than a Celtic language. He’s also had heated arguments with Professor John T. Koch about the existance of Celtic langauges in Iberia during the early Iron Age – especially Tartessian, which remains a linguistic oddity. Collis also disagrees with defining a group of people through language, as he states that it would mean that the Brazilians could be called the descendants of the Romans, considering Portugese is one of the Romance languages. I don’t think that many linguists agree with his ideas on the Celtic languages though.
No they don’t. Like I said he might have good points unfortunate his tone and bias stop him from giving them any justice.
H. Bourne says:
Hopefully you will be able to help with the following. Somewhere along the line, an article relating Irish origins with Gaelic sornames in the west of Ireland. Unfortunately, I did not record the source
Are you able to help with a reference?
I don’t know of any specifically for the West of Ireland though google was able to provide a few sites with Irish surname origins. Sorry
A point to add the excellent ones raised by your correspondents is that nor are Classical writers known to make any reference to Druids in Iberia or Ireland. There is a curious reference to Iberian Druids meeting St Paul in Iberia in Raymond Capt’s article on the “lost” chapter of the Acts of the Apostles but this is probably best put aside.
Old-Irish literature is the oldest native literary corpus in west Europe, so despite efforts to frequently represent it as a mish-mash of imaginitis plus plundering of Classical sources, it has long seemed to this non-academic that this seriously underestimates the authentically Celtic nature of Old-Irish tradition.
With this in mind, when Irish tradition has it that the incoming Milesians/Proto-Gaels from Iberia brought Druids with them to Ireland, at the very least, notice should be taken.
We can also remind ourselves that no Classical historian is known to mention Irish Druids but simple reference to Irish sources deinitely and defifinitively attest there were Irish Druids.
Jurgen Diethe says:
There is a lot of confustion in this discussion. Collis does not deny the existence of Celts. But he says (and a lot of scholars agree with him) that there was no Celtic migration to Britain and Ireland. Just language and culture got there (although exactly how remains open), and the latter then devoloped, in terms of “insular fusion”, in a very individual way. The great irony is that in the early Middle Ages Britain and Ireland contained the last Celtic-speaking areas in Europe – Britanny was “re-colonised” from here. Who were the people? I can only conclude that they were the indigenous population that was already there, from a much earlier migration, possibly the original migration. The builders of Stonehenge, Scara Brae etc. If you define Celticity as linguistic and cultural, fine. But this is not what people are doing, is it? None of the above is absolutely certain, but I am pretty much convinced. The companion volume to the great exhibition in the British Museum even places the origins of the Celtic languages in a strip of land along the Atlantic coastline: Portugal, north-west Spain, Britanny, Ireland, the west of England/Wales and Scotland, in the Bronze Age, around 2000 BC. That, too, is problematic (how can it work across such a geographic spread?) and would place the whole of Celticity in the linguistic/cultural area. (This book is not only beautiful but well worth reading: “Celts. Art and Identity”). “Ethnicity” is anyway a huge problem in the population cauldron that was Europe in late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages!
That is not what I got from the book at all, so perhaps it is time to re-read it. I have to say though that I’ve read better books than his that seem to say pretty much the same thing. It seems to be a British thing.
What you are talking about seems to be what Barry Cunliffe and John T. Koch are saying have you read Celtic from the West 1 and 2?
I must admit that I haven’t. I was just trying to get some background information for the second editiion of my (German) book on the Picts. This is not really affected by the question whether they were ethnic or just cultural Celts! History and relations remain the same, of course. My real “period” is the 17th century, and I really want to get back to my book on Marchamont Nedham (“the first journalist). Nice talking to you!
Harry Bourne says:
The notion of messrs. Collis and Ellis at either end of whether there were ever Insular Celts was interesting. However, it seems to me more valid opposites are John Collis and John Koch.
On a personal level, I have a lot of time for the works of Peter Beresford Ellis. As they are not just scholarly but also written in a popular tone, this not makes them accessable to such non-academics as myself. Nor are his works actually being very readable make them any the worse for that.
For me, more apposite as opposites are messrs. Collis and Koch.
Here it seems most probable that the differences between the two are best explained by the very obvious one of John Collis approaching the subject as an archaeologist and John Koch doing so as a linguist. They also clearly contrast on the matter of whether Celts ever phyically got to Britain plus Ireland.
Something that may be of interest to Mr. Dieth re. his comment about the possible continuity of population in these islands giving rise to British and Irish “Celts”. Somewhere along the line, it is my understanding thatn such proninent academics as Myles Dillon. Colin Renfrew plus others have expressed just this view.
On the other hand, scepticism can be taken to risible lengths. A case in point are the French views that were published in the British Press some years ago denying there were ever Gaulish/French Celts.
On the matter of whether there were ever Gaulis or Insular Celts, messrs Caesar and Koch are well quoting. Julius Caesar is oft-cited as having written “Those we call Galli call themselves
Celtae. There surely can’t be a clearer usage of these terms as ethniae from antiquity. On the matter of Insular Celts, John koch wrote a long article in the Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmorodion (was there ever a Dishonourable Society of ….?) years ago and wrote of the fact that no Classical writer is known to refer to Insular Celts, “So what?”.
I recommend reading The Celtic Question by Kim McCone it shows that they did indeed call themselves Celts.
Oddly enough, I was just on the verge of ordering it.
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No Ordinary Shakespeare: Twelfth Night Comes to Centre
by sarah.holloway | Apr 21, 2018 | Arts & Leisure | 0 comments
BY PEYTON POPP – STAFF WRITER
Odds are you’ve heard of Shakespeare. He is a rather famous Elizabethan poet and playwright, and people generally associate his work with thee’s and thou’s and poofy pants with tights underneath. But if you go to Centre’s production of Twelfth Night, you won’t see a typical performance.
The comedy involves cross-dressing, miscommunication, and mistaken identity. When Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are shipwrecked, the play hits the ground running with baffling love triangles and Shakespeare’s notorious word-play and wit.
Twelfth Night is Professor Jennifer Goff’s directorial debut as a drama professor at Centre College. Directing a play as well known as Shakespeare’s seems stressful, but Goff has had a semester to adjust to teaching and working here at Centre, and is excited about this performance.
“The play will get a little extra attention, and people will have opinions,” Dr. Goff said, but this, for her and the cast, is “fun because people will come.”
As for the expectations viewers have about Shakespeare’s plays, this is no ordinary production. This year’s production will be set among the cast of a 1920s Vaudeville troop. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Vaudeville was a flamboyant, exciting form of theatrical entertainment, and Dr. Goff hopes that putting Twelfth Night in that setting will “bring the play just a bit closer to us.” “This is not a documentary about Vaudeville,” Dr. Goff said. “We let it serve our story.”
First year George Adams, playing Sebastian, did not participate in a production last semester. “I wanted to get my bearing here at Centre before I took on such a big time commitment,” Adams explained.
Adams is not the only new cast member. “The more experienced members of the cast really made an effort to help everyone in the cast become part of the crew,” Adams said.
Even though the setting has changed, Centre’s production keeps the play’s language. “I really like Shakespeare, but the language can be challenging. It makes you have to think about what is being said before you can deliver it properly,” Adams said.
Junior Katherine Moeykens, who is playing Sebastian’s twin sister Viola, agreed. “Going from a play entirely in prose, like Cloud 9, to Shakespeare is different,” Moeykens said, “but I think the whole cast has done a great job adjusting.”
In addition to learning the intricacies of Shakespeare’s language, the cast had to take a course on how to safely act with a sword. “It was intense, and I don’t even have a serious sword-fighting scene,” Moeykens said. “It was a fun and exciting experience, though.”
Centre’s newest director has not only facilitated the cast’s coming together as a unit, but she has also made herself a positive member of Centre’s community as a whole. “She’s meshed into the campus, not just with us, but with other professors and the campus as a whole,” Moeykens said of Dr. Goff.
“Dr. Goff did a good job of listening to our concerns. She really integrated with the cast,” Adams agreed.
Dr. Goff is happy with the way the cast has worked to put this production together. “This group will only be together doing this specific thing this one time, and I think that’s exciting and special,” Goff said.
Twelfth Night runs from Apr. 18 to Apr. 21 at 8 pm in Weisiger Theater. It is a convocation credit, and is free for Centre students. It will cost five dollars for non-Centre students, and ten dollars for non-students.
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Key Marco Cat and Other Artifacts
Key Marco Cat
The world-famous Key Marco Cat, one of the finest pieces of Pre-Columbian Native American art ever discovered in North America, and other rare artifacts discovered on Marco Island in 1896 are showcased in a major exhibit at the Marco Island Historical Museum now through April 3, 2021.
Image: Courtesy of Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution (A240915)
Alligator Head Figure
The Key Marco artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian Institution and University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology are prime examples of the complex iconography used by pre-Columbian Floridians.
Image: Courtesy of Penn Museum (Image #298908)
Sea Turtle Figure
Because the Key Marco artifacts were buried in an oxygen-free layer of muck, these rare 500-1,500-year-old objects were astonishingly well preserved.
Spoon Bill Man Mask
Many of the Key Marco artifacts are believed to have had deep ritual significance.
Shell Man
Frank Hamilton Cushing’s 1896 Key Marco excavation on what is now Marco Island produced some of the greatest discoveries in the history of North American archaeology.
A 25-year quest to bring “home” on loan the world-famous Key Marco Cat and other rare artifacts discovered on Marco Island.
The Marco Island Historical Society (MIHS) announces that the MIHS has achieved its 25-year quest to bring “home” on loan the world-famous Key Marco Cat and other rare Pre-Columbian Native American artifacts discovered on Marco Island, Florida in 1896.
Several of the most significant Key Marco artifacts have been brought together on Marco Island for the first time since their discovery by anthropologist Frank Hamilton Cushing more than 100 years ago. The exhibit is on display at the Marco Island Historical Museum (MIHM) until April 2021.
The Key Marco Cat has been described as one of the finest pieces of Pre-Columbian Native American art ever discovered in North America. At only six inches tall and carved from native hardwood, the Key Marco Cat is a charismatic anthropomorphic feline statuette that has captured the public’s imagination for more than a century. Other important pieces in the exhibition include a ceremonial mask, alligator figurehead, painted human figure, and sea turtle figurehead.
The exhibit is the result of a collaboration between Marco Island Historical Society, Collier County Museums, the Smithsonian Institution, and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The loaned artifacts are featured within one of the Museum’s permanent exhibits — Paradise Found: 6,000 Years of People on Marco Island.
“This exhibition is the culmination of a long-term vision to bring these incredibly important artifacts to Marco Island on loan in order to educate and inspire people of all ages about the fascinating history of our region,” says MIHS Curator of Collections Austin Bell. “It has taken years of planning and discussions with the lending institutions and the continuation of a public-private partnership that includes the Marco Island Historical Society, Collier County, and the community.”
Cushing’s 1896 Key Marco excavation produced some of the greatest discoveries in the history of North American archaeology. Because the artifacts were buried in an oxygen-free layer of muck, these rare wooden objects — between 500 and 1,500 years old — were astonishingly well preserved. Many of them began disintegrating upon exposure to the air. Those that survived, along with lifelike watercolors and field photographs of the pieces captured by expedition artist Wells M. Sawyer, provide extraordinary insight into the daily lives of the Calusa Indians and their ancestors. The Calusa dominated Florida’s Southwest Coast and controlled South Florida by the time the Spanish arrived in the 16th Century.
Since their discovery by Cushing, the returning Key Marco artifacts have been in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Others are at the National Museum of the American Indian, the Florida Museum of Natural History, and the British Museum.
“The Key Marco Cat from the Smithsonian collections is an extraordinary object that attests to the unique archaeological record of Key Marco and the people and cultures who lived there for millennia,” notes Torben Rick, Chairman of the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. “Perishable artifacts, like the Key Marco Cat, are rare in the archaeological record. Its significance lies in the information it holds about the human past, cultural diversity, and the ways that these issues can inspire researchers and the general public.”
“The objects coming from the Penn Museum clearly demonstrate the remarkable preservation of the organic materials from Key Marco,” notes Meg Kassabaum, assistant curator for North America at the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. “Usually these materials do not preserve on ancient sites, so the Key Marco materials show us what we’re missing from most other archaeological contexts. These particular artifacts are prime examples of the complex iconography used by pre-Columbian Floridians and probably had deep ritual significance to the people who created them. In particular, the paint that remains on the wooden objects serves as an important reminder of the level of detail and skill attained by pre-contact Native artists and gives just a hint of how beautiful these pieces would have been when they were made. The fact that they have survived so long is truly incredible and provides a nearly unique window into the past.”
According to Collier County Commissioner Donna Fiala, “Bringing the Key Marco artifacts exhibition to Collier County and Southwest Florida is a major achievement. There is no doubt it will generate increased tourism and business for local hotels, restaurants and other area businesses, as well as provide an extraordinary educational experience for residents and visitors alike. The nearly two-and-a-half-year duration of the exhibition will create a heightened awareness of Southwest Florida’s early beginnings and will extend the positive impact on the area’s economy.”
Preparations also included permanent enhancements to the museum’s award-winning Paradise Found: 6,000 Years of People on Marco Island exhibit that include interactive activity stations, state-of-the-art projections, dramatic animations, stunning new original artwork, and exciting additions to the museum’s immersive life-size Calusa Village.
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Montana State University - Billings
Master of Science in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling
The Master of Science in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling (MSCRMHC) program at Montana State University-Billings offers a rigorous curriculum of on-campus and online coursework and fieldwork experiences designed to prepare graduates for state licensure eligibility and national certification.
Graduates of the program have found employment in state and federal agencies, community based rehabilitation and mental health centers, hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, schools and universities, and other private and public social service organizations. Typical positions for graduates include: rehabilitation counselors, mental health counselors, chemical dependency counselors, and therapists.
The program is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Founded in 1969, the program has achieved and maintained accreditation since 1978. Students benefit by participating in a program that is nationally recognized for its quality and high academic standards.
School Name: Montana State University - Billings
Program Name: Master of Science in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling
Program Length: Five to Six Semesters
Enrollment Types: Full-Time or Part-Time
Social Media: Montana State University - Billings on Facebook and Montana State University - Billings on Twitter
60-66 Credits
Pre-Practicum
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Undergraduate degree from an accredited university with 3.0 GPA
Students with a 2.75 - 3.0 GPA may be considered on provisional admission.
Why have you chosen this career path?
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What has influenced your decision to pursue a career in the counseling profession?
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Health & Recipes, Parent
Health Moment: Immunizations vs. Peanuts
In Health & Recipes, Parent
NPR recently published a story about a family who wants to protect their son by having his school district only allow children who are vaccinated to attend school in his area. The Krawitt family live in California where 7% of the students in his area are not vaccinated. This is a major problem for the family because their son is in remission from Leukemia. In fact, we are living in a time, when the anti-vaccination movement has caused the worse measles outbreak in 20 years. As reported by the CDC the United States had fewer than 100 cases every year since 2000 when the measles vaccination helped eliminate measles in the US. Unfortunately, in 2014 there were 644 recorded cases in 27 states, the most measles cases we’ve had in 20 years (Source).
This information really hits home for me and my family. As a mother who chooses to homeschool because of my daughter’s serious health concerns from Sickle Cell Anemia, the push in schools to have children vaccinated is important to us and should be very important to all families. The threat of a child with a compromised immune system dying from contracting a disease that could have been prevented by a vaccination is real.
Have you ever asked a family whose child was going through a serious health illness what you can do? Dr. Robert Goldsby, an oncologist at the University of California, San Francisco states
Many families will say, ‘What can I do to help? What can I do to help?’ ” he said, repeating it for emphasis. “One of the main things they can do is make sure their [own] kids are vaccinated to protect others.
What’s interesting to me about this problem is that many schools ban peanuts from their premises to protect children who are highly allergic from death. Will children who are unvaccinated be next to be banned from schools? For Mr. Krawitt the parallel is obvious, the two go hand-in-hand.
Krawitt has been speaking up about vaccination for a long time now. . . [While attending a] parent meeting at his daughter’s school just before the start of the school year, where a staff member reminded parents not to send peanut products to school, since a child or children had an allergy. “It’s really important your kids don’t bring peanuts, because kids can die,” Krawitt recalls the group being told.The irony was not lost on him . . . he immediately responded, “In the interest of the health and safety of our children, can we have the assurance that all the kids at our school are immunized?”
For me, this issue is not simple. It’s a fact that I don’t send my chid to public school because I am afraid of the health repercussions that could follow as a result of children who are not vaccinated. I feel that in some ways, I am forced to homeschool my child who would love going to a typical school. However, I value the choices that parents have and I believe we should be able to decide what is best for our families. This debate is a tricky one. At the end of the day, I feel that the debate may come down to immunizations vs. peanuts, if one could be banned, both could be.
Reader Response:
Do you vaccinate or feel strongly about vaccinations for children? What do you think will happen in this school district in CA. Do you think Mr Krawitt will have to take his child out of school to protect him, or will students who aren’t immunized be banned for his child’s school district?
Aliferis, Lisa. To Protect His Son, A Father Asks School To Bar Unvaccinated Children. Retrieved February 1, 2015 from http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/01/27/381888697/to-protect-his-son-a-father-asks-school-to-bar-unvaccinated-children?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150201&utm_campaign=mostemailed&utm_term=nprnews
Salzberg, Steven. Forbes.com. Anti-Vaccine Movement Causes Worst Measles Epidemic In 20 Years . Retrieved February 1, 2015 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2015/02/01/anti-vaccine-movement-causes-worst-measles-epidemic-in-20-years/2/
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Mariana Trench – Into The Deep
WORLD HISTORY | December 29, 2018
Bush Establishes Marianas Trench Marine National Monument. Source: (Photo Joshua Roberts-Pool/Getty Images)
The deepest ocean trench on Earth, the Mariana Trench (also known as the Marianas Trench) is located in the Western Pacific Ocean, just southeast of the Mariana Islands near Guam. Because the Mariana Islands are a U.S. Commonwealth and Guam is a U.S. territory, the trench falls under the United States jurisdiction; and, in 2009, the 195,000 square mile area surrounding the islands was established by President George W. Bush as a protected marine reserve called the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument.
Marianas Trench location. Source: (Photo from https://www.gizmodo.com.au)
The trench is 1,580 miles long, which is more than five times the length of the Grand Canyon, and forty-three miles wide. The depth, however, is a bit more difficult to ascertain. The trench was first discovered in 1875 by the HMS Challenger, which used recently invented sounding equipment to estimate a depth of 26,850 feet near the southern end of the trench. In 1899, Nero Deep was discovered with a depth of 31,693 feet. That remained the deepest reading until thirty years later when a hole with a depth of 32,197 feet was discovered. The deepest point of the trench is Challenger Deep, named for the Challenger expedition, which is over 36,000 feet deep. The second deepest point, Sirena Deep, is located 124 miles east of Challenger Deep and has a depth of 35,462. The highest point on Earth, Mount Everest, is 29,026 feet tall, meaning that the entire mountain could fit inside either of these two points in the Marianas Trench and still be underwater.
Bathyscaphe Trieste. Source: (Photo from https://www.navalunderseamuseum.org/trieste-ii-flag/)
Like Mount Everest, the Mariana Trench presents a challenge to those desiring to reach its most extreme point, though there have been far more voyages to the tip of Mount Everest than there have been to the bottom of Challenger Deep. However, it has been done. The first descent occurred on January 23, 1960. The French-built vessel, Bathyscaphe Trieste, was manned by United States Navy Lieutenant, Don Walsh and Swiss scientist, Jacques Piccard, who designed the bathyscaphe along with his father, Auguste Piccard. The vessel reached a depth of 35,814 feet. Since then, there have been two unmanned vessels sent into the trench to gather data – the Japanese submarine, Kaiko, in 1995 and the U.S. hybrid vehicle, Nereus, in 2009. In 2012, the filmmaker James Cameron launched the second manned descent into the trench, piloting the Deepsea Challenger to a depth of 35,756 feet.
A Peek in the Mariana Trench. Source: (Photo from https://www.ageekyworld.com)
Despite an atmospheric pressure one thousand times that at sea level, the Mariana Trench is home to a variety of marine life. These sea creatures are able to survive in complete darkness and withstand a pressure that is the equivalent of having fifty jumbo jets piled on top of you. Because of its distance from land, food such as plankton and vegetation is scarce. As a result, bacteria subsist on chemicals, like methane and sulfur, which are emitted from the crust. Other life forms feed on the bacteria as well as on “marine snow,” which is debris from the decomposition of the marine life above. “Whale fall,” the name given to the debris from the decomposition of whales, is a significant source of nutrition for marine life in the deep.
Mariana Trench Snail fish. Source: (Photo from https://www.ibtimes.com)
The most common creatures of the Mariana Trench are xenophyophores, amphipods, and holothurians. Xenophyophores are single-celled organisms that absorb their food and have the appearance of giant amoebas. Amphipods, on the other hand, are more closely related to shrimp and are the scavengers of the deep. Holothurians seem to be translucent sea cucumbers. In 2017, a new organism was discovered and named the Mariana snailfish. Despite the diminutive appearance of its pink, scale-less body, the snailfish is one of the most dominant predators of the Mariana Trench. It lives at a depth of 26,200 feet, surviving at a depth lower than any other fish, and feeds off the various invertebrates inhabiting the trench.
Superheated lava was photographed by a remotely-operated underwater robot at a depth of 4,000+ feet. Source: (Photo from Wikipedia)
In addition to the strange marine life in the trench, there are also strange volcanoes there. The Mariana Islands were actually formed by a chain of volcanoes which rises above the surface of the ocean. Those volcanoes exist beneath the surface as well. One of these submarine volcanoes, Eifuku, emits liquid carbon dioxide from the hydrothermal vents, which resemble chimneys, at a temperature of 217 degrees Fahrenheit. Another submarine volcano, Daikoku, has a pool of molten sulfur 1,345 feet below the surface of the ocean. The Mariana Trench is the only place on Earth where something like that exists.
Tags: people
Kennita Leon Rose
Kennita's funky style of writing has only blossomed since she discovered her passion for reading. In her downtime, she loves chillaxing with her friends and letting loose. This grown-up flower child, who hails from the Caribbean, can definitely hang with us any time.
The Fairytale Life of Hans Christian Andersen
Stained Glass Windows…For The Illiterate Masses
The Ides of March and Other Dates to Beware
Who Were The Vikings?
Napoleon Bonaparte – A Legend
There's Gold In Them Hills!
Unreal Medical Conditions
George Washington Carver: More Than Just The Peanut Man
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‘Hobbit’, ‘Annie’, ‘Museum’ Lose Loot On Soft Sunday – B.O. Actuals
By Anthony D'Alessandro
Anthony D'Alessandro
Editorial Director/Box Office Editor
@AwardsTony
More Stories By Anthony
‘True Detective’, Mahershala Ali, Matthew McConaughey & The Oscar Halo Effect
Harry Styles In Talks For Disney’s ‘Little Mermaid’
3RD UPDATE, MONDAY, 3:15 PM: The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies dropped some gold coins on its way to the bank today to deposit its actual results. The finale of Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy was off 1.7% from its Sunday five-day estimate of $90.6M, for a current reported cume of $89.1M. That figure still beats the first five days of The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug ($86.1M).
The Warner Bros./New Line/MGM film wasn’t the only one off from its Sunday: Sony’s Annie came in about $440K under today with $15.86M in third, while Fox’s Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb was down $200K.
Essentially, yesterday wound up not being as robust as expected for distribs with it being the last Sunday before Christmas. Warner Bros. projected $18.2M yesterday for Five Armies, but filed $16.73M, while Sony estimated $4.9M but came in closer to $4.5M. Five Armies’ Saturday-to-Sunday decline of 21.7% isn’t too far from Smaug’s 26% opening slide between those two days. No Skin off Warner Bros.’ nose, or the competition for that matter — it’s all about the next two weeks for them.
Thanks to Five Armies, this weekend’s total of $134.67M per Rentrak surged 61% from last weekend, but it was down 6% from a year ago. Why? Essentially the comparative frame for a year ago was bolstered by the second weekend of Smaug ($31.5M), the Friday-Saturday-Sunday play of Anchorman 2‘s five-day ($26.2M), an amazing fifth weekend for Frozen, and the wide break of the star-studded awards contender American Hustle ($19.1M). Given all the headlines for 2014’s soft year, no one in the distribution or exhibition community believes there’s an exodus of moviegoers or that there’s a bigger problem with cinema-going in general that needs to be fixed. It’s simply an off year, down 5% with $9.85B as of Sunday versus the same point last year when we were at $10.37B.
Observed one exhibition president this weekend, “The disparity this year is between The Hobbit and the rest of the pack. Last year at this time, there was a flock of movies — and we are far and away from that.”
Here is the final top 20 with notables:
Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (WB), $54.7M, 3,875 locations, $14,122 average, Total cume: $89.1M, Wk 1
Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb (Fox), $17.1M, 3,785 locations, $4,518 average, Total cume:$17.1M, Wk 1
Annie (Sony), $15.86M, 3,116 locations, $5,090 average, Total cume:$15.86M, 1 week.
Exodus: Gods And Kings, (Fox), $8.1M (-66%), 3,503 locations, $2,314 average, Total cume: $38.9M, Wk 2
Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 (LG), $7.9M (-38%), 3,174 locations (-557), $2,482 average, Total cume:$289,356,110, 5 weeks.
Wild (SEA), $4.1M (+169%), 1,061 locations (+945), $3,877 average, Total cume: $7.17M, Wk 3
Big Hero 6 Disney, $3.64M (-40%), 2,407 locations (-369), $1,513 average, Total cume: $190.5M, Wk 7
Top Five (PAR), $3.59M (-48%), 1,307 locations (+328), $2,747 average, Total cume:$12.5M, Wk 2
P.K., (UTV), $3.565M, 272 locations, $13,108 average, Total cume:$3.565M, Wk 1
Penguins Of Madagascar (Fox/D’Works Ani), $3.5M (-52%), 2,717 locations (-595), $1,279 average, Total cume: $64.1M, Wk 4
Interstellar, (PAR), $2.7M (-50%), 1,550 locations (-701), $1,743 average, Total cume:$171.5M, Wk 7
Horrible Bosses 2 (WB), $2.2M (-52%), 1,902 locations (-600), $1,158 average, Total cume:$47.8M, Wk 4
The Theory Of Everything (FOC), $1.6M (-35%), 1,011 locations (-209), $1,594 average, Total cume:$19.8M, Wk 7
Foxcatcher (SPC), $939K (+159%), 308 locations (+229), $3,050 average, Total cume:$4.4M, Wk 6
Birdman (SEA), $865K (-34%), 452 locations (-89), $1,914 average, Total cume:$22.2M, Wk 10
The Imitation Game (TWC), $859K (+1%), 34 locations (+9), $25,253 average, Total cume:$3.2M, Wk 4
Dumb And Dumber To, (Uni), $769K (-72%), 986 locations (-1,087), $780 average, Total cume:$83.7M, Wk 6
Gone Girl, (Fox), $376K (-64%), 352 locations (-344), $1,069 average, Total cume:$165.2M, Wk 12.
St. Vincent, (TWC), $225K (-68%), 404 locations (-608), $558 average, Total cume:$42.4M, Wk 11.
Whiplash (SPC), $214K (-15%), 111 locations (-43), $1,928 average, Total cume: $5.1M, Wk 11.
Notables:
Nightcrawler (OPR) $149K (-75%), 153 locations (-645), $976 average, Total cume: $31.5M, Wk 8.
Inherent Vice (WB) $145K (-56%), 5 locations, $29,055 average, Total cume: $598K Wk 2.
Mr. Turner (SPC), $107K, 5 locations, $21,130 average, Total cume: $107K, Wk 1.
2ND UPDATE, SUNDAY,10:52 AM: Happy days are here again at the box office. Warner Bros. and industry analysts are both seeing The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies with a Wednesday-through-Sunday domestic cume of $90.6M and a FSS of $56.2M. Five Armies’ five-day haul beats last year’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which though a Friday bow, made $86.1M over five. However, Five Armies falls short of the The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey‘s five-day run of $100.2M.
Five Armies has all the ammunition it needs to conquer the holiday season: As previously reported, the three-quel received an A- overall Cinemascore, but it received an A with the under-25 demo (40% of the audience), and A- with over 25 and guys (both 60%). Hobbits and Orcs were a B+ for women, who accounted for 40%. 3D accounted for 49% of the gross with IMAX repping 15% or $13.6M over five days, and $7.7M over three. Premium large-format (PLF) screens rang up 8% of the total cume with $7.2M from 396 theaters. Cinemark’s XD format led the way among PLF with 20% of that B.O. figure.
Beamed Warner Bros. distribution EVP Jeff Goldstein about Five Armies’ prospects, “The calendar works in your favor when Christmas and New Year’s falls on a Thursday: Audiences over the next two weekends aren’t cumbered from any holiday obligations or distractions.”
Despite the Friday night family-pic showdown between The Night at the Museum: The Secret of the Tomb and Annie, their gap widened over the weekend with Fox’s Ben Stiller film taking second with $17.3M per studio weekend estimates and Sony’s Broadway orphan pic belting third with a studio reported $16.3M.
Industry estimates see both titles a bit lower at $17.1M and $15.9M respectively. There’s a notion among some distrib insiders that both family titles might have stepped on each other’s toes this weekend, with Annie’s A- Cinemascore lifting it toward the higher end of expectations, and Night at the Museum coming in lower than its $20Ms expectations.
Sony is saying that a majority of their audience for Annie, which was co-produced with Village Roadshow, was 76% with a 70%/30% female-to-male demo. Fox reports 24% of Night’s crowd was under 17. Nonetheless, these are decent starts for family films. Their fates at the box office lie in the long haul, and history proves that there’s a 6x multiple-plus that can be gained for PG fare during this season, i.e., Warner Bros.’ Yogi Bear bowed during this frame in 2010 to $16.4M and accumulated $100.2M domestically. Among the young’uns who showed up for Night, expect them to pass the thumbs up along to their friends: The 18-24 crowd gave the comedy an A. Parents and kids on their index gave it four and a half stars, according to Fox, and the under-25 also graded it with As.
“We’re at a time of year when family films do between a six and a nine multiple,” said Fox distribution chief Chris Aronson. “We have a (director) Shawn Levy film and we have the same faith in his film this time around. His films have had great multiples and play-ability; he’s released two previous (family) properties with us at this time of year — Night at the Museum, which had a 8.2 multiple, and Cheaper by the Dozen, which had a 9 multiple.”
Fox Searchlight’s Wild is expected to reap $4.1M thanks to its wide expansion past 1,000 engagements with a 173% surge and a third weekend cume of $7.2M.
“With our A- Cinemascore, the film is reaching a broad audience driven by females but including a large male contingent of moviegoers,” said Searchlight’s SVP of distribution Frank Rodriguez about Wild today.
Chris Rock‘s Top Five from Paramount pushed from 979 to 1,307 locales in its second frame for a studio and industry reported $3.57M, marking a 48% decline and a $12.5M cume. The film will eventually play by the end of the year at a 2,000+ count. Top Five is currently arm-wrestling Big Hero 6 for seventh place.
Fox’s Exodus: Gods and Kings dropped 67% in its second weekend with an industry-estimated 3-day of $7.89M (Fox says $8.07M). Just as fanboys are required to launch a comic-book film, faith-based audiences are essential when handling any Biblical film, New or Old Testament.
It was clear that Fox, in pairing with Ridley Scott, wanted to make a great sword-and-sandal epic like Gladiator, a genre that is the director’s specialty. Scott vied to keep the Moses story as real as possible, and did not want to make the same fantasy mistakes that Darren Aronofsky made with Noah, which alienated the Faith-based.
Faith Driven Consumer, a stat org that assesses Christian consumers’ spending habits, has specified that the Faith-based gravitate heavily toward Biblical films, especially when they have directors who are of the Christian faith themselves, i.e. Mel Gibson with Passion of the Christ and producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey with their Bible miniseries and Son of God feature.
Scott told the New York Times in an interview last year that he was an atheist, and the Faith-based took note. Says one exhibition marketing analyst about Exodus’ performance to date, “I think Noah poisoned the well, and the Faith-based crowd, once they’re burned, they’re twice shy.”
Weinstein Co.’s The Imitation Game is following a B.O. path that’s quite similar to, and somewhat better than, that of TWC’s Oscar best picture winner The King’s Speech. Through four weekends, the film about World War II mathematician Alan Turing has grossed $3.2M in 34 theaters; $300K more than King’s Speech, which was in more theaters (43) at the same point in time in December 2010.
The top 10 films per industry estimates:
1). The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (WB), 3,875 theaters /$16.5M Fri./ $21.3M Sat. (+29%)/ $18.2M Sun. (-15%) / 3-day cume: $56.1M / Total cume: $90.6M/Wk 1 (Bowed Wednesday, includes Tuesday previews)
2). Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (FOX), 3,785 theaters /$5.6M Fri./ $6.49M Sat. (+16%)/ $5.1M Sun. (-21%) / 3-day cume: $17.1M /Wk 1
3). Annie (Sony), 3,116 theaters /$5.29M Fri./ $6M Sat. (+13%)/ $4.7M Sun. (-22%)/3-day cume: $15.9M /Wk 1
4). Exodus: Gods and Kings (FOX), 3,053 theaters (0) /$2.2M Fri./ $3.2M Sat. (+42%)/ $2.45M Sun. (-23%)/3-day cume: $7.89M (-67%)/ Total cume: $38.7M/Wk 1
5). The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (LGF), 3,174 theaters (-557) /$2.2M Fri. /$3.06M Sat. (+39%)/ $2.3M Sun. (-25%)/3-day cume: $7.7M (-38%) / Total cume: $289.2M/Wk 5
6). Wild (FSL), 1,061 theaters (+945) / $1.1M Fri./ $1.6M Sat. (+39%)/ $1.3M Sun. (-21%)/3-day cume: $4.1M (+173%) / Total cume: $7.2M /Wk 3
7). Top Five (PAR), 1,307 theaters (+328) /$1M Fri. /$1.4M Sat. (+40%)/ $1.1M Sun. (-25%)/ 3-day cume: $3.57M (-48%)/ Total cume: $12.5M /Wk 2
7). Big Hero 6 (DIS), 2,407 theaters (-369) / $885K Fri. / $1.5M Sat. (+69%)/ $1.2M Sun. (-20%)/3-day cume: $3.56M (-42%)/ Total cume: $190.5M /Wk 7
9). The Penguins Of Madagascar (FOX), 2,717 theaters (-595)/ $870K Fri. / $1.4M Sat. (+61%)/ $1.1M Sun. (-22%)/ 3-day cume: $3.5M (-51%) / Total cume: $64.1M / Wk 4
10) P.K (UTV), 272 theaters/ $1M Fri./ $1.4M Sat. (+40%)/ $1M Sun. (-25%)/3-day cume: $3.4M /Wk 1
The Theory Of Everything (FOC), 1,011 theaters (-209) / $447K Fri./ $668K Sat. (-49%)/ $521K Sun. (-22%)/3-day cume: $1.56M (-37%) / Total cume: $19.8M / Wk 7
Foxcatcher (SPC), 308 theaters (+229) / $269K Fri./$388K Sat. (+37%)/ $330K Sun. (-15%)/ 3-day cume: $973K (+168%) / Total cume: $M/ Wk 6
Birdman (FSL), 452 theaters (-89) / $232K Fri. /$384 Sat. (+66%)/ $290K Sun. (-24%)/3-day cume: $891K (-31%)/ Total cume: $22.2M /Wk 10
The Imitation Game (TWC), 34 theaters (+9) / $222K Fri. /$364K Sat. (+64%)/ $309K Sun. (-15%)/ 3-day cume: $895K (+5%)/ Total cume: $3.2M/ Wk 4
Inherent Vice (WB), 5 theaters / $36K Fri. /$59 Sat. (+64%)/ $51M Sun. (-14%) 3-day cume: $147K (-55%)/ Total cume: $600K / Wk 2
Mr. Turner (SPC), 5 theaters / $28K Fri. / $44K Sat. (+56%)/ $35K Sun. (-20%)/3-day cume: $109K /Wk 1
UPDATE, SATURDAY, 7:30 AM: Warner Bros. is reporting this morning that The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies made $16.575M Friday for a cume of $51M with $2.18M coming from IMAX alone (13% of Friday). IMAX looks to have a 16% of FSS and 3D shows are pulling in about 50% of the gross, which is higher than Smaug,but about the same as An Unexpected Journey. Per some early morning estimates, the weekend showdown for No. 2 between Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Annie looks like it’s wider. Fox is reporting Museum in second with $5.625M yesterday, a position the Ben Stiller comedy plans to hold throughout the weekend with $18.3M. Sony’s Annie posted $5.3M and is now eyeing a $16-$17M weekend.
Five Armies is playing strong everywhere: “We’re over-indexing in Canada, playing strong in the Pacific and even in small and medium towns too,” said Warner Bros. distribution EVP and general sales manager. Why did WB bow the Hobbit threequel on a Wednesday instead of a Friday? Previous Hobbits, like most mega-tentpoles over a FSS, are front-loaded, with their highest day being Friday and than sliding downward on Saturday and Sunday. The decision to bow Five Armies on a Wednesday boils down to “when Christmas falls. The Christmas holiday falling on a Thursday is better this year,” explains Goldstein. In 2013, Christmas fell on a Wednesday, while in 2012, the holiday fell on a Tuesday. This year, with Christmas and New Year’s on Thursday, it’s back-to-back four-day weekends.
Sony knew it had something special with Annie, that’s why they moved it from its Christmas day bow to this Friday. Said Rory Bruer, Sony’s distribution head, “By opening on the 19th,it gave us a chance to build word of mouth with kids being out of school. It was bold in that sense: We knew there were two pictures that had a bit of cache to their franchises, but we always felt that Annie was different and special with everyone.”
The Annie reboot, which cost a reported $65M, was further bolstered by two Golden Globe noms for actress Quvenzhane Wallis (actress, musical or comedy) and for Sia’s song “Opportunity” in the film. Also moving the marketing meter for Annie is its soundtrack which features singer/songwriter Sia and producer Greg Kurstin who gave the musical’s classic songs “Tomorrow” and “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” a modern makeover. Annie boasts 18M YouTube views, on par with Les Miserables two years ago. The film’s social media universe per RelishMIX is 60.5M across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter vs. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb‘s 52.2M. RelishMIX shows that Annie videos are reposting strongly. Annie squashed its negative critic reviews with an A- Cinemascore, meaning — audiences love it.
PREVIOUS, SATURDAY, 2:46 AM: Exhibitors and distributors breathed a sigh of relief from the B.O. holiday doldrums over the last two weekends, as Warner Bros./New Line-MGM’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies rallied the masses at the multiplex in its third day of release, ringing up $16.1M per industry estimates, a 62% spike from Thursday, and a domestic cume in its third day of $50.5M.
Friday also featured a duke-0ut between the frame’s frosh pair of family pics — Sony’s Annie and Fox’s threequel Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, which respectively drew industry estimates of $6M and $5.9M. Fandango foresaw both titles neck-in-neck based on pre-sales and it could go down to the wire in terms of which takes second. While those single digits may not look stupendous on paper, matinees and holiday multiples will push these films to the max this season. The weekend prior to Christmas always has a golden lining thanks to school holiday vacations, and the frame has churned out some fantastic bows in the past, such as 2009’s Avatar ($77M) and even 2010’s Tron: Legacy ($44M). Overall, Friday’s top 10 titles totaled $37.5M, up 61% from a week ago.
After all The Interview hacking headaches this week, Sony is over the moon with its A- Cinemascore for Annie, which bodes well for the pic’s life. Critics have been throwing gum at the warbling orphan’s hair with a 28% Rotten Tomatoes score, but that’s just further proof that blockbuster Broadway musical adaptations don’t need the tweed set to sing high notes at the B.O. (2008’s Mamma Mia! was slammed by critics with 54% rotten, but got an A- Cinemascore and posted a domestic B.O. of $144.1M). The estimated Friday for Museum: Secret of the Tomb ranks below the $12.1M first Friday of its opening chapter, which bowed during the same December frame in 2006, but look at what Fox did with December 2011 kiddie threequel Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. Both Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Chipwrecked earned B+ Cinemascores, and posted similar Fridays (Chipwrecked earned a bit more with $6.7M), however the latter legged out at $133.1M stateside.
By Sunday, Peter Jackson’s Five Armies is expected to amass $86.4M in U.S./Canada, a five-day bow that beats the director’s first Lord of the Rings, which collected $75.1M from Wed.-Sun in December 2001. Word of mouth is gonna be fine for Five Armies, the question is just high can it can go: Similar to last year’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (final domestic $258.4M) and 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring (domestic $315.5M), Five Armies earned an A- Cinemascore. 2012’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ($303M), LOTR: Two Towers ($342.6M) earned As, while LOTR: Return of the King ($377.8M) has the highest grade with A+.
Beamed one exhibitor relations exec, “This is the first family film we’ve had in the marketplace for sometime, and by family film I don’t mean a G or PG-rated movie, I mean a movie where every single person in the family — mom, dad, the kids and grandparents — go. Exodus just wasn’t that.” Based on pre-opening screenings, the Ridley Scott film, with its glorious 3D battles scenes and leading thesps Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton, looked certain to dynamite the marketplace out of its slumber — until a sour, mostly faith-based, press weighed in. The Moses film dropped an estimated 74% in its second Friday, with $2.3M. Exodus’ eight-day estimated domestic B.O. of $33.1M is currently pacing 17% ahead of Scott’s 2005 Christian Crusades film Kingdom of Heaven (which bowed to $19.6M).
Social media has been key in harnessing The Hobbit fanbase with YouTube, Facebook and Twitter moving the needle significantly for Five Armies. According to media analyst RelishMIX, The Hobbit‘s YouTube has amassed an impressive 258M views over 24 months. Five Armies has twice the YouTube count with 140M views over Smaug‘s 71M and Unexpected Journey‘s 47M. Five Armies’ Facebook engagement stands at 34M, double that of Smaug‘s 17M. Twitter reach has nearly doubled in the last 12 months from 2.6M to 4.7M with hashtag activity spiking to 72k from the London Premiere on November 30.
Elsewhere at Friday’s B.O., most award contenders saw dips, largely due to the fact that they dropped screens. Hot titles like Birdman want to capitalize on another wide break around Golden Globe awards and Oscar noms. Wild saw a 141% boom with an estimated $1.15M thanks to a 945-theater surge in its overall engagement count of 1,061. Foxcatcher added 229 locales for a count of 308 and a Friday of $246K. The Bennett Miller movie is looking at a $1M weekend, up 149%. Mike Leigh’s awards contender Mr. Turner, which has earned high praise for actor Timothy Spall’s portrayal of 19th century painter J.M.W. Turner, bowed in NY and LA with $27K in five theaters. Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is pacing toward $300M stateside, and should close in on $290M by Sunday. After losing a number of large format screens to The Hobbit, Paramount’s Interstellar is expected to drop from sixth last weekend down to 10th by Sunday.
Below is the top 10 for the weekend of Dec. 19-21 per Friday night industry estimates:
1). The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (WB), 3,875 theaters /$16.1M Fri./ 3-day cume: $52M / Total cume: $86.4M/Wk 1 (Bowed Wednesday)
2). Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (FOX), 3,785 theaters /$5.9M Fri./ 3-day cume: $19.6M /Wk 1
3). Annie (Sony), 3,116 theaters /$6M Fri./ 3-day cume: $19.1M /Wk 1
4). Exodus: Gods and Kings (FOX), 3,053 theaters (0)/$2.3M Fri. (-74%)/ 3-day cume: $8M(-67%) / Total cume: $38.6M/Wk 2
5). The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (LGF), 3,174 theaters (-557) /$2.2M Fri. (-41%)/ 3-day cume: $7.9M (-38%) / Total cume: $289.4M/Wk 5
6). Wild (FSL), 1061 theaters (+945) / $1.15M Fri. (+141%) / 3-day cume: $4M (+167%) / Total cume: $7M /Wk 3
7). The Penguins Of Madagascar (FOX), 2,717 theaters (-595)/ $944K Fri. (-37%)/ 3-day cume: $3.8M (-47%) / Total cume: $M / Wk 4
8). Big Hero 6 (DIS), 2,407 theaters (-369) / $929K Fri. (-29%) / 3-day cume: $3.5M (-41%)/ Total cume: $190.5M /Wk 7
9). Top Five (PAR), 1,307 theaters (+328) /$931K Fri. (-63%)/ 3-day cume: $2.9M (-57%)/ Total cume: $11.9M /Wk 2
10). Interstellar (PAR), 1,550 theaters (-701) / $720K Fri. (-52%) / 3-day cume: $2.7M (-51%) / Total cume: $171.6M / Wk 7
11) P.K (UTV), 272 theaters/ $800K Fri./ 3-day cume: $2.3M /Wk 1
The Theory Of Everything (FOC), 1,011 theaters (-209) / $432K Fri. (-42%)/ 3-day cume: $1.5M (-35%) / Total cume: $19.8M / Wk 7
Foxcatcher (SPC), 308 theaters (+229) / $283K Fri./ 3-day cume: $1M (+149%) / Total cume: $4.5M/ Wk 6
Birdman (FSL), 452 theaters (-89) / $246K Fri. (-27%) /3-day cume: $932K (-29%)/ Total cume: $22.3M /Wk 10
The Imitation Game (TWC), 34 theaters (+9) / $198K Fri. (-20%)/ 3-day cume: $749K (-12%)/ Total cume: $3M/ Wk 4
Nightcrawler (OPRD), 153 theaters (-645) / $35K Fri. (-80%)/ 3-day cume: $126K (-79%) /Total cume: $31.5M/ Wk 8
Inherent Vice (WB), 5 theaters / $33K Fri. (-75%)/ 3-day cume: $118K (-64%)/ Total cume: $570K / Wk 2
Mr. Turner (SPC), 5 theaters/$27K Fri./ $38K Sat. (25%) / $27K Sun.( -20%)/Scrn Avg: $17,550/3-day cume: $88K/Wk. 1
This article was printed from https://deadline.com/2014/12/weekend-box-office-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-no-1-annie-night-at-the-museum-1201331370/
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Goiânia Accident
I am always amazed at how little I know, and how little all of us know. Did you ever hear of this nuclear accident?
The Goiânia accident was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on 13 September 1987, at Goiânia, Brazil. Considered one of the worst nuclear disasters in history, it took place after an old nuclear medicine source was scavenged from an abandoned hospital site in the city, which serves as capital of the central Brazilian state of Goiás. It was subsequently handled by many people, resulting in four deaths and serious radioactive contamination of 249 other people. The dispersal of radiation was equivalent to a medium-size dirty bomb. About 130,000 people overwhelmed hospitals. Of those, 250 people, some with radioactive residue still on their skin, were found to be contaminated through the use of Geiger counters. Topsoil had to be removed from several sites, and several houses were demolished. All the objects from within those houses were removed and examined. Those that were found to be free of radioactivity were wrapped in plastic bags, while those that were contaminated were either decontaminated or disposed of as waste.
Arctic Ice Fake-out
Everyone thought that Arctic sea-ice extent had bottomed out on Sept 10th, because it increased for a few days after that, but then it started to decrease again -- and is still decreasing. It's not going to threaten 2007's record low, but it still might come in 2nd place. In any case, it's fun to watch it defy simple expectations.
"Where they burn books, they will ultimately also burn people."
-- Heinrich Heine, Almansor (1821)
Your Y Chromosome
What pacifist notions can possibly compete with helicopters set to AC/DC?
It's not even a fair contest.
Dirty on Purpose
I am simply linking to song because I like it, a lot, and it's my blog:
Dirty on Purpose broke up over two years ago, which is a god-damned shame, because very, very few people can make music and noise like this. I certainly can't. You can't. Who can?
This kind of breaks my heart.
Genetically Modified Salmon
I thought I had the subject of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) pretty much figured out. I spent a lot of time a few years ago investigating them, and even wrote a short piece for Wired magazine, and had decided that they probably weren't going to cause any harm.
For plants, anyway.
But this morning I read this Washington Post article about the FDA's approval of GM salmon, and now I'm not so sure anymore. Something about it really skivved me out.
My basic reasoning is this: everyone thought they had mammalian cloning all figured out, and then they cloned a sheep (Dolly). It turned out that Dolly had some very unforeseen problems, especially obesity and early aging. She had telemere problems.
Why didn't the all-wise scientists foresee this fundamental problem, if they have such control over genomes?
Now we're being expected to accept GM salmon, even though they have been forced to grow about twice their normal size. This is a HUGE difference in an organism and to think that we understand all the implications of it strikes me as silly.
Schneider on Australian TV
You really, really have to watch this debate on Australian television, which appeared last night, where the late Stephen Schneider takes on dozens of climate skeptics, answering all their questions.
Let's note: the skeptics are polite, and have really good questions. (Someone in the skeptic audience even used the word "logarithmic," which you'd never see in America!) Schneider is polite, and has really good answers.
Schneider takes them head-on and answers all their questions, and, when appropriate, tells them they simply don't know what they're talking about. And most of all, he stresses that scientists have (of course!) thought about all these issues, in far more detail than anyone in the audience has.
If only American television did anything like this. Even if the concept of a logarithm baffles most of the audience.
Via: Tim Lambert and Deltoid
Information's Carbon Footprint
This Boston Globe editorial doesn't have sourcing, but some of its claims definitely make you think:
"emailing a 4.7-megabyte attachment — the equivalent of four large digital photos — can use as much energy as it takes to boil about 17 kettles of water."
"The total amount of digital storage worldwide is approaching 1 zettabyte (10^21 bytes), or 1 million times the contents of the Earth’s largest library."
"Currently, that information is archived on equipment with a mass equivalent to 20 percent of Manhattan."
"Global data storage is expected to reach 35 zettabytes by 2020...."
"The information industry already accounts for approximately 2 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. That’s the same amount as the airline industry blasts into the atmosphere."
They don't say how much energy is used to route information versus to store information, but I would guess that the latter dominates. What will a 35x increase mean for energy consumption?
On the Interacademy Council Report
While everyone is bloviating about the Interacademy Council Report on the IPCC processes, can we please note that they wrote the following:
"The Committee found that the IPCC assessment process has been successful overall." (pg 1)
"This report examines the procedures and processes used to carry out IPCC assessments; it does not examine climate change science or the validity of its representation in the assessment reports." (pg 8)
Oregonian Op-Ed
I have an op-ed in today's Oregonian, correcting some of the endless streams of untruths that come from skeptic Gordon Fulks.
Does "atmospheric blocking" Explain the Moscow Heat Wave?
Despite what you might have read, global warming did play a role in the recent Moscow heat wave.
