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Bevis's Travels
29Aug/180
Georgia {ex USSR} 2018
CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE.
Now, we are talking here about “Russian” Georgia, not the one in the United States. It is one of four countries in the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea known as the Caucasus, the others being Azerbeijan, Armenia and the southern part of Russia. All were members of the Soviet Union until 1991. The area is geographically in Asia but politically closer to Europe.and I suppose if I was being hunted by the police I might be described as a ‘white Caucasian male’, although this racial link is rather vague,.
Since declaring independence Georgia has had a chequered history with considerable internal strife, leading to two large areas of the country, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, themselves claiming independence. This status is recognized only by Russia and few other countries, and the British Foreign Office advises strongly against visiting those areas as no diplomatic support is available there.
Georgia is not the easiest place to get to from Britain. There are only two flights a week in each direction, from Gatwick, and the outbound flight was the absolute last one of the day at 10.55pm, arriving in Tbilisi at 6.35am the next morning, a Sunday. The plan was to get some rest on arrival if possible and then spend some time looking round Tbilisi before getting an early night to catch up on some sleep, so that I would be in a fit state to pick up my car on the Monday morning.
The people at the Amadeus Hotel were very helpful, arranging for a taxi to pick me up from the airport and allowing me to check in early for some rest as I had hoped. I had chosen the Amadeus in the belief that it was near the place where I would be picking up the car, but that proved to be incorrect, and when the confirmation came through from Avis it turned out that the car hire office and garage were right in the city centre.
At 11.00am, after resting, I set off on foot for the city centre which was about two miles away. The hotel was actually on the top of hill, with a long flight of steps leading down to a huge roundabout and flyover system. Getting through that entailed walking though deserted graffiti-lined passages and tunnels which was slightly uncomfortable, but I could not see any alternative route. It was then an uphill walk for a fair distance, and with the hot weather I was soon starting to flag, so decided to hail a taxi, of which there were many around. Within a short time the road changed into very smart avenue lined with some quite impressive buildings, not at all what I had expected in Tbilisi. The taxi driver did not miss the opportunity to point out what a fine city it is.
I wanted to call in at the car hire office in Freedom Square to change the pick-up time for the next day, so the taxi driver dropped me there. Freedom Square is the equivalent of Trafalgar Square in London, although somewhat smaller, and has a column in the middle with a golden St.George and the Dragon on top of it instead of Nelson. St. George is the country’s patron saint, shared with England and several other nations, but apparently did
not give rise to the name of the country. After dealing with Avis I had a snack in Dunkin’ Donuts, a company which strangely has a strong presence in Georgia. The old town is immediately adjacent to the Square and unlike many ‘old towns’ it has not undergone any significant restoration, having a large number of genuinely old buildings in extremely dilapidated condition. From the state of some of the balconies overhanging the street I can only assume that they do not have a very strict building inspectorate.
Rustavelis
Walking back along Rustavelis, the fine avenue along which I come in the taxi, it was an opportunity to study the route that I would take in the car the next day. Tbilisi has an astonishingly complicated road system, with largely one-way streets, and I could see that it would be very easy to go wrong. I found the big junction that was below the hill with the hotel on it, but failed to find the long flight of steps and eventually finished up climbing the wrong hill!. After scrambling through an area of rough woodland I got back to the hotel exhausted. At 9.00pm I asked the lady in charge if there was a restaurant nearby, and she directed me to one not far away.
When I emerged from the quiet streets around the hotel it was an unbelievable sight, a road with shops and restaurants all open late on the Sunday evening. These included what appeared to be a new McDonalds with a line of expensive cars stretching back down the street from the DriveThru. This was not what I had expected to find in Georgia at all.
The next morning (Monday) the hotel arranged for a taxi to take me to Avis in Freedom Square to collect my car, theplan being to drive up the Old Georgian Military Highway to the Russian border. Because I thought the roads would be bad I had reserved a Suzuki Jimny (small 4x4 jeep) which is crude and not very comfortable, but has a reputation for being tough and good on rough ground. My night stop would be in Stepantsminda (also known as Kazbegi), a ski and hiking resort about 95 miles from Tbilisi, where I was hoping to find a hotel on arrival.
After doing the paperwork I had wait a while in the Avis office before a man came in and said the car was outside. This was at the side of the road in Freedom Square. We went out to it, completed the condition form and checked the spare wheel and tools. The man went back into office, leaving me to get sorted out. I adjusted the seat and mirrors, and was just setting up my phone and tablet for navigation when two policemen appeared. They did not speak any English, but wanted the car document, which I showed them. I pointed to the Avis office and said “rental”, thinking that they would go away. But no, it was clear that they meant business, and within a short time instead of going to the Russian border I would be languishing chained to the wall of a rat-infested Georgian prison. Fortunately the Avis man saw what was happening from his office window and came rushing out to speak to the police. He said to me “Go on, go” so I had to drive off into the city centre traffic without my navigation gear working.
By some absolute miracle I found my way down to the riverside, and once I was there I thought if I followed the embankment northwards it would lead me to the Old Military Road, which turned out to be correct. The driving in Tbilisi was not too bad, but when I got on to the single carriageway main road it was dreadful, with a lot reckless overtaking going on in both directions.
This continued for about 10 miles as a flat, straight road with uninspiring scenery before entering a more attractive area alongside a river which eventually turned into a lake. The road then climbed into mountains with much less traffic and really outstanding scenery, passing a number of interesting places that I resolved to have a look at on the way back. Most of the other vehicles in both directions were lorries going to and from Russia, as this is now the only road link between Russia and Georgia open for normal traffic. It climbed for miles with steep hairpin bends and was very slow going at times. Mostly the surface was good, with a few rough stretches, and in one place there were cows all over the road, like India, although I don’t think they are revered to the same extent. About 15 miles before Stepantsminda is the Jvari Pass (7,815ft), with an extraordinary monument to Georgian-Russian friendship, which I decided to look at on the way back.
Mount Kazbek
According to one route plan I had read the journey would take just over two hours, but that must have been written by Lewis Hamilton, because it actually took about five hours to get to Stepantsminda. This turned out to be a small straggling town, with a considerable number of places offering accommodation, and I chose one called the Easy Hotel (nothing to do with easyJet) with good parking in the town centre. It had a view of the snow-covered peak of Mount Kazbek, a dormant volcano and at 16,558ft the highest mountain in eastern Georgia.
Once sorted I went for walk round the back roads of the town. Places like this are always interesting, because most houses have some land attached, and people often keep things that in a more densely populated area would be disposed of. There were a lot of Russian ex-military vehicles around, and various other items of machinery, including an old wind generator designed to be independent of wind direction. The roads were all roughly surfaced. The main street was quite touristy, with shops and cafes, one of which was a converted railway carriage. Visitors had arrived in a couple of buses, and the place was fairly busy.
After an uninspiring breakfast the next morning I set off for the Russian border, about 10 miles away. Shortly after leaving the town the road entered a gorge with the mountain face on the left hand side and a sheer drop on the right, protected by a concrete barrier. The scenery was magnificent. For most of the distance it was bend after bend, and some places it was possible to see the road in front suspended from the rock face over the sheer drop. The surface was mostly reasonable, with occasional large potholes, and in one place it was broken up completely for about 20 yards, causing me to come down to walking pace and pick my way over big lumps of tarmac and rock. This could easily lead to serious damage in an ordinary car, and I was pleased that I had the robust little jeep with its high ground clearance.
Dariali Monastery
Immediately before the border there was a lorry park and a massive construction site which was obviously to be a high level road leading to new buildings on the Georgian side of the border checkpoint. As it was, the road was a complete mess, coming down to single vehicle
Russia ahead
width and changes in the level of the road that were on the limit for the jeep. The few cars going through seemed to know exactly the line to take to avoid damage, but I was glad not to be in one. I followed a lorry through the narrow section and as I came out was amazed to see the Dariali Monastery, a complex of beautiful buildings set back from the road. It seemed very out of place in what is now a hostile environment, but when the work is finished it will hopefully revert to a more peaceful existence.
Friendship monument
In front of the border control buildings I turned round and retraced my steps through the mess to Stepantsminda and onwards in the direction of Tbilisi. As planned I stopped on the Jvari Pass to look at the Georgian-Russian Friendship Monument, an amazing curved concrete structure with massive murals above archways with superb views across the mountains. Although it was a weekday the car park was almost full and there were many people around, some using the nearby quad bike practice area. South of here the road runs about 2km from the forbidden territory of South Ossetia.
Ananuri Fortress
The next stop was the fortress of Ananuri, on a hillside near the road 45 miles north of Tbilisi. With beautiful views overlooking a reservoir in the valley this is a major tourist attraction. As it consists mainly of two churches within a walled area I could not go in because I was wearing shorts, a rule that applies to most religious buildings in that part of the world.
My target for the day was a town called Mtskheta, some distance north of Tbilisi. Often regarded as the spiritual capital of Georgia, it is one of the oldest towns in the country, dating back almost as far as the 3rd century BC. The maps in my phone and tablet showed a number of hotels in the central area, all of which turned out to be in narrow streets with no parking facilities. Eventually I found a good, big hotel, the Mtskheta Palace, overlooking a river within walking distance of the centre, all for the equivqlent of £27 per night including breakfast.
The town is centred around Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, a beautiful walled church dating from the 11th century and claimed to be the burial site of Jesus’ robe and several Georgian monarchs. It is surrounded by old stone buildings housing shops and restaurants. Overall I thought Mtskheta was a pleasant town and worth visiting, although I was too late to go into the cathedral.
The next morning I set off for the airport via the cross-country route b9 missing out Tbilisi. This was a straightforward drive through good countryside, with a few stretches of dreadfully broken-up road, where again I was pleased to have the jeep. I stopped for coffee at a place like a truck stop with a huge car park and a couple of buildings in front of which were people, mostly men, sitting drinking. A lady came out from a building and I asked for a coffee, but she seemed to be completely unable to understand. When I started walking back to the car a man shouted and waved a tin of Nescafe. I said “Yes” and within a short time a cup of mind-bogglingly strong Nescafe appeared.
A couple of the men tried to enter into conversation with me. When I said “English” they said “Rusky” and I concluded that they were Russian lorry drivers. Somehow we managed to hold a conversation about where I was from and what I was doing, and we parted good friends. The lady from the café refused to accept payment for the coffee, apparently because I was considered to be good entertainment, a situation I have encountered elsewhere.
A few kilometers before the airport was the entrance to a massive shopping mall consisting mainly of market stalls, and as I had a some time to spare I went in. It really was vast, stretching about 400 yards back from the road and about 600 yards the other way, reminiscent of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. When I came to go back to the car I got completely lost in all the aisles and had to use my phone to find the way.
By now the car was quite dirty, and one of the conditions of the car rental was that it must be returned clean, otherwise there would be charge of 15 euros. The map in my tablet showed a car wash just off the road into the airport. When I found it it turned out to be two or three blokes on a piece of rough land with a shed. They had just finished washing a car, and I pointed to mine and said hopefully “Wash car?”. They looked at one another, shook their heads, and said something like “Nah”. It was very hot weather and I suppose they had done enough for the day. Anyway, when I returned the car to Avis the people didn’t say anything and there was no charge.
My overall impression of Georgia was quite favourable, much better than I expected. Despite its recent turbulent history it seems to be doing quite well. The scenery in the area I went to was really good, and I believe most of the rest of the country is similar. Generally things are cheap by our standards and apart from the police and car washers the people I met were friendly and helpful .
Ananuri View
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Boston to Orlando 2006
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Car museums around the world
CzechWrecks 2010
Driving in Japan 2007
Estonia and Helsinki 2008
Estonia and Latvia 2006
Everything stolen – Miami 1995
Georgia (ex-USSR) 2018
Israel and Palestine 2013
Kosovo 2015
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Locked Out in the Desert
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busblog
nothing in here is true
coolest high school suspension, ever!
“High School Lacrosse team suspended after spelling prom invitation on bare bottoms”
Kristoff Wennersten figured his prom proposal had to be one-of-a-kind if it would have any chance of being accepted.
But the Huron High School senior never imagined it would result in a suspension for himself and 12 of his varsity lacrosse teammates, whom he recruited to help spell out the message at a school soccer match via their derrieres.
The players displayed the question, “Will You Go To The Prom With Me? Yes or No?” on their posteriors while mooning Huron senior Carolyn Campbell at a game.
The students were also suspended for one day of school. Huron’s lacrosse matches, scheduled for this past Saturday and Monday, were postponed.
“Inappropriate is inappropriate,” Huron athletic director Dottie Davis said Monday after meeting with lacrosse varsity players and their parents. “It disrespects women, and that’s the clear message we need to have the students understand – what may be fun to them isn’t necessarily fun to everyone else.”
Campbell, who accepted the prom invitation by patting the lower back of the player displaying the word ‘Yes,’ described Wennersten’s method as “cute” and said she wasn’t upset by the manner in which she was asked.
“People get pretty creative with prom. Anyone who’s done anything has been pretty outlandish,” Campbell said. “This is pretty epic, I would say.
Truly epic, rocker.
Plus as Karisa points out, why would they think that suspending these kids is some sort of punishment.
posted on April 30, 2008 at 2:35 pm | permalink
did i tell you we went to santa vista the other day?
we did
it didnt suck
posted on April 30, 2008 at 8:21 am | permalink
Tags: isla vista, photo essay, ucsb
its 9am i hafta shower shave and drive away from the lovely suzie in aboooot an hour
we just spent a few days in the glorious heat of indio, then i had to driver to santa barbara because i had to write for our travel blog about a sweet new restaurant up there, but duh, of course its closed on mondays.
so we went to the paradise instead, but unlike the real paradise of campus point, the lagoon, iv, and the daily nexus, this restaurant had stale bread, dry yellowtail, and flat coke. whatevs. nothing could really compare to the four days of fun that we’ve had so far on her california vacation.
there will be tons of pics up on her flickr, my flickr, and maybe even some videos or two on something somewhere.
but here are some things that i have learned so far.
even though they say that you shouldnt rely too much on other people for happiness in your life, you shouldnt be too surprised when super cool people in your life exponentially help you realize super cool moments in your life. for example, we shared a house in la quinta with my bro eric formerly of blogger, bro noah formerly of odeo and twitter, eric’s new buisness partner, and a house full of extremely smart and fun folks.
then we went to santa barbara and chilled with my longtime buddy joe, and then stopped off at the nexus where i hung with the eic and several nexites who were working on todays paper. all while being with suzie, who is the furthest thing from dull.
if i had gone to coachella alone, then iv, and just skateboarded around the universe solo, there would have been no way that the things i ate, drank, talked about touched, felt, danced to, rocked to, would have been anywhere near the same. or as good.
in one twenty four hour period alone i crossed paths with steven tyler, perry farrell, david hasslehoff, scaled the fence of a pool hot tub and skinny dipped, drove through the desert with the top down and the white stripes blaring, and skipped rocks in the pacific with two hippies who debated as to which type of egret was fishing in the sunset.
we wont even mention the late night dj session with a new york blogger or early morning smoothies or sleeping on the most beautiful hard floor or working as a team with some of the most talented writers from the times.
or watching roger waters completely making us all forget about prince.
fucker paraded out an inflatable pig the size of a small house and then just let it take off into the sky. it still might be floating across america for all we know.
suzie left the polo fields yelling Fuck Prince! after yelling I LOVE PRINCE just the night before.
coachella was the shit, the bros were the shit, and suzie has been a dream come true.
nothing in here is true mostly because half the time i dont believe that these things could happen to anyone, especially moi.
im pretty sure these women wont
make it into my coachella fashion show photo essay for Soundboard
but they are here to say hi to you anyways
also, i did a little round up of day one on LA Now, so chickity check it
photo by Ali McLean!
im at coachella
my bro eric case formerly of blogger/google invited me to stay at this sweet ass house in palm desert which we are doing.
pool hottub fireplace gourmet kitchen stereo system with speakers in the ceiling. as the kids say “its sick”.
your pal suzie and i drove out here thursday which was smart because we beat traffic and we were able to go slowly and enjoy the ride. shes probably the most easy going person ive ever met. ask her where she wants to eat and she really couldnt care less.
around san bernadino we were starving and found this industrial park and could either go to the Panda Inn or TGIFridays. because she has never been in america i was all, have you seen Office Space?
she was all i fucking love Office Space.
so i was all, this is where they invented flair. so we picked TGIF.
turns out they havent had to wear flair in two years. still we drank margaritas and had a good time.
hung out at coachella and it was sweet. mostly cuz it wasnt super hot. it was hot but not super hot. because of that every hot babe in america (and canada) showed up and wore their hottest clothes. lots of hippie dresses or bikinis or booty shorts. but everyone was beautiful.
saw the breeders, verve, raconteurs, tegan and sara.
spent a lot of time in VIP because i was trying to be a team player and help out the real LA Times writers who were running back to our little station so they could write. after they wrote they needed people to watch the computers cuz it was out in the open. but because it was VIP it wasnt like anyone was gonna steal anything, but some people thought the computers were just freebees in which to check email, etc. so we had to shoo people away.
i took a shitton of pics that i will put up onto Soundboard tomorrow morning. basically the mood was great.
the kids here are awesome.
the weathers perfect.
Soundboard busted out like 14-15 posts.
This one was my favorite.
for day 2 i will be posting on LA Now. so check it out over there on Saturday.
anti photographs Billy Corgan getting his handprints on Sunset Blvd
any time Anti contributes to LAist its a reason to celebrate. yesterday he got his press pass on and went down to Guitar Center to photograph Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin to get their paw prints solidified to represent Zwan The Smashing Pumpkins.
LAist has the story, Anti’s Buzznet account has the entire photo gallery.
Meanwhile, is it me or is Billy looking more muy macho with age?
as you know the Replacements had four of their cds re-released this week
and my man ben at work reminded me that a few years ago i was lucky enough to interview Paul Westerberg, thanks to my friend Kate Sullivan who was the music editor of the LA Weekly at the time.
you can read the weekly interview here. and below is what was left over from that interview, which i posted on this very busblog.
i remember the interview very clearly, i was working at E! at the time and my boss hated me and i had a really hard job but somehow i was able to carve out a half hour break so i could talk to one of my all time heroes. youd have thought i could have scored an interview like that and given it to, oh i dont know, eonline, but after several attempts to work there i gave up trying.
then one day kate emailed me and said she could probably set it up if i was interested in doing the thing, and i was all i think i can do that thing, and then i did that damn thing. i was on top of the world.
for about 15 minutes and then i had to go back to my crappy job, but at least i had a smile on my face.
me: You seem kind of reluctant to do tours nowadays. Is that because you’re a devoted father and husband?
paul westerberg: Certainly not a husband as much as a dad. She’s fine if I go away for a few weeks, sometimes it’s probably better that I’m not there. But, yeah, it’s hard to leave my little 6 year-old. I tried to set this all up so I could do a lot of my traveling before summer vacation so I could be around to play baseball with him and stuff. And also it’s the way I’ve been making records out of my home and releasing them, it’s a different ballgame. It isn’t like a major label where you have a single and we have to go promote the single and play at every award show and all of that kind of crud.
