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Leopard kills 2-year-old boy in living quarters of national park in South Africa
By David Boroff
A leopard similar to the one pictured killed a 2-year-old boy in South Africa. (Warren Little/Getty Images)
A leopard killed a 2-year-old boy in the living quarters at Kruger National Park in South Africa on Tuesday night.
The little boy, the child of a staff member of the park, was pronounced dead at Shongwe Hospital in Kamatsamo. The animal was later shot dead.
Kruger officials said in a statement that predators do interact at times with tourists and staff and that certain species get “habituated” to people and lose their fear.
“The change in natural behavior can then lead to unfortunate incidents such as this,” the park said. “This is an unfortunate risk that staff experience when having to live and work in environments like the KNP. These events are very rare occurrences but always tragic when they do occur.”
Fundisile Mketeni, the CEO of South African National Parks, offered “our prayers and thoughts” to the family of the young victim.
“We wish them strength and will give them all the support they need as an organization,” the CEO said. “It is never easy to lose a loved one especially under such tragic circumstances, this is the risk we live with on a daily basis as we help conserve our species for the benefit of all. May the young toddler’s soul rest in eternal peace.”
A delegation was sent to the family to give moral support and professional counseling will be provided, according to the park.
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Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani announce engagement on social media
By David Matthews
Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani are gettin' hitched.
“The Voice” panelists announced their impending nuptials in separate social media posts on Tuesday.
“Hey Gwen Stefani, thanks for saving my 2020...and the rest of my life...I love you. I heard a yes,” Shelton captioned a picture of the pair sharing a kiss while Stefani shows off a diamond ring for the camera.
Stefani shared the news on Instagram, captioning the same picture “Blake Shelton yes please” with emojis of a ring and prayer hands.
Shelton popped the question in his native Oklahoma, according to E! News.
Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton attend the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording A)
The former No Doubt singer and the country star started dating in November 2015 after meeting as panelists on “The Voice.”
Stefani has left and returned to the show multiple times, but rejoined the panel for the current season which premiered earlier this month.
Shelton has been married twice before, first to high school sweetheart Kaynette Gern, then to fellow country star Miranda Lambert.
Stefani was previously married to Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale, with whom she has three children.
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/ Portrait - NPG L146; The Death of the Earl of Chatham
The Death of the Earl of Chatham
3 of 30 portraits of Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden
Tate 2018; on loan to the National Portrait Gallery, London
3 Likes voting
by John Singleton Copley
90 in. x 121 in. (2286 mm x 3073 mm)
Lent by Tate Gallery, 1968
Primary Collection
NPG L146
John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), Painter. Artist associated with 21 portraits, Sitter in 5 portraits.
Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst (1717-1797), Field Marshal. Sitter in 7 portraits. Identify
Robert Bertie, 4th Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven (1756-1779), Politician; Lord Great Chamberlain. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst (1714-1794), Lord Chancellor. Sitter in 7 portraits. Identify
William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough (1704-1793), Politician and public servant. Sitter in 3 portraits. Identify
Richard Brocklesby (1722-1797), Physician. Sitter in 4 portraits. Identify
John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute (1744-1814), Diplomat and collector. Sitter in 13 portraits.
Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (1714-1794), Lord Chancellor. Sitter associated with 30 portraits.
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708-1778), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 33 portraits, Artist associated with 1 portrait. Identify
John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham (1756-1835), General. Sitter in 7 portraits. Identify
George James Cholmondeley, 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley (1749-1827), Chamberlain to the Prince of Wales. Sitter associated with 16 portraits. Identify
William Courtenay, 2nd Viscount Courtenay (1742-1788), Son of William Courtenay 7th de jure Earl of Devon. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
George William Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry (1722-1809), Politician; MP for Bridport and Worcestershire. Sitter associated with 3 portraits. Identify
William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth (1731-1801), Lord Privy Seal. Sitter in 3 portraits. Identify
William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (1748-1811), Lord High Treasurer of Ireland. Sitter in 8 portraits. Identify
John Ward, 2nd Viscount Dudley and Ward (1725-1788), Politician; MP for Marlborough and Worcestershire. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
Thomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham (1746-1791), Nobleman, army officer and Governor of Jamaica. Sitter in 5 portraits. Identify
Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton (1726-1796), General and politician. Sitter in 4 portraits. Identify
Henry Belasyse, 2nd Earl of Fauconberg (1743-1802), Politician; Lord of the Bedchamber. Sitter in 3 portraits. Identify
Robert Shirley, 6th Earl Ferrers (1723-1787), Nobleman. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam (1748-1833), Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Sitter in 13 portraits. Identify
Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn (1745-1790), Brother of George III. Sitter associated with 6 portraits. Identify
Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon (1743-1827), Representative peer. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (1732-1792), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 64 portraits. Identify
George Simon Harcourt, 2nd Earl Harcourt (1736-1809), Politician; MP for St Albans, fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and Doctor of Civil Law. Sitter in 8 portraits. Identify
John Hinchliffe (1731-1794), Bishop of Peterborough. Sitter in 5 portraits. Identify
George Bussy Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey (1735-1805), Courtier. Sitter in 6 portraits. Identify
William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne (1737-1805), Prime Minister and patron of the arts. Sitter associated with 68 portraits. Identify
William Robert Fitzgerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster (1749-1804), Irish Politician; MP for Dublin and Kildare. Sitter associated with 5 portraits. Identify
William Henry Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton (1724-1808), Barrister and politician. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
George Montagu, 4th Duke of Manchester (1737-1788), Politician and diplomat. Sitter in 4 portraits.
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (1705-1793), Judge. Sitter in 16 portraits.
William Markham (1719-1807), Archbishop of York; Headmaster of Westminster School. Sitter in 11 portraits. Identify
George Brudenell Montagu, Duke of Montagu (1712-1790), Courtier. Sitter in 3 portraits. Identify
George Edgcumbe, 1st Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1720-1795), Naval Lieutenant and politician. Sitter in 8 portraits. Identify
Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1764-1839), Writer on opera. Sitter in 9 portraits. Identify
George Onslow, 1st Earl of Onslow (1731-1814), Politician; MP for Surrey. Sitter in 3 portraits. Identify
James Charles Pitt (1761-1781), Naval captain; third son of 1st Earl of Chatham. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
William Pitt (1759-1806), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 174 portraits. Identify
William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738-1809), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 32 portraits. Identify
Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 2nd Earl of Radnor (1750-1828), Politician; MP for Salisbury. Sitter in 6 portraits. Identify
Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond and Lennox (1735-1806), Field Marshal, ambassador to France and politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department. Sitter in 28 portraits. Identify
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730-1782), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 14 portraits. Identify
Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn (Lord Loughborough) (1733-1805), Lord Chancellor. Sitter associated with 33 portraits. Identify
George Sackville Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville (1716-1785), Soldier and statesman. Sitter associated with 18 portraits. Identify
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792), First Lord of the Admiralty. Sitter associated with 25 portraits. Identify
Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Baron Scarsdale (1726-1804), Politician and art collector. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
Jonathan Shipley (1714-1788), Bishop of St Asaph. Sitter in 7 portraits. Identify
Sir John Skynner (1724?-1805), Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Sitter associated with 2 portraits. Identify
John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer (1734-1783), Politician; MP for Warwick. Sitter in 3 portraits. Identify
Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford (1721-1803), Politician; Lord Privy Seal. Sitter in 6 portraits. Identify
Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope (1753-1816), Scientist and politician; MP for Wycombe. Sitter associated with 46 portraits. Identify
Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple (1711-1779), Statesman. Sitter in 16 portraits. Identify
Edward Thurlow, Baron Thurlow (1731-1806), Lord Chancellor. Sitter in 37 portraits. Identify
John Waldegrave, 3rd Earl Waldegrave (1718-1784), Politician and Lieutenant-Colonel. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland (1759-1841), Politician; Lord Privy Seal. Sitter associated with 32 portraits. Identify
This portraitback to top
The painting represents the dramatic collapse of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, in the House of Lords on 7 April 1778. Chatham had just delivered a speech urging for a peace settlement with the revolutionary Americans. In order to preserve the empire he had done so much to build up, Chatham called for any form of settlement short of total independence. On rising, for a second time, to rebut the Duke of Richmond's motion that the American colonies be given independence, Chatham suffered a heart attack. The fallen Chatham is surrounded by his three sons and his son-in-law (Lord Mahon) and supported by the Dukes of Cumberland and Portland. Chatham never recovered and died a month later at his country estate.
Lord Camden who was sitting beside Chatham described the scene in a letter to the Duke of Grafton: 'He fell back upon his seat, and was to all appearance in the agonies of death. This threw the whole House into confusion .... even those who might have felt a secret pleasure at the accident, yet put on the appearance of distress, except only the Earl of Mansfield, who sat still, almost as much unmoved as the senseless body itself.'
The American Copley, following the example of his compatriot Benjamin West, employed the heightened emotions and grand gestures of traditional history painting to a contemporary event. The portraiture is direct, being based on individual studies, but considerable licence has been taken in the theatrical composition and the lighting. The painting excited much controversy when exhibited in 1781.
Related worksback to top
NPG D9178: Key to 'The Death of Chatham' (source portrait)
NPG D18117: Death of the Earl of Chatham (includes William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham and 55 other sitters) (after)
Linked publicationsback to top
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 742
Place portrayed: United Kingdom: England, London (House of Lords, Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London)
Abolition trail
Events and occasions tour
Known interiors
Admiral Augustus Keppel, First Lord of the Admiralty during the final years of the American War of Independence is tried and acquitted at court martial of misconduct at the Battle of Ushant the previous year. His case becomes a cause célèbre.
Botanist Joseph Banks tells a committee of the House of Commons that the east coast of Australia is suitable for the transportation of convicted felons.
Penitentiary Act authorises state prisons.
Swiss artist Henry Fuseli settles in London after nine years in Rome. Painter and President of the Royal Academy Joshua Reynolds' celebrated Discourses on art are published as a book.
World's first iron bridge is assembled across the Severn at Coalbrookdale.Inventor Samuel Crompton introduces the Spinning Mule.
John Newton and William Cowper's Olney Hymns is published, containing the first printed version of Amazing Grace.
American War of Independence: Spain, in alliance with France and the US, declares war on Britain. Great Siege of Gibraltar begins, in which French and Spanish forces try to wrest power from the established British Garrison, under the leadership of General George Augustus Eliot.
Captain James Cook is killed in a skirmish with natives on the Sandwich Islands on his third and final voyage.
Laurence RIVIALE
The display caption in Tate Britain for one of the two preparatory oil paintings of The Death of Chatham explains, as the present article does, that the event took place on april 7th 1778, whereas the title of the picture is July 7th 1778 (in Tate Britain).
Could you tell me the right date please ?
Besides, an engraving in the British museum by William Angus shows the painting exhibited in Spring Gardens in 1781 ; Copley was RA in 1781 ; why was it not exhibited in the RA ?
Lecturer, University of Clermont-Ferrand, France
William Hazlitt's Spirit of the Age
Return to Life: A New Look at the Portrait Bust
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Voices in the News A sound montage of some of the voices in this past week's news, including outgoing Illinois Gov. George Ryan; President George W. Bush and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN); Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer; Pak Gil Yon, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations; President Bush; and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
Voices in the News
Only Available in Archive Formats.
Real Media
January 12, 200312:00 AM ET
Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday
A sound montage of some of the voices in this past week's news, including outgoing Illinois Gov. George Ryan; President George W. Bush and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN); Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer; Pak Gil Yon, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations; President Bush; and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
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Abusive Indian Husband Gets 25-Year Sentence
by Veena September 2, 2013 0527
Washington: (IANS) Lakhvir Singh, 28, of Indianapolis who was convicted recently of raping and strangling the woman he wed in an arranged marriage, will serve at least 10 years in prison before likely being deported to India.
Singh, 28, told Marion Superior Court Judge Carol Orbison that he planned to appeal his conviction, but he will need a public defender appointed because he is out of money. A jury found him guilty of criminal deviate conduct, domestic battery, rape, sexual battery and strangulation.
Orbison imposed a sentence of 25 years, with the last five to be served in community corrections. However, both defense attorney Jack Crawford and Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Cindy Oetjen said practically, that translates to a 20-year sentence. Assuming Singh has no trouble in prison, he likely would serve half of that.
“I want the maximum punishment and justice to be served,” the woman said in a statement to the newspaper which did not identify her. “I don’t want this to happen to any other girl. My voice can finally be heard.”
The woman, who was married off when she came to Indiana to visit her family, was allegedly raped by her husband and forced to do nearly round-the-clock household labor, the newspaper said citing police.
She was routinely referred to as “bitch” by her husband, uncle and aunt. She was slapped and choked. Her life was threatened. She barely ate and had to sleep on the floor without covers.
Singh’s lawyer, Jack Crawford, however, claimed the woman made up the allegations to get out of a marriage she didn’t like and to secure a visa for victims of human trafficking.
“She was in a marriage where she did some things she didn’t want to do and tried to get out of it,” Crawford was quoted as saying. “The blame here lies with the parents for forcing them both into a marriage they did not want.
And, both attorneys agreed, federal immigration officials probably will deport him as soon as he leaves prison and before he begins community corrections.
Singh showed little emotion in court, but his current wife, Harpeet Kaur, tearfully described him as a wonderful husband and father who never was violent or abusive. They married in December 2010, she said, and have an 18-month-old son who is intensely bonded to Singh. After the hearing, she sobbed in the arms of family members.
Crawford said after the hearing that Singh and Kaur married after Singh’s relationship with the victim ended.
Indian business sought for Sacramento region
Warp and Weft: Earthy, Reflective Tale
Indian-American couple charged with international elder fraud scheme
Ivanka Trump to lead US delegation for summit in India
Indian jailed for 30 months in the US for selling gun silencers
Veena July 27, 2017
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Order of Walker Family Mysteries Books
The Walker Family Mysteries is a series of novels by American author J.A. Jance. Although the Walker Family Mysteries series started back in 1991 with Hour of the Hunter, the series didn’t resume until ten years later with Kiss of the Bees. (more…)
Order of Ali Reynolds Books
TV journalist Alison Reynolds’ broadcasting career has come to an abrupt end because the execs want someone younger and meanwhile she is in the middle of a divorce with a cheating husband. This causes Reynolds to leave Los Angeles and head back to Arizona where she decides to start up a blog to help others in similar situations. (more…)
Bidding War Over “Fifty Shades of Grey” Imminent
Posted: 9 years ago Written by Jenny Brady on Saturday, March 24th, 2012
Fifty Shades of Grey may have started out as fan fiction based on Twilight, but now it’s looking to be its successor. Universal, Sony, Paramount and Warner Bros. are all in the hunt to grab the rights to the series by E.L. James. (more…)
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” Disappoints at Box Office
Posted: 9 years ago Written by Brandon Williams on Saturday, March 24th, 2012
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was part of one of the bestselling series of the last decade, but the Hollywood film based on Stieg Larsson‘s novel failed to resonate with the moviegoing public.
The big budget adaptation starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara performed “below expectations,” according to MGM, who considers it a modest lost. (more…)
Fight Club Author’s Car Gets Crushed by Trailer
Bestselling author Chuck Palahniuk was in an accident Friday morning when an out-of-control truck crashed into his car when he was attempting to pull out of his driveway.
The truck was rounding a curve too fast when he lost control of his trailer. The trailer tipped over and slid onto Palahniuk’s car as he was waiting to pull out of his driveway. The trailer hit the right side of Palahniuk’s Toyota Prius. (more…)
Senator Pens New Book About Alternative Energy
Former North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan is trying his hand at fiction, writing a new eco-thriller novel about an attempted sabotage on alternative energy development. (more…)
Order of Joanna Brady Books
Joanna Brady is a character who appears in novels by American author J.A. Jance. The Joanna Brady series is set in the town of Bisbee, Arizona – where Jance grew up. Joanna starts out of the wife of Andy Brady, who is running for sheriff. He gets murdered, so she decides to take his place and ends up winning the election. (more…)
Order of J.P. Beaumont Books
J.P. Beaumont is a fictional Seattle homicide detective who appears in novels by American author J.A. Jance. The J.P. Beaumont series is Jance’s first and largest series of her four series. (more…)
James Patterson is the Iron Author
Posted: 9 years ago Written by Brandon Williams on Friday, March 23rd, 2012
James Patterson is the busiest top-selling author at the moment. He has three books near the top of bestseller lists, with Guilty Wives coming out next week. (more…)
Order of J.A. Jance Books
J.A. Jance is the pseudonym of American novelist Judith Ann Jance. Jance’s publishers convinced her to use the gender-neutral pen name “J.A. Jance” because she was writing mystery novels about a male detective. Jance’s novels fall into the mystery and horror genres. (more…)
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Photo Credit: Bureau of Land Management
Species Common Name Northern Spotted Owl
Species Scientific Name Strix occidentalis caurina
Federal Listing Status Threatened
State Listing Status Threatened
Oregon’s Coast Range, known for its dramatic scenery, is extremely diverse, with habitats ranging from open sandy dunes to lush forests and from tidepools to headwater streams. It follows the coastline and extends east through coastal forest to the border of the Willamette Valley and Klamath Mountains ecoregions
The East Cascade ecoregion extends from the Cascade Mountains’ summit east to the warmer, drier high desert and down the length of the state. This ecoregion varies dramatically from its cool, moist border with the West Cascades ecoregion to its dry eastern border, where it meets sagebrush desert landscapes.
The Klamath Mountains ecoregion covers much of southwestern Oregon, including the Umpqua Mountains, Siskiyou Mountains, and interior valleys and foothills between these and the Cascade Range. The Rogue watershed has the largest population of any coastal watershed in Oregon (Jackson County, Josephine County, and a portion of Curry County). Several popular and scenic rivers run …
The West Cascades ecoregion extends from east of the Cascade Mountains summit to the foothills of the Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue Valleys, and spans the entire length of the state of Oregon. It is largely dominated by conifer forests, moving into alpine parklands and dwarf shrubs at higher elevations.
The Willamette Valley ecoregion is bounded on the west by the Coast Range and on the east by the Cascade Range. This long mostly level alluvial plain has some scattered areas of low basalt, and contrasts with productive farmland and large urban areas. It has the fastest-growing human population in the state resulting in challenges due to land-use changes.
Northern Spotted Owls require large areas of late-successional forest for breeding and dispersal.
Northern Spotted Owls have large home range requirements. They are adversely affected by reductions in late-successional forest. Habitat loss due to uncharacteristically severe fire is of particular concern in the Klamath Mountains ecoregion. Hybridization and competition with Barred Owls (Strix varia) represent emerging threats. Northern Spotted Owls are also sensitive to West Nile Virus.
Data gaps
Assess impacts of forest operations and management. Evaluate interactions with Barred Owls and associated impacts.
Conservation actions are largely being pursued on federal lands in Washington, Oregon, and California through the Northwest Forest Plan, federal recovery plan (see below), Oregon Forest Practices Act on state and private lands, and several habitat conservation plans on private lands.
Key reference or plan
Revised Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina)
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Home Products & Services @RISK Monte Carlo Simulation
Risk analysis is part of every decision we make. We are constantly faced with uncertainty, ambiguity, and variability. And even though we have unprecedented access to information, we can’t accurately predict the future. Monte Carlo simulation (also known as the Monte Carlo Method) lets you see all the possible outcomes of your decisions and assess the impact of risk, allowing for better decision making under uncertainty.
What is Monte Carlo Simulation?
Monte Carlo simulation is a computerized mathematical technique that allows people to account for risk in quantitative analysis and decision making. The technique is used by professionals in such widely disparate fields as finance, project management, energy, manufacturing, engineering, research and development, insurance, oil & gas, transportation, and the environment.
Monte Carlo simulation furnishes the decision-maker with a range of possible outcomes and the probabilities they will occur for any choice of action. It shows the extreme possibilities—the outcomes of going for broke and for the most conservative decision—along with all possible consequences for middle-of-the-road decisions.
The technique was first used by scientists working on the atom bomb; it was named for Monte Carlo, the Monaco resort town renowned for its casinos. Since its introduction in World War II, Monte Carlo simulation has been used to model a variety of physical and conceptual systems.
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Monte Carlo simulation performs risk analysis by building models of possible results by substituting a range of values—a probability distribution—for any factor that has inherent uncertainty. It then calculates results over and over, each time using a different set of random values from the probability functions. Depending upon the number of uncertainties and the ranges specified for them, a Monte Carlo simulation could involve thousands or tens of thousands of recalculations before it is complete. Monte Carlo simulation produces distributions of possible outcome values.
By using probability distributions, variables can have different probabilities of different outcomes occurring. Probability distributions are a much more realistic way of describing uncertainty in variables of a risk analysis.
Common probability distributions include:
Or “bell curve.” The user simply defines the mean or expected value and a standard deviation to describe the variation about the mean. Values in the middle near the mean are most likely to occur. It is symmetric and describes many natural phenomena such as people’s heights. Examples of variables described by normal distributions include inflation rates and energy prices.
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All values have an equal chance of occurring, and the user simply defines the minimum and maximum. Examples of variables that could be uniformly distributed include manufacturing costs or future sales revenues for a new product.
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The user defines the minimum, most likely, and maximum values, just like the triangular distribution. Values around the most likely are more likely to occur. However values between the most likely and extremes are more likely to occur than the triangular; that is, the extremes are not as emphasized. An example of the use of a PERT distribution is to describe the duration of a task in a project management model.
The user defines specific values that may occur and the likelihood of each. An example might be the results of a lawsuit: 20% chance of positive verdict, 30% change of negative verdict, 40% chance of settlement, and 10% chance of mistrial.
During a Monte Carlo simulation, values are sampled at random from the input probability distributions. Each set of samples is called an iteration, and the resulting outcome from that sample is recorded. Monte Carlo simulation does this hundreds or thousands of times, and the result is a probability distribution of possible outcomes. In this way, Monte Carlo simulation provides a much more comprehensive view of what may happen. It tells you not only what could happen, but how likely it is to happen.
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Scenario Analysis: In deterministic models, it’s very difficult to model different combinations of values for different inputs to see the effects of truly different scenarios. Using Monte Carlo simulation, analysts can see exactly which inputs had which values together when certain outcomes occurred. This is invaluable for pursuing further analysis.
Correlation of Inputs. In Monte Carlo simulation, it’s possible to model interdependent relationships between input variables. It’s important for accuracy to represent how, in reality, when some factors goes up, others go up or down accordingly.
An enhancement to Monte Carlo simulation is the use of Latin Hypercube sampling, which samples more accurately from the entire range of distribution functions.
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You are here:Home»Previous cross-party group meetings»Cross Party Group Meeting, 5 March 2008
Cross Party Group Meeting, 5 March 2008: COPD and Palliative Care Services/ GMC's review of its publication Withholding and Withdrawing Life-prolonging Treatments: Good Practice in Decision-making
The British Lunch Foundation (BLF) works to provide information and support to those diagnosed with lung disease. They also campaign for improvements in all areas of lung health, and invest money in research aiming to improve the diagnosis and treatment of lung conditions.
Andrew Powrie-Smith, Head of the British Lung Foundation Scotland & Northern Ireland delivered a presentation You’ve got the wrong the disease: COPD and Palliative Care Services
There was also a discussion led by Sharon Burton, Senor Policy Advisor, General Medical Council regarding the General Medical Council's review of its publication Withholding and Withdrawing Life-prolonging Treatments: Good Practice in Decision-making which was published in 2002.
UPDATE: New guidance for doctors, Treatment and care towards the end of life: good practice in decision making, came into effect on 1 July 2010.
This guidance replaces the booklet Withholding and withdrawing life-prolonging treatments (2002) (360kb, pdf). It expands on the guidance in Consent, patients and doctors making decisions together, which sets out the principles on which good clinical decisions should be based, and provides a framework for good practice when providing treatment and care for patients who are reaching the end of their lives.
Modernising Medical Careers (MMC): Professor Sir John Tooke has published his report on MMC: Aspiring to Excellence (8 January 2008). His report suggests a reworking of many aspects of postgraduate medical education (PGME) and contains detailed recommendations (details available at www.mmcinquiry.org.uk).
Meeting Papers
Agenda 05 March 2008
Approved minute of XPG meeting - 5 March 2008
The GMC and End of Life Care – a position paper
GMC relevant case law since 2002 (a summary)
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FBI Raids New York Homes in Hunt for Anonymous Hackers
By John E Dunn
Techworld.com |
The FBI is reported to have raided homes in New York and California in connection with DDoS attacks carried out earlier this year by the hacktivist group, Anonymous.
Fox News has reported that the agency arrived to search two homes in Long Island and one in Brooklyn, removing papers and some computer equipment. The FBI is said to have followed up with search warrants at one or more addresses in California later in the day.
It is not yet clear whether anyone will be arrested as part of the investigation, but all the suspects were described by Fox News sources as being in their late teens or early twenties. Only one individual said to live at one of the addresses in New York has been named but his association has not been confirmed.
Getting on top of Anonymous has proved remarkably difficult for such a high-profile group, despite arrests by UK and US in January, further arrests in Spain, and an even larger raid in Turkey last month. It could be that Anonymous is simply too loose, dispersed and evolving to be stopped quickly by law enforcement.
Also in June, teen Ryan Cleary was arrested for being involved in DDoS attacks launched by LulzSec, a separate entity loosely associated with Anonymous.
Coincidentally, after a month out of the news, LulzSec yesterday launched a web redirection attack on websites run by British newspapers controlled by News International, owners of Fox News.
Not coincidentally, but perhaps ironically, thousands of miles away the head of News International, Rupert Murdoch, faced a committee of British parliamentarians to account for phone phreaking attacks allegedly carried out by journalists working for his company.
This story, "FBI Raids New York Homes in Hunt for Anonymous Hackers" was originally published by Techworld.com.
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Injury sidelines D.A. Points for the season, but his junior tournament thrives
Dave Reynolds Journal Star @DaveReynolds2
Jun 27, 2019 at 4:12 PM Jun 27, 2019 at 4:12 PM
In the 20-year professional golf career of D.A. Points, this has been one of his least satisfying.
The 42-year-old Pekin native — a member of the PGA Tour since 2005 — played in 13 events from November to April, making the cut in just three of them before undergoing neck surgery two months ago.
He elected to take a major medical exemption for 2018-19, meaning his season is over. Points’ goal is to be ready for the start of the 2019-20 season in September.
“I feel really good,” he said from his home in Windermere, Fla. “I’m in the gym going through my workouts, I do physical therapy twice a week and physical training four days a week. I’m trying to get as strong as I can and get my body in shape to be prepared to come back on tour when I’m able. I haven’t been able to pinpoint with my doctors the exact event when I can come back. For the most part, I’m strong, I’m playing and practicing as much as possible.”
All is not lost this summer. Points is headed back home next week to be on hand for the second playing of the youth tournament that bears his name — the D.A. Points Junior Open.
The event will be held July 8-11 at the Pekin Country Club, Points’ home course. It’s open to players 12-19 looking to earn college golf scholarships.
“Last year was good and this year should be even better,” Points said.
The tournament received a boost this week when it was named by the American Junior Golf Association as the best new event on the AJGA schedule.
Tournament organizers secured $58,000 in sponsorship and donated $25,000 of that to the ACE Grant and local charities. The ACE Grant provides financial assistance to players who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf.
“It’s super gratifying,” Points said. “But it’s more of a testament to (organizers) Scott Phegley and Michelle Kuhl, (course superintendent) Geoff Kemp, (club pro) Paul Betteridge and (sponsors) Pekin Insurance and UnityPoint Health for the amazing job they all did last year. I was mostly a bystander for most of it. I’m really grateful for all the work those people put in.”
Last year, Points was also busy that week playing in the John Deere Classic in Moline. But he made the drive to Pekin back and forth following his practice and playing rounds to be involved with the youth event.
“It was a bit of an undertaking on most days, but it wasn’t too bad,” Points said. “Interstate 74 was in good shape so it was smooth sailing.”
The John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run will also be the same week this year. Although Points isn’t competing in the tournament, he will again be commuting between the courses to check in with his equipment people at Callaway and meet with his trainer and friends.
It’s obviously not the same as playing in one of his favorite events. But it’s Points’ reality this year.
“It’s tough not being able to (play),” he said. “I’ve been playing golf my whole life. I miss competing. Practicing is fine. But I want to be there teeing it up in tournaments with the energy, the atmosphere and the excitement.”
This time, he’ll have to be a spectator. And he’ll spend as much time as he can watching and giving tips to the young golfers in Pekin.
The inaugural tournament was won by Luke Armbrust of Wheaton and Kornkamol Sakuaree of California. Morton’s Tommy Kuhl was sixth. All three have gone on to play for the University of Illinois, Points’ alma mater and an NCAA tournament qualifier for the 12th consecutive year.
“I’m sure a lot of kids will hear how great it was and be excited to come back again this year,” Points said. “Maybe make this field a little stronger.”
Dave Reynolds can be reached at 686-3210 or at dreynolds@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter at davereynolds2.
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By Cheryl Lock | Jan 15, 2020 | Finance
Fure/Shutterstock
There is no arguing that it’s expensive to live in today’s world. The average credit card debt for Americans is $5,673 per U.S. adult with a credit card, according to creditcards.com. Average student loan debt for the graduating class of 2018 was $29,200, and wages have been stagnant or growing very slowly, depending on whom you ask, with some experts putting the growth at less than one percent per year. With all the financial responsibilities Americans are taking on, it may be surprising to learn that the number of bankruptcy filings in the United States are actually on the decline. But what is bankruptcy, exactly?
Filing for bankruptcy comes with serious financial consequences, but for some, it may be the best way out of a dire situation.
What Is declaring bankruptcy?
Bankruptcy is a legal procedure where a person can present their finances to a court and request to have some or all of their debt canceled, said Bradley R. Bailyn, Esq., a bankruptcy attorney at Bailyn Law. In 2018, 755,182 people filed for bankruptcy.
Although there are multiple types of bankruptcies, not all of those apply to individuals. As far as one person filing for bankruptcy goes, there are two types a person could pick from:
Chapter 7: Commonly referred to as liquidation bankruptcy, an individual that enters Chapter 7 Bankruptcy liquidates most of their assets (with limited exceptions) to pay off creditors, said David Reischer, Esq., a bankruptcy attorney and CEO of LegalAdvice.com.
“A benefit of Chapter 7 is that it allows an individual to quickly discharge their debt and get a fresh start,” Reischer added. “A negative of Chapter 7 is that non-exempt property must be sold to satisfy any debt obligations to creditors.”
Chapter 13: Sometimes referred to as reorganization bankruptcy, this form of bankruptcy allows individuals with regular income to keep most or all of their property, as long as they pay off their debt obligations through a repayment plan, said Reischer.
Although it’s a positive to be allowed to retain most or all of your property while catching up on payment obligations, a downside of this form of bankruptcy is that it can be difficult for individuals to meet those reorganization obligations, Reischer added.
Additional forms of bankruptcy include:
Chapter 7 for businesses: Similar to an individual filing of Chapter 7, except there is no property exempt from liquidation, said Bailyn, and the debt is not canceled because the company can just be dissolved afterwards.
Chapter 11 for businesses: This is an option to remain in business while getting help from the court and your creditors to renegotiate the terms of your financial agreements so that your payments match up with your income, said Bailyn.
Chapter 12 for individuals: Similar to Chapter 13, except that Chapter 12 applies only to certain farmers and fishermen. “If you’re under that circumstance, it allows you to manage a higher level of debt than would be possible under a normal Chapter 13, and allows some additional leniencies, because farms and fishing operations have to take on so much debt,” said Bailyn.
When and how do I declare bankruptcy?
The decision to file for bankruptcy is complex and very personal, but there are some common reasons to keep in mind. “You want to do it when you will get the maximum advantage since you can only file every few years,” said Bailyn. “People typically file when a life-changing event has occurred.” For example, some reasons Bailyn has seen people file for bankruptcy include:
They can no longer make the minimum payments on their credit cards and a lawsuit has been filed, a judgment entered, and their salary is about to be garnished.
The house is about to be taken in foreclosure.
They just got a big, unexpected, one-time medical bill.
Individuals have even used bankruptcy to discharge debt tied to large federal income tax bills, according to Amy Northard, CPA and founder of The Accountants for Creatives. The qualifications, however, can be stringent.
“Your eligibility for discharging debts for federal income taxes depends on several factors: When was the tax return was due? The income tax debt may be eligible to be discharged if a tax return was due at least three years before you filed your bankruptcy. When did you actually file the tax return? You must have filed the return at least two years prior to filing for bankruptcy,” she said.
It should probably come as no surprise that debt incurred while committing tax fraud can’t be wiped via bankruptcy.
“Did you commit fraud? If you filed a fraudulent tax return or willfully attempted to evade paying taxes, you are not eligible,” Northard added.
Once you’ve decided to file, the process is fairly simple. Either you hire a lawyer, access reduced or free legal services, use a registered bankruptcy petition preparer, or you do it yourself. “If you do it yourself, you download the paperwork and you fill it out, maybe with the help of a book about filing for bankruptcy,” said Bailyn.
Once the papers are filed—either with specialized bankruptcy software by you or your lawyer to the clerk of the court that serves your home location— for a Chapter 7 case, the filer would meet with a trustee overseeing their case, and potentially some of their creditors. This is known as the 341 meeting, said Bailyn, and if things go well, the meeting should last five minutes and involve a trustee looking through your documents to ensure everything is true and correct, and then the debt is discharged.
“In a Chapter 13, once the papers are filed you need to show the court for three months that you’re able to handle the payments, and if so, the judge will hopefully confirm the plan, and then you need to make your payments for the next three to five years and your debt is discharged or canceled at the end.”
Bankruptcy consequences
Although bankruptcy can provide relief in a dire situation, it’s important to understand the consequences, which can include major impacts to your finances. Filing for bankruptcy could stay on your credit report for up to 10 years, but many people have substantially repaired their credit after two years, and their credit score may be the same as it was before they got into such bad debt, said Bailyn.
In the end, Bailyn said bankruptcy can sometimes be the best option because, while it sends you into a temporary low, it’s also a good way to start over with a fresh slate. “If you sit in debt for 10 or 20 years, your credit will never get better,” he added. It may also appear in online people searches, depending on multiple factors.
The only way from rock bottom is up
Bankruptcy might seem like an extreme step to take—and it’s one to consider thoroughly before doing so—but bankruptcy could be the best thing for people in serious debt. Additionally, “debt counseling programs rarely, if ever, work and often make your situation far worse than it was,” said Bailyn.
Plus, “as soon as you file the papers, you get an automatic court order freezing all enforcement actions against you for debt—meaning no foreclosure, no garnishment, no lawsuit continuation, no collections activity. It gives you breathing room.”
Breathing room, and a chance to start over.
Disclaimer: The above is solely intended for informational purposes and in no way constitutes legal advice or specific recommendations.
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Norwich City top 100 appearances: Ruel Fox (56)
Published: 7:00 AM May 31, 2017 Updated: 11:00 PM October 10, 2020
City's Ruel Fox in action against Bayern Munich in 1993. Photo: Archant Library - Credit: Archant Library
219 appearances, 25 goals
Ruel Fox in full flight for Norwich City against Manchester United. Picture: Archant Library - Credit: Archant
He may have been born and raised in Ipswich but City fans were happy to let that slide when Fox was shining at the top level for the Canaries.
The flying winger progressed through’s City’s youth teams and made his league debut as an 18-year-old in a 2-1 home win over Oxford in the First Division in November 1986.
Played regularly in 1987-88, scoring twice in 40 games, but made limited appearances the following two seasons due to the form of Dale Gordon before truly establishing himself after his fellow wide man was sold to Rangers. Was a key part of the team of 1992-93 which finished third in the Premiership – the Canaries’ highest ever league finish – as his pace and trickery saw his talents come to the attention of other teams.
Played in every game of the 1993-94 Uefa Cup run and had nine goals to his name by the time he was sold to Newcastle in January 1994, after that European adventure had come to an end.
Ruel Fox in action against Oldham, marked by a future Canary, Craig Fleming. Picture: Archant Library - Credit: Archant
His sale followed hot on the heels of manager Mike Walker’s exit for Everton and was one of the sales which angered City supporters so much as the era of chairman Robert Chase crumbled under financial pressures.
Described by then Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan as ‘the best player in his position in the country’ at the time of his signing for the Magpies and Fox hit the ground running.
10 Norwich loan has 'ticked every box' for Ben Gibson
Ten goals in his first season helped Keegan’s entertaining team to finish third and qualify for Europe but the arrival of French winger David Ginola saw Fox sold to Tottenham for around £4m in October 1995.
Made over 100 appearances for Spurs but never really settled at White Hart Lane and joined West Brom for £200,000 in 2000, helping the Baggies to promotion to the top flight in 2002 with former Canaries team-mate Gary Megson in charge, but did not have his contract renewed, at 34 years old, and retired.
Has held a variety of roles with hometown club Whitton United in the Eastern Counties League, currently as director of senior football, while scouting for players in England who could represent the Caribbean island of Montserrat and working as a personal trainer.
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Paul Lambert’s ‘just win’ philosophy applies to all opposition
Emma Ward
Published: 5:42 PM February 13, 2012 Updated: 10:59 PM October 10, 2020
I was fortunate enough to be treated to a day out of the office recently, as the department attended their annual Away Day, coincidentally at Carrow Road. The guest speaker was the ex rugby player Will Greenwood who gave a thoroughly entertaining, and captivating motivational speech on the power of the positive mind. He relayed stories and anecdotes of his time in the England squad, most notably his time as centre during the 2003 World Cup campaign, where England left surprise victors.
In speaking of their winning formula, Greenwood talked about the England squad, their sense of camaraderie and team spirit, their strict diet and exercise regime, but in the main, he spoke of their mindset. Referring to the chosen 15, he openly admitted, they weren’t the top 15 players in the world. “Maybe two or three were, but that’s all.” Instead, he said they were the 15 men, who believed more than anyone else, that they alone would lift the trophy. And they did.
Clive Woodward was the man that did it for rugby. Working on the premise that you can’t change behaviour, unless you change the mindset, he took his players to a level that their physical ability alone would not award them.
We’ve seen it happen here at Norwich. In 2009, we saw our team, who got hammered at the hands of Colchester, go on to smash Wycombe Wanderers a few weeks later. To those outside of the dressing room, the only thing that had changed during those intervening weeks, was the manager. But to those on the inside, along with a new manager, came new belief, and a new mindset.
It’s reported that when Lambert took charge of Wycombe Wanderers three years before he beat them as the Norwich City manager, he received a phone call from his old manager and mentor Martin O’Neill, who told him that his one piece of advice was to “just win”. Clearly Lambert bought into this and has carried it with him all the way into the Premier League.
Just as this season started I attended an Aviva Team Talk with Paul McVeigh and Darren Eadie. In discussing Lambert’s winning mentality, I recall McVeigh pondering on whether the ‘just win’ belief would be shaken when facing the likes of Man Utd and Chelsea. And as we have seen, it wasn’t. We played those games intending to win and we almost did. But it doesn’t surprise me that one of the biggest tests we have faced this year was Sunderland a couple of weeks ago. Lambert will have known his mentor would now be his adversary, and he would have known how tough the competition would be. It’s obvious the team didn’t turn up that day. Perhaps they could sense their mentor’s unshakeable belief in winning had been temporarily shaken?
In researching this article, I read that in 2002, the FA launched their ‘Psychology for Football’ strategy ‘designed to raise awareness and meet the needs of all those involved in the game; the players, managers, coaches, clubs and support staff’. It strikes me as somewhat ironic given the state of the national squad today.
The A-list world of English footballers, do indeed exhibit behaviours of undeniable self belief. But itis far from the kind of self belief Lambert, O’Neill and Woodward would tolerate. More importantly, it’s not the type of self belief that can be challenged, or transformed into something more effective.
In fact, in recent times, we have seen the national rugby squad displaying behaviour we would normally attribute to our footballers. So how did the RFU respond? Dropped the players and brought in some new blood. The inexperienced, but fresh, untainted, eager minds of players ranked nowhere nearly as high as their forerunners or counterparts, yet with the capacity to be so much more. When I look at the Norwich squad in recent times, I see the same.
I’m not sure whether the new England manager has enough time to change things now. And indeed, it’s going to take a very brave man to drop the current squad and bring in a younger less experienced side to instil the type of discipline needed in any national team. But I for one have bought into the rugby approach and I would back any manager brave enough to do the same. We’re ready for a change at the national level. It happened at Norwich, it’s happening at Sunderland, and now it needs to happen at the top.
In the words of Will Greenwood, “if you keep doing the same things, you won’t get different results.”
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Revision Apps and VR
Media, Partners and Sponsors
MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain computer interfaces
Neuroengineers at MIT have created a implantable fuel cell that generates electricity from the glucose present in the cerebrospinal fluid that flows around your brain and spinal cord. In theory, this fuel cell could eventually drive low-power sensors and computers that decode your brain activity to interface with prosthetic limbs.
The glucose-powered fuel cell is crafted out of silicon and platinum, using standard semiconductor fabrication processes. The platinum acts as a catalyst, stripping electrons from glucose molecules, similar to how aerobic animal cells (such as our own) strip electrons from glucose with enzymes and oxygen. The glucose fuel cell products hundreds of microwatts (i.e. tenths of a milliwatt), which is a surprisingly large amount — it’s comparable to the solar cell on a calculator, for example. This should be more than enough power to drive complex computers — or perhaps more interestingly, trigger clusters of neurons in the brain. In theory, this glucose fuel cell will actually deprive your brain of some power, though in practice you probably won’t notice (or you might find yourself growing hungry sooner…)
Size-wise, the MIT engineers have created glucose-powered fuel cells that are as large as 64x64mm (2.5in), or as small as just a few millimeters. In the picture above, the large yellow square is a single 64x64mm fuel cell, and it’s surrounded by a bunch of smaller versions. Presumably the largest fuel cell produces the most electricity — but at that size, I don’t think it would fit inside a human brain at least. You could quite easily implant a few dozen of the smallest fuel cells in your spinal cord, however.
This discovery is exciting for two main reasons: a) The fuel cell is completely synthetic, and b) they can be produced using low-tech, decades-old chip fabrication processes. Glucose fuel cells have been created before, primarily to power pacemakers, but they used biological enzymes (like your own cells) — and enzymes need to be replenished. Platinum, however, will happily strip electrons from glucose indefinitely. Platinum also has the added bonus of being very biocompatible — i.e. your immune system doesn’t try to reject it. Cerebrospinal fluid is almost entirely devoid of cells, too — it’s basically just a glucose-rich fluid that insulates your brain and spine. Because there are no cells, this means there are no white blood cells that can reject the fuel cell.
Ultimately, this fuel cell will hopefully be used to power implanted, ultra-low-power devices that sit inside your skull or spinal cord. In actual fact, MIT’s research into this fuel cell was led by Rahul Sarpeshkar, who happens to be one of the leaders of hybrid digital-biological devices. So far, implanted devices have mostly been tethered to a wall socket — but now, Sarpeshkar’s group can begin work on implants that are completely self-powered.
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Many Admit They Could Improve Savings Habits
Survey results suggest men and women are broadly concerned about affording unexpected expenses, affording health care costs and being able to take desired vacations. Read more >
Factors Aligning to Accelerate Pension Activity
While combined pre‑funding and risk transfer actions have typically been economically positive, many plan sponsors have stayed on the sidelines or managed pension risk tentatively, Mercer notes in a report. However, Mercer says, pension sponsors are growing tired of market and regulatory volatility and are contemplating bolder action. Potential tax changes that will drive accelerated pre‑funding make a tipping point imminent. “We have seen many iterations of de‑risking actions over the past decade, and we see full plan terminations as the next wave, as many frozen plan sponsors convert from gradual steps to a Big Bang,” Mercer concludes. Read more >
The Role of Families in Lifetime Financial Security
Some who step up to help family members when needed will have adequate resources, creating no impact on their retirement security, but for some others, family help may drain their resources and leave them in a worse or difficult situation for retirement, notes Anna Rappaport, a Fellow with the Society of Actuaries. Read more >
Products, Deals and People
Investment Products and Services Launches
American Century releases new alternative investments fund, and Thornburg Investment Management adds R6 share classes. Read more >
Economic Events
In the week ending April 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance was 234,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 235,000, the Labor Department reported. The four-week moving average was 247,250, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 250,250.
The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 4.08%, down from 4.10% one week ago, according to Freddie Mac. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 3.34%, down from 3.36%.
The Producer Price Index for final demand declined 0.1% in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Final demand prices advanced 0.3% in February and 0.6% in January. In March, the indexes for both final demand services and goods fell 0.1%.
Thursday, the Dow closed 138.61 points (0.67%) lower at 20,453.25, the NASDAQ was down 31.01 points (0.53%) at 5,805.15, and the S&P 500 decreased 15.98 points (0.68%) to 2,328.95. The Russell 2000 fell 13.95 points (1.03%) to 1,345.24, and the Wilshire 5000 lost 162.90 points (0.67%) to close at 24,262.59.
On the NYSE, 3.1 billion shares traded, and on the NASDAQ, 3.0 billion shares changed hands, with a more than 2 to 1 lead for declining issues on both exchanges.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note was up 1/32, decreasing its yield to 2.236%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond was down 2/32, increasing its yield to 2.892%.
The Aon Hewitt 401(k) Index shows that March ended an “overall light quarter of trading activity” among 401(k) investors. Results from the monthly index show the first quarter of 2017 saw no days with above-normal trading activity. Aon Hewitt says this is the first time this has happened in a quarter since the index was established in 1997. Read more >
Institutional Investors Turning to Private Funds for Returns
“The wide range of private fund strategies can generate strong returns, provide diversification, reduce volatility, act as an inflation hedge, and/or deliver reliable income,” Cerulli researchers explain.Read more >
ON THIS DATE: In 1775, the first abolitionist society in U.S. was organized in Philadelphia with Ben Franklin as president. In 1828, the first edition of Noah Webster’s dictionary was published under the name “American Dictionary of the English Language.” In 1889, the first international Conference of American States began in Washington, D.C. In 1894, the first public showing of Thomas Edison’s kinetoscope took place. In 1902, James Cash (J.C.) Penney opened his first retail store in Kemmerer, Wyoming. It was called the Golden Rule Store. In 1912, the Atlantic passenger liner Titanic, on its maiden voyage, hit an iceberg and began to sink; 1,517 people lost their lives and more than 700 survived. In 1939, the John Steinbeck novel “The Grapes of Wrath” was first published. In 1956, Ampex Corporation of Redwood City, California, demonstrated the first commercial magnetic tape recorder for sound and picture. In 1959, the Taft Memorial Bell Tower was dedicated in Washington, D.C. In 1981, America’s first space shuttle, Columbia, returned to Earth after a three-day test flight. The shuttle orbited the Earth 36 times during the mission. In 1984, the Texas Board of Education began requiring that the state’s public school textbooks describe the evolution of human beings as “theory rather than fact.” In 1990, Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles began a streak of 95 errorless games and 431 total chances by a shortstop. In 2000, after five years of deadlock, Russia approved the START II treaty that called for the scrapping of U.S. and Russian nuclear warheads.
And now it’s time for FRIDAY FILES!
A combination of juggling and pool make for some very cool trick shots. Read more >
This cat may be a little chubby, but it is determined to get under the door. Read more >
Funny how this Dad tricks his son into walking instead of taking the car. Read more >
In Wuhan, China, a university student found a bird’s nest in his pants. The student at the Wuhan University of Science and Technology’s School of Automotive Engineering told Chutian Metropolis Daily that he was in the habit of simply throwing off his clothes after arriving back in his dorm room after going to the gym, and then waiting until the weekend to do the laundry. However, before he did the laundry, the pants he had hung up on the balcony had a new occupant. After the story spread around campus, students said they felt sorry for the birds who were now out of a home, and called on fellow classmates to leave their dirty laundry outside, in order to help out nature.
In Bristol, England, police saw what they thought was a collapsed man and rushed to his aid. However, when they got closer, they realized it was a 4-foot-long alligator. According to the Huffington Post, the owner of a local reptile store was taking the alligator out for a walk when officers mistook it for a prostrate person.
In Stafford, Virginia, a crafty dog escaped an animal hospital. According to news reports, surveillance footage captured the dog opening the door to his cage then turning another door’s handle with his mouth. Video next shows him exiting the building and strolling around the parking lot. Fortunately, he was later found resting in a nearby yard and an animal control officer returned him to the animal hospital.
In Lynn, Massachusetts, a 79-year-old man received a check for two cents from the U.S. Treasury Department. News reports say he has already received his tax refunds and his monthly pension. He doesn’t know why he received it, and doesn’t plan on asking. He also doesn’t plan on cashing the check; he paid more than $82 to have a custom frame made for it.
In East Palestine, Ohio, an 8-year-old boy drove his 4-year-old sister to McDonald’s in their father’s van. They snuck out of their home after their parents went to sleep. According to the Huffington Post, during the mile-and-a-half long journey to the restaurant, the boy successfully navigated railroad tracks and multiple intersections. Concerned witnesses called the police, despite the fact that the boy had remained under the speed limit and obeyed all other traffic laws. The boy said he learned to drive by watching a YouTube video. The police say no neglect was involved and no charges would be filed.
Share the news with a friend! Pass the NewsDash along—and tell your friends/associates they can sign up for their own copy. Read more >
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Provider Communication Rules Scrutinized in DOL Fiduciary FAQ
The DOL released another “Fiduciary Rule FAQs” document. Questions covered in the second FAQ document range from the general to the specific. For example, on the high-level question, “Is every communication with a financial adviser about retirement accounts a fiduciary recommendation?,” DOL answers simply, “No.”Read more >
IRS Proposes Changes to QMAC, QNEC Definitions
Under the proposal, employer contributions to a plan would be able to qualify as qualified matching contributions (QMACs) and qualified nonelective contributions (QNECs) if they satisfy applicable nonforfeitability and distribution requirements at the time they are allocated to participants’ accounts not when they are contributed to the plan.Read more >
IRS Announces Last Day of Remedial Amendment Period for 403(b)s
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Revenue Procedure 2017-18 provides that the last day of the remedial amendment period for 403(b) plans is March 31, 2020. In April 2013, the agency issued Revenue Procedure 2013-22 establishing a pre-approved plan program for 403(b)s and offered a remedial amendment period for 403(b) plan documents.Read more >
PBGC Lists Triggers for Early Warning Program
An important aspect of the pension preservation mission of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is its Early Warning Program (EWP) for single-employer defined benefit (DB) plans. In an updated page on its website, PBGC says its experience under the EWP is that it can avoid terminating a plan by working with the plan sponsor to obtain protections before a business transaction significantly increases the risk of loss. PBGC regularly monitors corporate transactions, events, or trends that could affect a plan sponsor’s ability to continue to support its DB plan.Read more >
Tuesday, the Dow closed 58.96 points (0.30%) lower at 19,826.77, the NASDAQ decreased 35.39 points (0.63%) to 5,538.73, and the S&P 500 was down 6.75 points (0.305) at 2,267.89. The Russell 2000 fell 14.96 points (1.09%) to 1,352.32, and the Wilshire 5000 lost 96.64 points (0.41%) to finish at 23,711.34.
On the NYSE, 3.1 billion shares traded, with a slight lead for declining issues. On the NASDAQ, 2.9 billion shares changed hands, with a more than 2 to 1 lead for decliners.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note increased 19/32, bringing its yield down to 2.328%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond climbed 1 5/32, decreasing its yield to 2.932%.
Pay Gap Means Women Need to Save More for Retirement
The average American woman must save $1.25 for every $1 a man invests in retirement savings to build an equivalent nest egg, a NerdWallet data analysis shows. For every dollar men earn, women in the U.S. make 80 cents on average, according to the latest available data. That wage gap can lead to an even bigger divide down the road when it comes to retirement savings in a 401(k), NerdWallet says. The company looked at U.S. Census Bureau data from 2007 and 2015.Read more >
In today’s multigenerational workforce, most executives agree that each age demographic exhibits its own styles and approaches. CFOs in a Robert Half Management Resources survey said they see the greatest generational differences in employees’ communication skills (30%), ability to adapt to change (26%) and technical abilities (23%).Read more >
ON THIS DATE: In 1778, English navigator Captain James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, which he called the “Sandwich Islands.” In 1803, Thomas Jefferson, in secret communication with Congress, sought authorization for the first official exploration by the U.S. government. In 1896, the X-ray machine was exhibited for the first time. In 1911, for the first time an aircraft landed on a ship. Pilot Eugene B. Ely flew onto the deck of the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco harbor. In 1919, the World War I Peace Congress opened in Versailles, France. In 1943, during World War II, the Soviets announced that they had broken the Nazi siege of Leningrad, which had begun in September of 1941. In 1957, the first, non-stop, around-the-world, jet flight came to an end at Riverside, CA. The plane was refueled in mid-flight by huge aerial tankers. In 1958, Willie O’Ree made his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins. He was the first black player to enter the league. In 1964, the plans for the original World Trade Center in New York were unveiled to the public. In 1975, “The Jeffersons” debuted on CBS-TV. In 1985, Mary Decker broke a world, indoor record when she ran the women’s, 2,000-meter race in 5:34.2. She also ran the outdoor mile in 4:16.7. In 1991, Eastern Airlines shut down after 62 years in business, due to financial problems. In 1993, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 U.S. states for the first time. In 1995, the “yahoo.com” domain was created.
WEDNESDAY WISDOM: “Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.”—William James, American philosopher and psychologist
Share the news with a friend! Pass the NewsDash along—and tell your friends/associates they can sign up for their own copy.Read more >
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Andaiye
Andaiye (1942 -2019) was a Guyanese social, political, and gender rights activist, who has been described as a transformative figure in the region's political struggle. She was an early member of the executive of the Working People's Alliance (WPA) in Guyana, alongside Walter Rodney. A founding member of the women's development organisation Red Thread in Guyana in 1986, Andaiye was also an executive member of the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA).
Sister Survivor:
For Audre Lorde
The Black experience of cancer is rarely discussed. For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Black History Month (UK), we extract this touching essay by Andaiye remembering her ‘sister survivor’.
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Ticket Information: Bristol City
It’s a 3pm kick-off for our first game in March, as we take on Lee Johnson’s Bristol City in the SkyBet Championship at Deepdale this Saturday.
Ref Watch: Bristol City
Normal matchday prices apply for this game and you can click here for a full run down of the prices and concession categories on offer for league games at Deepdale.
Tickets are now on general sale from the ticket office at Deepdale, either to be loaded to your member card or via a paper ticket. For more information on member cards and their usage, click here.
For those turning up and buying on the day, purchases can be made in person at both the Sir Tom Finney ticket office and also use the Invincibles Pavilion ticket office, which can be used to buy tickets for any part of the ground, not just the Pavilion. The Sir Tom Finney ticket office is open from 9am on a matchday and the Invincibles Pavilion ticket office is open from 1pm.
Tickets can be purchased at Deepdale from 9am until 5pm on Wednesday and Thursday, 9am until 6pm on Friday night, from 9am until kick-off on the day of the game, both in person and over the ticket hotline – 0344 856 1966.
Memorable Match: Bristol City
Tickets can be purchased online at MyPNE.Com 24/7 right up until three hours before kick-off, with collections available from the Sir Tom Finney Stand collections windows, to the left of the ticket office. The online service is now fully responsive on both mobile and tablet.
Or, if you have a member card, you can buy right up until kick-off on MyPNE.Com and load your ticket straight to your card!
Away end tickets are not available on the day, at the request of the visiting club, however, any collections can be made from the away ticket office next to the entrance of the Bill Shankly Kop on Lowthorpe Road, open from 1.30pm.
For home fans travelling to the game the Leyland shuttle bus will be in operation for the game, stopping at the usual points; pick up times as usual.
Preston North End vs Bristol City on 02 Mar 19
MyPNE.Com
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One Hundred Years of George Shultz
Featured Scholar: George P. Shultz
Over the past century, George P. Shultz has made an immeasurable mark on the world. He is one of only two individuals in American history to have held four different federal cabinet posts. He taught at three of the country’s finest universities, and for eight years he was president of a major engineering and construction company. With such a distinguished career in academia, business, and government, Shultz has lived through some of the greatest events in history and shared his knowledge with countless individuals.
In this special edition of Policy Insights, we take a look at one hundred years of wisdom from economist, businessman, and dedicated public servant George P. Shultz.
What can we learn from the past?
At one hundred years old, George Shultz is no stranger to perspective. Throughout his long life he has witnessed tumultuous changes, so he recognizes the importance of long-term thinking. In the closing note of Blueprint for America, which he edited, Shultz explains why thinking in the short term won’t help us solve our problems:
Our government continues to suffer from a lack of long-term thinking. It is hard to keep working at our most important priorities in a sincere way if we do not have a basic vision to support that. Our energies and attention get drawn up into the next crisis served up atop the political agenda. Instead, the political environment should make room for competent individuals to work in good faith toward matters that will be good for the country, even if they do not offer immediate rewards.
The Art and Practice of Governance
by George P. Shultzvia Hoover Institution Press
it is tempting to think that the problems we face today are somehow of a different nature than the ones that came before. But for all the day-to-day noise in Washington, our government’s most important priorities remain much the same as ever.
Much has changed over the last one hundred years, but some things aren’t as different as we may think. For example, the goals of government have remained largely the same over the past century. From managing governmental spending to maintaining global alliances, America’s top priorities remain constant. But these priorities will not be met on their own. Good governance is essential to meeting the goals of the country. Based on the work of George Shultz, the video below explains how good governance will help us sustain our long-term goals.
How do we approach national security?
As Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, Shultz played an essential role in the nation’s foreign policy near the end of the Cold War. Shultz’s guiding principle in foreign policy relations was trust. In this essay from Shultz’s book Learning from Experience, Shultz explains that trustworthiness depends on delivering on one’s promises, and that includes avoiding empty threats. In foreign policy, making empty threats has real consequences.
The Danger of Empty Threats
by George P. Shultzvia Defining Ideas
Sometimes small events have a major impact on your thinking. I remember boot camp and the day my Marine Corps drill sergeant handed me my rifle. “This is your best friend,” he said. “Take good care of it and remember: never point this rifle at anybody unless you’re willing to pull the trigger.”
Throughout history, many bad actors have taken advantage of empty threats. Europe issued empty threats to Hitler as he remilitarized Germany. Saddam Hussein faced empty threats from the United Nations as he terrorized his people. Our adversaries see through empty threats, and millions pay the price. The video below expands on these dangers.
No Empty Threats: Establishing Credibility in Foreign Affairs
Strength and diplomacy don’t happen without credibility. To build trust among our allies, we must follow through on what we we’ll say do. Empty threats are dangerous to national security, as they lead to the loss of influence, authority, and integrity. By establishing trust and credibility among out enemies and our allies, we can deter bad actors.