Recently NOAA wrote about the heat wave in western Russia, attributing it to "atmospheric blocking." They went on to say that greenhouse warming played no role in the high temperatures:
Despite this strong evidence for a warming planet, greenhouse gas forcing fails to explain the 2010 heat wave over western Russia. The natural process of atmospheric blocking, and the climate impacts induced by such blocking, are the principal cause for this heat wave. It is not known whether, or to what exent, greenhouse gas emissions may affect the frequency or intensity of blocking during summer. It is important to note that observations reveal no trend in a daily frequency of July blocking over the period since 1948, nor is there an appreciable trend in the absolute values of upper tropospheric summertime heights over western Russia for the period since 1900.
But something about this explanation doesn't smell right. Regional climate phenomena are always going to be conmplicated with many factors in play.
So I asked Kevin Trenberth, Head of the Climate Analysis Section at NCAR, and he says that global warming certainly played a role in the heat wave:
The "stalled jet stream" or really the so-called blocking pattern is merely a description of the atmospheric state or phenomenon, not a cause. The question is why is it like that? For that we seek to find systematic influences (what we call forcings) on the atmosphere that tends to lock it into one state. The main sources of such forcings are the mountains, land vs ocean, and the heating of the atmosphere. Only the latter changes. With El Nino or La Nina, the changes in sea surface temperatures change the areas where convection, thunderstorms, tropical storms etc, occur systematically. The heavy rains in those phenomena produce large heating of the atmosphere through the latent heat release: the release of the heat that went into evaporating the moisture in the first place is given up when the moisture condenses. It is that heating pattern that sets up unusual wave patterns and teleconnections in the atmosphere. It acts a bit like a rock in a stream of atmospheric air, with ripples up and downstream. In the case of the very active monsoon, there tends to be generally rising air and a lot of heat released in the rains, and some of that air was coming down over southern Russia. "What goes up, must come down". We can demonstrate a direct link between the anticyclone over Russia and the monsoon rains over southeast Asia. This is in addition to the waves in the jet stream.
Under normal circumstances, it is not unusual for this pattern to develop over Russia, but it normally lasts only a week or so. What is unusual is the persistence and duration of this, so that it lasted 5 weeks or so. Weather systems tend to wax and wane but the anticyclones that move through stall and strengthen systematically in the same region because of the influence from SE Asia through the overturning monsoon circulation and the associated wave patterns.
In this way, we can assign blame for the atmospheric pattern to that of the sea surface temperatures, and the current La Nina. The latter determines the pattern. The elevated SSTs in the Indian Ocean and Indonesian region arise because of global warming and the effects of the last El Nino, and bolster the amount of water vapor available for all the storms, resulting in the excessive rains and flooding.
So there is a chain of events here, and several things have come together to make it record breaking. But it is not unexpected, even if it is not predictable more than a couple of weeks in advance.
Global warming plays a role by 1) elevating the SSTs in the Indian Ocean and Indonesian region, where it contributes to the excessive moisture and rains that gave the flooding over Pakistan, India and China; and 2) In Russia by adding to the heat and drying, making the drought more intense, longer lasting, and with stronger and record breaking heat waves. These events would not have happened without global warming.
New Hadley Temperatures
The Hadley Centre has been doing some nip-and-tuck work on their global temperature data, but they now seem to have things up-to-data. The data have 2010 as the 2nd warmest year in their records, year-to-date. (1998 is the warmest, year-to-date.) The last third of 1998 was relatively cool compared to the first eight months of that year, but we're now entering a La Niña, so it could be a horse race to the end.
Affluence and Religion
Gallup has a worldwide poll out showing that the poorer a country is, the more religious are its citizens:
But yes, the United States is an exception:
About two-thirds of Americans -- 65% -- say religion is important in their daily lives. Among high-income countries, only Italians, Greeks, Singaporeans, and residents of the oil-rich Persian Gulf states are more likely to say religion is important.
Incredibly (and interestingly), only 17% of Swedes say religion is an important part of their lives, as do 19% of Danes. Yet these are among the most peaceful, socially advanced countries in the world. Food for thought.
Does "atmospheric blocking" Explain the Moscow Hea...
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davidthewlis
Fans of David Thewlis
Account Created on 23 September 2003 (#1343805) Last updated on 11 October 2016 Gift
Date of birth: 20 March, 1963
Location: Blackpool, Lancashire, England
The second of three children, David Thewlis grew up in an apartment above his family's combination toy store and wallpaper shop. He received his training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. A veteran of the London stage and English television (Prime Suspect 3), Thewlis found his particular cinematic niche as the antihero of director Mike Leigh's Naked (1993). From the moment that Thewlis, playing an indigent from Manchester, showed up unannounced at the doorstep of his old girlfriend and immediately proceeded to verbally trash everyone in sight, the audience knew it wasn't in for a Noel Coward revival. The result of Thewlis' antisocial screen behavior was the unqualified praise of discriminating moviegoers, not to mention awards from the Cannes jury, the New York Film Critics, and the National Society of Film Critics. He went on to demonstrate his versatility in a number of diverse roles, including Paul Verlaine in 1995's Total Eclipse, an animated earthworm in James and the Giant Peach (1997), a mountaineer in Seven Years in Tibet (1997), and an ex-patriot composer living in Rome in Bernardo Bertolucci's Besieged in 1998. Also in 1998, Thewlis could be seen doing a brief but hilarious turn as a giggling conceptual artist in The Big Lebowski. -From Yahoo! Movies
[biography] [filmography] [tv listings]
Layout Credit(s): Premade LJs & mandy_thewlis
Moderator: holycricket & mandy_thewlis
afraid of the dark, all the invisible children, american perfekt, besieged, bit of a do, black and blue, black beauty, buttsex, cheeky, cyrus crabb, d.i.y. hard, damage, dan starkey, dandelion dead, david thewlis, dinotopia, divorcing jack, dragonheart, endgame, fatale, filipina dreamgirls, freddie mays, gangster no. 1, goodbye charlie bright, great sex, hamilton mattress, harold smith, harry potter, hello hello hello, island of dr. moreau, james jackson, jason kinksy, journey to knock, judas iscariot, king einon, kingdom of heaven, knox harrington, life is sweet, little dorrit, long fingers, love story, moony, naked, only fools and horses, paul verlaine, peter aufschnaiter, prime suspect, remus lupin, restoration, resurrected, road, seven years in tibet, short and curlies, skulduggery, the big lebowski, the giant peach, the miracle maker, the new world, the singing detective, the trial, timeline, tom miller, total eclipse, valentine park, vroom
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Inserting/tapping/rolling
Finishing and fabrication
Painting and assembly
Sectors & Case Studies
Domestic range cookers
5G telecoms cabinets
National utility companies
Electrical control company
Work for DKM
About DKM
DKM was founded in 1979 to offer sheet metal and machining services to clients across a range of industries. Almost 40 years later, we’ve established a reputation as one of the UK’s leading precision sheet metal companies, renowned for innovation, service and quality.
DKM’s sustainable growth has been helped by the strong financial stability of the company. Annual investment from company earnings into the latest plant and machinery has enabled us to maintain the highest standard of quality – and this, in turn, has led to us gaining several long-term contracts with blue-chip customers in various sectors.
By 2004, DKM Sheet Metal had grown to produce an annual turnover of £400k, operating from a 3,000 square foot factory with just six staff.
In 2004 the company was bought out by two experienced Gloucestershire businessmen with a long term vision to build a reliable, long term partner for national companies looking to out-source their sheetmetal work. Since this point, the company has gone on from strength to strength.
We now work from a 30,000 square foot factory, and recently took ownership of an additional 5,000 square foot. We continue to invest in state-of-the-art Amada machinery, as well as new welding and paint cells – and last year achieved a record turnover of £4.8 million.
Where we’re based
Our location in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire – just three minutes from junction 13 of the M5 – enables us to run an efficient delivery network, and we have strong links to customers in the Midlands, South Wales, and both the South West and South East of England.
We’re nothing without our people – and we’re proud of our strong and successful engineering team. We’ve run a successful apprenticeship programme for several years, and pride ourselves on encouraging fresh new ideas and talent, as well as nurturing time-served craftsmanship. Our team now consists of more than 50 staff, from designers to paint assemblers.
Quality is at the heart of everything we do. Ongoing investment in cutting-edge machinery helps us stand out from the competition, every step of the production process.
We pride ourselves on delivering precision products that exceed our customers’ expectations. Our quality systems include the latest ISO 9001:2015 standard.
Read more about our services or get in touch to find out how we can help your business.
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The War You Don’t See
Home»All Films»Pop Culture
The War You Don’t See is a powerful documentary that questions the media’s role during the Iraq, Israel, Palestine and Afghanistan conflicts.
War correspondent John Pilger, traces the history of embedded and independent reporting from the carnage of the First World War to the destruction of Hiroshima during WW2, the invasion of Vietnam to conflicts in the Middle East.
The documentary exposes how the practice of embedding journalists within the military not only controls what the public see’s, but how these journalists are allowed to report it.
As weapons and propaganda become even more sophisticated, the nature of war is developing into an electronic battlefield in which journalists play a key role, and civilians are the victims.
Included in the documentary is an interview with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
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A documentary about the Dixie Chicks after their lead singer made a controversial statement about President George W. Bush
pickledick says:
4 years ago at 6:21 am
696969696969696969696969699696969 that was hella good dud
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Discussion Post. Informal Communication
Brent Staples. Just Walk on By
The Meaning of Beauty
Alcohol Brands Sponsoring Sports
Psychologist Oath
Peter Tosh essay sample
Peter Tosh was conceived Winston Hubert McIntosh on October 9, 1944, in Grange Hill, Jamaica. Raised by his auntie, he left home in his early teens and set out toward the slums of Kingston, Jamaica, known as Trenchtown. In the same way as other of young aspiring musicians/ performers, he discovered his approach to Joe Higgs, a local artist who offered free music lessons to the youth. It was through Joe Higgs that Peter Tosh met his future individual bandmates, Bob Marley, and Bunny Wailer. This paper explains why Peter Tosh was a great giant of the arts.
Peter Tosh was great a musician because he was the man of his having being raised without a father and mother because they abandoned him turned hence making him become an exceptional human being. For instance, he was extremely resourceful, self-dependent and battled for various causes. He fought for the people’s rights through his songs which at that time were being undermined by the government. He turned into the voice for individuals who couldn't talk or did not have the way to express their emotions to the worldwide audience. While some hated Tosh, others venerated/revered him as the rebellious hero/ saint (Heron et al. 11-19). To many people like me, he was a redeemer; a saint who was sent to liberate the people of Jamaica from the abusive government policies, structures and leaders both physically and mentally through his music. Peter Tosh considered himself to be a progressive and revolutionary and was intense in his endeavors. He authored his particular words for a large portion of the things which he despised, including "politricks” for political issues, “s**tstem" for the system, and "Wrongdoing Ministers" for Prime Ministers. It was this demeanor that earned him the name “Steppin Razor.”
Peter Tosh was a standout amongst the most prestigious reggae musicians of his time and was the founding member of the band 'The Wailers', which gave him another essential identity/personality. He was a great musician since he was able to win various awards, for example, the order of merit and being able to be nominated for Grammys. Through every one of the hardships in Jamaica, the group thought and came up with their first coordinated effort, "Catch fire." As the lead/center vocalist of the band, Tosh utilized music as a medium to voice his emotions and suppositions (Heron et al. 23-30). Aside from his profession with 'The Wailers', he likewise had a fruitful solo vocation, which was sliced short because of his shocking demise. To me, he was a legend.Peter Tosh was a giant of art for me he was an accomplished artist for his songs had meaning and message. Additionally, he was great giant of the art since he was an expert guitarist in spite of having figured out how to play on a “sardine container guitar.” Tosh was likewise a skilled multi-instrumentalist who played melodica recorder, piano and organ on numerous recordings (various unaccredited) right off from his early career/ profession (Heron …
Tags: jamaica, artist, peter, people
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Pompeo taps abortion foe for fresh look
Live Correspondent: Charging that human rights advocates have deviated from core principles, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday named a staunch abortion opponent to lead a new panel to set the future direction for the United States.
Pompeo, an evangelical Christian who often speaks of his faith, announced the creation of a State Department commission on “unalienable rights” that has already drawn suspicions among gay and women’s activists.
Quoting Czech anti-communist icon Vaclav Havel as saying that “words like ‘rights’ can be used for good or evil,” Pompeo said that the panel will “revisit the most basic of questions what does it mean to say, or claim, that something is in fact a human right?”
“It’s a sad commentary on our times that more than 70 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, gross violations continue throughout the world, sometimes even in the name of human rights,” Pompeo said without elaborating.
“International institutions, designed and built to protect human rights, have drifted from their original mission as human rights claims have proliferated,” he said.
Pompeo named as head of the commission Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard Law professor under whom he studied, who is one of the intellectual leaders of the anti-abortion movement.
Many US conservatives take issue with mainstream human rights groups, faulting their advocacy of issues such as women’s reproductive health, gay rights and income equality, and instead call for an emphasis on God-given “natural law.”
Amnesty International criticized the panel, saying that US administrations regardless of party have supported the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN document adopted after World War II that enshrined individual liberty.
“There is no place for this at our State Department, which should be a leading voice around the world in protecting and promoting human rights for all,” he said. Trump has already downplayed human rights, using the issue as a cudgel against adversaries such as China and Iran but treading lightly with allies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
“President Trump’s personal affection for gross human rights violators has stained America’s moral fabric. No Trump administration commission can erase that,” said Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who also vowed to ensure oversight.
Glendon, chair of the 10-member commission, said in brief remarks to reporters that human rights “are being misunderstood by many, manipulated by many, and ignored by the world’s worst human rights violators.”
The scholar represented the Vatican at the 1995 UN conference on women in Beijing where then US first lady Hillary Clinton, later secretary of state, gave a landmark speech in which she declared “women’s rights are human rights.”
Glendon later criticized the conference’s push on sexual and reproductive health, accusing foundations of “forging a link between development aid and programs that pressure poor women into abortion, sterilization and use of risky contraceptive methods.”
Dhaka 9 July (campuslive24.com)//MIH
Topic: US Mike Pompeo Secretary of State United States
Malawi votes in tight three-way election
Probe shows Sri Lanka attacks ‘retaliation for Christchurch’
Trump brings Brexit advice on state
“India wins yet again”
Gulf countries strengthen oil coordination
Theresa May says she will step down
The "Belt and Road" construction conferences held in China
BD elected ECOSOC member
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National Energy Services Reunited Corp. Announces Cementing Contract Award in Kuwait
ACCESSWIRE February 22, 2019
HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / February 22, 2019 / National Energy Services Reunited Corp. (''NESR'') (NESR) (NESRW), a national, industry-leading provider of integrated energy services in the Middle East and North Africa (''MENA'') region, today reported an award of a major contract valued up to $100 million for Cementing and associated services for Drilling and Workover operations for Conventional resources (''Cementing Services'') by Kuwait Oil Company (''KOC''). This contract is for five years and marks the entry of NESR in the Completions sphere in Kuwait.
''The award of this contract positions NESR as a multi-segment provider in Kuwait and allows us to build our position in Kuwait to the next level,'' said Sherif Foda, Chairman of the Board and CEO of NESR. ''I would also like to take this opportunity to thank KOC for the trust they have placed in us to be a part of their extensive growth plans.''
About National Energy Services Reunited Corp.
Founded in 2017, NESR is one of the largest national oilfield services providers in the MENA and Asia Pacific regions. With over 3,200 employees, representing more than 40 nationalities in over 14 countries, the Company helps its customers unlock the full potential of their reservoirs by providing Production Services such as Cementing, Coiled Tubing, Filtration, Completions, Stimulation and Fracturing, and Nitrogen Services. The Company also helps its customers to access the reservoirs in a smarter and faster manner by providing Drilling and Evaluation services like Drilling Downhole Tools, Directional Drilling Fishing Tools, Testing Services, Wireline, Slickline, Fluids and Rig Services.
This communication includes certain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" for purposes of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions. The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intends," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may include, among others, statements about the benefits and synergies of the recently completed business combination transaction. These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this communication, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing NESR's views as of any subsequent date, and NESR does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, NESR's actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include NESR's ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the contracts; changes in applicable laws or regulations; the possibility that NESR may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and other risks and uncertainties indicated in NESR's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
For inquiries regarding NESR, please contact:
Dhiraj Dudeja
NESR Corp.
info@nesr.com
Joseph Caminiti or Steve Calk
Alpha IR Group
NESR@alpha-ir.com
SOURCE: National Energy Services Reunited Corp.
https://www.accesswire.com/536386/National-Energy-Services-Reunited-Corp-Announces-Cementing-Contract-Award-in-Kuwait
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Past Exhibitions > Daniel Canziani
Ildiko Butler Gallery, Fordham University
April 7 – 17, 2014
Opening reception: Wednesday, April 9, 6 – 8pm
dcanziani@fordham.edu
These works consist of shaped masonite that has been spray-painted and then painted on with oil. Each piece has two components—one geometric and one biomorphic—that fit into each other. This creates a simultaneously binary and singular effect: although there is a physical and visual separation between the rectangle and the surrounding biomorphic form, there is also a unification created by the continuation of the shape of the biomorphic form into the rectangular form, as well as by the painted line that extends into the pieces. Other aspects of the works contain this same “push/pull” duality as well. While the lines of the pieces are very organic, the surface maintains a very synthetic feel, devoid of nature’s influence or any indication of the artist’s hand. The interlocking of physical components and their distance from the wall lends the pieces a sculptural quality, while the physical flatness of the pieces—which is enhanced by the lack of modulation—works to opposite effect, moving them away from the realm of sculpture. My decision-making with these pieces has been guided by a desire to create this paradox of simultaneous tension and cohesion.
I have drawn influence from a range of artists, both historical and contemporary. With their emphasis on composition and simplicity of form and color, the Suprematists, such as Kazimir Malevich and Lyubov Popova, were an important starting point for me. With regard to composition, Franz Kline’s black-and-white works, which break up space solely with line, were a strong influence, as was Clyfford Still’s work when it came to figuring out the overall movement in my pieces. In forming the identity of my line and my choice of “subject matter,” I looked at both Sue Williams and Inka Essenhigh, whose work has distinct organic/human qualities but also enough ambiguity to elude being labeled as figural. Although I went in a somewhat different direction in terms of abstract vocabulary, Matthew Ritchie’s smooth, glossy surfaces were an inspiration for the kind of surface I employ in my paintings. Other precedents for my work (though not necessarily inspirations) include Jean Arp’s wooden reliefs, Joan Miró’s organic shapes and lines, and Joanna Pousette-Dart’s “gesturally” shaped canvases.
I’d like to thank several people for their support in helping me realize this show: my advisor Casey Ruble who has helped me with every step of the process; my neighbor John Lynn who helped with some of the more difficult cuts; and lastly, my mother Mary Jean who has always encouraged my art, but has done so more than ever with this show.
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Legacy of the Beast State of the Nation 2019
Thread: Legacy of the Beast State of the Nation 2019
Happy 2019 Troopers!
We’re dropping another State of the Nation to share some of the exciting things we’re working on for this year!
2018 was our best year yet, and saw the inclusion of our Auto-Replay system, the Gauntlet, Night City, tons of incredible new Eddies, plus a new look for the Arena to match Iron Maiden’s Legacy of the Beast Tour which was inspired by this very game! We have plenty of exciting new content, features and events coming your way over the next 12 months that we can’t wait for you to see.
One of the major focuses this year will be on Quality of Life Improvements. Our team is planning on overhauling the Talisman Inventory and Team Management systems in future updates. We’re aiming to make these systems more welcoming to new players, easier to manage for veterans, and more informative when gearing up for battle in the various game modes.
We also plan on improving our Sacrifice system which will lead to a larger variety of rewards, as well as revamping the Arena. Currently, our planned Arena changes will see players competing in more divisions, gaining better feedback as they progress, obtaining rewards for successful defensive wins, and earning updated ranked rewards that will make the Arena competitive with Gauntlet. Speaking of Gauntlet, we will also be refining the matchmaking to reduce the chances of running into the same team setups multiple times, as well as adding more unique restrictions and rewards for the Special Tours between seasons!
Along with this, we will also be launching our in-game help catalogue (previously known as the wiki). We’re in the final stretch of putting together this specific feature. Once we’re done, players will be able search for information on specific character, talisman, and status effects with ease, which will be a great help for ability based event challenges! Here’s a little preview of what you can expect from just the surface level information on a given character’s page:
Our team is also working on improving the starting game experience. This includes introducing new difficulty levels, which will be gradually added to existing worlds, and giving the Ailing Kingdom a facelift. The Ailing Kingdom is one of the oldest sections of the game, and while we did some environment updates in early 2018, we thought the world and characters could use a little more love. This includes a full revamp of the Ailing Kingdom world map, as well as reinterpreted designs for the Wicker Cultists!
As for new additions, there is plenty on the horizon, such as Cosmic Talismans - a new type of talisman which will debut next month! Cosmic Talismans can go into any colored slot with a limit of one per character. Each of these unique talismans comes with a full Set Effect! These talismans will be featured in an upcoming event, and will allow for a lot more flexibility when it comes to character and team builds.
One of the biggest features launching this year is our Guilds System. Guilds is a new game mode that will allow players to create and personalize a Guild and face off against other Clans to compete for the power of the Gods! In this feature, we’ll be drawing from Medieval Maiden and Dark Ages lore for the theme and will also include the ability to chat in-game with other players live, in real-time.
We’re also following up on the progress we made on Silent Planet last year. This monthly resetting tower of challenges will test your team’s might and offer incredible rewards.
Both of these features are deep into development so you’ll be hearing more about them in the coming months!
Finally, the second leg of the Legacy of the Beast Tour is starting in Summer 2019. Just like last year, you can expect plenty of new tie-ins to support the tour, including tour related events and character updates.
We can’t wait to show off this and more in the coming months. Keep your eyes on the forums for all our event and feature announcements.
The Legacy of the Beast Team
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1987 European Cup Final
The 1987 European Cup Final was a football match held at the Prater Stadium, Vienna, on 27 May 1987, that saw Porto of Portugal defeat Bayern Munich of West Germany 2–1. Both sides were missing key players: the Portuguese were without their injured striker Fernando Gomes, while the Germans were missing their sweeper, and captain, Klaus Augenthaler, who was suspended, along with striker Roland Wohlfarth and midfield player Hans Dorfner, who were both injured. The Portuguese side fought back from 1–0 down to win their first European Cup, with the goals coming from a back heel by Rabah Madjer and a volley from Juary, after a Ludwig Kögl header had given Bayern the lead in the first half. The final was the first European Cup final that Bayern, and their captain Lothar Matthäus would lose to successive late goals, repeated 12 years later in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against Manchester United.[1]
Match programme cover
1986–87 European Cup
Praterstadion, Vienna
Alexis Ponnet (Belgium)
Route to the finalEdit
Further information: 1986–87 European Cup
Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg
PSV Eindhoven 2–0 2–0 (A) 0–0 (H) First round
Rabat Ajax 10–0 9–0 (H) 1–0 (A)
Austria Wien 3–1 2–0 (A) 1–1 (H) Second round
Vítkovice 3–1 0–1 (A) 3–0 (H)
Anderlecht 7–2 5–0 (H) 2–2 (A) Quarter-finals
Brøndby 2–1 1–0 (H) 1–1 (A)
Real Madrid 4–2 4–1 (H) 0–1 (A) Semi-finals
Dynamo Kyiv 4–2 2–1 (A) 2–1 (H)
MatchEdit
DetailsEdit
Kögl
25' Report Madjer
Juary
Referee: Alexis Ponnet (Belgium)
Jean-Marie Pfaff
Norbert Nachtweih
Helmut Winklhofer
Norbert Eder
LB 3
Hans Pflügler
Hans-Dieter Flick
Lothar Matthäus (c)
LM 6
Andreas Brehme
Michael Rummenigge
Dieter Hoeneß
Ludwig Kögl
GK 12
Raimond Aumann
Uli Bayerschmidt
Alexander Kutschera
Holger Willmer
Lars Lunde
Udo Lattek
Józef Młynarczyk
João Pinto (c)
Eduardo Luís
Augusto Inácio
Jaime Magalhães
António Sousa
António André
LW 10
Paulo Futre
Rabah Madjer
Zé Beto
João Festas
António Frasco
Walter Casagrande
Alphonse Costantin (Belgium)
Frans Van Den Wijngaert (Belgium)
30 minutes of extra time if necessary.
Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
Five named substitutes.
Maximum of two substitutions.
FC Bayern Munich in international football competitions
FC Porto in international football competitions
^ ""Bavarians? Conservative? Never!" The 1987 European Cup Final". Worldpress.com. 9 February 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
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Bathyscaphe Trieste
Trieste is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe, which with its crew of two reached a record maximum depth of about 10,911 metres (35,797 ft), in the deepest known part of the Earth's oceans, the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench near Guam in the Pacific. On 23 January 1960, Jacques Piccard (son of the boat's designer Auguste Piccard) and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh achieved the goal of Project Nekton.
Trieste shortly after her purchase by the US Navy in 1958
Name: Trieste
Builder: Acciaierie Terni/Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico
Launched: 26 August 1953
Fate: Sold to the United States Navy, 1958
Decommissioned: 1966
Reclassified: DSV-0, 1 June 1971
Fate: Preserved as an exhibit in the U.S. Navy Museum
Type: Bathyscaphe
Displacement: 50 long tons (51 Mg)
Length: 59 ft 6 in (18.14 m)
Beam: 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
Draft: 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m)
Complement: Two
Trieste was the first manned vessel to have reached the bottom of the Challenger Deep.[1]
DesignEdit
Find sources: "Bathyscaphe Trieste" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
General arrangement drawing, showing the main features
Trieste consisted of a float chamber filled with gasoline (petrol) for buoyancy, with a separate pressure sphere to hold the crew.[2] This configuration (dubbed a "bathyscaphe" by the Piccards), allowed for a free dive, rather than the previous bathysphere designs in which a sphere was lowered to depth and raised again to the surface by a cable attached to a ship.
Trieste was designed by the Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard and originally built in Italy. His pressure sphere, composed of two sections, was built by the company Acciaierie Terni. The upper part was manufactured by the company Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, in the Free Territory of Trieste (on the border between Italy and Yugoslavia, now in Italy); hence the name chosen for the bathyscaphe. The installation of the pressure sphere was done in the Cantiere navale di Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples. Trieste was launched on 26 August 1953 into the Mediterranean Sea near the Isle of Capri. The design was based on previous experience with the bathyscaphe FNRS-2. Trieste was operated by the French Navy. After several years of operation in the Mediterranean Sea, the Trieste was purchased by the United States Navy in 1958 for $250,000 (equivalent to $2.2 million today).
At the time of Project Nekton, Trieste was more than 15 m (50 ft) long. The majority of this was a series of floats filled with 85,000 litres (22,000 US gal) of gasoline, and water ballast tanks were included at either end of the vessel, as well as releasable iron ballast in two conical hoppers along the bottom, fore and aft of the crew sphere. The crew occupied the 2.16 m (7.09 ft) pressure sphere, attached to the underside of the float and accessed from the deck of the vessel by a vertical shaft that penetrated the float and continued down to the sphere hatch.
The pressure sphere provided just enough room for two people. It provided completely independent life support, with a closed-circuit rebreather system similar to that used in modern spacecraft and spacesuits: oxygen was provided from pressure cylinders, and carbon dioxide was scrubbed from breathing air by being passed through canisters of soda-lime. Power was provided by batteries.
Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard aboard Trieste
Trieste was subsequently fitted with a new pressure sphere,[3] manufactured by the Krupp Steel Works of Essen, Germany, in three finely-machined sections (an equatorial ring and two caps).
To withstand the enormous pressure of 1.25 metric tons per cm2 (110 MPa) at the bottom of Challenger Deep, the sphere's walls were 12.7 centimetres (5.0 in) thick (it was overdesigned to withstand considerably more than the rated pressure). The sphere weighed 14.25 metric tons (31,400 pounds) in air and eight metric tons (18,000 pounds) in water (giving it an average specific gravity of 13/(13−8) = 2.6 times that of sea water). The float was necessary because of the sphere's density: it was not possible to design a sphere large enough to hold a person that could withstand the necessary pressures, yet also have metal walls thin enough for the sphere to be neutrally buoyant. Gasoline was chosen as the float fluid because it is less dense than water, and also less compressible, thus retaining its buoyant properties and negating the need for thick, heavy walls for the float chamber.
Close-up of pressure sphere, with forward ballast silo at left
Observation of the sea outside the craft was conducted directly by eye, via a single, very tapered, cone-shaped block of acrylic glass (Plexiglas), the only transparent substance identified which would withstand the external pressure. Outside illumination for the craft was provided by quartz arc-light bulbs, which proved to be able to withstand the over 1,000 standard atmospheres (15,000 pounds per square inch) (100 MPa) of pressure without any modification.
Nine metric tons (20,000 pounds) of magnetic iron pellets were placed on the craft as ballast, both to speed the descent and allow ascent, since the extreme water pressures would not have permitted compressed air ballast-expulsion tanks to be used at great depths. This additional weight was held in place at the throats of two hopper-like ballast silos by electromagnets, so in case of an electrical failure the bathyscaphe would automatically rise to the surface.
Transported to the Naval Electronics Laboratory's facility in San Diego, California, Trieste was modified extensively by the Americans, and then used in a series of deep-submergence tests in the Pacific Ocean during the next few years, culminating in the dive to the bottom of the Challenger Deep during January 1960.[2]
23 January 1960: Trieste just before the record dive. The destroyer escort USS Lewis is in the background.
The Mariana Trench divesEdit
Trieste departed San Diego on 5 October 1959 for Guam aboard the freighter Santa Maria to participate in Project Nekton, a series of very deep dives in the Mariana Trench.
On 23 January 1960, she reached the ocean floor in the Challenger Deep (the deepest southern part of the Mariana Trench), carrying Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh.[4] This was the first time a vessel, manned or unmanned, had reached the deepest known point of the Earth's oceans. The onboard systems indicated a depth of 11,521 metres (37,799 ft), although this was revised later to 10,916 metres (35,814 ft); fairly recently, more accurate measurements have found Challenger Deep to be between 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) and 10,994 metres (36,070 ft) deep.[5]
The descent to the ocean floor took 4 hours 47 minutes at a descent rate of 0.9 metres per second (3.2 km/h; 2.0 mph).[6][7] After passing 9,000 metres (30,000 ft), one of the outer Plexiglas window panes cracked, shaking the entire vessel.[8] The two men spent twenty minutes on the ocean floor. The temperature in the cabin was 7 °C (45 °F) at the time. While at maximum depth, Piccard and Walsh unexpectedly regained the ability to communicate with the support ship, USS Wandank (ATA-204), using a sonar/hydrophone voice communications system.[9] At a speed of almost 1.6 km/s (1 mi/s) – about five times the speed of sound in air – it took about seven seconds for a voice message to travel from the craft to the support ship and another seven seconds for answers to return.
While at the bottom, Piccard and Walsh reported observing a number of small sole and flounder (both flatfish).[10][11] The accuracy of this observation has later been questioned and recent authorities do not recognize it as valid. The theoretical maximum depth for fish is at about 8,000–8,500 m (26,200–27,900 ft), beyond which they would become hyperosmotic.[12][13][14] Invertebrates such as sea cucumbers, some of which potentially could be mistaken for flatfish, have been confirmed at depths of 10,000 m (33,000 ft) and more.[12][15] Walsh later said that their original observation could be mistaken as their knowledge of biology was limited.[13] Piccard and Walsh noted that the floor of the Challenger Deep consisted of "diatomaceous ooze". The ascent took 3 hours and 15 minutes.
The Trieste at the National Museum of the United States Navy
Other deep dives by TriesteEdit
Beginning in April 1963, Trieste was modified and used in the Atlantic Ocean to search for the missing nuclear submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593). Trieste was delivered to Boston Harbor by USS Point Defiance (LSD-31) under the command of Captain H. H. Haisten. In August 1963, Trieste found the wreck off the coast of New England, 2,600 m (8,400 ft) below the surface.[16] Trieste was changed, improved and redesigned so many times that almost no original parts remain. It was transported to the Washington Navy Yard where it was exhibited along with the Krupp pressure sphere in the National Museum of the U.S. Navy at the Washington Navy Yard in 1980. Its original Terni pressure sphere was incorporated into the Trieste II.
In art and literatureEdit
The song "The Trench" by Danish composer Ste van Holm is a tribute to the Mariana Trench dives.
Voyage Of The Trieste - an instrumental track on The Chocolate Watchband's 1968 LP The Inner Mystique.
The producers of the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation named one of the show's starships U.S.S. Trieste, after the bathyscaphe.[17]
Trieste appears in the 2008 novel Flood by Stephen Baxter.
Producer Jack Dangers released the limited edition album Bathyscaphe Trieste on the label Primary Numbers (PRIMA007) on September 17, 2013.[18]
Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle
Deep Submergence Vehicle
Alvin (DSV-2)
Project Mohole
MIR (submersible)
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^ "First Trip to the Deepest Part of the Ocean The Bathyscaphe Trieste carried two hydronauts to the Challenger Deep in 1960". Geology.com. 2005-2015 Geology.com. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
^ a b "Trieste Bathyscaphe". Machine-History.Com. from Time article 12 October 1953. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
^ "Bathyscaphe" (PDF). National Geographic Education. 2015 National Geographic Society. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
^ "Trieste".
^ Amos, Jonathan (7 December 2011). "Oceans' deepest depth re-measured". BBC News. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
^ NGC: On the sea floor
^ To the Depths in Trieste, University of Delaware College of Marine Studies
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2007. CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link), Rolex Deep Sea Special, Written January 2006.
^ "Wandank (ATA-204)". historycentral.com. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
^ Meet the only man alive who has been to the deepest ocean. BBC. 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
^ "Meet the creatures that live beyond the abyss". BBC. 22 January 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
^ a b Wolff, T. (1961). "The deepest recorded fishes". Nature. 190: 283–284. doi:10.1038/190283a0.
^ a b Jamieson, A.J.; P.H. Yancey (2012). "On the Validity of the Trieste Flatfish: Dispelling the Myth". The Biological Bulletin. 222 (3): 171–175. doi:10.1086/BBLv222n3p171.
^ Yanceya, P.H.; E.M. Gerringera; J.C. Drazen; A.A. Rowden; A. Jamieson (2014). "Marine fish may be biochemically constrained from inhabiting the deepest ocean depths". PNAS. 111 (12): 4461–4465. doi:10.1073/pnas.1322003111. PMC 3970477.
^ Jamieson, A. (2015). The Hadal Zone: Life in the Deepest Oceans. Cambridge University Press. pp. 285–318. ISBN 978-1-107-01674-3.
^ Brand, V (1977). "Submersibles - Manned and Unmanned". South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal. 7 (3). ISSN 0813-1988. OCLC 16986801. Archived from the original on 1 August 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
^ Okuda, Michael; Okuda, Denise (1999). The Star Trek Encyclopedia. Pocket Books. p. 522. ISBN 0-671-03475-8.
^ https://www.discogs.com/Jack-Dangers-Bathyscaphe-Trieste/
Piccard, Jacques and Dietz, Robert S. (1961). Seven Miles Down; The Story of the Bathyscaph Trieste. G. T. Putnam's Sons. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trieste (submarine, 1953).
The Bathyscaph Trieste Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the World's Deepest Dive
Dives of the Bathyscaph Trieste - dictabelt recordings (pdf, page 38)
50th anniversary recollection by retired Navy Captain Don Walsh.
2008 obituary of diver Jaques Piccard
Coordinates: 11°19′N 142°15′E / 11.317°N 142.250°E / 11.317; 142.250
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Architecture of Portugal
(Redirected from Portuguese architecture)
Find sources: "Architecture of Portugal" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
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Castle of Guimarães, a tenth century castle in Guimarães known as the 'Cradle of Portugal'.
Architecture of Portugal refers to the architecture practiced in the territory of present-day Portugal since before the foundation of the country in the 12th century. The term may also refer to buildings created under Portuguese influence or by Portuguese architects in other parts of the world, particularly in the Portuguese Empire.
Portuguese architecture, like all aspects of Portuguese culture, is marked by the history of the country and the several people that have settled and influenced the current Portuguese territory. These include Romans, Suebians among other related Germanic peoples, Visigoths and Arabs, as well as the influence from the main European artistic centres from which were introduced to the broad architectural styles: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassicism. Among the main local manifestations of Portuguese architecture are the Manueline, the exuberant Portuguese version of late Gothic; and the Pombaline style, a mix of late Baroque and Neoclassicism that developed after the Great Lisbon earthquake of 1755.
In the 20th century, Portuguese architecture has produced Fernando Távora, Eduardo Souto de Moura and Álvaro Siza.
Pre-Roman periodEdit
Anta (dolmen) in Cabeção, near Mora, in the Alentejo.
MegalithsEdit
The earliest examples of architectural activity in Portugal date from the Neolithic and consist of structures associated with Megalith culture. The Portuguese hinterland is dotted with a large number of dolmens (called antas or dólmens), tumuli (mamoas) and menhirs. The Alentejo region is particularly rich in megalithic monuments, like the notable Anta Grande do Zambujeiro, located near Évora. Standing stones can be found isolated or forming circular arrays (stone circles or cromlechs). The Almendres Cromlech, also located near Évora, is the largest of the Iberian Peninsula, containing nearly 100 menhirs arranged in two elliptical arrays on an East-West orientation.
Celtic villagesEdit
Pre-historic fortified villages dating from the Chalcolithic are found along the Tagus river like that of Vila Nova de São Pedro, near Cartaxo, and the Castro of Zambujal, near Torres Vedras.
Iron age house in Citânia de Briteiros
These sites were occupied in the period around 2500–1700 BC and were surrounded by stone walls and towers, a sign of the conflictivity of the time.
Starting around the 6th century BC, Northwest Portugal, as well as neighbouring Galicia in Spain, saw the development of the Celtic Castro culture (cultura castreja). This region was dotted with hillfort villages (called citânias or cividades) that for the most part continued to exist under Roman domination, when the area became incorporated into the province of Gallaecia. Notable archaeological sites are the Citânia de Sanfins, near Paços de Ferreira, Citânia de Briteiros, near Guimarães, and the Cividade de Terroso, near Póvoa do Varzim. For defensive reasons, these hillforts were built over elevated terrain and were surrounded by rings of stone walls (Terroso had three wall rings). Houses were round in shape with walls made of stone without mortar, while the roofs were made of grass shoots. Baths were built in some of them, like in Briteiros and Sanfins.
Roman periodEdit
Roman Temple of Évora
Architecture developed significantly in the 2nd century BC with the arrival of the Romans, who called the Iberian Peninsula Hispania. Conquered settlements and villages were often modernised following Roman models, with the building of a forum, streets, theatres, temples, baths, aqueducts and other public buildings. An efficient array of roads and bridges was built to link the cities and other settlements.
Braga (Bracara Augusta) was the capital of the Gallaecia province and still has vestiges of public baths, a public fountain (called Idol's Fountain) and a theatre. Évora boasts a well-preserved Roman temple, probably dedicated to the cult of Emperor Augustus. A Roman bridge crosses the Tâmega River by the city of Chaves (Aquae Flaviae). Lisbon (Olissipo) has the remains of a theatre in the Alfama neighbourhood.
The best-preserved remains of a Roman village are those of Conimbriga, located near Coimbra. The excavations revealed city walls, baths, the forum, an aqueduct, an amphitheatre, and houses for the middle classes (insulae), as well as luxurious mansions (domus) with central courtyards decorated with mosaics. Another important excavated Roman village is Miróbriga, near Santiago do Cacém, with a well preserved Roman temple, baths, a bridge and the vestiges of the only Roman hippodrome known in Portugal.
Roman bridge of Aquae Flaviae, today's Chaves.
In the hinterland, wealthy Romans established villae, country houses dedicated to agriculture. Many villae contained facilities likes baths and were decorated with mosaics and paintings. Important sites are the Villae of Pisões (near Beja), Torre de Palma (near Monforte) and Centum Cellas (near Belmonte). The latter has the well-preserved ruins of a three-storey tower which was part of the residence of the villa owner.
Germanic periodEdit
Saint Frutuoso Chapel near Braga, a Greek cross building of Byzantine influence (7th century).
Roman domination in Hispania was ended with the invasions by Germanic peoples (especially Sueves and Visigoths) starting in the 5th century AD. Very few buildings survive from the period of Visigoth domination (c.580–770), most of them modified in subsequent centuries. One of these is the small Saint Frutuoso Chapel, near Braga, which was part of a Visigothic monastery built in the 7th century. The building has a Greek cross floorplan with rectangular arms and a central cupola; both the cupola and the arms of the chapel are decorated with arch reliefs. The chapel shows clear influences of Byzantine buildings like the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna.
After 711, in the period of dominance of the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors, the Christian Kingdom of Asturias (c.711–910), located in the Northern part of the peninsula, was a centre of resistance (see Reconquista). In addition, many Christians (Mozarabs) lived in Moorish territories and were allowed to practicise their religion and build churches. Asturian architecture and Mozarabic art influenced Christian buildings in the future Portuguese territory, as seen on the few structures that have survived from this time. The most important of these is the Church of São Pedro de Lourosa, located near Oliveira do Hospital, which bears an inscription that gives 912 as the year of its construction. The church is a basilica with three aisles separated by horseshoe arches, a narthex on the façade and mullioned, horseshoe-shaped windows of Asturian influence on the central aisle.
Other preromanesque churches built under Asturian and Mozarabic influence are São Pedro de Balsemão, near Lamego, with a basilica floorplan, and the Chapel of São Gião, near Nazaré, although some authors consider that these buildings may be of Visigoth origin. The inner spaces of these buildings are all divided by typical horseshoe arches. The Visigothic Saint Frutuoso Chapel was also modified in the 10th century, when the arm chapels were given a round floorplan and horseshoe arches.
Moorish periodEdit
Main gate (Porta de Loulé) of the old Moorish city centre (Almedina) of Silves.
The invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in the year 711 by Moors from the Maghreb put an end to Visigoth rule in Hispania, called Al-Andalus by the newcomers. Moorish presence strongly influenced art and architecture in Portuguese territory, especially in Southern Portugal, where the Reconquista was only finished in 1249. However, in contrast to neighbouring Spain, few Islamic buildings in Portugal have survived intact to this day. Traditional houses in many cities and villages in Portugal have simple, white façades that lend the ensemble of streets and neighbourhoods a distinct Islamic look, similar to that of villages in Northern Africa. Many villages and city neighbourhoods have retained the street layout from Islamic times, like the Alfama in Lisbon. Moorish buildings were often constructed with the rammed earth (taipa) and adobe techniques, followed by whitewashing.
CastlesEdit
Main article: Castles in Portugal
The Moors built strong castles and fortifications in many cities but, although many Portuguese mediaeval castles originated in the Islamic period, most of them have been extensively remodelled after the Christian reconquest. One of the best-preserved is Silves Castle, located in Silves, the ancient capital of the Al-Garb, today's Algarve. Built between the 8th and 13th centuries, Silves Castle has preserved its walls and square-shaped towers from the Moorish period, as well as 11th-century cisterns – water reservoirs used in case of a siege. The old Moorish centre of the city – the Almedina – was defended by a wall and several fortified towers and gates, parts of which are still preserved.
View of Mértola; the Main Church, formerly a mosque, is in the foreground.
Another notable Islamic castle in the Algarve is Paderne Castle, whose ruined walls evidence the taipa building technique used in its construction. The Sintra Moorish Castle, near Lisbon, has also preserved rests of walls and a cistern from Moorish times. Part of the Moorish city walls have been preserved in Lisbon (the so-called Cerca Velha) and Évora. Moorish city gates with a characteristic horseshoe-arched profile can be found in Faro and Elvas.
MosquesEdit
Many mosques were built all over Portuguese territory during Muslim domination, but virtually all of these have been turned into churches and cathedrals, and Islamic features cannot be identified anymore. Thus, the Cathedrals of Lisbon, Silves and Faro, for instance, are probably built over the remains of the great mosques after the Reconquista.
The only exception to this rule is the Main Church (Matriz) of Mértola, in the Alentejo region. The Mértola Mosque was built in the second half of the 12th century and, even though it has suffered several modifications, it is still the best-preserved mediaeval mosque in Portugal. Inside the church has an approximate square-shaped floorplan with 4 aisles with a total of 12 columns that support a 16th-century Manueline rib vaulting. Even though the roof has been modified and some aisles have been suppressed in the 16th century, the labyrinthic interior with its "forest" of pillars clearly relates to other contemporary mosques in Spain and Maghreb. The inner wall still has a mihrab, a decorated niche that indicates the direction of Mecca. In addition the church has three horseshoe arches with an alfiz, a typical Islamic decorative feature.
Romanesque style (1100 – c. 1230)Edit
See also: Romanesque architecture and List of regional characteristics of Romanesque churches
A side portal in the church of the Benedictine Monastery of Rates with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic decoration (built in 13th century).
Cathedrals and monasteriesEdit
The Romanesque style was introduced in Portugal between the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century. The most influential of the first Portuguese Romanesque monuments were Braga Cathedral and the Monastery of Rates. The Cathedral of Braga was rebuilt in the 1070s by bishop Pedro and consecrated in 1089, although only the apse was finished at the time. The bishop's ambitious plan was to create a pilgrimage church, with a three aisled nave, an ambulatory and a large transept. A relic of this early project may be a small Eastern chapel located nowadays outside the church itself.
Building activity gained pace after 1095, when Count Henry took possession of the Condado Portucalense. Count Henry came to Portugal with a number of noblemen and also Benedictine monks of Cluny Abbey, which was headed by Henry's brother, Hugh. The Benedictines and other religious orders gave great impulse to Romanesque architecture during the whole 12th century. Count Henry sponsored the building of the Monastery of Rates (begun in 1096), one of the fundamental works of the first Portuguese Romanesque, although the project was modified several times during the 12th century. The relevance of its architecture and sculptures with diverse architectural influences make this temple a case study that is reflected in the production of further Romanesque art of the nascent kingdom of Portugal.
Façade of the Old Cathedral of Coimbra (begun 1162).
The worshops of Braga and Rates were very influential in Northern Portugal. Extant 12th-century Romanesque monastic churches are found in Manhente (near Barcelos), with a portal dating from around 1117; Rio Mau (near Vila do Conde); with an exceptional apse dating from 1151; Travanca (near Amarante); Paço de Sousa (near Penafiel); Bravães (near Ponte da Barca), Pombeiro (near Felgueiras) and many others.
The spread of Romanesque in Portugal followed the North-South path of the Reconquista, specially during the reign of Afonso Henriques, Count Henry's son and first King of Portugal. In Coimbra, Afonso Henriques created the Santa Cruz Monastery, one of the most important of the monastic foundations of the time, although the current building is the result of a 16th-century remodelling. Afonso Henriques and his successors also sponsored the building of many cathedrals in the bishop seats of the country. This generation of Romanesque cathedrals included the already-mentioned Braga, Oporto, Coimbra, Viseu, Lamego and Lisbon.
Almourol Castle, built c. 1171 on an island of the Tagus by the Templar Knights. The highest tower is the square-shaped keep of the castle.
All Portuguese Romanesque cathedrals were later extensively modified with the exception of the Cathedral of Coimbra (begun 1162), which has remained unaltered. Coimbra Cathedral is a Latin cross church with a three-aisled nave, a transept with short arms and three East chapels. The central aisle is covered by a stone barrel vaulting while the lateral aisles are covered by groin vaults. The second storey of the central aisle has an arched gallery (triforium), and the crossing is topped by a dome. This general scheme is related to that of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, although the Coimbra building is much less ambitious.
Lisbon Cathedral (begun c.1147) is very similar to Coimbra Cathedral, except that the West façade is flanked by two massive towers, a feature observed in other cathedrals like Oporto and Viseu. In general, Portuguese cathedrals had a heavy, fortress-like appearance, with crenellations and little decoration apart from portals and windows.
A remarkable religious Romanesque building is the Round Church (Rotunda) in the Castle of Tomar, which was built in the second half of the 12th century by the Templar Knights. The church is a round structure with a central arched octagon, and was probably modelled after the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, which was mistakenly believed by the crusaders to be a remnant of the Temple of Solomon. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem may also have served as model.
The troubled times of the Portuguese Reconquista meant that many castles had to be built to protect villages from Moors and Castilians. King Afonso Henriques sponsored the building of many fortifications (often remodelling Moorish castles as Lisbon Castle) and granted land to Military Orders – specially the Templar Knights and the Knights Hospitallers – who became responsible for the defence of borders and villages. The Templar Knights built several fortresses along the line of the Tagus river, like the castles of Pombal, Tomar and Belver and Almourol. They are credited as having introduced the keep to Portuguese military architecture.
Gothic (c. 1200 – c. 1450)Edit
Main article: Portuguese Gothic architecture
Central aisle of the church of Alcobaça Monastery (12th–13th century).
Churches and monasteriesEdit
Gothic architecture was brought to Portugal by the Cistercian Order. The first fully Gothic building in Portugal is the church of the Monastery of Alcobaça, a magnificent example of the clear and simple architectural forms favoured by the Cistercians. The church was built between 1178 and 1252 in three phases, and seems inspired by the Abbey of Clairvaux, in the Champagne. Its three aisles are very tall and slender, giving an exceptional impression of height. The whole church is covered by rib vaulting and the main chapel has an ambulatory and a series of radiant chapels. The vault of the ambulatory is externally supported by flying buttresses, typical features of Gothic architecture and a novelty at the time in Portugal.
After the foundation of Alcobaça, the Gothic style was chiefly disseminated by mendicant orders (mainly Franciscan, Augustinians and Dominicans). Along the 13th and 14th centuries, several convents were founded in urban centres, important examples of which can be found in Oporto (São Francisco Church), Coimbra (Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha), Guimarães (São Francisco, São Domingos), Santarém (São Francisco, Santa Clara), Elvas (São Domingos), Lisbon (ruins of Carmo Convent) and many other places. Mendicant Gothic churches usually had a three-aisled nave covered with wooden roof and an apse with three chapels covered with rib vaulting. These churches also lacked towers and were mostly devoid of architectural decoration, in tone with mendicant ideals. Mendicant Gothic was also adopted in several parish churches built all over the country, for instance in Sintra (Santa Maria), Mafra, Lourinhã and Loulé.
Flamboyant Gothic in the Monastery of Batalha: church façade (left) and Founder's Chapel (right).
Many of the Romanesque cathedrals were modernised with Gothic elements. Thus, the Romanesque nave of Oporto Cathedral is supported by flying buttresses, one of the first built in Portugal (early 13th century). The apse of Lisbon Cathedral was totally remodelled in the first half of the 14th century, when it gained a Gothic ambulatory illuminated by a clerestory (high row of windows on the upper storey). The ambulatory has a series of radiant chapels illuminated with large windows, contrasting with the dark Romanesque nave of the cathedral. An important transitional building is Évora Cathedral, built during the 13th century; even though its floorplan, façade and elevation are inspired by Lisbon Cathedral, its forms (arches, windows, vaults) are already Gothic. Many Gothic churches maintained the fortress-like appearance of Romanesque times, like the already-mentioned Évora Cathedral, the Church of the Monastery of Leça do Balio (14th century) near Matosinhos, and even as late as the 15th-century, with the Main Church of Viana do Castelo.