I can tour if I want or not tour if I don’t want. After we played three show in Minneapolis with these guys I said, “this is the band that I want to take out on the road.”
me: People were speculating who this band was, and one of the guys speculating said that this was a MN cover band. Is that the group that you hooked up with?
paul westerberg: Oh I wouldn’t say that at all, no. Michael Bland, Prince’s old drummer on drums, and Jim Boquist from Son Volt is playing, and my old friend Kevin Bowe is a songwriter and is more of a producer and he gets a chance to be a lead guitar player and step out and do all the things that he’s always done in his bedroom.
No, this is a very nice mix of guys.
me: So definitely not a cover band.
paul westerberg: These guys know my songs better than they know other songs, so I would be the one who would prefer to play covers. (laughs)
me: there seems to be a nice mix of songs that you play in concert of new tunes with your older ones. Is that intentional for the fans, or do they all kinda seem the same to you since they’re all songs that you wrote?
paul westerberg: It varies a little from night to night, but I’ve never been one to play my new stuff specifically and then just tag on the oldies. Also I’m never quite sure what the audience will want to hear. If I don’t play “I Will Dare” people will say “why didn’t you play ‘I Will Dare'”. And if I do sometimes I feel that they’re bored with it. I played a couple of songs in November, a couple of brand new songs that I had just written, a couple of left field choices that the other guys were sorta stumped on. And there’s basically a handful of ten or so that I usually play most of the time. But then, we’ve got two nights. So that makes for all the more of the variety.
me: so if you don’t hear your favorite tune on the first night, then you have to come on the second night.
paul westerberg: And you won’t hear it again.
me: I saw a picture of you with Keith Richards who has got to be a big hero of yours. Did you guys have a chance to sit down and talk?
paul westerberg: Yeah we met about three times and that was the time we were doing a television show… no that was his birthday. Funny thing is that was his 45th birthday, I was 28, and now that I’m 45 I’m trying to get a picture of me and someone who’s 28 and compare them. Or take one of me and Keith now.
No, that was very– I just snuck backstage through the security guard and took a Polaroid of us. I wasn’t scared of him. He gave me the look like he was going to kill me but he knew I was safe.
me: Speaking of younger guys, are singers and younger bands coming to you for songs?
paul westerberg: Not as of late. I’m always convinced that someday someone will take one of my songs and do them and maybe there will be a whole back catalogue that will come to life via someone else. I know Lucinda Williams is going to do a few of my new unreleased songs that I’ve written. And I’ve got tunes in Cameron Crowe’s movie (“Elizabethtown”), a score in this other movie (the animated film “Open Season”) where I’ve got songs and the score, so it’s like I’m definitely writing and it’s getting out there. I don’t know the next time I’m going to put my own album out but…
me: So these last couple years where you’ve been knocking out two albums a year are going to die down a bit?
paul westerberg: I think so. For now. I’m going to concentrate on touring and then after touring finishing up the scoring. Then I don’t know quite what to do.
me: The Pixies reunion seemed pretty successful. Did that spark any interest in you guys getting back together?
paul westerberg: There’s always bands getting back together whether they were popular or not. There was a time when the Pixies drew 60,000 in Europe. We were never at that level. We always had a solid underground level. But it was never beyond 6,000 people or so.
me: I hear ya, but they got to headline Coachella out here. I would imagine that you guys would probably have that kind of support too.
paul westerberg: It’s tempting but everything that comes along with it would be like… we would have to rehearse.
me: (laughs) We don’t care if you rehearse.
paul westerberg: Well we did before. But I think there’s a couple guys who are hesitant and I’m right in the middle and Tommy I don’t know if he’s in Guns N Roses still or able to go out and play in other groups or what.
me: Did you get a chance to read the Bob Dylan book?
paul westerberg: Yes, “Chronicles”.
me: What’s your take on it?
paul westerberg: I thought it was spectacular and in the very end I was not even sure that he was telling the truth. Pure Dylan, it was like he’s coming clean, he’s saying all the right things, champions Jack Elliot and everything, but in the end, you know, he could be lying. And that’s the crazy, legendary guy that he’s created. But I thought it was very interesting. And the fact that it was volume one that kind of jumped from ’62 to’87 and skipped “Blood On The Tracks” We could have 10 volumes before he’s done.
me: did it make you consider putting down your stories too?
paul westerberg: No. No. Mine are less spectacular. Cuz ours are– I would hate to be a half-assed musician that has to do it for the money. I think one day when I’m old and gray and it’s all said and done and a number of people are gone, I could. But there’s still sort of life in the band.
They’re going to release the best of my (solo) stuff, and of the Replacements, and the box set. I don’t know what will become of that.
me: Aren’t you going to get bored of everyone asking, “Is the band ever going to get back together?” Does that make you anxious about the greatest hits and the reissues or do you look to the future with happy feelings?
paul westerberg: I feel good. We all saw Paul McCartney at the Super Bowl. And it’s like, yeah, wouldn’t it have been great with John with him. The more the years pass the more I realize Bob (Stinson)’s great contribution to the early band, and then Slim was sort of Mach II, and then we ended up with a different drummer, so, as an easy way out it’s easy to say “the lead guitar player’s dead”.. and it changed Tommy and I forever. It changed our relationship and we’ve never been quite the same since. So that’s a little bit of a touchier a situation there.
me: Twin/Tone has video of a concert of you guys from 81 on their web site. Have you had a chance to see that?
paul westerberg: No. Is that the one where my hair looks like Frankenstein?
me: No, this is the one where you guys look sober. Was that just a happenstance?
paul westerberg: We could drink, for one. And for two, when we were young we took substances to spruce us up, as they say. Was it indoors or outdoors?
me: I think it was at First Ave.
paul westerberg: I know that one. That was filmed with Husker Du. The real footage, the first footage of us playing outdoors in front of Kaufman Union at the University of Minnesota in 1980, I believe. That’s the coveted stuff. That was the stuff we tried to throw in the river. (Laughs) Maybe we did.
me: A lot of people say you’ve mellowed out over the years, but going back to your catalogue even from the first album with “Nowhere Is My Home” and “If Only You Were Lonely”; “Within Your Reach”, “Kiss Me On The Bus”, “Sixteen Blue” all those songs, those were all songs that could have been on “Folker”. So have you always been kinda melancholy at heart?
paul westerberg: Sure, and I’ve always been able to bellow out screeching rock n roll. Like, I can’t think of the examples, there were some, “Pine Box”, stuff like that that was on the Grampaboy record or my record recently rocks about as hard as anything. I do go from a whisper to a shout and I’ve always enjoyed both styles. Give me Jackson Browne and gimme the Ramones. I’m a lover of both. I guess that’s what’s kept me out of the mainstream forever.
me: Now that you wont be knocking out two records a year, your old buddy Bob Mould has a pretty popular rock blog on the web, have you ever been interested of having a public journal of your thoughts or anything like that?
paul westerberg: No. Obviously I don’t even own a cell phone because I (accidentally) hung up on you. I’m a man of wood and dirt. I don’t go online. I don’t want to know what they say. I don’t like the fact that the instant — what we play Monday night is instantly available and so they know on Tuesday night. It puts more pressure to pull something off the cuff or out of the blue. But we’re going to try.
me: Recently you were on Jim Rome’s sports talk show. Do you listen to his show an awful lot?
a. I was tricked into it.
me: Were you?
paul westerberg: It was like, “This guy’s gonna call you up. Talk to him for a little bit.” So it’s like “sure, whatever.”
me: So you weren’t a fan of the show?
paul westerberg: I never heard it.
me: What other big famous stars have called you their favorite rock star like he did?
paul westerberg: Nobody terribly cool as far as I know.
me: So you don’t expect all of Hollywood to come out to the shows then?
paul westerberg: ahhh, no I don’t. (Laughs) It’s probably the night of the Grammys for all I know.
me: Are you using an iPod to listen to your music nowadays?
paul westerberg: No. No. I still like to pull out 45s and put them on the mono record player in the basement. I love the past and I love what it is. I feel I can learn more from what has come before than what is happening right now and what’s happening tomorrow. I’ll leave that to someone else who’s young and energetic.
Somebody gave me a blues compilation, a DVD from England, ’62-’69. It’s got Little Walker and Skip James and stuff and it’s I really enjoy watching that kind of stuff. I enjoy watching the Rolling Stones from that era too. I’m not a modern guy.
me: And you’re definitely a Minnesotan. Are there any spots you’re gonna wanna hang out at? Do you have any favorite LA spots?
paul westerberg: No. I go from the bathroom to the living room to the headphones to the telephone. I never go anywhere. There was a time I walked over to the Pink Dot to buy something, a candy bar. No. I’m not a go-seer of stuff.
me: Is that another reason why you’re not going crazy about touring?
paul westerberg: You make it so– The first gig is the 17th in Vancouver and I’m flying in on the 17th, that afternoon. If the flight is delayed or something then whoops. I’ll get there at 8pm, and get right to the gig, put on my shirt and kick it out.
I just talked to Michael and we’re trying to think of a good song for Prince to play on. I was thinking shit, what’s got a long, wiggy guitar solo on it? We’re stumped for now, but… We’ll think of something.
me: Is he going to be out here?
paul westerberg: I don’t know. Michael’s put in an appearance with him, and we’ve crossed paths, but… who knows who’ll show up.
me: Well, do a Prince song. You’re always good for covers.
top photo of paul via man without ties, photo of bob dylan via bobdylan.com
posted on April 23, 2008 at 11:25 pm | permalink
how was your earth day?
did you ride your bike on the freeway?
Banned Bicycles shot this amazing video of something that looks ridiculously dangerous: riding your bike on the 10 and 405 freeways. a feat that is just as brilliant as it’s sadly pragmatic. unfortunately it’s also completely illegal.
the reason its dangerous isnt because cars are speeding along the thoroughfare. its dangerous because commuters are so filled with roadrage that theyre likely to smash into a cyclist simply out of jealousy.
It was definitely a product of much heated ethical and legal debate, but we ended up doing it. My friend “Taco Bell Big Box Lunch” and I organized a Santa Monica Freeway ride from Cloverfield to Centinela (on-ramp to off-ramp). 9 other riders showed up and we sped through automotive paralysis like water molecules through kidneys. Post-ride epiphany = no less safe than riding on the PCH (which spandex roadies do daily) or any other surface street congested with gridlock. – Perry of Banned Bicycles
For the record, Perry and his dozen or so amigos didn’t pull this ride off on Earth Day but a day or two beforehand. Much love to LAist for bringing this amazing footage to our attention. It reminds me of the helmet cam video of motorcyclists zipping through rushhour traffic by going inbetween the cars, aka Lane Splitting.
woke up yesterday in such a bad mood
and i dont know about you but i really believe that you can shake off bad moods and create goodness. call me crazy. but i was so sad and mad and confused and pissed off and everything was wrong and my house was a mess and the mirror did not reflect that man who i wanted to be.
then a funny thing happened. i was at a red light and i looked to my right and there was this kid who i work with. i didnt know his name but id see him from time to time. so i rolled down the window and said yo do you work over in blah blah blah and he was all yeah. turned out we were in the elevator together the other day and didnt say anything to each other and there we were riding down sunset talking about the Beauty Bar and the girls who go there and drinking downtown and before we know it we were right next to the Times building
and there were the Donnas walking down the sidewalk.
i honked and yelled THE DONNAS!
and they stopped and looked at my like i was the most disgusting human alive ever.
and fuck if i cared that was the !@#$# DONNAS! i was so excited.
so me and bro park in the garage, make it to the door that we think the donnas showed up at. not sure if they were even on that sidewalk to go into the times but i kept thinking, why would 3 of the donnas be walking down spring street at 11am? if they were going to City Hall they woulda parked there. aint nothing around us worth walking to at that hour except us.
so i asked the security guard when we got there “hey was there an all girl rock band here just a few minutes ago?” and he said yep.
and we went upstairs and friends, LA and the LA Times and my life and your life can all be turned around justlikethat
and it only got better as the day went on.
this is how crazy it got.
my favorite meal (tofu steak, steamed baby carrots, steamed broccoli) was in the cafeteria, drudge linked a few of posts, digg gave us some love, and the cubs won.
i even think a pretty girl sent me an email that said hi im coming to LA and im bringing my collection of plaid skirts cuz i cant just choose one.
or was that a dream?
like the rest of all of this? this being life. this being your life with me starring as the luckiest of all. this being my life with you being the reason we’re here.
this being kristin pony, above, from halloween. and this being a shoutout to her as she studies for the bar exam. best of luck baby.
posted on April 23, 2008 at 12:55 am | permalink
The Coachella Lineup
with my picks in bold
Coachella Stage:
Rogue Wave, 1:30-2:15 p.m.
John Butler Trio, 2:30-3:20 p.m.
Slightly Stoopid, 3:45-4:35 p.m.
The Breeders, 5-5:50 p.m.
Tegan and Sara, 6:15-7:05 p.m.
The Raconteurs, 7:30-8:30 p.m.
The Verve, 9-10 p.m.
Jack Johnson, 10:45-midnight
Outdoor Theatre
LuckyIAm, 2-2:50 p.m.
Les Savy Fav, 3:10-4 p.m.
Architecture in Helsinki, 4:20-5:15 p.m.
Vampire Weekend, 5:40-6:30 p.m.
The National, 6:55-7:45 p.m.
The Swell Season, 8:25-9:15 p.m.
Serj Tankian, 9:55-10:45 p.m.
DJ Mehdi, opening-2 p.m.
Midnight Juggernauts, 2-2:50 p.m.
Sebastian, 2:50-3:40 p.m.
Busy P, 3:40-4:40 p.m.
Adam Freeland, 4:40-5:50 p.m.
Sandra Collins, 5:50-7 p.m.
Diplo, 7-8 p.m.
Aphex Twin, 8-9 p.m.
Pendulum, 9:20-10:20 p.m.
Fatboy Slim, 10:45 p.m.
America Bang, 1:15-1:55 p.m.
Redd Kross, 2:15-3:05 p.m.
Black Kids, 3:25-4:10 p.m.
Jens Lekman, 4:35-5:25 p.m.
Mum, 5:50-6:45 p.m.
Goldfrapp, 7:10-8 p.m.
Aesop Rock, 8:20-9:10 p.m.
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, 9:35-10:25 p.m.
Black Lips, 10:50-11:40 p.m.
Porter, 2-2:40 p.m.
Battles, 3-3:45 p.m.
Dan Deacon, 4-4:50 p.m.
Cut Copy, 5:15-6:05 p.m.
Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, 6:30-7:20 p.m.
Santogold, 7:45-8:35 p.m.
Datarock, 9-9:45 p.m.
Spank Rock, 10:05-10:50 p.m.
Professor Murder, 11:10-midnight
Coachella Stage
VHS or Beta, 1:35-2:20 p.m.
Minus the Bear, 2:45-3:35 p.m.
Cold War Kids, 4-4:50 p.m.
Cafe Tacuba, 5:15-6:05 p.m.
Death Cab for Cutie, 6:30-7:20 p.m.
Kraftwerk, 7:50-8:50 p.m.
Portishead, 9:15-10:15 p.m.
Prince, 10:45 p.m.
Jupiter’s Ring, 12:30-1 p.m.
Little Brother, 1:15-2 p.m.
Dredg, 2:20-3:10 p.m.
Devotchka, 3:35-4:25 p.m.
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, 4:50-5:40 p.m.
Dwight Yoakam, 6:05-6:55 p.m.
Rilo Kiley, 7:20-8:10 p.m.
Mark Ronson, 8:35-9:25 p.m.
Flogging Molly, 9:50-10:40 p.m.
Institubes, opening-1:30 p.m.
Uffie featuring DJ Mehdi, 1:30-2:20 p.m.
Kavinsky, 2:20-3:10 p.m.
James Zabiela, 3:10-4 p.m.
Boyz Noize, 4-5 p.m.
Erol Alken, 5-6 p.m.
Hot Chip, 6:10-7 p.m.
Junkie XL, 7:05-8:05 p.m.
M.I.A., 8:20-9:10 p.m.
Sasha & John Digweed, 9:10-11:10 p.m.
Above & Beyond, 11:10 p.m.
The Bird and the Bee, 12:30-1:10 p.m.
The Teenagers, 1:30-2:10 p.m.
Man Man, 2:30-3:15 p.m.
MGMT, 3:40-4:30 p.m.
Kate Nash, 4:5-5:45 p.m.
Scars on Broadway, 6:10-6:45 p.m.
Islands, 7:10-8 p.m.
Animal Collective, 8:25-9:15 p.m.
Yelle, 9:30-10:20 p.m.
Enter Shikari, 10:45-11:35 p.m.
Yoav, 1-1:30 p.m.
Carbon/Silicon, 1:45-2:35 p.m.
120 Days, 3-3:45 p.m.
Bonde de Role, 4:05-4:55 p.m.
St. Vincent, 5:20-6:10 p.m.
Cinematic Orchestra, 6:35-7:20 p.m.
Yo! Majesty, 7:40-8:20 p.m.
Akron/Family, 8:40-9:30 p.m.
Calvin Harris, 9:55-10:45 p.m.
Austin TV, 1-1:45 p.m.
The Cool Kids, 2-2:40 p.m.
Shout Out Louds, 3-3:50 p.m.
Stars, 4:15-5:05 p.m.
Gogol Bordello, 5:30-6:20 p.m.
Sean Penn, 6:45-7 p.m.
My Morning Jacket, 7-8 p.m.
Roger Waters, 8:30-11 p.m.
Vas Defrans, 12:45-1:10 p.m.
Grand Ole Party, 1:20-2:05 p.m.
Electric Touch, 2:30-3:20 p.m.
Manchester Orchestra, 3:45-4:35 p.m.
Autolux, 5-5:50 p.m.
Metric, 6:15-7:05 p.m.
Love and Rockets, 7:30-8:25 p.m.
Institubes, opening-2 p.m.
Perry Farrell, 2-2:45 p.m.
Dimitri From Paris, 2:45-4 p.m.
Deadmau5, 4-5 p.m.
Booka Shade, 5-5:50 p.m.
Danny Tenaglia, 5:50-7:50 p.m.
Modeselektor, 8-9 p.m.
Simian Mobile Disco, 9-9:50 p.m.
Chromeo, 10-10:50 p.m.
Justice, 11 p.m.
Plasticines, 1-1:30 p.m.
Annuals, 1:45-2:25 p.m.
I’m From Barcelona, 2:45-3:30 p.m.
Duffy, 3:55-4:40 p.m.
Swervedriver, 5:05-5:55 p.m.
Spiritualized, 6:20-7:20 p.m.
Sia, 7:45-8:35 p.m.
Murs, 9-9:50 p.m.
Black Mountain, 10:15-11:05 p.m.
Brett Dennen, 12:30-1:15 p.m.
Linton Kwesi Johnson, 1:25-2:10 p.m.
Sean Penn, 2:10-2:40 p.m.
Holy Fuck, 2:50-3:35 p.m.
The Field, 4-4:45 p.m.