Deterrence is an important aspect of American foreign policy. Through it, there is opportunity to achieve our goals peacefully. But deterrence only works if we are capable of acting, mean what we say, and communicate clearly. If we are not willing to act on what we say, our allies and enemies will no longer believe us and we will lose our hard-earned credibility. Based on the work of George Shultz, the video below explains the difficult but crucial task of deterrence.
Acting From Strength: Achieving Deterrence in Foreign Policy
By establishing its credibility, the United States is better able to achieve its foreign policy goals. This is not just an abstract idea. As secretary of state, George Shultz helped enact foreign policy that led to the end of the Cold War. Navigating such delicate foreign policy began with trust. In Hoover’s Virtual Policy Briefing “Learning from Experience,” George Shultz reflects on a pivotal moment in Soviet relations. After successfully negotiating the release of a family of persecuted Pentecostals who had taken up residence in the US embassy in the Soviet Union, Shultz recalls:
There are two elements of trust that came out of that. One was [Ronald Raegan] saw that you could make a deal with the Soviets and they would carry it out. They saw the same thing. They knew how tempting it is for an American politician to say “Look what I did!” He said he wouldn’t do it, and he didn’t. You can trust him. And in all these things I think something to remember is trust is the coin of the realm. As you are trying to do things, develop trust.
How do we address climate change?
One of the biggest dangers facing the world today is climate change. In “America and Strategies for the Future” Shultz asserts that climate change is an issue that requires immediate global reaction in order to prevent further damage. Though scientists are working tirelessly to address climate change, it will take more than the scientific community to find solutions.
America and Strategies for the Future (Ch 3)
The first step toward a cleaner environment is reducing emissions. Although US energy use plateaued from 2007 to 2013, the nation must make further efforts to limit its carbon emissions. George Shultz, Jeremy Carl, and David Fedor write about these challenges in the introduction to The State Clean Energy Cookbook: A Dozen Recipes for State Action on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy:
The steep drop in US natural gas prices since 2008, while beneficial to the economy as a whole, has reduced the cost competitiveness of renewables and dampened the incentive for cutting energy use. At the same time, policy support from Washington has been inconsistent, with on-again, off-again clean energy incentives, steep declines in support for renewable energy from the federal loan guarantee program, and unreliable R&D funding.
The State Clean Energy Cookbook: A Dozen Recipes for State Action on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
by George P. Shultz, Jeremy Carl, and David Fedorvia Hoover Institution
States are increasingly becoming the locus of domestic energy policy-making. Hoover's Energy Policy Task Force collaborated with former US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chair Jeff Bingaman and Stanford's Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance to find "what works?. The result is a dozen "recipes" for affordable, clean, and secure energy policies that have already been implemented in a variety of U.S. states with good overall results.
Currently, the United States uses a complicated series of emissions rules, costly subsidies, and ad hoc mandates to regulate carbon emissions. One option, revenue neutral carbon taxes, could reduce carbon pollution at a lower cost and with fewer restrictions. Unlike current policies, carbon taxes are economically efficient because they make people pay directly for the costs they create. A revenue-neutral carbon tax would encourage consumers and producers to shift toward energy sources that emit less carbon. Based on the work of George Shultz, the video below further explains the benefits of carbon taxes.
Carbon Taxes: The Most Efficient Way to Reduce Emissions
The second step toward a cleaner environment is turning to more efficient energy use. The good news is that we are already on the right track. Between 2008 and 2013, the United States doubled its production of non-hydro-renewable power production. In the introduction to the Reinventing Nuclear Power essay series, George Shultz and Admiral James O. Ellis Jr. explain:
Wind and solar power dot the landscape, driven by supporting policy but also by continuous advances in technological performance, manufacturing, and business strategy. They have evolved from science experiments to now justifying their own roles on our changing electric grids. Meanwhile, rethinking how we use our energy, from LED lighting to low-heat-loss windows, has dramatically improved efficiency and disrupted the curve on national electricity demand.
Reinventing Nuclear Power: An Introduction
by George P. Shultz and James O. Ellis Jr.via Shultz-Stephenson Task Force on Energy Policy's Reinventing Nuclear Power
Over the past decades, nuclear power has been an affordable, reliable, and low-polluting pillar of our energy system; as we look to the future, can it too be reinvented to sustain and enhance the nuclear contribution in a newly diverse and robust energy industrial landscape?
But wind, solar, and hydroelectric power are not the only sources of clean energy. As the world continues to shift toward low-carbon energy sources, it is clear that nuclear power has to be included in order to reduce carbon emissions. Whereas a rainy day might dampen the effectiveness of solar power, and an unusually still day might thwart a wind turbine, nuclear power is reliable rain or shine. Based on the essay “The Benefits of Nuclear Power” by George Shultz and Admiral James O. Ellis Jr., the video below explains why we cannot take nuclear power off the table if we truly wish to reduce carbon emissions:
Nuclear Power: The Clean Energy Everyone Overlooks
Despite the obvious benefits of nuclear power, many are deterred from such an energy source after catastrophes like Chernobyl. While there may be some risk to nuclear power plants, the benefits far outweigh any adverse consequences. Shultz explains:
Radioactivity is a cultural and emotional concern for many people, but nuclear power produces a relatively small amount of such waste—at a predictable rate, with known characteristics, and with $30 billion in disposal costs already paid for. Perhaps surprisingly, nuclear power production actually releases one hundred times less radiation into the surrounding environment than does coal power. Overall, with a long track record, the rate of human injury caused by nuclear power production is the lowest of any power generation technology, including renewable resources.
The Benefits of Nuclear Power
by George Shultz and Admiral James O. Ellis Jr.via Defining Ideas
Nuclear power alone will not solve our energy problems. But we do not think they can be solved without it. This is the crux of our concerns and why we are offering this book. It describes the challenges nuclear power is facing today and what might be done about them
Throughout the course of his one-hundred-year life, George Shultz witnessed countless historical events. Even with all this experience, Shultz writes, “The world is on the hinge of history. The future is going to be different from the past in major ways.”
Navigating the future doesn’t have to be a mystery. As we traverse coming changes at home and abroad, it is important to adhere to common principles that help us chart a good course. In his essay for the Human Prosperity Project, Shultz lays out these principles:
Though the institutions and techniques to deliver them may change, the core approaches today are no different from the ones that animated Acheson and Marshall and Truman after the war: personal liberty, ensured through a just and responsive government (and realized through good individual educational foundations), and the market price system, which is really just a way of enabling personal choice and initiative, within a feedback loop, for social benefit.
In An Emerging New World, Choose Economic Freedom
by George P. Shultzvia Human Prosperity Project
At the end of the Second World War, people such as Dean Acheson, George Marshall, and Harry Truman sat atop another hinge of history, though they may not have realized it at the time. When they looked around at the devastation that had been wrought across the globe, with tens of millions of lives lost and the economies of allies and adversaries alike in ruins, they saw how the United States could work with both to help.
With the knowledge imparted to us by such a monumental figure, we can press forward with hope. But knowledge alone is not enough. George Shultz has shown that he is also a man of action, and he encourages us to be the same. He says:
In my experience in public office, opportunities come and go. You never know when they may come. And if you’re ready, if you have ideas, then when the opportunity comes, you have the chance to move ahead and do something about it.
Happy one-hundredth birthday to George Shultz, and may his wisdom continue for centuries to come.
Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution
George P. Shultz On The Danger Of Empty Threats
Reorienting The War On Drugs
Introduction: America and Strategies for the Future
Lessons From The Hoover Policy Boot Camp
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Where politics meets the press
Get alerts from the On Media blog
Hadas Gold
Blog Archives Select Date… December, 2015 November, 2015 October, 2015 September, 2015 August, 2015 July, 2015 June, 2015 May, 2015 April, 2015 March, 2015 February, 2015 January, 2015
New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News strike deals for anti-Clinton research
By DYLAN BYERS
The New York Times, The Washington Post and Fox News have made exclusive agreements with a conservative author for early access to his opposition research on Hillary Clinton, a move that has confounded members of the Clinton campaign and some reporters, the On Media blog has confirmed.
"Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich" will debut on May 5. But the Times, the Post and Fox have already made arrangements with author Peter Schweizer to pursue some of the material included in his book, which seeks to draw connections between Clinton Foundation donations and speaking fees and Hillary Clinton's actions as secretary of state. Schweizer is the president of the Government Accountability Institute, a conservative research group, and previously served as an adviser to Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
Fox News' use of Schweizer's book has surprised no one. The bulk of the network's programming is conservative, and the book's publisher, HarperCollins, is owned by News Corporation. But the Times and Post's decision to partner with a partisan researcher has raised a few eyebrows. Some Times reporters view the agreement as unusual, sources there said. Still others defended the agreement, noting that it was no different from using a campaign's opposition research to inform one's reporting -- so long as that research is fact-checked and vetted. A spokesperson for the Times did not provide comment by press time.
In an article about the book on Monday, the Times said "Clinton Cash" was "potentially more unsettling" than other conservative books about Clinton "both because of its focused reporting and because major news organizations including The Times, The Washington Post and Fox News have exclusive agreements with the author to pursue the story lines found in the book."
Both the Times and the Post initially did not respond to requests for comment on Monday. However, at 2 p.m., hours after the initial publication of this item, spokespeople from both newspapers sent statements in which editors defended the decisions to work with Schweizer.
"We had access to some material in the book, but we wanted to do our own reporting," Times Washington bureau chief and political director Carolyn Ryan said.
"We made an arrangement with Peter Schweizer’s publisher so we could read his book before publication because we are always willing to look at new information that could inform our coverage," said Post National Editor Cameron Barr. "Mr. Schweizer’s background and his point of view are relevant factors, but not disqualifying ones. What interests us more are his facts and whether they can be the basis for further reporting by our own staff that would be compelling to our readers. There is no financial aspect to this arrangement."
On Monday, a source with knowledge of the arrangements told the On Media blog that CBS' "60 Minutes" and ABC News turned down offers for similar exclusive access to portions of the book's contents. A "60 Minutes" spokesperson said only, "We do not discuss the stories we are working on." An ABC News spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
HarperCollins is marketing "Clinton Cash" as a "meticulously researched" book that "raises serious questions of judgment, of possible indebtedness to an array of foreign interests, and ultimately, of fitness for high public office." In it, Schweizer seeks to show how donations to the Clinton Foundation and speaking fees paid to former president Bill Clinton may have influenced Hillary Clinton's decisions at the State Department.
Clinton's defenders are already slamming the book. Media Matters For America, the liberal watchdog group founded by Clinton ally David Brock, published a report on Monday detailing "ten incidents of significant errors, retractions, or questionable sourcing by Schweizer."
"Schweizer is a partisan right-wing activist whose writings have been marked with falsehoods and retractions, with numerous reporters excoriating him for facts that 'do not check out,' sources that 'do not exist,' and a basic failure to practice 'Journalism 101,'" Brock said in a statement. "Buyers should beware and consider the source."
Brian Fallon, the press secretary for the Clinton campaign, similarly criticized the book.
"We always expected that while Hillary Clinton focused on helping everyday Americans get ahead, the Republicans would focus on attacks rather than ideas," he told the On Media blog. "It appears that this book is being used to aid this coordinated attack strategy, twisting previously known facts into absurd conspiracy theories. It will not be the first work of partisan-fueled fiction about the Clintons' record, and we know it will not be the last."
UPDATE (3:20 p.m.): Hillary Clinton responded to a question about the book while at a campaign stop in Keene, N.H., on Monday (h/t Gabriel Debenedetti):
[I'll be] subjected to all kinds of distractions and attacks, and I'm ready for that. I know that that comes, unfortunately, with the territory, it is I think worth noting that Republicans seem to be talking only about me. I don't know what they'd talk about if I weren't in the race.
Note: The original version of this post stated that only The New York Times and Fox News had made arrangements for exclusive access to Peter Schweizer's book, "Clinton Cash." The Washington Post has since confirmed that it has also made an arrangement with Schweizer. The post and its headline have been updated to reflect this fact.
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Announcing the Release of OmniDB: Lightweight and Easy-to-Use Tool for Database Management
Posted on 2017-08-22 by 2ndQuadrant, an EDB Company
New browser-based tool is open source and designed especially for managing PostgreSQL databases
Oxford, United Kingdom - August 22, 2017
2ndQuadrant proudly announces the release of OmniDB, an interactive, browser-based tool that simplifies database management. It is designed to be a powerful, yet lightweight and user friendly interface for PostgresQL databases. OmniDB is fully backed by 2ndQuadrant’s world renowned 24/7 Production Support.
OmniDB includes a smart SQL editor that runs smoothly in any browser from any operating system. This revolutionary tool is powered by WebSocket technology, enabling the user to execute multiple queries in parallel. The interface includes all the necessary features to add, edit, and manage user data in a unified workspace.
OmniDB is capable of connecting and identifying main structures such as tables, keys, indexes and constraints. The interactive and customizable SQL editor features syntax highlighting and SQL code completion for tables and subqueries. The most impressive aspect of OmniDB is the highly performant response time averaging only 0.03 seconds.
“Performance has been a cause for frustration within the PostgreSQL community while working with GUI tools for database management. While developing OmniDB, one of our primary aims was to address this issue. We started off with a target of 0.1 seconds as the maximum time to complete a transaction. I am very proud to say that our benchmarks show an outstanding average response time of only 0.03 seconds.” - Umair Shahid, Head of Marketing & Products
In addition to the unparalleled response time, the key capabilities of OmniDB are:
Easy to manage. The structure of the user's database is shown as an interactive tree. Each node's context menu contains access to every available action. The user can easily switch between database connections by picking from a simple dropdown menu.
Create and edit tables easily. As a result of a powerful interface and extended editing capabilities, OmniDB allows the user to manage and edit existing tables and create new ones easily. It also allows the user to add & edit various table attributes such as columns, foreign keys, etc.
Data Management. It is possible to add, edit, and remove table records depending on the table’s characteristics.
Where to find OmniDB
Download and installation instructions are available here.
About 2ndQuadrant
2ndQuadrant was founded in 2001 by Simon Riggs, a major developer and committer of the PostgreSQL project. As the largest single collective organization of PostgreSQL experts of any company globally, it is 2ndQuadrant's mission to provide the gold standard of products and services to support PostgreSQL and its continuous growth. Comprised of some of the best known developers from around the globe, all members actively contribute to the development of PostgreSQL.
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We are evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on groups who are supporting people with rare diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. There will be a £50 Amazon voucher provided to a single entry drawn at random from eligible participants.
We are keen to understand how groups that are supporting people with rare diseases have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this project we hope to identify strategies that are working well for these groups as well as common issues to explore where the development of further resources would be most effective during this COVID-19 pandemic.
This short survey is for individual or collaborative groups (including charities, voluntary, and community groups) to help evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on groups who are supporting people with rare diseases during the pandemic. The role of the charity / volunteer sector is recognised as being critically important in our society, particularly in helping minimise challenges at this difficult time.
https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/COVID19_RD_Groups/
We appreciate and welcome your input to this evaluation. If you wish to provide further details and / or have any questions about this survey, please contact raredisease@qub.ac.uk using ‘COVID-19 Survey groups' in the subject line.
If you wish further information, our information leaflet and associated privacy document is available here:
Charity COVID Information Leaflet
Charity COVID Privacy Form
This leaflet provides important information you will need to think about when deciding whether to take part in this project. The information contained in this leaflet may be made available in other formats – please just ask. If you want more detailed information about something, you can ask any at any time.
What do I have to do?
At this time, we would like you to consider completing an online survey to learn more about the impact COVID19 has had on your group. We are also interested in understanding more about how your group can be best supported in the future. The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete in full – we would appreciate partial answers if you only have time to complete a small component of the survey. The completed surveys will be stored in a safe environment that complies with national data security standards and will only be available to the three named researchers involved in the initial analysis. All future work will use summary data, which is anonymised.
Please have your voice heard!
How will the results be used?
Results from this project will be collated anonymously and used to help improve the accessibility of resources and addressing the needs of individuals affected by rare disease(s) in Northern Ireland.
To perform an online survey with individual or collaborative rare disease groups.
To explore the challenges rare disease groups have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To discover the impact COVID-19 has had on the services these groups are able to provide.
To identify the long-term implications COVID-19 will have on such groups.
To discover where resources need developed further to help groups support those with a rare disease at this time.
What are the advantages? By taking part in this study you will be helping to identify were resources should be developed to most effectively support rare disease charity groups. We recognise the exceptional ongoing work from existing groups and by agreeing to take part in this study we hope to build resources further. There will be a £50 Amazon voucher provided to a single entry drawn at random from individuals who wish to be entered into the draw by providing their email address in the last question.
Ashleen Crowe was awarded a PhD studentship by the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland. JM is supported by funding from Belfast Health and Social Care Trust as part of the NI Genomic Medicine Centre project, which is funded by the Department of Health NI and the Medical Research Council.
AJ McKnight
Please do email our rare disease team for further information.
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What is the massachusetts bay colony
by Kathy PlattLeave a Comment on What is the massachusetts bay colony
What was the purpose of the Massachusetts Bay Colony?
The Puritans established the colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1630. They hoped to purify the Church of England, and then return to Europe with a new and improved religion. The Puritans had left England because they didn’t agree with the Church of England and they wanted to practice their own faith.
How did the Massachusetts Bay Colony get its name?
Massachusetts was originally the Province of Massachusetts Bay . It was named after an Algonquian tribe, the Massachusett, which translates to something along the lines of “people of the great hill” or “at the place of large hills,” referring to the famous Blue Hills.
What was life like in Massachusetts Bay Colony?
Massachusetts Bay Colony was a man’s world. Women did not participate in town meetings and were excluded from decision making in the church. Puritan ministers furthered male supremacy in their writings and sermons. They preached that the soul had two parts, the immortal masculine half, and the mortal feminine half.
What type of colony is Massachusetts Bay?
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was a charter colony . This meant that the administration of the colony was elected by the colonists and the colony was allowed to self-govern, as long as its laws aligned with those of England.
What’s the difference between Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay?
When the Plymouth Colony was founded in 1621 and it was located on the coast of Massachusetts . So you see, Massachusetts bay was much more advanced compared to Plymouth Colony . The people of Plymouth had nothing and didn’t have any help until they met the Indians. Massachusetts had the help of England and many others.
You might be interested: Massachusetts boat registration lookup
What religion was practiced in Massachusetts colony?
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was a Puritan theocracy and non Puritans like Quakers , Catholics (Papists) and others were banished from Boston and surrounding regions. Anyone who did not agree with or follow the Puritan lifestyle, be it religious or political, was driven out, often violently.
Why is it called Massachusetts?
The Puritans named their colony after a local Indian tribe whose name means “a large hill place.” The birthplace of many of the ideals of the American Revolution, Massachusetts attracted people who believed in self-government.
What was unique about the Massachusetts Bay Colony?
The Massachusetts Bay Colony became the first English chartered colony whose board of governors did not reside in England. This independence helped the settlers to maintain their Puritan religious practices without interference from the king, Archbishop Laud, or the Anglican Church.
Which colony was more successful Massachusetts or Virginia?
Massachusetts was much more successful than Virginia . There was a war between the Puritans and Pequots however. They were in a battle of fur trades. Eventually the problems intensified and the Pequot War began.
What religion are Puritans today?
Puritans in North America Puritans were Calvinists, so their churches were unadorned and plain. It is the oldest building in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States and today serves a Unitarian Universalist congregation.
What did the Puritans do for fun?
To be fair, the Puritans did have some fun . Hunting, fishing and archery were allowed, and they held athletic contests. They drank beer, wine and liquor, but not to excess.
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What was the Puritan ideal of woman?
The ideal Puritan woman was what has sometimes been called a “helpmeet” or a “goodwife.” Women were expected to marry and serve as a godly mother to the children that were born into their households. Women were generally expected not to play a public role in Puritan communities but rather to maintain the household.
Which colonies had religious freedom?
Williams then moved south and founded Rhode Island . Rhode Island became the first colony with no established church and the first to grant religious freedom to everyone, including Quakers and Jews.
How did Massachusetts Bay Colony make money?
The Massachusetts Bay Colony primarily made money through shipbuilding, fishing, fur, and lumber production. The things produced in Massachusetts were
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Busting Tech Career Myths, Part 1: ’Tech Jobs Are All About Math and Science’
In a recent survey from CompTIA, one of the world’s largest technology associations, nearly half of the 600 IT and business executives polled said skills shortcomings within their organizations had grown during the past two years.
While these skills gaps widened in a variety of domains — marketing, sales, business development, accounting and finance, etc. — perhaps none of these deficits is as troubling as the one in the IT realm.
In brief, some analysts say at least half a million open IT positions are going unfilled. Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts IT occupations will grow 10 percent by 2026, when many existing tech professionals will begin retiring. In combination, these factors could create a national tech talent deficit with negative consequences for workers, employers, and our entire economy.
My organization, CompTIA, believes tweens and teens are a key part of the solution to this looming crisis because they already make up a quarter of the US population and will account for more than 20 percent of the workforce in the next five years. Plus, my organization’s research indicates many in this group have the temperament to become more than technicians who write software and make hardware; they will be technologists — people working with technology of varied types in companies of all shapes and sizes across the country along a broad spectrum of industries.
Workers with a technologist’s mind set, which optimally blends hard technical skills and relationship acumen (often called “soft skills”), are well-suited for today’s fast-paced, continuously evolving digital business environment.
However, there are issues at work that confound and complicate the task of raising the next generation of technologists. Seven myths about technology careers discourage potential technologists and their parents. In my position as leader of a philanthropic organization dedicated to creating on-ramps to tech careers, I consider busting those myths not only a duty, but a pleasure.
In this series of articles, I will tackle these seven myths one by one. For the first installment, I’ll start with the biggest misconception of them all:
Myth No. 1: Technology Is All About Coding, Math, and Science
Coding: Tech entrepreneur success stories always seem to revolve around software and coding. Plus, starting salaries for web and software developers are relatively high. While these facts might inspire many teens to consider tech careers, they can also discourage those kids for whom coding is neither easy, nor accessible, nor interesting.
In reality, as more businesses and households connect more devices to the internet, more data will be gathered that will need to be protected and understood. We will need more technicians, network specialists, cybersecurity pros, and data analysts to handle these tasks. Plus, we will need sales and marketing pros to match these technologists with the consumers and businesses who need their services. Of course, we will also need project managers and other expert technologists to direct and maintain these transactions and relationships. Coding is only one aspect of technology.
Math and Science: Resourcefulness and common sense are the real predictors of success in a technology career, much more so than how someone does in math and science classes. Soft skills such as problem-solving, empathy, entrepreneurship, active listening, and clear communication are all critical to the tech field.
True, good grades are important for anyone working toward any future career because they demonstrate the ability to learn and develop. Yes, solid grades in math and science certainly won’t hurt any aspiring student’s chances of finding a future position in technology. But for technologists, grades only tell part of the story. Curiosity and motivation are more important than an impressive report card.
In short, the education of a technologist must include STEM classes without being limited to them. Access to tech classes in school at any level should not be dependent on how well a student scores in math or science. Every school should offer opportunities to learn and work with technology that are broader than traditional computer science curricula, and all tracks that involve working with technology should weave cybersecurity into their syllabi.
In my next piece, we tackle the next-biggest myth about tech careers: “Working in technology requires a four-year college degree.”
Charles Eaton is executive vice president of social innovation for CompTIA and CEO of Creating IT Futures.
Read more in Career Planning
By Charles Eaton
Charles Eaton is a father to four children, ranging from elementary-school age to working adult, and leads three philanthropic endeavors for CompTIA, the world's largest IT trade association, including Creating IT Futures, CompTIA's IT workforce charity. His first book, "How to Launch Your Teen's Career in Technology: A Parent’s Guide to the T in STEM Education," is available at www.tinstem.com.
https://www.tinstem.com/
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REIT-Stock Correlations by Property Type: A Sharp Decline
Market Commentary Blog
10/18/2017 | by
Brad Case
The correlation between REITs and the broad stock market has always been relatively low, because REIT returns are driven by the real estate market cycle whereas returns for most other equities are driven by the much shorter business cycle. I’ve noted in previous market commentaries that the REIT-stock correlation has recently been especially low, so I thought I would dig a little more deeply into how closely REITs in different property type sectors have been correlated with stocks.
I’ll focus on 10 sectors or subsectors for which monthly returns are available back to the beginning of 1994: self storage, manufactured homes, health care, free standing retail, regional malls, shopping centers, apartments, industrial, office and lodging/resorts.
Chart 1 shows the correlation in monthly total returns between self storage REITs and the broad U.S. stock market. This chart illustrates an important point that you’ll see in several other sectors, too: REIT/stock correlations reached their peak not during the liquidity crisis—in fact, the correlation between self storage REITs and the broad stock market stayed in the 40% range throughout the Great Financial Crisis in late 2008 and early 2009—but rather in October 2011 when both of them had especially good returns (+16.64% for Self Storage REITs, +11.51% for the broad stock market). Even at its peak the correlation was just 59%, but since then it has declined sharply: As of September 2017, it was just 33 percent, down 26 percentage points from its highest value and 5.7 percentage points below its average value (39.0 percent) over the available historical period.
Chart 2 shows the REIT-stock correlation for the manufactured homes subsector of residential REITs. In this case the correlation was relatively high during the Great Financial Crisis—though “relatively high” in this case means just the 60 percent range—and peaked at 66 percent in mid-2010 before declining sharply over the past seven years. As of September 2017, it was 36 percent, down 30 percentage points from its highest value and 4.0 percentage points below its average value of 40.0 percent.
Chart 3 shows the correlation between health care REITs and the broad stock market. After remaining in the 55 percent range during the Great Financial Crisis, the correlation showed a noticeable spike to a maximum value of 66 percent, but as with self storage REITs, the spike was associated with good news (total returns up 6.71 percent in October 2011) rather than the turmoil of 2008-09. The correlation declined rapidly through 2013, but since then it has fluctuated in the 20 percent to 40 percent range. As of September 2017, it was 35 percent, down 31 percentage points from its 2011 peak and 5.1 percentage points below its average value (40.0 percent) over the available period.
Chart 4 shows the correlation between the broad stock market and the free standing subsector of Rrtail REITs. Just as for the manufactured home subsector, the highest REIT-stock correlation for free standing REITs was in mid-2010 when it reached 63 percent. Since then, it has declined to the 25 percent range, and as of September 2017, it was just 27 percent. That’s 36 percentage points less than its peak, 13.0 percentage points less than its average (40.4 percent), and tied with shopping centers for the lowest of all REIT sectors/subsectors.
Regional Malls
Chart 5 shows the REIT-stock correlation for the regional mall subsector of retail REITs. In this case the highest correlation was, indeed, during the Great Financial Crisis, although its peak value of 76.2 percent was only microscopically higher than the later “good news” peak of 76.1 percent reached when regional mall REITs returned an amazing +18.69 percent during October 2011. Also note that the REIT-stock correlation for regional mall REITs actually reached negative territory during 2000, something only one other segment of the industry (shopping center REITs) has achieved during the available historical period. As of September 2017, the correlation was just 33 percent, which is 44 percentage points below its highest value and 9.7 percentage points below its average value of 42.4 percent.
Chart 5 shows the correlation for the shopping center subsector of retail REITs. As with health care REITs, for shopping center REITs, the correlation with stocks remained stable during the Great Financial Crisis at a relatively high level—in the 70 precent range—but reached its maximum value of 83 percent only as a result of very strong returns (+12.78 percent) during October 2011. Since then, the correlation has declined very sharply: In fact, during each of the past five months, it has been the lowest of all REIT sectors, and as of September 2017, it was just 27 percent—a full 36 percentage points below its peak value and 13.0 percentage points less than its average value of 40.4 percent.
Chart 7 shows the REIT-stock correlation for the apartment subsector of residential REITs. The range is noticeably smaller than for other sectors or subsectors of the REIT market: Most of the time, the correlation has been between 41 percent and 51 percent, meaning that the relationship between apartment REITs and the broad stock market has fluctuated relatively little. As with regional mall REITs, the REIT-stock correlation for apartment REITs peaked during the Great Financial Crisis, though its maximum value was only slightly higher (66 percent) than the 63 percent it reached as a result of apartment REITs’ +13.17 percent total return during October 2011. Over the past few years (as in earlier years), the correlation has remained relatively stable, and as of September 2017, it was 46 percent, which is 20 percentage points below its peak value, but almost identical to its average value of 45.9 percent over the available historical period.
Chart 8 shows the correlation between industrial REITs and the broad stock market. The pattern is similar to the apartment REITs pattern: The maximum value of 74 percent was reached during the Great Financial Crisis, but that was only a tiny bit higher than the 73.6 percent correlation reached after industrial REITs posted total returns of +20.56 percent during October 2011. Since then—aside from a marked dip lasting from late 2014 into early 2016—the correlation has declined only moderately. As of September 2017, it was 55 percent, which is 19 percentage points lower than its maximum value but actually 4.3 percentage points higher than its average value of 50.2 percent during the full 1995-2017 period.
Chart 9 shows the REIT-stock correlation for REITs in the office sector. The pattern is similar to what we observed for apartment REITs and industrial REITs: The maximum value of 81.8 percent occurred during the Great Financial Crisis, but that was nearly surpassed when it reached 81.5 percent as a result of office REITs posting a total return of 11.28 percent during October 2011. Since then, the correlation went through an Industrial-like dip during 2015, but otherwise has remained relatively high (by REIT standards): As of September 2017, it was 62 percent, which is 20 percentage points below its peak value but 5.6 percentage points higher than its average value of 56.0 percent.
Lodging/Resort
Finally, Chart 10 shows the correlation between the broad stock market and REITs in the lodging/resort sector. This sector looks a little different from the rest of the REIT industry, as virtually the entire period since the onset of the Great Financial Crisis has seen REIT-stock correlations greater than we saw at any time before the GFC. The peak correlation of 79 percent occurred during early 2009, even though lodging REITs scored an industry-leading and truly spectacular total return of +26.02 percent during October 2011. Aside from a short 2015 dip reminiscent of the partment, industrial and office sectors, the correlation between lodging REITs and stocks has declined only moderately since then: As of September 2017, it was 62 percent (tied with office REITs for highest in the industry), which is 17 percentage points less than its peak value but 5.4 percentage points higher than its average value of 56.6 percent during the available historical period.
So there you have it. Many investors (including me) will get their exposure to the real estate asset class through a mutual fund or ETF that focuses on REITs broadly, and for those investors, the correlation between the broad REIT market and the broad stock market will be more relevant than the REIT-stock correlations for individual REIT sectors and subsectors. Others, though, will carefully determine how much of their total portfolio to invest in particular segments of the real estate asset class. For those investors—and, of course, for the investment managers and investment consultants who may advise them—I hope these results will be useful. If you have any comments or questions, please drop me a note at bcase@nareit.com.
Technical note: I estimate correlations using a Dynamic Conditional Correlation – Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (DCC-GARCH) model, which is considered pretty much the state of the art for analyzing how correlations change over time. I use the Russell 3000 to measure total returns for the broad U.S. stock market, and the FTSE NAREIT index series for the REIT market. I update these estimates every month, so let me know if you want the latest.
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REITs, or real estate investment trusts, are companies that own or finance income-producing real estate across a range of property sectors. These real estate companies have to meet a number of requirements to qualify as REITs. Most REITs trade on major stock exchanges, and they offer a number of benefits to investors.
REITs historically have delivered competitive total returns, based on high, steady dividend income and long-term capital appreciation. Their comparatively low correlation with other assets also makes them an excellent portfolio diversifier that can help reduce overall portfolio risk and increase returns. These are the characteristics of real estate investment.
Nareit serves as the worldwide representative voice for REITs and real estate companies with an interest in U.S. real estate. Nareit’s members are REITs and other real estate companies throughout the world that own, operate, and finance income-producing real estate, as well as those firms and individuals who advise, study, and service those businesses.
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Britney Spears to be honored for support of gay community
FILE PHOTO: Britney Spears performs at iHeartRadio Jingle Ball concert at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California U.S., December 2, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Britney Spears will be honored for her support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at an awards ceremony this year, advocacy group GLAAD said on Tuesday.
The GLAAD Vanguard Award is given to media personalities who have promoted equality and acceptance of LGBTQ people, GLAAD said. Previous winners include Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Taylor and Whoopi Goldberg.
Spears is a longtime supporter of the gay and transgender community, GLAAD said in a statement. She has spoken out against bullying of LGBTQ youth, publicly opposed bills in Texas that would have restricted transgender rights and participated in a musical tribute that honored the victims of the 2016 mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando.
She has also supported gay marriage, and last year wrote an open “love letter” to the LGBTQ community that read: “Your stories are what inspire me, bring me joy, and make me and my sons strive to be better people.”
Spears will receive the Vanguard Award at the 29th annual GLAAD Media Awards on April 12 in Beverly Hills, California.
Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Susan Thomas
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Israeli minister says Turkey opposed to regional peace
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel’s defence minister accused Turkey on Sunday of destabilising the region and working against peacemaking efforts, and called for international pressure to bring about a change in the NATO power’s conduct.
Israel generally shies from public censure of Turkey, with which it maintains trade and diplomatic relations despite the pro-Palestinian stance of Ankara’s government for more than a decade.
Briefing Gulf Arab reporters as a follow-up to Israel’s founding of ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Defence Minister Benny Gantz described Turkey and Iran as “denying promotion of peace and supporting regional aggression”.
Iran - Israel’s chief enemy - and Turkey have criticised the U.S.-brokered Sept. 15 normalisation deal between Israel and the Gulf powers, seeing a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.
Citing Turkey’s actions in northern Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as its Libya intervention and contacts with Palestinian Hamas militants, Gantz said: “All of this pushes away from stability”.
“Definitely the question of Turkey is a very complicated one, because Turkey is part of NATO,” Gantz told the Zoom conference, which was organised by The Arab Council for Regional Integration, a group that encourages Israeli-Arab outreach.
“So we must take all the options that we have in our hands and try to influence it through international pressure to make sure that they are pulling their hands from direct terrorism.”
The Palestinians have been dismayed by Israel’s diplomatic inroads in the Gulf, which side-step long-stalled talks on their statehood goal in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Gaza.
Israel, like the United States, has argued that the deals with the UAE and Bahrain could usher in a Palestine deal too.
“We just want to make sure that we find the right balance between maintaining our security and enabling Palestinian sovereignty,” Gantz said.
Writing by Dan Williams; editing by Barbara Lewis
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L'éducation : un droit de l'Homme
Humanitarian Law
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Apprentissage et éducation des adultes
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Accueil » États-Unis d'Amérique » Ressources
Privatisation of Schools - Selling Out the Right to Quality Public Education for All
This booklet brings together educators from different countries to examine the negative effects of privatisation on the right to education, education quality, equity, and teaching. Building upon specific examples from the US, Canada, Chile and South Africa, it makes the argument that privatisation increases inequality and stratification in education, and substitutes good public policy with the vagaries of charity or the single-mindedness of profit-making.
At What Cost? The Charter School Model and the Human Right to Education
From humble beginnings in the early 1990s, charter schools have grown explosively to become a pillar in a market-oriented national education reform in the United States. The fiscal fallout from the financial crisis of 2007-08 constricted educational budgets and intensified the public debate around directing resources to all aspects of educational reform, especially charter schools.
The human right to education is well established in a variety of international treaties and covenants, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The right establishes the obligation of states to provide all young people with a quality education, as defined by the prevailing social and economic context of each country. Guidance provided by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, focuses attention on the acceptability, availability, adaptability and accessibility of education in every context.
The impact of charter school expansion on the ability of U.S. states to implement the right to education for all children has, to date, been little considered in the national debate around education reform. Given the diversity of the legal foundations of charter schools in the states, it is difficult to carry out such an analysis at the national level.
Despite the fact that its public education system is rated among the most effective in the country, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been the site of large-scale implementation of the charter school model. Prominent educational research institutes have analyzed Massachusetts charters and found them - especially the schools located in Boston - to be among the most successful in the country.
The experience of Massachusetts charter schools undoubtedly includes positive effects on the implementation of the right to education. A significant number of students who had difficulty accessing quality education in traditional public schools have been able to do so in charter schools. Many of those students are from racial or ethnic groups that have faced historic discrimination in U.S. public schools. In addition, charter schools are, by their nature, adaptations of the public education model and, therefore, increase the adaptability of the system.
At the same time, other aspects of the charter school model raise concerns from a human rights perspective, some of them serious concerns. The extreme school discipline models employed by some charters and the increased use of disciplinary exclusion to maintain social order in the schools both raise human rights concerns that go well beyond the right to education. Also, the existence of an “enrollment gap” between charter schools and traditional public schools, especially in relation to the enrollment of Students with Special Needs and English Language Learners is the source of further concern. Finally, the way in which charter schools are financed, in Massachusetts and in most other jurisdictions, gradually degrades the financial capacity of public school districts. This loss of financial capacity often leads to mass school closings or other major disruptions to the system. In districts with high charter density, this process can reach the point where the capacity of the district to provide for even the basic educational needs of all students comes into question.
Massachusetts and other states with relatively high charter density in urban centers should reinforce regulatory mechanisms in place to ensure the accountability of existing charter schools to legal and regulatory frameworks. In addition, legislative bodies considering laws to allow further expansion of charter schools should carefully consider the impacts of charter school growth on the human right to education of all children in their jurisdiction before enabling such expansion.
Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education: Communications Sent to and Replies Received from States
League of Women Voters of Wash. V State
The Washington Supreme Court ruled that an Act establishing and funding charter schools as common schools was unconstitutional. The Court held that charter schools are not ‘common schools’ under Article IX of Washington’s Constitution. Thus, the use of funds restricted by the Washington Constitution to support common schools under the Act was unconstitutional. Also, because the funding provisions were integral to, and not severable from, the Act, the Court held the Act to be unconstitutional in its entirety.
Charters and consequences: An investigative series
This report, Charters and Consequences, is the result of a year-long exploration of the effects of charter schools and the issues that surround them. Each of its eleven issues-based stories tells what the Network for Public Education (NPE) have learned not only from research, but also from talking with parents, community members, teachers, and school leaders around the nation who have observed the effects of charters on their communities and neighborhood schools.
While stories of individual charter successes are well covered by the media, substantive issues surrounding the explosion of charter school growth are too often brushed aside. The purpose of this report is to bring those issues to light.
McCleary v State
The Washington Supreme Court ruled that the State failed to comply with its duty to make ample provision for the education of all children in Washington through dependable and regular tax sources. The evidence showed that the State’s funding levels fell short in the areas of basic operational costs, student transportation, and staff salaries.
Gannon v State
In these three related decisions, the Kansas Supreme Court held that legislative changes to K-12 school funding, which reduced state-aid payments augmenting funds generated through property taxation in school districts with lower property values, violated the Kansas constitution. Article 6 of the Kansas constitution has previously been interpreted by the Kansas Supreme Court to require equity and adequacy in the provision of financing for education. The Kansas Supreme Court found that the legislative changes violated the equity requirement because school districts did not have reasonably equal access to substantially equal educational opportunity through similar tax efforts.
Louisiana Federation of Teachers v Louisiana (Supreme Court of Louisiana; 2013)
The Supreme Court of Louisiana held that Louisiana’s ‘Minimum Foundation Program’, which allocates educational funding to schools, could not be used to provide funding to privates schools by way of a voucher programme. It ruled that to do so violated article VIII, section 13 of the Louisiana Constitution, which establishes how monies are to be allocated to public schools based on a formula adopted by the state board of education. The Court recognised that public resources constitutionally reserved for public schools cannot be allocated to private school, either directly or indirectly through a voucher programme. The Court avoided addressing the issue of whether the school voucher programme itself violated the right to education provisions of the Louisiana Constitution.
Bush v Holmes (Supreme Court of Florida; 2006)
In this decision, the Florida Supreme Court held that a voucher program providing public funds to students to obtain private education failed to comply with article IX, section 1 of the Florida Constitution, which requires the state government to make adequate provision for education through a uniform system of free public schools. This decision confirms Florida’s constitutional obligation to provide high quality, free public education – a duty that cannot be discharged by funding unregulated private schools through a voucher or scholarship program. The decision is consistent with the principle that the State has the primary responsibility for ensuring that the right to education is upheld regardless of whether the provider is public or private, and that the State must ensure that private providers meet minimum educational standards.
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Home » News » GE Renewable Energy signs first Cypress order in Spain
GE Renewable Energy signs first Cypress order in Spain
By Saur News Bureau/ Updated On Mon, Dec 7th, 2020
GE Renewable Energy announced today that it has been selected by Azora to supply 19 Cypress onshore wind turbines for the 100 MW Cuevas de Velasco wind farm located in the Cuenca province in Spain. Azora will operate the Cypress turbines at 5.5 MW, with a rotor diameter of 158m, the most powerful ever permitted in Spain.
This marks the first order in Spain for GE’s Cypress platform, the company’s largest onshore wind turbine in the field. GE’s scope of work will also include a 30-year services agreement.
The Cypress’ revolutionary two-piece blade will be produced by GE’s wind turbine blade subsidiary, LM Wind Power. The entity operates a site in Castellón, Spain which was expanded in 2018 and now employs about 650 people. The towers for the wind turbines will be produced in Spain, with the nacelles being produced at GE’s European factory in Salzbergen, Germany.
Santiago Olivares, Managing Partner in charge of Infrastructure and Energy Investments at Azora said: “We are very excited about the opportunity of working together with GE in this fantastic project, which will be the first to implement this revolutionary new turbine in Spain. The Cuevas de Velasco Wind farm will produce more than 300.000 MWh per annum, contributing to Spain´s objective of generating cleaner, cheaper and more efficient energy.”
Peter Wells, President & CEO, Onshore Wind, Europe & Sub Saharan Africa, said: “Azora is a major investor in wind energy in Spain and we are thrilled to be working together and help our customer reach its renewable energy goals. GE is very proud to bring additional clean, affordable, renewable energy and to contribute to the development of the wind industry in Spain. Our goal is to help our customers drive energy costs down every day, and our Cypress platform is ideally suited to make the best use of the country’s wind speed and landscape.”
Spain has set an objective in its National Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) to reach 50 GW of installed wind power by 2030, resulting in the installation of 2,300 MW annually during the decade. According to the Spanish wind power association, Asociación Empresarial Eólica (AEE), wind power could meet 34% of the national electricity supply by 2030, up from just under 21% in 2019.
The Cypress onshore wind platform enables significant Annual Energy Production (AEP) improvements, increased efficiency in service ability, improved logistics and siting potential, and ultimately more value for customers. The two-piece blade design enables blades to be manufactured at even longer lengths, improving logistics to drive costs down and offer more siting options in locations that were previously inaccessible.
Tags: GE Renewable Energy, onshore wind turbine, Peter Wells, Spain, wind energy, wind power, wind turbine
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Home » News » Maruti Backs CNG, Hybrid Before Pure EV to Reduce Oil Imports & Pollution
Maruti Backs CNG, Hybrid Before Pure EV to Reduce Oil Imports & Pollution
By Ayush Verma/ Updated On Fri, Aug 2nd, 2019
Maruti Suzuki has said that usage of green technologies like CNG and hybrid cars, should be encouraged in order to cut oil imports and reduce air pollution.
The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) has said that usage of all kinds of green technologies, including CNG and hybrid cars, should be encouraged in order to cut oil imports and reduce air pollution.
Addressing shareholders in the company’s annual report for 2018-19, MSI Chairman R C Bhargava said the company is fully committed to helping the government’s programme for reducing the consumption of oil and achieving cleaner environmental standards.
“We had started in this direction many years ago with the introduction of factory-fitted CNG vehicles. The production of such cars increased by 40 percent in 2018-19 and this year is targeted to increase by near 50 percent,” he said.
The government has also announced a large programme to increase CNG outlets and this should result in the steady increase in CNG vehicle sales, he noted.
On electric vehicles, he said MSI with the support of Toyota is working on developing such models.
“However, the challenges for electric vehicles in India, arising mainly from a battery technology, and infrastructure limitations are likely to result in electric vehicle acceptance by customers being slow in the short term.”
Meanwhile, the objective of reducing oil consumption and pollution would be met by CNG vehicles, hybrid cars and the increasing use of biofuels, he added. Since India is a fast-growing market for cars, unlike most parts of the world, there is a need for using all these technologies, Bhargava said.
Echoing similar sentiments, MSI Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kenichi Ayukawa said India has a major challenge of oil imports and needs to pursue technologies to minimise the use of oil in automobiles.
“Different vehicle segments will have different solutions over different time perspectives. Electrification is being pursued with full effort. However, till the time charging infrastructure spreads sufficiently to give confidence to consumers and battery technology becomes competitive to liquid fuels, we will need some strong measures to reduce oil consumption and imports.,” he added.
CNG vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles can help reduce oil consumption significantly as compared to internal combustion engine-powered vehicles, Ayukawa said. Hybrid vehicles can run without charging infrastructure and so can prepone oil import reduction.
“In this context, the business partnership between Suzuki Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation will help the company gain access to the technologies which are important to keep the company future ready,” he added.
Tags: air pollution, CNG, Electric Vehicles, green energy, Green Transportation, Hybrid, Hybrid Electric Vehicles, India, Maruti, Maruti CNG Hybrid, Maruti Suzuki, Pollution, PTI, Renewable Energy
Ayush Verma
Ayush is a staff writer at saurenergy.com and writes on renewable energy with a special focus on solar and wind. Prior to this, as an engineering graduate trying to find his niche in the energy journalism segment, he worked as a correspondent for iamrenew.com.
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Home > How to Avoid the 10% Tax Penalty on Non-Qualified Distributions
How to Avoid the 10% Tax Penalty on Non-Qualified Distributions
By Mark Kantrowitz January 21, 2019
The earnings portion of a non-qualified distribution from a 529 plan is subject to income tax at the beneficiary’s rate, plus a 10 percent tax penalty. There are, however, several exceptions in which the 10 percent tax penalty does not apply, such as death or disability of the beneficiary and receipt of a qualified scholarship by the beneficiary.
Exceptions to the 10 Percent Tax Penalty
A non-qualified distribution from a 529 college savings plan is not subject to the 10 percent tax penalty if the distribution was non-qualified because of certain circumstances or because of the receipt of certain other tax-free education benefits.
Receipt of Education Tax Credits. A non-qualified distribution is exempt from the 10 percent tax penalty to the extent that the beneficiary’s qualified higher education expenses were reduced because of coordinating restrictions involving the receipt of the American Opportunity Tax Credit or Lifetime Learning Tax Credit in the same tax year.
Receipt of Scholarships. A non-qualified distribution is exempt from the 10 percent tax penalty if the beneficiary received a qualified scholarship, veteran’s education benefits or other tax-free payment of educational expenses at a college or university that is eligible for Title IV federal student aid. Employer-paid education assistance is an example of the latter. The portion of the distribution that is exempt from the 10 percent tax penalty is limited to the amount of the scholarship, veterans education benefits and other tax-free payment of educational expenses.
Attendance at a U.S. Military Service Academy. A non-qualified distribution is exempt from the 10 percent tax penalty if the beneficiary attended the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy or the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, to the extent that the distribution does not exceed the “costs of advanced education attributable to such attendance.”
Death. A non-qualified distribution is exempt from the 10 percent tax penalty if the distribution is made to the beneficiary, to the estate of the beneficiary or to the beneficiary’s heirs on or after the death of the designated beneficiary.
Disability. A non-qualified distribution is exempt from the 10 percent tax penalty if the distribution is made because the designated beneficiary is considered disabled. A beneficiary is considered to be disabled if he or she is “unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or to be of long-continued and indefinite duration” [26 USC 72(m)(7)]. The distribution must be attributable to the beneficiary’s disability.
Return of Excess Distributions. The 10 percent tax penalty does not apply to the extent that a distribution is non-qualified because the beneficiary receives a refund from an eligible educational institution and the refund is recontributed to a 529 plan for the same beneficiary within 60 days, per 26 USC 529(c)(3)(D).
Must Scholarships Be Used in the Same Tax Year?
The IRS has not clarified whether the scholarships must be received in the same year as the non-qualified distribution.
The statutory language states that the 10 percent tax penalty does not apply if the non-qualified distribution is “made on account of a scholarship, allowance or payment … received by the designated beneficiary to the extent that the amount of the distribution does not exceed the amount of the scholarship, allowance or payment.” This implies that the distribution was non-qualified because the receipt of the scholarship caused a reduction in qualified higher education expenses. Accordingly, the waiver of the tax penalty because of a scholarship cannot be based on the receipt of a scholarship in a previous year.
There is some ambiguity, however, because the statutory language concerning the coordination restrictions for the education tax credits specifies that the reduction in qualified education expenses is “for the taxable year” while the exception for scholarships does not include similar language. One could argue that this does not preclude a scenario in which the taxpayer takes a non-qualified distribution corresponding to a qualified scholarship received in a previous tax year.
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Current: Food packaging
Linda: Hi, I'm Dr. Linda Gordon, safefood's Chief Specialist in Food Science. safefood is the all-island body responsible for promoting food safety and healthy eating. This is the safefood food safety podcast series, where we look at the factors that shape the food industry on the island of Ireland.
This episode looks at food packaging and what small food businesses need to think about from materials, to recycling and the environment. Joining us is Ed O'Neill from Teagasc, who is an expert in artisan and specialty foods. He's a packaging technologist and has published papers on chemical migration from packaging into milk and dairy products. Thanks, Ed, for joining us.
Ed: Thank you, Linda, nice to be here.
Linda: Well, I'm going to jump in and ask the most obvious question. What is the purpose of packaging in food?
Ed: Well, technically food packaging may be described as an economic means of providing a product with protection, preservation, information, and containment during filling, carriage, use and sale, and with consideration for the environment. Now that sounds very, very technical but that's the actual official line.
In layman's terms it's designed to protect the goods against hazards during transport and sale, to enhance the sales appeal of a product, which is very, very important. The consumer needs to see the product on the supermarket shelf in order to make that product saleable to the consumer. To ensure the quality of the product, to make sure that what is packed inside remains in a safe and palatable condition. To preserve the contents up to the expected sell-by date, which is absolutely huge because without shelf life, we cannot attain other quality parameters in terms of making it economical to sell the product to the consumer, and so forth.
So shelf life is very, very important. To provide information. This is huge in terms of what do I do with the contents inside, okay? So do I use it in three days of opening, and so forth and so forth? Does it need refrigeration? Does it need freezing, and so forth?
To provide convenience, all right, this is very, very important, especially on the demographics concerned with food packaging. If you're an elderly person, the packaging must be able to be opened and closed readily, resealable, and so forth.
But above all it must be cost effective. It's no use you having a wonderful bottle or a wonderful cardboard box. If the box costs 2.50 or three euro, and the contents inside are only worth one euro. So it must be very, very much cost effective because for the company who's producing the product, they need to make a margin as well.
Linda: So there's really a huge amount to consider there, isn't there?
Ed: Absolutely.
Linda: And we'll explore some of that as we go along in more detail. But if we don't have the proper packaging for our food what can happen, what are the consequences?
Ed: The consequences are wide and varied. Proper and precise packaging allows you to produce a food product in a quality state, in a palatable state for the consumer. If we don't have proper packaging, then we run down the road of the potential for food contamination, certainly a reduced shelf life, possibly deterioration of the actual food in terms of taste and physical appearance as well.
Linda: What are the most common food packaging materials that you work with in Teagasc?
Ed: Well, that I work with, you know, across the board there's paperboard, plastics, glass and metal. On the glass and plastic side, usually I use the form of bottles, tubs, jars, and so forth. But there are a number of key points that you should realise.
Plastics are wide and varied. They can be engineered to give a range of specific properties, they can be solid, flexible, and so forth. They have many of the beneficial properties of glass in terms of protection and preservation, and they can be manufactured in a huge range of forms, as I've said.
Glass is a wonderful product in terms of it's 100% recyclable, time and time again. Because of the weight of glass, it gives the impression of luxury, so that you're getting something more than just the product inside. Glass can be clear, it's rigid, it's heat and chemical resistant, and glass is actually relatively cheap.
Tin cans are quite common, they're actually made from steel. Metal is a major packaging material, whether it's steel in the form of canning or aluminum in the form of foil, aluminum trays, aluminum cans for beverages and so forth.
And both steel and aluminum are like glass, they are 100% recyclable.
Paper is made mainly from wood pulp. Several layers of paper go together to form carton board, and layers of paper with a central fluted layer is called corrugated board. And this is primarily used for outer packaging such as boxes and so forth. And that's the type of packaging that we use on a day-to-day basis.
Linda: Tell us, Ed, in terms of considering the most appropriate type of packaging material, does it vary for different food types?
Ed: Of course. Things like sauces tend to be packed in glass bottles or jars for hot filling. Hot filling then allows the product to have an extended shelf life. So if I take something like a tomato ketchup, that's heated to approximately 100 degrees Centigrade and it's packed hot in the glass bottles. The bottles are then capped and then inverted and this gives the product a safe food, and this gives a safe food inside the glass jar but it also gives a product extension in terms of shelf life for approximately one year. All right, so matching the actual food product to the packaging is very, very important. For a lot of refrigerated products plastic is convenient and very, very cheap. So we have yogurt tubs in polypropylene containers and so forth, shelf life of somewhere between 25 and 45 days, easy to use, 100% recyclable and so forth. Easy to print an aesthetically-appearing paper is very, very important. Paper is often used as an outer packaging, as a sleeve and so forth over ready meals and things like that. But it's also very, very convenient for, as I said, printing and to provide information for the consumer. It's also used as a boxing material.
Linda: What about the different properties of the different packaging materials? I mean we mentioned earlier on that you've looked at chemical migration from packaging, so what needs to be considered there?
Ed: Basically, the package and the product should be developed in tandem, okay, so that the packaging is suitable for the actual product intended to be used.
Glass has been around since Roman times. It's 100% recyclable, it's rigid, it's chemically resistant, and doesn't impart any flavors to the product within. And it also allows, which is very, very important, it allows the consumer to view the contents inside in clear glass. That's very, very important in terms of the saleability of the product.
Plastic takes many forms. One of the most common is polypropylene used in buckets, tubs, and so forth. Polypropylene, again, like glass is 100% recyclable, but it can be clear, it can be white or opaque, it can be black as well. So this gives an extensive range of uses. It's used primarily in the dairy industry, again, for yogurts, soft cheeses, and so forth. And if you go to the bother of looking at the bottom of a plastic tub, you'll see a little triangle. Now if the number five is there, or the initials PP, it's made from polypropylene. And that's just one of many, many plastics used in food manufacture.
Again, polypropylene, not only dairy but it can be used for mayonnaises, for sauces, and one of beauties of polypropylene is that it's resistant up to 160 degrees Centigrade. So I can hot fill sauces, soups, preserves, jams, and so forth to give them an extended shelf life.
Linda: Obviously you need to then consider your packaging at a very early stage when developing the product and make that decision, rather than developing the product first and then thinking about what packaging I need to use. So what else do food companies need to consider when choosing the right packaging for their product?
Ed: This is quite detailed. The packaging needs to be compatible to the product but also needs to protect and preserve the contents up to the expected sell-by date. When choosing a packaging for your food product, there are three basic considerations. The product details, the make-up of the actual product, the ingredients and so forth, your methods of distribution: do you need to box the package, do we need to put it on pallets and so forth? Does it need to be refrigerated, does it need to be frozen?
And then there's the marketing element. Okay, who's my target audience? What are my demographics and so forth?
So in terms of the product details, are you actually familiar with the product manufacturer? Do you understand the ingredients that go in to make up that product? For instance, does it need protection from light? Does it need protection from moisture? Dry goods such as soups and so forth, they're resistant to microbial influences because there's very little water content there. These dry goods will, if not packed properly, absorb moisture from the atmosphere. Examples will be crisps, sweets, cereals, soups as I've said. They must be packed in a material which prevents the passage of water vapor.
Moist goods, on the other hand, will lose moisture on exposure to the air. They require a package that prevents the loss of moisture. In the case of cheese, a simple wrapping is insufficient as mould will cause microbial spoilage in a matter of days. So to this end, a product like cheese must be vacuum-packed, right, to protect the product against mould infestation, but also to protect against moisture loss and so forth.
We also have the benefit of using mixed atmosphere such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide, called modified atmospheric packaging, and this can be used as well as the package to help prolong shelf life, and to help retain moisture and the integrity of the product.
And then there's oxygen. Some products are sensitive to oxygen. In case of butter and nuts, oxidative rancidity may develop in the product during storage. Light may also affect these products and so opaque packs, possibly a foil laminate is needed to give good protection. It should be remembered that aluminum foil at a thickness greater than 70 microns is a complete barrier to all gases. So it prevents aromas and flavors traveling from one product to another and so forth.
When packaging vegetables, for instance, they're living materials, right? They consume oxygen, release carbon dioxide after being harvested and packed. If the package is unsuitable, the oxygen is used, the vegetables may deteriorate, may just look off, right? So again we can use packaging to help prolong shelf life and help prolong the integrity of the product and so forth.
Linda: What about recycling? You mentioned a little bit about recycling but I suppose everybody's concerned nowadays about that, and which types of packaging can be recycled and are there some that can't be recycled and are single use only?
Ed: Glass and aluminum are 100% recyclable. As are many plastics. In fact aluminum uses 95% less energy than aluminum made from, sorry - recycled aluminum uses 95% less energy than aluminum made from virgin stock. In terms of paper, paper is an excellent product in terms of recycling. It can only be recycled a number of times because the actual fibre length in the paper strands gets shorter and shorter every time you recycle it. So usually a maximum of five to six times it can be recycled. However, after that it can go for incineration to energy recovery. And paper includes newspapers, magazines, sugar bags, calendars, diaries, computer paper, egg boxes, holiday brochures, school books, there's an absolute huge range, okay? And again all of these are recyclable.
In terms of metal there's aluminium cans, drink cans, empty deodorant cans, but again you have to check with your individual recycler if these are allowable and so forth. There's also steel cans from your beans and your pet foods and so forth, biscuit tins, soup tins, there's a whole range.
In terms of plastics, the plastics must be rigid, as in solid plastics. These would include mineral bottles, water bottles, mouthwash, salad dressing, cosmetics, soap bottles, all of these are recyclable. Shampoos are recyclable, household cleaning bottles, again recyclable, laundry detergent bottles, rigid plastic trays, it doesn't matter whether they're black or clear or white, they're all recyclable. And I previously mentioned yogurt containers and plastic salad tubs. Again, these are all examples of rigid plastic materials that are 100% recyclable and can be used again and again.
Linda: So you mentioned earlier on that spoilage is a problem if the packaging doesn't do its job or if it's not suitable. Can you tell us a little bit more about what causes the spoilage and how that might affect the food?