Several Gothic cloisters were built and can still be found in the Cathedrals of Oporto, Lisbon and Évora (all from the 14th century) as well as in monasteries like Alcobaça, Santo Tirso and the Convent of the Order of Christ.
In the early 15th century, the building of the Monastery of Batalha, sponsored by King John I, led to a renovation of Portuguese Gothic. After 1402, the works were trusted to Master Huguet, of unknown origin, who introduced the Flamboyant Gothic style to the project. The whole building is decorated with Gothic pinnacles (crockets), reliefs, large windows with intrincate tracery and elaborate crenellations. The main portal has a series of archivolts decorated with a multitude of statues, while the tympanum has a relief showing Christ and the Evangelists. The Founder's Chapel and the Chapter House have elaborate star-ribbed vaulting, unknown in Portugal until then. Batalha influenced 15th-century workshops like those of Guarda Cathedral, Silves Cathedral and monasteries in Beja (Nossa Senhora da Conceição) and Santarém (Convento da Graça).
View of Bragança Castle. The large keep tower was built in the 15th century.
Another Gothic variant was the so-called Mudéjar-Gothic, which developed in Portugal towards the end of the 15th century, specially in the Alentejo region. The name Mudéjar refers to the influence of Islamic art in the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, specially in the Middle Ages. In the Alentejo and elsewhere, Mudéjar influence in several buildings is evident in the profile of windows and portals, often with horseshoe arches and a mullion, circular turrets with conical pinnacles, Islamic merlons etc., as well as tile (azulejo) decoration. Examples include the portico of St Francis Church of Évora, the courtyard of the Sintra Royal Palace and several churches and palaces in Évora, Elvas, Arraiolos, Beja, etc. Múdejar eventually intermingled with the Manueline style in the early 16th century.
Castles and palacesEdit
During the Gothic era, several castles had to be either built or reinforced, especially along the border with the Kingdom of Castille. Compared to previous castles, Gothic castles in Portugal tended to have more towers, often of circular or semi-circular plan (to increase resistance to projectiles), keep towers tended to be polygonal, and castle gates were often defended by a pair of flanking towers. A second, lower wall curtain (barbicans) were often built along the perimeter of the main walls to prevent war machines from approaching the castle. Features like machicolations and improved arrowslits became also widespread.
Starting in the 14th century, keep towers became larger and more sophisticated, with rib vaulting roofs and facilities like fireplaces. Keep towers with improved residential characteristics can be found in the castles of Beja, Estremoz and Bragança, while some later castles (15th century) became real palaces, like those in Penedono, Ourém and Porto de Mós. The most significant case is the Castle of Leiria, turned into a royal palace by King John I. Some rooms of the palace are decorated with splendid Gothic loggias, from which the surrounding landscape could be appreciated by the King and Queen.
Manueline style (c. 1490 – c. 1520)Edit
Main article: Manueline
Manueline nave of Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon.
Portuguese Late Gothic architecture is characterised by the development of a sumptuous style called Manueline in honour of King Manuel I, under whose reign (1495–1521) most buildings of the style were built or begun. Manueline mixes aspects of Late Gothic with Renaissance architecture and decoration, revealing influences from Spanish (Plateresque, Isabelline), Italian and Flemish contemporary art, as well as elements borrowed from Islamic (Mudéjar) tradition. Manueline buildings are also often decorated with naturalistic motifs typical of the Age of Discovery, like spiralling motifs that remind of ropes used in ships, as well as a rich array of animal and vegetal motifs.
The first known building in Manueline style is the Monastery of Jesus of Setúbal. The church of the monastery was built from 1490 to 1510 by Diogo Boitac, an architect considered one of the main creators of the style. The nave of the church has three aisles of equal height, revealing an attempt to unify inner space which reaches its climax in the nave of the church of the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, finished in the 1520s by architect João de Castilho. The nave of the Setúbal Monastery is supported by spiralling columns, a typical Manueline feature that is also found in the nave of Guarda Cathedral and the parish churches of Olivenza, Freixo de Espada à Cinta, Montemor-o-Velho and others. Manueline buildings also usually carry elaborate portals with spiralling columns, niches and loaded with Renaissance and Gothic decorative motifs, like in Jerónimos Monastery, Santa Cruz Monastery of Coimbra and many others.
Renaissance and Mannerism (c. 1520 – c. 1650)Edit
Main articles: Portuguese Renaissance and Renaissance architecture in Portugal
The adoption of the austere Renaissance style did not catch on well in Portugal. Introduced by a French architect in 1517, it was mainly practiced from the 1530s on by foreign architects and was therefore called estrangeirada (foreign-influenced). In later years this style slowly evolved into Mannerism. The painter and architect Francisco de Holanda, writer of the book Diálogos da Pintura Antiga ("Dialogues on Ancient Painting"), dissiminated in this treatise the fundamentals of this new style.
Nave of Church of São Roque in Lisbon (1565–1587).
The basilica of Nossa Senhora da Conceição in Tomar was one of the earliest churches in pure Renaissance style. It was begun by the Castilian architect Diogo de Torralva in the period 1532–1540. Its beautiful and clear architecture turns it into one of the best early Renaissance buildings in Portugal. The small church of Bom Jesus de Valverde, south of Évora, attributed to both Manuel Pires and Diogo de Torralva, is another early example.
The most eminent example of this style is the Claustro de D. João III (Cloister of John III) in the Convent of the Order of Christ in Tomar. Started under the Portuguese King João III, it was finished during the reign of Philip I of Portugal (also King of Spain under the name of Philip II). The first architect was the Spaniard Diogo de Torralva, who began the work in 1557, only to be finished in 1591 by Philip II's architect, the Italian Filippo Terzi. This magnificent, two-storey cloister is considered one of the most important examples of Mannerist architecture in Portugal.
However, the best known Portuguese architect in this period was Afonso Álvares, whose works include the cathedrals of Leiria (1551–1574), Portalegre (begun 1556), and the Church of São Roque in Lisbon. During this period he evolved into the Mannerist style.
This last church was completed by the Jesuit architect, the Italian Filippo Terzi, who also built the Jesuit college at Évora, the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon and the episcopal palace in Coimbra. He had an enormous production and, besides churches, he also built several aqueducts and fortresses.
In his wake came several Portuguese architects:
Miguel de Arruda: Church of Our Lady of Grace (in Évora)
Baltasar Álvares, best known for the Sé Nova in Coimbra and the Igreja de São Lourenço in Porto.
Francisco Velasquez: Cathedral of Mirando do Douro and the designs for the monastery of S. Salvador (Grijó)
the military architect Manuel Pires: St. Anton's church in Évora.
Plain style (1580–1640)Edit
View of the Monastery of Tibães with the church façade, near Braga
During the union of Portugal and Spain, the period between 1580 and 1640, a new style developed called "Arquitecture chã" (plain architecture) by George Kubler.[1] Basically mannerist, this style also marked by a clear structure, a sturdy appearance with smooth, flat surfaces and a moderate arrangement of space, lacking excessive decorations. It is a radical break with the decorative Manueline style. This simplified style, caused by limited financial resources, expresses itself in the construction of hall churches and less impressive buildings. In resistance to the Baroque style that was already the standard in Spain, the Portuguese continued to apply the plain style to express their separate identity as a people.
Baltasar Alvares built some of the most impressive examples in this style : the Sé Nova of Coimbra (1598–1640), the S Lourenço or Grilos church in Porto (begun 1614) and the church S Antão in Lisbon (1613–1656; now destroyed)..
Other examples are the several Benedictine constructions in this period, such as the renovation by João Turriano of the Monastery of Tibães and the Monastery of São Bento (now the Portuguese Parliament).
Francisco de Mora designed the convent of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios (Évora) for the order of the Discalced Carmelites (1601–1614)
Pedro Nunes Tinoco designed in 1616 the church of S Marta (Lisbon) for the Order of the Poor Clares.
When king Filipe II made his Joyous Entry in Lisbon in 1619, several temporary triumphal arches were erected in the Flemish style of Hans Vredeman de Vries. The tract literature of Wendel Dietterlin[2] also increased the interest in Flemish Baroque architecture and art. This influence can be seen in the façade of the S Lourenço or Grilos church in Porto, begun in 1622 by Baltasar Alvares.
This was also the period of the rise of the azulejos and the use of carved gilded wood (talha dourada) on altars and ceilings.
Restoration architecture (1640–1717)Edit
The Baroque style follows naturally from and is the expression of the Counter-Reformation, a reaction of the Roman Catholic Church against the upcoming Protestantism. But since the ideas of Protestantism did not take root at all in Portugal, the Baroque style did not really catch on at a time when it was the prevailing style in the rest of Europe. Furthermore, this style was too much associated with the Jesuits and Spanish rule.
Instead a new style, a transition from the Plain Style to Late Baroque, was adopted when Portugal regained its independence in 1640. It was a period of declining economic and military power, with fewer projects and lesser opulence as a consequence.
José Fernandes Pereira[3] identified the first period from 1651 to 1690 as a period of experimentation.
The nobility were the first to show their regained power. A typical example is the Palace of the Marqueses da Fronteira in Benfica (Lisbon) (started in 1667). This country manor house still follows Italian Mannerism examples, but there is already a heavy influence of the Baroque style in the perfect harmony of the house and the surrounding gardens, the splendour of the staircase and the many iconographic, decorative elements in the rooms. The large azulejos (tile panels) covering the walls with equestrian portraits, historical battle scenes or trumpet-blowing monkeys, created by the workshops of Jan van Oort and Willem van der Kloet in Amsterdam, are unique.
Church of Santa Engrácia, Lisbon
The Piedmontese Theatine priest and architect Camillo-Guarino Guarini designed the church of Santa Maria della Divina Providência in Lisbon. The elliptical floor plan, adopted in the church, stands apart in the Portuguese 17th-century architecture. But his sketchbook however showed a different floor plan and elevation. Even if his designs, influenced by the Roman Baroque architect Francesco Borromini, were not exactly followed in this church, they were often publicized and they spread the influence of Borromini in Portugal.[4]
Other realisations in this period include :
Jacome Mendes : the church of Nossa Senhora da Piedade (in Santarém, 1665)
The church of S. Agostinho (1667) in Vila Viçosa
João Turriano : the Monastery of S Clara-a-Velha in Coimbra (1649–1696)
The church of Portimão, possibly by João Nunes Tinoco (1660).
The next period, between 1690 and 1717, saw the cautious introduction of the Baroque style in Portugal. The Church of Santa Engrácia (now the National Pantheon of Santa Engracia), begun in 1682 by João Nunes Tinoco and continued by João Antunes is a centralised structure, built in the form of a Greek cross (a cross with arms of equal length), crowned with a central dome (only completed in 1966 !) and the façades are ondulated like in the Baroque designs of Borromini. . It goes back to a design by the Italian architect Donato Bramante of the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It is perhaps the only truly Baroque building in Portugal. This time Rome, instead of Flanders, became the example to be followed for the construction of buildings.
The church of Senhor da Cruz in Barcelos, built by João Antunes in 1701–1704 is an unusual experiment because of its four-leaf clover plan.
Baroque style (1717–1755)Edit
The year 1697 is an important year for Portuguese architecture. In that year gold, gems and later diamonds were found in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Mining exploration was strongly controlled by the Portuguese Crown, which imposed heavy taxes on everything extracted (one fifth of all gold would go to the Crown). These enormous proceeds caused Portugal to prosper and become the richest country of Europe in the 18th century. King João V, who reigned between 1706 and 1750, tried to rival the French king Louis XIV, also called the Sun King, by engaging in a large number of expensive building activities. But the French king could rely on local experience for the glorification of his name and of France. The Palace of Versailles was transformed for Louis XIV into a marvelous palace by architect Louis Le Vau, painter and designer Charles Le Brun and the landscape architect André Le Nôtre. The Portuguese king, on the other hand, had to make up the lack of local experience and tradition with foreign artists who were lured to Portugal with huge amounts of money.
King João V squandered his money lavishly, starting numerous building projects, many of which were never finished.
The Mafra National Palace is among the most sumptuous Baroque buildings in Portugal. This monumental palace-monastery-church complex is even larger than the El Escorial, an immense 16th-century Spanish royal palace north of Madrid to emphasize the symbolic affirmation of his power. The king appointed Johann Friedrich Ludwig (known in Portugal as João Frederico Ludovice) as the architect. This German goldsmith (!) had received some experience as an architect, working for the Jesuits in Rome. His design for the palace is a synthesis of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, the Jesuit Sant'Ignazio church in Rome and the Palazzo Montecitorio, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
This design was in line with the king's desire to imitate the Eternal City, and with his ambition to found a "second Rome" at the river Tagus. His envoys in Rome had to provide the king with models and floor plans of many Roman monuments.
Palace of Queluz
One of these was the Patriarchal palace in Lisbon. The Piedmontese architect Filippo Juvarra was brought to Lisbon to draw up the plans. But this project was also toned down because Juvarra only stayed for a few months and left – breaking his contract – for London.
Other important constructions were :
1729–1748 : the Águas Livres aqueduct in Lisbon (by Manuel da Maia, Antonio Canevari and Custódio Vieira), described by contemporaries as the ‘greatest work since the Romans’. It provided Lisbon with water, but also the many new monumental fountains built by the Hungarian Carlos Mardel
1728–1732 : the Quinta de S Antão do Tojal (by the Italian architect Antonio Canevari)
1755 (completed) : the Ópera do Tejo (destroyed later that year) (by Giovanni Carlo Sicinio-Bibiena)
(completed in 1750) Palace of Necessidades (by Eugénio dos Santos, Custodio Vieira, Manuel da Costa Negreiros and Caetano Tomas de Sousa)
from 1747 : the Queluz Palace, the country residence for the king's younger brother (by Mateus Vicente de Oliveira and Jean-Baptiste Robillon). This palace is the country's second major example in Baroque style. However the façade shows already some Rococo details.
Intricately worked façade of the Palácio do Raio in Braga
His most spectacular undertaking was however the building in Rome of the St John the Baptist chapel with the single purpose of obtaining the blessing of the pope Benedict XIV for this chapel. The chapel was designed by Luigi Vanvitelli in 1742 and built by Nicola Salvi in the church S. Antonio dei Portoghesi. After the benediction, the chapel was disassembled and transported to Lisbon. It was assembled again in 1747 in the S Roque church. It is opulently decorated with porphyry, the rarest marbles and precious stones. Its design already foreshadows the classical revival.
A different and more exuberant Baroque style with some Rococo touches, more reminiscent of the style in Central Europe, developed in the northern part of Portugal. The Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni designed the church and the spectacular granite tower of São Pedro dos Clérigos in Porto. One of his successors was the painter and architect José de Figueiredo Seixas, who had been one of his disciples. The sanctuary Bom Jesus do Monte near Braga, built by the architect Carlos Luis Ferreira Amarante is a notable example of a pilgrimage site with a monumental, cascading Baroque stairway that climbs 116 metres. This last example already shows the shift in style to Neo-classicism.
The Palácio do Raio (by André Soares) is an outstanding Baroque-Rococo urban palace with richly decorated façade in Braga. Several country houses and manors in late-Baroque style were built in this period. Typical examples are the homes of the Lobo-Machado family (in Guimarães), the Malheiro (Viana do Castelo) and the Mateus (Vila Real).
Pombaline style (1755–1860)Edit
Main article: Pombaline style
Praça do Comércio with the arch leading to Augusta street, in Lisbon
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake and the subsequent tsunami and fires destroyed many buildings in Lisbon. Joseph I of Portugal and his Prime Minister Sebastião de Melo, Marquis of Pombal hired architects and engineers to rebuild the damaged portions of Lisbon, including the Pombaline Downtown.
The Pombaline style is a secular, utilitarian architecture marked by pragmatism. It follows the Plain style of the military engineers, with regular, rational arrangements, mixed with Rococo details and a Neo-classical approach to structure. The Baixa district of Lisbon was rebuilt by Eugénio dos Santos and Carlos Mardel. The Marquis of Pombal imposed strict conditions on the rebuilding. Architectural models were tested by having troops march around them to simulate an earthquake, making the Pombaline one of the first examples of earthquake-resistant construction. The Praça do Comércio, the Augusta street and the Avenida da Liberdade are notable examples of this architecture. This Square of Commerce was given a regular, rational arrangement in line with the reconstruction of the new Pombaline Downtown, the Baixa.
The Pombaline style of architecture is also to be found in Vila Real de Santo António (1773–5) a new town in the Algarve, built by Reinaldo Manuel dos Santos. The style is clearly visible in the urban arrangement and especially in the main square.
In Porto, at the initiative of the prison governor João de Almada e Melo, the Rua de S João was reconstructed (after 1757), and the Relação law court, the Court of Appeal Gaol (1765) and the prison were rebuilt. The British colony of port traders introduced the Palladian architecture in the Praça da Ribeira (1776–1782), the Factory House (1785–1790) and the S Antonio Hospital (1770).
Portuguese modern architecture: buildings at Parque das Nações, Lisbon
Modern architectureEdit
Portugal's longstanding traditions, geographic isolation, extended period under an authoritarian government, along with a group of very talented architects, have kept Portuguese architecture clean of capricious imitations. Portugal has an architecture that carefully evolved within the local tradition through a balanced process of absorbing universal influences, until slowly emerging onto the center stage of the architecture world.
One of the top architecture schools in the world, known as "Escola do Porto" or School of Porto, is located in Portugal. Its alumni include Fernando Távora, Álvaro Siza (winner of the 1992 Pritzker prize) and Eduardo Souto de Moura (winner of the 2011 Pritzker prize). Its modern heir is the Faculdade de Arquitectura (School of Architecture) of the University of Porto.
Although Portuguese architecture is usually associated with the internationally accredited Alvaro Siza, there are others equally responsible for the positive trends in current architecture. "Many Portuguese architects are sons of Siza, but Tavora is a grandfather to all of us." The influence of Sizas own teacher, Fernando Tavora, echoes across generations.[5]
The Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, built in 1960s and designed by Rui Atouguia, Pedro Cid and Alberto Pessoa, is one of the very best, defining examples of 20th-century Portuguese architecture.
In Portugal Tomás Taveira is also noteworthy, particularly due to stadium design.[6][7][8] Other renowned Portuguese architects include Pancho Guedes and Gonçalo Byrne.
Carrilho da Graça’s Centro de Documentação da Presidência da República (Documentation Archive of the President of the Portuguese Republic), is one of Lisbon’s best-kept architectural secrets.[citation needed]
Classification of Built Heritage in Portugal
Portuguese pavement
FootnotesEdit
^ "Portuguese Plain Architecture: Between Spices and Diamonds, 1521–1706" (ISBN 0-8195-4045-5)
^ "Architectura von Ausstellung, Symmetrie und Proportion der Säulen" (Architecture of Exhibition, Symmetry and Proportion of Columns) (1591)
^ José Fernandes Pereira. Arquitectura Barroca em Portugal. Instituto de Cultura e Língua Portuguesa. 1986.
^ Morrogh, Andrew (March 1998). "Guarini and the Pursuit of Originality: The Church for Lisbon and Related Projects". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 57, No. 1. 57 (1): 6–29. doi:10.2307/991402. JSTOR 991402.
^ Modern Portugal- Architecture in the Age of Masses
^ ‹See Tfd›(in Portuguese) Estádios de Tomás Taveira e Souto Moura premiados, Diário de Notícias (July 8, 2005)
^ Tomás Taveira, Geoffrey Broadbent (introduction), Publisher: St Martins Pr (February 1991)
^ ‹See Tfd›(in Portuguese) Tomás Taveira desenha estádio do Palmeiras no Brasil Archived 2011-04-29 at the Wayback Machine, Diarioeconomico.com
Kingsley, Karen, Gothic Art, Visigothic Architecture in Spain and Portugal: A Study in Masonry, Documents and Form, 1980; International Census of Doctoral Dissertations in Medieval Art, 1982–1993
KUBLER, George, y SORIA, Martin, "Art and Architecture in Spain and Portugal and their Dominions, 1500–1800", New York, 1959.
Kubler, George, "Portuguese Plain Architecture: Between Spices and Diamonds, 1521–1706 " ; Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Connecticut 1972; ISBN 0-8195-4045-5
Toman, Rolf – Romanik; Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Köln, 1996 (in Dutch translation : Romaanse Kunst : Architectuur, Beeldhouwkunst, Schilderkunst) ISBN 3-89508-449-2
Toman, Rolf – Barock ; Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Köln, 1997 (in Dutch translation : Barok : Architectuur, Beeldhouwkunst, Schilderkunst); ISBN 3-89508-919-2
Underwood, D.K. – "The Pombaline Style and International Neoclassicism in Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro."; U. of Pennsylvania Editor, 1988
Gutenberg.org: Portuguese Architecture — by Walter Crum Watson, available free (in HTML or plain text).
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Architecture of Portugal.
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Federal Trade Commission v. Raladam Company (316 U.S. 149)/Opinion of the Court
< Federal Trade Commission v. Raladam Company (316 U.S. 149)
Federal Trade Commission v. Raladam Company (316 U.S. 149)
Opinion of the Court by Hugo Black
895434Federal Trade Commission v. Raladam Company (316 U.S. 149) — Opinion of the Court
Case Syllabus
Argued: April 13, 1942. --- Decided: April 27, 1942
The Circuit Court of Appeals set aside a cease and desist order of the Federal Trade Commission upon the ground that certain findings were not supported by evidence. 6 Cir., 123 F.2d 34. The refusal of the court to enforce the Commission's order rested in part upon an interpretation of this Court's decision in a prior controversy between the same parties. Federal Trade Comm. v. Raladam Co., 283 U.S. 643, 51 S.Ct. 587, 75 L.Ed. 1324, 79 A.L.R. 1191. Because of the importance of questions raised, we granted certiorari. 315 U.S. 790, 62 S.Ct. 631, 86 L.Ed. --.
Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 38 Stat. 719, 15 U.S.C. § 45, 15 U.S.C.A. § 45, declares unfair methods of competition in commerce to be unlawful; empowers the Commission to prevent such methods; and authorizes the Commission after hearings and findings of fact to issue orders requiring violators 'to cease and desist from using such method of competition.' In 1929, the Commission, after hearings, found that the Raladam Company had used unfair methods of competition in selling a preparation called Marmola by making misleading and deceptive statements concerning its qualities as a remedy for overweight. The Commission issued a cease and desist order which the Circuit Court of Appeals vacated. 6 Cir., 42 F.2d 430. This Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' judgment saying that there was 'neither finding nor evidence from which the conclusion legitimately can be drawn that these advertisements substantially injured, or tended * * * to injure, the business of any competitor or of competitors generally, whether legitimate or not. * * * It is impossible to say whether, as a result of respondent's advertisements, any business was diverted, or was likely to be diverted, from others engaged in like trade, or whether competitors, identified or unidentified, were injured in their business, or were likely to be injured, or, indeed, whether any other anti-obesity remedies were sold or offered for sale in competition, or were of such a character as naturally to come into any real competition, with respondent's preparation in the interstate market.' Federal Trade Comm. v. Raladam Co., supra, 283 U.S. pages 652, 653, 51 S.Ct. pages 591, 592, 75 L.Ed. 1324, 79 A.L.R. 1191. It is clear that the reasons for refusing to enforce the Commission's order are grounded upon the inadequacy of the findings and proof as revealed in the particular record then before this Court. Hence, these reasons are not controlling in this case, arising as it does out of different proceedings and presenting different facts and a different record for our consideration.
In 1935, the Commission instituted the present proceedings against Raladam, charging unfair methods of competition in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Hearings were held and much evidence was heard concerning Raladam's trade methods since the date of the earlier cease and desist order. This time the Commission found with meticulous particularity that Raladam had made many misleading and deceptive statements to further sales of Marmola; that Marmola had many active rivals for the trade of those who were interested in fat-reducing remedies; that Raladam's misleading statements had the 'tendency and capacity' to induce people 'to purchase and use respondent's * * * preparation or medicine for reducing purposes * * * in preference to and to the exclusion of the products of competitors, * * * and to divert trade to respondent from such competitors engaged in the sale in interstate commerce of medicines, preparations, systems, methods, books of instruction, and other articles and means designed, intended and used for the purpose of reducing weight.'
These findings were an adequate basis for the Commission's order. The court below, however, was of the opinion that there was no substantial evidence to support the finding that the alleged unfair methods 'substantially injured or tended to injure the business of any competitor.' The evidence shows that sales of Marmola to the consuming public are made at retail drug stores throughout the country; that Raladam distributes Marmola both to wholesalers and retailers; that the wholesalers and retailers who sell Marmola also sell numerous other remedies for taking off fat; that the essential fat-reducing element in Marmola is desiccated thyroid, which is also an element in some of the other remedies sold to the public with or without doctors' prescriptions; that many books of instruction on methods of reducing weight are sold in interstate commerce; and that the gross sales of Marmola were from $350,000 to $400,000 a year. From this and other evidence the Commission concluded that numerous antifat remedies were offered for sale in the same market as Marmola, and that Marmola was in active competition with them for the favor of the remedy purchasing public.
It is not necessary that the evidence show specifically that losses to any particular trader or traders arise from Raladam's success in capturing part of the market. One of the objects of the Act creating the Federal Trade Commission was to prevent potential injury by stopping unfair methods of competition in their incipiency. Fashion Guild v. Federal Trade Comm., 213 U.S. 457, 466, 668, 61 S.Ct. 703, 707, 85 L.Ed. 949. And when the Commission finds as it did here that misleading and deceptive statements were made with reference to the quality of merchandise in active competition with other merchandise it is also authorized to infer that trade will be diverted from competitors who do not engage in such 'unfair methods.' Federal Trade Comm. v. Winsted Co., 258 U.S. 483, 493, 42 S.Ct. 384, 385, 66 L.Ed. 729. The findings of the Commission in this case should have been sustained against the attack made upon them.
Raladam contends here as it did before the Commission and the Circuit Court of Appeals that the judgment of this Court in the first case makes the issues here in controversy res judicata, and therefore bars these proceedings. It also contends that the denial by this Court and the Circuit Court of Appeals in the earlier proceedings of the Commission's motion to offer additional evidence with respect to competitors and injury to competition should have a like effect. We think there contentions are without merit, and therefore agree with the court below in its determination that a decision on the merits was appropriate.
The respondent has not sought in this Court to sustain the judgment of the court below on any other ground. Accordingly, the judgment is reversed with directions that the order of the Federal Trade Commission be affirmed.
Reversed with directions.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Federal_Trade_Commission_v._Raladam_Company_(316_U.S._149)/Opinion_of_the_Court&oldid=7146367"
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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.
study rather than a substitute for it. There is a considerable biographical clement in the treatment, and the author's aim seems to be to elaborate "correct views concerning the essential nature and value of the most conspicuous current of abstract thought in the English language." The author is a metaphysician and an ontologist, and, in so far as his work is doctrinal, it is a dry agnosticism. He does not believe that knowledge is bounded by phenomenal relations, and spurns the idea that any amount of generalized truth derived from the sciences can form a system of philosophy properly so called; but, independent of its speculation, there is much instruction to be gained from his work.
Elementary Projection-Drawing. By D. Edward Warren, C. E. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1880. Pp. 162. Price, $1.50.
Practical Plane Geometry and Projection. 2 vols. By Henry Angel. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1880. Price, $3.50.
The first of these text-books is the well-known manual of Professor Warren, which has now reached a fifth edition. It has undergone a thorough revision, and some parts of it have been rewritten, while it has been made more complete by the addition of a division devoted to a consideration of the elements of machines.
The work of Professor Angel is one in the "Advanced Science Series" of the publisher, and forms a continuation of the more elementary one of the author in the same series. The chapters upon projection are prefaced by several upon plane geometry, while the main subject is fully presented and illustrated by numerous examples and problems. A volume of finely executed plates accompanies the text.
The subject of projection-drawing, besides being of large educational value, is also of great practical importance. It is concerned with representing upon a plane surface solid objects in such a way as to show their real dimensions, and is, therefore, a necessary preparation for the artisan who has to construct work from drawings of this kind. It is also of value to all those who desire to know how to represent their ideas of any construction, so that they will be understood by mechanics. Any one desiring to pursue the study will find in either of these works all that he needs to a thorough comprehension of it.
The Publishers' Trade-List Annual, 1880. Eighth Year. New York: F. Leypoldt. Price, $1.50.
This massive volume embraces the latest catalogues of their books supplied by the publishers, preceded by an order list including all books issued from January to August, inclusive, by the publishers represented in the annual; a classified summary and alphabetical reference list of books recorded in the "Publishers' Weekly" from July 1, 1879, to June 30, 1880, with additional titles, corrections, changes of price and publisher, etc. (forming a provisional supplement to the American Catalogue); and the American Educational Catalogue for 1880. The work, the materials of which are received directly from the publishers themselves, gives the complete literary history of the year in the United States, and is indispensable to the book-buyer.
The Geology of Hudson County, New Jersey. By Israel C. Russell. (From the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.) Pp. 80, with Two Plates.
The geology of this county, which is immediately opposite the lower part of New York City, presents many interesting features, the most prominent of which is the great ridge of trap-rock, forming the southern end of the Palisades, which traverses it from north to south. It is nearly perpendicular on the eastern edge, but slopes back gently toward the west. Beds of triassic sandstone, slate, and shale lie on either side of it. Archæan—rocks gneiss in a part of Jersey City, serpentine at Castle Point, Hoboken—are found within its borders. The top of the trap ridge bears marks of the action of the great glacier, whose moraine is found on Long and Staten Islands and in the "Short Hills" of Plainfield. On the surface are sand-dunes along the Newark meadows and Newark Bay, and on Bergen Neck, and the swamp deposits of the salt meadows, still in process of accumulation. The details of these features, their relations to each other, and their economical and sanitary aspects, are clearly described in the essay.
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For other uses, see Slayer (disambiguation).
Slayer at Hellfest 2017. From left to right: Gary Holt, Tom Araya and Kerry King.
Huntington Park, California, U.S.
slayer.net
Gary Holt
Jeff Hanneman
Dave Lombardo
Jon Dette
Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman and vocalist and bassist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax. Slayer's current lineup comprises King, Araya, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt. Hanneman and drummers Dave Lombardo and Jon Dette are former members of the band.
In the original lineup, King, Hanneman and Araya contributed to the band's lyrics, and all of the band's music was written by King and Hanneman. The band's lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as murder, serial killers, torture, genocide, human experimentation, Satanism, hate crimes, terrorism, religion, antireligion, Nazism and war, have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and criticism from religious groups and factions of the general public. However, its music has been highly influential, often being cited by many bands as an influence musically, visually and lyrically; the band's third album, Reign in Blood (1986), was described as one of the heaviest and most influential thrash metal albums.
Slayer has released twelve studio albums, two live albums, a box set, six music videos, two extended plays and a cover album. Four of the band's studio albums have received gold certification in the United States. The band has received five Grammy Award nominations, winning one in 2007 for the song "Eyes of the Insane" and one in 2008 for the song "Final Six", both of which were from the album Christ Illusion (2006). Between 1991 and 2013, the band sold five million albums in the United States. After more than three decades of recording and performing, Slayer announced in January 2018 that they would embark on their final world tour,[1] which began that May and will wrap up in November 2019.[2]
1.1 Early years (1981–1983)
1.2 Show No Mercy, Haunting the Chapel and Hell Awaits (1983–1986)
1.3 Reign in Blood (1986–1987)
1.4 South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss (1988–1993)
1.5 Divine Intervention and Undisputed Attitude (1994–1997)
1.6 Diabolus in Musica (1998–2000)
1.7 God Hates Us All (2001–2005)
1.8 Christ Illusion (2006–2008)
1.9 World Painted Blood (2009–2011)
1.10 Death of Jeff Hanneman, departure of Dave Lombardo, and Repentless (2011–2016)
1.11 Cancelled thirteenth studio album and farewell tour (2016–present)
2 Writing and style
5 Band members
5.1 Timeline
6 Awards and nominations
6.1 Grammy Awards
6.2 Kerrang! Awards
6.3 Metal Edge Readers' Choice Awards
6.4 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards
6.5 Metal Storm Awards
7 Discography
8 Tours and performances
Early years (1981–1983)[edit]
Slayer was formed in 1981 by Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, Dave Lombardo, and Tom Araya. The group started out playing covers of songs by bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest at parties and clubs in Southern California. The band's early image relied heavily on Satanic themes that featured pentagrams, make-up, spikes, and inverted crosses.[3] Rumors that the band was originally known as Dragonslayer, after the 1981 movie of the same name, were denied by King, as he later stated: "We never were; it's a myth to this day."[4]
In 1983, Slayer was invited to open for the band Bitch at the Woodstock Club in Anaheim, California to perform eight songs, six of which were covers. The band was spotted by Brian Slagel, a former music journalist who had recently founded Metal Blade Records. Impressed with Slayer, he met with the band backstage and asked them to record an original song for his upcoming Metal Massacre III compilation album. The band agreed and their song "Aggressive Perfector" created an underground buzz upon its release in mid 1983, which led to Slagel offering the band a recording contract with Metal Blade.[5]
Show No Mercy, Haunting the Chapel and Hell Awaits (1983–1986)[edit]
Jeff Hanneman was the guitarist of Slayer for 30 years, from 1981 to 2011. He was the main songwriter along with Kerry King, as well as a lyricist.
Without any recording budget, the band had to self-finance its debut album. Combining the savings of Araya, who was employed as a respiratory therapist,[6] and money borrowed from King's father,[7] the band entered the studio in November 1983. The album was rushed into release, stocking shelves three weeks after tracks were completed. Show No Mercy, released in December 1983 by Metal Blade Records, generated by underground popularity for the band. The group began a club tour of California to promote the album. The tour gave the band additional popularity and sales of Show No Mercy eventually reached more than 20,000 in the US and another 20,000 worldwide.[5]
In February 1984, King briefly joined Dave Mustaine's new band Megadeth.[8] Hanneman was worried about King's decision, stating in an interview, "I guess we're gonna get a new guitar player."[7] While Mustaine wanted King to stay on a permanent basis, King left after five shows, stating Mustaine's band was "taking too much of my time."[7] The split caused a rift between King and Mustaine, which evolved into a long running feud between the two bands.[9]
In June 1984, Slayer released a three-track EP called Haunting the Chapel. The EP featured a darker, more thrash-oriented style than Show No Mercy, and laid the groundwork for the future direction of the band.[10] The opening track, "Chemical Warfare", has become a live staple, played at nearly every show since 1984.[11]
Later that year, Slayer began their first national club tour, traveling in Tom Araya's Camaro towing a U-Haul trailer.[7] The band recorded the live album Live Undead in November 1984 while in New York City.
"Hell Awaits" (1985)
"Hell Awaits" features a backwards recording of a demonic voice saying "join us" and "welcome back".
In March 1985, Slayer began a national tour with Venom and Exodus, resulting in their first live home video dubbed Combat Tour: The Ultimate Revenge. The video featured live footage filmed at the Studio 54 club. The band then made its live European debut at the Heavy Sound Festival in Belgium opening for UFO,[12]
By 1985, Show No Mercy had sold over 40,000 copies,[5] which led to the band returning to the studio to record their second full-length album. Metal Blade financed a recording budget, which allowed the band to hire producer Ron Fair.[7] Released in September 1985, Slayer's second full-length album, Hell Awaits, expanded on the darkness of Haunting the Chapel, with hell and Satan as common song subjects. The album was the band's most progressive offering, featuring longer and more complex song structures.[7] The intro of the title track is a backwards recording of a demonic-sounding voice repeating "Join us", ending with "Welcome back" before the track begins. The album was a hit, with fans choosing Slayer for best band, best live band, Hell Awaits, as 1985's best album, and Dave Lombardo as best drummer in the British magazine Metal Forces' 1985 Readers Poll.[13]
Reign in Blood (1986–1987)[edit]
Guitarist Kerry King is one of the two constant members of Slayer.
Following the success of Hell Awaits, Slayer was offered a recording contract with Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin's newly founded Def Jam Records, a largely hip hop-based label.[7] The band accepted, and with an experienced producer and major label recording budget, the band underwent a sonic makeover for their third album Reign in Blood, resulting in shorter, faster songs with clearer production. The complex arrangements and long songs featured on Hell Awaits were ditched in favor of stripped down, hardcore punk influenced song structures.[7]
Def Jam's distributor, Columbia Records, refused to release the album due to the song “Angel of Death”[7] which detailed Holocaust concentration camps and the human experiments conducted by Nazi physician Josef Mengele. The album was distributed by Geffen Records on October 7, 1986. However, due to the controversy, Reign in Blood did not appear on Geffen Records' release schedule.[7] Although the album received virtually no radio airplay, it became the band's first to enter the Billboard 200, debuting at number 94,[14] and the band's first album certified gold in the United States.[15]
In October 1986, Slayer embarked on the Reign in Pain world tour, with Overkill in the US, and Malice in Europe. The band was added as the opening act on W.A.S.P.'s US tour, but just one month into it, drummer Lombardo left the band: "I wasn't making any money. I figured if we were gonna be doing this professionally, on a major label, I wanted my rent and utilities paid."[7] To continue with the tour, Slayer enlisted Tony Scaglione of Whiplash. However, Lombardo was convinced by his wife to return in 1987.[7] At the insistence of Rubin, Slayer recorded a cover version of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" for the film Less Than Zero.[7] Although the band was not happy with the final product, Hanneman deeming it "a poor representation of Slayer" and King labeling it "a hunk of shit", it was one of their first songs to garner radio airplay.[7]
South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss (1988–1993)[edit]
In late 1987, Slayer returned to the studio to record their fourth studio album. To contrast the speed of Reign in Blood, the band consciously decided to slow down the tempos, and incorporate more melodic singing. According to Hanneman, "We knew we couldn't top Reign in Blood, so we had to slow down. We knew whatever we did was gonna be compared to that album, and I remember we actually discussed slowing down. It was weird—we've never done that on an album, before or since."[7]
Released in July 1988, South of Heaven received mixed responses from both fans and critics, although it was Slayer's most commercially successful release at the time, debuting at number 57 on the Billboard 200,[14] and their second album to receive gold certification in the United States.[15] Press response to the album was mixed, with AllMusic citing the album as "disturbing and powerful",[16] and Kim Nelly of Rolling Stone calling it "genuinely offensive satanic drivel".[17] King said "that album was my most lackluster performance", although Araya called it a "late bloomer" which eventually grew on people.[7]
Slayer returned to the studio in spring 1990 with co-producer Andy Wallace to record its fifth studio album. Following the backlash created by South of Heaven, Slayer returned to the "pounding speed of Reign in Blood, while retaining their newfound melodic sense."[18] Seasons in the Abyss, released on October 25, 1990, was the first Slayer album to be released under Rubin's new Def American label, as he had parted ways with Def Jam owner Russell Simmons over creative differences. The album debuted at number 44 on the Billboard 200,[14] and was certified gold in 1992.[15] The album spawned Slayer's first music video for the album's title track, which was filmed in front of the Giza pyramids in Egypt.[19]
Slayer returned as a live act in September 1990 to co-headline the European Clash of the Titans tour with Megadeth, Suicidal Tendencies, and Testament. During the sold out European leg of this tour, tickets had prices skyrocket to 1,000 Deutschmark ($680 USD) on the black market. With the popularity of American thrash at its peak, the tour was extended to the US beginning in May 1991, with Megadeth, Anthrax, and opening act Alice in Chains. The band released a double live album, Decade of Aggression in 1991, to celebrate ten years since their formation. The compilation debuted at number 55 on the Billboard 200.[14]
In May 1992, Lombardo left the band due to conflicts with the other members, as well as his desire to be off tour for the birth of his first child.[20] Lombardo formed his own band Grip Inc., with Voodoocult guitarist Waldemar Sorychta,[21] and Slayer recruited former Forbidden drummer Paul Bostaph to fill in the drummer position. Slayer made its debut appearance with Bostaph at the 1992 Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington. Bostaph's first studio effort was a medley of three Exploited songs, "War", "UK '82", and "Disorder", with rapper Ice-T, for the Judgment Night movie soundtrack in 1993.[22]
Divine Intervention and Undisputed Attitude (1994–1997)[edit]
Bassist/vocalist Tom Araya is one of the two constant members of Slayer.
"SS-3" (1994)
"SS-3" is about Reinhard Heydrich, an architect of the Holocaust. SS-3 refers to the license plate number of the car in which he was killed.
In 1994, Slayer released Divine Intervention, the band's first album with Bostaph on the drums. The album featured songs about Reinhard Heydrich, an architect of the Holocaust, and Jeffrey Dahmer, an American serial killer and sex offender. Other themes included murder, the evils of church, and the lengths to which governments went to wield power, Araya's interest in serial killers inspired much of the content of the lyrics.[6][23]
Slayer geared up for a world tour in 1995, with openers Biohazard and Machine Head. A video of concert footage, Live Intrusion was released, featuring a joint cover of Venom's "Witching Hour" with Machine Head. Following the tour, Slayer was billed third at the 1995 Monsters of Rock festival, headlined by Metallica. In 1996, Undisputed Attitude, an album of punk covers, was released. The band covered songs by Minor Threat, T.S.O.L., Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, D.I., Verbal Abuse, Dr. Know, and The Stooges. The album featured three original tracks, "Gemini", "Can't Stand You", "Ddamm"; the latter two were written by Hanneman in 1984–1985 for a side project entitled Pap Smear. Bostaph left Slayer shortly after the album's recording to work on his own project, Truth About Seafood. With Bostaph's departure, Slayer recruited Testament drummer Jon Dette, and headlined the 1996 Ozzfest alongside with Ozzy Osbourne, Danzig, Biohazard, Sepultura, and Fear Factory. Dette was fired after a year, due to a fallout with band members. After that, Bostaph returned to continue the tour.[24]
Diabolus in Musica (1998–2000)[edit]
Diabolus in Musica (Latin for "The Devil in Music") was released in 1998, and debuted at number 31 on the Billboard 200, selling over 46,000 copies in its first week.[25] The album received a mixed critical reception, and was criticized for adopting characteristics of nu metal music such as tuned down guitars, murky chord structures, and churning beats. Blabbermouth.net reviewer Borijov Krgin described the album as "a feeble attempt at incorporating updated elements into the group's sound, the presence of which elevated the band's efforts somewhat and offered hope that Slayer could refrain from endlessly rehashing their previous material for their future output",[26] while Ben Ratliff of The New York Times had similar sentiments, writing on June 22, 1998 that: "Eight of the 11 songs on Diabolus in Musica, a few of which were played at the show, are in the same gray key, and the band's rhythmic ideas have a wearying sameness too."[27]
The album was the band's first to primarily feature dropped tuning, as featured on the lead track, "Bitter Peace", making use of the tritone interval referred to in the Middle Ages as the Devil's interval.[28] Slayer teamed up with digital hardcore group Atari Teenage Riot to record a song for the Spawn soundtrack titled "No Remorse (I Wanna Die)". The band paid tribute to Black Sabbath by recording a cover of "Hand of Doom" for the second of two tribute albums, titled Nativity in Black II. A world tour followed to support the new album, with Slayer making an appearance at the United Kingdom Ozzfest 1998 alongside Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Foo Fighters, Pantera, Soulfly, Fear Factory, and Therapy?.
God Hates Us All (2001–2005)[edit]
After delays regarding remixing and artwork, including slip covers created to cover the original artwork as it was deemed "too graphic", Slayer's next album, God Hates Us All, was released on September 11, 2001. The band received its first Grammy nomination for the lead track "Disciple", although the Grammy was awarded to Tool, for "Schism".[29] The September 11 attacks on America jeopardized the 2001 European tour Tattoo the Planet originally set to feature Pantera, Static-X, Cradle of Filth, Biohazard and Vision of Disorder. The dates in the United Kingdom were postponed due to flight restrictions, with a majority of bands deciding to withdraw, leaving Slayer and Cradle of Filth remaining for the European leg of the tour.[30]
Pantera, Static-X, Vision of Disorder and Biohazard were replaced by other bands depending on location; Amorphis, In Flames, Moonspell, Children of Bodom, and Necrodeath. Biohazard eventually decided to rejoin the tour later on, and booked new gigs in the countries, where they missed a few dates. Drummer Bostaph left Slayer before Christmas in 2001, due to a chronic elbow injury, which would hinder his ability to play.[31] Slayer's "God Hates Us All" tour was unfinished so Manager, Rick Sales, contacted original drummer Lombardo, and asked if he would like to finish the remainder of the tour.[32] Lombardo accepted the offer, and stayed as a permanent member.[31]
Slayer toured playing Reign in Blood in its entirety throughout the fall of 2003, under the tour banner "Still Reigning". Their playing of the final song, "Raining Blood", culminated with the band drenched in a rain of stage blood. Live footage of this was recorded at the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta, Maine, on July 11, 2004 and released on the 2004 DVD Still Reigning. The band also released War at the Warfield and a box set, Soundtrack to the Apocalypse featuring rarities, live CD and DVD performances and various Slayer merchandise. From 2002 to 2004, the band performed over 250 tour dates, headlining major music festivals including H82k2, Summer tour, Ozzfest 2004 and a European tour with Slipknot. While preparing for the Download Festival in England, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was taken to a hospital with an unknown and mysterious illness, and was unable to perform. Metallica vocalist James Hetfield searched for volunteers at the very last minute to replace Ulrich; Lombardo and Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison volunteered, with Lombardo performing the songs "Battery" and "The Four Horsemen".[33]
Christ Illusion (2006–2008)[edit]
Original Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo rejoined the band in 2001 after a nine-year hiatus, and performed on the albums Christ Illusion (2006) and World Painted Blood (2009) before departing once again in 2013.
The next studio album, Christ Illusion, was originally scheduled for release on June 6, 2006, and would be the first album with original drummer Lombardo since 1990's Seasons in the Abyss.[34] However, the band decided to delay the release of the record, as they did not want to be among the many, according to King, "half-ass, stupid fucking loser bands" releasing records on June 6,[35] although USA Today reported the idea was thwarted because the band failed to secure sufficient studio recording time.[36] Slayer released Eternal Pyre on June 6 as a limited-edition EP. Eternal Pyre featured the song "Cult", a live performance of "War Ensemble" in Germany and video footage of the band recording "Cult". Five thousand copies were released and sold exclusively through Hot Topic chain stores, and sold out within hours of release.[37] On June 30, Nuclear Blast Records released a 7" vinyl picture disc version limited to a thousand copies.[38]
Christ Illusion was released on August 8, 2006, and debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week.[39] The album became Slayer's highest charting, improving on its previous highest charting album, Divine Intervention, which had debuted at number 8. However, despite its high positioning, the album dropped to number 44 in the following week.[40] Three weeks after the album's release Slayer were inducted into the Kerrang! Hall of Fame for their influence to the heavy metal scene.[41]
A worldwide tour dubbed The Unholy Alliance Tour, was undertaken to support the new record. The tour was originally set to launch on June 6, but was postponed to June 10, as Araya had to undergo gall bladder surgery.[42] In Flames, Mastodon, Children of Bodom, Lamb of God, and Thine Eyes Bleed (featuring Araya's brother, Johnny) and Ted Maul (London Hammersmith Apollo) were supporting Slayer.[43] The tour made its way through America and Europe and the bands who participated, apart from Thine Eyes Bleed, reunited to perform at Japan's Loudpark Festival on October 15, 2006.[44]
The video for the album's first single, "Eyes of the Insane", was released on October 30, 2006.[45] The track was featured on the Saw III soundtrack, and won a Grammy-award for "Best Metal Performance" at the 49th Grammy Awards, although the band was unable to attend due to touring obligations.[46] A week later, the band visited the 52nd Services Squadron located on the Spangdahlem U.S. Air Force Base in Germany to meet and play a show. This was the first visit ever to a military base for the band.[47] The band made its first network TV appearance on the show Jimmy Kimmel Live! on January 19, playing the song "Eyes of the Insane", and four additional songs for fans after the show (although footage from "Jihad" was cut due to its controversial lyrical themes).[48]
Slayer toured Australia and New Zealand in April with Mastodon, and appeared at the Download Festival, Rock Am Ring,[49] and a Summer tour with Marilyn Manson and Bleeding Through.[50] The band released a special edition of Christ Illusion, which featured new cover art and bonus track, "Final Six", which was given a Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance". This is the band's second consecutive award in that category.
World Painted Blood (2009–2011)[edit]
In 2008, Araya stated uncertainty about the future of the band,[51] and that he could not see himself continuing the career at a later age. He said that once the band finished its upcoming album, which was the final record in their contract, the band would sit down and discuss its future.[52] King was optimistic that the band would produce at least another two albums before considering to disband: "We're talking of going in the studio next February [2009] and getting the next record out so if we do things in a timely manner I don't see there's any reason why we can't have more than one album out."[53] Slayer, along with Trivium, Mastodon, and Amon Amarth, teamed up for a European tour titled 'The Unholy Alliance: Chapter III', throughout October and November 2008.[54][55] Slayer headlined the second Mayhem Festival in the summer of 2009. Slayer, along with Megadeth, also co-headlined Canadian Carnage, the first time they performed together in more than 15 years when they co-headlined four shows in Canada in late June 2009 with openers Machine Head and Suicide Silence.[56]
The band's tenth studio album, World Painted Blood, was released by American Recordings. It was available on November 3 in North America and November 2 for the rest of the world. The band stated that the album takes elements of all their previous works including Seasons in the Abyss, South of Heaven, and Reign in Blood.[57] Slayer, along with Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax performed on the same bill for the first time on June 16, 2010 at Bemowo Airport, near Warsaw, Poland. One of the following Big 4 performances in (Sofia, Bulgaria, June 22, 2010) was sent via satellite in HD to cinemas.[58] They also went on to play several other dates as part of the Sonisphere Festival. Megadeth and Slayer joined forces once again for the American Carnage Tour from July to October 2010 with opening acts Anthrax and Testament,[59][60] and European Carnage Tour in March and April 2011.[61] The "Big Four" played more dates at Sonisphere in England and France for the first time ever.[62] Slayer returned to Australia in February and March 2011 as part of the Soundwave Festival and also played in California with the other members of the "Big Four".