Does It Offend You, Yeah?, 5:10-6 p.m.
Kidsister With A-Trak, 6:20-7:20 p.m.
Sons & Daughters, 7:40-8:30 p.m.
photos via 3121.com
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My Intellectual History, Part Deux
My first specifically academic training in the particulars of science and theology transpired in the classroom of Diogenes Allen when I took his Introduction to Philosophy at Princeton Seminary. (Incidentally, these lectures later became his book, Christian Belief in a Postmodern World: The Full Wealth of Conviction.) Dr. Allen (to this day, I would never call him “Diogenes”) started with the need to integrate theological insights with science, especially those of scientific methodology. It was intriguing, but I wasn’t quite sure what he was doing. In fact, I recall a conversation with a co-seminarian, John, where I presented him with the question, “Why is Dr. Allen so into science? I’m not sure I understand.” John’s response: “Because science has a certain precision” (and therefore astonishing success). Though I was later to labor in the fields of the historical, even “scientific,” study of the Bible at Princeton, the specific work in which I’m now engaged, bringing together science and theology, was for me embryonic at best.
After my Master of Divinity at Princeton, I received a fellowship and a grant for a year’s study in Heidelberg and Tübingen, Germany—with renowned minds like Jürgen Moltmann and Hans Kung, and especially the then up-and-coming light, Michael Welker. Welker guided my inquiry into the concept of the world (and how it relates to God) by guiding me toward the thought the mathematician and philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead. (Incidentally, Whitehead’s intricate and complex theory language—though putatively English—proved to be often more difficult than learning German.) It was a glorious year. Studying under the shadow of the Heidelberg Castle with this brilliant scholar and his double PhDs (one in philosophy, one in theology) constitutes, in my book, inspiration.
After that superb year away, I returned to California and started my PhD at the
Graduate Theological Union (GTU), where theology and science represented the best game in town (or at least on GTU’s Holy Hill). I began to set Whitehead’s thought in conversation with the theology of Karl Barth, that is, to compare a scientist with a theologian. I remember encountering my two mentors there, Ted Peters and Bob Russell. (This eventually became my book, God and the World.) In experiencing Bob in the classroom—lecturing, for example, on the relation of quantum theory to divine action—I encountered someone brilliant in three fields: theology, science, and philosophy (which are themselves really each sets of disciplines). There I observed Bob doing the work he loves so well: bringing together this sometimes messy, and often electrifying, combination
of theology and science with his characteristic wit, brilliance, and profound kindness. Ted, my dissertation advisor (or Doktorvater, as he and the Germans would call it), could as easily unveil the insights of genetics, Trinitarian theology, and the mythology of the Egyptian god Ra. Both Ted and Bob fully convinced me, as a student of theology, of the imperative to take in the importance of science. Actually, they also made the bridging of theology and science both enjoyable and compelling.
It’s something I’m even more convinced of almost twenty years later.
Labels: Peters, Robert John Russell, science and religion
Eight Problems Facing the Science-Faith Dialogue with Young Adults
I’m not one of those people who believes that you can transform every problem into a “challenge” or an “opportunity.” With that in mind, as I think back about my interviews with young adults (18-30 years old) for my research project on science and religion, I see at least eight problems we have to face:
And yet another way to respond...
Young adults sense that religion is against—is at war with—science (and vice versa, to some degree). They may not actually feel it themselves, but they hear it on the news.
Therefore they don’t think the integration of religion and science is possible.
The topic of science and religion seems too heady, takes too much effort, and is not connected with pressing life issues.
Speaking specifically of Christianity, the Bible seems outdated and unscientific.
In terms of the church’s often not embracing the LBGT community, religion seems uninformed by science and therefore actually immoral.
Many emerging adults would rather Google, than go than go to a congregation, in pursuing of answers about science and religion.
Interesting to note: Many students I’ve interviewed, even if they’re not traditionally religious, have difficulty with evolution, especially that “we came from monkeys.”
It’s hard to decide on one religion in light of all the possibilities for spirituality, which makes it difficult to know what religion to bring to science.
How do we solve these problems? My hunch is that the Christian church has to be honest about them, and neither leave its core commitments nor sidestep the problems.
I’ll leave it there for now. What do you think?
Labels: science and religion
Why I'm Interested In How Young Adults See Science and Religion
In relating science and religion, I fall into the Integration camp—that is, I agree with those thinkers that conclude the two need to make a difference to each other by learning from one another. I’m also fascinated by how emerging adults (18-30 year olds) understand this interaction of science and religion. It might be worthwhile to comment briefly on how I came to find all these strands compelling and why I’m seeking to wind them together in the current grant project I’m working on, Science for Emerging, Young Adults.
The precipitating event seems reasonably clear: I became a Christian as a first year college student at age 18—that is, during what is now know as “emerging adulthood” (a term coined by the psychologist Jeffrey Arnett in 2000—and that’s most likely why faith for 18-30 year olds will continue to allure me. My conversion also occurred in the secular environment of UC Berkeley. (In other words, “Go to Cal and become a Christian” should sound like an oxymoron.) I wasn’t nurtured from the cradle in the Bible Belt. All this means I’m also absorbed by the challenges and questions that an unbelieving culture presents. And often those arguments against faith derive from science (or science poorly understand and misused). Nevertheless, the issues of science qua science were not at first at the forefront of my faith. Instead, as a literature major during the Berkeley years, I was more engaged with the overall questions of culture. During my undergrad, I was much more concerned with religious pluralism (and still am); it’s a topic I confront through my C. S. Lewis book in “Jesus and the Crisis of Other Myths.” For the purposes of this brief essay, I’ll merely say that I, with Lewis, believe that truth can be found in many other narratives, religions, and philosophies (“myths” for Lewis), but that in Jesus the full revelation of God is present and that Jesus fulfills the longings of all human hearts. That doesn’t mean science was absent in my earlier theological development. Science, as a part of culture, emerged more gradually, primarily first as a way of integrating my faith with wider human knowledge, as well as ways that our culture resists and impugns faith.
Later—after a sojourn in business—I continued my academic study in the history of Christian thought, and I found that science often posed a barrier to belief. Put simply I began to encounter the “warfare thesis” (science and religion are two warring forces with the former clearly winning), a position associated with Andrew Dickson White in the 19th century and Richard Dawkins in ours. I also realized that this view was challenging, but simplistic... More on the next steps in a future post...
Written During the Month of St. Clive (i.e., November)
This article first appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Nevertheless, there was a longer version lurking behind it (which didn't fit within the WSJ word count). So I'm posting it now (and, incidentally, it's a short summary of my new book on Lewis.)
CSL memorial in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey
C. S. Lewis was born and died in November (116 and 51 years ago, respectively). Despite his long tenure as an Oxford and Cambridge scholar of Medieval and Renaissance literature—for which he could justifiable be remembered as one of the great lights of English academics—he remains best known as a popular spokesperson for Christianity, with a fourth major film poised for production from his landmark fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. His bestselling books (with millions of copies sold) defend Christian belief by answering questions that a doubting public might be struggling with. As Anthony Burgess once commented in the Times Book Review, “Lewis is the ideal persuader for the half-convinced, for the good man who would like to be a Christian but finds his intellect getting in the way.” Thus, for many, the patron saint of intellectual doubters is Clive Staples Lewis and November is the Month of St. Clive.
This brings me to a concern. Many might conclude that Lewis represented the Christian Answer Man, and more importantly, that these responses to struggles and doubts came effortlessly to his pen. However fluidly ideas emerge from his writings, I don’t believe resolving crises was painless for Lewis. Instead, in reading him for 35 years, I’ve learned each of those responses came through crises and pain. That is what makes him continually compelling.
Debra Winger, who played Lewis’s wife, Joy Davidman, in the film Shadowlands, when asked to evaluate C. S. Lewis, replied:
He may make difficult questions accessible. I don’t think he makes answers ‘easy.’ I don’t think he answers questions. He discusses them.
Lewis doesn’t ultimately give us answers—he invites our response.
And so his readers learn to engage their questions, grasp Lewis’s resolutions and ponder their own answers. That’s why I think his words have spoken to—and continue to resonate with—millions of readers.
The crises that Lewis faced were substantial—his beloved mother’s death when at age nine, being sent within several weeks to a series of boarding schools which he detested, fighting and being wounded in World War I, living through the Great Depression and World II, caring for his alcoholic brother and for Janie Moore (the mother of a friend who died in WWI) who slipped into dementia toward the end of her life, and finally, experiencing the death of his wife, Joy. For these reasons alone, Lewis had to work through the crisis of suffering and death.
And how did he work through those crises? His stepson Douglas Gresham records about Lewis’s response to the death of his wife,
He did what he always did under extreme stress. He sat down at his desk, and looking into himself and carefully observing what was happening deep in his mind where we keep our inmost secrets, he picked up his pen and an old exercise book and began to write.
So write he did. He wrote about the crises he faced with atheism, with the Christian faith, and those he faced simply as a human being. The first category I will summarize briefly. The middle—especially his crisis with the Bible—might be the most surprising.
Lewis tells us that he became an atheist around fourteen, but that his prickly, cynical unbelief wasn’t entirely satisfied because he sought something beyond this world. He called this Joy, “an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.” Joy led him to conclude that nothing in this world could satisfy.
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy,the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
He looked beyond this world and in his early thirties (recounted with pardonable overstatement) became “the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.” The point here is that Lewis did not emerge from the womb as a man absent of doubt who glided gradually and effortlessly into prominence as a leading spokesperson for Christian orthodoxy. He struggled, and that struggle and resolution animate his writing.
The middle set of crises easily deconstruct the misunderstanding of St. Clive as patron saint of easy answers to puzzles about Christianity.
As he pondered conversion, Lewis had to grapple with his love of myth, which he spoke of as “at its best, a real unfocused gleam of divine truth falling on human imagination.” How could he believe in the Bible in light of all the other myths he treasured?
As a literary scholar, he how to read a book and prized what books bring. “There is nothing in literature,” Lewis determined in his famous academic study, The Allegory of Love, “which does not, in some degree, percolate into life.” He read the Good Book full of narratives, meaningful stories. He believed the Bible “carries” the word of God and that derives its authority from the one Word of God, Jesus Christ. He was by no means a fundamentalist, who believed every word from Scripture contained literal truth or that the Bible equals the Word of God. Instead, Lewis interpreted the Bible as a literary text, which is certainly not the same as taking the text literally.
Finally, Lewis also took on crises that no human being can avoid—suffering, death, and what I call “the crisis of feeling.” The latter is that problem we face when emotions don’t lead us to contentment. Put another way, if life is supposed to feel good, what happens when it doesn’t? Feelings—particularly the emotional rush of life—remain for many the final arbiter of truth and decision-making.
And yet Lewis found his own wisdom hard to take when his wife, Joy, died. The pain was excruciating and left him feeling “concussed.” Not only had he lost someone he cherished, but he saw his own life replayed—Joy had two young sons whom she was leaving behind at almost the same age as Lewis and his brother at their mother’s death. His anguish disturbed easy answers, and his searing honesty remains the most arresting feature of A Grief Observed, the book he wrote just after Joy’s death:
Not that I am (I think) in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about Him.
Yet as the book progressed, he resolved that even God himself does not respond to every inquiry:
When I lay these questions before God I get no answer. But a rather special sort of ‘No answer.’ It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook His head not in refusal but waiving the question. Like, ‘Peace, child; you don’t understand.’
Lewis himself did not receive every answer he longed for. And that, in the end, brought a resolution that transcended his understanding.
So, if indeed November is the Month of St. Clive, and if Lewis has become a somewhat universal symbol of Christianity, let us not conclude that the best life can be discovered through the uncomplicated resolution of all crises, nor the easy answer to every problem. Instead, let Lewis model for us an engagement with crises and a life that lies beyond easy answers.
Labels: C. S. Lewis, Christian spirituality, suffering
The Science of Christianity’s Future: Some Repetition, Some Additional Notes
As I peer into the future of science and religion, certain related questions fascinate me. How will the faith of emerging adults (18-30 years old) provide a lens for viewing what the future of Christian faith and science will be?
As I've mentioned before and is worth repeating, according to the noted researchers Christian Smith and Kyle Longest, 70% of 18-23 year olds “agree” or “strongly agree” that the teachings of religion and science conflict. In addition, a complementary study by David Kinnaman found that one of the six top reasons that the infamous 30% of young adults have left the church is that the latter is seen as “antiscience.”
I'll say it again: churches are going to have to engage science and its insights. There is a science to the future of Christianity.
In the research project I lead (a bit more on that here), I’m analyzing the surveys by Smith/Longest, Kinnaman and others, as well as interviewing young adults (18-30 years old) on how they formed their ideas about religion and science and how these attitudes change. The classic typology for understanding how religion and science interaction comes from the late doyen of this discipline, the physicist-theologian Ian Barbour. It’s a typology that has remarkable staying appeal, and which I’ll modify just a bit. Accordingly, I’ve found that emerging adults fall into three categories. (He had a fourth category, Dialogue, which is Integration-lite, and hasn’t appeared much in my research. So I won’t include that.) Warfare: Religion and science will never agree. Independence: These are two completely different ways to look at the world who ought to go separate ways Integration: They need to make a difference to each other by collaborating.
Let me say a word about each. First, Warfare—how prevalent is it in my study of young adults? I’m going to tentatively suggest that it’s about 10-20%. On the second view, Independence, my number here is 30-40%. Students take this approach when they’re not really sure what they believe, and as Christian Smith was surprised to find in his separate study, Souls in Transition, most 18-30 year olds remain remarkably vague in what they believe whether it’s about God or science or a host of other topics. Finally, about 30-40% of young adults (again I speak tentatively) endorse an Integration of science and religion. But they need to know science well, not just want suits their theology and endorses their doctrine, but also presents challenges and unresolved questions. As C. S. Lewis warned a group of Anglican priests, that Christianity must be careful about using science glibly, “Science twisted in the interests of apologetics would be a sin and a folly.”
And that is a good admonition for the Christian church as it engages in this dialogue and seeks to secure a robust future.
Labels: C. S. Lewis, Ian Barbour
Eight Problems Facing the Science-Faith Dialogue w...
Why I'm Interested In How Young Adults See Science...
Written During the Month of St. Clive (i.e., Novem...
The Science of Christianity’s Future: Some Repetit...
C. S. Lewis’s Acts of Imagination
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16 April 2011 | Engagements
On the 17th April the band made what is becoming its traditional trek to the London Marathon. We were allocated to play in the same place as last year on Jamaica Road in Bermondsey which is at about the 12 mile point of the marathon.
It was an early start for the band leaving Southampton at 6:00am in order to arrive in London before all the roads were closed off. We arrived at about 8:00am and immediately descended on the nearest coffee shop for breakfast. The owner must have thought all his Christmases had arrived at once!! Having polished off a number of bacon sandwiches and the like we were able to set up in order to be ready by the time the first runners (or wheelchair athletes) went past.
The band played from 9:30am until almost 1:00pm with only one short break in between. They played a selection of lively music to keep up the spirits of the athletes. The London Marathon theme (Ron Goodwin’s The Trap) was played more than once as was the Sports Report theme on Radio 5 (Out of the Blue).
By 1:00pm the mop up operation had begun and the stragglers were having to negotiate the people and lorries clearing up as well as their fellow runners.
The band packed up and were able to get on their way. They were able to get home at just after 3:30pm when some athletes were still running.
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Estes Park, CO Real Estate
The Village of Estes Park is surrounded by nationally protected lands and mountain peaks ranging in elevation from 8,500 feet to over 14,000. Visitors from around the world come to look at the majestic snowcapped peaks and experience outdoor activities.
12 Outdoor Fall Adventures in Northern Colorado
from Northern Colorado Speaks
Fall is officially here! And while we admire our gorgeous scenery all year long, from the towering snow-capped mountains in the winter to the crystal clear lakes in the heat of summer, there is nothing quite like autumn in Northern Colorado.... Link to the Article
The Community of Estes Park
The Village of Estes Park is bordered by Rocky Mountain National Park. Its mountain peaks range in elevation from 8,500 to over 14,000 feet. Visitors from around the world come to experience its majestic setting and participate in outdoor activities – walking, hiking, fishing, mountain climbing, ice climbing, snowshoeing.
Estes Park is a year-round community with nearly 6,000 residents. The downtown offers unique shops, galleries, restaurants and places to explore. The Big Thompson and Fall Rivers meet at Riverside Plaza, an open park connecting to the Riverwalk. Eight miles of improved hike and bike trails that traverse the valley floor past a bird sanctuary, golf courses and circle Lake Estes.
The village has established an international reputation for the quality and variety of festivals it hosts. These include the Stanley Film Festival (held on the grounds of the Stanley Hotel where horror-writer Stephen King penned “The Shining,” Scandinavian Midsummer Festival, Rooftop Rodeo, Longs Peak Scottish Irish Highland Festival, Wool Market, Jazz Fest & Art Walk, Elk Fest, Catch the Glow Holiday Parade & Celebration and Estes Park Duck Race.
The climate is dry, both summer and winters, receiving an average of 14 inches of precipitation each year. On average, the village receives only 34 inches of snow during a winter season.
Population: 6,000 (2012 estimate)
Elevation: 7,522
Climate: Nearly 300 days of sunshine per year with an average of 14” of precipitation
Geography: Estes Park sits at an elevation of 7,522 feet on the front range of the Rocky Mountains at the eastern entrance of the Rocky Mountain National Park
Churches: Approximately 20 churches of varied denominations
Median Family Income: $52,778
There are approximately 1,200 students, in grades pre-kindergarten through 12 attending Estes Park.
Park School District R-3 follows the Colorado Department of Education curriculum standards for the CORE subjects as well as art, music, and physical education. Special Education, English as a Second Language, gifted education, and foreign language are examples of additional curricular programs offered at Park School District. In addition, there are numerous sports, clubs, and other activities that are available to students.
Rocky Mountain National Park, rated the #1 Outdoor and Adventure Destination in the U.S. by Trip Advisor, is just 4 short miles west of Estes Park. The park encompasses 415 square miles of mountain peaks with more than 350 miles of hiking, over 700 species of wildflowers, 150 names lakes, and Longs Peak, one of Colorado’s best known “14-ers.” Abundant wildlife can be seen year round, including the elk that frequently roam downtown.
The Estes Park Medical Center is a 25-bed critical access, acute care facility with a 24-hour emergency department, 24-hour ambulance service, emergency air transport, medical/surgical services, obstetrics, home health care and hospice. University of Colorado Health—and its affiliated Poudre Valley Hospital—operate the Timberline Medical Family Practice and Urgent Care. This facility is staffed six days per week with three doctors and a nurse practitioner.
Tourists are the lifeblood of the region’s economy. Most jobs are in hospitality or supporting industries. Small business owners are the backbone of the region. Real estate/construction is the second largest job provider. Many residents commute daily to Loveland, Fort Collins and the Boulder area.