Ed: Packaging takes many forms and its role is wide and varied. Protection from light, protection from odours and protection from the environment. If it fails to do its job such as pin-holing on foil, faulty seals on pouches or possibly on lids, then the product inside the pack becomes compromised in many different ways which may result in unsafe food.
Linda: Surely these days we need to be more environmentally aware and we've talked about recycling. But we should really be trying to reduce packaging altogether, you know? People describe too much packaging on foods, and should food businesses not just be trying to reduce the amount of packaging that they have?
Ed: It's a very interesting question because sometimes we fail to understand the role of packaging, which is again one of preservation and containment, right? So we are preserving our food, we're containing it, and we are presenting a safe food to the consumer. And it's important, and the production of safe food for the consumer is absolutely huge.
As a country we have EU targets to meet and in 2017 we met those targets by recycling 66% of our packaging waste, and we recovered 86% of our packaging weight. Which is impressive, we're well ahead of the guidelines given to us.
However we can always improve and it's the hope that we can reach a recycling target by 70% in 2030. The packaging community, themselves, have done quite a lot in recent years. A PET bottle, 500 mil bottle for water 10 years ago weighed 25 grams. It now weighs less than 10 grams. So that's huge reduction. Bread bags use 35% less material than they did a decade ago. Refuse sacks, 52% less material, carrier bags 45% less material.
So these are all important in terms of reduction and these are all coming through from packaging manufacturers and packaging designers. But the consumer needs to look at what they are using. And they can help by communicating their concerns to organisations such as Repak and so forth.
Linda: So Ed, tell us, how does packaging impact on food waste, then?
Ed: There are excellent figures available from the World Health Organization which shows that in developing countries up to 30% of the food produced at farm level is lost through improper processing and mostly packaging. So it lets the whole system down. In developed countries, of which Ireland is one, this loss is reduced to below 5%. In actual fact somewhere between three and 5% of the food produced is lost in developed countries compared to in excess of 30% in developing countries, which is huge.
Linda: So there's a lot being done that people actually might not be aware of, but I suppose you might agree that people need to, you can't rush into reducing packaging. You have to still take account of the role that the packaging plays in preserving the food, and I think that's probably what the food businesses need to remember.
So in summary, then, I know we've covered an awful lot of ground today, but could you give us your, what are your top tips for a food business? You know, a small food business and they're looking at choosing their packaging.
Ed: It's important to remember the packaging mirrors social trends. It provides for the consumer goods in specific quantities and in containers as demanded by the consumer. The product and the package should always be developed in tandem.
Take advice from specialists who know and understand the functionality of packaging and the role in producing safe food. Look at recyclable packaging where possible. Biodegradable packaging is in its infancy, but it's worth consideration.
There are a number of key facts. Food packaging should contain the product. It should run smoothly on filling lines, that's very, very important, to withstand the various stresses and strains in the packaging process. It should be easy to handle throughout distribution, protect from dirt and other contamination, prevent physical damage, okay? Prevent odor and taint pickup by the use of proper barriers, stop infestation by insects and vermin, prevent the ingress of microorganisms to retain that safe food environment. It should be compatible with the foodstuff. So with plastic packaging, for instance, should not allow migration of chemicals to taint the food palate and so forth. It should protect against light, control moisture either loss or gain, offer a barrier to oxygen, and retain the ability to retain specific atmosphere such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide.
It should be cost effective. It should have sales appeal, it should stand out. It should communicate product information to the consumer.
Also very, very important this day and age, it should show evidence of tampering, okay? And that's a very, very important area of packaging as well.
And finally, it should open and close easily. Good packaging can sell a poor product but poor quality or badly designed packaging can destroy any potential market for an excellent product.
Linda: Okay, well on that note we'll end there. I'm Linda Gordon and I'd like to thank my guest, Ed O'Neill, for joining us and sharing his expertise on food packaging and everything we need to think about when deciding what packaging we need to use for our products.
This is the safefood Podcast.
Thanks to you, our listeners, for tuning in. Please spread the word about the safefood food safety podcast series to anyone you think could benefit from it. If you want to hear more on this or other nutrition and food-safety issues, search safefood podcast, or join the conversation on @safefoodnetwork and follow us on LinkedIn.
Until the next time, good bye, and take care.
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New Arizona farmhand Tyler Gilbert happy for…
New Arizona farmhand Tyler Gilbert happy for ‘better opportunity’ | Pro baseball
SLV alum chosen by Diamondbacks in Rule 5 Draft
Santa Cruz resident Tyler Gilbert, drafted by Philadelphia out of USC in 2015, was picked up in the Rule 5 Draft by Arizona on Thursday. (USC Athletics – Contributed)
PUBLISHED: December 12, 2020 at 12:34 a.m. | UPDATED: December 12, 2020 at 12:48 p.m.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ minor league pitcher Tyler Gilbert, a 6-foot-3 left-hander, was eligible for the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday because he wasn’t a member of the team’s 40-man roster.
The draft, in part, allows clubs without a full 40-man roster to pick up players like Gilbert, who signed at age 19 or older but failed to be listed as a protected player within four seasons.
Gilbert said he has been unselected before, so Thursday wasn’t that big a deal. Until it was.
The Arizona Diamondbacks chose Gilbert with the sixth pick in Round 1 of the Triple-A phase of the draft.
“I’m happy with it,” Gilbert said Friday before heading out to play a round at Pajaro Valley Golf Club. “They called and told me they’re excited to have me, so I’m happy. It’s a better opportunity.”
Triple-A pitcher Tyler Gilbert, an San Lorenzo Valley High alumnus, was selected by Arizona in the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday. (MiLB.com – contributed)
Gilbert was one of eight players taken from the World Series champions’ stacked organization. Former Cabrillo College pitcher Brett de Geus, also of the Dodgers, was taken with the second pick of the MLB phase by Texas.
Teams who draft player must pay $100,000 to the club from which said player was selected. Rule 5 Draft picks are assigned directly to the drafting club’s 26-man roster and must be placed on outright waivers in order to be removed from the 26-man roster in the subsequent season. Should the player clear waivers, he must be offered back to his previous team for $50,000 and can be outrighted to the Minors only if his original club does not wish to reacquire him.
Gilbert said the Diamondbacks paid the Dodgers $24,000 for him and has already been added to the Triple-A Reno Aces’ 2021 roster. He’ll likely receive an invitation to big league camp during Spring Training.
Gilbert, entering his sixth season of Minor League Baseball, posted a 2-4 record with two saves and 2.83 ERA with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, the Phillies’ top affiliate, in 2019. He pitched 47 2/3 innings and gave up 39 hits while striking out 46 batters against 14 walks.
“The Dodgers have so many arms,” Gilbert said. “That door closed and another door opened. I don’t care who I pitch for, I just want an opportunity. Arizona is in a rebuilding phase, so it couldn’t be a more perfect situation.”
Gilbert said he has been throwing live bullpen sessions and working out at Paradigm Sport in Santa Cruz the past two months. He said he’s seeing progress while utilizing a weighted ball program.
“I’m going to go into Spring Training as ready as I’ve ever been,” he said.
He was traded from Philadelphia to Los Angeles in February and made three Cactus League appearances for the Dodgers. Gilbert allowed four runs on five hits in 2.1 innings before getting assigned to minor league camp. The minor league season was canceled due to COVID-19.
Gilbert was grateful to Los Angeles for making him feel welcome and wanted, he said after the trade. Now, there’s a chance he may face the Dodgers — if he gets promoted to the bigs. Both teams compete in the NL West.
“That would be awesome,” he said. “And intimidating at the same time. That lineup is pretty intense. But I’d love to do that.”
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Alumni Chapter Steering Committee
AmeriCorps Alums and service year alums get things done. These dedicated individuals are a powerful force for good in their communities and are the leaders our nation needs.
Service Year Alliance has launched the Alumni Chapter Steering Committee, a council of alums who will help establish and advise new and existing AmeriCorps and Service Year Alums chapters, organize professional development opportunities, and coordinate alumni advocacy efforts with the support and guidance of Service Year Alliance.
If you’re interested in working with the Alumni Chapter Steering Committee or have a question, email them at acsc@serviceyear.org.
Meet the Alumni Chapter Steering Committee
Victoria Rey (she/her) is queer storyteller and activist raised in Atlanta and Appalachia living in Brooklyn, NY by way of Providence, RI. She served two years as an AmeriCorps State and National member in Providence, Rhode Island where she was an Arts Integration Teaching Artist in a Providence middle school. Since then, she has served as a chapter leader for the New York City chapter of AmeriCorps Alums. She is currently cultivating the Queer Money Project, a community mapping project that hopes to become a community resource of queer-owned businesses in New York City.
"The best thing about my service years was learning how to be a community member in a community you weren't necessarily born into and how to do that ethically and responsibly. I also made lasting relationships that are still very near and dear to me today!"
Willie Brooks graduated from DePauw University in 2013, majoring in Classical Civilization and minoring in Political Science. Following his undergraduate education, he served two terms in the AmeriCorps NCCC program FEMACorps, first as a Corps Member then as a Team Leader, and one term as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Indianapolis. After participating in those national service programs, he used his Ed Segal Education Awards to attend graduate school at IUPUI, where he completed a Masters in Criminal Justice and Public Safety in May of 2020. His professional background is in Emergency Management/Public Safety and AmeriCorps program management. Prior to his current role with Serve Indiana as the Employer Based Volunteer Program Manager, he worked for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, in the Radiation Program, where he was the Radiological and Nuclear Detection Program Coordinator. He's looking forward to getting to work with the rest of the committee and getting things done for the incredible community of national service alumni!
“Apart from meeting lifelong friends and helping communities around the country, my service year helped me discover my career passion, Emergency Management. Up until my participation in national service, I had no idea what I wanted to do from a career perspective. The skills I learned, along with the professional connections and education awards really proved invaluable for me!”
Operations Chair
Paul Nolan is passionate about making service to others a cornerstone of our national culture. Paul began his career serving in AmeriCorps through the VISTA program at the Institute for Emerging Issues. He later worked on “Service Year NC” — an impact community through Service Year Alliance. Today, you can find Paul working at AmeriCorps (formerly the Corporation for National and Community Service) as a 2020 Eli Segal Fellow. Paul is widely known for his talent in design, data, and communication; he’s unafraid of challenging the status quo and raising the bar. In his free time, Paul enjoys freelance graphic design, coffee loyalty programs, and helping friends bring their ideas to life.
“There’s the world as it is, and the world as you wish it to be. My service year revealed the power and collective impact that we have to transform our communities for the better. I’m inspired by the passion, dedication, and grit that AmeriCorps members and alumni demonstrate every day to get things done for America.”
Raquél Pérez, BSN, RN, is a Medical-Surgical Oncology Nurse, public speaker, and service advocate. A 2017 graduate from the University of Rhode Island, Raquél’s first “real world” experiences began when she joined AmeriCorps right after graduation. By joining the Rhode Island program, Accessing Home, Raquél acted as a Resident Services Coordinator for families living in affordable housing owned, developed, and managed by Smith Hill Community Development Corporation. After her year of AmeriCorps service, Raquél continued to work for Smith Hill CDC as their Community Outreach Supervisor, where she trained the next AmeriCorps members and facilitated community connections. Raquél was honored to have been chosen as one of Service Year Alliance’s 2019 AmeriCorps Alums Segal Award winners. As a Segal Fellow, she has been able to apply her AmeriCorps experience to develop citizen leadership skills that are applicable to every facet of life. Raquél currently works as a full-time nurse at Women & Infants Hospital. She remains an active community advocate, working with social justice organizations to promote racial justice initiatives and healthcare access for all. Raquél was honored to have been named a Forbes Fellow in 2018 and TEDx Speaker in 2019.
“The community members, organizations, staff, and networks that I connected with are the best things to have come out of my service year. My AmeriCorps staff became family, and residents that I worked with gave me hope for a more understanding, forgiving, and loving world.”
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Aileen Aragones served two years as an AmeriCorps State and AmeriCorps VISTA member with College Possible. Her service helped prepare her to pursue a master's degree in Educational Policy from Marquette University, and after that, she worked for College Possible full-time for several years, leading and guiding AmeriCorps members to support promising young people in their college journeys for the Milwaukee, Omaha, and eventually, Chicago offices. Aileen continues this work in the suburbs of Chicago, supporting first-generation, BIPOC students in the college access and persistence process. Additionally, Aileen has been an active member of AmeriCorps Alums Chicago's leadership team since she returned home in 2016 (she was also part of the Founding AmeriCorps Alums team in Milwaukee). Loving the "start-up" life, she looks forward to collaborating for the next few years on the inaugural Alumni Chapter Steering Committee.
“I was very lucky that the organization I served with, College Possible, had incredible full-time staff that served as mentors and role models to me; they were encouraging and motivating, especially when I was just starting my career and lacking confidence in myself. I grew into the leader I am today thanks to their coaching and care.”
Jason Hatch is a retired military officer and a former accredited diplomat. He conducted his AmeriCorps Service Year in 2017-18 with Virginia State Parks. He has worked in international consulting, macro disaster resiliency, human trafficking, and other international issues of note. He is an entrepreneur with two startups under his belt and devotes much of his spare time to conservation issues, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. He is a father, a grandfather, and a devoted doggie dad.
“Witnessing the passion and commitment for the environment by younger generations and their ability to apply solutions to difficult problems by leveraging emerging technologies, communication, and based on scientific research were the best things to come out of my service year.”
Jamier Jones is a proud class of 2016 graduate of Temple University’s College of Education. Initially from Cheltenham, PA, He has lived both in Milwaukee, WI, and Wilmington DE, where he served as an AmeriCorps member for College Possible and Great Oaks Charter School. In his spare time, Jamier likes to support local businesses, take long walks around the city, and plan his personal and professional goals. As a Service Committee Member, Jamier hopes to assist with raising awareness of the AmeriCorps network to interested individuals, members, and alumni to help with their transitions into their professional careers.
“The best thing that has come from my AmeriCorps experience is the experience itself, through making connections that have enabled me to grow as an AmeriCorps member, professional, and most importantly an individual.”
Nicki Fiocco was appointed as Director of the Maryland State Service Commission in December 2019. With a decade of service-based career Nicki establishes strategic partnerships and spearheads outreach campaigns that increase the awareness of AmeriCorps across the state. As director, Nicki has the opportunity to work closely with national service advocacy groups, local and national nonprofit organizations and engages regularly with the global community focused on addressing the planet's most pressing issues through human capital. Nicki also serves on the Board of Directors for the Baltimore Community ToolBank, and is a member of the Baltimore Steering Committee for IMPACT 2030. Her personal mission statement is “My superpower is connecting, my purpose is to bring the right people together so we can share knowledge and skills to make the world a better place.
“The best thing that has come out of my service year was confidence in my ability to lead, inspire and motivate others. Getting things done is not just a tagline for me: it is a way of life, my year as an AmeriCorps member ignited this spirit in me.”
As an advocacy chair of the Alumni Chapter Steering Committee, Tyler E. Tucker assists with the creation of engagement opportunities for service year alumni chapters to promote and represent national service in the federal, state, and local sphere. Tyler completed his service, which focused on youth development in rural Georgia, in August 2020 with the University of Georgia / 4-H. By living out the AmeriCorps vision of strengthening communities in his day-to-day life, Tyler founded THE ARC Initiative, an advocacy initiative designed to bring opportunities and resources to underserved communities in the Southeast region. With a background in governmental affairs, community development, and non-profit work, Tyler is excited to begin his two-year term on the ACSC with other program alumni servant leaders. He studies Organizational Leadership and attends Valdosta State University where he successfully established a polling precinct on campus.
“The best thing that has come out of my service year has been the feeling of impact made on my hometown of Fitzgerald, Georgia. I grew up hearing the need of talent retention and economic development for a decade, and I know I have been able to help grow a new generation of young leaders ready to solve the issues of today through my service. Those memories and relationships will always allow me to reflect on what it means to be an AmeriCorps Alum.”
Check back for updates and more information from the Alumni Chapter Steering Committee!
Questions? Check out our Alumni Chapter Steering Committee FAQs, or email kgerber@serviceyear.org.
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Smart Super Women
My Lolo’s Pupil
by rossanahead | Mar 9, 2012 | career, children, Education, family, grandparenting, woman
By Jane Santos-Guinto
It was my grandfather Lolo Manny who taught me how to read. He was a journalist for the South China Morning Post, one of Hong Kong’s two largest English newspapers at the time. But on weekends, he would teach me the rudiments of consonant-vowel-consonant blending.
Lolo comes from a family of educators. Both his parents were public school teachers in Agusan del Norte, a province in Southern Philippines. Up until her death in the 1970’s, his mother Lola Victorina was the Dean of the Northern Mindanao Colleges. Dean Francisco Benitez of the University of the Philippines and Sen. Helena Benitez of the Philippine Normal University are distant relatives.
Lolo taught himself how to read when he was barely four in 1938. By eight, he had already read Shakespeare’s entire collection, all volumes of the Encyclopedia for Children, and the Bible. World War II had broken out and children could not go to school, so Lolo Manny took care of his own education. “There was nothing else to do but read,” he would tell us his grandchildren later.
Ironically, Lolo never completed his formal education. He had married quite young, at 20, and when one child came after the next, there really was no time to study. But because he was exceptionally bright, having been a consistent honor student and later a top-scorer in the Civil Service Exam, he went on to have a career that many would consider stellar.
For a while, he taught in a public school like his parents. But when there were too many mouths to feed out of a teacher’s pay, he went to Manila and tried his luck in his real passion—writing. He wrote for the Times Journal with some of the country’s most noteworthy newsmen. At times, it still amazes me to find out whom he had worked with. In 1967, he became the first Filipino journalist to be sent by a local newspaper to Cardiff, England for a certificate course in journalism. For a time, he was one of the writers of Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., one of the country’s most prominent heroes.
During Martial Law in the 1970’s with eight children, Lolo grabbed the opportunity to work in Hong Kong. This is where he mastered his craft for 20 years or so. And where he would tutor us his first few grandchildren in a tiny tenth floor apartment (or flat as the British-influenced Hong Kong Chinese would call it).
I don’t know if it was out of fear that I learned to read so quickly under my Lolo’s watch. After all, he had a feisty temper, one that I had witnessed on many occasions when I was young. By five, I was writing my own stories. He would bring me to company outings and introduce me to his journalist friends. Having always been on the petite side, I would stretch out my little hand to greet his British colleagues. One time, Lolo said I told them a made-up story, The Monkey and His Briefs.
In the late 1980’s, Lolo went back to the Philippines and became the editor in chief of The Manila Times. After retirement from full-time journalism, Lolo wrote chess columns for the Philippine Star and self-published a weekly chess newsletter for the players of the Quezon City Memorial Circle’s Chess Plaza. These days, he prefers to watch cable movies and exchange jokes with his great grandchild. He has survived three heart attacks and professes he has “no desire for anything else from life.”
Sometimes I wish I were a more diligent pupil; that I followed his advice to read, read, and read more. My knowledge of geography and world affairs is so poor that I squirm every time my 77-year-old Lolo asks his pop-up trivia questions. I salute the University of the Philippines for a great education, but I still feel inept in many areas. There are so many things I wish I knew more about.
I just hope that my own children would have a trickle of Lolo’s brilliance in their blood and pray every day that they would come soon enough to meet my first teacher and greatest mentor, their great grandfather Lolo Manuel O. Benitez, Sr.
Photo by Ian Noble on Unsplash
Only Good Memories Remain
by rossanahead | Dec 20, 2011 | children, family, grandparenting, parenting, Ruth M. Floresca
By Ruth Manimtim-Floresca
A friend of mine shared something on his Facebook wall last night. It’s a link to a story he wrote about his dad. Soon after, other friends, including myself, started sharing our own experiences as sons and daughters.
Most of us acknowledged that our parents are human beings too and are bound to make mistakes like we do. We may have been hurt by some of the things our dads and moms did during our growing up years, but we recognize that we have done stuff that caused them pain as well.
Many of my friends and I have already lost our dads or our moms, or both. Some, many years ago; others, just a few months back. But one thing we expressed is how we all love our parents and respect them.
Me? I remember my Tatay as a strict man who can be quick with the belt when my siblings and I made mistakes while we were still kids. When he and our mom had misunderstandings, he would be gone for days, staying in my Lola’s house before coming back with his sense of humor intact. I loved listening to his corny jokes! I also remember him as a person who people go to when they need help. He was generous to a fault and would even lend his last peso to a friend in need.
He was a good granddad to my kids and my nephew. Up until now, 11 years after he passed away, our relatives and people in our town still talk about him with fondness. I also don’t think anybody has yet broken his record for having the longest line of mourners during the long walk to the cemetery when we brought him to his resting place.
When I get asked about the most precious memories I have of my Tatay, I’ll always recall how he would take my youngest son, barely a year old at the time, every morning for a walk around the town while he chitchats with his many friends. The two of them were a common sight in the area which seems to be still engraved in peoples’ memories. It is gratifying that whenever we visit my mom in Laguna, neighbors and friends would look at Daniel and exclaim how big he has grown from that little baby that my Tatay used to bring everywhere. It always gladdens my heart to hear that.
Nobody is perfect and it will serve us well to look beyond a person’s imperfections to appreciate the goodness within. I’ve long since forgiven and forgotten whatever shortcomings my dad had. What I want to remain are the happy memories he left behind.
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
by rossanahead | Nov 24, 2011 | children, family, grandparenting, Jing Lejano, parenting, woman
By Jing Lejano
Baby S wasn’t feeling well the other day. She woke up with a fever and slept the entire morning. When I visited her in the afternoon, all cuddled up in bed with a blanket, she held my arms and said, “Lula, sit.” And so, despite the fact that I was in the middle of deadlines, I sat with Baby S and eventually cuddled up to her until she fell asleep.
A couple of hours later, just before sunset, Baby S was feeling much better. She was able to eat, watch a little TV, and play with my son K. But when it was time for bed, she didn’t want to leave our house. She insisted on going upstairs with Lula. And so we climbed up the stairs to my room, she with her milk and her “pampin” (her nappies, which is her security blanket of sorts) and me with my book and a glass of water.
We lay on the bed together, she with her arms around a stuffed toy tiger and me with my arms around her. We were just in bed, enjoying each other’s silent company.
I’ve done this very thing, maybe a million times before—with my daughter E, when her playmate pushed her on the balustrade and had to have a head wound stitched; with my son F, when he had another bout with bronchitis; with my son S, when he was generous enough to give his vacation slot to his younger brother; and with my youngest son K, when he had another one of his scary dreams.
When my daughter E just had Baby S, I remember telling her that I don’t want to do anymore of the taking-care-of-baby stuff. I don’t want to change the diapers. I don’t want to play peek-a-boo. And I don’t want to take care of another sick baby.
Well, guess what? I’ve been doing exactly that. I can’t help it! I’m a mom. I’m a Lula. And I just wouldn’t be true to myself if I don’t cuddle up to dear Baby S. Love is love.
Photo by Liv Bruce on Unsplash
Growing Old in the Philippines
by rossanahead | Oct 13, 2011 | children, family, grandparenting, parenting
By Julie Javellana-Santos
Two weeks ago, my brothers, sisters and I threw a big bash for my mother’s 75th birthday. It was not a surprise party since we took turns trying to convince her to come to the Philippines for the party with her American husband. Nevertheless, she was surprised, and so was her husband.
Talk about the party actually began in 2010 when my mom came to the Philippines for her annual Christmas vacation. “Why not have a 75th birthday party in September?” we asked her, pointing out that the fare was half what they usually cost at Christmastime.
One of my sisters already said she would spend for my mom’s fare. Still, it took some time for her to agree — only after my other sister in Singapore said she would fork out the fare of our new stepfather.
We prepared a buffet party for her complete with two lechons (roasted pigs) and several birthday cakes. Drinks were overflowing and the atmosphere was not dampened even by the threat of a typhoon.
There were even dance instructors (my mother’s request!) to help my mom and her guests boogie the night away. Her grandchildren also prepared an enjoyable song number for their lola, complete with specially mixed minus one music.
To cap it all, we helped my brother put together a special audio-visual presentation, complete with pictures of her before she was married and bloopers!
For several Sundays we got together to take videos for the AVP and so that the kids could practice. The party was not a surprise, but this was!
I hope that when I am 75 (or around that age anyway), my daughters will treat me the same way we did my mom. She was so touched with the attention we showered on her, throwing her a themed party and all. But surprisingly, her American husband was even more touched.
In America, when kids grow up they move out of the house and seldom visit their parents at all. Most actually send their parents to an old folks’ home. My mom met her new husband when she was vacationing in Florida ten years after my father died. He has several children who are all married and have their own families, whom he never sees.
Little wonder he was amazed that we get together a lot, and that my sisters even spent for his and my mom’s airline tickets. That’s something quite rare, almost unheard of, in America.
Unlike most people, I do not dread growing old. Children follow the example set by their parents, and if the party is any indication, my children will treasure me as much as we brothers and sisters do my mother.
by rossanahead | Sep 20, 2011 | children, family, grandparenting, home, Jing Lejano, parenting, woman
For several Saturdays now, I’ve found myself by my lonesome at home. Actually, I have not been so lonely for my granddaughter S has kept me good company. We’ve been playing with her doll house, eating ice cream, and watching cartoon movies.
As for my own kids, well, they’re off with their own lives. My two kids in college, E and F, have classes on Saturdays. My second son S, who’s in high school, has Citizen’s Army Training on Saturday mornings. However, he only comes home around dinner time as he usually spends the afternoons with his friends. My youngest son K also has stuff to do on Saturdays. He’s either off to a classmate’s house finishing a project or at the mall hanging out with his friends.
This is new territory for me. My kids and I usually spend Saturdays at home. Well, at least some of them or most of them, but never not all of them. We usually get up late in the morning and I’ll cook something nice for lunch. This would be followed by marathon sessions in front of the tube, watching the latest batch of movies.
My kids and I, we’re movie freaks. The boys and I, we love action and sci-fi adventures, usually those involving some journey to a galaxy far away. My daughter E loves gory horror movies, usually those involving somebody getting hacked to a million pieces. Sometimes, I can get them to watch cheesy romantic comedies, but not too often. We would watch and we would eat, and every so often, somebody would make a joke or two. Of course, we’re not always together. On some Saturdays, each of us would be occupied with our own projects, but we’d still all be home.
I suppose I am at the beginning of what’s popularly called the empty nest syndrome. You have these wonderful babies, bring them up into well-behaved children, and hopefully raise them into individuals with passion and purpose.
Raising these four kids has been one hell of an adventure filled with comedy, drama, romance, and yes, even action—the very same things that we used to enjoy on the tube every Saturday. Looking at them, I could only hope that I did right by them. I could only hope that I was able to teach them something about living and loving as they go off into their own adventures.
Taking Up the Cudgels from One Century to the Next
by rossanahead | Sep 15, 2011 | career, family, grandparenting, Mari-an Santos, woman
By Mari-An Santos
My maternal grandmother is 96 years old. She has led a very full life and is actually still very strong. More importantly, she is also very lucid.
She was a teacher all her life. At 19, she started teaching at a schoolhouse in a small town in Mindanao. Her job had her traveling for long distances to get to work every day to remote locations. She eventually became a public school principal and that’s how she met my grandfather, who was a Schools Division Supervisor.
She speaks and writes in Visayan, Chavacano, Spanish, English, and Tagalog. Even now, she’s a voracious reader. Hearing her recount details of her exciting life is like watching an exciting movie.
She tells of how some of her first pupils were older than she. Being farmers’ sons, they could not yet read or write very well even as teenagers. Then, they would also need to help their parents with soil preparation, planting, and eventually, harvesting the fields.
She narrates how she had to come to Manila to pursue higher education, traveling all the way from southern Philippines to the nation’s capital. It was a time so far removed from all the present-day conveniences of rapid travel and automobiles.
She even recounts how she aimed the barrel of a shotgun at my late grandfather one night when she had had enough and gave him an ultimatum: stop his philandering ways or say goodbye. He chose the former. He still survived years beyond that and saw his daughters grow up. But he passed away due to a heart attack not long after he retired from government service.
When I was a child and my grandmother would visit us from the province, she would busy herself with either making rosaries or translating the Bible into her native Chavacano. During breaks in her “work” she would go into the kitchen and make jams or cook snacks like empanada.
Later on, she would take on a project to compile a family tree, tracing from her roots of Spanish migrants to the present generation—with cousins dotting the globe. This is her life’s work that she has, thus far, not seen come into fruition. She has asked the help of some other relatives, but to date, the task is not yet completed.
I used to notice her, poring over her big manila papers, drawing and writing to complete the project. When I approached her to “mano”, she would look up and smile long enough to say “God bless you”, before resuming her work. I wondered at her perseverance then.
She recently had a minor accident in the bathroom. Because she had a slight fracture, she is now confined to a wheelchair. She finds it difficult to feed herself and does not talk much.
Somehow, this sudden change in her attitude has also changed us who are around her. Now, I have decided to take up where she has left off to complete even just a fraction of the family tree project she loved so much. I only hope that I can competently pick up from where she left off, and at last, present her with a project fulfilled just as she had envisioned.
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The 'life changing' trip that shouldn't have been
Fri 17 Feb 2017, 10:08 AM
For men from England’s North on a trip that perhaps never should have been, six Wigan Warriors fanatics this week were met with a welcome at the Sharks Leagues Club as warm as the Sydney Summer itself.
Travelling to the Shire ahead of the World Club Challenge, the Englishmen – who booked their trip Down Under long before the details of the match were finalised – had expected to watch their beloved Wigan side take on the Sharks at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
Though residing just a stone’s throw away from the DW Stadium in Wigan, the half-dozen parochial Warriors fans will let their voices be heard at the Sharks Leagues Club in the early hours of Monday morning.
“For us, we originally booked the trip thinking the match would be out here,” said Mark Kelly, one of the travelling party.
“But to us, we’ve been treated like royalty from the moment we walked through the door.
“Everyone at the Club made us feel welcome, it’s been an unbelievable experience. To be able to walk out on to the pitch, to hold the trophy which so many of the game’s greatest have, to see the dressing rooms … it’s been a day we’ll never forget.”
Proudly sporting the Cherry and White – mixed with a dash of blue, also – Kelly said though while barracking for Wigan in the World Club Challenge, he’s now a soft spot for the 2016 NRL Premiers.
“We all watch on and keep up with the NRL back at home … a few of us had followed the Bunnies (Rabbitohs), there’s a couple of Englishmen there,” said Kelly.
“But we’re Sharks now. We’ll be putting on the black, white and blue as soon as we get home and get back to keeping up with the NRL.
“The way we’d been looked after, it’s a truly special place here. It's changed my life.”
See all the action of the World Club Challenge playing live & loud at the Sharks Leagues Club. Click HERE for more details!
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Shepherd Board of Governors approves commencement speaker, honorees
By Staff | Mar 9, 2015
The Shepherd University Board of Governors approved the commencement speaker and honorees at its February 26 meeting.
Alumna Carolyn Malachi will serve as the speaker at Shepherd’s 142nd Commencement ceremony on May 9. Malachi, a member of the class of 2006, will receive an honorary degree.
Paul and Lisa Welch, of Shepherdstown, will be presented the President’s Award for their exemplary service to Shepherd and the broader community.
Carolyn Malachi, a Washington, D.C., native, is a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, social activist, and philanthropist. She has been described by MTV as “one of five R&B artists to obsess over” and one of her songs, “Fall Winter Spring Summer,” was named by NPR to its 10 Songs Public Radio Can’t Stop Playing list. She and her music ensemble will travel in March to Taiwan, China and New Guinea as part of the American Music Abroad Program.
Malachi launched the #IAM Campaign which fuses technology, commerce, and music to address global access to education. While at Shepherd, she played on the women’s basketball team, served on Program Board and was a member of the Multicultural Leadership Team.
Paul and Lisa Welch have established three funds with the Shepherd University Foundation to support a variety of cultural and academic endeavors. They include the Prestigious National Scholarship Program, an annually funded award to support students in pursuit of prestigious national scholarships such as Fulbright and Rhodes; the Paul and Lisa Welch Endowment, designated to support programs that engage the community in the intellectual life of the university; and the Paul and Lisa Welch Doctor of Nursing Practice Program, an annually funded award in support of the establishment of Shepherd’s first doctoral program.
The Welches are longtime members of the Scarborough Society of Shepherd University and regularly serve as a host couple at the Society’s annual gala fundraiser each summer. Lisa serves on the Scarborough Society’s board of directors and was instrumental in forging a partnership between the Shepherdstown Film Society and the Scarborough Society. She is active in Shepherd’s annual Relay for Life program. The Welches are patrons of the Contemporary American Theater Festival and Department of Music concerts.
The board was briefed on the progress of Shepherd’s website redesign. Shepherd is in the process of a web redesign that considers the growing use of mobile devices by students to access the web by creating a website that is mobile friendly. At the same time, the website is being transitioned to a WordPress content management system that provides greater flexibility and ease in editing web content. The web redesign is being completed in phases: the new homepage was implemented in September 2014 and the conversion of administrative and academic department pages is currently underway. The project completion target is August before the start of the fall semester.
The board approved a minor in aging studies in the Department of Psychology and heard an annual report on the Advisory Council of Faculty activities from Dr. Sylvia Shurbutt, ACF representative and a presentation about student-athletes from Dr. Andro Barnett, faculty athletics representative.
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John Barrowman MBE is a Scottish-American actor, singer, presenter, author, and comic book writer. In collaboration with his sister Carole, John has released two volumes of his autobiography, Anything Goes and I Am What I Am, published by Michael O'Mara Books. Anything Goes reached number 2 in the Sunday Times bestsellers' list and remained in the list for twelve weeks. A sci-fi/fantasy series of three novels for young adults, Hollow Earth, co-authored by John and Carole, was launched in 2012 by Buster Books. John and Carole were subsequently commissioned by Head of Zeus Publishing to write a further three novels featuring the Animare twins, Matt and Em Calder. The first of these, Conjuror, was published on 5 May 2016 and quickly reached number 7 in the YA book charts. They have also collaborated on a Torchwood novel, Exodus Code, a Torchwood comic book series featuring Captain Jack, and a Dark Archer comic series about John's Arrow character, Malcolm Merlyn. John and Carole's latest release is a graphic novel, Acursian, available via Webtoons.
Books by John Barrowman
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Green Hills of Africa
The Hemingway Library Edition
By Ernest Hemingway
The most intimate and elaborately enhanced addition to the Hemingway Library series: Hemingway’s memoir of his safari across the Serengeti—presented with archival material from the Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Library and with the never-before-published safari journal of Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer.
When it was first published in 1935, The New York Times called Green Hills of Africa, “The best-written story of big-game hunting anywhere,” Hemingway’s evocative account of his safari through East Africa with his wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, captures his fascination with big-game hunting. In examining the grace of the chase and the ferocity of the kill, Hemingway looks inward, seeking to explain the lure of the hunt and the primal undercurrent that comes alive on the plains of Africa. Green Hills of Africa is also an impassioned portrait of the glory of the African landscape and the beauty of a wilderness that was, even then, being threatened by the incursions of man.
This new Hemingway Library Edition offers a fresh perspective on Hemingway’s classic travelogue, with a personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, the author’s sole surviving son, who spent many years as a professional hunter in East Africa; a new introduction by Seán Hemingway, grandson of the author; and, published for the first time in its entirety, the African journal of Hemingway’s wife, Pauline, which offers an intimate glimpse into thoughts and experiences that shaped her husband’s craft.
Earl Theisen, 1953
Ernest Hemingway did more to influence the style of English prose than any other writer of his time. Publication of The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms immediately established him as one of the greatest literary lights of the 20th century. His classic novella The Old Man and the Sea won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He died in 1961.
Publisher: Scribner (July 21, 2015)
Travel > Adventure
Biography & Autobiography > Literary
"[An] account of a hunting safari on the Serengeti Plains, a chronicle of adventure and a literary challenge Hemingway set up for himself. Anticipating by decades Truman Capote's 'nonfiction novel,' the classic 'In Cold Blood,' Hemingway wanted to prove that 'an absolutely true book' can 'compete with a work of the imagination.'"
– Hillel Italie, Associated Press
“[Hemingway’s wife, Pauline’s] engaging, laconic observations offer yet another lens through which to witness Hemingway at large in the world, while also helping the reader gauge how much, or how little, Hemingway reshaped the reality of his experiences in order to express, to his own satisfaction, his fondness for the hunt, his affinity for the natural world, and his abiding love of ‘the dark continent’ itself....With its journal entries, an insightful foreword, and a moving introduction by Hemingway’s sons, and some charming ‘letters from Africa’ that Hemingway published in Esquire…the reissue of this book is an opportunity, a reminder, to dive in again to a title we probably haven’t thought about for years….Encountering the book again after all these years, it’s hard not to marvel, page after page, at Hemingway’s singular gift for pure, descriptive prose.”
– The Daily Beast
Book Cover Image (jpg): Green Hills of Africa
Author Photo (jpg): Ernest Hemingway
More books from this author: Ernest Hemingway
See more by Ernest Hemingway
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Student Project Shines Light on Latin American Art
Editor’s note: This year, 76 Hawks are participating in the Summer Scholars Program, which allows students to engage in faculty-mentored research, creative writing, the fine and the performing arts, and other scholarly endeavors during the summer months. Throughout the summer, the SJU news team will highlight some of the projects.
In 1995, Saint Joseph’s University acquired about 30 pieces of pre-Colombian Latin American pottery. For the last 24 years, those pieces have been sitting in the basement of the Francis A. Drexel Library.
Collin Petersen, a junior philosophy major, is hoping to make sure these pieces are properly explored with his Summer Scholars research project.
Petersen’s major may make him seem an unlikely student for an art-focused Summer Scholars project. However, with his Spanish and Art History minors, Latin American art is actually the perfect outlet for Petersen to explore his diverse interests.
“It was kind of a match made in heaven,” says Petersen about the project. “Art history has always been an interest for me, ever since taking a class my senior year of high school. No philosophy professors were working on the program this summer, so it seemed like a great chance to explore something else. Once I found this project, I thought it was a very unique opportunity where I can take the whole summer and really dive into something that I’m very interested in.”
“The Summer Scholars program is a great opportunity for students to take the reins and decide what they’re really interested in,” says Emily Hage, Ph.D., associate professor of art history and Petersen’s mentor on the project. “Collin has an interest in Latin America, Spanish skills and a background in art history. He can use them all.”
To get started with his Summer Scholars project, Petersen connected with Christopher Dixon, the University’s archival research librarian, and Carmen Croce, director of Saint Joseph’s University Press. “Before summer began, I started looking at resources at the library and found some good museum catalogs about similar exhibitions,” says Petersen. “This gave me an idea of where to go next. Croce also gave me a few books with similar pieces.”
Petersen explains that not a lot is known about the pieces given to the University. “They are still being researched on a grand scale,” he says. “We don’t have every bit of information about them.”
However, he hopes his Summer Scholars research will change that. At the end of the project, Petersen wants to create an online exhibition of the pieces containing more information about them. He hopes this will be a strong resource for not only art history professors and students at SJU, but in the Philadelphia area and even around the world.
“SJU’s art collection is impressive. People come from around the world to see it,” Hage says. “It’s under-researched, so an online exhibition will be really valuable because people worldwide will be able to connect. It might even spur a visit to SJU.”
Petersen and Hage also hope to create a physical exhibition of the pottery pieces somewhere on campus. “It’d be really nice to see the things I’ve been working with in one place, presented the way they deserve to be,” Petersen says.
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“Back Door” Becomes Stray Kids’ 3rd MV To Hit 100 Million Views
by C. Hong
Stray Kids’s “Back Door” has joined the 100 million view club!
On December 3 around 10:18 a.m. KST, the “Back Door” MV surpassed 100 million views on YouTube. “Back Door” was released on September 14 at 6 p.m. KST, meaning that it took about two months, 18 days, and 16 hours for the music video to reach the milestone.
“Back Door” is Stray Kids’s third music video to hit 100 million views, after “MIROH” and “God’s Menu.” “God’s Menu” holds on to the group’s record as the fastest to 100 million views at two months and 10 days.
Check out Stray Kids’s epic music video for “Back Door” again below!
Recommended Watch:
MV Record
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The Olympic site of St. Nizier, where the jumping board is installed and the mountain group of the “3 Pucelles” will be illuminated by night during the Winter Olympic Games, Jan. 14, 1968, Grenoble, France. Here left the mountain group of the “3 Pucelles” and right in background the jumping board of St. Nizier. (AP Photo/Jean Jacques Levy)
Jean Jacques Levy
Today in History - Jan. 14
Today is Thursday, Jan. 14, the 14th day of 2021. There are 351 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 14, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French General Charles de Gaulle opened a wartime conference in Casablanca.
On this date:
In 1784, the United States ratified the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War; Britain followed suit in April 1784.
In 1858, Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, and his wife, Empress Eugenie, escaped an assassination attempt led by Italian revolutionary Felice (fay-LEE’-chay) Orsini, who was later captured and executed.
In 1914, Ford Motor Co. greatly improved its assembly-line operation by employing an endless chain to pull each chassis along at its Highland Park, Michigan, plant.
In 1963, George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with the pledge, “Segregation forever!” — a view Wallace later repudiated.
In 1964, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, in a brief televised address, thanked Americans for their condolences and messages of support following the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, nearly two months earlier.
In 1968, the Green Bay Packers of the NFL defeated the AFL’s Oakland Raiders, 33-14, in the second AFL-NFL World Championship game (now referred to as Super Bowl II).
In 1970, Diana Ross and the Supremes performed their last concert together, at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.
In 1972, the situation comedy “Sanford and Son,” starring Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson, premiered on NBC-TV.
In 1975, the House Internal Security Committee (formerly the House Un-American Activities Committee) was disbanded.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed an accord to stop aiming missiles at any nation; the leaders joined Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk in signing an accord to dismantle the nuclear arsenal of Ukraine.
In 2010, President Barack Obama and the U.S. moved to take charge in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, dispatching thousands of troops along with tons of aid.
In 2013, Lance Armstrong ended a decade of denial by confessing to Oprah Winfrey during a videotaped interview that he’d used performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France.
Ten years ago: In an unprecedented popular uprising, Tunisian protesters enraged over soaring unemployment and corruption drove President Zine El Abdine Ben Ali (ZEEN ehl AH’-bih-deen behn-ah-LEE’) from power after 23 years of iron-fisted rule. A funeral was held for U.S. District Judge John Roll, who was among six people killed in the Tucson, Arizona, shooting rampage that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The national Republican Party ousted chairman Michael Steele and chose Wisconsin party chief Reince Priebus (ryns PREE’-bus) to lead in the run-up to the 2012 presidential race.
Five years ago: During a Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, South Carolina, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz clashed over the Texas senator’s eligibility to serve as commander in chief and the businessman’s “New York values.” Chicago city attorneys released a grainy 2013 surveillance video showing the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Black carjacking suspect by a white police officer. Attackers set off suicide bombs and exchanged gunfire outside a Starbucks cafe in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta in a brazen assault that left seven people dead. Actor Alan Rickman, 69, died in London. Rene Angelil, 73, singer Celine Dion’s husband and manager, died at his suburban Las Vegas home.
One year ago: As House Democrats prepared to send articles of impeachment to the Senate for the trial of President Donald Trump, they released a trove of documents obtained from a close associate of Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, including a handwritten note that mentioned asking Ukraine’s president to investigate “the Biden case.” Iran said authorities had made arrests for the accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane by an Iranian missile. “Jeopardy” viewers saw veteran Ken Jennings beat James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter to capture the $1 million prize in the fourth night of the show’s “Greatest of All Time” tournament.
Today’s Birthdays: Blues singer Clarence Carter is 85. Singer Jack Jones is 83. Actor Faye Dunaway is 80. Actor Holland Taylor is 78. Actor Carl Weathers is 73. Singer-producer T-Bone Burnett is 73. Movie writer-director Lawrence Kasdan is 72. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd is 69. Rock singer Geoff Tate (Queensryche) is 62. Movie writer-director Steven Soderbergh is 58. Actor Mark Addy is 57. Former Fox News Channel anchorman Shepard Smith is 57. Actor/producer Dan Schneider is 57. Rapper Slick Rick is 56. Actor Emily Watson is 54. Actor-comedian Tom Rhodes is 54. Rock musician Zakk Wylde is 54. Rapper-actor LL Cool J is 53. Actor Jason Bateman is 52. Rock singer-musician Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) is 52. Actor Kevin Durand is 47. Actor Jordan Ladd is 46. Actor Ward Horton is 45. Actor Emayatzy Corinealdi is 41. Retro-soul singer-songwriter Marc Broussard is 39. Rock singer-musician Caleb Followill (Kings of Leon) is 39. Actor Zach Gilford is 39. Actor Jake Choi is 36. Actor Jonathan Osser is 32. Actor-singer Grant Gustin is 31. Singer/guitarist Molly Tuttle is 28.
Warrant Watch - 1-9-21
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Schools in Newport
Joyce Frankland Academy
Getting to and from Joyce Frankland Academy
CB11 3TR
Newport is extremely small, so Joyce Frankland is within easy walking distance of any part of the village. There are pavements and multiple zebra and pelican crossings all along the main High Street. There are also various footpaths which enable students to avoid the High Street altogether, passing through some very pleasant green space. The school itself straddles Bury Water Lane and has its own zebra crossing linking the two parts of the academy.
Whilst Newport may not be designed for cyclists, those students that live locally can easily cross it by bike using the footpaths which double as cycleways, avoiding the busier High Street. There are some tracks which go a little further up to Audley End, which in turn is close to National Cycle Network route 11. Route 11 runs on recommended quiet roads all the way up to Cambridge.
Plenty of Joyce Frankland students travel on school buses, and there’s an unofficial one-way system around Bury Water Lane making it safer for all concerned.
The 301 service passes through the village between Bishop’s Stortford and Saffron Walden, taking in Stansted Mountfitchet. The 60 service loops around Newport on its way back and forth from Saffron Walden. There are stops for both services, with seating and raised kerbs, on the High Street, a very short walk from the academy.
It’s well under a mile walk to Newport station, with pavements all the way and pelican and zebra crossings. The station is a key stop between London and Cambridge which easy access from Audley End station and Elsenham station. Greater Anglia offer discounts on train travel for students at some schools.
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Woman forced to use her husband's surname at work
Anna Pollitt
A court in Japan has ruled that a woman must change her surname at work because she is married.
The teacher, who has requested anonymity, was told her employer's demand that she use her husband's surname was "rational" by three male judges in Tokyo, The Guardian reports.
The woman, who is in her 30s, launched a lawsuit against Nihon University Daisangakuen, in a bid to be able to use the name she was born with in a professional capacity.
Having worked at schools affiliated to the university for 13 years, she argued that her surname was already well known to colleagues, pupils, parents and to a wider audience through her published academic research.
But her case and claim for £9,500 (1.2 million yen) in damages was dismissed. In their reasoning, the judges cited a newspaper poll of 1,000 female workers that found more than 70% used their husband’s name at work.
They acknowledged that though more women were choosing to not change their surnames after they married, the practice is “not deeply rooted in society”.
"I do not want to separate my name and my personal accomplishments, such as writing reference books and giving lectures before marriage,” the teacher said after the ruling.
The decision “destroys a workplace environment that allows people who had to change their surnames to work without undue worries,” she added.
It's the latest challenge to Japan's male-dominated culture. Last year five women lost a high-profile case against the 19th century law that states married couples must share the same surname - which in 96% of cases is that of the man.
One of the women who launched the challenge, Kaori Oguni, said: “By losing your surname…you’re being made light of, you’re not respected…It’s as if part of your self vanishes.”
Anna is a freelance writer and editor who’s been making her dime from online since 2007. She’s a regular at Stylist.co.uk, ITV News and Emerald Street and moonlights as a copywriter and digital content consultant.
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Jim Barks
College of Technology and Design
Work Email : jbarks@sullivan.edu
Bachelor of Science (Applied Science/Electrical Engineering)—University of Louisville
Master of Engineering (Electrical Engineering)—University of Louisville
Lasers and Electro-Optics, Fiber Optics, Digital Logic Design, Electromagnetic Interference, Military Electronics, Electronic Reliability and Stress Analysis
Jim Barks graduated from the University of Louisville in 1985 with a Master of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering and began a 25-year long tenure as a civilian Electronics Engineer with the Department of the Navy in Louisville. During his career there, Mr. Barks was the Navy’s lead Electronic Systems Engineer during the development of an optical sight system for the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Mr. Barks also worked to establish a Naval training facility for the optical sight and taught operation and maintenance of the system to both sailors and civilian technicians for fifteen years. He retired from the Department of the Navy in 2011.
In 1996, Jim Barks began his career at Sullivan as an adjunct instructor, teaching digital electronics and optoelectronics. In 2011, after retiring from his naval engineering position, Mr. Barks expanded his teaching responsibilities at Sullivan to include Mathematics, Physics, and Programmable Logic Controllers. In January 2015, Mr. Barks was named Department Chair for Computer Engineering Technology (CET) and in 2017 he assumed the responsibilities of Program Director for Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT).
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Sun Signs(current)
Ron Paul Biography, Life, Interesting Facts
Birthday :
Also Known For :
Politician, U.S. Representative
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Ron Paul is a US politician of the Republican Party and has served in the House of Representatives for Texas State. Before turning to politics, he started his career as a physician – a gynecologist and later as a flight surgeon in the Air Force.
Paul is known for his open criticism of the fiscal policies of the Federal government and the War on Drugs. Paul has a deep love for economics and has written several books on the subject.
Childhood & Early Life
Ron Paul was born on August 20, 1935, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. His full name is Ronald Earnest Paul, and his star sign is Leo. His father Howard Casper Paul, a dairy farmer and mother Margaret had five sons. As a child, Paul helped his father in running the family’s dairy business.
Ron Paul went to the Dormont High School for his early education. He then went to the Gettysburg College from where he graduated in 1957. He majored in Biology. To further his education he went to the Duke University’s School of Medicine and earned his doctorate in 1961. He chose gynecology as his specialization and interned at the Henry Ford Hospital.
Ron Paul started his career as a flight surgeon in the US Air Force where he served for two years (1963-65). He then did the same duty in the US Air National Guard for three years. He then started practicing as a gynecologist. While working as a doctor, he delivered more than 4000 babies in his career.
Being an avid reader, Ron Paul developed a keen interest in economics. His friendship with economists Hans Senholz & Murray Rothbard also helped in bringing forward the economist in Ron Paul. After deeply studying economics politics, Paul decided to change his career and become a politician. He became a member of the Republican Party and began his political career.
Ron Paul's career took a significant upturn when he won a seat in the US House of Representatives for Texas in 1976. He served multiple terms there. He’s also been a prolific writer. His first book Gold, Peace, and Prosperity: The Birth of a New Currency was published in 1981. A year later, he released The Case for Gold: A minority report on the U.S. Gold Commission.
Throughout his political career, Ron Paull has been highly critical of the Federal Government’s economic policies. He has served as the Chairman of the CSE (Citizens for a Sound Economy) in 1984. He is also the founder of FREE( Foundation for Rational Economics and Education ).
Ron Paull won the 2008 Republican primary elections against Chris Peden by a considerable margin owing to massive public support, and he followed it with a better success rate in 2010. He retired from all forms of politics in 2013. Currently, he keeps himself occupied by publishing quality material on various economic and political issues.
For his work in the field of economics, Paul won the distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Charity Awards Committee in 2010.
Ron Paul is married to Carol Wells – his high school sweetheart. They met in 1952 on Wells’ 16th birthday, and five years later, they married each other. They have five children – three sons Ronald, Robert & Randal and two daughters Lori and Joy. Carol is a writer who has published the Ron Paul Family Cookbook, and they remain happily married to each other. They have several grandchildren. Ron is also the subject of the movie Ron Paul Uprising.
August 20 Horoscope
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Jerry Falwell
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the Spirit Watch
The Bondage Of Cult Mind Control
By Rev. Rafael Martinez, Director, Spiritwatch Ministries
"Mind control? There's no such thing!"
The very words seem so unreal, a millenial boogey-man, just another urban legend concocted by some paranoiac cranks to amaze and frighten people into the consideration of their fear-mongering agenda. It brings to mind vivid word pictures of mindless, glassy eyed zombies under the control of puppet mastering demagogues. It hisses of secret government plans aimed at enslaving all mankind with drug-induced and electronic psycho-technology. One thinks of the tormented and trigger-bound "Manchurian Candidate" or Mel Gibson's haunted Jerry in the "Conspiracy Theory", passive victims of a perverse science wielded by shadowy global powers. Such grotesquely evocative impressions flood the minds of those who hear the term, so unbelievably bizarre as to be dismissed outright as a fable.
But that's not our point.
For our part, we're not talking about these alleged forms of "mind control" that provide so much of the theoretical grist and blood-curdling thunder for many a website or conspiracy theorist today. We're not here on some crusade to expose the "truth" that's "out there" somewhere which has been kept in some top-secret netherworld of subterfuge straight out of the "X-Files." If you are here to get some angle on that kind of fantasy, you will be roundly disappointed and you may want to keep surfing elsewhere. We won't be analyzing the alleged plots, politics, and people lurking "behind the scenes" to pave the way for some New World Order, as this grim graphic would darkly suggest.
It is a waste of time reiterating any of the lunacy that this speculative school of warped thought has hatched. It has for too long clouded the perceptions of a reality far more sobering, serious and real-time than anything most people have ever really conceived when they ponder the term "mind control" Those who have advanced this agenda have helped contribute to the confusion and needless clamor over the issue. No, it is our hope to separate the wheat from the chaff and supply to a balanced understanding of the unbelievable yet very real human phenomenon called cultic mind control that is far more closer to home and more prevalent among our society than we think.
Cultic mind control, as we are defining and exposing it, is a bondage of the human mind, body and soul far more diabolic than any urban legend. This bondage has been effectively destroying human lives since the dawn of humanity by the shattering of the spirit through the shackling of the mind. Whether using coercive drugging or persuasive flattery, political pogram or business dealing, the bondage of cultic mind control is a very real and very present danger to all who stand in its crosshairs. It is flourishing and hidden in plain sight in many different forms, binding men, women and children with a degradation by degrees and leading them wilfully into a galling yoke of coercive control of their very lives by lading them down "with burdens grievous to be borne" (Luke 11:46).
If you don't believe this can actually be happening, meet some people whose very testimonies would beg to differ ..
An Amway Distributor
I have firsthand, long-term experience with Amway, having been involved for about 3 and half years. In the past, I have noticed many similarities between distributor groups and religious cults and remember terming it a "secular cult." Everyone is told exactly how to prospect, how to dress, how to present the plan, how to follow-up, to use the support system, etc. What really made my stomach turn, though, was the behavior of people at all the meetings. They could have all been clones. Regardless of the line of sponsorship, everyone recited verbatim the same rhetoric ("Free in '93...Go Diamond!...get plugged in!...I am really excited about this... The Business...The System...I am getting free"), sprayed Sweet Shot in their mouths every two minutes (lets face it-- nobody needs that much breath freshener), talked about the latest promotion (always a sponsoring-related promotion by the way - never a product-related promotion), and dressed alike. Most people were sure they would reach their next pin level by the end of the next month, too. People rarely exchanged business ideas or sales tips, as might be expected at a "business meeting." Rarely did distributors discuss their hobbies, current events, or outside interests. Sex role stereotypes prevailed as well. I guess some people are not bothered by such an environment, but I need to be given some allowance for creativity to feel like I have accomplished something.
Distributors are also told not to discuss any negative aspects of their business with their downline, and not to ask about the details of their upline's business (number sponsored, etc.). The standard line for this is "If you want to be successful, listen to those that have been successful in this. Don't listen to those who were unsuccessful, quit, or have not tried because they only know how to quit or be unsuccessful." Finally, distributors are told "until you reach diamond, only talk about the basics" (the support system, showing the plan, $200 of personal use per month.) Collectively, all this puts a significant limitation on the exchange of information.
Cult leaders invariably claim to have some special gift, knowledge, or divine inspiration. Whenever a cult member encounters anything that does not make sense, he is told something like "It is not for you to understand all at once; only the privileged comprehend it--in time, it will be clear." In Amway, there are lots of canned answers to the most common questions and comments--some true, some half-true. But the default answer if none of those apply is "This is an unconventional business. It often does not make any sense; but it works." This statement is often emphasized with the stories told by the higher pin levels, all of which at some point say "We made many mistakes and did not want to listen to our upline. Once we did everything we were told everything fell into place and we were successful. Now look how wonderful our life is."
Invariably, distributors are repeatedly reminded what wonderful people their upline emeralds and diamonds are. In my experience a common reward for achievement is simply to be able to spend some time with them (a group dinner or lunch, for instance). All of them are said to be altruistic, caring people that have the greatest concern and love for each distributor in their downline personally. To be fair, I have seen evidence that this concern is to some extent genuine: then again, with the amount of money they make from us, why shouldn't they love us?
Being a typical Amway distributor is the antithesis of freedom. I have never felt such entrapment in my main occupation. As the sales and marketing plan is typically presented, over 50% of the presentation is not devoted to the marketing plan at all, but rather to talking with a prospect about what they want to do in life. A skillful presenter lets the prospect talk about what they do to earn a living, and some of their hobbies and interests. Ideally, the presenter already knows much of this information. The presenter then guides the conversation until the prospect gives specific details on what they find lacking in their life. When the presenter finds a few items that are specific and obtainable by additional time or money, he asks the prospect to write them down on a piece of paper. The purpose in writing them down is to make them more concrete, and so your sponsor can later say something like "You came up with the reasons to build this business, not anybody - that not only can you not live without them, but the only way you will ever get them is to be an Amway distributor and follow the "success pattern" exactly.
Commonly when the marketing plan is presented the line of sponsorship will be recited and the presenter will comment on what a "fine line" or "fine thread" it was that brought him this business opportunity. He will further state how lucky he was that he was shown the plan, and how fortunate each member of his audience is to have been invited to see this opportunity. I have heard similar comments from cultist missionaries. Distributors are told that when presenting the plan they are not selling anything but rather are simply "sharing a business opportunity" or "sharing an opportunity for freedom." Soon after sponsorship, it is revealed that this business is "not about the money" but rather about "helping others." This instantly conjures up the euphemism that missionaries and evangelists are not trying to sell anything or convert anybody--they are just "sharing the good news."
Raymond Franz
A matter, not among those just mentioned, but which brought considerable discussion involved a (Jehovah's) Witness couple in California. Someone had seen in their bedroom certain literature and photographs dealing with unusual sex practices. (I do not recall that we learned just how the person reporting this happened to have access to the couple's bedroom.) Investigation and interrogation by the local elders confirmed that the couple did engage in sexual relations other than by simple genital copulation. Correspondence from the elders came in to Brooklyn and the Governing Body was called upon to rule as to what action if any should be taken toward the couple.