In early 2011, Hanneman was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis. According to the band, doctors said that it likely originated from a spider bite. Araya said of Hanneman's condition: "Jeff was seriously ill. Jeff ended up contracting a bacteria that ate away his flesh on his arm, so they cut open his arm, from his wrist to his shoulder, and they did a skin graft on him, they cleaned up ... It was a flesh-eating virus, so he was really, really bad. So we'll wait for him to get better, and when he's a hundred percent, he's gonna come out and join us."[63] The band decided to play their upcoming tour dates without Hanneman.[64] Gary Holt of Exodus was announced as Hanneman's temporary replacement.[65] Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O'Brien filled in for Holt during a tour in Europe.[66] On April 23, 2011, at the American Big 4 show in Indio, California, Hanneman rejoined his bandmates to play the final two songs of their set, "South of Heaven" and "Angel of Death". This turned out to be Hanneman's final live performance with the band.[67]
Death of Jeff Hanneman, departure of Dave Lombardo, and Repentless (2011–2016)[edit]
When asked if Slayer would make another album, Lombardo replied "Yes absolutely; Although there's nothing written, there are definitely plans."[68] However, Araya said Slayer would not begin writing a new album until Hanneman's condition improved.[69] To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Reign In Blood, the band performed all of the album's tracks at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival at the Alexandra Palace in London.[70][71][72]
In November 2011, Lombardo posted a tweet that the band had started to write new music. This presumably meant that Hanneman's condition improved, and it was believed he was ready to enter the studio.[73] King had worked with Lombardo that year and they completed three songs. The band planned on entering the studio in either March or April 2012 and were hoping to have the album recorded before the group's US tour in late May and release it by the summer of that year.[74] However, King said the upcoming album would not be finished until September and October of that year, making a 2013 release likely.[75] In July 2012, Kerry King revealed two song titles for the upcoming album, "Chasing Death" and "Implode".[76]
In February 2013, Lombardo was fired right before Slayer was to play at Australia's Soundwave festival due to an argument with band members over a pay dispute.[77] Slayer and American Recordings released a statement, saying "Mr. Lombardo came to the band less than a week before their scheduled departure for Australia to present an entirely new set of terms for his engagement that were contrary to those that had been previously agreed upon",[78] although Lombardo claimed there was a gag order in place.[77] Jon Dette returned to fill in for Lombardo for the Soundwave dates.[79] It was confirmed that Lombardo was officially out of Slayer for the third time, and, when in May, Paul Bostaph rejoined the band.[80]
Exodus guitarist Gary Holt joined Slayer in 2011, originally as a touring member, and later became an official replacement for Jeff Hanneman, who died in 2013.
On May 2, 2013, Jeff Hanneman died due to liver failure in a local hospital near his home in Southern California's Inland Empire;[81][82] the cause of death was later determined to be alcohol-related cirrhosis.[83] King confirmed that the band would continue, saying "Jeff is going to be in everybody's thoughts for a long time. It's unfortunate you can't keep unfortunate things from happening. But we're going to carry on – and he'll be there in spirit."[84] However, Araya felt more uncertain about the band's future, expressing his belief that "After 30 years [with Hanneman active in the band], it would literally be like starting over", and doubting that Slayer's fanbase would approve such a change.[85] Despite the uncertainty regarding the band's future, Slayer still worked on a followup to World Painted Blood. Additionally, it was reported that the new album would still feature material written by Hanneman.[86]
At the 2014 Revolver's Golden Gods Awards ceremony, Slayer debuted "Implode", its first new song in five years. The group announced that they have signed with Nuclear Blast, and planned to release a new album in 2015.[87] It was reported that Holt would take over Hanneman's guitar duties full-time,[88] although Holt did not participate in the songwriting.[89] In February, Slayer announced a seventeen date American tour to start in June featuring Suicidal Tendencies and Exodus.[90] In 2015, Slayer headlined the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival for the second time.[91] Repentless, the band's twelfth studio album, was released on September 11, 2015.[92] Slayer toured for two-and-a-half years in support of Repentless. The band toured Europe with Anthrax and Kvelertak in October and November 2015,[93] and embarked on three North American tours: one with Testament and Carcass in February and March 2016,[94] then with Anthrax and Death Angel in September and October 2016,[95] and with Lamb of God and Behemoth in July and August 2017.[96] A lone date in Southeast Asia in 2017 was held in the Philippines.[97]
Cancelled thirteenth studio album and farewell tour (2016–present)[edit]
Tour poster of "The Last Campaign", the final leg of Slayer's final world tour, which took place from May 2018 to November 2019.
In August 2016, guitarist Kerry King was asked if Slayer would release a follow-up to Repentless. He replied, "We've got lots of leftover material from the last album, 'cause we wrote so much stuff, and we recorded a bunch of it too. If the lyrics don't change the song musically, those songs are done. So we are way ahead of the ballgame without even doing anything for the next record. And I've been working on stuff on my downtime. Like, I'll warm up and a riff will come to mind and I'll record it. I've gotten a handful of those on this run. So wheels are still turning. I haven't worked on anything lyrically yet except for what was done on the last record, so that's something I've gotta get on. But, yeah, Repentless isn't quite a year old yet." King also stated that Slayer was not expected to enter the studio until at least 2018.[98] In an October interview on Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta's podcast, King stated that he was "completely open" to having guitarist Gary Holt (who had no songwriting contributions on Repentless) involved in the songwriting process of the next Slayer album. He explained, "I'm entirely open to having Gary work on something. I know he's gotta work on an Exodus record and I've got tons already for this one. But, you know, if he's gonna stick around... I didn't want it on the last one, and I knew that. I'm completely open to having that conversation. I haven't talked to Tom about it, I haven't talked to Gary open about it, but I'm open. That's not saying it is or isn't gonna happen. But my ears are open."[99]
In a June 2017 interview with the Ultimate Guitar Archive, Holt said that he was ready to contribute with the songwriting for the next album.[100] When speaking to Revolver, King was asked if there were any plans in place for the band to begin working on the album, he said, "Funny thing is, Repentless isn't even two years old yet, though it seems like it is. But from that session, there are six or eight songs that are recorded—some with vocals, some with leads, but all with keeper guitar, drums and bass. So when those songs get finished lyrically, if the lyrics don't change the songs, they'll be ready to be on the next record. So we already have more than half a record complete, if those songs make it." He also gave conceivable consideration that it could be released next year, "I'm certainly not gonna promise it, because every time I do, I make a liar of myself! [Laughs]"[101] When asked about any plans or the timeline the band would like to release the album, King said, "It depends on touring—getting time to rehearse, getting time to make up new stuff. We haven't even done Australia on this run yet at all. We're hitting Japan finally later this year. But if things go well, I'd like to record next year. But timelines change all the time."[102] In an October 2017 interview, Holt once again expressed his desire to contribute to the songwriting for the next Slayer album, saying, "When that time comes and we are ready for the next album, if Kerry wants me to contribute, I've got riffs. I've got stuff right now that I've written that I am not using for Exodus, because it was kind of maybe just unintentional subconscious thing, like, 'It sounds a little too Slayer.'"[103]
On January 22, 2018, Slayer announced their farewell world tour,[1] which began with a North American trek in May and June, supported by Lamb of God, Anthrax, Behemoth and Testament.[104] The second leg of the North American tour took place in July and August, with Napalm Death replacing Behemoth,[105] followed in November and December by a European tour with Lamb of God, Anthrax and Obituary.[106][107] The farewell tour continued into 2019, with plans to visit places such as South America, Australia and Japan; in addition to European festivals such as Hellfest and Graspop,[108][109] the band toured the United States in May 2019 with Lamb of God, Amon Amarth and Cannibal Corpse.[110] Slayer also played one show in Mexico at Force Fest in October 2018.[111][112]
On December 2, 2018, Holt announced that he would not perform the remainder of the band's European tour to be with his dying father. Vio-lence and former Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel would fill in for him as a result.[113][114][115]
Holt had stated that Slayer would not release a new album before the group's disbandment.[116] On how long the farewell tour would last, Holt's Exodus bandmate Steve "Zetro" Souza commented, "I'm speculating it's gonna take a year and a half or two years to do the one final thing, but I believe it's finished. Everybody knows what I know; just because I'm on the outside, I have no insight on that."[117] The final North American leg of the tour, dubbed "The Last Campaign", will take place in November 2019, and will also include support from Primus, Ministry and Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals.[2]
Writing and style[edit]
Hanneman, Araya and King were the main contributors for the band's lyrics
Slayer is considered a thrash metal band.[118][119][3][120] In an article from December 1986 by the Washington Post, writer Joe Brown described Slayer as speed metal, a genre he defined as "an unholy hybrid of punk rock thrash and heavy metal that attracts an almost all-male teen-age following".[121] Describing Slayer's music, Brown wrote: "Over a jackhammer beat, Slayer's stun guitars created scraping sheets of corrosive metal noise, with occasional solos that sounded like squealing brakes, over which the singer-bassist emitted a larynx-lacerating growl-yowl."[121] In an article from September 1988 by the New York Times, writer Jon Pareles also described Slayer as speed metal, additionally writing that the band "brings the sensational imagery of tabloids and horror movies" and has lyrics that "revel in death, gore and allusions to Satanism and Nazism."[122] Pareles also described other "Big Four" thrash metal bands Metallica and Megadeth as speed metal bands.[122] Slayer's early works were praised for their "breakneck speed and instrumental prowess", combining the structure of hardcore punk tempos and speed metal. The band released fast, aggressive material.[3] The album Reign in Blood is the band's fastest, performed at an average of 220 beats per minute; the album Diabolus in Musica was the band's first to feature C♯ tuning; God Hates Us All was the first to feature drop B tuning and seven-string guitars tuned to B♭. AllMusic cited the album as "abandoning the extravagances and accessibility of their late-'80s/early-'90s work and returning to perfect the raw approach",[123] with some fans labeling it as nu metal.[124]
King and Hanneman's dual guitar solos have been referred to as "wildly chaotic",[3] and "twisted genius".[125] Original drummer Lombardo would use two bass drums (instead of a double pedal, which is used on a single bass drum). Lombardo's speed and aggression earned him the title of the "godfather of double bass" by Drummerworld.[126] Lombardo stated his reasons for using two bass drums: "When you hit the bass drum, the head is still resonating. When you hit it in the same place right after that, you kinda get a 'slapback' from the bass drum head hitting the other pedal. You're not letting them breathe." When playing the two bass drums, Lombardo would use the "heel-up" technique.[127]
In the original lineup, King, Hanneman and Araya contributed to the band's lyrics, and King and Hanneman wrote the music with additional arrangement from Lombardo, and sometimes Araya. It is unclear why Lombardo has never received any writing credits in Slayer's history. Araya formed a lyric writing partnership with Hanneman, which sometimes overshadowed the creative input of King.[7] Hanneman stated that writing lyrics and music was a "free-for-all": "It's all just whoever comes up with what. Sometimes I'll be more on a roll and I'll have more stuff, same with Kerry – it's whoever's hot, really. Anybody can write anything; if it's good, we use it; if not, we don't."[128]
When writing material, the band would write the music first before incorporating lyrics. King or Hanneman used a 24-track and drum machine to show band members the riff that they created, and to get their opinion. Either King, Hanneman or Lombardo would mention if any alterations could be made. The band played the riff to get the basic song structure, and figured out where the lyrics and solos would be placed.[128] King, Hanneman, and Araya tended to have different lyrical influences. King's lyrics are generally anti-religious; Hanneman's lyrics dealt with Nazis, religion, warfare and similar topics; Araya's lyrics usually dealt with topics that could be considered less controversial than King and Hanneman's, such as serial killers and warfare.
Lombardo's speed and aggression earned him the title of the "godfather of double bass" by Drummerworld.
Slayer is one of the most influential bands in heavy metal history. Steve Huey of AllMusic believes the musical style of Slayer makes the band stronger than the other members of the "Big Four" thrash metal bands Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax, all of which rose to fame during the 1980s.[3][129] Slayer's "downtuned rhythms, infectious guitar licks, graphically violent lyrics and grisly artwork set the standard for dozens of emerging thrash bands" and their "music was directly responsible for the rise of death metal" states MTV, ranking Slayer as the sixth "greatest metal band of all time",[130] ranking number 50 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.[131] Hanneman and King ranked number 10 in Guitar World's "100 greatest metal guitarists of all time" in 2004,[132] and were voted "Best Guitarist/Guitar Team" in Revolver's reader's poll. Original drummer Lombardo was also voted "Best Drummer" and the band entered the top five in the categories "Best Band Ever", "Best Live Band", "Album of the Year" (for Christ Illusion) and "Band of the Year".[133]
Music author Joel McIver considers Slayer very influential in the extreme metal scene, especially in the development of the death metal and black metal subgenres.[134] According to John Consterdine of Terrorizer, without "Slayer's influence, extreme metal as we know it wouldn't exist."[135] Kam Lee of Massacre and former member of Death stated: "there wouldn't be death metal or black metal or even extreme metal (the likes of what it is today) if not for Slayer."[136] Johan Reinholdz of Andromeda said that Slayer "were crucial in the development of thrash metal which then became the foundation for a lot of different subgenres. They inspired generations of metal bands."[136] Alex Skolnick of Testament declared: "Before Slayer, metal had never had such razor-sharp articulation, tightness, and balance between sound and stops. This all-out sonic assault was about the shock, the screams, the drums, and [...] most importantly the riffs."[137]
Groups who cited Slayer among their major influences include Bullet for My Valentine, Slipknot, Gojira, Hatebreed,[138] Cannibal Corpse,[134] Pantera,[139] Kreator,[140] Mayhem,[141] Darkthrone,[134] System of a Down,[142] Lamb of God,[143] Behemoth,[144] Evile[145] and Lacuna Coil.[146] Steve Asheim, drummer for Deicide, declared that "there obviously would not have been a Deicide as we know it without the existence of Slayer."[134] Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser affirmed that "without Slayer, Sepultura would never be possible."[147] Weezer mentions them in the song "Heart Songs" from their 2008 self-titled "Red" album. The verse goes: "Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Slayer taught me how to shred..." Dave Grohl recalled, "Me and my friends, we just wanted to listen to fucking Slayer and take acid and smash stuff."[148]
The band's 1986 release Reign in Blood has been an influence to extreme and thrash metal bands since its release and is considered the record which set the bar for death metal.[149] It had a significant influence on the genre leaders such as Death, Obituary, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel and Napalm Death.[150] The album was hailed the "heaviest album of all time" by Kerrang!,[151] a "genre-definer" by Stylus,[152] and a "stone-cold classic upon its release" by AllMusic.[153] In 2006, Reign in Blood was named the best metal album of the last 20 years by Metal Hammer.[154] According to Nielsen SoundScan, Slayer sold 4,900,000 copies in the United States from 1991 to 2013.[155]
A lawsuit was brought against the band in 1996, by the parents of Elyse Pahler, who accused the band of encouraging their daughter's murderers through their lyrics.[156] Pahler was drugged, strangled, stabbed, trampled on, and raped as a sacrifice to the devil by three fans of the band.[156] The case was unsealed by the court on May 19, 2000, stating Slayer and related business markets distribute harmful products to teens, encouraging violent acts through their lyrics,[156] and "none of the vicious crimes committed against Elyse Marie Pahler would have occurred without the intentional marketing strategy of the death-metal band Slayer."[157] The lawsuit was dismissed in 2001, for multiple reasons including "principles of free speech, lack of a duty and lack of foreseeability."[158] A second lawsuit was filed by the parents, an amended complaint for damages against Slayer, their label, and other industry and label entities. The lawsuit was again dismissed. Judge E. Jeffrey Burke stated, "I do not consider Slayer's music obscene, indecent or harmful to minors."[158]
Slayer has been accused of holding Nazi sympathies, due to the band's eagle logo bearing resemblance to the Eagle atop swastika and the lyrics of "Angel of Death".[159] "Angel of Death" was inspired by the acts of Josef Mengele,[160] the doctor who conducted human experiments on prisoners during World War II at the Auschwitz concentration camp, and was dubbed the "Angel of Death" by inmates.[161] Throughout their career, the band members were asked about these accusations, and have stated numerous times they do not condone Nazism and are merely interested in the subject.[162]
Due to its controversial artwork (pictured in background), all Indian stocks of Christ Illusion were recalled and destroyed
Slayer's cover of Minor Threat's "Guilty of Being White" raised questions about a possible message of white supremacy in the band's music. The controversy surrounding the cover involved the changing of the refrain "guilty of being white" to "guilty of being right", at the song's ending. This incensed Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye, who stated "that is so offensive to me."[163] King said it was changed for "tongue-in-cheek" humor as he thought the allegation of racism at the time was "ridiculous".[164]
In a 2004 interview with Araya, when asked, "Did critics realize you were wallowing in parody?" Araya replied, "No. People thought we were serious!...back then you had that PMRC, who literally took everything to heart, when in actuality you're trying to create an image. You're trying to scare people on purpose."[165] Araya also denied rumors that Slayer members are Satanists, but they find the subject of Satanism interesting and "we are all on this planet to learn and experience."[162]
The song "Jihad" of the album Christ Illusion sparked controversy among families of the September 11 victims.[166] The song deals with the attack from the perspective of a religious terrorist. The band stated the song is spoken through perspective without being sympathetic to the cause, and supports neither side.[166]
Seventeen bus benches promoting the same album in Fullerton, California were deemed offensive by city officials. City officials contacted the band's record label and demanded that the ads be removed.[167] All benches were eliminated.[168]
In India, Christ Illusion was recalled by EMI India after protests with Christian religious groups due to the nature of the graphic artwork. The album cover was designed by Slayer's longtime collaborator Larry Carroll and features Christ in a "sea of despair", with amputated arms, missing an eye, while standing in a sea of blood with severed heads.[169] Joseph Dias of the Mumbai Christian group Catholic Secular Forum in India took "strong exception" to the original album artwork, and issued a memorandum to Mumbai's police commissioner in protest.[170] On October 11, 2006, EMI announced that all stocks had been destroyed, noting it had no plans to re-release the record in India in the future.[169] However, the album has since been imported and made available in India.
Band members[edit]
Tom Araya – vocals, bass (1981–present)
Kerry King – guitars (1981–present)
Paul Bostaph – drums (1992–1996, 1997–2001, 2013–present)
Gary Holt – guitars (2013–present; touring member 2011–2013)
Jeff Hanneman – guitars (1981–2013; died 2013)[note]
Dave Lombardo – drums (1981–1986, 1987–1992, 2001–2013)
Jon Dette – drums (1996–1997; touring member 2013)
Session/touring members
Tony Scaglione – drums (1986–1987)
Pat O'Brien – guitars (2011)
Phil Demmel – guitars (2018)
Timeline[edit]
Awards and nominations[edit]
Grammy Awards[edit]
Nominee / work
2002 "Disciple" Best Metal Performance[171] Nominated
2007 "Eyes of the Insane" Best Metal Performance[171] Won
2008 "Final Six" Best Metal Performance[171] Won
2010 "Hate Worldwide" Best Metal Performance[172] Nominated
2011 "World Painted Blood" Best Metal Performance[173] Nominated
Kerrang! Awards[edit]
2006 Slayer Kerrang! Hall of Fame[174] Won
2013 Slayer Kerrang! Legend[175] Won
Metal Edge Readers' Choice Awards[edit]
2003 War at the Warfield DVD of the Year [176] Won
Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards[edit]
2004 Slayer Best Live Act[177] Won
2006 Reign in Blood Best Album of the Last 20 Years[178] Won
2007 "Eyes of the Insane" Best Video[179] Nominated
Slayer Icon Award[180] Won
Metal Storm Awards[edit]
2006 Christ Illusion Best Thrash Metal Album [181] Won
2015 Repentless Best Video [182] Won
Discography[edit]
For a more comprehensive list, see Slayer discography.
Show No Mercy (1983)
Hell Awaits (1985)
Reign in Blood (1986)
South of Heaven (1988)
Seasons in the Abyss (1990)
Divine Intervention (1994)
Undisputed Attitude (1996)
Diabolus in Musica (1998)
God Hates Us All (2001)
Christ Illusion (2006)
World Painted Blood (2009)
Repentless (2015)
Tours and performances[edit]
Early Shows (1982–1983)
Show No Mercy/Haunting the Chapel Tour (1984)
Hell Awaits Tour (1985)
Reign in Blood Tour (1986–1987)
Reign in Pain European Tour (1987)
World Sacrifice Tour (1988–1989)
A Week in the Abyss (1990)
Clash of the Titans Tour (1990–1991)
Touring the Abyss (1990–1991)
European Tour (1992)
European Intourvention (1994)
Divine Intourvention Tour (1995)
Diabolus on Tour (1998–2000)
God Hates the World Tour (2001–2002)
European Summer Festival Tour (2003)
Jägermeister Music Tour (Fall 2003)
The Unholy Alliance Tour (2004)
Unholy Alliance Chapter II (2006)
Christ Illusion Tour (2006–2007)
Rape of the World Tour (2007)
Mayhem Festival (2009)
Jägermeister Music Tour (2010)
American Carnage Tour (2010)
The Big Four with Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax (2010–2011)
European Carnage Tour (2011)
World Painted Blood Tour (2011)
U.S. Tour with Suicidal Tendencies and Exodus (2014)
Repentless Tour (2015–2017)
Farewell Tour (2018–2019)
^ From late 2010 until his death in May 2013, Jeff Hanneman's participation in Slayer was minimal. In January 2011, he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, which severely restricted his ability to perform. He appeared publicly with the band on only one known occasion, playing two songs during an encore at one of Slayer's Big 4 performances in April 2011; he also attended rehearsals for Fun Fun Fun Fest in November 2011, but did not end up performing at this show. By July 2012, Hanneman had not written or recorded any new material for the band's follow up to 2009's World Painted Blood.[183][184][185] In February 2013, Kerry King stated he was planning on recording all of the guitar parts for the upcoming album himself, but was open to Hanneman's return if he was willing and able. King also denied that Gary Holt, member of Exodus and Hanneman's live fill-in, would write or record anything for the upcoming album.[186] Hanneman died on May 2, 2013 at the age of 49 due to liver failure.[187]
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McIver, Joel (2008). The Bloody Reign of Slayer. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-038-0.
Ferris, D.X. (2008). Reign in Blood. 33⅓ Series. Continuum Books. ISBN 978-0-8264-2909-4.
Szubrycht, Jarosław (2006). Bez litości. Prawdziwa historia zespołu Slayer (No mercy. The true history of Slayer). Kagra. ISBN 83-87598-48-8.
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USS Bennington (CV-20)
For other ships with the same name, see USS Bennington.
USS Bennington (CVS-20) as an ASW-carrier, 1965
Name: USS Bennington
Namesake: Battle of Bennington, 1777
Ordered: 15 December 1941
Builder: New York Naval Shipyard
Laid down: 15 December 1942
Launched: 28 February 1944
Commissioned: 6 August 1944
Decommissioned: 8 November 1946
Recommissioned: 13 November 1952
Decommissioned: 15 January 1970
Reclassified:
CV to CVA 1 October 1952
CVA to CVS 30 June 1959
Struck: 20 September 1989
Fate: Scrapped, 1994
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type: Essex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:
27,100 long tons (27,500 t) (standard)
36,380 long tons (36,960 t) (full load)
820 feet (249.9 m) (waterline)
872 feet (265.8 m) (o/a)
Beam: 93 ft (28.3 m) (waterline)
Draft: 34 ft 2 in (10.41 m) (full load)
Installed power:
8 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers
150,000 shp (110,000 kW)
Propulsion: 4 × shafts; 4 × geared steam turbines
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Range: 14,100 nmi (26,100 km; 16,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 2,600 officers and enlisted men
Armament:
4 × twin, 4 × single 5 in (127 mm) DP guns
8 × quadruple 40 mm (1.6 in) AA guns
46 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) AA guns
Armor:
Waterline belt: 2.5–4 in (64–102 mm)
Deck: 1.5 in (38 mm)
Hangar deck: 2.5 in (64 mm)
Bulkheads: 4 in (102 mm)
Aircraft carried: 91–103 aircraft
USS Bennington (CV/CVA/CVS-20) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington (Vermont). Bennington was commissioned in August 1944, and served in several of the later campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning three battle stars. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an Antisubmarine Aircraft Carrier (CVS). In her second career, she spent most of her time in the Pacific, earning five battle stars for action during the Vietnam War. She served as the recovery ship for the Apollo 4 space mission.
She was decommissioned in 1970, and sold to be scrapped in India in 1994.
1 Construction and commissioning
2 World War II
3 Post-war
3.1 Catapult explosion
3.2 Incident in Sydney
3.3 The 1964 Flood of Humboldt and Del Norte
3.4 ASW operations
4 Disposal
5 In popular culture
Construction and commissioning[edit]
The ship was laid down on 15 December 1942 by the New York Navy Yard, and launched on 28 February 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Melvin J. Maas, wife of Congressman Maas of Minnesota. Bennington was commissioned on 6 August 1944, with Captain J. B. Sykes in command.
World War II[edit]
Bennington in her original configuration, 1944.
On 15 December, Bennington got underway from New York and transited the Panama Canal on the 21st. The carrier arrived at Pearl Harbor on 8 January 1945 and then proceeded to Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands, where she joined Task Group 58.1 on 8 February. Operating out of Ulithi, she took part in the strikes against the Japanese home islands (16 – 17 February and 25 February), Volcano Islands (18 February – 4 March), Okinawa (1 March), and the raids in support of the Okinawa campaign (18 March – 11 June). On 7 April, Bennington's planes participated in the attacks on the Japanese task force moving through the East China Sea toward Okinawa, which resulted in the sinking of the battleship Yamato, light cruiser Yahagi, and four destroyers. On 5 June, the carrier was damaged by a typhoon off Okinawa and retired to Leyte for repairs, arriving on 12 June. Her repairs completed, Bennington left Leyte on 1 July, and from 10 July – 15 August took part in the aerial raids on the Japanese home islands.
She continued operations in the western Pacific, supporting the occupation of Japan until 21 October. On 2 September, her planes participated in the mass flight over Missouri and Tokyo during the surrender ceremonies. Bennington arrived at San Francisco on 7 November, and early in March 1946 transited the Panama Canal en route to Norfolk, Virginia. Following pre-inactivation overhaul, she went out of commission in reserve at Norfolk on 8 November 1946.
Post-war[edit]
Bennington in 1954, following her SCB-27A conversion.
The carrier began modernization at New York Naval Shipyard on 30 October 1950 and was recommissioned as CVA-20 on 13 November 1952. In this period, Bennington was the recipient of over 11 million man-hours during her SCB-27A conversion. Her deck was extended 43 ft (13 m) in length and was widened by 8 ft (2.4 m). The point was to modernize the ship to be able to launch jet aircraft. She also had the 5 in (130 mm) guns removed from the flight deck, which were replaced by smaller 3 in (76 mm) guns.
Modernized attack carrier USS Bennington (CVA-20), 1956–57.
On 13 November, Captain David. B. Young took command of Bennington in a ceremony attended by more than 1,400, including the Secretary of the Navy Dan A. Kimball and Rear Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter who said the Bennington was "the most modern carrier in our fleet today."
Marine Air Group 14 (MAG-14), under the command of Colonel W.R. Campbell, USMC reported for duty on Bennington on 13 February 1953, and Bennington set off for the waters off Florida to conduct carrier qualifications. The first trap was made on Bennington since her recommissioning by Lieutenant Colonel T.W. Furlow in his AD Skyraider. Furlow was the commanding officer of Marine Attack Squadron 211 (VMA-211). The first jet aircraft to land on Bennington occurred on 18 February by Major Carl E. Schmitt in an F9F-5 Cougar. When the qualifications were over, Bennington headed for Guantanamo Bay Naval Base where she underwent 11 weeks of shakedown training.
Her shakedown lasted until May 1953, when she returned to Norfolk for final fleet preparations. On 27 April, a downcomer tube in Boiler Room One slipped loose which caused an explosion that killed 11 men, and seriously wounded four others. From 14 May 1953 – 27 May 1954, she operated along the eastern seaboard; made a midshipman cruise to Halifax, Nova Scotia; and a cruise in the Mediterranean.
Catapult explosion[edit]
A memorial to the victims of the explosion was erected at Fort Adams on May 26, 2004.[1]
At 06:11 on 26 May 1954, while cruising off Narragansett Bay, the fluid in one of her catapults leaked out and was detonated by the flames of a jet, causing the forward part of the flight deck to explode. A series of secondary explosions occurred, killing 103 crewmen (predominantly senior NCO's) and injuring 201 others.[2] Bennington proceeded under her own power to Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, to land her injured. This tragedy caused the Navy to switch from hydraulic catapults to steam catapults for launching aircraft. A monument to the sailors who died in this tragic event was erected near the southwest corner of Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island on May 26, 2004.[1]
Moving to New York Naval Shipyard for repairs, she was completely rebuilt from 12 June 1954 – 19 March 1955. On 22 April, the Secretary of the Navy came aboard and presented medals and letters of commendation to 178 of her crew in recognition of their heroism on 26 May 1954. As of 1 August 1955, she was part of Carrier Division 2, along with Lake Champlain.[3] Bennington returned to operations with the United States Atlantic Fleet (including a two-month shake-down cruise to Guantanamo Bay with ATG-201) until departing Mayport, Florida for the Pacific on 8 September. She steamed by way of Cape Horn and arrived at San Diego one month later. The carrier then served with the Pacific Fleet making two Far Eastern cruises.
The 1955–56 air wing was Air Task Group 201, composed of VF-13, flying F9F-6, VA-36 (The US Navy's first operational light jet Attack Squadron) flying F9F-5; VA-105. flying AD-6, VC (later VFAW)4, flying F2H3, VC (Later VAAW)33, flying AD-5N. This deployment represented the Fleet evaluation of the combination of the angled deck and the mirror landing system, which reduced the US Navy's Carrier Landing Accident rate by 75%. During 1956 the ship was administratively part of Carrier Division Five, though operationally directed at times by Carrier Division One.
The 1956–57 air wing consisted of one squadron each of the following: FJ3 Fury, F2H Banshee, F9F Cougar fighters, AD-6 Skyraider, AD-5N Skyraider, and AD-5W attack aircraft, AJ2 Savage bombers, and F9F-8P photo reconnaissance planes.[4]
Incident in Sydney[edit]
On 7 May 1957, while docked in Sydney for Coral Sea Day celebrations, ten University of Sydney students dressed as pirates boarded the aircraft carrier in the early morning hours undetected. While some began soliciting donations from the Navy crew for a local charity, others entered the bridge. The public address system was turned on. "Now hear this!" announced Paul Lennon, a medical student. "The U.S.S. Bennington has been captured by Sydney University pirates!"[5][6] Alarms for general quarters, atomic and chemical attacks were sounded, rousing the crew from their bunks.[7] Marines escorted the students off the ship. No charges were filed.[8]
The 1964 Flood of Humboldt and Del Norte[edit]
The Bennington was dispatched to Eureka, in Humboldt County, California, during the Christmas flood of 1964 to provide disaster relief from severe flooding with water levels that exceeded thirty feet. The Bennington remained offshore in heavy seas and the twenty Marine helicopters she carried were invaluable in providing assistance and supplies to the stricken residents. [9]
ASW operations[edit]
LTV XC-142A trials on Bennington, 1966
Bennington's ship's insignia, 1959
She was redesignated as an ASW support carrier CVS-20 on 30 June 1959, and was on hand for the 1960 Laotian Crisis. She also had three tours of duty – between 1965 and 1968 – in the Vietnam War.
As an ASW carrier, her air wing consisted of two squadrons of S-2F Trackers, a squadron of Sikorsky SH-34s ASW helicopters which were replaced in 1964 by SH-3A Sea Kings in that role. Airborne early warning was first provided by EA-1Es modified for the AEW role, these were upgraded in 1965 to the E-1 Tracer which is built on the same frame as the S-2 Tracker. In 1964–1965, a detachment of A-4B Skyhawks were also embarked.[4]
On 18 May 1966, while cruising off of San Diego, California, Bennington hosted the experimental LTV XC-142A as it executed 44 short takeoffs and landings and six vertical takeoffs and landings, the ship steaming at various speeds to generate different velocities of wind-over-the-deck.[10]
She was the prime recovery vessel for the unmanned Apollo 4 mission and on 9 November 1967 recovered the spacecraft which had splashed down 10 mi (16 km) from the ship.
Disposal[edit]
Bennington was decommissioned on 15 January 1970, stricken on 20 September 1989, and sold for scrap on 12 January 1994, being subsequently towed across the Pacific for scrapping in India.
In popular culture[edit]
The 1949 film Sands of Iwo Jima shows footage of the USS Bennington using a short hydraulic catapult to launch propeller-driven Corsair fighters.[citation needed]
Jerry Clower served two years aboard the USS Bennington 1945 and 1946
The 1955 film The Blue and Gold has actual footage of flight deck operations including jet and helicopter take-offs. One take-off shows a wing fold up on take-off and subsequent crash off the bow.[citation needed]
Bob Hope Special January 18, 1967 has scenes on the USS Bennington. youtube video
^ a b "U.S.S. Bennington CVA-20". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
^ Edwards, Christopher (February 2011). "Fire Down Below!". Naval History. Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute. 25 (1).
^ Naval Aeronautical Organization OPNAV NOTICE 05400 for Fiscal Year 1956 dated 1 August 1955
^ a b "Air Groups". Uss Bennington. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
^ "Education: Incident in Sydney". Time. 20 May 1957. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
^ "Gary May Sydney Australia May 1957 GQ - CREW STORIES - USS BENNINGTON". www.uss-bennington.org. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
^ "1957 Visit to Sydney - Terry Yung - CREW STORIES - USS BENNINGTON". www.uss-bennington.org. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
^ "UNITED STATES NAVY VIEW OF UNIVERSITY HOAX - CREW STORIES - USS BENNINGTON". www.uss-bennington.org. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
^ "EUREKA FLOODS - Christmas 1964 - PHOTO - USS BENNINGTON". www.uss-bennington.org. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
^ Sunday, Terry L., "Tri-Service Tiltwing", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, July 1984, Volume 14, Number 4, pages 54–55.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Bennington (CV-20).
USS Bennington at NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive
USS Bennington, her history and her crew
Newsreel footage of the 1954 fire aftermath from British Pathe
Essex-class aircraft carriers
Short-hull group
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Philippine Sea
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Preceded by: USS Wasp
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List of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1954
13 Feb: Seablue
30 Mar: Empire Windrush
30 May: Pajtás
27 Jun: Springfjord
22 Sep: Nordstjernen
26 Sep: Tōya Maru
25 Oct: Cervia
26 Oct: Faidherbe
2 Nov: Olive Cam
14 Nov: ROCS Tai Ping
Other incidents
17 Jan: RFA Wave Victor
1 Mar: USS Bairoko, Daigo Fukuryū Maru
25 May: HMS Curzon
26 May: USS Bennington
27 Jul: Cressington Court
26 Sep: Eastern
15 Dec: HMS Talent
18 Dec: Hispania
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Bennington_(CV-20)&oldid=903763044"
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Resolutions proposed by Marquis de Lafayette and accepted by the Chamber of Deputies
Resolutions proposed by Marquis de Lafayette, 21 June (1815)
related portals: Hundred Days.
sister projects: Wikipedia article, Wikidata item.
After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo the French political establishment hesitated on whether to follow the imperialists and support a dictatorship or whether the best interests for them and for France would be to demand Napoleons abdication. The speech by Marquis de Lafayette and the resolutions he proposed were critical in swinging the Chambers of Deputies and Peers behind those who wished Napoleon to abdicate for the second time.
No one who heard the speech ventured to oppose the resolutions—The Imperialist Party was taken by surprise. The leading members were now elsewhere with Napoleon Bonaparte, and the others had not the courage to face the impending storm[1]—and, after a brief discussion, in which their instant adoption was urged in the strongest manner, they were carried by acclamation, with the exception of the Fourth, which was suspended on account of the invidious distinction which it appeared to convey between the troops of the Line and the National Guards.[2]
They were then transmitted to the Chamber of Peers; where, after a short discussion, they were adopted without amendment.[2]
Clarke, Hewson (1816), The History of the War, from the Commencement of the French Revolution to the Present Time, vol. 3, T. Kinnersley, p. 313
Siborne, William (1895), The Waterloo Campaign, 1815 (4th ed.), Westminster: A. Constable, <http://archive.org/details/waterloocampaig01sibogoog>
1453246Resolutions proposed by Marquis de Lafayette, 21 JuneMarquis de Lafayette1815
Representatives![3] For the first time during many years you hear a voice, which the old friends of liberty will yet recognize. I rise to address you concerning the dangers to which the country is exposed.[4] The sinister reports which have been circulated during the last two days, are unhappily confirmed. This is the moment to rally round the national colours—the Tricoloured Standard of 1788—the standard of liberty, equality, and public order. It is you alone who can now protect the country from foreign attacks, and internal dissensions. It is you alone who can secure the independence and the honour of France.
Permit a veteran in the sacred cause of liberty, in all times a stranger to the spirit of faction, to submit to you some resolutions which appear to him to be demanded by a sense of the public danger, and by the love of our country. They are such as, I feel persuaded, you will see the necessity of adopting:[5]
I. The Chamber of Deputies declares that the independence of the nation is menaced.[6]
II. The Chamber declares its sittings permanent. Any attempt to dissolve it, shall be considered high treason. Whosoever shall render himself culpable of such an attempt shall be considered a traitor to his country, and immediately treated as such.[7]
III. The Army of the Line, and the National Guards, who have fought, and still fight, for the liberty, the independence, and the territory of France, have merited well of the country.
IV. The Minister of the Interior is invited to assemble the principal officers of the Parisian National Guard, in order to consult on the means of providing it with arms, and of completing this corps of citizens, whose tried patriotism and zeal offer a sure guarantee for the liberty, prosperity, and tranquillity of the capital, and for the inviolability of the national representatives.
V. The Ministers of War, of Foreign Affairs, of Police, and of the Interior are invited to repair immediately to the sittings of the Chamber.
↑ Clarke 1816, p. 313.
↑ 2.0 2.1 Siborne 1895, p. 666
↑ "Gentlemen" in some sources
↑ Some sources replace this sentence with "The country is in danger, and you alone can save it."
↑ Some sources replace these two sentences with: "Allow a veteran in the sacred cause of freedom, and a stranger to the spirit of faction, to submit to you some resolutions, which the dangers of the present crisis demand. I am assured that you will feel the necessity of adopting them" in some other sources:
↑ some sources do not include "of Deputies"
↑ in some sources: "Whosoever shall render himself culpable of such an attempt shall be considered a traitor to his country, and condemned as such".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Resolutions_proposed_by_Marquis_de_Lafayette_and_accepted_by_the_Chamber_of_Deputies&oldid=4943201"
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Hundred Days
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Seminars by Postgraduate Students
Home > News & Activities > Seminars (Postgraduates)
2014-10-30 : Ms. Grace Cheng: Fashioning Artistic Identity in 17th Century Paris: The Le Nain Brothers’ L’Atelier in Context
Time: 5pm
The brothers Le Nain have long been celebrated as among the most original and accomplished painters working in mid 17th Century Paris. But their style of painting, distinctive studio practice, and focus on scenes of everyday life put them at odds with the academic norms which were coming to dominate French painting, rendering them socially and professionally illegible. The modern reputation of the Le Nain owes more to their 19th Century rediscovery as ‘painters of genre’ than to the actuality of their aspirations and practice…(Please click on the image to read more)
2014-09-12 : Ms. Leung Ge Yau Candy: Representing the Literatus Self in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)
Existing portraits of scholar-officials prior to the Song dynasty suggest that many were commissioned for the purpose of commemoration. The imperial court was a great patron for portraiture that was designed to serve a public function and usually this was in the format of a “portrait sequence” in which exalted officials were lined up to receive and give homage. Detailed facial description was not important in early portraiture and painters only started to paint faces with a greater tendency towards naturalism, which I define as the putative agreement between the appearances of the painting and the actual sitter, in the Five Dynasties (907-979)… (Please click on the image to read more)
2014-02-26 : Ms. Ruby Leung: Ke Jiusi (1290-1343) and Ink Bamboo Painting in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)
In the Yuan dynasty, ink bamboo painting was already a well-established genre. While it is a short-live dynasty, we find a great increase in references to artists who painted bamboo. Ke Jiusi is one of the most famous bamboo painters who has left behind a number paintings and texts on bamboo. My analysis of the activities of Ke Jiusi and his circle of bamboo painters, indicate that ink bamboo painting in the Yuan dynasty played a role different to what established scholarship has suggested in at least two ways… (Please click on the image to read more)
2013-09-30 : Ms. Alice Wong: Before the Order of Art in Republican China
My thesis focuses on early Republican art in China and on a group of student artists returning from Japan in the 1910s and 1920s. These artists received training in western style painting, which at this time offered a range of instructions based on European tradition. One of the areas of interest with this group is how they applied their training to areas that were not determined by media or style, but to areas such as design and photography… (Please click on the image to read more)
2012-05-03 : Ms. Tsang Sholan Kai: Fit Wives and Mothers of Men: Winslow Homer and the Women of Cullercoats
Date: 3 May 2012
Venue: Room 238 Main Building
In 1881 the American artist Winslow Homer embarked on a twenty-month stay in a small fishing village called Cullercoats on the northeast coast of England. During this time his work changed irrevocably in both style and subject matter and he began to depict, almost exclusively, the local fishwives. This seminar will be an exploration of Homer’s depictions of women during this period… (Please click on the image to read more)
2012-04-24 : Mr. Yang Qingkang: From Paris to Chengdu: War and the Transformation of Pang Xunqin’s Painting
Pang Xunqin (龐薰琹, 1906-1985), who was one of the founders of the Central Institute of Arts and Crafts, is well known for his achievements as a researcher and educator in the field of arts and crafts. However, his other role in 20th century Chinese art history, which may be of equal or greater importance and has, until now, been somewhat neglected, is that of a modern painter. This seminar examines the “sinicization” elements in Pang’s wartime paintings (1937-1945)… (Please click on the image to read more)
2012-04-12 : Ms. Kwok Yin Ning Elaine : The Reception of Chinese Art from the Early 17th Century to 1767
This seminar examines the European reception of Chinese landscape painting as expressed in English language texts. By analyzing how the major early English writings of various kinds described, interpreted, and theorized Chinese landscape painting, I aim to explore the historical pattern of how Europeans understood Chinese landscape painting in the course of cross-cultural interaction in the 17th and the 18th centuries …(Please click on the image to read more)
2010-11-24 : Ms. Lee Yoon Yung: The Paradox of Paintings in Korea under Japanese Colonial Rule (1905-1945)
At the end of the 19th century, Japan emerged as a dominant nation in Asia who expended their territory with a succession of military campaigns. In order to legitimize its colonial rule, Japan used two different, and sometimes contradictory approaches. Japan identified itself with the “advanced” West and treated neighboring Asian countries as an inferior other. On the other hand, Japan promoted a unified Asia-as-one as an alternative to Western imperialism … (Please click on the image to read more)
2010-11-17 : Ms. Fung Nok Kan Nicole: Christian Literati in Ming China: Wu Li (1632-1718)
Born in the late Ming, Wu Li (1632-1718) was trained as a literatus and skilled in the Confucian classics, poetry, music, and painting. The training enabled him to join a broader social network that connected literati elite across the country. Amongst Wu Li’s network of friends was Xu Zhijian, a scholar official who was criticized and dismissed in an anti-Christian campaign. He was rehabilitated in 1669 and Wu Li traveled with him to Beijing the year after. The 1670s was when we see Wu Li showed an interest in Christianity … (Please click on the image to read more)
2010-04-29 : Mr. Li Chun Tung: Empowered by the Cosmos: The Yonglegong and Yuan Dynasty Politics
In 1244 the former Lüzhuci or the Shrine of Taoist Patriarch Lü Dongbin (798-?) in Yongle county was burned down and by 1262 was reconstructed on a grander scale. During the eighteen years that it took to rebuild the temple, the Mongols were consolidating their power in northern China. The reconstruction of the temple, commonly known as Yonglegong, is a testimony to the friendship between the Quanzhen Taoist order and the rising Mongol polity. The mural paintings in the Sanqing Dian (Hall of Three Purities) were completed by 1325 … (Please click on the image to read more)
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NB. The purple sections are not links as of yet but someday…
My name’s Daniel Mulligan or Dolbro Dan as some people know me as. I’m an independent songwriter from Bangor, Northern Ireland. I’m in my mid-30s and earn my crust as a part time musician and graphic designer. I like folk, punk and grunge but I listen to all kinds of music – blues, reggae, electronic, rap – whatever’s going. I like cooking roast dinners, omelettes, soups and curries. I’m an omnivore. I like walks on the beach and cycling around the coast. My favourite video game is and forever shall remain, Street Fighter II. My favourite colour is orange and warm, earthy tones.
Did you say Dolbro Dan?
Yes, it’s an odd name. I’ve carried it around since 2008 so although it’s bit complicated it has some advantages. For example, if you know how it’s spelt, you’ll definitely find me on Google. There’s no-one else with a name like it. Some people think it’s ‘dobro’ misspelt. I do still own a dobro / resonator guitar but I prefer to play my acoustic guitar. The truth is it’s just a name I liked the sound of. I’m stuck with it now.
Why the vinyl obsession?
I’ve always harboured an love for vinyl. The first record I ever owned was Bad by Michael Jackson. I still have it. Found it years later in the attic. When I was starting to get into music as teenager I collected albums and EPs by Green River, an early precursor for Pearl Jam and Mudhoney. I bought their album Rehab Doll on vinyl (because it was the only format I could get my hands on at the time) and I still play it a lot. As for my own music, my second release Paranoid Protest Songs was meant come out on 10″ coloured vinyl but it never happened. Maybe one day. But I’ve never given up on the idea of printing my songs onto wax. I’m so glad it’s finally happened.
Where did you make Folk Dope?
The album has been cobbled together across 4 or 5 different studios and home recording setups. A lot of the preparations, edits and overdubs were made at my own home studio but the majority of the work was done at One30Two Studio in Holywood, County Down with the help of producer / engineer Dean Stevens. The drums, bass and electric guitar were tracked at Hilltop Studio by Paul Hamilton in 2014. I also recorded songs with Paul Steen, Stephen Macartney and Andrew Danso. I could go into great detail about the making-of process but not right now…
What are your influences?
Growing up my parents turned me on to a lot of cool music – Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rory Gallagher. My Dad was big into Black Sabbath and AC-DC. My mum loved Joni Mitchell and Suzanne Vega. As a teen my cousins exposed me to Pearl Jam early on, and before long I was hooked on all-things Seattle.
Next my school friends got me into So-Cal punk – NOFX, Bad Religion, Pennywise etc as well as dose of quality metal – Rage Against The Machine, Slipknot, System Of A Down. I also had a soft spot for Ash, Idlewild and Kula Shaker which I still go back to. Finally there’s Bob Dylan. After falling in love with his 60’s protest songs I started to explore folk music in earnest and the Laurel Canyon scene.
Can I help you with promotion?
That’s very kind of you to offer. I would be very grateful for your assistance. Just by sharing, liking, following me on social media. If you like writing and would like to review the album it would be a big help. I depend upon the recommendations of followers so your endorsement is a great way to promote the music.
When is your next gig?
Currently I stay around Bangor, County Down and perform at the weekends in the Rabbit Rooms and the Jamaica Inn. Details of upcoming gigs and special events can be found on my SongKick page. I recommend following me on that or subscribing to my newsletter so you’re kept in the loop.
Bookings: Can I book Dan to play a gig?
Certainly! I’m always interested in playing for an audience, near or far, big or small. For example I’ve played in Lusaka, Zambia for the Irish ex-pat community. If you’ve something in mind (house concert, coffee shop, arena tour) just drop me a line with your proposal.
Session work: Can you record with me?
I always enjoy singing and recording vocals in the studio so I’m happy to lend my voice to your recording project. We can work remotely or face-to-face if you want to fly me to your studio and feed me. Contact me for details on how to book a session.
Who else have you worked with?
My name’s Daniel and I’m a songwriter, an artist and a blah blah blah. This is my website Folk Dope. I made it to promote my 2nd album Folk Dope,my music, my career and my existence in general.
What about your day job?
I’m self-employed so making and performing music is my only income. Until to 2016 I worked in an office for 10 years, updating nautical sea charts. Being a self-employed musician has taught me a lot about spreadsheets and the importance of good record-keeping. It’s allowed me to write-off guitars and musical equipment as a business expense. It also requires me to play Wagon Wheel and Wonderwall also every time I perform in public. These are the sacrifices we make.
What about the missing years?
I never really took a hiatus officially. As a solo artist it’s difficult break up a one-man band. But I did slow down production and underwent a long period of consolidation. I wanted to release a big budget, highly polished, professionally produced album (on vinyl) that I could be proud of for the rest of my days. (Even if I never got any further than that). I also knew that to pull it off and recover my costs would require a lot of forethought and meticulous care in terms of DIY creativity.
So while it looks as though I’ve been inactive between SHM and Folk Dope, there’s been a lot of work going on behind the scenes. Hopefully now that’s all established and I have figured out how to do it, I can produce more work, more quickly and can start to make a proper go of it as a musician, online and off.
What the story with that cap you wear?
My cap is a special item of attire that I originally received from my parents after their trip to the United States. I wore it for years until it was threadbare and colourless. Eventually a friend informed me he was visiting Las Vegas. He kindly tracked down the hat store and returned with a brand new replacement cap for which I am very grateful.
© 2019 DAN MULLIGAN
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AXS Interview, Entertainment, Interview, Music March 13, 2018
Interview: Christa B. Allen and Johnny What discuss new project, Pour Vous and single, ‘The Flood’
Dark, sexy and subversively naughty are just some of the words that describe the musical collaboration between actress Christa B. Allen (ABC’s “Revenge”, “13 Going on 30”) and songwriter, producer Johnny What (Bråves). A project appropriately called, Pour Vous.
Allen’s hauntingly ethereal vocals on the duo’s first single, “The Flood” bring us a personal introspection of the love and emotion within their relationship. The structurally sound, groove-ridden track is the first song in what promises to be a busy year of music for Pour Vous.
AXS recently spoke with Christa B. Allen and Johnny What about the new single and more in this exclusive interview.
AXS: How did the song, “The Flood” originate?
Christa Allen: The beginning of a relationship is always the honeymoon phase where everything’s perfect, but this was a song written after we’d had our first little “lover’s quarrel.” It was written out of that first jolt of fear you get when you fight with someone and then say to yourself, “Why is this happening? This is supposed to be perfect.”
Johnny What: It was one of the more memorable songwriting experiences I’ve had because I was writing a song about the possibility of breaking up with the person I love the most. It was a bit confusing and intense but Christa put me at ease. I’m thankful for the experience because it helped me to grow. Not only as a songwriter but also as a person.
AXS: What’s your typical songwriting process like?
CA: Johnny has a very specific process for songwriting. It’s a formula that consists of specifically choosing chords, picking melodies and then writing lyrics to pull it all together. The actual content –the lyrics–usually comes as you work on the song. Certain words just seem to fit perfectly into the melodies that you choose.
JW: For me, the melody always chooses the lyric. I never limit myself by trying to force a concept into a melody. I prefer to have a melody find the words that sound best with the notes and then writing it from there.
AXS: Do you have plans to release more music and do live shows?
JW: Yes. We’ll be doing a single-based strategy of releasing songs and will be putting out another single soon.
CA: As far as live dates go, we’re going to take the temperature and see how people respond to the music, which so far has been overwhelmingly positive. It feels really good. We’d also like to release a few more singles before playing live, so people have something to sing along to.
Read the rest of my
Interview with Pour Vous by Clicking Here!