Median Sale Price ($)
Sale Price as % of Asking Price
2425 Longview Drive
MLS 923891 | Taking Backup Offers
Listing Courtesy of Estes Park Team Realty
MLS 921383 | Active
Listing Courtesy of Golba Group Real Estate LLC
1741 Olympian Lane
Listing Courtesy of RE/MAX Mountain Brokers
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201 Curry Drive
Listing Courtesy of Keller Williams Rlty Partners
Estes Park, CO Homes for Sale
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You can now review the 2040 General Plan, December 2020 Draft. The General Plan is the principal policy document guiding the development and conservation of local municipalities and is often referred to as the “constitution” of local development.
The General Plan also reflects the vision and values of a community. The City's General Plan serves as a basis for decisions that affect the City’s growth and development, relative to transportation, land use, streets and infrastructure, parks and open space, housing and neighborhood character, recreation and community facilities, downtown, environmental resources, public health and safety, and hazards such as wildfire and flooding. The General Plan is a strategic and long-term document identifying goals and polices that guides and directs the City in terms of implementing policies, programs, and resources. While serving as an overarching guide for the future, many of the policies and program of the General Plan are implemented through other specific documents, regulations, and programs, such as the Municipal Code, the Capital Improvement Program (CIP), and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (BPMP), to name a few.
To remain effective, a General Plan usually focuses on a time horizon of 10 to 20 years. The City's General Plan was last completely updated in 1990 and has been subject to several amendments since that time. Because Larkspur is a largely a built-out community, there has been little change to the long-range development vision of the community. The community prizes the city’s existing small-town character and its historic downtown and neighborhoods. However, as perspectives on land use and environmental issues continue to evolve, the City’s General Plan requires substantive update to address new State mandates and the impacts of climate change. With adoption of an updated General Plan in 2020-21, the City is looking towards a 20-year timeline to 2040.
the City of Larkspur’s Draft General Plan addresses updates to six of the seven required "elements": Land Use, Circulation, Conservation, Open Space, Noise, and Safety, as required by State law. However, the Housing Element was last updated and approved by the City Council on May 20, 2015 and approved by the state Housing and Community Development Department on May 28, 2015. Consistent with State Law, the current Housing Element remains effective through 2023. The City will initiate update to the Housing element for the 6th Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) cycle in 2021.
⇐Previous Additional COVID-19 Testing Launching in Marin and LarkspurNext⇒ January 20, 2021, Council Meeting Teleconference Only
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Where the far left and far right overlap for fun and enlightenment
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May 2014 Blog Posts (22)
Democratic convention, Mayor Ballard and cricket, and more!
Today “Civil Discourse Now” launches its own channel on “Live 365.” The past two weeks we have experienced technical difficulties we previously had not encountered. We are unable to get on the air for nearly an hour. We no longer will have such problems.
In February, after one of its fracking sites blew up large sections of a Pennsylvania township, corporate honchos at Chevron gave residents of the area damaged “free” pizzas.
In ancient Rome, the poet…
Added by Mark Small on May 31, 2014 at 6:07am — No Comments
State Democratic Convention, and new developments for "Civil Discourse Now"!
Tomorrow, Saturday, May 31, “Civil Discourse Now” will stream live from the Indianapolis Convention Center, 100 South Capitol where we shall provide coverage of the Indiana State Democratic Party convention.
Join us from 11 am to 1 pm as we interview candidates for State-wide office as well as delegates from all over Indiana. Matt Stone will join me. Kimann Schultz will provide her “Fashion News & Muse” segment. Plus, we shall feature a new episode of “Tail of the City,” with…
State Democratic Convention Saturday, 11 am to 1 pm, but also: we do not need a constitutional convention.
Saturday we will stream live from the Indiana State Democratic Convention, from 11 am to 1 pm. We will have candidates for state-wide office, as well as delegates from all over Indiana, as guests.
Another type of convention has been in the news the past few days. There has been a push to have a convention to address changes in the United States Constitution. A constitutional convention is a very bad idea.
First, if large corporations dump money into specific Congressional…
May 31: Indiana State Democratic Party convention streamed on "Civil Discourse Now"!
Next Saturday, May 31, “Civil Discourse Now” will stream live from the Indianapolis Convention Center, 100 South Capitol where we shall provide coverage of the Indiana State Democratic Party convention.
Join us from 11 am to 1 pm as we interview candidates for State-wide office as well as delegates from all over Indiana. Matt Stone will join me. Kimann Schultz will provide her “Fashion News & Muse” segment. Plus, we shall feature a new episode of “Tail of the City,” with the…
Today's Show: guest panelists Rick Ward and George Wilson discuss the Indianapolis 500 from Good Earth!
Today we will talk about the 500 with Rick Ward---whose racing team I once helped sponsor---and George Wilson, sports savant extraordinaire. We shall stream "live" from Good Earth in Broad Ripple. Matt Stone will provide his outlook on the Race and on current events. Kimann Schultz will give us her "Fashion News and Muse."
Tomorrow's Show: the Indianapolis 500 (r).
Near Kokomo, outside the hamlet of West Middleton on Sunnybrook Farm, where I was raised, an annual event was the radio broadcast of the Indianapolis 500. Sid Collins, who started his radio career at Kokomo's WIOU, was the "Voice of the 500." After Tony Hulman announced, "Gentlemen, start your engines!" the excitement was "on."
During the parade lap, announcers from various posts around the track would describe each car in two or three rows. "We go to Howdie Bell in Turn Two!"…
Mr. Tibbs and capital punishment: the Establishment Clause (and common sense) preclude divine imposition of the death penalty.
This morning brought another interesting take on capital punishment from the blog “ConservaTibbs” by Scott Tibbs. Last week, I responded to his contention governments here should abolish lethal injection and should take back up firing squads, hanging, or electrocution as means by which people “who deserve to die” are executed.
Today, Mr. Tibbs, on his “Conservatibbs” blog, first set forth the philosophical foundation of his support for capital punishment—that it “is the clear…
Interview with the late Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago on the topic of corruption in the Circle City.
Corruption is rife in Indianapolis. The “pay-to-play” system is in place., Donors of large amounts of campaign dollars receive largesse in the form of lucrative contracts. Those few who are lucky enough to own professional sports franchises sniff out and chomp onto extra dollars Indianapolis might have at any given time.
Last night I decided to speak with an authority on corruption—Mayor Richard J. Daley, former Mayor of Chicago. If you think he still is alive, you are thinking of…
Today's Show: at JT's Grill, 2210 East 54th Street and---I wish Scott Tibbs would stop by or at least respond.
The death penalty is an archaic means by which fewer societies attempt to address crime.
There are several reasons advanced “for” the death penalty. I addressed several this week in two of my posts on this blog. Scott Tibbs, who blogs at ConservaTibbs, had posted his view that we, as a society through our government, should ban lethal injection as a method of execution. He advocates firing squad, hanging and electrocution. I stated my view that we should abolish all means of…
Ronald Reagan: daily reminders of the legacy of possibly the worst President of the Twentieth Century.
“The disparity in wealth began around 1980" ... “We began to experience these problems in the early 1980s"... “Regulations were eased in the 1980s”...
I noticed a constant in recent stories about our economic, domestic and foreign woes. The year 1980 is used vaguely as a bench mark. There is an actual, specific date when those woes began. The date was January 20, 1981, when the worst president of the Twentieth Century—Ronald Reagan—was sworn into office.
Barely two months in…
ConservaTibbs got me to think more about "Capital Punishment"---a new audience participation Show!
Yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Judicial Circuit halted the planned execution of Robert James Campbell. Prosecutors had failed to provide Campbell’s attorneys with the results of two intelligence (IQ) tests that indicated Campbell’s IQ was under 70. The United States Supreme Court has held a person who is mentally retarded cannot be executed. Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002). Also, the Court long ago held that the State is under an obligation to…
I agree with ConservaTibbs: we should abolish lethal injections as means of execution---but we should abolish ALL executions.
In his “ConservaTibbs” blog yesterday, Scott Tibbs wrote that governments here should abolish lethal injection as a means of capital punishment. We, as a people, should employ firing squads, hanging, or electrocution as means by which people “who deserve to die” are killed.
Mr. Tibbs perhaps has missed the past couple of hundred years of legal evolution.
At the time the Framers met in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention, there were about 60 crimes, in the…
Privatization of Education in Indiana: guest Doug Martin, author of "Hoosier School Heist" and Justin Oakley of "Just Let Me Teach"
"Hoosier School Heist," is a scathing analysis of the privatization of education in the United States, with a special focus on Indiana, written by Doug Martin. Mr. Martin will be a guest on Civil Discourse Now today, streamed live from The Foundry at 236 East 16th Street, from 11 am to 1 pm.
"Hoosier School Heist" portrays corporate greed and political corruption in a bipartisan light: the two "major" political parties have participated equally in the effort to dismantle this…
Tomorrow's Show: education from The Foundry with guests Doug Martin and Justin Oakley.
Civil Discourse Now will stream live from The Foundry at 236 East 16th Street, Saturday, May 10, from 11 am to 1 pm.
On this week’s Show we shall discuss education with Doug Martin, author of “Hoosier School Heist.” Justin Oakley, host of “Just Let Me Teach” and former candidate for Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction also will join us. We may have one more guest panelist, but again, at this writing, I do not have confirmation.
The system of public education…
Added by Mark Small on May 9, 2014 at 6:05am — No Comments
Rep. Susan Brooks will have to get past Shawn Denney in 2014 to face---Evan Bayh for Senate in 2016?
The dust has settled from the May 6 primaries. Yard signs now can be taken down and recycled. We all can take a big, deep breath and look ahead.
There are two races for United States House of Representatives in Indiana that might prove interesting. In the Second District, incumbent and Republican Jackie Walorski might have her hands full. The Second was reconfigured (i.e., gerrymandered) to be more secure to Republicans. However, Walorski is seen by some as weak. She is extremely…
Way to go, Shawn Denney!
Congratulations are extended to Shawn Denney for his victory in the Democratic primary election for the 5th Congressional District. He will run against incumbent Representative Susan Brooks in the general election in November. I also would like to say “good job” to Allen Ray Davidson who gave it his all, but came up short in the Democratic primary for the same position. Finally, I would say a similar “good job” to David Stockdale, who lost in the GOP primary for the 5th.
Today's primaries: polling sites should be made easy to find and---don't vote for David Ford in the 5th Congressional District.
If you want to know where to vote, one place at which you can find that information is the Voter Information Portal - Indianapolis on the internet. Another is the website of the Office of the Marion County Clerk.
Last week I received a post card from the Office of the Marion County Clerk. The card was quite helpful, as it was notice of where our precinct polling site is located. If I had not shuffled through the junk mail, found, and read the card, I would have driven to…
Tomorrow's primary: if you are a fan of the "tea party" and live in the 5th Congressional District, vote for David Stockdale
Tomorrow, May 6, are the Democratic and Republican primary elections. A lot of candidates are unopposed. One race, about which I have blogged extensively over the past week-and-a-half is for the Democratic Party nomination for 5th Congressional District. Three candidates will be on the ballot. Shawn Denney and Allen Ray Davidson are well-qualified. I would be honored if either of them was elected as my Congressperson. I will vote in the Democratic Party primary, as I have since I first…
Gary Welsh and Paul Ogden: why I've blogged about David Ford's "stealth" candidacy in the 5th Congressional District.
Gary Welsh's "Advance Indiana" and Paul Ogden's "Ogden on Politics" are blogs I read. I disagree with them on a wide variety of issues, but respect them for the views they hold.
Yesterday Gary posted a question about my recent blogs in regard to David Ford, who appears to be a "tea party" candidate, but running in the Fifth Congressional District Democratic Party primary. On FaceBook yesterday, Gary asked why I obsessed over this guy, noting that even if David Ford wins the…
Today---the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon! Good luck to everyone and: let's be careful out there.
Today I will participate in my 16th consecutive "Mini." Two years ago I slowed down just past mile 10 and took the bus to the finish live. Otherwise, I have made it all 13.1 miles on foot each year.
I was gratified this week when David Barris, on Channel 8, did a piece about my participation in the Mini and my diagnosis with MS in 1994. When I was diagnosed, the MS had rendered my legs immobile. I began to walk as therapy, and later used the challenge of the Mini to walk the…
Did an officer abuse status to go wrong way on 1-way street on a date?
Hey Morgan! Rob! SCOTUS case 16-1464 and you seek same ends.
Half the Case in 16-1464 has been proven---Special Master should be appointed.
Today at noon: Dr. Wilmer Leon's Show on Sirius---SCOTUS case seeks to void election.
Academic freedom and Mitch Daniels are incompatible.
To Indiana's GOP U.S. House Reps: where's trump?
GOP wants unity? Gosh, let's barf
Problems aren't caused by the "left"
Minority of hatred has no right to control 1 of the 2 major parties
trump only part of the threat to USA & World
Take steps to dissolve corporation known as Indiana GOP
Malcolm X was right & this violence has historic roots
Nullify 2016 "election" & all acts derived from it.
Open letter to Neil Young
Trump/Putin seek to destroy all they can as DT apologists retreat to bunker
A different view of the Marjorie Jackson murder and its implications.
If Spartz refuses to denounce Putin, guess the name of her control agent.
Civil Discourse Now
Added by Mark Small 0 Comments 1 Like
Mark Small for Congress - GOP primary Indiana's 5th Congressional District
How We Should Support Our Veterans
Added by Big Kahuna 0 Comments 1 Like
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Guernsey Badminton currently run a Level Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Singles league for all club players affiliated to the GBA. As of August 2017, the structure of the leagues has changed. The season is now split into two “seasons” (Autumn & Winter) with promotion and relegation taking place after the Autumn season. All entrants to the leagues are representing their clubs and details of the fixtures and rules are available on the GBA Leagues.
Guernsey also has a team representing the island in the County Championships and stages a number of county level matches throughout the season –for more information see the Representing Guernsey page.
The annual Guernsey Open tournament is held over the Easter weekend; it has a senior and veterans section and is open to any registered Badminton England player and is part of the English Circuit. The Guernsey Senior Silver and the Guernsey Masters Bronze will be held on the 1st to the 3rd April 2021 (travel restrictions permitting) and entry forms will be available soon. In addition to the Open, Guernsey has two restricted tournaments, the annual Senior Closed and the Handicap tournament. For more information on the Open, and all our tournaments, please see our Tournaments page.
Under 18’s in Guernsey also have the opportunity to compete against others their age through participating in the Guernsey Junior Closed & Junior Open which are open to players of all junior age groups. For more information on junior competitions please visit the Juniors section of the website.
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RAFAEL Calcano DEVERS
Nickname: N/A Position: 3B
Home: N/A Team: RED SOX
Height: 6' 0" Bats: L
Weight: 240 Throws: R
DOB: 10/24/1996 Agent: Rudy Santin
Uniform #: 11
Birth City: Sanchez, D.R.
Draft: 2013 - Red Sox - Free agent - Out of the D.R.
SAL(K)
2014 GCL GCL-Red Sox 42 157 21 49 11 2 4 36 1 0 14 30 .374 .484 .312
2014 DSL DSL-Red Sox 28 104 26 35 6 3 3 21 4 1 21 20 .445 .538 .337
2015 SAL GREENVILLE 115 469 71 135 38 1 11 70 3 2 24 84 .329 .443 .288
2016 CAR SALEM 128 503 64 142 32 8 11 71 18 6 40 94 .335 .443 .282
2017 IL PAWTUCKET 9 35 6 14 1 0 2 4 0 0 3 8 .447 .600 .400
2017 EL PORTLAND 77 287 48 86 19 3 18 56 0 3 31 55 .369 .575 .300
2017 AL RED SOX 58 222 34 63 14 0 10 30 3 1 18 57 .338 .482 .284
2018 IL PAWTUCKET 6 21 3 7 2 0 1 2 0 0 1 6 .364 .571 .333
2018 NYP LOWELL 1 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 .250 1.000 .250
2018 AL RED SOX $565.00 121 450 59 108 24 0 21 66 5 2 38 121 .298 .433 .240
2019 AL RED SOX $615.00 156 647 129 201 54 4 32 115 8 8 48 119 .361 .555 .311
In 2013, Devers signed with the Red Sox (see Transactions below).
In 2013, after the regular season, Rafael turned a lot of heads with his power during the Instructional League.
In 2014, Baseball America rated Devers as the 20th-best prospect in the Red Sox organization. He was moved all the way up to #6 in the winter before 2015 spring training. And to second-best in the Red Sox farm system, behind only 2B Yoan Moncada. In 2017, Devers was #3, behind Andrew Benintendi and Moncada.
In 2015, Rafael was chosen by the Red Sox to play in the Futures Game. He played on the World Team and became the youngest Red Sox prospect, at age 18, ever to play in a Futures Game.
In 2017, Devers again represented the Red Sox in the All-Star Futures game.
Devers is a willing worker who displays impressive athleticism. And he stays on top of his conditioning.
As Rafael flew from Boston to Seattle to start his Major League career, the 3,000-mile journey felt like it would never end. Once it finally did, Devers quickly put on his Red Sox uniform with the Number 11 on the back. He then met with the media in the dugout and took batting practice at Safeco Field.
"You can imagine how happy I felt when I heard the news," Devers said through interpreter Daveson Perez. "It's something that I've dreamed about for a long time and I'm really happy. I just wanted to get here so bad. I didn't even fall asleep on the plane. I was just so excited to get here."
Devers vows that he won't let up.
"For me, the work is never done. I just want to learn how to be a superstar third baseman," Devers said. "Everyone tells me the only way to do that is through constant work, just like when you're hitting, you have to do constant work. They told me daily work at third base is going to make a difference, make me the superstar I want to be."
Perhaps so he can expend all his energy on his acclimation, Devers advised his parents not to join him in Seattle.
"The first people I called was my mom and my dad," said Devers. "And my dad got so excited that the first thing he said was, 'I'm booking a plane to go watch you play right now.' I told him hang on. When we're in Boston, we can work that out." (Browne - mlb.com - 7/24/17)
One of Devers' nicknames is "CARLITA." He said, "When we were younger and in the Dominican, we would always give each other nicknames. And I was the kid who was always smiling and happy, so they said we would call this kid Carlita, which means baby face."
Devers was given the nickname because he was so happy and smiling as a child.
July 16, 2019: Devers received the MLB Players Alumni Association Heart and Hustle award for the Red Sox. This esteemed award honors active players who demonstrate a passion for the game of baseball and best embody the values, spirit and traditions of the game. The Heart and Hustle Award is also the only award in Major League Baseball that is voted on by former players.
Devers hired a nutritionist during the winter before 2019 Spring Training, and also doubled down on his workouts, and arrived at camp looking like a different person.
"This started last year (2018)," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. "He was a big part o what we did in October and then he goes home and at that age, decides to get a nutritionist and a personal trainer and was working on his defense, and to go to Fort Myers early—it shows a lot to us."
2019 season: Breakout season? Maybe. But nobody predicted Devers was going to go off to the degree that he did.
He had one of the best seasons in history for a 22-year-old. Devers became just the 10th player to hit .300 with 30-plus homers, 100-plus RBIs and 100-plus runs scored in a season before turning 23. Ted Williams, Jimmie Fox, Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols each did it twice. Devers is the first to accomplish the feat since Miguel Cabrera in 2005.