Until the correspondence was read to us that morning, none of us (on the Governing Body) aside from the president had had any opportunity to think about the subject. Yet within a couple of hours the decision was reached that the couple was subject to disfellowshipping. This was thereafter set out as a formal published policy, applicable to any persons engaging willfully in similar practices.
The published material was understood and applied in such a way that marriage mates generally felt obliged to report to the elders if any such practice existed or developed in their marriage, whether mutually agreed upon or done solely at the initiation of one of the mates. (In the latter case the non-initiating mate was expected to come forward and convey this information to the elders if the initiating mate was unwilling to do so.) To fail to come forward generally is viewed as indicative of an unrepentant attitude and as weighing in favor of disfellowshipping. The belief that disfellowshipping cuts one off from the one organization where salvation can be found, as well as from friends and relatives, exercises heavy pressure on the person to conform, no matter how difficult confession (or reporting) to the elders may be.
The Governing Body's decision in 1972 resulted in a sizeable number of "judicial hearings" as elders followed up on reports or confessions of the sexual practices involved. Women experienced painful embarrassment in such hearings as they responded to the elders' questions about the intimacies of their marital relations. Many marriages where one of the mates was not a Witness underwent a turbulent period, with the non-Witness mate objecting strenuously to what he or she considered an unwarranted invasion of bedroom privacy. Some marriages broke up with resulting divorce.
An unprecedented volume of mail came in over a period of five years, most of it questioning the Scriptural basis for the Governing Body members inserting themselves into the private lives of others in such a way, and expressing inability to see the validity of the arguments advanced in print to support the stand taken. (The principal portion of Scripture relied upon was Romans, chapter one, verses 24- 27, dealing with homosexuality, and those writing to the Society pointed out that they could not see how it could rightly be applied to heterosexual relations between man and wife.) Other letters, often from wives, simply expressed confusion and anguish over their uncertainty as to the properness of their "sexual foreplay."
One woman said she had talked to an elder and he had told her to write to the Governing Body "for a sure answer." So she wrote, saying that she and her husband loved each other deeply and then she described the "certain type of foreplay" they were accustomed to, stating "I believe it's a matter of conscience, but I am writing you to be sure." Her closing words were: "I am scared, I am hurt, and I am more worried at this time about [my husband's] feeling for the truth.... I know you will tell me what to do."
In another typical letter an elder wrote, saying that he had a problem he wanted to get straightened out in his mind and heart and that to do this he felt "it's best to contact the 'mother' for advice."" The problem dealt with his marital sex life and he said that he and his wife were confused as to "where to draw the line in the act of foreplay before the actual act of sex." He assured the Society that he and his wife would "follow any advice you give us to the letter." These letters illustrate the implicit trust these persons had come to place in the Governing Body, the belief that the men forming that Body could tell them where to "draw the line" in even such intimate aspects of their personal lives, and that they should rightly hew to that line "to the letter."
The late Sakamoto family
Because the baby cried out when the men first entered the bedroom, they murdered him first. The killing began shortly after three o'clock in the morning, only a few minutes after the Aum Shinri Kyo "action squad" quietly opened the unlocked door of a small apartment in a middle-class Yokohama neighborhood and let themselves in.
Clad in cotton pajamas, fourteen-month-old Tatsuhiko Sakamoto was in bed between his parents when the men crept into the apartment. Several of them would later sheepishly confess to police that he was the first to awake and when he saw them, suddenly began crying. After the infant's first cry, one of the men leaned over and snatched him from the bed, smothered his mouth with a cloth, then delivered him into the waiting hands of his killer, a thirty-two-year-old medical doctor named Tomomasa Nakagawa. His hypodermic needle ready, Dr. Nakagawa quickly jerked down the baby's pajama pants and injected his buttock with a large dose of potassium chloride, a powerful poison. Nakagawa then watched the child with coldly clinical eyes, waiting patiently for the deadly poison to make its way through his small body. The infant's cries gradually snuffled out, then ceased altogether when a series of limb-shaking spasms swept over him as the poison first seized then fatally stopped his young heart. It was like putting an unwanted puppy to sleep.
The baby's frightened cry and the shuffling commotion in the bedroom awakened the child's parents, Satoko Sakamoto, his twenty-nine-year-old mother, and Tsutsumi Sakamoto, thirty-three, the boy's father. The scene confronting the groggy Sakamotos was straight out of a nightmare. Their small bedroom was filled with strange men, one of whom held their struggling son in his arms. Alarmed and badly scared, both parents tried to rescue their son but were no match for the overwhelming force of their attackers. Seeing her baby in the hands of a stranger with a hypodermic needle, Satoko Sakamoto desperately fought back against her assailants, but within a few minutes they overpowered her and she was given a lethal injection by Nakagawa. Within minutes he confirmed that she, too, was dead.
Tsutsumi Sakamoto was the last to die, but unlike his son and wife he did not die quickly. .. While several of the men held him tightly in position, Dr. Nakagawa jabbed a hypodermic needle filled with potassium chloride into his buttock. This time the drug did not work as expected, however, and after several minutes of painful writhing Sakamoto remained very much alive. Members of the squad told police that in order to finish him off, it was necessary for the team leader, Kiyohide Hayakawa, to hold down his legs while Tomomitsu Niimi straddled his chest and strangled him with his bare hands.
Thomas Simmons
One Sunday afternoon in March, my parents left with five other couples from (our Christian Science) congregation for a fly-in picnic in the Central Valley. Although my father was no longer a pilot, three other church members were; they owned or leased their own small planes. My father and mother rode along in one plane. The passengers in one of the other planes were the pilot's wife and the Sunday school superintendent, Mildred Valentine, and her husband. My parents had told me they'd be gone until early evening. They did not get home until quite a bit later. I was not worried; I had my writing and artwork to do, and I went out for a while to play with friends. Around dinnertime I popped a frozen pizza in the oven and, when it was done, sat down to eat in front of the television. I'd had quite a fine day when they walked through the door, looking pale and subdued.
"How was it?" I asked, not really listening. "It was OK," my father said. "Tiring," my mother said. They went into the bedroom; I did not see them until morning, when they seemed more or less themselves.
That afternoon, when I opened the Palo Alto Times, I found a front-page story on the crash of a small airplane. Because the headline mentioned two Los Altos couples, I read on. I read more and more slowly as I got to the names-including Mr. and Mrs. Valentine's-and realized what had happened. According to the report, their plane had come in too high and too fast, stalled on an attempted go-around, and crashed into trees. The four occupants had been killed instantly.
My mother was reading in her bedroom. I went in and I laid the paper on her lap. Then I went out. Later, of course, my parents tried to explain everything to me, including their reasons for saying nothing when they got home. It all sounded very rational to me. It sounded rational to me, too, in a way, when the next Sunday our teacher explained to us that we couldn't judge Christian Science by Christian Scientists; we had to judge the religion by its principles. It was "a tragedy" .. that Mr. and Mrs. Valentine had "passed on," but we could not judge our religion by their demise. Whatever individual failings appeared to occur in Christian Scientists' lives, the principle of the religion was unfailing and perfect. We should not, therefore, assume that the Valentines represented any weakness in the religion. The religion was without flaw, and we could take comfort in that fact.
Of course there was a certain rationality to all: a religion based on a scientific relationship between God and humankind must insist on the primacy of the principles behind that science, even when men and women suffer and die. Perhaps I was reassured to know that despite Mr. and Mrs. Valentine's deaths on impact, there was still no "life, truth, intelligence, or substance in matter." All was still "infinite Mind, and its infinite manifestation, " as Mary Baker Eddy had written, "for God is All-in-all. "
Yet the part of me that did not need to take comfort - that did not need to believe desperately in this religion - was revolted. This incident had been riddled with falsehoods. My parents could not tell me about it because they were afraid it would shake my religious faith; I had to find out from the newspaper, like any stranger. Later, as I reflected on what had occurred, I realized that they could not tell me because it was simply too horrible. They could not even really admit it to themselves, because they had only the language of "the real and eternal." Their own silent suffering must have been enormous. Like them, my Sunday school teacher could not admit the reality of these deaths; he too was afraid it would shake our faith, and thus seemed to blame the Valentines for their fate.
At all costs, the religion had to be preserved. Enormous human energy went into hanging up happy bunting around Christian Science that week, while friends laid wreaths on the Valentines' graves. I saw this; I was not stupid. But the culture of Christian Science was so deeply ingrained in me that I could not turn away. I continued to hope that if I remained faithful, I would move beyond the inconsistencies and find a place where both human beings and Christian Science were cherished. This was not to happen. The accident hovered around me like a pliant lie, cooperative but inescapable.
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
The goal of all PB.'s (this is the late Eastern esotericist Paul Brunton, who was called "PB" by the Masson family that sponsored him - RM) disciples was to have an "illumination," that is, an intense mystical experience that puts one in touch with a "higher power" My "illumination" came when I was thirteen. .. For my thirteenth birthday, just around the time of my bar mitzvah in fact (my parents remained culturally Jewish in spite of their spiritual allegiance to PB.), PB. said that I could have a special meditation with him. I determined that no matter how uncomfortable I became physically I would sit still and not break my concentration. Usually what I thought about during meditation was what could possibly be going on in the mind of PB. Where was he? Was he, too, thinking, like me, about other people and what they were thinking about? Impossible, I thought. He was, I was certain, lost in some kind of supramundane, otherworldly experience. He was, I was absolutely convinced at the time, in an altered state. This time, as usual, was thinking about all these things. My legs began to hurt, my eye burned, my arms were tired, my skin itched, and I longed to stand up. But I persisted - and it paid off. For soon everything began to feel better, and I could actually feel myself entering a kind of altered state. No doubt the rhythmic breathing helped. It was the first time I had ever felt anything like this, and I was ecstatic. It did not last long, but PB. seemed to sense it and asked me afterward whether I had felt anything special. I told him I had. He said he had known it, and that this was my illumination.
It was not entirely unlike my earlier experience with hypnosis: I could not help but feel that I was fooling everyone. I wanted to believe that something out of the ordinary had happened to me; it made everyone, including me, feel so happy, not to say exalted, and very special. While I had definitely entered some sort of "altered state,' altered need mean nothing more than that it was in some minor way different from my ordinary state. I was willing myself with all my might to "have an illumination." It was expected of me. It was the right time. The circumstances were right. I was with the right master. It was really up to me. ..
Through my "illumination," I was now definitely considered to be on the spiritual path. My parents seemed suitably impressed. Even my father, whose main complaint, after all, was that be had never had an illumination, seemed more pleased than jealous, although it made me nervous, especially since I knew my illumination was falsely acquired. I was treated, from then on, with a new kind of respect. I was a little guru in the making. I can't say that it gave me no pleasure, or that I was displeased at the whiff of power a guru could command, even a little one. I can remember embellishing the experience itself with each telling, until I had just about convinced myself that I had seen the face of God. PB. and I were both rather pleased with ourselves.
Every evening, I would go home and tell my parents about the wonderful day I had spent with PB. They would look at each other significantly as if they knew about some deeper purpose to all of this. I felt I was unbelievably fortunate to be in the presence of this great man and that all the trusted adults in my life were in agreement about this invisible world of power and meaning with which PB. in particular was on such intimate terms. How could they all be wrong? Perhaps if I had spoken about it more openly to my teachers, friends, or relatives, I would have been given another perspective. But to do so would have been disloyal, a sign of weakness. How could I doubt the word of God?
I did once ask PB. why other people could not be told the truths he knew. He told me we had to be tolerant. "Remember, Jeff, we were once at the same level that they are on now. The notion of rebirth teaches us tolerance. Do not despise those of obvious inferior intelligence. Think of their internal age. They are still young. Young souls." I never really did, consciously at least, doubt that PB. was speaking the truth from direct experience. I think I quickly stifled any notion that he was simply inventing it all. But however briefly and stillborn, this heretical idea occurred to me. Something always felt a little odd.
Sonsyrea Tate
I was extra glad that I was one of the special black people chosen to be in the Nation of Islam. When I got big, I was going to be an example to black people so they could see our true selves, how we could be smart and not be tricked by the white devil anymore .. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said black people in America needed to show unity so they could become an example of solidarity for people around the world. The Nation would lead the way; that's why it was important for us to work in unison - to look alike, speak alike, act alike, even think alike.
I simply was awed by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Not by his smarts so much, but by the power he had over all these people. I believed he was our savior; we all believed he was our savior. Instead of a picture of a blond-haired, blue-eyed man named Jesus, who I was taught people in the black church wrongfully prayed to, we had a photo of Elijah Muhammad - actually light enough to pass for white- posted in the Temple. It was posted above the entrance to the main hall on the second floor, and we saluted it, clicking our heels once or twice, before passing under it. Sometimes our eyelids instinctively snapped shut when we were doing this.
The heel-clicking part reminded me of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, which was my favorite movie. In the movie Dorothy stood before the Grand Wizard, clicking her heels, repeating, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home," believing she needed the Wizard's magic to deliver her home. But he explained to her that she had had the power all along. I thought Elijah Muhammad was a wizard and that black people needed his power and wisdom to deliver them from all the stuff the bad white people did.
The narrow road to heaven that Elijah Muhammad talked about sounded like it was probably similar to the yellow brick road in the movie, though I had no idea where this narrow road was in real life. I figured that whenever we found it and started walking on it, I would be shocked and frightened by dangerous surprises all along the way. Just like Dorothy and her friends had to prove themselves worthy of the Wizard's help, I thought it was only right that we had to prove ourselves worthy of being in the Nation. All I had to do was memorize all my lessons so I could represent the Nation well to the outside world.
The older people had to do more. There was always something to do at the Temple or for the Nation. We went to the Temple almost every day of the week for something - school through the week, Fruit of Islam (F.O.I.) meetings on Tuesdays for the boys and men, Muslim Girls' Training and General Civilization Class (M.G.T and G.C.C.) on Saturday mornings for us girls and our mothers, and the general meetings, which were sort of like church services, on Sundays.
Some of the men and women at the Temple were as stiff and uptight as any Tin Man. Some of the officials seemed like the Lion - ready to take charge as soon as some great Wizard gave them permission. But some of the grown-ups at the Temple seemed as brainless as the Scarecrow, acting like they didn't have minds of their own. Elijah Muhammad told us to dress a certain way and we did. Told us to chew our food a hundred times before swallowing, brush our hair a hundred strokes, and think five times about what we're going to say before we spoke. He gave us a long list of forbidden foods and required all of us, kids and grown-ups alike, to digest the historical and religious lessons.
Elijah Muhammad had our minds completely.
At the age of seven I was accepted into a special school for gifted students and thought it was the beginning of dreams come true. I loved everything about that school - the desks, the blackboard, the stairs. It was a fairy-tale kingdom and I was one of the pretty princesses. Then just one week later, I was told that I didn't belong, that I had to leave, that I must go to another school, where children fathered by "rightists" were admitted. I didn't understand what the word meant, but it made no difference. I knew what mattered. Father was my enemy. Because she had chosen to marry him, Mother was my enemy too. I had always known about enemies. The radio had taught me. My teachers had taught me. Everyone had taught me that landlords, rich peasants, anti-revolutionaries and rightists were enemies. With all my being I wished that I had a gun so I could shoot them dead. My change of heart was astonishing, sudden and absolute. That night, Mother asked Father for a divorce. He admitted that it was he who had ruined me and promised to do everything he possibly could to make my future less dim. I would not speak to him. I let him go.
Father had been branded a rightist, third class. Those who were first class were sentenced to prison. Those who were second class were condemned to hard labor in Xinjiang. Father was assigned work among the peasants in the nearby countryside. Each time he came Father would ask me if he could take me somewhere. I shook my head. I was so terrified that my friends would see him that I became ill. So ashamed was I of my father that I wished he would leave and never come back. Mother's forgiveness was unending. She could see into me, could see that monstrous fears had gnawed away my heart.
I was twelve when the Cultural Revolution started. I had not been allowed to wear the red scarf of the Communist Youth League, and now I was not allowed to wear the red armband of the Red Guards. Everywhere I went, girls and boys spat upon me. I began to realize with horror how their cruelty mirrored my own. Gradually the hatred I had harbored for so long withered. But it was too late. Father was no longer permitted to leave the countryside for visits home. For the next two years, at odd moments and for no apparent reason, tears would suddenly appear in Mother's eyes. One cold, rainy evening she was late coming home. When Mother came through the door, it was long after midnight. Her navy quilted jacket was so thoroughly soaked that the pale dress underneath was stained with blotches of blue. She must have been walking for hours in the rain.Grandmother asked, "Why have you been gone so long?"
"My child's father has committed suicide."
How far away Father seemed to me at that moment! I could not summon his face or the sound of his voice. But even more remote was death. I did not know what to think of it except to wonder if there was a place where souls could live. Although some of my classmates' fathers had died earlier, also by suicide, the word had no meaning for me. Soon there was another knock at the door. This time it was an old friend of my father's who had come to urge Mother to go to the crematorium and ask for the ashes. Mother shook her head. He put thirty yuan in my hand and said I must go and give that to the attendant, who would then do as I asked. Mother took out Father's best clothes and his favorite pair of shoes. They were made of woven straw, but he had polished them so they shone like leather.
I didn't know which bus stop to go to. Mother said she would walk me there, but just as we were leaving, a cadre from her work unit came to advise her that this was the day she must declare her political stand before all her coworkers at the park, and she left with him. Asking strangers, I made my own way to the bus stop. The bus ride was long. None of the passengers seemed any older than I was; some were much younger. Everyone got off at the last stop. I followed the others toward the sinister building that rose from the earth like a monstrous brick coffin. They were carrying bundles too. An old man asked for my father's name. I told him. The old man told me to wait. It was late afternoon before he finally returned and asked if I had brought any socks. Father had arrived without shoes and with only one sock. I gave him the bundle and then handed him the thirty yuan. I asked him what my father had looked like when they brought him in. "He looked . . . all right. He used sleeping pills." I asked again. The old man hesitated again, then said matter-of-factly, "Your father's ears were torn off."
I left but did not go home. I stood outside and stared at the crematorium. It was an old building with a dragon carved on the chimney. Periodically it belched smoke, and fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, floated through the heavens to their final resting place. I recalled the (peaceful) expression on Mother's face the previous evening and understood. The dead were free. The living had to struggle on in a world where wives had to denounce their dead husbands, and children took buses alone to places like this. The crematorium no longer seemed sinister. It did not kill people. It gave people peace. Peace has yet to come to me. Perhaps it is because when I was very young I shouldn't have understood that politics is all, but I did. I shouldn't have experienced a hate so unnatural that it could sever the bond between a loving father and a loving child, but I did. I don't understand how my mother can tell me that tears are the most precious things in the world and I should not shed them for what I did as a child of seven. But I should.
Each of these accounts taken from sources as diverse as a American multi-level marketer to a young Chinese actress reveal a tragically all too common, even mundane, reality that is often underestimated - the power of human beings to abusively control others through the subjugation of their ability to think independently. This is the true essence, the bottom line, of what cultic mind control is. In this section of the Spiritwatch, we hope to provide a balanced Christian understanding of this terribly destructive group dynamic which has been the scourge of fallen mankind since our eviction from Eden.
The scrupulous and the just, noble, humane, and devoted natures;
the unselfish and the intelligent may begin a movement
but it passes away from them.
They are not the leaders of a revolution.
They are its victims.
Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, part ii, ch. 3
Brackett, D.W. Holy Terror: Armageddon In Tokyo. Weatherhill, 1996.
Franz, Fred. Crisis of Conscience. Commentary, 1983.
Lord, Betty Bao. Legacies: A Chinese Mosaic. Fawcett Columbine, 1990.
Masson, Jeffrey Moussaieff. My Father's Guru. Addison-Wesley, 1993.
Simmons, Thomas. The Unseen Shore: Memories Of A Christian Science Childhood. Beacon, 1991.
Tate, Sonsyrea. Little X: Growing Up In The Nation Of Islam. Harper Collins, 1997.
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This Day in History: V-E Day brings WWII’s European front to a close
On this day in 1945, Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day) is celebrated! Nazi Germany had finally surrendered to Allied forces. World War II was at an end—at least in Europe. The war against Japan would continue in the Pacific.
V-E Day was not without its share of behind-the-scenes drama.
For starters, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union could not agree on simple logistics. An unconditional surrender had been signed at Reims on May 7, in General Dwight Eisenhower’s headquarters. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was ready to hit the news waves with that piece of welcome news! But Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin refused. He wanted the victory announced on May 9, after a formal surrender in Berlin.
A Soviet officer was the ranking Allied commander in Berlin, you see. Stalin wanted to preside over the final victory lap.
President Harry S. Truman was disinclined to argue with Stalin. When Churchill called the White House, he was told that the United States “cannot act without approval of Uncle Joe.” Churchill soon called back, declaring his intent to proceed with an announcement on May 8 anyway. Unofficial word of the surrender had gotten out, he said, and the “crowds celebrating in the streets of London were beyond control.”
In the end, the United States and Great Britain announced V-E Day on May 8. The Soviet Union refused to make its announcement until May 9.
Reporters camped out all night to hear what Truman would have to say. At 8:35 a.m. on May 8, they were brought into the Oval Office. “[T]his press conference is held,” Truman began, “with the understanding that any and all information given you here is for release at 9 a.m. this morning.”
Truman was trying to time his announcement to coincide with Churchill’s 3:00 p.m. statement in London.
“General Eisenhower informs me that the forces of Germany have surrendered to the United Nations,” Truman told the press. “The flags of freedom fly all over Europe.” Truman cautioned against celebrating too soon. “Our victory is only half over,” he emphasized.
The war against Japan was still ongoing.
Then Truman did something that might be unexpected today: He called for a day of prayer: “I call upon the people of the United States, whatever their faith, to unite in offering joyful thanks to God for the victory we have won and to pray that He will support us to the end of our present struggle and guide us into the way of peace.”
The day of prayer was set for May 13—Mother’s Day! Interestingly, V-E Day marked two other milestones, too: Not only was it Harry Truman’s birthday, but it was also his first full day living in the White House. (Eleanor Roosevelt had taken several weeks to move out.)
What a series of overwhelming emotions for Truman? He was able to declare victory in the long European war—on his birthday—less than one month after he’d become President.
“I only wish that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day,” he told the nation.
Perhaps he felt that the European victory belonged more to Roosevelt than to him? Maybe so, but Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day) was still coming. That celebration would perhaps more truly belong to Truman.
Naturally, that is a story for another day.
Primary Sources:
David McCullough, Truman (1992)
Give ‘em Hell: The Tumultuous Years of Harry Truman’s Presidency, in his own Words and Voice (Terry Golway ed., 2011)
Harry S. Truman, Proclamation 2651—Victory in Europe: Day of Prayer (May 8, 1945)
Harry S. Truman, The President’s News Conference on V-E Day (May 8, 1945)
Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life (1991)
Martin Gilbert, The Day the War Ended: May 8, 1945—Victory in Europe (1995)
Peter Grier, V-E Day: how President Truman reacted on May 8, 1945 (Christian Science Monitor; May 8, 2015)
For media inquiries,
please contact Colonial Press
info at colonialpressonline dot com
from Tara Ross
Thanks for loving history with me!
© Copyright 2020 by Tara Ross.
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Neal H. Rosenberg, Esq., attorney for petitioner, Michele Kule-Korgood, Esq., of counsel
Hon. O. Peter Sherwood, Corporation Counsel, attorney for respondent, Sergio J. Tuero, Esq., of counsel
Petitioner appeals from the decision of an impartial hearing officer which held that the proposed transfer of petitioner's child from a specialized instructional environment-I (SIE-I) class in P. 811 to a SIE-I class in P. 168 would provide the child with an appropriate program in a less restrictive setting. The appeal must be sustained.
Petitioner is the foster parent of the child, and has raised the child almost from birth. For purposes of this appeal, petitioner is the child's parent (8 NYCRR 200.1 [ac]). The child will be 13 years old this month. She has cerebral palsy, and has been found to be mildly retarded. The child has hydrocephalus, a disorder of the central nervous system. A shunt relieves the pressure of fluid upon the child's brain. The child is ambulatory, but reportedly requires some assistance walking and/or climbing stairs. The child wears eyeglasses. The child's expressive and receptive language skills are equivalent to those of a four year old child. The child is classified as multiply handicapped, now multiply disabled (8 NYCRR 200.1 [am][8]). Her classification is not disputed.
Since 1986, the child has attended school in P. 811, within I.S. 84, which is located in Community School District 12. All children from the age of 5 through 21 who attend P. 811 are enrolled in SIE-I classes. Respondent has adopted a policy of phasing out the SIE-I classes for older children enrolled in P. 811, and plans to transfer the children to SIE-I classes in schools which do not serve disabled children exclusively and which are nearer to the children's homes.
In October, 1992, petitioner was notified of respondent's intention to transfer the child to a SIE-I class in P. 168. P. 168 is within I.S. 162, which is located in Community School District 7 where the child resides. The school is approximately eight blocks from the child's residence. I.S. 162 provides regular education to children up through the eighth grade, as well as special education to children who are enrolled in the SIE-I program or in respondent's modified instructional services-I (MIS-I) program for less severely disabled children.
After visiting P. 168, petitioner informed respondent that she would not agree to the child's transfer, and requested that an impartial hearing be held. The hearing was held on December 7, 1992. In a decision dated December 29, 1992, the hearing officer held that the proposed transfer was appropriate because the child would receive the same services she is now receiving and because respondent had established that the child would be grouped with children having similar abilities and needs as required by State regulation (8 NYCRR 200.6 [a][3]). The hearing officer further held that the SIE-I program in P. 168 would be the least restrictive environment because of its proximity to the child's home and because regular education classes are taught in the same building.
Petitioner asserts that the child cannot be transferred to another location, absent a finding that the child's program in the present location is inappropriate. As an abstract proposition, petitioner's assertion is untenable (Concerned Parents and Citizens for the Continuing Education at Malcolm X (P.S. 79) et al.v. New York City Board of Education et al., No. 80-7300, [2d Cir., 1980], EHLR 552:147). Indeed, a change in location is not per se a change in program (8 NYCRR 200.1 [e]), or a change in placement (8 NYCRR 200.1 [f]). However, a change of location which involves moving a child's program from a more restrictive setting to a less restrictive setting is a change of placement for purposes of the pendency provisions of Federal and State law (Application of a Child with a Handicapping Condition, 29 Ed. Dept. Rep. 92).
In this instance, the child's educational program would not ostensibly be changed by the proposed transfer. However, petitioner has raised serious questions about the manner in which the child's management needs would be met in the proposed site. Petitioner asserts that the child is severely physically disabled and cannot walk more than a short distance. In a written statement in the record and in her testimony, petitioner expressed concern for the child's safety in a school where she might be jostled in the hallways by other children and sustain injury if her shunt became dislodged. In her petition, petitioner asserts that the child in her present school has a restroom in close proximity to her classroom and there are railings in the hallways which the child can use as stabilizing aids. Petitioner further asserts that in the proposed placement the nearest restroom is quite far from the classroom and there are no railings in the hallways. Respondent generally denies petitioner's assertion, but offers nothing to rebut her assertions.
At the hearing, the supervisor of SIE-I classes at P. 168 testified that the child can walk unassisted, but qualified her testimony by stating:
"But I would venture to say that she [the child] still needs assistance in walking in crowds and walking in the hallways and on stairs." (Transcript pp. 23-24)
The witness did not explain what if any assistance would be provided to the child, other than the general statement that children in the SIE-I classes are always accompanied by adults. Remarkably, none of respondent's witnesses had any personal knowledge of the child or her needs. State regulation requires that a child's individualized education program (IEP) include a description of the child's levels of performance and needs in each of four areas, including management needs (8 NYCRR 200.4 [c[[2][i]). Management needs include the nature of, and degree to which, environmental modifications and human or material resources are required to enable the child to benefit from instruction (8 NYCRR 200.1 [ak][2][i][d]). The child's IEP is not part of the record before me. Nor is there any other basis in the record for determining what her needs are and how they would be met in the proposed placement. It is the responsibility of the CSE to consider all of the child's needs in making a placement recommendation. However, there is no evidence in the record to establish that the CSE has even considered the matter.
In view of the rapidly impending end of the 1992-93 school year, there is no purpose in having the CSE recommend a placement for the remainder of the school year. The child will remain in her present placement for the duration of the 1992-93 school year.
IT IS ORDERED that the decision of the hearing officer is annulled.
Henry A. Fernandez
Implementation/Assigned School›Student Safety›Mobility
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Application of a CHILD WITH A DISABILITY, by his parents, for review of a determination of a hearing officer relating to the provision of educational services by the Board of Education of the Oceanside Union Free School District
Long Island Advocates, Inc., attorney for petitioners, Rebecca Katz White, Esq., of counsel
Ehrlich, Frazer & Feldman, Esqs., attorneys for respondent, Jacob S. Feldman, Esq. and Christine M. La Place, Esq., of counsel
Petitioners appeal from an impartial hearing officer's decision finding that respondent had offered their son an appropriate educational placement for the 2001-02 school year, and denying their request for a residential placement for their son during that school year. They allege that the hearing officer was biased, and that his decision was not supported by the facts and was untimely. The appeal must be dismissed.
Petitioners' son was 13 years old at the time of the impartial hearing. He was classified as multiply disabled, having been diagnosed with athetoid cerebral palsy and microcephaly (Transcript p. 178). He cognitive abilities are below average, as measured by a test of nonverbal intelligence. The student is nonverbal, but can make many of his needs known by grunting and pointing, and he uses an augmentative communication device (Exhibit 4; Transcript p. 27). He uses a wheelchair and a walker, and can transfer between them with minimal assistance. He has significant delays in his activities of daily living skills. Petitioners do not dispute the appropriateness of their son's classification.
For the past few years, the student has attended the Carmen Road School (Carmen Road) operated by the Nassau County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), where he was in an ungraded 9:1+2 special education class at the time of the hearing. When he first started at the school, the student's sole means of communication was to grunt and point. In 1997, the student was fitted with an augmentive communication device known as a Dynavox (Transcript p. 43). Dynavox is a special computer designed to meet the needs of nonverbal individuals, who touch icons on the device's screen to produce spoken words that enable learners to express their needs and desires.
On June 6, 2001, respondent's Committee on Special Education (CSE) met at petitioners' request because they were seeking a residential placement for their son. According to the minutes of that meeting, school personnel reported to the CSE that petitioners' son had made a great deal of progress, demonstrating improved cognitive skills and an ability to maintain his skills. He was described as a social child who was usually eager to participate in all activities, but who could be stubborn from time to time. Despite limited communication skills, the student could communicate about events at home and at school. School staff advised the CSE that petitioners' son could recognize numbers, letters and simple words, and do simple addition. The student was described as having significant delays in activities of daily living, and he was in the process of developing transition skills such as food shopping, telling time and recognizing coins. The student's physical therapist reported that he had demonstrated progress towards achieving all of his annual goals. His occupational therapist reported that the student was making progress in the use of a flexion glove to isolate finger movement so that he could more effectively use the Dynavox. The student's speech/language therapist indicated that the student was eager to participate, but had a limited verbal output. She reported the student could answer "wh" questions with one-word answers and appeared to understand the plurality of verbs. The student had demonstrated his word recognition by pointing to the appropriate icon on a computer.
The CSE recommended that petitioners' son attend the 9:1+2 BOCES class on a 12-month basis during the 2001-02 school year, and that he receive 30 minutes of pull-out individual speech/language therapy twice per week, 30 minutes of push-in individual speech/language therapy per week, 30 minutes of individual physical therapy twice per week, and 30 minutes of individual occupational therapy twice per week. The CSE noted on the student's individualized education program (IEP) that he required applied behavioral analysis (ABA) instruction throughout the day to learn new skills and concepts (Exhibit 4).
In a letter dated October 4, 2001, the parents requested an impartial hearing to review the CSE's recommendation and to address the need for a residential placement (Hearing Officer's Exhibit 5). The hearing commenced on November 20, and continued on November 27 and December 21, 2001. In a decision dated April 12, 2002, the impartial hearing officer found that respondent had demonstrated that the student's IEP for the 2001-02 school year was appropriate and had provided the student with meaningful access to education. He noted that although the student had made satisfactory progress in school using the Dynavox, he did not use the device at home because it was thought to be too cumbersome. The hearing officer also noted that the student's mother had acknowledged in her testimony that the staff at the Carmen Road school were doing a good job with her son, but she wanted a residential placement to maximize his educational opportunities (Transcript p. 266). Having determined that respondent had offered to provide an appropriate educational program to the student, the hearing officer denied petitioners' request for a residential placement for their son.
Petitioners challenge the hearing officer's decision on procedural and substantive grounds. I will consider the former first. Petitioners allege that the impartial hearing officer and respondent's counsel engaged in inappropriate ex parte communication and that such conduct is evidence of bias on the part of the hearing officer. They believe that said ex parte communication created the appearance of impropriety and resulted in denial of their right to a decision within the 45-day period contemplated by regulation (8 NYCRR 200.5[i][4]).
Administrative officers who exercise judicial or quasi-judicial powers must avoid even the appearance of impropriety (Grant v. Senkowski, 146 AD 2d 948 [3d Dept. 1989]; DeCamp v. Good Samaritan Hospital, 66 AD 2d 766 [2d Dept. 1978]). A hearing officer should refrain from communicating with any party or party's representative about any issue of law or fact, except upon notice and opportunity for all parties to participate (Application of a Child With a Disability, Appeal No. 96-89). On or about January 31, 2002, respondent's counsel telephoned the hearing officer to request an extension of time for the submission of his post-hearing memorandum of law. In an affirmation annexed to respondent's answer, respondent's counsel asserts that he had previously spoken to petitioners' counsel about an extension, but the latter had not agreed to his request. The hearing officer extended respondent's time to file a memorandum of law until February 20, 2002. Although it is clear that an ex parte communication took place between the impartial hearing officer and respondent's counsel, it did not concern issues of law or fact. The hearing officer, however, should have been mindful of even the appearance of impropriety and should have advised the respondent to put his request for an extension of time in writing on notice to the other side. Nonetheless, I find that the conversation in question does not afford a basis for invalidating the hearing officer's decision (Application of the Board of Education of the Red Hook C.S.D., Appeal No. 00-053)
As to the petitioners' claims that the hearing was not conducted within the time limits set forth under federal and state law and that the delay was without the consent or approval of petitioners, I find that the record shows that there were numerous extensions of time agreed to by both parties, as detailed by the hearing officer on a page annexed to his decision. Additionally, the parties themselves agreed to a six-week extension of time to submit post-hearing briefs. Each of these extensions constitutes a waiver of the right to receive a decision within 45 days of a request for a hearing. It is clear from the record that the only extension of time not agreed to by petitioners is the additional time granted to respondent's attorney to file his brief and the six weeks it took for the impartial hearing officer to render his written decision. The impartial hearing officer has the authority to grant requests for extensions of time by either party (8 NYCRR § 200.5[i][4][i]). Additionally, I find that the hearing officer's delay in rendering decision does not afford a basis for invalidating the hearing officer’s decision (Application of A Child With A Disability, Appeal No. 94-12).
I will now address petitioners' substantive objections to the hearing officer's decision. They contend that the IEP that respondent's CSE prepared for their son for the 2001-02 school year failed to provide him with a free appropriate public education (FAPE) as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and its state counterpart, Article 89 of the New York State Education Law. Petitioners assert that their son's IEP does not address each of his needs, and that it failed to provide him with a program that produced more than minimal educational progress.
A board of education bears the burden of demonstrating the appropriateness of the program recommended by its CSE (Application of a Child Suspected of Having a Disability, Appeal No. 93-9; Application of a Child with a Handicapping Condition, Appeal No. 92-7; Application of a Handicapped Child, 22 Ed Dept Rep 487 [1983]). To meet its burden, a board of education must show that its recommended program is reasonably calculated to confer educational benefits (Bd. of Educ. v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176 [1982]). The recommended program must also be provided in the least restrictive environment (34 C.F.R. § 300.550[b]; 8 NYCRR 200.6[a][1]). An appropriate program begins with an IEP which accurately reflects the results of evaluations to identify the student's needs, establishes annual goals and short-term instructional objectives related to those needs, and provides for the use of appropriate special education services (Application of a Child with a Disability, Appeal No. 93-12; Application of a Child Suspected of Having a Disability, Appeal No. 93-9).
Having reviewed the student's IEP for the 2001-02 school year (Exhibit 4), I find that it adequately describes his present levels of performance and needs with respect to academic achievement, social development, physical development and management needs, as required by 8 NYCRR 200.4(d)(2)(i). The IEP includes annual goals for improving the student's vocabulary, sequencing, and basic math skills, as well as adult daily living and community readiness skills. His speech/language goals include the use of the augmentative communication device to make his needs and wants known. The IEP also includes goals for the student's related services. Petitioners do not appear to challenge their son's IEP goals. They do dispute the adequacy of the services recommended by the CSE to afford their son a reasonable opportunity of achieving his IEP goals. The record reveals that the student's ability to comprehend stories is expanding, his ability to recognize numbers has expanded, and he is learning to add and to count. The student is beginning to recognize coins and to tell time to the half-hour. He is learning to communicate and relate to other people and is showing some progress in ambulation.
A central part of the student's program is his use of the Dynavox augmentive communication device to communicate complex thoughts and concepts (Transcript p. 88). The Dynavox gives him the opportunity to move towards independence and to relate to adults and peers. It allows him to ask and answer questions and communicate feelings, and has even afforded him the ability to make jokes and to tease staff (Transcript p. 207). The Dynavox is programmed to each learner's specific wants and needs, and allows the student to explore a topic in depth at his level of ability. All members of the staff at Carmen Road were trained in the use of the Dynavox, and assistance and training have offered to the parents in the use of this technology. Petitioners have reportedly not participated in the training opportunities.
Each of the witnesses, called by respondent testified that petitioners' son has made progress while attending the school and has made significant progress since beginning to use the Dynavox. The student's mother testified that her son did not use the Dynavox at home because she found it "too contrived" and that her son could make his needs known at home through grunts and gestures (Transcript pp. 87, 283). The principal of the Carmen Road school testified that the parents' failure to use the Dynavox at home hinders the student's ability to generalize the skills he has learned at school and impedes his progress (Transcript pp. 91-92).
The record also shows that at school, the student is also making progress in his ability to move around on his own and in particular to transfer from his wheelchair to his walker. The progress he has made at school has not been replicated at home because the student does not use either a wheelchair or a walker at home, but instead crawls around the house. Although the child’s mother testified that the wheelchair is too heavy to be used at home, there was no indication in the record that the petitioners have attempted to seek assistance in adapting their home (Transcript p. 91).
Petitioners seek a residential placement for their son. However, respondent is required to place petitioners' son in the least restrictive setting pursuant to the provisions of 34 C.F.R. § 300.550(b) and 8 NYCRR 200.6(a)(1). Under federal and state law, a residential placement is appropriate only if it is required for the child to benefit from his or her educational program (Kerkam v. Superintendent D.C. Public Schools, 931 F.2d 84 [D.C. Cir. 1991]; Burke County Bd. of Educ. v. Denton, 895 F.2d 973 [4th Cir. 1990]; Abrahamson v. Hershman, 701 F.2d 223 [1st Cir. 1980]). The record before me indicates that petitioners' son made educational progress in the day placement recommended by the CSE. While I can understand the parents' desire to have the child reach his maximum potential, it is clear that the law only requires that "a school district must provide a disabled child with meaningful access to education, it does not mean that the school district is required to guarantee totally successful results." (Walczak v.. Florida U.F.S.D., 142 F.3d 119,133[2d Cir. 1998]). The record before me is clear. The Carmen Road school has provided the student with a meaningful access to education and has provided it in the least restrictive setting.
THE APPEAL IS DISMISSED.
Frank Muñoz
Educational Placement›Extended Day/Home-Based/ Residential Services
Educational Placement›Special Class
Preliminary Matters›Conduct of Impartial Hearing
Preliminary Matters›IHO Qualifications/Bias
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Michael Best, Special Assistant Corporation Counsel, attorney for petitioner, Tracy Siligmueller, Esq., of counsel
Law Offices of Regina Skyer and Associates, attorneys for respondents, Gregory Cangiano, Esq., of counsel
Petitioner (the district) appeals from the decision of an impartial hearing officer which found that it failed to offer an appropriate educational program to respondents' (the parents') daughter and ordered it to reimburse the parents for their daughter's tuition costs at the Mary McDowell Center for Learning (Mary McDowell) for the 2009-10 school year. The appeal must be sustained.
At the time the impartial hearing began, the student was attending Mary McDowell in an eighth grade classroom (Tr. pp. 107, 223). The hearing record reflects that the parents enrolled the student at Mary McDowell when she was in third grade (2004-05), and that she has attended Mary McDowell continuously since that time (Tr. p. 223). Mary McDowell is described in the hearing record as a self-contained school for students with language-based and nonverbal learning disabilities (Tr. pp. 100-01, 102). Mary McDowell has not been approved by the Commissioner of Education as a school with which districts may contract to provide special education services for students with disabilities (see 8 NYCRR 200.1[d], 200.7).
The hearing record reflects that the student is distractible and exhibits weaknesses in executive functioning, written expression, auditory processing, and language processing (Tr. p. 223; Parent Ex. B at p. 7). The student is reported to have deficits in summarizing, paraphrasing, verbal sequencing, auditory memory, language processing, and abstract thinking and is more successful in small groups and 1:1 settings than in a whole group setting (Parent Ex. C at p. 9). The student also has deficits in graphomotor skills and pragmatic language skills (Tr. pp. 35-37; Parent Ex. B at p. 7). The student's eligibility for special education programs and services as a student with a learning disability is not in dispute in this proceeding (see 34 C.F.R. § 300.8[c][10]; 8 NYCRR 200.1[zz ][6]).
On February 6, 2009, the parents executed an enrollment contract for the student to attend Mary McDowell for the 2009-10 school year when she would be in the eighth grade (Tr. p. 243; Parent Ex. H at pp. 1, 2). Pursuant to the terms of the contract, the parents agreed to pay $20,760 of the full tuition by July 1, 2009 and the balance of the tuition, fees, and charges by December 1, 2009 (Parent Ex. H at p. 1). The hearing record reflects that the parents made tuition payments to Mary McDowell on July 1, 2009, September 3, 2009, and January 5, 2010 (Parent Ex. G at p. 1).
On February 24, 2009, the district's Committee on Special Education (CSE) met for an annual review of the student's program (Parent Ex. B at pp. 1, 2). The meeting attendees included the district representative who also functioned as the school psychologist, one of the student's special education teachers from Mary McDowell who participated by telephone for part of the meeting, the parents, an additional parent member, and a regular education teacher (Tr. pp. 25, 233-34, 237, 239-40; Parent Ex. B at p. 2). The February 2009 CSE continued to find the student eligible for special education services as a student with a learning disability and recommended a 10-month 12:1+1 special class in a community school with related services of three 30-minute speech-language therapy sessions in a group of three, one 30-minute individual occupational therapy (OT) session, and one 30-minute counseling session in a group of three (Tr. pp. 35, 38, 238; see Parent Ex. B at p. 13). The resulting February 2009 individualized education program (IEP) contained annual goals in the areas of reading (decoding and comprehension), writing, math (computation and word problems), speech and language (auditory processing skills and pragmatic language skills), graphomotor skills, and counseling (Parent Ex. B at pp. 6-7). The February 2009 CSE also considered a collaborative team teaching[1] program as well as a 12:1 special class in a community school (Tr. p. 38; Parent Ex. B at p. 12), but thought at the time that the 12:1+1 program "was the best program" for the student (Tr. pp. 38-39). The parents did not advise the February 2009 CSE that they had previously executed a contract for the student to attend Mary McDowell for the 2009-10 school year (Tr. pp. 242-43).
On April 16, 2009, the district mailed the February 2009 IEP to the parents (Parent Ex. B at p. 2; see Tr. pp. 237, 240-41). The hearing record reflects that the parents did not submit any objections to the district when they received the February 2009 IEP and that they "pass[ed] it on" to their attorneys (Tr. p. 241).
In an end of the year report dated spring 2009, the student's teachers at Mary McDowell summarized the student's progress and participation during the third trimester in her seventh grade classroom at that school (Parent Ex. C at pp. 1-11). The report reflected, among other things, that the student had received grades ranging from 90 to 97 in academic subjects and had received a rating of "independently mastered" for all items regarding organizational, behavioral, and social interactions (id. at pp. 3-8). The student's performance on the spring 2009 administration of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests-Fourth Edition Level 6 Form "S" yielded percentile ranks in the average range in vocabulary (54), comprehension (37), and in her total reading score (45) (id. at p. 11). With regard to math, the student's performance on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills Mathematics, Level 12 Form "K" yielded percentile ranks in the average range in problem solving and data interpretation (42), the low average range in computation (23) and total score (19), and in the low range in concepts and estimation (5) (id.). The report also reflected that the student had received speech and language therapy once per week for 40 minutes in a group of three as well as push-in sessions during whole group academic classes (id. at p. 9).
By letter dated August 13, 2009, the district notified the parents of the specific location of the student's proposed program and summarized the recommendations made by the February 2009 CSE (Dist. Ex. 1). The hearing record reflects that the parents were away on vacation in the latter part of August 2009 and received the district's letter when they returned home in early September 2009 (Tr. pp. 250-51, 270, 280-81).
By letter dated August 24, 2009, the parents, through their attorney, advised the district that they were placing the student at Mary McDowell "as of the first day of school for academic year 2009-10" and that they would seek tuition reimbursement from the district (Parent Ex. I). Among other things, the parents asserted that as of the date of their letter, the student "has not been offered a specific placement" (id.).[2] The parents also contended that the February 2009 IEP was defective as a result of an improperly composed review team, inadequate evaluations and goals, and "the faulty policy and practice of lowering promotional criteria" (id.). The parents advised the district that once they received a placement notice and had an opportunity "to view and assess the appropriateness" of the placement, they would "either place the child accordingly or file a detailed hearing request" (id.). The parents stated that they were placing the student at Mary McDowell "[i]n order to assure" that the student "has a school program to attend that is reasonably calculated to confer benefits to her" (id.).
The student's mother visited the district's recommended school in early December 2009, toured the school, and met with the special education coordinator (Tr. pp. 271-73). The district was unable to accommodate the mother's request to visit the recommended classroom (Tr. pp. 272-73). After visiting the recommended school, the student's mother returned the district's August 13, 2009 notice to advise the district that she found the recommended school inappropriate (Tr. p. 279).
By due process complaint notice dated January 7, 2010, the parents, through their attorney, requested an impartial hearing (Parent Ex. A). They alleged that the district had failed to offer the student a free appropriate public education (FAPE) on procedural and substantive grounds and had denied the parents a meaningful opportunity to develop an IEP (id. at pp. 1, 3). The parents advised the district that because of its failure to offer the student a FAPE, they had unilaterally placed the student at Mary McDowell and were seeking tuition reimbursement for the student's placement at that school (id. at p. 1). The parents further indicated that they had provided the district with notice of their intent to place the student at Mary McDowell by their attorney's August 24, 2009 letter (id.).
Specifically, the parents contended that despite a February 2009 CSE review, they were not sent a final notice of placement "until the middle of August 2009" (Parent Ex. A at pp. 1-2). The parents further asserted that the student's mother was not provided an opportunity to visit the recommended classroom in December 2009 even though she had explained to school personnel during her visit to the recommended school that it was important for her to observe the classroom and that "this would be a major decision for her" (id. at p. 2). Among other things, the parents also challenged the composition of the February 2009 CSE and the use of "subjective teacher assessments" as well as the annual goals and short-term objectives in the February 2009 IEP (id. at pp. 2-3). The parents asserted that the recommended classroom did not provide the student "with a suitable and appropriate peer group for instructional or social/emotional purposes" (id.). The parents further asserted that the instructional methodologies used in the proposed classroom were "not in line" with what was recommended in the February 2009 IEP; that the environment of the recommended school would be distracting to the student because of its size and because it was housed with two other schools; and that there was no indication that anyone at the proposed school used FM units, which the student required (id. at pp. 2, 3).
The impartial hearing began on April 13, 2010 and concluded on July 1, 2010, after four days of proceedings (Tr. pp. 1, 15, 166, 215). By decision dated August 16, 2010, the impartial hearing officer concluded that the district failed to offer the student a FAPE on both procedural and substantive grounds (IHO Decision at pp. 13, 14). With respect to the timeliness of the district's offer of placement, the impartial hearing officer concluded that the district's February 2009 IEP "was issued early enough for the [district] to make a placement recommendation in a timely manner," that the district "chose inexplicably to make a placement recommendation in mid-August 2009," and that the district should have made "a timely placement offer that could be visited and evaluated by the parents prior to the beginning of the school year" (id. at p. 11). According to the impartial hearing officer, the parents "understandably chose" to continue the student's enrollment at Mary McDowell since they were unable to visit the proposed classroom in August 2009 (id.). The impartial hearing officer concluded that although the student's mother visited the recommended placement in December 2009 and found it unacceptable, she was not permitted to visit the classroom and therefore could not "judge whether the class was suitable for her child" (id.). With respect to the composition of the proposed classroom, the impartial hearing officer determined that the district did not meet its burden to show that the "grouping" of the student with other students was appropriate (id. at pp. 11-12). The impartial hearing officer also found that the district did not show how the proposed school would meet the student's needs that were identified by the parents during the impartial hearing, including the student's distractibility, need for "very close teacher-pupil interaction on a step by step basis," and need for a quiet environment (id. at p. 12).
The impartial hearing officer found that the parents met their burden to show that the student's unilateral placement was appropriate (IHO Decision at pp. 12-13). According to the impartial hearing officer, the parents' witnesses all knew the student well and testified that the student needed the small structured environment at Mary McDowell to function successfully (id. at p. 13). With respect to the district's contention that Mary McDowell did not provide the student with the related services that she requires, the impartial hearing officer referred to testimony indicating that the student made progress without OT or counseling and that she received "push in" speech therapy at Mary McDonnell during history and science (id.). With respect to equitable considerations, the impartial hearing officer concluded that the parents "fully cooperated" with the district "in good faith at all times" and that the parents attended the February 2009 CSE meeting and visited the district's recommended placement (id.). He also concluded that since the district's recommended school was "clearly inadequate," it was "sufficient … that the parents visited the site before rejecting it" and that it would be speculative and irrelevant to determine whether the parents would have actually withdrawn the student from Mary McDowell had the district's school been appropriate (id.). Accordingly, the impartial hearing officer determined that equities weighed in the parents' favor and awarded the parents tuition reimbursement for the student's enrollment at Mary McDowell for the 2009-10 school year (id.).
The district appeals, contending that it offered the student a FAPE for the 2009-10 school year and requesting that the impartial hearing officer's decision be vacated in its entirety. In particular, the district asserts that the impartial hearing officer erred by determining that the district's August 13, 2009 placement notice was not timely because the parent could not visit the school prior to the start of the school year and was unable to visit the proposed classroom in December 2009. The district asserts that its August 13, 2009 notice was timely, did not cause a denial of a FAPE, and that the parents "have no legal right to visit a recommended placement, and, therefore, any alleged inability to do so cannot cause a deprivation of FAPE" (Pet. ¶ 46). With respect to the grouping of the student with other students and the composition of the proposed classroom, the district contends that the hearing record shows that the student fell within "the range of the academic levels of the other students in the recommended class" (id. ¶ 53). The district asserts that the student would "get along" with her peers, that a lot of the students in the proposed classroom were socially "on par" with the student, that the behavior of the students could be addressed by the special education classroom teacher, and the fact that two students in the classroom had different classifications than the student did not render the proposed classroom inappropriate (id.). In addition, the district alleges that the impartial hearing officer erred in concluding that the recommended school was inappropriate. Furthermore, to support its contention that it offered the student a FAPE for the 2009-10 school year, the district addresses, in its petition, issues that were raised in the parents' due process complaint notice that were not addressed by the impartial hearing officer.
Regarding the parents' unilateral placement of the student, the district alleges that Mary McDowell is not appropriate because it does not provide the type and amount of speech-language therapy that the student requires to receive educational benefits. The district also alleges that equitable considerations do not favor an award of tuition reimbursement to the parents. In particular, the district alleges that tuition reimbursement is precluded because the parents signed an enrollment contract with Mary McDonnell before the February 2009 CSE meeting but did not advise the CSE of the contract. The district also asserts that the parents had no legal right to visit the recommended school, that the parents did not respond to the district's August 2009 placement notice, and that the parents' December 2009 visit to the recommended school was "arguably" in preparation for the impartial hearing and not because they wished to genuinely consider that placement (id. ¶ 58).
The parents answered the district's petition, contending that the impartial hearing officer's decision should be upheld. With respect to the proposed classroom, the parents allege that the recommended classroom would not contain a suitable and functional peer group for instructional and social-emotional purposes. The parents further allege that the district failed to establish how the instruction in the recommended classroom would be differentiated to meet the student's "unique educational needs" (Answer ¶¶ 24, 33). The parents also responded to those issues asserted by the district in its petition that were not discussed by the impartial hearing officer.
A FAPE is offered to a student when (a) the board of education complies with the procedural requirements set forth in the IDEA, and (b) the IEP developed by its CSE through the IDEA's procedures is reasonably calculated to enable the student to receive educational benefits (Rowley, 458 U.S. at 206-07; Cerra v. Pawling Cent. Sch. Dist., 427 F.3d 186, 192 [2d Cir. 2005]). While school districts are required to comply with all IDEA procedures, not all procedural errors render an IEP legally inadequate under the IDEA (A.C. v. Bd. of Educ., 553 F.3d 165, 172 [2d Cir. 2009]; Grim v. Rhinebeck Cent. Sch. Dist., 346 F.3d 377, 381 [2d Cir. 2003]; Perricelli v. Carmel Cent. Sch. Dist., 2007 WL 465211, at *10 [S.D.N.Y. Feb. 9, 2007]). Under the IDEA, if a procedural violation is alleged, an administrative officer may find that a student did not receive a FAPE only if the procedural inadequacies (a) impeded the student's right to a FAPE, (b) significantly impeded the parents' opportunity to participate in the decision-making process regarding the provision of a FAPE to the student, or (c) caused a deprivation of educational benefits (20 U.S.C. § 1415[f][3][E][ii]; 34 C.F.R. § 300.513[a][2]; 8 NYCRR 200.5[j][4][ii]; A.H. v. Dep't of Educ., 2010 WL 3242234, at *2 [2d Cir. Aug. 16, 2010]; E.H. v. Bd. of Educ., 2008 WL 3930028, at *7 [N.D.N.Y. Aug. 21, 2008]; Matrejek v. Brewster Cent. Sch. Dist., 471 F. Supp. 2d 415, 419 [S.D.N.Y. 2007] aff'd, 2008 WL 3852180 [2d Cir. Aug. 19, 2008]).
The IDEA directs that, in general, an impartial hearing officer's decision must be made on substantive grounds based on a determination of whether the student received a FAPE (20 U.S.C. § 1415[f][3][E][i]). A school district offers a FAPE "by providing personalized instruction with sufficient support services to permit the child to benefit educationally from that instruction" (Rowley, 458 U.S. at 203). However, the "IDEA does not itself articulate any specific level of educational benefits that must be provided through an IEP" (Walczak v. Florida Union Free Sch. Dist., 142 F.3d 119, 130 [2d Cir. 1998]; see Rowley, 458 U.S. at 189). The statute ensures an "appropriate" education, "not one that provides everything that might be thought desirable by loving parents" (Walczak, 142 F.3d at 132, quoting Tucker v. Bay Shore Union Free Sch. Dist., 873 F.2d 563, 567 [2d Cir. 1989] [citations omitted]; see Grim, 346 F.3d at 379). Additionally, school districts are not required to "maximize" the potential of students with disabilities (Rowley, 458 U.S. at 189, 199; Grim, 346 F.3d at 379; Walczak, 142 F.3d at 132). Nonetheless, a school district must provide "an IEP that is 'likely to produce progress, not regression,' and . . . affords the student with an opportunity greater than mere 'trivial advancement'" (Cerra, 427 F.3d at 195, quoting Walczak, 142 F.3d at 130 [citations omitted]; see P. v. Newington Bd. of Educ., 546 F.3d 111, 118-19 [2d Cir. 2008]; Perricelli, 2007 WL 465211, at *15). The IEP must be "reasonably calculated to provide some 'meaningful' benefit" (Mrs. B. v. Milford Bd. of Educ., 103 F.3d 1114, 1120 [2d Cir. 1997]; see Rowley, 458 U.S. at 192). The student's recommended program must also be provided in the least restrictive environment (LRE) (20 U.S.C. § 1412[a][5][A]; 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.114[a][2][i], 300.116[a][2]; 8 NYCRR 200.1[cc], 200.6[a][1]; see Newington, 546 F.3d at 114; Gagliardo v. Arlington Cent. Sch. Dist., 489 F.3d 105, 108 [2d Cir. 2007]; Walczak, 142 F.3d at 132; E.G. v. City Sch. Dist. of New Rochelle, 606 F. Supp. 2d 384, 388 [S.D.N.Y. 2009]; Patskin v. Bd. of Educ., 583 F. Supp. 2d 422, 428 [W.D.N.Y. 2008]).
A board of education may be required to reimburse parents for their expenditures for private educational services obtained for a student by his or her parents, if the services offered by the board of education were inadequate or inappropriate, the services selected by the parents were appropriate, and equitable considerations support the parents' claim (Florence County Sch. Dist. Four v. Carter, 510 U.S. 7 [1993]; Sch. Comm. of Burlington v. Dep't of Educ., 471 U.S. 359, 369-70 [1985]). In Burlington, the Court found that Congress intended retroactive reimbursement to parents by school officials as an available remedy in a proper case under the IDEA (471 U.S. at 370-71; Gagliardo, 489 F.3d at 111; Cerra, 427 F.3d at 192). "Reimbursement merely requires [a district] to belatedly pay expenses that it should have paid all along and would have borne in the first instance" had it offered the student a FAPE (Burlington, 471 U.S. at 370-71; see 20 U.S.C. § 1412[a][10][C][ii]; 34 C.F.R. § 300.148). The burden of proof is on the school district during an impartial hearing, except that a parent seeking tuition reimbursement for a unilateral placement has the burden of proof regarding the appropriateness of such placement (Educ. Law § 4404[1][c]; see M.P.G. v. New York City Dep't of Educ., 2010 WL 3398256, at *7 [S.D.N.Y. Aug. 27, 2010]).