Filed under: Christa Allen, Entertainment, Johnny What, Music, Pour Vous
Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean DeLeo Discusses the Band’s Rebirth, New Self-Titled Album and Singer Jeff Gutt
Interview: Megan Nicole Discusses Her Infectious New Album, ‘My Kind of Party’
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IRC is an independent, non-profit organisation that drives resilient WASH systems from the ground up. We know how to do this and we already are: with district, country and international partners.
People and relationships are at the heart of our work. We want every person in the world to enjoy their human right to safe water, sanitation and hygiene, now and forever.
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IRC services
Read the summary of IRC's strategy and theory of change for the years 2017 to 2030
To help realise our goal of universal WASH access, we work and collaborate with partners around the world. The largest part of what we do happens in our six focus countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India and Uganda. We take this work to support and influence governments and organisations from around the world to transform the way they work. Additionally, through numerous consultancy assignments and partnerships, we also work in over 20 other countries.
Find out about Our Impact where we work here
Strengthening national and local WASH systems is at the heart of our mission and new Strategy Framework 2017-30 and our Theory of Change tells us what we have to do - and why - in order to achieve our goals on three levels of intervention: district, national and global.
More information on our Theory of Change
For the last fifty years, we have been leading change around the world through projects big and small, local and global. These programmes are primarily delivered through multiple projects. As a mission-driven organisation, we accept project work which contributes to our overall goals. Our consultancy arm makes this expertise available to all.
Improving governance by governments, businesses and NGOs is necessary to deliver on our vision of sustainable water and sanitation services. For IRC transparency and accountability are core values and considered so important that we are sharing all relevant annual financial and other reports on our website.
You can view IRC's Annual Reports here
From knowledge broker to international think-and-do-tank: we've evolved a lot over the last 50 years. IRC was founded in 1968 under an agreement between the World Health Organization and the Government of the Netherlands as a hub for information dissemination, a 'knowledge broker'. We were the focal point of a world-wide network of collaborating institutions active in water supply research and development.
During the 1980s and 90s our work became more focused on finding solutions that work through action research. We started to test and adapt innovative approaches to tackle complex problems. This work has taught us the value of taking a systems approach - involving everyone from the people on the ground, to the people who hold the purse strings. That's why now, we champion and enable the vital change from short-term interventions to building resilient local and national WASH systems.
Today, we're working with governments, NGOs, entrepreneurs and people around the world. Together we find and implement long-term solutions to make access to safe water and sanitation available for everyone, for good.
Check out the key events and dates in IRC's last five decades here
People and relationships are at the heart of our work. Our international team is made up of more than 80 recognised WASH specialists and dedicated field staff, based in our focus countries and head office in The Hague. Our global associate programme includes 22 top international experts.
Find out more about Our People here
Meet the people and organisations who share our vision
From citizens to government policy-makers, global investors to individual donors, charities and aid agencies we are supported by so many people who want to change the world. Our top 10 donors in 2017 were: Netherlands Directorate-General of Development Cooperation (DGIS), European Union / European Commission (EU/EC), Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UNICEF, Osprey Foundation, World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, World Health Organization (WHO) and a private donor.
Agenda For Change
Agenda For Change is a partnership launched in May 2015 by IRC, Aguaconsult, WaterAid, Water For People and Osprey Foundation. It sets out what we need to do and how we need to act so that everyone, everywhere have WASH services that last forever. A unique collaboration aimed at driving systems development aorund the world. Find out more
Others who have joined us on our journey include
AECOM / African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) / Aguaconsult / Akvo / Antenna Foundation / Association des Jeunes pour le Développement Durab (AJDD) / Aqua for All / Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation / Catholic Relief Services (CRS) / Coffey International / Community Water & Sanitation Agency (CWSA) / Conrad N. Hilton Foundation / COWI / Cranfield University / DAI / Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) / Department for International Development (DFID) / Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) / Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) / European Union (EU), European Commission (EC) / Finnish International Development Agency (FINNIDA) / Florida International University (FIU) / Global Environment & Technology Foundation (GETF) / Global Sanitation Fund / GoodPlanet / Hydroconseil / IDS / IHE Delft / IMC Worldwide / Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) / LVIA Solidarity and International Cooperation / Millenium Water Alliance (MWA) / MUNDO / Ministry of Water and Environment Uganda (MWE Uganda) / Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) / Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO)/ Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP) / NIRAS Indevelop / NUFFIC / Osprey Foundation / Oxfam Quebec / Oxford Policy Management / Oxford University / Plan / Population Services International (PSI) / Private Donor / Ramboll / Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel – Enhanced Resilience (REGIS-ER) / RMSI / Royal Haskoning DHV / Simavi / SNV Netherlands Development Organisation / Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) / Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) / Taru Leading Edge Ltd / Technical University Delft / UNICEF / United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) / University of Colorado Boulder (UCB) / University of Maastricht / University of Reading / Vitens Evides International / Vitol Foundation / VNG International / WaterAid / Water and Development Alliance (WADA) / Water For People / Waterloo Foundation / Water Integrity Network / Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) / Welthungerhilfe / World Bank / World Health Organization / World Vision
Invest in sustainable WASH systems - contact us to find out how
At IRC, we know that it is easier to put money into delivering hardware. Happy pictures of project inaugurations - a new pump for the village, a new toilet block for a school - ribbons are cut, smiling faces of children. These images are much easier to share in a boardroom or with your taxpayers. However, we also know that it is through building strong WASH systems that we will move beyond the need to constantly build and rebuild hardware. Not because any pump lasts forever, but precisely because they don't. Strong systems are those that can cope with the inevitable failure of individual elements within them – be they pumps, pipes or latrines.
Our Strategic Partnerships Department is available to support investors, donors and philanthropists looking to make that shift from investing in short-term aid to sustainable systems investments to better please the boardroom and taxpayer through long-term impacts.
Support our work - donate now:
Help us us to create a world where no child or adult dies of water or sanitation-related disease, and make access to safe water and sanitation available for everyone, for good by 2030.
Challenge the sector: IRC is campaigning to challenge 'systems blindness' and we need your help.
Truth is we all seem to know that water, sanitation and hygiene services rely on strong systems. But the sector fails to give much thought to these systems and continues to pour money into infrastructure whilst ignoring the systems that are required to keep that infrastructure functioning. We invite influencers, journalists, social media activists, bloggers and vloggers to join the conversation and ask tough questions of the WASH sector and positively challenge us all to tell the real story of what works and what doesn't – delivering systems, not piecemeal development.
At IRC, we believe that turning on a working tap should not be a surprise or cause for celebration. We believe in a world where water, sanitation and hygiene services are fundamental utilities that everyone is able to take for granted. For good.
We face a complex challenge. Every year, thousands of projects within and beyond the WASH sector fail – the result of short-term targets and interventions, at the cost of long-term service solutions.
This leaves around a third of the world's poorest people without access to the most basic of human rights, and leads directly to economic, social and health problems on a global scale. IRC exists to continually challenge and shape the established practices of the WASH sector.
Through collaboration and the active application of our expertise, we work with governments, service providers and international organisations to deliver systems and services that are truly built to last.
IRC Consult
capitalises on IRC's experience of WASH systems-strengthening work in our six focus countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India and Uganda. This work has generated evidence, experience, knowledge and tools that work. We have made our expertise available to others since 2014 through specialists who are at the forefront of the WASH sector in countries including India, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Bolivia, South Sudan, the United States of America, and the Netherlands. There has been strong demand for our services, from research and training to project evaluation and monitoring.
We apply the same standards of excellence, approach and know-how that we use in our mission-driven work. We bring this professionalism to the WASH challenges of our clients.
www.ircconsult.org
Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) Sector Strategic Framework (PDF)
IRC's overarching strategic framework and theory of change for the years 2017 to 2030, together with a set of priority actions and objectives for the period 2017-21. The lessons learned during IRC's previous business plan period 2012-16 together with the findings of a trend analysis form the basis of the new strategic framework and theory of change.
IRC Annual Report 2017 (PDF)
2017 was a year of new beginnings with the launch of our Strategy Framework, we set out how we intend to work with our partners to build resilient water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems to deliver Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) by 2030.
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Practice Run
Strategic U.S. bombers fly practice nuclear strikes in Korea
Bill Gertz - March 18, 2013 5:25 PM
U.S. B-52 bombers carried out simulated nuclear bombing raids on North Korea as part of ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises, Pentagon officials said on Monday.
Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters that B-52 bombers from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, conducted a training mission over South Korea March 8 during war games known as Exercise Foal Eagle.
"It's not any secret that we are in the midst of sending a very strong signal that we have a firm commitment to the alliance with our South Korean allies," Little said.
Deputy defense secretary Ashton Carter said during a visit to South Korea on Monday that the bomber flights are part of the U.S. "extended deterrence"—the use of U.S. nuclear forces to deter North Korea, which conducted its third underground nuclear test Feb. 12.
"I should note the presence of strategic bombers taking place in flight training in the Korea peninsula area in particular, for example, but this is routine. There will be a B-52 flight tomorrow," Carter said in Seoul.
The bomber flights are part of increased training efforts that seek to show U.S. resolve in protecting South Korea, Little said.
The B-52 flights are part of the U.S. Pacific Command program called Continuous Bomber Presence.
Little said the Guam base has been used since 2004 for strategic bomber rotational deployments. "The B-52 Stratofortress can perform a variety of missions including carrying precision-guided conventional or nuclear ordnance," Little said. "We will continue to fly these training missions as part of our ongoing actions to enhance our strategic posture in the Asia-Pacific region."
It is unusual for the Pentagon to make such overt statements about the use of strategic nuclear forces in Asia Pacific.
The Foal Eagle maneuvers will highlight both nuclear and conventional capabilities of the B-52s, Little said, adding that the flights were routine.
"Despite challenges with fiscal constraints, training opportunities remain important to ensure U.S. and [South Korean] forces are battle-ready and trained to employ airpower to deter aggression, defend South Korea, and defeat any attack against the alliance," he said.
The U.S. military until the early 1990s stored nuclear bombs and missiles in Guam but moved the bombs and missiles to the continental United States.
Two Russian strategic nuclear bombers identified as Tu-95 Bear Hs, were recently intercepted as they circled Guam in what analysts say was saber-rattling on the part of the Russians, who several years ago set up an anti-U.S. alliance with China called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that includes several Asian and Southwest Asia states.
South Korean news reports last week also stated that U.S. nuclear missile submarines would remain near South Korean waters to provide another sign of U.S. nuclear deterrence.
The combined nuclear and conventional forces exercises began in early March as part of maneuvers called Key Resolve that involved around 13,000 U.S. and South Korean troops. A second round of exercises known as Foal Eagle will extend through the end of April.
South Korean forces remain on heightened alert over concerns that North Korean military forces will attempt a new military provocation, as occurred several years ago when a North Korean submarine sank a South Korean coastal patrol ship and then fired artillery on a South Korean island near the Northern Limit Line delineating North and South Korea waters even with the 38th parallel.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has said any further military provocation would trigger a South Korean military response, which analysts fear could trigger a new Korea war.
North Korea, angered over a new United Nations resolution condemning its latest underground nuclear test, announced it was pulling out of the 1953 armistice agreement ending hostilities during the Korean War.
Intelligence sources said they do not expect North Korea to conduct a provocation during the military exercises in South Korea when troops and forces are ready to conduct large-scale operations.
However, a future military provocation by Pyongyang could take place in May, after the war games end.
North Korea’s communist government also has stepped up harsh rhetoric with threats to use nuclear missile attacks against both South Korea and the United States.
Propaganda organs recently issued videos on YouTube showing nuclear missile attacks on New York City and U.S. troops in flames from a nuclear strike.
A North Korean general also said recently that the military has missiles equipped with nuclear warheads ready for launch.
The Pentagon on Friday announced it would increase the number of ground-based missile defense interceptors in Alaska and California based on new intelligence indicating North Korea has deployed a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile called the KN-08.
The missile has not been flight-tested, but U.S. intelligence agencies believe it is in the process of being fielded and has enough range to reach the United States with a compact nuclear warhead.
Carter, the deputy defense secretary, said he met with senior South Korean officials and is confident the alliance remains strong.
"The key topic of our discussions today was North Korea and its continued pattern of provocative actions that pose a serious threat to the United States and Republic of Korea as well as to regional and global stability," Carter said.
"The United States is working with friends and allies around the world and is employing an integrated response to these unacceptable provocations: The United Nations Security Council resolutions with unprecedentedly strong sanctions, additional unilateral sanctions of great effect, and all together the progressive isolation of North Korea."
The additional missile defense deployments, Carter said, are aimed at bolstering missile defenses as part of "our determination to keep ahead of the progression of the North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile development."
Carter also said he would observe the military exercises.
"In the United States, our commitment to the alliance is part of our Asia-Pacific rebalance, and we will ensure that all the pieces of our defense relationship continue to move forward, and I should say this will occur despite the budgetary pressures in the United States," Carter said.
"The Asia-Pacific rebalance is a priority. It's a historic priority. We have the resources to accomplish it and no matter what happens in the budget debates that go on in the United States, our commitment to the Asia-Pacific rebalance and our commitment to the United States-ROK Alliance will remain firm."
This entry was posted in National Security. Bookmark the permalink.
Bill Gertz is senior editor of the Washington Free Beacon. Prior to joining the Beacon he was a national security reporter, editor, and columnist for 27 years at the Washington Times. Bill is the author of seven books, four of which were national bestsellers. His most recent book was iWar: War and Peace in the Information Age, a look at information warfare in its many forms and the enemies that are waging it. Bill has an international reputation. Vyachaslav Trubnikov, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, once called him a “tool of the CIA” after he wrote an article exposing Russian intelligence operations in the Balkans. A senior CIA official once threatened to have a cruise missile fired at his desk after he wrote a column critical of the CIA’s analysis of China. And China’s communist government has criticized him for news reports exposing China’s weapons and missile sales to rogue states. The state-run Xinhua news agency in 2006 identified Bill as the No. 1 “anti-China expert” in the world. Bill insists he is very much pro-China—pro-Chinese people and opposed to the communist system. Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld once told him: “You are drilling holes in the Pentagon and sucking out information.” His Twitter handle is @BillGertz.
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NY State Passes Maternal Psychological Health Legislation
It’s about time, but New York State finally has seriously proposed passing legislation to help new mother’s deal with the variety of psychological disorders that pregnancy and post-pregnancy bring. Considering that 50-80% of new mothers experience “baby blues” the health industry has a lot of catching up to do to screen and provide referral and follow up care. Here’s the scoop from Liz Krueger, the NY State Senator, who introduced the bill:
Sen. Krueger and Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried today announced their reintroduction of legislation providing education, and promoting screening and treatment-referrals for postpartum depression and other maternal depression disorders (S. 7234 / A. 9610). Despite the widespread nature and severity of maternal depression, our healthcare system has no system-wide screening and referral procedure. A previous version of this legislation passed both houses in the 2013 legislative session but was vetoed due to technical concerns over certain provisions in the bill. The new, 2014 version of the Gottfried-Krueger legislation addresses those concerns while accomplishing the goal of increasing identification of maternal depression cases, thereby improving outcomes for new mothers, newborns, and families. “Maternal depression” includes a range of perinatal mood disorders, emotional and psychological reactions a woman may experience during pregnancy or up to a year after childbirth. Symptoms can include feelings of despair or guilt, sadness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, changes in appetite, and thoughts of suicide or of harming the baby. Maternal depression includes prenatal depression, “baby blues,” postpartum anxiety, postpartum depression, and postpartum psychosis. The latter is the severest of these conditions, often including hallucinations and delusions, and results in infanticide and suicide rates of four and five percent, respectively. Maternal depression affects a significant portion of pregnant women and new mothers. Each year, approximately 10 to 15 percent of new mothers develop postpartum depression, while 50 to 80 percent of new mothers will experience “baby blues.” A small but significant number – about 0.1 to 0.2 percent of new mothers – develop symptoms serious enough to be considered postpartum psychosis.
In part because of the lack of a system-wide screening and referral procedure, these conditions often go undiagnosed or inadequately treated, leading to tragic results, as in the highly-publicized case of 44-year old Manhattan resident Cynthia Wachenheim, whose suicide last year came after she exhibited symptoms consistent with maternal depression. Treatment for maternal depression has an 80 to 90 percent success rate. Early diagnosis and treatment – the goals of this legislation – significantly improve prognoses. Assembly Member Gottfried and Senator Krueger’s legislation would authorize the Commissioner of Health to provide screening guidelines for maternal health care providers to use with patients during pregnancy and after childbirth. The bill would also add maternal depression materials to maternity education and outreach programs for new mothers and their families. In addition, the bill would bar insurance companies from requiring a special referral for maternal depression screening by obstetricians and pediatricians. Because pregnant women visit their obstetrician and new mothers visit their infants’ pediatrician more often than they would any other health professional, these health care providers are in an ideal position to screen women for maternal depression. Finally, under this bill the Department of Health would also provide a list of treatment providers, including support groups and nonprofit organizations. “Many new parents and families aren’t aware of just how common maternal depression is, and too often cases go untreated,” said Senator Krueger. “This bill will spur greater awareness, early detection, and treatment of maternal depression.” “A key element of the bill is recognizing that the newborn’s pediatrician can have an important role in identifying maternal depression,” said Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried. “The bill incorporates all the technical concerns the governor’s office raised last year, so we hope to get it passed in both houses and signed into law.
Early screening for postpartum depression is effective for families and offers long-term emotional benefits and health care cost savings.” The legislation is strongly supported by patients’ advocates, including the family of Cynthia Wachenheim, whose tragic suicide reignited a national conversation on maternal depression, and Paige Bellenbaum, a senior executive with the Settlement Housing Fund whose personal battle with postpartum depression spurred her to advocate for the legislation. The legislation was also supported by the Postpartum Resource Center of New York. “Our family will feel the pain of losing Cindy for the rest of our lives. Our hope is that this legislation will help prevent other families from needlessly losing a loved one by educating them about maternal depression and mood disorders so they can recognize the signs and access appropriate and effective treatment,” said Deborah and Ron Wachenheim. “I suffered from severe postpartum depression with my first child, and even as a social worker who is trained to recognize mental illness symptoms, I had no idea what was wrong with me or where to go for help. I felt ashamed and embarrassed. This debilitating condition nearly cost me my life. Seven years later, it is my greatest hope that this will be the year New York State acts to increase screening and treatment, so all at-risk women have the best chance possible of being diagnosed, getting the help they need, and recovering, as I did,” said Paige Bellenbaum. “New York mothers, fathers and family members need to know they are not alone, not to blame and that they will feel better and be well with help.
This legislation is critical to further help strengthen the maternal depression safety net for the prevention of tragedies,” added Sonia Murdock, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Postpartum Resource Center of New York. The legislation is also cited as an important step forward by healthcare and mental health experts representing a variety of New York medical institutions, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) District II, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) District II, New York University Medical Center, and Bellevue Hospital Center. “Most new mothers visit the pediatrician for their infant’s check-ups and health/sick visits more often than they would visit any other health professional in the year after the birth of their child,” said Dr. Danielle Laraque, MD, FAAP, New York State AAP Chair. “Therefore, it makes sense to create a process for pediatricians to screen and refer new mothers who may be struggling with postpartum depression. Early screening and identification of maternal depression has an 80 to 90 percent success rate and offers long-term health care costs savings. It also helps support healthy child development and addresses issues of early childhood mental health challenges.” “There is a growing evidence base supporting early detection and treatment of perinatal mood disorders. Clinically, we see excellent outcomes when women receive appropriate mental health treatment; ultimately benefiting the mother, the infant, and the entire family,” said Dr. Judy A. Greene, MD, Director of Women’s Mental Health and Training Director for the Reproductive Psychiatry Fellowship at Bellevue Hospital Center.
The previous year’s version of this legislation, A7667B / S3137C, passed both houses unanimously. Assemblymember Gottfried and Sen. Krueger are hopeful that this new version of the legislation will move expeditiously in the final six weeks of the 2014 session. The legislation is scheduled for votes in the both the Assembly’s and the Senate’s respective Health Committees on Tuesday, May 20.
Sequel to My Big Fat Greek Wedding on the horizon
Between the Seas Festival Builds a Bridge Across Cultures
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January 8, 2018 Edition
Newspaper talk We like newspaper talk, we’re newsies. The federal government’s huge spending on advertising in newspapers has been criticized by people who believe the use of the public’s money limits freedom of the media. This clout is capable of suppressing investigative articles, directing front pages and intimidating newsrooms that challenge it. The government’s lavish spending is made with a simple proviso: “I do not pay you to criticize me.”
The director of the magazine Etcétera conceded this practice is not right, but argued that if the government advertising revenue dried up, there would be no media in Mexico at all. “We are all complicit in this,” Marco Levario said.
However, the president’s office said that its spending did not affect free speech in any way, arguing that the purpose of its advertising is to inform and educate the public about the government’s work and that it is backed legally by the constitution. Well, maybe that’s the problem, it’s legal. But is it right? We could argue that it’s not right that this paper doesn’t get our share, but then we’re passed up because our readers don’t vote.
Only once has a government agency tried to buy us off, and that was Fonatur. We were so naïve back in those days we didn’t get it, we thought they just wanted an ad. Duh. And then when the crisis was over, the pendejos didn’t even pay us! We learned two lessons, one about Mexican journalism and one about Fonatur.
Tough competition for Cabo A new all-inclusive hotel with 900 suites, 10 restaurants and eight bars has opened just south of Cancun. (It has to be all inclusive, because it’s out in the tulles.) It will eventually have 6,000 rooms, a 12,000 seat stadium, a convention center and even a shopping center. Cancun has way more problems with the druggies than we do, and they’re still thriving, so maybe we can expect the same here.
Cruise ship for Mexicans Aww, that’s nice. Right now, all the cruise ships that ply the so-called Mexican Riviera originate in L.A, a bridge too far for many Mexicans. Why should they fly up there and back, only to cruise down here and back?
The Magellan ship will cruise the Mexican Riviera this winter, launching a new brand for the Mexican domestic market: Marítimos Vacacionales. Maritime vacations.
Home ports will be both Acapulco and Manzanillo, and the itinerary will include calls to Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo, plus two days at sea. They’re hoping to attract 12,000 passengers total for the season.
What’s wrong with our stumble bums? The Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) reports that its meetings and events sector grew 6.7 percent from January to October, when compared to the same period last year. The sector took in $25 billion, and they did it all without Los Cabos.
The beautiful and modern convention center built for our city by the federal government in 2002, and deeded over to us, is in shambles. It’s never been used, never marketed, not even maintained. It’s just a wreck sitting on the hill overlooking the toll booth in San Jose. Our city and tourism officials can’t get organized enough to hire a company to bring in events.
The rest of Mexico gets 30 million room nights and 266 events in a year. The meetings sector in Mexico is an increasingly important part of the tourism industry and the country's economy, the MTB said. The meetings and incentive industry generates 1.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, creating nearly a million jobs in Mexico. But nooooo… not here.
Who likes tasteless tortillas? Not even Gringos. Tortilla consumption has fallen 40% over the past 30 years because, claims Rafael Mier, a businessman and corn promoter. Corn promoter? Is that a job description? A career? Well, Rafa is certainly on a mission.
“They have lost their flavor and texture,” Mier says, and he is determined to bring back consumption of the national culinary icon.
“In Mexico, there is not a single tortilla: there are hundreds of tortillas as there are hundreds of varieties of corn,” he said. However, a trend towards homogenization of the tortilla and the use of inferior corn flours are to blame for their declining quality, he believes.
He says the culprit is low grade corn, preservatives and additives. Well, we have to say, we’ve been amazed at how many bad tortillas there are around here. We’re thinking they’re bought by the carton at Costco. When was the last time you saw a traditional tortillera? A store front where they are made by a half dozen senoras, who feed the hand pressed pastie into clankety, rickety machinery.
Mier says if Mexico is to reverse the declining trend here, “People need to elevate what many see as a humble staple to a product of near sacred significance”. Well, that might be a bit much, but we would like to see improvement in the local tortilla recipes.
A few more pesos here, please! State police are not only woefully underpaid, but many don’t even receive all the benefits required by law.
Officers in 13 of the 32 states are paid less than the national average wage and none of the states pays all the basic benefits in full.
According to one report, the average monthly wage of a state police officer in Mexico is just over $500 USD.
The report also said none of the states pays its police departments the six benefits mandated by law. These include their housing credits, life insurance, a medical plan, a retirement savings fund, financial support for the families of officers who have been killed in the line of duty and scholarships for their children.
Well, now we’re a little more understanding of their extortion tactics on us. Their families are hungry and they’re angry, wouldn’t you be too?
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HomeHarley Davidson NewsThe Word On…
The Word On…
Last year, the National Basketball Association announced a three-year pilot program for jersey sponsorships. A small 2 ½ x 2 ½ inch logo on the left shoulder will be featured on team jerseys during the 2017-18 season. These tiny logos don’t come without a price, as most are fetching between $ 2.5 and $ 8 million annually, according to a report by Forbes. Companies such as Stubhub (Philadelphia 76ers), Goodyear (Cleveland Cavaliers), Disney (Orlando Magic), and Fitbit (Minnesota Timberwolves) have already jumped on board. (You can view a full list of team sponsors here.) Last week, Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson announced a deal with the Bucks. Per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Bucks president Peter Feigin appeared on Fox Business Network and estimated that revenue from jersey ads could bring in $ 2.5 to $ 6 million per year, depending on the team.” More from the report:
For the Bucks, the sponsorship creates an opportunity to partner with another Milwaukee-based brand while generating additional revenue.
Early estimates point to these small ads — the Harley-Davidson logo patch will take up a 2.75-by-2.09-inch area on the left shoulder of Milwaukee’s jerseys — generating $ 150 million or more for the league each season. The revenue from those ad sales will be shared with the players, per the collective bargaining agreement.
While the Bucks’ deal with Harley-Davidson will last for three seasons, the yearly revenue brought in by the sponsorship has not been disclosed. Earlier this week, Bucks president Peter Feigin appeared on Fox Business Network and estimated that revenue from jersey ads could bring in $ 2.5 to $ 6 million per year, depending on the team.
Harely’s deal with the Bucks wasn’t the only announcement from the American motorcycle brand last week. Harley-Davidson has also partnered with iconic rock band Guns N’ Roses, launching a special capsule collection in conjunction with the bands Not In This Lifetime Tour. Created in partnership with Bravado International Group, Inc., the limited-edition line will be available exclusively at Harley-Davidson dealerships.
“We are excited to partner with Bravado to celebrate Guns N’ Roses as this collaboration brings two brands together in an expression of freedom and rebellion,” said Mary Kay Lee, director of Harley-Davidson general merchandise in a statement. “The new styles will only be available for a limited time, so visit your local Harley-Davidson dealership to check them out.”
Prices will start at $ 30, according to a Harley-Davidson press release.
Despite the incoherent ramblings from a certain colleague (cough … Steve Matthes … cough) Chick-fil-A is THE greatest fast food joint in the entire world. Yes, world! Maybe even universe. The Atlanta Falcons are set to open the brand-new Mercedes-Benz Stadium this year, which will also host Monster Energy Supercross in 2018, and a Chick-fil-A will have a stand in the stadium. One problem. Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays. Football, for the most part, is played on Sundays. And according to ESPN, the GREATEST fast food restaurant in the universe, will remained closed during the games. Good news: supercross takes place on Saturday! Suck it, Matthes. More from ESPN.
The stand will be open for the two college football games, dubbed the Chick-fil-A Kickoff games, during the season’s opening week. The game between Alabama and Florida State is on Saturday, Sept. 2, while the Georgia Tech-Tennessee game will take place two days later on a Monday. The stand will also be open for non-Sunday games played by the Falcons’ co-tenant, the Atlanta United of Major League Soccer, also owned by Blank.
While fans of the Chick-fil-A brand are often baffled by the idea of being closed one day a week, Cathy, who died in 2014, always said that being closed Sunday made Monday that much busier.
Earlier this month, restaurant industry trade publication QSR Magazine named Chick-fil-A the highest-grossing franchise in the United States, estimating that each store pulled in an average of $ 4.4 million in annual revenue, $ 1.7 million more than the average of the next-highest-grossing chain (Whataburger, $ 2.7 million).
The United States is a very litigious country, filled with dumber and dumber lawsuits by the day. But this one may top them all. According to Motor Trend, Porsche recently settled a class action lawsuit from a bunch of owners claiming they had to buy polarized sunglasses because the trim in their car was blinding in the sunlight. Seriously. A little more from Motor Trend:
The settlement was actually proposed in December of last year, but we didn’t find out about it until just recently. It applies to owners or lessees who have or had any 2007–2016 Porsche with a Cognac, Luxor Beige, Natural Brown, Platinum Grey, or Sand Beige dashboard. If you bought sunglasses or made other modifications to your car to reduce the glare, you can get between $ 50 and $ 175 in compensation from the German automaker.
According to Motor Trend, the “only Porsche with a starting price just below $ 50,000 is the base-model Macan, a compact crossover with a turbo-four under the hood.” A new pair of sunglasses retails for much, much less.
Although he’s currently still on the mend from a career-threatening arm injury suffered at Anaheim 2, Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen is still very active on his social media. Yesterday, he shared a short clip of himself riding a 450—at the age of 13!!!!—with the following caption: “This one time. My bike broke at a race. I was 13 years old. Borrowed a friends 450. So I raced that thing lol. What ever I could get my hands on. Haha” This is pretty amazing!
The KENDA Tennessee Knockout—absolute hell on two wheels—ran this past weekend in Sequatchie, TN, and my goodness it looked brutal. KTM’s Cody Webb won for the fifth consecutive year, beating out Graham Jarvis and Mario Roman. I can honestly say, I would enjoy zero part of this.
Be honest: could you finish this race?
Electric is all the rage right now, and probably the future of motorcycling, and now BMW is also releasing an electric kick scooter, called the X2City. In the July announcement, BMW said the scooter has a top speed of up to 25 km/h and an electric range of around 25 to 35 kilometers. Also, it will be classified as a “Pedelec25”, meaning it will not require a helmet or a license for anyone that is 14 years old and older. BMW isn’t selling it through their motorcycle dealer network, instead offering it through production partner Kettler’s website and retailers in Europe (no word yet on plans for the U.S.). BMW has not announced a fixed price, but said it will be below € 2,500.
Sad news from the stunt world this week, as Joi “SJ” Harris passed away on Monday after a motorcycle stunt went wrong on the set of Deadpool 2 in British Columbia. She was 40. Per the Hollywood Reporter, “witnesses told local reporters Harris did the stunt perfectly four times, but on the fifth go, something went wrong. She was thrown into the ground-level plate glass of a building.
According to a profile in Black Girls Ride Mag, Harris was the first professional African American female road racer when she began competing in 2014, just four years after she learned to ride a motorcycle.
Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.
Harley Davidson Men’s Abercorn Boots, Black Leather, Rubber, 8.5 W
Harley-Davidson wants to 'unite us all' with social media campaign
On The Road with Harley-Davidson. Photo shared by Vinay Singh Rajput
October 28, 2016 Craig Ballantyne Harley Davidson Bike Pics 0
The street is where the action is. Get in on the action
When you’re on two, nothing else matters.
November 15, 2016 Craig Ballantyne Harley Davidson Bike Pics 0
When you’re on two, nothing else matters. Tag someone that needs to find their flow on two wheels and check out how these riders have found theirs ➡ http://bit.ly/2fAkRa5
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This continues my series on Yankee starting pitchers.
A few Yankee pitchers are in a zone that mixes pride with frustration. They had distinguished careers, of which they should be proud, ending up tantalizingly close to Hall of Fame consideration.
But they have no shot at Cooperstown.
David Wells, Carl Mays, Sad Sam Jones, Kenny Rogers, Kevin Brown, Joe Niekro, Bobo Newsom, Rick Reuschel and George Uhle all passed 200 wins but didn’t reach 250, where you get serious Hall of Fame consideration, or 300, where entry is nearly automatic.
With some exceptions, you need special achievements to push you into the Hall of Fame from the low 200s in wins. And these pitchers didn’t have them. They were good and pitched a long time. But not quite long enough or good enough. Most had their best seasons for other teams. I’ll address them in the order of their contributions to the Yankees.
Boomer spent four seasons with the Yankees, 1997-98 and 2002-3. His only 20-win season came as a Blue Jay, but his Yankee records were solid: 16-10, 18-4, 19-7 and 15-7. That 1998 season placed him third in the Cy Young Award vote.
He was 6-2 in post-season games for Yankees, and undefeated 4-0 for the 1998 team, including two wins and an MVP Award in the American League Championship Series.
Plus he pitched a perfect game:
Mays had more 20-win seasons than Wells, including 26- and 27-win seasons for the Yankees in 1920-21. He pitched for the Yankees from 1919-23. I gave the edge to Wells based on post-season performance. Mays was only 1-3 in the 1921-22 World Series.
Mays is remembered primarily for baseball’s most profound on-field tragedy, a pitch that hit Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman in the head, killing him.
Jones won 21 games as a Yankee in 1923, but lost 21 in 1925. The Yankees actually finished seventh that year, just two years before the Murderers’ Row team many consider the best ever (Jones moved along to the St. Louis Browns that year). He won 229 games but only spent three years on the writers’ ballot for the Hall of Fame.
Rogers was a mediocre starter for the Yankees when they returned to championship form in 1996, going 12-8 with a 4.68 ERA. He got no decisions in four post-season games. He wasn’t even that good in 1997, going just 6-7.
The Yankees traded him to Oakland for Scott Brosius, a trade that helped both teams.
Rogers pitched better for the A’s, Rangers and Tigers. He pitched better in the post-season, taking a shutout into the eighth inning in a 6-0 win over the Yankees for Detroit in 2006.
Kevin Brown
Brown had his best years with the Texas Rangers (his only 20-win season in 1991), Florida Marlins (a world championship in 1997), San Diego Padres (another World Series, but a sweep by the Yankees) and Dodgers.
Brown joined the Yankees as a free agent in 2004. After a respectable 10-6 season, he slipped to 4-7 at age 40 in 2005 and retired.
He has a reputation for clutch pitching in the post-season, but he was just 5-5, including 1-1 as a Yankee. His post-season loss for New York was Game Seven against Boston in the 2004 League Championship Series, when the Red Sox torched him for five runs in less than two innings.
Maybe I’m wrong about Brown having no shot at the Hall of Fame. He’s ranked 50th all-time by Bleacher Report, ahead of lots of Hall of Fame pitchers. But at least nine Yankee starters belong in Cooperstown before Brown does (presuming that someday players who used performance-enhancing drugs will get in): Roger Clemens, Ron Guidry, Tommy John, Allie Reynolds, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, David Cone, Luis Tiant and Jim Kaat. And Wells and CC Sabathia probably will be stronger Hall of Fame candidates than Brown, too.
Joe Niekro
The less-famous of the knuckleballing brothers is not going to join brother Phil in the Hall of Fame. Like Phil, Joe spent time with the Yankees late in his career. He won 11 games over less than two years in pinstripes. Phil had back-to-back 16-win seasons in New York. With 221 wins, Joe had just one year on the Hall of Fame ballot.
Besides, his most famous moment was for cheating:
Bobo Newsom
Newsom had two 20-win seasons but three 20-loss seasons (and a 19-loss season, giving him four years leading his league in losses). He was actually a 200-game winner with a losing record, 211-222.
His half-season with the Yankees was actually pretty good: 7-5, with a 2.80 ERA, in 1947.
Rick Reuschel
Rick Reuschel and his Cub teammates signed this baseball, which my father gave my mother in the 1970s.
Reuschel pitched well for the Cubs and Giants, but was only 4-4 in part of the 1981 season for the Yankees.
George Uhle
George Uhle finished with 200 wins exactly. As an Indian, he led the league with 27 wins in 1923 and 26 in 1926. But he was largely done when he joined the Yankees in 1933. He won eight games over two years, pitching mostly out of the bullpen.
Other Yankee 200-game winners
These, of course, are not the only Yankees who won 200 games. A bunch of others are covered in previous posts in this series on Yankee starting pitchers:
The Yankees’ 50 best starters
« Yankee pitchers win more championships than Cy Young Awards Hall of Fame’s ‘Pre-Integration Era’ Committee perpetuates segregation »
Date : October 2, 2015
Tags: Bobo Newsom, Carl Mays, David Wells, George Uhle, Joe Niekro, Kenny Rogers, Kevin Brown, Rick Reuschel, Sad Sam Jones
Categories : Yankee starting pitchers
[…] in this series on Yankee starting pitchers. So these are the ones who never won a Cy Young Award or won 200 career games or deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, […]
[…] Yankee starters with 200 wins but no shot at the Hall of Fame […]
[…] Both players pitched well for their new teams. I tell more about Wells in my post on 200-game winners without a shot at the Hall of Fame. […]
[…] by combined wins, the Niekros would be first with Phil winning 318 games, 32 for the Yankees, and Joe winning 221, 14 for the Yankees. That’s 539 combined wins, 10 more than the Perrys (314 […]
[…] on Sad Sam in the posts on Yankee 200-game winners and Yankees who pitched […]
[…] installment in this series. These guys didn’t make the Hall of Fame, win 300 games (or even 200), don’t have a strong case for the Hall of Fame (or even a long shot), didn’t win a Cy […]
The Yankees’ 50 best starting pitchers | Hated Yankees (10:28:51) :
[…] CC Sabathia […]
Yankees have more borderline Hall of Fame contenders than any other team | Hated Yankees (11:51:29) :
[…] the Dodgers and Cubs. Mark Grace has no chance and didn’t get a second year on the ballot. Rick Reuschel (a Yankee briefly in 1981) won 214 games but doesn’t have enough other Hall of Fame […]
Baseball Hall of Fame president is wrong about how ‘very selective’ Cooperstown voting has been | Hated Yankees (09:28:38) :
[…] For instance, the 1998 Yankees team that won 114 games, swept the Padres in the World Series and generated some best-ever conversation has no players yet in the Hall of Fame. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are locks for Cooperstown, but they are not eligible yet. And the borderline players on that team are either still awaiting eligibility on the writers’ ballot (Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada), hoping for writers’ election in their last year eligible (Tim Raines) or were rejected by the writers and will never make the Hall or will wait years for Veterans Committee consideration (Bernie Williams, David Cone, David Wells). […]
Randy Witke (09:58:16) :
I often wonder if Carl Mays belongs in HOF. Allie Reynolds is one of a handful, headed by Kaat and John and including Morris, Mussina and Tiant. Others just missing HOF status are Kevin Brown, Milt Pappas and Orel Hershiser. Schilling will make it, as will active leaders. Roy Halladay will be
considered. Sorry, Cicotte and Smoky Joe Wood for different reasons. Ferrell and Walters fall short. Many of these aren’t Yankees, of course. Am I missing someone?
Pretty good round-up, Randy. Without doing the research, I’d say Hershiser probably belongs in the Hall of Fame ahead of Don Sutton, another illustration of the Hall voters’ bias favoring longevity over peak performance. You certainly have the Yankees that I think belong there, though I’d favor Cone over Mussina, based on my bias favoring peak over longevity.
I think the fatal beanball worked against Mays, who was borderline anyway. And, as I’ve blogged before, the ’20s are way over-represented in the Hall. Anyone from that era who hasn’t made it yet shouldn’t.
Leave a Reply to Yankees’ 20-game winners: Mel Stottlemyre, Bob Shawkey, Vic Raschi … | Hated Yankees Cancel reply
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Do Diuretics Affect Sodium and Potassium Levels?
Benefits of Sea Salt & Lemon
What Is the Natural State of the Element Potassium?
Sodium Retention & Weight Gain
Health Side Effects of Salt
Can You Lose Weight from Eating Less Salt?
Is Sodium Chloride Healthy?
By Kirstin Hendrickson
Sodium chloride, more commonly known as table salt, contains two essential minerals that your cells require in order to maintain life, health and function. Without salt in your diet, you can't survive. The typical American diet, however, contains more than enough salt to meet your needs -- and often contains too much.
Sodium chloride, with the chemical formula NaCl, is an ionic salt. This means that it's made up of positively charged particles of sodium interspersed with negatively charged particles of chloride. The particles aren't chemically bonded together; instead, they're held together by electrostatic forces, which are the physical attractions between unlike charges. In water, the sodium and chloride particles separate from each other, which is critical to the separate functions of sodium and chloride in the human body.
Fluid Balance
One of the simplest important roles of sodium chloride in the human body is in maintaining fluid balance. Osmosis is the name for the movement of water through permeable membranes toward areas of higher salt -- or other soluble particle -- concentration. Sodium and chloride in your blood and cells help keep you from losing too much water. For instance, when your kidneys filter blood, they take up sodium and chloride to keep them from being lost in the urine, which also helps draw water out of the urine and back into the blood.
Sodium is critical to establishing and maintaining a charge differential across each cell's membrane. Every cell is negatively charged inside, as there's more sodium outside the cell than inside, and sodium particles are positively charged. This is called the "resting membrane potential," and allows cells to communicate with one another. Nerve cells and muscle cells depend on the resting membrane potential to function; without it, nerve cells couldn't send messages and muscle cells couldn't contract.
While you need sodium chloride in your body to stay healthy, you don't necessarily need to add it to your diet. There's plenty of sodium chloride in the food most Americans eat; in fact, most people actually get too much salt in their food. Overdoing the salt can lead to high blood pressure and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. As such, while you need salt to survive, you shouldn't assume that more is better.
“Biochemistry”; Reginald Garrett, Ph.D. and Charles Grisham, Ph.D.; 2007
“Biochemistry”; Mary Campbell, Ph.D. and Shawn Farrell, Ph.D.; 2005
“Human Physiology”; Lauralee Sherwood, Ph.D.; 2004
Kirstin Hendrickson is a writer, teacher, coach, athlete and author of the textbook "Chemistry In The World." She's been teaching and writing about health, wellness and nutrition for more than 10 years. She has a Bachelor of Science in zoology, a Bachelor of Science in psychology, a Master of Science in chemistry and a doctoral degree in bioorganic chemistry.
Dehydration and Sodium Levels
Bicarbonate of Soda Vs. Sodium Chloride
What Is Sodium Acetate Trihydrate?
Paramecium Cell Functions
Calcium Citrate Vs. Calcium Gluconate
What Is the Most Abundant Electrolyte Found in Blood Plasma?
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Home / Impact Stories / Case study: Aylesbury Homeless Action Group
Case study: Aylesbury Homeless Action Group2019-05-142019-05-14https://heartofbucks.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/hob-logo-landscape-web.pngHeart of Bucks: The community foundation for Buckinghamshire.https://heartofbucks.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/homeless-55492_1920a.jpg200px200px
Aylesbury Homeless Action Group (AHAG) is a registered charity that recognised the need for housing support and advice within Aylesbury Vale. AHAG aims to intervene at the earliest possible moment; their staff will assess the problems people are having and then work out practical solutions to those problems to enable people to remain in their homes or to find suitable stable accommodation.
AHAG’s figures from last year (January – December 2018):
A total of 237 people attended a drop in session to access housing support and advice.
182 people (77%) were approaching AHAG with a new housing crisis.
110 people (46%) engaged in continued ongoing support to address their housing issues.
105 people (44%) were either prevented from becoming homeless or were supported into suitable housing.
136 referrals (57%) were made in to partner agencies whom it felt would be of further support to clients. These include: housing providers, GPs, Adult Education, drug and alcohol services, mental health services, Women’s Aid and Citizens Advice.
In March 2018, Aylesbury Homeless Action Group (AHAG) received a grant of £5,000 from our Rectory Homes fund, which provided part-funding of their caseworkers and also a contribution towards marketing their new outreach venues.
During the period of the grant, AHAG came into contact with Joe* who required housing support but was also suffering from various physical and mental health problems.
Joe’s story:
Joe is in his late thirties and presented himself to AHAG after being referred from a drop-in session at Aylesbury Vineyard Storehouse. For months he had been sleeping in his car with no fixed abode after a relationship breakdown meant that he had to leave his former home.
Joe was suffering from depression, anxiety and PTSD from a car crash earlier in life. Joe was able to stay at his father’s home from time to time but unfortunately this was not a viable solution for the long term and he often ended up back in his car.
In January 2019, Joe was admitted to hospital to have several emergency operations to address various physical health issues. With more surgery planned in the near future Joe was unable to sustain a job or look for appropriate accommodation.
Under Aylesbury Vale District Council’s Rough Sleeper Initiative, AHAG managed to provide Joe with emergency accommodation and access to a mental health nurse whilst looking for a suitable home. They then explored all of his possible housing options, which included filling out a referral for supported housing and coaching him to secure a private rental. One of their volunteers who specialises in debt management and benefits helped Joe to consolidate his debt into an affordable loan so that he could focus on his housing.
Joe engaged in daily support from AHAG to find housing and to support him while he was in emergency accommodation. Throughout this time AHAG also gave him a voucher for a free hot meal and issued a voucher for a foodbank parcel.
After a few weeks of continuous searching, Joe was fortunate enough to secure a direct let with a housing association. AHAG applied for a grant to pay for some white goods for his apartment, and will continue to provide support with his debt and mental health for as long as required.
(*name changed)
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Posts Tagged ‘hunger’
Food security: Wasting Less of Africa’s Harvest in Order to Prosper
Posted in Food Security, Insects, Uncategorized, tagged global food security, hunger, moulds, PICS bag, post harvest storage, storage insects on May 4, 2015| 1 Comment »
By RACHEL CERNANSKY MAY 1, 2015 7:00 AM
Last year, Tanzania had exciting news: a bumper harvest of corn. But even as farmers were celebrating — corn is a staple eaten at almost every meal — much of the crop had already been spoiled, having grown moldy or been infested by insects and rodents. The problem was that farmers lacked the capacity to store food safely. Even the government’s national reserve system had run out of space to hold the overflow.
Such shortages of capacity persist, and not just in Tanzania. The Food and Agriculture Organization reports that largely because of a lack of infrastructure for refrigeration, transportation and sanitary, airtight storage, 15 to 20 percent of grain crops in sub-Saharan Africa and about half of fruits and vegetables show spoilage before they reach market.
The fight against hunger in Africa has experienced many successes in boosting agricultural production — from improving seeds to disseminating solar-powered irrigation. It’s only now that agricultural organizations and experts are recognizing that lack of storage represents a major impediment to keeping all those harvests edible. It’s a difficult problem because a vast majority of Africa’s crops are grown by smallholder farmers, who lack the resources to invest in refrigeration or effective storage facilities for staples like corn and beans.
Moreover, the expectation of large losses discourages farmers from taking steps to further increase their output, explained Zablon Ernest, an independent agricultural consultant and extension officer in Arusha, Tanzania. “A farmer will say, ‘Why should I produce more if I can’t store or sell it?’ ” he said.
Ernest graduated in February from an online class run by the United States-based Postharvest Education Foundation, which has taught basic crop management to students from 22 countries over the last four years. Tanzanian agriculture officials support such education, recognizing that teaching agricultural extension officers how to manage harvested crops has long been neglected in favor of focusing on production. “Farmers in the villages are desperate for this kind of information,” said Ernest.
In trying to salvage more of the nation’s harvest, Tanzania is of course pursuing the broader goal, common across Africa, of reducing hunger and boosting income. But while other developing countries are taking piecemeal steps to reduce crop losses, Tanzania’s response has been particularly robust. The government has a department devoted to reducing food waste, and its initiatives are informed by independent research.
Small-scale success stories are beginning to emerge. Julius Akanaay, for example, grows corn, beans and sunflower in the small village of Endagaw, south of Arusha. Before 2004, he and his family lived in a small mud hut, vulnerable to insects, rodents and rain. As a result, their stored crops often spoiled. “We sold early and easily lost what we kept,” said Akanaay. They now live in a cement house, which offers better protection — and more food security.
Partly out of fear of spoilage, but also out of a need for fast cash to pay debts, farmers often sell crops early in the season, when prices are low. If they wait for prices to rise, they risk their corn becoming infested. The tragedy is that, later in the season, they will have to buy corn at high prices to feed their own families. That is how some families get trapped in cycles of poverty.
Shamim Daudi and Janine Rüst of the Swiss nonprofit Helvetas want to change this situation. On a hot, dusty Sunday afternoon in February, I accompanied them while they took samples of corn from Akanaay’s storage room. With the Tanzanian government’s support, Helvetas is exploring methods of storing corn that will prove more effective than the polypropylene bags used by most rural farmers.
One promising tool is a triple-layer polyethylene-polypropylene bag (known as a PICS bag) that was developed by an entomology professor at Purdue University in Indiana; another is a simple metal silo small enough — a medium-size silo is about five feet tall — to be housed indoors. Both work by sealing out oxygen, thereby killing insects. The difference between a PICS and the common polypropylene bag is actually audible; with a bad infestation, you can hear insects squirming inside the polypropylene.
That’s why outreach workers like Daudi and farmers like Akanaay are optimistic: With these new tools, farmers who now sell low and buy high can see opportunities to hold on to more crops to feed themselves — or sell when it benefits them most.
Whether Akanaay and other farmers will be able to afford the metal silo (the one at his house now is part of the Helvetas experiment) remains a question. PICS bags are more affordable for farmers — although any added expense is still burdensome — but they are also more vulnerable to rodents. Which, if any, tool farmers will decide to purchase won’t be clear until the next harvest season.
Another challenge is preserving perishable goods in tropical regions that lack wide access to electricity. For years, Mariam Mustafa sold her tomatoes to the local open-air market near her farm in Lushoto, a major fruit- and vegetable-producing region in northeast Tanzania. “The customers didn’t care about quality,” she said. “They only cared about quantity.” She sold as much as she could — and threw away the rest.
Now, she belongs to a group of farmers who use a packinghouse in Lushoto that was built last year with support from the Tanzanian government and U.S.A.I.D. For almost half the year, farmers sort and pack snow peas for export. An Arusha-based export company sends a refrigerated truck — an extreme rarity in most of sub-Saharan Africa — to pick up the snow peas from cold storage units (also largely unheard-of) at the packinghouse. For the remainder of the year, farmers use the facility to improve the quality of their other produce and then sell it to higher-paying buyers like supermarkets. That, too, reduces the amount of waste.
The packinghouse operation is still a work in progress. Concepts like sorting good tomatoes from bad to reduce the spread of rot are new to many farmers; they have to be trained.
Mustafa still sells at the local market, but only after selling as much as possible through the packinghouse, where a harvest of tomatoes can bring in 400,000 Tanzanian shillings (about $215). That’s more than double the local market’s potential, because the improved quality and packaging allow the produce to fetch higher prices after being transported to more distant, higher-end buyers.
More From Fixes
Read previous contributions to this series.
The packinghouse is not suitable for every town, not least because the market for high-quality produce is minuscule compared with the scale of the rural markets, where an estimated 95 percent of horticultural trade in Africa still takes place. But where it’s feasible, it has the potential to simultaneously reduce waste and boost incomes, so other areas are now building or considering packinghouses.