The exciting thing is that Devers is still evolving, and the Red Sox likely haven’t seen what he is fully capable of just yet.
“I want to improve on everything,” said Devers. “Just because I had a good season this year doesn’t mean there aren’t things I can’t improve from defense to offense. I just want to improve everything going into next season.”
What went right? Quite a bit. Devers was a machine at the plate, hitting for average (.311), power (32 homers) and all those doubles (54).
“Overall, offensively, I feel like I’m proud of everything I’ve been able to do,” said Devers. “I give a lot of credit to Xander, who has helped me a lot with my preparation and just everything he’s been able to help me with. Just, offensively, I had a really good season and I think I was able to have an overall season that I’m really proud of.”
It was on defense where Devers made his best improvement. He became a liability at times last year, all too frequently making routine errors. After a tough first month in 2019, Devers cleaned it up the rest of the way and excelled in the field. Coaches Carlos Febles and Ramón Vázquez spent a lot of time working with Devers on his defense.
“It just all comes down to the experience [on] defense,” Devers said. “I know there were some errors I was making last year where I was just like, ‘Man, how did I make that?’ This season, I know I’ve improved. Obviously I’ve made some errors here and there. But I’ve just continued to learn on how to improve.”
Devers isn’t disciplined at the plate on a consistent enough basis. Manager Alex Cora constantly talks about controlling the strike zone. When Devers isn’t able to do that, he gets exposed. For Devers to reach the level of Nationals star phenom Juan Soto, he needs to swing at his pitch, not the one at which the pitcher wants him to swing. Devers had 119 strikeouts and just 48 walks in 702 plate appearances.
Best moment: There were many great days from Devers in 2019, but it’s easy to find the one that tops the list. On Aug. 13, Devers went 6-for-6 with four doubles to help fuel the Red Sox to a 7-6 win over the Indians in 10 innings. The performance was historic, as Devers became the first player to record six or more hits and four or more doubles in the same game. (Ian Browne - MLB.com - Oct. 24, 2019)
Rafael, who lights up Red Sox Nation with his laser-beam hits, dramatic facial expressions and pure joy for the game, is entering his fourth season (2020, third full) as the starting third baseman in Boston.
“He’s fun. He’s like my little brother,” said Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez. “He's a little kid. Exactly how he looks like is how he is. He’s always wondering what is going on, talking to himself in the box. He’s just funny. He’s one of those people who is just harmless. He’s fun to be around."
After staying home to witness the birth of his second daughter in February 2020, Devers made his Grapefruit League debut against the Twins, going 0-for-2 in a 4-1 loss. With Devers back in the daily mix, things are instantly more joyful in Red Sox land.
“His personality is huge,” said Red Sox interim manager Ron Roenicke. “He’s another one of those guys like [Xander Bogaerts], he’s just in a good mood every day. He’s smiling all the time. I think probably people get a kick out of all his facial expressions that happen all through the game. But he really is a pleasure to be around.”
“He’s just got great talent,” Martinez said. “Great hands at the plate. He’s got a knack for putting the barrel on the ball. You can’t teach that.” (Browne - mlb.com - 2/28/2020)
His cousin, Jose, has played professionally in the Yankees (2017) and Marlins (2018-19).
If you watch Devers in the batter's box, he will talk to himself in-between pitches. He'll hit himself lightly with his bat if he thinks he swung at a bad one. His emotions come across quite clearly to those of us watching on TV.
In the field, he's often talking with the opposing third base coach or the opposing dugout.
August 9, 2013: Devers signed with the Red Sox organization as an international free agent for a bonus of $1.5 million, via scout Manny Nanita.
March 10, 2020: Devers signed a one year contract with the Red Sox for $692,500.
Devers is a very good lefthanded hitter who consistently puts the barrel of the bat on the ball. He has strong hitting instincts and feel. His bat speed is impressive. He has a sweet, buggy-whip swing from the left side, plus bat speed and a knack for barreling the ball with authority. He uses a simple, loose, compact stroke that stays in the hitting zone, giving him excellent plate coverage and the ability to drive the ball to all fields. His loft and backspin allows him to hit the ball out of any part of the park.
His power, even at age 17, was listed at a 60 on the 20-80 scouting scale, with projection of a 70 power hitter when he's in his 20s, which has already come to pass. He has uncommon upside as a hitter. He even knows when to turn on pitches for pull power. He has power from pole to pole.
"I was always able to hit the ball hard," Rafael said in 2019. "Going into my second season, it was mostly just getting the fat part of the bat on the ball."
It's one thing to hit the ball hard. It's another to be able to hit it all over the yard. Nobody looks more comfortable than Devers hitting at Fenway Park. He can go the other way with ease and hit the ball off of, or over the Monster. And he has more than enough power to put one in the bullpen or into the bleachers. (Spring, 2020)
Between every pitch, Rafael has adopted J.D. Martinez's routine of stepping out of the box to compose himself. He leans back, takes a deep breath and pulls air deep into his lungs. The he lets out a big exhale before stepping back in.
"I've worked with previous people in the organization that led me to some of my breathing techniques that I do now. But it's all about controlling myself. I know it.," Devers said.
Rafael has very good bat speed and a smooth, compact lefthanded swing. He can hit the ball to left-center (the opposite) field. He's going to be a solid middle-of-the-order hitter. Devers launches balls to any part of the park with a lefty swing that generates both loft and backspin.
Devers can hit anything. He hits righthanders, he hits lefthanders, he hits lefthanded breaking balls out of the zone and drives them. He has good bat speed, feel for the bat head, a level stroke—the whole deal. All the attributes to hit, they’re all right there. And the different sound off his bat is special. While Rafael appears to take a ferocious lefthanded rip, he manages to stay balanced throughout his swing.
He has the ability to manipulate the bat head and make contact on pitches out of the strike zone. He can pulverize a pitch on the inner half of the plate. He strikes out rarely. He has a level swing and average raw power, which could become above-average once he gets stronger.
Rafael needs to better control his energy and aggressiveness so he can stay within himself and be more consistent with the barrel. He's a guy who's really got to learn to be selective more often and get his pitch. When he gets his pitch, he often hits it hard.
2016 Batting Improvements: First half .233/.300/.335; second half .331/.371/.555.
Playing all year in the Carolina League at age 19, Devers began by hitting .138 with a .504 OPS in April. It got better in May, when he hit .248 with a .652 OPS, but he really got it going in June (.313 AVG with a .738 OPS). A 1.078 OPS in July, followed by a .845 OPS August capped off the year as Devers hit seven of his 11 home runs and drove in 40 runs in those two months. He ended up in the Carolina League's top 10 for both RBIs and SLG.
“The first month, Rafael had a slow start,” Salem hitting coach Nelson Paulino said. “He tried to do too much, too much effort with his body. His pitch recognition did not work. He was swinging mostly at pitchers’ pitches. He knows he’s got power. He had to be able to understand that he needed to pick good pitches to hit the ball. He was off-balance at the plate, trying to hit the ball too hard.”
Behind the scenes, the young lefthanded batter and Paulino went to work in the cages, working on letting the ball get deeper to improve pitch selection and emphasize Devers’ unusual ability to drive the ball to left and left-center field. (Alex Spiers - Baseball America - 9/02/2016)
August 3, 2017: Devers became just the fourth Red Sox player in the last 100 years to homer in at least three of his first eight MLB games. And the first to do so since Mo Vaughn in 1991.
Aug 19, 2017: Devers didn't call his own shot with his latest missile of a home run. But he did join a club in which the only other member is Babe Ruth. With his solo shot in the Red Sox's 4-3 loss to the Yankees, Devers joined the Bambino as the only players younger than 21 to hit homers in three straight games against the Bronx Bombers.
In 2017, Devers was named the MLB Pipeline's Hitting Prospect of the Year for the Red Sox.
October 8, 2017: Devers made history becoming the youngest player to hit a post-season home run for the Red Sox with his two-run shot off Houston's Francisco Liriano in Game 3 of the ALDS.
October 9, 2017: Devers' hit a ninth-inning, inside-the-park home run, nearly rallying the Red Sox in a wild ALDS game.
May 28, 2019: Devers is the only Red Sox player In history with an extra-base hit and a run scored In 7 straight games.
May 28, 2019: Devers has improved his walk rate from 7.8 percent to 8.9 percent, over last year 2018, while cutting his strikeout rate from 24.7 percent to 15.1 percent. This more controlled approach has yielded strong results in the batter's box, as he was batting .327/.388/.505 with seven homers and 31 RBIs through 53 games.
He's also been making an impact on the bases with seven steals—two more than all of 2018. With All-Star voting starting, Devers could find himself in his first All-Star game come July.
June 3, 2019: MLB selected Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers as the AL Player of the Month for May. It’s Devers’ first league distinction of his young career.
Devers, 22, paced the AL with 40 hits last month while slashing .351/.380/.640 for Boston. The third baseman compiled a career-best 11-game hit streak from May 19-31, and he surged into a tie with Josh Bell for the Major League lead with 93 hard-hit balls (those hit with exit velocities of 95-plus mph), per Statcast. Devers recorded an extra-base hit and scored a run in eight straight games from May 20-28 to tie a Red Sox record set by Dwight Evans in 1982, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Aug 13, 2019: Devers made history. The 22-year-old third baseman went 6-for-6 with four doubles, becoming the first player in Major League history to record six or more hits and four or more doubles in one game.
"I had no idea, obviously," said Devers. "I just try to go out there and have good at-bats, that's all I was thinking about. Just every turn, try to get on base, and just trying to do that for the team."
September 10, 2019: Rafael belted his 50th double of the season, making him just the eighth Red Sox player to reach the feat and also the youngest at 22 years old. “Yeah, it feels great,” Devers said. “Obviously I’m just thankful to be able to play this game and obviously just trying to finish strong. But it feels good to get that mark.” (Browne - mlb.com)
September 18, 2019: Rafael made it a special one, sending a 3-2 offering from Jeff Samardzija over the right-field wall for his 30th home run of the season. And with it, long list of milestones.
With his first home run in 12 games, Devers joins David Ortiz (2007) and Xander Bogaerts (2019) as the lone Red Sox to collect 30-plus home runs and 50-plus doubles in a season. At the same time, Devers and Bogaerts (who had reached the same milestone just a few days earlier, on Sept. 10) also became the first MLB teammates to accomplish the feat.
Sept 21, 2019: For 41 seasons, Butch Hobson held a little-known record in Red Sox history.
All of 22 years old, Rafael Devers broke it at Tropicana Field when he smashed his 31st homer of the season, the most ever by a Boston third baseman.
“It’s fun,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Like I’ve been saying all along, he did an outstanding job in the offseason to get in shape, to be ready for the grind, and he didn’t prove us wrong. I remember early in the season when the on-base percentage was up but he wasn’t driving the ball. A lot of people were doubting him, and he stayed with the process and controlled the strike zone. We’re very proud of him.”
And that led him to a record that he didn’t know about until after the game.
“This is actually the first time I’m hearing of this, so it’s pretty cool, but obviously it’s a record that I broke now but there’s more records I want to try to continue to break,” Devers said. “It’s just about trying to stay healthy and moving forward, trying to work as much as I can.” (I Browne - MLB.com - Sept 21, 2019)
2019 Season: This marks the 28th time in Red Sox history that a player has recorded 200+ hits in a season and Devers is the youngest to do so. Devers broke a franchise record held by Bogaerts for the most hits in a season by a player under the age of 23. Only 17 players in Major League history have had a 200-hit season before age 23.
As of the start of the 2021 season, Rafael's career Major League stats were: .279 batting average, 108 doubles, 74 home runs, and 433 hits with 254 RBI in 1,551 at-bats.
Rafael has plenty of arm for third base. He has improved defensively and should stick at third base with decent range as well as soft hands and an above-average arm.
The Red Sox have traded many high-profile prospects but look wise for keeping Devers.
Scouts and managers raved about Devers’ quick feet, strong arm and soft hands at third base. They said he has a strong internal clock to make on-time throws.
No matter what Devers does at the plate, he doesn't take it with him on defense.
“He’s one of the best I’ve seen with his hands and the way he fields his position,” Salem manager Joe Oliver said. “The rough start (at the plate early in 2016) he got off to never transitioned to the other side of the ball."
Some scouts say Devers will end up at first base, because of his round body type. However, if Rafael is able to keep his body in check, then you’re looking at a legitimate third baseman.
He has wide hips that lead to concerns of future weight gain, but he has the body control, infield actions and light feet to stay at the hot corner.
He has a wide fanny, so he will always have to keep his round-body-type in check to stay at third base; otherwise, he would have to play first base. Some evaluators see the potential for a Pablo Sandoval-style defender.
Devers surprises evaluators with his athleticism and baseball IQ. But for some scouts, Rafael's wide frame signals a future at first base.
“He’s always been a strong, stocky kid, but his feet always moved lighter than they would appear,” Red Sox assistant general manager Eddie Romero said in 2017 spring training. “He had good fundamentals in terms of squaring up to the ball . . . and he had good hands. He’s always had an above-average arm.
“So I thought those attributes, if he was able to stay physically strong without losing that flexibility . . . (that he would be able) to go side to side.”
August 28, 2017: With the bases loaded and one out and the Red Sox down by a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, Rafael was about to concede a run and nobody would have blamed him.
The grounder by Kevin Pillar was hit down the third-base line and Devers fielded it roughly 20 feet beyond the bag. His body was turned toward first, and Devers was about to fire across the diamond.
But the 20-year-old had the presence of mind to see Pillar was likely going to beat it out. So on the fly, Devers made a perfect throw home and nailed Josh Donaldson by half a step.
"My mentality initially was to go to first, but when I saw he was already halfway down the line, I went home with it," said Devers. "Basically I was thinking if the ball was hit hard to me, I would go for the double play. In that situation, the only play I had was to go home with it." (Browne - mlb.com)
Rafael has about average speed. But he is a quality baserunner.
Career Injury Report
September 2014: Rafael sustained a stress fracture in his foot when turning his ankle on a slide in Instructional League. But he was expected to have a normal offseason after a typical four-to-six week recovery period.
July 11-21, 2018: Devers was placed on the disabled list with inflammation in the shoulder.
July 29-Aug 8, 2018: Devers was on the DL with left hamstring strain.Aug 16-Sept. 4, 2018: Devers was back on the DL with a left hammy strain.
Aug 11, 2020: For the second straight day, Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers was out of Boston's lineup with a sore left ankle. However, he demonstrated enough improvement that there's a chance he could be back in there soon.
"Pretty good," said Roenicke. "Went out and did some hitting in the cage, took some ground balls, ran a little bit. So he's doing way better. We weren't quite sure where he was going to be, but a lot better today."
Last Updated 10/10/2020 10:01:00 AM
© 2021 Player Profiles. All Rights Reserved.
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Tag Archives: Curley Moore
A whole lotta Love: Soulman C.P. Love kicks off the Ponderosa Stomp’s new “Heroes of Louisiana Music at the Mint” series on May 15th, 2012
May 11, 2012 Lakeview Kid Leave a comment
“Who do you love?” Bo Diddley asked. In the case of this Tuesday’s “Heroes of Louisiana Music at the Mint,” the answer is C.P. Love. This soulful Crescent City singer will be starring in the first installment of a four-part series presented by the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation and the Friends of the Cabildo, in conjunction with the Louisiana State Museum. The presentation starts at 6 p.m. in the Old U.S. Mint’s newly renovated concert space, where Love will perform, chat with music writer Jeff Hannusch, and answer audience questions about his long career in soul and R&B alongside some of the greatest legends of the industry. We hope that at the end of this presentation, you will love C.P. Love as much as you do some of his own musical heroes: Danny White, Smiley Lewis, Otis Redding, and Sam Cooke.
The very definition of an unsung hero, C.P. Love “has the rare distinction of being better known for a song he didn’t record rather than one he did,” according to Hannusch. The legendary King Floyd offered his newly penned song “Groove Me” to Love, who passed on the future 1970 smash hit in favor of its composer. Love brought a demo of King’s version to promoter Elijah Walker and famed producer Wardell Quezergue, who declared with his characteristic understatement: “I believe we have something.” And the rest is history. “I never regretted not recording ‘Groove Me’ — I felt glad for King,” Love said.
C.P. Love
But Love, born Carleton Pierre Love in New Orleans in 1945, is brimming with his own talent, on both vocals and guitar, and has played with dozens of legends in soul and R&B since 1957. Growing up on the West Bank, Love recalled playing his first marquee gig in Marrero with piano giant Professor Longhair. “The band consisted of just Fess and a drummer. … [Fess] was a quiet guy who didn’t go for any humbug.”
In its heyday Love also frequented the city’s most famous incubator of R&B and rock ‘n’ roll, the Dew Drop Inn on LaSalle Street. “I started going by the Dew Drop, where I hung with Deacon John, Esquerita, Curley Moore, and Earl King.” Over the years Love has played in clubs all over the region, from the Devil’s Den on North Galvez to the F&M Patio and famed Bourbon Street spots like the Sho-Bar and La Strada, where he worked with Clarence “Frogman” Henry. “I did Bourbon Street for 10 years at several clubs. That was the best lesson I ever got as a singer.”
Plenty of Room For More – C.P. Love
By 1968, Love was recruited by Elijah Walker and Earl King to cut a single on their King Walk label: “Plenty of Room for More” / “You Call the Shots” — both Earl King compositions reminiscent of Wilson Pickett.
You Call the Shots – C.P. Love
With “Groove Me” a monster hit for King Floyd in 1970 on the Malaco label, Love once again deferred to Floyd and gave him the first shot at “I Found All These Things.” However, Love later cut the song as well, and it became a regional hit on Atlantic – and could have gone bigger if Love had been able to go on tour with James Carr for a stop at the Apollo Theater. “I Found All These Things” is considered a deep soul classic and one of the best souls singles from the Malaco vaults. Love and his band the Invaders toured with King Floyd for nine months and then with Candi Staton and Bobby Womack. He also has opened for talents such as Fats Domino and B.B. King.
I Found All of These Things – C.P. Love.
Love then played Bourbon Street for 10 years until the clubs went non-union, and he balked at the exploitative conditions. “If you wanted to work on Bourbon Street, you had to take a big cut in pay. I wouldn’t accept that.” Love moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1986 and worked the club and festival circuit along the West Coast. He also cut a four-track EP for the Award label and recorded an album on New Orleans producer Carlo Ditta’s Orleans label, whose roster has included Rockie Charles, Guitar Slim Jr., Coco Robicheaux, Danny Barker, and Roland Stone. Bassist George Porter and guitarist Leo Nocentelli of the Meters provided backing for the one-day session, which included three of his own songs.
Indeed, it is Love’s own original songs of which is he proudest, including “Stubborn Girl,” “True Blue,” and “Secondline Home.” He owns his own publishing company, Pierre Publishing, as well as Trip City Jingles, a marketing-jingles firm. Having returned to New Orleans, Love has played the Jazz and Heritage Festival and clubs such as the House of Blues. However, he won’t be returning to Bourbon Street anytime soon. “I’m not going to embarrass myself by working on Bourbon Street for $8 a set.”