I will now turn to the merits of the appeal. I will first address the district's contention that the impartial hearing officer erred in finding that the district did not timely notify the parents of the specific location of the student's proposed program. The IDEA requires a district to have an IEP in effect for each student with a disability at the beginning of each school year (20 U.S.C. § 1414[d][2][a]; 34 C.F.R. § 300.323[a]; 8 NYCRR 200.4[e][1][ii]). A district's delay in recommending a placement "does not violate the IDEA so long as [the district] still has time to find an appropriate placement for the beginning of the school year in September" (M.P.G., 2010 WL 3398256, at *9-*10; Tarlowe, 2008 WL 2736027, at *6, quoting Bettinger v. New York City Bd. of Educ., 2007 WL 4208560, at *8 n.26 [S.D.N.Y. Nov. 20, 2007]; see Application of the Dep't of Educ., Appeal No. 09-001 [district failed to offer a FAPE where it failed to make any formal placement offer for the student]; Application of a Student with a Disability, Appeal No. 08-088 [district failed to offer a FAPE where its notice of placement did not offer the recommended placement at a school where the student's IEP could be implemented at the beginning of the school year]).
In this case, there is no dispute that the February 2009 CSE met to develop an IEP for the student for the 10-month school year beginning in September 2009 (see Parent Ex. B at p. 2). The district's August 13, 2009 notice offering a public school placement provided the parents with sufficient notice to visit the proposed school and to enroll the student prior to the first day of classes in the 2009-10 school year, which commenced "shortly after" Labor Day in September 2009 (Tr. pp. 265-66; Parent Ex. B at p. 2). Additionally, there is no evidence in the hearing record that the receipt of the August 13, 2009 notice impeded the student's right to a FAPE, significantly impeded the parents' meaningful participation in the CSE process, or caused a deprivation of educational benefits (20 U.S.C. § 1415[f][3][E][ii]; 34 C.F.R. § 300.513[a][2]; 8 NYCRR 200.5[j][4][ii]; see M.P.G., 2010 WL 3398256, at *9-*10; Tarlowe, 2008 WL 2736027, at *6). Therefore, the impartial hearing officer erred in determining that the district's August 13, 2009 notice was not timely (see M.P.G., 2010 WL 3398256, at *9-*10; Tarlowe, 2008 WL 2736027, at *6).
I also agree with the district that the impartial hearing officer erred when he concluded that the district had an obligation to provide the parents with an opportunity to visit the recommended school and classroom. In general, the IDEA requires parental participation in determining the educational placement of a student (see 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.116, 300.327, 300.501[c]).[3] However, the assignment of a particular school may be an administrative decision, provided that it is made in conformance with the CSE's educational placement recommendation (Letter to Veasey, 37 IDELR 10 [OSEP 2001]). The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Educational Programs (OPSEP) has opined that the IDEA does not provide a general entitlement to parents of students with disabilities to observe their children in any current classroom or proposed educational placement (Letter to Mamas, 42 IDELR 10 [OSEP 2004]; see Application of a Student with a Disability, Appeal No. 09-082; Application of the Dep't of Educ., Appeal No. 08-097; Application of a Child with a Disability, Appeal No. 07-049; Application of a Child with a Disability, Appeal No. 07-013).
It is undisputed that the parents did not have the opportunity to visit the district's recommended school before the beginning of the school year in September 2009 and that the student's mother was not permitted to visit the proposed classroom when she visited the district's school in December 2009 (Tr. pp. 266, 272-73). In this case, the parents make no claim that the student's special education and related services needs could only be met in a particular classroom or school. Moreover, a review of the hearing record reveals no evidence to support a claim that the student's special education and related services needs could only be met in a particular classroom or school. Upon review, I find that as a result of the February 2009 CSE meeting, the district offered the student services along the continuum of services, in particular a 12:1+1 special class with an FM unit, OT, counseling, and speech-language therapy (see 8 NYCRR 200.4[d][2][v], 200.6[e], [h]). The hearing record also demonstrates that the parents had an opportunity to participate in the development of the February 2009 IEP. The student's father testified that the parents were "open" to the recommendation of a 12:1+1 program and that he understood that "it was one of the better recommendations" for the student (Tr. pp. 238-39, 247, 249). Moreover, the parents did not voice any objections at the February 2009 CSE meeting regarding the 12:1+1 program (Tr. pp. 239, 250). Further, while the parents testified that they forwarded a copy of the February 2009 IEP to their attorney, the hearing record reflects that their attorney did not submit any concerns about the IEP prior to his August 24, 2009 letter. Based on the above, I find that the lack of an opportunity for the parents to visit the proposed school prior to the start of the 2009-10 school year and their inability to visit the proposed classroom did not (1) impede the student's right to a FAPE, (2) significantly impede the parent's opportunity to participate in the decision-making process regarding the provision of a FAPE to the student, or (3) cause a deprivation of educational benefits (20 U.S.C. § 1415[f][3][E][ii]; 34 C.F.R. § 300.513[a][2]; 8 NYCRR 200.5[j][4][ii]). Thus, the impartial hearing officer erred in determining that the parent's inability to observe the particular classroom identified in the district's August 13, 2009 letter rose to the level of a denial of a FAPE (Application of the Dep't of Educ., Appeal No. 08-097).
Next, I will address the parties' dispute about whether the student would have been appropriately grouped for instructional purposes in the proposed classroom. State regulations require that in special classes, students must be suitably grouped for instructional purposes with other students having similar individual needs (8 NYCRR 200.1[ww][3][i], 200.6[a][3], [h][3]; see Walczak, 142 F.3d at 133 [approving an IEP that placed a student in a classroom with students of different intellectual, social, and behavioral needs, where sufficient similarities existed]; Application of a Student with a Disability, Appeal No. 09-082; Application of the Dep't of Educ., Appeal No. 08-095; Application of the Dep't of Educ., Appeal No. 08-018; Application of a Child with a Disability, Appeal No. 07-068; Application of a Child with a Disability, Appeal No. 05-102). State regulations further provide that determinations regarding the size and composition of a special class shall be based on the similarity of the individual needs of the students according to: levels of academic or educational achievement and learning characteristics; levels of social development; levels of physical development; and the management needs of the students in the classroom (8 NYCRR 200.6[h][2]; see 8 NYCRR 200.1[ww][3][i][a] – [d]). The social and physical levels of development of the individual students shall be considered to ensure beneficial growth to each student, although neither should be a sole basis for determining placement (8 NYCRR 200.6[a][3][ii], [iii]). Further, the management needs of students may vary and the modifications, adaptations and other resources are to be provided to students so that they do not detract from the opportunities of the other students in the class (8 NYCRR 200.6[a][3][iv]). The similarity of abilities and needs may be demonstrated through the use of a proposed class profile or by the testimony of a witness who is familiar with the children in the proposed class (Application of the Dep't of Educ., Appeal No. 08-095; Application of the Dep't of Educ., Appeal No. 08-018; Application of a Child with a Disability, Appeal No. 07-068). State regulations also require that a "district operating a special class wherein the range of achievement levels in reading and mathematics exceeds three years shall, . . . , provide the [CSE] and the parents and teacher of students in such class a description of the range of achievement in reading and mathematics, . . . , in the class, by November 1st of each year" (8 NYCRR 200.6[g][7]). However, the regulations do not preclude a grouping of students in a classroom when the range of achievement levels in reading and math would exceed three years (see Application of the Dep't of Educ., Appeal No. 08-018; Application of the Bd. Of Educ., Appeal No. 06-010; Application of a Child with a Disability, Appeal No. 01-073).
Upon careful review, I find that the hearing record shows that the student would have been suitably grouped for instructional purposes in the district's proposed 12:1+1 classroom. According to the hearing record, the student's recommended eighth grade 12:1+1 classroom would have been comprised of ten students; eight students were classified as learning disabled, one student was classified as other health impaired, and one student was classified as emotionally disturbed (Tr. pp. 85, 87-88). The classroom teacher has a master's degree in special education, was certified to teach special education, and had been teaching at the recommended school for the past four years (Tr. pp. 54-55). The classroom included one paraprofessional assigned to the classroom and an additional health paraprofessional who was assigned to a specific student (Tr. p. 88). The classroom paraprofessional has a master's degree in economics and five years experience working in the school (Tr. pp. 58-59). The additional paraprofessional has a bachelor's degree in education and 10-11 years experience (Tr. p. 59). The hearing record reflects that the role of the paraprofessionals is to provide academic assistance or social-emotional support to the students and is further defined by the teacher and what is necessary in the classroom on a given day (Tr. p. 60). The paraprofessionals assisted in small groups, with individual students, and also moved around the room as needed (id.).
The special needs coordinator at the district's recommended school testified that the academic functional levels in the recommended classroom ranged from third to seventh grade (Tr. pp. 63, 65, 91-93). She indicated that differentiation strategies were utilized in the recommended program because "[o]ne size doesn't always fit all" (Tr. p. 66). The special needs coordinator indicated that instruction is differentiated by content, by product, and by process and that a student may require one or all of these types of differentiation of instruction (id.). The special needs coordinator further testified that she meets weekly with her teachers, the math coach, and the assistant principal to discuss students, to look at students' work, and to see what can be done to move them closer toward grade level (Tr. p. 67). Teachers also craft classroom activities and homework assignments based on where the students are in terms of interest and level in order to meet the students at their level and move them up (id.). The hearing record further indicated that the student would be provided with graphic organizers as well as other visual aids in the proposed classroom and that the students in the proposed classroom participate in pre-writing activities, such as brainstorming (Tr. p. 32).
Testimony by the special needs coordinator also indicated that the student's IEP was similar to that of some of the other students in the recommended class (Tr. pp. 83-84). She further indicated that the proposed school could provide the services set forth on the student's IEP, including speech-language therapy, OT, counseling, and an FM unit (id.). Additionally, she testified that the school is familiar with FM units, as the school has students who use FM units (Tr. p. 83). The hearing record also reflects that the academic functional levels reflected in the student's February 24, 2009 IEP, which were provided by the student's then-current teacher at Mary McDowell, indicated that the student's academic functioning ranged from the fourth grade level to the mid sixth grade level (Tr. p. 27; Parent Ex. B at p. 3). Testimony by the special needs coordinator indicated that the student's functional level would fall in the middle of the range of functioning of the recommended classroom in decoding, reading comprehension, writing, computation, problem solving, and spelling (Tr. pp. 63, 64, 65, 67, 69). She further stated that like the student, problem solving is an area wherein many of the students in the recommended classroom need a lot of remediation (Tr. p. 68). The special needs coordinator also testified that the student's need for multisensory reading instruction would have been addressed in the recommended classroom using the Wilson reading program as well as by using graphic organizers and manipulatives (Tr. p. 71).
With regard to social/emotional functioning, the hearing record reflects that the student's teacher reported that the student had been having a "great" year socially; had made some new friends; was respectful toward adults; was compliant with school rules; and had been involved in extra curricular activities including sports, music lessons, and dance (Tr. p. 29; Parent Ex. B at p. 4). The special needs coordinator testified that socially, the student "would definitely [get] along with her peers" and that many of the students in the recommended classroom were "on par" with the student (Tr. p. 70). The special needs coordinator further explained that the student's February 2009 IEP reflected that the student's behavior did not seriously interfere with instruction and could be addressed by the special education classroom teacher, which was similar to the social/emotional needs of the students in the proposed classroom (id.; see Parent Ex. B at p. 4).
Based on the foregoing, I find that the student would have been suitably grouped for instructional purposes in the proposed eighth grade classroom at the district's recommended school.
Lastly, I will turn to the district's contention that the impartial hearing officer erred in concluding that the district did not meet its burden to show that the recommended school was appropriate (IHO Decision at p. 12). With regard to the student's need for a non-disruptive academic environment, the special needs coordinator testified that the behaviors that occur in the recommended classroom included calling out of turn, getting up without asking, and walking out of the room without permission (Tr. p. 96). She further testified that she did not have "anyone throwing desks or chairs" and that she did not believe that if someone left the room it would prevent the student from getting an appropriate education (Tr. p. 97). The special needs coordinator also testified that the additional adult support in the recommended classroom is available to address or redirect a student who, for example, may have left the classroom without permission in order to go to the bathroom (see id.). In addition, the district regular education teacher who participated in the February 2009 CSE meeting testified that the student "qualified to receive her own personal FM unit that would…screen out the extraneous noise and help her focus better" (Tr. p. 29). The hearing record therefore reflects that the student's distractibility and her need for close teacher-pupil interaction would have been appropriately addressed in the district's recommended 12:1 +1 classroom, which included a special education teacher and a paraprofessional. With respect to the parents' contention that the recommended school was not an appropriate setting because the school was within a building that contained multiple schools, the hearing record indicates that the student's academic classes were on the second and fourth floor and the other school was located on the first floor (Tr. pp. 57-58, 86). I find that the hearing record does not support the parents' claim that the setting and/or location of the school building would preclude the recommended school from providing the student with a FAPE. Accordingly, I find that the impartial hearing officer erred in concluding that the district did not demonstrate how its proposed school would meet the student's needs.
In conclusion, upon review and due consideration of the entire hearing record in this matter and for the reasons set forth above, I find that the impartial hearing officer erred in determining that the district did not offer the student a FAPE for the 2009-10 school year. Having reached this determination, it is not necessary to reach the issue of whether Mary McDowell is an appropriate placement for the student and the necessary inquiry is at an end (see M.C. v. Voluntown, 226 F.3d 60, 66 [2d Cir. 2000]; Walczak, 142 F.3d at 134; Application of a Student with Disability, Appeal No. 08-158; Application of a Child with a Disability, Appeal No. 05-038).
I have considered the parties' remaining contentions and find that I need not address them in light of my determinations.
IT IS ORDERED, that the impartial hearing officer's decision dated August 16, 2010 is annulled in its entirety.
Robert G. Bentley
[1] "Collaborative team teaching," also referred to in State regulation as "integrated co-teaching services," means "the provision of specially designed instruction and academic instruction provided to a group of students with disabilities and nondisabled students" (8 NYCRR 200.6[g]).
[2] Presumably, the parents' attorney was not aware of the district's August 13, 2009 letter in light of the fact that the parents were away on vacation until September 2009 (Tr. pp. 250-51, 270, 280-81).
[3] The Second Circuit has established that "'educational placement' refers to the general educational program – such as the classes, individualized attention and additional services a child will receive – rather than the 'bricks and mortar' of the specific school" (T.Y. v. New York City Dep't of Educ., 584 F.3d 412, 419-20, cert. denied, 130 S. Ct. 3277 [2010]; see K.L.A. v. Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, 2010 WL 1193082, at *2 [2d Cir. March 30, 2010]; Concerned Parents & Citizens for the Continuing Educ. at Malcolm X Pub. Sch. 79 v. New York City Bd. of Educ., 629 F.2d 751, 756 [2d Cir. 1980]). While statutory and regulatory provisions require an IEP to include the "location" of the recommended special education services (20 U.S.C. § 1414[d][1][A][i][VII], 34 C.F.R. § 320[a][7], 8 NYCRR 200.4[d][2][v][b][7]), it does not follow that an IEP must identify a specific school site (T.Y., 584 F.3d at 419-20).
Implementation/Assigned School›Building/Classroom Size
Implementation/Assigned School›Deviation from IEP/Failure to Implement IEP Services
Implementation/Assigned School›Timeliness of School Assignment/FNR
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Paisley to quit as first minister and DUP leader
· Party founder announces he will step down in May
· Finance minister Peter Robinson likely successor
Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
Tue 4 Mar 2008 20.07 EST
Ian Paisley announced last night that he is to retire as Northern Ireland's first minister, bringing to a close a 40-year political career. He confirmed he is also stepping down as leader of the Democratic Unionist party, which he founded in the 1970s.
Paisley, 81, will quit both posts after an international investment conference in Belfast in May, but he will remain as an MP and assembly member.
"I came to this decision a few weeks ago when I was thinking about the conference and what was going to come after," he told Ulster Television.
"I thought that it is a marker, a very big marker and it would be a very appropriate time for me to bow out."
He denied he was leaving in part over allegations that his son Ian Jr had lobbied Downing Street on behalf of a wealthy party member. He said his son had been "wrongly accused".
He was weakened by a defeat in a recent byelection - an indication that part of the DUP's electorate was uneasy about his historic decision to share power with Sinn Féin.
Significantly, he did not back any contender in the DUP leadership contest to succeed him. "This is not the church of Rome, I have no right to say who will succeed me," he said. "I will not be like [Vladimir] Putin in Russia saying to the president, 'This is the way you have to go'. When I make a break it will be [a] break."
Of his decision to enter into government with Sinn Féin, he said: "It was the right thing to do, because it was the only thing to do to save us from a United Ireland. We were threatened that we would be more Irish in our rulership, that there would be more Dublin say in government. That was what the British government threatened. We managed to put that to a rest and republicans have come to see that they have to put up with Paisley and his clan. We took what was meant for our destruction and turned it into our salvation."
Speaking from Dubai last night, the deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, a Sinn Féin MP, described Paisley as "courageous" for agreeing to enter into the power-sharing government. "We have had a positive and constructive working relationship."
The prime minister, Gordon Brown, said: "Ian Paisley has made a huge contribution to political life in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. The whole country values and admires the manner in which he has led as first minister.
"Progress on bringing a lasting peace to Northern Ireland would not have been possible without his immense courage and leadership."
Paisley's fiercest critic currently within unionism, the former DUP MEP Jim Allister, claimed that opposition to his power sharing with Sinn Féin and his relationship with McGuinness had meant that Paisley "jumped before he was pushed". Allister's new party, Traditional Unionist Voice, split the DUP vote in a byelection last month and cost the party a council seat in Co Down. It was Paisley's first electoral test since he agreed to share power with Sinn Féin after the St Andrews peace agreement at the end of 2006.
The Northern Ireland finance minister, Peter Robinson, is guaranteed to become first minister and is currently frontrunner to take over the leadership of the DUP.
However, the traditionalist wing of the party may be in favour of the North Belfast MP, Nigel Dodds, in the forthcoming contest for the party leadership.
In his own words: Paisley on ...
"They breed like rabbits and multiply like vermin".
· At a loyalist rally in 1968
"Catholic homes caught fire because they were loaded with petrol bombs; Catholic churches were attacked and burned because they were arsenals and priests handed out sub-machine guns".
· Following attacks on Catholic homes
"This Romish man of sin is now in hell!"
· On the death of Pope John XXIII
"I denounce you, Antichrist! I refuse you as Christ's enemy with all your false doctrine"
· To Pope John Paul II at the European parliament in 1988
Line-dancing
"Line dancing is as sinful as any other type of dancing, with its sexual gestures and touching. It is an incitement to lust."
"I will never sit down with Gerry Adams ... he'd sit with anyone. He'd sit down with the devil. In fact, Adams does sit down with the devil".
· In 1997
Power sharing
"Today we salute Ulster's honoured and unaging dead - that gallant band, members of both religions, Protestant and Roman Catholic, strong in their allegiance to their differing political beliefs, Unionist and Nationalist, male and female, children and adults, all innocent victims of the terrible conflict."
· On the eve of being sworn in as first minister
"I believe Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule. How good it will be to be part of a wonderful healing in our Province".
· On his inauguration as first minister
Democratic Unionist party (DUP)
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Russian Film 'Leviathan' Competes for Cannes Palme d'Or Award
Director Andrei Zvyagintsev's 'Leviathan' competes for Cannes Palme d'Or Award.
The 67th Cannes International Film Festival opens in southern France on Wednesday, with Russia's "Leviathan" one of 18 films competing for the gala's top honor.
"Leviathan" — a film four years in the making — was shot in a small town in the northern Murmansk region and details the struggles of one man against the corrupt local mayor. It will compete against 17 other films in the prestigious Palme d'Or competition, with the winner to be announced at the festival's closing ceremony on May 25.
Director Andrei Zvyagintsev says the film, which premieres in Cannes, will resonate with audiences all over the world.
"It's about the nature of man, his earthly destiny, about the issues that have troubled us all for a long time: betrayal, love, lust for power, forgiveness, revenge," Zvyagintsev was quoted as saying by news agency Itar-Tass.
Only two Russian films have been awarded the festival's top gong in the competition's history, with Fridrikh Ermler's "The Turning Point" and Mikhail Kalatozov's film "The Cranes Are Flying" taking home the honor in 1946 and 1955.
Other Russian films to have won awards at the festival include Andrei Tarkovsky's film "Solaris" and Nikita Mikhailov's film "Burnt By The Sun," both of which picked up the Grand Prix award in 1946 and 1958, respectively.
In 2011, Zvyagtinsev's film "Yelena" was awarded the Un Certain Regard award for most original picture.
'Geograf' Picks Up Top Russian Film Award
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Home / Knowledge / Building Regulations update 2015 : New Approved Documents for England - Part E, G, H, M1, M2 and Q
Building Regulations update 2015 : New Approved Documents for England - Part E, G, H, M1, M2 and Q
20 August 2015 | by Anthony Lymath
The latest round of updates to the Building Regulations (England) come into force on 1 October 2015. As well as raising performance requirements in a number of areas, this update is unique in that, for the first time, the Building Regulations in England will differ for three key reasons:
Some regulations will have ‘optional’ levels of performance
The performance requirements of some regulations will vary from region to region
Some performance requirements will be dictated by the Local Planning Authority.
The principle of regional differences looks set to be broadened as further amendments in 2016 will continue to roll out the concept in other Parts of the Building Regulations. In addition, the long-anticipated new Part Q, dealing with domestic security, also comes into force.
Here we take a look at some of the key changes within each of the Approved Documents in turn:
Approved Document G – Sanitation, hot water safety and water efficiency
Part G of the Building Regulations is one of the parts that now contains ‘optional’ levels of performance. Section G2, paragraph 2, now sets two levels of performance for water consumption – either 125 litres per person per day (the ‘baseline’ standard) or an ‘enhanced’ standard of 110 litres per person per day. The requirement for this reduced level of consumption will be set by the Local Planning Authority and be implemented as a condition to the granting of planning permission. For this to be required, however, the LPA will first have to enshrine the requirement in the form of a new policy in their Local Plan. Until this is carried out, the ‘baseline’ 125 litres per person per day will apply.
There is also now an alternative ‘fittings’ approach offered, whereby the consumption of each appliance (WC, bath, sink, dishwasher etc.) must not exceed a specific value. For WCs, the maximum consumption is 6 litres (4 litres for dual flush), whereas a dishwasher must be limited to 1.25 litres per place setting, and a washing machine to 8.17 litres per kilogram load.
Also included, in Table 1 of Appendix A, is the water efficiency calculator that used to be in the Code for Sustainable Homes, and has been incorporated as a result of the withdrawal of the Code. References to the Code have also been deleted. The calculator can be used to demonstrate compliance with the maximum daily water consumption figures of either 125 or 110 litres per person per day, if the ‘fittings’ approach has not been used.
Finally, the Annex which listed the various ‘Competent Person’ self-certification schemes has also now been deleted. As the guidance on page 9 of Approved Document G now notes, “these schemes may change name, or new schemes may be authorized; so the current list on the website should always be consulted”.
Approved Document H – Drainage and waste disposal
The increase in number of ‘wheelie’ bins across the country has been seen to result in an issue of ‘nuisance’ by virtue of their perceived unsightliness and obstruction to safe passage on footpaths, particularly where storage areas are deemed inadequate or insufficiently well screened from view. In response to this, the guidance in section H6 has been amended to place greater emphasis on the provision of suitable solid waste storage facilities. The performance paragraph point a. at the start of the guidance to H6 (which states that solid waste storage should be ‘designed and sited so as not to be prejudicial’) is now extended to include ‘local amenity’ i.e. public areas.
In addition, paragraph 0.3 has now been re-written to omit the exclusion of waste recycling, and to include the ‘erection or extension of a building and all material changes of use’ within the scope. Also, the ‘Design’ section now has additional guidance, with more weight being given to the enclosure of bin storage in publicly-accessible areas. The final paragraphs of H6 have also been updated, to reflect the revised version of BS 5906:2005, the scope of which now includes recycling.
The final amendment of Approved Document H is a consequential revision to the reference to Part M of the Building Regulations in section H3, which has been updated to reflect the revision of this regulation also.
Approved Document M – Access to and use of buildings
In common with other parts of the Buildings Regulations, Approved Document M has now been split into two volumes, distinguished as:
Volume 1: Dwellings
Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellings.
To reflect this change, sections M1, M2 and M3 have now been retained in Volume 2 only, and sections M6 to M10 inclusive have been deleted. Section M4 has been replaced by Volume 1, requirements M4(1), M4(2) and M4(3). These are categorized as:
M4(1) Category 1: Visitable dwellings
M4(2) Category 2: Accessible and adaptable dwellings
M4(2) Category 3: Wheelchair user dwellings.
As might be inferred, M4(1) now sets a ‘baseline’ standard and is intended to make adequate provision for access to and use of dwellings on a periodic basis. In contrast, M4(2) and M4(3) set successively more onerous requirements for more frequent at higher levels of accessibility. In common with Part G, these latter two are ‘optional’ requirements that can be set by the Local Planning Authority as a condition of planning permission. This will only be possible once the Local Authority in question has written such policy into their Local Plan, and is likely to take the form of a requirement for a certain percentage of dwellings in a new multi-house development to meet one of the higher levels of performance. Smaller developments may be exempt, but this will be at the discretion of each Local Authority when they set their policy.
To put these new categories in context, Category 1 reflects the standard of the previous version of Part M of the Building Regulations, while Category 2 is approximately the equivalent of the Lifetime Homes standard. Categories 2 and 3 require more circulation space around beds and in corridors and kitchens for example, as well as in bathrooms. More significantly, space provision for wheelchair/ mobility scooter storage and charging is required, as is space for the potential installation of a through-floor lift in two-storey dwellings. Minimum space standards are also set, in respect of living/ dining/ kitchen areas per number of bed spaces. These will need to be read in conjunction with the Nationally Described Space Standards , where applicable.
Approved Document Q – Security – Dwellings
2015 has also seen the publication of a new Approved Document, Q – Security: Dwellings. This now enshrines the requirement for the provision of appropriate security protection of external doors and windows in domestic dwellings. Doorsets and windows that have been manufactured to PAS 24:2012 are noted to be acceptable to meet the requirements of Part Q, as are other standards, including the following:
STS 201 issue 5:2013 (doorsets only)
STS 204 issue 3:2012
LPS 1175 issue 7:2010 security rating 2 (doorsets) or security rating 1 (windows)
STS 2012 issue 3:2011 burglary rating 2
LPS 2081 issue 1:2015 security rating B (doorsets) or security rating A (windows).
Paragraph 1.2 notes that further guidance is available in ‘New Homes 2014’ by Secured by Design; while Paragraph 1.6 requires a resilient layer to be incorporated in lightweight partitions that include a door for which Part Q applies.
The levels of performance required by Parts G and M of the Building Regulations are now going to be dependent on conditions to the granting of planning permission, which for the first time will result in regional differences in performance across England. The reasoning behind this departure is to address climatic differences across the country, where the risk of drought is generally higher in the south and east than in the north and west. This trend looks set to continue with Part L likely to include regional variation to thermal insulation standards in future revisions, reflecting the temperature and exposure differences across the country.
With regard to Part M in particular, there is likely to be a significant impact on housebuilding, as any condition requiring a percentage of a new residential development to comply with part M(2) or M(3) will certainly increase dwelling size, with a resultant decrease in density (and hence profit) on any given new housing site.
However, for these enhanced performance requirements to be set, Local Authorities will first have to incorporate relevant policies in their Local Plans. This process in itself can take upwards of a year, and will be subject to funding and prioritization by each Local Authority. At the time of writing this article in mid-2015, not all Local Authorities have implemented policies in line with the National Planning Policy Framework which was published in March 2012, so the real impacts may not be felt for some time to come, and in the meantime, in respect of Parts G and M, it may well be simply a case of ‘business as usual’.
Approved Document G (View the document on NBS Building Regulations)
Approved Document H (View the document on NBS Building Regulations)
Approved Document M1 (View the document on NBS Building Regulations)
Approved Document Q (View the document on NBS Building Regulations)
Lifetime Homes
Nationally Described Space Standards
Anthony Lymath
Award-winning architect and a former Technical Author for NBS.
12 Days of Digital Construction
This Christmas, after such a transformational, innovative and challenging year we’re bringing you the 12 things we’ve learned about digital construction.
BIM (Building Information Modelling) Construction Products Design and Specification Health and Safety Standards and Regulations Sustainability Contracts and Law
The Construction Leaders' Summit: six key takeaways
22 October 2020 | by NBS
Over 2000 construction professionals from across the industry registered for our first-ever two-day digital conference, 'The Construction Leaders' Summit: The Digital Future'. The summit aimed to bring together government and industry experts to discuss the political, legal and technological drivers for change as well as the impact of the pandemic. The event gained an incredible reaction and response over two days. Here are our key takeaways.
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Complete Collection of ‘The Aquarian Theosophist’
Our Associated Websites
E-Theosophy E-Group
‘The Aquarian’ on Facebook
The Story of ‘The Aquarian’
Monthly Journal Started to
Circulate in November 2000
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
“The Aquarian Theosophist” was founded by Jerome Wheeler. The first edition circulated from Los Angeles in November 2000. Its opening paragraph stated a purpose of enduring validity:
“Since the present is shorn of its causal basis when dissociated from the past, just as the future is an unknown quantity when dissociated from the present, we must view The Theosophical Movement through its many theosophical and occult societies, their publications and tendencies. And, since mere facts have but a commodity value at best, our study will treat of their significance and bearing in the light of Theosophical history and philosophy.”
In 2000, the founding-editor of “The Aquarian” was already an experienced student of H.P. Blavatsky.
Born in Texas City on August 8th, 1934, Jerome Wheeler had been deeply inspired in his studies by the writings and the life-example of John Garrigues - who in 1909 was one of the founders of the United Lodge of Theosophists.
Jerome edited “The Aquarian” for more than five years. Will Windham - a theosophist living in London, UK - took over as its editor in July 2006 and published the magazine for a similar period of time. In February 2012, the Aquarian announced it would start being published by the editors of www.TheosophyOnline.com and its associated websites.
“The Aquarian” is committed to the original teachings of modern theosophy. Its goals include making an examination of the struggle between truth and falsehood in the soul of the esoteric movement. The journal also accompanies key world events through its page on Facebook.
In October 2013 the “Aquarian” published the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”.[1] A second book appeared in Portuguese language. It is a translation of “Light on the Path” (“Luz no Caminho”), by M.C., with a 2014 prologue and explanatory footnotes. This critical edition shows the mistakes of M.C. according to the viewpoint stated in writing by Helena Blavatsky.
On 14 September 2016, the editors of “The Aquarian” participated in the founding of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists. The Lodge and the “Aquarian” aim at helping the long-term effort for the future of mankind. Ethics is a top priority for them. Their work adopts as main references the Letters from the Mahatmas and the writings of H. P. Blavatsky.
[1] See in our websites the article “The Making of ‘The Fire and Light’”, by The Editors of the Aquarian.
The link to “The Aquarian” blog is www.TheAquarianTheosophist.com. Its complete collection is available at our associated websites. Readers can write to the editors through the e-mail indelodge@gmail.com.
A few texts signed by Jerome Wheeler can be found in our associated websites. Among them, “The New Paradigm”; “The Challenge of the Skandhas”; “The H.P.B. Defense Fund - 2005”; “The H.P.B. Defense Fund - 2006”; “The Resurgence of Pseudo-Theosophy”. One text by Jerome has been translated into Portuguese. It’s entitled “O Novo Paradigma”.
An initial version of the above article was published in the June 2013 edition of “The Aquarian”.
On the task of the esoteric movement during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
Published in 2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist, the volume has 255 pages and can be obtained through Amazon Books.
RESEARCH IN THIS BLOG:
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More in This Series More From Is Democracy Dying?
The Atlantic Democracy Reader
Annika Neklason
Radio Atlantic: Is Democracy Dying?
Kevin Townsend
UN Secretary-General: American Power Is in Decline, the World Is ‘in Pieces’
Uri Friedman
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Call to Save America
A Warning From Europe: The Worst Is Yet to Come
Polarization. Conspiracy theories. Attacks on the free press. An obsession with loyalty. Recent events in the United States follow a pattern Europeans know all too well.
Illustration: Mike McQuade; Janek Skarzynski / AFP / Getty; Kacper Pempel / Reuters
Story by Anne Applebaum
Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series that attempts to answer the question: Is democracy dying?
On December 31, 1999, we threw a party. It was the end of one millennium and the start of a new one; people very much wanted to celebrate, preferably somewhere exotic. Our party fulfilled that criterion. We held it at Chobielin, the manor house in northwest Poland that my husband and his parents had purchased a decade earlier, when it was a mildewed ruin. We had restored the house, very slowly. It was not exactly finished in 1999, but it did have a new roof. It also had a large, freshly painted, and completely unfurnished salon—perfect for a party.
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The guests were various: journalist friends from London and Berlin, a few diplomats based in Warsaw, two friends who flew in from New York. But most of them were Poles, friends of ours and colleagues of my husband, who was then a deputy foreign minister in the Polish government. A handful of youngish Polish journalists came too—none then particularly famous—along with a few civil servants and one or two members of the government.
You could have lumped the majority of them, roughly, in the general category of what Poles call the right—the conservatives, the anti-Communists. But at that moment in history, you might also have called most of my guests liberals—free-market liberals, or classical liberals—or maybe Thatcherites. Even those who might have been less definite about economics certainly believed in democracy, in the rule of law, and in a Poland that was a member of nato and on its way to joining the European Union—an integrated part of modern Europe. In the 1990s, that was what being “on the right” meant.
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As parties go, it was a little scrappy. There was no such thing as catering in rural Poland in the 1990s, so my mother-in-law and I made vats of beef stew and roasted beets. There were no hotels, either, so our 100-odd guests stayed in local farmhouses or with friends in the nearby town. I kept a list of who was staying where, but nevertheless, a couple of people wound up sleeping on a sofa in our basement. The music—mixtapes, made in an era before Spotify—created the only serious cultural divide of the evening: The songs that my American friends remembered from college were not the same as the songs that the Poles remembered from college, so it was hard to get everybody to dance at the same time. At one point I went upstairs, learned that Boris Yeltsin had resigned, wrote a brief column for a British newspaper, then went back downstairs and had another glass of wine. At about three in the morning, one of the wackier Polish guests pulled a small pistol out of her handbag and shot blanks into the air out of sheer exuberance.
It was that kind of party. It lasted all night, continued into “brunch” the following afternoon, and was infused with the optimism I remember from that time. We had rebuilt our house. Our friends were rebuilding the country. I have a particularly clear memory of a walk in the snow—maybe it was the day before the party, maybe the day after—with a bilingual group, everybody chattering at once, English and Polish mingling and echoing through the birch forest. At that moment, when Poland was on the cusp of joining the West, it felt as if we were all on the same team. We agreed about democracy, about the road to prosperity, about the way things were going.
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That moment has passed. Nearly two decades later, I would now cross the street to avoid some of the people who were at my New Year’s Eve party. They, in turn, would not only refuse to enter my house, they would be embarrassed to admit they had ever been there. In fact, about half the people who were at that party would no longer speak to the other half. The estrangements are political, not personal. Poland is now one of the most polarized societies in Europe, and we have found ourselves on opposite sides of a profound divide, one that runs through not only what used to be the Polish right but also the old Hungarian right, the Italian right, and, with some differences, the British right and the American right, too.
Given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy. Indeed, if history is anything to go by, all societies eventually will.
Some of my New Year’s Eve guests continued, as my husband and I did, to support the pro-European, pro-rule-of-law, pro-market center-right—remaining in political parties that aligned, more or less, with European Christian Democrats, with the liberal parties of Germany and the Netherlands, and with the Republican Party of John McCain. Some now consider themselves center-left. But others wound up in a different place, supporting a nativist party called Law and Justice—a party that has moved dramatically away from the positions it held when it first briefly ran the government, from 2005 to 2007, and when it occupied the presidency (not the same thing in Poland), from 2005 to 2010.
Since then, Law and Justice has embraced a new set of ideas, not just xenophobic and deeply suspicious of the rest of Europe but also openly authoritarian. After the party won a slim parliamentary majority in 2015, its leaders violated the constitution by appointing new judges to the constitutional court. Later, it used a similarly unconstitutional playbook to attempt to pack the Polish Supreme Court. It took over the state public broadcaster, Telewizja Polska; fired popular presenters; and began running unabashed propaganda, sprinkled with easily disprovable lies, at taxpayers’ expense. The government earned international notoriety when it adopted a law curtailing public debate about the Holocaust. Although the law was eventually changed under American pressure, it enjoyed broad support by Law and Justice’s ideological base—the journalists, writers, and thinkers, including some of my party guests, who believe anti-Polish forces seek to blame Poland for Auschwitz.
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These kinds of views make it difficult for me and some of my New Year’s guests to speak about anything at all. I have not, for example, had a single conversation with a woman who was once one of my closest friends, the godmother of one of my children—let’s call her Marta—since a hysterical phone call in April 2010, a couple of days after a plane carrying the then-president crashed near Smolensk, in Russia. In the intervening years, Marta has grown close to Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Law and Justice and the late president’s twin brother. She regularly hosts lunches for him at her apartment and discusses whom he should appoint to his cabinet. I tried to see her recently in Warsaw, but she refused. “What would we talk about?” she texted me, and then went silent.
Another of my guests—the one who shot the pistol in the air—eventually separated from her British husband. She now appears to spend her days as a full-time internet troll, fanatically promoting a whole range of conspiracy theories, many of them virulently anti-Semitic. She tweets about Jewish responsibility for the Holocaust; she once posted an image of an English medieval painting depicting a boy supposedly crucified by Jews, with the commentary “And they were surprised that they were expelled.” She follows and amplifies the leading lights of the American “alt-right,” whose language she repeats.
I happen to know that both of these women are estranged from their children because of their political views. But that, too, is typical—this line of division runs through families as well as groups of friends. We have a neighbor near Chobielin whose parents listen to a progovernment, Catholic-conspiratorial radio station called Radio Maryja. They repeat its mantras, make its enemies their enemies. “I’ve lost my mother,” my neighbor told me. “She lives in another world.”
To be clear about my interests and biases here, I should explain that some of this conspiratorial thinking is focused on me. My husband was the Polish defense minister for a year and a half, in a coalition government led by Law and Justice during its first, brief experience of power; later, he broke with that party and was for seven years the foreign minister in another coalition government, this one led by the center-right party Civic Platform; in 2015 he didn’t run for office. As a journalist and his American-born wife, I have always attracted some press interest. But after Law and Justice won that year, I was featured on the covers of two pro-regime magazines, wSieci and Do Rzeczy—former friends of ours work at both—as the clandestine Jewish coordinator of the international press and the secret director of its negative coverage of Poland. Similar stories have appeared on Telewizja Polska’s evening news.
Eventually, they stopped writing about me: Negative international press coverage of Poland has grown much too widespread for a single person, even a single Jewish person, to coordinate all by herself. Though naturally the theme recurs on social media from time to time.
In a famous journal he kept from 1935 to 1944, the Romanian writer Mihail Sebastian chronicled an even more extreme shift in his own country. Like me, Sebastian was Jewish; like me, most of his friends were on the political right. In his journal, he described how, one by one, they were drawn to fascist ideology, like a flock of moths to an inescapable flame. He recounted the arrogance and confidence they acquired as they moved away from identifying themselves as Europeans—admirers of Proust, travelers to Paris—and instead began to call themselves blood-and-soil Romanians. He listened as they veered into conspiratorial thinking or became casually cruel. People he had known for years insulted him to his face and then acted as if nothing had happened. “Is friendship possible,” he wondered in 1937, “with people who have in common a whole series of alien ideas and feelings—so alien that I have only to walk in the door and they suddenly fall silent in shame and embarrassment?”
This is not 1937. Nevertheless, a parallel transformation is taking place in my own time, in the Europe that I inhabit and in Poland, a country whose citizenship I have acquired. And it is taking place without the excuse of an economic crisis of the kind Europe suffered in the 1930s. Poland’s economy has been the most consistently successful in Europe over the past quarter century. Even after the global financial collapse in 2008, the country saw no recession. What’s more, the refugee wave that has hit other European countries has not been felt here at all. There are no migrant camps, and there is no Islamist terrorism, or terrorism of any kind.
More important, though the people I am writing about here, the nativist ideologues, are perhaps not all as successful as they would like to be (about which more in a minute), they are not poor and rural, they are not in any sense victims of the political transition, and they are not an impoverished underclass. On the contrary, they are educated, they speak foreign languages, and they travel abroad—just like Sebastian’s friends in the 1930s.
What has caused this transformation? Were some of our friends always closet authoritarians? Or have the people with whom we clinked glasses in the first minutes of the new millennium somehow changed over the subsequent two decades? My answer is a complicated one, because I think the explanation is universal. Given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy. Indeed, if history is anything to go by, all societies eventually will.
Before I continue, here’s a parenthesis, and a reminder: All of this has happened before. Profound political shifts—events that suddenly split families and friends, cut across social classes, and dramatically rearrange alliances—do not happen every day in Europe, but neither are they unknown. Not nearly enough attention has been paid in recent years to a late-19th-century French controversy that prefigured many of the debates of the 20th century, and has some clear echoes in the present.
The Dreyfus affair was triggered in 1894, when a traitor was discovered in the French army: Somebody had been passing information to Germany, which had defeated France a quarter century earlier and occupied Alsace-Lorraine. French military intelligence investigated and claimed that it had found the culprit. Captain Alfred Dreyfus was an Alsatian, spoke with a German accent, and was a Jew—and therefore, in the eyes of some, not a real Frenchman. As it would turn out, he was also innocent. But French army investigators created fake evidence and gave false testimony; as a result, Dreyfus was court-martialed, found guilty, and sent into solitary confinement on Devil’s Island, off the coast of French Guiana.
The ensuing controversy divided French society along now-familiar lines. Those who maintained Dreyfus’s guilt were the alt-right—or the Law and Justice Party, or the National Front—of their time. They pushed a conspiracy theory. They were backed up by screaming headlines in France’s right-wing yellow press, the 19th-century version of a far-right trolling operation. Their leaders lied to uphold the honor of the army; adherents clung to their belief in Dreyfus’s guilt—and their absolute loyalty to the nation—even when this fakery was revealed.
Dreyfus was not a spy. To prove the unprovable, the anti-Dreyfusards had to disparage evidence, law, and even rational thought. Science itself was suspect, both because it was modern and universal and because it came into conflict with the emotional cult of ancestry and place. “In every scientific work,” wrote one anti-Dreyfusard, there is something “precarious” and “contingent.”
The Dreyfusards, meanwhile, argued that some principles are higher than national honor, and that it mattered whether Dreyfus was guilty or not. Above all, they argued, the French state had an obligation to treat all citizens equally, whatever their religion. They too were patriots, but of a different sort. They conceived of the nation not as an ethnic clan but as the embodiment of a set of ideals: justice, honesty, the neutrality of the courts. This was a more cerebral vision, more abstract and harder to grasp, but not without an appeal of its own.
Those two visions of the nation split France right down the middle. Tempers flared. Quarrels broke out in the dining rooms of Paris. Family members stopped speaking to one another, sometimes for more than a generation. The divide continued to be felt in 20th-century politics, in the different ideologies of Vichy France and the resistance. It persists today, in the struggle between Marine Le Pen’s “France for the French” nationalism and Emmanuel Macron’s broader vision of a France that stands for a set of abstract values: justice, honesty, and the neutrality of courts, as well as globalization and integration.
From my point of view, the Dreyfus affair is most interesting because it was sparked by a single cause célèbre. Just one court case—one disputed trial—plunged an entire country into an angry debate, creating unresolvable divisions between people who had previously not known that they disagreed with one another. But this shows that vastly different understandings of what is meant by “France” were already there, waiting to be discovered. Two decades ago, different understandings of “Poland” must already have been present too, just waiting to be exacerbated by chance, circumstance, and personal ambition.
Perhaps this is unsurprising. All of these debates, whether in 1890s France or 1990s Poland, have at their core a series of important questions: Who gets to define a nation? And who, therefore, gets to rule a nation? For a long time, we have imagined that these questions were settled—but why should they ever be?
Monarchy, tyranny, oligarchy, democracy—these were all familiar to Aristotle more than 2,000 years ago. But the illiberal one-party state, now found all over the world—think of China, Venezuela, Zimbabwe—was first developed by Lenin, in Russia, starting in 1917. In the political-science textbooks of the future, the Soviet Union’s founder will surely be remembered not for his Marxist beliefs, but as the inventor of this enduring form of political organization. It is the model that many of the world’s budding autocrats use today.
Unlike Marxism, the Leninist one-party state is not a philosophy. It is a mechanism for holding power. It works because it clearly defines who gets to be the elite—the political elite, the cultural elite, the financial elite. In monarchies such as prerevolutionary France and Russia, the right to rule was granted to the aristocracy, which defined itself by rigid codes of breeding and etiquette. In modern Western democracies, the right to rule is granted, at least in theory, by different forms of competition: campaigning and voting, meritocratic tests that determine access to higher education and the civil service, free markets. Old-fashioned social hierarchies are usually part of the mix, but in modern Britain, America, Germany, France, and until recently Poland, we have assumed that competition is the most just and efficient way to distribute power. The best-run businesses should make the most money. The most appealing and competent politicians should rule. The contests between them should take place on an even playing field, to ensure a fair outcome.
Lenin’s one-party state was based on different values. It overthrew the aristocratic order. But it did not put a competitive model in place. The Bolshevik one-party state was not merely undemocratic; it was also anticompetitive and antimeritocratic. Places in universities, civil-service jobs, and roles in government and industry did not go to the most industrious or the most capable. Instead, they went to the most loyal. People advanced because they were willing to conform to the rules of party membership. Though those rules were different at different times, they were consistent in certain ways. They usually excluded the former ruling elite and their children, as well as suspicious ethnic groups. They favored the children of the working class. Above all, they favored people who loudly professed belief in the creed, who attended party meetings, who participated in public displays of enthusiasm. Unlike an ordinary oligarchy, the one-party state allows for upward mobility: True believers can advance. As Hannah Arendt wrote back in the 1940s, the worst kind of one-party state “invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”
Lenin’s one-party system also reflected his disdain for the idea of a neutral state, of apolitical civil servants and an objective media. He wrote that freedom of the press “is a deception.” He mocked freedom of assembly as a “hollow phrase.” As for parliamentary democracy itself, that was no more than “a machine for the suppression of the working class.” In the Bolshevik imagination, the press could be free, and public institutions could be fair, only once they were controlled by the working class—via the party.
This mockery of the competitive institutions of “bourgeois democracy” and capitalism has long had a right-wing version, too. Hitler’s Germany is the example usually given. But there are many others. Apartheid South Africa was a de facto one-party state that corrupted its press and its judiciary to eliminate blacks from political life and promote the interests of Afrikaners, white South Africans descended mainly from Dutch settlers, who were not succeeding in the capitalist economy created by the British empire.
In Europe, two such illiberal parties are now in power: Law and Justice, in Poland, and Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, in Hungary. Others, in Austria and Italy, are part of government coalitions or enjoy wide support. These parties tolerate the existence of political opponents. But they use every means possible, legal and illegal, to reduce their opponents’ ability to function and to curtail competition in politics and economics. They dislike foreign investment and criticize privatization, unless it is designed to benefit their supporters. They undermine meritocracy. Like Donald Trump, they mock the notions of neutrality and professionalism, whether in journalists or civil servants. They discourage businesses from advertising in “opposition”—by which they mean illegitimate—media.
Illustration: Mike McQuade; Dundanim / Shutterstock
Notably, one of the Law and Justice government’s first acts, in early 2016, was to change the civil-service law, making it easier to fire professionals and hire party hacks. The Polish foreign service also wants to drop its requirement that diplomats know two foreign languages, a bar that was too high for favored candidates to meet.* The government fired heads of Polish state companies. Previously, the people in these roles had had at least some government or business experience. Now these jobs are largely filled by Law and Justice Party members, as well as their friends and relatives. Typical is Janina Goss, an old friend of Kaczyński’s from whom the former prime minister once borrowed a large sum of money, apparently to pay for a medical treatment for his mother. Goss, an avid maker of jams and preserves, is now on the board of directors of Polska Grupa Energetyczna, the largest power company in Poland, an employer of 40,000 people.
You can call this sort of thing by many names: nepotism, state capture. But if you so choose, you can also describe it in positive terms: It represents the end of the hateful notions of meritocracy and competition, principles that, by definition, never benefited the less successful. A rigged and uncompetitive system sounds bad if you want to live in a society run by the talented. But if that isn’t your primary interest, then what’s wrong with it?
If you believe, as my old friends now believe, that Poland will be better off if it is ruled by people who deserve to rule—because they loudly proclaim a certain kind of patriotism, because they are loyal to the party leader, or because they are, echoing the words of Kaczyński himself, a “better sort of Pole”—then a one-party state is actually more fair than a competitive democracy. Why should different parties be allowed to compete on an even playing field if only one of them has the moral right to form the government? Why should businesses be allowed to compete in a free market if only some of them are loyal to the party and therefore deserving of wealth?
This impulse is reinforced, in Poland as well as in Hungary and many other formerly Communist countries, by the widespread feeling that the rules of competition are flawed because the reforms of the 1990s were unfair. Specifically, they allowed too many former Communists to recycle their political power into economic power.
But this argument, which felt so important a quarter century ago, seems thin and superficial now. Since at least 2005, Poland has been led solely by presidents and prime ministers whose political biographies began in the anti-Communist Solidarity movement. And there is no powerful ex-Communist business monopoly in Poland either—at least not at the national level, where plenty of people have made money without special political connections. Poignantly, the most prominent former Communist in Polish politics right now is Stanisław Piotrowicz, a Law and Justice member of parliament who is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a great enemy of judicial independence.
Nevertheless, this argument about the continuing influence of Communism retains an appeal for the right-wing political intellectuals of my generation. For some of them, it seems to explain their personal failures, or just their bad luck. Not everybody who was a dissident in the 1970s got to become the prime minister, or a best-selling writer, or a respected public intellectual, after 1989. And for many this is a source of burning resentment. If you are someone who believes that you deserve to rule, then your motivation to attack the elite, pack the courts, and warp the press to achieve your ambitions is strong. Resentment, envy, and above all the belief that the “system” is unfair—these are important sentiments among the intellectuals of the Polish right.
This is not to say that the illiberal state lacks a genuine appeal. But it is also good for some of its proponents personally—so much so that picking apart personal and political motives is extremely difficult. That’s what I learned from the story of Jacek Kurski, the director of Polish state television and the chief ideologist of the Polish illiberal state. He started out in the same place, at the same time, as his brother, Jarosław Kurski, who edits the largest and most influential liberal Polish newspaper. They are two sides of the same coin.
To understand the Kurski brothers, it’s important to understand where they came from: the port city of Gdańsk, on the Baltic Sea, where shipyard cranes loom like giant storks over Hanseatic street facades. The Kurskis came of age there in the early 1980s, when Gdańsk was both the hub of anti-Communist activity in Poland and a shabby backwater, a place where intrigue and boredom were measured out in equal doses.
At that particular moment, in that particular place, the Kurski brothers stood out. Senator Bogdan Borusewicz, one of the most important underground trade-union activists from the time, told me that their school was widely known to be “zrewoltowane”—in revolt against the Communist system. Jarosław represented his class in the school parliament and was part of a group that read conservative history and literature. Jacek, slightly younger, was less interested in the intellectual battle against Communism, and thought of himself as an activist and a radical. In the immediate wake of martial law, both brothers went to marches, shouted slogans, waved banners. Both worked first on the illegal school newspaper and then on Solidarność, the illegal opposition newspaper of Solidarity, the trade union in Gdańsk.
In October 1989, Jarosław went to work as the press secretary to Lech Wałęsa, the leader of Solidarity, who, after the election of Poland’s first non-Communist government, felt out of sorts and ignored; in the chaos created by revolutionary economic reforms and rapid political change, there was no obvious role for him. Eventually, in late 1990, Wałęsa ran for president and won, by galvanizing people who already resented the compromises that had accompanied the negotiated collapse of Communism in Poland (the decision not to jail or punish former Communists, for example). The experience made Jarosław realize that he didn’t like politics, especially not the politics of resentment: “I saw what doing politics was really about … awful intrigues, searching for dirt, smear campaigns.” That was also his first encounter with Kaczyński, “a master of that. In his political thinking, there is no such thing as an accident … If something happened, it was the machination of an outsider. Conspiracy is his favorite word.” (Unlike Jarosław, Jacek would not speak with me. A mutual friend gave me his private cellphone number; I texted, and then called a couple of times and left messages. I called again and someone cackled when I stated my name, repeated it loudly, and said, “Of course, of course”—naturally the chairman of Polish television would return my call. But he never did.)
Eventually Jarosław quit and joined Gazeta Wyborcza, the newspaper founded at the time of Poland’s first partially free elections, in 1989. In the new Poland, he could help build something, create a free press, he told me, and that was enough for him. Jacek went in precisely the opposite direction. “You are an idiot,” he told his brother when he learned he had quit working for Wałęsa. Although he was still in high school, Jacek was already interested in a political career himself, and even suggested that he take over his brother’s job, on the grounds that no one would notice. He was—in his brother’s description—always “fascinated” by the Kaczyński brothers, by the plots, the schemes, the conspiracies. Although he was on the right, he was not particularly interested in the trappings of Polish conservatism, in the books or the debates that had captivated his brother. A friend of both brothers told me she didn’t think Jacek had any real political philosophy at all. “Is he a conservative? I don’t think so, at least not in the strict definition of conservatism. He’s a person who wants to be on top.” And from the late 1980s onward, that was where he aimed to be.
The complete story of what Jacek did next would require more than a single magazine article to describe. He eventually turned against Wałęsa, perhaps because Wałęsa didn’t give him the job he thought he deserved. He married and divorced; he sued his brother’s newspaper several times, and the newspaper sued him back. He co-authored a fiery book and made a conspiratorial film about the secret forces lined up against the Polish right. He was a member, at different times, of different parties or factions, sometimes quite marginal and sometimes more centrist. He became a member of the European Parliament. He came to specialize in so-called black PR. Famously, he helped torpedo the presidential campaign of Donald Tusk (who eventually became prime minister), in part by spreading the rumor that Tusk had a grandfather who had voluntarily joined the Wehrmacht, the Nazi army. Asked about this invention, Jacek reportedly told a small group of journalists that of course it wasn’t true, but “Ciemny lud to kupi”—which, roughly translated, means “The ignorant peasants will buy it.” Borusewicz describes him as “without scruples.”
Jacek did not win the popular acclaim he thought a teenage Solidarity activist was entitled to. And this was a huge disappointment. Jarosław says of his brother: “All of his life, he believed that he is owed a great career … that he will be prime minister, that he is predestined to do something great. Yet fate dictated that he failed over and over again … He concluded that this was a great injustice.” And of course, Jarosław was successful, a member of the establishment.
In 2015, Kaczyński plucked Jacek out of the relative obscurity of fringe politics and made him the director of state television. Since his arrival at Telewizja Polska, the younger Kurski has changed the station beyond recognition, firing the best-known journalists and radically reorienting its politics. Although the station is funded by taxpayers, the news broadcasts no longer make any pretense of objectivity or neutrality. In April of this year, for example, the station made an advertisement for itself. It showed a clip from a press conference; the leader of the opposition party, Grzegorz Schetyna, is asked what his party achieved during its eight years in government, from 2007 to 2015. Schetyna pauses and frowns; the video slows down and then ends. It’s as if he had nothing to say.
In reality, Schetyna spoke for several minutes and listed a number of achievements, from the mass construction of roads to rural investments to advances in foreign policy. But this manipulated clip was deemed such a success that for several days, it remained pinned to the top of Telewizja Polska’s Twitter feed. Under Law and Justice, state television doesn’t just produce regime propaganda; it celebrates the fact that it is doing so. It doesn’t just twist and contort information; it glories in deceit.
Jacek—deprived of respect for so many years—is finally having his revenge. He is right where he thinks he should be: at the center of attention, the radical throwing figurative Molotov cocktails into the crowd. The illiberal one-party state suits him perfectly. And if Communism isn’t really available anymore as a genuine enemy for him and his colleagues to fight, then new enemies will have to be found.
From Orwell to Koestler, the European writers of the 20th century were obsessed with the idea of the Big Lie. The vast ideological constructs that were Communism and fascism, the posters demanding fealty to the Party or the Leader, the Brownshirts and Blackshirts marching in formation, the torch-lit parades, the terror police—these Big Lies were so absurd and inhuman, they required prolonged violence to impose and the threat of violence to maintain. They required forced education, total control of all culture, the politicization of journalism, sports, literature, and the arts.
By contrast, the polarizing political movements of 21st-century Europe demand much less of their adherents. They don’t require belief in a full-blown ideology, and thus they don’t require violence or terror police. They don’t force people to believe that black is white, war is peace, and state farms have achieved 1,000 percent of their planned production. Most of them don’t deploy propaganda that conflicts with everyday reality. And yet all of them depend, if not on a Big Lie, then on what the historian Timothy Snyder once told me should be called the Medium-Size Lie, or perhaps a clutch of Medium-Size Lies. To put it differently, all of them encourage their followers to engage, at least part of the time, with an alternative reality. Sometimes that alternative reality has developed organically; more often, it’s been carefully formulated, with the help of modern marketing techniques, audience segmentation, and social-media campaigns.
Americans are of course familiar with the ways a lie can increase polarization and inflame xenophobia: Donald Trump entered American politics on the back of birtherism, the false premise that President Barack Obama was not born in America—a conspiracy theory whose power was seriously underestimated at the time, and that paved the way for other lies, from “Mexican rapists” to “Pizzagate.” But in Poland, and in Hungary too, we now have examples of what happens when a Medium-Size Lie—a conspiracy theory—is propagated first by a political party as the central plank of its election campaign, and then by a ruling party, with the full force of a modern, centralized state apparatus behind it.
In Hungary, the lie is unoriginal: It is the belief, shared by the Russian government and the American alt-right, in the superhuman powers of George Soros, the Hungarian Jewish billionaire who is supposedly plotting to bring down the nation through the deliberate importation of migrants, even though no such migrants exist in Hungary.
In Poland, at least the lie is sui generis. It is the Smolensk conspiracy theory: the belief that a nefarious plot brought down the president’s plane in April 2010. The story has special force in Poland because the crash had eerie historical echoes. The president who died, Lech Kaczyński, was on his way to an event commemorating the massacre in Katyn, the place where Stalin murdered more than 21,000 Poles—a big chunk of the country’s elite—in 1940. Dozens of senior military figures and politicians were also on board, many of them friends of mine. My husband reckons that he knew everybody on the plane, including the flight attendants.