As with most major changes, the biggest challenges are often behavioral and cultural. Farmers are accustomed to selling produce quickly, and consumers are used to eating farm-fresh food, not dried fruit or canned vegetables. It’s likely that the market potential for value-added produce will be greater among distant buyers like supermarkets and export companies than rural dwellers. Indeed, some farmers groups are looking to turn the region’s agricultural bounty of tropical fruits like mangoes and bananas and nutritious vegetables like amaranth and sweet potato leaves into products that wealthier customers will pay extra for.
This kind of endeavor requires an attitudinal shift. “Many women think, ‘When I grow crops, they are just for feeding my family,’” said Odette Ngulu, an agricultural consultant in Arusha. “They don’t have the idea of preserving.”
Ngulu has been training women’s groups to use solar dryers — simple boxed-in shelves of mesh designed for optimal heat absorption and air flow — to dry sliced or shredded produce in a day or two with adequate sunlight. The dryers protect the produce from contaminants like dirt and insects, and the UV-treated plastic cover allows light in but still protects the nutrient value. Production and sales are uneven, but the goal is to refine and perfect the process in order to appeal to people in those larger, wealthier markets.
There’s some reason for optimism. Packaged dried vegetables are already for sale in a few supermarkets in some African cities, including Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. In Rwanda, a women’s group dries pineapple in larger versions of the solar dryers Ngulu uses; they already sell to high-end clients around the country, and a client in Switzerland is interested in importing.
There are encouraging signs that food waste can be reduced in other parts of the developing world as well. Some involve other tools like the zero-energy cool chamber, a brick structure invented in India that uses evaporative cooling. In Rwanda, the government plans to improve farmers’ access to storage facilities nationwide; and in India, a network of agencies is offering subsidies for investments in post-harvest infrastructure and simple related technologies.
Bertha Mjawa was Tanzania’s first point person on post-harvest losses, as a senior agricultural officer with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives. She now works with a separate, but government-affiliated, project on the same issue. And she is seeing great changes from these efforts, which started over a decade ago but kicked into high gear only around 2010.
“Just last week, I met some women selling tomatoes on the side of the road,” she said. “Some of them graded, some didn’t,” she added, referring to the process of separating good tomatoes from bad. The women who sorted their tomatoes told her that they didn’t see any impact at first, but eventually customers noticed and buying habits changed. First came a bit of customer loyalty toward sellers offering the highest quality; economic benefit for the producers followed. “They’re starting to charge more — and people are willing to pay,” said Mjawa.
Join Fixes on Facebook and follow updates on twitter.com/nytimesfixes. To receive e-mail alerts for Fixes columns, sign up here.
Rachel Cernansky is a freelance journalist in Denver. She writes about agriculture, health, and the environment.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/wasting-less-of-the-harvest-to-prosper-in-africa/?smid=nytcore-iphone-share&smprod=nytcore-iphone&_r=0
New Book: Hunger and Hope- Escaping Poverty and Achieving Food Security in Developing Countries
Posted in Food Security, IPM, Technology transfer, tagged Feed the Future IPM Innovation Lab, hunger, IPM and food security, IPM CRSP, Peace Corps, rural poverty, Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux on January 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Ghana’s success in fight against hunger holds lessons for others
Posted in Food Security, Policy, tagged cocoa, Ghana, hunger on November 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/Change-Agent/2014/1117/Ghana-s-success-in-fight-against-hunger-holds-lessons-for-others
It started with a simple move to change the tax code so that farmers could keep more of the value of their cocoa crop.
By Chris Arsenault, Thomson Reuters Foundation
ROME — As India starts its version of Brazil’s famous zero hunger campaign, the world’s most populous democracy could take some inspiration from Ghana.
The West African country “has met zero hunger,” Jose Graziano da Silva, head of the Food and Agriculture Organization said last month.
Former Ghanaian president John Kufuor can take at least some of the credit for this.
It started with a simple move to change the tax code when Kufuor’s government first took office in 2001.
Taxes on cocoa, a key export crop, stood at 60 percent of the market price, so growers could keep only 40 percent of the value of their production.
“We reversed this, giving the farmers 60 percent of the profits,” Kufuor said in an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “The state had been over-taxing the farmer.
“Farmers needed chemicals for fighting pests and fertilizers, the government paid for this.”
The investment paid off, and cocoa production doubled within four years, sending more money into state coffers for infrastructure investment.
The government then turned its attention to trying to mitigate deforestation. In 1960, more than 60 percent of the country was covered in forest but deforestation has decreased coverage to 21.7 percent today.
The state allowed landless families and unemployed people to use land where the forests had been cut, to plant crops interspersed with new trees in what became known as the Modified Taunga System.
After getting training from the state, local residents were able to earn an income when the trees were harvested, preventing additional land from being logged and improving food security for some of Ghana’s most vulnerable citizens.
Finally, the country tried to move up the value chain for its cocoa production.
“Chocolate, which is loved internationally, especially by the ladies, wasn’t part of our traditional diet,” Kufuor said. “The beans were exported.
“We saw the need to attract top quality processors to Ghana.”
Some large multinational confectionery companies moved in and set up factories, though the country still exports more raw beans than refined chocolate.
“The objective is to add value locally so 70 percent of the cocoa is processed and only 30 percent is exported [raw]. We are moving towards this,” Kufuor said.
Ghana’s per capita GDP shot up to $1,300 in 2007 from $400 in 2001, thanks largely to growth in the agriculture sector, high commodity prices, and the discovery of oil, which allowed it to reach lower middle income status and meet the Millennium Development Goals on poverty reduction ahead of schedule.
“One of the key factors [in Ghana’s success] has been strong political commitment at the highest level,” FAO Ghana representative Lamourdia Thiombiano said in an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“They subsidized production, put resources into boosting capacity, and invested in providing services to farmers.”
“More production led to relatively better access to food,” Thiombiano said.
Significant development challenges remain, despite the improvements in agriculture, and Ghana ranked 138 out of 187 countries surveyed in the U.N. 2014 Human Development Report.
Today Kufuor, who gives speeches on the U.N. circuit and runs his own foundation, is optimistic that “rays of hope” and good policies will continue to improve food security in a world where 1 in 8 people still suffer from chronic malnutrition.
• This article originally appeared at Thomson Reuters Foundation, a source of news, information, and connections for action. It provides programs that trigger change, empower people, and offer concrete solutions.
FAO and Thomson Reuters Foundation to launch online food security information service
Posted in Food Security, tagged FAO, hunger, Thomson Reuters Foundation, UK on July 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/238490/icode/
Photo: ©FAO/©FAO/Giuseppe Carotenuto
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and the Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) Editor-in-Chief Belinda Goldsmith.
9 July 2014, Rome – The Thomson Reuters Foundation, the corporate charity of the world’s biggest news and information providers, is teaming up with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to improve global information and awareness on hunger and food-related issues including food production, food security, food waste, agriculture, land use, and malnutrition.
An agreement signed today by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and the Thomson Reuters Foundation Editor-in-Chief Belinda Goldsmith outlines a number of joint activities to be undertaken by the Organization and the Foundation’s global team of journalists covering humanitarian issues, women’s rights, human trafficking, the human impact of climate change and corruption.
Speaking at the signing event, Graziano da Silva said: “This is a strategic alliance with an institution that has a longstanding commitment to free independent journalism, to human rights, to women’s empowerment, and to the rule of law.”
“We cover the world’s under reported stories,” said Monique Villa, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, “this new partnership is perfectly in line with our core values, and I am extremely happy and confident we will deliver the necessary impact, boosting awareness and triggering change”.
A new online platform on hunger and nutrition
The agreement foresees the creation of a new section on trust.org, the Thomson Reuters Foundation portal, entirely dedicated to delivering news content on hunger and food issues to be launched next fall. Stories will be produced and sourced by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and made available for free usage worldwide in order to spread information on food security as widely as possible.
Topics to be covered will include food production, food security and safety, food waste, agriculture and land use, under nutrition and malnutrition, and food affordability among others.
Media’s critical role in transforming lives
Under the shared view that trusted news and information is a key tool in the fight for human rights and specifically against hunger, the partnership aims to highlight the importance of providing accurate, updated and helpful information about hunger, nutrition and food production challenges.
“I am fully convinced that the media play a critical role in every society, not only informing and raising people’s awareness, but also being able to transform their lives,” Graziano da Silva said.
This potential is “far more significant when it can benefit and change the lives of people who suffer from chronic hunger and improve their food security,” he added.
The Director-General also underlined the importance of considering nutrition a public issue and a main element of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
“Hunger and food security-related issues are under reported,” said Goldsmith. “With population growth and increased demand for food, food security is such a critical issue that we cover.”
Goldsmith stressed that this new partnership is an opportunity to make the public aware, which she said was the first step to taking the problem seriously and making changes that can impact lives.
“Ending hunger is a difficult and complex task, but with the invaluable contribution of partners like the Thomson Reuters Foundation to our work, we can definitely meet the challenge,” Graziano da Silva said.
The United Kingdom’s commitment to tackle malnutrition
The United Kingdom Permanent Representative to FAO, Ambassador Neil Briscoe, said: “The story needs to be heard loudly. In a world of competing priorities, it is easy for some of these longer-term issues to get drowned out.”
“Partnerships like today’s can help make the story long-lasting and underscore that hunger is not going away, and unless we give it the urgency that it deserves we will fail.”
He referred to the UK’s strong commitment to tackle malnutrition and food insecurity as part of a “moral imperative to help those who don’t have enough food to reach their physical and cognitive potential.”
Briscoe reiterated that this can only be done as a multi-stake holder effort. “We can only deliver if we involve governments, UN organizations, the private sector and civil society, often the best source of information on the ground,” he said.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the corporate charity of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information provider, and is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
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Campus Speaker Disinvitations: Recent trends (Part 1 of 2)
It happened frequently in 2016- a college club or the school administration invites a speaker but due to pressures from student groups or day-of protests, the event is cancelled and the speaker forced to find alternative venues or issue an apology to disappointed audience members.
FIRE recently reported that 2016 featured a record number of disinvitations to speakers from colleges and universities, 46 in total. The previous record of 34 was set in 2013. Such a figure bolsters the case that free speech is being increasingly restricted on college campuses. Yet, a closer inspection reveals that 14 of the 46 disinvitation attempts in 2016 focused on a single target, Milo Yiannopoulos. This suggests that 2016’s record number of disinvitation attempts may not be indicative of an increased level of assault on free speech on college campuses, because the record-setting number may have been driven by one outlier.
Fortunately, FIRE maintains a database documenting speaker disinvitation attempts on college campuses starting in the year 2000, allowing for a deeper investigation into campus disinvitation attempts.
This is the first of a two-part series on FIRE’s disinvitation data. This post focuses on basic exploratory analyses. Part two focuses on the political motivations behind the disinvitation attempts.
FIRE’s disinvitation database documents the following information about each attempt:
The speaker’s identity
When applicable, the political motive for the disinvitation attempt, relative to the speaker’s politics (i.e., from the left of the speaker; from the right of the speaker)
The topic of controversy (including abortion/contraception; civil liberties; criminal or other misconduct; evolution/scientific views; local politics; racial issues; speaker’s religious’ views on gender, immigration, Islam, Israel-Palestine conflict, sexual orientation)
The type of school (i.e., public; private, secular; private religious).
The type of speaking event (i.e., campus speech/debate; commencement; teaching; other)
The source of the disinvitation attempt (i.e., on-campus; off-campus)
Success of disinvitation attempt
Disinvitation attempt are categorized as successful or unsuccessful. Additionally, instances where a speaker is unable to finish speaking due to disruptions are classified as successful disinvitation attempts, although they are also labeled as substantial event disruptions.
Prior to analyzing the data, the success of disinvitation attempt variable was modified from its Yes/No format, with 2 additional categories:
Substantial event disruptions were classified into their own category. Thus, they were no longer grouped with successful disinvitations. This was done because during these specific events, the speaker was not actually disinvited, they were however prevented from finishing their remarks.
Events where significant attempts to prevent a speaker from finishing their remarks occurred were classified as moderate event disruptions. Examples of moderate event disruptions include loud protesting during the speaker’s remarks, pie-throwing (yes- pie throwing), and pulling a fire alarm while a speaker is speaking.
Have disinvitation attempts increased over time?
The number of disinvitation attempts from 2000 to 2016 has grown fairly steadily. The correlation of disinvitations with calendar year was r(15) = .81, p < .001.
There are at least two important caveats to note:
First, FIRE was founded in 1999 and the disinvitation database relies on individuals submitting case reports. Over time, awareness of the organization has likely increased. Thus, it is possible that the increase in reported disinvitation attempts is due to increased awareness of FIRE and the disinvitation database.
Second, the criteria employed by FIRE may have changed over time. Such changes could occur because of decisions made internally to change how certain events are categorized or because different individuals may have been tasked with assessing the submitted disinvitation reports. These caveats apply to all remaining analyses.
How successful were disinvitation attempts from 2000 to 2016?
From 2000 to 2016 almost half of all disinvitation attempts were unsuccessful. Of those unsuccessful attempts, roughly a third of them spurred a moderate event disruption or a substantial event disruption:
Result of Disinvitation Attempt Frequency
Unsuccessful disinvitation 159
Successful disinvitation 120
Moderate event disruption 24
Substantial event disruption 30
Were disinvitation attempts more likely to occur for a certain type of speaking event?
The majority of disinvitation attempts from 2000 to 2016 (323 of 333) were for commencement speeches and campus speeches/debates, c2(3) = 303.36, p < .001:
Type of Event Number of Disinvitations
Campus Speech/Debate 181
Commencement 142
Teaching 4
Which topics were most likely to spur disinvitation attempts?
The table below presents the number of disinvitations by type of controversy. Please note that in many cases disinvitation attempts were motivated by more than one controversial topic so the overall number of disinvitations presented in the table below exceeds 333:
Type of Controversy Number of Disinvitations
Abortion/contraception 29
Civil liberties 22
Criminal/other misconduct 30
Evolution/scientific views 4
Views of gender 32
Views on immigration 27
Views on Islam 36
Views on Israeli-Palestine conflict 42
Local politics 11
Other political views or positions 139
Racial issues 50
Speaker’s religion 2
Views on sexual orientation 45
If the category of other political views or positions is set aside, then disinvitation attempts due to racial issues, views on sexual orientation, and views on the Israeli-Palestine conflict occurred most frequently from 2000 to 2016. A majority of the other controversial topics were also subjected to 20 or more disinvitation attempts.
Were disinvitation attempts more likely to occur at a certain type of school?
From 2000 to 2016 the majority of disinvitation attempts have occurred at public colleges and universities, c2(2) = 11.15, p < .004:
Type of School Number of Disinvitations
Private, Secular 106
Private, Religious 89
In the United States, the number of private non-profit colleges and universities (1,555 as of 2013) is more than double the number of public colleges and universities (689 as of 2013). Yet, public colleges and universities have higher overall enrollment. Thus, the increased number of disinvitations at public schools may be a result of their higher enrollment – the more people on a campus the more likely it is that someone may oppose a given speaker.
Many of the disinvitation attempts at public colleges and universities were not successful, and this is noticeable when also comparing the success rate of disinvitation attempts at private colleges and universities. It is also interesting to note that following an unsuccessful disinvitation attempt, moderate and substantial event disruptions occurred more frequently at public colleges and universities.
Result of Disinvitation Attempt Public Private Secular Private Religious
Unsuccessful disinvitation attempt 67 49 43
Successful disinvitation attempt 37 44 49
Moderate event disruption 21 4 5
Substantial event disruption 13 9 2
Much of the discrepancy in disinvitation attempts at public colleges and universities compared to private colleges and universities appears to have been driven by a greater number of attempts to disinvite speakers from campus speeches or debates:
Type of Speaking Event: Public Private Secular Private Religious
Campus speech/debate 91 50 40
Commencement 46 49 47
Teaching 0 3 1
Finally, given that private colleges and universities are not bound by the first amendment, and in the case of religious colleges and universities explicitly promoting a specific value system, it is possible that different topics spurred disinvitation attempts at different types of schools.
The table below presents number of disinvitation attempts by type of controversy and type of school:
Type of Controversy: Public Private Secular Private Religious
Abortion/contraception 0 4
(13.79%) 25
(86.21%)
Civil liberties 9
(40.91%) 7
(75%) 1
(50%) 12
Local politics 9
(81.82% 0 2
Other political views or positions 69
Speaker’s religion 0 0 2
(100%)
Thus, for most controversial speakers, public colleges and universities led the way in number of disinvitation attempts. However, disinvitation attempts over abortion/contraception from 2000 to 2016 primarily occurred at religious colleges and universities; and disinvitation attempts because of a speaker’s views on the Israeli-Palestine conflict occurred more often at colleges and universities in the private, secular category.
This basic exploration of FIRE’s disinvitation revealed that:
Total disinvitation attempts per year increased from 2000 to 2016.
An unsuccessful disinvitation of a speaker was the most common outcome of a disinvitation attempt.
Disinvitation attempts occurred primarily for campus speeches/debates or commencement addresses.
The catchall category of “other political views or positions” spurred the most disinvitation attempts. Racial issues, views on sexual orientation, and views on the Israeli-Palestine conflict all produced over 40 disinvitation attempts.
Public colleges and universities experienced more disinvitation attempts than private secular and private religious colleges and universities, largely driven by more attempts to disinvite speakers from making campus speeches or participating in campus debates.
The success rate of disinvitation attempts was higher at private secular and private religious colleges and universities compared to public ones.
For viewpoint diversity to succeed there must be opportunities for students to hear and expose themselves to people and ideas that run counter to their current beliefs. Stifling the ability for students to make their own choice about who- and what- to hear only serves to strengthen orthodoxy and deepen echo chambers that do little to advance quality research and empathy for others.
Click here to read part 2, which explores the political motivations, relative to the speaker, for the 333 disinvitation attempts that occurred from 2000 to 2016.
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Understanding Australia’s NDIS
highpointfamilylaw August 27, 2018 0 COMMENTS
Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme offers services residents with disabilities, including sensory, intellectual and psycho-social. Because of the limited nature of the NDIS, Australia’s disabled also required other services. But what does the NDIS provide?
NDIS History in Brief
In 1974 Gough Whitlam initiated a disabilities scheme similar to the insurance scheme offered by New Zealand. However, it was suggested Whitlam consider Medicare as an option. By 2005, the Lifetime Care and Support Scheme was created to provide long-term care for people injured by a motor vehicle.
Brian Howe, a former Labour cabinet minister, met with the Disability Investment Group. The Investment Group, in 2008, submitted its ideas to the Australia 2020 Summit, which sent its concerns or recommendations to the Productivity Commission.
It was determined Australia’s disabled were not a social concern, but rather an economic issue.
The Financial Review believed Australia’s NDIS was “becoming an economic factor in its own right.” It seemed as though half of the people participating in the NDIS did not see a change in services or found their support was reduced.
The NDIS is giving hope to people with disabilities with a focus on the living the best life possible after an injury or illness.
Funding and Services for Australia’s Disabled
As of 2018, Australia’s NDIS reported a budget expressly for legal services of $10 million. Surprisingly, this was allegedly a ploy to stop people from requesting more money or to prevent individuals from even accessing the program.
Midway through the year, reports reveal 260 cases were solved by the courts, however, the NDIA lost 40% of the cases.
Nonetheless, as of March 31, 2018, approximately 7,000 individuals had accessed the NDIS. Of that number, just over half had been first-time users.
These participants report positive messages about Australia’s NDIS. Parents reveal their children are receiving the help they need. With that said, there are also people like Philip Dodd, who agree “NDIS is an insurance-based scheme. It is not welfare.”
Eligibility and Access
The NDIS supports Australia’s disabled by educating and keeping them connected to their family and communities.
They are concerned about your well-being and independence. In other words, they provide disabled individuals with the support they need so these people succeed in all aspects of their lives.
To Apply, You Must Be Eligible for Australia’s NDIS
If you’re wanting to apply for the NDIS, you must meet certain requirements. You should –
Be a citizen of Australia, permanent occupier or hold a Visa
Be younger than 65 when applying or meet phasing/age requirements during the roll-out period
Live in an area where Australia’s NDIS began
Have a permanent disability or one which drastically reduces functionality
The NDIS is an outstanding resource for those in genuine need of ongoing support, care and access to mainstream services.
The scheme supports the dreams and aspirations of thousands across Australia. It encourages people to continue living out their ambition by connecting disabled individuals with the proper resources and support.
Does Australia Have a Problem with Police Abuse?
Most citizens respect and trust the police force to protect them should they become victims of robberies, muggings or other crimes. Officers are brave are brave and heroic.
However, there’s also a pressing issue that is not often discussed in polite society. A question was raised by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse final report.
Is there also abuse in the police force? Well, the Royal Commission highlighted allegations of sexual abuse in the Australian Defence Force (ADF). And here, we look at several claims of abuse among police in Australia.
Victoria Police Sexual Misconduct
In December 2015, the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission released a report revealing misconduct among Victoria police. The commission investigated 184 complaints filed against officers for sexual misconduct, including several rape cases.
Assistant Police Commissioner Luke Cornelius announced that the workforce will try and reduce gender discrimination by striving for a 50-percent female recruit rate, and medical or fitness requirements will be reviewed for their discrimination against women.
Some of the sexual harassment victims whose careers were greatly disturbed in the workforce also allegedly will receive back pay and refunded leave allocations, but almost two years after the Redress and Restorative Scheme was promised, it has yet to be launched.
Turning A Blind Eye To Homophobic Bullying
An assistant commissioner at the time of the event, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller dismissed the needs to investigate officers’ claims of homophobia after four were targeting for drug testing because of their sexuality.
The complaining officers were accused of having “loose morals and promiscuity,” because they attended a particular gay venue, which the parties denied and said were false accusations.
Superintendent Simon Hardman ordered the drug test, and he later stated the officers’ promiscuous behaviours at a gay venue warranted the test, an argument thought to have malicious intent.
While documentation confirmed the complaint originated within the NSW Police, the police force fought hard to keep the superintendent’s identity a secret.
Cost of Filing A Complaint
Even women on the police working in the NSW Police are not safe from sexual harassment and innuendos in the workplace. It doesn’t matter that she’s wearing a badge, sexual harassment still follows her.
NSW superintendents reportedly referred to sexual assault victims as “sluts” as when ordering police to take victims’ statements. In the workplace culture, female employees reporting sexual harassment saw their reports poorly handled, with the unstated goal of covering for the responsible officers.
George Torres, a 20-year veteran of the NSW police force, was dismissed after he referred to sexual harassment at work as “workplace banter.” He was convinced that he did nothing wrong, and escalated his case to the Industrial Relations Commission.
The committee took Torres’ side and ran his legal case for him. The workplace culture was clearly reflected by the case, and plenty of similar that have been reported since.…
Trial Legal professionals In East Texas
lexutor August 23, 2018 0 COMMENTS
Honoring the firms that encourage women to rise to the top. Instances dealt with by legal professionals who principally follow in Florence, Myrtle Beach (by appointment), Columbia, or N. Charleston (principal). Massive companies , nevertheless, usually have effectively-established summer associate packages that function a software to recruit younger, proficient attorneys.
We are an offshore law firm with round 470 folks, together with 60 companions, operating from 10 workplaces across the globe. Time may be billed to purchasers on a monthly basis, but it’s extra often charged against retainer fees paid by clients that are held on deposit by the firm.
From people harm by harmful products to small companies preventing towards larger opponents, we consider each client deserves quality legal counsel and a fair likelihood in the courtroom. This isn’t an empty promise; our attorneys are specialists of their fields, so they are nicely-outfitted to offer you up-to-date, relevant and useful data at every stage of your case.
Weblog and prolific writer, will present a provocative new take a look at legislation firm financial performance, penetrating beneath the standard metrics of averages and profits” per equity partner, to examine what is de facto happening to law firms as a consequence of the changing calls for of the marketplace.
Our Purchasers select us because we’re expert practitioners who perceive their objectives, interests and their companies as well as partnering with them to realize the perfect options. In doing so, we give you efficient authorized methods which have been confirmed to achieve more than what our purchasers had initially expected.…
Harvard Regulation Faculty Tour
Dec 20, 2017. Harvard’s LLM students include legislation teachers, judges, prosecutors, diplomats and other authorities officials, legal professionals working in companies, human rights activists, doctoral students, entrepreneurs, and others. Harvard is distinguished by its unparalleled breadth and depth of courses and clinics, its big range of analysis packages, its various scholar physique drawn from around the globe, and its in depth community of extremely respected alumni.
During the first two years of the joint diploma program, college students pay full tuition on the faculty wherein they are enrolled, HLS or HBS. “Over 925 accredited bachelor degree granting colleges are check optionally available. Whereas the GRE is offered ceaselessly in lots of locations worldwide, the LSAT is held only four occasions annually.
Harvard Law Faculty has a new dean. The slave-proprietor and businessman played a key role within the establishment of Harvard Legislation College. Nonetheless, as with all legislation colleges, it nonetheless needs to make more progress on this area. For five weeks in the summertime, Trials students take residence at Harvard or New York University.
Harvard Regulation Faculty’s verdict this week to open its admissions process may set off a national pattern. About 17 percent of its current first-12 months class is made up of worldwide students, she said, so broader access to the GRE was a big factor.
The coed to faculty ratio is low at Harvard Law, just 12:1. Harvard grads emerge figuring out much more future leaders of the legal career and world of politics than grads of another school. As a substitute, it is your legislation faculty GPA—which, once more, the LSAT additionally fails at forecasting—that issues most for guessing whether or not you will go the bar.…
lexutor August 6, 2018 0 COMMENTS
Anyone who drives the freeways and highway of Florida knows that truck accidents are a constant concern out on the road. Semi-trucks are large trucks take a lot of space out on the highway and they can veer out of control when the weather changes dramatically. One problem with commercial semi-trucks is that they are often operated by drivers who lack the skill to handle these large vehicles safely. If a driver loses control of one of these vehicles, the result can be a devastating crash that can lead to the loss of life.
Reasons Behind Truck Crashes
Statistics currently show that most semi-truck crashes happen due to mechanical failure or due to human error. Though these trucks should be operated by the best drivers anywhere, the sad fact is that many of these drivers are not skilled enough to be operating these trucks. That’s why, when a serious accident happens, there person hurt in the accident should contact a semi-truck accident attorney tampa fl to handle the case.
A skilled semi-truck accident attorney will review every aspect of a case in order to determine who is at fault. The actions of the truck driver will be studied carefully to see if they are at fault in the case. A careful inspection of the truck will also be conducted, to determine if mechanical failure did play a role in the accident. If the driver or the truck is at fault in an accident, the trucking company will be held accountable for the accident, and in most cases will be forced to pay damages in the case. All of these details must, however, be worked out by the lawyer who is handling the case, and every detail must be carefully reviewed as a case is built.
Semi-truck accidents are a very serious issue out on the road, which is why if you’ve been involved in an accident, it’s critical to seek skilled representation right away. Don’t get caught without the protection you deserve, call a skilled semi-truck lawyer today.…
Finding A Great Employment Attorney In Florida
It is very hard in Florida to find an attorney that specializes in employment, and that is because the employment laws are always changing. However, there are some key concepts you can follow to locate the best employment attorney at the best rates.
Visit Downtown Areas
Regardless of what city in Florida you live in, the downtown area of every city is where the most popular lawyers have their practices. You will be wise to visit the downtown area of at least three or four different cities and speak with as many attorneys as possible. This is mainly because every attorney will have different rates and will promise different things.
Get On The Web
The next thing you can do is get on the web and search for employment attorneys in Florida. However, the attorney you choose should have a great history of won cases, and he/she should also be recommended by many people. A great example of this is The Leach Firm, which is known as the place where people can find the best unpaid wages lawyer Kissimmee FL offers. The attorneys who belong to this firm are always up to date on the employment laws. They will fight for people who have not been paid, and they will not take money from a client until the case is won. They are known for winning countless cases where people were not paid for overtime.
Choosing the right attorney during a legal employment battle is tough. The main reason why is because most people will not be working while their case is going on. This means you will need to find an attorney who can win fast, and you need to find an attorney who will do whatever it takes to get the client what he/she deserves.…
How to Choose a Bail Bond
Helping to get a loved one out of jail is important. Once the sentence hearing has taken place, you can begin exploring the different bail bonds. With bail bonds Washington PA residents can post bail without paying the full amount.
The Bonds
There are a variety of different bonds based on the type of crime as well as what kind of court system you are dealing with. For example, there are county, state, and national bonds available. There are also different bonds for misdemeanors versus felonies. Knowing more about the kind of legal problems a loved one is in will make it easier for you to identify the right type of bond. A bail bondsman can also help to steer you in the right direction.
The cost is going to vary based on the total amount of bond. You will be responsible for a specific percentage, which is non-refundable. Additionally, if there is a high flight risk, you may be required to put more down in comparison to the standard percentage.
Your Restrictions
Various restrictions may also be in place based on the type of bond that you choose. This may hinder you from leaving the state or place you as the person’s custody until they make their appearance in court. Some of these restrictions may cause you some personal problems, which is why you need to know what kinds of restrictions you are signing on for when you obtain a bond.
By taking the time to review the different bail bonds, you can make the best choice for you, your budget, as well as the person who landed themselves in jail. You can then work with a bail bonds company in order to post bail quickly and efficiently.…
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PERMISSIONS AND POLICIES
COMMERCE & ECONOMICS
©2019. Homeland Security Review. Use Our Intel. All Rights Reserved. Washington, D.C.
An Invisible Government Agency Produces Crucial National Security Intelligence, but Is Anyone Listening?
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An analysis of U.S. intelligence programs aimed at collaborating with academic and industry partners finds…
Future Hypersonics Could Be Artificially Intelligent
A test launch for a hypersonic weapon — a long-range missile that flies a mile…
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Debates over gun regulations make headlines across the world, but there’s an underground operation for…
The Role of Digital Technologies in Mobilizing the Alt-Right
In “Misogynistic Men Online: How the Red Pill Helped Elect Trump,” published in Signs: Journal of…
Secretary Nielsen Statement on Executive Order to Protect the U.S. from Electromagnetic Pulse Attacks
On March 26, President Donald J. Trump signed the Executive Order on Coordinating National Resilience to…
Social and Behavioral Sciences for the Intelligence Community
The social and behavioral sciences (SBS) offer an essential contribution to the mission of the…
Raytheon Developing System That Lets Artificial Intelligence Explain Itself
Under the Defense Research Project Agency’s (DARPA) Explainable Artificial Intelligence program (XAI), Raytheon BBN Technologies…
If Military Robot Falls, It Can Get Itself Up
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Ahmed Abu Khatallah Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for September 2012 Attack in Benghazi, Libya
Ahmed Abu Khatallah, aka Ahmed Mukatallah, forty-seven, a Libyan national, was sentenced yesterday to twenty-two…
DHS National Cybersecurity Summit
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Mark Frohardt
Senior Vice President for Strategic Practice
Mark Frohardt is the Senior Vice President for Strategic Practice at Internews.
Throughout his career, Mark has focused on the delivery of information in contexts of crisis and instability, with particular expertise in designing innovative information systems that improve operations and connectivity to affected communities. For twenty years prior to joining Internews, he worked with Médecins Sans Frontières, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Fred Cuny’s Intertect, and the Center for the Study of Societies in Crisis.
After joining Internews in 1999, Mark established the organization's first health portfolio and provided leadership as Vice-President for Africa, Health and Humanitarian Media. As the Executive Director of the Internews Center for Innovation & Learning, Mark lead the design of research and experimentation to strengthen local media and information ecosystems. He continues to promote the development of systems that employ innovative uses of data and information in program design.
Mark has shared his analytical insights through published work, including:
Use and Abuse of Media in Vulnerable Societies
Why Information Matters: A foundation for Resilience
Design Research for Media Development: A Guide for Practitioners
Beyond Data Literacy: Reinventing Community Engagement and Empowerment in the Age of Data
Mark holds a Master of Arts in International Relations from Yale University and a Master of Environmental Studies from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.
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Johan De Mey has written 2 work(s)
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Comparative Interpretation of CT and Standard Radiography of the Chest
Product Description: Standard radiography of the chest remains one of the most widely used imaging modalities but it can be difficult to interpret. The possibility of producing cross-sectional, reformatted 2D and 3D images with CT makes this technique an ideal tool for reinterpreting standard radiography of the chest...read more
By Emmanuel E. Coche (editor), Johan De Mey (editor), Philippe Duyck (editor) and Benoit Ghaye (editor)
9783642265891 | Reprint edition (Springer Verlag, March 26, 2014), cover price $379.00 | About this edition: Standard radiography of the chest remains one of the most widely used imaging modalities but it can be difficult to interpret.
Product Description: Following the overwhelmingly successful response to the first printing in hardcover, the hottest topics in Selective Neurotoxicity are now available in this special softcover edition".Researchers are provided with well-grounded information on the cellular and subcellular targets of neurotoxins and their mode of action at the level of ion-channels, receptors and neurotransmitters...read more
By A. L. Baert (foreword by), Emmanuel E. Coche (editor), Johan De Mey (editor), Philippe Duyck (editor) and Benoit Ghaye (editor)
9783540799412 | 1 edition (Springer Verlag, December 23, 2010), cover price $379.00 | About this edition: Following the overwhelmingly successful response to the first printing in hardcover, the hottest topics in Selective Neurotoxicity are now available in this special softcover edition".
9780140431872, titled "The Picture of Dorian Gray" | Reprint edition (Penguin USA, July 1, 1985), cover price $7.95 | also contains The Picture of Dorian Gray | About this edition: The handsome appearance of dissolute, young Dorian Gray remains unchanged while the features in his portrait become distorted as his degeneration progresses
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Scully Simms
July 25, 2009 December 29, 2012 Jam-Tex007, bob marley, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Bongo Herman, British Columbia, Buena Vista Social Club, Coxsone Dodd, Cuban Jazz, Dawn Penn, Derrick Morgan, Desmond Dekker, Equal Rights, Ernest Ranglin, Film Review, Freedom Street, Gladstone Anderson, Hux Brown, I-Threes, Jackie Jackson, jamaica, Jamaica Rocksteady, Jamaican Rocksteady, Judy Mowatt, Ken Boothe, Kingston, legends, Leroy Sibbles, Marcia Griffiths, Moss "Mossman" Raxlen, Moss Raxlen, Mossman, No No No, oo7 Shanty Town, People Rocksteady, reggae, Reggae Review, Reggae Rocksteady, Reviews, Rita Marley, Rivers of Babylon, Rock Steady, Rocksteady, Rocksteady Blog, Rocksteady Film Review, rocksteady legends, Rocksteady Party, Rocksteady Review, Rocksteady the Roots of Reggae Blog, Rocksteady the Roots of Reggae Review, Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae, Ry Cooder, Scully Simms, Shanty Town, Silent River Runs Deep, Stascha Bader, Steady, Swiss Director, Tamlins, The I Threes, The Roots of Reggae, the Tamlins, The Tide Is High, The Wailers, Tide Is high, Tougher Than Tough, Tuff Gong, Tuff Gong Studios, Vancouver, Wailers, You Don't Love Me Anymore2 Comments
I was lucky enough to be in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to see the opening of the film Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae by Swiss director Stascha Bader. What a wonderful film. Just amazing. The film narrated by Stranger Cole captures rocktsteady legends reuniting to cut an album of legendary hits and perform a reunion concert. The impressive lineup included Stranger Cole, U-Roy, Hopeton Lewis, Sly Dunbar, Ernest Ranglin, Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, Rita Marley, Dawn Penn, Ken Boothe, Derrick Morgan, Leroy Sibbles, the Tamlins, Gladstone Anderson, Hux Brown, Bongo Herman, and Scully Simms. Moss “Mossman” Raxlen, the Montreal based reggae producer recorded the reunion session at Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica.
The king of the toasters U-Roy performs “Stop that Train.” This version is amazing and steeped in deep meaning. For historical context one must know about the trains in Jamaica and the boom and bust of economic development in newly independent Jamaica (Jamaica won independence from the United Kingdom in 1963). The film does a brilliant job of contextualizing the songs. We know exactly where U-Roy is coming from when he toasts over this classic tune. After the bust the trains stopped, the jobs ran out, the rude boys started to roam the streets, and many Jamaicans sought jobs overseas. When U-Roy toasts over “Stop That Train” he talks about the trains stopping and the people leaving. There is so much soul and history and culture wrapped into one song.
The vocal-group trio the Tamlins are in tip top form and the band leader/guitarist Ernest Ranglin has still got the goods. The drummer Sly Dunbar forms the backbone of the band as he has for decades and the rest of the legendary studio musicians perform magnificently recapturing the fire of the past.
There are some real gems in this film. Hopeton Lewis lays down the rocksteady anthem “Take It Easy ” and later sings an excellent rocksteady version of “Rivers of Babylon.” Dawn Penn records her bread and butter track “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)” and she talks about the endurance and popularity of the song. Derrick Morgan’s “Tougher Than Tough,” Ken Boothe’s “Freedom Street ,” Leroy Sibbles’s “Equal Rights,” and Judy Mowatt’s “Silent River Runs Deep” all appear, as well as a great rendition of Desmond Dekker’s classic “007 (Shanty Town)” by Ken Boothe. Marcia Griffiths performs “The Tide Is High” and reminiscences with Judy Mowatt about their time with the producer Coxsone Dodd, the legendary vocal group the I-Threes and with Bob Marley and the Wailers. A guest appearance by Rita Marley follows the widow through Trenchtown where she elaborates on the conditions of the ghetto and recalls her time with Bob in the yard.
I don’t want to give too much away about the film, but it will make you smile, laugh, and tap your toes. For people interested in music and culture, I highly recommend seeing this film. The album will release on the heels of the movie. The Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae album, which releases in August 2009, promises to be a big hit too. Many critics are comparing it to the Buena Vista Social Club , but I think it will be even bigger than Ry Cooder’s classic documentary about Cuban jazzmasters. Rocksteady will be an instant classic!
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Jeremy Yoder
Ecology, evolution, & population genetics
The Yoder Lab
Interviews & media
Denim & Tweed
@JBYoder
I’m Jeremy Yoder, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at California State University Northridge. I study local adaptation and coevolution — the ways that living things shape each other’s evolutionary history — particularly in mutualism.
The fundamental hypothesis of evolutionary ecology is that processes taking place over a single growing season are ultimately responsible for patterns of biodiversity that emerge over millions of years. As an evolutionary ecologist, I use field studies, mathematical models, and population genomic data to understand how the ecological effects of different interacting species, habitats, and climates create and maintain biodiversity. For more detailed project descriptions and opportunities to join in research at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral level, see my lab website.
My doctoral dissertation research with Olle Pellmyr at the University of Idaho applied theoretical, phylogenetic, and population genetic approaches to examine the origins and evolutionary trajectories of species interactions, with particular focus on the obligate pollination mutualism between Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) and yucca moths (Tegeticula spp.). As a postdoctoral researcher with Peter Tiffin at the University of Minnesota I used genome-scale genetic data to examine patterns of local adaptation to climate and mutualistic rhizobial bacteria in the model legume Medicago truncatula, as part of the Medicago Hapmap Project. In a second postdoc with Sally Aitken at the University of British Columbia, I studied the genetic architecture of adaptation to climate by lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and interior spruce (Picea glauca, P. engelmannii, and their hybrids) with the AdapTree project.
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Mean Girls Musical to Make World Premiere in D.C.
October 3rd, 2016 | By Imogen Lloyd Webber
Well, you've already cast Regina! On National Mean Girls day comes the news of the musical's world premiere—the stage adaptation of Tina Fey's hit 2004 movie is set to land in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 2017. Further information will be revealed later.
Created by Fey, her husband, 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt composer Jeff Richmond, and lyricist Nell Benjamin, plans for a musical version of the 2004 film were first announced in January 2013. We then had to endure endless teasing about rumored workshops.
Based on the book Queen Bees and Wannabes, Mean Girls follows a group of popular girls, known as the Plastics, who rule a suburban high school with an iron first and the group of outcasts who takes them down. The film was written by Fey and starred Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried and Lizzy Caplan.
Check out the one musical number already incorporated in the film, the Plastic’s performance of “Jingle Bell Rock."
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porta, barbara gill (7)
konig, hanna (5)
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stearns, bob (5)
goldstein, fred b. (4)
kellner, tatana (4)
pardo, jean (4)
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: Photography
Rev. James Starr Clark
Portrait photography--United States
Photographed here as a distinguished older man, James Starr Clark was a pivotal figure in the 19th century history of Tivoli. Arriving at Annandale in the early 1850's as a tutor to the Bard children, he lived with the family for two years, during...
William Bard, son of John Bard
Willie Bard stands for a formal portrait. The only son of Margaret Johnston Bard and John Bard, his death in 1868 plunged the family into such grief that removal from Annandale to Europe seemed the only course. A small white stone was installed...
John Bard
Posing here as a young man, John Bard was born in 1819 to a distinguished family of doctors and educators. His grandfather and great-grandfather, Drs. Samuel and John Bard respectively, were preeminent physicians who practiced both in New York...
James Starr Clark
Pictured here as a young man, James Starr Clark came to Annandale in the 1850's as a tutor to the Bard children. He lived with the family for two years, during which time he developed a close, trusting relationship with the family. Hard working...
Harvey Fite with student
Lectures and lecturing
Harvey Fite discusses a student's work in the sculpture studio, fall of 1966.
Rosalie De Normandie Bard
Rosalie Bard, 18, stands for a formal portrait. She was the fourth child of John and Margaret Bard, and was only seven years old when her mother died. She married Charles Moran in 1891.
"Self portrait in mylar"
Photographers--New York (State)
Peter Aaron, '68.
Aerial view of Manor House
College buildings--New York (State); Aerial photography
Ward Manor, viewed from above. Peter Aaron hired a plane to take aerial views of campus.
Aerial campus
Stone Row is framed at the center of this aerial view of campus. Peter Aaron hired a plane for a day to photograph the campus from above.
Rev. George Franklin Seymour
College presidents; Photography; Priests--United States;
Rev. Seymour was the first president of the college. He presided over the first school year, and first commencement, but resigned soon after. Rev. Seymour had, for several years served as the missionary of Annandale and had been tutoring students...
Harold Mestre
College presidents; Photography;
Harold Mestre, who served as the 9th president of the college, was a distinguished biophysicist appointed to the position in January of 1938. He only served for one year, dying suddenly on the second day of the fall semester of 1939. The College...
Reamer Kline
Reamer Kline was president of Bard College from 1960 until 1974. An Episcopal priest, his presidency was marked by civility, even during the most turbulent time in America's social history. In 1963 the college purchased the Ward Manor property,...
Rev. Bernard Iddings Bell
Rev. Bernard Iddings Bell, the college's 7th president took the position in 1919 and resigned in 1933. His vision and energy permanently altered the physical and social geography of the college. Under his tenure, many buildings were constructed,...
Edward C. Fuller
Edward Fuller was a professor of chemistry at Bard College from 1935 to 1947. In 1946 he became president of Bard College and held the position till 1950. During WWII Fuller worked on the Manhattan Project based at Columbia. As president, he...
Rev. William Cunningham Rodgers
Rev. William Cunningham Rodgers was the sixth president of the college, serving from 1909 to 1919. In 1910 Rev. Rodgers changed the title of warden to president. Under Rodgers the campus was modernized; electricity, a sewage system and central...
Rev. Robert B. Fairbairn
College presidents; Photography; Priests--United States
Rev. Robert B. Fairbairn was the third president of the college. During this time the title warden was used and he is often referred to as "The Great Warden," having served as warden from 1863 to 1898, making him the longest serving head of the...
Nicholas Murray Butler
Nicholas Murray Butler was president of Columbia University when St. Stephen's College merged with Columbia. As president of Columbia University he became the official president of St. Stephen's (renamed Bard in 1934) from 1928 to 1944. The men who...
Donald George Tewksbury
Donald George Tewksbury was appointed dean of the college by Columbia's president, Nicholas Murray Butler in 1933. Tewksbury outlined a progressive new educational program for the college that was approved by the board of trustees. To signal these...
Rev. George Bailey Hopson
Rev. George Bailey Hopson served as acting warden three times, 1898-1899, 1903-1904, 1907-1909, and was professor of Latin from 1863 to 1916. His expectations as a teacher were high. When students complained of not having enough time to complete...
James H. Case Jr.
James Herbert Case, Bard's 12th president, served the college during the 1950s. He assumed the challenge of leading the college with an energy that bred high expectations, many of which were met. In 1951, the 825 acre estate Blithewood was deeded...
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Tag: belgian bishops’ conference
On the death of Cardinal Danneels
Although he had vanished from the spotlight in recent, Cardinal Danneels’ near-decade’s worth of retirement was one of the defining periods in his long years of service to the Church in Belgium and across the world. Retiring from the country’s premier see in 2010, Cardinal Danneels made way for a successor who in many ways was his opposite, although Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard shares the cardinal’s innate modesty and prayerful attitude to life. Following the election of Pope Francis in 2013, and Archbishop Léonard’s retirement in 2015, Cardinal Danneels returned to the world’s attention.
Identified by some as a kingmaker playing a pivotal role in the conclave of 2013 (one of two in which he participated), Cardinal Danneels was clearly a trusted cooperator of Pope Francis, who selected him as one of his personal choices to take part in both assembles of the Synod of Bishops on marriage and family in 2014 and 2015. And it is no secret that Cardinal Danneels himself was very happy that Francis became our pope.
But this has rather been an epilogue to a long life, of which more than 60 years were spent in service to the Church.
Cardinal Godfried Danneels, Cardinal-Priest of Santa Anastasia and archbishop emeritus of Mechelen-Brussel, died today at the age of 85. His health had been steadily declining over the past years, and the cardinal spent those years quietly at home in Mechelen, except for those times when Rome called…
Godfried Danneels was born in 1933 and was ordained in 1957 by Bishop Emiel-Jozef De Smedt of Bruges. Danneels spent his priesthood as a professo of liturgy and sacramentology in Bruges and Louvain. In 1977 he was appointed as bishop of Antwerp. He was consecrated by Cardinal Leo Suenens, the archbishop of Mechelen-Brussel. A little over two years later, he left Antwerp to succeed Cardinal Suenens in Mechelen-Brussel. As Belgium’s only archbishop, Danneels was the metropolitan of the Church province. He also served as president of the Belgian Bishops’ Conference and vicar of the military vicariate of Belgium, which was promoted to an ordinariate in 1986. In 1983, Pope St. John Paul II created him a cardinal, with the basilica of Santa Anastasia as his title church. Cardinal Danneels served as cardinal in several dicasteries including the Congregation for Bishops, the Congregation for the Clergy, the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
Kerknet has an obituary in Dutch.
Photo credit: Belga
Posted on March 14, 2019 March 14, 2019 Categories Catholic Church in Belgium, World ChurchTags archbishop andré-joseph léonard, archdiocese of mechlin-brussels, belgian bishops' conference, bishop emiel-jozef de smedt, conclave, congregation for bishops, congregation for divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments, congregation for the clergy, congregation for the evangelisation of peoples, consistory, diocese of antwerp, diocese of bruges, godfried cardinal danneels, health, in memoriam, kerknet, leo cardinal suenens, liturgy, military ordinariate of belgium, pope francis, pope john paul ii, prayer, sacraments, santa anastasia, synod of bishops
Three weeks before the Synod, the list is out
Few surprises in the list of participants in next month’s Synod of Bishops on youth of vocation, which was published on Saturday. As is par of the course for such assemblies, the bulk of the delegates is elected by their own bishops’ conferences and the heads of the Curia departments. The pope chooses a number of delegates himself, as well as representatives from other churches and church communities and experts on the topic of the Synod.
As announced earlier, the Dutch and Belgian bishops have each chosen an auxiliary bishop from among them to go to Rome: Bishops Rob Mutsaerts and Jean Kockerols (pictured) respectively. A second Belgian bishop was chosen by Pope Francis, however, As in the previous Synod on marriage and family, Ghent’s Bishop Luc Van Looy will also take part in the proceedings. It will probably be his last major role on the world stage, as he will reach the age of 77 at the end of this month, and, on papal request, his retirement has already been postponed by two years. Pope Francis also chose a second Benelux bishop, who is not a member of any bishops’ conference. Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, who also serves as president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU, the COMECE.
The German bishops’ conference, being rather larger than those of Belgium or the Netherlands, have elected three bishops to represent them: Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau, Bishop Felix Genn of Münster and Bishop Johannes Wübbe, auxiliary of Osnabrück.
The Nordic bishops have chosen the bishop of Reykjavik, Msgr. David Tencer.
With two exceptions, all the cardinals in Pope Francis’ own selection of delegates are ones he created himself. Some have chosen to see this as Francis ‘stacking the deck’, but that is a nonsensical conclusion. Of course the pope sees potential in these cardinals, and wants to make use of their abilities, or he wouldn’t have made them cardinals in the first place.
Posted on September 17, 2018 Categories From Rome, World ChurchTags archbishop jean-claude hollerich, belgian bishops' conference, bishop david tencer, bishop felix genn, bishop jean kockerols, bishop johannes wübbe, bishop luc van looy, bishop rob mutsaerts, bishop stefan oster, bishops, college of cardinals, commission of the bishops' conference of the european community, curia, ecumenism, german bishops' conference, nordic bishops' conference, pope francis, synod of bishops, vocation, youth
On abuse, the pope calls the bishops to Rome
In February of next year, Pope Francis will receive the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences to discuss the “protection of minors”, as today’s press communique states. It is obvious that this announcement, originally proposed by the Council of Cardinals who concluded their 26th meeting today*, comes in the wake of, and is a reaction to, the events of the past weeks.
Some think that February’s meeting, which has not been identified as an Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, as the participation of conference presidents only suggests. comes rather late. After all, the crisis is happening now, but it would be foolish to think it will be gone when the new year rolls around. The current crisis was triggered by investigations by a grand jury in the American state of Pennsylvania, but at this time, the attorneys general of six more states have either already subpoenaed dioceses in their states, have announced that they will do so, or, in some cases, dioceses themselves have invited AG’s to study their paperwork. This, and similar procedures in other countries, including Germany, assure that the abuse history of the Church will be with us for a long time to come. Things will not have blown over by the time the bishops meet in Rome.
That said, the Church, from the Pope on down, does not have the luxury to sit back and do nothing until February. Too many high ranking prelates, including the pope himself, have been implicated or somehow included in accusations of silencing victims, hiding abusers, and not reporting crimes. The crisis has by now, rightly or wrongly, involved so many people, and high ranking ones at that, that proper action has become not only unavoidable, but extremely necessary. And continued silence is not that proper action.
Finally, as some have rightly pointed out, while the prevention of abuse of minors and the identification and punishment of perpetrators remains high on the list of priorities, the current crisis in the Church is not only about that. The victims have not solely been minors. In the case of Archbishop McCarrick, they were seminarians, so young adults, and the abuse was later covered up by other priests and bishops. It is to be hoped that February’s assembly will recognise and discuss that aspect too.