That’s why the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation is proud to present C.P. Love in a setting truly worthy of his talents: the Old U.S. Mint’s newly renovated performance hall. For more information on Love, visit his MySpace and Facebook pages.
The Old U.S. Mint is at 400 Esplanade Ave. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The program runs from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. $30 general admission, $25 for Friends of the Cabildo members. For more information, click here or here, or call 504-523-3939.
Blues, gulf coast soul, New Orleans, R&B, Soul, video
bo diddleyBourbon StreetC.P. LoveCarlo Dittaclarence frogman henryCoco RobicheauxCurley MooreDanny BarkerDanny WhiteDew Drop InnEarl KingElijah WalkerEsqueritaFrench QuarterFriends of the CabildoFrogman HenryGeorge PorterGuitar Slim Jr.James BrownJames CarrKing FloydLeo NocentelliLouisiana State MuseumNew Orleans Jazz and Heritage FestivalOld U.S. MintOtis ReddingPonderosa Stomp FoundationProfessor LonghairRoland StoneSmiley Lewiswardell quezergueWilson Pickett
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buying & selling your art
Vilhelm Hammershøi – SOLD
KÜRZLICH VERKAUFT
Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864 - Copenhagen - 1916)
The Balcony Room at ‘Spurveskjul’ [Sparrow’s Nest], 1911
Oil on canvas, 43.2 x 53.3 cm
The artist’s family (until 1918)
Valdemar Kleis, Copenhagen
Private collection (1960, probably acquired from Kleis)
Thence by descent
Alfred Bramsen and Sophus Michaelis, Vilhelm Hammershøi – Kunstneren og hans vaerk, Copenhagen and Christiania 1918, no. 345
The present interior by the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi was executed on an extended stay at a country house called ‘Spurveskjul’ in 1911. Hammershøi and his wife Ida had rented the house – situated to the north of Copenhagen – for the summer. The name ‘Spurveskjul’ [Sparrow’s Nest] can be traced back to its first occupant, the painter Nicolai Abildgaard – teacher of Philipp Otto Runge and Caspar David Friedrich. The property was built for Abildgaard in 1805-6 after his own design. Hammershøi selected his private living quarters very carefully – he changed address frequently – and furnished their interiors with meticulous regard to their relevance to his artistic work. They served as a repertoire of models for almost all his paintings. Alfred Bramsen, co-author of the Hammershøi Catalogue Raisonné, describes the couple’s stay at ‘Spurveskjul’ as a happy one, to the extent that they may even have considered purchasing the property.[1]
Fig. 1 Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior, ‘Spurveskjul’, 1911, oil on canvas, 48.5 x 60 cm
The painting depicts one particular room in the house – a room which Hammershøi used as a recurrent motif (Fig. 1). In the present version the room is devoid of furniture and fixtures. The only vestige of interior decoration is the hint of a curtain. Hammershøi directs his entire attention towards the space itself, as daylight gently invades the room, modelling the walls, doors and window in delicate gradations of grey. Reflections in the window panes block out the exterior, the viewer is left isolated in a solitary, secluded space.
A newspaper interview Hammershøi gave in 1907 throws light on his intentions: What makes me choose a motif is as much the lines in it, what I would call the architectural stance of the picture. And then the light, of course. It is naturally also very important, but the lines are almost what I am most taken by. Colour is of secondary importance, I suppose; I am not indifferent to how it looks in colour. I work very hard to make it harmonious. But when I choose a motif I think I mainly look at lines.[2]
Hammershøi’s brushwork is entirely characteristic of his late period and shares similarities with contemporary pointillist techniques.
The present composition served as preparatory to the background of the important self-portrait with a brush, titled Self-Portrait, ‘Spurveskjul’,[3] also executed in 1911. The work is now in the collection of the Statens Museum in Copenhagen (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 Vilhelm Hammershøi, Self-Portrait ‘Spurveskjul’, 1911, oil on canvas, 126 x 149 cm
Hammershøi entered the Copenhagen Academy of Art in 1879 and completed his studies in 1885. His first exhibited painting was a portrait of a girl. This was shown at the Academy’s Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition in 1885. A painting titled Bedroom was turned down by the jury of the Academy in 1890. After that, he exhibited with the artists’ association known as Frie Udstilling [‘Free Exhibition’] set up by the Danish artist Johan Rohde. Hammershøi married Ida Ilsted (1869-1949), the younger sister of his associate and friend Peter Ilsted, in 1891. Ida was his model in a great many of his paintings of interiors. The couple travelled extensively in Europe. In 1895, Hammershøi exhibited with the Freie Vereinigung Münchner Künstler at the Kunst-Salon Gurlitt in Berlin.
The influential Berlin-based art dealer Paul Cassirer (1871-1926) purchased several of Hammershøi’s paintings in 1905 and staged a solo show of his work at the Hamburg branch of his gallery. Hammershøi exhibited at the ‘Exposition Universelle’ in Paris in 1889 and again in 1900. He showed at the Venice Biennale in 1903 and at numerous exhibitions in Germany, England, Russia and the United States. After his death the contents of his studio were dispersed at an auction held on 30 October 1916. His œuvre lapsed into obscurity and was only rediscovered in the 1970s as art-historical re-evaluation of Symbolism emerged.[4] Exhibitions of his work in Europe and in Japan followed, the most recent being the major retrospective staged in Munich in 2012. Hammershøi is today regarded as the leading Danish painter of the second half of the nineteenth century.
[1] Bramsen and Michaelis, op. cit., p.72.
[2] Vilhelm Hammershøi, exhib. cat., Hamburg, Kunsthalle, 22 March-29 June 2003, p.135.
[3] Hammershøi depicts himself gazing out of the painting in a brief interruption from work. Self-portraits are frequent in his early and late work. In the very early self-portraits executed in the 1880s he chose a frontal view. In the 1890s he experimented with different viewpoints.
[4] Vilhelm Hammershøi, op. cit., p.127. Hammershøi’s relationship to the Symbolist movement is ambivalent. His painting titled Artemis, exhibited with the Frie Udstilling association in 1894, has been described as ‘a key work in the history of Danish art’, symptomatic of ‘the breakthrough of the Symbolist aesthetic’. However it is unclear as to what extent Hammershøi identified himself with the Symbolists, particularly in view of his negative comments regarding a Symbolist exhibition he had visited in Paris (see Vilhelm Hammershøi, op. cit., p.14).
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First President Visits Museum For First Time
The DuBois Area Historical Society’s first president Dr. John Furlow and wife, Judy, also a former officer, attended the 30th Anniversary dinner in September and visited the E. D. Reitz Museum for their first time the next day. “I believe we used to meet on the street corner,” joked John after touring the museum, “I am really impressed with the displays.” Dr. Furlow served as the Society’s first president in 1982 when he was a faculty member and taught Pennsylvania history at Penn State DuBois. The Furlow’s relocated to Lancaster, Ohio, where John served as dean at Ohio University-Lancaster campus.
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After interning twice at Google, I am excited to be joining as a full-time software engineer working on some of the biggest problems in our tech ecosystem today.
Computer Science - Alumni
By Whitney Hale
Graduating computer science and Lewis Honors College senior Kyra Seevers, of Lexington, recently interviewed as a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. And, while she won’t be pursuing graduate studies in England next fall, Seevers will embark on another exciting new chapter in her life as she takes a position at Google’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus.
“After interning twice at Google, I am excited to be joining as a full-time software engineer working on some of the biggest problems in our tech ecosystem today,” Seevers said. “Just like Google’s motto says — I truly hope to create, design, code and build for everyone.”
The daughter of Dan and Denise Seevers, Kyra will graduate this Friday (Dec. 4) with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from UK College of Engineering, as well as a minor in sociology and a Certificate in Universal Design.
A Chellgren Fellow, she been very active in undergraduate research at UK working with the school’s groundbreaking EduceLab: A Digital Restoration Initiative headed up by UK Alumni Professor Brent Seales, chair of the Department of Computer Science. As part of EduceLab, UK researchers take ancient manuscripts that are too broken or damaged to be read by hand and apply their custom software pipeline to virtually unwrap the documents revealing the text inside that has been hidden for ages.
Outside of her research with Seales’ lab and internships at Google, Seevers also conducted research abroad in Munich last year as one of UK’s two 2019 recipients of Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) from the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst – DAAD). There she worked with the Human Centered Ubiquitous Media Group at Ludwig Maximilian University, where she helped create and test augmented reality technologies that aid those with visual impairments.
Seevers credits experiences like the ones she had at the EduceLab with Seales and during her high school research with mentor Nelson Akafuah, an assistant professor in mechanical engineering at UK, as being beneficial to her own success at UK and opening doors to countless exciting opportunities.
“I am so grateful for my time at UK, and to all my professors, mentors, friends and family who helped me along the way. I am so glad I had the opportunity to not only learn more about my own community, but also, with the help of UK, explore the world.”
Seevers applied for the Rhodes Scholarship and her RISE internship through the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards, housed in the Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence. The office, under the leadership of Director Pat Whitlow, assists current UK undergraduate and graduate students and recent alumni in applying for external scholarships and fellowships funded by sources (such as a nongovernment foundation or government agency) outside the university.
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It’s never easy to put closure to an exciting and intense experience and jotting down these lines presents some trepidation.
Euromed Heritage 4 (EH) has completed its activities on 15 February 2013, after five years of operating on the cultural heritage of the Mediterranean region. Throughout these years, we have all gained valuable experience, acquired more perspectives on the many issues relative to cultural heritage preservation, and learned important lessons on how best to develop it. We have also contributed to build a whole corpus of knowledge about Mediterranean heritage and developed tools for better stewardship of its assets for at least one generation to come.
Needless to say, the most rewarding aspect of EH has been the people. The Euromed Heritage family is real. It has been growing for fifteen years and has evolved through the many exchanges and interrelations that have taken place through the programme. It has also created around it a network of experts, professionals and actors and together, their impact on the cultural heritage of the Mediterranean region carries a tremendous potential.
Each one us, partners and friends of EH, have our professional course to follow and our careers to build and/or strengthen. We should not forget, however, that EH can still accompany us on our future course. The website will remain accessible to the public and all results of our activities can be uploaded for your use. You can also access all the outputs of the programme- knowledge, tools, methodologies, etc. - by consulting our virtual library on the E-Corpus platform.
The RMSU Team thanks you for your cooperation and support and wishes you a good continuation in your future endeavours.
Christiane, Christophe, Jean-Louis, Daniela, Dario and Giulia
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Outsourcing torture and execution
Member of an American prison gang (Wikicommons: Border Brothers). A jail sentence is no longer just a jail sentence.
When my scholarship was cancelled I began looking for short-term contracts to support myself. At that time Quebec City offered little in the way of long-term employment, but demand was strong for bilingual contractuels who knew software packages like WordPerfect (which was not at all user-friendly in the late 1980s).
One day I got a call from a maximum security prison west of Quebec City. A renewable six-month clerical position. Good pay. But I'd have to get vaccinated for hepatitis B. "You never know. There's always a risk of rape in these places." I politely declined. Later someone else phoned to reassure me that the risk was "minimal" and nothing to worry about. I still declined.
Rape and assault are frequent in prisons. This is no surprise. More surprisingly, prison violence is becoming a deliberate form of punishment—a way to make the original sentence a lot worse. This punitive function has been discussed in a recent paper:
To what extent are rapes, beatings, and other assaults essential to the punitive function of the modern prison? Officially, violence of this sort is unlawful and clearly outside the bounds of legitimate punishment. The United States Supreme Court has declared more than once that being assaulted is not "part of the penalty that criminal offenders pay for their offenses against society."
[...] In reality, violence thoroughly defines the prison experience. Prisoners face a substantial risk of being beaten, raped, and even killed at the hands of their fellow inmates or keepers. In a way that is sometimes difficult for those who are unfamiliar with prison to appreciate, prisoners inhabit a world comprehensively defined by this kind of violence. Such violence is the dominant arbiter of social status in prison. It is the means by which authority, hierarchy, and privilege are articulated among prisoners and between prisoners and their keepers. And it is, paradoxically, the most reliable protection against being the victim of violence. (White 2008, pp. 737-738)
When did this punitive function come to be? To some extent it has always existed, but it began to gain much more importance during the "demographic shift" of the 1960s and 1970s (White 2008, pp. 745-746). The baby boom was invading all spheres of life, and this dramatic growth in the number of young people coincided with a weakening of informal social controls by family and church. People were also moving from rural communities (where these informal controls were strong) to big cities (where they were weak). All of these factors facilitated an explosion of criminal behavior, especially the violent sort that young males specialize in. American prisons were overwhelmed, "and by the mid 1970s the correctional model had totally collapsed, superseded by a very different regime" (White 2008, p. 745).
Male violence: pathological in some societies, normal in others
This surge of violent crime happened in all racial groups, but much more in African Americans. Why? The usual explanation is social deprivation. Young men turn to violence when denied full access to education, employment, and social acceptance. Such behavior is abnormal and will disappear in normal circumstances.
That view of “normal” behavior applies only to some societies. Elsewhere, young men are supposed to fight. And not simply as a last resort. They're expected to fight proactively, as a means to gain status, to impress women, and to strike terror in potential enemies (Frost 2010; Frost and Harpending 2015).
This is in contrast to pacified societies, where the State has imposed a monopoly on violence, and where even self-defense is not always a sufficient excuse. In such societies, violent behavior is criminalized and pathologized. The ideal young man goes to "school" and "work" without ever using violence to defend himself and his family, or even to impress women. Sheesh!
Pacified societies exist throughout much of Europe and East Asia, with interesting exceptions. The strong arm of the State has historically been weak in mountainous regions, like Albania and the Caucasus, and this is also where men are most willing to act violently on their own behalf. In England, endemic violence persisted until the 18th century in the northern border regions, where any encounter with non-kin, however innocent, could turn violent. Disputes would grow into long-running feuds if not settled through payment of blood money (Fischer 1989, pp. 621-632).
These two kinds of society can work fairly well ... if kept apart. In non-pacified societies, the level of personal violence is not as high as one might expect. A sort of dynamic equilibrium makes young men think twice before acting violently, since any violence will be repaid in kind by the victim, his brothers, and his male kin. So violence tends to target people who cannot retaliate, either because they're physically weak or because they have no kinfolk to stand up for them.
Problems begin when these two kinds of society co-exist on the same territory. When the non-pacified society becomes sufficiently numerous, but not necessarily the majority, it can impose its rules, and everyone will have to play by them. If you cannot fight back and have no "brothers" to defend you, there remains only one option: submit. This is now the case in American prisons and, increasingly, in prisons throughout the Western world.
Indeed, the demographic profile of prisons has changed a lot even in Western Europe, where native Europeans make up fewer and fewer of the inmates. More and more are from societies where State control of personal violence is recent and widely perceived as being illegitimate. They come mostly from North Africa, West Africa, Somalia, Southwest Asia, and South Asia. They are predominantly Muslim, and the Muslim proportion of the prison population gives a rough idea of the demographic shift. This proportion is 60 to 70% in France (Moore 2008), 45% in Belgium (Sudinfo.be 2013), and 15% in the United Kingdom (Allen and Watson 2017, p. 14). Furthermore, Muslim inmates have power beyond their numbers because they are willing to fight for each other. This is a recurring theme in interviews with prisoners:
“there's no gangs in Rochester it's just Muslims stick together”, Muslims “walk around the wings in tens” and 'people will say that the only gang in here are the Muslims they always stick up for each other”. For many Muslim prisoners the solidarity engendered by sharing a faith was viewed as presenting certain obligations just as area allegiances required mutual defensive protection for prisoners: “I see Muslims will stay closer together so ...obviously you have to look out for your brother, help his brother, it's a Muslim's duty. And it's like whatever, whatever I want for myself I should want for my brother.” (Phillips 2012, p. 60)
Some prisoners even convert to Islam as a way to get protection (Phillips 2012, p. 62).
Prison violence as an instrument of law enforcement
Beginning in the 1970s, American law-enforcement began to turn this situation to its own advantage, initially to assert control over prisoners:
In some circumstances, it is clear that rape is used by prison officials as a means of control in its own right—as a means of punishing inmates who are (by the officials' reckoning) especially troublesome, of breaking the will of defiant inmates, and of rewarding (by accommodating their victimization of others) inmates who are in some way helpful to the institution's interests. Where rape is sanctioned in this fashion, a victimized inmate has little hope of gaining the institution's protection from further abuse. Even where it is not so sanctioned, victims of rape often encounter considerable indifference on the part of administrators and staff who would rather not antagonize powerful rapists, who anticipate difficulties with successful investigation, or who for some other reason cannot be bothered. Many staff simply may take the position that defense against rapes and other assaults are an inmate's own obligation. (White 2008, p. 757)
This punitive function has since been extended to people currently outside prison. Initially, it helped to keep juvenile delinquents in line by sending them a crude but simple message: if you're not careful, we'll send you to a place where you'll be raped, assaulted, and perhaps killed.
Today, that message is no longer aimed solely at juvenile delinquents. Every American knows that a prison sentence is a lot more than time behind bars. In theory, the State no longer maims or tortures. In practice, it does … and on a scale not seen since medieval times:
That such violence is so thoroughly unlawful allows it to serve the state as a mode of punishment without the state ever confessing the true extent of its resort to such barbarity and without thereby surrendering much in the way of its legal and political legitimacy. Indeed, by deeming prison violence illegal, the state in its various manifestations can actually condemn the phenomenon, while yet relying on it as part of [the] regime of control. (White 2008, p. 740)
Toward a new regime of control
This regime of control has developed in an atmosphere of "They’ve got it coming to them anyway!" Prison sentences are normally handed down for serious crimes, like murder or gang rape, and there is still a widespread feeling that such people are not being punished enough. In recent years, however, prison sentences have begun to be imposed for minor offenses, especially in the United Kingdom.
Last year, an English man was found guilty of placing two bacon sandwiches outside the door of a mosque. He was sentenced to a year in jail, and halfway through the sentence he was found dead in his cell (Curtis 2018). The prison sentence is itself incredible. This was a first-time offense that would have been considered a misdemeanor scarcely a decade ago.
A similar sentence was handed down to Tommy Robinson, the founder of the English Defence League. Not long into his sentence, the inevitable happened:
"They gave him a pasting. He was being taken for a legal visit and was then put in a room with these guys. The door was locked and the warders all disappeared. He has quite a few injuries to his face and neck and needed two visits to the medical wing." The source said his attackers were Muslim prisoners but that could not be verified. Robinson suspects the situation was engineered by the warders because of the obvious threat posed to him by opponents of the EDL. He fears he is a marked man inside the category A prison. (Gover 2014)
The official reason for the sentence? Making an incorrect statement on a mortgage application—a misdemeanor normally punished by a fine. And for this Tommy Robinson was sent to a category A prison.