A huge wave of emotion followed the accident. A kind of hysteria, something like the madness that took hold in the United States after 9/11, engulfed the nation. Television announcers wore black mourning ties; friends gathered at our Warsaw apartment to talk about history repeating itself in that dark, damp Russian forest. At first the tragedy seemed to unify the country. After all, politicians from every major party had been on the plane, and huge funerals were held in many cities. Even Vladimir Putin, then the Russian prime minister, seemed moved. He went to Smolensk to meet Tusk, then the Polish prime minister, on the evening of the crash. The next day, one of Russia’s most-watched television channels broadcast Katyn, an emotional and very anti-Soviet Polish film, directed by Andrzej Wajda, the country’s greatest director. Nothing like it has ever been shown so widely in Russia, before or since.
But the crash did not bring people together. Nor did the investigation into its cause.
Teams of Polish experts were on the ground that same day. They did their best to identify bodies, many of which were nothing but ash. They examined the wreckage. Once the black box was found, they began to transcribe the cockpit tape. The truth, as it began to emerge, was not comforting to the Law and Justice Party or to its leader, the dead president’s twin brother. The plane had taken off late; the president was likely in a hurry to land, because he wanted to use the trip to launch his reelection campaign. There was thick fog in Smolensk, which did not have a real airport, just a landing strip in the forest; the pilots considered diverting the plane, which would have meant a drive of several hours to the ceremony. After the president had a brief phone call with his brother, his advisers apparently pressed the pilots to land. Some of them, against protocol, walked in and out of the cockpit during the flight. Also against protocol, the chief of the air force came and sat beside the pilots. “Zmieścisz się śmiało”—“You’ll make it, be bold,” he said. Seconds later, the plane collided with the tops of some birch trees, rolled over, and hit the ground.
Initially, Jarosław Kaczyński seems to have believed that the crash was an accident. “It’s your fault and the fault of the tabloids,” he told my husband, then the foreign minister, who informed him of the crash. By that, he meant that it was the government’s fault because, intimidated by populist journalism, it had refused to buy new airplanes. But as the investigation unfolded, its findings were not to his liking. There was nothing wrong with the plane.
Perhaps, like so many people who rely on conspiracy theories to make sense of random tragedies, Kaczyński simply couldn’t accept that his beloved brother had died pointlessly; perhaps he could not accept the even more difficult fact that the evidence suggested Lech and his team had pressured the pilots to land, thus causing the crash. Or perhaps, like Donald Trump, he saw how a conspiracy theory could help him attain power.
The decision to put a conspiracy theory at the heart of government policy was the source of the authoritarian actions that followed.
Much as Trump used birtherism and the fabricated threat of immigrant crime to motivate his core supporters, Kaczyński has used the Smolensk tragedy to galvanize his followers, and convince them not to trust the government or the media. Sometimes he has implied that the Russian government downed the plane. At other times, he has blamed the former ruling party, now the largest opposition party, for his brother’s death: “You destroyed him, you murdered him, you are scum!” he once shouted in parliament.
None of his accusations can be proved, however. Perhaps to distance himself somewhat from the lies that needed to be told, he gave the job of promoting the conspiracy theory to one of his oldest and strangest comrades. Antoni Macierewicz is a member of Kaczyński’s generation, a longtime anti-Communist, though one with some weird friends and habits. His odd stare and his obsessions—he has said that he finds the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to be a plausible document—even led the Law and Justice Party to make an election promise in 2015: Macierewicz would definitely not be the defense minister.
But as soon as the party won, Kaczyński broke that promise and appointed Macierewicz. Immediately, Macierewicz began to institutionalize the Smolensk lie. He created a new investigation commission composed of cranks, among them an ethnomusicologist, a retired pilot, a psychologist, a Russian economist, and other people with no knowledge of air crashes. The previous official report was removed from a government website. Police entered the homes of the aviation experts who had testified during the original investigation, interrogated them, and confiscated their computers. When Macierewicz went to Washington, D.C., to meet his American counterparts at the Pentagon, the first thing he did was ask whether U.S. intelligence had any secret information on Smolensk. I’m told that the reaction was widespread concern about the minister’s mental state.
When, some weeks after the election, European institutions and human-rights groups began responding to the actions of the Law and Justice government, they focused on the undermining of the courts and public media. They didn’t focus on the institutionalization of the Smolensk conspiracy theory, which was, frankly, just too weird for outsiders to understand. And yet the decision to put a fantasy at the heart of government policy really was the source of the authoritarian actions that followed.
Investigating a perilous moment
Although the Macierewicz commission has never produced a credible alternate explanation for the crash, the Smolensk lie laid the moral groundwork for other lies. Those who could accept this elaborate theory, with no evidence whatsoever, could accept anything. They could accept, for example, the broken promise not to put Macierewicz in the government. They could accept—even though Law and Justice is supposedly a “patriotic” and anti-Russian party—Macierewicz’s decisions to fire many of the country’s highest military commanders, to cancel weapons contracts, to promote people with odd Russian links, to raid a nato facility in Warsaw in the middle of the night. The lie also gave the foot soldiers of the far right an ideological basis for tolerating other offenses. Whatever mistakes the party might make, whatever laws it might break, at least the “truth” about Smolensk would finally be told.
The Smolensk conspiracy theory, like the Hungarian migration conspiracy theory, served another purpose: For a younger generation that no longer remembered Communism, and a society where former Communists had largely disappeared from politics, it offered a new reason to distrust the politicians, businesspeople, and intellectuals who had emerged from the struggles of the 1990s and now led the country. More to the point, it offered a means of defining a new and better elite. There was no need for competition, or for exams, or for a résumé bristling with achievements. Anyone who professes belief in the Smolensk lie is by definition a true patriot—and, incidentally, might well qualify for a government job.
The emotional appeal of a conspiracy theory is in its simplicity. It explains away complex phenomena, accounts for chance and accidents, offers the believer the satisfying sense of having special, privileged access to the truth. But—once again—separating the appeal of conspiracy from the ways it affects the careers of those who promote it is very difficult. For those who become the one-party state’s gatekeepers, for those who repeat and promote the official conspiracy theories, acceptance of these simple explanations also brings another reward: power.
Mária Schmidt wasn’t at my New Year’s Eve party, but I’ve known her for a long time. She invited me to the opening of the Terror Háza—the House of Terror museum—in Budapest in 2002, and I’ve been more or less in communication with her ever since. The museum, which she directs, explores the history of totalitarianism in Hungary and, when it opened, was one of the most innovative new museums in the eastern half of Europe.
From its opening day, it has also had harsh critics. Many visitors didn’t like the first room, which has a panel of televisions on one wall broadcasting Nazi propaganda, and a panel of televisions on the opposite wall broadcasting Communist propaganda. In 2002, it was still a shock to see the two regimes compared, though perhaps it is less so now. Others felt that the museum gave insufficient weight and space to the crimes of fascism, though Communists ran Hungary for far longer than the fascists did, so there is more to show. I liked the fact that the museum showed ordinary Hungarians collaborating with both regimes, which I thought might help Hungary understand its responsibility for its own politics, and avoid the narrow nationalist trap of blaming problems on outsiders.
Mike McQuade
Yet this is precisely the narrow nationalist trap into which Hungary has now fallen. Hungary’s belated reckoning with its Communist past—putting up museums, holding memorial services, naming perpetrators—did not, as I thought it would, help cement respect for the rule of law, for restraints on the state, for pluralism. On the contrary, 16 years after the Terror Háza’s opening, Hungary’s ruling party respects no restraints of any kind. It has gone much further than Law and Justice in politicizing the state media and destroying the private media, achieving the latter by issuing threats and blocking access to advertising. It has created a new business elite that is loyal to Orbán. One Hungarian businessman who preferred not to be named told me that soon after Orbán first took over the government, regime cronies demanded that the businessman sell them his company at a low price; when he refused, they arranged for “tax inspections” and other forms of harassment, as well as a campaign of intimidation that forced him to hire bodyguards. Eventually he sold his Hungarian property and left the country.
Like the Polish government, the Hungarian state promotes a Medium-Size Lie: It pumps out propaganda blaming Hungary’s problems on nonexistent Muslim migrants, the European Union, and, as noted, George Soros. Schmidt—a historian, scholar, and museum curator—is one of the primary authors of that lie. She periodically publishes long, angry blog posts fulminating against Soros; against Budapest’s Central European University, originally founded with his money; and against “left intellectuals,” by which she seems to mostly mean liberal democrats, from the center-left to the center-right.
Ironies and paradoxes in her life story are plentiful. Schmidt is a prime beneficiary of Hungary’s supposedly tainted transition; her late husband made a fortune in the post-Communist real-estate market, thanks to which she lives in a spectacular house in the Buda hills. Although she has led a publicity campaign designed to undermine Central European University, her son is a graduate. And although she knows very well what happened in her country in the 1940s, she followed, step by step, the Communist Party playbook when she took over Figyelő, a respected Hungarian magazine: She pushed out the independent reporters and replaced them with reliably progovernment writers.
Figyelő remains “private property.” But it’s not hard to see who supports the magazine. An issue that featured an attack on Hungarian NGOs—the cover visually equated them with the Islamic State—also included a dozen pages of government-paid advertisements, for the Hungarian National Bank, the treasury, the state anti-Soros campaign. This is a modern reinvention of the progovernment, one-party-state press, complete with the same sneering, cynical tone that the Communist publications once used.
Schmidt agreed to speak with me—after calling me “arrogant and ignorant”—only if I would listen to her objections to an article I’d just written for The Washington Post. With this invitation, I flew to Budapest. Unsurprisingly, what I’d hoped for—an interesting conversation—proved impossible. Schmidt speaks excellent English, but she told me that she wanted to use a translator. She produced a rather terrified young man who, judging by the transcripts, left out chunks of what she said. And though she has known me for nearly two decades, she plunked a tape recorder on the table, in what I took to be a sign of distrust.
She then proceeded to repeat the same arguments that had appeared in her blog posts. As her main bit of evidence that George Soros “owns” the Democratic Party in the United States, she cited an episode of Saturday Night Live. As proof that the U.S. is “a hard-core ideologically based colonizing power,” she cited a speech Barack Obama gave in which he mentioned that a Hungarian foundation had proposed building a statue to honor Bálint Hóman, the man who wrote Hungary’s anti-Jewish laws in the ’30s and ’40s. She repeated her claim that immigration poses a dire threat to Hungary, and became annoyed when I asked, several times, where all the immigrants were. “They’re in Germany,” she finally snapped, asserting that the Germans will eventually force Hungary to take “these people back.”
Schmidt embodies what the Bulgarian writer Ivan Krastev recently described as the desire of many eastern and central Europeans to “shake off the colonial dependency implicit in the very project of Westernization,” to rid themselves of the humiliation of having been imitators, followers of the West rather than founders. Schmidt told me that the Western media, presumably myself included, “talk down from above to those below like it used to be with colonies.” Western talk of Hungarian anti-Semitism, corruption, and authoritarianism is “colonialism.” Yet despite being dedicated to the uniqueness of Hungary and the promotion of “Hungarianness,” she has borrowed much of her ideology wholesale from Breitbart News, right down to the caricatured description of American universities and the sneering jokes about “transsexual bathrooms.” She has even invited Steve Bannon and Milo Yiannopoulos to Budapest.
Polarization is normal. Skepticism about liberal democracy is normal. And the appeal of authoritarianism is eternal.
Listening to her, I became convinced that there was never a moment when Schmidt’s views “changed.” She never turned against liberal democracy, because she never believed in it, or at least she never thought it was all that important. For her, the antidote to Communism is not democracy but an anti-Dreyfusard vision of national sovereignty. And if national sovereignty takes the form of a state whose elite is defined not according to its talent but according to its “patriotism”—meaning, in practice, its willingness to toe Orbán’s line—then she’s fine with that.
Her cynicism is profound. Soros’s support for Syrian refugees cannot be philanthropy; it must come from a deep desire to destroy Hungary. Angela Merkel’s refugee policy could not derive from a desire to help people either. “I think it is just bullshit,” Schmidt said. “I would say she wanted to prove that Germans, this time, are the good people. And they can lecture everybody on humanism and morality. It doesn’t matter for the Germans what they can lecture the rest of the world on; they just have to lecture someone.”
It’s clear that the Medium-Size Lie is working for Orbán—just as it has for Donald Trump—if only because it focuses the world’s attention on his rhetoric rather than his actions. Schmidt and I spent most of our unpleasant two-hour conversation arguing about nonsensical questions: Does George Soros own the Democratic Party? Are nonexistent immigrants, who don’t want to live in Hungary anyway, a threat to the nation? We spent no time at all discussing Russia’s influence in Hungary, which is now very strong. We did not talk about corruption, or the myriad ways (documented by the Financial Times and others) that Orbán’s friends have benefited from European subsidies and legislative sleight of hand. (A ruling party that has politicized its courts and suppressed the media is a party that finds it much easier to steal.)
Nor, in the end, did I learn much about Schmidt herself. Others in Budapest believe she is motivated by her own drive for wealth and power. Zsuzsanna Szelényi, a member of parliament who used to belong to Fidesz, Orbán’s party, but is now an independent, was one of several people who told me that “nobody can be rich in Hungary without having some relation to the prime minister.” Thanks to Orbán, Schmidt oversees the museum and a couple of historical institutes, giving her a unique ability to shape how Hungarians remember their history, which she relishes. Maybe she really believes that Hungary is facing a dire, existential threat in the form of George Soros and some invisible Syrians. Or maybe she’s just as cynical about her own side as she is about her opponents, and it’s all an elaborate game.
What happened after I interviewed her provides a clue: Without my permission, Schmidt published on her blog a heavily edited transcript, which was confusingly presented as her interview of me. The transcript also appeared on the Hungarian government’s official website, in English. (Try to imagine the White House publishing the transcript of a conversation between, say, the head of the Smithsonian Institution and a foreign critic of Trump and you’ll understand how strange this is.) But, of course, the interview was not conducted for my benefit. It was a performance, designed to prove to other Hungarians that Schmidt is loyal to the regime and willing to defend it. Which she is.
Not long ago, at a fish restaurant in an ugly square on a beautiful night in Athens, I described my 1999 New Year’s Eve party to a Greek political scientist. Quietly, he laughed at me. Or rather, he laughed with me; he didn’t mean to be rude. But this thing I was calling polarization was nothing new. “The post-1989 liberal moment—this was the exception,” Stathis Kalyvas told me. Polarization is normal. More to the point, I would add, skepticism about liberal democracy is also normal. And the appeal of authoritarianism is eternal.
Kalyvas is, among other things, the author of several well-known books about civil wars, including Greece’s civil war, in the 1940s, one of many moments in European history when radically divergent political groups took up arms and started to kill one another. But civil war and civil peace are relative terms in Greece at the best of times. We were speaking just as some Greek intellectuals were having a centrist moment. It was suddenly fashionable to be “liberal,” lots of people in Athens told me, by which they meant neither Communist nor authoritarian, neither far-left, like the Syriza ruling party, nor far-right, like its nationalist coalition partner, the Independent Greeks. Cutting-edge young people were calling themselves “neo-liberal,” adopting a term that had been anathema only a few years earlier.
But even the most optimistic centrists were not convinced that this change would last. “We survived the left-wing populists,” several people told me gloomily, “and now we are bracing for the right-wing populists.” A nasty argument had long been brewing about the name and status of Macedonia, the ex–Yugoslav republic neighboring Greece; soon after I left, the Greek government expelled some Russian diplomats for trying to foment anti-Macedonia hysteria in the northern part of the country. Whatever equilibrium your nation reaches, there is always someone, at home or abroad, who has reasons to upset it.
from the atlantic archives
The Runaway Presidency
by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. November 1973
“A constitutional presidency, as the great Presidents have shown, can be a very strong presidency indeed. But what keeps a strong President constitutional, in addition to checks and balances incorporated within his own breast, is the vigilance of the people. The Constitution cannot hold the nation to ideals it is determined to betray. The re-invigoration of the written checks in the American Constitution depends on the re-invigoration of the unwritten checks in American society. The great institutions—Congress, the courts, the executive establishment, the press, the universities, public opinion—have to reclaim their own dignity and meet their own responsibilities.” Read more
Matt Huynh
It’s a useful reminder. Americans, with our powerful founding story, our unusual reverence for our Constitution, our relative geographic isolation, and our two centuries of economic success, have long been convinced that liberal democracy, once achieved, cannot be altered. American history is told as a tale of progress, always forward and upward, with the Civil War as a kind of blip in the middle, an obstacle that was overcome. In Greece, history feels not linear but circular. There is liberal democracy and then there is oligarchy. Then there is liberal democracy again. Then there is foreign subversion, then there is an attempted Communist coup, then there is civil war, and then there is dictatorship. And so on, since the time of the Athenian republic.
History feels circular in other parts of Europe too. The divide that has shattered Poland is strikingly similar to the divide that split France in the wake of the Dreyfus affair. The language used by the European radical right—the demand for “revolution” against “elites,” the dreams of “cleansing” violence and an apocalyptic cultural clash—is eerily similar to the language once used by the European radical left. The presence of dissatisfied, discontented intellectuals—people who feel that the rules aren’t fair and that the wrong people have influence—isn’t even uniquely European. Moisés Naím, the Venezuelan writer, visited Warsaw a few months after the Law and Justice Party came to power. He asked me to describe the new Polish leaders: What were they like, as people? I gave him some adjectives—angry, vengeful, resentful. “They sound just like Chavistas,” he told me.
Poland and the Uncontrollable Fury of Europe's Far Right
How Erdogan Made Turkey Authoritarian Again
In truth, the argument about who gets to rule is never over, particularly in an era when people have rejected aristocracy, and no longer believe that leadership is inherited at birth or that the ruling class is endorsed by God. Some of us, in Europe and North America, have settled on the idea that various forms of democratic and economic competition are the fairest alternative to inherited or ordained power.
But we should not have been surprised—I should not have been surprised—when the principles of meritocracy and competition were challenged. Democracy and free markets can produce unsatisfying outcomes, after all, especially when badly regulated, or when nobody trusts the regulators, or when people are entering the contest from very different starting points. Sooner or later, the losers of the competition were always going to challenge the value of the competition itself.
More to the point, the principles of competition, even when they encourage talent and create upward mobility, don’t necessarily answer deeper questions about national identity, or satisfy the human desire to belong to a moral community. The authoritarian state, or even the semi-authoritarian state—the one-party state, the illiberal state—offers that promise: that the nation will be ruled by the best people, the deserving people, the members of the party, the believers in the Medium-Size Lie. It may be that democracy has to be bent or business corrupted or court systems wrecked in order to achieve that state. But if you believe that you are one of those deserving people, you will do it.
* This article originally stated that the Polish foreign service had already dropped its requirement that diplomats know two foreign languages.
This article appears in the October 2018 print edition with the headline “A Warning From Europe.”
Anne Applebaum is a staff writer at The Atlantic, a senior fellow of the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, and the author of Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism.
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Philip K. Dick’s High Life
By Stephen Bitsoli 10/13/17
None of his drug use seemed necessary to inspire his highly imaginative fiction.
Though widely known as a psychedelic or drug induced writer, Dick's substance use may have been more of a background to his writing than an influence. Image via Pete Welsch / Wikimedia
Science fiction author Philip K. Dick died a little more than 35 years ago (March 2, 1982) at the age of 53, but he’s still very much alive in the media and the culture. “Phildickian” has even become a word in several online dictionaries, an adjective used to compare things to the shifting realities, paranoia, and nothing-is-as-it-seems trippy nature of his works and his life.
The everything-is-melting ambiance of his fiction explains how this suburban husband and father – five marriages, three children – who was born before the Great Depression built a reputation as a drug user. Some of his writings seemed like LSD visions to the counterculture, but the reputation was not completely warranted.
True, he did experiment with psychedelic drugs, but they weren’t his addiction and had nothing to do with his creative visions. He had a more mundane habit--a need for speed--to help maintain his prolific output and impoverished suburban lifestyle.
A struggling writer for most of his career, Dick’s death came just as he was finding financial success, spurred in part by the upcoming release of Blade Runner, the first feature film specifically adapted from his work. Based on Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Ridley Scott’s film of a dystopic future where rogue androids (replicants) are hunted by bounty hunters (blade runners) was iconic and influential.
A follow-up film, Blade Runner 2049, was on October 6th. It remains to be seen whether it can live up to the expectations of fans of the film or the author.
At least a dozen other films have since been based on Dick’s works – including two titled Total Recall, based on his short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” – as well as television shows, stage plays, graphic novels and an opera. Books by and about him have been coming out nearly every year since his death, including three volumes from the Library of America. He has also inspired or been the subject of fiction and nonfiction, including books – novels, biographies, memoirs – plays, films, a fake Twitter feed (based on “verbatim quotes … paraphrased quotes … and things he really, really could have said at the time, I promise”), and even a robotic simulacrum.
Currently Amazon produces an ongoing television series, The Man in the High Castle, inspired by Dick’s award-winning 1962 novel of an alternate reality where Germany and Japan won World War II and occupy the U.S. Two seasons have been completed, with at least one more projected. Amazon also has picked up Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, a 10-episode series based on some of Dick’s short fiction.
Most of Dick’s science fiction deals with either the fragile nature of reality – sometimes multiple realities – or what it means to be human as opposed to a machine. When a drug is involved, such as the time-protracting Chew-Z from The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch or hallucinogenic Substance D in A Scanner Darkly, the experiences could not be regarded as positive or as advocating for their use.
Dick’s reputation as a regular LSD user began with the trippy elements of such novels as Time Out of Joint and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and with fans who thought it romantic to see him as some kind of middle-aged acid head. Perhaps to please them, “I used to talk like I was really into acid,” Dick confessed to Charles Platt in an interview for the book Dream Makers (Berkley, 1980).
Claims that Dick actually habitually used hallucinogens were legitimized by Harlan Ellison in his 1967 anthology Dangerous Visions. In hisintroduction to Dick’s story “Faith of Our Fathers,” Ellison wrote:
“I asked for Phil Dick and got him. A story to be written about, and under the influence of (if possible), LSD. What follows... is the result of such a hallucinogenic journey.… [Dick’s] experiments with LSD and other hallucinogens, plus stimulants of the amphetamine class, have borne such fruit as the story you are about to read.”
In his afterword to the story, Dick is less definite. He does refer to “recent experiences with psychedelic drugs,” and mentions “the theological experience, which so many who have taken LSD have reported,” but doesn’t actually say he wrote the story on acid. He wonders, “What if, through psychedelic drugs, the religious experience becomes commonplace in the life of intellectuals?”
But in a 1976 letter, Dick confessed, “I took LSD only twice,” and that it never inspired his writing, except for “a small passage” in his 1970 novel A Maze of Death. As Dick explained, “you can’t write anything when you’re on acid. I did one page once while on an acid trip, but it was in Latin … and a little tiny bit in Sanskrit, and there’s not much market for that.”
Besides, Dick didn’t even like LSD and the visions it inspired. “It didn’t seem more real than anything else; it just seemed more awful.” In a letter he wrote that “The first time I took LSD I saw the whole landscape freeze over; nothing but snow and rocks, and it lasted for thousands of years.”
Small wonder then that Dick told Platt, “I used to beg people not to take acid.” He says he gave one girl who was considering it a homemade Rorschach test. When he asked her what she saw, Dick recalled, “She said, ‘I see an evil shape coming to kill me.’ I said, ‘You’d be a damned fool to take acid.’ ”
He did take mescaline an unspecified number of times, and other drugs, including antipsychotics, antidepressants, sedatives, hypnotics, muscle relaxants, and stimulants. Of all these drugs, only one was frequent enough to call a habit: amphetamines, and that was mainly to try and amp up his writing productivity and support his family. Most of his books were published as paperback originals, with small advances and no subsequent royalties.
He clearly descended into abuse after his fourth wife left him in the early 1970s. Afterward, according to Kyle Arnold’s biography, he was taking speed by the handful. “He stuffed his refrigerator with thousand-pill jars of amphetamines” and “told his mother he consumed a thousand-pill jar per week.”
(He was probably addicted to women too. At least he was rarely alone – or a bachelor – since he first married in 1948. In Philip K. Dick: The Last Testament [Fragments West/The Valentine Press, 1985], Tessa Dick, his fifth wife, said “We were rarely apart for more than an hour.” And as the title of one posthumously published book suggested, he was obsessed with a succession of dark-haired girls.)
But in 1971 – according to a 1975 interview with Paul Williams for Rolling Stone – Dick learned that he apparently only took amphetamines for psychological reasons. While a patient at Hoover Pavilion, Stanford Hospital for drug rehab, he underwent physical and psychological tests for addiction. Dick says the consensus of four doctors was that he was not physically addicted to amphetamines because the drugs never reached his brain. His liver, they told him, completely detoxified the amphetamines. After one day, he was sent home.
Dick did go to rehab again, but only for three weeks. While in Vancouver, following a 1972 science fiction convention appearance, he attempted suicide with an overdose of potassium bromide, a sedative, and called a suicide hotline. He ended up at X-Kalay, a group one Dick biographer called a “de facto cult.”
Dick later claimed, “I had to lie to get in; I had to pretend I was an addict. … I did a lot of method acting, like almost attacking the staff member interviewing me, so they never doubted that I was an addict.”
Dick himself, while at one time crediting X-Kalay with saving his life – in a letter, while still at X-Kalay, he wrote, “Without them I wouldn’t be alive now” – became disillusioned and used it as the inspiration for the duplicitous New-Path organization (“X-Kalay” means “unknown path”) in his 1977 antidrug novel A Scanner Darkly (filmed in 2006).
In a series of letters collected and published posthumously as The Dark-Haired Girl (Mark V. Ziesing, 1988), Dick said of his time at the X-Kalay rehab that even the staff consisted of ex-user lifers who didn’t leave – not because X-Kalay wouldn’t let them, but because they felt they couldn’t function in the outside world. “They know only the rigid, authoritarian structure of the institution, in which they are either told what to do or tell others.”
He also disliked “the game,” what Arnold in his Dick bio described as “group therapy sessions in which residents traded scathing personal accusations and gleefully attacked each others’ psychological weak points.” Dick recounted one such session in the Dream Makers interview:
“I remember in attack-therapy there was one guy dressed kind of nattily, and he was French. They said, ‘you look like a homosexual.’ Within half an hour they had him convinced that he was a homosexual. … I thought, this is very strange, because I know this guy is not homosexual. And yet he’s crying and admitting to this thing – not to cause the abuse to stop … By confessing to it he didn’t cause them to stop, he caused them to yell louder and say, ‘We were right, we were right.’ He was simply beginning to agree with them.”
If X-Kalay actually helped Dick, it was as psychotherapy, not drug rehab. His years of amphetamine abuse may have caused or exacerbated existing mental illness. Drug abuse and mental illness are often co-morbid, and Dick was at least at times prescribed antipsychotics.
In his final years Dick was obsessed with what he called the 2-3-74 incident, when he says he was struck by a beam of pink light that imparted knowledge to him, though at least at times it seemed to possess him. He wasn’t using drugs at the time (though just before the initial vision, he had taken a powerful painkiller, following the removal of a wisdom tooth), so it didn’t function as a rehab or detox. Still, Dick did credit the incident for some financial success. “I made quite a lot of money very rapidly. We began to get checks for thousands of dollars – money that was owed me.”
At various times he suspected the beam of having come from God, or a Soviet satellite, or aliens. His novels Radio Free Albemuth and VALIS were attempts to fictionalize and deal with the event, as was the massive The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick, which was published posthumously. But at times he also accepted that it could have been paranoid schizophrenia or have a physical cause, such as a brain tumor.
In the end he didn’t die of a tumor or a drug overdose, just a garden-variety stroke and heart attack. Maybe his former long-term amphetamines abuse was a contributing factor to that death, but none of his drug use seemed necessary to inspire his highly imaginative fiction.
Stephen Bitsoli writes about the intersection of substance abuse treatment, politics, and related matters for several websites and blogs. A journalist for more than 20 years, and a lifelong avid reader, Stephen loves learning and sharing what he’s learned.
Philip K Dick
Stephen Bitsoli
Stephen Bitsoli writes about the intersection of substance abuse treatment, politics, and related matters for several websites and blogs, including Recovery Warriors. A journalist for more than 20 years, and a lifelong avid reader, Stephen loves learning and sharing what he’s learned. You can find him on Linkedin and Twitter.
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TENNESSEE TOUGH
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Hot Topics from Titans HC Mike Vrabel's Monday Presser
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NASHVILLE – Titans coach Mike Vrabel held a video conference call on Monday, one day after the team's 31-30 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
Next up for the Titans is a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.
Here's a look at some of the hot topics from today's call:
Winning Close Games
The Titans have won three straight games decided by three points or less to begin the season.
Counting Sunday's win, the Titans have won their three games by a total of six points.
"I think it is much more valuable than losing by one," Vrabel said. "But we have to be able to play better, and to try and not be in those tight games. But I do think our ability to function when the games are tight or when we're behind or have to execute those situations, that can only help you. It's not what we want to rely on, but we gain confidence that the players don't panic, and we're able to execute the situations as they come up down the stretch."
Simmons Standing Out
Titans defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons was especially disruptive on Sunday.
Simmons was credited with a sack, two tackles for a loss, two quarterback hits and four tackles again the Vikings.
Vrabel said it might've been the best performance of his young career.
"I think it probably was," Vrabel said. "I think he is just getting a lot more comfortable, and I think he is feeling better. He plays extremely hard, and his technique is really improving. In college I think Jeffery relied on his natural ability, which is very high. And now I think he has really started to improve and understand how his technique can help him affect the game and make plays for us and be disruptive."
Shane Bowen in COVID-19 Protocol
Vrabel said Titans outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen did not travel with the team to Minneapolis for Sunday's game due to COVID-19 testing protocols.
The team found out on Saturday morning.
In Bowen's absence, Vrabel was even more involved in the defense. Vrabel said special teams coach Craig Aukerman also had more responsibility as a result.
"Shane wasn't with us, and he's not currently with us as it stands today because of the COVID protocol that we have to follow," Vrabel said. "We've followed all the protocols as it relates to COVID, that's all I'll say about it. As for (when he comes back), we're not into timetables or returns to play or coach."
Vrabel said defensive assistant Matt Edwards has stepped up in Bowen's absence with the outside linebackers as well "and we'll continue along that process."
Taylor Lewan Update
Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan left Sunday's game with what was called a shoulder injury.
Lewan remained on the field for several minutes while being tended to by trainers. He eventually walked off slowly on his own power, but later left the sideline and headed to the tunnel on a cart.
Lewan did not return. Ty Sambrailo finished the game in Lewan's place.
"Not much to offer on Taylor," Vrabel said. "I would say that Ty, other than a few plays in there, did a really nice job. I was proud of the way that he stepped in there and played."
What About Adoree Jackson and Isaiah Wilson?
Titans cornerback Adoree' Jackson remains on the team's short-term Injured Reserve list, and rookie tackle Isaiah Wilson remains on the team's COVID-19/Reserve list.
Vrabel said he's hopeful both players could be in a position to return at some point in the not-so-distant future.
"It's a little early in the week, but we're hopeful that they can maybe practice," Vrabel said. "We'll see kind of where they're at – we'd really like to see Isaiah and be able to continue to work with him and get him to continue to improve and evaluate him. So hopefully that will happen.
"Hopefully those are two good candidates to maybe get back at practice."
Tackling Issues
Vikings running back Dalvin Cook racked up 181 yards on Sunday, including a 39-yard touchdown run.
Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson had seven catches for 175 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown catch.
The Vikings scored four touchdowns a week after the Jaguars put up 30 points on the Titans.
"We didn't tackle terrible vs Jacksonville," Vrabel said. "We didn't have a double-digit missed tackle game. We did yesterday. So, we'll have to do a better job in space against talented players. A lot of times it is about space in this league with skill players."
Next Up: Steelers
The Titans face the Steelers on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.
Pittsburgh, led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and a menacing defense, is 3-0 so far.
"This week's challenge is Pittsburgh and they bring obviously a fantastic defense – No.1 in a lot of categories," Vrabel said. "The offense has been able to run the football, and they've been very efficient throwing it, so there's a lot of problems they bring that we'll have to be ready for."
Game Photos | 2020 Week 3 vs. Vikings
The Tennessee Titans take on the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3 at U.S. Bank Stadium. (Photos: Donald Page)
Linebacker Rashaan Evans #54 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Running back Derrick Henry #22 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Defensive back Amani Hooker #37 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Cornerback Chris Milton #30 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Safety Kevin Byard #31 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Defensive lineman DaQuan Jones #90 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Cornerback Kristian Fulton #26 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney #99 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons #98 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill #17 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Tackle Taylor Lewan #77 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Outside linebacker Harold Landry III #58 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Safety Kenny Vaccaro #24 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Linebacker David Long Jr. #51 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Defensive lineman Jack Crawford #94 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Running back Darrynton Evans #32 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Tackle Dennis Kelly #71 of the Tennessee Titans and Offensive lineman Nate Davis #64 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Wide receiver Corey Davis #84 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Offensive lineman Nate Davis #64 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Cornerback Malcolm Butler #21 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Safety Kevin Byard #31 of the Tennessee Titans and Cornerback Johnathan Joseph #33 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Cornerback Johnathan Joseph #33 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Safety Kenny Vaccaro #24 of the Tennessee Titans and Cornerback Kristian Fulton #26 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Guard Rodger Saffold III #76 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Tackle Ty Sambrailo #70 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Guard Rodger Saffold III #76 of the Tennessee Titans and Tackle Ty Sambrailo #70 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Wide receiver Adam Humphries #10 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine #15 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Kicker Stephen Gostkowski #3 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Outside linebacker Vic Beasley Jr. #44 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Defensive back Joshua Kalu #46 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Punter Brett Kern #6 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Linebacker Nick Dzubnar #49 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Linebacker Will Compton #53 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Cornerback Johnathan Joseph #33 of the Tennessee Titans celebrates with Joshua Kalu #46 during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Linebacker Rashaan Evans #54 of the Tennessee Titans and Johnathan Joseph #33 during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons #98 of the Tennessee Titans and Larrell Murchison #91 during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Defensive lineman Larrell Murchison #91 of the Tennessee Titans and Jack Crawford #94 during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Fullback/running back Khari Blasingame #41 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Linebacker Jayon Brown #55 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Defensive lineman Larrell Murchison #91 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Linebacker Jayon Brown #55 of the Tennessee Titans and Defensive lineman Larrell Murchison #91 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Defensive lineman Larrell Murchison #91 of the Tennessee Titans and Linebacker Jayon Brown #55 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Wide receiver Kalif Raymond #14 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
MyCole Pruitt #85 and Running back Derrick Henry #22 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Safety Kevin Byard #31 of the Tennessee Titans and Linebacker Jayon Brown #55 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Linebacker Will Compton #53 of the Tennessee Titans and Linebacker Nick Dzubnar #49 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Tight end Anthony Firkser #86 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Tight end MyCole Pruitt #85 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Kicker Stephen Gostkowski #3 of the Tennessee Titans and Dennis Kelly #71 during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons #98 of the Tennessee Titans and Defensive lineman DaQuan Jones #90 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
Punter Brett Kern #6 of the Tennessee Titans and Kicker Stephen Gostkowski #3 of the Tennessee Titans during the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Titans
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Dates announced by Cricket Australia for India’s Test tour of Australia – Check schedule
May 29, 2020 Team Tentaran 0 Comment
India vs Australia test series 2020 schedule – Cricket Australia has announced dates and venues to play the scheduled four-match test series against India. The matches will be played in the month of December 2020. India was to tour Australia to play a series of 4 test matches later this year but this tour looked uncertain due to the spread of coronavirus pandemic.
India will travel to Australia in November 2020 for the 4 match test series and play the Border – Gavaskar Trophy. When India toured Australia during 2018-19, Virat and his men clinched their first-ever Test series and ended a long wait of 71 years.
India vs Australia test series 2020 schedule – India cricket schedule 2020
The dates of this 4 match test series are out. The first test of this Border Gavaskar Trophy will be played at Brisbane, Gabba on 3rd December 2020. This is the venue where Aussies have not lost a single Test match since the year 1988.
Must Read: Cricket records: India Test Wins against Australia Down Under
The second match of this series will be a Day-Night affair. India will play its first-ever Pink Ball test match in Australia at Adelaide from 11th December 2020 and the last two matches of this series will be played at MCG and SCG grounds. Even though the series is on, there is no confirmation until now as to whether the audiences will be allowed to watch this test series live.
Must Read: Cricket records: Matches South Africa lost to India on their home soil
Full Schedule of the 4 match Test series between India and Australia are as follows –
The First Test Match of this series will be played at Brisbane from Thursday 3rd December 2020 to Monday 7th December 2020.
India’s first-ever Day-Night Test Match will be the Second Test match of this series. This Pink Ball Test match will be played at Adelaide from Friday 11th December 2020 to Tuesday 15th December 2020.
The Third Test Match of this Series will be the Boxing Day Test Match and it will be played at MCG in Melbourne Cricket Ground from Saturday 26th December 2020 to Wednesday 30th December 2020.
The Fourth and the final Test Match of this 4 match Test Series will be played at Sydney Cricket Ground in SCG on Sunday 3rd January 2021 to Thursday 7th January 2021.
Must Read: Cricket records: India’s Wins in Test matches on the Tour of New Zealand
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G20 stalls on fossil fuel subsidies
(English) As the world’s largest economies met in Japan, there was little appetite for action on fossil fuel subsidies
Countries are not switching away from coal fast enough to be effective [image by: Andrew / Flickr]
(English) Fermín Koop, जुलाई 8, 2019
migratet
As G20 countries met for the group’s annual summit in Osaka, the dirty secret was that the world’s leading economies were failing to phase out wasteful fossil fuel subsidies. On top of that, the host country, Japan, bowed to US pressure to remove references to emissions in the draft communiqué, which led to a face-off between other members of the G20.
All of this, though, has obscured the fact that ten years ago the G20 pledged to “phase out and rationalise” fossil fuel subsidies yet the cost increased from USD 75 billion in 2007 to USD 147 billion in 2016, the last year that data is available for the entire group.
“Since 2009, the G20 is limited to copying and pasting the same statement every year in its annual document, stating that fossil fuel subsidies are inefficient and hinder the energy transition. But that’s not enough,” said Enrique Maurtua Konstantinidis, senior advisor on climate policy for the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN).
G20 commitments
The G20 economies represent more than 80% of global GDP and three quarters of global trade. The G20 is also responsible for 79% of global emissions so it has a major role in fulfilling the goals of the Paris Agreement.
However, current G20 commitments are insufficient to prevent a global average temperature increase of more than 2C compared to pre-industrial levels.
G20 countries still generate most of their energy from fossil fuels. From 2013 to 2015, at the group level, they spent USD 91.4 billion per year on coal, oil and gas projects. A new report by the Overseas Development Institute finds that they provide USD 63.9 billion per year to the production and consumption of coal.
“Ten years have passed since the group’s commitment and it hasn’t been possible to advance a definition of subsidies or a specific date to remove them,” said Ipek Gencsu, a specialist in subsidies at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
The group’s 2009 commitment was quickly replicated by other organisations. The G7, which includes members of the G20, promised to remove subsidies by 2025. Goal 12 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) commits to “rationalising inefficient subsidies”.
The role of fossil fuel subsidies
G20 countries grant subsidies through various mechanisms such as tax exemptions, financial incentives, reimbursements and bonuses. They are directed at the production of hydrocarbons and their consumption, decreasing the prices of fuel for consumers.
“They also vary with the price of oil. When it is low, subsidies also go down since consumers are not so concerned about prices. But the opposite happens with more expensive oil,” said Ivetta Gerasimchuk, director of sustainable energy supplies at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).
Experts agree that state support for fossil fuels is difficult to justify because of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. And with renewables increasingly cost competitive, fossil fuel subsidies are becoming more difficult to justify economically. Since 2010, the cost of generating solar energy has fallen 73%, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Despite this, subsidies and investment in fossil fuels remains high globally.
Research by the International Monetary Fund estimated that in 2015 fossil fuel subsidies represented 6.3% of global GDP, with China, the United States and the European Union spending the most. Without subsidies, greenhouse gas emissions would have been 28% lower.
The International Energy Agency found that investment in natural gas and oil projects increased in 2018, while investment in renewable energy declined. Gas represented half of the increase in global energy consumption.
The G20 has repeatedly supported the use of natural gas as a transition fuel until further development of renewable energies is achieved. However, this approach has been questioned by environmental organisations. While it generates fewer emissions, gas is not clean energy, they argue.
At the recent meeting of G20 energy and environment ministers prior to the leaders’ summit, countries called for more extensive use of natural gas.
Limited progress
The G20 has acted on subsidies by establishing a voluntary peer review mechanism. Paired countries submit self-reports on fossil-fuel subsidies and then each country reviews the other, making recommendations.
The G20 countries that have participated include China, the United States, Canada, Argentina, Indonesia, Italy, Germany and Mexico. However, the process has not resulted in major changes to domestic subsidy policies in any country.
“The United States and China were the most committed to this process but only China implemented some of the recommendations. The rest of the countries were criticised for not including all types of subsidies. As volunteers, they aren’t bound to anything,” said Gerasimchuk.
It is typical for the G20 host country to participate in this mechanism but this year Japan will prove the exception as it has not worked on fossil fuel subsidies during its presidency.
Japan spent USD 3.8 billion on subsidies in 2016, according to the latest data available in the Brown to Green report, an increase of USD 1.7 billion on 2007. The subsidies were granted through direct transfers and tax reductions.
Japan not only committed to reduce subsidies through the G20 but also through the G7, but within the G7, its progress on ending support for fossil fuels was ranked second to last behind the US. The report found that Japan continues to support subsidies and is spending billions building coal plants in countries vulnerable to climate change.
In closing, though, the G20 gave two indications that the fight against climate change may be becoming more difficult. The first, a minor error in its closing statement, misspelled the name of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, replacing “International” for “Intergovernmental”, which seemed to indicate a somewhat cavalier approach to the IPCC. the more serious issue was that the G20 agreed for its next meeting to be hosted by Saudi Arabia, which has been deeply dismissive of the challenges of carbon emissions.
See: USD 277.3 billion: India’s 2014 fossil fuel subsidy bill
Fermín Koop is Latin America editor for Diálogo Chino, where this story was first published, and has been updated with inputs from the South Asia office
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What do adults get out of reading Harry Potter? Isn’t it a story intended for children? The author herself was not prepared for the success that awaited her Harry Potter series. The conception of Harry Potter’s character is far from romantic; J.K. Rowling, or Joanne “Jo” Rowling in real life, was aboard a delayed train to Manchester when, before her very eyes, a vision of a bespectacled boy appeared and excited the writer within her.
Why J.K. Rowling is Extraordinary
"And it’s the ability to resist failure, in many ways, or use failure that often leads to the greatest success."
A once-struggling writer
That is from the single mom-turned-billionaire Joanne “Jo” Rowling, or who the world more famously recognizes as “J.K. Rowling.” She knows failure because she lived it. For a time, Jo was laden with financial distress. Harry Potter was her hero; it was Harry Potter’s magic that restored her hope. But, more than that, it was the character’s allure that rescued her from poverty.
Jo lost her mother to multiple sclerosis; in order to escape the grief, she accepted a job in Portugal to teach English. There, she met a journalist with whom she would later get married and give birth to their daughter, Jessica. Entirely unhappy with the marriage, however, she braved a life of misery and took Jessica with her to the United Kingdom. Jobless with an infant to feed, Jo lived on a 70-pound weekly social welfare in a dilapidated apartment.
This is a woman with immense talent and a college degree, for crying out loud! She didn’t exactly dream of becoming a billionaire, but neither was becoming a pauper included on her bucket list. She was at the end of her rope; nothing was left of the promising writer but her imagination.
Creating Harry Potter took longer than for any other children’s book. This, perhaps, is why it radically changed the way society perceives books intended for children. From “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” Jo dedicated 17 years of her life, from conception to publishing, to the series.
The First billionaire author of Children’s Books
Ever since “Pottermania,” Jo’s life of obscurity has become a magnet for paparazzi and controversy. However, she became the first billionaire author who made her fortune by writing children’s stories.
So, in the quote above about “resisting failure,” she knew what she was talking about. She could give that piece of advice because her life before Harry Potter fell in that category. Neither her marriage nor her career’s failure kept Jo from dreaming up a world of magic – a world where the word “impossible” does not exist.
It’s Jo’s belief in the extraordinary that gave life to the seven Harry Potter novels, all of which were made into eight films (the seventh novel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” was made into a two-part film which is classified as two separate films). The author of seven bestsellers managed to stay grounded; the miserable life she lived also made her more sensitive to the needs of others. Because of her huge donations, Forbes does not even consider her a billionaire anymore! This woman does not mind giving away millions.
J.K. Rowling, however, was not lost in her world of fantasy, and remained strong enough to face the bitter realities of life. The beneficiaries of her philanthropic endeavors can attest to her generosity. She is certainly no recluse!
Harry Potter’s hard-to-top success certainly proved Jo’s worth as a writer. On the other hand, the story of Harry’s creator is far from magical. And how she endured her failures makes her story even more captivating – a story worth telling our children.
Top Reasons why J.K. Rowling is Extraordinary
She is the author of the legendary Harry Potter series.
She was conferred the title Order of the British Empire in 2000.
Her award-winning books were international bestsellers, and translated into 65 languages.
She founded the “Volant Charitable Trust.”
She was the first Ambassador of “One Parent Families” (now Gingerbread).
She was awarded the “Premio Príncipe de Asturias” by Concord.
From being broke, she was named the “2nd Richest Female Entertainer” by Forbes in 2004.
She has been named one of the “Most Powerful Celebrities” time and again.
She received Honorary Degrees from Harvard University, St Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Napier University, the University of Exeter and the University of Aberdeen.
She is hailed as the United Kingdom's best-selling author.
Biography of J.K. Rowling
Date of Birth: Saturday, 31 July 1965 | Born in: / Nationality: England
The Book that Changed her Life
Even without a working pen at the start, Jo’s imagination went further than she ever dreamt it could. Much of what she thought about in that four-hour delay was lost when she finally got home to write about the scarred boy. But, it would take ten more years before we’d receive the awesome privilege to get to know Harry Potter and see his enchanted world.
Harry Potter is a saga. What’s baffling, however, is that most readers of the Harry Potter books do not consider reading among their hobbies. Rather, they are forced to read in order to get to know Harry. Prior to the story of the “Boy Who Lived,” reading was not as much fun for most kids, who would rather play video games or watch TV in their free time. The adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione changed the attitudes of children, and even adults, towards reading.
Returning to the question about what’s in it for adults to get to know the magical account of a boy whose scar made him famous and imperiled his life, to read Harry Potter is to come to terms with our own sense of humanity – our desire to love and be loved back. More than his magical exploits, it is each of Harry’s relationships with the people around him we most eagerly want to explore. How could his Uncle Vernon treat him like a slave? And why did his Aunt Petunia, his own mother’s sister, not only tolerate such maltreatment but occasionally initiate it? Why is Dumbledore so protective of Harry? If Lily and James Potter survived Voldemort’s attack, would Harry’s life have been the same? And why was Voldemort so intent on killing Harry? Those and many more intriguing questions left people anxiously anticipating the next book after finishing the one they had just read.
Book after book, Jo answered all of them and allowed Harry’s story to unfold. Authors can try, but the Harry Potter phenomena – one that was sustained from beginning to end and beyond – will forever remain difficult to outdo.
The Harry Potter film series was equally successful. Jo always made sure the scripts stayed faithful to her story, a notion which was respected almost unanimously among those involved in the films. It was not easy, but they certainly did their best.
If not Harry, there are several other characters in the book with which we can identify. Consider the bossy Hermione Granger, faithful Ron Weasley, loyal Rubeus Hagrid, wise Albus Dumbledore, callous Severus Snape, or antagonistic Draco Malfoy; and the list goes on and on. Each character has his/her own story to tell, a past that must be uncovered and explored to understand what led them to become the people they are in the series. The beauty of the Harry Potter books lies primarily in the characters.
Jo painstakingly made her characters alive enough for readers to easily laugh or cry with them. Harry is not just a fictional character; he was a brother, a friend, a hero, and all of the above in some cases.
With tremendous talent and an imagination unfettered by misery, Jo Rowling continued writing without any hope of getting her story published. The book nobody wanted, however, soon broke records and made its author one of the wealthiest in the world.
When “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (the first book) was finally published in 1997, Jo was grateful enough for the 2,500-pound royalty she received. To a single, unemployed mother who was dependent on social welfare, it meant a lot. The prospect of earning a living by doing what she did best was already a fulfillment of Jo’s dreams. She was not delusional to think that her first book would achieve what it eventually would.
Two years later, J.K. Rowling found herself in book-signing engagements with endless queues. Who would have thought Harry Potter would turn her not only into a full-time writer, but an instant celebrity? No contemporary author has ever been catapulted into fame as quickly as she; it was far beyond her expectations.
Looking back, J.K. Rowling never intended to have a life under the spotlight; her life was already complicated enough. All she needed was food on her table and a regular income. Writing was something that favored her circumstances following her separation from her husband, which left her the sole responsibility of raising her daughter.
The imaginary “Platform 9 and Three-Quarters” was inspired by London King’s Cross, the station where Jo’s parents, Anne Volant and Peter James Rowling, first met in 1964. The two married the following year on March 14th, 1965. Peter James worked for Rolls-Royce as an aircraft engineer. Anne was half-Scottish and half-French, which explains her foreign-sounding last name.
Joanne, or “Jo,” was born on July 31st, 1965 [one year after her parents married] in Yate, Gloucestershire, England. Her sister Dianne, or “Di,” was born two years later. The Rowlings left their Gloucestershire home and moved to Winterbourne in 1969, where St. Michael’s Primary School would be Jo’s first school.
Falling in Love with Books
Unlike other kids her age, Jo was a voracious reader. Having been influenced by her mom, who was a bibliophile herself, Jo was introduced to Elizabeth Goudge, Paul Gallico, and C.S. Lewis at a young age. Reading developed the young girl’s imagination.
After reading Elizabeth Goudge’s “The Little White Horse,” Jo worked on her first book at the age of six. She completed her first children’s book, entitled “Rabbit,” which told the story of a rabbit named Rabbit. Like her eventual Harry Potter creation, Rabbit was also a series, only shorter and exclusively available to her sister, who loved listening to her stories.
When Jo was nine, the family returned to Gloucestershire and lived in Church Cottage, where she would spend most of her remaining family life. As she grew into a teenager, she developed interest in current events and social matters.
Her great-aunt, like her mother, shared her interest in reading. Seeing her great-niece’s love for books, she gave her an autobiography of Jessica Mitford, a renowned English author and journalist who was also known for political activism. Jessica Mitford, or Jessica Lucy Freeman-Mitford, died in 1996. For the young Jo, Jessica became her personal hero; among Jessica’s many achievements, it was her bravery that inspired Jo the most. She considers Jessica her kind of heroine: a strong woman through and through.
Jo had reached an age when she started to become curious about religion. Her family members were not regular churchgoers, but on rare occasions her mother would attend the Church of England. Jo was intrigued by what the preachers had said about God’s identity. For a time, she attended church regularly because she “believed” in what was preached at the pulpit.
By the time Jo reached high school, her mother was employed at Wyedean School and College as the school’s technician in the science department, and Jo attended the school. Soon, however, Anne’s multiple sclerosis worsened; she had suffered from it since she was 36 years old.
While her mother’s multiple sclerosis did not improve, Peter James grew more distant from his daughters. Because of their many differences, Jo gradually became closer to her mother.
At Wyedean, Jo met her best friend and soul-mate, Sean Harris. She would later dedicate “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” to Sean, who also partially inspired the character of Ron Weasley.
Moments spent with her best friend were among her fondest memories of high school. Her teachers were also impressed with her aptitude for the English language. Although not “exceptional,” Jo was bright enough to be noticed by her high school teachers.
One of the things changed by Jo’s university life was her faith, as she grew disillusioned by the perceived arrogance of religious people. She lost interest in attending church regularly and even began questioning her faith.
Jo intended to pursue tertiary education at Oxford University and took its entrance exams in 1982; unfortunately, she was not accepted, so she instead attended the University of Exeter. She majored in French and Classics, and graduated in 1986. Her first job was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International, or “A.I,” a non-government organization which upholds human rights.
How Harry Potter Came to Be
While on a train going from London to Manchester, Jo had the whole seat to herself. Without having much to do, she let her imagination entertain her. That was when she began to see, quite vividly, a thin boy of about 10 years old walking along the train corridor. It was her first “meeting” with Harry Potter.
As her mind began concocting stories, and did so for the next few hours, she was certain that something huge was about to be created. She searched her bag for a pen and paper, but discovered that none of her pens were working. Too shy to ask anyone for a working pen, she resorted to holding everything within her mind. She consoled herself, thinking she would just do her best to recall details later when she returned home.
What She says about Conjuring Harry Potter
News of the train’s delay did not bother her at all. For the next four hours, Jo was far from bored. First she saw Harry Potter, followed by images of Ron, Hermione and a barrage of other characters flooding her imagination. As soon as she got to her apartment, she began writing as many details as she could remember. In her A&E biography, Jo recalled the feeling of conjuring Harry Potter for the first time:
"I can’t describe the excitement to someone who doesn’t write books, except to say that it’s that incredibly elated feeling you get when you’ve just [met] someone with whom you might fall in love. That was the kind of thing that had happened. Like I had just met someone wonderful, and we were about to embark on this wonderful affair. That kind of relation, that kind of light-headedness, that excitement."
Six months later, Jo had drafted a few chapters of her book. However, Anne’s multiple sclerosis took her life at the age of 49, and her death was too much for Jo to bear. She was inconsolable, but knew that in order to move on, she needed to get away from the place which reminded her so much about Anne. She had many regrets; one of them was not telling her mother about the book she was writing. Jo knew in her heart that her mother would’ve been more impressed than anyone if she had known about Harry Potter.
Tight money with a Child to Feed
She left their home for Porto, Portugal, where she secured a job as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. She taught English to Portuguese students and earned decent money. She then met Jorge Arantes while hanging out at a bar; he was well-known in that part of Portugal as a journalist for national television. Jo was attracted to Jorge because they shared a common interest: reading. Coincidentally, Jorge also liked Jane Austen, one of Jo’s favorite authors.
The two began dating, and got married on October 16th, 1992. She gave birth to her first daughter, Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes, on July 27th, 1993. Her daughter’s first name was taken from her heroine, Jessica Mitford. Jorge and Jo’s marriage, however, was short-lived, and Jo left him in November 1993. When Oprah asked her about the failed marriage, Jo boldly told her she did not mind enduring it because:
"Well, I’d think the first and most important thing to say about that marriage is I would do it all again, step for step to have Jessica, who is incredible and the world’s a better place for having her in it. So, you know, don’t regret a thing."
With an infant to feed and nowhere to go, Jo made it back to her home country in 1993, just in time to celebrate Christmas Eve. She rented a place near her sister in Edinburgh, and this was considered the lowest point in Jo’s life; she had no money and no job, and had to provide for her daughter. At 28 years old, Jo found herself in a demented situation. Depression was just around the corner, and Jo wanted to immerse herself in the world of fantasy to escape from it all – only her daughter kept her sane.
They managed to get through that dark phase with the 70-pound weekly allowance. It was not enough, but it was better than having nothing at all.
To make matters worse, Jorge came all the way from Portugal in search for her and Jessica; Jo mustered enough courage to file for a restraining order to keep him away. Jorge, unable to do anything, decided to leave them alone for good and head back to Portugal. Jo was able to file for divorce in August 1994.
She continued working on her Harry Potter stories. Death and sorrow were evident themes in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” because those things plagued Jo around the time she wrote the first few chapters; the Dementors and the “mirror of erised” were manifestations of the inner turmoil going on in her life. The Dementors encapsulated Jo’s feeling of misery and hollowness, while the “mirror of erised” was her inadvertent way of holding onto memories of her deceased mother.
Along with Jessica, it was writing that kept her mind off of the sad reality she faced. Most of the chapters of the first Harry Potter book were written in cafes which Jo frequently visited, such as Nicolson’s Café and “The Elephant House.” The latter café was owned by Di’s husband, who promised to connect Jo with a publisher when she finally finished her book.
In 1995, Jo started to pull herself back together by enrolling in the Moray House School of Education at Edinburgh University, hoping that a Degree in Education was what she needed to get a teaching job and take Jessica and herself off of social welfare.
J.K.’s List of Books
With the help of her old but upright typewriter, Jo finished the first of the Harry Potter series in 1995. Without the promise of a publisher, Jo had to send her manuscripts to literary agents for endorsement. Her thirteenth prospect was the “Christopher Little Literary Agents.” After reading the first three chapters, Bryony Evens, a paid reader who was asked to review the book, asked for the rest of the chapters of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.”
Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of the Bloomsbury Publishing Chairman, was also given the first few chapters to read. Like Bryony, she asked for the rest of the book after quickly finishing the initial chapters.
Jo was warned not to keep her hopes up, since children generally do not comprise a viable market for which to write. On the contrary, Jo felt that her book only needed to be published to get the attention it deserved.
The time of reckoning came, and “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” hit the bookstores and libraries in 1997 with “Joanne Rowling” as the author. Jo was able to continue writing after receiving a grant of 8,000 pounds from the Scottish Arts Council. Five months later, her book won the “Nestlé Smarties Book Prize” and later won the British Book Award for “Children's Book of the Year” in February 1998.
It was also in that year when Scholastic Publishing won the auction to publish “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in the United States. “Joanne Rowling” was changed to “J.K. Rowling,” allegedly to attract male readers. Since Jo did not have a middle name, she used “K” for Kathleen, which was her paternal grandmother’s first name.
That commenced the international craze surrounding Harry Potter. The second book, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” was published in 1998 and also won the “Nestlé Smarties Book Prize.” The following year, the third installment “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” not only won the same Book Prize, but also took home the Whitbread Children's “Book of the Year” award.
Warner Bros. purchased the rights to make the first two Harry Potter books into films. The first Harry Potter film debuted on the big screen in 2001, and the second in 2002.
After winning the “Nestlé Smarties Book Prize” three times in a row, the fourth book, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” was not included in the contention. It mattered little, however, as the book sold three million copies in the U.S. alone in the two days following its release. In 2000, Jo was hailed as “Author of the Year” by the British Book Awards.
“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” was released in December 2003, and two years later the sixth book, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” was released. “Half-Blood Prince” broke the record set by “The Goblet of Fire” when it sold nine million copies in the U.S. in the two days following its release.
In 2004, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” hit theaters, followed by “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” in 2005. It took another two years before the fifth book, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” was released in 2007.
The final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” was completed and made available to the public in July 2007.