While Pope Francis is free to appoint other delegates to the assembly, and he would be wise to do so, the presidents of the bishops’ conferences are expressly invited, or, if you will, summoned. There are 114 Roman-rite conferences in the Church, and a further 21 of Eastern rites. The presidents of these are elected by the members of each conference, and they need not be a cardinal or archbishop (metropolitan or not). The president of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference is the bishop of Rotterdam, Msgr. Hans van den Hende (pictured), while the Belgian bishops, on the other hand, are headed by Cardinal Jozef De Kesel, and the Germans by Cardinal Reinhard Marx. The Nordic Bishops’ Conference then, made up of bishops from five countries, have the bishop of Copenhagen, Msgr. Czeslaw Kozon, as their president. It is unknown if bishops from dioceses which do not belong to a conference, such as Luxembourg, will be invited as well.
*And not on Monday, as I wrote earlier. Thanks for the correction sent by e-mail, David Cheney of Catholic Hierarchy!
**A detailed investigation of several years has revealed, media suggest, almost 4,000 victims of abuse over the course of 6 decades. The official report is to be published in two weeks time.
Photo credit: [2] KN/Jan Peeters
Posted on September 12, 2018 Categories From Rome, World ChurchTags abuse, archbishop theodore mccarrick, archdiocese of luxembourg, belgian bishops' conference, bishop czeslaw kozon, bishop hans van den hende, bishops, council of cardinals, german bishops' conference, germany, jozef cardinal de kesel, nordic bishops' conference, pope francis, reinhard cardinal marx, synod of bishops, united states
Hidden dangers – Bishops of Belgium on decriminalising abortion
As Belgian politics are once more on the verge of discussing the topic of abortion and whether or not it should be decriminalised, the bishops of Belgium warn against the risks of doing so. Their concerns are not unrealistic, as recent developments in other countries have shown. The slippery slope of further liberalisation, actively sought out or not, is real, When abortion comes to be seen as a right, the room to disagree, to conscientiously object, starts to disappear. The bishops write that there are only ever losers in these cases, especially when abortion is considered as a normal procedure.
“In our country, abortion has been legalised under certain circumstances for quite some time now. Several proposal have now been presented to the Belgian parliament to completely depenalise abortion. Current practice will perhaps not change much because of it, but it is nonetheless a serious decision with a strong symbolic meaning. The opinions on the termination of pregnancy will fundamentally change. And the consequences are significant. Hence, we ask ourselves questions. These are questions which transcend ideological boundaries.
In a democracy the criminal code guarantees the protection of human dignity and the physical integrity of every person. Can this protection be disregarded when it is about human life developing before birth? The life that many people desire, which many protect and fight for, for which medicine makes the greatest progress, that precious life. Why should that life in its earliest beginnings not be protected as if it isn’t life yet?
Abortion will never become commonplace. Not even when it is removed from the criminal code. It will never become a normal ‘operation’. It will never happen gladly. There are only ever losers. Certainly, circumstances can make people desperate and hopeless. Exactly then man is so distraught en lonely. If the law would then only suggest that it is a normal operation, no justice is done to what those involved experience and go through. Why then look for advice or assistance? The requests themselves run the risk of not being taken seriously from the start. It will only increase the desperation and loneliness.
That is the danger we wish to point out: when abortion is removed from the criminal code, there is the risk that it becomes a normal medical intervention like any other. It is no longer an infraction in those cases provided for by the law. It becomes a right. Those questioning it or refusing abortion, will then have to justify themselves. And that is true for both the doctor and the woman involved. Even when the clause of freedom of conscience is maintained, it will be able to be invoked increasingly less. A medical intervention requires a medical decision, after all, and not so much a decision of conscience.
Our society increasingly struggles with everything that blocks our plans, with everything that disrupts our way of life. That goes for people who are old or sick, for people with physical disabilities, for the poor, strangers or refugees coming to us. It is also true for unborn life. In his encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis says that this is all connected: “If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of the new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away” (n. 120).”
Cardinal Jozef De Kesel and the bishops of Belgium
By acknowledging that abortion is never considered gladly, never becomes normal, and that those seeking it out are often desperate, seeing no other option, the bishops show the way in how to deal with such situations. Not by presenting abortion as just another medical operation, but by acknowledging the pain and loneliness felt by the people involved, and by finding new ways of alleviating that. Not by killing an innocent person, but by standing with the parent or parents (because too often the mother stands alone in these situations).
Posted on June 15, 2018 Categories Catholic Church in BelgiumTags abortion, belgian bishops' conference, belgium, crime, healthcare, jozef cardinal de kesel, laudato si, life, politics, pope francis, pro-life
A Belgian encyclical – updating Populorum Progressio
In March of 1967, Blessed Pope Paul VI published his fifth encyclical, “on the development of peoples”. Populorum Progressio discussed the development of man, and especially the problems that were present then and still are today: social inequality, poverty, hunger, disease, people seeking a better life elsewhere. It is also discussed progress, freedom and solidarity. The encyclical coincided with the establishment of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which has now merged into the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
^Bishops Jean-Pierre Delville (left) and Luc Van Looy (far right) present Populorum Communio.
The bishops of Belgium released a pastoral letter to update the encyclical today. They have dubbed their text Populorum Communio. According to Bishop Luc Van Looy, the bishops have wanted to explore the social dimension of mercy. The Holy Year of Mercy, then, is a major inspiration for the document, which also served as the bishops’ letter for Lent, since “Lent liberates from what is superfluous, makes us man among men.”
As the document is rather lengthy, I present my translation of the official summary below.
“On 26 March (Easter) 1967, Pope Paul VI released his encyclical Populorum progressio (on the development of peoples) to the world. He broadened the Church’s social teaching by calling for economic development and social justice for all peoples. The document led to a worldwide solidarity movement in the Church, which was prepared by Paul VI on 6 January of that same year 1967 by the establisment of the Commission of Justice and Peace. In our country, Broederlijk Delen (solidarity campaign for Third World countries during Lent) and Welzijnszorg (an Advent campaign against lack of opportunities in the fourth world in our own country) had been active since the early 1960s, and these seamlessly joined this movement.
With the Holy Year of Mercy, which closed in November of last year, Pope Francis provided a key to live the Christian faith in a renewed and creative way. Just before the start of Lent (Ash Wednesday 1 March), it is the basis to think more deeply about the social impact of mercy.
As we know, the challenges are not negligible. There is an increasing lack of opportunities and social injustice, the question of migrants and refugees, pollution and the threat to the ecological balance … All this does not only require the development of the peoples, but also unity between the peoples to work together for the future of the planet. And mercy is key to achieve this unity. “It is important to have aheart for those in misery”, Pope Francis says. “It is a new sensitivity which allows itself to be challenged by the other and leads to a new attitude.”
John’s story of Jesus healing a blind man (9:1-41) is the guideline of the pastoral letter. The story of healing is a call to keep believing that mercy can drive back exclusion and that a unity which itself is merciful can develop in society. “Like the healing of the body results in the healing of the soul, we dare to hope that the promotion of development results in a spiritual discovery and gives new meaning to the mission of mercy,” the bishops write.
The pastoral letter addresses four great challenges for modern society, which cause both progress and exlcusion: technology and science, economy, politics and ethics. What is the role of Christians and what is their influence on the world’s development? The social teachings of the Church and the notion of mercy as developed by Pope Francis offer inspiration for possible answers.
In his encyclical Populorum progressio, Paul VI makes clear that social justice also includes the economic development of underdeveloped countries and that development is not limited to merely economic growth, but must be directed towards the development of every man and the entire person. Pope Francis adds that social justice requires the social integration of the poor to be able to hear their voice.
The means for achieving social justice, Populorum progressio teaches, is solidarity. Pope Francis emphasises that solidarity demands the creation of a new mentality which thinks in terms of community, of the priority of the life of all to the appriation of goods by a minority. Or, “solidarity must be lived as a decision to return to the poor what is theirs”.
Regarding politics which today lead to war and violence among peoples and societies, the establishment of unity between peoples make a world peace possible if it is inspired by mercy. Everyone deserves confirmation and respect, especially those who are habitually excluded.
True solidarity with the poorest in the world means that we question our way of life and choose a sustainable economy which takes the capacity of the world into account. “We must believe in the power which can realise change when go forward with many,” the bishops write. This faith in the power of “transition” is the area of common ethics, which includes our entire planet and transcends the exclusion of the weak. The “dynamics of transition” addresses everyone, no matter how weak, and urges the politically responsible to form one front to save the planet. In this way we will achieve a dimension of unity between peoples at the service of the entire earth.
The bishops conclude their letter with a word of thanks to all who are already working for the integration of the poor in society andpol who are at the service of reconciliation in the world. At the start of the Lent they invite all people of good will to create the link between stimulating changes and true conversion, through prayer, fasting and sharing. They remind that Fasting is liberating, as it liberates from all that is superfluous. Fasting is becoming more human, more solidary, more concerned with our earth. It is living according to the ethics of simplicity which create space to live well.
And the letter concludes as follows: “We invite you as Christians, in spite of the injustice and violence affecting our world, to continue working for a more just and sustainable world without inequalities, and this together with all men and women working for the same.””
Photo credit: Kerknet on Facebook
Posted on February 20, 2017 February 24, 2017 Categories Catholic Church in BelgiumTags ash wednesday, belgian bishops' conference, bishop luc van looy, democracy, dicastery for promoting integral human development, easter, ecology, economy, ethics, fasting, gospel of john, holy year of mercy, jesus christ, justice, lent, mercy, politics, pontifical council for justice and peace, pope paul vi, populorum communio, populorum progressio, refugees, social teachings, solidarity
Alarm over the new translation of the Lord’s Prayer? Not so much.
Last Wednesday LifeSiteNews published an article, which was later also published on Aleteia, about the new Dutch translation of the Lord’s Prayer, introduced in the dioceses of the Netherlands, Flanders and Suriname on the first Sunday of Advent, 27 November. Claiming that Dutch Catholics are “raising the alarm” over an ideological adaptation of the text of the Our Father, the article gives the impression that Catholics are up in arms about it across parishes everywhere. The truth is rather different.
The LifeSiteNews article draws mainly on the opinions of Vox Populi, a fairly extremely orthodox Catholic group from Flanders, which thus does not speak for the vast majority of Catholics. The fact that they are up in arms, does not mean that the bishops have a full-scale revolt to deal with. Furthermore, the new translation is linked to developments in the Church of the Netherlands that date back to the 1960s. What it fails to acknowledge is that we no longer live in the 60s (or 70s, 80s or 90s, for that matter). Accusing the bishops of enforcing ideological changes simply does not hold up any longer. None of the Dutch bishops comfortably fits in the liberal bracket, and some are even outspoken orthodox.
What the article also overlooks is that the new translation is not the sole endeavour of the bishops of the Netherlands and Flanders. It has actually received the approval of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, so it can not be presented as something done independently from Rome. In reality, the new translation of the Lord’s Prayer is part of the long overdue project to create a new, more accurate, translation of the entire Roman Missal.
It may be appealing to present an image of ruin when it comes to the Catholic Church in the Netherlands, and it is true that in many respects, things are not good, but to ignore the positive developments that also exist is a disservice to the truth. In fact, it underlines the ideological trends at LifeSiteNews.
The issue that Vox Populi raises, and which, in itself, is an issue worth discussing, revolves around two words: “bekoring” (used in the old translation) and “beproeving” (used in the new translation). One can be translated as “temptation”, the other as “test”, but, although we are talking about one language area, these words have different connotations in different parts. In the northern half of the Netherlands “bekoring” is now generally considered positively, while in the Southern half and in Belgium it is more negative and thus draws nearer to the meaning of “beproeving”: being tempted by something can become a test. These changes in meaning and understanding have prompted the bishops to change the translation. Not to introduce a new concept which wasn’t there in the original, but to stay closer to that original meaning.
Shortly before the introduction of the new translation, then-Archbishop De Kesel, who sat on the translation committee on behalf of the Flemish bishops, wrote:
“Until now this word (temptationis) has been translated as “bekoring” [temptation]. The Greek has peirasmos. This can be translated as both “bekoring” and “beproeving” [ordeal/test]. Most often this is translated as “beproeving”. So “beproeving” is the more concordant translation of the Greek basis. Translating it as “bekoring”, furthermore, presents a theological problem. “Bekoren” means to incite to evil. In Scripture this is said of the devil, not of God. God does not try and encourage man to commit evil. In that sense it is not God who tempts us, as the Letter of James (1:13) explicitly says. James responds here to an incorrect understanding of temptation or testing. It is not God, but, “when a man is tempted, it is always because he is being drawn away by the lure of his own passions”.
Yet it is an undeniable Biblical concept that God can test someone’s faith. For example, Abraham was tested, and so Jesus was tested also. “Thereupon, the Spirit sent him out into the desert: and in the desert he spent forty days and forty nights, tempted by the devil” (Mark 1:12-13). The wording is striking and to the point: it is the Spirit who sends Jesus to the desert to be tested for forty days by Satan. The Spirit of God does not lure us into doing evil and test us in that way, but He can bring us into situations in which our faith is being tested. These are situations in which we are presented with the unavoidable choice: for God and thus against evil, or for evil and thus against God. Only in and through the testing we know whether or not we really believe in God. Whether we, like Abraham, trust Him unconditionally, even in the darkest hour. This is also the meaning of the forty years in the desert. As Deuteronomy 8:2 says: “the Lord thy God led thee through the desert, testing thee by hard discipline, to know the dispositions of thy heart”.
Hence the meaning of the final prayer in the Our Father. We do not ask God not to tempt us. He doesn’t. But we do ask Him not to test us beyond our abilities. And this is not just any test. It is about whether or not, when it really matters, we won’t deny our vocation as Christians. That, as happened to Simon Peter, we would say, when things get dangerous, “No, I do not know Him.” That is what we ask God earnestly in the last prayer of the Our Father: do not lead us to that ordeal.””
So, no, there is no revolt brewing, and neither is there an ideological agenda being pursued. A case can certainly be made for either translation of the word ‘temptation’. But, although the Dutch language area is small, it is home to a range of cultural and linguistic differences. When drafting a translation that can be used for the entire area, some changes must be made that will be understood differently in different places. That is why proper catechesis was and remains necessary. The explanation offered by Cardinal De Kesel is not automatically understood by all Dutch-speaking faithful, so it must be explained. Not by ideological groups like Vox Populi, but by the ones who commissioned the new translation: the bishops and with them the priests in the parishes.
Lastly, change is always difficult. It will take time for the new translation to take hold. But take hold it will, and I expect sooner rather than later.
Posted on December 2, 2016 December 2, 2016 Categories Catholic Church in Belgium, Catholic Church in the Netherlands, reflectionsTags abraham, aleteia, belgian bishops' conference, bishops, catechesis, congregation for the doctrine of the faith, deuteronomy, devil, god, gospel of mark, holy spirit, jesus christ, jozef cardinal de kesel, letter of james, lifesitenews, new missal translation, our father, saint peter, scripture, temptation, translation, vox populi1 Comment on Alarm over the new translation of the Lord’s Prayer? Not so much.
A new bishop for Bruges
The new bishop of Bruges comes from the neighbouring Diocese of Ghent. He has been the dean of Ghent for only about a month. Bishop-elect Lodewijk, Lode for short, Aerts will succeed Jozef De Kesel, the bishop who was appointed to the Belgian capital last year.
At 57, the new bishop will be the youngest of the Belgian bishops. A priest since 1984, he is a doctor of theology, taught at the diocesan seminary and was responsible for the youth work, education and formation in Ghent. Earlier this year he was appointed as the dean of Ghent, one of the ten new deaneries created in that diocese.
In Bruges, Bishop-elect Aerts will be the 27th bishop since the diocese was created in 1559 (although in Napoleonic times it was part of Ghent for a while). He succeeds Jozef De Kesel, who was bishop of Bruges for five years. Before that, Bruges was headed by Roger Vangheluwe for 26 years. He was forced to step down after he admitted to sexually abusing a family member.
This appointment may be considered one of the list files worked on by retired Nuncio to Belgium, Archbishop Giacinto Berloco.
The official announcement of the new appointment was made in Brussels, as Belgian bishop appointments usually are, by Archbishop De Kesel, and the new bishop later travelled to Bruges to meet the staff of the diocesan offices. The consecration of Bishop Aerts is scheduled for 4 December in Bruges’ Cathedral of St. Saviour. The names of the three consecrating bishops have not been announced, but it is a safe bet that Archbishop De Kesel and Ghent’s Bishop Luc van Looy, who may be retired by that time, will be among them.
At the press conference in Brussels, Archbishop De Kesel listed some of Bishop-elect Aerts’ talents:
“He is theologically well-educated. But he also understands the art of communicating this in an understandable way. He is an enthusiastic speaker and possesses an excellent pen.”
He added that, while this is not sufficient to be a bishop, “it is very valuable.” Archbishop De Kesel also spoke about the new bishop’s approach to the relation between Church and society:
“He knows very well that the past lies behind us and that we, including the Church, live in a secular pluralistic society. But exacty then it is so important to know what matters. To make a distinction between what is really important for the future and what are ultimately always rearguard battles.”
The archbishop typified Bishop-elect Aerts as “a good man, not too conceited, with a big heart and very approachable.”
The new bishop himself, then, spoke about his vision of the Church: “The Church is no one-man business, but a people: people who feel adressed by God and through their unity bear witness that God is love.”
“I also see this in myself. In order to speak credibly about God, I could do nothing by myself. My words needed the support of fellow faithful who, together with me, put the trust in God into practice. Without their friendship, their humanity, their efforts and their confidence it was not possible.”
Some more quotes to get an idea of what the new bishop of Bruges considers important in his life and work as a Catholic, a priest and a bishop:
“It is not good that Christians impose themselves. But they also should not be ashamed. As far as I am concerned, the faith is the best that ever happened to me. It is the experience of God accepting me for who I am, that I need not pretend to be better than I am before Him, that He accompanies me though life and that His hand will never let me go.”
“It is my greatest joy to notice that this trust lets other people bloom and makes them free and independent. To share this faith, I want to take on the duties of a bishop.”
Photo credit: [2] IPID, [3] Kur Desplenter
Posted on October 5, 2016 October 6, 2016 Categories Catholic Church in BelgiumTags abuse, archbishop giacinto berloco, archbishop jozef de kesel, belgian bishops' conference, bishop lode aerts, bishop luc van looy, bishop roger vangheluwe, consecration, diocese of bruges, diocese of ghent, education, faith, god, history, st. saviour cathedral1 Comment on A new bishop for Bruges
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Tag: drenthe
No April Fool – 13 months in, the vacancy ends
End of a long sede vacante
It took thirteen months, an almost unprecented long time, but the Diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden will soon have a bishop again. The Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, had already stated that the name would be known before Easter. With tomorrow being the fifth Sunday of Lent, he was cutting it a bit close. The long time between bishops gave rise to some speculation and rumours, which I wrote about here. These speculations will undoubtedly continue now that there is a new bishop. Many will choose to see the selection, which was ultimately made by Pope Francis, in political terms: the new bishop is either a man in the vein of the Holy Father, which means he is a pastoral figure with an eye for the people instead of the law; or he fits the mold of Cardinal Eijk, which means he is a dogmatic, a stickler for rules. Reality, as often, is more nuanced.
The new bishop
The new bishop comes from the south, and thus, in a way, makes the opposite move than his predecessor, who went from Groningen-Leeuwarden to ‘s-Hertogenbosch. From that later see comes its vicar general, Msgr. Ron van den Hout, to take over the reins of this country’s most northern diocese.
Bishop-elect Van den Hout is 52, not extraordinarily young or old when compared with his predecessors. He has been vicar general of the Diocese of ‘s-Hertogenbosch since 2012. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1993, studied in Rome and Nijmegen, and most recently taught Bible studies at three seminaries, in addition to serving as temporary pastor in the Bommelerwaard region, in the north of the diocese.
The new bisdom inherits a diocese wich, in some ways, is a work in progress. In the eight years (from 2008 to 2016) that Msgr. de Korte was ordinary, the diocese underwent a process of change which saw the number of parish decrease from 84 to 19. While the previous bishop made it policy to maintain the old parishes as communities in the new larger parishes, it is up to the new bishop to see the process to its conclusion and his choice to keep Bishop de Korte’s vision intact or adapt it as he sees fit. With one parish, which includes the cathedral in Groningen, exempt from the mergers, only two new parishes are awaiting establishment, while a third is already merged, but will see one more old parish join at a later date. The entire process is expected to be concluded by 1 January 2018.
In the years that Bishop de Korte led the diocese, the number of religious establishments within its boundaries tripled. A relatively large increase, in absolute numbers it is perhaps somewhat less impressive: from one to three. In addition to the shrine of Our Lady of the Garden Enclosed in Warfhuizen, which is under the care of hermit Father Hugo, the Holy Ghost Fathers have established themselves in Heerenveen, while the Cistercians from Sion Abbey are working to build a monastery on the island of Schiermonnikoog. Bishop de Korte actively encouraged this trend, and his successor could do worse than do likewise.
The Diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden is one of the two youngest in the Netherlands, having been established in 1955, it is the second largest in size, and the smallest by number of Catholics (a little over 100,000, of whom some 10% attend a Mass or celebration over the course of one weekend)*. It covers the three northern provinces of the Netherlands (Fryslân, Groningen and Drenthe) as well as the northern third of the province of Flevoland. Its population varies from traditionally left-wing in the former Communist stronghold of eastern Groningen, to traditionally Catholic along the German border from the southeastern tip of Groningen to the south of Drenthe. Major cities are few, but include the university city of Groningen, which is also home to the cathedral of St. Joseph and the diocesan offices (relocated there by then-Bishop Willem Eijk, bishop from 1999 to 2008). Catholic faithful are clustered in various places, but in general the parish, especially in the countryside, are expansive. Coupled with a relative low number of priests this means that clergy has to be able and willing to travel.
Bishop van den Hout Will be the fifth bishop of the Groningen-Leeuwarden. Two of his predecessors are still active: Cardinal Willem Eijk as archbishop of Utrecht, and Msgr. Gerard de Korte as bishop of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Bishop Hans van den Hende of Rotterdam is a former priest and vicar general of the diocese, and his immediate predecessor, Msgr. Ad van Luyn, was born in Groningen.
In the past eleven months, since the installation of Bishop de Korte in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the diocese has been run by diocesan administrator Fr. Peter Wellen, vicar general under the previous bishop, and general delegate Fr. Arjen Bultsma, formerly the episcopal vicar for Fryslân and the Noordoostpolder.
Bishop-elect van den Hout was informed about his appointment last week, and accepted it on Wednesday. His initial reaction was hesitant, but he realised that it was “something that had come his way, and I was obliged to cooperate gladly”.
^The new bishop, at left, receives a welcome present from diocesan administrator Fr. Peter Wellen.
As for the future, the new bishop sees himself as a man of the parish. “The life of the Church must be realised in the parishes,” he said. “The faithful must take their baptism seriously, while the diocesan curia serves to support this.” As yet unfamiliar with his new diocese, the bishop-elect intends to start visiting the parishes soon after his consecration, which is scheduled for 3 June. Asked about his predecessors and how he compares to them, Msgr. van den Hout said that he simply wants to be himself, to be there for the people. He hasn’t taken up a position on how the diocese should be run, as this depends on the specific local situation. He is curious and open about the Catholic life in the parishes of his new diocese, and will make any decisions based on what he finds.
*Statistics date from 2008. The expectation is that the actual and current numbers are lower).
Photo credit: [1] Ramon Mangold, [2] Mark de Vries
Posted on April 1, 2017 Categories Catholic Church in the NetherlandsTags archbishop aldo cavalli, baptism, bishop ad van luyn, bishop gerard de korte, bishop hans van den hende, bishop ron van den hout, bishops, cistercian order, communism, consecration, diocese of groningen-leeuwarden, drenthe, easter, father arjen bultsma, father hugo, father peter wellen, flevoland, fryslân, groningen, holy ghost fathers, lent, mass, noordoostpolder, our lady of the garden enclosed, politics, pope francis, religious life, st. joseph cathedral, statistics, wim cardinal eijk
The religious basis of the Relief of Groningen, or why bishops should not be princes
Tomorrow he city where I live, Groningen, marks the end of the siege of 1672, when the bishop of Münster had to give up his attempts to defeat the protestant inhabitants of the city and so reconquer those parts of his diocese that he had lost in the Dutch revolt against the Habsburgs. On his side, if not in the form of pratical support, he knew France and England, as well as the bishop of Cologne, who also had territorial interests around Groningen.
Many people are no longer aware of what it exactly is that is being celebrated, or even that the colloquial name of the day, Bommen Berend (Berend of the Bombs) (pictured), refers to the city’s enemy, Bishop Christoph Bernhard von Galen. That bishop was not only the spiritual head of the Diocese of Münster, but also the worldly ruler of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster (not the same thing), which until shortly before 1672 had included the eastern parts of the province of Groningen. He wanted those parts back and saw the presence of Protestant rebels in the sole major city in that area of the Dutch republic as a threat. The siege of the city was the final act of a successful campaign across Drenthe to the south and the eastern parts of the province of Groningen. But this success would prove to be temporary as Bishop Bernhard could not take Groningen.
There is still some evidence of the siege and subsequent victory visible in the city. City commander Carl von Rabenhaupt has a modest statue on the main square, and the best-known café in the city is named after the cannon that, legend has it, was so accurate that it shot a plate of cabbage and bacon away from Bishop von Galen, as he sat down for dinner at a convent south of the city. Said convent is long gone (I was at its location a few days ago), the city has long since expanded to where the bishop’s troops had their trenches (as I am typing this, I may be sitting not too far from them), but the celebration of the victory over the foreign prince-bishop has continued.
Today, the Relief of Groningen is a cultural and secular day, but it marks an event with deeply rooted religious undertones, even if that was often overshadowed by secular concerns of power. Thje inevitable consequence of having men be both bishops and princes.
Posted on August 27, 2015 August 27, 2015 Categories UncategorizedTags bishop christoph bernhard von galen, carl von rabenhaupt, diocese of münster, drenthe, groningen, history, protestantism
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December 11, 2013 December 12, 2013 Mark Schumann
Obituaries: December 11, 2013
Aime Arthur Arsenault, 83, passed away December 9, 2013 at Indian River Medical Center in Vero Beach. He was born in Central Falls, Rhode Island to Aime and Aline Arsenault. Mr. Arsenault graduated from the Sacred Heart Academy in Rhode Island in 1948. He served in the United States Navy on several aircraft carriers during the Korean War. Mr. Arsenault attended the University of Rhode Island and graduated from the College of Electrical Engineering. He began his career at Massachusetts Electric working in Palmer and Worcester and served as Vice President during his tenure at Narragansett Electric in Rhode Island. Prior to retiring, he served as Director of Transmission and Distribution for the parent company, New England Electric in Westborough, MA. Mr. Arsenault was a longtime member of the Wannamoisett Country Club and the Aurora Civic Association in Rhode Island, and is a current member of the Bent Pine Golf Club, the Vero Beach Yacht Club, the Vero Beach Bridge Center and St. John of The Cross Catholic Church. He is survived by his wife; LeeAnn Arsenault of Vero Beach, son; Paul Arsenault (Sue) of Woonsocket, RI, daughters; Denyse Conrad of Newport, RI and Kathleen Pirri (Gary) of Marshfield, MA, sister; Vivian Boutin of Palm Beach, grandchildren; Donna and Laura Arsenault and Jake, Benjamin and Emma Pirri, great-grandchildren; Olivia, Logan and Jayden. Mr. Arsenault was preceded in death by his wife of 52 years Mary Elizabeth (Betty) and two sisters; Jean Mearle and Yvette Landry. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Wounded Warrior Project, got@woundedwarriorproject.or g. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday at 11:00 AM December 12, 2013 at St. John of the Cross Catholic Church in Vero Beach with Military Honors to follow. Arrangements are by Strunk Funeral Home and Crematory, Vero Beach. A guest book is available at www.strunkfuneralhome.com. (12/11/13)
Theresa “Terry” M. Bendel, 68, of Vero Beach, passed away suddenly on Sunday, December 8, 2013 at Indian River Medical Center.She was born on November 26, 1945 in New York City, NY and lived in Vero Beach for the past 13 years, coming here from Vernon, NJ. Mrs. Bendel was an organ recipient and gave back the Gift of Life through Donation and was a member of the St. Helen Catholic Church.Survivors include her husband, of 49 ½ years, Michael Bendel of Vero Beach, FL; daughters, Deborah Bendel, Joanne Bendel and Christine Kays and her husband Lanny; sisters, Ethel Francis, Francis Ryan, Marge Collins, and Ruth Favata; brother, Thomas Lorentz; grand-daughter, Abigail Kays; sister-in-laws, Irene Weckerle and Beverly McCarton. A Memorial Service will be held Thursday, December 12, 2013 at Cox Gifford Seawinds Funeral Home at 3:00p.m. Family will receive friends from 2:00-3:00 p.m. at Cox Gifford Seawinds Funeral Home. Donations may be made to the United Network for Organ Sharing at http://www.unos.org/donation/ Arrangements are under the direction of Cox Gifford Seawinds Funeral Home and Crematory in Vero Beach, FL. Online condolences may be sent at http://www.coxgiffordseawinds.com.
Troy Earl Gay, 60, died December 7, 2013 at his home in Vero Beach. Troy was born January 27, 1953 in Vero Beach and was a lifelong resident. He attended Vero Beach High School and had worked as a heavy equipment operator for several companies including Danella Construction and Barbirus Ranch on the Treasure Coast. Troy was an AVID fisherman and outdoorsman who also enjoyed gardening. Survivors include his loving wife Patricia “Trish” Gay of Vero Beach, sons Justin Gay of Vero Beach and Troy Gay, Jr. of Staley, North Carolina, stepsons Shane Culp of Vero Beach and Christopher Culp of the US Army in North Carolina, brother Bo Gay of Vero Beach, four grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and his three beloved dogs. He was preceded in death by his parents Marcus and Mary Catherine Forbes Gay. SERVICES: Services are private. www.strunkfuneralhome. (12/11/13)
Mrs. Nancy Jean Hunt, 77, of Vero Beach, Florida passed away on Sunday, December 8, 2013 at the Indian River Medical Center in Vero Beach. Nancy was born October 8, 1936 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was in Massachusetts that she met her husband Harold Hunt and together they started their home in Sterling, Massachusetts. After retiring from her career in Property Management eight years ago, she moved to Vero Beach where she became a member of Holy Cross Catholic Church. Nancy had been a member of the Garden Club of Indian River County where she was an active volunteer and had also been a volunteer at the Riverside Theatre. Nancy greatly enjoyed the theatre and listening to live orchestra music. Survivors include her loving daughter Kimberly J. Wicknertz and her husband Peter of Vero Beach, cherished granddaughter Samantha Jean Wicknertz of Vero Beach, step-daughters Terri Stevens of Ft. Lauderdale, Sheila Rose of Inverness, brothers William T. Joyce of Tampa and Michael J. Joyce and his wife Judy of McKeesport, Pennsylvania. She was preceded in death by her parents William and Regina Zekkey Joyce, husband Harold Hunt. Memorial contributions may be made to Garden Club of Indian River County, 2526 17th Ave, Vero Beach, FL 32960 or Riverside Theatre, 3250 Riverside Park Dr, Vero Beach, FL 32963. SERVICES: Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Saturday, December 14, 2013 Holy Cross Catholic Church. www.strunkfuneralhome. (12/11/13)
Mary Lou Jay, 85, passed away on Tuesday December 10, 2013 at VNA Hospice in Vero Beach, FL. Mary Lou was born in Clearfield, PA and has been a resident of Vero Beach for 30 years coming from Clearfield, PA. Prior to retirement, Mary Lou was a registered nurse at Clearfield Hospital in Clearfield, PA for 20 years. She was a volunteer for the Red Cross and enjoyed knitting and sewing. Mary Lou was of the Methodist faith. Survivors include her daughter, Joan Jay, of Lawrenceville, GA, brother, Thomas McDowell, of Las Vegas, NV and granddaughter, Julie Jay. She was preceded in death by her husband, Walter Jay and son, James Jay. No services are scheduled. Memorial contributions may be made in Mary Lou’s memory to Visiting Nurses Association & Hospice Foundation 1111 36th Street Vero Beach, FL 32960 Arrangements are under the care of Aycock Funeral Home, Fort Pierce, FL. http://www.aycock-hillcrest.com. (12/11/13)
Charles “Chuck” Neuberger was born January 26, 1931 to Charles & Leona Neuberger of Patterson, New Jersey. He was an electrician by trade and owned Neuberger Electric, of Vero Beach & Sebastian. Chuck served one term on the Sebastian City Council and was also a former Mayor of the City of Sebastian. He will be missed by his family: wife, Joyce; sons, Robert of Vero Beach, Chuck of Fort Myers, Will of Vero Beach, and Tommy of Mississippi; daughters, Caaren of Vero Beach, Connie of North Carolina, Tammy of Vero Beach, and Linda of Illinois; and brother, Art of Banner Elk, NC. He will also be missed by his twenty-two loving grandchildren, seventeen great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. A graveside service will be held 10 a.m., Thursday, January 2, 2013 at Crestlawn Cemetery, Vero Beach, with a memorial service to follow at 11 a.m., at Crossroads Christian Fellowship, Sebastian. There will be a reception at the church also. www.lowtherfuneralhome.com/ (12/11/13)
Elmer “Robbie” Robinson, Sr. passed away December 8th, 2013 at the age of 79, after a life well lived. Robbie moved to Vero Beach in the early 1960’s from New Castle, Indiana. He worked at Piper Aircraft, owned his own business, Courtesy Auto Service, Vero Beach, and taught for the Indian River County School District. Robbie was a member of the Vero Beach Masonic Lodge No. 250, where he served as Past Master twice. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; children, Pam Jones, Chuck (Tracey) Wellmaker, Chip (Monica) Wellmaker, Craig (Sally) Wellmaker, Suzanne (George) Davis, and Robbie (Nanci) Robinson, Jr.; twelve grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and many treasured nieces and nephews. Robbie was predeceased in death by his daughter, Donna Woods and his son-in-law, Robert “B.J.” Jones. Robbie was loved by the many students and friends whose lives he touched. A gathering will be from 2 p.m., with a service to be held at 3 p.m., on Sunday, December 15th, at the Fellsmere Community Bible Church, located at the corner of S.R. 512 and Hickory Street. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his honor to VNA Hospice of Indian River County, 1110 35th Lane, Vero Beach, FL 32960 or Fellsmere Community Bible Church, P.O. Box 608, Fellsmere, FL 32948. www.lowtherfuneralhome.com/ (12/11/13)
Previous Deeds, not words, change lives
Next Expand Oslo Road boat ramp? Only fish and fishermen will suffer in the end.
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Jim Varagona
Tag: Wegener’s Granulomatosis
Redirect – Dealing with Loss
14 years ago, my brother, Matt, died. I know. It sounds like that other post, but it was on this very day, 14 years ago. It may have been an average day outside, unlike what we’ve seen this year, but it was anything but that for the friends and family of my brother.
Matt, in his later years with his prized Haro bike
Typically a February brings this all back and I’ll have flashes of it through the month. Writing the other post helped quite a bit by purging much of what flashes in my head from that time. I think it’s not very understood what happens after such an event, especially for folks that have never experienced a death of someone so close. I know I can make conversation awkward for people when they ask about siblings and I clarify by saying “two siblings, one deceased.” That’s fine. I get it. I’ve gone through the stages of grief and believe I have made peace with that horrible time.
Brothers at the top of the Sears Tower
Guilt is useless but happens on occasion. Early on, I wondered if we could’ve done more. We trusted opinions of doctors we had seen for quite some time. On a side note, the same pediatrician office blew off my sudden weight loss and frequent urination saying I was a growing boy. It turned out to be Type 1 Diabetes which we only discovered after pushing further beyond the initial analysis. Even when we got Matt to the hospital though, it took them over a week in their care to get a solid idea of what was going on. It was too late for him once he arrived there. You can place blame but it does no good.
I was angry at doctors. I was angry at Matt, thinking he had any bit of control over his situation. I wished he would’ve complained more when he had the ability to, but the thing was just like the rest of us, his condition seemed bad, but nothing that could’ve ended the way it did. I was angry at any remaining notions I had of a god. I remember watching my mother struggle with it initially, but my parents’ faith seems to be pretty strong now. I don’t discuss my belief system much, not wanting to push others or listen to a spiel for me.
The depression was horrible. Many would say “I can’t imagine.” One girl I went to high school with actually said, “If that happened to me, I would kill myself.” I actually calmed her friends down and said that is an honest reaction. I’m sure a lot of people felt that way. I thought of Matt a lot. I would think that one day I would run upstairs to his room and he’d magically be there. Maybe it was a magnificent ruse. Maybe it was all my bad dream.
The dreams were interesting, incidentally. Every night was a different spin on what had happened. Most often, Matt came home from the hospital but was very sick. He had enough time and good days though to have gatherings and say goodbyes. Other times would be a normal dream, like the ones where you show up at your grade school in a towel, but it’s your high school and people you work with are there, and he just drops into it like it’s nothing. I actually welcomed the dreams.
Anxiety brought on an ulcer. My father had a bout of anxiety to the extent that we thought it was a heart attack. This was a week after Matt died. My parents said I had to get him to the hospital. We got into their Grand marquis and made the 15 minute drive. My dad was laying in the back seat, moaning, and telling me to flag down a police car. I flashed my brights at a cop car. The officer seemed puzzled and asked what was going on. I explained and asked if he could escort us, at my parents’ insistence. He replied that he didn’t do that kind of thing, so we went on our way. I hopped on the highway and sped to the exit for the hospital. The cop actually followed me and didn’t pull us over. We were in the Emergency Room at Barnes Hospital for a while as doctors checked him out. I paced around the waiting room most of the time. I called a friend from a pay phone to let her know that I probably wouldn’t make it out to bowl with them s planned that night. It was an odd feeling to explain what was going on after what had already occurred in the previous few weeks.
As I sat and waited for news in the waiting room, I had some tears in my eyes. A man probably 10, maybe 20 years older than me, that looked pretty tough, glanced over at me and said “Hey man, let me show you something outside.” It was a vulnerable moment. What else did I have to lose at that point? I walked outside the ER and he had a brand new, black Monte Carlo parked outside. He was really proud of it. Honestly, the car didn’t do much for me. We talked for a bit about why I was there and his mother that was there. It was nice that someone seemingly so different from me would attempt to cheer me up or at least distract me. Sometimes sharing experiences is all we need to do that. Or just listening to someone share theirs even.
Dad didn’t have a heart attack. It was anxiety. I managed to meet up with my friends at the bowling alley. A guy that didn’t come around as much, a friend of a friend if you will, was there. Last I saw him was back at the birthday party on February 13th when Matt was in the hospital. His first words to me were “So how’s your brother?” Oh boy. I said “He died!” and stormed off to chain smoke my Parliaments. I believe it was that same night that “Only God Knows Why” by Kid Rock came on the jukebox there, which we played at Matt’s burial. Something was trying to condition me for that grief thing.
My parents and I attended a few sessions of group grief counseling. One time was helpful, I suppose. It’s good to see other people struggling like you are. I had just finished reading “Fight Club” though and was a big fan of the movie. Support groups are used to comedic effect as the narrator attends them to be something that he isn’t. There’s the stereotypical going around the circle, introducing yourself and why you’re there, and then everyone says hello. Being a real part of that was a little humorous to me after the first session. Luckily there were no group hugs. I did hear fascinating stories of how others’ loved ones died from a brown recluse spider bite to being decapitated after driving under a tractor trailer. Several people talked of seeing apparitions of their loved ones. I just couldn’t get into that. Obviously, everyone deals with grief differently.
What helped me get through it all was the dreams. I felt crazy at the time since most nights I was interacting with my dead sibling in different versions of his future. It was better than being around people that didn’t necessarily understand. It was a dark place. I grew apart from friends. Mental and emotional states change so much. No one is really prepared for it. At some point though, I woke up from hanging with my brother and knew that I had to redirect the emotions.
My mother and I in deep discussion at the benefit
My family became good friends with the parents of some of Matt’s friends. I conveyed to a mother of one of his friends that we needed to have a benefit. I provided the idea, but everyone else ran with it. It was a beautiful thing to watch everyone direct so much energy into something positive to remember Matthew. Instrumental were my mother and sister as well as Teresa Harvey and Denise Miller. Everything was donated for raffles and silent auction. Food and drink for an open bar was all donated. We had a speaker from the Wegener’s Granulomatosis Support Group (now the Vasculitis Foundation), Judy Brown, give a slide show presentation of the condition that killed Matt. It was important that we create awareness on top of bringing people together to remember our loved one and raise funds for researching Wegener’s Granulomatosis. We did a smashing job, raising $19,000 that one night, March 31, 2001, a little over a year after Matt had passed away.
Grooving with Explosion On Impact
That night I emceed the affair, some of the time with my torso wrapped in Saran Wrap. Hey, it looked so cool. I sang with a band made up of brothers Dan Roth, on keyboards and guitar, and Dave Roth, on drums, who were friends of Matt’s, and Sarah Baggett, a friend of mine, on bass. We called ourselves “Explosion On Impact,” which Matt had said would be a great band name. It was our only performance. We stormed through a set of covers of Presidents of the United States of America, The Doors, “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” by DVDA (as I swam through a crowd of old folks barking into a wirless mic), and a polka medley a la Weird Al Yankovic of Limp Bizkit and Cypress Hill songs. At some point I said if anyone had scissors and the crowd could gather up some cash, people could get in line and cut my afro off. It was the longest my hair had ever been. A member of the band that played before us, Red Afternoon, said he actually had clippers in his van. Perfect. As we played through Chuck Berry’s “My Ding-a-Ling,” a favorite of my brother’s, the inebriated folks came up front, cash in hand, and took swipes at my hair with the clippers. We made $300 from that, despite some old man at the union hall we held this at telling us to get off the stage and pack up.
Explosion On Impact performing “Kick Out the Jams” by Presidents of the United States of America. Video by Ted Stahl.
Explosion On Impact performing “The Crystal Ship” and “Light My Fire” by The Doors. Video by Ted Stahl.
There was an amazing after party at a house following this event. On top of that open bar, we took what was left over to finish it off. There had to be around 50 people that were there spread out over 2 floors, easily. There were a lot of hugs and saying “We did it!” I can’t say I know exactly how Matt’s death affected each of those people in that year prior, but that night was a great release of so much energy and emotion.
The following morning, my mother and I drove the proceeds to Kansas City, 4 hours away. I was hung over and my blood sugar was high and out of control. She pulled over for me to puke twice. We seemed to make it to KC in pretty good time nonetheless. We met up with the director of the organization we raised the funds for. I imagine I looked like death, considering I was freshly bald, pale as a ghost from the nausea, and exhausted from the night before. The director was a nice, older woman that thought it would be good for me to eat something and she wanted to show her appreciation, so she took us out for a steak dinner.
It seems fitting that shortly after this, just a couple of months, I met the woman who would someday be my wife. You don’t completely move on from episodes like that, but we must go on living without being miserable. We must remember the person we lost and make something good out of whatever bad there is. There were golf tournaments that my parents hosted in memory of Matt. In total, with those events and smaller internet fundraisers, our family has raised close to $30,000 in Matt’s name for the Vasculitis Foundation, which created The Matthew Thomas Varagona Memorial Grant, which was applied to a study that investigated the susceptibility of genes to lead to Wegener’s in family members of patients. There’s a scholarship in his honor that is awarded at the St. Joan of Arc Golf Tournament every year to an 8th grader entering high school, as he was that year he passed.
I talk to my 5 year old son about his Uncle quite a bit. He’s playing many of the same games and with the same toys Matt and I played with. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Legos never get old. Matt may be gone, but he’s still around.
Make Today a #DayOfHealing
Throwback Thursday: Hey Jimmy
Ferguson and the Festering Wounds of Structural Inequality: A Quest for Awareness and Understanding
My Soda with Susan
Final Update On My 2014 St. Baldrick’s Effort
birthday blood Bryan Kuchar CafePress charity childhood cancer childhood cancer research children with cancer Chock full o'Nuts craniosynostosis Dance of Life DayOfHealing Diabetes Dirk Kettlewell documentary dog Dr. Oz dylan Facebook Family Fatherhood Ferguson fidel castro food gravy inkstop Knork Life Matt Matthew Thomas Varagona Michael McGrath modeling murder music obit p2 pedophile photo pizza plug politics religion Schlafly Seattle sexual predators St. Baldrick's St. Baldrick's Foundation St. Louis Susan Stone ted cruz Thanksgiving throwback Thursday Tofurky turkey twitter Wegener's Granulomatosis weight work
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Salary Survey (6)
Designers’ work to be protected for longer under new copyright ruling
Published: 21 June 2016 By Sarah Dawood
A change to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act will mean that designers’ work will be protected for 70 years after they die – as long as their designs qualify as being Works of Artistic Craftsmanship.
Eames La Chaise chair, Charles & Ray Eames, 1948 Vitra Miniatures Collection. The Eames’ chair collections are examples of designs that will be covered by the new copyright ruling.
Designers’ work will now be protected for longer after they die, thanks to a change in copyright law – but only if their designs qualify as “artistic” and “crafty” enough.
The change to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act – which is the repeal of Section 52 – sees copyright extended from 25 to 70 years after a designer’s death, meaning that “classic” or “iconic” designs will receive greater protection.
But in order to qualify for this length of copyright, the designs have to be proven to be Works of Artistic Craftsmanship (WOACs), says Richard May, senior associate at intellectual property law firm Rouse.
Qualifying as a WOAC is “quite a hurdle”
“It’s not the case that any designer with a product that has been mass produced – i.e. over 50 items – will benefit from this,” he says. “Qualifying as a WOAC is quite a hurdle, and the law is not particularly clear on what a WOAC is.”
Because there is no formal definition of a WOAC, it has to be decided on a case-by-case basis by the UK courts, states the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
Craftsmanship and artistry
But the UK IPO does provide rough guidelines, which state that: “craftsmanship” indicates special training and skill; “artistic” indicates the piece is a “work of art”; and there should be evidence that the designer of the work “intended” to create a work of art. It also states that “it is not enough for a work to look attractive to qualify”.
May says: “Ultimately, this extension of copyright protection will boost designers in their ability to stop infringers and increase their revenue streams – but they should treat it with caution.”
Designs deemed likely to fall into the category include pieces where the designer has “used their hands or a traditional way of developing a product”, he adds, for example hand-painted tiles or stained glass windows.
Designers should register their designs
It is recommended that designers also register their designs if they are uncertain whether it is a WOAC, says May. A registered design is a different IP right, which, in most cases, gives the designer protection over their work for 25 years.
“Once that term has expired, designers could potentially rely on the extended copyright term – but only if the product qualifies as a WOAC,” says May.
Dids Macdonald, founder at Anti-Copying in Design (ACID), says there needs to be more clarity around what designers can and cannot rely on, and that ACID will be producing their own set of guidelines to help.
“Registering a design does not always provide safety for designs, as in last year’s Trunki vs Kiddee suitcase case,” she says. “ACID is pressing for two things – for unregistered rights to have criminal provisions in the same way as registered rights, and for unfair competition to be brought in when intellectual property law fails a designer.”
Kids’ suitcase brand Trunki lost an appeal this year where they claimed another brand had copied their product. © Magmatic Limited
“It’s not just the way something looks – it’s about quality”
The extended copyright ruling was meant to come into action in 2020, but has been brought forward to July of this year.
“Replica” companies have been given a period of six months until the end of January 2017 to either gain a licence to carry on selling their products, or stop production altogether and remove stock from sale.
May suggests that original designers also “check the expiration date” of any licences they hold on their products, and “do a sweep of the market” to find products that might infringe their rights, then “consider carefully” whether they qualify as a WOAC.
While copyright extension may not be applicable to everybody, Macdonald says that the ruling helps to “place importance on original designs”.
“It’s not just the way something looks, it’s the integrity of how it’s put together,” she says. “It’s about quality and supporting originality. There are so many designers in the UK producing fantastic, zeitgeist work – so why make a business on fakes?”
The new ruling comes into force on 28 July 2016.
Landmark Trunki ruling spells “uncertainty for designers”
Tobacco companies say government is “taking their property away”
Copyright law changes could bring “significant” benefits for designers
Designers’ work to be protected for longer under new copyright ruling This will open in a new window
Landmark Trunki ruling spells “uncertainty for designers” This will open in a new window
Repeal of section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 This will open in a new window
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John Lithium
Lithium Industries
KTL – KTL
Stephen O’Malley and Peter Rehberg joined together to create background music for the theatrical production “Kindertotenlieder”. One contributed guitars and the other contributed electronics. While these songs were not actually used in the production itself, they are supposedly created from those aesthetic elements.
Strangely enough, the best song is also the first: the lengthy “Estranged”. To me, the many elements within the song: the buzzing electronics (reminiscent of insects), the underlying drone and synthetic washes of sound (which could be anything from the silence of the forest to the underlying menace and mysteriousness any larger forest naturally exudes) very naturally conjure up images of a dark forest. O’Malley’s sparse guitar improvisation, by contrast, could represent the “estrangement” of the listener. Wandering through the forest aimlessly, making sudden turns and detours because there is no clear way of keeping track of where you have been. The clear guitar tone is also a welcome change, as it portrays melencholic overtones as well as sounding vaguely mournful. It is, in short, one of the best “ambient” songs I have heard in a long time, and (in my opinion) is a large part of why some will claim that this is akin to “ambient offshoot isolationism” (though I confess that I am unfamiliar with Lull or Final’s early work).
The majority of the album is taken up by the four-part “Forest Floor” suite (this is also where the “new form of black metal” is to be found).”Forestfloor 1″ opens with O’Malley’s patented low-end guitar with dischordant mid-range guitar riffing pulsing in the center of the mix. Just as quickly, however, comes Peter Rehburg’s hissing electronics, flittering back and forth throughout both speaker channels. The lo-fi guitars do not change much beyond the initial pattern played, though the low-end guitars slowly evolve as the electronic elements wax and wane in intensity, with occasional guitar feedback squealing like a dying animal (or machine) towards the end.
“Forestfloor 2” see Rehburg’s industrial machinery take on a more rhythmic nature (almost sounding like mechanical frogs or boars). Sonically similar to the first track (and the two after this one), it distinguishes itself by having a feeling of malice and menace to it (as opposed to the foreboding nature of the first track). The mid-range guitars are also pushed much further back in the mix, as opposed to being very noticeable in the first track. Less variation on the electronics, though. Thankfully, creepy organic noises are introduced ten minutes in (along with more guitar feedback), saving the song from musical stagnation (although it could be argued that by then it’s too little, too late). A break at 11:00 minutes is a nice transition from the previous homogenous cacaphony. Eventually, all that remains is broken riffing and a half-hearted buzzing, as if the song itself is dying from the inside.