This past week, he was again sentenced to jail:
At 14h00 on 25 May 2018 Judge Denise Marson QC summarily sentenced Robinson and issued a notice under Section 4(2) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 banning any reporting of the hearing, sentence, evidence offered or any other matter relating to the proceedings against Robinson indefinitely until the conclusion of a series of child grooming trials in Leeds Crown Court. (Wikipedia 2018)
This time, Tommy Robinson was sentenced to jail for broadcasting information that might influence the outcome of a rape gang trial (he was livestreaming outside the courthouse). Yet that information had already been published in a local newspaper. Even more strangely, the judge extended the reporting ban to the outcome of Robinson’s trial. That trial had no jurors to influence. It was a trial by judge and was completed in four hours. One final point: some reports state that the judge simply reactivated an existing suspended sentence, hence the speedy trial. But only a few months remained on that sentence, and this one seems to be much longer. For a new sentence a defendant is normally given time to prepare a defense, find witnesses, and choose a lawyer, rather than having a court-appointed one (as was actually the case).
Because of the reporting ban, news reports on this story have either been pulled or modified. Fox News states that he was sentenced to 13 months in prison despite protests from his lawyer, who said this measure would be tantamount to a death sentence, “given his profile and previous credible threats” (Fox News 2018).
One might wonder about these jail sentences for misdemeanors that hardly justify such punishment. And is the punishment really the time spent behind bars? Or is it something else? Like something in the prison environment that can “finish the job”? A strange collusion seems to be developing between the UK justice system and the vilest elements of prison society.
Allen, G. and C. Watson (2017). UK Prison Population Statistics. Briefing Paper. House of Commons Library.
http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04334/SN04334.pdf
Fischer, D.H. (1989). Albion's Seed. Four British Folkways in America, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, pp. 621-632.
Curtis, J. (2018). Man jailed for leaving a bacon sandwich outside a mosque is found dead in prison halfway through his 12-month sentence. Daily Mail, May 27, 2018
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4075328/Man-jailed-leaving-bacon-sandwiched-outside-mosque-dead-prison-half-way-12-month-sentence.html
Fox News (2018). Right-wing activist Tommy Robinson reportedly jailed after filming outside child grooming trial.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/05/26/right-wing-activist-tommy-robinson-reportedly-jailed-after-filming-outside-child-grooming-trial.html
Frost, P. (2010). The Roman State and genetic pacification, Evolutionary Psychology 8(3): 376-389. http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/EP08376389.pdf
Frost, P. and H. Harpending. (2015). Western Europe, state formation, and genetic pacification, Evolutionary Psychology 13: 230-243.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/147470491501300114
Gover, D. (2014). Fear of Muslim Attack Beaten up in Woodhill Prison. International Business Times, February 5
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edl-founder-tommy-robinson-fear-muslim-attack-beaten-woodhill-prison-1435264
Moore, M. (2008). In France, prisons filled with Muslims, The Washington Post, April 29
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/28/AR2008042802560.html?hpid=topnews
Phillips, C. (2012). 'It ain't nothing like America with the Bloods and the Crips': Gang narratives inside two English prisons. Punishment & Society 14(1): 51-68.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.893.3021&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Sudinfo.be (2013). 45% des détenus des prisons belges sont de confession musulmane, Sudinfo.be, May 23
http://www.sudinfo.be/726092/article/actualite/belgique/2013-05-17/45-des-detenus-des-prisons-belges-sont-de-confession-musulmane
White, A.A. (2008). The Concept of "Less Eligibility" and the Social Function of Prison Violence in Class Society. Buffalo Law Review 56: 737-820.
http://scholar.law.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1310&context=articles
Wikipedia. (2018). Tommy Robinson (activist).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Robinson_%28activist%29#cite_note-79
Labels: genetic pacification, law, Tommy Robinson, United Kingdom, United States, violence
The end of Jewish achievement?
Neurons show more axonal growth when exposed to higher levels of sphingolipids (last figure) (Cochran et al. 2006)
Jewish achievement is a difficult topic. Recently, it has been addressed by Jordan Peterson, as in this interview with the Forward:
"You can assume that they [Jews] are intelligent and have a culture of learning, or you can think that there's some kind of cabal," Peterson told the Forward. "So if I'm gonna hit the hornets nest, I might as well hit it on the side that takes the wind out of the sails of far-righters and their idiot anti-Semitism." (Feldman 2018)
That quote appeared under the headline "Is Jordan Peterson Enabling Jew Hatred?" There was also a photo montage (since removed) juxtaposing his image with that of Hitler. It's hard to believe that this topic was freely discussed in the mainstream a mere decade ago. At that time Commentary ran an article by Charles Murray on "Jewish Genius":
From 1870 to 1950, Jewish representation in literature was four times the number one would expect. In music, five times. In the visual arts, five times. In biology, eight times. In chemistry, six times. In physics, nine times. In mathematics, twelve times. In philosophy, fourteen times.
[...] What accounts for this remarkable record? A full answer must call on many characteristics of Jewish culture, but intelligence has to be at the center of the answer. Jews have been found to have an unusually high mean intelligence as measured by IQ tests since the first Jewish samples were tested. (The widely repeated story that Jewish immigrants to this country in the early 20th century tested low on IQ is a canard.) Exactly how high has been difficult to pin down, because Jewish sub-samples in the available surveys are seldom perfectly representative. But it is currently accepted that the mean is somewhere in the range of 107 to 115, with 110 being a plausible compromise. (Murray 2007)
Murray then discussed a paper by Gregory Cochran, Jason Hardy, and Henry Harpending, likewise published in a mainstream journal. The authors argued that Ashkenazi Jews had historically worked in occupations that select for cognitive ability, i.e., sales, finance, and trade. Non-Jews usually worked in intellectually less demanding occupations, most often farming. Sephardic Jews were similarly selected, but not to the same extent. They tended to work in a wider range of occupations, with more emphasis on crafts than on finance. Furthermore, beginning in the 17th century, Ashkenazi craftsmen were more entrepreneurial than their Sephardic counterparts; they produced for a larger market, geographically and demographically, where the rewards for success were greater and where successful craftsmen had only one way of increasing their workforce to meet demand: marrying younger and having more children (Frost 2007).
This theory is supported by a striking piece of evidence: the high incidence among Ashkenazim of certain genetic disorders: Tay-Sachs, Gaucher, Niemann-Pick, and mucolipidosis type IV (MLIV). All four of these disorders affect the same metabolic pathway: the capacity to store sphingolipid compounds that promote the growth and branching of axons in the brain. Although these disorders are deleterious in the homozygote state, they're a net benefit in the much more frequent heterozygote state. They provide the brain with higher levels of sphingolipids without the adverse health effects (Cochran et al. 2006).
This is not to say that only these four disorders explain the higher mean IQ of Ashkenazim. They're simply witnesses to a selection pressure that has probably acted on the many thousands of genes that in one way another influence cognitive ability.
A strange collapse
If Jewish achievement is genetically based, it should be relatively stable, shouldn't it? Yet it has been far from stable over the past forty years. Ron Unz (2012) has ably documented what he calls "the strange collapse of Jewish achievement":
- In the U.S. Math Olympiad, over 40% of the top students were Jewish during the 1970s. During the 1980s and 1990s, the percentage averaged about one-third. During the thirteen years since 2000, two names out of 78 or 2.5% appear to be Jewish.
- On the Putnam Exam (a mathematics competition for American college students) over 40% of the winners were Jewish before 1950. Between that year and the 1990s, the percentage was 22-31%. Since 2000, it has been under 10%, without a single likely Jewish name between 2005 and 2012.
- Of the national finalists for the Science Talent Search, 22-23% were Jewish from the 1950s to the 1980s. The percentage was 17% in the 1990s, 15% in the 2000s, and 7% from 2010 to 2012. Of the thirty top students over the last period, only one seems to have been Jewish.
- Jews were over one-quarter of the top students in the Physics Olympiad from 1986 to 1997. During the 2000s the percentage was 5%.
- From 2000 to 2012, only 8% of the top students in the Biology Olympiad were Jewish, with none from 2010 to 2012.
- Between 1992 and 2012, only 11% of the winners of the Computing Olympiad had Jewish names, as did 8% of the Siemens AP Award winners.
- From 2010 to 2012, none of the Chemistry Olympiad winners had a probable Jewish name.
A similar decline seems to be under way in Israel. Rindermann (2018, p. 148) cites student assessment studies that indicate a decrease in that country's IQ from 101 in the 1960s to 95 today. Yet the intervening years saw a large influx of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union—about 979,000 between 1989 and 2006 (Wikipedia 2018b). The Ashkenazi proportion of Israel's population is consequently higher today than it was in the 1960s.
So what is driving this decline in academic performance? Ron Unz opts for a social/cultural cause: "today's overwhelmingly affluent Jewish students may be far less diligent in their work habits or driven in their studies than were their parents or grandparents, who lived much closer to the bracing challenges of the immigrant experience."
Hmm ...It's a bit of a stretch to say that most Jewish American kids were still the children or grandchildren of immigrants as late as the 1970s. In this, Ron is echoing the frequent claim that the immigrant experience has a transformative effect, turning slackers into strivers or at least encouraging the slackers to stay home.
Let's take off the rose-tinted glasses and look reality in the face: most immigrants are not high achievers. Either today or back in the challenging 1970s. As for the minority who are, they typically come from groups that were already that way in their countries of origin. So the immigrant experience, in itself, has little explanatory value. The explanation is that certain cultures have selected for mental and behavioral traits that make high achievement possible.
Unz is on firmer ground when he says that over the last two decades up to half of the Jewish winners of the Math Olympiad were recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union. But why, then, did the mean IQ of Israel decline when that country took in a similar influx of Soviet Jews? That influx was much larger proportionately—almost a million in a country of eight and a half million. Today, Russian Jews number 1.2 million in Israel, if one includes non-Jewish household members (Wikipedia 2018a; Wikipedia 2018b).
Perhaps Soviet Jews who went to the United States were somehow different from those who went to Israel. In the U.S., about half of them arrived under the Lautenberg amendment (1990) which authorizes the entry of religious minorities "with a credible, but not necessarily individual, fear of persecution." In Israel, they arrived under the Law of Return, which lets in anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent or a Jewish spouse.
Israel is thus more open to immigrants from the former Soviet Union ... as long as they have some sort of Jewish affiliation. The affiliation is often weak:
In 1988, a year before the immigration wave began, 58% of married Jewish men and 47% of married Jewish women in the Soviet Union had a non-Jewish spouse. Some 26%, or 240,000, of the immigrants had no Jewish mother, and were thus not considered Jewish under Halakha, or Jewish religious law, which stipulates one must have a Jewish mother to be considered Jewish. (Wikipedia 2018b)
Out-marriage has increased considerably in those countries that provide Israel with immigrants, not only the former Soviet Union but also the United States, Canada, and France. If Jews are becoming less and less Jewish by ancestry, it should be no surprise that anything specific to them genetically is likewise becoming less and less, whether they live in Israel or in the United States. This genetic change should be most noticeable on the right tail of the bell curve ... among the most gifted.
So the decline in Jewish achievement may be both an argument for and an argument against a genetic cause. Ron Unz sees an argument against: "the innate potential of a group is unlikely to drop so suddenly." Well, only if the group has a closed membership. According to a 2013 American survey, the intermarriage rate is now 58% among all Jews and 71% among non-Orthodox Jews. Yet 81% of all Jews still raise their children as Jewish (Goodstein 2013). It seems that "Jewishness" is increasingly self-defined and self-ascribed.
Besides out-marriage, something else may be going on. There are signs that fertility is sharply declining among the most intelligent women (Kanazawa 2014). Jewish Americans would be harder hit in this respect, but the problem may be a much larger one, as indicated by the recent slowing down and reversal of the Flynn Effect and by the steady increase in reaction time from about the year 1980 onward (Flynn 2007, pp. 143; Frost 2014; Madison 2014; Teasdale and Owen 2005).
In conclusion, the decline in Jewish achievement may have a genetic cause, a social/cultural one, or both. It nonetheless looks real. Much has been written about the bleak outlook for Jewish Americans due to their high out-marriage rate and their low fertility rate. But what if, on top of this numerical decline, there has also been a cognitive and intellectual one?
What will happen when Jewish millennials and post-millennials pick up the torch, move up in the world, and begin to make their mark? We may see another collapse: that of the remarkable Jewish presence in American life and culture.
Cochran, G., J. Hardy, and H. Harpending. (2006). Natural history of Ashkenazi intelligence, Journal of Biosocial Science 38: 659-693.
https://antville.org/static/sites/kratzbuerste/files/AshkenaziIQ.pdf
Feldman, A. (2018). Is Jordan Peterson enabling Jew hatred? Forward. May 11
https://forward.com/news/national/400597/is-jordan-peterson-enabling-jew-hatred/
Flynn, J.R. (2007). What is Intelligence? Beyond the Flynn Effect. Cambridge University Press.
https://books.google.ca/books?id=qvBipuypYUkC&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Frost, P. (2007). Natural selection in proto-industrial Europe. Evo and Proud, November 16.
http://evoandproud.blogspot.com/2007/11/natural-selection-in-proto-industrial.html
Frost, P. (2014). What happened in the 1980s to reaction time? Evo and Proud, May 3.
http://evoandproud.blogspot.ca/2014/05/what-happened-in-1980s-to-reaction-time.html
Goodstein, L. (2013). Poll shows major shift in identity of U.S. Jews. The New York Times, October 1.
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/us/poll-shows-major-shift-in-identity-of-us-jews.html
Kanazawa, S. (2014). Intelligence and childlessness. Social Science Research 48: 157-170.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Satoshi_Kanazawa/publication/263666009_Intelligence_and_childlessness/links/59dc1174458515e9ab45299c/Intelligence-and-childlessness.pdf
Madison, G. (2014). Increasing simple reaction times demonstrate decreasing genetic intelligence in Scotland and Sweden, London Conference on Intelligence, Psychological comments, April 25, #LCI14 Conference proceedings
http://www.unz.com/jthompson/lci14-questions-on-intelligence/
Murray, C. (2007). Jewish Genius. Commentary, April 1
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/jewish-genius/
Rindermann, H. (2018). Cognitive Capitalism. Human Capital and the Wellbeing of Nations. Cambridge University Press.
Teasdale, T.W., and D.R. Owen. (2005). A long-term rise and recent decline in intelligence test performance: The Flynn Effect in reverse. Personality and Individual Differences 39(4): 837-843.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.01.029
Unz, R. (2012). The myth of American meritocracy. The American Conservative, November 28
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-myth-of-american-meritocracy/
Wikipedia (2018a). Russian Jews in Israel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Jews_in_Israel
Wikipedia (2018b). 1990s Post-Soviet Aliyah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990s_Post-Soviet_aliyah
Labels: Ashkenazi Jews, Charles Murray, Gregory Cochran, Henry Harpending, IQ, Israel, Jordan Peterson, Ron Unz, Tay Sach's
A new yardstick
If we look at ancient DNA from 4,560 to 1,210 years ago, we see a steady increase over time in the number of genetic variants that are linked to high educational attainment (Woodley et al. 2017)
Four years ago I discussed genetic variants that seem to favor high educational attainment (Frost 2014). They’re found at single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and their incidence varies from one human population to another. In all but one case, they are specific to humans and not shared with ancestral primates.
Davide Piffer has been interested in these SNP variants, seeing them as a possible way to measure how genes contribute to intelligence in different populations. By looking up population data, he can calculate their average incidence for a given group of people. This measure is called the “cognitive polygenic score.”
When he wrote up his latest paper (Piffer 2017a), only nine of these variants were known. For each geographic region, the scores were as follows:
Sub-Saharan Africans – 18%
Amerindians – 25%
North Africans – 30%
Oceanians (Papuans, Melanesians) – 34%
Southeast Asians – 35%
West Asians – 38%
Middle Easterners – 40%
Europeans – 41%
Siberians – 43%
East Asians – 45%
This regional breakdown is open to criticism. Sardinians (32%) were not included in the European category, and Mongolians (49%) were grouped with East Asians rather than with Siberians. The distinction between Middle Easterners and West Asians is not clear to me. The Amerindian category is based on a few small groups. And who is included in the Southeast Asian category? Only Cambodians?
When Piffer compared these scores with the results of IQ tests in these regions, he found a high correlation of 0.9. That is high, higher than what I would expect, given the quality of the data, especially for mean IQ, and the very disparate nature of the two datasets.
Over a two-year period Piffer submitted his paper to Intelligence, resubmitted it, had it rejected, and then resubmitted it to Frontiers in Psychology, where it was accepted by the reviewers before being rejected by the editor. It is now sitting in the limbo of a preprint repository (Piffer 2017a).
Meanwhile, the number of these SNPs has continued to grow. A research team led by Aysu Okbay identified 74 SNPs that are associated with educational attainment (Okbay et al. 2016). Another team led by David Hill reported 107 in their initial preprint and 187 in their published paper (Hill et al. 2018).
Piffer (2017b) repeated his analysis, now using the 107 SNPs that Hill’s team had identified. The geographic pattern still held up but was weaker, the correlation being only 0.64. This lower score is actually more in line with what I would expect. It diverges the most from mean IQ in two geographic areas:
1. South Asia (Pakistan, India) - South Asians seem to do worse on IQ tests than their genetic endowment predicts. Why? Is it the culture? The diet? Inbreeding? Perhaps language. IQ tests are often administered in a language (English, Hindi, Urdu) that may be the second language of the person taking it. Or perhaps South Asian educational attainment is determined not only by IQ but also by qualities like the ability to sit still and not make a ruckus in class.
2. The Mende of Sierra Leone - For some reason, the Mende have a higher cognitive polygenic score than any other African population. This might be a real finding, or a typo.
Another research team, led by Michael Woodley, has compared the Okbay dataset with ancient DNA to see whether the cognitive polygenic score has increased over time, specifically between 4,560 and 1,210 years ago. The DNA was retrieved from European sites and a few sites from southwest and central Asia. The result? The cognitive polygenic score did increase over time. People on average had more and more of the alleles that favor educational attainment. The authors note that IQ alone may not be responsible:
[...] While the increase in these variants over time is certainly consistent with the expectation of rising GCA [general cognitive ability], the possibility that their increase indicates a simultaneous rise in other factors that make unique contributions to educational attainment (such as 'slow' life history or 'high-K' social cognitive characteristics) cannot be ruled out. (Woodley et al. 2017; references within quote removed)
The new mental/behavioral package developed through a process of feedback with the cultural environment. This gene-culture coevolution likely continued into recent times:
This process likely continued until the Late Modern Era, where it has been noted that among Western populations living between the 15th and early 19th centuries, those with higher social status (which shares genetic variance with, and is therefore a proxy for GCA) typically produced the most surviving offspring. These in turn tended toward downward social mobility due to intense competition, replacing the reproductively unsuccessful low-status stratum and effectively 'bootstrapping' those populations via the application of high levels of skill to solving problems associated with production and industry, eventually leading to the Industrial Revolution in Europe. (Woodley et al. 2017; references within quote removed)
More and more SNPs are being linked to educational attainment. The total is now in the triple digits. That’s still less than the thousands of genes that influence intelligence, but there is no need to identify most of them to spot general trends. Selection acts on phenotype, not on genotype. Selection for intelligence should therefore impact all of these SNPs in the same direction. It’s like estimating the proportions of different colors in a bowl of Smarties. You don’t have to count every last one. Just pick out a handful at random and count the colors.