Two years after the Harry Potter book series concluded, the sixth installment was released in theaters. The film for the final book was released in two parts, in 2010 and 2011, respectively.
Harry Potter is now more than just a figment of Jo’s imagination; he became a franchise, a global brand valued at 15 billion dollars. Jo does not need magic to create the life she now shares with her new love, Neil Michael Murray, whom she married in 2001. She then welcomed the additions of David Gordon Rowling Murray in 2003 and Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray in 2005 to their family.
Jo will be remembered as the only children’s book author who made billions, and the woman who reignited the power of imagination in kids and adults alike. We can’t help but agree with Oprah’s quote: “I think the greatest gift the Harry Potter series has given to the world is the freedom to use our imaginations.”
Organizations and Campaigns Supported
Comic Relief, Gingerbread (One Parent Families)
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain
Volant Charitable Trust
Fund for Children and Young People in Crisis
Light a Birthday Candle for Lumos
Centre for Regenerative Medicine (now known as the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic)
Haven Foundation
Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory
The Shannon Trust
Toe by Toe Reading Plan
Shannon Reading Plan
1997: “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” won the “Nestlé Smarties Book Prize”
1998: An article she wrote – “What was the Name of that Nymph Again? Or Greek and Roman Studies Recalled” – was published in “Pegasus,” the journal of the University of Exeter
1998: “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” won the “British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year”
1998: Scholastic Publishing published “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” (U.S. Title)
1998: “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” won the “Nestlé Smarties Book Prize”
1999: “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” won the “Nestlé Smarties Book Prize”
1999: Became the first author to win the “Nestlé Smarties Book Prize” three consecutive times
2000: Given the title Order of the British Empire
2000: “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” broke sales records in the U.K. and U.S.
2000: British Book Awards named her “Author of the Year”
2000: Founded the “Volant Charitable Trust”
2000: Became first Ambassador of One Parent Families (now “Gingerbread”)
2000: “Prisoner of Azkaban” won the “Locus Award”
2001: The film “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” was released
2001: “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” won the “Hugo Award for Best Novel”
2002: The film “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” was released
2003: Awarded the “Premio Príncipe de Asturias” by Concord
2003: “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” won the “Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers”
2004: The film “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” was released
2004: Became the first U.S.-dollar billionaire author, according to Forbes
2004: Named the “2nd Richest Female Entertainer” by Forbes
2004: Ranked “1,062nd Richest Person in the World” by Forbes
2005: The film “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” was released
2005: “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” sold nine million copies within 24 hours of its release
2005: Co-founded “Children's High Level Group” (now known as Lumos)
2006: Donated funds to the Centre for Regenerative Medicine
2006: “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was named “Book of the Year”
2007: Received the “Gold Blue Peter Badge”
2007: The film “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” was released
2007: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” sold eleven million copies within 24 hours of its release
2007: Runner-up as TIME Magazine's “Person of the Year”
2007: Ranked 48th on Forbes's “Most Powerful Celebrity” list
2007: Her book “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” was considered the most expensive modern book auctioned
2008: Ranked “144th Richest Person in Britain” according to the Sunday Times Rich List
2008: Her fortune was estimated by Sunday Times Rich List at 798 million dollars
2008: Considered the “12th Richest Woman in the United Kingdom”
2008: Received an Honorary Degree from Harvard University
2009: The film “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was released
2009: Awarded by French President Nicolas Sarkozy the “Légion d'honneur”
2010: Won the “Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award”
2010: Magazine editors named her the “Most Influential Woman in Britain”
2010: The film “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” was released
2012: Featured at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
2012: Awarded “Freedom of the City of London”
2013: Named “13th Most Powerful Woman in the United Kingdom” by Woman's Hour
Hailed as United Kingdom's best-selling author
Harry Potter series has been translated into 65 languages
Received honorary degrees from St Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Napier University, the University of Exeter and the University of Aberdeen
https://www.thextraordinary.org/j-k-rowling#sigProId38eba7579c
Support J.K. Rowling here:
Support this Extraordinary Person by joining their Facebook Group, Tweet, or use the social media tools on the left to share this page and help J.K. Rowling Change the Game.
Official Website: JKRowling.com
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The right way to play is not for others and not for myself, but for God.
-by Jeremy Lin
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We don't have a picture of this vessel at this time.
Name Runo
Completed 1920 - Ramage & Ferguson Ltd, Leith
Owner Ellerman´s Wilson Line Ltd, Hull
Homeport Hull
Date of attack 11 Apr 1943 Nationality: British
Fate Sunk by U-593 (Gerd Kelbling)
Position 32° 15'N, 23° 55'E - Grid CO 5957
Route Benghazi - Alexandria
History Completed in January 1921
At 00.22 and 00.24 hours on 11 April 1943, U-593 fired four single torpedoes at two ships in a small convoy consisting of four steamers and three escorts about 60 miles northeast of Bardia and observed a hit amidships on the first ship which broke in two and sank and saw a hit on the second. However, the only ship hit was the Runo (Master C.H. Tully). 16 crew members were lost. The master, 15 crew members and five gunners were rescued and landed at Alexandria on 13 April.
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Koolhaas designs latest Maggie’s Centre
Rem Koolhaas, founder of the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), is to make his first foray into Glasgow with the city’s second Maggie’s Centre in the grounds of the Beatson Oncology Centre at Gartnavel Hospital.
Planning permission has been secured for the angular doughnut shaped pavilion which wraps around a central garden feature. It will be the city’s second such centre and the UK’s third Koolhaas design after the Rothschild building and a temporary Serpentine pavilion, both in London.
Koolhaas joins an illustrious list of architects to have designed spaces for the centre including Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers and Frank Gehry.
Richard Hollington, Associate at OMA, said: "We spent quite some time evaluating existing Maggie's Centres before coming up with the final design, which we believe encapsulates the philosophy and principles on which the Maggie's Centres are based. We have created a building, which has a holistic, intimate and comforting feel. We hope that our building design will greatly complement the fantastic support that people affected by cancer will receive when visiting the Centre."
Construction work should commence in January 2010 on the £2.1m, financed by a donation from Walk the walk Worldwide, for an expected opening in early 2011.
Read next: Fresh Egyptian Halls images published
Read previous: RMJM see Quay project stall in Glasgow
Back to October 2009
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Ford International Capital LLC
Your Department (optional) Administrative Technology Sales Media Creative Research Other
Your Position Executive Director Manager Associate Assistant Other
Good pay & strong benefits
Employee discounts on Ford vehicles
Renewed public confidence in the company following years of financial disappointment
A lot of grumbling about management
UAW contract limits raises until 2015
Employees are happy to play a role in Ford's efforts to write one of the great turnaround stories in American business.
About Ford International Capital LLC
Ford Motor is striving to build smart vehicles for a smart world. One of the "Big Three" automakers in the US (with GM and Fiat Chrysler), the company manufactures cars, trucks, and SUVs under the Ford and Lincoln brands –- and finances sales through Ford Motor Credit. Ford, which does business worldwide, is making significant investments in a strategic shift to move it from solely an automaker to a leader in vehicle technology and mobility services. Nearly 65% of total sales comes from US.
Ford operates through Automotive, Ford Credit, and Mobility.
Ford's Automotive segment represents more than 90% of revenue and includes the sale of Ford and Lincoln brand vehicles. The Ford Credit segment contributes less than 10% of revenue and includes vehicle-related financing and leasing through Ford Motor Credit Company. Outside the US, Europe is Ford Credit's largest operation are the UK and Germany.
Ford's Mobility segment includes Ford Smart Mobility which designs and builds mobility services and makes investments in start-ups and technology companies. Mobility is also Ford's locus for the development of autonomous vehicle technologies
Geographic Reach
Ford's business units span the five regions of North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.
The US accounts for nearly 65% of Ford's revenue. Other major markets include the UK, Canada, and Germany, each accounting for about 5% of sales.
Ford's vehicles, parts, and accessories are sold through more than 11,500 dealerships worldwide, most independently-owned. In addition to retail sales, these dealerships sell vehicles to commercial fleet customers, rental car companies, and governments.
Ford's advertising expenses were $3.6 billion, $4.0 billion, and $4.1 billion for the years 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively.
For full year 2019, revenue was down 3% to $155.9 billion. The decrease was primarily due to the fall on their automotive segments.
The company's net income fell by about 98% to $84 million in 2019. The fall was due to the loss from their operations from an income of $4.3 billion in 2018, to a loss of $640 million in 2019.
Cash held by the company by the end of 2019 increased by $2.6 billion to $18.6 billion, compared to $16.9 million in the prior year. Cash provided by operations and financing activities were $18.1 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively. Cash used for investing activities was $19.4 billion.
Speaking of Europe, 2019 also brought tighter focus for Ford's operations on the Continent. Ford aims to refresh the company's European lineup, streamline operations, and return the business to profitability. Moving forward, Ford's Europe division will be organized across three customer-focused areas: Commercial Vehicles, Passenger Vehicles, and Imports (US-made products like the Mustang). Ford will introduce at least three models over five years and offer more electrified products across its lineup. Ford also plans to beef up its already-strong presence in Europe's commercial vehicle market.
In late 2019 Ford and India-based Mahindra & Mahindra formed a joint venture that will build vehicles under the Ford brand for the Indian market, and Ford and Mahindra branded vehicles for other high-growth emerging markets. Mahindra will hold a 51% controlling stake in the new venture and Ford will hold 49%.
Henry Ford started the Ford Motor Company in 1903 in Dearborn, Michigan. In 1908 Ford introduced the Model T, produced on a moving assembly line that revolutionized both carmaking and manufacturing. By 1920 some 60% of all vehicles on the road were Fords.
After Ford omitted its usual dividend in 1916, stockholders sued. Ford responded by buying back all its outstanding shares in 1919 and didn't allow outside ownership again until 1956.
Despite the debut of the Mercury (1938), market share slipped behind General Motors and Chrysler. Henry Ford II decentralized Ford, following the GM model. Henry Ford died in 1947 at the age of 83. In 1950 the carmaker recaptured second place. Ford rolled out the infamous Edsel line in 1958 and launched the Mustang in 1964.
Ford acquired Hertz in 1994. To focus on its struggling automotive operations, Ford sold its Hertz car rental business in 2005.
With the automotive industry reeling from the Great Recession, companies made decisions to streamline their operations for survival. In mid-2010 Ford sold all of Volvo Car Corporation to Geely Automotive, a subsidiary of China-based Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. At the onset of 2011, Ford's Mercury model production was discontinued.
Ford's $65 million acquisition of app-based, crowd-sourced shuttle service Chariot (completed in 2017) is allowing it to use data algorithms to schedule trips in real time. Chariot uses 100 Ford Transit 15-seat vans; its 28 routes have been based on demand from riders. Ford is expanding the service from two cities (San Francisco and Austin) to eight, with at least one outside the US.
Amid shifting consumer tastes, in 2018 Ford announced it would phase out virtually all its car offerings in North America, except for the Mustang, to focus on more profitable trucks, SUVs, and crossovers.
1 American Rd
Dearborn, MI 48126-2701
Firm Stats
Employer Type: Privately Owned
Employees (This Location): 8
Employees (All Locations): 23
Major Office Locations
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Let's Get Stuck Into The Music
can't find gripper
ivan_smackhead
when looking on the Collectors Frenzy page you used to be able to click on the Gripper link and see what records were popular on ebay at that time.
it seems to have disappeared. any idea where it's gone or if there's a similar site out there?
"I don't want to live in the past but it's a nice place to visit."
No, LordNo
Ugly Custard
http://waxidermy.com/bbs/viewtopic.p...40432&start=40
cheers fella.
shame about that.
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The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, commissioned a non-statutory independent review of the events and aftermath of the Manchester Arena Terrorist Attack as part of his role as Police and Crime Commissioner.
The review panel was led by Lord Kerslake — former Head of the Civil Service and President of the Local Government Association. He is Chair of Peabody, Chair of the Centre for Public Scrutiny and Chair of London CIV. He was made a life peer in 2015.
The aim of the review was to identify a range what a range of responding agencies did well on the night and during the following week that helped people — as well as what could have been done better.
The outcomes will be used to prepare for any future incidents in Greater Manchester and across the country.
Responding the the review Ellen Miller, Services Director — North, said:
‘While we hope such incidents never happen again, it’s hugely important for all agencies involved to listen to survivors and learn what we can do better.
‘Then, if the worse does transpire we can respond faster, respond better and respond to all those who need support.
‘We therefore welcome the findings and recommendations of the Kerslake Arena Review, particularly recommendations around greater planning with Local Resilience Forums to establish how independent charities such as Victim Support could further contribute.
‘We know that for some survivors, reading this report will be bring back the traumatic and life changing events of the Manchester Arena Terrorist Attack and its aftermath.
‘We are working closely with the Mayor’s office to encourage survivors, whether new to Victim Support or existing clients, to get in touch with us via our free 24/7 confidential Supportline (Supportline number: 0808 16 89 111 or via our website).
We run specialist local support services both within and outside the Greater Manchester area and urge all those who need support to contact us today or in the future.’
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Play Life, Live Games column: Final ‘Friday’ patch will shut down game’s dedicated servers
Dusty Ricketts
Nov. 3 was a disappointing day for me and it had nothing to do with the election.
On the morning of Nov. 3, Gun Media announced that “Friday the 13th: The Game” was going to receive its final patch later this month, and with it the game’s dedicated servers would be shut off.
“We fought to keep dedicated servers for as long as possible, but I think we all felt this day was coming. Doesn’t make it any easier, though,” tweeted Wes Kelter, the head of Gun Media.
While the game does have some fun single-player modes, “Friday the 13th: The Game” is primarily a multiplayer-focused game where one person plays as the killer from the horror movie franchise Jason Voorhees and up to seven other people play as camp counselors trying to survive. The game’s multiplayer still will be playable when the dedicated servers are shut off, but the quality of the game is really going to be hindered.
When the game launched in May 2017, it didn’t have dedicated servers. Instead it used a peer-to-peer hosting system where the first person to load into a game is selected as the host and everyone who joins that lobby is connected to the host. So if the host has slow internet, the match will run poorly for everyone in that lobby. If the host loses their internet connection or decides to quit the match if they are selected to play as Jason or after they’re killed by Jason, the match ends for everyone.
In fact, I’m more upset about the servers being shut down than I was in June 2018 when Gun Media announced it no longer would be able to bring new content to the game because of the still-ongoing legal dispute over the rights to the franchise.
Sure I was bummed we weren’t going to get Uber Jason from the terrible movie “Jason X” and other new characters and maps, but what was already in the game was more than good enough for me to want to continue playing it. But going back to the peer-to-peer hosting system is going to be extremely frustrating.
Once the change happens, my plan to play the game will be to continue to load into matches until I get selected as a host. That way I won’t have to worry about the host quitting if the game isn’t going the way they wanted.
Gun Media hasn’t said when this final patch, which they do say will fix several of the game’s ongoing bugs, will be released beyond sometime this month. Until that drops, I’m going to enjoy these dedicated servers as much as I can because I don’t know how much I’ll be playing my favorite game of this console generation after they go off.
Dusty Ricketts is the editor of The Destin Log and The Walton Sun newspapers and can be reached ata dricketts@thedestinlog.com.
© 2021 www.washingtontimesreporter.com. All rights reserved.
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Attorney for nearly two dozen Epstein accusers writes memoir
FILE – In this Dec. 4, 2018 file photo, attorney Bradley Edwards listens to a public apology from Jeffrey Epstein, being read by Epstein’s attorney Scott Link, in a Palm Beach County, Fla., Court after a civil settlement was reached where Epstein admitted that the charges he leveled against Edwards were completely false. The attorney of more than 20 alleged victims of Epstein has written a book about his decade-long quest to bring the billionaire financier to justice. Gallery Books announced Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, that Edwards’ “Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein” will come out March 31. (Emily Michot/Miami Herald via AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — The attorney of more than 20 alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein has written a book about his decade-long quest to bring the billionaire financier to justice.
Gallery Books announced Thursday that Bradley J. Edwards’ “Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein” will come out March 31.
“Edwards gives his riveting, blow-by-blow account of battling Epstein on behalf of his clients and provides stunning details never shared before,” according to Gallery, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. “He explains how he tracked Epstein’s criminal enterprise from Florida, to New York, to Europe, to a Caribbean island, and, in the process, became the one person Epstein most feared could take him down.”
The book was co-written by Brittany Henderson, a fellow trial lawyer based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in New York last summer. Accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls, he had been indicted on federal charges more than a decade after he secretly struck a deal with federal prosecutors in Florida to dispose of similar charges of sex trafficking. He pleaded guilty in 2008, the same year Edwards first heard from one of his accusers, to soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months.
Federal prosecutors in New York reopened the probe after investigative reporting by The Miami Herald stirred outrage over the plea bargain.
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Viewing 1 WeWork building in Long Beach
The Hubb
100 W Broadway Long Beach CA 90802
Office Spaces in Long Beach
If you want an office that’s close to Los Angeles without actually being in LA, then an office space in Long Beach through WeWork might just be the solution you’re looking for. Long Beach sits along the southwest edges of LA and it is a community that is well known for its artistic side. But, despite the neighborhood’s love of art, it does have an industrial coastline and an urban core that help make it extremely accommodating to businesses. The fact that it lies right between LA and Orange County only adds to Long Beach’s popularity among innovative businesses. With a Long Beach office space, you’ll be in prime position to collaborate, share with, and learn from some of the very best minds in the Los Angeles area.
Flexible Office Space in Long Beach
Long Beach is a community of contrasts. It’s where old-school burger joints sit next to trendy cupcakeries. It’s where casual coastal living blends with urban sensibilities. Home to the Queen Mary and the second busiest shipping port in the United States, Long Beach has shed its gritty working-class and oil-fueled past to become a vibrant and attractive place to set down roots. And, like Downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach’s downtown has been revitalized to the point that it is now a hotbed of activity for local businesses and innovative upstarts. With easy access to the I-405 and other major freeways, as well as service by the Metro Rail Blue Line and Passport buses, getting in and out of Long Beach has never been easier, making the area more business-friendly than ever. At WeWork, we offer businesses in Long Beach the benefits of office space in a modern shared space. Our shared office spaces in Long Beach encourage organic networking and collaboration between businesses. We have an established and growing community of like-minded professionals whose companies thrive as a result of this unique approach to doing business. We also provide complimentary refreshments, weekly happy hours, special community events, business-class amenities, and other attractive benefits and services. We have everything you need to run your business more efficiently so you can be as productive as possible. And, with our flexible month-to-month rentals, we have the solutions you’re looking for, whether your office needs are temporary or you wish for a longer stay.
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Golden plover
©Andrew Parkinson/2020VISION
Scientific name: Pluvialis apricaria
From spring, look out for the beautiful, speckled gold-and-black breeding plumage of the Golden plover. It can be found in its upland moorland breeding grounds from May to September, moving to lowland farmland and fields in winter.
Classified in the UK as Green under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015). Protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.
The Golden plover is a little smaller than the Lapwing, with which it often gathers in large numbers on farmland and coastal flats during the winter. In summer, it is found in upland moorland habitats where it breeds from May to September.
It nests on open ground among heather and grass, and the female lays about 4 eggs. Both parents care for the chicks.
The Golden plover is smaller than its relative, the Grey plover. In summer, adults have a black throat, chest and belly, surrounded by a band of white and topped with a distinctive, spotted gold-and-black back and cap. In winter, they lose their black and turn more buff in colour, with a pale throat, chest and belly. In mixed flocks, Golden Plovers can be distinguished from Lapwings by their sharp, pointed wings (Lapwings have bluntly rounded wings).
Nests on moorlands in Scotland, northern England, Wales and Devon. Spends the winter on lowland farmland and muddy estuaries around the coast.
There are two other species of Golden plover: the American golden plover (which breeds in Canada and Alaska and winters in South America), and the Pacific golden plover (which breeds northern Asia and winters in South Asia and Australia). Both species are extremely rare visitors to the UK each year.
Golden Plover by Lee Harris
The Grey plover is similar to the Golden plover, but as its name suggests, has a silver- and black-speckled back, rather than a gold one…
These wild, open landscapes stretch over large areas and are most often found in uplands. Although slow to awaken in spring, by late…
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A Crisis? Or a Crossroads?
This morning I heard the news that the Robert Mapplethorpe residence on E. 17th Street would be closing by the end of the year. To some of my friends and colleagues, this news, coming on the heels of the closing of Rivington House at the end of the summer, is troubling. The Mapplethorpe Residence and Rivington House were opened to serve the long-term nursing care needs of people who were living with AIDS: people who were hardest hit by an army of opportunistic infections that required intensive, lifelong solutions. Today, the numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS in New York City and requiring that level of care has plummeted to the point that neither Rivington House nor the Mapplethorpe Residence were fully occupied. Numerous theories and stories have circulated about the motives for closing these centers (Is the real estate they inhabit more valuable than the program? Has mismanagement of funds created a situation where the cash is more important than the conscience? Are people living with AIDS just not important enough anymore?), but I think there’s a different question to be asking.
Has the HIV/AIDS Industry become a victim of its own success?
That’s a dangerous question to ask, because it overlooks the human element. There are still 50,000 new diagnoses of HIV every year, and despite tens of millions of dollars spent in prevention education and outreach, that number has remained fairly constant. HIV, in spite of efforts to the contrary, is in no danger of going away, is in no danger of being cured, and is still creating challenges, daily challenges, in the lives of over one million Americans, and tens of millions of people worldwide.
However, if you take a step back, and look at the epidemic from 30,000 feet, particularly in areas of the world like New York City where despite a slow start in the 80’s, have become places with amazing supports and services, you will see a different picture. Last Friday, Iris House, an organization founded in 1992 to serve the needs of women living with HIV, released a report that its client base has a viral suppression rate of 250% of the national average, where 5 in 6 clients have improved health outcomes, where more than 50% of those with AIDS diagnoses have dramatic health gains, and where less than one in ten individuals diagnosed with HIV ever receive an AIDS diagnosis. These statistics show tremendous progress in the war against HIV/AIDS. We are looking at a population that is greatly benefiting from supportive services, from case management, and from education on topics ranging from treatment adherence to diabetes prevention. When individuals are able to address their health care challenges and have the support and education to improve their own outcomes, they may never need a facility like Rivington House or the Mapplethorpe residence.
New York City and its plethora of AIDS Service Organizations are succeeding in their work. No, there’s no cure yet, and until there is, we still have to provide critical support to people who may not have the resources to manage on their own, but here in this city, for the most part, there are options and successes.
Isn’t it the dream of everyone working on a particular disease or condition to find solutions that no longer require our services?
If medical technology has advanced enough that fewer and fewer people need long-term intensive nursing care for AIDS related conditions, isn’t that a good thing? And if they can be cared for in spaces that have a broader range of services, where broader needs can be met more efficiently (yes, I’m talking human efficiency as well as financial efficiency: healthcare is a business), shouldn’t we welcome that? Rivington House and the Mapplethorpe residence were both born of a time when no one wanted people living with AIDS mixed into the general population. Rather than looking at their closures as failures, shouldn’t we see them as happy circumstances where isolation and stigma are no longer part of the experience of aging with AIDS?
It’s true that the residents of these facilities became each others’ families, and as someone who has performed at Rivington House with Lifebeat’s Hearts and Voices program, I know how close the residents and the staff are to each other. It’s never happy when a family is broken apart, but in the greater face of the successes this represents, if that’s the greatest problem, it’s one we’re going to have to learn to live with.
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Trump Doesn't Read Novels: But You Should!
I often get to call upon my history as a theatre major, but rarely do I get much opportunity to call on my double: I was also an English major. (Quel surprise, right?!) I thought I'd take this opportunity to delve into the treasure trove that is 20th Century Literature and give you a top ten list of books to read right now. You can read these in any order you'd like, but I'd suggest alternating from one list to the other to avoid burnout.
FIVE BOOKS TO UNDERSTAND OUR WORLD
1) "1984" by George Orwell. I know, we're all saying it, and there's a reason that it's at the top of Amazon's list right now. I recall reading it in 7th Grade and having one of the meanest most effective social experiments played on us by our teacher, Connie Cundiff. She taught us what fear and distrust meant in a week long lesson that still lives with me three decades later.
2) "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess. We know the film better, but the ultraviolence in the novel is even grander when you consider that the character of Alex is only 15 years old. (Malcolm McDowell was 27 when it was filmed.) How does fear and the loss of power affect the mind of a working class man and his friends? With deadly consequences.
3) "The Four Gated City" by Doris Lessing is a book I need to go back and re-read. The title and its impact sticks with me more than the plot, but a quick google search comes back with, "The novel "takes on the medical profession", which it is suggested is "destroying [...] that part of humanity which is in fact most sensitive to evolution". It "criticizes the scientists who have created and perpetuate a climate in which "rationalism" has become a new God"; the novel further explores the possibilities of people having " 'extra-sensory perception', in varying degrees, but "have been brainwashed into suppressing it, and that is the name of our blindest contemporary prejudice."
4) "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" by Muriel Spark, where a cult of personality in a 1930's Scottish schoolroom parallels the rise of fascism.
5) "The Persecution and Assassination of Jean Paul Marat as peformed by the Inmates at the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade," by Peter Weiss. Okay, so it's a play, not a novel, but this study of French extremism by a German ex-pat after World War II shines a spotlight onto the human condition and what it does with and to structures of power.
FIVE BOOKS TO HELP GET THROUGH IT
1) "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving, tells the story of John Wheelwright and his best friend Owen Meany growing up together in a small New Hampshire town during the 1950s and 1960s. According to John's narration, Owen is a remarkable boy in many ways; he believes himself to be God's instrument and sets out to fulfill the fate he has prophesied for himself. As a white man, I'm a fan of John Irving (yes, his world view is pretty limited to upper middle class white people in prep school, wrestlers and bears), but this novel will be among the top ten 20th Century novels when the canon is set in stone.
2) "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. The story of Celie's struggles against the oppressive yoke of Mr. _______'s sexism and internalized racism resonates more and more every day. Strong female characters, self-determination, resiliency, fierceness and wisdom make this novel an absolute must read.
3) "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. Never let the bastards grind you down. Here's a novel of resistance in a world where women capable of having children are prized among all others. Wait, did I say prized? I meant as in a prize sow or cow: kept for breeding purposes. Once again, the spirit of sisterhood and the connection between women shows a path forward.
4) "Watership Down," by Richard Adams, tells the story of rabbits Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig as they try to establish a safe, egalitarian community, free from the destructive force of man and the fascism of other warrens. It's a fantasy, to be sure, but one which prizes collaboration, creativity and community and celebrates freedom from want and fear. (And no, it's not free from criticism, particularly around gender.)
5) "The Lord of the Rings," by J. R. R. Tolkein. Okay, so yes, like Watership Down, it's got some issues with gender and race. But it's one hell of a fantasy novel that tracks a rag-tag band of individuals from a range of different communities collaborating together to take on a powerful fascist leader. Maybe it's just escapism, but there's a lot here too.
IF THOSE BOOKS DON'T HELP?
Go rewatch season three of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Watch her take on the Mayor.
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Quentin Tarantino »
Future Tarantino: Where it's never gonna happen, but we hope that it does(n't).
jtm · 204 · 78061
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Go Down
squints
Re: Future Tarantino: Where it's never gonna happen, but we hope that it does(n
Reply #135 on: April 05, 2007, 06:11:29 PM
he needs to lay off the drinking/smoking/talking whatever it is that's making him sound like a cross between Rip Taylor, Casey Kasem, and Harvey Fierstein
“The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Reply #136 on: April 27, 2007, 09:12:30 AM
Weinsteins investing in Asian films
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Setting their sights on Asia, Bob and Harvey Weinstein are setting up a $285 million fund, with the help of Goldman Sachs, to invest in movies with Asian themes and elements.
The fund, first reported Thursday by Bloomberg News, will be used to finance the production, acquisition and marketing of about 31 Asian films to be distributed by the Weinstein Co. over six years. The offering summary said the target is 21 theatrically released films and 10 direct-to-video titles.
With Goldman Sachs serving as the private placement agent, the fund is to be capitalized with $200 million of senior debt, $45 million of mezzanine debt and $40 million of equity, including a $15 million contribution from the Weinstein Co. and $25 million from third-party investors.
The movies will have strong Asian themes, use Asian talent, will be produced or filmed in Asia or will have major story lines that take place in Asia.
Titles that the fund is expected to handle include Wong Kar Wai's "My Blueberry Nights," the opening-night film at the Festival de Cannes, and a remake of the Hong Kong martial arts movie "Come Drink With Me," directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Goldman Sachs also played a role in raising the $490 million in equity and $500 million in debt that the Weinsteins used to establish their company in 2005.
Re: Future Tarantino: Where it's never gonna happen, but we hope that it does(n't).
Reply #137 on: June 15, 2007, 06:19:58 PM
Tarantino wraps scenes in Miike's Sukiyaki Western
Source: Screen Daily
Quentin Tarantino has completed his scenes in Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western: Django.
The rest of the film had already been completed, with scenes between Tarantino and actress Kaori Momoi remaining to be shot until 7am yesterday (June 11).
At a press conference attended by 600 members of the media yesterday evening, seven minutes of footage from the film was shown with the entire cast on hand to answer questions and speak about the difficulties of shooting the entire film in English.
"I'm good at English!" joked Tarantino. Commenting on filming, Tarantino explained: "Just as my film sets aren't your typical Hollywood set, Miike's aren't your typical Japanese film set."
Though referencing the Genji-Heike clan wars from Japanese history, Sukiyaki Western: Django is being billed as Japan 's first true western. The title pays homage to the spaghetti western (or "macaroni western" as they're referred to in Japan) character Franco Nero made famous in the 1960s.
The film stars Hideaki Ito (the Umizaru films), Koichi Sato (Suite Dreams), Kaori Momoi (Love And Honor, Memoirs Of A Geisha), Yusuke Iseya (Tekkon Kinkreet, Casshern) and Masanobu Ando (Nightmare Detective, Big Bang Love)
Shot in Yamagata Prefecture, the $6.5m (Y800m) production is the prolific helmer's most expensive to date. The production consortium includes Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan (SPEJ), Sedic International, Geneon Entertainment, Dentsu, TV Asahi and Shogakukan.
SPEJ releases Sukiyaki Western: Django this September through Shochiku cinemas. Japan 's Broadmedia releases Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez' Grindhouse in early fall.
“Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” - Andy Warhol
Skeleton FilmWorks
Reply #138 on: September 21, 2007, 01:56:20 PM
Quentin Tarantino’s Porno Movie?
Source: /Film
Quentin Tarantino has taken on the Martial Arts Revenge, Blaxploitation and Grindhouse genres, and he now wants to make a call back to the 1970’s European nudie films. Tarantino told the Daily Telegraph that he wants to make:
“… a cool sex movie that would take place in Stockholm, with a couple of Americans visiting a couple of Swedish friends… just going out drinking, having a good time, hooking up. If I actually do an erotic movie, I’m going to have to reveal what I find sexy, what turns me on… It’s got to be kind of kinky, because that’s what’s cinematic, that’s what’s fun. Everything else is just - shagging.”
Oh jeeez. We already know that Tarantino has a foot fetish. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know about Tarantino’s kinks and what he “finds sexy.” Please Quentin, don’t make a sex movie! Fear not, this all seems like meaningless talk. And even if it wasn’t, Tarantino has talked about a bunch of projects that he has never followed through with (his WWII-movie: Inglorious Bastards, for example). And while we’re on the subject, why can’t Tarantino just make another Tarantino movie again? I’d give 2 Kill Bills and 1 Grindhouse for one more Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction.
Gold Trumpet
Oh man, I can't stop laughing. I hope he does make it just because it will show how narrow his interests have become. I mean, come on, he's relating his kinky interests to being cinematic. He's insane.
I say there is a decent chance he will make it because he does go to Sweden and other countries up there a lot to just party. The film will be easy for him to write and easy to get greenlit.
Ten Directors Who Could Make an Even Unsexier Sex Movie Than Quentin Tarantino
Source: NYmag.com
In "Page Six" today, Quentin Tarantino says he'd like to make "a cool sex movie that would take place in Stockholm, with a couple of Americans visiting a couple of Swedish friends … just going out drinking, having a good time, hooking up." Obviously said film would be completely disgusting, but it could actually be worse, believe it or not. We thought about it all morning and came up with a list of directors that could, if commanded, make an even unsexier movie about sex.
10. Oliver Stone
"It would take place in Vietnam, with a couple of American GIs visiting their friends . . . just going out drinking, committing atrocities, hooking up."
9. Larry David
"It would take place in Los Angeles. It would be me, visiting my wife. We would not have sex."
8. Paul Greengrass
"It would take place in London, Vienna, Prague, Bangkok, Sydney, and New York, with an international spy searching for the truth of his existence. In between waterboardings, he hooks up with his CIA handler."
7. Noah Baumbach
"It would take place in Brooklyn, with a couple visiting another couple at their apartment. They would argue, and the husband (Jeff Daniels) would sleep with his best friend's wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh). They would feel horrible about it."
6. M. Night Shyamalan
"It would take place in Philadelphia, with a guy having sex with a bunch of women, but in the end, you would find out that the main character has been hallucinating it all, and actually he's just been masturbating."
5. Wes Anderson
"It would take place in an impeccably designed Parisian apartment on the Île de la Cité, with three brothers visiting their estranged architect father. What is this sex of which you speak?"
4. Woody Allen
"It would take place in New York, with a guy reliving the women he's loved over his life, in homage to Fellini's 8 1/2. I would play the man and would have sweaty sex with Scarlett Johansson, Beyoncé Knowles, Lauren Conrad, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Emily Blunt."
3. Paul Haggis
"It would take place in Los Angeles, with a white cop visiting the home of the black woman whose son he accidentally killed. Forced to confront his own racism, he insults her with a slur, collapses weeping into her arms, then tenderly kisses her brow."
2. Mel Gibson
"It would take place in ancient Egypt, be performed completely in hieroglyphics, and consist of 117 minutes of a slave being beaten to death."
1. Stanley Kubrick
"It would take place in New York, star Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, and be called Eyes Wide Shut."
Some were funny and some were not, but the last one made the whole thing work beautifully. Very funny.
ElPandaRoyal
Nah, that wasn't funny at all. Not even the introduction. I mean, what the hell is this: "Obviously said film would be completely disgusting". I don't even think this qualifies as criticism. It's just plain arrogance actually.
i think tarantino would make a lesser "disgusting" sex film then uh fuckin m. night shalalaladingdong or gibson. but. oliver stone? it would be horific but not unsexy... i guess you can say the same for eyes wide shut?
id fuck ayn rand
Reply #144 on: July 25, 2009, 04:40:38 PM
Will Quentin Tarantino Tackle A (Spaghetti) Western Next?
Source: ThePlaylist
So much for all that "Inglourious Basterds," prequel/sequel talk which you kind of knew wasn't going to happen regardless.
What's next for director Quentin Tarantino? Well, the guy is certainly a genre-hopper. "Well I still want to do a Western, I haven't done a Western yet. I keep flirting about with it, but I haven't done it yet," Tarantino said to Empire on the red carpet promoting "Inglourious Basterds," that premiered in the U.K. this week.
This makes total sense, really, Tarantino has basically made an homage to all his favorite kinds of films thoughtout his career: a kung-fu movie (the "Kill Bill" films), a blaxploitation flick ("Jackie Brown"), a a grindhouse B-movie/slasher film ("Death Proof"), a crime gangster picture and one with the strands of the French New Wave ("Resevoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction") and a war adventure-epic ("Basterds").
Though there are shades of a Spaghetti Western in "Kill Bill 2," and "Inglourious Basterds," he's never really shot a a full-on Italiano-like guns n' grit movie and lord knows Tarantino loves him some Ennio Morricone, Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, etc. etc., the list goes on, the man is a spaghetti Western encylopedia (like he is about many genres).
Now he also loves John Wayne films too and he didn't say qualify his Western quote with "spaghetti," but if we were betting people, which we are, we'd put our money down that there would be many shade of the Italy-set sub-genre.
It seems that Empire asked Tarantino about alleged projects like a remake of "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" and another remake of the martial-arts flick "Come Drink With Me," but Tarantino response seems to suggest he doesn't even have a basic idea or concept for the Western yet. It's just something he'd love to try. "Well I won't be able to do anything in ten months from now, because I don't even know what the next movie's gonna be."
So a Western next? More 'Inglourious' films? Tarantino works at his own pace without rushing things. We bet you won't hear anything concrete for a while other than hopes and ideas and we're not convinced 'Basterds' is going to do well enough at the box-office to beget sequels or prequels. Time will tell, but obviously August 21 is not looking entirely hopeful as of today.
Reply #145 on: August 15, 2009, 03:27:06 PM
Tarantino Wants To Adapt Len Deighton, Work With Simon Pegg, Kate Winslett and Michael Caine
Source: Slashfilm
The Inglourious Basterds publicity continues apace with Quentin Tarantino now speaking to members of the UK press. With a sweet appreciation of Brit cinema culture, Tarantino decided to tell us which actors of ours he likes, and just what UK-set film project he’d like to tackle.
Here are the key quotes from Yahoo’s coverage:
I am a huge fan of Simon Pegg, so I would definitely love to work with him. I also think Kate Winslet is one of the best actresses that ever lived, so I would be honoured to work with her. I am also a huge admirer of Anthony Hopkins. I would also love to work with Michael Caine. I can see them appearing in my movies, it just has to be right.
I love England. It would be a wonderful life experience to have an excuse to work here for six or nine months. One of the things I am musing about doing is the trilogy of Len Deighton books, Berlin Game, Mexico Set and London Match. The story takes place in the Cold War and follows a spy name Bernard Samson. What is attractive is the really great characters and the wonderful opportunities of British and German casting.
Opportunities also presented in Basterds, of course. Christoph Waltz has proven to be the big revelation here though the cast is full of wonderful players.
We all know that Tarantino muses a huge heap of projects, possibly even a new one every day. Taking on Deighton, however, would give him a crack at the Bond that he was previously denied. I can see it happening one day. Just like Inglourious Basterds seemed to be a forever ellusive vaporflick for over a decade before finally coalescing in relatively snappy fashion, I’m sure some of his other conjectures will one day come to pass.
Perhaps my favourite as-yet unproduced Tarantino projects would be the remake of Come Drink With Me and his horror film featuring a vengeful ghost from the slave plantations, particularly the latter. Indeed, any Tarantino-powered horror film would grab my attention right away.
Ian Holm played Bernard Samson in the TV adaptation of the Game, Set and Match series. Shame to see him left out of Tarantino’s love list… but then, he could have gone on for hours, I’m sure. Who else do you think he should have included?
Reply #146 on: September 09, 2009, 09:46:12 AM
Next Tarantino Movie An Homage To Beloved Tarantino Movies Of Director's Youth
Source: The Onion
MADRID—While attending a European press junket Monday for his film Inglourious Basterds, director Quentin Tarantino announced that his next project, Jack Rabbit Slim, will go into production this fall, and will be an homage to his favorite director and screenwriter of all time: Quentin Tarantino.
Enlarge Image Tarantino
"I've been a Tarantino fan for as long as I can remember," said Tarantino, who repeatedly referred to his hero as "The Master." "Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown—those movies were basically my film school. I mean, the ability to take a genre or a subgenre, embrace it to its core, and then blow it up and make it your own is something that has to be admired."
"We're talking about the quintessential writer-director of our time," Tarantino added.
A self-described "Tarantino geek," Tarantino said Jack Rabbit Slim was conceived as a tribute to his idol, and is deeply influenced by Tarantino's blaxsploitation movies of the late 1990s, Tarantino's classic multi-volume kung fu pictures, and the grindhouse films of the late 2000s that Tarantino made famous.
Tarantino has already cast the once-popular actor Eric Roberts to play Slim, in a role director believes will resurrect Roberts' career.
The film will reportedly feature elements and techniques lifted directly from Tarantino's past works, including numerous point-of-view shots from car trunks, and references to Tarantino's favorite cult films, My Best Friend's Birthday and From Dusk Till Dawn.
Stills from four of the films that inspired the director to emulate Tarantino's style.
In one sequence Tarantino called "distinctly Tarantino-esque," Slim delivers an unexpectedly poetic monologue on cheeseburgers while dancing to an Ennio Morricone instrumental with a drug-addled Uma Thurman. And in the film's stunning climax, Slim remembers his training with a martial arts expert in China and then exacts revenge on the film's antagonists: a Nazi colonel, a Hollywood stuntman, and a Los Angeles syndicate of 88 yakuza warriors.
As an homage to Tarantino, Tarantino said he also plans to give the famed director a minor role in the film.
"If nothing else, I hope Jack Rabbit Slim makes moviegoers want to go back and explore the complete filmography of this great, great American artist," Tarantino said. "I really can't think of another living director who has made as large a contribution to the evolution of world cinema, and I feel it is my duty as a filmmaker to remind people of that."
Added Tarantino, "God, I love Quentin Tarantino."
The filmmaker, who became more and more excited when talking about the films of Quentin Tarantino, admitted that he has an autographed Reservoir Dogs poster signed by the director hanging in his living room. He also bragged about owning the syringe that John Travolta used to give Uma Thurman an adrenaline shot in Pulp Fiction.
"The actual one," Tarantino stressed.
Tarantino went on to say he was pleased to see that, almost 20 years into his career, director Quentin Tarantino was still going strong with his latest film, Inglourious Basterds, which Tarantino felt was one of the legendary filmmaker's "very best."
"If Jack Rabbit Slim is even a third as good as Basterds, I might just make a movie so good that Tarantino himself will give it a standing ovation," Tarantino said. "You know what, I bet he will."
©brad
Goddamn I love the Onion.
please, it's not even funny.
it really wasnt. at all. it was like Conan unfunny.
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https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/mission/board-of-directors/rick-tryon RICK TRYON
Rick Tryon
Board Director
Lieutenant General Tryon enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1970 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps in 1975 upon graduation from the Naval Academy.
Following The Basic School, he held various assignments in 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, served as aide-de-camp to the commanding general 1st Marine Division/I MAF, and completed a tour as the headquarters company commander, 4th Marines in Okinawa in 1980.
After a tour at Recruiting Station New York, he attended Amphibious Warfare School in 1983. He then joined 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, where he served as company commander and operations officer. He attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1987, concurrently earning a master’s degree in management from Webster University.
In 1988, he transferred to the Special Operations Command, Europe. He deployed in support of Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, serving with the Joint Special Operations Task Force. Following Desert Storm, he deployed with Joint Special Operations Task Force Provide Comfort operating in northern Iraq and southern Turkey.
In 1991, he reported to the Special Operations Training Group, II MEF as director of the Special Missions Branch. From 1993 to 1995, he commanded 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. He was then assigned to the Pentagon as deputy executive assistant to the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until 1997. He attended The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and received a master’s degree in international public policy in 1998.
He served as commanding officer, 24th MEU (SOC) from 1998 to 2000, and as commanding officer, Marine Barracks, Washington, DC, from 2000 until 2002. From 2002 until 2004, he served as executive officer to the supreme allied commander, Europe/Commander, U.S. European Command.
In 2004, he was assigned as commanding general of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and the Eastern Recruiting Region and subsequently as commanding general of Marine Corps Recruiting Command, Quantico, Virginia, in June 2006. In June 2008, he assumed command of 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. One month later, he further assumed duties as commanding general, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).
Upon deployment to Iraq in January 2009, he was designated as the commanding general, Multinational Force—West. In January 2010, he returned to Camp Lejeune, relinquishing command of II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) in February 2010 and 2nd Marine Division in July 2010. In October 2010, he was selected as deputy commandant for Plans, Policies, and Operations. He assumed duties as commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command and U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe in June 2013.
Lieutenant General Tryon retired from the Marine Corps in August 2014. He is currently the senior fellow in international leadership in the Hicks Honors College at the University of North Florida. He joined the Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) Advisory Council in 2015 and now serves on the WWP Board of Directors.
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Shipment of COVID-19 vaccine to Rhode Island cut by 36% next week
by: Eli Sherman, Alexandra Leslie
Posted: Dec 17, 2020 / 05:39 PM EST / Updated: Dec 18, 2020 / 07:12 AM EST
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island joins a growing list of states to learn that it will receive about a third fewer doses of the Pfizer vaccine than originally promised next week, dealing a blow the state’s rollout plan.
Gov. Gina Raimondo announced Thursday the number of doses expected to be delivered to the state has been cut from 10,725 to 6,825. She said it’s not entirely clear why, as the federal government hasn’t provided an explanation behind the decision.
“We have heard accounts of similar reductions in other states, and no clear explanation has been provided by Operation Warp Speed,” Raimondo said a in statement. “We are calling on the Trump administration to honor its commitments and provide the full allocation to Rhode Island.”
The reduction appears to stem from a breakdown in communication between Operation Warp Speed and Pfizer. The federal government has offered little explanation about what’s going on, while the drug-making company issued a statement saying it’s experiencing no production issues and is awaiting instructions.
“We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses,” the company said in a statement issued Thursday.
Whatever the delay, it doesn’t appear to be tied to politics, as both Democrat- and Republican-led states are reporting similar cuts, including Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Montana and Washington.
12 News reached out to the White House for an explanation Thursday evening.
The reduction complicates the state’s rollout out plan, as it means fewer people will be able to get the vaccine next week. It could also mean delays in the following weeks, raising questions about how quickly the state will be able to inoculate frontline health care workers.
Likewise, it casts a question mark over when nursing home residents will start receiving the vaccine, a process that was originally supposed to begin at the same time as hospital workers — but was delayed in Rhode Island until at least the week beginning Dec. 28.
“We are continuing to distribute the vaccine as quickly as possible to our frontline health care workers, and we are evaluating the impact of these reductions on our vaccination planning,” Raimondo said.
However, hospitals around the country are finding that vials containing Pfizer’s vaccine have more doses inside than expected.
Both Lifespan and Care New England confirmed Thursday they were able to get more than the five doses intended.
During a weekly interview with 12 News, R.I. Medical Director Dr. James McDonald said the state is adjusting its plans in the wake of the news. He said it also underscores how important it is to get other vaccines into the supply chain. Following the interview, an FDA advisory panel endorsed a second COVID-19 vaccine created by the drug-making company Moderna.
“It’s one of those things where it makes what’s happening at the FDA today with the Moderna vaccine all the more important because it would be nice to have a second vaccine to offer people,” McDonald said.
The R.I. COVID-19 Vaccine Subcommittee, which is offering the Health Department guidance around operations and the administering of vaccines, is already scheduled to meet Friday morning to discuss logistics surrounding the rollout.
Dr. Philip Chan, an infection disease doctor with the state’s Health Department, is also expected to address the issue during the governor’s weekly news conference scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Eli Sherman (esherman@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for WPRI 12. Follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
by Sarah Doiron / Jan 15, 2021
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) — When New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell looked at a map of where vaccination sites are located across Massachusetts, he wasn't pleased with what he saw.
"I was a little incredulous," he recalled. "I couldn't actually believe that there were no sites set up in Southeastern Massachusetts, or even Cape Cod, or even in far Western Mass."
by RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and BILL BARROW Associated Press / Jan 15, 2021
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden pledged Friday to boost supplies of coronavirus vaccine and set up new vaccination sites to meet his goal of 100 million shots in 100 days. It's part of a broader COVID strategy that also seeks to straighten out snags in testing and ensure minority communities are not left out.
“Some wonder if we are reaching too far,” Biden said. “Let me be clear, I'm convinced we can get it done.”
by Brittany Schaefer, Bay Gammans / Jan 15, 2021
FOXBORO, Mass. (WPRI) — The home of the New England Patriots is now home to Massachusetts' first mass vaccination site.
CIC Health's mass clinic at Gillette Stadium opened for select health care workers and first responders on Friday.
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How Calcutta Business Became A Global Steel-Industry Player
By Chris Adams, Jonathan Karp and Lawrence IngrassiaStaff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal
The dominoes are starting to fall in the U.S. steel industry, and a little-known Indian businessman has just toppled a big one.
Lakshmi Mittal on Tuesday finally found a U.S. steelmaker he could buy, after years of interest and at least one failed attempt. In buying Inland Steel Co., one of the oldest and proudest integrated steel companies in the U.S., Mr. Mittal will upset a staid domestic industry and could usher in a new era of consolidation.
That suits Mr. Mittal just fine.
The head of Rotterdam-based Ispat International NV is swiftly emerging as the Andrew Carnegie of a brave new world in the global steel industry. Like the Scottish-born steel baron of a century ago, Mr. Mittal is an obsessively hard-working expatriate-living on "millionaire's row" in the Hampstead area of London. In just two decades, Mr. Mittal has taken an obscure family steel empire based in Calcutta, India, and built what is now set to become one of the five largest steelmakers in the world. More remarkably, he has done it by snapping up decrepit state-run facilities and by pushing a largely untested steelmaking technology.
"I hear the same buzz about Ispat that I heard about Nucor in the 1980s," says Lou Schorsch, a steel-industry consultant with McKinsey & Co.
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17th-annual International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference to be held virtually this year
The conference will be held from Sept. 23-25. Here's how you can register.
Credit: University of Toledo Facebook
Author: WTOL Newsroom
Published: 8:44 AM EDT September 16, 2020
Updated: 8:44 AM EDT September 16, 2020
TOLEDO, Ohio — The 17th-annual International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference will be held virtually this year due to coronavirus concerns.
Survivors, researchers and advocates around the world will come together virtually for the conference at the University of Toledo from Sept. 23 through Sept. 25.
The conference will be held on Zoom and will feature more than 100 speakers and 70 breakout sessions.
Although the conference is normally held in person, organizers say a plus of having it virtually this year is to give people all over the world the opportunity to attend.
“We are in a unique position this year with hosting our conference virtually as we will be able to reach thousands of more individuals from all over the world who would not have had the opportunity to travel to attend our conference,” Dr. Celia Williamson, Distinguished University Professor and director of the UToledo Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, said. “Our top priority is to keep everyone safe while still fulfilling our mission of uniting the global community to learn, connect and collaborate to combat human trafficking and promote social justice.”
In the past year, the UToledo Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute launched the F.R.E.E. Program, which provides scholarships and support for survivors of human trafficking from across the country as they pursue their education goals.
The F.R.E.E. Program, which has 55 human trafficking survivors currently enrolled, is the focus of one of the sessions. Attendees will hear success stories from the women who benefit from this program.
Other presentations include:
“Sex and Labor Trafficking of the Intellectual and Developmental Disability Population” 1:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25 by Pat Stephens, director of the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities, and Steve Mentrek, program director at Bittersweet Farms;
“Prevalence of Transactional Sex Among High School Students in Minnesota” 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23 by Dr. Lauren Martin, associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing; Caroline Palmer, Safe Harbor Director at the Minnesota Department of Health; and Dr. Nic Rider, assistant professor and licensed psychologist at the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School and co-associate director for research at the National Center for Gender Spectrum Health;
“Raised in Pimp City: The Truth About Domestic Human Sex Trafficking” 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23 by Armand King, co-founder of the nonprofit Paving Great Futures;
“Increasing Organizational Capacity to Better Serve and Reach LGBTQ+ Survivors of Human Trafficking” 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 24 by Alexander Delgado, program officer for the Trafficking Victim Assistance Program at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants; and
“Emancipation Nation Network: Social Justice through Online Connection and Education” 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 24 by Williamson at UToledo.
For a full schedule of presentations or to register, visit the conference website.
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Trailblazing police chief embraces new priorities within law enforcement
Anne Arundel's new top cop is a gay, Black woman who is transforming her department to reflect the priorities of the people.
Author: Adam Longo (WUSA 9)
Updated: 3:48 AM EST December 23, 2020
HYATTSVILLE, Md. — You would forgive newly minted Anne Arundel County Police Chief Amal Awad if she zoomed straight to the point. As the incoming police chief in a county of 580,000 residents and nearly 800 sworn law enforcement officers, Chief Awad has an overflowing list of people and priorities that demand her attention.
I wanted to talk about her mother. About her upbringing. About how a young girl who grew up with six siblings to a single parent could ascend the law enforcement ranks so quickly and at the age of 53 assume her second command post.
"I look to my mom," Awad replied when asked about her career ascension. "Her strength, her wisdom, the way she raised us."
RELATED: 'I am not leaving because I want to': Anne Arundel Co. police chief announces surprise retirement after 20 years
Credit: Amal Awad
Chief Awad as a Major with the Prince George's County Police Department with her mother.
As an African American child growing up in Washington, D.C. and in Prince George's County, Awad recognizes the wide range of experiences kids can have when they encounter a law enforcement officer for the first time.
"I experienced contact with the police, not to the degree that some people can obviously share with you," Awad said. "As a kid being out late at night on a basketball court with the other kids, the police were called to usher us along. We were teenagers and we shouldn’t have been out that late. But I was always taught to respect authority. My mother shared with us that when you’re stopped by the police, give them respect as you would give any adult and you comply. I didn’t know what that meant then. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized she was trying to keep us safe."
RELATED: At least 4 local police chiefs have resigned this year as nation grapples with systemic racism
Chief Awad and family in her promotion to Major at PGPD
Awad has been in law enforcement for 30 years, beginning as an officer with the Prince George's County Police Department. She earned a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University in management. She previously worked in the Anne Arundel County Police Department as chief of staff to the former police chief.
A wide range of Awad's police experience and philosophies were discussed by the Anne Arundel County Council before their unanimous vote on her approval on Dec. 7 She assumed command of the department on Dec. 17.
#WhoWeAre pic.twitter.com/UAdga45SNu
— Anne Arundel Police (@AACOPD) December 17, 2020
Of particular interest is her embrace of increased police resources that deal with mental and behavioral crises.
"I support a co-responder model where an officer is paired with a clinician," Awad said. "There’s a certification crisis intervention training that I’m looking to get our officers so when they’re responding to these incidents they’re able to see a behavioral issue or mental health issue. Clearly they can't diagnose it, but identify when someone’s in crisis, and give the person space, time and distance to reassess what we need to do to help."
In a first for the Hyattsville Police Department, Awad hired a civilian, Adrienne Augustus, for a dual-purpose role: to serve as both the department's public information officer and as its mental health programs manager.
Credit: Julia Nikhinson/The Hyattsville Life and Times
Adrienne Augustus is the new Mental Health Programs Manager for the Hyattsville Police Department.
"Our officers have unfortunately become not just agents to protect and serve but social workers," Augustus said. "And they shouldn’t be. I think we all know that."
Augustus is also the founder and President of A Beautiful Mind Foundation, a nonprofit group that helps connect minorities with mental health services and treatment.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR GRANT RECIPIENTS!
Sat. we announced the first #ABMF grant recipients. Thanks to our generous donors, #ABMF was able to award $22,315 to 20 organizations in 10 states and D.C. See the full list here https://t.co/7VQM7z0L5L #MinorityMentalHealthMonth pic.twitter.com/IK4QRmRV9s
— A Beautiful Mind Foundation (@BM4MentalHealth) July 23, 2020
Augustus said her hiring is part of the "defund the police" movement. In a social media post after she joined the Hyattsville Police Department, Augustus wrote, "Defunding the police means shifting funding from a focus of routine law enforcement to a plan that includes funding for community support that works in tandem with good policing."
When asked if she agreed with the philosophy behind "defund the police" Chief Awad said she welcomes the refocusing of police priorities.
"I don’t think there’s a benefit to saying 'defund the police,'" Awad said. "I do believe we could allocate resources to help us help the community, particularly where mental or behavioral health incidents or crises are concerned."
Chief Awad as a recruit at the PGPD Police Academy
Awad is the first female, African American and gay police chief to permanently hold the job in Anne Arundel County.
"I fully recognize that I wear a uniform my mother did not have the opportunity in her lifetime, had she chosen this profession, to wear," she said. "I don’t take my position lightly."
The social justice protests of June marched not only through the streets of Washington, D.C. but also the streets of Hyattsville.
"June was a tough month for me and a lot of people who look like me," Augustus said. "I think a lot of us were reminded that we are 'African' Americans. But through all of the tragedy that occurred, a lot of people were awakened to the fact that things need to change."
Awad is helping to bring about that change.
"I’m happy to see progressive positive changes come about," Awad said. "Sadly George Floyd lost his life and his family is left to grieve. His name will be memorialized in history for the changes were seeing and about to see. This is huge."
She is a public figure and a department leader, but Awad still has to confront the continued challenges of being a black woman and a mother in the United States.
"I recognize when I walk out the door, I’m not always wearing a uniform," she said. "I’m an African American woman. And I’m concerned, not only for myself, my family, my friends. Everyone."
Credit: Hyattsville PD
Chief Awad being sworn into her post as Hyattsville Police Chief. 2018.
Despite those concerns, Awad wants her law enforcement colleagues to approach the job with a different attitude.
"I say this to officers frequently. 'Always know your why. Remember your why.' Because it's easy to get into this profession and become kind of disgruntled because you see so many people at their worst. So much negativity," Awad said. "There are occasions where you do see positive and you do help people. And you do have people come up to you and say, 'Hey. You arrested me. You changed my life. Thank you.'"
RELATED: VERIFY: Did DC 'Defund the Police?'
RELATED: Meet the man who designed the Black Lives Matter Plaza street sign
RELATED: A look at powerful social justice moments this year
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business|13 May, 2019
UAQ Ruler opens Mall of UAQ
The new shopping mall and the hypermarket of the group was officially inaugurated by Sheikh Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla
UMM AL QAIWAIN: Abu Dhabi based retailer LULU opened its latest shopping destination - Mall of UAQ in the emirate of Umm Al Qaiwain along with its LuLu Hypermarket.
The new shopping mall and the hypermarket of the group was officially inaugurated by His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, Member of UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Umm Al Qaiwain in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saud Al Mualla, Crown Prince of Umm Al Quwain and other royal family members.
Upon arrival, His Highness the Ruler and His Highness the Crown Prince was received by Yusuff Ali MA, Chairman & Managing Director of Lulu Group along with Saifee Rupawala, CEO, Ashraf Ali MA, Executive Director, Salim MA, Director & other senior officials. Also present on the occasion were number of other high-ranking government and police officers, representatives from the local business community and a large number of citizens and residents.
The ruler of UAQ unveiled a plaque to commemorate the official opening of Mall of UAQ and also digitally to mark the grand opening of the latest shopping center in the emirate.
After the inauguration, His Highness Sheikh Saud Al Mualla, His Highness Sheikh Rashid Al Mualla and other dignitaries toured various sections of the newly built mall and LuLu hypermarket and congratulated the Group Chairman, Yusuff Ali MA on the successful completion of the mall and also for providing a great family shopping destination to citizens and the residents of the emirate.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude to the His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, Member of UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Umm Al Qaiwain, His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saud Al Mualla, Crown Prince of Umm Al Quwain for personally coming and inaugurating the Mall of UAQ, the largest in the emirate of UAQ, which will bring world class shopping closer to citizens and residents”, said Yusuff Ali MA, Chairman of Lulu Group.