The third section of the “Forestfloor” begins with an amplified version of the buzz originally heard at the end of the second song, along with drone guitars that seem to be even further detuned and low-pitch than the first two sections. This track appears to have a bit more echoing involved, and the electronics sound like animals, clouds, wind, and insects (often at the same time). But these are not pleasant elements of nature; instead, they are enraged and violent, both at each other and at any individual foolish enough to stumble into their domain.
Finally, “Forestfloor 4” features a blazing black metal riff (with actual progression) prominently towards the beginning of the song. Rehburg slowly creeps in with digitized (and slightly understated) growls which pan back and forth.
KTL lets the listener down gently with “Snow”. Opening with echoing clanking and strange whistling, along with the occasional bass hum. Insect chatter slowly crawls up after six minutes. It swiftly builds in intensity, while various guitar FX are used (while it sounds like O’Malley is physically striking the guitar). On the whole, it is peculiar, unobtrusive, and somewhat unremarkable.
Is this really black metal? Well, in my opinion I would classify this as something else altogether. Although I will give credit for O’Malley for inadvertently pointing out a painfully clear fact: that far too much self-parody exists within the black metal genre for it to be taken seriously. In a sense, black metal needs avant-garde productions like this in order to keep the more discenring listeners around for more than just a cursory listen (although it is important to note that, while black metal may need KTL, KTL in no way needs the ‘black label’ moniker). While I somewhat chafed at the lack of variation at certain points in the album, it thankfully never became more than a minor nagging point.
While at first I was somewhat unimpressed, a few more times listening to the entire album and I began to appreciate some of the subtle nuances in KTL. Peter Rehberg, in my mind, is the star of the show. While O’Malley obviously provides the meat and potatoes in most of the songs, it is Rehberg’s various electronic and industrial elements which provide that special flair to the songs. While sometimes they are more effective than others (comparing “Forestfloor 3” to “Forestfloor 2”), they always, somehow, perfectly complement the elements O’Malley is adding. Given the satisfactory nature of this album, I look forward to someday hearing “KTL 2”. Although I am not the biggest fan of (what could be argued as) Stephen O’Malley’s posturing on many of his more recent releases (such as that of the just-released Grave Temple Trio album: “Me and Greg and a few other guys played in Israel even though our families told us not to!”), it is the unavoidable truth that he (along with his collaborators) are slowly making waves within their respective subgenres, changing them radically (hopefully for the better).
Peter Rehberg (Pita, KTL, etc.)
Ideologic (SOMA)
Editions Mego (Label)
Aurora Borealis (Label)
~ by John Lithium on May 19, 2007.
Posted in black metal, drone metal, electronica, experimental, industrial, Music For The Rest Of Us Archive
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What can other people know of the condition of one’s heart? If the enigma of the mystery of life enters the heart, the person knows no peace until it has been solved.
To gain His pleasure
By Sant Kirpal Singh from the book "The night is a jungle" – chapter 12
Any place where one can enjoy the intoxication of God has its own value, be it temple, church, mosque, or any other religious edifice. However, it stands to reason that the very best place to seek God and enjoy His presence is wherever His reflection can be seen. The stone-constructed places of worship were all made in the remembrance of God, but it is not possible to see the reflection of the Lord in any of them. That can be found in the human form only – a certain human form wherein God has manifested Himself. Such a personality is just like God walking on earth. Those accomplished in religious lore, tied up in rituals and customs, will usually advise against seeking God in the human form; but the earnest investigator should consider carefully just what benefit can be derived from a living Guru.
If we take the temple or the mosque, for an example, we find the former dome-shaped like the human head, and the latter forehead-shaped, both after the model of man-body, and with great respect are the prayers done therein. These are given the highest importance, while the true temple or mosque of the man-body is ignored; we never go in there. The Truth lies forgotten within us, and we are left with outer things as consolation. To make a model of the man-body is very easy, but we are constantly adding cover upon cover over the true Light of God within our being, and to stop doing this is extremely difficult indeed.
My Master used to give an example of the true wife who, disregarding the good or bad remarks that the world may have for her character, will keep her attention constantly upon her husband alone, knowing that she is true to herself and to him. So we should go toward God with that single goal in mind and never worry about what is said by others. Travel with unceasing attention in the Lord, for you are His and He is yours.
The target was always one and the same for all religions, but what happened? Hafiz Sahib explains that, We were on our way to meet the Lord, but in between our attention was arrested. Religious and customary rites have taken our attention from the true purpose of our journey, and as long as the mystery of life is not unravelled, we may spend our whole life searching among outer things; but the Truth will never be revealed. Who are we, and what connection do we have with the physical form? In what way are we related to God? Before these questions can be answered, that eye must be opened through which, by actually seeing, the Truth will be revealed. A Muslim Maulvi Sahib exhorts us:
Why do you scatter your attention in intellectual pursuits?
Whatever path you walk, become submerged therein;
Deaf and mute to all else.
With full concentration proceed toward your goal;
Take a headlong plunge!
Weighing and doubting will only stop your progress.
Further on he says, I am in Him. This happens only at that grand meeting when two become one – when He alone is there, He whose reflection we are. When the curtain of separation is drawn aside, there will be no parting and no meeting. There will be no yearning. Christ told us that I and my Father are one. Guru Arjan Sahib says, Father and Son have the same colour. When the soul reaches this awakened condition the wandering, searching, and sorrowful separation will cease. A true Guru is not separate from God; therein lies His greatness. By losing Himself He has become the very image of God, and he who loses himself in the Guru becomes the same as the Guru – a Gurumukh (or mouthpiece of the Guru).
St. Paul mentioned this stage by saying . . . yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Our Muslim prophet continues:
The place inside is so filled with my Beloved,
That there is no room for me; only He is there.
In You, am I; look in my eyes and see the oneness.
If you do not see, am I to be blamed?
Even the thought "I am not there" does not occur. Within the eyes of an illumined soul pulsates the power to drag you like a magnet into the Beyond. This was the original reason for doing arti (a Hindu rite, with lighted candles).
At one Satsang, I was sitting beside Hazur – He sometimes made me sit beside Him, just as a father would – and I said that there was an age in the past when the Guru would wash His big toe in water and give this to the disciples to drink, for there was great charging in it. During the time of the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, He gave Amrit (nectar) made from sweetened water, on drinking which they were infused with life; again due to the charging. Then in the days of Tulsi Sahib and Swamiji Maharaj, it became customary for arti to be done, sitting in front of the Guru, eyes level with eyes; but that age also passed. In the time of Hazur, my Master, the custom was to touch the Guru's feet. Now that is finished and it remains only to look into the eyes of the Master and be absorbed into His radiance, as eyes are the windows of the soul. The purpose of all these gestures was for the disciples to derive the benefit of the charging from the Guru's radiation, but when the Gurus leave, just the empty action remains.
The highest of the senses is the eyes. Nose, ears, mouth, etc., are on a lower level. When the two eyes meet at the practical point above the nose, they become single and the inner path is opened, through which we become familiar with the Beyond. When the four eyes meet and become one, there is no separateness and no question of duality. From eye to eye the treasure is given. From eye to eye one gets an intoxication, and the physical body becomes insignificant – as nought. Even the thought of it does not remain. Criticism, ridicule, and unpleasant worldly affairs ride harmlessly over one's head. This is the knowledge of Oneness.
Hafiz Sahib has said that the words uttered by the Saints are for those who are ready to receive them. This is their last connection with the world, for their hearts have become pure, and they have the right understanding. They are ready, therefore, to realize the Lord. The immature will continue with the outer practices, for their time has not yet come. Though Truth is in each being, yet it must be rekindled by the Guru through the eyes, for the charging involved in the process cannot be done through forms and formularies. This charging is an intoxication never forgotten by the person throughout his whole life. There are those who think that the Guru's succession can be accomplished on legal papers; but how is that possible or even feasible?
There is only one thing to understand – how to remove the separating curtain between "me" and "You."
Get the true bhakti from the Guru; then only can He invade the mind.
When you have completely surrendered yourself to the Guru, no questions or doubts remain. Everything becomes serene, calm, quiet, and the awakenedness springs forth. Life comes from life – there is no other way of realizing the Truth. Those who see the Truth in all its Reality say, "This is a very curious image, this human form!" They are not the human form, but are something else. Bhai Nandlal Ji, who was a very devoted disciple of Guru Gobind Singh Ji says, For one hair of my beloved Satguru, I will sacrifice both worlds (this and the next). Only he who can see even some small reflection of the Truth can make such a statement.
For Muslims, a living Master is considered to be heresy, and when Amir Khusro was initiated by his Guru, the people criticized him, calling him a heathen. Khusro was unshaken and remarked, "Yes, I am a devotee of a living form, but what has this to do with the world and its opinions?" When you become someone's, become His very image. To incur the pleasure of a complete Master is to incur the pleasure of God. Swamiji Maharaj says, If the Guru is pleased, then God is pleased. But the Guru should be a Guru and not just so-called. Of what value is the pleasure of him who is under the influence of his mind and his senses? People often get a bitter experience and then blame the whole of Gurudom, but those who are fortunate to have their inner eye developed even a little, see an inner reflection of the Truth.
Even one enlivening glance from You, O Guru, is enough to infuse me with Life.
If He turns His eyes from us, both our worldly and spiritual existences will finish. Once this happens, it is most difficult to regain His attention, for no one knows what action will be pleasing to Him.
Perfect Masters do not allow vanity, self-importance, and self-praising to remain in Their followers, but gradually weed them out. Bulleh Shah, who belonged to a high caste, took Initiation from Sai Inayat Shah Sahib. One day, the Master sent some of His followers to Bulleh Shah's home, telling them to sing and dance outside his house. They did this, calling out, "Oh, Bulleh Shah, we are your gurubhais (brothers under the same Master); so come out and meet us." Now, singing and dancing in the streets is considered to be unseemly behaviour, that of very low-caste people, and when Bulleh Shah was told that his brother disciples had come, he said, "No, I do not know them – they are nothing to do with me."
When the disciples returned to the Master, He told them, "It does not matter, from today I will not water that plant." Remember, that the Guru gives nourishment to the disciples through His attention, even if they are thousands of miles away. A Satguru looks after His disciple with His own life impulse. Only a few days ago a disciple in the West wrote to me: "When I sit for meditation, and even for some time afterwards, there is a sweet fragrance." I explained that this was a direct result of the thought-waves which are received when one is receptive to the Master. Receptivity is very necessary. If a radio set is not tuned properly, there will be no sound. It is most difficult to please a Guru: He is above offerings of money, property, and worldly goods. You cannot have His pleasure by demand either. His pleasure may be gained through respectful attention, obedience to His wishes, devotion, and selfless service to humanity. If the disciple does not wish to live like this, then what can be achieved without the Guru's mercy? I remember once in Lahore, my Master called me and said, "Kirpal Singh, I have planted the saplings, you have to give them water." I replied, "Hazur, however much water You send through this hose-pipe, will be given." To be careless about our attitude and actions in respect to our Guru is very dangerous.
Bulleh Shah's inner enjoyment was stopped from that moment, and by the Guru's orders he was also not allowed to enter the Master's court. In those days, Shah Inayat permitted His followers to express the holy hymns in song and dance before Him, and appeared to show His pleasure at such occasions. There was a certain prostitute who was very talented in her execution of the holy songs, and she would attend Him regularly each week. For Bulleh Shah, it was as if both worlds, inner and outer, had sunken into deep and silent gloom – such was his condition without the glance and thought-transference of his Master. So in desperation, and greatly anxious to regain his Master's favour, he went to the prostitute and begged her to give him any amount of work in return for which he wished only that she teach him how to sing; with the hope of giving the Master some enjoyment. For instance, if a Master approves of selfless service and helping the poor, then His disciples should do that; for to become His true loved ones, they should develop the Master's own habits within themselves. Merely pretending to do His will has no effect, for He knows and sees everything.
So Bulleh Shah studied the art of singing and dancing for nine months, and one evening he said to his teacher, "Tonight, let me go and sing for the Master instead of you.' She agreed, giving him her clothes to wear, and with quickening heart he hurried off to the Master's house. His songs even now are heart-rending to the reader, filled with great sadness as he describes his separation from the Master. He who knows everything can recognize a person by what he is, not by what he is wearing; and when Bulleh Shah sang with so much pain and feeling, the Master could not help Himself, and, rushing from His seat, wrapped Bulleh Shah in His arms. Now many who were watching this began to wonder that such a great Master would embrace a prostitute; so Shah Inayat said, "Listen, brother Bulleh, take off this finery that the people's doubts may be removed."
How can you recapture the Master's pleasure when He is displeased with you? And then, when He restores this blessing, what do you gain? This hymn of Guru Arjan Sahib will disclose some knowledge on the subject:
I fall at His feet to gain His favour.
Oh, meet a Satguru who is God Himself!
There is no one else like Him.
If the Guru is pleased, then so is God, for God has manifested Himself in the Guru. Satguru is the very image of Truth, the ruling Power, for His will governs everything and there is no one comparable to Him in this world or the next.
I have searched all Brahmand;
But not found One like my Guru.
A person can speak only of whatever level he has reached. The worldly will think on a worldly level, but they who have reached Brahmand and beyond say that even in Brahmand there is no one to equal the Guru. He is Truth itself, and He is also the pole at which the Truth is manifested.
When two hearts take joy in the same thing, most decidedly they will love each other. If one likes to serve the poor and do meditation, the other should do the same, and without any effort love will grow between them. Maulana Rumi has said, He who approaches you, approaches God; and he who departs from you, goes away from God. Uttering empty words will be futile, for saying one thing and doing something else may hoodwink the world, but no one can deceive the Guru.
My Master used to say that the Guru Power is all-awareness and if a soul is not fit, he will not be given the inner road. There should be nothing left of the mind or senses. Guru Arjan Sahib, whose hymn I am now taking, was tested very severely by his Guru. The Masters test the disciples again and again to see how much the disciple can sacrifice, how much loving devotion he has, and to what extent he still remains under the influence of mind. He who sacrifices everything for the sake of his Guru has achieved all.
During the strife-worn days of Guru Gobind Singh, a certain man named Nabi Khan Ali Khan was killed, and someone went to inform his wife of her husband's death. On hearing the news, her first words were, "Is my Guru all right?" For a true disciple, the Master is more beloved than any other relationship, for it is one of the soul with God. Naturally the child who heeds his father's slightest wish will enjoy his pleasure. Whoever insists on his own ideas and does not want to obey, doubtless he will also get the Master's love, but the inner key will not be entrusted to him.
I will now tell you how Guru Arjan won his Master's pleasure. It happened that one of the relatives of Guru Ram Das Ji (Guru Arjan's Master) was getting married in Lahore, but the Guru Himself was in Amritsar at the time. So He sent for His eldest son, Prithi Chand, and told him to go to Lahore and spend about fifteen days there, over the wedding. When these highly enlightened Personalities come, They are always surrounded by people who either want Their money, or wish to be Their successors. In reply to his Father's orders, Prithi Chand protested, "If I go there, who will look after everything here?" He was afraid that his Father would give the succession to Guru Arjan, who was most beloved of the Master, and so he refused to obey. The other son of Guru Ram Das was Maha Dev who was usually in a spiritually intoxicated state; so the Guru sent for Arjan Sahib and told him to attend the wedding instead of Prithi Chand, and then instructed him, "Do not return here until I send for you."
Guru Arjan took the Master's orders without question and left for Lahore. A person of lesser spiritual strength would have ignored the orders and declared that out of love for the Master they had to return; but for Guru Arjan, his Master's orders were of supreme importance, making a barrier between the Master and himself which he would never think of surpassing. Remember, he who obeys orders will achieve success in his goal. Many days passed and there was no word; so Guru Arjan Sahib wrote these words and sent them to the Master:
My mind is desiring Thy darshan;
Like the Chatrak bird in anguish,
The thirst remains unquenched – there is no peace;
I am living like that without the Beloved's darshan.
He sent these words to his Master by a man, but the man gave the note to the Master's son, Prithi Chand, and therefore it never reached the Master's hands. What a dying man does not do in desperation! He wrote another letter. From Lahore to Amritsar is only thirty miles, but he could not go there because of his Master's orders. Remember, he who breaks the wall of the Guru's orders will never realize the inner knowledge. He may get a little inner experience and help, but he will never become perfect. So in the second letter he wrote:
Glory be to that place where You reside;
Your face is so beautiful,
Seeing this, the inner Sound easily vibrates.
This letter also got into Prithi Chand's hands and again there was no reply. He then sent a third letter, which he marked with a number "3." In this he wrote:
The separation of minutes was likened to an age;
O Beloved, when will that time be when I may see You?
I cannot sleep, and the nights cannot pass without One who is my Lord.
When this letter arrived, fortunately Prithi Chand was not there at the time and the Guru Sahib received it. Though the Masters know everything, They do not disclose what They know, but allow things to come out openly of their own accord on the material level. Forgive me, but we frequently consider our Guru to be less than a man. The Guru Sahib called Prithi Chand and asked him about the two previous letters, but Prithi Chand replied, "Maharaj, do you think that I am a thief?." The Master gave him a hard look, and turning to another man said, "Go and look in the pockets of his clothes." He then sent for Guru Arjan Sahib, and when he arrived, told him, "You wrote me three letters, and whoever will complete that poem will be my successor." When a test comes, a simple thing becomes difficult. I remember that I also sometimes wrote poems to my Master – through separation the thoughts would come, and the poems were written. Some rivals started copying me, but always there is a difference between wine and water. Guru Arjan wrote the fourth stanza thus:
With great destiny I met Him;
The Ever-Permanent Lord was found in the house;
I desire only to serve, and never be separated for a moment:
I am Thy servant, O Lord.
This shows the kind of respect the disciple should have for his Master. I once wrote to my Master and requested Him to give me the ability to love, but only that kind of love which does not transcend the limits of respect. The Master was in Dalhousie when He received it, and after reading the letter He placed it on His heart and said with such humility, "I really appreciate such-like love." A devoted one's poem is written to gain his Master's pleasure. Guru Arjan Sahib was one of those rare devotees who truly achieved this, and at the end of this hymn he indicates what is gained by it.
Just as we cannot say what God is, so is it impossible to describe the Guru. He has a physical form, but He is not the physical form; if He were, what could He give us? If the whole earth became thin paper and the seas turned into ink and all the trees were made into pens, were we to cover the paper with praises to the Lord we would never succeed in describing His glory. I used to study in a Christian school, and always had an inquisitive nature. I knew that we said, "Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj," for in India we attach many respectful terms to the names of Masters and certain respected people, and had noticed that the Christians called their great Saint merely Jesus. So I went to a Christian bishop and questioned him: "Why do you not put a prefix to Christ's name, when even the most insignificant common man is at least referred to as Mr. Somebody?" The bishop said, and I call still distinctly remember his reply, "We consider Christ the son of God, and as we cannot glorify God, so we cannot extol Christ. If we start prefixing His name, we will make Him smaller, not greater."
Another Master says, You are the Emperor above all,' how can You be praised? Without doubt, there is none equal to the Guru. He who starts seeing another as equal to his Master, His soul becomes an adulteress. Truly, the Light is in everyone, but not manifested as in the Guru. When two great souls meet and see the God in each other, that is something different again – something qualified. I remember one incident in Lahore in a house called Pari Mahal (Fairy Palace), where at the time Maharishi Shivbrat Lal Ji was staying on a short visit to Lahore. He was the successor to Rai Saligram Ji, who was one of the chief disciples of Swami Ji. When my Master was told of his presence in Lahore, He went to see him, and I accompanied the Master. It was a very strange sight that I saw. My Master, Who was always the very depth of humility, was trying to touch his feet, but he wanted to touch Hazur's feet.
His sweetness is above all others;
Above the sweetness of mother and father.
For a child who plays in his mother's lap, she is the sweetest of all beings to him. The true devotee who plays in his Master's lap will place that relationship above all others.
Sisters, brothers, and all my friends are very close to me;
But there is none like You in this world.
To the child who plays in his father's lap with no other thought than to try and please him, the father will give whatever he wants. When all other relationships are broken and the Guru is the only one in existence, then you have succeeded in your work. On this path, mere words have no value: you must obey His every command. Make your life pure and chaste; do service unto others; be careful of evil words. Love everyone, as God is in every being. When you serve others, you are serving Him.
By Thy orders, Sawan (the rainy season) came;
And I ploughed the furrow of Truth.
The rain comes in the form of the Guru, like a refreshing coolness upon the parched earth. My Hazur's name was Sawan. Like a rain of mercy, They come by God's orders, and we should take full benefit by clearing up the land of our whole being with Satsang, where all the dirt and filth is thrown out. We scatter our thoughts abroad; but at Satsang we can withdraw toward the Truth. All Masters encourage this. Christ says, For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. There will be strong charging there, even if they are thousands of miles from the Master's physical form. Guru Gobind Singh says, Where five disciples sit together, there God will be. How can any good come from a gathering filled with criticisms and disagreements?
This Satsang was started with my Guru's orders; so throw away your laziness and lethargy, and become pure. In Satsang the flow of mercy is pouring into you; so get the fullest benefit from it. Weed out all imperfections, one by one; that is why I have told you to keep a diary. When the soil is weeded, it is ready for the seed to be sown, then the true growth can begin. If small pebbles and rocks are not removed, the seed may sprout, but will not bear fruit.
In great aspiration, the seed of Naam was sown;
I pray each second for mercy, that it may bear fruit.
This seed of Naam, once sown, cannot be set aside by any power. That seed will bear fruit sooner or later. But without the water of Satsang, how can the seed be expected to sprout green and fresh in all its beauty? Once sown, it will not die, but in unprepared soil it will not fructify. He who does not do his mediation in this life will have to come again. As this seed cannot sprout in any other form, he will be given the concession of not retrogressing below the human birth. But why not complete your mission now? He who is unlearned in life cannot become learned merely by going through that change which is called death. No one should be under the misunderstanding that, having received the connection with the Holy Naam, he has got salvation. He will get salvation, but in how many lives?
When I met the Guru, I knew He was the only one;
My heart can never accept another.
Once the disciple has recognized his Guru, he can understand only his Guru's teachings and none other. Hanuman (Lord Rama's greatest devotee) was once asked what day it was, and he replied, "O Ram." On being asked what month it was, he said, "O Ram." He was so immersed in the sweet remembrance of his Beloved that he could think of nothing else. Wherever he looked, he saw Ram, and every person he spoke to was Ram. It is really worth having a Guru if you are receptive like this.
All the transitory objects have dropped away
Since I got the company of the Saint.
At the feet of a true Guru there are no factions, political fights, or religious wranglings. The Master simply places a man-problem before you. He tells us that when He met His Guru, there was nothing else in life. He is one, and yet He is not one – this also is a mystery. He who knows and becomes one with Him, becomes the Doer and the Giver. We are devotees of the Light; it matters not in which pole it is expressed: all are one and the same. He whose eye is open can see the beautiful play of God's expression.
Each man has been allotted the task;
But success depends on Thy will.
The Satsang is started by His orders, and He makes the work a success. Hazur used to tell us that when Baba Jaimal Singh Ji gave him orders to start the Spiritual Work, Hazur went to Baba Garib Das and Chacha Pratap Singh Ji, who both told Him, "If we give initiation the soul might not get salvation; but if You give it, that soul will surely have salvation." When my Master gave me orders to do the work, I asked Him to whom I should go for such assurance; and then added that I would do the work as ordered, but that He should give the protection. Hazur assured me that it would be so. With His support I started the Satsang; it is not mine but His, and He will take everyone across. Whatever blessing He extends is being given out. All credit goes to Him.
When I went to the West, many people were helped and I told them that the credit for the blessing went to my Master. Forgive me, but so many seekers for Truth have spent their whole lives struggling to find it – and did not receive even a glimpse of Light. Here, everyone gets Light. It is another matter if after receiving the gift they refuse to keep up the practice and thereby lose it; but at initiation, almost all get something, do they not? Those who obey instructions increase their progress daily – one hundred per cent. Who is there to place his hand on his heart and declare such assurance? Ashtavakra gave this knowledge to King Janak, and even today people are still repeating His name. How great is the mercy of the Master Who gives such an invaluable boon! The age has changed, and so have conditions. If today this experience was not given so easily, no one would come on this path.
In the West many sects have sprung up, which deal with suggestion, hypnotism, mesmerism, and other doctrines, which are not Spirituality. Spirituality is purely a matter of self-analysis, knowing oneself and knowing God – the demonstration of which is given at the time of initiation. Many are doubtful of this science in the beginning, but I tell them to see with their own eyes, for there is no greater proof. In the past, the subject was very vague, for Masters agreed to give the experience only after long years of study, when one was fully prepared. Today, it can be seen immediately what Spirituality is. What a magnificent blessing!
Eat, drink, and be merry;
Brothers, this is the Guru's court,
He is doling out this gift!
You should eat, drink, and enjoy for you are getting this gift free – there are no charges. Even if you spend all your life in penance, you will not get this thing in that way. Only one man was to be found in King Janak's age Who was God-realized; that was Ashtavakra. Today, can you find thousands? In the past there were few, and even now there are few; but the world is not without Them. Make the most of the good fortune, for blessed are they who have received this rare gift.
I have become the lord of this physical form
And have tied up the five devils.
Masters have no ego; They always acknowledge in humility that everything is achieved with the Guru's grace. Why shouldn't he gain full control over his mind and senses, who has all love for his Guru alone. He says he has become lord of the house, and has captured the five thieves, viz, lust, anger, greed, attachment, and ego. Who can make such a statement? Only with the Guru's strength can anyone declare so boldly.
O Satguru, when I came to Thy feet
These five strange aliens came under my control;
He was pleased, and I was blessed with His grace;
Now they cannot revolt or raise their heads.
The five senses of action and knowledge are foreign to our nature; they must be overpowered and placed under our orders, instead of vice versa. When that happens, they have no courage to stand and defy us, and they will not disobey. Can anyone affirm such a staggering achievement? People say that Saints and Mahatmas do not assert Themselves, but They do speak directly. If They did not give the information of what to get and how to get it, where would we begin to seek for the Truth? They tell us that there is such a wonderful nectar inside that will intoxicate the soul. They Themselves are intoxicated; Their mind and senses are completely controlled. Their eyes are open but They do not see; Their ears are open but They do not hear, if They choose not to. They are the controllers of all the senses. With whose power is this achieved? With the grace of Their respective Gurus! When one gets the Naam's inner nectar, all worldly intoxicants seem ridiculous, and when the seed of Naam sprouts, all outer things become meaningless. All glory and beauty lies within you. You will forget outer things with their false attraction. The five devils will come under perfect control, and will have no courage to jeer at you; there is so much nectar within that even they become intoxicated!
O Satguru, again and again I glorify Thee;
With each breath I think of Thee!
There was a certain intoxicated lover of Bheek Sahib, who constantly repeated, "O Bheek, O Bheek" for he saw God clearly in his Guru. His contemporaries condemned him as an atheist, and passed judgement for his execution; but they could not execute him without the king's authorization; so they brought him before the king. It is possible that this king was Akbar the Great, who was renowned for his keen sense of justice. When the king looked at the accused man, he said, "I feel he is an intoxicated holy man," and he asked him, "Who is your God?" The man replied, "Bheek." The king then asked, "What is your religion?" and he said, "Bheek." At this, the king ordered that he should be released. His accusers protested that he would run away, but the king said, "It does not matter." He then looked keenly at the holy man and told him, "For a long time we have been without rain, and if it does not come soon, there will be famine in the land. So could you please ask your Bheek to send the rain?" The man replied, "Oh yes, I will ask Him to send the rain." Only complete faith in the Guru could display such calm confidence. He who has not experienced the true inner connection with his Guru will not have such strong faith, for faith is built on knowledge. When the holy man turned to leave, the king asked him when he would return, and he answered, "On the third day I will return." The very next day, there was such a heavy downpour of rain that the whole countryside was flooded, and on the third day the holy man returned to the king's palace. The king smiled at him and said, "Your Guru was very gracious to us in sending the much-needed rain. I am giving you these precious gifts – please place them before your Bheek Sahib as my thankful offering." The devotee got very indignant saying, "These perishable things for my Guru? Most decidedly not!" Such people care nothing for the world and its possessions.
You have brought Life to this derelict house (body);
I could sacrifice myself in gratitude.
Gratitude is a very rare virtue. Because of friends and relatives, we even risk our Guru's displeasure; and this is due to lack of gratitude and faith. We sometimes consider the Guru to be less able than an ordinary man. With this type of outlook what can we hope to achieve in progress? The worldly things are more beloved; Guru and God are accepted casually for whatever can be derived through Them materially. The attitude is one of tolerant duty, with respects paid in a condescending manner. Man always thinks he is the greatest of all, but if he really became great he would not be in this blind egoistic state.
I am in perpetual dhyan (contemplation) with my Beloved;
The fruit comes to him whose attention pierces through the veil.
If you completely surrender unto Him, then nature itself will be at your beck and call, and all your desires will be fulfilled. Guru Amar Das Ji says, "O mind, you once desired a thousand things, but did not get one; Now see, that each thought will be fulfilled."
All the work has been resolved, and the mind's hunger satisfied;
What else can I desire from You but You?
All else is misery upon misery.
Give the Naam, which renders all fulfilled
And takes away the hunger of the mind;
I have abandoned everything and am a true servant of the Lord.
He who surrenders to the Lord lives without worries, doing the work sincerely and truthfully, and leaving all else to the Guru.
That Naam – giver of all happiness – has been tied to me.
Naam is the Sustainer of all things. He who has Naam has got everything. During one of my visits to America, an intimate meeting was arranged with a group of scientists. One man asked many questions and obviously strongly doubted the subject of Spirituality. After some discussion, I asked him if science had succeeded in creating even one ounce of consciousness. He said, "No." I then explained to him that the pursuit of science must necessarily remain in the domain of matter, whereas all the teachings and knowledge of the Saints lie in the domain of consciousness. There were a number of disciples present at this meeting, and they were of the opinion that this gentleman would not turn up on the morrow, which was chosen for the initiation program. But he was the first to arrive, and he got the most experience. So this is a path of awareness – the path of perfect Masters, and you may accept it as Their mercy, or due to Their greatness, that They have made such a difficult achievement into a child's play. Were it not for this fact, the seeker would require a great background of past lives and then many years of study in preparation for this path. So Guru Arjan Sahib advises us to eat, drink, and enjoy what we have got for this is the precious time and the rain may not fall forever.
I am the most content of all;
The Guru has established the Shabd within me.
He is encouraging us to have some longing for a thing of which we have no conception of the value. All the wealth is lying in the disciple's Father's home – and for whom is it but His own child? The most obedient child will naturally receive the most. Whatever the Guru has got, He considers not His own; and the more He gives freely, the greater the flow. Eat, drink, and enjoy to the fullest, while you have the opportunity.
Satguru, the Lord, placed His hand on my head and manifested God within me.
His greatness is proven when He actually shows the way, even without the physical gesture of placing the hand on the head. By His grace alone do we rise above body consciousness and see the Light within. He is the Giver – comparable to none other.
I have opened a true dharamshala*
And have gathered the true seekers there.
*In India, a common place of rest for travelers, erected in the name of righteousness.
A blind man cannot seek one with sight, but one who can see can gather the blind together. Christ told us of the sheep He had to find and take care of. Man is helpless with merely his own efforts to assist him. Sincere seekers will find that all will be arranged and made possible without them doing anything. Even before I arrived in America, there were people who knew nothing about me who were seeing the Master's form and also Baba Sawan Singh Ji within. When they saw me physically they told me that they had been seeing me within for months, and some for a year or more. Brothers, it is all His work, not mine.
During my first world tour, on the way back to India I agreed to pay an unarranged impromptu visit to Germany. Someone who was accompanying me remarked, "But how will those people recognize you, for they have never seen you? In the other countries at least the program was prepared. Even if they recognize you by your clothes, how will you know them?" I replied, "He Who is sending me there will make all the arrangements – why should I worry? He will Himself arrange all to receive me." When the plane landed in Germany there was a small crowd awaiting me, and each person had a rose in his hand. I said, "You see, there is my reception." They came running toward us, asking about the luggage and telling us that the cars were ready and waiting. So He Himself does His own work. The commission comes from the Lord and He works through whomsoever He chooses, be it one or thousands.
I wash His feet and fan Him;
Again and again I express my thankfulness for finding Him.
A true Guru never says He is a Guru, but in all humility will serve whoever goes to Him, for He comes to serve humanity and to give something to the world. When He comes, the entire world gets the benefit of His Light.
I got Naam, dan (alms) and ashnan (bath).
The Guru gives us the Naam, which you should know is the Sustainer of the entire Creation. Contact with Naam, the Nectar of the Lord, creates true love in us, and as love knows only giving, the disciple himself becomes a giver. He is born to serve and give himself to the world. While he has the physical form he will give, give, and give. When the physical form is no longer there, who can ask from him and who will come to take? He starts to give everything: physically, materially, and eventually he gives the mind. Having become the controller of the mind, he serves humanity with unending joy.
Nanak with the Naam rises in continual heights of glory;
Peace be unto all the world, under Thy Will, O Lord!
The Master serves all humanity with His good will; physically, mentally, and even outwardly in all manner of ways, making use of whatever outer knowledge He has acquired in His lifetime to help the people to understand the Truth.
The bath that the Guru gives in the holy waters of Naam will purify the mind and senses from all evil. These three things – Naam, dan, and ashnan – are gained by sitting at His feet. Unfortunately, people think that by ashnan (bath) is meant an outer bath to clean the body. Though it behooves man to keep the temple of the Lord clean, the inner cleanliness is vitally more important – and that is the work of the Naam.
One of the clearest criteria that can be observed in a true Master is that He is always sacrificing Himself for the sake of others. He knows how to give and give only, not to take. He is a giver, not a beggar. If the Guru starts taking, then what will we give? He has no thought of business, but gives this priceless jewel as a free gift of Nature. In many countries they take up collections to pay the lecturers and the expenses of arrangements, etc. When I was travelling in America I gave free talks without charges, collections, or need of buying tickets. One day while I was giving a talk on "God and Man," a man stood up; he was a Russian and offered five thousand dollars to me. I told him, "Look here, I have not come to collect dollars. What I have gained at the feet of my Master is a free gift of Nature, and must therefore be given freely." The people were at first surprised, and then overjoyed at this. Through this very principle the praises of true Masters are being sung all over the world. I am receiving invitations from America, Europe, the Far East, Australasia, the Middle East, and Africa, and they state how they have heard of the gift which is being given to all. Dear brothers, who am I to give It? – The Giver is giving It, with His grace, and with the grace of all the great past Masters, for Whom, forgive me, we have not enough respect, I am sorry to say.
All are being freed, O Nanak,
On the boat of Truth.
Day and night there is awakening in the world;
All listen with open ears to praises sung in Thy Name.
When the Master comes the world begins to awake, and hearing His words they wonder, "What is this new thing which is entering our very being?" During my tours abroad, many talks were given in churches. They rarely allow outsiders to speak in the church, yet they welcomed me for they said that these teachings are as given in the Bible. One minister went as far as to say, "I have been in charge of a Presbyterian church for forty years, but today for the first time I have understood what the Bible is telling me." He came and bowed to me in front of everyone with tears in his eyes. I want to point out that all glory and praise be to those past Masters Who have given us these teachings.
Now orders have come from the Gracious One
Through which all pain and misery will vanish.
They are at peace,
For through the Naam They gained true humility.
Initiation into the Holy Naam is a panacea for all ills, and the repetition of Naam brings peace and true humility. He who sees the Truth in all its glory will be full of humility. St. Augustine says there are three ways of realizing God: the first way is humility, the second humility, and the third humility. In the courts of the Masters, humility reigns supreme, for true humbleness is the adornment of a true Saint. They are Ruler and Controller of this great power, and yet They never show pride or vanity, giving small indications of what They are and yet saying, "It is His grace."
The Amrit is drizzling down;
His words are those of the Lord Himself.
Remember, that water collects on the lower levels. When the cup of humility is ready, then the inner Amrit will fill it to the brim. Some people say doubtfully, "How can you say these things are true?" The Masters explain that whatever words come from the true Master's mouth are words from God Himself.
In full faith I rely on You;
You Yourself will do everything for me.
All is the Lord's work – what is it to me if the world blossoms or perishes? My work is but to be a tool in Your hand, to do what You will. With Your mercy alone is the world gaining any benefit. With Your wealth the world is prosperous. A time like this may never come again – we are encouraged to eat, drink, and enjoy the blessings pouring out from the Lord.
Your devotees have but one desire, and that is You.
A true Gurumukh will have desire for God alone – so much so that "he" should become "Thee" and "Thee" should become "me," and no one should say there is any difference. Hafiz Sahib says:
I should become You and You should become me;
I am the body and You should be the Life;
That no one may say that I am one thing and You are something else.
There is some slight difference in the wording, but both Masters have given exactly the same meaning.
O Giver of peace, reveal Thyself to me;
Clasp me to Thy breast;
Allow that I may never be separated even for a second.
It is the true disciple's constant wish that he may never be separated from his Guru. It is a great blessing to have a living Master, and even greater blessing to be near Him. The bath taken from His glance of mercy is a flow of Truth which cleanses deep through the being. The devoted disciple sheds tears at the very memory of this. He who sees Him outside and inside both gets some consolation during separation; however, he also cries out of love, for there is nothing more beloved for him than his Master. The yearning of the heart pours out of the eyes, and there are no words to describe this condition.
I searched in the world, above the world, below the world;
But could not find one like You.
How can there be another like the Satguru? Only a Satguru can be the same as a Satguru. Do you know the story of Sukhdev, son of Maharishi Ved Vyas? When Sukhdev wanted a perfect Guru, his father told him that King Janak was the enlightened soul of that age. After that, Sukhdev went to King Janak's kingdom several times but always returned without having seen the king, for he had the doubt in his heart that this king enjoys the pleasures of palace life with all his queens, etc.; how can he possibly give any enlightenment? Now Narad Muni, a powerful devotee of Lord Shiva, saw that this man was losing all his progress with each doubt he had about King Janak, the Great Soul. To save what little he had left, Narad Muni turned himself into a very old man, filled a basket full of mud, and began to pour the mud into a fast-flowing river, just as Sukhdev was passing by on his way once again to King Janak's kingdom. He saw the old man and asked him what he was doing. The old man replied, "I am building a dam." Sukhdev laughed and said, "Have you no sense, you fool? Can you build a dam by just pouring mud into fast-flowing water? First, put some foundation of wood or rocks, and then put the mud." The old man replied, "I might be a fool, but I have wasted only one day. The biggest fool is Sukhdev who has finished nine of his merits of progress, and the tenth and last he is about to destroy by again doubting a Perfect Master."
This encounter with Narad Muni shocked Sukhdev to his senses, and he went straight to King Janak's palace. He stood near the stables and sent a man to tell the King that "Sukhdev has arrived." The King said, "Tell him to wait there until I call him." In strict obedience to the Master's orders, Sukhdev stood on the same spot, first for a whole day, and then all the next day. Sometime on the third day he was called into the palace. Having stood obediently in one place for so long, he had become covered in horses' dung up to his waist, for the grooms had been shovelling it into the comer where he stood. So he took a bath and changed his clothes, and then presented himself to the King. As he came near the King, he saw that He was reclining on a couch, with one foot resting on a red-hot iron plate. The other leg was being massaged with cool sandalwood paste by some of His beautiful queens. It was very revealing to Sukhdev, and as he gazed in amazement, a man came running into the court and cried, "Your Majesty, the city is on fire!" The King said, "It is God's will," and did not move an inch. After some time another man entered the court and said, "Your Majesty, the palace is on fire now, and the flames are coming toward this room." The King replied, "It is God's will."
When Sukhdev saw the flames and felt the heat, he picked up his stick and small bundle of belongings and prepared to rush out, but the King caught hold of him, saying, "You are a fine kind of world-renouncer! My whole city has burned away, the flames have consumed my palace, and I merely said it was all God's will; but you in your panic are trying to save a stick and a bundle of clothes!" He then talked to Sukhdev for a long time telling him, "You are a Brahmin and full of ego about it. You are also very proud of being the son of Ved Vyas." Doctors operate to remove morbid matter, and in this way King Janak was removing the doubts and faults in the mind of Sukhdev. When Sukhdev Swami returned home after his initiation, his father asked him, "What is the Guru like?" Sukhdev replied, "In brightness He is like the sun, although the sun has got heat and He has not. He has got the coolness of the moon, though the moon has shadows on it and my Guru has no shadow." A Guru is a Guru. The stories of the Great Masters are for people whose eyes are open. Otherwise... for instance, Guru Nanak Sahib was not permitted to enter the city of Kasur because the people, blinded by lack of understanding, declared He was an atheist and a bad influence. Wherever the Truth works in full power, the negative power will also work in full force against it. He does not want his prisoners to escape his clutches; but regardless, the Satguru goes on distributing the wealth without concern.
When I was small, about twelve or thirteen, I remember clearly that one day I read the life of Ramanuja (I was very fond of reading biographies). Now when Ramanuja was initiated by his Guru, he immediately went and stood on a platform and collected a huge crowd around him. He shouted to them, "Today I have been initiated by my Guru and I am going to tell you all about it." Some of the people were shocked and warned him, "Are you mad? You will go straight to hell for disobeying your Guru!" I was deeply impressed by his answer. He said, "I alone will go to hell, but so many of you will get salvation!" Reading this, I vowed that if ever I got any spiritual wealth, I would give and give without hesitation. My Master saw that I was a spendthrift, and that's why He gave me the work. It is all His grace. One of the initiates, an English lady, once met a Christian friar and she asked him, "Have you ever seen the Inner Light?" He replied, "Yes after nineteen years of hard penance on Mount Sinai, on one occasion I saw some cloudy Light, but very dim." She said, "Why, I see bright Light daily."
What value can we place on such a treasure as Naam? We do not seem to know how to respect It even. We get this Precious Thing and, having no value for It, do not keep It carefully. It is gained too easily and freely. The Western people have more respect for It. My first Western tour was for four or five months only, and in this short time there was a grand awakening all over the Western hemisphere. There was a genuine surge of seeking for Truth, and when they got It, there was more respect for what they had been given. In India we take it for granted. Christ said, Take heed therefore that the Light which is in you be not darkness. Introspect your deeds daily with the help of the spiritual diary – and do not allow anything to cause you to forgo your meditation. If you live like this, there will never be darkness within. Tragically, we do not care – we have no time for the most important work. If you had to die today, what would you do? Do not live in the illusion of thinking or believing that after death you will get something. If you have not made spiritual progress in this life, you will not be a spiritual person merely by going through the death-change. Believe in the salvation of Life. Do, and see for yourself. If you do nothing, then how can your condition be helped?
Each place is permeated with You;
O Nanak, only true bhakti will make this apparent.
The name of Prahlad is well known in the history of true devotees. He was ordered to wrap his arms around a red-hot iron column to test his faith in what he believed. Even the large crowd present at the time murmured, "Oh God" as he approached the column. But what did God do, to preserve the faith of young Prince Prahlad? The prince saw a small ant running up the fiery column, and with joy in his heart he leaned forward and clasped his arms around it. The column immediately split open and out of it stepped the Avatar, Narsing. I am illustrating that God is everywhere, but only those whose eye is open can see His glory in all things. True devotees have got His sustaining protection; standing in the midst of thousands, they can be pillars of strength and faith. In the West, many intellectual people came to hear my talks, and not for one moment did I ever stop and wonder how they would receive my words; with great power I would emphasize the teachings. It is all His Grace, and He Himself prepares everything. The trouble is that we forget that He is the Doer, and not "I", and we do not keep our face turned toward Him. Rather we go on finding fault with Him, and are full of doubts. Like this, how will we grasp the help offered to us?
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Listen to Steve Perry’s ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’
Mike Coppola, Getty Images
Steve Perry released a cover of the seasonal song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to mark the end of the year in which he finally returned to music.
“This has been a big year of firsts for me,” the former Journey singer said in a message to fans. “In keeping with that spirit, I thought I'd record a little Christmas card song and send it out to you to thank you for all of your kindness in welcoming me back. Have yourself a merry little Christmas. I hope you enjoy it."
You can listen to his cover below.
Perry released the comeback album Traces in October, after nearly 25 years out of the spotlight. The record's arrival inevitably raised questions of a reunion with Journey, which he repeatedly shot down by arguing that the parties had differing interests.
“I don't think that's where I'm at right now,” he said in September. “It took forever for me to find the passion for music again because I felt it was kind of damaged. I thought I would never feel that love again for music, so I had to walk. Now that I've found that again, I have so many other songs ready to be recorded.”
At that point, he noted that the idea of touring was under discussion but no decision had been made. “If I do go on tour, I will certainly play a nice amount of songs from the album Traces, most certainly," he later speculated. "It’s gonna be torture for me to not play the whole thing. But also, if I go on tour, you bet your ass I’ll be playing the Journey songs, because it’s a part of my life, a part of my history. I think everything will be a challenge as to what doesn’t get played.”
Steve Perry Through the Years
Next: Top 10 Journey Songs
Source: Listen to Steve Perry’s ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’
Filed Under: Steve Perry
Categories: Christmas, Music, National News
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There You Go Again: Soros Comes to America
Posted: December 22, 2010 in George Soros, Media Bias, Media Criticism, Net Neutrality, Policy, Regulation
Tags: Academia-Gate, Carter, Columbia University, DOJ, Eric Schmidt, FCC, Fox News, george bush, George Soros, government media, Live from the New York Public Library, New Black Panther Party, newspeak, Open Society Institute, Orwell, orwellian, propaganda, state media, UC Berkeley, USC Annenberg School for Communication, war on terror
In November of 2007, with support from George Soros’ Open Society Institute, Live from the New York Public Library presented the conference, “There You Go Again: Orwell Comes to America.” The conference brought together noted journalists, linguists, political consultants and others to discuss the practice of deceptive political speech in the arena of public discourse today, or as the conference referred to it, “propaganda and the new face of American politics.”
The title itself was a blend of the quote made famous by Ronald Reagan in his 1980 presidential debate retort to Jimmy Carter, and George Orwell’s writings and their application to media in politics today.
George Soros presented a session at the conference that in hindsight draws some striking parallels to what we have been witnessing in politics and the media today. When viewed consecutively in their entirety, the three videos in which Soros makes his presentation are compelling and bring clarity to where so much of the rhetoric on the left has been bred over the years.
It starts with Soros’ description of how propaganda has taken root in American politics and replaced truth with strategic deception. Yet, considering the blatant manipulation of the truth in so many of today’s news stories, it reads more like a psy-ops manual for the left-wing media, labor unions and community organizers of today:
Academia-Gate: Dem Professor Criticizes ‘Cry Wolf’; Media Matters, Dreier Defend ‘Researchprop’
Andy Stern Joins Georgetown University as Research Fellow
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It is despicable that even till today, the European, American and Arab world are not ashamed of their centuries of thievery and looting in Africa. Till date, Europeans and their collaborators are making millions of dollars from the heritage, history, and knowledge of Africans. They make these huge revenues from stolen artifacts and scrolls, meaning that they are not remorseful or sorry about their evil adventure in Africa.
For over 1,000 years, Europeans and Arabs invaded and plundered ancient Egypt, stole and carted away statues and artifacts. Despite the fact that the present Egyptian government (which is also a false representation of ancient Egypt), have asked for the return of many stolen artifacts, Europeans collectors have refused to do so.
Recently, the statue of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, which is around 3,000 years old, was sold in London for more than $6million (£4.7 million). It was sold at an auction, even though Egyptian authorities reported to the world that the statue was stolen by Europeans around the 1970s and the 1980s.
The statue is that of the Egyptian God Amen ra when he was but a boy. It was displayed and auctioned by the Christie auction house in London, without the permission of the original owner who are Africans, or the current inhabitants of Egypt, who are Arabs who invaded the land and laid claim to the Black ancestry of Egypt.
In the usual state of damage to the nose and ear of Egyptian relics, the 11-inch statue was sold by a European private collection of Egyptian arts named Rosandro. No matter how sleek the Europeans try to paint the nature and name of this private collection, it is obvious to Africans that they are thieves and rogues who plundered Africa and took away her most prized jewels and artifacts.
The Arab-Egyptian government, also, in their bid to reclaim Black artifacts that is not theirs, have demanded that legitimate documentation for ownership of the statue be presented by the London auction house. Egypt is originally Black, like many students of African history know, but today, the Arabs who run it, are demanding that the statue be returned, according to a law Egypt introduced in 1983 which banned the removal of ancient Black artifacts from the country.
“Here we have a thief asking another thief to return the property which the initial thief stole from the real owner of the house – Black Africans.”
Despite protests, the auction house in London went ahead to sell the statue, claiming that the statue had never been subject to any previous investigation of the theft. Of course, how can there be a report of theft, when Europe and Arabia invaded Africa and stole massively on many fronts, and killed the original Black owners. Who will report the theft? The murdered custodians or their children who know little or nothing about these artifacts? Your guess is as good as ours.
In their defense of the theft, the auction house, Christie, said in a statement that “The object is not, and has not been, the subject of an investigation”.
The Telegraph reports that “The bust was sold after a rapid bidding process. Its price rose rapidly from a starting bid of £3 million ($3.8 million) to the £4.7 million ($6 million) it was sold for”.
A spokesperson for the auction house further added that “This was a rare, beautiful and important work.”
“We recognize that historic objects can raise complex discussions about the past, yet our role today is to work to continue to provide a transparent, legitimate marketplace upholding the highest standards for the transfer of objects”.
“There is an honorable market for ancient art and we believe it is in the public interest that works come out into the open with the opportunity for them to be researched, as well as seen and enjoyed by global audiences.”
There is an accusation by a former Antiquities minister of Egypt which said that the statue of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was stolen from the Karnak Temple around the 1970s by European Egyptologists and their agents. But as usual, the London auction house denied it, which is the custom of the Europeans.
This theft and sale were brought up in CNN, and the spokesman for the London auction house had this to say: “the statue was acquired from Munich-based dealer Heinz Herzer in 1985 and was previously owned by Joseph Messina and Prinz Wilhelm von Thurn und Taxis. The spokesperson added: “Ancient objects by their nature cannot be traced over millennia.”
From the above statement, any unbiased mind would spot the lies and deceits. It is obvious that wealthy Europeans and government officials, if not the Queen of England, sponsored the invasion of Egypt and theft of this ancient relic. And from time to time, it has been sold and passed from one European to the other.
For some years now, African nations, tribes, and governments have intensified their demand for the return of hundreds of thousands of artifacts, statues, monuments, and treasures, that were stolen by Europeans and Arabs during the invasion and colonization of Africa.
Few of these artifacts and relics have been returned, while more than 98% of them are still held by European governments, private collectors, museums and royalties.
Africans and African governments must rise up and demand the return of these ancient artifacts as they are part of who we are – part of our heritage. We owe it to the generations yet unborn, to reclaim our stolen rights and mandates from the vandals and vampires of this world.
Action House Sells Stolen Statue Amen Ra Pharaoh Tutankhamun
U.S Senator Elizabeth Warren Pushes For Reparations for Slavery
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