Four years ago only 7 SNPs had been linked to educational attainment. Now we have 187. In another four years we’ll probably have more than a thousand. All the same, I doubt that the overall geographic pattern will change much. The problems lie elsewhere:
- Genetic data may be lacking for some unmixed groups, particularly Amerindians.
- The relationship between intelligence and cognitive polygenic score may not be linear.
- We may be relying too much on educational attainment as a proxy for IQ (which itself is a proxy for intelligence).
When I was in public school, girls did better than boys in almost every subject. They had good attendance, always took notes, and did their homework. Boys got bored more easily and spent more time fidgeting, daydreaming, and drawing pictures in their notebooks. This sex difference exists in all cultures, but it seems greater in some than in others.
How useful is educational attainment as a proxy for IQ? Yes, these two measures correlate highly with each other (Rindermann 2018, pp. 51-54), but this high correlation is based on studies from WEIRD countries (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic). Does it hold up on a global scale? I’m not so sure.
Frost, P. (2014). Population differences in intellectual capacity: a new polygenic analysis, Evo and Proud, March 8
http://evoandproud.blogspot.ca/2014/03/population-differences-in-intellectual.html
Hill, W. D., R.E. Marioni, O. Maghzian, S.J. Ritchie, S.P. Hagenaars, A.M. McIntosh, C.R. Gale, G. Davies, I.J. Deary. (2018). A combined analysis of genetically correlated traits identifies 187 loci and a role for neurogenesis and myelination in intelligence. Molecular Psychiatry
Okbay, A., J.P. Beauchamp, M.A. Fontana, J.J. Lee, T.H. Pers, C.A. Rietveld, et al. (2016). Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment. Nature 533: 539-542.
http://www.nature.com/articles/nature17671
Piffer, D. (2017a) Evidence for Recent Polygenic Selection on Educational Attainment and Intelligence Inferred from GWAS Hits: A Replication of Previous Findings Using Recent Data. Preprints, June 8
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/201706.0039/v1
Piffer, D. (2017b). Piffer's results replicated (again) by latest GWAS (N=147,194), toppseudoscience, July 21
https://topseudoscience.wordpress.com/2017/07/21/piffers-results-replicated-again-by-latest-gwas-n147194/comment-page-1/#comment-95
Woodley, M.A., S. Younuskunju, B. Balan, and D. Piffer. (2017). Holocene selection for variants associated with general cognitive ability: comparing ancient and modern genomes. Twin Research and Human Genetics 20(4): 271-280.
https://doi.org/10.1017/thg.2017.37
Labels: Davide Piffer, genetics, Heiner Rindermann, IQ, Michael Woodley
Outbreeding: not what you may think
Mean number of children as a function of geographic distance between Danish marriage partners (Labouriau and Amorim 2008).
Most of us know about the genetics costs of inbreeding. If you do a Google search for "inbreeding is bad," you get 35,900 hits. "Outbreeding is bad" yields only 2.
Yet outbreeding does incur genetic costs. It can reduce fitness either by introducing alleles that are unsuited to the local environment or by disrupting co-adapted gene complexes. When a native trout species was hybridized with non-native trout, fertility fell by half with as little as 20% admixture (Muhlfeld et al. 2009).
Fertility is the canary in the coal mine. A measurable decline is a sign that some genes are malfunctioning, either at the time of fertilization or during embryonic development. A malfunction can occur because the genes from the mother and father are too similar—the risk is higher that both copies of a gene will be defective. It can also occur because one copy is too different—incompatibilities may develop with other genes.
That's what we know from data on fish and other animals. But what about our species? At what degree of relatedness do the costs of human outbreeding start to exceed the benefits? When you marry a Neanderthal? The answer may surprise you. An Icelandic study found that fertility peaks at marriages between third or fourth cousins. Fertility is lower when the prospective parents are more closely related ... or less.
Our results, drawn from all known couples of the Icelandic population born between 1800 and 1965, show a significant positive association between kinship and fertility, with the greatest reproductive success observed for couples related at the level of third and fourth cousins. Owing to the relative socioeconomic homogeneity of Icelanders, and the observation of highly significant differences in the fertility of couples separated by very fine intervals of kinship, we conclude that this association is likely to have a biological basis. (Helgason et al. 2008)
The data come from a time when birth control was not widely practiced. Nonetheless, there may have been something different about Icelanders who married beyond their fourth cousins. Perhaps they were more likely to go to university, meet someone from the other side of the country, and eventually settle down and have children late in life.
These socioeconomic factors were controlled in a Danish study that measured geographic distance between marriage partners:
The Danish study was based on the cohort of all women born in Denmark in 1954 who were alive and living in Denmark in 1969, totaling 42,165 women. This cohort was followed up to the end of 1999. The number of children born to each mother between the ages of 15 and 45 years old was determined and is referred to as fertility. The mean marital radius (MR) associated with each mother in the cohort was estimated using the distance between the centroids of the parish where she was born and the parishes where the partners with which she had children were born. (Labouriau and Amorim 2008)
Fertility peaked at around 75 km. This relationship between fertility and marital radius was not explained by education, family income, urbanicity, or mother's age at first birth. The authors concluded that their findings were consistent with those of the Icelandic study, the cause being the same in both cases: fertility rises with decreasing relatedness up to a peak level and then starts to fall. Inbreeding depression then gives way to outbreeding depression.
How exactly does outbreeding reduce fertility? Joffe (2010) points to the steady decline in sperm quality since the early 20th century, suggesting it may be due to an increase in outbreeding. He rejects the usually cited cause: the rising level of estrogenic compounds in the environment, e.g., dioxin, DDT, PCBs, PBBs, phthalates, etc. This proposed cause fails to explain why the sperm quality decline has varied so much spatially, even within the same country. Why, for instance, has it been steep in Paris and nonexistent in Toulouse? Why is it nonexistent in domestic animals that are just as exposed to estrogenic compounds? Finally, the decline seems to have begun before most of these compounds began to be commercially produced.
Joffe (2010) also suggests that there may be a parallel decline in egg quality. We don't really know because sperm is much easier to collect than eggs for large-scale study.
Do we now have outbreeding depression?
Today, inbreeding depression has largely disappeared throughout the Western world. For a long time the beneficial effects of outbreeding were shown by a steady increase in height and a steady decrease in the age of menarche. Both trends have now ground to a halt:
In Northern Europe, adult height has largely stabilised, and the age of menarche has also settled at around 13 years, while weight continues to increase due to obesity. (Cole 2003)
The steady rise in IQ, known as the Flynn Effect, has sometimes been attributed to outbreeding, although this explanation has been challenged (Flynn 2007, pp. 101-102; Woodley 2011). In any case, the Flynn Effect, too, is slowing throughout the West (Flynn 2007, p. 143). In Scandinavia, mean IQ peaked during the late 1990s and has since declined (Teasdale and Owen 2005).
Has outbreeding become more problematic than inbreeding? That's what the latest findings suggest, yet that doesn't at all seem to be the current wisdom.
Cole, T.J. (2003). The secular trend in human physical growth: a biological view. Economics & Human Biology 1(2): 161-168.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1570-677X(02)00033-3
Helgason, A., S. Pálsson, D.F. Guðbjartsson, þ. Kristjánsson, K. Stefánsson. (2008). An association between the kinship and fertility of human couples. Science 319(5864): 813-816.
http://facelab.org/debruine/Teaching/EvPsych/files/Helgason_2008.pdf
Joffe, M. (2010). What has happened to human fertility? Human Reproduction 25(2): 295-307.
https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dep390
https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/25/2/295/671754
Labouriau, R., and A. Amorim. (2008). Comment on "An Association Between the Kinship and Fertility of Human Couples" Science 322(5908): 1634
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1161907
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/322/5908/1634.2.full
Muhlfeld, C.C., S.T Kalinowski, T.E. McMahon, M.L. Taper, S. Painter, R.F. Leary, F.W. Allendorf. (2009). Hybridization rapidly reduces fitness of a native trout in the wild. Biology Letters, March 18
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2009/03/13/rsbl.2009.0033.short
Woodley, M.A. (2011). Heterosis doesn't cause the Flynn effect: A critical examination of Mingroni (2007). Psychological Review 118(4): 689-693.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0024759
Labels: environmental estrogens, Flynn Effect, inbreeding, male infertility, outbreeding
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#DEARHOPE
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Hope and Co. Excited for Japan Friendlies
By Tiana Aument| 2016-06-02T17:27:25+00:00 02 June 2016|News, USWNT|0 Comments
Hope Solo is on the brink of cementing her name in the history books and she is primed for the chance to build on her astounding United States Soccer legacy this weekend.
No. 1 is already the USA’s all-time leader in goalkeeper caps, starts, wins and shutouts, and she could add another two notches to her belt within the week. Hope is two wins away from having 150 for her career and two shutouts shy of 100. With two matches against Japan coming up, the star could become the first goalkeeper in US history to clinch 100 clean sheets as soon as Sunday.
But it won’t be easy against one of the top teams in the world.
The USWNT faces Japan for the first time since the 2015 FIFA World Cup Final, this Thursday, when the two rival meet at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo. at 6 p.m. PT. It’s the first of back-to-back friendlies between the World’s top-ranked women’s soccer teams. The second match kicks off three days later at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland at 9:30 a.m. PT.
“It’s good to be back in camp,” Hope said. “I think what’s great is that everyone is fit because we’ve been playing games in the NWSL. Of course, there’s a couple of people who are battling injuries, like Carli Lloyd, but she’s coming back healthy and strong. It’s nice to see everyone feel confident because we’ve been playing, we’ve been getting minutes. I think it makes for a short, strong camp where we can get in specific work.”
The two teams have a rich history, having met in the past three world finals. The U.S. lost to Japan in penalty kicks at the 2011 World Cup in Germany but defeated them 2-1 in the gold medal game at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Most recently, at the 2015 World Cup in Vancouver, the USWNT overpowered Japan to a 5-2 decision to clinch the third Cup win in squad history.
The U.S. holds an all-time winning record of 25-1-6 against Japan, outscoring them 92-22. With history on the USWNT’s side, they also carry momentum into the match from this year alone. The USWNT is undefeated in 2016 with an 11-0-0 mark. They’ve conceded just one goal, giving them 10 shutouts on the year — eight of which belong to Hope.
Most recently, the U.S. shut out Colombia twice in April by a combined score of 10-0. Against Germany, France and England during the SheBelieves Cup, the scoring was kept closer, but the U.S. still prevailed by a combined score of 4-1 for the March matches.
The team’s success is driven by its strong core of valuable players. Hope has started nine games, surrendering just one goal in 810 minutes. Leading the offensive effort are midfielder Carli Lloyd (8 goals, 5 assists), forward Crystal Dunn (8 goals, 3 assists) and forward Alex Morgan (8 goals, 3 assists).
Japan looks like a different team since the last time they met, but Hope is looking forward to facing them and seeing what they rival squad has ahead of this summer’s potential Olympic rematch.
“We have two games against a great team,” said Solo. “I know Japan doesn’t have a lot of their well-known players but we’re all really excited to see the younger, technical side of Japan. We don’t know what they’re going to bring but it will be great, and it will be a little bit different than what we’ve seen in the past.”
Japan struggled early in 2016. In their first three matches, they lost to Australia and China, tying with Korea Republic in between. Only recently has Japan started to pick up their game, notching a 6-1 win over Vietnam and a 1-0 shutout over Korea DPR in March.
Japan looks to continue its progress, but the 2011 World Cup champs will have their work cut out for them against the USWNT, which will look to keep their undefeated season intact.
Following the meetings with Japan, the USWNT will play two more matches before heading to Brazil for the 2016 Summer Olympics. USA faces South Africa at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 9 before playing a team that has yet to be announced in late July.
FIFA World Rankings (FIFA, March 25, 2016)
Countdown to Brazil well underway for WNT (US Soccer, May 28, 2016)
Hope Solo shutouts by the numbers (US Soccer, May 31, 2016)
USA vs. Japan Women’s Soccer: Date, Time, Live Stream for 2016 Friendly (Bleacher Report, Jun 2, 2016)
SHOP SOLO.
KNOW EVERYTHING HOPE.
/HOPESOLO
© HOPE SOLO / GOAL DEFENDED BY ATHLETE INTERACTIVE / IMAGES COURTESY OF ISI PHOTOS / PRIVACY POLICY
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(Katowice, Poland | Apr. 23, 2019) - Jujubee’s New Diving Simulator Has Just Received Its Release Date! The Underwater World Is Yours to Explore on May 27!
Polish developer Jujubee S.A. has just revealed that its new Deep Diving Simulator game is scheduled for launch on May 27, 2019. The game will offer a satisfying diving experience for the players and it will be available for the PC.
The developers want to show the beautiful and mysterious underwater world that even to this day remains mostly undiscovered while reminding the extreme situations a professional diver has to face. Breathtaking locations filled with vivid sea life will welcome the adventurer who will have to use various tools to achieve his diving goals.
A friendly professor asks the player for assistance in retrieving various objects from the depths of the seas and oceans. This simple task, however, could be the one that will lead them to the lost city of Atlantis. Each diving location has its own challenges that the player must overcome to be successful, not to mention that roaming sharks or wandering rays may dislike the player’s presence.
An important aspect of the game is the educational value in its gameplay. For example, the player on his journey will witness a location that has been destroyed by pollution resulting in species desperately trying to adapt to the human interference. However, the player will have the option to remedy the damage by saving turtles that have been caught in nets or by using a tool to clean fish flocks from harmful substances. It is up to the player to decide whether he really wants to assist the sea life.
The game’s score has been composed by Adam Skorupa, known for creating mesmerizing songs in The Witcher series, Ancestors: Legacy, Bulletstorm, and more. The developers are currently focusing on the PC version, however, they have expressed their interest in releasing Deep Diving Simulator on the Mac, consoles, and VR in the near future.
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/331926697
Regular price: $19.99/€17.99
Launch price: $14.99/€13,99
Where can you find the game:
You can now add Deep Diving Simulator to your Steam’s wishlist:
Press kit available here:
http://bit.do/ddspresskit
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Wairarapa Library Service Kete :Carterton District Library
The Great Carterton Wheelbarrow Race
Browse: Site or Carterton District Library
Topic: Library history
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A history of the public library service in Carterton from 1873.
HISTORY 1874 - 2010
A concerted effort by the citizens of Carterton in 1873 enabled the first library to be established on March 24 1874 based on a collection of 200 books. Some of these initial books were purchased by Charles Rooking Carter, then residing in London.
Fundraising had begun as early as 1870 when early settlers held "readings" in each others homes, charging a penny to come and listen. The money was used to purchase books and soon the collection grew to such an extent that a room in the first Town Hall was required to house it.
Mr W. Parker was appointed librarian at a salary of seven pounds a year. Annual subscriptions set at 10 shillings, with an entrance fee of 2/6. It was reported that there were 50 members and the library was debt free in February 1875. Mr W. Booth, A. Armstrong and R. Fairbrother were the first trustees of the library.
By December 1878 the library collection had grown to approximately 700 volumes. Again Charles Rooking Carter acknowledged the library and raised a further 50 pounds in London and added a further 12 pounds from his own purse to purchase more books.
In 1880 the community decided to build a library building, the room in the Town Hall being too small for the purpose. The imposing mock-Roman building was completed in 1881 at a cost of 336 pounds, Mr W. Booth supplying the timber. Carter also assisted by obtaining the land and extra funds.
The Librarian's living quarters were at the back of the library and until 1988 were still being used as a residence. Evidence of the chook sheds associated with the library flat can still be seen at the rare of the current building.
Charles Rooking Carter maintained his strong association with the library through donations of books. By 1884 the collection stood at 2,388 books. On his death in 1896 Carter bequeathed a sizeable part of his own collection to the town.
From 1876 until May 1963 Carterton Public Library was a subscription library, a membership fee being paid annually by all borrowers. In 1896 the Carterton Borough Council made an annual grant of 20 pounds (rising to 250 pounds by 1957) to subsidise the libraries operation and to allow for public use of the restroom. 1896 also saw the opening of a public reading room.
Throughout the 87 years as a subscription library it was managed by a volunteer committee elected annually. At the last meeting of the library committee Mr W. Vaughan handed the deeds to Cr. Andy McCallum representing the Carterton Borough Council.
A centennial plaque was unveiled at 2pm on Saturday 19 1981 by the Mayor, W.P. Chisholm, to mark the 100th year of occupation of the Holloway Street building by the library. It is believed that the library is the oldest purpose built library still in library use in New Zealand.
Some of Carter's books held at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington were returned to the library in 1981. These are now held in a glass cabinet within the library.
The Love Seat which resides in the was commissioned by the South Wairarapa Community Arts Council to commemorate the centenary of the library building in Holloway Street. It was designed by Welshman David Lewis and built by Ted Rotman in 1981.
In February 1984 the Wairarapa Large Print Pool was officially started. This was the first co-operative arrangement entered into by the libraries of Carterton, Featherston, Greytown, Martinborough and Masterton. This arrangement enabled the purchase of a wider range of large print books for the benefit of all five libraries.
The Carterton Suffrage Centennial Banner, which hangs in the library, was part of a nation-wide New Zealand Suffrage Centennial project. The Carterton banner was produced by members of the Wairarapa Embroidiers Guild, featuring symbols of the district. The basic shield shape recognises the suffragists association with the Womens Temperance Movement.
The embroidiered banner of the Waiohine C.W.I. commemorating their jubilee also hangs in the Library.
It was reported in June 1994 the library had 10, 611 books. During the late 1990's the library experienced a number of developments. On 28 October 1995 the first Saturday morning opening was introduced. Following hard on this on Friday March 1 1996 at 12.30pm the Library's computer catalogue was launched. Finally on March 5 1999 Mayor G. Beyer opened the new extension to the existing building. At this time the collection consisted of approximately 21,000 books.
The next development occurred in September 2001 when Carterton Public Library officially joined a joint co-operative arrangement with the South Wairarapa District Council's libraries to form the Wairarapa Library Service with a total book stock of approximately 76,000 items, 30,000 of which are at Carterton.
For the first time in 129 years the Library was temporarially relocated to the Greytown St Marks Lodge Hall across the road in Holloway Street while the Carterton Events Centre was constructed around the old library building. The move began in mid-September 2010 and was completed by 18 October 2010 when construction began on the new building by Holms Construction under the direction of Opus International architects. Mayor Gary McPhee performed a turning of the sod ceremony as his last official act as mayor on 8 October 2010.
Bagnall, A.G. A history of Carterton: the story of the first hundred years of the settlement of Carterton 1957
Nga Maharatanga o Wairarapa / edited by Catherine Morrison 1991
Various newspaper articles, letters, reports and documents held at Carterton District Library
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