“This is a very important project for us in the emirate of UAQ as we expand our presence across the different parts of the UAE. It has been our policy to reach nearer to the people rather than driving long distance to reach us,” he said.
“We are upbeat about the economy and the vast investment opportunities laid open in the countries that we are expanding, thanks to the visionary leadership of UAE Rulers under the able guidance of HH Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE, HH Shaikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President & Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, HH Shaikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi & Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE Armed Forces, His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, Member of UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Umm Al Qaiwain, Ruler of other emirates, royal family members and citizens and residents of this great country for their support and cooperation”, added Yusuffali.
Strategically located on King Faisal Street, the Mall of UAQ is spread in a single level. The mall is complete with a full line of amenities and facilities which include the best brands of luxury and lifestyle, a well-appointed food court that serves international cuisines, coffee shops, money exchange, bank, dine-in outlets, 5 screen multiplex, an entertainment zone, prayer halls, among other facilities and will serve the residents of UAQ and its nearby areas.
The 100,000 sq. feet Lulu hypermarket will be the anchor tenant of the mall & it has been designed using the latest retail space concepts and most modern technology for ease of shopping and greater convenience.
The new mall is expected to become a major player in the emirates’ retail sector and a favourite shopping destination of the residents.
Also present on the occasion were Sheikh Humaid bin Ahmed Al Mualla, Sheikh Saif bin Rashid Al Mualla, Head of Economic Development Department, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, Vice Chairman of Umm Al Quwain Executive Council, Sheikh Majid bin Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, Head of Tourism and Antiquities Department, Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla Head of Department of Finance, Sheikh Ali bin Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, Head of Municipality Department, Sheikh Saqr bin Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, Eng. Sheikh Ahmed bin Khalid Al Mualla, Head of Urban Planning Department and a number of officials.
© Press Release 2019
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Is Public Shaming Necessary?
The boy in the picture was publicly humiliated after being suspended from school. Photo credit: Huffington post
It isn’t quite hard to catch a picture or video on the internet of a parent publicly shaming their child for acting out. Whether it is a dad breaking his daughter’s laptop for posting inappropriate content, or a mom forcing her son to walk the streets of LA wearing a cardboard box that says “I am a thief” in big black bold letters, these are all examples of a new form of discipline called public shaming. In fact, public shaming became so bad in areas like Illinois that Governor La Shawn K. Ford had to propose a legislation to penalize parents who discipline their child online. Public shaming, as the name suggests, humiliates a person in public for his/her wrongdoings as a form of punishment. It is understandable that a parent might get frustrated at their child, still, public shaming is unacceptable. Salvador Martinez (11) understands that “a child should be disciplined, but [he doesn’t] think that public shaming is a necessary form of punishment.”
For one, public shaming will damage a young child’s confidence and mindset. According to a study by June Tangney of George Mason University, reprimanding a child at a public setting causes him/her to feel shame rather than guilt. As Fatherly described it, “shame is an emotion that makes you feel bad about yourself; guilt is an emotion that makes you feel bad about something you did.” Public shaming, surprisingly, had a contrary effect on young children. Instead of feeling ashamed of their actions, children had lower confidence and self- esteem. A girl from Tacoma, Washington even tried to commit suicide after her dad posted a picture of her long hair cut as a punishment for sending a boy racy pictures. The girl clearly needed to be disciplined, however public shaming proved to be unsuccessful. Not only does public discipline lowers a child’s confidence, it also creates a permanent record on the internet. Even if the parent wanted to delete the picture or video later on, the video may have already gone viral. As a result, the child may have a hard time getting a job or be isolated at school or work. The internet is a scary place. By publicly displaying one’s children on the internet, parents are, unknowingly, exposing their child to internet predators. These predators approach children with small self-esteem, and victims of public shaming are just what they are looking for. At school or work, victims of public discipline can also become victims of bullying. After all, anyone can view something that is shared online.
Disciplining your child doesn’t haven’t to be a traumatizing experience; there are alternatives that proved to be drastically more successful. Try actively listening to your child or creating small consequences for bad behavior such as chores.
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Tag Archives: Gamezone
Vidya Game News – November 19, 2015
By sgreenwell on November 19, 2015 | Leave a comment
“It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.” – The Legend of Zelda.
– A cool project by a programmer dude is detailed on AtariAge, as he modified Dark Chambers into a version of Gauntlet that works on the Atarti 2600! Read about his work here.
– Confirming earlier trademark and copyright work, this week Sega confirmed that they are making a new Valkyria Chronicles for the Playstation 4, and remastering the old games as well. Sega Nerds had a translation of the Famitsu article. The third game never made it to the U.S., so it’s unclear if the new game or the remastered games will either.
– Two big Nintendo items this week. There will be a female Link, Linkle, in 3DS game Hyrule Warriors, per Twitter. Also, per almost every site on the Internet, the original Pokémon games will be getting re-releases.
– Neat advertising stuff, as Gamezone has an article by Samantha Bishop on the cool, old Kay Bee Toys flyers that got posted on Flickr. And from Tech2, they have the six worst gaming ads of all-time.
– Robyn Miller, the composer of Myst, has signed on to provide the music for Obduction. It’s a new graphical adventure that is clearly influenced by Myst.
– Cool Kickstarter project: an illustrated history of game controllers from 1972 to 1989. Check out the project from Player One Books here.
– Very important business from The Chicago Sun-Times, as Chicago Bulls player Tony Snell claims to have loved playing as Michael Jordan in NBA Jam. Say what? Everyone knows Jordan wasn’t in the game! He is probably confusing it with NBA Live 2000, which was the first basketball game in ages to actually have Jordan.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– In 2000, Banjo-Tooie came out. The sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, it was also well-reviewed. The platformer was the second-to-last game that Rare did for Nintendo, before becoming a developer for Microsoft.
– Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was released for the PC in 2003, a few months after its initial release on the Xbox. It was an excellent RPG developed by BioWare.
– Not quittteee this day, but on Nov. 18, 1998, the Game Boy Color came out. It’s a popular day for Nintendo releases, because the Wii came out on this day in 2006.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Posted in: Atari 2600, Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, PC, Playstation 4, Vidya Games News, Wii, Xbox | Tagged: AtariAge, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, controllers, Dark Chambers, Famitsu, Gamezone, gaming ads, Gauntlet, Hyrule Warriors, Kay Bee Toys, Kickstarter, Link, Linkle, Michael Jordan, Myst, NBA Live 2000, Nintendo, Obduction, Pokémon, Robyn Miller, Samantha Bishop, Sega, Sega Nerds, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Tech2, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Legend of Zelda, Tony Snell, Valkyria Chronicles
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Home / News / SUSPENSION OF BROADCAST OF “MONOLOGUE PROGRAMME” ON CITIZEN RADIO
The Sierra Leone Bar Association (hereinafter referred to as “SLBA”) like the rest of the public is aware of recent events surrounding the Independent Media Commission’s (hereinafter referred to as “IMC”) letter dated 4th July 2014 addressed to the ‘Station Manager, New Citizen Radio’ on its decision to suspend Broadcasting of Monologue Programme on Citizen Radio for 60 days. The SLBA has refrained from commenting on the issue before now as it was only prudent that we hear from all interested parties in the matter before making a statement. We had previously heard from the presenter of the Monologue Programme David Tam Baryoh as well as from the Minister of Information Hon. Alpha Kanu representing the Government of Sierra Leone. Now that IMC has made publications in certain media outlets explaining their side of the story the SLBA believes that this is the appropriate time to make a statement. We take note of IMC’s letter to Citizen Radio wherein it states ‘I am further directed to convey to you the Cabinet conclusion C.P. (2014) at its meeting on 21st May 2014 that “the Monologue Programme on Citizen Radio be issued a sixty-day suspension order” as from 12 O’clock today.’
The IMC is a creation of statute with powers to regulate the media landscape in this country. Section 3 of the Independent Media Commission Act (Act No.12) 2000 (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”) as amended guarantees the IMC’s independence. Section 21 of the Act lays down procedures for the suspension or cancellation of a radio broadcasting licence which the Commission can employ to ensure adherence with the conditions of any given licence. Section 8(a) of the Act gives IMC the responsibility to promote a pluralistic and free media landscape. Section 8(d) of the Act provides for IMC to ‘protect the interest of the public against exploitation or abuse by media institutions’. Section 36 of the Act also provides for complaints to be made against the media.
Section 25 of the 1991 Constitution protects freedom of expression and the press which the SLBA upholds and jealously guards. While we believe that the Commission should review all complaints from individuals as well as entities (including cabinet) in respect of media abuse, SLBA is concerned about the perception of interference that may arise when a powerful entity like cabinet prescribes the punishment that it desires.
We are extremely concerned about IMC’s somewhat swift implementation of cabinet’s prescription and call on IMC to maintain its integrity and to fulfil its mandate at all times irrespective of the situation. We appreciate the fact that IMC is not fully constituted as provided by the Act and that this may affect their output. We therefore urge Government to ensure that the IMC is fully constituted within the shortest possible time.
We remain conscious of our social obligation to protect the rule of law and to give advice to bear on contemporary national issues when matters of legal significance come to bear.
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Sports News Lifestyle & Culture
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These supplies will be distributed to health workers located in the southern part of the country.
- Social Security photos -
Published Tuesday, December 29, 2020
UN Population Fund donates medical supplies
valued at almost $70,000
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, donated medical supplies such as disposable face masks, face shields and gloves valued at $69,000 to Social Security.
This donation was made in two parts, the first was in November. Total donated supplies include 145,150 units of disposable face masks, 4,320 units of face shields, and 11,500 pairs of disposable gloves.
"Our goal is to support the continuity of these services (referring to medical services in response to the pandemic), guaranteeing prevention and safety, both for medical personnel and the public, in the context of the covid-19 pandemic," Paula Antezana, UNFPA representative in Costa Rica said.
Medical supplies are of high importance for the protection of health workers who are on the front line in the fight against the pandemic, which has caused more deaths and infections in the country.
The most recent statistics on the evolution of the virus provided by the Ministry of Health on Monday are:
• 558 new covid-19 cases are reported to bring the total to 33,329 current active cases.
• 21,759 foreign-born people have been infected, totaling 165,762 cases since March, approximately 13% of the total cases. Of these, authorities confirmed the death of 32 foreign-born patients. But since October, there is no updated information about foreign-born deaths due to covid-19.
• 613 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 240 patients are in ICU’s in delicate health conditions (ages range from 1 to 90-years-old). And 373 patients are in recovery rooms. Many of the remaining infected patients are quarantined in their homes.
• 130,289 coronavirus patients have fully recovered, which is a 78.6% recovery rate of the total cases since March.
• 483,612 covid-19 tests have been performed in Costa Rica since March, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering of Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
• 2,144 deaths are listed as covid-19 related, approximately 1.3% death rate of the total cases since March. Of these are 810 women and 1,334 men. The ages range from a 9-year-old to a 101-year-old.
Readers can see the updated number of total patients in each district at the National Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.
According to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering, CSSE, at Johns Hopkins University, the pandemic has killed 1,784,245 people worldwide.
What foreign entities have donated medical supplies to your country? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com
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Homer A. Jack Papers
Abstract Homer A. Jack (1916-1993) was a Unitarian Universalist clergyman and denominational official who sought to apply religious values to national and international affairs. Jack was executive secretary of the Chicago Council Against Racial and Religious Discrimination (1943-1948), executive director of SANE (1960-1964), and secretary general of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (1970-1983). He had been minister of churches in Lawrence, Kansas (1942-1943), Evanston, Illinois (1948-1959),...
Subject: Peace movements -- United States -- History -- Sources X
Subject: Peace -- Religious aspects -- History -- Sources X
Names: Thomas, Norman, 1884-1968 X
Names: Keys, Donald X
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Fab 5 top 20 songs
Fab 5 biography
Two Artists 1 - The Fab 5 is a Hip Hop group, consisting of Heltah Skeltah (Rock and Ruck) and O.G.C. (Starang Wondah, Louieville Sluggah and Top Dog). The group joined the Boot Camp Clik and signed a record deal with Duck Down Records in 1995. They released their debut single "Blah" b/w "Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka" later that year, with the B-Side "Leflah" becoming a surprise Billboard Hot 100 hit in 1995. The two groups split up to release separate debut albums in 1996, with Heltah Skeltah dropping Nocturnal in June (including "Leflah"), and O.G.C. dropping Da Storm in October. Da Storm did not feature a Fab 5 track, and neither did Heltah Skeltah's 1998 second album Magnum Force. The next "Fab 5" track came on O.G.C.'s 1999 second effort The M-Pire Shrikez Back, on the song "Dirtiest Players in the Game", which was supposed to serve as a prelude to a full-length Fab 5 album. Multiple Duck Down Records releases noted plans for a Fab 5 album in the liner notes, with the album being named either Simply Fabulous or Without the Freddy. The album was never released, due to Rock leaving Duck Down Records in 1999 in pursuit of a solo career. All five took part in the latest Boot Camp Clik album The Last Stand, released July 18, 2006. 2 - Fab 5, formed in 1970, is Jamaica's pre eminent popular band, whether measured by record sales at home, hits on the charts, frequency of engagements or major awards won over the years. Their first recording, "Come Back And Stay", was number one in Jamaica, and in their first year on the road, and for the following two years, they won the only available awards, the Swing Awards for best band of 1971-72, 1972-73 and 1973-74. They also took the El Suzie Award as Joint Top Road and Dance Band for 1975-76 and the RJR Listeners' Award for Best Band in 1980. They backed Johnny Nash on all the reggae cuts comprising most of his platinum album "I Can See Clearly Now". Two singles from that album, "Guava Jelly" and "Stir It Up", established Bob Marley as a major songwriter on the international scene. Fab 5 have enjoyed an endless succession of hits in Jamaica and the "ethnic" markets of North America. In their early years such songs as "Chirpy Cheep", "Shaving Cream", "Oh, Dad" and "Love Me For A Reason", and their musicality and showmanship made Fab 5 the rage on the dance and show circuits. More recently, they have been kept on top by the likes of "Yu Safe", "Ring Road Jam", "Feeling Horny", "Computer Mad", "What The Police High Command Can Do", "Jamaican Woman", "Psalms", "All Night Party", "Mini", "Sweat", "Don't Wear None", "Freeze", "Good Buddy", "Mango" and their "Live" series. Their nineteen albums have been as successful as their singles, and their multi award winning soca album "Yu Safe" was probably the most popular album produced in Jamaica in the decade of the '80s. A CD of some of their biggest hits ‑ "Fab 5 Greatest Hits" has recently been released along with five of their newest CD albums - "Good Buddy," the massively successful "Fab 5 Live - The Ultimate Vintage Jamaican Party Mix ... Part 1" and the equally successful follow-ups“…Part 2” and “…Part 3” as well as their soca smash "Shape". “Dugu-Dugu” their all-reggae release preceded their all-ska album “Ska Time” proving once more the band’s versatility.
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Twisted axes of good and evil
June 5, 2007 / The curious relationship between Dungeons & Dragons, The Shield and American politics.
Source: Wikipedia.
Elena and I are incorrigible fans of The Shield. Her fault. She has a cop brain so she automatically understands what’s going on. I on the other hand have to ask a lot of questions to catch up. For a long time I didn’t even like it that much but with the show entering its fifth season last fall, and regular access to cable TV, there were few opportunities not to watch. On Tuesday nights around 10:00 and The Shield roared across the screen. I’d sit awhile and sometimes leave when the carnage or noise level hit a particularly feverish point. Somewhere along the way though things started to tilt, and by the time I saw the vicious final episode of Season 5, I was the one insisting on first renting the Season 1 DVDs, then just caving and buying the whole set—I mean, at half the purchase price what a stupid waste of money renting would be, right? Impeccable logic. Anyway, now I’m in. (Major spoilers follow so be warned…)
Parallax TV
If you haven’t seen the show, and don’t mind some spoilers, here begins the overview (but check out The Shield for more detail): the main storyline in the series belongs to a corrupt anti-gang unit called the Strike Team. The team comprises four detectives: the leader is Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis, of The Commish fame), a complex character who killed one of his own team members to protect himself and the others from investigation; Mackey’s right-hand man Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins), a tenacious redneck with a serious cruel streak; Curtis Lemansky (Kenneth Johnson), known as Lem, a likable cop—more of a loyal buddy than a motivated criminal—despite being a willing accomplice to the unit’s various crimes; and Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell), nerdy, affable, but seemingly most interested in maximising his gain and not rocking anyone’s boat, even when the heaviest of shit is going down. The Strike Team’s charter is to “get results” out on the streets of the fictional Los Angeles precinct of Farmington. From a policy standpoint their job is to reduce the number and severity of gang-related crimes; at street level they hit the bad guys selectively, and really hard. Mackey and his team prefer wedge strategies that lever rival factions into conflict and inflate the value of alliances with the cops—always through Mackey of course. Unfortunately for policy-makers and administrators, the Strike Team quickly gets its hands far too dirty. This is where everything starts.
Like other recent crime dramas such as C.S.I. each episode of The Shield contains a narrative fork: a primary plot that follows the movements of the Strike Team (often tracing the most hardcore activities of cop and criminal), and a secondary plot that grounds our perceptions in the more regular business of police life at “the Barn” (the police station’s nickname). It is through this secondary fork that we see beat cops like Danny Sofer (Catherine Dent) and Julien Lowe (Michael Jace) citing civilians for traffic violations and attending the scenes of domestic disputes. But the parallax effect of a forked storyline goes further than contrasting the more spectacular activities of the Strike Team with the more mundane world of everyday policing. The secondary plot also contrasts the moral decisions of its protagonists with those of the Strike Team, recasting the good cop–bad cop routine from a partner-level dynamic into a microcosm of the broader social struggle: here good cop–bad cop becomes a group-level effect that results from the fundamental difference between the kinds of criminals that each group of cops pursues. Detective Holland “Dutch” Wagenbach (Jay Karnes), a boy scout compared to Mackey (and often the butt of the latter’s practical jokes), brings down a serial killer but cannot escape an unhealthy fascination with perversion and murder and a preoccupation with his own importance. Dutch’s partner Claudette Wyms (C.C.H. Pounder), the most principled cop at the Barn, fights an incessant battle against her own mounting cynicism that any of the police around her can walk a straight path, sometimes leading her to neglect her own job security and that of her partner. When at times Wyms clashes with Mackey we feel the stirrings of titanic struggle, but since Wyms is even more politically disenfranchised than Wabenbach (as always happens to the good guys, we’re encouraged to think) nothing much ever comes of it.
By using a parallax method the show’s twin plotlines—and the points of convergence between them—highlight the ambiguity of professional police behaviour better than most cop dramas, which often try to preserve an overriding sense of solidarity amongst police officers. Certainty of moral action is displaced with each shift in perspective as we are shown moments of tenderness in which the bad cops never looked so good and moments of brutality in which the good cops never looked so bad.
As my fascination with The Shield evolved I was reminded of those nerdy weekends playing Dungeons and Dragons during the high school years. Most people probably have an idea of what D&D is all about. It’s a game in which a team of participants each play the role of a character of their choosing in a fictional world that is described and controlled by a referee called the DM (it stands for Dungeon Master, and yes, the games’ nerdy reputation is well-earned). Acting together the characters form a party, the party undertakes a series of semi-scripted adventures involving encounters with other characters, enemies, problems, etc. Now player-characters (the protagonists if you like) are never identical with respect to their motivations, ethics and behaviour. This is built-in: D&D rules manage the interactional problems of good and evil behaviour the same way they solve most other aspects of role-playing: with a system. A player’s moral temperament is codified at the outset in terms of his or her character alignment. Alignment is two-dimensional system most easily demonstrated with a Latin square (see below). The x (horizontal) axis represents attitude to social order, while the y (vertical) axis represents moral character:
Figure 1: Dungeons and Dragons character alignments.
Alignments are typically understood to be stable across the character’s “life span,” although they can be changed through a protracted commitment to a new way of interacting (by choice), or by a sustained series of actions that so contradicted one’s previous alignment that a de facto change is effected (by proxy). In any case the most important rule is always that you cannot flip-flop around at will about the alignment axes. You have an obligation to make your character at least partially predictable at the interactional and/or motivational level. This is considered good role-playing. An interesting consequence of this system is that you can actually play your character for a while before determining his or her alignment with precision. The rules provide some guidance, and the players make an initial choice as to how they want their character to be, but it is only with time and gameplay that it becomes clearer whether the character is staying true to the alignment that his or her player has chosen.
How does this relate to the TV show? Well, the alignment system can be used as a simple device for making sense of the program’s moral narratives, and the fine-tuning process I described is a reasonable approximation of getting to know a complex TV character. I had been watching The Shield for quite a while before I began to get a solid sense of the character’s “alignments.” What’s interesting about The Shield’s presentation of moral character is that all of the major players have such a distinctive moral identity. Whereas previous cop shows representing a tightly-knit team may have styled each character as bringing a complimentary set of skills to the challenges facing the group, The Shield instead emphasises the unique temperaments that its characters bring to the ethical quandaries with which they are constantly faced. These distinctive temperaments are quite central to the program’s dramatic tensions and plot twists, while characters’ individual talents have far less bearing on narrative outcomes and interactional moments.
Certainly there are similarities between individuals: the members of the Strike Team are all prepared to do things that other characters—and clearly many viewers—regard as “evil.” But between its members there are differences. Likewise, Wagenbach and Wyms, Sofer and Lowe all share a desire to perform well at their jobs and make a difference on the streets, and yet they also differ in ways that sets each apart from the other. These differences open up space for both in-group antagonisms and out-group affinities, as we see in the falling out between Wagenbach and Wyms, Lowe and Sofer’s struggle to work together as partners, Sofer’s affair with Mackey, and Lem’s absence from the Strike Team to work in the juvenile division where he acts as a positive role-model. Alignment does not predict outcomes, but it does make for some interesting twists and turns. The endless crossing-over between and within characters is what makes people so uneasy about The Shield’s moral claims (see for example Judith Grant’s article in which she asserts that the program is “less morally ambiguous than it is just morally irresponsible”.)
Deepening the ambiguity, the Barn’s longest serving police captain, Councilman David Aceveda (brilliantly played by Benito Martinez) seems to stand perpetually at the intersection of the show’s countervailing forces, first in his position as captain, and later as a city councilman. Ambitious, ambiguous and connected, Aceveda intensifies the struggles in The Shield by almost never taking sides, despite being embroiled deeply in the machinations of both, and getting up to some dirty tricks of his own.
Down at the Barn
At the close of its fifth season The Shield had drilled down to its key story, relentlessly pursuing the incendiary effects of Mackey’s original sin, the murder of Detective Terry Crowley (Reed Diamond). The killing actually takes place in the series’ pilot episode, but Mackey manages to keep his head above water, and the Strike Team out on the streets, for most of four straight seasons, despite attempts by Aceveda and others to see him prosecuted and the team disbanded. In the fifth season Mackey’s hounds draw nearer and a new character, Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh (a deeply unhinged Forest Whitaker) arrives at the Barn on a mission. An Internal Affairs investigator, his ultimate goal is to bring the Strike Team to justice and to force Mackey to stand trial for the killing of another officer. Kavanaugh wants blood. At the point of his arrival the Barn is without permanent leadership, Captain Monica Rawling (Glenn Close)—successor to Aceveda and Mackey’s closest ally in the administration—having been dismissed at the close of season four. Kavanaugh installs himself in the captain’s office and begins a systematic pressure campaign and search for evidence that will bring Mackey down, even if it jeopardises his own personal stability. After only a few episodes the new battle lines are drawn. The next table maps the alignments of the show’s main characters at this point:
Figure 2: Positioning of characters in The Shield.
Fans of the program may like this, but in itself the table is descriptive of the show but doesn’t really explain what I’m getting at. However, by modifying the function of the table so that instead of describing individual alignments its describes the relationship between characters possessing said alignments we can develop a much more interesting picture of how these players interrelate in the bigger picture:
Figure 3: Relational meanings of character alignments.
By using the actual relationships between characters in The Shield, the alignment system can be modified into a simple explanatory map of current struggles and alliances between characters in a complex moral playing field. In The Shield’s ethical universe Kavanaugh is now the undisputed protagonist on the side of good while Mackey fits solidly into the position of antagonist (in the sense of his being “opposed to the good”), a place which he has occupied for the majority of the series. Tragically, Vendrell reveals a depth of malice we hoped he didn’t possess by killing Lem, the hardest hit target of Kavanaugh’s investigation, to prevent him from providing any information on the Strike Team. Gardocki remains an accomplice to the team’s goals (which includes holding onto loot they stole from money launderers months earlier) but quite literally carries the scars of following Mackey into one too many questionable confrontations.
On the other side of the thin blue line Wagenbach and Wyms struggle to keep their professional relationship together. Wagenbach grapples with his loyalties to his long-time partner in the thick atmosphere of distrust brought on by Kavanaugh but also demonstrates his willingness to side with the powers that be. Wyms faces promotion to captain, a move she deserves on the grounds of her commitment and abilities but which serves more directly the interests of her superiors. Officer Lowe on the other hand, driven by his own code and keeping to himself treads a difficult path between professional responsibility and loyalty to his colleagues. And at the center of this storm of allegiances and hostilities, Councilman Aceveda cannot manage to stay above the fray, nor to prevail over Mackey and the sinking ship he represents. What we have then is a fully fledged morality drama in which a quickening confrontation between the powers of good and evil forces alliances out of a more varied and ambiguous field of ethical confrontations. It is, in a sense, a story about what happens when an imposed power forces ordinary people to take sides.
And that’s the best metaphor I can think of for the War on Terror/in Iraq.
Figure 4: Positioning of characters in the War on Terror.
Alignment is a system that forces people to take sides, to make a moral stance. It’s a useful device in describing the motivational aspect of moral conflicts. On face value alignment provides a driving force, a reason for acting. It also forces people to take sides. The New Oxford American Dictionary calls it “arrangement in a straight line, or in correct or appropriate relative positions.” Others would call it an “axis”—of moral virtue for instance. “Good and evil” stuff. And so it seems likely that one man’s intellectual suffocation is another woman’s moral decline…
Whatever, I guess. The War on Terror and The Shield are ideologically—and therefore ultimately—weak arguments. And in failing to recognize this, so too are many of the arguments about them. But one thing is clear: for the longest time the War on Terror was the least interesting thing on American TV, while The Shield was one of the most gripping and controversial. The Shield, with all of it’s post-L.A. Riot edginess contained more nods to the moral drama taking place in the Persian Gulf than the nightly news. For a short, hot stretch it painted perhaps the best picture of what was taking place in the collective mind, and for that it should be recognized, celebrated, and probably condemned.
Bloody good cop show, though.
Postscript: TV on the Radio’s Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes helped me finish this article. Quite by accident I guess, and way overdue. All but the last section was written a year and a half ago. My fault, not theirs :-)
california, class, elena, favourites, gender, los angeles, police, politics, poverty, race, reviews, rpg, tv, violence, war
Gold Men
Hyperventilating
Appleseed: Ex Machina
Best Australian films since 1991
SemSol (Or, EuroPress?)
I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job…
Dan Todd
Awesome. Now do Dexter.
June 8th, 2007 at 7:54 pm #
Wow, I hadn’t even heard of it until your comment. I love Michael C. Hall, but we don’t have Showtime. HBO is barely even worth it these days–which, incidentally, we got in the first place because we were so in love with Six Feet Under. (Which promptly ended before our cable guy came.) Sometimes less (channels) really is more!
June 13th, 2007 at 1:01 am #
Jack Meihoff
You’re stretching the metaphor
June 15th, 2009 at 2:59 pm #
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Behind the Iron Curtain: Recollections of Latter-day Saints in East Germany, 1945-1989; Faith Rewarded: A Personal Account of Prophetic Promises to the East German Saints
James K. Lyon
GAROLD N. DAVIS and NORMA S. DAVIS, eds. Behind the Iron Curtain: Recollections of Latter-day Saints in East Germany, 1945-1989. BYU Studies, 1996.
THOMAS S. MONSON. Faith Rewarded: A Personal Account of Prophetic Promises to the East German Saints. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996.
Even if they had planned it (and they did not), the publishers of these two 1996 works dealing with the Saints in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) before 1989 probably could not have produced more closely complementary volumes. They give a remarkable view of the Church in that country from 1945-1989—a unique chapter in Church history, since the GDR was the only Communist ruled country in the world with fully operational branches and districts, a mission, an indigenous mission presidency, and, ultimately, a temple within its boundaries. The personal records of President Monson give a Church leader’s view of the struggle of the East Germans striving to practice their faith under an oppressive Communist regime, while the oral histories of individual members in the Davis volume document, from the rank and file, instances of faith, sacrifice, persecution, endurance, resistance, courage, and obedience that rival many accounts from early Church history. Together they tell a marvelous tale.
While serving as missionaries in Dresden during 1989-90, Norma Davis, an associate professor of humanities at BYU, and her husband, Garold, a professor of German at BYU, began recording interviews with East German Saints. The editors returned to Dresden in 1994 and taped more interviews, to which they added written material they acquired from other members who had lived or still resided in the GDR—passages from journals, recorded personal histories, and written recollections of specific events or time periods. All this they translated into a highly readable compilation. A total of forty-four informants—some of whom contributed to more than one section—provided material arranged into thirty-one chapters.
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WE ARE CSE AT UC SAN DIEGO
CSE Research Highlights
CSE Students
CSE FACULTY honors 2019-2020
CSE faculty receive national recognition for contributions to their fields and society
NSF CAREER Award Winner Arun Kumar
Assistant Professor Arun Kumar received a prestigious NSF CAREER award for his work to improve the resource efficiency of scalable deep learning model selection. The success of deep learning at resource-rich technology companies has driven interest in adopting these approaches in domain sciences, enterprise companies, healthcare and even digital humanities. However, a major bottleneck to broader adoption is the high resource cost of training deep learning models. Kumar’s project will make it cheaper, faster and easier to adopt large-scale deep learning.
NSF CAREER Award and Sloan Research Fellowship Recipient Nadia Polikarpova
Assistant Professor Nadia Polikarpova’s novel approaches to automating software programming languages have earned her national recognition. She received the NSF CAREER Award for helping software developers increase productivity and reduce the number of mistakes in their code. She has also been honored with the 2020 Sloan Research Fellowship, which is awarded to just over 100 early-career scientists and scholars who demonstrate unique potential to make a substantial contribution in their fields. Read More
NSF CAREER Award Yiying Zhang
Assistant Professor Yiying Zhang is exploring new ways to build software, hardware, and networking systems for the next-generation datacenters. For her work on resource disaggregation, she has received an NSF CAREER award. Her project has the potential to revolutionize datacenter systems by developing the first type of system that integrates traditional datacenter memory and storage systems in one layer. The project takes a significant step towards the goal of using next-generation non-volatile memories (NVMs) in distributed data center environments.
NIH Pioneer Rob Knight
Rob Knight, a professor of computer science and engineering and bioengineering in the Jacobs School of Engineering and a pediatrics professor in the UC San Diego School of Medicine, received the prestigious Pioneer Award for his efforts to develop new approaches to support healthy microbiomes. The award is the top honor from the National Institutes of Health’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program. Read More
IEEE Fellow Alex Snoeren
CSE Professor and Vice Chair Alex C. Snoeren, a leader in network security, has been elected to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow class of 2020 for his “contributions to management and security of networked systems.” This is the organization’s highest honor for electrical engineers, computer engineers and computer scientists. Read More
Another ISCA Influential Paper Award for Dean Tullsen
Professor and former Department Chair Dean Tullsen — along with Rakesh Kumar, a former CSE PhD student, and collaborator Victor Zyuban — have been honored by the International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA) with the 2020 Influential Paper Award for showing how interconnections on multiprocessor chips can affect power, performance and design. This recent honor marks the record-breaking third time Tullsen has won the Influential Paper Award. Read More
Standing the Test of Time: Stefan Savage
Professor Stefan Savage and his colleagues at UC San Diego and the University of Washington were honored with the Test of Time Award at the 2020 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy for the broad and lasting impact of their 2010 paper, which demonstrated the security vulnerabilities in automobile computer systems. In 2019, Savage and colleagues were honored with another Test of Time Award, from the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, for a 2009 paper that first explored the security issues in Cloud-based multi-tenancy. In 2017, Savage was part of a different team that won yet another Test of Time Award from the USENIX Security Symposium for their work measuring worldwide denial-of-service attacks. The latest award makes Savage the first researcher to win Test of Time awards in all three leading security venues. Read More
copyright 2020 – Computer Science & Engineering – University of California San Diego
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Every Singaporean Son
On the 1st of April, our former Head Boy, Chris Langton, came back to Concord to give a talk to the Sixth Form Singaporean boys about his experience in National Service in Singapore. For those who may be unaware, every Singaporean boy at the age of 18 is enlisted in National Service, lasting for two years. This is something that can potentially be a slight challenge when applying to universities, and due to Concord’s relatively large Singaporean population, it is something that the College’s university coordinators are accustomed to dealing with.
Being a Singaporean boy myself, I have been raised with the knowledge that this is something I would eventually need to do. However, it was only when I arrived at Concord that I began to think about it seriously, as well as the effects it would have on my academics and personal life. As I sat in the Old Chapel listening to Chris’s anecdotes about army life, the expressions on the familiar faces in the room told me that many of my friends and peers were thinking the same. What if the stress of the army and university applications is too much to bear? What if our platoonmates were too different from us? What if they didn’t accept us for having been away for so long?
Apart from discussing things such as the general day-to-day routine, personal experiences “outfield” (training in outdoor or jungle conditions outside of camp), and the importance of health, safety, and fitness, Chris also helped to quell some of our fears and concerns. With regards to fitting in, his advice can probably be summarised best in his own words: “Once you go into camp and shave your head,” he said reassuringly, “you will all be the same”. Essentially, he told us that in the army, where you come from is irrelevant. It’s what you do that counts.
In terms of Academics, Chris also gave us advice on UCAS and University applications, suggesting that we complete our UCAS as early as possible, so as to not have to deal with the stress of it during National Service. He finished by discussing selections for various promotions in our army careers, such as ‘command school’. Ultimately, while the idea of the army is still a daunting one for me personally, I feel that Chris’s talk managed to help all of us better prepare ourselves, mentally and otherwise, for life in the army. Anyway, the 20-or-so pages of information on the army that we were given, compiled by Chris and his fellow 6.2s, should help with this too!
Luke – 6.1
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Turkey, Iran, Oil, Gold
Post author By dan
No Comments on Turkey, Iran, Oil, Gold
Trade with Iran is one of the underlying themes of the corruption scandal which is engulfing Turkey. Sanctions on Iran led to it being excluded from the SWIFT network in March 2012, making it hard to send payment to Iran. But Turkey wanted to buy Iranian oil. So they figured out a dodge. Oil purchasers would deposit money at Turkey’s Halkbank, now at the centre of investigation. Iran would use this money to buy physical gold, which could be transported to Iran.
The entire deal infuriated the USA and others. While it was an open secret, the practitioners went to some lengths to conceal it — apparently involving Chinese front companies. Still, it’s plainly in the trade statistics:
We see a huge rise from March 2012 — when SWIFT blocked Iran — before a sudden collapse in August that year. The numbers are huge — the peak is over $1.8 billion dollars.
What happened in August 2012? Perhaps it’s linked to Obama’s Executive Order 13622, which brought gold under US national sanctions on Iran. This did not directly affect Turkey, but could have been twinned with similar pressure by American diplomats in Turkey.
What seems to have happened, in part, is another level of indirection. The gold, according to media reports, started being routed through UAE. Here’s how it looks in the trade statistics — a perfect match for the chart above.
[for more detail on this story, you could do worse than look at this report from May]
Why has this open secret turned into a corruption scandal now? Foreign Policy
While the gas-for-gold scheme may have been technically legal before Congress finally shut it down in July, it appears to have exposed the Turkish political elite to a vast Iranian underworld
← Was the internet ever nice? → America is threatened by a cult gap
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This documentary miniseries chronicles the cross-continental adventures of actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as they set out on their BMW bikes to travel the world, embarking from London and arriving 115 exhausting days later in New York.
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Host Mike Rowe brings viewers on an enlightening tour of our current cosmic knowledge in this miniseries that starts with the Big Bang and covers alien galaxies and solar systems, as well as the space-shattering properties of a supernova event.
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Filmed in 10 countries, this series introduces women who are struggling with some of the most difficult and oppressive circumstances imaginable -- including sex slavery and the systematic murder of women -- and are bravely fighting to change them.
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The Blue Planet: A Natural History of the Oceans
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Shot in 10 countries, this series introduces women who are struggling with some of the most difficult and oppressive circumstances imaginable -- such as sex slavery, inferior postpartum care and gendercide -- and are fighting to change them.
The Mind of a Chef: Season 1
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Reunited for another outrageous excursion, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman take an epic road trip across 18 countries via motorcycle. In this followup to their documented journey, "Long Way Round," the actors trek from Scotland to South Africa.
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In front of the fireplace vuillard mother
1868-1940 French Edouard Vuillard Galleries Jean-Edouard Vuillard, the son of a retired captain, spent his youth at Cuiseaux (Saone-et-Loire); in 1878 his family moved to Paris in modest circumstances. After his father\'s death, in 1884, Vuillard received a scholarship to continue his education. In the Lycee Condorcet Vuillard met Ker Xavier Roussel (also a future painter and Vuillard\'s future brother in law), Maurice Denis, musician Pierre Hermant, writer Pierre Veber and Lugne-Poe. On Roussel\'s advice he refused a military career and entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he met Pierre Bonnard. In 1885, Vuillard left the Lycee Condorcet and joined his closest friend Roussel at the studio of painter Diogene Maillart. There, Roussel and Vuillard received the rudiments of artistic training. Related Paintings of Edouard Vuillard :. | Room | Orange girl clothes | Dr.Georges Viau in His Office Treating Annette Roussel | The children to play | Lucy Pauline Viardot family in |
Master of the Prelate Mur
painted The Adoration of the Magi in 15th century
1766-1853 German Wilhelm von Kobell Gallery Kobell was born in Mannheim, the son of Ferdinand Kobell, a landscape painter who cited Claude Lorrain as his influence. Wilhelm's initial lessons were supplied by his father and his uncle, Franz Kobell. He received further training under Franz Anton, von Leydendorf and Egid Verhelst in the art of engraving at the Zeichnungsakademie in Mannheim. During this time he practiced various styles, including 17th-century Dutch painting and 18th-century English art. He was supported by Charles Theodore who compensated him an annual sum of 500 florins from 1792 until Theodore's death in 1799. Throughout his life Kobell traveled to England, France and Italy but ultimately based his style on Dutch art.
Palma Vecchio
1480-1528 Italian Palma Vecchio Gallery His birthdate is calculated on Vasari testimony (1550) that he died aged 48. By March 1510 he was in Venice, where he spent his working life. The stylistic evidence of his earliest works suggests that he was apprenticed to fellow Bergamasque artist Andrea Previtali, who had studied under Giovanni Bellini. A signed Virgin Reading (1508-10; Berlin, Gemeldegal.), which may be Palma Vecchio earliest surviving painting, is strongly reminiscent of his teacher. Previtali returned to Bergamo in 1511, and the main corpus of Palma work can be dated from this time. Palma Vecchio oeuvre reflects the change from an early to a high Renaissance conception of the human figure in secular and religious art. He specialized in certain themes that became established in the repertory of genres of the Venetian school in the generation after him. The principal of these were the wide-format SACRA CONVERSAZIONE
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Polynesian migration dating back to 5th century AD
Cook Islanders have a rich oral history that, in common with other Polynesian people, tells of ancestors of ancient times originating from the homeland of Avaiki. It is uncertain when the first settlers reached the Cook Islands but modern historians believe that the Polynesian migration through the Cook Islands began around the 5th century AD. Oral history traces Rarotongan ancestry back about 1400 years.
On Aitutaki marae excavations started two years ago that are revealing information about ancient contact between Pacific Island populations and also about the ceremonies and activities that took place on these ancient marae.
On Rarotonga, Highland Paradise is an important historic site that has been set up as a cultural centre. It has interactive information, walks and tours about the lives of the early inhabitants of this ancient site.
The first European visitors
Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to sight any of the islands - Pukapuka in 1595 and Rakahanga in 1606. There is no record of further European contact for over 150 years.
Captain Cook explored much of the group in 1773 and 1777 but he never saw Rarotonga. The first Europeans to arrive in Rarotonga were the mutineers on the HMS Bounty in 1789. The mutiny actually took place after the Bounty sailed from Aitutaki.
After the explorers came the missionaries. In 1821 Reverend John Williams of the London Missionary Society (LMS) came to Aitutaki. The height of the missionaries' power was from 1835 to 1880.
These European missionaries had an enormous impact on Cook Islands life - spiritual, social, economic and political. But they left the actual government of the islands to the tribal chiefs or ariki. The traditional system of land inheritance and the indigenous languages were also left intact.
The British took formal control of the Cook Islands in 1888 and then followed a debate with New Zealand about who should be responsible for the islands.
The combination of disease, slavery and migration meant the islands' population of about 17,000 just before contact with Europeans fell to less than half. The population now is about 13,000.
During WW2 the USA built airstrips on Aitutaki and Penrhyn but essentially the Cooks remained a quiet dependency. In 1965 the Cook Islands became self-governing.
Cook Islanders are New Zealand citizens and carry New Zealand passports
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The Prodigy No Tourists
By Luke Pearson
It's hard to believe the Prodigy will be celebrating a 30th anniversary soon, and there's something comforting in the knowledge that they've continued to soldier on, releasing albums of reliably grimy and confrontational big beat electronic every four or five years.
It's truly a genre of yore at this point, and the stylistic conviction of Liam Howlett and crew is worthy of respect. While Keith Flint and vocal partner Maxim aren't as prominent as they sometimes are on this outing, the bludgeoning beats and aggressive synths remain, with perhaps even a bit of classic rock swagger thrown in early on.
Mostly however, this is classic Prodigy as you've known them for the last 20 years or so, and how you feel about that assessment will probably be a good indicator for how much you'll enjoy No Tourists.
Things start out solidly enough with "Need Some1," which features a breaking glass sound just like the one in "Break and Enter," which opened the band's pre-breakthrough (and arguably best) album, 1994's Music for the Jilted Generation. It's a knowingly slick touch, earning some early goodwill that never truly dissipates. (The synths in following track "Light Up the Sky" are ripped straight from "Voodoo People" as well, if you're into that.)
Shortly after, the imposing strings of the title track add some "Kashmir"-lite grandeur to the proceedings, setting it apart from the rest of the album, and late album highlight "Boom Boom Tap" has an amusingly goofy vibe, although its climactic "fuck you" lyric right before the beat hits probably isn't supposed to be funny.
Less appealing are the self-consciously "hard" tracks like "Champions of London," an aspect of the Prodigy's style that hasn't aged well; it's the stuff of WWE intros and energy drink commercials. That said, if you don't mind a little bit of posturing with your bone-cracking beats (and the beats throughout are certainly as solid as any Howlett has written), then No Tourists has you covered — but the title says it all: This one's for the locals. (BMG)
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Keith Flint's Septum Rings, Bed and Even His Taxidermy Rabbit Are Up for Auction
Following the passing of Prodigy frontman Keith Flint earlier this year, a massive haul of his personal possessions are going up for auction...
The Prodigy Are Back in the Studio Working New Material
In the wake of Keith Flint's tragic passing, the Prodigy have confirmed the group are now back in the studio working on new material. The...
Versace Dedicates Menswear Line to the Prodigy's Keith Flint
Donatella Versace has paid tribute to her late friend and Prodigy frontman Keith Flint with her latest line of menswear. The fashion designe...
Keith Flint's Cause of Death Deemed Inconclusive at Coroner's Inquest
Following a coroner's inquest, the Prodigy frontman Keith Flint's death has been labelled an "open conclusion." As laid out in a newly relea...
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IRON SKY DISTRIBUTED IN UNITED STATES
We are thrilled to announce that Iron Sky will have nationwide distribution in United States, Starting in Now! Usually this would not be possible for independent film from Europe and Australia.. and has Space Nazis in it. But because of the wonderful fans, we are now standing in the position where anything is possible.
With the distributor Entertainment One �eOne�, and new online service called Tugg, we are able to bring Iron Sky almost in every cinema in United States. Where there�s a demand, there�s a screening. The First screening was in San Francisco and was sold out in couple of hours!
Iron Sky is produced by the Finnish producer Tero Kaukomaa of Blind Spot Pictures, in co production with New Holland Pictures (Australia) and 27 Films Production� (Germany). San Fu Maltha is executive producer of the film.
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GVFILM
IDEAS IN MOTION FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
Tag: Gunvald Larsson
Beck Volume 2
Based on the characters of the hugely popular Martin Beck detective novels by Swedish husband-and-wife writers Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, Beck – The Series sees the much-loved detective brought to life on the small screen. This collection of four feature-length films from 2016 sees detective Martin Beck investigating a murdered journalist, an unidentified body from a trailer fire, the brutal murder of a police officer and his family, and the cold shooting of two traffic officers by a man who is also later found dead.
Starring Peter Haber (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) as Beck, this volume sees one of the greatest police procedural partnerships come to an end as Beck is disbanded with the gruff Gunvald Larsson (Mikael Persbrandt – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) to team up with a new partner, Oslo Detective Steinar Hovland, played by Kristofer Hivjul (Game of Thrones). Featuring the thrilling combination of complex woven details of police procedure and beautifully realised characters, this award-winning series continues to grow from strength to strength.
ON DVD in the UK – October 10
Follow GVFilm:
GVFilm Ltd
29 Throgmorton Street
London EC2N 2AT
London W1T 6AD
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Carter Manny Award
Tectonics of Development: Mineral Extraction and the Architecture of the University-City in South America, 1945–1975
Giovanna M. Bassi Cendra
Giovanna M. Bassi Cendra, Rice University
Walter Weberhofer, Metallurgy Building, School of Mining Engineering, Geology, and Metallurgy, Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, 1957-65, Lima, Peru, as it appeared in Memoria anual del Rector (Lima: UNI, 1962). Courtesy the Centro de Historia, Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería
Giovanna Bassi Cendra, Rice University, School of Humanities, Department of Art History, is the recipient of the 2020–21 Carter Manny Research Award.
This dissertation examines the planning, design, and construction of university campuses vis-à-vis the intensification of mineral extraction in South America between 1945 and 1975. Organized around four case studies located in the mineral-rich Chile, Peru, and Venezuela, this study interrogates how architecture in the service of “development” fueled dreams of progress predicated upon the exploitation of mineral commodities, the establishment of related basic industries, the training of experts, and the production of capital. It juxtaposes local histories of modernism with geopolitics, evaluating the pivotal impact that the Cold War-era financial and technical assistance programs of the US government, the Ford Foundation, and multilateral organizations had on these developmentalist architectures. Rethinking the university-city as much more than an aesthetic complex, this study argues that it functioned as the ultimate technology of extractive development—an intellectual and operative node of complex resource-extraction systems that radically altered our planet’s societies, climate, and ecosystems.
Giovanna Bassi Cendra is a PhD candidate at the Department of Art History, Rice University. She studied architecture at Ricardo Palma University in Lima, Peru, and holds a MArch from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a MA in art history from the University of Houston. Adopting an eco-critical lens, her current research interrogates the convergence of the ideology of "development," natural resource extraction, and systems thinking in modern South American architecture during the postwar period. This research has received the support of the Wagoner Foreign Study Scholarship, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Department of Art History, Rice University. Bassi Cendra has received multiple awards, including the Henry Adams Medal (American Institute of Architects, 2006) and the Peter C. Marzio Award for Outstanding Research in 20th-Century Latin American and Latino Art (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2017). Her winning essay was published in the ICAA Documents Project Working Papers (December, 2018).
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'Finding the Facts' Standards of Proof and Information Handling in Monitoring, Reporting and Fact-Finding Missions
This paper sets out various dilemmas faced by practitioners undertaking fact-finding missions, based on a desk analysis and extensive...
Protection of Witnesses, Victims and Staff in Monitoring, Reporting, and Fact-Finding Mechanisms
One dilemma that faces practitioners serving on monitoring, reporting, and fact-finding (MRF) missions concerns the protection of witnesses...
Humanitarian Access Obstruction in Somalia: Externally Imposed and Self-Inflicted Dimensions
Humanitarian Negotiation: Observations from Recent Experience
Humanitarian Action and the Politics of Transition: The Context of Colombia
Network Analysis of Actors Working to Support Disaster Preparedness and Resilience in the...
'They have embraced a different behaviour': transactional sex and family dynamics in eastern Congo's Conflict
The decades-long conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has resulted in major changes to local economies, strained social networks and insecurity. This environment forces many to pursue unconventional and, at times, socially stigmatised avenues for income. This paper... Sep 2014
"Al-Qaida : une guerre non lineaire,"
L’après-guerre froide a été marqué par une rupture dans la réglementation internationale régissant le recours à la force. Malgré le potentiel dévastateur des armes nucléaires, la Guerre froide avait la vertu de réguler le flux de violence1 . Elle constituait un déploiement tangible de forces... Dec 2005
"Building Peace in a Turbulent World" Lecture with Nancy Lindborg, President of USIP
The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative is pleased to host a discussion on “Building Peace in a Turbulent World” with Nancy Lindborg, President of the United States Institute of Peace Friday, April 7, 2017 12:30-1:30pm. Light lunch will be provided.
This event is hosted by the Harvard...
"Children Affected by HIV/AIDS: SAFE, A Model for Promoting their Security, Health and Development" May 2010
"Finding the Facts": Standards of Proof and Information Handling in Monitoring, Reporting and Fact-Finding Missions
This paper sets out various dilemmas faced by practitioners undertaking fact-finding missions, based on a desk analysis and extensive interviews with expert practitioners. The paper addresses the challenges, both practical and theoretical, related to standards of proof and information... Feb 2014
"From Information Overload to Informed Decision: Designing an Information System to Support Peacebuilding," Nov 2008
"Hope and Despair over Health in Gaza," BMJ vol.333 (by Allan G Hill, Cari Jo Clark, Ismail Lubbad and Claude Bruderlein)
The Israeli re-invasion of Gaza this July has redrawn the world’s attention to the dire straits of the population living in the Gaza Strip. There, within an area the size of the Isle of Wight, 1.4 million people live without free access to the outside world. Contrary to international hopes, the... Oct 2006
"Managing Security Risks in Hazardous Missions: The Challenges of Securing United Nations Access to Vulnerable Groups,"
Over the last decade, the United Nations (“U.N.”) has taken a central role in the international community’s response to the consequences of disasters and armed conºicts. Increasingly, international strategies to cope with instability and armed conºicts rely on the deployment of the staff of U.N... May 2006
"On Her Shoulders" Film Screening
The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and the Bratte Theater will be hosting a screening of the film "On Her Shoulders" on Wednesday, October 3, 2018 at 4:00 PM. $5 Donation suggested, all proceeds benefit Nadia's Initiative.
"People's Security as a New Measure of Global Stability," International Review of the Red Cross vol.842
espite renewed commitment by States to respect and ensure respect for the rules of international humanitarian law, the surge of violence against civilians has continued. Entire populations in Europe, Africa and Central Asia have been displaced, harassed or subjected to extreme forms of violence... Jun 2001
"Public Enemy Number Two?: Rising Crime and Human Rights Advocacy in Transitional Societies,"
On March 5, 2002, a special division of the São Paulo military police in Brazil positioned several vehicles with heavily armed ofªcers on a highway near Campinas. The police sought to intercept and ambush a truck transporting twelve suspects that their intelligence services had indicated was on... May 2005
"Regulating 'Drugs Wars' and Other Gray Zone Conflicts: Formal and Functional Approaches," Humanitarian Action in Situations Other Than Way, Discussion Paper 2
Academic debate on whether so-called “drug wars” can be classified as “armed conflicts” is more than just semantic. Indeed, the official designation of a situation as an armed conflict carries with it attendant rights and obligations applicable to states and non-state actors alike. The legal... Mar 2016
"Serious" Games: Innovative Learning in the Humanitarian Sector
Games, simulations, and role-playing exercises have become an important component of capacity building endeavors across the humanitarian sector. Additionally—as reflected in the International Committee of the Red Cross’s (ICRC’s) work with video game developers to ensure that certain violent... Jun 2017
"This mine has become our farmland": Critical perspectives on the coevolution of artisanal mining and conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The debate on conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been widely documented by the international media, government and non-governmental agencies and academics. In recent years, a variety of international initiatives have been launched to curb the flow of funding from... Jun 2014
"Training humanitarian professionals at a distance: testing the feasibility of distance learning with humanitarian professionals," by Vincenzo Bollettino and Claude Bruderlein, Oct 2008
"We Came Back with Empty Hands": Understanding the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration of Children Formerly Associated with Armed Groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
This report documents the experiences and attitudes of former underage combatants in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who went through the reintegration process, the families and communities who received them and the organizations that funded and implemented reintegration... Jan 2013
"We Suffer From War and More War": An Assessment of the Impact of the Lord's Resistance Army on Formerly Abducted Children and their Communities in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
This study highlights the voices of individuals currently affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army to detail the extensive and systematic devastation felt specifically by formerly abducted children and their communities in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Respondents stressed that... Jan 2013
#Westgate Tweets: A Detailed Study of Information Forensics
Al Shabaab's horrific attack of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi generated over 730,000 tweets during the four-day siege in Spetember 2013. The purpose of this study is to analyze the authors, content and frequency of these tweets in the hour leading up to the attacks and during the two hours... Nov 2013
'We Came Back with Empty Hands' Trailer
This video provides an overview of "'We Came Back with Empty Hands': Understanding the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration of Children Formerly Associated with Armed Groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," the new report released by the Women in War Program at Harvard... Nov 2013
...Welcome from the community was high
...Welcome from the community was high. Relatives and other neighbours would come to welcome the person who returned. They also counseled them. Some of them would perform the rituals of sprinkling water by hand to show that you are welcome back home from where we had expected you to have...
2006 Humanitarian Health Conference Report Sep 2006
2009 Humanitarian Action Summit Report Mar 2009
2011 Global Surgical Consortium Annual Report
This report outlines the ongoing work of The Global Surgical Consortium(GSC), a 501c3 public charity that was created in 2010 to address the growing global surgical and anesthesia crisis and to provide... Jan 2011
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HomeMonthly ReadsThe Style Council - October 2016
NEW! We've Come A Long Way, Baby
One Man - One Vote - One Mom
Although women did not have the right to vote until 1920, the early twentieth century was surely a thrilling time to be alive. Technology and electricity had intersected with domestics and brought brand new electric appliances into the home. These plug-in stoves and washers simplified life, giving women freedom to seek opportunities outside the house. Model-Ts bustled people across the country, and relocated women from life on the farm to adventures in the city. Hairstyles were short and dress hems were lifted, which made hopping into a young man's Tin Lizzie all that much easier. A breezy, contagious spirit filled the air. It energized the women's movement, pushed it forward, and culminated in a proposed 19th amendment to give women the right to vote. By the summer of 1920, only one state, Tennessee, stood between women and final ratification.
Advocates, politicians and the press inundated Nashville that muggy August in what was called the "War of the Roses." The pro-suffrage forces had been pressing Congress to vote for decades and they sported the yellow rose, a symbol for suffrage. "Antis" of both sexes, believing that women's domain was in the home, wore the American Beauty red rose to symbolize Southern womanhood and femininity. There were the undecided types who pinned yellow roses with red stripes, or red roses with yellow stripes, to their lapels. A final understated yet influential group could be termed "closet yellows." They were the women and men who watched from the sidelines and cheered silently for the suffragists.
One such closet yellow was Febb Ebsinger Burn, a name unrecognizable to all but history buffs and a few Tennessee residents. She was the mother of Harry Burn, a 24-year old freshman legislator in the state house of Tennessee who was one of the undecided types regarding the 19th amendment.
Febb, a strong-willed, college woman and widow, managed her family farm in Notina. She drove a black Tin-Lizzie, followed international affairs and read four newspapers daily. She watched closely the fight over the 19th amendment, as her friends and family were bitterly divided. More importantly, her legislative son had remained silent on the raging contest and she wanted to know his opinion. Febb sat down and penned a letter to Harry that would serve to transform the history of women.
She was well aware that thirty-five states had already approved the 19th amendment and thirty-six were required to set it into law. And she knew that there were no other state options - Tennessee was the last remaining hope for the suffragists to pass the amendment. Febb wasted no time - her first words tell Harry, "Hurrah and vote for suffrage. Don't keep them in doubt. Be a good boy and vote for ratification." Her letter closed with the hope that Harry had "seen enough of politicians to know that it is not one of the greatest things to be one!"
Harry received her letter the morning of the vote, which he stuffed into his vest pocket next to the red rose on his lapel. He headed to the state house, dodging the swarm of pros, antis, reporters and curious onlookers blocking his way.
Speaker of the House, Seth Walker, also wearing a red rose, had contrived a series of parliamentary maneuvers designed to play both sides. He planned to bury the 19th amendment under mounds of legal debris, where it would rot in Constitutional limbo until after the November election. The first vote to banish the law tied 48 to 48, requiring a second vote. It must have been between these two rounds that Harry read his mother's letter.
Walker rushed through the next session so quickly that he didn't notice when Harry changed his vote to 'aye." When the final tally read 49 to 47 in favor of suffrage, pandemonium let loose. Outraged Antis screamed at Harry, and someone offered to pay him $10,000 to change his vote. Laugher, shouting, dancing and sounds of singing filled the giant halls. A rain of rose petals floated down from the balconies, drifting into soft yellow piles. Telegraphs pounded the news across the land, while reporters raced to be the first to print the August 18, 1920 headline, "Nineteenth amendment ratified by one vote!"
Harry later explained he had always believed in suffrage, that it was the country's moral responsibility to let women vote. He unabashedly credited his final vote to his mother, "I know that a mother's advice is always safest for her boy to follow, and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification."
Harry failed to heed his mother's other warning however, the one about being around politicians - he remained in state politics most of his career.
I imagine she forgave him.
You say suffragette, I say suffragist...is there a difference?
The dictionary defines suffrage as simply the right to vote.
The words were used interchangeably, although in the early 1900's, subtle distinctions applied.
Suffragette was a somewhat derisive term coined by a London newspaper that referred to militant members of the women's movement who set fires, chained themselves to posts, or went to jail. As suffrage became more accepted, the word lost its negative connotation overseas, while protestors in America adopted its insulting use here.
"Suffragist" became the preferred term for men, women, conservative and liberal supporters who were peaceful advocates of suffrage. After the 19th amendment, the words were once again used interchangeably, with minor differences known only to trivia-minded researchers!
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